affectionate to the Princesses which hapned the Sixth day of January in the year 1386. Year of our Lord 1386 The same year the Widow-Queen and her Daughter going into the Countrey fell into the hands of Horvat Governour of Croatia one of King Charles's Partisans or Confederates who to revenge the death of his Master caused the Widow and the Murtherer Gato to be massacred He kept the Princess some time then sent her to Sigismund having first obliged her by all sorts of Oaths to pardon him Sigismund did not think himself bound by her promises and therefore having surprized him made him dye amidst a thousand torments Year of our Lord 1386 The news of Charles's Murther being brought into Italy Thomas de Sanseverin caused Lewis II. eldest Son of the deceased Duke of Anjou to be proclaimed King and Clement VII to be owned Pope Afterwards Marguerite the Widow of Charles being retired to Cajeta with Ladislaus or Lancelot her Son aged about Ten years he reduced almost the whole Kingdom and Naples it self Thus all things went on smoothly for Lewis till Mary de Blois his Mother and Governess having sent Clement de Montjoye Nephew to Pope Clement with the Title and Authority of Vice-Roy the Sanseverins thinking themselves under-valued were alienated from her Service and turned to Ladislaus Year of our Lord 1386 In the mean while Lewis was put into possession of Provence and invested with the Kingdom of Naples by Clement but it was not without great trouble before the Provensaux would acknowledge him the Kings Counsel themselves inciting them underhand to a Rebellion upon divers motives because they would have disposed them to give themselves up to France After Five or Six years Truces and petty Wars the Council resolved to attacque the English not in Guyenne only but even in their own Island For this end they made the most formidable preparations of Men Engines and Ships that ever yet were seen They bought up or hired all the Vessels they could light on from the Ports of Sweden to those in Flanders they built a City of Wood which was to be taken in pieces to shelter themselves upon their Landing The King went to Sluyce to take a view of his Army and Navy consisting in Nine hundred Vessels The Duke of Berry's envy and jealousie retarded the progress he would needs break the design because he was not the contriver In order to which he made them wait for him till the Fourteenth of September when the Seas began to appear un-navigable So the Forces drew off into Quarters part of this numerous Fleet were scattered by Tempests the English pickt up many that were wrack'd or stragled Year of our Lord 1386 There was no reason to trust the Duke of Bretagne too much because of his too many Obligations to the English and the consideration that their suppression must he his ruine wherefore they warily minded his actions but he to justify himself laid Siege to Brest which they yet held as a bridle to Bretagne The Constable assisted him in the undertaking the place was mightily streightned but when they were at the last gaspe the Duke of Lancaster who was going into Spain with great Forces made them raise the Siege The occasion of his voyage was this Ferdinand last King of Portugal had no Child but a Daughter born of a Lady whom he had taken from her Husband He caused this Girl to be owned as his presumptive Heyress as likewise the Mother had been owned Queen and married her to John King of Castille who was a Widower and had two Sons but when he died the principal Cities of Portugal apprehending the Castillan bondage had more mind to have a bastard Brother of Ferdinands for their King his Name was John Froissard names him Denis thorow a mistake instead of saying he was Grand Master of the Order D'Avis The fortune of the War was favourable to the Bastard he gained a Battle at Juberot against his adversaries the Castillans having out of an ugly jealousie suffer'd the Gascons and French to be defeated who took their part with above Eight thousand Men and then were afterwards themselves defeated Notwithstanding this advantage it was to be feared the Castillan would be able yet to crush them and therefore the Bastard sent to the Duke of Lancaster inviting him to come and pursue the right he had to the Kingdom of Castille as on the other hand the Castillian had recourse to France Year of our Lord 1386 The Duke of Lancaster passed therefore into those Countreys with a huge force conquer'd a part of Castille and struck such a terror into all the rest that King John made some overtures of Peace but he spun out the Treaty awhile expecting the French succours when he sound those did not come the Duke of Bourbon their Conductor marching very slowly he concluded the Treaty the Duke of Lancaster Sealed it by the Marriage of two of his Daughters one with the King of Portugal and the other with the Castillans eldest Son This little piece of Honour cost the English very dear the losses they suffer'd by contagious Sicknesses in Spain and afterwards by Storms in their return were so great that the Duke of Lancaster hardly carried home the sixth part of his Men and not one but in a languishing condition half dead with malady and pain At last by a just punishment from Heaven Charles the Wicked who had blown up so many flames and burnt so many entrails with his violent poysons was most cruelly burnt himself He had caused his Body to be wrapp'd all over with Sheets drenched in Spirit of Wine and Sulpher to corroborate the natural heat decay'd by his debauches this took fire I know not by what accident and broiled him to the very bones whereof he died three days after being the First of January in the year 1387. Charles called the Noble his Son succeeded him Year of our Lord 1387 The Constable Clisson and the Admiral John de Vienne had so fill'd the King's Head with the expedition for England that he makes another preparation to execute it this year The state of Affairs was very favourable all England was in combustion against King Richard because he had put mean and vile People into places of the highest Trust who bear all the sway which his Uncles could not endure nor indeed would they have the Power lodged in any other hands but their own Now when France was on the point of making advantage of these troubles the Duke of Bretagne either of intelligence with the English or without thinking of them was cause of interrupting the Enterprize this time as it had been formerly Clisson was then in Bretagne to dispatch the Forces that were at Treguier that they might go and joyn with those at Sluyce but at the same time he was Treating of the Marriage of one of his Daughters with John the Son of Charles de Blois whom he had purposely got out of the hands
