they would Elect another they made reply that they desired no other but him and since that they were a long time without any Year of our Lord 628 Those of Saxony were a potent People it comprehended divers of different Names and they had Dukes in each Countrey Those that owed Tribute to the French were this year revolted against them Dagobert making War upon them was wounded with a blow of a Sword which took off part of his Helmet and a little of the skin of his Head with some of his Hair It is said that having sent these Tokens to his Father all bloody who was Hunting nigh Ardennes the King moved by his good nature got what Forces he could together and having passed the Rhine attaqued the Saxons encamped on the other side of the Weser where he slew Bertold their Duke with his own hand and after scowring over all the Countrey he did not leave any one of them alive that was taller then his Sword In the Assembly of the Estates of Neustria and Burgundy which was holden at Clichy there arose a great quarrel Eginaire Intendant of Ariborts Palace the Second Son of Clâ—taire having been killed by Egina's People the Favourite of this King the young Prince and his Uncle Brunulph would revenge his death Egina encamps with his Friends upon the side of Montmercure or Montmars at this day Mont-Martre But the King having commanded the Burgundians to sall upon the first that began to stir it cooled the hottest amongst them Year of our Lord 628 After Adaloald King of the Lombards and Son to King Agilulf had been poisoned by his People Arioald was raised to the Throne upon the consideration of his Wife Gundeberge Sister to Adaloald who nevertheless being accused how she intended to Poison him that she might Marry Tasin Duke of Tuscany he had kept her Prisoner for three years King Clotaire to whom she was of Kin took compassion on her and commanded his Ambassadors to reproach that wicked Husband One of these having upon his own head proposed to the Lombard King that it would be well to put the decision of so important a matter to the Judgment of God by Combat two Relations of Gundeberges brought a Champion who vanquishing Adalulf so was the Accuser called asserted and recovered the Honour and Liberty of that Princess This year is remarkable for the Death of that famous Impostor and most false Prophâ—t Mahomet whose abominable Religion composed partly of Judaism and partly of the Whimseys of several Hereticks who were retired into those parts and accommodated to the Sensualities of Corrupt Nature was embraced by such Robbers and wicked Varlets as knew neither Justice nor the Deity The greatest part of our Hemisphere bath submitted to the Tyranny of that Law and had it not been for the Valour of the French they had divers times made themselves Masters of all Europe The Aera or manner of accounting and Calculating the time by this Sect commences at the year of the Egyra or the Retreat of Mahomet to the City of Medina which hapned the 26th of July in the Six hundred twenty second year of Jesus Christ But it must be noted that they are Lunary years consisting but of 354 days whereas those amongst Christians are solary of 365 days without reckoning the Bissextile Year of our Lord 628 The Death of Clotair hapned Anno 628. in some House of his near Paris He was buried at St. Vincents at this time St. Germain des Prez The time of his Reign in Neustria within four months of the time of his Age was about forty five years and his Reign over all France after the death of Thierry was fourteen We know the names of two of his Wives the one was Beretrude the other Sichilda perhaps he may have had some other before these He left two Sons Dagobert and Aribert of what Mothers we cannot tell certainly but only that they were not both of one and the same Bed He was an affable Prince very different from the cruel and brutish ferocity of his Predecessors Just Pious instructed in good Learning and Liberal especially towards the Church and such as professed a Monastick Life Their Kings were always chosen of the Blood of the Reigning Race three Conditions were required in them their Birth it mattered not whether they were Legitimate the Will of the Father and the Consent of the Grandees the last did ever almost follow the two first After the death of Clovis as I believe they added to the ancient Custom of lifting them upon the Target that of seating them on the Throne or Regal Chair which had neither Arms nor Back for a King must support and sustain himself by his own strength The Regal Ornaments were long Hair or Locks pleited the Purple Mantle and Tunick and the Diadem or Head-band enriched with Precious Stones When they left Children that were in Minority if they had not allotted their shares the Queen-Mother and the Grandces ordained as they thought convenient and had the Administration of Affairs and the Education or Bailifes of the Minor Kings From hence these Lords were called Nourricers Nursers but there was one amongst the rest that bore this Title When a King undertook any Expedition they held up their Hands in token of the Assistance which they promised him Peace might be made without them but War could not In Civil Discords they made themselves Arbitrators between the Princes and obliged them to agree The first day of March they held an Assembly in the open Field under Tents where the Militia was often sent for Because of the day on which they met it was called the Field of Mars The Kings presided and consulted with the Lords concerning the Affairs of that year either touching Peace or War These Assemblies gave them the Command of the Armies which was not necessarily tied to their Persons at least till the time of Clovis They ever had about them a certain number of Braves or Barous who guarded them and for their safety exposed themselves to all manner of dangers The most eminent Offices of the Kingdom were the Prefect or Mayre of the Palace who was elected by the great ones or Grandees and confirmed by the King The grand Referandary who had the Royal Seal and under him several lesser or petty Referandary's and also great numbers of Expeditioners whom they called Chancellors because they did their business Intra Cancellos or Lattices The grand Apocrisiary who was the chief of the Priests and Clerks of the Court in the second Race he was called Arch-Chaplain The Count of the Palace who was Judge the Chamberlain who gave all Orders in the Kings Chamber the Count of the Stable who took care of the Stables and perhaps of the Equipage I cannot tell whether they had in those times a Provost or grand Seneschal of the Table as there was since under Pepin the Bref The Children of Lords were bred
Lotaire I. Emperor another in Germany by Lewis his Brother named the Germanick and a third in West-France by Charles the Bald. All three ended their Reigns with a Louis that of Italy by Louis II. great Grand-Son of Lotaire that of Germany by Louis Son of Arnold and that of France by this Lewis the Faineant The Princes of this Race at their Coronation received the Sacred Unction They were almost ever on Horse-back and in the Field and had their wives with Year of our Lord 987 them Charles Martel and Pepin when they were at rest and peace held their residence at Paris and thereabout Charlemain at Aix-la-Chapelle the Debonnaire in the same place or at Thionville Charles the Bald at Soissons and at Compiegne Eudes at Paris Charles the Simple at Reims Lewis Transmarine at Laon. If we consider the causes of the ruine of this Race or Line we shall meet with five or six principal ones 1. The division of the main Body of the Estate into divers Kingdoms which was necessarily followed by Discords and Civil-Warrs between the Brothers 2. The irregular Love the Debonnaire had for his too dear Son Charles the Bald. 3. The imbecillity of most part of these Princes there not having been amongst all of them above five or six who were furnished with Sence and Courage together 4. The ravages and inroads of the Normans who ransacked France for Four-score years together and favoured the attempts of the great Lords 5. The multitude of Bastard Children which Charlemaine had who plaid the Soveraigns in those Countries allotted them for their subsistance 6. And if we will believe the Clergy the Curse of God which fell upon those Princes because they gave the Churches goods to their Lay-officers and their Soldiers of Fortune 7. One may add that this Tree bearing no more good Fruit God would pluck it up to plant another in its place infinitely more fair and more fertile whose duration shall be extended to the end of time and it's renown and glory to the ends of all the Earth End of the Second Race or Line THE THIRD RACE OR LINE Of the KINGS of FRANCE Called the Capetine Race or of the Capets First Part. Hugh Capet King XXXV POPES JOHN XV. S. Eight years and an half during this Reign GREGORY V. Elected in June 996. S. Two years eight months whereof some months under this Reign HUGH CAPET Aged Forty four or Forty five years Year of our Lord 987 THere was none of the Carolovinian Race remaining but Charles Duke of Lorrain This Prince was absent of little Merit and very ill in the minds of the French Hugh Capet on the contrary was in the heart of the Kingdom Powerful and Esteemed He held the Dutchy of Burgundy by Henry his Brother that of Normandy by Duke Richard his Nephew and that of France with the Counties of Paris and Orleance in his own hands Besides he had a Party made so that having Assembled the Lords in the City of Noyon he prevailed to be Elected and Proclaimed King about the end of the month of May. From thence he went to Reims to receive the Unction and the Crown from the hands of the Archbishop Adalberon who invested him the Third of July Not one of all those that were present at Noyon and at that Ceremony claiming for Charles but on the contrary all giving their Oaths in Writing as well as by Word of Mouth to his Enemy One might say that this poor Prince had destituted or deprived himself by rendring himself a Stranger and that this Estate could not suffer or admit a Head that was Vassal to another King Hugh might also make use of the Testament which King Lewis made in his favour but his best Right and Title was the general consent of the French People Year of our Lord 987 c. After his being first Crowned he never put the Crown more upon his Head during his whole life time because it having been predicted to him by Divine Revelation That his Race should hold the Kingdom for seven Generations he thought to prolong that Honour one Degree more by not wearing himself the Regal Ornaments that so he might not be reckoned one of the seven He did not know the number seven in Sacred Language signifies an extent to all Ages You must observe that from about the time of Charles the Simple under the name of the Kingdom of France were comprehended that of Neustria that of Aquitain and that of Burgundy at least that part of it which lies on this side the Saon and therefore when those Kings would be Crowned they were fain to call together the Lords of all these three For this reason perhaps it was that the first Capetine Kings having joyned them all under one Title took likewise upon them the Quality of Emperors unless we should say they did so not to seem inferior to the German Kings but either by some Treaty or upon some other Condition to us unknown they quitted it and contented themselves with that of King Year of our Lord 987 The same year Geofrey called Grise-Gonelle Earl of Anjou ended his days His Son Fulk surnamed Nerra was his Successor Hugh Capet six months after his Coronation desiring to have an Assistant obtained in an Assembly of French Lords which was held at Orleance that his Son named Robert should be Associated in the Throne with him He was Crowned in the same Year of our Lord 988 City the first day of January in the year 988. HUGH CAPET and ROBERT his Son Aged about Sixteen years IT is to be presumed that Prince Charles did not omit to present himself to have or demand the Crown but being come too late he was rejected by the French so that he betook himself to Arms to resume his pretended Right Amongst all the Lords of the Kingdom there were only Arnold Earl of Flanders and Hebert Earl of Champagne his Wives Father that assisted him but the first died this year having been ill handled by Capet and Hebert durst not proceed to act any farther for his Son-in-Law but under-hand Mean time the young King Robert Married Lutgarde the Widow of the Earl of Year of our Lord 988 Flanders though she were already very aged and he not yet above Seventeen years old Duke Charles had a Bastard Brother named Arnold who was a Clerk in the Church of Loan by his means he seized upon that City and upon the Archbishop Ancelin-Auberon This Ancelin was a very subtil Man but without Faith who to regain his liberty pretended to be come wholly his Friend and wrought so upon his Mind that he made him the first of his Council Year of our Lord 988 The new King knowing that Charles was in Laon came presently to besiege him reâ—olved to take it by Famine In the length of the Siege his Men not standing carefully upon their Guard Charles made a stout Sally put them to the rout burnt their Lodgments and forced
him run after his fancies and endeavoured then to recover Perpignan whereof John King of Arragon was repossessed by Intelligence it was only the Town for the Castle held out still for the French Their Army went thither after the taking of Leytoure King John besieged in the City though Aged above Seventy years defended himself bravely for two Months together till his Son Ferdinand came to his assistance and relieved him The Twelfth day of August Nicolas d'Anjou Son of John of Calabria who had Succeeded to the Dutchy of Lorrain after the Death of his Father Died of the Plague at Nancy Thus his Cousin Rene of Lorrain Son of his Aunt Yoland d'Anjou and de Ferry who was Son of Antony Count of Vaudemont restored the Dukedom to their House whence it came For about four or five years past the Constable play'd double betwixt the King and the Burgundian and incited them the one against the other He thought their broils was his only safety but both offended with his duplicity agreed his ruin at the price of his head and his plunder if they could but catch him He had some hint of it and broke the project by the many reasons he gave the King in writing But after he had obtained his pardon he again offended him more grievously then ever For he Seized on the City of St. Quentin and which was worse had the impudence to confer with him well Armed upon a Bridge with a Barrier betwixt them as he had been his equal Year of our Lord 1474 The Burgundians ambition was insatiable He had invited Edward of the House of York to make a descent in France where the Burgundian promised to do as much by his correspondence as they with their Forces and nevertheless instead of waiting for them he went and ruined his Army before the Town of Nuz building great designs upon the taking of this place which lies on the Rhine The apparent reason why he laid that Siege was to re-settle Robert de Bauiere in the Arch-Bishoprick of Cologn whose Channons had refused to admit him and for their Chief had taken one of their Colleagues to wit Herman Brother of the Landgrave of Hesse Year of our Lord 1474 As King Rene was good liberal and devout so was he inconstant and variable of Courage tame and weak His Sons and Grand-sons being all dead there remained only his Daughter Yoland mother of Rene Duke of Lorrain but that House was at distance from him and such as were near made him believe that having received so many troubles from her he ought not to love her and inclined him according to their interests to give his Succession one while to the King of France another while to Charles Count du Maine his Nephew Son of his Brother of the same name another time to the Duke of Burgundy And this is the reason of so many several Wills and divers Donations made by him on that Subject It is believed that he caused one to be written in Letters of Gold and Adorned with Miniature whereby he made the King his Heir to the County of Provence It is certain that this year 1474. he instituted Charles du Maine in all his Lands reserving only the Dutchy of Barr which he left to his Daughters Son Duke Rene. Now the following year when he saw the King had Seized his City of Anger 's and the Castle of Barr for the Portion said he of Mary d'Anjou his Mother he changed his mind or pretended so and to make him afraid said he would bestow it upon the Duke of Burgundy but the King being purposely advanced as far as Lyons hindred him and thereupon hapned the defeat of that Duke as you shall see Whilst he was battering his Head against that potent Body of Germany which is all of Iron the King accumulated Enemies on that part against him especially the Swisse whose alliance he had gained with the Cities of Basle and Strasburgh and others on the Rhine Sigismund Duke of Austria Rene Duke of Lorrain and even the Emperor Frederic Sigismund with the aid of the Swisse re-enters the County of Ferrete and caused Hagenbac's head to be cut off for the Concussions he had useâ— â—ene Duke of Lorrain sent to declare War against him even before Nuz by a Moorish Servant who belonged to the Lord de Craon and Frederick Armed all the power of the Empire to force him to raise the Siege Nevertheless durst he not attack him though he were four times more in number The Bishop of Munster alone had brought thither 1200 Horse and 60000 Foot all cloathed in Green with 1200 Waggons Year of our Lord 1475 The Truce betwixt the King and the Duke being expired the King goes into the Field and snatched from him Roye Montdidier and Corbie but neither this multitude of Enemies nor the Winter long and sharp nor the loss of his Towns could not make his stubborness Flexible which held him still to that Siege for ten Months from its beginning In the Month of June Edward King of England caused his Army to Land at Calais which took up three Weeks time Whilst he was putting them ashoar he sent two or three dispatches to him prayed him and pressed him to come and joyn with him the Duke making now one delay and then another The Mediation of the Apostolick Legat and of the King of Denmark who was in a City near at hand was a plausible pretence for him to withdraw from that dangerous enterprize with Honour but he obstinately refused it In the end when he saw it was too long a business though he was within ten days of taking the City by Famine he consented it should be put into the hands of the Legat. That done he comes post to find the English at Calais leaving his Forces in Barrois so shatter'd that he durst not let them be seen He conducted the King all along the way to Peronne and from thence went to see the Constable at St. Quentin who gave him his word he would deliver that City and all his other places up to the English the Duke assured them of it But when they would have approached he caused them to Fire upon them It is hard to express whether was then greatest their amazement or their rage the Duke having spent a great many words to Interpret this in the best Sence returned to Barrois to recruit his Forces Edward was a Voluptuous Prince very Fat and naturally slow who sought only to cram his Purse and who having undertaken this War rather to screw money from his Subjects then to acquire Dominion or Honour had brought over with him some of the Fattest London Citizens such as loved their ease mightily that so their weariness and toyl might make them sooner willing to desire a Peace It hapned therefore that during the Burgundians absence the King by force of intrigues of flattery and withal some Presents whereof the English are very greedy persuaded that Prince and
intelligence of a School-master whom the desire of Gain had wrought upon to shew them a certain place where they might scale it It was upon a Shrove-tide Festival when Figuerba and all the Nobility of the Spanish Army were come thither to make a Carousel The City being taken Figueroa cast himself into the Citadel the Mareschal caused it immediately to be batter'd and in a few days forced it to capitulate Year of our Lord 1555 Queen Mary and the Cardinal Pool her Cousin fearing lest the quarrel betwixt the two Kings should embroil the English in a War earnestly desired to procure a Peace between them Their great instances engaged them to send Deputies betwixt Calais and Ardres to treat They Arrived there the one and twentieth of May. For their accommodation several Tents were set up containing a large Hall in the midst of them having four Gates one to the East for the Popes Legates one at the West part for the English Ambassadors one in the South for those of France and one on the North for the Emperors The two Princes according to the Proposals made by the English agreed well enough about the referring all their differences to the judgment of the Council but the King declaring he would not restore the Duke of Savoy till the Emperor surrendred up Navarre to Jane d'Albret and Piacenza to the Farneses the Assembly broke up without concluding any thing Neither the one nor the other were very well prepared for a War so that this Summer past without any great exploits The Imperial Army after several Marches and Skirmishes employ'd themselves in fortifying the Burrough of Corbigny upon the Meuse which they named Philip-Ville Martin Van Rossen Mareschal of Cleves who commanded it dying of the Plague the Prince of Orange succeeded him in that employ Beyond the Alpes after the capitulation of Siena they likewise took the Port-Hercole The French succeeded ill at the Siege of Calvi in Corsica The Mareschal de Brissac took Vulpian and though but little assisted by the Court made head bravely against the Duke d'Alva who succeeded Figueroa This Duke could bring Five and Twenty Thousand Men into the Field notwithstanding he received an affront before Saint Ia being forced to raise his Siege Year of our Lord 1555 The Five and Twentieth day of May Henry d'Albret King of Navarre died at Hagetmar in Bearn The King had a great desire to seize upon the rest of that petty Kingdom and to give Anthony de Bourbon who had Married the Heiress some Lands in exchange but Anthony hast'ned to go and take possession of it and his Wife found means to preserve it notwithstanding the perswasions and treachery of her Officers The King was so fretted at it that he dismembred Languedoc from his Government of Guyenne to bestow it on the constable he refused to give that of Picardy which Anthony surrendred upon his going away to Lewis Prince of Conde his Brother and gratify'd Coligny with it After his departure it hapned that la Jaille being gone to make incursion in Artois with a party of the Arriere-band was upon his return cut in pieces by Hausimont Governor of Bapaume a slight shock which yet so terrified the French that they put their Men in Garrisons About the same time the Diepois having Information that two and twenty great Flemmish Vessels were returning from Spain loaden with rich Goods went and laid in wait for them about Dover and not staying to fire at them went directly aboard Their Vessels were little and low the other large and high built so that they maul'd them with Shot and Granado's from above The Fight lasted six hours hand to hand at length some of them took Fire which burnt half a dozen of either Ships and parted them sooner then otherwise they would have done Jane Queen of Spain Widdow of Philip the Fair and Mother of the Emperor Charles V. died in Spain the Twelth of April Aged 73 years She had been lock'd up as one distracted ever since the death of Philip her Husband however the Estates still reserved the Title of Queen of Spain for her which in all publick instruments was joyned with that of the Emperor her Son This Great Prince finding his Body grown weak and his head crazy not being any longer able to support either the heavy burthen of worldly Affairs nor his own decayed Cottage Resolved in a Council of Women these were his two Sisters to renounce his Soveraignty Having therefore sent for his only Son Philip King of England to come to him to whom the year before upon his Marriage he had already given the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicilia and since that also the investiture of the Dutchy of Milan he assembled the Estates of the Low-Countries at Bruxels the Five and Twentieth of October and there he Created him first Chief of the Order of the Fleece then he resigned up those Provinces to him A Month after in the same City in presence of the Governors and Deputies of his other Estates whom he had called thither for that purpose he yielded up and remitted to him all other his Kingdoms and Seigneories as well in Europe as in the new World He had nothing now left him but the Empire which he held yet a year hoping to oblige his Brother Ferdinand to resigne that up likewise to his Son In the Month of March of this same year Pope Julius III. ended his life Marcel II. who was Elected in his place held it but one and twenty days and they Elected the Cardinal John Peter Caraffa Aged fourscore and one year old He was Son of the Count de Matalone in the Kingdom of Naples and they called him Theatin because he had been Archbishop of Theati and had there instituted the Order of Clerc's Regulars who took their name from that City Many because of the resemblance of the habit have confounded the Jesuits with them His religious life and austere manners which made the World affraid of a severe reformation were immediately changed into a proud and a luxurious huffing vanity He was of a haughty heart and a stubborn Spirit and yet suffer'd himself to be circumvented by his Nephews and led any way as they pleased Amongst the rest he had two Sons of his Brothers these were Charles who had born Arms for the French under the Mareschal Strozzi and Alphonso Count de Montorio greatly desirous to raise themselves the first very proud and rash the second more mild and moderate To this he gave the Government of the Church Lands and to the other a Cardinals Hat The Uncle and the Nephews for divers injuries received hated the Spaniards and by a necessary consequence all those of that party especially the Duke of Florence and the House of the Colonnas who besides all this have ever been averse to the power of the Popes Year of our Lord 1555 Being therefore prompted by this resentment and that spirit so ordinary in many of the Papal
That the Saint Ampoulle i. e. Holy Oyl was conveyed at his Baptism by a Celestial Dove That the Shield Semé with Flower-de-Luces and the Standard Royal de l'Oriflamme were by an Angel deposited in the hands of a good Hermit living in the solitudes of Joyenval near St. Germans en Laye That he had the Gift of Healing the Evil and made proof of it upon Lanicet his Favourite But God made him a more extraordinary and more excellent Present than all those when he bestowed upon him the Heavenly Knowledge of the Orthodox Faith there being amongst all the Princes upon Earth none but himself that did not live either in Error or Idolatry This Conversion did him no little Service towards keeping the Gauls who were all Christians in Obedience and to allure others who were Subjects to the Gothick and the Burgundian Princes whose Government was odious to them because they would compel them to follow the Opinion of Arrius The zeal of Christianity did not allay his Warlike heats Gondesigilus having promised if he would assist him in suppressing his Brother Gondebaud to share the spoil with him he fell with his Army upon the Burgundians Countrey Gondesigilus Year of our Lord 500 pretending he was mightily scared sent to pray his Brother to come to his assistance Gondebaud failed not but when it came to the Battle which was fought on the borders of the River L'Ouche near Dijon Gondesigilus went over to the French and began to Assault him Gondebaud finding it was a thing designed betwixt them fled to Avignon Clovis pursues and besieges him there The Sage Aredius Principal Counsellor to Gondebaud cunningly contrives to do his Master Service upon this occasion the Siege spinning out to some length he pretends to desert him and renders himself to Clovis with whom he manages Affairs so wisely as that King agrees to a Composition and Gondebaud becomes his Tributary Year of our Lord 500 and 501. When Clovis was out of that Countrey and perhaps employ'd in other business Gondebaud scorning to pay him the Tribute assembles his Forces together and besieges Gondesigilus in Vienne One Fontenier whom they had thrust out amongst the useless People discovered to him the mouth of an Aqueduct by which way he sent in some Men who surprized the City his Brother having sheltred himself in a Church belonging to the Arrians was there slain together with a Bishop of the same Belief Thus Gondebaud remained sole King of all Burgundy Year of our Lord Towards 502 or 503. It is my opinion during these years that the French as Procopius tells us not having been able to subdue the Armoricae betwixt the Seinè and the Loire did incorporate with them by a mutual Confederacy which of two made them bat one People The Roman Garrisons not being strong enough either to Retreat or to Defend themselves restored their Towns to them but did not quit the Countrey where they for a long time afterwards retained their Laws their Discipline and Habits The Citizens of Verdun being Revolted it is not said for what reason Clovit being ready to force them the Prayers of Euspice Arch-Deacon of that City a Man of a very Holy Life allayed his Wrath and obtained their Pardon I cannot tell precisely in what year hapned that which Procopius relates how Clovis and Theodoric King of the Ostrogoths having made an agreement together to conquer Burgundy and divide it upon condition that if either of the two Armies did not meet at a certain time appointed they should pay a certain Sum to the other the Visigoths made no great haste but left the French to bear all the brunt then coming when the hottest work was over and the Countrey subdued took their share of the Conquest paying the Sum as had been stipulated Year of our Lord 503 or 504. Neither the one nor the other held those Countreys long but restored them entire to Gondebaud who afterwards made a strict Alliance with Clovis against the Visigoths There is great likelyhood that it was in these peaceable days that Clovis laboured to reform the Salique Law which having been made by the French when Pagans might contain many things contrary to the manners and Laws of Christianity This Law was only for the French in his own Kingdom for those of Colen had another which we find to this day by the name of the Law of the Ripuarians conformable notwithstanding in many particulars to the Salique Law Year of our Lord 506. And the following Two Kings powerful and young as were Clovis and Alaric could not be long Neighbours and good Friends Divers petty differences set them at variance by the secret practises of the Bishops of Aquitain who being troubled they should obey Alaric an Arrian Prince pushed on Clovis to a Rupture The Two Kings had an Enterview and discoursed each other in the Island D'Or nigh Amboise between the City of Tours which belonged to the Visigoths and that of Orleance appertaining to the French This Meeting salved up their quarrel for a time and Theodoric King of the Ostrogoths Father-in-law to Alaric and Brother-in-law to Clovis undertook to make them agree but as great a Polititian as he was he could not restrain the Ardour of Clovis This Conquerour knowing the Visigoths were softned or effeminated by a long Peace and having made sure of Gondebaud by a League contracted betwixt them resolved to Attaque Alaric under the specious pretence of Religion the French followed him with great cheerfulness those of Aquitain invited Year of our Lord 507. 507 and him Heaven conducted him by visible Signs and Miracles Immediately the City of Tours surrenders to him Alaric who was getting his Forces together at Poitiers le ts him pass along to Vienne then imprudently resolves to give him Battle it was in the Plains of Vouglay Ten miles from Poitiers Clovis having exhorted his Soldiers Armed them with the Sign of the Cross and for the Word gave them the Name of the Lord. Alaric's Army was defeated and he slain in the Fight by Clovis's his own hand The vanquisher divided his Army in two Bodies with the one his Son Thierry makes himself Master of Albigeois of Rouergne of Quercy and of Auvergue and himself with the other of Poitou of Saintonge all Bourdelois and Burdeaux it self where he passed the Winter then in the Spring of Thoulouse wherein was the Treasure Year of our Lord 508 of the Visigoths At his return he took the City of Angoulesme the Walls whereof sell down before him in fine of all the Three Aquitains the Catholicks casting themselves into his Arms to be freed from the yoak of the Arrians At the same time Gondebaud pursuant to the Treaty made with Clovis Conquered the two Narbonnoises and the City of Narbona from whence he drove Gesali◠Year of our Lord 508 so was called the Bastard Son of Alaric who had seized on the Kingdom of the Visigoths because Almaric the Legitimate Son born of
informed of it sent one of his Dukes who quashed that Design The Provinces suffered most horribly by the cruel Discord of these Kings the Soldiers who marched every where plunder'd burnt and put all to the Sword There was no Discipline but so uncontroul'd a License that the Soldiers would fly in the faces of their own Officers if they did but question or forbid them as soon as on the meanest fellow With this cruel Desolation Heavens sent a cruel Epidemical Disease which raged over all France but most fiercely over Paris and that Vicinage it was called Lues Inquinaria because it appeared in those parts it burnt those that were tainted with it with great pain and made an Escar in a short time like a Cautery the most part died howling and shreiking most horribly and there was no cure found but in the Churches and especially that of our Ladies Chilperic had besieged Melun and commanded three of his Dukes to attaque Year of our Lord 583 Bourges the Berryvians came forth to meet them and gave them Battle which was very bloody to both Parties Gontran who went in his own Person to fight Chilperic having met with a Body of his Men who had left the rest to get Plunder cut them all off Chilperic much cooled with this Rebuke caused some Propositions to be made towards an Accommodation and Gontran who was of a mild and peaceable Temper receives them with joy Chilperic thought with himself that now he should get him to joyn to oppress Childebert in whose Kingdom he had great intelligence by the means of the Bishop of Rheims but maugre all the intrigues of those Factious Spirits Gontran and Childebert were reconciled the Uncle restored that part of Marseilles which began the breach to his Nephew again and they formed a League together to recover at their joynt Charges and Expence those Cities belonging to Chereberts Kingdom which Chilperic had gotten from it Upon the point when Childebert was preparing himself to assault Chilperic the Emperor Mauritius for the Sum of 50000 Crowns of Gold ready Money obliges him to carry his Forces into Italy against the Lombards who held the City of Rome besieged The young Prince but Fourteen years of Age went in Person Their King Autaris did not oppose Force with Force but putting his Men into several places let the Torrent run on and that it might for ever be turned another way he yielded up his Kingdom to the French and became their Tributary It is fit we understand that in the year 584. the Lombards perceiving that the Emperor Mauritius would needs endeavour by all means to root them out of Italy they thought the best way to preserve themselves was to restore their State to a Monarchy again and made Autaris the Son of Clephus King But nevertheless their thirty Dukes kept as their Propriety and as Hereditary the Titles to those Cities they then held but so that they should be obliged in certain Services to him particularly to obey and follow him in time of War This is perhaps the true Original of that Knights Service or Fee so much searched after by the Curious at least it is said they were setled or establish'd according to the Custom of the Lombards Year of our Lord 584 After many Wars Chilperic thinking to enjoy some rest was Assassinated in the Court of his Palace of Chelles in Brie which hapned towards the end of September One Evening in the twilight as he was alighting from his Horse being come from Hunting accompanied with but few a Murtherer gave him two Stabs with a Knife one under his Arm-pit the other into his Belly An Author attributes this unhappy blow to Brunehaud but others accuses his Wife Fredegonda who was obliged say they to prevent him because he had discover'd her Adultery with a Lord named Landry History describes this King to us Proud Inhumane Malicious Dissembling and a great Projector of Imposts but Crafty Patient Magnificent and instructed with good Learning In our days have been found it was Anno 1643. a couple of Tombs just by one another under ground at the entrance into the Church of St. Germain des Prez the name of Chilperic which was written upon one of the two hath made it to be conjectured that it was his and the other his Wife 's however it be that other Tomb in the same Church whereon we see his Statue is a Cenotaph which hath been placed there in these last Ages Of so many Sons as he had gotten on divers Women there remained but one who was but four months old and had as yet no name he caused him to be Nursed at the Burrough of Vitry near Tournay for fear they should destroy him by Poyson or Witchcraft as he believed they had done the others He had likewise a Daughter by Fredegonda she was named Rigunta who was then on her way into Spain to meet with Ricarede the King eldest Son to Leuvigildus to whom she was betrothed When she was gotten to Thoulousa the news came of her Fathers Death Didier Duke of that Country rifled all her Equipage so that she went no farther but returned to her Mother to whom she gave a great deal of trouble being much like her in Humour and ill Qualities Clotair II. King X. POPES PELAGIUS II. S. Five years during this Reign St. GREGORY I. Called the Great chosen Sept. 590. S. thirteen years six months SABINIANUS In Sept. 604. S. five months nineteen days BONIFACE III. Chosen in Sep. 606. S. nine months BONIFACE IV. Chosen 607. S. six years eight months DEUS-DEDIT Elected in 614. S. three years BONIFACE V. Chosen in 617. S. nine years HONORIUS I. Elected 13 May 626. S. twelve years five months of which six years in this Reign Vncle Cousin Germans GONTRAN in Burgundy and part of Neustria CHILDEBERT in Austrasia CLOTAIR II. Aged four or five months in Neustria Year of our Lord 584 THe Conscience of the Crime and the fear of Childebert who was at that time at Meaux terrified Fredegonda so much that leaving part of her Treasure at Chelles she flies to Paris and thrusts her self for Sanctuary in the Church of Nostre-Dame under the Protection of the Bishop Gontran having heard of the death of his Brother came presently with great Company Childebert was set forward likewise to have gotten in but finding the place was possessed he retires to Meaux and sends Ambassadors to him to demand part of the Kingdom of Paris and then again some others to pray him to deliver up Fredegonda to him to punish her for the Murther of her Husband and of Meroveus and Clovis To the first he Replied That all the Kingdom of Paris belonged to him because his Brothers Sigebert and Chilperic had forfeited their shares by violating the Treaty of Agreement made between them three and as for the other he would refer it to an Assembly of the Estates which was to be held on a day appointed He remained two months at
of the little River Arouane which glides betwixt that of Yonne and Loing and falls into the Loing close by Moret Clotaire lost the Battle and almost Thirty thousand Men and saved himself by speedy posting to Paris But he durst not stay there long for the Victors being advanced as far as Essonne he retired into the Forrest of Arelaune In fine he was constrained left he should lose all to yield up to them the greatest part of his Kingdom to Thierry all that was between the Loire and the Seine as far as the Sea and to Theoderet the Dutchy of Dentelen which was between the Oise and the Seine or perhaps between the Somme and the Oise Year of our Lord 600 601. During the controversie between the Cousins the Gascons took occasion to come and plant themselves in the Countrey of Oleron of Bearn and of Soule The two Brother Kings thought it to better purpose having vanquish'd them to make them become Tributaries then to drive them quite away and gave them a Duke to Govern them he was called Genialis But as they are a stirring People during the Civil Wars of the French they gained all Aquitania Tertia which because of them is named Gascongne Year of our Lord 601 Brunehaud had all the power in the Court of young King Thierry having made him taste the pleasure of Women and Love betimes to keep him from medling with business of State by charms of voluptuousness and out of fear leâ—t a lawful Wife if he should take one should induce him to retrench her Authority by gaining the Affections of her Grand-Son from her This year he had a Son by one of his Mistresses which they named Sigebert Though Brunehaud were a Great-Grand-Mother she was not exempted from Love nor from inspiring it in others by the opportunities she had of bestowing the greatest Favours but this she did most commonly at the expence of the richest whom she fleeced by her Calumnies and her assassinations The precedent year she Year of our Lord 602 had taken away the Life of Egila Patrician of Burgundy to enrich her self with his Year of our Lord 603 spoil She loved amongst others a young Lord named Protades of Roman extraction that is to say Gaulois and had already made him Duke des Transjurains this was not enough she must raise him to the Office of Mayer of the Palace But Bertoald who then executed it must first be put out of the way To this end she sent him to gather up the Imposts in Neustria newly taken from Clotair and as yet not well subjected Landry Mayer of the Palace soon chases him pursues him even to Orleans and Besieges him King Thierry being informed thereof Mounts on Horseback the Battle was fought at the passage over the River of Estampes most part of Landry's Men were cut off but Bertoald was slain there as Brunehaud had wished and she gave that Employment to her Protades Year of our Lord 603 At the same time King Theodebert had taken the Field to run upon Clotaire but the two Kings being there present Theodebert grants him a Peace desiring to preserve him for a time of need against his Brother Thierry who likewise and perhaps upon the same consideration did in a while after make his accommodation with Clotaire Year of our Lord 604 The Old One had not forgot the Outrage she had received by Theodebert or rather the Austrasian Lords she infinitely desired Thierry might make himself Master of that Kingdom that she might execute her Revenge She made him believe therefore that Theodebert was not his Brother but that he was the Son of a Gardiner Was it that she would have it meant he had been Supposed or Changed or that the Queen Faileube had committed Adultery with some person of that condition Upon all occasions she and her Favourite thundered it in the Ears of Thierry and laid hold of every little subject of Pique to exasperate the Spirit of that young ambitious and violent Prince Insomuch as that in fine he took up Arms to deprive his own Brother both of his Crown and Life One day as the two Armys were encamped near each other the Leudes or Vaslals of the Kings detesting this impious War endeavoured an accommodation Protades opposing it those that belonged to Thierry gathered together and notwithstanding the Intreaty and Commands of that Prince Year of our Lord 605 to the contrary went and â—lew him in his Tent where he was playing at Chess Year of our Lord 605 6. In time Brunehaud found means to sacrifice all those that had procured his Death to the Manes of her beloved Friend But notwithstanding instead of one Gallant she chose many and those the handsomest of her Court The scandal was so great that St. Didier Bishop of Lions was obliged by his Pastoral Office and Duty to make some publique Remonstrances of it to her They wrought no effect upon a Soul so plunged in the Mire of her Lust but they acquired the Crown of Martyrdom for this Holy Prelate This Second Jesabel having first caused him to be degraded and banished by an Assembly of Bishops devoted to her passion then two years after stoned to death by her Satellites Some remorse of Conscience having touched Thierry he would needs take a lawful Wife and caused Hermenberg the Daughter of Bertric King of the Visigoths to come out of Spain that he might Marry her But Brunehaud by her Witchcrafts as it was said hindred him from consummating the Nuptials and even perswaded him to send her back and most unjustly detain all that she had brought with her for him The disorders of this Court were at such a height that it was to ruine ones self not to approve of it Nevertheless the H. Abbot Colomban who feared nought but God alone spared not to conjure King Thierry to put an end to his Debauches Year of our Lord 608 by a legitimate Marriage and refused to give Blessing to his Bastards boldly assuring him that God would never suffer the Sons of Sin to Reign This Christian liberty thwarted too much the Interests and Pleasures of Brunehaud she ceased not from irritating the King her Son against the Saint till he had caused him to be plucked out of his Monastery with violence and turned out of his Kingdom At that time when she her self was driven from the Court of Austrasia she had left one of her Servants there bought with the price of Money named Bilechild a Virgin of much Wisdom and more Beauty Theodebert having Married her the kindness that Prince had for her begot the aversion of Brunehaud It hapned that this year she dyed by some ill beverage It was not known from what hand it was directed whether that old jealous Woman or her Husbands who was grown weary of her and would have another as indeed he Married Theodechild one of the same quality and condition But her death was imputed to Brunehaud as well as the War that
Austrasia environned with fierce and rebellious People wanted the presence of Pepin He durst not take King Thierry with him lest he should displease the Neustrians but he left a Lord with him called Nordbert who disposed of all and gave him an account Year of our Lord 687 The French found no prejudice by this change the interest of a new Prince who desired to Establish himself being to gain the Affections of the People and indeed he repaired all the Breaches that he possibly could which had been made in the foregoing Reigns restored what had been ravished from the Church the Bishops to their Sees the Grandees in their Dignities and Lands resolved upon nothing without the Advice of the Lords and Prelates defended the Cause of the Oppressed of Widdows and Orphans and applied himself to give vigour to the Laws which are the only Shields for the weak against the mighty ones Year of our Lord 688 The second year of his general Command he drew the French Militia together and by the Advice of the great ones carried the War into Frisia and compelled the Duke or King Ratbod who revolted to render him Obedience and to pay him Tribute At his return he called a Council the place is not named wherein they Treated and Considered of the ways and means that should be taken to repress Disorders and Violence and for the defence of the Church of Widdows and Orphans He knew there were no greater Charms to make them love his Government then Piety and Justice Poor Thierry being stripp'd of the real part of his Royalty which is his just Power and reduced to be contented with a moderate Revenue in Lands ended his Year of our Lord 690 or 91. days but not his shame in the year 690. or 91. They allow him Thirty nine or forty years of Age and his Reign to be Seventeen entire that is Thirteen before Pepins Victory and four under the Power of that Mayre He had two Sons Clovis and Childebert and two Wives Clotilda and Doda unless that name of Doda were an Epithet of Crotilda who perhaps was so called because she was fat and plump His Tomb and that of this Doda are to be seen at St. Vaasts of Arras Clovis III. King XVI POPE SERGIUS Who S. four years in this Reign CLOVIS III. In Neustria PEPIN Mayre in Neustria Soveraign in Austrasia IF there had been two Kings there must have been two Mayres but Pepin would Year of our Lord 691 hold that Office alone besides he could not suffer any King in Austrasia because he held that as properly his own for this reason he gave to Clovis which was the eldest of Thierry 's two Sons the Title of King in Neustria and Burgundy but himself kept the whole Administration Perhaps the French according to their ancient Right had conferred upon him the Soveraignty of Austrasia but it is certain that all those People who were Tributary's to that Kingdom as the Turingians the Frisians the Saxons the Almains shook off the Yoak and made themselves Independents On the other hand the Aquitains and likewise the Gascons created each a Soveraign Duke of their own and the Bretons enlarged their little Frontiers Clovis according to some Reigned but two years others more probably give him Year of our Lord 694 four compleat He died about the end of the year 694. or in the beginning of 695. Year of our Lord 694 or 95. being Aged Fourteen or fifteen years and neither had seen nor done any thing that was Memorable in his Reign Childebert II. King XVII POPES SERGIUS Who S. five years and an half during this Reign JOHN VI. Elected in Oct. 701. S. three years two months JOHN VII Elected in March 705. S. two years seven months SISINNIUS In January 708. S. twenty days CONSTANTINE In March 708. S. six years whereof three iâ— this Reign CHILDEBRT II. Called the Young aged Eleven or twelve years PEPIN Mayre c. Year of our Lord 695 IN his room Pepin set up his Brother Childebert who because of his Minority was yet reduced to a lesser scantling of Allowance then his Brother had been The great Officers as the Count of the Palace the great Referendary or Chancellor the Intendant of the Royal Houses were all with the Mayre The Kings had only a small number of Domesticks which served rather as Spies and Jaylors then Officers And indeed they needed them not being ever locked up in a House of Pleasure whence they never went forth but in a Chariot drawn with Oxen and shewed not themselves to the People but once a year in the Assembly of Estates which was held the First day of March. Year of our Lord From 690 unto 700. In these days Egica King of the Visigoths had War with the French towards the borders of the third Aquitain the success we know not Norbert who was the sub-Mayre and Lieutenant to Pepin in Neustria being deceased Year of our Lord 696 and 97. Pepin caused Grimoald his young Son to be elected Mayre of that Kingdom and gave the Dutchy of Champagne to his eldest Son Drogo whom he would keep near him Ratbod King of the Frisons notwithstanding he had given his Faith and Hostages revolts a second time and is again beaten by Pepin near Dorstat There was nothing observable in the eight or nine following years Pepin besides his Wife Plectrude who was already old had taken a Concubine or if you will a lawful Wife for the French notwithstanding the sacred Canons and the Prohibitions of the Church repudiated their Wives when they pleased and Wedded others The Kings themselves according to the ancient Custom of the Germans had often many at one time This same was called Alpaide Pepin had a Son by her named Charles and since surnamed Martel Lambert Bishop of Liege a Zealous Defender of the Christian Truth having dared to reprove him several times and called that Conjunction Adultery in publick Dodon the Brother to Alpaide Assassinated him by consent of Pepin Soon after the Murtherer being eaten with Worms and enduring horrible Torments a while cast himself into the Meuse This infection of Worms was very frequent and as it were Epidemick at that time as have been St. Anthony's Fire and some other odd Diseases Year of our Lord 708 Not long after Pepin lost Drogo or Dreux his eldest Son who left two Sons Hugh and Arnold by his Wife Austrude who was the Widdow of the Mayre Berthier The Almans and Souabues made now but one People governed by the same Duke who appertained to the Kings of Austrasia or held of them But Godfrey the now Duke had cast off the Yoke to make himself independent Being dead Anno 709. Willehaire succeeded him Pepin in two Expeditions which he made thither vanquished him and triumphed over his Pride He could not wholly subdue it though so that it was found necessary to send a third Army into that Country but when Year of our Lord 711 they were just
and perhaps at his request he set their youngest Year of our Lord 747 Brother Griffon at liberty Treated him Honourably in his Court and gave him some Counties for his allowance The ambition of this young Prince not being tamed by a Prison could Year of our Lord 748 not be so by kindness he made his escape and went and stirred up the Saxons in his quarrel Pepin followed him close the Sorabe Sclavonians who were divided from the Turingians by the River of Sal the Abrodites and other Sclavonians who were spread all along the Frontiers of France brought him 10000 Fighting Men. Insomuch as the Saxons Nordsqaues overwhelmed with his numbers submitted to his pleasure and received Baptisme Griffon with the other Saxons was Encamped and Intrenched on the other side of the River Ovacre fear seized upon them they deserted their Post in the night time and their Countrey remained exposed to the mercy of the French so that not finding himself any longer in safety there he leaves them to make their Peace and retired to Bavaria where he seized on that Dutchy usurping it from the young Tasillon aged but 6 or 7 years who was the Son of his Sister Chiltrude and Odillon This Countrey no more then that of Saxony could not protect him from the pursuit of Pepin who joyning Gold and his Favours with his Sword and Threats soon unhinged his Party The Bavarois made their agreement Landfroy Duke of the Almans and Suidgard Earl of Hirsberg did the same and he finding himself alone was compelled to follow their Dance and come to his Brother He receiv'd him most kindly and assigned him the City of Mans and Twelve Counties in Neustria but the very self same year he made a third escape and cast himself into the Arms of Year of our Lord 749 Gaifre Duke of Aquitain Pepin having gained the better over all his enemies had no more left him to do Year of our Lord 750 but to sit down in the Throne a thing his Father durst not undertake He saw all the power in his own hands with the Treasures of the Kingdom and the Affections of the French and there was no other Prince of the Merovignian Race remaining but one young stupid and witless Man He therefore assembled a Parliament which being wholly Devoted to him were very willing to confer the Title of King on him but he was glad that he might be disengaged from his Oath of Fidelity to consult with the Pope who had great authority over the Galican Church and whose Answers passed for Oracles though not for Laws He who sate then in the Holy Chair was Zachary a most intimate friend of Pepins who wanted his assistance against the Lombards and who could well apprehend that what was desired of him was a most favourable prejudgment for the Popes Year of our Lord 750 against the Emperours Besides it seemed reasonable and just that France after so many Idols and Shadows should now have a King in reality and therefore he could not but answer favourably to the point that Pepin propounded and consulted him about and his Reply was certainly of great weight It is in this sence according to my opinion that we must understand some Authors of those times who tells us that Boniface set him upon the Throne by the Command of Zachary Otherwise we should say the French did not truly understand their own Right and that this Pope attributed to himself what did not belong to him Upon this Answer the French having called another Parliament at Soissons degraded Year of our Lord 751 Childeric and elected Pepin There is some likelyhood that this was done in the general Assembly which was held in the month of March The Bishops were there in great numbers Boniface Arch-Bishop of Ments being in the head of them who declared to them the validity of the Popes Answer and indeed this King and his Successors as if they had some obligation to the Clergy for their Royalty gave them a great share in the Government By the same Decree Childeric was shaved and made a Monk at Sitieu There are some affirm that from thence he was removed to the Monastery of St. Himeran at Ratisbonne and his Wife being vailed to that of Conchiliac But others believe he was not Married though he were of an age ripe enough for it Thus endeth the First Race of the Kings of France who if we reckon from the year 418. to the year 751. had Reigned 333 years and had 21 Kings only accounting those of Paris but Thirty six if we take in all those that had the Title as well in Austrasia where there was but one that resided at Mets as in Neustria while sometimes three of them at the same time had their Seats at Orleans at Soissons and at Paris The first Four of these Kings were Idolaters and all the rest Christians But their Baptisme did not quite purge away their Barbarity they were Savage and Bloody till Clotaire II. Those that followed were more Benigne Merciful and Religious excepting Childeric II. But all being either shallow-Brain'd or Minors they fell necessarily under the Government of others End of the First Race The Second Race OF KINGS Which have Reigned in FRANCE And are Named CARLIANS OR Carolovinians THIS Second Race is commonly called the Carlian or Carolovinian Race We know not whether it took that denomination from Charles Martel or Charles the Great After it had been raised to a great height by the Vertue of its Five first Princes to wit the two Pepins Charles Martel Charlemain and Lewis the Godly and had extended their Empire much beyond the Bounds of the First It began to decline under the Children of that Lewis and in the end was reduced to so narrow a compass all the Lords having made themselves Masters in their Governments that their last Kings had nothing left which was properly their own but the Cities of Laon and that of Reims It is observed That they had much resemblance with the First Race in that they had a very fair beginning and an unhappy end That Charles of Lorraine their last Male was deprived of the Crown as Childeric had been and that they had several stupid and senceless Princes amongst them But this held one Advantage above the other That they Reign to this day in all Europe by the Males in the House of France and by the Women in that of the other greatest Princes Insomuch that the Carlovinian Blood is held for the most Noble in all the Earth whereas there is not any remaining of that of Meroveus PEPIN named the Breif OR The Little King XXII Aged XXXVI or XXXVIII Years POPES ZACHARY One Year during this Reign STEPHANUS II. in 752. S. 2. Years 3. days STEPHANUS III. The same Year S. 5. Years 20 Days PAUL I. Elect in May 717. S. Ten Years one Month. CONSTANTINE and PHILIP False Popes in 767. STEPHANUS IV. In August 768. S. 3. Years 5 Months
