four Armies who made war against the Hugonots in the Daulphinate in Guyenne in Languedoc and in Poictou and reduced and might have quite crusht them if their ruine had been resolutely prosecuted in that astonishment wherein he had put them But the Queen-mother who onely desired the war that she might have affairs in agitation and not that they might have their issue perswaded the King her son for certain studied reasons to grant them peace The Treaty being concluded the Queen-mother made a voyage into Guyenne she feigned that it was to cause it to be punctually executed and to carry her Daughter Margaret to the King of Navarre her husband but it was in effect to sow seeds of Discord among the Hugonots to the end she might be Mistress of that party as she had been in that of the Catholicks Henry now kept his little Court at Nerac he had before kept it at Agen where he was beloved of the people by reason of his justice and goodness But it happened that at a Ball or Dance some young people of his own train blew out the Candles to commit insolencies which so scandalized the inhabitants that they delivered their City to the Marshal of Byron whom the King had sent Governour into the Province of Guyenne A little time after Henry likewise lost la Reole by another folly of his young people He had given the Government of it to an old Hugonot Captain named d' Ussac who had his visage horribly deformed his deformity however hindred him not from becoming passionate of one of the Ladies attending the Queen-mother for she had brought many of the most bewitching with her to kindle a fire every where The Viscount of Turenne afterwards Duke of Bouillon aged at present about twenty one or twenty two years with some others of his age would make Raillery of this business our Henry instead of commanding them silence made himself of their party and having a fluent spirit assisted them in lancing out some mocks jeers against this doting Lover There is no passion renders a heart so sensible as this Usac could not suffer this Raillery though proceeding from his Master but in prejudice of his Honour and Religion he yeilded and delivered up la Reole to Duras a Lord who having been in favour with our Henry had quitted him out of envy because he testified less affection to him then to Roquelaire who was without doubt one of the most honest and most pleasant men of his time These two losses of Agen and la Reole gave him and ought to give all Princes two very necessary instructions The first that a Prince ought well to govern his Courtiers the rather because all their disorders are imputed to him and that it is presumed when they do them that it is himself commits them because obliged to hinder them The second that above all things he abstain from Raillery for there is no Vice which makes so many enemies nor which is more dangerous because others may be concealed Such a word as issuing from the mouth of a particular person would be accounted but a light jest is like a stab of a ponyard from that of a Prince and leaves in the heart mortal resentments Nor must great ones be flattered with this opinion that their subjects or their inferiours ought to suffer all things from them for where honour is concerned the more the person that wounds is superiour the greater is the wound as the impression of a body is deeper the more feet it hath and the higher it falls The Queen-mother had taken with her as we have said Queen Margaret to her husband Neither the one nor the other of the two Spouses were over-well content Margaret who loved the splendour of the French Court where she swam if we may so speak in full intrigues believed to be in Guyenne was a kind of banishment and Henry knowing her humour and carriage would rather have chose her room then her company However seeing it a remediless ill he resolved to suffer it leaving her an intire liberty he considered her rather as a Sister of his King then as his Wife He likewise pretended some nullities in the Marriage but attended time and place to make them known In the mean time accommodating himself to the season and to the necessity of his affairs he endeavoured to draw advantages from her intrigues and from her credit He received no small one in the conference which he and the Deputies of the Hugonots had at Nerac with the Queen-mother for whilst she thought to inchant them by the charms of those fair Ladies she had expresly brought with her and by the eloquence of Pibrac Margaret opposed the same Artifices gained the Gentlemen who were near her Mother by the attractions of her Ladies and employed so well her own that she enchanted the spirit and will of the poor Pibrac in such manner that he acted not but by her motion and quite contrary to the intentions of the Queen-mother who not distrusting that a man so wise could be capable of so great folly was deceived in many Articles and insensibly carried to grant much more to the Hugonots then she had resolved Scarce were eight months spent since the peace but the Queen-mother Monsieur and the Guises began to be weary of it The Queen-mother because she would not have the King rest any long time without having need of her Negotiations and intermission Monsieur because by re-kindling the War he thought to render himself redoubtable to the King and to make him give him forces to carry into the Low-Countries which being revolted from Spain demanded him for their Soveraign And in fine the Guises because they feared lest the ardour of the League should by too long a calm grow cold In these wishes they pressed the King to redemand the places of security granted to the Hugonots and under-hand Monsieur and the Queen-mother caused it to be told to our Henry that he should not surrender them but hold it out that his cause was just and that his safety consisted in his Arms. Margaret who knew his weakness and who likewise wisht the War excited him by the perswasion of Ladies whom she fostered to this designe and by the same means animated alike all those braves who approached her nor spared she her self with the Viscount of Turenne for this purpose so that this Prince possibly with very little justice and certainly to very ill purpose was carried to a rupture and engaged the Hugonots in a new Civil War which was named for the reasons I but now spake of The War of the Lovers This was the most disadvantagious they ever yet made by it they lost a great quantity of strong places and were in such manner weakned that had the pursuit of them been finished they could never have regained strength But Monsieur who desired to transport all the forces
both of the one and the other party into the Low-Countries made himself Mediator of the peace and obtained it by an Edict which was concluded after the Conference of Fleix This peace was the cause of almost as many evils to the Estate as all the former Wars had been The two Courts of the two Kings and the two Kings themselves plunged themselves in their pleasures with this difference however that our Henry was not so absolutely lull'd asleep with his delights but he thought sometimes of his affairs being awakened and lively reminded by the Remonstrances of the Ministers of his Religion and by the reproaches of the old Captains of the Hugonots who spoke to him with great liberty But Henry the third was wholly overwhelmed with softness and feebleness he seemed to have neither heart nor motion and his subjects could scarce know that he was in the world but because he dayly charged them with new Imposts all the money of which was disposed to the benefit of his Favorites He had always three or four at a time and at present he began to cast his graces on Joyeuse and the two Nogarets to wit Bernard and Jean-Lewis of whom the eldest died five or six years after and the youngest was Duke d' Espernon one of the most memorable and most wonderful Subjects that the Court had ever seen elevated in its favour and who certainly had qualities as eminent as his fortune In the mean time the excessive gifts which the King gave to all his favorites excited the cries of the people because they were trampled on and their monstrous greatness displeased the Princes because they believed themselves despised in such manner that they rendred themselves odious to all the world and the hate carried to them fell likewise upon the King whilst that violence which they obliged him to use towards his Parliaments to confirm his Edicts of Creation and Imposts augmented it yet more for if his Authority made his Wills pass as absolute he drew the peoples curses and if the vigour of the Soveraign companies as often happened stopt them he attracted their disdain The people who easily licentiate themselves to Rebellion against their Prince when they have lost for him all sentiments of esteem and veneration spoke strange things of him and his favorites The Guises whom the Minions for so the favorites were called opposed in all occasions endeavouring to deprive them of their Charges and Governments to re-invest themselves were not wanting to blow the fire and to increase the animosities of the people particularly of the great Cities whom favorites have always feared and who have always hated favorites These were the principal Dispositions to the aggrandizing the League and to the loss of Henry the third It is not to our purpose to recount here all the intrigues of the Court during five or six years nor the War of the Low-Countries from which Monsieur brought nothing but disgrace It is onely necessary to tell that in the year 1684. Monsieur died at Castle-Thierry without having been married that Henry the third had likewise no Children and that it was but too well known he was uncapable of ever having any by reason of an uncurable disease which he contracted at Venice in his return from Poland See here the reason why as soon as Monsieur was judged to death by the Physitians the Guises and Queen-Mother began to labour each on their side to assure themselves of the Crown as if the succession had been open to them for neither the one nor the other accounted for any thing our Henry so much the rather because he was beyond the seventh degree beyond which in ordinary successions is accounted no kindred and because he was not of that Religion of which all the Kings of France have been since Clouis and by consequence incapable to wear the Crown or bear the Title of Thrice-Christian Adde to this that he was two hundred Leagues distant from Paris and as it were shut up in a corner of Guyenne where it seem'd to them easie to ensuare him or oppress him The Queen-Mother had a design to give the Crown to the Children of her Daughter married to the Duke of Lorrain whom she would have treated as Princes of the bloud as if the Crown of France could fall under the command of