greatly commended the sayd gentleman and laughed to scorne him who vndertooke the person of a prince of his blood This Duke pinched to the quicke and did extremely persecute diuers marchantes of the best townes of France but finally beginning with the marchants of Paris who hitherto were not accustomed vnto the rasor the whole citie tooke vpon them the matter and caused his commissions to be reuoked imprisoning some of his promoters whereat the rest vanished away like snow against the sunne for which cause he cōceiued so grieuous an hatred against the inhabitants therof that neither for dearth or plenty what abundance of corne wine or other victuals so euer there were within the coūtrey of Champagne or Bourgundy during his gouernement of either of them the said citie of Paris could euer come by any either for money or loue without plentie of letters of marte which were sweetely payed for and deerely bought howbeit by that meanes he neuer after durst deale with any whole estate or communalty not that he therefore quite quayled but still hauked after confiscations here and there and so lightely mette with one or other wherefore his whole rigourous force he executed ouer the inhabitants of his owne iurisdiction whom he euen flaied with al extremitie which was the cause that King Henry through his fathers aduice would neuer after commit vnto him any matter of weight although his two eldest sonnes the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine did beare great sway for he was at that staye that cōducting his children vnto the court gate he there left them and so returned backe againe whereof I doubt whether the father or children ought most to haue bene ashamed Finally this man dyed through poyson and as became a good Christian pardoned those persons who mistaking him for an other had hastened the course of his dayes His childrē did his brother Cardinal Iohn aduāce who seing him selfe furnished with many benefices chose Charles to be his successour whom a fewe yeres he maintained in the college of Nauarre from whence he was preferred to the gouernment of the Dauphine For although in France were no want of men farre more meet to vndertake such a charge and execute that function yet did the credit of his vncle Iohn procure this fauour at the handes of the great King Francis together with some tokens of his quick wit and capacitie herein al which notwithstāding during the reigne of the said great King Francis they were not of any estimatiō For this Charles was simplie named lord of Reims his brother Frācis Earle of Aumale their father being yet liuing the rest of the brethrē were forced to preferre thrust thē selues forward with might maine Again King Francis was not ignorant that these men might stirre vp coales and procure some broiles vnder pretence of the counties of Prouence and Anjou and so trouble the state vpon which causes he credited them no further then needes he must In deede he so highly honoured the beautie of their eldest sister as that he permitted her at the entrie of Queene Eleanor to be attired in Princesse araye although afterward perceiuing these strangers to preuaile as if they had alreadie bene Princes of France he denied the wife of the Marquise of Maine of the mantel royal It is not also vnknowen how the same King toward his end made but smal accompt of the Constable who therefore withdrew him self vnto his owne house the chiefe occasion of which displeasure arose of that that through the commendation of the said Constable his sonne the Dauphine Henry had reteined into his fauour the said Lords of Guise the consequence whereof he doubted Their alliāce also vnto the daughter of the great Seneschal of Normandie whom al that time the said Dauphin kept caused that the same King Francis who before had highly fauoured her did now also disdaine and mislike her This Ladie who was called the great Seneschal was daughter vnto the late lord of S. Valliers and with her owne maydenhead redeemed her fathers life but afterward to the great reproche and slander of our France after she was halfe spent was giuē to the Dauphine Henrie whose hearte she so stedfastly wonne as that finally she was created Duchesse of Valentinois and in effect became Queene of France Wherupon the house of Guise accompting her as a conuenient bridge by the which they might passe ouer into France did think it meete to take holde of so good an occasion although it were in effect but an homelie shift and therefore procured the marriage of their thirde brother afterward Duke of Aumale vnto the yongest daughter of this said Seneschal by whose meanes they the further insinuated them selues into King Henries fauour vpon whom in the meane time they practised two seueral drifts wherein we may as in a glasse behold the rest of their behauiours toward the estate of France First by meanes of this Seneschal they presumed so farre as to attempt to wrest from the Dauphine Henrie a promise of restauration vnto the counties of Prouence and Anjou as part of a dowrie toward this their brothers marriage Howbeit as God doeth for the most part euen by the simplest persons abate the pride and crueltie of the mightiest so likewise did he now cause the onely countenance of the Lord de la Chesnay to force thē most shamefully and euen as it were in despite of their hearts to release this grant being in this only respect to be accompted happie that through the throwing of the same into the fire they did also therewithal consume and reduce into ashes the assured proofe and manifest detection of their trayterous fellonie considering that in case King Francis had but once had anie inckling of the same it would haue bene the vtter extirpation and vndoing not onlie of them selues but of the great Seneschal also Let vs now therefore proceede vnto the second point which was this On the one side King Francis not long before his deceasse was much accompanied with two persons of whome he made great accompt The one was the Cardinal of Tournon chanceler of the order and Master of his chappel The other was the Lord Annebaut Marshal and Admiral of France and besides both these there was the Constable also who notwithstanding he came not to the court yet did he reteine the office of great Master of France On the other side the Dauphine was entangled with the Ladie great Seneschal vpon whom two of the brethren of Guise did continually attend namely Francis Earle of Aumale and Charles Lord of Reims because of the alliance aforesaid al which notwithstanding yet was he most addicted vnto the Lord of S. Andrews whose father had bene his gouernour Now then seing that the sicknes whereof the late King Francis the first died was long and in most of the phisitions opinions in maner incurable the Lords of Guise persuaded the aforesaid Dauphine that so sone as he had gotten possession
euer any man of what estate coūtrey or condicion so euer he were might clime vnto in France To him onely aboue al other I say is the whole generation of Guise bound beholding for their descent from a Princesse of France and daughter of Vendosme because that he the said constable was the motioner of the marriage betwene their father and mother who alreadie nothing hoping or once thinking vpon anie so good hap had begonne to cast his eye toward another Ladie of farre meaner estate and calling Againe the onely request and peticion of the Constable were of sufficient force in their behalfe at the returne of King Francis out of Spaine to keepe free their father out of prison for his leading of the Kings power and forces into Lorraine without the said Kings loue or leaue yea and to restore him againe into fauour Again after the deceasse of the Kings daughter who was Queene of Scots and that the King of Scots was desirous to take another wife in France the Constable was the only preferrer of the said Lords of Guises sister the late Queene mother vnto Marie Stuard how Queene who by his meanes was preferred before many other both more marriageable and meete for such a man then her selfe Howbeit I can not denie but that it was necessarie to send her into places vnknowen for that whiles she remained at Nancy she endeuoured to haue forsaken the court of Lorraine and haue yelded her person vnto the Abbot of Beaulieu great vncle vnto the late Duke of Bouillon yea had not the Countesse of Lignanges warned the Lady Rene of Bourbon of her determination she had assuredly departed with the said Abbot into his cloyster of Beaulieu For the which practise the afore named Abbot was rewarded with the natural courtesies of this race for after that vpon their fidelities he had yelded him self into their clawes and that it seemed they had forgotten the wantonnes of their said sister they procured his murder at vnwares accompanying their cruelty both with periurie and great ingratitude For notwithstanding the house of Sedan hath alwaies stood the race of Lorraine in great steade yet haue the Lords of Guise in diuers wise since persecuted the same Now therefore to returne vnto their ingratitude towarde the Constable King Henrie the second comming vnto the crowne in the yere 1546 and hauing as is aforesaid committed the whole regiment therof vnto his good gossippe the Constable did shortly after take the Earle of Aumale his brother the Lord of Reims and the Lords of Sedan and of S. Andrewes and present them vnto the said Constable with these wordes Gossippe these schollers do I giue vnto you to the end they may learne of you and obey you as my selfe I pray you traine them vp in my affaires so that vnder you