of the little River Arouane which glides betwixt that of Yonne and Loing and falls into the Loing close by Moret Clotaire lost the Battle and almost Thirty thousand Men and saved himself by speedy posting to Paris But he durst not stay there long for the Victors being advanced as far as Essonne he retired into the Forrest of Arelaune In fine he was constrained left he should lose all to yield up to them the greatest part of his Kingdom to Thierry all that was between the Loire and the Seine as far as the Sea and to Theoderet the Dutchy of Dentelen which was between the Oise and the Seine or perhaps between the Somme and the Oise Year of our Lord 600 601. During the controversie between the Cousins the Gascons took occasion to come and plant themselves in the Countrey of Oleron of Bearn and of Soule The two Brother Kings thought it to better purpose having vanquish'd them to make them become Tributaries then to drive them quite away and gave them a Duke to Govern them he was called Genialis But as they are a stirring People during the Civil Wars of the French they gained all Aquitania Tertia which because of them is named Gascongne Year of our Lord 601 Brunehaud had all the power in the Court of young King Thierry having made him taste the pleasure of Women and Love betimes to keep him from medling with business of State by charms of voluptuousness and out of fear leâ—t a lawful Wife if he should take one should induce him to retrench her Authority by gaining the Affections of her Grand-Son from her This year he had a Son by one of his Mistresses which they named Sigebert Though Brunehaud were a Great-Grand-Mother she was not exempted from Love nor from inspiring it in others by the opportunities she had of bestowing the greatest Favours but this she did most commonly at the expence of the richest whom she fleeced by her Calumnies and her assassinations The precedent year she Year of our Lord 602 had taken away the Life of Egila Patrician of Burgundy to enrich her self with his Year of our Lord 603 spoil She loved amongst others a young Lord named Protades of Roman extraction that is to say Gaulois and had already made him Duke des Transjurains this was not enough she must raise him to the Office of Mayer of the Palace But Bertoald who then executed it must first be put out of the way To this end she sent him to gather up the Imposts in Neustria newly taken from Clotair and as yet not well subjected Landry Mayer of the Palace soon chases him pursues him even to Orleans and Besieges him King Thierry being informed thereof Mounts on Horseback the Battle was fought at the passage over the River of Estampes most part of Landry's Men were cut off but Bertoald was slain there as Brunehaud had wished and she gave that Employment to her Protades Year of our Lord 603 At the same time King Theodebert had taken the Field to run upon Clotaire but the two Kings being there present Theodebert grants him a Peace desiring to preserve him for a time of need against his Brother Thierry who likewise and perhaps upon the same consideration did in a while after make his accommodation with Clotaire Year of our Lord 604 The Old One had not forgot the Outrage she had received by Theodebert or rather the Austrasian Lords she infinitely desired Thierry might make himself Master of that Kingdom that she might execute her Revenge She made him believe therefore that Theodebert was not his Brother but that he was the Son of a Gardiner Was it that she would have it meant he had been Supposed or Changed or that the Queen Faileube had committed Adultery with some person of that condition Upon all occasions she and her Favourite thundered it in the Ears of Thierry and laid hold of every little subject of Pique to exasperate the Spirit of that young ambitious and violent Prince Insomuch as that in fine he took up Arms to deprive his own Brother both of his Crown and Life One day as the two Armys were encamped near each other the Leudes or Vaslals of the Kings detesting this impious War endeavoured an accommodation Protades opposing it those that belonged to Thierry gathered together and notwithstanding the Intreaty and Commands of that Prince Year of our Lord 605 to the contrary went and â—lew him in his Tent where he was playing at Chess Year of our Lord 605 6. In time Brunehaud found means to sacrifice all those that had procured his Death to the Manes of her beloved Friend But notwithstanding instead of one Gallant she chose many and those the handsomest of her Court The scandal was so great that St. Didier Bishop of Lions was obliged by his Pastoral Office and Duty to make some publique Remonstrances of it to her They wrought no effect upon a Soul so plunged in the Mire of her Lust but they acquired the Crown of Martyrdom for this Holy Prelate This Second Jesabel having first caused him to be degraded and banished by an Assembly of Bishops devoted to her passion then two years after stoned to death by her Satellites Some remorse of Conscience having touched Thierry he would needs take a lawful Wife and caused Hermenberg the Daughter of Bertric King of the Visigoths to come out of Spain that he might Marry her But Brunehaud by her Witchcrafts as it was said hindred him from consummating the Nuptials and even perswaded him to send her back and most unjustly detain all that she had brought with her for him The disorders of this Court were at such a height that it was to ruine ones self not to approve of it Nevertheless the H. Abbot Colomban who feared nought but God alone spared not to conjure King Thierry to put an end to his Debauches Year of our Lord 608 by a legitimate Marriage and refused to give Blessing to his Bastards boldly assuring him that God would never suffer the Sons of Sin to Reign This Christian liberty thwarted too much the Interests and Pleasures of Brunehaud she ceased not from irritating the King her Son against the Saint till he had caused him to be plucked out of his Monastery with violence and turned out of his Kingdom At that time when she her self was driven from the Court of Austrasia she had left one of her Servants there bought with the price of Money named Bilechild a Virgin of much Wisdom and more Beauty Theodebert having Married her the kindness that Prince had for her begot the aversion of Brunehaud It hapned that this year she dyed by some ill beverage It was not known from what hand it was directed whether that old jealous Woman or her Husbands who was grown weary of her and would have another as indeed he Married Theodechild one of the same quality and condition But her death was imputed to Brunehaud as well as the War that
and Provence and to Griffon a Portion betwixt his two Brothers made up of some parcels of the three Kingdoms The Son of the Duke Eudes held Aquitania Prima Secunda and the Duke of the Year of our Lord 741 Gascons the other Shortly after on the 20th of October he ended his Life in the Castle of Carissy upon the Oyse within three Leagues of Noyon He had ruled about three years in Austrasia and 28 in this Kingdom and in Neustria The Martial Courage and Spirit which inclined him to have always his Sword in hand to smite his Enemies acquired him the name of Martel in History and an immortal Fame But the Ecclesiasticks whom he had rudely handled fullied his Memory and would not forgive him in the other World For they affirmed according to a Revelation of St. Eucher Bishop of Orleans that he burned both Body and Soul in Eternal Flames and that his Tomb having been opened there was nothing to be found in it but a huge Serpent and a stinking Blackness the marks of the ill condition of his State or Salvation CARLOMAN in Austrasia and PEPIN in Neustria Burgundy Dukes and Princes of the French HOw little soever the share was which Griffon had his two Brothers could not endure it they Besieged him in the City of Laon shut him up in Chasteauneuf in Ardenna and having seized on his Mother Soxichilde allotted him the Abby of Chelles for his Subsistence and his Prison At the same time Theodebald Son of Grimoald whom Martel had left in Peace after he had strip'd him was taken out of the World perhaps because he had some intrigues with Sonichilde All those People whom Martel had brought to their Duty by the power of the Sword imagined that after his death it would be easie for them to cast off the yoak Particularly Thibaud Son of Godefroy Duke of the Almans and Hunoud Duke of Aquitain This last being the most dangerous the two Brothers joyned their Force against him They handled him so roughly having driven him beyond Poitiers and forced the Castle of Loches that he desired a Peace the conditions are not specified Before the two Brothers left Aquitain they shared the Kingdom betwixt them or rather what they had taken from Hunoud which they did at the place called The Old Poitiers between the Clain and the Vienne near Chastellerand Besides these two Expeditions the year was remarkable for the Birth of Charles Year of our Lord 742 called the Great or Charlemain the Son of Pepin and Berte his Wife who was born into the World in the Palace of Ingelheim upon the Rhine this year 742. The same year Carloman passed the Rhine marched into the Almans Countrey Year of our Lord 742 as far as the River Lee which separates them from the Bavarians and brought them so low that their Duke Thibaud Son of Godefroy gave him up Hostages for pledge of his Faith and the tribute he was to have from him It seems to have been in this year or at least the next that the two Brothers bethought Year of our Lord 743 themselves of filling the Royal Throne in appearance which had been vacant five years and putting Childeric in it who was surnamed the Witless or Senseless as being either really such or so represented to the People Some make him to be the Brother of Thierry de Chelles others of Clotaire III. and if so he must have been at least â—7 or 18 years of age but many think him the Son of Thierry and then he could be but 10 or 12 at most Childeric III. called the WITLESS King XXI Aged Eighteen years POPE Zachary Elect in Dec. 741. S. Ten years Three Months whereof above Nine Months in this Reign CARLOMAN in Austrasia and PEPIN in Neustria Dukes and Princes of the French Year of our Lord 743 THose Princes that had Revolted in the time of Martel obeying his Children but unwillingly made a powerful League to break and throw off the Bonds of their subjection Odillon Duke of Bavaria was the Head instigated no doubt by his Wife Chiltrude Daughter of Martel and Sonichilde who two years before having stollen away from her Brothers went into that Countrey and was Married to him The Saxons and Almans assisted him with Men and at the same time while the two Brothers were on their way thither Hunoud Duke of Aquitain falls upon Neustria and descends as far as Chartres which he forced and buried almost under its own Ruines Odillon was encamped with his Army on