his Chappell His Character was good but hee was formerly voluptuous and permitted himselfe to be abused by his Officers selling Lawes and his authority For such Kings are but pictures of Princes without life all power remaining in the subject to the oppression and wrong of the Land Francis the 2. and 60. King of France Anno 1559. THis Francis King of Scotland by Mary Stuart his wife at the age of fifteene yeares and five Moneths succeeded his father Henry and was Crowned at Rheimes September 1559. by the Cardinall of Loraine Arch-Bishop of that See after his Coronation he went to conduct his Brother in law the Duke of Loraine and the Dutchesse Claudia his sister as farre as Barle Duke from whence hee returned into France and sojourned for a while in the City of Blois where he reformed some abuses of those that followed his Court. In the meane time this President Minard was slaine in his owne House returning from Court This murther was a cause that it was forbidden to carry trucheons and weapons The Counsellor of Bourg was burnt for his Religion The King having made preparations sent the Lord of Martigues into Scotland for the suppression of some Scots who upon pretext of Religion were in Armes during which time Mary of Loraine Dowager of Scotland deceased At the same time also certaine Gentlemen of France being assembled in Armes neare the City of Amboise where the King was attended by the Cardinall of Loraine and his brother the Duke of Guise were discovered in a certaine enterprise which they pretended to be for the publicke good and for the dispossessing of some strangers usurpers of the Kings authority and Kingdome contrary to the ancient authority of the three Estates of France and also for making some remonstrances to the King concerning Religion for which many were executed to death amongst whom the Baron of Castelnau was one At that time the Chancellour Oliver deceased in whose place and dignity was instituted Monsieur de'l Hospital Shortly after the King went to Orleans there to settle himselfe where he fell sicke of an Apostume in his left eare whereof he dyed the foureteenth of September Anno Domini 1560. having reigned about eighteen months and twenty dayes and lyes interred at S. Denis The Protestants were very much persecuted in this Kings reigne and there were foure prisoners of especiall note Castelnau Villemongis Campagnac and le Picard who cryed out against the Chancellor that had signed the sentence of their deaths who thereupon fell suddenly sicke and when the Cardinall of Loraine came to visit him cryed out O Cardinall thou hast damned us all While the King lay dangerously sicke the Queene mother intending to support the Guisans called the King of Navarre into her closet to whom as he was going a Lady of the Court said My Lord deny the Queen mother nothing that she shall demand else you are dead whereupon he signed what shee desired and thereby obtained her favour Afterward the King dyed of Catarch and a Feaver the 14. of December whose seeds of vertue lay hid in his nature and were not discerned onely some shewes of courtesie modesty and continency were in his younger yeares apparent and therefore his death was not much lamented but of such as in his nonage possessed usurped estates After his decease the Prince of Conde turned the streame of affaires To give a briefe Character of this King and his reigne he was a picture of Majesty drawne in raw colours being young in yeares and judgement governed by his Mother and his wives Uncles The Princes of Blood were in his reigne not regarded power and might prevailed in Court and the Clergy sought protection from the disturbers of France The Nobility were ingaged in warres and the people divided in matters of Religion and in the Court factions were maintained this was the face and complexion of those times miseries incident to the minority of Princes Charles the 9. and 61. King of France Anno 1560. THis Charles the ninth at the Age of thirteene succeeded his Brother Francis Hee pursu'd the enterprises of his Predecessor for his State affaires which were begunne the eighth of December ' Anno Domini 1560. at Orleans and and afterward finished at Pontoise August and September following Anno Domini 1561. At that time hee assembled the Prelates of France at Possi to a Nationall Counsell The January following it was permitted to the Huguenots to make their exercises and Sermons out of the Cities Whereupon ensued great troubles warres and slaughters of great Lords and personages as of the King of Navarre who was slaine before Rouen and in the battaile of Dreux which was given the 19. of March Anno Domini 1562. the Martiall of St. Andrew and the Duke of Guise were slaine before Orleans A while after the Towne of Haure de Grace was recovered which had beene before yeelded to the English The