Nine years JOHN I. The 23 August 423. S. Two years nine Months and a half BONIFACE II. The 15 th Oct. S. One year JOHN II. In Decemb. 431. S. Three years four Months AGAPETUS In July 534. S. One year SILUERIUS In June 536. S. Four years VIGILIUS In 540 S. 15 years Thierry King of Meâ—z or of Austrasia aged between 28 and 30 years Clodomir of Orleans aged 16 or 17 years Childebert of Paris aged 13 or 14 years Clotaire of Soissons aged about 12 years Year of our Lord 511 THese four Brothers divided the Kingdom betwixt them and drew their shares by Lot Thierry had all Austrasia and the Countreys beyond the Rhine the other Three had Neustria they were all equally Kings and without dependence upon one another yet nevertheless all these parts together made but up the body of one Kingdom The Historians count their Succession by the Kings of Paris because that City hath since been the Capital of all France Year of our Lord 512. c. Five or six years successively these Princes lived in quiet the three Sons of Clotilda being yet young and perhaps the two last under the Government of their Mother it seems a little after the death of their Father the Visigoths regained from them the Countrey of Rouergne and some other Lands in the neighborhood of Languedoc France then began to be divided into Oosterrich or the Eastern part called by corruption Austria and Austrasia and into Westrich or Western part and by corruption Neustria Austrasia comprehended all that is between the Meuse and the Rhine and even on this side the Meuse Rheims Chalons Cambray and Laon. Besides antient France and all those people subdued beyond the Rhine as the Bavarois the Almains and a part of the Turingians depended upon it Neustria extended from this side the Meuse unto the Loire Aquitain was not comprised under the name of France nor Burgundy not even after it was conquer'd nor Bretagne Armorick at least the lower because it was an independent Estate Year of our Lord 516 Gondebaud King of Burgundy dyed in the year 516. He had compiled or written a Law called by his Name the Law Gombete which was long in use amongst the Burgundians as the Salique was amongst the French He had two Sons Sigismond and Gondemar The first succeeded him in all his Dominions and having been Converted many years before by the Instructions of Avitus Bishop of Vienne he abjured Arrianisme at his first coming to the Crown and brought all his People over with him to the Orthodox Faith A Danish Captain named Cochiliac exercising Piracy had made a Descent on the Year of our Lord 518. towards 519. Lands belonging to Thierry 's Kingdom near the mouth of the Rhine when he would have gotten on Ship-board again with his Plunder comes the Prince Theodebert eldest Son of Thierry who assaults him kills him and having stained both Land and Sea with the Blood of those Pirats regained all what they had seized and stollen Sigismond bad at his first Marriage espoused Ostrogotha Daughter to King Theodorick of Italy by whom he had a Son named Sigeric After the death of that Queen he took one of his Servants into his Bed who having conceived a Step-mothers hatred against the young Prince made him seem criminal in his Fathers Eyes by her frequent calumnies who caused him to be strangled with a Napkin as he was sleeping but immediately he was so struck with Remorse that he retired himself for a time to weep for this Year of our Lord 522 crime into the Monastery of d'Agaune which he himself had built or much enlarged in Honour of St. Maurice and his Companions The Divine Justice as may be well believed stirred up the French Kings to chastise him though he had married his Daughter Sister to Sigeric with King Thierry the other three Brothers forbore not to conspire his ruine being incited thereto by Year of our Lord 523 their Mother Clotilda who yet cherished in her bosome the desire to revenge her Fathers death If at least we may suspect such a thing from so pious a Princess In few days they made themselves Masters of a great part of Burgundy either by the gaining of some Battle or the defection even of the Burgundians Sigismond fearing to be delivered up by his own Subjects disguises himself like a Monk and retires to the top of an inaccessible Mountain he had not long been there but some of those he thought his most faithful Servants went and found him and advised him to quit that place as not safe and betake himself to St. Maurice's Church the most Sacred Asylum of all those Provinces when he was come almost to the Gate of that Monastery the Traitors delivered him into the hands of the French Clodomir carries him away with his Wife and Children and shuts them in a Castle not far from Orleans As for Gondemar having saved himself by flight he awhile afterwards gathers Year of our Lord 524 up his Brothers Wrecks and puts himself in possession of the Throne Clodomir could not endure it and Leagued himself with Thierry his elder Brother to compleat his overthrow Before he set forth he was resolved to rid himself of Sigismond St. Avy Abbot of Micy endeavoured in vain to prevent him by his Pious Arguments adding In the Name of God the threats of a Reprisal on his Head and his Family but he Treated him in Ridicule and caused Sigismond to be cruelly Massacred with his Wife and Children and their Bodies to be thrown into a Well The prophetick threatnings of the Holy Abbot soon had their effect It was impossible but Thierry must in his Soul have a just Resentment for the death of Sigismond his Father-in-law so that when he beheld Clodomir far engaged in the medley which was in a Battle they fought against Gondemar near Autun he forsook him and suffer'd him to perish The Burgundians knowing him by his long Royal Locks cut off his Head and fixed it on a Lance but that spectacle instead of terrifying the French inflamed their Courage and Fury they revenged his death by a horrible slaughter of the Burgundians and conquer'd a part of that Kingdom to wit that which lay nearest the Kingdom of Orleans Clodomir was aged some Thirty years he left three Sons then but Children Theobald Gontair and Clodoaldo whom Clotilda their Grand-mother took care to breed hoping that when they came to be of age their Uncles would restore their Fathers Kingdom to them Clotaire his younger Brother presently married his Widow she was named Gondiocha so little the Princes of this First Race had any consideration for their Blood being as bruitish in their Amours as in their Revenge THIERRY in Austrasia at Mets. CHILDEBERT in Neustria at Paris CLOTAIRE in Neustria at Soissons The Kingdom of Burgundy was not shared amongst these Brothers till some years afterwards and Thierry had no part of it Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths
execute upon her CLOTAIRE II. called the GREAT remains sole King Aged 32 or 33 years Year of our Lord 614 Thus for the Second time were all the parts of France restored to one hand but Clotaire himself Governed only Neustria for Austrasia and Burgundy would needs retain the Title of a Kingdom and their distinct Officers Varnaquier was Mayer of Burgundy Radom of Austrasia and they Ruled as Vice-Roys He had given the Office of Patrician or Governour in the Dutchy Transjurane to Duke Herpin a very good Man to settle things with Order and Justice The Grandees of the Countrey fearing the Reformation might extend to them caused him to be slain by the People Clotaire going expresly into Alsatia punished that crime by the death of many that were guilty The Patrician Aletea had tampered in it with Count Herpin and Lendemond Bishop of Sion beside he grew so impudent as to send to tempt the Queen by that wicked Bishop to throw her self into his Arms with all the Kings Treasure endeavouring to make her believe the King would dye that year infallibly and that he being of the Royal Blood of the Burgundians would recover the Kingdom of Burgundy The Queen sad and allarmed having related this feigned Prophesie to her Husband the Bishop made his escape into the Monastery of Luxeu He had the good fortune to obtain his Pardon by the intercession of the Abbot Eustaise but Aletea being Commanded to Court to give an account of his actions could not justify himself and paid down his Head for it Year of our Lord 614 15 and the following Clotaire heving no more Enemies made it all his business to regulate his Kingdom and establish Law and Justice All those that had unjustly been thrust out of their Estates he restored again he abolished all Imposts that had been made without the consent of the French People by Brunehaud and Thierry revok'd all excessive Grants and resumed all that had been Usurped or Alienated from the Demesnes of the Crown enlarging the Fountain of his Revenues at the same time when he eased his Subjects â—or he had learned by Brunehaud's example that those people can easily forsake that Prince who oppresses them Year of our Lord 619 And likewise that he might keep Peace abroad he released the Lombards of the 12000 Crowns of Gold which they owed him for Tribute provided they paid him down in hand what was due for three years only Year of our Lord 620 Queen Bertrude a very good and most amiable Princess being dead Anno 620. he espoused Sichilda of whom he became so jealous that he caused a Lord named Boson to be killed who he imagined held too great a correspondence with her His eldest Son whether by Bertrude or by some other was then about Twelve years old He placed him under the Tuition of Arnulphus or Arnold Bishop of Mets to instruct him in good Literature and Virtue Year of our Lord 622 and 623. The Book of the Gests of Dagobert relates how one day this young Prince Hunting a Buck and that Beast taking Covert in the place where as then were the Reliques of St. Denis and his Companions a Divine power with-held the Dogs so that they could never break into the place That Dagobert some while afterwards having incurred the indignation of his Father because he had chastised the insolencies committed against him by Sadragisile Duke of Aquitain who was made his Governour or Tutor and remembring this Miracle put himself for security into the same place and that he found the same effect against those Men the King his Father sent to take him thence In acknowledgment of which miraculous protection he took the Holy Bodies out of that little Chappel which was then but ill adorned and much neglected and built them a magnificent Church and a fair Abby This Narrative to say no more is much suspected of falsity Year of our Lord 623 Austrasia more exposed to the Barbarian Nations then the other parts of France needed to have a King upon the place Clotaire gave this Kingdom to Dagobert under the Regiment of Pepin the Old who was Mayre of the Palace the Moderns call him Pepin de Landen and Arnold Bishop of Mets but reserved to himself all the Ardennes and the Vosge with the Cities of Aquitain which the Kings of Austrasia had possessed CLOTAIRE II. in Neustria and Burgundy DAGOBERT his Son in part of Austrasia aged 15 years Dagobert was 15 or 16 years of age when he began to Reign whilst he followed the wise Counsels of Pâ—pin and Arnold and afterwards of Cunibert Bishop of Colen his Life was an exemplar of Wisdom of Continency and of Justice Year of our Lord 624 The Nation of the Vencdes and Sclavonians inhabited originally that part of the European Sarmatia which is at this day called Prussia from whence in process of time they spread from the Scythian Sea even as far as the Elbe and from the Elbe as far as Bavaria and Hungary nay even into Greece and occupied Dalmatia and Liburnia which from their Name have to this day the appellation of Sclavonia There were above Thirty people Sclavonians those who possessed Carinthia Carniola and the other Countreys along the Danube were under the Dominion of the Avarois who were gotten into the Lands which the Lombards had forsaken when they passed over the Alpes The places near Italy obey'd the Lombards there were some of them free those that were under the subjection of the Avarois finding it heavy and tyrannical cast off the yoak and chose for their King one named Samon a French Merchant Native of the Bishoprick of Sens who Traded into their Countrey and appeared to them to be a Man of a good Head-piece It is believed be resided in Carinthia and that from thence he extended his Kingdom to the Elbe and at length to the confines of Turingia Year of our Lord 626 The fourth year of his Reign Dagobert is sent for by his Father who Marries him with Gomatrude Sister of Sicbilda his Wife The Nuptials were kept at the Palace de Clichy where his Festival ended in a quarrel between the Father and Son The last would have what his Father reserved to himself of that which belonged to the Kings of Austrasia The business put to a reference of Twelve French Lords the Son gained what he demanded except the Cities of Aquitain St. Arnold quits the Court and his Bishoprick to retire into Solitude where he passed the remainder of his most happy Life Cunibert Bishop of Colen a Prelate of great Merit took his place in the Councils of Dagobert and the friendship of Pepin Varnaquier was Deceased and his Son Godin killed by the Kings Command upon an accusation of the crime de Lâ—sae Majestatis brought against him by his Fathers Wife whom he had Married but was forced to part withal because such Incest was punishable with death Clâ—taire assembles the Estates of Burgundy at Troyes and asked whether
