and Richard Duke of Gloucestre You have seen how he put the first to death upon some ill grounded suspicion Now thus the other revenged it upon his Children Edward before his Marriage to her by whom he had them had clandestinely espoused a woman who was yet living The Bishop of Bathe who Marry'd them reveales it to Richard who being easily persuaded that Edward's Children were not Legitimate Seized upon his two Sons the Eldest of them being but Eleven years of age and named Edward V. put to Death five or six of the greatest Lords who plainly foresaw his ill intents and then having dispatched these Two young Princes out of the World and made their Sisters to be declared Bastards he set the Crown upon his own Head all Christian Princes even Lewis XI himself having this deed in horror It is pleasant to read in History what the fear of Death and of losing his Authority made King Lewis do during the last years of his Reign The dancing of young Lasses about his House and the Bands of Musicians that play'd on Flageolets which were brought from all parts to divert him the Processions ordained over all the Kingdom for his Health the publick prayers to God to hinder the blowing of certain Winds which incommoded him a great heap of Reliques which were sent for by him from all Corners even the St. Ampoulle or Holy Oyle with which he seemed as if he would Arm himself against Death the great sway his Physician James Coctier had over him who grumbled at him as he had been his Servant and squeezed from him 55000 Crowns and many other Boons in five Months space the Baths of Childrens Blood which he made use of to sweeten his sharp and pricking Humours in fine his voluntary Imprisoning himself in the Castle du Plessis le Tours where none could enter but through a Wicket the Walls thereof being Armed with Iron Spikes and lined Day and Night with Cross-Bow-men Every hour he was upon the Brink of his Grave and nevertheless he strove to persuade them that he was well sending Embassy's to all Princes Buying up all manner of Curiosities of Forreign Country's and making it appear he was alive by the Bloody effects of his Vegeance which could not die but with him Year of our Lord 1482. And 83. His greatest hope was in a Holy Hermit called Francis Martotile a Native of Calabria Founder of the Order of Minimes whom he caused expresly to come into France upon the Fame of those wonders God had wrought by his Ministery He Flattered him Implored him fell on his Knees to him He Built too Covents for his Order the first within the Park de Plessis les Tours the second at the Foot of the Castle de Amboise that he might prolong his days But this good Man in answer talked to him of God and Exhorted him to think more of the other Life then this Feeling himself grow weaker every day he sent for his Son from Amboise gave him excellent Counsel exhorting him to be Governed by the Advice of the Princes of the Blood the Lords and other Notable Persons not to change his Officers after his Death to ease his Subjects and reduce the Leveys of Moneys to the Ancient orders of the Kingdom which was to raise none but by consent of the People He had encreased the Taxes to 4700000 Livers a Sum so excessive in ☞ those days that the People were miserably over-burthened He died in fine the 29 th Day of August and accordingly as he had ordained was Interred at Nostre-Dame de Clery for which he had a particular Devotion The Course of Life had lasted Sixty one years compleat his Reign 22 years and one Month. Comines describes him to us as very wise in adversity very able to penetrate into the Interests and thoughts of men and to allure them and turn them to his ends infinitely suspicious and jealous of his power most absolute in his will who pardoned not mightily oppressed his Subjects and yet withal this the best of Princes in his time He had caused above 4000 people to be put to Death by divers cruel Torments and sometimes pleased himself in being a Spectator The most part were Executed without Form of Process or Trial many Drôwn'd with a Stone about their Necks others precipitated passing over a turning Plank whence they fell upon Wheels armed with Spikes and sharp Hooks others stifled in Dungeons Tristan his Creature and the Provost of his House being alone both Judge Witness and Executioner Besides his Devotion at least in appearance his persuasive and attracting Eloquence his Marvellous craft in setting his Enemies at variance with one another and unravelling their quarrels again his Liberality in recompencing the Services done for him when they hit his fancy we must not deny two things worthy of praise in him at the Latter end of his days one that he would not suffer an Ambassador which Sultan Bajazet sent to him to come nearer then Marseilles not believing one could be a Christian and have Communication with the Enemies of Jesus Christ the other that he had undertaken to reduce all the Weights and Measures to one Standard and to set up a General Custom in all the Provinces of the Kingdom I will add a Third that he resolved and intended that exact Justice should be dealt to all particular People He Instituted two Parliaments that of Bourdeaux which had been promised by Charles VII and that of Burgundy The Letters Patents for the first are Dated the 7 th of June 1462. that of the second the 18 th of March 1476. If he suffered not his Son to be brought up to good Learning it was because he apprehended to make him too knowing or hurt his delicate and tender Complexion by the Labour of Study It was not that he despised it or was altogether ignorant of it as some have believed since Comines says That he was well enough Read that he had had another sort of breeding then the Lords of that Kingdom and that according to Gaguin he understood Books and had more Erudition then Kings were wont to have Add that he much encreased the Royal Library which Charles V. had begun at Fountainbleau and which was transferr'd to the Louvre by Charles VI. That he kindly received and favoured those Learned Men who had made their escape from Greece after the taking of Constantinople That he took delight in alluring some out of Forreign Country 's with great Presents amongst others the Famous Galeotus Martius And that he gave himself the Trouble to compleat the reformation of the University of Paris by the care of John Boccard Bishop d'Auranches and a Cordelier named Wesel Gransfort a Native of Groningue Besides it is certain that the Kings of France and particularly those of the third Race have all been instructed in good Learning and loved it excepting Philip de Valois He married two Wives to wit Margret Daughter of James I. King of Scotland
Queen Batilda's and more able then any other to make head against him and to bring many more to joyn with him Year of our Lord 668 King Clotaire having been about three years in the hands of this wicked Minister dyed the 14th of his Reign An. 668. He had no Children but was capable of having some being 17 or 18 years old Some say he was buried at Chelles others at St. Denis Childeric II. King XIV POPES VITALIANUS some Months in this Reign ADEODAT Elected in April 669. S. Seven years eight Months and an half of which Four in this Reign Ebroin Mayre THIERRY King of Neustria and Burgundy aged 16 or 17 years and CHILDERIC of Austrasia aged 18 years Wlfoade Mayre AFter such an insolent Deportment Ebroin could not hope that the Grandees of Neustria and Burgundy whatever King they should Elect would confirm his Office of Mayre and therefore upon his own Head and without waiting for their Assembling or Consent which was necessary in this case he takes Thierry and sets him upon the Royal Throne according to custom Year of our Lord 668 that this young Prince might have no obligation but to himself alone Year of our Lord 669 This attempt gave them together both apprehension and indignation Fear might have had the upper hand and made them acquiese if he would at least but have suffer'd them to come and congratulate their new King and make their Court to him but having sent them a Command not to stir forth of their Houses their indignation prevail'd they communicated their Grievances and Discontents the Bishop of Autun got and kept them together and they sent a dispatch to Childeric to proffer him the Kingdom of Neustria Year of our Lord 669 Childeric comes greatly accompanied