during your life they may do me seruice And then turning vnto them he said I do giue you this man for your father and Scholemaster him loue and honour doing whatsoeuer he shal command for my selfe do accompt him my father and the most deare friend and faithful seruant which euer my father had or my selfe may haue Afterward the said Lords of Guises father at his next meeting with the Constable said vnto his sonnes Behold your father for my selfe hath he also created him honour and serue for we al be bound so to do The testimonie also of the late Cardinal their vncle which he gaue in the presence of the Cardinal of Lenoncourt describeth more plainely their dueties vnto the Constable for it was pronounced in his absence and they practising some conspiracie against him Take heede sayd he of displeasing that man for had not he bene both your father and whole kindred had had enough to do neither should your selues haue euer atteined vnto that estate wherein you are now placed nor your sister neither euen my self am in his debt for mine owne promotion and for whatsoeuer fauour cōmoditie or credit that I haue reaped at the hands of the late king Al which admonitions were neuerthelesse not of sufficient force to restraine them frō practising as wel openly as priuately the ouerthrow of the said Constable notwithstanding that so long as King Henrie liued their driftes came but to smal purpose in deede during the raigne of Francis the second they were euen with him and paid for their scholing as hereafter more at large wil appeare We haue alreadie spoken of the marriage of their brother the Marquise of Maine vnto the great Seneschals daughter which was the first roote of their hatred against the Lord of Chastillon afterward Admiral of France the which through new occurrences hath since so encreased that finally they haue brought both him al his brethren vnto their ends not yet ceasing from practising the vtter extirpation of al his race and familie vnlesse them selues may first be dispatched and made away To begin therfore at the foundation of al these euils which since haue almost subuerted the whole estate of France we are to vnderstād that the Constable seeking the prefermēt of his nephues did about eightene yeres since procure vnto the eldest brother of the house of Chastillon the degree of a Cardinal which in that time through ignorance and superstitious zeale was greatly desired among al estates and afterward did by al conuenient meanes aduance as it were steppe by steppe the other two brethren Iasper and Francis into al commissions and offices of warfare both by sea and land by meanes whereof they hauing obteined great credite among the whole nobilitie it was an easie matter for the Admiral then but Lord of Chastillon as wel through the support of his said vncle the Cōstable as also in respect of the debates and quarels that then were prosecuted betwene the Lords of Dampierre S. Andrewes to insinuate him selfe into the especial fauour of King Henrie then Dauphine This the Earle of Aumale perceiuing who in those daies was in least reputation with King Francis he thought it meete for the atteining of the said Dauphines good wil to ioyne in familiaritie and straight league with the said Lord of Chastillon which familiaritie eche of them so firmely obserued for the space of foure or fiue yeres that these two Lords could not liue one without an other but as a token of their more mutual agreemēt did for the most part apparel them selues daily in like sutes of raimēt In the meane time it so fel out that the father of these Lords of Guise purposing the preferment of his familie by al meanes possible sought to ioyne his third sonne the Marquise of Maine in marriage vnto the yongest daughter of the great Seneschal the mother being as then the Dauphines harlot Of this marriage the Earle of Aumale could in no wise like and for that cause fearing to prouoke the Dauphine against him selfe he brake the matter vnto his companion the Lord of Chastillon desiring him as his especial friend to giue him some
conquest of the realmes of Naples and Sicill and there had continued in wages with the Venitians a certayn space did now returne into France there to chalenge his right in the Countyes of Prouence Anjou with the Dutchye of Bar. This Dutchy was graunted vnto him conditionally that he and his successours should for the same doe hōmage vnto the King of France who thereby remained soueraine lord ouer the same but as for the Countyes of Prouence and Anjou it was answered that they being parcel of the demaynes of the crowne might not fall vnto the distaffe so that finally by consente of King Charles the eight and this Duke Rene the controuersie was referred vnto the arbitrement of three vmpiers whiles in the meane time the King committed vnto the Duke a regiment of an hundred men of armes with the enterteinment of sixe and thirtie thousand frankes of yerly pension Now in the yere of our Lord 1489 the Neopolitanes detesting the tyranny of yong Alphonsus required the ayde of this Duke Rene who thereunto prepared him selfe but duringe his preparation the three vmpiers aforesaid pronounced their arreste wherein it was found tha◠not onely Anjou and Prouence but also Sicill and Naples did apperteine vnto the King of France vpon which occasion Charles the eight vndertooke that voyage him selfe Howbeit notwithstanding this arrest Yoland mother vnto this Duke Rene euen after the deceasse of her father Rene the great did still reteine the title of Queene of Sicill yea this Rene the seconde chalenged the title of King of Sicill and Ierusalem in the name of the conquestes o◠his ancesters causinge his eldest sonne Anthony to be called Duke of Calabre still quarteringe the armes of Anjou with his owne for which his presumptiō togither with diuers other his practises Kinge Lewes the twelueth stomaking him expelled him out of France and tooke away all his pensions but he founde meanes to be reconciled and afterward dyed as he rode on huntinge hauing remained Duke fiue and thirtie yeres This man had by his second wife named Philippe the sister vnto the Duke of Guelderland twelue children of whom seuen dyed in their youth whereby he left only fiue who all were sonnes named Anthony Claude Iohn Lewes and Francis. Anthony succeeded his father in the Duchyes of Lorraine and Bar also in the Countye of Vaudemont and Marquisat of Ponte and by the death of this Charles Duke of Guelderlande his mothers brother in the said Duchye of Guelderlande and in the Countye of Zutphan leauing behind him three children Francis who succeeded in his dominions Anne maried vnto the prince of Orange and Nicolas first bishop of Verdun and afterwarde of Metz and finally as presently he is earle of Vaudemont and at this present father in law vnto Henrye the third King of Frāce Francis the successour of his father Anthony had by Christian the daughter vnto the King of Denmarck issue one sonne named Charles and two daughters Charles the seconde and sonne vnto Francis succeeded his father in the yere 1545. and presently liueth hauing to wife Claude the daughter of King Henrye the second by whom he hath diuers children now liuing Claude the second sonne of Rene Duke of Guise and Baron of Ginuille repayred vnto the French courte where in short space he obteined the gouernement of Champagne and Burgundye and marying Anthoynet of Bourbon aunt vnto the late King of Nauarre he had by her issue six sonnes namely Francis Charles Claude Lewes Rene and the great Prior of France of whom but especially of Francis who after his father was Duke of Guise and finally slayne by Poltrot at the siege of Orleans and of Charles afterward Cardinall of Lorraine we wil hereafter speake more largelye not omitting what so may be incident touching the other brethren of whom Claude obteined the Dutchye of Aumale and was slaine at the siege of Rochel Rene enioyed the Marquisat of Allebeufe Lewes was created Cardinall of Guise and the yongest was made great Prior of France Iohn the thirde sonne of Rene and bishop of Metz was through great sute vnto Leo the tenth electe Cardinall in the yere 1518 and afterward being ordinarily resident in the French courte obteyned great fauour with King Francis the first for he neuer medled with matters of estate but passed ouer his time in pleasure The other two sonnes namely Lewes and Francis dyed in the warres the one in the realme of Naples and the other at the battayle of Pauie Duke Anthony the first sonne was of a reasonable good disposition and voluntarily came vnto Dijon vnto King Francis and there did him hommage for the Duchye of Bar shewing him selfe very sorye for his offence which he had committed in seeking to defraude the same King Francis of the Duchye of Guelderlande which he pretended to fall to him by succession in the right of his mother For he had practised by one Iames Canis the Borowmaster of Nemegue to rayse the commons and keepe the said King out of his possession but then seing that the people would not accept him but had submitted them selues vnto the Duke of Cleuelande he fought all meanes possible to be reconciled to cure this skarre which through the helpe and fauour of his brother Iohn Cardinal of Lorraine he soone brought to passe and King Francis did cleerly pardon and forgiue him This Cardinal Iohn was the iollyest encrocher of benefices aliue as might plainly be perceiued by the estate wher into he brought the whole French Church but because he otherwise was of a reasonable courteous disposition a great spender and therewithall very liberall all was taken in meetly good parte The third brother who was Duke of Guise and father vnto this Duke of Guise and Cardinal of Lorraine with the rest was neuer put in any great credite neither had the charge of any waightie affayres committed vnto him For his leading of the Kinges power without his loue or leaue into Lorraine to the succour of his brother Duke Anthony who as the talke went was sore ouerlayed with Anabaptistes was taken in very euil parte and him selfe had not the Constable at that time great master and Marshal of France entreated for him would King Francis haue committed vnto prison and hardely dealt withal For King Francis was such an one as would not permit those who without his owne liberalitie were of them selues of no reputation so farre to encroche vpon his auctoritie as appeared at another time when the said Lord of Guise being gouernour of Burgundye sought to enter into the castle of Aussonne which at that time was a seueral charge and in the custodie of a french gentleman of the retinewe of the Marquise of Rotelin named the Lord of Rouueray who withstoode him forbade him the entrie therinto which the said de Rouueray durst not haue done in case the said Lord of Guise had bene a prince who for that cause complained vnto King Francis but he for that deede