the brink of the River Lecq which he had Palisadoed with strong Timbers The two Brothers having staid Fifteen days right over against him without attempting to pass one fair night a kind of impatient Spirit prompting the French they forced their way over with the loss of many of their Men who were drowned and brought a terror to his whole Camp All his Men betook themselves to flight and left their Baggage and the two Brothers their full and free liberty to range over the whole Countrey of Bavaria for two Months together Year of our Lord 741 From thence Carloman marched against the Saxons gained the Castle of Hochsburgh upon Composition and Theoderic Duke of that Countrey who solemnly gave his Faith to him and yet he nevertheless broke it again presently and obliged Carloman to return thither the very next year to the very great damage of his Countrey But it was not till after the two Brothers having ravaged Aquitain had constrained Hunoud to crave their pardon the third time and redeem his fault with the price of many great Presents made to them Year of our Lord 745 He had the courage of a Woman quarrelsome and weak and consequently suspicious and cruel His Brother Hatton being come to see him upon the security of his Word he put him to death and a short while afterwards either upon some Motions of Repentance or lightness and giddiness of Brain he made himself a Monk in a Monastery in the Isle of Rhe having left his Dutchy to his Son Gaifre about the age of 18 or 20 years Prince Carloman after he had struck his last blow against the Almans whose pride Year of our Lord 746 he had abated by the blood of a great many of the most mutinous which was in the year 746. resolved likewise to quit the World either by a powerful and efficacious inspiration of God or the terror of those most dismal Stories they spread of his Fathers Damnation The Fifth year of his Principality having given up his Estate and his Son Drogon or Dreux into the hands of Pepin he went to pay his Devotions at St. Peters in Rome from thence he went to take the Habit of St. Bennet at Mount Soraâ—ie or Mount St. Sil and some while after because he was too much importuned by Visiters he retired to Mount Cassin Pepin allowed no share of his Dominion to his Nephew Dreux nor his Brothers other Children but the same year
his Death Seulfe Arch-Bishop of Rheims having had some contest with the Kindred of Hetto his Predecessor for having taken some Fiefs from them which they held of the Church was joyned with Hebert's Party to gain their protection and had made him a promise never to assent to any Election whatsoever but whom he pleased Year of our Lord 925 During the Reign of Rodolph of Lewes Transmarine â—nd Lotaire III. there was almost a continual War betwixt the French and the Germans for the Kingdom of Lorrain We shall mention only the great events It is certain that Rodolph reduced a great part thereof to his obedience Year of our Lord 924 They were fain this year 924. to make a Collection for the Normans as Charles the Bald had done several times partly by voluntary contribution the rest by way of a Tax The Duke of Aquitain William I. of that name the Son of Ebles did not submit himself so much as he ought to Rodolph he was obliged to turn his Sword that way William knowing his resolution advanced to the River of Loire which made the bounds of his Dutchy where after some negociations he passed the same and alighting came to Rodolph who embraced and kissed him sitting on Horse-back and the next day granted him a Truce for eight Which being expired the Duke did him Hommage and in requital had the City of Bourges and Berry restored which Rodolph had taken from him Year of our Lord 924 The Italians grown weary of Berenger bestowed the Soveraignty upon Rodolph II. King of Burgundy Trans-jurane Berenger taking no other counsel but from revenge was so unhappy as to make a league with the Hungarians and drew them into Italy Those Barbarians having sacked Mantoua Brescia and Bergamo reduced the celebrated and rich City of Pavia Capital of the Kingdom of Lombardy to a heap of ashes Two hundred of the Citizens escaping the Fire and Captivity redeemed the Walls thereof from the hands of those destroyers for eight Bushels of Silver which they had raked together out of the Ashes and Rubbish of it's ruines This money being received the Bulgarians passed the Mountains and penetrated Year of our Lord 924 even into Languedoc The same Rodolph and Hugh Count of Vienne followed them and pressed so close upon them that those Barbarians partly cut off by the Sword and the rest perishing by the Flux or Dysentery and want of Food enriched greatly those Countries with their Spoil which they came to plunder Year of our Lord 925 The year following Berenger struggling to regain the Kingdom of Italy was slain by his own People at Veronna After his death the Title of Emperor in the West was not conferr'd upon any at least by the Pope or Italians till Otho I. An. 962. By his death the Kingdom remained entirely Rodolph's but the inconstancy of the Italians who were ever hunting out one Lord and Master by another made them resign themselves to Hugh Count of Arles the Son of Brethe to ridd themselves of Rodolph Who being informed that they had Treacherously killed Burchard Duke of Swevia his father in Law withdrew himself into his own Kingdom of Burgundy not daring to attempt any thing amongst such wickedly disposed people Rodolph King of France Henry of Germany Hugh of Italy Rodolph II. of Burgundy Every year almost the Normans made Incursions Besides those that were in Year of our Lord 926 Neustria there were others in Burgundy and towards Artois and at all times they were forced to be making head against them or be in pursuit of them but they had such sure friends amongst the Grandees who would not suffer the Kingdoms grievances to be scann'd that they ever got away scot-free This year Rodolph King of France having surrounded them in a Wood in the Country of Artois they made a Furious Salley unawares in which he was wouned and had been taken without the timely assistance Count Hebert gave him Those that held the Islands in the Loire having been a long time besieged by Hugh and Hebert defended themselves so stoutly that they gave them the City of Nants for their habitation Year of our Lord 927 Notwithstanding the strickt alliance which seemed to be between King Rodolph and Hebert the City of Laon became an occasion of discord between them Hebert would have it for Otho his Son and the King desired to keep it to himself Hebert not able to get it by friendship had thoughts of gaining it by force He therefore draws Charles the Simple out of Prison and carries him to parley with the Normans who suffer'd his confinement with great impatience because he had bestow'd upon them the richest Province of France This menace having effected nothing for as much as Emma the Wife of Rodolph was obstinately bent to preserve Laon and had put her self in there he conducts him to Reims as if designing to restablish him Then was the Queen forced to let go her hold and surrender up the place to Year of our Lord 927 Hebert who being by this means appeased returned Charles to the Castle of Peronne and made a new Oath to Rodolph Year of our Lord 928 In the year 928. Hugh King of Italy came into France we do not find for what reason King Rodolph went towards Lyonnois to receive him and conferr'd with him A crew of Normans gotten into Boulenois made a double Foss or Water-graft round about Guises Afterwards Arnold Earl of Flanders gave it in Fief to Sigebert Year of our Lord 929 Commander of that Fleet who some time after stole away his daughter Eltrude but finding he came to besiege him was in so much dread of his wrath that he hanged himself and left that Woman great with child of a Son named Adolph who was since Earl of Guisnes Year of our Lord 929 Sometimes Rodolph otherwhile Hebert gave hopes of setting the unfortunate Charles the Simple at Liberty and paid him all the respects due to a Soveraign Yet only death took him out of their custody putting a period to his Captivity and unhappiness in the City of Peronna the 7 th Day of October in the Year 929. He was Interred at St. Foursy's in the same City His Reign if we reckon from his Coronation day to that of his imprisonment was 37 years his life 50. He left but one Son named Louis by his Queen * Ogina Daughter of Edward King of England Rodolph King of France Henry of Germany Hugh of Italy Rodolph II. of Burgundy Whilst King Rodolph was gone into Aquitain he had news that the Normans of the Islands in the Loire had adventured to run as far as Limosin He went and Year of our Lord 930 set upon them in the place called Dextricios we cannot well tell where that was and so hemm'd them in that not one of them returned This seasonable victory gained him great esteem amongst the Aquitains and induced them to acknowledg him with a little more submission Year of our
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
way of appealing to the Councils and notwithstanding goes on and reduces Sussex and all the Southern parts excepting Windsor and Dover The Ambassadors pleaded his Cause earnestly at Rome they shewed that John was justly degraded for his Tyrannies and because he had been condemned to death for the Murther of his Nephew Arthur by the Pairs of France and made it out that the Kingdom since he was Excluded belonged to his Neece the Wife of Prince Lewis Whilst they disputed their Masters Rights he successfully employs his Sword in Conquering Essex Suffolk and Norfolk Having reduc'd them he returns to besiege Dover his Father reproaching him for having imprudently left that place behind him The Pope offended at his Progress confirmed the Sentence of Excommunication against him and although Philip protested he gave him neither Assistance nor Advice prosering even if the Church did so ordain to Confiscate his Lands nevertheless he commanded the Bishop of Sens to denounce him Excommunicate likewise and to put France under an Interdiction but the Prelats assembled at Melun declared they would not submit to that Sentence till they were more fully informed of the Popes Intentions Mean while King John who wandred about the Country hating all his Subjects hapned to dye by Poyson which as it was believ'd a Monk had given him He left three Sons very young Henry Richard and Edmond The hatred of the Englishmen towards him expired with his Life and their Affection for his Son Henry revived being their Natural Lord and one whose Innocence and Tender Age called for their Compassion so that the young Kings Affairs began to prosper and Lewis's to decline He perceiving the English forsook him one after another and his own People afrighted with the thundring Excommunications from Rome inclined to make a Truce with Henry for some Months Year of our Lord 1216 During this Suspension he returns