enclosed within the Ocean the Med terranean Sea and the Pyrenean hills under several names of Kingdomes as we shall say in the following Chapter And these distinguisht into three general Jurisdictions of Castilia Arragon and Portugal It is true that since the late Wars the revolts of Portugal and Catalonia have clipt so much of his Domtnions and the French have taken from him the County of Roussillon 2. Upon the coasts of Spain he possesseth the two Baleares Mallorca and Minorca and the two Ilands in old time called Ophiusae now Ivica and Fromentera 3. In Italy he hath all the Kingdom of Naples which is almost the half of it and the most Easterly part from Cajeta or Fondi to the golph of Tarento and the Strait of Messina 4. In the same Italy he hath the Dutchy of Milan with the territories of Pavia Tortona Cremona c. 5. Upon the coasts of the Tuscan Sea he hath Final Piombino Porto Hercule and Orbitello Of late the Prince of Monaco hath shaken off his yoak In Toscana the great Duke of Florence doth him homage for the Common-wealth of Siena and oweth him service 6. In that Sea about Italy he hath the Isles of Sardima and Sicily and is soveraign of the Isle of Malta which the old Geographers reckon among the African Ilands The great Master of that Iland oweth him some homage for it 7. In the Celtique Gaule he hath the Franche County or the County of Burgundy and in the Dutchy of Burgundy he hath the County of Charrolois 8. In the Belgique Gaule he hath possest till the end of the last age all that was comprehended under the name of the seventeen Provinces He keeps to this day the Dutchies of Luxemburg Limburg the Dutchy of Brabant but pared about by the losse of Maestritcht the Bose Breda and Bergupzom part of the Dutchy of Guelders the Counties of Namur Hainant Artois and Flanders all maimed with the losse of some limbs by our late Wars Also the Marquisat of the holy Empire which is Antwerp and the Principality of Mechlen The remnant of these seventeen Provinces is in the hand of the States of the united Provinces besides that which the King of France hath taken In all that large extent of Lands the Spaniard suffereth the exercise of no Religion but the Roman Though he go for a great soveraign yet many of his Lands depend from oother Princes The See of Rome hath great pretences upon the soveraignty of Arragon Heacknowledgerh without contradiction the soveraignty of the Church over his Kingdom of Naples Yet it is pretended that he oweth the same homage for Sicily For the Dutchy of Milan and other Lands which he holds in Italy he must acknowledge the Empire from which he hath received the investiture of the same Franche County is an imperiall fee as also the Provinces of Netherland not depending of France did owe homage to the Empire And in the year 1608. when the truce was made between Spain and Holland these two States disputing of their soveraignty in the first Article the Emperour Rodolphus framed an opposition against that Article and claimed the soveraignty as belonging to the Empire but the Treaty past without any reflection to that claim Finally although the Spaniard acknowledge our Kings no more neither for Flanders nor for Artois it is not well resolved yet by what right he hath shaken off the yoak and the French pretend that the Treaties of Madrid Cambray and Crespy in Valois which contain that cession have not been authorized by the generall States of France The King of Spain being possessor of such a great extent of Lands is a neighbor to most of the Christian Princes as will be shewed more at large in the second Chapter and hath alwaies some difference with them The now King of Spain is Phillip the IV. of the Roman Religion Paragraphe III. Here we will look upon the King of France whose state is comprehended in the old Gally Narbonensis Aquitanica Celtica and Belgica yet doth he not possess them all the whole Narbonensis belongs to him excepting Avignon Nice Savoy Geneva and Orenge The whole Aquitanica is his since the small principality of Bearn which with small reason hath been pretended to be soveraign in her Rights and Customs hath been united to the Crown and began to have the same Prince by the coming of Henry the fourth to the Crown The whole Celtica belongs likewise to the King of France excepting onely the Franch County and the imperial Town of Besancon Of the Belgica the King of France hath the least part The I le of France Pays de Caux Boulonnois Picardi Beau-voisis Champagne Brie And by good or bad title the Towns of Mets Thoul and Verdun of which in the first invasion he declared himselfe Protector onely By the late Wars he hath made himself Master of most part of Lorrain of the Town of Brisach and of other Towns of Alsatia beyond the Rhine The subjects of the King of France are commonly Roman Catholiques yet Protestants are tolerated in the State The King of France is neighbouring upon Spain by the Pyrenean hills On that side the French and the Spaniards have not much troubled one another but of late yeares in which the French have unfortunately attempted Spain about Fontarabie but fortunately about Roussillon and Catalonia But about the Low Countries and Franche County which lie open to both the Nations there hath been much stir and action On the side of Provence and Daulphine the Duke of Savoy is neighbour to France for Savoy and Piemont joyn to the foresaid Provinces The County of Avignon belonging to the Pope is inclosed within Provence By Daulphine the French touch the Common-wealth of Geneva By the Country of Bresse and the Bailliages of Gez and Verromey they enter within Switzerland into the Canton of Berne By Champagne they have the Duke of Lorraine for their neighbour but now they are possest of his Country So all their neighbours are weak the King of Spain excepted The present King of France is Lewis the XIV of the Roman profession Paragraphe IV. In this Paragraphewe will set downe all the Princes contained within the ancient Gaules besides the King of France 1. In Gallia Narbonensis the Duke of Savoy holds the Dutchie of Savoy the Countries of Chablais and Tarantaise and the Towne of Chambery and upon the Sea coast neare the River of Var the Town and County of Nice which was sometimes a member of Provence and being upon the River of Var it is partly in France partly in Italy 2. The Pope holds the County of Venaissyn or Avignon an ancient member of Provence with the four Bishopricks belonging to it Avignon Carpentras Cavaillon and Vezon There also is Orenge belonging to the House of Nassau 3. The City of Geneva with her Territory made her selfe a soveraign Common-wealth about the year 1535. when the Duke of Savoy the Bishop of Geneva and the City being in
four things are to be considered 1. The Roman Empire which began in Julius Caesar or Augustus comprehended indeed all the West and herein the Gaules That Empire was made up of the ruine of many Nations by right or wrong Howsoever long prescription and the consent of Nations with the extinction of the royall Families made up a reasonable right which continued in the Roman Emperours till the year of Christ 400 when by the inundation of many Northern Nations Goths Vandales Franks and others the whole Empire was dismembred and the severall Conquerors of each part made themselves Soveraign So did the Franks in Gaules A beginning not to be excused of violence and usurpation But the ruine of the Romans prescription and the consent of the conquered people did since authorize their dominion and towards the end of the first age of these invasions they were all justified and the Conquerours remained just possessours especially when the Roman Empire ended in Augustulus An. 475. And when Charlemagne restored the Western Empire an 800. that promotion did not alter the former Title he had to the Kingdome of France It was but a Title of honour which he and after him his Sonne Lewis the Meek possest with that of King of France Afterwards by the partage made An. 843. between the Sons of Lewis the Meek each of the three brothers had his portion independent from the others and Lothary the Eldest who had the Title of Emperour pretended no right over Charles the Bald who had France for his Portion much as it is now Since which time all that would ascribe any Superiority to the Emperours over the Princes of Christendom that are acknowledged Soveraign have with good reason bin hissed out as ridiculous Only the precedence was left to the Emperour as the eldest among the brethren But the subjection which he yields to the Pope and the small right which he retains over the Lands and Princes of the Empire weaken his authority very much and make it unworthy of that precedence over all the Princes of Christendom Wherefore he doth not stir those antient pretences over all the Kingdomes of the West 2. Some Germane Historians as Trithemius Lazius Munster Fiesdorpius make the house of Habsburg which is that of Austria to descend from the first race of the French Kings a fable invented since 120. years and newly taken up again by the flatterers of that house Especially by Fiesdorpius a name either true or forged by the Spaniards To understand this we must know that the Kingdom of France was often divided into Tetrarchies under the first race Kings of Paris of Orleans of Soissons and Mets. In the last of these Brunehault reigned with great power that abominable woman so much renowned in our Histories which confounded and destroyed that house by her ordinary murthers That State of Mets being fallen into the hands of two brothers Thierry and Theodebert who contended for it Therry joyning with his Grandmother Brunehault overcame Theodebert in battell and put him cruelly to death And by Brunehaults order the two Sons of Theodebert were slain in her presence This Tragedy was acted An. 617. But these Historians to flatter the house of Austria say that of these two Sons of Theodebert the one called Sigebert escaped the hands of his great Grandmother and fled into Germany to Godfrey and Genebald Dukes of Franconie his Uncles by the Mother by whose intercession he obtained of