Ebroin is forsaken of all the World and found no Sanctuary but the Horns of the Altar The French touched with an imprudent Mercy content themselves with Shaving and Confining him to the Monastery de Luxeu to do Pennance His King Thierry is likewise Shaved and sent to the Monastery of St. Denis not to play the Monk but to be prisoner there He had Reigned almost a year in Neustria CHILDERIC alone WLFOADE Mayre Year of our Lord 670 FOr the Fifth time the whole Monarchy of France was re-united under one single King Wlfoad was Mayre of Austrasia and Leger if he did not bear the Title did at least bear the Office in Neustria and in Burgundy They had very much changed the Laws which the best Kings and the wisest Magistrates had made to deal Justice impartially honest people desired they might be restored or revived their Demand was granted and it was ordained amongst other things that the Judges Counts and Dukes should observe the antient Customs of the Countrey and that those Employments should not be perpetual lest they should become Tyrannical But some wicked persons having gotten the ascendent over the young King and plunging him into the Debauches of Wine and Women soon brought him to a breach of all these Ordinances and to do many unjust actions without the knowledge Year of our Lord 671 or against the opinion of Leger The Prelates enemies imputing all these faults to him he was obliged that he might justifie himself to speak somewhat freely to him even to the threatning him with the wrath of God The young Prince was at first touched with his Remonstrances or seemed to be Year of our Lord 671 so but when he was confirmed in his Vice he conceived a Mortal hatred against him and those Courtiers that had pretended to be Leger's best friends whilst he was in greatest Favour were those that threw most Oyl upon this Fire Childeric was gone to celebrate the Festival of Easter at Autun where one certain Hector Patrician of Marseille being arrived some days before they perswaded the King that those two Lords were met only to plot against him so that upon the Easter-Eve being troubled and having his Head full of the fumes of Choler and Wine he ran into the Baptistary to kill him The Holy Prelate and Hector perceiving his wrath endeavoured the following night to avoid it by flight but they were pursued Hector was killed on the way and the Bishop brought back to the King who with much ado gave him his Life and confined him to Luxeu There he found Ebroin who reconciled himself to him The Wolf and the Lamb dwelling together under the same roof for fear of a more terrible power and because they had nothing there to decide betwixt them In those days Flavius-Vamba was King of the Visigoths Three Lords of Septimania Year of our Lord 672 a Count a Bishop and an Abbot having revolted against him he sent the Duke Paul with an Army to chastise them But that General proving unfaithful to his Prince joyned with them taking advantage of their Rebellion and the assistance of the French and Gascons to get himself to be Elected and proclaimed King in Narbona His Ambition had a shameful end Vamba having retaken all the Cities he had seized upon besieged him in the Sands of Nismes and the unfortunate wretch surrendred to the Kings Mercy who led him in triumph thorough the Cities of Spain and caused his Eyes to be put out But he durst not break with France on the contrary he loaded all those French whom he had taken prisoners with Gyves though they had sided with that Rebel Childeric's Debauches and Excess easily led his ill nature to the highest Cruelties Year of our Lord 673 he sent two Dukes to Luxeu to drag out the good Bishop Leger and hurry him to Court to be sacrificed to his revenge and about the same time it hapned that he caused a Lord named Bodillon to be tied to a Post and whipped The Great ones of the Kingdom resented this Outrage as if themselves had felt the blows and wickedly conspired to Treat him as a Tyrant who Treated them like Slaves The business being agreed upon they wait for him at his return from Hunting in the Forest of Lochonia which is perhaps that of Lyhons Bodillon the most furious of all revenging himself with his own hand Massacres him and with him the Queen Bilechild who was great with Child and also a Son of theirs but very young The Mayre Wlfoad made his escape it is not known how from amidst the swords of these Furies and retired into Austrasia Bilechild is by some Authors said to be Sister of her Husbands Uncle but which they say nothing nor whether he left any Children unless we will believe a Chart or Manuscript wherein that Daniel Chilperic whom we shall mention hereafter is called his Son The time of his Reign is not agreed upon The most probable opinion is that it was Fifteen years in Austrasia and Three in Neustria and Burgundy which is about Eighteen years in all Some years since as they were repairing the Church of St. Germain des Prez they found two Stone Tombs side by side in
Nations when the accidental Quarrel of an English Mariner with a Mariner of Normandy upon the Coast of Guyenne where they had landed to take in fresh Water set them against one another First Ship and Ship endeavour'd to plunder or take what they could singly on each side then they brought Fleet against Fleet. The English had the worst their King Edward demanded restitution of such Merchants Goods as had been made Prize in these Scuffles Philip on the contrary Summons him to appear in his Court of Parliament as his Vassal Edward sent his Brother Edmund but Philip not satisfied with that caused him to be declared Contumacious and ordered his Lands should be seized Year of our Lord 1292. 1293. In Execution of this Decree the year following the Constable Rodolph de Nesle seized several Cities in Guyenne and even that of Bourdeaux which was the Capital Thus a Riot between Private Men blew their little Sparks of Contention into a flame of War which one may say proved very fatal to France since it gave way to the overthrowing of her ancient Laws and Liberties and the introducing and establishment of divers Charges and Subsidies on the People The increase and burthen whereof is ordinarily followed with Revolutions and Seditions as it fell out this year by a great Commotion hapning at Rouen but which had the same end and event as all the like Enterprizes generally come to that is to say the Hanging of the most froward and hottest and the Banishment or Ruine of the rest Year of our Lord 1294 The King of England vexed at the loss of those places in Guyenne sollicited all Princes against France particularly the Emperor Adolph with great Sums of Money and Guy de Dampierre Earl of Flanders with the hopes oâ— the Marriage of his Son Prince of Wales with Philippetta that Earls Daughter Adolph sent to defie the King in haughty language but they gave him no other answer but a Sheet of white Paper For which he shewed no other Resentment but by Threats and so turned his Arms against some German Rebels Year of our Lord 1294 As for Guy having been allured to Paris with his Wife and Daughter by Letters from the King fraught with Expressions of Kindness he was much amazed to find himself made a Prisoner there It is true that about a Twelve month after himself and his Wife were set at liberty but his Daughter they kept still to break the Measures of that Match too pernicious to the French Year of our Lord 1294 In the year 1294 the Cardinal Benedict Cajetan by intrigues or by deceit and fourbery obliged Pope Celestin to resign the Popedom and by the same Methods got himself to be elected he was named Boniface VIII His Ancesters were Originally Catalonians and had taken the name of Cajetan because they first dwelt near Cajeta before they transplanted themselves to the City of Anagnia where he was born Year of our Lord 1294 At his advancement to that Dignity he endeavours to mediate a Peace between all Christian Princes He could not procure it between France and England but he setled that between Arragon and France King Alphonso was dead and James his Brother succeeded him It was agreed that Charles Earl of Valois should renounce the Kingdom of Arragon wherein he had been invested by Pope Martin V. upon which Condition the Arragonian repudiating Isabella de Castille for being too nigh of Kin should Marry his Laughter set the three Sons of Charles the Lame and other