King at the Parliament at Rouen being declared Mayor after an Edict of Pacification made went to visit his Kingdome Anno domini 1564. and went to meet his sister the Queene of Spaine at Bayonne where great magnificences were performed After having visited the Gascogne Guienne and Poitou he came to Moulins where he made many excellent Ordinances The second civill warre sprung up wherein after that the King had made an escape out of Meaux the battaile of St. Denis was fought wherein the Constable was wounded which was a cause of another Pacification by reason of the siege of Chartres which was broken by the third intestine warre which continued two yeares space during which the battaile of Iarnac was fought wherein the Prince of Conde was slaine and another battaile at Montcontour After which another Edict of Pacification was made Anno Domini 1570. Afterwards the King marryed the Lady Elizabeth of Austria daughter to the Emperour Maximilian Also the marriage of the King of Navarre was celebrated Anno Domini 1573. and the 24. of August the same yeare the Admirall was slaine in Paris with a great number of the Hugonots and Rochelle was besieged Then a fourth pacification by the election in Poland of the Duke of Aniou brother to the King was made he being gone in his Kingdome of Poland was certified of his brother the Kings death on the 30. of May at the Bois de Vincennes 1574. having one daughter who dyed an Infant He lyes at St. Denis Hee was a Prince that had excellent naturall gifts but blended and mingled with vices wherewith his Governours and Schoolemasters had corrupted his young minde which at the first was more vertuously inclined delighting in Musick and Poetry But as he was a great Hunter that lov'd to shed the blood of wilde beasts so hee suffered also during his reigne the Protestants blood to be shed and in revenge thereof in his sicknesse before his death great store of blood issued out by vomiting and by other passages of his body in the two last weekes of his sicknesse
hope of Glory maketh vertuous Kings Henry 1. the 38. King of France Anno 1031. THis Henry succeeded his father Robert Anno Domini 1031. notwithstanding that his Mother Constance would have advanced her yonger sonne Robert to the Crowne by the favour of Baldwin Count of Flanders and Eude Count of Champagne But being come upon them by the ayde of the Duke of Normandy he constrained his brother to content himselfe with the Dutchy of Burgundy A while after Robert Duke of Normandy visiting the City of Jerusalem dyed at Nice in Bithynia by reason whereof Maugier Arch-bishop of Rouen and William Lord of Arques his brothers maintaining themselves to be true Heires raised great Warres against William the bastard-sonne of the said Duke by him instituted to bee his Heire which was a cause that the King sent the said William of Arques accompanied with a great number of the Nobility of Normandy and France to the Warres of Italy from whence they were recalled by George Maniaces Lievtenant for the Emperour of Greece to Poville and Calabria to employ them for the recovery of Sicily which the Saracens had now possessed upon promise of giving them a part About the yeare 1042 Thibault Count of Chartres and Stephen Count of Troyes fell into a quarrell with the King Henry whereupon hee first fell upon Stephen whom hee in a Battaile overthrew Afterwards hee deprived Galleran Count of Meulan who tooke their part of all his lands and annexed them to the Crowne and encouraged Godfrey surnamed Martel to make Warre upon Thibault whom hee tooke prisoner and enforced him to surrender up the Towne of Tours for his ransom After this the King went to visite the Emperour Henry at Mets where they confirmed the Alliance made betweene them which hee broke by supporting Thibault against the King who following the example of his Father resigned his Crowne to his eldest sonne Philip Anno Dom. 1059 being aged 7. yeares and caused him to bee crowned at Rheimes the 29. of May the same yeare the yeare following King Henry deceased leaving the young King and another sonne named Hugues under the tuition of Baldwin Count of Flanders He lyes at St. Denis This Kings reigne was somewhat troubled at the beginning to maintaine his Title to the Crowne given him by his Father but belonging of right to his eldest brother which bred swelling thoughts betweene the brethren the Mother maintaining the elders right An Army was prepared to end the difference whether the Fathers gift or right of inheritance were a better Title but the cause was tryed by the Sword for Robert whose right was then in question content with tame patience to loose it and so prevent the effusion of blood by his milde disposition doing himselfe injustice Whereupon agreement being made betweene Henry and Robert the Armies returned and peace was betweene