Lothary King of France his Cosin some lands in Switzerland upon condition that he should renounce all his rights to the Crown of France That he or his Son or one of his more remote descent built the Castle of Habsburg and founded that family And upon that account the house of Austria descends from that of France That relation is a blind tale for all antient Historians affirm that both the Sons of Theodebert and he had no more were slain by Brunehault And the first that mentions that escape of Sigebert is Trithemius who lived about six score yeares ago And as it is false it is ridiculous in the ordinary vicissitude of the affairs of the world and the continuall changes of Possessions to set up Titles after an interruption of a thousand years For upon that account there is no Prince in Europe but may be degraded and no mean man but may be intitled to some principality It is with great reason that the Title of prescription is every where preferred before all Titles And though the tale were a true story that Rodolphus of Habsburg the head of the house of Austria was descended from the Family of Habsburg by the women his masculine extraction was from the house of Tiestein So this pretence is so ridiculous that it is not worth speaking 3. The branch of the house of Valois hath continued from male to male from Philip de Valois who came to the Crown An. 1328 to the death of Henry the Third An. 1589. males failing in that branch the Crown by the fundamental laws of the Land was to pass to the next branch of the Males which was that of Bourbon and so did in the end A Title so known to all the French that even in the heat of the War of the League against the honse of Bourbon as professing a contrary Religion yet they crowned the Cardinal of Bourbon and called him Charles the Tenth In these confusions Philip the Second King of Spain seeing the party of the League inclined to the Election of a King claimed the Kingdom for his Daughter Clara Eugenia Isabella as Daughter of Elizabeth of France his third wife sister and Heir of the three last Kings Francis II. Charles IX and Henry III. and of Francis Duke of Alenson the eldest of three Sisters of which the Second was Claude married to Charles Duke of Lorrain and the third was Queen Margaret wife to Henry the Fourth then only titular King of Navarra He alleadged then that representation being a good Title by the Laws of France his Daughter entred into all the rights of her Mother Elizabeth which should have inherited of her brothers and that her right extended even to the Crown as the Patrimony of her Family That the pretended Salique Law of the French was imaginary yea and against Nature against Humanity and the right of Political successions which require that all Inheritances may go to the next Heirs And though that Law had force among the French that his Daughter being not a subject nor borne in France could not be tied by these municipall Laws That between Soveraigns the Law of Nature not the particular Laws of Nations should be the rule That all Laws of Nature reject this principle that the successions should be for males only as though females were unreasonable creatures or the excrements and sweepings of mankind and no part of human society When the States of the League were assembled in Paris An. 1593. some unadvised and rash heads moved the Election of a King and the
Moore out of Barcellona and put a French Garrison in it not long after he gave it to Bernard who was the first Count of Catalonia and was a powerfull and considerable man in the Court of Lewis the Meek and the Counts of that Province who then were but Goverours were a long time ordinary Courtiers and Attendants of the French Kings But by the idlenesse of the last descent of Charlemagne the Governours of Provinces and of this among the rest made themselves Masters About the beginning of the third Race of the French Kings the Family that ruled in Catalonia was that of the Beringers And that County was alwayes separate from the Kingdom of Arragon till the yeare 1131 when Don Alphonso King of Arragon surnamed the Bellador because he fought twenty two battels being dead without issue the people of Arragon tooke Ramires out of the Cloister of St. Pontius of Tomieres where he had lived forty yeares a Monk because he was of the Royal blood and Son to Sanchez Ramires King of Arragon He was married by a dispensation of Anaclet the II Pope or rather Anti-pope and had a Daughter named Petronilla married to Raymond Berenger Count of Catalonia So Arragon and Catalonia were united and never separated since James King of Arragon an 1320. by the advice of the State of the Land made the Law of union of the three Provinces Arragon Valentia and Catalonia not to be possest separately any more Together with that Law Catalonia agreed with the King of Arragon that she should have her forces and priviledges apart and that the Kings of Arragon who took only the title of Counts of Catalonia should oblige themselves by oath to observe that condition This precaution of the Catalans hath justified their laterevolt which the most conscionable among them have yeelded unto acknowledging that their King had violated that Treaty It is a constant truth that all that time from the conquest of Charlemagne Catalonia was a Fee depending from France Charlemagne made the first Counts of it who were his Courtiers The first upon whom it was settled as a French Fee was Geffery le Velu invested by Charles le Gros an 885. And Bera Count of Catalonia being accused of felony before Lewis le Begue offered to purge himselfe by a Duell after the manner of the time in which being overcome he was deprived of his Fee and another invested with it All that time also all the publique Acts of Notaries in Catalonia were done in the name of the Kings of France which is an undoubted mark of Supremacy and all the Kings of Arragon Counts of Catalonia did homage for it to the Kings of France till the yeare 1181. and in the beginning of Philip the Conquerour when Alphonsus King of Arragon called a Councill at Tarracona a Town of Catalonia where under colour of conscience and respect to Religion he caused an Order to be made that from thenceforth the yeares of the French Kings should no more be put in the Deeds and Contracts of Catalonia but the yeares of Christ And the same King having neglected that homage to the Kings of France that right was lost under Philip Auguste Lewis the VIII and St Lewis the claim onely remaining In which consideration likely the Princes of Arragon were educated in the Court of France one of them was James who lived in the time of St. Lewis and had been educated with Philip le Hardy who being come to visit that King and having given him his sister Isabella to wife the Spaniards say that by reason of that match and the cession which James made to Philip of the Town of Monpellier and of some other Lands which he possest in Languedoc the said King Philip quitted all his right of supremacy over Arragon and Catalonia That Treaty was an 1270 by which the Spaniards conceive that they have shaken the yoak of French Soveraignty But whether that Treaty be valid or no either for the fact or the right that cession being above 380 years old it seems authenticall and the French have given over that claim But they have another of latter date For by reason of the massacre made in the Siclian Vespers an 1281. Peter King of Arragon Count of Catalonia was excommunicated his Lands put in interdict and given to Philip le Hardy by Martin the IV Pope or to his Son Count of Valois but that right being the same as the right which the French claime or did claim upon Arragon of which we spake lately we will not here repeat So the French rights over Catalonia are reduced to these two heads The first is taken from the conquest of Charlemagne the estabishing of Counts and Governours in the same the homage done to the Kings of France the years of their reign ascribed in their deeds both private and publique The other is the same as is pretended upon Arragon Of both the French make no great account Onely because of late years Catalonia hath shaken the yoke of the Kings of Arragon and Castilia and have given themselves to the French it may be disputed whether the French King may use any of these old stale Titles or whether he must ground the justice of his possession upon the donation which the Catalans have made to him holding themselves free from the obedience of the Spaniard by reason of the infraction of their priviledges Certainly in all particular Treaties the unobservation of the conditions freeth the parties from the obligations of the contract But as for Soveraignties and the mutual obligations of Kings and Subjects many will reason otherwise saying that although the obligation be mutual as for the conscience yet as for the retrocession and the penalty attending the breach of the obligation it doth not reach to Kings whose actions are not censurable by the people not by the nature of the contract which is mutuall and reciprocall but for the danger of the consequence which might authorize revolts Others also will say that a Country giving her selfe to a Prince what priviledges soever the people reserve to themselves by contract they are all lost when they enter into subjection which by its nature makes a man subject to another man without any exception when the publique good is concerned that those priviledges by that subjection passe into the nature of meer liberties and concessions of Princes which they may stretch diminish and over-throw according to their discretion Certainly in all these contentions between the people and the Soveraign passion and interests bear a great sway make conscience plead on both sides But any reason will passe when there is strength to back it Paragraphe VI. Of the County of Roussillon and Sardinia That little Country at the foot of the Pyrenees and near the golph of Leon was antiently part of Languedoc and for a long time past through the same fortunes and changes It was for a great while part of the County of Beziers and Dutchy of Narbon Then
