easily retaken was in a manner wholly ruin'd and dissipated for want of Money of Provisions and Ammunition of a train of Artillery and other Supplies which were always promis'd them but never sent them and especially by the ill intelligence which was betwixt the Duke of Mayenne and the Marshals of Matignon and Biron the first Governour of Guyenne and the last Commander of a little Army in Poitou which was to have cover'd that of the Duke For those two faithfull Servants of the King well knowing the secret of their Master who was wholly averse from the destruction of the King of Navarre for fear himself and the whole Royal House shou'd be left at the mercy of the League which he knew wou'd never spare them artfully broke all the measures of the Duke of Mayenne Insomuch that he found himself constrain'd to return to the King without bringing along with him the King of Navarre Captive as he had boastingly promis'd him to doe and without performing any thing of that which the League expected from his Zeal to the party As for the Duke of Guise finding no Germans upon the Frontires of Champagn to combat and besides not being accompanied with any great Forces his whole expedition was terminated in taking Douzy and Raucour two small Towns belonging to the Duke of Bouillon against whom the Duke of Lorrain made War concerning which I shall say nothing because it has no relation to the History of the League On the other side the Huguenots manag'd their affairs not much better 'T is true that the Sieur of Lesdiguieres had some advantage over the League in Dauâ—hine that he made himself Master of certain places and amongst others of Montelimar with the Castle which he took by a regular form'd Siege and Ambrun which he surpris'd and where the rich Ornaments of the Metropolitan Church were plundred by the Souldiers according to the custome of the Huguenots which though he was a man of strict Discipline and moderate in his Nature he was no way able to oppose But besides that they werâ— roughly handled in other Provinces and that all which cou'd possibly be done by the King of Navarre who had not yet drawn together all the Troops which he expected was onely to stand upon the defensive they receiv'd a great blow by the memorable defeat which was given to the Prince of Conde who was like to have perish'd in that unhappy attempt which he made upon the Castle of Anger 's That Prince who had made up a little body of an Army about the Skirts of St. Iean d' Angely which he held in stead of Peronne had successfully begun his Campaign in Poitou having driven out of that Province the Duke of Mercaeur who was come from his Government of Bretagne to the assistance of the League And as after that gallant action he had re-inforc'd his Army with Troops which swarm'd to him from the neighbouring Provinces upon the report of his Victory he undertook the Seige of Broüage in favour of the Rochellers who suppli'd him with Money and Amunition He was accompanied with a great number of brave Gentlemen and Lords of great Quality amongst others by Rene Vicount of Rohan Francis Count of Rochefoucault Montguion Lieutenant to the Prince George Clermont d' Amboise Loüis de St. Gelais and Claude de La Trimoüille who was afterwards Duke of Thouers and whose Sister he then sought in Marriage whom he espous'd not long after and there is great appearance of probability that it was rather on that account than any motive of Conscience and Religion that this young Lord far from â—ollowing the example of his Father who declar'd himself Head of the League at Poitou gave into the other extreme and turn'd Huguenot together with his Sister Charlotte Catharine de la Trimoüille to have the Honour of being Married to the Prince of Conde How strong is the Power of Ambition over minds that are dazled with the deceiptfull Splendour of wordly Greatness that it should be able to oblige a Brother and Sister issued from Loüis de Trimoüille and Iane de Montmorancy Daughter of the great Constable both of them firm Catholiques as were all their illustrious Ancestours to turn Calvinists one to be Brother in Law to a Prince of the Bloud and the other to be his Wife From this Marriage there was Born on the first of September in the Year 1588 the late Prince Henry de Bourbon who by a most happy Destiny directly opposite to that of his Mother being issued from a Father and Mother so obstinate in Calvinism became one of the most Zealous Princes for the Catholique Faith that this Nation cou'd ever boast and he who declar'd himself the greatest Enemy of Calvinism So also has he left to Posterity a most glorious remembrance of his name which shall never perish amongst all good Frenchmen for having constantly defended Religion with all his power exercising in that Holy and Divine Imployment both his Valour and his Wit which he had in perfection as he made appear on all occasions and principally in the Counsel whereof he was cheif when he died of such a death as the Acts of all the most solid vertues wherewith it was accompanied render'd precious in the sight of God I believe my self oblig'd in point of gratitude to doe justice in this little Panegyrique to the great Merit of that Prince who has formerly done me the Honour on many occasions to give me particular marks of his esteem and his affection and hope that they who take the pains to peruse this work will not blame me for this short Digression taken occasionally by writing of the Prince his Father to whose actions I now return The Nobility who were come to attend and serve him in that important Siege of Broüage had brought along with them a considerable number of Huguenot Gentlemen as also some Catholiques who were Enemies to the League And with these Recruits he had almost reduc'd the place to terms of yielding when changing his design all on the sudden like an unexperienc'd Captain he lost the fruit of his former labours and plung'd himself into extreme danger For having understood that Captain Roche-Mort one of his best Officers had surpriz'd the Castle of Anger 's in the absence of the Count de Brisac who being made Governour of it after the death of the Duke of Alanson had declar'd himself for the League he left before Broüage the Sieur de la Roche Baucour St. Meme with the Infantry to continue the Siege and march'd himself with all the Cavalry consisting of two thousand Horse to relieve that Captain who with Seventeen or Eighteen Souldiers onely held the Castle of Anger 's against the Burghers who besieg'd him But the Prince setting out somewhat of the latest and marching too slowly when the fortune of his Enterprize depended on celerity he had no sooner past the River of Loyre in Boats betwixt Saumur and Anger 's but he receiv'd advice
incompass'd the Queen's Palace and many of which were got upon the walls had hinder'd the execution of such a purpose For that which pass'd betwixt them at this Conference since I find nothing of it in the most exact Memoirs of those times I shall not offer to relate it as Davila has done by a certain Poetical licence which he and some other Historians have us'd to make men think and speak without their leave whatever they please to put into their thoughts and mouths What I can deliver for undoubted truth is this that there was nothing concluded at this Enterview and that the King who had resolv'd before hand to chastise the most Seditious of the Sixteen and to make himself Master of Paris after a long consultation taken by Night with those in whom he most confided continu'd firm to the same resolution and set up his rest to stand by it in spight of the arrival of the Duke With this determination he sent the next morning for the Prevost of the Merchants and the Sheriffs and Commanded them in company of the Lords de Villequier and Francis d' O. to make an exact search for all those Strangers who were come to Paris some few days since without any urgent occasion to call them thither and to cause them forthwith to depart the Town without respect of persons This was a manifest endeavour to weaken the Duke of Guise to reduce him to those seven or eight Gentlemen who attended him into Paris and consequently to give him occasion of believing that after they had rid themselves of the others they wou'd attacque him Perhaps the design was so laid as some have conjectur'd with probability enough but if this were really their intention there are others who believe that according to the advice which was given by the Abbot of Elbene they had done more wisely to have begun with the Duke of Guise when they had him single and at their mercy coopt up in the Louvre and they ground this opinion on the meaning of that Abbot's words who quoted the Scripture to this purpose It is written I will strike the Shepherd and the Flock shall be scatter'd However it was intended the Parisâ—ans immediately took the Alarm perceiving clearly that those Strangers who were to be sent out of the City were no others but those very men whom the Duke of Guise had convey'd into the Town for their defence and for his own Insomuch that when they went about to execute that Order and to search their Houses every one oppos'd them and the Citizens set themselves with so much obstinacy to conceal their Lodgers that the Deputies and Commissaries fearing a general Insurrection through all the Quarters durst proceed no farther And in the mean time the Duke of Guise who was the Soul that actuated this great Body forbore not going to the Louvre but well accompani'd and the very Evening before the Barricades he presented the Napkin to the King But as after the flashes of the Lightning and the ratling of the Thunder comes a furious Tempest and lays waste the Field so after those mutual fears and jealousies those Nightly meetings those Murmurs and Menaces and those preparations which were made on both sides with so much tumult either for assaulting or for defence they came to the fatal day of the Barricado's which was follow'd by that horrible deluge of misfortunes with which all France was overflow'd For at last the King more incens'd than ever by the resistance which was made to his Orders and fully resolv'd to make himself be obey'd one way or other caus'd the French Guards to enter Paris with some other Companies and the Swissers which in all made up six thousand men this was done on Thursday the twelfth of May just at day break he being present himself to receive them on Horseback at the Gate of Saint Honorè And after having given out his Orders to their Officers to Post them according to his direction he enjoyn'd them above all things to be no ways injurious to the Citizens but onely to repress the insolence of such who shou'd go about to hinder the search for Strangers After which himself retiring to the Louvre the Marshals d' Aumont and Biron who were at the Head of the Troups went to Post them with beat of Drum in the Church yard of St. Innocent and the adjoyning places on the Pont Nostre Dame on that of St. Michael on the Pont au Change at the Town-House at the Greve and at the Avenues of the Place Mauhert It appear'd immediately by what follow'd that this was in effect to give the signal of a mutiny and general revolt to all Paris For a Rumour being spread that the King had determin'd to put to Death a great number of the principal of the League and a List being also forg'd of their Names who were to be Executed and shown openly to the people the Citizens according to the order of their Captains and Overseers of their Wards were in a readiness to put themselves into a posture of defence at the least motion that was made For which reason so soon as they heard the Drums and Fifes and that they beheld the Swissers and the Guards advancing through the Street of Saint Honoré they doubted not but the report which was nois'd about by the Sixteen was true and farther believ'd as they had been also assur'd that the Town wou'd be sack'd and expos'd to Pillage The Alarm therefore was given round the City They began by shutting up their Shops and the Church doors on that side of the Town They rang the Tocsin or alarm Bell first in one Parish and then in another and immediately afterwards through all Paris as if the whole City had been on fire Then the Citizens came out in Arms under the Overseers of their Wards and their Captains and other Officers of the Duke of Guise who had mingl'd themselves amongst them to encourage and to marshal them The Count of Brissac who had plac'd himself at the Quarter of the University towards the place Maubert where Crucè one of the most hot-headed of the Sixteen caus'd the alarm to be Sounded being himself incompass'd with a multitude of Students a rabble of Porters Watermen and Handicrafts men all Arm'd who waited onely for the signal to assault the Swissers was the first who gave Orders to Chain the Streets to unpave them and erect the Barricades with great logs of Timber and Barrels fill'd with Earth and Dung at the Avenues of the Palace And this word of Barricades passing in a moment from mouth to mouth from the University into the â—â—ty and from the City into the Town the same was done every-where and that with such exceeding haste that before Noon these Barricades which were continu'd from Street to Street at the distance of thirty paces from each other well Flanck'd and Man'd with Musquetiers were advanc'd within fifty paces of the Louvre Insomuch that the King's
questionless they had many Inducements which contributed otheir obstinate Resolution of suffering so long and so contentedly The Examples of the Princesses and great Ladies who satisfy'd Nature with a very small Pittance of Oat Bread taught them to bear those Miseries with constancy of Mind which their Superiours of a more delicate and tender Sex supported with so much chearfulness of Spirit Add to this the great Care and Vigilance of their Heads to hinder Tumults and Seditions and the immediate Execution of Mutineers Then the Awe and Terrour which was struck into them by the Sixteen who had resum'd their first Authority in the Town and who commonly threw into the Seine without judicial Process or form of Law all such as were suspected to hold Intelligence with the King or to make the least mention of a Treaty But the most comfortable consideration was the great Alms which were daily distributed amongst the Poor by the Order and at the Charges of the Legat Cajetan the Archbishop of Lions the Spanish Embassador the Wealthiest of the City Companies and the Cardinal Gondy Bishop of Paris who voluntarily inclos'd himself within those Walls for the Relief and Ease of his poor Flock Besides they had no small Encouragement from the false Reports which the Dutchess of Montpensier who was very skilful in coining News caus'd dayly to be spread about Paris and the Assurances by Letters whether true or forg'd which she said she had receiv'd from her Brother the Duke of Mayenne from time to time of speedy Succours All which Considerations serv'd not a little to encourage the People and to inure them to that wonderful sufferance of their Miseries But after all it must be ingenuously acknowledg'd that the Cause which principally produc'd this great Effect was the Zeal of Religion which was easily inspirâ—d into the People of Paris and the great care which they took to perswade them as really they did that it was no less than to betray it and expose it to the inevitable danger of being utterly destroy'd as had happen'd in England if they shou'd submit themselves to a King who made an open Profession of Calvinism For in fine they omitted no manner of Arts and of Perswasions to make this Opinion be swallow'd by the Multitude and consequently to harden them against the fear of Death it self rather than endure the Dominion of a Prince who was an Heretique In the first place they made use of the Sorbonnists which as their Liberty was then oppress'd immediately made a new Decree on the seventh of May in which it is declar'd That Henry de Bourbon being a relaps'd Heretick and excommunicated personally by our Holy Father there was manifest danger that he wou'd deceive the Church and ruine the Catholique Religion though he shou'd obtain an exteriour Absolution and that therefore the French are oblig'd in Conscience to hinder him with all their Power from coming to the Crown in case King Charles the Tenth shou'd dye or even if he shou'd release his Right to him and that as all such who favour his Party are actually Deserters of Religion and continue in mortal Sin which makes them liable to eternal Damnation so also by the same reason all such as shall persevere to the Death in resistance of him as Champions of the Faith shall be rewarded with the Crown of Martyrdom On the occasion of this new Decree a General Assembly was held at the Town-House where all the Assistants were sworn to dye rather than to receive an Heretick King This Oath was renew'd yet more solemnly on the Holy Evangelists betwixt the Hands of the Legat at the foot of the great Altar of the Church of Nostredame after a general Procession at which besides the Clergy were present all the Princes and Princesses and all the Companies the Bishops and Abbots the Colonels and Officers and the Persons of Quality follow'd by vast Multitudes of People where the Reliques of all the Churches in Paris were carryed This Oath reduc'd into Writing was sent to every House by the Overseers of the several Wards who oblig'd all persons to take it After which the Parliament made an Ordinance prohibiting on pain of Death that any one shou'd speak of making a Composition with the King of Navarre and above all the rest the Preachers of the League and the famous Cordelier Panigarole Bishop of Ast with Bellarmine the Learned Jesuit who both acted in Conjunction with them the Divines of the Legat Cajetan who preach'd like the rest during the Siege encourag'd their Auditors to suffer all Miseries rather than subject themselves to an Heretick assuring them according to the Decree of the Sorbonne that if they shou'd loose their Lives for such a Cause they dy'd undoubtedly for the Faith and were to be esteem'd no less than Martyrs There also happen'd an Accident which as fantastical and ridiculous as it appear'd was yet of use to animate the People and to fortifie them in their Belief that it was their Duty to make opposition even to Death against the setting up an Heretick King For above twelve hundred Ecclesiasticks as well Seculars as Regulars amongst whom were the most reform'd and most austere of every Order such as were the Carthusians Minimes Capuchins and Feuillants made a kind of Muster marching in Rank and File through the Streets wearing over their ordinary Habits the Arms of Foot Soldiers having William Roze the Bishop of Senlis at their Head and the Figures of the Crucifix and the Blessed Virgin flanting in their Standard to make it appear that since Religion was the Matter in dispute their Profession as peaceable as it was gave them no Dispensation in that Case from hazarding their Lives in War like other Men and that they were all resolv'd to dye with their Brethren in the Defence of Faith All Paris ran to this Spiritual Show which was like to have prov'd fatal to the Legat for making a Stop with his Coach at the end of Pont Nostredame to behold this noble Spectacle of the Church Militant while they were giving a Salve in honour of him one of those good Fathers who had borrow'd his Musket from a Citisen and knew not that it was charg'd with Bullets let fly with no worse Intention than to show his Manhood and fairly kill'd one of his men who sate in the Boot which caus'd the Prelate who lik'd not that unchristian Proceeding very well to make haste away for his own Security But this made no other Impression in the Parisians than to confirm them in their Resolution For when they beheld their Confessours and Guides of their Consciences in that Warlike Posture they believ'd such men wou'd never have appear'd in Arms unless they were satisfy'd that it was for the Cause of God in which it was their common Duty both to live and dye But what most confirm'd them in this Belief was that the King whose hour of Conversion was not yet come wou'd never hear speak of
those who are either the Authours or Accomplices of the Crime THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOKS The first Book THe General model of the League its Origine its design and the Success it had quite contrary to the end which was propos'd by it In what it resembled the League of Calvinism The condition in which France was at the return of Henry the third from Poland The ill Counsell which he follow'd at the beginning of his Reign in renuing the War The Commendation and Character of that Prince The surprising change which was found in his Carriage and in his Manners The conjunction of the Politicks or Malecontents with the Huguenots Their powâ—rfull Army Commanded by the Duke of Alanson The Peace which was made â—y the interposition of the Queen Mother â—hich produc'd the Edict of May very favourable to the Huguenots This Edict is the occasion of the Birth of the League The League was first devis'd by the Cardinal of Lorrain at the Council of Trent He leaves the design behind him to his Nephew the Duke of Guise The Conference and secret Treaty betwixt that Duke and Don John of Austria By what means Philip the Second discover'd it and made use of it to engage the Duke to take up Arms. The Commendation of the Duke of Guise and his Character How that Duke made use of the Lord of Humieres to begin the League The Project of Humieres his Articles and his Progress The Lord Lewis de la Trimouille declares himself Head of it in Poitou The first Estates of Blois wherein the King to weaken that party declares himself Head of it by advice of the Sieur de Morvillier The Commendation and Character of that Great man What kind of man the Advocate David was His extravagant memoires The Iustification of Pope Gregory the 13th against the slander of the Huguenots who wou'd make him the Authour of it The Edict of May revok'd in the Estates The War against the Huguenots suddenly follow'd by a Peace and by the Edict of Poitiers in their favour which enrages the Leaguers The Restauration of the Order of the Holy Ghost by Henry the third to make himself a new Militia against the League The Duke of Alanson in Flanders where he is declar'd Duke of Brabant This occasions Philip the second to Press the Duke of Guise to declare himself He does it a little after the Death of the Duke of Alanson The Conferences of the Duke of Espernon with the King of Navarre furnishes him with an occasion He makes use of the old Cardinal of Bourbon and sets him up for a Stale The great weakness of that Cardinal The History of the beginning the Progress the Arts and the Designs of the League of the 16 of Paris The Treaty of the Duke of Guise with the Deputies of the King of Spain He begins the War by surprising many Towns The general hatred to the Favourites and especially to the Duke of Espernon causes many great Lords to enter into his Party That first War of the League hinders the Re-union of the Low Countries to the Crown and also the Ruin of the Huguenots Marseilles and Bourdeaux secur'd from the Attempts of the League The generous Declaration of the King of Navarre against the Leaguers and the too mild Declaration of the King The Conference and Treaty of Nemours and the Edict of July in favour of the Leaguers against the Huguenots The Vnion of the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde with the Marshal of Damville The death of Gregory the 13th and Creation of Sixtus Quintus The thundring Bull of that Pope against the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde Discourses and Writings against that Bull. Protestation of the King of Navarre posted up at Rome The War in Poitou with the small success of the Duke of Mayenne The Marshalls Matignon and Biron break his measures under-hand The History of the unfortunate expedition of the Prince of Conde at Angiers The Dissolution of his Army The Ordinances of the King against the Huguenots The form which they were made to sign at their Conversion The Embassy of the Protestant Princes of Germany who demand of the King the Revocation of his Edicts The firm and generous Answer of the King the Conference of St. Brix the Impostures of the Leaguers the beginning of the Brotherhood of Penitentiaries The King establishes one in Paris wherein he enrolls himself The Insolence of the Preachers of the League The scandalous Emblem which was made against the King The Impudence of Dr. Poncet and his Punishment The King uses his endeavours to no purpose for a Peace and at last resolves upon a War The Contents of the Second Book THe Duke of Guise complains to the King of the Infringments which he pretends were made to the Treaty of Nemours The Answer to those Complaints which were found unreasonable The Design of the King in the War which he is forc'd to make The Fortune and Rise of the Duke of Joyeuse his good and ill qualities He commands the Royal Army against the King of Navarre His Exploits in Poitou with those of the King of Navarre the Battel of Courtras The Difference of the two Armies how they were drawn up The first shock advantageous to the Duke the general Defeat of his Army the complete Victory of the King of Navarre his Heroick Valour in the Battel and his admirable Clemency after the Victory He knows not how to use it or will not and for what reason The Review of the Army of the Reyters in the Plain of Strasbourgh The Birth and the Quality of the Baron of Dona. The Duke of Guise undertakes with small Forces to ruin that great Army The Spoils which it committed in Lorrain The Reasons why the Duke of Lorrain wou'd not have the passage of that Army oppos'd The Description of the admirable Retreat of the Duke of Guise at Pont St. Vincent The Entry of the Reyters into France The Duke of Guise perpetually harrasses them The Army Royal at Gien The King goes to command it in Person and vigorously opposes the passage of the Reyters Their consternation finding quite the contrary of what the French Huguenots had promis'd them to appease them They are led into La Beauce The Duke of Guise follows them The description of the Attacque and Fight of Vimory where he surprises and defeats a Party of Reyters A gallant Action of the Duke of Mayenne The Retreat at Mont Argis The Sedition in the Foreign Army after that Victory The Arrival of the Prince of Conty Lieutenant General to the King of Navarre restores them to Ioy and Obedience The Duke of Guise having reserv'd to himself but 5000 men fears not to follow the Reyters as far as Auneau The Situation of that Borough The Baron of Dona Quarters there with the Reyters The Duke of Guise disposes himself to attacque them there He gains the Captain of the Castle to have entrance by it into the Borough