of the renewing of the offices of the whole realme which summe if all at once it should be disboursed would surpasse the prodigalitie of al Princes that euer were hoping after her to enioye the same them selues During these matters the Lord of Reims gaping after more promotions whereby he might the better order his intents through the meanes of the aforesaid Seneschall obteyned fauourable letters from King Henry to Pope Paul the thirde who in that time curryed fauour with all Christian princes to the end through their ayde to be reuenged of the Emperour Charles the fifth for the death of his abominable sonne Peter Lewes whereby also the Lord of Reims whome the Seneschal called but master Charles filled his own bagges with the sale of his masters fauour By meanes therefore of these letters about the end of Iulie in the yeare 1547 he was created Cardinal vpon occasion whereof vnder pretence as wel of the Council of Boulogne as also of many other affaires which him selfe deuised he vndertooke a voiage into Italie through other two principal motions The first was for the concluding of the mariage aforesaid of his brother vnto the Duke of Ferara his daughter The other to the end to shew his persō and so be knowen in Rome whereby he might in time to come the better order his driftes and deuises Being there he tooke vpon him the title of Cardinal of Anjou but into what peril through that presumptuous folly he brought him selfe most men do knowe For had not the great Seneschal stood his friend he neuer durst haue shewed his face in France any more albeit howsoeuer it came to passe he was compelled to leaue his title of Anjou beyond the Alpes and at his returne to accept the surname of his ancestours and country whereupon we shal hereafter cal him as him selfe hath especially after his vncles deceasse done the Cardinal of Lorraine At his cōming home to the court he so laboured king Henry that the Earledome of Aumale was erected into a Duchie therby to hasten the marriage of his brother Francis vnto the aforenamed Duke of Ferraras daughter which shortly after was consummate After this time began they to procure their owne aduancements and to lay the foundation of their tyrannie ouer al men both riche and poore in France We wil therefore begin with their vncle Cardinal Iohn who was the instrument to translate master Charles from the College of Nauarre vnto the Courte Not forbearing vntil that through his decease he might enriche them with his benefices they neuer left especially master Charles to pluck frō vnder his elbow al that possibly they could through a kinde of importunatenes not farre different frō meere violence This good nephue found meanes to make his vncle desirous to forsake the courte procuring vnto him such seruants as pleased him and frustrating him of those which were the most faithful vnder whatsoeuer colour he thought best and delt with him in such maner as that to his power he stripped him euen into his shirt in so much that shortly a soden death for he liued ouer long for his nephues commoditie caried him away at his returne from the election of Pope Iulius the third in the yere 1550. At that time did his nephue become famous in Rome procuring a Cardinals hat for his brother the Cardinal of Guise the ouerliuer of al the six brethren at which time also was ended consummate the aforesaid marriage of the eldest brother vnto the daughter of Ferrara Hauing thus vnclothed their vncle before he were ready to goe to bed let vs consider how they handled him after his death This man dyed indetted vnto many marchants but especially of Paris leauing such welth in moueable goods as was great yea and more then sufficient to haue discharged al. After his deceasse his creditors drew toward his nephue the Cardinal of Lorrain who together with the Cardinal of Guise had raked vp al his liuings but himselfe alone had seased vpon al the moueables to whom he answered that he was not his heire For such men doe neuer accompt him heire who seaseth vpon the goods as the practitioners do tearme it do medle with the inheritance but him onely who saith I am he But now no man spake that word for the Cardinal of Lorraine ment to haue the goods of free cost and as for his brethren they would not pay because they had not the goods Againe it is not vnknowen that benefices by a certain rigour of Law are not chargeable with the dettes If therefore the said Cardinal of Lorraine had at the first willed most of them to looke for nothing yet in losing of their dettes they should haue bene good gainers for then should they haue saued both their time and cost which they wasted in wayting almost two whole yeres to know the end of this fetch which he caused one of his men to playe to whome he gaue cōmission to peruse the dettes of the party deceased and the same to verifie and set in order as he tearmed it with other such like tearmes of practise which stil were in this commissioners mouth In the meane time they do make an inuentory saith one a description saith an other a remembrance sayth another but whatsoeuer it were among al the dead mans mouables was to be found in the end nothing by the report and conscience of his nephue saue a few olde stooles and settles with a litle rotten tapestrye good to make sport with al which to be briefe was the whole inuētory of al that that the Cardinal would not haue But the sport was to heare his talke hereupon Whensoeuer the merchants of Paris came in his presence Me thinketh would he say these fleas do bite me an other time Tush they be Englishmen Saluters or giuers of good morowes Againe comming to the particulars To one he is an vserer of Paris to an other he hath not yet deliuered his wares to an other he sould it for six times more then it was worth to another he hath receiued some money in part of payment to another Nothing is dewe signifying you get nothing which title comprehended the greatest nomber But vnto those to whome he shewed greatest fauour he vsed to say Help to paye your selues not meaning Hold forth your hands and take but giue and acquite For when a man had forgiuen halfe or two third partes yea three quarters and more yet looking vpon his booke he should finde no more receiued then that which he had acquitted and forgiuen And for the rest Aske would he say some composition some right or priuiledge or some other thing of the King and I wil healpe you vnto it which was as good as if he should haue sayd to the merchāts Go euery one of you kil one or two and I wil procure your pardons for the sale of the settels stooles and tapestry was put of vntil the day after domes day Wherevpon two notable
marchants among other beholding this shamefull dealing did after diuers motions finally offer to acquite the party deceased of al his dettes for one quarter or at the most a third part of the yerely reuenue of al his benefices and yet could come to no end part of them neuertheles did finally obteine some a quarter others a fifth part others a tenth part some more some lesse but the greatest number coulde get nothing at al. And yet for so much as ech one did acquitte al or at the least the most part were driuen to giue acquittance as for money receiued to what end ech one may sone perceiue namely to defraud the creditors of their honour the Cardinal of the remembrance and thinking vpon their liberalitie Thus by litle and litle he dispatched away the Marchants of Paris and such others to the end the more easily to fight against the mightiest and generally against al the estates of the realme whome he and his brethren must necessarilie subdue before they can attaine to touch the white whereat they do leuel their shot They had wrested a promise from King Henrie whiles he was Dauphine whereby when he were King the Countie of Prouence and Duchie of Anjou should returne into their hāds But because the General de la Chesnay had therfore clawed them to the quicke that matter lay stil vntil the Kings entrie into Anger 's for then they begun afresh to quarel this Duchie desiring the only title thereof for one of them Howbeit one only frowning looke of the Constable did quite so ouerthrowe them that from that time they neuer durst once open their mouthes any more for that matter In the meane time therefore