upon four Wheels and were easily turned on all sides The first Battalions of the Enemies already appeared out of the Woods and fired upon those of the French Army when that Guise seeing-them at length where he wished them came to the Head of his Regiment that was most advanced in the Plain and gave the Signal to the Duke of Nemours to begin the Charge This first Attacque was very furious and the French were sharpely repulsed with the loss of several Officers But Guise and Nevers having rallied their Troops and being seconded by all the Light Cavalry commanded by d' Aumalle they routed the first Battalion of the Germans And the Duke of Nevers with his Regiment falling then upon the Spanish Harquebusiers who were not able to resist him all the Enemies Army was put to rout The Count of Vulfenfourt was obliged to fly as well as the rest though he had promised to tread the French Gendarmes under Feet with two thousand Rheistres or German Horse he Commanded and who to appear the more terrible had horribly coloured their Faces with black The French gain'd in that Battle seventeen Ensignes Colours five Cornets and the four Field-Pieces that were brought into the Wood and the Emperours Pistols About two hundred men were slain on their side and two thousand on the Enemies However the Spaniards if we may believe the Count of Rocca who has written the History of Charles the Fifth imagined some time after that it was they who had gained the Victory insomuch that Don Lewis d' Avila distrusting perhaps the Testimony that the Historians give thereof caused that Battle to be painted in his Country-House where the French were seen flying from their Enemies And that Charles the Fifth through a modesty which the Author of his History does not sail to commend him for was of Opinion the Piece should be reformed and that they should draw the French making a Retreat because said he it was rather an honourable Retreat than a shameful Flight That day gave Birth to the hatred that broke out afterwards between Guise and Admiral Chastillon and which has had such fatal Consequences These two Lords had been such Friends during their Youth as that they were not able to live without one another wearing the same Colours and dressing themselves after the same manner This ardour begun to cool and Guise complained that the Admiral had given him insincere Connsels in an affair of importance The Admiral whether through Resentment or Envy reported after the Battle that Guise was not to be found where he ought to have been during the Fight They thereupon quarrelled in the Kings Chamber who commanded them to embrace and be as good Friends as formerly but these kind of Injuries are never forgotten nor are they ever pardoned In the mean time a Truce was made for five years between the Emperour and the King But Cardinal Caraffa would not suffer it to last long This turbulent and restless Man being shock'd with all that had an appearance of Peace reported every where that the King could not make an agreement having an offensive and defensive League with his Unkle He came Legate into France and made so much noise against the Truce that he made the King resolve to break it The Council were in no wise for this Rupture neither was it on that side that the Cardinal had made his Cabal He gained the fair Dutchess of Valentinois by his Gallantries and the fine presents he made her from the Pope and himself She perswaded the King to War both out of acknowledgment to the Legate and that Guise might have the Command of the Armies with whom she had contracted a great Friendship Caraffa assured him of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples which the Pope promised him the Investiture of and to which all those of the House of Lorrain have always had pretentions Guise being naturally ambitious suffered himself to be easily flattered with the hopes of a Crown and he was likewise drawn in by the Counsels of the Cardinal of Lorrain his Brother for whom he had ever too much deference This was a violent Man and to whom nothing appeared difficult hold to undertake all things indifferently and often abused the Authority of his Brother that he might bring his own designs to pass The King not knowing how to deny the Dutchess sent only for form sake to the Emperour and to Philip his Son who was then King of Spain to exhort them to withdraw their Troops out of the Territories of the Holy See This Proposition was received as a Declaration of War and Guise full of great hopes marched into Italy at the Head of fifteen thousand Men. He was looked upon as one of the greatest Generals of his Age and beloved as the most Civil best Bred Person of Quality at Court Thus almost all the Nobility of France attended him in this expedition some to learn their Trade under so great a Master others to acquire Glory under a Commander who being sure of his own bore no envy to that of his Souldiers It is in this occasion that it must be confessed that all the times of the Lives of great Men are not alike for it is certain that Guise did not perform in that War all that was expected from him whether he had not the Succours he ought to have had or that he was so happy as not to be able to succeed in a War that appeared manifestly unjust He immediately attacqued the City of Valenza which he took without difficulty and made but a kind of sorry answer to the