the younger brothers of England would think the contrary To conclude this generall discourse of the Normans I dare say it is as happy a Country as most in Europe were it subject to the same Kings and governed by the same Laws which it gave unto England CHAP. II. Dieppe the Town strength and importance of it The policy of Henry IV. not seconded by his Son The custome of the English Kings in placing Governours in their Forts The breaden God there and strength of the Religion Our passage from Dieppe to Roven The Norman Innes Women and Manners The importunity of servants in hosteries The sawcie familiarity of the attendants Ad pileum vocare what it was amongst the Romans Jus pileorum in the Universities of England c. JUne the 30. at 6 of the clock in the morning we landed at Dieppe one of the Haven-towns of Normandy seated on an arme of the Sea between two hils which embrace it in the nature of a Bay This secureth the Haven from the violence of the weather and is a great strength to the Town against the attempts of any forces which should assault it by Sea The Town lying within these mountains almost a quarter of a mile up the channell The Town it self is not uncomely the streets large and wel paved the houses of an indifferent height and built upright without any jettings out of one part over the other The Fortifications they say for we were not permitted to see them are very good and modern without stone within earth on the top of the hill a Castle finely seated both to defend the Town and on occasions to command it The Garrison consisteth of 60 men in pay no more but when need requireth the Captain hath authority to arme the Inhabitants The present Governour is the Duke of Longueville who also is the Governour of the province entrusted with both those charges by Lewis XIII anno 1619. An action in which he swarved somewhat from the example of his father who never committed the military command of a Countrey which is the office of the Governour and the custody of a Town of war or a Fortresse unto one man The Duke of Biron might hope as great a curtesie from that King as the most deserving of his Subjects He had stuck close to him in all his adversities received many an honourable scar in his service and indeed was both Fabius and Scipio the Sword and Buckler of the French empire In a word he might have said to this Henry what Silius in Tacitus did to Tiberius Suum militem in obsequio mansisse cum alii ad seditiones prolaberentur neque duraturum Tiberii imperium si iis quoque legionibus cupido novandi fuisset yet when he became petitioner to the King for the Citadell of Burg seated on the confines of his government of Bourgogne the King denied it The reason was because Governours of Provinces which command in chief ought not to have the command of Places and Fortresses within their Government There was also another reason more enforcing which was that the Petitioner was suspected to hold intelligence with the Duke of Savoy whose Town it was The same Henry though he loved the Duke of Espernon even to the envy of the Court yet even to him also he used the same caution Therefore when he had made him Governor of Xainroigne and Angoulmois he put also into his hands the Towns of Metz and Boulogne places so remote from the seat of his Government and so distant one from another that they did rather distract his power then increase it The Kings of England have been well and for a long time versed in this maxime of estate Let Kent be one of our examples and Hampshire the other In Kent at this time the Lieutenant or as the French would call him the Governor is the Earl of Mountgomerie yet is Dover Castle in the hands of the Duke of Buckhingham and that of Quinborough in the custody of Sir Edward Hobby of which the one commandeth the Sea and the other the Thames and the Medway In Hampshire the Lieutenant is the Earl of South-Hampton but the government of the Town and Garrison of Portesmouth is entrusted to the Earl of Pembroke neither is there any of the leâ—st Sconces or Blockhouses on the shore-side of that Countrey which is commanded by the Lieutenant But King Lewis now reigning in France minded not his Fathers action when at the same time also he made his confident Mr. Luines Governor of Picardie and of the Town and Citadell of Amiens The time ensuing gave him a sight of this State-breach For when the Dukes of Espernon Vendosme Longueville Mayenne and Nemours the Count of Soisons and others sided with the Queen Mother against the King the Duke of Longueville strengthned this Dieppe and had not Peace suddenly followed would have made it good maugre the Kings forces A Town it is of great importance King Henry IV. using it as his Asylum or City of refuge when the league was hottest against him For had he been further distressed from hence might he have made an escape into England and in at this door was the entance made for those English forces which gave him the first step to his throne The Town hath been pillaged and taken by our Richard the first in his war against Philip Augustus and in the declining of our affaires in France it was nine monthes together besieged by the Duke of York but with that successe which commonly attendeth a falling Empire The number of the Inhabitants is about 30000 whereof 9000 and upwards are of the Reformation and are allowed them for the exercise of their religion the Church of Arques a Village some two miles distant the remainders are Papists In this Town I met with the first Idolatry which ever I yet saw more then in my Books Quos antea audiebam hodie vidi Deos as a barbarous German in Vellejus said to Tiberius The Gods of Rome which before I only heard of I now saw and might have worshipped It was the Hoaste as they call it or the Sacrament reserved carryed by a couple of Priests under a Canopie ushered by two or three torches and attended by a company of boyes and old people which had no other imployment Before it went a Bell continually tinkling at the sound whereof all such as are in their houses being warned that then their God goeth by them make some shew of reverence those which meet it in the street with bended knees and elevated hands doing it honour The Protestants of this Bell make an use more religious and use it as a warning or watch-peal to avoid that stâ—eet through which they hear it coming This invention of the Bell hath somewhat in it of Tureisme it being the custome there at their Canonicall houres when they hear the criers bawling in the steeples to fall prostrate on the ground wheresoever they are and kisse it thrice so doing their