they went another way to worke which was by seeking openly to become princes both openly secretly to suppresse the princes To which effect their practises haue bene of long continuance and as strange as possibly might be as by the onely historye of the late Prince of Conde is most euident and our selues wil heere and there shew by diuers particularities worthy to be remembred First in as much as neither the worthines of their blood neither their family could preferre them before diuers french gentlemen but only the prerogatiue of their lands therfore to couer the default of their race they haue caused to erect their simple baronages into Duchies prīcipalities Marquisates and Counties which is the thing that hitherto hath blinded the eyes of the commons who are vtterly ignorant of matters of estate Secondly they haue endeuoured to make the estate of the Peeres for the Cardinal was one equal vnto the Princes yea euen to preferre the said Peeres before the Princes whereupon happened in the yere 1551 a notable matter as thus The court of Parliamēt of Paris had sent six of the chiefest members of their body vnto King Henry to vnderstand his wil and pleasure concerning certaine articles whereof one was The second point is to enquire of the King whether it be his pleasure that my Lordes the princes of the blood with other great Lords entring into the said Courte may weare their swordes For time out of mind that hath bene lawful for the King onely as an especiall prerogatiue of his Royal dignity who hath the hād of iustice as being iustice himself mainteyning in assured safety the ministers of the same And notwithstanding sundry times some princes or lordes haue entred with their swordes that hath bene only when comming sodenly they haue founde the dore open or els by entring at vnwares either haue so done by the Kings expresse commandement at such time as he hath bene displeased or prouoked to wrath against his said Court vpon some other occasions whereof neuertheles no rule or custome ought to take place For contrariwise the late King Francis when he was Dauphin together with the Lord Charles of Bourbon comming in left their swordes at the dore which order King Lewes the twelfth caused stil to be obserued This iudgement of that courte which according vnto right and equitie preferreth the princes before al lords whomsoeuer togither with the sitting to this day obserued in the same and the arrest pronounced against their father did so grieuously moue the Lords of Guise that to the end to breede some debate contrarietie betweene the iudgement of the King of his said Court of Parliament also to augment their owne credit and so by litle and litle to exalt them selues aboue the Prīces they closely practised that wheras the secretary accōmodating himselfe vnto the request of the court the order in the same obserued had in his rowl as hīself hath since testified named the princes first they were neuertheles in the Kings answere placed after the Peeres in maner folowing The Kings pleasure is that when soeuer in his absence the Peeres of France the princes of the blood the Constables and Marshals of France shal come enter into his Court of Parliament into the chamber of Audience whether the dores be open or shut they shal neuertheles stil weare their swordes the which the said King meaneth not that any other of what estate or calling soeuer he be shal doe Giuen at Fountainebleau the last day of August in the yere 1551. signed Henry and contresigned Du Thier. Thirdly they practised a wonderful subtiltie whereby with the time to yelde a kinde of prescription vnto such principalitie as they sought to vsurpe which was in seeking to allye themselues on al sides in the most high and riche maner that possibly they could and so to slyde in among the princes and beare the like port as they As also at the entry of King Henry into the towne of Suse Francis Duke of Guise presumed to marche cheeke by ioule with the King of Nauarre the first prince of the crowne Also at king Francis the second his first comming forth of his chamber in his mourning weed the said Lord of Guise intruded him selfe betweene two princes of the blood to the ende with them to beare vp his traine Againe during the reignes of Henry the second Francis the second and Charles the ninth and euen at this present also euery man both hath seene and plainely may beholde with what presumption the house of Guise both haue and stil do encroche aboue the said princes of the blood whom they haue oppressed and troden vnder foot as we will more plainely declare after that we haue yet touched a few matters more tending vnto the discouery of their raging ambition in this respect Fourthly the house of Guise being thus aduanced grew very suspicious and ielouse of their honour stoutly opposing thē selues against al such as withstode their attēpts as is manifest in this The Frēchmen doe so highly reuerence their princes that as they are not to be accōpted wronged or in their honours diffamed for any thing that their said princes either doe or say vnto them so doe they also neuer set hand to their sword
against the said princes notwithstāding that any other of what estate or calling so euer he be stranger or Frenchman ought to take heede of misusing the person of any French gētleman vnlesse he presently be minded to receiue at the handes of the partie misused as much or rather more then he hath done or said vnto him Now the more that the lordes of Guise haue sought to become as Princes of France the more resistance haue they founde especially duringe the reignes of Francis the second and Charles the ninthe neither being as yet quite free from the same as in place shall be shewed Let vs therefore consider some examples of the time of Henry The lord of Rochefort yongest sonne of the house of la Roche-guyon was on a time chalenged man to man in the Kings garden at Fountainbleau by Francis Duke of Guise whereas in their talke he shewed the said Duke that he accompted him not as a prince of France whereof he also afterward made him more plaine demonstration when as at the onlie countenance that the Duke of Guise made to set his hād vpon his dagger he the said lord of Rochefort who was no knight of the order as now he is set as sone his hande to his sworde and thereby made him to be quiet which deede both the King and Princes did wel allowe of This resistance caused that the same Duke of Guise who thought that the lorde of Montmorency against whom he had a quarell notwithstanding he were not as yet Marshall would doe no lesse then the other on a time suborned his great companion the Duke of Nemours and the prince of Ferrara at a place neere vnto the castle of saint Germain shortly after the Constables returne out of imprisonment and then went and plucked the said lord of Montmorency by the cape in the Queenes chamber the meaning whereof is not vnknowen vnto the gentlemen who presently without speaking vnto any man arose and followed him out of the castle to the place appointed where he made him an answere correspondent vnto his demande accompting him therein no otherwise for a Prince then before time which afterward he shewed him more euidently at Paris Kinge Charles the ninthe being there the same time that the meeting was about the edicte of Iulye in a controuersie concerning an ayrie of haukes of the forest of Compiegne which the said lord of Guise chalenged by prerogatiue but the said ayrie finally remained vnto the lord of Montmorency It is not vnknowen again how the Presidēt Liset in this point diuers times withstood them for once in the full audience at the Parliament of Paris he caused to correct the qualitie of the Prince which the Duke of Guise in a certain cause had taken vpon him An other time in the presence of King Henry he affirmed vnto the Cardinall of Lorraine that he was no Prince neither ought to take place among Princes Again at another iourney before the said King in a foolish brablinge which the Cardinall made the same President Liset vsed vnto him these wordes My sonne and friende you are yet to yong to vnderstand those matters which are no vsuall speches to be said to any Prince of France yea he added moreouer these wordes You are no Prince neither equall with Princes if therefore you be determined to take vpon you that title shew vs also the places of your Principalitie This yong sonne was aboue fiue and twentie yeres olde already both Peere and Cardinall The aforesaid court of Parliament did also an other time by sentence definitiue expulse the Duke of Guise these mens father from his fore sitting which by reason of his Peereshippe he chalenged aboue a prince of France All which notwithstanding their hautinesse in this point brake out openlie in diuers wise during sixteene or seuenteene moneths whilest King Francis the seconde reigned whereof we must necessarily here note also some particularities Immediatly after that King Henry was deceased the Duke of Guise and the Cardinall of Lorraine conueyed King Francis the second his brethren the two Queenes into the Louure leauing the Princes of the blood and the rest of the great lordes of the Realme which were not of their faction behinde to keepe the dead corps whiles in the meane time them selues permitted no man to come neere the said Francis or to speake vnto him vnlesse at the least one of them were still in presence and that so diligently that they neuer let him goe out their sightes Then did they also driue away the Constable and displaced all such as they liked not of causing the King to say whatsoeuer