tacit Toleration granted the Protestants which doubtless was as real as his malice to their persons for the sad event will too soon and surely demonstrate so that now the discords of these great men seemed to be enveloped in a good satisfaction of their present conditions all discontent seeming to be vanished and laid aside in the Grave of obscure forgetfulness The King of France crowned Now is thought the fittest time to confirm the Kings authority by crowning him though in his minority which was ordered to be done according to the usual Ceremonies accustomed to all the Kings of France in their Coronation to which end and purpose the King journeys to Rheims and there by the Cardinal of Lorain was solemnly crowned and conducted to the City of Paris The King at the Coronation gives the right of precedency from the Princes of the Bloud to the Duke of Guise Now at this time of Coronation the Princes of the Bloud and Duke of Guise contend about precedency but it was ordered by the King though against order that the Duke of Guise should precede all the rest which accordingly was performed the Duke of Guise hereupon like Tinder to the Spark took fire of Ambition flying high with an exasperated spirit to the Princes Admiral and principal of the Protestants and to make his power greater and to ingraft himself more firmly to wrestle with opposition and to strenghthen his malicious resolution The Constable turns Catholick he and the Constable strikes a League together for the preservation of the Catholick Religion and to endeavour the utter extirpation of the Religion Reformed But the Queen Mother hearing of their intended intended purposes presently Aprehended her own danger by the Guisans growing greatness and what tall Cedars they would grow if this confederacy took root according to their desires she also considered that the Princes of Lorain were unsatisfied with her late proceedings in behalf of the Protestants and would Assist and endevor a conjunction with the Guisans faction to deprive her of her Government A thing she only desired peacable to enjoy shee Therefore to preserve her own Interest enters into a firm union with the King of Navar the better to ballance the Guisans power and secure her self so that in this juncture of time shee was well pleased that the King of Navar and his party should have some power which she resolves should stand her instead against the Duke of Guise and his Adherents Which indeed fitly served for her own ends It was therefore commended to all the Parliaments by new edicts and Decrees No further to molest any of the Religion and to restore the goods houses and possessions of those that only for the cause of Religion were deprived of them The Parliament in Paris with the assistance of King and Q. Mother dashes in pieces all former Edicts for Toleration and passes an Edict that no Religion should be suffered but the Romish and that all the Protestants should be expelled the Kingdom This gave an ill gust to the Guisans palat who being enraged with malice set on foot all their power in a strong opposition of the Government whereupon the Cardinall of Lorain took occasion at the Councell table the King and Queen Being present to speak against those of the Religion and against the Tolleration and Edicts lately passed in their behalfs whereupon it was resolved with consent of the Councill to summon A Parlament to meet at Paris which accordingly appeared at the day appointed the thirteenth of July and then and there in a full appearance of Palament they shewed to the King their dislike of the Edict passed the 28. of January Beseeching his Majesty to force his subjects to An open profession of the Catholik Appostolik and Romish Religion upon such pains as should he adjudged of in Councill Which Councill brought forth an hellish bratt from the bosoms of their wicked desires for now contrary to all former edicts they pass an edict That all Protestant Ministers should be expelled the Kingdome no religion to he professed but the Romish all Protestant Assemblies forbidden in all places in the Kingdome And thus was the poor Protestants banished their habitations and condemned to seek refreshment and abode else where and to this edict did the King and Queen Mother subscribe whereupon the cheif of the Protestants were very much greived in regard they knew themselves free from any guilt that might challenge such hard measure from the King and Court of France to such faithfull allegiance concluding it must needs proceed from some inveterate malice or deep design Therefore The Protestants desire conference and had it granted The Prince of Conde and Admirall being not able to hinder this edict presently flies to the Queens promise which she had assuredly given them but now as assuredly broke so that no redress could be found there Whereupon they demand of the King liberty for a conference between the Ministers of the Protestants and the Kings Prelats To examine the Articles of their Doctrins before the Kings presence being not without hopes by this moderate way to Interpose that if possible some liberty might be granted At first it was not allowed of but afrer second considerations it was thought meet to answer their desires and give a hearing The Pope hearing of this meeting for a conference and doubting some liberty might thereby follow to be granted to the Protestants and disadvantage of his Authority presently speeds away the Cardinal of Ferrara his Legat to the Court of France withall giving in command that the cause might be referred to the Councell of Trent which by him was published The Protestant Ministers that were banished by reason of this late edict and settled their a bodes in Geneva now had safe conduct allowed them for there security in their journy to Poissy five leagues from Paris being the place apointed for the conference Them that were at this meeting for the Protestants were Theodora Beza Theodora Beza Peter Martir and others with the K. Court and Prelats meet at Poissy but break up and no good done Peter Martir a Florintin John Virell Augustin Virnmelio Marlorat and other Ministers to the Number of twelve with twenty-two Deputies from the Protestant churches On the Romish side came besides the King and Court the Cardinalls of Lorain Tournon Armagnac Bourbon Guise and Chastillon together with the Bishops and Prelats many Doctors of Sorbon also with many others sent for from most Cities and Universities in the Kingdom This meeting began the nineth day of September in the year 1561. the Relation being at large Recorded I leave the reader to peruse at his liberty But this conference proved not such a salve for the sad distractions of the kingdom as was expected for the Catholicks resolved to continue in force the late edict against the Protestants so that they were in many places forced to stand upon their own guards against the violent attempts of
the Catholicks cruelty This made the Papists take up couragious resolutions Mutining in divers places A mutinie in Paris and many Protestants stoned and distroyed with fire and sword especially at Paris where the poor Protestants through the violence of cruell and bloody men suffered the enemies persecution with stones staves swords and in their return they set fire on the Suburbs of St. Marceau At St. Medard they Ring the Alarum Bell they kill and wound many others they take and hang One Gabaston Knight of the warch lost his head for atempting to appease the people so suffered some others also The whole Kingdom being full of broils and in a civil flame of combustions that it seemed to all spectators as if the whole Land was turned upside down And thus were the poor Protestants at the merciless cruelty of their malitious Enemies Hereupon the Queen Mother fearing this might disquiet and annoy her Regency An Assembly of eight Parliaments and endanger the tranquillity of the Kingdom during the Kings Minority Especially fearing the Duke of Guise should be too powerfull she therefore causes to be Issued out orders for calling and assembling of the eight Parlaments of France with the Princes of the Blood Noblemen and they of the Privye Councill to consider of the estate of all the Provinces and to consult about a way to heal these breaches to her content and lasting peace of the Kingdom she knew this was the ready way to enjoy her power which must necessarily fall if either party rise if either partie prevailed in a successive power they would too soon give a pull at hers the Duke of Guise in A Rage departs the Court for Spain The Duke of Guise and his confederate Catholiks was so swelled at the heart That his breast the Poyson of his purposes could not be contained within the limits of moderation But like a rapid Torrent bandies against this course And as water cast upon lime burns inwards till it breaks without into a flame so this cruel Duke foaming with malice and cherishing those furies that Hell would cast out disaproves of this Assembly and openly enveighs against the King of Navar the Prince of Conde Admiral and chief of the Protestants and so in discontent departs the Court for Spain there to plott for effecting a tragicall and more bloody effusion of Protestant blood then by his presence could be effected in the French Court. Whereupon the Queen Mother still to strengthen hir self betwixt these two factions dissembles hir secret intentions and gives out publickly an inclination to cleav to the Protestants which indeed did astonish all that heard thereof Nay she did so hipocritically mannage her secrefie That the Admirall and all the Chief Protestants could give no other interpretation of her carriage then Reality and she the more effectually to penetrate into their perswations more to confirm their credulous opinion and perfectly to blind their eies she declares her carriage to he the bottom of her intentions the Protestants deluded by the Queens dissembling gives her A list of all their forces So making her impious treachery turn treason parent The Protestants believing all true she said were so farr deluded into a firm belief thereof That they gave her a list of two thousand one hundred and fifty Protestant churches who by their Deputies offered their Goods and persons to the King to withstand the force of the Guisants who had invited the Spaniards into France And thus with this deep dissimulation covered with fair pretexts the Protestants were drawn in to discover their strength which when shee collected her desires were satisfied with this handsome dissimulation But none could know it but the eternall and alseeing eye of God for she had so carried it that the very Catholick party thought all as reall as it was Hypocriticall At this time the King of Navar being not fully fixed in the firmament of an established mind the King of Navar turns Catholick The Reverend servant of Christ Theodora Beza laboured much to bring him to a right understanding of the truth but he like a carnall pollititian replies quod pellago se non ita commissurus esse quin quando libere pedem referre possit That he would launch no further into the deeps then he might with safety return again And so he fully declares for the Catholicks which by a little dispondency of Spirit did weaken the Protestants and strengthen the Guisants But now like lightening before death wee shall see a greater part of bloody treacherie then ever was acted in any Christian Nation For In this year 1561. mens Spirits were so malitiously bent that they were redy to receive any fire of commotion The Protestants have no security nor safety for lives or goods there was great danger for these poor Christians that professed the name of the Lord yet like palme the more depressed the more they grew like trees upon high Mountains