to send a Captain to the Archduke that he might know the certainty of his Command which being courteously granted he sent Federico Pacciotto who brought express leave to make Composition whereupon having treated a while they agreed to surrender upon these Conditions That the Monuments of Hernando Telles Portocarrero and of all other Commanders slain in the siege should not be stirred nor their Inscriptions cancelled it being nevertheless lawful for the Spaniards to take away their Bodies when they pleased That all the Souldiers that were in the City should march out in Battalia with their Arms and Baggage Colours flying Drums beating and Trumpets sounding and should be fuâ—nished by the King with Carts to carry away their Goods and their Sick as far as Dourlans That if any sick or wounded person should remain in the City he should receive good usage and have liberty to go away at his pleasure That the Souldiers should be exempt from paying for any Physick or Surgery they had had in the City and likewise for Two thousand pound weight oâ— Musket-Bullet which they had taken up from particular men and made use of That Prisoners on both sides should be set free without Ransom That the Towns-men might stay without being oppressed and be used as good Subjects renewing their Oath of Allegiance to the King of France but those that would march out with the Souldieâ—s might have free liberty so to do That there should be a Truce for the six next ensuing days within the term of which if they were not relieved with at least â—wo thousand men they should deliver up the City and that in the mean time they should give Hostages for security a Spanish Commander an Italian and a Walloon The Serjeant Major carried the Capitulations to the Archduke who having ratified them the Defendents of Amiens marched forth upon the Five and twentieth of September being Eighteen hundred Foot and four hundred Horse the Marquiss of Montenegro being at the head of them in a Souldier-like gallantâ—y upon a brave Horse wiâ—h a Truncheon in his hand and being come to the place where the King and the whole Army in Battalia expected him saying aside his Truncheon alighted and kissed the Kings knee and said so loud that he was heard by the by-standers That he delivâ—red up that place into the hands of a Souldier-King since it had not pleased the King his Master to cause it to be relieved by Souldier-Commanders which words moved every one to consider that if the Spanish Army had either taken the way beyond the River or laid hold of the occasion which fortune had presented them at the disorder in the Trenches the siege had certainly been raised The King answered That it ought to satisfie him that he had defended the place like a Souldier and now restored it into the hand of the lawful King with the honour of a Souldier To these words he added many other favourable demonstrations as well toward him as the other Commanders whom he desired to know by name one by one and being dismissed with the praise of the whole Army they were convoyed safe to Doâ—rlans There entred into Amiens the Constable who received the place the Mareschal de Byron and the Duke of Mombason and after them the King himself who having visited the Cathedral Church gave the Government of the Town to Monsieur de Vic and went forth without making any stay as well out of a suspition of the Plague as out of a desire to march after the Archduke who having sâ—aid only two days upon the Pass of the River Ants was in this interim gotten within the Walls of Arras Upon the six and twentieth day there hapned an accident which if it had faln ouâ— before would have discomposed all things but at this time it proved rather a matter of sport than trouble for there brake out suddenly so great a Fire in the Kings quarters the cause thereof not being at all known that in a short space all the Huts were burned which was no way harmful either to Men or Baggage because the Camp was already raised and marching away The whole Army rejoyced calling it a Bonfire and many from thence took a good Omen of future quiet which was confirmed by the event for the General of the Cordeliers being returned from the Court of Spain and come with Letters to the Archduke about the same time caused an interview upon the Confines which divide Piâ—ardy from the County of Artâ—is between Secretary Villeroy on the Kings part and President Riâ—cardoâ—to for the Archduke who determined that at Vervins a place upon the same Confines famous for the Peaces that had formerly been treated there the Cardinal-Legaâ— Father Francisco Gonzaga Bishop of Mantua the Popes Nuncio and the Deputies on both parts should meet together to apply themselves to a Treaty of Peace That which moved King Philip to an inclination to Peace was the urgency of the affairs of Flanders which by reason they had been abandoned for two years together were extreamly much gone down the wind so that the necessity of his own affairs constrained him not to think of getting that which was anothers To this was added the exceeding great scarcity of money for which he had been fain this very year to suspend all payments to the disreputation of his greatness and the undoing of those Merchants that were wont to have dealings with the Crown Nor was the respect of establishing the Succession upon his Son last in his consideration for being now far in years and knowing that his death drew near he desired that his Successor who was very young might not be ingaged in a great and troublesom War against a King of manly age and strength full of experience and upheld by the manifest favour of Fortune His dependents add that being in the latter end of his life careful to satisfie his Conscience he desired to end his days with the Peace of Christendom and the restitution of that which was not his own yet it is most clear that the loss of Amiens gave great force to his first disposition and perswaded even the Cardinal Archduke who being to marry the Infanta Isabella and with her to have the Dominion of the Low-Countries endeavoured not to have so powerful and so troublesom a War as that with the King of France Secretary Villeroy returned with the resolved appointment and found that the King with his Army following the prosperity of Fortune was incamped before Dourlans for having made an incursion even to the very Walls of Arras filling the whole Country with terrour he perceived afterward that the places of Picardy were left behind with very great danger and therefore was come to besiege Dourlans as the nearest place the taking whereof would be of wondrous advantage to his Country But already the Rains of Autumn did very much incommode and annoy him and his Army which had been healthful till then
Third sirnamed The Hardy and Robert the younger Count of Cleremont From Philip came the eldest Line which enjoyed the Crown more than three hundred years with the sirname of Valois from Robert descended the House of Bourbon so called as it is a custom among the French from that State of which they bare the Title and enjoyed a long time as their own Inheritance Now whilst the House of Valois possessed the Crown the House of Bourbon held by consequence the rank of first Prince of the Blood and enjoyed all those priviledges which we said before by Law and Custom belonged to that quality This Family great not only through nearness to the Crown but also in large possessions abundance of treasure reputation in war and fruitfulness of off-spring producing likewise frequently men of a liberal nature and popular civility easily exceeded the limits of a private life and with the sinews of its own strength together with the favour of the people established it self in an excessive state of greatness which begetting jealousie and envy in the Kings who were displeased at so great an eminence and authority bred many occasions of hate and suspition which sometimes also brake forth into open war For Lewis the Eleventh King of France made war upon Iohn Duke of Bourbon in the war intituled For the Commonwealth and Lewis the Twelfth though before he came to the Crown tried the success of Arms with Peter of Bourbon and so what by open defiance what through secret malice the Kings of France grew daily more and more jealous of the Authority of the Princes of Bourbon At the length Francis the First came to the Crown who in the beginning of his Reign led by the ardour and facility of youth began with great demonstration of affection to confer honour upon the chief Princes of the Blood it seeming a thing suitable to that magnificence he shewed towards all men and to the greatness of his mind that those Lords most nearly allied to him should be most exalted both for the honour of the Royal Line and for his own particular reputation And having observed in Charles of Bourbon who was the first Prince of the Blood a generous courage and a genius fit for any employment he promoted him to be High Constable of France and resolved that all the weighty affairs and principal charges of the Kingdom should pass only thorow his own hands and those that were nearest of relation to himself But when he came to age more mature the fervour of youth being past and finding by being conversant in affairs the reasons by which his Predecessors guided their counsels with how much greater earnestness he strove formerly to raise the House of Bourbon with so much the more anxiety of mind he laboured now to abase their excessive greatness Nor did fortune fail to present an occasion wonderfully proper for the execution of his design For there being a Process at that time between Louyse the Kings Mother and Charles of Bourbon for the same Dutâ—hy which he then held the King thought with himself that if he caused Judgment to be given in favour of his Mother and deprived the House of Bourbon of their fundamental revenues the Duke would easily fall from that power and dignity which was chiefly upheld by so splendid a fortune But Charles having by the preceeding of his business discovered the deceitful practices of the Chancellor Antonio del Prato by the Kings instigation against him disdain of the injury and fear of ruine which was inevitably prepared so much prevailed over him that joyning secretly with the Emperour Charles the Fifth and Henry the Eighth of England he began to conspire against the Kingdom and the very person of the King Which being discovered he was constrained to flee and afterwards bare Arms against him and continuing that course it so fell out that he was last of all General to Caesar in the Battel at Pavia where after a bloody slaughter in the the French Army the King invironed by divers Squadrons of Foot was at length taken prisoner For these facts Charles being declared Rebel and all his estate confiscate and having within a short time after at the taking of Rome lost his life also the House of Bourbon fell from that envied greatness which had caused such jealousie in the King This was not sufficient to stop the persecution now begun for although Charles were unhappily dead without children and though the others of the family did in no way partake of his counsels notwithstanding the King more swayed with revenge of the injuries past than the force of reason all the Lords of that House more through hate of their name than any delinquency in their persons were utterly deprived of all favour at Court and wholly removed from the management of affairs And although this rigour was in time somewhat lessened and the Kings mind so far mitigated as to forget things past and to lay by the ill opinion he had conceived of them notwithstanding he continued studiously to endeavour to cut off all means whereby those Princes might return to their former honour and that power to which they were formerly with so much favour advanced This secret intention of the Kings was very well observed by Charles Duke of Vendosme the chief of that House Wherefore forcing himself with moderation of mind to overcome the suspition and jealousies that so oppressed his family he refused during the Kings imprisonment to pretend to the Regency which of right belonged to him and after the King was delivered having retired himself to the quiet of his own domestick affairs sought not to be recalled to any part in that Government in which he knew himself so much suspected The rest of the same House following his example to shew how much they were strangers to the wicked counsels of Bourbon by being such ready Executors though to their own diminution and prejudice of the Kings inclinations voluntarily withdrew themselves from all business that might breed any suspition of them and standing retired little troubled themselves with the charges and commands at Court among which despising the little ones they already perceived it was impossible for them to attain to those dignities which they knew belonged to the greatness of their birth The House of Bourbon thus suppressed and removed from the affairs there sprang up under Francis the First two great families which within a short time got the whole business of the State into their own hands Momorancy and Guise neither of them any way allied to the House Royal but both the one and the other of very eminent Nobility That of Momorancy keeps a venerable record of the eminency of their Ancestors for they do not only shew a right descent from one of those Barons that accompanied the first King Pharamond in the Salique Expedition but prove also they were the first among the French Nation that received Baptism and the Christian Faith