whereof 2 months in this Reign Year of our Lord 751 AFter the Estates of Soissons had Elected Pepin and as it is believed had lifted him on the Pavois and upon the Royal Throne he would needs add the Ceremonies of the Church to consecrate his Royalty and render it more august Boniface Archbishop of Ments Crowned him in the Cathedral of Soissons and anointed him with holy Oyl according to the Custome of the Kings of Israel that thereby the Word of God Touch not mine Anointed might become a Buckler to him and his Successors The Anointing and Crowning began from this time to be practised at the Inauguration of the Kings of France and hath been continued to this day Being of a very low stature the Lords had not all that respect for him which they should Having perceived it he would needs let them see by experience that he had more Courage and Vertue than those great bulks who very often have nothing but an outward appearance of bravery Those Kings took much delight in Combats of Wild Beasts and not only pleased themselves with the divertisement of such Spectacles in those Publique Entertainments they gave the People but many times in private in their own Palaces One day being at the Abbey of Ferrieres a furious Lion having grappled with a Bull whom he held fast by the Neck he said to some Lords that were about him That they must needs make him let go his hold Not one had the Courage to undertake it the very proposition affrighted them After he had observed them all and plainly perceived their astonishment he leaped down from the Scaffold his Back-Sword in his hand went directly to the Lion and at one stroak managed with as much skill as strength divided his head from his body his Sword entring even a good way into the Neck of the Bull. After this wonderful blow turning himself towards his Lords Do you not believe said he with a kind of Heroick Pride that I am worthy to Command you Year of our Lord 752 His first Warlike Expedition after his Coronation was in Saxony where he constrained the Saxons to pay every Year Three hundred Horses for a Tribute and to bring them to him into the Field of Mars or General Assembly of the French Year of our Lord 753 On his return from that Country he heard of the Death of Griffon his Younger Brother That unquiet Spirit being come out of Aquitain whither he had retired to Duke Gaifre was assassinated in the Valley of Morienne going into Italy either by some People of Pepins says our Author or by some of Gaifres who conceived some Jealousie for having been too familiar with his Wife To Childebrand Grandson of Luitprand King of the Lombards degraded by his Subjects Rachis Duke of Friul succeeded by Election who professing himself a Monk in the same Covent with Caroloman Brother of Pepin Astolphus his Brother had taken his place He finding the Emperour Constantine Copronimus full of Trouble had seized on the Exarchat of Ravenna and Pentapolis which till then had been held by the Exarchs or Vicars of the Emperour Besides he had got into his power even under the very Walls of Rome several Towns belonging to several private Lords who had made themselves as it were Soveraigns in the time of the distress and disorders of the Grecian Empire and finding all things submitted to him he had likewise a great desire to make himself Master of Rome pretending and maintaining That the Exarchat he had conquer'd gave him all the Right and Title the Emperours had enjoy'd in Italy and therefore Rome and the Popes being in subjection to the Empire were now under his Year of our Lord 753 By vertue of this pretence he marched with his Army towards Rome and sent to Summon the Romans to acknowledg him and to pay him a Crown in Gold for every head Pope Stephanus much amazed at this enterprize beseeches him to leave the Lands belonging to the Church in Peace hath recourse to the intercession of the Emperour Constantius and afterwards comes himself to Pavia to see the Lombard But finding his Intreaties nor the Emperour's Request had no influence upon him he implored the Assistance of Pepin and his Protection as Gregory III. had done that of Martel So that after he had prepared and disposed him by some Ambassadours sent before-hand he went from Lombardy into France to the great astonishment and vexation of Astolphus who however durst not detain him Year of our Lord 753 The King being unable to go so far as Morienne as he had made him hope sent to intreat him to come to Pontigon a Royal Castle near Langres Charles his Eldest Son went above fifty Leagues to meet him The Pope arrived at Pontigon the sixth day of January the King with his Wife and Children received him about a mile from the place and treated him with all manner of respect and honour But not to that degree as to walk on foot by his Horses side and hold the bridle as Anastasius hath written who in some places hath spoken of ancient times rather according to the Practice and Customs of the days he lived in then according to the naked truth After several Conferences both publique and private Pepin promised him all manner of assistance as soon as he had put his own affairs into some order and wished him in the mean time to go and repose himself in the Abbey of St. Denis in France Stephanus hath written That being fallen desperately ill and causing himself to be carried into the Church under the Bells to begg his recovery of God â—e beheld St. Denis in a Vision together with the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul who miraculously restored him Which could not but be very pleasing to the French who had a singular Veneration for that Saint and to Pepin himself whose Father either out of devotion or to do like other Kings had acknowledged he was greatly beholding to the intercession of those Holy Martyrs A little while after his being recovered from his Sickness which was in the Month of July he Crowned and Anointed Pepin and his two Sons with his own hands exhorting the French to keep their Faith and from that time Excommunicating Year of our Lord 754 them if they ever chose a King of any other Race Some say that this Ceremony was performed in the Church of St. Denis before the Altar of St. Peter and St. Paul which the Pope did on that day dedicate in remembrance of the recovery of his health Others believe it was in the Abbey-Church of Ferrieres Wherever it were the Ceremony being ended Stephanus declared him Advocate or Defender of the Roman Church Astolphus well foreseeing that the Pope would bring the French upon him had by Threats obliged the Abbot of Mount-Cassin to send the Monk Carloman into France to bring Pepin his Brother upon pretence of demanding the Corps of St. Bennet which had been stolne and
succeed him the other headed by Ebroin Bishop of Poitiers referr'd it to the Emperor Ebroin comes to him to know his Intentions for which he was rewarded with the Abbey of Saint Germain des Prez At the very time when the Emperor would have followed him into Aquitain with an Army he was drawn towards the German side Year of our Lord 839 After the partition made with Lotaire Lewis was forbidden to take upon him the Title of King of East France any longer his interest and resentment made him take up Arms to preserve it Now before he could put himself into a posture of defence his Father passed the Rhine and stuck so close to him that he was either advised or compelled to come and ask his Pardon At his return from this Voyage the Emperor goes into Aquitain and being entred as far as Clermont in Auvergne he there met and gave reception to the Lords of the Country whom Ebroin had disposed to obedience and made them give their Oaths for his Son Charles But young Pepin with his Friends kept the Inheritance of his Father still by some corner or other and held so fast and tugged so strongly against him that he could not be dispossess'd in many years Louis the Debonnaire Emperour and King of France Lotaire Emperour and King of Italy aged 45. years Louis King of Bavaria aged 34 years Charles King of Rhetia Burgundy Neustria Aquitain aged 17. years Pepin disputing Aquitaine aged 14. years Year of our Lord 840 When the Emperor after the Parliament of Chaalon was returned to Aquitain being at Poitiers to take some course to secure that Kingdom to his Son Charles he had notice that Louis had debauched the Saxons and Turingians that he had Siezed all the Country without the Rhine and then being come to Francfort had taken the Oaths of several Eastern French Never any business troubled him so greatly as this same Though he were indisposed by a defluxion upon his Stomach and the Weather as yet very unseasonable he went from Aquitain with the resolution of putting an end to that affair He left his Wife and his Son Charles at Poitiers kept his Easter at Aix passed from thence into Turingia and held a Parliament at Vormes Then his Malady encreasing he went down the Meine to Ingelheim near Ments where lying in his Tents his Heart pierced with grief and his Stomach oppress'd with an Impostume he gave up the Ghost the 20 th of June having every Morning for forty days together received the Sacrament or Body of our Lord Jesus Christ He was in the beginning of the 64. Year of his Age and the end of the 27 th of his Empire and Monarchy before which time he had been King of Aquitain 32 years His Brother Dreux convey'd his Corps to Mets whereof he was Bishop and Intombed him in the Abbey of Saint Arnoul who was the Stock of the Carlovinian Family He was of a mild and sweet Nature but too easy and too credulous insomuch that sometimes his Counsellors could persuade him to unjust things From his youth he had plunged himself into a profound Devotion And if we may not say that he gave too much credit to the Church-men we may at least own that he could not discern the good from the bad or that employing them in his affairs and bestowing too much wealth upon them he spoiled them His Fathers method had been much better who never suffer'd one man to have more then one employment or more then one Benefice at the same time For the rest of his character he was Laborious Sober Vigilant Liberal very knowing and Learned both Speaking and writing Latine as well as any man in his Kingdom and who together with the perfect knowledge and understanding in the Laws had ever a great care to see them put in execution His first Marriage was with Hermengard Daughter to Duke Ingelram by whom he had three Sons Lotaire Pepin and Louis and three Daughters Adelais whose first Husband was Conrard Earl of Paris her second Robert le Fort Gisele who married Everard Duke of Friuli Father of that Berenger who was King of Italy Hildegarde married to Count Theodorus and Alpais Wife of Count Begon By his second marriage which was with Judith Daughter to Velpon or Guelfe Earl of Ravensperg he had Charles whom they surnamed the Bald. CHARLES II. Surnamed The Bald. King XXV Aged xvii Years POPES GREGORY IV. S. 3. Tears under this Reign SERGIUS II. Elected in Febr. 844. S. 3 years one Month. LEO IV. Elected in April 847. S. 8. Tears 3 Months BENNET III. Elected in August 855. S. 4. Years NICHOLAS I. Elect. in April 858. S. 9. Years 6 Months ADRIAN II. Elect. in Decemb. 867. S. 5. Years JOHN VIII Elect. in Decemb. 872. S. 10 years whereof 5. under this Reign Lotaire Emperour and King of Italy Louis King of Germany Charles King of Burgundy and Neustria Pepin Fighting for the Kingdome of Aquitaine Year of our Lord 840 SOme few days before his Death the Debonnaire had sent his Scepter his Crown and his Sword the tokens of Empire to Lotaire his eldest Son recommending to him the protection of Prince Charles and enjoyning him to preserve that share for him which had been allotted with his own consent But Lotaire or Lotharius was possessed in his mind that his Birth-right and his Quality of Emperor ought to make him Soveraign over his younger Brothers With this design he parts from Italy comes to the Kingdom of Burgundy where he designed to Rendezvous and bring his Forces together with his Friends dispatches his Commissaries into all parts to sollicite the Lords to give their Oathes to him passes from thence to Wormes and draws the Saxons to his party From thence Marches even to Francfort But Lowis coming to encamp close by him startled him and as he made more use of craft then strength he made Truce with him till the 12 th of November at what time they were to meet in the very same place to decide their differences in a Friendly manner if possibly they could if not by Dint of Sword Charles was then at Bourges where he waited for Pepin who failed at the Rendezvous promised From thence he dispatched one to Lotharius to intreat him to remember his Oathes which he had made in the presence of his Father and withal Year of our Lord 840 to render him all respect and submission as to his eldest Lotaire amuses him with fine words and in the mean time adjusts all his Engines to turn him out of his Estates After Charles had by his presence confirmed those People betwixt the Meuse and the Seine and had withal made a Journey into Neustria he returned with diligence into Aquitain to put a stop to Pepin's progress whose courage was much augmented upon the approaching of Lotharius He took off somewhat of the sharpness of his Mettle by gaining a Battel but in the mean while the Neustrian People joyned with
the Divine Authority do pray you to receive and govern them according to the will of God They then divided betwixt them that portion of Austrasia which had been possessed by Lotaire Nevertheless this partition did not stand for that Prince endeavouring an accomodation with them the Friends on all hands brought it so to pass that the three Brothers had a parley together in an Island on the Soane each accompanied and assisted with Forty Lords in the presence of whom they agreed to divide the whole Succession of their Father not including Bavaria Lombardy and Aquitain in three equal parts whereof Lotaire should take his choice That the same forty Deputies on the behalf of each of them should meet together in November in the City of Mets to make that division and that in the interim each of them should keep the same Portion he then enjoy'd and remain therein The Assembly of the Six-score Lords was not held at Mets because Lotaire being at Thionville it would not have been secure for those on the behalf of the two younger Brothers It was removed to Coblents where for want of ample powers they could agree to nothing but a Truce till St. John baptist's-Baptist's-day and another meeting at Thionville before that time Year of our Lord 843 In this Interval Charles Married in his own Palace of Crecy upon Oyse with Hermentrude Daughter of Wodon Grand-child to Adelard who had governed Louis the Debonnaire and had been a most horrible squanderer of the Treasures and Demesnes belonging to the Crown which on the one hand had got him the hatred of those that loved the welfare of the State and on the other the affection and esteem of Courtiers and all such as were not able to maintain their expences but by the profusion of such Ministers Year of our Lord 843 The French Lords assembled at Thionville succeeded so well about the partition between the three Brothers that they compleated it the 6 th Day of March To Charles fell the western Kingdom of France which is near upon the same which we call at this very day France that is from the Brittish Ocean to the Meuse To Louis fell Germany unto the Rhine with some Villages on this side which he would needs have included because there were some Vine-yards and to Lotharius with the Title of Emperor the Kingdom of Italy and Provence and all that lay Year of our Lord 843 between the Kingdoms of his two other Brothers which were the Lands between the Scheld the Meuse the Rhine and the Soane In the German Tongue this was called Loterreich in Romance or Old-French Lohier-regne and by contraction Lorreine that is to say the Kingdom of Lotaire or Lotharius The Country that bears this Title at present is but a small part thereof As for Pepin they allotted him no share but having gained a great victory over those sent by his Uncle who endeavoured to take away his Kingdom of Aquitain he maintained himself for some years even till his Vices rather then the power of his Enemies dethroned him This division of the Kingdom betwixt Brothers equally divided the affections of the People of Germany Gaul and Italy who had begun to cleave if I may say so or joyn together in one Monarchick body and made the Subjects become inconstant unfaithful Factious and take to themselves a liberty of chusing their Princes believing they might do so provided they were of Royal blood But that which was worse was that France having lost the best of her Forces by that blooddy Battel at Fontenay was no longer able to keep those People under which had been subdued especially the Gascons and the Bretons neither to defend themselves against the incursions of the Normands As for the Gascons Azenar who had Seized upon the County being dead in the year 836. his Brother Sance had also invaded it in despite of Pepin and justified it by the assistance of the Basques and the Navarrois The Dutchy was then held by a Lord named Totilus Azenar far from obeying him did tyre him with his continual incursions and whilst he held him in play gave opportunity to the Normands to ravage the whole Province One cannot without horror recount the Ruines Murthers and Destructions by Fire which those Barbarians practised over all France Necessity forced them out of their houses to seek for a subsistence elsewhere for every fifth year they sent out Colonies or swarms of young People to go and seek out their Fortunes in other Countries The desire of plunder and honour made them ever fall upon the richest Provinces the false Zeal of their Brutish and Impious Religion made them cruel and bloody especially towards Church-men the French making use of their assistance in their publick quarrels had brought them into their Country and such rascally people as were but too much at liberty and in too great numbers during the Civil-War served them for guides and not only so but sometimes became their commanders and encouragers assisting them in their pillaging and robberies with so great destruction that no times nor History can parallel For from one Sea to the other there was not one Monastery standing that had not felt their fury and devilish rage not one Town that had not been ransom'd plundred or burnt two or three times Which was demonstration sufficient that it was a terrible vengeance sent from God Year of our Lord Towards 840. And to make this yet more plain there were every one of those years most visible fore-warnings to repentance by some extraordinary Signs shewed from Heaven A little before the death of Louis the Debonnaire appeared a Comet and another again in An. 842. From the year 840. to 850. there were frequently Battels in the Air to be seen And the Earth-quaked often times with Terrible roarings During the Government of Duke Totilus in Gascogny those Barbarians having failed in an attempt upon Burdeaux ruined Basas Ayre Laitoure Dags Tarbe de Bigorre Labour Oleron and Lascar and beat that Duke Twice But the Third time he had the advantage against them and drove them quite out of all Gascogny He survived but a short while after his victory that command was given to Seguin and to strengthen him the better against Sance and likewise against the Normans the County of Burdeaux was joyned to his Dutchy which before was Aquitania Secunda and if I am not deceived that of Saintes Which hindred not the Normans upon a second descent An. 843. from defeating him in a bloody Battel Year of our Lord 843 between Saintes and Burdeaux where his death Crowned their Victory Duke William his Successor could not stop this Torrent which overslowed Aquitania Secunda and made them Masters sometimes of Saintes another while of Angoulesme then of Lemoges or Perigueux The confusion they brought into those Countries and the revolt of Bernard Duke of Septimania which hapned in the same years gave so much confidence to the Gascons of the Dutchy that they
into his hands having obtained it by intelligence Richard followed him close at the heels and getting into the Country almost as soon as himself made terrible havock The Earl of Chartres had his revenge the very same year carrying Fire and Sword to the very Gates of Rouen but was rudely repulsed and lost his Son in the Retreat Year of our Lord 965 Arnold surnamed the Old the Fair and the Great Earl of Flanders died in the year 965. The Son of Baldwin his Son named Arnold the Young Succeeded him under the Guardianship of Matilda of Saxony his Mother This was that Arnold who being come to Age began to Fortify the Port of Petressa or Scalas which then belonged to the Abbey of St. Berthin It is now named Calais Neighbour to Portus Iccius in these days as it is believed called Blanc Nez and very Famous in the Romans times who from thence passed over into Great Britain He thought to make good use of it against the Normand Pyrats and because he could not always be on those Coasts he gave the County of Guisnes to Adolph Son of Siffroy who had married the Daughter of Hernieulle Earl of Boulogne King Lotaire having heard of the Death of Arnold the Old went immediately into the Country to receive Hommage of the Lords and took Arras and Doway As on the other side William Earl of Pontieu took from that Minor Boulogne and Terouenne and two of his Sons were Earls each of one of those Cities Year of our Lord 966 The same year Arch-Bishop Bruno being come into France to determine some difference between his Sister Gerberge and King Lotaire with the Children and Widdow of Hugh was Siezed with a Feaver at Compiegne which he carried to Reims with him and there Died. Some Authors give him the Title of Arch-Duke of Lorraine because he commanded all the Dukes and Earls of that Kingdom And this is the first time that I find that Title in any Authors There was before this time a Marquiss and Duke of the higher or Mosellanick Lorrain which was Gerard from whom it is held the Lorrain Princes of our days are descended Some Genealogists derive it from Erchinoald Mayre of the Palace and from the same stock they make the Austrian Habspurgh-House to spring with that of Zeringhen from whence is issued the Princes of Baden The King marry's Emme or Emina Daughter of that Lotaire King of Italy Poysoned by Berenger II. and the Queen Adeleida whom the Emperor Otho made his Year of our Lord 966 Second Wife which strengthned the good correspondence between the two Monarchs of France and Germany There hapned nothing very observable during these two years unless it were that in An. 967. King Lotaire gave his Sister Matilda in marriage to Conrad King Year of our Lord 967. and 68. of Burgundy and for her Dowre bestowed the City and County of Lyons The Earl Thibauld supported by the King went and encamped before Rouen from whence he could not be forced but by the help of the Infidel Normans which the King of Denmark of Kin to Richard sent thither who having made him retreat ran Year of our Lord 969 to the very Gates of Paris The ignorance of those times was extream which is the reason that for want of Historians we scarcely find any thing and must sometimes slip over whole years without mention of any occurrences In the year 973. Died the Emperor Otho very justly surnamed the Great founder of the Germain Empire Subduer of the Hungarians and Sclavonians and who found out the Method to Quell the Italians Pride and Chain up their persidious mutability LOTAIRE in France OTHO II. Emperor of Italy and Germany Aged 21 or 22 years CONRAD in Burgundy The Reign of his Son Otho II. was neither so steady nor so happy as his own Giselbert the Husband of Gerberge afterwards Queen had a Brother named Regnier Long-neck Earl of Mons in Haynault and Valenciennes who having been taken in that City by Arch-Bishop Bruno had been confined to the Country of the Venedes and some time after two Counts named Garnier and Raginald or Renold who were in my opinion of his Kindred were invested in his Lands But his Sons Regnier II. Year of our Lord 973 and Lambert after the Death of Otho Armed themselves with the Aid of the French to be restored This begot a Bloody and most obstinate War The two Brothers defeated and slew in a Battel fought at a Village of Peronne near Binns the Counts Garnier and Renold But Otho II. immediately substituted Renauld and Godfrey two Lorrain Lords whom he invested with the Earldoms of Hainault and Valenciennes Now Year of our Lord 975 after various events the two Brothers assisted by Charles Brother to King Lotaire and Hugh Capet whose Daughters they afterwards Married got possession again of those Counties But it was at soonest not till An. 983. Year of our Lord 977 The Emperor was highly displeased that these two Sons of a Rebel should possess such large and great Feoss in his Kingdom of Lorrain in despite of him however he dissembled it having other affairs which would not allow him time to break with King Lotaire Year of our Lord 977 Which is more whether out of design to oblige him or rather to put a Barr in his way he Created Charles his Brother Duke of Lorrain a young Prince about the Age of 23 or 24 years The French had not forgot the remembrance of their Ancient right to Lorrain And the King as Son of Gerberge who of her own held very many great possessions in Capite expected that Otho his Cousin German would restore some part to him especially seeing he had given such sweet Morsels to the Bishops of Liege and Colen But not doing so Lotaire undertakes to compel him He gets unexpectedly into the Country with an Army takes the Oaths of the Lorrainers in the City of Mets and from thence marches directly to Aix-la-Chapelle Otho was diverting himself there very securely with his Family it wanted not above half an hours time to have surprised him He could do no other but only just get on Horseback and fly for his safety leaving his Dinner at the Table and all his precious Year of our Lord 978 Houshold Furniture in the Palace which Lotaire plunder'd and then scowred thorough all the whole Country In revenge of this Exploit the very same year Otho made a great irruption in France with Three-score Thousand men sacked all Champagne and that which is called the Isle of France even to Paris sending word to Hugh Capet who being Count of that City had put himself in there that he would have an Alleluya sung upon Montmartre by so many Clerks it should be heard at Nostre-Dame Those Rodomontado's were not justified by the effects His Nephew going in a Bravado to plant his Lance in one of the Gates of Paris was slain by Gefrey Grisegonnelle Earl of Anjou Winter
Vassals judging him uncapable to succeed from the imbecillity of his understanding a defect very ordinary in the Carolovinian Race Henry left all his Three Sons under the Guardianship of Baldwin Earl of Flanders who had Married his Sister and likewise entrusted him with the Regency of the Kingdom Queen Anne his Widdow retired to Senlis where she was building a Church in Honour of the Martyr St. Vincent Her Solitude was not so Austere but she could listen to the Addresses of Rodolph Earl of Grespy who was of that neighborhood She made no difficulty to Marry him and this Second Flame had like to have kindled a Civil War not for the difference in their Qualities for the Grandees went almost equal with their Kings but because Rodolph was of Kin to the First Husband for which reason the Bishops Excommunicated that Lord but nothing could make him let go his hold of her save death which untied him from his Princess Ann. 1066. Being a Widow and destitute of support she returned to end her days in her own Countrey Philip I. King XXXVIII Aged Seven or Eight years POPES Vacancy of Three Months Alex. II. Elect 1 Octob. 1061. S. Eleven years and neer Seven Months Gregory VII Son of a Carpenter Elect in April 21. 1073. S. Twelve years One Month. Victor III. Elect in May 1086. S. about One year Four Months Vacancy Five Months Urban II. Elect in March 1088. S. Eleven years and Four Months Paschal II. Elect 12. August 1099. S. Eighteen years and Five Months Year of our Lord 1060 61 and 62. ALL quietly gave Obedience to the Regency of Baldwin the Gascons only refused to submit themselves apprehending said they lest by that Title he should destroy his Pupil to invade the Crown upon pretension that he was Married to the Daughter of King Henry He wisely dissembled this injury but two years after marched an Army towards the Pyreneans giving out it was to make War upon the Saracens in Spain and when he had passed the Garonne he stopp'd in the Rebels Countrey and brought them to their Duty without striking a blow Year of our Lord 1062 Guy Gefroy-William Duke of Aquitain believed that Gefroy Martel Earl of Anjou being dead without Children his Nephews Sons of his Sister had no right to Xaintongne He would therefore seize it and besieged Xaintes his Army was defeated by the two Brothers neer Chef-Boutonne but the following year he got another Army and took the Town from them Year of our Lord 1062 and 63. The two Brothers minded not the relieving it they were at mortal feud amongst themselves Foulk le Rechin the younger of the two gained the Lords of Touraine and Anjou who betraid his Brother Gefroy and unfortunately deliver'd him up with the City of Anger 's In the mean while the Duke of Aquitain having re-conquered Saintongne led his victorious into Spain where he forced the City of Barbastre at that time very rich and renowned The Zeal of Religion did often lead the Princes and Lords of Aquitain and Languedoc into Spain to succour the Christians against the Saracens and their assistance raised and very much supported the petty Spanish Kings Year of our Lord 1064 Edward King of England whose Christian Virtues have placed him in the number of Saints dying without Children left his Kingdom by Will and Testament to William the Bastard Duke of Normandy in consideration of the good Reception and Treatment he found in the House of Robert his Father when he was driven out Year of our Lord 1064 of his own Countrey as likewise because he was neer of Kin. But the English not affecting the Government of a Stranger gave the Crown to Harold Son of Godwin one of the great Lords of the Kingdom The Bastard on his side sought from all parts the assistance of his Friends and Allies to get himself into possession of his Right insomuch as having got by his large promises a powerful Army of Normans French Flemmings and others together he landed in England gave Battle to Harold the 14th of October who was slain in the Fight with his chief Commanders and left England to the discretion of the Conquerour A Revolution thought to be presaged by a terrible Comet which for Fifteen days blazed with three great Rays over-spreading almost all the Southern parts of the Heavens Before William past the Sea hapned the death of Conan Duke of Bretagne it was said he caused him to be poysonn'd because he claimed the Dutchy of Normandy as belonging to him by his Mother Daughter of Duke Robert Hoel who was Married to his Sister succeeded him Year of our Lord 1067. and the following The English ill-Treated by Williams Lieutenants and Officers Revolted the following years and called in the Danes to their aid but that only increased their misery and yoak for he took from them almost all their Lands and even their antient Laws introducing and imposing those of his own Countrey as he did that Language in all Courts of Justice and instruments of Law withal putting such Lords as follow'd him in possession of English Mens Estates the greatest part of them being punished or slain Thus ended the Reign of the English in that Island which hath notwithstanding retained their Name but in effect hath ever since been sway'd and is still by the Norman Blood their Kings and the greatest of the Countrey being descended and holding their Rights of this William the Bastard to whom was given the Surname of Conquerour Year of our Lord 1067 Baldwin Regent of the Kingdom of France and Earl of Flanders ended his days An. 1067. He had Two Sons Baldwin called of Monts who was Earl of Flanders and Robert who was Surnamed the Frison as being Lord of that Countrey of Friesland Year of our Lord 1069 It is observed that in the year 1069. Arnold Lord of Selne began to build the City of Ardres upon the ruines of his Castle of Selne A War did soon break out between Baldwins two Sons the Eldest thinking to devest the Younger was by him beaten and slain in the field of Battle leaving two Sons Arnold and Baldwin very young The Guardianship of these begot a bloody contest between Robert their Uncle and Richilda their Mother This Princess supported by Gefroy Crook-Back Duke of the lower Lorrain defeated Roberts Army and thrust him out of a part of his Countreys This happy success made her so haughty Year of our Lord 1068 towards her Subjects that the Flemmings Flammengant forsook her and she had none left but the Walloons and the Hennuyars The King would have made himself Judge and Arbitrator between both parties but Richilda coming to Paris with great Presents gained his Counsel and engaged him openly to take her quarrel Year of our Lord 1070 The King inflamed with the heat of Youth would needs go in person to make his first Essay in War and Arms. It proved not very successful for he was beaten and pursued Richilda taken and carried
belonged to the Church from the Rapine and Thefts of some Lords and restore the Discipline for which some Canons were made in the Second of Limoges That of Beauvais was held Fifteen days after that of Bourges Pope Leo IX being come into France Convened one at Reims towards Autumne An. 1049. Victor II. One at Toulouze An. ✚ 1056. To extirpate abuses and especially Simony which is more difficult to be taken from the Church then their Riches which is the cause of it King Henry desiring to have his Son Philip Crowned Assembled the Prelats and Lords of the Kingdom at Paris An. 1059 or 60. Amat Bishop of Oleron Legat from Rome in Aquitania Tertia and Narbounensis held divers Two in Gascongne One wherein he Excommunicated such as detained any Goods belonging to the Church another wherein he Dissolved the Marriage of Centulle Vicount of Bearn and another also at the Burrough of Deols in Berry with Hugh Legat and Arch-Bishop of Lyons about the affairs of that Abby The same having the Popes Legation in the lesser Bretagne Convened one An. 1079. in that Province to take some course against the abuses of false pennances that is to say their ☞ imposing of slight pennances for great crimes About the end of the year 1080. there were three One at Lyons where Hugh de Die the Popes Legat caused the Sentence to be confirmed whereby Manasses Arch-Bishop of Reims had been deposed One at Avignon where he consecrated another Hugh Bishop of Grenoble and the Third at Meaux in which Vrsion de Soissons was deposed and Arnold a Monk of St. Medard installed in his place The year following the same Hugh and Richard Abbot of Marseille Cardinals called one at Poitiers Amat d'Oleron Legat in Aquitain came likewise thither They provisionally ordained a Divorce of William Earl of Poitiers from his Wife because of their consanguinity That of Toulouze in An. 1090. was Convened by the Legats of Vrban II. Some Rules were there made concerning Causes Ecclesiastical and the Bishop of that City purged himself of certain things imposed upon him The most famous of all was the Council of Clermont An. 1095. where the same Pope with great zeal Preached up the First Croisade and to obtain the assistance of the Holy Virgin towards those that should undertake the Expedition ordained the Clergy to recite the Office or Heures of our Lady which the Chartreux and Hermits instituted by Peter Damianus had already received amongst them There was one more at Tours the year following to prepare them to that expeditition of the Holy Land The last year of this Century they had one likewise at Poitiers whereat John and Benedict Cardinal Legats presided King Philip was here struck with an Anathema for having retaken Bertrade and the Kingdom of France put under an interdiction The precedent year there had been one held at Autun and the following there was also one at Baugency for the same business The prohibition of Marriages even to the seventh Degree extreamly embarrass'd the Eleventh and Twelfth Century and as that rigour was excessive the Princes broke thorough without much scruple and afterwards became obstinate against Excommunications with so much the more Reason and Pretence as having the opinions of many great Lawyers who reckoned these Degrees after another manner then the Church-men so that it served for little else but a specious colour for such as were distasted with their Wives to procure their Divorce The custom practised in the Church of Jerusalem where because of the too great confluence the Laity communicated only under the species of Bread introduced it self by little and little into the Western Church and there is some appearance that the Canon of the Council of Clermont was favourable to it ordaining That those that communicated should take the two species separately this was to avoid that abuse of the Greeks who soaked or dipped the Bread in the Wine Vnless in case of necessity or by PRECAVTION That is to say if there were danger of spilling the Challice as when the multitude and throng of Communicants was too great There was like a change in the Government of some Churches the Sees of Gascongny which had been vacant above two ages were filled the Bishopricks of Arras and Cambray both which had been Governed by one Pastor since Saint Vaast began each to have their own after the death of Gerard II. who held them both and Manasses was the first Bishop of Cambray An. 1095. The same thing was attempted for Noyon and Tournay which had been joyned since St. Medard but King Philip opposing they remained so united till the year 1146. When Simon the Son of Hugh the Great being Bishop thereof they were divided Anselme a Monk of Soissons and Abbot of St. Vincent de Laon was the first that held the See of Tournay An. 1179 Gregory VII by his Bulls gave or as others say confirmed to the Arch-Bishop of Lyons the Primacy of the four Lyonnoises only being perhaps perswaded as some others that Lyons was in antient times the capital City and first Church of the Galls The Arch-Bishop of Tours was the first who submitted but those of Sens and Rouen opposed it with all their might and although this establishment had been maintained in the Council of Clermont and since by judgment contradictory which was given in the Court of Rome Anno 1099. they had much ado to submit themselves and it was as I believe during this Contest that he of Rouen began out of emulation to take up the Title of Primate of Normandy The Abbot Odillon being excited by divers Revelations to ease the Souls that were in Torments after Death ordained the Monks of his Congregation of Clugny to make a Commemoration every year the day after All-Saints in their Prayers and Divine Service which the Universal Church received soon after About the end of his Age three famous Religious Orders had their Birth That of the Chartreax Anno 1086. by Bruno Canon o◠Reims and St. Hugh Bishop of Grenoble who were the first that retired into the horrid Solitude of the Chartreuse in Dauphine which gave name to this Order That of St. Anthony at Vienne in the same Country by a Gentleman named Gaston who devoted his Person and Estate to the assistance of those that were seized with the Distemper called St. Anthony's Fire and came to implore the intercession of that Saint at Vienne where they had his Corps brought thither from Constantinople by Jocelin Count d'Albon in the time of King Lotaire Son of Louis Transmarine This Gaston got together some Companions who at first were of the Laity but soon after they became Friars under the Rules of St. Augustin and planted their Congregation in several Provinces In the year 1098. Robert Abbot of Molesme Instituted the Order of the Cisteaux being as it were a younger Sprig of that of St. Bennet and became so Potent that for more then Twenty years
People pretended they had the better Title and had most commonly maintain'd themselves in possession of it alledging the Popes could not deprive them of a Right born with the Church its self and practised in the times of the Apostles Year of our Lord 1160 King Lewis relying upon the Judgment of the Gallican Church whom he Assembled for this purpose at Estampes adhered to Alexander All the West followed his Example excepting the Emperor Frederick who with his Almans and what Partisans he had in Italy fiercely rejected him because he was Install'd without his Approbation King Henry besides the Kingdom of England held the Dutchy of Normandy which had then a part of Bretagne holding of it the Country of Maine Anjou Touraine and the Province of Aquitain His Ambition upheld by this great increase Year of our Lord 1160 of Power made him revive afresh the Right his Wife had to the County of Toulouze For this end having made Alliance with Raimond Prince of Arragon and Earl of Barcelonna he raised a great Army of Aquitains and Routiers amongst whom was Malcolme King of Scotland enter'd upon Languedoc took Mâ—issac Cahors and some other places The jealousie Lewis had of his growing Greatness moving him at least as much as Year of our Lord 1160 61. the Prayers and Intreaties of Earl Raimond his Brother-in-Law caused him to march that way and cast himself into Toulouze but he had so few with him that it was in the power of Henry to have forced that City had not the scruple of falling upon his Soveraign deterr'd him from it After which they were reconcil'd but Henry would not let fall his claim and hold of the Earldom of Toulouze till he bestow'd his Daughter Jane Widow of William II. King of Sicily on Earl Raimond In these days the cursed Crew of Routiers and Cottereaux began to make themselves known by their Cruelties and Robberies we cannot tell certainly why they were so called but they were a kind of Soldiers and Adventurers coming from divers parts as from Arragon Navarre Biscay and Brabant who wandred over all Countries and would be hired by any one that offer'd to take them provided they might be allow'd all manner of Licence The Cottereaux were most of them Foot-Soldiers the Routiers served on Horseback In the mean while Pope Alexander fearing the Emperor after he had pull'd down the Pride of the Milannois might come to Rome did not judge himself a fit match and so retired into France where he remained above three years Year of our Lord 1161 This year he held a Council at Clermont in which he did not forbear to thunder against Victor Frederick and all their Adherents Year of our Lord 1161 The most Potent and most Factious Family in all France was the House of Champagne Lewis to divide them from the English and gain them to himself takes Alix for his third Wife who was youngest Sister to the four Brothers Champenois for Constance his second Wife was dead Anno 1159. and for the two Daughters of his first Bed he gave one to Henry the eldest of the four Brothers Earl of Troyes and the other to Thibauld the second Earl of Blois Year of our Lord 1162 Pope Alexander came to Torcy on the River Loire where the two Kings Lewis and Henry received him with extream submission Both of them alighted and each taking one of the Reins of his Horses Bridle conducted him to the House prepared for him Year of our Lord 1162 A second time the Emperor came into the County of Burgundy bringing his Victor with him and a second time some endeavoured to procure a Conference betwixt him and the King to determine that Difference which made the Schism by the Judgment of a Council They agreed upon the place of Interview to be at Avignon as being the Frontier of either Prince whither the King by Oath obliged himself to bring Alexander But that Pope refusing to go there saying he could be judged by none it broke off the Conference and put the King in very great danger For the Almans having reproached him that he kept not his word plotted to way-lay him and had taken him Prisoner had not the King of England caused his Army to advance to disengage him Thence follow'd a cruel War between the Emperor and Alexander which horribly tormented Italy and out of which the Emperor could not withdraw himself but by the means of a shameful submission craving Pardon of the Pope and suffering him to set his Foot upon his Throat Which hapned in Anno 1177. in the City of Venice Year of our Lord 1163 Anno 1163. Alexander assisted at the Council of Tours Assembled by his order and there he thunders once more against Victor and Frederick He caused some Decrees likewise to be made against the Hereticks who had spread themselves over all the Province of Languedoc There were especially of two sorts The one Ignorant and withall addicted to Lewdness and Villanies their Errors gross and filthy and these were a kind of Manicheans The others more Learned less irregular and very far from such filthiness held almost the same Doctrines as the Calvinists and were properly Henricians and Vaudois The People who could not distinâ—uish them gave them alike names that is to say called them Cathares Patarins Boulgres or Bulgares Adamites Cataphrygians Publicans Gazarens Lollards Turlupins and other such like Nick-names Year of our Lord 1163 Death of Odo III. Duke of Burgundy to whom succeeded Hugh III. his Son There being Peace between the two Kings Lewis employs himself in doing Justice and suppressing Disorders The Inhabitants of Vezelay having made a Corporation would have shaken off the Abbot who was their Lord protected by the Earl of Nevers He compell'd them and their Earl to ask Pardon and break their Corporation The same year he went in Person to â—ight the Earl of Clermont the Earl du Puy and the Vicount de Polignac Lords of Auvergne who denied to forbear plundering of Churches overthrew them and brought them Prisoners to Paris where having detained them a long while he releas'd them upon giving their Oaths and Hostages In like manner he punished the Earl of Chaalons with the loss of his County because he had pillag'd the Abby of Clugny and kill'd above five hundred some Monks some Servants However the Daughter of this Man re-entred upon her Patrimony Year of our Lord 1163 Thomas Becket Chancellor of England elected Archbishop of Canterbury Anno 1163. soon lost the good favour of King Henry for divers causes and particularly Year of our Lord 1164 for stickling too fiercely in maintaining the Priviledges of the Clergy Being banished the Kingdom he retired himself in France in the Abby of Pontigny of the Diocess of Sens whence he gave much trouble to his King and suffer'd not a little himself during six years Year of our Lord 1164 Death of Victor the Anti-Pope in whose stead the Cardinals of his Party elected Guy
de Creme who named himself Paschal and was confirmed by Frederick But Alexander III. recalled by the Romans left France the year following and returned to Rome to put an end to that Schism Year of our Lord 1165 In the year 1165. Lewis had a Son born whom he believed Heaven had sent him in return of his Prayers For this reason he was surnamed Dieu-Donne i. e. Gift of God or God-Gift and after for his brave Acts the Conqueror which Paul Emilius has rendred by Interpretation Augustus and is followed in the same by all the Modern Historians Year of our Lord 1166 The Life of Conan the Little Duke of Bretagne which had been ever full of trouble ended Anno 1166. to make room for Gefroy of Normandy his Son-in-Law This Prince being yet but Fifteen years of Age remained together with his Datchy under the Guardianship of the King his father for some time after which being at liberty he begins a War against him because he would make him do Hommage for his Dukedom a Duty he required by vertue of a Treaty made by Charles the Simple with Rollo Duke of Normandy Year of our Lord 1168 Thierry of Alsatia Earl of Flanders dies at Gravelin Philip his Son governs after him Year of our Lord 1169 70. The Feud was renewed between the two Kings upon several occasions one was the Earl d'Auvergne whom Lewis as Soveraign Lord took into his protection and safeguard against Henry to whom the Earl was a Vassal holding of him in Aquitain the other the support he gave to Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury The War thereupon breaks forth and lasted for two years however it was carried on but slowly and so as the Respect either of them had for Pope Alexanders Mediation brought them to an Agreement for some time Year of our Lord 1170 These two Princes having Conferr'd together at Saint Germain en Laye concluded the Peace betwixt them and there the King of England's Sons rendred Hommage to Lewis for those Lands their Father assured to them by advance of Inheritance Henry of the Dutchy of Normandy the County of Anjou and the Office of Grand Seneschal joyned thereto from the time of Grisegonnelle as also the Earldoms du Maine and de Touraine and the second named Richard of the Dakedom of Aquitain as for the third which was Gefroy he had Bretagne by his Wife and ow'd Hommage to none but the Duke of Normandy The Kings Intercession obtained of Henry that Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury might return into England but he continuing to act with the same heat four Gentlemen of Henry's Court out of Complaisance as mean as detestable having plotted and contrived to deliver their King of him entred the Church at Canterbury where that Holy Prelat was reading Service it was on the Christmas Holy-days and Murther'd him at the foot of the Altar Year of our Lord 1171 Though the King disown'd this Murther and shewed an extream grief nevertheless Year of our Lord 1172 having given cause to commit it if perhaps he did not command it the Pope Year of our Lord 1173 made a mighty business of it from which he could not get clear without submitting to great Pennance and such Reparations and Satisfactions as was ordained by his Legats The Holy Archbishop revered as a Martyr was Canonized the following year and the frequent Miracles wrought on his Tomb attested his Holiness Year of our Lord 1173 Every year almost there was some Rupture then a Peace or Truce between the two Kings either concerning their own proper Interests or that of their Friends and Vassals Lewis had this advantage that being the Soveraign Lord he had a right of hearing the Complaints of Henry's Vassals and of making himself his Judge Year of our Lord 1173 He had stirred up many in Aquitain and Normandy but this year he Armed his own Children against him The eldest with Margaret his Wife being gone to Visit him and having staid some time in that Court had a fancy put into his Head that since he was Crowned he ought to Reign and to demand of his Father the enjoyment either of the Kingdom of England or the Dukedom of Normandy With this disposition and fretted for that his Father had taken some young People from about him who gave him such like ill Counsels he stole away one Night from him and came and cast himself into the Arms of the King Immediately all the young Nobility follows him Queen Alienor favours him his two Brothers Richard Duke of Aquitain and Gefroy of Brâ—tagne joyns with him and those whole Provinces follow their Motions The King of France takes them into his protection William King of Scotland declares for them and attaques England whither at the same time went some French Forces under the Command of Robert Earl of Leicester Year of our Lord 1174 It seemed therefore as if the unhappy Father must needs be overwhelm'd on a suddain but he overthrew all the Enemies Lewis having taken Verneuil au Perche durst not hold it and retreated before him The Earl of Leicester is defeated in England and all those that followed him either slain or taken then all the Kingdom reduced in less then Thirty days by old Henry who went thither presently after this defeat Year of our Lord 1175 The following year whilst he was doing Pennance at St. Thomas Becket's Tomb William King of Scotland his most capital Enemy loses a Battle against his Lieutenants and was taken Prisoner The Fleet of young Henry is dispersed and disabled by Tempest King Lewis who had carried Philip Earl of Flanders with him is rudely repulsed from Rouen so that finding Henry who was come over-Seas again to Relieve this City made ready to give him Battle he hearkens to a Truce for some Months Year of our Lord 1175 Whilst that lasted old Henry going into Poitou and subduing Richard the worst of his three Rebellious Sons who held that Country all the others returned to their Obedience and he enters upon a Treaty of Peace with Lewis who gave him Alix his Daughter for his Son Richard and put her into his hands to compleat the Marriage when she should be Age for it Year of our Lord 1177 The two Kings now grown old were weary of so many Wars and Disturbances Either of them had cause to fear the one the activity of his three most valiant Sons the other the weakness of his only Heir as yet too young so that they confirmed the Peace by new Oaths promised mutual friendship against all others and took up a resolution to go joyntly into Languedoc to extirpiate those Hereticks already mentioned by us But they thought it more convenient first to send the Popes Legat thither with three or four other Prelats to endeavour to reclaim them by Exhortations and Anathema's which converted and brought back a great many and kept the rest within bounds for some time These Hereticks were all called Albigensis because they propaged
Canons out of their Churches put the Curats from their Parishes and consiscated and plundred all their Goods Then against the Laity vexing and loading the Citizens with new Imposts and unheard of Exactions tiercing or thirding the Gentry that was taking away Thirds of their Revenues and of all their Goods which had never been heard of in France The Interdiction lasted Seven Months during this time Philip sollicited the Pope so earnestly that he gave order to his Legats to take it off upon condition he should take Isemburge again and in six Months six Weeks six Days and six Hours he would have the Case of her Divorce decided by his two Legats and the Prelats of the Year of our Lord 1200 Kingdom the Friends and Relations of that Princess being assigned to defend her The Assembly was held at Soissons by Isemburges choice King Canut sent the ablest people in his Kingdom to sollicite and plead her Cause After twelve days jugling and proceeding Philip had intimation that Judgment would be against him he goes one fair Morning to fetch Isemburge from her House and setting her up on Horse-back behind him carries her thence having order'd notice to be given to the Legat not to give himself so much trouble about examining whether the Divorce he had Decreed were good or not since he owned it and would have her for his Wife Nevertheless he used her but little better then before nor did shew any more kindness besides some little Civilities to her Year of our Lord 1200 Besore the years end Agnes her Rival died having been five years with the King She had two Children by him One Son and One Daughter whom Pope Innocent III. Legitimated Died likewise Thibauld Earl of Champagne who had then only One Daughter a Minor The King would have the Guardianship-Noble but soon after the death of Thibauld his Wife was brought to bed of a Post-humus Son who had his Fathers Name and the Surname of Great The Daughter lived not long after the birth of the Posthume In those times Usury and Uncleanness Reigned bare-faced in France God raised up two great and virtuous Men Fulk Curate of Neuilly in Brie and Peter de Roucy a Priest in the Diocess of Paris to Preach against these Vices with so much power and efficacy that they reclaimed a great many Souls from those Sins and Follies Now it hapned that a few Months before the death of Thibauld Fulk who had this gift of perswading People to what he approved by his earnest Exhortations knowing there was to be a great meeting of Princes Lords and Gentlemen at a Year of our Lord 1120 Turnament or Justs at the Castle d'Ecris between Braye and Corbie went thither and exhorted them so earnestly effectually to undertake the voyage to the Holy Land that the Earls Baldwin of Flanders Henry d'Anguien his Brother Thibauld de Champagne Lovis de Blois his Brother Simon de Montfort Gautier or Gualtier de Brienne Matthew de Montmorency Stephen du Perche and several other Lords Crossed themselves nevertheless they could not set forwards till two years afterwards The reconcilation between the two Kings seemed perfect and sincere This year they conferr'd at Andeley Nay Philip had the the King of England with him Year of our Lord 1201 to his City of Paris and Treated him with all the magnificence and all the demonstrations of friendship he could desire But John had begun to contrive his own unhappiness by casting off his Wife Avice or Avoise Daughter of the Earl of Glocestre to Marry Isabel only Daughter of Aymar Earl of Angoulesme and Alix of Courtenay whom he ravished from Hugh le Brun Earl de la Marche to whom she was affianced From that time the said Lord sought all manner of ways to revenge himself for that injury He began to hold private intelligence with Philip he endeavour'd to make an insurrection in Poitou and Rodolph his Brother Earl of Eu began to commit Hostilities on the skirts of Normandy John chastised them for their Rebellion bydepriving them of their Lands especially some Castles in the County d'Eu They make address to the King of France their Sovereign Lord and demand Justice of him Upon this difference the two Kings saw one another near Gaillon where Philip who had laid his design spake high and summon'd John to appear in his Court that right might be done not only upon the complaint of Hugh but likewise of Prince Arthur who demanded Maine Anjou and Touraine Year of our Lord 1201 The Earl of Flanders and the other Lords that had taken the Cross departed for the Holy Land and as in those times there were but few Vessels upon the coasts of Provence they had taken their way by Venice where they hop'd to find a great many well fitted and there Thomas I. Earl of Savoy and Boniface Marquis of Montferrat joyned them But the Venetians would not furnish them with Vessels till they had first employ'd their Arms to recover the Cities of Sclavonia especially that of Zara for the Republique from whom they had withdrawn themselves to own the King of Hungary which retarded them above a year in those parts Year of our Lord 1201 In the year 1195. Isaac Angelus Emperour of the East had been deprived of his Empire his Sight and his Liberty by his own Brother Alexis And the Son of that Isaac likewise named Alexis had made his escape into Germany flying to Philip of Snevia pretended Emperour who had Married his Sister This young Prince having notice that there was an Army of the Crossed at Venice went thither to implore their assistance Several difficulties hindred them from going into the Holy-Land besides the Venetians hoped to find it better for their purpose to make a War in Greece because the spoil and plunder promised more gain and seemed more certain to them and more-over all the Latine Christians were ravish'd to meet with this occasion and opportunity to revenge the Treachery and Outrages the Greeks had practised since the beginning of the Holy-War They concluded therefore to turn their Arms that way upon condition the young Alexis would defray the charges of their expedition allow them great rewards and submit the Greek Church to the Obedience of the Pope To provide for the expences of his War King Philip endeavour'd to accustom the Clergy to furnish him with Subsidies and they excused themselves upon their Liberties and for that it was not lawful to employ the Moneys belonging to the Poor in prosane uses they only promis'd to assist him with their Prayers to God Now it hapned that the Lords de Coucy de Retel de Rosey and several others went and pillag'd and invaded their Lands they fly to the King for protection who in their own coin assisted them with Prayers to those Lords but as they understood one another they proceeded to worse dealing Then the Prelats redoubled their intreaties and besought him to employ his Forces