though under the power and in the cie of the greatest storms and gusts yet are more firmly rooted then those that grow in fruitfull valies so these poor Saints of God through their affliction did increase more and more whereupon did arise to them great troubles and persecutions in regard the late edict against them gave courage to the Catholicks to persecute them by Authority by which also it did frustrate their more publick meeting And Here it is to be taken notice of That formerly the custome in France of pounishing the Protestants was besides their estates seased on for the Kings use their bodies were to be burned at the Tyrannicall request of their Lords and nobillity but now God who is rich in mercy has freed his poor servants from the unheard of and slavish bondage and given a little more liberty though against the will of his and their adversaries The eight Parliaments meets with the King and Queen Mother And now according to the forementioned order of the Queen the eight Paliaments of France meets where was present with them the King and Queen Mother and thus this great Assembly of Estates from all the Provinces meets at St. Germans in Lay near to the City of Paris where with the Royal assent of Charls the ninth Was that famous and so much celebrated edict brought forth wherein there was great Liberty to the weary Protestants that was so tossed up and down which indeed had proved more happy then I can express if they might have enjoyed the benefit of performance with as much liberty as it promised The eight Parliaments with the King and Queen decree A liberty for the Protestants but speedily a sad and cruel Massacre of 30. thousand Protestants The contents of this edict which did Invest the Protestants with these privileges were A free liberty to enjoy profess and exercise their Religion To have Assemblies and publick meetings at sermons But without the Towns and in the Subburbs onely This Edict crossing that which was made in
shall shortly in particular be related with all the sad circumstances of their cruelty The Catholicks take Bourges oâ— conditions Now the Kings Army sits down before Burges the 10. of August where they felt the valour and courage of the Protestants by many salies even to their trenches but in regard they had no time to fortifie the place their innate valour was forced to yield to necessity whose law has no bounds and so the Governour Monseiur D'Yvoy began to capitulate and at last on conditions yielded but was out of favour ever after by the Prince of Conde and Admiral the Queen discovers her selfe agrinst Protestants and prcolaims them Robels And now the Queen shews her selfe in her colours casts of her vizard and openly appears what she was inwarly For the Catholick cause and against the Protestants and so moved by her implacable malice and inward hatred she with the consent of the King caused the Principal of the Protestants to be Proclaimed Rebels and thus made way for a more open discovery of her most secret treachery whose close hypocrisie til now was so hid under hatches by deceitfull slights that on all hands her deep dissimulation was esteemed real But we shall shortly perceive that the copy of mens actions are sooner read than the copy of their countenances The Prince of Conde delivers up Roan Deip and Haverdegrace to the Queen of England In this mean while the Protestants had delivered up to the Queen of England the Towns of Roan Haverdegrace and Deip as pledges for her security And now the Kings Army marches towarde Roan and on the five and twentieth of September 1562. the whole Army Lodges at Darnettel two Leagues from the City of Roan where the Count Montgommery was Governour for the Protestants and commander of the City The Kings Army Advances to Roan having with him for defence thereof two thousand English and twelve hundred French foot four troopes of horse and an hundred Gentlemen of quallity whose valour was well known to the Army of the Kings that on all times and upon all occations felt the power of their resolutions whose strength and provision failing together with the Kings taking their principal fort did much trouble and hinder their promised success whereupon they sent to Haverdegrace for such supplies as could possibly be spared which in part was effected although the Kings Army had planted Cannons along the River but their great want could not be supplied with a little although at one time from the English arrived with great difficulty to their greater necessity seven hundred men with monyes and ammunition King of Navar slain And here at this seige was remarkably slain the Apostate King of Navar who felt the reward thereof from a divine hand of puunishment The City taken by storm and for three dayes nobus cruelties and murthers The twenty sixt of October the Kings Army storms the City and with great loss and valor on both sides takes it and for the cruelties they used against the poor Protestants lying at their mercy for the space of three dayes I refer the Reader to peruse in the Massaces at Roan which is fully and shortly related in the following Chapter Count Montgomery saved himself through great danger in a galley passing to Haverdegrace and so for England The Admirals Brother D'Andelot with 11000. horse and foot joyns with the Prince of Conde and Admiral Lewis of Burborn Duke of Montpenseir took from the Protestants severall Towns whose barbarous course of cruelty and treacherie is also contracted into a narrow compass which follows in the next chapter Mean while D'Andelot with five thousand foot and four thousand horse with great policie and and no less danger and toyle marches through the enemies power and at last joyfully and seasonably arrives and joyns with the Prince of Conde and Admiral who with great joy and welcome embrases him as much sorrow presently balances all for the success in another place was differently carried by the like Adventure of a Noble Commander the Baron of Duras who having levied five thousand horse and foot in Gascoin and Provinces adjacent endeavouring to pass through difficulties was obstructed by a sharp encounter by the Kings Horse under Command of Monsieur de Mouluc and Burie and at last was defeated yet with good part he escaped to the assistance of the Prince of Conde and Admiral The Prince and Admiral advance with their Army to the walls of Paris who now all march against Paris the Metropolis of the Nation and in their March taks in Estampes Piviers and Dordane and so marches to Paris where after some skirmishes beat back their enemies with Terrour and Confusion into the City putting them all to a stand in their councils but the Queen by Treaties and often Messengers did so with ther subtilty treat with the Prince and Admiral that by delayes the City was strengthened and their gallant Enterprize suprized for want of quick execution but the truth is the Protestants at all times were ready to embrace peace in the midst of their power and so suffered that convenient opportunity to slip and fall into the hands of the Queens policy which opportunity had the Catholicks ever enjoyed peace had not gone before their cruelties But it falls into course here to let the world take notice of this full demonstration of the Princes and Protestants Declarations That they sought only liberty for â—heir Estates and Lives and therefore would to their own prejudice wait an opportunity to effect their peaceable desires But alas it is to be bewailed that ever the Protestants down-right in their actions and words should ever have to deal with such an enemy whose treachery is their refuge and cruelty their mercy Now when they see their Enemies Designs they begin to remember the loss of their own yet falls on the City by a general Assault shoots many Cannons at last face the City to provoke and incite the Enemy to battel all which not answering their desires the Prince and Admiral draw off their Army The Kings Army advances to the defence of the City and the Prince withdraws and marches towards Normandy And now the Kings Army having by this time gathered a great strength from all parts advances under the command of the Duke of Guise and Constable and so follows the Princes Army who now resolves to march into Normandy to joyn with the Forces and Provisions that Queen Elizabeth of England had then according to covenant promised the Protestants being six thousand men twenty pieces of Cannon much Ammunition and fifteen thousand Ducats This March being resolved on at Beauss on December 14. they advance by the way of Chartres and so for Normandy The Kings Army follows the Protestants swiftly and the Protestant Army being very weary and both Armies very near they were by a manifest necessity driven to a Battel The Kings Army follows and they join battle
unsufferable injuries and cruel murthers were dayly heaped and committed upon the poor Protestants even to the loss of the Estates and Lives of many of their dear friends which opposition was the greater being done by the Kings Liberty granted contrary to Articles of peace and Edict of Pacification promised by Oaths and Covenants therefore though they dayly waited yet now they saw no other way but to arm in their own defence which was the least they could do being tyed by the laws of God and Nature to preserve their Religion Lives and Estates of themselves with their poor wives children and families that else would be left to the power and rage of bloody and deceitful men and that this was their only design of taking arms And further did declare that if they could espy and other way to enjoy their Estates Liberty and Lives they would speedily lay down their arms yet notwithstanding they desired and resolved to continue his Majesties faithful Subjects in obedience to all lawful commands wishing a period to their lives the same moment their obedience ceased if they could but herein see security for enjoyment of their Religion and Lives The Q. of Navars noble Declaration in behalf of the protestants At the same time the Queen of Navar with some dashes of her illustrious pen and a full Testimony of a Christian Resolution does by Letters declare That she could do no less than joyn with the Prince of Conde and Protestants which with the life of her self and children as also the miserable Reliques of the Kingdom of Navar The Cardinal of Lorrain on the one hand and Spaniards on the other did jointly indeavour by force and policy to destroy which was so discernable that all the world was witness to her injuries And indeed this Noble Queen The Q. of Navars high merits in part described would be ecclipsed of her due value by the draught of my rude pen the highest Encomiums will but stain her virtues but to a little belief of her high deserts know only this That her enemies confessed her virtues and Christian valour to exceed the very applause of her Friendly admirers and therefore her deserts was concluded as much undeniable to them as unspeakable by her friends Thus the very beginning of this pretended peace ends in a third Civil War whose effects was as bloody as sharp and at last we shall speedily see in a Tragical Massacre of many thousand Protestants of all degrees and sexes so securely were the Protestants lull'd asleep in their too credulous opinion of the King and Court Now in this Cabinet Council of the Kings was Charls Cardinal of Lorrain The King publishes a bloody Edict that no Religion should be exercised but the Romish on pain of death which cuts off all former promises and Edicts as if they had never been made to be kept Brother to the Duke of Guise a man of a most crafty and terrible nature insomuch that at Rome he was no less reputed for he was a bitter enemy to the Protestants and for the cruelty of his nature was termed