seems to him not only most equitable but also most safe for the Publick which must needs be brought into a most miserable condition should the matter come to be determin'd by Arms. What he speaks concerning the Affinity between Germany and France is thus made out The German Franks that were Borderers upon Schwaben having made an Irruption and over-run those of Triers Kesel Morini Hainault Amiens Beauvais and Soissons set down at length in that part of Gaul which from them was called France and retains it's name till this very time of which Province Paris is the Capital City And when many of their Kings had reigned there by Succession and enlarg'd their Borders the Government at length descended to King Pipin and his Son Charles who for the vastness of his Exploits was call'd The Great he when he was the fourth time at Rome was by the Pope and all the People saluted August Emperor and took Possession of Germany Italy and France his Son Lewis also and those that descended from him were Kings of France Hither it is therefore that King Francis traces his Original and derives his Pedigree from the Stock of the Franks The same Wheedle he some years since made use of when after the death of Maximilian he affected the Imperial Dignity For knowing that the ascent to this Honour was precluded to all Foreigners by an ancient Law he had a mind this way to demonstrate himself to be a German But the truth of it is the last King of France of the Male-Line of Charles the Great was Lewis the Fifth who died without Children in the year of our Lord 988 when the Possession of the Kingdom had been in that Family for the space of 238 years After his death the right of Succession devolv'd to Charles Duke of Lorain Uncle to Lewis by the Father's side but Hugh Capet said to be Earl of Paris whose Mother through a long Genealogy trac'd her Kindred up to Charles the Great having vanquish'd and taken the Duke of Lorain invaded the Kingdom and transmitted it to his Son Robert whose Male-Issue was continued down by Succession ev'n to this Francis. There are some who affirm that this Capet was of a very mean and obscure Parentage but most Historians deny that and ascribe unto him the same Original that I have done Henry the Eighth King of England return'd his Answer on the third of May That he was to his great Satisfaction inform'd by them that their great aim and design was to heal the Distempers of the Church and procure a Reformation of those things which either through the naughtiness or ignorance of men had been deprav'd and corrupted without doing any injury to Religion or disturbing the Publick Peace That he takes it very kindly that they had in their Letters giv'n him a Scheme of the whole Action for there had been a Report rais'd to their disadvantage as if they gave Protection to certain mad Men who endeavour'd to confound and level all things But that he had giv'n no Credit to these Reports as well because Christian Charity so requir'd as because he judg'd it impossible that such Crimes could stick to such illustrious wise and noble Persons And though he never would have believed any of those things which were thus reported of them without a certain demonstration yet he is very glad to see them take this method of clearing themselves because it confirms that judgment and opinion he always had of them As to their desire of rectifying Abuses in that they may expect both his and all good Men's concurrence with their Endeavours For such is the condition of Humane affairs that as in the body Natural so likewise in the Politick and in all publick Administrations there is almost a continual occasion for remedies Those Physicians therefore deserve the greatest Applause who so apply their Medicines as to heal the Wound or cure the Disease without exasperating the parts and he does not doubt but their Endeavours have such a tendencies as this However they ought diligently to beware of a sort of Men who aim at Innovations and Preach up Levelling Principles and endeavour to render Magistracy contemptible for that he lately met with some persons of this Leaven within his own Dominions who were come thither out of Germany And since they make mention in their Letters of the Reverence due to Magistrates he therefore gives them this short advice that they would not open a gap to any Licentiousness this way and if they use but a sufficient Caution in this Point their Endeavours after a Reformation will prove a kindness of the highest Import to the Publick As for a publick Council there is nothing which he more desires and his Prayers to God are that he would inspire the hearts of the Princes with care and diligence in that Affair That he hopes all things well of them and there is nothing which he would refuse for their sake he will likewise earnestly intercede with the Emperor that some terms of Accommodation may be found out and in this business he will so behave himself as they at their several opportunities shall judge most convenient When at the day appointed they were assembled at Frankfort the Embassadors of the Cities according to appointment declare their Sentiments concerning the Creation of a King of the Romans That after mature deliberation they conclude it not at all advisable to raise an unnecessary Squabble or create to themselves danger about giving the Title to King Ferdinand For as long as the Emperor is alive and within the Bounds of his Empire the whole Sovereign Power is in his Hands but in his absence the chief Administration indeed falls upon Ferdinand but still he must execute in the Emperor's Name and as his Substitute That they had several times offer'd as much as lay in their Power a resignation of all their Affairs to the Emperor and should they now oppose the creation of a King they must expect that most Men would upbraid them with the falseness and vanity of their promise and so upon that account become their enemies and thus they should draw upon them the enmity of many who otherwise upon the score of their Religion would never have acted against them There is likewise great danger lest others should by these Measures be deterr'd from entring into the League who might otherwise have comply'd For these Reasons they think it is not safe for them to oppose Ferdinand in this business They will therefore carry themselves indifferent as to the matter of the Election which way soever it goes But should Ferdinand Command any thing contrary to the Word of God they will then by no means obey and should he make any forceable Attempts they will then act according to the form of the League and contribute all they can towards a Defence But the Princes write thus to the Emperor and to Ferdinand that they cannot possibly approve
he was resolved to treat France without any favour In order to this the Pope puts out a Bull dated the 7th of April by which he grants power to the Cardinals appointed Inquisitors General for all Christendom to proceed smartly and extrajudicially as shall seem convenient to them against all and singular the Hereticks and their Abettors and Receivers and those who are suspected to be such abiding in the Provinces and places in which the filth of the Lutheran Heresie hath prevailed and to which it is notorious there is not a safe and free entrance tho' the said persons are adorn'd with the Episcopal Archiepiscopal Patriarchal Dignity or Cardinalate without any other proof to be made of the safety or freedom of the Access But so that Information be first made and that they be cited by an Edict by them to be affixed to the Doors of the Palace of the Holy Inquisition c. admonishing and requiring them to appear personally and not by their Proctors before the said Inquisition within a certain and limited time as the said Inquisition shall think fit upon pain of Excommunication denounced Suspension and other lawful pains And if they shall not so appear they shall be proceeded against in the secret Consistory and a sentence decreed against them tho' absent as convict and confirm'd with a clause of Derogation Tho' this Bull was contrary to all Laws yet the Inquisitors presumed upon it to cite some Bishops of France and with them Odet de Coligni Cardinal de Chustillon who had embraced the Opinions of the Protestants and was now call'd Count de Beauvais he having been formerly Bishop of that City St. Roman Archbishop d'Aix John Monluck Bishop of Valence Jean Anthony Caracciolo Son of the Prince de Melphe Jean Brabanson Bishop of Pamiez Charles Guillart Bishop of Chartres And as if this had been intended but for a step to her the Princess Joan Labrett Queen of Navarr Relict of Anthony late King of Navarr All which I say by a Bull dated the 28th of September and affixed at Rome were cited to appear before the Inquisition within six Months and the Queen was told That if she did not she should be deprived of her Royal Dignity Kingdom or Principality and Dominions as one convicted and the same should be pronounced to belong to whosoever should invade it The King and Queen of France and all the Nobility were extremely exasperated with these proceedings of the Pope and the Bull being read in the Council of State D'Oisel the then Ordinary Ambassador in the Court of Rome was ordered to acquaint the Pope That the King could scarce give any credit to the first reports which were spread in several Pamphlets in France till the Citation which was fixed up in several places in Rome was read to him at which he was much troubled because the Queen of Navarr was in Majesty and Dignity equal to any other Prince in Christendom and had from them the Title of Sister 2. That the danger which threatned her was of ill example and might in time be extended to any of them and therefore they were all bound to assist and defend her in this common cause and the more because she was a Widow 3. But the King of France above all other because nearly related to her and her late Husband who was one of the principal Princes of the Blood Royal and had lost his Life in his service in the last War against the Protestants leaving his Children Orphans the Eldest of which was now in the King's Court and under his care That the King could not neglect the cause of this sorrowful Widow and her Orphan and Children who appeal'd to his fidelity and the Memory of his Ancestors who had in all times of affliction succoured the Princes of Germany Spain and England That Philip the Bold the Son of St. Lewis had with a potent Army defended an Orphan-Queen of Navarr and brought her into France where she was after Married to Philip the Fair from whom Joan the present Queen of Navarr was lineally descended And that John Labrett the Grandfather of this Queen being in like manner persecuted by one of the Popes and driven out of a part of his Kingdom the rest had been defended and preserved by Lewis the Twelfth and his Successors That the Popes themselves have heretofore fled to the French for protection when they have been expelled out of their Sees who had often restored them defended and enriched them with the grant of many Territories That this Queen was so near a Neighbour and such an Allie to the Crown of France that no War could be made upon her without the great damage of France That all Princes were Interested in the Friendship and Peace of their Neighbours and obliged to keep all Wars at a distance from them for the preservation of their own quiet and security Since therefore his Majesty saw by this Bull that there was a design to deprive his Ancient Allies of their Dominions and at pleasure to set up others in their stead he had just reason to fear that as the Spaniards had heretofore on such pretences possess'd themselves of all the Countries to the Pyrenaean Hills so that in time they might pass them too and descend into the Plains of France and so a dismal and destructive War might be rekindled between these powerful Princes to the great hazard and ruin of Christendom Lastly the Queen of Navarr being a Feuditary of the Crown of France and having great Possessions in that Kingdom was under the Protection of the Laws of it and could not be drawn out of it to Rome either in Person or by Proxy no Subject of France being bound to go to Rome but if the Pope had any cause against them he was obliged to send Judges to determine upon the place even in those Cases that came before him by Appeal That therefore this Citation was against the Majesty Law and Security of the Crown of France and tended to the diminishing of the esteem of that King and Kingdom That if the Form of this Proceeding were considered what could be more contrary to the Civil Law than to force a man out of his proper Court and condemn him in another without any hearing For there are Laws That no accused person shall be cited out of the Limits of the Jurisdiction in which he lives and that the Citation shall not be obscure and perfunctory but declared to the proper person or to his family And the Constitution of Pope Boniface the Eighth That Citations set up in certain places of Rome should be of force was recall'd by Clement the Fifth and the Council of Venna as hard and unjust or at least mitigated and it was decreed that they should not be used but when there was no safe coming to the person accused But in France where the Queen of Navarr resides it cannot be pretended that there is no safe coming to