Hostages at liberty and surrender Sicily and what he had Conquer'd in Abruzza but Frederic his younger Brother to whom Alphonso had by his last Testament will'd that Kingdom got himself to be named King by the Sicilians Since then that which we call the Kingdom of Sicilia was dismembred in two that beyond the Fare which was the Island and that on this side which they called the Kingdom of Naples They were again re-joyned in Anno 1503. and are to this day in the same hands Year of our Lord 1295 The Sons of Charles the Lame being set at liberty the eldest named Charles entred into the Order of the Friers Minors The following year he was by the Pope promoted to the Archbishoprick of Thoulouze which he accepted not of till after he had made his Vows The King of Englands heart was much set upon two things the one to Subject the Kingdom of Scotland and the other to recover the Tows in Guyenne He thought the first was pretty well advanc'd having obliged Baliol to render him Homage and to compass the second he prepared a mighty Fleet and had strengthned himself with Friends and Alliances But Philip to prevent his designs induced the King of Scotland already threatned by his Subjects who scorned to subject themselves to the English to break the Treaty he had made with Edward and Allie himself with France and for security of this new Bond of Alliance he promised to give the eldest Daughter of the Earl of Valois to his eldest Son whose name was Edward At the same time he caused the People of Wales also to rise who out of a wild and untamed humour for Liberty were easily heated and drawn into the Field The great devastations and spoil they made this time in Pembrook-shire and thereabout broke all the King of England's Measures He was forced to go in Person that way to stop their progress and lay aside the business of Guyenne till he had quell'd those hot and stubborn old Enemies as he did having overmaster'd almost all of them in four Months time About this time the Principality of Milan and Neighbouring Cities was fixed and perpetuated in the Family of the Vicounts to which Otho Vicount Archbishop of Milan contributed not a little Matthew his Brothers Son was created the first Year of our Lord 1295 Duke this year 1295. and took the Investiture of the Emperor Adolph who likewise gave him the Vicarship or Vicegerency of the Empire in Lombardy Year of our Lord 1295 In Pistoya a City in Tuscany as then powerful enough it hapned that the rich and numerous Family of the Cancellary were divided in two Factions the one of the White the other of the Black The first joyned themselves with the Guelphes the second with the Ghibelins and that fury and madness spread over all Italy and caused insinite Seditions and Murthers Year of our Lord 1295 Pope Boniface was Proud Haughty Imperious and Undertaking he thought all the Princes of the Earth must bow to his Commands but he found a Philip of France at the head of them a young Prince of no very patient Humour more Potent then any one of his Predecessors and who had a Council consiting of People that were Year of our Lord 1295 stout and impetuous So that Boniface who ardently pursued the Design he aimed at to oblige all Kings to the Holy War having sent to tell both him and the King of England that they must make
Lord 1327 Alphonso of Castille surnamed de la Cerda who had brought some Forces against them was fallen sick in that Country from whence being returned to Court he died in the Village of Gentilly near Paris at the Inn of the Duke of Savoy He had a Son named Charles who was afterwards Constable but the cause of great Mischiefs At the request of the Romans who were troubled that their City was deprived so long of the presence and emolument of the Papacy Lewis of Bavaria had passed the Mountains in Year of our Lord 1324 and the following the year 1324. without coming to any agreement with the Pope Thus these two great Powers set all Italy in a flame the Guelphs and the Gibbelins by their Factions renewing their horrible Tragedies Year of our Lord 1327 France it self felt it in the excessive Levies the Pope made upon the Churches to maintain that War and to revenge himself upon the Milanois the most obstinate of all the Gibbelins and his worst Enemies At the first beginning the King opposed it with vigour but he relaxed as soon as the Pope had permitted him to levy the Tenths upon his Clergy for two years together Thus both the one and the other taught their Successors to share those Sacred Goods between them and gave the Church a Wound which is so far from closing up that it grows wider every day Year of our Lord 1327 Upon Christmas-Eve of the year 1327. King Charles grew sick at the Bois de Vincennes and after he had languished six weeks died at last on the First day of February Aged Thirty four years having swayed the Scepter Six years and one Month. He oppressed the People as his Father and his Brother Philip had done Though Year of our Lord 1328 he were otherwise of a Nature very liberal and gentle and loved to take Counsel of those he thought to have the clearest Judgments and most honesty having ever about him Noblemen and Prelats of known Prudence ☜ He Married three Wives The first was Blanch Daughter of Othenine Earl of Burgundy who being proved faulty he was contented only with a Divorce and chose to cover her Shame under a Sacred Veil The second was Mary Daughter of the Emperor Henry VII who having hurt her self when going with her first Child died with the Fruit of her Womb. The third which was Jane Daughter of Lewis Earl d'Evreux her Uncle had only two Daughters whereof the one named Mary survived her Father but a few years and the other which was Posthumus and was called Blanch Married Philip Duke of Orleance Son of King Philip de Valois REGENCY AS Charles the Fair had no Male Children and that his Wife was pregnant the Regency of the Kingdom and Guardianship or Care of the Fruit to come were given to Philip eldest Son of Charles Earl of Valois and the nearest Male to the deceased King whom it was said had so ordained it in his Testament and last Will. Year of our Lord 1328 in April Two Months afterwards the Queen was delivered of a Daughter she was named Blanch who in due time was Married as we have hinted Thus dried up at the Root and perished the whole Descent of Philip the Fair. Whereupon one might say as a famous Author hath done That the Divine Providence would not permit that those who had sacked the Kingdom by so many Exactions and Violences should have any Descendants that should possess it were it not that the Branch of Valois hath used them yet worse then they had done The end of the First Volume A Chronological Abridgment OR EXTRACT OF THE HISTORY OF FRANCE By the Sieur de Mezeray TOME II. Beginning at King PHILIP de VALOIS and Ending with the Reign of HENRY II. Translated by John Bulteel Gent. LONDON Printed for Thomas Basset Samuel Lowndes Christopher Wilkinson William Cademan and Jacob Tonson Philip VI. King XLIX The Second Part of the Third Race The first Collateral Branch POPES JOHN XXII Near Seven years under this Reign BENEDICT XII Son of a Miller of Saverdun in the Country of Foix Elected the 20th of December 1334. S. Seven years four Months CLEMENT VI. Elected the 14th of May 1342. S. Ten years seven Months whereof Eight years and three Months during this Reign PHILIP VI. De Valois Surnamed the Fortunate King XLIX Aged Thirty six years Year of our Lord 1328 ALthough Edward King of England had been excluded from the Regency during the Queens being with Child he did not hold himself excluded from the Kingdom when that Princess had brought forth only a Girle He agreed most readily that the Daughters could not attain to the Crown of France because of the imbecillity of their Sex neither did he claim it for his Mother but he maintained that the Sons of the Daughters having not that defect were not incapable and that on this score they ought to prefer him being a Male and Grandson to Philip the Fair before Philip de Valois who was but his Nephew Year of our Lord 1328 The Pairs and high Barons were called together at Paris immediately after the death of Charles upon this great Question Both Parties made their private and underhand Interests with all the pains and craft imaginable Robert d'Artois Earl of Beaumont whose Quality Eloquence and Reputation could do a great