and misused him so strangely that he durst not go into any of them but Ghent The King as his Lord and of near Parentage took his part and entred Flanders with an Army of Twenty five thousand Men. The Flemmings had posted Sixteen thousand upon a Hill near Cassel to guard their Frontier He coming to encamp in a Valley beneath them they had the confidence to go and attaque him and appointed three Bodies at the same instant to make their way to his Tent to the King of Bohemia's and to that of the Earl of Hainault thinking to surprize them all three unawares His Person was in great danger but whilst the bravest of his Men stood as a Rampart and put a stop to the Enemy the rest Armed themselves and charged the Flemmings so stoutly that the three Princes defeated those three Parties not one Man of them escaping All Flanders quell'd by this great shock submitted to his Mercy He caused several hundreds to be Hanged Banished and Confiscated and the year after dismantled five or six of their Towns which allay'd their heat for some time but did not extinguish it The severest punishment for those that are corrupt Officers of the Treasury and indeed the most beneficial to the Publick is not the hanging of them but to pare their Rapacious Talons so close that they may not be in a capacity to deserve it Peter Remy Sieur de Montigny had succeeded to Marigny and la Guette in the management of the Treasury their sad example had not so great influence upon him as the passion to enrich himself as they had done So that by Sentence of Parliament where there were Eighteen Knights Five and twenty Lords and Princes and the King himself present he was Condemned to be Drawn and Hanged as a Traytor at the Gallows of Montfaucon which he had caused to be rebuilt His Confiscation amounted to Twelve hundred thousand Livers a prodigious Sum for those times Of the Six great Pairries of the Laity the Kings had appropriated four to themselves to substitute others in their place and erected many new to wit Beaumont le Roger in Anno 1328. for Robert d'Artois and Anno 1329. the Barony of Bourbon this with the Title of Dutchy that with the Title of Earldom Then afterwards in several years Alenson Evreux Clermont in Beauvoisis all for Princes of his Blood and upon Lands truly of much lower Dignity and Consideration then those of the former six Pairries but as much above those of this Age as the Princes of the Blood are above Private Gentlemen Edward Earl of Savoy was come into France to demand assistance of the King against the Dauphin de Viennois and the Earl of Geneva his perpetual Enemies Year of our Lord 1329 Dying at Paris and leaving only a Daughter John III. Duke of Bretagne Husband to this Princess made earnest sute to have the Succession but the Estates of Savoy wherein presided Bertrand Archbishop of Tarentaise declared That the Salique Law took place there and called Aymon Brother of the deceased to that Crown Year of our Lord 1329 Upon the first Summons they sent to Edward by two Lords who had express Commission according to the custom of Fiefs he promised to come and do Homage to the King of France The seizure of his Fiefs of Guyenne and Ponthieu was therefore deferr'd and he came to Amiens in great Equipage After he had there in vain demanded the restoring of what had been taken in Guyenne from his Father he did Homage But it was with his Tongue and in general words only intending to Advise first with his Barons what was to be done When he was returned into England he sent Letters to King Philip under his great Seal in which he declared That that Homage was Liege and that he owed it for the Dutchy of Guyenne and the Earldoms of Ponthieu and Monstereuil Year of our Lord 1328 The Troubles that hapned in England had hindred him from performing that Devoir sooner His Mother with her Mortimer had made him believe that his Uncle Edmund Earl of Kent had plotted to take away his Life Indeed thaâ— Earl endeavour'd to get King Edward II. out of prison who was his Brother and as he thought yet living Upon this Information young Edward causes him to be seized and condemned to death somewhat too lightly but afterwards Mortimer and the Queen his Mistress were Treated in the same manner For the young King weary of their scandalous deportment caused the Gallant to be hanged upon pretence of several Crimes and his Mother to be shut up in a Castle where they hastned her end a very just act had it been done by any other hand but that of a Son The discord between Pope John XXII and the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria grew to that extremity that Lewis being in Italy after the example of the Emperour Otho degraded John of the Papal Dignity and in his place substituted Michael de Corbiere a Frier Minor under the name of Nicholas V. Michael de Cesenna General of that Order and divers of his Monks supported him mightily by their Preachings and Writings These Monks and others of the Imperial party having spread many reproachful and bloody Invectives thorough all Christendom against Pope John XXII an Assembly of the Clergy was held at Paris where the Bishop in his Pontifical Habit attended by many other Prelats and Clergy-men declared to the People in the Church-Porch of Nostre-Dame the Attempts and Mistakes of Corbiere and pronounced Excommunicate both the said Corbiere the Emperour Lewis and Michael de Cesenna with their Adherents Two things ruined this Party the Emperours ill Conduct which forced him to go out of Italy and the disagreement between the Friers Minors many of whom having forsaken their General it weakned his Interest so much that in the end he was disowned by all of that Order So that Corbiere after many Adventures being caught and brought to Avignon in the year 1330. begged pardon of John XXII with a Rope about his Neck but he could not get off so they put him in prison where he died some Months afterwards Year of our Lord 1329 We must not confound this Assembly above-mentioned with another which was held in the same City and the same year 1329. upon complaint the Kings Judges made by the Mouth of Peter Cugnieres Kt. Counsellor and Advocate-General of the Parliament touching the Usurpations and Attempts of the Clergy upon the Secular Jurisdiction The business was discussed in a Council held at Vincennes then again in the Assembly of Parliament Cugnieres spake earnestly and to the good liking of all the Nobility who applauded him Peter Roger elected Archbishop of Sens afterwards made Pope and Bertrand Bishop of Autun who was a Cardinal having undertaken the defence of their Body replied very eloquently The Clergy was in great danger not only of being lopt off in part but quite rooted out of their Jurisdiction The King at
they would Elect another they made reply that they desired no other but him and since that they were a long time without any Year of our Lord 628 Those of Saxony were a potent People it comprehended divers of different Names and they had Dukes in each Countrey Those that owed Tribute to the French were this year revolted against them Dagobert making War upon them was wounded with a blow of a Sword which took off part of his Helmet and a little of the skin of his Head with some of his Hair It is said that having sent these Tokens to his Father all bloody who was Hunting nigh Ardennes the King moved by his good nature got what Forces he could together and having passed the Rhine attaqued the Saxons encamped on the other side of the Weser where he slew Bertold their Duke with his own hand and after scowring over all the Countrey he did not leave any one of them alive that was taller then his Sword In the Assembly of the Estates of Neustria and Burgundy which was holden at Clichy there arose a great quarrel Eginaire Intendant of Ariborts Palace the Second Son of Clâ—taire having been killed by Egina's People the Favourite of this King the young Prince and his Uncle Brunulph would revenge his death Egina encamps with his Friends upon the side of Montmercure or Montmars at this day Mont-Martre But the King having commanded the Burgundians to sall upon the first that began to stir it cooled the hottest amongst them Year of our Lord 628 After Adaloald King of the Lombards and Son to King Agilulf had been poisoned by his People Arioald was raised to the Throne upon the consideration of his Wife Gundeberge Sister to Adaloald who nevertheless being accused how she intended to Poison him that she might Marry Tasin Duke of Tuscany he had kept her Prisoner for three years King Clotaire to whom she was of Kin took compassion on her and commanded his Ambassadors to reproach that wicked Husband One of these having upon his own head proposed to the Lombard King that it would be well to put the decision of so important a matter to the Judgment of God by Combat two Relations of Gundeberges brought a Champion who vanquishing Adalulf so was the Accuser called asserted and recovered the Honour and Liberty of that Princess This year is remarkable for the Death of that famous Impostor and most false Prophâ—t Mahomet whose abominable Religion composed partly of Judaism and partly of the Whimseys of several Hereticks who were retired into those parts and accommodated to the Sensualities of Corrupt Nature was embraced by such Robbers and wicked Varlets as knew neither Justice nor the Deity The greatest part of our Hemisphere bath submitted to the Tyranny of that Law and had it not been for the Valour of the French they had divers times made themselves Masters of all Europe The Aera or manner of accounting and Calculating the time by this Sect commences at the year of the Egyra or the Retreat of Mahomet to the City of Medina which hapned the 26th of July in the Six hundred twenty second year of Jesus Christ But it must be noted that they are Lunary years consisting but of 354 days whereas those amongst Christians are solary of 365 days without reckoning the Bissextile Year of our Lord 628 The Death of Clotair hapned Anno 628. in some House of his near Paris He was buried at St. Vincents at this time St. Germain des Prez The time of his Reign in Neustria within four months of the time of his Age was about forty five years and his Reign over all France after the death of Thierry was fourteen We know the names of two of his Wives the one was Beretrude the other Sichilda perhaps he may have had some other before these He left two Sons Dagobert and Aribert of what Mothers we cannot tell certainly but only that they were not both of one and the same Bed He was an affable Prince very different from the cruel and brutish ferocity of his Predecessors Just Pious instructed in good Learning and Liberal especially towards the Church and such as professed a Monastick Life Their Kings were always chosen of the Blood of the Reigning Race three Conditions were required in them their Birth it mattered not whether they were Legitimate the Will of the Father and the Consent of the Grandees the last did ever almost follow the two first After the death of Clovis as I believe they added to the ancient Custom of lifting them upon the Target that of seating them on the Throne or Regal Chair which had neither Arms nor Back for a King must support and sustain himself by his own strength The Regal Ornaments were long Hair or Locks pleited the Purple Mantle and Tunick and the Diadem or Head-band enriched with Precious Stones When they left Children that were in Minority if they had not allotted their shares the Queen-Mother and the Grandces ordained as they thought convenient and had the Administration of Affairs and the Education or Bailifes of the Minor Kings From hence these Lords were called Nourricers Nursers but there was one amongst the rest that bore this Title When a King undertook any Expedition they held up their Hands in token of the Assistance which they promised him Peace might be made without them but War could not In Civil Discords they made themselves Arbitrators between the Princes and obliged them to agree The first day of March they held an Assembly in the open Field under Tents where the Militia was often sent for Because of the day on which they met it was called the Field of Mars The Kings presided and consulted with the Lords concerning the Affairs of that year either touching Peace or War These Assemblies gave them the Command of the Armies which was not necessarily tied to their Persons at least till the time of Clovis They ever had about them a certain number of Braves or Barous who guarded them and for their safety exposed themselves to all manner of dangers The most eminent Offices of the Kingdom were the Prefect or Mayre of the Palace who was elected by the great ones or Grandees and confirmed by the King The grand Referandary who had the Royal Seal and under him several lesser or petty Referandary's and also great numbers of Expeditioners whom they called Chancellors because they did their business Intra Cancellos or Lattices The grand Apocrisiary who was the chief of the Priests and Clerks of the Court in the second Race he was called Arch-Chaplain The Count of the Palace who was Judge the Chamberlain who gave all Orders in the Kings Chamber the Count of the Stable who took care of the Stables and perhaps of the Equipage I cannot tell whether they had in those times a Provost or grand Seneschal of the Table as there was since under Pepin the Bref The Children of Lords were bred
Militia of Burgundy and several Counts without Dukes to bring them to their Duty They fallied forth out of their Rocks and their Fastnesses and set upon the French with wonderful alacrity but after all they found it better to make use of their agility to save themselves then to Fight They were pursued without stop or stay and Fire and Sword flew after them even into their strongest Retreats till there being no other security left them but the Mercy of their Prince they promised to sall down at his Feet and submit to all his Commands I know not where some Authors have found how Aquitania Secunda was concerned in their Revolt and that Dagobert having gone thither in Person razed the City of Poitiers and sowed it with Salt in token of its Desolation If this were true it must have been because of the too heavy Imposts upon Salt that the Poitovins Rebelled Year of our Lord 635 The lucre of Plunder had likewise incited the Bretons to run upon the French Territories Eloy who was since Bishop of Noyon went and demanded Reparation of their King Judicael or Giquel Son and Successor of Jukel He found it no difficult thing to persuade that Prince that he were better come and wait on the King then have his Country over-run and plundred by the Forces that were returning Victorious out of Gascongne he brought him to the Palace of Clichy where he humbly craved pardon of Dagobert promised him for the future to prevent the like Disorders and submitted both himself and Kingdom to his disposal Year of our Lord 636 The Gascon Lords with their Duke Aighina came to the same place as they had promised the foregoing year to surrender themselves up to the mercy of Dagobert and because they dreaded his wrath they had recourse to the intercession of St. Denis and put themselves into Sanctuary in his Church The King in honour to that Saint gave them their Lives and Fortunes and they in acknowledgment laying their hands up on his Altar swore an eternal Fidelity to him to his Sons and to all his Successors Kings of France Year of our Lord 636 The whole Kingdom was in peace both within and without at this time Dagobert did not enjoy this Repose very long for the Second year he was taken with a Dysentery at Espinay which was one of his Royal Houses upon the Seine a little below St. Denis His Sickness increasing he made them carry him to that Abby where he dyed the 17th of January in the year 638. being very neer 38 years of age He Reigned in all but 16 years as I think that is Six in his Fathers life time and Ten after his death At his dying he earnestly recommended his Wife Nantilda and his Son Clovis to Ega Mayre of the Palace of Neustria and to such Grandees as were then present The great Donations he made to the most famous Churches of France deserve the unparallell'd Encomiums of the Clergy who have allowed him all the qualities of as Virtuous as Wise as Valiant and as much accomplish'd a Prince either for Peace or War as any that ever Reigned over the French The Chronology begins to be very confused and uncertain in this Reign for some will have it that he dyed An. 639. others that it was in 643. Some reckon the Sixteen years of his Reign from the death of his Father others from the year that he made him King of Austrasia I am of the opinion of the latter Gold and Silver had been very scarce and rare in France in the Reign of Clovis and his Children but since then the Expeditions they made into Italy the Pensions they drew from the Emperours of the East and as it is credible the Commerce they setled with the Nations in the Levant brought great quantities of those precious Mettles as likewise precious Stones and rich Vasa's and Ornaments insomuch that the Bravery and Luxury of the Court of France was not inferiour to the Emperours Clovis II. King XII POPES SEVERIAN Elect in 639. S. some Months JOHN IV. Elect in Decemb. 639. S. One year nine Months THEODORE Elect in Novemb 641. S. Seven years and half MARTIN I. Elect in July 649 S. Six years three Months EUGENIUS I. Elected in August 654 S. One year PEPIN and then GRIMOALD Maire SIGEBERT in Austrasia aged 8 or 9 years CLOVIS II. in Neustria aged 4 years EGA then ERCHINOALD Maire Year of our Lord 638 WE shall now henceforward behold the Royal Power in the hands of the Mayres of the Palace and all the affairs of State governed according to their capricious Fancies and their Interests Pepin delivered by the death of Dagobert who had always kept him near himself upon some Honourable pretence got again into the administration of his Office of Mayre of Austrasia Dagobert having committed the Government of that Kingdom to Duke Aldagise that Lord gave it up to him either willingly or by compulsion and he gave notice thereof to Cunibert the Bishop his old friend who was Governour to Sigebert It was perhaps for his sake that he transferr'd the Court and Royal Seat of Austrasia from the City of Mets to that of Colen Year of our Lord 638 At the instance of the Governours of Austrasia who required that the Fathers Treasures should be divided betwixt the two young Kings the Grandees both of the one and the other Kingdoms assembled at Compiegne to make the estimate and to share it Year of our Lord 639 A year after Pepins return into Austrasia he fell sick and dyed having held the Office of Mayre Seventeen years a Man as great for Honesty as Policy being one according to the Heart of God and Man By his Wife Itta whom some do name Juberge he had three Children a Son named Grimoald and two Daughters Begghe and Gertrude The First Married Ansegise the Son of St. Arnold and Father of young Pepin and being a Widow Devoted her self to God in the Monastery of Nivelle with her Mother who built it and her Sister Gertrude Grimoald with the assistance of Cunibert got himself into possession of the Office of Mayre of the Palace but Otho who was Bail or Fosterer of the young Prince and for that reason very powerful in the Kings House disputed it with him for three years In fine Grimoald to enjoy it quietly caused him to be slain by Leutaire Duke of the Almains This is the First time that Office descended from Father to Son hereafter we shall sind it Hereditary Year of our Lord 640 During this Discord and the minority of Sigebert Radulfe or Raoul Duke of Turingia sets up for Sovereign having allied himself with the Sclavonians and made a League with Fare who would needs revenge the death of Chrodoald his Father whom King Dagobert had caused to dye for his Crimes The Austrasian Lords led the Forces of their Kingdom and the King himself thither to chastise their Rebellion At first Fare having dared to come and meet
whom as afterwards with Childeric II. his Son she had great Interest and Power This done Grimoald confidently sets up his Son upon the Throne there are proofs of some Royal Acts he did but this attempt lost him all the veneration the Austrasians had for the memory of Pepin and gave them such horror for their Mayre and his Son that having taken them in some Ambuscades laid for them they led Grimoald to Paris to King Clovis who caused him to be put to death or as others will have it confined him to perpetual imprisonment however there was Year of our Lord 652 no more heard of him It is not said what became of his Son nor whether the Austrasians elected another Mayre Perhaps Erchinoald executed that Office in all the three Kingdoms for since the Decease of Floacat the Burgundians had created none CLOVIS II. Solus Year of our Lord 653. c. In these Minorities there being no Authority great enough to curb the Grandees they audaciously undertook to do any thing what pleased them best and most commonly deciding their quarrels by the Sword they put all the Kingdom into a combustion The Authors of those times accuse Clovis with giving himself up to the Debauchery or pleasures of the Mouth and Women and make a mighty noise for his having plucked off an Arm from the Body of St. Denis to place it in his Oratory They say he immediately fell into a fit of Madness as if he had been smote from Heaven Year of our Lord 655 and attribute to this attempt which at the worst was but an indiscreet Zeal all the mischiefs that afflicted the Kingdom of Franee during the Reigns of his Successors The same year this King aged only 21 or 22 years but having his Brain much shaken Year of our Lord 655 with frequent Convulsions dries up at the Root and dies in the spring of his age He did not Reign Seventeen years if we leave out that whole year wherein Dagobert dyed as the Authors of these times usually do but if we account from the very day he succeeded him he was entring into the Eighteenth he was interred at St. Denis His Mayre Erchinoald had amongst his Domestiques a young English Maid named Batilda of a rare Beauty but whom he had bought out of the hands of Pyrats who had stollen her away amongst some other Captives for in those days they brought great numbers from those parts he bestowed her upon this young Prince for a Wife about the year 548 or 49. and of his Slave made her the Wife of his Year of our Lord 548 King It was given out that she was of the Blood of the Saxon Princes who Reigned in England By this Batilda Clovis had three Sons Clotaire Childeric and Thierry Clotaire was saluted King of Neustria and Burgundy under the Government of his Mother and Erchinoald and Childeric made King of Austrasia whither he was Conducted and left he and his Kingdom under the management of Vlfoad Mayre of that Kingdom Thierry had no share perhaps because he was but yet in his Cradle Clotaire III. King XIII POPES VITALIANUS Elected in August 655. S. Thirteen years three Months EBROIN Mayre CLOTAIRE III. King in Neustria and Burgundy aged at most but Five years CHILDERIC King of Australia aged Three or Four years Year of our Lord 655 THe Government of the Mayre Erchinoald ended with his Life which hapned in a few Months after the death of Clovis the II or as others say a short time before Some with probability enough make him the prime stock of the House of Alsatia whence is issued that of Lorrain of these days which for Nobility yields to none in Chistendom unless that of France The French bestowed that Office upon Ebroin a man active valiant and who being greatly in friendship with the most Holy Men of those times and Founder of some Churches was held a good Man and he lived in that Reputation many years Year of our Lord 655 c. Queen Batilda Governed with as much Goodness Prudence and Justice as any wiâ—e King could have done And indeed for Ten years together there hapned no Trouble in her Sons Reign Before her time the Gauls as well those Infants that lay in their Cradles as their Fathers paid a great Tribute by Poll which restrained many from Marrying or obliged them to expose their Children the good Queen discharged them from it and forbid those Jews that used to buy such poor innocent Children and send them into Forreign Countreys to deal any longer in so inhumane a Trade Nay she bought several that those Infidels had already purchased and likewise such as had been stollen away by Thieves and sold for that purpose but she exhorted them to put themselves into Monasteries which she very greatly desired might be well Peopled She had a very particular care for all that concerned the Church For some time past the Princes had taken Money for Spiritual Promotions and the Bishops sold by Retail what they bought in the Lump She forbad that Sacrilegious Traffick Year of our Lord 656. 57 c. Besides she enriched divers Monasteries with Possessions and precious Ornaments obtained immunities for them and exemptions from Tribute built two famous Monasteries one for Women at Chelles the other for Men at Corbie on the Somme and invited many Holy persons to Court but to tell truth she gave too much access to the Bishops either for the good of the Church or her own Reputation Year of our Lord 664 or 65. Amongst the rest there were two in very great credit and esteem Leger whom she had made Bishop of Autun and Sigebrand we cannot tell of what place This last extreamly proud of the Queens Favour which gave occasion of much jealousie and ill report amongst the envious did so highly distaste the great ones that they put him to death without any form of Process or Trial. After this attempt whether they apprehended the Resentments of that Princess or had slandered and bespattered her on purpose to make her uncapable to Govern they besought her so importunately to retire that she was obliged to condescend Even those whom she had most gratified with her Goodness were of the party Some of the Grandees conducted her to her Monastery of Chelles where of a Queen she became only a simple Nun and yet was more Illustrious in her Humility then she had been in her exalted Greatness She lived till the year 686. Year of our Lord 665. c. It is to be believed that Ebroin the Mayre had managed all this contrivance that he might be left sole Governour for when the Reyns were off his Pride his Avarice his Cruelty and Treachery began to appear bare-faced He seized the Goods he took away the Offices he hunted away the Greatest that were about the Court and forbid any others to come in there without his leave Above all he hated Leger the Bishop of Autun because he was a Creature of