the brothers concluded Afterward when hee following therein his Fathers example had seene his son firmely seated in the Throne Death discovered the love of his Subjects exprest in their mourning for his decease and was most honourably interred with the rest of his Predecessors having all the funerall Rites and Ceremonies which belonged to so high a Monarch to set forth the excellency of his Person His Reigne begun with some blustering troubles being opposed on every side which soone ended and his subjects felt the beames of favour shining most gently on them when this Sunne of Majesty was ready to descend and set which gave them great cause of lamentation and sorrow for his departure out of this world Philip 1. the 39. King of France Anno 1060. PHilip succeeded his Father Henry Anno Domini 1060 of whom Baldwin Count of Flanders tooke charge in regard of his tender infancy untill he came to riper yeares He perceiving that the Gascognes would mutinie led his forces against them under pretence of going against the Saracens and by this meanes hee dissipated the beginning of the seditions which were pullulating A whiâ—â— after Edward King of England dyed without issue having by will instituted William Duke of Normandy heire and successor to his Crowne which in vaine was opposed by Harald sonne of Godwin because he was slaine in a battaile which William gave him Baldwin Regent of France deceased about the yeare 1067 leaving the County of Flanders to Baldwin of Monts his eldest sonne at which times King Philip might be at the age of 15. or 16. yeares He marryed Berthe Daughter of the said Baldwin by whom having two children he divorced her and betooke himselfe to the Wife of Foulques Count of Anion whom in the end he dismissed and returned to Berthe Anno Domini 1095. Pope Vrban convocated a Councell in November at Clermont en Anvergne wherein the Pope upon the complaint of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and Peter the Hermite excited the greatest part of the Princes of France of whom were principall Hugh the Great brother to King Philip Robert Duke of Normandy brother to the King of England Godfrey of Bovillon who in the yeare 1089 had the Dutchy of Loraine given him with his two brothers Baldwin and Eustachius together with the Counts of Flanders and Tholouze of Bourges and Bloys to goe to Jerusalem which was taken in the yeare of our lord 1099 the 15. of July and was given to Godfrey of Loraine to defend and keepe it as Governour under the Title of a King After that hee tooke in Palestine after having slaine above five thousand Aegyptians in a battaile and seized upon the Port of Jaffe making hereby an end of the Warre Philip at the age of 57 deceased at Melun the 25. of July Anno Dom. 1109 and lyeth interred at St. Benets upon the Loire William the bastard Duke of Normandy having beene long sick of a great swelling in his belly this King Philip intending to make Warre against him sent him word that hee had laine long in Child-bed and that if he might know of his uprising hee would provide lights against his Churching To which scoffe the Duke return'd this answer That hee would come in person into France and have a solemne Masse sung at his Churching and that for Lights he would provide a thousand woodden Torches without waxe and a thousand Lances tipt with steele to fire those Torches meaning by the Torches Houses Townes and Villages by the Lances Souldiers to set them on fire The dissention betwixt England began in this Kings reigne and upon this occasion VVilliam the Conquerors sonnes Robert and Henry came to the King at Conflans upon Oise and playing there at Chesse with Lewis King Philips sonne the young Princes fell out and words drew on blows for Lewis called Henry the sonne of a Bastard and Henry strooke at him with the Chesse-boord and had slaine him if Robert had not stayd his fury Afterward Robert and Henry fled into Normandy where they complained of wrong and incensed many to take their part Afterward naturall affection made the Fathers embrace their
third surnamed the Hardy his eldest sonne having beene proclaimed King in the Campe before Tunis in Africk tooke his journey in his returne through Italy directly to Viterbe to make an agreement between the Cardinals who in two years space were in a dissention upon the Election of a Pope Hee was Crowned at Rheimes by the Bishop of Soissons the thirtieth of August Anno Dom. 1271. He after incorporated the County of Tholouse to the Crowne upon the decease of the Count Alphonse his uncle He went to aide Gerard of Cassebonne his Subjects against the Counts of Armigna and Foix by reason whereof the Count of Foix submitted himselfe to his mercy He restored the Countrey of Navarre to the obedience of Ioane daughter of the late Henry King of Navarre deceased The King marryed Mary