deal in that Assembly employ'd himself with all his might for Philip as thinking the advantage that Prince would receive by his Interest might be of service to himself in his Cause against Mahaud In fine his vehement Persuasions the force of the Salique Custom very conformable to the Law of Nature and that aversion the French had for the Government of a Stranger obliged the Assembly to preserve the right of the Males and to declare that the Crown belonged to Philip. Edward acquiesc'd in the Sentence and confirmed it by several Acts during some years Year of our Lord 1328 Philip was Crowned at Reims with the Queen his Wife the Eight and twentieth of May upon Trinity-Sunday He was surnamed the Fortunate because Death had taken his three Cousins out of the World to set the Crown upon his Head The Estates of Navarre having sent to intreat he would send them back their Lawful Queen and the King her Husband he granted their just Request having taken the Advice of his Lords whom he called together in Council upon a business of that weight However he still detained Brie and Champagne giving to the Queen of Navarre and her Husband several Lands in exchange which all together were to yield the same Revenue as those two large Counties They were not Crowned at Pampelonna till the Fifth of March in the following year Year of our Lord 1328 Since the time of Hugh Capet there was no Reign so much stained with the Blood of War as this same The beginnings were signalized by the gaining of the famous Battle of Mont-Cassel The great Cities of Flanders had mutinied against their Earl Lewis
excommunicate and wrote very harsh Letters Year of our Lord 856 to young Lotaire threatning to deprive him of his Kingdom There is no craft nor submissions which this Prince did not put in practice to elude that Sentence But the Pope not valuing all those Arts sent a Legat into France named Arsenius who addressing himself to the German Louis called a Synod Year of our Lord 866 and taking upon him a Supream Authority declared to Lotaire that he must take his Wife again or remain excommunicated with all his Adherents The Kings his Uncles maintained this Sentence in such sort that for the time he was forced to obey But so soon as the Legat was departed France he began afresh to mis-use his Wife to threaten to make process against her for Adultery and prove that crime by combat The accused retires to the protection of Charles the Pope takes her business much to heart and excommunicates Valdrade and Duke Huebert Brother Year of our Lord 867 of this Queen rebelling against Lotaire plunders his Country kills his people and exercised all manner of cruelty till he was slain himself by Count Conrard Father of that Rodolph who was the First King of Burgundy beyond the Jour or Transjurain Salomon had fancied that the Kingdom of Bretagne though Neomene had obtained it rather by conquest then succession belonged to him because he was the Son Year of our Lord 867 of Rivalon eldest Brother to that King Thus having forgotten he was carefully and tenderly bred under his tuition he contrives a conspiracy against Herispoux his Son assaults him in the Fields then kills him in the Church to which he fled for safety and so puts the Crown all bloody upon his own head Neomene and he intitled themselves Kings of Bretagne and a great part of Gaule because in effect they possessed the Countries of Mayne and with that the lower Anjou which they had wrested from the French For this cause was Anjou divided in two Counties the one containing what is beyond the River Maine and held by these Breton Kings the other what lies on this side and remained to the French At the same time the Normans entring into Neustria by the Loire spread themselves all over Nantois Poitou Anjou and Tourraine Ranulfe Duke of Aquitain and Duke Robert the strong who was so called because he guarded those Marches against these Barbarians and the Bretons having attaqued them in a Post which they had fortified near the River were by misfortune both slain in the combat So that their Army wanting a Head though they got the advantage let those robbers get away from them Robert had two Sons very young Eudes and Robert whom we shall find to have reigned hereafter The Saracens tormented Italy no less Lotaire went thither with his Forces not only to assist the Emperor Louis his Brother but moreover by this means to deserve and gain the Favour of the Pope which was Adrian successor to Nicholas hoping in time to obtain the dissolution of his Marriage with Thietberge The Holy-Father received him very well because he assured him he had punctually obey'd to all that was enjoyned him but when both he and his came to receive the Holy Communion from his hands he obliged them all to swear it was true that he had quitted Valdrade Now it hapned shortly after that the most part of these Lords died of sickness or otherwise in such numbers and so suddenly as if they had been cut down by the Sword of an exterminating Angel and Lotaire himself was Seized with a Feaver at Luca which he drag'd along to Piacenza where he gave up the Ghost the 6 th of August Which some interpreted a divine Vengeance for the false and Sacrilegious Oath he and his Courtiers had made The Body of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament being a destroying Sword to the wicked and unworthy Communicant Year of our Lord 868 His youngest Brother Charles King of Provence endeavoured to reap his succession and was Crowned at Mets by the Bishop Adventius But he survived not long after and died without Issue He was Interred in the Church of St. Peter's at Lyons LOUIS in Bavaria and Germany CHARLES in West-France Burgundy and Lorrain LOUIS II Emperour in Italy Year of our Lord 868. And 69. Charles who then held a Parliament at Poissy informed of the death of Lotaire went and Seized on the Kingdom of Lorraine neither minding the Emperor Louis Brother of the two last Kings to whom it should have belonged nor the Mediation of the Pope who desired him by an express Legation to do his Nephew Justice The Bishops of that Kingdom being Assembled at Mets gave him the Crown And Hincmar the Arch-Bishop chief promoter of that Decree put it on his Head with the usual Ceremonies Lotaire had one Son and two Daughters by Valdrade The two Daughters were Berte and Gisele Berte was first wife to Count Thibauld Father of Hugh Count and Marquess of Provence and by her second Marriage to Adelbert Marquess of Tuscany Father of Guy and Lambert Gisele was Wedded to Godfrey the Dane who Reigned in Friseland the Son was named Hugh who when he came to Age contended for the Kingdom of Lorrain Hermentrude Wife to Charles the Bald dying at St. Denis the 16 th of October Year of our Lord 869 he married for the second time Richende or Richilda his Mistriss Daughter of Earl Buvin or Boves and the Sister to Thietberge Widdow of King Lotaire III. It was with some justice but without legal power that the Pope should take Year of our Lord 870 any cognisance of the difference about Lotaire He dispatched a second Embassy to Charles the Bald to exhort him to surrender it to the Emperor Louis otherwise he would Excommunicate him And he wrote to the Bishops that they should forbear all Communion with that King unless they would be cut off from the Church of Rome Charles reply'd modestly enough to the Legats but the French Bishops went a higher Note and the Arch-Bishop Hincmar wrote very smart Letters to Adrian His Nephew of the same name Bishop of Laon was of an other opinion and with much heat maintained all those Orders brought from the Pope He had Excommunicated a Norman Lord because he detained some Lands belonging to his Church whereof the King had given him the Benefice His proceedings were blamed and condemned by the Bishops at the Synod of Verberie he appealed to the Pope for which cause his Uncle having cited him before the Council of Attigny which consisted of the Bishops of twelve Provinces he caused his Equipage to be Plundred by the way and when he came to the Assembly forced him to renounce Year of our Lord 870 his Appeal The Pope made grievous complaint of it and would have brought the Process and the two Hincmars to Rome but the Arch-Bishop reply'd with force and hindred him This dispute went so far that the Bishop of Laon was deposed and clapt in Prison
