of Prague That it was his intent to come and punish John Frederick according to his Deserts and that therefore they should take care to send Provisions into his Camp. March the four and twentieth those Nobles and Cities of Bohemia who had lately entred into a League and Confederation as has been said met at Prague and there setled a Military Discipline and such Laws as might be necessary for carrying on a War if occasion required and committed the Chief Government to Caspar Pflug About that time King Ferdinand Duke Maurice and his Brother Augustus came with their Forces to Brux The Bohemians took it very ill that they had already entred their Country wherefore they write to King Ferdinand praying him not to suffer Forreigners to be brought in amongst them for that it was a new thing and of dangerous consequence But to Duke Maurice and his Brother Augustus they write That they should with all speed march out of their Country as Friends for that otherwise they would consider on 't and take the best course they could King Ferdinand writes back to them March the twenty sixth That they needed not be afraid since he was only come to those places that he might be ready to joyn the Emperour who now drew nigh And then writes to the Citizens of Prague That they should not put themselves to any unnecessary Charge for that the Duke of Saxony was retreated This Duke had sent Nicholas Minquitz Embassador to Bohemia to renew the ancient League but he falling sick by the way and not being able to reach Prague wrote to the Bohemians earnestly desiring that they would commissionate some trusty Persons with whom he might negotiate the Affair The Bohemian Nobles having received these Letters on the twenty eighth day of March write to the Duke of Saxony from Prague and acquaint him with what Minquitz had desired of them That moreover they earnestly desired they could gratifie him as they did acknowledge it was but just it should be so but that they were hindred by dangerous Times and present Troubles for that Duke Maurice and his Brother were at the instigation of King Ferdinand ready with an Army to fall upon them That however they desired he would not so understand them as if they were unwilling to renew the League for that they were resolved indeed to keep it and to persist in their ancient Friendship no less than if it were no renewed That they would also endeavour to confirm it with the first opportunity for that Forces were levied therefore and Hostilities intended against them because they stuck to their League and refused to serve in the Wars That therefore it was their Request to him That if Duke Maurice should proceed he would assist them which if he did there was no kind of danger but they would undergo to serve him That King Ferdinand was now at Brux and would from thence march with his Forces into Joachimschall as it was reported by some That if it proved so they were resolved within a few days after to march with their whole Army whither it should seem necessary and expedient March the thirtieth they write to the Nobility of Moravia entreating them That according to their mutual League they would arm and joyn them with all expedition that their common Country might be defended from that Sodomitical kind of Men the Spaniards and Hussars whom the Emperour and King Ferdinand were bringing against them Francis King of France died the last of March in the two and thirtieth year of his Reign at Rambolet a days Journey from Paris His Successor was Henry his Son a young man of about twenty eight years of age He presently recalled the Constable Anne of Momorencie who had now lived privately for almost six years as has been said before restored him to his former Charge and had him in great esteem They who had been chief Courtiers before fall partly into disgrace and are partly removed and cast into Prison These were the Cardinal of Tournon Anebaud the Admiral Grinian Governour of Provence the Duke of Longueville Bayardus Poulin and especially Madam d'Estampes who had been the King's Darling The Death of King Francis was fatal to learned and studious men for no man was a greater Lover nor more bountiful Promoter of Liberal Arts and Sciences He had by long Conversation acquired a great deal of Knowledge For at Dinner and Supper his chief delight was to talk of Learning entertaining for that end one James Gollin a knowing man and veay eloquent in his Mother tongue and next to him Peter de Castellane From them he had all the Learning of the Poets Historians and Cosmographers What Aristotle Theophrastus Pliny and others had written of Plants Herbs Animals Metals Precious Stones c. he had as has been said by frequent and daily Converse and Repetition rendred familiar to him He discoursed often also of Mathematicks and Divinity His Table was always surrounded by great men of all Professions and as it was usual to discourse there of various Subjects it was odds but that one or other would start some curious matter and that every one might do provided they were any way known The King's Example and Inclination incited many to diligence and pains that with greater applause they might reason and discourse before him In his own Language he was always reckoned very eloquent and grave He entertained men in Italy and Greece to find out and transcribe for him the Writings of old Authors and he erected a most copious Library of which de Castellane was the Keeper that furnished the publick afterward with some famous pieces A little before he departed this life he sent to the Duke of Saxony and Landgrave to each an hundred thousand Crowns for carrying on the War and that Money was scarcely delivered when he died About the same time the Embassadours of the Protestants returned from England into France that they might dispatch the rest of their business and as after they went thither they found King Henry so when they returned from thence they also found King Francis at the point of death So that this also was a great accession to the Emperours fortune that two most powerful Kings who neither wanted opportunity nor as most men thought inclination to hinder and retard his designs died much about the same time Those Imperial Forces which having reduced some great men and taken Minden marched to Bremen as we said about the end of this month met with a check having lost their General Grunning Governour of Zelandt And seeing the Forces of Bremen were increased by the conjunction of the Hamburghers Urisberger who by his death fell to be Commander in chief removed his Camp and fetching a long compass about because of Marishes that interposed began to besiege the Town at another place Not long after Duke Erick of Brunswick whom on the
the Life of the Learned John Sleidan and of the Reception of his History JOhn Sleidan the Author of this History was born in the Year 1506. at Sleidan or Sleiden a small Town in the Dukedom of Juliers seated upon the River Roer which passing by Duren and Gulick at Roâ—â—mont falls into the Maes I have not been able to find of what quality and condition his Parents were but it is certain he was sent to Study in the University of Paris when he was Twenty years of Age and that he was taken into the Service of John â—ardinal Dâ— Bâ—llâ—y a Great Learned and Wise Prelate of the French Church and one that very earnestly desired a Reformation as the Great Thuanus tells us By him he was imployed in affairs of great consequence and he having by his fidelity industry and prudence gain'd a great share in the Cardinals affection he was Recommended to Francis I. King of France who imployed him as his Interpreter for the German Tongue as Bodinus saith He himself tells us he continued nine years in France But in November 1534. a sharp Persecution arising in that Kingdom against the Lutherans which he saith he saw with his own Eyes he became so far disgusted or affrighted at it that he left France and retired to Strasburg which was probably in the Year 1â—35 our Author being then about Thirty years of Age so that by that computation he was about Twenty years of Age when he travailed into France The Reputation he had acquired in France prepared the way to a good reception in that Free City and he was entertain'd by James Sturmius who was their principal Minister or Stateholder with great kindness About the Year 1540. he first took up the design of Writing the History of the Reformation at the request of this great States-man and many others but very unwillingly In the Year 1543. he sent the first Book to the Diet at Worms where it was read and so well approved that he was sent as one of the Ambassadors to Henry VIII into England by the whole Body of the Protestants which Embassie is mentioned by him in his Sixteenth Book In the Year 1551. he was again sent Ambassador for the City of Strasburg to the Council of Trent where he arrived the 21 of November as he informs us in his Twenty third Book He continued at Trent till the 27th of March 1552. and then desired leave to return which at first was granted but then the next day they recall'd this permission and forced him to stay till the 6th of April when the News coming to Trent that the Elector of Saxony had taken Ausburg three days before the Fathers fell into such a Consternation that the Council broke up in an hurry and soon after the Emperor himself was forced to pass the Alpes from Inspruck where he then was by Torch-light in the Night which gave our Author the opportunity to return to Strasburg at his own leisure well satisfied that he was escaped out of that Den of wild Beasts The third of May of the same year he was sent by the City of Strasburg to Sarbruk a Town about seven miles from that City to the West to the French King who being then entred into a War against the Emperor was come thither in person with an Army he having thereupon demanded Supplies of the City of Strasburg our Author with two others was sent as a Deputy to that Prince as he sets forth in the Twenty fourth Book After this I do not find he was any more imployed abroad but fell seriously to the composing of his History in which Work he saith he intirely imployed the three following years and the 23 of April 1555. he dedicated the first Twenty five Books to the Elector of Saxony The Twenty sixth Book was Published after his Death being found amongst his Papers This Work was no sooner sent into the World than our Author found cause to complain for whereas he had imployed one Rihely a Printer of Strasburg to Publish it there was presently Published without the Authors knowledge or consent a German Version very ill done and soon after that the same person presumed to Print it in Latin too to the great damage of Rihely which Sleidan took very ill and in the next Edition complained of it to the World. The Roman Catholicks on the contrary presently set up a cry against this History and imploy'd all the interest they had in the World to run down the Credit of the Author not by making any Objection against any parts of it but by general Slanders and misrepresentations of the whole Work in a lump to which kind of Defamations they knew it was very hard to make any Answer but however our Author put out an Apology in his own Vindication The last part of our Authors Life was imployed in Writing his Twenty sixth Book which I believe was never finished by him that which we now have being only his first Rough Draught unpolished and uncorrected Death suddenly surprizing him the last day of October in the Year 1556. He died of a Plague or Epidemick acute Disease in the Fifty first year of his Age begun to the great Regret of all Learned and Pious Men who might justly have expected great things from so Learned so Modest so Honest and Candid a Pen. The Roman Catholicks could not bury their Resentments against this noble History in the Grave of its Author but fell to invent and spread abroad several made Stories to defame him amongst which none is more frequently insisted on than that Charles the V. should always call this Book his Lyar and never ask for it by any other Name for which we have the Faith of Suriâ—â— and some other of that stamp but none is so outragious against him as Florimond de Remond who tells us that there was found in this Book Eleven thousand Lyes and Falsities Not that they were so exact as to tell the mistakes but this was a good 〈…〉 and if the Reader would but believe there was half the number it was all he desired but then he has quite spoil'd his own design by telling his Reader that the variety of the Subjects he treats of which are imbellished with great Art and the great quantity of Memorials which the Lutherans put into his hands when he was set to compose 〈◊〉 give so great an entertainment to the Reader that it is not possible he should ever be weary of it but will ever end with a good gust and a great desire to pursue the thread of this History and see the end of it Now this is plainly to give himself the Lye for that great quantity of Memorials which were put into his hands the greatest part of which were from time to time Published in Print as he tells us in his Preface and which our Author only Transcribes or at most Translates or Abridgeth will not leave Room for 11000 Lyes especially when
Fire and reclaim Luther by moderate and fair ways Or if that could not be done that then they would punish him according to the Laws and the late Decree of the Emperour and Empire That by so doing they would not only wash away that Stain which now stuck to Germany but also contribute to the Salvation of many who were much damnified by his Contagion That for his own part his Natural Disposition and Profession inclined him to Mercy rather than any kind of Severity But because this was a Distemper not to be cured by gentle Medicines there was a Necessity of applying more Violent Remedies That Testimonies and Instances of this more than one might be had in Holy Scripture and that their own Predecessors in the Council of Constance after this manner punished John Huss and Jerome of Prague according to their Deserts That if they would imitate them in this Virtuous Course God would not be wanting and that then there might be greater Hopes that the Cruelty of the Turk would be restrained And that in fine he was ready to bestow all he had nay and to lay down his Life for the Welfare of the Flock committed to his Charge referring what else he had to say concerning Luther to his Legate Francis Cheregate Bishop of Teramo to whom he prayed them to give Credit What he said of a Civil War raised among some related to Richard Archbishop of Treves who was then in a War with Francis Sicking a Valiant Man and great favourer of Luther However Religion was not the Cause of that War but it was because the Bishop would not suffer two Men within his Jurisdiction for whom he had been Bail to answer the Law for so it is specified in the Letter of Defiance which Sicking sent him towards the latter end of August Pope Adrian at that time wrote Private Letters to some others to the same effect and having much inveighed against the Doctrin of Luther he required the Senate of Strasburg Not to suffer any of his or his Adherent's Books to be printed and not only to Suppress but also to burn those which were already published for that he heard That such kind of Books were printed by their Printers who refused to meddle with any thing written against them threatning the Senate with the Wrath and Vengeance of God if they did not obey him for that although they persevered in the Ancient Established Religion yet unless they took from others the Liberty of Offending and Occasion of Errour they were not to promise to themselves impunity Now for the better understanding of what he said that he had heard of Luther when he was in Spain we are to look back a little into the History of his Life Adrian was a Poor Man's Son of Vtricht a Town upon the Borders of Holland he followed his Studies in the University of Louvain and for his Learning and Probitie was recommended to Maximilian the Emperour to be Tutor to his Grand-Son Charles with him he continued till he was grown up and became fit to learn more Manly Exercises and then was sent Ambassadour into Spain to King Ferdinand who made him Bishop of Tortosa but after the Death of the King when the Government fell to his Grand-Son Charles of Ambassadour that he was before he was made Privy Counsellor There was a Difference at that time betwixt Pope Leo and the Cardinals who had conspired his Death so that having dispatched a great many of them some by Exile and some by loathsome Imprisonment he created one and thirty new Cardinals at the same time partly for his own Defence and partly to raise Money among whom also was Adrian and this was in the Year 1517. Charles came afterwards into Spain upon the Death of his Grand-Father Ferdinand whose Heir and Successor he was In the mean time Maximilian the Emperour dying Charles was chosen Emperour and upon that account being obliged to go to Germany he left the chief Care of the Government of Spain to Adrian during his Absence and not long after there happened a great Insurrection in that Kingdom Now upon the Death of Pope Leo when Julius of Medices and Alexander Fernese canvassed for the Papacy and were making all the several Interests they could to be chosen Pope Adrian who was both absent and unknown was elected January 9 this Year to the great Displeasure of the Romans who took it extreamly ill That so high an Office should be conferred upon a Stranger whom they had never seen He having received the News of his Promotion and being therewith acquainted that three Cardinals were designed to come as Ambassadours to him into Spain who nevertheless were not as yet come he thought fit March 8 to write to the Colledge of Cardinals from the Town Victoria and gave them his hearty Thanks that they had conceived such an Opinion of him telling them That though at first he had been terrified at the greatness of the Charge imposed upon him yet that looking upon it as a Call to him from Heaven in those Distracted and Divided Times he had taken Heart and hoped the best That moreover since he heard that the Cardinals who were to come to him had not as yet parted from Rome and could not so soon perform the Journey and that in the mean time unless he himself approved the Election he could not be invested with Authority for Governing the Church Besides it being a Long and Dangerous Journey for the Ambassadours to undertake therefore to ease them of that Trouble and at the same time to declare his Mind he had before some honest and proper Persons whom he had called together for that purpose signified his Resolution and approved the Election Wherefore he required them to make the same known to all Men especially in Italy and in the mean time to take care that Justice should be administred he being now wholly taken up in preparing a Fleet and other things necessary for his Passage to Rome with the first Opportunity He wrote also to the Senate and People of Rome bidding them to expect all Good Will and Favour at his Hands And so some Months after the Season offering fair he put out to Sea on his Voyage And though the Emperour at the same time was returning to Spain from the Netherlands to appease an Insurrection that had happened in his Absence yet he departed without saluting him but wrote to him a most kind Letter wherein he gave him the Reasons why he made so much hast Thus about the latter end of August he arrived at Rome it being then the third Month that Solyman Emperour of the Turks had besieged Rhodes which at length after a seven Month's Siege wherein the Knights had most valiently defended themselves though destitute of all Succours he took by Composition December 25 not only to the great Prejudice but Disgrace also of Christendom Much about the same time Cheregate the Pope's Legate
to such a height That the most Holy Host that Unleavened Bread which represents the Body of Christ was scarcely safe in the Priest's Hands That these were matters of such moment as justly deserved to be bewailed That for their parts they could no longer endure them especially seeing lately in their last Convention some of the Clergy their Confederates had by a common and publick Deputation implored their Aid That these things being so they prayed them To leave their new Doctrine and continue in the ancient Religion of their Fore-fathers But that if they thought themselves in any thing agrieved and oppressed by the Pope and those that depended on him as Cardinals Bishops Prelates and the like for that they invaded sold or exchanged Church-Livings or that they usurped to themselves too great a Jurisdiction and applyed that Power which ought only to be exercised in Spiritual to Civil and Temporal Affairs That if these and many other things of that kind were burthen some and uneasie unto them they were not against the having of them reformed for that they themselves were extreamly displeased thereat and would willingly consult with them how they might cast off that Burthen On the one and twentieth day of March the Senat of Zurich gave their Answer That for these five Years now past their Ministers had preached the Gospel among them which in the beginning seemed to them to be a new kind of Doctrin indeed because they had not heard the like before but that when they came to understand that the scope and end of it was only to shew That the only Author and Finisher of Man's Salvation was Jesus Christ who shed his precious Blood and laid down his Life for the Sins of the World and alone delivered wretched Men from Eternal Death being the only Mediator betwixt God and Man they could not but with servent Desires imbrace such glad Tydings That great had been the Harmony and Consent which was in ancient Times among the Apostles and those who in the Ages after them embraced the Doctrine of Christ which they hoped would be new also among all who applyed their Minds to it rejecting Human Traditions that had no Ground in the Word of God That if Luther or any Man else taught so it was well done and yet his Name ought not to be objected to any as if they believed the Doctrine only because he taught it for that that was a malicious Aspersion and reproachful to the Word of God That moreover though they adored Christ alone and had their recourse to him yet did they not therefore offer any Injury either to the Virgin Mary or the other Saints for that all these when they were upon Earth expected Salvation only through the Name of Christ That there was now such a Light revealed that most People within their City diligently searched and read the Scriptures nor could the Ministers of the Church wrest the Scripture which all Men had in their Hands so that Schism and Heresie ought not to be objected to them but might be justly imputed to those who for worldly Gain Pomp and Honour turned the Word of God to what Sense they pleased That they were charged with Errour indeed but that it could not be made out that the Bishops of Constance Basil and Coyre and some Universities also had been several times desired to do it but nothing of that kind had been hitherto performed That besides to their last Assembly none came from the Bishops nor from them neither except some from Schafheusen and San Gall that they who were then present having diligently considered the matter agreed in Opinion with them That as to what the Bishops said That it was not lawful for them to make the Scriptures so common it was unreasonable for it being their Duty to take heed that the Sheep should not go astray it was but just that they should bring into the Way such as were out of it but that seeing they did not do it and referred all things to the Fathers and Councils they were resolved to hearken not to what Men decreed but to what Christ commanded That their Teachers and Ministers gave no Cause to Divisions in the State but that that Fault lay at their Doors who for their own Profit and Advantage taught Doctrins contrary to the Word of God for that they were those who led Men into Errour and grievously offended God who was therefore provoked to punish that Boldness with various Calamities That all that Difference and Dissension proceeded from their Covetousness who were afraid to lose any of their Profits But that if these Men followed the true Doctrin and made it their Task to enquire what God's Will was and not what Men willed there was no doubt but that they would cast off all Lust Pride and Avarice and apply themselves to the Study of Peace and Concord That many Vices unknown in former Ages had now overspread the World which the Ministers of their City freely reproved exhorting Men to the Fear of God but that if most People were not reformed by their Sermons and did not bring forth Fruit worthy of that Doctrin it was not the Fault of the Seed sown but of the Ground that received it That it was plainly to be seen That the People within their Territories did not live in that Rioting and Intemperance which reigned every where else and that particularly the Men of their Country followed not as heretofore Foreign and Mercenary Wars which doubtless cherished and fomented many Vices That as to the eating of Flesh and Egs though it might be lawfully done and was not prohibited by Christ yet they had made a Law to restrain the rashness of the People who might thereby give Offence That God was the Author of Marriage who allowed it to all That S. Paul also enjoyned That a Minister of the Church should be the Husband of one Wife and that seeng Bishops for a little Money gave Priests leave to keep Concubines a thing of foul Example and that they neither could nor would be without Women they thought it not good to resist God who instituted Matrimony That the Case was the same with the Women who are said to have vowed Chastity for they lookt upon that kind of Obligation and Vow not to be pleasing to God and that since all People had not the Gift of Continence it was in their Judgment far better for them to marry than to live in impure Celibacy That Convents and Colledges of Regulars were heretofore instituted for the Poor and Needy but that now these Revenues were for the most part enjoyed by those who had enough of their own besides to live on Nor was it reasonable that one Man should possess alone what was sufficient for the Subsistence of many That therefore it seemed just to them that these Goods should be again converted to the use of the Poor wherein nevertheless they used that Moderation that the present Possessors should enjoy
because the Confederates alledged That the Boors breaking the Cessation had given cause to the War Nevertheless at the interposition of some of the Cities of Schwabia of which number were Constance Memminghen Kempen and Bibrach the chief Commanders of the Boors came again to Vlm on the second of April to them the Deputies of the Empire shewed their Commission and told them That they were come to treat of a Peace but they alledging That no Treaty of Peace could be set on Foot unless a Truce were first agreed upon said that they were therefore come that they might know what their Enemy's Intentions were as to that but when a Truce could not be obtained and all things tending to Action next Day they returned to the Camp And the same Day some Troops of Horse and Foot marching from Vlm to Elching a Town upon the Danube below Vlm killed a great many of the Boors and brought several Prisoners also to the Town Afterwards George Truchses of Walpurg General of the Schwabian League marching with his Forces to Lippen a small Town near the Danube two Miles below Vlm where a great number of the Boors lay without staying for the Foot or great Guns charged them with a Brigade of Horse and cut off a great part of them the rest threw themselves into the River and there were drowned the Town was surrendred and plundered and many of the Enemy beheaded After that Victory when Truchses would have marched against the rest the Foot who were commanded by William of Fustemberg refused to march and as if they had fought a Battle demanded their pay This Matter having been debated for some Days and it being alledged That it was no Battle and that the Enemy was fled before they came was at length taken up The Mediators of the Cites of Schwabia which we named before again moved for a Truce but the Confederates would not hear of any new Agreement with them who had lately broken it though they did not refuse a Truce with those who were in Algow and the neighbouring Places and were Levellers all Proposals of a Truce being then laid aside the Confederates told the Mediators and Deputies of the Council of the Empire and of the Cities That if they had any thing to offer concerning a Peace they should propose it The matter being long and much debated when the Confederates persisted in their Resolution and advanced with their Army in order to an Ingagement the Boors in Algow dispersed themselves some flying for it and others yielding upon Discretion and delivering up their Colours which happened April 13. In the mean time in another part of Schwabia about Hall and in Franconia the Boors were got together again in vast Numbers and on the sixteenth Day of April which then was Easter-day they surprized Winsperg where they took some and killed other Gentlemen who were in Garrison in it of the Prisoners they put William Count Helfenstein and others to Death in a Military but most cruel manner running them through on all Hands with their Spears and this they did with the greater Cruelty and Inhumanity in that they would not be moved to Pity by his Lady the Natural Daughter of the Emperour Maximilian who carrying a young Infant a Son of his in her Arms fell at their Feet in a most forlorn Dress and with Floods of Tears begged them to save the Life of her Husband and of the Father of the poor Babe Afterwards they divided their Forces whereof one Body marched into the Country of Wirtemberg and having possessed themselves of many Places there advanced streight to Esling where the Deputies of the Council of the Empire James Sturne and Mangolt a Lawyer in vain treated with them about a Peace and from thence they removed to Vlm but Truchses the General of the Schwabian League whom I mentioned before having forced those that were in the Territory of Vlm Algow and at the Lake of Constance to yield themselves as we said before marched streight against these and put them to flight also having slain some thousands of them He severely punished the Prisoners especially those who murdered Count Helfenstein and one of them he fastened to a Stake by a Chain that was long enough to let him run about and he himself with some other Persons of Quality fetching Wood made a Fire about him and burnt him Afterwards he burnt the Town of Winsperg to the Ground commanding that it should never be built again The other Body marched into Franconia and having there burnt above two hundred Castles besides Noblemen's Houses and Monasteries they took the Town of Wirtzburg and besieged the Castle But Truchses coming upon them out of the Country of Wirtemberg at the Village of Englestadt charged discomfited and put them to flight Afterwards he retook Wirtzburg raised the Siege of the Castle and put a great many to Death being assisted by Ludovick Prince Palatine who was there in Person This Combustion spread it self as far as Lorrain also so that Anthony the Duke thereof attended amongst others by his Brother Claude Duke of Guise who had gathered together the remains of the French Army after the Battle of Pavia advanced as far as Saverne at which Place the Lorrainers as well as Alsatians were in great numbers assembled and some thousands of Boors coming in to their Assistance he detached some Troops of Horse and Foot which near the Village Lupfstein killed fifteen hundred of them putting the rest to flight Next Day he made a great Slaughter of those who were gathered together about Saverne wherein nevertheless he kept not his Word for having promised them Pardon if they would lay down their Arms whilst they were marching homewards unarmed and passed through the Lines of the Horse and Foot upon some slight Occasion of a Quarrel most part of them were killed Afterwards the furious Soldiers plundered the Town and the Bishop's Palace killing Citizens and all pell-mell without any distinction When the Duke was returning home after this Slaughter another Army of Boors had posted themselves in the Streights of the Valley of Wilet with design to intercept his Passage but having joyned Battle above four thousand of them were killed In that Fight he lost the Count Isenburg but returned home with much Spoil and many Prisoners In those three Places we named eighteen thousand were reckoned to have been slain and this was in the Month of May. The like Success they met with every where else and at Petersheim a Town of the Territory of Wormes a great number of them were killed by the Soldiers after they had yielded and thrown down their Arms At this Slaughter the Prince Palatine and Richard Archbishop of Treves were present and the Prince did what he could to restrain the Rage of the Soldiers but the Archbishop is reported not only to have approved what they did but also to have killed many with his own Hands However in some Places
created two great Lights the one to rule by Day and the other by night which he applyed to the Papal and Royal Dignities But that that Power which ruled in Divine and Spiritual Matters far excelled the other which medled only in Civil and Temporal Affairs And that there was as great a difference betwixt the Offices of a Pope and a King as betwixt the Sun and Moon This Decree is extant under the Title de Majoritate Obedientia When the Emperour had thus answered the Pope he wrote also to the Colledge of Cardinals October 6 That he had conceived great Grief of Mind to hear that Pope Clement was confederated with the French King who was making War against him a fresh That he had written very Hostile Letters unto him which he supposed was done by their unanimous Advice and Consent and that he was very far from expecting any such thing since there was no King to be found more zealous for the Interest of the Church of Rome than he was that Parma and Piacenza were instances of that which being Imperial Cities and lately dismembred from the Empire he had restored them to the Church though in Law he was not obliged to do so That all the Princes and States of Germany had at Wormes made heavy Complaints to him of many Injuries of the Court of Rome and then desired that they might be redressed but because he had been born and bred with a singular love to the Church of Rome he had not given car to their Demands And when greater Troubles arising thereupon afterwards and many Tumults and Riots happening through Germany the Princes had for that Reason appointed another Dyet he had under severe Penalties prohibited them to assemble because their Deliberations would have been prejudicial to the Pope and Church of Rome And that to sweeten and appease them at that time he had given them Hopes of a future General Council That the Pope therefore did him great Injury who had done so much for his Holiness as that thereby he had much alienated from himself the Hearts of the Nobility of Germany That he had written seriously unto him about all these matters and advised him to call a General Council That therefore it was his desire to them That they would admonish him of his Duty and exhort him to Peace rather than War But that if he refused or delayed the calling of a Council longer than it was fit and reasonable that then they should forthwith call it For that if Christendom should sustain Prejudice either for want of a Council or for not having it called in due time it ought not to be laid to his charge We told you How it had been lately decreed at Spire That Ambassadours should be sent to the Emperour in Spain but the News of the Overthrwo in Hungary coming soon after the Princes thought themselves obliged to use Expedition and that they might have a nearer way to pass to the Emperour they desired of the French King That he would allow their Ambassadours a free Passage through his Kingdom He condescended prefixing a certain time for that as shall be said hereafter and withal took occasion to write unto them October 6 That he was extreamly troubled at the Turks late Invasion of Hungary the Fatal Death of King Lewis and the great Danger of Germany That he was no less sorry for the Civil War that had broke out to the Ruine of the Publick That it was not his Fault that Christendon was not at quiet but that the Emperour was to be blamed for it who rejected Honest and most equitable Conditions of Peace And that seeing he was not moved neither by the publick Calamities nor by the unfortunate Death of his own Brother-in-law King Lewis and the sad condition of his Widow-sister nor yet considered in how great Danger Austria was it would be their Duty and well done in them if they could incline and persuade him to Peace to live in Amity with neighbouring Kings and Princes and to set Bounds to his Ambition for that that would make more for his Glory than by overturning the States of others to aspire to an universal Monarchy That his Ancestors Kings of France had often maintained Wars against the Enemies of the Christian Religion and that if the Emperour pleased the same might now be done with united Strength That if they could prevail then and obtain that of him he would be ready to employ all his Force nay his own person also against the Turk But if not that he was not to be blamed if he endeavoured to recover by Arms what he could not do by fair means for that it was the Emperour's part rather to sue for Peace who lay much nearer the Danger of the Turks than he did When the Emperour came to know of this Letter he wrote to the Princes November 29 and in the first place acquaints them How kind and gracious he had been to the French King when he was his Prisoner how he had given him both his Liberty and in Marriage also his eldest Sister and second in degree of Succession to him But that when all things were quieted as he supposed and that he was preparing to go into Italy that he might bend all his Forces against the perpetual Enemy of Christendom the French King breaking his Faith and entring into a League with Pope Clement and some others who had already in their Hopes anticipated the Kingdom of Naples and divided it betwixt them had renewed a most formidable War And that therefore he could not protect Hungary against the Fury of the Turks as being necessitated to defend his own Borders That what the French King pretended of his Sorrow for the Death of King Lewis and the Calamity of Hungary was downright Hypocrisie and Dissimulation which he used to the intent he might stop the Mouths of those who constantly affirmed from intercepted Letters that at his Solicitation the Turk had undertaken this War That during his Captivity and afterwards when he was set at Liberty and returned home he had by Letters obliged himself to observe the Articles of the Treaty That he had promised to him the same by Word of Mouth when he departed out of Spain But that because he had a Kingdom lying in the Heart of Christendom he wantonly disturbed the Publick Peace and among his Triumphs reckoned the Turkish Victories in Hungary And that he alone was to be blamed That he did not in Person come into Germany that nevertheless he would endeavour that Aid should be sent against the Turk with all expedition That in the last place he made no doubt but that they were well enough acquainted with the Tricks of the French for that it was their common and usual way to sow the Seeds of Discord in all places and make their Profit of the Quarrels and Dissentions of others Besides the Letter before mentioned there was also published an Apology in defence of the
for in the first Year of the Reign of Henry VII of England which was in the Year of our Lord 1486 the same Plague infested that Country And because there was no Remedy known for such a new Distemper it swept away a vast number of People At this time also there was a great Scarcity of Corn and Wine so that all the Judgments wherewith God in his Anger uses to punish an unthankful people as the Sword Pestilence and Famine fell upon Germany at one and the same time At this time also were Prisoners at Cologne Peter Flisted and Adolph Clarebacke two learned Men because they differed in Judgment from the Papists concerning the Lord's Supper and other Points of Doctrin The Senate of that Town hath Right and Power to imprison Offenders but the Archbishop alone hath the Power of Life and Death and it may fall out that whom the Senate hath condemned to Death the Bishop's Judge may acquit Now these two having lain in Prison a Year and an half and more were at length condemned by both Judicatures and burnt to the great Grief and Commiseration of many Most People blamed the Preachers for that who cryed that the Wrath of God who afflicted us with a new kind of Disease was to be appeased by the Execution of the Wicked and Ungodly Adolph was a handsome Man Eloquent and Learned and when they were led to the place of Execution they made profession and gave the Reasons of their Belief confirming and encouraging one another with Texts of Scripture so that all People fixed their Eyes and Thoughts upon them We told you before of the Difference betwixt Luther and Zuinglius about the Lord's Supper when this had been tossed to and fro for above three Years with much Contention many who were troubled that this single Controversie should hinder an Uniformity in Doctrin earnestly wished that some Remedy might be thereunto applyed therefore the Landgrave having communicated the matter to his Associates and prevailed also with the Switzers appointed a Day when Learned Men of both Parties should meet at Marpurg and calmly discourse the Point From Saxony came Luther Melanchthon and Jonas from Switzerland Zuinglius and Oecolampadius from Strasburg Bucer and Hedio and from Norimberg Osiander many Grave and Learned Men were present besides though none but Luther and Zuinglius reasoned the Point But the Sweating Disease infecting that Town also the Conference was broken up by the Landgrave's order and this concluded upon That since they all agreed about the chief Points of Doctrin they should for the future refrain from all Contention and pray to God that he would also enlighten them in this Controversie and put them in the way of Concord And so they friendly parted in the beginning of October It hath been said already That at the Dyet of Spire which was held three Years before the Elector of Saxony and Landgrave made mention of entring into a League this matter was several times brought into deliberation afterwards and especially now that this Decree was made they began to think of it more seriously so that after the Dyet was over a certain Draught of it was made at Norimberg and afterwards more fully debated And when in the Month of October the Deputies of the Princes and States met at Swaback it was propounded in the Names of the Elector of Saxony and George Marquess of Brandenburg That seeing the Defence of the True Religion was the Ground and Cause of this League it behoved first that all should be unanimous in the same wherefore the summ of their Doctrin comprehended in some Chapters was read and approved by all only the Deputies of Strasburg and Vlm alledged That no mention had been made thereof in the former Assembly nor had they any Instructions concerning it They were not all of the same Opinion about the Point of the Lord's Supper as we told you before and this was the only Scruple Seeing therefore nothing could be concluded because of that another Meeting was appointed to be at Smalcalde the thirteenth of December When the Emperour was now come into Italy Erasmus of Roterdam who having left Basil because of the Change of Religion and to avoid Suspicion was come to Friburg a Town belonging to King Ferdinand in the Month of November published a little Book entituled Against some who falsly called themselves Gospel-Teachers but in reality he has a Touch at all the Reformed for among many other things he says he never knew any of them who appeared not to be a worse Man than he was before This Book was afterwards answered by the Divines of Strasburg because they and those of Basil were chiefly aimed at but above all others Bucer When the Emperour was coming to Bolonia Francis Sforza who had been before in League with the Pope and French King went to meet him and having pleaded his own Cause at the Intercession of Clement VII at length recovered the Dutchy of Milan from the Emperour but upon this among other Conditions That he should pay him nine hundred thousand Crowns one half the same Year and the rest within ten Years successively by equal Portions and as a Pledge the Emperour was to keep in his Hands Como and the Castle of Milan until the first Years Payment should be made THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK VII The CONTENTS The Protestant Ambassadors sent to the Emperor appeal from the Answer they received at Piacenza where they were stopt which the Protestants understanding appoint a meeting at Smalcalde The City of Strasburg makes a League with Three of the Switz Cantons The Emperor being Crowned by the Pope at Bolonia calls a Diet of the States of the Empire at Ausburg where the Protestants exhibit a Confession of their Faith which in a contrary writing is Answered and Confuted by their Adversaries Some are appointed to accommodate the matter amicably and to find out some means of Concord The Emperor sollicites the Protestants who notwithstanding all the Exhortations that were made unto them the Objections and Calumnies wherewith they were charged stedfastly persevered in their Confession and having given in their last Answer depart The Tyber overflows at Rome Eckius and Faber demand and obtain an honourable Reward for the Refutations they wrote against those of Strasburg and other Cities The Transaction of Prusia is rescinded The Decree of Ausburg is related Luther who was come nearer to Ausburg comforts Melanchthon then in Anxiety because of that Decree Bucer goes to him that he might reconcile him with Zuinglius The creation of Ferdinand King of the Romans comes into Agitation and is withstood by the Elector of Saxony and other Princes but nevertheless he is created King and installed in the Kingdom WE told you before that the Protestants resolved upon sending Ambassadors to the Emperour These were John Ekinger Alexius Fraventrute and Michael Caden of Norimberg who being advanced as far as