them selues listed They found honest pretences to dispatch away the Princes of the blood by sending one into Flanders another into Spayne and so of the rest hauing continually secret seruants and priuy spies about them They changed the estates and officers of the Kings householde orderinge them selues with such violence that a man might as it were at hie noone perceiue their intentes We will now therefore orderly shew you what people withstood them and in what maner For such particular resistance was to small purpose in respect of that which followed We must now therefore consider to what estate their ambition haue brought the affaires of France being accompanied with couetousnes crueltie vngodlines and manifest villanye I say therefore that since the time that they were exalted by meanes of the Seneschall considering also that their children be of a troublesome and peruerse disposition euen to the ende they neuer desisted from persecuting all sortes of people high and low in this Kingdome whereby to satisfie their aforenamed passions yea for want of meanes and opportunitie to persecute them whom they doe hate they haue bent their whole rage against them selues in so much as it is doubtfull to whom they haue done most displeasure whether to their friēds or enemies We will therefore beginne with such mischiefes as they haue practised first against our Kinges then against the Princes of the blood afterward against the great lordes of the Realme and so consequently we will proceede to the estates namely the Nobilitie the officers of Iustice the people the Clergie their fauorites and friends and finally vnto their owne iniuries among them selues setting forth the whole in as briefe maner as possibly we maye desiring the readers to quote downe in their bookes whatsoeuer they perceiue that we haue omitted to the ende to participate the same vnto the posteritie which thereby shall be occasioned for to abhorre the miserie of France which hath suffered and borne so much with ouer great respect many times of such dangerous monsters After the same maner also according as shall be incident in the continuation of our discours we will somewhat touch their vertues to the ende eche one may know by what tokens to remember them Notwithstanding that at the first they were not ouer busie neither kept to great a stirre yet afterward perswading them selues that
condemned to be beheaded confessed maintained and affirmed euen vntil his last gaspe that the Cardinal had caused to giue this commission both to him and manie others Al which notwithstanding they bent against the Protestants and although that a moneth or fiue weekes before they had published a sufficient rigorous Edict against the said Protestants yet did the Cardinal now set on a fresh onset of three Edictes in Nouember 1559. In one of the which these wordes were expressed That in the assemblies both by day and night of the Protestants not only the vse of the Romish church was villanously prophaned but also that ther were sundrie vile wordes both infamous and reprochful against the King and such as in deede tended only to the encouraging of the commons to sedition were there also dispersed and spred abroade But al this serued onely to prouoke sundrie persons yea such as were indeede enemies to the religion and to moue them to suspect that there was other matter then religion which in this point as also in manie others serued but for a shadow In the meane time the Guisians raised such a blotte vpon their nephue that although he were no leper yet after those reportes he lost most part of his reputation Hereupon also arose two new accidents which brought the Cardinal againe out of temper the one was because the president Minard one of his slaues of the Parliament of Paris was slaine with a dagge by vnknowen persons another was that one of his good seruants named Iulian Ferme was also killed neere vnto Chambourg where the King was This Ferme was departed to carie manie remembrances to Paris concerning the making of the processes of diuers of the greatest Princes and Lords of the realme togither with manie notable persons fauourers of the religion The Cardinal therefore taking his aduantage of these occasions gaue a new onset with this slaunder aforesaid vpon the Protestants and by letters patents forbiddeth the bearing of armes more straightly then before through such reportes bringing the King into the hatred of the people which neuer was wonte so to be suspected During these affaires namely the three and twentieth day of December the Counsailer du Bourg was put to death togither with sundrie other Protestants in diuers places to the great displeasure and griefe not onlie of sundrie Frenchmen but also of manie forraine Princes Howbeit al this is nothing in respect of such confusions and mishappes as the Guisians did afterward entangle the King and his dominions in For their dealings openly importing tyrannie their vsual threates against the mightiest in the realme their setting backe of the Princes and great Lords their despising of the estates of the realme their corrupting of the chiefest of the iustices who were reduced to the deuotion of these new gouernours the reuenues of the kingdome at their commandement deuided and giuen where they pleased as likewise were al offices and benefices and to be briefe their violent regiment being of it selfe vnlawful had altogether prouoked moued such hatred against thē both of great and smal that thereof proceeded the enterprise wherof la Renaudier was captain in the name vnder the aduow of the second Prince of the blood the handling breaking whereof we wil more largely declare in the title of their behauiours to the nobilitie At this present let vs marke how at that time they mocked the king and his estate A certaine aduocate of Paris named des Auenelles had warned them that there were certaine practises in hand against them wherevpon they vsed the helpe of the Queene mother in calling the lords of Chastillon to the court where by their aduice they framed a new edict in the Kings name in the which they qualified the rigours of such as before stoode in force against the protestants This did they only to the end to breake of the said enterprise minding incontinently after to reuoke the same as by particular letters they certified their bond slaues of tne Parliament of Paris whereas this edict was immediatly published and the qualifications inregistred in the secret register in such wise neuertheles that some counselers so farre forgat themselues as to say that it was but a false trap to catch the protestants in This was their dalying with the Kings faith bringing vpon our Kinges an infamous blot blemish namely to be periurers and vnfaithful In the meane time hauing fresh aduertisements instead of thinking vpon their regimēt or effectually declaring that they ment not to be such mē as hitherto they had bene reported either that they sought to treade downe the Kings authority they now gathered power on al sides gaue money out of the Kings coffers to Auenelles and other spies sent men of warre euery way and kept the king in the middest of them selues procuring during these broyles certaine letters whereby the Duke of Guise was made lieutenant general for the King with al absolute authoritie then was there no talke but of putting al to fire and sworde and slaying of infinite noble men and gentlemen and so blemishing the name honour sight reigne of this yong King with the most horrible cruelties that euer were knowē for the firmament earth sea shal be witnesses of the barbarousnes of these monsters who haue replenished al France with blood the heauēs with witnesses and iudges and the earth with complaintes Their trechery appeared in that they would neuer permit the King to heare as he ought to haue done the iust complaints of his subiects whom they so villanously entreated before his eies He oft demanded euen with teares what he had done against his people why they should be so moued against him for these Lords stil blew in his eares that they sought to slaye him and vnder pretence thereof had enuironed him with troupes of armed men gathered from among the worste members of the whole realme whome since they haue continewed to the end to keepe themselues about our Kings whose dignitie they haue thereby conuerted in to I wot not what kinde of Persian pompe or Turkish terrour and said that he would gladly here their complaintes reasons yea sometimes he would say to his good vncles I wot not what these commotions meane I heare say that you be they whō the people is offended withal I would to God you would for a while depart to the end we might be the better certified whether this people be grieued at you or me But as the murderer that helde his enemies father in his armes did by that meanes saue his owne life so the Guisians ioyning them selues as the yuie about the pyramide close to the yong Kings sides did conningly warde these blowes wherewith vndoubtedly they should haue bene pearced through They did therefore reiect al these the Kings wordes assuring him that neither he nor my Lords his brethren should remaine one houre after their departure because say they the house of Burbon through the support of the heretikes