over with Jewels and Stones the other being plain Gold without other Ornament Year of our Lord 817 Three Months after Leo went out of France he died at Rome the 25 th of January An. 817 a nd the Clergy Elected Paschal this man knowing the softness of the Emperor durst likewise take his Seat in the Pontificial Chair without waiting for his consent and yet excused it to him by an Ambassador sent expresly Though the Emperor was not very well pleased yet he did what was required for his Confirmation But he reproved the Romans and admonished them never to fall upon such an attempt again And yet if we believe the Partisans of the Court of Rome Paschal wrought so far upon the Emperor that he yielded up his right of confirming Popes The Sons of Godfrey demanded Peace of the Emperor It was taken to be only Year of our Lord 817 a pretence and therefore great succours were sent to Heriold Upon the demand of the Grecian Emperors Ambassadors who were come for that purpose Louis dispatched a Deputy to settle the Limits of Dalmatia between the two Emperors together with Cadolac who commanded for him in those Marches and the Sclavonians that had some interest Year of our Lord 817 The 17 th of February during an Eclipse of the Moon a Comet began to appear in the Sign of Sagittary Year of our Lord 817 Upon Holy-Thursday as the Emperor was coming out of the Church belonging to his Palace a Gallery fell down under him twenty persons of Quality were hurt but it proved to have more of fear then danger for their bruises and broken-shinns were soon healed It seemed Louis was Born rather for the Church then for the World For as he behaved himself he would have proved a better Abbot or a Bishop then a King Besides his perpetual exercise in Devotion which does not always sute with the Activity of Government he busied himself very much about the reformation of the Clergy Amongst other things in the Assembly at Aix la Chapelle he caused a Rule to be made for the Chanons drawn from the Writings of the Holy-Fathers commanded the Benedictins to observe theirs sent Commissary's into the Provinces to prevent the Simony Luxury and Pride with such other like abuses of the Churchmen and obliged the Bishops in Fine to Reform at least in outward appearance and throw aside their Belts and Embroid'red Girdles their Daggers with Hilts beset with Jewels and gingling Spurs which drew upon him the hatred of the Churchmen amongst whom the Greatest number were the worst In this assembly he Associated Lotaire his Eldest Son in the Empire and gave Aquitain to Pepin and Bavaria to Louis both with the Titles of Kingdoms Tegan Chorevesque of Treves hath written that he designed Lotaire his Eldest to be Sole Heir whether he did it before or after this partition it was a great weakness Louis the Debonnatre Emperour and King of France Eastern and Western     Lotatre King of Italy and Associate in the Empire Pepin King of Aquitain Louis King of Bavaria To this place they brought him intelligence of the defection of the Abodrites and the conspiracy of Bernard King of Italy both the attempts of the one and the other were suppressed and stifled in their Birth Bernard a young Prince had suffered himself to be possessed with an opinion that he could dethrone his Uncle This counsel came from the very Court of France where he had divers abettors who without all doubt persuaded him that all the Kingdom was his belonging to him as Son to the Eldest His design was discovered before he had time to take his measures the Forces to whom he had committed the defence or keeping of the passages to the Alpes abandoned them upon the first notice of the March of the Emperors Army and those that first set him upon this business were the first that forsook him In this distress he took the most dangerous counsel which made him come himself to Chaalons and fall down at his Feet begging his pardon This hindred not his being made a Prisoner together with all those Lords that were in his Train The Emperor being returned to Aix la Chapelle caused their process to be made The Seculars were all condemned to Death The Bishops amongst whom was Theodulfe d'Orleans degraded and consined to a Monastery Some of the first suffered the rigour of the Sentence others had their eyes put out whereof two of the most Eminent died and Bernard himself lost his life within three days after Whoever disturb the Peace of a Nation deserves death but it was too extream a rigour towards a young Prince of nineteen years and an Uncle towards his Nephew And indeed Louis had great remorse all his life nor did the French forgive him that cruelty Bernard left but one Son named Pepin and at his age he could scarce have any more at least Legitimate This same begat three Bernard Pepin and Heribert From Pepin sprang The First Branch of Vermandois The Emperor apprehending his Bastard-Brothers Charlemaine had left several might fall into the like Conspiracies caused them all to be shaved and thrust into Monasteries and sent away Adelard Abbot of Corbie and Valla his Brother The Bretons had created a King called Morman or Morvan The Emperor going thither in Person reduced all the Country in Forty days and Morman being Slain in his own Camp either by his own or by the French-men he gave them a Duke of his own At this return from this Voyage he lost his Wife Hermengard She died at Augiers leaving him three Sons Lotaire Pepin and Louis The Abodrites were Subjects and Tributaries to the French who nevertheless allowed them to have a King He whom they then had was called Sclaomir who having intelligence with the Enemies of France was seized upon by the Emperors Lieutenants and being unable to justify himself before him was banished and his Crown given to Ceadragne Son of Traciscon who had been cut off by the Danes Loup Centule Duke of the Gascons guilty of the like Crime being vanquished in a great Battel by the French Counts and afterwards taken Prisoner was likewise destituted and exiled He withdrew himself into Spain to the Court of the King of the Asturias These Commotions shewed enough the weakness of the Government Liudewit Duke of Pannonia Inferiora who sought pretences to revolt for grievances he alledged to have suffered by Cadolac Duke of Friuli threw off his Masque in the end and for three or four years gave a great deal of trouble to those Lieutenants that served the Emperor in Dalmatia Friuli and Bavaria till at length he was quite driven out of those Countries The same Year upon his return from that expedition Cadolac died upon the Frontiers and Baudry succeeded in his place In the general Assembly held at Aix Bera Count of Barcelonna being accused of Treason and thinking to justify himself by combat fell under the Sword of
his accuser and should have shamefully forfeited his life according to the Law had not the Emperor changed his Sentence of Death for banishment Year of our Lord 819 It was ill counsel made the Emperor give his Sons their shares so young as he had done But it was worse after he had done so to Marry a second Wife But being resolved notwithstanding his Devotion to taste again the pleasures of the Nuptial Bed he made choice of Judith Daughter to Helpon Duke of Bavaria so much the more a trouble to his repose as she was Beautiful Witty and Gallant The Truce between the French and Saracens of Spain is broken and the Saracens begin to range about the Coasts of Italy Sardinia and Corsica Year of our Lord 820 Thirteen Normand Vessels having attempted to make a descent in Flanders at the Mouth of the Seine went and pillaged the Island of Amboum upon the Coasts of Poitou So great a Mortality hapned amongst Bulls and Cowes that it almost destroyed the whole Race of that sort of Cattel thorow all France Year of our Lord 821 The Emperor confirmed the partition he had made amongst his Sons and obliged all the Lords that were present to Swear they would maintain them therein and as though he feared his Family might want Princes he made hast to marry them Lotaire with Hermengard Daughter to Count Hughes and the year after Pepin with Engheltrude Daughter of Thietbert Earl of Matrie Lotaire when his Marriage was consummate went into Italy where the Pope Crowned him Emperor and Pepin returned into Aquitaine We omit several minute things as the Negotiations of Ambassadors from divers Princes little exploits in War against the Abodrites Bretons Saracens and others But it is a very memorable thing that Louis the Debonnaire touched with remorse for having put his Nephew to Death and Cloister'd all his Brothers and natural Cousins against their wills made his confession to the Bishops and did publick Pennance before all the People at the general Assembly of Attigny After which he gave liberty to all those he had caused to be shaven to quit their Cloister and recalled Valac and Adelard to be of his Councel Year of our Lord 823 Birth of Charles the Bald and with him a world of Michiefs Which one may say had been presaged by many terrible prodigies hapning this year an Earthquake which shoke the Palace of Aix la Chapelle Furious Stormes which spoiled the Corn and Fruits of the Country a showre of huge Stones which fell together with Prodigious Hail many Men and Beasts in divers places struck with lightning a Girl that lived ten Months without eating and after all these a most raging Pestilence Year of our Lord 823 The Authority of the French at Rome did much incommode the Pope He knew what Emperors he had to do with and sought under-hand to weaken them and to render them odious and contemptible It hapned that Theodorus Prmicere of the Church and Leon Donatour his Son in Law were killed in his House for no other reason but because they had too much affection for Lotaire He purged himself by Oath that he had not consented to this Murther but however he would not deliver up the Murtherers saying they were of the Family of St. Peter And Louis too Debonnaire or meek puts up this injury whereas he should at least have required Justice upon them Year of our Lord 824 Shortly after the Pope comes to die Eugenius II. his Successor made some satisfaction to the French and there were Judges establisht in Rome all of the Emperors Palace none of the Popes The Bretons as obstinate for their Liberty as the Saxons for their Religion assayed to withdraw themselves from the obedience of the French and Elected a Lord of their Country to command them He was called Wihormac or Guyormac and was Vicount of Leon. The Emperor being entred into the Country with three Armies whereof he commanded one and his two Sons the two others made so great waste in the parts belonging to those Rebels that about the end of ten or twelve days they were glad to come and fall at his Feet and give up the Children of the most Noted Families for a Pawn of their Submission The following year the Principals and Guyomare their Chief came to the general Assembly at Aix as making up now a part of the French Monarchy The Emperor rewarded them all with rich Presents but when occasion offer'd they made it appear they could swallow the Bait and yet avoid the Hook The Peace being broken with the Saraeens of Spain the French Earls Guardians of the Frontiers had in An. 822. passed the Segre and going a great way into the Country brought thence very rich booty The King of Cordona would needs have his revenge upon Navarre and those Neighbouring Countries that were under the French Those People could hardly receive any assistance For the Saracens held Sarragossa and Huesca which hindred the passage of any succours that would go the lower way I mean Catalonia and the way thorow Gascony by Aspe and Ronceveaux was very incommodious insomuch that the Emperor could send only the Gascons unde r command of the Counts Ebles and Azenar or Aznar who were of that Country When they had taken care to secure Pampelonna and thought to retreat they found the Saracens had cut off their way back So they were forced to get the assistance of the People Inhabiting those Mountains to shew them some Year of our Lord 824 bye unknown ways but those treacherous Villains led them into places where the Saracens lay in Ambuscade so that they were cut in pieces and Ebles sent in Triumph to Cordoiia but Aznar set at liberty as being of Kin to some of those false-hearted Robbers The Bulgarians had already signalized themselves by their Incursions into the Territories of the Eastern Empire The French began to know them when they came to be their Neighbours Omortag their King sent Ambassadors to the Emperor to settle the Limits between the two Nations He detained them above two years with him and then sent them back without any answer By the assistance of the French Heriold was received in part into the Kingdom of Denmark with the Sons of Godfrey But those Princes out of hatred for that he Year of our Lord 825. and the following and all his Family had received Baptism drove him out of the Country which broke the Truce made with the Dane Soon after it was renewed and Heriold forced to content himself with the Earldom of Riusty which the Emperor had given him in Frisia Year of our Lord 826 The Normands Scowring the Coasts of Spain took Sevil which they held a whole year The Affairs of France being in a declining condition towards the Marches of Spain since the defeat of Ebles and Aznar a Lord named Aizo who had left the Emperors Court in discontent seized by a wile upon the City of Ossonna in Catalonia and made
and a few days after put him to death The two Cousins having shared the Soveraignty soon quarrell'd each other and came to blows near Rennes Vrfand with a Thousand men only charged Pasquitan who had Twelve times as many and got the advantage The other Lords of the Country after the example of these two set up likewise Year of our Lord 875 for Soveraigns amongst others Alain Earl of Broerec that is to say the Territory of Vennes and that of Porhoet and Salomon Count of Rennes Son of the Sister to a King of the same name On the other hand the Normans wasted all the Country so that Bretagne thus torn lost the name of a Kingdom And took that of a County and then a Dutchy In those days these two Titles were confounded Soon after Vrfand fell sick to extremity Pasquitan having notice of it gets his Forces together Vrfand whose courage could not fail but with his Life was carried in a Litter to the head of his men his presence gave them the victory but hastned his death a little A great deal of honour which cost him but a Moments Breath Year of our Lord 875 His Rival did not long survive him sickness deprived him of that which death had bestowed on him His Succession remained in dispute between Alain his Brother and Judicael Son of the Daughter to Herispoux They found it better to share it by agreement then by the Sword and at length it fell to Alain by the Death of Judicael who was slain in a fight against the Normans Louis Emperor of Italy Dies without Male Children in the Month of August An. 875 the 20 th of his Empire who had been mightily disturbed by Factions of the Grandees his State and incursions of the Saracens His Tomb is to be seen at Milan in St. Ambrose Church His Wife was named Engelberge according to some the Daughter of Ethico who was Son of another Ethico Duke of Suevia or Germany by whom he had but one Daughter only named Hermengarde who An. 876. was Ravished by Boson Brother to the Queen Richilde and with the consent of Everard Berenger Son of the Duke of Friuli who had her in keeping Louis the Germanick Charles the Bald. Year of our Lord 875 It was now betwixt the Germanick and the Bald who should first Seize upon Italy The Bald making great diligence got thither before Charles and Carloman two of the Germanicks Sons who went two several ways whilst their Brother Louis fell upon France to make a diversion For the two first the Bald amused them with very fair words and sent them back handsomely and as for the third the Prelats made such pathetical remonstrances to him that he took pitty of the poor people and returned without committing many acts of Hostility The Popes interest was to have an Emperor of a great name one that could lend him powerful assistance as Pepin and Charlemaine had done but yet not abide in Italy where he must have lain too heavy upon his shoulders wherefore he would have no Italian Lord because they were both weak and resided upon the place and besides being to chuse out of the Carlovinian Line he could not so well comply with the roughness of those that Governed in Germany He therefore pitched upon Charles the Bald and incited him by a sumptuous Embassy to come to Rome to receive the Imperial Diadem as if it had been absolutely in his disposal Year of our Lord 875 He set it on his Head upon Christmass Day with great Solemnity After which the new Emperor bestowed the Dutchy of Spoleta upon Gay the Son of Lambert and that of Friuli on Berenger the Son of Everard At his return he received also the Crown of Lombardy at Pavia and a Confirmation of the Imperial one at an Assembly of Counts and Prelats in the said City Year of our Lord 875 the Pope assisting in Person And the following year there being yet several Lords in Italy who refused to acknowledge him the Pope held another Council in Rome to Confirm him a second time adding Excommunications against the refractory Year of our Lord 875 Year of our Lord 876 The Western Empire could be but a vain or empty Title and at most had nothing belonging to it but the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Pentapolis for his power was not Year of our Lord 877 absolute in the City of Rome and the Kingdom of Lombardy belonged nor held any wise of it Nevertheless the Bald esteeming himself wholly obliged to the Pope and of ☜ his Soveraign being become his Subject even so far condescending as to take it for an honour to bear the Title of his Counsellor of State endeavoured in recompence with all his might to extend his Authority over the liberties of the Gallican Church In a Council held at Pontigon he supported as much as he could the Popes Legats who brought Letters of Primacy to Ansegise Arch-Bishop of Sens saying the Pope had Commissioned him to assist at that Council and to cause his Orders to be put in execution and in effect he made him take his Seat immediately next the Legats But the French Prelats encourag'd by Hincmar who thought he better deserved that honour then Ansegise could never be induced neither by Prayers nor threatnings to give consent to that Novelty At the eight Session the Bald brought in the Empress his wife so fond was he of her with the Crown upon her Head to preside there with him of which the Bishops were so ashamed that they did not so much as rise up to receive her Though the Germanick were Seventy years old and much discomposed in his Family by the discord amongst his Sons he had nevertheless so great a resentment for that Charles the Bald did him no justice in the matter of the Empire and Territories of Italy that he gathered all his Forces to make a powerful irruption upon Neustria Being come to Francfort Death broke the thrid of his life and his undertakings the 28 th of August the Seventieth of his Age and the 59 since his first Coronation This Prince was well read in the Learning of those times He was all his life long Active Warlike and Liberal one that cared not for money but to bestow it and had a greater esteem for Steel then Gold a great Zealot in Justice and Religion an equitable distributer of commands and employments in Fine approaching more then any Prince of his Line to the noble virtues and qualities of Charlemaine By Emne his sole wife a Spaniard by Nation much applauded by the Authors of those days for her Wisdom and Piety he had three Sons Carloman Charles and Louis Year of our Lord 876 Upon the News of his death the Bald of a defender which he was just before became an aggressor and resolved to strip those young Princes his Nephews before they could be aware Louis nearest Neighbour to this danger sent Ambassadors to him to put him in mind