de Creme who named himself Paschal and was confirmed by Frederick But Alexander III. recalled by the Romans left France the year following and returned to Rome to put an end to that Schism Year of our Lord 1165 In the year 1165. Lewis had a Son born whom he believed Heaven had sent him in return of his Prayers For this reason he was surnamed Dieu-Donne i. e. Gift of God or God-Gift and after for his brave Acts the Conqueror which Paul Emilius has rendred by Interpretation Augustus and is followed in the same by all the Modern Historians Year of our Lord 1166 The Life of Conan the Little Duke of Bretagne which had been ever full of trouble ended Anno 1166. to make room for Gefroy of Normandy his Son-in-Law This Prince being yet but Fifteen years of Age remained together with his Datchy under the Guardianship of the King his father for some time after which being at liberty he begins a War against him because he would make him do Hommage for his Dukedom a Duty he required by vertue of a Treaty made by Charles the Simple with Rollo Duke of Normandy Year of our Lord 1168 Thierry of Alsatia Earl of Flanders dies at Gravelin Philip his Son governs after him Year of our Lord 1169 70. The Feud was renewed between the two Kings upon several occasions one was the Earl d'Auvergne whom Lewis as Soveraign Lord took into his protection and safeguard against Henry to whom the Earl was a Vassal holding of him in Aquitain the other the support he gave to Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury The War thereupon breaks forth and lasted for two years however it was carried on but slowly and so as the Respect either of them had for Pope Alexanders Mediation brought them to an Agreement for some time Year of our Lord 1170 These two Princes having Conferr'd together at Saint Germain en Laye concluded the Peace betwixt them and there the King of England's Sons rendred Hommage to Lewis for those Lands their Father assured to them by advance of Inheritance Henry of the Dutchy of Normandy the County of Anjou and the Office of Grand Seneschal joyned thereto from the time of Grisegonnelle as also the Earldoms du Maine and de Touraine and the second named Richard of the Dakedom of Aquitain as for the third which was Gefroy he had Bretagne by his Wife and ow'd Hommage to none but the Duke of Normandy The Kings Intercession obtained of Henry that Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury might return into England but he continuing to act with the same heat four Gentlemen of Henry's Court out of Complaisance as mean as detestable having plotted and contrived to deliver their King of him entred the Church at Canterbury where that Holy Prelat was reading Service it was on the Christmas Holy-days and Murther'd him at the foot of the Altar Year of our Lord 1171 Though the King disown'd this Murther and shewed an extream grief nevertheless Year of our Lord 1172 having given cause to commit it if perhaps he did not command it the Pope Year of our Lord 1173 made a mighty business of it from which he could not get clear without submitting to great Pennance and such Reparations and Satisfactions as was ordained by his Legats The Holy Archbishop revered as a Martyr was Canonized the following year and the frequent Miracles wrought on his Tomb attested his Holiness Year of our Lord 1173 Every year almost there was some Rupture then a Peace or Truce between the two Kings either concerning their own proper Interests or that of their Friends and Vassals Lewis had this advantage that being the Soveraign Lord he had a right of hearing the Complaints of Henry's Vassals and of making himself his Judge Year of our Lord 1173 He had stirred up many in Aquitain and Normandy but this year he Armed his own Children against him The eldest with Margaret his Wife being gone to Visit him and having staid some time in that Court had a fancy put into his Head that since he was Crowned he ought to Reign and to demand of his Father the enjoyment either of the Kingdom of England or the Dukedom of Normandy With this disposition and fretted for that his Father had taken some young People from about him who gave him such like ill Counsels he stole away one Night from him and came and cast himself into the Arms of the King Immediately all the young Nobility follows him Queen Alienor favours him his two Brothers Richard Duke of Aquitain and Gefroy of Brâ—tagne joyns with him and those whole Provinces follow their Motions The King of France takes them into his protection William King of Scotland declares for them and attaques England whither at the same time went some French Forces under the Command of Robert Earl of Leicester Year of our Lord 1174 It seemed therefore as if the unhappy Father must needs be overwhelm'd on a suddain but he overthrew all the Enemies Lewis having taken Verneuil au Perche durst not hold it and retreated before him The Earl of Leicester is defeated in England and all those that followed him either slain or taken then all the Kingdom reduced in less then Thirty days by old Henry who went thither presently after this defeat Year of our Lord 1175 The following year whilst he was doing Pennance at St. Thomas Becket's Tomb William King of Scotland his most capital Enemy loses a Battle against his Lieutenants and was taken Prisoner The Fleet of young Henry is dispersed and disabled by Tempest King Lewis who had carried Philip Earl of Flanders with him is rudely repulsed from Rouen so that finding Henry who was come over-Seas again to Relieve this City made ready to give him Battle he hearkens to a Truce for some Months Year of our Lord 1175 Whilst that lasted old Henry going into Poitou and subduing Richard the worst of his three Rebellious Sons who held that Country all the others returned to their Obedience and he enters upon a Treaty of Peace with Lewis who gave him Alix his Daughter for his Son Richard and put her into his hands to compleat the Marriage when she should be Age for it Year of our Lord 1177 The two Kings now grown old were weary of so many Wars and Disturbances Either of them had cause to fear the one the activity of his three most valiant Sons the other the weakness of his only Heir as yet too young so that they confirmed the Peace by new Oaths promised mutual friendship against all others and took up a resolution to go joyntly into Languedoc to extirpiate those Hereticks already mentioned by us But they thought it more convenient first to send the Popes Legat thither with three or four other Prelats to endeavour to reclaim them by Exhortations and Anathema's which converted and brought back a great many and kept the rest within bounds for some time These Hereticks were all called Albigensis because they propaged
to the King but he judged it was not convenient for his Majesty to enter into it 〈…〉 had the Castle likewise which he ordered should be Besieged by the 〈…〉 and Peter de Navarre As soon as he came first into Italy the Pope had feignedly begun to Treat with him After the Battle of Marignan he was in so great haste thorough fear that he treated without disguise not waiting the Resolutions of the Swisse Diet nor the Emperors who earnestly conjured him not to do so Amongst other Articles the King took into his protection his Person the Ecclesiastical Estate Julian and Laurence de Medicis and the Estate of Florence obliged himself that from that Time forward the Milanese should be furnished with Salt from Cervia consented free Passage should be allowed for the Vice-Roy of Naples Forces to retire promised not to assist or protect any of his Feudataries against him Reciprocally the Pope was to withdraw the Soldiers he had sent to the Emperor against the Venetians and surrender Piacenza and Parma to the King and Modena and Reggio to the Duke of Ferrara The Constable not relying solely upon the Success of those Mines with the which Peter de Navarre had vaunted to take the Castle of Milan in a Month made use of Money which does its effect more certainly then Gun-Powder and corrupted some Captains so that they began to Mutiny The Swisse Cantons assembled at that time at Zuric were just sending away a powerful Relief to Sforza and the Pope who had not yet concluded his Treaty would not have failed to joyn his Troops and those of Naples but Moron who was all the Councel the unfortunate Sforza had persuaded him to make a Composition with the King He yielded him