in the Parliament a thing not usually done except in great necessity but by the King himself or by his Authority gravely advertised the Counsellors promising his care to pacifie the uproars of the people and to free them from so imminent a danger Which kind of proceeding exceedingly offended the King and the Queen it appearing to them that those people presumed too evidently to counterpoise the Royal Authority But the end at which they aimed made them artificially dissemble their displeasure With these seeds of discord ended the year 1565. At the beginning of the year following the King and Queen being really intent though inwardly exasperated to put an end to the troubles of the Kingdom rather by the arts of Peace than the violence of War went to Moulins where those that were summoned met from all parts at the Assembly in which the complaints of the people being proposed and considered and the abuses introduced according to the advice of the High Chancellor there was a long punctual decree formed in which was prescribed a form of Government and a manner of proceeding for the Magistrates taking away those corruptions and disorders that use to give the subject just cause of complaint At the same time the King insisting upon the pacification of his subjects for the general peace of the Kingdom a reconciliation was endeavoured between the Houses of Guise and Chastillon at which appeared on the one side the Mareshal of Momorancy with the Chastilâ—ons on the other the Cardinals of Lorain and Guise but with such backwardnâ—ss in both parties that there was little hope of sincere intentions where there appeared so much disorder and such an adherence to private interests For on the one part the Duke of Aumale Brother to the Cardinals had absolutely refused to be present thereat and Henry Duke of Guise yet in age of minority came thither only not to displease his Tutors but carried himself in such a grave reserved manner that it clearly appeared though his Governours brought him against his will when he was once come of age he would not forget the death of his Father nor observe this peace to which he could not being then so young remain any way obliged But on the other part also the Mareshal of Momorancy not induring so far to humble himself denied to speak câ—rtain words appointed by the Queen and the Council for the satisfaction of the Cardinal of Lorain nor would ever have been brought to it if he had not been forced by his Father who if he refused threatned to disinherit him and the Chastillons opposing by their Actions this seâ—ming Agreement ceased not to calumniate and make â—inister interpretations of the proceedings of the Guises At the last they were brought â—ogether in the presence of the King where they imbraced and discoursed but with a general belief even of the King himself that the reconciliation could not long endure which within a few days proved so indeed For the Duke of Aumale arriving at the Court denied expresly to meet with or use any act of salutation or civility to the Admiral or the rest of his Family On the contrary in the Queens presence he said that the Admiral laying to his charge that he had hired one to kill him he should think it a great happiness to be shut up with him in a chamber that he might hand to hand let him know â—e had no need of help but that he was able to determine his own quarrels himself And because the Queen being moved therewith answered That they might meet in the field the Duke repâ—yed again That he came thither with fifty Gentlemen but would return oâ—ly with twenty and if he met the Admiral he might perhaps make him â—ear moâ—e and in this fury he would have left the Court if the King had not laid an expâ—ess commaâ—d upoâ— him to stay After which new exasperations Andelot seâ—king all â—ccasâ—oâ—s of new sâ—â—â—dals publickly charged the Duke of Aumale in the Council that he had set one Captain Attin to murther him to which the Duke replyed with great shew of resentment It was necessary to lay hold of Attin who not being found culpable in any thing was at last released Both parties ceased not mutually to persecute each other both in words and deeds each of them accusing their adversaries that they went about to raise men and had an intent to disturb the quiet of the Kingdom Which though diligently inquired into proving but vain surmises at length it was thought the best way to continue the peace that the Lords of both parties should absent themselves from the Court where daily new occasions arising of conâ—estation between them the things already quieted were disturbed and subverted To this end and to give example to the rest the Constable with the Mareshal d'Anâ—ille his Son taking publick leave of the King and the Queen went to their Castles in the Isle of France So the great Lords following the same resolution within a few days after they all departed and particularly the Prince and the Admiral went severally to their own houses and the Duke of Aumale being left Heir to Madam Valentine his Mother-in-law who died about that time retired himself to Anet a place of pleasure which she had built There remained at the Court only the Cardinal of Lorain whom the King imployed in all businesses of importance and the Mareshal Momorâ—â—cy whose Government of Paris the Queen meant by some slight or other to take away that so powerful a people might not be under the command of a person that was inclined to innovations and that the chief support of the Kings Authority for the present might be put into such hands as depended absolutely upon himself At this same time happened the distastes and departure of the Queen of Navarre from Court For sentence being given by the King against Frances de Rohan by which the contract of marriage between Her and the Duke of Nemours though subscribed by their own hands was made void and he having concluded to marry Anne d' Este Widow to the late Duke of Guise Queen Iane after infinite but vain attempts in favour of her Neece at the last just as they were Marrying in the Kings presence caused one whom she had hired with promise of Reward to interpose and make a Protestation in the name of Frances but he being taken and imprisoned without interruption of the Marriage and finding her designs took no effect equally offended withal thinking her self injured and despised she resolved to leave the Court and retire into Bearn designing in her mind to raise new and more dangerous troubles She took for occasion and pretence of her departure That she could not be suffered a free exercise of her Religion For the King being advertised by the Popes Nuncio and divers others of the great resort of persons of all sorts to her lodging to hear Hugonot Sermons and knowing the Parisians were greatly
learn what was said she began to make her excuses to their Ministers but had a long private conference to that purpose with the Venetian Ambassador who being less interessed and more moderate than the rest was likeliest to credit her reasons wherefore beginning with the original of things she related to him at large every particular circumstance That King Francis the Second her eldest Son being very young when he came to the Crown and of a disposition rather to be governed than to exercise the charge of a King was forced of necessity to confer upon her the Supream Power in managing the affairs that it might neither fall upon the Princes of Bourbon not only the chief pretenders to the Crown but infected with Heresie and inclined to favour it nor yet upon the Guises men full of ambition and high pretences who nevertheless were so far Masters of the Kings will in regard of his Marriage with their Neece that she was constrained to admit them to a great part in the administration of the Government and in many things to yield to them for fear they might to the prejudice of the publick and her own private disgrace have cast her out of the Court and perhaps out of the Kingdom also That she had nevertheless ever endeavoured so to carry matters that the Kingdom might remain in quiet and enjoy the blessing of peace under a pious religious King and tender of the preservation of his people if the violence of the Prince of Conde and the malitious subtilty of the Admiral had not disturbed the course of things by turning not only against the Guises with whom they professed an open enmity but even against her self contriving through hate by wicked practises to deprive her of her life That the conspiracy of Amboise being discovered when all the Council concurred to proceed with extream severity she used her uttermost endeavour that a moderate way might be taken to quiet those troubles forgetting through desire of the common good her own private injuries and dangers That the Prince having continued to raise Insurrections in the Cities and Provinces and to plot even against the King himself at length fell into her hands at which times she ever proposed ways very far from cruelty or revenge saving the King of Navarre and divers others that were privy to the Princes counsels which was manifestly to be known when the Kings infirmity began to be mortal for the Princes of Guise pressing very earnestly that the sentence of death might be put in execution against those of Bourbon she resolutely opposed it approving rather gentle means than violent sharp remedies That she being afterwards left with the King a young Child not obeyed and her other Children yet as it were in the Cradle and her self a stranger with very few Confidents but an abundance of persons of interest about her though she had more need than ever to guard her self from those who plotted some one way some another the ruine or division of the Kingdom and her death and her Childrens yet overcome by so great and so streight a necessity to preserve the peace maintain the Crown and her Childrens Patrimony and to gain time till â—he King came of age she many times suffered the Princes fury and the insolencies of the Hugonots but that the impatience of the great ones with their discords and enmities the ambition of the Princes of Lorain and the contumacy of the Hugonots had at length raised a War to avoid which God was witness with her how much she had done and suffered that seeing the Kingdom through the infection of Heresie in a general combustion and the English and Germans called in to invade it she resolved to try whether by a resolute War she could extinguish and eradicate this evil and not be wanting in any thing that might be justified by Religion she had resolved to put it to a Battel which her Letters written to the Constable that were certainly amongst his Papers for she knew he kept them would still testifie That in the Battel the Constable was taken prisoner and the Mareshal of St. Andre killed and though the Victory inclined to the Kings Party with the taking of the Prince of Conde yet the Admiral remained still with a considerable Force to which was added the succours sent from England and a fresh powerful supply that came out of Germany That since this hapned that accident to the Duke of Guise whereby the Kings Party were deprived of a Head because for heâ— to command the Army was neither agreeable to her Sex or profession and there was not any body else fit to be trusted with so great a charge whence being led by the perswasions of many and particularly by the advice the Duke of Guise gave her just at his death to which she gave so much the more credit because at that time men use to forget private interests and speak truth succeeded a Peace by granting to the Hugonots a Liberty of Conscience though for no other end but to stay those enormous outrages desolations plundrings rapines sacriledges violences and tyrannies that destroyed the whole Kingdom hoping time would spend that humour which she was very well assured proceeded rather from private enmities and desire of â—ule than from love of Religion That she knew divers Princes very much blamed her for this Treaty by the same token there wanted not those who raised doubts concerning her belief but that she being satisfied in her own Conscience having placed her hopes in God expected from him her Justification That it could not be denied but the peace had rid the Kingdom of the Reiters who cruelly wasted the Country and driven the English out of Havre de Grace who were neasted there and given the poor people time to breathe from so many troubles and calamities by which they were ruined and devoured That the Peace brought one great advantage by taking from the Hugonots all manner of pretence to rebel That many things were done and suffered for no other purpose but to reduce the great ones to reason and to mitigate the fury of heresie trying divers means to arrive at this just holy end and to maintain the union of the Kingdom so profitable to Christianity and establish Peace so beloved of mankind but no remedies or agreement prevailing the Hugonots at length came to the taking of Arms That she had used all possible endeavour speedily to assemble the Kings Forces that the Enemy might not have time to receive supplies from abroad That she had very much pressed a Battel as it followed at St. Denis but with so little success that it was notoriously known things were afterward in a far worse condition than ever That since she had procured of the King to make the Duke of Anjou General of the Army to be assured no private inâ—erests should hinder the publick good That she hoped on Christmas-Eve last there would have been an absolute decision of the differences and
