our Lord 790 This very Year was begun as some do hold that indissoluble Alliance between France and Scotland Charles having sent four Thousand Men in assistance of King Achaius who made him a present say the Scottish Authors of Claudius Clement and Alcuinus an Anglo-Saxon two learned Men for that Age. It is added that they came to Paris and erected some publick Schools Beginning of that Famous Vniversity the Mother of all those that are in Europe Year of our Lord 791 France having at this time no other Affairs Charles thought it was time to take his Revenge of the Huns but so as it proved a blessing to them by their being subdued to embrace the Christian Faith They had say some Autâ—ors seven Ringues or Vast Enclosures lock'd within one another and wonderfully Pallisadoed and strengthned with Rampires into which they made their retreat with their Spoil which they had practised above two hundred Years Charles having passed the River Emms which divides Bavaria from their Country went forwards with his Forces who marched along the two sides of the Danube attended with a Fleet which sailed on the same River and at the same time another Body of Eastern French-men entred upon them from Bohemia Upon his arrival they all fled and left two of their Ringues to him and afterwards he made his way and ravaged as far as the River Rab. Had it not been for a great mortality which almost destroy'd all his Horses he would have push'd his Conquest further We must observe That the Country of those Avari which lay on the East of Bavaria was by the French because of their Situation Eastward in respect of them called Oosterich whence comes the name of Austria Year of our Lord 792 An eminent danger wherein he found himself the following Year prevented his return thither as he had projected The French Austrasian Lords offended at the lofty behaviour of the Queen Fastrade conspired to be freed from her to ridd themselves of their King her Husband and to set up one of his Bastards named Pepin in his stead who had a handsome face but crooked and as malicious as it was possible The plott was discover'd by a poor Priest who being accidentally in the corner of a Church where they met for this purpose over-heard them discoursing of the design Charles by Sentence of the Estates caused several to be beheaded some their Eyes to be put out others hanged and his Bastard to be shaved and thrust into the Abby of Prom which is in the Bishoprick of Triers Year of our Lord 793 This Year Liderick de Harlebec Great Forester of Flanders was made Earl of it but not hereditary though from him are descended the Earls of that Country Year of our Lord 793 The same Year a Tumult was raised in the Dutchy of Benevent contrived perhaps by Grimoald and the rest of the Lombards which proved so dangerous that Lewis King of Aquitaine went into Italy with his Forces to assist his Brother Pepin Year of our Lord 793 Whilst Charles was at Ratisbon and had laid a Bridge over the Danube to go and subdue the Avari A Design was propounded to him which would have proved of great benefit in that War and for ever after to all Europe Which was to make a Communication between the River Rhine and the Danube and by consequence between the Ocean and the Black-Sea by cutting a Channel from the River Almuâ—s which discharges it self into the Danube to the River Redits which falls by Bamberg into the Meine which does afterwards run into the Rhine near Ments To which end he caused a world of men to work but the continual Rains that hapned filling up his Trenches and over-flowing and washing away his Banks ruined that brave and useful Undertaking Besides he was diverted by two accounts of ill tydings one the revolt of the Saxons who having kept themselves quiet seven or eight years now threw off again both the Yoake of Obedience and of Religion The other that the Forces Commanded by his Counts in the Marea of Spain were defeated by the Saracens Year of our Lord 794 Felix Bishop of Vrgel had in his answers to Elipand Bishop of Toledo published a most dangerous heresy That Jesus Christ as Man was but the Adopted Son of God the Father And although about two Years before the King having sent for him obliged him to recant and to go to Rome to abjure his Errour nevertheless he began anew to dogmatize Wherefore he caused a Councel of French Bishops to assemble at Francfort as also several Bishops of Germany and Lombardy who all condemned that Error in presence of the Pope's Legat They also rejected the Second Councel of Nice which had ordained the adoration of Images and pronounced that it did not deserve the title of Oecumenique Whilst the King was at Francfort died Queen Fastrada his third Wife Year of our Lord 794 From thence he went and fell with all his Forces upon the Saxons Country his Army being divided in two whereof he Commanded one part himself and his Eldest Son the other struck so great a Terror thorough all those Provinces that instead of running to their Arms they came running to him to begg for Mercy and this good Prince sparing the blood of those obstinate People contented himself with the taking away of one third of all such as were capable of bearing Arms and transporting them to the Sea-Coast of Flanders Year of our Lord 796 Upon his Return he passed away his Winter in the Country of Juliers where having discovered some hot Baths he built a fair Palace and a Church to the honour of the Virgin Mary For which reason that place was called Aix la Chapelle These Baths had in former times been accommodated and adorned with handsome Structures by some great Lord or Roman Governor whose Name was Granus it is not well known in what time from whence in Latin it takes the name Aquis Granum But I should have told you that before this Year was expired the Saxons had once more play'd the enraged Devils cutting in pieces an Army of the Abodrites in the Passage to the Elbe as they were marching by the King's Command upon an Expedition against the Avari Viltzan who Commanded them was slain which put the King into so great Wrath that he gave up all Saxony to the mercy of the Sword and at this time there were slain at the least Thirty thousand of those People bearing Arms. Pope Adrian his intimate Friend being dead Leo was Elected by the Senators and the Principal of the Clergy at Rome He sent him an Ambassadour to give Year of our Lord 796 him notice of his Election and to carry the Keys of St. Peter's Church with the City Banner and other honourable Presents to him desiring him to send one of his Princes thither to receive the Oaths of Fidelity of the Romans a certain proof that the King in quality of Patrician held
Vrsins in the City of Soissons for the same end and one at Avignon by the Legate Peter de Foix Archbishop of Arles Anno 1457. Some perhaps would in this Rank place the two Assemblies of Bourges called by Charles VII the one where the Pragmatick was framed the other with whom he consulted to which of the two Popes they were to adhere either to Nicholas or Felix and that which was held at Lyons Anno 1447. whither the Deputies of the Council of Basile resorted and the Ambassadors from the German Princes and likewise the Electors of Treves and Colen to regulate the Conditions upon which Felix should renounce the Papacy Neither any of Nickclif's nor the Hussite Sectaries spread so far as to infest France or at least did take no rooting there but in the Year 1412. there sprung up a Sect in Picardy who were called Men of Intelligence whereof a Frier William de Hildernissen a German of the Carmelites Order and one Giles le Chautre a Secular were the Evangelists This Giles said he was the Savior of Mankind and that by him the Faithful should see Jesus Christ as by Jesus Christ they should behold God the Father That the Devil and all the Damned should one Day be saved That the Pleasures of Love being simple acts of Nature were no Crimes but a fore-tast of Paradice That Fastings Pennance Confession and Ceremonies were but useless things That the time of the Old Law was that of God the Father the time of the New Law that of God the Son and that there would shortly be a third which should be the time of the Holy Ghost and therein all Mankind stould be set at Liberty That their Actions contributed neither to Salvation nor Damnation for that Our Lord Jesus Christ had abundantly satisfied for the whole World These with many other