Emperours Lieutenant in the Land of Milan who complained of the infraction of the Truce After the taking of Valenza the Council of War was of Opinion that advantage should be taken of the general Consternation and of the want of Men at that time in Milan It is certain that Guise might easily have conquered it But he would never be perswaded to stay notwithstanding the remonstrances that were made him whether as he said he had most express Orders to march on or that the Idea of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples did not permit him to think of any thing else Perhaps one of the Reasons that made him pass on so fast was the fear of being obliged to yield the Command to the Duke of Ferrara his Father in Law who in the League that was made with the Pope was nominated Generalissimo of the Kings Armies in Italy For he knew very well that this Prince having Reasons not to absent himself from his Dominions would never think of following the Army as far as Naples Whereupon he came to Bologne where he neither found the Forces nor the Ammunition they had given him hopes of He made great Complaints thereof to Caraffa who satisfied him with ill Reasons and Promises that had no effect whether he had already made his Accomodation under-hand with the Spaniard as several persons have believed or that he was a
indiscreetly and having taken D' Aumale himself Prisoner made without difficulty his Treaty with the Emperour and quitting the white Scarf for the red he came and encamped at the Mount St. Martin with all his Troops Thus Guise having only a small number of men in a great and ill fortified Town saw himself besieged by three Armies that mounted to above a hundred thousand Foot twenty three thousand Horse a hundred and twenty pieces of Cannon and seven thousand Pioneers The truth is that he reckoned much more upon those he had with him than he should have done upon a much greater number The rumour of this Siege and the glory that was there to be acquired had drawn several Volunteers and all the considerable Persons of Quality in the Kingdom There were three Princes of the Blood Anguien and Conde Brothers to the King of Navarre and Charles de la Roche-yon their Cousin the Grand Priour of France the Marquess d'Elborut Guises his Brother James of Savoy Duke of Nemours Francis of Vendosme Vidame of Chartes Montmorency and Danville the Constable's Sons Horace Farneze Duke of Castre and several others whose names are found in particular Relations Guise was not ignorant what he might expect from so many brave men but he knew likewise very well how difficult it is to rule Volunteers who usually thinking how to make appear their valour pretend to serve after their own mode will be in all places and almost ever render themselves useless by their over-eagerness for too great performances Wherefore he shared the Compass of the Walls amongst all the Princes and Lords in the Town He made them agree that every one should keep the Post that should be allotted him without undertaking to be in other places and ordered that all the Volunteers should chuse Companies wherein they should perform the duty of Souldiers obeying their Captains and doing nothing but by their orders upon pain of being put out of the Town The Emperour having made some stay at Thionville at length arrived at his Camp and had his quarters in the Castle of Lorgne behind the Abby of Saint Arnoul His presence having redoubled the ardour of his men and after all his Artillery having been planted they battered the Town after the most furious manner that was ever heard of They fired in one day alone forty thousand Shots of Cannon against that part of the Wall that is between the Platform of St. Mary and the Gate of Champagn This horrible Tempest continued for several days with the same fury and with so great a noise that Historians do assure that it was heard forty Leagues from the Town The Besieged did oppose such violent efforts with an invincible courage and a continual labour Men and Women Souldiers and Citizens being equally animated by the example of Guise who found nothing below him but spent Days and Nights in carrying Earth to repair the Ruines the Artillery had made and to prevent those it might make At length the Tower of St. Michel and that of Lignieres not having been able to resist the fury of the Cannon were beaten to Powder That of Vassieux was almost totally ruined and in a few days after the whole Pan of the Wall that was between those two Towers of about a hundred and twenty paces in length was overturned into the False-bray But the French not being of a humour to spend their time in defending themselves against Cannon Bullets and repairing Breaches caused Sallies to be daily made and more Besiegers than besieged they went to seek out their Enemies in their very Tents Guise himself chose those who were to sally out every day he stayed at the Gate with a body of reserve to second them in case they were too much pressed and when they returned he received them with that sweetness which is so agreeable in persons who are raised above others and gave them Commendations which both recompenced and augmented their valour And indeed this Conduct made his Men do things that are hardly credible A Serjeant was seen with his Halbert and followed only by five or six Souldiers to clear a Trench and drive from thence above three