they would Elect another they made reply that they desired no other but him and since that they were a long time without any Year of our Lord 628 Those of Saxony were a potent People it comprehended divers of different Names and they had Dukes in each Countrey Those that owed Tribute to the French were this year revolted against them Dagobert making War upon them was wounded with a blow of a Sword which took off part of his Helmet and a little of the skin of his Head with some of his Hair It is said that having sent these Tokens to his Father all bloody who was Hunting nigh Ardennes the King moved by his good nature got what Forces he could together and having passed the Rhine attaqued the Saxons encamped on the other side of the Weser where he slew Bertold their Duke with his own hand and after scowring over all the Countrey he did not leave any one of them alive that was taller then his Sword In the Assembly of the Estates of Neustria and Burgundy which was holden at Clichy there arose a great quarrel Eginaire Intendant of Ariborts Palace the Second Son of Clâ—taire having been killed by Egina's People the Favourite of this King the young Prince and his Uncle Brunulph would revenge his death Egina encamps with his Friends upon the side of Montmercure or Montmars at this day Mont-Martre But the King having commanded the Burgundians to sall upon the first that began to stir it cooled the hottest amongst them Year of our Lord 628 After Adaloald King of the Lombards and Son to King Agilulf had been poisoned by his People Arioald was raised to the Throne upon the consideration of his Wife Gundeberge Sister to Adaloald who nevertheless being accused how she intended to Poison him that she might Marry Tasin Duke of Tuscany he had kept her Prisoner for three years King Clotaire to whom she was of Kin took compassion on her and commanded his Ambassadors to reproach that wicked Husband One of these having upon his own head proposed to the Lombard King that it would be well to put the decision of so important a matter to the Judgment of God by Combat two Relations of Gundeberges brought a Champion who vanquishing Adalulf so was the Accuser called asserted and recovered the Honour and Liberty of that Princess This year is remarkable for the Death of that famous Impostor and most false Prophâ—t Mahomet whose abominable Religion composed partly of Judaism and partly of the Whimseys of several Hereticks who were retired into those parts and accommodated to the Sensualities of Corrupt Nature was embraced by such Robbers and wicked Varlets as knew neither Justice nor the Deity The greatest part of our Hemisphere bath submitted to the Tyranny of that Law and had it not been for the Valour of the French they had divers times made themselves Masters of all Europe The Aera or manner of accounting and Calculating the time by this Sect commences at the year of the Egyra or the Retreat of Mahomet to the City of Medina which hapned the 26th of July in the Six hundred twenty second year of Jesus Christ But it must be noted that they are Lunary years consisting but of 354 days whereas those amongst Christians are solary of 365 days without reckoning the Bissextile Year of our Lord 628 The Death of Clotair hapned Anno 628. in some House of his near Paris He was buried at St. Vincents at this time St. Germain des Prez The time of his Reign in Neustria within four months of the time of his Age was about forty five years and his Reign over all France after the death of Thierry was fourteen We know the names of two of his Wives the one was Beretrude the other Sichilda perhaps he may have had some other before these He left two Sons Dagobert and Aribert of what Mothers we cannot tell certainly but only that they were not both of one and the same Bed He was an affable Prince very different from the cruel and brutish ferocity of his Predecessors Just Pious instructed in good Learning and Liberal especially towards the Church and such as professed a Monastick Life Their Kings were always chosen of the Blood of the Reigning Race three Conditions were required in them their Birth it mattered not whether they were Legitimate the Will of the Father and the Consent of the Grandees the last did ever almost follow the two first After the death of Clovis as I believe they added to the ancient Custom of lifting them upon the Target that of seating them on the Throne or Regal Chair which had neither Arms nor Back for a King must support and sustain himself by his own strength The Regal Ornaments were long Hair or Locks pleited the Purple Mantle and Tunick and the Diadem or Head-band enriched with Precious Stones When they left Children that were in Minority if they had not allotted their shares the Queen-Mother and the Grandces ordained as they thought convenient and had the Administration of Affairs and the Education or Bailifes of the Minor Kings From hence these Lords were called Nourricers Nursers but there was one amongst the rest that bore this Title When a King undertook any Expedition they held up their Hands in token of the Assistance which they promised him Peace might be made without them but War could not In Civil Discords they made themselves Arbitrators between the Princes and obliged them to agree The first day of March they held an Assembly in the open Field under Tents where the Militia was often sent for Because of the day on which they met it was called the Field of Mars The Kings presided and consulted with the Lords concerning the Affairs of that year either touching Peace or War These Assemblies gave them the Command of the Armies which was not necessarily tied to their Persons at least till the time of Clovis They ever had about them a certain number of Braves or Barous who guarded them and for their safety exposed themselves to all manner of dangers The most eminent Offices of the Kingdom were the Prefect or Mayre of the Palace who was elected by the great ones or Grandees and confirmed by the King The grand Referandary who had the Royal Seal and under him several lesser or petty Referandary's and also great numbers of Expeditioners whom they called Chancellors because they did their business Intra Cancellos or Lattices The grand Apocrisiary who was the chief of the Priests and Clerks of the Court in the second Race he was called Arch-Chaplain The Count of the Palace who was Judge the Chamberlain who gave all Orders in the Kings Chamber the Count of the Stable who took care of the Stables and perhaps of the Equipage I cannot tell whether they had in those times a Provost or grand Seneschal of the Table as there was since under Pepin the Bref The Children of Lords were bred
William VIII Duke of Aquitain Aged Fifty six years He left his Possessions to William IX his Son who was the last Duke of those Countries The Father had Married Emma only Daughter of William Earl of Arles and Toulouze and Brother of Raimond de Saint Gilles By her he pretended to the Earldom of Toulouze but Raimond de Saint Gilles said his Brother had sold it to him before he went to the Holy Land It caused a War between William Duke of Aquitain and Alphonsus Son of Raimond and afterwards again between Queen Elionor and the same Alphonso Year of our Lord 1127 Whilst Charles most justly surnamed the Good prudently governing Flanders relieving the Poor protecting the Clergy and doing Justice to all a Family in Bruges abounding in Riches and in numbers of Men but of Servile Race taking offence for that he had commanded them to open their Granaries in the time of Famine and withall being instigated by the Bastard William of Ypres plotted the Death of this Prince So that one Morning before day-light whilst he was at Prayers in St. Donats Church at Bruges these Villains Murther'd him at the foot of the Altar The horror of the Fact and intreaties of the Nobility of the Country made the King take Horse immediately to revenge this Parricide He besieged the wretched Authors in the Church and having taken them punished the two principal very severely For one after they had put out his Eyes and cut off his Nose was bound to a Wheel planted very high where they pierced him with an infinite number of Arrows and Darts thorough every part of his Body The other was hanged on a Gallows with a Dog tied on his Head whom they beat continually that he might tear his Head in pieces All the rest who fled into the Steeple were cast down from the top to the bottom and dasht against the Ground This done he adjudged the Earldom to William of Normandy Son to Duke Robert as being the nearest or next Heir without any regard to Baldwin Earl of Hainault and to William of Ypre who pretended a Right The last obstinately strugling to carry it by force the King handled him so roughly that he took from him the City of Ypre and all the Lands he held in Flanders Year of our Lord 1128 As little gained Stephen Brother to the Earl of Champagne who was Earl of Boulogne by his Wife though the King of England his Uncle supported him in this design not so much to advance him as out of hatred to the King of France and a fear of the growing greatness of his Nephew William The King finding that with the Assistance of the Earl of Hainaults and Godfrey of Namurs Forces he had besieged Ypres led his Army into that Country again gave them Chace and secured the Country to William However the Covetousness of this Prince vexing his new Subjects with Imposts he wanted not and selling of Offices the principal Cities revolted and invited in Thierry Earl of Alsatia whom they owned for their Prince and in truth he was of the Blood of their Counts by the Female side The King therefore made a third March towards those Quarters and advanced as sar as Artois to serve William but not finding things disposed so as he expected he came his ways back again William did not lose Courage for all this He gave Battle near Alost to Thierry and put him to the rout but pursuing his Victory he received a Wound in his Arm which being ill-dress'd caused his Death and after that all the Disturbances raised in Normandy by his Partisans wholly ceased In this Kings Reign there were four Brothers private Gentlemen of the Family of the Garlands Anseau William Stephen and Giselbert who had the greatest share in the favour of the King in his Council and Offices Anseau had that of Grand Seneschal or Dapifer which he held in Fief of the Earl of Anjou who was the Lord Suzerain for in those times Offices and Dignities were granted in Fief and even the Contributions or Offerings and other Revenues proceeding from the Charity and Devotion of the Faithful Stephen who was Archdeacon of Paris was provided with that of Chancellor and Giselbert with that of Butler Now Anseau being slain at the Siege of Puiset Anno 1118. the King bestowed his Office upon William and he being dead about the year 1120. Stephen desired it rather for himself then for his younger Brother Giselbert This was a Monster that never any Reason nor any Example could justisie a Soldering-Priest making profession to spill Human Blood And indeed all good People had him in horror but his Ambition and the flattery of Courtiers who lay the fairest Colours upon the fowlest Facts stopp'd his Ears that he might not hear the just Reproaches of his Brethren nor the checks of his Conscience His Pride ascended to that height to shock Queen Alix who had Spirit enough not to endure it and it was perhaps for that reason that he would surrender his Office to Amaulry de Montfort who was Married to his Neece the Daughter and Heiress of Anseau Year of our Lord 1128 c. The King not thinking that convenient he dared to take up Arms against him and made a League with the King of England Thibauld Earl of Champagne and other of his Masters Enemies plainly demonstrating thereby that in his former Services his ✚ aim was not the good of the Kingdom but his own Grandeur The King vigorously assaulted the Castle of Livry which they had fortified they shot at him and he was wounded in the Thigh with an Arrow The smart of his Wound redoubling his Anger he forced the Castle and razed it In fine he continued to make so hot a War upon them that Stephen was constrained to renounce the Office of Seneschal But the Party being strong he thought fit to leave him that of Chancellor Year of our Lord 1129 Great toil and labour more then number of years making Lewis old he found it fitting the better to secure the Kingdom to his Family to have his eldest Son Philip Crowned Which was performed in the City of Reims the 14th of April being Easter-day in presence of Henry King of England his Vassal LEWIS the Gross and PHILIP his Son HEnry likewise having no Children by his second Wife caused his Daughter Matilda Widow of the Emperor Henry to be acknowledged and accepted of as Heiress to his Crown and Dominions and Re-Married her to Gefroy surnamed Plantagenet Son and future Successor to Fulk Earl of Anjou The Party was good and besides he made it his choice thereby to divide this House of Anjou which had given him so much trouble from the King of France's Party and joyn it to his Interest King Lewis who had defended the Churches and protected the Clergy changed his Language towards the end of his Reign because they carried themselves too haughtily towards him and would not suffer he should meddle with the