The disposal of his Army the order of the Attacque the Fight the entire defeat of the Reyters without any loss on his side The Treaty of the Duke of Espernon with the remainders of those Germans their lamentable return The Duke of Guise pursues them to the Frontiers of Germany he permits the County of Mont Beliard to be plunder'd The insolence of the Leaguers after that Victory The too great goodness of the King of which the seditious make advantage The horrible flying out of Prevost Curate of St. Severin and of Boucher Curate of St. Bennet The day of St. Severin The scandalous Decree of the faction of Doctours in the Sorbonne who were for the Sixteen The Duke of Guise is refus'd the Office of Admiral which he demands for Brissac and it is given to the Duke of Espernon his Enemy The Character and Pourtraict of that Duke The Haâ—e which is born him the Indignation of the Duke of Guise for his refusal and for the advancement of his Enemy makes him resolve to push his Fortune to the utmost The Contents of the Third Book MAny Prodigies which presag'd the evils to come The Conference at Nancy of all the Princes of the House of Lorrain The Articles of the Request which they present to the King against the Royal Authority The Dissimulation of the King finding himself prest to answer it precisely The Death of the Prince of Condè the Encomium of that Prince the King at length takes up a resolution to punish the Sixteen His preparations for it the allarm of it taken by the Parisians they implore the Assistance of the Duke of Guise who promises to give it Monsieur de Bellievre carries him the King's Orders to Soissons which are that he shou'd not come to Paris The Answer which he made to Bellievre notwithstanding that Order He comes to Paris The description of his Entry with acclamations and extraordinary transports of joy of the Parisians The irresolution of the King when he saw him at the Louvre That which past at their interview and in the Queens Garden The King commands all Strangers to depart from Paris The Leaguers oppose it the description of the day of the Barricades The Count of Brisâ—ac begins them they are carried on within 50 paces of the Louvre the Duke of Guise stops the Citizens and causes the King's Souldiers to be Disarm'd and then reconducted into the Louvre The true design of the Duke on the day of the Barricades his excessive demands The King fearing to be incompast departs out of Paris in a pityfull Equipage The Queen Mother negotiates an accommodation The Duke of Guise cunningly Reingages her in his interest the request which he caus'd to be presented to the King containing Articles very prejudicial to his Authority the dissimulation of the King the Banishment of the Duke of Espernon the new Treaty of the King with the Lords of the League the Edict of Reunion against the Huguenots in favour of the League the signs of the King's indignation which brake out from him and which he wou'd have hidden the Estates of Blois the King's Speech at which the Leaguers are offended The Duke of Guise is Master there and causes resolutions to be taken against the Authority of the King and against the King of Navarre whom the Estates declare incapable of succeeding to the Crown to which the King will not consent He at length takes a resolution to rid himself of the Duke of Guise the secret Counsell which is held concerning it The Advertisement which the Duke receives of it The Counsell which is given him and which he will not follow The History of his Tragical Death the Imprisonment of the principal Leaguers Davila manifestly convinc'd of falsehood in the relation which he makes of the conference betwixt the King and the Legat. The Note of the King to Cardinal Morosini The Conference which he had with that Cardinal concerning the death of the Guises the resentment of Pope Sixtus for the same the strong remonstrances which were made him by the Cardinal of Joyeuse The opinion of that Pope against the League and against the Guises He suspends the expedition of all Bulls till the King shall send to demand absolution What the Cardinal of Joyeuse remonstrates to him thereupon the unprofitable declarations which the King makes to justifie his action instead of preparing for War The Duke of Mayenne flies from Lyons into Burgundy where he is absolutely Master The insurrection of Paris on the news of the death of the Guises The furious Sermons of the Preachers of the League the horrible impudence of Guincesâ—re Curate of St. Gervais who Preaching at St. Barâ—holomew Commands his Auditours to lift up their hands and also the first President The horrible flying out of the Curate Pigenat in the Funeral Oration which he made for the Duke of Guise The scandalous Decree of the Sorbonne in which it is declar'd that the French are releas'd from their Oath of Allegiance made to the King The furious excess of rage in the Leaguers in pursuit of that decree against the King They commit all sorts of Outrages against him The death of Queen Catharine of Medicis her Commendation and Pourtraict The King sends the Dutchess of Nemours to Paris to appease the Troubles there The extravagance of the petty Feuillant Bussy le Clerc carries the Parliament Prisoners to the Bastille the commendations of the first President Achilles de Harley the names of the Presidents and of the Counsellours who follow'd him The President Brisson at the Head of the new Parliament of the League which makes a solemn Oath to revenge the death of the Guises The Leaguers use enchantments against the King at the same time that Guincesâ—re accuses him of magick art in a full Congregation The arrival of the Duke of Mayenne his Encomium and his Pourtraict The King makes him great offers in vain His fortunate beginnings the great number of Towns which throw themselves into his party His Entry into Paris He weakens the Counsell of Sixteen by encreasing their number He causes himself to be declar'd Lieutenant General of the State and Crown of France The King takes though too late the ways of force and rigour The Reasons which oblige him to unite himself with the King of Navarre the treaty of that Vnion the advantageous offers which the King makes to the Lorrain Princes who refuse them the fruitless Conference of Cardinal Morosini with the Duke of Mayenne The performance of the treaty of the two Kings their declarations their interview at Tours The Exploits of the Duke of Mayenne He assaults and carries the Suburbs of Tours His return without having perform'd ought beside The Siege and Battel of Senlis where the Parisians are defeated the defeat of the Troups of the Sieur de Saveuse by Chastillon The Exploits of the King his March towards Paris at Estampes he receives the news of the thundering Monitory of Pope Sixtus against
point of glory after the Battel of Dreux where it might be said that he was the safeguard of our Religion which depended on that day's success and that all the Council was fill'd with the applause of that Heroe for so memorable a Victory which he had in a manner gain'd singly after the defeat and taking of the Constable he believ'd he had found the favourable occasion he so ardently desir'd to satisfie his ambition to the full by â—aising his Brother to that degree of Honour in which he might enjoy a Supreme and Independent Authority equal to the power of the greatest Kings To this effect he was not wanting to represent to the Heads of that Assembly and by them to the Pope that for the support of Religion against which the Heretiques made so cruel War particularly in France there was no better means than to make a League into which shou'd enter all the Princes and great men whom they cou'd procure and above all the rest the King of Spain who was so powerfull and so zealous for the Catholique Faith He added that it was necessary for the Pope to declare himself the Protectour of it and to elect a Head of it in the Kingdom on whose Piety Prudence Valour and Experience all things might safely be repos'd and whom all Catholiques shou'd be under an obligation to obey till they had totally extirpated the Huguenots This proposal was receiv'd with great applause and as their minds in that juncture of time were wholly prepossess'd with a high character of the wise conduct the perpetual felicity and heroique vertues of the Victorious Duke of Guise there was not the least scruple remaining for them to conclude that he alone was fit to be the Head of â—o glorious an Undertaking But the sad news of his Death arriving in the very upshot of that project made this great design to vanish which the Cardinal who never lost the imagination of it nor the hope to make it succeed at some other time was not able to bring in play again till about ten or eleven years after that accident And then sound the young Duke of Guise Henry of Lorrain his Nephew both of age and of capacity and intirely dispos'd to its accomplishment For at that time he propos'd warmly the same design to the Pope and the King of Spain who both enter'd without difficulty into his opinion though upon motives very different The Pope out of the ardent desire he had to see Heresie altogether exterminated from this most Christian Kingdom and the Spaniard out of a longing appetite to make his advantage of our divisions and those great disorders which he foresaw the League must inevitably cause in France The Duke also on his side who had much more ambition and much less affection to the publique good than his Father embrac'd with all his Soul so fair an occasion as was thereby put into his hand of raising himself immediately to so high a degree of Power and Authority in becoming Head of a Party which in all appearance wou'd ruine all the others and give Law universally to France But the Death of his Uncle the Cardinal which happen'd at the same time broke once more the measures of his ambitious design which notwithstanding he never did forsake as being fully resolv'd to put it into execution on the first opportunity which shou'd be offer'd This he cou'd not find till two years afterwards when Don Iohn of Austria pass'd through France to take possession of his government of the Low Countries That Prince who travell'd incognito and had already made a secret correspondence with the Duke of Guise saw him at Ioinville where after some conferences which they had together without other witness than Iohn d' Escovedo Secretary to Don Iohn they made a Treaty of alliance offensive and defensive mutually to assist each other to their utmost Abilities with their Friends their Power and Forces to render themselves absolute the first in his government of the Neatherlands the second in that party which he always hop'd to form in France according to the project of his Uncle under pretence of maintaining the Catholique Religion in France against the Huguenots Though Historians are silent of this Treaty I suppose notwithstanding that it is undoubtedly true considering what Monsieur de Peiresc a name so celebrated by the learned has written concerning it in his memoires which was grounded on what was related to him by Monsieur du Vair who had it from Antonio Perez For that famous Confident of the Amours betwixt Philip the second and the fair Princess of Eboli acknowledg'd freely to President du Vair that to revenge himself of unfortunate Escovedo who at his return to Spain wou'd have ruin'd him in the favour of the King he gave him so well to understand that this Secretary of Don Iohn was intrusted with all his most secret designs against the State and that having discover'd the love of the King his Master he travers'd his amorous intrigue to serve the Prince of Eboli on whom he had dependance that Philip who made not the least scruple to rid himself of any one whom he suspected as having not spar'd even his Son Don Carlos made him be assassinated After which having seiz'd his Papers he there found this private Treaty together with the memoires and instructions containing the whole foundation and all the minutes of this project with the means which the Duke of Guise intended to make use of to make his Enterprise succeed of which that King who made advantage of every thing most dexterously serv'd himself long time after to engage the Duke so deeply in his Interests that he was never able to disentangle himself as the sequel will declare But in the mean time that Peace so advantageous to the Protestants being made in the manner above mention'd the Duke beleiv'd he had now a fair occasion to begin by making use of the discontents of the Catholiques the forming of that League of which he intended aâ—terwards to declare himself the Head How he manag'd that affair is next to be related Amongst the secret Articles of that Peace so favourable to the Huguenots there was one by which the Prince of Conde had granted to him the full possession of the Government of Picardy and besides it for his farther security the important City of Peronne the Garrison of which shou'd be maintain'd at the King's expence The Governour of Peronne at that time was Iaques Lord of Humieres Encre Bray and many other places who by other large possessions of his own and the Governments of Roye and of Montdidier added to Peronne was without dispute the most considerable the wealthiest and most powerfull Lord of all Picardy Besides that being of an illustrious Birth and Son of the Wise and Valiant Iohn d' Humieres who had been Lieutenant of the King in Piemont and Governour to King Henry the Second he was respected lov'd and obey'd in that Province where
to raise him to that high degree of power which seem'd to equal him with the King himself who in effect already look'd on him as his Rival and as such hated him without daring as yet to enterprise ought against him to prevent his designs or to shelter himself against the mischief which he apprehended from him The people united themselves to him as to their Protectour and the pillar of Religion Most of the great men at Court discontented at the Government threw themselves into his party the Ladies from whom the Minions cou'd hold nothing disclos'd to him all the secrets of the Cabinet to revenge themselves of the King whom they hated mortally for certain reasons not so fit to be divulg'd He was offer'd to have the Dukes of Lorrain and Savoy in his interests who both hop'd to draw great advantages from the League and principally so powerfull a Prince as the King of Spain who 〈◊〉 him two hundred thousand Livres of â—ension besides the Sums he wou'd furnish for the levying of his Troops These were indeed strong temptations to a Prince of his humour and who was inclin'd to throw at all But that which gave the last stroke to his determination was the death of Monsieur the King 's onely Brother who after his unsuccessfull Enterprise on Antwerp having been constrain'd to return dishonourably into France dy'd at Chateau de Thierry either of Melancholy or of his old Debauches or as the common report was of poison For about that time it was that believing the King wou'd have no Children and that the King of Navarre might be excluded with ease from the succession for more than one reason which he hop'd to make authentique rather by force of Arms than by the Writings of the Doctours of his Faction and that the Queen Mother who hated her Son-in-Law Navarre had the same inclination to exclude him thereby to advance her Grand-Child the Prince of Lorrain to the Kingdom he rais'd his imagination to higher hopes than what he had formerly conceiv'd when first the Cardinal of Lorrain his Uncle had drawn the platform of a Catholique League whereof he might make himself the Head And on these grounds without farther balancing the matter he resolv'd to take up Arms and to make War against the King But to make so criminal an enterprise more plausible there was yet wanting a pretence which in some sort might justifie his actions to the World And fortune produc'd it for him to as much advantage as he cou'd desire almost at the same time when he had taken up so strange a resolution As it was impossible that so great a Conspiracy shou'd be manag'd with such secrecy that the King shou'd not be advertis'd of it which in effect he was from many hands That Prince who had suffer'd his natural courage to be made effeminate by the laziness of a voluptuous retir'd Life was become exceeding timorous and incapable of coming to any resolution within himself to stifle in its birth so horrible a mischief by some generous action and some Master stroke had a desire to have near him his Brother-in-Law the King of Navarre whom he acknowledg'd according to the Salique Law for the Heir presumptive of the Crown and knew him to be the man who was most capable of breaking all the measures of the Duke of Guise But foreseeing that in order to this it was necessary that he who was Head of the Huguenots shou'd first renounce his Heresie and be reconcil'd to the Catholique Church he dispatch'd the Duke of Espernon to him in Guyenne to perswade him to a thing of so much consequence to the reeâ—tablishment of his fortune and his true interest both Spiritual and Temporal As that Prince had always protested with much sincerity that he was of no obstinate disposition and that he was most ready to embrace the truth when once it were made to appear such to him he receiv'd the Duke with exceeding kindness to whom he gave a private audience in his Closset in presence of the Lord of Roquelaure his Confident of a Minister of his own Religion and of the President Ferrier his Chancellour who had always lean'd to the opinion of the Huguenots of which at last he made profession in his extreme old age and some little time before his death In plain terms that Conference was not manag'd very regularly nor with extraordinary sincerity for Espernon and Roquelaure who were no great Doctours propos'd nothing but humanâ— reasons for his Conversion and alledg'd no stronger arguments than what were drawn from the Crown of France which they preferr'd incomparably beyond the Psalms of Marot the Lords Supper and all the Sermons of the Ministers But on the other side the Minister and the President who were much better vers'd in disputation than the two Courtiers to destroy those weak reasons of secular interest produc'd no motives but what they affirm'd to be altogether spiritual and Soul saving and the word of God which they expounded to their own meaning to which those Noble Lords who understood nothing of those matters had not the least syllable to answer Insomuch that the King of Navarre who piqu'd himself extremely upon the point of generosity looking on it as a most honourable action for him to undervalue so great a Crown at the rate of selling his Conscience and Religion for it the Duke was constrain'd to return as he came without having obtain'd any thing toward the satisfaction of the King But what was yet more displeasing in that affair was that Monsieur du Plessis Mornay a Gentleman of an ancient and illustrious Family a great wit whose Learning was extraordinary for a man of his Quality and who besides made use of his Pen as well as of his Sword but above all a most zealous Protestant put this conference into writing which he also publish'd in which having expos'd what was urg'd on both sides he pretends to manifest the advantage which his Religion had against the Catholique and that the King of Navarre being evidently convinc'd of the weakness of our cause was thereby more than ever confirm'd in his own opinion This was the reason why the Factious and the Catholiques who were heated with a false Zeal began to fly out immoderately against the King whom they charg'd with a thousand horrible calumnies publishing in all places that he kept Correspondence with the King of Navarre to whom he had sent Espernon not with intention of converting him but rather of confirming him in his Errours as it appear'd sufficiently by the proceedings of that conference where nothing was urg'd to the advantage of Religion but on the contrary all things in favour of Huguenotism And it hapning almost at the same time that the King in order to hinder the Huguenots from resuming their Arms against the Leaguers who had provok'd them by committing many outrages against them without punishment thought himself oblig'd to grant them that prolongation which the King