the accustomed Ceremonies and Magnificence Being returned to Paris the Duke of Bretagne sent a complaint to him for having supported the Rebellion of his Subjects The Dame according to her Father's wonted Method in stead of returning him an answer Debauched his Ambassadors from his Service These were the Lord D'Vrfe whom she made Grand Escuyer and Poncet de la Riviere on whom she bestowed the Mayoralty of Bourdeaux Year of our Lord 1484 The Cardinal de Balue after his being set at Liberty went to Rome and as that Court is a Region of perpetual Intrigues he Succeeded so happily therein that in short time be got great Credit and some good Benefices He moreover prevailed with the Pope so far that after the Death of Lewis XI he sent him into France as Legat à Latere He made his entrance with so much arrogance that he made use of his faculties before ever he had the Kings consent or had presented them in Parliament to be examined whether they contained nothing contrary to the Rights of the Crown and the Liberties of the Gallican Church The Parliament offended at this bold undertaking forbid him to take upon him the Characters of his Legation or to exercise the power Notwithstanding the Kings Council after he had shewed his reasons and made his necessary Submissions gave order he should be received in that Quality with the usual Respect and Honour and that he should exercise his Functions Which he did for some days when hearing news of the Death of Sixtus he returned on his way to Rome with a Present only of a Thousand Crowns in Gold which the King gave him towards defraying the Expences of his Journey Year of our Lord 1484 The Council Establish'd by the Estates had neither Power nor Vertue the Dame de Beaujeu usurped all the Authority She turned out all those from the Kings Service as were not at her Dvotion and brought in d'Vrfe Riviere and Graville prime Chamberlain who watched and as it were beleaguer'd the young King These Folk wanting some brave daring Heroe to oppose the Duke of Orleans did likewise keep Rene the Duke of Lorrain at Court to whom they restored the Dutchy of Bar till such time as the King should be of Age to do him right for the County of Provence assigned him a Pension of 36 Thousand Livers per Annum and a company of an Hundred Lances During these disorders in France the Scene was wholly changed in England Henry Earl of Richmond after the Battel in the year 1471 where Henry VI. Lost his Crown and Liberty endeavouring to make his escape into France was by Tempest thrown upon the Coasts of Bretagne where the Duke Seized on him and detained him Prisoner in favour of Edward or rather to engage that King to protect him always against Lewis XI And indeed Edward never forsook him whatever advantage Lewis could propound to him and which was more paid him fifty Thousand Crowns yearly for his Pension When Edward Died he gave him his full Liberty and withal assisted him with Money and six Thousand Men wherewith he put to Sea having a Strong Faction in England whereof the Earl of Buckingham was Head Now it happened that a Storm having scattered his Ships the Confederacy was discover'd and Buckingham Beheaded with most of the great men who were concerned in it So that he returned and Landed in Normandy and from thence got back into Bretagne waiting for a better opportunity King Richard desiring to have him at what price soever profer'd Landays so much Money and such considerable assistance in time of need against the Breton Lords that this Perfidious and Mercinary Soul promised to deliver him up to his People The Earls Friends in England got a hint of this bargain and gave him Notice at the very nick of time when it was to be put in execution He immediately departs from Vannes under pretence of going to wait upon the Duke who was at Renes then striking into another Road made his escape with four more to Anger 's He was so closely pursued by Landays Men that he slipt thorough the passage but one hour before they came to the place The King was then at Langeais who received him very kindly And a great number of English Landing every Day in the Ports of France to joyn with him he gave him some broken Companies that were in Normandy with which he adventured over into England In fine having gained the Victory over Richard who was slain in the Field be ascended the Throne which he pretended did belong of Right to him as being the Eldest of the House of Lancaster He was indeed of that Family but at a remote distance as being but the Son of a Daughter of the Duke of Somerset's and of Edmond who was Son of Owen Tudor a Gentleman of Wales and Catherine of France who after the Death of King Henry V. her Husband was clandestinely Married to him Year of our Lord 1485 The Duke of Orleans the Duke of Bourbon likewise to whom the Constables Sword without any power was more an injury or burthen then an Honour made a new party against the Government The Duke of Bretagne Charles Earl of Angoulesme the Duke of Alenson and John de