for above 70 years been troubled with a blindnesse in the eyes of his soul Thou fool said our Saviour almost in the like case first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye The next morning July 3 I left my pilgrims to try their fortunes and went on in our journey to Paris which that day we were to visite My eyes not permitting me to read and my eares altogether strangers to the French chat drave my thoughts back to Roven and there nothing so much possessed me as the small honour done to Bedford in his monument I had leasure enough to provide him a longer Epitaph and a shorter apologie against the envie of that Courtier which perswaded Charles the VIII to deface the ruines of his Sepulchre Thus. Sa did the Fox the coward'st of the heard Kick the dead Lyon and profane his beard So did the Greeks about their vanquisht host Drag Hectors reliques and torment his ghost So did the Parthian slaves deride the head Of the great Crassus now betrayed and dead To whose victorious sword not lâ—ng before They would have sacrific'd their lives or more So do the French assault dead Bedfords spright And trample on his ashes in despight But foolish Curio cease and do not blame So small an honor done unto his name Why grievest thou him a Sepulchre to have Who when he liv'd could make all France a grave His sword triumph'd through all those Towns which lie In th' Isle Maine Anjoy Guyen Normandie Thy father 's felt it Oh! thou worst of men If man thou art do not endevour then This Conquerour from his last hold to thrust Whom all brave minds should honour in his dust But be not troubled Bedford thou shalt stand Above the reach of malice though the hand Of a French basenesse may deface thy name And tear it from thy marble yet shall fame Speak loudly of thee and thy acts Thy praise A Pyramis unto it self shall raise Thy brave atchievements in the times to come Shall be a monument above a Tombe Thy name shall be thy Epitaph and he Which once reads Bedford shall imagin thee Beyond the power of Verses and shall say None could expresse thy worthes a fuller way Rest thou then quiet in the shades of night Nor vex thy self with Curio's weaker spite Whilest France remains and Histories are writ Bedford shall live and France shall Chronicl ' it Having offered this unworthy yet gratefull sacrifice to the Manes of that brave Heros I had the more leasure to behold Mante and the Vines about it being the first that ever I saw They are planted like our Hop-gardens and grow up by the helpe of poles but not so high They are kept with little câ—st and yeeld profit to an husbandman sufficient to make him rich had he neither King nor Landlord The Wine which is pressed out of them is harsh and not pleasing as much differing in sweetnesse from the Wines of Paris or Orleans as their language doth in elegancy The rest of the Norman wines which are not very frequent as growing only on the frontiers towards France are of the same quality As for the Town of Maâ—â—e it seemeth to have been of good strength before the use of great Ordinances having a wall a competent ditch and at every gate a draw-bridge They are still sufficient to guard their Pullen from the Fox and in the night times to secure their houses from any forain burglary Once indeed they were able to make resistance to a King of France but the English were then within it At last on honorable termes it yeelded and was entred by Charles VII the second of August anno 1449. The Town is for building and bignesse somewhat above the better sort of Market Towns here in England The last Town of Normandy toward Paris is Pontoyse a Town well fortifyed as being a borderer and one of the strongest bulwarks against France It hath in it two fair Abbies of Maubuissen and St. Martin and six Churches Parochiall whereof that of Nostre dame in the Suburbs is the most beautifull The name it derives from a bridge built over the river of Oyse on which it is situate and by which on that side it is well defended the bridge being strengthned with a strong gate and two draw-bridges It is commodiously situate on the rising of an hill and is famous for the siege laid before it bâ— Charles VII anno 1442. but more fortunate unto him in the taking of it For having raised his Army upon the Duke of Yorks coming to give him battail with 6000 only the French Army consisting of double the number he retired or fled rather unto St. Denis but there hearing how scandalous his retreat was to the Parisians even ready to mutiny and that the Duke of Orleans and others of the Princes stirred with the ignominiousnesse of his flight began to practise against him he speedily returned to Pontoyse and maketh himself master of it by assault Certainly to that fright he owed the getting of this Town and all Normandy the French by that door making their entrie unto this Province out of which at last they thrust the English anno 1450. So desperate a thing is a frighted coward This Countrey had once before been in pâ—ssession of the English and that by a firmer title then the sword William the Conqueror had conveiâ—d it over the Sâ—â—s into England and it continued an Appendix of that Crown from the year 1067 unto that of 1204. At that time John called Sans terre third son unto King Henry II. having usurped the estates of England and the English possessions in France upâ—n Aâ—thur heir of Bretagne and son unto Geofry his elder brother was warred on by Philip Augustus King of France who sided with the said Arthur In the end Arthur was taken and not long after was found dead in the ditches of the Castle of Roven Whether this violent death happened unto him by the practise of his Uncle as the French say or that the young Prince came to that unfortunate end in an attempt to escape as the English report is not yet determined For my part considering the other carriages and virulencies of that King I dare be of that opinion that the death of Arthur was not without his contrivement Certainly he that rebelled against his Father and practised the eternall imprisonment and ruine of his Brother would not much stick this being so speedy a way to settle his affaires at the murder of a Nephew Upon the first bruit of this murder Constance mother to the young Prince complaineth unto the King and Parliament of France not the Court which now is in force consisting of men only of the long robe but the Court of the Pâ—iâ—rie or 12 Peeres whereof King John himself was one as Duke of Normandy I see not how in justice Philip could do lesse then summon him an