the daughter of Henry Duke of Brabant who was suspected to have poysoned Lewis the eldest sonne of the King by his first wife Isabelle of Aragon She was found innocent by the report of two Bishops who were sent to a Nunne or rather a Sorceresse to know the truth The yeare after Peter De la Bresche great Chamberlaine of France and superintendant of the Finances and affaires of the King was hanged being accused and convicted for having discovered the secrets of France to the King of Spaine together with the death of the Kings sonne Anno Domini 1282. the Sicilian Evensong were executed upon the Frenchmen upon an Easter day or as others report on the thirtieth of March or thirteenth of April whereupon Charles Uncle to the King offered battaile to Peter of Aragon the author thereof but he refused it Afterwards the King having caused Ioane the onely daughter of the late Henry King of Navarre to be marryed to his eldest sonne Phillip he marched with his Army for the Conquest of Aragon which by the Pope had been given to Charles de valois the second sonne of Philip who conquered the County of Russillon after that the City of Gennes And after that having in an Embuscado slaine the King of Aragon he forced the Towne of Gironne to be yeelded up He went to conclude his Fate at the Towne of Perpignan of a Malady which surprised him in his Campe Anno Domini 1285. the 6. of October This King as it appeares in the whole course of his life would engage himselfe in all businesses and was therefore called the Hardy but his desperate Father would not undertake his Neighbours quarrells nor seek to make betwene them any agreement unlesse it might be done by safe and quiet means The reigne of this King was much disturbed by the warres maintained by Peter and Roger for the Isle of Sicily and after much effusion of blood Charles dyed and also Peter though politicke could not deceive death but having received a great overthrow concluded his Act of life with griefe and sorrow At last this King was by Roger Admirall of Arragon friend unto Peter set upon him lying sicke a bed at Pepignan yet in extreamity he exprest a noble courage and with his sicke weake voyce so encouraged his Souldiers that Roger was droven out of Pepignan the City held by Philip so distempered with this alarum that he grew sicke and dyed the fifteenth of October two moneths after Peter Pope Martin the fourth dying the same yeare 1286. to shew great Princes that their chiefe designes are crost by death It was now decreed in a Counsell at Lions that the Cardinals meeting after the Popes death should not come out of that Conolme untill they had chosen the Pope which begun upon occasion of the tedious Election of the former Pope and the Decree is still observed Thomas Aquinas now dyed being a subtile disputer But Bonaventure John Duns called Scot and Gabriel Biel succeeded and were famous schollers And to conclude hee was a Prince borne for a testimony to that obscure age and for corrupted times to bee a patterne to all Kings and Princes of religion equity clemency wisedome valour magnanimity patience and constancy to love piety justice order and peace to joyne the love of sanctity and modesty of manners with Armes and State Having shewed that it is very sitting for a King to be a good Christian a good warriour a good husband a good father a good governour a good Iustier and to know how to make war and peace That it is very necessary to joyne unto the Majesty Royall piety clemency and authority to gaine the low respect and obedience And lastly that the best guard and most assured revenew of a Prince is the love of his Subjects Thus he was worthy of that venerable name wherewith posterity hath justly honourd him being the Honour of vertue Philip 4. the 46. King of France Anno 1286. PHilip 4. surnaming himselfe The Faire King of Navarre succeeded his Father An. Dom. 1286. After that he had withdrawne his Army from Parpignan hee was crowned at Rheims the sixt of January He caused the Palace to be built at Paris at that time Edward King of England pretending to lead his Army to the aide of the Towne of Acre which the Saracens had now beleaguered made some incursions upon the Sea-townes of Normandy thinking to have surprised Rochell whereupon ensued the second Warre which the French had against the English Heere the French Writers shew themselves most shamefully partiall and false yet I am bound to follow my Authors they being of that Nation who notwithstanding their alliance with the Emperour Adolphus were valiantly repulsed as well by Charles of Valois where the Lord of St. John was taken as by Robert of Artois who gained the victory upon the fresh Army which Edmund brother to the King of England had led to Bayonne yea and the Count of Flanders who declared himselfe on the English party lost the battaile