seems to him not only most equitable but also most safe for the Publick which must needs be brought into a most miserable condition should the matter come to be determin'd by Arms. What he speaks concerning the Affinity between Germany and France is thus made out The German Franks that were Borderers upon Schwaben having made an Irruption and over-run those of Triers Kesel Morini Hainault Amiens Beauvais and Soissons set down at length in that part of Gaul which from them was called France and retains it's name till this very time of which Province Paris is the Capital City And when many of their Kings had reigned there by Succession and enlarg'd their Borders the Government at length descended to King Pipin and his Son Charles who for the vastness of his Exploits was call'd The Great he when he was the fourth time at Rome was by the Pope and all the People saluted August Emperor and took Possession of Germany Italy and France his Son Lewis also and those that descended from him were Kings of France Hither it is therefore that King Francis traces his Original and derives his Pedigree from the Stock of the Franks The same Wheedle he some years since made use of when after the death of Maximilian he affected the Imperial Dignity For knowing that the ascent to this Honour was precluded to all Foreigners by an ancient Law he had a mind this way to demonstrate himself to be a German But the truth of it is the last King of France of the Male-Line of Charles the Great was Lewis the Fifth who died without Children in the year of our Lord 988 when the Possession of the Kingdom had been in that Family for the space of 238 years After his death the right of Succession devolv'd to Charles Duke of Lorain Uncle to Lewis by the Father's side but Hugh Capet said to be Earl of Paris whose Mother through a long Genealogy trac'd her Kindred up to Charles the Great having vanquish'd and taken the Duke of Lorain invaded the Kingdom and transmitted it to his Son Robert whose Male-Issue was continued down by Succession ev'n to this Francis. There are some who affirm that this Capet was of a very mean and obscure Parentage but most Historians deny that and ascribe unto him the same Original that I have done Henry the Eighth King of England return'd his Answer on the third of May That he was to his great Satisfaction inform'd by them that their great aim and design was to heal the Distempers of the Church and procure a Reformation of those things which either through the naughtiness or ignorance of men had been deprav'd and corrupted without doing any injury to Religion or disturbing the Publick Peace That he takes it very kindly that they had in their Letters giv'n him a Scheme of the whole Action for there had been a Report rais'd to their disadvantage as if they gave Protection to certain mad Men who endeavour'd to confound and level all things But that he had giv'n no Credit to these Reports as well because Christian Charity so requir'd as because he judg'd it impossible that such Crimes could stick to such illustrious wise and noble Persons And though he never would have believed any of those things which were thus reported of them without a certain demonstration yet he is very glad to see them take this method of clearing themselves because it confirms that judgment and opinion he always had of them As to their desire of rectifying Abuses in that they may expect both his and all good Men's concurrence with their Endeavours For such is the condition of Humane affairs that as in the body Natural so likewise in the Politick and in all publick Administrations there is almost a continual occasion for remedies Those Physicians therefore deserve the greatest Applause who so apply their Medicines as to heal the Wound or cure the Disease without exasperating the parts and he does not doubt but their Endeavours have such a tendencies as this However they ought diligently to beware of a sort of Men who aim at Innovations and Preach up Levelling Principles and endeavour to render Magistracy contemptible for that he lately met with some persons of this Leaven within his own Dominions who were come thither out of Germany And since they make mention in their Letters of the Reverence due to Magistrates he therefore gives them this short advice that they would not open a gap to any Licentiousness this way and if they use but a sufficient Caution in this Point their Endeavours after a Reformation will prove a kindness of the highest Import to the Publick As for a publick Council there is nothing which he more desires and his Prayers to God are that he would inspire the hearts of the Princes with care and diligence in that Affair That he hopes all things well of them and there is nothing which he would refuse for their sake he will likewise earnestly intercede with the Emperor that some terms of Accommodation may be found out and in this business he will so behave himself as they at their several opportunities shall judge most convenient When at the day appointed they were assembled at Frankfort the Embassadors of the Cities according to appointment declare their Sentiments concerning the Creation of a King of the Romans That after mature deliberation they conclude it not at all advisable to raise an unnecessary Squabble or create to themselves danger about giving the Title to King Ferdinand For as long as the Emperor is alive and within the Bounds of his Empire the whole Sovereign Power is in his Hands but in his absence the chief Administration indeed falls upon Ferdinand but still he must execute in the Emperor's Name and as his Substitute That they had several times offer'd as much as lay in their Power a resignation of all their Affairs to the Emperor and should they now oppose the creation of a King they must expect that most Men would upbraid them with the falseness and vanity of their promise and so upon that account become their enemies and thus they should draw upon them the enmity of many who otherwise upon the score of their Religion would never have acted against them There is likewise great danger lest others should by these Measures be deterr'd from entring into the League who might otherwise have comply'd For these Reasons they think it is not safe for them to oppose Ferdinand in this business They will therefore carry themselves indifferent as to the matter of the Election which way soever it goes But should Ferdinand Command any thing contrary to the Word of God they will then by no means obey and should he make any forceable Attempts they will then act according to the form of the League and contribute all they can towards a Defence But the Princes write thus to the Emperor and to Ferdinand that they cannot possibly approve
Almighty who will undoubtedly Vindicate his own Cause and Religion However if things shall come to that pass that the Pope must have his mind in this business which they can hardly believe they will yet consider what is further to be done And if they happen to be cited and see that they can do any thing for the Glory of God they will then make their appearance if they may but have convenient Security giv'n them upon the Publick Faith. Or else they will send thither their Embassadors who shall publickly propound whatever the necessity and reason of their Cause requires This however shall be the condition that the present Propositions of the Pope shall not be accepted of nor any such Council allow'd as is contrary to the Decrees of the Empire For they cannot see how this Project of the Pope has the least tendency to advance a lasting Peace either to the Church or State nor does it become him to act after this Rate if he intends to discharge the Duty of a faithful Pastor which obliges him to advise Men for the best and to dispense unto them the wholsome Food of sound Doctrin Now since these things are so they earnestly desire them to deliver in this their Answer to the Emperor and the Pope hoping that the Emperor whom with all Reverence they acknowledge to be the Supream Magistrate constituted by God will not receive it with any Resentment but will use his Interest that â—uch a Council may be call'd as is agreeable to the Decrees of the Empire and that the whole Controversie may be discuss'd by pious and unsuspected Men. For it will without doubt very much redound both to his Glory and Advantage if he shall imploy all his Power and Authority towards the propagating of sound Doctrin and not to strengthen the cruel hands of those Men who have been for many years committing Outrage upon innocent Men only for their honest profession of such a Doctrin as is most agreeable to the Gospel Now for what remains they tender the Emperor their Service in all things and shall yield him a ready Compliance in all his other Affairs There was then with King Ferdinand Vergerius the Pope's Legate who has been mention'd in the former Book And because the Bishop of Rhegium was both ancient and infirm Clement had giv'n Orders to Vergerius to take upon him the Embassy if any difficulty should arise and that he should be sure to keep always in his View what the Pope's design and intentions were in relation to a Council He must therefore keep himself very close to his Orders and the foremention'd Proposals and not recede one hairs breadth from them But must take care not to run the Pope into streights and bring him under a necessity of holding a Council though he be never so hardly press'd by King Ferdinand himself THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOKS IX The CONTENTS George Duke of Saxony his Malicious Artifice to discover the Protestants related He complains of Luther to his Cozen German the Elector of Saxony Pope Clement marrieth his Niece at Marseilles to Henry Duke of Orleans Son to the French King. The Duke of Wirtenburgh is outed of his Dominions Henry King of England is divorced from his Queen and denieth the Pope's Supremacy The misfortune of the Franciscans at Orleans described The Duke of Wirtenburg has his Country recovered for him by the Lantgrave A Peace concluded between Ferdinand and the Elector of Saxony The Articles of it explained Paul Farnese is chosen Pope upon the death of Clement A new Persecution in France occasioned by the fixing of Papers in several places containing Disputes about Religion A great many are burned upon this account The French King excuseth his Severity to the Germans The Emperor takes the Town of Tunis and the Castle Gulette Sir Thomas More and the Bishop of Rochester are beheaded in England Pope Paul intimates a Council at Mantua by his Nuncio Vergerius The Protestants also who were now convened at Smalcalde after they had debated the Point write an Answer to Vergerius The French King sends his Embassador Langey to this Convention who presseth them to enter into a League and toucheth upon a great many Heads to which the Protestants return an Answer The King of England also dispatcheth an Embassy thither to put them in mind what Consequences may reasonably be expected from the Council The League made at Smalcalde is renewed and strengthened by the addition of a great many Princes and Cities WHen they had given the Embassadors this Answer they made these following Decrees First That a Committee of Divines and Lawyers should be chosen to draw up a Scheme of those Points which they were to insist upon at the Council in relation to Form and Debate 2ly That their Answer to the Pope should be published and imparted to foreign Princes and States 3ly They decreed to dispatch away their Agents to the Judges of the Chamber of Spire who hath prosecuted some Persons upon the account of their Religion contrary to the Emperors Edict Which Prosecutions if they were not ceas'd the Protestants resolved to demurr to the Jurisdiction of their Court. 4ly That an Embassy should be sent to the Elector of Mentz and the Palsgrave who were Princes of the Mediation and an account of all their Proceedings transmitted afterwards in writing to the Emperor I have already mentioned in several places that George Duke of Saxony had a particular hatred to Luther's Person as well as a general aversion to his Doctrin Now this Prince understanding that many of his Subjects maintained that the Lords Supper was to be received according to our Saviour's Command ordered the Parochial Clergy that those who came to them at Easter and confessed themselves conformably to the ancient Custom and received the Eucharist according to the Canons of the Church of Rome should have Tickets given them which they were to deliver into the Senate that so the Roman Catholicks and the Lutherans might be distinguish'd This scrutiny discovered seventy Persons at Leipsick the Capital Town of that Country without Tickets These Persons had consulted Luther before what they should do who wrote them word that those who were justly perswaded that the Communion was to be received in both kinds should do nothing against their Conscience but rather run the hazard of losing their Lives This advice kept them constant to their Opinion so that when they were summoned to appear before their Prince and had almost two months time allowed to consider they could not be prevail'd upon to alter their Resolution though they were singly dealt withal in private but rather chose to be banish'd the Town which was executed accordingly Luther in the Letter which I spoke of called the Duke of Saxony The Devil's Apostle This Language made a great Noise and Disturbance and the Duke immediately complained against him in a Letter to the Elector his Cozen German that he had
not only affronted and railed on him but that he endeavoured to harangue his Subjects into a Rebellion The Elector writes to Luther about it and tells him among other things that unless he can clear himself of the Crime objected against him he must be forc'd to punish him This made Luther purge himself in Print where he affirms that he did not advise any persons to resist their Prince though his Commands were wicked but rather submit to Banishment Now this cannot in any reasonable Construction be called teaching of Rebellion Those only are chargeable with that Imputation who assert the Magistrate may be lawfully resisted by force of Arms. And as for the Duke his swearing his Subjects to Persecute the reformed Religion he refers it to all Men of sense to determine how defensible such a method is Nay he knows his temper so well that if the Prince Elector should oblige his own Subjects to return him any usage of the like nature he does not question but that he would look upon it as Seditious Now as touching Magistracy and Laws no Man can raise their Character and Sacredness higher nor represent them with more advantage than he has done in his Writings Indeed when Popery governed Christendom this Doctrin concerning Magistrates underwent the same fate with other material Truths the mistakes about it making part of the ignorance of those things for then most People were perswaded that such an active sort of life was not acceptable to God Almighty But those who advance such Tenents as these are Seditious to purpose and St. Peter has given us a Prophetick description of their doom But he did wonder at the Duke's accusing him in this manner for the Professors of the true Religion have always been loaded with the Charge of Sedition Our Saviour himself was haled away and ignominiously put to death under this pretence as if he design'd to set up himself for a King and endeavour'd to draw off the People from their Allegiance to the Emperor To this little Book he added a Consolatory Letter to the Leipsickers who were banished exhorting them to bear their present Adversity patiently and also to give God thanks for that Fortitude and Constancy which they have hitherto shewed That the satisfaction which the Enemies of the Gospel took in their success would not last long but fall off sooner than was generally imagined As all their former Attempts by the especial Mercy of God had been disappointed and brought to nothing I have already mention'd the Interview between the Emperor and Clement the Seventh Now when the Emperor was returned into Spain the Pope at the request of the French King sailed through the Sea of Genoa to Marseilles where he arrived in Autumn and that there might be a more intimate Correspondence between them he married his Niece Catharine de Medices to Henry the Kings Son who was Duke of Orleance and about fifteen years of age And in regard the occasion seems to require it I shall give a short account here of the Family of the Medices Sylvester Averard and John stand in the Head of the Pedigree and were Noblemen of Florence But Cosmo was the first who raised the Grandeur of the Family being far the richest Man not only of his own City but of all Italy Cosmo his Son Peter begat Laurence and Julian Julian had a Son born after his death called Julius who was afterwards Clement the Seventh although there are different Reports concerning his Extraction Laurence had Peter Julian and John who was at last Pope Leo the Tenth Julian left no Children Peter who was banished Florence and afterwards cast away in a Storm at the mouth of Garigliano had a Son named Laurence who married a French Woman of the House of Bolen and had this Catharine we now speak of by her The Pope staid about a month at Marseilles and before he returned home to oblige the King and his Nobility he made four French Men Cardinals whom he knew to be the Kings Favorites viz. Odet Castillon Philip of Bolen Claude Gifre and John Vener Bishop of Lisieux Most People believ'd this Affinity would produce a change of Affairs in Italy and the disproportion of the Match was generally wonder'd at Nay they say Clement himself doubted the Event and scarce believed the French King in earnest till the Marriage was consummated Some few months after the Lantgrave took a Journey to the French King the occasion of it was this In the year 1519. Vlrick Duke of Wirtemburg was expelled his own Dominions by the Confederates of the League of Schwaben because he had lately taken Ruteling a Town of the Empire and under the Protection of the League This Country the Emperor purchas'd of the Confederates and afterwards gave it his Brother Ferdinand when they divided their Inheritance Now in the Diet at Auspurg several of the Princes interceded that Vlrick who had now been banish'd eleven years might be restored But this motion was to no purpose for the Emperor at that time after he had declar'd the Reasons at large why Vlrick was dispossess'd he publickly gave his Brother the Ducal Ornaments and Badges of Soveraignty for that Country The Lantgrave therefore who was nearly related to the Duke and very much his Friend had thoughts of attempting something in his behalf at that juncture but being disappointed by Persons who had promis'd their assistance he deferr'd his Design till he had a better opportunity But now the Emperor being absent and the League of Schwaben which was made for a eleven years past exired away he goes for France and Mortgages Mount Pellicarde to the King in Duke Vlrick his name for a certain sum of Mony Upon condition that if the Duke did not discharge the Mortgage within three years the Premises should be annexed to the Crown of France Besides this Sum the King promis'd to lend him another and gave him some hopes that he would not demand it again At this time there was a very great alteration of Affairs in England which happen'd in this manner Henry the Seventh King of England had two Sons Arthur and Henry Arthur married Catharine Daughter to Ferdinand King of Spain and died without Issue Henry the Father who desired the Alliance he had contracted with Spain might be continued procured a Dispensation from Pope Julius the Second and got Catharine contracted to his other Son who succeeded him in the Kingdom at his death in the year 1509. Henry the Eighth therefore who married this Lady soon after his Father died when he had reigned a great many years and was well setled in his Kingdom acquaints some of the Bishops that he was dissatisfied in his Conscience puts them upon an Enquiry whether it was lawful for a Man to marry his Brothers Relict and as it 's said abstain'd from the Queen's Bed for several months The Bishops by the King's Order discourse the Queen privately and acquaint her that
the Emperor also Nothing shall be required of either side for the Charges of the War. The Lantgrave and Vlrick oblige themselves to supply Ferdinand with five hundred Horse and 3000 Foot out of the Forces they have now in pay and to send them at their own Charge to the Siege of Munster where they shall swear Allegiance to Ferdinand and continue in his Service for three months if there be occasion Sabina Vlrick his Dutchess shall enjoy her Joynture without any Interruption Lastly this Treaty shall be ratify'd by the Nobility and all the Commons Munster a City of Westphalia which the Anabaptists had possess'd themselves of was besieged at that time as shall be shewed afterwards in its proper place Now to carry on this Siege Ferdinand required Supplies of them And here we may observe that at last when the Territory of Wirtemburg was almost all recover'd the mony was brought to the Duke which the French King agreed to lend upon the Mortgage though it 's true it was none of the King's fault that it came no sooner but his Treasurers who disliking the drawing of the Conveyance delayed the affair longer than his Majesty intended Now when the Peace was concluded and the Army disbanded the other mony came which the King promis'd to furnish him with without Security But before the year came about Vlrick paid off the Mortgage and redeem'd Mount Pellicarde As for the mony that was borrowed upon Honour which was no inconsiderable Sum the King made him a Present of it Peter Paul Vergerius the Pope's Nuncio took this Pacification very ill and reprimanded King Ferdinand in his Master Clement's Name for coming to an Accommodation with the Lutheran Princes The King told him he did it only to prevent greater Broils and Disturbances and that he was oblig'd to comply with the necessity of the times When Vlrick was banished his Country his Son Christopher was about four years of age who at first was Educated by William Duke of Bavaria his Uncle but afterwards he was sent to Inspruck a Town under Ferdinand his Jurisdiction And when the Emperor upon the Turk's retreat return'd into Italy which I have already mention'd Then this young Prince left the Emperor's Train and went into Bavaria which was hard by his Fathers Dominions being before advis'd and importun'd by his Relations and Friends to make this Escape For he being the only Heir it was thought the Austrian Party had a design to carry him into a foreign Country and make him a Clergy-Man But after his Father was restord he travelled into France and put himself into King's Service After things were accommodated the Lantgrave upon the 21st of July wrote to the Emperor into Spain by a Currier where he acquainted him with the Conditions of the Pacification and begg'd his Pardon for himself and Duke Vlrick and promis'd that both of them would pay his Majesty and King Ferdinand all Obedience for the future To this the Emperor returns him an answer from Valencia dated September the first in which he tells him that he had receiv'd an account of the whole business from his Brother Ferdinand To whom he had already declar'd his Resolution in writing and now had sent his Embassador to do it by word of mouth Therefore he referreth him to his Brother who would shortly acquaint him with his Clemency and Inclination to Peace afterwards he adviseth him to make good his promise and shew himself obedient and not to engage in any turbulent Designs During the Wars in the Dutchy of Wirtemburg Francis Sforza the Second Duke of Milan married Christina Daughter to Christiern the Captive King of Denmark and Niece to the Emperor by his Sister The French King was about to make War upon this Duke but the death of Clement the Seventh with whom he had lately entred into a League was thought to have hindred him from prosecuting his Design at present This Pope died at the later end of September of a distemper in his Stomach which had continu'd a great while upon him and was occasion'd by his altering his Diet in his old age which he did by the advice of his Physician Curtio Paul the Third of the House of Farnese was his Successor who not long after created Alexander and Ascanio Cardinals both of them his own Grandchildren and very much under the age of Manhood his natural Son Aloisio was Father to the former and the other was the Son of his Daughter Constanza Afterwards he recalls Vergerius out of Germany and enquires concerning the State of Religion there and consults with the Cardinals how they may prevent a National Council till by private and unsuspected Contrivances they have embroil'd the Emperor and other Princes in a War. At last he resolv'd to send Vergerius back into Germany to proffer that Nation a general Council as they call it More particularly his Instructions were to take care that his proceedings might not be like those of Clement fall under the suspicion of artifice and reserve and that he should go to all the Princes acquainting them that the Pope would call a Council at Mantua and there the Regulations of it should be setled But he was more especially to observe what Form the Protestants would insist upon in reference to the Qualifications Votings and Disputations of the Council that when this was known there might be such Terms and Laws imposed upon them which he was assur'd they would not consent to He also commanded him to exasperate the Princes of the Empire against the King of England whose Dominions he was now thinking to give to any Body that could Conquer them He was likewise to consider if there was no possible Expedient to bring over Luther and Melancton In this Consistory there were nine Cardinals and Bishops pitch'd upon to draw up a Form for the Reformation of Ecclesiastical Persons and Concerns which afterwards became publick as shall be discours'd in its place Now the reason why Vergerius was sent back into Germany was because King Ferdinand had recommended him to the Pope as a Person extraordinarily well qualified for the manage of that Employment At this time Andrew Grittus was Doge of Venice a Person of very great Reputation for his Prudence and Experience This Nobleman when he liv'd at Constantinople had a natural Son named Lewis who being brought up there from his Childhood and having by his singular Industry and Ingenuity rais'd a vast Estate and gain'd himself a considerable Interest by his Liberality got acquainted with the Courtiers first and afterwards by the Recommendation of Ibrahim the Grand Visier who then had the sole direction of Affairs was so well known to Solyman that he admitted him to a private Discourse And pursuing this lucky opportunity he worked himself so far into Solyman's Favour that at last he was sent into Hungary with a very splendid and numerous Attendance having a Commission to possess himself of that part of
Sex insomuch that by reason of the Crowd and the great hast they were oblig'd to make their flight several Women who were with Child miscarry'd As soon as they had done this they seize upon the Goods of those they had driven out and though this happen'd the day before the Bishop besieged the Town yet when some part of the Company which was chased away by the Anabaptists fell into the Bishop's hands they were treated as Enemies and some of them were in danger of losing their Lives and among the rest one or two of the Preachers of the reformed Religion Petrus Wirtemius whom we mention'd before being himself in danger was saved by the mediation of the Lantgrave The hearing of this usage surpriz'd the Townsmen who stay'd behind insomuch that a great many honest Men when they perceiv'd that though they did quit the Town yet they ran themselves upon apparent danger were forc'd as it were to continue there against their Will. About this time one of their Principal Prophets for they challenge that Name for themselves John Mathew commanded that every Man should bring forth all his Gold and Silver and Moveables under pain of death and for this use there was a house set apart for a Publick Treasury The People were amaz'd at the rigour of this Edict yet they obey'd it Neither was it safe for any Person to deceive these Saints or to keep part of his own Goods to himself for there were two Prophecying Virgins who discover'd all foul play in this case Nor did they only make a Common Bank out of their own Stock but likewise made bold with the Fortunes of those they had banish'd Afterwards the same Prophet Commands that none from thence forward should keep any Book by him except the Bible all the rest he chargeth them to bring out that they might be abolish'd This Command he pretended to receive from Heaven Upon this a great number of Books were thrown together and all burnt About this time one Hubert Truteling a Smith happen'd to break a jest upon those who call'd themselves Prophets this being known they Summon in the Multitude and command them to appear all armed soon after they Indict the Man and condemn him to suffer death The People were wonderfully surpriz'd at these Proceedings But their Head-Prophet whom I spoke of before seizes upon the poor Wretch and having thrown him upon the ground runs his Pike into him yet he did not wound him Mortally though he had tilted at him with a very great force Afterwards he orders him to be taken away and carried some whither else Then taking a Musket from a Youth who stood by he shoots him through with a Bullet as he lay along but not being dispatch'd this way neither the Prophet said It was reveal'd to him from Heaven that his Time was not come yet and that God had bestowed his Grace upon him but for all that the Man died within a few days after which being divulg'd the Prophet snatches up a long Pike and runs full speed through the Streets crying That God the Father had commanded him to beat the Enemy farther off the City When he came near to the Camp he was encountred by one of the Souldiers and run through And though he was very much out in his Prediction once again yet his Fellow-Prophet had so bewitch'd the People and manag'd the Farce so artificially with the Rabble that his death was much lamented and they said That the loss of so excellent a Person did portend some speedy Calamity to the Town But their second-rate Prophet John of Leyden bids them be of good chear it being reveal'd to him long before That Mathew was to die in that manner and that he was to marry his Widow Upon Good-Friday they run into the Churches and ring all the Bells Some few days after Knipperdoling Prophesies That those who were in the highest Station should be degraded and others of the meanest Condition advanced Upon this he orders all the Churches to be demolish'd solemnly affirming That God had commanded it should be so His Orders are accordingly observ'd and that Edict which he told them came from Heaven was executed with great signs of alacrity and inclination Much about this time John of Leyden delivers a Sword to Knipperdoling and makes him his Executioner telling him That the Divine Pleasure was such that he who had born the highest Office before and was Consul must now act in the lowest place and be contented to be Hangman The other was so far from refusing that he thanked him for the Employment Now after the Bishop had carried on the War for some months at his own Charge Herman Archbishop of Cologn and John Duke of Cleve sent him a supply of Money and Ordnance with some Companies of Foot and Horse The Archbishop also went to the Camp to advise in the affair and soon after the Town was besieged in several places But when there was no hopes of taking it by Storm they built seven Forts about it to cut off Provision and order'd some Companies of Foot and Troops of Horse to take up their Winter-Quarters there The Bishop of Munster in the mean time desiring assistance for the continuance of the War and the Siege of those Princes and Cities which border upon the Rhine as being more his Neighbours than the rest To settle this Affair there was a Meeting intimated to be held at Coblentz upon the 13th day of December Anno 1534. Germany in its whole extent is divided into six Provinces Franconia Bavaria Swaben Saxony the Palatine and Burgundy Within these bounds all the Princes and Cities are still included in the Diets of the Empire according to the old Custom But now Saxony is divided into the Upper and Lower besides there is a new addition of lower Germany Westphalia and Austria so that now the Empire contains ten Countries or Districts in it After they had try'd in vain to carry the Town by Assault John of Leyden composeth himself to sleep and dreams out three days when he awaked he said never a word but makes signs for Paper and writes down the names of twelve Men some of them well descended who were to sit at the Helm and as Heads of the Tribes of Israel to have the Direction and Government of all Affairs this he told them was the Will of his heavenly Father And when he had prepar'd the way for his projected Monarchy by the Government of these twelve Men he propounds a set of Doctrins to the Preachers desiring them that they would confute them by Texts of Scripture but if they could not he would mention them to the Multitude that they might be approv'd and establish'd into a Law. The sum of them was this That a Man was not obliged to confine himself to one Wife but might marry as many as he pleased But the Preachers opposing this Doctrin he Summons them into the Senate-house and brings the twelve
he would also convert his Brethren He said that St. John was always obedient to St. Peter after the death of Christ and when they both ran to the Sepulcher he would not go in first but gave the precedency to the other To him Christ gave the Charge of feeding his Sheep in a more especial manner besides when the Net was full of Fishes and a great many of them could not stir it Peter alone drew it a shore Then he proceeds to the business of the Divorce where he tells the King That it was not the terrors of Conscience and the dread of the Divine Displeasure as he pretended but Lust and an ungovernable Appetite which made him part with his Wife Catherine whom his Brother Arthur an infirm Youth of fourteen years of age had left a Virgin That it was not lawful for him to marry Anne Bullein whose Sister he had kept as his Miss before That Catherine was a Maid himself had confess'd to several Persons particularly to the Emperor But he falls violently upon him for writing to so many Universities for their Opinion concerning his first Marriage and for being pleas'd with the sense of his former uncleanness when some told him That Match was Incestuous That it was a most scandalous thing for him to prefer the Daughter of a Strumpet before a most excellent young Lady lawfully begotten Then he goes on to the Execution of the Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas Moore where he enlargeth himself and declaims very tragically against the cruelty of it From whence he proceeds to tell the King how he had oppress'd and impoverish'd all degrees of Men and made a most flourishing Kingdom miserable and what danger he was in from the Emperor for divorcing his Aunt and subverting Religion and what little reason he had to expect any Foreign or Domestick Assistance who had behav'd himself so ill towards the Commonwealth Then he applies himself to the Emperor and makes use of a great many words to provoke him to revenge such a notorious Affront put upon his Family and saith That the Seeds of Turcism are scatter'd about England and Germany meaning the Antipapal Doctrin At last after he had charg'd his Prince with a great many Crimes and almost call'd him all to naught he exhorts him to repent and tells him There was no other remedy to be had but by returning to the bosom of the Church which he had formerly defended in print and therein given a most admirable example This Book was publish'd without any date at Rome and lay conceal'd a long time at last a great many years after one or two in Germany got it The occasion of his writing he saith was because the King formerly desir'd it And though a great many learned Men in England who had done the same thing had lost ther Lives yet he was so much oblig'd by his Highness that he could not perswade himself to dissemble his thoughts for both his temper and way of living had made him very averse to that Vice and therefore what he had said ought not to be attributed to passion or ill will on the contrary since he endeavour'd to bring him into his way again and to rescue him from those Flatterers who had run him upon such gross Mistakes he thought he did him very great service Now King Henry had taken care to breed this Gentleman to Learning and had been kind to him in many respects But when that alteration which I mention'd happen'd in England and was disapprov'd by Pool Paul the Third by the advice and recommendation of Contareni makes him a Cardinal and invited him to Rome Those who were intimately acquainted with him say That he understood the reformed Religion very well and imagine that the reason of his writing against King Henry was to avoid the suspicion of Lutheranism They say he printed his Book at Rome at his own Charge and ordering all the Copies to be brought to him gave them out only to the Pope and Cardinals and to his special Friends for he was willing to stand fair in their Opinion and was likewise afraid it 's probable of falling under the Censure of those who had several times heard him discourse very differently upon that Subject THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK XI The CONTENTS The Protestants send their Embassadors to the Emperor with whom they were principally to insist upon three things Eldo the Emperor's Embassador gives them a large Answer at Smalcalde To which all the Confederates reply and particularly they reflect smartly upon the Council they were invited to Eldo rejoyns upon them ex tempore In the mean time the Pope dispatcheth away the Bishop of Aix into Germany The Prosestants give their Reasons why they refuse the Council and write to the French King about it The Queen of Scotland dies The King of England and his Nobility publish a Manifesto against the Council which the Pope had call'd The Town and Castle of St. Paul in Artois is taken Terouenna is besisg'd by the Imperialists but without Success IN the Ninth Book I had occasion to mention the Ausburghers Now when these Men had made an Alteration in Religion and the Ecclesiasticks most of which were descended of good Families leaving the Town in a disgust upon this account The Senate address'd themselves to the Emperor to King Ferdinand and to all the States of the Empire and acquaint them with the Reasons of their proceedings in writing in which they let them understand how kindly they had us'd these Gentlemen how many things they had born from them and on the contrary how provokingly they had behav'd themselves attempting several times to raise an Insurrection in the Town Not long after Christopher their Bishop publisheth an Answer to this Book in the name of himself and his Party and after a great many Complaints he desires the Emperor and the Princes in regard the danger toucheth them no less than himself to make some Provision for the common Safety In the last Book I mention'd the Protestants Embassy to the Emperor in Italy The Persons sent were Joachim Papenheim Lewis Bambach and Claudius Peutinger a Lawyer They had three things in their Commission in which they were more especially to concern themselves To confute the Report which was spread as if they were entring into an Alliance with the Kings of England and France That the Emperor would Check the Proceedings of the Chamber of Spire And that those who were admitted into the League after the Pacification at Nuremburgh might enjoy the benefit of that Treaty The Emperor admitted them to Audience but being busied in Military affairs he told them he would send an Embassador into Germany with his Answer Therefore when he was about to return into Spain by the way of Genoa he sent Mathias Eldo his Vice-Chancellor into Germany When the Protestants understood this by their Embassadors at their return they appoint the Seventh of February