Articles that the League to engage the Pope and the King of Spain in their Interests wou'd be content to abandon those Privileges and Liberties which our Ancestours have always maintain'd with so much vigour and resolution and to subject to the yoke of a Spanish Inquisition the French who have never been able to undergo it And in others of them that they design'd to bereave the King of all the solid and essential parts of Royalty to leave him onely the shadow and appearance of it and afterwards to dispose even of his Person as the Heads of their party shou'd think fit And accordingly when the Request was presented to the King on the part of the Associated Princes and the Cardinal of Bourbon whose simplicity and whose name they abus'd and made it a cloke to their Ambition he conceiv'd an extreme indignation against it which immediately appear'd in his eyes and countenance Yet he thought it necessary at that time to dissemble not finding himself then in a condition of returning such an answer to it as was becoming a King justly provok'd against his Subjects who stood on terms with him like Lords and Masters For which reason and withall to gain farther time he contented himself to say that he wou'd examine those Articles in his Council in order to his Answer which shou'd be in such sort that all good Catholiques shou'd have reason to be satisfi'd But in the mean time the Duke of Guise who took not fair words for payment well understanding the King's design and resolving not to give the Duke of Espernon the leisure to conjure down that Tempest which was rais'd against him and to infuse into his Master those vigorous resolutions which were necessary for him to take press'd the King continually to give a precise Answer to every particular in those Articles For he doubted not that in case it prov'd favourable he shou'd ingross all power in himself and if it were otherwise that it wou'd be thought the King resolv'd to maintain the Huguenots and that by consequence the Catholiques wou'd enter into a War against him On which considerations being then retir'd into his Government of Champaigne to which place he went after the Conference at Nancy he pli'd the King incessantly with Messages sent by Gentlemen one after another to urge him to a speedy and punctual Answer And this he did with the more eagerness and importunity because on the one side he found himself more powerfull than ever having a great part of the Gentry and almost all the People and especially the Parisians for him And on the other side he observ'd the party of the Huguenots to be very low and infinitely weaken'd by the defeat of their great German Succours and by their late loss of the Prince of Condé a person of all others the most strictly tied to their Religion and on whom they more relied than any man not excepting the King of Navarre himself He deceas'd on the fifth of March at St. Iean de Angely of an exceeding violent distemper with which he was suddenly seiz'd one evening after Supper and which carri'd him off in two days time The Sixteen with infamous baseness made a great rejoycing for it and their Preachers fail'd not to roar out in their Sermons that it was the effect of the Excommunication with which he had been Thunder-struck by Pope Sixtus But besides that the King of Navarre who had been struck in the same manner by the Bull had his health never the worse for it the King to whom that poor creature the Cardinal of Bourbon had been telling the same story and making wonderfull exclamations in relating it answer'd him with a smile That it might very well be the occasion of his death but withall there was something else which help'd him on his journey And truly the matter was put beyond all doubt after the attestation of four Physicians and of two Master Chirurgeons who depos'd upon their Oaths that they had manifestly seen in almost all the parts of his Body all the most evident signs and effects of a Caustique Poison burning and ulcerating A most execrable action which cou'd not be too rigorously punish'd and yet the Laws inflicted what was possible on the person of one of his domestick servants who was drawn in pieces by four Horses in the place of St. Iean de Angely As to the rest he was a Prince who excepting onely his obstinate adhering to a Religion in which he was born and whoâ—e falshood he might have known in time if he had not been too much prepossess'd had at the Age of five and thirty years at which he died all the perfections which can meet together in one man to render him one of the greatest and most accomplish'd persons in the World if at least there might not possibly be discern'd in his carriage and customes some of those little failings from which the most wise are not exempted and which may easily be pardon'd without lessening the esteem which we have for them And if Fortune which is not always propitious to merit was not favourable to him on some occasions wherein he had need of her assistance yet in this she was his friend that she gave him the greater opportunity of shewing his invincible courage in his adversities in which he rais'd himself infinitely above her by the vigour and greatness of his Soul Accordingly the death of this great Prince was lamented not onely by those of his own party who lov'd him passionately but also by the Catholiques and even by the Duke of Guise himself who Head as he was of an infamous and wicked Faction which he made subâ—ervient to his ends had of his own stock and the excellency of his nature which was infinitely noble all the generosity which is requisite to love and respect vertue even in the person of his greatest and most formidable Enemy All which notwithstanding he was content to make what advantage he cou'd of so lamentable an accident towards the compassing of his designs And as he observ'd not onely by this but by a multitude of concomitant accidents and misfortunes that the Huguenot party decreas'd in strength and reputation and his own grew more bold and undertaking he set himself more vigorously to push his fortune and to demand an entire satisfaction to all the Articles of his request which had so puff'd up the spirits of the Sixteen that they â—orgot all manner of moderation and grew daily more and more insupportable It happen'd also at the same time that the King receiv'd several advertisements of the resolution which had been taken in their Council to seize his Person and to inclose him in a Monastery And the same Lieutenant of the Provostship of the Isle of Paris Nicholas Poulain who had formerly discover'd the like Conspiracy to which belief was not given told him so many particular circumstances in relation to this that though he was very diffident of that double dealing man
Eustache where he alighted and from thence to the Louvre following her on foot who had taken her Chair to conduct him to the King and was witness to those incredible transports of publique joy and acclamations of that innumerable herd of people which beat her ears incessantly with the name of Guise bellow'd from more than an hundred thousand mouths In the mean time the King who had heard with infinite rage of this sudden arrival of the Duke was shut up in his Closet where he was in consultation on that Prince's life or death who had been so blindly rash as to precipitate himself in his single â—erson into inevitable danger from whence onely his good fortune of which he was not Master cou'd deliver him Some there were and amongst others the Abbot d' Elbene and Colonel Alphonso d' Ornano with the most resolute of those Gascons whom the Duke of Espernon had plac'd amongst the five and forty to be always near the King's person who counsell'd that irresolute and wavering Prince to dispatch him on the spot having so fair a pretence and the means so ready in his hand to punish a rebellious Subject who in opposition to his express orders had audaciously presum'd to come to Paris as it were on purpose to let him know that he was absolute Master of it The rest more moderate and amongst them the Chancellour de Chiverny and the Sieurs de Bellievre de la Guiche and de Villequier Governour of Paris diswaded him from that attempt laying before him besides the dangerous consequences which this terrible action might produce in such a juncture that it always concern'd him both for his reputation and for the maintenance of the most inviolable Laws of natural equity before he pass'd to extremities to hear a man who came to put himself so freely into the hands of his King and to be answerable for all that was allâ—dg'd against him While these things were in debating and the king in suspence betwixt his anger and his fear uncertain which way to resolve the Duke who had pass'd through the French Guards commanded by Grillon who lov'd him not and through the Swissers which stood ranck'd on both sides of the great Stair-case and afterwards had travers'd the Hall and the Antichamber fill'd with people who made no very ceremonious returns to his salutations and civilities enter'd into the Presence Chamber disguising a sudden fright which seiz'd him intrepid as he was with the best face he cou'd set upon the matter which yet he cou'd not act so well but that it was easie to discern through that affectation of bravery that he cou'd have been well contented to have been in some other place and not to have ingag'd himself so far especially when a certain Princess whisper'd him in the ear to have a care of himself and that his life and death were under consideration in the Closet Yet immediately after as his courage was usually rais'd at the sight of the greatest dangers he resum'd his wonted boldness and was not able to hinder himself perhaps by a sudden motion purely natural and arising from the magnanimity of his heart from laying his hand on the pommel of his Sword without his own perceiving it and from stepping hastily two or three paces forward with a haughty walk as if he were putting himself into a posture of selling his life as dear as he was able to his Enemies But the King at that instant coming out of the Closet with Bellievre he chang'd posture suddenly made a low reverence and threw himself almost at his feet protesting to him that not believing his presence ought to be displeasing to him he was come to bring him his head and fully to justifie his carriage against the calumnies of his Enemies and withall to assure his Majesty that he had not a more faithfull Servant than himself But the King demanding in a grave and serious tone of voice Who had bid him come and if he had not receiv'd an express prohibition from him the business was then brought to a scanning and some little contest there was betwixt him and Bellievre the last maintaining that he had deliver'd him the King's commands and the former instead of answer asking him if he had not engag'd himself to return with all possible speed to Soissons which he had not done and protesting that he had never receiv'd those Letters which Bellievre justifi'd he had written to him Then the Queen who though she seem'd to be in much affliction for the Duke's arrival yet held a private correspondence with him broke off the discourse and taking aside the King her Son she manag'd his mind so dextrously that whether she made him apprehend a general revolt of Paris which she had seen so openly to own the Duke of Guise or whether he himself were mollifi'd by the submissive humble way of speaking which that Prince had us'd he contented himself for that time to tell him that his innocence which he was so desirous to prove wou'd be more manifest if his presence shou'd cauâ—e no stirs in Paris and thereupon he sate down to Table remitting till the Afternoon what he had farther to say to him and appointing the Queen's Garden for the place Then the Duke bowing very low retir'd without being accompanied by any of the King's Servants but as well attended by all the Town to the Hostel de Guise as he had been from the Gate of St. Denis to the Louvre When he had made reflexion on the danger into which he had so rashly thrown himself and which now appear'd more formidable by considering it with cooler thoughts than he cou'd possibly in that agitation of spirits and that anxiety wherein he was in spight of all his courage when he found himself so far engag'd he resolv'd he wou'd never hazard his life in that sort again and took such order concerning it that from the next day and so onward he had in his Palace four hundred Gentlemen who assembling there from all parts of Paris according to his orders never afterwards abandon'd him Neither wou'd he adventure to go that afternoon to the Queen's Garden but well accompanied by the bravest of his Officers amongst whom Captain St. Paul seâ—ing that after his Master was enter'd he who kept the door was going to shut it on him thrust him back roughly and enter'd by force follow'd by his Companions protesting and swearing that if the game was there to be play'd he was resolv'd to have his stake in it So that if the King had design'd to have him murther'd in that Garden which I believe not though some have written it 't is easie to see that the presence of those brave men who were fully resolv'd to defend their Master that of the Queen who made the third in this enterview the daring countenance of the Duke who from time to time was casting his eyes towards his Sword and to sum up all that infinite multitude of Parisians which
Savoyard Thus whether it were that the King had long since resolv'd to rid his hands of the Duke of Guise in revenge of some ancient grudge and sense of the affronts he had receiv'd from him particularly on that fatal day of the Barricades or were it that being sincerely reconcil'd to him he had taken or perhaps resum'd that resolution when he saw him act against him in the Estates of which he had made himself the Master and believeing his own condition desperate if he made not haste to prevent him most certain it is that he deliberated no more but onely concerning the manner of executing what he had determin'd He had onely two ways to chuse the one by justice first committing him and afterwards making his process the other by Fact which was to have him slain He manag'd this consultation with exceeding secrecy admitting onely four or five of his Confidents on whom he most rely'd One of these was Beauvais Nangis who having serv'd the King well in his Army against the Reyters was restor'd so fully to his favour that in recompence of the Command of Colonel of the French Infantry which the Duke of Espernon had got over his head he made him afterwards Admiral of France though he never enjoy'd that great dignity which he had onely under the Signet This Lord who was as prudent and temperate in Council as prompt and daring in execution concluded for the methods of Justice maintaining that they were not onely the more honest but also the more safe because the fear alone which wou'd possess the Duke's party lest they shou'd kill him in case they attempted to deliver him by force and by that means hinder the course of Justice wou'd stop all manner of such proceeding and restrain them within the terms of Duty That after all if he were once made Prisoner which might be done without noise or tumult it wou'd be easie to give him such Judges as shou'd soon dispatch his Tryal and that afterwards he might be executed in Prison according to the Laws But if on the contrary they shou'd enter crudely on so bloudy an execution there was danger lest that action which was never to be well justified and which the Leaguers wou'd certainly cause to pass in the World for tyrannical and perâ—idious might raise a rebellion in the greatest part of France which had already declar'd so loudly for that Prince whom they regarded as the pillar of Religion and wou'd afterwards look on as the Martyr of it But the rest who believ'd it impossible on that occasion to observe the ordinary forms of Law and Justice and thought that the Head being once cut off the Body of the League wou'd immediately fall like a dead Body were of opinion that he shou'd be dispatch'd with all possible speed which was easie to perform especially in the Castle where the Duke was almost hourly in the King's power whom he had in no manner of distrust as sufficiently appear'd by his Lodging there In the mean time 't is most certain that this secret was not kept so close but that he receiv'd advertisement from more than one of his imminent danger and that his death already was resolv'd And he slighted not so much these informations as intrepid as he was or as he affected to appear by replying continually they dare not but that two or three days before his death he consulted on this affair which so nearly concern'd him with the Cardinal of Guise his Brother the Arch-Bishop of Lyons the President de Neuilly the Provost of the Merchants and the Sieur de Mandrevile Governour of St. Menehoud on whom he principally rely'd In weighing those proofs which in a manner were indubitable that a design was laid against him they were unanimously of opinion that the safest course was to be taken and that under some pretence or other he shou'd instantly retire Excepting onely the Arch-Bishop who continu'd obstinate to the contrary fortifying his opinion with this argument that since he was upon the point of carrying all things in the Estates according to his wiâ—h he ran the hazard of loosing all by leaving them And that for the rest it was not credible that the King shou'd be so ill advis'd as to incur the manifest danger of ruining himself by striking that unhappy blow To which Mandrevile reply'd Swearing that for a man of Sense as he was he was the worst Arguer he ever knew For said he you talk of the King as if he were a wary and cool-headed Prince looking before him at every step and will not understand that he is onely a hot-brain'd Fool who thinks no farther than how to execute what his two base passions Fear and Hatred which possess him have once made sink into his imagination and never considers what a wise man ought to do on this occasion It were a folly therefore for the Duke to hazard himself in such a manner and to be mov'd by so weak a reason to loose all in a moment 'T is wonderfull to observe that the most clear sighted men who have it in their power if they will use the means before them to avoid that which is call'd their Destiny after the misfortune is happen'd shou'd suffer themselves to be drag'd and hurried to it as it were by force in spight of their understanding and their foresight which their own rashness and not a pretended fatality renders unprofitable to them 'T is reported that the Duke of Guise confess'd that this dsicourse of Mandrevile carried the greater force of reason yet nevertheless he added that having gone so far forward as he then was if he shou'd see death coming in at the Windows upon him he wou'd not give one step backward to the door though by so doing he were certain to avoid it Nevertheless 't is very probable that the incouragement he had to speak with so much loftiness and resolution was the assurance which he thought he had that the King whose Genius he knew particularly since the day when he enter'd into the Louvre where the Duke gave himself for lost wou'd never afterwards dare to take up so bold a resolution as to kill him 'T is certain that when the Sieur de Vins one of his greatest Confidents had written to him from Provence that he shou'd beware of keeping so near the King and not rely on those large testimonies of his affection which he said he had receiv'd the Duke answer'd him that he repos'd not the hopes of his own safety on the King's Vertue whom he knew to be ill natur'd and a Hypocrite but on his Judgment and on his Fear because it was not credible but he must needs understand that he himself was ruin'd in case he made any attempt against his person But he learnt at his own cost by the unhappy experiment which he made that it had been better for him to have follow'd the wise advice which was given him and which he himself had approv'd
than a bare conjecture and the impulse of his inborn generosity which his bloudy and lamentable death as things are commonly judg'd by their event has caus'd to pass in the World for an effect of the greatest rashness It ought not here to be expected that I shou'd dwell on an exact and long description of all the circumstances of that tragical action which has been so unfortunate to France and so ill receiv'd in the World Besides that they are recounted in very different manners by the Historians of one and the other Religion according to their different passions and that the greatest part of them are either false or have little in them worth observation the thing was done with so great facility and precipitation and withall in so brutal a manner that it cannot be too hastily pass'd over this then is the plain and succinct relation of it After that the Brave Grillon Mestre de Camp of the Regiment of Guards had generously refus'd to kill the Duke of Guise unless in single Duel and in an honourable way the King had recourse to Lognac the first Gentleman of his Chamber and Captain of the forty five who promis'd him eighteen or twenty of the most resolute amongst them and for whom he durst be answerable They were of the number of those whom the Duke of Guise who had always a distrust of those Gascons as creatures of the Duke of Espernon had formerly demanded that they might be dismiss'd from which request he had afterwards desisted Insomuch that it may be said he foresaw the misfortune that attended him without being able to avoid it For on Friday the twenty third of December being enter'd about eight of the Clock in the Morning into the great Hall where the King had intimated on Thursday night that he intended to hold the Council very early that he might afterwards go to Nostre dame de Clery some came to tell him that His Majesty expected him in the old Closset yet he was not there but in the other which looks into the Garden Upon this he arose from the fire side where finding himself somewhat indispos'd he had been seated and pass'd through a narrow Entry which was on one side the Hall into the Chamber where he found Lognac with seven or eight of the forty five the King himself having caus'd them to enter into that room very secretly before day-break the rest of them were posted in the old Closset and all of them had great Ponyards hid under their Cloaks expecting onely the coming of the Duke of Guise to make sure work with him whether it were in the Chamber or in the Closset in case he shou'd retire thither for his defence There needed not so great a preparation for the killing of a single man who came thither without distrust of any thing that was design'd against him and who holding his Hat in one hand and with the other the lappet of his Cloak which he had wrapt under his left Arm was in no condition of defence In this posture he advanc'd towards the old Closset saluting very civilly as his custome was those Gentlemen who made shew of attending him out of respect as far as the door And as in lifting up the Hangings with the help of one of them he stoop'd to enter he was suddenly seiz'd by the Arms and by the Legs and at the same instant struck into the Body before with five or six Ponyards and from behind into the Nape of the Neck and the Throat which hinder'd him from speaking one single word of all that he is made to say or so much as drawing out his Sword All that he cou'd do was to drag along his Murtherers with the last and strongest effort that he cou'd make strugling and striving till he fell down at the Beds-Feet where some while after with a deep Groan he yielded up his breath The Cardinal of Guise and Arch-Bishop of Lyons who were in the Council Hall rising up at the Noise with intention of running to his aid were made Prisoners by the Marshals D' Aumont and de Retz At the same time the Cardinal of Bourbon was also seiz'd in the Castle together with Anne d' Este Duchess of Nemours and Mother of the Guises and the Prince of Ioinville the Dukes of Elbeuf and Nemours Brissac and Boisdauphin with many other Lords who were Confidents of the Duke and Pericard his Secretary And in the mean time the Grand Prevost of the King's House went with his Archers to the Chamber of the third Estate in the Town-House and there arrested the President Neuilly the Prevost of Merchants the Sheriffs Compan and Cotte-Blanch who were Deputies for Paris and some other notorious Leaguers This being done the King himself brought the News of it to the Queen Mother telling her that now he was a real King since he had cut off the Duke of Guise At which that Princess being much surpris'd and mov'd asking him if he had made provision against future accidents he answer'd her in an angry kind of tone much differing from his accustom'd manner of speaking to her that she might set her heart at rest for he had taken order for what might happen and so went out surlily to go to Mass yet before he went he sent particularly to Cardinal Gondi and to the Cardinal Legat Morosini and inform'd them both of what had pass'd with his reasons to justify his proceedings Davila the Historian reports that before he went to Mass the King met the Legat and walking with him a long time gave him all his reasons for that action which he takes the pains to set down at large as if he had been present at that long Conference and that he had heard without loosing one single word all the King said to the Cardinal together with the Cardinal 's politique reflexions upon it and his reply to the King's discourse For he tells us that the Legat fearing to lesten Henry's affection to the Holy See assur'd him that the Pope as being a common Father wou'd listen favourably to his excuses and withall exhorted him to make War against the Huguenots that he might make demonstrations of his sincerity and that it might be evident he kill'd not the Duke of Guise the great Enemy of the Heretiques out of intention to favour the King of Navarre and that party He adds that the King promis'd him and confirm'd it with an Oath that provided the Pope wou'd joyn with him he wou'd proceed to make War against them with more eagerness than ever and wou'd not sufâ—er any other Religion but the Roman Catholique in his Kingdom That after this solemn Protestation the Legat judg'd it not expedient to proceed any farther in the Conference and that without saying any thing for the present in favour of the Prelates who were Prisoners he continued to treat with him in the same manner he had us'd formerly There are those also who are bold enough to affirm that by