to which he replied that Soldiers could not be kept without Money They soon understood what he desired and the mischief pressing hard upon them they were constrain'd to give and immediately the Lords desisted from plundering Year of our Lord 1191. and the following In the interim John King of England summon'd for three several times to answer the accusation in King Philips Court endeavour'd to gain time and made all delays But Philip finding himself strong in Men and provided with Money having no counter-poise in his Kingdom because he held in his own hands the Garde-noble of the potent House of Champagne and the Earl of Flanders was gone into the Levant had resolved to push on against him He therefore gave some Forces to Prince Arthur to pursue his Right having before betrothed his Daughter Mary to him At the same time he entred upon Normandy where he forced five or six places and received the most considerable Lords of the Countrey into favour amongst the rest Hugh de Gournay and the Earl of Alenson who assured him of their Service and their Towns Arthur on his side attaques Poitou the Earls de la Marche and d'Eu Gefroy de Luzignan and their friends being joyned with him His Grand-Mother Alienor had Year of our Lord 1201 put her self into Mirebeau he besieges her there King John hastens thither with so much diligence that he surprizes him one fair Morning napping in his Bed takes him prisoner and sends him to the Castle of Falaize Normandy and Poitou being shaken in this manner comes a Legat from the Pope who ordains the two Kings to assemble the Bishops and Lords of their Countreys Year of our Lord 1202 and by their Consultations put an end to these Disputes John would readily have consented to this Order but Philip who was not willing to give over so fair a Game obliged his who were assembled at Mantes to throw in an Appeal from the Sentence of the Legat to the Pope himself which was to gain time and continue his progress Year of our Lord 1202 The respect for Queen Alienor had still with-held King John from staining his hands in the Blood of the unfortunate Arthur Soon after her death he caused him to be brought to the Castle of Rouen he kept his Court in that City and in a very obscure night he drew him forth thence and led him to such a place that afterwards he was never seen It being justly presum'd that he had murther'd him Constance the Mother of that young Prince demanded Justice of King Philip for that parricide committed in his Territory and upon the person of one of his Vassals He caused John therefore to be summoned before his Peers or Pairs where not appearing nor sending any to excuse him he was by judgment of that Court Condemned as attainted and convicted of Parricide and Felony to lose all the Lands he had in France which should be consiscated and forfeit to the Crown and all such as should defend them reputed Guilty de Laesae-Majestatis Year of our Lord 1203 In prosecution or rather execution of this Decree Philip partly by force partly by intelligence took from him this year almost all the higher or upper Normandy whilst this unworthy lazy Man pass'd away the time with his Wife at Caen as if all had been in a profound Peace We may imagine that if he would have taken some care of his Affairs Philip could not so easily have conquer'd so many places since the single Castle de Gaillard neer Andeley situate on a Rock both very high and steep on all sides endured a Five months Siege but both Heaven and Earth had declar'd against him his friends betray'd him his Subjects became unfaithful and he meanly abandonn'd himself Year of our Lord 1204 The following year Philip made himself Master of all the Cities of the Lower Normandy almost without a blow Rouen it self which was the Capital of the whole Province environ'd with a double Wall and very affectionate to her natural Dukes After a Siege of forty days being informed by the Deputies sent to King John that no Relief or assistance could be had from him surrendred to the Conquerour upon condition he should maintain the Citizens in their Franchises and Priviledges which he agreed to and they obtained Letters or a Charter to secure it a procaution as feeble against an absolute Power as Paper is against Steel Year of our Lord 1204 Two or three other places which yet defended themselves followd the example of Rouen and so it was that in less then three years he gained all Normandy which had had Twelve Dukes of that Nation whereof John was the last who had Govern'd them about Three hundred and sixteen years At the same time William des Roches who had quitted John's party to joyn with Philip secured the Counties of Anjou du Maine and de Touraine and Henry Clement Mareschal of France conquer'd all Poitou for him excepting only Niort Touars and Rochel Year of our Lord 1205 The next year the King himself having gotten a great Train of Artillery forced the Castle des Loches and some places that remained in the hands of the English in Touraine Year of our Lord 1203 The French and the Venetians sailing to Constantinople with only 28000 Men forced the Harbour and afterwards the City though there were above Threescore thousand Fighting Men there deliver'd Isaac out of prison and caused the young Alexis his Son to be Crowned The Tyrant Alexis and his Brother-in-law Theodorus Luscaris having made their escape over the Walls retir'd to Adrianople Year of our Lord 1204 Whilst this Army of the Cross wintered about Constantinople and Isaac and his Son endeavour'd to make good what they had promis'd them for their reward the people upon whom they Levied very great sums of Money mutined One certain Alexis Ducas surnamed Murzufle Great Master of the Wardrobe to young Alexis headed the sedition seized on that Prince whilst Isaac was in his last Agonie and strangled him with his own hands Then caused himself to be Declared Emperour and went forth with the City Militia against the aforesaid Army but they were presently beaten back Constantinople besieg'd and within Sixty days taken by Storm swimming in Blood and a great part consumed by Fire The Conquerours gave power to Twelve of the chief amongst themselves to elect an Emperour upon condition That if he were a French man the Patriarch should be a Venetian and so on the contrary The intrigues of the Venetians for whose interest Boniface Marquis of Montferrat was not so convenient though he seemed most worthy of the Empire manag'd it so that the Electors conferr'd it upon Baldwin Earl of Flanders and the Patriarchat upon Thomas Morosini a Venetian After they had setled things in order within the City they easily conquer'd all what the Grecian Empire possess'd in Europe and formed several Principalities there of which the Marquis de Montferrat who married Isaac's
would have guessed the business had been at an end but his Wife Margaret Daughter of Robert Earl of Flanders a wise and couragious Princess who made good use of her Head in Council and of her Sword upon occasion as well as the deepest Politician or the bravest Soldier of her time could have done upheld that ruined party and not only so but even raised it again by her heroick Virtue She retired to Brest fortify'd her places put her Son who was but four years old in a place of safety having sent him into England and pressed King Edward so earnestly for the assistance he had promised to her Husband that he sends it by Sea to her It came inde ed somewhat too late to preserve Rennes but early enough to save Hennebond whit her he was retired It was however too weak to maintain the cause the Enemies were Masters of the Field and took the Towns but Charles de Blois I cannot tell by what motive gave her some respite by a years Truce during which this Princess goes over into England to represent the state of her Affairs there Year of our Lord 1342 In the Month of April of this year 1342. hapned the death of Benedict XII This good Pope moreconcerned and affectionate for the exaltation of the Holy See then of his own Family left a vast Treasure to the Church and nothing at all to his kindred but good instructions for the saving of their Souls Peter Roger Native of the Village de Rose in Limosin and Arch-Bishop of Rouen succeeded him by the name of Clement VI. This Man behaved himself quite contrary he scrupled not at all to make use of his Wealth to enrich his Relations and restored the Nipotisine very prejudicial to to the Church Year of our Lord 1342 The Countess Margaret acted so successfully at the Court of England that she brought back a powerful supply commanded by Robert d'Artois The Naval Forces of the Genoese and Spaniards which were under the Command of Lewis of Spain Brother of Alphonso who was Constable set upon them smartly and might well have hindred their Landing if a sierce Wind had not obliged him at night to put out to Sea fearing his great Vessels should run aground their Ships being smaller got to Port near Vannes Robert d'Artois being landed besieged that City and carried it by Assault which he made upon them in the night presently after another very hot one which he had given them in the day time But after that the Captains of the contrary party knowing he had sent the greatest part of his Army to besiege Rennes and that himself staid in Vannes they came and besieged him and press'd so hard upon him by repeated Assaults that they regained the place Himself was hurt in the last attaque and with much ado saved himself by a postern and got to Hennebond from thence he went into England where he thought to find best Chyrurgeons he died of his wounds in London detested of all good and loyal Frenchmen and passionately regretted by Edward who promis'd him to revenge his death And in effect he landed soon afterwards in Bretagne where all at one time he besieged Vannes Rennes and Guincamp protesting he did not intend to break the Truce made with the French but only he would defend and protect the Lands of a Pupil he meant Montfort's Son to whom he had promised his Daughter in Marriage On the other hand the Duke of Normandy thought he did not infringe it if he assisted Charles de Blois his Cousin German Year of our Lord 1342 After divers exploits of War on either part the Duke hemm'd in Edward before Vannes both by Sea and Land Now as the English were reduced to hunger and the French extreamly incommoded with the Autumn Rains they were glad on both sides to get out of these straights by a Truce for two years which was concluded betwixt them only for Bretagne The Legats of the new Pope brought this about and withal got the promise of both Kings that they should send to Avignon to the Holy Father there to determine all their Disputes by a firm and lasting Peace Year of our Lord 1343 The Twenty eighth of January hapned the death of Robert the Wife King of Naples who left his Kingdom to Jane Daughter of his Son Charles and the Sixteenth of September that of Philip King of Navarre Charles his Son who