imaginable and conduct him to their Palaceâ— When it was Evening the Emperor sent word to Andrew Doria who stay'd on Board That the King and Queen his Sister had prevailed with him to lodge in Town that Night and that he would return to his Galley the next Day after Dinner Which Notice he gave him that he might not suspect any foul Play And accordingly the next Day the Emperor put to Sea again being accompanied thither by the King and the whole Court And after they had drank together for some time in the Galley they took their Leaves with all possible Demonstrations of Friendship When this Entertainment was known in Paris and in other places of France they went in Procession to the Churches of the Saints according to the usual Custom and made publick Bonefires The Pope had endeavoured to perswade them at Nice de Provence That now since a Truce was concluded they would go in Person to the Council at Vicenza and send those Prelates they had in their Train thither and summon in those who were absent But when they excused themselves and told him they could do neither and his Cardinal Legates whom he had sent to Vicenza had acquainted him that there was no Company come thither he prorogueth the Council again till Easter following and gives publick Notice of it by his Bulls upon the Nineteenth of June when he was at Genua in order to his Return to Rome At their first Meeting the French King kissed the Pope's right Foot as he sate in his Chair Which Respect was likewise paid by most of the rest of his Nobles yet there were some in the King's Train who refused to submit to this Ceremony though the Constable put them in mind of it These Refusers were Christopher Duke of Wirtenberg William Count Furstenburg Germans Marshall la Marche a French Man and George Gluck Ambassador of the King of Denmark Just about this time Charles Count Egmond Duke of Guelderland died How he was outed of almost all his Dominions I gave an Account in the last Book And being reduced to this Extremity when he fell sick he treated with the Duke of Cleves his near Relation and with the consent of his Nobility and People bequeathed the Dutchy of Guelderland to him with the Acceptance of which the Emperor was very much offended as shall be shewn in its proper place A little before this time Erard Count Mark Cardinal and Bishop of Leige departed this Life than whom none was more severe against the Reformers He ordered a very rich Tomb to be made for him a great many years before in the Cathedral at Leige and had those funeral Dirges and Ceremonies which the Papists use for the Dead performed anniversarily for him imagining that those Services of the Priests which they account Meritorious and believe Eternal Life is due to them would do him most Good when he was alive But those who pretended to know the Man more intimately said he did all this out of a Spirit of Vanity because his ambitious Humour was pleased with the Solemnity of the Office. About this time there was an English Bible printed at Paris which the King had ordered to be sent to all the Churches in England But when it was known it was prohibited and the Printer was in some Danger about it In France the Holy Scriptures are not commonly to be met with in the Language of the Country It 's enough there to make a man suspected if he happens to read the New Testament or any thing of that Nature in French For none but Divines and such sort of People are allowed so much as to meddle with or enquire into the Scriptures As for the generality of the Laity they are altogether Ignorant The Citizens Wives when they go to Mass carry Latin Prayers to Church with them and patter them over at their rate but understand nothing of the matter being verily perswaded that this Way is much more acceptable to God than if they should pray in French. This Notion those Priests have insinuated into them who make their Advantage of the Ignorance of the People In the beginning of August the Pope returned to Rome where the Citizens received him in the most triumphant and respectful Manner imaginable for their Streets were hung and made sine every where and there was plenty of panegyrical Papers and Inscriptions to be seen in which they magnified him at a very extraordinary rate for setling Peace in the World again and reconciling the Two great Monarchs This Year there was a College or School for young People opened at Strasburg James Sturmius a Senator of considerable Note being the principal Contriver and Promoter of this Design which by the Care of those who were appointed to govern and teach gained such a Reputation in a short time that not only the most remote Germans but Foreigners also came thither in great Numbers But the Management of the Students the throwing them as it were into distinct Classes and the whole Method of Teaching was first reported to the Senate by John Sturmius and afterwards published more at large by him in Print And when a great many People were forced to leave France and the Netherlands upon the account of Religion the Senate of Strasburg assigned a Church to those who came thither and gave them Leave to incorporate themselves in a distinct Body John Calvin of Noyon was Pastor of this Church for some Years and was succeeded by Peter Brulius of whose Death I shall speak afterwards Now to go for England a little while Thomas of Canterbury had a mighty Veneration paid him by that Nation which had continued for some Ages His Body was laid in a magnificent Tomb inestimably enriched with Gold and Jewels but King Henry fetched him out this Year and burned his Bones This Thomas Sirnamed Beckett was formerly Archbishop of Canterbury who when by defending the Privileges of the Clergy with too much vehemence had very much displesed King Henry II. and was commanded to depart the Kingdom he addressed himself to Pope Alexander III. who was then in France upon the account of the Difference there was between him and Frederick Barbarossa the Emperor At last by the Intercession of this Pope and the French King Lewis VII the King of England was reconciled to him and permitted him to return home after he had been banished Seven Years But upon his growing troublesom to some of the Bishops and interdicting them for being of the King's Side in the Dispute the King was provoked again and said with some Passion That he looked upon himself as a miserable Person otherwise it would not have been in the Power of one single Priest to give him such perpetual Disturbance and seemed to bewail the Unfortunateness of his Condition that he had never a Subject that would rid him of this Plague These Words made a singular Impression upon some of his Courtiers who imagining it would not be
the Emperor and King Ferdinand with whom he had concluded an Agreement some few Years since would be disobliged which would make him run a great Hazard in his whole Fortune Duke Vlrich gave his Majesty Thanks for his Caution and told him That he was wronged in this Relation and believed the Dukes of Bavaria were the Authors of this Calumny who had falsly spread such a Report as this of him in Germany therefore he desires his Majesty that he would not give any Credit to it for neither himself nor any of his Allies intended to raise any Disturbance or do any Act of Hostility unless they were forced to it in their own Defence and he did not question but that they when they heard of it would purge themselves As soon therefore as the Protestants at Francfort had received an Account of this Complaint from the Duke the Elector of Saxony and the Lantgrave wrote an Answer to the French King in the Name of all the Confederates dated April the Nineteenth in which they acquaint him That they understood by the Duke of Wirtemberg what Reports had been made to his Majesty concerning them but all these Accusations were nothing but Calumnies raised by Enmity and Ill-Will for they were not about making any Preparations for War but were very desirous of Peace as the Princes of the Mediation could testify For though they had received several Provocations though a confederate Town of theirs had been proscribed and a League claped up by some of the other Party to back their unjust Decrees notwithstanding their Adversaries had raised Forces and given them extraordinary Pay who were now making hostile Depredations in the Territories of their Allies yet they were contented to sit still all this while without the least Motion towards an Opposition for the Love they had for their Country made them willing to forgive all manner of Injuries for the Sake of the Commonwealth But their Adversaries were of a violent and implacable Temper and would not harken to any moderate Proposals nor submit the Differences between them to a legal Determination but were wholly bent to fill the Empire with the Blood and Slaughter of its own Subjects And seeing the Case stands thus they entreat his Majesty not to believe any false Suggestions but endeavour to promote the Interest of the Church by Religious and defensible Methods for the Protection of Truth and Innocence is a Duty peculiarly incumbent upon Kings As for their standing up in the Defense of Religion it was only to discharge their Conscience and not out of any sinister and secular Design neither did they question but that their Doctrine was agreeable to the Word of God which they had not the Liberty to depart from upon any Consideration whatever Upon the Twenty Fourth of April at the breaking up of the Diet George Duke of Saxony departed this Life leaving no Issue behind him for his Two Sons were already deceased without Children one of which was married to Elizabeth the Lantgrave's Sister and the other to a Daughter of the House of Mansfield George therefore made his Brother Henry and his Sons Morice and Augustus his Heirs by Will upon Condition That they should not make any Alteration in the State of Religion If this Condition was Unperformed then he bequeaths all his Dominions to the Emperor and King Ferdinand till his Brother or his Nephews or the next of the male Line of the Blood should fulfil what was enjoined Now after he was grown old and had but an ill Health he acquainted the Nobilility and Commonalty with his Will and desired them That they would ratify it and swear to stand by the Contents But they being affraid that this would occasion a War in the Family prayed him to send to his Brother Henry and treat with him about it for they did not question but that he would agree that no Change should be made in Religion Upon this Ambassadors are sent who besides several other Arguments to perswade him insisted principally That there was a great deal of Money in the Exchequer abundance of rich Furniture and Plate all which would be his own provided he complied with his Brother To which he made this remarkable Answer immediately Truly says he your Ambassy puts me in mind of that Passage in the new Testament where the Devil promised our Saviour all the Kingdoms of the World upon Condition he would fall down and worship him Do you think that any Temptation of Riches has such an ascendant over me as to make me forsake a Religion which I know to be pure and Orthodox I assure you you are much mistaken in your Expectations Now having received this Answer and had their Audience of Leave without effecting any part of their Negotiation It so happen'd That George their Master was dead before they returned Home which when his Brother Henry understood he immediately went to Dresâ—en and to the other great Towns and made the People swear Allegiance to him which they were the more inclinable to do because he was supported with the Interest of the League at Smalcald The Elector of Saxony also who knew how George's Will stood and what his designs were as soon as he heard of his Death made haste Home that he might be ready to assist Henry if need were This was a very considerable Addition to the Protestant Interest and a great and unexpected disappointment of the Roman Catholick Princes who were extreamly troubled at it especially the Elector of Mentz and Henry Duke of Brunswick as I shall have occasion to mention afterwards Thus George had an Heir and Successor quite contrary to his Inclinations and Luther whom he hated above all Men living was invited to Leipsick by the New Prince where he preached several Sermons and began to enter upon a Reformation This Year in May a Comet was seen and just about the same time Isabella the Emperor Charles's Wife died the French King as soon as he heard of it solemnized her Funeral at Paris according to the usual Ceremony among Princes I have already mentioned the Council of Vicenza which the Pope had Prorogued till Easter this Year but the Company not appearing at the time upon the Tenth of June he published another Bull in which he did not Prorogue it to a certain day but suspended it during the pleasure of the Conclave and himself Some few Months since the King of England published another Paper concerning the Council of Vicenza shewing how the Pope abus'd the World for his laying the Fault upon the Duke of Mantua is a ridiculous Excuse For if he hath so great a Power as he pretends why does he not force him to his Pleasure If he cannot do this why does he summon people upon uncertainties to a place which he hath not the command of And now though he hath pitched upon Vicenza for the same purpose yet there is no question but so wise a State as that of
Bishops to undertake the Office of Ecclesiastick Reformation That his sending for Bucer was chiefly at the instigation of Gropper who both personally and by Letters had very much commended him to him as might be made appear That he found nothing in Bucer that was unworthy or unbeseeming an honest man And that it was a great sign he was so that the Emperour had employed him in the Conference of Ratisbonne as a learned pious and peaceable man. That he had the same opinion also of the other Ministers of the Church appointed by him Afterwards November the 18th the Clergy summon the rest of the States into the City and require them to subscribe the Appeal The same thing also they demand of all the Churches and Bishops of the Province nay of some forreign Universities also and having turned out such of their own Order as refused they grievously accuse the Archbishop to the Emperour and Pope as shall be related hereafter After the Pacification at Soissons the Emperour sends the Bishop of Arras Granvill's Son and the French King the Cardinal du Bellaye to treat joyntly of a Peace with the King of England but it proved ineffectual he refusing to restore Bauloigne At the same time also the Duke of Orleans and the Cardinal of Tournon with some Ladies of the French Court take a Progress into the Netherlands to complement and congratulate with the Emperour The Emperour sends his Spanish Forces to Winter-quarters in Lorrain and the adjacent Countries In most places throughout all the Emperours Provinces of the Netherlands many were very desirous to be instructed in the Reformed Religion but secretly for fear of the Emperour's Edicts and the punishments by them inflicted Now some people in Tournay a chief Town in those parts had invited thither one Peter Bruley a French Preacher mentioned in the twelfth Book from Strasbourg So soon as he arrived there which happened in the month of September being most kindly received by those who had invited him he began to instruct them privately and having made a Progress to Lisle a Town in Flanders upon the same account he returned to Tournay about the end of October following But the matter was now divulged and a strict search made after him throughout the whole City the Gates for that end being shut In this imminent danger seeing there was no possibility of concealing him longer on the second of November in the night-time his Friends let him down over the Town-Wall by a Rope When he had reached the ground he sate down to take a little rest but one of those who had let him down leaning as far as he could over the Wall that he might softly bid him farewel forced out a lose stone with his foot which casually falling upon him broke his leg so that whilst afflicted with pain and cold he dolefully bewailed his sad misfortune the Watch over-heard him who suspecting what the matter was came running in laid hold of him and cast him into prison So soon as the news of this came into Germany the Senate of Strasbourg interceded for him by Letters which the Deputies of the Protestants who then were at Wormes did afterwards also but that was a little too late for before the Letters which were sent in the name of the Duke of Saxony and the Landgrave were delivered he was on the 19th of February put to death The manner of his Execution was severe having been burnt by a gentle and slow Fire for his greater torment He constantly professed his Doctrine even to the last breath and writing out of Prison to his Disciples who were also in many places in Bonds he exhorted them to constancy His Sentence was to be put to death for offending against the Emperour's Commands For many years before the Emperour had sent out most severe Edicts against the Lutherans of the lower Germany and the Netherlands under his Dominion which were twice a year publickly read over in those places that none might pretend ignorance When he was examined in Prison the Monks in presence of the Magistrates asked him the Question What he thought of the Sacrament of the Altar as they call it of the Mass Consecration Adoration of the Hosts of Purgatory the Worshipping of Saints Free-will good Works Justification Images Baptism Vows Confession of Sins and of the Virginity of the Blessed Mary To these he made answer That the real Body and Bloud of Christ was there received not by the Mouth but spiritually by Faith and that the substance of the Bread and Wine was not changed That when according to Christ's institution Christ's Supper is given to the Church in the Vulgar Tongue so that all may understand the use and benefit thereof that then these things are truly consecrated and that by the words of Christ for that that silent Whisper and Muttering which the Mass-Priests used over the Bread and Wine did better become Conjurers and fuglers than Christian Ministers That the Popish Mass had nothing to do with the Lords Supper but was a Worship invented by Man to the disparagement and injury of Christ. That the Adoration of the consecrated Bread was Idolatry because a Creature was there worshipped instead of the Creator That he knew not nor looked not after any other Purgatory than the Bloud of Christ which pardons not only the guilt but also the punishment due to our sins That therefore Masses and Prayers for the Dead were not only useless but impious as having no warrant from the Word of God. That Saints cannot be more truly worshipped than by imitating their Faith and Virtues that if more be done it is impious and that they when they were in the World were very far from admitting any Worship That therefore they are not to be invoked as Intercessors which is a glory belonging to none but Christ. That by Adam's Fall Mans Nature was wholly corrupted and the Freedom of his Will forfeited so that he can do no good without the grace of God but that a regenerated man moved by God like a good Tree brings forth good fruits That that is Faith which bringeth us salvation to wit when we believe the divine promises and certainly conclude that through Christ Jesus our sins are forgiven us That Traditions to which the minds of men are enslaved are not to be received That it was very dangerous to have Statues and Images in Churches for fear of Idolatry That Baptism is the sign of the Covenant that God made with us whereby he testifies that he will pardon our sins that it is also a sign of perpetual Mortification and a new Life which ought to accompany Baptism That this Sacrament is to be received by all and Children not to be barred from it seeing they also are Partakers of the divine promises That no Vow is to be made which either the Word of God does not allow or
that as often as any mention had been made of a Popish Council they had always rejected it and that solemnly too in an Assembly of all the States Now also though no such exception was made at Spire yet if a War must be carried on against the Turk it was necessary that all things should be first quieted at home for Money must be raised of the People for that War but what colour of Justice can there be to exact Money from Subjects unless certain hopes may be given them of living securely with their Wives and Children in the free exercise of their own Religion For the true end of making War against the Turks is the safety of the Common-wealth the preservation of the true Religion and the Liberties and Properties of the People Now to war with the Turk and in the mean time to be exposed to danger at home were two things that consisted not well together That therefore the Cause was weighty wherefore they desired greater security for themselves that as for the Chamber they were satisfied with what they said that it should be constituted according to the prescript of the Decree of Spire and that they were willing to confer with the rest about the Subsidies that were to be paid to it These Debates lasted all the Month of April and until the seventh of May and then at length the Emperor being upon his Journey thither King Ferdinand commands them to be put off until his arrival but at the same time requires of them that in the interim they would with the rest consult of the Turkish Affair The Protestant Princes themselves were not present nor the Papists neither except the Cardinal of Ausbourg The King of France sent an Embassador thither one Grignian Governour of Provence in France through whose absence there arose a great persecution in those places In Provence in France there are a People called Waldenses These by an old custom acknowledge not the Pope of Rome have always professed a greater purity of Doctrine and since Luther appeared greedily hunted after more knowledge Many times had they been complained of to the King as despisers of Magistrates and fomenters of Rebellion which envious rather than true Accusation is by most made use of at this day They live together in some Towns and Villages amongst which is Merindole And about five years since sentence was pronounced against them in the Parliament of Aix the chief Judicature of the Province That they should all Promiscuously be destroyed that the Houses should be pulled down that Village levelled with the ground all the Trees also cut down and the place rendred a Desart as we hinted at in the thirteenth Book Now though this Sentence was pronounced yet it was not then put in execution William du Bellay of Langey the King's Lieutenant in Piemont with some others having represented the Matter to the King as a Case that ought to be reviewed by himself But at length this Year John Meinier President of the Parliament of Aix having April the 12th called the Parliament reads to them the King's Letters which warranted him to put the Sentence in execution Now Meinier is said to have procured thse Letters by means of the Cardinal of Tournon and the sollicitation of Philip Cortine a proper Agent in the case However having received them in the Month of January he produced them not presently but kept them up till a season more proper for the exploit The Letters being read some of the Parliament were chosen to see the Matter put in execution to whom Meinier offered himself as assistant because that in the absence of Grignian the Governour of the Province he had the chief command Before that time he had by the King's orders raised Forces for the English War and these he makes use of for his purpose besides these he commands all that were able to carry Arms in Marseilles Aix Arles and other populous places to repair to him under severe Penalties if they disobeyed having assistance likewise sent him from the Country of Avignon under the dominion of the Pope The first attempt then was not made upon those of Merindole but upon the Country adjoyning the Town Pertuse April the thirteenth Meinier attended by a multitude of Gentlemen and Officers came to Cadenet In the mean time some Captains make an irruption into one or two Villages upon the River of la Druance and putting all to Fire and Sword plunder and carry away a great many Cattle The same also was done in other places whilest those of Merindole seeing all in a flame about them leave their Habitations fly into the Woods and in great consternation spend the night at the Village of Sainfalaise Now the Inhabitants of that place were themselves preparing to fly for the Pope's Vice-Legat had ordered some Captains to fall upon them and put them to the Sword. Next day they advance farther into the Woods for they were beset on all hands with danger Meinier having made it death for any person to aid or assist them and commanding them all without respect to be killed where-ever they were found The same Edict was in force in the neighbouring places of the Pope's Jurisdiction and some Bishops of that Countrey were reported to have maintained a great part of those Forces They had a tedious and uneasie Journey of it then marching with their Children on their Backs and in their Arms nay and some in the Cradle poor Women also big with Child following them When they were got to the appointed place whither many in that forlorn condition had fled they had intelligence not long after that Meinier was mustering together all his Forces that he might fall upon them and this News they learnt towards the Evening Wherefore consulting together what was best to be done they resolve upon the spot because the Ways were rough and difficult to leave their Wives Daughters and little Children there with some few to bear them company amongst whom was one of their Ministers and the rest betake themselves to the Town of Mus This they did in hopes that the Enemy might shew some compassion towards a helpless and comfortless multitude but what wailing and lamentation what sighing and embracing there was at parting any man may easily imagine Having marched all night long and passed the Mountain de Leberon they have the sad prospect of many Villages and Farms all in a flame Meinier in the mean time having divided his Forces sets about the work and because he had got intelligence of the place to which those of Merindole had betaken themselves he himself marches to Merindole and sends the rest of his Men in search and pursuit of them But before these were come into the Wood one of the Soldiers moved with pity runs before and from the top of a Rock in the place where he judged the poor Fugitives might have rested he threw down two stones calling to them by
relieve the Poor That in the chief Church the Mass of the Holy Ghost be said every Thursday and in time of Oblation all be intent upon the Priest and refrain from talking That the Bishops also live soberly use no luxury in their Tables and avoid all vain and idle Discourse accustoming their Families to do the like that in Speech Apparel and all their Actions they may appear honest and decent and that because it is the chief design of the Council that the darkness of Errour and Heresie which for so many Years have over-spread the World being dispersed the light of Truth may shine out all Men but especially the learned are admonished to consider with themselves what way chiefly that may be done That in giving their Opinions they should observe the Decree of the Council of Toledo act modestly not with clamour and noise not be contentious nor obstinate but speak what they have to say calmly and sedately The next Session was on the fourth of February In it nothing was done but that they made a Profession of their Faith and appointed the eighth of April for the next Session for many more were said to be upon their way to come to the Council they thought it fit then to stay for them that the Authority of the Decrees might be of the greater force Whilest these things were acting at Trent Luther being invited goes to the Counts of Mansfield to take up a difference that was betwixt them concerning their Bounds and Inheritance It was not indeed his custome to meddle in affairs of that nature having spent his whole Life in studies but seeing he was born at Isleben a Town within the Territories of Mansfield he could not refuse that Service to the Counts and his Native Country Before he arrived at Isleben which was about the end of January he was indisposed in health nevertheless he dispatched the Affair he was sent for and sometimes preached in the Church where he also took the Sacrament But on the seventeenth of February he began to be downright sick in his Stomach He had three Sons with him John Martin and Paul besides some Friends and amongst these Justus Jonas Minister of the Church of Hall and though he was grown now weak yet he dined and supped with the rest Discoursing of several things at Supper amongst other things he put the Question Whether in the Life to come we should know one another and when they desired to know his Opinion as to that What was the case said he with Adam He had never seen Eve but when God made her lay fast asleep but seeing her when he awake he asks not who she was or whence she came but says this is flesh of my flesh and bones of my bones Now how came he to know that but that being full of the Holy Ghost and endued with the true Knowledge of God he spake so after the same manner we also shall be renewed by Christ in the other World and shall know our Parents Wives Children and every thing else much more perfectly than Adam knew Eve. After Supper having withdrawn to Pray as his custom was the pain in his Stomach began to encrease Then by the advice of some he took a little Unicorns-horn in Wine and for an Hour or two slept very sweetly upon a Couch in the Stove when he awoke he retired into his Chamber and again disposed himself to rest after he had taken leave of his Friends that were present and bid them Pray to God said he that he would preserve to us the pure Doctrine of the Gospel for the Pope and Council of Trent are hatching Mischief All being hush'd he slept a pretty while but his Distemper increasing upon him he awoke after Midnight complaining of the stoppage of his Stomach and perceiving his end drawing nigh in these words he addressed himself to God. O God my heavenly Father and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ God of all Consolation I give thee thanks that thou hast revealed unto me thy Son JESUS CHRIST in whom I have believed whom I have confessed whom I have loved whom I have declared and preached whom the Pope of Rome and the multitude of the Vngodly do persecute and dishonour I beseech thee my Lord Jesus Christ receive my Soul O heavenly Father though I be snatched out of this Life though I must now lay down this Body yet know I assuredly that I shall abide with thee for ever and that no man can pluck me out of thy hands Not long after he had made an end of that Prayer having once and again commended his Spirit into the Hands of God he in a manner gently slept out of this Life without any bodily Pain or Agony that could be perceived And so Luther to the great grief of many died in his own Countrey which for many Years he had not seen the eighteenth of February The Counts of Mansfield desired indeed to have buried him within their Territories because there he had his Birth but by Orders from the Prince Elector he was carried to Wittemberg and five days after honourably buried there He was about Sixty three Years of Age for he was born the Tenth of November 1483. of honest and well-respected Parents John and Margaret His first Rudiments of Learning he had at home afterwards being sent to Magdeburg and Isenach he far outstript all of his Age. Next he came to Erfurdt and applied himself wholly to Logick and Philosophy and having stayed there some time without acquainting his Parents and Relations he put himself into a Monastery of Augustine Friers and bent his whole studies to Divinity abandoning the study of the Law to which he had addicted himself before Now there was a new University established at Wittemberg wherefore Stupitius whom we mentioned in the first Book being Rector thereof invited Luther that he might come and profess Divinity there He was afterwards sent to Rome by those of his Order that he might sollicite a Suit of Law that they had depending there and that was in the Year One thousand five hundred and ten Being returned home at the instigation of his Friends he took his Doctor 's Degree Duke Frederick being at the Charge of it How eloquent and fluent in Language he was his Works sufficiently testifie The German Language his own Mother-Tongue he much beautified and enriched and in it he merited greatest applause for he turned out of Latine into Dutch things that were thought could not be translated using most significant and proper words and in one single Diction sometimes expressing the emphasis of a whole Sentence In one place writing of the Pope how he had prophaned the Lord's Supper and caused Mass to be said also for the Dead he saith that with his Mass he had not only pierced into all the corners of the Christian World but even into Purgatory itself but he useth a Dutch word which represents a
of any Crime nor had done injury to any Man and that though the Crime he imputed to them were never so true yet was it not lawful for him to come to an open War before the Case had been brought to a Judicial Trial but that this Proceeding of his was contrary to Justice and the Laws of the Empire contrary to Covenants and Capitulations and contrary to the Custom and Practice of former Ages For it was the constant Custom of the Emperours when they had any thing to say against any State of the Empire to bring it always to a publick Trial That he himself knew that for many years there had been divers Projects on foot to deprive Germany of its Liberty and that there was no doubt but that the present War tended also to that That now though they had hitherto always observed in him a great forwardness to preserve their common Liberty and though he had lately after many Expressions of his Kindness and Good-will towards them sent them word That he would not allow Passage to any Foreign Soldiers yet they had advice that he had already both given them a 〈◊〉 Passage supplied them with Provisions and Artillery and received Garrison 〈◊〉 the Enemies into his Towns That they were not a little troubled at 〈◊〉 â—â—eiving him to have been perswaded thereunto by Calumnies and slanderouâ—â—â—persions That however since by their Declarations lately published they had sufficiently made it out that the Emperour's Proceedings were unjust and that many both publick and private Compacts and Agreements were thereby at once violated they trusted that in defence of the Publick Liberty he would not be wanting to them neither in Aid nor Counsel especially since he had lately put them in hopes of that by the Messenger he sent unto them That he would then order the Emperour's Soldiers to march out of his Towns of Roen and Ingolstadt or suffer them to put equal Garrisons into those Places also That he would allow them safe Passage and Provisions through his Country and assure them thereof by Letters And that though they did not think he would refuse them yet they desired his Answer within five days else he might expect that they would consider what was next to be done August the seventh a very fair Town in Brabant belonging to the Emperour a Magazin of Gunpowder taking fire by Lightning blew up the Tower on the Wall it was kept in from the very Foundation spoiled all the Buildings about within and without the City to above five hundred Yards distance whereof some were set on fire many overthrown some shattered and shaken the Roofs of many thrown down and the Glass windows in all the Streets shattered and broken so that the whole City was in a manner ruined and defaced Huge great Stones all split and scorched were by the violence of the Blow carried at least six hundred Yards off and many Trees also forced up by the Roots and burnt In this sad Disaster about two hundred Persons perished being partly burnt in the Fire and partly smothered under the Ruins besides a vast number of others who were grievously wounded but escaped Death at that time of whom many two or three and some four days after were dug out of Cellars under Ground most part starved to death or stifled and some alive who had made a shift to live upon what Victuals they found there A great many Horses and other Beasts also were burnt in the Stables and at that part where the Tower stood two hundred yards of the Town-wall was levelled with the Ground The Suitzers meet again at Baden August the tenth and four days after the Popish Cantons give their Answer to the Protestant Ambassadours whom they had appointed then to attend That they were heartily sorry for the War that was broken out betwixt the Emperour and them nor was there any thing that they more wished for or desired than Peace That therefore they would not meddle in that War but stand Neuter and as much as lay in their power hinder Foreigners from entring and passing through their Country and keep their own People at home That in order thereunto they had already set forth a severe Proclamation that none of their Subjects should enter into any Foreign Service but all expect the Orders of their Magistrates and be in readiness for the defence of their Country That nevertheless many had listed themselves in their Service which they took very ill and that therefore they entreated them that they would dismiss them and suffer them to return home Besides the Demands that the Protestants had formerly made to them they then required also That they would not enter into the League with the Pope and Emperour nor send them any Supplies of Soldiers which the Pope chiefly urged but that they would aid and assist them who were forced in their own defence to resist an unjust War And having enlarged much upon the Pope's Injustice who would both preside and be Judge in the Council which he held in a place commodious for him to do mischief they take occasion to mention the Murder of John Diaz shewing them that so horrid a Crime was not only not punished to this very day but that a great many commended it as a meritorious Action That that was a warning to them how unadvised and unsafe it would be for them to come to those places where their Adversaries ruled all and amongst them the lately created Cardinal of Trent who was upon many accounts the Pope's most humble Servant Because the Protestants were now with all their Forces upon the Danube as we said the Emperour who was not as yet in a readiness leaving Ratisbonne with a Garrison in the beginning of August marches to Landishurst a Town belonging to the Duke of Bavaria upon the Iser and encamps under the Walls From Donawert the Duke of Saxony Landgrave and the Confederates August the eleventh send him a Letter of Defiance according to the manner and Law of Arms. We wrote to you last Month say they Emperour Charles and justified our selves from those things whereof we stand accused and though as it was but reasonable you should have either desisted from your Warlike Preparations or at least declared the Cause of the War and having mutually heard us treated us according to the Custom of the Empire and your Coronation-Oath Nevertheless since you still go on we also are constrained to take up Arms that we may defend our selves against that unjust Violence which is unworthy your Person and Character Your Actions clearly demonstrate that it is your Design both to oppress the Reformed Religion and the Liberty of the Empire For you your self know what Projects for these many years you have been carrying on with the Antichrist of Rome and Foreign Princes that you might either make them your Friends or our Enemies Besides without the Advice of the Colledge of the Princes and States you have made a Truce
acquainted with this on the Thirteenth of July writ a humble and submissive Letter to the Emperour beseeching him that he would not force them to do any thing against their Consciences and the Salvation of their Souls that they saw their own danger and were in great streights for that if they obeyed not their Lives and Fortunes lay at stake but that withal if they complied they must abide the Vengeance and Judgment of God That he would therefore spare them and not reduce to extremity poor unfortunate Wretches especially since they were no more in fault than the rest and had formerly suffered the greatest of Calamities for the Empire and House of Austria as they were still ready to undergo any burden that they were able and ought to bear and that though their Exchequer was low and their Fortunes mean yet they were willing to give for a Fine eight thousand Florins and four great Guns but that they prayed him that he would let them enjoy the Religion which for twenty years they had professed until the Decree of a lawful Council should pass and not impose a heavier burden upon their City than it was able to bear Their Bishop John Vesalius who was also called Archbishop of Lunden as hath been said in the Twelfth Book threatened them severaly at Ausburg after the Emperour had published the Book but within a few days after he died of an Apoplexy the Disease which he prayed might fall upon them The Reason why they alledged that they had suffered great damage for the sake of the House of Austria was this The Emperour Maximilian by the help of the Suabian League we mentioned in the Fourth Book made War against the Switzers wherefore the People of Constance their next Neighbours who were of the same League suffered great losses from them The Grisons and other Neighbouring People nay and Louis XII King of France also aided the Switzers at that time but at the intercession of Ludowick Sforza Duke of Milan the matter was made up in the year 1500. Maximilian was then Married to Mary Blanch Sforza's Sister On the Third day of August the Emperour called before him the Burgomasters all the Council and some of the chief Citizens of Ausburg and having by the mouth of Selden the Lawyer spoken much of the good will and favour that he and his Predecessors had shew'd them he told them that for many years past the Government of their Republick had been turbulent and factious and that the reason of it was that inferiour People ignorant Handy-crafts-men fitter for any thing than Government had been chosen into the Council but that he who wished the City well to remedy that evil did now dissolve the Council and turn them all out of place not for any disgrace to them but for the publick good and profit Then he commands the names of those whom he had chosen for Common Council-men to be read over amongst these were the Welsers Helingers Buntgartners Fuggers and Peutingers that being done he gave them their Oaths and assigned to every one their several Functions and Charges giving them serious Advice to love the Commonwealth submit to the Decree of Religion and be obedient to him At the same time he abolishes all the Companies and Fraternities making it death for the future to have any Conventicles or Brotherhoods and commanding all Publick Charters and Grants which contained the Priviledges and Liberties of the Companies to be delivered up to the new Common Council This new form of Government he ordered to be proclaimed by an Herald and that it should be death for any to oppose or censure it The Council thanked his Majesty and promised all duty and obedience In the mean time whil'st these things were a doing all the Gates were shut and Soldiers posted in several places of the City There had been a Suit depending for many years betwixt the Landgrave and William Count of Nassaw concerning the Dominion of Catzenelbogen which at that time the Emperour decided and gave sentence against the Landgrave The Fifth day of this Month the Emperour by the mouth of the Bishop of Arras answered the Deputies of Constance dismissing them without any success and because he perceived them not to be much concerned for Peace he told them he would take some course The same day the Spaniards who as we told you were removed into those parts to the number of three thousand Foot march towards Constance and drawing out of Uberlinghen in the night time part of them take the Woods that by break of day when they knew the People were to be at Sermon in the Churches they might invade the Town and part stayed behind in the Woods waiting for the occasion Now it happened that three of the City Watchmen hearing a noise in the Wood ventured farther out to see what the matter was and so fell into their hands These they took and threatning them with death if they gave the least sign carry them along with them then they plant themselves in a low ground near the Lake with great silence but that was not so private but that some of the Watch who then were in the Suburbs on the other side of the Rhine went and told their Captain that there was some Ambush laid wherewith he immediately acquainted the Burgomaster and this was about two of the Clock in the morning The Burgomaster presently calls a Council and orders all to Arm though no body could tell what the matter was About break of day the Spaniards began by little and little to appear but in small numbers that they might discover the number of the Watch. Then again the Captain of the Watch sends word to the Burgomaster to put himself in a readiness for that there was danger at hand Having therefore consulted what was to be done about four of the Clock they send out about two hundred Citizens into the Suburbs These perceiving nothing after they were gone out began to be a little negligent but so soon as it was day the Spaniards with their great Guns let fly against the Pales which divided the Ditch into two and beat them down and so in great numbers breaking in through the Ditch that was then almost dry upon the Town Watch Whereupon they also who as we said remained in the Wood came presently on and with great force break open one of the Gates but the Citizens defended themselves valiantly and made use of their Ordnance having however lost their Captain Alfonsus Vives in the first Charge But when they could hardly withstand the force of so great a multitude by little and little they retreat to the Bridge over the Rhine where they maintained a hot and tedious Conflict and with much ado getting into the Town again from the Walls and Gates they briskly play their great Guns upon the Enemy who with all their might were attempting to force the Gate and kill many of them Those