hauing wrested this confession out of the Kings mouth whom herein they caused villanously to lye they did afterwarde stiffe and stoutly denie whatsoeuer might be obiected against them laying all vpon the dead mans backe offering the combate to any that woulde saye that euer they of their owne heades had enterprised any thing at all Besides all the aforesayde practises with straungers at the ende of the Estates in the Kinges name all the power of France shoulde haue bene deuided into foure partes and led by the Marshalles of Saint Andrewes of Brissac and of Thermes and by the Lorde of Aumale to make such hauocke as all the worlde may well thinke For beside the vtter subuersion of all Estates and destruction of al the mightiest and most auncient houses which should haue bene assaulted were it for their religion eyther for hauing taken the Princes parte either for hauing spoken amisse of the King with infinite suche other meanes France should haue bene reduced to the Turkes order of liuing to the ende afterwarde no man might haue had power to resist or withstande the tyrannie of the Guisians Also if through importunitie they chaunced to forgiue any it should haue bene with the condition of perpetuall ignominie Moreouer the Cardinall had vsed such diligence that there was no corner in all the Realme where he had not the names and surnames of all the inhabitants who eyther were Protestantes or of any dealing or enterprise to be able to hurt him or that had not ranged them selues after his deuotion and this had he gotten by the meanes of certayne Apostataes and secret seruantes who ordinarily went ploding about here and there to the end to sounde the heartes and willes of men insomuch that such truandes were made iudges and ordered the sentences of lyfe and death vnto all the worlde Now were they determined so to haue prouoked the people agaynst the Protestantes especially that they shoulde neede no other hangman herein it was to no purpose to say I am none for the Monkes other preachers hyred to the same purpose in going about should pronoūce the condemnations The graunting of this libertie to the common people was commonly called as a watch word The letting loose of the great Greyhound and there was no part of France which coulde haue bene exempt from this calamitie Also the King of Spaine was on his parte so forwarde according to his tyme and promise made to the Guisians that sixe thousand Spanierdes had already taken the way toward Bearn entending sodeinly to surprise the Queene of Nauarre and both her and her childrē to put to death committing like murther of her subiects as of the King of Frāces and in so doing to stay and breake the forces which were in Guyen But so soone as the Spanierd had aduertisement of the Kings death also that the Queene of Nauarre had discouered him and so fortified her selfe in her strong holdes that he should hardly without long siedge come by her not knowing what fould the affaires woulde take doubting also to haue those on his backe who had caused his troupes to come into the coūtrey among whō Monluc was one of the first vpon promise of the Countie of Arminack wherefore he retired without dooing any thing cōsidering also that such of the Kings letters wherby he had graunted thē passage through Bayonne which is one of the principall forteresses keyes of the realme whether they were many or few and his commandement to ayde them with as much victuals artillery and munition as they would require would not nowe be of any force or vertue after the said Lordes death how plaine full of threates so euer the same were If the Guisians during the yong King their nephues life behaued them selues outrageously they did not assuredly at his death recouer their honour In his lyfe time they kept him so diligently that no man without their fauour might come at him I will not here speake how they ordered him priuatly For besides that they glutted him with all fleshly pleasures before he was of age they did also replenish his houshold with corruptions and infamous dealings Also through their earnest desire that their Niece might haue issue and yet knowing King Frauncis but simply disposed thereunto in that his generatiue partes were altogither dulled and hindred they permitted many courtiers to haue her companie who did their endeuours to make her very fruitfull yet am I ashamed to know that in a certayne table which an Italian of Laques found meanes to get conueyed into the Cardinall of Lorraines chamber with certeyne letters from the Pope in steade of our Ladie of Grace wherein were the sayde Cardinall of Lorraine the Queene his Niece the Queene mother and the Duchesse of Guise most liuely set out their bodyes naked their armes one about an others necke and all their legges enterlaced togither Willingly would I haue forgotten the execrable filthinesse which I haue hearde reported of him and his brethren by such as in Francis the seconds time followed the Courte and were witnesses of such things as appeared almost manifestly in all mens eyes Francis had despised all the world to the end to honour them he had displeased all his Realme to satisfie them and to set them alofte he prepared to thrust the knife into his owne blood a man may saye into his owne bodie thereby to saue them to be briefe he had hated him selfe to loue them and abased his owne person for their exaltation and yet was there euer person dead of the pestilence whose bodie men did more abandon then them selues did this Thus it was The Custome at all tymes in France obserued after the deceasse of the Kings is such as that they whom in their liues they haue most fauoured and who especially haue had the ordering and dealing in their affayres ought to accompanie them to their graues and during the fourtie dayes that they be kept and solemnely serued wayte vpon their funeralles This ceremonie did the Guisians cause to be most straightly obserued after the death of Henrie and hereunto the Duke of Guise was in double maner holden and bounde for enioying togither with the soueraigne authoritie the great Mastership of France which doe namely binde those that doe enioye such a dignitie yet all this notwithstanding so it was that none of the house of Guise did this honour to their King and Master the husbande of their Niece who in his life time was so deare to them but by their counsaile and aduice he was both by day and night sent to be throwen into his Fathers tombe without any kinde of pompe or funerall solēnitie whereof arose a prety quippe namely that the King who was mortall enemie to the Huguenots could him selfe neuerthelesse not choose but be buried after the Huguenots maner That which brought the Guisians and their partakers to this point was the assembly of the estates where they would nedes assist for feare lest any thing should
be decreed against thē also lest their absence should bewray to all the world the difference betwene their furious and vnlawful gouernement that of the Princes of the blood of the Constable of his eldest sonne Montmorency of the brethren of Chastillon also lest by meanes hereof the cause and roote of the cōtagion which infected the cōmon wealth should be cut of which was the thing that they feared more then the plague for they saw that vnlesse they tooke some order it would be knowen that them selues were the very causes originals of disorder But which most troubled them they had a womā to gouerne whose stedfastnes they did greatly suspect by reason the Admiral was nere to the yong king her sonne to whom she seemed to yealde as much as she could passe withal for the mollifying of the Princes and Estates They douted also lest so soone as their backs were turned to the Courtward that they had giuen ouer the dealings in the affaires there would come in infinite complaints the verifying wherof neither the Quene mother neither other their friends could denie seing that the crime of treason walked to fast abroad These occasions therefore caused the Guisians to forsake ouerthrow al good lawes and vsual orders put in practise as funerals The Cardinall sought to excuse him self by the King of Nauarre and the Chastillons saying that they had so cōcluded in the counsail chamber because there was not money ynough to bestow vpon so charitable a deed although the foure score thousand frankes which he his brethren had gotten out of the money that came out of Poictou had ben more then sufficient and in deed they were openly taxed therefore For whē Sansac la Brosse had brought the body vnto S. Dionice there buried it without any solemnitie or royal ceremonies two dayes after the buriall there was founde pinned vpō the veluet hearsecloth which couered his body a litle paper with this writing Ou est messire Tāneguy du Chastel mais il estoit Frācois signifying VVhere is master Tāneguy du Chastel but he was a French man. Hereat euery mā at the first did but laugh but afterward thinking better vpon the matter they found it to be other then it was taken for This Tāneguy was charles the seuēths chief chamberlein bestowed 8000. franks vpon his masters funerals which he was not paied again vntil three yeres after he layd out this money whē he saw that al mē had abandoned his masters corps by reason al the Lords had drawen to his sonne Lewis the eleuenth who was newly entred into his kingdome being as then in the low countreis whither before through his fathers displeasure he was gone This writing therfore was interpreted as a lamētatiō made in the name of King Francis seeing him self forsaken destitute of such a chamberleyn as Tanneguy was and then saying as if he reuoked that Tāneguyes good nature dutie was not so wonderfull because he was a French man no straunger wherein the Authour seemed to note the Duke of Guise because he had wrested the office of Great Chamberleyn from the house of Longueuille Now haue we seene the