the Spindle Nor was she carried to this onely out of the love she had for them but out of a secret hatred she had conceived against our Henry because she saw that contrary to all her wishes heaven opened him a way to come to the Throne Besides she was too much deceived for so able a woman to believe that the Duke of Guise would favour her in her design there was much appearance and after affaires sufficiently testified it that seeing himself persecuted by the Favorites and ill treated by the King himself for their sakes he had thoughts to assure the Crown for his own head For ill treatments work at least no other effect then to cast into extreme despaire Souls so Noble and Elevated as that of this Prince But he knowing well that of himself he could not arrive at so high a pitch and that specially because it would be difficult to divert the affection which the people of France naturally have for the Princes of the Bloud he advised himself to gain the old Cardinal de Bourbon who was Uncle of our Henry he promised him therefore that the death of Henry the third Arriving he would employ all his power and that of his Friends to make him King and that good man doting with age permitting himself to be flattered with these vain hopes made himself the Bauble of the Dukes Ambition who by this means drew to his party a great number of Catholiques who considered the house of Bourbon The Question was if the Uncle ought to precede the Son of the Elder Brother in the Succession and to speak truth the business was not without some difficulty because according to the Custome of Paris the Capital of the Realm and many other Customes collateral representation hath no place This point of right was diversly agitated by the Reverend Judges and many treats were had some in favour of the Uncle and others of the Nephew but these were but Combats of words the sword was to decide the difference It seemed to many great Polititians that the Duke of Guise acted contrary to his own interests and design by acknowledgeing that the Cardinal of Bourbon ought to Succeed to the Crown this being to avow that after his death which could suffer no long delay it would appertain to our Henry his Nephew Henry 3. knew well his design or rather was advertised of it by his Favorites who saw in it their certain ruine and therefore so much desired to bring back the King of Navarre to the Catholique Church to the end he might deprive the Leaguers of that specious Pretext they
designe they had to profit themselves out of the calamities of France And therefore when they saw that he concurred not with them for their ends and that he thought onely of his own advantage without theirs they afforded him but seeble succour in such manner that they let him fall so low that when they would themselves have done it they could not raise him The second was the jealousie of the Chiefs who never agreed among themselves They thought more of crossing and ruining one another then of weakning their common Enemy and confounded themselves in such manner by their delusions and partialities that they were ever wanting in the greatest Enterprizes whereas in the party of the King there was onely one Chief to whom all was reported and by whose Orders all passed The third was the heaviness and dulness of the Duke of Mayenne who at all times moved slowly His Flatterers called this Gravity This default proceeded principally from his nature and was augmented not onely by the mass of his Body great and fat beyond all proportion and which by consequence required a great deal of nourishment and much sleep but likewise from a coldness and numness which a certain malady he had contracted at Paris a little after the death of Henry the third had reduced to a habitude in his Body of which say some he would very unhandsomely rejoyce King Henry the fourth was not of the same temper for though he very much loved feasting and to divert himself with his familiars when he had leisure nevertheless when he had Affairs of War or any other nature he never sate at Table above a quarter of an hour and never slept above two or three hours together so that Pope Sixtus the fifth being well informed of his manner of living and that of the Duke of Mayenne confidently prognosticated That the Bearnois for so he called him as all the Leaguers did could not fail to have the better of it since he lay no longer time abed then the Duke of Mayenne sate at Table Officers and Servants form themselves after the example of their Masters those of the King were ready chearful vigilant who executed his Commands so soon as they came out of his mouth who took care of all and gave him advice of all On the contrary those of the Duke were slow negligent idle and who upon whatever pressing occasion would not loose any thing of their Ease and Divertisements It seemed to me that for the better understanding our History it was necessary to observe these Circumstances which are absolutely essential and very instructive We have particularized about the end of our first Part who were the Chiefs of the League and how that they held all the best Cities and richest Provinces of the Realm I should never end should I recount all the Factions Fights Enterprizes and Changes which happened in every Province for five or six years time We shall follow onely the gross of Affairs and behold how the Providence of God and the incomparable Vertue of our Henry drew France out of its Labyrinth of Miseries in such manner that the Estate and Religion which should have been destroyed by an irrecoverable War were both the one and the other miraculously saved and re-flourished with as much happiness and glory as ever Though the Duke of Mayenne was retired from before Diepe yet the people were entirely perswaded that the King could not escape him particularly the Parisians whom the Dutchess of Montpensier made believe by Courriers on purpose which she caused to arrive from day to day Now that he demanded to yeild himself Now that he was taken and in fine that he was conducting to Paris insomuch that there were many Ladies who hired windows in the street of St. Denis to see him pass by Whilst they amused themselves with thâ—se false Reports they were much astonished â—o understand that having received a Re-inforcement of four thousand English he was now upon his march and came directly to Paâ—iâ— He had some Intelligences which promised him that if he could gain the Suburbs they would open him a way into the City He assaulted therefore those of St. Germain St. Michael St. James St. Marceau and St. Victor and carried them at unawares but he could not gain the Quarter of the University as he hoped because his Cannon was not brought in time About eight a Clock in the morning on All-Saints-day he entred the Suburbs of St. James where he found the people to have no aversion for him for he saw them not affrighted nor despairingly fleeing but looking out of their windows to regard him and crying Vivele Roy. And he used his advantage with a great Moderation he forbad all sorts of Violences or Plunders and gave oâ—der that Divine Service should be continued in such manner that his people peaceably assisted aâ— it with the Burgesses whilst he having mounted the Steeple of St. Germain attentively considered what was done in the City That Evening the Duke of Nemours having posted thither with the Cavalry and the Duke of Mayenne following on the morrow after with his Infantry the King retired to Montlehery but before-hand he drew up his Army in Battalia in the sight of Paris and kept them four hours at their Arms to make known to the Parisians the weakness of their Chiefs After this Estampes Vendosme le Man 's and Alenzon not able to sustain his presence and Arms surrendred to him and in the manner things went and as the Chiefs of the League defended themselves he had without doubt re-conquered the whole Realm in less then fifteen months if he had not wanted money this onely default retarded the course of his Prosperities The Ransoms imposed on Cities reduced by force all that he could borrow and the money he could raise by Taxes did not half suffice to keep his Troops in a Body For this reason he was constrained for four or five years space to make War in an extraordinary manner When his Troops had served some months and consumed beside their pay all they had forraged in their Quarters he sent them home as well to refresh them as to preserve their Country from the invasions of the League In like manner when the voluntier-Gentlemen had spent that money they brought from other houses he gave them leave to return to endeavour to furnish themselves for another voyage inviting them by his Example to retrench the superfluous expence of Cloths and Equipage otherwise treating them with so much Civility and Courtesie that he never wanted them in the most pressing occasions for they returned the soonest possible serving him if we may so say each his Quarter In the mean time he fell all of a suddain upon Normandy and almost wholly reduced it took the Cities of Dompfort Falaise Lisieux Bayeux Honfleur this last by a very bloody Siege after his return from thence he took
was gone to meet the Duke of Parma at Conde on the Escaut to demand of him some assistance in his necessity He was in a great trouble and in a just fear to loose Paris whether he relieved it or whether he permitted it to be taken and that the rather because that he saw well that if he brought in the Spanish Assistance the Sixteen would serve themselves of that advantage again to raise up themselves and possibly would out of despite to him engage Paris under the Spanish Yoke For these Sixteen loved him not at all because he had broken up their Council of Forty which bridled his Authority and that to shew himself absolutely averse to a Republican Government which they would have introduced he had created another Council a Keeper of the Seals and four Secretaries of State with which he governed Affairs without calling them except when he had need of money Besides this trouble there happened to him another subject of inquietude which was the decease of the old Cardinal of Bourbon who died at Fontenay where he was guarded by the Lord de la Boulay He had reason to fear lest his death should give occasion to the Spaniards and to the Sixteen to demand the Creation of a King and that they should press him so much that in the necessity he had of their aid he should be constrained to suffer it In effect this was the first Condition which the Agents of Spain proposed in the Treaty they held with him to give him Assistance and he out of fear to displease them testified that he ardently wished the Convocation of the Estates to elect a King and transferred the place of their assembly from the City of Melun where he had