A Chronologicall History of the KINGS of FRANCE By the Sieur de Mezeray Translated by Iohn Bulteel Gent. A General Chronological HISTORY OF FRANCE Beginning before the Reign of King PHARAMOND And ending with the Reign of King HENRY the Fourth Containing both the Civil and the Ecclesiastical Transactions of that Kingdom By the Sieur DE MEZERAY Historiographer of France Translated by John Bulteel Gent. LONDON Printed by T. N. for Thomas Basset Samuel Lowndes Christopher Wilkinson William Cademan and Jacob Tonson 1683. TO THE Most Illustrious Prince JAMES Duke of Yorke c. SIR WHen this Chronicle of France thus confidently intrudes under Your Royal Highnesses Roof it arrogates no other Pretence for so bold an Approach but that they are Crowned Heads that make it And there it is that these Royal Strangers the Kings of France may find the Hospitality of an English Court and by gaining an Access to a Goodness and Greatness so equally Illustrious obtain not only Your favourable Reception but also Your Royal Protection The History of their Reigns is a noble Subject and the Compiler of it so Judicious an Author that if the Ingenious are believed 〈◊〉 may be Ranked amongst the most Eminent Historians Were I Master of such a Pen I might adventure to mention Your Royal Highnesses just Praise a Theam too lofty for my groveling Quill though perhaps it were but a needless Task since the lowd Cannon has Proclaimed Your Valour sufficiently on the Sea as Your Prudent Administration of the Government in Scotland hath evidenced Your Excellent Conduct at Land while Your more familiar Vertues are attested by all that ever had the Honour to Reside within the Verge of the Court or have been placed in the Sunshine of Your Favour the smallest Ray whereof would satisfie my greatest Ambition But having no Title to such a Blessing in the least I may wish but cannot hope ever to attain it Wherefore I shall only beg Your Royal Highnesses Pardon for this Zealous Presumption and descend to my own Place contented to be owned at Your Feet Your Royal Highnesses Most humble and most Devoted Servant John Bulteel TO THE READER Courteous Reader YOU have in this Volume the History of the Kings of France traced up so high to the very Nonage of Empire even to the obscurest Annals of Time like the Head of Nile from the Mountains of the Moon as far upwards as even the faintest Light from Record or almost Fable could lead and from thence derived down through the whole Succession of their Kings even to the end of the Reign of Henry IV. in the year 1610. a descent of LXII Crowned Heads This History upon Crossing the Narrow Seas and Travelling into England assumes the Habit of the Country it Visits and comes drest a Britain But to satisfie the Reader to what Original Hand we owe this Excellent Labour'd Piece the Author is the famous Mezeray of France a Person living to this very day and to manifest all his Qualities and Perfections that might render him to the World both a faithful and an accurate Historian In the first place he is a Gentleman of that Birth and Fortunes that he Writes not the Lives of Kings for his Bread from Kings not like too many of those unhappy Chroniclers whose humble Station under that servile Fate Dependance makes them too often rather play the Panegyrists then the Historians whilst Truth from such Discovers is too often warpt into Soâ—thing and Flattery Secondly Though by 〈…〉 yet he values himself upon the honour of an Historian not an Enthusiast he consults not the Conclave when he Characters the King nor Shadens or Brightens the Diadem in favour of the Miter a fault too common in the World but with that Indifference yet Boldness withall that 's requisite to render the Truth naked he Writes like a Gentleman not a Bigot And thirdly Not to offend in another as gross or grosser fault then all these an Error amongst too many Chronologers viz. the Flattery of his Native Country he Paints not beyond the Life but makes Vprightness and Impartiality the Standards he moves by and Writes the Annals of France for the Reading of Christendom And for his Personal Knowledge Learning and Parts he has the Universal Fame of all Men to be highly the best of all his Countrymen that ever wrote on this Subject With these Advantages and Accomplishments in so Renowned an Author this Piece appears in England For ' its for these only Charms that the Translator of this Book could not see so much Excellence confined to its own Native Country and the bounds of Home and forbear stepping out for its Interpreter to make it visit the World abroad What Esteem it may find time only will produce but that it may want nothing to render it acceptable the Translator has labour'd to do Justice to so deserving an Original and has render'd it so Englisht as may obtain an Entertainment abroad answerable to its Reception at home The success of which lies wholly in the Approbation of all ingenious Readers in whose good Hands I leave it to its own good Fortune Farewell AN INTRODUCTION TO THE General History OF FRANCE THE Romans gave the Name of Gaul to that Extent of Lands which lies between the Alpes and the Pireneans the Mediterranean the Ocean and the Rhine at present excepting the Low-Countreys and some others which for the most part hold of the German Empire It is named France from the name of the French who subdued it under their Power Julius Caesar had compleated the Conquest of it about 48 years before the Birth of JESVS CHRIST So that when the French had perfectly setled themselves it had been almost Five Ages under the Laws of that Empire Now without reckoning those Countreys the Gauls had Conquered between the Alpes from those Mountains to the little River of Rubicon and which was named Gallia Cisalpina in respect of the Romans It was divided first by Augustus into Four Parts Gallia Narbonâ—ensis which they named Province because they had 〈…〉 first and reduced it into a Province Gallia Aquitania Gallia Celtica and Gallia Belgica To these three last they gave the name of Gallia Comata and when they said absolutely Gaul they understood the Celtica Then by succession of Time and under divers Emperors it was again divided into Seventeen Provinces that is Five Viennensis of which number was the Narbonneusis Prima Secunda Three Aquitani Five Lugdunensis if we comprehend the Sequani Four Belgicae whereof Two were called Germanicâ—e because some German People had inhabited there for a long time and Two Belgicâ—e properly so called Each of these Provinces had its Metropolis viz. the Five Viennoises Vienne Narbone Aix Tarentaiâ—e and Embrun the Three Aquitains Bourges Bourdeaux and Saulse the Five Lyonnoiâ—es Lyons Rouen Tours Sens and Besanson the Two Germanick Ments and Colen the Two Belgick Treves and Rheims Under these Seventeen Metropolitans there were above an
de Creme who named himself Paschal and was confirmed by Frederick But Alexander III. recalled by the Romans left France the year following and returned to Rome to put an end to that Schism Year of our Lord 1165 In the year 1165. Lewis had a Son born whom he believed Heaven had sent him in return of his Prayers For this reason he was surnamed Dieu-Donne i. e. Gift of God or God-Gift and after for his brave Acts the Conqueror which Paul Emilius has rendred by Interpretation Augustus and is followed in the same by all the Modern Historians Year of our Lord 1166 The Life of Conan the Little Duke of Bretagne which had been ever full of trouble ended Anno 1166. to make room for Gefroy of Normandy his Son-in-Law This Prince being yet but Fifteen years of Age remained together with his Datchy under the Guardianship of the King his father for some time after which being at liberty he begins a War against him because he would make him do Hommage for his Dukedom a Duty he required by vertue of a Treaty made by Charles the Simple with Rollo Duke of Normandy Year of our Lord 1168 Thierry of Alsatia Earl of Flanders dies at Gravelin Philip his Son governs after him Year of our Lord 1169 70. The Feud was renewed between the two Kings upon several occasions one was the Earl d'Auvergne whom Lewis as Soveraign Lord took into his protection and safeguard against Henry to whom the Earl was a Vassal holding of him in Aquitain the other the support he gave to Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury The War thereupon breaks forth and lasted for two years however it was carried on but slowly and so as the Respect either of them had for Pope Alexanders Mediation brought them to an Agreement for some time Year of our Lord 1170 These two Princes having Conferr'd together at Saint Germain en Laye concluded the Peace betwixt them and there the King of England's Sons rendred Hommage to Lewis for those Lands their Father assured to them by advance of Inheritance Henry of the Dutchy of Normandy the County of Anjou and the Office of Grand Seneschal joyned thereto from the time of Grisegonnelle as also the Earldoms du Maine and de Touraine and the second named Richard of the Dakedom of Aquitain as for the third which was Gefroy he had Bretagne by his Wife and ow'd Hommage to none but the Duke of Normandy The Kings Intercession obtained of Henry that Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury might return into England but he continuing to act with the same heat four Gentlemen of Henry's Court out of Complaisance as mean as detestable having plotted and contrived to deliver their King of him entred the Church at Canterbury where that Holy Prelat was reading Service it was on the Christmas Holy-days and Murther'd him at the foot of the Altar Year of our Lord 1171 Though the King disown'd this Murther and shewed an extream grief nevertheless Year of our Lord 1172 having given cause to commit it if perhaps he did not command it the Pope Year of our Lord 1173 made a mighty business of it from which he could not get clear without submitting to great Pennance and such Reparations and Satisfactions as was ordained by his Legats The Holy Archbishop revered as a Martyr was Canonized the following year and the frequent Miracles wrought on his Tomb attested his Holiness Year of our Lord 1173 Every year almost there was some Rupture then a Peace or Truce between the two Kings either concerning their own proper Interests or that of their Friends and Vassals Lewis had this advantage that being the Soveraign Lord he had a right of hearing the Complaints of Henry's Vassals and of making himself his Judge Year of our Lord 1173 He had stirred up many in Aquitain and Normandy but this year he Armed his own Children against him The eldest with Margaret his Wife being gone to Visit him and having staid some time in that Court had a fancy put into his Head that since he was Crowned he ought to Reign and to demand of his Father the enjoyment either of the Kingdom of England or the Dukedom of Normandy With this disposition and fretted for that his Father had taken some young People from about him who gave him such like ill Counsels he stole away one Night from him and came and cast himself into the Arms of the King Immediately all the young Nobility follows him Queen Alienor favours him his two Brothers Richard Duke of Aquitain and Gefroy of Brâ—tagne joyns with him and those whole Provinces follow their Motions The King of France takes them into his protection William King of Scotland declares for them and attaques England whither at the same time went some French Forces under the Command of Robert Earl of Leicester Year of our Lord 1174 It seemed therefore as if the unhappy Father must needs be overwhelm'd on a suddain but he overthrew all the Enemies Lewis having taken Verneuil au Perche durst not hold it and retreated before him The Earl of Leicester is defeated in England and all those that followed him either slain or taken then all the Kingdom reduced in less then Thirty days by old Henry who went thither presently after this defeat Year of our Lord 1175 The following year whilst he was doing Pennance at St. Thomas Becket's Tomb William King of Scotland his most capital Enemy loses a Battle against his Lieutenants and was taken Prisoner The Fleet of young Henry is dispersed and disabled by Tempest King Lewis who had carried Philip Earl of Flanders with him is rudely repulsed from Rouen so that finding Henry who was come over-Seas again to Relieve this City made ready to give him Battle he hearkens to a Truce for some Months Year of our Lord 1175 Whilst that lasted old Henry going into Poitou and subduing Richard the worst of his three Rebellious Sons who held that Country all the others returned to their Obedience and he enters upon a Treaty of Peace with Lewis who gave him Alix his Daughter for his Son Richard and put her into his hands to compleat the Marriage when she should be Age for it Year of our Lord 1177 The two Kings now grown old were weary of so many Wars and Disturbances Either of them had cause to fear the one the activity of his three most valiant Sons the other the weakness of his only Heir as yet too young so that they confirmed the Peace by new Oaths promised mutual friendship against all others and took up a resolution to go joyntly into Languedoc to extirpiate those Hereticks already mentioned by us But they thought it more convenient first to send the Popes Legat thither with three or four other Prelats to endeavour to reclaim them by Exhortations and Anathema's which converted and brought back a great many and kept the rest within bounds for some time These Hereticks were all called Albigensis because they propaged