that many accustomed to the liberality candour and integrity of the Prince of Conde abhorred and feared the disposition and carriage of the Admiral who was thought a man exceeding covetous of deep thoughts of a treacherous subtil nature and in all things inclined wholly to attend and procure by any means his own ends And it happened at the same time that Andelot and Iaques Bouchard the one Brother and the other streightly united by interests with the Admiral either spent with labour or overcome with grief and trouble of mind fell both into a grievous sickness of which they died not many months after whereby that party which desired the greatness and advancement of the Admiral not knowing how to manage their business remained extreamly weakned But he with his subtilty overcoming all these impediments resolved by despising ambition and speciousness of titles still to retain in himself the chief Power and Authority for transferring the name of Heads of the Faction and the titles of Generals of the Army to Henry Prince of Navarre and Henry Son to the deceased Prince of Conde he saw the common cause would not only keep the same authority and the same reputation of being upheld by the Blood Royal but they being both in a manner children the sole administration of the whole business should still remain in him so to quiet the ambitions and pretences of the great ones so to satisfie the expectation of the people and by this means to renew again that league amongst the Faction which through diversity of opinions seemed now in a manner broken With this resolution not attempting that which could not be obtained he presently sent to Queen Iane to come to the Army shewing her the time was now come to advance her Son to that greatness which properly belonged to him and to which she had so long aspired Queen Iane wanted neither willingness nor courage being before fully resolved despising all danger to make her Son Head of that Faction wherefore with a readiness and quickness answerable to the occasion she went instantly with both the Princes to the Camp which was then at Cognac full of discords within it self and in a condition rather to dissolve than to keep together to remedy the disorders and losses already hapned There the Queen of Navarre after she had approved the Admirals counsels the Army being drawn together with wonderful courage and manly speeches exhorting the Souldiers to remain united and constant in the defence of their Liberties and Religion proposed to them the two young Princes whose presence and aspect moved the affections of them all to be their Generals encouraging them under the auspicious conduct of those two branches of the Royal Blood to hope for a most happy success to their just pretentions and the common cause at which words the Army which through the past adversities and present discords was in a manner astonished and confounded taking new vigour the Admiral and the Count de la Roch-fou-cault first submitted and swore fidelity to the Princes of Bourbon by whose example the Gentlemen and Commanders doing the same the common Souldiers likewise with loud applause approved the Election of the Princes for Protectors and Heads of the Reformed Religion Henry of Bourbon Prince of Navarre was then fifteen years of age of a lively spirit and generous courage altogether addicted and intent to the profession of Arms wherefore through the inclination of his Fate or the perswasions of his Mother readily without any demur attempting the invitation of the Army in a short Souldier-like speech he promised them To protect the true Religion and to persevere constantly in the defence of the common Cause till either death or victory brought that liberty they all desired and aimed at The Prince of Conde rather by his actions than words consented to what was done for he was so young that he could not express himself otherwise so that in all other things likewise yielding to the maturer age and pre-eminence of the first Prince of the Blood the chief Authority of the Faction was established in the Prince of Navarre wherefore Queen Iane in remembrance of this Act caused afterwards certain pieces of Gold to be coyned which on the one side bore her own Effigies and on the other her Sons with this word PAX CERTA VICTORIA INTEGRA MORS HONESTA The Princes then being chosen Heads of the Faction they presently called a Council of the chief Commanders to deliberate in the presence of Queen Iane how to manage their business what remedies were expedient to repair their past losses and how to divert the extream danger that threatned them There before any thing else it was determined That the Admiral by reason of the minority and little experience of the Princes should govern the Army and all things else belonging to the War but Monsieur de Aciere should be General of the Foot which charge first by the infirmity and afterwards by the death of Andelot was vacant and Monsieur de Genlis General of the Artillery which was formerly supplied by Bouchard After which Elections discoursing how to proceed with the War many not yet assuted from their fears would that the Army should be drawn into the Cities and strong holds about Rochel shewing it would be impossible for the Duke of Anjou to make any attempt upon those places which were so invironed with waters and marsh grounds whilst there was any reasonable strength to defend them but this appeared to the Admiral the other Commanders of best esteem being of the same opinion a too cowardly resolution and therefore it was determined That all the Army should be divided into the several Towns upon the Rivers to keep them and to hinder the progress of the Conqueror till they had certain news of the forces the Duke of Deux-ponts was bringing to their aid out of Germany who when he came near the Army should draw together again to meet him wheresoever he was and use their utmost endeavours to join with him for by obtaining that end they should remain at least equal if not superiour in strength to the Kings Army and if they could not effect it they should be separated and carry the War into divers places and the King likewise being constrained to divide his Forces they might make War upon even terms which things being resolved on Queen Iane went to Rochel to sollicite for new aids and provisions the Admiral with the Princes retired to S. Iean d' Augâ—li Monsieur de Piles took upon him the Defence of Xaintes Montgomery and Pâ—viaut turned about to Angolesme Monsieur d' Aciere with the greatest part of the Foot remained at Cognac and Genlis with a strong Garison shut himself up in Loudun all places either for strength of their situation by help of art or in regard of the Rivers which in that Country are many and very deep likely to hold out a long time In the mean while the Duke
Duke of Guise had perswaded the King to determine a matter never clearly decided by his Predecessors That in the Ceremonies of the Kings Coronation and other occurrences the Peers should not have precedency according to their Age and Seniority but that those Peers which were Princes of the Blood should absolutely take place of all the rest by Prerogative of the Royal Family which much incensed the Princes of Lorain But it toucht them a great deal more nearly to see that the King was wholly intent to deprive them of their Offices and Governments to bestow and heap them upon his Minions For Charles Duke of Mayenne having been first declared Admiral a place held by his Father-in-law the Marquess de Villars after the death of the Admiral Chastillon was after forced by the Kings violent perswasions to take eighty thousand Crowns in recompence and to resign his Office which presently was setled upon the Duke of Ioyeuse And because the Duke of Espernon complained that his place was not so eminent the King desirous to satisfie him or at least feigning to be so for the compassing of his designs had often moved the Duke of Guise to give up his Office of Grand Maistre and when he saw that being displeased with the overture he resolved not to part with it by little and little he took away all the Authority and Priviledges which were wont to belong unto that Office leaving him only the empty name and in stead of it conferred upon the Duke of Espernon the charge of Colonel General of the Infantry which having been formerly promised to Timoleon de Cosse for his exceeding great deserts and he being by death prevented the enjoyment seemed in reason most due to his Son Charles Count of Brissac who was a fast friend to the Lords of Guise as his Father and Grandfather had been before him The Duke of Aumale complained likewise that he being elected to the Government of Picardy for which he had been in competition with the Prince of Conde to keep him as it were in an uncertainty of the possession the entry of many chief places was denied him among which Bologne Calais and la Fere kept by persons depending upon the King in the name of the Duke d' Espernon And finally all that bore the character of dependents of the House of Guise were either by money or other means devested of their Offices and Governments or at least deprived of the Authority and execution of them which by oblique ways were reserved for and transferred upon the Kings favourites and confidents These were then all or part of the discontents that troubled the Lords of Guise wherein being well versed in affairs of State and mindful of what had happened five and twenty years before they admired the revolutions of this world and the effects of Divine Justice seeing themselves handled in the same manner by the Dukes of Ioyeuse and Espernon as they governing in the Reign of Henry the Second had used the Houses of Momorancy and Bourbon concluding that though God for the most part reserves his punishment and vengeance till the everlasting pains of the world to come yet is he sometimes pleased by those glances of his power to shew us a glimpse of that Justice wherewith he governs the course of mortal things But besides the disgusts which these Princes pretended to receive they were much more sharply pricked with the sting of that jealousie which by many conjectures and by things daily put in practice they had conceived for seeing that the King balanced the Forces very carefully with those of the Hugonot Lords and that he would not suppress that party which as they believed he easily might have done that under several pretences he devested all the dependents of both Factions of their Places and Honours to bestow them upon such as should acknowledge them meerly from himself and that where other pretences failed he bought those Offices which they possessed with great sums of money to ingross them all into his own disposing that he admitted no intercession for any body thereby to take away the bait that drew so many followers and dependents to the Princes of both parties that he spent great store of money to bring