assigned it to that of Paris that is to say from a City which he had lost to one which was besieged In the mean time he employed his Friends with the Parliament and at the Hostel de Ville to keep to himself the quality of Lord-General which being continued to him he demonstrated that he feared nothing so much as the Estates and endeavoured by all his power to hinder them that which to speak truth compleated the ruine of his party Paris being blocked up the Legat and the Sixteen forgot nothing to encourage their people They consulted their faculty of Theologie and obtained what Resolutions they pleased against him they named the Bearnois They caused many both general and particular Processions to be made and the Officers received their Oath of Fidelity to the Holy Union so it was they called the League At the same time the Duke of Nemours took great Order to put the City in a posture of Defence and the Burgesses being for the most part perswaded that if the King took it he would establish Preaching and abolish the Mass were possessed with an extream ardour and contributed all that was demanded either of their Purse or Labour towards its Fortification There is no finer passage in the Histories of that time then the Relation of this Siege the Orders which Nemours gave in the City the Garisons he established in divers quarters the Sallies he made for the first month the Inventions he used to animate the people the Endeavours and divers Practices of the Kings Friends to bring him into the City the Negotiations held in one part and the other to essay a Treaty of Accommodation how Provisions diminished how they sought means to make them last how notwithstanding all their oeconomy the Famine was extream and how in the end that great City being within three or four days of utter perishing was delivered by the Duke of Parma I shall observe onely some Particularities very memorable There were in Paris when it was blocked up onely two hundred thousand persons and there were of them near thirty thousand of the Country-people thereabouts who had there refuged themselves and there were retired near one hundred thousand of the natural Inhabitants so that in those times there were no more then three hundred thousand Souls in Paris whereas it is now believed that there are twice as many The King was made hope that so soon as the Parisians had for seven or eight days seen the Granaries and Markets without Bread the Butcheries without Meat the Ports without Corn Wine and other Commodities with which the River is accustomed to be covered they would go take their Chiefs by the throat and constrain them to treat with them or at least if a seditious humour did not so soon prompt them to it Famine would force them in fifteen days In effect they had but five weeks Victuals but they managed them carefully and those who had said that knew not well the people of Paris for they are wonderfully patient nor is there any extremity they are not capable to suffer provided they have those know how to conduct them and principally when they act for their Religion It cannot be read without astonishment how blinde was the Obedience and how constant the Union of that fierce and indocile people for four whole months of horrible Losses and Miseries The Famine was so great that the People eat even the Herbs that grew in the Ditches Dogs Cats and Hides of Leather were Food and some have reported that the Lansquenets or Foot-souldiers fed upon such Children as they could entrap The Hugonots ravished with delight to hold that City blocked up which had done them so much mischief insisted strongly in the Kings Council and not onely cryed it there themselves but made it be cryed aloud among the Souldiers That it should be assaulted by lively force and that in six hours it would so become a desolate thing But the good and wise King took no heed to follow those passionate counsels he knew well that they would take parts by force that they might murder all in revenge of the Massacres of St. Bartholomew And moreover he considered that he should lay desolate a City the ruine of which like a wound struck in the heart might possibly prove mortal to all France That he should in one day dissipate the richest and almost the onely Treasure of his Estate and that no person would be benefited by it but onely the simple Souldiery who becoming insolent by so rich a booty would either overwhelm themselves in their Delights or as soon abandon him Those who within had taken the care of the Politick part had committed a great fault in not putting forth the poor populary and useless mouths The scarcity augmenting they sought too late means to remedy it but not finding any they deputed some to the King to gain permission of him to let a certain number depart who hoping for this grace were already assembled near the Gate of St. Victor and had taken leave of their Friends and Neighbours with those Regrets which even rent asunder the Hearts of the most insensible The King was so good and merciful that he permitted
himself easily to yeild to grant them his Favour but those of his Council opposed it so strongly that for fear to disgust them he was at first constrained to send back those miserable People His Clemency nevertheless could not for any long time suffer their violence for having understood by many who fearing death less then Famine had leapt from the Walls the pitiful estate of the City and they having truely represented unto him what they had beheld of their horrible necessities with the incredible obstinacy of the Leaguers his heart was in such manner overburthened with grief that the tears start out of his eyes and having a little turned himself away to conceal that emotion he cast forth a great sigh with these words O Lord thou knowest who are the causes of this but give me the means to save those whom the obstinate malice of my enemies would make perish In vain did the most averse of his Councel and especially the Hugonots represent to him that these Rebels merited no favour he resolved to open a passage to the innocent I wonder not at all said he if the Chiefs of the League or if the Spaniard have so little compassion on those poor people they are only Tyrants but for my self who am their Father and their King I cannot bear the recital of these calamities without being touched to the bottome of my soul or without ardently desiring to remedy them I cannot hinder those whom the fury of the League possesses from perishing with it but for those who implore my clemeney and who are only guilty of the Crimes of others I will stretch forth my armes to them This said he commanded that they should permit those miserable people to depart There were some who crawled and others were fain to be carried There came out at this time more then four thousand who all with great and unanimous shouts cryed out Long live the King After that day since they knew it offended him not the Captains that kept the Guards let daily great bands escape and likewise took the boldness to send victuals and refreshments to their friends and to their ancient hosts and particularly to the Ladies For Paris being the common Country of the French there are few people who love it not and who have not there some gage of friendship which forbids them from procuring its loss and utter ruine After the example of the Captains the Souldiers licensed themselves to convey to them meat bread and barrels of wine over the walls receiving in Exchange some rich goods at a vile price and making themselves brave at the expences of the Merchants that which these were in some manner constrained to tolerate because the others had no money wherewith to pay them This made Paris subsist near a month longer then it would have done but it is almost impossible but this should always happen in like occasions as hath been seen not long time since God be pleased for ever hereafter to preserve France from so great ills After all the King knew certainly that that great City could not long subsist and he desired to gain absolutely their hearts to the end he might undermine the very foundations of the League For this reason he combated their Obstinacy with an excess of Indulgence He gave Passe-ports to the Scholars not able to refuse them to their Parents who were with him after to the Ladies and to the Ecclesiasticks and in the end to those who had shewed themselves his most cruel enemies In the mean time to hasten a little the Chiefs of the League to come to a Capitulation it was agreed in his Councel that he should render himself master of the Suburbs The evening of the 27. of July he caused them all to be assaulted at once They were forced in less then an hour and all the gates blocked up his Souldiers having first fortified their quarters and thrown down the houses nearest the ditch By this last action he took the Parisians by the throats and pressed them in such sort that they could scarce breath for which cause their Chiefs apprehending that neither their defences exhortations or fear of punishments would be longer capable to retain them concluded after ten or twelve deliberations to enter into conference with the King not out of a cordial intention to treat with him but only to spin out things to a length that they might give time to the Duke of Mayenne to make an attempt to succour them They received intelligence from that Duke twice every week and each time he promised them that he would be with them with a puissant Army in five or six days Having fed them with these hopes for five or six weeks he advanced in the end to Meaux where Vitry was Governour and from thence gave them some greater hopes of relief however he was too weak to hazard it The Duke of Parma who had order from Spain to go joyn with him and not to spare any thing for the relief of Paris came with great unwillingness He feared lest during his absence the Council or Cabinet should appoint a Successour in his Government and that he should loose more in the Low-Countries then he should gain in France Notwithstanding he received Commands so express that he was constrained to obey He parted therefore from Valencienne on the sixth of August and arrived at Meaux on the two and twentieth He brought along with him onely twelve thousand Foot and three thousand Horse but Artillery and Ammunition for an Army thrice as great and fifteen hundred Waggons of Provisions to refresh Paris He was without doubt the greatest Captain amongst strangers of the Age he lived for all Exploits which depend on profound Reason and judicious Conduct he had so well laid the Model of his Designe in his Head so well taken his Measures by the exactest Mapps of the Country and so well meditated on all that could arrive him and all that he could do that he held himself assured of success Those who were about the King had always made him believe that this Duke would not leave the Low-Countries and said That if he did either that he could not raise so great a power as to dare engage in the heart of France or that if he raised any great Army he would not arrive time enough to deliver Paris The King suffered himself to be a little carried away with these false Reasons but when he understood he marched in this manner he began already to fear that which arrived and the danger appeared so much more because he had less foreseen it In these Apprehensions he was well content to renew the Negotiation with the Duke of Mayenne who on his side feigned to desire an Accommodation more then ever to the end he might amuse him for fear he should assault Paris by plain force and to entertain the Parisians with the pregnant hopes of their Delivery for the
