Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
england_n emperor_n king_n league_n 3,609 5 9.4892 5 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A54323 The history of Henry IV. surnamed the Great, King of France and Navarre Written originally in French, by the Bishop of Rodez, once tutor to his now most Christian Majesty; and made English by J. D.; Histoire du roy Henry le Grand. English. Péréfixe de Beaumont, Hardouin de, b. 1605.; Davies, John, 1625-1693, attributed name.; Dauncey, John, fl. 1663, attributed name. 1663 (1663) Wing P1465BA; ESTC R203134 231,946 417

There are 3 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

several Petitions of complaint against them accusing them of a great number of Exactions and Cruelties The Duke d' Espernon who without doubt sustained these Burgesses at the Court was sent by the King to accommodate this difference The Soboles who had offended him no longer trusted him they would not permit him to enter into the strongest Citadel nor let the Garison go out to meet him so that being justly incensed he envenomed the plague instead of healing it and animated the inhabitants in such a manner that they Barricadoed themselves against them The King who knew that the least sparkles were capable to kindle a great fire was not content to send La Varenne but went himself being moreover willing to visit that Frontier Sobole gave the place into his hands and he gave it to Arquien Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment of Guards with the Quality of Lieutenant of the King to command in the absence of the Duke d' Espernon Governour who had no great power so long as the King lived The King passed the Feast of Easter at Mets. Whilst he was there he hearkned to the request which the Jesuites made for their re-establishment He referred the doing them Justice till he should come to Paris and gave leave to Father Ignatius Armand and Father Coton to come to sollicite their cause They were not wanting to do it and Father Coton being of a sharp and witty discourse and a very famous Preacher gained so soon the favour of all the Court and pleased the King so well that he obtained from his Majesty the recalling of the Society into the Kingdom contrary to the opinion and advice of some of his Council He then re-established them by an Act which he caused to be confirmed in Parliament and caused to be thrown down that Pyramide which had been erected before the Palace in the place of the house of John Castel where there were many writings in Verse and Prose very bloody against these Fathers Thus was their banishment gloriously repaired and after all the King kept with him Father Coton as his Chaplain in Ordinary and Confessor and Director of his Conscience This was not accomplished till the year 1604. In these two years of 1602 and 1603. we have yet three or four important things to observe The first that the King at his departure from Mets went to Nancy to visit his Sister the Dutchess of Bar who died the year following without Children The second that he renewed the Alliance with the Suisses and some months after with the Grisons notwithstanding those Obstacles by which the Count of Fuentes endeavoured to oppose it The third was that in returning to Paris he received news of the Death of Elizabeth Queen of England one of the most Illustrious and most Heroick Princesses that ever Reigned and who Governed her Estate with more Prudence and Power then any of her Predecessors had ever done She was Daughter to King Henry the eighth and to that Anne of Bullen for whose love he had left Katherine of Arragon Aunt to Charles the fifth Emperour his first wife There was nothing wanting to the happiness of her Kingdom save the Catholick Religion which she banished out of England And we might give her the name of good as well as great if she had not dealt so inhumanely as she did with her Cousin-German Mary Stuart Queen of Scotland whom she kept eighteen years prisoner and after beheaded induced to it by some conspiracies which the Servants and Friends of that poor Princess had made against her person The Son of that Mary named James the sixth King of Scotland being the nearest of the blood-Royal of England as Grandchild to Margaret of England Daughter to King Henry the seventh and Sister to Henry the eighth married to James the fourth King of Scotland succeeded Elizbeth who had put his Mother to death He caused himself to be called King of Great Britain to unite under the same title the two Crowns of England and Scotland which indeed are but one Island formerly called by the Romans Magna Britania The Alliance of so powerful a King might make the balance incline to which side soever it were turned either of France or Spain For which reason both the one and the other immediately sent Magnificent Ambassadors to salute him each endeavouring to draw him to his side It was Rosny who went on the part of Henry the Great he obtained all the favourable Audience he desired and the confirmation of the ancient Treaties between France and England The Ambassador of Spain found not such facility in his Negotiation the English appeared resolute The Spaniards were forced to yeild that