euill entrie of the Guisians during the reigne of Francis the first also howe in the time of Henrie the second their ambition replenished al Germanie and Italie with blood howe their couetousnes set to sale as it were to the most giuer the lawes all iustice howe through infinite exactions it emptied the purses both of rich and poore whereof folowed innumerable calamities Then howe in the time of Francis the seconde it was to be doubted whether bare greater sway in them either rapine or crueltie True it is that the crueltie made the greater shew as we haue alreadie shewed and will agayne hereafter But in the tyme of Charles the ninth the aforesayde vices togyther with many more also all their shadowes of vertue did then as by day appeare In this place cōmeth into sight so many to true discourses that I am euē in a perplexitie not knowing which to take the number of those which presently do appeare is so infinite Of one thing I am sure and that is this that at this day there is no French man hauing any knowledge in worldly affayres but that he is able to make an other Legende of the particular actes of these Guisians in case he will take so much leysure as to gather togither all that he knoweth wherefore I hope to be excused although I doe onely set in hande this worke which requireth both more hands and wittes King Francis being dead as is aforesaid and the Cardinal when he was euen readie to giue vp the Ghost hauing procured him to vtter these words Lorde forgiue me my sins impute not vnto me whatsoeuer my officers in my name and authoritie haue done The Guisians minded to followe a new counsayle which was to put of their lyons skinne that they could no longer keepe without manifest daunger of being drawen to flaying and to put on the foxes cace Nowe therefore they determined to folowe their hunte through the Queene mothers meanes They promised her that if she will fauour them they will set to their handes to keepe her in the chiefest degree Also the more to put this hammer into her head they doe alleadge vnto her that the Princes through her wincking at matters being so euill dealt withall can do no lesse then wishe her harme seeking all meanes to bring her downe to the ende to set vp the Constable and the house of Chastillon whereby afterward to make more alterations That the estates will disgrade her vnlesse she goeth out at the back doore to meete them also although then the Guisians were excluded yet haue they so many seruants friends that for a long whyle they could withstand the Princes In the meane time that she should retayne her authoritie that when her children should come to age the gouernment of the Princes their partakers should vanish away The Queen being as crafty as they knew how to take hold of this proffer and so to get in betwene both parties that bending sometimes one way sometimes an other to this present she hath kept the place to the confusion of those who had thither lifted her Hauing thus found so good an attourney who at once reconciled them to the King of Nauarre and gaue forth speaches that she would mainteine the Guisians against all their enemies and misreporters they beganne somewhat to assure them selues Now therefore remained no more to doe but to beate downe first the Prince of Conde who would not be handled as his brother the King of Nauarre then Montmorency and then the Chastillons Hereupon came to sight the goodlyest determination for their purpose in the worlde They perceiued the number of Protestantes still to increase in all partes of France also that the Prince of Conde and the Chastillons were openly of that profession for
other trompets of seditiō who greatly aduanced the Guisians practises In deed vpon the first noise of these broyles the Kings letters patents were sent forth to al iudges royal in the Realme with straite defence that no man should molest other by the name either of Papist or Huguenot wherby to prouide for the suretie libertie of either sort The court of Parliament of Paris which consisteth most of the seruants of the house of Guise sent earnest declarations vnto the priuie council as touching this Edict but al was but a new practise whereby to shuffle the cardes as we say and so to heape one discord vpon another vnder the goodliest title in the worlde namely of Religion In the meane time the Cardinal wayted for the yong King at Reims who was brought thither to be anointed wheras the Duke of Guise was so presumptuous as to steppe in betwene the King of Nauarre and the Duke of Montpensier so to march after the King and by such sleyghtes to become equal vnto the princes of the blood There the Cardinal finding his strength sufficient hauing wonne this point to propound Religion as a cloke to his ambition did then grieuously complayne of the protestantes declaring that during the parly concluded vpō concerning the determination of these controuersies the King ought not to permit any kinde of innouation and that for the more assured prouision thereagainst it was requisite to make an inuiolable law also to the same end to assemble in the Parliament of Paris the Princes Lords others of the Kings priuie counsaile there to frame an arrest which euer after should solemnely be obserued But al this was no other sauing a newe policie whereby to hasten the practises of the house of Guise Now the Cardinal knew wel that in this assēbly of the Prelates for the determination of matters of Religion there would be nothing dispatched also that while things hung thus in suspense the King should be called vpon to permit the excercise of the Religion openly which being once granted the prince of Condye and the Chastillōs would step in afterward to withstād him for the withstanding wherof he supposed that in preuenting this parly through an other assemblie at Paris where he had men enough at commandement he might get somewhat or at the least so bend the one sort against the other that him selfe should lose nothing This was the cause of the assignation of that assemblye whereunto the Queene mother agreed almost for the same considerations and the contrary parties in hope it would redound to the commoditie of the whole realme Here may the readers consider what iourneys to and fro the Guisians practised as well within the realme as without also how they for their owne maintenance remoued both heauen and earth The Spaniarde and diuers Italian Princes were daily aduertised of the estate of the affaires and then did the Queene mother stand the Guisians in steade of a secretarie to the end to make out goodly dispatches in the Kings name against the Princes of the blood whome in the meane time they seemed greatly to fauour For at that time namely the 13 of Iune 1561. did the Parliament of Paris al the chambers being assembled in their red gownes in the great chamber of pleas in the presence of the Duke of Guise the Cardinals of Lorraine and Guise with others pronounce their sentence concerning the innocencie of the Prince of Conde also about the end of August following was the atonement made betwene the said Prince and the Duke of Guise During these matters the Edict of Iuly was published in this assemblie of the Princes and Lords of the Parliament of Paris wherby the Protestants enioyed more freedome and libertie then euer before they had had There was it againe concluded that the prelates should be called and the ministers of the Religion should haue safe conduictes to the end to seeke some meanes of agreement Then began the Cardinal to hope wel of his owne matters for he was sure to finde a readie way how to bende the Churches of the Confession of Ausbourg against the reformed Churches of France by reason of the Supper This being brought to passe besides that he should bring the ministers into derision he should also hinder the Prince of Conde and the Chastillons who openly fauoured them from all prouision to withstand such driftes and preparatiues as the Duke of Guise and his adherents began to frame wherby to giue vp their accoūts vpon the speares pointe for so they might haue no succour of the Germanes who would easilie be persuaded that al these troubles in the Realme proceeded only of Religion The Guisians would faine haue found some meanes so to bring the Prince of Condie on sleepe that he might haue bene drawen from the Chastillons But their consciences did so reproue them because of so manie displeasures as they had done vnto him that they left him being sufficiently contented with setting the Constable and others against him Howbeit before they came to handle blowes they deemed it necessarie yet to strike one stroke more They perceiued the King of Nauarre and his brother the Prince of Conde to agree wel enough and supposed as it was most true that so long as these two Princes should continue in vnitie together al the French nobilitie and communaltie notwithstanding Religion would bend to them to the end to expel the Guisians or els to bring them to accompts so consequently restore the Realme to her pristinate brightnes dignitie They also persuaded the Queene mother how dangerous the vnion of these Princes might be vnto her she therfore requested thē to prouide so much as in thē lay and promised of her owne part not to be slacke in the matter as in deede she was not but vsed such dishonest meanes as in the discourse of her gouernment are at large set downe Now the Guisians during the raigne of Francis the second had gottē to their seruice the Lord of Escars the King of Nauarres chamberlaine through the same espie had discouered al his masters secrets who finally hauing manifestly detected the said d'Escars through certaine letters which he had written did for the same turne him away Then did he halfe bend him self vnto the Guisians factiō who sent him word to endeuour to come again into fauour with his old master there to do thē such seruice as before time namely to entertaine his said master in al his pleasures doing his messages vnto the Ladies of the court so cōsequently withdrawing him frō al Religion which required an vtter abandoning vnto al wantonnes abominations therupon so many men were set on worke that finally the King of Nauarre reuoked the said Descars wherat many begā to foresee great mischiefs likely to follow and assuredly it is said that the Cardinal of Lorrain hearing of this his calling againe began to laugh as his custome was clapping one hand within the other said