prisoner But soon after having made his escape out of their hands he takes Shipping and Lands in Provence whence he was conducted to Lyons From that place always defrayed in his expences by the Bishops of France he came to Troyes where he held a Council the King came likewise thither and by his hands was Crowned Emperor the seventh of September Year of our Lord 878 In this Council the Pope Excommunicated Hugh Bastard Son to King Lotaire II. and Valdrade who pretended to be Legitimate and had collected together some herds of Robbers to regain the Kingdom of Lorrain He likewise restored Hincmar Bishop of Laon permitted him to say Mass though he were blind and bestowed one half of the revenue of the Bishoprick upon him Year of our Lord 879 After the Popes departure the Stammerer going towards Lorraine conferred about Marsenne upon the Meuse with Louis King of Germany They made a Treaty by which they divided Lorrain betwixt them as it had been betwixt their Fathers and the Stammerer promised him part in Italy Neither the obedience nor affection of the Lords was firm towards him they gave little heed to his Orders and it hapned that having taken up Arms to suppress Bernard Marquiss of Gothia whose Government he had given to Bernard Earl of Auvergne he fell sick in his passage by Autun in Burgundy not without suspicion he was poysoned wherefore he sent for his Son Louis whom he put into the hands and keeping of Bernard Earl of Auvergne Thierry his great Chamberlain the Abbot Hugh and some other Lords This Hugh or Hugues was very powerful towards the latter part of the Reign of Charles the Bald under Louis the Stammerer and likewise under his Children The Stammerer being with much difficulty brought to Compeigne gave up his Soul upon Holy Friday the 19 th of April He was buried at the same place in the Abbey-Church of St. Cornille his Age was 30 or 35 years of which he had Reigned only Year of our Lord 879 one and seven Months Before his death he sent the Crown and other Regal ornaments to his Son Louis by the Bishop of Beauvais and an Earl with order to have him annointed King as soon as possible He was in his youth married to Anâ—â—arde by whom he had had two Sons this Louis of whom we speak and Carloman but as she 〈◊〉 of mean extraction the King his Father without whose consent he married her obliged him to put her away For this reason it is that some Historians say that these two Princes are Bastards After this divorce he took another named Adelaid or Alive Daughter of some English Prince and Sister to Wilfrid Abbot of Flavâ—gny in the Dutchy of Burgundy She was with child when he died and brought a Posthumus Son into the World Born the 17 th of September following He was named Charles the Year of our Lord 879 Simple The Western Empire remained vacant two whole years and Italy in an extreme confusion thorough the discords of the Lords and the spoil and ravages of the Saracens to whom the Pope was fain to pay Tribute We may in this Reign place the Original of the Earls of Anjou from a Lord named Ingelger the Son of a Breton named Torquat or Tortulfe on whom Charles the Bald had bestowed some Lands in Gastinois and Perretta Daughter of Hugo Labbe in marriage This Ingelger was the Father of Fulke le Roux who being made Earl of Anjou by Charles the Simple valiantly defended that Country against the Normans LOUIS III. AND CARLOMAN King XXVII At the Age of Adolescency POPES JOHN VIII 3 Years and half in this Reign MARTIN Elected in January 883. S. one Year and 20 days ADRIAN III. Elect. in January 884. S. One Year 3. Months whereof Six Months in this Reign LOVIS III. And Carloman his Brother Kings of West-France Burgundy and Aquitain CARLOMAN King of Bavaria Louis the Young King of Germany or East-France Charles the Fatt of Germany properly so called   Lorrain to both Year of our Lord 879 TO the very end of this Race we shall find nothing but factions the Kings being but their May-games and even their Creatures Thierry and the rest to whom the Stammerer had recommended his Son sent to the other Lords to meet at the general Assembly at Meaux And they reconciled the quarrels between Thierry and Boson Gauzzelin one of the Princes or great Lords of Neustria Abbot of St. German des Prez forgot not the injuries he had received by the preceding Government and having made his Party with some Bishops and Lords proposed that to heal the distempers of France they ought to bring it all under one head and for that purpose call in Louis of Germany with whom he had contrived and held intelligence as having formerly been taken Prisoner by him at the Battel of Andernac promising to bring him in and make the French accept and own his Title to the prejudice of the Bastard Sons of Louis the Stammerer For thus he called them The greatest Friends to these two Princes could no other way divert this Storm but by yielding up to the German King that part of Lorrain which the Bald and the Stammerer had possessed And ever since that Kingdom though disputed and divers times resumed by the Kings of West France yet remained at last with the Germans or Kings of East France Year of our Lord 880 Louis would not have been satisfied with less than the whole Monarchy had not his affairs pressed him to return home in hast For being informed at Mâ—ts of the sickness of Carloman his eldest Brother who was Seized with the Palsie he posted to Bavaria to prevent him from giving the Kingdom to Arnold his Bastard Son Now Carloman died soon after and was Interred at Ottinghen in Bavaria in St. Maximilian's Monastery founded by him He had no Legitimate Children but two natural ones Arnold to whom he could leave only the Dutchy of Carinthia King Louis having even in his life time received the Oaths of his Subjects and Gisele who An. 890. married Zuendipold King of Moravia whom for that reason some have called Carloman's Son Louis III. and Carloman as beforesaid Louis and Charles the Fatt as abovesaid Year of our Lord 880 In the mean while Gauzelin and Conrard fearing to be oppressed by the other Neustrian Lords applied themselves to Lewitgarde the wife of Lewis of Germany a very ambitious Princess who sollicited her Husband so earnestly that she over-persuaded him to return once more into France with much greater strength then he at first carried Year of our Lord 880 Upon the rumour of this second Irruption the Lords caused not only Louis eldest Son of the Stammerer but also Carloman his Brother to be both Crowned in the Abbey of Ferrieres in Gastinois Year of our Lord 880 Some while after these two Brothers being at Amiens divided their Fathers Kingdom betwixt them Lewis had Neustria and Carloman the
greatest indignity even to the reducing him to much indigence of all things fit for him I find in the Life of this most Wife King an act of Clemency more then Royal. There having been discovery made of a grand Conspiracy against his Life and State and the Authors taken when the Lords were assembled together to Sentence them to Death he caused those Wretches to be splendidly entertained and the next day admitted to the Sacred Communion then would needs have them be set free saying They could not put those to Death whom Jesus Christ had newly received at his Table This year William IV. Duke of Aquitain and Earl of Poitiers died and his eldest Son William V. surnamed the Gross took the Goverment of his Country The Widow Dutchess second Wife of William IV. having Children to gain assistance against those of the first Bed Married Geofrey Martel a most valiant Prince the Son of Fulk Earl of Anjou Year of our Lord 1025 The year after Richard the Good Duke of Normandy ended his days and for Successor Year of our Lord 1026 had Richard III. his eldest Son Year of our Lord 1027 Othe-William Earl of Burgundy left this World likewise and his Son Renauld possessed his Estates An enraged Passion to govern Armed Baldwin then surnamed the Frison and afterwards the Debonnaire against Bearded Baldwin his own Father Earl of Flanders so that he drove him out of his Country This unnatural Son valuing himself highly on the Alliance of King Robert whose Daughter he had Married but who nevertheless did not countenance his impiety Richard III. Duke of Normandy others affirm it was Robert received the old banished Man and restored him to his Earldom but he could not totally supress the Partialities in those Countries where some still sided with the Son as others stood up for the Father Year of our Lord 1028 The 17th of September the young King Hugh died in the Flower of his Age bemoaned of all Europe for his rare and lovely Qualities which had acquired him so great Reputation that he could hardly have made it good if he had longer survived King Robert had three more Sons remaining Henry Robert and Eudes Some Year of our Lord 1028 29. say that Eudes was the eldest of them all However it were the King after the Death of Hugh would have Henry Crowned but Queen Constance by a depraved appetite had undertaken to put Robert in the Throne The Fathers Authority and Reason carried it for Henry amongst the French Lords and yet this Womans Obstinacy could not acquiesce but caused many Tumults her Husband not being able to prevent her even in his Life time from contriving a great Conspiracy to dethrone the eldest and place the younger in his stead ROBERT and HENRY his Son Aged some Eighteen years Year of our Lord 1029 RIchard III. Duke of Normandy having Reigned but two years died of Poyson by by his Brother named Robert who after his death enjoyed the Dukedom obtained Year of our Lord 1028 by Fratricide Year of our Lord 1029 30. In the year 1029. and 30. there began a great War between Eudes Earl of Champagne Chartres and Tours and Fulk Earl of Anjou because Fulk fortified the Castle of Montrichard which Eudes said did belong to the Country of Touraine After some Rencounters they came to a pitched Battle each being at the head of his Army the loss was great on either side but the Angevin obtained the Victory Year of our Lord 1030 31 and the following Though King Robert commonly permitted the liberty of Elections yet the Bishop of Langres being dead he by his absolute Authority substituted another as having need of one wholly at his Devotion in that place to help him in the bridling and containing of Burgundy The Canons having Poysoned this he put in a second there which excited so great trouble amongst the Clergy of that Diocess that he was forced to send his Son to install the last promoted and to secure him from their Attempts Year of our Lord 1033 Whilst Henry was in that Country hapned a great Eclipse of the Sun and Robert his Father was seized with a Distemper whereof he died the 20th of July in the year 1033. having lived Sixty one years of which he Reigned Forty five and an half that was Nine and an half with his Father and Thirty six since his death He had four Children living three Sons Henry who had the Crown Eudes who contended with him for it and Robert who was Duke of Burgundy and one Daughter named Adeleida who Married Baldwin Earl of Flanders It was no fault of his Government that France was not compleatly happy he gave his Subjects what depended upon him Justice and Peace but had the unhappiness to see a Famine three times and after that a Plague make great destruction in his Dominions the first in Anno 1007. the second Anno 1010. and the third from the year 1030 to 1033. The first was general over all Europe and the last so severe in France that many People were seen to dig up dead Carkasses for Food to go a hunting after little Children and lie in wait at the corners of Woods like Beasts of Prey to devour Passengers Nay there was a Man so possessed with the covetous desire of gain more cruel then the Famine it self that he exposed Human Flesh to sale in the City of Tournus but that detestable Prodigy was by them expiated in the Flames Henry I. King XXXVII POPES BENEDICT IX A young Boy intruded in December 1033. S. near Ten years Three Anti-Popes the same BENEDICT SYLVESTER and GREGORY VI. Elected after the Abdication of BENEDICT Anno 1044. S. Two years CLEMENT VII Named by the Emperor Anno 1046. S. Nine Months DAMASUS II. Elected in 1048. S. Twenty three days LEO IX After Five Months vacancy Elected in Feb. 1049. S. Five years two Months VICTOR II. Named by the Emperor Anno 1054. S. Three years STEPHANUS X. Elected in August 1057. S. Eight Months NICHOLAS II. Elected in 1058. S. Two years six Months Year of our Lord 1033 THe first and most capital Enemy against this King was his own Mother who continuing to the prejudice of his Fathers Declaration and the right of Nature to endeavour to set the Crown upon the Head of Robert her beloved Son raised a good Party of the Grandees against him particularly Baldwin Earl of Flanders and Eudes Earl of Champagne bestowing the City of Sens upon this last to engage him to her Party But Henry whose Resolution was above his Age went himself being the Twelfth to Robert Duke of Normandy to implore his Assistance The Duke by Motives of Fidelity or hatred against the Champenois aided him with all his Forces With which having in a short time defeated the Queen's in several Rencounters and taken the Rebels Holds he unlinked the whole Party and reduced her in despite of all her Projects to live quietly with him The War ended
it governed almost all Europe both in Spirituals and Temporals We must not omit how Robert Native of the Village d'Arbresel in the Diocess of Rennes founded the Order of Fontevralt whose Monasteries are double of Men and Women living according to the Rule and wearing the Habit of St. Bennet This Robert was at first Archdeacon of Rennes then had a particular Mission from Pope Vrban II. to Preach to the People Finding he was every where followed by an infinite multitude of either Sex he built Cells for them in the Woods of Fontevrault three Leagues from Saumur on the Confines of Poitou and then shutting up the Women apart this was perhaps after the good Advice of Gefroy de Vendosme he made a large Monastery which produced many others in each of them the Abbess Commands and she of Fontevrault is the General of the whole Order About the year 1048. began a famous Dispute between the Benedictine Monks of St. Denis in France and those of St. Himmeran of Ratisbonne these having given out a report that they had the Body of St. Denis the Areopagite and that it was bestow'd upon them by King Arnold They held a famous Assembly at St. Denis upon it where the Contenders of either side having fasted and pray'd the Shrine of this Saint was opened and there his Corps was found intire excepting one Arm which Pope Stephanus III. had carried to Rome Those of Ratisbonne would not yield for all this but always maintained their Supposition The great Zeal People then had for Reliques prompted such as hold nothing so Sacred as Money to go for some to Jerusalem and the East to steal Reliques where-ever they could come at them and oftentimes likewise to suppose and bring Counterfeit ones to make Merchandize and the great Lords gave dear Prices for them not only out of Devotion but also to enrich their Towns and Castles by the affluence of those People that came to behold them Lewis the Gross King XXXIX POPES PASCAL II. Nine years six Months during this Reign GELASIUS II. Elected in January 1118. S. One year CALISTUS II. Elected in Feb. 1119. S. Ten years ten Months HONORIUS II. Elected in Decem. 1124. S. Five years one Month and an half INNOCENT II. Elected in Feb. 1130. S. Thirteen years seven Months whereof Seven years seven Months during this Reign LEWIS the GROSS King XXXIX Aged about Twenty seven years Year of our Lord 1108 THis Prince no less Massive of Body then his Father but brave active vigilant exposing himself boldly to all Labours and all Dangers had undertaken to suppress the Pilferings and Licentiousness of the Lords They had made several Leagues against him and at that time there was one whereof Guy Earl of Rochefort was the chief Promoter and this perhaps had hindred him from being Crowned in his Fathers life time The fear of this League obliged him to hasten his Coronation so that five days after the Death of Philip he was Anointed and Crowned at Orleans by Giselbert Archbishop of Sens assisted by all his Suffragants He would not have it performed at Reims because Rodolph who was chosen Archbishop by the Clergy and confirmed by the Pope had not his approbation for which reason he disturbed him in the enjoyment and Rodolph thereupon had put the City under an Interdiction Year of our Lord 1109 The War raised by Guy de Rochefort and his Friends lasted still The new King besieged Chevreuse and other little Castles which the other party defended well Mean time Guy died and Hugh surnamed de Crescy his second Son succeeded to the Animosity of his Father Hugh Lord Puiset in Beauce mighty famous for his Robberies was of the League Eudes Ea. I of Corbeil Grandson to Earl Bouchard having refused to joyn with the Male-contents Crescy though his Brother by the Mother made him Prisoner and shut him up in the Castle of la Ferte-Baudouin The King set him free soon after taking the place partly by Intelligence Year of our Lord 1109. 1110 c. At the same time the King had War with Henry King of England and Duke of Normandy The Subject was that that Prince did not keep the Promise he made upon his doing Hommage for Normandy to pull down the Castle of Gisors built on this side the Epte a River which served as a Boundary between the Territories of the French and the Normans The Difference put to Discussion between the Deputies of the one and other side and the Parties not able to agree the Fact King Lewis offer'd to prove it by Combat Body to Body Some idle Jesters said the two Kings had best fight upon the Bridge which shook and was ready to fall Henry having refused this Challenge they came to a Battle the English lost it and their broken Remains sled to Meulan Robert Earl of Flanders pursuing them too rashly was wounded to Death His Son Baldwin surnamed a la Hache succeeded him Under the favour of this War the Male-contents drew Philip the Kings Brother to their Party The power and greatness of Amaury de Montfort his Uncle by the Mother the credit of his Mother Queen Bertrade and of Foulk Earl of Anjou afterwards King of Jerusalem his Brother heightned his courage He had two strong Holds Mantes and Montlebery the King besieged Mantes and forced it to surrender For that of Montlehery the better to keep it they would have given it to Hugh de Crescy with a Daughter of Amaury's in Marriage but the King prevented it and restored it to Milon Vicount de Troyes who had some right to it He after this attaqu'd le Puiset in favour of Thibauld Earl of Chartres who was mightily molested by Hugh Lord of that Castle and took the place together with the Lord whom he kept under a good strong Guard in Castle-Landon This War begot another Thibauld would build a Fort on the limits of the Country of Puiset the King obstructing him he maintain'd he had promised him leave to do it and therefore did him wrong which he offer'd to prove by Combat proposing his Chamberlain for Champion in his own stead he being yet too young The King on his part appointed his Grand Seneschal Anseau de Garlande but the Champions could find no Court or Judge in the Kingdom who would secure them the field of Battle Perhaps the King might underhand obstruct it The Earl therefore declares War against the King with the Assistance of Henry King of England his Mothers Brother and the Duke of Bretagne for according to the Customs of those times the Lords thought they might do it when they apprehended there was a denial of Justice With him joyned the Lords Hugh de Crescy Guy de Rochefort returned from the Holy Land Lancelin de Dammartin Payen de Mont-Jeay Rodolph de Beaugency Milon Vicount de Troyes and Eudes Earl of Corbeil To tell it in gross the King received a great deal of trouble and made them suffer so much too that
last by a Decree of the Twenty eighth of December maintained them in their possession protesting it was his hearty desire to augment the Rights and Priviledges of the Church rather then any way dimish or infringe them for which reason they gave him the Surname of the Good Catholick Notwithstanding after this shock the Authority of that Body hath been so much weakned especially by Appeals in all Cases that now they really believe they have more just cause of Complaints against the Secular Judges then the Seculars had in those times against them Year of our Lord 1330 France being in Peace King Philip following the foot-steps of his Predecessors had conceived a desire of undertaking an Expedition into the Holy-Land To this purpose upon his return from a Pilgrimage he made to Marseilles with a very small Attendance in performance of a Vow he had made to St. Lewis Bishop of Toulouze he visited the Pope in Avignon and discoursed in particular with him about his design Towards the end of the year he summon'd the Estates of his Kingdom and laid before them the passion he had for the Holy War By their advice he sent to demand permission of the Pope to levy the Tenths of all the Clergy in Christendom and many other things but so extraordinary that he could obtain no favourable Answer Year of our Lord 1331 The English could not well digest that Edward had so easily renounced to the Crown of France They ceased not from spurring him on opportunity seeming to present it self favourably because Scotland which France was wont to make a counterpoise to England was extreamly embroil'd For Edward the Son of John Baliol who for a long time led a private Life at his House in Normandy with a small Force had recover'd that Crown and driven out King David who was retired to the Court of France together with his Wife and Children After the death of Mahaut the Earldom of Artois sell Jane of Burgundy Wife of Philip the Long and according to the Articles of Marriage was given to Blancb her Daughter the Wife of Eudes Duke of Burgundy Robert d'Artois who could not yet forbear his pretentions to that Earldom renewed the Process and produced certain Grants under the great Seal which he said he had found by Miracle He believed the King being his Brother-in-Law and owing him so great obligation would not search too deep after the truth of it But the King because it concerned the interest of his Daughter who was much nearer to him then his Sister caused these Letters Patents to be examin'd so exactly that they were found to be false and a Gentlewoman of Artois that had counterfeited them was burnt alive for it they having accused her as being a Sorceress Robert enraged for the loss of his Process and of his Honour slew to reproaches against the King so much the more injurious as they were true and so exasperated his anger that he was pushed on to the utmost extremity against him They seized upon his Confessor whom they obliged by force or promises to bear Witness against him his Wiâ—e was laid hold on though she were the Kings own Sister and after some delay for want of appearing he was Banished by sound of Trumpet and Proclamation through all the Suburbs of Paris and his Estate was declared to be Confiscate He then knew there was no more quarter for him and would have taken Sanctuary at the Earl of Hainaults but the Kings wrath did not suffer him to be so near he excited the Duke of Brabant to make War upon the Hanuyer Robert not to be a Cause of the ruine of his Friend went out of those Countries and resolved to all the extremities whereunto dispair does usually hurry Men of courage he goes to the King of England and by force of blowing the Coals kindled the Flame that set all France on Fire Year of our Lord 1332 In the mean time the King of England strenghned himself with Alliances Moneys and all sorts of Ammunitions for some great Enterprize He had in his Party the Earl of Haynault the Emperor Lewis his Brother-in-Law several German Princes with the Cities of Flanders and to have the greater power in the Low-Countries and over the Princes along the Rhine he purchased at a dear rate the Quality of Vicar of the Empire The King was secure of the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Lorrain the Earl of Bar the Kings of Castille of Scotland and of Bohemia but especially of this last whom he had made fast by many several ties For besides that he had Married a Sister of his and his Son Charles born of that Wedlock had been bred in the Court of France he also Married his Daughter Bonne to John Duke of Normandy The Nuptials were compleated at Melun The Designs of the English being not yet formed gave Philip no apprehension so Year of our Lord 1332 that he was taking up the Cross for the Holy Land and with him three other Kings Charles of Bohemia Philip of Navarre and Peter of Arragon with a great number of Dukes Earls and Knights The Clergy took but small joy in it so mightily were they oppressed with extraordinary Exactions as if they had a design to ruine the Churches of France to go and restore those in Palestine Year of our Lord 1333 Upon the design of this War Philip endeavour'd to make Peace between all his Neighbour Princes he brought the Duke of Brabant to an agreement with the Earl of Flanders and the Earl of Savoy with the Dauphin de Viennois The difference betwixt the first was for the City of Malines It belonged to the Bishop of Liege and to the Earl of Guelders the Bishop had sold his part to the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Brabant claimed it saying he was the Lord of the Fief It was concluded it should remain to the Flemming unless the Duke would rather chuse to reimburse him 85000 Crowns With that was agreed the Marriage of three Daughters of the Brabanders with Lewis eldest Son of the Flemming William Earl of Holland and Renauld Earl of Guelders Year of our Lord 1333 Pope John XXII had publickly preached at Avignon That the Vision or Joyes of the Blessed Souls and the Pains or Torments of the Damned were imperfect till the final day of Judgment and endeavour'd to make this opinion pass current for the Doctrine of the Church The Faculty of Theology of Paris courageously opposed it He tried to get them to own it by two Nuncios whom he sent to them the one was the General of the Cordeliers the other a famous Jacobin Doctor The most Christian King did not judge the Pope to be infallible but order'd the question to be discuss'd by Thirty Doctors or the Faculty of Theology who confounded the Cordelier Nuncio whereupon a Decree was made and Sealed with their Thirty Seals which he sent to the Holy Father exhorting him to believe those who