all his Rights to the Dutchy conditionally he should have a certain Summ of ready Money to pay his Debts thirty thousand Ducats Pension to be paid him in France or given him in Benefices with a Cardinals Cap and several other Conditions for his Servants and such as had been of his Party The Treaty signed he came out of the Castle and was conducted into France by some Lords little bemoaned for being fallen from that high Degree of Soveraignty because the exravagancy of his Mind and his more then brutish Vices had rendred him unworthy of it The Castle being surrendred nothing more opposed the Conqueror Hugh de Cardonna with Ferdinand's Army retired to the Kingdom of Naples and the Pope dissembling his displeasure for the restitution of those Places he had been obliged to make went to Bologna to confer with the King face to face He arrived there the nineteenth of December and the King two days after On the Morrow he rendred him Obedience his Chancellor Antony du Prat pronounced the Words bare-headed and on his Knees the King standing by cover'd Year of our Lord 1515 confirmed them by bowing his Head and Shoulders After that they lock'd themselves up for three Days together in the Palace There it was that the young King for vain hopes and by the Advice and Counsel of his Chancellor condescended to abolish the Pragmatick and to make the Concordat Whereby the Pope conceded to the King the right of nominating to Bishopricks and Abbeys in all the Territories of the Kingdom of France and Dauphine and the King granted to the Pope the Annates of those great Benefices upon the foot of their currant Revenue which were augmented above the one half since the discovery of the Indies The Holy Father very free of other Folks Money made him a Present of two Tenths upon the Clergy and the Title of Emperour of the East But the King refused the last At the same Time the renewed Alliance with the Swisse was concluded notwithstanding the Contrivances of the English It was upon these Conditions That they should serve France with and against all excepting the Pope the Emperor and the Empire That they should surrender the Valleys of Milanois That the King should pay them six hundred thousand Crowns and should continue to them their Pensions Five of the Cantons did at that time refuse to Sign to this Year of our Lord 1515 When the King had taken Care for the security of Milan where he left the Constable with seven hundred Men at Arms and ten thousand Foot Soldiers he parted from Bologna the fifteenth of December and by great Journeys came to his Mother and his Wife who staid for him at Lyons Year of our Lord 1516 His happy Progress and his new Alliances kindled the greater jealousy in the Emperor King Ferdinand and the King of England his Son in law in so much as they 〈…〉 common Consent to make a War upon him both in Italy and France at the 〈◊〉 time To which the King of England was inclined with the more heat and â—â—erness as being incensed for that the King hindred him from governing the young King and the Kingdom of Scotland by such People as were dependant on him But as they were taking their Measures for this Design it hapned that King Ferdinand as he was going to Seville died in the little Village of Madrigalet the two and twentieth of February of a Dropsy occasioned by a Beverage which Germain his Wife had given him to enable him to get Children Guichardin making his Elogy says there was nothing to be reproved in him but his not observing or keeping his Word and that as for the Avarice they reproach him with it was manifest at his Death he was not stained with it because he left but very little Money in his Coffers He adds that this Calumny proceeded from the corrupt judgment of Men who more applaud the Prodigality of a Prince which oppresses and grinds his Subjects then the good Husbandry of One that thriftily manages their Substance as a good and careful Father of his Family ought to do He left the Government of Arragon to his Bastard Son Bishop of Saragossa and that of Castille to Francis Ximenes Cardinal Bishop of Toledo His Daughter Jane was Distracted still and shut up in a Castle where she clambred along the Walls and crawled up the Tapistry Hangings like a Cat. Four Months after on the six and twentieth of June John d'Albret who might have made some stirrs in the Kingdom of Navarre whence Ferdinand had turn'd him out ended his Days in a Village in Bearn Catharine de Foix his Wife survived him but eight Months Their Son Henry aged but fourteen years inherited the Title of that Kingdom of which he had nothing left him but the little Parcel on this side of the Pyreneans Year of our Lord 1516 The Death of Ferdinand gave King Francis the opportunity and desire of marching his Armies into the Kingdom of Naples which in this juncture was half revolted He imagined that Charles having need of him for a Passage that he might go and take Possession of the Spanish Dominions and withal being under the apprehension of some trouble in the Succession to
of great advantage to him Upon this followed a sharp Fight which was on the thirteenth of August between the Villages of Marque and Fauquemberg where the conduct and courage of the Duke of Guise who was engaged in it did signalize it self above all the other Chiefs The Emperor having the worst of it was advised to sound a retreat Some pieces of his Canon and Two Thousand of his Men remained in the Field of Battel However the King for want of Provisions raised the Siege and after he had sent once more to defie the Emperor discharged a part of his Army and returned to Paris giving what Souldiers were left to the Duke of Vendosmes Charge This Prince had no little task to cover the Frontiers for the Enemy who were thought to be gone into Winter Quarters took the Field again and made a shew of Besieging Dourlens then Abbeville ransacked the Country as far as Saint Riquier from thence went up along the River of Autie and feigning to have their Eye upon Monstreville set themselves upon fortifying the Village of Mesnil which lies in a Marsh upon the little River of Canche a little beneath old Hesdin which they had demolished the year before The Duke of Savoy would have it called Hesdin-Fert adding to the name of the place the Devise of his House to make known that he was the Founder of it This Campagne ended the exploits of the Emperor He was too much wasted and weakned by continual defluxions to be any longer capable of undergoing those fatigues and make head against a youthful King whom he always found on Horseback Besides the mis-understanding that was between him and his Brother gave him much more trouble then his distemper and corporal pain This younger Brother besides that he was not contented with his share but demanded some augmentation was in great wrath that he had mow'd the Grass under the Feet of his Son Maximilian King of Bohemia in the design he had to get Mary Queen of England for the Emperor had pretended to aid him and in the mean time got her for his own Son Philip. This wrangling went so far that Maximilian's Nephew had like to have made War upon him He sought the Alliance of the German Princes for this very purpose and hearkned to the Kings Envoyez who proffer'd him his However the mediation of their common friends appeased that Domestique Quarrel The same night the Battel of Renty was fought came news to the Camp of the Battel at Mercian in Siennois which much allayes the Emperors trouble and grief and the joy of the French Now before we speak of this Event we must in gross relate the success of that War At the beginning the Duke of Florence who equally feared the Imperialists and the French and would prevent the ruine of his Year of our Lord 1554 Country had sought to find a Medium to compose the difference which was out that Sienne should remain free in its dependance on the Empire and amity with France But the Pope whose Interest he made use of did not act cordially The Holy Fathers aim was to bring that Estate under the power of the Emperor because he made him or at least left him room to believe and hope that he would invest Fabian Son of his Brother Baldwine with it therefore of his own head he added one condition to those of the Duke of Florence which she well knew the Siennois would never accept which was that a Cardinal to be named by him should be put into the City to serve as Chief