those things about and also gathered great store together in Mets Bologne and Angoulesme though in the name of the Duke d' Espernon they judged that all these things tended to their ruine and destruction Nor could it satisfie them to see the King taken up with religious thoughts and addicted to a quiet unactive life for they knowing his nature wherewith they had been conversant from his very childhood interpreted that course of life to subtil deep dissimulation Wherefore the Duke of Guise a man of a wonderful quick insight discerning judgment and high thoughts laying all these things together determined with himself to prevent and not stay to be prevented in which resolution he was boldly seconded by his Brother Louys the Cardinal a man of a high spirit and an understanding no less ingenious than his as also by Henry of Savoy Duke of Nemours and Charles Marquess of San-Sorlin both Sons of Anna d' Este and therefore his Brothers by the Mother Charles of Lorain Duke of Aumale and Claude his Brother a Knight of Ierusalem Charles of Lorain Duke d' Elbeuf Emanuel Duke de Mercure and his Brothers who though allied unto the King yet in respect of the common Family were nearly united unto him both in opinion and interests Only Charles Duke of Mayenne concurred more slowly than the rest who with more setled thoughts considering the course of worldly affairs thought it as difficult and dangerous for the League to pull down the King protected by the Majesty of a Royal Name and the natural obligations of his Subjects as he believed it impossible for the King himself to destroy and ruine their Family protected by the favour of the Catholicks and by the merit and innocence of their persons Wherefore thinking it superfluous to put themselves into that fear and for that cause to hazard their safety by rash uncertain resolutions he counselled them to proceed with more patience and more respect toward the lawful Possessor of the Crown But the Duke of Guise resolute in his thoughts and by the authority of his Person the vivacity of his Courage the eloquence of his Language and the excellency of his Wit able to perswade and draw all the rest to his opinion excluding his Brothers advice had setled all his thoughts upon the machinations of the League for the enlargement and establishment whereof dissembling his discontents no less than his jealousies and private interests he made shew of stirring only for the respects of Religion and the general good making an ill interpretation of all the Kings actions and with many arts and circumstances aggravating that danger which he pretended hung over the Catholick Religion in that Kingdom He grounded his fears upon the death of the Duke
that if the bodies were seen they might occasion some tumult and therefore having by the counsel of his Physitian caused them to be buried in quick Lime within a few hours all their flesh was consumed and afterward the bones were secretly interred in an unknown place removing in that manner those tragical Objects which use to work strange and sudden motions in the common people neither had he himself the heart to look upon them nor did any of the Court see them after their death except those few who of necessity were present the King not desiring that so sad a spectacle should argue him guilty either of cruelty or ambitious pomp of ostentation In this manner died Henry of Lorain Duke of Guise a Prince very remarkable for the height of his Extraction and for the merit and greatness of his Ancestors but much more conspicuous for the great eminency of his own worth For he abounded with many excellent endowments vivacity in comprehending wisdom in resolving boldness in executing courage in fight magnanimity in prosperity constancy in adversity popular in behaviour affable in conversation infinitely industrious in gaining the minds and affections of every one liberality worthy the most plentiful fortune secrecy and policy equal to the greatness of his designs a spritely turning wit readily stored with determinations and resolves according as occasion required and just proper for the times in which he lived To these qualities of the mind were joyned ornaments of the body no less commendable patient sufferance of labour singular sobriety a venerable yet gracious aspect a strong souldierly constitution agility of members so well disposed that he was often seen to swim in all his arms against the stream of a swift River and wonderful activity whereby both in Wrestling Tennis and Military exercises he did far exceed the ability of all other men and finally such concording union in the vigour of his mind and body that he gained not only an universal admiration but extorted praises from the mouths of his very Enemies Yet were not these vertues without the defects of humane frailty For doubleness and dissimulation were in him turned into nature and vain-glory and ambition were so powerful over the temperature of his disposition that from the very beginning they made him embrace the command of the Catholick Faction and in process of time from the necessity of defending himself from the Kings subtil policies put him easily upon the precipitate design of attaining by most difficult hidden ways to the succession of the Crown and finally the boldness of his own nature and his usual contempt of all others brought him unadvisedly to utter ruine Lewis the Cardinal though he came far short imitated the courage and vertue of his Brother for he always shewed a ready wit a lively spirit a constant mind and magnanimity equal to his birth but the turbulency of his thoughts and precipitate boldness of his nature took off very much from the opinion which at first was conceived of him for his too much ardour his desire of new things his despising of dangers and his unquietness of mind which have some kind of lustre in a Military profession seemed not to have the same decency in a Spiritual life and an Ecclesiastical habit The execution of the two Brothers being past the others that had been imprisoned were diversly kept and guarded The Duke of Nemours either having corrupted his Keepers with money or taking opportunity by their negligence or by the Kings assent and connivance as many thought because knowing his nature he believed him rather more apt to hinder and disturb than to favour and compose the affairs of the League escaped the fourth day from the place where he was not very strictly looked to and by unknown ways with only one Servant went secretly toward Paris Anne d' Este Mother to him and to the dead Princes of Lorain was also voluntarily freed by the King having shewed her many demonstrations of compassion whether he was moved with the pity of her age or that the splendour of her blood or her being born of one of the Daughters of King Lewis made him give her the more respect La Chapelle Compan Cotteblanche the Lieutenant of Amiens the Count de Brissac and the Sieur de Bois-Dauphin because they were in the number of the Deputies the Assembly of the States having made an appeal complaining that the Law of Nations was violated forasmuch as the Deputies were Ambassadors and Messengers from their several Provinces were set at liberty But the same happened not to the Archbishop of Lyons though he was one of the Deputies nay President of the Clergy for the King often desired to have him examined by the Archbishop of Beauvois as a Peer of France sometimes by the Cardinal of Condy sometimes by the Judges of the Great Council he had always refused to answer lest he should prejudice the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction wherein as Primate of all France he said he had no other Superiour but the Apostolick Sea though the King and his Ministers alledged that they impeached him not as Archbishop of Lyons though so in cases of Rebellion and Treason the King pretended to have Jurisdiction over him but as a Counsellor of State for which cause the King being exasperated and thinking that his refusal to answer proceeded from a foul guilty Conscience would not consent to his enlargement though his Nephew the Baron de Lux took much pains about it and though the Deputies were much troubled at the Kings denial Pelicart the Secretary of the dead Duke and some others of his nearest Servants were often examined and having drawn as much from them as they could by the Kings command who scorned to defile himself with mean blood were set at liberty But the Cardinal of Bourbon who wept like a Child for the death of the Lords of Guise and was much afflicted for his own misfortune the Duke d' Elbeuf who by despair was fallen into an excess of melancholy so that he would neither endure to change his clothes cut his hair or use wonted decency about his person the Prince of Iainville who by the death of his Father began to be called Duke of Guise together with the Archbishop of Lyons were after not many days brought by the King himself to the Castle of Amboyse and there under the command of Captain du Gast were left in several Lodgings but with a good Garison and strict order to keep them fast At the very instant of the Cardinals death Colonel Alfonso Corso went away post to Lyons where Charles Duke of Mayenne the third Brother of the Guises stayed being appointed for the War in Dauphine with order to take him there upon the sudden and make him prisoner but he was prevented by Camillo Tolomei and the Sieur de Chaseron who being gone secretly from Blois the same day the Duke was killed and got unknown to Orleans took the way towards
Duke of Mayenne to consent to peace goes out of the Kingdom The war is begun furiously in every place The Duke of Montpensier defeats the Gautiers in Normandy The Kings of France and Navarre meet in the City of Tours The Duke of Mayenne takes the Duke of Vendosm and the Count de Brienne prisoner he assaults the Kings Infantry in the Fauxbourgs of Tours and takes and possesseth himself of many Posts The King of Navarre comes up with his Army and the Duke going away takes many places in his march toward Normandy The Duke of Aumale besieges Senlis fights with the Duke of Longueville and Sieur de la Noue and loses the day The Duke of Mayenne to recover this loss marches towards Paris The King with his Army follows the same way takes Gergeau Piviers Chartres Estampes Montereau Poissy and other places he joyns with the Duke of Montpensier The Swisses and Germans raised for his assistance arrive He takes the adjacent Towns and layes siege to Paris where the Duke of Mayenne and the People having but small hopes to defend themselves resolve to stand it out to the utmost Frier Jaques Clement a Dominican goes out of the City is brought into the King's Chamber and stabs him into the belly with a knife the King dying declares the King of Navarre his lawful successor and perswades him to turn Catholick The Army and particularly the Nobility waver in their resolutions at last they resolve to acknowledge the King of Navarre provided Religion might be secured He makes them a promise in writing to imbrace the Roman-Catholique-Faith He rises from Paris by reason of the wasting of his Army makes shew as if he would besiege Rouen and goes to Diepe The Duke of Mayenne much encreased in strength follows him they fight at Pollet at Arques and under the Walls of Diepe Supplies come to the King from many parts The Duke of Mayenne marches off and goes into Picardy the King enlarges himself towards the Isle of France He takes and sacks the suburbs of Paris goes directly to Tours and by the way seizeth upon many places He enters into that City is received with great pomp sits in the Parliament excuses to the Nobility his delay of changing his Religion Marches into lower Normandy and reduceth all that Province into his power AFter the bloody Tragedy which ended the year 1588 followed a dreadful terrible alteration of the Scene for the news of the death of the Lords of Guise being come the same day to Orleans the next to Paris and from hand to hand into all parts of the Kingdom it is not possible to believe how much it troubled and disturbed the mindes not onely of the common people inclined by nature and custom to embrace all emergent occasions of change but of all degrees and all qualities of persons and which seemed very strange of many also who in times past had been esteemed prudent moderate men This so great perturbation of mens minds produced in their first fury rash precipitate effects for the City of Orleans which for a long time before had held the party of the League and moreover had been wont in all the course of the Civil Wars to be first up in Armes having heard of the Duke of Guise's death and the imprisonment