it sacked all Picardy Artois Champagne and the Country of Messin often frighted Paris covered the Seine the Marne and the Loire with the Ashes of those Cities they consumed by Fire near those Streams and beat the French every where excepting at Chartres from whence they were repulsed by the protection of the Holy Virgin and the courage of Bishop Gosseaume and at Tonnere where one of their Parties was defeated by Richard Duke of Burgundy The foregoing year Lambert was killed by treachery as he was taking his pleasure in hunting by Hugo Earl of Milan The Western Empire remained vacant till the year 915. When Berenger was again Crowned by Pope John X. We may here place the Birth of the Kingdom of Arragon because about this time Sancho Abacca I. having extended his Kingdom of Navarre or Territory of Pampeluna towards Huesca and conquered all the rest of the Province of Arragon besides the Earldom of the same name which held already of him took the Title of King of Pampelune and Arragon Year of our Lord 911 In An. 911. hapned the Death of two Kings Rodolph of Burgundy beyond the Jour and Louis King of Germany The first left Rodolph II. his Son for Successor The second being only 19 or 20 years of age had only two Daughters Placidia or Plesance and Matilda who for Husbands had Conrard Duke of Franconia and Henry the Bird-Catcher Duke of Saxony and Son of Duke Otho The Lords of Lewis's Kingdom intending to bestow the Crown upon this Otho he excused himself upon the Score of his great Age and generously advised them to Elect Conrad Duke of Franconia though he had been his Enemy Charles the Simple in France Conrad in Germany Louis in Provence Rodolph II. in Trans-jurane Berenger in Italy Year of our Lord 911 Rollo the great Captain did by little and little make himself familiar and friendly with Franco Arch-Bishop of Rouen Upon his intreaties he had twice or thrice granted a Truce The design of that vertuous Prelat was to convert him Rollo's was to attain the Soveraignty and of the head of those Pirats become a Legal Prince The French Lords had much ado to suffer such a Stranger to be setled thus in the best Country of the Kingdom But the People so long and often tormented by their plundrings and continued disturbance cried out to them to put a period to their miseries Besides Robert Earl of Paris who aspired to the Monarchy desired he might remain in that Station to have his assistance in time of need For these reasons Charles made a Truce with him during which he propounded to him to give him in propriety and with the Title of a Dutchy that part of Neustria between the Sea the River of Seine and the Epte which falls into the Seine with his Daughter Gisele in marriage if he would be converted and embrace Christianity Upon these conditions Rollo was Catechised and received holy Baptism upon Easter-Eve An. 912. Earl Robert was his God-Father and named him After this Year of our Lord 912 he went and did homage to the King for the Lands he gave him and then wedded the Princess his Daughter but she lived only a short time with him and brought him no Children Thus this Province which the Romans called Lugdunensis Secunda was dismembred from the propriety of the Kings of France But not from their Soveraignty and according to the name of it's new Inhabitants took that of Normandy As this was granted to them because they knew not how to drive them out so for the same reason they were released of the Homage and dependance of Bretagne because they were indeed Masters of it and pillag'd it when ever they pleased And withal by this means it was reduced to the Soveraignty of the Crown by subjecting it under a Duke that held it of the King Year of our Lord 913 The year following Rollo failed not to demand Homage of the Bretons with his Sword in hand Duke Alain Rebre ' or the Great had been dead six years and left his Children very young Those that govern'd them rather then let them derogate from their Soveraignty carried them out of the Country with some of the greatest Nobility And since that we find no meution of them in History Count Porhouet named Mathued who had married a Daughter of Alain's the Grand went into England with his Wife Berenger Earl of Rennes and Alain de Dol having defended themselves the best they could were at last constrained to bow the Knee before the Normans and shake hands with them There were besides in divers other parts of France especially in Bretagne Anjou and the Country of Maine and the Islands in the River Loire numbers of these people but in time following the example of Rollo they took Habitations and Naturalized themselves French but not without first doing a vast deal of mischief and for a long while after the settlement of these drew in fresh swarms from Denmark and Sweden who were no less ravenous and cruel though not so formidable as the first Year of our Lord 913. and 14. All the Grandees of Germany were not satisfied with the Election of Conrard Arnold Duke of Bavaria Proud for having vanquished the Hungarians in his Dutchy rose up against him with design to make himself King and not being able to compass it pretended to stickle that Charles might have it Year of our Lord 915 That King had it ever in his thoughts to Sieze again upon the Kingdom of Lorrian Now meeting this fit juncture and the assistance of Reiner Count of Ardennâ— who was very potent in those Countries he enters into Lorrain and makes himself Master of part of that Kingdom whereof he made him Governor with the Quality of a Duke Year of our Lord 916 Duke Rollo had repudiated Pope Daughter of the Earl of Bayeux to marry the Daughter of Charles the Bald that Princess being dead he takes his former wife again by whom he had two Children William and Gerlote or Gerloc Henry Duke of Saxony rebels against Conrad gains a Battel over Everard his Year of our Lord 916 Lieutenant and gives chase to Conrad himself whilst on the other side the Hungarians over-run even to Alsace burning the City of Basle and can have no stop put to them but by Sums of Money which Conrad is forced to give them Year of our Lord 917 An. 917. Died Rollo first Duke of Normandy for ever renowned for that severe justice and exact policy he establisht within his Dominions Where the very mention of his name is able to this day to stop the Progress of Villians and bring those that are such before the judgment Seat Some put off his death to the year 924. his Son William afterwards surnamed Long-Sword Succeeded him And because he was but yet a Minor Robert Earl of Paris God-Father to his Father undertook his Tuition Year of our Lord 918 The following year hapned the Death of
Italy and at her second to the Emperor Otho I. LOUIS in France Conrad in Burgundy Arles Otho in Germany Lorrain HUGH and Lotaire his Son in Italy Year of our Lord 937. 938. The second year of his Reign Lewis Transmarine took the Government in hand and sent for the Queen his Mother to come to Laon to have the Benefit of her Counsel To settle his Authority the better he first began with some petty Rebels by little and little then falls upon Hebert himself whom he thought the more easily to overcome because he was grown odious for his Treachery against Charles the Simple And indeed he gained some places very quickly But Hugh fearing they would set upon him likewise joyned with Hebert who was besides his Uncle by the Mother And because he judged there would be little security in a person that had broke his Faith he armed himself likewise with the Alliance of King Otho by Wedding his Daughter named Havida The King on his side fortified himself in a more strict Union with Arnold Earl Year of our Lord 938 of Flanders a Mortal Enemy to Hugh Artold Arch-Bishop of Reims Hugh le Noir Brother of the Defunct King Rodolph and some others but this year Giselbert Duke of Lorraine being come to the assistance of Hugh the Great his Brother in Law Arnold and the Noir negociated a Truce till the first day of January of the following year between the King and that Duke As soon as that was expired the War began afresh Whilst the King was in Burgundy to divide it with the Noir Hugh le Blanc Hebert William Duke of Normandy over-ran and Burnt the Territory's of Arnold The Bishops censures had not power enough to stop them but the Kings Return gave them more cause of dread and made them renew the Truce to the Month of June Henry the younger Brother of Otho fancied to himself that the Kingdom of Germany belonged to him he being Born when his Father was a King whereas Otho came into the World before he was so Giselbert very powerful in Lorraine and who had married Gerberge Sister to these two Princes instead of behaving himself as a Mediator between them takes part with the Younger These two Brothers in Law thus Leagued sent to King Louis to put themselves under his obedience After which Otho having beaten and forced them at a passage over the Rhine the dispair they were under made Giselbert and some other Lorrain Lords come even to Laon to do him Hommage Louis wanted but very little of having the whole Kingdom of Lorraine surrender to him he got into Alsace and was well received every where But when he came to treat those as a conquered people who had voluntarily submitted to him it soon alienated their affections Year of our Lord 939 Mean time Hugh the Great Hebert William Duke of Normandy and even Arnold of Flanders not thinking it expedient for themselves that King Lewis should make himself so potent re-allied themselves with Otho who having quitted thâ— Siege of Capremont which was Giselbert's impregnable Fortress and joyned with them easily drove Louis out of Alsatia then laid Siege before Brisac a place very considerable in those days and where they shewed notable Feats of Arms. Whilst Otho was at this Siege a party of his especially the Clergy abandoned him But Giselbert and Everard were defeated by his men at their passage over the Rhine near Andernac where the last remained dead on the spot and the other that had been the Fire-brand of all these Wars was drowned This unhoped for advantage having ruined Henry's Party he grew wise and timely yielded Year of our Lord 934 himself up to the discretion of his Brother who sent him away Prisoner for some time In the interim Brisac surrendred and all Lorrain was his the Government whereof he bestowed upon Henry himself and soon after upon Count Otho The year following King Lewis thinking to strengthen himself on that hand or perhaps gain Vassals and Friends amongst the Lorrainers married that Kings Sister Gerberge the Widdow of Giselbert by whomshe had two Children Regnier Lambert Year of our Lord 940 Count Hebert of Vermandois had by craft and force got his Son but ten years of Age to be nominated Arch-Bishop of Reims which being contrary to the Rules of the Church the Clergy placed one Artold in that Episcopal See who by consequence was an Enemy to Hebert and a great friend to the King The contest about this Arch-Bishoprick begot a War which lasted 18 or 20 years and greatly molested all Champagne Year of our Lord 940 This year after some other inconsiderable actions Hebert with Earl Hugh and Wlliam Duke of Normandy besieged Reims The Inhabitants being terrified forsook Artold and opened their Gates to them Artold thorough the like fear suffers himself to be persuaded to renounce the Arch-Bishoprick and accept of an Abbey whereof repenting again the King embraces his defence and the quarrel revived again From thence the Confederates went and planted the Siege before Laon but upon the noise of the Kings March who was returning from Burgundy they retired towards Otho and having led him as it were in Triumph to the Palace of Atigny they put themselves into his protection King Louis having refreshed Laon retires into Burgundy His strength lay that way because of Hugh le Noir who together with William Count of Poitiers accompanied him King Otho having a potent Army pursued him thither and struck Hugh le Noir with so much terror that he made Oath never to employ his Forces more against Hugh le Blanc nor against Hebert who were his new Vassals Year of our Lord 941 The next year Louis notwithstanding besieges Laon wherein was Count Hebert but it was to his own great dammage for being surprised in his Legements by his base Subjects he beheld above one half of his men slain with his own Eyes and could not save himself but by a shameful flight After which forsaken of all his Neustrian Subjects he took shelter under Charles Constantine Earl of Vienne his Cousin German being the Son of Louis the Year of our Lord 941 Blind King of Italy and Arles and a Sister of Queen Ogina's Thence he had recourse to the Pope the Lords of Aquitain and to William Duke of Normandy The Pope sent a Legat to exhort the Lords of Neustria to be faithful to him those of Aquitain came and tendred him Hommage at Vienne and profer'd their assistance And William quitting the Associates treated him magnificently in his City of Rouen and served him with his Forces as did likewise the Bretons With these Forces he sought all opportunities to fight his Enemies but they were retreated on this side the Oise and having broken down all the Bridges would not come to any Engagement Therefore a Truce was made between them Year of our Lord 942 and by the mediation of King Otho a Peace was concluded by