since ws surnamed the Bad came to the Crown under the Guardianship of Queen Jane of France his Mother Year of our Lord 1343 The Duke of Normandy and the English Deputies met at Aviguon to Treat about a Peace and although they could not come to an agreement in any one thing yet nevertheless it was believed they would conclude a Peace at last because the Popes Mediation was pleasing to both Princes But here an unhappy accident falls in their way and not only stopt their proceedings towards a Peace but set them at farther distance then ever they were and overwhelmed France with a deluge of woes Year of our Lord 1344 Oliver de Clisson and Ten or Twelve Lords Bretons of the French party having accompanied Charles de Blois to a Turnament that was held at Paris the King caused them to be all made prisoners upon some suspition of their holding intelligence with the English and soon after beheaded without any Trial or Hearing of their Case to the great astenishment of all the World and indignation of the Nobility whose Blood till then had never been shed but in Battle and indeed this too severe King who revenged even his own mistrusts did so alienate the affection of his Grandees that they served him but very ill when he had need of them upon great occasions Year of our Lord 1344. and 45. The death of these Lords of Bretagne enraged the King of England he was almost like to have done the same to Henry Lord of Leon of Charles de Blois his party whom he held a prisoner but upon the humble intreaties of the Earl of Derby he gave him his Life and Liberty upon condition he should go and declare to King Philip that the Truce was infringed by this Murther and that he was now going to begin the War anew as he quickly did as well in Guyenne by the Earl of Derby assisted by the Gascon Lords under his obedience as in Bretagne by Montforts party till he could go himself and carry a War into the very heart of the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1344 The people of France had liberally granted to King Philip very notable Subsidies of Money for his Wars he raised them by much and which was worse he setled a new one upon Salt for which cause Edward by way of railery called him the Author of the Salique Law This impost which makes the Sun and Water to be sold so dear was the invention of the Jews mortal enemies to the name of Christians as the word or term Gabel denotes
Windore Charles Prince of Duras who was likewise of the blood of the Kings of Sicilia and had espoused Mary the Sister of Jane was Counsellor and Author of this infamous act Jane was not innocent well might she lament and sigh her cries and tears signified less towards her justification then her subsequent Marriage with Lewis her Cousin-German a lovely Prince and according to her desires made for her conviction Lewis the Great King of Hungary being come into Italy to revenge the death of his Brother Andrew and to get the Kingdom Treated Charles de Duras in the same manner as they had used King Andrew He would have done the like to the Princess and her fair Husband had they fallen into his hands for which reason she fled away in good time to her County of Provence and her Husband soon after her The Pope shewed her great respect but taking advantage of the extreme necessity she was reduced unto he got from her the City and County of Avignon for which he was to give but Fourscore thousand Gold Florins of Florence but over and besides this bargain he approved her Marriage with Prince Lewis who in requital ratified this sale It belongs to the Lawyers to judge whether the minority of this Queen and the Edicts she afterwards made to declare null all alienations of the Lands in Provence which had been made as well in the Reign of Robert as by her self whilst she was yet a Minor do not make this Contract void and null but the Emperour Charles IV. confirmed it and wholly freed this County from the subjection of the Empire of whom it held as being an Under-Fief of the Kingdom of Arles We ought to know that when the Earls Alphonso de Toulouze and Raimond Berenger of Barcelona married the two Daughters of Gilbert â—arl of Provence and parted his Succession between them whereof Alphonso had all from the Durance to the Lisere with the Title of a Marquisate and Raimond what is from the Durance to the Sea with that of an Earldom they likewise divided the City of Avignon betwixt them and that the Kings of France as Successors to Alphonso de Poitiers Brother of St. Lewis who married the Heyress of Toulouze had enjoy'd the one moity till the year 1290. When Charles the Fair gave it to Charles II. King of Sicilia upon the Marriage of Charles de Valois his Brother with Margaret the Daughter of that King The Lords of Montmorency de Charny and others who commanded the French Forces in Artois and Picardy thinking it might not be amiss to recover Calais during the Truce held some intelligence with Aymery of Pavia a Lombard Captain in that City but the double-hearted Traitor gave ear to them only to surprize them he gave notice of it to Edward who desiring to be of the party passed the Sea with â—ight hundred Men at Arms that this great draught might not break out of the Net so that when it came to be put in execution they found themselves unfortunately caught in the toyl with the Twenty thousand Crown bargain and a thousand select Men whereof One hundred of them who had engaged themselves in a Tower belonging to the Castle and the rest who waited for entrance were charged and cut in pieces after a brave defence In the Month of August of the year 1348. there appeared on the side of Paris a kind of Comet or Star extraordinary Luminous the Sun being not then Set it appeared as not very far distant from the Earth the following night it was thought to be much greater and divided in several Rayes but soon after it disappeared Year of our Lord 1348 France was miserably tormented all manner of ways it had undergone a horrible Famine Anno 1338. and after that the spoil the Soldiers made had caused every thing to be held excessive dear and kept the whole Kingdom in great scarcity This year 1348. A cruel Plague made all the Provinces desolate the Exactions worse then all these Plagues together ruined the People utterly and by I know not what curse the more the Taxes were increased the more indigent was the King Year of our Lord 1348 There never had been any Plague more furious and destructive then that in Ann. 1348. It was universal over all our Hemisphere there was neither City nor Village nor House but was infected It began in the Kingdom of Cathay Anno 1346. by a vapour that was most horrible stinking which breaking out of the Earth like a king of subterraneal Fire consumed and devoured above Two hundred Leagues of that Countrey even to the very Trees and Stones and infected the Air in such manner that there fell down millions of young Serpents and other venemous Infects From Cathay it passed into Asia and Greece thence into Africk afterwards into Europe which it ransacked throughout to the very utmost bounds of the North. The venome was so contagious that it infected by the very sight It was observed to last Five Months in its full force and rage where once it had got footing Those that suffered least by the Sword of this exterminating Angel could hardly save one Third of the Inhabitants but in many places it did not leave above the Fifteenth or the Twentieth person alive Year of our Lord 1348 Money was wanting they set upon squeezing the Officers of the Treasury amongst others Peter des Essards the Kings Treasurer was condemned to the sum of a hundred thousand Gold Florins which was moderated to the half Afterwards to stop the peoples Mouths and daily complaints they chose out for the management of the Treasury two Bishops two Abbots and four Knights and they expelled all the Italian Usurers called Lombards out of the Kingdom The principal Lottery-Money they had lent was taken and confiscated to the King this was but about Four hundred thousand Livres but their Use-Money which was two Millions was remitted to the Owners Year of our Lord 1348 Queen Jane Daughter of Robert Duke of Burgundy being dead in the year 1349 King Philip though he were yet in mourning weeds took fire for Blanch Daughter of Philip King of Navarre He had sent for her to be Married to his Son but he liked her best for himself and did wed her Year of our Lord 1349 There had been for many years a mortal War between the Earls of Savoy and the Dauphins de Viennois The Dauphin Humbert feeble in Body and Courage not able to endure the continual Attaques of Amé VI called the Earl Verd and besides being very melancholy for the loss of his only Son withal over Head and Ears in debt and having no love for his kindred bethought himself of giving up his Countrey to some great potentate who might plague and put the Savoyard to as much trouble as he had put him His inclination was to make an accommodation with the Pope the People could have wished to be under the Government of the Savoyard that they might
side he seized about the end of September upon the City of Carmagnoles and invested the Castle The Lieutenant surrendred it in few days after Salusses Cental and all the other small month September and October places of the Marquisate made but very little or no defence excepting Ravel The Joss was very great to France as well because there was in Carmagnoles an inestimable Magazin of all sorts of Arms and four hundred pieces of Cannon as because that Country was the only passage the French had left them to get into Italy Now as in all misfortunes we still lay the blame on them we most hate the King failed not to accuse the Duke of Guise for this though he appeared to be altogether innocent for he was so far from corresponding with the Duke of Savoy at least at this very time that he was at great variance with him Therefore he profer'd to pass the Alpes and tear this Usurpation again out of his hands and engaged the Estates to declare a War against him Year of our Lord 1588 In the mean time the King tired with the difficulties and troubles that started up every day and which he believed were created by that Duke was often transported month November and December to passion and had thoughts of the extreamest revenge but when those fits were over fell into great astonishments and unexpressible thoughts of despair Nay sometimes he took so much disgust at the burthen of Government that he would needs ease himself and lay the whole weight thereof upon the Queen Mother and during these intervals or weakness of Spirit he seem'd to have an entire confidence in the Duke of Guise even so far as to seal the same with a solemn Oath upon the sacred Mistery of the Altar both having communicated as it was said at the same Table either of them taking one half of the same consecrated Wafer But immediately after the remembrance of things past the fear of what was to come and the never-ceasing reports of the Quarente-cinq who craftily intermixed calumnies with truths bad him repent his weakness gave him new fire to his indignation and made him once for all determine to put him to death Those of his Council and amongst his Servants who had any sence of honour and month December generosity were of opinion he should act King-like and rid his hands of him by ways that were both just and irreprochable The Mareschal d'Aumont would have him brought to Trial and forfeit his Head if he deserv'd it Grillon Mestre de Camp of the Regiment of Guards refused to assassinate him but offer'd to make him draw his Sword assuring the King he would kill him or forfeit his own Life The contrary advice notwithstanding took most with the King and this not so much for any strength of reason as the present disposition and humour he then was in which this exactly suited For we must know that during any great Frosts such as were at this very time and had lasted above three weeks he was hugely tormented with vapours from the Spleen which rendred him extream chagrin and severe Those that were well acquainted knew it very dangerous to offer to disturb him at such Seasons and it is held that Chiverny and Miron had often hinted to the Duke that if he plaid his Game with him whilst he was invaded with those black and pricking fumes he would certainly repent it This resolution could not be kept so private but it was known to many Persons the Duke had notice from above a hundred by word of Mouth and Writing they quoted even the very particular circumstances and all his Friends press'd him to retire the Archbishop