the Firebrand of all Civil Flames whose hands being deep in the blood of the Protestants For by his means and the willing mind of the King and bloody Council was published an Edict in his Majesties name levelling the famous Edict of January and enjoyning That none should profess any Religion but the Romish and that it was treason to embrace any other requiring upon pain of death a general conformity to the Catholick Religion Which bloody Edict was accordingly published whereupon all the Protestant Ministers were banished all places of the Kingdom which were in the Kings power The King declares he meant not what be said Oh deep deceit And that the King may stand amazed at this deep hypocrisie this following Sentence was expressed in this Edict printed at Paris And it was further then declared that albeit the King had in many Edicts before that time permitted the freedom of Religion yet his meaning was to retain and cause to be retained of all men the only Romish or Popish Religion within his Realm Which Edict and clause being so wonderfully strange to all that heard or saw it and because it stained the Kings name with the most horrid spot of perjury and breach of faith it was therefore in other impressions afterward printed purposely omitted in the Edict This Edict was published with an incredible confluence of all sorts of Catholicks and received with the highest celebrations of joy as can be imagined and the rather because the Catholicks much doubted of the Queen Mothers intentions in regard of her dissembling carriage to the Protestants and now all was put out of doubt by this Edict Which clearly demonstrates that the King and Queen Mothers intentions all along was to destroy the Protestants root and branch only took their best opportunity to effect their desires with the least noise of suspicion and greatest security to drive the nail home to the head and their bloody Swords to the hearts of the most innocent souls And thus begins strong preparations for a third Civil War for Religion the sad effects whereof we shall peruse in the next chapter CHAP. V. The Contents THe Protestants gallant Resolutions Both parties arm Queen Elizabeth aids the Protestants The protestants take several towns the Armies face one another but ingage not the Battel at Brisac where the Prince of Conde is slain the Prince of Navar and Prince of Conde chosen Generalls of the protestant Army the Admirall and whole Army swears subjection to these two young Princes the Queen of Navar coins money to pay the protestant Army the Princes and Admiral draw their Army into Garrisons the Kings army sits down before Cognac but are valiantly repulsed they take Mucidan put all to the Sword but lost Count Brisac the Duke Deux Pont with 14. thousand marches to join with the Princes but dies himself by the way The Pope sends Forces to ayd the King Both armies engage the Kings Army retires to Garrisons the Princes take in Chastelrault and Lusignan Town and Castle they lay siege to the great City Poictiers the Kings forces besiege La Charite but leave it after the loss of many brave Gentlemen and Commanders the Duke of Anjou besieges Chastelrault but after great loss leaves it the young Duke of Guise advances to Court and his Fathers place at once the Cabinet Council meets the Armies ingage in a bloody Battel the Kings Army besieges Angeli but receives a gallant shock of a resolute defence by that brave Commander Monsieur de Pilles and at last yielded honourably the Kings Army disbands the protestants increase and are Masters of the field The King summons his forces together and gives the command to Marshall de Coss the King Queen Mother and Cabinet Council plot to linck a peace and the Protestants ruin together the protestants at all times willing to embrace a peace the end
parrallelled CHAP. VI. The Contents THe Queen and Prince of Navar with the Prince of Conde comes to Court the Articles of the War of the Low Countries put in writing the Mariage between the Lady Margarite and Prince of Navar agreed on the King heaps honours on the Admirall and friends the King invites the Admiral to Court and protests his own life is envelloped in his a cross in derision of the Protestants is pulled down by his Majesties command the Plot almost discovered by a lively instance the King threatens severe punishment to any that shall affront the Admirall or Protestants the Admiral comes to Court and welcomed the King allowes 50. for his Guard the Count Lodowick of Nassaw enters the Low Countries and takes in Montz A league offensive and defensive with Queen Elizabeth of England but proved a deep plot the Queen of Navar poisoned by the Kings Apothecary by whose death the Prince is King of Navar the joyful and bloody mariage of the King of Navar and the Lady Margarite the Kings plot to take Rochel the names of the Protestants in Lyons is taken in a bloody Book sad complaints commeth to the Admiral and great suspition of a bloody Massacre at hand but he believed it not the Admiral from a Window shot in both Arms with a Harquebuzier as he walked in Paris the King in great rage dissembles his treachery but publishes his hypocrisie by a shew of grief and discontent he that shot the Admiral escapes having fresh horses waiting for him the Admiral shews himself a true Christian and patient sufferer the matter examined by Judges and the Issue he that shot the Admiral had commission from the King for it the Admiral like to dy requests the Kings visit the King and Queen Mother with many Attendants perform his request they profess sorrow and dissemble wonderfully the King and Admiral discourse alone the Admiral commits his injuries to the Lord the King intreats the Admiral to lodge in the Loure the Admiral refuses a great suspition of Treason by a sudden speech of the Count de Retz in the Protestants hearing the Admiral requested a Guard for his person which the King grants the Admiral and Protestants advised of their ruin but they depended on the Kings promises carriages mariage and solemn Oaths for their security and safety THe last Chapter concluded with the great favours of the King to the Protestants whereby he had so won into their affections and to perswade them all he said was true and to embrace his cruelty for loyalty now in this chapter we shall see the effects of his desires accomplished for we shall behold all the Nobles of the Protestant Religion and Princes with the most of the Gentry environed in Paris by the Treacherous baits of the Kings allurements The Queen of Navar with her Son the Prince and the Prince of Conde with a numerous train of the Nobility Gentry of the Protestants all come to the Court with many brave Commanders But Oh! my heart bleeds to think of the bloody issue In the beginning of June the Queen of Navar and Connt Lodowick of Nassaw arrived at the French Court at Paris the Count came to receive orders about the War in the Low Countries the Queen of Navar was courteously invited by the King to help prepare all things fitting for the Wedding who to that purpose came and was received with a joyful welcome both of the King and whole Court but as now we see their faces smiling with a good aspect so we shall shortly see their hearts full of poison Two daies after arrives the Prince of Navar the Prince of Conde accompanied with the Count de Rochfoucault with all the Trains of the Princes being the chief Commanders Cavalliers and Gentlemen of the Religion amongst which was brave Pilles Briquemault and Pluveault Collonels and resolute Souldiers who in time of the War through their undaunted and resolute valour for the Protestant cause may challenge a right of honour amongst the prime in France their courage being such as their Enemies yielded to them much glory and renown as well as felt the power thereof Amongst the rest also came to Court that famous Commander the Sicur de Guerchy that defended the City Sancere where all miseries were endured and their enemies cruel mercy a place which was driven to such extream wants as no filthy thing was left unfed upon also came the Marquess de Revel the Sieurs de Nove de Collumbiere one Lavardin a famous Commander of Horse with many Noble Lords and gallant young Gentlemen all Protestants in the Bud of their years with a great many more â—f quality and reputation but alas we shall see these poor innocent Gentlemen basely murthered by the Kings command and so deprived of all that Gallantry which their sprightful valour promised to fill the World withal Articles of the Low Countrey war put in writing The Count of Nassaw had with the King concluded on Articles for the Low Country war which Articles were put in writing So that we may say the King used the Count and the Prince of Orange in this War as the Monky did the Cats foot to pull the Chessnuts out of the fire Articles of the mariage And now to the mariage of the Lady Margaret and Prince of Navar the agreement being made That the Prince of Navar should have with the Lady Margaret four hundred thousand Ducats whereof three hundred thousand should be paid by the King and security given by the Queen Mother and the Duke of Anjou the mariage to be in the City of Paris and now Christian Reader the plot begins The King advances a Gentleman of the Admirals to high Honour his name Cavagnes a Gentleman of great Worth and really honorable in himself for excellent parts and no less valour whom the King The Admiral intreated by the K. to come to Court the better to work his Designs sends as Messenger to the Admiral to intreat his presence at Paris in order to honour the King and Court in this mariage as also to consult about the War against the King of Spain assuring him that the King intends his safety in that City as much as his own and that although the Parisians did cordially hate him by reason of their great superstition in that City being with seditious preaching of Moncks and Fryers dayly inflamed to cruelty and bloodshed against the Protestants yet his Majestie would take such care of his person as he should be as safe as the watchfull eye and command of a King would make him A stone Cross pulled down by the K. command at the Admiralls request The King finding a stone cross erected in Paris in a reproachful Triumph against the Protestants in time of the Civil Wars did at the request of the Admiral pul it down in regard it was a publick occasion of offence And thus the King and his Council were hid with the love-hood