Whimseys they openly taught The Carmelite was forced to retract them at Bruxels at Cambray and at Saint Quentines where he had dogmatized before Peter Dailly who about that time was created Cardinal The Court of Rome did likewise place in the number of Hereticks another Carmelite named Thomas Connect a Breton by birth and caused him to be burnt alive in the Year 1431. though many believe that the Evangelical Liberty he took to reprove the abominations of the Prelates and the Confidence he had in carrying on his reformation to the very Spring-head of Corruption was all his Crime However his Sermons were so powerful that they wrought a wonderful Change where ever he went moveing even the wanton Women so much as to sell their very Cloaths and Jewels to bestow in Alms and throw all their amorous Toys and Ammunition into the Fire that they might be no longer tempted with those Vanities and dangerous Triflcs A certain French Priest going to Rome at the time of Jubile in Anno 1450. ran the same hazard as the Carmelite because he affirmed he had lived four years without eating They believed it to be either an Impostor or a Compact with the Devil and he was banisht after they had first whipped him We find that in the Year 1453. one William Edeline Doctor in Divinity and Prior of Saint Germans en Laye was condemned by Sentence of the Bishop of Euureux to perpetual Imprisonment for having abused a Woman of Quality and to effect this it was said he had made a Contract with the Devil had worship'd him in the shape of a Ram and had often been transported through the Air to those Nocturnal Assemblies which they called their Sabat We read likewise in the Bourdelois Chronicle that Anno 1435. in the time of Peter Berland Archbishop of Bourdeaux in that Country was discover'd a grand Cabal of those Wretches called Witches that many of them were thrust into Prison some of them were burned and the rest poysoning themselves left their Carkasses to be served as the others This Archbishop was a Peasant by Birth and but little Polished nay as I guess more Scrupulous then Wife or Intelligent since he opposed the Pragmatick but yet he led a pure and innocent life There was War still betwixt the Jacobins and the Cordeliers as between two opposite Powers and mutually jealous each of them watching an opportunity to take advantage of his Adversary In the year 1460. one James de la Marchea Cordelier having preached at Bresse in Lombardy that the Blood of Jesus Christ whilst it was poured out of his Veins at the time of his Passion had lost the Hypostatical Union and that therefore during those three Days it was neither Divine nor Adorable a Jacobin Inquisitor of the Faith cried out it was an Heresy commanded him to revoke that Proposition and caused a Frier of his Order to preach in contradiction to him The dispute grew warm and then it was no longer the Opinion of two private Persons but of both the whole Orders the Devout took part with either according to their Affections and Interest the People were cabaled and were divided as it is usual though they never understood the Question in debate Pope Pius II. fearing the consequences of these partialities commanded the Generals to send the most learned of their Friers to him that he might hear their Arguments and Reasons in this Point This question was bandied three whole Days before the Pope and in the presence of the Cardinals the Bishops and the most Famous Doctors in Law who are more numerous in that Court then the Divines The greatest part of that Assembly and the Pope himself inclined to the Opinion of the Jacobins but having need of the Cordeliers to preach up the Croisade which ran much in his mind they referr'd the decision of this Contest to another time which is not come to this very Day and in the interim the Holy Father made a Constitution which forbid them upon pain of Excommunication and being rendred uncapable of all lawful Functions to Mention Preach or Teach in Private or Publick any thing concerning this Question or to maintain that either the one or the other of these Opinions is Heretical Nevertheless there have been some School-Men in the last Age who out of a strange Itch of raking together all these Niceties and Punctillios much fitter for Sophisters then solid Divines have thrust this Question into their large Volumes And there are besides some People of such a depraved Taste and so ignorant of all Antiquity that they do more delight in reading this Rubbish then in perusing the Holy Fathers or the Councils For this little advantage the Jacobins frequently met with great rubbs and checks upon the Point of the Conception of the Virgin They from time to time renewed the attack upon this question but they were ever routed beat from their ground It happened in the year 1497. that one of their Doctors having Preached at Rouen that she had indeed been purified not preserved from the Original stain was cited before the University and condemned to recant
Jerusalem he purchas'd it of Guy de Luzignan giving him in exchange for it the Kingdom of Cyprus which the House of Luzignan held till the year 1473. as we shall observe in its due place We find frequently enough in History the apparitions of Meteors in the Air representing Battles Firing and as it were engaging one another but this year a most wonderful thing some were seen to descend upon Earth near the City of Nogent in Perche and fought in the Fields to the great terror of the Inhabitants of that Countrey Year of our Lord 1192 In the mean time Philip being returned into France remembred very well that Philip d'Alsace Earl of Flanders had promised upon his Marriage with Queen Elizabeth his Niece Daughter of the Earl of Hainault to give him after his death the County of Artois He consider'd likewise that to the Queen belonged some part of the inheritance of the said Uncle To this end therefore he goes very well attended into Flanders and forced him to give up all the Countrey of Artois with the hommage of the Counties of Boulogne Ghisnes and St. Pol which till then had ever held of the Earls of Flanders and extended as far as Neuf-Fosse This was the first leaven of that mortal hatred and obstinate feud and wars between the Flemming and French Year of our Lord 1192 Now the misunderstanding that was between Richard and the Duke of Burgundy the perpetual jealousie that King lay under lest Philip in his absence should seize upon his Lands and withal the indisposition of his Body which had been twice or thrice sorely shaken with Sickness during his stay in that Countrey would not let him remain any longer in the East Of a sudden he grew so impatient to return that he sacrificed all the fruits of his heroick Valour to that longing and pressing desire For on condition of a three years truce he renders to Saladin all those Places he had Taken or Fortified in this last Expedition Year of our Lord 1192 Some few days before Hugh Duke of Burgundy died of a fit of Sickness to whom Odo or Eudes III. his Son succeeded Year of our Lord 1192 After Richard had left what Forces he had yet remaining and such places as the Eastern Christians had still in Syria with Henry Earl of Champagne his Nephew he embarqued the 10th of October with little attendance and because he durst not pass thorough the territories of the King of France his declared Enemy he went and landed near Aquilea to pass thorough Germany But the Lords of those Countreys especially Leopoldus Duke of Austria whom he had highly offended at the Siege of Acre or Acon caused him to be so narrowly watched that notwithstanding he went disguised and travelled thorough unfrequented Roads he fell into the hands of that Duke He delivered him basely up to the Emperour Henry who kept him prisoner Fourteen Months When Philip heard of his Captivity he dispatched Messengers into Germany to negotiate with the Emperour to detain him as long as possibly he could Some Months after he sends to declare a War against him incites under hand his Brother John a Prince without Honour or Faith to seize upon the Kingdom of England and he at the same time falling into Normandy takes Gisors and some places in Vexin Some reckon this last event in Anno 1292. and by consequence before the imprisonment of Richard However it were in the month of February Anno 1193. he took the Town of Evreux which he gave to John keeping the Castle himself and went