to house and many of the Seditious were taken who were in several manners put to death Fourteen Gentlemen were also brought forth with Halters about their Necks of whom one or two being beheaded the German Officers interceded for the rest and begg'd their Lives of the Constable Twelve days were spent in this sad and bloody spectacle and yet that was not all for besides those that suffered death a great many were sent to the Galleys All their Bells also were taken from them not only in the Town but likewise in the Country about that they might not ring any Alarm as they had done before Then all their Charters and publick Writings containing their Liberties and Freedoms were burnt they themselves making the Fire And because they had killed the King's Lieutenant the Constable made them scrape up the Earth where he was buried with their Nails and Fingers allowing them no Tool or Instrument to do it with so that the dead Body being found it was solemnly buried with a great Procession of Monks and Priests who went before the Corps After came all the Citizens about five thousand in number each with a Wax Taper in his hand and when they past before the Constable's Lodgings the Corps was set down at some paces distance then the Towns-people falling upon their Knees with a lamentable cry beg pardon bewail and curse their fact and thank the King for not punishing them more rigorously Having so ordered all Matters he left a Garison in the Town and marched away on the ninth of November There happened a very strange thing at that time in Italy In Citadella a Town not far from Padoua belonging to the State of Venice lived one Franccis Spira a Lawyer of great Practice at the Bar. This Man began with incredible Zeal to embrace the Reformed Religion and making daily more and more proficiency in it he told his Thoughts of the several Points of Doctrine not only to his Friends at home but abroad every where to all This thing could not be long concealed but was at length carried to John Caso Archbishop of Benevento who was then the Pope's Legate at Venice When Spira came to know this he very well saw what danger he was in and therefore having long cast about and considered with himself what was best to be done he resolved at length to go to the Legate who had sent for him Wherefore going to Venice and having confessed his Error as he thought or as fear made him call it he begg'd Absolution and promised Obedience for the future Though the Legate was glad of his voluntary Confession yet for Example-sake he enjoyns him to go home and make a publick Recantation of what he had said before He promised to do so and although he then began to repent of what he had done yet at the solicitation of his Friends who told him that the welfare not only of himself but of his Wife Children Estate and all depended on it he obeyed But not long after he fell sick both in Body and Mind and began to despair of God's Mercy By the advice thereof of his friends he is removed from Citadella to Padoua that he might both have the assistance of Physicians and the ghostly comfort of learned and pious Men. When he had been visited by the Physicians John Paul Crasso Bellacata and Frisimelega they presently gave their opinion that the Distemper was contracted by pensiveness and over-eager thinking and that the best Remedy for him was good Discourse and ghostly Consolation Many learned Men therefore come daily to him and laboured to cure his Mind by such Texts of Scripture as declare the manifold Mercies of God towards us He again told them that he denyed not but that all they said was true but that these Texts did not belong to him for that he was damned to everlasting Pains because for fear of danger he had abjured the known Truth that these Pains he felt already in his Mind and that he could not love God but horribly hated him In this condition he persisted refusing all Sustenance and when they forced Food into his mouth ever spitting it out again It would be tedious to relate all that past either what he said or what others alledged from holy Scripture to cure his despair Since then all Advice and Counsel were but cast away upon him and that both his bodily infirmity and the anguish of his Mind encreased more and more daily he was carried home again and there miserably died in that sad state of Despair Whilst he lay at Padoua amongst others Petro Paulo Vergerio Bishop of Justinopolis a Town in Istria under the Dominion of the Venetians came often to visit and comfort him Mention is made in the foregoing Books of Vergerio's being employed by the Popes Clement and Paul as their Nuncio in Germany He was also in very great favour with King Ferdinand whilst he was in Hungary Who having there a Daughter baptized by the name of Catharine Vergerio with George Marquess of Brandenburg and the Archbishop of Lundon who were the Godfathers But afterwards he revolted from the Papacy and that upon a very strange occasion Upon his return to Rome whither he had been recalled after the Conference of Wormes which was in the beginning of the year 1541. The Pope designed to have made him a Cardinal amongst other new ones whom then he was about to promote But it was whispered about by some that through long conversation with the Germans he was become a Lutheran When Vergerio heard this from Cardinal Ginucio whom the Pope had told it to he was strangely surprised and to purge himself retired into his own Country and there began a Book to which he gave this Title Against the Apostates of Germany Now whilst for confuting the Opinions he carefully perusued the Books of his Adversaries and attentively considered their Arguments he perceived himself worsted and overcome and laying aside all hopes of a Cardinals Hat he went to ask advice of his own Brother John Baptista Bishop of the City of Pola His Brother terrified at first bewailed the poor mans condition But having at his earnest prayer and entreaty applied himself to the search of the holy Scriptures and diligently weighed that Point of Doctrine concerning Justification and having compared things together he yielded and concluded the Popish Doctrine to be false Whereupon rejoycing in one another they began to teach the people of Istria which is the proper Office of a Bishop and to preach up the benefit of Christ to mankind and to tell the people what works God requires of us that so they might bring over Men to the true Worship of their Maker But many Adversaries arose against them especially the Monks called the Observantines who informed the Inquisitors of whom the chief was Hannibal Grisonio who had for Colleague Jerome Mutio the same that afterwards wrote an Invective
of their counsel shall not be punished provided he be right in his Religion and abstain for the future but he who not being of their Society does inform against them shall have the Reward abovementioned That Penalties be inflicted in the same manner as we have commanded and that no Man take to himself any power to alter or mitigate the same which we understand is often done for the Judges that herein offend shall not go unpunished And forasmuch as many who have been accused of Hersie and cited to appear have fled and been outlawed for it but afterwards upon the death of their Complices have used to come in and pray'd that they might be admitted to justifie themselves as thinking that the Crime could not be made out against them and by that means being returned have again spread their false Doctrine and Errours to the great prejudice of the publick It is therefore our will and pleasure that no regard be had to their demands but that all who have not appeared upon Citation but saved themselves by flight be held as Persons convicted and condemned That they who intercede for suspected Persons Fugitives Outlaws and Anabaptists be reputed savourers and supporters of Hereticks and that Judges and Governours receive none such into favour without leave from us or our dearest Sister first had and obtained upon pain of losing their Places and Commands That Printers and Booksellers do not print publish sell or disperse any Religious Book or Pamphlet without a License from those who shall be impowr'd to grant it and who shall answer for their own works also if therein they offend And because there is extant a Catalogue of the Books which the University of Louvain have rejected that all Booksellers have it hanging up in their Shops so that neither they nor the Buyers who have it before their Eyes may pretend ignorance and again that they have another Catalogue of all their own Books wherein he that sails shall be fined in an hundred Ducats That no Man either keep School or teach Children without a License from the Magistrate and especially the Curates of Parishes and that he teach nothing to Youth but according to the form prescribed by the Divines of the University of Louvain When the Edict was proclaimed all Men generally were extreamly startled at it especially the German and English Merchants who in great numbers traded in the Emperours Towns and Provinces but chiefly at Antwerp So that they were of the opinion that either the Edict must be moderated or that they must remove to some other place nay many shut up their Shops and thought of nothing but flying from the danger The Common Counsel and private Citizens also of Antwerp who saw what an incredible loss that would prove to them were in great streights so that when the Inquisitors came thither they vigorously oppose them and making their application to Queen Mary their Governess represented to her how much it concerned not only them but the whole Country also that the Edict should not be put in execution Wherefore by reason of the many people of various Nations that then resided in Antwerp the execution of the Proclamation was for that time superseded in the very same City for which it was chiefly made The Slavonian we mentioned before published afterward this Edict Translated into High Dutch and severely taxed Islebius and the Adiaphorists as he calls them who laboured to persuade the People that Religion was not the thing aimed at As for the commission of Inquisition which they called Instructions it contained a most ample power for they had authority to call before them not only ordinary People but also the Magistrates themselves and make them swear to answer what Interrogatories were put to them and to discover all they knew Now the Questions concerning Religion that were put to those who were accused or suspected were thirty eight in number of which these were some Whether or no they believed the Sacrifice of the Mass to be Propitiatory for the Dead so as to deliver them out of the pains of Purgatory If they believed Peter to have been the Prince of the Apostles the Vicar of Christ and Pope of the Church of Rome and those who lawfully succeed him in his Chair to be so esteemed also Whether they believe it lawful to withdraw from under the obedience of the Pope provided he be not a Heretick or Schismatick If they believe Private Marriage to be lawful and if they believe the Lutherans Bucerans and the like to be the Church The French Cardinals who had stayed at Rome some time after the Election of the Pope now returned home but John Cardinal of Lorrain who had been the darling Companion of King Francis all his life time died upon the Road after he came back into France but before he had seen the King. Upon that occasion Robert Cardinal de Lenoncour obtained the Bishoprick of Metz who afterward was thought to have much contributed in bringing the City of Metz which belonged to the Empire under the Dominion of France as shall be said hereafter There was a Decree made in the last Session of the Council of Trent That they who had a plurality of Bishopricks might reserve to themselves which of them they pleased and resign the rest as has been said in the Nineteenth Book Nevertheless so long as Paul III. lived it was never put in execution but in the Pontificate of this Pope in France the Cardinals made a shew of obeying it but not at all to their prejudice For since most of them had two or three Bishopricks and many others aspired to that Dignity they made exchanges and for one Bishoprick they parted from got from him they surrendered it to many Abbeys or other Ecclesiastical Promotions in lieu of it In the Month of July Adolph Archbishop of Cologne having struck up an Accommodation with the Senate made his entry into that City with extraordinary pomp and splendour all his Vassals Tenants Kindred and Relations being from all places summoned in to give him an honourable Attendance that day And as it is said he had above two thousand Horse in his Retinue the Duke of Cleve having brought in a great many This Duke had a little before a Daughter by his Duchess Mary Daughter to King Ferdinand The Godmothers were the Emperours two Sisters Queen Eleanor and Queen Mary and the Elector of Cologne Godfather but not long after the Duke and Archbishop had a grievous falling out about Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction On the Six and twentieth of July the Emperour opened the Dyet at Ausburg wherein he propounded the prosecution of the Council the observation of the Decree about Religion lately made at Ausburg the punishment of the Rebels and the restitution of Church Lands and Jurisdiction as the maters to be treated of This also was an Armed Dyet though the State of Affairs was somewhat more peaceable now The Princes
Albert give him for a Co-adjutor they not only not-approved it but also refused to give him his Name and Title though they had been often called upon to do so And when after the death of Albert he succeeded they would neither acknowledge him for their Bishop nor do homage to him persisting in that obstinacy so long as he lived though many Great Men often interceded Now their design in so doing was that they themselves might invade the chief Government as may easily appear to any that will consider their actions And though in the Declaration they published with a design to raise Commotions they endeavour to persuade the People that they are faultless and innocent and that they suffer only for Truth 's sake and Religion yet it is quite otherwise For neither have they been any ways letted in their Religion though they seized our Churches Who bore with them patiently because they promised to answer for what they had done in a lawful Council But they not satisfied therewith combined into a Confederation and League which was not lawful for them to do without the consent of us and the Archbishop acording to Compacts made and would force us to be of their Religion From whence it is apparent enough that it was not Religion but Church-Lands they wanted and that they acted so that they might cloak their Rebellion and Perfidie with some honest pretext Many things have they seditiously done against the Emperour and States of the Empire nor can all be reckoned up only we 'll touch at those things which properly concern us And in the first place about four years since in prejudice of their Faith and Engagements whereby they stood bound to us they gave us open defiance and having invaded our Houses and Possessions banished us and committed some of our number to prison where some are still detained and others died More than that they razed our Houses to the very ground reduced under their own Power Towns Lands and Governments which belonged to our Jurisdiction and having fortified their Town that they might the more safely rebel they imposed a Monthly Assessment and other burdens upon the People Churches and Religious Houses they partly demolished and partly defaced converted the Bells taken out of the Steeples into great Guns dug up the dead Bodies not only of Priests and Monks but also of the Nobility and Gentry and with them filled up their Works and Ramparts Statues Altars and the Monuments of the Dead they took and built into their Walls Out of the Churches that remained entire they drove all Religious Worship They plundered the Churches of all their Ornaments and Jewels and of all the Writings and Records they found therein driving the Priests and other Officers of the Church with Fists and Clubs out of God's house and from his very Altars In several places they have imposed new Customs and Duties quite contrary to the usage of the Country Nay more in a tumultuary manner they broke down the Monument and Sepulcher of our Founder the Emperour Otho the Great And these are all Domestick Villanies But not herewith contented they broke into the Bishoprick of Halberstadt and there ransacking the Monastery of Hamersleber drove the Priests from the Altars where they were officiating of whom they wounded some and killed others and profaning all things Sacred they trampled under foot the Consecrated Hoste Afterwards having put themselves into the Habit of Monks and so acted many scornful and outragious parts they returned home loaded with spoils and booty But without any cause they broke down a Bank or Dike which cost a vast charge in making and was very useful in those places burning and breaking down the Bridges that no body might pass that way They lay in wait also for our lives and do so still so that without danger we can neither live at home nor be abroad with our Friends And if they suspected any to have entertained us in their Houses they set upon them in the night time robbed them of their Goods and carried away many Gentlemen Prisoners some of whom they rackt and tortured Many Ladies also and young Virgins they stript of all their Apparel and Ornaments and put them in fear of their Lives nor did they refrain their hands from young Children neither In short hardly do we think that any such Example of cruelty can be shewn amongst the Turks and if an estimate were taken of what they have made of our Goods and of the damage they have done it would be found to amount to the value of at least eight hundred thousand Florins Not to mention in the mean time the reproachful railings they have used and the scandalous and defamatory Libels and Pictures they have set forth in contempt and scorn of the Emperour and States of the Empire nor the injuries that for almost twenty seven whole years past we have suffered from them For they have thrown Stones and kennel-Dirt at us set upon us in the Streets with horrid clamour and noise chased and hunted us from place to place many times set fire to our Houses and Doors in the night time with Stones broke our Glass Windows and in short used all the insolencies against us that they could devise It is but four years since that we having met in our College at the desire of the Consuls they required of us first that we would profess the same Religion that they did And then that for the preparations of War we should in a Weeks time pay them down twenty thousand Florins Afterwards they entred the Church whither the Citizens came flocking in great numbers and there in a tumultuary manner cast out the Priests shut the Church Doors and demanded of the inferiour sort of Priests a great sum of Money which they not being able to pay they chased them out of the Town and banished them After the self-same manner also they treated the other Church-men seizing into their hands all their Lands Goods and Possessions Wherein they have transgressed not only the Laws of God and Man but also their own Promises and Compacts For we are their Magistrates and it is to us chiefly they owe their Wealth and Fortunes But when George Duke of Meckleburg took lately into his service the Forces that had served both in the besieging and defending of Brunswick to the number of above three thousand Men and without our knowledge made an inrode into the Country about Magdeburg and Halberstadt They truly with a great deal of arrogance came out of the Town with intent first to drive out the Enemy and then to turn all the force of their Arms against us that they might utterly destroy us For they had two Tuns full of Halters and had hired Executioners with their Swords that they might hang up some and behead all the rest But through God's Blessing it fell out quite otherwise For though they were about eight thousand strong yet they were overthrown and above two
they were not able to do what they were very willing to have done The Bodies of the Dead were not so used as they affirm But when for our defence we demolished some Churches near the Town what Bodies were found not as yet consumed were removed to another place and buried deeper in the ground Again all had leave to carry the dead Bodies of their Relations that were found there whithersoever they pleased What they say of the Emperour Otho is a most false and impudent lie of their own devising For we are not ignorant what Honour is due to the chief Magistrate of all but especially to him of whom they speak the Emperour Otho who did many great Actions and was a most valiant Asserter and Defender of the Liberty of Germany That Worship which they call Holy and Divine Service which they complain we disturbed in their Churches is nothing less than Holy but rather a reproach to God in the highest degree The Vestments Chalices and other Ornaments were long before carried out of the Town by them But the Writings and publick Records are in our keeping and are not cancelled as they falsly accuse us Nor were the Priests beaten but they themselves robbed the Churches and carried the prey elsewhere We assaulted the Monastery of Hamerslebe which nevertheless belongs not to them because it was a refuge to our Enemies where they divided the spoil that they took from us and our Associates What they add of the many insolencies and saucy tricks that our Men did there it is a mere Fiction of the Monks as to the injuries which they say were done them in the City the story is this About five and twenty years since when on Palm-Sunday they were performing their apish and ridiculous Ceremonies the Rabble ftocking thither laughed at them for it But they whose rashness and boldness proceeded so far as to break the Windows were by us severely punished and banished For other injuries we know none nor did they themselves ever complain to us of any Wherefore we have done nothing against our Engagements or Transactions and so have given our Adversaries no cause of War. These things then considered we beseech all men not to give credit to their Calumnies but that they would pity our case who are constrained to a defensive War that we may be permitted to preserve the pure Doctrine of the Gospel and the Liberty which we received from our Forefathers for which the godly Kings and Magistrates of former times and those Valiant Macchabees thought no danger too great to be undergone Peace is the thing we most wish for But it is deny'd us So that being long and much infested by the Incursions of our Neighbours we cannot but resist unjust violence And this makes us the more confident that such as have never been provoked by any injury from us will not concern themselves in this War but stand in awe of the great God the Avenger of all unrighteousness For the same cause that hath raised this trouble against us will within a short time involve themselves also in streights and difficulties if they are desirous to preserve and maintain the true Religion January the fifth the Emperour commanded the Popes Bull of Indiction of the Council to be read in the Dyet of the Princes and States and warned them to prepare against its sitting The same day King Ferdinand informed the States that in time of Truce the Turks began to stir in Hungary and to build a Castle within his Dominions as they had endeavoured to surprize his Castle of Zolnock and put a Garison into it That they had also made an inrode into Transylvania That for his part he had given no cause of any Quarrel and was wholly inclined to observe the Truce But that if the Turk refused to do so he moved that supplies might be given him We told you in the twentieth Book that Stephen Bishop of Winchester was made Prisoner in England Now seeing he persisted in his opinion and would not allow the Laws made or to be made concerning Religion during the Kings minority he was this year in the Month of January turned out of his Bishoprick and sent again to Prison Andrew Osiander who went as we said into Prussia broached at this time a new Opinion affirming That man is not justified by Faith but by the righteousness of Christ dwelling in us and he maintained that Luther was of his Judgment also But the rest of the Divines his Collegues vigorously opposed him declaring what he said of Luther to be false who not many Months before his death had given an ample and fair testimony of Philip Melanchtons Book concerning common places of Scripture in the Preface to the first Tome of it That in falling foul then upon Melanchton he made Luther also his Enemy because both were of one mind Then having compared places they plainly demonstrated that Luther taught quite contrary to him in this Matter and affirmed his Doctrine to be pestiferous since he asserted that the Righteousness of Faith did not consist in the Blood and Death of Christ And this Matter was declared to and fro with great heat He pretended as I said that Luther and he were of the same Judgment But in the mean time he boasted amongst his Friends as it is written that Luther and Melanchton had framed a certain Aristotelian Divinity that savoured more of the Flesh than Spirit At first Duke Albert desired that the Matter might have been taken up by Mediators But after much tampering being persuaded by Osiander he came over to his Opinion and commanded the Adversaries of it to depart his Country Amongst these was Joachim Merlin and he must pack off too though not only the Citizens but Women and Children also petitioned the Prince that he would not deprive them of such a Pastor Now Osiander had taught many years at Norimberg and with applause too started no Innovations then and seemed in all things to follow the Doctrine of Luther so long as he lived but when after the Emperours Edict about Religion came out he left Norimberg and went into Prussia he broached this Opinion which as most think he would hardly have done had Luther been still alive He challenged chiefly the Divines of Wittemberg to refute these things if they could and he declared he would defend them whoever should offer to impugne the same not sparing Melanchton whom he sharply pinched All Learned Men generally especially in Saxony condemned his Opinion in Books they published for that effect and censured him for disturbing the Church at a most unseasonable time but every body grumbled that he should so unworthily treat Melanchton a Man of so much Mildness and Learning In another Book he maintained that though Mankind had not been lost by the Sin of Adam yet Christ was to have been born in the World. February the Thirteenth the Dyet of the Empire was dissolved
being brought of the taking of Ausburg by surrender they fly for it Crescentio the Legate being frightened by an Apparition fell sick and despaired of Life what ever his Servants and Physicians could do or say to comfort him IN order to a pacification Duke Maurice held a Convention of his own States about the end of September at Wittemberg whither as it had been agreed upon the City of Magdeburg sent their Deputies who ten days after returned home under the safe Conduct of Marquess Albert of Brandeburg We told you before how Duke Maurice had by Letters interceded with the Emperour that his Divines might have a safe Conduct from the Council the Emperour therefore sent Orders to his Ambassadors to prefer the Matter to the Fathers and bring it to pass A Session was then held on the eleventh of October wherein was read first a Decree explaining the Doctrine of the Corporal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist of the manner of its Institution of Transubstantiation as they call it of the Worship and Adoration of this Sacrament of keeping of the Host and of carrying it about to the Sick and of the Preparation that is required for the worthy Receiving thereof And then all Christians are forbidden to believe or teach otherwise than according to the Doctrine of that Decree Then were the Canons read over and in them were all the Points condemned which as we said before had been drawn out of the Books of Luther and others nevertheless to comply with the Emperour they left four of them undecided â—o wit Whether or not it be necessary to Salvation and commanded by the Law of God that all receive the Sacrament in both kinds whether he who receives it only in one kind receives less than he who takes it in both whether the Church erred when she appointed that the Priests only should receive in both kinds and the rest under one whether the Sacrament be to be given also to young Children The Protestants they said desired to be heard as to these Points before the Council determined any thing in them and to have a safe Conduct to come Since therefore they had hitherto earnestly lookt for their coming and were in good hopes that they might return to the ancient Unity and Concord of the Church they granted them a safe conduct to come and return home and did defer the decision of these Points 'till the twenty fifth day of January that by that day they might be present and alledge what they had to say That then also because of the Affinity that was betwixt the two the Sacrifice of the Mass should be handled These things then were publickly read by them as if their Adversaries had desired only to be heard concerning those matters whereas no such thing had ever entered into their Thoughts Besides Duke Maurice no body had made address to the Emperour and he also did it in the manner we mentioned before there being far greater matters to be propounded than those were But what the design was in giving out that Sham one may guess it though nothing can be positively affirmed though one of two it must needs be for either they had had a lame and sinistrous account of Duke Maurice's demand or they themselves cunningly misunderstood it which is the more likely of the two because of the safe Conduct which they gave for when Duke Maurice desired a safe Conduct for his People in the same form and manner as the Bohemians of old obtained one They in a few words and very superficially drew up a draught without the usual formalities to wit that all Germans indifferently might come to the Council and freely debate confer and treat about the Matters there to be handled either in full Council or with some Commissioners appointed and that either by Word or Writing as they pleased without contumelious and reproachful Language or Reflections and when they should think fit to depart and return home that the Council as to that granted them safe Conduct so far as was in their power And that they might also for the Crimes committed or to be committed though they were most grievous and savoured of Heresie choose to themselves Judges at their own discretion The same day the eleventh of October they made some Canons touching Reformation which related to their own Jurisdiction And then the twenty fifth of November was appointed to be the day of the next Session when Penance and Extream Unction should be handled Joachim Elector of Brandeburg sent also his Ambassador Christopher Strassen a Lawyer to offer his Duty and Obeisance and the Ambassador made a long Harangue indeed concerning the good Intentions of his Master They make answer That with great pleasure they had heard all his Speech especially that part of it wherein the Prince submits himself wholly to the Council and promises to observe the Decrees thereof that they were in hopes that what had been now said by him would be effectually performed by the Prince his Master Upon the death of John Albert who had enjoyed the spacious and rich Archbishoprick of Magdeburg as we said Frederick the Elector of Brandeburg's Son was by the Chapter chosen Archbishop But the Matter stuck at Rome and could not be dispatched it being a great Obstacle in the way that as it was publickly known the Elector Joachim had before been of the Protestant Religion To remove that suspicion therefore was the Ambassador whom I named sent who used his utmost diligence by sawning and cajoling to work upon the Prelates Peace was concluded at Wittemberg and though the Siege was not presently raised yet October the twelfth they began to have friendly Meetings together At the same time Duke Maurice made those of Catzenelbogen a People of the Dominion of Hess who three years before had by the Emperour's Sentence been taken from the Landgrave then Prisoner as we said before to swear Allegiance to him with the consent of the Landgrave's Sons and that because of an Hereditary League as he said betwixt the Houses of Hess and Saxony whereby for want of Heirs Male the one is to succeed to the other No Man doubted but that this was an injury done to the Emperour who had pronounced the Sentence and that it tended to some new commotion and all wondred what would come on 't yet hardly any notice was taken of it in the Emperour's Court but all was seemingly connived at About this time the Duke of Somerset Uncle to the King of England was a second time apprehended and with him the Lord Paget the Lord Gray and some others John Duke of Northumberland had then the chief Government and the reason of his apprehension was said to be That he had conspired the death of Northumberland as he himself alledged for that by a late Law was made Felony amongst them About the fifteenth of October the Pope made George Martinhausen
parts of one and the same Empire under one Prince and governed by the same Laws but that when in the vicissitude of time the Empire devolved upon the Germans the Dukes of Saxony and other Emperors as deriving their Original from the Kings of the Francs entertained constant Friendship with the French insomuch that Philip the August King of France caused that ancient League which was almost worn out by time to be written of new in Golden Characters and to be laid up in a more Sacred place and not without just Cause neither for that so long as this Union lasted both People lived in a most flourishing State That the force of Germany was then so great that they gave Laws not only to the Hungarians Bohemians Polanders and Danes but to the Italians also and the Kings of France again who fought for the maintenance of Religion obtained many glorious Victories in Europe Asia and Africa over the Saracens and Turks the declared Enemies of Christendom But that the times proved more unlucky afterwards when some Emperors as being ingrafted upon the Stock but no natural Germans nor worthy of that Dignity forsook the amity of the Kings of France and brought great Calamities upon the Empire but that through God's Blessing this Wound was Healed by the Illustrious Family of Luxembourg which hath produced some Emperors Princes of great Merit and most intimate Friends of the Kings of France For the Father of Charles IV died fighting for the King of France that the Princes of the House of Austria have entertained the same Amity and Kindness and particularly Albert the first whom neither the Promises nor Threats of the Popes could move to make War against France that he mentioned these things with this Intent that they might be convinced how little some of the Counsellors and Courtiers of the most mighty Emperor Charles V. tendered the wellfare of the Empire whilst they make it their Business not only to divide and rend asunder those two most renowned Nations but also did by their Arts and Cunning so far prevail formerly that King Francis a most excellent Prince was by their Procurement judged an Enemy and no reason given why That they did those things for their own private Gain and Advantage indeed but to the great Prejudice of the Publick That this alone was enough to shew how difficult it would be for them so long as Friendship continued betwixt both Nations to infringe the Liberty of Germany and to erect their own Monarchy that the fear of the French Arms made them now proceed more remissly and not so much urge their Spanish Yoke of Bondage as formerly that these were the Men who by Prayers and Tribute obtained Peace from the Turk that they might under the Colour of Religion and Loyalty raise Feuds and Animosities in Germany that being aided by the Forces of Germany they might make War against Germany that they might squeeze Money from all and reduce the Empire to a sad and miserable Condition placing here and there Spanish Garrisons exhausting the Magazines and making way for Arbitrary Rule For that matters were now brought to this Pass that the great Seal of the Empire the Judicature of the Imperial Chamber and the right and liberty of Diets all depended on the Will and Pleasure of one Man the Bishop of Arrus For what instance could be shewn or reason given that free-born Germans who for a livelihood served Strangers in their Wars should be Punished Proscribed and have Princes set upon their Heads Not to mention so many Murthers lascivious Practices Devastations plunderings of Towns but especially the varying and altering of Religion according to occasion and the turn of Times That there was no doubt to be made but that whatever had been done of this nature for many Years past tended only to this that the Laws of the Empire being Confounded King Ferdinand either forced or wheedled by Promises and the Princes of the Empire over-awed the Prince of Spain might be designed Emperor Were not Death more eligible to brave Men than to live and see the Sun with so great Misery That no Man certainly could be imagined so Barbarous as not to be moved at these things That it ought not to be thought strange then that some Princes should at length arise and amongst others Duke Maurice Elector of Saxony who thought the danger of their Lives too little for recovering the liberty of their common Country But that finding themselves inferiour in Strength they had implored the Aid and Assistance of the King of France and that he setting aside all the Provocations received in former Years had not only imparted to them his Treasure but also employed himself wholly in the Affair having made a League with them wherein amongst other things it was provided that no Peace should be made with the Emperor without the Advice and Consent of the King Moreover that Duke Maurice though he lay under that Obligation yet that he might serve his Country and comply with the Desires of King Ferdinand had lately demanded of the most Christian King that he would let him know upon what terms he would be willing to make Peace That the Proposal had been made somewhat contrary to his Expectation indeed for considering what a great Favour he had done he thought that in matters concerning himself he ought to have Treated Personally and not at so great distance But that nevertheless since he preferred the publick far before his own private Interests he was not willing to deny any thing to a Confederate Prince That therefore if the Wounds of the State might be Healed as they ought to be and such Care taken that they might not for the future Fester again if the Captive Princes might be set at Liberty upon the Conditions prescribed by the League if the ancient Alliance betwixt France and the Empire and the League made lately with the Princes might be confirmed so as it should be perpetual if all these things might be procured the King was so well affected towards the Publick that he not only assented to the Treaty of Peace but would render hearty Thanks to God that by Counsel and Assistance he had contributed thereunto That as to private affairs since the Emperor detained many things by force and upon no just Cause had made War the King thought it reasonable that he who had first done the wrong should first also make the Satisfaction That for his part though he did not distrust his Strength yet he would so behave in all things that it should appear he was not only desirous of Peace but willing also to gratify Duke Maurice and them all To these things the Princes make answer that the Commemoration of the ancient Alliance betwixt Germany and France brought from the Records of former times had been very pleasant unto them nor was it less acceptable to understand that the King preferred the Publick before his own private Advantages and that he was willing