Chaalon Prince of Orenge who was Son of a Sister of the Duke of Bretagne entred into it Charles Earl of Dunois was the primum mobile The Duke of Orleans was the first that spoke and being retired to Beaugency demanded an Assembly of the Estates They immediately carried the King thither He besieged him in the place and forced him to an accomodation wherein it was agreed that the Earl of Dunois should retire to Ast in Piedmont After that they got the King to March against the Duke of Bourbon who finding him on a sudden in the midst of his Country accepted of such conditions as they would impose Year of our Lord 1485 The Soldiers they had Levied for these ends fell most of them into Bretagne The Duke of Orleans having sent all his thither for the Dukes Service the Dame sent the Kings thither also in behalf of the Lords Landays prompted as we may believe by his wicked Genius pursued the utter Destruction of the Lords with all his might and would not recede in the least from the Sentence he had obtained that they should lose both their Castles and their Heads He had raised a great Army for this purpose who had Ordersto Besiege Ancenis a place belonging to the Mareschal de Riux The Lords had taken the Field to prevent it The Armies being in sight of each other some good minded People made the Chief Commanders of the Dukes Army so Sensible how heighnous it would be in them to spill the Heart Blood of their own Friends and Kindred for the sake of the most profligate wretch in the whole World that they embraced each other mutually and agreed to joyn their Supplications to the Duke that he would be pleased
each other Philip on the River of Antie and Henry along the Somme They lay there almost three Months without having any other Ren-contre besides one Skirmish because they were then upon propositions for an Accommodation The Popes Nuncios made the first mention of it the Constable and the Mareschal de Saint André whose favour was in a languishing condition at Court got Philip to give some Ear to it making use for that purpose of the interest of the Duke of Savoy who could no way be restored to his Estates but by a Peace Christierne Dutchess of Lorrain equally obliged to either King as Aunt to the first and nearly Allied to the second having newly given her Daughter Claudia to the Duke his Son promoted it with much industry and went with all the Messages to and fro so that at length she brought it to a Conference between their Deputies where her self and her Son assisted as Mediators Which proved a great reputation and honour to them both in all the Courts of Christendom Two Months before which was in October the Constable was freed from his imprisonment upon his parole and came to wait upon the King at Amiens who received him with inexpressible demonstrations of affection even to the making him lye in his own Bed It is said that this Lord having had notice the Kings affection towards him declined very much recover'd it again by the Credit of the Dutchess of Valentinois he seeking her Alliance and treating of a Match between his Son Danville with Antoinetta Daughter of Robert de la Mark and Frances de Brezé who was the Daughter of that Dutchess He had already agreed with the Spaniards on all the Articles of Peace but fearing lest he might alone be charged with the reproach of a Treaty so disadvantageous he contrived it so that the King upon the winding of it up should joyn with him the Cardinal Lorrain Mareschal de Saint André John de Morvillier Bishop of Orleans and Claude de l'Aubespine Secretary of State The Conference began in the Abbey of Cercamp the fifteenth of October and from that time the two Kings dismissed their Forces The difficulty concerning Calais was the greatest Remora Queen Mary would by all means have it again the King would needs keep it Thereupon that Princess hap'ned to dye without Year of our Lord 1558 any Children of a Dropsie caused by her infinite grief for the loss of that place and the little esteem her Husband had for her The fifteenth of November was the day of her decease and the sixteenth that of the Cardinal Pool her dear Cousin who had taken great pains to restore the Catholick Religion in England About this time the two Princes made a Truce for two Months then their Deputies parted Elizabeth succeeded Mary pursuant to the Will of Henry VIII Philip did yet for some time carry on the interest of Elizabeth then abandoned them lest they should prejudice his own He had likewise some design of Marrying her or at least to get her for his Uncle Ferdinand's second Son but the King who had great reason to hinder that Alliance and not suffer Elizabeth to take that Crown which he believed did belong to his Sons the Dausins Wife so ordered it that the Pope received the Envoy sent by that Princess to him but ill and treated her as illegitimate This injury made her determine openly to embrace the Religion of the Protestants who made no doubts concerning her and to repeal all Acts made by Mary and corroborate and revive those of Edward and put them in force Year of our Lord 1559 The Deputies from the two Crowns met again towards the end of January at Cateau in Cambresis where in few days they came to a final agreement on all the Articles Elizabeth fearing to be left alone sent her Deputies thither also By the Treaty between France and Spain that of Crespy and the preceding were confirmed The two Kings mutually restored all they had taken from each other for eight years past The King restored the Duke of Savoy to all his Lands and Estates yet still reserved the right he had but whilst that could be examined by Commissioners on either part which was to be done within three years time he kept by way of pawn or Security Turin Pignerol Quiers Chivas and Villeneuve of Ast Moreover he quitted all those he held in Tuscany to the Duke of Florence and those in