and writing fine Letters which he sent far and near wherein amongst other things which he alledg'd for his justification he said what no body then believ'd and what the Duke of Mayenne positively denied to the Cardinal Legat that he had receiv'd from that Duke and from the Dutchess of Aumale a most certain information of the Conspiracy which the two Brothers had contriv'd against his person Doubtless he was ignorant that having done an action of this nature a King can never justifie it better than with his Arms in his hand and by putting himself into a condition of forcing the vanquish'd to approve his reasons And truly by making such an insignificant and verbal Apology so inconsistent with the greatness of a King he brought his matters to that pass that he was neither believed by his own Subjects nor by Foreigners And was so unfortunate that not onely the Leaguers but even the Huguenots themselves and principally the Gentlemen amongst them condemn'd his action in most reproachfull Language and thought it contrary to the Genius of the French Nation In the mean time he was much surpriz'd that while he was losing his time in writing and continuing the Estates which he held on till three weeks after the execution he heard the news that Orleans was revolted against him that the Duke of Mayenne who was advertis'd at Lyons of the death of his Brothers before Alphonso d' Ornano who had been sent either to make him Prisoner or to kill him cou'd arrive there had refug'd himself in his Government of Burgundy where he was Master of almost all the Towns and especially that Paris had reinflam'd the League with more ardour than before to revenge the death of the two Brothers There is nothing more prodigiously strange in all this History than the transactions in that great City when they heard the news of this amazing accident The Sixteen who had it first even before the Parliament had notice of it so great was the negligence of the Court commanded immediately on Christmas-Evening that they shou'd stand to their Arms in all the Wards secur'd all the strong places plac'd Corps de Garde upon the Bridges and in the Squares and put Souldiers into the Houses of the Politiqúes for by that name they call'd suspected persons that is to say all those who were not carried away by the Torrent of so hot-brain'd and furious a Faction Afterwards finding themselves absolute Masters of Paris where the People being inrag'd almost to madness for the murther of the Duke of Guise were one and all for a Revolt they held a General Assembly at the Town-house where notwithstanding the opposition which was made by Achilles de Harlay the first President who was in danger of his life on that occasion they elected the Duke of Aumale their Governour and made amongst themselves a more strict Union than ever for defence as they gave out of their Lives and Liberties and of the Catholique Religion In this manner they disguis'd Rebellion under a specious name which their Preachers and the Doctours of the League baul'd out and thunder'd through all Paris For the Preachers of whom the most furious were Pelletier Boucher Guincestre Pigenat and Aubry the Curats Father Bernard de Montgalliard surnam'd the Petit Feuillant and the famous Cordelier Feu Ardent Preaching in the Parishes of Paris during the Christmas Holidays chang'd their Sermons into Satyrs against the Sacred person of the King and describ'd so movingly the Tragical death of the two Brothers whom they lifted up to the Skies as Martyrs that they melted their Audience into tears and nothing but sighs and groans were heard in their well-fill'd Congregations And instead of proposing to them the example of St. Stephen they inspir'd into them the desire of vengeance Insomuch that even they who were not dispos'd to sob and cry and who were even scandaliz'd at this manner of behaviour which was so unworthy of the holy Ministery of the Gospel were constrain'd to act their parts and squeeze out tears for fear of being murther'd if they had not wept for company 'T is certain that when Guincestre who had Preach'd the Advent at St. Bartholomews had said in one of his Sermons after a terrible Declamation against the King and lamentation for the Duke of Guise that it behov'd his Auditors to lift up their hands every man of them in token that they wou'd revenge his death and live and die in the Holy Covenant which was now renewed the whole Congregation immediately obey'd him excepting onely the first President who that day which was the first of the Year 1589 was present at the Sermon in his Parish Church seated overagainst the Preacher Then that Enthusiastique Zealot had the impudence to say to him Lift up your hand too like the rest you Monsieur the first President The Leaguers had caus'd a report to be spread that this excellent Magistrate who was known to be a Loyal Servant to the King was one of those who advis'd the death of the Duke of Guise for which reason he was of necessity to obey lest otherwise he shou'd indiscreetly expose himself to the fury of the multitude who in case he had refus'd had absolutely believ'd the lye which was forg'd against him and consequently had torn him piece-meal He therefore lifted up his hand but to no great height as an action that was forc'd from him upon which that impudent covenanting Preacher had the insolence to bid him lift it higher that the whole Congregation might be satisfi'd he was under the same obligation with the rest The Curat of St. Nicholas in the fields Francis Pigenat was yet more audacious and more impious than his brother in iniquity For making the Funeral Oration for the Duke of Guise in the Parish of St. Iean en Greve as it was made in all the Parishes of Paris and even at the Cathedral of Nostre Dame with more than Royal pomp and Ceremonies he rose to that excess of fury as to ask of his Auditors if they cou'd not find one brave Spirit amongst them all who wou'd undertake to revenge the Duke's murther by killing the Tyrant And more to enrage the People he spoke in the person of the Dutchess Dowager to the late Duke who was then big with Child and ready to lie down and made her pronounce those terrible imprecations of Virgil's Dido thus imitated by him Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus Vltor Qui face Valesios ferróque sequare Tyrannos Arise some offspring of my murther'd Lord Revenge him on Valois with Fire and Sword These Seditious Preachments occasion'd infinite disorders but the mortal stroke was given by the scandalous Decree which the Doctors made who being blinded with that furious passion which possess'd the League and they leading the blind multitude brought them to tumble headlong with themselves into that frightfull gulf of crimes and of misfortunes The body of the Town which was compos'd of Leaguers to
and had not fail'd whensoever it had pleas'd them to have given the Law to him To this effect he weaken'd that Council by augmenting it to a greater number of the most qualifi'd of the party on whom he knew he might safely rely as being of his own Election For under pretence that it was necessary that this Assembly which ought to be the General Council of the Union shou'd be inlarg'd and be authoriz'd by the whole Party he caus'd an Order to be pass'd that all the Princes might assist in it whensoever they pleas'd and that all the Bishops the Presidents the Procureurs and the Advocates General of Parliaments fifteen Counsellors whom he nam'd the Prevost of Merchants the Sheriffs the Town Solicitor and the Deputies of the three Orders of all the Provinces of the League shou'd have places in it and deliberative Votes Thus being always the strongest in that Assembly by the great number of voices which were for him he caus'd whatsoever he pleas'd to pass in spigâ—t of the Sixteen and procur'd an authority to himself near approaching to the Soveraign Power of a King For the first thing which was order'd in this new Council was that in sign of this absolute Dominion which either they suffer'd him to take or they gave him he shou'd have from thenceforth till the holding of the Estates the most extraordinary and unexampled quality of Lieutenant General not of the King for the League acknowledg'd none at that time but of the Estate and Crown of France As if he who commands and governs cou'd represent a Kingdom and hold in quality of Lieutenant the place of an Estate which is not that which governs but what is or ought to be govern'd Notwithstanding which he took his Oath for that new fantastique dignity on the thirteenth of March in the Parliament which verifi'd the Letters Patents of it under the new Seals made instead of those of the King which were broken by them And to begin the Exercise of his Office by an act of Soveraignty he caus'd immediately to be publish'd his new Laws contain'd in one and twenty Articles for the uniting under one form of Government all the Towns which were enter'd into the League and those which in process of time shou'd enter the number of which in a short space grew very great For there is nothing more surprising than to see with what rapidity that torrent of Rebellion spreading from the Capital City into the Provinces drew along with it the greatest Towns which under pretence of revenging the death of the pretended Patrons of the Faith and of preserving Religion associated themselves against God's Anointed either to make themselves a new Master or to have none at all Almost all the Towns of Burgundy of Champaign of Picardy and of the Isle of France the greater part of those of Normandy Mayne Bretagne Anjou Auvergne Dauphine Provence Berry and the greatest Cities of the Kingdom next to Paris as Roüen Lyons Tholouse and Poitiers had put themselves under the protection of the Vnion and were members of it before the end of March and in every place were committed the like disorders as were at Paris But principally at Tholouse where the furious Rabble having set upon the first President Duranti and Daphis the Advocate General two men of great understanding singular Vertue and uncommon fidelity to the King's Service Massacred them in the open Street After which their faculty of Divines confirm'd the decree of the Sorbonne which was propos'd in a general Assembly at the Town-House by which they authoris'd the Revolt The greatest part of Provence had also thrown it self with the same impetuosity into the League under the leading of the famous Hubert de Garde Sieur de Vins who by his courage and extraordinary Valour accompanied with his great prudence and the wonderfull talent he had of gaining the affections of the people had acquir'd more reputation and power than any Gentleman not supported by the Royal Authority had ever obtain'd in his own Countrey He had formerly sav'd the Life of Henry the Third at Rochelle when that Prince who was then but Duke of Anjou approaching too near to a Retrenchment a Souldier who had singled him out from all the rest had just taken aim at him which the Sieur de Vins perceiving threw himself before him in the Bullets way and receiv'd the Musquet shot which wanted little of costing him his Life He expected as he had reason some great preferment from the Duke when he was King in recompence of so generous an action but perceiving that all was play'd into the Minions hands without so much as taking the least notice of his worth the indignation of being slighted caus'd him to enter into the Duke of Guise's Interests and to ingage in the League of which he was Head in Provence the Count of Carcas his Uncle his Brother-in-Law the Count de Sault a great part of the Nobility and the Parliament of Aix as also to expose the whole Province to the manifest danger of being lost by calling in the Duke of Savoy who nevertheless was constrain'd at last to retire with shame into his own Dominions In the mean time the King who from time to time receiv'd the unpleasant News of the Rebellion of his Subjects had been forc'd to send back the Deputies of the Estates to their several Provinces where the greatest part of them being hot Leaguers blew up the Fire to that height that he was constrain'd at the length to lay aside the ways of Clemency and Mildness and to take up though somewhat of the latest those of Rigour and Compulsion He began by sending a Herald to Paris who bore an Injunction to the Duke of Aumale the pretended Governour immediately to depart the Town an Interdiction to the Parliament to the Exchequer and the Court of Aydes with prohibition to all other Officers of any farther exercise of their employments But he was remanded without an hearing loaded with affronts and threatn'd with an Halter if he presum'd to return on such an Errant He declar'd the Dukes of Mayenne and Aumale the Citizens of Paris Orleans Amiens Abbeville and the other Associated Towns to be guilty of High Treason if within a time prefix'd they return not to their Duty He transferr'd the Parliament of Paris to Tours and all the Courts of Judicature which were in the Cities of the League to other Towns which continu'd faithfull to him But they without being concern'd at his angry Declarations reveng'd themselves in all places on such as were of the Royal Party by all manner of ill usage He did in the month of March what he ought to have done in December He call'd together his Gendarmery and Rendevouz'd what Forces he cou'd raise in the Neighbourhood of Tours to which place he had retir'd as not thinking himself secure in so open and weak a Town as Blois but first he secur'd his Prisoners whom he caus'd to be carried from
deceiv'd by his Spies who assur'd him that the Enemy had no Cannon and knowing himself to be twice as strong doubted not but he shou'd be able to defeat them with his Cavalry alone Accordingly having drawn up with much trouble his Parisian Infantry brisk men to appearance and well arm'd but a little out of countenance when they saw the Business in hand was somewhat more than bare Trayning and that Life was at stake he advanc'd so hastily with his Horse having Maineville on his right hand and Balagny on his left that those two great Bodies of Horse and Foot were made uncapable of relieving and serving each other in the Fight La Noiie to whom for the sake of his experience the young Duke of Longueville had intrusted the care and conduct of the Army having observ'd the countenance of the Enemy and finding the Parisians disorder'd and wavering was confident he cou'd beat them with those few Troups which he had then in the Field and who were imbattel'd in this order The Duke of Longueville was in the main Body with his Squadron compos'd of a great number of brave Gentlemen having at the Head of them the Lord Charles de Humieres Marquis d' Encre and Governour of Compeigne who had furnish'd the Army with Cannon and Ammunition which occasion'd the gaining of the Battel This was he who having soon discover'd the pernicious designs of the League serv'd the King so well against it that Henry the Fourth at his coming to the Crown made him his Lieutenant in Picardy with an extraordinary privilege that he shou'd have the full Authority of disposing all things in that Province His great Services his extraordinary Deserts his high Reputation his Performances on this great day and many signal actions during the War gain'd him without any other recommendation his Commission for General of the Artillery which was sign'd not long before his Death and he was yet in a way of mounting higher if his too great Courage had not expos'd him to that fatal Musquet shot which kill'd him at the taking of Han though the Garrison of Spaniards had small cause to boast of it who were all sacrific'd to the just sorrow of the Army for the loss of so brave a Gentleman They who came in to the Duke of Longueville with him were Louis Dongniez Count de Chaulne his Brother-in-Law the Sieurs de Maulevrier Lanoy Longueval Cany Bonnivet Givry Fretoy Mesvillier and La Tour. This Squadron was slank'd on the right and left with two gross Battalions having each of them two Field pieces which were not drawn out of Compeigne till some time after the Army was March'd on purpose to deceive the Spies who thereupon gave intelligence that they had none He plac'd on his right Wing the Cavalry of Sedan at the Head of which he was resolv'd to Fight in Person and on his left the Horsemen which were drawn out from those places that held for the King in Picardy The Duke of Aumale who made such over haste to the Victory of which he made sure in his conceipt that he left his Cannon behind him was the first who founded the Charge and Balagny with his Squadron of Cambresians and Walloons advanc'd eagerly to attacque the right Wing of the Royallists which was much inferiour to his own in strength but when he was almost just upon them the gross Battalion which cover'd the left side of that Squadron opening in a moment he was surprisingly saluted with a Volley of Cannon which carri'd off at once whole rancks of his Squadron and constrain'd him to retire in great disorder Then the Duke of Aumale who plainly saw that there was no other remedy for this unexpected mischief but speedily to win the Enemies Cannon put himself upon the gallop follow'd by Maineville and Balagny who had recover'd his disorder and all three went at the Head of their men to force that Infantry of the Enemy But they were scarce come up within an hundred paces of them when their other Battalion opening a second Volley came thundring upon them and raking them in the Flank did more execution than the former A third which immediately succeeded it shook their whole Body which having advanc'd a little farther the Musquetiers which flank'd their Horse made their discharge so justly both against Man and Horse that the Field was strew'd with dead Bodies and in the mean time the whole Cavalry of the Royallists charg'd upon them who were already wavering and half routed and the Besieg'd at the same time sallying out fell upon the rere of the Parisian Infantry who had been abandon'd by their Cavalry so that now it was no longer to be call'd a Battel but a downright Slaughter and a general defeat Never was any Victory more complete with so little loss to the Conquerours the Field of Battel remain'd in their Possession cover'd with above two thousand Slain without reckoning into the number those who were kill'd by the Peasants or such as cou'd not recover themselves out of the Marishes which are about the Abbey de la Victoire The Camp of the Vanquish'd the Merchandises and Commodities which had been brought thither from Paris the Cannon the Ammunition the Colours the Baggage and twelve hundred Prisoners were the Conquerours reward Who some few days after as they March'd towards Burgundy there to joyn the Swissers saluted the Parisians from the Heights of Montfaucon with some Vollies of Cannon and thereby gave them notice of their defeat with a truer account of it than had been given them by the Duke of Aumale and Balagny whereof the one sav'd himself in St. Denis and the other in Paris And as it often happens that one misfortune comes on the Neck of another to those who are in the way of being beaten this defeat was follow'd the very next day after it being the eighteenth of May with the loss of three hundred brave Gentlemen of Picardy whom the Governour of Dourlens Charles Tiercelin de Saveuse was bringing to the Duke of Mayenne who being met in La Beauce towards Bonneval by the Count of Chastillon with a greater strength were almost all of them Slain after having fought like Lions without asking Quarter or so much as promising for safety of their Lives that they wou'd never bear Arms against the King Such violent Leaguers were these men and above all Saveuse their Captain who being carried off to Baugency wounded in all parts of his Body where the King of Navarre a great lover of brave Men was very desirous to have sav'd him refus'd all kind of remedies for the sullen pleasure of Dying having nothing in his mouth but the praises of the Duke of Guise and a thousand imprecations against his Murtherers These fortunate events accompani'd by the great success which the Duke of Montpensier had in Normandy against the Leaguers occasion'd the King of Navarre who was advanc'd as far as Baugency with part of his Forces to return to Tours