into France to Consult with the King his Father but he fearing to exasperate the Pope refuses to see his Son and would not Confer with him but by the interposition of others Lewis upon his return into England found his Enemies Party were the stronger his Army was afterwards defeated near Lincoln and he besieged in London after that rout Wherefore to free himself from farther danger and retire with Bag and Baggage he was forc'd to Treat with Henry promising amongst other Conditions to surrender all the places he held in England to submit his Pretensions to the Judgment of the Church to use his utmost endeavour to oblige his Father to restore all what he had taken from King John in France and if he could not prevail to do it then himself when he came to the Crown Which was to promise more then he would or could perform Year of our Lord 1216 Henry Emperor of Constantinople and Brother to Baldwin who had been so likewise died Anno 1216. having Reigned Eleven years Peter de Courtenay Earl of Auxerre who Married his Sister Yolant went this year from France to take that Crown Passing thorough Italy he was Crowned at Rome with his Wife took Shipping eight days after and arriv'd in Greece but as he was crossing Thessalie having Pass-ports from Theodorus Comnenus he was made Prisoner by that perfidious Man who slew most part of those Lords that went with them and having detained him three or four years caused him cruelly to be Murthered Yolant a Heroick Woman govern'd the Empire two years after his death in which time the Lords sent to profer the Empire to Philip Earl of Nevers his eldest Son but he refused to accept it and yielded up willingly that perilous Honour to Robert his younger Brother Year of our Lord 1217 When young King Henry was fully setled in his Throne his Council sent Ambassadors into France to challenge Lewis of his Promise and re-demand the Dutchy of Normandy and other Countries taken from his Father They were answer'd with the Confiscation that had been ordered by the Judgment of his Pairs Year of our Lord 1217 18. Whilst the Eari of Montfort in vain besieged the City of Beaucaire Count Raimond brought some Forces from Arragon whither he was retir'd with which he regained several of his places and especially Toulouze which he presently fortifi'd with Intrenchments and Pallisado's Montfort went and laid Siege to it but after he had held it besieged seven whole Months he was slain in a Sally He had three Sons Year of our Lord 1218 Amaulry who succeeded him in the Rights of his Conquests Guy who was Married to Petronella Heiress to the Count of Bigorre as being Daughter of Estiennete the Daughter and Heiress of Count Centulle and Simon Earl of Leicester in England by the Grandmother Year of our Lord 1219 Amaulry was not strong enough to maintain his Conquests the King assisted him first with Six hundred Men then with Ten thousand Foot who not being yet enough to compass that business Prince Lewis upon the Popes earnest Request undertakes that Expedition the second time He happily succeeded in the taking of Marmanda on the Garonne and some other places in Angenois but not in the Siege of Toulouze because his Father recalled him fearing the Troubles that were begun in Bretagne might be created by the English on purpose to set France in a greater flame Year of our Lord 1218 19 and 20. The business was that the Earls Salomon and Conan whom Duke Peter had unjustly thrown out of their Estates being retir'd into the Forests ravaged and wasted his Country with some Bandits they had got together and at the same time the Barons revolted against him because he would arrogate to himself the Guardianship or Wardnoble of Gentlemens Orphan-Sons till they had attained to Twenty years of Age. They had Combined in a League and with Amaulry Lord de Craon very potent in Friends and Alliance who had declared War against him about a certain Castle that Duke had usurped from him This Quarrel complicated with several Interests lasted above two years and ended not but by a great Battle fought near Chastean-briand where the Duke much the weaker in numbers of Men gained the Year of our Lord 1220 Victory and made Amaulry Prisoner The Barons were not brought so low by this bloody loss but they continued the War for some Months but that was only to obtain the better Conditions Year of our Lord 1220 21 and 22. The Truce with the English being prolong'd France enjoy'd a Calm for three or four years during which Philip employ'd himself about the Walling Enlarging Fortifying building Bridges making Causeys and the like conveniencies in all the Cities that were of his Demeasns or belonging to the Crown which Expences though for the publick good was out of his own proper Fund not raised or exacted upon his Subjects but paying very justly for all those Grounds and Houses belonging to private Persons which were necessary for him to have towards carrying on these Publick Works Year of our Lord 1222
encreasing his astonishment he sent the Earl of Nevers his Brother to the King then the Countess of Hainault his Sister and afterwards the Duke of Brabant his other Brother who made several Journeys to Court to endeavour to put some stop to the Kings wroth but nothing less would serve then the Confiscation of all his Lands Year of our Lord 1414 Happily for him the King fell ill again In this interval taking breath a little he got a Garison into Aras the Princes brought the King thither and besieged the Town It made an obstinate defence perhaps encouraged by advice from some of the Besiegers So that their Army growing tir'd and weak by Sickness the Countess of Hainault took this opportunity and sollicited the Duke of Guyenne so earnestly who had all Authority in his hands that without consulting the rest of the Princes he granted a Peace to the Duke of Burgundy This was made about the end of September but the Agreement or Articles were not Signed till the sixteenth of October at Quesnoy The Conditions were very hard upon the Burgundian That five hundred of his Men should be excluded from the Indempnity That several Officers belonging to the King the Queen and the Dauphin who favoured him should be removed That he should not come near the Court without express Order from the King under the Great Seal and by Advice of the Council It was added That for the Kings Honour his Banner should be set upon the Walls of Arras the Governor displaced and the Burghers obliged to take an Oath of Fidelity to the King Year of our Lord 1414 We have not taken notice what the English did both by Sea and Land these two last years against the French as being of little importance nor how they Conquer'd several places in Guyenne the Earl of Armagnac and the Lord d'Abret siding with them because they had been banish'd from the Court The Animosity of that Nation would allow of no Peace with France but their King Henry V. the Son of Henry IV. who died of a Leprosie the twentieth of March in the year foregoing sought to make an Alliance with the French that he might be supported against the inconstant and factious humour of his own Subjects so that the Duke of York was come into France the preceding year for that very purpose In the Month of February of this same his Ambassadors came to make Overtures and demanded Catharine the Kings Daughter agreeing to a Truce for a year to commence from the Year of our Lord 1414 second day of the same Month. A strange Rheum called the Coqueluke tormented all sorts of People during the Months of February and March and made them so very hoarse that the Bar the Pulpits and Colledges became all dumb It caused the death of most of the old People that were aflected with it Ladislaus of whom we have made mention was become Master of the whole Kingdom of Naples but as he was too much addicted to Women and besides mightily hated for his Cruelties he was this year poisoned after a Villanous manner Year of our Lord 1414 He found his Death in the Fountain of Pleasure and Life Jane II. of that name his Sister Widow of William of Austria succeeded him she was then forty years old and nevertheless her many years were so far from quenching her Passions they rather inflamed them to the highest excess The Council of Pisa had ordained that another general one should be held within three years and in the mean time was continued by Deputies At the expiration of that time John XXIII had called one at Rome for the year 1412. which being not numerous by reason by reason of the troubles occasioned by Ladislaus was put off till another time Now the Emperor Sigismund being gone into Italy in the year 1412. about some Disputes he had with the Venetians the Pope sent some Legates to him to appoint the place and time for the Council They agreed upon the City of Constance on the Rhine and as to the time the Pope assigned it on All-Saints-day of the following year Year of our Lord 1414 Notwithstanding it was not opened till the sixteenth of the Month by the Pope himself The Emperor came thither upon Christmas-Eve and sung the Epistle at the Holy Fathers Midnight-Mass being in the Habit of a Subdean The second Session was not held till the second day of March following He was present at divers afterwards array'd in his Imperial Robes Year of our Lord 1415 In this Session the Pope sitting on his Throne being turned towards the Altar read a Schedule aloud wherein he promised and gave his Oath that he would renounce the Papacy in case the two others Gregory and Bennet did renounce or happen to dye Now whether this act were by compulsion or that he had done it without reflecting on the Consequences he immediately repented and fearing lest they should take him at his word he ran away by night to the City of Schaffhausen under the protection of the Duke of Austria Year of our Lord 1415 After he had wandred some Months from one City to another forsaken by that Duke and not able to find any that could afford him a secure retreat he was taken Prisoner brought back to Constance and deposed the eighteenth of May by the Council He then made a vertue of necessity and submitted to the Sentence very calmly Gregory did likewise submit to the Judgment of the Council and gave in his Cession by Proxy Bennet only remained obstinate and kept himself shut up in his Castle of Paniscole in Arragon till the year 1424. when he ended his days Even at his death he commanded a couple of Cardinals who had all along kept him company to elect him a Successor They put a Cannon of Barcelona in his place who took upon him the name of Clement VIII and King Alphonso caused this Idol to be adored for five years in hatred to Pope Martin with whom he had some quarrel then obliged him to lay down his pretended Tittle Anno 1429. Year of our Lord 1415 The Treaty concerning the Peace and Match between France and England was yet continued and three or four solemn Embassies were sent on either side They offer'd the King of England Eight hundred thousand Florins of Gold and to give up to him fifteen Cities in Guyenne and all Limosin as a Portion for the Lady Catharine He seemed to give ear to these Propositions yet demanded every day some new thing to hinder the concluding of it His design was to fall upon France his Subjects desired it with so much passion that the whole Kingdom would have risen against him if he had not satisfi'd their longing It was suspected likewise that he was encouraged to it by the instigation and correspondence of some Traytors at least he was assured he should have but half the French to deal with it being impossible for the two Houses of Orleans and Burgundy ever to be