Corsica to the Genoese gave his Sister Margaret in Marriage to the Duke of Savoy with Three Hundred Thousand Crowns in Gold and his Daughter Isabella to King Philip with Four Hundred Thousand The people who always desire Peace at what price soever testified a great deal of joy The Constable and the Mareschal de Saint André stood in need of it to recover their former favour which was in the wain but the Guisian party the sage Politiques the whole Nobility highly blamed it as a manifest juggle or Cheat whereby France was looser of one hundred ninety and eight strong places for three only which were given them these were Han le Catelet and Saint Quentin When Queen Elizabeth found the Treaty went forward and the Deputies for King Philip who pretended to mannage her concerns but acted very coldly obtained nothing for her advantage or interest She would needs Treat upon her own single account She got little more by it It was agreed that the King should either render up Calais to her and the re-conquer'd Country or if he liked it better pay her the Sum of Five Hundred Thousand Crowns which being referred to his own choice there was no doubt but he would keep that place which is the Key of his Kingdom During the Treaty the Spaniards God knows for what design exhorted the King very zealously to exterminate the new Sectaries and hinted that there were many of them even in his Court its self and of great quality amongst others Dandelot about whom they found some Books of that sort when they took him at Saint Quentin Upon which the King sent for him and asked him what he thought of the Mass Dandelot made him a very criminal reply which enraged him so greatly that he was almost in the mind to have kill'd him He commanded him to be made a Prisoner and put Blaise de Montluc into his Office a creature of the Duke of Guises The Constable his Uncle had very much ado to get him out of Prison and restore him It was suspected to be the Effect of a certain Conference held between the Cardinal de Lorrain and the Cardinal de Granvelle that by this Stratagem the first had a design to weaken the Constable by ruining his Nephews or to render Year of our Lord 1559 him suspected of Heresie if he protected them and that the other had a design of Setting the great Families of France to Daggers-drawing and of stirring up a Faction by making the Religionaries grow desperate believing they would joyn in a body
better to spoil and ruine the whole Countrey about Toulouze pull down the Houses root up the Vineyards and burn the Corn which so disheartned the Toulousains that both they and their Earl were forced to submit to what conditions he pleased Year of our Lord 1228 The Treaty was chalked out at Meaux and compleated at Paris the Earl and Deputies of Toulouze being present The Earl was deprived of all his Lands excepting some little fragments they for meer pity left him It was order'd they should all devolve to his Daughter Jane who should be Married to Alphonso the Kings Brother into whose custody she was put forthwith That the Earl should pay Seventeen thousand Marks of Silver part to the King some to the Monks de Cisteaux and the rest for a Foundation of Doctors in Divinity at Toulouze That the Walls of that City and of Thirty more should be demolish'd for performance whereof he should give Hostages and in the mean time remain prisoner That there should be an exact search after Heretiques at his charge and that for pennance he should go and make war five years against the Saracens These Articles Signed he and those of his company that had been Excommunicated were at Nostre-dames of Paris upon Good-Friday bare-footed in their Shirts to receive Absolution of the Popes Legat. That done the Earl returned prisoner to the Tower of the Louvre till he had given his Hostages About the Feast of Pentecost the King gave him the Order of Knighthood and sent him into his own Countrey The Legat went with him and setled the Inquisition which exercised great severities and was again the cause of many troubles and Massacres Year of our Lord 1228 The Male-contented could not disgest that the Government should be in the hands of two Strangers a Spanish Woman and an Italian Cardinal they therefore took up Arms again drew to their party Robert Earl of Dreux elder Brother to the Duke of Bretagne and Philip Earl of Boulogne the Kings paternal Uncle to whom they promised the Crown so that the King feared a second time to be involved by this conspiracy and had been surprized if the Earl of Champagne had not run seasonably to him with 300 * Horse-men to bring him off In Spring the Conspirators turned all their Force against the Earl of Champagne and Brie They demanded those Counties of him for Alix Queen of Cyprus Daughter of his Uncle Henry who died in the Levant and more then that called him Traytor and accused him of having poysonned the deceased King proffering to convict him by Duel a reproach that made him so black and loathsome amongst his Vassals that they joyned in League with his Enemies against him The Count finding so heavy a burthen on his Shoulders and his City of Troyes besieged implores the assistance of the Queen Regent who caused the King to march to his relief and commanded them if they had any thing to say against the Earl they should come and require justice upon him in her Court But they who would not acknowledge her Regency as if the Kingdom had been vacant elected in a private Assembly or Cabal the Lord de Coucy for King who was in great reputation for his Wisdom and Justice The Queen Regent having got intelligence gave immediate notice of it to Philip Earl of Boulogne whom they had made believe they would give the Crown to by this means she took him off from them then by divers politique contrivances made all their designs vanish but not their ill intentions Year of our Lord 1228 For a few