time of Charles the VIII was spent in Civill Wars or in the Conquest of Naples And Lewis the XII Grandchild of Valentina comeing to the Crown an 1498 had no more in the Dutchy but the County of Ast the rest being held by Ludovick Sforza Son to the invader Francis and himself invader of the State of his Nephews But Lewis following his right comes to Milan takes it and expells Ludovic who returning not long after enters into Milan but there being suddenly invested by Lewis he is taken carried into France where he dieth a Prisoner Lewis remaining Master of the Dutchy But because Ludovic had two Sons protected in Germany by the Emperour Maximilian I. Lewis to strengthen his right made meanes to win the Emperours favour of whom in the end he obtained two investitures of that Dutchy The one An. 1506 for Lewis and his children and lawfull Heirs and Lewis for the acknowledgement of this investiture paid him sixty thousand livers and promist to give him every year a pair of golden spurrs at Christmas Also in that investiture the exclusion of Sforza is precisely exprest and a marriage concluded betweene Charles the Grandchild of Maximilian who since was the Emperour Charles the V. and Claude the eldest daughter of Lewis the XII which also was comprehended in that investiture The other was an 1509. wherby the same Emperour confirms the former investiture with a condition of the marriage between Charles and Claude which indeed was not effected but that hinders not the validity of the investiture which was absolute the first at least By vertue of that right Lewis remained possest of that Dutchy but towards the end of his reigne Maximilian Sforza was put in possession of that Dutchy by the Switzers by the consent of the Emperour Maximilian who was displeased that Claude promised to Charls his Grandchild had been married to Francis who after was Francis the first King of France which he took for an affront and this was the first seed of the jealousies between the two houses of France and Austria Francis the first having regained the Dutchy and taken Maximilian neglected to do homage to the Emperour and a while after Charles having succeeded his Grandfather in the Empire the animosities grew to a great height betwixt these two Princes and they became implacable fighting with great might about Milan till that by the Treaty of Madrid Francis the first yielded his right as we will relate in the next Chapter To sum up the pretences of the French upon Milan They are grounded 1. Upon the contract of marriage of Valentina who is substituted Heir of the Dutchy the lawfull Heires male failing and the contract is valid as confirmed by the Pope in the vacancy of the Empire 2. The investiture given by the Emperour Maximilian in favour of Lewis the XII and his Heirs yea of Claude and her children 3. The second investiture an 1509. 4. Francis the I. having yielded all his rights by the Treaties of Madrid Cambray and Crespy as we shall see afterwards one may say that besides the nullity of that cession by the right of the Kingdom Francis may have quitted the right that came to him by his great Grandmother Valentina but that hee hath not quitted that which came to his children by Claude his wife who being daughter of Lewis the XII had for her and her issue the right of investiture both of 1505. and 1509. which her Husband could not take from her And Francis made use of this reason among the nullities which he objected against the treatie of Madrid In what time these cessions were made and of what strength they are the next Chapter will shew The Commonwealth of Genoa had also some dependance from the Kings of France That City with the Country depending from it having shaken the yoke of the Emperours as the other Commonwealths of Italie while the Italian and German Princes were contending for the Empire form'd itself into a most flourishing State In the Wars of the East and Conquests of the Holy Land Genoa was very considerable no lesse than the Venetians and Pisans possest many Countries in the Levant the I le of Chio the Town of Capha upon Mar Major in Taurica Chersonesus and others But the Commonwealth being weakned by the jealousies of two potent Families the Fregosi and the Adorni the State submitted it self unto Charles the VI of France an 1390. who taking them under his Protection sent to them the Marshall of Boulicaut who received their Oath of fidelity But great confusions being risen in France by reason of the weaknesse of Charles the VI. for 29. years by the invasion of the English and by the extremity that Charles the VII was brought to that right over Genoa was neglected But in the year 1458. the same Genoese being opprest with their own divisions sent Peter Fregosa into France to Charles the VII who received them under his protection and sent them John Duke of Lorrain eldest Son to the Duke of Anjou And after Charles the VII having again given themselvs to Lewis the XI some Historians say that he neglected that Conquest so that they were forced to submit themselves to John Galeas Duke of Milan Others say that Lewis the XI invested that Galeas in the Lordship of Genoa upon condition of doing homage for it to the Crown of France And Charles the VIII passing to the Conquest of Naples invested against Ludovick Sforza in the same by the Treaty of Vercel an 1494 he paying thirty thousand ducats of entry in consideration of the auxiliary forces which Ludovick promist unto Charles for the Conquest of Naples After Charles the City of Genoa remained subject to the Kings of France as Dukes of Milan and Lewis the XII made a triumphant entry into it and received of them all the honours and deferences of Subjects to a Soveraign an 1502. and gave them a Governour John of Cleves his Kinsman But an 1527. while Charles the V and Francis the I were in the heat of their quarrell the City of Naples being besieged by Monsieur de Lautree Andrew Doria of Genoa subject to the French King and Generall of his Fleet being ill satisfied of Francis the I revolted from him turned to the Emperour and was the cause of the losse of Naples The Emperour to win him to his service offered him la carte blanche that is what conditions soever he would have The first demand of Andrew was the liberty of his City which he obtained and it was freed from all subjection to the Dukes of Milan But if the French have any right in the Dutchy of Milan they have the like in Genoa for Charles the V. could not cut off that limbe from it fince it did not belong to him Paragraphe IX Of the Counties of Flanders and Artois These two Counties were antiently before the conquest of the Romans parts of Gallia Belgica and so under that Empire and under the first and second race
of the French Kings till that famous partage of the children of Lewis the Meek an 843. when the River of Scaldis being set as a limit of that which belonged to Lothary the Emperour on the one side and Charles le Chauve on the other that Country remained within the partage of the last who was King of France and containes a great extent of Land beyond the River of Somme near the Rivers of Scaldis and Lis butting upon the Ocean And because all that Country was full of Wood which made it be called Sylva Carbonaria Charlemagne about the yeare 771. placed there a Governour whom he called the great Forester of Flanders So also were his successors called and were not very considerable The first that erected this Country into a County was Charles le Chauve an 850. or thereabouts The first Count was Baldwin surnamed Bras de fer or Iron-arm for his great exploits against the Normans then barbarous and infidels who coming from the North infested those coasts both by Sea and Land This Baldwin stole away Iudith Daughter to Charles le Chauve and widow to an English King which action at the first moved Charles to a great wrath and hatred against him But Iudith having appeased her Father and Baldwin being very necessary for the defence of those Countries against the Normans he recovered the Kings Grace and it was upon that reconciliation that he was made Count of Flanders So that Baldwin is the head of that house of Flanders and Artois which then were but one Province 1. All that Country remained thus united in one County till the year 1180. when Philip August King of France married Isabella Daughter of Baldwin the IV. Count of Hainaut and Namur and of Margaret of Flanders For Philip of Alsatia Count of Flanders uncle to Margaret to shew his joy for that high alliance gave her the Country of Artois consisting in the Towns of Arras Bapaume Saint Omer Aire Hesdin and some others which Philip August enjoyed and his Sons after him till Lewis the VIII gave the Country of Artois to his third Son Robert for whose sake his brother St Lewis erected the same into a County of which this Robert did him homage and that house of Artois was a Royal house for a long time after Thus Flanders and Artois had their severall Counts and Lords as most of the other seventeen Provinces of Netherlands 2. King Iohn of France having given to his fourth Son Philip the Dutchy of Burgundy because he loved him dearly he procured a great marriage for him matching him with Margaret of Flanders only Daughter of Lewis the III. Count of Flanders and of Margaret of Brabant That Princess was held the richest match of Europe for she was Heir not onely of the Counties of Flanders Burgundy Artois Nevers Retel and other great Lordships but was also apparent Heir from her great Aunt by her Mothers side of the Dutchies of Brabant Lothier Limburg and the Marquesat of Antwerp That alliance made an 1356. was the beginning of the greatness of the house of Burgundy For that Philip and his three successors Iohn Philip and Charles united all these great States which afterwards fell into the House of Austria by marriage as we have represented before 3. Although the propriety of those two Provinces Flanders and Artois came to the House of Austria by the match of Mary of Burgundy with Maximilian the pretences of the Crowne of France upon that propriety being quitted by the reddition of the