do further declare to you and yours that you ought to be resposable for all the Calamities which shall ensue in this War you having refused to submit to any just and equal Conditions of Peace And we do not doubt but that Almighty God will rather assist us who seek nothing but the Preservation of our Country than you who have committed great Injuries in and began an unjust War against it When this Declaration was delivered to Albert the Ambassadors of the Elector of Brandenburg were in his Camp who were come to perswade him to a Peace And he having read it called his Commanders together and asked them if they would try their Fortunes with him which they promised him they would and thereupon he called the young Gentleman who brought him the Letter and speaking to him said Your Prince has already thrice broke his Faith with me and done ill by me and this is his fourth Action of the same Nature Let him come and I will try what he can do and this tell him from me And thereupon having according to the Custom given him some Crowns he sent him away Whereupon the Ambassadors who were come to Mediate a Peace addressed themselves to him and said What then Sir shall we do nothing No said he you may go Home But having a little more closely reflected on the Consequences of the War the third of July he sent Erick of Brunswick to the Emperor to inform him That by the Cunning of some Men many Enemies were stirred up against him to the End that not only the Pacts that had been made with him might not be performed but also that he might be driven out of his Country and deprived of his Possessions that there was no doubt but if Fortune favoured their Designs they would soon declare for the French Interest For in truth France had invited them with the Proffer of great Advantages to enter into a new Conspiracy as he could prove And that some of the Electors and great Princes had already conspired to set up a new Emperor That the Imperial Chamber was the only Promoter of the Designs of the two Bishops against him and therefore he desired the Emperor his Majesty would not take it ill that he had been compelled to make use of Force against them He further insisted That his Enemies in order to excite the publick Envy against him had spread abroad a Report as if he had Combined with the Emperor to oppress the Liberty of Germany and that some of the Princes had objected this to him and he said there were Letters to the same purpose spread about Germany which were pretended to be written from Arras that he Levied Forces to assist the Emperor in this Design For that the Emperor intended to send his Son the Prince of Spain and the Duke De Alva to the next Diet that he might there be declared Successor of the Empire That King Ferdinand was so fully perswaded of the Truth of this that he had entred into a League with his Enemies and has saith he declared a War against me he said he had excused this very carefully and to many but yet the suspition got strength every Day and that in truth all the Dangers and Difficulties to which he was exposed arose from no other cause than his adhering to the Emperor Therefore he did most humbly supplicate his Majesty to confirm his Treaty with the Bishops and to undertake the Protection of him and his in Consideration of which he promised he would bring nine Thousand Horse and one Hundred Foot Companies into the Emperors Service when-ever his Majesty should require them In the mean time the Forces of the City of Norimberg and the two Bishops in the Absence of Albert invaded his Territories Whereupon he put out a Declaration against the City of Norimberg accusing them of breaking their Faith and Promises to him and insinuating that by joyning in a League with those two Perfidious Bishops as he called them they seem'd well disposed to re-imbrace the Roman-Catholick Religion They on the other side Printed and Published an Answer soon after relating all things in the order they had happened and beginning with the Actions of the former Year they shew how cruel a War he had begun what Pacts they had made with him how with the Consent of the Emperor they had entred into a League with their Neighbour Bishops How Albert had rejected the most equal Terms the Bishops had offered to him and had nevertheless begun a War upon them how he had lately again Invaded the Territories belonging to this City only because pursuant to their League and in obedience to the Commands of the Imperial Chamber they had sent Succours to their Allies Amongst other ill things which they charged him with they mention this as an Instance of Cruelty which had never been practised by any Man before him That when he had made himself Master of Altorfe and Lawffe two Towns in their Territories he shut up in them not only the Inhabitants of these Towns but a great number of Men which he had brought together out of the Neighbouring Country together with their Cattel and then had Fired the said Towns in many places at the same time and especially at the Gates designing apparently to burn all these People with the Towns and that in this Fire many Women and Children and Aged and Sick Persons who could not make their way either through or over the City Walls were miserably burnt to Death And as to what he alledged concerning their changing their Religion they shew that Pretence was vain for that the League was only entred to the Intent to preserve themselves and theirs from unjust Force And as for Albert they said it was well known how little he regarded any Religion as they could shew by many Instances which they would certainly have inserted here but out of Reverence to the noble House of which he was descended and some other Princes that were his near Relations they would forbear doing it The fifth day of July Sigismond King of Poland Married Catherine one of the Daughters of Ferdinand King of the Romans which Lady had before been the Wife of the Duke of Mantoua Sigismond had before this in the Year 1535 Married Elizabeth another of the Daughters of Ferdinand and Sister of Catherine as I have related above in the fifteenth Book of this History Edward the sixth King of England a Prince of great and unquestioned Vertue and Hope died the sixth day of July as was commonly given out of a Consumption being about sixteen years of Age to the great Grief of all Pious Men. There followed in England after his Death great Changes as I shall relate hereafter There was soon after a report spread abroad that he was Poysoned However it is certain Europe has not in many Ages produced a Prince of so great Expectation From his Infancy he was well instructed in Religion and
he thought it belonged to him to appoint his Successor and the rather because there was a general and common Dispute concerning their Legitimacy and Mary did also profess the Roman Catholick Religion and if she should succeed he had reason to fear the Religion which was then established would be subverted and the Nation be endangered to be brought under the Dominion of a Foreigner He resolved therefore after great deliberation to chuse Jane Duchess of Suffolk Grand-child to Mary the younder Sister of Henry the 8th for his Successor This Resolution being approved by his Council and Nobility and the Mayor of London the Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England was sent for to Court to sign it But he refused to do it till he had spoken with the King being accordingly admitted into the King's Chamber and having with great freedom discoursed this Business with him at last he consented upon the King 's extream importunity The King died as I have said the 6th of July and the fourth Day after Jane was proclaimed Queen of England and the Instrument was read at the same time reciting how King Edward for great and weighty Causes had with the Consent of his Peers disinherited Mary and Elizabeth his Sisters and transmitted the Succession of the Kingdom to Jane his Cousin The Nobility and People of England were much displeased with this not so much out of affection to the Princess Mary as out of hatred to the Duke of Northumberland there being very few or none who did not look upon him as the Author of this Project that he might bring the Crown into his own Family Whilst these things were thus in agitation the Princess Mary fled to the Castle of Framingham in Suffolk and assuming the Authority of a Queen implored the assistance of her Subjects This being known at London Northumberland levied Forces and with the consent of the Council marched out of the City with an Army to take the Queen But in the Interim that part of the Council which continued in London seeing the dissatisfaction of the People and that great Forces came in to the Assistance of the Queen in Suffolk they thereupon changed their Minds and proclaimed Mary Queen and detained Jane a Prisoner in the Tower. Assoon as the News of this change came to the Camp the Army which neither willingly embraced the Cause nor loved the General revolted also and upon the Receipt of a Letter to that purpose seized the Duke of Northumberland at Cambridge and brought him the 25th day of July a Prisoner into London It is incredible with what Reproaches the People entertain'd him Some call'd him Traytor others Parricide and other the Murtherer of a most innocent Prince For his attempting to set his Daughter-in-Law upon the Throne had caused a mighty Jealousie that he had a long time been forming this Project and in conclusion had hasted the King's Death Afterwards his Children and his Brother were taken into Custody and some other Noblemen and Sir John Cheek the King's Tutor a Person of great Learning and Virtue but this last was soon after dismissed when they had stripp'd him of almost all he had The Third of August Queen Mary entred London and going to the Tower she immediately released the Duke of Norfolk who had been almost seven years a Prisoner there Tonstal Bishop of Durbam and some others who being of the Roman Catholick Religion had been removed from their Sees whom she also restored to their Places again And as for Gardiner Bishop of Winchester though he had in a Printed Book defended the Divorce made by Henry the Eighth of Catherine the Mother of Queen Mary as I have set forth in the Ninth Book of this History yet she notwithstanding made him Lord Chancellor of England which is an Office of the greatest Dignity and Power in that Kingdom When Queen Catherine urged in her Defence the Bull of Pope Julius the Second in Approbation of her Marriage the King on the other side said it was invalid and sent Gardiner who was not then advanced to the Dignity of a Bishop to Pope Clement to procure that Bull to be by him declared void He coming to Rome in February in the Year 1529. earnestly pressed his Errand on the Pope Clement according to the Proverb had then got a Wolf by the Ears and though he was very desirous to please the King yet fearing to offend the Emperor he only said he would write to the Emperor to produce the true Bull. Gardiner consented to this but desired it might be done in two Months and when that time was elapsed that if the Bull were not then produced it might be declared false The Pope thought this way of Proceeding was contrary to the Custom and unjust and endeavoured to appease and quiet the King by good words But Gardiner said on the other side that if what the King desired were not done it would bring great Mischief on the See of Rome The Emperor and Ferdinand his Brother the 27th of April by their Ambassadors express'd their discontent at this and expostulated with the Pope as too too much inclin'd to favour the King and for that he had permitted the Case to be heard in England and at the same time they appointed Proctors to prosecute the Suit in their Names at Rome with large Commissions and Instruction Thereupon the Pope commanded Cardinal Campeio to return back to Rome to which he was induced by a Letter which he had received from Wolsely Archbishop of York wherein he had given the Pope an Account of a new Love the King had entertained as I have set forth in the said Eleventh Book The Twenty second Day of August the Duke of Northumberland having before been tried and found guilty of High Treason and received Sentence of Death was brought upon a Scaffold on Tower-Hill where he made a Speech to the People and amongst other things exhorted them That they should continue stedfast in that Religion which they had received from their Ancestors affirming that he thought all the Calamities which had befallen the English especially since the Death of Henry the 8th proceeded from nothing but their having separated themselves from the rest of Christendom He had for some years before pretended to be of a contrary Opinion and had openly renounced the Roman Catholick Religion and it was said he had been prevailed upon to discourse thus upon Promises of a Pardon And although he ended his Speech with a Protestation that what he had said came from his heart yet some thought he repented it when he had look'd about him and saw there was no refuge to be expected and that he had been impos'd upon by flattering Promises Sir Thomas Palmer Knight who was beheaded at the same time professed the Protestant Religion with great constancy Northumberland was as I have said convicted of Treason and Rebellion and altho there were great Suspicions that he had poyson'd the late
therefore that they would persist in their Allegiance and assist her in revenging the Perfidy of those wicked Men who were in Rebellion against her whom they had in Parliament freely declared to be the lawful Heir of her Father When she had thus calmed their Minds she appointed some to defend the City and ordered the Earl of Pembroke to take care of the Suburbs She had before this Proclaimed Wiat a Traytor and an Enemy to the Nation and had ordered some Propositions he had sent her to be openly read to the People at the same time which are said to be That the Queen should put her self into his Custody That he should have the disposal of her Marriage and the determination what Privy-Counsellors should be continued or dismissed Three days after a Pardon was tendered to the Multitude upon Condition they deserted the Authors of this Sedition and a vast reward was promised to whoever could take Wiat. The Duke of Suffolk was at the same time Proclaimed Traytor That day the Rebels came up to the City and the Queen ordered the Draw-Bridge to be broken down that none out of the City might joyn with them The next day they took Southwark believing that the Citizens of London would rise and joyn with them but they were kept in awe by the Queens Forces In the mean time the Duke of Suffolk was taken in another part of the Nation by the Earl of Huntington who was sent with some Horse by the Queen on that Errand The Rebels having spent two days in attempting in vain to pass the River at Southwark they marched to Kingston about eight Miles above the City and there passed the Thames and bore directly down upon the City where Wiat was at last taken by the Forces under the Earl of Pembroke and sent to Prison and all his Forces were dispersed The next day which was the seventh of February there was a Proclamation put out that it should be Death for any Man to harbour any of the Rebels and not forthwith discover and produce him A few days after the Duke of Suffolk was brought a Prisoner into the City The twelfth day of February Guilford Dudley Son of the Duke of Northumberland and the Lady Jane his Wife the eldest Daughter of the Duke of Suffolk who had been declared Queen by Edward VI. as I have said were publickly Beheaded upon a Scaffold raised in the Tower of London for her Principally because they had aspired to the Crown contrary to the Laws of the Succession Though her death was hid from the Eyes of the People to prevent or abate their Compassion yet the greatest part of them heartily lamented the hard Fate of the Lady Jane She was thought a most innocent young Lady brought up like a Princess very Learned and was now involved in this Calamity not because she sought but for that she did not refuse a Crown that was offered her She made a Pious and Modest Speech to those that were present at her Execution and having implored the Mercy of God through Jesus Christ she caused her Maids that waited upon her to cover her Eyes and Face with a piece of Holland and then submitted her Neck to the Executioner The same day Courtney Earl of Devonshire who after many Years Imprisonment had lately been discharged out of the Tower was again taken into Custody upon suspition of having been concerned in this Rebellion After this in London and Westminster where the Queen then was many were hurried to Execution and amongst them some of the Nobility And some also escaped the Principal of which was Sir Peter Carew who found refuge in the Court of France The Duke of Suffolk was Tried and found Guilty the seventeenth day of February and Executed the twenty first of this Month. Whilst things went thus in England Sybilla of Cleve Wife of John Frederick Duke of Saxony died the same twenty first day of February at Weimar and the eleventh day after the Duke followed her himself having been sick some time before They both died in the true Knowledge of God and it was observed that when he gave order where his Lady should be Buried he commanded them to reserve a place for himself by her side because it would not be long e're he should follow her nor was he deceived in his Expectation The third day of March following having heard a Sermon as he lay in his Bed implored the Divine Mercy and commended his Spirit into the Hands of God he departed out of his Miserable and wretched Life to enter into his heavenly Countrey There was before his Death a Treaty concluded between him and Augustus Duke of Saxony In order to this the King of Denmark sent some time since an Embassy which after a Debate of six Months continuance a little before his death brought their Dissentions to a final Conclusion on these Terms John Frederick departed from his Right in the Electorate Misnia and the Mine-Towns upon condition that if Augustus should die without Issue-Male the same should return to John Frederick and his Issue-Male That in the Interim the said John and his Issue should enjoy and use the Title of Elector and the Arms of the Family of Saxony both in sealing and stamping Moneys Augustus on the other side granted to him and his Children certain Governments or Baylywicks and Towns and in lieu of certain Debts due to him from Maurice and in Arrears at the time of the Death of the said Maurice Augustus was to pay the sum of one hundred thousand Crowns He was also to redeem the Town and Castle of Koningsperg in Franconia which was mortaged to the Bishop of Wurtsburg for forty Thousand Crowns and to restore the same to John Frederick and his Children Lastly That the Hereditary League of the House of Saxony which of late years had been so much violated should be renewed and confirmed This Agreement was signed and confirmed by John Frederick in his last Sickness not long before his Death and he commanded his Children also to subscribe and seal it Thus having with great constancy surmounted all those Calamities and Miseries which fell upon him he joyfully and peaceably ended his Days by the illustrious Goodness of God not under the custody of Foreign Souldiers as some had designed but in his own House after he was restored to his Liberty to his Children and to the Freedom of his Religion and that when he had setled his Children and People in Peace His Lady also had her most earnest Wish fulfilled before she left the World. For she had often said she should die with extream satisfaction if she might but live to see her Husband safe and at liberty which she often begg'd of God with Sighs and Tears The same day she died Alexander the Son of Augustus was born Much about the same time all the Strangers which then remain'd in England and with them many of them Natives of that Kingdom seeing the
it to the Chancellor that it might be read which being done the Chancellor ask'd the States if they ratified it Which being affirm'd by them the King and Queen rose up and presented it to the Cardinal He having read the Petition delivered to them the Bull of his Legation which was also openly forthwith read that all might know that the Pope had given him Power to absolve them after which he made a Speech wherein he shewed them how acceptable Repentance was to God and how much the Holy Angels rejoyced in the Repentance of a Sinner and having given them many Examples of this he gave God great Thanks that inspired into them a Mind desirous of Amendment This being done he arose as did also the King and Queen and their Majesties kneeled down whilst he addressed himself to God imploring his Mercy and beseeching him to look mercifully upon the People and to forgive them their sins And saying that he was sent as Legate from the Pope Christ's Vicar to absolve them he lifted up and stretched out his Hand over them as their manner is blessing all of them and absolving them at the same time From thence they went to the Chappel where solemn Thanks were again offered up to God with much Musick and all the Signs of a Festival Joy according to the Custom of the Nation They who were intimately acquainted with Cardinal Pool and had enjoyed his Conversation and knew his Customs did much admire this Action and did expect something from him very different from what they found The 18th of December the Emperor from Brussels sent a Letter to all the Princes and States of the Empire the Contents of which were these The great Causes for which Albert Marquess of Brandenburg was about a year since out-law'd by the Imperial Chamber of Spire and declared guilty of High Treason have been clearly shewn to you by the Letters of that Chamber which were publickly set up and also by those Letters and Commands you afterwards received from us And whereas I am informed that he stubbornly continues in his said turbulent and seditious Counsels and doth certainly design new Troubles that he may yet further afflict and vex Germany which is our common Countrey and lastly because he has made his Retreat and found shelter and refuge with some I think it necessary to renew the former Sentence for the Welfare of our Countrey I do this the rather because I believe there is not one amongst you who does not love his Countrey and desire that care may be taken for the preservation of himself his Territories and the People and that the ill designs of the said Marquess and his Adherents may be hindred and retarded Wherefore upon the Penalties heretofore proposed I again command That no man presume in any wise to assist him or his Adherents with Help Counsel Entertainment Money Victual or Ammunition and Arms As also I will that every of you make it his greatest care that neither he nor his Adherents may be suffered to gather any Forces or list any Souldiers in the Territories belonging to any of you and that every of you do to the utmost of his Power hinder those within his Territories from running over to the said Marquess and punish all such as shall be found Breakers of this our Order and disobedient to our Commands This Letter was Printed and sent into all Parts The Twenty Ninth Day of December Ferdinand King of the Romans came to Ausburg on the account of the Diet I have so often already mentioned but finding none of the Princes or States there two days after he sent Letters and Envoys to the several Princes representing to them That seeing that there being many things of the greatest moment to be transacted in this Assembly he to his great loss and trouble had left his Territories and was come thither that he might consult with them That they might together consider of the necessary and safe Means of relieving the afflicted state of Germany He therefore earnestly desired that they would forthwith personally come thither and not send their Deputies for such was the greatness of the Cause now under consideration that it could not be well otherwise dispatched That the Emperor his Brother had given him a full Power and that he would not detain them longer than was necessary The Sixteenth of January the Parliament of England was dissolved Amongst many other Acts passed in this Parliament after the Repeal of the Act of Attainder against Cardinal Pool the Acts made in the times of the former Kings R. 2. H. 4. and H. 5. against Hereticks and in favour of the Bishops were revived The Papal Power was entirely restored and whatsoever Acts of Parliament had been made against the See of Rome within Twenty years last past were repealed Most thought the Crown of England would in this Parliament have been given to King Philip but there was nothing of that Nature done In the beginning of February there were Five condemned to be burnt for persisting in the Protestant Religion and refusing to return to the Roman Catholick Religion John Hooper Bishop of Gloucester John Bradford Lawrence Sanders Rowland Taylor a Lawyer and John Rogers all men of eminent Learning The last of these was burnt in London where he had been a Preacher the rest were sent into their respective Countries Gloucester Manchester Coventry and Hadley who all of them suffered Death with great Constancy The 30th of March Ferrar late Bishop of St. Davids was burnt also at Carmarthen by Morgan his Successor in that See. There were also three Ambassadors sent from England to Rome to thank the Pope for his great Clemency shewn to them and promise his Holiness an entire Obedience and Fidelity for the future The Fifth Day of February King Ferdinand opened the Diet at Ausburg though few of the Princes were then arrived there by a Speech wherein he told them That they very well knew for what grand and necessary Causes this Diet had been first appointed to be held at Ulm by the Emperor who had afterwards commanded it to be opened in this City the 13th of November That he for his part desired to have begun it that day pursuant to the Desire and Command of his Brother but that he was kept at home by the necessity of Affairs that so he might secure his Countries from the Insults of a near Enemy in case any Attempt had been made upon them and that he might so order his Affairs at home in this Interval that all things might go regularly forward during his Absence That after this forced Delay he arrived here the 29th of December in order to the holding this Diet. He said The Sum of the Emperor's Desire was That whatever tended to the Glory of God and the Tranquillity of the Empire might be established by the Council of all the Princes and States That as to the Diligence Study Labour and Care which the
imaginable That the Town had been taken but the Castle still held out but much oppressed by the Cannon of the Enemy That he had received Accounts by Letters and Messengers That the Bassa of Bosnia was assembling great Forces to in vade Sclavonia That the Beglerbeg of Greece was drawing great Forces together at Sophia and then designed to come forward and that Solyman himself would come into Hungary in Autumn to Winter there or at least that he would be there early in the Spring with a vast Army to take Vienna That in a time of so great distress he was not at leisure nor durst he leave his Provinces but was wholly taken up in providing for the Defence and Security of them and because he would not have the Dyet held any longer in suspence which was contrary to the Interest of the Empire he had committed the management of it to the Duke of Bavaria that he might begin it and preside till he could come thither himself That he had sent a splendid Ambassy to treat of a Peace or a Truce three years since with Solyman and his Ambassadors were detained at Constantinople and although a Truce had been concluded till the Ambassador should return home yet the Turk had broke his Faith and had taken many Towns and Castles in the Borders of his Kingdom of Hungary and seeing he was now battering Sigeth it was not reasonable to expecta firm and lasting Peace upon tolerable Conditions This being the state of things he said a great and terrible Danger was threatned thereby not only to the Remainder of the Kingdom of Hungary but to Austria and all Germany and therefore it was needful to come presently to a Resolution of sending Succours and levying money for the defence of it which might be deposited in certain Places to be issu'd out by publick Treasurers as need should require That the King had sollicited other Princes to send Supplies and that he was resolv'd to spare no Treasures and to hazard his own Person and his Sons But then his Hereditary Countries being exhausted by a War which had lasted so many years were not now able to grapple with so formidable an Enemy alone but it was absolutely needful the Empire should assist them and that speedily And seeing in the last Dyet it was resolved That the composing the Differences of Religion should be considered in this he earnestly exhorted them to consider whether it was possible to be done and by what way They were to consider also of the Money and of the establishing the Peace of the Empire But then the Turkish War ought not to be postpon'd or delay'd but to be one of their first and most important Considerations that so the present and impending Danger might be averted The 15th day of September the Emperour having a fair Wind and a promising Season set Sail with a good Fleet for Spain and took along with him as his Companions in this Voyage Mary Queen-Dowager of Hungary and Leonora Queen-Dowager of France his Sisters But before his departure he had resigned to his Son Philip the Government of the Low-Countries and to his Brother King Ferdinand the Empire of Germany to which purpose he had sent a Letter to the Electors wherein he desired they would accept of him and acknowledge and obey him as Emperour of Germany The last day of October John Sleidan I. V. L. a Person worthy of great Commendations on the account of the rare Endowments of his Mind and his great Learning died at Strasburg and was honourably buried FINIS A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION To the End of the COUNCIL OF TRENT In the Year 1563. Collected and Written by E. B. Esq LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXXIX A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION BOOK I. The CONTENTS The Introduction The Revolt of Transylvania The Siege and brave Defence of Sigeth a Town in Hungary Charles V resigns the Empire He goes to Spain John Sleidan's Death and Character Paul III a Furious Prince The War between him and King Philip in Italy The Peace between them The Affairs of England The Dyet of Ratisbonne The Death of Ignatius Loyola the Founder of the Order of Jesuites And of Albert Marquess of Brandenburg The unsuccessful Conference at Wormds between the Romish and Protestant Divines The War between France and Spain The Siege Battle and Taking of S. Quintin Charles V his Letter to his Son. The Spanish Army disperse and the French increase A Persecution in France The Siege and Loss of Calais The Situation and Form of that Town Guines taken A Turkish Fleet land in many Places in Italy and carry many into Captivity The Dauphin Married to Mary Queen of Scotland The first Overtures for a Peace between the Kings of France and Spain Andelot Marshal of France ruined by the Arts of the Duke of Guise Thionville Besieged and Taken by the French. The Defeat of the French near Graveling An unsuccessful Expedition of the English against France The Treaty of Cambray began The Parliament of England meet and Queen Mary Dies The German Affairs the Death and Character of Charles V. The Succession of Queen Elizabeth The Scotch Affairs and the first setling of the Reformation in that Kingdom IT was the Misfortune of this Great Man John Sleidan to die in that nick of Time when the Fates of the two contending Religions and of all Christendom were just upon the setling It is true he lived to see the Augustane Confession setled in the Dyet of Ausburg and perhaps he might hear of the Resignation of the Empire by Charles V to his Brother Ferdinand but then Death surprized him before he could give any account of it for with it he designed to have begun the next Book in all probability and to have filled up this with some other Accidents such as a large account of the Revolt of Transylvania and the Siege of Sigeth would have afforded him But then had he lived till the Year 1563 he should have seen the Death of Queen Mary Henry II of France and Charles V and the setling of the Roman Catholick Religion by the Determination of the Council of Trent contrary to the Expectation of all Men which seems to be the first Period of the Reformation and absolutely necessary to give the Reader a clear Prospect and full View of the first Joynt of this great Revolution I have therefore persuaded the Stationer to add a Suppliment to this Version for that purpose and because I am a Member of the Religion by Law established and not willing to offend them of the other Persuasions I resolve to advance nothing in it but from Authors who lived and dyed in the Communion of the Church of Rome shewing the matter of Fact with great Brevity and making few or no Reflections of my own That so the Reader may be left entirely to himself to think what he Please and God shall direct him I will
met but in a very ill Temper On the seventeenth day of that Month the Queen dyed in the forty third Year of her Age when she had reigned five Years four Months and eleven Days Her Death was for some Hours concealed and then it was communicated to the House of Lords by the Lord Chancellour who sent for the House of Commons and the Lord Chancellour signified to them also the Queen's Death and both Houses presently agreed to proclaim Elizabeth her Sister Queen wishing her a long and a happy reign The great Thuanus contrary to his Custom passeth over Queen Mary without any Character he could say little that was good of heâ— and would say nothing that was ill Those of her own Religion are now so sensible of the Errors of her Government that they are more put to it for Apologies than Panigyricks on her Memory In Germany a Dyet was appointed to meet at Frankford the twenty fourth of February to which the Ambassadours named by Charles V before his Voyage into Spain came and delivered his Resignation of the Empire by which he had transferred his Authority to Ferdinand his Brother then King of the Romans to the Electors who after a short deliberation accepted the same and in a solemn manner elected and admitted Ferdinand to the Empire and afterwards crowned him After his return to Vienna he sent Martin Gusman his Lord High Chamberlain to Rome to acquaint the Pope with the Resignation of Charles V and his Advancement to the Empire and to assure his Holiness of his good Affections to that See. The morose Old Gentleman would not admit the Ambassadour but left the business to be discussed by the Cardinals who were appointed for that purpose who must needs make a great business of it and resolved That what had been done at Frankford was of no Validity because the Holy See had not consented to it and Christ's Vicar who was entrusted with the Keys of the Celestial and Terrestial Government without whose Consent neither Charles could be discharged from the Empire nor Ferdinand be admitted That no Resignation or Deprivation could be made to or by any other than the Pope Besides what was done at Frankford had been transacted by Men infected with Heresie who had lost all that Grace and Power which belonged to them whilst they were Members of the Church of Rome That therefore Ferdinand was to appear within three Months before the Pope's Tribunal to answer for his Misdemeanours and to shew his Repentance and then without doubt he would obtain Pardon from this meek Father With much more to the same purpose Ferdinand was of another Temper and ordered his Ambassadour to return if he were not admitted within three Days leaving a Protestation behind him This a little quelled the Pope who admitted him to a Private Audience the thirteenth of July when the Pope excused himself for not having granted his Request sooner for want of Leisure and Time to examine all the Difficulties which were proposed in this Affair by the Cardinals and seeing his Lordship could stay no longer at Rome he might return when he pleased and he would send an Ambassadour to the Emperour so he called Charles V notwithstanding his Resignation as soon as was possible And thus this thing stood till the Death of Pope Paul III. Charles V late Emperour of Germany being at last overpowered by the many Diseases which oppressed him died the twenty first of September In this Prince saith Thuanus Fortune and Virtue strove to Crown his Deserts with the utmost degree of Temporal Felicity And for my part I take him for the best Pattern which can possibly be given of a virtuous Prince in this or any former Age. His last Words were these Continue in me my dear Saviour that I may continue in thee He lived fifty eight Years six Months and twenty five Days and was Emperour of Germany thirty six Years Thuanus saith of him That no part of his Life was destitute of some commendable Action yet he shew'd the greatness of his Soul most visibly in the close of it Before he was wont to conquer others in this he overcame himself and reflecting on a better Life renounced this present which was lyable to so many Chances before he dyed and having so many Years lived to the good of others began now to live only to God and himself In all that two Years which went next before his Dissolution he lived in the Society of some Monks of the Order of S. Jerome and by the Advice of one Constantin his Confessor applied himself chiefly to the reading of S. Bernard and fixing his Soul only on God thus he argued That he was unworthy by his own Merits to obtain the Kingdom of Heaven but his Lord God who had a double Right to it that of Inheritance from his Father and that of the Merits of his Passion was content with the first as to himself and has left the second to me by whose Gift I may justly claim it and trusting to this Faith I shall not be ashamed For neither can the Oyl of Mercy be put in any other Vessel than that of Faith That this is the only Confidence of that Man who forsakes himself and relies upon his Lord That to trust any otherwise to ones own Merits was not of Faith but Perfidy That Sins were forgiven by the Mercy of God and therefore we ought to believe that none but God can blot them out against whom only we have sinned in whom is no sin and by whom alone our sins are forgiven us These Doctrins were afterwards thought in Spain to approach so near those of the Lutherans that his Confessor was burnt for an Heretick after he was dead and some others that were about him had hard measure after his Death on that account and Lucas Osiander affirms in express Terms That Charles V dyed a Lutheran in the Point of Justification Queen Elizabeth presently after her settlement dispatched Messengers to all the Princes of Christendom giving notice of her Sister's Death and her Succession and among them to the Pope also by Sir Edward Karn then Resident at Rome His Holiness in his usual Stile replyed That England was held in Fee of the Apostolick See That she could not succeed being illegitimate nor could he contradict the Declarations made in that matter by his Predecessors Clement VII and Paul III He said it was a great boldness in her to assume the Crown without his Consent for which in Reason she deserved no Favour at his Hands Yet if she would renounce her Pretentions and refer herself wholly to him he would shew a Fatherly Affection to her and do every thing for her that could consist with the Dignity of the Apostolick See. It was great pity this generous Pope should fall into such Heretical Times his great Soul would certainly have wrought Wonders before the Days of Luther but now alass all this Papal Meekness
served only to render that sinking Ship more despicable and hated for Queen Elizabeth when she heard of it was nothing concerned at it but immediately she recalled Karn's Powers and commanded him to come home And Popery from hence forward fared very ill in England but then our Affairs have been so exactly described by others and are so well known to English Men That I shall here dismiss them and apply my self wholly to the Foreign Affairs Thuanus observes That this Year there was rather no War than a Peace in Scotland for that the whole Kingdom was imbroiled with Rapines and the burning of Towns two of the principal Nobility of Scotland being carried away captive by the English William Keth Son of the Earl Marshal and Patrick Gray An English Fleet also under the Command of Sir John Clare infested the Scotch Shoars and burnt a Place by my Author called Cracoviaca Kirk-wall Main-Land the principal of the Isles of Orkney which he saith was the Seat of the Bishop and the principal or rather only Town in those Islands which he supposeth was severely chastized by Heaven by a Tempest which soon after dispersed the Fleet leaving a part of the English on the Island who were all slain by the Islanders and Natives This Year also the Reformation of Religion was much agitated tho not effected in Scotland Alexander Somervill Archbishop of S. Andrews with the assistance of the rest of the Churchmen condemned one Walter Mills an old Priest to be burnt for Heresie and banished one Paul Mefan hoping thereby to restore their lost Authority and curb the People but it had a quite contrary effect the patient and chearful Martyrdom of Mills incensing the People to that height that they spoke very freely or as my Author has it Licentiously and Seditiously of the Church-men and a Solemn Procession being made on the first day of September in memory of S. Eugenius or S. Gile's at Edenburgh of which he was Patron whose Image was then carried about with great Pomp the People tore it out of the Hands of those that bore it and threw it into the common Drought having first broke off the Head Hands and Feet of this Wooden Saint the Monks and the rest of his Friends fleeing and leaving him to shift for himself The Clergy seeing their Authority thus sinking assembled in a Synod the ninth of November to try if the seting a good Face and pretending great Confidence would retrieve their sinking Cause But they of the Reformed Party on the contrary of all Degrees exhorted one another to persevere in the Truth and not to suffer themselves to be oppressed by a small and weak number of Men For if say they these Men proceed by Legal Courses we shall be too hard for them if they make use of Force we are a Match for them They drew up an Address also to the Queen Regent which they sent unto her by one James Sandelands an Honourable Baron and of great account in it desiring That the Publick Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments might be in the Vulgar Tongue and that the Ministers might be elected by the People The Regent tho' a zealous Catholick yet fearing a Tumult commanded the Priests to say the Prayers in the Scotch Language The same Demands were made by the Nobility of the Synod then assembled at Edinburgh Who replyed That they must abide by the Orders of the Canon-Law and the Decrees of the Council of Trent The Nobility perceiving them thus averse to a Reformation sent one John Aresken of Dundee a learned Man to appease them who with great respect besought them At least to grant the People the use of the publick Prayers in their Mother Tongue The Clergy would nevertheless abate nothing of their former Severity and the Queen regent by their Persuasion soon recalled what had been extorted from her But the Death of Queen Mary of England and the Succession of Queen Elizabeth which happened this Month soon turned the Scales and gave her Cause to repent her too great obstinacy The Learned Spotiswood observes That this Mills was the last Martyr that dyed in Scotland for Religion That Patrick Lermoth Bailiff of the Regality absolutely refused to pass Sentence of Death as a Judge upon him after the Bishop had delivered him up to the Secular Power that in the whole City of S. Andrews a Cord was not to be had for Money so that they were forced to take one of the Cords of the Archbishop's Pavilion to tie him to the Stake It had been good Prudence to have desisted when they saw the whole Body of the People thus bent against them but they were hurried on to their Ruine by a blind Rage The People of Scotland were no less incensed on the other Side and resolved openly to profess the Reformed Religion binding themselves by Promise and Subscription to an Oath That if any should be called in question for matters of Religion at any time hereafter they would take Arms and joyn in defence of their Religion and Brethren against the Tyranny and Persecution of the Bishops The principal Men who joyned in this Bond were Archibald Earl of Argile Alexander Earl of Glencarne James Earl of Morton Archibald Lord of Lorne Sir James Sandelands of Calder John Erskin of Dun and William Maitland of Lethington To this Bond vast numbers throughout the Kingdom subscribed so that they found their numbers were at least equal to those that opposed them A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION BOOK II. The CONTENTS The Deaths and Characters of Frederick I and Christian II Kings of Denmark Frederick II conquereth Dietmarsh The Affairs of Italy New Bishopricks erected in the Low-Countries King Philip desirous of a Peace with France that he might be at leisure to extirpate Heresie That Design discovered to the Prince of Orange The Diet of Germany Conditions proposed in it by the Protestants for a Council The Emperor confirms the Peace of Passaw The French Ambassadors come to the Dyet The Life and Death of David George a famous Impostor The Treaty of Cambray produces a Peace at last The Peace occasioneth a Persecution in France The King goes to the Parliament of Paris to awe it into a Compliance Yet some retain their Freedom at the Price of their Lives The King's Answer A French Synod held by the Protestant Ministers The Protestant Princes of Germany write to the King of France in the behalf of the Persecuted A Commission issued to Try the suspected Members of Parliament Du Bourg first Tried The sad condition of France during the Persecution Henry II slain The various Characters of that Prince Francis II succeeds him a Lad of Sixteen Years of age The Persecution goes on Slanders against the Protestants Du Bourg Condemn'd Minart a Persecutor Assassinated Du Bourg Executed His Character The rest of the Members of Parliament restored King Philip prepares for Spain He takes Ship at Flushing Arrives in Spain Raiseth