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
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
Protestants and did not fully satisfie the Catholicks The Nuncio who knew not the intentions of his Master could not keep silence those that were yet tainted with the Leaven of the old League endeavour'd to patch up a new one And it was said the foundations of it were laid at la Flesche For a Woman affirmed she had seen in a house where they kept many Scholars certain Registers in which many had subscribed with Signatures of Blood It is certain that this year there were great numbers of persons imprisoned at Paris and elsewhere for some kind of Conspiracies and that they were released immediately after the death of the Year of our Lord 1610 King none daring or perhaps none desiring to search deeper into so dangerous a Secret It could not but notoriously be known by this time that the King had in hand month April and May. greater Designs than these only concerning the Affairs of Cleves and Juliers for he had above Thirty thousand Foot and Six thousand Horse all select Men marching towards Champagne Lesdiguieres whom he had made Mareschal of France after the Death of d'Ornane had Twelve thousand Foot and Two thousand Horse the Duke of Savoy and the Venetians were to joyn him with Thirty thousand more the Princes of Germany had but few less and the Vnited Provinces upward of Sixteen thousand I do not mention the Sea-forces which with those of Denmark and Sweden would have made up a Fleet of near Six-score Sail all great Ships and well mann'd and provided It was reck'ned this War not including the advance Money and Charges for raising of Men besides the Ammunitions and Artillery would cost the King Twelve hundred and Fifty thousand Crowns per mensem and as much for Payment of the Armies of his Allies viz. The Duke of Savoys the Venetians the Popes the German Princes the Danes the Swedes and the Vnited Provinces and he had wherewithal to maintain these Expences five years together without grinding his People by new Taxes for he had above Forty one Millions of ready Money whereof Two and twenty lay in the Bastille besides his certain Revenue of which there came effectually into his Coffers all Charges defray'd Six Millions yearly Moreover his Super-Intendant in case of necessity promised an Hundred seventy and five more upon Parties extraordinary but which we may well doubt they could never have gotten in without greatly grieving and burthening the Kingdom The House of Austria took no great care to provide themselves against so rude a Shoe which made it be believed they relied upon some strange accident concealed from their Enemies but whereof they held the Instruments and secret Engines in their own disposal which they could let loose to do the certain execution in any case of extremity Many fancied they were in the bosom of France and even hid in the Royal Family A certain Damoiselle named Anne de Comans gave Information of a horrible Conspiracy against the Person of the King After he was dead she persisted in the same discovery and gave her Narrative in Writing but they pretended she was mad and shut her up Whether she were so or not such as did hear and had examin'd her might have left us their opinions but the Juncture of those times and the too great importance of the subject have wholly suppressed many strange things It is most certain that there were more than one single Conspiracy against this good King his Enemies had forged of so many sorts and on so many sides that it was very improbable if not impossible he should escape They looked upon his Death as so certain a thing in Foreign Countries that there came News of it from Spain to France that they Published it in Milan almost a Month before that several Merchants of the Low-Countries writing to their Correspondents in Paris desired to be informed whether the report was true and that on the Eight of the Month May whereas he was killed the Fourteenth a Courrier passed thorow Liege and bawled aloud that he was going to carry the News to the Princes of Germany Was it that they thought to intimidate him therewith and would emply their menaces before they would proceed to the execution Conchine in the mean time and those of his Cabal did incessantly encrease the Queens jealousies and maliciously made her believe that the infinite Love the King had for the Princess might transport him to dangerous Extremities Assuredly a Prince so good and so just could not be capable of it neither did he omit any devoir or tenderness of a Husband to take away all such-like Suspitions He month April and May. left the Regency of the Kingdom to her but because he did but moderate or qualifie it by a Council and such Orders as were necessary the precaution did much displease Conchine who to extend his Authority by enlarging the Queens Power inspired her that it was necessary she should be crowned before the King's departure Already the Forces were marching towards the Frontiers of Champagne the Train of Artillery was gone and they had sent to demand passage of the Arch-Duke thorow his Territories this demand was to be followed close the least demurr would have been prejudicial and besides that Ceremony of a Coronation did not agree well with the great Embarass of present Affairs no more than the Expence which she required could be compatible with the vast Charges necessary Year of our Lord 1610 for so great a War Moreover could the thing in its own Nature have been agreeable to him the obstinate eagerness she pressed him withal must have given him some aversion Nevertheless as he could refuse nothing to importunities when they were very earnest he suffer'd himself to be persuaded to give her this Satisfaction month May. She received it in the Church of Sainct Denis the 12th day of May with the accustomed Ceremonies and a Pomp extraordinary Magnificent himself taking the care to do the Honours and to give the Orders There was some contest between the Ambassadors of Spain and those of Venice who proceeding to blows rather augmented the pleasure of the day than any way less'ned or discomposed it The Count de Soissons being picqu'd upon I know not what Punctilio of Honour touching the Ornaments of his Wives Robes and the Habits of the King 's Natural Children did not appear at this Festival but retired to his house of Blandy an Absence which in few days proved very prejudicial to his Affairs After the Coronation of the Queen her entrance into Paris was appointed for the fifteenth of the Month they caused Portico's to be Erected Triumphant Arches Inscriptions Statues and Scaffolds in those Streets she was to pass thorow and were preparing a stately Treat in the Palais for which reason the Parliament to leave the place at full liberty held their Session in the Augustins The King in the interim overwhelmed with cruel anxiety and a melancholly of which he could not possibly divine
the one lay the Body of a Man and in the other a Womans with a little Child The Inscription bearing the Name of Childeric and some Regal Ornaments which were therein discovered that they were the Tombs of this King and his Queen An Inter-regnum of some Months THis Tragical Death was followed with an Inter-regnum and universal Confusion Year of our Lord 673 and 74. in all three Kingdoms The Dukes that had haled St. Leger out oâ— Luxeu asked him pardon and conducted him to his City of Autun where the Burghers and the Lords of Burgundy made a League to defend him in case they should attempt upon his Life during this Inter-regnum It is credible that amidst these Divisions all the Austrasians or at least part of them by the perswasion of Queen Imnichilda Widow of King Sigebert II. and who had had credit in the Court of King Childeric desiring to have a King that they might not fall under the power of the Neustrians recalled her Son Dagobert whom Grimoald had shaven and banished into Ireland and acknowledged him for King of Austrasia where he Reigned many years Year of our Lord 674 The Lords of Neustria and Burgundy that they might not fall into an Anarchy went and drew forth Thierry from the Monastery of St. Denis where he had time to let his Royal Locks grow again and set him on the Throne giving him for Mayre of the Palace Leudesia or Liuteria the Son of that Erchinoald who had that Office under Clovis II. Thierry I. King XV. POPES ADEODAT S. three years and an half in this Reign DONUS Elected in No. 676. S. one year three months AGATHON Elected in 678. S. three years eight months and half LEO II. Elected in August 683. S. eleven months BENEDICTUS II. Elected in 684. S. eighteen months and half JOHN V. Elected in 685. S. one year CONON Elected in 685. S. one year SERGIUS Elected in Decemb. 