of all the rest by them who fleeing hastily from Blois were gotten thither at the first stage and particularly by the Sieur de Rossieuz one of the Counsellors of the League without any determinate resolution and without staying for a Head to order them they took Arms openly the very same night and having driven away or suppressed the King's Magistrates who endeavoured to hinder the Insurrection they went all confusedly to assault the Fortress in which Monsieur d' Entraques his Lieutenant was for the King with a very few Soldiers and as in a sudden accident in want of all those things which are necessary to make good a place The Citizens of Chartres did the same though in the late Commotions it had been of the King's party and having taken Arms thrust out all that favoured the King's name or that would have opposed the Insurrection and began to govern it self without the consent of the Magistrates But the news being come to Paris upon Christmas-eve at the shutting in of the day brought first by a Post dispatched from Don Bernardino Mendozza and afterward by Captain Hippolito Zanzala of Ferrara one of the Captains entertained by the Duke of Guise the Shops were hastily shut up and the multitude in their wonted tumult ran some to the Hostel de Guise where were the Dutchesses of Guise and Montpensier the Dukes Wife and Sister and some to the City Gates to look for more certain news and more distinct particulars of the business which when they had learned by the arrival of those who having fled from Blois came all running without stay to Paris the people sometimes with howlings sometimes with lamentations sometimes with exceeding fierce cries wavered in their resolutions there not being yet any one ready to govern the violence and direct the determinations of the confused giddy multitude For the Dutchess of Guise with a Womanish softness was all in tears and the Dutchess of Montpensier a Lady of a haughty mind and full of bold manly spirits who had torn the Kings name and credit more with her Tongue than her Brothers had done with their Swords and all their practices being from her birth lame of one foot and subject to frequent infirmities was then lying in her bed and had already been indisposed for many dayes Wherefore the Council of the League being come together in the midst of the tumultuous people resolved to send for Charles of Lorain Duke of Aumale who fleeing from the States at Blois out of a certain presaging fear had staid in Paris and that very day was retired to his devotions to the Covent of Carthusians hard by the City at whose arrival though late at night all the multitude ran to his house but onely spent the time in bewailings and lamentations The next day the whole City being in grief they dispatched Divine Service quickly without their wonted Musick and Singing and from the Churches being come to the Town-house the same Council met again there at which were present the most noted Citizens and also many of the Magistrates some drawn by an anxious curiosity some driven by the fear of being torn in pieces by the fury of the multitude and some came with a desire to find remedy against the unbridled rashness of the common people But it was all in vain For in stead of Counsels there being nothing heard but bitter Invectives and Injurious Threats against the King's name they resolved in the first place that till a further determination the Duke of Aumale should be declared Governor of the City and that under his obedience they should from new advertisements expect new occasion of taking another resolution Yet he not
done The Count de Randan held the command in Auvergne and in Provence the Marquess de Villars and the Sieur de Vins an old adherent to the House of Guise The Dukes of Ioyeuse Father and Brother to him that was slain in the Battel of Contras fighting against the King of Navarre had the Government of Gascogne in which Province except the City and Parliament of Tholouse the party of the Confederates was not very strong and in Dauphine Languedoc and Guienne the League had but very slender Forces But before all these preparations the Duke dispatched Lazare Coqueille Counsellor in the Parliament of Paris to Rome and with him were gone two Doctors of the Sâ—rbonne to confirm the Decree of their Colledge by which they had determined That the King had forfeited his right to the Crown and that his Subjects might justly withdraw their obedience from him the Duke foreseeing well that the popular Cause wholly founded upon the pretence of Religion was to look for and take its increase and nourishment from the Apostolick Sea and the Popes approbation But the King who afflicted with his wonted melancholly though he dissembled it had since the death of his Mother been many days troubled with a Bloody Flux was no less sollicitous concerning the affairs at Rome than the Duke of Mayenne as well because being a very great honourer of Religion he could not be satisfied to live disobedient to the Apostolick Sea as because making the same judgment as they of the League he saw that the greatest foundation of the adverse party consisted in the approbation and encouragement from Rome Wherefore though he had caused absolution to be given him for the death of the Cardinal by vertue of a Breve granted to him a few months before by the present Pope to make himself be absolved in all reserved cases by his own Ordinary Confessor yet seeing that that was not enough he sent Claude d' Angennes of his beloved Family of Rambouillet Bishop of Mans a man of profound Learning and singular Eloquence to the end that being informed of all his Reasons he might as his Sollicitor sue for an absolution from the Pope and endeavour to reconcile him to the Apostolick Sea to which so he might but secure himself he was ready to give the most exact satisfaction The Bishop of Mans came to Rome and having conferred with the other Ambassadors they went together to receive audience from the Pope where after words of compliment full of most deep submission they first argued that the King had not incurred any Censure not having violated the Ecclesiastical Liberties and Immunities for the Cardinal was guilty of the crime of Rebellion in which case the Prelates of France notwithstanding any dignity whatsoever are understood to be subject to the Secular Jurisdiction and so much the rather because he having been a Peer of France his causes naturally ought to be judged in the Court of Peers which is no other but the great Court of Parliament with the assistance of the Princes and Officers of the Crown so that if the King had infringed any Jurisdiction it was that of the Parliament and not the Ecclesiastical one which hath nothing to do with the Peers of France But because this reason was not only disapproved by the Pope but that also he seemed more displeased and offended at it alledging that the eminency and Priviledges of the dignity of Cardinal were immediately subject to the Pope and no other the Ambassadors began to dispute that the Kings of France could not incur Censure for any Sentence they should give and urged the Priviledges of the most Christian Kings and the Jurisdiction of the Gallique Church But this incensed the Pope so much the more who bad them take heed how they proposed things that had a touch of Heresie as this had for he would cause them to be punished To which though the Marquiss replied That as Ambassadors they could not be medled withal nor punished and that no fear should make them forbear to propose the Kings right yet having received Commission to appease and not to exasperate the Pope they alledged in the third place That the King by virtue of the Apostolick Breve granted to him by his Holiness had caused himself to be absolved and therefore they insisted only that his Holiness knowing the Pardon he had granted him would either confirm it or not be displeased if the King valuing it as he ought had made use of it in a seasonable occasion For not having in the heat of danger considered so particularly and having never had any intention to offend the Jurisdiction of the Apostolick See after he had been made sensible of it he being moved with scruple of Conscience had prostrated himself at the feet of his Confessor and had begged and obtained absolution for as much as need should require though he thought he had not transgressed effectively To this the Pope answered That the Breve was granted for things past but could not extend to future sins the absolution whereof cannot be anticipated That such a case as this in which the Apostolick See was directly offended and all Christendom scandalized was not comprehended under that Breve and that the Exposition was to be demanded from him who had granted it which now he declared affirming that it had never been his intention to enable the King to receive absolution for his future faults and for so evident a violation of the Dignity of Cardinal This Treaty having been often repeated and discussed with great allegations of Right and Authority in the end the Ambassadors were contented to petition in writing for the Popes absolution who expressed a desire to have it so and that it was the means to appease and satisfie him Wherefore after good Offices done by the Venetian and Florentine Ambassadors in favour of the King having received order from their Princes to take great pains in his behalf the Bishop with a Petition of a very submissive form demanded absolution of the Pope who with pleasing words answered That he would willingly grant it when he should be assured of the Kings contrition whereof he would have this token that he should set at liberty the Cardinal of Bourbon and Archbishop of Lyons it being vain to grant him absolution for one thing whilst he persisted in the act of another which did infer the same prejudice to the Apostolick See which he could not dissemble At this the Ambassadors and those that favoured them were exceedingly perplexed conceiving themselves to have been deceived and thinking that another kind of moderation ought to be used towards a King of France wherefore laying together all those reasons already alledged in the former Conferences they concluded that the King by setting those Prelates at liberty should but increase the fire in his Kingdom with the evident danger of his own Life and Crown and that therefore it was not fit to free them To which the Pope
send an Ambassador to the Pope to inform him of the reasons why they had acknowledged him and sworn fidelity unto him and to sue for and obtain those things of the Apostolick See which they should think convenient for the universal good of the Kingdom Upon the fourth day August this Writing was singed by the King on the one part and on the other by most of those that were present in the Camp and was afterward authorized and registred in the Parliament of Tours according to the form which was wont to be observed by those Courts in the times of former Kings Thus the necessity of present affairs and the fresh passion for the Kings death setled this accommodation which at another time would certainly not have been composed Yet was not this Agreement able to retain every body for the Duke of Espernon who under colour of contending for precedency with the Mareschals of Biron and Aumont had not signed the Writing because they as Mareschals being in the Camp pretended to sign first and he as Duke and Peer of France pretended the same doubting he should be ill used by the King and that in his present wants he would either by intreaties or force wring some money from him whereof he was known to have very great store alledging that he had obtained leave from the late King to return to his Governments departing the next day from the Army with his Troops and with many who following the example took that occasion to return to their own houses and having made his journey thorow Tourain he passed by Loches and came at last to Angoulesme Iehan Sieur de Villiers who had the Government of Poissy a man very zealous in the Catholick Religion and who in his younger years had been exalted by the Lords of Guise those obligations ceasing which he had to the late King gave up his Government with the Artillery and Ammunition of the Army to Filbert Sieur de la Guiche who by order from the King received it and with two hundred Horse and many Gentlemen that followed him retired into his own Country and the same did many others severally Monsieur de Vitry with a bolder resolution which nevertheless was also followed by many went over to the League without any demur alledging that he saw no certainty at all in the Kings promises and that he would not bear Arms against the