the later French writers for those of the former age savour too much of the Legend make her to be a lusty Lasse of Lorrein trained up by the Bastard of Orleans and the Seigneur of Baudricourte only for this service And that she might carry with her the reputation of a Prophetesse and an Ambassadresse from heaven admit this and farewell witchcraft And for the sentence of her condemnation and the confirmation of it by the Divines and University of Paris it is with me of no moment being composed only to humour the Victor If this could sway me I had more reason to incline to the other party for when Charles had setled his estate the same men who had condemned her of sorcery absolved her and there was also added in defence of her innocency a Decree from the Court of Rome Joane then with me shall inherit the title of La pucille d' Orleans with me she shall be ranked amongst the famous Captains of her times and be placed in the same throne equall with the valiantest of all her sexe in time before her Let those whom partiality hath wrested aside from the path of truth proclaim her for a sorceresse for my part I will not flatter my best fortunes of my Countrey to the prejudice of a truth neither will I ever be enduced to think of this female warrier otherwise then of a noble Captain Audetque viris concurrere virgo Penthesilea did it Why not she Without the stain of spels and sorcerie Why should those acts in her be counted sin Which in the other have commended bin Nor is it fit that France should be deni'd This female souldier sinâ—e all Realms beside Have had the honour of one and relate How much that sexe hath re-enforc'd the state Of their decaying strengths Let Scythia spare To speak of Tomyris th' Assyrians care Shall be no more to hear the deeds recited Of Ninus wife Nor are the Dutch delighted To hear their Valleda extoll'd the name Of this French warrier hath eclips'd their fame And silenc'd their atchievements Let the praise That 's due to vertue wait upon her Raise An obelisque unto her you of Gaule And let her acts live in the mouthes of all Speak boldly of her and of her alone That never Lady was as good as Jone She died a virgin 't was because the earth Held not a man whose vertues or whose birth Might merit such a blessing But above The gods provided her a fitting love And gave her to St. Denis shee with him Protects the Lillies and their Diadem You then about whose armies she doth watch Give her the honour due unto her match And when in field your standards you advance Cry loud St. Denis and St. Jone for France CHAP. III. The study of the Civill Law revived in Europe The dead time of learning The Schools of Law in Orleans The oeconomie of them The Chancellour of Oxford antiently appointed by the Diocesan Their methode here and prodigality in bestowing degrees Orleans a great conflux of strangers The language there The Corporation of Germans there Their house and priviledges Dutch and Latine The difference between an Academie and an University I Have now done with the Town and City of Orleans and am come unto the University or Schools of Law which are in it this being one of the first places in which the study of the Civill Lawes was revived in Europe For immediately after the death of Justinian who out of no lesse then 2000 volumes of law-writers had collected that bodie of the Imperiall Lawes which we now call the Digests or the Pandects the study of them grew neglected in these Western parts nor did any for a long time professe or read them the reason was because Italy France Spain England and Germany having received new Lords over them as the Franks Lombards Saxons Saracens and others were fain to submit themselves to their Laws It happened afterwards that Lotharius Saxo the Emperour wh 〈…〉 gan his reign anno 1126. being 560 years after the death of Justinian having taken the City of Melphy in Naples found there an old copy of the Pandects This he gave to the Pisans his confederates as a most reverend relick of Learning and Antiquity whence it is called Littera Pisana Moreover he founded the University of Bologne or Bononia ordering the Civill Law to be profest there one Wirner being the first Professor upon whose advice the said Emperor ordained that Bononia should be Legum juris Schola una sola and here was the first time and place of that study in the Western Empire But it was not the fate only of the Civill Laws to be thus neglected All other parts of learning both Arts and languages were in the same desperate estates the Poets exclamation of O saeclum insipiens infacetum never being so applyable as in those times For it is with the knowledge of good letters as it was with the effects of nature they have times of groweth alike of perfection and of death Like the sea it hath its ebbs as well as its flouds and like the earth it hath its Winter wherein the seeds of it are deaded and bound up as well as a Spring wherein it reflourisheth Thus the learning of the Greeks lay forgotten and lost in Europe for 700 years even untill Emanuel Chrysolaras taught it at Venice being driven out of his Countrey by the Turks Thus the Philosophy of Aristotle lay hidden in the moath of dust and libraries Et nominabatur potius quod legebatur as Ludovicus Vives observeth in his notes upon St. Austine untill the time of Alexander Aphrodiseus And thus also lay the elegancies of the Roman tongue obscured till that Erasmus More and Reuchlyn in the severall Kingdomes of Germany England and France endeavoured the restauration of it But to return to the Civill Law After the foundation of the University of Bologne it pleased Philip le bel King of France to found another here at Orleans for the same purpose anno 1312. which was the first School of that profession on this side the mountains This is evident by the Bull of Clement V. dated at Lyons in the year 1367. where he giveth it this title Fructiferum universitatis Aurelianensts intra caetera citramontana studia prius solennius antiquius tam civilis quam Canonicae facultatis studium At the first there were instituted eight Professors now they are reduced to four only the reason of this decrease being the increase of Universities The place in which they read their Lectures is called Les grand escoles and part of the City La Universite neither of which attributes it can any way remit Colledge they have none either to lodge the students or entertain the Professors the former sojourning in divers places of the Town these last in their severall houses As for their place of reading which they call Les grans escoles it is only an old barn converted into a School by the