that he might advise the King no longer to delay the time in fruitless Treaties which were still counsell'd him by some and were so agreeable to his lazy and unactive genius and to let him know that it was now high time to put in execution a more generous design which was to attaque the Enemy in their chiefest strength by besieging Paris He resolv'd on this at last but first he was desirous of getting Orleans into his power which if he cou'd compass he shou'd thereby deprive Paris of the great supplies which might be drawn from thence To effect this having in the beginning of Iune pass'd his Army over the Bridge of Baugency in La Sologne he caus'd Gergeau to be assaulted the Governour of which place who had the confidence to stay till the Cannon had made a breach which he was not able to defend was taken and hang'd for an example Those of Gien terrifi'd by this just severity made haste to surrender before the Artillery had play'd and the Inhabitants of La Charité put themselves immediately into the King's hands of their own accord so that his Majesty excepting onely Nantz was Master of all the passages on the Loire both above and below Orleans which he invested on all parts of it The Sieur de la Chastre who after the death of the Guises had promis'd fidelity to the King and not long afterwards had declar'd a second time for the League in his Government of Berry put himself into that Town with all the Forces he cou'd make and the Inhabitants encourag'd by his presence refus'd with great scorn those advantageous propositions which were made them by the King laugh'd at his threatnings and took up a resolution of defending themselves to the last extremity Insomuch that it being concluded it was but loss of time to undertake that Siege the first design of going directly on to Paris was resum'd For which reason they repass'd the Loire and upon the March without much trouble took in the Towns of Pluviers Dourdan and Estampes at which last place the King receiv'd the unwelcome news of the Monitory which Pope Sixtus had publish'd against him and this was the occasion of it Not long after the death of the Guises the King who clearly saw by the Remonstrations which the Legat Morosini had made him that the absolution which he had receiv'd by virtue of his Breviat wou'd not be receiv'd at Rome had sent thither Claude d' Angennes Bishop of Mans to intercede for another notwithstanding all the discouraging Letters which had been written him by his friends from thence to disswade him from it or at least to delay a submission of this nature which might prove prejudicial to him In farther prosecution of this the Marquis de Pisany his Ambassadour and the Cardinal de Ioyeuse acting in joint commission with the Bishop by his order had represented to Pope Sixtus the most powerfull reasons they cou'd urge to procure this favour from him to which the Pope who was grown inflexible on that point had answer'd them ruggedly according to his nature that he was willing to take no cognisance of the Duke of Guise's death because he was the King's Subject but the Cardinal of Bourbon and the Arch-bishop of Lyons whom he held Prisoners not being his Subjects since none but the Pope had a Soveraign Power over Cardinals and Bishops he wou'd never grant him absolution before he had restor'd them to their liberty or at least put them into the hands of his Legat that they might be sent to Rome where himself wou'd execute justice on them in case he found them guilty On the other side the Commander of Diu the Sieur Coquelaire Counsellor in Parliament Nicholas de Piles Abbot of Orbais and the Sieur Frison Dean of the Church of Rheims who were Deputies for the League at Rome to hinder the Pope from giving this Absolution not onely oppos'd it with all their force but also us'd their best endeavours to perswade him that he wou'd publish the Excommunication which he himself had said was incurr'd by the King for the murther of the Cardinal of Guise and amongst other arguments which they alledg'd to carry him to this extreme severity against a most Christian King they fail'd not to urge the Authority of the Decrees of the Sorbonne and principally that of the fifth of April In that Decree the Faculty declare that Henry de Valois ought not to be pray'd for in any Ecclesiastique Prayer much less at the Canon of the Mass in regard of the Excommunication which he had incurr'd and that these words Pro Rege nostro ought to be taken out of the Canon lest it shou'd be believ'd that they pray'd for him even though the Priest by directing his intention otherwise shou'd call down the effect of those Prayers on the present Governours or on him to whom God Almighty had reserv'd the kingdom The same Decree wills that instead of them there shou'd be said at Mass three Prayers which are not in the Canon Pro Christianis Principibus nostris which were Printed and remain at this day to be seen Lastly it adds that all such who will not conform to this Decree shall be depriv'd of the Prayers and other rights of the Faculty from which they shall be driven out like Excommunicated Persons and this was approv'd by the general consent of all the Doctors 'T is most certain that these Decrees together with what was continually buzz'd in the Pope's ears that the King's party was absolutely ruin'd contributed not a little to the resolution which he took of prosecuting the King by the ways of rigour and without fear But that which put the last hand to his determination was the Manifesto of the two Kings who were now in conjunction against the League For being a man of an haughty temper he was not able to endure that the King shou'd be united with a person whom he had excommunicated as a relaps'd Heretique by a thundring Bull which he had caus'd to be inserted in the Bullary reprinted by him for that onely purpose he easily believ'd whatever reports were rais'd by the Leaguers to the disadvantage of the King's party or his cause and accordingly set up in Rome his Monitory against him In which he commands him to set at full liberty the Cardinal of Bourbon and the Arch-bishop of Lyons within ten days after the publication of his Monitory at the Gates of two or three of six Cathedral Churches which are nam'd and which are those of Poitiers Orleans Chartres Meaux Agen and Mans and to give him assurance of it within thirty days by an Authentique Act. In default of which he pronounces from that present time and for the future that he and all his Accomplices in the murther of the Cardinal of Guise and the imprisonment of the other Prelates have damnably incurr'd the greater Excommunication and the other Ecclesiastical censures denounc'd by the Bull In Coena Domini
whom he had commanded to stand at a distance that he might hear what the Traytour had to say to him in private it follows necessarily that either the one or the other of these two committed this detestable action if it were not Iaques Clement and the former of these two suppositions is what can never enter into the imagination of any reasonable man For which reason without losing my time either to destroy or leave doubtfull a truth so known and so generally agreed on by all the Writers of those times and confirm'd besides by so many authentique Witnesses I believe it safer to rest satisfi'd with the universal opinion of Mankind without the least daubing of the matter in regard of his profession which can reflect no manner of dishonour on the Iacobins For there is no dispute but all crimes are personal and there is no man of good sense who can think it reasonable to upbraid a whole Order with the guilt of one particular person in it and principally that of Saint Dominic which is always stor'd with excellent men renown'd for their Vertue their Learning and their Pious conversation Now though the wound was great and had pierc'd very deep yet the Chirurgeons at the first dressing were of opinion that the Knife had slipp'd betwixt the Bowels without entring into them and that therefore the King was not hurt to death of this they all assur'd him and thereupon he sent advice to the Princes his Allies that in ten days he shou'd be able to get on horseback But whether it were that the wound was not search'd to the bottom or that the knife was empoyson'd it was known not long after that the hurt was mortal Never Prince was less surpris'd than he at the certainty of death nor receiv'd it more calmly more Christianly or more devoutly He confess'd himself three several times to the Sieur de Boulogne the Chaplain of his Closet and being advertis'd by him that there was a Monitory out against him and exhorted to satisfie the Church in what was demanded of him before he cou'd have absolution given him I am answer'd he without the least hesitation the Eldest Son of the Roman Catholick Church and will die such I promise in the presence of God and before you all that I have no other desire than to content his Holiness in all he can require from me Upon which the Confessour being fully satisfi'd gave him Absolution All the remainder of the day he pass'd in his Devotions and in Contemplation of Holy things till the King of Navarre being arriv'd from his Quarters at Meudon it being now well onward in the night and throwing himself on his knees before him with his eyes full of tears and without being able to pronounce one word he rais'd himself up a little and leaning gently on his head declar'd him his lawfull Successour commanding all the Nobility who fill'd the Chamber to acknowledge and obey him as their King at the same time telling him that if he wou'd Reign peaceably it was necessary for him to return into the Church and to profess the Religion of all the most Christian Kings his Predecessours When he felt the approaches of death about two of the Clock in the Morning he confess'd himself once more after which he call'd for the holy Sacrament which Viaticum he receiv'd with incredible devotion After which he continu'd in all the most fervent actions of Faith Hope and Charity relying wholly on the infinite merits of the Passion of our Saviour Iesus Christ pardoning all his Enemies from the bottom of his heart and particularly those who had procur'd his death and thereupon he desir'd for the third time to receive Absolution beseeching God to forgive him all his Sins even as he forgave all the injuries which had been done him After this he began to say the Miserere which he was not able to finish having lost his Speech at these words And restore to me the joy of thy Salvation and having twice sign'd himself with the sign of the Cross he quietly gave up his breath about four of the clock in the morning on the second day of August and in the thirty ninth year of his Age. Thus died Henry the third King of France and Poland making it appear at his death that during his Life he had in his Soul a true foundation of Piety and that those extraordinary and odd actions which he did from time to time though they were not altogether regular nor becoming his Quality yet proceeded not from that unworthy principle of Hypocrisie with which the Leaguers have so ignominiously branded him As to the rest he was a Prince who being endu'd with all the Noble Qualities which I have describ'd in his Character in the beginning of this History had been one of the most excellent Kings who ever Reign'd if he cou'd have shewn them to the World after his assumption to the Crown with the same lustre in which they appear'd before it The Huguenots and Leaguers who agree'd in nothing but their common hatred to this Prince rejoyc'd equally at his Death and spoke of it as a kind of Miracle and as a stroke proceeding from the hand of God The Protestants have written that he was wounded and died afterwards in the same Chamber where he had procur'd the Massacre of St. Bartholomew to be resolv'd Notwithstanding which it is most certain that the House wherein the King was hurt to Death was not Built by the Sieur Ierome de Gondy till the year 1577 which was five years after the forefaid Massacre For which reason that imposture being manifest the Parliament upon the complaint which the Attorney General made concerning it ordain'd that this passage shou'd be rac'd out from the addition which was made by Monliard to the Inventaire of the History of France But the Zealots of Geneva have not been wanting to restore it entirely as it was before in the Impression which they made of that Book As for the Leaguers they proclaim'd their Joy so loudly and in so scandalous a manner that their Books cannot be read without an extreme abhorrence to the Writers They publish'd in their Narratives Printed at Paris and at Lyons that an Angel had declar'd to Iaques Clement that a Crown of Martyrdom was prepar'd for him when he had deliver'd France from Henry de Valois and that having communicated his Vision to a knowing man in Orders he had approv'd it assuring him that by giving this Stroke he shou'd make himself as well pleasing to God as Iudith was by killing Holophernes And because his Prior who was called Father Edm. Bourgoing was accus'd to be the man amongst all the Preachers of the League who was the most transported in the praises of this abominable Parricide his Subject Apostrophising to him in the Pulpit and calling him the blessed Child of his Patriarch and the Holy Martyr of Iesus Christ and also comparing him to Iudith It was not doubted but that
Prelates of the Kingdom that he shou'd restore the Exercise of the Catholique Religion in all places from whence it had been banish'd and remit the Ecclesiastiques into the full and entire Possession of all their Goods that he shou'd bestow no Governments on Hugonots and that this Assembly might have leave to depute some persons to the Pope to render him an account of their Proceedings This Accommodation was sign'd by all the Lords excepting only the Duke of Espernon and the Sieur de Vitry who absolutely refus'd their Consent to it Vitry went immediately into Paris and there put himself into the Service of the League which he believ'd at that time to be the cause of Religion As for the Duke of Espernon he had no inclination to go over to the League which had so often solicited his Banishment from Court But whether it were that being no longer supported since his Masters Death he fear'd the Hatred and Resentment of the greatest Persons about the King and even of the King himself whom he had very much offended during the time of his Favour in which it was his only business to enrich himself or were it that he was afraid he shou'd be requir'd to lend some part of that great Wealth which he had scrap'd together he very unseasonably and more unhandsomly began to raise Scruples and seem'd to be troubled with Pangs of Conscience which never had been thought any great grievance to him formerly so that he took his leave of the King and retir'd to his Government with 2 or 3000 Foot and 500 Horse which he had brought to the Service of his late Master This pernicious Example was follow'd by many others who under pretence of ordering their Domestick Affairs ask'd leave to be gone which the King dar'd not to refuse them or suffer'd themselves to be seduc'd by the Proffers and Solicitations of the League so that the King not being in a condition any longer to besiege Paris was forc'd to divide his remaining Troops comprehending in that number those which Sancy still preserv'd for his Use and Service Of the whole he form'd three little Bodies one for Picardy under the Command of the Duke of Longuevillâ— another for Champaigne under the Marshal d' Aumont and himself led the third into Normandy where he was to receive Supplies from England and where with that small Remainder of his Forces he gave the first Shock to the Army of the League which at that time was become more powerful than ever it had been formerly or than ever it was afterwards In effect those who after the Barricades had their eyes so far open'd as to discover that the League in which they were ingag'd was no other than a manifest Rebellion against their King seeing him now dead believ'd there was no other Interest remaining on their side but that of Religion and therefore reunited themselves with the rest to keep out a Heretick Prince from the Possession of the Crown And truly this pretence became at that time so very plausible that an infinite number of Catholiques of all Ranks and Qualities dazled with so specious an appearance made no doubt but that it was better for them to perish than to endure that he whom they believ'd obstinate in his Heresie shou'd ascend the Throne of St. Lewis and were desirous that some other King might be elected Nay farther there were some of them who took this occasion once more to press the Duke of Mayenne that he wou'd assume that Regal Office which it wou'd be easie for him to maintain with all the Forces of the united Catholiques of which he already was the Head but that Prince who was a prudent man fearing the dangerous consequences of so bold an Undertaking lik'd better at the first to retain for himself all the Essentials of Kingship and to leave the Title of it to the old Cardinal of Bourbon who was a Prisoner and whom he declar'd King under the Name of Charles the Tenth by the Council of the Union At this time it was that there were scatter'd through all the Kingdom a vast number of scandalous Pamphlets and other Writings in which the Authors of them pretended to prove that Henry of Bourbon stood lawfully excluded from the Crown those who were the most eminent of them were the two Advocates general for the League in the Parliament of Paris Lewis d'Orlâ—ans and Anthony Hotman The first was Author of that very seditious Libel call'd The English Catholique And the second wrote a Treatise call'd The Right of the Vncle against the Nephew in the Succession of the Crown But there happen'd a pleasant Accident concerning this Francis Hotman a Civilian and Brother to the Advocate seeing this Book which pass'd from hand to hand in Germany where he then was maintain'd with solid Arguments and great Learning The Right of the Nephew against the Vncle and made manifest in an excellent Book which he publish'd on this Subject the Weakness and false Reasoning of his Adversaries Treatise without knowing that it was written by his Brother who had not put his Name to it The League having a King to whom the Crown of right belong'd after Henry the Fourth his Nephew in case he had surviv'd him by this Pretence increas'd in Power because the King of Spain and the Duke of Lorrain and Savoy who during the Life of the late King their Ally durst not declare openly against him for his Rebellious Subjects now after his Death acknowledging this Charles the Tenth for King made no difficulty to send Supplies to the Duke of Mayenne insomuch that he after having publish'd through all France a Declaration made in August by which he exhorts all French Catholicks to reunite themselves with those who would not suffer an Heretique to be King had rais'd at the beginning of September an Army of 25000 Foot and 8000 Horse With these Forces he pass'd the Seine at Vernon marching directly towards the King who after he had been receiv'd into Pont del ' Arch and Diepe which Captain Rolâ—t and the Commander de Chates had surrendred to him made a show of besieging Rouen not having about him above 7 or 8000 Men. This so potent an Army of the Leaguers compos'd of French and Gâ—rmans Lorrainers and Walloons which he had not imagin'd cou'd have been so soon assembled and which was now coming on to overwhelm him constrain'd him to retire speedily towards Diepe where he was in danger to have been incompass'd round without any possibility of Escape but only by Sea into England if the Duke of Mayenne had taken up the resolution as he ought to have done from the first moment when he took the Field to pursue him eagerly and without the least delay But while he proceeding with his natural slowness which was his way of being wise trifled out his time in long deliberations when he shou'd have come to Action he gave leisure to the King to fortifie his Camp at Arques a League
't is exceeding probable that the greater number must have oppress'd the less by multitudes pour'd in upon them and that he had that day obtain'd an absolute and decisive Victory But as he never did any thing in hast but when he fled for safety of his Life his March was to slow to make fitting use of so fair an Occasion where also his good Fortune depended on his Speed which occasion'd the loss of that Advantage For the Count of Chastillon on the one side running to the Succour of the King with the two Regiments which were in Arques and on the other side the Duke of Montpensier and the brave La Noüe ranging themselves with their Gendarmery by his side that valiant Prince who had already rallied the greatest part of his Souldiers whom the Surprise had affrighted and put into disorder so furiously charg'd the Regiments of Colalte and Tremblecour that they were forc'd to quit the Retrenchments and the Maladery with more speed than they had enter'd them and to retreat towards the Duke of Mayenne who seem'd by his heavy March and slow Advance as if his Business was only to receive them and not to sustain and second them And at the same time the Cannon of the Castle which had him fair before them playing terribly into his Army constrained him to take his way back to his Quarters and leave the Victory to the King who still maintain'd the Possession of Arques from which his Enemies had endeavour'd to dislodge him And what was yet a greater disgrace to the Duke of Mayenne four or five days after this fetching a long compass and posting himself before Diepe with purpose of besieging it he was himself besieg'd by the little Army of the King who being lodg'd out of the Town over against his Camp ply'd him night and day with perpetual Alarms without his daring once to come forth and make his Approaches Insomuch that after ten days stay without having perform'd any thing he rais'd this pretended Siege re-pass'd this River and retir'd into Picardy under pretence that his Presence was necessary in those Parts to hinder the associated Towns of that Province from putting themselves into the Protection of the Spaniards who were labouring under-hand to beguile the Simplicity of those poor People This was the success of that Enterprise of the League which with their thirty thousand men boasted that they would take the King of Navarre or the Bearnois as those Rebels insolently call'd him and bring him Prisoner to Paris where the Dutchess of Montpensier and other Ladies had already hirâ—d Windows and Balconies in St. Dennis-Street from whence they might have the Pleasure to see him grace the Triumph of the Duke de Mayenne with his Captivity But God had otherwise ordain'd and that memorable Fight at Arques wherein according to all humane probability the King with that handful of men shou'd have have fallen under the weight of so formidable a Power was the fatal point of declination to the League For though their General had not lost above seven or eight hundred men in that Engagement yet he lost in it the Honour and Reputation of the party which since that day never did any thing considerable but what made for the glory of their Conqueror by furnishing him with new occasions to make appear his Clemency in pardoning or his Valour in subduing them which succeeded not long afterwards to his immortal Fame For as soon as he had receiv'd the Succours which he expected from England of four thousand men and that the Duke of Longâ—eville and Marshal Biron had joyn'd him with their Forces which they brought from Picardy and Champaigne he march'd upward against the Course of the Seine as far as Meulan where perceiving that the Duke of Mayenne who might have marched directly towards him if his Heart had serv'd him for the Combat appear'd not in those Parts he pass'd the River and on the thirty first of October took up his Quarters in the sight of Paris at the Villages of Isly Vaugirard Montrouge and Gentilly with resolution the next morning to attaque the Fauxbourgs of that great City which the Parisians had fortified In order to which he divided all his Infantry into three Bodies that the Assault might be made at the same time in three several places The first under Marshal de Biron on the side of the Fauxbourgs St. Marceau and St. Victor the next commanded by Marshal d' Aumont assisted by Damville the Colonel of the Swisses and Bellegard the Grand Escuyer at the Head of the Fauxbourg St. Iacques and at that of St. Michael and the third led on by the Sieurs de Chastillon and La Noâ—e right over against the Gates of St. Germain Bussy and Nesle They were sustain'd by as many gross Squadrons of Cavalry at the Head of which was the Count de Soissons on the right hand the Duke of Longueville on the left and the King himself in the midst on the side of the Fauxbourg St. Iacques and four pieces of Cannon follow'd each of these great Bodies to discharge against the Gates of the City so soon as the Fauxburgs should be won Never was any Enterprise better laid so that the success of it already seem'd infallible For besides the strength of the Assailants without the Town they held a secret Intelgence within it which was dextrously manag'd by the President Nicholas Potier de Blanc Mesnil who who having freed himself out of the Hands of Bussy by a great sum of Money had gain'd a good number of those whom the Leaguers suspected to be Royallists and whom they call'd Pollitiques by whose Assistance he was to make himself Master of one of the Gates and then deliver it to the King The invincible courage of that President and his inviolable fidelity in the service of the Kings his Masters in those troublesom and rebellious times will perpetuate his Memory in all Ages and raise a Veneration to his Name in France particularly in Paris his Native Town which he honour'd as much by his singular Vertue as he was honour'd by it in his Birth being descended from one of the most Ancient Families of that Great City He had the generosity for the service of his Prince and the safety of the State to expose himself to the imminent danger of death by the fury of the Sixteen For those brutal Wretches fearing his great parts his Courage and his Vertue which they knew was never to be diverted from the plain ways of Honesty and Honour put him twice in Prison once in the Bastile and again in the Tower of the Louvre where he ran the hazard of his Life if he had not been deliver'd by the good Offices which were done him by some Persons who had the resolution to oppose the fury of those Tyrants And when in process of time he found he cou'd do no more service to the King in Paris he retir'd to him who made him President of