their Ruin The Duke of Anjou the Kings Brother commanded Cossin Captain of the Kings Guard to place a band of Souldiers to watch before the Admirals Gate giving strict charge that no Catholicks should enter Now none could be pitched on as the grand Enemy to the Admiral and Protestants and friend to the Guisans than was this Cossin as we shall see by the following narrative The Admirals friends that lay scattered up and down the City were desired under pretence of care and affection to remove their lodging into the same street with the Admiral that they might be sure not to escape Oh! Monstrous and Hellish Plot covered with the Kings care Now the Duke of Anjou as an inheriter of his Brothers Dissimulation strives also to colour his damnable Plot and Treason in the lovingest and highest demonstrations and and care of the Admiral and Protestants and therefore advises that the Admirals friends that now lodged so far distant from his person as the Fauxburgh might have liberty to have their lodgings neerer to him for saies he they being so far assunder they might on any uproar be hurt and no means to prevent it which being neerer one another they might join force to affection and better afford one another their joint aid And so presently commanded the lodgings in that street to be provided Now this was a bait that took off all suspition for alas who could suspect or imagine this to be out of any treacherous intent but rather of care and respect but Oh sad and hellish plot under the vizard of friendship these poor Noblemen Gentlemen and brave Commanders that might have escaped from the calamity are intangled and allured into a narrow street as into a fold or narrow path of destruction no way to escape the fury of their Enemies rage and cruelty All the names of the Protestants and place of abode is taken into a Catalogue against the day of their calamity The next day the Duke of Anjou and Duke of Guise commanded the Undermasters of the streets vulgarly termed Quartermen to take a view of all the Inns and victual-houses from one house to another and to take all the names of the Protestants and so to bring in an Account of their names and places of abode in writing and to deliver them to the Duke of Anjou and Duke of Guise so that presently after the Protestants begun to discover some bloody intentions through the prospect of these preparations Now the King had by this time set a Guard of fifty Harquebuzeirs at the Gate of the Admirals Lodging and great store of Arms were carried into the Loure and about the evening all the people of the City were in arms The Protestants meet advice given to remove from Paris but they still resolve to depend on the K. vows promises Hereupon the chief Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Protestants assemble together again in the Admirals lodging where amongst the rest was the Vidame of Charteres who as before so now advised speedily to try if by any means the Admiral might be forthwith carried out of Paris and that presently the rest should dislodge yet all refused this Counsel resolving to rely on the word of a King sealed with so many Vowes Covenants and Solemn protestations in the presence of God and to the clear witness of all Princes and States The K. and Q. meet and consult of their bloody cutting off the Protestants in a merciless cruelty and devillish massacre In the afternoon the King and Queen Mother walk forth into a Garden named Tegliers accompanied with the Duke of Anjou Gonzague Tavignes and Count de Retz which garden being remote from Resort was thought the fittest place for secrecie and a silent place for privacy and very well fitted for the present conclusion of their last and bloody consultation Here in this bloody Council it was considered of and spoken That the Princes Admiral with the Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Religion were now securely entangled in the Fetters of their own confidence which was so well wedged into their minds as prisons could prove no better instruments to ripen their desires the Admiral he was lying bedsick and could not stir by reason of his wounds the Prince of Conde was fast in the Castle of Loure the City Gates kept shut all night and watched all day those Gentlemen that lodged in the Suburbs were now lodged in the same street with the Admiral and all within the Gates of Paris the rest of the principal Protestants in other Towns were all unarmed and unprepared besides there was not ten Protestants to a thousand Catholicks that the Parisians were in arms and able to make sixty thousand fighting men and that in one hour all might be slain and if these were destroyed they would never make head again in the Kingdom but on the contrary if the Admiral recover such an opportunity would never offer therefore saies the Queen Mother this season must not be lost but taking time by the Foretop all our desires will now come to a period in a success proportionable to all our wishes if we let slip time it withers like a neglected rose on a stalk with a languished head if we shake hands with this golden opportunity our designs will grow under the Sunshine of our desires Thus they lie perdue under the shelter of an unmercifull and bloody Balcony all being resolved to be so swift in execution of the Kings pleasure that no time shall be delayed between his commands and the execution but the moment of performance for now they resolve to take journey from contemplation to action they have learned the Theory of Treachery perjury and cruelty now they come to the practical part of this sad Tragedy But this being a gross and downright murtherous way and no handsome Apology provided to cast over the eyes of peoples understandings it was thought fit to frame some smooth pretext They study a smooth pretext for their bloody cruelty to cosen the vulgar conceptions and honest interpretations But oh who can hide the greatest secrets from Gods searching eye to take off the force and dint of vulgar reports and so to divert the natural current of this tragedy into the illegitimate name of convenient necessity whereupon they order that the common vogue of the peoples tongues should be tipt with this specious pretence that the Duke of Guise and Admirals enmity was the cause of this Massacre They resolve to spare the K. of Navar and Prince of Conde if they will turn Papists Now in this bloody Assembly it was moved whether the King of Navar and Prince of Conde should be destroyed in this Massacre or whether saved the King of Navar in regard of his affinity was concluded to be saved but for the Prince of Conde it was doubtfully carred they considered first whether for his age it were best to spare him or secondly whether to put him to death in revenge of
his Fathers protection of the Protestant cause as also in a hatred of his Fathers name the Duke of Guise urged with a pressing forwardness to have both the Prince of Navar and the Prince of Conde to dy amongst the rest but all thought that too abominable if any thing could be so indeed to such bloodthirsty wretches that two young Princes in the flower of their age of the Royal Family the one in the imbraces of his dear Spowse under the protection of such neer friends and late conjunction by mariage that they should be so miserably destroyed so that the opinion of Gonzague was prevalent who pleaded that with fear of death and torment they should be violently turned to the Catholick Religion The plot is committed to the Duke of Guise to put in execution next day And so this Hellish vaux-like Council broke up with firm and fixed Resolutions to act their several parts and so it was appointed that next morning about three or four a cloak it should be put in execution and that all things should be committed to the mannagement and care of the Duke of Guise On Saturday morning it is bruited and noised throughout all the City of Paris A report is spread that the Duke of Guise was in danger of the Admiral and friends that the House of Gâ—ise was in danger of the Admiral and rest of the Protestants by their great threatenings The Dukes of Guise and Aumale speed to the King and complain of their danger and insolent threatnings of the Admiral and Adherents against their lives protesting sorrow to his Majestie that their services were not accepted but their persons slighted and so desired leave of his Majesty to absent from Court and retire to their houses The Kings horrible dissembling for they were ready to depart the King with a frowning countenance saies Go where you please I will have you at all times if you be found guilty of the Admirals Hurt So with a shew of discontent they mount their Horses and bloody resolutions at once but instead of going home they ly in Paris all night Bloody treachery The King sends the Duke of Guise to provide 2000 men in arms on Sabbath day at night All things being resolved on the 24. day of August being Sabbath day at twilight the Duke of Guise with orders from the King comes to President Charron Provost des Marchands the chief head of the People of Paris giving him to understand that by the Kings command he was fotthwith to provide and order in readiness two thousand armed men which accordingly was done The Admiral having word brought thim that there was great noise of armour The Admirall at the noise of armour fears danger and sends to the King Oh! bloody and cruel command of a King They refuse to let any Protestant Gentlemen to watch with the Admiral The Officers assemble and are commanded by the King to destroy the Protestants whom he calls Rebells and great threatnings heard in all parts of the City and preparations of all things in order for a tumult that night presently he sends word to the King who gave answer that the Admiral needed not fear for all was done by his command and that he had appointed in certain places of the Citie a number of men in arms for fear of any tumult This evening some Protestant Gentlemen profer to watch with the Admiral but poor Gentlemen they were refused A sad presage of Treachery my heart relents and bleeds to write the rest When the Duke of Guise saw all things ready he called to him one Marcel charging him a little after midnight to assemble together the Masters of the Streets commonly called Diziners into the Town House for he was to declare from his Majesty and by his command several things they assemble according to the appointed time Charron the Provost des Marchands guarded with Entrague Puygailart and certain other Guisans did there declare that the King had given him in command to destroy all the Rebells meaning the Protestants to cut off root and branch of that Rebellious race letting them understand that the business was so mannaged to their hands that now with great facility his Majesties desire might be accomplished for the Admiral and all the chief were securely under their power being lodged within the walls of the City that it was first intended they should begin with the Admiral and the principal Protestants lodged in that street and then with speedy alacrity to follow on and to cut off the rest in the City and Suburbs and that the like should be done to the Protestants in all parts of the Kingdom which was in the Kings power for his Majestie would take order that it should be speedily effected The token given to be ringing the great Bell and the murtherers to be distinguished with a Napkin on their arms and a cross on their caps and to begin at the Admirals lodging first Orders given to be couragious in shedding blood Divers Lords guard the King The bloody Murthers assaults the Admiralls lodging Now for better order in this bloody undertaking the token given should be with ringing the great Bell of the Palace called Tocksein at break of day which said bell was only rung on great and emergent occasions and that the distinguishing marks should be a white cross on their caps that candles should be lighted at every window that without confusion or disorder they might proceed from house to house to the exact execution of the Kings command Now the Duke of Guise the better to prepare all things acquaints the Captain of the Kings Guard consisting of Gascoins French and Switzers that they would be in readiness to go on with a bold courage exhorting them to be speedy in bloody executions So at midnight the Provost Sheriffs and Captains of each ward in the City had the same commission given them The Duke of Montpenseir and Duke of Nevers with many other Lords of the Court take arms and being accompanied with their Friends guard the Kings person all the Guards being in Arms at the Gates of the Lour At the Prefixt hour the Duke of Guise the Duke of Aumale and Monsieur de Angoulesm Grand Prior of France the Kings bastard Brother with other Commanders to the number of three hundred went to the Admirals house where they found by the Duke of Anjou's order Cossins company with lighted maches placed for a Guard before it and on both sides the Streets Some of the Gentlemen and Commanders of the Protestants that was lodged in this Street awaken with the noise of men running up and down in arms and lighted Torches they presently got up to enquire what was the matter but alas poor Gentlemen it was now too late they were all dead men no way to escape The Admiral is still perswaded of the K. fidelity repeated his Oaths Promises Leagues Publick Faith sacred respect to the Law of Nations and