Island so named Apulia Calabria and some other neighbouring Countreys which Roger held in Italy Now although William Duke of Aquitain had suffer'd himself to be brought back to the Obedience of Innocent II. in the year 1135. yet Gerard nevertheless stood up obstinately for Anaclet to the end of his days but some while after he was found dead in his Bed horribly black and blew and swoln About three years after viz. in An. 1138. Anaclet died also his Relations placed another Cardinal in his stead to whom they gave the name of Victor In fine Innocent found it better to buy his peace of them then to leave these Divisions smothering and smoaking any longer and when they were agreed Victor laid down the Tiara and cast himself at his Feet Notwithstanding Roger held out still some time not owning him for Pope because he would not own him for a King till having taken him prisoner in War An. 1193. he came fairly to an agreement with him and got the Title of King confirmed to him Frederick I. being come to the Empire young haughty and ambitious as he was undertook to recover its dignity to which the easiness of Pope Anastasius seemed to chaulk out a way but Pope Adrian IV. who succeeded Anastasius resolv'd to obviate his designs and keep him under as his dependant Hence proceeded a mortal enmity betwixt them which however came not to an open rupture but made Frederick more plainly sensible that it was necessary to have a Pope at his Devotion Adrian being dead An. 1159. it hapned that all the Cardinals excepting three elected Cardinal Rowland who took the name of Alexander III. but whilst he was shewing some kind of unwillingness to accept the Popedom those three that were not for him Elected immediately the Cardinal Octavian who was named Victor The Emperour having notice of it favour'd him first underhand thereby to frighten Alexander and bring him to his bent then openly when he found he could not lead the other as he pleased So he causes his Election to be authorised by the Council of Pisa which he had call'd by his own authority after the example of former Emperours and employ'd all his Interest to perswade other Princes to adhere to him The Kings of France and of England who had been at war having now agreed assembled their Bishops Abbots and Barons the one at Beauvais and the other at Newmarket to discuss the right of the two concurrents the Legats both of the one and other side having been heard Alexander was approved by all and Victor Excommunicated This hapned in the year 1161. The good Title and Right of the former was this year confirmed by a great number of miracles as many Authors write and yet there is one affirms likewise that God wrought some in favour of Victor after his decease In the mean time this last being most powerful in Rome Alexander seeks his refuge in France and remained there three years at the end whereof his Affairs going in a better method in Italy the Clergy and People call him back to Rome An. 1164. To defray the Expences of his journey he was sorced to impose a Year of our Lord 1164 Collection on the Gallican Church Year of our Lord 1164 The same year Victor his Rival died in the City of Luca. Some Prelats of his Faction being assembled at the same place gave the Popedom to one of those two Cardinals that had elected him which was Guy de Crema He lived five years and deceased An. 1170. Those of his party substituted another I cannot tell what Abbot not known but by his debauches they call'd him Calistus III. and Frederick supported him as he had done the two others At the same time there were great stirs in England King Henry stickling to preserve certain pretended Rights which he called Customs of the Kingdom and Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury not to suffer them as being contrary to Ecclesiastical liberty It would be thought strange in these days if a Bishop should hold his Head up so high against his Prince for the like cause but then the best of Men were perswaded that such Liberties were the pillars of Religion The contest lasted seven or eight years and ended not but by the death of the Archbishop who was murther'd in his Cathedral in the year 1170. and the Kings penitence which was so great and so publick that the Church was edified more by such an example then it had been scandaliz'd by his offence The Emperor Frederick was not more fortunate then the two Henrys so that being shatter'd by the Popes Thunder-bolts and more severely yet by his ill fortune driven out of Italy and apprehending the sudden Revolt of Germany he could find no other way to save himself but to ask pardon of the Holy Father and prostrate himself at his Feet to gain his Absolution which was done at Venice in An. 1177. His Anti-Pope Calistus did as much the following year throwing himself at the Feet of the same Alexander Afterwards Frederick had again some Disputes with the Popes Lucius Vrban and Clement III. of that name but he was reconcil'd to Clement and lived well enough with the See of Rome to the time of his death Henry VI. his Son was Crowned by Celestine III. in the year 1191. He undertook nothing directly against the Popes but yet he suffer'd himself to be Excommunicated for detaining Richard King of England prisoner and for not restoring the Money he had extorted from that Prince to purchase his liberty He died without Absolution Anno 1197. Let us now speak of Heresies About the end of the Twelfth age the opinions of one named Rousselin had made a great deal of noise He said the three Divine Persons were three separate or distinct things as three several Angels were but in such sort nevertheless that all three had but one and the same Power and one and the same Will and that if custom would permit it one might say that they were three Gods or otherwise it would follow that the Father and the Holy Ghost had been incarnate These Sophistical impieties were condemned in a Council held at Soissons notwithstanding the Author did not refrain Teaching in private and perhaps he might have made a greater progress if there had not been some watchful persons amongst the rest Yves de Chartres who broke his measures I cannot tell whether it were the same against whom St. Anselme when he was but Abbot du Bec. wrote his Treatise of the Incarnation of the Word which he sent to Pope Vrban II. to examine An. 1094. About the year 1125. one Tanchelin the most profligate of all Mankind infected Brabant and the neighbouring Countreys with his Errors he asserted that the Ministry of Bishops and Priests was a cheat and that the Communion of the Holy Eucharist availed nothing to our Salvation He drew people after him by the magnificence of his Feasts and the pomp of his dress
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
the eldest was the most happy being joyned this year to Lewis King of France a Prince that Year of our Lord 1235 was much greater by his Virtues then his Crown The same year the Earl of Champagee it is not said for what cause fell again into Rebellion for which he was punished with the loss of his Cities of Montereau-Faut-Yonne Bray and Nogent upon the Seine These losses did not make him much wiser he persisted still in his foolish passion for the Queen who had ruin'd him and retired to his Castle of Provins to write Verses and Songs for entertainment of his amorous Dotage Year of our Lord 1235. and 36. Nevertheless he was soon diverted by the death of Sancho VIII called the Strong King of Navarre who dying without any Males left the Kingdom to him as the next Heir and Son of his Daughter Blanch. So he went and took possession and transported a great number of Husbandmen from his Landes in Brie and Champagne who improved and made that Countrey very fertile and populous The Countrey of Artois was erected to an Earldom Pairrie in favour of Robert the Kings Brother on whom his Father had bestow'd it by his Will Some place this erection in the time of Philip Augustus However it were I think we may be confident it is the first of that nature At the sollicitation of Pope Gregory who had as well a quarrel to the Emperour Frederick's Forces his Enemy declar'd they being in possession of the remainder of Year of our Lord 1237. and 38. the Kingdom of Jerusalem as to the Saracens there was a great Crusado of French Lords over whom the new King of Navarre was made Chief But these Adventurers had no better success then all the rest for the ill conduct of these new Soldiers of the Cross and their Divisions brought the whole Army almost to ruine and most part of the Officers and Commanders were slain there or taken prisoners Year of our Lord 1238 Peter Duke of Burgundy died in his return from this Expedition his only Son John Surnamed Rufus succeeded him The affairs of Constantinople were no whit better the Emperour Baldwin comes into France to beg assistance against the Greeks and for a great sum of Money sold the Crown of Thorns wherewith our Saviour was Crowned the Spung and the Lance which pierced his Side to St. Lewis the King who put them into his Treasury of Reliques in the Holy Chappel which he had purposely built in his own Palace It was now about three years that all the Doctors both Seculars and Regulars of the Sacred Faculty of Divnity at Paris which was then almost the only School for that Science and as it were the perpetual Council of the Gallican Church had resolv'd the question and were all agreed upon this judgment in a famous Assembly and after mature deliberation and discussion that oue and the same Ecclesiastical person could in Conscience hold but one Benefice at one time This year 1238. William III. Bishop of Paris held another Assembly of the same Faculty in the Chapter of the Jacobins where it was unanimously concluded That one could not without forfeiture of Eternal Happiness possess two Benefices at the same time provided one of them were of the value only of Fifteen Liures parisis per annum There were none but Philip Chancellour of the Vniversity and Arnold afterwards Bishop of Amiens who were obstinately resolv'd to hold their own The First when he lay on his Death-bed being earnestly desired and pressed home by the Bishop William to discharge himself of that burthen which would sink him down to Hell replied That he would try whether that were true How few are to be seen in these days that do not chuse to run the same hazard or are not troubled that they cannot have the opportunity of such ✚ a Trial But it does not appear so great a risque to them since the Popes give Dispensations Year of our Lord 1239 The quarrels between Pope Gregory IX and the Emperour Frederic growing hot to all extremity of Outrages on either side Gregory sent to St. Lewis King of France to proffer him the Empire for his Brother Robert Earl of Artois The Lords assembled by the King upon a proposition so important did not approve that violent proceeding and said it was sufficient for Robert that he was Brother to a King who was more excellent in Dignity and Nobility then any Emperour whatever The Albigensis could not submit themselves to the Orders of the Inquisition Trincavel Son of the Vicount de Beziers and five or six Lords of the Countrey putting themselves at the head of them they seized upon Carcassonne and some Year of our Lord 1239 other places and ran into some parts belonging to the King in hostile manner He presently sent some Forces thither Commanded by John Earl of Beaumont who drove them out from Carcassonne and besieged them in Mont-real where after they had held some time they made their capitulation by means of the Earls of Foix and Toulouze Year of our Lord 1239 The old de la Montagne so they named the Prince of the Assassins a People that occupied the mountainous Canton of Syria had dispatched two of his Murtherers into France to kill the King but soon after I cannot say by what motive he repented and countermanded them by some others who before they could find them out advertised the King to have a care of himself This old de la Montagne bred up great numbers of young Youths in pleasant aud delicious Palaces and the hopes of an Eternal Felicity in the other World if they obey'd his Commands blindfold and to make them the more capable and fit to execute his bloody Will in all Countreys he made them learn all Languages Year of our Lord 1239 The interests of the Pope and the Emperour were not at all compatible together and therefore Frederick and Honorius and then Gregory IX who succeeded Honorius fell necessarily into discords and afterwards into mortal hatred Gregory le ts fly the Thunder-bolts of the Church against Frederick and his Legat having called the Prelats of France together at Meaux order'd several of them to go to Rome to hold a Council where they pretended to degrade that Emperour He complained to the King desired him not to permit his Bishops to go out of France and his desire not taking effect he caused them to be way-laid and watch'd at Sea and having taken them distributed them in divers prisons Then in his turn he for a while slighted the Kings intercession for their release which thing made some alteration in that good correspondence that for some time had continued between France and the Empire In the year 1240. The King having assembled the flower of the Barons and the Year of our Lord 1240 Knights of his Kingdom at Saumur gave the Girdle of Knighthood to his Brother Alphonso whose Marriage had a little before been compleated with Jane
came to the Crown Three hundred years after by King Henry the Fourth surnamed the Great The Daughters were named Isabella Blanch Margaret and Agnes Isabella was Married to Thibauld the II. King of Navarre and died without Off-spring Blanch a little before this Voyage to Africk Married Ferdinand called De la Cerde eldest Son of Alphonso X. King of Castille and had two Sons who were unjustly deprived of the Kingdom by their Grandfather because their Father had preceded him and Representation had no place Margaret was Affianced to Henry Duke of Brabant and Limbourg then that Prince turning Monk Married to John his Brother and Successor They had no Children Agnes Espoused Robert Duke of Burgundy and brought him many Philip III. King XLIV POPES A Vacancy GREGORY X. Elected the 1st of September 1271. S. Four years four Months ten days INNOCENT V. Elected in January 1276. S. Seven Months JOHN XXI Elected in July 1276. S. Eight Months NICHOLAS III. Elected in November 1277. S. Two years nine Months Vacancy of Two Months Martin IV. Elected Feb. 21. 1281. S. Four years one Month seven days HONORIUS IV. Elected in April 1285. S. Two years one Month whereof six Months in this Reign PHILIP III. Surnamed the Hardy King XLIV Aged Twenty five years four Months Year of our Lord 1270 THE Christian Army wholly disconsolate for the death of their King and ready to sink under their Toils and Dangers resumed courage and received refreshments upon the arrival of Charles King of Sicily who with his Naval Forces landed at the very time the King his Brother was giving up the Ghost Being come ashoar he came and paid him his last Duty and caused his Flesh to be all taken from his Bones as it was then the Custom when any died in Foreign Countries He carried the said Flesh to Sicily with him and buried it in the Abby of Montreal near Palermo and King Philip kept the Bones which he deposited in St. Denis in France The Funeral being over they continued the Siege Charles having the Command of the whole Army because Philip being fallen Sick could not act At the end of three Months the taking of the place being most infallibly certain though not till the Winter was over King Philip's impatience who much desired to Year of our Lord 1270 go and take possession of his Kingdom and yet more the interest of his Uncle Charles who cared for nothing but to get Money and oblige the King of Tunis to pay him Tribute were the Motives that made them give Ear to Propositions of Peace with that Barbarian King Year of our Lord 1270 They allowed him a Truce for Ten years provided he would defray the whole Expences of that Expedition and that he would pay to Charles as much Tribute as he paid to the Pope Annualy That he would deliver up all the Christians he then held in Slavery That he would grant free liberty of Trade and exemption of Imposts to all their Merchants and would permit them to dwell in Tunis and have the Exercise of the Christian Religion At the end of the Siege Prince Edward of England arrived there with his Forces hoping that after the taking of that place the two Kings would go into the Holy-Land as they had promised but they thought it fitter to return to their own homes and left him to pursue his Voyage Year of our Lord 1270 Heaven seemed to be angry at their return all manner of misfortunes followed them Part of the Vessels wherein Philip was Embarked arrived happily enough at the Port of Trapani or Trapos in Sicily but the others that had King Charles and his on board were overtaken with a moit furious Tempest which destroy'd most of them with the loss of Four thousand Men all their Equipage and the Treasure that was in them Besides all this Thibauld King of Navarre being taken Sick ended his days at Trapani about the end of December his Brother Henry the Fat succeeded him Isabella of Arragon Queen of France being great with Child hurt her self by a fall from her Horse and died in the City of Cosenza Alphonso Brother of St. Lewis was taken off with a Pestilential Fever at Siena and his Wife Isabella de Toulouze died in the same place about twelve days after him So that King Philip cloathed in Mourning Weeds for the Death of his Father his Wife and his nearest Relations after so much Expence and Toil brought nothing back into France but empty Chests and Coffins full of the Bones of the dead Year of our Lord 1271 He staid in Sicily about two Months departed towards the end of February crossed Italy and arrived at Paris in the beginning of Summer He was Crowned at Rheims the Fifteenth day of August or as others say the thirteenth by the Bishop of Soissons the Archbishops See being vacant Of the ancient Pairs of the Laity there was none assisted at this time but the Duke of Burgundy and the Earl of Flanders Robert Earl of Artois bore the Sword of Charlemaine they name it Joyeuse At their going thence he intreated the King to go and visit his Country and received him in his City of Aâ—ras with such Welcom and Expressions of Joy as hitherto had not been heard of in France This King passing thorough Rome paid his Devotions on the Tomb of the Apostles At Viterbo finding the Cardinals had been there Assembled for two years together without coming to any agreement concerning the Election of a â—ope he exhorted them to make some end that the Church might be no longer without a Head His good Advice did not take effect till Eight Months afterwards upon their electing of Thibauld de Piacenza Archdeacon of Liege who went Legat into Syria with Prince Edward he took the name of Gregory X. Year of our Lord 1271 The Earldom of Toulouze was vacant by the decease of Jane the Daughter of Raimond and Wise of Alphonso Philip put himself into possession pursuant to the Terms of the Treaty made with Raimond in the year 1228. but it was King John that annexed it to the Crown Year of our Lord 1271 This year died Richard pretended King of the Romans The year after his Brother Henry III. King of England followed him and his Son Edward I. of that name who was in the Holy Land succeeded Year of our Lord 1272 Year of our Lord 1272 In a Bloody Quarrel the Earl of Armagnac had against Gerard Lord of Casaubon his Vassal it hapned that Roger Earl de Foix whom the Earl of Armagnac had called to his aid pursued Gerard and besieged him in a Castle belonging to the King whither he was fled and had put himself under his Protection The King angry for the little Respect these Earls had for him marched into those Countries with an Army capable of striking a terrour to the very heart of Spain He besieged Roger in his Castle de Foix and being resolved to level a Mountain wich hindred his approach
Crowned King of Sicily there re-assured them wholly So that Charles whether for that or for some other reason raised the Siege at the latter end of September and went back into Calabria The Arragonian notwithstanding finding himself unequal in Strength to Charles whom he observed to be daily supplied out of France bethought himself of a Villanous piece of Subtilty which made him keep Sicily but with the loss of his Honour He profer'd Charles to decide this great Quarrel by a Personal Combat between them each to be assisted with an hundred choice Knights Charles more brave then well advised accepted the Challenge notwithstanding the contrary Counsel and reiterated Commands of the Pope King Edward being related to both undertook to secure the Field for them at Burdeaux the day was appointed to be the first of July the year following and upon the word of this perfidious Man Charles raised imprudently the Siege and agreed to a Truce In the interim the Pope pouring all the Treasures or Viols of his Wrath upon the head of the Arragonian not only Excommunicated him but likewise degraded him of his Kingship and exposed his Kingdom as a prey but he turned all this into raillery and as though he would obey the Popes Sentence he would no longer be called King but the Knight of Arragon Lord of the Sea and the Father of three Kings The day of Combat being come Charles enters the Field with his hundred Knights and remained there from the Suns rise till Sun setting The Arragonian appeared not but towards night comes post thither goes to the Seneschal of Burdeaux takes Witness that he had presented himself and leaves his Arms with him to serve for Testimony then retires in great hast feigning he was in dread of some suprizal by the King of France A very brave act of Apparence or Comparition worthy the Courage of a Prince to whom his Subjects have given the Surname and Epithet of Great The Pope who had thundred his Excommunication against him the former year did re-aggravate it again in this published a Crusado or Holy War against him with the very same Indulgences and Priviledges as for the Holy Land and gave his Kingdom to Charles de Valois the second Son of France whom he caused to be invested by Cardinal John Cholet his Legat whom he expressly sent into France And certainly the destruction of Peter having place that Crown was devolved to this Charles Year of our Lord 1283 by Hereditary Right since he was the Son of that Kings Sister Year of our Lord 1284 These Threatnings did not daunt the Arragonian he was confirmed in his Crime by the good success of Roger de Lauria his Admiral This Captain the ablest Seaman of his Age having gained several Advantages over Charles's Subjects came and planted himself before Naples in his absence engaged Charles the Lame his Son to a Battle the fifth of June vanquished him and carried him Prisoner to Palermo His Head ran great danger of serving as a Reprizal for the Head of Conradin The Sicilians had Condemned him to Death Constantia drew him subtilly out of their hands and sent him into Arragon to the King her Husband Year of our Lord 1284 The Fathers anguish was the greater for that he arrived there within three days after the taking of his Son with a good number of Ships well Armed He had much ado to keep Apulia and Colabria and having wrastled six Months longer with his Misfortunes Year of our Lord 1285 he died at Foggi in Apulia the 17th of January in the year 1285. leaving his Son Charles the Lame the Heir to his Misfortunes as well as to his Crown Year of our Lord 1284 The foregoing year Alphonso King of Castille died dispossessed almost of all his Estate by Sancho his unnatural Son On his Death-bed he made his Will and Testament whereby he left him his Paternal Curse deprived him of the Succession and recalled Alphonso and Ferdinand who were the Sons of his eldest Son Ferdinand and upon their default Philip King of France to whom Castille already did belong by right of Blanch de Castille the Mother of St. Lewis but Sancho knew how to keep himself securely enough in possession of it Year of our Lord 1284 The 16th of the Month of August King Philips eldest Son of the same name and the Surname of Fair Aged but Fifteen years Married Jane Queen of Navarre and Countess of Brie and Champagne who was but Thirteen the Pope having given Dispensation because she was his Cousin German A Legat of the Pope having caused the Croisado to be Preached against Peter King of Arragon King Philp would go himself in this Expedition to Install Charles his second Son in that Kingdom He had no less then Twenty thousand Horse and fourscore thousand Foot He Shipt part of these Foot-Soldiers in fourscore Vessels which he took with him to carry Ammunition Provisions and Artillery James King of Majorca and Minorca whom Peter his Brother had devested of his Lands followed him or to say better Conducted him in this Voyage thereby to recover them Year of our Lord 1285 The Army being drawn together at Narbonna began to march in the Month of May. Perpignian surrendred to James and received the French Elna was taken by Storm and all that were within destroy'd excepting the Bastard de Roussillon who shewed them a passage through the Mountains These two Cities were belonging to James The Arragonian who guarded the narrow Passages finding the French at his back quitted his Posts and left their entrance into Catalonia free They on the suddain took several little places and laid Siege to Geronde That King was lying in wait to relieve it but being beaten and grievously wounded in an Ambuscade he had designed to intercept the Convoy which was marching from the Port of Roses the place surrendred for want of Provisions after a two Months Siege Three Months after the Fight that King died of his Wounds in Valentia Alphonso his eldest Son succeeded him in that Kingdom and James the second Son seized on that in the Island of Sicilia Year of our Lord 1285 The rest of the Campagne was not so happy for the French the Admiral Lauria knowing that out of an imprudent Management and Husbandry to save Charges they had sent back the Vessels belonging to the Pisans and Genoese who were under pay fell upon the rest of the Fleet and defeated them all except such as escaped into the Port de Roses The scarcity of Provisions and Sickness brought the whole Army almost to nothing The King falling Sick and hoping for no good by the approaching Winter took his way towards France and was brought back to Perpignian in a Litter Year of our Lord 1285 Geronde and all the places he had Conquer'd in Catalongne held but a very few days after his departure The Melancholy he conceived upon this Revolution and the agitation of the Journey increased his Sickness so
fill his own Coffers and to enrich his Family with more Lands Employments and Benefices then a faithful and disinteressed Servant ought to do So the People had extream troubles and vexations to undergo one of the greatest was the changing of Moneys they had made it light and weak of too base allay and put too high a value then they would set them at a lower rate the loss was great the people of Paris mutined pillag'd and ruined the House of Stephen Barbet Treasurer from thence ran to the Temple where the King lay and committed a hundred insolences there but the sedition over a great many were hanged in several places The Templers were observed to have contributed to this mutiny it was believed they had done it because having a great deal of Money they lost much by this abating the value of the Coine It is likely that the King who never forgot an injury kept the remembrance of this in his mind and it was one motive that induced him to revenge himself upon the whole Order In compleating the peace with the Flemmings several Articles were changed or added amongst others it was allowed that the King might banish Three thousand of the most factious that the Cities of Ghent Bruges Ipre l'Isle and Douay should be dismantled and that if the Countrey in general or any particular person offended the King or his Officers they should immediately be liable to the thunderings of Ecclesiastical censures Year of our Lord 1307 Lewis Hutin the Kings eldest Son visits his Kingdom of Navarre fallen to him by the death of his Mother and is Crowned at Pampelona the Fifth of June Before his return he took off the two Heads of the Factions that had much troubled Navarre these were Fortunio Almoravid and Martin Ximenes de Aybar The effect of that secret promise the Pope had made to the King began to appear in his revenge upon the Templers The too great riches of those Knights their unsufferable pride their covetous and disobliging behaviour towards such Princes and Noblemen as went into the Holy-Land the little esteem they made either of Temporal or Spiritual Power their dissolute and libertine Humours and rendred them obnoxious and very odious and furnished those with a specious pretence who were resolved to exterminate them Year of our Lord 1307 This year therefore upon the discovery and confession of some villains amongst themselves the greatness of whose crimes or the desire of the Kings mercy and reward had prompted to it the King by consent of the Pope whom he had newly held conference with at Poitiers caused them all to be laid hold on in the same day the Twelfth of October thoroughout the whole Kingdom seized their Goods and took possession of tho Temple at Paris and of all their Treasures and Writings The Great Master whose name was James de Molay a Burgundian being sent for by Letters from the Pope to come from Cyprus where he valiantly made War upon the Turks presented himself at Paris with Sixty Knights of his Order amongst whom was Guy Brother to the Dauphin de Viennois Hugh de Peralde and another of the principal Officers They were all arrested at the same time and their Process was immediately made excepting the three I have mentioned whom the Pope would reserve to his own judgment Fifty of them were burned alive in a slow Fire but who denied at their deaths what they had confess'd upon the wrack Without doubt they were guilty of many enormous crimes but not perhaps of all the things I cannot tell whether I should say horrible or ridiculous that were imposed upon them and laid to their charge in general In the mean time upon King Philips importunity the Templers were likewise seized on in all the other States of Christendom and severely punished yet not with death in many places This prosecution lasted to the year 1314. Year of our Lord 1307 As Edward I. was going to make War upon Robert Bruce who disputed for the Crown of Slotland he died upon the borders of that Kingdom His eldest Son Edward II. succeeded him but was neither like his own Father nor his own Son but only in Name This Prince suffered himself to be Governed first by his Favourite Peter Gaveston then by the two Spencers caused great troubles and commotions in his Kingdom Year of our Lord 1307 This year the first lineaments of the Helvetian Alliance were rough-drawn in a generous conspiracy of the Three Cantons of Swits Vren and Vndervald against the oppressions of the Lieutenants for the House of Austria who possessed the Duchy of Scawben But it was not till the year 1315. that they drew up conditions in writing and got them confirmed by the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria Year of our Lord 1308 In Anno 1308. the Emperour Albert was slain near Rhinfeldt under the antient Castle of Habsbourgh by the conspiracy of John the Son of Rodolph Duke of Scawben whose Countreys he kept from him King Philip importun'd the Pope extreamly to make the Empire fall into the hands of Charles Earl of Valois but the Pope dreading the too great power of the House of France sent to the Electors to make haste so that they named Henry Earl of Luxemburg who was the Eighth of that Name Year of our Lord 1308 The Sixth of May Charles the Lame King of Sicilia on this side the Fare a Prince unfortunate in War but very illustrious in Peace and highly beloved of his Subjects ended his Life and Reign in his City of Naples He had nine Sons the Eldest was named Charles Martel the Second Lewis and the Third Robert The First was King of Hungary by Mary his Mother Daughter of King Stephen IV. but he was dead before his Father having left a Son whom they named Carobert Successor in his Kingdom The Second was Bishop of Toulouze For the Third which was Robert a great question was started between him and Carobert to wit which is preferable to the Succession either the eldest Son or the Uncle and whether the Son represented the Father to succeed his Grandfather The Lawyers of those times and the Pope himself as well upon motives for the publique good as Reasons and Grounds of Right and Title were for the Nephew the Pope admitted him to Homage Invested him and Crowned him in Avignon the first Sunday of the Month of August Observe that Carobert had two Sons Lewis and Andrew that Lewis was King of Hungary after his Father and of Poland by his Wife Elizabeth Daughter of Ladislas and that Andrew Married to his great misfortune Jane I. Queen of Sicilia Daughter of Charles Duke of Calabria who was Son of King Robert As likewise that Lewis had two Daughters Mary Queen of Hungary who Married Sigismond of Luxemburgh afterwards elected Emperour and Heduige Queen of Poland who was Married to Jageston Grand Duke of Lithuania in which Family that Kingdom remained till the year 1572. Year of our Lord 1310 The
other Captains As for him having fought very valiantly and not giving over till the very last extremity he then escaped into Arragon then came to France where he was received by Lewis Duke of Anjou Governor for the King in Languedoc Year of our Lord 1367 and 68. The Prince of Wales gained mighty reputation amongst the Sons of Mars for having Re-conquer'd Spain in one single Battle but little Honour amongst the better sort for having restor'd a Tyrant and yet much less satisfaction or profit For after the Tyrant had held him some Months in Castille upon the promise of quickly sending him wherewith to pay his Men a Sickness got into his Army and he was forc'd to return again very ill satissied and withall very much indisposed in his Body Year of our Lord 1368 After his departure the Tyrants rage redoubled by all sorts of terrible revenge The Castillians finding they were treated more inhumanely then ever recalled Henry The Duke of Anjou and the Earl of Foix did frankly give him all the assistance they could and du Gueselin and Bernard de Bearn newly set free upon Ransom raised Men for him In few words Henry besieged Toledo the Tyrant attended with Three thousand Horse came to relieve it When he was gotten near Montiel a Village situate upon the Hills which parts the Kingdom of Valentia from New Castille Henry meets him the Battle was fought the Fourteenth of March 1369. the Tyrants Forces ran away Year of our Lord 1369 and he saved himself in the Castle of Montiel There finding himself cooped up without any hopes of escaping he adventures to come to Guesclin in his Tent imagining by force of Presents to persuade him to let him slip away Henry comes just at the same time thither either by chance or otherwise they fell to words then laid hold upon each other and tumbled on the ground The Tyrant in the end was brought undermost and kill'd The manner is not well agreed upon nor whether it were done fairly this hapned the Three and twentieth of March 1369. Thus the Kingdom of Castille remained to Henry and those descended from him who hold it to this day The Widow of the Duke of Burgundy Daughter of the Earl of Flanders and the richest Heiress in Christendom was earnestly Courted both by France and England The Father designed her â—or Edmond one of the King of Englands Sons but the Grandmother Margaret French both by Birth and Inclination opposed that Match with all her power and had a design to fortifie the House of France She therefore pressed her Son with exceeding heat even to the threatning to cut off her Breasts which had given him suck This touched him to the heart he bestowed his Daughter upon Philip the Hardy Duke of Burgundy but the Nuptials were not compleated till a year afterwards The Prince of Wales had brought nothing out of Spain but great Melancholy a Mortal Indisposition and no Money to pay off his Army He therefore lays an unusual but very small Impost upon Guyenne The Lords his Vassals discontented with him particularly the Lord d'Albret advises the Tenants to make Complaint to them Having received their Complaint they carry it to the Prince and made him some Remonstrances thereon He rejects them in a very offensive manner Whereupon they had recourse to the King of France lately their lawful Soveraign The King entertains them five or six Months in the same disposition and humour waiting a proper juncture to declare his mind He was in the mean time putting every thing in order to that purpose making sure of the Gascon Lords and German Princes with his Money whereof either of them were very greedy drew the Soldiery to his service with the same Bait by the help of Guesclin in whom they reposed great Confidence and made up a Stock of Money by the imposition of Subsidies which the Estates assembled at Paris did freely grant him and which they raised with so much order and evenness that the People were not at all oppress'd Year of our Lord 1369 When he had warily taken all his Measures and knew withal that the Prince of Wales grew daily more Hydropick he granted his Letters of Appeal to the Gascons the five principal of them being the Sire d'Albert and the Earls of Armagnac Perigard Cominges and Carmaing This was signified to the Prince personally by a Knight and a Clerk but far from consenting to this Appeal he haughtily reply'd That he would make his appearance in the same manner as he had done at the Battle of Poitiers and caused them to be taken upon their way back and kept Prisoners charging them with the having rob'd their Host Year of our Lord 1369 At the same time Charles amused King Edward with some Complaints which he sent to him as if he would have brought things to a Negotiation The King of England returned words for words not thinking the effects were so near or that the French durst undertake any thing whilst the Duke of Berry and the other Hostages were in England He thought himself absolute Soveraign in Guyenne by the Treaty of Bretigny but as on his side he had not disbanded the Soldiers and moreover had committed divers Hostilities the King pretended that Treaty was nul and dissolved and that therefore that Prince remained still a Vassal to the Crown Upon this foot it was that he sent to declare a War against him and afterwards his Parliament being assembled upon the Ascension-Eve he sitting in his Seat of Justice made a Decree by which for Rebellion Contempt and Disobedience they declared forfeit and confiscated all those Lands the King of England held in France If Edwards astonishment were great to sind a Prince who was not a Man of his hands thus dare denounce War against him who had won so many Battles his displeasure was no less when he saw this Defiance brought him not by a Person of Quality as the custom was but by a simple Valet or Servant When he understood that the Lord de Chastillon and the Count de Saint Pol had seized upon Abbeville and the rest of the places in the County of Pontieu which were unprovided That the Barons of Gascongue even before the declaration of War had defeated his Seneschal of Rovergne That the Dukes of Berry and Anjou had attaqued Guyenne one towards Auvergne the other towards Toulouze That his Son the Prince of Wales being swoln every day more and more could not act but by his Council and that several Captains and Companies took Service under the French In the interim till he could raise greater Forces he sent him Five hundred Lances and One thousand Cross-bow-men under the Command of Edmond Earl of Cambridge afterwards Duke of York his fourth Son and the Earl of Pembrook his Son-in-Law who went on shoar at St. Malo's and cross'd over Bretagne on the other hand Hue de Caurelee brought him Two thousand Men of those he had in Spain and then
was nothing of all this in the Letter but the Captain who could not read believed it and drew out the Garison The Mayor had laid an Ambuscade amongst some Ruinous Buildings which cut off his passage and hindred his return Ten or twelve Forelorn Wretches that were left in the Castle Capitulated After this the crafty Rochellers before they would open their Gates to the French made their Treaty with the King and obtained to have the Castle demolished or if we will believe their Memoirs an Amnesty for having demolish'd it before the Treaty Besides this they got so many Priviledges and great Advantages as tended as much towards the putting this City at liberty as for the exchanging their Master After the Constable who represented the King had taken their Oaths of Fidelity he pursued the Conquest of Poitou and Saintonge Most part of the Lords were retired to Touars he laid Siege to it and forc'd them to Capitulate That they should put themselves their Lands and that place under Obedience of the King unless the King of England or one of his Sons did come with an Army strong enough to sight the Besiegers by Michaelmass-day This sort of Composition was practised as long as there was the least faith left amongst Men. It ever included a Cessation of Arms during which the Besiegers taking Hostages of the Besieged raised their Camp and left them all manner of liberty excepting only the admitting more Soldiers into the Garison or to furnish or provide it with Stores Year of our Lord 1372 When King Edward heard of this Capitulation Honour and Necessity rowzing and bringing to his mind the remembrance of his Victories he puts to Sea himself with four hundred Vessels that he might not lose so fine a Country and so many brave Men. But the Winds refused to be serviceable to him upon this occasion they tossed him about for six weeks together and would not afford one favourable gale but what blew him towards his own Ports of England The time being expired the Lords performed the Capitulation after which the Cities of Saintes Angoulesme Saint John d'Angely and generally all the Country even to Bourg and Blaye returned to the Obedience of their Ancient and Natural Soveraign Year of our Lord 1372 John de Montfort Duke of Bretagne looked with fear upon the Prosperity of the French his ancient Enemies and with regret upon the decay of the King of England his Father-in-Law and his Protector but he was not Master in his Dutchy the People would have no more War the haughty humour of the English was not compatible with their Liberty and the Barons dazled with the lustre of de Guesclin and de Clissons Fortune had their Eyes turned upon the Employments and Pensions of the Court of France Thus the Duke was under great constraint If he admitted any English to land upon those Coasts the Common People fell upon them if he quarter'd them in his Garisons the Lords rose up Having placed some in Brest Conquet Kemperle and Henneband they besought the King to send them some Forces to drive them thence and put the Cities into his hands as they did Vennes Renes and divers others The Revenge he would have taken by laying Siege to St. Mahé did but hasten his loss and the Constables march with the Duke of Bourbon Some English Soldiers that he had sent for to strengthen himself withall had the whole Country against them and were all cut in pieces so that although he had some good places left he durst not shut himself in any of them but passed over to England to cry out for help Whilst he was gone the Constable secured them all excepting three Brest Becherel and Derval this last belonged to Knolles he laid Siege to all these at the same time as likewise to la Roche-sur-yon in Anjou This last being farthest off from all Assistance surrendred Brest Becherel and Derval promised to do as much if within a certain prefixed time there appeared not an Army sufficient and that would hold Battle to make the French raise their Siege As for Brest and Derval they saved themselves by this means The Earl of Salisbury was then at Sea to guard the English Coasts against the Spanish Navy Commanded by Evans of Wales whose Father King Edward had put to death to get that Principality Hearing what danger Brest was in he landed in Bretagne encamped and entrench'd himself near that place then sent his Heraulds to the Constable to proclaim that he was come to raise the Siege and expected him there The Constable did not think sit to attaque him in so well fortisied a Post Thus that place was deliver'd At their departure thence Knolles who had defended it threw himself into Derval not thinking himself obliged to stand to the Treaty made by that Garison which cost the Lives of their Hostages and by way of Reprizal the Lives of some Gentlemen whom Knolles had taken Prisoners As for Becherel it held out a whole year at the end whereof no Army appearing on the day prefixed to relieve it it fell into the hands of the French The King of England did not fail of his Guaranty to the Duke of Bretagne he raised an Army of above Thirty thousand Men whom he gave to the Duke of Lancaster to restore that Prince who had the confidence to send defiance to the King of France his Sovereign they landed at Calais the twentieth of July marched thorough and pillaged Artois Picardy Champagne Fores Beaujolois Auvergne and Limosin and descended into Guyenne instead of going into Bretagne as Montfort hoped and expected It was the constant resolution of this wise King not to hazard any great Battle against the English but he ordered his Forces should be lodged every night in some Town should follow the enemy by day and never cease from galling and disturbing them falling upon all straglers and sitting so near their skirts as to keep all Provisions and Forage from them by which means he defeated their great Armies by little and little and made them moulder away to nothing These having been observed and pursued by the Duke of Burgundy as far as Beaujolis and from thence to the Dordogne by the Constable were not only prevented from undertaking any thing considerable but were so much weakned and diminished that scarce six thousand of them got into Bourdeaux Year of our Lord 1373 During this irruption the Duke of Anjou Governour of Languedoc made another much more advantageous into the upper Guyenne He conquer'd several places of little or no name at present but in these days of great importance Two great Judgments a Famine and a * Plague tormented France Italy and England this year 1373. There likewise Reigned especially in the Low Countreys a phrantick passion or phrensie unknown in the foregoing ages Such as were tainted with it being for the most part the scum of the people stript themselves stark naked placed a Garland of
to be carried in Bennets Artifice and his Money had gained some of the Grandees who contrived this for him Year of our Lord 1398 The Earl of Perigord Archambauld Taleyrand tormenting the Countrey with the help of the English to whom he had ally'd himself and especially the City of Perigueux which belonged to the King was forced in his Castle of Montagnac brought to the Parliament and condemned to death The King gave him pardon for his life but bestowed his forfeited Estate upon the Duke of Orleans Archambauld de Grailly Captal de Buch having a Right to the Earldom of Foix as having married the Sister of Earl Matthew dead without Children got into possession of it by the Sword The King would not endure this because he was a Vassal Year of our Lord 1399 to the English and from Father to Son very affectionate to that party He therefore sent the Mareschal de Sancerre who pursued him so close that he was compell'd to desire a Cessation during which he came to the King and submitted himself to the judgment of the Parliament giving up in the mean time his two Sons in Hostage The Parliament declared in his favour conditionally he would relinquish the English and the King put him in possession This was in the year 1400. Year of our Lord 1399 Constantinople was invested by the Turks and in the greatest danger Pera which is as the Suburbs to it and from whence they fetched all their Provisions was very likely to be taken It belonged to the Seignory of Genoa the Mareschal de Boucicaut going thither with only Twelve hundred Men secured it and by consequence the City After he had disengaged all the parts round about and made the Turks retire whom he worsted in several Rencounters his Pay and Soldiers failing him he came into France to sollicite for a greater reinforcement bringing the Emperour along with him leaving the Lord de Chasteaumoran in Constantinople to defend it The discords in the Court of England caused by the ill Government of Richard and the ambition of his Uncles ended in a most Tragical Catastrophe Henry Earl of Derby became Duke of Lancaster by the death of his Father puts King Richard prisoner in the Tower of London Deposed him by the Authority and Consent of Parliament who degraded and condemned him to a perpetual imprisonment Then he took the Crown the Eighteenth day of October and was anointed with a Holy Oyl which some English say was brought by the Virgin Mary to St. Thomas of Canterbury whilst he took refuge in France This Ampoulle or Bottle that contains the Oyl is of Lapis and on the top stands a Golden Eagle enriched with Pearls and Diamonds Notwithstanding this Unction some while afterwards he gives way to the out-cries of the People who demanded that the unfortunate King might be strangled The London Citizens held Richard in execration because he had deliver'd up Brest and Cherbourg to the French The Duke of Bretagne who enjoy'd some repose after the many traverses which Year of our Lord 1399 had disturbed him from his Infancy died the First day of November in the Castle of Nantes He left his Children to the custody not of his Wife Jean of Navarre but of the Duke of Burgundy and Oliver de Clisson who alone were able to trouble them He had three John Arthur and Giles In the Month of November of this year 1399. a Comet was seen of an extraordinary brightness and darting its train towards the West It appeared only for one weeks time and was by Prognosticators held as a sign of those great Revolutions Year of our Lord 1399 that hapned all Chistendom over especially in the Kingdom of Naples and the Empire Lewis of Anjou had peaceably enough enjoy'd the better part of the Kingdom of Year of our Lord 1399 Sicilia when Thomas de Sanseverin Duke de Venousia offended for that he did not conclude upon the Marriage of his Brother Charles Earl of Mayne with his Daughter made him odious to the Neopolitans and introduced Lancelot and his Mother into the City where he was Crowned King and invested by the Pope of Rome So that Lewis having only some Castles left returned into France to crave assistance The Electors could no longer endure the Vices and brutish drunkenness of Year of our Lord 1400 Wenceslaus they degraded him and in his stead elected Henry Duke of Brunswic a generous Prince and great Captain and this Henry being basely assassinated upon his return from the Diet by the Count of Waldeck they substituted Robert Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine who was of the Electoral Colledge The Duke of Milan fearing left he might dispossess him shout up all the passages and hindred him from going to take the Imperial Crown at Rome and Sigismund King of Bohemia having procured himself to be chosen Guardian to Wenceslaus his Brother under this Title made many of the German Princes of his party who adhered to the House of Luxemburgh or rather made this a colourable pretence to avoid the owning any Sovereign Year of our Lord 1400 This year 1400. the Court of France received Emanuel II. Emperour of Greece who came to give the King thanks for his assistance and to crave more help of him He met with all manner of good Entertainment but nothing else unless it were an annual Pension for his subsistence He remained almost two years in France at the and whereof news being brought of the defeat and taking of Bajazeth by Themir-Lanc the King lent him the Lord of Chasteaumorand with two hundred Men at Arms and gave him a sum of Moneyto re-conduct him to Constantinople There was not any thing of advantage presented it self which the Duke of Orleans did not embrace with passion he undertook the quarrel of degraded Wenceslaus Year of our Lord 1401 and raised a good force to restore him but being informed of the ruine of his whole party he came back again The desire to Rule and ambition for Government grew hotter every day betwixt him and the Duke of Burgundy Twice had they displaced each other from that advantageous Post and besides the Burgundian resented it highly that the Duke of Orleans would have the Duke of Bretagne to be thrust out of all who was his Wives Cousin-german and his own surest friend The frequent punctillo's between their Wives exasperated them more than their own true interests the Duke of Burgundy's being the elder Heiress of a vast Estate and sprung from very Noble Blood despising the other who in truth had been much beneath her had she not been considered as Wife of the Kings only Brother Year of our Lord 1401. and 2. The Duke of Orleans had then the upper hand and was seized of the management of Affairs the Burgundian could not quit his part both the one and the other got their friends together and Paris was surrounded with Soldiers The Orleannois had called in the Duke of Guelders with Five hundred
encreasing his astonishment he sent the Earl of Nevers his Brother to the King then the Countess of Hainault his Sister and afterwards the Duke of Brabant his other Brother who made several Journeys to Court to endeavour to put some stop to the Kings wroth but nothing less would serve then the Confiscation of all his Lands Year of our Lord 1414 Happily for him the King fell ill again In this interval taking breath a little he got a Garison into Aras the Princes brought the King thither and besieged the Town It made an obstinate defence perhaps encouraged by advice from some of the Besiegers So that their Army growing tir'd and weak by Sickness the Countess of Hainault took this opportunity and sollicited the Duke of Guyenne so earnestly who had all Authority in his hands that without consulting the rest of the Princes he granted a Peace to the Duke of Burgundy This was made about the end of September but the Agreement or Articles were not Signed till the sixteenth of October at Quesnoy The Conditions were very hard upon the Burgundian That five hundred of his Men should be excluded from the Indempnity That several Officers belonging to the King the Queen and the Dauphin who favoured him should be removed That he should not come near the Court without express Order from the King under the Great Seal and by Advice of the Council It was added That for the Kings Honour his Banner should be set upon the Walls of Arras the Governor displaced and the Burghers obliged to take an Oath of Fidelity to the King Year of our Lord 1414 We have not taken notice what the English did both by Sea and Land these two last years against the French as being of little importance nor how they Conquer'd several places in Guyenne the Earl of Armagnac and the Lord d'Abret siding with them because they had been banish'd from the Court The Animosity of that Nation would allow of no Peace with France but their King Henry V. the Son of Henry IV. who died of a Leprosie the twentieth of March in the year foregoing sought to make an Alliance with the French that he might be supported against the inconstant and factious humour of his own Subjects so that the Duke of York was come into France the preceding year for that very purpose In the Month of February of this same his Ambassadors came to make Overtures and demanded Catharine the Kings Daughter agreeing to a Truce for a year to commence from the Year of our Lord 1414 second day of the same Month. A strange Rheum called the Coqueluke tormented all sorts of People during the Months of February and March and made them so very hoarse that the Bar the Pulpits and Colledges became all dumb It caused the death of most of the old People that were aflected with it Ladislaus of whom we have made mention was become Master of the whole Kingdom of Naples but as he was too much addicted to Women and besides mightily hated for his Cruelties he was this year poisoned after a Villanous manner Year of our Lord 1414 He found his Death in the Fountain of Pleasure and Life Jane II. of that name his Sister Widow of William of Austria succeeded him she was then forty years old and nevertheless her many years were so far from quenching her Passions they rather inflamed them to the highest excess The Council of Pisa had ordained that another general one should be held within three years and in the mean time was continued by Deputies At the expiration of that time John XXIII had called one at Rome for the year 1412. which being not numerous by reason by reason of the troubles occasioned by Ladislaus was put off till another time Now the Emperor Sigismund being gone into Italy in the year 1412. about some Disputes he had with the Venetians the Pope sent some Legates to him to appoint the place and time for the Council They agreed upon the City of Constance on the Rhine and as to the time the Pope assigned it on All-Saints-day of the following year Year of our Lord 1414 Notwithstanding it was not opened till the sixteenth of the Month by the Pope himself The Emperor came thither upon Christmas-Eve and sung the Epistle at the Holy Fathers Midnight-Mass being in the Habit of a Subdean The second Session was not held till the second day of March following He was present at divers afterwards array'd in his Imperial Robes Year of our Lord 1415 In this Session the Pope sitting on his Throne being turned towards the Altar read a Schedule aloud wherein he promised and gave his Oath that he would renounce the Papacy in case the two others Gregory and Bennet did renounce or happen to dye Now whether this act were by compulsion or that he had done it without reflecting on the Consequences he immediately repented and fearing lest they should take him at his word he ran away by night to the City of Schaffhausen under the protection of the Duke of Austria Year of our Lord 1415 After he had wandred some Months from one City to another forsaken by that Duke and not able to find any that could afford him a secure retreat he was taken Prisoner brought back to Constance and deposed the eighteenth of May by the Council He then made a vertue of necessity and submitted to the Sentence very calmly Gregory did likewise submit to the Judgment of the Council and gave in his Cession by Proxy Bennet only remained obstinate and kept himself shut up in his Castle of Paniscole in Arragon till the year 1424. when he ended his days Even at his death he commanded a couple of Cardinals who had all along kept him company to elect him a Successor They put a Cannon of Barcelona in his place who took upon him the name of Clement VIII and King Alphonso caused this Idol to be adored for five years in hatred to Pope Martin with whom he had some quarrel then obliged him to lay down his pretended Tittle Anno 1429. Year of our Lord 1415 The Treaty concerning the Peace and Match between France and England was yet continued and three or four solemn Embassies were sent on either side They offer'd the King of England Eight hundred thousand Florins of Gold and to give up to him fifteen Cities in Guyenne and all Limosin as a Portion for the Lady Catharine He seemed to give ear to these Propositions yet demanded every day some new thing to hinder the concluding of it His design was to fall upon France his Subjects desired it with so much passion that the whole Kingdom would have risen against him if he had not satisfi'd their longing It was suspected likewise that he was encouraged to it by the instigation and correspondence of some Traytors at least he was assured he should have but half the French to deal with it being impossible for the two Houses of Orleans and Burgundy ever to be