years afterwards The Earl of Sens Raynard II. of that name called the Bad using much violence against Leoteric his Archbishop and all the Clergy within his Territory the Year of our Lord 1015 King besieged his City and took it deprived him of his Earldom and rejoyned it to his Demeasns The Burgundians having Rebell'd and divers Lords plundering and committing Robberies in the Province by means of their Castles and Fortified places the King Year of our Lord 1015 went thither and pulled down and destroy'd all those Nests and Dens of Thieves His eldest Son whose name was Hugh a Prince accomplish'd both in Mind and Body giving very great hopes though he were not yet Ten years old He caused him to be Crowned at Compiegne on the day of Pentecost in the year 1017. and afterwards his name was put to all Acts with that of his Fathers Year of our Lord 1017 ROBERT and HUGH his Son Year of our Lord 1018 THe Duke of Aquitain at his return from his third or fourth Pilgrimage to Rome those that made most were the most esteemed found his Country enriched with a new Treasure The Abbot of St. John's de Angery having lighted on the Scull of a Man in a Wall the Report was spread that it was the Head of St. John Baptist The People of France Lorrain and Germany who in those days ran with much Zeal after all sorts of Relicks flocked thither from all parts King Robert the Queen the Duke of Normandy and a great number of other Lords brought their Offerings thither The Kings was a Scollop-shell of Gold which weighed Thirty pounds an admirable Present in such times when Gold and Silver were fifty times more scarce then in our Age. The Danes or Normans beyond Seas having not quite forgotten their custom of Piracy did yet sometimes make Descents in England and on the Coasts of France They had Conquer'd a great part of England and at last made some Kings there This year they landed in Poitou being perhaps informed of the great Crowds of Pilgrims that came to see the Head of St. John and indeed they carried away a great many good Prisoners All the Country Armed to drive them thence The Duke of Aquitain going to attaque them twenty or thirty of his most considerable Gentlemen fell into Holes cover'd over with Branches and green Turfs which the Normans had digged about the Avenues to their Camp This accident disheartned the rest from going on however the Normans fearing a ruder onset dislodg'd in the night and got into their Vessels but they were forced to give them what Ransom they pleased to demand for the Prisoners they had gotten Gefroy Duke or Earl of Bretagne for in those times the Dukes took indifferently the Titles of Earls dying his eldest Son Alain III. of that name succeeded him in his Dukedom and Eudes his second had the Earldom of Pontieure in Partage Alain espoused the Princess Avoise Sister of Duke Richard and by that means Normandy and Bretagne hitherto great Enemies were united in Alliance and Amity Year of our Lord 1020 21 c. There was a War begun from the year 1017. between Richard Duke of Normandy and Eudes or Odon Earl of Champagne and Chartres because Eudes would not give up the City of Dreux granted him in Dowry with Matilda the Sister of Richard who was lately dead so that Richard had built the Castle of Tilleres from whence he made incursions on the Country of Dreux Eudes put himself in a posture to surprize the Garison having with him the Counts Valeran de Meulan and Hugh du Mans but he was soundly beaten and put to the rout Year of our Lord 1022 The War growing hotter he raised so many Enemies against the Norman Duke that that Prince fearing to be overwhelmed sent to Lagman or Lacime King of Sueden to assist him and also Olaus King of Norway who being landed in Bretagne and having forced and sacked the City of Dole marched towards the Chartrain Country All France upon remembrance of their former Desolations fell into an extream apprehension and dread and the King bestirr'd himself with so much activity to quench this Flame that he brought the two Princes to an Agreement and satisfied the Northern Kings who returned again after the Norwegian had received Baptism at Rouen having the name of Robert give him at the Sacred Font. The Emperor Henry and King Robert desiring cordially to take away all cause of difference between them agreed upon an Interview at the River Meuse Whilst the Courtiers on either side were making several Scruples about the Place the Manner and such like trivial Circumstances and Punctillios and the two Princes on the contrary had it in their thoughts to outvye each other in Civility Henry passes the River early in the morning and pleasantly surprizes Robert who the next day repays his Visit in the same manner Both Treated one the other Magnificently and offered each very rich Presents to the other but Robert took only a Book being the New-Testament and a Reliquary or Shrine wherein was a Tooth of the Martyr St. â—incent which was enriched with Precious Stones and Henry a pair of Ear-Pendants Year of our Lord 1024 This last being dead at Bamberg the German Princes elected Conrad Duke of Wormes who could not go to Rome to receive the Imperial Crown till the year 1027. At first the Italian Princes and Prelats hating the Teutonick Nation who Treated them Peremptorily ruling as it were with a Rod in hand refused to obey and sent into Year of our Lord 1025 France to profer King Robert the Kingdom of Italy for his Son Hugh Upon his refusal they Addressed themselves to William Duke of Aquitain very well known in Rome by his frequent Pilgrimages He hearkned to the Proposal understood their Methods sent some thither to found them throughly and after went himself When he was amongst them he found nothing of all they had promised every one demanding of him instead of giving to him they propounded no Conditions but such as were very ridiculous so that finding they had a design upon his Purse and feared his Power he laughed at them and left them The imperious and proud Humour of Queen Constance gave the King perpetual trouble and displeasures who used all means to soften her One day being offended and angry with a favourite of his named Hugh de Beauvais who upheld the Husbands Spirit against her undertakings she makes her complaint to Fulk Earl of Anjou her Cousin intreating to Revenge her The Count sent twelve of his own Country Gentlemen who taking their opportunity when this Favourite was Hunting with the King seized on him and cruelly cut off his Head in the Kings presence without any regard to his Intreaties Year of our Lord 1025 The King was forced to put up this Affront for fear of a greater mischief and withall to endure this Step-mother should Treat his Son King Hugh with the
Vassals judging him uncapable to succeed from the imbecillity of his understanding a defect very ordinary in the Carolovinian Race Henry left all his Three Sons under the Guardianship of Baldwin Earl of Flanders who had Married his Sister and likewise entrusted him with the Regency of the Kingdom Queen Anne his Widdow retired to Senlis where she was building a Church in Honour of the Martyr St. Vincent Her Solitude was not so Austere but she could listen to the Addresses of Rodolph Earl of Grespy who was of that neighborhood She made no difficulty to Marry him and this Second Flame had like to have kindled a Civil War not for the difference in their Qualities for the Grandees went almost equal with their Kings but because Rodolph was of Kin to the First Husband for which reason the Bishops Excommunicated that Lord but nothing could make him let go his hold of her save death which untied him from his Princess Ann. 1066. Being a Widow and destitute of support she returned to end her days in her own Countrey Philip I. King XXXVIII Aged Seven or Eight years POPES Vacancy of Three Months Alex. II. Elect 1 Octob. 1061. S. Eleven years and neer Seven Months Gregory VII Son of a Carpenter Elect in April 21. 1073. S. Twelve years One Month. Victor III. Elect in May 1086. S. about One year Four Months Vacancy Five Months Urban II. Elect in March 1088. S. Eleven years and Four Months Paschal II. Elect 12. August 1099. S. Eighteen years and Five Months Year of our Lord 1060 61 and 62. ALL quietly gave Obedience to the Regency of Baldwin the Gascons only refused to submit themselves apprehending said they lest by that Title he should destroy his Pupil to invade the Crown upon pretension that he was Married to the Daughter of King Henry He wisely dissembled this injury but two years after marched an Army towards the Pyreneans giving out it was to make War upon the Saracens in Spain and when he had passed the Garonne he stopp'd in the Rebels Countrey and brought them to their Duty without striking a blow Year of our Lord 1062 Guy Gefroy-William Duke of Aquitain believed that Gefroy Martel Earl of Anjou being dead without Children his Nephews Sons of his Sister had no right to Xaintongne He would therefore seize it and besieged Xaintes his Army was defeated by the two Brothers neer Chef-Boutonne but the following year he got another Army and took the Town from them Year of our Lord 1062 and 63. The two Brothers minded not the relieving it they were at mortal feud amongst themselves Foulk le Rechin the younger of the two gained the Lords of Touraine and Anjou who betraid his Brother Gefroy and unfortunately deliver'd him up with the City of Anger 's In the mean while the Duke of Aquitain having re-conquered Saintongne led his victorious into Spain where he forced the City of Barbastre at that time very rich and renowned The Zeal of Religion did often lead the Princes and Lords of Aquitain and Languedoc into Spain to succour the Christians against the Saracens and their assistance raised and very much supported the petty Spanish Kings Year of our Lord 1064 Edward King of England whose Christian Virtues have placed him in the number of Saints dying without Children left his Kingdom by Will and Testament to William the Bastard Duke of Normandy in consideration of the good Reception and Treatment he found in the House of Robert his Father when he was driven out Year of our Lord 1064 of his own Countrey as likewise because he was neer of Kin. But the English not affecting the Government of a Stranger gave the Crown to Harold Son of Godwin one of the great Lords of the Kingdom The Bastard on his side sought from all parts the assistance of his Friends and Allies to get himself into possession of his Right insomuch as having got by his large promises a powerful Army of Normans French Flemmings and others together he landed in England gave Battle to Harold the 14th of October who was slain in the Fight with his chief Commanders and left England to the discretion of the Conquerour A Revolution thought to be presaged by a terrible Comet which for Fifteen days blazed with three great Rays over-spreading almost all the Southern parts of the Heavens Before William past the Sea hapned the death of Conan Duke of Bretagne it was said he caused him to be poysonn'd because he claimed the Dutchy of Normandy as belonging to him by his Mother Daughter of Duke Robert Hoel who was Married to his Sister succeeded him Year of our Lord 1067. and the following The English ill-Treated by Williams Lieutenants and Officers Revolted the following years and called in the Danes to their aid but that only increased their misery and yoak for he took from them almost all their Lands and even their antient Laws introducing and imposing those of his own Countrey as he did that Language in all Courts of Justice and instruments of Law withal putting such Lords as follow'd him in possession of English Mens Estates the greatest part of them being punished or slain Thus ended the Reign of the English in that Island which hath notwithstanding retained their Name but in effect hath ever since been sway'd and is still by the Norman Blood their Kings and the greatest of the Countrey being descended and holding their Rights of this William the Bastard to whom was given the Surname of Conquerour Year of our Lord 1067 Baldwin Regent of the Kingdom of France and Earl of Flanders ended his days An. 1067. He had Two Sons Baldwin called of Monts who was Earl of Flanders and Robert who was Surnamed the Frison as being Lord of that Countrey of Friesland Year of our Lord 1069 It is observed that in the year 1069. Arnold Lord of Selne began to build the City of Ardres upon the ruines of his Castle of Selne A War did soon break out between Baldwins two Sons the Eldest thinking to devest the Younger was by him beaten and slain in the field of Battle leaving two Sons Arnold and Baldwin very young The Guardianship of these begot a bloody contest between Robert their Uncle and Richilda their Mother This Princess supported by Gefroy Crook-Back Duke of the lower Lorrain defeated Roberts Army and thrust him out of a part of his Countreys This happy success made her so haughty Year of our Lord 1068 towards her Subjects that the Flemmings Flammengant forsook her and she had none left but the Walloons and the Hennuyars The King would have made himself Judge and Arbitrator between both parties but Richilda coming to Paris with great Presents gained his Counsel and engaged him openly to take her quarrel Year of our Lord 1070 The King inflamed with the heat of Youth would needs go in person to make his first Essay in War and Arms. It proved not very successful for he was beaten and pursued Richilda taken and carried