to besiege Rouen but lost his labour there Year of our Lord 1193 Queen Elizabeth his Wife had been dead about two years he demanded in Marriage the Princess Isemburge Sister of Canut King of Denmark a beautiful and chaste Princess but one that had some secret defect And indeed the first night of the Nuptials they being Married at Amiens in the beginning of the month of August he took such an aversion that he would never touch her He kept her notwithstanding some time and afterwards growing weary of that unnecessary Expence he so contrived it that the Arch-Bishop of Reims the Popes Legat with some French Bishops gave sentence of Divorce or Separation He did it upon the testimony of some Lords whom he produc'd who asserted they were of kindred within the Fifth and Sixth Degree In effect Isemburge and Philip had both of them for Great Great Great Great Grand-Father Jaroslas or Jarisclod King of Russia This Jaroslas was Father of Ann who was the Wife of King Henry I. and of Jaroslas II. whose Son was Vlodimer that had a Daughter named Isemburge wife of King Canut IV. This Canut begot Voldemar and from Voldemar came Canut V. and our Isemburge Year of our Lord 1194 Richad having in fine got himself out of Captivity in despite of all the obstacles Philip had made use of endeavour'd to revenge himself by force of Arms but having drained himself of Moneys to pay his Ransom his Exploits did not answer his Resentments During two years the two Kings reciprocally destroy'd eithers Countreys with Fire and Sword demolished a great many places and then made a Peace about the end of the year 1195. restoring on either side what they had taken from each other unless it were the Vexin which remained to Philip. Year of our Lord 1194. and 95. It hapned in this War that as Philip was passing by Blois the English who had laid themselves in Ambuscade took all his Baggage amongst which as the Grand Seignor does to this day he made them carry all the Titles or Papers belonging to the Crown Thus they were all destroy'd or lost to the great damage of the Kings affairs and the French History He caused Copies to be collected where ever they could meet with them to compleat and furnish the Treasury of his Charters or Paper-Office In the Month of March of the year 1196. the great overflow or inundations of Waters Year of our Lord 1196 especially the Seine were so terrible and frightful that Paris and the Isle of France seared a second Deluge We take notice of it because it was the greatest of any whereof the Histories of France make mention Year of our Lord 1196 The Peace betwixt the two Kings lasted hardly six Months Philip commences the War against Richard for two reasons One because he had built a Fort in the Island d'Andely on the Seine And the other because he had taken the Castle of Vierzon in Berry from the Lord to whom it belonged who claimed Justice of the King their Sovereign Lord. Year of our Lord 1197 The next year Baldwin XI Earl of Flanders grudging in his heart that Philip had taken from him the half of his Succession left by his Uncle Leagued himself with Richard against him as did likewise Renauld Son of the Count of Dammartin notwithstanding Philip had assisted him in getting the Heiress and the Earldom of Boulogue Year of our
did again inspire them with new and dangerous Questions and Propositions but besides all these another sort of poysoners came out of Italy into France bringing along with them the most pernicious venom of the Manicheans and these were they in my opinion who first infected the Diocess of Alby for which reason those Heretiques were named Albigensis They were convinced at a Conference in that City at the Bishops who was chosen Arbitrator by both parties in presence of many Lords Prelats and Constance the Wife of Raimond Earl of Toulouze and Sister to the King of France Gozelin the Bishop of Lodeve refuting their errors by arguments and proofs drawn out of the New Testament This Conquest could not wholly destroy these unwholsom Seeds they multiplied every day more and more and soon mastered Toulouze the capital City of Languedoc The Kings of France and England were almost resolved to make use of Fire and Sword to destroy them however they thought fit to send some Preachers first amongst them to labour and endeavour to convert them or confound them and to cut them off from all communion with the faithful that they might corrupt no more of them The Popes Legat went thither in Anno 1178. accompanied with Four or Five Bishops and several other Clergy-men they discover'd many of these people in Toulouze amongst the rest the oldest and the richest and as I may say the cock of all the others who let them have his Towers to Meet and Preach in They forced him to submit to a publique pennance pull'd down his Towers or Turrets and excommunicated and banished several of those Heretiques who retired into Albigeois that was as it were their Fort or Cittadel because Roger Earl of Alby favour'd them and made use of them to keep the Bishop of his City a prisoner These Countries of Languedoc and Gascongny as well because of their distance as their situation and likewise the fiery warlike disposition of their people were filled with another sort of wild Beasts and such as delighted in Blood I mean Troops or Herds of Bandits who hir'd themselves to any one that wanted them to take revenge upon their Enemies or else roved all about to seek prey for themselves They sought not only after Money and Goods but took their Persons or their Lives away sparing neither condition nor age nor sex They were of no Religion but help'd the Heretiques thereby to have some pretence to rob Churches and Church-men some of them were called Brabanders Arragonians Navarrois and Basques as coming from those Countreys Others Cottereaux and Triaverdins a Nick-name whose original I do not know and their Horse-men Routiers from the German name Reuter The General Council of Lateran which was held in Anno 1179. Excommunicated both the one and the other forbid the burying them in Holy Ground and exhorted all Catholiques to fall upon them seize upon their Goods and bring their Persons into slavery allowing all those that took up Arms against them Indulgences and Relaxations of pennance proportionable to their Services and at the discretion of the Bishops Amongst these Heretiques there were some that were called Popelicans who held a great many strong Castles in Gascongny where they had cantoniz'd themselves and made up a body ever since they were cut off from the Church Henry who from being Abbot de Clervaux had been made Bishop of Albe having in quality of Legat gathered a good force together by his Preachings and Exhortations went to visit them with a strong hand in Anno 1181. They feigned to avoid this storm they would abjure their errors but the danger being over they lived as before This contagion spread it self in many Provinces both on this and the other side of the Loire one of these false Apostles by name Terric who had kept himself conceal'd a long time in a Grott at Corbigny in the Diocess of Nevers was taken and burnt Divers others suffer'd the same death in several places particularly two horrible old Women in the City of Troyes to one of whom as it was said they had given the name of Holy-Church and to the other that of St. Mary that so when they were examin'd by the Judges they might swear by St. Mary they believed no other then what was the belief of Holy Church These Popelicans amongst other things did openly repugne the reality of the Body of Our S. J. C. in the Sacrament for which cause there were divers miracles wrought in those times to confirm people in the faith of that mistery They were condemned in the Council of Sens of the year 1198. as were likewise the Vandois the Patarins and the Cathares The name of Patarins came from the Glory they took in suffering for the Truth patiently that of Cathares because though falsly they professed great purity of Life These last were called in Flanders Pifles and in France Weavers because the most part of them lived by the labour of their hands which they employed in that Trade It would require a whole Treatise to enumerate and particularize all these Sects their several Names and their Opinions which agreed in some points and were quite different in others but in my judgment they may be all reduced to two that is Albigeois and