the place of the Treaty should be appointed in England and to grant the English free Taffick in all their Territories even in the Indies and give them liberty of Conscience in Spain so that they should not be subject to the Inquisition nor obliged to salute the holy Sacrament in the streets but onely turn from it France was in a profound peace as well without by the renewing of the Alliances with the Suisses and with England as within by the discovery of the Conspiracies which were quite dissipated the King enjoyed a repose worthy his labours and his past travail made his pleasure more sweet However he was not idle but was seen daily employed for he endeavoured with as much diligence to conserve peace that divine daughter of heaven as he had used courage and valour in making War He was often heard say That though he could make the house of France as powerful in Europe as that of the Ottomans was in Asia and conquer in a moment all the Estates of his neighbours yet he would not do so great a dishonour to his word by which he was obliged to the keeping of the Peace His most ordinary divertisements during this time were Hunting and Building He at the same time maintained workmen at the Church of the holy Cross at Orleans at St. Germain in Laye at the Louvre and at the Place Royal. The Nobility of France during this peace could not live out of action some passed their time in Hunting others with Ladies some in Studies of Learning and the Mathematicks others in travelling into Forraign Countries and others continued the Exercise of War under Prince Maurice in Holland But the greatest part whose hands as it were itched and who sought to signalize their valour without departing from their Countries became punctilious and for the least word or for a wry look put their hands to their swords Thus that madness of Duels entred into the hearts of the Gentlemen and these Combats were so frequent that the Nobility shed as much blood in the Meadows with their own hands as their enemies had made them lose in Battails The King therefore made a second and a most severe Edict which prohibited Duels confiscating the
in the year 1607. by which appeared Acquittances for eighty seven Millions which established the reputation and credit of France among strangers by whom it was before much cried out upon That done he continually laboured to joyn in his great design all Christian Princes offering to give them all the fruit of his Enterprizes against the Infidels without reserving any thing for himself for he would not said he have other Estates then France He likewise proposed to himself the seeking of all occasions to extinguish disorders and to pacifie differences among the Christian Princes so soon as they should see them conceived and that without any other interest then that of the Reputation of a Prince Generous disinterested wise and just He began to make his Friends and Associates the Princes and Estates which seemed best disposed towards France and the least indisposed to its interests as the Estates of Holland or the United Provinces the Venetians the Swisses and the Grisons After having bound them to him by very strong ties he endeavoured to negotiate with the three puissant Kingdoms of the North England Denmark and Swedeland to discuss and decide their differences and likewise to endeavour to reconcile them to the Pope or at least to obtain a cessation of that hatred and enmity by some formulary in such manner as they might live together so that it had been advantagious to the Pope in that they had acknowledged him for the first Prince of Christendome as to Temporals and in that case rendred him all respect He endeavoured in fine to do the same thing among the Electors the Estates and Cities Imperial being obliged particularly said he to take care of an Empire had been founded by his Predecessours Afterwards he sounded the Lords of Bohemia Hungary Transylvania and Poland to know if they would concur with him in the designe of taking away and rooting up for ever all causes of trouble and division in Christendom He treated after that with the Pope who approved and praised his Enterprize and desired to contribute on his part all that should be possible These were the dispositions of his great designe of which I shall now shew you the platform and model He desired perfectly to unite all Christendom so that it should be one body which had been and should be called the Christian Common-wealth for which effect he had determined to part it into fifteen Dominions or Estates which was the most he could do to make them of equal power and strength and whose limits should be so well specified by the universal consent of the whole fifteen that none could pass beyond them These fifteen Dominations were the Pontificate or Papacy the Empire of Germany France Spain Great Britain Hungary Bohemia Poland Danemark Swedeland Savoy or the Kingdom of Lombardy the Signory of Venice the Italian Commonwealth or of the little Princes and Cities of Italy the Belgians or Low-Countries and the Swisses Of these Estates there had been five successive France Spain Great Britain Swedeland and Lumbardy six elective the Papacy the Empire Hungary Bohemia