Famine made them despair in such manner that it was no longer in his power with all his inventions to retain them from surrendry for more then five or six days at most When the Duke of Parma was within two days Journey of Meaux he caused it to be signified to the King That the Duke of Mayenne could no longer treat but conjoyntly with him At present the Council of the King was much astonished and in a great irresolution not knowing what to do It was without doubt a great shame for the King and a notable diminishing of the Reputation of his Arms to raise a Siege which had endured four months and it must needs be a most sensible displeasure to this Prince who was brave and glorious to raise it on the Eve of the taking of that great City the reduction of which had been a mortal wound to the League He had therefore but one course to take but which was without doubt very hazardous nevertheless the King resolved it this was to leave a part of his Troops in the Suburbs and chuse a place of Battel where the rest of the Army might make head against the Duke of Parma and not raise the Siege To this effect the King confirmed in it by the advice of la Noue Guitry and Plessis Mornay left onely three thousand men on the side of the University and put the rest of his Army in Battalia in the Plain of Bondy which was between Paris and the Duke of Parma But the Marshal of Byron disanulling absolutely that counsel wrought so far that it was resolved to advance as far as Chelles with intention to give Battel It was not known whether he was carried to this advice either out of jealousie because he had not given the first counsel or because it seemed to him too dangerous to remain so near Paris from whence there might sally fifteen or sixteen thousand men on the day of battel to charge them behind However it were his Authority was so great among the Men of War and it was so dangerous in this Conjuncture to contract that hot spirit that they were forced to believe him and absolutely raise the Siege to go encamp at Chelles The Duke of Parma seeing that and judging it not convenient to fight retrenched himself readily in a Marish so well that he feared not to be forced he boasted likewise that the King should not in that Post know how to force him to discharge one Pistol and yet that he would take a City in his sight and open a passage on the Rivers to send Provisions into Paris In sum he executed punctually what he had said It was not in the power of the King to oblige him to fight and he took Lagny on the Marne whilst he was not able to relieve it Thus Paris was absolutely deliver'd receiving on the morrow a very great quantity of Boats laden with all forts of Provisions Yet their Joy was not equal to their Comfort for their too long Misery had in such manner weakned their Bodies and supprest their Courages that they were not capable of any sentiments of rejoycing The Troops of the Duke of Nemours having regained heart by this refreshment sallied dayly with the most couragious of the Burgeffes and cut off all Provisions from the Kings Camp in such manner that a little Scarcity being got amongst them Sicknesses began to multiply and the Gentlemen who had flocked thither out of the hopes of a Battel began to grow impatient which the King seeing assembled his Council to seek some remedy to these inconveniences He found that throughout his whole Army there were very ill dispositions and that he had better make a Retreat then expose himself to greater Affronts but being loth to quit the Enterprize of Paris he tryed in passing to carry it by storm on the University-sides between the Gates of St. James and St. Marceau which having done in vain he retired to Senlis and thence to Creil In the end not able to do better he took Clermont in Beauvoisis which incommodated Senlis and Compeigne Afterwards he put a part of his Troops in the Cities about Paris sent another into the Provinces to re-assure them in their Obedience and kept onely with himself a flying Army So soon as he was retired the Dukes of Parma and Mayenne enlarged themselves in the Brie Parma instantly sollicited by the Leaguers besieged Corbeil he thought to take it in four or five days but he lay before it a whole month through the Duke of Mayenne's fault who either out of neglect or jealousie furnished him with Ammunition but by little and little So that seeing his Army much diminished and the rest to licentiate themselves to all Disorders after the Example of the French Souldiers he returned to Flanders much discontented with the Conduct of the French Nation whom he had found as he said inconstant and volatile full of Jealousies and Divisions insatiable and ingrateful His vexatious Melancholy sure made him say so Before his departure he had the displeasure to hear of the loss of Corbeil which had cost him so much Givry Governour of Brie for the King re-gained it in one night by storm and the League whatever instances they made to him could not oblige the Duke of Parma to stay in France till they had re-taken it He left them onely eight thousand Men of his promising to return at the Spring with a greater Army and counselling them in the mean time to amuse the King by Treaties of Peace until the next Campagne a Counsel which the Duke of Mayenne was not wanting to follow which kept many Cities to his party were ready to abandon him The expedition of the Duke of Parma into France retarded much the Affairs of the King but advanced not at all those of the Duke of Mayenne on the contrary it embroiled them and begat those dispositions which in the end ruined them For the Duke of Parma knowing the defaults of the Duke of Mayenne represented to the Council of Spain That he was very improper for the advancement of their interests being both too weak and having too little Authority to keep in Unity so great a Party too jealous too slow and too idle to give order in all things that therefore it was necessary that the King of Spain should take care of the League and become absolute Master of it That to this effect he should gain the Ecclesiasticks and the people of the great Cities who having a great desire to see the Estate of the Government changed because under the last Kings it had been very oppressive to the people would be easily induced either to joyn the Cities together in form of Cantons or make a King whose power should be so limited that he could never weaken them either by Taxes or by Arms as the two last Kings had done In effect the King of Spain finding this way most
Spain the puissance of his Father-in-law had raised his Ambition and Courage and made him forget that constant affection which his Predecessors have almost continually had for France insomuch that they have held themselves much honoured to be Pensioners to our Kings But the Conduct and Valour of Lesdiguieres made him repent all his high designs especially by the battails of Esparon de Palieres and of Pont-Charra where that Duke received as much loss as confusion About this time our Henry conceived a passion for the Fair Gabriella d' Estrees who was of a very noble house and that passion by degrees grew so strong that whilst she lived she held the Principal place in his heart so that after having had by her three or four Children he had almost resolved to marry her though he knew not how to do it but by hazarding great troubles and very dangerous difficulties Having taken the City of Noyon he gave the Government to Count d' Estrees Father of this fair one and a little after gave him likewise the charge of Great Master of the Artillery which had formerly been held by John d' Estrees in the year 1550. Not long after the Siege of Noyon he understood the escape of the Duke of Guise who after many other attempts had got at high-noon out of the Castle of Tours where he had been in prison since his fathers death The News at first no less touched the King then it surprized him he feared this great Name of Guise which had given him so much trouble and he doubted lest this young Prince should re-ingross the love of the people which his father had possessed to so high a pitch he was troubled to have lost such a Gage which might serve him in many things However after he had a little meditated he diminished his apprehensions and told those who were about him That he had more reason to rejoyce then be troubled for of force it must happen that either the Duke of Guise must take his party and that if he did so he would treat him as his Parent and Kinsman or that he must cast himself into the League and then it would be impossible that the Duke of Mayenne and he could continue any long time without contending and becoming enemies This Prognostick was very true The Duke of Mayenne having seen those Rejoycings which all the League testified at this News the Bonefires made in the great Cities those Actions of thanks which the Pope caused publickly to be rendred to God and the hopes which the Sixteen conceived to see revived in this Prince the Protection and Qualities of his Father which they had idolatrized the Duke of Mayenne I say seeing all this was struck with a very strong Jealousie and though he sent him monies with entreaties that they might have an Interview yet notwithstanding he looked not upon him as a new renforce but as a new subject of inquietude and trouble to him In effect this young Prince immediately knit himself in firm bond with the Sixteen and promised to take their protection By this means and by the help of the Spaniards they emboldened themselves in such manner that they resolved to loose the Duke of Mayenne not ceasing to cry down his Conduct among the people I have been assured that there was some amongst them who writ a Letter to the King of Spain by which they cast themselves into his Arms and intreated him if he would not reign over them to give them a King of his Race or to chuse a Son-in-law for his Daughter whom they would receive with all