a great Persecution there The Death of Pope Paul IV. The Deaths of several other Princes Pius IV Elected Scotch Affairs The English Affairs relating to Scotland and France The Scotch Complaints against the French. The War against the French in Scotland The Death and Character of Mary Queen Regent of Scotland The French Expelled thence A Conspiracy in France The King of Navar Conde Coligni suspected to be in it An Assembly of the Princes of France A Decree passed for an Assembly of the three Estates The Protestants of France encrease Francis II dies A General Council desired and obtain'd by the Duke of Florence Gustavus King of Sweden dies The Estates of France open'd The Persecution of Piedmont which occasioneth a War. THE First day of January Frederick I King of Denmark who was Elected by the Dyâ—â— of that Kingdom in the Year 1523 instead of Christian II deposed by his Subjects for his Cruelty died at Koldingen a Town in the Dukedom of Sleswick when he had lived Fifty six Years Three Months and Twenty Days and reigned Thirty four Years He was a Prince of great Moderation and Justice he overthrew the united Army of Christopher Duke of Oldenburg and of the City of Lubeck who had invaded his Inheritance near Alsens a City of Fionia with a great slaughter of their Forces Having by this Victory obtain'd a Peace he caused the holy Scriptures to be translated into the Danish Tongue and open'd an University and a Library at Coppenhagen Not long before his Death he visited his deposed Uncle who was then in Prison and having discours'd very friendly with him a great while they mutually forgave each other By his Queen Dorothy Daughter of Magnus Duke of Saxony he had five Children Frederick II who succeeded him in his Kingdom Magnus Bishop of Vpsal in Livonia Joane Ann married to Augustus Elector of Saxonâ— and Dorothy married to Henry Duke of Lunenburg The Twenty third of the same Month Christian his Predecessor in that Kingdom followed him being in the Seventy seventh year of his Age he had lived in Prison ever since the Year 1532 having given saith my Author Tuanus this Lesson to all Princes That if they will Reign well and happily they must govern their Affections and not out of a violent lust of insulting over their Subjects give up themselves to the conduct of their Passions and that they ought to assure themselves that God is a severe Revenger always ready and delighting to pluck off their Thrones the most Proud and Insolent who shall abuse that Power he has intrusted them with Frederick I being dead who was a Prince utterly averse from war and neither moved by Ambition nor Covetousness to invade what was anothers his Son Frederick began a War upon the Inhabitant of Dietmarsh who had heretofore been subject to the Dukes of Holstein the Bishop of Breme and the Kings of Denmark successively and had often regain'd their Liberty with great Loss and Dishonour to those Princes that had attempted to reduce this small Province but now their time was come and Adolph Duke of Holstein this year made a final Conquest of them for Frederick King of Denmark in the space of one Month. In the beginning of this Year was a great change of Affairs at Rome The Kindred of the Pope had already made themselves hated by all Christendom and now the Pope himself too fell out with them They had engaged the Pope in the War with Spain which had brought so much Loss and Shame upon that See and its Dominions In the time of those Confusions they had acted many things with great Rapacity Intemperance and Insolence without the Pope's knowledge who finding his Treasure exhausted had by their Advice raised great and extraordinary Taxes upon his People and besides all this had sold the Places of the Criminal and Civil Judges suppressed the monthly Payments of his Officers and seized many of the Lands belonging to the Religious Orders and had levied two Tenths upon all the Benefices The War with King Philip being ended and the Pope having with a calm and dispassionate mind heard the Complaints made against his Relations by one Jermiah a Fryer of the Theatin Order and especially against the Cardinal of Caraffa began more nearly to inspect his own Affairs and the Lives of his Relations About the same time Cosmus Duke of Florence made great Complaint also of the Caraffa's because not content with the extorting what they pleas'd from the Hospitals Monasteries and Clergy within the Pope's Dominions which they lookt upon as their own they had also by their private Authority done the same Wrongs in the Dukedom of Florence and indeed all over Italy He thereupon order'd Bongianni Gianfigliacci his Resident at Rome to complain of this to the Pope but then the Caraffa's had prevented him from having any Audience whereupon Cosmus wrote a Letter to the Pope which was by the means of Cardinal Vitelli an Hater of their Insolence deliver'd to the Pope He having read it sent presently for his old Monitor Jermiah and by him ordered Vitelli to give him a more exact account of their Misdemeanors There was nothing more incensed the Pope against them who was Imperious and Jealous of his Papal Power to the utmost degree than that the Cardinal had agreed without his knowledge or consent with the Duke de Alva that his Brother should accept of a Compensation from King Philip instead of Paliani which Place the Pope had designed to unite to his See. Whereupon he presently commanded the Cardinal to leave the Vatican and not to come any more into his Presence The Twenty seventh of January the Pope summon'd great Consistory and in it discharged him of the Prime Ministry of Affairs and of the Government of Bononia He took also from the Duke of Paliani his Brother the Command of the Forces of the Ecclesiastick State and of the Gallies and deprived the Marquess di Monte Belli of the Custody of the Vatican Palace declaring against them with that fury that some of the Cardinals attempted to appease him and among them Ranutio Cardinal of Farnese To whom he replied That your Grandfather had done much better if like me he had sacrificed his private Affections to his Pastoral Office and having severely chastised your Father's abominable Lusts and Villanies had thereby prevented the scandal the Impunity of them hath given to the whole World. So that nothing that could be said or done could reduce the old Man from his Resolves against them but tended rather to the encreasing of his Fury And hereupon he forthwith abolish'd some Imposts pretending they were exacted without his knowledge By all which he hoped to obtain the repute of a Just and Upright Prince and to cast the Odium of the ill things which had been done in his Popedom upon his Relations After this he betook himself wholly to the promoting the Inquisition which he call'd the most
Robert Boet Eustace Bellay lately a Member of the Court of Parliament but then Bishop of Paris and Anthony de Nouchy to try the Members of Parliament which had been imprisoned Du Bouâ—g being interrogated by Saint Andre refused to answer None of the Members of that Court being to be Tryed but by the whole Court. Whereupon Bourdin obtained a new Commission from the King commanding Du Bourg to plead before these Delegated Judges and if he refused that they should take him for Convicted and Guilty of Treason He being thus deprived of his Priviledge lest he might seem to despise the King's Authority and making a Protestation to save the Priviledge of others the third Day after answered in such manner to all the Questions proposed that he seemed to differ very little from the Lutherans and Calvinists so without any other Witnesses produced he was by the Bishop of Paris declared an Heretick judged unworthy of the Sacerdotal Character and delivered up to the Secular Power From which Sentence he Appealed to the Archbishop of Sens. Whilst these miserable Men were thus persecuted for their Religion and their Favourers Friends and such as had presumed to speak freely were by Informers also brought in Question there was a sad Face of Affairs in France and a sullen silence The Court in the interim was never more Jolly the Preparations for a great Marriage filling it with Mirth and Bravery which in a short time too had as lamentable a Conclusion Among other things there was a Tilt prepared and a Yard made for that purpose not far from the Bastile in which the Members of the Parliament were then imprisoned Some Days being spent in this Divertisement June 29. the King would needs run against the Count of Mongomery and they breaking their Lances the Sight of the King's Helmet by accident flying up he received a Wound in the Eye and falling from his Horse was latched by some of his Servants and carried into a Tower belonging to the Bastile It is said whilst they carried him thither he looked up and remembring the Members of Parliament which he had committed there said He feared he had done wrong to those Innocent Men. The Cardinal of Lorrain who was present angry at it reply'd That Thought was put into his Mind by the Devil the Enemy of Mankind That he ought to be careful of his Motions and continue constant in his Faith. Whether this were so or no I will not affirm saith Thuanus my Author because I am resolved to write nothing without good Authority The Physicians saying too That in these kinds of Wounds the Speech is lost At the Report of this Accident Andrew Vesale a Famous Physician was presently sent from Brussels by King Philip that he might however shew his Good-will to this Prince But he came too late the King dying July 2. when he had lived forty Years three Months and eleven Days and reigned twelve Years and three Months The Marriage between Margaret his Sister and Philbert Duke of Savoy was hereupon hasted that it might be finished before his Death and Celebrated it was without any Pomp or Magnificence There was great variety of Opinions some extolling his Life beyond Reason as Martial and Brave and his Conquests by which he had enlarged his Kingdom adding to it a great part of Italy Scotland and Corsica That having obtained a Victory against Charles V at Renty he had reduced that Great Prince to the Thoughts of a Retreat to a Private Life That out of his rare Respect to the Church of Rome not regarding his Oath he had renewed the War and succoured Paul IV. That recalling his Army out of Italy he had been able to defend France against the united Forces of King Philip and Mary of England and at last had ended the War at least by an useful Treaty and by the Marriages of his Daughter and Sister had secured the Publick Peace Others said he had violated the Glory of his Just Arms by breaking the Truce and involved himself by the Fault of others in an unjust and unprosperous War spent vast Treasures and lost the Flower of his Kingdom That the Peace was Desirable but very Dishonourable and the Marriage only a Covering for the infamy of the Concessions And that as he delighted too much in War so he perished dishonourably like a common Soldier His Misses who reigned rather than he his Prodigality and Luxury were not forgotten And the abundance of Poets then in France was taken for an Instance of the Corruptions of the Times To speak freely without Love or Hatred he was a Warlike Prince and too little affected to the Arts of Peace but then he was soft and easie and governed too much by others Wise Men then thought there would follow a War his Children being very yong his Wife Ambitious and the Court divided by Faction And this accordingly came to pass and brought forty Years of great Calamity upon France But I shall for the future be very short in the French Affairs referring the Reader to Davila and other Writers of the Civil Wars of France The Reader may be pleased to know That I have in all this followed Thuanus abridging him in some Places and in others transcribing him at large The King being crowned and the Dominion of the Queen Dowager as Guardian and of the Guises as Prime Ministers established to the great Dissatisfaction of the Princes and Nobility of France the next Care was to carry on the Persecution against the Protestants Oliver the Chancellor was imployed against the Members of the Parliament which were imprisoned at the time of the King's Death and S. Andre and Anthony de Mouchy against the rest of the People who that they might spread the terror of their Names over the whole Nation thought fit to begin with Paris Their principal Blood-hounds were Russanges and Claude David two Mechanicks and one George Renard a Taylor who had all three professed the Reformed Religion and were now imployed as best acquainted with these Men. They drew in two Apprentices shortly after who had deserted their Masters And these to gain the greater Applause confessed not only that they had Nocturnal Meeting but which saith Thuanus was a notorious Lie that they at them used promiscuous Conjunctions after the Candles were put out And this Impudent Story created a great Detestation of the Protestants in the Minds of the deluded Catholicks whose Ears were open to these kinds of Misrepresentations This lye was carried on with great Industry and these two Wretches were led first to the Cardinal of Lorrain and then to the Queen to communicate this rare Secret no Man daring to contradict it The Queen who was never a Friend to the Protestants from henceforth was more than ever enraged against them But Oliver the Chancellor suspecting the Story examined these Lads separately and by their Varying and Contradicting each other found it to be a mere Lye. But
when it was discovered so to be they went unpunished the Hatred against the Sectaries drowning the Voice of Publick Justice However the Places of Meeting being thus discovered great Numbers of Men and Women were taken and imprisoned and others left the Kingdom whose Goods were seized and confiscated Many Children were left by their Parents which filled the Streets with their Cries and Lamentations to the great Affliction of almost all Men. This Example was soon after followed at Poictiers Tolose Aix and generally in the Province of Narbonne George d' Armagnac the Archbishop of that See a Cardinal imploying all his Interest and Industry that the suspected might be taken up They were by this time become so numerous that their very Number gave them Boldness which being thus exasperated vented it self in severe Reflections on the King Queen and Guises in which there seemed to be more than a private Anger and Liberty The King of France had been a long time afflicted with a tedious Quartane Agne but overgrowing that Disease he shot up in heighth and grew apace but was very Pale and of a sickly Constitution being removed to Blois which was his Native Air his Face of a sudden was overspread with Redness Spots and Carbuncles whereupon a Report was raised That he had the Leprosie and that a great number of Children of less than six Years of Age had been torn out of the Arms of their Mothers about the Loire to make a Bath of their Blood for the Cure of the King. It was uncertain whether the Guises or their Enemies had invented this Story for different Ends but the Blame of it was certainly cast upon the Protestants and the King by that means was exasperated against them by the Guises The Protestants on the other side put out a Book to shew that this Story was invented and fathered on them by the Cardinal of Lorrain And after this one of the Spreaders of this Report being executed for it averred with his last Breath That he had Orders from the Cardinal so to do In the mean time the Process was carried warmly on against Anna du Bourg and the rest of the Members of the Parliament who were Prisoners in the Bastile who were sent thither by the Orders of Henry II. Du Bourg had appealed first to the Parliament of Paris and after to the Archbishop of Sens but his Plea was over-ruled by both and the Sentence of the Bishop of Paris was also confirmed by the Archbishop of Lions He declared himself willing after this to be degraded That the Sign of the Beast in the Revelation being blotted out he might have nothing of Antichrist left in him However this variety of Appeals prolonged their Process some Months After this he sent them a plain Confession of his Faith which agreed in all things with that of Geneva Frederick Elector and Count Palatine of the Rhine also so far espoused his Cause as to write a Letter to the King in his behalf desiring his Life might be spared and that he might be sent to him December 18. Anthony Minart the President was shot dead in the Night as he returned Home which was charged upon du Bourg as done by his Procurement because he had foretold That he would be forced from giving Sentence against him if he did not willingly forbear it upon his challenging him as his suspected Enemy However it hastened the Sentence of Death against du Bourg who heard it with great constancy of Mind he saying He pardoned his Judges who had pronounced it according to their Consciences tho contrary to the Word of God and sound Knowledge At last he advised them to extinguish these their Fires and repent of their Sins and taking his Leave of them said He went willingly to the Stake From thence he was carried in a Cart to the Place of Execution and having spoken a few Words to the People was first hanged and afterwards burnt He only said My God forsake me not that I may not forsake thee He was 38 Years old and was born at Riom in Auvergne of a Rich and Noble Family Anthony du Bourg a Branch of which had been Chancellor of France under Francis I. He took his Degrees at Orleance and was esteemed a good Lawyer and an upright Judge and many of the most zealous Catholicks interceeded for him during his Imprisonment and his Death was deplored by many very heartily His Constancy partly confirmed and partly exasperated the Minds of the Protestants so that from his Ashes there sprung up a Crop of Rebellions and Conspiracies which for a long time kept this once most flourishing Kingdom in a low condition The rest of the Members were restored by the Court at last de Thou one of the Members of that Court opposing and at length mastering the more bloody Guisians The meaner People who being then in Prison were dispatched with less Difficulty some being condemned to Death others to Renuntiation and others to Banishment About the same time there was another Project set on foot in France they erected Images of the Saints and Virgin Mary in the Streets and Market Places and burnt Candles before them in the day-time singing Songs to their Honour and seting Chests and if any passed by without giving Money and worshiping the Images he was presently set upon by the Rabble as an Heretick and he escaped well if he was only beaten and trodden into the Channel and lost not his Life Which only served to irritate and unite the Protestants the more King Philip having made a Peace with France resolved this Year to return into Spain in order to this he came to Gaunt and there summoned a Chapter of the Knights of the Golden Fleece from thence he went to Zealand committing the Government of the Netherlands to Margaret Dutchess of Parma the Wife of Octavio his Sister with a guard of 3500 Spaniards which were all distributed on the Borders of France in the Fronteer Towns. After the Peace he had principally imployed Granvel Bishop of Arras who had advised him to leave this Guard for fear of the Lutherans which were very numerous in these Provinces by reason of their Neighbourhood to Germany The principal Care of these Countries was committed to William Prince of Orange and the Count of Egmont who were Men of great Birth and had particularly deserved well of Philip in his last War with France these remonstrated against the leaving of the Spaniards and freely said They had not much mended their Condition if when they had preserved their Country with their Swords they must now be exposed in Peace to the servile Yoke of Foreign Forces and an Insolent Soldiery King Philip was inwardly displeased with this Liberty yet suppressed his Resentment and that he might not seem to go thence offended with these Great Men he promised to withdraw those Forces within four Months After this he took Shipping at Flushing August 26.
being attended by a Fleet of 90 Ships He met with so great a Tempest on the Shoars of Gallicia that the Ship in which he went perished the King being hardly got out of her into a small Bark that waited upon him Thuanus saith He ascribed his Delivery to Heaven and said He was preserved by the singular Providence of God to extirpate Lutheranism And Meteren That this Tempest was an Omen of the great Calamities that attended him and his States a great part of the Fleet being Shipwrecked He soon fell to the Work he believed God had call'd him and began with the extirpation of Heresie some few had been put to Death before his arrival here and there but the greatest part were kept that he might have the joy of seeing them burnt at Vallidolid and Seville September 24. this pompous Shew was begun in the Person of John Ponce a Son of the Count de Baylen who was brought forth with great State and burnt as an Obstinate Lutheran and with him John Gonsalo a Preacher After these Isabella Venia Maria Viroesia Cornelia and Bohorquia which was a Spectacle of great Compassion and Envy the last of these being not above 21 Years old yet suffering with great Constancy After these followed Ferdinad de St. Jean and Julian Ferdinando John de Leone and Frances Chavesia a Nun Christopher Losada a Physician and Christopher de Arles a Monk and Garsia de Arras This last was the Man who had brought that Spark into Spain and by his constant and learned Preaching improved it so far that he had brought over to his Opinion the greatest Part of the Monks of S. Isiodore and of the Inhabitants of Seville yet afterwards he had deserted his Companions and disputed against them too before the Inquisitors but being at last convinced of the Wickedness of it he repented and being brought before the Inquisitors reproached them as fitter for Mule-Drivers than Judges of the true Faith of which they were brutishly Ignorant tho they impudently assumed that Title and Office. Giles and Constantio were reserved to bring up the Reere but they both died yet their Bodies were burnt This last was Confessor to Charles V in the last two Years of his Life and Retirement Soon after his Death he was imprisoned and died in durance His Body was carried about in a preaching Posture and the dreadful ghastly look it had brought Tears from some whilst others laughed at the theatrical Hypocrisie and Bloody Folly of the Monks From hence this Cruel Scene was removed to Vallidolid in October following where in the presence of Philip 28 of the Principal Nobility of that Country were bound to Stakes and most Catholickly and Charitably burnt Whether Thuanus were weary of the former Cruelties or wanted exact Informations of the Particulars of this last I cannot say but the last is most probable but however he gives none of their Names or Qualities and saith there was some Variation in the Time. Thus Spain was preserved from Heresie as they call it not by the Learning or Piety of the Clergy but the Bloody Zeal of King Philip. Pope Paul IV being worn out with Years and very much afflicted with a Dropsie July 29 sent for the Cardinals and told them He was going the way of all Flesh and having advised them to chose a good Successor recommended to them The most Holy Office of the Inquisition as he called it which was the only thing that could preserve that most Holy See. He after this pointed in another Discourse to King Philip whom he said God had raised up as the great Defender of the Catholick Faith and he added That he did not doubt but the Christian Religion would by his Counsels however now afflicted be restored to its Ancient State. He dyed August 18. aged 83 Years having sat Pope four Years two Months and twenty three Days Whilst he was yet dying the People broke open all the Prisons especially those of the Inquisition which they also set on Fire and they were hardly restrained from burning the Palace of Minerva where that Court Sits with the same Fury they beat down the Image of the Pope and broke off its Head and Right-hand and three Days it lay exposed in the Streets to the Contempt and Scorn of all Men after which it was thrown into the Tiber. After this the Arms of the Caraffa's were demolished all over the Town His Body was buried with little Pomp and a Guard of Soldiers drawn up to secure it from the Rage of the Populace It is observed That this Year was fatal to the Princes of Europe August 17 Lawrence Prioly Duke of Venice died and was succeeded by Jerome his own Brother his rare Virtues dispensing with the Venetian Laws of not suffering Honours to continue in the same Family lest they might seem Hereditary September 1 died Hercules di Este Duke of Ferrara he married Renata a Daughter of Lewis XII King of France and was happy in all his Government except his taking part with Henry II in that unjust War against King Philip as Thuanus calls it But he was happy in this That by his Prudence he extricated himself and came off with little or no Damage in his Treaty of Peace with that Potent and provoked Prince February 12. died Otho Henry Duke of Bavaria Count Palatine of the Rhine and was succeeded by Frederick III. April 29 died Francis Otho Duke of Lunenburg January 24 died William Prince of Henneberg so that within the space of one Year died Charles V two Kings of Denmark a King of France a Duke of Venice a Pope the Elector Palatine the Duke of Ferrara and three Queens Helionora of France Mary of Hungary and Bona Sfortia Queen of Poland The Conclave was very much divided in the Election of a new Pope between the French and Spanish Factions each Side labouring to have a Pope of their own Interest So that this Contest lasted three Months till at last the Embassadors of the other Princes began to remonstrate That this long Delay tended only to the improving the Differences in Religion and the increasing the Enemies of that See. At last after a Vacancy of four Months and seven Days John Angelo Medici was elected December 26. by the Suffrage of forty four Cardinals He was born at Milan of obscure Parents and took the Name of Pius IV He began his Reign with a Pardon of the Insolencies the People of Rome had committed upon the Arms and Statue of Pope Paul IV his Predecessor But he soon changed for he that till then had seemed the most Courteous Patient Good Grateful and Liberal of Men presently became quite another Man and took up other Manners He rescinded all the Acts of his Predecessor and presently acknowledged the Imperial Dignity to be lawfully invested in Ferdinand the Brother of Charles V and received his Embassadors with great Civility and Respect To return near Home
which when she refused the Protestants marched thither the Twenty fourth of June and in a few days took it From thence they march'd to the Abbey of Scone and took and sack'd it and being informed the Regent designed to put a French Garrison into Sterling they went in the night from St John's-Town thither and surprized it and ruined all the Monasteries Images and Altars They also changed the Religion at Lithgo in the way to Sterling and wheresoever they prevail'd The Regent and the French in the mean time retired from Edinburg to Dunbar expecting till this Storm should blow over and here they heard of the Death of Henry II of France The Protestants rejoyced at it as a thing that tended to their Safety but had like to have made it the occasion of their Ruine by withdrawing from the Army The Regent thereupon marched with her Forces to Edinburg and in the way had a fair opportunity to have fought and overthrown the remainder of thier Army which was prevented by the Duke of Hamilton and James Earl of Dowglass The Twenty fourth of July a Truce was made to last till the Tenth of January which the Regent observed so much the more exactly because she found by Experience that the former breach of Promise had involved her in greater Difficulties and Distresses Yet even here she could not totally lay aside her old wont but broke Faith as far as she durst It is necessary here to Transcribe some of our English Affairs which relate to Scotland that we may see how far and upon what Provocations Queen Elizabeth was concern'd Henry II of France had no sooner ended his War with King Philip but he began to cast an Eye upon England as very convenient for the Dauphin King his Son and Mary Queen of the Scots and on that Account refused to recall the French Forces out of Scotland as by the last Treaty he had promised but instead of that he sent more thither by stealth and was very earnest with the Pope to declare Queen Elizabeth an Heretick and Illegitimate and Mary the Lawful Heir of England which yet was diligently but under-hand oppos'd by the Imperial and Spanish Agents at Rome However the Guises never left exciting the credulous and ambitious Hopes of that Prince of Uniting the Crown of England to that of France by the means of Queen Mary their Heir till at last they prevail'd on him to assert openly the Pretences of his Son and Daughter-in-Law and to consent they might use this Title Francis and Mary by the Grace of God King and Queen of Scotland England and Ireland and to quarter the Arms of England with those of Scotland upon their Plate and on the Walls of their Palaces and the Coats of their Heraulds The English Embassador complain'd of this but to no purpose as tending to the great Injury of his Mistress with whom they had lately made a Peace they having never done it in the Life of Queen Mary though there was a War between the Nations That there were great numbers of Soldiers Listed in France and Germany to be Transported into Scotland upon the same Continent with England So that Queen Elizabeth had just reason to suspect the Intentions of the French who now breathed nothing but Blood and Death against the Protestants but that Prince's Designs whatever they were perished with him to the great Advantage of Queen Elizabeth who had otherwise been attack'd by all the Forces of France and Scotland both as Illigitimate and an Heretick Yet she ordered his Exequies to be celebrated at St. Paul's with great Solemnity and by Charles Son to the Lord Howard of Effingham her Envoy condol'd his Death congratulated the Succession of Francis his Son and promis'd to observe the Peace between them religiously Yet Francis the new King and Mary his Wife the Queen of the Scots by the Advice of the Guises who now had got the Government of France in a manner into their Hands still continued the Claim of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the use of the Arms thereof more openly And when Throgmorton the English Embassadour in ordinany a Wise and Stout Man severely expostulated the Business They replyed Queen Mary might assume the Arms of England with some small Distinction to shew her near Relation to that Royal Blood. But he denyed this could be done by the Laws of Heraldry if the Person using the Arms of another Family was not derived from a certain Heir After this they pretended They only used these Arms to force the Queen to lay aside the use of the Arms of France To which he answered That twelve Kings of England as Dr. Woton shewed in the Treaty of Cambray had worn the Arms of France with so undoubted a Right that no opposition had been made to it in any Treaty between France and England At last by the Interposition of Montmorancy who was no Friend to the Guises he prevailed and the Title of England and Ireland and the use of the Arms of those Kingdoms was laid aside because that great Man thought It was not for the Honour of France to have any other Title or Arms assumed or engraven on their Seal than that of the King of France That this one Title was as good as many And he also shewed That the former Kings used no other tho' they claimed the Dutchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples But however from this Use of the Title and Arms of England imposed on this young Queen by the Arts of the Guises and the Ambition of Henry II as from a Fountain sprung all those Calamities which afterwards ruined her For from this Time Queen Elizabeth was a declared Enemy to the Guises and a concealed one to the Queen of Scots which last enmity was by the Malice of cunning Men a growing Emulation and new Occasions which every day sprung up so improved that at last it ended in her Death For Princes will endure no Rival and Majesty is very sensible of Affronts The French by the Treaty were to give four Hostages for the Restitution of Calais within eight Years but when it was to be done they would give but three The English Merchants were ill used in France A Servant of Throcmorton's the Embassadour was sent by Francis Grand Prior of France the Brother of Guise publickly to the Gallies A Pistol was discharged against the Embassadour in his own Lodgings And he had no Plate allowed him for his Table but what had the Arms of England engraven on it in contempt Du Brossay was also sent with Supplies of French into Scotland And the Gallies of France were brought from Marseille in the Mediterranean into the British Seas This was the State of Affairs between France and England when the Troubles of Scotland broke out and the Lords of the Articles sent William Maitland their Secretary who made a deplorable Representation of the State of that Kingdom to Queen Elizabeth
knew nothing of Navar but heard that Conde should have been their Captain Whence the Duke of Guise concluded That Coligni and Andelot were cetainly in it though Queen Catherine was of a contrary Opinion but however Conde who was then in the Castle with the King was commanded not to depart without leave which he wisely dissembled Some few were Tried for this Conspiracy but many more were Hang'd up by Night and many Merchants were Slain as they travelled about their business for their Mony but under Pretence they were in the Conspiracy so that there was nothing but Slaughter and Murthers to be seen About the same time Oliver the Chancellor of France died not so much of Old-age or Sickness as Discontent at the Cruelcy and Iniquity of the Times his Death was foretold by some of the Conspirators who reproached him for his unworthy Complyances And when the Cardinal of Lorain visited him in his last Sickness he express'd his Resentments against him and died weeping and sighin for what he had done Michel de l' Hospital a great and a good Man succeeded him by the procurement of Queen Catherine Though this Conspiracy was principally design'd against the Guises yet they desired the World should believe these Men had first made a Defection from God by Heresie and then had conspird against the King Queen Catherine and the King's Brothers The Thirty first of March the King wrote to all the Governors of the several Provinces to take great care that the Reliques of this Conspiracy did not imbroil their Provinces after which there was the like Account sent to the Elector Palatine and the rest of the Protestant Princes of Germany The Princes of Germany thereupon among other things desired the King to consider whether he had not yielded more than was fit to some about him meaning the Guises who out of an inbred Malice and Cruelty exercised great Cruelties on Men that were never convicted of any Crime There they beseech his Majesty that he would put a stop to the Sufferings of these Innocents and seeing they imbrace the same Religion with us we cannot but desire an end may be put to those cruel and hasty Executions This Germany has found say they to be the only Remedy and France has no other left to restore its Peace than by granting a Peace to the Minds and Consciences of Men. Coligni the Admiral leaving the Court Queen Catherine ordered him to go into Normandy and to enquire diligently into the Causes of the late Conspiracy He laid the blame of it on the boundless Ambition of the Guises and advised the Queen to observe inviolably the late Edict for Liberty of Conscience and to put a stop to the Persecution of the Innocent as she valued the safety of the King and the quiet of the Kingdom Some of the Captives who had escaped out of the Prisons at Blois wrote Letters to the Cardinal of Lorain telling him they knew the Escape of the Conspirators was very afflictive to his Eminence That therefore they were gone to seek them and hoped in a short time to return better attended This rallery was a great Mortification to that fearful Minister who feared new Commotions and persuaded the King to put out a General Pardon for all Roman Catholicks In May the King put out another Edict which was call'd the Edict of Romoraulin by which he took the Cognizance of Heresie from the Civil Magistrates and gave it solely to the Bishops which about five years before had been so vigorously opposed by the Parliament of Paris De l' Hospital the Chancellor is said to have consented to it only to prevent the violent Guises from introducing the Spanish Inquisition which they had recommended to Henry II and were now promoting with all their might in France From henceforward the Cardinal of Lorain became more placable to those of the Religion and to stop the Mouths of those who desired an Assembly of the three Estates persuaded Queen Catherine to call an Assembly of the Princes at Fountain-bleau to consult of the Publick Affairs About this time Conde left the Court and by a Letter gave his Brother the King of Navar an Account of the Ill-will the Guises bore towards him and that a Debate had been held in the King's Cabinet-Council for the taking him into Custody That therefore he had been forced to betake himself to him into Bearne This Letter was soon after discovered to the Guises who had entertained Spies in the Family of Conde who presently wrote a Letter to Conde full of sugared Expressions of Kindness and Affection which Conde presently sent to his Brother who very much approved his Resolution but advised him to return to Court and clear his Innocence which Conde did not think safe Perrenot the Brother of Cardinal Granvell in an Audience he had of Queen Catherine told her there was no way to restore the Peace of France but by Banishing the Guises some time from Court and Recalling the Princes of the Blood and Montmorancy to their former Stations The Twenty first of August the Assembly of the Princes and Notable Men of France was Opened at Founain-bleau The Chancellor in his Speech among other things complained That the Hearts of the People of France were incensed against the King and his Principal Ministers but the Cause of it was not known and therefore it was so difficult to find out and apply a fitted Remedy For That the greatest part of the Men of this Kingdom being weary of what is present fearful of what is to come divided by different Religions and desirous of Change are willing to imbroil the Kingdom And therefore their principal Business was to find out the cause of this Disease and apply a fitting Remedy to this Sickly Body Coligni the Admiral who was present the next day presented a Petition to the King which had been given him whilst he was in Normandy by a vast number of his Subjects desiring that the Severity of the Laws against them might be mitigated till their Cause had been duly considered and determined That they might have Publick Places assigned them for the Exercise of their Religion lest their Private Meetings should be suspected by the Government And they invoked God to bear Witness That they had never entertained any disloyal Thought against his Majesty nor would do so But on the contrary they offered up to God most devout Prayers for the Preservation and Peace of his Kingdom The Bishop of Valence a Learned Grave and Experienced Person confirmed this Opinion shewing the great Corruptions in the Church had given Birth and promoted these Divisions in the Minds of Men which were rather exasperated than extirpated by harsh means and bloody Persecutions Then he shewed the great Use of General Councils for the composing the Differences in the Church And therefore he said He wondred how the Pope could quiet his Conscience one Hour whilst he saw so