of Lyons only was of a contrary sentiment and prevailed above all the rest He made him believe that all those reports and the notices given him came from the King to fright him away so to ruine his Reputation and afterwards make his Process in his absence This Prelat was since reproached that he had thus exposed the life of his Friend only out of fear lest if he left the Court the King would have hindred his promotion to the Cardinal-ship which he hoped would be done at Rome after St. Lucies-day Year of our Lord 1588 The Duke was so imprudent as to lodge within the Castle and thereby exposed month December himself to the mercy of his Enemies and was deprived of the assistance of above five hundred Gentlemen and a thousand other Persons who were his Friends that quarter'd about the Town The better to draw him in the King pretended he must dispatch several weighty Affairs before the Christmas Holidays and gave order all the Council should come thither early the next Morning being the Three and twentieth of December The Council sat in a Hall of the Castle near the Kings Chamber who had his Apartment in the second Story the Queen Mother making use of the first The King had caused little Cells to be built upon one side of his Chamber in those he placed his Quarente-Cinq about four hours after mid-night leading them thither himself with a small Wax light In the morning about Eight of the Clock the Duke being come to the Council-Hall with the Cardinal his Brother the Archbishop of Lyons and some others the King sends for him to come speak with him in his Chamber Nine of those Forty-five who were placed at the entrance of the passage fall upon him some catch him by the Collar others hold him by the Arms and Legs give him twelve or fifteen stabs with their Daggers he shakes them drags them along and used all the efforts of an invincible despair till being thrust into the Reins with a Sword he falls down at whole length with these words Ab thou Traytor Immediately the Mareschal d'Aumont seizes the Cardinal and the Archbishop in the Council Hall and shuts them up in a Garret others in divers places lay hold on the old Cardinal de Bourbon the Dutchess of Nemours the Prince de Joinville the Dukes of Nemours and Elboeuf de Hautefort St. Agnan Bois-Daufin Brissac la Bourdaisiere and Picard the Dukes Secretary At the same instant almost Richelieu Grand Prevost de l'Hostel enters the Council Hall bawling out they would have murther'd the King and lays hands on the President de Nully la Chappelle Morteau Prevost des Merchands two â—sehevins of Paris and Vincent le Roy Lieutenant Civil of the City of Amiens The rest ran forth in great confusion Some made a shift to get to Orleans such as could not make their escape because the Gates were strongly guarded were forced stay behind and cover their apprehensions with a seeming joy Those that had slain the Duke dreading lest the Cardinal should another day demand satisfaction for his Blood sollicited the King with so much vehemence that he consented likewise to his death Two things amongst the rest moved him to determine it the one was they reported he spit forth all the injurious
return of the Duke of Mayenne who seemed loath to enter upon this matter let slip some Sessions without any proceedings then adjourned the Conference for eight days notwithstanding a Truce or Suspension was agreed for ten days At first a difficulty arose which had like to break off all those of the League would not suffer that Rambouillet should be present because the Dutchess of Guise accused him of having a hand in the death of her Husband Rambouillet on the contrary insisted upon his staying since he was come fearing lest his exclusion should imply a tacit owning of what they charged him with and the Blood of that Prince be required of him and his Posterity He therefore positively denied the Fact and offer'd to purge himself by Oath upon which the Deputies of his Party stood up so resolutely for him that he was not excluded It is very remarkable that the King having heard how some did even charge him with that death took the pains to write a Discourse which was perused by the chiefest ☞ of that Assembly wherein he shewed he never was the Author of so tragical and so cursed a Council He instanced amongst other things that the late King telling him how a great Man who pushed him on to do that action had in a Letter written to him on that Subject put in these four Latine words MORS CONRADINI VITA CAROLI He the King of Navarre replied in the presence of many Persons of Honour still living Yes but Sir this Party has not told you all the History for the death of Conradin was the ruine of Charles For the particulars of what passed in the Conference at Surene they are to be seen in the Records that are published The Archbishop of Lyons and he of Bourges made very Eloquent Discourses on either side to shew the one that they could not acknowledge an Heretical prince the other that they ought to obey him and this last summoned the Leagued Catholicks to joyn with them for instructing and converting the King but these stood stiff not to receive nor have any communication with him till he were truly converted and the Pope had received him into the bosom of the Church This Resolution express'd with great freedom and assurance brought over that Prince who wavered before in so much as he gave his positive word he would become a Convert to those Princes and Lords that were about him and demanded a Conference for his instruction to which he invited all the most learned of his own Party and of those for the League to meet the Fifteenth of July Not that he pretended the performance of his promise should depend upon that but only as a ceremony and form becoming such an Act. Year of our Lord 1593 It was time he should speak plain for the Estates some days before having made a month June solemn Procession were preparing for the election of a King and if the Spaniards had then made the Proposition which they did a Month after in behalf of the Duke of Guise it is most certain that all had gone that way even in despite of the Duke of Mayenne for he had not yet made his Faction strong enough as having been too long employ'd at Rheims He was newly come from thence very melancholy and dissatisfied with the Princes of his own House who were more vex'd with him so that they had parted as irresolv'd and as much dis-united as ever each of them with vast and confused thoughts and very little abilities to put them in execution Nevertheless there was enough to console him for his misfortunes had he known how to improve the opportunity for the King apprehending the Estates might nominate one before himself were Converted offer'd to give him then the same advantages the Spaniards promis'd him only for the future He had no other aim when he consented to the Conferences but only to amuse the Royalists but the event was quite contrary it gave the King great advantage The Seize on the one hand and the Huguenots on the other did in vain endeavour to interrupt them they were too much engaged from Surene they were transfer'd to la Raquete then to la Villette They ended and broke up in this latter place because the Leaguers would conclude on nothing more but that they referred the judgment of the Reduction of the King to the Authority of his Holiness who only said they had the power of opening the Gates of the Church to him and the other rejected this Proposition because that would be to submit the Crown of France to the disposal of the Pope During the time these Conferences held the suspension of Arms was continued and brought the People to an absolute longing after Peace The King having observed this effect would allow it no farther but for three days but in exchange offer'd a Truce of six Months The Legat and Spaniards expressing great aversion to it the Duke of Mayenne durst not accept of it The Spaniards on their side having already suffer'd the Spirits of their Party to grow cool in the Estates disgusted them wholly by their odious Propositions for Mendozze labour'd to prove the right of the Infanta and to demonstrate that the Crown appertained to her His discourse was very unacceptable Feria afterwards imagining that they had rejected it because the French abhorred the Government of a Woman caused Tassis to propound that the Catholick King would Marry the Infanta to the Arch-Duke Ernest who should Reign joyntly with her as if it would not have been more eligible to admit of one Stranger to sit in the Throne of France then to crowd two in at the same time Year of our Lord 1593 The Nobility having referr'd it to the Duke of Mayenne to make him such answer month June as he should think fit the Duke gave him to understand that the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom could not allow of a Stranger That nevertheless the Estates to testifie their acknowledgments to the Catholick King desired he would take it well they should elect some French Prince and that he would be pleased to honour them with his Alliance by the Marriage of the Infanta to him Now after the Spaniards had spent some days in deliberating on this Proposition Feria replied by the Mouth of Tassis that the King his Master would furnish them with all the assistance they should desire provided the Infanta were declared Queen upon this condition she should Marry one of the French Princes whom that King should chuse the House of Lorrain therein comprehended This Overture dazled most of the Deputies and if at that time the Ministers of Spain without so many Ceremonies had but named one the Assembly would have agreed to it but whilst they were standing upon their gravity and expected to be courted to what did n◠in any wise belong to them this opportunity slipt thorough their Fingers Three Princes aspired to this nomination the Duke of Nemours and the Duke of Guise
have no more war on that side but the Nobility liked rather to be under the King of France who had Employments and Offices to bestow Henry de Villars Arch-Bishop of Lyons and John de Chisy Bishop of Grenoble byass'd the Dukes mind so as to make it run that way He had therefore in the year 1343. made a Donation to King Philip of the Lordship of Daulphine and the Lands adjoyning upon condition that all their priviledges should be preserved intirely that it should be incorporated for ever in the Crown of France and that the Kings eldest Son should enjoy it and bear the Title and the Arms of Daulphine for which the King gave him Forty thousand Crowns of Gold and ten thousand Florins Rent to be levied on the Countrey Year of our Lord 1349 This year 1349. he confirmed the Contract and afterwards retired himself into a Convent of the Jacobins where he took on the Habit. The Pope tyed him to the Church by Sacred Orders fearing he might start back and gainsay the thing He received them all on Christmass-day the Subdiaconal at midnight Mass the Diaconal at Mass by break of day and the Priesthood at the Third Mass The same day he Celebrated and eight days after was promoted to Episcopacy and honoured with the Title of Patriarch of Alexandria Year of our Lord 1350 In 1350. Philip had likewise either by purchase or by engagement of James of Arragon King of Majorca the Counties of Rousillon and Cerdagna in the Pyreneans and bought of the same Prince the Barony of Montpellier in Languedoc which the House of Arragon held in Under-Fief of the Crown of France for the sum of Sixscore thousand Crowns of Gold currant Money In the Month of June of the year 1350. the Truces wer prolonged between the Kings for three years Year of our Lord 1350 Two Months afterwards Philip fell sick at Nogent le Roy perhaps of the toil and fatigue of his new Marriage very often mortal to antient people that take beautiful Wives Feeling his last hour draw near he sent for his Children and the Princes of his Blood and gave them warning and counsel to live in amity and concord with one another make a Peace if it could be had maintain good Order and countenance Justice case the People and other fine and excellent things which Princes oftner recommend to their Successors at their deaths then practise themselves while they are alive He expired the Two and twentieth day of August in the seven and fiftieth year of his age and in the Three and twentieth of his Reign Very brave in his own person more happy in Negotiations then in Battle hard-hearted towards his Subjects suspitious vindicative and one that suffer'd himself to be too far transported by the impetuosity of his anger He had two