Vaudois and these two held almost or very near the same Opinions as those we call in our days Calvinists There arose if not an Heresie at least some great doubts touching the resurrection of the Body in the time of Maurice Bishop of Paris by reason whereof to testify what his Faith was concerning this Article he ordain'd they should engrave upon his Tomb the first Response which we find in the Office for the deceased After his example many other Ecclesiastiques gave Order before their death that these words should be affixed upon their Breasts in writing and put into the Graves with them These Schismes and Errors thwarting the power of the Pope and the Clergy confirmed and increased it the more For First the Popes gained the whole advantage upon the Emperours concerning those Disputes about Investitures Then when they had gotten that liberty of Elections they would needs extend it likewise to the persons and Goods of the Ecclesiastiques they said the Church owed no Contribution but to her own Head who is the Vicar of JESVS CHRIST on Earth and that the Clergy could not be corrected but by their Superiours which they founded upon that Maxim That the less Noble or Worthy ought not to command the more Noble or Worthy nor the inferior be judge of him that is above him However this point striking at and diminishing the Authority of all other Temporal Princes as well as the Emperours could not pass for current but in the Countreys of those that were weak and on the other side of the Mountains The third subject of the differences they had with the Emperours was they pretended it belonged to them to dispose of or give
for a farther tye toma ke this agreement sure they stipulated the Marriage of a Daughter of the Burgundians with Philip Count de Vertus the Second of the Three Brothers Year of our Lord 1409 The Peace concluded the King returned to Paris and the Burgundian to the Low-Countreys From whence coming again about the month of July he took the whole Government upon him and to give some satisfaction to the People whose affection he had gained in shewing his dislike against Taxes he caused the Council to call the Financiers to Examination and Account The most of them got off for Money but it cost John de Montaigu his Life who had been Sur Indtendant He was a man of mean birth Son of a Citizen of Paris whom the Kings favour without any great desert of his had raised to the Office of Grand Maistre of his House and his Brothers one to the Arch-Bishoprick of Sens the other to that of Paris His immense Riches which never are acquired without crime did blind this little fellow and drew the eyes of all great Men upon him insomuch as he bad married his Son to a Daughter of the Constable d'Albret and his Daughters to the greatest Lords of the Kingdom Though he had been very serviceable in negotiating the Treaty of Chartres nevertheless the Duke of Burgundy and the King of Navarre conspired his destruction because he had given the advice to carry the King to Tours They caused him to be accused of divers hainous crimes taking their opportunity when the King who loved him was in one of his Fits of Folly he was Arrested by Peter des Essards Provost of Paris examined by Commissioners of Parliament and cruelly tormented on the Rack His sufferings could not draw one word from him however his Head was chopt off at the Halles At his death he freely of his own accord confessed his depredation of the Kings Treasure which in it self contains all the greatest crimes The Trunk of his Body was hanged on a Gibbet his Head planted upon a high Pole Afterwards the Vicount de Lionnois had interest enough to re-abilitate his memory and having caused the Body to be taken from Montfaucon with an honourable convoy or attendance of Priests and Torches carried it to the Celestines Church at Marcoussy which he had founded Year of our Lord 1409 At this examination of the Officers it was ordered that all the Receivers should Account before the Earls de la Marche de Vendosme and de St. Pol and that till the had so done nothing should be allowed without Receipts and Vouchers The Treasurers were likewise all put out and the management thereof was given to some Citizens who were esteemed rich and less interessed Thus the Princes strove to gain the affection of that Queen of Cities For the same reason they renewed all their former Priviledges and the Provostship of Marchants of which they had till now only given them the keeping and they also granted them but to such only as were Natives the priviledge of holding Fiefs with the same Franchise as any Gentleman The Kings sorrow was very great when upon his recovery he heard of the death of Montaigu whom he had tenderly loved But there being no way to recall things past he would consider of what was to come Having therefore assembled the Grandees of the Kingdom he told them that he desired when he was at any time ill the Queen should take cognisance of Affairs and upon her default the Dauphin Duke of Guyenne whom he discharged from being under the conduct of his Mother but would that he should Govern with the Councils of the Dukes of Berry and of Burgundy This last usurped all the Authority Year of our Lord 1409 Whilst the Mareschal de Boucicaut was gone to Milan to receive that State under the Kings Protection and Government for John Galeazo chose this rather then that of the Marquis de Montferrat and Facin Can de l'Escale who had halfe subdued it the Marquiss to prevent him in it had caused the Genoese to rise up in Arms by means of the Gibbeline party They massacred all the French within their City forced the Cittadel and called him in to be their Lord but soon after they threw him out as they had done Boucicaut Year of our Lord 1409 Maugre the fulminations of the two Anti-Popes Maugre the Councils each of them had called Gregory in the Patriarchat of Aquilea and Benedict at Perpignan that Assembly which the Cardinals of both parties had summoned was open'd at Pisa the Five and twentieth of March. The Anti-Popes having been cited to appear there and all the Forms observed the Substraction was first order'd then they declared Schismatiques and Hereticks and Faculty given to the Cardinals to elect another Their Suffrages agreed in favour of Cardinal Peter Philargi called of Candia because a Native of that place He was named Alexander V. During the Schism Ladislaus King of Naples had seized upon Rome and the Lands of the Church which was the cause why the Council and the new Pope Alexander more willingly invested Lewis of Anjou with that Kingdom and gave him the Command Year of our Lord 1409 of Lieutenant-General of the Church In the beginning he had good success regained all the places that Ladislaus had usurped and drove him out of Rome but the end was not alike Year of our Lord 1410 The Eighteenth of May or according to others the First of June the Emperour Robert dyed at Oppenheim in Bavaria The Electors divided into two parties whereof one elected Sigismund de Luximbourgh King of Hungary the other his Cousin Josse Marquis of Moravia This last dying soon after all the Suffrages joyned for Sigismund Alexander V. had been a Cordelier Frier upon this consideration he granted a Year of our Lord 1410 new Priviledge to the Four Orders of Mendicants to Administer all the Sacraments in the Parishes and receive the Tythes iâ— they were bestow'd on them The University of Paris much offended at this Novelty retrenched all these Orders from their Body unless they would renounce this Bull. The Jacobins c ..... and Carmelites who found themselves feeble obey'd this Decree The Cordeliers and the Augustins remaining refractory were deprived of the Pulpit and Confessional of which the Jacobins made advantage as the Cordeliers had done upon their being in disgrace Pope John XXIII revoked all these Priviledges and reduced all things to the same condition they were in before We find amongst Historians that in these times there were many bloody Battles fought betwixt Birds of all sorts even amongst the smallest as Sparrows and amongst the domestique ones which proceeded from certain minute Bodies spread in the Air which pricked and irritated them in such measure as provoked and Year of our Lord 1410 pushed them on to discharge their anger upon one another This year 1410. in the Countrey of Hainault the Storks were observed to League with the Hernes and Pyes