tawny speaking in a particular Canting Language of their own and using a Slight of Hand in Picking Pockets while they pretended to tell Fortunes They were called Tartars and Zigens These were the same in my own opinion as those the French at present call Bohemians and the English Gypsy's Year of our Lord 1417 We find in the Acts of the Council of Constance how the memory of Wicklef was Anathematiz'd and John Huss who treading his steps had sowed new Doctrines in Bohemia was burnt alive Anno 1415. notwithstanding he had a safe Conduct of the Emperor and how Jerome of Pragne his Associate but more cautious then he chose rather to be condemned absent then present In the same Council Bennet having been declared Contumacious and intruded into the Papacy the Cardinals of all Parties joyning together elected Otho Colomna who took the name of Martin as being promoted on the Eve of that Saints day Year of our Lord 1418 He immediately employs his Care and Paternal Authority to endeavour the making a Peace in France To this end he sent two Cardinal Legats upon whose sollicitation an Assembly was held at Montereau Faut-yonne where the Deputies on either side agreed upon the Seventeenth of May that all hatred being laid aside the Dauphin and Duke of Burgundy should have the Government of the State during the Kings Life But the Constable the Chancellor and those that had the greatest share in the management of Affairs fearing they should be pack'd away or apprehending the Burgundian's Resentment formally opposed it and the Chancellor did absolutely refuse to Seal the Treaty he who was said to have Sealed so many Instruments to the Peoples ruine and for his own private Interest Paris being sick of the War this was an excellent Theme to be preached to the People and stir up their hatred against them and also to rowze the Burgundian Faction who had still remained quiet had not the Populace been drawn to side with them upon this ill management In fine those of his Party holding themselves assured of his Affection introduced into their City Philip de Villiers L'Isle Adauâ— Governor of Pontoise by St. Germains Gate He entred by night upon the Twenty eight of May with Eight hundred Horse crying out Peace and Burgundy The People did not stir till they were come into Year of our Lord 1418 the Streets of St. Denis and St. Honore then they came out on all hands and joyned with them Tanneguy du Chastel Provost of Paris hearing the noise ran and took the Dauphin out of his Bed and wrapping him up in his Night-Gown convey'd him to the Bastille and from thence to Melun The King who was in his Hostel remained in the power of the Burgundians From thence spreading themselves over the whole Town they fell upon the Houses of the Armagnac's and searched from the very tops of the Garrets to the bottoms of the Cellers Some plundered the Household Stuff and carried away the Money but were most eager to seize upon their Persons and those were least unhappy that were coop'd up in private places till they had paid their Ransoms Most of them were haled to Prisons whither a great many fled voluntarily to avoid other mischiefs The Chancellor was taken the very same day and imprisoned in the Palace The next day the Constable was dragged to the same place He had concealed himself in a Masons House but Proclamation being made to discover all the Armagnac's upon pain of death his Hoste produced him Year of our Lord 1418 The Banished being return'd from divers parts with indignation and revenge in their Hearts made the most cruel Mutiny that ever was heard of this was upon the Two and twentieth of June They began with the Palace whence they drew forth the Constable and Chancellor Murther'd them and exposed their Bodies upon the Table de Marbre From thence they went to the Prisons Massacred the Bishops of Senlis and de Coutances in the Petit Chastelet and made the rest leap from the tops of the Towers receiving them below upon the points of their Swords and Javelines There was no part of the City which was not stained with the Blood they spilt Near two thousand Men were killed whose Carcasses were drawn into the Fields with deep Incisions made upon their Backs in form of a Bend or Scarfe which was the Signal that Party had marked themselves withal for distinction Such as were found with them were held to be worse then Hereticks the Priests denied them Burial and Baptism to their Children Whether it were Policy or not the Duke of Burgundy would not come to Paris till a month after L'Isle Adam had made himself Master of it The Queen and he made their entrance the fourteenth day of July as Triumphantly as if they were returned Year of our Lord 1418 from the Conquest of some new Empire There was nothing heard in the Streets but the soft Musick of Voices and Instrumens and yet their presence did not stop the bloody hands of Murtherers Whoever had Money or an Enemy an Office or a Benefice was an Armagnac The vilest and the most wicked had made themselves the Chiefs of that Blood-thirsty Militia The very Hangman was one of them and he had so much impudence as to shake the Duke by the Hand who knew not what he was The One and twentieth of August they made another great Commotion that infamous Villain being their Captain in which they killed above two hundred Persons and amongst others even some of those that dwelt in the Dukes Hostel and perhaps they would have carried it home to himself had he not been provided against that Scum of the Rabble He bethought himself of a wyle which was to send six thousand of that common Herd to besiege Montleberry and when they were gone he ordered the Hangmans Head to be chopt off and several of the most deserving to be Hanged or cast into the River Year of our Lord 1418 It seemed that Heaven would revenge those horrible Murthers with its severest Rod About the Month of June Paris began to be infected with the Plague which raged extreamly to the end of October carried off above forty thousand most of them being the meanest of the People and such as had dipt their Hands in Blood After the Dauphin was gone from Paris his Partisans made War in his Name Those Frenchmen that were disinteressed and impartial found themselves much perplexed between the Kings Commands whom the Burgundian made to speak as pleased himself and the Commands of the Presumptive Heir to the Crown which side soever they could take they were sure to be treated as Rebels and Traitors Year of our Lord 1418 The Duke of Bretagne labour'd so much that he made up the breach a second time All the Articles were agreed upon at St. Maurdes Fossez but those that had influence over the Dauphin kept him from Ratifying them so that there was only a Truce for three weeks After he
should happily get out of them at last Holding one day a grand Council in a House near the Walls of the City the Floor sunk down under his Feet James de Bourbon Lord de Preaux was crushed beneath the Ruines divers others mightily bruised and hurt they had much ado to pluck him out but he had no other hurt then only some parts of his Skin rubb'd off In like manner at his first coming to the Crown all was in a tottering condition threatning to overwhelm him The Duke of Bretagne enraged for that amongst the Papers belonging to the Lords de Pontieure they had found Orders which authorized and warranted them to make him Prisoner went his way to Amiens about mid March with his Brother Arthur Earl of Richmond where he made a League against him with the Duke of Bedford and the Burgundian These four Princes confirmed their Alliance by a double Marriage of the Duke of Bedford and the Bretons Brother Arthur with two of the Burgundians Sisters he had seven in all whereof six Married Arthur took the eldest named Marguerite Widow of the Dauphin Lewis and Bedford the fifth who was called Anne Year of our Lord 1423 There appeared not the least glimpse of good fortune for King Charles he received melancholy news from all Quarters the taking of Meulaue Crotoy Compeigne and Basas in Gascongne But the worst of all was that of the deâ—eat of his Men before the City of Crevant near Auxâ—rre The Earl of Salisbury had laid Siege to it the Constable de Bouchain and the Mareschal de Severac who went thither to relieve it were beaten a thousand of their valiantest Soldiers lay dead upon the place and almost as many led away Priseners amongst whom were the Constable and the Count de Ventadour Year of our Lord 1423 The Birth of his first Child which came into the World in the City of Bourges the fourth of July did for a time afford him some consolation This was a Son whom they named Lewis Year of our Lord 1423 The Council of Constance had by their Forty four Session appointed a Council at Pavia for the year 1423. so few Prelats met there that they were sain to transfer it to Sienna When they had held some Sessions Alphonso King of Arragon endeavoured by his Ambassadors to bring the business again on foot concerning the Anti-Pope Peter de Luna which he did in revenge for that Martin V. had denied him the Investiture of the Kingdom of Naples which he could not possibly grant him because the Council of Constance had bestowed it on Lewis III. Duke of Anjou Now Martin to prevent a Schism could find no readier Expedient then to dissolve the Council upon pretence of a Plague in the Neighbourhood though there appeared no sign of it But that it might not be suspected he in the least apprehended the Judgment of so Holy an Assembly he assigned another in the City of Basle or Basil for the year 1430. Some jealousie and mistrust arising which afterwards grew up to hatred betwixt Jean Queen of Naples and Alphonso King of Arragon whom she had Adopted This ungrateful Man endeavour'd to dispossess her and carry her away by force into Catalonia They fell to open War he held his Benefactress a long time besieged in one Year of our Lord 1423 of the Castles at Naples and without doubt had forced her to surrender if Sforza had not come to deliver her This offence in respect of the publick and according to strict Rules of Law was cause enough to annul the Adoption Jean or Joan therefore sets it aside and by the advice of her Barons gave the same right to Lewis III. Duke of Anjou whom she immediately called into Italy caused him to be owned by her Subjects and gave him the Dutchy of Calabria Year of our Lord 1424 The year 1424. proved not more happy to King Charles then the foregoing one had been True it is that the Earl Douglas a Scot brought him four thousand Men and the Duke of Milan sent him six hundred Lances and twice as many Cross-bow-men on foot but they were almost as soon defeated as arrived The Duke of Bedford after the taking of some places had besieged Yvry which had capitulated after the manner used in those times to surrender upon the Twentieth day of August if no Army appeared before that time expired able to give battle Upon this the Constable the Duke of Alencon and seventeen or eighteen Lords more got all their Forces together and marched near the Town of Yvry but not daring hazard a battle they went all to Verneuil and made him that kept it for the English believe they had gained the Victory and by this Stratagem wrought upon them to open the Gates to them The day astigned for the Battle being past Yvry surrendred Bedford the same moment went and sought them out under the very Walls of Verneuil fought them and carried the day having slain four thousand of their Men and taken Prisoners the Duke of Alencon the Mareschal de la Fayette Lewis de Gaucour and above three hundred Gentlemen Amongst the dead were found Earl Douglas and the Vicount de Narbonne The Body of this last was quarter'd and set upon Stakes in several places he being an Accomplice in the Murther of John Duke of Burgundy Year of our Lord 1424 On the other hand the King drew over Arthur Earl of Richmond to his Party with hopes by his means to regain the Duke of Bretagne This Earl had ever a Soul devoted to France and hated the English the more for that he had offended them in making his escape from thence after the death of Henry V. pretending the faith he had given obliged him only to that King but not to his Successor He had afterwards patch'd up an agreement with the Duke of Bedford at their enterview at Amiens but that tye was too weak to hold him he forsook them upon some little picquant words which passed between him and the Duke of Bedford and Treated with King Charles perhaps not without the instigation or at least the consent of the Duke of Burgundy There were a great many precautions before he could adventure to come to Court they were fain to give him Lords and Towns in Hostage Having his securities he saw the King at Tours but he obliged himself to nothing till he had taken advice of the Duke his Brother the Dukes of Burgundy and Savoy After all these Formalities he came to wait upon the King at Chinon and from his hands received the Constables Sword in the Field of Chinon in presence of all the Lords the Seventeenth of March 1425. as the Bretons tell us though there is a Chronicle Year of our Lord 1425 that says it was in the Month of November 1424. He was positively promised the King would dismiss all those that were of Counsel for the Murther committed at Montereau and in that for seizing the Duke of Bretagne The most fixed
Salisbury having brought new Forces out of England began it upon the Twelfth of October of the year 1428. and made several Bastilles or Forts as well on the side towards la Beausse as that towards Soulogne having before cleared all the places in la Beauasse and all others for twelve or fifteen Leagues both above and beneath the Town along the River of Loire Year of our Lord 1428 All the year 1428. the Duke of Burgundy was busied in the Low-Countries in pursute of Jacqueline of Bavaria He followed her so close that having besieged her in the City of Ghent he compell'd her to declare him Heir to all her Lands so that to Flanders and Artois he joyned Hainault Holland Zealand and Frise and again the same year the Earldoms of Namur and Zutphen after the death of Count Theodoric who sold them to him only reserving the possession to himself during his life time Two years after in Anno 1430. there likewise fell to him the Dutchies of Lothier Brabant and Linbourgh the Marquissate of the Holy Empire and the Lordship of Antwerp by the decease of his Cousin Philip of Burgundy the second Son of Anthony who had succeeded to Duke John his elder Brother Husband of Jaqueline who died in the year 1426. In the beginning of this year he went to Paris to the Duke of Bedford whither came also some Ambassadors from King Charles and Deputies from Orleans to intreat him that he would suffer the said City to be sequestred into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy They remonstrated that the Princes of the House of Orleans who were Prisoners in England could have acted nothing for which they ought to be dispoiled of their Towns and that it would he sufficient to put them under Sequestration as a security for what they should do when they were set at liberty The English believing this important City was now as good as their own scoffed at the request they would not lose the time and Money they had expended in the Siege Besides Bedford granted but very little of those things which the Burgundian demanded However that he might not be exposed between two Enemies without any Party to support him he put on the masque of an apparent satisfaction upon the face of his discontent Their attaques at Orleans were very brave and the defence of the Besieged much braver yet the Earl of Salisbury lost his life by a Cannon shot but the French having been beaten near Rouvroy at their falling upon a Convoy of Herrings which was going to the Camp it was in Lent and the Constable being retired Malecontent into Bretagne the place was just going to fall and the courage of all the French with it The King was already diposing himself to retire into Dauphine When a most extraordinary thing pulled down the English pride and raised up the hopes of France About the end of February the Lord de Baudricourt Governor of Vaucouleurs in Champagne sent a Maiden to the King about the age of Eighteen or twenty years who affirmed that she had an express Commission from God to relieve Orleans and cause him to be Crowned at Reims being sollicited thereto by the frequent apparitions of Angels and Saints She was named Joan or Jane was Native of the Village of Damremy upon the Meuse Daughter of James of Ave and Isabella Gautier and bred to keep Sheep in the Country Her Vocation was confirmed by miraculous proofs for she knew the King though meanly habited amidst the throng from all his Courtiers The Doctors of Divinity and those that were of the Parliament who examined her declared that there was somewhat of Supernatural in her behaviour She sent for a Sword that lay in the Tomb of a Knight behind the high Altar in the Church of St. Catharine de Fierbois upon the Blade whereof were several Crosses and Flower-de-Luces graved and the King openly affirmed that she had devined a very great secret not known to any but himself They gave her therefore a suitable Equipage and some Forces yet did they not trust the conduct of this relief to her management but gave it to the Mareschal de Rieux and the Bastard of Orleans followed by many other brave Knights who understood the Trade When she had display'd her Banner whereon there were two Images one a Crucifix the other the Annunciation with the Sacred Names of Jesus-Maria she wrote to the English in the name of God That they should leave the Kingdom to the Lawful Heir if not then she would make them go perforce But they kept her Herauld Prisoner He was found in Fetters when the City was relieved and it was discover'd that they intended to have burnt him as a Confederate of hers whom they called a Witch Year of our Lord 1429 The success made good her threatnings From that very day all their Affairs declined When she had thrown Provisions into Orleans and soon after entred the City in Person the Besieged believing her to be sent from Heaven resumed courage made divers Salleys where she fought valiantly and in two or three days took their chief Bastilles and constrained them to decamp for good and all the Twelfth day of May. The French ran up and down every where with this Heroine as to a certain Victory the English fled before her as from a Thunder-Bolt and durst not stand her approach They were chaced from Jargeau from Beaugency beaten at Patay in Beausse upon a retreat and in fine dislodged from all the places in those Countries Year of our Lord 1429 Touching the second point of her Commission she over-ruled it in the Council that the King should go to Reims to be Crowned though that City and all Champagne were yet in the Enemies power In their passage Auxerre Troyes and Chaalons surrendred to the King then the City of Reims it self as soon as ever those Lords that held it for the Duke of Burgundy were gone forth to fetch some assistance from Burgundy he was Crowned upon a Sunday being the Seventh day of July by Renauld de Chartres Archbishop of that City and their Chancellor Year of our Lord 1429 In recompence of these so important Services the King Ennobled the Pucelle her Father and her three Brothers and all their Descendants even by the Females changed the name of their Race which was of Arc into that of de-Luce or Lily and for their Coat of Arms gave them a Field Azure with a Sword placed in Pal the Cross and Pumel Or accosted with two Flowers-de-Luce and sustaining a Crown of the same upon its point Year of our Lord 1429 Upon his return they gave him up Laon Soissons Beauvais Compiegne Crespy and all the Cities even to Paris The Duke of Bedford came and presented him Battle in the Plain of Montepilloy the Armies were in sight but parted after some Skirmishes From thence he went to assault St. Denis and made an attempt upon Paris his Men were repulsed with loss and
Burgundy and the Earldom of Nevers on the one part and Bourbonnois Beaujolois Lyonnois and Forez on the other Then it proceeded a little further at Nevers in the interview of Charles Duke of Bourbon and the Burgundian whose Sister Charles had Married These two Princes having accommodated those Affairs that were between them concerning the Homage for some Lands which the Duke of Bourbon refused to render him and for which they had made a rude War for some time began to fall into discourse of the Affairs of the whole Kingdom and agreed together that there should be a Conference held at Arras to find out the best means for procuring Peace between the two Crowns and between the King and the Burgundian Year of our Lord 1435 According to this Resolution there was held at Arras the greatest and the most noble Assembly that ever this Age had heard of All the Princes of Christendom had their Ambassadors there the Pope and the Council each their Legats The Harbingers took up Stabling for ten thousand Horse This was opened the Sixth day of the Month of August Year of our Lord 1435 The Duke was obliged in honour not to Treat without the English provided they would be satisfied with reasonable Conditions They were profer'd Normandy and Guyenne if they would do Homage for them but when he found they would relinquish nothing of their Pretensions he disengaged himself from them and made a separate Treaty the Popes Legat having absolved him of that saith he had given them The Popes did often practise this believing it a part of the power which our Lord Jesus Christ had given to bind and unbind Here is the Summary of the chiefest Articles The King by his Ambassadors disown'd that he had consented to the Murther of Duke John wickedly perpetrated and by wicked Counsel for which he was sorry with all his heart Promised he would do justice and cause such as were guilty to be prosecuted whom the Duke should name to him That if they could not be taken he would banish them from the Kingdom for ever and never admit them upon any Treaty He obliged himself to build for the Soul of the deceased Duke the Lord de Novailles and of all those that died since in that quarrel a Chappelat Montereau on the place where the Body of that Duke lay interred to set up a Cross on the Bridge to found a Monastery or Chartreuse where should be twelve Friers and a high Mass that should be sung every year in the Church at Dijon To pay fifty thousand Gold Crowns at 24 Carats c. for the Goods and Equipage taken when the Duke was Murther'd Moreover he relinquished and acquitted him of all Homage due for any Lands he held of the Crown and his Service and Personal Assistance during his life Gave him to perpetuity for him and his Heirs Males and Females the Countries of Mascon and Auxerre the Lordship of St. Jengon the Bailliwick of St. Laurence the Castlewick or Chastelleny of Bar upon the Seine and as security for four hundred thousand Crowns payable at two certain terms the Chastellenies of Peronne Roye and Montdidier and the Cities of the Somme that is St. Quentin Corbie Amiens Abeville and others As also the County of Pontieu on either side the Somme and the enjoyment of the County of Boulogne for him and the Heirs Male of his Body with all the Rights of Tailles Gabelles and Imposts all profits of Courts of Justice of the Regalia and all others arising from all those Countries That the Burgundians should not be obliged to quit the St. Andrews Cross even when they were in the Kings Army That in case of any contravention of the Subjects both of the one and other of these Princes should be absolved from their Oaths of Fidelity and should take up Arms against the Infringer That the King should tender his submissions for the compleating of this Treaty into the hands of the Legats from the Pope and the Council upon pain of Excommunication Reagravation Interdiction of his Lands and all other to which the Censures of the Church can extend That to the same purpose he should give the Seals of the Princes of his Blood the Grandees of the State the most noted Prelats and the greatest and chiefest Cities Year of our Lord 1435 And to make this Reconciliation the more firm and durable there was added the promise to bestow Catharine the Kings Daughter upon Charles Earl of Charolois the Dukes Son both as yet very young Four years after they sent this Princess to the Duke of Burgundy to compleat the Marriage Year of our Lord 1435 Besides this weighty blow which amazed the English much they received another which was the death of the Duke of Bedford Regent in France after whom they never had any but Men that were very violent hare-brain'd without either prudence or conduct The French in the mean time time took Diepe by Escalado and the kind usage they shewed to the Inhabitants brought them all the places of the Country of Caux Year of our Lord 1435 At the same time which was about the last day of September died the Queen Mother Isabella de Baviere in the Hostel de Saint Pol at Paris where she lived in a mean condition since the time of her Husbands death justly hated by the French and ingratefully despised by the English Some have written that to save the expences of her Funeral they conveyed her Corps in a small Boat to St. Denis attended only by four People Her death is attributed to an inward grief occasioned by the outrageous railleries of such as delighted to tell her face that King Charles was not the Son of her Husband Year of our Lord 1435 and 36 One of the greatest faults they committed after they had refused the offers made them at Arras was their not treating the Duke of Burgundy well their giving him reproachful language and not suffering him to be Neuter as he desired but to fall on his People wherever they met them endeavouring to surprize his places and harrasing him so perpetually that at length they constrained him to become their utter Enemy The Parisians comparing the pride and wretchedness of these Strangers with the courtesie and magnificence of their Natural Kings could no longer endure them or if any thing did yet with-hold them it was some remainders of that affection they preserved for the Duke of Burgundy But this knot being broken they now sought nothing but the opportunity to free themselves from their Bondage Year of our Lord 1436 The English having therefore been beaten at St. Denis by the Constable the honest Citizens of Paris took that opportunity to treat about their surrender to him Having obtained an Act of Oblivion and the confirmation of their Priviledges in such form as they desired they introduced him by the Gate called St. James This was on the Friday after Easter When he was entred the People fell upon the English
Leagues but finding he was too weak and that his prayers availed not with his Son in Law he retreated and his Constable was forced to capitulate The Castle of Guissant which is within four Leagues of Bayonne surrendred likewise after three thousand English whom the Constable of Navarre and the Year of our Lord 1449 Mayor of Bayonne sent by Water to their relief had been beaten by the Besiegers At the same time Veneuil in Perche was taken by the contrivance of a Miller in revenge for that the English had beaten him the great Tower held it out yet a while In the interim the Count de Dunois by the small resistance he met with from Pont-Audemer Lisieux Mantes and the Forts that were round those Cities perceiving the English were at a low ebb sent the King word that Normandy was sorely shaken He was besides informed that the Duke of Bretagne with the Constable had taken Coutances and that the Inhabitants of Alenson had restored their Duke to his City and besieged the Castle which immediately capitulated Upon this good news he departs from Vendosme where he got his Forces together came to Verneuil thence to Louviers and Pont de Larche to summon the City of Rouen whose Inhabitants were disposed to shake off their yoak Year of our Lord 1449 The Earl of Sommerset who was in it with three thousand English did not permit his Heraulds to come near Which could not prevent a party of the Inhabitants from placing many Frenchmen upon their Walls but the rest not joyning with them that design miscarried These would first make their Conditions with the King as they did the next day Their Archbishop Rodolph Roussel who was chief of the Deputation obtained security and liberty for the Persons and for the Goods of all those that were within the City as well English as French whether choosing to remain there still or to remove elsewhere if they desired it When he had given an account of the Treaty in the Town-Hall the English endeavoured to frustrate the execution by seizing on the Gates and Walls but the Inhabitants soon dispossess'd them and forced them to retire to the Bridge the Castle and the Palace The Fort St. Catharine held but little Sommerset having few Provisions in the old Palace capitulated within fifteen days That himself and all his should go out with their Lives and Goods and all their furniture for War excepting their great Guns That they should pay fifty thousand Gold Crowns and all such Debts as they owed to the Bourgois and the Merchants belonging to that Country That they should be obliged to procure the surrender of Caudebec Moustiervilliers Lislebonne Tancarville and Honnefleur and for Hostages should leave the Sire Talbot and five or six more of their principal Commanders The Tenth day of November the King entred the City in Pomp and celebrated the Feast of St Martin the ancient Patron of Gall. Year of our Lord 1449 and 50. Notwithstanding the inconveniences of the Winter Season he laid Siege to Harfleur which was the first place that was conquered by the late Henry King of England It surrendred upon the Twelfth day of January As did Honnefleur afterwards which held out but a few days Year of our Lord 1449 At the same time the Duke of Bretagne and the Constable reduced Valongne with six or seven other little places and after a long Siege regained likewise his City of Foulgeres Year of our Lord 1449 These prosperities were not without some mixture or allay of sorrow to the King In the year 1449. while he was at Jumieges they poysoned his dear Agnes de Sorean without whom he could not live one moment To comfort him Antoinetta dt Maignelais Dame de Villequier Cousin to the deceased took her place but she was not sole Mistress the impotence of age stirring up this Kings desires he entertained a great number of beautiful Damsels at least to satisfie the pleasure of his Eye Some would needs have it that some of the Dauphins friends made away Agnes and that he who did most contribute to it was the famous James Coeur Keeper of the Kings Plate Master of the Moneys or Mint-Master of Bourges his Native City a Merchants Son and one that managed all the Treasury There are such wonders related of his Riches his Credit and his Buildings that Chymists would fain persuade us he had the Philosophers Stone In Anno 1452. an Accusation was framed against him in the Kings Council and all his Goods were seized as well for the Crime above mentioned as for those of Concussion Exaction Transportation of Money out of the Kingdom falsifying of Coyn counterfeiting Seals selling Arms and Powder to the Sarrasins c. He appeared voluntarily to justifie himself he was Arrested and removed to several Prisons Finally the King being satisfied that he was guilty says the Decree of the Nineteenth of May 1453. of all these Crimes and yet remitting the pains of death for the services he had rendred him and upon the intercession of the Holy Father condemned him to make Amende Honorable to pay a hundred thousand Crowns and confiscated all his Goods Some time after the Parliament restored him in his Reputation and Estate after he had paid his Fine Towards the beginning of this year 1450. there landed three thousand English at Cherbourgh commanded by Thomas Kyrle who drawing a Party out of the Garrisons made up a gross of six thousand Men with which he adventur'd to take the Field The Constable having heard of their march goes forth to seek them although he had not half their number of Men. He met and fought them nigh the Village of Fourmigny between Carentan and Bayeux along a small River which ran behind them These new Levies joyned with such as had never hunted together could not stand before the old experienced Soldiers who had so many brave Leaders and Warlike Nobility to encourage them few of them escaped since they counted three thousand seven hundred seventy four that were slain and fourteen hundred Prisoners Year of our Lord 1450 This blow brought them to their last gasp they appeared now no more but upon the Walls of some places yet remaining in their hands The King being gone into the Lower Normandy found no great difficulty in besieging them nor much more in taking them Vire Bayeux St. Sauveur le Vicomte Falaize Caen defended themselves but weakly Caen made its composition upon St. John's Eve They provided the Earl of Sommerset and four thousand English he had about him with Vessels to transport them into England but not to any other place The City was given up to the King the Second day of July Falaise the Twentieth of the same Month. The King made his entrance into Caen the Sixth Nothing remained but Cherbourgh the Constable had besieged it after the surrender of Caen Thomas Govel who was Governor with a thousand Natural English gave it up the Eleventh day of August Thus was
to Establish a Council made up of the Princes of his own House together with the Lords of the Country for the Administration of his Affairs Landays having intelligence of this was possessed with such fury that he caused a Patent to be drawn in the Dukes name which declared all the Commanders of his Army which had entred into that capitulation with the Rebels Criminals de Lesae Majestatis and their Estates consiscate The Chancellor his name was Francis Christian refused to Seal it notwithstanding the Dukes reiterated order But on the contrary being Summoned by the Lords to bring Landays to Justice he took several informations upon which a Decree was made to take the Body of Landays Year of our Lord 1485 The Lords of the Dukes Council held private correspondence to ruin this Fellow One day therefore the People of Nantes excited by some Emissary's and their own hatred towards him got in throngs into the Castle crying out for Jusstice upon Landays and at the same time the Chancellor was compell'd by the Lords to wait upon the Duke and beseech him to give leave that he might be arrested and brought to his Trial. The Duke to avoid greater danger took the miserable wretch by the Hand who had secur'd himself in his Chamber and delivered him up to the Chancellor expresly commanding him they should not touch his Life for he granted him pardon for whatever Crime they might convict him of But as that Prince was weak they had no regard to his injunction They made quick dispatch with Landays the Gibbet was the last step his Ambitious Pride raised him to Being found guilty of Concussions Depredations Murthers and other Crimes he was Hanged at Nantes the 18 th Day of July Year of our Lord 1486 The following year Maximilian was Elected King of the Romans at Francfort the one and Twentieth of February and Crowned at Aix la Chapelle with Charlemains Crown the 12 th of April He had surprized the City of Terouenne for which cause the Mareschal D'Esquerdes made a rude War upon him He pressed him so hard that he was forced to write to all those Cities in the Kingdom as had obliged themselves for Guaranty of the Treaty he had made with the King complaining of this injustice done him by that Lord and the Dame de Beaujeu in the name of the King The Letter was brought by one of his Heralds whom the King being then at Beauvais caused to be Guarded in his Journey It was Read in the Town-Hall of Paris but he received no other answer then what it pleased those about the King to dictate He was as little successful in the Cavalcade he made thinking to surprize Guise which Garrison did infinitely molest the Country of Hainault Having furnished Terouenne with provisions he came into Cambresis But the Mareschals Desquerdes and Guy still pursuing him and Poverty pinching him yet more then his Enemies he durst not undertake any thing Every thing failing him his Germans Disbanded and he retired to Melines where he caused his Son to be kept and Educated Year of our Lord 1486 One cannot conceive a greater grief then what the Duke of Bretagne felt for the loss of his Landays nevertheless he was forced to contain himself and grant an Abolition or Indemnity to all the Lords for fear of intailing a Cruel and Bloody War upon his Country but all that precaution would not serve turn The time was come to put a Period to that Estate and I know not what fatallity hurried them to it by unavoidable accidents The Dame de Beaujeu being informed that the Duke of Orleans was forging some design against her made him to be commanded to come to Court he came upon the second Summons he received but the next Day being the 5 th of January he went into the Country upon pretence of Hawking and took his flight into Bretagne The good reception he met with from the Duke the power he gave him there and the strict knot of Friendship he tied with Guibe one of the Nephews of the Deceased Landays who commanded the greater part of the Dukes Gendarmerie gave both suspition and fear to the Breton Lords The Kings Council knowing their apprehensions offer'd them all assistance imaginable to help them drive out both the Duke of Orleans and the rest of the French from their Country of Bretagne The wisest amongst them were not for Engaging so great a power in their quarrel as would sooner or later swallow up all if called in But the rest imagining they could easily Limit and Curb them by Articles of Agreement This opinion carried it they made a League with the King upon these conditions That he should bring into the Country no more then four hundred Lances and four thousand Year of our Lord 1486 Foot That he should recall them as soon as ever the Duke of Orleans and his partisans should quit the Country That he should neither take nor Besiege any place without the consent of the Mareschal de Rieux nor should lay any claim or pretence to the Dutchy Whatever was in the Treaty expressed yet the Kings Council were persuaded that Bretagne appertained to him by vertue of a Cession which the Heirs of Pontieure had made to Lewis XI Nay even some Bretons who loved to swim in deep and large Waters and hoped to find fairer fortunes in the Court of France confirmed them in this opinion And it was for this design they led the King to the Borders of that Country Year of our Lord 1486 Whilst he was at Amboise he had private notice that the Count de Dunois was returned from Ast notwithstanding his commands to the contrary had got to Partenay in Poiton which he Fortified that being there he was making a League for the Duke of Orleans and that he had drawn in the Earl of Angoulesme the Duke of Lorrain the Lords de Ponts and de Albret He cajoled these two last with the hopes that they should marry the Duke of Bretagne's eldest Daughter and the Duke of Lorrain was tyred with the put off's they had so long used towards him concerning the Succession of the House of Anjou Year of our Lord 1487. in January Those friends the Duke of Orleans had left at Court plotted together to carry away the King who would have warranted them and as they said had intreated them to do it being quite wearied and distasted with the imperious Government of his Sister This would have ended the Quarrel to the Dukes advantage but the contrivance having taken Air by a Valet the Bishops of Periguex and Montauban these were Gefroy de Pampadour and George d'Amboise Comines and some others who had the management of it were Arrested Comines having been a Prisoner near three years of which time he was shut up eight whole Months in an Iron Cage was condemned by Sentence of the Court of Parliament to lose the fourth part of his Estate and to remain a Prisoner for ten years
with incredible Artifice tended to no more but to make him possessor of the Dutchy of Milan To bring this to pass he had Married his Sister to Maximilian King of the Romans and had secretly taken the investiture of that Dutchy as vacant by default of Hommage and other Duties not tendred but this he must wrest from John Galeas Son of his eldest Brother who held it by a just Title This was a young Man of little Courage whom he already kept as his Captive having chaced away his Mother Bonne de Savoy Sister to the Kings mother who had forfeited her Reputation by her Gallantries in her Widdow-hood but he had married a Wife as Couragious as Beautiful who being Daughter of Alphonso Duke of Calabria Son of Ferdinand King of Naples was able with the assistance of her Brother to retard the Execution of his malitious designs This was the motive which obliged Ludovic to stir up the King to the Conquest of Naples to ruin or at least to Embarrass that House which was alone able to prevent him He had the City of Genoa under his subjection which nevertheless held of the Crown of France the Kings Favourites having obtained the investiture for him for eight Thousand Crowns in his Alliance Hercules d'Est Duke of Ferrara his Father in Law Bentivoglio Lord of Bologna and some other Lords In those Days there were five great Governments or Powers in Italy two Republicks Venice and Florence this holding more of a Democracy or Popular State the other an Aristocracy or Government by Nobles the Church or Pope the King of Naples and the Duke of Milan Venice was Governed by their Senate none of her Citizens daring to raise themselves above the rest At Florence the Medici had usurped all the Authority after they had extirpated the Passi Peter the Head of the Family behaved himself with unsufferable haughtiness Lewis Sforza as we have told ye Governed the Milanois a Man that was perfidious sanguinary crafty and very aptly Surnamed the Moor not only because his Skin was tawny but likewise because he exceeded the Africans in Treacheries and Disloyalty In the Holy See was then sitting or rather intruded Alexander VI. who disposed of all things at his pleasure and to say truth he had paid for the tripple Crown It will suffice to give you his just Character to say in a word that never any Mahometan Prince was more Impious more Vicious or more Faithless than he and if any one did ever surpass him in his abominations it was Caesar Borgia his Bastard Son At Naples Reigned Ferdinand Bastard of Alphonso King of Arragon He had two Sons Alphonso and Frederic And Alphonso had a Son named Ferdinand as was his Grandfather Aged twenty or two and twenty years This last seemed to be of a good disposition and gained the Love of the Nobility and People but his Father and Grandfather were held in execration amongst all their Subjects for their Taxes Monopolies and bloody Cruelties the son exceeding the Father as much in wickedness as the Father exceeded all other Princes Besides all these Potentates had no Religion but by their Actions and in their Discourse professed a most Villainous and Brutish Atheism but withal pretended to great Wisdom and the finest Politicks Year of our Lord 1492. 93. 94. There were two men that wholly Governed the Kings mind Stephen de Vers his Chamberlain and Seneschal of Beaucare and William Briconnet his Treasurer General and Bishop of St. Malo By their means this War was undertaken but Briconnet having afterwards more thorowly considered and weighed it be-became of a quite contrary opinion Two years was it absolutely resolved upon then laid aside then again under consideration and debate There was not Wisdom enough in the Kings Council no money in his Coffers no assurance of his Allies for in Italy he had none for him but the Traitor and perfidious Ludovic in whom no prudent man would put any confidence but under-hand there were against him the wise Venctians and openly or barefac'd Pope Alexander and Peter de Medicis Upon the rumour of this War Ferdinand King of Naples sent to the King to Year of our Lord 1494 offer him Hommage and pay him an Annual Tritute of fifty Thousand Crowns These proffers having been rejected such grief and fear Seized upon him that his last day was the five and twentieth of January in the year 1494. being aged Seventy two His Son Alphonso more wicked then himself and more unfortunate took the Scepter After many delays the King pressed by the continual Sollicitations of Ludovic to which were likewise joyned those of the Cardinal of Saint Peters c. an irreconciliable Enemy to Pope Alexander left Paris in the Month of July having given the Regency to Peter Duke of Bourbon during the time he should be out of France He remained a while at Lyons in great uncertainty what he should do then again at Vienne from thence he passed to the City of Ast where he sojourned near a Month whilst they drew his Cannon over the Mountains with much difficulty In that place he was like to die of the Smal-Pox For two Years past had the Princes of Italy those great Men in War and Politicks so much vaunted by their Historians taken notice how this Design was forming which could not but prove fatal hereafter to the liberty of their Country and for the present invade their Peace and Power and yet they had not Skill or Prudence enough to divert a Prince who was but young and guided by a Council without Brains nor Courage enough to meet and fight his Forces which were but inconsiderable So that there is reason to believe that God had sealed their Eyes tied their Hands behind them and raised up this young King to chastize them Indeed Hierosme Savanarola a Dominican had a long time before filled all Italy with predictions of his coming and affirmed that he had a Commission from Heaven to Dethrone the Tyrants For this great Enterprize he had belonging to himself but sixteen hundred Gents-Darmes each with his two Archers on Horse-back his two hundred Gentlemen three or four hundred Horse lightly arm'd twelve thousand Foot half Swisse and half French but withal a great number of young Lords and Nobility who went Volunteers all very fit and useful for a Day of Battle but not any wise proper in Affairs that required length of time as not able to undergo Hardship nor be under Command Alphonso was resolved to carry the War into Ludovic's Country to this effect he had sent an Army into Romagnia commanded by young Frederic his Son and another by his Brother Frederic towards the Coasts of Genoa Frederic goes on Shoar at Rapalo thinking thereby to make the Genoese rise by the intelligence of those that were Banished but the Duke of Orleans who commanded the French Fleet beat the others in the Post which they had fortified and Daubigny having with some Forces outmarched
them that they could scarce forbear doing the like to his person Year of our Lord 1495 The same Day he had news of Alphonso's flight That King finding himself mortally hated by his Subjects whom both he and old Ferdinand had Treated most cruelly resigned his Crown which he had not worn a year to young Ferdinand his Son and retired to Messina in Sicilia where he shut himself up in a Monastery to do pennance all the rest of his Days They were not many for before the end of that year he ended his life Dying of the Gravel which made him Languish with most grievous Torment Alphonso's fears and astonishment was so strange that although the French were yet above sixty Leagues distant he fancied they were in the very Streets of Naples and that the Trees and Stones cried out France His wife begging him to stay but only three days that she might say she had been one whole year in her new Kingdom he would not allow her that little satisfaction but said he would throw himself out of the Windows if they offer'd to detain him any longer He made so much hast to fly thence that he took none of all the vast Riches with him which he had heaped up in his strong Castles The misfortunes of this House or rather the Judgments of the Almighty God followed the Son as they had done the Father and Grandfather Ferdinand came and had posted himself at the passage de Cancello near the Abbey of Saint Germans to defend the entrance into the Kingdom As soon as ever the Mareschal de Rieux drew near to attack him he quitted it and all his Forces Disbanded John James Trivulcio a Milanese by Birth but who having been Banished by Ludovic was Listed in his Service came over to the Kings Party and gave him up Capoua which gave example to all the rest to do the like the City of Naples shut her Gates against him in a word he retired to the Island of Ischia leaving the defence of the Castles of Naples to his most considing Officers The two and twentieth of February the King made his entrance into that City the People triumphing at his Victory and receiving him as if he had been their founder and deliverer The Castles did not hold out long Thus in four Months this young King marched thorough all Italy was received every where as their Soveraign Lord without using any Force only sending his Harbingers to mark out his Lodgings and Conquer'd the whole Kingdom of Naples in fifteen days excepting only Brindes Year of our Lord 1495 Greece was almost ready to follow the same Dance with Italy Bajazeth Siezed with the extreamest Terror had drawn away all his Garrisons to strengthen his City of Constantinople the Grâ—ecians were ready to cut the Throats of all the Turks and the Turks cast their eyes towards Zemes or Zizim and wisht he were their Soveraign The jealous Venetians and the Pope made this design miscarry amidst all those fair hopes they poysoned that Prince before he was resigned into the hands of the French And withal gave the Turks notice of all the correspondence the King held in those Countries Which cost the Lives or Ruin of above fifty Thousand Christians whom the King was to have furnished with Arms to have Siezed divers maritime Towns at the time he was to pass into Greece This Bright Sun-shine of Fortune did so dazle the young King and all his Council who had but little Sence or Judgment that they scarce minded or took care of any thing Several Cities that had set up the Standard of France returned to the Arrogonians for want of sending some body to receive and take possession for the King the Favourites on whom he bestowed the Governments squandred away the Ammunitions his Soldiers lived at discretion and his Lords became insolent The People were not eased no justice was done to those Gentlemen of the Angevin Faction who had been thrown out of all their Estates So that the Love they had at first for the French was soon converted into hatred and made them forget the sorrows under the foregoing Tyrannies Year of our Lord 1495 Whilst the King and his Court full of young Fopps wasted their time in dancing Feasting Gaming and pleasant Walks the Venetians laboured to form a League against him comprizing the Pope the Emperor the Arch-Duke his Son Ferdinand King of Arragon and Ludovic Sforza so many Heads could not readily be brought to agree together it required near a whole years time to adjust them And the League they thought to contrive to obstruct his going into Italy could now only serve them to turn him out again At first Ludovic would by no means side with them on the contrary he endeavoured his utmost to hinder them but having attained his own ends he was the most zealous to promote and hasten it It was concluded about the end of Lent and published upon Palm-Sunday in presence ☞ of the Turkish Ambassador The Venetians and the Pope his good Friends would needs gratify him with that joyful news before he took his leave The information the King had thereof put him upon thoughts of his return but yet ere he went he would needs make his Triumphant entrance into Naples the Thirteenth Day of May. He was on Horse-back in an Imperial Habit a Crown upon his Head the Globe in his right Hand and a Scepter in his Left under a Canopy born by the greatest Lords of that Country and the People shouting aloud and crying Long live the August Emperor With this Ceremony he was conducted to the great Church where he received anew their Oaths of Fidelity He left in all four Thousand men to defend that Kingdom and the Country furnished him with twice as many Gilbert de Bourbon Duke of Montpensier had the Title and power of Vice-Roy a good man but of little judgment and one that loved his ease so much he seldom rose from his Bed till Noon Daubigny the Office of Constable and the Government of Calabria George de Sully that of the Dutchy of Tarente Gratian Guerre a Gascon that of Abruzzo Stephen de Vers the Dutchy of Nola. He parted from Naples the Twentieth of May. The Pope had offended him too much to stay his coming he went from Rome and retired to Orvieto But the King did not fail to restore all those places he held belonging to the Church As soon as he was gone some distance the Colonnas lately so zealous for his Interests turned their backs upon him the Florentines alone out of a desire to regain their own offer'd to maintain his quarrel and to furnish him with a good force to convoy him but he refused both the one and the other and again confirmed the Liberty of the Pisans He lost twelve or fifteen days time at Pisa and at Sienna during which the Confederates Army had leasure enough to Assemble Perhaps he waited for news from the Duke of Orleans who remained yet
could he by going a long way about get entrance into the Castle del Ovo again From thence he descended again into the City with his Sword and Flambeau in Hand and strugled mightily to recover it but the Revolters opposed him with Retrenchments and Barricado's which they wrought upon with so much diligence both Night and Day that they coop'd him in the Castle This hapned at the same time as the Battle of Fornowa After three Months Siege and continul Skirmishes Montpensier wanted Provisions and was informed at the same time that the relief which was coming from France by Sea meeting with great Storms was driven to Legorne and there dispersed In this extremity he capitulated with the Enemy to deliver up the Castles in a Months time if he were not relieved In the mean time he bethinks himself but very late to send to Aubigny to dravv all his Forces together and come to disengage him Aubigny could not go in Person being yet sick he sent Percy who cut four thousand of the Count de Matalonas Men in pieces near Eboli Ferdinand vvas so much dismay'd that he had thoughts of Flying but the Neapolitans and the Colonnas whom fear of Punishment had made desperate labour'd so much as to make him change his Fear into Year of our Lord 1495 a Re-assurance Percy coming thither found their Intrenchments so well guarded that he could not approach the Castle whereupon he returned to Nola. Mean while Stephen de Vers whom the King had made Duke of Nola being gone into France did earnestly sollicite they would provide for the maintaining of that Kingdom the Ambassadors from the Florentines the Cardinal of Saint Peters c. and Signor Trivultio joyned their Intreaties and the French even those that had advised against the first Attempts for this Conquest declared all with one Voice that it now concerned the Honor of the Nation to preserve it and not suffer the Great Monarch of France to be braved by those Bastards of the House of Arragon Every one desired this excepting those that managed the Affairs particularly the Cardinal Briconnet who either by intelligence with the Pope or out of Sloath and Cowardize hindred the rest from acting The King might be angry with them if he pleased nothing went forward Year of our Lord 1496 The importunity of those Lords who were engaged in the Kingdom of Naples the reproaches of the French and those of his own Conscience obliged the King to resolve upon a new Effort for the Affairs of Italy He parted from Tours where he left the Queen his Wife came to Saint Denis to take his Farewell of the Holy Martyrs advanced to Lyons and gave out his Orders every where then when it was believed he would have passed the Mountains he returned Post to Tours whither the Charms of one of the Queens Maids attracted him as it were per-force These grand Preparations amounted to six Vessels loaden with Provisions and Men for Cajeta Year of our Lord 1496 Ludovic had perswaded the Emperor Maximilian to enter into Italy to embrace the Defence of Pisa which he thought by this means to get into his own Hands Upon this Expedition it was that the Pisans pull'd down the King's Statute to set up the Emperors in its stead As for the rest of this Enterprize no more then in all his others he showed neither Valor nor Perseverance and to speak the Truth he minded no more but only to make his Musters compleat that he might get the Pay and then drew off again like a Hireling The French Affairs declined from Bad to Worse Aubigny was Sick still Percy marr'd his greatest Success by his unsufferable Pride the Germans Mutined for want of Pay and the Garrisons were quite unfurnished And to compleat these Misfortunes Montpensier suffers himself to be shut up in Atella by three Armies of Venetians Spaniards and Arrogonians and for want of Provisions capitulated to Surrender the whole Kingdom in one Month. The other Chiefs especially Aubigny and Guerre refused to obey him in the execution of this Infamous Treaty As a Punishment for this Stubborness Ferdinand banished both him and all his Soldiers into the Maritime Countries where the Pestilential Air destroy'd most of them Of five thousand Men he had with him hardly did five hundred escape and Montpensier himself died at Puzzoli of Sickness or of Poison From Atella Gonsalvo passed to Calabria reduced Manfredonia and Cosenza and Besieged Daubigny in Gropoli That generous Captain defended himself so bravely that he made an honourable composition they gave him leave to carry back his Forces into France with Colours Flying but the surrender of Cajeta was comprehended in it Nothing was left the French of this glorious and suddain Conquest but a villanous Disease which cannot handsomely be named The Spaniards having gotten it in the Islands of Florida where it is almost Epidemical had brought into and infected the Kingdom of Naples with it the Women whom they had spoiled with this Venome communicated it to the French Year of our Lord 1496 Before Cajeta was Surrendred King Ferdinand Died and Frederic his Uncle ascended that mournful Throne with the good wishes and acclamations of all his Subjects Ferdinand King of Spain his own people called him so and the French in railery John Gipon made an Inroad towards Narbonna in favour of Ferdinand King of Naples Charles d'Albon Saint Andre Lieutenant for the King in Languedoc did not only repress them but in ten hours forced the City of Salses in sight of their Army The Spaniards fearing they might draw the whole burthen of the War upon themselves entred into a Conference which towards the end of the year produced a Truce for some Months Year of our Lord 1497 Several designs were set on foot and divers means considered and projected for the recovery of the Kingdom of Naples sometimes to receive Hommage and Tribute of Frederic at other times to agree with the Pope who was Lord of the Fief then to begin with the Milanois and give the conduct to the Duke of Orleans To this purpose Levies were made amongst the Swiss and the Cavalry advanced as far as Ast but the Duke refused that employment Several consultations were held afterwards some resolutions taken but no effects though the several and various interests of the Italian Princes did call every day for the Kings return and opened the Gates wide enough for his re-entrance Year of our Lord 1498 But his Health hourly diminishing as well because he was of a washy constitution and had loved the Ladies too much or perhaps some slow working poyson given him by the Italians made him lose the relish of all these Conquests nay even of those amongst the Beauties so that he now thought of nothing but how to lead a quiet and Christian life He therefore turned himself wholly towards God and applied himself to the reforming of his State He heard the complaints and causes of his Subjects