Wives Jane and Blanch that the Daughter of Robert II. Duke of Burgundy and this of Philip d'Evreux King of Navarre By the First he left two Sons John who Reigned Philip who was Duke of Orleans but had no posterity and one Daughter named Mary who Married John Duke of Limburgh Son of John III. Duke of Brabant By his Second he had but only one Daughter Posthumus she was named Jane who died at Beziers in the year 1373. as they were conducting her to Barcelona to marry John Duke of Girona eldest Son to Peter IV. King of Arragon The Queen her Mother survived her Husband almost Fifty years which she passed in perpetual Widdow-hood Thus under the Reign of King John there were two Queens Dowagers in France this same and Jane d'Evreux widdow of Charles the Fair who died in the Month of May Anno 1970. John I. King L. By some called the Good King Aged XLII years POPES CLEMENT VI. Two years three Months during this Reign INNOCENT VI. Elected in December 1352. S. Nine years and near Nine Months URBAN V. Elected the Eighth of October 1362. S. Eight years and above Two Months whereof one year and Six Months during this Reign Year of our Lord 1350 AFter John had assisted at the Funeral of the King his Father he was Crowned at Reims with his Second Wife Jane of Boulogue the Twenty sixty day of September From thence he came and made his entrance into Paris the Seventeenth of October sate in his Seat of Justice in Paris gave the Order of Knighthood to his two eldest Sons to some other Princes and Lords and began some shew of labouring about the Polity and the Reformation of the whole Estate The Prince having maturity of age the experience of Affairs a valour tried in occasions the example of his faults before his Eyes and four Sons that would soon be able to draw their Swords promised a happy conduct and a most flourishing Government yet having the same defects as his Father too much of impetuosity and precipitation for revenge little prudence and as little consideration for the miseries of his poor people he fell into greater misfortunes and such as did not let go their hold but stuck to him till his death The Blood wherewith he sullied the entrance of his Reign was a presage and perhaps a cause of it much likelier then the prodigious Comet which appeared this year Rodolph Earl of Eu and of Guisnes Constable of France a prisoner of War to the English ever since the Battle of Caen had made divers voyages into France Year of our Lord 1350 to procure his own deliverance and that of his Compagnons Some perswaded the King were it true or false that under this pretence he practised some contrivances in favour of the English he was then arrested by the Prevost of Paris the Sixteenth of November and the Nineteenth beheaded obscurely and without form of Process in presence of the Duke of Bourbon and seven or eight Lords of note before whom it was given out in publique he had confessed his crime His spoil was thus divided his Office of Constable was given to Charles d'Espagne de la Cerde Favourite to the King the Earldom of En to John d'Artois Son of that Robert of whom we have mention'd so much and that of Guisnes to Jane the only Daughter of the defunct whose first Husband was Gualter Duke d'Athenes and her Second to Lewis Earl d'Estampes of the Branch d'Evreux from which sprung that of the Earls d'Eu Princes of the Blood Year of our Lord 1351 That he might not be inferiour in magnificence to the English who was a sumptuous and liberal Prince who had instituted the Order of the Garter King John instituted or rather revived the Order of the Star in a famous Assembly which he held in his Palace of St. Ouyn neer Paris and ordained that whereas those Knights did formerly wear the Star upon their Helmets or Crest or hung about their necks they should now have them embroidered on their Cloaths The Chapter was held upon Twelfth-day Charles the Fifth his Son observing this Order much debased by the multitude of mean
Forces belonging to the Navarrois continued their Incursions in Normandy Year of our Lord 1365 it was believed they might be drawn from thence by a Diversion towards Navarre A League was therefore made with the King of Arragon his Capital Enemy who immediately fell with an Army into that Kingdom The Navarrois had the more apprehension because he knew that France was necessarily obliged to joyn with that Prince the King of England having made a League with Peter King of Castille an Eternal Enemy to the Arragonians Wherefore Captal de Buch and the rest of his Friends applied themselves with so much zeal that they made his peace with the King By this Treaty he renounced all his rights to Champagne and to Burgundy upon condition he should have the Lordship of Montpellier in Languedoc which was given him The Habits of Men of Quality and honest People dwelling in Cities was a long Gown and a Hood almost of the same fashion as the Monks sometimes they threw these back upon their Shoulders and made use of a Cap or Bonnet for their Heads Now luxury and folly had shortned their long Robe so much that their Thighs and the whole motions of their Bodies from their Reins was plainly Year of our Lord 1365 seen They had likewise brought in use a certain sort of Shoes the Toes whereof were turned up with a long neck they named them Poulenes and at their Heels a kind of Spurs The King by his Edicts banished these ridiculous Modes after the example of his Holiness who but a while before had by his Bulls condemned the dissoluteness of Apparel both in the one and the other Sex France could not rid her self of those droves of Robbers that knawed her to the Year of our Lord 1365 very bones The English tolerated them that they might have their help upon occasion and there were not Forces enough besides to suppress them Gueselin found out a way to carry them all off into Spain upon this occasion Alphonso XI King of Castille had had by his lawful Wife a Son named Peter who succeeded him and by a Mistress five Natural Sons the eldest of whom was called Henry and was Earl of Tristemare This Peter was rightly surnamed the Cruel and the Wicked for he shewed himself more a friend to the Alcoran then to the Gospel having alliance and amity with the Moorish Kings He overturned all the Laws and committed all the Injustice and Cruelties that Tyrants can commit He lived in publick Adultery with Mary de Padilla and had in Anno 1361. caused his Wife Blanch to be poyson'd who was Daughter to Peter Duke of Bourbon and Sister to the Queen of France a Princess as vertuous as fair after she had endured all the outrages imaginable for ten years together He put the Lady to death that had been his Fathers Mistress and shed the blood of the greatest in his Kingdom almost every day nor did he spare his own Brothers having Murthered Frederic one of the five who was Grand Master of St. James and often attempted against the lives of the other four Henry being thereâ—ore prompted by a just Resentment for the death of his Brother and his Mother and besides authoriz'd by the Law of Nature which allowed him to defend his life rose up against him with the greatest part of the Nation Leagued himself with the Arragonian and made War upon him for some time Year of our Lord 1365 His Cause in the beginning had not so much success as justice he was overmatch'd and worsted by the Tyrant and took shelter in France The King gave him protection the more willingly because it offer'd a fair occasion to employ his Soldiery It was thought fit for the better countenance of it to let John de Bourbon Count de la Marche Cousin German to the late Queen Blanch have the chief Command in appearance but for their true Conductor Bertrand du Gueselin who was delivered out of the hands of Chandois the Pope the King and Don Henry having paid down his Ransom Year of our Lord 1366 With these Forces and great numbers of the Nobility Volunteers even out of those Countries under the obedience of the English the Count de la Marche and Gueselin carried Henry back into Spain The Pope fearing this Army might approach near Avignon sent them Two hundred thousand Livers with Indulgences The King of Arragon gave them passage and the Dutchy of Borgiae to Gueselin and before they entred upon Castille they regained all those places Peter had taken from him and put them honestly again into his hands Upon the arrival and sight of Henry all the Nobles of Castille excepting one single Knight abandoned the Tyrant They all cry'd out Long live King Henry and open'd their Gates to him in a word he was Crowned at Burgos about the end of March. That done he liberally rewarded with Estates in Lands all such as had follow'd him and thinking himself secure upon the Tyrants flight he discharged the most part of his Forces who would have lain too heavy on his new Subjects reserving only Fifteen hundred Lances with Gueselin and Bernard Bastard of the Count de Foix. Year of our Lord 1366 The Tyrant made his escape first towards Portugal but the King of that Country having refused to allow him any retreat there he got into Galicia and from thence by Sea to Bayonne to implore the assistance of the Prince of Wales The jealousie that Prince had for the fame of du Gueselin made him give an ear to his supplications he promised to restore him and to act Personnally in the Employment To this end he retains the Gascon Lords and the same Companies that had served du Gueselin who were disbanded by Henry but the Arragonian keeping the passages shut and well guarded they could not get to him but with a great deal of difficulty Year of our Lord 1367 There was no other way but by Navarre King Charles the Bad having made a League with either Party found himself perplexed In the end he leans towards the Tyrant and gives him passage and three hundred Lances Whilst he was wavering betwixt both Parties and endeavoured to delude them both he was made Prisoner by Oliver de Mauny who held the Castle of Borgia upon that Frontier It was imagin'd he had contriv'd it so himself to keep his Faith with Henry but Oliver treated him as a real Prisoner and got a good Ransom from him When Henry knew that his Enemies had taken the City of Navarrette he came to meet them and instead of stopping their passage and hindring their having Provisions brought to them which he might easily have done being above three times more numerous then they he gave them Battle This was the Fourth of April between Nagera and Navarrette but he lost it through the Cowardize of his Brother Teilo who betook himself to flight upon the first Charge Gueselin was made Prisoner with the Mareschal d'Endreghen and some
and Richard Duke of Gloucestre You have seen how he put the first to death upon some ill grounded suspicion Now thus the other revenged it upon his Children Edward before his Marriage to her by whom he had them had clandestinely espoused a woman who was yet living The Bishop of Bathe who Marry'd them reveales it to Richard who being easily persuaded that Edward's Children were not Legitimate Seized upon his two Sons the Eldest of them being but Eleven years of age and named Edward V. put to Death five or six of the greatest Lords who plainly foresaw his ill intents and then having dispatched these Two young Princes out of the World and made their Sisters to be declared Bastards he set the Crown upon his own Head all Christian Princes even Lewis XI himself having this deed in horror It is pleasant to read in History what the fear of Death and of losing his Authority made King Lewis do during the last years of his Reign The dancing of young Lasses about his House and the Bands of Musicians that play'd on Flageolets which were brought from all parts to divert him the Processions ordained over all the Kingdom for his Health the publick prayers to God to hinder the blowing of certain Winds which incommoded him a great heap of Reliques which were sent for by him from all Corners even the St. Ampoulle or Holy Oyle with which he seemed as if he would Arm himself against Death the great sway his Physician James Coctier had over him who grumbled at him as he had been his Servant and squeezed from him 55000 Crowns and many other Boons in five Months space the Baths of Childrens Blood which he made use of to sweeten his sharp and pricking Humours in fine his voluntary Imprisoning himself in the Castle du Plessis le Tours where none could enter but through a Wicket the Walls thereof being Armed with Iron Spikes and lined Day and Night with Cross-Bow-men Every hour he was upon the Brink of his Grave and nevertheless he strove to persuade them