Catholick Religion in favour of the Hugonots and the common Souldiers some out of impatiency some for want of money some for fear of future sufferings began of themselves to disband scatteringly in such a manner that by the seventh of August the Army was diminished above half in number and decreased still daily The same was feared of the Swisses but the Mareschal de Biron who now followed his old inclination more than ever did by reasons and intreaties induce them to promise that they would follow the King for the space of two months till they should receive new Commissions from their Cantons towards which reasons and intreaties prevailed not so much as a good sum of money which the King borrowed of his Friends and divided secretly among their Commanders so that without demanding further pay but living upon free-quarter they followed the Kings Name and Colours very quietly Nor were the Hugonots more firm or better satisfied than the rest for having conceived hopes that the King who had been bred up nourished defended and maintained by them would now he had attained the Crown exalt their Religion put Offices and Dignities into the hands of his ancient Confidents and trust more in those Forces which had made him victorious among a thousand dangers than in the doubtful conditional promises of the Catholicks now they saw the contrary accused him of ingratitude and had it not been that they hoped he did but temporize till he were setled in his Kingdom and that then he would do quite contrary to what he had promised which belief was by him cunningly fomented in his conferences with them they would without doubt have utterly forsaken him and yet for all that opinion very few followed him and those unwillingly enough for many because they thought not themselves secure others out of anger and discontent disbanded and returned in great abundance to the Cities of their party But the King having accommodated his mind and fitted it to the present necessity having assumed the Name and Arms of King of Franâ—e and not being able to make new expences made use of the late Kings houshold-stuff the same Purple serving to mourn for his Predecessor which he till then had used for the death of his Mother and knowing that mens minds were not yet well setled under his obedience and that his own weakness was despised of many he by the vivacity of his wit by the readiness of his answers and by the familiarity of his conversation behaving himself rather as a Companion than as a Prince and with large promises making up the wants of his present condition endeavoured to satisfie all and to win the love of every one seeming to acknowledge the Kingdom and the reputation of his actions sometimes to this man sometimes to that man severally and professing to be ready earnestly to embrace those occasions of requital which should represent themselves To the Hugonots he seemed to lay open and trust his most intimate thoughts and to acknowledge the foundation of his hopes to be in them To the Catholicks he did very great honours speaking with much reverence of the Pope and the Apostolick See alwayes honouring the Ecclesiastical Order and shewing himself inclined to the Roman Religion gave signs of a sudden undoubted conversion To the common-people he shewed himself compassionate of their burthens and of the calamities of War and to the meanest of them excused the necessity of taking free-quarter upon them for his Army laying all the fault upon his Enemies To the Gentry with words and gestures full of respect he gave the glory of true French-men of preservers of their Country and restorers of the Royal Family alluring every one by these arts to follow him eating in publick setting open his most private lodgings to every one not concealing the necessity of his private condition and proposing those things in a jesting way which could not so well be discovered in serious Counsels But the Army being already reduced to so small a number that not onely the siege of Paris could not be continued but that it was needful to provide speedily against the imminent danger which was so near for the League since the King's death increased every moment in strength and reputation He being in private with the Mareschals of Biron and Aumont the Sieur de la Noue and the Duke of Montpensier who having quieted his conscience by the King's promise had for the interests of their common Family firmly resolved to follow him consulted a long time what course would be least prejudicial to take in that
hundred Horse and Colonel Boniface with Five hundred Foot sallyed out at the Porte Cau-choise and charging first the Cavalry and then the Regiment of English skirmished fiercely for many hours though at last being weary on both sides they retired willingly without advantage yet the besieged vaunted of a happy beginning by reason of the death of a Nephew of the Earl of Essex who his courage having drawn him into the most dangerous place of the fight was slain by Borosey with a Pistol-shot in the throat On the other side Captain Perdriel with Two hundred other Horse and Captain Basin with Four hundred Foot sallied at the Porte de Martinville and having skirmished long with the French Light-horse led by Francesco Orsino Sieur de la Chappelle they were forced to retire though they received not much harm because they were defended in their retreat by the Artillery of the nearest Bulwark But the Mareschal as soon as he had entrenched Darnetal to the end his Army might lie secure from the sprightly forwardness which he saw in those of the Town set himself for some dayes following without advancing towards the City to divert the course of the Robec which little Rivulet running through the Field and entering into the Town drove eleven Mills near the Porte St. Hillaire to the great conveniency of those within nor was it very difficult to turn it another way which would have much incommodated the Town and made them suffer exceedingly if Villars foreseeing the diversion of the water had not provided against it before by having caused a great many hand-mills to be made which were continually kept going by the Country-men who to fly the Enemy were in great numbers gotten within the Walls While they wrought to divert the water the Mareschal no less intent upon art than he was upon force of arms held a Treaty with Captain Graveron who was in the City to get into his hands the Porte de Beauvais which he was appointed to guard and this was managed by a kinsman of his who was one of the Mareschals servants and who before the siege had often gone disguised into the City for that purpose But Graveron having revealed the Treaty to the Governour and received Orders to draw the Enemy by night into an Ambush he could not fain so well but that the art was discovered whereupon this treaty vanished with little damage on either side But the next day the Chevalieâ— Piccard sallying out from St. Catherine's to skirmish and the Earl of Essex with the English coming out of the Wood of Turinge they contended with words no less than deeds for Piccard upbraided the English that not having courage enough to revenge the death of the Earl's Nephew they â—ought to advance their designs by treachery they came to ill language and to give the Lye for which as soon as the skirmish was ended there came an English Trumpet from the Earl of Essex to challenge the Governor which the Chevalier Piccard who had spoke the words having answered it came not to a duel for the Earl refused to fight with any other than the Governor and the Governor though he refused him not yet he referr'd the Duel till another time when he should be free of the charge of that present defence to which as a publick cause he was both first and more deeply engaged All the Moneth of November was spent in continual Skirmishes and hourly encounters the Mareschal in the mean time being imployed in fortifying his quarters drawing Artillery and Ammunition and causing provisions to be brought in expecting the Kings coming up to the siege with the rest of the Army who being come into the Camp upon the third of December sent an Herald to summon the City but being very stoutly answered by those within the next day they broke ground to make their approaches to the Wall The King lay at Darnetal with the Mareschal de Biron and the greatest part of the Nobility that followed him having the Swissers flanked with the Regiment of his Guards for the defence of his own quarters The Viscount de Turenne whom in the right of his Wife we will begin to call the Duke of Bouillon was quartered on the right hand with the Cavalry and the German Infantry spreading themselves a great way in the Neighbouring Villages upon the way that leads toward Diepe The French Infantry having lost the Sieur de Chastillon who was wont to command it he being dead a while before of a natural death was led by divers Colonels of renowned fame and lay close by the Germans but on the right hand of the King's Quarters towards the Porte Cau-choise and the Porte de Beauvais The English Foot lay on the left hand of the King and the Swissers entrenched under the Wood of Turinge against the Porte St. Hillaire and the Mount of St. Catherine The Baron de Giury and the Sieur de la Chappelle with the Light-horse spred themselves on the left hand of these upon the way that leads to Pont de l' Arche and thence towards Paris And the Count de Soissons with Captain Raulet beyond the Riveâ— Seine over which there was a passage made by a Bridge upon Boats were quartered right over against the Fauxbourg of St. Severe When the whole Town was thus girt round there being neither the hinderance nor the conveniency of Suburbs for the Governor at the arrival of the Army had caused them to be burnt the King commanded Colonel St. Denis to take up his Post in the Church of St. Andre which was the onely building that because it was built of stone remained yet standing though they had endeavoured to demolish it but he soon perceived that Villars had foreseen the mischief which he might receive from thence and provided a very convenient remedy For two exceeding great Culverins were discovered upon a Cavalier raised within which did so batter that place that the French had scarcely possessed themselves of it when they were forced to quit it This attempt having proved ineffectual the King began to cause two Trenches to be cast up one to approach St Catherines Mount which being drawn from the Wood of Turinge was wrought at by the English and the other to end just against the Porte St Hilaire at which the French Infantry wrought by turns But the Sieur de Villars besides the other works which were thrown up day and night and by a great abundance of Labourers who within a short space had dammed up the Porte de St. Hilaire with Earth having raised a very high Cavalâ—er close by it filled the Moat with Casamats and fortified the Counterscarp with little Ravelines had also before the Forts of St. Catherine where the utmost force of the siege was applied drawn a Brest-work of eighteen or twenty foot thick flanked with two Ravelines onely for the use of Muskettiers having neither Shoulders Orillons nor Retreats and before this