it publickly The Faculty of Theology proceeded farther they made a Decree to receive or admit no more Doctors hereafter that did not first Swear to profess and maintain that the Virgin was conceived without any blemish or stain A great victory for the Cordeliers to have thus obliged their Adversaries to swear what they never intend to believe or practise Alms being the only Revenue of the Mendicants they endeavoured to engross the Confessions and Burials of all Seculars to themselves that so they might get pr ofit both by the Living and the Dead They had two advantages above the Ordinaries the first was the Union of their Community all labouring with one mind and never quitting the design they have once propounded to themselves the Second the exterior mortisied and singular Fashion of their Habits So that the Churches belonging to those Monasteries were ever crowded with throngs of People and the Parish Churches almost deserted the Sheep forsaking their natural Shepherds and the solid Food of their true Nursing Fathers to run after the others Spiritual dainties In the year 1409. when the 〈◊〉 came to know they had a Pope of their own Order which was Alexander V. they seemed as it were transported and out of their Senses hurrying thorow every street so verily did they imagine they should dispose of his power to their own advantage And indeed he did grant them all they desired and amongst other favours a Bull to the four Orders Mendicants which augmented their Priviledges to such an excess that the University of Paris opposed it and lopp'd off all those from their Body that made use of them The Jacobins and Carmelites renounced all right to it but the Cordeliers and Augustins stood up for them The King was fain to interpose his Authority Proclamation was made by sound of Trumpet at the Doors of their Covents forbidding them either to Preach or to Confess So that Pope John XXIII revoked that Bull and the Council of Constance annull'd all those abusive Priviledges They did not desist from carrying on their Enterprizes and maintained that one is not obliged to be at the Parish Church Masses upon Sundays and Holy-Days nor to make Offerings to the Curates upon those Days that such as were obliged to have Masses sung whether for the Living or for the Dead did not acquit themselves of that Obligation if they had it done by the Curates only for as much as he was bound to do so by his duty That the Law of God did enjoyn the paying of Tithes indeed but that it matters not to whom they are paid provided they are bestowed for pious Works That Saint Francis did regularly once a Year descend into Purgatory and take forth all those that died in his Habit or of his Order That the Friers Minors might hear Confessions without approbation of the Ordinary and provided they made Confession to them they were not obliged to confess to their Pastor no not once a Year The Council of Basile condemned these Propositions as erronious and tending to destroy the Hierarchical Order The Devotion of the Rosarie and of the Virgins Psalter instituted by Saint Dominique but afterwards disused and neglected were restored by the Preaching of the blessed Alain de la Roche a Jacobin particularly in Saxony Belgica and the lesser Bretagne and soon after confirmed by Pope Sixtus IV. You may remember to this purpose that Lewis XI ordained in his time the Devotion to be paid to the Virgin at Noon upon the ringing of a Bell. Nor must we forget now in the Year 1475. he commanded the Feast of Saint Charlemain should be Solemnized which had been otherwhile ordained by Pope Paschal upon the request of the Emperor Frederic I. and afterwards received and approved by all the Western Churches Innocent VII Pope of Rome approved the Rule of the third Order of Saint Dominique Lewis Barba Patrician of Venice Abbot of Saint Justinas at Padoua reformed the Order of Saint Bennet in 1408. and instituted the Congregation of Mount Cassin Anno 1419. Saint Bernardin of Sienna attempted to reform the Order of Saint Francis and to bring them to a more strickt Observance which divided it as it were in two Branches that of the Observantines or the narrow Sleeves and that of the Cordeliers Conventuals or of the great Sleeves Some Years after to witt in 1425. the Blessed Collect Boilet Native of Corbie a Holy Sister of Sancta Clara did likewise reform the Monastery of Nunns of her Order She died at Ghent in the Year 1447. On the contrary the Rule of the Carmelites as too austere was qualified and moderated by Pope Eugenius III. in Anno 1432. in the same manner they hold to this Day who are called Mitigated The Brangling Cobweb Scholastick Controversies still kept the upper hand in the University Their Latin was gross and had only the Termination but not the Phrases and pleasing Air of the true ancient Roman Tongue The Greek was a greater Stranger yet then the Latin and more barbarous but both of them began to be refin'd and polish'd the Latin a little before the midle of this Age in imitation of Petrarque and other Italians who after him set themselves upon the Study of Elegancy and the Greek about the Year 1460. when the learned Grecians sheltred themselves in divers Parts of the West after the taking of Constantinople Gregory Tiphernas came to Paris in Anno 1460. and presented himself to the Rector to teach the Greek Tongue and have that Reward allowed by Holy Decree which was granted Hermonyme of Sparta came soon after and taught that Language to John Reclin who took the name of Capnion then Janus Lascaris arrived and by his politeness gave a great Gusto to all the most learned Men. After that many showed their Parts as Poets Orators and Grammarians in both these Tongues The Credit of the University appeared very eminently at the time of the second Schisme as well as in the first Who was as we may say the chief Promotrice of the Pragmatick Sanction so holy and to this very Day so much regretted by good People We have hinted how the Cardinal d'Estouteville reformed the abuses of this Body in the Year 1452. and how Lewis XI gave Order to John Wesel a Cordelier to labour to banish thence those obstinate contests which were between the Realists and the Nominals Wesel having therefore Assembled the Principal Officers and Heads of the University with their Consent and Advice contrived an Edict dated the First of March in the Year 1473. at Senlis which forbid Teaching any more the opinions of the Nominals and comma nded that all such Books of theirs as were in the Libraries should be chained up lest any should come to peruse them or transport them from that place There were few Learned men in France but like Bees came out of this fruitful Hive Amongst the Divines you have John Gerson whom we have mentioned who lived
Italy and rendred those places to Frederic which they held in Calabria the Arch-Duke by the Treaty recover'd his Towns of Artois upon condition he should do Homage to the King for that County and for that of Flanders and of Charolois And this he really did at Arras bare-headed and un-girt in the hands of Guy de Rochefort Chancellour of France who was cover'd and sitting in a Chair Year of our Lord 1499 There was more difficulty how to agree with Maximilian because he was engaged with Sforza for which he had received great Sums of Money and had also sent an Army to enter the Dutchy of Burgundy but the Count de Foix having easily repulsed them And Ludovic not having a stock of Riches large enough to satisfie his covetous indigence he was soon persuaded to make a Truce for some Months The Florentines in the mean while and the Venetians composed their differences by means of the Duke of Ferrara whom they chose for Arbitrator but Ludovic embroiled himself so much with the Venetians that they made a League with the King to pluck his Feathers They were to have for their share of the Milanois all the Towns without the River Addo and they imagined that they should soon have the French Kings part likewise who would sell it or suffer it to be lost by ill Government and their Divisions as they had done the Kingdom of Naples But they were mistaken in the account and found soon afterwards that as to the matter of Princes and Estates the next Neighbour being ever an enemy ☞ the most potent is the most dangerous This wretched Ludovic with all his Crast and Fineness in Politiques had not one friend no not so much as the Duke of Ferrara his Father in Law he was fain to have recourse to Maximilian and to the Sultan Bajazeth the ones assistance was slow very costly and not very certain that of the other was infamous and odious Year of our Lord 1499 In the Month of July the Kings Forces entered into the Milanois on the one hand and those belonging to the Venetians on the other In Fifteen days Ludovic lost all his Countrey the Venetians took all beyond the Addo the French went no less swiftly on Novarre and Alexandria defended themselves but ill and were sacked Mortara capitulated Pavia sent their Keys The City of Genoa followed the Dance the Adornes and the Fregoses being at Daggers draw who should deliver it up first In fine none kept their faith to Ludovic neither the People nor Commanders nor Cities In this revolution he sent his Treasures and his Children into Germany to the Emperor Maximilian thither he retired also himself having first well provided the Castle of Milan After his departure the City received the French with joy Bernardin Curtio whom he believed to be the faithfullest of his Creatures took Money of the King and sold the Castle to him which was held inexpugnable A Treachery which appeared ugly yea even horrible to the very Purchasers and which loaded and cloathed the seller with so much shame that he dyed with it about Ten or Twelve days afterwards The King who was then at Lyons went immediately to Milan He made his entrance in a Ducal Habit and Sojourned about three Months in that Country He presently took off a fourth part of their Imposts allowed liberty of Hunting to the Nobles which they had not before and thinking to make them more affectionate to his Service distributed a considerable part of his demeasnes amongst them particularly to Trivulcio on whom he likewise bestowed the Government of all the Dutchy Year of our Lord 1499 All the Princes of Italy excepting Frederic Congratulated his good Success and the Florentines engaged to assist him in the Conquest of Naples upon condition he would help them to recover Pisa again for them Year of our Lord 1499 After this he was obliged to make good his word to Caesar Borgiae he lent him Forces with which he regained the Cities of Imola and Forli In which last was Cathrine Sforza Mother and Tutoress of the Riari whom he led away Prisoner to Rome Year of our Lord 1500. in January The change which happened at the same time in Milanois retarded his progress Ludovic lay in wait to re-enter there were few French in the Towns the Nobility were offended at the Pride of Trivulcio their equal at his too great passion for the Party of the Guelphs and that upon some hubbub he had killed some with his own hand in the open Market place And the people were Scandalized at the Liberty the French took with their wives Ludovic well informed of all these particulars and having regained the affections of the Milanois returns with fifteen Hundred men at Arms who were all Burgundians and twelve Thousand Swisse whom he had raised with his Money not being able to obtain any Aid of Maximilian Upon his Arrival the People receive him with open Arms the City of Coma having chaced out the French Trivulcio perceiving so sudden a change leaves Milan in the night time and very humbly retires to Mortara with his Cavalry All places surrender themselves to Ludovic excepting the Castle of Milan and some of those which the Venetians held This Ebb notwithstanding did not run very low Lewis de la Trimoville whom the King sent with a very good Army meets him near Novarre which had newly Surrendred The Swisse which this unfortunate man had in his Service being gained by those that were in the French Army refused to give Battel and retired Year of our Lord 1500 into Novarre he was forced to follow them All that he gain'd of them was that they promised to Guard him to some place of safety But next day the eighth of April he was discover'd disguised like a private Soldier in the midst of them perhaps themselves made signs to know him by and sent to the King at Lyons He caused him to be removed from thence to Loches where he was shut up till his Death ten whole years with a severity so unusual and contrary to the mercy of that good Prince that it was thought to be a Visible punishment from Heaven The Cardinal Ascagne his Brother was also delivered into the hands of the French by the Venetians who happened to light upon him The Swiss upon their return home Siezed upon the City of Bellinzonne which shuts up the passage to the Mountains on that side so that holding this place they could fall into Milan when ever they pleased At first they would have parted with it for a very small matter of Money but after they had found of what importance it was no proffer could be so considerable as to make them let it go out of their hands Year of our Lord 1500 This revolt cost the City of Milan the Heads of ten or twelve of their Chiefs and a Sum of two hundred thousand Crowns Upon Holy Friday a day of Mercy the Cardinal d'Amboise received the Amende
French had the advantage but fortune turned her back upon them on a suddain the King neglecting to make the necessary provision relying upon the Arch-Dukes faith and the Spaniards recruiting his Forces during this mock-Peace Besides all this the rashness of the French Generals who imprudently engaged the Enemy and fought with more of fury then conduct lost all d'Aubigny who ought to have drawn things out in length and waited the French Supplies made hast to fight the body of their Army Commanded by Hugh de Cardonna Emanuel de Benavide and Antonio de Leva This was on the one and twentieth Year of our Lord 1503 of April near Seminara in Calabria and in the same place where a few years before he gained a memorable Victory he now met a contrary fate His defeat did in some manner oblige the Duke of Nemours to try his fortune and endeavour to vanquish Gonsalvo before this General should be joyned with the victorious Army He fought him near Cerignoles in Puglia the eight and twentieth of the same Month and had yet more misfortune then d'Aubigny for he was slain upon the place and d'Aubigny had made his escape to Angitola 'T is true he was immediately besieged there and in few days forc'd to capitulate and agree that all his Men should quit that Kingdom himself remaining a hostage till that were fully performed After this Gonsales had nothing that could hinder him from going whither he would Naples open'd her Gates to him the thirteenth of May and received him with acclamations of Joy the French Soldiers that were there retiring into the Castles The Cities of Capoua and Aversa followed the example of Naples Amidst this grand revolution the constant fidelity of Peter Caracciole Duke of Malfy deserved singular commendation he refused all the advantageous conditions which Gonsales proffer'd him and chose rather to lose all his Lands and go out of that Kingdom with his Wife and Children then to be wanting in his Faith to the French The Chasteau Neuf or New-Castle did not hold out long Peter de Navarre having made a breach by springing of a Mine the Garison was so astonished at this unknown new-thunder which burst out of the Earth that they surrendred Year of our Lord 1503 upon composition a Day before the Arrival of the Kings Navy which brought two Thousand men and a great quantity of all sorts of provisions The Castle del'Ovo held three Weeks longer and was likewise taken by the same invention You may therefore observe that in this War Peter de Navarre a Soldier of Fortune bearing the name of his own Country taught them the way of filling a Mine with Gun-Powder to blow up their Walls whether of his own invention or rather he bringing it to greater perfection For it was said that he had seen it practised by the Genoese at Serazenella when they besieged it upon the Florentins in the year 1487. where the Mine having only crackt the Wall because it was not deep enough nor enough charged they had laid aside this invention as of little use or effect But that he having observed their mistakes and the cause why it miscarried corrected them and had found the way to make them very useful There yet remained several places in possession of the French as Aquilea and the Rock of Evander some others in Abruzzo and Venouza in Puglia where the brave Lewis d'Ars and the Duke of Malfy had put themselves in after the Battel of Cerignoles Also Rossana Matelona Sanseverina and two or three other Cities belonging to the Lords of the Angevin Faction still held for the Party And as the Battel of Cerignoles was rather a rout then a defeat Yves d'Alegre had carried off four thousand Foot and four hundred Men at Arms whom he had quartered about Cajeta to refresh themselves This place being strong and withal a Sea-Port to receive Succours from France Gonsales went and laid Siege before it to shut up that back door d'Alegre immediately put in all the men he had left him and defended himself well enough till the Arrival of the French Army The Arch-Duke at his parting from Lyons was gone to visit the Duke of Savoy his Brother in Law He was not afraid upon the receipt of all this news to return to the King at Blois This was a great Testimony of his good conscience and integrity or a very bold and confident dissimulation He omitted nothing that might seem to justify him sent away immediately to Gonsales and wrote earnestly to his Father in Law In fine he demeaned himself so fairly that the King believed he acted with sincerity and prayed him not to apprehend that he would tax him with it For if his Father in Law had committed a piece of Treachery he would in no wise act like him but would rather a Kingdom should be lost which he was able to regain then to lose his honour which can never be retrieved Year of our Lord 1503 In the mean time Ferdinand would not yet clearly discover his intentions to his Son in Law he designed to hold him in suspence that he might hold the King so too lest he should make hast to relieve the Castles of Naples and Cajeta which still held out But when Philip had made known to him by a Courier that he should not leave the Court of France till he had fully satisfied the King in this matter he sent ambassadors thither who diowned his proceedings as having exceeded his Commission which however was not true And after this thinking to gain time by new Forberies they made a new proposition which was to surrender the Kingdom to Frederic but the King would hear nothing from a Prince in whom there was no Faith and commanded them to depart the Kingdom As for the Arch-Duke he treated him still civilly and suffered him to return into Flanders Year of our Lord 1503 That this affront might not rest upon France the King had resolved to shock Ferdinand with all his might and power And to this purpose he set four Armies on Foot three at Land and one for the Sea The greatest of the Land Armies commanded by la Trimoville and composed of eighteen thousand Foot and near two thousand Men at Arms were to recover the Kingdom of Naples and the other three to attack Spain The first commanded by the Lord d'Abret and the Mareschal de Gie were to make an irruption towards Fontarabia this consisted of five thousand Foot Swiss and French and about one thousand Men at Arms. The second conducted by the Mareschal de Rieux almost twice that number had order to enter by Roussillon The third was a Naval Army who at the same time were to scower the Coasts of Catalongne and of the Kingdom of Valentia and take care that nothing should be convey'd from Spain to the Kingdom of Naples Year of our Lord 1503 La Trimoville who was upon the march with his Forces moved slowly for most part of the Italian Lords
that the Oldest were sometimes the most passionate would essay whether amongst the youthfull there might not be found one more Temperate And for this consideration elected John de Medicis Son of Laurence who was but thirty six years of Age. He took the Name of Leo X. There were two Opinions in the Kings Council the one to make an Accommodation with the Venetians the other to regain the Emperor Stephen Poncher Bishop of Paris was of the first such as would be complaisant to the Queen stood for the second This Princess passionately desired to marry Renee her second Daughter to the Arch-Duke Charles and this Advice had carried it if she would at that very time have given her up to Maximilians Hands to breed her and had not obstinately resolved to keep her near her self till she were marriageable Ferdinand on the other side fearing lest the Venetians should renew and joyn in friendship again with France endeavoured to reconcile them with Maximilian and propounded to get Veronna to be restored again to them but the Emperor demanded prodigious Summs of Money and very crabbed Conditions So that the Venetians not being able to come to an Agreement on reasonable Terms with him condescended to a League with the Kings Year of our Lord 1513 By means of their Assistance and during the Truce he had with Ferdinand he believed he might recover the Dutchy of Milan He gave Commission for this to la Trimoville the most renowed of his Captains together with sixteen thousand Foot one thousand Men at Arms and two thousand light-Horse to whom the Venetian Army commanded by Alviane newly deliver'd by the French were to joyn in case of need At his arrival though he had not much more then the half of his Men it spread so great a Terror thorow Italy that all the Places in Milanois surrendred to him excepting Coma and Novarre in the last of which Duke Francis Sforza put himself with five thousand Swisse At the same time the Fleet which consisted of nine Galleys and some Ships having appeared on the Coast of Genoa the Fiesques and the Adornes drew near to Genoa with four thousand Men and having beaten some Soldiery whit which Duke Janu Fregoso thought to hinder their Passage from the Mountains chaced away that Duke and restored that Seigneury to the Obedience of the King having caused Antonio Adorno to be created Duke to administer in his Name Year of our Lord 1513 The injoyment of this Conquest lasted not so long as the time they had imploy'd in acquiring it La Trimoville had besieged Sforza in Novarre and made a Breach but he durst not make his Assault because the said Breach was hardly large enough and there was another Body of Swisse coming to relieve the besieged There were two Opinions that divided the Officers la Trimoville thought it best to go and meet the Swisse John Jacques Trivulcio on the contrary to avoid fighting and wait for the French Troops that were marching to re inforce them The plurality of Votes made them resolve to pursue the first and for that purpose Trivulcio with the Van-Guard should go and take his Lodgment upon that Road whilst la Trimoville should remain yet some time longer before Novarre with the Rear-Guard to expel the Swisse if they endeavour'd to make any Sallies But having some Lands of his own in the Place they had assigned him to take his Lodgment and besides being proud and haughty his Pride and Avarice made him turn another way and take his Lodgment near la Riota in a Boggy Ground and cut up and down with deep Trenches so that the Horse could be of no Service nor be able to help the Foot Year of our Lord 1513 The Swifse that were in Novarre therefore marching forth in the Night which could not have been imagin'd and having joyned the others came with much fury to charge the French Army at the first birth of Day Their Charge was received with the like courage Fifteen hundred of their Men were slain and as many wounded nevertheless they gained the Victory and hew'd all the German Infantry in pieces together with the Gascons La Trimoville wounded in the Leg retreated with all his Cavalry to Vercel and from thence to Susa The burthen of the War fell afterwards upon the Venetians they maintained it well enough but all those Cities that had given themselves up to the French returned and submitted themselves to the mercy of Sforza and were chastized for their defection by great Fines which served him to pay the Swisse The Adornes who had not yet held the Government of Genoa above one and twenty Days having not wherewith to support themselves after such a revolution made their best advantage of it They assembled the People and having declared that they would not maintain an ambitious Government to the great hazard of their Country withdrew themselves out of the City most of the People and Senate conducting them forth with Tears and Wishes for their return By the interest of Cardonna General of Ferdinand's Army and upon the Popes recommendations Octavian Fregosa was â—etled in that Principallity and not Janus who was formerly expell'd Hitherto Maximilian although he had abandoned the King had not yet formally declared himself When he found the opportunity so fair he enters into open hostility against him and then was France in more eminent danger then it had of a long time been For on the one side the Swisse extremely puff'd up by the Victory at Novarre entred by the Dutchy of Burgundy and he with the King of England fell upon them in Picardy Year of our Lord 1513 The Swisse besieged Dijon with five and twenty hundred Men to whom the Emperor had joyned the Nobless of the Franche-Comte and some German Horse commanded by Vlric Duke of Wirtemberg La Trimoville having defended it six Year of our Lord 1513 Weeks judged it better to turn this Torrent another way which after the taking this Place would have overflowed all even to Paris than to render it more violent by thus putting it to a stop He enters upon a Treaty with them and manag'd it so wisely as to send them back into their own Country obliging himself that the King should pay them six hundred thousand Crowns and should renounce the Council of Pisa and the Dutchy of Milan He had no express Order to make these conditions but thought he might be allowed to do it for the saving of all France and thereupon gave them up six Hostages two Lords and four Citizens The King refusing to ratifie this Treaty their Heads were in great danger Only the fear the Swisse had of losing the great Summs of Money he proffer'd them saved the Lives of those innocent Persons Year of our Lord 1513 At the same time about mid July the Emperor and the King of England had besieged Terovenne with above fifty thousand Men. The French Army happily enough threw a Convoy of Provisions and Ammunitions into
Milan thereupon came news of the taking of Fontarabia and he refused to ratify the Treaty unless they would restore that place to him This would have created no trouble if as soon as they had taken it the wise counsel of Claude Duke of Guise had been followed who would have had it razed and the materials brought to Andaye right over against it on the hither Shoar of the River Bidasso But Bonnivet full of the vain desire to perpetuate the Glory of his Conquest which he exalted as high as that of any Kingdom persuaded the King to preserve it and by this means a Fantastical and Ambitious Minister involved the Kingdom of France in a War of eight and thirty ☞ Years The King was encamped on the Banks of the Scheld when the Courier brought him the Treaty of Calais He remained there some Days but finding the Floods so great and the Ways so bad that it was impossible for him to relieve Tournay he retired into Picardy having left part of his Men with the Constable and the Duke of Vendosme who took Hesdin and some Castles of small Importance Being at Compiegne he sent Word to Champroux who commanded in Tournay to make his Composition the most honorably that he possibly could as he did the first of December after a three Months Blockade and Siege In Italy the Pope and Emperor not having been able to make Genoa and Milan revolt by the Intrigues of the Banished proceeded to open force Lautrec who was Governor of Milanois was come into France to compleat his Marriage with the Daughter of N. d'Albret d'Orval and the Mareschal de Lescun his Brother supply'd his place This Man furnish'd the Pope with a pretended Cause who could find out no just one to break with the King His Brother and himself being haughty and severe had proscrib'd many of the Milanese Jeremy Moron who had been Senator of Milan under Lewis XII and mightily cherish'd by that King was of the number being picqued for that Francis I. had refused to make him Master of Requests Lescun having notice that these Exiles were assembled together at Reggio went thither with fifteen hundred Horse and endeavour'd to surprize the Town The Pope made loud Complaints in the Consistory and protested that Francis having violated the Alliance that was betwixt them he thought himself no longer obliged to keep it but he would Year of our Lord 1521 by no means confess that he had broken it first that his Gallies were gone to surprize Genoa and that he had an Army in readiness to enter upon Milan under the command of Prosper Colomna and Frederic Gonzague Marquiss of Mantoua whom he had inviegled from the Service of the King of France The Tricks and Stratagems of the Exil'd were ineffectual as well as the Voyage of the Popes Gallies Manfroy Palavicini one of their Chiefs was taken when he thought to take Coma and Octavian Fregosa took such good care of Genoa that nothing stirr'd In the mean time the King perceiving that he must have a War on that side sent Lautrec thither This Lord knowing the prodigal Humour and negligence of the King refused to go till he could have the three hundred thousand Crowns to march along with him which had been assigned him but Madame and those that governed the Treasury promised him so positively even with the most Sacred Oaths to send them immediately after him that he condescended and parted without them And then indeed just what he feared hap'ned the King having lost the sight of him lost the remembrance of him too and Madame who hated him diverted that Fund to other uses The Enemies had besieged Parma Lescun had thrown himself in with five thousand Men but two thousand forsook him Lautrec knowing he was in danger advanced to the River Taro which is within seven Miles of it to relieve him At the same time News was brought to the Enemy that the Duke of Ferrara had taken Friul and Saint Felix and that he might come and get both Reggio and Modena from them upon this apprehension they raised their Siege and returned to Sainct Lazare Their Germans for want of Pay abandon'd them in their March and in this disorder there had been an end of their Army if Lautrec had but followed and charged them smartly He was accused for having committed another Fault likewise The Enemies having passed the River Po had lodged themselves in the little Town of Rebecque situate on the Oglio four Miles from Pontevique which is Land belonging to the Venetians They believed themselves to be in security there because the Venetians though Confederate with the King would not open their City Gates to the French but they were mistaken for they suffer'd Lautrec to enter This General having a Strength equal to theirs had infallibly defeated them had he but drawn neer their Camp and pent them up close for by this means they could not have had room to draw up in Battalia nor could they have staid there above two or three days wanting Ovens to bake their Ammunition-Bread but he amusing himself with fiâ—ing upon them from Pontevic they quietly stole away in the Night and repassed the Oglio Hitherto they had given ground to the French but now their Strength increasing they are going to give them Chace The ten thousand Swisse which the Cardinal de Sion had obtained of the Cantons for defence of the Pope and the Holy See after long deliberation whether they should follow him into Milanois because that was to contravene their Alliance with the King did at last joyn them near Gambara There hap'ned at the same time another thing very prejudicial to the French The Lords of the Leagues had sent Couriers to command the Swisse both of the one and the other Army that they should return for that it was scandalous to the Cantons to have their Ensignes set up publickly in two Camps that were Enemies to each other Now those that carried these Orders to the Confederates Army were corrupted and stopt in their Journy but the others went on directly to the French Army and delivered those Commands to such Swisse as were there So that they immediately withdrew and the most part without saying Adieu but not so much out of Obedience as hopes they should get some Money of the Confederates Lautrec receiving none from France nor being able to raise enough in Milanois to satisfy them With what Forces he had left he got to Cassan having left a Garrison at Cremona and at Pizzigton then after the Enemy had passed the Adda under the favor of the little Town of Vaury which they seized upon he retired to Milan but he held it not long For they being come to lodge at Marignan one Day the nineteenth of November when they believed they could not stir out of their Quarters nor draw their Cannon so bad was the Weather so rotten and deep the Ways while he was walking about the Streets unarmed and
his Brother Year of our Lord 1521 Lescun in Bed tyred with his former Day 's labour he was amazed when towards the Evening they attacked the Suburbs and gained it the Venetians that had the Guard there basely abandoning it At the same time the Burghers of the Gibeline Faction let them into the City but the Spaniard revenged the French and made that faithless Town pay dearly for their defection plundring them for eight days together He then drew together round about the Castle all the Men he had and after he had put Men enough into it instead of charging the Enemy whilst they were in disorder and separated he resolves to retire the same Night to Coma and thence to the Country of Bergamo Soon after Coma was taken by the Marquiss of Pescara Parma abandoned by the too precipitate Order of Lautrec and Piacenza delivered by her Citizens to the Confederates The over-joy for so much good Success moved Pope Leo so much that the very Night he received it he was seized with a kind of a Feavor of which or of some other more hidden Cause he died at Rome the first Day of December Now he having projected this War and furnished Money for maintaining of the Army it might be judg'd that upon his Death the French should have recover'd their advantage seeing they had still in their Hands all the best Places in the Dutchy the Castle of Milan Cremona Piacenza Novarra Alexandria seven or eight strong Forts and the City of Genoa the Colledg of Cardinals troubling themselves so little with those Affairs that the Duke of Ferrara easily regained all the Towns that Leo had taken from him Francis Maria the Dutchy of Vrbin and moreover that of Camerin which he wrested from John de Varane and Baillon the City of Perugia But the Affront they received at Parma being beaten off by a very few Soldiers and People half armed gave other Towns the greater Courage to resist them After which the two Armies rested near sixs Week without undertaking any thing the French for want of Men and indeed both of them for want of Money Year of our Lord 1522 The Holy See having been vacant more then two Months by reason of the Discords which the interests of particular Men and the division of their Affections between the King and the Emperor occasioned in the Conclave the Cardinals elected Adrian Florent Cardinal Bishop of Tortosa a Hollander by birth who had been Tutor to the Emperor and at that time Governed Spain all the World nay they themselves after it was done wondring how out of I do no know what giddy Fancy they should go so far off for one that thought but little of them as indeed till now they had as little thought upon him He came not to Rome till the twenty ninth day of August following Whilst the Armies lay quiet Prosper Colomna took great care for every thing that was necessary to preserve Milan both for the Fortifications and the Provisions as also for Soldiers and principally to dispose the People to make an obstinate Defence Which he did as well by the hatred he encreased in them against the French representing the Severities they had used towards them and the extreme Resentment and Revenge their Nature would prompt them to if they should ever regain that Place from whence they had been so shamefully beaten out as by the Affection he inspired them withal for Francis Sforza second Son of Ludovic and Brother of Maximilian For the deceased Pope Leo had designed by the Emperor's consent to restore him to his Father's Dutchy but he was yet at Trent expecting a Levy of eight thousand Germans to conduct him thither Upon this notwithstanding the Cabals of the Imperialists the discords between the Cantons some of them being for the King others for the Emperor and the contrary interests of the particular Chiefs amongst them they had granted the King in one of their Diets a Levy of twelve thousand Swisse who marched into Lombardy by Mount Saint Bernard and Saint Godards Mount under the conduct of Honorius Bastard of Savoy Grand Maistre of France and Galeas de Sanseverin Grand Escuyer Soon after John de Medicis came into the King's Service also and joyned his Army with three thousand Soldiers With two such considerable re-inforcements and raising of some Italian Troops Lautrec thought he might do Wonders against the City of Milan if he posted himself about it in the Neighbourhood either by cutting off their Supplies and Provisions or by assaulting them in that consternation he believed the People would be in upon his approach When he had been there already some Days and his hopes to gain it either by Famine or by Assault were reduced to the Forms of a long Siege he had information that Francis Sforza having left Trent with his Lansquenets and crossed Veronois and the Mantouan Territory was arrived at Piacenza and that the Marquiss of Mantoua had joyned him with his Horse to convoy him to Pavia where he was to wait a favourable opportunity to get to Milan Then he decamped and posted himself upon the Cassine which is within three Leagues of Milan to hinder his Passage and put the Venetians into Binasque for the same purpose When he had been there some while he had news that his Brother was returning from France with Money and some Infantry which were Landed at Genoa he sent four hundred Lances and seven Thousand Swiss to Guard him Lescun came to Novarre whose Castles still held out for the French and turning their great Guns upon the Town plaid upon it so suriously that he entred it by force upon the third Assault But this delay of some days favour'd the passage of Duke Sforza who marching by an uncouth Rode got into Milan and infinitely encreased the Courage of the Inhabitants and their hatred against the French by the remembrance of the mild Government of the Dukes his Predecessors Year of our Lord 1522 When he was gone from Pavia Lautrec caused it to be besieged It was better furnished with Men then he expected his Soldiers were beaten off upon all their Assaults and the great Rains which made the Tesin to overflow and its Stream become so Rapid that they could not bring up any Boats famished his Army He decamped therefore and advanced as far as Monce to receive the Money sent him from France While the Treasurer that brought it was at Aronca and could not get forwards because a Party of the Enemy had lodged themselves upon their Way the Swisse impatient to receive their Arrears demanded leave either to be gone or to fight the Enemies Army without considering that they were intrenched in a Place where nothing could be gained but Blows Lautrec finding he could not with-hold them any longer neither by his Promises nor the consideration of the Posture they were in hazarded the Battle wherein he foresaw all the disadvantage would fall upon them The Enemies were posted in a Farm
which they called la Bicoque three Miles from Milan where there is a very spacious House and Gardens round about it enclosed with deep Ditches and Fields parted in divers places with Water Channels which are derived and brought thither according to the Custom of that Country to water their Grounds Prosper Colomna who thought the Victory secure stood his ground waiting their coming Lautrec assaulted them on three Sides himself on one Hand his Brother on the other and the Swisse in the place of most Difficulty and to gain their Cannon The two first did no great Matters as for the Swisse they attack'd with fury but the height of the Fossez stopping them the Artillery made them fall in heaps and the Arquebusiers who were placed amongst the Wheat taking them in Flank they were well paid for their rashness by the death of three thousand of theirs so that they were constrained to retire and having rejoyned the French they together returned very orderly to their Quarters at Monce The next Day their Blood being cool'd and Lautrec having passed the Addo near Tressa they even took their walk homewards thorow the Territory of Bergamo so disheartned and baffled in Courage for having met with such unconquerable resistance that for divers Years they did nothing worthy of their ancient Valor but indeed became more pliable and much more manageable then before For Lautrec having put things in Order at Cremona he retired into France to sollicite for a supply of ten thousand Men which the Admiral Bonnivet was to transport to those Countries Year of our Lord 1522 As soon as he was gone Prosper besieged Cremona and Lescun who was in the Place believing it could be no prejudice to his Honor if he made such Composition as should secure the King's Affairs without hazarding ought capitulated to leave the Place within forty Days which expir'd the six and twentieth of June with Arms Colors flying and his Artillery if within that time there did not come an Army that should pass over the River Po by force or should take some considerable Place in the Dutchy of Milan He likewise promised that all the others held by the King in Milanois should be evacuated excepting the Castles of Cremona of Novara and of Milan The time being come he got some few days more to be added having purposely started new Difficulties about the evacuation of some Castles which being setled he executed the Treaty and came back into France Before he departed he had the further displeasure of being informed how Prosper Colomna with his Army had made himself Master of Genoa and made Antony Adorna Duke the City was surprized during a conference of capitulation which is a very dangerous time and opportunity This last Blow taking away all hopes from the King of being in a capacity to gain any thing in Milanois this year he recalled those Forces he was sending and who were already got into Astesan Though the miscarriage indeed proceeded from his own Negligence in not sending Supplies till too late amusing himself in Hunting Dancing and amongst the Ladies nevertheless John de Beaulne Samblancay Surintendant of the Finances suffer'd for it Madame enrag'd that he should dare to justify before the King that she had diverted the three hundred thousand Crowns designed for Lautrec resolved to ruine him The Chancellor Duprat Minister of her revenge and who besides had some jealousy of the Credit of that grave old Man whom the King called his Father ordered a Commission to try him who condemn'd him to be hanged In the mean time they made use of all Ways and Means to get in Money Then did they begin to alienate the Sacred Demeasnes of the King they continued to sell Offices of Judicature to create great Numbers of new ones without which the Monarchy had been upheld eleven hundred years together to raise the Tallies and to lay several new Imposts Publick report accused the Chancellor for advising all these things which bred so much disorder who to flatter the Covetous humor of a Woman and the ostentation of a Young King furnished them with expedients and confidence to overthrow all the Ancient Laws of the Kingdom whereof by his Office he was Guardian and Defender Year of our Lord 1522 The King had no less to do in Guyenne and in Picardy The Emperor going into Spain thorow England had prevail'd with Henry to take his part against Francis Arriving in Castillia he soon suppressed the remainders of the Santa Junta punishing some few of the Seditious pardoning the rest and rewarding such as deserved it Particularly Ferdinand of Arragon who had refused to be Head of the League He did him great Honour and Married him to Germaine de Foix Widdow of his Grand-Father King Ferdinand who was extraordinary Rich but almost past the Age of Child-bearing With the Forces that were remainders of this insurrection and some others he made up an Army which besieged Fontarabria and the King of England Landed another at Calais having first sent a Herald to defy the King at Lyons This being commanded by his Brother in Law the Duke of Suffolk joyned with the Count de Bures Governor of the Low-Countries who had one of twelve thousand men but both these made no progress and the English were diminished one half in five Weeks time after they took the Field Year of our Lord 1522 Whilst the Christian Princes were thus engaged to their mutual destruction Solyman the Turkish Sultan who Succeeded his Father Selim II. two years since was now lodg'd upon the Ramparts of Christendom For the preceding year he took the City of Belgrade in Hungary and this year he wrested Rhodes out of the hands of the Knights of St. John's It was believed Pope Adrian might have saved it if upon his Arrival in Italy he would have sent thither the fifteen hundred Foot he brought along with him instead of ordering them to March as he did into Milan For they might have got in by the help of the Venetian Fleet then on those Seas and by the favour of those Winds which wasted in several other Vessels It were difficult to name a Siege more Famous then this same either for the dreadful numbers of the besiegers for the brave resistance of the besieged or the many and furious Assaults There were above fifty Mines and twice as many Countermines about this place It was batter'd with above six-score thousand Canon Shot so that most of it was blown up into the Air or beaten down to dust The Turkish Army consisted of two hundred thousand Men of whom above fifty thousand were Slain and as many perished by Sickness The fifth Month of the Siege the Knights having no more Gun-Powder left no Pioneers Year of our Lord 1522 nor 〈◊〉 hardly any men for defence some lying by of their Wounds or of Sickness others dropping down with over-Working and Toyling they accepted of the Capitulation proffered them by Solyman which was to go
think it an ill Omen to this undertaking that he was clad in Mourning for his Wife who died the twenty eighth of July But he stop't all their mouths by saying openly that they did not please him by speaking against it and knowing that his Mother was hastning from Avignon to disswade him he avoided meeting her but left her the Regency of the Kingdom The advantage both of the one and the other Army consisted in their diligence it was who should be the nimbler The King arrived at Vercel at the same time the Enemies got to Alba whence they got in two days to Parma having marched six and thirty miles in one day They had resolved to keep Milan and were Encamped at Binasque But upon the approach of his Van-Guard they abandoned that City to retire towards Loda His old Commanders were of opinion he should not leave off pursuing them for they were put to their last Shifts and shewed themselves half conquered throwing away their Arms as they marched and if these were but dispers'd there had not one place been left them but Pavia and Cremona with the Castle of Milan which wanting Provisions would have Surrendred in a short time Bonnivets advice was contrary and carried it The King left La Trimouille with six thousand men in Milan to Besiege the Castle and went to lay Siege before Pavia the 27 th day of October The Revolution of these Affairs in Milan appeared much greater then they were at Rome Pope Clement began to treat a new Confederation with the King in Secret and in the mean time propounded a Truce to both the Princes The Emperor who was then in Spain having heard his Envoy to whom the Regent had given passage through Provence and Languedoc did not reject it for he saw the King of England instead of lending him money demanded that again which he had advanced and the Venetians fearing the encrease of his Power or the Kings Forces denyed to renew their Alliance with him But the King flatly refused it as if it must have robb'd him of an assured Conquest He thought himself already so certain of Milan that he made a Detachment of ten thousand Foot and six hundred men at Arms with some Horse of his own Army under the Conduct of John Stuard Duke of Albany to go and Conquer the Kingdom of Naples and soon after he sent again four thousand more to Savonna commanded by the Marquiss de Salusses to make War upon those of Genoa Year of our Lord 1524 There is great likely-hood though the Italians deny it that it was upon the Sollicitation of Pope Clement not that he would have had Francis hold that Kingdom and the Milanois together for that were to have placed the Holy See between two Barrs but because he hoped to procure some great matters for himself by the help of the French Forces Perhaps the King fancied that Lanoy who was the Vice-Roy would quit all other Interests to preserve that and that he would draw all his men out of Milan to follow the Duke of Albany but he not only did not fear that so small an Army could take a Kingdom where there were so many strong places but he ceased from all apprehensions concerning Pavia and refused to hear any more of a Truce At two months end the Siege was found to be no more advanc'd then the first day The Garrison was strong the attaques feeble and languishing there was often want of Powder and always want of Order In the mean time Charles de Bourbon returned from Germany with a Supply of ten thousand Foot and a thousand Horse from the Frenche-Compte and joyned Lanoy's Army neer Loda These made up together seventeen thousand Foot seven hundred men at Arms and as many light Horse besides the Francontois With these they resolved to try all manner of ways to put some relief into Pavia which however was in no danger yet unless it were from their own Garrison who were ready to Mutiny for want of Pay Year of our Lord 1525 There was between Pavia and Milan almost in the mid-way a little place called Castle Saint Angelo which would have cut off their Provision had they left it behind them Bonnivet having confided so Important a place to an Italian he wanting either courage or sidelity quitted the Town as soon as they began to Batter it and retreated into the Castle which he Surrendred the same night After the taking of so Important a Post the wisest Captains were of opinion the King should raise the Siege and retire to Birasque They remonstrated to him that the Army of the Enemy being not paid would disperse within fifteen days that his own was a third part weaker then they made him believe that two thousand men who were coming to him by Savona were cut off by the way that the three thousand Italians of John de Medicis Disbanded themselves since their Commander in Chief being wounded upon an Assault was carried out of the Camp that six thousand Grisons had left him upon pretence of going back to defend their own Country where James de Medequin a Milanese Captain of the Castle de Muz had purposely and perhaps by their own Agreement surprized Chiavenna which is as it were the Key All these Arguments and Reasons were too weak to draw him from thence Bonnivets obstinacy and the shame he fancied it would be to quit his design after he had with so many Magnificent Speeches proclaimed that he would take the place or die before it obliged him to stay there and as we may say bound him Hands and Feet to deliver him up to his ill fortune There was not above two hundred paces distance betwixt the two Armies The Enemies could keep theirs together no longer for want of pay and withal they observed there was nothing but confusion in the Kings and that the flatteries of the Favorites sway'd more then the Councils of the oldest Captains this made them take the resolution to go and present the King Battle who was lodged in the Castle of Mirabel in the midst of Pavia Park and if he refused it to enter into the Town draw forth the Garrison that could hold out no longer and leave a new one in their room The night of the 23 d. or 24 th of February they drew near the Park Wall and having thrown down about threescore fadom of it marched directly to Mirabel this being a little before the break of day Although the Kings Guns were planted in a place of advantage yet could they do but little Execution during the obscurity but when it grew light they began to thunder upon their Rear insomch as it broke their Ranks and made them run into a Hollow way The King observing this disorder from his Camp which lay high was transported with joy at the same instant word was brought him that the Squadrons of the Duke of Alenson and Philip de Chabot-Brion had defeated a great body of Spaniards and
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