Honorable of those People in the Town-Hall and pardoned their Crime in the name of the King The other Cities were Taxed but according to their faculties and at such moderate Sums that they were rather Subsidies then any punishment Year of our Lord 1500 The apprehensions the King had of Maximilian hindred his Forces from drawing out of Milanois to go about the Conquest of Naples Whilst he was treating to renew the Truce with him he sent a Party of them under the conduct of the Lord de Beaumont to subdue the City of Pisa in favour of the Florentines and another Party commanded by Yves d'Allegre to Caesar Borgia to assist him in turning out the Vicars of Romandiola As for Beaumont having been beaten off upon three assaults at Pisa finding his Swiss Mutined and the Florentins not very diligent in supplying him with provisions as they had engaged to do he leaves that City at Liberty and takes his march towards Milan Borgia without striking one blow drew into his Nets the Cities of Pesaro and Rimim Fayano maintained a Siege three times but at the last their courage failed and it Surrendred But this was not till the year after The protection which the King granted to Bentivogle and the Florentins kept him from laying Hands likewise Year of our Lord 1500 upon Bologna and Pisa as he had a great mind to do This year the 25th of February on St. Mathias day Charles Son of Philip Arch-Duke of Austria and of Jane of Spain Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella came into the World and near the same time the little Prince Michael went out of it as it were to yield up the Birth-right to him This Michael was Son of Isabella eldest Sister of Jane and Wife of Emanuel King of Portugal who died before her Child The Pope gave Emanuel permission to Marry the Third who was named Margaret Year of our Lord 1500 The Centenary Jubilé ended this fourteenth Age. After it had been Celebrated at Rome Alexander sent it into the Provinces and made use of this Pious juncture to animate the Christian Princes to league themselves against the Turks who in favour of Ludovic had made cruel irruptions in Friuli Whilst the Venetians were employed in the Milan Wars and withal had taken from them the City of Modon and Coron in Peloponese It seemed as if Heaven invited the Christians to this enterprize for during the Years 1500 and 1501 all Germany and the Low-Countries saw the shapes of Crosses of all Sizes not only in the Air but likewise on their Cloathes especially on their Linnen as their Shirts Night-caps Napkins and Sheets They were of a confused Colour and most times appeared Bloody and could not be scowred out with Soap but vanished by little and little So many Authors of those Countries testifie this Prodigy that it may be believed without too much Credulity Nor would it be an impossible thing to deduce some reasons for it from ordinary causes And we may boldly say that they were so disposed by the Soveraign Master of the Vniverse who fore-seeth all things that the effects which they produce though they be purely natural may however when they draw our Eyes to consider the singularity of them with attention forewarn us of his Holy will or presage what is to come King Lewis had strength enough to have Conquer'd the Kingdom of Naples without help And yet he was so ill advised as to share it with Ferdinand King of Arragon and thus allowed of a Partner with him in Italy where he was absolute Master Ferdinand's division was Puglia and Calabria the King had Naples Terra del'Avoura and Abbruzzo Ferdinand had for a long time devoured all that Kingdom in his hopes for he pretended that Alphonso the Great Brother of John his Father could not give it to Ferdinand his Bastard but he concealed this desire of his with a profound dissimulation in so much as although he had shared in the Spoil of the unfortunate Frederic he still made a shew as if he would assist him thereby to have the fairer opportunity to oppress him To this purpose he sent the great Captain to him who under pretence of securing some places of safety for a Retreat upon occasion made them give him two or three of their best Towns which he detained when the Treaty with the French came to be declared Year of our Lord 1501 In order to this Conquest Daubigny the Count de Gajazza and the Valentinois commanded the Kings Army by Land Philip de Cleves Ravestein commanded that by Sea which rendevouz'd at Genoa Frederic having no aid but from Fabricia Columna Constable of the Kingdom did make no long resistance When the French had forced Capoua where seven or eight Thousand Persons were Massacred and Naples and Cajeta terrified at the cruel fate of that City had afterwards surrendred he came to a Treaty with Daubigny and Nemours whereby he agreed to give up all those Towns in the division made for the King within six days They suffer'd him to keep the Island of Ischia for six Months to retire whither he pleased and to take away any thing out of the Castles of Naples excepting the Cannons belonging to Charles VIII Being reduced to this condition having no Kingdom and his relation Ferdinand having betray'd him under colour of assistance he thought he had no other game to play but to cast himself upon the Kings mercy He had a safe conduct given him to go into France where he was received with much Humanity and obtained a Pension of thirty Thousand Crowns which was continued to him even after the French were driven again out of Naples In the French Army there were a great many young Princes and Lords that went Volunteers Amongst others Lewis eldest Son of Gilbert Earl of Montpensier It is related of him that going to pray to God over his Fathers Tomb at Puzzeoli reflecting in his thoughts upon the miseries he had endured and the deplorable manner of his Death his blood was so moved thereby that he was put into a Feaver of which he Died at Naples thereby demonstrating that to be a false belief and observation That Love ever descends towards our Posterity but never ascends to our Parents Gonsalvo on his side had as little trouble in Conquering the other part of the Kingdom Frederic had put his Son Alphonso into Tarenta which he thought impregnable having left the care of his Son and of the place to the Earl of Potentianne and Leonard Bishop of Rodes These two Captains finding no hopes of Succours capitulated in good time and promised to surrender the place in four Months Had they held it but six the quarrel that happened between the French and Spaniards had saved it and with it their young Prince This surrender compleated the Conquest of the Kingdom Gonsalvo had sworn to that young Prince upon the Holy Eucharist that he would give him the liberty to retire whither soever he pleased yet
to his own cost try'd the Valour of the besieged he agreed they should hold the place a Month at the end whereof they were to Surrender if not relieved In expectation of the day for this Surrender Leva would needs try but in vain to attempt Roques-Parvieres Chasteau-daufin Some dayes before this the Emperor Arrived at Savillan where the Marquess having quite thrown off his Masque went and waited upon him he made him his Lieutenant on the other side the Mountains There it was that the Emperor of his own head and contrary to the Advice of his Eldest Officers amongst others Antonio de Leva who fell down upon his knees before him to disswade him from it resolved to enter into Provence He had little less then Ten Thousand Horse and above Forty Thousand Foot of the best Soldiers of those times The Five and Twentieth of July the Feast of Saint Year of our Lord 1536 James the Apostle Patron of Spain and the same day of the year whereon he Landed at Tunis this great Army passed over the River of War which divides France from Savoy and lodg'd at Saint Laurence's the first Burrough of Provence A short while after it was followed by a Fleet commanded by Andreas Doria which furnished them with Ammunition and Provisions The Emperor Vaunted he was the Legitimate Lord of Provence as well by the Cession he said he had of Charles de Bourbon as by other Rights and Titles He thought to find some Correspondents there at least he pretended he had the People amazed and surprized and places so weak that he should easily make himself Master of them or oblige the King if he appeared to defend them to give him battle But the King would by no means hazard that in his own