eight Sols daily The Governor of them is the Duke of Chaune who is also the Lieutenant or Deputy Governour of the whole Province under the Constable their Captain Mr. Le Noyre said to be a man of good experience and worthy his place This Citadel was built by Henry 4. as soon as he had recovered the Town from the Spaniards anno 1597. It is seated on the lower part of the City though somewhat on the advantage of an hill and seemeth in mine opinion better situate to command the Town then to defend it or rather to recover the Town being taken then to save it from taking They who have seen it and know the arts of fortification report it to be impregnable Quod nec Joâ—is ira nec ignâ—s Nec poterit ferrum nec edax abolere vetustas Nor am I able to contradict it For besides that it is a skill beyond my profession we were not permitted to come within it or to take a survey of it but at a distance As soon as we approached high unto it one of the Garrison proffes'd us the Musket a sufficient warning not to be too venturous So that all which I could observe was this that they had within themselves good plenty of earth to make their Gabions and repair their breaches With the same jealousie also are the rest of the Forts and Towns of importance guarded in this and other Countreys no people that ever I heard being so open in shewing their places of strength and safety unto strangers as the English For a dozen of Ale a foreiner may pace over the curtain of Portsmouth and measure every stone and bulwark of it For a shilling more he shall see their provision of powder and other munition And when that is done if he will he shall walk the round too A French crown sathometh the wals of Dover Castle and for a pinte of wine one may see the nakednesse of the blockhouses at Gravesend A negligence which may one day cost us dearly though we now think it not For what else do we in it but commit that prodigall folly for which Pltarch condemned Pericles that is to break open all the palâ—s and inclosures of our land to the end that every man might come in freely and take away our fruit at his pleasure Jealousie though a vice in a man towards his wife is yet one of the safest vertues in a Governor towards his fortresse and therefore I could wish that an English man would in this particular borrow a little of the Italian Besides these souldiers which are continually in garrison for the defence of the Citadell there are also 300 which keep watch every night for the defence of the City The watchmen receive no pay of the King but discharge that duty amongst themselves and in turns every house finding one for that service twelve nights in the year The weapons which they use are pikes only and muskets there being not one piece of Ordinance all about the Town or on the wals of it The Governor of this Town as it hath reference to the King is a Bailly who hath belonging to him all the authority which belongeth to a siege Presâ—dial Under him he hath a Lieutenant generall and particular seven Counsellors a publick Notary and other inferior Officers and Magistrates As it is a Corporation the chief Governor of it is a Maior and next to him the Eâ—sohevins or Sheriffs as protectors of the inhabitants and their liberties besides those of the Common-councell Another circumstance there is which 〈◊〉 this Town of Amiens which is that it is a Visdamate or that it giveth honour to one of the Nobility who is called the Visdame of Amiens This title at this time belongeth to the Duke of Chaune Governor of the Ciâ—adell together with the Lordship of Piquigni both which he obtained by marrying the daughter and heir of the last Visdame of Amiens and Lord of Piquigni anno 1619. A marriage which much advanced his fortunes and which was compassed for him by the Constable Luynes his brother who also obtained for him of the King the title of Duke his highest attribute before being that of Mr. de Cadinet by which name he was known here in England at such time when he was sent extraordinary Embassador to King James This honour of Visdame is for ought I could ever see used only in France True it is that in some old English Charters we meet with this title of Vice-dominus As in the Charter of King Edred to the Abbey of Crowland in Lincolnshire dated in the year 948. there is there subscribed Ego Ingulph Vice-dominus but with us and at those times this title was only used to denote a subordination to some superior Lord and not as an honorary attribute in which sense it is now used in France Besides that with us it was frequently though falsly used for Vice comes Between which two offices of a Vicount and a Visdame there are found no small resemblances For as they which did gerere vicem Comitis were called Vicecomites or Vicounts so were they also called Vidames or Vicedomini qui domini episcopi vicem gerebant in temporalibus And as Vicounts from officers of the Earls became honorary so did the Vidames disclaim their relation to the Bishop and became Signieural or honorary also The Vidames then according to their first institution were the substitutes of the greater Bishops in matter of secular administration for which cause though they have altered their tenure they take all of them their denomination from the chieftown of some Bishoprick Neither is there any of them who holdeth not of some Bishoprick or other Concerning the number of them that are thus dignified I cannot determine Mr. Glover otherwise alled Somerset Herald in his Discourse of Nobility published by Mr. Milles of Canterbury putteth it down for absolute that here are four only viz. of Amiens of Chartres of Chalons and of Gerberey in Beauvais but in this he hath deceived both himself and his readers there being besides those divers others as of Rheimes Mans and the like But the particular and exact number of them together with the place denominating I leave to the French Heralds unto whose profession it principally belongeth CHAP. III. The Church of Nostre Dame in Amiens The principal Churches in most Cities called by her name More honour performed to her then to her Saviour The surpassing beauty of this Church on the cut-side The front of it King Henry the sevenths Chappel at Westminster The curiousnesse of this Church within By what means it became to be so The sumptuous masking closets in it The excellency of perspective works Indulgences by whom first founded The estate of the Bishoprick THere is yet one thing which addeth more lustre to the City of Amiens then either the Vidamate or the Citadel which is the Church of Nostre Dame A name by which most of the principal Churches are known in France There have