King who was the most generous Prince in the World and it was followed The two Sons of France and the Constable went as far as Bayonne to meet the Emperor and offer'd to go into Spain as Hostages which he refused The King himself though indisposed went to Chastelleraud where they embraced caused him to be received in every City with the same honour and suffer'd him to exercise the same Authority as himself For he held the Chapter of his Order Year of our Lord 1539 upon Saint Andrews day at Bourdeaux he granted Pardons and emptied the Prisons in many places Year of our Lord 1540 He made his entrance into Paris the first day of January the Parliament went in a Body to compliment him the Sheriffs bare the Canopy of State over his head the two Sons of France being on either side the Constable marched before with his Sword drawn in his hand he released all Prisoners and the City presented him with a Silver Figure of Hercules as bigg as the Life At his leaving of Paris the King accompanied him to Saint Quintin and his two Sons to Valenciennes He promised to go and visit him in Flanders and moreover granted him free passage for a Thousand of his Italian Forces which he ordered to come into Flanders and furnish'd them with Provisions The City of Ghent unfortunately abandoned by the King their Soveraign Lord to the wrath of Charles was so severely Chastised that she had reason to repent the having given him birth His Army being entred as it had been by Assault he caused Five and Twenty or Thirty of the Principal Burghers to be Executed proscribed a far greater number Confiscated all their publick Buildings took away their Artillery their Arms and their Priviledges Condemned them to above Twelve Hundred Thousand Crowns Fine and that they might never rise again built a Citadel and left a strong Garrison to awe them which of the greatest City in Europe hath made a vast Solitude or Wilderness Hitherto the Emperor had amused the King so that out of the highest complaisance he remained upon the Frontiers of Picardy whil'st he oppressed the Ghentois but when he had nothing more to fear he began to faulter and apply Conditions and Restrictions to his promise The King finding he objected some difficulties on behalf of the Princes of Italy because in effect they desired a Duke of Milan of their own Nation consented he should keep that Dutchy provided he would give the Low-Countries and the Counties of Burgundy and Charolois in Dower to his Daughter who should Marry the Duke of Orleans The Emperor demanded that before any thing else were done he should restore the Duke of Savoy to all his Lands that he should declare himself a Friend to his Friends and Enemy to his Enemies Then the King finding himself deceived entred into so great suspicion of the sidelity of all those that governed him that he resolved to get out of their Nets and Snares and then some who observed him to be of this humour failed not to give him a secret account of and advice against their proceedings The first that Sufferd by it was the Admiral de Brion Three men had at that time engrossed all the Kings favour the Constable the Cardinal de Lorraine and Brion The first was so Powerful that all addressed themselves to him Governours Ambassadors Cities the Parliament it self who called him Monseigneur i. e. My Lord. The second was beloved by the King for his generosity and for the credit he had at Rome he was the only man in France who treated the Constable from high to low and as a great Prince treats a Gentleman The third had rendred himself very agreeable and moreover was favoured by the Ladies particularly by the Dutchess d'Estampes who put him in a way to have got the Start of both the other in a short time These though they hated one another yet both united to set him beside the Cushion and contrived a secret Accusation against him for having ill managed the Kings Affairs in Piedmont He instead of justifying himself by humble and submissive Language spake arrogantly to the King and said his Innocency feared no examinations or Scrutiny He therefore sent him Prisoner to the Bois de Vincennes and appointed four and twenty Commissaries chosen out of several Parliaments to make his process they set about it at Melan the Court being at Fountainbleau The Chancellour Poyet was pleas'd and hugg'd himself at it and would needs preside out of an interessed complaisance He chose rather to do mischief then not make himself a necessary instrument So that he behaved himself more like a party then his Judge every foot interposing Orders and even threats from the King to biass and bring the proceedings to what he aimed at So that Brion though he were not found guilty but of some small Exactions upon the Fishermens Boats was degraded of his Offices and declared unworthy to hold any for the future condemned to pay a fine of seventy thousand Crowns and shut up in the Bastille Year of our Lord 1540 Some months after the intercession of Anne de Pisselieu Dutchess d'Estampes his near Kinswoman obtained an Order from the King that his Process should be reviewed by the Parliament of Paris Who by a Decree of the fourteenth of March 1542. declared him absolv'd of the crimes de peculat or purloining the Kings Treasure and exaction by consequence quit of his Fine or Amercement But as his courage was haughty the affront received stung him so deep that he was never well afterward but dyed of grief in the year 1543. Annebaut had his Office of Admiral The following year Poyet had his turn John de Bary la Renaudie a Gentleman of Perigord had a great process against du Tillet a Clerk of the Parliament the Year of our Lord 1541 business had been before several Parliaments this time la Renaudie demanded an Order of Evocation to remove it to another Court the Dutchess d'Estampes pressed the Chancellour to Seal it and interposed the Kings Authority but whether he thought it not just or otherwise he refused it The King took it very ill he had not obey'd his Orders and the Dutchess Animated him so highly and raised so many complaints against him on all hands that he sent him Prisoner to the Bastille the second day of August and Ordered that they should make process against him For this purpose there were taken out of divers Parliaments a certain number of Judges whom himself approved of The proceedings very long and often Interrupted lasted till the year 1545. when by Sentence of the three and twentieth of April he was deprived of the Office of Chancellour declared disabled of holding any Office Royal condemned to pay a hundred thousand Livers Fine and to be confin'd five whole years in such place as it should please the King The Judgment was pronounced in the Audience of the Grand-Chamber the Doors being set
in the midst of their Sheep-Fold Dessé defended the place when he was slain Francis de Montmorency the Constables Son took up the Command he defended it yet a while but the Ramparts being beaten to Dust by 142000 Canon-shot while he was capitulating without having first made any Truce the Enemies forced those that kept the Breach and put all to the Edge of the Sword even to the very Children Immediately the City was demolished by the Flemmings to the last Stone The Spaniards saved the Governor and a few other Captains in acknowledgment of the Noble Usage they had found from the Duke of Guise at Mets. The Lands belonging to its Bishoprick were afterwards shared between those of Boulogne and Saint Omers Nothing is left of it now but some few Foot-steps of its Situation which may still be seen At his departure thence the Emperor gave the Conduct of his Army to Emanuel Philibert Son of Charles Duke of Savoy This young Prince did from that time strive to render himself worthy by his vertues to recover what Fortune had taken away from his Father He signalized his first and maiden attempt by the taking of Hesdin The Mareschal Robert de la Mark who had undertaken to defend it with a great number of young Lords as little skilful as himself in the Art of defending such a Place not knowing how to resist the thund'ring of the Canon demanded to capitulate Whilst they were treating a Priest from within intending to do some exploit with a Granado by misfortune set fire to a Mine which made a large Breach in the Wall Horatio Farneze Duke of Castro was buried in the Ruines with Fifty more the Imperialists made an assault there and forced the Castle the Garrison was cut in pieces la Mark made Prisoner with many Lords and other Officers and the place wholly razed The King imagining those places would have held out much longer had wasted all the Spring and part of the Summer in Balls and Carousals at the Marriage of his Bastard Daughter with Horatio Farneze so that his Army came but late into the Field When it was joyned near Amiens with that under the Constable it consisted of Fifty Four Thousand Foot under One Hundred and Fourteen Ensigns of Ten Thousand Horse and one Hundred Pieces of Canon With all this mighty Force he did nothing but follow the Duke of Savoy from place to place to endeavour to bring him to a battel He could not besiege Bapaume because there was no water near it The Inhabitants had fill'd and cover'd up all the Wells round the Country From thence he went to attempt the City of Cambray by some Volees of Canon shot they would very willingly have been set at liberty but this would only have changed the Yoak and therefore they held it as good to be under the Emperor still The Constables sickness contracted by his fatigue or vexation that he could do no feats with so gallant an Army put an end to this Campagne Piedmont was like a School of War where the French and Spaniards exercised themselves in divers Combats Enterprizes and Besieging of small places but Year of our Lord 1553 without any so considerable success as to decide their disputes The Mareschal de Brissac had establisht so exact a Discipline that the Souldier even in a Conquer'd Country durst not take the least thing away without the good will of the owner The ransome were settled on either side according to the quality and office of the party taken No War was made either against Husbandman or Merchant but only upon such as bore Arms. The Peasant ploughed and reaped between the two Camps and with folded armes would stand quietly at his own Door and see them fight in Parties and cut one anothers Throats fairly in the midst of his Village Charles Duke of Savoy having lost all hopes of being restored to his Estates found no other end of his misfortunes but in that of his life which ended at Vercel the sixteenth of September a Prince debonnair frank liberal just fearing God and who perhaps had not been altogether so unfortunate could he have been a Man of less honesty We shall hereafter pursue the War of Sienna but in the mean time we say it was the occasion of that of Corsica This Island was very proper to hinder the passing of any Forces from Milanois which were embarked at Genoa to be transported to Tuscany The Banished who were in great numbers especially John Petro de Bastelica d'Ornano put this design into the French-Mens heads and introduced them into most places of the Island The pretence was that the King as Soveraign Lord of Genoa whereof Corsica was a dependance had a right to it and that the Genoese had not only favoured the Emperor but likewise had committed several Acts of Hostility against France The City of Boniface which is the Capital of that Island resisted a long time and stoutly at the end they capitulated Dragut Rais had put Six or Seven Thousand Turks ashore to assist Paul de Termes who Commanded for the King in making that Siege after which he re-imbarqued As soon as he was gone Andrea Doriae regained all those places before Winter came excepting Boniface and Two or Three more France and England held pretty good Correspondence when Death cut the Thrid of young King Edward's Days It was believed to proceed from a slow Poyson and John Dudley Duke of Northumberland was suspected Guilty of that Crime he having suggested to him to institute Jane of Suffolk for Heiress to the Crown however when Queen Mary brought him to his Tryal that was no Article of his Accusation This Jane was Grand-Daughter by the Mother to Mary Sister of Henry the VIII and was Married to this Dukes Son Now from what cause soever proceeded the Malady of Edward it is certain that the foresaid Duke and the Emperor each for himself took their measures upon his approaching death For the Emperor began to make applications for the Princess Mary who by the last Will of King Henry VIII was to succeed to the Crown and the Duke being pusht on with the Ambition to have his Son Reign or out of an apprehension that Mary would turn all things up-side down as being a Catholique perswaded young Edward that being in Majority after the Mode of the Kings of France who are so at thirteen years and a day old he might dispose of the Succession by naming a person who was of the Blood especially since the right of Mary and Elizabeth was doubtful those Princesses not passing currently for Legitimate The King of France advertis'd of the Emperors proceedings and the Designs of the Duke of Northumberland believed it his own interest to support the latter he therefore sent an Ambassador to Edward who encouraged and confirmed the Duke in the pursuit of his project and indeed he went thorough with it And at first there was some likelihood of a happy Issue for according to
when they could find a person of quality to head them such as was Dandelot or the Admiral his Brother This year that question was decided at Venice which the Spaniards had moved to the French concerning precedence or rank Doctor Francis Vargas had been there in the quality and with the Function of Ambassador for Charles V. Emperor and King of Spain After the abdication of the Emperor and about the end of the year 1556. Philip recalled him giving notice however to the Seigneory that he would send him again suddenly During his absence Loyola whom he had left in his stead pretended to hold the place of Ambassador for the Emperor the French Ambassador this was Dominique Bishop of Lodeve would have no such thing allowed and bestirred himself so that Loyola durst never appear at any Ceremonies In the year 1557. Vargas being return'd again pretended to keep the same station he had before saying he had never been revoked but he of France maintained he had since he had had his Audience of Congé and received the Present given to Ambassadors that moreover Charles V. had absolutely devested himself of the Empire without reserving to himself one inch of its Lands and that therefore he had now nothing to negociate or trouble his Brain withal but the looking after and managing his Clocks The business was off and on for almost a whole year then hap'ned the shock at Saint Quentin which much startled the minds and turned the thoughts and cares of the Ministers of France to things of a more important and pressing nature The Venetians grounded their doubts upon Charles V. being still Emperor but when that pretence came once to be remov'd by the Election of Ferdinand which was in the year 1558. they had no apparent reason to hesitate They knew well enough the King had most reason on his side but they durst not own it and would very fain have referr'd it to the decision of the Pope saying it belonged not to them to make themselves Judges between two such great Princes The pretensions of Philip was not as yet to gain the upper hand of France but only to hang up the dispute upon the hedge and stand on equal termes The Venetians had made a Decree in the Councel des Pregadi that the Ambassadors of both Kings should be present at none of their Ceremonies till the controversie were first judged at Rome so greatly did they apprehend to offend Philip Nevertheless when they observed the Kings Affairs began to look with a promising face again and Novailles Bishop of Dacqs the Ambassador from France pressed them without intermission and by strong Arguments and Reasons and threatnings to be gone they at length revoked the Decree and ordained that he of France should hold the first rank according to ancient custom and usage They sent for him therefore to assist at the Ceremony they made upon the day of the Visitation being the second of July This was eight dayes before the death of the King The Peace being made all relented and grew soft and slack in France the Constable was already more then Septuaginary besides ever unfortunate in War the Mareschal de Saint André brave in his Person but softned by luxury and voluptuousness the King if we may so say dared by the Hawk and baffled as who had beheld his Kingdom in extream danger the Guises loaden with Honour and glad there was no occasion to keep them at too great a distance from the Court where they were omnipotent especially since the Marriage of their Niece with the Daufin Some have reproached them perhaps without any reason that from that time they began to entertain secret Correspondencies with the Spaniard or at least to have a great deal of Complaisance for him that they might out-do the Constable in this very point too who seemed to have relinquished much of the Interests of France for his own Whatever it were the Government at this time changed their Maximes in two points whereof one was touching the Affaires of Italy the other the Alliance with the Turks For they resolved as to the first not to intermeddle with it any more And for the other to renounce it wholly likewise as a thing very prejudicial to Christendom of little benefit and very scandalous to France and which hindred the Princes of Germany from reposing an intimate confidence and joyning in a strickt tye with them Year of our Lord 1559 So that under pretence of gaining their Amity they obliged him to send Ambassadors to the Diet of Ausburg to assure them he never had any real Alliance with the Turks and that he was resolved to renounce it Totally The Agents of the House of Austria endeavour'd to make good advantage of this Compliment at the Port Solyman could believe nothing till he had received certain News of the Peace between the two Crowns Then he released Ferdinands Ambassador whom he held in Prison and immediately made a Peace with his Master and yet to make it appear he had still some concern for France he obliged that Prince to be a Friend to his Friends and Enemy to his Enemies The five and twentieth of January the Pope displeased with the ill-behaviour of the Caraffa's his Nephews and principally because they attempted to hold him in Captivity after he had declaimed against them with all his might in a Consistory stript them of all their Offices and Dignities and expell'd them from Rome which furnished Pius IV. his Successor with a pre-judgment to make Process against them though he were indebted to them for his Pope-dome which he gained by their contrivance The Cardinal Caraffa was strangled in the Castle Saint Angelo John Count de Montebel his Brother and the Count d'Alifan Brother of the Wife to that John had their Heads cut off A lesson ☜ written in Letters of Blood to teach their Fellows if they would reflect on it to use that power with more moderation which is so frail and tottering There was neither City nor Province nor Profession where the novel opinions had not got footing men of the Gown men of Learning and the Ecclesiasticks themselves against their own Interest suffer'd themselves to be charmed with them punishments did but make them scatter and encrease and enflame their Zeal the more So that several of the Parliament some out of a more tender and merciful nature others because they had embraced them were of the mind to moderate those to severe prosecutions The King knowing this sent for Giles le Maistre first President and two others with the Procureur or Solicitor General and commanded them to execute his Edict of Chasteau-Briand with the utmost severity Le Maistre makes report to the whole Company of the Kings Commands as they were arguing upon that Subject and most voices inclined towards a mitigation the business being in good forwardness behold the King having notice as it was presumed from Le Maistre comes into the Parliament this was on the
Title of Conservator of the Country In the mean while the Coligny's observing they were looked upon with a very evil Eye at Court withdrew themselves and the Queen order'd the Admiral to go and quiet those Commotions that were beginning in Normandy and to enquire and search out the real causes that he might make report thereof to her The horror of this Conspiracy and so much blood as had been spilt in punishing it so deeply wounded the Heart of Francis Olivier who had a tender and most humane Soul that he fell sick upon it and died The Cardinal de Lorraine had cast his Eye upon John de Morvilliers Bishop of Orleans but the Queen prevented him and desired the King to give that Office to Michael de l'Hospital at least she made some body tell him that he owed that favour to her although the Cardinal would needs perswade him it came by his means l'Hospital did afterwards make it plainly appear the Obligation was from the Queen by his so closely sticking to her Interest The Cognisance of all matters and Crimes relating to Heresies had hitherto belonged to the Parliaments who five years before had contended mightily to preserve the same Now as there were many Councellors and of the most Learned who were imbued with those Novelties the Cardinal de Lorraine got all such causes to be transmitted to the Bishops by an Edict of the Month of May at Ramorantin in Berry To which the new Chancellor consented to prevent a greater evil the Inquisition which that Cardinal and the Court of Rome endeavour'd to introduce in France with the same power it hath in Spain In France they had hitherto called those that professed the new Religion Lutherans though in many points they did not follow the Doctrines of Luther Some did more properly name them Sacramentaries because they denied the Reality of the Body of our Lord in the Holy Sacrament This year they applied the name of Huguenots to them which sticks upon them still The Origine of it is uncertain there are those that say it took its birth at Tours and they derive it from the name of Hugon because those Novators made their Mid-night Assemblies at the Gate Hugon or because they went abroad only during the darkness like Goblins or Spirits by them called King Hugon and which according to the fabulous reports of those People stalked about the Streets of that Town in the Night time For my own part I think I have good Proof that it comes from a Swiss word which signifies League but corrupted by those of Geneva and from thence it Travelled into France with the Religionaries themselves who were so called in those Countries After Queen Catherine had Fortified her self by the Councils of the Chancellor de l'Hospital she was precautioned as well against the Guises as against the Princes of the Blood And as she would always keep to that Maxime of her House as a Rule to walk by Divide and Reign she studied to continue the troubles that she might still find a Party to rely upon and make them balance one another And if either side grew too ponderous she put more weight into the other Scale to bring them to an equalibrity Thus observing the absence of the two first Princes of the Blood and the Coligny's who were gone to their own homes left the Guises in too great Credit she began to lend a more favourable ear to the Huguenots and even to read some Writings they address'd to her for their justification With the same prospect or to dive into the designs and interests of the Grandees she Summoned them all to Fountainbleau upon the twentieth of August under colour of taking their advice upon the present State of affairs as it was otherwhile Year of our Lord 1560 the Ancient and necessary Custom and Method of the Kingdom of France The Constable the Admiral and Dandelot went thither with a Train of Eight or Nine Hundred Gentlemen The Assembly lasted only four Sessions They were held in the Queen Mothers Closset the King being present The first day the King and then the Queen his Mother having in few words declared the occasion of their being called which was to find out some remedy for the Troubles caused by differences in Religion and to root out those abuses that sprung up so fast in all the Orders conjured those that were present to give their opinions and speak their thoughts without passion or interest The Chancellor did more at large lay open what the distempers and disorders were and the Remedies they might apply When he had ended the Admiral advanced and falling on his knees before the King presented him some Petitions not signed by any one but which he said he had received in Normandy which implored the Kings mercy and begged he would put some stop to the prosecutions against the Reformed and allow them some Churches and the free exercise of their Faith Thereupon John de Montluc Bishop of Valence being desired to give his advice spoke with more freedom then any Enemy of the Church of Rome durst have done of the abuses and vices of the Clergy particularly the Bishops Forty of them having been seen at one time together at Paris wasting their precious time in sloathful idleness or forbidden pleasures praised the devotion in singing of Psalmes and Hymnes in French rather then wanton Ayres and Songs Blamed the severity Inflicted upon People guilty of no other Crime but a perswasion of what they believed to be really good and concluded it best to refer the decision of those Controversies to a National Council there being little hopes of a General one and the reformation of the disorders in the State to an Assembly of the Estates General Marillac Archbishop of Vienne spake to the same purpose and added several things too picquant against the Guises The Cardinal de Lorraine a Prelate of a sublime Eloquence took the Counterpart against these two Bishops and by weighty reasons shewed there was no need of any Council and that the Prosecution ought to be carried on against the Sectaries As to the other point he was of opinion to call the Estates together He also gave an account in gross of the Administration of the Treasury as his Brother the Duke of Guise of his Conduct in the Government justifying himself against the Calumnies imputed to him especially his having Armed the King against his Subjects by setting up a Guard for him as he had done for which he laid all the blame on those that were the Authors of the late attempts and disturbances The result of all was an Edict the Four and Twentieth of August which Summoned the Estates of the Kingdom to meet in the City of Melun upon the Tenth day of December and ordained the Bishops to come to the King the Tenth of January to such place as the King should prescribe to consult of a fit time and place to hold a National Council in case the Pope by
called him Blasphemer in so much as Beze was asham'd of it and endeavour'd to excuse himself to the Queen and filed his rough and grating Proposition a little smoother It had been resolved to reduce all the dispute to two heads the one of the true Church the other about the Eucharist The Sixteenth of September the Cardinal de Lorrain made a discourse as learned as it was eloquent and full of solid reasonings both upon the one and other point which he concluded with this that there could be no re-union of the Sectaries with the Church if they did not believe the reallity of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist The other Prelates rising up applauded this proposition declared they would live and dye in that belief he had explained and besought the King and Queen to persevere and to defend it protesting they would break off the Colloquy if the Ministers refused to yield that point It was continued nevertheless for sometime longer The Four and Twentieth of September Beza strained hard to reply to the Cardinals discourse then entred into dispute with the Catholick Doctors as did his Companions afterwards each in his turn Father Jacques Laynes a Spaniard and Superiour General of the Jesuits whom the Cardinal de Ferrara the Popes Legat who arrived not till a good while after this Conference was begun had brought along with him would not confer with the Ministers but treated them with the epithets of Wolves Monkeys and Serpents and boldly told the Queen that it did not belong to her to hold Assemblies for matters concerning Religion especially since the Pope had convocated a Council The disputes were not discontinued for all that till in fine the alteration having so exasperated and heated their spirits that they were capable of nothing but downright quarrelling they broke up the Conference the five and twentieth day of November month November Some believed the Cardinal de Lorrain had chiefly promoted this who having some kind of correspondence with the Lutherans of Germany thought to make himself head and as it were Pope of that Party opposed to the Roman Church which however as to the exteriour differs not much and in this prospect had promised them to engage the Ministers of France by this Colloquy to subscribe to the Ausburg Confession And indeed towards the end of the Colloquy there came some Lutheran Ministers to Paris and the King of Navarre overpersuaded by the Lawyer Francis Baudouin Tutor to his Bastard-Son joyned with that Church but seeing those of France held at too great a distance and made the difference too wide the Cardinal de Lorrain dispairing to bring his ends to pass became equally an utter enemy both to the one and the other As in this Colloquy the Huguenots had for the first time the liberty allowed them to dispute the controverted Articles of Religion they thought they might have every where that of exercising it and began to open their Temples in every Year of our Lord 1561 Province The Queen-Mother in retribution of the services paid her by the Admiral lent him or feigned to lend him her helping hand in many occurrences and even sent orders to the Kings Ambassador at Rome to be instant with the Pope and Cardinals for obtaining the Communion in both Species and the allowance to pray to God in French which she could not obtain perhaps because as she demanded it openly she obstructed it underhand The Triumviri could not endure the great credit the Admiral was in and retired from Court making Religion the pretence of their discontent The King of Spain who affected the Title of Catholick express'd a great deal of Anger for that they favoured the Huguenots and particularly against the King of Navarre thereby to have a Salvo Conscientiae not to do him right concerning his Kingdom and a pretence to intermeddle with the Affairs of France to which he was invited by some of the most eminent in whom the passion to govern and to supplant their Enemies was more prevalent then love to their Native Country or the honour of this State A short while before a Priest was taken going into Spain with a Petition to King Philip in the name of the Catholicks together with certain very dangerous instructions He was carried to the common Goal The Parliament considering the quality of the persons involved in this business durst not search too deep but thought fit only to condemn him to make amende honorable in full Audience bare-head and his feet bare with a Torch lighted in his hand and to be shut up between four Walls in the Convent of the Chartreux Likewise a Batchellor of Sorbon named Tanquerel having maintained some Thesis wherein he asserted the Pope had an absolute power over all Kings as well in Temporals as in Spirituals and that therefore he might depose them if they deserved it the Parliament ordained that he should make amende honorable and because he absented himself it was said the Beadle of the Faculty should do it for him in the School of the Sorbon before a President two Counsellors and the Sollicitor General and in presence of the Dean and Doctors who were enjoyned to be there upon pain of forfeiting all the Priviledges to them granted by the Kings The Holy Fathers greatest fear was lest he should lose his Authority in France by a National Council the interest of the King of Spain was to gain some Authority by rendring himself necessary and that of the Regent to preserve her own and encrease it The King of Navarre shared in this with her and therefore they could never well accord but all the rest endeavoured to adjust themselves with that Prince The Constable served as mediator to reconcile him with the Duke of Guise and he to bring him to a correspondence with the Pope and the King of Spain His Sentiments concerning Religion were a great obstruction nevertheless they had the Art to manage him so well that they brought him to their bent They propounded to him first if he would repudiate Jane d'Albret his Wife as he might lawfully do said they because she was an Heretick that then he should be Married to Queen Mary Steward who would bring him the Kingdoms of Scotland and of England and when they found he could not resolve upon that Divorce they gave him verbal assurances that the King of Spain would give him up the Island of Sardinia which they described to him as a Country abounding in all things of delight and use in recompence of Navarre This charming illusion was the bait that drew him into their snare Year of our Lord 1562 January In the Month of January of the Year 1562. the Regent who desired to support her self by the Huguenots got an Edict in their favour containing amongst other things the revocation of that in July permission for them to Preach in all parts of the Kingdom excepting in Wall'd Cities namely in Paris An Assembly of the Notables authorized it the
out the Prince and intreat him earnestly to come to Court assuring him that whatsoever had been done against the Protestants was much against her will and that with his Assistance she would endeavour to repair it The Prince began to listen to it and was inclined to condescend when news was brought him that the Huguenots coming out of Church at Sens were all Massacred and their Houses saccaged by the Soldiers the fault whereof was charged upon the Cardinal de Lorrain Archbishop of that City The Prince having heard the particulars said to his People that they must hope for nothing now but from God and their own Courage They then caused white Cassocks of Cloth to be made for all their Cavalry and endeavour'd to animate and keep up their Spirits by Printing several little Books some for their Justification others to bespatter the House of Guise and particularly the Cardinal de Lorrain Year of our Lord 1562 Yet there were many Envoyez and propositions sent from the one to the other The Prince demanded the Edict of January should be observed that there should be Justice done for such as were Massacred and that the Triumviri should quit the Court. They to repel these Attaques presented a Petition that there might be no other Religion in France but the Catholick That all Servants belonging to the King all Governors Officers Magistrates c. should make a publick Profession of it or be deprived of their Employments That all such as had laid violent hands on things Sacred should be punished for their Sacriledge That no man should bear Arms but such as were Commissioned by the King of Navarre upon which Conditions they offer'd to retire from Court month June These Messages having effected nothing towards a reconciliation the Queen would needs confer with the Prince her self the place was assigned at Toury where either came accompanied with about Fifty Horse and all the necessary precautions The King of Navarre was with the Queen The Gentlemen belonging to them who were kept at Eight Hundred paces distance left they should chance to quarrel could not be restrained from running to embrace each other weeping to express both the joy for their present meeting and the sorrow for that fate which threatned to change this friendship into a Scene of fury and these Salutations into the necessity of cutting suddenly one anothers Throats In sine the Queen could not gain her ends The King of Navarre and the Prince picqu'd each other with reproaches and the Conference broke off The Prince had a good part of the Nobles and Soldiery for him The Confederates had the Parisians the Name and Person of the King which are necessarily followed by the Great Officers and Parliament The Six and Twentieth of June the Parliament declared all such as had seized those Cities before mentioned Rebels and guilty of Treason However they excepted the Prince of Condé as if it must have been supposed that the Huguenots detained him by force The Armies on either part took the Field and these being the one in the Country of Orleannois the other in Dunois the Queen made one Essay more which was like to have succeeded to the destruction of both the Factions She proposed to the Prince by the advice of Valence to make the Guises and the Constable quit the Court if he would lay down his Arms and come and put himself into hers and the King of Navarres hands The Prince running inconsiderately into this toyl goes to the Queen at Talsy as soon as ever he heard the Triumviri were retired and by a second imprudence promised to leave the Kingdom if they returned not to Court The Admiral de Coligny and the other Chiefs of his Party mightily in pain and disquiet both for him and themselves came the next day and made him sensible he could not in honour engage his word to the prejudice of what he had promis'd them and was in Conscience bound to make good and thus they obliged him to recal it at the next Conference which was held the following day and brought him back again to his Army Every one admiring the Queen Mother had not taken the whole Covey as she might easily have done with one fair draught of her Net which she could not possibly have forborn had it been for her Interest so to do month June and July The number of Cities the Huguenots had seized were too many for their Forces and kept them scattered at too great a distance from each other they soon lost most of them again together with a great many of their Men Blois and Anger 's were forced with all the Cruelties attending the fury of a Civil War Mans and Tours were abandoned The Duke of Aumale who Commanded the Kings Armies in Normandy for the Duke of Bouillon was suspected of Huguenotisme recover'd all the places about Rouen and the Duke of Estampes Governour of Bretagne Valongne Vire Saint Lo and Bayeux At Vire were the greatest Cruelties committed because the Huguenots had been most cruel there During the Negotiations and the many difficulties there are in Cementing together the several Members of a new made Party where most times three break off whilst they are soddering one the heat of the Princes zealots began to grow cool Most part came to him full of resolution and with the hopes and expectation of being led on to Battle immediately expecting that a few moments either would give them Victory or a brave and glorious death but when they found things were drawn out in Length many desired lieve to return so that being unable to keep them longer together there with him he sent John de Partenay Soubize to Lyons John de Hangest-Yvoy to Bourges the Count de la Rochefoucaud Year of our Lord 1562 to Angoâ—lesme Dandelot into Germany and Briquemault to England the two last to hasten those Supplies which had been promised him in those Countries month July and August The Kings Army was encreased to Five and Twenty Thousand Foot and Five Thousand Horse they were divided in two bodies one of them with whom the King was in Person commanded by the King of Navarre and the Duke of Guise went to besiege Bourges the other commanded by the Mareschal de Saint André was sent to Poitiers This last place was taken by Battery in fewer dayes then the Soldiers had to pillage it it was gained on the first day of August The other was reduced by Composition the Nine and Twentieth of the same Month. They had sustained near upon a Five Weeks Siege and might have held it longer if Yvoy who defended it with Two Thousand Men had not suffer'd himself to be prevailed upon either by fear or the cajoleries and allurements of the Court. And indeed he soon after quitted the Party and retired to his own home month September Bourges being taken most part of the Chief Officers were for going directly to Orleans where they might have coop'd up the Prince and by
that means cut off the greatest head of the Faction The Queen would not have it so the Duke of Guise himself thought the enterprize too difficult and favouring the Parisians in what they most desired was of opinion they should lay Siege to Rouen The Army Arrived there about the Twentieth of September and just in a nick of time to hinder that Progress the Huguenots might have made with the help of the English For on the same day a Treaty of Confederation was signed between Queen Elizabeth and them at Hampton-Court specifying that she should furnish them with Six Thousand Men one half to be put into Havre de Grace which should be delivered to her and which she should keep for the King and was to serve for a place of retreat and refuge to the Huguenots which in a few days afterwards was Executed The Fort Saint Catherine was taken by Storm The City maintained their Attaques with all possible Resolution They proffer'd them such composition as was reasonable enough and for three several times the Queen Mother hindred the Duke of Guise from giving the Assault being perswaded by the prudent Coun sel of the Chancellor that nothing can be more prejudicial to a Soveraign then to make Conquests upon himself and pillage his own Cities But when they found the Besieged did continue to reject with Stubbornness those favours and that mercy they were importuned to accept the Kings Council gave the Duke lieve to let loose the Reynes to Victory He therefore gave a general Assault the Five and Twentieth of October Their resistance was not equal to their obstinacy they abandoning all at the first Shock The Soldiers pillaged them above eight dayes together which proved the more cruel because they were extreamly rich Montgomery who had a Galley lying there ready upon all occasions it was one of the Kings which hapned to put into Rouen when the Huguenots master'd the Town soon got aboard of it with his Friends together with the English The Slaves to whom he had promised their Liberty rowed with such force that it slid quite over the Chain they had laid cross the River at Caudebec They hanged up John du Bose d'Esmandreville President of the Court of Aydâ—s two Councellors belonging to the City Marlorat the Minister and Eight or Ten Captains amongst others du Cros who had been Governor of Havre de Grace and deliver'd the place up to the English By way of Reprizal or Retaliation the Prince caused the Heads of some Catholicks to be cut off that were in his Hands amongst others John Baptist Sapin Councellor of the Parliament of Paris and John de Troyes Abbot of Gastine who were taken in Vendosmois as they were on their way to Spain from the King Giles leu Maistre first President of the Parliament revenged the Death of Sapin who was his Nephew upon some unfortunate Huguenots that were Prisoners in Paris whom he sent to the common Place of Execution These retaliations had gone on to infinity if the Captains of the Catholick Party who apprehended the like Reprisals should they have fallen into the Enemies power had not engaged their Chiefs to desist from such kind of Process and to make good the usual Rules of War and Martial Customes and Laws The Five and Twentieth of October the King of Navarre had been wounded in the Trenches while he was making water by a Musquet shot in his left Shoulder The City being taken he would needs be carried in his Bed by his Year of our Lord 1562 Swiss Soldiers to make a Triumphant entrance thorough the breach His wound was not Mortal but his too assiduous entertainment of the Damoiselle du Rouet one of those Sirenes the Regent employ'd to enchant that poor Prince withal heated his blood too much after which his impatience to be Cured making him venture by Boat to Paris he was seized with a Trembling and afterwards fell into a cold Sweat the Symptomes of approaching death as indeed it proved for the Boat stopping at Andelis he there resigned his last breath the Seventeenth day of November shewing himself in this last Act as he had done in all the other Four wavering and irresolv'd between the Catholick Religion and the Confession of Ausbourg but discovering enough the bad opinion he had of the Government by an express order he gave to fore-warn his Wife from coming to the Court to stand well upon her Guard and Fortifie her places The trouble the Prince was in for the bloody Conquest of Rouen was yet augmented by the unwelcome News brought him from Guyenne Duras had raised Five Thousand Men for him in that Country this Army of Fellows pickt up at random and most Robbers living without order were charged by Montluc and cut in pieces near the Burrough de Vere between Perigueux and Sarlat Which brought the Prince two great dis-advantages the one that he lost this considerable Supply the other that Montluc's Forces having nothing else in those Parts to fear joyned with the Kings Army some dayes before the Battel of Dreux There have been many Volumes Printed of all the Minute passages in every Province particularly in Guyenne Languedoc and in Daufiné the surprising taking and retaking of Towns a World of little Fights and Skirmishes the Barbarities and Massacres committed on both sides the Insolencies and furious rage of the People which to say the truth they were but too much and too highly provoked unto by the Huguenots in divers places I shall therefore only observe in gross that Sommerine for the Catholick Party made a rude War in Provence against his Father the Count de Tendes who held with the Huguenots That in Daufiné the Baron des Adrets having taken up Armes for these and the Count de Suse for the other pursued each other by turnes very close and smartly and that the Baron made himself Terrible by his enormous Cruelties Precipitating Massacring and Drowning without Faith or Compassion such as resisted him in any place That Tavanes a zealous Catholiâ—k having retaken Chaalon and Mascon preserved for a time all Burgundy from being any further involved in the Civil War That Normandy was all laid waste and desolate the higher by reason of the Sieges of Rouen and Havre and the lower by the Count de Montgommery and the Breton Troops which the Duke d'Estampes had brought in thither to make head against him That Joyeuse preserved one part of Languedoc in the Ancient Religion That Montluc as we may find in his Commentaries rendred the King great Service in Guyenne but that he exceeded the bounds even of severity it self against the Huguenots I shall add that their Party had the disadvantage almost every where unless in Languedoc where they held all the best Cities excepting Toulouze which intending to seize upon in the Month of May they were drove thence after an obstinate Fight of many dayes and the loss of Three Thousand of their Men not reckoning about Two Hundred more who were
himself by publick Writing and made oath he detested that Act In vain he Petitioned the Queen by Letters not to hasten the Execution of that Assassin that he might be confronted with him the House of Guise believed he was Guilty and whether he were really so or not the Children of that Duke took the most bloody revenge that we read of in any History of the World The Admirals request to the Queen seemed reasonable enough nevertheless Poltrot being carried to Paris the sixteenth day of March was in few days judged the Parliament condemned him to the same punishment as those that attempt the Sacred Person of a King which was to have his Flesh torn off with red hot pincers and drawn to pieces by four Wild-Horses The same day the Duke of Guises Corps was brought to Paris deposited at the Chartreux from thence born to Nostre-Dame with great lamentation and the real mourning of the whole City and then inhumed in the Sepulchre of his Fathers at Joinville Charles Duke of Lorrain made a solemn service for him at Nancy and the Pope another in his Chappel at Rome with Funeral Orations which certainly might be very noble without any mixture of Flattery The justice and moderation of that heroick Soul appeared yet more eminently in the last moments of his Life for he justified himself of the Massacre of Vassy expressing a deep Sorrow that that accident should have given occasion for a Year of our Lord 1563 Civil War and advised the Queen to make a Peace telling her positively that whoever obstructed it were Enemies both to the Kingdom in general and to the King in particular And indeed while he was yet living she had begun to Treat about it first at Saint Mesnin with Eleonora de Roye Wife to the Prince of Condé whom she caress'd extraordinarily giving her even hopes that her Husband should have the Lieutenancy as the King of Navarre his Brother had before Then with the Prince and the Constable in the Isle aux Boeufs near Orleans to which place they both were brought under strong Guard And as the Constable stood stiff not to allow of the Edict of January and the Prince was as resolute on the contrary the Queen permitted the Prince to go into Orleance to communicate with the Heads of his Party The Ministers insisted that at what price soever he should maintain the Edict of January The Officers who were weary of the War and himself who already longed to enjoy the sweet Air of the Court and the softer pleasures of Women relaxed in many things and contented themselves with a more moderate Edict It allowed such as were Lords High Justices to have a place for publick Preaching in their Territories and to others that have mean or low Justice to have private ones in their own Houses only for themselves and Family provided withal they did not dwell in Burroughs or Parishes that held of any other Justice but the Kings Moreover it gave them Liberty to Preach within such jurisdiction whence appeals may be made to the Parliament without any other Medium as likewise in such Cities where they had enjoy'd that Liberty till the fifteenth day of March last and together with this it also contained a general Amnisty a discharge to the Prince for all the Royal Money he had taken or caused to be taken and an acknowledgment whereby the King owned that he was his faithful Kinsman and affectionate to the good of the Kingdom and that all those that had followed him had acted nothing but with honest intentions and for his service The Queen did so earnestly press the conclusion of this Treaty that it was Signed on either part the eighteenth of March before the Admiral was return'd from Normandy He made bitter complaint to the Prince for having so ill managed the interest of his Party in a juncture of time when he might have mightily improved it but the thing was done and those complaints served for no other purpose but to evaporate his Choller The Edict was published in Parliament about the latter end of March. That of Toulouze delay'd till they were commanded more then once and moreover constrain'd to revoke all the diffamatory Decrees they had made against the Counsellors belonging to that Body and against the Capitous The Soldiery that were at Orleans having first celebrated their Communion in the Church called Saint Croix Marched out of the City They did the same in many others which they held in divers places leaving them in a most desolate condition having ruined their fairest Churches Commissioners were sent into the Provinces by the King to restore the Huguenots to their own and put the Edict in Execution but the most part made all the difficulties in it they possibly could excepting such as they could gain by force of presents If this liberty of Conscience which was allowed them were a just cause for the Clergies complaint an Edict made in the Month of May at Saint Germain en laye for the Alienation of a Hundred Thousand Crowns Sol of their Revenue in fund which was executed with great severity made their complaints rise much higher and louder Year of our Lord 1563. April c. Some while after the Chancellor de l'Hospital to still their out-cries a little granted them power to buy the same again and caused another Edict to be published whereby it was ordained that the Tenths should be paid to them which without doubt proved very effectual towards the strengthning and fixing the Catholick Religion for had the Huguenots been exempt from those payments the ✚ greater part of those whose Estates lay in the Country would have gone over to them that they might at once have gained the tenths of all their Estates The Duke of Guise being dead and the Peace made the Queen lived somewhat more at her ease Nevertheless four grand Affairs did yet perplex her mind the Princes conduct Havre de Grace which was still in the hands of the English the dissatisfaction of the Parliament of Paris and the eager pursuit and sollicitation of the Dutchess of Guise and her Children to have justice done them for the death of their Father Year of our Lord 1563 Whatever Artifice she could make use of it it was impossible for her to separate the Prince from the Admiral nor to dazle him with the fine Visions of the Kingdom of Sardinia wherewith she had enchanted the King of Navarre his Brother but Eleonora de Roye his Wife hapning to die she endeavoured to chain him to the Court with the Charmes of a voluptuous life and the tempting beauty of one of her Maids of Honour who having refused nothing to serve her Mistress found her self incommoded for nine Months after and was for a time the discourse and entertainment of the Court where the like accidents affords matter for more sport and divertisement then scandal The Widdow of the Mareschal de Saint André upon another Motive which was the hopes
Seventeenth of August and Married the day following the Cardinal of Bourbon tyed the Nuptial knot on a Scaffold erected before the Church Door of Nostre-Dame according to a Form agreed upon betwixt them The said King having Conducted his Mistriss into the Quire by a Gallery made purposely thorow the body of the Church retired while they were saying Mass When that was ended he returned and having month August kiss'd his new Spouse led her into the Bishops Palace where Dinner was prepared for them Four dayes were spent in Feastings Turnaments and Balets or Dancing where the King and Queen appeared so busie that they had scarce time to sâ—eep But during all this loud noise of Voices and Violins they deliberated on what manner to execute their bloody Butchery What the first Project was in the Kings Council is not well known amongst whom were the Queen Mother the Duke of Anjou the Count de Rais and Birague Keeper of the Seals for Morvilliers to whom they were given in Custody when they dismissed the Chancellor de l'Hospital had discharged himself of them into his hands It is said the first Resolution for this Massacre chiefly upon the Instance of the Duke of Guise and his Partisans was taken at Blois in the very Chamber where that Duke himself was Massacred Fifteen years after and that some difficulties arising they held another Council in the House of Gondy at Saint Cloud whereat the Duke of Anjou presided who afterwards being King Henry III. was unhappily Murthered in the very same place and as some affirm upon the very same day The Queen Mothers aim was quite different from the Kings and from that of the Guises it was believed that Vindicative Woman with the Count de Rais her intimate Counsellor had a Prospect far beyond theirs For she thought that by causing the Admiral to be assassinated which the two other Councils had resolved the Montmorency's would stand up to revenge that Injury and fall fowl upon the Guises whom they would certainly Judge to be the Authors of it That these two Parties should be left to grapple with each other Then when good store of Blood had been drawn and either had half destroyed the other the King should Salley out of the Louvre with his Guards and exterminate them both as Seditious Traytors That after he had thus destroy'd them he would remain absolute Master Reign according to his own fancy and set himself above all Laws of the Kingdom Now whether this were true or no that Morevel who had before Assassinated the Lord de Moüy was employ'd to make away the Admiral On Friday the Two and Twentieth of August he posted himself for this purpose at the Cloister S. Germain de l'Auxerrois in a Chamber of the House belonging to Peter Pile oâ— Villemur a Canon of that Church and who had been Tutor to the Duke of Guise He takes his stand and fits his gears at a low Window that was barr'd with Iron and faced the Street called des Fossez S. Germain and as the Admiral came from the Louvre on Foot and was going to his own House in the Street de Betizy walking slowly because he was reading some Papers he made a Shot at him Year of our Lord 1572 with an Arquebuse one Bullet breaking a Finger of his Right Hand and another grievously wounding him in the left Arm. The execution done he flies by a Door from the Cloister upon a Horse lent him by one of the Duke of Guises men The King who was playing at Tenis with that Duke in the Louvre falls into a rage throws down his Racket and leaves off his play but the Project did not take as they imagined for the Admiral without shewing any great concern withdrew to his own House and neither the Huguenots nor the Montmorencies ran to their Arms. The King of Navarre and the Prince only went to beseech the King he would give them leave to go out of Paris for their own Security but both he and the Queen Mother plaid their Game so cunningly and cover'd the business so well with their deceitful pretences promising to bring the Assassin to exemplary punishment and naming Judges to take immediate Information that it calmed the just fears of those two young Princes and obliged them to stay Afternoon the Admiral having Informed the King that he had somewhat to tell him which was not to be trusted to the knowledge of any other but himself alone the King went to visit him at his House accompanied by the Queen Mother the Duke of Anjou Duke of Guise Count de Rais and some others After some general discourse he entertained him near an hour and seemed to take much delight in what he told him concerning the War of the Low-Countries In fine he carried his dissimulation on so far that the Queen had some jealousie of their great Intimacy and asked her Son what it was the Admiral had told him in private to which he replied with an Oath that he had advised him to reign by himself and make himself Master of all Affairs The same day as if he had indeed earnestly desired to have the Assassin apprehended he caused all the Gates of Paris to be shut up except two and under colour of securing the Admiral from all popular Commotions and Attempts of his Enemies Re-inforced his Life-Guards with Four Hundred Men quarter'd his Regiment within the City and gave charge to Cosseins who was their Mestre de Camp to set a Court of Guard of his best French Soldiers before the House of the Admiral and another of Swiss within it He had likewise wished all the Huguenot Gentlemen to Lodge thereabouts and made the King of Navarre believe that he apprehended some rising on the Guisian part for which reason he desired him and the Prince to come and remain in the Louvre with the bravest of their Men to strengthen and defend him in Case of necessity The Admirals friends held divers Councils in his House upon the accident of his hurt John de la Ferriere Vidame of Chartres had from the very first given his opinion that they should Convey him to Chastillon and that they were yet strong enough to beat their way thorow the common Rabble before they were in Arms but the Admirals repugnance and the contrary Remonstrances of Teligny his Son in Law who opposed every one that shewed the least suspition or gave Council tending to the securing themselves made them lay aside those Resolutions Now the Vidame plainly perceiving by the muttering of the People and divers other Indications that danger was very near at hand returned once more to the charge and insisted the more upon it because the Admiral found himself somewhat better and might endure a Horse-Litter This was apparently that which hastned their ruine for a Gentleman who was present at this Consult went immediately to the Palace des Tuilleries to make his Report to the King who had called his Council together in the