687. S. thirteen years eight months and half whereof three years and an half under this Reign LEUDESIA then Ebroin Mayres THIERRY in Neustria and Burgundy Aged 22 or 23 years and DAGOBERT in Austrasia Aged about 15 years EBroin having quitted the Monastery of Luxeu after he had wandred a while with a small Band of Men grew so Confident as to throw off his Clerical Habit which was in those times esteemed a most horrid thing though a Man had even been compelled to put it on His design was to seize upon the Government again to this end he got together all such as were banished and such as were Enemies to Leger whose opposition he most feared and made a League with Wlfoad Mayer of Austrasia who mortally hated the Holy Bishop With this Crew of Rascally Villains and Austrasians he takes the Field and in Year of our Lord 674 an instant falls into Neustria to surprize Thierry and Leudesia his Mayre The first was passing his time at Nogent in the Country of Laonnois and the other was in a Palace on this side the Oise His Enterprize having failed him because they got away with all speed he applies himself to fraud and having under colour of an Accommodation engaged Leudesia to come to a Conference he laid an Ambuscade for him by the way where he was Assassinated All this notwithstanding did not restore him to the Office of Mayre King Thierry Year of our Lord 675 and 76. hating him the more it was not likely he would admit him He bethinks himself therefore when he was returned to Austrasia as he was advised by two evil Bishops who had been Deposed Didon-Desiree of Chaalons and Robon of Valence to spread the Report abroad that Thierry was dead and to impose a false or pretended Clovis whom he said was Son to Clotaire III. This Statue being set up he forces the People to take an Oath of Fidelity to him and ruines all those Countries that refused so to do But principally he Assaults Leger in Autun by Vaimer Duke of Champagne who Year of our Lord 676 was accompanied by the two wicked Bishops He believed with much reason that this was the most stout Opposer of his Tyranny and that having vanquish'd him he should easily overcome all the others The City being besieged and in danger to be forced this good Prelat could not be persuaded to betray that Faith he owed the King and on the other side would not expose his Flock for whom a good Shepherd ought to expose his Life He therefore went voluntarily out of Autun after he had broken all his Silver Plate to give to the Poor and delivers himself to Vaimer That wicked Man caused his Eyes to be plucked out and shut him up in a Monastery In Recompence for so good a piece of Service Ebroin instals him in the Bishoprick of Troyes by fraud and violence and Didon invaded that of Autun but both the one and the other perished soon after by the same Tyranny of which they were the Ministers Immediately after this the Grandees of Neustria and Burgundy as if they had left their hearts by the imprisonment of Leger who indeed was the greatest Genius of that Court accepted Ebroin for Mayre of Thierry 's Palace and then he having no more need of his false Clovis took off his Vizard and returned him to a private Condition Being in this high Power his Tyranny had no bounds he sacrificed all that had opposed him to his Revenge and to his Covetousness those that possessed fair Estates or great Employments but all under the pretence of some imputed Crime which deprived them of their Honour before he robb'd them of their Lives The most wary saved themselves in time some in Aquitain others in the utmost skirts of Austrasia Year of our Lord 678 That he might have a specious Pretence to extend his Cruelty as far as he pleased he set himself upon a discovery of all those that had any hand in the Death of Childeric for which it was well known he rejoyced more than the Actors themselves He failed not to bring in and involve Leger and the Count Guerin his Brother These two Lords being brought before him he caused the latter to be Stoned to death at a Stake and the other to have the Soles of his Feet torn out and his Lips cut off then put him into the Custody of one of his Sattelites who kept him near two years in the Monastery of Fescamp The most part of the Bishops flattered him in his Injustice because they either dreaded him or had some interest in it Dadon himself otherwise Ouin Bishop of Rouen and one that has a Place in the Kalender of Saints was his Friend and one of his principal Counsellors This Man clapt St. Filibert Abbot of Jemieges in Prison for having made some Remonstrances to the Tyrant And afterwards perceiving that such Violence was too odious in the Eyes of honest People he banished him to Aquitain under colour of building a Monastery in the Isle of Herio Indeed he
ready to march in he was obliged to recall it because of the Death of Childebert The last of this Kings days was the 15th of April Anno 711. He was Aged about Year of our Lord 711 Twenty eight years and had enjoyed the Title of King Sixteen or seventeen years He was buried at the Church of St. Stephens at Coucy Though he had not the opportunity of doing any Act himself being as it were Tethered by the Authority of Pepin nevertheless they gave him the name of Just rather to distinguish him from the other Childebert then because he deserved it Some give him two Sons Dagobert and Childeric The first Reigned the other was bred up to Learning or clerkship and surnamed Daniel There are those that will make him to be the Son of Thierry the First The Piety of Gontran the Mildness and Justice of Clotaire and the Tranquillity of his Reign after the death of Brunehaud turned the genious of the French already very Devout to be highly Religious and inclined them more generally to Reverence holy things and such as they believed to have a more frequent Communication with Heaven The Kings and Grandees outvied each other who should bestow most Gifts upon the Churches They deposited in those sacred Treasuries even to their very Girdles their Belts their Precious Vessels their Apparel when they were rich and set with precious Stones or Embroidered their Houshold Furniture and any other Rarities which were more for Ornament then use It was then who should build most Churches and Hospitals and who should found the noblest Monasteries The Kings strove to exempt such as they founded from all Temporal Jurisdiction and Charges and to ascertain the full and free Possession of all what they bestowed And therefore because of the assumed power the Bishops had to lay hands on all those Goods and that they disposed of the Donations and Offerings which were made to any of the Churches within their Diocess and for that besides they took some certain Duties for Blessing the Chrisome for the Consecration of Altars for their Visiting and sometimes for Ordinations they obliged them to free them from all such Impositions and even not to meddle with any Monastery but to leave the Correction and Government of the Monks to the Abbot excepting in case he had not power enough to compel Obedience and withall to confer the Sacred Orders to such Monks as should be presented without exacting any thing The Princes on their part did likewise freely bestow many the like Immanities which exempted them as well from Contribution for their Lands and from all Imposts on their Goods as from New-years-Gifts Lodging and Expence of Judges which they claimed from all other People wherever they went to hold their Courts Now these Exemptions were agreed to by the Diocesan but with the consent of his Brethren of the Clergy That of St. Denis the oldest now remaining was conceded by Landry of Paris upon the intreaty of King Clovis II. Anno 659. in the Assembly of Clichy it containeth many more things then the Protocole or Deed of Marculfe That of Corbie was given by Bertefoy of Amiens Anno 664. at the request of Queen Batilda It makes mention that there had been the like heretofore granted to the Monasteries of Agaune and Lerins and Leuxeu Pope Adeodat in the year 672. confirmed that which had been granted to St. Martins at Tours saying That divers others in France had obtained the like without which he would not have given his consent it being contrary to the Canons There was the like granted to Fontenels by Ansbert of Rouen in a Council which he called for that purpose in that City 682. In fine there were few great Abbies that did not obtain the like and ever the last gained something more and enlarged themselves as I may say to the prejudice and cost of the Hierarchy who lent them her Authority to destroy her self and them likewise since the Perfection of a good and holy Monk consists in Obedience and Humility I hardly find any Age wherein the heat for a Monastick Life reigned so greatly as in this Such as were prompted with that Spirit went from one Country to another wandring in every corner to seek out Forests and Mountains which were the more and sooner peopled by how much they were the more solitary and melancholly Ireland Scotland and England sent great numbers of these good Monks into France Colombanus the most renowned of all Irish by Birth having been very well received by King Gontran then by Childebert built the famous Monastery of Luxeu in the Mountain of Vosge His Reputation spreading over the three Nations drew thither a vast number of People and the Sentence of the Council of Mascon in the year 627. who undertook the defence of this Institute against the Monk Agrestin who would oppose him gave him such a Vogue that it spread all over France going an equal pace with St. Bennets and producing most eminent Servants to God as Emery Deile Eustasius and Gal Disciples of Colombanus Eustasius was Abbot of Luxeu and Gal who was likewise an Irishman went and built a Monastery in the Country of the Swissers about which was afterwards raised the City of St. Gall. St. Vandrille built one in the Diocess of Rouen at that place called Fontenelle St. Riquier one in Vimieu St. Vallery and St. Josse two others in the Diocess of Amiens upon the Sea-coast This St. Josse was younger Brother of Judicael King of Bretagne and had for Brother Vinok and two more who all chose to lead the same Life St. Ghislain one in Haynault Romaric one for Nuns in the Vosge in the place where stood his Castle of Romberg St. Tron one in the Country of Liege St. Bavon one at Ghent St. Goar one on the River Woker near the Rhine All these Monasteries to this very day bear the names of these Saints The Princes or Grandees gave them Ground whereon to build them together with the assistance of devout People and sometimes some of them did build at their own Charge and Expence Sigebert King of Austrasia erected twelve A Lord named Bobelen four in the neighbourhood of Bourges Clovis II. or rather an Archdeacon of Paris St. Maur des Fossez The Queen Batilda two very famous ones viz. Corbie for Men and Chelles for Women King Thierry St. Vaast of Arras as an Expiation for having consented to the death of St Leger St. Ouin or Owen filled his Diocess with a great number the most illustrious of them are Fontenelle Fescamp and Gemieges This last as likewise that of Noir-moustier in an Island of Poitou was the work or production of the care of that Philebert whom we have mentioned St. Eloy amongst many others built one at Solongnac in Limousin and one for Virgins at Paris of which St. Aura was the Abbess At this time it is the Church of St. Eloy before the Palace inhabited
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