Towne of Arras an 1435. Yet the soveraignty thereof hath remained with the French Kings untill the Cessions by them made of the same by severall Treaties of which the first was that of Madrid That soveraignty is proved by seven Reasons The first is The homages which the Counts have alwaies payed to the Kings of France for these Counties and the investitures which they have taken from them of the same The second That the Kings of France have judged of the Counts of Flanders as Soveraigns and given them Lawes The third that they decided of peace and war in Flanders even against the will of the Counts The fourth That they have given grace to Flemmings as their Soveraigns and punisht them of their rebellions The fifth That it was especially promis'd and agreed that the Flemmings should resort to the Parliament of Paris The sixth That the Kings of France have protected as Soveraignes the Counts of Flanders The seventh That they have confiscated the County for Felony Briefly the Kings of France have exer cised all Acts of Soveraignty in Flanders and Artois a thing never brought in question or denyed before Charles the V. who being promoted to the Empire and fallen to great Wars against Francis the I. was delinquent in that duty and obtained the cession of that right by divers Treaties 4. It is then a known truth that Flanders and Artois did belong to the Soveraignty of France and that the question is onely whether the cession made at Madrid was just and valid Upon which the French say 1. That Charles the V being born a subject of France at Gant in the County of Flanders committed the crime of Felony by his Wars against his Soveraign whom also he took and kept prisoner which was often upbraided to him yea a sentence of the Parliment of Paris intervened against him whereby he is deprived of his Lordships depending of the Crown of Ftance for crime of Felony so that being a Felon against his Soveraigne he had no right either to treat with him when he kept him prisoner nor any way oblige him 2. The cession made by the Treaty of Madrid was invalid by the Law of Nations as done by a man kept in prison 3. That cession made at Madrid and in other Treaties is null by the fundamentall Laws of France which prohibit the alienation of the Soveraign rights of the Crown especially without the consent of the States Generall who never ratified all those Treaties And in effect the Parliaments by their sentences the Peers of the Kingdom by their Votes and all the learned and judicious by their discourses have condemned those Treaties And to this day the Flemmings and Artesians are accounted Regnicolae and have no need of letters of Naturalization CHAP. IV. Wars Agreements Treaties between the houses of France and Austria about their pretences from the Treaty of Arras to that of Vervins WE have seen how by the History and by Reason the two Houses of France and Austria will ground their several pretences As the differences between private persons beget suits in Law which end in the sentence of a Court so the jealousies between these two great houses have begot Wars which haue ended in Treaties Yet so that the Wars have begun afresh after These Wars have been many especially since the promotion of Charles the V to the Empire an 1519. For the Kings of France who without contradiction had the precedence before all Christian
The Emperours second offer was to fight a Duell with the King either upon the Land or in a Boat That he left to the King the choice of the Armes That the vanquished should give all his forces to secure the sitting of a Council and to make War against the Heretiques and Infidells That the King should deposite the Dutchy of Burgundy and himself that of Milan to be the price of the Victory The third offer was that if the King refused these two conditions he declared mortall War unto him till one of the two was made the poorest gentleman of his Kingdom The King purged himself to the Pope by letters of all the Emperours accusations The War grows hot in Piemont an 1536. Many exploits are done Fossan is besieged by Antonio de Leva for the Emperour and taken The Marquis of Saluees leaves the Kings service and turns to the Emperour who enters into Provence and besiegeth Marseille but in vain being defended by the Kings presence and by the generosity of Ann de Montmorency who since was Constable of France The Emperour is beaten out of Provence At the same time the Count of Nassan makes some exploits in Picardy for the Emperour takes Guise besiegeth Peronne but is repulsed 4. Jean Capell the Kings Atturney General moveth the Parliament that a proces be made against Charles as Felon and Traitor against his Soveraign of whom he held the Counties of Flanders Artois and Charolois in fee. The Court of Peers hereupon assembled decree that Charles should be cited with sound of Trumpet upon the frontier of his States to appear before them And he not appearing he was condemned and his Dominions depending from the Crown were confiscated Presently after the King tooke many places in Artois An. 1538. the Pope Paul the III. comes to Nice where both the Emperour and the King met also the Pope communing separately with each of them for hee could not obtaine of them that they should see one another Yet they concluded a truce for ten years That meeting being ended the King returnes into France the Emperour into Spain but seeth the King by the way at Acquesmortes They confirme the truce and are civill one to another Shortly after the City of Ghent being revolted and having killed their Magistrates Charles desireth Francis to give him passage through his Lands which the King granted him In that passage the Emperour received all the royall honours The King went to meet him at Chastellerant In that enterview the Emperour gave the King some hope to give him satisfaction about the Dutchy of Milan 6. An. 1641. the King sent Antony Rincot a Spaniard that had taken sanctuary in France to the Turk and Caesar Fregosa to the Venetians Both were slain upon the River of Po going to Venice by Boat This murder was done by the order of the Marquess du Guast Governour of Milan who hoped thereby to get their Papers and Instructions but they had been sent to Venice another way The Marquess was accused and convicted of the fact by those that executed it who were taken at Venice Upon this the King breaks the truce of tens years The Dolphin who was since Henry the II falls upon the Roussillon besieged Perpignan but is repulsed with losse Charles Duke of Orleans seizeth upon Lutzenburg The Emperour on the other side makes a league with the King of England enters Picardie besiegeth Landrecy but Francis relieveth it and driveth the Emperour from the siege Barbarossa the Turk comes by Sea to the Kings help takes the Town of Nice wasteth those coasts of the Mediterranean sea goeth away having done little good to the French and ill satisfied of them having given a great matter of obloquy against Francis to the Christian Princes In Piemont after many exploits on both sides the famous battel of Cerisoles was fought an 1544. and won by the French the French Generall being the Duke of Anguien the Spaniard the Marquess du Guast At this time Ferdinand King of the Romans brother to Charles the Emperour being sore prest by the Turk in Hungary sends a Dominican Fryer his Confessor to Charles to exhort him to peace Charles is perswaded to it and Francis also Their Deputies meet at St. John des Vignes in the Suburbs of Soissons and begin a Treaty which soon after was concluded at Crespy in Valois of which these were the chiefe conditions That Charles Duke of Orleans the Kings second Son should marry the Emperours Daughter or that of Ferdinand King of the Romans at the Emperours choice within six yeares and for her portion that the Emperour should invest the said Duke with the Dutchy of Milan or the County of Flanders or Charolois or Franch County at the Emperours choyce likewise And that upon his investiture with one of these the King should renounce all his claim to all the rest and to the Kingdom of Naples That till there were Children born by that marriage if the Emperour had before assigned the Dutchy of Milan for the Ladies portion he should retain in his power the Castles of Milan and Cremona That the King should restore to Charles Duke of Savoy all that he had taken from him on both sides of the Alpes yet that he might retain the Citadels as long as the Emperours kept the Castles of Milan and Cremona That both the Emperour and the King should restore all that they had taken the one from the other since the truce made at Nice by the Popes mediation This Treaty beares date of Octob. 18. 1544. and was executed but the King restored many more places then the Emperour Paragraphe VI. From the Treaty of Crespy 1544 to that of Chasteau en Cambresis an 1559. Francis out-lived three years the Treaty of Crespy all which time he had no War with Charles who had retired himself to Bruxelles Francis being dead his Son Henry the II. succeeded him who also had no War with the Emperour till the year 1550. Two accidents made the old jealousie to break into open War 1. The Pope Paul the III. had invested his Bastard Peter Lewis Farnesio with the Towns of Parma and Placentia which the Emperour had yieled to the Church upon the claime of Leo the X. without much examining the Popes right onely because it had been so covenanted when the Pope and the Emperour united themselves to expell the French out of Italy an 1521. That investiture troubled Charles afterwards who pretended either that these Towns should remaine united to the patrimony of the Church or that in case of alienation they should return to the Dutchy of Milan Now this Peter Lewis Farnesio having made himselfe odious to his subjects by his cruelty and impudicity was slain by the people of Placentia who put themselves under the Emperours protection At the same time Paul the III being dead Jules the III that succeeded him maintained at the first Octavio Son to Peter Lewis in the investiture of Parma and Placentia But soon