Obedience and Fidelity They advised themselves besides this to make a new form of Oath for the League which excluded the Princes of the Blood to the end they might oblige all suspected persons who would not swear a thing so contrary to their thoughts to depart out of the City and to abandon their Goods to them By this artifice they drave away many persons among others the Cardinal of Gonde Bishop of Paris whom they had begun to hate because that with some Clerks of the City he honestly endeavoured to dispose the people in favoâ—r of the King There remained nothing now but to dissolve the Parliament who watched them day and night and stopt their Enterprizes They had pursued the Condemnation of one named Brigard because he had Correspondence with the Royalists and the Parliament having pardoned him they were so incensed that the most passionate by conspiracy amongst them and by their private Authority having caused those of their faction to take arms went to seize on the persons of the President de Brisson and of de Larcher and de Tardiff Counsellours whom they carried prisoners to the Castelet and after some formalities one of them pronounced against them the sentence of death in execution of which they caused them all three to be hanged at the window of the Chamber and on the morrow to be carried to the Greve to the end they might move the people in their favour but the greatest part abhorred so damnable an attempt and even the most zealous of the party remained mute not knowing whether they ought to approve or blame it Yet there were some of these Sixteen found so determinate as to pass farther they said They must finish the Tragedy and rid themselves of the Duke of Mayenne if he came to Paris he being at present at Laon That after that they might assure to themselves the City elect a Chief who should depend of them re-establish the Council of Forty which that Duke had abolished and demand the Union of the great Cities And certainly there was some appearance that having the Bastille of which Bussy was Governour the common people and the Garison of Spaniards for them that they might render themselves Masters of Paris and afterwards treat at their pleasure either with the King or with the Duke of Guise or with the Spaniards but they wanted Resolution In the mean time the Duke of Mayenne having been in two days doubt whether he should come to Paris because he feared they would shut the Gates against him at length comes with a warlike attendance and seeing that the Parliament durst not attempt to make process against these people he resolved whatever might arrive to chastise them himself and thereupon without form of Process in his Cabinet condemns nine to death They could catch but four whom he caused to be hanged in the Louvre the other five saved themselves in Flanders The most remarkable of these five was Bussy le Clerke who had been constrained to yeild the Bastille to the Dukes people He was seen to lead a miserable life in the City of Bruxels yet still to conserve his hatred against the French even to the last gasp which he breathed forth a little before the last Declaration of War between the two Crowns This terrible blow having quite quelled the
faction of the Sixteen the Duke made four Presidents of Parliament there being now none at all for Brisson was remaining alone the rest being gone to Tours But he demonstrated by this that he did not well understand his own interests for in my opinion it is impossible that the Parliament and the Nobility should remain any long time separate from the King nor can the force of a Party contrary to Royalty consist but onely in two things to wit the People or the Souldiery So soon as the King had received the aid of England and that of the Protestant Princes of Germany he besieged the City of Rouen This was one of the most memorable Sieges of that time Villars a Provincial Gentleman who was Governour did wonderful Actions The Duke of Parma came to his assistance having for that purpose joyned with the Duke of Mayenne but Villars who feared that they would not come in time and likewise that the Duke of Mayenne would deprive him of his Government if he entred the stronger into his place endeavoured to relieve himself and by a Sally which we may almost call a Battel drove the Besiegers a good distance from the Walls The Dukes seeing that and that he was no more pressed retired and Parma lodged his Troops about de Rue in Ponthieu But two moneths after Villars wanting Victuals and the Courage of the Burgesses slackning he was constrained to write to them that they should make haste to come and relieve him The Dukes on so hot an advice re-assembled their Troops in one day repassed the Soame and marching without Baggage came more then thirty Leagues in four days though there were on their way four Rivers to pass Being arrived within a League of Rouen they drew into Battalia in a Valley on the side of Dernetal The King who was gone to Diepe finding at his return his Army too much weakned to resist those within and without raised the Siege to his great discontent and having at a Leagues distance attended them for twelve moneths space in Battail-array he after retired to Pont de l' Arche It was held by many that had they pursued him he could difficulty have shunned either the fighting of a Battel or the loosing of it but the Duke of Mayenne either out of the jealousie he had of the Duke of Parma or for other Reasons was obstinately of opinion that it was necessary to take Caudebec to open the mouth of the Seine and bring provisions to Rouen The Duke of Parma was forced to yeild to yeild to his advice They took Caudebec in four and twenty hours but Parma was wounded in the Arm with a Musquet-shot and some days after the Duke of Mayenne fell sick so that both Generals were both at one time in their Litters In the mean time in five or six days the Army of the King encreased by three thousand Horse and six thousand Infantry which flocked to his assistance from the adjacent Provinces so that he was stronger then his enemies by near five thousand men Now Fortune turned he went to search them and shut them up near to Yvetot and cut off all provisions from them so that they were constrained to dislodge by night and go encamp near Caudebec The two Generals being yet in bed and their Troops very much amazed the Marshal of Byron beat up one Quarter and in the end defeated their light-Horse The Kings Infantry prepared at the same time to charge the Walloon-foot which without doubt in the fear they were in would have demanded quarter but Byron called them back for fear said he lest they should engage themselves between two quarters of the Enemies It was believed he did thus that he might not finish the War where he had the principal Command And see here a sufficient proof of it at another time The Baron of Byron his Son who was likewise afterwards Marshal having demanded of him five hundred Horse and as many Dragoons to go and invest the Duke of Mayenne who was as it were in a trap the Father seeing in effect that this enterprize was infallible regarding him with an angry look told him swearing How now Villain wouldst thou have us send to plant Cabbages for Byron From hence we may know how Wars come to be of such continuance it being for the interest of their Chiefs to prolong them because they finde in them their advantage in the same manner as Lawyers do theirs in retarding a Process Some days after the Duke of Parma being recovered re-called to minde all those inventions and all those stratagems which he had learnt by a long experience and by profound meditation to retire himself from so ill a condition He found in the end no other way then to pass the River and retreat in all haste towards Paris He to this effect caused to be built two Forts directly opposite to each other on the banks of the Seine with Redoubts which commanded on the Water and greater ones on the outside which looked towards the Army of the King By the favour of these Forts he passed in an obscure night both his Baggage Cavalry Infantry and Artillery over Bridges of Boats covered with Planks which he had made to descend from Rouen whilst the King who in effect had perceived it too late could not hinder him So soon as he had passed he took his march by the plains of Neuf-bourg and made such haste that in four days he arrived at Pont de Charenton not having been able to sleep as himself avowed afterwards till he was come into Brie Afterwards he led back his Troops to the Low-Countries covered with glory for having the second time made a great King raise his Siege when there was least appearance and having in his sight deceiving his Vigilance and Diligence passed a great River or rather an arme of the Sea without his being able to assault him This action was so gallant that our Henry could not refrain from wondring at it esteeming it more glorious then the gain of two battails Acknowledging that the chief work of a great Captain was not so much to fight or overcome as to do what he enterprizes without hazarding a combat We ought not forget how that the first time that the Duke of Parma advanced to the relief of Rouen the King went to meet him with a part of his Army as far as Aumale as well to hinder him from passing that little River as to take notice of him and how with four or five hundred Carabines only he stopt for a long time all the enemies Army by three or four vigorous Charges The Duke of Parma believed not that the King was there not judging that he would hazard his person in so dangerous a post and with so few forces but so soon as he knew that himself was present he caused all his Carabines to give the Charge sustained by his light-horsemen