hundred Men others went and nailed the Artillery after having killed the Cannoneers upon their very Cannons An infinite number of such like actions may be seen in the Relation that Salignac has given of that Siege Guise from thence concluded that the Emperour would not easily become Master of the Town He wrote to the King whom this Siege put in pain that his Majesty might turn his Arms where he pleased and that he undertook to defend Metz ten Months entire The King having received this News caused his Army to march into Picardy when he very luckily recovered Hesdin The Emperours Army had been already two Months before Metz without doing any thing and were hardly able to resist any longer against the rigour of the Winter against Famine and the diseases the Camp was full of and the continual Sallies of the besieged This Prince seeing that the courage of his Men did daily diminish with their strength that there was a vast number whom misery and cold had rendered uncapable of serving and that of those who were sick some quitted the Camp others threatned to leave it He resolved to try at length a general Assault The breach was sufficiently great and the Souldiers cryed dayly that they might be led to it rather than suffer them to perish thus miserably by hunger and cold Guise being informed of this design and seeing the Enemies were ranging in Battle he on his side prepared to receive them He gave his Orders with that chearfulness which is so necessary for inspiring courage into Souldiers who being not for the most part capable to judg of things by themselves seek in the looks of their Commander for what they are to hope or fear from the success of an enterprize He was ever saying something that was obliging to all those he met with sometimes commending the valour of some and then again promising recompence to others In short all the brave Men in the Town being assembled upon the Rampart Guise shewing them that long space of Wall that was battered down and through which the Enemies were preparing to mount I am overjoyed Gentlemen said he to see that the Enemies have at length overturned that Barrier which put a stop to your Courage and which was more useful to them than to us It is very just that after you had been so often to seek them out in their very Camp they should at least come once and take a view of this City which they boasted they would so easily Conquer Here is now an occasion of acquiring the Glory which they will not often offer to you Take advantage of it Gentlemen and acquaint all Europe that have at present their Eyes upon you that it has not been impossible for a small number of French-men to put a stop to an Emperour who besieged them
engaging therein the Hugonots who hated the Guises mortally as having always been persecuted by them The Court was at Blois when they had the first notice of this Conspiracy The Cardinal more fearful than a Woman already fancied that all was lost and would have had them cryed out to Arms. But Guise who was not easily startled did rightly guess that such a Bustle would only help to defer the mischief instead of curing it that it was requisite to dissemble that the Plotters might come and deliver themselves up and that their presence being their Conviction would at the same time spare the trouble of seeking and convicting them In the mean time as able Men know how to take advantage even of the misfortunes that happen to them Guise so ordered the business that this Plot which was laid to destroy his Authority did only help the more to augment and settle it He made known to the King that there was a horrible Conspiracy against the Royal Family and that the Princes had resolved to deprive him of his Crown and his Life The King being in a fright and not knowing what Resolution to take desired Guise to succour him in an occasion wherein he did not find himself capable of doing any thing himself and at the same time declared him Lieutenant General in all the Provinces of his Dominions with full Power to do all he should judge useful for the good of the Kingdom These are the terms of the Commission that was given him The Chancellour opposed it with all his Power but his resistance was absolutely to no purpose and the Queen Mother who was the best in the World at seeming to desire things which she could not hinder was constrained to be aiding to it The Rendevouze of the Conspirators was at Blois Guise to break their measures carried the King to Amboise They came thither without being startled at this change but the prudence of Guise and the good Orders he gave every where rendered their designs Abortive A great number of them were killed in the Woods where they had hid themselves and amongst others la Renaudie their Leader Others were carried to Amboise where during several days there was nothing seen but horrible Executions which they obliged the King to look at from a Window The blood flowed along the Streets and the Walls of the Castle were covered with Bodies of the Conspirators whom they hanged at the Battlements all Booted and without any form of Process but only as they were brought into the Town What care soever the Guises took to perswade the King that this Conspiracy was only designed against his Person and against his Royal Brothers they could not prevent his hearing sometimes Rumours of the aversion the People had for them This poor