But nothing could quench the irreconcileable animosities of these two Houses nor prevent their seeking all opportunities to destroy each other as they did this year 1362. and the following Year of our Lord 1362 Whilst they were labouring but not effectually enough to have the Garrisons vacated King John took a fancy to go to Avignon and visit Pope Innocent with design as was believed to endeavour a Marriage with Jane Queen of Naples the second time a Widdow defamed indeed for her ill life but who would have brought him in Dower the Counties of Provence and Piedmont being on his way he heard of the death of Innocent but he went forwards and on the eighth day of October assisted at the Coronation of William Grimouard a Native of Montferrat who was chosen out of the Sacred Colledge being but a simple Abbot They named him Vrban V. Whilst he staid at Avignon the Holy Father Preaching for a new adventure to the Holy Land he accepted of the Command of Generalissimo in the Expedition The two Kings Peter of Cyprus and Woldemar III. of Denmark took the badge of the Cross for the same purpose in the same place But the affairs of France not suting very well with this Enterprize was so far from being put in execution that it was not so much as approved of or countenanc'd Year of our Lord 1363 At his return he took possession of the Dutchy of Burgundy but whilst he was yet in that Countrey the Burgundians did so positively make him understand that they could not live without a Prince that was Resident amongst them that he revoked and null'd the re-union he had made of this Dutchy to the Crown and yielded and bestowed it upon Philip his youngest Son who had deserved the Name of Hardy at the Battle of Poitiers To hold it for him and his Heirs begotten in lawful Marriage About the end of this year 1363. King John Embarqued at Boulogne and went again into England the occasion of his voyage was not his love towards a Lady with whom he had familiarity when he was formerly there but upon notice that the Duke of Anjou his second Son and one of his Hostages had escaped out of England this generous King would repair the Honour of that young Prince and demonstrate Year of our Lord 1364 that he had no hand in that juvenile act as likewise to dispose if it were possible King Edward to the expedition of the Holy War Charles the Dauphin Regent for the Second time Year of our Lord 1364 HIs eldest Son to whom he had left the Regency sound himself presently attaqued by his Cousin the King of Navarre upon the pretensions he had to the Dutchy of Burgundy This Prince having rashly sent him defiance before he had any Army ready to justify it lost the Cities of Mantes and Meulan which were taken by Bertrand du Gueselin whose valour was already raised much above the common standard Year of our Lord 1364 In England King John having had many Conferences with King Edward when he hoped to have dispatched all his Affairs was surprized about mid March with a distemper which ended his days the eighth of April He died in the Savoy without the Walls of London after he had lived Two and fifty years and held the Scepter Thirteen years and eight Months His Son the Duke of Berry the Dukes Philip of Orleance and Lewis II. of Bourbon and John of Artois Earl of Eu all Princes of the Blood heard his last Sighs and closed his Eyes The King of England made him a magnificent Funeral worthy the grandeur of that King and becoming his own generosity His Corps was brought back into France and interred at St. Denis upon the seventh day of May. He was esteemed to be the bravest and the most liberal Prince of his time but the same root which produced these virtues did likewise bring forth Pride and the scorn to follow any other Counsel but that of his own Brain attended with prodigality precipitation and that violence which exposed his own Kingdom to pillage and plunder and his own Person to the mercy of his enemies But we must not deny him two great advantages or perfections he had above other Princes that he was frank and sincere and did most inviolably keep his word nor forget that heroick saying attributed to him That if Faith and Truth should be banished from all the rest of the world yet they onght to be found in the mouths of Kings He married two Wives who were named Jane the First Daughter of John King of Bohemia in Anno 1332. and the Second of William Earl of Boulongne and Widow of Philip of Burgundy Earl of Artois in Anno 1349. By the First he had four Sons and four Daughters the four Sons were Charles who succeeded to the Crown Lewis Duke of Anjou and Earl of Mayne John Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Earl of Poitou Philip first Duke of Touraine then of Burgundy The Daughters were named Mary Jane Isabel Margaret the first married Robert eldest Son of Henry Duke of Bar the second Charles the Bad King of Navarre the third John Galeaz Viscount First Duke of Milan the fourth devoted her self to JESUS CHRIST in the Monastery of Poissy By his Second Wife he had two Daughters that attained not to the ripeness of Marriage Charles V. called the VVise and the Eloquent King of France LI. Aged about XXVI years POPES URBAN V. Seven years Four Months under this Reign GREGORY XI Elected the Thirtieth of December 1370. S. Seven years three Months Schisme URBAN VI. Elected the Eighth of April in the year 1378. S. at Rome II. years six Months six Days whereof two years and above five Months under this Reign And CLEMENT VII Elected the Twenty first of September S. in Avignon Twenty six years whereof Two years under this Reign THe prosperous Conduct of this King is the noblest proof we meet with thoroughout all the History of France that the weightiest Affairs are managed better by skill and judgment then by sorce and that success in Year of our Lord 1364 Battle is oftner the effect of the judicious Orders and Contrivances in the Closet then the valour of those that sight them Year of our Lord 1364 His Coronation was performed at Reims the Nineteenth of May. It is to be observed that Wenceslaus of Luxemburgh Duke of Brabant his maternal Uncle John Duke of Lorrain and Robert Duke of Bar though Strangers and Vassals of the Empire did the Office of Pairs there the First representing the Duke of Normandy the Second the Earl of Champagne the Third the Earl of Toulouze The Duke of Burgundy and the Earl of Flanders held their natural places and Lewis Duke of Anjou that of the Duke of Guyenne They had just reason to say that never King armed himself so little and yet did so many brave exploits in War as this same It seemed as is Wisdom had tyed Fortune to his
Forces belonging to the Navarrois continued their Incursions in Normandy Year of our Lord 1365 it was believed they might be drawn from thence by a Diversion towards Navarre A League was therefore made with the King of Arragon his Capital Enemy who immediately fell with an Army into that Kingdom The Navarrois had the more apprehension because he knew that France was necessarily obliged to joyn with that Prince the King of England having made a League with Peter King of Castille an Eternal Enemy to the Arragonians Wherefore Captal de Buch and the rest of his Friends applied themselves with so much zeal that they made his peace with the King By this Treaty he renounced all his rights to Champagne and to Burgundy upon condition he should have the Lordship of Montpellier in Languedoc which was given him The Habits of Men of Quality and honest People dwelling in Cities was a long Gown and a Hood almost of the same fashion as the Monks sometimes they threw these back upon their Shoulders and made use of a Cap or Bonnet for their Heads Now luxury and folly had shortned their long Robe so much that their Thighs and the whole motions of their Bodies from their Reins was plainly Year of our Lord 1365 seen They had likewise brought in use a certain sort of Shoes the Toes whereof were turned up with a long neck they named them Poulenes and at their Heels a kind of Spurs The King by his Edicts banished these ridiculous Modes after the example of his Holiness who but a while before had by his Bulls condemned the dissoluteness of Apparel both in the one and the other Sex France could not rid her self of those droves of Robbers that knawed her to the Year of our Lord 1365 very bones The English tolerated them that they might have their help upon occasion and there were not Forces enough besides to suppress them Gueselin found out a way to carry them all off into Spain upon this occasion Alphonso XI King of Castille had had by his lawful Wife a Son named Peter who succeeded him and by a Mistress five Natural Sons the eldest of whom was called Henry and was Earl of Tristemare This Peter was rightly surnamed the Cruel and the Wicked for he shewed himself more a friend to the Alcoran then to the Gospel having alliance and amity with the Moorish Kings He overturned all the Laws and committed all the Injustice and Cruelties that Tyrants can commit He lived in publick Adultery with Mary de Padilla and had in Anno 1361. caused his Wife Blanch to be poyson'd who was Daughter to Peter Duke of Bourbon and Sister to the Queen of France a Princess as vertuous as fair after she had endured all the outrages imaginable for ten years together He put the Lady to death that had been his Fathers Mistress and shed the blood of the greatest in his Kingdom almost every day nor did he spare his own Brothers having Murthered Frederic one of the five who was Grand Master of St. James and often attempted against the lives of the other four Henry being thereâ—ore prompted by a just Resentment for the death of his Brother and his Mother and besides authoriz'd by the Law of Nature which allowed him to defend his life rose up against him with the greatest part of the Nation Leagued himself with the Arragonian and made War upon him for some time Year of our Lord 1365 His Cause in the beginning had not so much success as justice he was overmatch'd and worsted by the Tyrant and took shelter in France The King gave him protection the more willingly because it offer'd a fair occasion to employ his Soldiery It was thought fit for the better countenance of it to let John de Bourbon Count de la Marche Cousin German to the late Queen Blanch have the chief Command in appearance but for their true Conductor Bertrand du Gueselin who was delivered out of the hands of Chandois the Pope the King and Don Henry having paid down his Ransom Year of our Lord 1366 With these Forces and great numbers of the Nobility Volunteers even out of those Countries under the obedience of the English the Count de la Marche and Gueselin carried Henry back into Spain The Pope fearing this Army might approach near Avignon sent them Two hundred thousand Livers with Indulgences The King of Arragon gave them passage and the Dutchy of Borgiae to Gueselin and before they entred upon Castille they regained all those places Peter had taken from him and put them honestly again into his hands Upon the arrival and sight of Henry all the Nobles of Castille excepting one single Knight abandoned the Tyrant They all cry'd out Long live King Henry and open'd their Gates to him in a word he was Crowned at Burgos about the end of March. That done he liberally rewarded with Estates in Lands all such as had follow'd him and thinking himself secure upon the Tyrants flight he discharged the most part of his Forces who would have lain too heavy on his new Subjects reserving only Fifteen hundred Lances with Gueselin and Bernard Bastard of the Count de Foix. Year of our Lord 1366 The Tyrant made his escape first towards Portugal but the King of that Country having refused to allow him any retreat there he got into Galicia and from thence by Sea to Bayonne to implore the assistance of the Prince of Wales The jealousie that Prince had for the fame of du Gueselin made him give an ear to his supplications he promised to restore him and to act Personnally in the Employment To this end he retains the Gascon Lords and the same Companies that had served du Gueselin who were disbanded by Henry but the Arragonian keeping the passages shut and well guarded they could not get to him but with a great deal of difficulty Year of our Lord 1367 There was no other way but by Navarre King Charles the Bad having made a League with either Party found himself perplexed In the end he leans towards the Tyrant and gives him passage and three hundred Lances Whilst he was wavering betwixt both Parties and endeavoured to delude them both he was made Prisoner by Oliver de Mauny who held the Castle of Borgia upon that Frontier It was imagin'd he had contriv'd it so himself to keep his Faith with Henry but Oliver treated him as a real Prisoner and got a good Ransom from him When Henry knew that his Enemies had taken the City of Navarrette he came to meet them and instead of stopping their passage and hindring their having Provisions brought to them which he might easily have done being above three times more numerous then they he gave them Battle This was the Fourth of April between Nagera and Navarrette but he lost it through the Cowardize of his Brother Teilo who betook himself to flight upon the first Charge Gueselin was made Prisoner with the Mareschal d'Endreghen and some
on all hands crying out a la queue Many had their Brains beaten out in the Streets the rest escaped to the Bastille where they made composition All the little Neighbouring Forts were an Accessory to this Reduction In the Month of August following the King recalled the Parliament the Chambre des Comptes and the University thither The English had declared themselves Enemies to the Duke of Burgundy by all Acts of Hostility upon his Countreys and by underhand-dealings to stir his Subjects up to Rebellion in those days very much knit to and concerned for England as well by Commerce and Trade as out of a real hatred they had towards the French He would therefore needs revenge himself by taking of Calais which he esteemed no great difficulty and laid Siege to it with a numerous Army In the midst of this Enterprize the Flemmings finding it spin out to a great length fell into an imagination that they were betray'd and herding together in several small parcels on a suddain made up all their packs in great confusion leaving their Provisions and Artillery behind for want of Waggons to carry them off All that their Duke could possibly do for them was to cover them with his Cavalry leâ—t the English should have charged them and after that to follow them The Duke of Gloucester who had sent word that he was coming to give him Battle not finding him there entred into Flanders where he increased their former jealousie by his burning all those places he came near Year of our Lord 1437 It was impossible for Rene of Anjou to obtain his liberty of the Duke of Burgundy without paying him an extraordinary Ransom yielding up several places and consenting to a Marriage between his eldest Daughter whose name was Yoland as then but nine years old and Ferry eldest Son of Anthony Earl of Vaudemont the means whereby Lorrain returned to the Males of that House Year of our Lord 1437 In the interim they carried the King into Lyonnois and Dauphine to make Moneys in those Countries and the following year he went even to Languedoc for the same end Upon his return he laid Siege to Montereau Faut-yonne which submitted not till after a long resistance From thence he came to make his entrance into his good City of Year of our Lord 1437 Paris the fourth of November and then he might truly call himself King of France having replanted his Throne in the capital City of his Kingdom Year of our Lord 1438 These long and tedious Wars did necessarily produce great licentiousness and daily Robberies The Soldiers not being paid lived at discretion and the extream scarcity of all things rendred them most inhumane There were divers Bands commanded even by the Kings best Officers who under colour of seeking for subsistence ran from Province to Province rifling all they could lay lands on Those called Escorcheurs and then the Redondeurs committed strange disorders By these ravages the flight of the Husbandmen and Peasants who neither ploughed nor sowed and the continual Rains during two years 1437 and 38. ensued a great Famine and then a horrible Mortality over all France especially at Paris and its Neighbourhood That City was so depopulated the Wolves came and devoured Children even in the midst of the Street St. Anthoine They were forced that they might rid themselves of those Beasts greedy of humane Flesh to make Proclamation that any one should have twenty Solz a piece for every head of a Wolfe they brought to the Magistrate Pope Eugenius and the Council of Basil were imbroiled to that height that Eugenius declared the Council dissolved and called another to Ferrara and on the other hand the Prelats that were at Basil having summon'd him divers times to come thither began to think of deposing him with the greater confidence for that the Most Christian King seemed then to favour them having forbid the Prelats of the Gallican Church from going to Ferrara Year of our Lord 1438 This Discord in the end turned to a Schism he that might have extinguisht it hapning to die I mean the Emperor Sigismond who ended his days in Moravia the Eighth of November 1437. Albertus Duke of Austria his Son in Law succeeded him in the Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia and the year following in the Empire by the suffrages of the Electors The Clergy of France ever since the translation of the Holy See to Avignon had suffered infinite oppressions by the Court of Rome And therefore the King having assembled them at Bourges to find out some way to reconcile the Pope to the Council who had each sent their Legats they embraced the opportunity which they could never have since the Council of Constance and made their remonstrances touching those insupportable abuses The King desiring to provide against it order'd them to apply the most convenient remedies To this end by advice of his Council they framed that so celebrated Reglement called the Pragmatique which preventing any the like Enterprizes of the Court of Rome might well be termed the Bulwark of the Gallican Church Year of our Lord 1439 Eugenius transferr'd his Council of Ferrara to Florence where they treated concerning the uniting the Greek to the Latine Church their Emperor John VI. assisting with a good number of his most illustrious Prelats But in the mean while those who were assembled at Basil though reduced to a small number and not well agreed amongst themselves deposed Eugenius and elected Ame VIII Duke of Savoy who had retired himself as was before related to the solitude of Ripaille France Germany and most part of the West paid their obedience to him during the life of Eugenius but after his death all of them almost turned to Nicholas V. Two years after Rene was delivered from captivity he went into his Kingdom of Naples where according to the example of his Predecessors his entrance was very happy but his exit very different Year of our Lord 1439 The Siege of Meaux by the Constable although long and full of difficulty succeeded happily for the French but that of Auranches in the Lower Normandy being ill managed by the same Person and the Duke of Alenson brought them nothing but shame the English having made them raise it and taken part of their Bagage and their Ammunition At the Sollicitation of the Dutchess of Burgundy and the Popes Legats a great Conference was held between Graueline and Calais the Deputies of France England and those of Burgundy meeting to treat about a Peace The English not receding from that Condition that Normandy and their other Conquests should be left to them in full Soveraignty they parted without doing any thing in it Year of our Lord 1440 The King by inclination was well enough disposed for the good of his Country and we observe that from this very time even to the Reign of Henry II. the Kings did often and willingly make use of this term The Publick Concerns of Our