the Earth to look upon humane Laws you forget not the divine Law that came from Heaven It is not Nature nor the right of Nations that teacheth us to acknowledge our Kings but the Law of God the Law of his Church and that of the Kingdom which require from the Prince that is to command us not only proximity of blood which you stand upon but also the profession of the Catholick Religion and this quality hath given name to that Law which we call the Fundamental Law of the State always followed and observed by our Ancestors without any exception though the other of proximity of blood hath been sometime altered the Kingdom remaining nevertheless entire and in its former dignity To come therefore to so holy and necessary a reconciliation we accept the Conference which you demand provided it may be only between Catholicks and to deliberate about the means of preserving Religion and the State And because you desire it should be between Paris and St. Denis we intreat you to like of Mont-Martre St. Meaux or Chaliot in the Queens Palace and that you would be pleased to send those that shall be deputed by you upon some day you shall think fit before the end of this month whereof we being advertised will not fail to have ours there and to proceed with sincere affection free from all passion praying to God that the event of it may be such that we may find the preservation of Religion and of the State and a good secure durable peace as we also pray him to conserve you and give you his Spirit to know and imbrace the most wholsom profitable counsel for the general safety This answer being received and read in the Council of the King who was not yet come back from his journey into Poictou they that were there present determined to prosecute the Conference but to defer the particulars thereof till they had the Kings consent to them and the general votes of the Council Thus by a Writing full of courteous expressions they excused the delay and finally having received their approbation and replied again with other Letters they concluded to hold the Conference at Surenne between Paris and St. Denis There was great contention at Paris about the election of the persons that were to intervene at this Treaty for the Legat and the Spanish Ambassadors strove to procure that one of them might be Guilliaume Rose Bishop of Senlis a man of a sowre nature and sharp eloquence which for many years he had profusely used against the Kings and against their party and on the other side they that inclined to peace desired the Sieur de Villeroy might be admitted who by many was excluded as partial to the King at last for the common satisfaction they were both left out and those that were unanimously chosen were the Archbishop of Lyons Pericard Bishop of Auranche Godefrâ—y de Billy Abbot of St. Vincent de Laon the Admiral Villars the Count de Belin the Baron de Talmay the Sieurs de Montigny and Montaulin President Ieannin and President Maistre Estienne Bernard Advocate in the Parliament of Dijon and Honoré de Lâ—urent Counsellor in the Parliament of Aix They of the Kings side chose the Archbishop of Bourges the Sieurs de Chavigny and Bellieure the Count de Schombergh President de Thou Nicholas Sieur de Rambouillett the Sieur de Pontcarré and Secretary Revol But at the first meeting with the mutual consent of the Deputies there were added the Sieur de Vic Governour of St. Denis on the Kings side and for the League the Sieur de Villeroy who the Duke of Mayenne desired by all means should assist in the Treaty and in the progress of it the Sieurs de Rosne and la Chastre were likewise admitted In the mean time the Duke of Feria upon the second of April had solemn publick audience of the States at which in a Latin Oration he proffered the Catholick Kings assistance and supplies to the Assembly for the conservation of Religion and the election of such a King as the condition of the times required and likewise presented Letters from King Philip wherein after many courteous expressions he referred himself to what the Duke of Feria and the other Ambassadors should represent in his name who said that they reserved themselves to do it when the Duke of Mayenne and the other Princes should be come unto the States who were yet at the meeting at Rheims with the Duke of Lorain There their minds were no less disagreeing nor the opinions less differing than in the States for the Duke of Lorain seeing the rest were not inclined to yield to him as Head of the Family and knowing the Spaniards were already engaged in the design of getting the Infanta elected began to be weary of the War which he had sustained all those late years to the great damage of his people and though the Spaniards sometimes scattered reports that the Infanta being chosen Queen should take the Cardinal his Son to be her Husband it seemed to him so absurd that he was not at all inclined to believe it and since he could attain to nothing else would have been content with Peace whereby the Cities of Thoul and Verdun should remain his On the other side the Duke of Mayenne desired he should persist in Arms and favour the election of him and his Sons thinking his pains and endeavours deserved that reward and that no other body at that present was able to undergo that weight but he rather gave signs of this intention than propounded it and laboured dexterously to insinuate it into the rest among which as the Dukes of Aumale and Elboeuf adhered to him so the Dukes of Nemours and Guise assented not both being intent to endeavour for themselves and full of hopes that the Spaniards might at last concur to marry the Infanta to one of them The Duke of Mayenne strove to withdraw them from that thought by letting them see it was far from the intent of the Spaniards who had no other design than to get the Crown into the power of the Infanta and by her either in her life-time or after her death to have it united and incorporated to that of Spain to which it was very repugnant to give her a young French Husband and such an one as might be able not only to govern her but also the people and forces of the Nobility and Kingdom It was a remarkable thing that though this was an Assembly of the House of Lorain the King should yet have a very great party in it for by the Grand Duke of Thuscany's consent Girolamo Gondi had formerly begun and now continued to treat with the Duke of Lorain to induce him and the rest to think of agreeing with the King proposing his Conversion full caution and security for Religion and to give his Sister in Marriage to the Prince of Lorain with those Cities which the Duke desired
seemed to urge that the Absolution given to the King in France might be confirmed and approved but not to propose the submitting of the King to the censure and judgment of the Apostolick See he said he would think upon aâ— aâ—swer and two dayes after not having the heart to talk any more with the Duke and to answer his reasons he let him know by Silvio Antoniani that he could not prorogue the term of ten dayes lest he should discontent those Catholicks who being obedient to the Church had ever and did yet uphold Religion and that that time was sufficient having nothing else to treat of that it was not fit he should speak unto the Cardinals having been admitted as a private man not as an Ambassador and that as concerning the Prelats that came along with him he could not admit them to his presence unless first they submitted themselves to Cardinal Santa Severinâ— the chief penitentiary to be examined by him This was the Popes last resolution for though the Duke obtained another audience yet could he not alter his determination but he sent Cardinal Toledo to let him know the same things with whom having had many long discourses the substance of the business varied not and though the Duke very much troubled with a Catarrhe was of necessity fain to stay beyond the time of ten dayes yet could he not prevail any thing at all and finally being brought to his last audience in the Popes presence after having at large repeated all his reasons he fell upon his knees and beseech'd him that at least he would give the King absolution in Foro Conscientiâ— but neither could he obtain this and departed exceeding ill satisfied having finally with more liberty and spirit than he was wont aggravated the wrongs that were done unto the King and the injuries that were put upon his own person who forgetting his want of health his age and quality had taken the pains to come that journey for the safety and quiet of Christians After he was gone from his audience Cardinal Toledo came to him again and told him that if the Prelats did so much abhor the face of Cardinal Santa Severina they should be heard by the Cardinal of Aragon Chief of the Congregation of the Holy Office but the Duke answered that they being come as Ambassadors in company with him he did not mean they should be used as Criminals but that the Pope should admit them to his presence for to him as Head of the Church they would give a good account of their actions but the Cardinal replied that it was not decent for them to contend and dispute with the Pope the Duke added that he would be content if the Pope would but admit them to kiss his feet and that then they should render an account to Cardinal Aldobrandino his Nephew But neither would the Pope accept of this condition whereupon the Duke of Nevers having distinctly set down in writing all that he had done departed from Rome taking the Prelates with him and went to the City of Venice where the Bishop of Mans published a little book in Print wherein he set forth the reasons that had moved the Prelates to absolve the King one of which was that the Canons permit the Ordinary whom it concerns to absolve from excommunication and every other case when the penitent is hindred by a lawful cause from going to the Popes feet hiâ—self and another that in the point and danger of death the penitent might be absolved by any one in which danger the King manifestly was being every day exposed in the encounters of War to the peril of his enemies and besides that conspired against a thousand wayes by their wicked treacheries to which reasons adding many others he concluded they had power to absolve him ad futuram Cautelam reserving his obedience and acknowledgment to the Pope which he at that time fully rendred him When the Duke was gone the Pope having assembled the Cardinals in the Consistory declared That he had not been willing to receive the King of Navar 's excuses and obedience because his conscience would not suffer him to lend his faith so easily to one that had formerly violated it that to admit one to so potent a Kingdom without great regard and due caution would have been a very great lightness and being certain that others would have believ'd and follow'd his judgment it was not fit proceeding blindly to make himself a guide to the blind and to lead the good French Catholicks to the ruinous precipice of damnation and that therefore they should be assured he would continue constant and would not accept of false dissimulations and politick tricks in a matter of so great consequence Thus the Spaniards remained satisfied and the Catholicks of the League contented yet was not the King moved with all this or turned aside from his first intention the Sieur de la Chelle's relation having applyed an antidote to that so bitter potion The King at this time was at Melun in which Town one Pierre Barriere was taken and put in Prison who had conspired to kill him but by whom he was instigated is not well known he was born obscurely in the City of Orleans and followed the profession of a Waterman in those Boats that are wont to go upon the Loyre but being known for a man of a brutish cruel nature he had been made use of in the acting of many villanies from which and the dissoluteness of his carriage being grown to a vagabond kind of life he was as last fallen upon a thought of this fact which having imparâ—ed to two Fryers the one a Capuchin the other a Carmelite he was as he â—aid earnestly persuaded to it by them but being yet doubtful and uncertain in his mind he would needs reveal his Secret also to Seraphinâ— Banchi a Dominican Frier born in Florence but living in Lyons This man struck with horror to hear the boldness and wicked intent of this Fellow dissembled nevertheless and told him It was a thing to be well considered and not to be so soon resolved on and bad him come again the next day for his answer which he would think upon and study to know how he should determine the question in the mean time thinking how the King might be warily advertised of it he intreated the Sieur de Brancaleon a servant of the Queen Dowagers who was then in the City to come to him the same day and hour he had appointed and they being both of them come at the same time he made them stay and talk a great while together to the end that Brancaleon might know Baâ—riâ—re perfectly then having told him he could not yet resolve what counsel he should give him because the question was very full of difficult doubts he dismissed him and discovered the whole business to Brancaleon to the end that giving the King notice of it the mischief might be prevented Barriere going from