dangers and difficulties got to the Sea side and so escaped over to England bringing sad news in their dejected countenances for the loss of their dear and pretious Friends who were also as kindly welcomed by our good Queen Elizabeth as safely escaped from the cruelty of their treacherous and perjured King Whilst these bloody and unheard of crueltys were committed in Paris A bloody plot against Rochel but prevented Strozzi the Kings Admirals lay hovering at Rochel endeavouring to surprize it under pretence of a Banquet to be made for his Friends of the Castle of La Cheine but being discovered he retreated without the effects of his desire or performance of the Kings command The Protestants murthered at La Charite The murthers at Paris is renewed next day But the poor Protestants of La Charite as aforesaid was entraped by the Italian horse and were now put to the Sword But to return to the bloody City of Paris the next day the slaughter was renewed for all that was found hidden in corners or private places of the City were all sought out brought forth and murthered insomuch that the day before and this day were massacred in Paris above ten thousand Protestants of all degrees and sexes the very common Labourers Porters and the most rascally and desperate villains of the City did this day abuse the dead bodies by pulling off their cloaths and throwing them naked into the River of Sein The places of preferment which now lay empty by reason of this horrid massacre were now by the King given to whom he pleased The Admirals office he gave to the Marquess de Villars c. And so like a true Tyrant leaves nothing his poor Subjects can call their own but their miseries In this butcherly Massacre at Paris were sacked above four thousand houses and above five hundred Barons Knights and Gentlemen who had held the chiefest imployments in the War with many noble and gallant yong Ladies and Gentlewomen that had now purposly met together from all parts to rejoice in honour of the King of Navars mariage with the L. Margaret who poor Noblemen Gentlemen Ladies thought of nothing more then of jollity and pleasures but now suffer the Tyrannical rage of a furious King and bloody death to be pittied by all that shall hear this sad story for poor Ladies they expected no such tragical welcome from a Royal King contrary to his Oaths and their spotless innocency and it must needs stick as the greatest badge of inhumanity and cowardice nay a true character of a bad cause To murther like Devils not fight like men Immediately after these unheard of murthers were acted in Paris the King not yet glutted with blood sends Messengers by post to all parts of the Kingdom often shifting horses for more speed with express command to all other Cities to follow the example of Paris commanding all Protestants which were amongst them to be slain and yet at the same time the same King writes other Letters wherein he laid the fault of the Murthers upon the Admiral and the Duke of Guise Now this command of the King to cut off all the Protestants in all Towns and Cities under his command it cannot he expressed how chearfully willingly and readily they were obeyed by the greatest part of the Cities in France for on the receipt of his Majesty Letters they fell on the Protestants at Meaux Troys Orleans and other parts murthering them without all pitty And now let us a little read with melting hearts the sad affliction of Gods Church let us bring the sad ruins of a good cause to our neer view by a spiritual improvement as a prospect draws the object nearer for we must now relate the sad catastrophe of many thousands of poor Christians who fell under the cruel and bloody command of the King to all his Magistrates which indeed is not to be expressed what sad cruelties were committed to the wonderful astonishment of all that hears or reads it for no sooner does the King let loose his cruel commands but speedily the bloody Papists break out with horrid Massacres more like Devils than men For now in Paris the Prisons that had any Protestants by which reason they escaped for a time were now brought forth and basely slain by the multitude of murtherers in which were three gallant Gentlemen of great reputation viz. Captain Monius a very valourous and stout Gentleman next Lomen Secretary to the King and greatly honored and esteemed for his faithful service in his place and lastly Chappes an antient Lawyer of fourscore years And was also of great renown and fame in the Court of Paris all three were basely murthered as cannot be expressed Amongst the rest must be set forth that unparallel'd bloody and treacherous death of Monsieur de la Place President of the Court of Wards which must I say for the strangness of the murther begg leave to have place in this history Their comes a Captain armed to the Gentlemans house and acquaints him that the D. of Guise had slain the Admiral by the Kings commandment and also many other Protestants but out of his deserts he desired to protect him from their fury with all desiring to see his Gold which he might as well bestow on him for saving him as on others for destroying him the Lord de la Place admires at the Captains audatious and petulant demeanour and so confidently required of him whether he thought there were a King or no the Captain blaspheming desired him to go to the K. to know his pleasure the Lord De la Place thinking danger too near absented from him to a place of better secutity the Captain hereupon plunders his house This poor Gentleman seeking shelter in three houses for his life was refused and so at last was forced to return to his own house again where finding his wife very pensive and sad he rebuked and exhorted her not to be so full of dispondency of spirit for death was the utmost and heaven the crown of their afflictions and sufferings and so spoke fully and sweetly of the promises of God which jointly knit their hearts together in comfort and so calling together his Family he sweetly exhorted them expounding out of a chapter to them then went again to prayer and so resolved with the assistance of Christ to suffer all Torments of death rather than dishonour God in the least drawing back presently after comes the Provost Marshal to his house with many Archers with a pretence to secure him and conduct him to the King who answered that he freely desired to continue his obedience to the King but could not see how to escape the fury of the present danger by continual massacres Presently after comes the Provost des Marchands with order to bring him to the King but he excused it as before but he would not have any delay or excuse so that this Noble Lord resolves to meet death by a Christian preparation and
Prison to save the blood yet such was the effusion of Christian blood that it run out of prison streaming down the Gutters of the streets to the amazement of the Popish Inhabitants But now at Orleance the place of the last Treaty of peace and the place where it was solemnly proclaimed with full command for Observation of the Edict At this place I say the Kings Letters came commanding to murther all and happened to come the same day that three hundred were met together at a Sermon whereupon the Maior and Officers commanded the Companies in arms to fall on and to execute speedily the Kings command oh Tyrant and bloody command One of the Murtherers went to a noble mans house inviting himself and his bloody followers to Supper where they were made welcome with good chear no sooner was Supper ended but they blaspheming murthered him and all his family and then plundered his house There were many that lived on the outside of the Town amongst whom was heard such sad murtherings and cruelties that all night long was heard nothing but howlings and cryings of men women and children massacred shooting off of Guns and Pistols breaking doors and rumbling of Carts that conveyed away the dead bodies all which were mixed with the cryes of the bloody Murtherers crying Kill Kill them all and then take the Spoil and thus they continued all the week in these sad and bloody murthers and plundering blasphemously singing in scorn where is now their God On Tuesday they came to a Doctor of the Civil Law who being found in earnest prayer to God they had not the power to kill him only took a little plunder with them next day they came again and views his Library what books they demanded he gave them they told him he must be killed he therefore goes to prayer again and afterwards desired of them that if he must dy to murther him there which they refused they take him and lead him through the Streets and coming to the Schools he desired them to kill him where he taught so many but they led him a little further and so knocked him on the head One that was forced by hunger out of a secret place where he hid himself was presently slain Such as for fear revolted they forced to kill their friends or were killed themselves As soon as the Kings bloody Message came to the City of Tholouse the Gates were presently shut but it pleased the Lord of his good grace and Providence so to order it that the Protestants were gone that morning out of the Ciry to a Sermon and as soon as the noise of the Massacre came to their ears many returned not again to the City But others would venture so far as to go to order their affairs for a Return but poor souls they never returned back for as soon as they came to the Gates they were suffered to enter leaving their swords at the Gates amongst whom was many of great account and on wednesday morning all the poor Protestants were imprisoned with command that none should on pain of death hide any of them Amongst these were six Counsellers which like good Christians encouraged the rest at last they were all brought into one place and so the bloody Murtherers being ready with axes and knives they were one by one destroyed their bodies stripped naked and lay for two daies The six Counsellours being hung up in their long Gowns upon Elm Trees in the Palace yard which would move any one to compassion there being in this City three hundred thus murthered In Roan as soon as the Kings command came there was an infinite number slain in few daies six thousand men besides women whom they used as cruelly as can be imagined their bodies were stript and caried out in carts being put into the pits in great heaps At Bourdeaux as soon as the news of the Massacre at Paris arrived and command from the King to follow their Example The Protestants were boating over the River to a Sermon but orders followed them that they should be apprehended whereupon the Gates of the City were shut yet the Ministers through Gods good mercy and grace escaped and safely landed in England The Governour was somewhat timerous to act the Kings command in such a bloody subjection to cruelty but the Lord Monpessat assured him how acceptable it would be to his Majesty and for their better encouragement he enters the house of the Lord of Obiers and basely murthered him in his own Court And then presently the froath and Scum of the Town assembled and murthered all the rest amongst whom was a Minister that came out of the adjacent Countrey Also there was a reverend old Deacon of a church whom they dragged out of his sick bed through the Streets and so basely and inhumanly murthered As soon as the bloody Message of the Kings cruell command arrives at Angiers they fell on all the Protestants