Poland and Danemark four Republicks two of which had been Democratical to wit the Belgians and the Swisses and two Aristocratical or Signories that of Venice and that of the little Princes and Cities of Italy The Pope had had besides those Lands he possesses the whole Kingdome of Naples and Homages as well of the Italian Common-wealth as for the Island of Sicily The Signory of Venice had had Sicily in faith and homage of the holy Seat without other rights then a simple kissing of feet and a Crucifix of gold from twenty years to twenty years The Italian Commonwealth had been composed of the Estates of Florence Genoua Lucca Mantoua Parma Modena Monacho and other little Princes and Lords and had likewise held of the holy Seat paying onely for all by advance of a Crucifix of gold worth ten thousand Franks The Duke of Savoy besides those Lands he possessed should likewise have Milain and all should be erected into a Kingdom by the Pope under the title of the Kingdom of Lombardy from which should have been taken Cremona in exchange of Mo●tferrat which should be joyned There should have been incorporated with the Helvetian or Republick of the Swisses the French County Alsatia Tirol the Country of Trent and their dependences and it had done a simple homage to the Emperour of Germany from five and twenty to five and twenty years All the seventeen Provinces of the Low-Countries as well Protestants as Catholicks should have been established into a free and soveraign Republick save onely a like homage to the Empire and this Dominion should have been encreased by the Dutchy of Cleves of Juliers of Berghe de la Mark and Ravenstein and other little neighbouring Signories To the Kingdome of Hungary had been joyned the Estates of Transylvania Moldavia and Valachia The Emperour had for ever renounced aggrandizing himself or his by any confiscation disinheritance or reversion of Fiefs Masculine but had disposed vacant Fiefs in favour of persons out of his Kindred by the consent of the Electors and Princes of the Empire It should likewise have been held of accord that the Empire should never upon any occasion whatsoever be held successively by two Princes of one house for fear of its perpetuating as it hath for a long time in that of Austria The Kingdome of Hungary and of Bohemia had been likewise elective by the voice of seven Electors to wit 1. that of the Nobles Clergy and Cities of that Country 2. of the Pope 3. of the Emperour 4. of the King of France 5. of the King of Spain 6. of the King of England 7. of the Kings of Swedeland Denmark and Poland who all three had made but one voice Besides to regulate the differences which might arise between the Confederates and to decide them without sight of Fact there should have been established an Order and Form of Procedure by a general Council composed of sixty persons four on the part of every Dominion which should have been placed in some City in the midst of Europe as Mets Nancy Collen or others There should likewise have been established three others in three several places every one of twenty men which should all three make report to the grand Council Moreover by the consent of the general Council which should be called the Senate of the Christian Commonwealth there should be established an Order and Regulation between Soveraigns and Subjects to hinder on one side the Oppression and Tyranny of Princes and on the other side the Tumults and Rebellions of Subjects There should likewise be raised and assured a stock of money and men to which every Dominion should contribute according to the Assessment of the great Council for the assistance of the Dominions bordering upon Infidels from their
That force could not justly be employed against him who so far submitted himself to reason and the greatest part of the Nobility approved this generous procedure and proclaimed aloud that the Duke of Guise ought not to refuse so great an honour That Duke wanted no courage to accept the Defiance but he considered that drawing his sword against a Prince of the blood was in France accounted a kinde of Parricide that otherwise he could willingly have reduced the cause of Religion and of the Publick to a particular Quarrel He therefore prudently answered That he esteemed the person of the King of Navarre and would have no controversie with him but that he onely interested himself for the Catholick Religion which was threatned and for the tranquillity of the Kingdome which onely and absolutely depended on the unity of Religion His other Action was thus Having understood the noise of those paper-Thunder-bolts which the Pope had thrown out against him he dispatched one to the King to make his Complaints to him and to remonstrate to him That this procedure concerned his Majesty nearer then himself That he ought to judge That if the Pope took upon him to decide concerning his succession and should seize to himself a right to declare a Prince of the blood unable of the Crown he might afterwards well pass further and dethrone himself as Zachary is reported to have formerly degraded Childeric 3. Upon these Remonstrances the King hindred the publication of those Bulls in his Dominions But our Henry not