at Furnes against the Count of Artois who went to joyne forces with the French who besieged Lisle and the Lords of Mont Morency and Harcourt tooke the Towne of Dover The English perceiving that demanded a Truce which was converted to a peace by the Marriage of Madam Marguerite of France Daughter of King Philip with the King of England Afterwards the Emperour Albert and this King made an accord betweene them for the conservation of their kingdomes against all men A while after the Pope being much moved against the King sent a Bull into France by the Arch-bishop of Narbona interdicting the King which Bull was burnt in the Court of the Palace At that time the Flemings slew all the French Garrisons whereupon the King being enraged sent his Army to Courtrac which was by them defeated Whilest the King sent the Lords Tarra a Colonian and Nogareth with 2000. Horse into Italy they put the Pope in such a terrour that he dyed The King also tooke such a revenge upon the Flemings neare to the Mount of Poville that hee overthrew 36000. of them After that the King having suppressed the Knights Templars and causing James de
Moulay or Beavieu Generall of that Order deceased at Fontainebleau An. Dom. 1314 and lyes inhumed at St. Denis This King being perswaded to take revenge on a Bishop who had underhand strooke fire to kindle the tindar of contention betweene him and the Pope he said That it was more noble in a Prince to save than kill to pardon than to persecute and to forgive and remit rather than to revenge for saith he It must be of necessity that all things which angry men doe must needs be full of blindnesse and necessity because it is no easie matter for a man troubled with envy to have the use of Reason and whatsoever is without Reason is without Art It behooveth us therefore to take reason as our guide in all our actions and to remove these passions of envy and revenge for they ought not to rest in a wise mans breast Yet he was much affronted by Pope Boniface coÌ„manding him by his Bull to succour the Tartar which the King engaged in many affaires refusing to doe the Bishop sent by the Pope told him That if the King would not obey the Pope he would deprive him of his Realme But afterward two Gentlemen imployed by the King seized on the Pope in his Palace-Hall at Anagma and carryed him to Rome where he grew mad and dyed Thirty five dayes after hee was taken and had this Epitaph made by common Fame in his disgrace Hee entred his Popedome like a Foxe hee reigned like a Lyon and dyed like a Dogge Lewis the 10. the 47. King of France surnamed Hutin Anno. 1315. THis Lewis the tenth already by his Mother King of Navarre Count of Brye and Champagne succeeded his Father Anno Domini 1315. His Kingdome from the beginning was marvellously troubled with mutinies and popular seditions and for that cause he was surnamed Hutin which in old language imports mutiny and quarrells Enguran De Marigny Count of Longue Ville was accused before the King by Charles of Valois the Kings Vncle for having ill governed the Finances charged the people with many impositions and taxes and infinite confusions also for having taken money of the Flemings to grant them a peace to the disadvantage of the King wherefore he was hanged upon the Gallowes of Paris which himselfe had caused to be built Afterwards the King caused himselfe to bee annoynted and Crowned at Rheimes upon the Feast of the Assumption of the B. Virgin then he led his Army against the Flemings whom he forced to raise and forsake the siege of L'Isle And at his returne he seated the Court of Parliament at Paris to the end that the pleaders should not be anymore incommodated by so often removing it The yeare following the Count of Flanders came to visite the King at Pontoise to treat of a peace with him In the interim Lewis Count of Navers his sonne would sieze upon Flanders if the Flemings would have beene content therewith which was a cause that his Father returned after that hee had promised the King to ratifie to the Flemings that which he had treated with him Vpon this the King was surprised with a Malady at Bois De Vincennes whereof he died the fifteenth of Iune in the eighteenth moneth of his reigne leaving his second wife Clemence great with Childe who was delivered of a sonne the foureteenth of November who was baptised Iohn who lived above eight dayes there remaining none of his Line but Ioane whom he had by his first wife the daughter of Robert Duke of Burgundy by whom Eudes Duke of Burgundy her Vncle would lay claime to the Crowne but Philip the Tall brother to the late King Lewis opposing the Lawes and Customes of France in right of his Neece caused the Crowne to be adjudged unto him Lewis the tenth surnamed Hutin had two Wives Marguerite daughter of Robert Duke of Burgundy by whom he had a daughter named Ioane who