without mercy or pitty to sex or age for no sooner were the Massacres begun at Paris but one Monsorel a bloody and cruel Papist posted and soon arrived with orders from the K. to destroy all he no sooner arrives but desires a speedy conduct to one Masson de Rivers who was a Godly and zealous Pastor of a Church a very able and elaborate Disspenser of the Mysteries of the Gospel and one excelling in wisdom knowledge and learning He it was that laid the foundation stone of the first Church of Christ in Paris This bloody Monsorel meets Mr. Masson's wife at the Door and kindly saluted her demanding where her Husband was she answered in the Garden whither she conducted him who as soon as he commeth to him embraces him kindly saying doest thou know my message and the busmess I come to thee about it is said this villain to kill thee presently for the King commands it and so presents a Pistol to his Breast Master Masson replyed I know not wherein I have given his Majesty such cause but one thing Sir I humbly beg at your hands to give me so much space as to commend my soul to God by prayer which as soon as he had ended this cruel and merciless Tyger pistoled him And so this faithful Servant of Christ fell dead at his feet Not long after arrives another bloody Harbinger from Paris by the Kings Order who drowned many amongst the rest was the virtuous wife of this Godly Minister of Christ Mr. Masson a Christian getting into an obscure place of a Rock the entrance being narrow was after he got in covered with a Spiders web the bloudy Persecutors passing by some of them said it was a fit place for an escape from danger others said can any be here and this Spiders web whole whereupon they departed which may very well be remarkably observed as a special Providence of God CHAP. IX The Contents THe King prolaims pardon to all those that had escaped in Woods and Rocks who no sooner comes home but treacherously destroys
deliver their Ambassy to an Oak-tree standing by One of the three Ambassadours spake to the Oak-Tree in these words Thou hallowed Oak and what ever else in this place belongs to the Gods hear and bear witness of this Disloyal perjury and breach of Covenant and favour our just complaints that we may at last by the help of the Gods be revenged on this perjured people So they returned home and presently raised an Army set on this perjured people and by the just Judgements of God utterly destroy them off the face of the earth To omit many other Examples of this Nature take but this one more King of Lacedemonia The King of Lacedemonia and the Argives being at War Cleomenes the Lacedemonian King made Truce for seven days and the third night following fell on them and made a great slaughter and with this excuse thought to evade the dint of the shame and Gods justice for sayes he It is true I made Truce for seven days but I did not mention nights Yet God followed this perjured King with these Judgements The Wives of the slain Argives arm under the command of Tolesilla their Captainess enter the City and puts to the Sword and flight the power and forces of the perjured King Cleomenes afterwards he was banished into Egypt where he miserably died a desperate death being his own Executioner Thus we see what heavy Judgements God has made and does execute upon all such as are contemners and breakers of this holy Edict and Law of God The Lord is to be feared and obeyed for in all his Judgements none greater threatned nor heavyer and surer falls on than on bloody and perjured men A thing abhorred and hated by Heathens before ever they were so far enlightened as to know the Law of God was above the Law of Nature for though they had but the light of Nature yet they held it a sin unpardonable and no Punishment accounted enough as they could invent There were some that recorded these cruelties and treacherys of the Kings and instanced the Law of the twelve Tables Si patronus clienti fraudem facit sacer esto if the Sovereign cheat his Subjects let them be out of safety or Protection He that in antient time despised the keeping of Oaths was no more to be called a King The Right hand was called a Pledge of Faith The Throne is established by Justice and it is an Abomination for Kings to do wickedness The Throne is upheld by mercy saies Solomon But this King by his Treachery Perjury and Cruelty degraded himself of his peoples affections for he valued not the lives of many thousand so his bloody cruelty could be satisfyed Scipio accounted it an honourable thing to save one Citizen rather than to kill a thousand Enemies There was no power and authority so great as the Dictators at Rome it was such an Assembly which met together as had the power of War and Peace nay they had the command of life and death at their will and that without any Appeal and yet it was not lawful for them to execute a Citizen unless his cause was publickly and justly heard and he legally committed and condemned But indeed it is the manner of Murtherers to bereave of life without Law or cause of death Nay had this horrid Massaere been a bare down-right murther it had been the less but it was covered with fraud and deceit The King and Court must personate a Religious habit and pretence of a Religious vow making Gods holy Ordinance stoop to his deceitful and tteacherous intention The Duties of Kings and Powers of the World which is not inconsistent with prudent Policy and sound Christianity A King ought by his Christian demeanour to have a rich store-house and exchequer of Affection and allegiance in his peoples hearts and he who takes care therein to lay such provision of love as that it may be as a firm Rock as a strong foundation what is there then that he may not command which is in their power to perform then the arms of the peoples affections open and are spread to imbrace any command this is the way to have the key of their hearts and to open that treasury of respect which by the wise mannagement of his power received from them he hath ready laid up Loving Subjects are most uniting in a harmonious consent of obedience to all his Commands love to a Prince created by himself will make cowards valourous even to defend him from the shock of his Enemies assaults And it is seen with greatest lustre and to his best advantage in his Straights when he hath made all his Subjects on the least notice ready to be voluntiers in the greatest dangers and hottest attempts for the Honour of their own Prince But when Kings spend too much on the stock of his Peoples willing minds of Subjection and prodigally trade away that stock of Love treasured up in his people what does he but expose himself to all assaults of fury and cruelty without pitty as it has been the end of many Princes nay when love is abused and turned to hatred in what a tottering Throne does he sit But whatsoever the Theory of an absolute Monarchy be yet a Good King loves the practical part of Justice his Power being more safe in his Laws than his Will Though his power and his Command may claim a strong Authority to do as he pleases yet he will not make his Power arbitrary nor beyond the limit of equal justice to all Now for Oppression Tyranny Cruelty and perjury to be seated in the heart of a King and he in the heart of his Kingdome Oh! how it levells his peoples affections and stems the tide and current of their allegiance razes the very foundation of his own security and is the most compendious way to his own utter ruin It doth by a strange instinct raise tumults and vicissitudes that like a rapid Torrent of confusion falls upon his own head as the reward of his vicious merits What foundation can such a King have when it is builded on a Quagmire seated on the terrible aspect of the peoples hatred accrewing by his Treacherous Tyranny An ingenuous people can no more brook oppression than the River Danube can mix with the muddy streams of Sava But this King to establish his Throne of Cruelty and Tyranny Peaceable like betroaths his People and Himself in an indissoluble bond of Peace never to be broke on his part yet no sooner made before the view of heaven and in the sight and presence of God but he registers his falsehood cruelty and perjury in a suddain breach with the blood of his own Subjects taking the advantage of their punctual observance to disarm them and take their Towns which on the peace granted were delivered and so erects his bloody Engines of deceit upon the ruins of his own promise Now Christian Reader let us a little see the small probability that the Admiral should
but was a plot to cut them of His Oathes being as carfully broken as solemnly made And that which gave the Protestants too sure grounds of fear least a storm should fall undiscovered till unavoydable was this When Ferdinando Alvares de Tolleda Duke of Alva was marching into the Low Countries with a puissant Army to subdue the Protestants there that embraced the reformed Religion against the King of Spains will and desire the Queen Mother ordered the raysing of six thousand Switzers and brought them into France pretending forsooeh that they went for guarding the fronteirs of the Kingdom against the attempts that might be made by the Duke of Alva's Army But see how the light of Heaven penetrats into the dark designes of Hell Letters are intercepted in their way from Rome Letter intercepted the Plot discovered and Spain wherein was discovered a plot for the Protestants for therein was found That it was decreed in a secret Councell to apprehend the Prince and Admirall to destroy the one and keep the other Prisoner and therefore if the Prince and Admirall escaped this bloody Tragedy prepared for them and should try it by Arms that then on a sudden ere they could Arme or be provided those six thousand Switzers were to arrive at Paris where was to remain two thousand as many into Orleans and the rest into Poictiers and thus was the six thousand Switzers pretended to be raised for defence of the Protestants against the Duke of Alva that was indeed for their utter ruin the King and Queen Mother concluding that if the head were off The wickedness of the Duke of Alva the body would fall to the ground calme the winds and the billows will soon surcease their rage Now this bloody Duke of Alva carried himself against the Protestants in such an unhuman way that he permitted his Soldiers to ravish Virgins and one time at his Table boasted the Prince and Admirall and chief Protestants take Lyons Troys and Tholouse for their defence that besids privat Massacres and what the War had destroyed he had Caused to be put to death by the Hangman Eighteen Thousand in six years time And now the Protestants seeing so clear a Plot in the midst of Peace nay that under pretence of safety lurked ruin and Treacherie They prepare to defend themselves by force and stand on their own ground for their Lives and Estates because they see peace is the direct road to a murderous death resolving rather to die in field like men and Soldiers than be cut off by Plots Oh! that they had continued and never embrased Peace may all true Protestants say ere this History ends they therefore to the aforesaid purposes seize on three principall Towns Lyons Troyes and Tholuse The King of France as the usuall Custom is was then preparing for Meaux the King forced to a disorderly retreat from Meaux to Paris to solemnize the day af St. Michaell the Prince of Conde with five hundred Protestants approach Meaux the King and Queen Mother hearing thereof Retire with great disorder and fearfull hast to Pars with six thousand Switzers and other Horse and thus begins the second War being armed on all sides and a generall rising in the Land Now sundry particulars which happened in this second War for our better proceeding in this Tragicall