ease of the Countrey though now it prove one of the greatest burdens unto it In former times the Kings Souldiers lay all upon the charge of the Villages the poor people being â—ain to finde them diet lodging and all necessaries for themselves their horses and the harlots which they brought with them If they were not well pleased with their entertainment they used commonly to beat their Host abuse his family and rob him of that small provision which he had laid up for his children and all this Cum privilegio Thus did they move from one Village to another and at the last again returned to them from whence they came Ita ut non sit ibi villula una expers calamitatis istius quae non semel aut bis in anno hac nefanda pressura depiletur as Sir John â—ortescue observed in his time To redresse this mischief King Henry II. anno 1549. raised this imposition called the Taillon The Pancarte comprehendeth in it divers particular Imposts but especially the Sol upon the Livre that is the twentieth penny of all things bought or sold Corne Sallets and the like only excepted Upon wine besides the Sol upon the Livre he hath his severall Customes of the entrance of it into any of his Cities passages by Land Sea or Rivers To these Charles the IX anno 1461. added a Tax of five Sols upon every Muye which is the third part of a Tun and yet when all this is done the poor Vintner payeth unto the King the eight penny he takes for that Wine which he selleth In this Pancarâ—e is also contained the Haut passage which are the Tolles paid unto the King for passage of Men and Cattell over his bridges and his City gates as also for all such commodities as they bring with them a good round sum considering the largenesse of the Kingdome the through-fare of Lyons being farmed yearly of the King for 100000 Crowns Hereunto belong also the Aides which are a Tax of the Sol also in the Livre upon all sorts of Fruits Provision Wares and Merchandise granted first unto Charles Duke of Normandy when John his father was Prisoner in England and since made perpetuall For such is the lamentable fate of this Countrey that their kindnesses are made duty and those moneys which they once grant out of love are always after exacted of them and payed out of necessity The Bedroll of all these impositions and Taxes is called the Pancarte because it was hanged in a frame like as the Officers fees are in our Diocesan Courts the word Pan signifying a frame or a pane of Wainscot These Impositions time and custome hath now made tolerable though at first they seemed very burdensome and moved many Cities to murmuring some to rebellion amongst others the City of Paris proud of her antient liberties and immunities refused to admit of it This indignity so incensed Charles the VI. their King then young and in hot bloud that he seized into his hands all their priviledges took from them their Provost des Merchands and the Esâ—bâ—vins as also the Keyes of their gates and the Chaines of their streets and making through the whole Town such a face of mourning that one might justly have said Haec facies Trojae cum caperetur erat This hapned in the year 1383. and was for five years together continued which time being expired and other Cities warned by that example the Imposition was established and the priviledges restored For the better regulating of the Profits arising from these Imposts the French King erected a Court called Le Cour des Aides it consisted at the first of the Generals of the Aides and of any four of the Lords of the Councell whom they would call to their assistance Afterwards Charles the V. anno 1380 or thereabouts setled it in Paris and caused it to be numbred as one of the Soveraign Courts Lewis the XI dissolved it and committed the managing of his Aids to his houshold servants as loath to have any publick officers take notice how he fleeced his people Anno 1464. it was restored again And finally Henry II. anno 1551. added to it a second Chamber composed of two Presidents and eight Counsellours one of which Presidents named Mr. Chevalier is said to be the best monied man of all France There are also others of these Courts in the Countrey as one at Roven one at Montferrant in Avergne one at Burdeaux and another at Montpelier established by Charles VII anno 1437 For the levying and gathering up of these Taxes you must know that the whole Countrey of France is divided into 21 Generalities or Counties as it were and those again into divers Eslectiones which are much like our Hundreds In every of the Generalities there are 10 or 12 Treasurers 9 Receivers for the generalty and as many Comptollers and in the particular Eslectiones eight Receivers and as many Comptrollers besides all under-officers which are thought to amount in all to 30000 men When then the King levyeth his Taxes he sendeth his Letters Patents to the principall Officers of every Generalty whom they call Les Genereaux des Aides and they dispatch their Warrant to the Esleus or Commissioners These taxing every one of the Parishes and Villages within their severall divisions at a certain rate send their receivers to collect it who give account for it to their Comptrollers By them it ascendeth to the Esleus from him to the Receiver generall of that Generalty next to the Comptroller then to the Treasurer afterwards to the Generall des Aides and so Per varios casus tot discrimina rerum Tendimus ad Latium By all these hands it is at last conveyed into the Kings purse in which severall passages Necesse est ut aliquid haereat it cannot be but that it must have many a shrewd snatch In so much that I was told by a Gentleman of good credence in France that there could not be gathered by the severall exactions above specified and other devises of prowling which I have omitted lesse then 85 millions a year whereof the King receiveth 15 only A report not altogether to be slighted considering the President of the Court of Accomptes made it evident to the Assembly at Bloys in the time of King Henry IV. that by the time that every one of the Officers had his share of it there came not to the Kings Coffers one teston which is 1 s. 2 d. of a Crown so that by reckoning 5 testons to a Crown or Escu as it is but 2 d. over these Officers must collect five times the money which they pay the King which amounteth to 75 millions and is not much short of that proportion which before I spake of The Kings Revenues then notwithstanding this infinite oppression of his people amounteth to 15 millions some would have it 18. which is a good improvement in respect of what they were in times asore Lewis the XI as good a husband of