A JUDICIOUS VIEVV OF THE BUSINESSES which are at this time between FRANCE and the House of AUSTRIA Most usefull to know the present posture of the affairs of all Christendom Translated out of French by a Person of Honour LONDON Printed by W. Wilson for Henry Herringman and are to be sold at his Shop at the Anchor in the Lower walk in the New-Exchange 1657. A CHARACTER OF this Worke. THis is the Map of the present interesses of Princes the quintessence of the History of five or six Ages and of as many Kingdoms the State-resolve of a deep and consummate Polititian perfected by the perusing of many Volums of Histories and by the experience of many years I am inclined to believe that these were private Notes of some great Statesman gathered for readiness in his publique employments And that they were publisht without his name makes me suspect that they came out without his leave Howsoever this is a Treasure for all that desire to know the world and penetrate into the inside of businesses a help of memory for them that have read many Histories and an ease of labour for such as want leisure to read them The true case of the businesses which are at this time between the two Houses of France and Austria PREFACE THe two Houses of France and Austria are the greatest and most important of Christendom and such as draw to their motion all the other Crowns Between these two Houses there hath been many Warres Alterations Treaties Truces and Peaces since the rising of that of Austria of which we may assigne the beginning at the marriage of Maximilian Son to the Emperor Frideric 3. with Mary the inheritrice of Charles the last Duke of Burdundy Prince of the seventeen united Provinces of Netherland dead before Nancy in the year 1477. For the intellience of all their Divisions Truces and Alliances I frame this discourse which shall consist of five Chapters In the first The whole state of Europe shall be set down the severall Princes thereof their Religion and what neighbourhood and dependance they have among themselves In the second It shall be examined by what degrees the House of Austria is entred into the Empire and into all those great estates which she now enjoyeth by her two Branches of Spain and Germany In the third The differences between the two Crowns shal be discuss'd what right the House of France hath in Catalonia Portugal Navarra Naples Milan c. Also what claim the House of Austria hath to Burgundy Brittain Provence c. These are those disputable Rights which have begot so many Divisions and Wars between the Princes and an unreconcilable hatred between the Nations In the fourth Chapter The businesses shall be presented which past between the two Kingdoms from the Treaty of Arras in the year 1435. to the Treaty of Vervins in 1598. Wars Battels Treaties Truces and Peaces The fifth shall relate all that past from the Treaty of Vervins till now CHAP. I. The Princes that govern Europe Paragraphe I. EUrope the least of the three parts of the world known to the ancient Geographers and the most Northerly but the most populous and that within which almost all Christendom is comprehended hath on the South the Mediterranean Sea and part of the Ocean and begins at the Cap St. Vincent in the extremity of Portugal in the Kingdom of Algarba near the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean Sea begins which takes several names as it toucheth upon severall Provinces as Spain France Italy Sicily Greece The Isle of Candie is the utmost of Europe that way and it is divided from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea Eastward ascending to the North Europe is bounded again by the Mediterranean Sea under the names of the Aegean Sea called now Archipelago Hellospont now Burdanelles or the Strait of Gallipoli Propontis now Mar de Marmora Bosphorus Thracius now the Strait of Constantinople Pontus Euxinus now the black Sea or Mar major Higher it is bounded by Meotides Paludes and the River Tanais now Don remounting to its spring And thenceforward a line is imagined drawne to the North butting either at the Golph of St. Nicholas or some such other place thereabout in the great Duke of Moscovia's Country for that nothern Tract unknown to ancient Geographers is yet so little knowne that the limits of Europe that way could never be well assigned On all the East-side Europe neighboureth upon the great Asia and is Occidentall to it On the North-side ancient Geographers have set no limits to Europe but have comprehended these Nothern extremities either under the name of Hyperborean hills although there be no hills in that Tract or under the name of Mare Glaciale or the frozen Sea which we may take from the Golph of St. Nicolâ—s or the mouth of the River Oby unto the Sea which is about Norway and Finmarch and so towards the Isles of Freezland and Island On that side Europe buts upon the Pole and is not near any considerable Lands some few Ilands onely ill inhabited as Nova Zembla and Niewland On the West-side Europe hath the great Ocean from the Iles of Freesland and is-Is-land to the Cap of St. Vincent which is the extremity of Portugal And that Ocean takes divers names according to the divers Countries that it toucheth as the Britannique Ilands Norway Denmark Germany Holland Zeland Flanders the Strait of Calais the coasts of Normandy Brittain Poitou Saintonge Guienne the golph of Bayonne the coasts of Biscay Gallicia Portugal Algerke to the Cap St. Vincent These are the limits and as it were the four walls which inclose all that is comprehended under the name of Europe The length whereof may be taken from the Cap St. Vincent to the golph S. Nicholas or the mouth of the River Oby which is two thousand French common leagues or as far north-ward as one will The breadth from Morea towards the Isle Cythera to the North towards Finmarch and Lapland which is twelve of fifteen hundred leagues A more exact description of the Topography of each Country is not for this place Here only we will enumerate the States contained within that extent and that but in the great as much as is necessary to understand that which belongs to the two Houses of France and Austria the most considerable of Europe of Christendom at least We shall be begin that enumeration by the West and from thence passing to the East we shall turn to the North and there end Paragraphe II. The first Prince on the West of Europe is the King of Spain who beares the name of the House of Austria besides that which he hath in Africa and in the East and West Indies Besides a number infinite of Ilands Caps Havens from the Isles Azores to the Cap of good hope and from that Cap to the extremity of the East towards the Molukes and Philippine Ilands 1. That which he holds in Europe is comprehended in that Peninsula
inhabit them know more then this Author and therefore leave that little which he saith of them Paragraphe XII Being now come to the VVest we meet with the most considerable piece of Europe which is the Empire of Germany The Empire begun by Julius Caesar but founded by Augustus possest all the known Countries of the West But was greatly diminished about the year of our Lord 400. for then by the incursions of the Goths Ostrogoths Alans Huns Herules Vandales Frankes and others many States were founded And finally the Empire ceased in the West altogether in the year 445. by the death of Augustulus and the whole Empire of the West was divided into many States In the year 800. the Empire of the West begun afresh in the person of Charlemaigne who under that name possest all the Gaules part of Spain almost all Italie the great Germanie Hungary Slavonia part of Poland and Denmark and other Northern Countries But his posterity having degenerated that Empire went from his Family about the year 912. and after a long dispute about it between the Italian and German Princes Othe Duke of Saxony made himself Master of it And from that time that which remains of the Empire hath continued in the hands of German Princes That which is called the Empire at this day hath more shadow then substance I call a shadow all the pretences of the Emperour out of Germanie which are worn out with age and lost or remain with small vigour as the pretences of Soveraignty over the Princes of Italy and the Low-Countries Savoy Franche County Besancon and the like In Germany he hath some reall and effective power Germany at this time comprehends all that Country between the border of Hungary and Poland on the East the Baltique Sea and Denmark on the North the Germanique Sea and France on the West and the River of Rhine and the Alpes on the South Neither is the Emperour absolute every where or in the most part of that large space For it is divided into ten Circles or great Provinces which have a proper right to assemble themselves to look to their own businesses and send Deputies to the generall Diets of the Empire And in every one of these Circles there be many free Cities and many Secular and Ecclesiasticall Princes The chief are the seven Electours three Ecclesiastical the Archbishops of Mentz Collen and Treues four secular the Count Palatine the King of Bohemia the Duke of Saxony and the Marquesse of Brandenhurg And next to these the Duke of Banteres the Duke of Wirtenberg Luneburg Mechelburg Brunswick the Lantgrave of Hesse and many others But above all these houses that of Austria is considerable of which we must speak in the next Chapter for besides the title of Emperour by election now continued in their family for many descents they possesse their antient Patrimony Austria Stiria Carinthia Carnia Tirolis Elzas They hold also Bohemia and that little part of Hungary which remains unto the Christians All Germany is divided between Papists Lutherans and Calvinists These three and the Mahumetan and the Greek Religion are the principall Religions known in Europe CHAP. II. By what degrees the house of Austria is come to those great Estates which it possesseth IT is certain that among the Christian Princes the two most considerable Families are those of France and Austria And although it be known that the house of France hath all the