thrown down forty years before and gave a considerable sum of money to rebuild it All France during this holy Jubilee had instantly demanded of Heaven that it would be pleased to give them a Daulphine to deliver them from those misfortunes wherein they should be plunged if the King should die without Male-children Their vows were heard and the Queen happily brought to bed of a Son at Fontainbleau on the day of St. Cosmo being the twenty seventh of September They gave him at his Baptism the Name of Lewis so sweet and dear to France for the memory of the great St. Lewis and of the good King Lewis xii Father of the people Afterwards was appropriated to him the surname of Just and we at present believe his having been the Father of Lewis the wise and victorious none of the least worthy of his Titles His Birth was preceded by a great Earthquake which happened some days before The Birth was very hard and the infant laboured till he was all of a purple-colour which possibly ruined within the principal Organs of Health and good Constitution The King invoking on him the Benediction of Heaven gave him likewise his and put his Sword in his hand praying to God That he would give him the grace to use it onely for his glory and for the defence of the people The Princes of the Blood which were with him in the Chamber of the Queen all of them saluted the Daulphine one after another I omit how express Curriers carried this News into all the Provinces the publick rejoycings throughout the whole Kingdome particularly in the great City of Paris who as much loved Henry the great as they had hated his Predecessor the Complements the King received on his part from all the Potentates of Europe and the accustomed Present of the holy Father in like occasions to wit the blessed swathling bands which he sent by Seigneur Barbarino who was afterwards Cardinal and Pope named Urban the viii Five days before the Queen of Spain was brought to bed of her first Childe which was a Daughter whom at the Font of Baptism they named Anne The Spaniards rejoyced no less then if it had been a Son for in that Country the Females succeed to the Crown Those amongst the French who penetrated farthest into things to come took likewise part in this joy but for another reason which was that this Princess being of the same age with the Daulphine it seemed that Heaven had made the one be born for the other and that she ought one day be his Spouse as in effect Lewis xiii had this happiness and France still possesses it admiring in all occasions the rare Wisdom the exemplary Piety and heroick Constancy of this great Princess In acknowledgement of the grace which God had done to the King in giving him a Daulphine which was the sum of his wishes he redoubled his care and diligence to acquit himself well of what he ought to his Estate to better as he said the succession of his Son We will here recount some Establishments and Orders he made to that purpose Need of monies having obliged him during the Siege of Amiens to create Triennial Officers in his Revenues when it was passed he knew that there was no need of so many people to rifle his purse and that it was impossible but some little should every day remain in the hands of every one of these and therefore he suppressed these new Officers and commanded that the ancient and Alternative ones should re-imburse the Triennial From this suppression were excepted the Treasurers of the Exchequer and those of casual Forfeitures or Fines Rosny had so well bridled both the Gatherers and the Farmers that they could no longer devour those great Morsels they did heretofore But this was not yet enough they were in such manner gorged before he was Superintendent that the King with infinite justice ordained a Tribunal composed of a certain number of Judges chosen out of the Soveraign Courts and called it The Chamber-Royal whom he charged to make an exact search of the misdemeanours of those who had managed the Kings monies This Chamber made a great many disembogue however a great part found the means to escape them some out of a Consideration of their Alliances others by force of money gaining those who were near the King principally his Mistrâ—sses and corrupting the Judges themselves So much is it true that Gold pierces every where and that nothing is proof against this pernitious Metal We need not then wonder if those people filled their Coffers as full as they could since the fuller they heaped them the more facile was their justification I have already said it and I say it again for it cannot be too often nor too much observed that there is no remedy to hinder this disorder which is the greatest of all disorders in the Estate and the cause of all others save onely the vigilance and exactness of the King He must himself hold the strings of his purse have his eye still upon his Coffers know punctually what is in them what comes out of them what ways his monies accrue to what uses they are employed who are they that manage them and above all he must make them give a good account as our Henry did that if they be honest men they cannot be corrupted and if they are knaves not have the means to act their knavery He was made to know that there were two other disorders in his Realm which extreamly impoverished it and drew from it all the Gold and Silver The one was the transportation of it to strange Countries into Italy Germany and Switzerland where the little Potentates melted it and made money of a â—aser Alloy The other was the Luxury which consumed likewise a great quantity in Embroyderies Silver and Gold Lace on Cloaths and no less in the gilding of Wainscots and Chimnies and divers Moveables He made two severe Edicts which prohibited these two abuses For the first he renewed the ancient Orders concerning the transport of Gold and Silver adding the punishment of the Halter to the Transgressors and commanding all Governours to watch diligently the Observation of these his Prohibitions and not to give any Pass-ports to the contrary otherwise he declared them partakers in such Transports By the second he prohibited under the penalty of great Fines for the first time and of imprisonment for the second the wearing of Gold and Silver upon Cloaths or employing it in Gildings This Edict was rigorously observed because it excepted no person the King himself submitting to the Law he made and having looked with an ill Countenance on a Prince of the Blood who obeyed not this Reformation There was likewise expended a prodigious quantity of money in Silks by the buying of which all our money was gotten into strangers hands The King seeing that and considering that the use of these Stuffs
Justice is denied them they may do it themselves and have recourse to force when their prayers cannot prevail This is the cause of almost all seditions and this is it which made all those beyond the Loire incensed at this imposition drive away the Factors and which is more kill some of them The Farmers on the other side sharpned the mischief by their furious threats that they would dismantle the rebellious Cities that they would build Citadels to keep them in awe And I believe that these Gentlemen did desire it should be so not out of love to the Kings Authority which they had still in their mouths but for their proper revenge and particular advantage The King having advice of these Commotions fearing left they were raised by the Emissaries of the faction of the Duke of Byron which he had then newly discovered a little after Easter departed from Fontainblean came from Blois and from thence to Poictiers There he favourably hearkned to the complaints of his people and remonstrated to the Deputies of the Cities of Guyenne That the Imposts raised were not to enrich his Ministers and Favourites as his Predecessour had done but to support the necessary charges of his Estate That if his demeans had been sufficient for it be would not have taken any thing out of his Subjects purses but since he had first employed all his own it was just they should contribute some of theirs That he passionately desired the ease of his Subjects and that none of his Predecessours had so much desired their prayers to God as he to bless the increase of his Realm That those Alarms given them that he had a designe to build Castles in the Cities were false and seditious for he desired to have no other Forts then in the hearts of his Subjects By these sweet Remonstrances he calmed all the seditions without having need of chastising them save onely that the Consuls of Limoges were deposed and the Pancarte for so it was they called the Sol pour livre established But this was onely for the honour of the Royal Authority for soon after this Prince the most just and best that ever was knowing the extream Vexations it caused revoked and utterly abolished it The second thing which gave him yet more trouble and which was capable to overthrow his Kingdome if it were not remedied was The Conspiracy of Marshal Byron It is to be understood that Laffin had been the principal Instrument of intelligence between the Marshal and the Duke of Savoy he had carried and re-carried Letters and had had some Conferences with the Duke and with the Count of Fuentes so that he understood the whole intrigue But seeing that there was no assurance in the words of the Savoyard and that Byron began to shake he resolved to discover the whole plot to the King were it that he feared lest if he should too long delay it it might be discovered other ways or that he hoped by this service to gain a great recompence and restore himself to the Kings favour with whom he stood on very ill terms Having laid this designe he employed the Vidame of Chartres his Nephew to obtain from the King his Grace and Oblivion of all passed on condition that he discovered to him the Complices of the Conspiracy and furnished him with proofs He had preserved several Letters committed to his keeping but they said not enough nor spoke so clearly as to make a Conviction But to pass an absolute one see what he did Byron had some Notes written with his own hand wherein the Conspiracy was laid down in Articles Laffin remonstrated to him that it was an imprudence to keep them and to communicate them because his writing was too well known that it would be more secure to make a Copy and burn the Original Byron approving his counsel gives them him to transcribe He indeed transcribes them whilst Byron lay on his Bed afterwards giving him the Copy and ruffling up the Original he makes shew of casting it into the fire but by a premeditated cunning he casts in some other Papers and keeps them A thing of this importance deserved well the care of Byron himself in its burning but he not taking it because God so permitted that negligence cost him his life as we shall see After this Laffin continuing still his devices to endeavour yet to gather some more particular secrets he went disguised to Milan and conferred with the Count Fuentes but this close and able Spaniard finding well that he would betray them shewed himself more reserved It hath been reported that Laffin having knowledge of this distrust was fearful lest he should make him away and therefore returned by the unusual and unfrequented ways of which the Duke of Savoy being advertized by Fuentes kept prisoner the Secretary of Laffin named Renaze for fear lest he should go serve as a witness against Byron In their Conferences they had proposed to dismember the Kingdom of France That the Duke of Savoy should have Provence and the Daulphinate Byron Bourgongne and la Bresse with the third Daughter of the Duke in marriage and fifty thousand Crowns for Dower some others should be Lords of other Provinces with the quality of Peers That all these little Soveraigns should hold their right from the King of Spain That to compass this designe the Spaniards should with a puissant Army enter the Kingdom and the Savoyard with another That they should cause the Hugonots to stir and at the same time revive many discontents in several places and animate the people already much incensed by the Pancarte or Tax of a Sol pour livre All these propositions say some were made in the time of the war against Savoy and the Marshal of Byron grown outragious at the Kings refusal to give him the Citadel of Bourg had not only lent his eare but had engaged himself very far in these damnable designs However he seemed to have repented himself for he had confessed them to the King walking with him in the Cloister of the Cordiliers at Lions and had demanded pardon of him but he had neglected to take an abolition or script of indempnity contrary to the advice of the Duke d' Espernon who was more wise and considerate then he But a little after repenting himself for having repented he was returned to his first fault and yet entertained correspondence with strangers Moreover he spoke of the King with little respect abasing the splendor of his worthy actions glorifying his own and boasting that he had put the Crown on his head and preserved France In fine all his discourses were onely Bravadoes Rhodomontadoes and Threats All this was reported to the King It was told him that he undervalued his great acts extolled the power of the King of Spain praysed the wisdome of that Princes Council his liberality in recompencing all good services and his zeal to defend