958. not without suspition of poyson and thus left his Conquest imperfect Year of our Lord 958 Now the complaints of the Lords and Prelats and the earnest entreaty of the Pope pressing King Otho he resolved to go himself after he had Crowned his Son Otho II. at Aix la Chapelle though he were but seven years of Age. Upon his Arrival in Italy Berenger his Son and his Wife abandoned the Cities and Country and retired each of them into a strong Fort. Otho was there received with universal applause recovered Pavia was Crowned King of Lombardy at Milan by the Arch-Bishop and thence marched to Rome where he received the Imperial Crown upon Christmass-day by the hands of John XII who had been put into the Holy Chair by the Credit and Money of his Father Alberic before Year of our Lord 960. 961. 962. the Age of 18 years This Alberic was the Son of Marosia who had chaced King Hugh from Rome after which he had changed the Government there and made himself Consul that he might command in Chief with a Prefect and some Tribuns Year of our Lord 963 Now the young Pope who had earnestly desired Otho to come quickly changed his mind and recalled Berenger to Rome as soon as Otho was gone from thence to reduce the rest of those places which that Tyrant still held Otho being informed of this odd fantastical news did not give over his Conquests then when he thought it seasonable to return to Rome he led his Army thither The young Pope being fled with Berenger and the Treasure of the Church he caused his Process to be made not for his Intrusion but for Murther Sacriledge Adultery Incest Simony and other enormous crimes For this end he Assembled a Council John was cited before them in due form and not appearing they deposed him and in his place put Leo who was the VIII of that name Year of our Lord 963 This Pope to avoid the trouble the Cabals caused in Elections gave the Emperor Otho the power thenceforward to Elect the Popes and Bishops and to give him Investiture The Ecclesiastical History does likewise observe that this John XII was called Octavian before his Election and that he was the first Pope that changed his name Whilst Otho was passing the Christmass Holy-days at Rome with the new Pope having quartred his Army out of the City the Faction and money of John the deposed Pope made the Romans rise to Attaque him Treacherously he had notice of it time enough to prevent surprize put himself in the head of his Army Year of our Lord 965 and came boldly to them They were afraid and coming to a composition with him gave several Hostages He delivered them up again some few days after upon the entreaties of Leo but no sooner was he gone to besiege Camerin but they revolted drove out Leo and received John in their City where he exercised most revengeful cruelty upon Leo's Friends He had continued it to the end had he not been killed in the very act of enjoying a Woman After his death the Romans persisting in their Rebellion Elected the Arch Deacon Bennet Immediately Otho returns again reduces Rome to a Famine compels Bennet to ask pardon in the Synod of Bishops and causing him to be degraded of his Priest-hood sent him Prisoner into Germany where about a year after he died at Hamburgh Some months thence believing Italy might remain in Peace because he had taken Berenger and confined him to Bamberg in Germany he returned home and marched his Army with him After his departure some Lombard Counts revolted having Adelbert and Guy the Sons of Berenger at their head But Duke Burchard whom he sent back overthrew them in a great Battel which was fought on the Banks of the Po. Guy the most mischievous of them all was left dead upon the place and Adelbert escaped with much ado This last having gathered some Forces together hazards another Battel An. 968 ☞ which loosing he died with grief And thus with him ended the second Kingdom of Italy or if you will it passed over the German Princes who let it moulder away and come to nothing After Pope Leo VIII was dead and that John XIII had been set in the Chair with the consent of Otho on whom Leo had bestowed the power of Confirming the Election of Popes the Prefect Consuls Tribuns and other Magistrates of the City of Rome displeased that Otho had greatly limited their power which before led all Italy as they pleased they put this Pope in Prison then turned him out of Rome calling to their aid Rofroy Count of Campania The Pope retires to Pandolfus Prince of Capoua who restored him and John his Brother slew Rofroy In recompence the Pope erects an Arch-Bishoprick at Capoua Year of our Lord 966 and bestowed it on the murtherer of his Enemy But Otho desiring to remedy things once for all by suppressing these Rebellions returns to Italy where he setled his Authority by severe punishments by rewarding Year of our Lord 966. and 967. of friends by creating new Counts by good and wholesome Laws and in fine by the conquest of Calabria and Puglia which he wrested from the Grecian Empire who had kept them hitherto Year of our Lord 968 And to compleat all he Crowned his Son Otho at Milan by the hands of the Pope and joyned him in the Empire This young Prince three years after that is to say in An. 971. Married Teophania or Tifaine Daughter of the Emperor Nicephorus who was then dead Thus Otho but little inferior to Charlemaine raised the Western Empire the ☞ Title thereof ever since that time remaining as it were annexed to Germany with pretences much more great and extensive then their Forces We shall henceforth speak no more of the affairs of Italy and little of Germany unless where things do joyntly relate to the French Year of our Lord 962 During these Transactions in Italy divers quarrels were troublesome to France the two greatest were that about the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims and the hatred of the Counts Thibauld de Chartres and Arnold of Flanders against the Normans The first might have been ended by restoring Hugh of Vermandois to his Dignity in Reims Artold the Arch-Bishop being dead An. 962. if the Queen could have suffer'd it But far from giving her assent she so brought it about that the Council of Soissons refer'd it to the Pope who declared him Excommunicated Year of our Lord 963 The Brethren of this Hugh furiously Animated against Guibuin Bishop of Chaalons who in that Assembly had proved thechief obstacle against his restoration Burnt the City Year of our Lord 964. and 65. The Earl of Chartres was supported by the King against the Normans because he was joyned both by alliance and affection to the Interest of the Sons of Hugh the Great He lost a Battel in Normandy for which he received satisfaction by the conquest of Evreux which the King put
had taken all the pains imaginable to find out some way to reconcile the two Parties perceiving as little faith on the one side as the other he retir'd into his own Country and renewed his ancient Alliance with the English only for his Year of our Lord 1418 defence When now he thought himself out of all trouble he found himself fallen into the greatest Peril Marguerit de Clisson Widow of John de Blois Earl of Pointieurs a Woman ambitious even to the highest Crimes never left provoking her Sons she had four in all to seize upon the Person of the Duke that they might enter upon the Dutchy of Bretagne which she told them was their Inheritance The Dauphins Council offended because the Breton did not Arm himself against the English Treated underhand with these Brothers and gave them Letters and Orders to prosecute their design To effect this they made use of all sorts of means to get into the Dukes favour went to visit him at Nantes gained great Credit with him by their Respect and Complaisance in fine engage him to go and divert himself at their House of Chuntoceaux in Anjou upon the Second of February Going thither with his Brother Richard unarmed and with little Company as being unwilling to give them too great trouble Oliver the eldest of the four causes him to be set upon and taken by forty Horsemen well armed who carried them away bound Legs and Arms to the Castle of Paluan in Poitou From thence they were removed from place to place all the year round causing divers reports to be spread sometimes that they died in despair at other times that they were drowned and lastly that for a Pennance they were both gone on Pilgrimage to Jerusalem there to end their days They had made account that if they could but once catch these two Brothers they should find strength and friends enough to get themselves into possession of the Dutchy but the Act was so base that even their most devoted friends were ashamed Year of our Lord 1419 to own it All Bretagne moved with the horror of the Fact and the lamentations of the sorrowful Dutchess took up Arms and sent her above Fifty thousand Men to recover her Husband In the absence of Arthur Earl of Richmond whom the English would not set at liberty the Bretons chose Commanders of their own Nobility to lead them Chantoceaux was besieged The Duke was not then there as they had hoped but Marguerit de Clisson and one of her Sons were in it The breach being made this Womans heart failed fear seized upon her Spirits she dispatches Messenger after Messenger to her Son Oliver to intreat him if he would ever see her again alive to release the Duke The Dukes Head was a pawn sufficient enough to answer for his Mothers notwithstanding he was so weak as to let him go But he had beforehand made him sign to what Articles he would The Estates of the Country never regarded them the four Brothers were brought to their Trial who were condemned to die their Houses razed their Lands confiscated and given to great Men that so they might never be recover'd again Year of our Lord 1419 During these Brouilleries King Henry had laid Siege to Rouen from the Month of June The importance of that City and the constant fidelity of her Burghers deserved some care should be taken to relieve them They first endeavour'd it by treating with the King of England concerning the Marriage with Catharine of France by the Mediation of the Popes Legats who for that purpose carried the Picture of that beautiful Princess to him Then that Project having failed he making too high demands they got some Forces together and carried the King as far as Beauvais but they were found too weak to attempt its relief The Besieged being in the greatest extremity make their address to the Dauphin this was the fairest Jewel of the Crown which was so near being lost he took no care for it considering the place as rather belonging to the Duke of Burgundy then to France What Miseries did they not undergo Thirty thousand died of Famine hunger forced them to eat their very Bed-straw and all the Leather they could come at The King of England refusing to receive them on any other terms then at discretion they undermined five hundred Rod of their Walls and in their extremity resolved to set fire on the Timbers that propt it and then sally out of the breach both Men and Women and take their fortune either in Death or Victory This desperate Resolution gave the King some apprehension he allows them tolerable Conditions and was contented with the payment of three hundred thousand Gold Crowns and three of their Chiefs whom he should name of those one called Blanchard lost his Head Upon these Conditions he confirmed all their Priviledges He made his entry the nineteenth Year of our Lord 1419 of January The taking of this City brought in all the rest of Normandy and that Province for some few years returned to the obedience of the English from whom it had been conquer'd two hundred and fifteen years past by King Philip Augustus They did notwithstanding negotiate between the two Kings and at the same time between the two Parties of Armagnacs and Burgundians A Truce for three Months Year of our Lord 1419 was agreed upon between the two Crowns after which there was to be an Interview near Melun to conclude on the Peace and Marriage Men of most Judgment foreseeing France must be ruined if it came to that never left off till they had made Truce betwixt the two Factions The Dauphin would have had it for three years the Burgundian for two Months only his aim was that if within that time he could make a full and perfect agreement with the Dauphin they might with their united Forces fall both joyntly upon the English when the Truce expired if not he would make a Peace with them that he might be the more enabled to quell the Dauphinois The first not succeeding well he comes back to Treat with the English To this purpose there was an Interview between both Kings in a Park prepared for it near Melun in the midst whereof they had pitched a Tent for the Conference The King of France being fallen ill at Paris the Queen supplied his place and carried thither but only the first time Madam Catharine whom the King of England sought in Marriage They met in this Tent frequently almost three weeks together the King of England coming from Mantes and the Queen from Pontoise where they were lodged The Dauphins Council knowing what they treated on sought to the Burgundian for an Accommodation and flattered him with a perfect Reconciliation The Duke did ardently desire it and therefore being pleased with that hopes he stood on higher terms with the English and would scare condescend to any thing that he demanded Thus they began to shew some coldness and then were picqued