together from the Month of December It 's Head was in the Sign of the Ballance and it had a long Tail turning a little towards the North. In Spring the King drew near towards Guyenne the Monk had perhaps reiterated his Dose However it was Monsieur died the 12 th of May. In the mean time the Burgundian passionately desiring to recover St. Quintin and Amiens was entred into a Treaty with the King who promised to restore it and to leave the Counts of Nevers and St. Pol to his Mercy and the Duke reciprocally did oblige himself to abandon Monsicur and the Breton to him Neither of these Dreamt of keeping their Word of Faith The Duke Signed the first the King deferr'd from day to day expecting what would become of his Brother when he had certain news of his Death he scoffed at the Duke and Seized Guyenne again into his own hands Although in many actions he had not too much of the Fear of God before his Eyes nevertheless he had great Devotion towards the Saints enriched their Churches went several Pilgrimages every year particularly to places Consecrated to our Lady He Ordained on the first of May that at the sound of the great Bell at Noon every one should kneel down and say the Ave Maria. The same day after the procession William Chartier Bishop of Paris Died suddenly not without suspicion that some had contributed towards his Death Year of our Lord 1472 It was in this year that Philip de Comines quitted the Duke of Burgundy whose Domestick and Subject he was to go into the Service of the King his Soveraign Lord. If the Motive thereto had been Honest no doubt but it would have been explained by him who hath reasoned so well on every thing else Who could express the rage the Duke of Burgundy was in when he Learn'd the Death of the Duke of Guyenne He entred into Picardy with a Torch in one hand and his Sword in the other Hitherto burnings had not been practised by either Party nevertheless he made a Bon-fire of all the open Country and Sacrificed all that fell under his power to his Friends Ghost Nesle taken by assault endured all sorts of cruelties because the Inhabitants had killed a Herald at Arms who went to Summon them and two men besides during a Surcease which had been allowed them to Treat in The reverence to the Altar could not save those innocent people who fled to the Church for refuge and such as escaped the Sword were all hanged or had their hands cut off His blind fury ran aground at the Siege of Beauvais The want of attacking it roundly at first made him lose six Weeks time and two Thousand Men. It is Memorable that upon a General Assault which was given the Thursday 9 th of July the Men within being ready to give ground the Women conducted by one Jane Hatchete did wonders repelling the Enemy with showers of Stones Wild-fire and Lead melted with scalding Rozen The Effigies of that Woman is yet to be seen in their Town-Hall grasping a Sword in her hand and there is a procession the 10 th of July which is the Day on which the Siege was raised where the Women march first the Men following after Year of our Lord 1472 Going thence the Burgundian Ravaged all the Country of Caux took Eu and St. Valery but was repulsed before Diepe then before Rouen and having threatned Noyon he retired to Abbeville From Guyenne the King passed into Bretagne to force the Duke to renounce the League and surrender the Monk to him who had Poyson'd Monsieur For Odet-Daydie had Seized him and transfer'd him to Nantes The Monk was found dead in Prison the Devil as was said having broken his Neck the Night before that day wherein they were to pronounce his Sentence This was what the King desired that so the Proof of the Crime might perish with the Poysoner and it was more easie now for the Breton to avoid the heavy strokes of his power by the ordinary craft of his Landays He granted him a Truce the 10 th of September and remained still in Poitou till it was converted into a final peace Which was brought about by the Mediation of Odet-Daydie whom he allured to his Service by great rewards He knew better then any Prince in the World how to gain Men discover his Enemies secrets distract them with jealousies divide the most united but in his mirth he could not hide his secrets every thing came to light and he was likewise more subject to commit faults then able to repair them which he strove to do by Methods more frequently bad then good Year of our Lord 1472. 73. In the beginning of Winter the Burgundian accepted a Truce In the Month of February the Duke of Alenson who had a troubled and unquiet mind for having contrived I know not what League with him was made Prisoner and conveyed to the Castle of Loches and from thence to the Lowre The following year the Parliament by a Sentence of the 18 th of July Condemned him to loose his Head The King his Godson gave him his Life and Seventeen Months after took him out of Prison and put him into a Citizens House at Paris under a good Guard Year of our Lord 1474 where he soon Died. John V. Count of Armagnac who had been once more driven from his Country after the Death of Monsieur had again Siezed upon his City of Leytoure by certain correspondence and had there surprised Peter de Bourbon Beaujeu Governor of Guyenne He was straightly besieged in that place by the Kings Army commanded by the Cardinal of Arras 'T is said that having capitulated with him that good Prelate broke his Faith so that the City was invaded during the Suspension and the Count miserably Murth'red in his House His Brother Charles was brought Prisoner to Paris During the Truce the Burgundian wont to conquer the Dutchy of Guelders Duke Arnold had either sold or given it to him disinheriting his wicked Son Adolph who had a long time held his Father Prisoner and was himself so now by the Burgundian at Ghent This new Acquisition gave him the Appetite to encrease on the German side He flatter'd the Emperor Frederick with the marriage of his Daughter to his Son Maximilian and was even willing she should give him her promise and a Diamond With this Lure he brings Frederick to Mets thinking by his Authority to make himself Lord of that Town which did not Succeed and got his promise that he would raise his Dukedom to a Kingdom With these hopes he went awhile after to him at Treves carrying along the Regal Ornaments and made him a Feast with more then Royal Profusion But the Emperor meant the Marriage should be first accomplished and the Duke would sign the Contract in Quality of King They could not agree thereon And the Emperor left him there without taking his leave Year of our Lord 1473 The King let
tax which he had ordered for their maintenance Being returned to Tours he fell into the like Fitts of fainting as before His Servants having vowed him to Saint Claude he went thither on Pilgrimage and left the General Lieutenancy of the Kingdom to Peter de Bourbon Lord of Beaujeu his Brother Never was such a Pilgrim seen the Countries he passed felt his Devotions he marched accompanied with six thousand Soldiers and did always some terrible thing or other in his way In this he seized Philibert Duke of Savoy and brought him into France that young Prince dying the next year in the City of Lyons and his brother Charles succeeding him he declared himself his Guardian For since the decease of Duke Ame IX their Father he had alwayes had a great hand in the affairs of Savoy upon pretence that these young Princes were his Sisters Children Year of our Lord 148 Happily for Italy Mahomet being on the point to begin again the Siege of Rhodes and to send a new Army to Otranto dyed at Nicomedia the third of May. Now whilst his two Sons Bajazeth and Zizim were contending for the Empire between themselves the Pope and King Ferdinand took the courage to besiege Otranto and the Turks whilst the division betwixt their Princes lasted expecting no succours surrendred upon composition A short while after Zizim having been defeated twice fled to Rhodes where expecting to find an Asylum he fell into captivity For the Knights for a Pension of 50000 Crowns which Bajazeth promised to pay them yearly detained him Prisoner and with the Kings permission sent him to the Castle of Bourgneuf in Auvergne where he remained some years treated honourably enough Year of our Lord 1489 Year of our Lord 1481 Every thing gave apprehensions to King Lewis he still kept his wife at distance from him and these last years he continued her in Savoy he bred his Son like a Captive at Amboise amongst Servants lest he should grow too high-spirited and alwayes took along with him the first Prince of the blood Lewis Duke of Orleance not suffering any to cultivate his mind by any Education He married him this year to one of his daughters named Jane a most wise Princess but ugly and Lame and one whom the Physitians assured uncapable of bearing any Children Perhaps themselves had taken a course for that purpose Year of our Lord 1481 A little while after his return from Saint Claude he fell again for the third time into his fits of Swooning He caused himself to be carry'd to Clery where he had built a Church to his good Our Lady And there he received some relief but which lasted not long Year of our Lord 1481 The 10th of December Charles d'Anjou Count du Mayne being sick at Marseilles whereof he dyed the next day by his Testament instituted King Lewis his universal Heir in all his lands to enjoy the same he and all the Kings of France his Successors recommending most earnestly to him to mantain Provence in it's liberty 's Perogatives Customs Rene Duke of Lorraine Son of Yoland d'Anjou reclaimed against this institution maintaining that it could not be made to his prejudice the King on the contrary justified it to be good because Provence is a Country ruled by written Law according to which any person may dispose of his own in favour of whom he pleaseth besides the Counts of Provence had always called the Males to their Succession to the prejudice of the daughters Palamedes de Fourbin Sieur de Souliers who managed the Mind of Charles made him find these reasons to be good and for this he in recompence had the Government or to say better the Soveraignty of Provence during his whole life Year of our Lord 1482 When the Affairs of Mary of Burgundy began to be setled that Princess going ahunting fell from her horse and died of it at Gaunt the 25th of May with the fruit wherewith her womb was pregnant In four years she had borne three children Philip Margret and another that had but a short life The death of Mary brought trouble and disorders afresh amongst the Flemmings Her Husband had so little Authority because of his Covetous Poverty amongst those people who were wont to have Princes extreamly Liberal and Magnificent that he was forced to suffer that the Children he had by her should remain under the guard of the Gauntois After a great famine which had afflicted France during the year 1481. there followed an Epidemical Sickness altogether extraordinary which seized upon the Great as well as the Little ones It was a continual and violent Feaver which set the Head on fire whereby the most part fell into Phrensies and died as it were Mad. Year of our Lord 1482 William de la Mark called the wild Boar of Ardenne incited and assisted by the King Massacred most inhumanely Lewis de Bourbon Bishop of Liege either in an Ambuscade or after he had defeated him in Battle and soon after himself being taken by the Lord de Horne brother to the Bishop successor to Lewis had his head cut off at Mastrict Desquerdes had even the last year made himself Master of the Town of Air at the price of 50000 Crowns bestowed on the Governour From this advantagious Post which bridled the Flemmings he made them incline as well by cunning too as force to treat of the Marriage of Margret Daughter of their deceased Princess with the Dauphin Charles though she were hardly two years old and Charles almost twelve The Gauntois Ambassadors having seen the King at Clery made report to their Council of the Kings intentions He demanded for her dowry only the County of Artois and they would needs add to it those of Burgundy of Masconnois Auxerois and Charolois thereby to weaken their Prince so much that he might never be able to bring them under his Yoke Year of our Lord 1482 The King was in so ill a condition that hardly could he suffer them to see him to present so advantagious a Treaty The Daughter was to be put into his Hands about the end of this Year but there remaining yet some difficulties to be determined they brought her not into France till the April following and the Wedding was celebrated at Amboise at the end of July Year of our Lord 1483 Then Edward King of England who upon the faith of the Treaty of Pequigny had ever flattered himself that the Dauphin should Marry his Daughter and held himself so well assured that he made her be called the Dauphiness seeing himself bafled by the French and scoffed by his own Subjects as one fouly imposed upon was so moved with shame and grief that he died the 4th of April delivering France from the apprehension of many mischiefs he might have done them during the Minority of Charles VIII He had two Sons Edward and Richard and five daughters Marry'd to Noblemen of that Country He had also had two Brothers George Duke of Clarence
and Richard Duke of Gloucestre You have seen how he put the first to death upon some ill grounded suspicion Now thus the other revenged it upon his Children Edward before his Marriage to her by whom he had them had clandestinely espoused a woman who was yet living The Bishop of Bathe who Marry'd them reveales it to Richard who being easily persuaded that Edward's Children were not Legitimate Seized upon his two Sons the Eldest of them being but Eleven years of age and named Edward V. put to Death five or six of the greatest Lords who plainly foresaw his ill intents and then having dispatched these Two young Princes out of the World and made their Sisters to be declared Bastards he set the Crown upon his own Head all Christian Princes even Lewis XI himself having this deed in horror It is pleasant to read in History what the fear of Death and of losing his Authority made King Lewis do during the last years of his Reign The dancing of young Lasses about his House and the Bands of Musicians that play'd on Flageolets which were brought from all parts to divert him the Processions ordained over all the Kingdom for his Health the publick prayers to God to hinder the blowing of certain Winds which incommoded him a great heap of Reliques which were sent for by him from all Corners even the St. Ampoulle or Holy Oyle with which he seemed as if he would Arm himself against Death the great sway his Physician James Coctier had over him who grumbled at him as he had been his Servant and squeezed from him 55000 Crowns and many other Boons in five Months space the Baths of Childrens Blood which he made use of to sweeten his sharp and pricking Humours in fine his voluntary Imprisoning himself in the Castle du Plessis le Tours where none could enter but through a Wicket the Walls thereof being Armed with Iron Spikes and lined Day and Night with Cross-Bow-men Every hour he was upon the Brink of his Grave and nevertheless he strove to persuade them that he was well sending Embassy's to all Princes Buying up all manner of Curiosities of Forreign Country's and making it appear he was alive by the Bloody effects of his Vegeance which could not die but with him Year of our Lord 1482. And 83. His greatest hope was in a Holy Hermit called Francis Martotile a Native of Calabria Founder of the Order of Minimes whom he caused expresly to come into France upon the Fame of those wonders God had wrought by his Ministery He Flattered him Implored him fell on his Knees to him He Built too Covents for his Order the first within the Park de Plessis les Tours the second at the Foot of the Castle de Amboise that he might prolong his days But this good Man in answer talked to him of God and Exhorted him to think more of the other Life then this Feeling himself grow weaker every day he sent for his Son from Amboise gave him excellent Counsel exhorting him to be Governed by the Advice of the Princes of the Blood the Lords and other Notable Persons not to change his Officers after his Death to ease his Subjects and reduce the Leveys of Moneys to the Ancient orders of the Kingdom which was to raise none but by consent of the People He had encreased the Taxes to 4700000 Livers a Sum so excessive in ☞ those days that the People were miserably over-burthened He died in fine the 29 th Day of August and accordingly as he had ordained was Interred at Nostre-Dame de Clery for which he had a particular Devotion The Course of Life had lasted Sixty one years compleat his Reign 22 years and one Month. Comines describes him to us as very wise in adversity very able to penetrate into the Interests and thoughts of men and to allure them and turn them to his ends infinitely suspicious and jealous of his power most absolute in his will who pardoned not mightily oppressed his Subjects and yet withal this the best of Princes in his time He had caused above 4000 people to be put to Death by divers cruel Torments and sometimes pleased himself in being a Spectator The most part were Executed without Form of Process or Trial many Drôwn'd with a Stone about their Necks others precipitated passing over a turning Plank whence they fell upon Wheels armed with Spikes and sharp Hooks others stifled in Dungeons Tristan his Creature and the Provost of his House being alone both Judge Witness and Executioner Besides his Devotion at least in appearance his persuasive and attracting Eloquence his Marvellous craft in setting his Enemies at variance with one another and unravelling their quarrels again his Liberality in recompencing the Services done for him when they hit his fancy we must not deny two things worthy of praise in him at the Latter end of his days one that he would not suffer an Ambassador which Sultan Bajazet sent to him to come nearer then Marseilles not believing one could be a Christian and have Communication with the Enemies of Jesus Christ the other that he had undertaken to reduce all the Weights and Measures to one Standard and to set up a General Custom in all the Provinces of the Kingdom I will add a Third that he resolved and intended that exact Justice should be dealt to all particular People He Instituted two Parliaments that of Bourdeaux which had been promised by Charles VII and that of Burgundy The Letters Patents for the first are Dated the 7 th of June 1462. that of the second the 18 th of March 1476. If he suffered not his Son to be brought up to good Learning it was because he apprehended to make him too knowing or hurt his delicate and tender Complexion by the Labour of Study It was not that he despised it or was altogether ignorant of it as some have believed since Comines says That he was well enough Read that he had had another sort of breeding then the Lords of that Kingdom and that according to Gaguin he understood Books and had more Erudition then Kings were wont to have Add that he much encreased the Royal Library which Charles V. had begun at Fountainbleau and which was transferr'd to the Louvre by Charles VI. That he kindly received and favoured those Learned Men who had made their escape from Greece after the taking of Constantinople That he took delight in alluring some out of Forreign Country 's with great Presents amongst others the Famous Galeotus Martius And that he gave himself the Trouble to compleat the reformation of the University of Paris by the care of John Boccard Bishop d'Auranches and a Cordelier named Wesel Gransfort a Native of Groningue Besides it is certain that the Kings of France and particularly those of the third Race have all been instructed in good Learning and loved it excepting Philip de Valois He married two Wives to wit Margret Daughter of James I. King of Scotland
in one of his Houses The Bishops were set at Liberty at two years end by the intercession of the Legat. At the same time the Earl of Angoulesme and the Lord de Ponts made Guyenne to rise where Odet-Daydie Brother of Odet Earl of Cominges held Saintes Fronsac la Reoule Dags and Bayonne and the Duke of Orleans Levied Forces in Bretagne The Towns in Guyenne surrendred at the first sight and naming of the King the Lord d'Albret had got some Men together to assist them but he durst not appear The King having made his entrance into Bourdeaux the Seventh of March returned to Poitiers Partenay capitulated as soon as they were Summon'd That done he divided his Army into four who fell upon Bretagne in as many several Quarters and himself in the mean time remained at Laval to see what progress they could make Year of our Lord 1487 Upon the arrival of these Forces three times more numerous then was agreed to by the Treaty the Duke withdrew into the Center of his Country During this astonishment of the People and the division amongst the Nobility they took from him Ploetmel Vannes and Dinan and then it was that the Lords too late perceived the error they had committed in bringing them into their Country After this they laid Siege to Nantes The Duke was in the place with all the Soldiers he had left him and had dispatched the Count de Dunois to the King of England to crave assistance This Count being twice or thrice forced back by tempestuous weather Armed the common People of the Lower Bretagne the number of them amounting to above Sixty Thousand Men and was so fortunate that with this confused multitude he terrified the French and put a Relief into the Town which afterwards valued not the Siege about six Weeks after they were wholly delivered from them The Lord d'Albret had likewise raised three or four Thousand men to aid the Breton whose eldest Daughter they had promised him But the Lords of the Royal Party block'd him up so closely in his Castle of Nontron upon the confines of Limosin that he was fain to capitulate and Disband his Forces The King conceiving he had absolutely gained him to his Service gave him a Company of an hundred Lances Year of our Lord 1487 During these Transactions Desquerdes by correspondence surprized the Cities of St. Omer and Terouenne and defeated the Forces of Philip de Cleves Ravestein whom they had drawn thither by a pretended bargain for the City of Bethune the Duke of Cleves and the Count de Nassaw fighting on Foot were taken Prisoners In the foregoing Month of March the Lord de Montigny Brother of Count Horn the bravest of his Captains thinking to take Guise by assault was wounded with a Pike in the Suburbs of which he Died in a few days Year of our Lord 1487 The City of Ghent had declared themselves Capital Enemies to Maximilian because he had taken his Son from them and removed him to Malines By their example Bruges and most of the Towns in Flanders rose up against him because he burthened them too frequently with his exactions Year of our Lord 1487 In the Month of July of this year 1487. Charlota Queen of Cyprus Widdow of Lewis of Savoy who was Son of Lewis and Brother of Ame IX Dukes of Savoy ended her miseries with her Life at Rome where she had subsisted twelve years on the Bounty of the Popes She was Daughter and Heiress of John II. King of Cyprus after whose Death her Husband and her self enjoy'd that Kingdom three years but his Bastard James drove them out thence with the help of Melec-Ella Sultan of Egypt to whom this Crown was Tributary All the endeavours they could use to regain it proved vain and unsuccessful Lewis Died the first in the year 1482. Charlota retired to Rome After her Death the right to that Crown fell to Charles II. Duke of Savoy her Cousin and so passed to all his descendants not only because she Adopted him and made him a Donation of her Kingdom but because he also was her next of Kindred and Heir being the Son of Anne of Cyprus Daughter of King Janus or John I. But Catharine Cornaro a Venetian Widdow of the Bastard who Died in the year 1473. had given and resigned that Kingdom by what Tittle I do not know to the Seigneury of Venice The Great Turk wrested it out of their possession in the year 1557. Year of our Lord 1488 The disorders were so great in Flanders that on the second of February Maximilian being at Bruges the Inhabitants ran to their Arms made him Prisoner and put divers of his Creatures to Death The Pope Excommunicated the mutineers but the Kings Attorney General stood up against it maintaining that the Flemmings had no other Soveraign but the King who owned them in what they had done Neither the threats nor Forces of the Emperor Frederic did avail for the delivery of his Son they had resolved to give him up to the King of France when they were just upon the point to do it this poor Princes Tears and the Solemn Oaths himself made to them and which were confirmed by several Lords that he would forget all their injuries did at last subdue the fury of the Brugois so that they set him at Liberty When he was out of their hands he retired into Germany to his Father and left the Government of his Son Philip and his Lands to Albert Duke of Saxony The Emperor Frederic desiring to render him more fit to take in second marriage one of the Daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella who had interceeded for his Liberty at Bruges dignified Austria with the Title of Arch-Dutchy which till then was a Stranger and unknown in the Western parts Year of our Lord 1488 Besides the Force of Arms they proceeded by way of Justice against the Princes that were Leagued with the Breton In the Month of February the King sitting in Parliament ordered a Summons for the Duke of Bretagne and the Duke of Orleans to appear at the Table to Marbre Which was sent by the Provost of Paris accompany'd with a Counsellor of that Court and the Prime Usher and all advantages of defaults were taken against them The Mareschal de Rieux and some Barons of Bretagne finding he went much farther then the terms of the Treaty did allow Petitioned him not to go on and profer'd to send the Duke of Orleans out of the Country together with all the French belonging to him who in effect shewed themselves willing to lay down their Arms and retire to their own dwellings provided they might be left in Peace The Dame thinking she was now above all danger imprudently replied that the King would have no Rival or Equal that he would not stop there but proceed to the end of his enterprize This discourse laying his intentions clearly open they took another resolution and reconciled themselves with their Duke who gave them an