Poictiers becoming vacant Rosny very instantly besought him to consider in this occasion one named Frenouillet reputed a knowing man and a great Preacher The King notwithstanding this Recommendation gives it to the Abbot of Rochepozay who besides his own particular good Qualities was Son to a Father who had served him well with his Sword in his Wars and with his knowledge and spirit in Embassies Some time after the Bishoprick of Montpellier became vacant the King out of his own proper motion sent to seek Frenouillet and told him that he would give it him but on this condition that he should acknowledge no Obligation but to himself By which it may be seen how he in some sort considered the Recommendation of Rosny but it may likewise be perceived that the power of that Favourite who caused so much jealousie in the world was bounded I call him Favourite by reason that he had the most splendent Employments though to speak truth he had no pre-eminence over others of the Council for Villeroy and Janin were more considered then he in Negotiations and Forraign Affairs Bellievre and Sillery for Justice and Policy within the Kingdome and it is not to be imagined that those people did in any manner depend on him There was onely one head in the Estate which was the King who alone made all his Members and from whom onely they received spirits and vigour About the end of this year the Duke of Savoy thinking to revenge himself and repair the loss of his County of Bresse on the City of Geneva attempted to take it by storm The Enterprize was formed by the Counsels of the Lord of Albigny and the Duke having passed the Mountains believed it infallible D' Albigny conducted two thousand men for this purpose within half a League of the City yet was not so rash as to engage himself but left the conduct to others More then two hundred men mounted the Ladders gained the Ramparts and ran through all the City without being perceived In the mean time the Burgesses were awakened by the cries of some that fled from a Guard which had discovered the Enterprizers and as soon beheld themselves charged by them The Gunner who was to have broken a Gate within to cause those without to enter was unhappily slain after which they were weakned on all sides The greatest part endeavoured to re-gain their Ladders but the Cannons on the Flankers having broken them in pieces they were almost all slain or broke their necks by leaping into the Ditch There was thirteen taken alive almost all Gentlemen amongst the others Attignac who had served as second to Don Phillipin bastard of Savoy They yeilded upon assurance given them that they should be treated as prisoners of War But the furious cries of the common people who represented the danger wherein their City was of Massacres Violation universal Destruction or perpetual Slavery forced the Council of this little Republick to condemn them to the infamous death of the Gibbet like to Thieves Their heads with fifty four others of those that were killed were stuck on Poles and their bodies cast into the Rhone The Duke of Savoy confused with such ill success and much more with the reproaches of all Christendome for having endeavoured such an Enterprize in time of absolute peace repassed the Mountains in haste leaving his Troops near to Geneva and endevoured to excuse himself to the Suisses under whose protection that City was as well as under that of France for having attempted to surprize it saying That he had not done it to trouble the repose of the Confederacy but to hinder Lesdiguieres from seizing it for the King The Dukes of Savoy have for a long time pretended that this City appertained to their Soveraignty and that the Bishops who bore the title of Earls and were for some time Lords of it held it from them which is however a thing that the Bishops never acknowledged always maintaining that they depended immediately on the Empire The City on their part sustained that it was a free City and not subject in temporal things neither to their Bishops whom they quite drave out in the year 1533. when they unhappily renounced the Roman Catholick Religion nor to the Duke of Savoy but onely to the Empire for which reason they always bore the Eagle planted on their Gates Both one and the other have very specious Titles to shew their rights but for the present the City of Geneva enjoyed full liberty and had for above sixty years being become an Allie of the Cantons of Switzerland Now the Suisses were comprehended in the Treaty of Vervin as Allies of France and by consequence so was the City of Geneva and the King had sufficiently declared it to the Duke of Savoy notwithstanding which he ceased not to attempt this Enterprize hoping that if it succeeded the King of Spain and the Pope would sustain him in it and that the King for so small a thing would not break the peace The Genevans furiously incensed against him began to make War couragiously entred his Country and took some little Towns They hoped that the King and the Suisses would second these motions of their resentment and that all the Princes of Germany would likewise come to their assistance But the King desired to keep the peace and was too wise to kindle a War in which he could not make Religion and Policy agree or unite the Honour and Interests of France obliged to protect its Allies with the good favour of the Pope moved by his duty to the ruine of the Hugonots He therefore sent de Vic to assure them of his protection but with order to let them know that Peace was necessary for them and War ruinous and that they ought to embrace the one and shun the other And they having little power for so much anger and not being able to do any thing without his assistance were constrained to consent and enter into a Treaty with the Savoyard by which it was said that they were comprized in the Treaty of Vervin and that the Duke could not build any Fortress within four Leagues of their City It happened almost in the same time that the City of Mets rose against the Governour of that Citadel He was called Sobole who having been made Lieutenant by the Duke of Espernon to whom Henry the third had given the Government in chief had deserted this Duke I know not for what consideration and had taken provision of the King He had a Brother who seconded him in the Charge of this Government During the last War against Spain these two Brothers had accused the principal inhabitants of Mets for having conspired to deliver the City to the Spaniards There were many imprisoned some put to the rack but none found culpable so that all the Burgesses believing with reason that this was a Calumny conceived a hatred against these Soboles and drew up
not that they should call him Monsieur or Sir a name which seemed to render Children strangers to their Fathers and which denoted servitude and subjection but that they should call him Papa a name of tenderness and love And certainly in the Old Testament God took the names of Lord the Mighty God the God of Hosts and others to set forth his greatness and power but in the Christian Law which is a Law of Grace and Charity he commanded us to make our Prayers as his Children by those sweet words Our Father which art in Heaven There remains at present that we put here a Summary recapitulation of the Life of this great King and after erâ—ct an Eternal Monument to his glory in the name of all France which can never sufficiently acknowledge its Immortal obligations to his Heroick vertue He began the first motions of his life in the Camp at the Sound of Trumpets his Mother brought him into the world with a wonderful courage his Grand-father inspired strength into him the first day he saw him and he was brought up to labor from his tenderest infancy The first knowledge that age gave him was to resent the death of his Father killed at the siege of Rouen and to see himself encompassed with dangers on all sides distant from Court his friends dis-favoured his servants persecuted and his ruine conjured by his enemies His Mother a generous and able woman gave him excellent instructions for Morality and Policy but very ill ones for Religion so that he was a Hugonot by Engagement and not by Election And he often professed that he was not prepossessed that he should be ready to clear and â—ay himself open and that if they could make him see a better way then that he followed he willingly and faithfully would walk in it but that till then he was to be tolerated and not persecuted At the age of fifteen years he became chief of the Hugonot party and gave such sensible advices that the greatest Captains had cause to admire him and to repent that they had not followed him He passed the first flowers of his youth part in Arms and a part in his Lands of Gascoin where he remained till the age of nineteen years He was then enticed to come to Court by a Marriage as illegitimate as cruel for we may say that the present Nuptial was the suddain death of his Mother the Feast the general Massacre of his friends and the Morrow of his Marriage his Captivity which endured almost four years at the mercy of his most cruel enemies and in a Court the most wicked and most corrupted that ever was known His courage was not at all weakned by this servitude nor could his soul be infected among so many corruptions But the