Country he fortified those places which were capable to resist as Arles Marseilles Tarascon and Beaucaire drew the Inhabitants out of those places that were defenceless as out of Aix and Antibes caused all things to be spoiled thorough the whole Country burnt the Mills beat down the Ovens and spoiled the Corn Wine and such Forrage as they could not carry off That done he divided his Army in two Bodies The one he lodged within a Camp well intrenched and which within Fifteen dayes was made defensible The Scituation was chosen near Cavaillon in a large Meadow between the Rhosne and the Durance and the general Command thereof he gave to the Mareschal de Montmorency With the other Body himself lodged at Valence above Avignon to second the first and give a second Battle if there were occasion After the Emperor had sacked the City of Aix it was in his Council resolved to Attaque Marseille The Siege was begun the Twenty Fifth of August His Van-guard Marching thither met near Brignoles a Party of Five or Six Hundred Men who m Montejan and Boissy Knights of the Order had caused to advance somewhat too desperately thinking to surprize the Enemy They were all cut off and their two Chiefs made Prisoners This was all the exploits that vast Army did excepting the forcing a few Countrey Fellows in a Tower who were hanged The News of this Accident carried to the King at Valence was followed with another which was worse I mean the loss of Guise of which we shall soon make mention but the sorrow both for the one and the other was Stiffled by a third incomparably more sensible which was the death of Francis his Eldest Son a brave and generous Prince Nineteen Years of Age who falling sick at Valence and yet making them Convey him by Water to his Father died at Tournon the 12 th day of August The Count Sebastian de Montecuculy a Ferrarese was accused for having given him Poison in a Cup of fresh-water as he was playing at Tennis in Valence This Italian being taken upon suspition and put to the wrack confest the Crime and declared whether convinced by his Conscience or forced by the extremity of Torture that Antonio de Leva and Ferdinand de Gonzague had wrought upon him to commit it not without reflection upon the Emperor himself indirectly but the Imperialists with great indignation retorted this so base an action upon Catherine de Medicis saying she would needs have this Eldest Son to be removed out of the World before her Husband that she might be Queen of France However it were the King being at Lyons caused Process to be made against Montecuculi who was drawn in pieces by four wild Horses Henry his second Son took the Title of Daufin and left that of Duke of Orleans to his other Brother Charles who before was Duke of Angoulesme There were Seven Thousand Men in Marseilles and thirteen Galleys in that Port who made the Emperor sensible upon two or three Attempts that there was nothing to be expected but blows In like manner Arles was found to be well Fortified in those places where his Maps had represented it weakest Mean while Provisions failed him the Peasants and Mountainiers fell upon all such as stray'd never so little from the Camp the King sent out Parties that cut off their Forrage and took those Convoys of bread and biscuit which they sent him from Toulon his Germans surfeited and burst themselves with Grapes and other Fruits so that want turmoiles and sickness diminished them above one third in a Months time and laid Antonio de Leva the bravest Commander they had in his Grave who died languishing thorough Grief On the contrary the Kings Year of our Lord 1536 encreased every day there being come to him above Twenty Thousand Swiss and Six Thousand Germans At the same time that he entred into Provence the Count de Nassaw entred Picardy with an Army of Thirty Thousand Men. The City of Guise was carried by Assault the Castle that might have held tamely Surrendred for which the Commanders were branded with infamy But Peronne besieged the Tenth of August maintained very furious Assaults and dreadful Batteries by the Valour of the Mareschal de Florenges the Count de Dammartin and a great number of the Neighbouring Gentry When it was ready to fall the Duke of Guise supplied them with Men and Ammunition which he convey'd to them over the Marshes After this the Besiegers having again made two Furious Assaults in which they left their Scaling Ladders and a great many of their bravest Men in the Ditches retired the Tenth day of September which was the very same or the next day after the Emperor pack'd up his Bag and Baggage and marched out of Provence The Siege of Peronne the taking whereof seemed near at hand did strangely Allarme the Bourgeois of Paris The great care and courage of the Cardinal du Bellay their Bishop and to whom the King had given the Title of Lieutenant-General of their City and the Isle of France dispell'd the apprehensions they had both of the Enemies and a Famine For he caused all the Corn and Wine within Six Leagues round to be brought thither which
suffer she should be carried into England The Inhabitants of Rochel of Marennes and of the Islands were revolted upon the endeavouring to settle the Gabel in those Countries The King at his return from Languedoc passed that way to suppress that Commotion About the end of December he entred with his Forces into Rochel and caused great numbers of the Seditious Islanders to be brought before him bound and chained After he had put them into an extream Consternation he suffer'd himself to be overcome with Compassion and from a Scaffold where he was Surrounded by the Grandees of his Court he heard the most humble Request they made him by their Advocate and which they seconded with doleful Cries for Mercy and after he Year of our Lord 1543 had laid open their faults in a discourse equally Tender Majestick and Eloquent he absolutely forgave them caused all the Prisoners to be set at Liberty and all the Soldiers to be sent out of the City He would likewise that day needs be guarded and served at his Table by the Bourgeois His incomprehensible goodness ✚ cloathed them with shame and confusion and left in their Hearts and Memories a mortal regret for having ever offended him This was to chastise them indeed after a most Noble and Royal manner The Princes and Emperor of Germany had so often demanded a Council that in the Year 1536. Pope Paul III. had Indicted one at Mantoua for the Two and Twentieth of May the following Year From that time he had Prorogued it to 1538. then to 1539. at Vicenza but had yet suspended the Celebration for as long time as he should find fit In the Year 1542. he was obliged by the vehement pursuit of the Emperor who pressed him because he was so earnestly pressed by the Princes of the Empire to assigne one in the City of Trent which he did by his Bull of the One and Twentieth of May. He believed this Consideration might serve to bring the two Kings to a Peace but the War growing still hotter betwixt them there came so few Bishops to Trent that Year of our Lord 1543 he was this year 1543. forced to recal the Legates he had sent thither and refer the Celebration of the Council to a more pacifick opportunity In France and Spain they were making greater preparations for War than ever The Spaniards furnished the Emperor with above four Millions of Gold John King of Portugal who was Marrying his Daughter Mary to Philip his only Son gave him very great Sums and the King of England promised him no less This inconstant Prince who could never long agree even with himself being offended for that Francis would not renounce his obedience to the Pope and for intermedling too far about the Affairs of Scotland had made a new League Year of our Lord 1543 with the Emperor who did not in the least scruple to have a Prince in Alliance with him though he were under the blackest censures of the Church a mortal Enemy to the Holy-See and one that had used his Aunt so outrageously That he might be able to withstand so dreadful a Storm the King laid an impost upon the walled Cities for the Maintenance of Fifty Thousand men which ended not with the War as he had promised nor was revoked till under the Reign of Francis II. The Emperor going into Germany went by Sea to Italy whither he also carried Ten Thousand Spaniards in some large Ships and Galleys He could not upon the Popes earnest request refuse to confer