to the Protestants in the Name of the Emperour Their Answer Commissioners chosen for framing a Decree The Tenor of that Decree What the Protestants find fault with in the Decree The Protestants depart from the Dyet A great Inundation at Rome The like in Holland The Draught of the Decree read to the Deputies of the Cities but a Copy of it denied to them Some Cities urge a Council Faber and Eckius well rewarded which occasioned a merry Saying of Erasmus The Agreement of the King of Poland and Marquess Albert of Brandenburg made null The Decree of Ausburg Luther's Book to the Bishops and Prelates Luther comforts dejected Melanchthon Bucer Essaies a Reconciliation betwixt Luther and Zuinglius c. The Landgrave makes a League with Zurich Basil and Strasburg upon account of Religion The Elector of Saxony cited by the Archbishop of Mentz for chusing a King of the Romans The Smalcaldick League among the Protestants The Pope's Complaint to the King of Poland The Protestants Letter to the Emperour about the Election of a King of the Romans The Reasons of creating a King of the Romans 1531. Ferdinand declared King of the Romans The Protestants Letters to the Kings of England and France The Protestants Confession at Anspurg The Protestants Appeal to a free Council Calumny against the Protestants A Convention of the Protestants at Smalcalde News of the Turks Incursions The death of the Archbishop of Trierâ— The Queen of Hungary is made Governess of the Netherlands The Emperor is made Umpire between the Pope and the Duke of Ferrara The King of France his Answer to the Protestants How the French and Germans come to be akin How Charles the Great was saluted Emperor Lewis the Fifth the last of Charle's Race Hugh Capet Invades the Kingdom The King of England's Answer to the Protestants The Opinions of the Cities concerning a King of the Romans The reason why the Switzers are not admitted into the League The Controversie between the Bishop of Bamburg and the Duke of Brandenburg The Elector of Brandenburg's Appeal to a Council A Diet appointed at Spiers Arbitrators for a Peace apply themselves to the Duke of Saxony Upon what Conditions the Duke of Saxony will come to the next Diet. The Elector of Mentz and the Prince Palatine send Embassadors to the Protestants The Duke of Saxony and the Lantgrave's Letters to the Arbitrators The Diet appointed to be held at Ratisbon A quarrel among the Switzers Articles of Peace propounded The five Cantons are hindred from Provisions The War breaks out between them Those of Zurich are vanquish'd Zuinglius is slain Those of Zurich again defeated OEcolampadius dies 1532. Conditions of a Pacification laid down by the Arbitrators Or the Law of Charles the Fourth The condition of creating a King of the Romans The form of the Oath which is taken by the Electors according to the Caroline Law. The Princes of Bavaria oppose the Election of King Ferdinand The Arbitrators Answer to the Protestants The Prince of Saxony's Answer to the Arbitrators The Tricks of the Popish Party The Agreement between the Zuinglians and the Lutherans The Protestants lay down their conditions of a Pacification The Emperor upon necessity confirms a Peace to all Germany The number of the Protestants Delegates appointed to reform the Imperial Chamber The King of Denmark taken Prisoner Albert Duke of Prussia proscrib'd An Irruption of the Turks into Austria The Turkish Horse destroy'd The Emperor goes for Italy 1533. The Popes Embassador's Oration to the Duke of Saxony The Emperor 's Embassador's Speech to the Duke The Duke's answer to the Embassador A full and large Answer of the Protestants to the Pope and the Emperor George Duke of Saxony makes Search after the Lutherans Luther publishes a Book to justifie himself An account of the Family of the Medices Clement creates four French Men Cardinals The Lantgrave endeavours the Restitution of Ulrick Duke of Wirtemburg 1534. A great Revolution in England Woolsey dieth with discontent Peter-pence forbidden A Pique between Luther and Erasmus The Imposture of the Franciscaâ—s at Orleans Apparitions frequent in the times of Popery The Lantgrave his Expedition A Pacification between Ferdinand and the Elector of Saxony A Treaty between Ferdinand and the Duke of Wirtemburg Vlrick Duke of Wirtemburg recovereth his Country Christopher Ulrick Duke of Wirtemburg his Son. The Lantgrave his Letter to the Emperor Francis Sforza marrieth Clement the Seventh dies Paul the Third chosen Pope Andrew Grittus Doge of Vinice Lewis Andrew his Son. A Persecution in France 1535. St. Genevefe the Protectress of Paris The French King writes to the Germans The Lantgrave goes to Ferdinand in order to a Reconciliation The Emperor sails into Africk Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More are beheaded The death of Francis Sforza Vergerius meets the Lantgrave at Prague Vergerius gives the Lantgrave a Copy of his Speech The Protestants Answer to Vergerius The French Embassador's Speech at Smalcalde The Judges of the Chamber are troublesome to the Protestants The Protestants disown the Jurisdiction of the Chamber The Elector of Saxony treats with King Ferdinand The Protestants Answer to the French Embassador The French King's opinion concerning the Points in Controversie The English Embassador his Speech to the Protestants The Protestants Answer to the English Embassador The League of Smalcalde renewed Ausburgh receives the reformed Religion Munster a City in Westphalia The Anabaptists and their Doctrin Rotman a Preacher of the reformed Religion The Papists are commanded to prove their Doctrin by the Holy Scriptures They confess their Ignorance John of Leyden a Botcher and Anabaptist Herman Stapred an Anabaptist The Anabaptists are expell'd Munster A Civil War in Munster Petrus Wirtemius John Mathew an Anabaptist orders that all Mens Goods should be common The Prophesies of the Anabaptists John of Leydon proclaimed King of the Anabaptists The Anabaptists Book concerning the Restitution The Anabaptists Supper The Apostles of the Anabaptists A meeting of the Princes at Coblentz The Doctrin of the Anabaptists and their wickedness The Anabaptists Book concerning the Mysteries of the Scripture The King executes one of the Queens himself Luther's opinion concerning the people of Munster A Diet held at Wormes Another Diet at Wormes The King of Munster is carried about for a sight 1536. The King of the Anabaptists is executed War between Denmark and Lubeck A War between the Duke of Savoy and Geneva The French King makes War upon the Duke of Savoy The Family of the Visconti of Millain The Emperor makes a Speech against the French King. The Venetinns make a League with the Emperor Vergerius is sent away to the Emperor The Articles of the League between the King of England and the Protestants The English Embassadors Winter at Wittemburgh The King of England's Letter to the Protestants The Protestants meet at Frankford Anne of Bullein Queen of England is beheaded A Bull of Paul the Third for the Convocation of a Council Ferdinand sends
Electors opened the Case and told them That the whole Question consisted in three Points to wit Whether Francis King of France Charles King of Spain or else some German was to be chosen As to the French King saith he I think we are barred from chusing him by our Oath and Laws whereby it is provided That this Dignity of the Empire should not be transferred to Strangers and no Man doubts I think but that he is a Foreign Prince Again though his Country were no Hindrance yet it is not for the Interest of the Publick because the French King will think of enlarging his Dominions and make War against Charles King of Spain whom he hateth nay and hath already denounced it so that Germany will be involved in great Troubles But we ought to take Care That no Civil-War be raised among us Austria belongs to the Dominion of Charles If the French King invade this as certainly he will shall we leave it to his Mercy Hath the Emperour Maximilian deserved no better of us and the Empire Do you think that our own Liberty will be long safe if these Provinces be once subdued He hath lately enlarged his Borders by the accession of the Dutchy of Milan the same will he attempt to do in Germany We ought not to be moved by their large and magnificent Promises for Covetousness and Ambition transports Men commonly and makes them forget their Duty There were many Princes heretofore in France but now their Number is contracted within a very narrow Compass for the King now is in a manner sole Monarch they say he is a Prince of great Courage but that aims wholly at Monarchy Aristocracy is the Goverment we ought chiefly to retain They promise great Matters of making War against the Turks that were to be wished indeed as a thing of greatest Advantage to the State nor am I ignorant of how great Moment a conjunction of Germany France and Italy would prove but he will make the first Essay of all their Power and Prowess upon the Provinces of King Charles He 'll attempt the Netherlands and set upon Naples that he may recover it as an Hereditary Kingdom belonging unto him And shall we Arm him for the accomplishment of these things Nor is it to be said that I am Prophecying of future and uncertain Contingences for he is already raising an Army Since therefore the Laws our Oath and the Love of our Country lay an Obligation upon us I declare it to be my Opinion that we cannot chuse him Now will I proceed to the other parts Some of you I believe are against the Election of Charles because Spain lyes at a great distance from us and that Germany will suffer by his Absence either through a Turkish War or Civil Dissensions For my own part I not only acknowledge these things to be true but when also I consider them more attentively I am stricken with horror and apprehension For I think with my self that if the Emperour being any way provoked should come into Germany and bring Spaniards with him our Liberty would be in great danger Nay it runs in my mind too that the Spaniards will be very loath to part with or ever restore to us again this Imperial Dignity but if they chance by their force and valour to recover Milan will endeavour to keep it to themselves So that I am almost inclined to think it safest to chuse a fit Person of our own Country in Imitation of our Progenitors who passing by Strangers have been often content with Natives I would not be thought to deny this however the State of Affairs had another face then and the Age was much happier But now if we have an Emperour weak in Power do ye think that those of the Netherlands and Austria the Subjects of Charles of Spain will be Obedient unto him Or should the French King make War against Charles as he certainly will either in Flanders or Italy must he be an idle Spectator And must this our new Emperour suffer a great part of the Empire to be dismembred by Foreign Nations Nay as the Times are now it is probable that the Princes of Germany despising their own Emperour will make Alliances and Joyn some with the Austrians and others with the French. In the time of the Emperour Frederick III Charles Duke of Burgundy made War in Germany as Philip Maria Duke of Milan did in Italy without controul and certainly much to our disgrace Nay which was more ignominious the Emperour was at that time blockt up in Austria and driven out of his own Country by the Hungarians and nevertheless the Bohemians were then joyned with him as were also my Grand-father Albert Marquess of Brandenburg and Albert Duke of Saxony If that happened then you see what is to be expected at present when some will be Pensioners to some and others to other Princes not to mention many causes that may intervene why Princes and Cities will refuse to give obedience Grievous Troubles and Stirs seem now also to be threatned upon account of Religion for there are Debates arisen about Indulgences the Power of the Pope and Ecclesiastical Laws which look indeed as yet as if they were curable but will in a short time bring along with them great Desolation and Alterations in the Church for very many espouse that Cause and especially the Saxons and Switzers most valiant People nor can the evil be remedied but by a Council Now how can an Emperour low in Power either procure the calling of a Council or defend it especially if other Kings oppose the same There is a Turkish War also to be thought on and that not only Defensive but Offensive also that we may regain what we have lost and above all things restore Greece to its Liberty Now for accomplishing of this there will be need of the Forces of many Nations And how shall an Emperour of small Power and Authority be able to procure them For these Reasons then it is my Judgment that we should chuse some Potent Prince and that Charles Arch-Duke of Austria ought to be preferred before the other Princes of Germany As for those Inconveniences which may seem to scare us I think they are far less than those that would arise if the chief Government were put into the hands of any other For he is both a German by Extraction and has many Provinces holding of the Empire nor will he permit our common Country to truckle under the Bondage of any but will give us a solemn Oath That he shall neither suffer the Empire to be transferred nor our Rights and Liberties diminished The Reasons I have alledged are indeed of very great weight and yet I should not have been moved by them if his Temper and Disposition were not known for he is Religious Just and Modest a hater of Cruelty and a Prince of pregnant Parts These his Vertues will always mind him of his Duty and of the Care of the Government