days afterwards the Duke of Bretagne by their assistance and Councils took up Arms again and called the King of England to his aid who landed in Bretague with considerable Forces but when he saw the King conducted by the Queen Regent had taken the Castle de Belesme au Perche from the Duke which was held impregnable he Shipp'd himself again The Duke thus abandonned was constrained to betake himself to an agreement Year of our Lord 1229 The very next year he broke it but not without punishment the King having taken all his Holds and Places and gained all his Vassals and Friends shuts him up in his City of Nantes so that to get out of the Briars and make the best of a bad bargain he was forced to render him hommage of Allegiance for the Dutchy The Bretons who pretended they owed but ouly single Homage named him because of his so doing Mau-clerc as who should say Witless or wanting Judgment and Understanding Thibauld Earl of Champagne was ill rewarded for the good services he had done the Queen Regent She took in hand the cause of her Cousin Alix and condemned him to pay her Forty thousand Marks of Silver and sell to the King to raise that Money the Counties of Blois Chartres Sancerre and the Vicount of Chasteaudun Year of our Lord 1230 After all these disorders there was a calm and peace for four years which was only a little disturbed by some tumults caused by the remainders of the Albigensis and the hurly-burlies of the Scholars belonging to the University of Paris It was then the fairest Ornament of the Kingdom and the innumerable numbers of Scholars that flocked thither from all parts of Europe brought great riches to that City which in a manner made all the other Universities in Christendom submit to it Now some of them having been ill handled in some scuffle with the Citizens and not obtaining such satisfaction as they desired they all resolved to quit Paris not without having first published a great many Songs and Licentious Poems which fullied the reputation of the Queen Regent and Cardinal Romain the Popes Legat who swayed her The Duke of Bretagne and the King of England proffer'd to receive them into their Countries and to grant them great priviledges but the Kings Council fearing that capital City might be deprived of so great an advantage and benefit found means to allay their heats and keep them there Year of our Lord 1231. and the following The Inhabitants of Marseilles and the adjacent Countreys being revolted against Raimond Berenger Earl of Provence called in Raimond Earl of Toulouze to Command them because he was next Heir For we must know that Gilbert Earl of Provence and Nice had had two Daughters Faidide who Married Alphonso Great Great Great Grandfather of Raimond de Toulouze and Douce that had married Raimond Berenger Earl of Bacelonna from whom was descended the Earl of Provence now mentioned He therefore accepted of their Homage and acted as their Lord whence follow'd a War that lasted four years between those two Cousins This Earl of Provence having been harrass'd by divers Revolts and other misfortunes was at the end of his days made compleatly happy by the Marriage of four Daughters he had by his Wife Beatrix of Savoy a most Virtuous Princess For all four of them had the honour to be Married to Kings Margret who was
Daughter and Heiress of the Earl of Toulouze and also gave him the Counties of Poitou and Auvergne and all that had been conquer'd in Languedoc upon the Albigensis Year of our Lord 1241 These years the Tartars made cruel irruptions amongst others one in Hungary under the Command of Bath who was one of their Generals and one in Russia Poland and Silesia whither they were conducted by another of their Generals who was named Pera. These Barbarians were Scythians Originaries between the Caspian Sea and Mount Imaus Some make them descended from the Ten Tribes of the Hebrews who were transferr'd by the King of Assyria into those Countreys and derive their Name from the Hebrew Word which signifies Forsaken Others derive it from the River Tatar which ran thorough their Countrey and say it was given to the whole Nation of the Mogles composed of seven principal People of which they made one They were Tributaries and as we say Slaves to a Christian Nestorian Prince whose Kingdom was in the Indies he was called Prestor-John But Cingis or Tzingis-Cham set that Nation free about the end of the last age ruined the States of Prester-John and founded a very great Kingdom out of it from whence divers Colonies went forth and setled in other Countreys even in some parts of Europe The Earl of Toulouze sought out all means underhand to repair the shameful Treaty he had made with the King and therefore he consulted and contrived with James King of Arragon who was come to Montpellier and with the Earl of Provence though he were the Kings Father-in-law to Dissolve his Marriage with Sanchia Year of our Lord 1241 the Arragonians Aunt upon pretence of parentage that he might Marry the Daughter of the Earl of Provence and that his Daughter Jane whom he had perforce given to the Earl of Poitou might not be his Heiress An example that proves to any that might doubt that amongst Great ones Honour Parentage Alliance and ☞ Conscience does easily give way and stoop to their Interest and Humour Hugh Count de la Marche to his misfortune had Married Isabella the Widow of King John who had formerly ravished her from him This Womans pride would not suffer him to do Homage to Alphonso the new Earl of Poitou the King undertook to compel him and on a suddain took several of his Towns and demolish'd them amongst others Fontenay where his Brother Alphonso was wounded with an Arrow The King of Englands assistance in behalf of his Mother was too slow he and his Brother Richard landed in the River of Burdeaux The Earl de la Marche had assured them that all Poitou would