was by the late King's Order and would explain the Mystery no further About twelve Days after he went to the Castle of Hane in Picardy and there attended the Orders of the new King. Francis the Second was buried with small State and less Expence to the great hatred of the Guises who in the mean time were very busie to revive the Differences between Queen Catharine and the King of Navarr who wisely prevented their Design by offering the first Place to the Queen and reserving the second to himself as President of the Kingdom This passed into a Decree the twenty first of December The Protestant Religion which had got such footing in France that it seemed not possible to root it out without the Ruine of that Kingdom began this Year to shew it self more openly in Flanders and the Netherlands the Nobility espousing it in great numbers together with the rest of the States Nor could Margaret their Governess under King Philip obtain the continuance of the Taxes for the maintenance of the Spanish Forces Nor would they of Zealand acquiesce tho the Pay was sent from other Places till these Troops were sent into Spain Nor would they grant any Supplies to be disposed of by the Governess but reserved that to themselves that the Soldiers in the Frontier Towns might be certainly and regularly paid This was vigorously opposed by the new Bishops instituted by Paul IV as tending to the remitting the Reins of the Ecclesiastical Government as well as the Civil Bartholomeo Caranza Archbishop of Toledo in Spain was also suspected to incline to the Protestant Religion and on that account was imprisoned by the Inquisition and his Revenues were brought into the King's Treasure By an Appeal to Rome he saved his Life but was never able to recover his See again but died many Years after at Rome in a Private State. Thuanus saith He knew him and that his Learning Integrity and the Holiness of his Conversation was such as made him worthy of that Dignity The great Progress of the Protestant Religion in all Places made all Good Men saith Thuanus desire that the General Council which had been intermitted might be reassumed and carried on but Pope Pius IV had the same Fears of it his Predecessors had lest his own Power should be abated And therefore though he judged this the only means to root out Heresies and very necessary yet he delayed it and unless he were compelled by Force or some present Danger it was apparent he would never admit it But having resolved on the other side right or wrong by Force or Fraud to accomplish his own Desires and hoping to reap great Advantages from the Ruine of the Caraffa's though he had been much assisted by them in the obtaining of the Papacy he applied himself to this with great Application and Industry and under the Mask of Friendship And having laid his Plot he committed Charles Caraffa the Cardinal and his Kinsman the Cardinal of Naples to the Castle of S. Angelo But Anthony Marquess de Monte Bello being then not at Rome though cited also escaped the Danger and fled for his Life Though daily Accounts came to Rome of the Tumults and Disorders of France the Pope took no notice of them Though the Duke of Florence who was great with him for he pretended to be descended of that Family did very much urge his Holiness to consider the State of Affairs in France and Scotland And told him It was Uncharitable to see so many thousands of Souls Lost and Impolitick to necessitate Princes by the despair of a General Council to betake themselves to National Synods This was much inforced by the Noise the Speech of the Chancellor of France had made in the late Assembly which was then very hot in Italy He had among other things assured the French Clergy That if the Pope would not hold a General there should very speedily be a National Council assembled in France and had exhorted all the Bishops to prepare themselves for it To this the Pope answered with great anxiety seeking Pretences of Delay and pretending he was going to Ancona and that by the way he would speak with the Duke of Florence who was a wise Prince and his Kinsman and regulate that Affair by his Advice Cosâ—â—us Duke of Florence perceiving that this Journey of the Pope to Ancona was a Sham and being invited by the Pope to Rome resolved to go thither to promote this and some other Private Business he had with the Pope Before this King Philip having heard of the National Council designed in France had sent Anthony de Toledo to advise the King and Council in this and lay before them the inevitable Danger of a Schism which would follow upon it On the other side Ferdinand the Emperour insisted That seeing the Council was begun on the account of the Germans it should be renewed in Germany and all that was already determined should be re-debated anew Others thought it reasonable That seeing the French were now equally concerned with the Germans the Council should be assembled in some City in the Confines of France and the Empire as at Constance or if the Germans would agree to it at Besanzon The Pope was rather inclined to have it at Trent or rather to bring it deeper into Italy and had some Thoughts of Vercelli a City in the Borders of France though he could not yet resolve certainly to hold it any where for he good Man was more desirous that Geneva which had much infected France and Germany should be reduced by a War than that the Controversies of Religion should be committed to the peaceable Determination of a Council And to that end he had persuaded the Duke of Savoy to make a War upon the Vaudois his Subjects Whilst the Pope was in this incertainty in October the Duke of Florence came to Rome and persuaded the Pope by his Arguments to resolve on the calling of a Council the next Year that he might provide a General Remedy for a General Disease He shewed him That there was no Danger such a Council would pass any severe Sentence on the Manners and Abuses of the Court of Rome And that it was fit he should desire the Discipline and Corrupt Manners of the Church of Rome should be reformed That he ought sincerely to promote it and cause select Divines to be assembled out of all Christian Kingdoms and to hear them favourably that so the Peace of Christendom might be restored which was now torn in Pieces by Diversity of Opinions About the same time the Death of Francis II the Advancement of the King of Navarr and the great Kindness Queen Catharine on his account shewed to the Protestants very much terrified the Pope and compelled him to entertain the Thoughts of a Council in good earnest which till then had been talked of with no great sincerity The Pope thereupon sent Lawrence Lenzi Bishop of Firmo
to King Philip John Manriquez to the Duke of Florence and Angelo Guiccjardin to the Queen of France who was to condole the Death of her Son to comfort her and to entreat her to undertake the Protection of the Religion she was brought up in and that she would not open a Door to the growing Schism nor seek any Remedy for the Disorders of France from any but the Church of Rome And to assure her That in a short time all their Desires should be gratified by the Calling of a General Council and therefore they prayed her to take Care That the flourishing Kingdom of France might not make a Defection from the Ancient Religion during her Government nor any Prejudices be raised against the Remedies which might justly be expected from it The Pope at the same time appointed Hercules Gonzaga Hierome Seripand and Stanislaws Hosio three of his Cardinals to be his Legates in the Council and sent Zachary Delfino Bishop of Zant and Francis Commendone into Germany to invite the Protestant Princes to it Canobbio was sent into Poland on the same Errant and had Orders to go on into Russia to exhort that Prince who was of the Greek Communion to send his Bishops and Divines to the Council but there being a War between the Russ and Poles at this time this Journey was prevented The Twenty ninth of September this Year died Gustavus King of Sweden which was the Founder of the Line which now reigns in that Kingdom he was succeed by Eriek his eldest Son. This Prince reigned Thirty eight Years with great Prudence and Commendation being only noted for a little too great Severity in his Taxes which was necessary in a Prince that was to Found a Family but he was otherwise a Prince of great Vertues and the Reformer of the Church of Sweden The same Year died Philip Duke of the hither Pomerania and Albert Count of Mansfeild a great Favourer of the Reformation he died the Fifth of March in the Seventieth year of his Age and Sixtieth of his Government The same Year died the Cardinal du Bellay the Great Patron of John Sleidan a Person of great Merit and employed by Francis I in many Embassies He was a great and hearty Desirer of the Reformation of the Church and without all doubt shew'd our Author the right way to it though he miss'd it himself The Nineteenth of April died also Philip Melancthon at Wittemberg He was born at Brett a Town in the Palatinate of the Rhine and was the great Companion and Friend of Martin Luther but was more moderate and a great hater of Contentions and Disputes and a lover of Peace By which Vertues he won the Love and Respects of both Parties in those troublesom days on which account he was sent for into France by Francis I. The Celebration of the States of France was inter â—â—â—tted by the sudden Death of Fracis II. But there being great Discontents at the numerous Assemblies of the Protestants in many Places which were now openly held the finding out a Remedy for this hastned the opening that Convention The Thirteenth of December was appointed for that Purpose and the Chancellor began the Affair with an Elegant and Pious Discourse In which having shewn the Use of these Assemblies and exhorted all degrees to Peace and Concord and shewn 'em the common Causes of Sedition and Rebellion he tells them That in their times a new Cause that of Religion had been added to all the former As if saith he Religion could or ought to be the cause of a Civil War which is the greatest Mifchief that can befall a Kingdom and contains all others in it But then God is not the Author of Dissention but of Peace and other Religions because false may be founded and preserved by Force and Fraud but the Christian Religion which is the only true is only to be established by Patience Justice Prayers and Tears The ancient Christians accordingly chose rather to be Kill'd than to Kill and Signed the Truth of their Religion with their Bloods And yet it cannot be denied but that a false Religion is a very powerful Exciter of the Minds of Men and surmounts all other Passions and unites Men more strongly than any other thing so that we must confess that Kingdoms are divided in effect more by their Religions than by their Bounds and therefore it daily happens that those that are possess'd by an Opinion of Religion have little regard to their Prince their Country Wives and Children and from hence springs Rebellions Dissentions and Revolts And in the same House if they are divided in Religion the Husband cannot agree with the Wife and Children nor one Brother with another That therefore a Remedy might be had for so great a Calamity it had been decreed at Fountain-bleau That there was need of a Council and the Pope having since declared there should suddenly be one that Men ought not in the mean time to hammer out for themselves new Religions Rites and Ceremonies according to their own Fancies For this would not only endanger the publick Peace but the Salvation of their Souls too That if the Pope and the Council fail'd the King would take the same Care his Ancestors had and provide for the Peace and Welfare of his Kingdom That it was to be hoped the Bishops would for the future exercise their Functions with greater Care and Diligence That the Cure might come from that Fountain which had caused the Distemper That they ought to arm themselves with Vertues Good Manners and the Word of God which are the Arms of Supplicants and then go out to War against our Enemies and not imitate unskilful Captains who disfurnish their Walls to make an Irruption The Discourse of one that lives well is very persuasive but the Sword has no other power over the Soal than to destroy it with the Body Our Ancestors overcame their Sectaries with their Piety and we ought to imitate them if we would not be thought rather to hate the Men than their Vices Let us therefore said he pray daily for them that they may be reduced from their Errors and discharging the hateful Names of Lutherans Huguenots and Papists which were introduced by the Enemy of Mankind and are too like the ancient Factions of Guelfs and Gibellins let us only retain the Ancient Appellation of Christians But then because there are many who only pretend Religion but are in Truth led by Ambition Avarice and Novelty it is fit to suppress these Men in the very beginning These are the Men that ought to be kept under by the Force of Arms. When the States came to debate the Clergy and the Commons were of Opinion That their Powers were determined by the Death of the late King and that they ought to return Home Which was over-ruled by the King of Navar and the Council And they were ordered to proceed because by the Law of France the King never dies but
the Lawful Succession is transmitted without any interruption The Cardinal of Lorraine had design'd in the former Reign to make a Speech in the Name of the three Estates which was then not opposed but now the Commons would not suffer it because contrary to the Ancient Usage And for that they had some things to object against the Cardinal himself Jean l' Ange an Advocate of the Parliament of Bourdeaux spoke for the Commons and remarked three great Faults in the Clergy Ignorance Covetousness and Excessive Luxury which had given Being to the new Errors and Scandal to the People That the Preaching of the Word of God which was the chief cause of the instituting Bishops was totally neglected and they thought it a shameful thing and beneath their Dignity And by their Example the Curates had learned to neglect their Duty too and had ordered the Mass to be sung by Illiterate and Unworthy Stipendaries That the excessive Pomp and Avarice of the Clergy who pretended by it to promote the Glory of God had raised an Envy and an hatred of them in the Minds of the People And therefore he desired that a Council might be assembled by the order of the King to remedy these Mischiefs After him James de Silty Comte de Roquefort made a Bold and an Elegant Oration in the Name of the Nobility and taxed the Clergy for invading the Rights and oppressing the People under Pretence of the Jurisdictions granted them by the Ancient Kings of France That therefore the King ought in the first place to take care to reform the Clergy and assign good Pensions to those that Preached the Word of God as had been done by many of his Ancestors which he named Jean Quintin le Bourguinon made a long tedious Speech in the behalf of the Clergy to shew I. That the Assembly of the three Estates were instituted for the providing for the Sacred Discipline II. That the King might understand the Complaints of his People and provide for the Necessities of his Kingdom by their Advice and not for the Reformation of the Church Which could not Err and which neither hath nor ever shall have the least Spot or Wrinkle but shall ever be Beautiful But then he ingenuously confest That the Sacred Discipline was very much declined from its Ancient Simplicity That therefore the Revivers of the the Ancient Heresies were not to be heard and all that had Meetings separate from the Catholicks were to be esteemed Favourers of Sectaries and to be punished Therefore he desired the King to compel all his Subjects within his Dominions to Live and Believe according to the Form prescribed by the Church That the Insolence of the Sectaries was no longer to be endured who despising the Authority of the Ancients and the Doctrine received by the Church would be thought alone to understand and imbrace the Gospel That this was the next step to a Rebellion and that they would shortly shake off the Yoak of the Civil Magistrate and with the same Boldness fight against their Prince that they now imployed against the Church if Care were not speedily taken He desired that all Commerce between them and the Catholicks might be forbidden and that they might be treated like Enemies and that those who were gone out of the Kingdom on the account of Religion might be banished That it was the King's Duty to draw the Civil Sword and put all those to Death who were infected with Heresie to defend the Clergy and restore the Elections of Bishops to the Chapters the want of which had caused great Damages to the Church That it had been observed That the very Year the Pope granted the King the Nomination of Bishops this Schism began and has ever since spread it self for in the 1517 Luther Zuinglius and Oecolampadius set up and Calvin followed them This Speech incensed the whole Assembly against him and especially the Protestants who published so many Libels and Satyrs against him that he soon after died of Shame and Grief He was no ill Man but was a better Decretalist than a Divine and had never well thought whether a Reformation were needfull or no But then it ought also to have been considered that he did not speak his own Single judgment but had his matter prescribed him by the Clergy for whom he spoke After some days the King Signified to the Bishops that they should prepare themselves for the Council which was now recall'd at Trent and the Judges and Prefects were commanded to discharge all that were Imprison'd for Religion only and leave all that were suspected the free injoyment of their Estates and Goods And it was made Capital to reproach or injure one the other on the Account of Religion After which the Assemly was Prorogued to the Month of May of the next Year There was in Piedmont a Valley called by the Name of Perosia and St. Martin Inhabited by about 15000 Souls whose Ancestors about 400 Years since had upon the Preaching of Waldus Speronus and Arnaldus made a defection from the Church of Rome and had at times been severely treated for it by the French under whom they had been but by the last Treaty were assigned to the Duke of Savoy This People about the Year 1555 had imbraced the Reformation and had suffered it to be publickly preached tho it was forbidden by the Council at Turin which the Year following sent one of its own Members to inquire after the Offenders and to punish them to whom the Inhabitants of this Valley delivered the Confesson of their Faith Declaring that they profess'd the Doctrin contained in the Old and New Testament and comprehended in the Apostles Creed and admitted the Sacraments Instituted by Christ the IV first Councils viz. those of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon and the Ten Commandments c. That they believed the Supreme civil Magistrates were Instituted by God and they were to be obeyed and that who soever resisted them fought against God. They said they had received this Doctrin from their Ancestors and that if they were in any error they were ready to receive instruction from the Word of God and would presently renounce any heretical or erroneous Doctrin which should be so shewen to them Thereupon a Solemn Dispute was in shew appointed concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass Auricular Confession Tradition Prayers and Oblations for the Dead and the Ceremonies of the Church and her Censures all which were rejected by them they alledging that they were humane Inventions and contrary to the Word of God. This Confession was sent by the Duke of Savoy to the King of France who about a year after return'd Answer That he had caused it to be Examin'd by his learned Divines who had all condemn'd it as Erroneous and contrary to true Religion and therefore the King commanded them to reject this Confession and to Submit to the Holy Church of Rome and if they did not do so their
marching to Villar where they intended to do the like they met the Soldiers who had heard what was done going to Plunder Bobbi stopped them and with their Slings so pelted them that they were glad to shift for their lives and left these Reformers to do the same thing at Villar The Captain of Turin attempting to stop this Rage was beaten and the Dukes Officers were glad to seek to their Pastors for a Pasport After this they beat the Captain of Turin in a second Fight By this time the whole Army drew into the Field and the Inhabitants of these Valleys not being able to resist them they burnt all their Towns and Houses and destroyed all the People they took In these Broils Monteil one of the Duke of Savoy's Chief Officers was slain by a Lad of eighteen years of age and Truchet another of them by a Dwarf The Duke of Savoy had sent seven thousand Soldiers to destroy this handful of Men and yet such was their Rage and Desperation and the Advantage of their Country that they beat his Soldiers wheresoever they met them And in all these Fights their Enemies observed that they had slain only fourteen of the Inhabitants and thence concluded that God fought for them So the Savoyards began to treat of a Peace which at last was concluded to the Advantage of these poor despicable People The Duke remitting the eight thousand Crowns they were to pay by the former Treaty and suffering them to enjoy the Liberty of their Religion So that he got nothing by this War but loss and shame the ruin of his People on both sides and the desolating of his Country A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION BOOK III. The CONTENTS A Persecution in the Low-Countries The French Affairs Queen Catharine favoureth the Protestants but ordereth Montmorency to oppose them She suspects the designs of the Nobility The differences of Religion occasion Tumults in France Various Edicts made The Cardinal of Lorrain procures the Conference of Poissi Mary Queen of the Scots leaves France The three Estates of France Assemble at Pont-Oyse The Conference of Poissi The Rudeness of Laines General of the Jesuits This Conference disliked abroad The Council of Trent recalled Opposed by Vergerius The Popes Legates sent to Princes to invite them to the Council A Diet of the Protestant Princes at Naumburg The Queen of England rejects the Council The Ruin of the Caraffa's The King of Navarre drawn over to the Romish Party by the Arts of the King of Spain Scotch Affairs The Protestant Religion setled there by a Parliament Queen Mary Arrives there Her beginning favourable to the Protestants Great kindness at first in shew between her and Queen Elizabeth The French Affairs The Edict of January 1562. Injunctions published by the Queen concerning Images The King of Navarre pretends to promote the Reformation The Edict of January opposed by the Guises The Massacre of Vassi The Duke of Guise entereth Paris All things in France tend to Civil War. The Queen joyns with the Roman Catholick Party out of fear Orleans surprized by the Prince of Conde The Massacre of Senlis Roan taken by the Protestants Several Treaties for a Peace The Siege of Roan The King of Navarre shot His Death and Character The Prince of Conde leaves Orleans Besieges Corbeil The two Armies come in view He marches towards Normandy The Battel of Dreux in which Montmorency is taken St. Andre slain and the Prince of Conde taken Coligni and the Duke of Guise become Generals The Pope fondly rejoyces at this Battel The Siege of Orleans The Duke of Guise Assassinated His Death and Character The Queen desires and at last makes a Peace which is disliked by Coligni THIS Year there began a sharp Persecution against all that were suspected to favour the Reformation in the Netherlands and for the greater terror they burnt the Houses of all those they Convicted for holding private Meetings Perrenot Bishop of Arras and Cardinal Granvel hoping by this means to prevent the spreading of a Religion in that Country which had made such progresses in Germany and France They that imbraced this Religion were no less scandalized by the multiplying the Bishopricks and thereupon drew up a Confession of their Faith to be exhibited to King Philip beseeching him in the end of it that he would put a stop to the bloody Executions which destroyed so many of his innocent People This Confession was the same in substance with that published by the French Protestants and amongst other things they took particular care to insert That the Civil Magistrate was the Ordinance of God and therefore was to be obeyed Their Tributes to he duly paid and all manner of Respect and Reverence to be shewed to them and that Prayers were to be made to God for their preservation In the month of February the new King of France left Orleans and went to Fontainbleau where the Prince of Conde waited upon him and being introduced into the Privy Council asked the Chancellor if there were any Accusation depending against him and was told by him and the whole Council they were intirely satisfied of his innocence and leave was given him to demand an Acquital in the Parliament of Paris And a Decree was made to that purpose and Published by the Order of the Council March 13. after which he went to Paris to prosecute his Discharge before that Court. In the mean time Queen Catharine the Regent of France seemed very much â—o favour the Protestant Party and by her Arts and Dissimulation so far prevailed upon the spirit of the King of Navarre who was their Head that he told the Danish Ambassador he did not doubt but he should see the Reformed Religion settled in France within one year The Queen on the other side told Montmorency That she connived at them for the present that she might the more easily elude the designs of the King of Navarre by seeming to comply with him But then she said he and the other great Men of that Kingdom ought to oppose them and to complain that the Religion of their Ancestors was every where violated and despised She designed by this First To divide the great Men in the Point of Religion Secondly To weaken the Interest of the King of Navarre And thirdly To preserve the Romish Religion in France But Montmorency who was her Instrument designed only the last yet he was very active in it The Queen in the interim carried her dissimulation so far that she ordered Jean de Monluc Bishop of Valence who was a great favourer of the Reformation and no Enemy to the Protestants Doctrine to Preach frequently at Court and She and the King were sometimes present at his Sermons He would sometimes speak very freely against the Corruptions that were in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church and obliquely tax the Papal Authority The favour the Queen shewed to this Bishop made Montmorency suspect that in
Though the Edict of July had forbidden all Meetings of the Protestants yet their Number daily increasing and with it their Confidence not only Sermons were openly made but the Priests were in many places forcibly expell'd and the Churches seized for the use of the Ministers which gave being to the Edict of the 3d of November for the Restitution of those Churches upon pain of Death which by the Perswasion of the Ministers themselves was obeyed throughout the Kingdom But when notwithstanding Men seem'd rather enraged than appeased by the Edict of July and the Conference of Poissy was broken up without any effect there being every day news brought of new Commotions they began to think of some more effectual Remedy which that it might meet with the greater approbation and by consequence be the more universally executed the Presidents and some chosen Members of all the Parliaments of France were summon'd before the King to St. Germain by whose Advice it was to be drawn and Moddel'd Upon which the Cardinal of Lorrain and the Duke of Guise left the Court conceiving the thing would do it self now Montmorancy and the King of Navar had espoused that Interest About the same time there was a dreadful Tumult at Dijon whil'st the Protestants were assembled at their Sermon the Rabble thought fit to make themselves the Executioners of the Edict of July and having procured a Drum to beat before them they marched against the Huguenots but the Meeters made use of their Weapons and repell'd Force with Force The Rabble thereupon turn'd their fury against the Private Families and plundered several Houses There were also some Tumults at Paris on the same score and towards the end of the year all things tended to a general Revolution Having thus represented the State of Religion in all the rest of Christendom as shortly and as well as I can I return now to Scotland The Messengers they had sent into France to procure the Royal Consent to the Acts they had made in their last Parliament were no sooner return'd with a positive denial and a dreadful Reprimand which frighted and exasperated the Nation both at once but they had the Joyful News of the Death of King Francis II. to their great satisfaction and the no less affliction of the French Faction in that Kingdom On the other side the Nobility who had lent their Assistance to the Expulsion of the French immediately met at Edinburg and after a Consultation sent the Lord James to their Queen to perswade her to return into Scotland Lesley however prevented them and got to her some days before the Lord James She was then at Vitrie in Campaigne whither she was retired to lament her Loss His business was to bespeak her favour to the Catholick Party and return into Scotland The first she readily promised and as for the other she ordered him to Attend till she had resolved what to do It was soon after resolved that she should leave France so that the Lord James found her fixed to return when he came into France yet his Assuring her of the great desires the Nobility of Scotland had to see her there again much confirm'd her So she sent him back with Orders to see that nothing should be attempted contrary to the Treaty of Leith in her absence In March following M. Giles Noailles a Senator of Bourdeaux arrived at Leith with three Demands from the new King of France 1. That the old League between France and Scotland should be renewed 2. That the late Confederacy with England should be dissâ—lved 3. That the Church-men should be restored to all they had been deprived of But the Council replied That it did not befit them to treat of things of that Consequence before the Assembly of the States which was to be held the 21st of May when the Lord James made answer That the French and not the Scots had broke the old League by endeavouring to enslave them 2. That they could not violate the Treaty made with England and as to the third That they did not acknowledge those he interceded for to be Church men and that Scotland having renounced the Pope would no longer maintain his Priests and Vassals About the same time the Earls of Morton and Glencarn returned from England whither they had been sent with Assurances That the Queen would assist them in the Defence of the Liberties of the Kingdom if at any time they stood in need of her Help which was heard with much Joy. As the Lord James returned into Scotland he waited upon Queen Elizabeth and advised her to stop Queen Mary if she came by England as he expected she would 'till he had secured the State of Religion in Scotland for tho' she had promised She would continue all things in the State she found them ye he would not intirely rely upon her Promise having so often heard the old Maxim from the late Regent To make sure work therefore he procured an Act to be passed in this Convention for the Demolishing all the Cloysters and Abby Churches which were yet left standing in that Kingdom the Execution whereof as to the Western Parts was committed to the Earls of Arran Argile and Glencarn as to the North to the Lord James and as to the Inland Counties to some Barons that were thought the most Zealous Whereupon ensued a most deplorable Devastation of Churches and Church-buildings saith Spotiswood throughout all the Kingdom for every one made bold to put to their Hands the meaner sort imitating the Example of the greater and those who were in Authority No difference was made but all the Churches were either defaced or pulled down to the ground The Church Place and what ever Men could make Money of as Timber Lead and Bells were put to sale and the Monuments of the Dead the Registers of the Churches and Libraries were burn'd or destroyed and what escaped the Fury of the first Tumults now perished in a common Shipwrack and that under the colour of publick Authority John Knox is said to have very much promoted this Calamity by a Maxim he published That the sure way tâ— drive away the Rooks was to pull down their Nests which in probability he meant only of the Monks but now their Hands were in was extended to all the Church Buildings Noailles was then in Scotland and carried the News of this dreadful Reformation to the Queen into France She was much enraged at it and said to some of her Confidents that she would imitate Mary Queen of England but however she had wit enough to dissemble her Resentment for the present In order to her return she left Vitri and went to Paris and having waited upon the King and Queen-Regent to take her leave of them she took her Journy towards Calais Queen Elizabeth had sent the Earl of Bedford to condole the Death of Francis her late Husband and to desire her Ratification of the Treaty of
in fortifying and storing the City with all things that were necessary There were in it 14 Companies of Germans and 4 of Townsmen and many of the Nobility all well Armed The Queen when she had stayed a while at Chartres went with the King to Blois as is said carrying with them the Prince of Conde under a strong Guard from whence she sent him to the Castle of Onzain a strong place in Angoumoise Coligni was in the mean time wholly intent on the appeasing of the Germans fearing they would mutiny for their Pay which he said would be sent in a short time from England so that at last he obliged them to promise they would not desert him The Duke of Guise having quitted Beausse was by this time come to Baugy where there were some Skirmishes of no great consequence between him and the Protestants Some mention was made also of a Peace the Princess of Conde proposing That her Husband and Montmorancy should be set at liberty to that end but there was nothing done in it The Sieur Boucart a Commander under Coligni was coming before Trimoville a Town upon the Loire which was under one Potin commanded it to surrender which being refused he took it by force and put the Inhabitants to the Sword amongst whom were 36 Priests From whence he went to Gien which was preserved out of his hands by three Companies of Spaniards who were sent thither for the approaching Siege of Orleans Coligni in the mean time left Gergeau and went to Orleans to consult with the other Commanders what was best to be done and there it was resolved the Germans should be sent into Normandy to be ready to receive their Pay out of England which their Commanders readily accepted Coligni went with them and Gramont undertook the defence of Orleans Andelot being sick Coligni was all the way plied with Messages from the Queen for a Peace to hinder his Journey The first of February he arrived with 4000 Horse at Treon and took a view of the place in which the late Battel was fought from thence he went to Eureux He took soon after St. Pere de Melun a rich Monastery and finding great Riches in its Church which had been given by the Sea-men he took its Wealth and which was worse resented destroyed those Images which were most addressed to in Distresses Soon after eight English Ships came to Havre de Grace in which were five English Companies eight Cannon great quantities of Ammunition and Money whereupon he resolved to take the Castle of Caen before he went back to Orleans and the first of March raised a Battery of four Cannon against it and took it in a few days tho' the Duke of Elboeuf was Commander of it who must have been taken too but that Coligni was in hast to relieve Orleans The Duke of Guise began the Siege of Orleans the 7th of February and attack'd the Suburb de Olivet which Andelot had ordered to be deserted but by the negligence of the Germans had like the next day to have proved the loss of the City Guise his Forces getting into it before the Germans and French could withdraw and fire the Houses many of them perished in the Crowd at the passage of the Bridge which led to the City and was then imbarassed with the Goods the Germans had heaped up there But Andelot making a sharp Sally at the Head of a Troop of Gentlemen opened the way the kept off the Enemy it 's said however 800 of the Besieged perished in this Tumult others say not half the number But yet however it was a great loss and much incommoded the City Two days after the other Suburbs were taken The 18th of February the Duke of Guise wrote to the Queen That the Siege was very forward and that in a few days he should send her the joyful News it was taken but the same day towards night as he was riding with some Officers he was shot in the Side by one John Poltrot near his Arm-pit This person was a Gentleman of Engoulesme and brought up as Page in the Family of Francis Boucart Baron d' Aubeterre and having in his Childhood lived in Spain could imitate that Nation to a wonder and was commonly called The Little Spaniard he had long since resolved to be the death of this great Man and had foretold it publickly and was so much the less suspected because he was thought a close dissembling Fellow Being sent by his Master to learn an Account of the Battel of Dreux he found Coligni at the siege of Ceel who gave him Money to buy a fleet Horse after which he never returned to his Lord and this made Coligni suspected as conscious of the Design From thence he went to the Duke of Guise his Quarters and contracted an Acquaintance with his Servants and this day after a Prayer to God to direct him lying in wait Shot him as he was returning home in the Evening Poltrot fled into the next Wood and they who pursued him could not find him and when he had rode all night and quite tired his Horse next morning he came to Pont Olivet by Orleans which being unknown to him and therefore thought by him to be very distant from the place he fled from he laid him down to sleep and was taken upon suspicion by the Searchers and being known was brought to the Queen to St. Ilario and Examined concerning the Fact and by whose Procurement he did it He said he had been twice solicited to it by Coligni and had at last consented to it upon the perswasion of Beza and another Minister but he said the Prince of Conde Andelot and the Sieur de Soubieze knew nothing of it He advised the Queen to have a care of her self too because the Protestants were ill affected to her since the Battel of Dreux and that Monpensier and Sansac were also designed to be cut off An Account of which Confession being sent to Cologni by a German Prisoner the 12th of March he published a Paper in his own defence in which he call'd God and Man to Witness that he never saw nor knew Poltrot before the last January and he had given him Money and employed him as a Spie in the Duke of Guise his Camp That when he went into Normandy he had given him 100 Crowns to acquaint Andelot with what passed there and that all he had said besides were lies and falsehood That though he was not much concern'd for the death of the Duke of Guise who was an Enemy to the King and to the Reformation and all that Embraced it yet he ever detested these ways of Proceeding and had never by himself or any other asked any such thing of Poltrot though Conde Andelot and himself before the Queen and Montomarncy to whom he had produced good Assurances of it Beza also in the same Paper said he never saw Poltrot in all his Life and Rochefocault said the same
Coligni sent the same day a Letter to the Queen to intreat her to keep Poltrot that the truth of his innocence might be made out from him before he were Executed The Duke of Guise in the mean time dead the 24th of February having purged himself of the Massacre of Vassay and Advised the Queen to make a Peace as soon as was possible He was a Great Man in the Opinion of his Enemies a good Soldier and both fortunate and prudent in his Actions but falling into a divided Factious State he was by his Brother Charles a violent Man misled though he often detested his Advises Though he had no Command in the Battel of Dreux yet he alone procured the Victory this made him the sole General and being terrible to the Protestants it hastened his Ruine but then it had ill Consequences though at first it occasioned a speedy Peace in after times The Children of the Duke growing up in the Civil Wars which followed inherited the popularity of their Father and under the Pretences of Religion and the Sloath of the Kings of France endeavoured first to Revenge their Fathers Death on the Protestants and at last turned their Arms against the Royal Family to the great hazard of its Ruine and their own too Soon after the Duke of Guise was wounded the Queen sent Henry de Cloet and the Bishop of Limoges to the Princess of Conde and Andelot to treat of a Peace several times And when he was dead she yet more earnestly desired it fearing Conde and Montmorancy the Heads of the two Parties Or as Davila saith being desirous to drive out the Foreign Forces before they could settle themselves aud above all the English out of Havre de Grace Besides she wanted a General to Head the Kings Forces Montmorency being then a Prisoner and none of the rest being equal to the Prince of Conde Coligni or Andelot besides the Royal Revenues were by the War reduced to so low an Ebb that they were forced to borrow of their Neighbours to support the War. In the mean time Francis de Briqueville Baron de Columbiers was employed by Coligni to take Bayeux before which he came the 12th of February and though at first repulsed yet upon the bringing four Cannon from Caen he took the City the Fourth of March the Garison helping him to plunder it and many of the Inhabitants especially of the Clergy were slain because they were thought to have occasion'd the resistance which was made Soon after St. Lo was deserted and fell into the hands of the Protestants and after it Auranches Vire had expell'd the Protestants and pretended to defend it self but was taken by Storm towards Night which increased the Calamities of the Inhabitants Honfleur was taken by De Mouy the Fourteenth of March. About this time Coligni having made Montgomery Governor of Normandy went from Caen with a gallant Army towards Lisieux where he was excluded by the Garison and from thence to Bernay which presuming to do so too he took the Town and made a great slaughter of the Inhabitants destroying all their Images and Altars and handling their Priests very severely The 7th of March the Prince of Conde and Montmoraney were brought to the Island Boaria near Orleans under strong Guards and a Treaty of Peace was opened And Montmorancy declaring he would never consent to the Edict of January other Conditions were proposed to the great dissatisfaction of the Protestants Conde upon his promise had leave given him to enter Orleans where he treated with the Protestant Ministers but finding them resolved to stand to the Edict of January the 12th of March he came to an Agreement with the Queen which was subscribed by the King the 19th of the same Month. The Terms of which were That 1. All the Nobility should permit what Religion they pleased who had Sovereign Authority in their Jurisdictions That all Noblemen should have the free Exercise of Religion in their Families if they did not live in Corporate Towns. That in every Generalite or Prefecture one City should be assigned for those of the Religion And that wherever they had at this day a Liberty they should still enjoy it All Offences were remitted and the Royal Moneys spent in the War and Conde was acknowledged the Kings faithful and Loyal Kinsman and the Nobility Captains and all others who had assisted him were pronounced to have done all things for the Kings Service and with a good Intention Coligni was kept in Normandy by the Flattering Prosperity of his Arms and though he was by many Letters from the Prince of Conde pressed to hasten his Journey to Orleans yet he did not arrive there before the 23 of March. The next day he could not dissemble his discontent at the Terms of the Treaty of Peace telling the Prince publickly That he wondered how they could be prevailed upon to clap up a Peace upon such disadvantageous Conditions when the Affairs of the Protestants were in so flourishing a state That they ought to have remembred that in the beginning of the War the Triumvirate had consented that the Edict of January should be restored and that now two of them the King of Navar and the Duke of Guise were slain and Montmorancy was their Prisoner and consequently a Security for the Prince of Conde Why should not they have had the same Terms That the restraint of the Profession of the Protestant Religion to one place in a Province was to give up that by a dash of the Pen which their Sword could never have obtained That what was granted to the Nobility could not be denied and they would soon see it was safer to serve God in the Suburbs of great Cities than in their Private Families and that it was uncertain whether their Children would be at all like them But however nothing could rescind an Agreement made by common consent Thus ended the first Civil War of France I have transcribed this whole Account of the first Civil War of France from the great Thuanus abridging it as much as was possible and pursuing the Actions only of the great Armies because if I had taken in all he relates of the various Actions between the two Parties in the several great Cities and Provinces it would have swell'd infinitely beyond the design of this Work or otherwise have been so dark as not to be easily intelligible And if the Reader compare this short Account with that given by Davila he will soon see how little the sincerity of that Historian is to be relied on and how small the Reason is for him to treat the Huguenots as Rebels in all the Course of this War. When the War first began the Protestants acted purely on the defensive but after several local Massacres they began to pull down Images and Altars in Revenge for the blood-shed of the other Party and finding to their cost this did but enrage the Roman Catholicks against them and made