for that Republique with a Garrison of Twelve Hundred Men. The Emperor on his part was not sorry this Negotiation broke off that he might have an employment for Peter de Toledo and remove him from being Vice-Roy of Naples where his ill Conduct had caused most dangerous Tumults about the business of the Inquisition This Lord had not been a Month in Tuscany but he died Garsias his Son took the Command of the Imperial Army Duke Cosmo having refused it Paul de Termes Commanded then in that Country for the King The Imperialists having Twenty Thousand Foot in that Mountainous Region gained most of the places as well along the Sea-shore as the Valley of Chiana but they got nothing but Blows at Montalcini Thereupon they had notice the Turks Fleet was at Sea and that on the other hand Brissac had gained great advantages in Piedmont this news obliged them to send back the best part of their Forces to the Kingdom of Naples and into Milanois Cosmo was much astonished he saw himself forsaken by the Imperialists after he had broken with the King It was believed he would then willingly have complied had they known how to press him in that juncture but they gave him time to recover himself of his first fears and resolve to stand it out come what would In which he was the more confirmed for that the great Turkish Fleet Commanded by Dragut and joyned with the French Galleys of whom the Baron de la Garde was General having made a descent upon the Coasts and in the Island of Elbe took only some little places and durst not attaque either Piombino which is on the Terra-firma nor the Fortress of Porto-Ferrario which he had built in the Island From thence that Armada passed to Corsica carrying thither Termes and the greatest part of the French Commanders and Nobility who quitted Sienna imagining there was no further danger These passages hap'ned in the Year 1553. but in 1554. the King sent thither Peter Strozzi newly made Mareschal upon the Death of Annebaut to Command his Forces in the place of Paul de Termes This employment was procured him by the Queen to whom he was related but by obliging her Cousin she ruined the Kings Affairs For as Strozzi was a mortal Enemy to the Medicis Cosmo fancied he had expresly made choise of him to renew the intrigues for the liberty of the Florentines and to encourage them to shake off their Yoke so that being exasperated to the highest degree he observed no measures but openly declared against the French and against Sienna The Cardinal of Ferrare who had the intendance General of the Government for the King at Sienna took likewise some umbrage and Jealousie at this Mareschals Arrival who notwithstanding endeavour'd to condescend to him in all things insomuch that from that Minute he grew very careless neglected to carry on those practices and negotiations France then had as well at Rome as with the other Princes of Italy and let slip all those means and opportunities wherewith they might have kept things still in very good order and condition Cosmo had chosen for General of his Forces John Jacques Medequin Marquiss of Marignan who embraced this opportunity to make the World believe he was of the House of the Medicis though he were but the Son of a Maltostier or Tax-gatherer Having invested Sienna by the taking of several small places round about
some respect for the King Of the Catholicks as well as Huguenots which were about him there were two sorts some who pressed for his change in Religion Year of our Lord 1590 others who hindred it And of these likewise there were such who solicited it and yet would not have it others that opposed it and yet would have it so The Zealous Huguenots whereof Plessis had greatest Authority not having yet been able to obtain an Edict of him in favour of their Religion and finding he inclined by little and little towards the Catholick resolved they would strengthen themselves with Forreign Aid And in this Prospect engaged him to demand some both in England and Germany so to beset and keep him closer united with the Protestant Princes He met likewise from abroad with another great cause of discontent Pope Sixtus V. had conceived a very high esteem for him an extream contempt for the League and a private hatred for the Spanish Government which was much more dreadful to him then all the Hereticks He had heaped up five Millions of Gold in the Castle St. Angelo the Spaniards importuned him to open his Chests for relief of the Catholick Party but he refused absolutely and that with words as sharp as their demands were arrogant Thereupon he happen'd to die the Seven and twentieth of the Month of August His Successor Vrban VII who proved to be of the same mind lived but thirty days and 't was suspected the Spaniards shortned the lives both of the one and other Gregory XIV who was elected in the place of Vrban being a Milanese by Birth and perhaps apprehending as he was very timorous that they might soon dispatch him after his Predecessors espoused the passions of his King and publickly engaged himself by promising assistance of Men and Money to the month December League Year of our Lord 1591. January The beginning of the year 1591. was made memorable by two Enterprizes one of the Chevalier d'Aumales upon the City of St. Denis the other the Kings upon Paris they both miscarried The Chevalier was by night gotten into St. Denis by means of some People who having passed the Fosse upon the Ice screwed open the Gate and let down the Draw-bridge When he was come into the midst of the Town Dominique de Vic who was newly made Governor goes forth into the Streets with ten or twelve Horse making a huge noise as if great Company were with him He puts the Assailants to a full stop then feeling their Pulses a little afterwards charged them so smartly that he beat back two hundred Men who were soremost upon the Body that came behind Then all betook them to flight The Chevalier with fifteen or sixteen of his lay dead in the Street not without some suspicion of being kill'd by his own Party This was in the night between the second and third of January the Eve of St. Genevieue not very favourable to the Parisians As to the Enterprise upon Paris the Twentieth of the same Month sixty of the most resolute Captains disguised like Peasants and leading Horses loaden with Meal for the City began to grow in want had order to seize upon the Gate St. Honore Year of our Lord 1590. January The Politiques who had notice to be in a Body at the Court of Guard would have joyned them five hundred Cuirassiers and two hundred Arquebusiers concealed in the Fauxbourg would have followed and these again would have been back'd by twelve hundred Men then the Swiss should have marched with several Waggons loaden with Pontons Ladders and Hurdles to scale it in several parts At the same time the King stood at the entrance of the Fauxbourg to give Orders but finding the Gate St. Honore filled up with Earth he judged his Design had taken wind and retired The City of Paris being hourly threatned with the like dangers the Duke of Mayenne was forced to bring in a Garison of Spaniards However to avoid reproach he would not order it of himself but refer'd the business to the Parliament who concluded after great Debate and Contentions it should be so By vertue of their Decree he put four thousand into Paris and five hundred in Meaux a sufficient number to make good his Command but not so many as to make them Masters there month February The inconvenience of the Season which was very sharp could not hinder the King from besieging the City of Chartres The Garison was but two hundred Soldiers but there were three thousand Citizens who believing they did maintain the Cause of God and of the Virgin made the Siege much longer and much more difficult then was expected He was twice or thrice of the mind to raise it Chiverny who was concerned for the recovery of that place because he had the Government of the Chartrain and all his Estate lay thereabouts was the only Man that obliged him not month April to give over This obstinacy of his proved happy in the end for the Town surrendred the Eighteenth day of April The Duke of Mayenne could not make a diversion by attaquing Chafteau-Thierry the taking whereof was very easie the Governor who was the Son of Pinard Secretary of State defended himself so ill that he was accused of Treason His Father and