that part of his Parliament which was established at Chaalons He had the happiness to be Son to a Counsellor who acquir'd so much reputation in the exercise of his Office that the Chancellor de l' Hospital has said of him in one of his Poems that he deserv'd the Court shou'd erect his Statue in the Temple of Justice and at this day after his death has the honour to be Grandfather to another Nicholas de Potier whom the Wisest and Greatest of all Kings who understands the merit of Men and understands also to reward it has plac'd at the Head of his Parliament of Peers All things then being well dispos'd by means of the Intelligence which was held with the President De Blanc Mesnil to make the Kings Enterprise succeed on All Saints day very early in the morning and under covert of a thick mist the Fortifications and the Head of the Fauxbourgs were attacqu'd at once in three several parts with so much vigor and resolution that they were all carryed by plain force in less than an hour Seven or Eight Hundred of the Defendants were slain in the Assault Thirteen Pieces of Cannon were taken and if the Kings Artillery had come up at the time which he design'd 't is certain that this great Prince who at Seven of the Clock entred the Fauxbourg of St. Iacques and was there receiv'd with the loud acclamations of Vive Le Roy had made himself Master of the Quarter of the University without much difficulty or hazard But the Sieur de Rosne who commanded at that time in Paris having had the leisure to fortifie the Gates by reason of that delay and the Duke of Mayenne to whom he had given notice of the Kings approach being entred into the Town the next morning with all his Forces the King satisfied himself with letting the Parisians know by what he had done that the News which was industriously spread amongst them of his defeat at Diepe was notoriously false And after having staid three long hours in Battalia before the Town as it were to reproach the weakness or cowardise of their Commanders who durst not venture without their Walls he went to retake during the Winter in Vandomois Tourain Anjou Mayne Perche and the Lower Normandy the greatest part of the Towns and Strong Places which held for the League which now began to destroy it self by the same means which were intended for its preservation In this following manner Those of the Vnion endeavour'd all they cou'd to oblige his Holiness and the King of Spain that they wou'd openly espouse their Party in which at length they succeeded through the protestations which were made by their Agents at Rome and at Madrid that in case they were not speedily and powerfully assisted by both of them they must of necessity make an Accommodation with the King of Navarre which neither the Pope nor King Philip cou'd bear with patience The First for fear that France shou'd fall under the Dominion of a Prince who was an Heretick And the Second because he was desirous to foment the divisions which were amongst us hoping to make his advantage of them either by reducing the whole Kingdom into his power or at least by dismembring a great part of it In this manner Pope Sixtus as intelligent as he was being deluded by the Commander of Diu and by his Partners who made him believe that the Navarrois cou'd not possibly escape from the hands of the Duke of Maâ—enne who had coop'd him up and surrounded him in a corner of Normandy sent Cardinal Cajetan his Legat into France who was born Subject to the King of Spain and was also a Spaniard in his Principles and by his Obligations who came to Paris in the beginning of Ianuary bringing with him Bills of Exchange for 300000 Crowns together with an Express Order to cause a Catholick King to be Elected On the other side Don Bernardin de Mâ—ndoza King Philip's Embassador being supported by the Faction of the Sixteen the Preachers of the League and the Monks of which the greatest part were intirely devoted to the Spaniard made in the General Council of the Vnion on the part of his Master very plausible and advantageous Propositions for the ease of the People with promise of assisting them with all the Forces of that Monarchy Protesting also that his King who was Master of so many Countries the Titles of which he haughtily set forth pretended not to that of France either for himself or for his Son and that in recompence of those great Succours which he intended to give the Catholicks he demanded nothing more than the honour to be solemnly declar'd The Protector of France Now this was in effect the very thing which most contributed to the ruin of the League and the safeguard of the State because this artificial Proposition joyn'd with the Instructions of the Legat fully opened the Duke of Mayenne's Eyes and gave him the means of discovering the intentions of the Spaniards whose design was to establish their Kings Authority on the ruins of his and consequently he took up a firm resolution of opposing their endeavours as he always did from that time forward by the advice of some honest men about him and particularly Monsieur de Villeroy That wise and able Minister of State who serv'd five of our Kings with so much Fidelity and Reputation having observ'd that by reason of some ill Offices which were done him to the Late King his Master he cou'd no longer remain with safety in the Towns which obeyed him nor at his own House during the War and that he had not been able to procure so much as a Passport for his departure out of the Kingdom was constrained to make his retreat to Paris with his Father and to enter into the Party of the Vnion But it may be truly said of him that he entred into it as did the Loyal and Wise Hushai into that of Absalom at Ierusalem there to destroy all the devices and pernicious Counsels of the wicked Achitophel which only tended to the total ruin of David the lawful King against whom the Capital City of his Kingdom was revolted In the same manner the Sieur de Villeroy embrac'd not out of pure necessity the Party of the League and plac'd not himself with the Duke of Mayenne in Paris who was in Actual War with his King but only to obtain the means by his good Counsels to undermine the purposes of the Spaniards who under pretence of endeavouring the preservation of Religion in France design'd the Subversion of the State And as David thought it fitting that Hushai shou'd continue at Ierusalem without leaving Absalom because he well knew that he would be more serviceable to him there than if he kept him near his Person in like manner Henry the Fourth who knew the dexterity and faithfulness of Monsieur de Villeroy wou'd not that he shou'd go out from Paris after the death of his
especially after they had begun to taste the Sweets of Peace by means of the Truce which being earnestly desir'd by the great Cities was concluded for three moneths beginning four days after the Conversion 'T is true the Duke of Mayenne fearing that it wou'd soon deprive him of the Authority which he enjoy'd as Lieutenant of the Crown procur'd in his pretended Estates that the Oath shou'd be renew'd of perseverance in the Union and obedience to the Pope's Decrees He went yet farther for in order to oblige his Holiness always to support his Party he caus'd the Estates to confirm the Declaration which he had made for the publishing of the Council of Trent though they had formerly inroll'd the Exceptions which they had made in bar of it containing 23 Articles which were held to be inconsistent with the Royal Prerogative of our Kings and the Liberties of the Gallican Church But in conclusion neither that Publication which they had no great mind to make valid had any effect neither did the Oath which they had taken hinder them from treating privately and considering of the best methods to receive the King into Paris in spight of the Duke of Mayenne But that which wholly turn'd the Ballance and made the justice of his Cause apparent in the eyes of all men reducing almost all his Subjects to their Duty was that according to his promise he sent the Duke of Nevers to Rome to render that filial Obedience which is owing to his Holiness from the most Christian Kings and to desire that Absolution which they believ'd at Rome the Pope had only power to give him This met with great Obstructions and Pope Clement being earnestly solicited by the Spaniards who us'd their utmost Endeavours to hinder him from granting it refus'd it for a long time together after a manner which was somewhat disrespectful to so great a King But when his Holiness perceiv'd that he began to be less courted for his Gift and that it was believ'd in France considering what Applications had been made that the King had done all which cou'd reasonably be expected on his part and consequently no farther Absolution was necessary he advanc'd of his own accord as fast as they went back and encourag'd them to renew that Negotiation which had been wholly given over by the Duke of Nevers whom he wouâ—d not receive as the Ambassador of the King of France and who for that Reason he was departed from Rome in Discontent The King therefore being desirous to omit nothing on that occasion which cou'd be expected from a most religious Prince nam'd two new Deputies and both great Men Iacques David du Perron and Arnaud d' Ossat whose extraordinary Deserts were not long after rewarded with Cardinalships and they acted both of them with so much prudence that after many Disputes and Difficulties rais'd by the Spaniards both concerning the Essentials and the Formalities of that Affair the Pope at length resolv'd on giving a second Absolution and to keep himself precisely within the bounds of spiritual authority without mentioning the Rehabilitation to which he pretended For they wou'd not admit that term by which it might have seem'd that the Crown of France which depends on God alone shou'd either directly or indirectly be subjected to the Pope In this manner that Absolution which had been desir'd almost two years before that time was given at Rome on the sixteenth of September in the year 1595. by which it is easie to be observ'd that the League had not the mortal blow from thence but on the contrary that which made the Pope so pliable was that he saw the League was going to destruction In effect as when the two great Pillars which sustain'd the Palace of the Philistims were overthrown by the strength of Sampson all the Building went to the ground so when those two specious pretences of the Publick Good and of Religion which the Heads of the League had taken for the Columns of their Fabrick were thrown down by the Conversion of the King and that Conversion known to be real notwithstanding all the jugglings of the Spaniards who wou'd have rendred it suspected that impious Building already more than half ruin'd and now having not the least support fell down of it self and came to nothing Insomuch that in the year ensuing almost all the Heads and all the Cities of the League made each of them their separate Treaty with the King who was better pleas'd to win upon their hearts by gentle means with his admirable clemency and Fatherly goodness granting them advantageous conditions which did him the more honour the less they had deserv'd them than to force them as he was able by his victorious Arms to return to their duty in their own despight As the Marquess dâ— Vitry was the first who forsook the Kings Party after the death of Henry the Third entring into that of the League which at that time he believ'd to be the juster Cause he was also the first who being disabus'd of that false opinion return'd to his obedience with the Town of Meaux of which he was Governor The Sieur da la Chastre immediately follow'd his example and brought back with him Orleans and Bourges The Lionnois after they had shaken off the yoke of the Duke of Nemours whom they kept Prisoner in Pierre Encise and that of the Duke of Mayenne his Brother by the Mothers side who had underhand wrought them to secure him that he might joyn his Government of Bourgogne to that of Lionnois and set up a kind of independent principality in both turn'd the Leaguers out of the Town and declar'd unanimously for the King Provence was the first of all the Provinces which openly disown'd the Party of the League taking up Arms at the same time against the Savoyards and the Duke of Espernon who had possess'd himself of that Government against the Kings Will. This voluntary reduction was made by the courage and good management of four brave Gentlemen of the House of Fourbin one of the most Noble and most remarkable Families of Provence Their Names were Palamede de Fourbin Lord of Soliers and his two Sons Iaspar de Soliers and Saint Canat and Nicholas de Fourbin Knight of Malta with whom joyn'd Melchior de Fourbin Sieur de Ianson Baron of Ville-Laure and Mane These being related by kindred and alliance to Iohn de Pontevez Count de Carces Governor and Grand Seneschal of Provence whose two Sisters were married to Ianson and Saint Canat wrought so well with him that they brought him over from the League of which he had declar'd himself Head after the death of Monsieur de Vins his Nephew who was kill'd with a Musquet Shot as he was besieging Grasse After which having perswaded the greatest part of the Nobility and Gentry to enter into their confederacy the Count without much trouble reduc'd the City of Aix and the Parliament of that place which reunited it self at the
is all the 〈◊〉 I will ever take on you for all the 〈◊〉 you have done me when you were 〈◊〉 of the League Thus the Duke being charm'd with so much Generosity and Goodness which won upon his Nature devoted himself wholly to his service and serv'd him afterwards to his great advantage especially against the Spaniards in the retaking of La Fere and Amiens Now after this Agreement there remain'd no more towards the total extinguishment of that great Fire which had spread it self through all the Kingdom than the reduction of the Dukes of Mercaeur and of Ioyeuse who yet held for the League the one in Bretagne and the other in Languedoc For as to the Town of Marseilles which the Duke of Guise to whom the King had given that Government of Provence had retaken from the Rebels it being then under the dominion of two petty Tyrants who acknowledg'd neither the King nor the Duke of Mayenne and who wou'd have given it up to the Spaniards the History of its Deliverance belongs not to that of the League for the Duke of Ioyeuse three years were already past when after the death of his Brother who was drown'd in the Tarn when he had been forc'd in his Retrenchments at the Siege of Villemur he was return'd from Father Aâ—ge the Capuchin to be Duke of Ioyeuse and General of the League in Languedoc This change of his was made at the earnest Solicitations of the Faculty of Divines in Tholouse the Doctors who were consulted on this Case of Conscience and especially his Brother the Cardinal who after the death of the late King was enter'd into the Party of the League having declar'd to him that he was oblig'd under pain of mortal Sin to accept of that Employment for the good of Religion Yet he wou'd not take it without a Dispensation from the Pope who transferr'd him from the Order of St. Francis to that of St. Iohn of Ierusalem He had maintain'd till that time the Party of the Vnion in that Province as well as he was able but when he saw that the greatest part of the Towns made their voluntary submission after the Conversion of the King and that those few Officers of Parliament who were remaining at Tholouse were resolv'd in case he wou'd not accommodate himself to them that they wou'd joyn with the Members of their Company who during the Troubles were retir'd to Castle Sarazin and Besiers He made his Treaty and in Ianuary obtain'd from the â—inâ— in the same manner as the Duke of 〈◊〉 had done an Edict in favour of him by which he was made Marshal of France and Lieutenant of the King in Languedoc and Tholoâ—se and the other Towns of that Province which yet held for the League He liv'd for three years afterwards in the midst of the Pomps Pleasures and Vanities of the World But it caus'd a wonderful Surprize when after he had solemniz'd with great Magnificence the Marriage of his only Daughter Hâ—nrieâ—â—e Charâ—otte only Heir of that rich and illustrious House of Ioyeusâ— with Henry Duke of Montpâ—nsiâ—r it was told on the second Tuesday of Lent by the Capuchin who preach'd at St. Germain de l' Auxerrois that having for the second time renounc'd the World he was return'd the last night into the Cloister from whence he had departed eight or nine years before for the service of Religion as he believ'd but at the last his Mind having been enlighten'd by God's holy Spirit and being strongly wrought upon by the Impuâ—ses of his Grace he had resolv'd to do Justice on himself considering in the presence of God that the Motive on which the Pope had given him the Dispensation no longer subsisting it was his duty dealing sincerely with God who is not to be deceiv'd no longer to make use of it when the Causes which supported it were no more in being For which Reasons he piously resolv'd to resume his ancient Habit of Penitence in which after he had edified all Paris by his rare Vertues and his fervent Sermons he dy'd in our days a most religious Death All that now remain'd was to reduce the Duke of Mâ—rcaeur which was indeed to give the fatal Blow to the League and to cut off the last Head of that monstrous Hydra That Prince who was Son to the Count of Vaâ—demont and Brother of Queen Louise Wife to the late King being carried away with the furious Torrent of the League after the death of the Guises following the example of the other Princes of his Family had caus'd almost a general Revolt in his Government of Bretagne where he made War for almost ten years with Fortune not unlike that of the Duke of Mayenne but with much greater Obstinacy For not withstanding that in the declination of the League he had lost the greatest part of his Towns which were either taken from him or of their own accord forsook his Party yet he still fed his Imagination with flattering Hopes that this fair Dutchy to which he had some Pretensions in right of his Wife might at last remain in his possession by some favourable revolution of Fortune in case the War continued But when he saw the King approaching Bretagne with such Forces as there was no appearance of resisting he made his Applications to the Dutchess of Beaufort to whom he offer'd the Princess his only Daughter for the young Duke of Vandome her Son And it was in consideration of that Marriage that she obtain'd from the King an Edict yet more honourable and at least as advantagious as that which she had obtain'd for the Duke of Mayenne whom she desir'd to have in her Interests designing to make her self powerful Friends by whose assistance she might compass her high Pretensions which all vanish'd by her sudden Death in the year ensuing Thus ended the League by the reduction of the Duke of Mercaeur who had this advantage above all the Princes of that Party that his Accommodation was follow'd by an Employment wherein he obtain'd all the Glory that a Christian Hero cou'd desire and which has recommended his Name to late Posterity For the Emperor Rodolphus dissatisfy'd with his German Generals who had serv'd him ill against the Turks and being inform'd of the rare Merit of this Prince having entertain'd him with leave from the King and given him the Command of his Forces in Hungary he extended his Reputation through all Christendom by his wonderful Exploits in War particularly in the famous Retreat of Canisia with 1500 men before an Army of 60000 Turks at the taking of Alba Regalis and at the Battel wherein he defeated the Infidels who came to the relief of their men besiegâ—d in that City And being upon his return to France after so many heroick Actions it pleas'd God to reward him with another Crown of Glory infinitely surpassing that on Earth and to receive him into Heaven by means of a contagious Disease which took him from the World at
where he carried all things in opposition to the King But by relying too much on the power he had there and not using Arms when he had them in his hand I mean by not prosecuting his Victory to the uttermost when he had the King inclos'd in the Louvre he miss'd his opportunity and Fortune never gave it him again The late Earl of Shaftsbury who was the undoubted Head and Soul of that Party went upon the same maximes being as we may reasonably conclude fearful of hazarding his Fortunes and observing that the late Rebellion under the former King though successful in War yet ended in the Restauration of His Present Majesty his aim was to have excluded His Royal Highness by an Act of Parliament and to have forc'd such concessions from the King by pressing the chymerical dangers of a Popish Plot as wouâ—d not only have destroy'd the Succession but have subverted the Monarchy For he presum'd he ventur'd nothing if he cou'd have executed his design by form of Law and in a Parliamentary way In the mean time he made notorious mistakes First in imagining that his pretensions wou'd have pass'd in the House of Peers and afterwards by the King When the death of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey had fermented the people when the City had taken the alarm of a Popish Plot and the Government of it was in Fanatique hands when a Body of white Boys was already appearing in the West and many other Counties waited but the word to rise then was the time to have push'd his business But Almighty God who had otherwise dispos'd of the Event infatuated his Counsels and made him slip his opportunity which he himself observ'd too late and would have redress'd by an Insurrection which was to have begun at Wapping after the King had been murder'd at the Rye And now it will be but Justice before I conclude to say a word or two of my Author He was formerly a Jesuit He has amongst others of his works written the History of Arianism of Lutheranism of Calvinism the Holy War and the Fall of the Western Empire In all his Writings he has supported the Temporal Power of Soveraigns and especially of his Master the French King against the usurpations and incroachments of the Papacy For which reason being in disgrace at Rome he was in a manner forc'd to quit his Order and from Father Maimbourg is now become Monsieur Maimbourg The Great King his Patron has provided plentifully for him by a large Salary and indeed he has deserv'd it from him As for his style 't is rather Ciceronian copious florid and figurative than succinct He is esteemed in the French Court â—qual to their best Writers which has procur'd him the Envy of some who set up for Criticks Being a profess'd Enemy of the Calvinists he is particularly hated by them so that their testimonies against him stand suspected of prejudice This History of the League is generally allow'd to be one of his best pieces He has quoted every where his Authors in the Margin to show his Impartiality in which if I have not follow'd him 't is because the chiefest of them are unknown to us as not being hitherto translated into English His particular Commendations of Men and Families is all which I think superfluous in his Book but that too is pardonable in a man who having created himself many Enemies has need of the support of Friends This particular work was written by express order of the French King and is now translated by our Kings Command I hope the effect of it in this Nation will be to make the well-meaning men of the other Party sensible of their past errors the worst of them asham'd and prevent Posterity from the like unlawful and impious designs FINIS THE TABLE A. ABsolution given by the Archbishop of Bourges to Henry the Fourth held good and why Page 924 Acarie Master of Accounts a grand Leaguer 96 Francis Duke of Alanson puts himself at the Head of the Protestant Army against the King his Brother 10. Is Crown'd Duke of Brabant 79. His Death 85 George de Clermont d' Amboises 147. joyns the Prince of Conde in Anjou with 1500 Men that he had levied 150. Is Grand Master of the Ordnance for the King of Navarre at the Battel of Courtras 209 Arques its situation and the great Battel that was fought there 742 c. John d' Aumont Marshal of France 114. His Elogy 195. The good Counsel be gave the King but unprofitably 114. He Commands the Army Royal under the King against the Reyters 260. A grand Confident of Henry the Third's 383. Commands a Party of Henry the Fourth's Army in Campagne and at the attacquing of the Suburbs of Paris 752. At the Battel at Ivry 774 The Duke d' Aumale at the Battel of Vimory 270. Is made Governor of Paris by the Leagers 428. Besieges Senâ—is 483. Loses the Battel there 486 Auneau a little City of La Beauce its scituation 279. How the Reyters were there defeated by the Duke of Guise 280 c. Don John of Austria treats secretly with the Duke of Guise at Joinville 20 Aubry Curate of St. Andrews a grand Leager his extravagance in his Sermon 825 B. THe Sieur Balagny sends Troops to the Duke of Guise 235. Besieges Senlis with the the Duke d' Aumale 484. His defeat at that Battel 486 c. The Iournal of the Barricades 357 c. Colonel Christopher de Bassom-Pierre 103 250 777 Baston a furious Leaguer that Signs the Covenant with his Blood 449 The Battel of Courtras 200 c. The Battel at Senlis 485 The Battel or Combats at Arques 742 The Battel at Ivry 770 Claude de Baufremont Baron of Senâ—cey enters into the League 106. is President of the Nobles at the Estates at Paris Pag. 875 John de Beaumanoir Marquis de Laverdin Marshal de Camp to the Duke de Joyeuse 196. is beaten by the King of Navarre 197. Draws up the Duke's Army into Battalia at the Battel of Courtras 209. breaks the Light Horse 215. his honourable Retreat and his Elogy his Services recompens'd with a Marshal of France's Staff 226 Renaud de Beaune Archbishop of Bourges chief of the Deputation of the Royallists at the Conference at Suresne 879. The sum of his Harangue and of his Proofs 880 c. gives the King Absolution 928 Bellarmine a Iesuit and a Divine of Legat Cajetan's preaches at Paris during the Siege 806 President de Bellievre sent to the Duke of Guise 335. is not of advice that the King should cause the Duke to be kill'd in the Louvre 341. his Contest with the Duke of Guise about the Orders he brought him on behalf of the King 343. his banishment from Court 384 Rene Benoist Curate of St. Eustach acts and writes for the King 836 923 The Mareschal de Biron commands an Army in Poictou 144. he artfully breaks the designs of the Duke of Mayenne ib. his Valor at the Combat of