to St. Omers But as he was retreating towards Monstreuil Eustace Earl of Boulogne who had a great Body of Reserves took Robert and carried him to St Omers He that Commanded the place surrendred it to deliver Richilda for which the King was enraged that he sacked and burnt the City Year of our Lord 1071 The same year Richilda though still assisted by the French lost another Battle in which Eustace Earl of Boulogne being made prisoner his Brother Chancellor of France and Bishop of Paris to obtain his freedom obliged the King to intermedle no more in that dispute Nay which was more he made him Marry Bertha the Daughter of Florent I. Earl of Holland and Gertrude of Saxony who had taken Robert for her second Husband By this means he was engaged to maintain the Cause for his Father-in-law who by his assistance defeated Richilda's Army the Fourth time and so remained Master Year of our Lord 1071 of Flanders Roger Brother of Robert Guischard Duke of the Normans in Puglia was by his Brother sent into Sicilia which was possessed by the Saracens he conquerd d the City of Panormus and Messina which opened him a way to become Master of the whole Island Year of our Lord 1073. and 4. After the death of Baldwin the Regent King Philip being arrived to the age of Adolescency ran into many disorders and vexations with his Subjects Whereupon Pope Gregory VII who sought but the occasion to constitute himself the Judge and Reformer of Princes wrote to William Duke of Aquitain that together with the Lords he should make him some Remonstrances and Declare that if he did not amend he would Excommunicate both him and all the Subjects that obey'd him and would place the Excommunication upon St. Peters Altar to re-aggravate it every day Year of our Lord 1076 The death of Robert I. Duke of Burgundy his Son being deceased before him had left two Sons Hugh and Otho the first of these succeeded his Grandfather Year of our Lord 1077 After William the Conquerour had entirely subdued England suppressed the Rebellion of his Son Robert and quelled the Manceaux he went into Bretagne to reduce them to his Obedience and laid Siege to Dol. The Duke or Earl Hoel implored the Kings help who marching in person to his assistance made them raise their Siege A Peace immediately follow'd but was broken almost as soon again upon another Year of our Lord 1076 score which was for that the Conquerour in the Kings Presence having given the Dutchy of Normandy to his Son Robert before he went to invade England Robert would take possession of it the Father hindred him and the King justified the Son in his demands This was the subject of a new War The Father besieges his rebellious Son in the Castle of Gerbroy near Beauvais In a Sally the Son wounds him and turned him off from his Saddle with his Lance but Year of our Lord 1077. 78. and the following coming to know who it was by his voice he helped him up again with Tears in his eyes and the Father at length overcome by the sentiments of nature and the intreaty of his Wife and Barons gave him his pardon and quitted the Dutchy to him then returned into England Gozelon Duke of the Lower Lorrain who in favour of Baldwin Earl of Monts Year of our Lord 1077. and 78. the Son of Richilda had fought and defeated Robert the Frison being a while after this Victory assassinated in Antwerp the Emperour detained the Dutchy of the lower Lorrain and gave only the Marquisate of Antwerp to Godfrey Duke of Bouillon the Son of Adde Sister of Gozelon and Eustace Earl of Boulongne but Twelve years after for his great Services he gave him the said Lorrain Year of our Lord 1080 The Lords of Touraine and of Maine extreamly pressing Foulk Rechin by force of Arms to set Gefroy his Brother at liberty this barbarous Man rather then release him chose sooner to give the County of Gastinois to King Philp that he might maintain him in his unjustice Some time after his own Son named Gefroy likewise and surnamed Martel moved Year of our Lord 1080 with the miseries of his Uncle forced his Father to set him free but whether it were the Melancholy he had contracted or some Drink they had given him he could never relish the sweetness of his liberty The famous Robert Guischard Prince of the Normans in Puglia after he had gained Year of our Lord 1085 two Naval Victories one over the Venetians and the other over the Greeks died this year 1085. He had two Sons Boemond and Roger the eldest being then upon the coasts of Dalmatia with a Navy his younger Brother seized on the Dutchies of Pouille and Calabria for which the Brothers were contending till the time of the first Croisado or Holy War when the French Lords passing that way to the Holy Land brought them to an agreement Their Uncle Roger held Sicily with the Title only of Earl Year of our Lord 1085 Upon complaints about the vexations and ill Treatment Duke Robert shewed to his Norman Subjects his Father the Conquerour comes over out of England to chastise him but his paternal tenderness did easily admit of a reconciliation The death of Guy-Gefroy-William his Son William VIII aged but 25 years succeeded him Year of our Lord 1086 King Philip a very voluptuous Prince being disgusted with Berthe his Wise made use of the pretence of Parentage which was between them and having proved it according to the course then in use caused his Marriage to be dissolved by authority of the Church though he had a Son by her named Lewis about Five years old and a Daughter named Constance He banished his Divorced Wife to Monstreuil upon the Sea-side where she lived a long time poorly enough Year of our Lord 1087 This Divorce according to Rule and a judicial Sentence being made he demanded the Daughter of Roger Earl of Sicilia named Emma who was conducted as far as the coasts of Provence however he did not Marry her the reason is not given Year of our Lord 1088 William the Conquerour become crazy was under a strict regiment of Dyet at Rouen to pull down his over-grown fatness which did much incommode him The King rallied at him and asked when he would be up again after his Lying in the Duke sent him word that at his Uprising he would go and visit him with 10000 Lances instead of Candles and indeed as soon as he could he got on Horseback he destroy'd all the French Vexin and forced and burnt Mantes But he over-heated himself so much in the assaulting of that place that it set his own Blood and Body on fire and brought a fit of Sickness so that he returned to Rouen where he dyed in a few days By his Will he gave the Kingdom of England to William called Rufus who was bat his Second Son Normandy to Robert who was
Italy to embark in Fuglia these conducted home the Pope and restored him to the Chair in despite of his Enemies They all got into Greece and thence passing the straight of the Hellespont or arme St. George arrived in Bithynia But those who were led by Peter the Hermit and Gautier de Saint Sauveur being ill conducted were almost all cut in pieces by Solyman Sultan of the Turks in Bithynia Year of our Lord 1096 Amongst the Chief Commanders of these Forces were Hugh the Great Brother to King Philip Robert Duke of Normandy the Earls Raimond of Toulouze Stephen de Chartres Baldwin of Hainault Hugh de St. Poll Rotrou du Perche William de Forez Rambol of Orange Baldwin of Mets Fulke of Guisnes Stephen d'Aumale another Stephen of Franche Comte William of Angoulesme Herpin de Bourges who sold his Earldom to the King Boemond Duke of Apulia Tancred his Nephew Son of Robert Guischard and above two hundred other Lords of note All these being passed into Bithynia elected for their Chief Godefroy Duke of Bouillon and the lower Lorrain Son of Eustace Earl of Boulogne An Election so glorious for him that all the Scepters of the Universe together are not comparable to it Year of our Lord 1096 For several nights together it was seen to rain down Stars by intervals but thick and very small as if some sparks had fallen from the shatter'd Orbs. Year of our Lord 1097 and 98. The City of Nicea in Bithynia was the first exploit of these Christian Adventurers The defeat of Solymans Army followed with the surrender of the places in Lycaonia Lycia Cilicia and Pamphilia the Second and the taking of Antioch which held them seven Months and cost them a great deal of Blood and Trouble the Third After they were got in they went to meet Corban or Corbaget General of the Army to the Sultan of Persia or Babylon fought him and slew an hundred thousand of his Men which weakned the power of the Turks so much that the Sultan of Egypt who was a Saracen took from them Judea and the Holy City of Jerusalem Year of our Lord 1099 He kept it but a little while the Christian Army besieged it the 9th of June and carried it by main force the 15th of July All the chief Commanders agreed to give it with all its dependencies and the Title of a Kingdom to Godfrey of Bouillon their Prime General who notwithstanding was so humble that he would never suffer them to put the Crown upon his Head nor give him the Title of King in a City where the King of Kings had been Treated like a Slave The Sultan of Egypt with reason apprehending left the Christians after so many advantages should deprive him of his Countrey likewise without which it is very difficult to preserve the Holy Land Seeing them therefore much weakned so that they had scarce 5000 Horse and 15000 Foot left he got together an hundred thousand Horse and four times as many Foot giving the Conduct of them to a Lieutenant to cut them off Godfrey the greatest Soldier of his age charged them so resolutely that he put them into disorder and slew above an hundred thousand So great a Victory gave him all Palestine one or two places only excepted Year of our Lord 1099 This year therefore commenced the Kingdom of Jerusalem under which were the County of Edessa the capital City of Media the Principality of Antioch in Celosyria and the County of Tripoly which was not conquer'd till many years afterwards upon the Maritime coasts of the Phenician Syria At that time was Caliph in Babilon Albuguebase Achamet the Son of Muquetady the Eight and twentieth of the House of Guebase Year of our Lord 1100. and 1101. The Fame of this Conquest published in the West by those Princes that returned excited such others as had not been there to go and signalize their Names They made therefore a Second Croisade composed of above 300000 Men French Almains and Italians William VIII Duke of Aquitain carried an hundred thousand two thirds of them being his own Subjects Hugh le Grand the Kings Brother and the Earl of Burgundy who had been in the first Expedition went also in this and divers Prelats and many illustrious Ladies would go this Voyage Godfrey being dead the preceding year his Brother Baldwin succeeded him in the Kingdom of Jerusalem Year of our Lord 1101 This Army took their way by Hungary and Thrace and by the straight crossed over into Asia In their passage Duke William saw the Grecian Emperour and in too lofty Language deny'd to pay him Hommage for those Lands he should conquer from the Infidels The persidious Emperour being offended in his mind ordered them such Guides who having harass'd and enseebled them by the difficulties of the bad ways and want of Food made them pass over a River where the Enemy waiting for them with advantage kill'd above Fifty thousand in one day the rest made their escape as they could in Cilicia Hugh the Kings Brother went to Tarses where he died of his wounds These Voyages to the Levant renewed and extreamly increased the hatred the Greeks had conceived against the Latins or Western People insomuch that those Traitors did them more mischief a great deal then the Infidels themselves Hereafter we shall mention no more of these Wars then what relates to our History But we must not forget to tell that they gave beginning to the use of Coats of Arms In all times every Nation bore some Figure or Symbol in their Banners or Ensigns The Roman Legions were distinguished by the different painting of their Shields or Bucklers and the different Lines traced or drawn upon them Particular Men did likewise adorn their Shields with devices which made known their birth or their brave acts or their Wit and Humour Now in these Expeditions to the Holy Land those that had such Symbols before made them more proper for them and those that had none contrived and made choice of such as might render them conspicuous and remarkable in Battle their Armour for the Head hindring them from being known by their Faces as well as to distinguish them from others And likewise that those Coats of Arms might serve them as it were for Surnames for in those days there were yet but few or none Some therefore to shew they were going in these Croisades took Crosses in their Shields of which there was infinite variety and several sorts others to make known they had been in the Levant and passed the Seas took Besants Lions Leopards or Escollop Shells Others framed their Arms of the Linings of their Mantles or Cloaks according as they were Checkie Varie Diapred Gyroned Lozanged Vndulated Paled Some there were that chose rather to charge their Field with some piece of their Arms as the Spurs Lance Maillets and Sword Several chose such things as had resemblance to the Surnames people had given them or to the Lands