Prerogatives of Antiquity Nobility and Glory above the other yet that of Austria is more powerfull for extent of Lands and multitude of People and is invested with a more eminent quality which is the Empire But because they hold it only by Election they have that preheminence but for a time so that the Family of Austria from a Soveraign may become a Subject which can never happen to the Soveraignes by succession but by the ruine of the State Now because these two Families draw to their motion the most part of our Christian Western world and that since one hundreth and fifty years the house of Austria hath taken a stupendious growth It will be to good purpose to examine in this Chapter her Birth Progresse and Greatnesse For we shall not need to speak of the greatnesse of France which is a grounded Monarchie of twelve hundred years standing But it is but of late that the house of Austria dareth claim equality with the house of France Paragraphe I. Yet so much we will say of the house of France 1. It is certain that this Kingdome was erected out of the ruines of the Roman Empire in the year 419. Pharamond was elected King by the Frankes beyond the Rhine in the Country of Sicambria which is Guelderland Uretcht Freeseland and other Countries thereabout But neither he nor his Son Clodion the Chevelu past ever into France for any thing that we read but sent forth their Armies to conquer it Merovee the third King was the first that came to Paris and took it and setled himself with the Frankes in Gauls From him was the first race of French Kings denominated and called the race of the Merovingians 2. Clouis the fifth King was converted to the Christian faith in the year of Christ 500. and brought the French State to great splendour by the expulsion of the reliques of the Romans near Soissons Laon and Reins by the Conquest of Gaule Aquitanique and by the defeat of Alaric and the Kingdome of the Goths The Sons of that Clouis about the year 527. conquered the state of the Burgundians or Bourguignons So that race of the Merovingians about the year of 530. was possest of all the Gaules yet divided into Tetrarchies by the children of Clouis and again by their descent That race with the Gauls held great part of Germany and having done great services to the Church and protected desolate Popes got from them the name of most Christians eldest Sons of the Church When that title was given them we cannot precisely tell yet Saint Gregory who lived in the year 600. saith that the King of France is as eminent above other Kings as every King is above his Subjects That first race kept long the fiercenesse of German-barbarousnesse and about the year 650. after the death of Dagobert they degenerated to idlenesse and so continued for a hundred years which gave occasion to the Mayres of the Palace to incroach upon the Soveraign Authority Among whom Charles Martel was most eminent who having defeated the Sarrasins near Tours and killed three hundred threescore and six thousand men and relieved the Pope against the Lombards raised much the honour of France and his own but to the destruction of the first Royal line which ended in the degradation of the unfortunate Chilperic in the year 752. having subsisted 333 years 5. The second race much more illustrious then the first began in the person of Pipin Son to that Charls Martel A valorous fortunate Prince devoutly addicted to the Roman
excluding of the house of Bourbon which stirred the Parliament to make that famous Arrest for the maintaining of the Salique Law to which the wisest of the League yielded Philip the II. of Spain in that Assembly of the States set up his Daughters Title and presented her to be Queen But presently perceiving the weaknesse of that Title and the aversion of the French from the Government of a woman he offered to marry her either with a Prince of the house of Austria or with one of the House of Lorraine Whose imaginary rights were at the same time pleaded And to strengthen all these rights he said that the Election by the States would supply all defects in the Right of succession It appeared that Philip acknowledged the weaknesse of his Daughters right since he presented her to be elected The Salique Law is fundamentall in France wisely instituted and observed twelve hundred years together As for Philips allegation that Princes are not to be tied by municipall Laws but by the Laws of Nature it is utterly false For in the discussion of the rights of all Soveraigns the municipall Lawes are alwaies examined and none can have right to an Estate from which he is excluded by the Law of the Land The decision of all suits for Estate is taken out of the customes of the Land where the Estate lyeth but where those customes written or unwritten are wanting the case is to be decided by reason onely The French think they have both Law and Reason on their side Howsoever that Isabella in whose favour that Right was set up dyed childlesse an 1633. Whose right if she had any should be devolved since to the Children of her second sister Katherine wife to Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy from whom all the House of Savoy that now is is descended 4. Besides these imaginary Rights to the whole Kingdom the Empire hath a weake pretended right to some parts of it Whereupon we must observe That by the partage between the Sons of Lewis the Meek 843. all the Countries that lye between the Rivers of Rhosne and Saone and the Alpes viz. Provence Daulphine Savoy and Franch County remained Imperial Lands And the French Kings in the second Race yea and very far in the third Race pretended nothing to them till Daulphine came to them in the time of Philip de Valois and Provence in the time of Lewis the XI And that part of the Empire being held by Lothary the eldest Son of Lewis the Meek and after him by his Son Lewis the Young who dyed without Heirs Male a State was erected in favour of his Daughter Hermengard between these two Rivers and the Alpes which was called the Kingdom of Arles or the second Kingdome of Burgundy which continued under its proper Kings whose pedegree was fully described by the Historian Du Chesne unto the death of Rodolphus the last King who dying without issue an 1036. left his Estate to the Emperour Conrad the II surnamed the Salique who had married his sister Grisel or as some say was his Nephew by her By that gift besides the antient pretence of the Empire upon that Kingdome at least for the soveraignty the Emperours became Masters of the same both by soveraignty and propriety and annext it to the Empire At which time the Arch bishop of Treves tooke the name of Cnancellor per regnum Arelatense But the Authority of the Emperours coming to a great decay out of Germany especially during the Warres betweene the Emperour Henry the IV. and the Popes four Principalities were framed in that Kingdom of Arles of the Counts of Provence the Dolphins of Viennois the Counts of Moriurre called since Dukes of Savoy and the Counts of Rurgundy which without question depended from the Empire as long as there was any vigour in it But time hath worne out that title and prescription is past uponit not to be broken and the old title revived unless the Emperour will together question most part of the Principalities of Italy and the East and North Gaules Of these four Principalities that of Savoy subsisteth to this day Franch County is fallen to the House of Flanders and so to the house of Austria Daulphiné was given to Philip de Valois by Imbert Dolphin about the yeare 1343. And Provence to Lewis the XI an 1482. by Charles Count of Maine Heir to René King of Naples and Duke of Anjou All these changes and gifts as for the propriety only the Soveraignty being still pretended by the Emperours which they may well be accounted to have lost by weaknesse desertion and by prescription as many other Principalities at this side of the Rhine Besides the French Histories relate that in the year 1377. the Emperour Charles the IV being come into France to visit King Charles the V gave to his God-son Charles who since was Charles the VI the right which the Emperours pretended in Daulphiné which was no great gift And Theodorick à Niem an Historian of that age saith That the same Emperour being come to Avignon to visit the Pope gave to Lewis Duke of Anjou brother to Charles the V. of France the whole Kingdome of Arles which had been under the jurisdiction of the Empire in recompence of the magnificent entertainment which the said Lewis gave him at Villeneufue near Avignon So all these Rights of the Empire are lost either by prescription or donation These are all the rights that can be imagined to be pretended by the Emperours and the House of Austria upon the Soveraignty of France Paragraphe II. Of the Rights pretended upon Provence Let us now examine some pretences of the House of Austria upon some Dutchies and other Dominions in France beginning at Provence 1. I shewed before how Provence before the partage betweene the Sons of Lewis the Meek a fundamental and famous Date in our History was part of the Kingdome of France And when it was divided into Tetrarchies it was a member of the Kingdom of Mets Austrasia or Burgundy But when before that famous division all France was reunited in the second Race under these two great Princes Pepin and Charlemagne Provence was a part of it 2. By the partage betweene the Sonnes of Lewis the Meek Provence with all that was beyond the Rivers of Rhosne and Saone was cut off from the portion given to Charles the Bald and was since called the Kingdome of Arles All these pieces given to Lothary the eldest brother were called the Empire and Imperial grounds and to this day the Lands beyond the Rhone towards Italy are called Terres d' Empire Lands of the Empire and the Lands at this side Terres de France French Lands Since that partage the Emperours have alwayes pretended a Soveraignty to those Countries a right strengthened by the donation made of the propriety of it to the Emperour Conrad the Salique by his Uncle or Brother in law Rodolphus the last King of Burgundy 3. Lewis the II. Emperour Son to