History and for our present purpose must only be touched at carrying along with us the most observable deeds The King sends to the Prince of Conde and Admirall for a more clear understanding of the whole business that we may go on in som order till we come to the rest The second War thus beginning the King sent an Herald to the Protestants whom the Prince and Admirall received in behalf of the rest to whose message they return this Answer That they were resolved to continue the Kings good subjects and what they did was for the defence of their religion liberty granted by the Edict which the King by Oaths had promised faithfully to keep that they desired nothing more then the security of their Lives and Estates in A peaceable enjoyment of the liberty of their Consciences which might the better enable them to be the more firmly fixt in obedience to his Majesties Command The heads of both sides meet and treats but to no purpose But if they should disband it were the most compendious way to their assured Ruin and a plaine laying of their necks to the block and so offer their throats be to be cut by their merciless enemies the Kingdome being full of Swisses Flemings Italians and Germans Hereupon the heads of both parties meet at St. Denis the Constable desires the Prince and Admirall to relie on the Kings word of whose performance he hoped they need not doubt to what ever he promised Oh! that the poor protestants had found is so then had not forty thousand Innocent souls been slain basely and murthered treacherously The Prince and Admiralls noble answer to the constalle To this answer was returned that it was not now time to trust in the Kings word which how little it was kept was too visibly to be read in the bloody effects of the constant breach thereof An Edict being made and sworn to by the King was by the same King violated which was a manifest signe of treachery and perjurie and so perfidious The Prince and Admiralls noble answer to the Constable as few christian Kings would signe to so that they could no more depend upon the Kings word which had hitherto been a snare a sure trap to catch them in and truly they that run may read that all along this sad History the poore Protestants were never und on but when they took the Kings word which indeed at all times proved but the umbrage or shadow of a promise The Protestants never embraced their ruin but when they trusted to the Kings word in a peace being alwayes made with a resolution never to be kept which at last proved a faithfull paslage to their utter ruin so that now this meeting brought nothing conducing to peace for it is certaine that in such a short tract of time I could never yet hear or read of such a constant practise of covenant breaking which all along in this Kings reigne was so often practised as if it had been reckoned amongst their meritorious works as if there were not a God to punish perjurie or treachery And now the Protestants lay their Army down before Pâ—â—is and shortly after both Armies meet and on the tenth of November gave battle and the Protestants received the worst by reason de Andelot came not into the Princes assistance till midnight The two Armies give Battle after the battle therefore next day they enter the field with their Army shew themselves in battalia ready to fight the enemie and so standing some houses before the great citty of Paris they bury their dead the Constable slain cure
take charge of Anglolesm Ienlis commands with a strong garrison in Londun and Monsieur d' Aciere with seven thousand foot and six thousand horse remains at Cognac where the late Battel was fought The K. besieges Cognac is forced to leave it Mucidan taken and all put to the Sword Hereupon the Kings Army under command of the Duke of Anjou attempted to sit down before Cognac but the continud valor in their often sallies amaz'd the enemy to a retreat The Army thus forced to leave Cognac layes siege to Mucidan where the Count of Brisac on the Kings side was slain yet the Town was taken and not only Souldiers but all Inhabitants suffered the rage of a bloody Sword and inveterate Enemy The Noble protestant Duke of Deux-Ponts with fourteen thousand joins with the Princes Army be dies in his March To the assistance of the Princes and Admiral advances the Duke of Deux-Ponts with an Army of fourteen thousand in which Army my was VVilliam of Nassaw Prince of Orange with Lewis and Henry his Brothers in their march it pleases God the Duke the General died by the way and so the Charge of the Army was committed to the Lieutenant General Count Volrade of Mansfield Three daies after the Armies meet with great joy on both sides The Pope mean while assists the Catholicks with four thousand foot and eight hundred horse The Pope and others aid the K. commanded by Paulo Sforza the Duke of Tuscany sent also to their assistance a thousand foot and two hundred horse The Duke of Alva sends three thousand VValloons and three hundred Flemish but Gods just judgments followed their insolent carriages for such Miseries wants and sicknesses followed them that by the way abundance died On the 23. day of June 2569. both Armies approach neer together The Armies engage and next morning by break of day the Princes fell on Strozzi's quarter who was Col General of the Infantry who were all routed and he taken Prisoner there was slain S. Loup and Rogucleauz Lieutenants to Strozzi twenty two Captains and 350 of their best Souldiers on the Protestants side was slain in all 150. The Noble Princes of Navar charges in the head of the Army The Prince of Navar commanded the other part of the Army and charged the Enemy to their quarter with a great deal of manly courage beyond expectation himself charging in the front of his Army Which was so much the more remarkable in regard danger at first seems most terrible so that they that beheld this valour had their senses lifted up with admination and the whole Army puffed up with expectation that the world would be filled with the renown of his actions The Kings Army draws into Garrisons And so after a little skirmishing they both withdrew Hereupon the Duke of Anjou seeing little hopes of overcoming the Invincible manhood and great power of the Protestants he dismisses the Nobility and settles most part of the Army in Garrisons till the first of October against which time all was ordered to be in readiness to appear The Protestants take in Chastelrault The Prince and Admiral advance with their Army and take in the Town of Castelrault and enter in the King of Navars name by whose authority as first Prince of the Blood all things were dispatched The Town and Castle of Lusignan taken They speedily advance to Lusignan and taking the Town laie siege to the Castle which though impregnable for strength yet could not withstand the battering assaults of their valour so was forced to yield on conditions marching with flying colours The Articles being as faithfully performed as promised which though according to Justice yet contrary to the Catholiques constant practice which was a great dishonor to their Army and whole nation The Strong City of Poictiers beseiged but left Speedily after they march and lay siege to the Strong City of Poictiers a City of the greatest Circuit of any in France except Paris being the Head of the adjoining Provinces and where all the wealth and treasure of the Catholiques in the Country was brought for security The Duke of Guise enters with a party to defend the City and after strong assaults and much loss on both sides the Admiral falls sick with continual care and pains to prosecute the siege to a conquest so they rise with their Army and leave the place The catholicks besiege La Charite but are forced away with great loss Now the Kings forces under the command of Monsieur de Sansat laie siege to La Charite and after a sharp assault and stout resistance with the loss of many gallant Gentlemen they were forced to leave it being kept by a resolute and valiant commander Monsciur de Guerchy Cornet to the Admirals own company of Gens d' Arms whom we shall afterwards find basely murthered The catholiques besiege Castelrault but leave it The Duke of Anjou not able to raise the siege of Poictiers did in the mean while lay siege to Chastelrault a place but lately taken by the Protestants but finding a stiff resistance by their valour were forced to tetire with the loss of Fabiano del Monte commander of the Tuscan Forces with two hundred fifty Souldiers and many Gentlemen The Admiral advancing to their relief the Duke was forced next day to march away and lodge his Army at Sello The Duke of Guise admitted to his Fathers place and Cabinet Council The Duke of Guise about this time goes to Court and for his faithfullnesse to the Catholick cause was admitted to his fathers place and to the Cabinet councill this Councill now meets again to consult of the affaires of the Kingdome at last concludes to draw their forces together and fight the Princes Army which although the Prince was on disadvantage yet they resolved unanimously the fight the Catholicks The Armies engage in a bloody and furious battel After sundry skirmishes and sharp encounters the Armies both meet the beginning of October when first the Prince of Navar with ample and Christian Speeches recommended to them all the cause of Religion and Liberty now they engage first with terrible thundering of Cannons and much slaughter but they presently close and fall on with wonderfull fury the horse and foot being strangely mixed together in the heat of the Battle nay such was the heat of their valour on both sides that the very common attendants of the Armies such as Sucklers Boyes Pioneers were deeply engaged for either party And herein the Admirall acted so much of his wonted valour that he shewed himself a valiant Soldier and couragious Conductor for with a furious assault and fixed resolution in the head of his cavalry he charges the Rein-grave and though the Admirall had received a shot in the cheek with a Pistoll yet discharged his Pistoll in the Rein-graves face and there layes him dead on the place and fought valiantly allthough the blood from his wound did