deposed corrupt Judges studied to restore Justice to its Ancient Rules and Methods without Charges or Bribes considered how to lessen the Taxes and bring them down to twelve hundred thousand Crowns which should not be Levied but by consent of the Estates and that upon extraordinary occasions and intended to defray his House-keeping and ordinary expences out of his own Revenue and Demeasnes and the ancient Duties belonging to the Crown Year of our Lord 1498 These good intentions came not into his Head till he was almost uncapable to put them in Execution He had resided for some time past in his Castle of Amboise where he was building one Day the 6 th of April about two hours after Noon being in a Gallery from whence he was looking upon some that were playing at Tennis in a dry-Ditch he was Siezed with an Apoplexy which made him fall down backwards The Courtiers and Officers beholding him in that condition laid him down in the same place on a pittiful Bed-matt where he expir'd about Eleven at night and forsook him to ride in all post hast to the Duke of Orleans his Successor Many believed he was poysoned with an Orenge He Reigned fourteen years and a half and had lived seven and twenty and nine Months Of three Sons he had by Anne of Bretagne his Wife not any one of them attained the fourth year He was but of an ill shape of low Stature Weak and Sickly His Shoulders were round his Face deformed his Speech slow and broken yet were his eyes quick and sparkling his thoughts sudden and sharp on great occasions but not lasting he shewed much Goodness Humanity and Courtesie to all but had so little Spirit and was so careless that he was but little obey'd We do not find that in his whole Life he ever turned away a Domestick Servant or ever offended any one of his Subjects with a harsh word The next Day after his Death happened that of Jerosme Savanarolla the Dominican a generous Victime for Liberty and the truth He had foretold either by his strength of reason and judgment or by Divine revelation all those grand revolutions in Italy He boldly Preached the Reformation of Princes and of the Court of Rome asserted that God had led the King by the Hand and defended the Liberties of his Country against all those Factions that started up against it an Infallible token of a good Man For which the Pope having Excommunicated him the Cordeliers exclaiming against him in their Pulpits Sforza and the Venetians Solliciting his Death the Magistrates of the contrary Faction caused him to be burnt alive The Council of Constance had laboured successfully enough towards taking away the Schism caused by those who contended for the Papacy but they left the Seeds of a division almost as dangerous between the Church and the Popes The Church stood in need of Councils to prevent the like disorders for the time to come and to have the Holy Canons observed but they could not allow there was any other Soveraign Tribunal but their own or other power that could controul their Excess So that when they came to mention the reformation of manners Pope Martin and the Court of Rome who apprehended they would search that wound to the Quick closed up the Council which ended the two and twentieth of April in the Year 1418. and referred that Business till another time They could not however hinder them from resolving that there should be Councils held from time to time the first to begin within five Years from their breaking up and afterwards one in every seventh Year That the place should be assigned by the Pope with the Consent of the Council and upon his refusal by the Council themselves a Month before their rising That all the Prelates without any other Summons should be obliged to appear and all Princes invited to assist either in Person or by their Proxies Pursuant to this Decree there was one assembled at Pavia about the Month of November in 1423. which having continued a Year not being very numerous nor hoping for more because of an almost universal Plague and War dissolved having first assigned another for the next seventh Year to meet in the City of Basile That began on the Nineteenth of July in Anno 1431. and lasted eighteen Years the three first almost in continual Broils with Eugenius IV. the four following Years in pretty fair correspondence the last eleven in an open War and in fine went and expir'd at Lauzanna whither Felix whom they had elected Pope transferr'd it to renounce the Papacy Let me note en Passant that this Felix whilst he was Amadce VIII Duke of Savoy instituted the Military Order of Saint Maurice about the Year 1434. We have observed how during these disorders the Gallican Church being assembled at Bourges Anno 1438. not only owned the Council of Basile and would not give their consent to transfer it to Bologna as the Pope had ordained but made that constitution so equitable and Canonical entitled the Pragmatique Sanction The Council approved it and gave it as much applause as it afterwards met with Contradictions and Attacks from the Popes who could never rest in quiet till they had abolisht it Nevertheless maugre all their endeavours it kept in being till the Year 1516. when it was suppress'd by the Concordat In the eight and twentieth Session of the Council of Basile there was made one of the most just and necessary Decrees in the World but which shock'd the gainful Interests of too many People to be in force or observed any long time It did forbid that any either at Rome or elsewhere should take any Money c. for Elections or Confirmations Presentations Collations Provisions Institutions Installations and Investitures of all sorts of Benefices Monasteries and Ecclesiastical Offices even of Cathedral Churches and Metropolitans neither for Sacred Orders Benedictions or upon sending the Pall nor upon account of Bulls the Seal Common or Petty Services first Fruits whether under pretence of Custome Priviledge or Statute to the contrary or in sine by what Title or under any Colour whatsoever Ordaining that such as contravened whether in giving or else in taking any thing should incur the Penalties of Simoniaques and should have no right to that Benefice where into they should have intruded themselves by such corruption And if even the Pope who was the most obliged to observe the Oecumenical Decrees of the Councils and the Holy Canons should infringe this Decree he should be accused in Council In the same Council it was ordained that the triennial Possessor of a Benefice should not be disturbed in his enjoyment of it As to the particular Councils of the Gallican Church we can find but three one of the Province of Tours celebrated by the Archbishop John Bernardi in Anger 's Anno 1448. for restoring of the Discipline One of that of Reims Anno 1455. by the Archbishop John Juvenal des
a long time in this Age and retired to Lyons where he Died in Anno 1419. The Cardinal Dailly Peter de Versailles Bishop of Meaux Thomas de Courcelles Canon of Amiens a powerful and most admirable man for his Doctrine but yet more valuable for his modesty who drew divers of the Decrees of the Council of Basil William Forteon and Stephen de Bruslefer of the Order of St. Francis John Siret Prior General of the Carmelites Martin Magistri Doctor of Sorbonne and William Chartier Bishop of Paris who was maintained in the Schools by Charles VII And was a Good and Holy Man and a great Clerk Amongst the Curious in humane Learning I find Alain Chartier Brother of William out of whose mouth proceeded so many good Sayings and grave Sentences that Margaret Stuard Lewis the Dauphins Wife finding him one Day fast asleep in a Hall where she was passing thorow with her Train would needs do him the Honour to bestow a kiss upon him I find one Charles Ferdinand who being Born blind gave himself nevertheless so much to Study that he acquired a great deal of Reputation for his knowledge in Humane Learning in Philosophy and in Divinity He took on him the Habit of St. Bennet in the Abbey de la Couture at Manse There was likewise Judocus Badius Famous for many of his Commentaries John Bouteiller advocat in Parliament Author of the Somme Rurale Robert Gaguin General of the Order of the Mathurins Library-keeper to Charles VII and after sent on divers Embassies John de Rely Bishop of Anger 's who was Confessor to Charles VIII and harangued at the Estates of Tours for the three Orders Octavian de Saint Gelais of the illustrious Family of Lusignan who was Bishop of Angoulesme and began somewhat to Purge and Beautify our French Poetry I may add Peter Reuclin and Picus Mirandolus without borrowing any thing from Germany or Italy since themselves in their Writings own they had drank in that Fountain of all Arts and Sciences our University Trithemius relates that in the year 1456. there came a young Spaniard thither named Ferrand de Cordule Doctor in Divinity who astonished the whole University by his prodigious Learning for he knew all Aristotle by rote together with all the Law-Books also Hippocrates Gallen the principal Commentators on all those Authors the Greek the Latin the Hebrew the Arabian and the Caldean Languages Judicial Astrology much sought into and Studied but very little understood was in vogue and had great access in the Closets of King Charles VII and Lewis the XI Seven or Eight of their Prognosticks are to be seen concerning each of those Kings and 't is affirmed but perhaps not till after the events that they did foretel several particulars that came to pass The most Famous of them was Angelo Catto a Native of the Dutchy of Tarentum whom Lewis XI made Arch-Bishop of Vienne The Author of the Memoirs of his Life writes that going to King Lewis XI who was then hearing Mass at Tours he foretold the defeat and Death of Charles Duke of Burgundy the very day it happened at Nancy But if that had been true Philip de Comines who Dedicates his Memoirs to him would never have omitted it Printing was brought to Paris about the year 1470. by three Germans Martin Vlric and Michael very able men in that new Art In the beginning they used Characters that imitated writing Hand then Square or Roman Letters and some time after the Gothique or Lombard Letters and at last they came to the Italick and Roman Character Physick was likewise Cultivated with more success then formerly The Doctors of that Faculty knowing that an Archer of Bagnolet very much subject to the Gravel was condemned to Death for some Crime Petitioned the King that he might be put into their hands to try an experiment whether they could cut him and draw forth the Stone or Calculuos matter Their operation Succeeded very happily and the Archer survived a long time after in good and perfect Health During this whole Age France did not furnish the Church with any one Canonised Saint but there were many Illustrious Prelats The most remarkable of those that wore the Sacred Purple were Peter Dailly Grand Maistre of the Colledge of Navarre then Bishop of Cambray John de Roquetaillade Cardinal Arch-Bishop of Rouen Vice-Chancellor to the Pope and his Legat at Boulogne Renold de Chartres Arch-Bishop of Reims William d'Estouteville who was Legat in France and reformed the University Peter de Foix Arch-Bishop of Arles who had been of the Order of St. Francis Lewis d'Albret Bishop of Cahors who was named the delight of the'Sacred Colledge John Joffredy Bishop of Arras then of Alby John de Balue Bishop of Euvreux and William Briconnet Bishop of St. Malo's who all signalized themselves in the greatest affairs the six first being of noble Parentage and rare Learning Joffredi and la Balue of mean Birth that Son of a Peasant and this of a Taylor in Saintonge the former considerable however for his Erudition but la Balue only by his Intreagues and his Fourberies The Cardinal de Foix was he that founded the Famous Colledge bearing his name at Thoulouse with five and twenty Bourses to maintain Scholars We have had a very Learned Prelat from thence whose name will be sufficiently made known to all posterity without expressing it here Amongst the Bishops we may observe James and John des Vrsins Brothers and Successively Arch-Bishops of Reims Martin Gouge Son of an Inhabitant of Bourges who was Bishop of Clermont and to ennoble himself assumed the name de Charpagnes These three lived in the time of Charles VII whose affairs Martin administred and held the Seals till the time of his Death which happened in Anno 1444. Andrew Espinay Arch-Bishop of Bourdeaux had great Credit and Employments under Lewis XI Lewis d'Amboise Bishop of Alby John de Rely of Anger 's and Octavian de Saint Gelais of Angoulesme heretofore mentioned were considerable to Charles VIII The Clergy were but little vexed with Tenths during this fifteenth Age as well for the great respect which Charles VII had for the Church as because things were as yet so uncertain that the Pope who had ever raised them at discretion could no longer do it without the Kings consent nor the King without the Popes permission or allowance which neither of them did willingly grant to each other However in time they found out an expedient to share the Dole between them and strick the Ball very regularly each in his turn LEWIS XII Surnamed The JUST AND THE Father of the People King LVI Aged XXXVI Years compleat POPES ALEXANDER 5 years during this Reign PIUS III. Elected the 22th of September 1503. S. 26 Days JULIUS II. Elected the last day of October in the year 1503. S. 9 years and 4 Months LEO X. Elected the 11th of March 1513. S. 8 years and near 9 Months whereof one year and
to do great things Notwithstanding Philippine gained Victory Moncado the Vice-Roy of Sicilia was there Slain with above twelve hundred of their Bravest Men. This great Success much heightning the hopes of Lautrec did much increase his Negligence many things were already wanting in his Army first water to drink the Enemies having Poisoned that little which was good In the second place Forage for their Horses from whence followed another inconvenience for having sent his Horse to all the Neighbouring Towns those belonging to the Enemies were then strongest and fetched divers little Convoyes into Naples and likewise cut off his Provisions Besides this they sent the Plague into his Army by some People who carried Cloaths thither which were Infected and to all these was added Manifest Defection of Andrea Doria and all those of his House Lautrec foreseeing that his discontent would burst out with some great execution dispatched William de Bellay Langeay to the King to let him know that his Affairs absolutely required he should give all satisfaction and content to a man that was so necessary Langeay passed through Genoa heard the complaints and demands of Doria and reported them to King He had been pacified would they have restored Savonna to the Genoese but the Mareschal de Montmorency who was in favour being interested there for the Imposts that were paid in the Port of Savonna belonged to him The Chancellour who flattered him when the business was brought before the Council rejected the Proposition as Extravagant treated Doria as a Proud and Insolent Person and brought it to a Resolution of Seizing upon him The order for it was given to Barbesieux of the Family de la Roche-Foucaud with the Title of Admiral in the Levant Seas and the Command of fifteen Galleys and some Vessels whereon they Embarqued five or six thousand men for the Siege of Naples But the business was not carried so secretly but he had some hint of it he retires from Savonna where he then was to Genoa Barbesieux went to confer with him told him what Commands he had Doria answer'd That he had taken good care he should not put them in Execution and promised to give up the Kings Galleys but he caused them to be Stolen away basely by Antany Doria and withdrawing to Portofin prefected his Treaty with the Emperour with conditions very advantagious Barbesieux was constrained by this change to remain some while in the River of Genoa and to leave near three thousand of his men to bridle that City He was again stopt almost three weeks by the Pope to besiege Civita-Vecehia and in the mean while Philippine having received orders from his Brother quitted the French and before he went away put some Provisions in to Naples which he could not have done if Barbesieux had been there Year of our Lord 1528 The Supplies he put on Shore were but eight or nine hundred men Commanded by Peter de Navarre Two thirds of Lautrec's Army were already destroy'd by Sickness which no more sparing the Chief Commanders than it did the private Souldiers had carried off the Count de Vaudemont Charles Bastard Brother to the King of Navarre and many other Persons of Note It had some days before Seized likewise upon Lautrec his Officers advised him to retire to Capoua and made it appear that Naples would fall of its self having no other places on the Land that could Support it But he had Vow'd either to take it or die in the Attempt His Stubbornness made the last a truth For his Distemper increasing put an end to his Life and his Enterprize the sixteenth day of the Month of August After his Death the Marquess de Salusses took the Command of those Languishing Forces and continued the Siege for some days not with any hopes of taking the City but to wait for Rance de Cere and the Prince of Malfe that he might be able to make his Retreat to Capoua That City being gained by the Enemy he retired into Aversa They pursued him without Intermission and having defeated a Party of his men upon their Retreat and got a great many Illustrious Prisoners amongst others Peter de Navarra they blocked both him and all his up in that place Being wounded with a Culverin Shot in the Knee he Capitulated promising on his part to do what lay in his Power to procure the Surrender of such Places as the French held in that Country by which means he obtained Life and Liberty for the Garrison to retire but not for himself For he remained a Prisoner of War and died soon after as did likewise fifteen or twenty Eminent Lords and above four hundred Officers or Gentlemen The Prince of Malfé who had taken part with France and Rance de Cere a Roman Barron kept Barletta and some other Maritime Places till the Treaty of Cambray A little before the Death of Lautrec the Duke of Brunswic had undertaken to bring twelve thousand Lansquenets and six hundred Horse to the relief of Naples And the King had given five hundred men of Arms as many Light-Horse and six thousand Foot to the Count de Saint Pol to oppose him in his Passage The Count being informed that Brunswick for want to Pay was returned back again staid in the Dutchy of Milan and having joyned the Confederates Army regained some Places but most of his Troops Disbanding for the same cause as Brunswic's he did not great Exploits In the mean time Andrea Doria knowing the French Garrison in Genoa being reduced to a samll number had Quartered themselves in the Castle by reason of the Plague almost Depopulated the whole City approached with his Galleys and Landing only about six hundred men made himself Master of the place The French Navy fearing to be shut up in the Harbour left it in all hastle and retired to Savonna The Castle held out some Months and was not Surrendred till the following year When Andrea Doria by his Treaty with the Emperour had obtained the sole Authority in Genoa he made use of it very generously to restore it to its Liberty And without attempting or designing to make himself Soveraign of his Native Countrey as the Medicis did in theirs Established a form of Government almost the very same at it is yet to this day He thought such an act of eminent Vertue above the Power and reach of time or Fortune to destory was a much safer way to gain Immortal Fame then with injustice to acquire a petty Soveraignty which every little accident might have overthrown and which he could not have maintained without continual trouble and hazard The Lutherans and the Sacramentaries gained upon the minds of those that were lovers of Novelties by their Writings and Emissaries who crept into the Universities and amongst the curious The Chancellour Duprat lately made Cardinal and Arch-Bishop of Sens assembled a Provincial Council of his seven Suffragans in the Augustin Convent at Paris where he made divers excellent Decrces to stop