persuaded the King to discharge the Constable and on her own score reproach'd him for having said That of all the Children which King Henry had there was none resembled him but a natural Daughter of his She desired also that the Cardinal de Tournon night be recalled because She would make use of his Counsel which she thought would be the more sincere he being engaged to neither party The Guises agreed to it and indeed it would have been difficult for them to hinder it besides they believed they might be confident of him he being a capital enemy to the Constable The King of Navarre crawled along by easie journeys and made a halt at Vendosme The Princes of Condé and de la Roche Sur-Yon went even to that place to sollicite him to come to Court He came at length but too late the Guises had taken care he should be ill received they did not assign him Lodgings suitable to his Quality he must have laid on the Floor had not the Mareschal de Saint André lent him his and as soon as ever the King saw him he told him he had given the administration to his Uncles de Guise Notwithstanding all this unworthy treatment his friends exhorted him to stand his Ground the Guises bethought them of a Stratagem to make him quit the Spot They read before him in full Council some Letters from the King of Spain of whom the Queen had demanded assistance against the Factious wherewith she was threatned The Letters imported that in case there should be any found so audacious as to controll the Government the King had established he offer'd his whole power to chastise them The Navarrois easily apprehended that this might be a plausible colour and pretence for him to invade his Country of Navarre and was councell'd to go back with all possible speed to put things in good order but that he might leave the Court with some kind of reputation he got the Commission to conduct the new Queen of Spain to the Frontiers He went not however till after the Kings Coronation This Ceremony was performed the one and twentieth of September with great Pomp in the City of Reims by the Ministery of the Cardinal de Lorrain who was Archbishop thereof At their departure from thence he conducted the Queen to Navarre being accompanied by the Cardinal de Bourbon and the Prince de la Roche Sur-Yon He delivered her up to King Philips Deputies those were the Cardinal de Burgos and his Brother the Duke de l'Infantado and because it was said she should be conducted into the Territories of Spain and yet the delivery of her was at Roncevaux which is within the limits of Navarre he drew up a Protestation that it might be no prejudice to him and that from thence they might not make it a consequence that the Kingdom of Navarre was a Province dependant on Spain After this the Spaniards in recompence for his pains and care gave him fair but empty hopes to do him right concerning his Kingdom He nibled at this Bait and the Queen-Mother amused and tempted him with it as long as he lived In the preceding Month of August King Philip had left the Low-Countries and was gone into Spain by Sea where he chose his residence for all the rest of his life His Father had tenderly cherished the Flemmings and had most happily made use both of their Councils and Arms but he being bred in the imperious Air of Spain could not agree with a people that were free and such as could prodigally expose both their lives and fortunes for their Princes service but yet would not suffer themselves to be robbed of them He left as Governess over them Margaret his natural Sister Wife of Octavian Duke of Parma with whom was joyned as chief Counsellor Anthony Perenot de Year of our Lord 1559 Granvelle a Cardinal originally a Franc-Comtois but haughty and arrogant as a Spaniard At his Arrival in Spain he caused a great many to be burnt in his own presence at Seville and Valladolid of those they call Lutherans both Men and Women Gentlemen and Ecclesiastiques as likewise the Effigies or Fantosme of Constance Ponce Confessor to Charles V. who attended that Emperor till his death We must not wonder that he scrupled no more the defaming of his Fathers Memory since if we will believe some he would have made his process too and have burnt his bones for the Crime of Heresie nothing hindring him from it but this consideration that if his Father were an Heretick he had forfeited * his Estates and by consequence had no right to resign them to his Son Some weeks before the departure of the Navarrois there were two Edicts made one of them to forbid the wearing of any Fire-Arms or even long Cloaks or large Breeches that might conceal them The second revoked all alienations of the Demeasnes Both the one and the other were made at the desire of the Guises the first for the security of their Persons the second that they might prejudice or gratisie whom they pleas'd And indeed they gained many of the great ones by this means as they likewise made themselves many creatures by the creation of Eighteen Knights of the Order of Saint Michael Which so debased and vllified that Order formerly preserved with great care by the Kings of France that it was in raillery called the Coller for every Beast With the same design and that they might have Governments and Offices enough for themselves and for their friends they obliged the King to declare that he would suffer none hereafter to hold two at one time The Admiral had the Government of the Isle of France and that of Picardy he resigned the latter very chearfully believing they would bestow it on the Prince of Condé but the Guises disposed of it in favour of Brissac whom they intended to bind to their own Party The Constable endured a pulling by the Ears before he would lay down his Office of Grand Maistre of the Kings Houshold when he perceived that after fair warning they were going to use force he surrendred it to the King who conferr'd it upon the Duke of Guise All he could do was to obtain an Office of Mareschal of France which was created extraordinary for Francis his eldest Son After the Coronation they carried the King to Bar. The Duke of Lorrain his Brother in Law being come to salute him there he by Letters Patents renounced the Soveraignty he had of Barrois in favour of that Prince The Novelty and pretence of a Reformation in an Age that so much wanted it opened the hearts of the French to the new Religion and on the other hand the necessity there was to pluck up this Darnel and the like Weeds furnish'd those that governed with a fair occasion and opportunity to make themselves formidable even to the most innocent who in such junctures fear lest they should be look'd upon as Hereticks how little soever tainted The
Visigoths 22 He and his Brother Clotair make themselves Masters of the Kingdom of Burgundy ib. Inhumanely Massacre two of their Nephews ib. Makes War upon Clotair his Brother 24 He and his Brother Clotair pass the Pyreneans and ravage all the Country of Arragon His death his Wife and his Children 27 Childebert II. of that name King of Austrasia 32 Adopted by Goutran his Uncle 33 Makes a League with Chilperic against him and falls upon his Country 34 Reconciliation with Goutran 38 Carries his Forces into Italy against the Lombards 39 Gives examples of severity 40 His death his Children 41 Childebert II. called the Young King of France 72 His death his Children 73 Childebrand Son of Pepin 78 Childebrand King of the Lombards 91 Childerick fourth King of France 12 Degraded of his Royalty and chaced out of France and another elected in his stead ib. Is recalled by his Subjects his Warlike Exploits his death his Children ib. Childeric King of Austrasia 62 Becomes sole King of France 64 Plunges into the Debaucheries of Wine and Women 65 Persecutes St. Leger ib. Becomes a Tyrant his unhappy end ib. Chilperic II. King of Neustria with Rainfroy his Mayor 64 65 Chilperic alone King of France with Mariel his Maire 80 His death ib. Childeric III. King of France 86 Is degraded and made a Monk 87 88 Chilperic King of Soissons falls upon the Territories of his Brother Sigebert 29 Too great Licence in his Marriage 30 Makes War against Sigebert and causes him to be assassinated 32 Seizes on the Kingdom of Paris ib. Surcharges his People with Imposts 34 Assassinated at Chelles in Brie 36 Clement IV. Pope his rare modesty 310 Confirms the election of Charles of France for the Kingdom of Sicilia Clement elected Pope is Crowned at Lyons 332 His death 336 Clodion the Hairy second King of France 8 His Conquests in Gaul ib. His death his Children 9 Clodomir King of Orleans 20 Barbarous cruelty his unhappy end 21 His Children ib. Clotaire seizes on the Kingdom of Mets after the death of Theobalde his Nephew 26 Ranges the revolted Saxons to reason ib. Succeeds in the Estates of his Brother Childebert to the prejudice of his two Nices Daughters of the defunct 27 Cruelty more then barbarous towards his Son Chramue 28 His death his Wives and Children ib. Clotaire II. of that name King of Neustria 37 Remains sole King of all France 45 Set himself to regulate his State and restore Justice and good order ib. His death his Wives and Children 47 Count of Flanders makes a League with the English and draws the War upon his own Country 326 Is held Prisoner in Paris 327 Clotaire III. King of Neustria and Burgundy 62 His death 63 Clotaire King of Austrasia 79 His