was married after to Philip Count of Evreux sonne to Lewis of France brother to the late Philip the Faire and by this meanes the Kingdome of Navarre entered into the families of the Counts of Evreux and Clemence sister to Carlobert King of Hungary whom at his decease he left with Child of a sonne who was called Iohn and although he dyed an infant without having beene crowned hee hath not beene heretofore ranked in the Catalogue of the Kings of France Neverthelesse seeing that he was truely legitimate and sole heire to King Lewis Hutin he deserved the title Royall and to bee inserted to the number of Kings seeing that dying hee was with solemnity and Regall pompe carryed to St. Denis the Princes his Vncles and kinred being present at his Funeralls where hee was proclaimed although dead King of France and Navarre In the meane time that Clemence was with Child immediately upon the decease of Lewis Hutin it was ordered by the Court of Parliament that Mounsieur Philip of France Count of Poitiers should be Regent of the Kingdome untill the fruit of the Queene if it were Male should attaine to the maturity of eighteene yeares and therefore hee he bore in his Armes the Title of Philip Sonne of the King of France and Navarre Regent of the Kingdomes of France and Navarre And so the Regency was given to the next Prince of Blood so that hee were the nearest to succeed the Crowne After the death of the said Iohn who lived but eight daies or at the most but 20 daies as some do write there was some dispute amongst the Princes of the kingdome some maintaining the right to bee ill grounded upon Ioane daughter to the â—â—â—e Lewis Hutin and others resting upon the Iustice of the Salique Law which yet was never violated in France and ordayneth that there being never an heire Male of a King the next of Blood of the Male side shall come to the Crowne and excludes the daughters and the descendents from them although they be Males But in the end the Parliament of the Paires and Counsell of France adjudged that Philip the Tall Vncle to the late Iohn was the true and lawfull heire to the Crowne which was the first debate and difference of the Salique Law The King reigned but an yeare and an halfe thereby to make good the position of Philosophy Nullum violentum est aeternum for his government was violent and therefore could not long continue Enguerand accused by Charles Earle of Valois and made odious to the people by his oppression of them whereof they are onely sensible was made a Sacrifice and Hanged but after his execution the Earle of Valois fell into a languishing Consumption King Lewis Hutin dyed suddainly so that the people began to imagine that Enguerands unjust death was thus revenged on these Princes which change of their opinion shewes that it was rightly spoken what the people saies a foole speakes Therefore it is observeable that good Subjects may be unjustly afflicted that the people blinded by passion and discerning not the truth
wherein he endured as much paine and torment as the strength of youth could suffer in the last pangs of death And this judgement shewed that God loves not the Prince that thirsts after his subjects blood which is the very blood of the Prince Some few houres before his death he said It was a great comfort unto him that he left no heire Male lawfully begotten for leaving him young he must endure many crosses and France had neede of a man Henry 3. the 62. King of France Anno 1575. THis Henry the third was at the instant of his brothers death in his Kingdome of Poland whereof he having notice hee in privacy went out of Poland and arrived at Lyons the sixt of September Anno 1574 and was consecrated at Rheims February the 13. Anno Dom. 1575 and the 15. of the same Moneth he marryed Madam Loyse of Loraine Daughter of the Count of Vaudemont After in the yeare 1576 he convocated his Statesmen to Blois where singular good Statutes were enacted Anno Domini 1577. there was an Edict of Pacification published for the quiet of his Kingdome He began the foundation of the Augustines Bridge Anno Dom. 1578. The Order of the Knights of the Holy Ghost was by him instituted Anno Dom. 1579. After his Edict of Pacification untill the decease of his onely brother Monsieur the Duke of Aniou his Kingdome was in peace but soone after Anno Domini 1585 there grew up a faction pernicious to him and his Estate which was called the Ligue or the holy Vnion the Author whereof was the King of Spaine purposely to hinder Henry King of Navarre from his accesse to the Crowne of France to whom after the decease of this King it of right did belong This Faction was violated under a colour of Religion which was of such a force that the Principality thereof made sure of the primest Cities in the whole Kingdome their owne and amongst the rest Paris it selfe the Inhabitants