Prince Cassimire was appointed to raise Forces so and to post them that the Publick might receive no Damage in the mean while Afterwards the Electors wrote Letters and sent Ambassadours to the Emperour into Spain to acquaint him with all that had been done The chief of the Ambassie was Frederick Prince Palatine but in the mean time some Messengers were privately dispatched with the News of whom one is said to have posted from Frankford to Barcelona in nine Days time The Prince Palatine arrived about the latter end of November and delivered the Elector's Letters the summ whereof was That he would be pleased to accept of the Empire that was offered unto him and all Delay laid aside to come with all speed into Germany The Emperour made a Generous Answer by the Mouth of Mercurine Cattinario That though great Troubles seemed to be threatned on the one Hand from the Turks and on the other from the French yet he neither could nor would be wanting to their common Country especially when so great Princes made such a Judgment of him and required that at his Hands that therefore he accepted the Honour and Charge that was offered him and would put to Sea with the first Opportunity in order to his coming into Germany Much in the same Words also he wrote back to the Electors and so having nobly presented Prince Frederick he dismissed him Thus then was he made Emperour the Fifth of that Name at the Age of nineteen Years The French King was the more troubled at this Repulse that he knew his Affairs were thereby exposed to greater Danger for he had rather that any Man should have had that Dignity than Charles of Spain whose Power being already suspected by him he saw now by this means mightily encreased and confirmed He had been at vast Charges and very free of his Gold in making Friends to promote his Designs The same is said to have been done also by the Flemings but of this I dare not be positive But let us trace back a little the Genealogie of Charles Charles V of France called the Sage gave to his youngest Brother Philip the Dutchy of Burgundy that had fallen unto him Philip afterward married Margaret the only Daughter of Lewis Earl of Flanders and had by her a Son John to him was born Philip the Father of Charles the Hardy who being killed before Nancy left behind him a Daughter Mary the Heiress of vast Territories She at length was married to Maximilian the Son of the Emperour Frederick III and bore to him Philip who married Jane Daughter to Ferdinand King of Spain by whom he had Charles and Ferdinand the Infanta Jane being with Child went to Ghent and was there brought to Bed of Charles on February 24 1500. Here we must say somewhat by the by of Ferdinand the Emperour's Grand-Father by the Mother He was King of Arragon and Sicily and had in Marriage Isabel the Daughter and Heiress of John II King of Spain having afterwards obtained the Kingdom of Naples also Now the Children he had by her were John Isabel Jane Mary and Catharine John and Isabel dying without Issue the whole Succession of the Kingdom by the Laws of the Country fell to the next Sister Jane and by this means all the Inheritance of the Duke of Burgundy a most powerful Prince and of Ferdinand King of Spain descended to Charles the Son of Jane for in the Division of the Inheritance the Possessions of the House of Austria fell to Ferdinand So that for many Ages Germany had not had a more Powerful Emperour Charles lost his Father when he was a Child of six Years of Age and his Grand-father Ferdinand when he was about sixteen after whose Death he went into Spain and there continued till being chosen Emperour he came into Germany as shall be said hereafter And since we are now come to this Place it will not be amiss to say somewhat of the manner of chusing the Emperour Charles King of Bohemia and the fourth Emperour of that Name in the Year of our Lord 1356 made a Law concerning this which is called Bulla Aurea the Golden Bull These among others are the Heads of that Law That when the Emperour Dies the Archbishop of Ments so soon as he comes to know of it shall presently Summon the rest of the Electors to meet within three Months on a certain Day at Frankford or to send their Deputies with full Power and Commission for chusing the Emperour or King of the Romans That if the Archbishop of Mentz should be negligent his Colleagues nevertheless should meet within the time aforesaid accompanied with not above two hundred Horse a piece when they enter the Town and of them only fifty with Arms. He who neither comes nor sends his Deputy or departs before the Business is done is to lose his right of Election for that time That the Magistrates of Frankford be true and faithful to the Electors and during their Assembly suffer none besides the Electors and their Families to enter the Town When they are met they are to hear Mass in S. Bartholomew's Church for imploring the Assistance and Grace of the Holy Ghost and then take an Oath to be tendred unto them by the Archbishop of Mentz That they shall not act by vertue of any Compact Bribe Promise or Gratuity afterwards they are to fall to the Business and not depart before an Emperour be chosen that if the matter be protracted longer than thirty Days they shall have no Victuals but Bread and Water allowed them He who is chosen by the greater Part shall be in the same condition as if he had been elected nemine contradicente The Emperour being in this manner chosen the first thing he is to do is To confirm to the Electors all their Priviledges and whatever concerns their Dignity Honour Liberty and Immunity It is moreover provided and enacted that they mutually allow one another free Passage through their Territories what Place they are severally to have in the Dyets and Assemblies of the Empire how Votes are to be taken and what their several Places and Charges are when the Emperour Dines or does any thing else in publick Moreover that in the time of an interreign the Elector Palatine shall have the administration of the Government in Schwabia Franconia and the Circle of the Rhine and the Elector of Saxony in the Circle of Saxony that upon the death of an Elector his eldest Son or Brother-german shall succeed to him that if an Elector be under the Age of eighteen Years his nearest Kinsman by the Father's side shall supply his Place until he be of Age that the Electors meet yearly and consult of the Affairs of the Publick that Frankford be the Place of Election but Aix la Chapelle the Place of the first Instalment and Sclavonian Languages that they may be able to discourse with many Nations We spoke before of the Conditions
created two great Lights the one to rule by Day and the other by night which he applyed to the Papal and Royal Dignities But that that Power which ruled in Divine and Spiritual Matters far excelled the other which medled only in Civil and Temporal Affairs And that there was as great a difference betwixt the Offices of a Pope and a King as betwixt the Sun and Moon This Decree is extant under the Title de Majoritate Obedientia When the Emperour had thus answered the Pope he wrote also to the Colledge of Cardinals October 6 That he had conceived great Grief of Mind to hear that Pope Clement was confederated with the French King who was making War against him a fresh That he had written very Hostile Letters unto him which he supposed was done by their unanimous Advice and Consent and that he was very far from expecting any such thing since there was no King to be found more zealous for the Interest of the Church of Rome than he was that Parma and Piacenza were instances of that which being Imperial Cities and lately dismembred from the Empire he had restored them to the Church though in Law he was not obliged to do so That all the Princes and States of Germany had at Wormes made heavy Complaints to him of many Injuries of the Court of Rome and then desired that they might be redressed but because he had been born and bred with a singular love to the Church of Rome he had not given car to their Demands And when greater Troubles arising thereupon afterwards and many Tumults and Riots happening through Germany the Princes had for that Reason appointed another Dyet he had under severe Penalties prohibited them to assemble because their Deliberations would have been prejudicial to the Pope and Church of Rome And that to sweeten and appease them at that time he had given them Hopes of a future General Council That the Pope therefore did him great Injury who had done so much for his Holiness as that thereby he had much alienated from himself the Hearts of the Nobility of Germany That he had written seriously unto him about all these matters and advised him to call a General Council That therefore it was his desire to them That they would admonish him of his Duty and exhort him to Peace rather than War But that if he refused or delayed the calling of a Council longer than it was fit and reasonable that then they should forthwith call it For that if Christendom should sustain Prejudice either for want of a Council or for not having it called in due time it ought not to be laid to his charge We told you How it had been lately decreed at Spire That Ambassadours should be sent to the Emperour in Spain but the News of the Overthrwo in Hungary coming soon after the Princes thought themselves obliged to use Expedition and that they might have a nearer way to pass to the Emperour they desired of the French King That he would allow their Ambassadours a free Passage through his Kingdom He condescended prefixing a certain time for that as shall be said hereafter and withal took occasion to write unto them October 6 That he was extreamly troubled at the Turks late Invasion of Hungary the Fatal Death of King Lewis and the great Danger of Germany That he was no less sorry for the Civil War that had broke out to the Ruine of the Publick That it was not his Fault that Christendon was not at quiet but that the Emperour was to be blamed for it who rejected Honest and most equitable Conditions of Peace And that seeing he was not moved neither by the publick Calamities nor by the unfortunate Death of his own Brother-in-law King Lewis and the sad condition of his Widow-sister nor yet considered in how great Danger Austria was it would be their Duty and well done in them if they could incline and persuade him to Peace to live in Amity with neighbouring Kings and Princes and to set Bounds to his Ambition for that that would make more for his Glory than by overturning the States of others to aspire to an universal Monarchy That his Ancestors Kings of France had often maintained Wars against the Enemies of the Christian Religion and that if the Emperour pleased the same might now be done with united Strength That if they could prevail then and obtain that of him he would be ready to employ all his Force nay his own person also against the Turk But if not that he was not to be blamed if he endeavoured to recover by Arms what he could not do by fair means for that it was the Emperour's part rather to sue for Peace who lay much nearer the Danger of the Turks than he did When the Emperour came to know of this Letter he wrote to the Princes November 29 and in the first place acquaints them How kind and gracious he had been to the French King when he was his Prisoner how he had given him both his Liberty and in Marriage also his eldest Sister and second in degree of Succession to him But that when all things were quieted as he supposed and that he was preparing to go into Italy that he might bend all his Forces against the perpetual Enemy of Christendom the French King breaking his Faith and entring into a League with Pope Clement and some others who had already in their Hopes anticipated the Kingdom of Naples and divided it betwixt them had renewed a most formidable War And that therefore he could not protect Hungary against the Fury of the Turks as being necessitated to defend his own Borders That what the French King pretended of his Sorrow for the Death of King Lewis and the Calamity of Hungary was downright Hypocrisie and Dissimulation which he used to the intent he might stop the Mouths of those who constantly affirmed from intercepted Letters that at his Solicitation the Turk had undertaken this War That during his Captivity and afterwards when he was set at Liberty and returned home he had by Letters obliged himself to observe the Articles of the Treaty That he had promised to him the same by Word of Mouth when he departed out of Spain But that because he had a Kingdom lying in the Heart of Christendom he wantonly disturbed the Publick Peace and among his Triumphs reckoned the Turkish Victories in Hungary And that he alone was to be blamed That he did not in Person come into Germany that nevertheless he would endeavour that Aid should be sent against the Turk with all expedition That in the last place he made no doubt but that they were well enough acquainted with the Tricks of the French for that it was their common and usual way to sow the Seeds of Discord in all places and make their Profit of the Quarrels and Dissentions of others Besides the Letter before mentioned there was also published an Apology in defence of the