with him They met as Bussetta between Parma and Piacenza The Holy Father endeavoured to perswade him to give up those two Cities to the Holy-See and invest his Grandson Octavius Farnese with the Dutchy of Milan since the Italian Potentates would never consent that he should retain it for himself The Emperor gave him only general words and cut the Conference off very short for fear of giving jealousie to the King of England who was subject enough to misinterpretations That Muley-Assan whom he had restored to the Kingdom of Tunis being hardly beset on all hands by the Turks who had taken from him divers of his places came to Genoa to kiss his hand and crave some Assistance Whilest he was absent one of his Sons named Amida usurped the Kingdom The unfortunate Father having given him Battle with some Forces scraped together was vanquished and taken with two more of his Sons by the Rebel who put out his Eyes reproaching him for having served his own Brothers so Afterwards this Parricide being driven out of his Kingdom by the Governour of Goletta where nevertheless he got the Mastery again some while after Muley-Assan made his escape out of Prison and took refuge amongst the Spaniards Year of our Lord 1544 In the Spring time the King gave Command to Antony become Duke of Vendosme by the Death of his Father Charles to revictual Terouane Then himself lead his greatest Forces towards the Low-Countries where he thought to make a considerable Progress while the Duke of Gueldres held the Emperors in play So that about the end of May though he were indisposed he put himself in the head of his Army which was joyned with the Troops of Antony Duke of Vendosme He roved for some Weeks all about the Country of Artois and having often changed his Mind sometimes to Fortifie L'Illiers and Saint Venant another while to besiege Avenes he fixed at last upon the Fortifying Landrecy on the other side of the Sambre After he had given the necessary Orders he came to encamp at Maroles then to refresh and repose himself at Reims where he had caused the Ladies to come to divert him Whilst he was at Maroles the Daufin employed part of the Army for the taking the Castle of Emery which is on an Island in the Sambre and the Town of Maubeuge but a while after he forsook them The Duke of Orleans likewise entred into Luxembourg regained all the Country which had been taken after his going away and amongst other the Capital City which gives it the Name The King was there in Person visited the Place and notwithstanding its vast Circumference and odd Situation would have it Fortified Such as were knowing in the Trade were against the doing of it but because it was like to be a work of great profit to him that should have the ordering of it there was an Engenier ☞ that advised it and undertooke it In the mean while the Emperor having passed out of Italy into Germany came at first to attack the Duke of Cleve and by the taking his City of Duren which he sacked and perhaps by the Assistance of his own People whom he had corrupted frighted him and all the rest of the Country so terribly that he came and craved his Pardon and promised to quit his Alliance with the French and the Title of Duke of Guelders satisfying himself with that of Administrator Which was so suddenly done that the Duke had not time
the last Will of King Edward and the Opinion of the Great Officers who are ever of the same mind as their Soveraign Jane was designed and appointed to be Queen and after the Death of Edward proclaimed and received in the Tower of London and Mary being the weaker retired into the County of Norsolk But as the people of Ranks and Degrees in the Kingdom were displeased at the great wrong done hereby to the Lawful Heirs and the Spanish Gold and Catholique Party stirred them mightily against it a world of the Nobility and Soldiery flocked from all quarters to Mary So that when the Duke of Northumberland Year of our Lord 1553 Marched with some Forces to go and take her and disperse those Assemblies it hap'ned that the same Officers and Counsellors of State who had allotted the Crown to Jane took and held her Prisoner after which most of those that were with the Duke forsook him and some that staid seized upon his person and carried him to London Year of our Lord 1553 and 1554. Some time after Mary came thither and made her entrance into the Tower the possession whereof was then necessary to such as were to be owned Kings of England When She was once absolute Mistress She cemented her Throne with the Blood of Jane her Husbands her Fathers and almost all her Kindred and after that She spilt much more to restore the Catholick Religion which brought the Estate into such Convulsions as had like to prove mortal and all for an advantage of a short duration The more She establisht and fixed her Authority the more Philip Prince of Spain pressed the consummation of his Marriage with her Though She had very great imperfections both of Body and Mind being infirm ugly and old nevertheless he had conceived some love not for her Person but for her Kingdom On the contrary the King turned every Stone in private and laid every rub in his way to prevent him from attaining his ends but Philips Party acting more bare-fac'd and with the charming Power of Money proved stronger then all those private obstacles the King could contrive against it So that he was betrothed by Proxie the Ninth of June and himself passing over into that Country with Six Thousand Souldiers Married her the Five and Twentieth of July a day he expresly designed as being the Feast of Saint James the Patron of Spain He staid in England till the Month of April of the following year and was Spectator of the Tragick Actions of his Wife to revenge her self for the Conspiracies were hatched hourly against her some upon the score of her Religion others in hatred of her Marriage All this year till the Month of June there had been as it were a tacite suspension of Arms between the King and the Emperor during which Cardinal Pool near of kindred to Mary whom the Pope was sending to England as his Legate to re-establish the Catholique Religion had undertaken to Treat the Peace He had got both their words that they would reciprocally lay aside many of their pretensions but when the Bell was to be sounded each of them stood up stiffer and at a greater distance then ever before The Emperor would willingly have accepted of a Truce and it would have been very advantageous to him by giving the Low-Countries time to settle and if we may so say to soulder themselves with England but for the same reasons it was not so to the King and moreover his Honour nor Interest would allow him to suffer the Siennois to be excluded as the Emperor did absolutely require Besides he had Information that the Emperor was very much indisposed both in Body and Mind that the Gout had deprived him of the use of one Arm and contracted the Sinews of one Leg that the same cause that made him impotent in his Members joyned to the bad success of his Affairs and perhaps complicated with some relicts of his Mothers Frenzy had so invaded his Brain that he could seldom sleep and did nothing else almost by day and night but take Clocks and Watches asunder and put them together again his Chamber being full of them Upon these reports which were for the most part true the King thought he should have an easie bargain of it and took a resolution of carrying the War into his Country He therefore set on Foot an Army of Fifty Thousand Men and divided them into three Bodies Commanded one by the Constable another by the Duke of Vendosme and the third by the Mareschal de Saint André the two last having taken some Forts of little concern joyned with the Constable before Marienburgh which had surrendred to him Some years before Marienburgh was but a little Village where Queen Mary made her Rendezvous for hunting The Situation seemed so pleasant and so convenient to her that She built a new Town there The King having it in his hands went on to fortifie it and to make the Road more secure from thence to the little City of Maubert-Fontaine which is the nearest towards France he likewise fortified the Villa ge of Rocroy Year of our Lord 1554 After he had well provided for Marienburgh he went and joyned the Duke of Nevers who had pierced through all the Ardennes he met him near Givets these are two Burroughs so named just