angred the Count of Charrolois and increased his jealousies Philip Duke of Burgundy dieth an 1467. Charles succeeds him 6. This new Duke of Burgundy is much considered in France by reason of his great Lands and turbulent spirit All his time hee was in Wars with the King and brought the English into France The King also did raise him Enemies which his own rashnesse did multiply He was defeated by the Switzers at Granson and Morat and killed before Nancy an 1477. 7. After his death Lewis took the Dutchy of Burgundy and Provinces annext to it given by Charles the VII to Philip le Bon as a masculin apanage with the Towns upon the River of Somme which Charles was to hold all his life not leave it to his heirs He seized also upon the Town of Arras upon which he pretended a right He did his utmost to catch Mary the inheritrix of Charles and desired the people of Gant to deliver her into his hand or make her marry Charles the Dolphin but they protected her and soon after Maximilian of Austria married her 8. In Spain after the enterview of the two King Lewis of France and Henry of Castilia and the sale or pawning of the County of Roussillon King John of Arragon seeing that Lewis had arbitrated in favour of the Castilian and had sent John Duke of Calabria for the conquest of Arragon took his time when the leagues in France were strongest against the King to make Perpignan revolt against the French The Garrison retired into the Citadel and made it good till the Town was besieged by Lewis and constrained to return to his obedience Paragraphe II. From the marriage of Maximilian with Mary unto his death This period of forty yeares comprehends four reigns of the French Kings the end of Lewis the XI Charles the VIII Lewis the XII and the beginning of Francis the I in which space the greatnesse of the House of Austria was founded by her union with that of Burgundy and then with Castilia and Arragon Vnder Lewis the XI Since the death of Duke Charles three remarkable things hapned under Lewis the XI Mary inheritrix of Burgundy whom her Father had promist to many Princes in the end was married to Maximilian of Austria an 1478. Lewis would have her for Charles the Delphin but he was but six years old and she above fifteen yeares elder then he That preferring of Maximilian before Charles was the cause of many evils to France 1. The loss of all that Mary possest which might have been united with France 2. The increase of the house of Austria which began then to be jealous of France which she was very far from before that alliance 3. Great Wars and endlesse envy by the neighborhood of these two great Houses That marriage lasted but four yeares Mary dying of a fall from her Horse as she was hunting She left two children Philip Archduke of Austria Father to Charles the V. and Margaret 2. By the jealousie risen between France and Austria by that marriage and incensed by the revolt of the Prince of Orenge a great Lord of Franch County they broke into open War and the battel of Guinegast was fought of which the event was so uncertain that both parties ascribed to themselves the victory 3. Mary of Burgundy being dead the Flemmings especially the Gantois alwayes mutinous would expell Maximilian and dispose of Mary's Children They married Margaret to Charles the Dolphin and appointed for her portion the County of Artois Franch County and other Lands Margaret was then but two yeares old and Charles twelve But Charles being married since with Anne Dutchesse of Britain Margaret was sent back to her Father Maximilian which was a new cause of jealousie betweene these two families This Margaret being seperated from Charles was married to John Son of Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castilia whom she never saw Then she was for the third time married with Philibert the II Duke of Savoy They say of her that she was three times married and dyed a Virgin Under Charles the VIII 1. Charles the VIII had civil Wars against Lewis Duke of Orleans the Duke of Britain and others which ended by the battel of St. Aubin after which Charles married Anne the inheritrix of Brittain whereby he offered two affronts unto Maximilian the one that he sent him back his Daughter Margaret withwhom he had bin married seven or eight yeares the other that he married her with whom Maximilian was married by Proxie for in Britaine all the Proclamations were then made in the name of the Dutchess and of the Arch-duke of Austria Upon which Maximilian made War against Charles and took the Towns of Arras St Omer and other places which the French held as yet in Artois But a Peace was made an 1493. by which Charles was within four years to restore the Franch County and some Towns which he held in Artois unto Philip the Heir of Netherlands Son to Maximilian An. 1494. Charles restored to Ferdinand King of Arragon Perpignan and the County of Roussillon though he received not the three hundred thousand Crowns which it was pawnned for The reason why Charles did so we have declared before 3. The same year was the expedition of Charles the VIII into Naples against the house of Arragon To that which we have said of that quarrel this must be added Alphonsus who was adopted by Queen Jane the II. and in the end expelled the house of Anjou out of Italy left Naples to Ferdinand his bastard saying that he could lawfully doe it because it was his own conquest The house of that bastard enjoyed it after him and had four Princes Ferdinand the Bastard Alphonsus his Son Ferdinand his Grandchild and after him Friderick uncle to this last Ferdinand and brother of Alphonsus Although that House of Bastards enjoyed Naples the Kings of Arragon would say that it was by their toleration becaus Alphonsus King of Arragon who had been adopted by Jane the II. had conquered Naples with the Arms the Blood and the money of Arragon that he ought not to have left it to any but hisbrother John King after him of Arragon Wherefore Ch. VIII fearing lest Ferdinand King of Arragon Son to John should disturb his conquest of Naples either to assist that Bastard House or to make it his own conquest restored unto him the County of Roussillon gratis upon Ferdinands promise not to disturbe him yea to help him but Ferdinand broke his word with him What was the right of Charles was shewed before Charles with great expedition past through Piemont Milan Pisa Florence Rome got the Kingdom of Naples without difficulty and governed it without prudence and instantly lost it by the ill behaviour of his Ministers which got him the hatred of the Neapolitans A league was made by the Pope the Venetians the King of Naples and the Duke of Milan not onely to stay his conquests but to stop his return
after repenting of that donation which he saw to be displeasing to the Colledge of Cardinals joyned with the Emperour for the dispossessing of Octavio who put himself in Henry the II his protection and that King powerfully assisted him both against the Pope and the Emperour and was at such odds with the Pope as to prohibit the bringing of any money out of France to Rome At which the Pope amazed desired peace of the King and desisted to oppose Octavio yea and caused the Emperour to restore Placentia to Octavio since which time Octavio and his successours have enjoyed Parma and Placentia At the same time the King protected also the Prince of Mirandola whom the Pope would oppresse Before that time an 1545. the Emperour got a great victory over the Protestant Princes of Germany Their two chiefe men Friderick Elector of Saxony and Philip Lantgrave of Hâ—sse were taken prisoners Whereby the Protestant party was so humbled that in the year 1550. they implored the help of Henry the II of France who past into Germany to relieve them The Constable of Montmorency in his way seized upon the Townes of Metz Toul and Verdun upon the Rights which we have set down in the third Chapter That enterpize of Henry in favour of the Protestants made the Emperour conclude a peace with them in haste So that the King being come to Strasburg was desired by them to return because they were agreed with the Emperour Returning from Germany he took many Towns in Lutzenburg Rochemars Danvilliers Ivoy Bovillon And the Emperour towards the end of the year 1551. besiegeth Metz so well defended by Francis Duke of Guise that the siege was raised the first day of the year 1552 Terrovenne is taken and razed by the Emperour The people of Siena fearing lest that Cosmo de Medicis Duke of Florence should make himself Master of their Commonwealth had put themselves into the Emperours hands hoping that he would bring them in their liberty But seeing that he would bring them under the subjection of Cosmo they called Henry the II to their help who gave them Blaise de Montlue for their Governour who since was Marshal of France in his Commentaries he hath described how that City was besieged But in the end they were forced to submit to the Florentine In the year 1555. the Emperour Charles resigned the Imperial Crown to his brother Ferdinand and all his other Estates to his Son Philip the II. A Treaty of Peace betweene Henry and Philip was moved near Ardres and perfected near Cambray an 1556. for ten yeares and sworne by the two Kings Feb. 6. But presently after the death of Jule the III. and the Pontificat of Marcel the II. which lasted but two and twenty dayes the peace was broken upon the Election of Paul the IV. a Neapolitan of the house of Caraffa allied to that of Melpha which had alwayes been of the French faction and was odious to the Spaniards who used all their power to hinder his election And when in spite of them he was elected they raised two powerfull Families of Rome against him the Columna's and the Vitelli's who revolted against the Pope being assisted by Philip. The King sends help to the Pope so the Truce is broken Many exploits of Arms were done about Rome But Octob. 14. 