was miserable enough before should now be afflicted by him who chiefly ought to protect the same It had been easie for me at that time to have repelled his Hostilities but I was not willing rashly to venture what remained of this Kingdom after so many Shipwracks I only made my Complaint to Pope Clement VII Francis King of France Henry King of England and Sigismund King of Poland And indeed Sigismund unknown to me dealt with Ferdinand by Ambassadours That he would not at so unseasonable a time by promoting Civil Discord open a way for the Enemy which afterwards neither he nor any other could be able to stop up again But that he would live in Peace with me and joyn his Forces to mine against the common Enemy And when Ferdinand affirmed that he had done nothing contrary to Right and Justice it was agreed upon that some fit Men should meet at a certain Day to attempt an Accommodation of the Controversie I imbraced the Condition and at the same time by my Ambassadours whom I sent to make submission in my Name to your Arbitrement I begged of you that you would not assist my Adversary But when they arrived in Ferdinand's Country they were apprehended and made Prisoners contrary to the Law of Nations so that they could not discharge their Commission for they were to go forward from you to the Emperour Though this indeed was a heinous Injury yet at the Day appointed by Sigismund I sent some Men who were both of their own Inclination and by my Orders too very desirous of Peace But Ferdinand's Commissioners making most unreasonable Propositions they broke up without concluding any thing Whilst these things were on foot some of the Nobility tampered with by the Artifices of Ferdinand have violated their Allegiance to me Now seeing I have no free Passage left either to come or send to you I resolved at last to acquaint you by Letters how unjust a War he carries on that he may recover perhaps the Honour which in the Age past his Ancestors the Emperours Frederick and Maximilian lost here for my Uncle drove the one of them out of all the Country and baulked him of Hungary when triumphantly he was about to make himself King of it And my Father Stephen Sepsy so mauled them both in the Reign of King Matthias as that he joyned Vienna to Hungary Nay and I my self too though then but a Youth put a stop to Maximilian in his Progress against us and would have done the same against the present Enemy if he had not acted more by Cunning and Treachery than by Valour and Force of Arms. I have indeed hitherto born with that Injury as patiently and as well as I could But consider with your selves most Noble Princes How grievous a thing it is to be cast down from Supreme Dignity to the state of a Private Man. Hardly I think is there any Man to be found so tame and patient as having received so many Injuries would not look about him for assistance wherever he could have it Seeing then I have at no time since I entred into the Government refused to hearken to any reasonable Conditions nor do at present reject them but would do any thing rather than cause a Civil War and that my Enemy goes on obstinately I make Protestation That it ought not to be imputed to me as a Fault if I take any sort of course for my own Defence and Protection And that if any Prejudice redound from thence to Christendom that is not to be attributed to me who have essayed all ways of Peace but to my Enemy who with highest Injustice invades the Kingdom of another He is careful indeed to stop all the Wayes that no News may be brought to you but yet I suppose you have heard how he deserted his Brother-in-law King Lewis for though he had been often and with very earnest Entreaty sollicited yet he neither sent him Men Artillery nor any other Aid against his Powerful Enemy And why because his Heart and Eye were already upon the Crown after his Death Besides he sent the Publick Aids of the Empire designed for Hungary to his Brother to plague Italy with whilst I sent and paid about three thousand Men of my own Forces under the command of my Brother to the Assistance of King Lewis designing to have been present in person at the Battle had not the King commanded me to continue in Transilvania but my Brother dyed bravely in the Fight Ferdinand also took a solemn Oath That before he had recovered Belgrade and some other Castles he would not take upon him the Government But he forfeited his Promise herein for the Turks made an Incursion far up into the Country and having wasted the Land and taken the strong Castle of Jaitza in Bosnia returned home loaded with Spoils This Castle was heretofore taken from the Turks by King Matthias with a great loss of his Men my Uncle Emerick also held out a long Siege therein and defended it against them and our Kings likewise were at vast Charges in fortifying it But this General of ours who made such glorious Promises as an Essay of his Valour fairly suffered it to be lost and being now destitute of all things implores I suppose your Aid and Assistance as if he were in Danger for the sake of Germany But his Designs tend a quite different way for it is not against the Turk that he is preparing Arms to whom by Ambassadours lately sent he offers a yearly Tribute But his Aim is That with your Men and Money he may assist his Brother in Italy and by undoing of me enslave Hungary Which being so I most earnestly beseech you to take Care That this private Wrong which is now done to me may not turn to the Prejudice of all Christendom Not long after he wrote also to the Emperour much to the same purpose praying him to divert his Brother and these things he published in his own Defence But King Ferdinand insisted upon the Compact which in the Year 1491 the Emperour Maximilian made with the Hungarians and King Ladislaus wherein it was stipulated That if Ladislaus dyed without Heirs Male that then the Kingdom should fall to Maximilian and the Heirs of his Body Since therefore King Lewis Son to Ladislaus was dead without Issue as we said before Ferdinand who was Grand-Son to Maximilian and Archduke of Austria and besides was married to the Sister of King Lewis pretended that the Kingdom of right belonged unto him At the very same time Philip Landgrave of Hesse and the Elector of Saxony having raised Forces prepared for War And the Reason of it was this A certain Lawyer Otho Becken a Man of Noble Extraction and one of the chief Counsellours of George Duke of Saxony being occasionally in Discourse with the Landgrave admonished him to look to himself for that lately King Ferdinand the Elector of Brandenburg George Duke of Saxony William and Lewis Dukes
imaginable and conduct him to their Palaceâ— When it was Evening the Emperor sent word to Andrew Doria who stay'd on Board That the King and Queen his Sister had prevailed with him to lodge in Town that Night and that he would return to his Galley the next Day after Dinner Which Notice he gave him that he might not suspect any foul Play And accordingly the next Day the Emperor put to Sea again being accompanied thither by the King and the whole Court And after they had drank together for some time in the Galley they took their Leaves with all possible Demonstrations of Friendship When this Entertainment was known in Paris and in other places of France they went in Procession to the Churches of the Saints according to the usual Custom and made publick Bonefires The Pope had endeavoured to perswade them at Nice de Provence That now since a Truce was concluded they would go in Person to the Council at Vicenza and send those Prelates they had in their Train thither and summon in those who were absent But when they excused themselves and told him they could do neither and his Cardinal Legates whom he had sent to Vicenza had acquainted him that there was no Company come thither he prorogueth the Council again till Easter following and gives publick Notice of it by his Bulls upon the Nineteenth of June when he was at Genua in order to his Return to Rome At their first Meeting the French King kissed the Pope's right Foot as he sate in his Chair Which Respect was likewise paid by most of the rest of his Nobles yet there were some in the King's Train who refused to submit to this Ceremony though the Constable put them in mind of it These Refusers were Christopher Duke of Wirtenberg William Count Furstenburg Germans Marshall la Marche a French Man and George Gluck Ambassador of the King of Denmark Just about this time Charles Count Egmond Duke of Guelderland died How he was outed of almost all his Dominions I gave an Account in the last Book And being reduced to this Extremity when he fell sick he treated with the Duke of Cleves his near Relation and with the consent of his Nobility and People bequeathed the Dutchy of Guelderland to him with the Acceptance of which the Emperor was very much offended as shall be shewn in its proper place A little before this time Erard Count Mark Cardinal and Bishop of Leige departed this Life than whom none was more severe against the Reformers He ordered a very rich Tomb to be made for him a great many years before in the Cathedral at Leige and had those funeral Dirges and Ceremonies which the Papists use for the Dead performed anniversarily for him imagining that those Services of the Priests which they account Meritorious and believe Eternal Life is due to them would do him most Good when he was alive But those who pretended to know the Man more intimately said he did all this out of a Spirit of Vanity because his ambitious Humour was pleased with the Solemnity of the Office. About this time there was an English Bible printed at Paris which the King had ordered to be sent to all the Churches in England But when it was known it was prohibited and the Printer was in some Danger about it In France the Holy Scriptures are not commonly to be met with in the Language of the Country It 's enough there to make a man suspected if he happens to read the New Testament or any thing of that Nature in French For none but Divines and such sort of People are allowed so much as to meddle with or enquire into the Scriptures As for the generality of the Laity they are altogether Ignorant The Citizens Wives when they go to Mass carry Latin Prayers to Church with them and patter them over at their rate but understand nothing of the matter being verily perswaded that this Way is much more acceptable to God than if they should pray in French. This Notion those Priests have insinuated into them who make their Advantage of the Ignorance of the People In the beginning of August the Pope returned to Rome where the Citizens received him in the most triumphant and respectful Manner imaginable for their Streets were hung and made sine every where and there was plenty of panegyrical Papers and Inscriptions to be seen in which they magnified him at a very extraordinary rate for setling Peace in the World again and reconciling the Two great Monarchs This Year there was a College or School for young People opened at Strasburg James Sturmius a Senator of considerable Note being the principal Contriver and Promoter of this Design which by the Care of those who were appointed to govern and teach gained such a Reputation in a short time that not only the most remote Germans but Foreigners also came thither in great Numbers But the Management of the Students the throwing them as it were into distinct Classes and the whole Method of Teaching was first reported to the Senate by John Sturmius and afterwards published more at large by him in Print And when a great many People were forced to leave France and the Netherlands upon the account of Religion the Senate of Strasburg assigned a Church to those who came thither and gave them Leave to incorporate themselves in a distinct Body John Calvin of Noyon was Pastor of this Church for some Years and was succeeded by Peter Brulius of whose Death I shall speak afterwards Now to go for England a little while Thomas of Canterbury had a mighty Veneration paid him by that Nation which had continued for some Ages His Body was laid in a magnificent Tomb inestimably enriched with Gold and Jewels but King Henry fetched him out this Year and burned his Bones This Thomas Sirnamed Beckett was formerly Archbishop of Canterbury who when by defending the Privileges of the Clergy with too much vehemence had very much displesed King Henry II. and was commanded to depart the Kingdom he addressed himself to Pope Alexander III. who was then in France upon the account of the Difference there was between him and Frederick Barbarossa the Emperor At last by the Intercession of this Pope and the French King Lewis VII the King of England was reconciled to him and permitted him to return home after he had been banished Seven Years But upon his growing troublesom to some of the Bishops and interdicting them for being of the King's Side in the Dispute the King was provoked again and said with some Passion That he looked upon himself as a miserable Person otherwise it would not have been in the Power of one single Priest to give him such perpetual Disturbance and seemed to bewail the Unfortunateness of his Condition that he had never a Subject that would rid him of this Plague These Words made a singular Impression upon some of his Courtiers who imagining it would not be