rise and joyn with them upon their arrival but as his promise failed their courage failed too the King falls upon them at the Bridge of Taillebourg fighting desperately in person making them retreat as far as Xaintes and from thence to Blaye The Earl and his proud Dame being forced to forget she had been a Queen found no safety but at the Kings Feet They experimented his Goodness was as great as his Courage and although she had suborn'd Rascals to Murther him who had been discover'd and punished he pardon'd both her and her Husband keeping only two or three of their Places in his hands till he was better assured of their Obedience Year of our Lord 1243 Italy was horribly shatter'd by the Factions of the Guelphs and Gibelins The First held for the Pope the others for the Emperour Year of our Lord 1243 The jealousie betwixt the Franciscans and the Dominicans which had its Birth almost with their Orders encreased likewise proportionably with their growth Insomuch that the Pope who stood in need of them and the King St. Lewis who cherished them found it no little trouble to distribute their favours equally and hold the ballance so even that they should have no cause to take advantage of each other But both of them took much over all other Religions Orders whom they despised as more imperfect and not only set a value upon themselves for their Divinity wherein sometimes they were so meerly notional and over-subtil as it approached very near to error but likewise took upon them the functions of ordinary Pastors drawing the grists of Alms pious Legacies and Burials of rich people to their own Mills concerning themselves in the directing of Consciences and the administration of the Sacraments to the prejudice of the Hierarchy who from that time hath ever been contending with them to maintain her authority Year of our Lord 1244 The Holy See having been vacant near twenty Months Innocent IV. was elected He was thought to be a friend to Frederick but whether that Emperour had not used him well or what else it were he followed the steps of his Predecessors and began to quarrel with him upon the same score of differences The feud grew so hot that Frederic being the stronger in Italy Innocent went thence that he might with more safety let fly his Thunder against him and came into France where being arrived in December this year 1244. he called a Council at Lyons for the year following In the year 1228. the Emperour Frederic being constrained by the threats of Pope Gregory was gone into the Holy-Land where by his Reputation rather then his Sword he had so contrived it that the Sultan had given him up the City of Jerusalem but dismantled with part of the Holy-Land The Pope not satisfied with that agreement had afterwards procured other Adventurers to go who broke the Truce aforesaid to the great damage of the Christians who being mightily weakned it hapned Ann. 1244. that the Chorasmins a People drove out of Persia by the Year of our Lord 1244 Tartars others say of Arabia fell upon the Holy-Land laid it all waste ruined all the Holy places of Jerusalem and drowned them in the Blood of Christians This news was brought to St. Lewis whilst he was fallen sick at Pontoise towards the end of December All those that were about him despairing of his Life he made a vow to God if he restored him to health that he would go in person to make war against those Infidels and in truth being recover'd he took the Cross from the hands of the Legat but could not so soon accomplish his pious design Year of our Lord 1245 The Council of Lyons was open'd the Monday after St. John Baptists Feast in the Abbey de St. Just and from thence transferr'd to the Cathedral Church of St. Johns The Emperour Baldwin the Earl Raimond de Toulouze and Berenguier de Provence were present there these two solliciting for the dispensation that Raimond might Marry with Beatrix the youngest Daughter of Berenguier but the Kings of France and of England and Richard Earl of Cornwal who had Married the other three Sisters hindred the Grant of it Year of our Lord 1245 The Emperour Frederic having quitted his Affairs of Italy to come there and having in the mean time sent his
little while he stole away from his own People who followed Francis de Montagnac Tenzane thinking it had been their Master and made his escape attended only by one Esquire named Pomperan to the Franche-Compte From thence he passed into Germany then thorow the Valley of Trent to Mantua and from that place to Genoa to conferr about the Affairs of the War with Charles de Lanoy Vice-Roy of Naples who had the general Command of the Armies after the Death of Prosper Colomna which happened about the end of this year 1523. In France Conspiracies with Strangers against the State never do any mischief when once they are discovered this bred a great deal of astonishment but produced Year of our Lord 1523 no present evil This great Prince so Wealthy so greatly Allied and so much esteemed by the Sons of War was but a single banished man when out of France No body followed him excepting his domestick Servants and five or six of his particular Friends So that the Emperor who at his first Arrival had given him his choice either to stay there to command his Army or to go into Spain to compleat his Marriage when he perceived that his revolt effected nothing feared he should have only a proscribed Person for his Brother in Law and perswaded him it were better he should stay in Italy We need not doubt but he had formed divers designs in several Provinces of France but no Commotions appearing the King either out of Policy or good nature did not make strict inquiry who were his Accomplices There were not above seven or eight taken into Custody amongst others St. Vallier la Vauguyon and Emard de Prie. St. Vallier was Tried and Condemned to lose his Head but being in the