they held as what they produced how situated or some particularities of their Castles or such Office they bore Some there were that chose such things as preserved the memory of their brave Feats of Arms or some singular Adventure which had hapued to them or theirs and others in fine would have such as betokened their inclination not to mention those that would needs have their Coats out of a meer fantastical Humour and without any design These glorious Marks and Badges belonged otherwhile only to the Nobility and was not the least illustrious part of the Succession of their Noble Families Now at this time every one hath them the meanest villains are the most curious herein they have not only brought the ✚ Rebus's of the little Citizens Merchants Cyphers Shop-keepers Signs and Artists tools and implements into their Coats under the shadow of Crowns Helmets and Supporters but likewise by a confidence not to be endured they have made choice of the most illustrious things and given occasion to observe that there are no better Coats then the Arms of a Villain or Plebeian Year of our Lord 1096 97 98 and 99. From the first Croisade William Rufus King of England taking the opportunity of his Brothey Roberts absenc had seized on the Dutchy of Normandy Swoln with this increase of Power he promised himself to invade France because he saw the Excommunicated King languishing in the Arms of his Concubine who besides had but one lawful Son of 15 or 16 years of age and was destitute both of Money and Friends Nevertheless this young Prince surpassing his age did by his Courage and Virtue defend himself so well three years together that Rufus was forced to leave him in Peace and retired again into England In that Countrey letting himself loose to all sorts of infamous pleasures tiranny Year of our Lord 1100 and execrable wickedness both towards God and Man he perished in a tragical manner being as he was Hunting shot with an Arrow either designedly aimed at ☞ him or by chance which pierced his very Heart Henry his younger Brother got into the Throne during the absence of Duke Robert who was still in the Holy-Land Notwithstanding the Popes Excommunications the King had renewed society with Bertrade by the consent even of Foulk her Husband being so infinitely enchanted with that Woman that he was often seen at her Feet there to receive all her Year of our Lord 1098 99 and 1100. Commands as if he had been a Slave Some of the Belgick Bishops honour'd the Kings Adultery with the name of Marriage and on their great Feasts according to ancient custom placed the Crown upon her Head to shew or signifie they did not hold her to be Excommunicated but the Popes Legats denied to communicate with him and conven'd a Council at Poitiers in July where he was Excommunicated once more William Duke of Aquitain who feared the like Treatment having committed the like fault for he entertained a Concubine and had forsaken his lawful Wife affronted and abused the Prelats greatly and perhaps his Sorrow and Repentance for it afterwards prompted him to go to the Holy Land as we have observed The King constant in his Affections solicited the Popes Favour so earnestly that he sent some Legats to re-view the Cause Year of our Lord 1101 They assembled a Council at Baugency The King and Bertrade promised to abstain from each other till the Popes Dispensation and thus the Council broke up Year of our Lord 1102 without giving any Judgment The King continued with the recommendation of the Bishops to endeavour the obtaining a Dispensation in the Court of Rome in the end he had it he was Absolved in the City of Paris and his Marriage confirmed so officacious is constancy even in things not commendable The opposition of the Bishops served only to authorize the use of Dispensations from Rome which since have been very common in all matters and occasions Young Lewis whom they named the Prince of the Kingdom and was designed King by his Father it is not specified in what year took the Government of Affairs Year of our Lord 1102 3. and the following PHILIP LEWIS Surnamed the Gross designed King aged 19 or 20 years In those times the Rights of the French were such that they could not legally arrest the Lords nor punish them with death unless it were for Treason but only deprive them of their Lands I mean those they held of the King they called them Honours This was it that gave them Licence to arme to oppress the weaker to rob and plunder and above all usurp the Goods of the Church Year of our Lord 1100 Lewis had to do first with Bouchard Lord of Montmorency against whom he embraced the Cause of the Monks of St. Denis whose Lands that Lord had pillaged and having appeared according to an assignation in the Kings Court of Justice refused to obey the Sentence or Judgment given against him therein He forced him by destroying and burning all his Villages and his Castle it self to submit to Reason In like manner he chastifed Droco or Dreux de Mouchy and Lionnet de Meun who tyrannized this over the Churches of Orleans the other over those of Beauvais Also he humbled Matthew Count of Beaumont upon Oise Son-in-law to Hugh Earl of Clermont in Beauvoisis who having half of the Lands of Luzarches in Dowry had seized upon all and had devested the good Man his Father-in-law Year of our Lord 1103 He durst or would not intermeddle with the quarrel between the two Norman Brothers Robert and Henry The First upon his return from the Holy Land demanded the Kingdom of England of his younger Brother who had usurped it after the death of William Rufus The business after three years Negotiation and War was determined in this manner Robert An. 1107. having lost a Battle at Tinchâ—bray in Normandy was made prisoner by his cruel Brother who deprived him of Sight by placing a burning Bason of Brass before his Eyes whereof he dyed in Prison Thus the whole Succession of William the Conquerer remained in Henry the youngest of his three Sons Year of our Lord 1103 In the year 1103. Lewis passed into England to King Henry I cannot tell upon what design Bertrade his Mother-in-law who could willingly have sent him out of the World sollicited Henry to make him away and this Artifice failing she caused poison to be given him at his return into France which put him in great hazard of his Life Year of our Lord 1104 The King to rid himself of the trouble brought upon him by the Family of Montlehery agreed upon a Marriage with Guy Troussel betwixt Philip his Son and bertrade to whom he gave the Earldom of Mantes on condition that Guy should deliver him the Castle of Montlehery which he did Year of our Lord 1104 At the same time or a little after Guy Lord of Rochefort Uncle of Troussel entirely possessing the Kings
two causes One was that Richard refused to do Hommage to Year of our Lord 1186 the King for his County of Poitou grounded perhaps on this that it held immediately of the Dutchy of Aquitain The other Henry deferr'd to surrender Gisors and other places of the Vexin which Louis VII had given in Dowre to Margaret who had no Year of our Lord 1187 Children by young Henry Philip sets upon him towards Berry took Issoudun and besieged the Castle-Ruouel The King of England and his Son came to its Relief and sent to bid Battle but the two Armies being ranged Henry's heart failed him he talks of an Agreement promises Satisfaction to Philip and leaves him Issoudun for his Expences in that War Year of our Lord 1187 The Fifth of September Lewis the first born Son of Philip came into the World for which the City of Paris expressed so much Joy that they made the whole week but one Holy-day keeping all darkness at a distance by the infinite numbers of Flambeaux every where Saladin King of Syria and Egypt who from a low Birth was raised to that high power not without great desert after his having obtained many Victories over the Christians at last tears the Holy City of Jerusalem from them whereof Guy de Luzignan was then King it was taken the Second day of October and all the Holy-Land excepting only Tyre Tripoly Antioch and some strong Holds Thus at the end of Eigthy eight years Ended the Kingdom of Jerusalem which Title after it had ambitiously passed through the Houses of divers Princes does at this day make us part of the Catholick Kings At this dreadful news which arrived towards the end of the year 1187. all the Faithful made a great moan never was any sorrow so great or so universal The Kings Philip and Henry being sensibly touched Conferr'd together at Gisors and Trie and resolved to take up the Cross with great numbers of Princes Lords and Prelats to recover those Holy Places out of the hands of the Infidels In remembrance whereof they erected a Cross in the Field where they had resolved upon this Croisade and mutually promised to leave all Disputes in the same posture they then were till after their return from this holy Expedition Year of our Lord 1188 The Month of March following Philip Assembles a Parliament at Paris where it was resolv'd by Advice of the Bishops and Barons to take the Tenths of all Goods Movables and Immovables of all Persons as well Ecclesiasticks as of the Laity excepting only the Monks de Cisteaux the Chartreux de Fontevrault and the Spittles belonging to the poor Leprous People This Impost was called the Saladine Tith Year of our Lord 1188 Whilst they were preparing with great chearfulness and courage for this Expedition Richard for I not what little Injury received of Alfonso Earl of Thoulouze renew'd the old Pretention of his Mother Alienor to that County and endeavoured to recover it by the Sword Philip to disengage his Brother-in-Law and make a Diversion falls into Berry takes all the places the English were possessed of drove out old Henry who was got thither with an Army and pursued him as far as Normandy Year of our Lord 1189 Winter brought them to a Truce In the mean time Richard falls out with his Father and threw himself into the Arms of Philip. His discontent proceeded from his Fathers delay in giving him Alix of France betroathed to him Some believe the old Man cast other looks upon her then he ought towards his Sons Wife and besides by compleating this Marriage he had been obliged according to the Contract to let his be Crowned and give him the Title of King The Physitian Rigord in the History of Philip relates That being at Argenteuil when the Moon was at Full and the Night very clear a little before day-break the Prior of that Monastery and several of the Monks saw that Planet descend in a Moment to the Earth where having rested some time it went slowly up again and took its former place Year of our Lord 1189 The following Spring Philip takes the Field Conquers all the Countrey of Mayne and the City of Mans Touraine and the City of Tours himself having as by Miracle found a Foard in the Loire which he discover'd to his Army At the same time John surnamed Without-Land the Third Son of Henry likewise takes up Arms against his Father who not knowing which way to turn himself leaves Chinon and advances towards King Philip humbly to desire a Peace Philip grants it and reconciles him to Richard upon condition that one of them should accompany him to the Holy-Land Year of our Lord 1189 But Henry as unfortunate in War as he was unfortunate in his Children overcome with shame and sorrow dies three days after he was returned to Chinon Richard succeeds him and then Philip his Brother-in-Law generously restores to him all he had Conquer'd of his excepting Issoudun and the Fiefs he held in Auvergne settling Gisors and all the Vexin for his Wives Portion The two Princes thus united in a Friendship which appeared to be very cordial and so firm that one would imagine nothing could untie or shake it fitted themselves for their Expedition to the Holy-Land appointed the Rendezvous for their Armies at Vezelay and took Shipping Richard at Marseilles and Philip at Genoa Both of them landed in Sicily but Philip not so happily as Richard a furious Tempest having forced him to throw over-board part of his Horses and his Equipage Year of our Lord 1190 Before their departure Philip with the leave and by the agreement of all his Barons left the Guardianship of his Son and the Government of the Kingdom to the Queen his Mother Alix de Champagne and to William Cardinal-Archbishop of Reims Brother to that Queen But fearing they might abuse it he left an Authentick Order in Writing Signed by the Great Officers belonging to the Crown which limited their Power and prescribed their Lesson in many cases Amongst others he would have them bestow vacant Benefices of the Regalia by the Advice of Brother Bernard who was a devout Hermit living in the Bois de Vincennes and that during his absence no Tailles should be levied by any Lords upon their Lands nor in case he should happen to dye by the Regents during the Minority of his Son Year of our Lord 1190 He likewise ordered the Sheriffs of Paris that they should take care to enclose it with Walls and Towers There were no Ditches made the Enclosure on the left hand of the River upwards hath been often enlarged and altred The Burghers of other Cities by their example were ambitious to Wall their Towns and make Ramparts for defence William the Good King of Sicily Son of William the Wicked or Bad being dead without Children Anno 1189. He had an Aunt the Daughter of King Roger named Constance who being almost Thirty years of Age not a Nun as some have