Christian of six Years of Age Ibid. John succeeds his Brother Frederick of Saxony 84. Goes to Franck-hausen against Muncer's Gang Ibid. Comes to the Diet at Augsbourg 127. Excuses the Landgrave's going from Augsbourg to the Emperor 131. Procures the removal of the Guards from the Gates of Augsbourg 131. Is cited by the Emperor to Cologne 141. Sends his Son and goes himself to Smalcald 142. Writes to the Confederate Princes to hinder an Election of a King of the Romans 143. Protests by his Son against Ferdinand's Election to be King of the Romans 144. Pleads Age and demands safe conduct before his going to the Diet at Spire 153. Gives an Answer to the Elector of Mentz and the Prince Palatine 154. The conditions upon which he would acknowledge a King of the Romans 157. Dies 161. John Frederick Son to John D. of Saxony answers the Emperors and Popes Ambassadors 163. Yields to acknowledge Ferdinand K. of the Romans 173. Answers Vergerius's Propositions for a Council 181. Negotiates with Ferdinand to stop the Prosecutions of the Imperial Chamber 185. Goes to Smalcald 189. Negotiates with Henry VIII of England 205. Quarrels with his Cousin George D. of Saxony 206. He communicates the Embassy of the Elector of Brandenbourg to the Landgrave 243. His Answer to the Brandenbourghers Embassy Ibid. Goes to the Convention at Eysenach 244. Quarrels with the D. of Brunswick 247. Writes to the French K. in behalf of the D. of Wirtemberg 249. He sends Ambassadors into England 252. He Answers the Emperors Letters 263. Quarrels with Naumburg about a Bishop 288. Puts in Amstorfius Ibid. Makes War upon the D. of Brunswick with the Landgrave 298. The Declarations of the Reasons of their undertaking Ibid. Their answer to the Message of the States of the Empire 299. Intercedes to no purpose for the D. of Cleve 313. Accommodates with King Ferdinand 325. His Son is affianced to K. Ferdinand's Daughter Ibid. Writes to the Emperor about the D. of Brunswick 354. He armes against the Emperor 384. He and the Landgrave declare War against the Emperor 385. Sends his Son John William Ambassador to D. Maurice 406. Writes to Ulm to the Confederates for Assistance 409. Is in danger upon the Retreat of the Army 412. Raises contributions upon Papists Ibid. Writes to the States of D. Maurice's Countrey 414. Besieges Leipzick 417. Takes most of Maurice's Towns and his own again Ibid. Writes to the City of Strasbourg 419. Takes Rochlitz by Storm and Marquess Albert of Brandenbourg Prisoner 420. His Ambassadors to the Bohemians 424. He takes some Towns from D. Maurice 425. Is overthrown at the Forest of Lochawer 427. Taken Prisoner Ibid. Condemned to die Ibid. Bears it bravely Ibid Accepts the Emperors Proposals 428. Absolves his Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance 429. His Heroical Courage in refusing the Interim 462. He is used with great Harshness 463. Declares he will not perswade his Sons to receive the Interim 469. Is carried Prisoner into the Low Countries 473. And kept with the Emperor 474. Is brought back into Germany with the Emperor 496. Is dismissed by the Emperor 573. Sollicites to be restored upon Maurice's Death 587. Dies 596. The differences between him and the Elector Augustus 597. John Prince Palatine steps between the Landgrave and the D. of Brunswick at the Diet of Spire 319. John Marquess of Brandenbourg answers to the Saxon's and Landgrave's Letter 387â— Refuses the Interim 460. Illebius Joannes Agricola Preaches up Antinomianism 244. Recants 245. Assists in Drawing up the Interim 454. Jubilee Reduced to 50 Years by Pope Clement 9. P. Julius II. obliged to call a Council in 2 Years 26. Refuses to appear at that of Pisa Ibid. Calls another at the Church of St. John de Lateran in Rome Ibid. Excommunicates the Pisan Cardinals 27. Dies Ibid. His decree concerning Appeals 35. P. Julius III. de Monte Inaugurated 492. gives his Hat to a Youth Ibid. Secures Parma to Octavio Farnese 492. Publishes Bulls to call a Council at Trent 503. They Offended many 505. Cites Octavio Farnese to Rome 513. Writes lovingly to the Switzers 514. Publishes Indulgences at the Council of Trent 542. Publishes a Declaration of Thanksgiving for the Reduction of England 611. Dies 614. K. KIng of the Romans terms of choosing one 157. The manner of their Elections 158. Knights the ceremony of their Creation 37. Knipperdoling a great incendiary in Munster 193. Made publick Hangman of the Town 194. Is taken at the Storm of Munster 201. and executed with John of Leyden 202. L. LAndgrave vide Philip Landgrave of Hesse Landre Francis de a Preacher at Paris 297. Articles exhibited against him ibid. His Answer ibid. Recants 309. Latimer Hugh burnt for his Religion at Oxford 619. Langus Matthew Bishop of Gurk vide Maximilian Made Cardinal 27. Lateran Fourth Council its Dignity 26. Immortality of the Soul debated in it 27. Lautrec leads an Army into Italy 110. Takes Alexandria and Pavia ibid. Besieges Naples 115. Dies before it ibid. Lenoncour Robert Cardinal made Bishop of Metz 499. Assists the French King in the taking of Metz 555. Pope Leo X. Publishes Bulls of Indulgences 1. Sends Cajetan to the Diet at Augsbourg 4. Summons Luther to appear at Rome 5. Writes to Cajetan to fetch Luther to Augsbourg and to command all persons to declare their abhorrence of his Opinions ibid. Writes to Frederick D. of Saxony to abandon Luther 6. And to Venize to command him to take care of Luther ibid. Publishes a Bull Nov. 8. 1518. For Indulgences 12. Favours the Election of Francis I. 14. Meets him at Bononia after the defeat of the Switzers at Marignano 14. Concludes the fourth Lateran Council 27. Answers the Elector of Saxony's Letter 34. Publishes a Bull against Luther 35. Condemns his Books and gives him 60 daies to repent Ibid. Else he Excommunicates him 36. Makes a League with the Switzers 48. And with Charles V. 50. Dies Ibid. Leva Antonio de Charles V.'s General in Provence 208. Unsuccessful there Ibid. Lewis XII Sends Ambassadors to the Council of Pisa 26. His Kingdom put under an Interdict by P. Julius 27. Lewis K. of Hungary craves aid from the Diet at Nurenberg 54. Overthrown by Solyman and killed 105. Lewis Prince Palatine stands up for the preserving Luther's safe conduct at Wormes 44. Sends Ambassadors to Smalcald to the Protestants 153. Dies 321. Lewis D. of Bavaria vide Bavaria Leyden John of a Taylor 192. Preaches Anabaptism at Munster Ibid. Incenses the Mad Multitude 193. Marries Matthew's Widow 194. Publishes Polygamy by Inspiration 195. Is made King of the Anabaptists Ibid. Administers the Supper to his Subjects 196. Beheads one of his Queens 199. Is obstinate to the last 201. Is taken in the surprize of the Town by Opersteyn Ibid. Garried about for a sight 202. Executed Ibid. His Body set in a Cage upon a Tower in Munster Ibid. Lindaw the City of Lindaw receives the Interim 472. Lintz a Town of Austria upon the
They who know him familiarly much Extol him and if we consider his Father Philip and Grandfather Maximilian we cannot doubt of the truth of what they say He is but Young indeed but however of years fit enough for Business and Action He will also make use of his Grandfathers Counsellors and some select Princes of Germany I told you before its true that it will be very inconvenient for the Publick if he happen to be long absent from Germany But that shall be provided against by Articles and Conditions made with him beforehand Besides seeing he himself hath large Territories in Germany he must needs come now and then to visit them The Turk must be driven out of Hungary the French of Italy the Church is to be setled and reformed And when I reflect on these things I 'm the less moved at those inconveniences which his absence threatens for the natural Briskness and Activity of his Temper the Love of his Country nay and the Necessity of his Affairs will oblige him now and then to return to us When the Archbishop and Elector of Mentz had made an end of s peaking he prayed the rest to speak their Opinions And his Collegues having spoken in few words put it to the Electoral Archbishop of Treves to speak next for he was had in great Reputation upon account of his Industry and Experience He therefore having in a short Preamble taken notice of a certain Prophet who had foretold that Maximilian should be the last German Emperour Now said he things seem to me almost to tend that way since the Archbishop of Mentz who hath indeed said many things prudently is wholly for having the Government of the Empire conferred upon a Stranger Yet I much wonder that he should prefer the King of Spain before the French King. I am really grieved at the condition and state of Germany for if we walked in the steps of our Fore-fathers we should not stand in need of Foreign Protection but now that we invite in Strangers what do we do but purchase to our selves Servitude but setting aside this Complaint I shall follow the same Order that the Elector of Mentz hath done and shall speak first of our Law and Oath The Reason of the making that Law in my Opinion was Lest if a Stranger should be chosen who had no fixed Residence in Germany the Dignity of the Empire might be by degrees transferred to Foreigners Now if this be the Sense and Meaning of that Law a Spaniard can no more be chosen than a French-Man but if Charles may be chosen because he hath Provinces within the Pale of the Empire the same must hold also in Francis who possesses both Lumbardy and the Kingdom of Arles which are both Parts of our Republick of the two then proposed let us see which is most eligible The Truth is at that Time when France was joyned to Germany which was in the Age of the Franks our Empire was in a most flourishing condition and I am not a little delighted with the Remembrance of those Times as often as I fall upon reading the Histories and Transactions of past Ages Now the very same occasion is again offered unto us which I think ought not to be slighted Foreign Nations also are of the same Opinion the Pope Venetians and all the Princes and States of Italy For the French Nation derives its Original from us uses almost the same Laws and Customs and is very loving and kind to our Countrymen besides its commodiousness for us and Italy because of vicinity If any Troubles arise Armies will presently be in readiness and French Money to pay them And if the Turk invade either Hungary or Italy as I am fully persuaded he will Asia being now in Peace what can be more desired than to have so flourishing an Emperour near us backed by the Forces of both Nations Now though the Spaniards be accounted good Soldiers yet what great Action did they ever atchieve in Italy without the Help of the Germans Besides seeing they are at a very great Distance from us we cannot expect any timely Assistance from them and though they might be willing yet could they not do us any great good for since Spain is exhausted by Colonies and Fleets they constantly send abroad it cannot spare any great Armies from home To this it may be added That we shall have the French for fellow Soldiers and Companions of all our Labours whereas if any thing succeed well with us the Spaniards will take to themselves all the Glory enjoy the Fruits of our Victories and have the Government of our Provinces but no more of this Comparison I now come to the Election If the French King be pitched upon there will be no cause of War in Italy for he hath Milan already and we shall persuade him not to attack Naples the same also will he do with the Netherlands provided they 'll be quiet Now why we should be so much concerned for the Netherlands I see no reason They have indeed been our Neighbours for a long time but they have no League nor Alliance with us and neither think themselves obliged by the Laws of the Empire nor contribute any thing to publick Taxes no more than the English or Scots Since the French King then is very powerful peaceably enjoys Lombardy and is provided of all things necessary He 'll undertake far greater and more glorious Actions I mean a Turkish War and will employ all his force in beating off the Enemy from Hungary and Italy that so he may secure the state of Germany But if he prefer Charles of Spain before him good God! what Commotions will we raise in Italy He will attempt the recovery of Milan occasion a lasting War and while a most lovely Country is thus harass'd the Turks will bend all their force against Hungary Who pray shall resist these Who can fit out a competent Army These are things to be carefully considered and not slightly pass'd over Now it is uncertain what may be the issue of an Italian War For if the French King get the better on 't he will attempt Naples and it is possible that at his instigation the Pope may annul our Election and every one is sensible how great Troubles that may occasion On the other hand if Charles of Spain be advanced we are not to expect that Italy will be restored unto us The Spaniards once in possession will retain it for ever Nor that only but it would be no easie matter neither to get this our Empire out of their hands again What have they not suffered that they might preserve Naples which all Men know how they came by By no means then are they to be called into Italy Let me now say a little of both Kings I make no doubt but Charles is a Prince of a gentle and modest disposition for so many do commend him But since he is but as yet a Youth what Judgment can be