himself were hugely put to it and got out of the Briars rather by the intercession of Friends then any justification of themselves The length of the Siege of Chartres as doubtful at five weeks end as the first day emboldned the Tiers Party to hold up their Heads The young Cardinal de Bourbon a vain and ambitious Prince was Head and Author of it He thought the good Catholicks tired with the tedious delays the King made for his being instructed would confer the Crown on him as being the nearest Prince of the Blood and in this imagination had made a Cabal and sent to Rome to treat with the Pope concerning that matter At the same time his Brother the Count de Soissons was contriving another which would have mightily perplexed the King and made him forfeit his Credit amongst Huguenots The Countess of Guiche offended because the King did not now respect Year of our Lord 1591. April her as he had to be reveng'd of him re-kindled the love that Count once had for Madam Catharine his Sister and so well managed the intrigue that their Wedding was ready to be consummate but the King having discover'd the designs of either that of the Cardinal de Bourbon by means of the Cardinal de Lenoncour who revealed all his secrets that of the Princess by the treachery of a disgraced Chambermaid took such effectual order as removed all his apprehensions The Negociations for Peace began anew after the taking of Chartres Whilst Villeroy was setting them on foot there was an Assembly of the Heads of the League who all met either in Person or by their Deputies in the City of Reims to settle their concerns and the methods for making Peace or
with quite contrary Sentiments Thus a private Interest often or twelve thousand ✚ Francs between particular Men defeated the King of an infinite advantage the ill success whereof brought him into a most troublesom Labyrinth month November On St. Martins day Birons Forces approached near Rouen He had besides his French three thousand Englishmen commanded by the Earl of Essex Favourite to Queen Elizabeth whom he had been to meet by Sea as far as Boulogue They would at first needs shew some little bravado and fired their small Guns but they were soon beaten off by a stout Salley and the Mareschal being as yet too weak went and took Gournay and Caudebec That done he comes again before Rouen and endeavoured to turn the little Rivers of Robec and Aubete another way on which the Town Mills were placed he succeeded as to the former but not the latter In the mean time the Citizens of Rouen intending to shew themselves more brave then those Year of our Lord 1591 of Paris made many great Sallies to let the Besiegers know it would be no easie month November task to approach their Walls and that they would rather chuse to fight then to fast The Duke of Mayenne found himself at this time in the greatest distress that ever he was in during his whole Life Having no Forces to oppose so powerful an Army as the Kings he saw the loss of Rouen before his Eyes afterwards that of all Normandy then of Paris and by consequence of all France Those that were to help him gave him most trouble the Duke of Nemours diverted one part of his Forces to erect a Soveraignty about Lyonnois the Duke of Guise labour'd to make himself Head of the Party as his Father had been and the young Nobless did already run after him as the Seize owned him for their Chief Above all this he dreaded the Spaniards who told him plainly they would let him perish if he employ'd not his Interest and Credit to make the Crown fall to the Infanta They bragg'd withall they had a way to attain their ends in despite of him which was to divide and share the Kingdom amongst the Grandees and the most renowned Captains and draw the chiefest Cities to them by giving them their liberty so that France had been reduced to the same condition as Germany a tempting bait both for the Lords and for the People But nothing lay so heavy upon him as the Seize he hated them to the utmost and was in the same measure hated by them Nor did they let slip any opportunity to decry his Conduct sent frequent Complaints Remonstrances and Deputations to him regarded not his Orders no more then he did their Memorials wrote of their own Heads to the King of Spain to offer him the Crown had engaged their Cabal to take a new Oath of Union which did exclude all the Princes of the Blood from the Throne and forced all those that would not take it amongst others the Cardinal de Gondy to depart the City Nothing was left to make them Masters but to rid their hands of a part of the Parliament who observed them night and day and cross'd their designs The Duke of Mayenne was no less afraid then they were foreseeing clearly enough that sooner or later that first Parliament of the Kingdom would return to the King and draw the People after them he was therefore well enough pleased the Seize diminished their Authority and hoped that by dashing so fiercely against each other they would both be destroy'd to his advantage The thing hapned as he wished but with a Consequence quite different from his intention The Parliament had absolv'd one named Brigard whom the Seize had accused of holding intelligence with the Royalists the most zealous of that Faction resolved upon revenge To this end they created a secret Council of ten amongst Year of our Lord 1591 themselves by whose advice all things of importance was to be dispatched This month November Council concluded they must make away the President Brisson Larcher Counsellor in Parliament and Tardif Counsellor at the Chastelet who broke their measures and who besides were particular Enemies to some of them They first attempted to do it by some Assassins but those Hirelings as it frequently happens having discover'd this Plot to the Parties themselves to gain a double Reward they resolved to act more openly They drew up therefore a Sentence of Death against those three and wrote it above the Names and Signatures of several eminent Citizens which they had got upon another pretence With and by vertue of this Warrant they seized on them in divers places carried them to the little Chasteles and Hanged them all three in that Prison The President Brisson was the first A Catastrophy unworthy so excellent and so learned a Man yet ordinary to such as float betwixt two Parties All the remaining portion of that day they scatter'd divers odious Reports about the Town to blast their Memories the following night they caused their Bodies to be carried to the Grewe where they hanged till the next night But observing the People gazed on the sad Spectacle rather with the Eyes of pity then indignation they began to consider the horror of the Fact and apprehend the Revenge Some of them were of opinion to seize the Dutchess of Nemours that she might be security for them against the Duke her Son Others to compleat the Tragedy would rid themselves of him if he came towards Paris and after that elect a Chief that depended wholly upon them The Spaniards did believe they would have gone thorough with this last Act and if so would have supported them but cared not to be the first should approve an attempt the justification whereof depended on the event ☞ Now as there are but few great Crimes carried on to the highest pitch no more then Heroick Vertues these People that had begun this first without necessity did not know how to act a second which was necessary to cover the former The Parliament the Princesses the Royalists themselves who pretended to be zealous Leaguers earnestly sollicited the Duke who was at Laon to hasten and deliver them from that Tyranny crying out the Knife was at their very Throats Divers Considerations kept him a while in suspence he feared lest despair should force the Seize to cast themselves upon the Spaniards lest the Duke of Guise should support them or lest their Cabal should be strong enough to shut up the Gates against him nevertheless perceiving their courage failed that they did not put themselves into a posture Year of our Lord 1591 to maintain their Roguery with vigor but forsaking themselves were openly month November protected by none he took three hundred Horse and fifteen hundred Foot and marched directly to Paris One Band went out to meet him having at their Head Boucher Curate of St. Benoist who was to deliver the Message but the Duke passed on and would not hear them