falsely maintained who had Married Anno 1186. Henry Son of the Emperor Frederic This young Prince was raised to the Empire this year 1190. The Emperor his Father having drowned himself while he was bathing in the little River of Serre between Antioch and Nicea as he was leading great succours into the Holy Land Now Constance pretended to succeed his Nephew but Tancred his Bastard Brother had excluded him and seized on the Kingdom It was he that received the two Kings at Messina where they landed in the Month of Year of our Lord 1190 March and sojourn'd there above six Months During their stay Richard had great Contests with Tancred concerning the Articles of his Sister Jane's Dowry Widow of King William He was often like to come to blows about it and had thoughts of forcing the Town of Messina In sine Philips Mediation procur'd him 60000 Ounces of Gold from Tancred whereof he had a third for his pains Year of our Lord 1190 Now Tancred whether it were true or whether by a Diabolical Artisice shew'd Richard some Letters which he affirmed to have been written to him by Philip wherein that King profer'd him all his Forces to attaque Richard and seize upon him in the night if he would at the same time fall upon him likewise Richard believed the Letters to be real and made a great stir about it Thus the two Kings were mightily exasperated against each other Richard for the design contrived against his Life Philip for the reproach against his Honour Year of our Lord 1191 Towards the end of the Winten Richard makes known to Philip that he cannot Wed his Sister for certain Reasons which he will not discover perhaps it was because old Henry his Father had kept her too long and declares to him he had betrothed Berengaria Daughter of Garcias King of Navar and that his Mother Alienor was bringing her thither to Consummate the Marriage Philip was not Transported but wisely suppressing his Anger left him to his liberty of quitting his Sister provided he would surrender those Lands he had given him for her Dowry and would at the first conveniency go along with him to the Holy-Land Also he consented to a Truce for those Countries during all the time they should remain abroad Richard accepted of the Truce willingly but refused to go so soon These were the chief causes that changed the mutual affectionof these young Kings into a cruel hatred Year of our Lord 1191 James d'Avesnes with some Flemish Forces and the remainders of the Emperor Frederic's had already besieged the City of Acre it was otherwhile called Ptolemais very considerable for its Port and its strong Walls King Philip parted from Messina in the beginning of March and landed near this place took his Quarters about the Town raised his Batteries and made a wide breach Year of our Lord 1191 In the mean time Richard putting to Sea was driven by Tempest on the Coasts of the Island of Cyprus It was then in the possession of one Isaac a Grecian Prince who having abused and pillag'd his weather-beaten Soldiers whereas he ought to have relieved them provoked his just wrath in so much that he seizes on that Kingdom and carried away an immense quantity of rich Plunder together with the said Isaac and his Wife both of them bound in Chains of Gold Year of our Lord 1191 He got not to Acre till two Months after Philip and far from promoting the taking thereof he retarded it by the continual disagreement between them The Siege lasted five Months in all and caused a great many Princes and brave Men to perish there In the end the City surrendred upon Composition importing that the Besieged should obtain of Saladine the release of all the Christian Prisoners in his hands and the true Cross which he had taken in Jerusalem for which their Lims and Lives were to be Security till performed at the Mercy and discretion of the Conquerors They were therefore together with all the Spoil equally shared betwixt the two Kings and as Saladine would not perform the first of these two Conditions and the second was not in his power because the true Cross was not to be found Richard too passionate and cholerick put seven thousand of them to the edge of the Sword who were his Prisoners and reserved not above two or three hundred of the Principal In this Siege were slain a great number of People of quality Rotrou Earl of Perche Thibauld Earl of Blois Great Seneschal and Uncle to the King and Alberic Clement Lord du Mez his Mareschal Son of another Clement who had executed the same Office Our Kings of France in those times had but one and these Clements were the first who raised or improved this Office by their favour and extended it to the Soldiery whereas before them it had nothing to do but with such as belonged to the Kings Stables Year of our Lord 1191 The contagious distempers destroy'd yet more of their Men then the Sword Philip d'Alsace Earl of Flanders ended his days in the Month of June He had no Children but only one Sister whom he had Married to Baldwin Earl of Haynault from whom were sprung two Elizabeth who was Married to King Philip and a Son of the same Name as the Father Year of our Lord 1191 King Philip being likewise seized with a long fit of Sickness which was suspected to proceed from some ill morsel because his Nails and Hair fell off resolved to return into France but to remove the jealousie Richard might conceive at his departure he made Oath he would not in the least meddle with his Lands till forty days after he were certain of his being returned into France He likewise left with him near Six hundred Horse and Ten thousand Foot with their m inainance for their three years under the Conduct of Hugh III. Duke of Burgundy After that having taken leave of his Lords he puts to Sea and being Convoy'd by three Gallies only which the Genoese furnished him withal landed in Puglia When he had somewhat recover'd his Health he sets forward on his journey with a small number of followers visited the Sepulchre of the Apostles at Rome and Year of our Lord 1191 having received the Popes Blessing parted from thence and arrived in France in the Month of December He pass'd his Christmass Holy-days at Fontaine Eblaud and from thence came to his dear City of Paris After his departure all the Forces put themselves under the Command of Richard who did so many prodigious acts of valour that they surpass the belief as well as the ordinary strength of Mankind In a word he had regained the Holy-City if Year of our Lord 1191. and 92. the jealousie of Hugh Duke of Burgundy had not obstructed his progress And indeed he had a design in his Head of forming a great Kingdom in those Countries and that none might dispute the Title with him of King of
Royal Robes over her Religious Habit of that Order which she had taken some time before her death being besides and long before that time of the third Order of St. Francis according to the Devotion of those times Some modern Historians are much in doubt whether she were elder or younger then Berenguelle who was Married to Alphonso King of Leon. This had the Guardianship of her Brother Henry and that Prince being dead succeeded to the Kingdom of Castille but some have believed that it was by Usurpation upon Blanch her Sister who was then a great way off from that Countrey and they go upon this ground that amongst the Records they find Letters from nine Castillian Lords to Lewis VIII in which they own and acknowledge his Son for their King and say that Alphonso IX King of Castille had declared by his Will that in case his Son Henry died without any Heirs the Children of Blanch were to succeed by right of Inheritance but to tell the truth it does not follow from thence that Blanch was the eldest it is more probable that these discontented Lords grounded it upon this that Alphonso and Berenguelle being of kin within the degrees prohibited Pope Innocent III. had declared their Marriage to be null and the Children that should proceed from that conjunction incestuous Bastards and incapable to succeed So that upon their exclusion those of Blanch came to the succession of Alphonso IX their Grand-father and this is it that gave a Right to the Kings of France which they held a long time to the Kingdom of Castille Year of our Lord 1252 Some Months before the death of Blanch there arose a sharp contest between the Secular Doctors of Theology at Paris whereof William de St. Amour was as it were the Head and on the other part the Orders Mendicants of Preaching Friers and Friers Minors because those Monks as the others reproached them were so far from submitting to the Statutes and Discipline of the University that they aimed to make themselves the Masters The thing was obstinately debated five or six years together St. Amour got the better at Paris but the Dispute being transferr'd to Rome he was worsted and his Book was condemned not as Heretical but as scandalizing those good Fathers They had great credit in that Court and obtained great Priviledges with so much the more facility as their trampling on the Laws increased the power of the Donor and diminished that of the Bishops to whose prejudice they were granted About the beginning of this quarrel Robert de Sorbonne Doctor in Divinity and very highly esteemed by St. Lewis built the Colledge of the Poor Masters of SORBONNE under which Name the Vulgar are wont to comprehend all the Faculty of Theology of Paris In effect it is the most renowned of all those Colledges Year of our Lord 1253 In the year 1253. died Thibauld who was the Fifth of that Name as Earl of Champagne but only the First as King of Navarre His Successor in all his Estates was Thibauld II. or VI. aged Fourteen years under the Guardianship of his Mother Year of our Lord 1254 Conrad the Son of Frederic did not find himself strong enough in Germany to cope against William Earl of Holland pretended King of the Romans he was gone into Italy in the year 1251. and some time after having unhappily caused his Nephew Frederic to be strangled had seized upon his Treasure and upon his Kingdom of Sicilia But this year 1254. was himself poysonn'd by Mainfroy to whom not knowing he was the Author of his death he lest the Regency of the Kingdom and the Guardianship of his Son Conrad the Young vulgarly named Conradin aged but Three years Year of our Lord 1254 It was neer Six years since St. Lewis the King went out of France and Three years and a half that he had been in the Holy Land visiting the Holy Places with an incredible Devotion sortifying the Towns and reviving the courage and affairs of the Christians in those Countreys as much as possibly he could France destitute of any Pilot by the death of his Mother most earnestly desired his return He therefore took Shipping at the Port of Acon or Ptolemais on St. Year of our Lord 1254 Marks Eve and landed at Marseilles the Eleventh day of July Year of our Lord 1254 The King of England who was this year come into Gascongne desiring to avoid the long voyage by Sea obtained leave of the good King to cross thorough France and take Shiping at Boulogne He met the King at Chartres who from thence took him along to Paris where he Treated him Four days together with all the magnificence imaginable The joy and splendor was the greater because the four Sisters Daughters of the Earl of Provence the eldest Married to the King of France the Second to the King of England the Third to Richard his Brother and the Fourth to Charles Earl of Anjou met all there together William Earl of Holland and King of the Romans making War against the Friezelanders who were Rebels to him had lately been knocked on the Head by certain Peasants hid amongst the Reeds when his Horse was sunk into the Snow and Ice The following year being 1256. the Electors basely selling the Honour of the German Nation and their Votes to Foreign Princes gave the Empire some of them to Richard Brother to the King of England others to Alphonso X. King of Castille Richard went into Germany and sojourn'd there above two years having been Crowned at Aix la Chapelle in the year 1247. Alphonso was no way known to them but by his Money and both of them disputed their Right and Title before the Pope for divers years without eve coming to any agreement The Son of Bouchard d'Avesnes cast out by Guy Earl of Flanders and their Brothers of the Second Bed by the same Mother took Sanctuary with William Earl of Year of our Lord 1255 Holland who had vanquish'd Guy and taken him prisoner with one of his Brothers The Mother to be reveng'd had called in Charles Earl of Anjou and given him the enjoyment of Hainault and Valenciennes during his life He regained those Countreys easily enough from the Hollander because he found him fully enough employ'd against the Frisons where he was kill'd as we have related His Son Florent who succeeded him set the two Brothers at liberty for a great Ransom and St. Lewis obliged his Brother Charles to restore Hainault for a sum of Money as likewise the parties concern'd to stand to the award he had made in Anno 1246. Year of our Lord 1256 There being an universal calme thorough all his Kingdom he set himself upon the regulating it by good and wholsome Laws the banishing from it all violence and oppression the instructing others by his good examples and by all manner of Just and Holy Works undertaking the protection of the Weak the Widdows and Orphans procuring with all his