Party And the King spared the Lives of some who were so only out of Interest The Montmorencies Cossé and Biron were in the black List but Montmorency's absence he being at Chantilly secured the Lives of his Three Brothers the Prayers and Tears of the beautiful Chasteau-neuf Monsieurs Mistriss saved Cossé his Allie and Biron Great Master of the Ordnance having loaded and levell'd or appointed some Culverins at the Gate of the Arsenal stopt the impetuous Torrent of the Massacrers and let in some of his distressed Friends amongst others James second Son of the Lord de la Force who being then but Ten or Twelve years old had craftily hid himself between his Fathers and his Eldest Brothers Corps Murther'd in bed where they all three lay together When the Admiral was kill'd they threw his Body down into the Court the Duke of Guise who stood below wiped the Blood off which cover'd his Face to know if it were he After that an Italian cut off his Head and carried it to the Queen Mother who causing it to be Embalm'd sent it to the Pope as the Huguenots say The Populace fell upon the unhappy trunck of his Body They first cut off the Hands and Privities then left it on a Dunghil in the afternoon they return to it again dragg'd it three dayes about the Streets then to the River side yet did not throw it in and at last to Montfaucon where they hung it up by the Feet with an Iron Chain and made a Fire underneath which half consumed it This miserable Relick hung there till the Mareschal de Montmorency got some to steal it away in a very dark Night and laid it to rest in his Chappel at Chantilly About Noon on the Sunday the Massacre first began a white-thorn growing in the Church-Yard called Sainct Innocents half wither'd and stript of all its Leaves put forth great store of Blossomes This wonder much heightned the phrensie of the People the Fraternities Marched along with Drums beating and strove who should Massacre most Huguenots in a day the King himself would needs see that Prodigy Most People would have it to be a Miracle and those of either Religions interpreted it to their own advantage The less creduloâ—s attributed it to the nature of the Tree which does many times Blossom when ready to die We might say that the same cause which heated the Peoples Brains and excited them to so much violence and fury was that which heated this Tree likewise whether proceeding from Vapours out of the Earth or the Influence of the Stars and Planets from above It had been resolved in the King and Queens most private Council to charge the Guises with all the Malice and Odium of these Massacres and report that the Admirals Friends intending to revenge the hurt he had received it begot so furious a Sedition that the King could not allay or hinder it and to this effect they had agreed and appointed that they should retire to their own homes as soon as ever the Chiefs of the Huguenots were dispatched Upon this Foot the King had written to all the Governours of Provinces commanding them to assure the People he would not break thâ— Edict of Pacification and in one Letter he said expresly That he was joyned with the King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé to revenge the death of the Admiral his Cousin But the Guises apprehending as they had reason lest the Queen Mother should some time or other lay this Crime to their charge to ruine them insisted so resolutely upon it having the power in their own hands the Catholick Nobility the Duke of Montpensier and the Parisians to back them that they obliged him to change his Note and to send word every where That what had been done was by his Order to prevent the effects Year of our Lord 1572 of that detestable Conspiracy the Admiral and his Friends had plotted to destroy him and all the Royal Family as also the King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé Wherefore upon Tuesday the Third day of the Massacre after hearing of Mass to return solemn thanks to God for the precious Victory obtained over Heresie and commanded Medals should be Coyned to preserve the Memory thereof he went and sat on his Royal Seat of Justice in Parliament where he owned the whole Action Some dayes after he sent orders to that Assembly to employ all the Authority of the Law to justifie it and to that end to proceed immediately without delay to make Process against the Admiral and his accomplices month September and October For this a Chamber or Court was purposely set up during the Vacation by whose Sentence the Admiral was declared Attainted and Convict of the Crime de Lesae Majestatis Chief Head and principal Author of a Conspiracy against the King and his Kingdom ordained that his Body if it could be found if not his Effigies should be drawn upon a Hurdle and hanged upon a Gaâ—lows at the Greve from thence carried to the Gibbet at Mont-faucon all Pictures of him to be mangled and trampled under Foot by the Hang-man his Armes dragged at a Horses Tail about the Streets of Paris his Estate Confiscated his Children declared Plebean and Ignoble Intestable and unworthy to hold any Office Dignity or Estate in the Realm his House of Chastillon razed and an Inscription set up there graved on a Copper Plate containing this whole Sentence and Decree against him It was added that from thence forward upon the Four and Twentieth day of August should be yearly observed a general Procession to render thanks to God for the discovery of that Conspiracy Briquemaut an old Gentleman and Arnaud de Cavagnes a Master of Requests and Chancellour of the Cause being taken after the Butchery in a House where they a while concealed themselves were declared his accomplices and Condemned to the same punishment They were drawn upon a Sledge to the Greve and Executed together with his Fantosme made of Straw in the Mouth of which they did not forget to stick a Tooth-picker The King and Queen Mother stood at a Window in the Town-Hall and beheld the Execution through a Tiffany Vail Two dayes after the King had been in Parliament he put forth an Edict whereby he assured the Huguenots that what had been done was not in hatred to their Religion but to prevent the wicked designes of the Admiral and therefore that every one of them should keep quietly in his own abode and not make any publick Assemblies but at the same time he wrote to the Governors of the Provinces and Cities that they should take the very same Course and Treat them as they had been at Paris During two Months this horrible Tempest run over all France more or less Bloody according to the disposition of the Countries and their Governours It was not so violent in Burgundy and Bretagne because there were few Huguenots nor in Languedoc and Gascongne because they were strong
about mid January arrived the 12 th of February at Reims and was Crowned three days after by the Cardinal de Guise the See being vacant The Duke of Guise who was yet in Favour had the precedency of the Duke of Montpensier This latter being come within two Leagues of Reims resolved to carry it this time received an Order from the King which forbid him coming any nearer The next day the King Married Lovisa Daughter of Nicholas Earl of Vaudemont paternal Uncle of Charles II. Duke of Lorrain the Cardinal de Lorrain had when living made the first proposal for this Match When the King had made his entrance into Paris with his new Spouse the Deputies for the Protestant and Politique Party came thither to discourse concerning a Peace having first consulted by their Envoyez with the Prince of Condé who was at Basil They demanded Right might be done them upon Ninety two Articles many of which sounded very boldly but those that shock'd most were the holding of the General Estates the lessening of the Tailles and reducing them to the same Standard they were in under Lewis XII and that exemplary punishment should be inflicted upon Atheists and Blasphemers and the Laws and Ordonnances put in execution against Year of our Lord 1575 those enormous and infamous Pailliardise which provoked and called down the wrath of God upon France This malicious censure rendred the Huguenots more execrable at the Court then either their Rebellions or their Heresie These Conferences which lasted above Three Months and the several Negotiations wherewith they endeavoured to amuse the Rochellers and Damville were so far from healing all the suspitions fears and animosities in the minds of either party that they rather more increased and envenomed them So that the War continued every where In the neighbourhood of Montauban which was invested by the Catholiques and delivered by Choupes who marched thither with the Forces of la Noüe In Auvergne where Montal was defeated and slain by a Dame whom we may equal to the Amazones this was Magdeline de Sainct Neciaire Widow of Guy de Sainct Exupery Miraumont always followed by Threescore of the bravest Gentlemen who strove to do prodigious feats of Arms to merit her favour In Perigord where Langoiran surprized and cruelly sack'd the City of Perigueux In Languedoc where Damville did as much at Vzez and at Alez and in Daufiné where Montbrun gained a Battle against Gordes his enemy near Die and besieged him in that Town Some days after going forth to meet some Forces that were coming to deliver him he was himself defeated taken and sent to the Parliament of Grenoble who made his Process and condemned him to lose his Head This was in punishment for his having plundered the King's baggage and making this insolent reply to those that blamed him for it That Gaming and War made all men equal Francis de Bonne Lesdiguieres month February a private Gentleman but who had already attained to a great reputation supplied his Place in Daufiné and raised himself to a much nobler height by restoring a strict Military Discipline then the other had ever been able to do by permitting all manner of Licentiousness I shall pass over in silence those disturbances the Government of the Mareschal de Rais occasioned in Provence and the two Factions which troubled that Province Year of our Lord 1574 the one bearing the name of Carcistes from the Count de Carces Lieutenant for the King who was their Head the other Rasats who opposed his exactions Nor shall I mention some exploits of Montclue whom they had newly made a Mareschal of France For they were inconsiderable and after that the ill-favour'd wound in his Face by a Musquet shot at his besieging of Rabasteins for which he wore a Vizor-Masque the Huguenots dreading him no more then a Girl The Senate of Poland besought the King with all the respect and deference imaginable that he would be pleased to return into that Countrey if not they would proceed to the election of another Pibrac whom the Queen-Mother had sent thither to get the term prolonged found they had passed a Decree of the Fourteenth of July signifying that the Crown was vacant as by death and that the Estates should proceed to a new Election Finding they were resolved upon it he thought it more becoming and decent to retire then be spectator of the affront they were going to do his Master In the Diet they were divided into two parties whereof the one elected the Emperour Maximilian the other Sigismond Bathory Prince of Transylvania upon condition he should Marry Anne Sister of the deceased King This last more diligent then his Rival posted immediately to Poland Married the Princess and got himself into Possession which would have occasioned infinite troubles if death had not prevented it by snatching Maximilian out of the World A Court overflowing with voluptuousness and where all was steered by other hands then the Sovereign Pilots could not but be mightily agitated by the continual intrigues of busy Women and of Favourites Du Gua and Souvré were then the month June c. Kings chief Darlings the Queen-Mother employ'd these to set the Duke of Alenson and the King of Navarre at variance and to scatter some seeds of jealousie between the King and his Wife for fear she should make her self Mistriss of her Husbands Affairs pursuant to the Councils of the Duke of Guise They had likewise frequent counterscuffâ—es with the brave Bussy d'Amboise Favourite to the Duk of Alenson and with the Queen of Navarre who upheld the courage of that Prince upon whom they were eternally putting their little tricks It hapned about this time the King fell sick they made him believe he was poison'd month August by his Brother Upon this imagination he sends for the King of Navarre and commanded him to rid his hands of that mischievous Man so he termed him but instead of obeying him in his revenge tho that were to bring him one step nearer to the Throne he abhorred it and left the King the time to repent it Year of our Lord 1575 When he was recover'd the Mareschal de Montmorency ran great risque of his Life those that had been the occasion of his confinement having just cause to fear he would resent it if he got out of the Bastille resolved to thrust him out of the world that they might fall no more under such apprehensions To this end they reported that Damville who alone could deter them from so damnable an attempt was dead Indeed he was very sick of some morsel which had been given him and upon this rumour they perswaded the King to give order to Souvré to strangle the Mareschal in prison but Souvré though they assured him of being made Captain of Bois de Vincennes after the feat done made so many delays that they had certain news of the recovery of Damville and so durst not lay violent hands upon his Brother
Countrey but when they were so got in shewed their own weakness but too much by all those rebukes they received before the meanest Castles The Duke of Guise shewed the like He had vaunted how upon the least sound of his Trumpets he would bring Threescore thousand Men under his Banner and month August yet all the Duke of Lorrain and himself could raise together with the help of their best friends amounted not to Ten thousand Men But indeed his courage supplied that defect of numbers When the Confederate Army had ravaged Lorrain for a Month together after several deliberations full of confusion and tumult they took a resolution to come and pass the Loire without having any regard to the intreaties of the Duke of Bouillon who would have employ'd them for the regaining of those Places wherewith the Duke of Guise held him as it were continually besieged They sojourned Ten days at Bassigny from thence advanced towards the head of the Seine and passed it above Chastillon and L'Yonne at Mailly but disorder and mutinies being already crept in amongst them they refused to pass the Loire at the Foord de Nuvy as the King of Navarre had desired and which would have been very easy for them the Waters being extreamly low They chose rather to descend into Beausse because the Reisters might run scouring about at their pleasure and the great abundance of Corn and Forage would afford them wherewith to refresh themselves Year of our Lord 1587 It was great pity to behold France so miserably ravaged by Five or Six Armies at the same time The Duke of Joyeusâ— led one into Guyenne the King of Navarre had another there Matignon a Third Montmorency and Lesdiguieres each of them one the first in Languedoc and the other in Daufiné The Prince of Conty brother to the Count de Soissons gathered Forces in Anjou and the Countrey of Mayne to make up one The King had his own whom he went to about mid October It consisted of Eight thousand Horse half French and half Germans Ten thousand Foot raised in the Kingdom and Eight thousand Swiss With these he lined the shoars of the Loire and effectually prevented the enemies from finding such another opportunity as they had already lost to pafs over the same Near Montargis they had some hint of the great Victory obtained by the King of Navarre After that Prince was returned into Guyenne the Duke of Joyeuse had express Order from the King to follow him close and to hinder him from joyning his Forces together to meet the Reisters To which purpose the King had given him a re-inforcement of Ten thousand Men and order'd Matignon to joyn him with all those he could draw out of his Government This Mareschal had perhaps a desire rather to annoy then to assist him in gaining of Honour yet it is certain he was within two days march of him when that young Lord intoxicated with the praises of his Flatterers and the loud boasts of his zealous Preachers hastned to give Battle and overtook the King of Navarre between the little Rivers of Drougne and l'Isle The two Armies drew up their Battallions in the Plain near Coutras this was about Eight of the clock in the Morning upon the Twentieth day of October The shock lasted but half an hour the Princes running speedily in upon them rendred Joyeuses great squadron of Lances useless and press'd so hard upon his amazed Gents-d'Arms that they could never come to do execution but were soon cut in pieces The Infantry lost their courage when their Cavalry were lost they presently gave ground were routed and most of them put to the edge of the Sword in revenge of la Mote Sainct Herais The Duke of Joyeuse having generously taken a resolution to dye by the Cannon fell into the hands of two Captains who killed him in cold Year of our Lord 1587 Blood though they were proffer'd a Ransom of an hundred thousand Crowns In a word the Royalists lost Cannon Bag and Baggage Ensigns almost all their Chiefs and Five thousand Men who died upon the place amongst whom there were Four hundred Gentlemen and Officers The King of Navarre had not above Five and twenty or Thirty of his Men missing The Prince of Condé was thrown off his Horse with a rude thrust of a Lance which did much incommode him It was the act of the brave St. Luc who not able to make his escape and fearing to be roughly treated by the Prince his capital Enemy laid him thus on the ground and having first forc'd him to ask his life afterwards surrendred himself prisoner The valour of the King of Navarre signaliz'd it self much more in this days battle then did his Conduct in improving the advantages of it Since very far from drawing directly towards the forreign Army as the Prince of Condé would have had him undertaking if they would let him have Men to go and seize upon the passage at Saumur he lets his victorious Army separate contenting himself with taking an Oath of his Captains that they should meet again the Twentieth of November on the confines of Angoumois and Perigord to march towards the Reisters He only retained Five hundred Horse and taking the Count de Soissons along with him pierced into Gascongne whither the violent Love he had for the fair Countess of Guiche attracted him as it were perforce The news of the victory of Coutras had not those effects or that influence as might well have been imagined either on the Court nor in the Confederate Army the King shewed little sorrow perhaps because all that perish'd in that Fight were of the Leaguers He made however a magnificent Funeral for Joyeuse and as for the Forces of the Confederate Army they were so discourag'd by the length of their March and for that they heard the King of Navarre had turned his back upon them inâ—â—ead of coming towards them that they had little joy of the news Their Reistres mutined from time to time and the Swiss who in the beginning appeared very zealous treated an accommodation for themselves in particular promising to retire into their own Countrey if they would pay them Four hundred thousand Crowns That which made them in such haste to be gone was the defeat of the Reisters at Auneau this is a small City in Beausse enclosed with ill-favour'd Walls but which hath a pretty good Castle The Baron de Dona had lodged himself in the City and Year of our Lord 1587 all the rest of the Army in the adjacent Villages but could not gain the Castle and had satisfied himself with taking the Oath of him that was within that he would commit no act of hostility against him The Duke of Guise was always in the rear of this Army with Three thousand Men having sent back the Duke of Mayenne into Burgundy and Aumale into Picardy that they might cover the places there from any surprize of the Duke d'Espernons The twenty fourth
language reproaches and imprecations that a despairing fury and rage could possibly express the other was that having found the Popes Legat easily inclined to allow of his justificatio ntouching the death of the Duke he imagined it would be no hard task to obtain his remission for the Murther of the Cardinal Du Guast a Captain in the Regiment of Guards provided four Soldiers for this execution each of them being promised an hundred Year of our Lord 1588 Crowns The Cardinal therefore being called for by the King these Murtherers who waited his coming thorough a Gallery slew him with their Halberts Richelieu caused the Bodies of these two Brothers to be burnt and their Ashes to be scatter'd in the Air lest the People should make Reliques of them Pericard redcemed his life and liberty at the price of all his Masters secrets but neither threats nor caresses could extort the least sillable from the Archbishop that might stain the memory of his Friend and yet the King either because his fury was spent or because he had formerly loved him would not have them take away his Life Few People boasted of having a hand in this action either out of shame or for sear of a future revenge It will not be amiss to observe two things the one that such as had the greatest obligation to the House of Guise were the main Instruments of their destruction the other that these Princes were drawn into the snare under the publick faith and by the like most subtile and artificial dissimulations as they had joyned in to decoy those of the House of Bourbon and the Admiral de Coliguy at the Massacre in the year 1572. Such as were most clear-sighted did from that very time judge this must be attended with terrible Consequences the King himself began to perceive it when after the Murther of the Duke of Guise going to the Queen Mother to let her know what had past saying to her Madam now I am King indeed she asked him whether he had taken order to secure Paris and hinder the People from rising in all parts of the Kingdom and made him sensible as well by her countenance as her discourse that he was not yet in the condition he thought himself And then again when he found the Legat month December who though not much mov'd at the death of the Duke of Guise came now and declared he had incurr'd Excommunicatio Majorem for that of the Cardinal but much more yet when he came to know that not one of those Orders he had sent abroad had succeeded they not being able to seize upon any one of the Heads of the League For the Duke of Mercoeur who was at Nantes had diligent notice given him by the Queen Louisa his Sister and prevented their taking of him Likewise the Duke of Mayenne received a Courier at Lyons sent him by Roissieux a Gentleman belonging to his Brother and not finding the People of that Town in a disposition to protect him amongst them he went to Chaalon in Burgundy made himself Master of the Citadel and from thence hastned to secure Dijon The same Roissieux made them of Orleans take up Arms who besieged Entragues their Governor in his Redoubt at the Gate Baniere The Sixteen having kept the news private till they were secured of the Gates of Paris held an Assembly in the Town-Hall where they chose the Duke of Aumale to be their Governor For the first two or three days being yet uncertain of the events they put this colour upon their Revolt that it was to maintain themselves in perfect unity against all such attempts as might be made in prejudice to their liberties and the Catholick Religion but when they heard and found Orleans had declared and Year of our Lord 1588 the Duke of Mayenne in Burgundy they were no longer afraid to withdraw themselves from the Kings obedience whom they now called only Henry de Valois Year of our Lord 1589 With this beginning of new Troubles ended the year 1588. which the Prognosticators month January had predicted would be satal to all great Empires It would be prudence to bury in forgetfulness the furious heats of the Parisians against the King the declamations of the Pulpiteers the lewd Songs the infamous Discourses the bloody Satyrs wherewith they mangled his Reputation and I might omit were it not too great an injury and breach in History what the Faculty in Divinity esteemed the leading one of all Christendom asserted upon a Consultation held with them That the French were discharged of all Oaths of Fidelity and their Duty of Obedience towards Henry de Valois and that they might with a safe Conscience take up Arms against him which drew somewhat after it of a most terrible Consequence The first President Achilles de Harlay and many more of the Parliament directly opposed these Phrensies and endeavoured to moderate their overheated Spirits Bussy le Clere otherwhile a Fencer and then a Procureur in Parliament had the confidence to come into the Grand Chamber and cause a List to be read over of such as he said he had Order to Arrest When they had named the first President and ten or twelve others all the rest of the Company rose up and followed them most generously to the Bastille marching by two and two along the Streets to move the People to compassion In effect they were ready to run to their Arms but their Preachers hindred it by giving them to understand that all this was done for the maintenance of Religion and the publick safety Bussy kept those he had a mind to in the Bastille as the first President and some others The same day he seized upon many more in their Houses as well such as belonged to the same Company as to the Chambre des Comptes and the Cour des Aides but most of them got out again the same day or soon after having given their Oathsagainst the King Some realy changed Parties others dissembled till occasion presented to evade but many believed that they should be better able to serve their Country by returning to their places in the Parliament Of those was Barnabe Brisson who supplied the Office of first President and the next day held Audience with Doors wide open having made his protestation before a Notary that he did it by compulsion to save his own life and all his Families The League likewise changed the whole Bar as they pleased Molle was chosen Sollicitor General because the People earnestly demanded it for the reputation of his great Probity Year of our Lord 1589 When the League had thus reformed the Parliament the first Act they demanded month January of them was a Declaration to be sworn to by the Princes Cities and Commonalties of the Kingdom united with the three Estates for the preservation of Religion and publick security These three Estates were but the Seize and the Deputies of five or six Cities of that Party out of whom they had
in the Marishes But the advantage which the Duke of Montpensier Governor of Normandy gained over the Leaguers was much more considerable He had besieged Falaâ—se Brissac brought four thousand Gautiers to its relief he marches out to meet them and cut them all off near the Village of Pierresite which is within two leagues of Falaise and afterwards went and rooted out the whole Nursery of them at Vimoutier Bernay and la Chapelle-Gautier where part of them were knock'd on the Head part scatter'd and the rest constrained to lay down their Swords and fall to the Plough-share These were all Peasants that for two years had held those places not for any particular Party but to defend themselves from the robbing Soldiery and from the Tax-gatherers greater Villains yet then the Men of the Sword Their first place of meeting was in the Parish of la Chapelle-Gautier whence they had their name they were to the number of ten or twelve thousand Happy if they had not admitted two Gentlemen amongst them who did engage them in the quarrels of the Grandees for which they had not the least concern At parting from Chasteaudun the Duke of Mayenne did not go directly to Tours as it seems he ought to have done but turns himself to some other Enterprizes The one was upon the City of Vendosme he took it by the treachery of Francis Maille Benehard to whom the King of Navarre had given the Government and in the same draught of his Net caught all the grand Council who lodged there He had another to surprize the Duke of Espernons Cavalry who were quarter'd about St. Ouin and to have taken Prisoner Charles de Luxembourg Count de Brienne his Brother in Law that he might exchange him for the Duke d'Elboeuf For we must know that the Duke of Espernon was come back to the King with a good Party of Soldiers and had quarter'd his Foot at Blois to defend it from the fury of the Duke of Mayenne who threatned to lay it level with the ground and sow it with Salt in revenge of the death of his Brothers The Cavalry of the Count de Brienne were wholly cut off and he hemm'd in and then made Prisoner in St. Ouins but the King left him there not much caring to exchange him This hapned some few days after the Enterview of the two Kings The King of Navarres absence made way for the Duke of Mayenne soon after to attempt upon the City of Tours Perhaps the secret correspondence he held with Year of our Lord 1589 some of the Inhabitants who were Leaguers or even the Kings own Officers invited month May. him He parted about Evening on the Seventh of May with his Army and after a march of thirteen Leagues got the next day by Ten of the Clock in the Morning so near the Suburbs that the King who was gone out to walk towards Marmoustier did narrowly miss of being surprized by some light Horsemen The Duke a great Temporiser lost half the day in light Skirmishes it was near four in the Afternoon when having felt their pulses he roundly attaqu'd the Fauxbourg St. Symphorien and carried it in less then half an hour Which made it seem probable that if he had done so at the very first he might have taken the Town wherein he had a great Faction but towards the Evening Chastillon arrived with the King of Navarres Forces who lay not far from Tours and intrenched himself in an Island right over against the City Upon this the Duke reflecting that he had but few Horse and that his Foot were all new raised Men that the King of Navarre would soon return in Person with that part of his Troops who were remaining at Chinon judg'd it safest to make a retreat and dislodged without noise at the first break of day taking his march towards Anjou to gather up in that Country and in Perche and Mayne those Companies which the Gentlemen of the League had raised there This first Effort of the League having succeeded so ill the Nobless who before gave the King for lost perceived now he would be able to defend himself and hastned to come to him with great diligence Then having room to march into the Field which way he pleased he desired the King of Navarre to draw his Forces to Boisgency to make an essay upon Orleans sent the Count de Soissons into Bretagne to secure the City of Renes and himself made a Cavalcade to Poitiers thinking to confirm that City to his own Service which as yet did vacillate betwixt both Parties But Orleans stirred not for the approach of the Navarrois Army the Count unfortunately sell into the hands of the Duke of Mercoeur who made him Prisoner in Chasteaugiron within three leagues of Renes and the King did not find in Poitieres that kind disposition they had given him hopes of He returned therefore to Tours where he began afresh to fall into his wonted idleness still flattering himself with some accommodation with the League when the King of Navarre took the liberty to wait upon him and rowzed up his sloath by so many arguments of danger and honour that he forced him to mount on Horseback desiring of him but only two Months labour and activity to set him at rest all the remainder of his life Two messages of good news did likewise help to awake and spur him forwards one the defeat of the Lords de Saveuse and de Brosse the other the gaining of a Year of our Lord 1589 Battle at Senlis Saveuse and Brosse were Brothers and of the bravest indeed month June amongst all the Picards and the most zealous Leaguers who as they were bringing two hundred Lanciers to the Duke of Mayenne were charged by Chastillon in that part of la Beausse near Bonneval where yet the Cross of Saveuse is to be seen He slew a hundred of them and took fourscore Prisoners whereof the most part died of their Wounds Amongst others Saveuse who refusing any manner of help or consolation let his Soul sally forth together with his Blood detesting the Murther at Blois and spending his last breath in praising the heroick vertues of the Duke of Guise As to the affair of Senlis Tore who had great influence over that City because of the Voicinage of Chantilly having reclaimed them to the Kings service the Duke of Aumale would needs set upon it with some Parisian Forces and four thousand Men brought him by Balagny who called himself Prince of Cambray Now the very same day they had capitulated to surrender la Noue and the young Duke of Longueville who had drawn together some Ten thousand Men to go and meet the Swiss raised by Saney and some Lords of Picardy whose Houses Balagny had ruined resolved to succour it They briskly attaqued that Citizen-Camp and found no great resistance for they defeated and routed themselves upon the very first sight of their Army There fell about two thousand of them upon the
place and almost as many in the Woods of Chantilly who were knock'd at Head by the Peasants and a thousand Prisoners with all their Bagage and Artillery Mayneville and Chamois lost their lives upon the spot Aumale made but one continued Stage in running to St. Denis where he pickt up some small fragments of his defeat The Victors marched along by the very Gates of Paris throwing in some Volees of Cannon which carried to the Hales and afterwards they put Provisions into Vincennes which held yet for the King month July The Dutchess of Montpensier finding Paris much startled at this grand rout press'd the Duke of Mayenne to come and take some course otherwise all would be lost He came therefore within fifteen days having first reduced the City of Alencon When he had held some Consults with the Sixteen concerning the present state of Affairs he went to regain the City of Montereau which had surrendred to the Duke of Espernon then immediately descended along the Seine and encamped near Paris to cover it For already the Kings Army was before Pontoise and took it upon composition after Hautefort was slain and Alincourt the Governor grievously wounded in the Shoulder The Evening of the Capitulation the King had notice that the Foreign Assistance Year of our Lord 1589 he expected consisting of Ten thousand Swiss two thousand Lansquenets and some month July Light-Horse were arrived at Poissy By this means his Army amounting to above Thirty eight thousand Men the opinion of the King of Navarre and the younger Captains though contradicted by the old ones made them resolve to attaque Paris by main force So that the King extended his Army from St. Cloud where he lodged in the House of Gondy even to the Gate of Nuilly and the King of Navarre his from Vanvres to the Bridge of Charenton The Duke of Mayenne had enclosed the Suburbs on that side with great Retrenchments and distributed his Men about to guard them La Chastre was to defend those of St. Germains St. James and St. Marcel and himself those of St. Honore St. Denis St. Martin and St. Laurence in case the King should bring any Forces on that side He had not above ten thousand Soldiers but the Duke of Nemours was on his march to bring him the like number and he expected three thousand from Lorrain and some Cavalry from divers parts of the Kingdom sufficient Supplies but not so near at hand as was their danger Upon sight of the Kings Army the Royalists who were numerous in Paris the Cowards and such as had a great deal to lose did almost all declare bare-fac'd for an Accommodation and they were already observed to run from House to House to exhort their Friends to follow their example The apprehensions of a most bloody punishment did chil the Spirits of the hottest Leaguers and turn their zealous hearts into lumps of Ice to little purpose did their declaiming Pulpiteers endeavour to encourage them and keep their Souls from fainting with false reports pretended to be sent them from all parts of the Nation there was great danger lest upon some general attaque which was resolved to be made on the Second day of August their Swords should fall out of their trembling hands and more yet lest whilst they were engaged in Fight the Royalists should charge them in the Rear and set open some Gate for the Assailants entrance The Duke of Mayenne rather then come to such a dangerous extremity had made his Party to go forth with four thousand Men all resolved to die like him to run headlong upon the Enemies Lodgment and sollicite fortune de la guerre who sometimes shews a kindness to the generous in despair either to lead him safe by the hand out of that dismal Storm or bury his high and noble designs in a most glorious death He was yet in this extream resolution when an accident as dreadful as it was unfore-seen snatch'd him from the very brink of the Precipice A Jacobin Monk Year of our Lord 1589 named Frier Jacques Clement a Native of the Village of Sorbonne near Sens aged month August Twenty five years Profess'd of a Convent in Paris and lately made a Priest otherwise dull and ignorant enough of a very melancholy temper and susceptible of those black vapours and imaginations formed in the brain by adustcholer unhappily undertook to deprive the King of life In what manner and by whom he was induced to this is a matter of too great importance to be discoursed without more certainty and light then I could ever find but this is plain that if he were not prompted by any other to this design there were some at least much pleased he had undertaken it and who gave him instructions and an opportunity since they brought him acquainted with the Count de Brienne and some other Royalist Lords Prisoners in the Bastille and gave him â— Pass-port of that Counts and a Letter of Credence from the President de Harlay for the King but which was counterreit La Guesle Solicitor General going from his House of Vanvres with his Brother to St. Cloud met him upon that Road and learning from him that he had business of great importance to deliver to the King caused him to get on Horseback behind his Brother and carried him to St. Cloud Were it brutality strength of courage or an assurance of his pretended glory of Martyrdom never was so undaunted a Fellow seen as this pestilent Monk he supped merrily with la Guesles Servants was not concerned at all the questions they put to him and rested all night in a profound sleep The next morning being brought by la Guesle into the Kings Chamber he goes up to him without any dread speaks to him without hesitation presents him certain Letters and as he was reading takes his time draws a Knife out of his Sleeve and plungeth it into his Belly The King feeling himself wounded cries out plucks the Knife out of his Wound and gives him two blows the one on the Forehead the other in his Cheek La Guesle draws his Sword strikes the Monk imprudently upon the Forehead with the Pummel and two or three of the Quâ—rente-cinq more imprudent yet kill him upon the place When they had found whom he was the Grand Prevost caused his Body to be torn asunder by four Horses burnt the Quarters and threw the Ashes into the Air. At first the Wound did not appear to be very dangerous but as soon as they had Year of our Lord 1589 indication by a Glister given him that the small Guts were cut and that there was no month August cure he waited for death patiently and prepared himself in such manner as a most Christian King ought to do He made his Confession to the Chaplain of his Closet who gave him Absolution upon the promise he made of being ready to submit to whatever the Pope should Ordain yet spake not a word of setting the Cardinal
Fellow not able to get away revealed the whole Conspiracy They found twelve Soldiers concealed in the House of a Chanoine who were all Hanged and with them twenty seven as well Priests as Monks in their Ecclesiastical Habits There flocked People from all parts to the Siege of Paris some that till now had been irresolute were brought in for fear of sinking with a Party they believed could never rise again others in hopes of Plunder believing Paris would be left a Prey Year of our Lord 1590. June and July and that they should get Mountains of Gold many by the express Order of the King The Prince of Conty brought the Forces of Poitou Touraine Anjou and Maine Humieres sent a Party of those of Picardy and the Vicount de Turenne being recover'd of a great fit of Sickness was brought in a Litter at the head of a thousand Horse and four thousand Foot The King was not without great disquiets the interests and desires of the Catholicks and Huguenots were very different for the gaining of Paris The former as we have observed wished he might get in by an Accommodation the others would have it by force All agreed in this one point that they were much dissatisfied with him because the Catholicks urging him to become a Convert and the Huguenots to revoke the Edict made against them by Henry III. he could not as yet satisfie either the one nor the other so that from complaining they fell to caballing and conspiring In this perplexity he had about the end of May given a Pass-port to some Deputies of Paris to find out the Duke of Mayenne and exhort him to Peace but by what motive I know not presently recalled it again A Month after finding the Siege drew out in length and the disturbances caused by the two Parties in his Army increased more and more he consented to a conference betwixt the Legat and the Marquiss de Pisany newly returned from his Embassy at Rome It was held in the Hostel de Gondy in the Fauxbourg St. Germains but the Propositions on either part were so far distant that the Cardinal de Gondy who was present could find no medium to bring them any thing near a conclusion After the first fifteen days of the Siege the People beginning to find some scarcity they made a review of all Provisions in every House and they commanded all those month May and June that had more then for two Months to carry the overplus to the Markets and to the Bakers by this means they had Bread at six blanks the pound three weeks together During which the Populace allured by those distributions the Spanish Ambassador under-hand made of Pensions to the most Factious and publickly to the Rascality of some handfuls of half Sols stamped with the Arms of Castille spent their time in singing and dispersing Songs of false news which Madam Montpensier forged from day to day to amuse the Citizens At six weeks end which was the midst of June Wheat came to be at double the price and a fortnight after failed them all of a sudden Then their hunger spoiled their Mirth and turned their lewd Songs into sighs and groans The poor subsisted some days with Bread made of Bran then fed upon Herbs whereof they found good store in many Gardens Those to whom they had committed the oversight of these things had not taken timely care to send away such People as were unserviceable whose number amounted to above five and twenty thousand These were poor Peasants or Handycraftsmen to whose lot the bitter Potion first did chance to fall One day great Crowds of them were gathered together at the Gate St. Victor Year of our Lord 1590. June hoping to get out by a Pass-port they had sent to the King for but his Council dissuaded him from allowing that favour When those Wretches saw he had refused it they made so horrible an out-cry as much startled the whole City They resolved therefore in the first place to take some order to supply their present necessities and for this purpose went to search all the Clergymens Houses and Convents who ☞ were found to be provided even the very Capucins for above a twelve-month they were therefore enjoyned to bestow Food twice a day on all that were in want of Bread They reckoned seven thousand Families that purchased it for their Money and five thousand that had no other Money but their grateful Thanks The said time expired their Miseries began to grow greater then before they bethought them of husking and grinding of Oats to make Potage and because Wine failed in the Cabarets they invented and distributed I know not what kind of Beverage made with Oatmeal and Roots In the Month of July Bread rose to a Crown the pound weight the Septier of Wheat above sixscore Crowns one Sheep a hundred Livers and other things in proportion Amongst the Poor Dogs Cats and Mice were greater dainties then month July formerly Partridge or Hares old Unguents Candles Grease and the most fetid Oyls were used for seasoning their Broths of Herbs or Grass For want of Aliments they were fed with Processions particular and solemn Vows imposed upon them Prayers of forty hours long Sermons twice a day several Fraternities and Spiritual Assemblies withall various and false coined Intelligence and approaching hopes which though prepared for them a thousand several ways to fit their Palates and stay their Stomachs proved notwithstanding so thin a Diet as afforded but slender nourishment There are strange things related of this Famine Perhaps they may have added somewhat to the truth of the Stories but certain it is above ten thousand People perished for want of Food And yet of these poor Wretches some were so persuaded of the justice of their Cause and the glory of Martyrdom that they crawled to the Gates of the Churches there to surrender up their Souls to Almighty God others were so cowardly they rather chose to starve in their own Houses then die bravely with their Swords in hand Some few only leaped over the Walls and stealing thorough the Enemies Guards retired to certain Officers who were their Friends These being for the most part some Servants of the Kings did implore his Clemency with such repeated importunities that he gave leave for three thousand of those wretched Ghosts to come out of the Town divers whereof were choak'd so soon as the compassionate Soldiers gave them Bread to eat The said Commanders perceiving by this that the King would not use the extreamest severity took the confidence to let some numbers of them daily pass by when they were upon the Guard nay many did even send in small refreshments to their Acquaintance to their old Landlords and most particularly to the Ladies and by their example the common Soldiers conveyed Meat Bread and runlets of Wine over the Works in exchange whereof they received good Cloth and rich Stuffs at an easie rate It is believed that this
return of the Duke of Mayenne who seemed loath to enter upon this matter let slip some Sessions without any proceedings then adjourned the Conference for eight days notwithstanding a Truce or Suspension was agreed for ten days At first a difficulty arose which had like to break off all those of the League would not suffer that Rambouillet should be present because the Dutchess of Guise accused him of having a hand in the death of her Husband Rambouillet on the contrary insisted upon his staying since he was come fearing lest his exclusion should imply a tacit owning of what they charged him with and the Blood of that Prince be required of him and his Posterity He therefore positively denied the Fact and offer'd to purge himself by Oath upon which the Deputies of his Party stood up so resolutely for him that he was not excluded It is very remarkable that the King having heard how some did even charge him with that death took the pains to write a Discourse which was perused by the chiefest ☞ of that Assembly wherein he shewed he never was the Author of so tragical and so cursed a Council He instanced amongst other things that the late King telling him how a great Man who pushed him on to do that action had in a Letter written to him on that Subject put in these four Latine words MORS CONRADINI VITA CAROLI He the King of Navarre replied in the presence of many Persons of Honour still living Yes but Sir this Party has not told you all the History for the death of Conradin was the ruine of Charles For the particulars of what passed in the Conference at Surene they are to be seen in the Records that are published The Archbishop of Lyons and he of Bourges made very Eloquent Discourses on either side to shew the one that they could not acknowledge an Heretical prince the other that they ought to obey him and this last summoned the Leagued Catholicks to joyn with them for instructing and converting the King but these stood stiff not to receive nor have any communication with him till he were truly converted and the Pope had received him into the bosom of the Church This Resolution express'd with great freedom and assurance brought over that Prince who wavered before in so much as he gave his positive word he would become a Convert to those Princes and Lords that were about him and demanded a Conference for his instruction to which he invited all the most learned of his own Party and of those for the League to meet the Fifteenth of July Not that he pretended the performance of his promise should depend upon that but only as a ceremony and form becoming such an Act. Year of our Lord 1593 It was time he should speak plain for the Estates some days before having made a month June solemn Procession were preparing for the election of a King and if the Spaniards had then made the Proposition which they did a Month after in behalf of the Duke of Guise it is most certain that all had gone that way even in despite of the Duke of Mayenne for he had not yet made his Faction strong enough as having been too long employ'd at Rheims He was newly come from thence very melancholy and dissatisfied with the Princes of his own House who were more vex'd with him so that they had parted as irresolv'd and as much dis-united as ever each of them with vast and confused thoughts and very little abilities to put them in execution Nevertheless there was enough to console him for his misfortunes had he known how to improve the opportunity for the King apprehending the Estates might nominate one before himself were Converted offer'd to give him then the same advantages the Spaniards promis'd him only for the future He had no other aim when he consented to the Conferences but only to amuse the Royalists but the event was quite contrary it gave the King great advantage The Seize on the one hand and the Huguenots on the other did in vain endeavour to interrupt them they were too much engaged from Surene they were transfer'd to la Raquete then to la Villette They ended and broke up in this latter place because the Leaguers would conclude on nothing more but that they referred the judgment of the Reduction of the King to the Authority of his Holiness who only said they had the power of opening the Gates of the Church to him and the other rejected this Proposition because that would be to submit the Crown of France to the disposal of the Pope During the time these Conferences held the suspension of Arms was continued and brought the People to an absolute longing after Peace The King having observed this effect would allow it no farther but for three days but in exchange offer'd a Truce of six Months The Legat and Spaniards expressing great aversion to it the Duke of Mayenne durst not accept of it The Spaniards on their side having already suffer'd the Spirits of their Party to grow cool in the Estates disgusted them wholly by their odious Propositions for Mendozze labour'd to prove the right of the Infanta and to demonstrate that the Crown appertained to her His discourse was very unacceptable Feria afterwards imagining that they had rejected it because the French abhorred the Government of a Woman caused Tassis to propound that the Catholick King would Marry the Infanta to the Arch-Duke Ernest who should Reign joyntly with her as if it would not have been more eligible to admit of one Stranger to sit in the Throne of France then to crowd two in at the same time Year of our Lord 1593 The Nobility having referr'd it to the Duke of Mayenne to make him such answer month June as he should think fit the Duke gave him to understand that the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom could not allow of a Stranger That nevertheless the Estates to testifie their acknowledgments to the Catholick King desired he would take it well they should elect some French Prince and that he would be pleased to honour them with his Alliance by the Marriage of the Infanta to him Now after the Spaniards had spent some days in deliberating on this Proposition Feria replied by the Mouth of Tassis that the King his Master would furnish them with all the assistance they should desire provided the Infanta were declared Queen upon this condition she should Marry one of the French Princes whom that King should chuse the House of Lorrain therein comprehended This Overture dazled most of the Deputies and if at that time the Ministers of Spain without so many Ceremonies had but named one the Assembly would have agreed to it but whilst they were standing upon their gravity and expected to be courted to what did n◠in any wise belong to them this opportunity slipt thorough their Fingers Three Princes aspired to this nomination the Duke of Nemours and the Duke of Guise
his forward heat and brought him back to the Siege The Arch-Duke being returned into Artois employ'd his Forces for the taking Monthuliâ— which incommoded Ardres then dismissed them and retired to Arras He there fell sick of Grief as it was said for having no better succeeded in his Enterprize of Amiens and for the loss during his absence of seven or eight places taken by Prince Maurice along the River Rhine and in the Country of Over-Issel The same day he went off the Besieged being Summoned which was upon the Nineteenth of September did not think convenient to stand so obstinately on a defence which might have held long indeed but had been to no purpose and only dangerous to themselves They Capitulated therefore upon the best Conditions usually granted on the like occasions and promised to surrender in six days unless they were relieved within that time They were allowed to send notice of it to the Arch-Duke and gave Hostages for performance of the Agreement The said Term expired they rendred the Town in the Morning of the Five and twentieth of the Month The Constable received it in the Name of the King they going forth about Ten of the Clock the same day carrying off together with their Bagage three hundred wounded Men and a thousand Women whereof four hundred belonged to that City The King being on Horseback at the Head of his Army with great kindness permitted Montenegre and the other Captains to salute him by embracing his Knees At Evening he made his entrance into the City and gave the Government to Dominick de Vic who finding but Eight hundred Inhabitants there in all re-peopled it Year of our Lord 1597 with four thousand within two years after and obtain'd the re-establishment of all month September their Priviledges but could not prevent the raising a Citadel over their Heads which makes their Posterity sigh to this very day for the neglect of their great Grandfathers The King himself carried the news of the surrender of Amiens to the Arch-Duke month October and November who was in Arras went to visit him there with his whole Army and to salute him with some Volees of Cannon Then finding no body mov'd he returned to Dourlens and invested it But the Rains the Myre the scarcity of Provisions the too great Fatigues and the Maladies proceeding from all those inconveniencies constrained them to decamp before the end of the Month of October with great damage and some shame Towards the end of this year the Dutchy of Ferrara for want of Heirs Males reverted to the Holy See by the Death of Duke Alphonso II. the last Legitimate Prince of the House of Est and Son of Hercules II. and of Madam Renee of France Ferrara was of the number of those Territories which the Countess month October c. Matilda Daughter and Heiress to the eldest of the House of Est gave to the Holy See for the sake of Pope Gregory VII about the year 1077. Since that time the Male-off-spring of the other Brothers bearing the Title of Marquiss d'Est had ever enjoy'd it not as Proprietors but only Vicars of the Holy See till the year 1471. that Pope Paul erected it to a Dutchy and invested Borso therewith to whom the Emperor had also given Modena and Regio with the like Titles Now the Duke Alphonso II. seeing himself without Male Children had made divers Applications to the Pope and the Emperor to obtain the transport of his Dutchies to Cesar d'Est who was his Kinsman The Court of Rome did not think him fit to succeed because his Father who was an Alphonso was reputed but the Natural Son of Duke Alphonso I. of that name Thus on that side he could get no ground but he gave such vast Sums to the Emperor Rodolphus that he granted him the transport of the Dutchy Modena and Regio of the Principality of Carpy and some other Territories holding of the Empire He made account that with all these together with the great Wealth and the good Friends he should leave him he might be able to maintain himself by force in the Dutchy of Ferrara In effect when he died which hapned the Twenty seventh of October Cesar believing he should be supported by the Venetians and even the Spaniards too got into possession and at first stood firm against the Excommunications of Pope Clement and against his Army which was commanded by the Cardinal Aldobrandino Legat and Nephew of his Holiness but when he understood that the King of Year of our Lord 1597 France which he never did imagine took the affirmative for the Pope and found the dread of this great Power had cooled his Allies and affrighted the Ferrareses he threw down his Sword and made his Accommodation about the end of December By the Treaty he restored the Dutchy of Ferrara to the Pope Who left him all the free Lands or Estate which the House of Est had possessed there and granted that he and the Dukes his Descendants should have in Rome the same Rank and the same Prerogatives as the Dukes of Ferrara had there enjoy'd month November and December The City of Paris honour'd the Kings Victory with a Triumphant Entrance they made for him He pass'd the whole Winter in his Louvre hearkning to Propositions of Peace but making however preparations for War employing his Intelligences to disunite the Huguenots and above all to regulate and meliorate his Finances As to the Peace while he was yet before Dourlens Villeroy on his behalf and John Richardot on the Arch-Dukes conferr'd together upon the Frontiers of Picardy and Artois and had agreed together that both Kings should send their Deputies to Vervins where the Popes Legat was to be present in quality of Mediator Year of our Lord 1598 Both were equally inclined to it upon different Considerations Henry IV. after so many satigues and pains earnestly desired to enjoy his repose and apprehended lest month January by the continuation of a War Fortune should shew him such another slippery trick as the surpisal of Amiens that some new Faction should start up within his Kingdom amongst the Grandees or the Huguenots or even in his own House because he had no Children As for King Philip he found himself even dying and saw his Son both weak and unexperienc'd so that they were both resolved to proceed with more sincerity then is wont to be practised on such occasions The King for this purpose named Pompone de Bellievre and Bruslard de Sillery both Counsellors of State and the latter also a President in Parliament The Arch-Duke having powers from the King of Spain who had contrived it thus that so if his Deputies must give place the shame would be the less to him made choice of John Richardot President of the Catholick Kings Council in the Low-Countries John Baptist Tassis Knight of the Order of St. James and Louis Verreiken Audiencier Prime Secretary and Treasurer of the Council of State Year of our Lord 1598