to Priories and Abbies within this Realm whereby the treasures of the Realm were transported and the counsels of the King and the secrets of the Realm disclosed unto the Kings enemies to the great damage of the King and of the Realm that therefore all Priors Aliens and other French men beneficed should avoid the Realm except only Priors Conventuals such as have institution and induction and this also with a Proviso that they be Catholick and give sufficient surety that they shall not disclose the counsels of the King or of the Realm so the Statute 1 Hen 5. cap. 7. This also noted to us by Pol. Virgil ad Reip. commodum sancâ—tum est ut post haec ejusmodi externis hominibus nullius Anglicani sacerdotii possessio traderetur Upon which point of statute the Britons belonging to the Queen Dowager the widow once of John de Montfort Duke of Bretagne were also expelled the Land by Act of Parliament 3 Hen. 5. cap. 3. By this means the Priors Aliens being banished their possessions fell into the Kings hands as in England so also in these Islands and their houses being all suppressed they became an accession to the patrimony Royall the demaine as our Lawyers call it of the Crown These Priors Aliens thus exiled were properly called Priors Dative and removeable but never such Aliens never so removeable as they were now made by this Statute What the condition of these Priors was and wherein they differed from those which are called above by the name of Priors Conventuals I cannot better tell then in the words of an other of our Statutes that namely of the 27 of Hen. 8. cap. The Parliament had given unto the King all Abbies Priories and Religious houses whatsoever not being above the value 200 l. in the old rent Provided alwayes saith the letter of the Law that this Act c. shall not extend nor be prejudiciall to any Abbots or Priors of any Monastery or Priory c. for or concerning such Cels of Religious houses appertaining or belonging to their Monasteries or Priories in which Cels the Priors or other chief Governours thereof be under the obedience of the Abbots or Priors to whom such Cels belong As the Monke or Canons of the Covent of their Monasteries or Priories and cannot be sued by the Lawes of this Realm or by their own proper names for the possessions or other things appertaining to such Cels whereof they be Priors and Governors but must sue and be sued in and by the names of the Abbots and Priors to whom they be now obedient and to whom such Cels belong and be also Priors or Governours dative or removeable from time to time and accomptez of the profits of such Cels at the only will and pleasure of such of the Abbots and Priors to whom such Cels belong c. This once the difference between them but now the criticisme may be thought unnecessary To proceed upon this suppression of the Priors and others the Religious houses in these Islands and their Revenue falling unto the Crown there grew a composition between the Curates and the Governours about their tithes which hath continued hitherto unaltered except in the addition of the Deserts of which more hereafter Which composition in the proportion of tithe unto which it doth amount I here present unto your Lordship in a brief Diagramme together with the the names of their Ministers and Justices now beng JARSEY Parishes Ministers Revenues Justices St. Martins Mr. Bandinell sen the Dean The 3 of the kings tithe Josuah de Carteret Seign de Trinite St. Hilaries Mr. Oliver the Sub-dean or Commissary The 10 of the kings tithe Dan du Maresque seign de Sammarez St. Saviours Mr. Effart The Deserts and 22 acres of Gleb Ph. L' Empriere Sr. de Delament St. Clements Mr. Paris The 8 and 9 of the kings tithe Ph. de Carletet Sr. de Vinchiles de haut St. Grovilles Mr. de la Place The 8 and 9 c. Eli. du Maresque Sr. de Vinchiles abas St. Trinities Mr. Molles The Deserts and the 10 of the kings tithe Eli. de Carteret Sr. de la Hagne St. Johns Mr. Brevin The Deserts c. Joh. L' Empriere Sr. des au grace S. Lawrences Mr. Prinde The Deserts c. Aron Messervie St. Maries Mr. Blandivell jun. The 3 sheaf of the Kings tithe Ben. la cloche Sr. de Longueville St. Owens Mr. La cloche The Deserts c. Jo. Harde St. Burlads  The 8 and 9 c. Abr. Herod St. Peters Mr. Grueby The Deserts c. Ph. Marret Note that the taking of the 8 and 9 sheafe is called French querrui as also that an acre of their measure is 40 Perches long and one in breadth every Perche being 21 foot GUERNZEY Parishes Ministers Revenues Justices St. Peters on the Sea M. de la March The 7 of tithe and champarte Tho. Andrewes Sr. de Sammarez St. Martins Mr. de la Place The like Pet. Carey sen La Forest Mr. Picote The 9 of tithe and champarte John Fautrat Sr. â—de Coq Tortevall Mr. Fautrat The 3 of tithe and champarte Joh. Bonamy S. Andrews The 4 of c. Joh. Ketville St. Peters in the Wood. Mr. Perchard The 3 of the tithe only James Guile Sr. des Rohais St. Saviours  The Desert and the tenths in all 600 sheafes Tho. Blundell Chastell Mr. Panisee The 9 of the tithe only Pet. de Beauvoyre Sr. des Granges St. Mich. St. Michael in the vale Mr. Millet The 4 of the Kings tithe only Pet. Gosselin St. Sampson The like Josias Merchant Serke Mr. Brevin 20 l. stipend and 20 quarters of corn Pet. Carey jun. Alderney Mr. Mason 20 l. stipend  Note that the Parish called in this Diagram La Forest is dedicated as some say to the holy Trinity as other to St. Margaret that which is here called Tortevall as some suppose unto St. Philip others will have it to St. Martha but that of Chastell to the hand of the blessed Virgin which is therefore called in the Records our Ladies Castle Note also that the Justices or Jurates are here placed as near as I could learn according to their Seniority not as particularly appertaining to those Parishes against which they are disposed For the better understanding of this Diagram there are three words which need a commentary as being meerly Aliens to the English tongue and hardly Denizens in French Of these that in the Diagrams called the Deserts is the first A word which properly signifieth a Wildernesse or any wast ground from which ariseth little profit As it is taken at this present and on this occasion it signifieth a field which formerly was laid to waste and is now made arable The case this At the suppression of the Priors Aliens and the composition made betwixt the Curates and the Governours there was in either Island much ground of small advantage to the Church or to the