Lord 1300 Boniface was grown obstinate in his design for the expedition to the Holy-Land and perswaded himself he had a right to oblige all Christian Princes to it He therefore sent Bernard Saisset Bishop of Pamiez to Philip with a charge to exhort him to this voyage and also to summon him to make good his word to the Earl of Flanders by setting his Daughter at liberty He acquitted himself of his Commissions in such high terms and it was told the King that he held discourses upon several occasions so injurious to his Person and so factious against the quiet and peace of the Kingdom that he made him be seized and kept prisoner Then their hatred ran up to the extremity the King besides all this being mightily heated by the ill reports of William de Nogaret For he informed him that when he was sent Ambassador to the Pope to acquaint him of his Alliance with the Emperour Albert he perceived that his Holiness was very ill inclined towards him that he had bad designs and that he led a scandalous life and most unworthy of the Succession to the Apostles Year of our Lord 1301 On his part Boniface dispatched the Arch-Deacon of Narbonna to Command him to set the Bishop of Pamiez at liberty and let him know there was a Bull importing that the King was under his correction for the sins he committed in his Temporal Administration as well as for others That the collation of Benefices did not appertain to him and that the Regalia was an usurpation By another Bull he suspended all the priviledges granted by his predecessors to the King to those of his House and to his Council And by a Third he ordered all the Prelats of the Kingdom should come to Rome to find out some remedy against Philips disorders and the Enterprizes he made upon the Ecclesiastical State Year of our Lord 1300 The King upon the earnest intreaties of the Clergy put the Bishop of Pamiez into the hands of the Arch-Bishoy of Narbonna his Metropolitan but he forbad the Prelats for going out of the Kingdom or the transporting of any Gold or Silver And for that point which he believed did concern his Sovereignty he thought it best to support himself with the Authority of all the Estates of his Kingdom against Boniface The Estates assembled in Nostre-Dame the 10th of April in the year 1301. Year of our Lord 1301 declared that they owned no other Superiour in Temporals besides the King and in conformity to that the Clergy wrote to the Pope as the Nobility and the third Estate did to the Cardinals who in their answers assured that it had never been the Popes intention to attribute that Superiority to himself During these quarrels a prodigious Comet appeared in the Heavens it began to shew it self in Autumn towards the West and in the Sign of Scorpio darting its Rays sometimes to the Eastward and sometimes to the Westward It was seen but one Month. The Earl of Artois Nogaret Peter Flote Chancellor to the King and the Colona's whom Boniface had thrust out of all proscribed and imprisoned exasperated all things more and more Many nevertheless were scandalized that they should contend against the Pope and therefore it was thought decent to maintain that he was not so and that by opposing his Person they did not oppose the Vicar of Jesus Christ but an ill Man that had intruded himself into the Papacy The King being therefore at the Louvre Nogaret in presence of divers Princes of the Blood and Bishops presented a Petition the Twelfth day of March accusing him of Heresie Simony Magick and other enormous crimes and demanding the Kings assistance that there might be a general Council called to deliver the Church from this oppression The Pope had dispatched into France a Cardinal named John Le Moyne a native of the Diocess of Amiens a knowing Man and very Learned upon pretence of negotiating some agreement with the King but indeed to sound the inclination of the Clergy in his favour Now being but ill satisfied with the answers the King made to his Quaeries he sent another Bull which declared him Excommunicate for having hindred the Prelats from going to Rome forbid them to admit him to the Sacraments or Mass Commanded them to be at Rome within three Months and summoned some by name upon the penalty of being deposed Year of our Lord 1302 During these Contrasto's Charles Earl of Valois was gone into Sicilia with a great Army with design to reduce it to the Obedience of Charles the Lame his Nephew He made so little progress that he thought fitter to make peace between both parties In effect he succeeded better in it then in his War The conditions of the Treaty were That Frederic should marry his Daughter Eleonor for whose Portion Sicilia should remain to him under the Title of the Kingdom of Trinacria but if he had no Children by her the Island should return to Charles the Lame or to his Heirs upon their payment of a hundred thousand Ounces of Gold Before his expedition into Sicilia he had been sent to Florence by the Pope to calm the Factions wherewith that Republick was most horribly tormented During five Months time that he remained there his Care nor his Authority could by no means prevent the Guelphs and Black from proscribing the White who were for the most part Gibbelins and from ruining their Houses Dante Aligeri one of the rarest wits of his time who was of the faction of the White though otherwise he were a Guelph was put into the number of the banished and could never obtain to be recalled He lays the fault upon the Earl of Valois for not having provided against those injurious proceedings and tried to place his revenge upon all the House of France by the cruel bitings of his Pen which certainly would have made some impression upon their posterity had there not been prooss much clearer then the Sun at Noon-day which dispelled that Satyrical calumny Year of our Lord 1302 There are some Authors that assign in this year 1302. the Invention of the Mariners Compass or Needle by one Flavio a native of Melplus However since we find some mention of it in Authors long before this timeâ— we can at most but give this Flavio the honour of having brought it to greater use and perfection This same year 1302. Flanders revolted and was lost as to the French Those people irreconcileable enemies to Taxes and heavy oppressions could not endure the violence and imposts wherewith their young Governour James de Chastillon vexed and tormented them by the evil Counsels of Peter Flote a violent and most covetous Man and indeed he was one-ey'd They therefore called in William Son of the Earl of Juliers and a Daughter of â—arl Guy's to be their Chief whose younger Sons with the Sons of his Brother John came into the County of Alost to support this Rising Year of our Lord 1302 The Fire began
Anno 1436. being Aged but 14 years and then Anno 1451. Charlotte Daughter of Lewis Duke of Savoy The first he loved not much by reason of some secret imperfection neither had he any Children by her She died in the year 1445. He would have visited the Second as little had it not been for the desire of having an Heir he had three Sons by her of which Charles only Survived him who Reigned divers even suspecting that this had been suppos'd and three Daughters Lowise Anne and Jane Lowise died young Anne was wife to Peter de Bourbon Lord of Beaujeu and as for Jane the Father constrained Lewis Duke of Orleance to Espouse her and to Consummate the Marriage whereof he made his secret Protestations CHARLES VIII Called The AFFABLE AND THE COURTEOUS King LV. Aged XIII Years II. Months POPES SIXTUS IV. one year under this Reign INOCENT VIII Elected the 29th of August 1484. S. Eleven years wanting one Month. ALEXANDER VI. Elected the 25th of August 1493. S. II. years and some days whe reof five years under this Reign Year of our Lord 1483 THe Deceased King had by his last Will left the Government to the Dame de Beaujeu his Daughter without mentioning the Regency because his Son was entring into his fourteenth year Two Princes of the Blood Lewis Duke of Orleans and John II. Duke of Bourbon disputed it with her and maintained that King Charles ought to be counted a Minor seeing the weakness of his Complexion and his not being well Educated his Father haing always kept him shut up in the Castle of Amboise bred amongst inferior Servants Lewis pretended to it as first Prince of the Blood but himself was not yet come to Majority and the Duke of Bourbon as having married the Kings Aunt and esteeming himself more worthy and proper for it then a Woman who in France were not thought capable to Govern since they were not held fit to Reign The three Competitors not able to agree whose right it was referred the contest to the General Estates and the Kings Coronation to the following year Year of our Lord 1483 In the interim a Council of fifteeen was chosen whereofso m were put in by one Prince some by another but they were all such as belonged to the former Court and bred up to ill Maxims who having learned nought but what was indeed Evil could produce nothing that was really good Year of our Lord 1484 In the Month of January the Estates Assembled at Tours The King attended by the Princes of his Blood and all that were Eminent in the Kingdom went thither William de Rochefort his Chancellor open'd it the fourteenth of the Month in the great Hall belonging to the Arch-Bishop It was there ordained that the King since he had attained the Age of fourteen should be reputed Major That he should preside in the Council the Duke of Orleans in his absence and in case he failed the Duke of Bourbon That the Dame de Beaujeu should have the Government of the young King for whom a Council of Twelve persons should be chosen consisting of Princes of the Blood and others of the most considerable in the Nation In the mean time the Constables Sword was given to the Duke of Bourbon Governments and Pensions bestowed upon the Duke of Orleans and the rest of the Princes Never had they so fair an opportunity to rectify abuses and raise up strong Bulwarks against all oppression But the President of the Estates many Ecclesiasticks the Deputies of the City of Paris and some others suffered themselves to be deluded Sailed and Steered by the Court-gale and Compass and betray'd the publick cause They could not however hinder them from annulling most of the Acts made by Lewis XI from exclaiming against his excessive gifts from setting a Brand-mark upon the memory of those that had been the Executors of his injustice nor from discharging the People of a great part of their Taxes and Soldiers Quarter'd upon them Year of our Lord 1482 This meeting of the Estates being over the Attorney General of the Parliament upon certain Accusations made process against two of the most Rascally Insolent Ministers of the late Kings These were Oliver le Diable Barber to Lewis XI and John Doyac This Oliver had changed his Surname very suitable to his behaviour into that of Daim and bare the Title of Earl of Meulanc Doyac was a Fellow of the same stamp and yet his Master had made him Governor of Auvergne The first was trussed up on the Gallows the second lost his Ears and was Whip'd first at Paris then at Montferrand in Auvergne the place of his Nativity There were perhaps others more Guilty but there were none more odious and besides they had spoken ill of the Princes Doyac having secur'd his money regained his Credit upon the Expedition into Italy having been very serviceable in contriving to convey the great Guns over the Hills Year of our Lord 1484 Francis II. Duke of Bretagne had one about him of the very same Mettal as impudent and much more wicked yet then these but withal more crafty and able Peter Landais a Taylors Son of the Suburbs of Vitre He governed his Prince above fifteen years and had raised up People of his own Quality and some of his Kindred to places of Trust amongst others the Guibez Sons of his Sister for which cause the Lords did much envy him But this was only whisper'd from one to another all the time the Duke was in Health and Vigour but when his Senses began to grow weak and fail him it proceeded to Intrigues and then to Factions to ruin him Especially when he went about to support himself by Crimes and had cruelly suffered the Chancellor John Chauvelin and James de Lespenay Bishop of Renes to be starved in Prison It happened therefore that in the time they were holding the Estates at Tours the Lords of the Country assumed the confidence to try to force him away from the Duke but having missed their enterprize he let loose all the Authority of his Prince against them and reduced them to the troublesome necessity of defending themselves The Duke of Orleans who was then at Tours having a design in his Head of acquiring Bretagne by marrying the Dukes Eldest Daughter goes Year of our Lord 1484 down into that Country to proffer this Fellow his assistance persuading himself that by obliging him in this manner he might help him to that great Match The Lords would willingly have taken shelter under the Protection of this young Prince in whom appeared many signs of Probity and Honour But Landais having Year of our Lord 1484 fore-stalled them they made their Addresses to the Dame de Beaujeu his Enemy who presently espoused their cause This fire lying hid for some years under its ashes did at last break forth to the ruin of Bretagne Year of our Lord 1484 The 5 th day of June King Charles was Crowned at Reims with