Charms of the Ladies which Queen Katherine made use of to retain him begat in him that weakness and vice which indured all his life not to refuse any of those desires their beauty inspired To withdraw himself from the servitude of the Court he cast himself into the snare of his ancient party and of the Hugonot Religion He received all those troubles and all those perplexities which the Chiefs of a Civil War make proof of his dignity of General not dispensing with the pains and dangers of a simple Souldier Thrice did he oblige the Court to grant him Peace and Priviledges to his party but thrice they violated them and he several times beheld seven or eight Royal Armies make head against him His valour which had already appeared in many occasions signalized it self with great Renowne at the Battail of Coutras This was the first important blow that he struck on the head of the League A little after it having assembled the Estates at Blois to Arm the whole Kingdom against him and exclude him from the Crown of France the Guises who were believed the Authors of this Tragedy were themselves made the terrible Catastrophe but which filled all with flame blood and confusion The Duke of Mayenne Armed himself to Revenge the Death of his Brothers and the King almost quite abandoned and shut up in Tours was enforced to call him to his aid Our Hero passed by all distrusts and all fears some would have infused into him to take the part of his Soveraign They marched to Paris and besieged it but upon the point to enter Henry the third is Assassinated by a Monk The right of Succession calling our Henry to the Throne he found the way crossed with a thousand terrible difficulties the League in head against him the servants of the defunct King little affected to him the Grandees every one for his particular ends The whole Catholick Religion Leagued against him without the Spaniard the Pope the Savoyard the Lorrainer within on one side the people and the great Cities on the other the Hugonots who tormented him with their continual distrusts He could not advance one pace without finding some obstacle so many days so many battails His subjects endeavoured to overthrow him as a publick enemy and he endeavoured to regain them like a good Father In his Closet and in his Council there were only displeasures and bitternesses caused by an infinity of discontents treasons and pernicious designs which were from moment to moment discovered against his Person and against his Estate Every day a double Combat a double Victory the one against his enemies the other against his followers using Prudence and Cunning where Generosity would not serve At Arques he made it appear he could not be overcome and at Yvry that he knew how to vanquish Every where where he appeared all yeilded to his Arms The League dayly lost places and Provinces It was beaten by his Lieutenants in other places as by himself in the heart of his Kingdom He had forced Paris if he could have resolved to loose it but by sparing it he absolutely gained not onely its walls but its hearts The Duke of Parma stopt a little the progress of his successes but he could not change their course Vertne and Fortune or rather Divine Providence seemed linked together to crown him with Glory God visibly assisted him in all his designes and preserved him from an infinite number of treasons and horrid attempts which were dayly formed against his Life In fine he overthrew the intentions of the Thirdlings and prevented the resolutions of the Estates of the League by causing himself to be instructed in the Catholick Religion and re-entring into the bosome of the holy Church When that pretext of Religion was wanting to his enemies all the party of the League mouldred away Paris and all the great Cities acknowledged him the Duke of Mayenne though very late was constrained to become his subject and return to his duty and all the Chiefs of the League treated separately This shew'd a great deal of prudence and cunning in the King to receive them thus disjoyntly for if they had all together made a treaty of common
Counsels given him He rejects them and causes to be Proclaimed the old Cardinal of Bourbon The King tries in vain several Treaties with the Duke He raises his League from Paris and why He writes to the Protestant Princes to justifie himself His troubles for 4. years to content both Catholicks Hugonots He had need of infinite prudence address eloquence Hee carries the Corps of Henry the third to S. Cornille de Compeigne Three advices touching the place to which he should retire 1590. He follows the last which was to march into Normandy Rolet brings him the Keyes of Pont d' Arche and Chattes of Diepe He would besiege Rouen but the Duke of Mayenne coming to its suecour drives him to Diepe and invests him The Duke reports he cannot escape him The Parliament at Tours counsel him to associate the Cardinal of Bourbon in the Royalty Others counsel him to retire to England He derides both one and t'other The Duke of Mayenne besieges Diepe Batâ—ail of Arques The Duke raises the siege retires goes into Picardy and why What hindred the success of his enterprize He knew not how to take his advantages Thâ—eeâ— auses for 〈…〉 which the great body of the League prospered not in their designes The distrust between the Spaniards and Duke of Mayenne The jealousie among the Chiefs of the League The sloth and negligence of the Duke of Mayenne Great activity and vigilance of Henry 4. Officers servants resemble their masters This History recounts onely the chief affairs The Parisians made believe the King was taken They arâ— much astonished to understand him marching towards them He takes the Faubourgs of St. Germain c. His moderation in this rencounter The Dukes of Nemours Mayenne post thither The King retires to Montlehery He takes Estampes Vendosm le Man 's Alenzon Want of mony stops his progress In what manner he made his Troops subsist He reduces almost all Normandy and besiegeth Dreux The Duke marches to succour Dreux The King advances to fight him Two reasons oblige him to it What causes engage the Duke of Mayenne to the Battail Battail of Yvry March 14 Wonderful intelligence of Henry the fourth His prayers to God His exhortation to his Souldâ—ers The battail won by the King Great loss of the Leaguers The Duke of Mayenne escapes to Mantes and thence to Paris The King too much exposes his person which Byron freely remonstrates to him His Clemency aâ— Generosi â— after the Victory His Acknowledgements and Justice A Noble Action he did Another worthy Action What hindred the King to go directly to Paris Devilish counsel The widow of Montpensier amuses the people The King departs from Mantes takes some Cities and goes to block up Paris The Duke of Mayenne was gone to meet the Duke of Parma and had left the Duke of Nemours at Paris The death of the old Cardinal of Bourbon troubles him The Spaniards the Sixteen â—â—â—â—s him to make a King he assignes the Estates to Paris He keeps to himself the Title of Lieutenant-General Nemours takes order for the defence of Paris Number of the inhabitants of Paris It proves not so easie to take it by famine The Hugonots would have it taken by force but the King will not Useless mouths starve Paris Great Clemency of the King to let the miserable people go forth His generous words Those of the Army send victuals into Paris Which makes them subsist The King takes all the Suburbs in one night The Duke of Mayenne advances to Meaux but dares not relieve Paris The Duke of Parma comes to joyn with him with an Army from the Low-countries He had so well contrived all things that he was assured to raise the siege of Paris The King never believed he would quit the Low-Countries He renews the Negotiation with the Duke of Mayenne who feigns to entertain it to amuse him The Kings Council mech ironbled The King would take a place of battel and not raise the siege Byron advises to raise the siege and carries it The Duke of Parma takes Lagny in the sight of the King relieves Paris Abundance of Victuals carried to Paris The Army of the King constrained to separate Duke of Parma besieges Corbeil and takes it He returns to Flanders Corbeil regained by storm The Duke of Parma counsels the King of Spain to become chief Master of the League The King of Spain no longer considers the Duke of Mayenne but thinks to render himself Master of the great Cities by factions The King endeavours to re-gain the Duke He endeavours likewise to regain the people Three means by which Henry 3. lost the affection of his subjects His negligence and inapplication The wasting his Revenues His ill keeping his word Three other ways quite contrary by which Henry 4. gained the esteem and affection of his subjects His activity and greatness of soul. His care of his Revenues Francis d' O Superintendant of the Revenues a great expender The King constrained to suffer him in this charge but pares his nailes His constant keeping his word and freedom His goodness He pardoned injuries and never knew vengeance This reconquered his kingdom rather then his sword 1591. Divisions and Jealousies in the party of the League and that of the King In the party of the King three factions of Hugonots Catholicks and Servants of Henry the third The Hugonots solicite the Protestants to send Henry 4. powerful assistance to hinder him from turning Catholick An Edict granted to the Hugonots Death of Pope Sixtus 5. Election of Gregory 14. Enterprize of the League on S. Denis where the Cavalier d' Aumale is killed Enterprize of the King on Paris called the battail of the Flour Chartres besieged and taken by the King President Janin sent to Spain on the part of the League The Spaniards design to profit themselves by the ruine of France Gregory 14. sends an Army to the League And a Bull of Excommunication against those Prelates follow the King and money to the Sixteen Oâ—r Henry well served by the Count of Turenne And by the Duke Lesdiguieres He becomes passionate of the fair Gabriella The Duke of Guise escapes from prison The judicious reasoning of Hen. 4. on his escape The Duke of Mayenne becomes jealous of his nephew The Sixteen lean to the Duke of Guise and would lose Mayenne They write to the King of Spain They drive the Cardinal of Gonde many others from Paris By a horrible attempt they cause to be hanged the President of Brisson and two Counsellours * The publick place of execution in Paris Some would likewise kill the Duke of Mayenne but want heart to do it Upon this the Duke comes to Paris and hangs four which quite quells the faction of the Sixteen He makes four Presidents of Parliament 1592. The King besieges Rouen where Villars was Governour Great and memorable Sally The City pressed Parma comes to relieve it The King raises his Siege and