Corne and other grain with which it abundantly furnisheth Paris and hath in it more store of pasture and medow grounds then I else saw in any part of France In Vines only it is defective and that as it is thought more by the want of industry in the people then any inhability in the soil For indeed they are a people that will not labour more then they needs must standing much upon their state and distance and in the carriage of their bodies favouring a little of the Spaniard whence Picardâ—er to play the Picard is usually said of those who are lofty in their looks or gluttonous at their tables this last being also one of the symptomes of a Picard The Governor of this Province is the Duke of Les Diguieres into which office he succeeded Mr. Luynes as also he did into that of the Constable Two preferments which he purchased at a deer rate having sold or abandoned that religion to-compasse them which he had prosessed more then 60 years together an apostasie most unworthy of the man who having for so many years supported the cause of religion hath now forsaken it and thereby made himself gilty of the cowardise of M. Antonius Qui cum in desertores saevire debuerat desertor sui exertilus factus est But I fear an heavier censure waiteth upon him the crown of immortality not being promised to all those which run but to those only which hold out till the end For the present indeed he hath augmented his honours by this office which is the principall of all France He hath place and command before and over all the Peers and Princes of the bloud and at the Coronation of the French Kings ministreth the oath when he entreth a City in state or upon the â—redition of it he goeth before with the Sword naked and when the King sitteth in an assembly of the three estates he is placed at the Kings right hand He hath command over all his Majesties forces and he that killeth him is guilty of high treason He sitteth also as chief Judge at the Table of marble upon all suits actions persons and complaints whatsoever concerning the wars This Table de Marbre was wont to be continually in the great hall of the Palais at Paris from whence upon the burnning of that hall it was removed to the Louure At this table doth the Admirall of France hold his Sessions to judge of trafick prizes letters of marts piracy and businesse of the like nature At this table judgeth also Le grand Maistre des eaues et forrests we may call him the Justice in Eire of all his Majesties Forrests and waters The actions here handled are Thefts and abuses committed in the Kings Forrests Rivers Parks Fish-ponds and the like In the absence of the grand Maistre the power of sentence resteth in the Les grand Maistres Enquesteurs et generaux reformateurs who have under their command no fewer then 300 subordinate officers Here also sit the Marshals of France which are ten in number sometimes in their own power and sometimes as Assistants to the Constable under whose direction they are With us in England the Marshalship is more entire as that which besides its own jurisdiction hath now incorporated into it self most of the authority antiently belonging to the Constables which office ended in the death of Edward Lord Duke of Buckingham the last hereditary and proprietary Constable of England This office of Constable to note unto you by the way so much was first instituted by Lewis the grosse who began his reign anno 1110. and conferred on Mr. Les Diguieres on the 24 of July 1622. in the Cathedrall Church of Grenoble where he first heard Masse and where he was installed Knight of both Orders And so I leave the Constable to take a view of his Province a man at this time beloved of neither parties hated by the Protestants as an Apostata and suspected by the Papists not to be entire To proceed July the 28. we came unto Clermont the first Town of any note that we met with in Picardie a prety neat Town and finely seated on the rising of an hill For the defence of it it hath on the upper side of it an indifferent large Castle and such which were the situation of it somewhat helped by the strength of Art might be brought to do good service Towards the Town it is of an easie accesse to the fieldwards more difficult as being built on the perpendicular fall of a rock In the year 1615 it was made good by Mr. Harancourt with a Regiment of eight Companies who kept it in the name of the Prince of Conde and the rest of that confederacy but it held not long for at the Marshall D' Ancres coming before it with his Army and Artillery it was presently yeelded This war which was the second civill war which had happened in the reign of King Lewis was undertaken by the Princes chiefly to thwart the designes of the Queen mother and crush the powerfulnesse of her grand favourite the Marshall The pretence as in such cases it commonly is was the good of the Common-wealth the occasion the crosse marriages then consummated by the Marshall between the Kings of France and Spain for by those marriages they seemed to fear the augmentation of the Spaniards greatnesse the alienation of the affections of their antient allies and by consequence the ruine of the French Empire But it was not the fate of D' Anire as yet to persh Two years more of command and insolencies his destinies allow'd him and then he tumbled This opportunity of his death ending the third civill war each of which his faulty greatnesse had occasioned What the ambition of his designes did tend to I dare not absolutely determine though like enough it is that they aimed further then at a private or a personall potencie for having under the favour and countenance of the Queen mother made himself master of the Kings ear and of his Councell he made a shift to get into his own hands an authority almost as unlimited as that of the old Mayre of the Palace For he had suppressed the liberty of the generall estates and of the soveraign Courts removed all the officers and Counsellors of the last King ravished one of the Presidents of the great Chamber by name Mr. le Jay out of the Parliament into the prison and planted Garrisons of his own in most of the good Towns of Normandy of which Province he was Governour Add to this that he had caused the Prince of Conde being acknowledged the first Prince of the bloud to be imprisoned in the Bastile and had searched into the continuance of the lives of the King and his brother by the help of Sorcery and Witchcraft Besides he was suspected to have had secret intelligence with some forain Princes ill willers to the State and had disgraced some and neglected others of the Kings old confederates Certainly