days ibid. Marot Clement an account of him 310. Mary Q. of Hungary made Governess of the Netherlands 149. Goes to Augsbourg to Mediate for the mitigation of the Emperors Edict 501. Holds a Convention of the States of the Netherlands at Aix la Chapelle 560. She stops the Landgrave at Mastricht 573. Mary Q. of Scots Troubles in her Minority 316. Affianced to Prince Edward of England ibid. Is carried into France 477. Mary Daughter to Henry VIII Proclaims her self Queen of England upon K. Edward's death 589. Enters London ibid. Makes Gardiner Chancellor ibid. Beheads the D. of Northumberland ibid. She Establishes the Popish Religion again in England 591. Orders a publick Disputation at London 593. Dissolves K. Edward's Laws about Religion in Parliament 595. Marries Pr. Philip of Spain ibid. Breaks Wiat's Conspiracy 596. Beheads Jane Grey and the Duke of the Suffolk ibid. Banishes Foreign Protestants out of England 597. Publishes a Book of Articles about Religion ibid. Commits the Princess Ellizabeth to the Tower 598. Her Marriage with K. Philip is solemnized with great splendor 604. Calls a Parliament wherein England is again subjected to Rome 605 606. Dissolves that Parliament 607. Burns several for Religion ibid. She mediates a Peace between the Emperor and King of France 616. It was reported that she was with Child ibid. She encreases the Persecution in England ibid. Her Ambassadors return home from Rome 618. She calls a Parliament where she proposes the Restitution of the Church-Lands in vain 627. Martyr Peter comes into England and professes Divinity at Oxon 443. Disputes there about the Lord's Supper 483. Is in trouble upon Edward's Death 590. Applies himself to Cranmer ibid. Gets leave to be gone Ibid. Goes to Zurich 637. Matthews John a great Prophet among the Anabaptists commands a Community of Goods 194. Runs Truteling through with a Pike by Inspiration ibid. Is run through himself by a Soldier ibid. Maurice D. of Saxony Marries the Landgrave's Daughter 272. Quarrels with the Elector of Saxony 292. Is wounded in Hungary 304. Refuses to enter into the Protestant League after his Father's death ibid. Makes Laws for the Government of the Country 311. Endeavours an accommodation between the D. of Brunswick and the Landgrave 353. Perswades the D. of Brunswick to surrender 354. Purges himself of Treachery ibid. Holds a Secret Conference with the Emperor at Ratisbon 380. Has a Conference with K. Ferdinand 391. Calls a Convention of the States at Chemnitz 405. Consults against the Protestants ibid. His Friends write to the Protestants 406. He writes to the Landgrave ibid. Writes to the Elector 409. And to his Son ibid. Takes most of the Electors Towns ibid. Is ill spoken of and Lampoon'd by the Protestants 410. Publishes a Manifesto to clear himself ibid. Joins Ferdinand to go towards Bohemia 423. Intercedes for the Landgrave 429. Writes to the Landgrave to comply 430. Receives Wittemberg with the rest of the Electorate from the Emperor 431. Exacts an Oath of Allegiance of John Frederick's Subjects ibid. Promises the Landgrave to interceed with the Emperor at Hall 433. And Remonstrates about it ibid. Receives the Wittemberg Divines Graciously 435. He is invested in the Electorate Solemnly at Augsbourg 457. Calls a Convention at Meissen who draw up a Form of Religion for Saxony 478. Intercedes with Prince Philip for the Landgrave ibid. Writes to the States to clear himself from the imputation of Popery 484. His Deputies at Augsbourg protest against the Council of Trent 499. He engages in the Expedition against the Magdebourghers 502. He is made Generalissimo of that War 503. He attacks the Magdebourghers 504. Defeats Heideck and Mansfeldt ibid. He promises the Landgrave Aid secretly 505. Routed in a Sally by the Magdebourghers ibid. Proposes Conditions of Peace to the Town 515. Commands his Divines to draw up a Confession of their Faith ibid. Demands a safe Conduct for his Divines to go to the Council of Trent 516. Sends the Proposals to the Magdebourghers by Heideck 521. He holds a Convention about the business of Magdebourg 525. He takes an Oath of Fidelity from the men of atzenelbogen 526. He concludes a Peace with the City of Magdebourg 528. Complains of the Preachers ibid. Hatches a War against the Emperor 529. Sends Ambassadors to the Emperor about the Landgrave 531. He holds a Conference with Prince William the Landgrave's Son 534. His Ambassadors come to Trent and declare their Instructions 537. They join with the Agents of Wirtemberg and Strasburg to sollicite for the hearing of the Protestants in the Council ibid. The Saxon Divines are upon their way to come to the Council 541. The Ambassadors complain against Perlargus ibid. Maurice sends Letters to his Ambassadors 542. They leave Trent secretly ibid. His care for the release of the Landgrave 549. He declares War against the Emperor 550. Takes the Field and joins with Marq. Albert 555. He goes with the other Princes and besieges Ulm 556. Treats with Ferdinand of Conditions of Peace ibid. Writes to the French King 558. His Army Skirmishes with the Imperialists 559. A Mutiny in his Camp for want of Pay ibid. His Soldiers make the Emperor fly from Inspruck 560. Which is Plundered ibid. They Publish a Declaration ibid. He restores the Outed Ministers ibid. His Grievances at the Treaty of Passaw 563. His Proposals at the Treaty 566. He is impatient of delay and hastens Ferdinand 568. He returns to the Confederates 569. Besieges Francfort ibid. At last he accepts a Peace 571. Sends his Forces into Hungary 573. Sends Commissioners to treat with John Frederick's Commissioners to no purpose 577. Went to Heidelberg to mediate between Albert and the Bishops 578. Makes a League with the D. of Brunswick ibid. Declares War against Marq. Albert 581. He overcomes Albert and is killed in the Fight 586. His Death foretold by Prodigies ibid. Maximilian Emperor holds a Diet at Augsbourg 4. Writes in August 1518. to Pope Leo to correct Luther and to put an end to his growing Heresies 5. Dies Jan. 12. 1519. 13. Sends Ambassadors to the Council of Pisa 26. Goes off to Pope Julius 27. Sends Langus to the Lateran Council ibid. Commissions Hogostrate and Reuchlin to examine Jewish Books 30. Wars with the Switzers 469. Maximilian Son to Ferdinand comes into Germany out of Spain 505. Is well beloved ibid. He returns home from Spain 529. Is honourably received at Trent 535. Goes to Brussels 637. Mecklenbourg vide George D. of Mecklenbourg Mechlin almost consumed by Lightning 392. Medices the rise of that Family to Greatness 169. Meinier President of the Parliament of Aix persecutes the Waldenses 345. Vses the Inhabitants of Merindol and Cabriers barbarously 345 346. Meissen John Bishop of Meissen Opposes Luther about Communion in both kinds 25. Melancthon Philip comes to Wittemberg 21. Goes to Leipzick ib. Answers the Parisian Censure of Luther's Books 47. Comes to the Diet at Augsbourg 127. One of the Protestant Deputies there to mediate an
to the Protestants in the Name of the Emperour Their Answer Commissioners chosen for framing a Decree The Tenor of that Decree What the Protestants find fault with in the Decree The Protestants depart from the Dyet A great Inundation at Rome The like in Holland The Draught of the Decree read to the Deputies of the Cities but a Copy of it denied to them Some Cities urge a Council Faber and Eckius well rewarded which occasioned a merry Saying of Erasmus The Agreement of the King of Poland and Marquess Albert of Brandenburg made null The Decree of Ausburg Luther's Book to the Bishops and Prelates Luther comforts dejected Melanchthon Bucer Essaies a Reconciliation betwixt Luther and Zuinglius c. The Landgrave makes a League with Zurich Basil and Strasburg upon account of Religion The Elector of Saxony cited by the Archbishop of Mentz for chusing a King of the Romans The Smalcaldick League among the Protestants The Pope's Complaint to the King of Poland The Protestants Letter to the Emperour about the Election of a King of the Romans The Reasons of creating a King of the Romans 1531. Ferdinand declared King of the Romans The Protestants Letters to the Kings of England and France The Protestants Confession at Anspurg The Protestants Appeal to a free Council Calumny against the Protestants A Convention of the Protestants at Smalcalde News of the Turks Incursions The death of the Archbishop of Trierâ— The Queen of Hungary is made Governess of the Netherlands The Emperor is made Umpire between the Pope and the Duke of Ferrara The King of France his Answer to the Protestants How the French and Germans come to be akin How Charles the Great was saluted Emperor Lewis the Fifth the last of Charle's Race Hugh Capet Invades the Kingdom The King of England's Answer to the Protestants The Opinions of the Cities concerning a King of the Romans The reason why the Switzers are not admitted into the League The Controversie between the Bishop of Bamburg and the Duke of Brandenburg The Elector of Brandenburg's Appeal to a Council A Diet appointed at Spiers Arbitrators for a Peace apply themselves to the Duke of Saxony Upon what Conditions the Duke of Saxony will come to the next Diet. The Elector of Mentz and the Prince Palatine send Embassadors to the Protestants The Duke of Saxony and the Lantgrave's Letters to the Arbitrators The Diet appointed to be held at Ratisbon A quarrel among the Switzers Articles of Peace propounded The five Cantons are hindred from Provisions The War breaks out between them Those of Zurich are vanquish'd Zuinglius is slain Those of Zurich again defeated OEcolampadius dies 1532. Conditions of a Pacification laid down by the Arbitrators Or the Law of Charles the Fourth The condition of creating a King of the Romans The form of the Oath which is taken by the Electors according to the Caroline Law. The Princes of Bavaria oppose the Election of King Ferdinand The Arbitrators Answer to the Protestants The Prince of Saxony's Answer to the Arbitrators The Tricks of the Popish Party The Agreement between the Zuinglians and the Lutherans The Protestants lay down their conditions of a Pacification The Emperor upon necessity confirms a Peace to all Germany The number of the Protestants Delegates appointed to reform the Imperial Chamber The King of Denmark taken Prisoner Albert Duke of Prussia proscrib'd An Irruption of the Turks into Austria The Turkish Horse destroy'd The Emperor goes for Italy 1533. The Popes Embassador's Oration to the Duke of Saxony The Emperor 's Embassador's Speech to the Duke The Duke's answer to the Embassador A full and large Answer of the Protestants to the Pope and the Emperor George Duke of Saxony makes Search after the Lutherans Luther publishes a Book to justifie himself An account of the Family of the Medices Clement creates four French Men Cardinals The Lantgrave endeavours the Restitution of Ulrick Duke of Wirtemburg 1534. A great Revolution in England Woolsey dieth with discontent Peter-pence forbidden A Pique between Luther and Erasmus The Imposture of the Franciscaâ—s at Orleans Apparitions frequent in the times of Popery The Lantgrave his Expedition A Pacification between Ferdinand and the Elector of Saxony A Treaty between Ferdinand and the Duke of Wirtemburg Vlrick Duke of Wirtemburg recovereth his Country Christopher Ulrick Duke of Wirtemburg his Son. The Lantgrave his Letter to the Emperor Francis Sforza marrieth Clement the Seventh dies Paul the Third chosen Pope Andrew Grittus Doge of Vinice Lewis Andrew his Son. A Persecution in France 1535. St. Genevefe the Protectress of Paris The French King writes to the Germans The Lantgrave goes to Ferdinand in order to a Reconciliation The Emperor sails into Africk Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More are beheaded The death of Francis Sforza Vergerius meets the Lantgrave at Prague Vergerius gives the Lantgrave a Copy of his Speech The Protestants Answer to Vergerius The French Embassador's Speech at Smalcalde The Judges of the Chamber are troublesome to the Protestants The Protestants disown the Jurisdiction of the Chamber The Elector of Saxony treats with King Ferdinand The Protestants Answer to the French Embassador The French King's opinion concerning the Points in Controversie The English Embassador his Speech to the Protestants The Protestants Answer to the English Embassador The League of Smalcalde renewed Ausburgh receives the reformed Religion Munster a City in Westphalia The Anabaptists and their Doctrin Rotman a Preacher of the reformed Religion The Papists are commanded to prove their Doctrin by the Holy Scriptures They confess their Ignorance John of Leyden a Botcher and Anabaptist Herman Stapred an Anabaptist The Anabaptists are expell'd Munster A Civil War in Munster Petrus Wirtemius John Mathew an Anabaptist orders that all Mens Goods should be common The Prophesies of the Anabaptists John of Leydon proclaimed King of the Anabaptists The Anabaptists Book concerning the Restitution The Anabaptists Supper The Apostles of the Anabaptists A meeting of the Princes at Coblentz The Doctrin of the Anabaptists and their wickedness The Anabaptists Book concerning the Mysteries of the Scripture The King executes one of the Queens himself Luther's opinion concerning the people of Munster A Diet held at Wormes Another Diet at Wormes The King of Munster is carried about for a sight 1536. The King of the Anabaptists is executed War between Denmark and Lubeck A War between the Duke of Savoy and Geneva The French King makes War upon the Duke of Savoy The Family of the Visconti of Millain The Emperor makes a Speech against the French King. The Venetinns make a League with the Emperor Vergerius is sent away to the Emperor The Articles of the League between the King of England and the Protestants The English Embassadors Winter at Wittemburgh The King of England's Letter to the Protestants The Protestants meet at Frankford Anne of Bullein Queen of England is beheaded A Bull of Paul the Third for the Convocation of a Council Ferdinand sends
Letter to Duke Maurice's Son-in-Law The Letter of the Council of War to Duke Maurice The Protestants Letters from the Camp to some Imperial Cities and Princes The Bohemians invade Saxony unwillingly Hussars Hungarian Horse Ferdinand's General denounceth War against the Saxons A Convention of the Confederate Deputies at Vlm. The Duke of Saxony's Demands from the Protestants The Answer of the Deputies Duke Maurice his Letters to the Elector His Letters also to the same purpose to the Elector's Son. An Irruption into the Province of the Elector of Saxony The Bohemians depart The Hungarians joyn Duke Maurice Most of the Towns of Saxony fall into the hands of Duke Maurice The Emperour removes his Camp. Duke Maurice ill spoken of Pasquils against Duke Maurice Duke Maurice justifies himself by a publick Manifesto The Persecution of Meaux in France William Briâ—sonet Fourteen burnt The Archbishop of Cologne appeals to a Council An Embassie into France and England The Duke of Saxony and Landgrave in great danger Bophinghen Nordlingen Oetinghen and Dinkespiel surrender to the Emperour The Duke of Saxony raises Money of the Papists The Landgrave's Letter to Duke Maurice his Son-in-law The Emperour's Letter to the Duke of Wirtemberg The Emperour commands the Duke of Wirtemberg to deliver up himself and all his into his hands And his Subjects not to obey him Wirtemberg's supplicatory Letters to the Emperour Neopolitan Cuirossiers come to the Emperour Frederick Elector Palatine is reconciled to the Emperour Paulus Fagius called to Heidleberg The City of Vlm reconciled to the Emperour The Landgrave's Country harassed by the Imperialists Buren takes Darmstadt Frankfurt surrenders to Buren His free Jest that he put upon them The cause of the surrender Frankfurt is reconciled to the Emperour and is fined The Elector of Saxony's Letter to the States of Duke Maurice The King of Denmark sent no aid to the Protestants The Duke of Alva invades the Dutchy of Wirtemberg 1547. The Conditions upon which the Duke of Wirtemberg is reconciled to the Emperor The Emperor's Answer to the Embassadors of Wirtemberg The Protestant Cities of Memmingen Bibrach Ravensburg Kempen and Isne are reconciled to the Emperor Memmingen fined A Sedition in Genoa against the Family of Doria. Joannin Doria killed A Decree of the Council of Trent concerning Justification The Siege of Leipsick The Duke of Saxony recovers his own and takes Duke Maurice's Towns. The Bohemians refuse to take Arms against the Duke of Saxony King Ferdinand's Answer to the Bohemians Demands Marquess Albert of Brandenburg is sent with assistance to Duke Maurice The Emperour goes to Vlm. Lindaw and Esling are received into his Favour Adolph Count Schavenburg is put in the place of Herman Archbishop of Cologne The Emperour's Embassadors perswade the States to relinquish Herman and accept of Schavenburg for their Archbishop The Duke of Cleve mediates and gets Herman to divest himself of his Bishoprick Herman resigns the Bishoprick of Cologne Frederick Herman's Brother turned out of the Provostship of Bonne which was given to Gropper The Death of Henry King of England to whom his Son Prince Edward succeeds Severity against Norfolk Henry detested the Pope not his Doctrine Henry left Guardians to his Son. Thomas Cranmer Primate of England They of Ausbourg capitulate with the Emperour Scheterline odious to the Emperour The Elector of Brandenburg Interposes for Peace and with the Landgrave too The Emperour raises new Forces against Saxony Joyce Grunning compels Count Deckelburg the town of Minden and others to obey and take Orders from him Saxony's Letters to those of Strasbourg Mendoza the French Embassador to Strasbourg The City of Strasbourg send an Embassie to the Emperour Naves dies George Selden succeeds John Marquard Henry Hasen King Ferdinand's Demands to the Bohemians The Nobility and Citizens of Prague desire a Convention of States to be called The League of the Bohemians Rochliez kept out by Marquess Albert. The Duke of Saxony takes Rochiltz by Storm and carries off the Enemies Ordnance Marquess Albert made Prisoner Wolf Theodorick dies of his Wounds The Duke of Wirtemberg makes his Submission to the Emperor The Seventh Session of the Council of Trent concerning the Sacraments And also concerning Ecclesiastical Benefices King Ferdinand's Letters to the Bohemians Strasburg's Pacification with the Emperour Their Fine The Conditions proposed to the Landgrave The Landgrave rejects them The Emperour's Letters to the States of Duke Maurice As also to those of Prague Caspar Pflug Head of the Bohemian Confederates The Bohemians Letters to King Ferdinand and Duke Maurice Ferdinand answers the Bohemians Saxony's Embassador to the Bohemians The Bohemians Letter to the Moravians Francis the French King dies to whom Henry succeeds A change of Affairs in the French Court. Francis the Mecenas of Scholars His Learning A famous Library His liberality towards the Duke of Saxony and Landgrave The death of the Kings of England and France advantageous to the Emperour The overthrow of an Imperial Army Grunning dies Bremen besieged The Bohemians Letter to King Ferdinand The Emperors Letter to the States of Bohemia The Bohemians prepare for War against King Ferdinand's Forces King Ferdinand writes to his Bohemians Saxony takes some Towns from Duke Maurice Some of the Fathers of the Council of Trent go to Bohemia The Count of Buren holds Francfurt Two men put to death at Franckfurt The Landgrave's Justification The Bohemians friends to the Duke of Saxony King Ferdinand's Commissioners to the Convention of the Bohemians Ferdinand's Army The Emperor's Expedition against the Duke of Saxony The Emperours celerity in overtaking the Saxons The Elector of Saxony made Prisoner Duke Ernest of Brunswick taken A Prodigy of the Sun. King Ferdinand's Commissioners to the Bohemians and their Deputies to him The Duke of Saxony condemned to death by the Emperour The great fortitude of Saxony Brandenburg's intercession for Saxony The Conditions proposed by the Emperour to Saxony Albert of Brandenburg and Ernest of Brunswick set at liberty Who were excluded out of the Peace A Diet of the Empire at Ulm. King Ferdinand's Letter to the Bohemians The Duke of Saxony discharges the Soldiers in Wittemberg of their Military Oath and then they surrender the Place to the Emperour The Dutchess of Saxony makes intercession to the Emperour for her Husband The Funeral of King Francis Duke Erick of Brunswick defeated The Intercession of Duke Maurice and the Elector of Brandenburg for the Landgrave Christopher Eblben Duke Maurice's Letter to the Landgrave The Articles of Peace The Landgrave accepts the Conditions Wittemberg falls to Duke Maurice Lazarus Schuendi razes Gothen King Ferdinand's Letter to the Bohemians What was done at the Diet of Vlm. This Diet is adjourned to Ausbourg The Landgrave comes to the Emperour at Hall. A Draught of the Articles of Peace presented to the Landgrave different from that which he had received The Landgrave signes the Articles of Peace The Landgrave begs Pardon of the Emperour The Emperour's Answer to the Landgrave by the
suspicion of Lutheranism disappointed of the Popedom The year of Jubily The Golden-Gate The institution of the Jubily by Boniface VIII Reduced to 50 years And then to 25. The Jubily in the year 1550 earnestly desired by Paul III. But he was disappointed The Death of Paulus Fagius Mass again said at Strasburg 1550 The sight of Mass strange at first A tumult in the Cathedral of Strasburg The Preacher leaves the Pulpit and shifts for himself Saying of Mass interrupted The Priests glad of it A treaty of Peace between the English and French. The Protector of England delivered out of Prison Factions at Rome about chusing a Pope John Maria de Monte is made Pope De Monte changing his name is called Julius III. The French Kings Edict The number of Cardinals Julius inaugurated The opening of the golden gate A Joke upon the Cardinal of Ausburg Ambassadours sent to complement the Pope Parma restored to Octavio The most obscene Letter of Camillo Oliva out of the Conclave The Emperours Letter to the States of the Empire wherein he appoints a Dyet Peace betwixt the English and French. Boloigne restored to the French. Another Manifesto of the Magdeburgers The confession oâ— Faith of the Ministers of Magdeburg The Bishop of Strasburg complains to the Emperour of the City Mass again begun there The Emperour and his Son come to Ausburg The Emperours Edict against the Lutherans in the Netherlands The Reward of Informers Many astonished at the Emperours Edict especially those of Antwerp The 〈◊〉 against the 〈◊〉 The power of the Inquisitors The Questions in the Emperours Edict against the Lutherans The Cardinal of Lorrain the Companion of King Francis dies By whom Metz betrayed Adolph Archbishop of Cologne makes his entry into that City The Duke of Cleve has a Daughter born Duke Maurice his Protestation against the Council The Elector of Mentz Chancellor of the Empire The Cardinal of Ausburgs Sermon against the Lutherans Some Spaniards interrupt Divine Service The death of Granvell The Bishop of Arras in great power with the Emperour Brunswick besieged Dragut a notable Pirate Tripoly taken by the Imperialists The occasion of a Turkish War. At the Emperour's Command Duke Henry and the Senate of Brunswick lay down their Arms. Their Forces were by the Duke of Meckleburg turn'd against the Magdeburgers The death of John Albert Archbishop of Magdeburg Gâ—â—â—ge Duke of Meckleburg wasts the Country of Magdeburg The Magdeburgers engage the Duke of Meckleburg And are overthrown The Emperour complains of the Magdeburgers and Bremers The Princes write to the Magdeburgers and Bremeâ—s A Woman of Ausburg in great danger for a rash word The Edict about Religion in the Netherlands moderated at the intercession of the Emperour's Sister The Conditions proposed to the Bremers And to the Magdeburgâ—rs The third Declaration and undaunted Courage of the Magdeburgers Forces against the Magdeburgers A fight at Magdeburg The besieged make a sally out A Cessation of Arms. A Deputation sent to the Emperour against Magdeburg The Bremers Letter to the Princes at Ausburg The Answer of the Magdeburgers The death of Vlrick Duke of Wirtemberg A cruel Decree against the Mâ—gdeburgers Duke Mauric General of the War against Magdebâ—rg Which the Emperour is earnest should be prosecuted The Emperour desires to know the Reasons why the Interim was not observed The Causes why the Decree was not observed The Answer of the Deputies and Catholick Princes to these things Pope Julius his Bull for calling the Council Duke Maurice attacks the Magdeburgers Mansfield and Heideck defeated by Duke Maurice The Emperour's Edict against the Magdeburgers The Landgrave's Sons sue in behalf of their Father Lazarus Schuendi sent by the Emperour to the Landgrave's Sons c. The Landgrave thinks of making his escape But the design is discovered The Emperours Letters to Duke Maurice and Brandeburg concerning the Landgrave's flight Duke Maurice comforts the Landgrave's Sons promising his utmost endeavours The Magdebâ—rgers sally out and get the Victory The Duke of Meckleburg taken Maximilian's return into Germany The Emperour and King Ferdinand's emulation for the Empire Maximilian beloved of all Pope Julius his Bull offended many The Magdebâ—rgers are solicited to surrender The Declaration of the Clergy of Magdebâ—â—g against the Senate The actions of the Inhabitants of Magdeburg against the Clergy The value of the damage received The Magdeburgâ—s answer to the Accusations of the Clergy 1551 King Ferdinand complains of the Turks breach of Truce The Bishop of Winchester turned out of his Bishoprick and committed to prison again Osiander's new Opinion about Justification Condemned by the other Divines Albert Duke of Prussia sides with Osiander Joachim Merlin and some others are banished for Osiander's Doctrine Osiander falls foul upon the Divines of Wittemberg and Melanchton Another of his Opinions The Decree of the Dyet of Ausburg A meeting of the Princes at Norimberg Supplies decreed to King Ferdinand against the Turk The Emperours Edict against those that should assist the Magdeburgers Octavio Farnese in protection of the King of France puts a French Garison into Parma Sentence pronounced against the Landgrave Bucer dies The complaint of the Bishop of Strasburg against the Preachers Prodigies in Saxony The Popes Brief against Octavio Farnese Octavio cited to Rome The Council meets again at Trent Heideck a Friend to the Magdeburgers Farnese being conâ—umacious undertakes the defence of Parma The Emperours Declaration against Octavio The War of Parma betwixt the Emperour and French. The Popes Brief to the Switzers wherein he desires them to send their Bishops to the Council Prince Philip returns to Spain The French Kings Apology to the Pope Parma of the Patrimony of the Church Conditions of Peace proposed to the Magdeburgers The Empeâ—our calls the States to Trent Duke Maurice his Confession drawn up by Melanchton The Confession of Wirtemberg Brentius is by the Duke of Wirtemberg restored to the Ministery in the Church A Mâ—tiny in Magdeburg Duke Maurice his Letter to the Emperour The Decree of the Council of Constance The safe Conduct that the Bohemians had when they came to the Council of Basil The Ministers of Ausburg questioned about their Doctrine The Answer and Constancy of the Ministers The Ministers of Ausburg banished Preaching prohibited The liberality of the Captive Duke of Saxony towards banished Ministers The Reasons why they were served so Henry King of France makes War against the Emperour Cherie and St. Damian taken The Reasons why the French King made War against the Emperour The Turk takes Tripoly Contrary Narratives from the Emperour and King of France The Restauration of the Council of Trent Wherein Cardinal Crescentio presides The French King Letter to the Council And a Debate amongst the Fathers about the Superscription of it The Speech of the French Ambassadour The French Kings Protestation against the Council of Trent Expectative Graces The payment of Annats discharged Pragmatick Sanction The Advice of the Parliament of Paris not to abrogate
II of France slain The various Characters of Henry II of France Francis II a Lad of sixteen Years of Age succeeds him And the Persecution goes on Slaunders against the Protestants Other Slanders spread against the poor persecuted Protestants Du Bourg condemned to Death Minart a Persecutor slain Du Bourg led to Execution His Character The rest of the Members of Parliament were restored Images erected in the Streets to be Worshiped King Philip prepares for Spain He takes Ship at Flushing He raiseth a great Persecution in Spain Constantio the Confessor of Charles V burnt after he was dead Twenty eight Nobles burnt at Vallidolid The Death of Pope Paul IV. The People of Rome express their Hatred of him and the Inquisition The Deaths of several Princes Pius IV elected He changeth his Manners to the Worse Scotâ—h Affairs Linlithgow The English Affairs relating to Scotland Fradcis II of France claims England in the Right of Mary his Wife The French Provocations against the English The Scotch Complaints against the French. Queen Elizabeth holds off at first but at last is forced to unite with the Protestants of Scotland Reasons assigned for the driving the French out of Scotland The War resolved The War begun Four Divines and two thousand Men sent from France to Convert the Scots The Lords of Scotland Arm against them and depose the Regent She prevails over them 1560. The Scotch Lords go on with their Reformation The English Forces enter Scotland and besiege Leith The French proffer to restore Calais to the English The Death and Character of Mary Queen-Regent of Scotland The French forced to leave Scotland A Parliament in Scotland A Conspiracy in France The Conspiracy of Blois formed at Nantes Thuanus his Reflection on this Conspiracy The discovery of the Conspiracy Andelot and Coligny come to Court on an Invitation Oliver the Chancellor of France hated the Persecution and desired a Reformation Renaudie slain The King of Navar Conde Coligni and Andelot suspected Oliver the Chancellor dies Coligni sent into Normandy by the Queen The Clergy labour to bring the Inquisition into France Conde leaves the Court. An Assembly of the Princes of France Coligni delivers a Petition from the Protestants to the King. The Bishop of Valence seconds it And adviseth the King to call a National Council The Cardinal of Lorrain replies to Coligni A Decree passed for an Assembly of the three Estates and the suspension of the Laws against Hereticks A design upon Lyons The Protestants of France increase wonderfully during the Peace In some places they grow insolent The King of Navarr and Prince of Conde promise to come to the Assembly of the States The Archbishop of Vienne dies The States meet at Orleans Navarr and Conde secured Francis II dies Charles IX succeeds The Prince of Conde fre'd The Protestant Religion breaks out in the Netherlands The Archbishop of Toledo suspected to be a Lutheran A General Council desired by many and opposed by the Pope But prosecutes the Caraffa's to ruine The Duke of Florence come to Rome His Arguments for a General Council With other concurrent Accidents at last prevail'd The Pope's Ambassadors to thee Christian Princes Gustavus King of Sweden dies A Difficulty proposed The Deputy of the Commons speaks against the Clergy And is seconded by the Deputy of the Nobility The Clergy apologize for themselves The Persecution in Piedmont which Occasioneth a War. 1561. A Persecution in the Low-Countries The French Affair Queen Catharine favoureth the Protestants The younger Montmorency's Advice to his Father The pretended Submission of the Cophthites Livonia falls off from the See of Rome The Queen suspects the designs of the Nobility The Differences of Religion occasion Tumults An Edict to restrain them The Edict of July The Cardinal of Lorrain procures the Conference of Pâ—issy Mary Queen of Scotland leaves France The Three Estates of France Assembled at Pont-Oyse The Clergy of France give the King Taxes to save their Revenues and Jurisdictions The Conference oâ— Poissy The Protestant Ministers Their demands The Conference began The Chancellor's Speech Beza speaks Tournon replies with rage The Queens Answer The Points debated Claud d' Espence opposeth Beza The Ordination of the Protestant Ministers Question'd Beza Replieâ— Laines General of the Jesuits his Rudeness in the Conference * In the History of the Council of Trent call'd Jaques de Montbrun A Popish Position gives great Offence in France The Council of Trent recall'd The Pope's Bull. Vergerius opposeth the Council Ambassadors sent to the Protestant Princes to invite them to the Council Their Answer to the Emperor The Pope's Legates Admitted Their Answer to the Legates The occasions of the meeting at Naumburg The English reject the Council Erick King of Sweden Crown'd The Cardinal of Caraffa Hanged A National Council desired in France The King of Navar drawn over to the Popish Party by the King of Spain's Arts. A new invented Convention for the Reguâ—lating matters of Religion in France A Tumult aâ— Dijon Scotch Affairs Queen Mary resolves to return into Scotland The Protestant Religion setled in Scotland The Queen angry with the Proceedings Queen Mary goes into Scotland Her beginning very gracious to the Protestants The Preachers would not Tolerate the Queen See Spotiswood pag. 182. Great kindness in shew between Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth Queen Mary begins to favour the Romish Party Yet she augments her Revenues out of the Church Lands 1562. The French Affairs A Debate concerning Toleration The Edict of January which granted Liberty of Conscience to the Protestants Injunctions published by the Queen's Order concerning Images Images of the Trinity forbidden The King of Navar pretends still to promote the Reformation The Edict of January opposed by the Guises and others The Duke of Guise called to Court by the King of Navar The Massacre of Vassy happen'd accidentally in that â—ourny The Duke of Guise uses ill Arts to secure his Servants who began the Tumult The Prince of Conde complains of it to the King. The Duke of Guise entereth Paris The Queen upon this puts her self and the King into the Protection of the Prince of Conde * Aedilit All things in France tend to a Civil War. The Queen out of Fear joyns with the Catholick Lords commonly call'd the Triumvirate Conde comes up towards Fontain-bleau The Triumvirate seize the King. Montmorancy appears very zealous against the Protestants at Paris The Prince of Conde betrayed by the Queen into a disadvantageous War. Orleans surprized by the Prince of Conde Conde Justifies the War. The Catholicks begin the War to deprive the Protestants of the Liberty granted them by the Edict of January The Prince of Conde and the Ministers write to the Princes of Germany The King and Queen affirm they were at Liberty in their Declaration The Massacre of Sens. The Princes of Germany much divided about the true cause of this French War. Roan taken very easily by the Protestants And after that Pont del
a Dalmatian Bishop of Waradin Cardinal He was a Man of great Authority in Hungary and commonly called Monk because he was of the Order of Paul the first Hermit It has been declared before that the French Ambassador was ordered to attend on the eleventh of October to receive his answer provided the King owned the Council but he came not and nevertheless in name of the Council a Letter to the King was published And first they tell him that for many Reasons they had expected every thing that was good and great at his hands but that upon the coming of his Ambassdor and reading of his Letter it was a great Grief to them to find themselves frustrated of their hopes and that nevertheless since they were not conscious to themselves of any wrong they had done nor of any cause of offence that they had given they had not as yet wholly laid aside the hopes they formerly conceived of him that the Opinion he entertained then as if the Council had been called for the particular interest and advantage of some few ought least of all to take place in that so great an Assembly That the Causes of calling the Council were published not only by the present Pope but also by his Predecessor Paul III. to wit that Heresies might be rooted out that Discipline might be reformed and that the Peace of the Church might be restored Was not that manifest enough Could there any thing be done more Piously or Christianly That Heresies did now spread not only over Germany but in some manner over all Provinces that the Council would apply a Remedy to this great evil that this was the ground and this also the end of all their Deliberations and that all they did aimed only at that that therefore he would suffer the Bishops within his Dominions to come and assist in carrying on so holy a Work that he had no cause to fear but that they should have liberty to speak freely what they thought that with much patience and attention his Ambassador had been lately heard though his Message had not been so very pleasant and that since a private person had been heard with so much mildness and favour why should any Man believe that that would be denied to publick persons and Men of such Dignity too That notwithstanding though he should not send one single person yet both the Authority and Dignity of the Council would subsist as being both lawfully called at first and for just Causes now again restored but that as to what he intimated of using Remedies such as his Ancestors had made use of they did not think that he would ever proceed so far as to revive those things which have heretofore been abolished to the great advantage of the Kings of France And that seeing God had blessed him with so many benefits and favours they could not but hope that he would not do any thing whereby he might seem unthankful to God or to holy Mother Church That he should only look back upon his Progenitors upon his own Title of Most Christian King and in a word upon his Father King Francis who honoured the former Council by the Ambassadors and most learned Bishops whom he sent to it that he should imitate that late and domestick Example and sacrifice private Offences to the publick Good. The Emperour and Pope had exhorted the Switzers to come to the Council but it was in vain And the Pope as we said before made use of the Ministery of Jerom Francâ— his Nuncio there to bring that about But the French King sent Instructions to the Ambassador La Morliere who resided in those places that he should endeavour to persuade them all not to send any person to it La Morliere finding that to be a difficult task sent for Vergerio an expert Man in those Affairs to come to him from amongst the Grisons who supplied him with Arguments and a little after published a Book against repairing to the Council La Moliere thus provided came to the Convention at Baden and there alledging his Reasons he persuaded not only those who long before had shaken off Popery but also all the other Cantons to what he desired of them so that none came from them to Trent From the Grisons came by Orders from the Pope Thomas Plant Bishop of Coyre but when the Grisons understood from Vergerio what the Pope was driving at that is by his means to recover his Authority over them he was recalled The Spaniards who Quartered here and there in the Country of Wirtemburg were about this time called out by the Emperour and sent into Italy because of the War of Parma By their departure the whole Province was relieved from a very heavy Bondage under which it had groaned for almost five whole years only the Castle of Achsperg the Emperour still retained with a Garison of Germans in it About the same time also Henry Hasen at the Emperour's Command went over Schwabia and in all places changed the State of the Government putting in new Senators as had been done three years before at Ausburg He turned out also all Preachers and School-masters as had been done lately at Ausburg unless they would obey the Decree about Religion That Duke Maurice and the Duke of Wirtemberg had ordered the Heads of Doctrine to be drawn up which should afterwards be exhibited and that the Senate of Strasburg joyned with them also in that design it hath been said before The Duke of Wirtemburg therefore sent two Ambassadors John Theodorick Plenninger and John Heclin with Instructions publickly to produce that written Confession of Doctrine and to acquaint the Council That Divines would come to treat of it more at large and to defend the same provided they might have a safe Conduct granted them according to the form of that of Basil So soon as they arrived at Trent which was about the later end of October they waited upon Count Montfort shew him their Commission and Credential Letters and acquainted him that they had some things to pâ—opose in Council in their Princes Name His Discourse seemed to insinuate that it behoved them to apply themselves to the Pope's Legate But they perceiving that if they should have any Communication with him it would be construed as if they owned him to have the chief Right and Authority in judging which would be a prejudice and great disadvantage to their Cause did not go to him but gave their Prince an account of what they had done and expected new Orders from him how to behave themselves In the mean time the Divines were employed after their usual manner in examining and discussing the Points we mentioned of Penance and Extream Unction November the third Count Heideck came from Duke Maurice to Magdeburg and having called out the Officers of the Garison to a Castle hard by the City he fully concluded a Peace and thereupon drew up and signed Articles wherein