also troubled England the Kings William and Henry maintaining it was a Right and Prerogative of their Crown and in all times possessed by their Ancestors For which cause Anselme Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had lost his See but at last that difference was composed An. 1107. upon condition the King should for ever relinquish the Investitures in the Church and that reciprocally the Bishops should render him Hommage This was to speak properly nothing but the changing of terms for he that doth Hommage is a Vassal and receives and holds of him to whom he renders it And indeed the Popes could have wished that the Bishops had not done it to Lay-Princes and they had expresly forbid it to those in France but the resolution King Lewis the Gross and his Successors shew'd in this point obliged them to relaxe They durst not at the same time contend both with this great Kingdom and Germany they must leave some place of shelter in time of need and besides they did not so much trouble their Heads to lessen France with whom they had no contests for Dominion as to pull down the Emperours who being very powerful in Italy had still an aim of restoring their Imperial Throne in the City of Rome Besides France was better united and by consequence more difficult to be subdued then the Empire where the Subjects as well those of Germany as those of Italy and the Kingdom of Arles being divided amongst themselves and having all different Interests have at length ruin'd that vast body by their Jealousies and Rebellions It was for this reason the Popes made it their business so much to lessen that power and it is certain that all other Princes of Europe growing jealous of it as the most formidable then in being joyned willingly with the Popes to suppress it The defence of the Holy See and the Authority of the Church admitting a specious pretence to side with them This reflection is not useless Now to return to our Narrative Henry V. sunk under all this weight as his Father had done before In the beginning his Presence made things prosper in Italy but when after various success he was driven thence his burden was left to the mercy of Calistus who confined him to a perpetual imprisonment Then he himself tir'd with the daily Admonitions and Remonstrances from all parts and not able to wade through the many Conspiracies and Rebellions which hourly threatned to or'ewhelm him yielded the Cause at last He utterly renounced the Investitures and promised to leave the liberty of Elections to the Ecclesiasticks This was in Anno 1122. The scandal and persecutions which these Schismes caused in Christendom gave occasion in my opinion for that false prediction which was spread abroad in those days That the world was near its end and the Kingdom of Antichrist was then begun St. Norbert and some other persons of an irreâ—ragable Sanctity preach'd it as a most certain Truth which was but little doubted and begot so much terror that Pope Paschal who fled into France to avoid persecution staid some time in his journey at Florence to see what the event of this dreadful report would come to Soon after the agreement Henry V. being dead without Children the Empire was given to Lotbarius Duke of Saxony and after him to Conrade Those two Princes left the Popes in quiet and made no breach of Peace with them So that there was no more fear of Schisme on that side The Church having rested in tranquillity for eight years began to be disturb'd again by another most dangerous division for after the death of Honorius II. which hapned in the year 1134. two contrary Factions or Interests in the Sacred Colledge elected each a Pope on the same day One the Cardinal Gregory who took the name of Innocent the II. The other the Cardinal Peter Leonis who called himself Anaclet This last had been a Monk at Clugny a scurvy commendation for him to the Order of the Cisteaux which was then become the most predominant in France His Right if examined in due form appeared the best but his ambitious and haughty proceeding spoil'd his Title the great Gifts ☞ he made of things belonging to the Church to make himself Master of Rome gave just cause to believe there was somewhat of Simonie in his promotion and that he deserved not the Popedom since he bought it Many good people were of opinion so says John of Salisbury that in the like contests they ought to have owned neither of those concurrents but have elected a Pope anew who had not privately made any interest for the Popedom which is of such a nature as well as all other Benefices that whoever bribes for it renders himself unworthy of it And indeed King Lewis VII wavered for some time betwixt both parties and assembled the Council of Estampes to resolve him which of the two was the Legitimate The perswasions of Henry II. King of England had already a little inclined him towards Innocent the Council of Estampes fully determin'd it that Council having been satisfied by the discourses of St. Bernard who with much zeal and vehemence set forth the Right and Merits of that Pope After so solemn a decision most of the Princes in Europe declared for him there was only Roger Duke of Apulia and William Duke of Aquitain that supported Anaclet The First that he might have a Pope convenient for him and more easie to be managed then his predecessors the Second having been perswaded by Gerard Bishop of Angoulesme that his Election was Canonical It was thrown in Gerards Teeth that at first he had been of the contrary party but his spleen because he was not continued in his Legation of Aquitain by Innocent drove him to side with Anaclet who indeed confirmed it to him It was one of the handsomest and indeed most profitable employments the Court of Rome could bestow for besides the three Aquitains both Touraine and Bretagne were comprehended in it I divide Bretagne from Touraine because the former had its Arch-Bishop apart this was the Bishop of Dole who since the insurrection of Neomene took upon him to be the Metropolitan The often reiterated complaints of the Metropolitan of Tours and the sollicitations of the Kings of France in the Court of Rome could not obtain a Judgment in this matter for a long while but Philip Augustus tyr'd with their long delays prosecuted it with so much resolution and talked so high that Innocent III. determin'd it by a definitive Sentence in An. 1198. which restored Dol and the other Bishopricks of Bretagne to the Metropolis of Tours We find in the Life of St. Bernard how he withdrew Duke William from espousing the party of Anaclet so that there was none for him but Roger Duke of Apulia on whom Anaclet conferr'd the Title of King of Sicilia upon condition to pay an acknowledgment of Six hundred Crowns yearly to the See of Rome The Kingdom of Sicilia comprehended the
Island so named Apulia Calabria and some other neighbouring Countreys which Roger held in Italy Now although William Duke of Aquitain had suffer'd himself to be brought back to the Obedience of Innocent II. in the year 1135. yet Gerard nevertheless stood up obstinately for Anaclet to the end of his days but some while after he was found dead in his Bed horribly black and blew and swoln About three years after viz. in An. 1138. Anaclet died also his Relations placed another Cardinal in his stead to whom they gave the name of Victor In fine Innocent found it better to buy his peace of them then to leave these Divisions smothering and smoaking any longer and when they were agreed Victor laid down the Tiara and cast himself at his Feet Notwithstanding Roger held out still some time not owning him for Pope because he would not own him for a King till having taken him prisoner in War An. 1193. he came fairly to an agreement with him and got the Title of King confirmed to him Frederick I. being come to the Empire young haughty and ambitious as he was undertook to recover its dignity to which the easiness of Pope Anastasius seemed to chaulk out a way but Pope Adrian IV. who succeeded Anastasius resolv'd to obviate his designs and keep him under as his dependant Hence proceeded a mortal enmity betwixt them which however came not to an open rupture but made Frederick more plainly sensible that it was necessary to have a Pope at his Devotion Adrian being dead An. 1159. it hapned that all the Cardinals excepting three elected Cardinal Rowland who took the name of Alexander III. but whilst he was shewing some kind of unwillingness to accept the Popedom those three that were not for him Elected immediately the Cardinal Octavian who was named Victor The Emperour having notice of it favour'd him first underhand thereby to frighten Alexander and bring him to his bent then openly when he found he could not lead the other as he pleased So he causes his Election to be authorised by the Council of Pisa which he had call'd by his own authority after the example of former Emperours and employ'd all his Interest to perswade other Princes to adhere to him The Kings of France and of England who had been at war having now agreed assembled their Bishops Abbots and Barons the one at Beauvais and the other at Newmarket to discuss the right of the two concurrents the Legats both of the one and other side having been heard Alexander was approved by all and Victor Excommunicated This hapned in the year 1161. The good Title and Right of the former was this year confirmed by a great number of miracles as many Authors write and yet there is one affirms likewise that God wrought some in favour of Victor after his decease In the mean time this last being most powerful in Rome Alexander seeks his refuge in France and remained there three years at the end whereof his Affairs going in a better method in Italy the Clergy and People call him back to Rome An. 1164. To defray the Expences of his journey he was sorced to impose a Year of our Lord 1164 Collection on the Gallican Church Year of our Lord 1164 The same year Victor his Rival died in the City of Luca. Some Prelats of his Faction being assembled at the same place gave the Popedom to one of those two Cardinals that had elected him which was Guy de Crema He lived five years and deceased An. 1170. Those of his party substituted another I cannot tell what Abbot not known but by his debauches they call'd him Calistus III. and Frederick supported him as he had done the two others At the same time there were great stirs in England King Henry stickling to preserve certain pretended Rights which he called Customs of the Kingdom and Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury not to suffer them as being contrary to Ecclesiastical liberty It would be thought strange in these days if a Bishop should hold his Head up so high against his Prince for the like cause but then the best of Men were perswaded that such Liberties were the pillars of Religion The contest lasted seven or eight years and ended not but by the death of the Archbishop who was murther'd in his Cathedral in the year 1170. and the Kings penitence which was so great and so publick that the Church was edified more by such an example then it had been scandaliz'd by his offence The Emperor Frederick was not more fortunate then the two Henrys so that being shatter'd by the Popes Thunder-bolts and more severely yet by his ill fortune driven out of Italy and apprehending the sudden Revolt of Germany he could find no other way to save himself but to ask pardon of the Holy Father and prostrate himself at his Feet to gain his Absolution which was done at Venice in An. 1177. His Anti-Pope Calistus did as much the following year throwing himself at the Feet of the same Alexander Afterwards Frederick had again some Disputes with the Popes Lucius Vrban and Clement III. of that name but he was reconcil'd to Clement and lived well enough with the See of Rome to the time of his death Henry VI. his Son was Crowned by Celestine III. in the year 1191. He undertook nothing directly against the Popes but yet he suffer'd himself to be Excommunicated for detaining Richard King of England prisoner and for not restoring the Money he had extorted from that Prince to purchase his liberty He died without Absolution Anno 1197. Let us now speak of Heresies About the end of the Twelfth age the opinions of one named Rousselin had made a great deal of noise He said the three Divine Persons were three separate or distinct things as three several Angels were but in such sort nevertheless that all three had but one and the same Power and one and the same Will and that if custom would permit it one might say that they were three Gods or otherwise it would follow that the Father and the Holy Ghost had been incarnate These Sophistical impieties were condemned in a Council held at Soissons notwithstanding the Author did not refrain Teaching in private and perhaps he might have made a greater progress if there had not been some watchful persons amongst the rest Yves de Chartres who broke his measures I cannot tell whether it were the same against whom St. Anselme when he was but Abbot du Bec. wrote his Treatise of the Incarnation of the Word which he sent to Pope Vrban II. to examine An. 1094. About the year 1125. one Tanchelin the most profligate of all Mankind infected Brabant and the neighbouring Countreys with his Errors he asserted that the Ministry of Bishops and Priests was a cheat and that the Communion of the Holy Eucharist availed nothing to our Salvation He drew people after him by the magnificence of his Feasts and the pomp of his dress