Innocent IX Pope declares himself for the League 861 Duke Anne de Joyeuse the King's Favourite 192 193 His prodigious rise ib. His Elogy ib. He commands the Army against the King of Navarre 194 His Exploits in Poitou 195 c. His faults and presumption at the Battel of Coutras Pag. 202 203 His death ib. Henry de Joyeuse Count de Bouchage becomes Capucin under the name of Fryer Auge and why 368 369 His most extraordinary Procession from Paris to Chartres to ask mercy of the King ib. His going out and re-entring the Capucins 960 c. Francis de Joyeuse Cardinal Protector of France generously maintains the King's Rights 418 His effectual Remonstrance to Pope Sixtus upon his proceedings after the death of the Guises ib. Ivry its situation and the Battel was fought there 770 771 c. L. FRrancis de la Noue at the relief of Senlis 484 Ranges the Army and gains the Battel 485 c. His Valour at the Combat of Arques 748 Wounded and beaten back at the attaquing the Suburbs of St. Martin 353 c. M. de Launoy a grand Leaguer 75 Philip de Lenoncour Cardinal 140 The Sieur de I'Esdiguieres takes Montelimar and Ambrun where the Huguenots plunder the great Church 145 The League and Leaguers its true Original Pag. 2 3 Wherein it is like to that of Calvinism 3 The success it had quite contrary to the end it was propos'd for ib. The first that conceiv'd the design was the Cardinal de Lorrain at the Council of Trent 15 16 The occasion that gave it birth in France 22 23 c. It s Project in Form to which all the Leaguers are made subscribe 32 33 The Refutation of the Articles of the said Form 33 c. It would usurp the Authority Royal in the first Estates at Blois 60 61 c. It s horrible Calumnies against Henry III. 89 166 234 262 234 303 304 The League of Sixteen at Paris its original and progress 93 c. It s twelve Founders 94 c. The Treaty of the League with the Spaniard 102 It hinders the Low-Countries from being united to the Crown 108 In taking Arms at so mischievous a time hinders the ruine of Huguenotism which was going to be destroy'd during the Peace ib. It sends new Memoirs and a new Form of Oath to the Provinces at the coming of the Reyters 234 The Insolence of the Leaguers after the defeat of the Reyters 302 They take Arms and fall upon the Archers who would seize de Prevost Curate of St. Severin that had preach'd seditiously against the King Pag. 203 204 They take the Alarm seeing the King dispos'd to punish them and implore the help of the Duke of Guise 332 c. Their Transports and Acclamations at the Duke's coming 337 They oppose the going forth of Strangers whom the King would have put out of Paris 348 They make Barricades 352 They act openly against the King's Authority at the Estates 389 Their furious deportmenâ—s at Paris after the death of the Guises 427 428 c. They degrade King Henry III. and act â—all sorts of Outrages against him 436 They accuse him of Enchantments and Magic Charms 452 The Cities that entred into the League 461 At Tolous they massacre the first President and Advocate General 462 Their Deputies press the Pope to publish the Excommunication against the King 495 496 They become stronger than ever after the death of Henry III. 737 738 Their Power during the Siege of Paris 800 They offer the Crown of France to the King of Spain 833 834 They cause President Brisson to be hang'd 837 Four of the most Seditious are hang'd at the Louvre 839 They make it appear at the Estates at Paris that they desire nothing less than the King's Conversion Pag. 890 891 Henry d'Orleans Duke de Longueville at the Relief of Senlis 486 Gives Battel to the Leaguers and gains it 487 c. Commands one part of the King's Army 736 And at the Attaque of the Suburbs of Paris 752 753 Charles Duke of Lorrain would not have the passage of the Reyters through his Country oppos'd and why 239 240 c. Would not enter France after the Reyters ib. Obtains Peace of the King 946 Charles Cardinal of Lorrain was the first that form'd the design of a general League of the Catholics 15 16 His Portrait ib. Charles de Lorrain Duke of Mayenne makes Wars with the King of Navarre in Guyenne with little success 143 144 Ioins himself with his Brother the Duke of Guise against the Army of the Reyters 258 259 His brave Action at the Combat of Vimory 270 c. He retires to Lyon in Bourgogn after the death of his two Brothers 426 c. His Encomium and Portrait 453 c. He refuses the great Offers the King made him and goes to the Wars ib. His happy beginnings Pag. 455 His Entry into Paris 457 Weakens the Council of Sixteen by augmenting it 458 459 Causes himself to be declar'd Lieutenant General of the Estate and Crown of France 460 Acts as a Sovereign and makes new Laws 460 461 Marches against the King defeats the Count de Brienne's Troops and takes him Prisoner 480 481 c. He attaques and takes the Suburbs of Tours and returns without doing any thing else ib. His generous Resolution when he saw himself besieged by the Royal Army 507 508 Makes the Cardinal of Bourbon be declar'd King by the Council of the Union 739 He attaques the King at Arques and is repuls'd and beaten 742 743 c. He follows the counsel of M. de Ville-Roy and opposes the designs of the Spaniards 759 760 c. Causes to be proclaim'd Charles X. 764 765. Marches to the Relief of Dreux 769 Loses the Battel of Ivry 787 Breaks with the Spaniards and why 833 c. Divides himself from the Princes of his House 834 c. Is jealous of the young Duke of Guise 835 Causes Four of the principal of the Sixteen to be hang'd up at the Louvre and abates their Faction Pag. 839 Carries the Duke of Parma to the Relief of Roan 846 He assembles the Estates at Paris 862 863 c. His Declaration wherein he invites all the Catholic Lords of the Royal Paâ—ty to meet at the Estates for the good of the Religion and the State 865 866 His Speech and Design in the Estates 875 c. He creates one Admiral and four Marshals of France 873 Causes the Conference of Surene to be accepted by the Estates 878 Takes Noyen 879 Dextrously hinders the Election of a King at the Estates 895 896 Will not hold the King's Absolution good 931 Retires from Paris to Soisons 940 What he did at the Battel of Fontain Francoise 947 948 c. Obtains from the King a Treaty and a favourable Edict 954 955 c. Is very well received by the King at Monceaux 957 Henry de Lorrain Duke of Guise destin'd by his Uncle the Cardinal of Lorrain
the freedom of his action and carriage while he was discoursing with the King sometimes whispering to him and sometimes laughing with him it was believ'd that the King had done nothing without the consent and privity of the Pope And they add with Davila that this carrâ—age of the Cardinal gave the King encouragement to proceed yet farther and to cause the Cardinal of Guise to be also slain as observing that he made so light a matter of the imprisonment of Prelates You see these Authours have related with great seriousness and gravity as an undoubted truth the passages of this conference which they say was publiquely beheld in the Court of the Castle of Blois Notwithstanding which 't is all a most manifest falsehood and all that Davila has said in relation to it is no better than one of those fictions which onely Poets have Authority to make The proof of this amounts to no less than a demonstration and leaves not a scruple remaining to be satisfi'd We have the Printed Memoires of Cardinal Morosini's Life written in Italian in an Elegant and Manly style by Monsignor Stephano Cosmi Archbishop of Spalato who did me the honour to send them to me from Venice more than three years since And 't is evident from the Letters of this Cardinal Legat to Cardinal Montalto Nephew of Pope Sixtus the fifth to whom he gives a most exact account of all the passages on the twenty third of December and the following days that whatsoever importunity he had us'd at the request of Madam de Nemours to obtain an Audience of the King on the morning of that day the entrance even of the Castle was refus'd to him notwithstanding that he us'd his utmost endeavours at the Gate to get admission and that he cou'd never procure an Audience till the twenty sixth which was three days after the Murther of the Cardinal After this what will become of all those fine discourses and all the particular circumstances of that pretended Conference in the Castle Court on the twenty third and of that easie and unconcern'd or rather light behaviour of the Cardinal to the King when he whisper'd in his Ear and laugh'd so heartily which gave men occasion to believe that according to his Orders from Rome he was of intelligence with the King who seeing him so merily dispos'd was resolv'd to prosecute his design yet farther and to rid his hands of the Cardinal of Guise What else is this than to turn History into Romance as on this very occasion two Protestant Writers have also done I mean d' Aubignè and the Authour of the Discourse of that which pass'd at Blois untill the death of the Duke of Guise And our Catholique Historians who have follow'd their Authority having suffer'd themselves to be impos'd on by those Huguenots have consequently impos'd upon their Readers There is so little appearance that the complaisant Discourses of the Legat Morosini had given the King occasion to resolve on the death of the Cardinal de Guise that you see on the contrary he refus'd to grant him an Audience because he wou'd not hear what he cou'd urge in favour of that Cardinal whose death already was determin'd In effect that Cardinal grown desperate by reason of his Brother's death having utter'd in the first transports of his grief and fury all that those passions cou'd possibly inspire into a man of his hot temper in the most opprobrious and affronting terms he cou'd invent against the person of the King that Prince thereby more incens'd than ever and fearing all things from the revenge of his violent and haughty Soul who was almost as formidable to him as his Brother Swore he shou'd die for it That which provok'd him more to hold this resolution was the report which had been made to him that the Cardinal had the impudence to say that he shou'd not die before he held the King's Head to be shav'd and made a Monk of him for these are the very words of the King in his Letter of the 24th of December to the Marquis Pisani his Ambassadour at Rome Nevertheless they had trouble enough to find out men who wou'd undertake the Execution of this Order Those of the 45 who had Ponyarded the Duke refus'd in plain terms to embrue their hands in the bloud of a Cardinal a Priest and Archbishop of Rheyms Yet at last they lighted on four Souldiers who not having so much Honour as those Gentlemen offer'd themselves to kill him for four hundred Crowns which were promis'd them So that after the wretched Cardinal was return'd by little and little from the extravagance of his Passion and had pass'd the remainder of the day and the greatest part of the night following in Prayers with the Archbishop of Lyons in a little Chamber where they confess'd themselves to each other one came to tell him in the morning about ten of the Clock that the King ask'd for him then having recommended his Soul to God and receiv'd yet once more the benediction of the Archbishop who believing that he himself shou'd likewise die exhorted him to receive his death with constancy of mind and like a Christian he went out and perceiving the Souldiers who expected him in an obscure passage he cover'd his Face with his Cloak and leaning his Body against the Wall suffer'd himself to be wounded with strong thrusts of their Hallbards without giving the least Groan or sigh or even shaking in the least till he fell down dead at the Feet of his inhumane Murtherers His Body together with his Brother's were put into the hands of a Chirurgeon who consum'd the Flesh with unslak'd Lime and then burn'd the Bones in a Chamber of the Castle that they might not come into the possession of the Leaguers who wou'd be sure to have us'd them to inflame the people who were his Idolaters and to have made reliques of them to which they wou'd have paid the same Honours as are given to the Bones of Martyrs Thus perish'd in the middle of his course one of the most illustrious men who ever liv'd at the age of 42 years Henry of Lorrain Duke of Guise who by the incomparable perfections of his Body of his Mind and of his Soul which made him admir'd even by his Enemies had merited all that Fortune seem'd to be preparing for him had he not presum'd to have push'd it beyond the bounds which the providence of God to whom it is subservient had prescrib'd him For in conclusion the following events have made it evident that the divine providence which disposes Sovereignly of Empires had ordain'd to take away that of France from the Family of Valois and to transfer it to the House of Bourbon and by consequence whatever was set up in opposition to this eternal Decree must fall under it at last neither Conspiracies nor Leagues nor Fortune nor any power on Earth being able to resist it In the mean time the violent death of those
Princes far from bringing those advantages to the King which he had promis'd himself from it and which his passion had represented to him through false optiques as exceeding great and most asâ—ur'd threw him headlong on the sudden into a more deplorable condition than that which he thought he had escap'd He well knew after he had consider'd what he had done in cold Bloud that the Murther of the Cardinal of Guise wou'd be extremely offensive to the Pope and that it was necessary he shou'd endeavour to appease him lest he who carried all things with a high hand and was not of a temper to endure the least affront to his Authority shou'd declare himself for the League in opposition to him which as yet he had not done In consideration of which he writ a Note to the Legat on Christmas day in these very words which follow Now at last I am a King and am resolv'd from henceforth not to suffer my self to be affronted I will give them to understand and make them feel whosoever they are who dare to attacque me that I will always remain in this generous resolution following therein the example of our Holy Father the Pope whose common saying it is that we must make our selves be obey'd and punish those who injure us And since I have accomplish'd my purpose according to this Maxim to morrow I will see you Farewell Accordingly on the twenty sixth of December the Legat had a long Audience wherein the King having inform'd him of the reasons which he had to kill the Duke and Cardinal took God to witness that he had debated within himself and oppos'd his own Arguments with all manner of severity for six days together and during all that time was firmly resolv'd not to have come to those extremities for fear of offending Almighty God But at length considering that He who had made him a King made it part of his duty to maintain himself in that Dignity and that the Pope had sent him word by Monsieur de Luxembourg and had often spoken to the same purpose to the Cardinal of Ioyeuse that he ought to make himself be obey'd and punish those who affronted him he had accordingly resolv'd to prevent them by taking their lives rather than stay till his own were taken by them the design of which they had already laid And if he had not proceeded by the ordinary forms of Justice the reason was that in the low condition to which they had reduc'd him 't was impossible to make use of Law To this the Legat who had leisure in the mean time to consider of what he ought to say answer'd without mentioning the Duke of Guise's death that he thought it his duty to advertise him that supposing the Cardinal had been guilty yet his Majesty in causing him to be put to death as he had done had incurr'd the Censures contain'd in the Bull call'd In Coena Domini as much as those who had executed his Orders and either counsell'd or approv'd that action That therefore it was his duty to ask pardon and absolution of his Sin from the Pope who alone was able to give it him and in the mean time he ought to abstain from entring into the Church The King surpriz'd exceedingly at so brisk a declaration answer'd him that there was no Sovereign Prince who was not endued with power to punish his Ecclesiastical Subjects for crimes of High Treason and more especially when his own Life was concern'd in them for which reason he believ'd not that he had incurr'd any manner of censure principally considering that the Kings of France have the privilege to be exempted from excommunication 'T is certain that he fail'd not on Newyears day to perform his Devotions in ceremony with the Knights of the Order and to communicate publiquely in the Church of Saint Sauveur And when the Legat had made complaint concerning it he sent to him the Sieur de Revol Secretary of State who shew'd him a Breviat of the 21st of Iuly in the year foregoing by which the Pope permitted him to chuse what Confessour he pleas'd and who in virtue of that Breviat had power to absolve him from all manner of crimes even the most enormous from all those particular cases reserv'd to the Pope's own person from all censures and Ecclesiastical punishments even those which are contain'd in the Bull which is call'd In Coenâ Domini And the Secretary added that though the King by virtue of his Privileges had no need of that Breviat in order to his frequenting the Sacraments yet it was past all manner of dispute that having it he might communicate without either scruple or scandal after having receiv'd Absolution from his Confessour The Legat having nothing to reply to this said no more and satisfi'd himself with the remonstrance which he had made But Pope Sixtus stopt not there for he was strangely transported against his Legat whom he accus'd of Cowardise because that having seen a Cardinal Murther'd he had not publish'd the censures against the King with the Interdictions even though it shou'd have cost him as he said an hundred Lives He testifi'd his resentment of it to the Marquis de Pisany the King's Ambassadour at Rome with much sharpness as also to Cardinal de Ioyeuse Protectour of France and yet more vehemently to the Sacred College in full Consistory though the Cardinal de Saint Croix speaking to him immediately before had told him that having consulted the Books of the Doctours on this Subject he had there read that a King who had found a Cardinal plotting against his Estate might cause him to be put to death without either form or figure of Process and that he had no need of absolution in such a case The Pope was incens'd at this freedom which he took and loudly protested that he wou'd never grant any favour nor wou'd suffer any consistorial Remission to be made before the King had sent to beg Absolution which yet shou'd not be granted him till the whole business had been throughly examin'd in a Congregation of Cardinals which he establish'd for that purpose The King was very willing that the Pope if he so pleas'd shou'd give him yet another absolution which cou'd have done him no prejudice though he believ'd it not to be necessary But he wou'd by no means allow that it shou'd be juridically scann'd whether he had the right of punishing his Subjects as he had done Upon which the Cardinal de Ioyeuse made no scruple of remonstrating to the Pope with all the respect which was due to his Holiness that the best and most devout Catholiques of France they are his very words held not for authentique the opinions which were receiv'd at Rome in that which concerns not the Doctrine and Tradition of the Church in both which there was no difference betwixt Rome and France but that in France they held the Prerogatives or Rights of the King to be much greater than