Greve the place of Execution on the Scaffold instead of the mortal stroke he received his pardon It was said that the King sent it not to him till he had robb'd his Daughter Diana as then but Fourteen years of Age of the most precious Jewel she had a very easie exchange for those that value Honour less then Life or make it consist in the Sun-shine of a Favour rather envied then innocent It was now almost a year that the Lord de Lude had bravely defended Fontarabia against the Spaniards Assaults He was so distressed by Famine that it was time to throw in Provisions the Mareschal de Chastillon who was ordered to do it Died by the way La Palice happily performed it and having drawn out the Lord de Lude and the Garrison who had suffered great Fatigues he put in all Fresh-men and for Governor Frauget a Captain of Fifty men at Arms. About the end of the Spring an Army of twenty four thousand Spaniards came and fell into Guyenne by two or three several ways and afterwards joyned Year of our Lord 1523 all in one Body before Bayonne to besiege it The City being weak their fears were great however Lautrec getting in amongst them revived their Hearts and cheered them so that they drew off after three days battering it However they did not lose their labour for bending all their Force against Fontarabia Frauget tamely surrendred it upon their first Assault for punishment whereof he was degraded of his Nobility on a Scaffold in the City of Lyons Cowardize not being worthy of death but of Infamy Neither the Emperor nor the King of England did use that diligence they ought in so great a design as that of tearing all France in pieces The Emperor did not furnish Bourbon with those Forces he had promis'd to seize upon the Dutchy of Burgundy but only twelve thousand Foot who having no Horse were easily beaten off from the Frontiers of Champagne by the Earl of Guise who was Governour there The English did not land till the Month of September the Duke of Norfolk being their General Their Army and that of the Count de Bure made up together neer forty thousand men Lewis de la Tremouille to whom the King had committed the Guard of that Frontier having but few men could only Garrison the Towns They left Terouanne which they had design'd to attaque on the left hand and taking their March between that City and Monstrevil came before Hesdin Knowing the Valiant Pontdormy was got into it they went farther on pass'd the Somme at Bray took Roye and Montdidier and brought a terror even upon Paris which was again revived by the coming in of Charles Duke of Vendosme with some Horse After all they withdrew again upon the first frosty weather yet not all above one third of the English leaving their bones there to pay their Charges When they were entring Picardy Bonnivet pass'd the Mountains The Emperor the Pope and the Venetians had declar'd against the King as we have said nevertheless this great League having but few Forces Bonnivet soon Conquer'd all the Milanois to the Tesin Prosper Colomne did not imagin that the King having so many Irons in the Fire in France should have thoughts of sending an Army into Italy He was much amazed when they inform'd him that Bonnivet was come over the Hills He appeared at the River Tesin with those few men he had to obstruct his getting over But it being Foordable in many place by reason of the great Drowths he soon had notice that the French were on the other side and retreated with his handful of men It was said that if Bonnivet had used that diligence which was requisite he might have overtaken and cut them all in pieces Or at least if he had not amused himself three or four days at Pavia he had made himself Master of Milan This delay gave Prosper time to provide So that Bonnivet lost his time in Besieging it Winter came the Plague crept into his Army and that of the Confederates encreased He was therefore fain to give ground in his turn and retire to Biagras six Leagues on this side of Milan He chose that Post because he might safely wait there for a new re-inforcement having the whole Country behind at his own disposal During these Transactions Pope Adrian died the fourteenth of September and the Cardinal Julius de Medicis cousin German of Leo X. and Son of Julian but born out of Wedlock was elected by the contrivance and other devices and ways usual in the Conclaves He took the name of Clement VII This year began the Chastisement of those who professed the new Reformation Preathed by Luther The Protestants reckon for first Martyrs for so they call them one John le Clerc native of Meaux a Wool-comber and two Augustin Monks of the Country of Brabant le Clerc was Whipt and Brandmarkt on the Shoulder with a Flower de Luce at Meaux for having said that the Pope was Antichrist and was afterwards Burnt at Mets for having beaten down some Images The two Monks suffer'd the like death at Bruxels Luther Sung their Triumphs much gladder to be their Panegyrist than their fellow Sufferer Year of our
King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé from joyning with him whilst they were at Court but they came on with more boldness when they were in the Camp Henry de la Tour Vicount de Turenne at that time a Catholick and already very knowing and subtle though but young was the contriver of their Association Being all hot headed rash young Men many Designs were propounded as strange as bold The King having had some hint gave order to Pinard Secretary of State to enjoyn the Duke not to leave the Camp upon pain of Incurring his Indignation The Duke sending him back without any answer because he would not produce his Order the Kings Council took such an Alarm that the King apprehending some dangerous surprize wrote to the Duke of Anjou to hasten the taking of Rochel because he had need of his Forces about his Person This was the cause he made so many Assaults