contenting himself there with knowing himself to have friends at Rome proved so hardy as to fix his and the Prince of Condé his opposition at the corners of the chiefest streets of the City by which those Princes appealed from the sentence of Sixtus to the Court of Peerage of France giving the Lye to whoever accused them of the crime of Heresie offering to prove the contrary in a general Council and in the end professing that they would revenge upon him and upon all his successours the injury done their King the Royal Family and all the Courts of Parliament It could not but be supposed that this opposition would incense to the utmost the spirit of Sixtus the fifth and indeed at first he testified a very furious emotion However when his Choler was a little asswaged he admired the great Courage of that King who at such a distance had known how to revenge himself and fix the marks of his resentment even at the gates of his Palace in such manner that he conceived so great an esteem for him so true is it that Vertue makes it self be reverenced by its very enemies that he was often afterwards heard say That of all those who reigued in Christendome there was none but this Prince and Elizabeth Queen of Enland to whom he would have communicated those great things which agitated his spirit if they had not been Hereticks Nor could all the prayers of the League ever oblige him to furnish any thing towards the charges of this War which possibly overwhelmed the greatest part of their Enterprizes because their hopes in part depended on a Million which he had promised them Now as on their side the Chiefs of the League endeavoured to engage on their party all the Lords and Cities they could our Henry on his part re-united with him all his friends both of the one and the other Religion the Marshal of Damville-Montmorency Governour of Languedoc the Duke of Montpensier Prince of the blood who was Governour of Poictou with his Son the Prince of Dombes the Prince of Condé who held a part of Poictou of Xaintonge and of Angoumois the Count of Soissons and the Prince of Conty his brother Of these five Princes of the blood the three last were his Cousen-Germans the two first were removed one degree further and all professed the Catholick Religion save onely the Prince of Condé He had likewise on his part Lesdiguieres who from a plain Gentleman had by his Valour elevated himself to so high a point that he was Master of the Daulphinate and made the Duke of Savoy tremble Claudius de la Trimouille who possessed great Lands in Poictou and Brittany and was sometimes before turned Hugonot that he might have the honour to marry his Daughter to the Prince of Condé Henry de la Tour Viscount of Turenne who either out of complacency or true perswasion had espoused the new Religion Chastillon son to the Admiral of Coligny la Boulaye Lord Poitevin Rene chief of the house of Rohan George de Clermont d' Amboise Francis Count of Rochefoucaud the Lord de Aubetterre James de Caumontla-force the Seigneurs de Pons Saint Gelais-Lansac with many other Lords and Gentlemen of remark all or most of the new Religion At the same time he dispatched to Elizabeth Queen of England and to the Protestant Princes of Germany such able Agents that they joyned all together in a strong Union The One to maintain the Other so that all these being united all things arrived contrary to what the League expected and our Henry found himself fortified in such manner that he had no longer any apprehension of being oppressed without having the means to defend himself I shall not make here a particular Recital of the Actions either of the one or the other party during the years 1585. and 1586. because I have observed nothing very considerable King Henry the third was extreamly perplexed at this War which was maintained at his expence and to his great prejudice since they disputed the succession he yet living and well and already considered him as one dead He loved neither the one nor the other party but did so much cherish his Favourites strange blindness that he could have desired had it been in his power to have parted his Estate amongst them The League on their side pretended to have power enough to carry it and our Henry hoped to frustrate the designes both of the one and the other The Queen-mother having other wishes for the children of her Daughter married to the Duke of Lorrain promised the King to finde means to calm all these tempests To this purpose she procured a Truce with our Henry during which an Interview was agreed upon between him and her at the Castle of St. Brix near Coignac where both the one and the other met in the month of December There was some difficulty to finde security both for the one and the other but especially for the Queen-mother who was wonderfully distrustful Our Henry hereupon did an Action of great Generosity which he managed in this manner There had a Truce been agreed upon for the security of this Conference in such sort that if either party broke it they were in fault and might justly be arrested now some of our Henry's followers feigning to be Traytors had enticed some of the Catholick-Captains too greedy of the booty to Fontenay which they