â—ot taken in good part he thinking they desired his abode in the City that they might confer the charge of the Army and of managing the wâ—r upon the Duke of Guise indeed he was something moved by the perswasions of his Mother Madam de Nemours she telling him that the sum of all things consisted now in the conservation of Paris and that she had discovered some practises that past between the Politicks of the City and the new Governor but neither was that able to disswade him from his departure for it diminished his reputation and prejudiced the course of affairs too much to stand with his hands at his girdle and let himself be straightned to the last necessities without seeking any remedy and he considered that if the King being Master of Pontoyse and Meaux and by consequence also Master of the Rivers and having Dreux Orleans and Chartres in his power should have a mind to besiege Paris he should be locked up in the City and not be able to do any thing to relieve it and having notice that the King had made a Levy of Six thousand Switzers which were ready to enter into the Kingdom and knowing that the Queen of England was sending new supplies of Men and Ammunition he thought it necessary to draw the Forces of the Confederates together to make opposition in the Spring-time if the King should take the Field with a great Army which could not be done unless he himself in person were active in the business not judging the Duke of Guise or the Duke of Aumale either for authority or experience sufficient to raise or command the Army in which charge the secret intentions of men now more suspected by him than ever would not suffer him to trust any other person Moved by these reasons and not being able to perswade himself that the Count de Brissac would forsake him and change that Faith which he his Father and his Grandfather had ever constantly kept he at last departed and took his Lady and his Son with him leaving his Mother his Sister the Cardinal-Legat and the Spanish Ambassadors at Paris But he was no sooner gone when the Governour finding himself alone and little valuing all the rest that were in the City thought that occasion for the raising of his fortune again was not to be lost wherefore having drawn Iehan Viller the Prevost des Marchands and the two chief Eschevins which were Guilliaume du Ver Sieur de Neret and Martin l' Anglois Sieur de Beauripaire unto his party he went on to deal with the first President and the other Counsellors of the Parliament These were displeased with the Duke of Mayenne because in many occasions and particularly in the last of changing the Governour he had as they said used them sharply and ingratefully and openly derided and abused them and much more were they disgusted at the Spaniards by reason of the Proposition of the Infanta against whose election they had shewed themselves openly but that which imported most of all was That the Presidents and Counsellors of the Parliament as men distrusted and disaffected were ill used by the Catholick Kings Ambassadors and by the Garison of Italians Walloons and Spaniards which depended on them so that they not only heard proud threats and opprobrious speeches against themselves to their very faces with often mentioning the name of Brisson but their Servants and Caterers were abused in the Markets by the Souldiers even to the violent taking away from them whatsoever they bought for which they having often complained to the Duke of Mayenne had not gotten any remedy but only perswasions to be patient but at last from this long sufferance they turned to fury which wakening mens minds as it was wont had made them see how near they were to the hated servitude of strangers and how much better it was to secure their own fortune with the stronger party and free themselves at last from anguish and trouble wherefore it was not hard to draw them to the opinion of the rest and bring them to consent to submit the City to the Kings obedience Things being thus setled within and the Governour thinking himself to be in such a condition as to dispose of the people his own way began to treat with the King by means of the Count de la Rochepâ—t with whom he had an exceeding near affinity and friendship and being come from the beginnings of a Treaty to agree upon the conditions the Count de Schomberg Monsieur de Bellieure and the President de Thou were employed in the business who within a few days concluded what was to be done as well to satisfie the Count de Brissac as to gain the City without tumult or bloodshed and finally the Count himself having conferred in the Field with the Sieur de St. Luc who had married one of his Sisters under pretence of treating about her Portion about which they had been long in suit it was jointly agreed upon That in the City of Paris the Fauxbourgs thereof and ten mile round about there should be no publick exercise permitted save of the Roman Catholick Religion according to all the Edicts of former Kings That the King should give a general pardon to all of what state or condition soever that had in word or deed upheld and fomented the League stirr'd up the people to sedition spoken evil of his person written or printed against him thrown down or despised his Royal Arms or the Arms of the Kings his Predecessors or that were guilty in any kind whatsoever of the past seditions excepting those that had traiterously conspired against his Person or that were accessary to the murther of the late King That the goods and persons of the Citizens should be free from violence and plunder all the Priviledges Prerogatives and Immunities confirmed and kept in the same degree they were wont to be in the times of former Kings That all Places Offices and Benefices into which the Duke of Mayenne had put men when they were vacant by death as well within the Parliament as without should be confirmed unto the same persons but with an obligation to take new Patents from the King That all the present Magistrates of the City should be confirmed if they would submit themselves to the Kings obedience That every Citizen that would not stay in the City might have free liberty to depart and without further leave carry away his goods That the Cardinal-Legat Cardinal Pellevé and all the Prelats with their Servants might with their goods and furniture freely stay or go how and when they thought it seasonable That the Princesses and Ladies that were in the City might stay or go in like manner with full liberty and security That the Spanish Ambassadors with their attendants goods and families might also have Pass-ports and Safe-conducts from the King to go securely whither they pleased That the Souldiers of the Garison French and strangers of any Nation soever
not only by descent being of the same Blood which that people were used for many Ages past to obey but in vertue also being singularly valiant and most deeply wise in the Government of affairs consenting that to his posterity should descend the same power and the same name until a legitimate descendent of his failing the right should return to the people of chusing a new Lord. But because Authority without limitation commonly converts it self into destructive licentiousness at the same time that they elected their King they would establish certain Laws which were to remain perpetual and immutable in all times and in which should be comprehended in brief the general consent as well in the succession of the Kings as in every other part of the future Government These Laws proposed by their Priests which were anciently denominated Salii and decreed of in the fields which from the river Sala take the same name were called Saliqâ—e Laws and after the establishment of the Kingdom original and fundamental Constitutions After this principal foundation all other things resolved on that were necessary for the present Government and advantageous to the design in hand having passed the Rhine under the conduct of their first King Pharamond they betook themselves to the conquest of the Gallia's about the year of our Salvation Four hundred and nineteen leaving the Dominion of Franconia to the old Prince Marcomir The Gallia's were as yet possessed by the Roman Emperours but much declined from their first strength and greatness partly through Civil dissentions partly through the incursions of divers barbarous Nations by whose fury they had been long time much wasted and spoiled which was the cause that the Franks Army found much less difficulty in their conquest than the Romans did formerly Nevertheless they were not subdued without great resistance and much time spent For the Roman Legions appointed to guard that Province being joined for their own defence with the Gauls themselves held the first King Pharamond at a bay till his end drawing near he left the care of the whole enterprize and of the people to his son Clodian This man of a fierce courage in the first flower of his age having many times fought with the inhabitants of the Country and having overcome and driven out the Roman forces began to master that part of Gallia which lying nearest to the Rhine is by common consent of Writers called Belgica To him succeeded Meroue whether brother or son to Clodian is not certain but out of doubt nearest to him and of the same race conformable to the Salique Law He with happy success advancing into Gallia-Celtica propagated the Empire of the Franks as far as to the City of Paris And now thinking he had gotten enough to mainâ—ain his people and to form a compleat moderate Empire stayed the course of his Conquests and having conceived thoughts of peace joined both Nations under the same name and with moderate Laws and a peaceful kind of rule founded and established in the Gallia's the Kingdom of the French This was the first original and foundation-stone of that Monarchy in which as the descent of their Kings hath ever constantly remained in the same Progeny so in all Ages the first rules of Government have been most religiously observed neither power of Command nor authority of Laws losing any thing through time of their first observation and ancient splendor Those Laws ordained in the beginning by the universal consent of all the people exclude the Female Sex from the Royal Succession and admit only to the inheritance of the Crown the nearest Males by which means the Empire of that Nation by a continued and uninterrupted Succession always remaineth in the same Blood From the disposition of this Law the Princes of the Blood derive their name and priviledges for being all capable through default of the next heir in their order to succeed to the Crown they have in that consideration great interest in the State and the priviledges of their families preserved with great reverence from the people no time nor distance of degrees prejudicing the conservation of that order which Nature prescribes them to the Succession of the Kingdom For which cause though in the course of time divers families through sundry accidents have changed their names as some have taken the sirname of Valois others of Bourbon others of Orleans others of Angolesme others of Vendosme others of Alanson and others of Montpensier yet for all that they have not lost the trace of their Royal Consanguinity nor the right of succeeding to the Crown but the pre-eminencies of their Blood and the same priviledges are ever from time to time preserved to all And because it is evident how much they are all concerned in the custody and preservation of so great an inheritance of which they are all successively capable it hath therefore ever been a custom that the next of Blood should be Guardian to the Pupils and Governour of the Kingdom during the minority or absence of the lawful King Reason willing that the Government should not be committed to strangers or those altogether Aliens who might endeavour to destroy and dismember the Union of so noble a Body but to such who born of the same stock ought in reason to attend the preservation of the Crown as their own birth-right Nor is this Prerogative a custom only but the States-General of the Kingdom which Assembly hath the power of the whole Nation having often confirmed it with their consent and ordered it to be so it is since become as a decreed Law and a firm established Constitution The Royal House then enjoys two Pre-eminencies the one in matter of Inheritanee the other of Administration that when any King dies without male-children this when the absence or minority of the Prince requires some other person for the Government and management of the State These two Priviledges that are always inherent in those of the Royal Line have been a cause that the Princes of the Blood have ever held a great authority with the people and had a great part in the Government of the Kingdom For they themselves have ever been very vigilant in the administration of the Empire which they esteemed reasonably enough as their own and the people conceiving the Government might at some time or other fall into their hands have ever had them in great veneration and so much the rather because it hath often been found by experience that the eldest Line failing the Crown hath been devolved upon the younger family So the Regal Authority having an orderly succession in the race of Meroâ—es afterwards in the family of Carolins and lastly in that of the Capetts after many Ages Lewis the Ninth of that name possessed the Kingdom He who for innocency of life and integrity of manners was after his death deservedly written in the Kalendar of Saints Of him were born two sons Philip the