that he was well sending Embassy's to all Princes Buying up all manner of Curiosities of Forreign Country's and making it appear he was alive by the Bloody effects of his Vegeance which could not die but with him Year of our Lord 1482. And 83. His greatest hope was in a Holy Hermit called Francis Martotile a Native of Calabria Founder of the Order of Minimes whom he caused expresly to come into France upon the Fame of those wonders God had wrought by his Ministery He Flattered him Implored him fell on his Knees to him He Built too Covents for his Order the first within the Park de Plessis les Tours the second at the Foot of the Castle de Amboise that he might prolong his days But this good Man in answer talked to him of God and Exhorted him to think more of the other Life then this Feeling himself grow weaker every day he sent for his Son from Amboise gave him excellent Counsel exhorting him to be Governed by the Advice of the Princes of the Blood the Lords and other Notable Persons not to change his Officers after his Death to ease his Subjects and reduce the Leveys of Moneys to the Ancient orders of the Kingdom which was to raise none but by consent of the People He had encreased the Taxes to 4700000 Livers a Sum so excessive in ☞ those days that the People were miserably over-burthened He died in fine the 29 th Day of August and accordingly as he had ordained was Interred at Nostre-Dame de Clery for which he had a particular Devotion The Course of Life had lasted Sixty one years compleat his Reign 22 years and one Month. Comines describes him to us as very wise in adversity very able to penetrate into the Interests and thoughts of men and to allure them and turn them to his ends infinitely suspicious and jealous of his power most absolute in his will who pardoned not mightily oppressed his Subjects and yet withal this the best of Princes in his time He had caused above 4000 people to be put to Death by divers cruel Torments and sometimes pleased himself in being a Spectator The most part were Executed without Form of Process or Trial many Drôwn'd with a Stone about their Necks others precipitated passing over a turning Plank whence they fell upon Wheels armed with Spikes and sharp Hooks others stifled in Dungeons Tristan his Creature and the Provost of his House being alone both Judge Witness and Executioner Besides his Devotion at least in appearance his persuasive and attracting Eloquence his Marvellous craft in setting his Enemies at variance with one another and unravelling their quarrels again his Liberality in recompencing the Services done for him when they hit his fancy we must not deny two things worthy of praise in him at the Latter end of his days one that he would not suffer an Ambassador which Sultan Bajazet sent to him to come nearer then Marseilles not believing one could be a Christian and have Communication with the Enemies of Jesus Christ the other that he had undertaken to reduce all the Weights and Measures to one Standard and to set up a General Custom in all the Provinces of the Kingdom I will add a Third that he resolved and intended that exact Justice should be dealt to all particular People He Instituted two Parliaments that of Bourdeaux which had been promised by Charles VII and that of Burgundy The Letters Patents for the first are Dated the 7 th of June 1462. that of the second the 18 th of March 1476. If he suffered not his Son to be brought up to good Learning it was because he apprehended to make him too knowing or hurt his delicate and tender Complexion by the Labour of Study It was not that he despised it or was altogether ignorant of it as some have believed since Comines says That he was well enough Read that he had had another sort of breeding then the Lords of that Kingdom and that according to Gaguin he understood Books and had more Erudition then Kings were wont to have Add that he much encreased the Royal Library which Charles V. had begun at Fountainbleau and which was transferr'd to the Louvre by Charles VI. That he kindly received and favoured those Learned Men who had made their escape from Greece after the taking of Constantinople That he took delight in alluring some out of Forreign Country 's with great Presents amongst others the Famous Galeotus Martius And that he gave himself the Trouble to compleat the reformation of the University of Paris by the care of John Boccard Bishop d'Auranches and a Cordelier named Wesel Gransfort a Native of Groningue Besides it is certain that the Kings of France and particularly those of the third Race have all been instructed in good Learning and loved it excepting Philip de Valois He married two Wives to wit Margret Daughter of James I. King of Scotland
that means cut off the greatest head of the Faction The Queen would not have it so the Duke of Guise himself thought the enterprize too difficult and favouring the Parisians in what they most desired was of opinion they should lay Siege to Rouen The Army Arrived there about the Twentieth of September and just in a nick of time to hinder that Progress the Huguenots might have made with the help of the English For on the same day a Treaty of Confederation was signed between Queen Elizabeth and them at Hampton-Court specifying that she should furnish them with Six Thousand Men one half to be put into Havre de Grace which should be delivered to her and which she should keep for the King and was to serve for a place of retreat and refuge to the Huguenots which in a few days afterwards was Executed The Fort Saint Catherine was taken by Storm The City maintained their Attaques with all possible Resolution They proffer'd them such composition as was reasonable enough and for three several times the Queen Mother hindred the Duke of Guise from giving the Assault being perswaded by the prudent Coun sel of the Chancellor that nothing can be more prejudicial to a Soveraign then to make Conquests upon himself and pillage his own Cities But when they found the Besieged did continue to reject with Stubbornness those favours and that mercy they were importuned to accept the Kings Council gave the Duke lieve to let loose the Reynes to Victory He therefore gave a general Assault the Five and Twentieth of October Their resistance was not equal to their obstinacy they abandoning all at the first Shock The Soldiers pillaged them above eight dayes together which proved the more cruel because they were extreamly rich Montgomery who had a Galley lying there ready upon all occasions it was one of the Kings which hapned to put into Rouen when the Huguenots master'd the Town soon got aboard of it with his Friends together with the English The Slaves to whom he had promised their Liberty rowed with such force that it slid quite over the Chain they had laid cross the River at Caudebec They hanged up John du Bose d'Esmandreville President of the Court of Aydâ—s two Councellors belonging to the City Marlorat the Minister and Eight or Ten Captains amongst others du Cros who had been Governor of Havre de Grace and deliver'd the place up to the English By way of Reprizal or Retaliation the Prince caused the Heads of some Catholicks to be cut off that were in his Hands amongst others John Baptist Sapin Councellor of the Parliament of Paris and John de Troyes Abbot of Gastine who were taken in Vendosmois as they were on their way to Spain from the King Giles leu Maistre first President of the Parliament revenged the Death of Sapin who was his Nephew upon some unfortunate Huguenots that were Prisoners in Paris whom he sent to the common Place of Execution These retaliations had gone on to infinity if the Captains of the Catholick Party who apprehended the like Reprisals should they have fallen into the Enemies power had not engaged their Chiefs to desist from such kind of Process and to make good the usual Rules of War and Martial Customes and Laws The Five and Twentieth of October the King of Navarre had been wounded in the Trenches while he was making water by a Musquet shot in his left Shoulder The City being taken he would needs be carried in his Bed by his Year of our Lord 1562 Swiss Soldiers to make a Triumphant entrance thorough the breach His wound was not Mortal but his too assiduous entertainment of the Damoiselle du Rouet one of those Sirenes the Regent employ'd to enchant that poor Prince withal heated his blood too much after which his impatience to be Cured making him venture by Boat to Paris he was seized with a Trembling and afterwards fell into a cold Sweat the Symptomes of approaching death as indeed it proved for the Boat stopping at Andelis he there resigned his last breath the Seventeenth day of November shewing himself in this last Act as he had done in all the other Four wavering and irresolv'd between the Catholick Religion and the Confession of Ausbourg but discovering enough the bad opinion he had of the Government by an express order he gave to fore-warn his Wife from coming to the Court to stand well upon her Guard and Fortifie her places The trouble the Prince was in for the bloody Conquest of Rouen was yet augmented by the unwelcome News brought him from Guyenne Duras had raised Five Thousand Men for him in that Country this Army of Fellows pickt up at random and most Robbers living without order were charged by Montluc and cut in pieces near the Burrough de Vere between Perigueux and Sarlat Which brought the Prince two great dis-advantages the one that he lost this considerable Supply the other that Montluc's Forces having nothing else in those Parts to fear joyned with the Kings Army some dayes before the Battel of Dreux There have been many Volumes Printed of all the Minute passages in every Province particularly in Guyenne Languedoc and in Daufiné the surprising taking and retaking of Towns a World of little Fights and Skirmishes the Barbarities and Massacres committed on both sides the Insolencies and furious rage of the People which to say the truth they were but too much and too highly provoked unto by the Huguenots in divers places I shall therefore only observe in gross that Sommerine for the Catholick Party made a rude War in Provence against his Father the Count de Tendes who held with the Huguenots That in Daufiné the Baron des Adrets having taken up Armes for these and the Count de Suse for the other pursued each other by turnes very close and smartly and that the Baron made himself Terrible by his enormous Cruelties Precipitating Massacring and Drowning without Faith or Compassion such as resisted him in any place That Tavanes a zealous Catholiâ—k having retaken Chaalon and Mascon preserved for a time all Burgundy from being any further involved in the Civil War That Normandy was all laid waste and desolate the higher by reason of the Sieges of Rouen and Havre and the lower by the Count de Montgommery and the Breton Troops which the Duke d'Estampes had brought in thither to make head against him That Joyeuse preserved one part of Languedoc in the Ancient Religion That Montluc as we may find in his Commentaries rendred the King great Service in Guyenne but that he exceeded the bounds even of severity it self against the Huguenots I shall add that their Party had the disadvantage almost every where unless in Languedoc where they held all the best Cities excepting Toulouze which intending to seize upon in the Month of May they were drove thence after an obstinate Fight of many dayes and the loss of Three Thousand of their Men not reckoning about Two Hundred more who were