open he present and bare-headed This done he was shut up in the great Tower of Bourges from whence he could not get out till he had given up almost all he had for his Fine At last he dyed in the City of Paris oppressed with poverty Ignominy and old Age So unhappy that even in this his Lamentable condition he was not pittied When he was Imprisoned the King gave the Seals to Francis de Montolon President in parliament a Person of rare probity a vertue hereditary in his Family The Constables favour did not last long after the loss of Poyer the King forbid him the Court in the year 1542. and would never recal him so long as he lived In the time of this his retirement he built the castle of Esc ouan Common same attributes the cause of his disgrace to the Council he gave for the Emperours passing through France which proved not so much to the Kings advantage as was imagined Perhaps the Cardinal of Lorrain and the rest of his Enemies made use of that reproach to give his Master an ill opinion of him Or perhaps the King conceived some jealousie at his sticking so close to the Dausin who by embracing the interests of that young Prince opposed the raising of the Duke of Orleans and by secret Combinations hindred the Emperour from giving him his Daughter with the Dutchy of Milan which he could not do without holding Correspondence with Strangers and indeed it was said that he in Clandestine manner Suffered the Courtiers of that Prince to travel thorough France Whatever it were the King began to think it dangerous to have men of too great parts in the Administration of Affairs and therefore committed them to the Cardinal de Turnon and the Admiral Annebaut Persons of no Extraordinary Genius or Sagacity but of affections less Interested and wholly devoted to him Year of our Lord 1540. and 41. Whilst the Emperor was at Ghent Martin Duke of Cleve came to demand the investiture of the Dutchy of Guelders You must know that Charles last Duke of Guelders dyed Anno 1537. and William Duke of Cleve and Antony of Lorraine as kindred of the Defunct had pretensions to that Dutchy The Lorrainer was the nearest being the Son of a Daughter of that House notwithstanding the Estates of the Countries called in William to be their Mainburgh he survived but one year and Martin his Son took the Administration Now the Emperour who desired to joyn this piece to the Low-Countries having denyed him the investiture he came into France and put himself under the Kings protection who made him Marry Jane Daughter of Henry d'Albret King of Navarre Year of our Lord 1541 The Nuptials were celebrated the year following at Chastelleraud with such Profusion as cost the poor People dear by encreasing the Gabelle and therefore was called the Salted Nuptials But the Bride being but eleven years of Age the Marriage was not consummated and the Fathers and Mothers never having consented caused it to be dissolved The years 1540. and 1541. were spent almost in nothing but intrigues and Negociations After the truce of Nice the King of England bestirr'd himself mightily he feared lest by the mediation of the Pope the two Kings should agree together to fall upon him He might the Justlier apprehend it because his cruelty had drawn the hatred of most of his own Subjects upon him For he had Invaded and broken open the Monasteries even those of the Nuns which much incensed their Parents who were forced to maintain them he had taken away all Abbey-Lands Abolished the order of Malta and caused the Memory of St. Thomas of Canterbury to be Condemned and his Sacred Bones and Reliques to be Burnt Having therefore reason to fear he courted the Emperor and the King divers ways He offered the first to Marry his Niece Widow of Sforza Duke of Milan to the other he propounded to assist him in the recovery of that Dutchy and promised to declare whenever he should desire it Another while he proffered the Emperor to give his Eldest Daughter she was named Mary to the Brother of the King of Portugal but he would not Marry her as Legitimate for would he have bestowed her as such the King would willingly have taken her for his second Son As for the Emperor he employed all his intrigues to three ends the one was to recover the good Will of the Protestant Princes another to make the Turk believe there was a good and perfect Correspondence between him the King of France and the King of England and the third to amuse the King with new offers he made to give the Low-Countries under the Title of the Kingdom of Belgica to Charles Duke of Orleans whom he called his God-Son The King gave no Faith to this Proposition and replyed that he did not demand his Hereditary Countries but should be contented to have his own again But Solyman was so allarmed at this pretended Union of the three Kings that he flew out against Francis called him Ingrateful and Fickle-pated and had like to put Rincon his Ambassador to death If the Emperor had his hands full of business with the Protestants of Germany his Brother Ferdinand had yet a harder task with the Turks in Hungary John Earl of Sepus had agreed with Ferdinand Auno 1536. upon condition that the part he then was possessed of in the Kingdom should be his during Life with the Title of King and that after his death it should be re-united to the other but contrary to his word he Married with Jane Daughter of Sigismond King of Poland and had a Son by her when he died After his Decease which hap'ned in the year 1540. Ferdinand would Seize upon that part the Widow to maintain her Son had recourse to the Turk thus broke out that Flame of War again which compleated the ruin of Hungary For in the year 1541. Roquandolf General for Ferdinand lost a great Battle near Buda against the Bashaw Mahomet Then Solyman himself coming with a dreadful Army Seized Treacherously upon the Widow and the Orphan and the City of Buda which they held Year of our Lord 1541 It was believed that if the Emperor had immediately joyned his Forces with his Brothers he might have saved Hungary but he was labouring an Accommodation with the Protestants to whom after several Conferences he granted a second Interim and Reciprocally having given them very ill Impressions of King Francis he obtained all he desired from them For the Diet promised him great Supplies against the Turks declared the Duke of Cleve an Enemy to the Empire engaged to contribute to the Restauration of the Duke of Savoy and forbid all Subjects belonging to the Empire from Listing themselves in the Kings Service With all this instead of Marching towards Hungary to make head against Solyman he carries the War into Africa against the Pirat Barbarossa which many interpreted a flight rather then an attaque He Landed and laid Siege to
granted him Three Millions of Gold as he demanded It was raised upon things and by Methods the least burthensome to the Kingdom One cannot too often or in too large Characters make mention of a couple of Edicts which were made this year The one to retrench the abuses of Clandestine Marriages The other to secure the Lives of Poor Infants born out of Wedlock This ordained that Women and Wenches who had concealed their great Bellies and could not make proof that their Children had received Baptism and Burial should be Condemned to Death as Convicted of Murther and making them away The other vacated all Marriages made by the Children of any Family without the consent of their Father and Mother unless the Sons when they so contracted were above Thirty years of Age and the Daughters Five and Twenty And to put the stronger curb upon the amorous fancies of young giddy People they added the Penalty of Disinheritance The particular Interest of the Constable procured this last Edict His eldest Son had engaged himself with the Damoiselle de Pienne a very beautiful Woman and of a good House by verbal Contract The Father who desired to disengage him from her to match him with the Kings natural Daughter widdow of Horatio Farnese had for this purpose applied himself to the Pope and had sent his Son to Rome to sollicite that Affair but finding the too rigid Pope put off the decision and delay'd him he was advised to seek his remedy in France and impetrated this Edict of the King And that it might effectually serve his turn he had caused to be added to it that seeing it was founded upon the Law of God it should have a retroactive effect or retrospect Now his Son having declar'd in Court that the promise he made to the Damoiselle was but conditional if his Father would consent which he would not do the Parliament declared that the Engagement was null and of no value after which he Married the Kings natural Daughter This Wedding being over the Constable went to Saint Quentin where he lost the Battel his Liberty and his favour almost to boot Year of our Lord 1558 The first time of their meeting the Assembly of Estates participated in the general joy for the happy exploits of the Duke of Guise whose success surpassed the very hopes and expectation of all the World In eight dayes time being from the first of January to the eight he had taken Calais and in a few dayes more the Town of Guisnes which was razed and that of Hames The Governor of Calais was kept Prisoner with Fifty Persons of Note but all the rest were turned out both Soldiers and Inhabitants Edward III. had done the very same to the French when he gained it from them two hundred and ten years before Thus were the English wholly expell'd out of France they not having one foot of Ground left them and this was the fruit they reaped by the Alliance their Queen had made with Spain upon which the Pope said very ingeniously That the loss of Calais was the Dower of that Princess Such as were enviers of the Duke endeavour'd to diminish his Fame by attributing the first design of this enterprize some to the Constable others to the Admiral which might well be true but their mouths were stopt when about the latter end of the following Spring he gained the strong Town of Thionville which cover'd and secured Mets and enlarged the Frontiers on that side It surrendred the two and twentieth of June the Mareschal de Strozzi was slain in the Trenches by the shot of a great Arquebuse or Musquet discharged on a Rest His Staff was bestowed on the Lord de Termes The rumour of his great exploits was not likely to comfort the Constable in his Captivity or rejoyce his friends who saw him eclipsed by a young Prince whose vertue captivated Fortune as it did the Affections of the people and men of the Sword From this Hour the jealousie that was between those two Houses proceeded to the forming of two contrary parties in the Kingdom as we shall find Whilst he was in Luxemburgh the Mareschal de Termes esteemed a great Soldier took Dunkirk and Bergue ravaged all that Coast and at his return besieged Graveline at that time but little fortified Hearing Count Egmont was marching towards him with an Army twice stronger then his own he repass'd the River Aa at low water but Lamoral doubling his pace and getting over much higher was then before him and forced him to give Battel near the Sea-side The multitude of the Enemies and the horrible Tempests of Canon-shot poured by Year of our Lord 1558 Broad-sides from Ten English Ships which hap'ned to lye on that Coast overwhelmed the French who fought as desperadoes Almost all of them perish'd and Termes was taken Prisoner This check did again heighten the glory of the Duke of Guise as if he had been the only man in whose hands the Kings Sword could be prosperous But that which raised his Authority yet higher was the Marriage of the Queen of Scots his Neece with the Daufin The Nuptials were solemnized at Paris the Four and Twentieth of April and the Ambassadors who were sent into Scotland with the Deputies harangued before the Estates so effectually that they granted the Daufin the Crown and the rest of the Regal Ornaments which the English had denied to Philip. In the Month of February the Ambassadors of Charles V. carried his Renunciation to the Flectors assembled at Franckfort who upon the Fourteenth of March transferr'd the Empire to Ferdinand and swore faith and obedience to him The Pope approved not this Election and maintain'd it was null as well as the Rennnciation of Charles V. because they had not the approbation of the Holy-See either for the one or the other for he pretended they had no right of Election but in case of death only and besides the Princes that had Elected him had forfeited that power by their Heresies His head was so possess'd with this opinion that he did all he possibly could to make the King of the same mind and renew a League with him against the House of Austria And though he could find no body that would support him in this Sentiment he persisted therein notwithstanding to his death which hap'ned in the Month of August of the following year But Pius IV. his Successor confirmed the Imperial Dignity to Ferdinand His Brother Charles V. after he had lived two years in the solitude of Saint Just was seized with a desperate Ague which carried him off the one and twentieth of September the Fifty Ninth year of his Age. A Comet that appeared the thirteenth of August in Berenices hair the Tail turned towards Spain was as a Flambeau lighted to lead the way to his Funeral Pomp. The Summer come the two Kings took the Field with the two most numerous Armies that had been on foot in all this Age and encamped near
League the Politique Catholicks were likewise joyned with them Toré and the Vicount de Turenne managed the intrigues and all of them together demanded an Assembly of the general Estates The Queen Mother that she might amuse them had assigned an Assembly of the Notables at Compiegne to deliberate whether it would be expedient to call them and when they saw they could not make their Party strong enough at Court they resolved to retire to Sedan where the Duke of Bouillon had promis'd to give them reception month March and April The Huguenots had promised themselves so great advantage by the Duke of Alencon that they had resolved to take up Arms over all the Kingdom at the latter end of the Carnaval Rochel it self was born along with this Torrent and had for that purpose elected la Noue for their General This Man the Night between Shrove-Tuesday and Ash-Wednesday surprized Mesle and Lusignan by Escalado as Giron de Bâ—ssay who brought Twelve hundred Men from Bearn took Fontenay and the Lord de la Case in Saintonge Royan Talmont and four or five other little Places In Daupfiné Montbrun seized upon Lorial and Liwron the which he repaired In Normandy Coulombieres and some Gentlemen of the Country upon the hopes of greater Troubles at Court and of having the Duke of Alencon shortly with them seized upon Saint Lo Montgommery who being hated in France and unwelcom in England kept himself close and under shelter of the Islands of Jersey and Guernsey sided with them took Carentan and Valognes and set all the Country thereabouts under Contribution Year of our Lord 1574 At the same time being the Tenth of March that la Noâ—e had made the Huguenots resolve to take up Arms it was likewise resolv'd that John de Chaumont Guitry should draw near Saint Germains en Laye with as many Horse as he could get privately together to receive and bring with him the Duke of Alencon and the two Princes But it hap'ned by whose fault it is not known that Guitry anticipated the Assignation by at least Ten days so that the Duke of Alencon being fearful and irresolute could not determine with himself to forsake the Court so suddenly and la Mole his Favorite judging so great a design could not be long conceal'd went and discover'd it to the Queen Mother About Midnight behold an Alarm over all the Court The King sends for the Duke of Alencon and the King of Navarre the first tells all not caring what became of those he had employ'd The other taxed neither him nor any Friend They give out there is a Design upon the King's Person The Men of the long Robe especially and the Women hurry to Paris all Night and the Queen her self to render the Princes more odious flyes in great disorder However the King went not till the next day and lodged himself at the Bois de Vincennes whither he carried the Duke of Alencon and the King of Navarre not yet as Prisoners but carefully observed Thus the Huguenots fell very short in their accounts and besides in a Month after they set out Three Armies to destroy them in the Provinces of Normandy Poitou and Languedoc Matignon Commanded the first the Duke of Montpensier the second the Prince Daufin his Son the third Montpensier went and cool'd his heels before Fontenay but Matignon invested Montgommery in Saint Lo's from whence making his escape he pursued and besieged him in Donfront so straitly that he constrain'd him to Surrender giving him assurance for the lives of his Men but nothing more then ambiguous and random Promises for his own This fell out four or five days before the Death of the King From thence Matignon returned to the Siege of Saint Lo carrying him thither to persuade Coulombieres who was within to Surrender but the other reproached him of Cowardize and put himself courageously in the breach and his two Sons on either side of him not above Fourteen or Fifteen years of Age both having Javelins in their hands to Sacrifice said he all his Blood for the Truth of the Gospel He died there with his Sword in hand but Fortune or Pity saved the lives of his two Sons Guitry afterwards making his Courage submit to his Prudence gave up Carentan and Lorges Son of Montgommery was detained Prisoner but escaped by the favour of one of the Catholick Commanders As to Languedoc the Queen Mother who was more bent against Danville than against the Huguenots themselves had contrived to ridd her self of that Lord by the means of James de Crussol Duke d'Vzez his Capital Enemy before the War began in those Countries Some intercepted Letters giving him notice thereof he designed to make himself Master of the Province but proceeded so slowly that he could only seize upon Montpellier Lunel Beaucaire and Pezenas He was not the less noted for it at Court Martinengue shewed an Order to all the Province whereby the King dismissed him of his Government and forbid the People to own him or the Soldiers to obey him In the Spring time when the Humors overflow the King's Distemper which had been as it were laid asleep during the Winter awaked and made the Queen sufficiently understand it was high time to seize upon and secure all those that might oppose or disturb her Regency particularly the Mareschals de Montmorency and de Cosseé To this end she order'd a Commission to be given to Christopher de Thou first President and to Peter Hennequin a President likewise to inform themselves diligently about the Conspiracy of St. Germains thereby to involve them La Mole a Favorite to the Duke of Alencon and the Count de Coconas an Italian whom he had lately introduced to the Acquaintance and Confidence of that Prince were arrested The first denied all the other flatter'd with the vain hopes of getting his Pardon and a great Reward besides told a great deal more than indeed he knew The Duke of Alencon and the King of Navarre were also examined The first answered like a Criminal stuttering and trembling the other more like an Accuser than one accused with such reproaches as put the Queen Mother out of Countenance At la Mole 's was found an Image of Wax which one Cosmo Rugiero a Florentine and famous Quack had made for him to Charm a young Damsel with whom he was in Love The Queen Mother would needs have it be believed that it was Year of our Lord 1574 made on purpose to bewitch the King he still denied it stiffly but notwithstanding he was Beheaded and Coconas with him It was said that two Princesses who were in love with them caused their Heads to be stoln and Embalmed them to preserve them as long as they could Another of their Complices was broken upon the Wheel and Rugier sent to the Galleys The Queen Mother very credulous in Matters of Divination and Sorcerers released him some time after to make use of him in his Art The Mareschals de Montmorency and de
River Adour that she had forsaken that and had made her self a new one but longer and more tortuous by which she discharged her self into the Sea at Cape-breton He forced it by strong Banks to take the former way which is much the more commodious and in a direct line The greatest apprehension King Philip lay under was lest the Low-Countries should give themselves up to the King of France rather then fall again under the tyranny of his Governors Every one desired it the honest Frenchman to remove the Civil War out of the Kingdom the Favourites in hatred to the Duke of Anjou and the Huguenots to avoid the mischiefs threatned by the League This was it made Philip endeavour and try by all means and ways to set France on fire first to prevent them from doing so in his own Countries It is said that having found amongst the Papers belonging to Don Juan of Austria some kind of Treaty between that Prince and the Duke of Guise he threatned the said Duke he would reveal his secrets to the King unless he would contract the like private Intelligence with him and would at the same time have obliged him to take up Arms but could not engage him to the last particular neither by his Menaces nor by his Prayers Having missed his end tha◠〈◊〉 he took another quite contrary one and would needs make the Huguenots riâ—e aâ—â—ressing himself to the King of Navarre profering to give him fifty thousand Crowns a Month and two hundred thousand for advance That King gave Ear to him for a while but on a suddain repented it and gave information to the King This was because they had put another design into his Head Gebard Truchses Archbishop of Colen had Married and struggled hard to keep both his Wife and his Bishoprick too which induced him to embrace the Religion of Calvin whose Principles allow the joyning those two things together which are not compatible in the Roman Church It concerned the reputation of the Protestant Party to maintain him in his Archbishoprick the King of Navarre fancied therefore that it might prove a considerable business to unite all the Princes of that Religion to undertake his defence month July and to this end he sollicited and exhorted them by a famous Embassy His design was by all applauded but seconded by none so that Gebard who in the beginning had some advantage being forsaken by all the World even by Casimir who was busie about getting the possession of the Palatinate after the death of the Year of our Lord 1583 Elector Lewis his elder Brother was turned out of all the places he held and retired to the Hague in Holland experimenting at leisure and to his own cost that a Wife without an Estate is a thing much more inconvenient then a Benefice without a Wife month October and Novemb. c. The King of Spain continually presâ—â—d the Guises to rivet themselves more closely to him And to engage them he let them see a Treaty of Montmorencies which was then on foot who being push'd at by Joyeuse he undertaking to thrust him out of Languedoc had indeed made application for his secret protection Besides the Favourites shock'd them every hour and stripping them day by day of their Offices and Governments hurried them to dispair nevertheless considering the inconveniencies and peril such are liable to who take up Arms against the King they could not yet resolve to play so dangerous a part Though the Duke of Guise knew that the Duke of Anjou hated him to death yet he forbore not to tempt him with divers Propositions for it would have been or infinite advantage to have had a Son of France at the Head of his Party The Duke of Anjou listned for a while to his profers but when it was least thought on or month February and March expected they were amazed to behold that Prince upon his Knees before the King humbly craving pardon for his faults This was in the time of Carnaval which fell out this year about the latter end of February but he staid not above seven or eight days at Court and then returned to Chasteau-Thierry month May and June After this his Health continually impaired a confirm'd Phtisick troubled him so grievously that he went seldom out of Doors and his violent Cough having burst a Vein in his Breast he lost so much Blood as cast him into fits of fainting the Twentieth day of May. After which accident he yet languished twenty days more with a slow Fever then gave up his Soul the Tenth of June He carried with him to his Grave the Tears and Sighs of those unhappy People who had assisted him in the War of Flanders for he died in Debt Three hundred thousand Crowns and the King would rather vainly expend two hundred thousand on his Funeral then pay one Penny of his Debts Many imagined that his Death was not Natural and said this was the first Act of that Tragedy whereof Salsede had made the Prologue Now that which gave most credit to such Discourse was two horrible attempts which were set on foot at the same time One against Queen Elizabeth by a Natural Englishman named William Parry who had undertaken to kill her in her Park but he was detected and punished the other upon the Prince of Orange who was unfortunately kill'd by Pistol-Shot in his own House month July by one Balthâ—zar Gerard a Native of the Franche-Comte and an Emissary of the Spaniards Philip the eldest of that Princes two Sons being then in the Spaniards hands where he was held a long time the States gave the second named Maurice the Government of Holland Zealand and West-Frise together with the Admiralty though he were scarce Eighteen years of Age. Year of our Lord 1584 As Monsieurs Life gave the Queen Mother work enough put some stop to the ambition of the Guises and lull'd the King of Navarre asleep his Death quite changed the whole Scene and Interests of those Factions It seemed already as if the succession of the Crown were open the whole World knew the King was uncapable of getting Children by reason of his debility proceeding from a Distemper which made him shed his Hair The Queen Mother who little valued the Fundamental Laws of France would needs call the Children of her Daughter by the Duke of Lorrain to the Crown she had sounded the Kings mind upon it and endeavour'd to persuade him that there remained but little of the Blood Royal 〈…〉 sixth degree which must needs become very cold and languid at that distanâ—â— that the Bourbons were no more of his Parentage then by Adam and Eve and that it would be more natural to leave the Succession to his Nephews then to Persons so far off There is some likelihood she might have succeeded in her intentions had the Duke of Lorrain and his Son but inherited as much courage and as many noble qualities as the Duke of Guise was Master of This