to redeem him To which he answered that we had carryed our selves like Gentlemen which gave him no distrust of a reall payment that he would take if we pleased a Bill of our hands for the money to be paid in Dover and desired that we would give him leave to send over a servant in our Boat with a basket of poultery who should receive the money of us and give back our Bond. This being agreed upon the next morning we took boat for England the Mariners knowing nothing else but that the servant went over only to sell his Poultery that being an opportunity frequently indulged by them unto those of the Town though we knew well enough he went on another errand and as we could not but commend my Host for his courtesie and his care taken of our credit so we had reason to esteem our selves in a kinde of custody in that he would not let us stir without a Keeper Nor did my Host lose any thing by his kindnesse to us For we not only paid him honestly all his full demands but bestowed a reward upon his servant and sent a present of Gloves and Knives commodities much prized in France to his Wife and Daughters that he might see we knew as well how to require as receive a curtesie Which said I must step back into France again that having taken a brief view already of the Principall Provinces I may render some accompt of the Government also in reference to the Courts the Church and the Civill State The End of the Fourth Book A SURVEY OF THE STATE of FRANCE FRANCE GENERAL OR THE FIFTH BOOK Describing the Government of the Kingdom generally in reference to the Court the Church and the Civill Sate CHAP. I. A transition to the Government of France in generall The person age and marriage of King Lewis XIII Conjecturall reasons of his being issuelesse â—aqueline Countesse of Holland kept from issue by the house of Burgundy The Kings Sisters all married and his alliances by them His naturall Brethren and their preferments His lawfull brother The title of Monseiur in France Monseiur as yet unmarried not like to marry Montpensiers daughter That Lady a fit wife for the Earl of Soissons The difference between him and the Prince of Conde for the Crown in case the line of Navarre fail How the Lords stand affected in the cause Whether a child may be born in the 11 moneth King Henry IV. a great lover of fair Ladies Monseiur Barradas the Kings favorite his birth and offices The omniregency of the Queen Mother and the Cardinall of Richileiu The Queen mother a wise and prudent woman HAving thus taken a survey of these four Provinces which we may call the Abstract and Epitome of the Realm of France and having seen in them the temper humors and conditions of the people of it We will next take a generall view of the Governors and Government thereof with reference to the Court the Church and the Civill State First for the Court we must in reason in the first place begin with the person of the King without whose influence and presence the Court is but a dead â—arkasse void of life and Majesty For person he is of the middle stature and rather well proportioned then large his face knoweth little yet of a beard but that which is black and swarty his complexion also much of the same hew carrying in it a certain boisterousnesse and that in a farther measure then what a gracefull majesty can admit of so that one can hardly say of him without a spite of Courtship which Paterculus did of Tiberius Quod visus praetulerit principem that his countenance proclaimed him a King But questionlesse his greatest defect is want of utterance which is very unpleasing by reason of a desperate and uncurable stammering which defect is likely more and more to grow upon him At this time he is aged 24 years and as much as since the 27 day of last September which was his birth day an age which he beareth not very plaufible want of beard and the swarthinesse of his complexion making him seem older At the age of 11 years he was affianced to the Lady Anna Infanta of Spain by whom as yec he hath no children It is thought by many and covertly spoken by divers in France that the principall cause of the Queens barrennesse proceedeth from Spain that people being loath to fall under the French obedience which may very well happen she being the eldest Sister of the King For this cause in the seventh Article of the marriage there is a clause that neither the said Infanta nor the children born by her to the King shall be capable to inherit any of the Estates of the King of Spain And in the eight Article she is bound to make an Act of Renunciation under her own hand-writing as soon as she cometh to be 12 years old which was accordingly performed But this being not sufficient to secure their fears it is thought that she was some way or other disabled from conception before ever she came into the Kings imbraces A great crime I confesse if true yet I cannot say with Tully in his defence of Ligarius Novum Crimen Caje Caear ante hoc tempus inauditum Iaqueline Countesse of Holland was Cousen to Philip Duke of Burgundy her fruitfulnesse would have debarred him from those Estates of Holland Zâ—aland and West Friezland therefore though she had three husbands there was order taken she should never have child with her first two husbands the Duke would never suffer her to live and when she had stolen a wedding with Frane of Borselle one of her servants the Dukes Physitians gave him such a potion that she might have as well marryed an Euâ—uch upon this injury the poor Lady dyed and the Duke succeeded in those Countries which by his Grand-childe Mary were conveyed over into the house of Austria together with the rest of his estates I dare not say that that Family hath inherited his practises with his Lands and yet I have heard that the Infanta Isabella had the like or worse measure afforded her before she was bedded by the Arch Duke Albertus A Diabolicall trick which the prostitutes of the Heathen used in the beginning of the Gospell and before of whom Octavius complaineth Quod originem futuri hominis extinguant paricidium faciunt antequam pariunt Better luck then the King hath his Sister beyond the Mountains I mean his eldest Sister Madam Elizabeth marryed to the King of Spain now living as being or having been the mother of two children His second Sister Madam Christian is marryed unto Amadeo Victor principe major or heir apparent to the Duke of Savoy to whom as yet she hath born no issue The youngest Madam Henrietta Maria is newly marryed to his most Excellent Majesty of England to whom may she prove of a most happy and fruitfull womb Et pulcrâ— faciat te prole parentem