death 80 Clovis V. King of France succeeded to his Fathers Crown and makes great Conquests 14 Marries Clotilda ib. Defeats and subdues the Almains ib. His Conversion to the Christian Religion and his Baptism 15 Makes War upon the Burgundians 16 17 Reforms the Salique Law 16 Makes War against the Visigoths ib. Rids his hands of the other petty French Kings of his Relations 17 His death his Children ib. Clovis Son of Chilperic his unfortunate end by the wickedness of Fredegonda his Mother in Law 34 Clovis second King of Neustria and Burgundy takes away the Silver Ornaments of St. Denis Church to feed the Poor during a Famine accused for having taken an Arm of St. Denis to keep in his Oratory 59 His death his Wife his Children 60 Clovis III. King of Neustria and Burgundy 71 His death ib. Clugny Abby its beginning 205 Loses its Reputation Colledge of Navarre its Reputation 331 Combats of Wild-Beasts practised under our first Kings of France 90 Comedians Jugglers Buffoons c. banished the Court of France 253 Comet in the Sign of Sagitarius In the Sign of Virgo In the Sign of Scorpio 201 Comet seen in the year 1264. Comet in the year 1301. Of the Earldom of Holland 140 Earls of Anjou their Original 149 Conan Duke of Bretagne his death 221 Conan the Fat Duke of Bretagne 237 Conan III. Duke of Bretagne 245 Canon the Little Duke of Bretagne his death 249 Councils necessary to preserve the purity of the Faith and the Ecclesiastical Discipline 4 The first Councils that were held and Celebrated in Gall. 4 5 Councils held in Gall during the fifth and sixth Ages 18 19 Councils Convocated in France during the Seventh Age. 75 Council of Francfort against the Heresie of Felix d'Vrgel 104 Councils held in France during the Eight Century 114 Council of Lateran 141 Council of French Bishops at Mets. ib. Council of Attigny 143 Council of Savomeres Council of Poutigon 145 Council of Tribur 160 Councils Celebrated in France during the Ninth Age. 171 c. Council of French Bishops at Mets. 141 Council general of the Bishops of Gall and Germany at Ingelheim 180 Council of Reims 203 Councils held in France during the Tenth Age. 206 Councils Provincial annulled by the Popes 230 Councils assembled in France during the Eleventh Century 232 Council National at Chartres 243 Councils of Spain lay the first foundations of the Authority of the Popes 290 Council of Lyons where the Emperor Frederic is Excommunicated and degraded of the Empire 303 Council of Lyons the Pope presiding there in Person 316 Council general assigned at Vienne in Daufine 235 Councils of the Gallican Church during the Twelfth Age. 289 Such as were held by Order of the King 290 Councils of the Gallican Church lose their Authority 289 Councils of France of the Twelfth Age whereat the Popes assisted ib. Councils held in France during the Thirteenth Age for the extirpation of Hereticks 337 Confession publick at the point of death 287 Confession Auricular 287 Conrar Duke of Wormes raised to the Empire 217 Conrad King of Germany his death 163 Conrad Duke of Lorraine obstinately Rebellious 181 Conrad King of Burgundy his death Conrade the Emperor takes the Cross on him and goes into the Holy Land 244 His return into Italy 245 His death 246 Conrade Son of the Emperor Frederic 306 Passes into Italy causes his Nephew Frederic to be Strangled and seizes upon Sicilia 307 His death ib. Conradin ib. Descends into Italy with a great Army for the recovery of Sicilia his unfortunate end 311 Conspiracy of the Romans against Pope Leo. 121 Of Bernard King of Italy against his Uncle Lewis the Debonaire 122 Conspiracy and horrible Treason of the Neustrians against their King Charles 139 Other Treachery of the same in favour of the same Prince ib. Conspiracy against Charles the Bald. 146 Conspiracy of the Italians against their King Berenger 185 Constance Wife of King Robert proud capricious and insupportable 211 212 Constance of Sicilia Marries the Emperor Henry IV. 246 Constance Elizabeth second Wife of King Lewis the Young 16 Constantine Copronymus endeavours to recover the Exarchat by means of the French Constantinople besieged and forced by
of Bretagne though promised in Marriage to the Arch-Duke Maximilian she afterwards espouses the King of France 515 Anne Queen of France Wife of Lewis XII her death 554 Anne of Bolen Marries the King of England Henry VIII 591 Beheaded 605 d'Annebaut Mareschal of France 607 d'Annebaut Admiral goes to seek out the English upon their own Coasts 619 Anthony Duke of Brabant 420 Anthony Duke of Lorraine his death and his Children 618 Anthony de Bourbon King of Navarre 642 d'Aramon Ambassador of France to the Great Solyman Sultan of the Turks 629 Archambaud de Grailli Captal de Buch gets into possession of the County of Foix by the Sword 418 d'Armagnac the Count shamefully treated by the Count de Foix. 394 Passes into Lombardy against the Vicount John Galeas 413 Renders himself absolute in the Government of the Kingdom 433 Is held Prisoner at Paris 435 Those of his Faction pillaged and ill treated is restored to his Goods and Offices 494 His death ib. c. d'Armagnac James Duke of Nemours Beheaded 500 d'Armagnac the Bastard 484 Arming a dreadful Navy prepared against England without Success 409 Army Naval against the English 619 Arnaud de Corbie Connestable 428 d'Arras the Cardinal Commands the Kings Army 495 d'Ars Lewis a brave Soldier 541 Artewelle James dextrous undertaking and politick 362 His unhappy end 365 Assembly of the Clergy upon the complaint of the Kings Judges 358 Another at Paris for the defence of Pope John XXII 359 Assembly of the Estates general of France 379 Assembly of the Notables at Paris 428 Assembly of the Notables at Orleans 434 Assembly of the Grandees of the Kingdom at Tours 483 Assembly of the Estates general at Tours against Monsieur the Kings only Brother and against the Duke of Bretagne 489 Assembly of the three Estates upon the Subject of the deliverance of the Children of France Prisoners in Spain 587 Assembly of Ausburgh 593 Avarice of the Captains and Chief Commanders of the Army 's 565 d'Auberticourt Captain Ravages Picardy 379 d'Aubigni 518 c. Commands the Army of King Lewis XII in the Conquest of the Kingdom of Navarre 536 Avignon rendred to the Pope 367 d'Aumale Duke commanded to punish the Seditious in Guienne 627 Austria Erected to an Arch-Dutchy 513 B BAjazeth defeates the Christians in Hungary 417 Is himself defeated and taken Prisoner by Tamberland ib. c. John Baillet Treasurer of France Massacred 377 Balue the Cardinal Legate in France insolent arrogance 491 Betrayes King Lewis XI ib. Is held Prisoner Banquiers and Datary of the Court of Rome great abuses 629 Bar de Philip goes into Hungary against the Turks 418 His death 433 Barbazan a great Captain 453 Barbarossa falls upon the Island of Corfu and destroys the open Country 606 Comes upon the Coasts of Provence 615 Battle famous of Mont-castle in Flanders 358 Battle of Caen. 366 371 Battle of Poitiers between the French and the English glorious to the latter 374 Battle of Brignais 381 Battle of Azincourt 432 Battle of Varnes in Hungary 460 Battle of Fourmigni 463 Battle of Montleherry betwixt King Lewis XI and the Count de Charolois 485 Battle of Granson between the Burgundians and the Swiss 499 Battle of Montguion in Burgundy 501 Battle of Fornoue 522 Battle of Seminare in Calabria between the French and the Spaniards 538 Battle of Aignadel 545 Battle of Orange in Bretagne 513 Battle of Cerignoles in Puglia between the French and the Spaniards 538 Battle of Ravenna 550 Battle of Novarre 553 Battle of Guinegaste ib. Battle of Saint Quintins otherwise of Saint Laurence fatal to France 647 Battle of Mulberg where the Protestant Princes of Germany were vanquished 625 Battle of Cerizolles to the advantage of the French 616 Battle of Marcian to the disadvantage of the French 639 Bavaria Lewis Emperour treats the Pope ill his ill Conduct 359 Robert of Bavaria and Count Palatine is elected Palatine 418 Beauvais Besieged by the Duke of Burgundy and generously defended by the Women as well as by the Men. 494 Belgrade gained by the Turks 572 Bennet XII Pope 361 His Death 364 Bennet XIII Pope of Avignon 424 His Death 432 Betford or Bedford Duke Regent of the Kingdom of France 440 Blois Charles de vanquished in the Battle of Auvray loses the Day the Dutchy and his Life 385 Boniface IX elected Pope of Avignon 414 Caesar Borgia Duke of Valentinois Marries Charlote d'Albret 533 His unhappy End 541 Bourbon James Earl de la Marche 381 Bourgogne Dutchy united inseparably to the Crown ib. The said re-union annulled in favour of Philip the Hardy to whom the said Dutchy was given 382 The E. of Buckingham Lands at Calais with a Potent Army and Marches into Bretagne 402 John II. Duke of Bretagne without Children provides for the Preservation of the Dutchy 361 Bretagne in great Trouble after the Death of Duke John II. 363 c. Subjected to the Obedience of the King 392 In Troubles 511 United to the Crown 594 Bretons disjoyn from the French and recall their Duke refugiated in England 397 Contend with each other about the Marriage of their Princess Anne 514 Brunswick Duke Henry elected Emperour 418 Bull of Pope Julius exposing the Kingdom of Navarre as a Prey to the first Occupier 544 Bull Golden Bull. 373 Bureau de la Riuiere favorite of Charles VI. Bures Governor for the King beyond the Alpes 572 Bussy d'Amboise slain in the Battle of Marignan 559 C CAen the Castle taken and retaken in one Night 373 Calais besieged in vain upon the English 456 Calvin his Birth and the establishment of his Sect. 597 Cambray taken by Intelligence with the Emperour 551 Captains and Generals of Armies The Checks they receive is many times caused by the malice of those who are of the King's Councils 450 Cardinals in great Numbers in France 625 Cartels or Challenges of Defiance between the Kings of England and France to the Emperour 588 Castille falls under the Dominion of Philip Archduke of Austria 542 Chairadin Barbarossa ravages the Coasts of Naples and Sicilia 600 Is beaten by Sea and Land by the Emperour Charles V. ib. Charles of Bohemia elected Emperour 367 Charles King of Navarre being discontented retires from Court 372 Charles IV. Emperour Crowned in Rome 373 Charles V. Surnamed the Wise King of France 384 Makes a memorable Ordonance for the Majority of Kings at Fourteen years 393 His Death and his Elogy 398 His Wife and his Children 399 Charles the Wicked King of Navarre his unhappy end 410 Charles the Noble King of Navarre ib. Charles VI. King of France 400 His Death 441 Charles VII King of France his Coronation 447 A strange Accident which hapned to him ibid. His Death and his Children 467 468. Charles VIII King of France his Marriage with Margaret of Burgundy 504 Declared Major at Fourteen years his Coronation 508 His Triumphant Entry into Rome 520 His Death 525 Of Saint Charlemaine 529 Charles the Fifth formerly Charles