whereof having barricadoed themselves against their King on the twelfth of May Anno Domini 1588 he was constrained to retire himselfe to Chartres and thence to Rouen In the end the second time he assembled his men of State at Blois at the end whereof hee caused the Duke and Cardinall of Guise to bee executed Upon which execution Paris revolted together with the prime Cities of the Realme and the Rebells made the Duke of Mayenne to bee their Chiefe which was a cause that the King removed his Parlement to Tours in March in the yeare 1589 and being reconciled to the King of Navarre he went to beleaguer Paris and being at St. Cland on the first day of August hee was most trayterously stabbed with a knife in the bottome of his belly by a Jacobin of which wound hee dyed the day following in that siege in the midst of his Army having reigned 15. yeares and two Moneths His Corps was conducted to Compaigne where it remaineth to this day entombed This King plotting before his receiving the Crowne how to ruine the Hugenots the Emperour told him that there was no greater sinne than to force mens consciences for such as thinke to command them supposing to winne Heaven doe often lose that which they possesse on Earth He was at last murdered as was said by a Jacobin Fryar who as the King bended downe to heare in private that which he expected drew a knife out of his sleeve made a purpose and thrust his Majesty into the bottome of the belly and there leaves the knife in the wound The murderer was by those which ranne to helpe the King presently killed But the King lived awhile and at his death hee advised them to unite themselves in revenging his murder but yet he forgave his enemies and charged them to seeke the preservation of the Realme by purging out Faction And lastly hee wished them to referre the difference of Religion to the Convocation of the Estates of the Realme saying that Piety is a duty of man to God over which worldly force hath no power The Picture of his minde was faire and lovely being drawne with the lines of wit eloquence gravity devotion affection to learning bountifull to desert reforming abuses peaceable and willing to heare counsell but this comely beauty was disgraced by a pale weaknesse in adversity a smiling wantonnesse and too liberall a prodigality which somewhat blemished this Prince who had otherwise beene an exact peece of perfection worthy to be placed among the chiefest Monarchs Henry the 4 the 63. King of France Anno 1589. THis Henry the fourth surnamed the Great King of Navarre as first of the Bourbon line being descended from Robert the last sonne of St. Lewis succeeded to the Crowne of France by consent and assistance of the Nobility and Army of the late Henry by whose deplored death it was dispersed retired himselfe to Dieppe where he was besieged by the Duke of Mayenne with a potent Army which by this King was routed with a small number of Arques the 21. of September Anno Domini 1589. And from thence pursued his victory even to Paris taking the Suburbs thereof upon All-Hallows Eve Afterwards hee recovered Vendosm le Mans and Falaise The fourteenth of March 1590 hee obtained the famous victory of Yury after which hee blocked up Paris and St. Denis and reduced them to such an extremity of famine that in July following St. Denis yeelded it selfe to his power and Paris also was upon the point of surrender April 1591. the City of Chartres after a long siege was yeelded up also to him Ianuary 1593. began the Estates of the Ligue at Paris and the Truce of Saresne followed which being in dispute the King tooke the City of Dreux and shortly after he was instructed in the Roman Faith whereof hee made a publique and solemne profession at St. Denis the 25. of July August following the generall Truce began and continued untill the first day of the yeare 1594 which being expired the King caused himselfe to be crowned at Chartres by the Bishop of that See the 27. of February Hereupon ensued the submission of Meaux Lyons Orleance Bourges Rouen and Paris where the King was most magnificently entertained A while after the City of Laon was besieged and yeelded up to the King and upon that Champagne and Picardy also submitted yea and the Duke of Guise The King being returned to Paris was stabbed in the face with a knife by a young desperate Student called John Chastel who for that fact was deservedly torne in pieces with wilde Horses the 29. of December The King being recovered of his hurt made Knights of the Holy Ghost in January 1595. After the City of Dijon submitted and in a manner all Burgundy Also the second generall Truce was published and in the interim the reconciliation of the Duke of Mayenne was wrought together with those of the Dukes of Toyeuse and Espernon In the beginning of the yeare 1596 the City of Marsilles was surrendred