the frontiers of Lorrain to hinder the Germans from returning any more Espernon having had contest in the Council with Peter d'Espinac Arch-Bishop of Lyons and Villeroy Secretary of State even to the giving them outrageous Language made the King lose those two most important Servants who Declared when occasion offer'd The League was not a little strengthned by it as the Huguenots party was much weakned by the death of the Prince of Condé amongst whose Virtues one cannot tell whether it were Courage or Liberality Generosity or love to Justice or Courtesie month March and Affability that had the preheminence He died the Fifth of March at St. Jean d'Angeli his ordinary Residence being poysonn'd by his own Domestique Servants Year of our Lord 1588 The Judges of the place by an Act above their Power and against all forms of Law involved Charlota-Catherina de la Trimouille his Wife in this crime and made Process against her so far that she had lost her life had she not proved to be great with Child It was of a Son of whom she was happily deliver'd the First day of September six Months after the death of his Father She was afterwards still detained in the same place till King Henry IV. ordered her to appear before the Parliament of Paris who declared her innocent and caused all those proceedings to be burnt as being injurious and not to leave any footsteps for slander It was now above a year and half since the King resolved to make an exemplary punishment of the Heads of the League who had stirred up Seditions and contrived strange Designs even as he verily believed against his own Person They were called the Seize i. e. the Sixteen because they Abetted and Governed that Party month April in the Sixteen Divisions or Wards of the City of Paris The Duke of Guise had left Forty or Fifty Gentlemen with them in his behalf to give them Orders and take care for their defence and these had provided Arms and raised Money privately to be employ'd upon occasion These People informed of the Kings intentions sent to the Duke of Guise to implore he would come to their assistance He was then departed from Nancy and come into Picardy to justify his Cousin the Duke d'Aumale in that Government For having held it by provision in the life-time of the Prince of Condé he would not resign it after his death whilst the Duke of Espernon on whom the King had bestowed it endeavour'd to wrest it out of his hands While the Duke of Guise was at Soissons the King dispatched Believre to sound his intentions but some important Affair having called that Minister back to the King he went away without concluding any thing and promised he should hear news of him within three days and indeed he wrote twice but sent his Letters by the Post instead of an Express Courier so that the Duke might plausibly pretend he did not receive them During these transactions the Sixteen pressing the Duke earnestly to come to their aid because the danger was very nigh he parts from Soissons with only month May. Seven Gentlemen wisely avoids Philibert de la Guiche Grand Master of the Ordnance who went to seek him on behalf of the King and arrives at Paris on Monday the Ninth of May about Noon He alighted at the Filles Repenties where the Queen-Mother at that time was She leads him immediately to the Louvre amidst the croud and acclamations of the Year of our Lord 1588 People who flocked about him as their Protector The King informed of his coming deliberated whether he should put him to death and it was known he had resolved it but whether he had not time to give his positive Orders or whether the sight and presence of so formidable a Person who always kept his hand upon the hilt of his Sword and by his fiery and piercing looks did forewarn them that if they made the least attempt he would fall directly upon the Author of his death they offer'd not to touch his Person This visit was spent in accusations and reproaches on the Kings part and in justifications and most humble submissions on the Dukes part In the Afternoon they had again a long Conference in the Garden of the Tuilleries the Queen-Mother making the Third betwixt those two Paris was full of unknown Faces the Streets and Houses of knots of People buzzing and of confused murmurings and hollow whispers which betokened an approaching Tempest Things could not rest long in such a turbulent posture the Duke was not ignorant they bargained for his Head and the King was told the League designed no less then to make him a Monk and that the Dutchess of Montpensier shewed the very Cizers which were prepared to shave him This was because he had affronted that Widow by discovering some secret defects of hers in his Discourses An Outrage much more unpardonable in respect of Women then any thing beside that can be attempted or that can be done against their Honour The Tenth day of May the King therefore gave Command all strangers should depart the City of Paris and ordered the Houses should be searched against which the Parisians making some resistance he took occasion to send five or six thousand as well French as Swiss into the City by the Gate St. Honoré which was opened to them by two Eschevins The honest Bourgeois could have been glad the King might still be Master yet they did not approve that to seize upon Fifteen or Twenty guilty persons he should put the Capital of the Kingdom in danger of being plundered or turning Rebels and therefore they did not second this so well as they might else have done He posted City Companies and Companies of his Soldiers in divers places The first did him little service the others were beaten off or hemm'd in by the Leaguers who were well prepared for this Attaque The commotion began near the University thence got into the City where about three or fourscore Swiss were knock'd on the Head then Afternoon over all the whole Town the Barricado's being carried on from Street to Street till they had brought them as far as the Louvre and made the Sentinel retire Year of our Lord 1588 The King and Duke did yet dissemble their game though so apparent and felt each others Pulses by Envoyez who brought and carried several Propositions If the Duke of Guise had any other design but to defend himself and his friends it must be granted that he wanted either Courage or Conduct for after that part of Paris which is called the Ville had taken Wild-fire had he follow'd his blow he might have surrounded the Louvre and seized on the Kings Person But he did not press on that opportunity as he might On the contrary being picqued with generosity he went to disingage the Soldiery and sent them back disarmed to the Louvre then some hours afterwards returned their Arms again and entred upon Treaty with the Queen-Mother
been in favour apprehended lest he should take revenge for the ill impressions they had given their Master of him and besides they would willingly have preserved the same power they had in the late Court for which reason they made their Cabals apart four or five years together The rest feared he would bestow their Commands upon his Huguenots and the Huguenots themselves apprehended he might change his Religion A suspicion which they had long before conceived and which they began to look upon as an approaching truth when they saw him ready to step into the Throne Thus did he not know whom to advise with every resolution seemed perillous he found it as greatly inconvenient to declare himself immediately a Catholick as to persist in his Huguenotism and the medium between those two Extreams was attended with the inconveniencies of both Whilst these different thoughts were rowling in his Head there met an Assembly of Nobility right against his Lodging where it was resolved it should be declared to him that the Quality of Most Christian being essential to a King of France they did beseech him to take up the Crown with that Condition The Duke of Longeville undertook to carry him this Message being come to the Door he fell upon some Considerations and gave ground but Francis d'O supplied his place and deliver'd it boldly The following night the King held Council with five or six of his most intimate Friends to give an Answer to the Nobless who at the same time were all Assembled in the House of Francis de Luxembourg Duke of Piney It was resolved in the Kings Council that happen what would he should yet persevere in his Belief In the Assembly it was Decreed they might acknowledge him upon these Conditions That he should instruct himself within six Months That in the mean time be should forbid the Exercise of the new Religion That he should admit none to Commands or Offices that did profess it and should suffer the Nobility to send their Deputies to the Pope to make him understand and allow of the Reasons which obliged them to remain firm to his Service He readily condescended to all these points excepting the second in compensation whereof he promised to restore the Exercise of the Catholick Religion over all and the Clergy to their Livings There were divers that Signed this Accommodation with regret and some who did absolutely refuse it amongst others Espernon and Vitry This last threw himself into Paris and for a while gave himself to the League the other having protested he would never be either Leaguer or Spaniard ask'd leave to be gone yet allowed some days for the new King to raise the Siege of Paris with honour Was it that he feared lest this Prince to whom he had very lately done ill Offices near Henry III. would shew him some foul play or rather borrow some great Sums of Money never to be repay'd Whatever Motive it were his example was cause that the greatest part of the Army disbanded for which the King had such a Resentment against him all his whole life as was the occasion of great mischiefs On the Leagues side the Parisians when they knew of the death of the King considering rather the greatness of that peril had been so near them then the enormity of this detestable Parricide made pâ—blick Rejoycings lighted Bonfires set up Tables in the Streets threw aside their black Sâ—arves and put on green ones running dessperately from the Town to the Trenches and from the Trenches into the Town again Mean while in the Morning about Ten of the Clock was fought that famous Duel between John de l'Isle Marivaut and Claudâ— de Maroles both very brave Sword Men. The latter much more skilful though a great deal younger had generously accepted the others Challenge They chose for their Field of Battle the Plain behind the Chartreux Maroles directed so well that he ran Marivaut into the Eye with his Lance and kill'd him He gave his Corps to his Friends being satisfied with his Sword and Horse as Trophies of his Victory When the Parisians were a little recover'd of their first Transports they were all of this mind that they ought not to admit of an Heretical Prince to the Throne of St. Lewis This Resolution appeared so plausible and so Christian-like that it was embraced even by those that had always detested the League as a Faction And indeed this drew great numbers of People that were truly pious and considerable throughout the Kingdom to their Party with whom they joyned till the Kings Conversion had satisfied their Consciencies and secured the Catholick Religion which certainly must have run a great hazard had they not obliged him to change But on the other hand Henry III. against whom the fury of the People was bent to revenge the death of the Guises being now out of the World their heat was abated of a sudden and those angry Spirits having that Object no longer in view did not act with the same passion and violence The Duke of Mayenne considering all these things perhaps with more slowness then is requisite in such great and such pressing occasions knew not what to resolve upon His Friends advis'd to have him be declared King so to collect and unite the scatter'd Members of his Party and although this Advice did not please the Sixteen nor Mendoza the Spanish Ambassador yet had the thing been done they must then have consented Others would have him agree with the King who offer'd him Conditions very advantageous and did almost promise to share the Kingdom with him Another sort press'd him to declare to the Catholicks of the Royal Army that all his Resentments being extinguished by the death of Henry III. to which he did not in the least contribute he had now no other Interest in that Cause but for Religion and that therefore he should intreat they would all joyn with him and oblige the King of Navarre to return into the bosom of the true Church or if he would not come in to elect another of the Blood Royal whom they should think fit He embraced neither of these three ways but following that of the Quarante and Year of our Lord 1589. August the most notable of the Bourgeois he resolved to Proclaim Charles Cardinal of Bourbon King which however was not done till four or five Months after In vain therefore did the King essay by divers ways to make him submit he could get no other Answer but that he would hearken to no Conditions till he had set the Cardinal at liberty and did himself return unto the Church In the mean time observing the Duke debauched many of his Captains from him as well by the temptations and caresses of the Parisian Gossips as by his secret Bribes he resolved to decamp and march into Normandy to secure himself of those Cities whose Governors had not hitherto declared for the League This was in truth to go and gather those Sums
took part with him and had the generosity to console him The Council of Spain were in dispair for that the French passed in great numbers to the Service of the Hollanders and every year the King furnished those Provinces with six hundred thousand Livers in ready Money These succours had put King Philip to so great an expence that not knowing where to get any more Cash he laid an Impost of thirty per Cent. upon all Goods imported into his Dominions or exported thence The King could not suffer such exaction which enriched his Enemies to the loss of his Subjects he prohibited all Commerce to the Low-Countries and Spain and observing that the appetite of gain tempted the Merchants who for the most part value no other Soveraign but their Interest to infringe his Laws he added great penalties to it This was to begin a rupture the Spaniard set a good face upon it as if they much desired it but under-hand sollicited the Popes mediation who put an end to this dispute by perswading them to take off the new impost oâ— the one hand and the prohibition on the other Not daring openly to revenge himself upon the King he endeavoured at least to contrive some private means to perplex and displease him Taxis his Ambassador had concern'd himself in the intrigues of the Morchioness de Vernevil Balthazar de Suniga who succeeded him follow'd his Foot-steps and held secret correspondence with five or six Italians who absolutely governed the Queen particularly Conchino Conchini a noble Florentine and Leonora Galigay a Bed-Chamber woman to that Princess whom Conchini had Married She was the homeliest Creature about the Court and of very abject birth but that great Empire she had over her Mistress repaired all the defects both of her person and condition The King as weak in his passions and domestick Affairs as valiant and rough in War had neither the heart to reduce his Wife to obedience nor to rid his hands of his Mistresses who were cause of all his Domestick broils Those little Italian people to render themselves more necessary exasperated the spirits they should have allay'd and by the malignity of their Reports and Councils encreased the Queens discontents so that instead of reclaiming the King by alluring Caresses for he would be flattered and endeavouring to regain his affection with the same Arts others made use of to steal it from her she made him loath her Society with her Eternal grumblings and bitter reproaches This contest betwixt Man and Wife was the perpetual business of the Court their Confidents were no less busily employ'd in these Negociations then the Council was in the most important Affairs of State and this disorder lasted as long as their Marriage being sometimes quieted and laid asleep for a few days then wak'd and rouz'd agen by fresh occasions and accordingly as those Boutefeux thought fit month March April c. The Marchioness on her part crafty and coquette used all her artifice to maintain those fewds which maintain'd her felicity Amongst her Jests with which she made the King merry she often mixed some insolencies against the Queen and upon divers occasions would make her self her equal spake meanly of her extraction and then would counterfeit the Gate her gestures and her way of speaking These offences did so much heighten the resentments of this Princess that she with outragious Language threatned a severe Revenge the Marchioness having reason therefore to apprehend more then a bare affront and withal displeased with the King for not taking her part made use of an artifice common enough amongst those Female Politicians when designing to revive a dying passion She feigned to be touched with a remorse of Conscience and Christian sorrow the fear of God said she would suffer her no more to think of what was past but only to do penance for it and that of her own life and Childrens forbid her to see the King in private She went yet farther and begged leave of him to seek a Sanctuary out of the Kingdom for her and hers This Artifice had not at first its effect for the Holy time of Easter approaching he was resolved to take her at her word and to give her leave to retire into England where she might have the Duke of Lenox her neer Kinsman to support Year of our Lord 1604 her but not to carry her Children As to the rest to qualifie the Queens discontent he desired she should surrender up the Promise of Marriage he had given her and with which she made so much noise shewing it to any one that had the curiosity to see it His intreaties were not prevalent enough he was obliged to make use of his Authority together with Twenty thousand Crowns in Money and the hopes of a Mareschal's Staff for the Father Upon which Conditions she deliver'd it in the presence of some Princes and Lords who verified and witnessed in Writing that it was the Original After all this the Queen being satisfied and the Marchioness appearing no more the Tempest seemed to be allay'd when the King discover'd that Entragues Father of the said Lady and the Count d'Auvergne had contrived a dangerous design with King Philip's Ambassador It was to convey the Marchioness into Spain with her Children which was negociated with Balthazar de Suniga Ambassador from the Catholick King by the management of a certain Englislr Gentleman named Morgan It was reported whether true or false how the Count d'Auvergne having acquainted the Spaniards with the Promise of Marriage the King had given the Marchioness had made a seoret Treaty with them by which King Philip promised his assistance to set her Son in the Throne And to that purpose would furnish them with Five hundred thousand Livers in Money and order the Forces he had in Catalogne to March and second the Party who were to Cantonize in Guyenne and Languedoc Nay much more was mention'd month June c. but few believed it as that the Count had framed an Attempt upon the Life of the King and that he was to dispatch him when he came to visit the Marchioness then seize upon the Daufin Now after the Death of l'Hoste the Count finding the Intrigue began to be discover'd retired into Auvergne upon pretence of a Quarrel which hapned to him at Court The Business being taken into Deliberation by the Council some gave their Opinions he ought to be treated like the Mareschal de Biron but the King would by no means proceed after that manner The example would have been of Consequence to his Bastards So that the Constable and the Duke de Ventadour the former Father in Law to the Count and the other his Brother month July in Law found it no difficult matter to get a Pardon for the Life of that wretched Man upon condition however that he should Travel three years in the Levant When he thought himself out of Danger he offer'd the King if he would he pleased to give him