the rage of these Tygers so the Suburbs also where was nothing but murthering and all sorts of cruelties committed men women and children rich and poor old and young nothing to be heard in Paris and the Subburbs but a horrible and terrible noise of arms horses and harquebuziers with a doleful sad and lamentable howling and crying of poor souls going to the slaughter and knew not wherefore a piteous complaint of such as cryed to the villains for mercy together with the merciless and cruel shouts of murtherers and bloody Hell-hounds crying kill destroy for the King commands it mixed with the sad groans of the dying that it seemed as if heaven and earth had met together as if the Heavens would have rent with thunder Oh! sad Oh! wretched King to stain thy honour with such perfidious breach of promise to water thy Kingdom with the blood of Gods people and so to dissemble with the world as if dissembling were further from thy thoughts than thy heart from reality Streets and Rivers dyed with blood The Pavement Market place and Rivers were died with blood and it was heard say by the murtherers that they had put an end to that quarrel that neither pen paper decrees of Justice nor open War could accomplish in twelve years 10000. protestants murthered in one day by the K. command About ten thousand souls makes this Lords day famous for ever with effusion of their pretious and innocent blood such as no age or time can parallel for there was at this time in Paris sixty thousand men with Pistols Pikes Poinyards Curtelaces Knives and such other bloody Instruments who run up and down swearing and blaspeming the sacred Majesty of God cruelly massacring all they meet the streets being covered with mangled bodies Gates and doors defiled with blood And yet we see but in part what cruelties were committed if we compare what we have read and what we shall read together For now having given thee a sight of such Treachery Poisonings perjuries Cruelties and damnable dissimulations with the many murthers committed on the Admiral and Friends in Paris I shall endeavour in the next chapter to give a tast of such sad Massacres and cruelties as will affright and astonish the heart of any true Protestant and if thou hast any grain of true Christianity in thee thou canst not but be toucht with a fellow-feeling of these sad and unheard of murthers and crueltys CHAP. VIII The Contents THe King labours to turn the King of Navar and Prince of Conde to the Catholick Religion by threatning of death and promises of Life Their answers Many Gallant and Peerless Commanders hewen in peeces at the Loure crying out to the Kings Oaths and Promises in the Kings hearing That brave and unparalleled Commander Monsieur de Piles basely slain crying out aloud to the King protesting against his treacherous cruelty and perjury Two hundred gallant Gentlemen slain Count de Montgomery and Vidame of Charteres escape to England A Plot against Rochel but prevented La Charite surprized and all the Protestants cut off The murther at Paris renewed next day the bodies of the dead thrown into the River Sein In two daies above ten thousand slain whereof five hundred of Noble blood Gentlemen with many Ladies and Gentlewomen that came to the mariage The King sends by Post to command all the Protestants to be cut off following the example of Paris Three Noble Gentlemen in the Court murthered The strange sad and cruel death of a brave Gentleman Monsieur de la Place Peter Ramus that famous Professor of Logick basely slain A sad yet comfortable death of a Godly young Christian A terrible and unheard-of cruelty committed on a Gentlewoman with child Merciless cruelty committed on a poor child The most Cruel Horrid and unheard of butchery at Lyons not to be paralleled in any age the blood running through the streets reeking hot to the terrour of the Catholicks themselves The Bloody Massacre at Meaux The like sad Massacre at Troys The bloody Murthers at Orleans The cruel butcheries at Tholouse The cruel slaughters and bloody murthering of six thousand Protestants at Roan The Murthers at Angiers A Godly Minister that had laid the first foundation of a Church in Paris is murthered by the Kings command WHilst these sad cruelties were executed at the Admirals Lodging and in the City and Suburbs of Paris Let us now behold with pitty a number of brave Commanders murthered in the Kings Castle of the Loure by the Kings commandement and in his sight For the King of Navar and Prince of Conde did lodge in the Loure with many other brave Commanders which came to accompany the King of Navar and Prince of Conde The K. promises pardon to the King of Navar Prince of Conde if they will turn Papists The first thing the King falls on after his bloody Butchery in Paris was to deal with the King of Navar and Prince of Conde to whom he gave command to be brought into his presence The King told them all that was done that he had now cut off all the instruments of the late Civil Wars and he hoped would prove a prevention of future troubles for by his command the Admiral was slain with his Train and that no less was done in other Cities to all the Protestants but saies he by reason of your young and tender years and neer alliance in consanguinity and marriage therefore it is I desire you should be pardoned but we shall see it on sad terms to these poor tender hearts ready to break with grief at their friends death and their own too sad and rigid fate Poor Princes betrayed by the cruelty of a perfidious merciless King The King tells them their Lives depended on the reforming their Judgements and turning to the Catholique Religion for he is resolved never to have any more than one Religion in his Kingdom and if they embraced not this Snake in their bosome they must be stung with his bloody Sword as the deserts of their obstinacy The K. of Navars answer to the K. of France The King of Navar humbly beseeched his Majesty to remember his Promises Engagements and now the near alliance by mariage lately contracted and not to force him in those things which only he must be accountable to God alone for that he would please rather to imprison his body than his soul and not to force him to make shipwrack of a good conscience by a violent assault Now the Prince of Conde like a resolved Christian also The P. of Conde's zealom answer to the King did with much zeal answer the King in this manner That he having given his Oaths and promlses in solemn and publick Protestations to all of the Religion would not he hoped forget the great ty of performance which all men are bound to observe under pain of Gods heavy Judgements and therefore he wondered his Majesty should so soon be perswaded to break
incerted only this following Letter The true Copy of the Kings letter to the Governour of Burgundy Cousin YOu have perceived what I wrote unto you Yesterday concerning my Cousin the Admirals wounding and how ready I was to do my endeavour to search out the truth of the deed and to punish it wherein nothing was left undone or forgottou But it hapned since that they of the house of Guise and other Lords and Gentlemen their Adherents whereof there be no small number in this City when they certainly knew that the Admirals friends would proceed to the revenge of his hurt and because they were suspected to be the Authors thereof were so stirred up this last night that a great and lamentable sedition arose thereof insomuch that the Guard by me appointed for his defence about his House was set upon and he himself with certain of his Gentlemen slain and havock of others made in divers places of the City which was handled with such rage that I could not use the remedy I would but had much ado to employ my Guards and other Defence for the safety of my self and my brethren in the Castle of the Loure to give order hereafter for the appeasing of this Sedition which is at this hour well appeased thanks be to God and came to pass by a particular and private quarrel of long time fostering betwixt these two houses Whereof when I foresaw that there would succeed some mischievous purpose I did what I could possibly to appease it as all men know and yet hereby the Edict of Pacification is not broken which I will to be kept as straitly as ever it was as I have given to understand in all places throughout my Realm and because it is greatly to be feared that such an execution might stirr up my Subjects one against another and cause great murthers through the Cities of my Realm whereby I should be greatly grieved I pray you cause to be published and understood in all places of your Government that every person abide and continue in the safeguard of his own house and to take no weapons in hand nor one to hurt another upon pain of death commanding them to keep and diligently to observe our Edict of Pacification and to make the Offenders and Resisters and such as would disobey and break our will to be punished You shall assemble out of hand as great force as you can as well of your friends as of them that be appointed by me and others advertising the Captains of Castles and Cities in your Government to take heed to the safeguard and preservation of the said places so that no fault ensue on their behalf advertising me also as soon as you can what order you have given herein and how all things have passed within the circuit of your Government Hereupon I pray God to keep you Cousin in his Holy safe-guard At Paris August 24. signed Charles and underneath BRULAND Now at the same time were Orders given out by the King for all Towns and Provinces within his Power to follow the example of Paris and to murther and put to death all of the Religion and the very next month he wholly abolishes that famous Edict giving command to root out all the Protestants both from Estates and Places and at last as we shall see causes a Form of Abjuration to be made and causing it to de proclaimed That no Religion should be exercised in the Kingdom but the Romish Now we see by these Letters that the King would fain lay the blot of this foul crueltie to the antient Quarrel of the houses of Guise and Chastillon therefore the Guisans foreseeing the foulness of the fact strove as much to evade the dint of the Dishonour as the King did though the Guisans were the Plotters and chief Agents in the practical part of this cruel Tragedy whereupon they handled the matter so that the King was forced to acknowledge and avow publickly this horrid act and indeed none more fit than the King that commanded it And truly the sad effects of these unheard-of cruelties would make any one disown it and gladly would the King don so for he loved the effects and now could neither evade the dishonour nor Gods just Judgements But he is not yet ripe for them although in these many massacres he had not spared but basely caused to be butchered an infinite number of gallant Noblemen and Young Ladies with abundance of learned men many reverend old men many young Gentlewomen and Virgins many honourable Matrons of good account women with child and little infants at their mothers breasts Now the King being forced to let the world know his perjury and cruelty he labours to set a good face on his cruel heart so that the King that had the four and twentieth day of August 1572. declared by Letters to all the Provinces and several Princes abroad that the tumult in Paris arose betwixt the two parties of the Guisan and Admiral now but two dayes after being the twenty sixth of the same mouth This most mighty King and by consent of all nations commonly called the most Christian King comes into the Parliament with a great Train of his Brethren and other Princes and Lords of his Court attending him where in a full Assembly of his Council he ascends the Throne and sitting thereon he directs his Speech to this great Assembly in manner following The Kings Speech in Parlament That having been informed that the Admiral with certain of his confederates notwithstanding all his favors gratious pardons granted to their former Rebellions yet have now plotted against my person with my mother and Brethren to our utter perdition which being discovered I was forced to prevent my own ruin by Justice to procure theirs and by a speedy course have heaped on their own heads what they would have heaped on mine For this cause therefore it was that by my command the Admiral and his Complices are deservedly cut off hoping thereby that a period is not only put to their Treason against my self and Nobles but also to future troubles which would have fallen on this poor Nation to an utter ruin thereof Now although at first he had both by words and Letters laid the whole Business on the fury of a popular tumult headed by the faction of the Guisans yet now at this time unmasking his Design he discovers himself like his actions and now laid down his Reasons and grounds of this manner of proceeding against these Rebells as he calls them and so further declared That he thought it not altogether unfit to make his Magistrates acquainted with it That what was done at Paris in the late Slaughters was by his own commandment for the safety of his own life and national tranquillity and also that they might proceed with the like severity against such Traytors and Rebells of such a wicked Conspiracy and that it was a sudden thing and not premeditated a deep reach to take