Fire and reclaim Luther by moderate and fair ways Or if that could not be done that then they would punish him according to the Laws and the late Decree of the Emperour and Empire That by so doing they would not only wash away that Stain which now stuck to Germany but also contribute to the Salvation of many who were much damnified by his Contagion That for his own part his Natural Disposition and Profession inclined him to Mercy rather than any kind of Severity But because this was a Distemper not to be cured by gentle Medicines there was a Necessity of applying more Violent Remedies That Testimonies and Instances of this more than one might be had in Holy Scripture and that their own Predecessors in the Council of Constance after this manner punished John Huss and Jerome of Prague according to their Deserts That if they would imitate them in this Virtuous Course God would not be wanting and that then there might be greater Hopes that the Cruelty of the Turk would be restrained And that in fine he was ready to bestow all he had nay and to lay down his Life for the Welfare of the Flock committed to his Charge referring what else he had to say concerning Luther to his Legate Francis Cheregate Bishop of Teramo to whom he prayed them to give Credit What he said of a Civil War raised among some related to Richard Archbishop of Treves who was then in a War with Francis Sicking a Valiant Man and great favourer of Luther However Religion was not the Cause of that War but it was because the Bishop would not suffer two Men within his Jurisdiction for whom he had been Bail to answer the Law for so it is specified in the Letter of Defiance which Sicking sent him towards the latter end of August Pope Adrian at that time wrote Private Letters to some others to the same effect and having much inveighed against the Doctrin of Luther he required the Senate of Strasburg Not to suffer any of his or his Adherent's Books to be printed and not only to Suppress but also to burn those which were already published for that he heard That such kind of Books were printed by their Printers who refused to meddle with any thing written against them threatning the Senate with the Wrath and Vengeance of God if they did not obey him for that although they persevered in the Ancient Established Religion yet unless they took from others the Liberty of Offending and Occasion of Errour they were not to promise to themselves impunity Now for the better understanding of what he said that he had heard of Luther when he was in Spain we are to look back a little into the History of his Life Adrian was a Poor Man's Son of Vtricht a Town upon the Borders of Holland he followed his Studies in the University of Louvain and for his Learning and Probitie was recommended to Maximilian the Emperour to be Tutor to his Grand-Son Charles with him he continued till he was grown up and became fit to learn more Manly Exercises and then was sent Ambassadour into Spain to King Ferdinand who made him Bishop of Tortosa but after the Death of the King when the Government fell to his Grand-Son Charles of Ambassadour that he was before he was made Privy Counsellor There was a Difference at that time betwixt Pope Leo and the Cardinals who had conspired his Death so that having dispatched a great many of them some by Exile and some by loathsome Imprisonment he created one and thirty new Cardinals at the same time partly for his own Defence and partly to raise Money among whom also was Adrian and this was in the Year 1517. Charles came afterwards into Spain upon the Death of his Grand-Father Ferdinand whose Heir and Successor he was In the mean time Maximilian the Emperour dying Charles was chosen Emperour and upon that account being obliged to go to Germany he left the chief Care of the Government of Spain to Adrian during his Absence and not long after there happened a great Insurrection in that Kingdom Now upon the Death of Pope Leo when Julius of Medices and Alexander Fernese canvassed for the Papacy and were making all the several Interests they could to be chosen Pope Adrian who was both absent and unknown was elected January 9 this Year to the great Displeasure of the Romans who took it extreamly ill That so high an Office should be conferred upon a Stranger whom they had never seen He having received the News of his Promotion and being therewith acquainted that three Cardinals were designed to come as Ambassadours to him into Spain who nevertheless were not as yet come he thought fit March 8 to write to the Colledge of Cardinals from the Town Victoria and gave them his hearty Thanks that they had conceived such an Opinion of him telling them That though at first he had been terrified at the greatness of the Charge imposed upon him yet that looking upon it as a Call to him from Heaven in those Distracted and Divided Times he had taken Heart and hoped the best That moreover since he heard that the Cardinals who were to come to him had not as yet parted from Rome and could not so soon perform the Journey and that in the mean time unless he himself approved the Election he could not be invested with Authority for Governing the Church Besides it being a Long and Dangerous Journey for the Ambassadours to undertake therefore to ease them of that Trouble and at the same time to declare his Mind he had before some honest and proper Persons whom he had called together for that purpose signified his Resolution and approved the Election Wherefore he required them to make the same known to all Men especially in Italy and in the mean time to take care that Justice should be administred he being now wholly taken up in preparing a Fleet and other things necessary for his Passage to Rome with the first Opportunity He wrote also to the Senate and People of Rome bidding them to expect all Good Will and Favour at his Hands And so some Months after the Season offering fair he put out to Sea on his Voyage And though the Emperour at the same time was returning to Spain from the Netherlands to appease an Insurrection that had happened in his Absence yet he departed without saluting him but wrote to him a most kind Letter wherein he gave him the Reasons why he made so much hast Thus about the latter end of August he arrived at Rome it being then the third Month that Solyman Emperour of the Turks had besieged Rhodes which at length after a seven Month's Siege wherein the Knights had most valiently defended themselves though destitute of all Succours he took by Composition December 25 not only to the great Prejudice but Disgrace also of Christendom Much about the same time Cheregate the Pope's Legate
when need should require might rebuke them mildly and so correct them as not to give Ground to the least Suspicion that they endeavoured to stop the Course of the Gospel That such as did not take Admonition should not go un punished That in the last place they would make it their Business That Printers should print no new things for the future and that some Holy and Learned Men appointed for the Purpose by the Magistrates within their several Jurisdictions should peruse and examine what came from the Press and that what they disapproved should not be sold That these things seemed to them proper for uniting People's Minds and setling a Reformation For that though all things were not out of hand reformed yet some Progress might in the mean time be made therein till the rest should be determined by the Authority of a Council That whereas among other things his Legate had spoken of Priests who married Wives because there was no Punishment appointed for them by the Civil Law it seemed not amiss to them That such as had offended that way should suffer according to the Prescript of the Canon Law. To conclude they pray his Holiness to take in good part their Judgment as to those several things for that it proceeded from a true and sincere Mind which tendered the Publick Wel-fare and concerned the Dignity of the Holy See. About this Time there happened a great Alteration of Affairs in Denmark which was briefly thus Christiern the first of that Name King of Denmark Norway and Sweden had two Sons John and Frederick upon the Death of the Father John succeeded who had Wars with the Swedes that had rebelled however the Quarrel was taken up and ended John had a Son named Christiern who at six Years of Age was proclaimed King and upon the Death of his Father six and twenty Years after succeeded to the Crown in the Year of our Lord 1514. During his Reign the Swedes again rebelled and set upon one Steno Stura to be their Governour King Christiern in the mean time employed all his Force against them and after many Battles and Sieges at lenth obtained the Victory causing the Body of Steno who had been killed in Battle to be raised out of the Grave and Burnt And this happened in the Year 1520. The Swedes being thus subdued one Gustavus Erixon a Nobleman of the Kingdom incited as it is believed and aided by the Lutbeckers again stirred them up to Rebellion and that successfully too At first he pretended to act for the Children of Steno but growing stronger he invaded the Throne and to confirm his Title married the Daughter of Steno Christiern having lost this Province was ill beloved at home also for he governed tyrannically and by his Cruelty offended all his Subjects Wherefore fearing that these Clouds which were a gathering might at length break out into a Storm to his ruine and destruction and the rather because the Lubeckers and his Unkle Frederick were arming against him this Year which was the ninth of his Reign he fled with his Children and Queen Isabel the Sister of Charles the Emperour and arrived first in Zealand a Province belonging to his Imperial Majesty Immediately after the States of the Kingdom assembling and and being assisted by the Lubeckers created Frederick his Unkle Duke of Holstein an aged Man their King and then having published a Declaration to the Emperour the Pope and to the rest of the Princes of the Empire they give Reasons for what they had done accusing him of most grievous Crimes for which they said he was justly Banished Frederick did the same which was imitated by the City of Lubeck a Commonwealth of the greatest Power and Authority in all those Parts But Christiern finding an able Pen-men Cornelius Skepper a Flemming a very learned Man answered the Accusations that were brought against him and begged Assistance from the States of the Empire assembled at Norimberg He had one Son whom the Emperour afterwards took and two Daughters Dorothy and Christian The same Year his Friends and Relations undertook a War for his Restauration but in vain the Emperour being then engaged in a War with France The Popes Legate had accused the Ministers of the Church of Norimberg of Preaching impious and unsound Doctrin and demanded that they might be committed to Prison But the Princes told him that they believ'd he had been misinform'd That the Preachers also were highly honoured and esteemed by the people so that if any thing were attempted against them the Mobile would look upon it as done purposely to suppress the Truth which might cause some insurrection That nevertheless they would appoint a Committee to enquire into all matters for the future and do whatever should be thought just and reasonable When they had in this manner answer'd all demands they on their parts proposed what they would have had done by the Pope and the Bishops in Germany and drew up their grievances into certain Heads and Articles which they delivered to the Legate praying the Pope that since the things they complained of were altogether unjust and could no longer be suffered that his Holiness would with all speed abolish them for that otherwise they themselves must needs take some course to shake off from them that burden and recover their ancient Liberty They had made the same complaint in the Diet at Wormes and having presented the same Articles to the Emperor they prayed him to interpose his Authority Neither did they at that time conceal those things from the Bishops who having hitherto made no reformation therein they made their application to the Pope because as we said before he had given them ample and generous Promises by his Legate Now the things which they desired might be redressed were all such as encroached upon the rights and liberties of the Princes drained Germany of Money and kept men under most heavy Bondage As to the Tribute payed by the Clergy the case in short is this The power of the Pope daily increasing and growing to a head among other ways of raising Money this also was found out That the Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons should according to the Rate of their Benefice pay such a Summ of Money yearly to the Pope which was commonly called First-Fruits and Tenths Some do ascribe this Device to Pope John XXII and others to Boniface IX the pretext was Specious and Popular to wit That there might always be a Treasure in readiness to be employed in the Wars against the Saracens and Turks And because at that time the Authority of the Popes was a Sacred thing they easily persuaded all People the English only excepted who for small Benefices refused to pay Now this Law continued in Force until the Council of Basil where because of the many Complaints brought from several Places concerning that a Decree past That no more Money should upon that account be exacted for the future