Those of France arrived at Vervins the Seventh of February those of Spain a few month February days after The French as being at home went to visit them first yet would not extend their civility so far as to give them the upper-hand at their meeting This was a great stumbling Block at their very entrance the Legat found an Expedient to remove it He took the higher end as it belonged to him placed his Nuncio at his right had and gave the French their choice either to sit beneath the Nuncio or right over against him They chose the latter and left the other to the Spaniard This method satisfied them all these vaunting they had the right hand and the other that they were scated nearest to the Legat besides that he to whom we allow the choice hath the advantage They first agreed to a Cessation of Arms for four Leagues round Vervins and safe-Conducts for their Couriers that should travel to Paris and Bruxels The King had explained himself that he could not Treat unless they would put things into the same condition as they were stated by the Treaty of Cateau in Cambresis Anno 1559. and that they would comprehend his Allies the Deputies for the Arch-Duke agreed to the first but having no express Commission for the second they were forced to send into Spain about it A general one was sent them but with private Orders enjoyning them not to comprehend the Rebels of the United Provinces whom they pretended to be still their Subjects or else in exchange to comprehend on their side the Duke of Mercoeur who was no more Rebel said they then those Provinces as also the Duke of Savoy who should not be obliged to restore the Marquisate of Salusses These were two great difficulties there were also two others the one concerning the manner and time for restoring of places and the other the business of Cambray for the French demanded it should be left to its Neutrality and that the Citadel should be razed and the Spaniards were obstinate for holding it because as they pleaded they had conquer'd it from an Usurper But for the two first the Kings indulgent Fortune and the faithful Care of his Officers surmounted them The Duke of Savoy in the beginning of February had again taken the Field with a considerable Army having Albigny for Lieutenant month February lately entred into his Service With these Forces he regained Aiguebelle and then besieged Charbonnieres a place standing upon a high Rock at the entrance into the passage of Chamberry near St. Jean de Maurienne Lesdiguieres sent Crequi with Twelve hundred Men to its relief the Duke suffering him to approach hemm'd him so dexterously in amongst the streights of those Mountains with all his Men that he defeated one Party of them and compell'd the rest with their Commander to lay down their Arms and surrender themselves after they had lain one night in the Year of our Lord 1598 Snow month February This defeat had carried such a dread into Daufine and Lyonnois where there were at that time no Forces as it put the Duke upon a new attempt against those Provinces Lesdiguieres himself pretended to be amazed at the blow and perhaps might be so but the old Fox having recover'd his sences contrived a design which put a stop to all the Dukes further Conquests This was the taking the Fort de Barraux He attaqued it the night of the Thirteenth of March by Moon-shine and month March gained it by meer strength in less then two hours time although the Garison had notice of the Enterprize and waited him with their Matches ready lighted and cock'd The reputation of this Action was very great though the importance of the place was not so the Savoy Ambassador did not talk now so lowd at Vervins However he stood stiff for the Marquisate but the Spaniards did not so back him as they ought to have done their Masters Son in Law but obliged him to relinquish So that month March and April as to what concerned him they came to an Agreement That the Pope should be sole Judge of the Differences between him and the King That his Holiness should decide them within one years time That if he should happen to die before that time there should be a three Months Truce between the Parties during which they should make choice of some other Arbitrators That in the interim the Duke should surrender the City of Berre in Provence which he yet held and that he should disown Captain la Fortune who had seized upon Seure in Burgundy in his name That the Duke should stand Neuter between the two Crowns As to the Duke of Mercoeur he seeking every day new pretences and shifts to delay his Agreement hoping the Spaniards would comprehend him amongst their Allies the King was advised by Schomberg to draw towards Bretagne that so his presence might wholly quell the Duke and likewise determine the business of the Huguenots He follow'd this good Advice and sent Order to Brissace to begin the War whilst he prepared for that Expedition and appointed a Council at Paris to govern there during his absence and Forces to guard the Frontiers against any invasion of the Arch-Dukes So soon as Brissac had drawn the Sword he executed an Enterprize projected upon Dinan The Inhabitants having barricado'd themselves against the Castle he besieged it and took it upon Composition The King departed from Paris in the Month of February The rumour of his March so terrified those Captains that held month February the little places upon the Frontiers of Bretagne as Craon and Rochefort in Anjou Montjan in the Country of Maine Mirabeau in Touraine Tifauges in Poitou and Year of our Lord 1598 Ancenis even in Bretagne that they brought the Keyes to him on his way month February The Dukes astonishment was great when he heard those places he expected should serve him as Out-works to retard the Kings Progress were fallen in a moment and so had left all those he held in Bretagne wholly naked and besides much startled by their example There being now no other Refuge for him but the Kings Clemency he had recourse to it by the intercession of the Kings Mistress newly made Dutchess of Beaufort who offer'd to obtain honourable Conditions for him provided he would bestow his only Daughter in Marriage upon her eldest Son who by the Courtiers was called Caesar-Monsieur He did not reject this Proposition but his Wife Mary month April de Luxembourg-Martigues a proud and haughty Princess could not condescend Her Husband notwithstanding knowing what power the Ladies had with the King sent her before-hand and charged her to offer the said Daughter to him to be disposed of in favour of that Prince as best pleased him Both of them hoped this Lure would dispose the Dame to render them the good Offices they stood in need of and that afterwards they should find means to delay the accomplishment of their Promise
terms with design Biron should take him up and give him some occasion to draw his Sword Biron far from undertaking to justifie the King began to rail much worse at him then the Duke and having once let loose the reins of his impetuous Spirit disclosed all his secrets and made known there was already a Conspiracy formed to dethrone him The Duke surprized and pleas'd at the same instant to hear of this which was above his hopes immediately closed with the Party offer'd all his assistance to the Conspirators and even wrote into Spain to make them partakers of such good tidings But perhaps they might be acquainted with it sooner then himself and Picote have Negociated the thing with the Count de Fuentes who was a Personal Enemy to King Henry IV. This Picote was a Native of Orleans but an ill Frenchman who fled to the Low-Countries Biron had held him Prisoner at Aussonne and there it was he first began to know him From this day the Duke began to caress Biron extreamly and to flatter his vain and ambitious humour Knowing the too great Reputation of this Mareschal gave the King some Umbrage he studied to praise him even to excess before his Face on purpose to augment his jealousie and picque him to let fall some disobliging thing against his valour and brave feats in War In effect he did force two or three very stinging Expressions from him which straightway the Duke convey'd to the Mareschals Ears by Lafin a double and dangerous Man who having corrupted Biron by his flatteries was a great Agitator in this intrigue and made the Conditions between the Duke and the Conspirators After Twelfth-tide they notwithstanding went on to Treat of the Affair concerning the Marquisate there being four Deputies on the Kings part as many on the Dukes the Patriarch of Constantinople also assisting who had Orders from the Pope to use all his dexterity to dispose the King to leave that Territory to the Duke so much he feared the Neighbourhood of the French might bring a War perhaps Calvinism into Italy The Duke on his side made divers Propositions to the King sometimes Year of our Lord 1600 he demanded the Marquisate upon Homage for one of his Sons then offer'd an exchange month January he propounded three several ones The King would hearken to none and persisted to have either a Sentence for Restoral or the Sequestration in the hands of the Pope In fine the Duke approving neither the one nor the other proposed to leave him the Marquisate in exchange for Bresse comprising the City and Citadel of Bourg Barcelonnete month February with its Vicariat even to Angentiere the Valley of Sture that of Perouse and Pignorol with their Territories The King accepted this offer the Treaty was Signed the Twenty seventh of February and they allowed the Duke three Months time to consult with the Lords his Subjects and to have free liberty to chuse either the Reintegrande or this exchange Three or four days after he took leave of the King who conducted him as far as Charenton and left him the Baron de Lux who accompanied him thorough Champagne and Burgundy to the borders of Bresse This year as all others which are the last of an Age in the Christian Aera was named the Holy-year because of the Jubile observed at Rome with the Ceremonies his Holiness is wont to practise upon that great Solemnity It being customary for such Ambassadors as are there to obtain Remission by offring an Almes he from the King distributed amongst the poor two thousand pieces of Gold stamped with the Arms of France Amidst the great affluence of Pilgrims whom either devotion or curiosity for there were many Religionaries brought to the said City the Duke of Bar made one but incognito This Prince after his having lived like a kind Husband with Madam Catharine his Wife for six Months together had suffer'd his Confessor to fill his Head with so many scruples of Conscience that he left her and took the opportunity of this Jubile to go and obtain his Absolution of the Pope and a dispensation for the time to come The Pope did flatly deny him the latter unless Catharine would become a Convert and for the first he so terrified his timorous Conscience that he promised never to cohabit with his Wife but repudiate her unless she would become a Catholick Upon this protestation he was privately restored to the Communion of the Faithful for to have been admitted publickly the transgression being publick he must have undergone a Pennance that was so Two smart words from the King would have made the Court of Rome step over all these difficulties and joyned him again to his Wife for want of this courage the poor Princess did for a while live as a Widow in the midst of Marriage In the Spring time the King being at Fontainebleau was Spectator and in a manner Moderator of the dispute between James Davy Du Perron Bishop of Evreux and Philip du Plessis Mornay This last had compos'd a large Treatise against the Mass Year of our Lord 1600 the gravity of the Matter the quality of the Author the politeness of the Language month May. and the force which at first appeared in his Reasonings and those Authorities drawn from the Fathers to the number of above four thousand had acquired him a great deal of Reputation and that Reputation had been mightily increased by the feeble attaques of all those that had undertaken to refute him The King had great interest and reason this work should be blasted because many suspected he maintain'd and justified the Author who in effect had served him very successfully both with his Pen and with his Sword Now Du-Plessis himself gave him the occasion by his temerity Du Perron who was in his Bishoprick of Evreux bragg'd he would produce five hundred passages in his Book which were falsely alledged maimed or alter'd The Friends of Du-Plessis advised him to reply that if there were any such he would forsake them and stand to those that were not so of which there yet remained to the number of above three thousand five hundred but he too fond of his own labours summon'd Du Perron by a publick challenge to joyn with him and set his hand to a Petition for the King to appoint Commissioners to examine and verifie the Passages in his Book Line by Line Du Perron did not flinch from it and the King named five viz. for the Catholicks the President de Thou Francis Pithou Advocate and John Martin Reader and Phisician to the King for the Huguenots Philip de Canaye Lord de Fresne and President at the Chamber of Castres and Isac Casabon Regis Professor in the Greek Tongue He had sent for this last to be an Ornament to his University of Paris but some years after he went into England It was extream imprudence in Du-Plessis to undertake a Combat where the King and all his Court were Parties and to venture
of the King as likewise many of the Princesses and greatest Ladies of the Court to keep her Company After the Consummation of the Marriage which was performed the very same day of his Arrival the City of Lyons honoured the Queen with the Pomp of a Magnificent Entrance Afterwards the Nuptial Ceremonies were celebrated the Seventeenth of December in the great Church there by the Cardinal month Decemb. Aldobrandin Whom which we mention en Passant the King permitted to exercise the Functions of Legate in his Kingdom though his Faculties were not verified in Parliament The Treaty of Peace which had been begun at Chambery was continued at Lyons between Sillery and Janin on the King's part and Arconnas and des Alymes on the Dukes The Legate contributing his Mediation and care to advance it obtained a Suspension of Arms from the King for a Months time while they were in Treaty The Pope and the Spaniards did above all things dread the French should have the Marquisat and the Duke had likewise a great deal of interest not to suffer it because by this means they would have had footing in the midst of his Estates and have held him as it were continually blocked up in Turin It was therefore not very difficult to make him offer Bresse in exchange The French withall demanding Eight hundred thousand Crowns for the Expences of Year of our Lord 1600 the War the Legate obliged the Deputies of Savoy to add for that consideration Bugey and Valromey and then also the Bailliwick of Geix that they might have Cental Demont and Rocque-Sparviere for the King affirmed that those places were not of the Marquisat of Salusses but of the County of Provence The Chancellor and Villeroy had positively promised the Legat that none of the places taken from the Duke should be demolished and he had sent such word to the Pope To the prejudice of this Promise Rosny had blown up the Fortress of Sainct Catherine by Mines and the Inhabitants of Geneva failed not to demolish it Hearing this News when they were ready to Sign he was so offended that he ceased intermedling any further with the Treaty and openly declared that he revoked all he had said Arconnas and des Alymes did not so hastily press him to undertake the Business anew as judging the Citadel of Bourg was yet in a condition to hold out a long time and in the mean while their Duke together with the Spanish Army would make some great Attempt to put in Relief The Besieged suffered very much already most of them having for at least a Month past fed upon nothing but Dogs and Horses During the Suspension the King had allowed they should be furnished with a Hundred Loaves a day and some Bottles of Wine But with these refreshments they convey'd in a Report that their Deputies abusing of their faithful Constancy did not hasten to conclude the Treaty but trusted more to what they could yet suffer then they did Commiserate them for what they had suffer'd already The Besieged thought this so great a Truth that they sent a Ticket to those Deputies Signed by Bouvens and all their Officers to declare they could not hold above two days more and that they should make their account accordingly The Necessity was not so pressing as they pretended However the Deputies took so hot an Alarm that they immediately besought the Legate to renew the Treaty He would do nothing in it till they had given him a Declaration in Writing Year of our Lord 1601 that it was upon their request and that they would Sign all he had agreed to month January They had received Letters indeed from the Duke of the Eight of January which enjoyned them to Sign when the Legate commanded it But when all was concluded they excused themselves by reason three days afterwards another Express was come which order'd them to defer it till the Duke had confer'd with the Count de Fuentes They ought no doubt to have follow'd the last Instructions and yet the Legate who found all the pains he had taken likely to be lost and himself like to receive a sensible Affront employ'd Arguments Intreaties and Artifice to persuade them that they were bound to follow the first The Spanish Ambassadour joyned his instances to the Legates and the Necessity of their Master's Affairs pressed them also for they believed the Citadel of Bourg to be lost Yet could they find no way to reconcile the breach of this last Order with their Duty the Patriarch found out one which was that the Legate should give them a Promise month January under his hand To make the Duke approve of the Treaty to free them from his Indignation and to warrant their Persons Declaring that what they had done was out of the respect due to his Authority and because of the rank he held in Christendom Upon the assurance of this Writing they Signed the Treaty the Seventeenth of January but to say the truth this was no reason to the Duke it was rather an offence to own the Commands of any but himself Therefore the Negociation being ended Arconnas was received by him with extream coldness Des Alymes fearing something worse durst not go to Court but set himself upon making his Apology and understanding it had but the more exasperated the Duke he changed his Soveraign and retired to the Country bearing his own Name called Bugey The Duke and the Count de Fuentes deferr'd for some time to ratifie the Treaty the Duke because he was willing that to oblige him to it King Philip his Brother in Law should have recompenced him for the inequality of an exchange which he pretended to be very disadvantageous to himself The second because he ardently desired a War hating the King's Person and vainly promising himself he should find the Fortune de la guerre as favourable in those Parts as formerly in Picardy The Legate who was then gone to Avignon took such an Alarm upon their refusal that he rode away Post to find the Count at Milan and e're he went dispatched a Gentleman to the King to desire he would harbour no distrust concerning his making good the Treaty and to prolong the Suspension of Arms for Year of our Lord 1600 Fifteen days more The Duke of Savoy made them wait yet Seven or Eight days e're he came to Milan and the Count being of intelligence with him refused to Sign before that Prince had done so But when King Philip had signified his Pleasure and the Legate by a wyle of an Italian Breed and Air had reproached him that he alone hindred the Duke from Signing had picqued him with Honor and obliged him to decipher the whole Secret between him and the Duke he could delay it no farther And besides the Duke having sent a Messenger expresly to Bourg with a Token which was the one half of a broken piece of Gold to know the condition of the place upon pretence of going there to Surrender it found
they treat the good Catholicks After his Confinement unless at those times when he fell into perfect raving his mouth was ever full of Reproaches Imprecations and Rodomontado's Year of our Lord 1602 When they came to interrogate him he disown'd the Project then owned it without any necessity denied and then confessed divers Facts and upon this so ticklish an occasion whereas the wisest speak but by Monosyllables he launched into tedious Discourses and thereby often and very much entangled himself As to the Witnesses he reproached them not till after he had heard their Depositions though he had been fore-warn'd that if he had any thing to object it must be before-hand Thus he owned Laffin for an Honest man and his good month June Friend Then when they had read what he deposed he Curs'd him as the worst of all Mankind a Sorcerer a Traytor and a Sodomite Had he said this in due time it might in some measure have weakned his Evidence He said that if Renazé had been alive he could have testified the contrary and justified him he did not imagine he was so near at hand and was much amazed when they read his Deposition and brought him to confront him This fellow had made his escape from the Prison at Quiers with his Keepers so opportunely one would have guess'd the Duke of Savoy was of Intelligence with the King The Witnesses alone Convicted him for most of his Writings were dated month July before the Pardon the King had granted him at Lyons All things being ready they led him to the Parliament to give Judgment He was convey'd thither by Boat with a strong guard The Chambers were assembled the Chancellour presided not one of the Dukes or Pairs were there although they had been summon'd in due form He defended himself somewhat better there than he had done before his Commissioners They gave him full liberty and time to Plead and this time he did Plead as he had often Fought that is he did wonders All the strength of his defence consisted in an endeavour to make it out that the Will without any Effect or a Design without an Overt act was not punishable that his Services ought to over-poise and excuse some transports of passionate and indecent words and thoughts that had no farther consequence And above all he laid his main stress upon this that the King had Pardon'd him in the Cordeliers at Lyons To these Reasons and Arguments he added so lively a Representation of his brave deeds and so many Motives for Compassion that he drew Tears from the Eyes of some of his Judges and if they had at that instant given their Opinions perhaps he might have found some mercy but they having then not time enough to take all their Votes the Business was deferr'd till Monday in the mean while he was remanded to the Bastille On Monday while the Judges were in Consultation an Order was brought them under the Great Seal whereby he revoked the Pardon he had given him by word of mouth at Lyons Some of his Ministers finding the Prisoner stood so much upon that and apprehending his fury if he should escape prevailed with the King to make the said Revocation though it were a thing altogether unnecessary and somewhat contrary to his Natural Clemency The Judges as one Man gave all their Votes for his Death They declared him Convicted of High-Treason for Conspiracies against the Person of the King Designs upon the State and Treaties with the Enemies and Condemned him to have his Head cut off in the Greve his Estate confiscate to the King the Dutchy of Biron to be Extinguish't and those Lands and others if he had any which were held of the King reunited to the Crown The Sentence being brought to the King he put off the Execution till the next day and changed the place from the Greve to that of month July the Court in the Bastille Which to his Friends was interpreted as a Favour though it was purely an effect of the fear they had of some Commotion not so much amongst the common People as the Soldiery who loved him most entirely Upon Tuesday the last day of July about Noon the Chancellour with some Councellors of State and of the Parliament went to the Bastille to put the Sentence in Execution So soon as Biron saw him he cried out he was a Dead man and asked if there were no Pardon The extravagancies and the transports he shewed in this last Scene where his Courage ought to have shew'd its force if he had had any demonstrates enough that some who dare venture into dangers with Bravery because they have a prospect of overcoming have not the resolution to stare Death in the face when there 's no possibility of escaping The Year of our Lord 1602 Chancellour having given Order they should lead him to the Chappel he gave ☜ himself up to Cries to Complaints and to Reproaches protested his Innocency summon'd the Chancellour to appear at the Bar of Almighty God accused the King of Ingratitude and Injustice After he had thus spit all his fire and venom he fell into the other extreme his too great love of life flatt'ring him yet with a faint beam of Hope made him beseech his Judges to intercede once more for him and made him even beg the favour of Rosâ—y though he esteemed him his most mortal Enemy Then when he found they all were deaf and dumb to his requests he fell into more fury than before They had at first no little trouble to bring him to that condition a Criminal should be in to hear his Sentence pronounced yet he heard it patiently enough excepting those words which accused him of having Conspired against the Person of the King this he could not endure but cried out That was False and he persisted to his very death that he was innocent as to that point It was a mighty laborious task the Doctors had to prepare and dispose him to his Death he had scarce any settled intervals They thought fit not to tye him lest that should put him out of all his Senses When they led him to the Scaffold the sight of the Executioner put him into a new rage He would not let him touch him nor tye a Handkerchief over his Eyes he bound it on himself and then unbound it again two or three times At last the Executioner took his time and blow so dexterously as made his Head fly off at one stroke As it was full of Fire and Spirits it was observed to make two Rebounds and cast forth a much greater quantity of Blood than came from the whole trove of his Body His Corps month July was interred in the Church of Sainct Paul with a marvellous Confluence of People who flocked thither from all Parts and served for his Funeral train He was of a middle Stature and for Corpulence gross enough had black Hair beginning to turn grey his Physiognomy cloudy and ominous his Conversation rough
his Eyes sunk inwards his Head little and no doubt ill furnished with Brains his extravagant Designs his giddy Conduct and the foolish Passion he had for gaming losing in one year above Five hundred thousand Crowns were infallible marks of it The King bestowed the Government of Burgundy on the Daufin and the Lieutenancy on Bellegarde during his Minority The Death of Biron put out all the remaining Sparkles of the Conspiracy if any were yet alive his Friends and Relations bemoaned his Death but durst not murmur his Confederates knowing he had said nothing against them and being certain they had not written any thing for amongst his Papers they found no Letters but his own reassured themselves and that more especially because the King made as if he had no knowledge of their Practises the King of Spain nor Duke of Savoy dared not make any attempt now whose Ambassadors were not the last that Congratulated the King for his having detected this Conspiracy He let them understand he very well knew their evil Disposition towards him but yet assured them he would not break the Peace but he denied to grant Passage by this Bridge de Gresin to their Milan Forces before he had thorowly inform'd himself of all this grand Affair Their Design as they gave out was to pass into Flanders nevertheless he suspected they were brought thither only to favour the Enterprize of the Mareschal de Biron and apprehended when he was first taken lest they should have exasperated his Confederates by despair Upon this consideration and to keep Burgundy in obedience he had sent thither the Mareschal de Lavardin with some Forces So that those who held the Castles of Dijon and Aussonne after they had used threatnings four or five days talked no more but of submitting when they perceived him in a condition to force them The Fidelity no less than the Courage of this Lord was well known to the King upon many Trials therefore for some time past he had taken delight in bestowing the Noblest employments upon him to eclipse the glory of Biron month July Edme de Malain Baron de Lux Lieutenant in the Government of this Province acquainted with the utmost Practises of the Conspiracy was so wise and fortunate as not to lose himself He trusted to the Mercy of the King came to him and disclosed all Wherefore he Pardon'd him without any reservation passed his Oblivion in the Parliament of Paris and in the Parliament of Burgundy and left him in his Command Year of our Lord 1602 The Baron de Fontenelles of the House of Beaumanoir and René de Marcc-Monibarot month August and Septemb. Governor of Renes were apprehended as Confederates with Biron The Grand Council having a Commission to try the first condemned him to be Drawn on a Hurdle to the Greve and there to be Broken alive upon the Wheel and sent two or three of his People to the Gallows The Cruelties this Gentleman had committed in Bretagne during the Leagne and the obstinacy he had shewed for that Party did not a little help to aggravate his Punishment On the contrary the Services which Montbarot had done the King in that same Province did much contribute towards his justification The Count d'Auvergne remained but Two Months in the Bastille after the Death of Biron the King set him at Liberty and also received him into his Favour He had a Powerful Intercessor month October in his Sister the Marchioness of Verneüil and moreover he owned all he knew The Mareschal de Bouillon thought it more safe to be at large and to justifie himself at distance He consider'd that Rosny jealous of the too great credit he had amongst the Huguenots did him ill offices at Court and he had reason had he been never so innocent to apprehend the Indignation of the King because at Poitiers that Prince having told him of his Practices he retorted again too confidently and in such a manner as is justly accounted Criminal towards a Soveraign Thus far from coming upon the King's Commands he went and presented himself at the Cambre my-Partie of Castres offering to justifie himself there for he pretended they were his Natural Judges because his Vicounty of Turenne is within the Jurisdiction of the Parliament of Toulouze whereof the Chamber of Castres is a Member How-ever it were he drew from them an Act of Comparition for which the King was very angry with them Passing by Montpellier he engaged the Reformed Churches of Languedoc to write in favour of him to the King then finding no place of Security in France he went to Geneva and from thence into Germany where having perswaded the Protestant month October Princes of his Innocency and craved the intercession of Queen Elizabeth he gave his Enemies more cause to animate the King against him Towards the end of this year the King discover'd how the Prince of Joinwille month December had suffer'd himself to be circumvented by the Spaniards and negociated some Contract or Colligation with them by means of Philip d'Anglure Guyonvelle a Lord Franc-Comtois He caused him therefore to be apprehended but when he found there was more of Puerility and Wantonness than Malice in his Transactions he would not put the young Prince in Prison he only put him into the Custody of the Duke of Guise his eldest Brother that he might teach him more Wit Amidst so many Inquietudes and Alarms the Court tasted some little joy at the reception they made for the Swiss and Grison Ambassadors who came to Paris to Swear their renewed Alliance with the Crown They were in number Forty two Sagner Advoyé of Berne was their Orator They arrived at Paris the Fourteenth of October and stay'd there Thirteen days The manner of their Reception their Lodging the Feasts that were made for them the Ceremonies they used at their Swearing the Alliance in the Church of Nostre-Dame which was performed the Two and twentieth of October the Presents which the King bestow'd on each of them were just the very same things as we have seen these latter years upon the like occasion and are withal more proper to fill up a Ceremonial than a History But it is remarkable that at the Treat was given them in the Archbishoprick after they had taken the Oaths the King who had dined apart came into the Hall where they were sitting accompanied by the Cardinals de Joyeuse and de Gondy and some other Lords and presenting himself at the end of the Table without sitting nor yet suffering any of them to rise drank to the health of his Comperes or Gossips and obliged the two Cardinals to do the like The Ambassadours received this Honor bare-headed and Pledged him in the same manner About four or five days afterwards they took leave of him having obtained Three things which they earnestly desired The First for the whole Body of the Cantons viz. A Confirmation of the Privileges that had been granted to them in France Of
was drawn up and signed by the Witnesses then present The Ceremony being over and the Gates open'd the Count de Castro Ambassador of Spain came to congratulate the Senate upon their reconciliation with the Holy Father and the Cardinal went to celebrate Mass pontifically in the Patriarchal Church where were present the Senate and the Count de Castro the people flocking thither from all parts with incredible joy Those Bishops that had not submitted to the Censures received absolution likewise but whilst they were in dispute about the Conditions with those whom the Pope had preposed for this Affair they wholly abstained from Celebrating and thus in effect submitted to the interdict after all The Senate honoured such as had written in their defence with good Pensions and took them into their protection but their whole power and care was not enough to secure Fra Paolo from the malice of some Assassines who having watched him a long time surprized him one day as he was returning to his Monastery and wounded him in several places with a Stiletto but such care was taken in the cure that he recovered Afterwards he hung up the Stiletto before an Altar in the Church belonging to his Convent with this inscription Dei Filio liberatori not so much perhaps to Consecrate his acknowledgment to God as to immortalize the horror of that Assassinate and stir up the publick hatred against those who were believed to be the Authors I come now to the Truce between the Vnited Provinces and the King of Spain The two parties were extremely fatigated with a War of above forty years continuance they had both of them diversly resented the inconveniencies and did dread the Event the Spaniards had expended infinite Sums of Money and lost more Men then those Countries were worth They saw no probability of reducing them by force and apprehended withal that if they should chance to get too much advantage over them they might cast themselves into the Arms of the French for protection which would have drawn after them the other Provinces that were yet left them But the greatest of their fears was lest they should utterly ruine their Trade to the Indies and hinder the Arrival of their Flota's Year of our Lord 1606 which are their main subsistence Besides their Council imagined that as the War had served only to exasperate and harden those People the more and taught them better how to defend themselves a Peace would soften them by little and little recover their wonted communication and perhaps incline them to respect their ancient Soveraign at least the Catholick party who made up near a fourth part of those revolted Provinces Withal the Arch-Duke Albert most ardently desired the Peace thereby to enjoy Flanders quietly and be able to employ his Money and Friends to gain the Imperial Throne which he expected would soon be vacant by the death of Rodolphus On the other hand the Provinces finding themselves overwhelmed with debts almost forsaken by the English and under the apprehension of being so too by the French who grew weary of contributing so much towards the expences of a War without reaping any apparent profit Many of their Merchants imagined that a Peace would bring them Mines of Gold and some being greatly allarm'd at the progress of Marquiss Spinola who amongst other places had taken Grol and Rhimbergue took the freedom to say That since they could not subsist of themselves in a separate body of State it were better they should rejoyn themselves to their natural Lord then to put themselves under another who would lie more heavy upon them as being so near a Neighbour A certain Flemming named Caminga one of the first of those who were otherwhile called Gueux having one night held such like discourse was the next day found dead in his Bed at Embden Their dispositions being such on either part the Arch-Dukes first sounded the Foord by Valrave de Wittenhorst and John Jevart who in the Month of May month Decemb. of the year 1606 first conferred with some particular Members of the States then towards the end of the same year were heard in the Assembly of the States themselves This first time having represented the long and cruel miseries of War and praised the mild and good intentions of the Arch-Dukes they propounded the re-union of those Provinces with the rest under the obedience of Year of our Lord 1607 their ancient Prince The States were not over-much pleased with the discourse and sent them back with an Answer directly contrary to their demand viz. That by the Decree made at Utrecht Anno 1579. the King of Spain had lost his right of Soveraignty over those Provinces and that they had been Vnited in one Body and declared a free State and Republick the which had been confirmed by a prescription of more then five and twenty years and by several Princes and States with whom they had made Year of our Lord 1607 divers Treaties and Confederations The Arch-Dukes as is believed made this Essay only in point of honour for their Deputies sent immediately to let the States know That the intention of their Princes was not to gain or take advantage of the United-Provinces but to leave them in the condition they then were in and to Treat upon that foot This proposition did not displease the States and on their side the Arch-Dukes month February and March to shew they acted sincerely employ'd in this Negociation Father John Neyen or Ney General of the Cordeliers but who was a natural Flemming and had been bred up in the Protestant Religion till the age of two and twenty years His Father was one Martin Ney otherwhile very well known too and employed by the Father of Prince Maurice As to the rest his behaviour appeared to have so much of integrity that notwithstanding his change of Religion and Habit the Hollanders had a great deal of confidence in him He brought them very obliging Letters from the Arch-Dukes who offer'd amongst other things to take away all suspicion of any surprize to depute none for this Treaty but Originaries of the Low-Countries to hold the Conferences in such place as it should please the States to chuse to agree to a Truce of eight Months and to get the conditions ratified by the King of Spain The States accepted of the Truce to begin on the fourth of May the Letters of the ratification were deliver'd on either part and publication thereof made The difficulty was for the ratification from Spain Lewis Verreiken Secretary of State to the Arch-Dukes brought it the fourteenth of July to the Hague but as it was only in paper subscribed Io el Rey and sealed only with the little Seal moreover as it gave the Arch-Dukes the Title of Lords of the Low-Countreys and they had omitted this Clause That they should treat with those Provinces as holding them for a free Country The States found it imperfect as well in form as in substance month
up that Weed by the roots at its first springing they ought to have held a general one Those are the proper and sovereign Remedies God has left his Church wherewith to extinguish the like flames but often-times humane Policies does not suit with it And in those very days the mistaken interests of Princes and of the Pope himself opposed the common good of the whole Christian Church The Council of France put the Court of Rome into a Fit of Trembling at every mention they made of calling a National Council so greatly did they apprehend the Capacity of the French Divines and the Liberties of the Gallican Church Nor was this one of the least considerations and motives which obliged Pope Paul IV. to recontinue the Council of Trent The Memoires of this Great Council have been collected by several persons and its History written and published by divers Authors but somewhat variously and in many things rather according to their inclinations and their particular engagements then the naked truth Pope Clement VII had been obliged in 1533. to assure the Emperor Charles V. he would convocate one that same year but when he understood how the Protestant Princes very far for submitting to the conditions he desired maintain'd and urged that he ought not to be present at it since he was a party that the controversies were to be judged by the word of God only and that the Laity must have their suffrages as well as the Clergy he made no great haste to forward it and only promised the said Convocation not setting either the time or place Pope Paul III. his Successor indicted it effectually for the two and twentieth of May in the year 1536. at Mantoua from thence because the Duke feared for his City he would have it held at Vincenza in the Territories of the Seigneory of Venice and there to begin in the Month of May of the Year 1538. but the Germans complaining that the said place was too remote from them the Venetians being under some apprehensions of exasperating the Turk who dreaded this grand Assembly and withal but few Bishops appearing there he suspended it for as long time as he pleased Anno 1541 by consent of the Catholicks of Germany who had held a Dyet at Spire he appointed it by a Bull dated the two and twentieth of May to be held the first of November of the same year in the City of Trent and nevertheless all Europe being soon after put into a Confusion with the War between Charles V. and Francis I. he was forced to recall the Legates he had sent thither and to suspend it yet a second time till a more convenient Season which he would declare when he judged fit The Peace was made between the two Kings Anno 1544. In this Treaty some Propositions were hinted about reforming the abuses of the Church of Rome The Pope having notice of it judged it necessary to prevent them and a second time Summoned the Council of Trent for the fifteenth of March of the year 1545. with this precaution however that he gave his Legates order in case any thing were moved against his interest either to dissolve it or to transfer it The Assembly was found to be so thin that he Adjourned the opening of it till the thirteenth of December when the number being little encreased the French Bishops who were but three had thoughts of retiring however they did remain and the Council was open'd Year of our Lord 1546 and 1547. After some Sessions and divers Prorogations during the years 1546 and 47. it hapned that the Emperor gained great advantage over the Protestant Princes of the League of Smalcalde The Legates who knew the intentions of their Master perceived then that it was not for his interest to hold the Council any longer in that place Taking therefore an occasion upon some flying report of the Plagues being gotten into that Vicinage they transferr'd it to Bologna the eight and twentieth of February in the year 1547. not staying to be informed whether the Emperor and the King would approve of it the Spanish Bishops refused to follow them and remained at Trent The same year in the Month of April the Emperor gained a great and entire Year of our Lord 1547 1548. Victory over the same Protestants which contrary to all expectation instead of rejoycing his Holyness who could not have believed this put him into ☞ most terrible apprehensions He sancied already he saw the Emperor pursuing his advantage entring into Italy wresting from him Parma and Piacenza making himself Master of the City of Rome restoring the Imperial dignity there and that which he feared more yet then all this reforming the abuses of his Court according as the Bishops even of his own Territories when they were at the Council had highly declared for in many set Speeches Amidst these Alarms the Holy Father not knowing which way to turn himself did earnestly solicite the King of France to oppose this formidable progress to rally and support the scatter'd remnants of the Protestants and even to call in the assistance of the Turk Thereupon the tenth day of September hapned the death of the Duke of Piacenza his Son his grief for so Tragical an Accident joyned with the terror of the Emperors Victory together with those protestations his Ambassadors made against its Translation were the chief causes he made the said Council to cease Anno 1548. It was interrupted till in the year 1551. the vehement instances of the Emperor and the Catholicks of Germany obliged Pope Julius III. to re-intimate the same at Trent the first day of May of that year and to begin again where they had left off Some Protestant Princes and some certain Cities to comply with the Emperor sent thither their Deputies But soon after the War of Parma broke out and the King being offended that the Pope should League himself against him with the Emperor wrote to the Council by James Amiot Abbey of Bellosane a very disobliging Letter for the Pope and filled with these like protestations That there being no free access at Trent for his Bishops he could not send them thither That he did not hold it for a General Council called to reform Abuses and to restore the Discipline but looked upon them as an Assembly practised by subtil intrigues and for temporal interests That therefore he did not believe himself obliged or bound to their Decrees neither himself nor the Churches of his Kingdom but declared That when ever is were needful he should have recourse to the same means and remedies whereof his Predecessors had made use in the like cases The Pope being soon weary of the War dispatched Legates to the Emperor and to the King to Treat of a Peace The faculties of him that came into France being presented to the Parliament received the same restrictions as had been put to those of the preceeding ones Now the King being well again with the Pope the Council
surrender to the King that they might be at ease the Peasants and Commons of the upper Guyenne rose and took up Arms to defend themselves from the plundrings of the Nobility and the cruel vexations of Tax-gatherers They gave them the nick-name of Tard-Advisez and they again retorted the appellation of Croquants because in effect they feed upon and devoured the poor Country People Their first Rendezvous was in Limosin Chambret who was Governor there for the King beat and dispersed them Those of Angoulmois who endeavour'd to do the same were likewise scatter'd by Massez the Kings Lieutenant in that Country But it was not so facile to appease those of Perigord A Country Notary first brought them together in the Forest of Absac within a League of Limiel and they afterwards had divers other Assemblies where they increased to the number of Forty thousand The Mareschal de Matignon enervated their whole Strength by inveigling from amongst them all such as had born Arms of whom he formed several Companies and sent them into Languedoc the King allay'd the rest of the Storm by remitting the remainder of their Tailles Bretagne and Burgundy were yet standing out not having submitted to the King We may say one part of Provence also for he thought it worse in the hands of Espernon then in those of the League The Inhabitants of Laval introduced the Mareschal d'Aumont into their City Lesonnot Governor of Concarneaux treated with him Talhouet soon after did the same for Redon and made himself Master of Morlaix by the assistance of the Bourgeois and of the Castle after a long Siege There were five thousand Year of our Lord 1594 Spaniards in the Province commanded by one Don Juan d'Aquila and the Duke of month October Mercoeur had three thousand very good Men so that if they could have agreed together they would have been stronger then the Royalists but the jealousie of those two Nations and the peeks between the two Chiefs rendred them incompatible Aquila refused to joyn with the Duke to relieve the Castle the Duke did the same when Aumont had besieged the Fort of Crodon which the Spaniards had built with great expence upon the point de la Langue which divides the Gulf of Conquet and commands it Before this Quinpercorentin being only invested had surrendred to the Mareschal and soon after the Town of St. Malo perfected their Treaty wherein her Merchants made it appear they were neither ignorant in their Interests nor in their Politicks As for Provence the King durst not overtly set aside the Duke of Espernon as well because of the Intelligence he might contract with Spain and Savoy as because of his Alliances with the Mareschal de Bouillon the Duke de la Trimouille and Ventadour who besides were very much discontented and even with the Constable de Montmorency I call him so for the Sword was given him the precedent year He therefore only sent for him to come to Court to do equal Justice upon his and the Countries Complaints But the said Duke having four thousand Men lent him by the Constable and five and twenty hundred which himself had raised he returns into his Fort and held the City of Aix by the throat as he did the Count de Carces and the Parliament exercising his revenge upon all those that fell into his hands Lesdiguieres moved by their re-iterated cries quitted the Affairs of Savoy to go and succour them He passed the River of Durance at Ourgon and intrenched himself month May c. at Senas Espernon came bravely forth to meet him and try'd him by great Skirmishes but could not stop his march for the Constable would not risque his Men but even withdrew them quite This Lord who after a long Series of Troubles and Crosses was become huge Circumspect found it much safer to make himself a Mediator then a Party in a Cause wherein it was to be feared the King would declare He therefore procured a Truce for three Months during which time the Fort was deposited in the hands of Lafin a perpetual Negociator Lafin had undertaken to put three hundred Men in Garison there to keep it in Sequestration Lesdiguieres found means to slip in a great many Soldiers that belonged to him amongst those others so that by his invention the Fort was in his disposition Being therefore one day the Eleventh of July gone month July out of Aix as if to fetch a walk he approaches insensibly to the Fort and when he was near enough commands the Captain in the name of the King to give it up that it might be razed He no sooner spake but the Garison set open the Gates to him in despite of the Captain and at the same time he abandons the said Fort to the Provencaux who in less then two days ruined that vast work which the Spanish Year of our Lord 1594 Army had been above a year in raising month July That done he returned into Daufine apprehending the great preparations for War the Duke of Savoy was making Lesdiguieres had taken several little places in his Country This Prince having regained them all during his absence did also take Briqueras even in his sight making good use in this Enterprize of the Milanese Forces month August who were going to wage War in Burgundy month November The King going after the taking of Noyon to visit his Frontiers of Champagne this was in the Month of November agreed to a Peace with the Duke of Lorrain who had endeavour'd to make it above a twelvemonth before by Bassompiere He promised this Duke to do right to him and his Children as to the Succession of Catharine de Medicis their Grandmother without prejudice to what the Duke pretended as well in his own behalf as theirs to the Dutchies of Bretagne and Anjou and the Counties of Provence Blois and Coucy He left the propriety of Marsal to him and to his Successors the Cities of Dun and Stenay in exchange of Jamets which the Duke rendred to France And moreover promised him the Government of Toul and Verdun for one of his Sons and to the Brother of that Son that should survive him Bassompiere had the Lands of Vaucouleurs engaged to him for an old Debt of Sixty eight thousand Crowns and for thirty six thousand more he lent in ready Money to the Treasury In the same Month of November was in like manner concluded the Treaty between the Duke of Guise and the King who by this means retrieved likewise the Cities in Champagne which were yet in the Leaguers hands Some Months before this young Prince having none that were considerable in his absolute disposal had secur'd himself of Rheims after this manner St. Pol a Creature of his Fathers and who saved his Life the day before the Barricado's master'd this Town by means of a Redoubt he had built at the Gate called Mars and pretended by this piece and some others which he held to make the King confirm his
Mareschals Staff to him The Duke who would needs get this prey to make his own Composition the better quarrel'd with him one day in the Streets of Rheims and ran his Sword into his Belly By his death he became Master of Rheims and having withall the Cities of Rocry St. Dizier and Ginville he procured a very advantageous Treaty For they gave him four hundred thousand Crowns in Silver the Government of those Places besides that of Provence The last not so much to gratisie him as to dispossess Espernon and perhaps that they might ruine one another thereby Burgundy which hitherto had remained almost entirely for the Duke of Mayenne began to give him the slip Auxerre Mascon and Avalon broke his Bonds Dijon and Beaulne were upon the point to do the same when he flew thither with his Light-Horse Now perceiving he could contain them no longer by fair he used foul means and severity caused in Dijon the Heads of James Vernes who was the Mayor to be â—ut off and Captain Gau's razed the Suburbs of Beaulnâ— doubled the Garison Year of our Lord 1594 and fill'd up all the Gates excepting one Moreover to preserve the rest of the month November Province he persuaded the Spaniards to make a sudden War on that side Meer necessity kept him yet in Confederacy with those dangerous Friends He knew the Duke of Feria and Diego d'Ibarra imputed all this decadency of Affairs to his treachery which could indeed be justly imputed to nothing but his slowness and irresolution He knew they hated him so mortally that when he went to the Arch-Duke Ernestus after the Siege of Laon they had deliberated to take off his Head as a Traytor and seeing the Arch-Dukes Council would not concur in that point they had essay'd to rid their hands of him by Poyson or by Poniard And indeed some imagin'd it was he who first to revenge himself for their unhandsom Treatments possess'd the Kings Council by such Friends as he had amongst them with the design of declaring War against them and that he had privately made his Treaty with the King However it were the Party was strong enough in Council to persuade him to a Rupture The Huguenots desired it out of that perfect hatred they still bear to the Spaniards The Catholicks to divert the Huguenots from their Contrivances by giving them this satisfaction and such Employments as would have been improper to entrust them withall upon any other Service The honest Frenchmen to unite all hearts together revive their affections for their Country and consound all the remainders of Factions and Cavils about Religion in the more zealous prosecution of this common Quarrel The Politicks in fine to make a strong Revulsion without of that Venom which caused so much mischief within and to employ the Enemies of the Kingdom in quenching a Fire at their own homes in stead of suffering them to blow the Coals continually in France It was therefore resolved in the Kings Council to carry the War into their Country and because Hainault and Artois were known to lie the most exposed to that ruine which must follow upon a Rupture between the two Crowns it was judg'd fit to write to the principal Cities of those Provinces that if they could not prevail with the King of Spain to withdraw his Forces out of the Territories of France and if they did not forbear to make War upon his Subjects and the Cambresians whom he had taken into his protection he was resolved quickly to make them feel the weight of his Arms. It is held that three Persons did more especially inspire the King with this design Gabrielle d'Estree his Mistress Balagny and the Mareschal de Bouillon Gabrielle that Year of our Lord 1594 he might Conquer the Franche-Compte for her Son Caesar Balagny that he might month November plunder Hainault and Artois the Mareschal for two ends the one to maintain himself in the Seigneury of Sedan the other to give an opportunity to Prince Maurice of Nassaw his Brother in Law to fix his Grandeur by securing the liberty of the United-Provinces For we must know that Charlote de le Mark the Mareschals Wife hapning to die some Months before without Children he retained that Principality by vertue said he of a Testamentary Donation she had made to him and the acquisition of the right of the Duke of Montpensier and had very lately betroathed Elizabeth the Sister of Prince Maurice He vaunted of having Correspondents ready to spring their Mines in the Country of Luxembourg Balagny promised to make a great breach in Artois and Sancy was positively confident of prevailing with the Swiss to Conquer the Franche-Compte The Duke of Lorrain too offer'd towards this Expedition four thousand Men commanded by Tremblecour and Aussonville In effect they did enter the Comte at the very beginning of the following year but it was against his interest and contrary to his intention Neither did they do any thing but make some incursions very ruinous to the poor People except it were their taking the little Towns of Vezou Luxeu and Jonville month December The King made his approaches to the Frontiers of Artois imagining to have had some good success there the severity of the Winter brought him back to Paris and almost to a tragical death For the same day he arrived which was the Seven and twentieth of December at six in the Evening while he was in his Mistresses Chamber at the Hostel du Bouchage and stepped forward to embrace Montigny he received a stroke with a Knife on the lower Lip which broke one of his Teeth Immediately they seized upon a young Fellow who was thrusting into the Crowd and by his scared Countenance they knew it must be he had made the attempt His name was John Chastel Son of a Woolen-Draper dwelling before the great Gate of the Palais aged about Nineteen years a melancholy Spirit who said in his Interrogatories That he was prompted to commit this Crime because finding himself laden with hainous and unpardonable Sins and imagining he could not avoid the Torments of Hell he had thought at least to diminish them by this attempt which he believed to be a Meritorious Act for that said he the King not being reconciled to the Church could be nought but a Tyrant He confessed likewise that he had made his Exercises in the Colledge of Clermont under the Jesuits and that Year of our Lord 1594 they had often led him into a Chamber of Meditations where Hell was represented month December with several most frightful Figures This disposition added to the injurious Libels against Henry III. and against the King now Reigning found in the Chamber of John Guignard one of the Fathers of the Society and whereof he was the Author and likewise the remembrance of the zeal which some amongst them had manifested for the interests of Spain and some Maxims their Preachers had published against Kings and against the ancient Laws of the