1557 the Pope and the Spaniard agreed and Henry called his Army back But at the same time Philip having married Queen Mary of England made his wife declare War to Henry by a Heralt of Arms who spoke to the King himself at Reims whence followed many various effects of war in Picardie and Champagne till the memorable battell of Saint Guintin lost by the French an 1557. where the Constable was taken But Francis Duke of Guise newly returned from Italy revived the sad condition of France by the taking of Calais Guines the Land of Oye and the Town of Thionville The two Armies of these two Princes being both in sight one of another in Picardy near the River of Somme the Constable of France and the Marshall Saint Andrew both Prisoners of the Spaniard the Popes Nuntio and Christina Dowagar of Lorrain Cosen-german to Philip manage a peace which was concluded at Chasteau in Cambresis in February 1559. By the first Article of that Treaty the French King was to execute religiously all the Treaties made between Charles the V and Francis the I. whereby they understood the cessions made of Naples Milan Flanders and Artois unlesse the present Treaty did contradict it but that Treaty mentioned onely the restitutions of the Towns taken on both sides and the rendition of the States of Savoy and Piemont to Philibert Emanuel Duke of Savoy Also by that Treaty a marriage was agreed on between Philip then newly a Widower by the death of Queen Mary of England and Elizabeth daughter to Henry the II. which for that reason was called the Queen of Peace In the celebration of that marriage Henry the II was slain Paragraphe V. From the peace of Chasteau in Cambresis 1559. to the death of the Duke of Alenson 1584. There was no open war between the two Crownes all that time which comprehends the reign of Francis the II Charles the IX and great part of that of Henry the III. But by the vertue of that Queen of peace the Union was so great that the troubles of Religion being risen in France Philip assisted the French Kings with his Armes Under Francis the II. In this reign of ninteen months the History observeth two notable things which are much for our purpose 1. The State of France being in trouble at the entry of this reign by the great favour of the Guises Unkles to Queen Mary of Scotland wife to Francis the II and by the Queen-mother Catherine de Medicis who took the Regency of the Kingdome to the prejudice of Antony of Bourbon King of Navarra and first Prince of the blood of France after the Kings brothers who being kept low and all the house of Bourbon with him seemed to threaten France of a Civil War Philip the II considering that State of France sent to Francis the II a letter which was read in the Councell whereby he said that he had heard how some great men of France being ill satisfied of the Government establisht by him his brother in law Francis threatned his State of a Civill War That he Philip was ready to imploy all his Forces and his life to make him obeyed as his good confederate and neighbour remembring the good instructions and the holy education which his Father Charles the V had received from Lewis the XII his Guardian 2. The house of Bourbon being degraded from the rank it ought to have had in the Court Antony King of Navarra retired into Bearn and when the Cardinal of Bourbon and the Prince de la Roche sur Yon conducted the Queen of Spain to her husband he bore them company Now because by the Treaty of marriage that
Princesse was to be delivered to Philip upon the frontiers of Spain the Duke de l' Infantasqua and the Cardinall of Burgos came to receive her in the Abbey of Roncevaux which was in Navarra There King Antony protested that the Queen was not delivered upon the frontires of Spain but in the heart of his own Kingdom that none should believe hereafter that Roncevaux did belong to the King of Spain Under Charles the IX All this reign past among civill confusions about Religion and scarce any dispute was between the two Crowns Yea Philip furnisht Charles many times with Forces to subdue his Protestant subjects Only these things are to be remembred for our purpose 1. After the first peace with the Protestants an 1564 Charles made a progress about his Kingdom and saw his sister Elizabeth Queen of Spain at Bayonne There the Queen-mother had an earnest and secret conference with the Duke of Alba. It is thought they agreed about a mutuall assistance between the two Crowns against the Protestants of France and Netherlands for in that year 1565. they began to stir in those Dominions of the Spaniard Philip assisted Charles with some Troops which kindness Charles could not return the fire being kindled in all the parts of his Kingdom 2. An. 1566. two things were near to have made a breach between the two States Bertrand de Montlue whom his Father in his Commentaries calleth Captaine Peyrot seeing peace in France undertakes to make some conquest upon the Sea comes to the Isle of Madera subject to Portugal and desiring to take water is repulsed with Canon-shot upon which he makes a descent into the Iland with strong hand besiegeth the Town takes it but is slain in that exploit A complaint is made of this to Philip as Uncle to the King of Portugal as an infraction of the Treaty in which Portugal was comprehended Philip incenseth Charles against his own subjects about this but the Admiral appeaseth Charles shewing that it was but a mis-understanding among private persons Another businesse of that nature was that of Gourgues Dominique de Gourgues was a Captain of Gascony who in the Wars of Italy had been taken by the Spaniards and ill used in prison To be avenged of them he went to Florida in the West-Indies besieged the Fort which the Spaniards kept there takes it by force kills or hangs all the Souldiers then returnes into France Of this Philip makes high complaint unto Charles and Gourgues was in great danger of his life but he was protected by the Admirall of Chastillon a Protestant and an enemy to the Spaniards He represented unto the King that it was an Act of private revenge Also that a little before Melander a Spanish Captaine had expelled out of the same Fort in Florida John Rebaut of Diepe with five hundred French-men whom he had killed or hanged every man with this inscription Not as to French-men but as to Lutherans The wisest French Historians affirm and so did Gourgues himselfe That not any private revenge but the desire to punish that horrible treachery and murther upon his Country-men made him undertake and atchieve that high enterprise An. 1570. Charles married Elizabeth daughter to the Emperour Maximilian a vertuous Princess much beloved of her Husband Shortly after Philip married another daughter of the same Emperour This double affinity did confirm the friendship betwixt the two Crowns Under Henry the III. Henry the III. returning out of Poland an 1574. passeth through Vienna where he is wel received by the Emperour Maximilian although one of his Sons had been Henries competitor for the Crown of Poland Yea the Emperour gave him wholsome counsels for settling peace in his State An. 1577. The Protestants of Netherlands being opprest by the Spaniard and little helped by Matthias brother to the Emperour Rodolphus whom both Papists and Protestants had chosen for the expulsion of the Spaniard the States of those Provinces called Francis Duke of Alanson the French Kings brother who in his way thither made himselfe Master of the City of Cambray but being ill used by the Dutch he returned home without doing any thing But in the yeare 1583. he came againe with the title of Duke of Brabant and Count of Flanders but he made no long stay there having made a malicious attempt upon Antwerp and other Towns and returning full of shame he dyed at Chasteau Thierry an 1584. These enterprises of the Duke of Alanson bred great jealousies between the two Crowns and were taken for a breach of the peace Wherfore also Philip assisted the League of France against the Royal house with great eagernesse An. 1579. Sebastian King of Portugal being dead in Africa Philip King of Spain got the Kingdom an 1580. Among his Competitors was Antony bastard of Lewis Prince Constable of Portugal but pretending himselfe a lawfull Son as legitimated by the Pope Antony expelled by Philip retired into England where finding no countenance he passeth into France agreeth with Katherine the Queen-mother who as I shewed in the third Chapter had great pretences to the Crown of Portugal and for some Lands in Portugal which he promiseth her she gives him helpe and raiseth an Army of French-men under Peter Strozzi They go to the Terceras where some Hands held for Antony where they had very ill success That enterprise exasperated Philip very much so that he was one of the first that signed the League Some think it began at the death of the Duke of Alanson when none remained of all the house of Valois but Henry the III who had no Children and was not like to have any and the house of Bourbon saving onely the old Cardinall of Bourbon was Protestant or favourer of Protestants This encouraged the Spaniard to trouble the State of France and the house of Guise to set up for themselves under pretence of zeal of Religion Paragraphe VIII From the death of the Duke d'Alanson 1584. to the Treaty of Vervins 1598. This date comprehends the end of Henry the III. and the beginning of Henry the IV. Under Henry the III. Without examining the severall designes of the League this onely we must know that after the death of the Duke of Alanson the Duke of Guise having formed the League made a Treaty with Philip the II of Spain at Joinville whereby Philip promist him a monthly pension of fifty thousand Crowns to foment the League which being not openly against the King but after the killing of the Guises at Blois and the King himselfe having entred into the League under the title of Holy league against the Heretiques the animosities and designes of the King of Spain against the State of France were not plainly detected under this raigne Under Henry the IV. Here the League did rage and civill War was in all parts of France In these troubles Philip had a great hand and Henry being once acknowledged King was eeven with him and powerfully VVarred against him But these things must be