unseasonably and lost so many Men. Now as both the one and the other were in an extream Perplexity Arrives the News from Poland which open'd them a way to go off with Honour The Bishop of Valence had gained the Affections of the Polanders by means of Balagny his naâ—ural Son before the death of King Sigismond the last Prince of the House of Jagellons When he was dead which hapned the Seventh of July in the year 1572. he parted from Paris the Seventeenth day of August following and went thither himself The Queen Mother and the Duke of Anjou apprehended nothing Year of our Lord 1573 more then the success of this Election wherefore at the same time they pretended to employ all the Kings power for it they obstructed it underhand by private Methods Nevertheless the Bishop having more regard to the Kings Command and his own Honor then to a Womans fancies managed the business so well that it succeeded The Duke of Anjou was Elected King but as the Heads of two of those four Factions that were amongst them were Calvinists they obliged the French Ambassadors to promise them several Conditions in favour of that Religion particularly that they should leave all those Cities at Liberty which were Besieged Upon the News of this Election and the Arrival of the Polish Ambassadours who came to fetch their new King the Duke of Anjou made them give some fresh Assaults and then renewed the propositions for accommodation The Rochellers refused to hearken to any thing unless all the other Cities of their Party were comprehended and they were fain to yeild to them in this point unless for month June Sancerre whose Surrender was hourly expected The Articles were all resolved upon the Five and Twentieth of June the Ratification was brought back some dayes after with an Edict of Pacification which was more restrictive by much then the preceeding ones for it allowed only Liberty of Conscience but no publick exercise excepting in the Cities of Rochel Nismes and Montauban It was not in their Power to obtain the same advantage for Sancerre the King under colour it belonged to a particular Lord whose right he could not infringe refused to grant them any more but the Liberty of Marriages and Christnings So that although for four Months past the scarcity of Provisions grew daily to a most-horrible Extremity yet they resolved to perish rather then not enjoy the same Conditions which the rest had They fed upon the most unclean Creatures and upon such Herbs as Beasts themselves refuse to tast as also Parchment and Leather and to say all in a word they surprized a Father and a Mother feeding upon their own Daughter that had been starved to death Whilst they were in this most lamentable State and yet would not think of a Surrender the Ambassadours from Poland who Arrived in the beginning of August got composition for them but they had no other advantages for their Religion then what was general So that the Cruel and Voluntary death of Two Thousand of those unhappy Wretches served only to Signalize to all future Ages their too long and fatal obstinacy In the Treaty of Rochel it was Stipulated that the Rochellers should intreat the Duke of Anjou to come into their City but that he should not enter So that after the most eminent had been with him to request it he dismissed his Army and went on Board his Galleys visited the adjacent Islands thence Sailed to Nantes and so returned to Court being every where received in quality of a King Thus ended that Famous Siege where the King lost Twelve Thousand Men and a great many Persons of Note the most remarkable being Claude Duke of Aumale who was Slain with a Cannon Shot The Polish Ambassadours who were Twelve in number and for their Chief had the Bishop of Posna Arrived at Mets the Five and Twentieth of July made their Solemn entrance into Paris on the Third day of September and the Tenth month July c. read the Decree of Election in the Palace-Hall The King was there upon a Scaffold Array'd in his Royal Robes and accompanied by all the Princes and Grandees of his Court The Decree being taken out of a Silver Box Sealed with an Hundred and Ten Seals of the Prelates Palatines and Castellans of the Kingdom was open'd and read aloud by one of the Ambassadors The King having given them very many civil thanks rose from his Seat and went to embrace the King of Poland his Brother the other Princes and Noblemen then present went afterwards to Congratulate him and pay their Respects He kissed the Duke of Alâ—ncon and the King of Navarre and treated the others with more or less Ceremony according to their quality I shall say nothing of the Feastings and Balets wherewith the Queen Mother entertained them those are the Abortives of Luxury and Prodigality the remembrance of which ought to last no longer then the smell of the meat and noise ☜ of the Violins The King of Poland made his entrance into Paris by the Gate Sainct Amoine with a Suitable Magnificence It was looked upon as an ill Omen that his Heraulds mistook in their blasoning the Arms of his New Kingdom Year of our Lord 1573 These Ceremonies ended King Charles who had taken up a strong Resolution he would Reign himself and withdraw that Authority he had imprudently committed to his Mother hastned his departure with great impatience every hour seeming a tedious year but the more he pressed the more delays the other still sought out It was not the delights only of the Court his Mothers tenderness the almost Royal Authority his Command had placed him in as Generalissimo of the Army's and the hope of succeeding to the Crown which ever seemed near at hand because the King had no Child that detained him in France the violent Love he had for the Princess of Condé was a stronger tye then all these The Duke of Guise who had Married the Sister soothed and served him though to no purpose in his passion and by that means had