Prince frighted with hearing them say every moment that there was a design to kill him and to see so many Wretches put to Death dayly told them sometimes weeping What have I then done to my People that should oblige them to have such an aversion for me Is it not you My Lords they aim at And would it not be convenient that you should withdraw for some time that we might see if your absence would not put an end to these disorders But they did not think fit to take this course and besides it would have been imprudent in them to have abandoned the Kings Person to Rebellious Subjects who had only taken up Arms because they were not satisfied with the Government The Prince of Conde who was without doubt the chief of the Conspirators was come to Amboise to favour their enterprize The King being perfectly informed of it forbid him to go out of the Town without his Order and appointed Guards to attend him But the Conspiracy being entirely dissipated he beseeched the King to call his Council and to cause all the Ambassadours to be there Having complained there with that confidence which does so well immitate Innocence of the ill Impressions some Persons would have insinuated into the King of his Conduct and principally as to what had newly happened he ended his discourse with saying That if there was any one who durst maintain that he had had a Hand in the Conspiracy he offered to give him the Lie at the point of his Sword and for that purpose would renounce the Priviledges that his Quality gave him Guise knowing well enough that this Discourse was meant to him answered with such a dissimulation as equalled the Princes assurance That the reports which the Princes complained of ought not to be suffered that no body ought to doubt but that he was very innocent but that if he should come to Fight for to prove his innocence he should have no greater Joy than to offer him his Sword and to serve him for a Second These fine Protestations did not hinder him from advising the King to cause the Prince to be taken into Custody but as they had reason to believe that the King of Navarre his Brother had a hand in the Conspiracy and that it would have been to no purpose to have confined the one without the other they thought convenient to refer the doing it till another opportunity The Constable who was retired to Chantilly had order to come and inform the Parliament of what had passed at Amboise He acquitted himself of this Commission after such a manner as was disagreeable to the Guises for he made known that the Plot was only against them and that there was no Conspiracy against the Kings Person as they would have had it believed He added That however the Conspirators had been justly treated after the manner they had been For if particular Persons of Quality cannot suffer without shame that their Domesticks or those they take under their Protection should be insulted it was not strange that the King had taken an exemplary vengeance of the attempt they had had the boldness to make upon the Principal Ministers of State In the mean time the Parliament wrote a Letter to the King upon what had newly happened and another to Guise wherein they gave him the glorious Name of Preserver of their Country what services soever he might have rendred to the State in this Rencounter the Parliaments acknowledgment seemed extraordinary and something below the Dignity of so great a Company In the mean time an Assembly was Convened at Fontainbleau to deliberate about the means of appeasing the Troubles which arose in the Kingdome For those who in good truth did demand Liberty of Conscience and those who considered it only as a pretext to revolt made more noise than ever In this Assembly Guise and the Cardinal of Lorrain gave publickly an account of their Administration After which several means were proposed to accommodate affairs of Religion but the minds of People were too much heated and neither Party would come to an accommodation though they seemed so earnest for it The Guises were resolved to spare nothing for the preserving their
that the Enemies were carrying his Father away Prisoner would by all means have obliged Guise to have run after him in order to his succour But the violent Transports of this young Lord could not move him and he only answered him with a great deal of sweetness My Son we will be revenged but it is not yet time At length when he saw that the Enemies by over pursuing a Victory they thought themselves sure of had brought themselves into a Condition of being infallibly conquered and that they had lost all their Ranks he detachued a hundred and fifty Horse under the Conduct of la Brosse to begin the Charge and turning towards those who followed him Come my Companions said he to them the Battle is won Then he caused the Vanguard to advance marching himself at the head of them with a boldness as seemed to answer for the Victory La Brosse having made the German Horse something give way he himself put them perfectly to the Rout. He cut in pieces the German and French Infantry it is in vain that the Admiral and the Prince do all they can to rally some Cavalry they were hindred by eight hundred Harquebusiers whom Saint Andre had placed on purpose and who fired continually The Prince himself is taken Prisoner by Damville as he was changing his Horse and the Admiral after having returned furiously to the