Predecessor or be with him because he was satisfied that this Great Man would be able to do him greater Service by staying with the Duke of Mayenne where by his wise Remonstrations and the credit which he had acquir'd with that Prince he might break the measures of the Spaniards and their Adherents He continued this politique management to the end and principally on that occasion whereon depended either the felicity or the unhappiness of this Kingdom according to the resolution which shou'd be taken For the Duke of Mayenne having ask'd him his opinion in relation to what the Legat and Mendoza had propos'd he gave him easily to understand that all those plausible Propositions which were made by the Legat by Mendoza and the Sixteen were intended only to deprive him of his Authority and to subject him and the whole Party of the Vnion under the domination of the Spaniards who wou'd not fail to usurp upon the French and to perpetuate the War thereby to maintain their own greatness That in his present condition without suffering an Head to be constituted above him he had War and Peace at his disposing together with the glory of having sustain'd himself alone both Religion and the State but by acknowledging the King of Spain for Protector of the Kingdom he shou'd only debase himself under the proud Title of a powerful Master who wou'd serve his own interests too well to leave him the means of either continuing the War or of concluding a Peace to the advantage of his Country There needed no more to perswade a man so knowing and so prudent as was the Duke of Mayenne 'T is to be confess'd that he was a Self lover which is natural to all men but he was also a Lover of the Common Good which is the distinguishing character of an Honest Man Since he cou'd not himself pretend to the Crown which he clearly saw it was impossible for him to obtain for many reasons he was resolv'd no Foreigner should have it nor even any other but that only Person to whom it belong'd rightfully Religion being first secur'd He thereupon firmly purpos'd from that time both in regard of his particular interest and that of the State to oppose whatsoever attempts should be made by the Spaniards or by his own nearest Relations under any pretence or colour which was undoubtedly one great cause of the preservation of the State For which reason that he might for ever cut off the Spaniards from all hope of procuring their Master to be made Protector of the Realm of France and consequently of having in his hands the Government of the Kingdom and the concernments of the League under this new Title as the Sixteen who were already at his Devotion had design'd he politickly told them in a full Assembly that since the cause of Religion was the only thing for which the Vnion was ingage'd in this War which they had undertaken it wou'd be injurious to the Pope to put themselves under any other protection than that of his Holiness Which Proposition was so gladly receiv'd by all excepting only the Faction of Sixteen that the Spaniards were constrain'd to desist and to let their pretensions wholly fall And to obviate the design of causing any other King to be Elected besides the Old Cardinal of Bourbon under whose Name he govern'd all things he procur'd the Parliament to verifie the Ordinance of the Council General of the Vnion by which that Cardinal was declar'd King and caus'd him so to be Proclaim'd in all the Towns and Places of their party retaining for himself by the same Ordinance the Quality and Power of Lieutenant General of the Crown till the King shou'd be deliver'd from Imprisonment And at the same time to ruin the Faction of Sixteen which was wholly Spaniardiz'd he broke the Council of the Vnion Saying That since there was a King Proclaim'd whose Lieutenant he also was there ought to be no other Council but his which in duty was to follow him wheresoever he shou'd be Thus the Duke of Mayenne having possess'd himself of all Royal Authority under the imaginary Title of another and having overcome all the designs of the Spaniards took the Field and after having taken in the Castle of Bois de Vincennes by composition which had been invested for a year together he retook Pontoise and some other places which hindred the freedom of commerce and being afterwards willing to regain all the passages of the Seine thereby to establish the communication of Paris with Rouen and to have the Sea open he went to besiege the Fort of Meulan where he lost much time to little purpose while the Legat against whom the Kings Parliament at Tours had made a terrible Decree was labouring at Paris with all his might that no accommodation shou'd be made with the King not even though he shou'd be converted To this effect seeing that the Faction of Sixteen and the Spaniards were extremely weaken'd after what the Duke of Mayenne had done against them and that the Royalists who were generally call'd Politiques had resum'd courage and began to say openly that it was the common duty of all good Subjects to unite themselves with the Catholicks who follow'd the King he oppos'd them with a Declaration lately made against them by the factious Doctors of the Sorboâ—ne on the tenth of February in the same year 1590. For by that Decree it was ordain'd That all Doctors and Batchelors shou'd have in abhorrence and strongly combat the pestilential and damnable Opinions which the Workers of Iniquity endeavour'd with all their force to insinuate daily into the Minds of Ignorant and Simple Men principally these Propositions That Henry de Bourbon might and ought to be honour'd with the Title of King That it Conscience men might hold his Party and Pay him Taxes and acknowledge him for King on condition he turn'd Catholick c. And then they added That in case any one shall refuse to obey this Decree the Faculty declares him an Enemy to the Church of God Perjur'd and Disobedient to his Mother and in conclusion cuts him off from her Body as a gangreen'd Member which corrupts the rest A Decree of this force was of great service to the Bigots of the League because it depriv'd the wiser sort of the License they had taken to perswade the people to make peace And the Legat that he might hinder any from taking it for the time to come bethought himself that a new Oath should be impos'd on the Holy Evangelists betwixt his hands in the Church of the Augustines to be taken by all the Officers of the Town and the Captains of the several Wards which was That they shou'd always persevere in the Holy Union that they shou'd never make Peace or Truce with the King of Navarre and that they shou'd employ their Lives and Fortunes in deliverance of their King Charles the Tenth Which was also enjoyn'd to be taken by all the Officers of
and during the Moneth of April made himself Master of Corbeil Melun Bray Montereau-faut-Yonne Lagny Beaumont upon Oyse Provins and the Bridges of St. Maur and Charenton The Intelligence which he held in Sens having not succeeded he gave two brisk Assaults to it in both which his men were vigorously repuls'd by the Lord Chanvallon Iaques de Harlay who there commanded for the League Notwithstanding which that great Prince who was a true lover of all brave men being afterwards acquainted with his excellent Parts and his inviolable fidelity repos'd great confidence in him insomuch that he plac'd him with the Duke of Lorrain to retain him as he always did in the Interests of France But the King unwilling to loose more time on a place which was so well defended and which if he shou'd take wou'd contribute nothing to the Execution of his main Design as also knowing that by means of the Towns and Bridges of which he already stood possess'd he held shut up the four Rivers that supply'd Paris he went from thence to besiege that City about the end of the Moneth without expecting certain Conferences which the League propos'd as he believ'd either to delay or to divert him And that he might have the freedom of sending out Parties through the whole adjoyning Country on both sides of the Seine thereby to hinder the Town from receiving Provisions by Land he made a Bridge of Boats somewhat below Conâ—lans so that Paris was immediately invested on all Quarters There were some and amongst others La 〈◊〉 with the greatest part of the Hugonots who had not much kindness for the Parisians desir'd that the Town might be assaulted as imagining it might be carry'd by plain force at the first attempt and that the Citisens who are never so very stout as when they have got behind their Barricades wou'd not be altogether so couragious upon the Works This was their Opinion but it manifestly appear'd by the Skirmishes and other Tryals which were made in the beginning of the Siege and by which the Kings Party were no great gainers that those Gentlemen had taken no just measures La 〈◊〉 himself who wou'd needs attacque the 〈◊〉 St. Martin was beaten off with loss and learnt to his cost by a Musquet Shot which wounded him in the Thigh and disabled him from fighting that he had to do with galiant men who were neither to be vanquish'd at the Breach nor by scaling so easily as he believ'd There were at that time in Paris not above two hundred and thirty thousand Souls because almost half the Inhabitants apprehending the consequences of a Siege were departed out of it and the wealthier sort of Citisens who had the Courage to continue there had sent off their Wives and Children to other Places But a Garrison which the Parisians had receiv'd of 5 or 6000 old Spanish Souldiers Lansquenets Swisses and French and 50000 Citisens well arm'd and resolv'd to perish in the Defence of their Town and Religion for which they were perswaded that they fought had not easily been forc'd by that little Army which rather seem'd to block them up than to besiege them And besides the young and valiant Duke of Nemours their Governour had exellently well provided for all things during more than a moneth which he had to prepare himself for the sustaining of this memorable Siege wherein by his Courage and good Conduct he acquir'd the Reputation of an old experienc'd General For he had fortify'd all the weakest parts repair'd the Breaches of the Walls new rais'd the Ramparts and the Terrasses drawn large Retrenchments both within and without the heads of the Fauxbourgs prepar'd Chains and Barrels fill'd with Earth to make Barricades for all the Streets that the Enemies might be stopp'd at every Passage while in the mean time they were to be slaughter'd with Musket Shot and Stones from Windows after they shou'd have enterd the Town He had earth'd up the greatest part of the Gates beaten down the Houses which might have been of Service to the Enemy cast and mounted above threescore pieces of Cannon which were planted on the Ramparts and shut up the River both above and below by massy Chains sustain'd by Palisades and defended by strong Corps de Guard to preserve the Town from being surpriz'd and to hinder the Entrance into it at low water In conlusion he had forgot nothing that cou'd possibly be necessary for a stout Defence and for the repulsing Force by Force For which cause the King who understood the difficulty better than those about him who at that time listen'd rather to their Passion than their Reason being not of Opinion that his Enterprise cou'd succeed by Assault in the present condition of his Affairs always rejected that Advice besides loving his Subjects with a paternal Affection and principally Paris as he has always made it manifest he cou'd never resolve on the Destruction of the fairest Flower in his Crown and the noblest City in the Universe by taking it in the way which they advis'd which had been to expose it to the Fury of his Men of War and especially of the Hugonots who in revenge of their Massacre at St. Bartholomew wou'd have lay'd it desolate with Fire and Sword He resolv'd therefore to take it by Famine not doubting but that all the Passages for Provisions being shut up it wou'd soon be forc'd to a Surrender for want of Bread And certainly his Design was very reasonably lay'd and according to all appearances ought to have succeeded if his Expectation had not been deceiv'd by one of the most wonderful Prodigies of invincible Patience or rather extream Obstinacy in that almost unimaginable Distress to which they were reduc'd I shall not here describe it in all the exactness of its Cirâ—umstances 't is enough if I barely say what is generally known to all the World that the common Provisions which were well husbanded and distributed very sparingly were consum'd in the month of Iune that the Fauxbourgs being taken in Iuly they were shut up in the Town and restrain'd from going out to search for Herbs Leaves and Roots in the neighbouring Fields and in the Ditches that after they had eaten their Horses Asses Dogs and Cats they were reduc'd in August to Rats and Mice and then to Skins and Leather and an abominable kind of Bread which instead of Meal was made of the Powder of dead mens Bones taken out of the Church-yard of St. Innocent that there were some whom that Famine by which twenty thousand persons dyed brought to those horrible Extremities which are mention'd in the Sieges of Samaria and Ierusalem Notwithstanding all which Miseries 't is wonderful to consider that the Parisians accustom'd to Plenty and even to live luxuriously chose rather to endure this dreadful Famine to the end and to expose themselves to certain Death whose terrible Image they had dayly before their Eyes in every Street than to hear the least word of a Surrender And
Nuremberg The King was not yet satisfy'd to have wholly extinguish'd that Firebrand of Civil War which the League had lighted up in all the Provinces of France he farther desir'd in order to the security and quiet of his People after so great Troubles to make an end of foreign War which he accomplish'd not long after the Treaty of the Duke of Mercaeur by the Peace of Vervins Since that War which was openly made against the Spaniard during the space of four years had nothing of relation to the League nor the Peace which concluded it I shall forbear any mention of it in this History that I may not exceed the Limits of my Subject I shall only say that after the Spaniard had been oblig'd by vertue of the Articles of Peace to restore all the Places which he had taken from us or that had been basely given up to him during our Troubles we have seen since that time under the glorious Reigns of the Bourbons that imperial House still increasing with the French Monarchy by Peace and War in Greatness in Power and in Wealth even till this present time when Louis the Great by his victorious Arms and by his Laws has rais'd it to the highest pitch of Glory on the Ruines of those who had attempted its destruction by the League A wonderful effect of the divine Providence and Justice and a plain demonstration to all Subjects that they are indispensably oblig'd to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and that with good Reason founded on the express Commands of Jesus Christ the fourth Council of Toledo inspir'd by God's holy Spirit has made a Decree against such kind of Leaguers containing That whoever shall have violated by any League the Oath of Allegiance by which he is bound to maintain the state of his Countrey and of his King or shall have made any Attempt against his sacred Person or endeavour'd to depose him and tyrannically usurp'd the Soveraign Power let him be Anathema before God the Father and his holy Angels before Iesus Christ and his Apostles before the holy Ghost and the Martyrs let him be cut off from the Catholick Church which be has profan'd by his execrable Perjury and let him be excluded from the Company of the Faithful together with all those who have been partakers of his Impiety for 't is most just that they who are Accomplices and guilty of the same Crime shou'd also be involv'd in the same Punishment THE POSTSCRIPT Of the TRANSLATOR THat Government generally consider'd is of divine Authority will admit of no dispute For whoever will seriously consider that no man has naturally a right over his own Life so as to murder himself will find by consequence that he has no right to take away anothers Life and that no pact betwixt man and man or of Corporations and Individuals or of Soveraigns and Subjects can intitle them to this right So that no Offender can lawfully and without sin be punish'd unless that power be deriv'd from God 'T is He who has commission'd Magistrates and authoriz'd them to prevent future Crimes by punishing Offenders and to redress the injur'd by distributive Justice Subjects therefore are accountable to Superiors and the Superior to Him alone For the Soveraign being once invested with lawful Authority the Subject has irrevocably given up his power and the dependance of a Monarch is alone on God A King at his Coronation swears to govern his Subjects by the Laws of the Land and to maintain the several Orders of Men under him in their lawful priviledges and those Orders swear Allegiance and Fidelity to him but with this distinction that the failure of the People is punishable by the King that of the King is only punishable by the King of Kings The People then are not Judges of good or ill administration in their King for 't is inconsistent with the Nature of Soveraignty that they shou'd be so And if at some times they suffer through the irregularities of a bad Prince they enjoy more often the benefits and advantages of a good one as God in his Providence shall dispose either for their blessing or their punishment The advantages and disadvantages of such subjection are suppos'd to have been first consider'd and upon this ballance they have given up their power without a capacity of resumption So that it is in vain for a Common-wealth Party to plead that men for example now in being cannot bind their Posterity or give up their power For if Subjects can swear only for themselves when the Father dyes the subjection ends and the Son who has not sworn can be no Traytor or Offender either to the King or to the Laws And at this rate a long-liv'd Prince may out-live his Soveraignty and be no longer lawfully a King But in the mean time 't is evident that the Son enjoys the benefit of the Laws and Government which is an implicit acknowledgment of subjection 'T is endless to run through all the extravagancies of these men and 't is enough for us that we are settled under a Lawful Government of a Most Gracious Prince that our Monarchy is Hereditary that it is naturally poiz'd by our municipal Laws with equal benefit of Prince and People that he Governs as he has promis'd by explicit Laws and what the Laws are silent in I think I may conclude to be part of his Prerogative for what the King has not granted away is inheâ—ent in him The point of Succession has sufficiently been discuss'd both as to the Right of it and to the interest of the People One main Argument of the other side is how often it has been remov'd from the Right Line As in the case of King Stephen and of Henry the Fourth and his Descendants of the House of Lancaster But 't is easie to answer them that matter of Fact and matter of Right are different Considerations Both those Kings were but Usurpers in effect and the Providence of God restor'd the Posterities of those who were dispossess'd By the same Argument they might as well justifie the Rebellion and Murder of the Late King For there was not only a Prince inhumanly put to death but a Government overturn'd and first an Arbitrary Common-wealth then two Usurpers set up against the Lawful Soveraign but to our happiness the same Providence has miraculously restor'd the Right Heir and to their confusion as miraculously preserv'd him In this present History to go no further we see Henry the Third by a Decree of the Sorbonne divested what in them lay of his Imperial Rights a Parliament of Paris such another as our first long Parliament confirming their Decree a Pope authorising all this by his Excommunication and an Holy League and Covenant prosecuting this Deposition by Arms Yet an untimely death only hindred him from reseating himself in Glory on the Throne after he was in manifest possession of the Victory We see also the same Sorbonists the same Pope Parliament and
League with greater force opposing the undoubted Right of King Henry the Fourth and we see him in the end surmounting all these difficulties and triumphing over all these dangers God Almighty taking care of his own Anointed and the True Succession Neither the Papist nor Presbyterian Association prevailing at the last in their attempts but both baffl'd and ruin'd and the whole Rebellion ending either in the submission or destruction of the Conspirators 'T is true as my Author has observ'd in the beginning of his History that before the Catholick League or Holy Union which is the Subject of this Book there was a League or Combination of Huguenots against the Government of France which produc'd the Conspiracy of Amboise and the Calvinist Preachers as Mâ—zeray a most impartial Historian informs us gave their opinion that they might take up Arms in their own defence and make way for a free access to the King to present their Remonstrances But it was order'd at the same time that they shou'd seize on the Duke of Guâ—se and the Cardinal of Lorrain his Brother who were then Chief Ministers that they might be brought to Tryal by process before the States but he adds immediately who cou'd answer for them that the Prisoners shou'd not have been kill'd out of hand and that they wou'd not have made themselves Masters of the Queen Mother's Person and of the young King 's which was laid afterwards to their charge The conceal'd Heads of this Conspiracy were Lewis Prince of Condè and the famous Admiral de Coligny who being discontented at Court because their Enemies the Guises had the management of affairs under the Queen Regent to their exclusion and being before turn'd Calvinists made use of that Rebellious Sect and the pretence of Religion to cover their Ambition and Revenge The same Mezeray tells us in one of the next Pages That the name of Huguenots or Fidnos from whence it was corrupted signifies League or Association in the Swisse Language and was brought together with the Sect from Geneva into France But from whencesoever they had their name 't is most certain that pestilent race of people cannot by their principles be good Subjects For whatever inforc'd Obedience they pay to Authority they believe their Class above the King and how they wou'd order him if they had him in their power our Most Gracious Soveraign has sufficiently experienc'd when he was in Scotland As for their boast that they brought him in 't is much as true as that of the Calvinists who pretend as my Author tells you in his Preface That they seated his Grandfather Henry the Fourth upon the Throne For both French and English Presbyterians were fundamentally and practically Rebels and the French have this advantage over ours that they came in to the aid of Hâ—nry the Third at his greatest need or rather were brought over by the King of Navarrâ— their declar'd Head on a prospect of great advantage to their Religion whereas ours never inclin'd to the Kings Restauration till themselves had been trodden underfoot by the Independent Party and till the voice of three Nations call'd aloud for him that is to say when they had no possibility of keeping him any longer out of England But the beginning of Leagues Unions and Associations by those who call'd themselves Gods People for Reformation of Religious Worship and for the redress of pretended Grievances in the State is of a higher rise and is justly to be dated from Luther's time and the private Spirit or the gift of interpreting Scriptures by private Persons without Learning was certainly the Original Cause of such Cabals in the Reform'd Churches So dangerous an instrument of Rebellion is the Holy Scripture in the hands of ignorant and bigoted men The Anabaptists of Germany led up the Dance who had always in their mouths Faith Charity the Fear of God and mortifications of the Flesh Prayers Fastings Meditations contempt of Riches and Honours were their first specious practices From thence they grew up by little and little to a separation from other men who according to their Pharisaical account were less holy than themselves and Decency Civility neatness of Attire good Furniture and Order in their Houses were the brands of carnal-minded men Then they proceeded to nick-name the days of the Weeks and Sunday Monday Tuesday c. as Heathen names must be rejected for the First Second and Third Days distinguishing only by their numbers Thus they began to play as it were at cross purposes with mankind and to do every thing by contraries that they might be esteem'd more godly and more illuminated It had been a wonder considering their fanciful perfections if they had stopp'd here They were now knowing and pure enough to extend their private Reformation to the Church and State for Gods people love always to be dealing as well in Temporals as Spirituals or rather they love to be fingring Spirituals in order to their grasping Temporals Therefore they had the impudence to pretend to Inspiration in the Exposition of Scriptures a trick which since that time has been familiarly us'd by every Sect in its turn to advance their interests Not content with this they assum'd to themselves a more particular intimacy with Gods Holy Spirit as if it guided them even beyond the power of the Scriptures to know more of him than was therein taught For now the Bible began to be a dead Letter of it self and no virtue was attributed to the reading of it but all to the inward man the call of the Holy Ghost and the ingrafting of the Word opening their Understanding to hidden Mysteries by Faith And here the Mountebank way of canting words came first in use as if there were something more in Religion than cou'd be express'd in intelligible terms or Nonsence were the way to Heaven This of necessity must breed divisions amongst them for every mans Inspiration being particular to himself must clash with anothers who set up for the same qualification the Holy Ghost being infallible in all alike though he spoke contradictions in several mouths But they had a way of licking one another whole mistakes were to be forgiven to weak Brethren the failing was excus'd for the right intention he who was more illuminated wou'd allow some light to be in the less and degrees were made in contradictory Propositions But Godfathers and Godmothers by common consent were already set aside together with the observation of Festivals which they said were of Antichristian Institution They began at last to Preach openly that they had no other King but Christ and by consequence Earthly Magistrates were out of doors All the gracious Promises in Scripture they apply'd to themselves as Gods chosen and all the Judgments were the portion of their Enemies These impieties were at first unregarded and afterwards tolerated by their Soveraigns And Luther himself made request to the Duke of Saxony to deal favourably with them as honest-meaning men who were