notwithstanding of the Duke D'Espernon who feigned to be very well satisfied though he fore-saw he should have no power in those parts so long as the King lived Ever since the Kings absolution at the Court of Rome the Jesuits had missed no opportunity of employing the Popes intercession with all their art and industry to sollicite their re-establishment pretending it was one of the secret conditions which had been opposed at his absolution But the imprudent conduct of some of their Society in England at Venice and in the lesser Cantons of Swizzerland having brought complaints against them to Rome the Pope grew somewhat cold in the pursuâ—e of it Now as the King was passing by Verdun the Year of our Lord 1603 Rector and Fathers of the Colledge in that City incouraged by la Varenne presented themselves to request of him that the Decree of the Parliament of Paris which forbid the French to send any of their Children to study in the Jesuits Colledges might not extend to theirs The King having returned them a very Gracious Answer they thought it a fit time to try a little further Their Provincial named Armand and three or four of his came to Mets and chusing the week of the Passion of our Lord most proper to stir up mercy and compassion in a Christian Soul got into the Kings Closset upon Holy-Thursday after noon and fell down at his feet The good Prince soon raized them agen and gave them a full Audience The Provincial who was Spokes-man insinuates himself by extolling of his Victories and his Clemency then endeavour'd to justifie his Society from the common reproaches of their Enemies and afterwards concluded by conjuring and imploring his Royal Clemency by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ to shew mercy towards them and to do it in such sort that this favour might depend on nothing but his own goodness that it might be wholly from him alone and that they might have no obligation but to himself They had put down their harangue in writing after he had heard it with all possible humanity he took it out of their hands as if to read it with more attention The Monday following having called them a second time into his Closet he gave them his positive word for their being restored commanded the Provincial to come to him at Paris and to bring Father Cotton then embraced him and all his Compagnons in token he freely forgave them for the time past and would make use of them for the time to come While he was at Mets he received some Letters the Prince Palatine had written in favour of the Duke of Bouillon his Brother in Law In the same place some German Princes came to Compliment him particularly Maurice Landgrave of Hesse N. de Bavaria Duke of Newburg the Duke of Deux-Ponts of the same House and John George of Brandenburg who disputed the Bishoprick of Strasburg with Charles Cardinal of Lorrain ever since the year 1592. the first having been Elected by the Protestants at Strasburgh and the second by the Catholicks at Saverne The Emperor had often endeavour'd to bring them to an agreement but could never effect it The King rather suspended then decided the controversy by sharing the Revenue between the two Contenders but the following year it was absolutely and finally determined by the mediation of Frederick Duke of Wirtemberg upon these conditions amongst many others That John George of Brandenburg should entirely yield up the Bishoprick to the Cardinal de Lorrain for an hundred and thirty thousand Crowns of Gold ready Money and that the City and Baillywike of Oberâ—agh should remain in the hands of Frederic redeemable at the end of thirty years by the Cardinal or his Successors for the sum of four hundred thousand Crowns From Mets the King went to Nancy to visit the Dutchess of Bar his Sister and to give her the satisfaction of seeing a Balet danced which was of her own invention for such things are not to be counted the least important Affairs of the Court It was likewise as some would have it further to convince the Duke of Bar of his scruples concerning that Marriage and to let him know that the devoir of Man towards his Wife being founded both on a natural and a divine right ought to be more regarded then humane prohibitions However it was within some few Months after the Dutchess believed she was with Child The King had designed a longer stay upon those Frontiers that he might draw the German Princes to him by making himself a friendly Mediator of their differences reconciling as much as possible the Protestants with the Catholicks re-uniting in one common League those that apprehended they might be oppressed month April by the grandeur of the House of Austria and scattering Money amongst the Captains and Officers But the News he received that Elizabeth Queen of England was at the Agony made him suddenly leave that place to return to Paris This Princess so much exalted by the Protestants and made so black by the zealous Catholicks was in truth worthy of immortal praise for the grandeur of her courage her marvellous prudence the rare qualities of her mind and above all that tender love ☞ wherewith she cherished her people a vertue which may well cover all the other Vices in a Soveraign but her reputation will be for ever stained with the Blood of a Queen her Cousin which she spilt upon a Scaffold and with that of a great number of Catholicks her Subjects whom she exposed to cruel deaths This severity notwithstanding proceeded Year of our Lord 1603 not so much from her own temper as the Instances of her Counsellors Who by reason of the frequent Conspiracies hatched by an indiscreet and unwarrantable zeal month April against her person had specious opportunities to involve the innocent with the guilty and to encrease her hatred to that Religion by the hainousness of those attempts She died the fourth of April about four in the morning Aged sixty nine years and six months of which She had Reigned forty five and more On her Death-Bed she gave Letters written with her own hands and sealed with her own Seal to Robert Cecil High Treasurer and Secretary with Command he should open them so soon as she expir'd Now whether by these writings she had declared James Steward King of Scotland her Successor or had left the liberty of Election to her Subjects as the last mark of her affection the Lords the Bishops those of the Privy-Council to the late Queen with a great number of the Nobility and the Major and Sheriffs of London being on the same day assembled early in the Morning at the Guild-Hall Elected that Prince for their King and so speedily that they Proclaimed him by eight of the Clock whereof sending him notice to Edinburg he came to London the seventeenth day of May. It concerned France to take care in time to secure the Alliance with this new King for that hitherto
Protestants and did not fully satisfie the Catholicks The Nuncio who knew not the intentions of his Master could not keep silence those that were yet tainted with the Leaven of the old League endeavour'd to patch up a new one And it was said the foundations of it were laid at la Flesche For a Woman affirmed she had seen in a house where they kept many Scholars certain Registers in which many had subscribed with Signatures of Blood It is certain that this year there were great numbers of persons imprisoned at Paris and elsewhere for some kind of Conspiracies and that they were released immediately after the death of the Year of our Lord 1610 King none daring or perhaps none desiring to search deeper into so dangerous a Secret It could not but notoriously be known by this time that the King had in hand month April and May. greater Designs than these only concerning the Affairs of Cleves and Juliers for he had above Thirty thousand Foot and Six thousand Horse all select Men marching towards Champagne Lesdiguieres whom he had made Mareschal of France after the Death of d'Ornane had Twelve thousand Foot and Two thousand Horse the Duke of Savoy and the Venetians were to joyn him with Thirty thousand more the Princes of Germany had but few less and the Vnited Provinces upward of Sixteen thousand I do not mention the Sea-forces which with those of Denmark and Sweden would have made up a Fleet of near Six-score Sail all great Ships and well mann'd and provided It was reck'ned this War not including the advance Money and Charges for raising of Men besides the Ammunitions and Artillery would cost the King Twelve hundred and Fifty thousand Crowns per mensem and as much for Payment of the Armies of his Allies viz. The Duke of Savoys the Venetians the Popes the German Princes the Danes the Swedes and the Vnited Provinces and he had wherewithal to maintain these Expences five years together without grinding his People by new Taxes for he had above Forty one Millions of ready Money whereof Two and twenty lay in the Bastille besides his certain Revenue of which there came effectually into his Coffers all Charges defray'd Six Millions yearly Moreover his Super-Intendant in case of necessity promised an Hundred seventy and five more upon Parties extraordinary but which we may well doubt they could never have gotten in without greatly grieving and burthening the Kingdom The House of Austria took no great care to provide themselves against so rude a Shoe which made it be believed they relied upon some strange accident concealed from their Enemies but whereof they held the Instruments and secret Engines in their own disposal which they could let loose to do the certain execution in any case of extremity Many fancied they were in the bosom of France and even hid in the Royal Family A certain Damoiselle named Anne de Comans gave Information of a horrible Conspiracy against the Person of the King After he was dead she persisted in the same discovery and gave her Narrative in Writing but they pretended she was mad and shut her up Whether she were so or not such as did hear and had examin'd her might have left us their opinions but the Juncture of those times and the too great importance of the subject have wholly suppressed many strange things It is most certain that there were more than one single Conspiracy against this good King his Enemies had forged of so many sorts and on so many sides that it was very improbable if not impossible he should escape They looked upon his Death as so certain a thing in Foreign Countries that there came News of it from Spain to France that they Published it in Milan almost a Month before that several Merchants of the Low-Countries writing to their Correspondents in Paris desired to be informed whether the report was true and that on the Eight of the Month May whereas he was killed the Fourteenth a Courrier passed thorow Liege and bawled aloud that he was going to carry the News to the Princes of Germany Was it that they thought to intimidate him therewith and would emply their menaces before they would proceed to the execution Conchine in the mean time and those of his Cabal did incessantly encrease the Queens jealousies and maliciously made her believe that the infinite Love the King had for the Princess might transport him to dangerous Extremities Assuredly a Prince so good and so just could not be capable of it neither did he omit any devoir or tenderness of a Husband to take away all such-like Suspitions He month April and May. left the Regency of the Kingdom to her but because he did but moderate or qualifie it by a Council and such Orders as were necessary the precaution did much displease Conchine who to extend his Authority by enlarging the Queens Power inspired her that it was necessary she should be crowned before the King's departure Already the Forces were marching towards the Frontiers of Champagne the Train of Artillery was gone and they had sent to demand passage of the Arch-Duke thorow his Territories this demand was to be followed close the least demurr would have been prejudicial and besides that Ceremony of a Coronation did not agree well with the great Embarass of present Affairs no more than the Expence which she required could be compatible with the vast Charges necessary Year of our Lord 1610 for so great a War Moreover could the thing in its own Nature have been agreeable to him the obstinate eagerness she pressed him withal must have given him some aversion Nevertheless as he could refuse nothing to importunities when they were very earnest he suffer'd himself to be persuaded to give her this Satisfaction month May. She received it in the Church of Sainct Denis the 12th day of May with the accustomed Ceremonies and a Pomp extraordinary Magnificent himself taking the care to do the Honours and to give the Orders There was some contest between the Ambassadors of Spain and those of Venice who proceeding to blows rather augmented the pleasure of the day than any way less'ned or discomposed it The Count de Soissons being picqu'd upon I know not what Punctilio of Honour touching the Ornaments of his Wives Robes and the Habits of the King 's Natural Children did not appear at this Festival but retired to his house of Blandy an Absence which in few days proved very prejudicial to his Affairs After the Coronation of the Queen her entrance into Paris was appointed for the fifteenth of the Month they caused Portico's to be Erected Triumphant Arches Inscriptions Statues and Scaffolds in those Streets she was to pass thorow and were preparing a stately Treat in the Palais for which reason the Parliament to leave the place at full liberty held their Session in the Augustins The King in the interim overwhelmed with cruel anxiety and a melancholly of which he could not possibly divine