imaginable That the Town had been taken but the Castle still held out but much oppressed by the Cannon of the Enemy That he had received Accounts by Letters and Messengers That the Bassa of Bosnia was assembling great Forces to in vade Sclavonia That the Beglerbeg of Greece was drawing great Forces together at Sophia and then designed to come forward and that Solyman himself would come into Hungary in Autumn to Winter there or at least that he would be there early in the Spring with a vast Army to take Vienna That in a time of so great distress he was not at leisure nor durst he leave his Provinces but was wholly taken up in providing for the Defence and Security of them and because he would not have the Dyet held any longer in suspence which was contrary to the Interest of the Empire he had committed the management of it to the Duke of Bavaria that he might begin it and preside till he could come thither himself That he had sent a splendid Ambassy to treat of a Peace or a Truce three years since with Solyman and his Ambassadors were detained at Constantinople and although a Truce had been concluded till the Ambassador should return home yet the Turk had broke his Faith and had taken many Towns and Castles in the Borders of his Kingdom of Hungary and seeing he was now battering Sigeth it was not reasonable to expecta firm and lasting Peace upon tolerable Conditions This being the state of things he said a great and terrible Danger was threatned thereby not only to the Remainder of the Kingdom of Hungary but to Austria and all Germany and therefore it was needful to come presently to a Resolution of sending Succours and levying money for the defence of it which might be deposited in certain Places to be issu'd out by publick Treasurers as need should require That the King had sollicited other Princes to send Supplies and that he was resolv'd to spare no Treasures and to hazard his own Person and his Sons But then his Hereditary Countries being exhausted by a War which had lasted so many years were not now able to grapple with so formidable an Enemy alone but it was absolutely needful the Empire should assist them and that speedily And seeing in the last Dyet it was resolved That the composing the Differences of Religion should be considered in this he earnestly exhorted them to consider whether it was possible to be done and by what way They were to consider also of the Money and of the establishing the Peace of the Empire But then the Turkish War ought not to be postpon'd or delay'd but to be one of their first and most important Considerations that so the present and impending Danger might be averted The 15th day of September the Emperour having a fair Wind and a promising Season set Sail with a good Fleet for Spain and took along with him as his Companions in this Voyage Mary Queen-Dowager of Hungary and Leonora Queen-Dowager of France his Sisters But before his departure he had resigned to his Son Philip the Government of the Low-Countries and to his Brother King Ferdinand the Empire of Germany to which purpose he had sent a Letter to the Electors wherein he desired they would accept of him and acknowledge and obey him as Emperour of Germany The last day of October John Sleidan I. V. L. a Person worthy of great Commendations on the account of the rare Endowments of his Mind and his great Learning died at Strasburg and was honourably buried FINIS A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION To the End of the COUNCIL OF TRENT In the Year 1563. Collected and Written by E. B. Esq LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXXIX A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION BOOK I. The CONTENTS The Introduction The Revolt of Transylvania The Siege and brave Defence of Sigeth a Town in Hungary Charles V resigns the Empire He goes to Spain John Sleidan's Death and Character Paul III a Furious Prince The War between him and King Philip in Italy The Peace between them The Affairs of England The Dyet of Ratisbonne The Death of Ignatius Loyola the Founder of the Order of Jesuites And of Albert Marquess of Brandenburg The unsuccessful Conference at Wormds between the Romish and Protestant Divines The War between France and Spain The Siege Battle and Taking of S. Quintin Charles V his Letter to his Son. The Spanish Army disperse and the French increase A Persecution in France The Siege and Loss of Calais The Situation and Form of that Town Guines taken A Turkish Fleet land in many Places in Italy and carry many into Captivity The Dauphin Married to Mary Queen of Scotland The first Overtures for a Peace between the Kings of France and Spain Andelot Marshal of France ruined by the Arts of the Duke of Guise Thionville Besieged and Taken by the French. The Defeat of the French near Graveling An unsuccessful Expedition of the English against France The Treaty of Cambray began The Parliament of England meet and Queen Mary Dies The German Affairs the Death and Character of Charles V. The Succession of Queen Elizabeth The Scotch Affairs and the first setling of the Reformation in that Kingdom IT was the Misfortune of this Great Man John Sleidan to die in that nick of Time when the Fates of the two contending Religions and of all Christendom were just upon the setling It is true he lived to see the Augustane Confession setled in the Dyet of Ausburg and perhaps he might hear of the Resignation of the Empire by Charles V to his Brother Ferdinand but then Death surprized him before he could give any account of it for with it he designed to have begun the next Book in all probability and to have filled up this with some other Accidents such as a large account of the Revolt of Transylvania and the Siege of Sigeth would have afforded him But then had he lived till the Year 1563 he should have seen the Death of Queen Mary Henry II of France and Charles V and the setling of the Roman Catholick Religion by the Determination of the Council of Trent contrary to the Expectation of all Men which seems to be the first Period of the Reformation and absolutely necessary to give the Reader a clear Prospect and full View of the first Joynt of this great Revolution I have therefore persuaded the Stationer to add a Suppliment to this Version for that purpose and because I am a Member of the Religion by Law established and not willing to offend them of the other Persuasions I resolve to advance nothing in it but from Authors who lived and dyed in the Communion of the Church of Rome shewing the matter of Fact with great Brevity and making few or no Reflections of my own That so the Reader may be left entirely to himself to think what he Please and God shall direct him I will
and Queen which was refused and he severely treated for undertaking that Embassy by the Guises The Oppression of the Princes of the Blood in France by the House of Guise and of the Protestants by the Roman Catholicks caused a dreadful Conspiracy which drew in all the desperate People of that once most Fourishing Kingdom to the great hazard of its Ruine The concealed Head of this Conspiracy was Lewis Prince of Conde the apparent Godfrey de la Barre Sieur de Renaudie a Young Gentleman of an Ancient and Noble Family of Perigort who falling into a long and ruinous Suit for a Living which his Uncle had intercepted and detained from him in Angoumois had not only been overthrown by his Opposite but had also for some fraud in the management been severely Fin'd and Banish'd for some time he at Lausanne and Geneva had contracted a Friendship with some others of his Country who had fled thither on the account of Religion by whom he had been brought over to that Persuasion and after returning into France in disguise he had wandred over a great part of the Kingdom and made many Friends of that Religion and being a Stout Subtil Man and exasperated by the things he had suffered he undertook this dangerous Employment willingly as a means to revenge the Wrongs he had undergon The Conspirators met the First of February at Nantes in great numbers on diverse Preteces and there form'd the fatal Design of Blois for the Surprizing the King and the Court the Fifteenth of March and the bringing the Guises to a Tryal for all their Encroachments on the French Privileges and Abuses of the Royal Authority The whole Design is so well expressed in Davila his History of the Civil Wars of France that I shall rather refer the Reader thither for his Satisfaction in it than attempt to reduce it into a Dark and scarce perhaps Intelligible Compendium It was very extraordinary that before ever this Kingdom had in the least been shaken by any Commotion the Majesty of the King the Authority of the Governors and Magistrates being all in their former vigor that such great numbers of Men in all Parts of the Kingdom should enter into so unheard so dangerous a Design But such was the Hatred they bore to the House of Guise and the Detestation that all Men began to entertain of the bloody Practises against the Protestants that though so every many were engaged in it yet they all kept Faith each to other and conceal'd the Secret so that the Guises had notice of it from Italy Spain and Germany before any of their Spies in the Kingdom scented or suspected it At last one Pierre Avanelles an Advocate of the Parliament of Paris and a Protestant out of pure Conscience for the preventing so great a Scandal and Mischief discovered this Conspiracy to Stephen L' Allemont Sieur de Vouzay Secretary to the Cardinal of Lorain he having got knowledge of it from La Renaudie the Chief Agent in it who lodged in his House The King was then gone from Blois to Ambois which was a small and strong Town which had also a great and a very strong Castle and easily to be defended Here de Vouzay acquainted the King and the Council with it and was immediately Imprison'd to be produced as a Witness against the Conspirators if it proved to be true and to be treated as an Impostor if it happened otherwise The Guises were very desirous that Andelot and Coligni the Admiral should be invited to Court fearing or hoping rather that they too were in the Plot. And they accordingly came presently to the Queen-Regent and Coligni in a Discourse before Oliver the Chancellor inveighed sharply against the violent Proceedings in Matters of Religion which had exasperated a great part of the People against the Government and concluded That he believed the granting Liberty of Conscience and suspending the Severity of the Laws till the Controversies of Religion were composed by a Lawful and Free Council would very much appease and quiet them Oliver who desired a Reformation and hated the bloody Methods then in use was glad of this Proposition and recommended to the Guises the granting of a general Pardon and Liberty of Conscience till a Free Counsel could be had as an excellent Remedy of these Evils Which was presently granted excluding notwithstanding those who under pretence of Religion had conspired against the King his Mother Brothers or Ministers Which was published the Twelfth of March in the Parliament of Paris which yet never shock'd the Conspirators who were well resolv'd The same day Renuadie came to Carreliere in Vendosmois not far from Ambois and appointed the rest to meet him the Seventeenth of the same Month the King having changed his Abode they were forced to change the Day That day Deligneris another of the Conspirators and a Captain repenting the Undertaking discovered it to Queen Catherine The Guises had by this time got a good Body of the Nobility about the King and a Party of the Conspirators being met in Arms near Tours the Inhabitants of that City would not endeavour to take them but suffered them to escape to Saumur the Seventeenth of March was the day now appointed for this great Design and Renaudie who knew nothing of the Discovery marched boldly up to Ambois and though great part of his Foot were cut in pieces in the Woods as they came up in small Parties or taken Prisoners by the Horse who were sent out for that purpose many of which were presently hang'd on the Battlements of the Castle in their Boots and Spurs yet Renaudie their Chief Commander escaped and was not taken then The Duke of Guise obtained a Commission to constitute himself the King's Lieutenant General in France the Eighteenth of March and Oliver the Chancellor obtained before he would pass it a Pardon for all who should lay down their Arms within twenty four hours and return home with only two or three Companions giving them liberty to present what Petitions they pleased in a peaceable way to the King. The Nineteenth of March Renaudie met Pardaillan who was sent with a Party of Horse to take up such as he found in Arms. Pardaillan would have fired a Pistol against Renaudie but it missing Renaudie run him through but was slain in the same moment by Pardaillan's Servant himself His Body was brought to Ambois and hang'd on a Gibbet with this Inscription The Leader of the Rebels Two of his Servants were taken at the same time and some Papers in a private Character which proved to be a Petition on the besalf of the Protestants designed to be presented to the King in an Assembly of the States Begging a Remission of the Severity of the Laws against them and Protesting the utmost Duty and Obedience to him Many of those who were taken were examin'd against the King of Navar and the Prince of Conde Who said They