opposite to each other upon the Banks of the Meuse From thence he went to Besiege Bovines whilst the Duke Besieged Dinan Bovines was sacked for having dared to withstand an assault of an Army Royal Dinan capitulated and they put Two Thousand Men in there to preserve it from the violence of the skulking Souldiers but in the night the Germans angry they were robb'd of their Pillage scaled the Walls broke open the Gates and put both the Garrison and Inhabitants to the edge of the Sword Perhaps they were not overmuch concerned at it because they had returned a brutish and most insolent Answer when they were Summoned on behalf of the King Then the Emperor finding himself much better in health takes the Field the King desiring to engage him in Battel assaults forces and razes a great number of Towns and Castles Maubege Bavay famous for its Antiquity Mariemont a Castle of pleasure of Queen Maries and the little City of Bins with the magnificent Castle which She had built He caused these two last places to be burnt to be reveng'd for their having set fire to his Royal House of Folembray There was a personal hatred betwixt these two for certain slighting and spiteful words and I know not what kind of Songs which had been made on either side After he had thus over-run and ravaged Brabant Hainault Cambresis and the Country of Namur he entred upon Artois and Besieged the Castle of Renty which did great injury to the Country of Boulonnois The Emperor came to relieve it and to put some into the place with the more ease would have seized upon a Wood the situation whereof must have been
young King believed that to execute his Fathers will was to extirpate all such as opposed the Catholick Belief to this end he Created in each Parliament a particular Chamber or Court that took Cognisance of no other matter They were named Chambres Ardentes because in effect they burned without Mercy all such as were convicted and there needed no other proof but the finding them at some Nocturnal or Clandestine Conventicle The President Saint André and the Inquisitor Demochares laboured with great diligence at Paris and sought them even in the bottom of Cellars upon the intelligence of their Spies amongst others a Taylor and two Goldsmiths who had been of that Religion Two young Men of these Mouchards or Informers deposed that in those midnight Assemblies they did eat of the Pascal Lamb and Roasted Pigg and afterwards put out the Lights and mingled in an unclean manner with those they first hapned to meet nay one of them affirmed that upon the like occasion it fell to his lot to encounter an Advocates Daughter of the Place Maubert at whose House they held such communion This calumny was spread abroad by the populace told in the Louvre and brought to the Ears of the King and Queen and though these Witnesses had been convict of falsehood by the Chancellor that did not Year of our Lord 1559 hinder it from making some impression on the Queen Thus the Religionaries being pursued and punished every where especially in the great Cities as Aix in Provence Toulouze Poitiers and Bourges began to think how to defend themselves They first made use of the Pen and scatter'd about several Libels which tended to make out that Kings ought not to be accounted Majors sooner then other Men That in the mean time it belonged to the Estates to assign them a Council and that the Princes of the Blood ought to have the first place and rank that the Laws of the Land did not admit either of Women or Strangers That the Guises were not natural French Men That besides they had pretensions upon Anjou and Provence and even to the whole Kingdom saying they were descended from Charlemain That therefore the trusting them with the Government was to hazard the whole State They added many reasons and examples to prove the administration of Cardinals had ever been very prejudicial to France That Francis I. though he made use of them yet never admitted them into the Council when it concerned the Affairs of Rome and that experience had fully enough demonstrated that the Venetian Polity which excluded all Ecclesiastiques from the management of Affairs was very wise and very prosperous These Books wanted not forr eplies Du Tillet one of the Registers in Parliament made one which at that time was torn to pieces and silenced by the multiplicity of smart answers but in another Season had the fortune to be revived and brought in credit by the Chancellor de l'Hospital and cry'd up as it had been a Law of the Land They then were labouring in good earnest for the Execution of the Articles of Peace The Mareschal de Brissac with much regret gave up the City of Valence and those in Piedmont Those that held Thionville and the places of Luxemburgh went out with curses in their Mouths against those Ministers that made that Treaty nor could any heart be so hardned as not to be touched at the lamentations and sad cryes wherewith the Corses and Siennois endeavoured to move Heaven and Earth to compassion when they had notice the French abandoned them to their severe Masters The Siennois made the last attempt their dispairing impotency could prompt them to for the defence of their liberty but in a short time they fell under the weight of the Spanish Forces who to compleat the measure of their misery delivered them over to the Duke of Florence reserving however the maritime Towns There were at Court great numbers of persons of every Province especially Martial Men who demanded either their pay or some reward The Cardinal de Lorrain who had the management of the Treasury was mightily importun'd and pester'd with them and moreover he apprehended some Conspiracy amidst the multitude Wherefore he caused an Edict to be published which commanded all such as followed the King and Court only to solicite and begg some thing of him they should forbear and withdraw upon pain of being truss'd up on a Gibbet which for that very purpose was set up in the publick place This rude treatment turned great numbers of those against him that had formerly served in the Armies A Quartan Ague tormented the King for some Months which made him uncapable of applying himself to business besides that he was naturally very weak When he came to be cured many pustules appeared on his livid Face which signified some internal indisposition He was therefore carried to Blois for change of Air whilst he staid there some in that Country by whomsover employed sought for young Infants that they might have their Blood as they gave out to make the King a Bath For which reason many will needs have it that he was infected with Naaman's Disease In the mean time they zealously prosecuted all such as were imprison'd for the matters of Religion They began with the Counsellors of the Parliament of Paris formerly mentioned Anne du Bourg having fenced a long time for his life by several Appeals to the Metropolitan of Sens then to the Primate of Lyons for he was an Ecclesiastick and a Priest in the end threw aside his Mask and boldly declared that he professed a Belief contrary to that of the Roman Church The Zealots of his opinion had push'd him on to this resolution They imagined that being a man of eminent condition of rare merit and great vertue at least as to his Morals his example would take a marvellous impression and for Year of our Lord 1559 those reasons the Parliament would never expose him to the infamy of Execution But they deceived themselves the heat of those that had taken this business in hand made them go thorough with it and there hapned an Accident besides which hastned his ruine He had excepted against the President Saint André and finding notwithstanding he still appeared he threatned him that God would restrain and compel him to keep away Now some days after it so fell out that this President going from the Palace was assassinated and shot with a Pistol and it was currently reported the first President was in danger of the like The Authors of this Murther could never be discovered tho Robert Stuart being vehemently suspected was put in Prison This incident exasperated those that Governed in such sort that Du Bourg was condemned to death and after he had been degraded of his holy Orders was burnt in the Greve they having first strangled him He went to his death with so much joy and so great shew of piety that his Execution was so far from striking any terrour it begot