Charge and put Guise several times in danger of his Life was at length obliged to retreat to Neuville and to leave his Enemy Master of the Field of Battle Though all the World agree that the success of this Battle which was of a very great Consequence for the Kingdom was due to Guise alone they have however talked diversly of his Conduct in this occasion He is reproached with not having Attacqued the Enemies soon enough though he might have charged them in the Rear and with having suffered the whole Army to be put to the rour without stirring in the least to its relief But besides that it was to be feared that the Runaways coming to fall upon his Battalions might have put them in disorder which would have happened if he had moved sooner than he did I believe that in those extraordinary occasions we must sometimes judge of the Conduct of great Men by the Event Besides that stratagem of War is not without example and it was practised a long time before by Philopoemen with as happy a success This great Captain in a Battle he fought against Machanidas the Tyrant of the Lacedemonians seeing all his Vanguard put to the rout and the Enemies pass hard by him in pursuit of the Runaways remained firm in his Post and did not stir till he saw that his Enemy after having entirely defeated the Vanguâ—rd returned in disorder and were no longer in a Condition to oppose him Guise treated the Prince of Conde with all the humanity that can be expected from a generous Conquerour These two Generals whose thoughts had for so long a time been taken up wholly with contriving how to ruine one another supped together and suspended in that occasion resentments that were too lively to be so quickly forgotten As all the Baggage had been plundered Guise who had but one Bed left offered it to the Prince who accepted the half of it fearing it would be either too great an Incivility to receive entirely the offer that was made him or too much haughtiness to refuse it In which I find that the moderation of the vanquished merits no less praise than the Civility of the Conquerour for as much as great Courages have mildness in prosperity so much have they usually Haughtiness in their Misfortunes some being desirous to make appear that the favours of Fortune cannot elevate them and others that Disgraces cannot deject them Guise has himself written that eight thousand were killed upon the place He dispatched Losses Captain of the Guards to the Queen who immediatly confirmed to him the Charge of General of which the Victory had already put him in possession It was in that Quality that Damville had presented the Prince of Conde to him after having taken him But Guise who was the most civil person of Quality of that Age returned him again into his Hands on the morrow telling him very agreeably I restore you your Prisoner take care to keep him he may help you to pay my Lord the Constables ransome Some days after he went to the Queen at Rambouillet to whom he rendered a publick account of all that had passed in the Battle of Dreux He enlarged extreamly in Commendations of the Constable of the Marshal de Saint Andre who was killed and of all those who had shown any valour in that occasion He even spoke very well of several Officers who had abandoned their Posts and who basely run away and he told his Friends who seemed amazed at so much Generosity that it was not just to ruine people for a misfortune that had happened to them and which perhaps would never happen again and that his carriage towards them would perhaps oblige them to Correct themselves and show more courage in the future Certainly we cannot sufficiently admire this wise answer when we consider that there is in War as else-where certain unluckly moments wherein the greatest Courages are not Masters of themselves and are sometimes hurried by unvoluntary motions to actions they would willingly afterwards wash away the memory of at the price of all their Blood Witness what happened to Aussin This brave Captain who had given in Italy so many Testimonies of his Valour that it was become a Proverb being at the Battle of Dreux was taken as well as others with the panick fear that spread through the Constables Forces But coming the next day to make reflection on what had happened to him it put him into so great a despair that he starved himself to Death notwithstanding all the instances of Guise and the principal Officers of the Army who used all their efforts to oblige him to pardon himself After the Battle Guise went to lay Siege to Orleans This Town was as the Fortress of the Hugonots and he said that after having taken it he would in a Months time bring them perfectly to reason and render the Kingdom as peaceable as it had ever been However whether that for secret Reasons this Design was not pleasing to the Queen or that hazzard alone opposed his putting it in Execution he was traversed in at all manner of ways The Gunpowder in the Arsenal of Paris having taken Fire without being known how consumed in an instant all the Ammunitions of War designed for that Siege Guise was forced to wait a long time for the Cannons he wanted to begin the Siege with and when he was upon the point of making the first approaches Castlenau arrived from Blois to order him in the Queens Name who was then there to raise the Siege and to go pursue the Admiral into Normandy and give succours to