was sent for that purpose by the Duke of Guise At Romans about sixty were taken and committed to Prison And at Montelimard the King's Faith was by Maugiron pawned and forfeited again and the Town taken and plundered The number of the Protestants encreased very greatly also in Bretagne and Normandy and they had their Publick Sermons in many Cities in those Provinces which were managed with greater Modesty than those in Dauphine Though the Guises had given many Testimonies of their small regard to their Faith yet the King of Navarr and Prince of Conde had now passed their Promise to the Cardinal of Bourbon That they would present themselves in the next Convention of the States and that Cardinal had given the King Assurance of it being then at Paris and the King of Navarr was already on the Road. The Archbishop of Vienne falling sick about this time by a Letter signified to the Dutchess of Moupensier his great Confident That he certainly knew That if the King of Navarr and the Prince of Conde came to Court they would be committed to Prison and that Bourbon would not be able to make good his Promise to them who was only imployed to deceive his Brothers That Montmorancy was laid at too and one la Sague a Villain had been examined against him and had confessed a Treaty with the Queen of England That so soon as the War in Scotland was ended the Soldiers would be imployed in France Soon after this venerable Prelate died of Grief and Vexation He was a learned and an honest Man not infected with the Leprosie of Flattery and therefore not very grateful to the Court And being extremely desirous of a Reformation was suspected to be a Lutheran The eighteenth of October the King entred Orleans attended by a terrible Guard of Soldiers which made that City more like a Garrison than the seat of an Assembly of the States Navarr arrived the thirtieth of the same Month with a small Retinue and unarmed and quickly found how little the Guises did regard their Faith or Promise by the little Respect was shewn to him and his Brother at his Entry and in their first appearance before the King And Conde was presently committed to Prison declaiming against the breach of Faith made by the King and the Guises and the Credulity of his Brother the Cardinal of Bourbon which had betrayed the whole Family into their Enemies Hands The King of Navarr seemed to have more Liberty but was under the restraint of a Guard deprived of the Attendance of his own Servants and watched by Men who had order to observe his Looks and Motions and his Secretary and all his Letters were seized The thirteenth of November the Prince of Conde was examined by the Chancellor and others in Prison Who told them It belonged not to them to try or examine the Princes of the Blood but to the Parliament of Paris and the Peers of France and the whole Body of the States Bourdin the Attorney General at last told him That if he declined the Judgment of these Delegates he should be taken for convict and Sentence accordingly pronounced against him as guilty of High Treason and the Witness should be examined elsewhere Perceiving by this the head-longhast of the Guises his Lady delivered a Petition to the King for learned Council which was granted him But his Servants were taken from him and he was denied a Conference with his Brother of Navarr and the Cardinal though he desired some of the Kings Ministers might be present These Hardships created him much Compassion in the Minds of Men and they thought he was hardly used which made his Enemies yet more hated They on the other hand despised the Thoughts of Men and bent all their Thoughts how they might destroy the King of Navarr for they thought they were secure of Conde Among other ways they intended to have assassinated him in the King's Chamber of which an account was given him by some of Guise his Creatures Upon which he resolved to draw his Sword and dye fighting if he were thus attacked and desired an old Friend to take care to preserve his Bloody Cloaths and shew them to his Son. When he had thus done he went unsent for into the King's Chamber and taking the King by the Hand so by his Looks prevailed upon him that his Heart failed him and he either repented or durst not proceed in this Design Queen Catharine was already weary of the Insolence of the Guises and desirous to save the House of Bourbon as a Curb upon them to this purpose she gave erder to the Chancellor to put what Rubs he could in their way The Guises in the mean time hastned the Tryal of Conde as much as was possible esteeming all Delays dangerous to them The sixteenth of November the King being abroad to hunt was taken extream ill which caused Montmorency to make the more haste to Court. The twenty sixth of that Month the Kings Disease grew very great and hopeless This turned the Rage and Fury of the Guises into Fear and Consternation when they considered what they should lose in the Death of that Prince Thereupon they began to work upon Queen Catharine by other Methods to flatter and crouch to her and to represent the King of Navarr and Prince of Conde as exasperated to that height by their late Sufferings that without doubt they would seek her Ruine but they for their Parts would stand by her and serve her with great Fidelity They desired therefore Navarr might be committed as well as his Brother had been before the King dyed The Chancellor prevented this by shewing in a grave Oration That it would certainly involve France in a Civil War. The fifth of December the King dyed having lived seventeen years and ten Months and reigned one Year five Months and twenty Days His Youth and the shortness of his Reign makes it uncertain whether he ought to be ranged with the Good or Bad Princes and the more because not he but the Guises governed This Accident changed the state of things and saved the Life of Conde or rather the House of Bourbon Charles IX his Brother succeeded him and Navarr of a Prisoner became the second Person in that Kingdom Queen Catharine having adjusted all things with him before the late King died She sent Letter also to Montmorency who was not yet arrived at Orleans to hasten his coming to the new King because she was desirous to use his Counsel and Advice When he came to Orleans he asked the Centinels By whose Orders they were placed there and for what End and commanded them to be gone or he would hang them The Guards presently disappeared and then it was visible that the Guises and not the King needed them Though Conde was freed the same moment the King died yet he would not go out of his Prison till he knew his Accusers and Prosecutors to which the Guises replyed It
a Holy League amongst the Popish Princes 245. Loses his Interest in the Emperor's Court 255. Elector vide Albert 14. The Elector's Answer to the Emperor at Ratisbon 281. The Electors of the Rhine meet about the Elector of Cologne 356. The Electors separate their Councils at the Diet of Ratisbon 375. Ecclesiastical Electors severe for the Interim 477. And hold Synods wherein the Trinkets of Popery are restored 481. They complain of the Soldiers who came from Magdebourg 535. Emperor how chosen 19. Now subject to the Pope in his Election 38. Empire vide Princes English refuse to pay First-fruits for Benefices of small value 63. English Bibles Printed at Paris 241. Enthusiasts begin to Preach in Germany 52. Erard Bishop of Liege dies 240. Erasmus writes to Frederick in Luther's behalf 21. And to Luther encouraging him to go on but calmly ibid. And to Rome in favour of Reuchlin 31. Writes about Free-will 75. VVrites against the Reformers under the Title of Gospel-teachers 122. VVrites to Campegio to promote Vnity in Germany 133. His Jest upon Eckius and Faber 139. Quarrels with Luther again about Free-will 170. Dies 209. His Colloquies forbidden by the Delegate Cardinals 236. Erixon Gustavus wrests Sweden from Christiren King of Denmark 62. Marries Steno Stura's Daughter ibid. Ernest D. of Brunswick taken Prisoner by the Emperor 427. Is set at liberty 428. Exorcisms with the Ceremonies 481. Eysenach a Town in Thuringia a Convention of the Protestants there 244. F. FAber John Deputy to the Bishop of Constance at Zurick 57. Faber Jacobus Stapulensis persecuted by the Sorbonists 98. The King of France writes on his behalf out of Spain ibid. Farel William Preaches at Metz 290. Farnese Cardinal his Speech to the Emperor against the Protestants 264. Retires from the Emperors Court 266. Goes to the Diet of Wormes with the Emperor 348. Goes from thence to Rome 349. Farnese Octavio General of the Pope's Troops which help'd the Emperor against the Protestants 394. His Parma secur'd to him by P. Julius the III 492. Puts a French Garrison into Parma 513. Is Cited to Rome ibid. Pursues the Business of Parma 514. Being supported by the French King it occasions a VVar ibid. Ferdinand Arch-Duke of Austria Marries 50. Executes the Ban severely against the Lutherans 54. Claims the Kingdom of Hungary after K. Lewis's death 105. Is made K. of Bohemia 110. His claim to Hungary what 114. Made K. of the Romans 144. The Terms upon which the Protestant Princes promise to acknowledge him 157. Makes a Treaty of Peace with the D. of Saxony 173. Allows Ulric to be D. of Wirtemberg ibid. Inhibits the Prosecutions of the Imperial Chamber 184. Suspends them till the Meeting of the next Diet 185. Sends an Embassie to the Switzers not to aid the French against the Emperor 207. Is routed by the Turks 231. Goes to the Diet at Haguenaw 267. His Proposals to the Protestants there 268. His Answer there about the Procedings of the Imperial Chamber 269. Prepares to invade Hungary 270. Sends Alaski his Ambassador to Solyman ibid. Is overthrown at Buda 284. His Answer to the Austrian Nobility 287. His Speech to the Diet at Spire 288. Opens the Diet at Nurenberg 298. Makes an unsuccessful War in Hungary 304. Opens the Diet at Nurenberg 305. His Answer to the Protestants Petition 307. Is acknowledged King of the Romans by the D. of Saxony 325. His Daughter is Betrothed to the D. of Saxony's Son ibid. Opens the Diet at Wormes 343. Answers the Deputes of the Protestants 345. Goes to the Diet at Ratisbon 374. Denounces War against the Saxons 409. His Answer to the Bohemians 417. His Demands to the Bohemians 420. His Letters to the Bohemians 423. He Answers their Letters 424. He writes to them again 425. His Commissioners to the Convention of States in Bohemia 426. His Army ibid. Writes again to the Bohemians 428. Writes to them again from Leutmeritz 431. Goes to Prague and forces the Bohemians to submit 434. Obtains vast Sums of Money from the Free Towns 436. Raises Money of the States at teh Diet 460. Receives Constance and imposes strict Conditions upon them 474. Complains at the Diet of Augsbourg of the Irruptions of the Turks 511. Aid is granted him by the Princes at Norimberg 512. Treats with D. Maurice about Peace at Lintz 556. Goes to Passaw to Mediate a Peace 563. Presses D. Maurice to stay a while for the Emperor's Answer 568. Goes again to the Emperor to Villach ibid. Brings the Emperor's Answer back to Passaw 569. He there answers the French Ambassador in the Emperor's Name 570. Opens the Diet of Augsbourg 598. Publishes an Edict about Religion 602. Which is answered by the States of his Country ibid. He comes to Augsbourg 607. Opens the Diet with a Speech ibid. What effect it had upon the Diet 610. Banishes two hundred Protestant Ministers out of Bohemia ibid. Invites the Princes to the Augsbourg Diet 612. Mediates between Papists and Protestants at Augsbourg 624. Answers those Papers that were dispersed in the Diâ—t 625. His Answer to the Protestants Reply 626. Sollicites the Princes of Germany against the Turk 628. Answers the Address of the Austrian Nobility 630. Replies to the Austrians Answer 631. Is Sollicited by the Bavarians for Liberty of Conscience 633. He goes into Bohemia ibid. Fevre d'Estaples vide Faber Stapulensis Fisher Bishop of Rochester Beheaded for not acknowledging King Henry Supream Head of the Church 180. Made Cardinal in Prison ib. Flisted Peter burnt at Cologne for his Religion 121. Florentines aid the French against Charles 131. Send Ambassadors to him with Submissions 132. They yield to him after a years Siege ibid. Fox Edw. Bishop of Hereford his Speech to the Protestants at Smalcald 188. Desires a Private Conference 189. Which is allowed ib. France a Persecution of the Lutherans there 175. Francis King of France Competitor for the Empire 13. Is troubled that Charles V. is preferr'd 19. Makes a League with the Switzers 48. Takes Milan 76. Besieges Parma ibid. Is taken Prisoner there 79 Writes into France in Favour of Faber Stapulensis 98. Falls sick in Prison 102. Treats a Peace with Char. V. ibid. Leaves two Sons Hostages in Spain 103. But makes a League with the Pope and Venetians against the Emperor 105. VVrites to the Princes of the Empire 108. Publishes an Apology for engaging in VVar with Char. V. ibid. Sends Letters of Defiance to Char. V. 112. Makes a league with Henry VIII ibid. Challenges Char. V. to a Duel 112. Concludes a Peace with him at Cambray 121. The Articles of it ibid. His Letter to the Protestant Princes 149. Marries Catharine de Medicis to his Eldest Son Henry 168. He goes in Procession to St. Genevieve 178. He writes to the German Princes to take off Misunderstandings 179. Sends Bellay to Smalcald to the Protestants 182. His Opinion about the Points of Controversie in Germany 186. He offers to enter into a Leage with the Protestants 187.