Bishops of his realm spedily to come their waies from the Council publishing moreouer vehement protestations against the auctours of the said counsel But herein consisted an other of the Cardinals policies who secretly alleaged that he had inuented these meanes somewhat to gratifie the Pope and the Spaniard to whom he presented a new praye and on the other side he writte to the Queene mother that the King must needes counterfait a discontentation hereat whereby to allure the Queene of Nauarre and so to separate her from the Prince and the Chastillons the readilier to dispatch ech after other Here vpon he returned into France and there set his matters in such order as shortlie you shall perceiue and then made a new voyage vnto Rome there personally to sollicite this curse against the Queen of Nauarre And then to the end to cleare him selfe of such mischief he departed two daies before iudgement should be giuen from whence being arriued at Venice he there sharpely accused the Pope and consistorie of Rome for transgressing the Kings pleasure whereby to perswade men that he was not of that conspiracie or faction At his returne for the accomplishment of his promise he was so impudent as to present the Councilles articles vnto the King not so much for the establishing of the same at the first dashe as to the ende by litle and litle to adnichilate the Edict of pacification And to the ende it might haue the fayrer shewe at his solliciting the Embassadoures of Spayne Sauoy and the Pope came to the Court and presented certayne Articles deuised at the instance of the Cardinall and his adherentes which here we haue set downe because they doe reueale the foundation of the rest of the troubles which since haue ensued in France In the first point they called vpon the King to keepe and cause to be kept within his owne Realme the Countries Territories and Lordshippes in his obedience the articles of the holy council lately holden at Trente which now they had brought with them to the same ende And for the reading of the same and to sweare thereunto before the Delegates of the sayde councill they assigned the sayd King to be at Nancy in Lorrayne vpon our Ladie day in Marche there to meete with their sayde Lordes who togyther with all other Christian Kinges and Princes were determined to make a generall constitution correspondent to the same which was made at Trente for the rooting out of all heresies and new doctrines repugnant to the sayd holy councill In the second point they requested the sayde Lorde to ceasse alienating the temporalities of the Church certifying him on the behalfe of the King of Spayne and of the Duke of Sauoy that they neyther doe nor euer dyd meane to be payde their mariage money which the late King Henrie had promised them out of the church goods and therefore that he ought to be content with some voluntarie gifte which the Ecclesiasticall persons shoulde giue him hauing regarde vnto such sackes and spoyles as lately haue bene committed in his Realme vnder his name and by his Edict whereof they doe neuerthelesse according as they haue bene desired holde him excused through his youth In the thirde point that at the least wise he should bannishe vnlesse he had rather otherwise punishe them the chiefe seditious persones and schismatikes of his Realme by whose meanes the aforesayd spoyles of Churches haue bene committed and who haue brought the enemies of his Crowne into the Realme and giuen straungers free entrie thereinto In the fourth that he shoulde reuoke the remission and absolution which in his Edict of pacification he had graunted especially agaynst such persons as had committed treason agaynst GOD shewing him that it was neyther in him nor in any other Christian King or Prince to remitte or forgiue the offence committed agaynst the Diuine Maiestie for that all such remission appertayneth vnto God onely In the fifth that he as King for his parte woulde assiste Iustice and the same authorize as his predecessours haue done because that thereof dependeth the authoritie of all Christian Kinges and Princes also that in so dooing he should punishe the trayterous murder committed in the person of the late Duke of Guise by such as manifestly are knowen and that in such cases hee ought not to vse any dissimulation considering what person he was who so accursedly was murdered Also that he should procure him selfe to be obeyed as a King so that Iustice might florishe in his Realme And that the Lordes whose Embassadours they are doe offer vnto him all ayde and helpe so soone as he the sayd King shall demaunde the same Euer since that the Guisians vsurped this authoritie ouer the Crowne by making our Kinges theyr slaues we haue alwayes had two kinde of Councilles of the Kinges Letters and of his wordes the one open the other secrete The priuie Councill doe entreate of such matters as they woulde that all the worlde should knowe The letters patentes and open speaches do serue for confirmations of the same But nowe the Guisians haue induced a secret Councill which also sometymes is deuided into three partes For the Queene mother hath one the Guisians an other and sometyme the King hath the thirde which doe consiste of certayne who doe gouerne him In these Councils haue all the matters of our tyme bene determined of from whence these bloody executions haue ensued The letters of the Seale are ordinarily contrary to the letters patentes and open speaches vnto those which are whispered in the eare as it came to passe at the comming of these Embassadoures for publikely in the viewe of all the worlde the King aunswered them that the Edicte of pacification was made for the expelling of the enemies out of his Realme and for other matters generally but particularly their demaundes were handled in the secret Councill in such wyse as the effectes haue since declared The sixe and twentieth day of Februarie in the yere 1563. the King opened one parte of this declaration vnto the aforesayd Embassadoures and to the ende the better to colour all matters the Cardinal and the Queene mother had taught it him by hearte togyther with the maner howe to pronounce it with his mouth for at that time he was as well seene in that he spake as in that that he spake not for he was yet but a chylde especially in such matters Nowe must we note that one day before the Cardinall had obteyned of the Queene a licence in the maner of a brief signed by Secretarie Bourdin wherein he was permitted to beare weapons both by Edictes and letters patentes forbiddē But if any man aske why he got this brief rather of the Queene then of the King seeing that the onely Lawmaker my dispense with the law which him selfe hath made eyther wherefore he demaunded not letters patentes rather then a simple briefe I will leaue the iudgement therof to such as be free from all affection For that
ready preste to deale and for my parte wil spare no cost thinking that the soner would be the better which maketh me desire you well to see vnto it and diligently thereof to consider togither with the said Lorde of Montpensier and to send me worde of your determinations to the end that according to the same I may take order with such of the Lordes and noble men as remaine hereabout and dwell within my gouernement who wil doe whatsoeuer I shal request Now must I not forget to certifie you that writing this letter I had the sight of the copye of another letter which the lorde of Montpensier wrote to the Marshal of Montmorency as an aunswere to that which the said Marshal had written to him concerning his goodly deede I pray you thanke him in our behalfes but chiefly in mine notwithstanding I doe it in the letter which I doe write vnto him we all are greatly behoulding to him Moreouer if you see the Bishop of Mans it were not amisse to moue him also in the same association for both he and his friendes would be gladde to hearken thereunto and we haue already conferred thereof You might doe well also to write vnto the Lorde of Martigues or if you can see him it were better to commune thereof togither I know his good will toward vs is nothing diminished and likewise he may be sure of ours as you may better giue him to vnderstande and I wil seale vnto whatsoeuer you and the said lordes shall agree vpon I send this messenger purposedly to the ende that by him I may the better be certified of your newes He may tary with you so long as you think good and then come to me into Champagne Written the foure and twentieth of February 1565. Seuen moneths before the said Guisians had practised an other league in Guyēne through the meanes of the lorde of Candales the Marquise of Trans and others whereof the Queene mother being aduertised she sent them word to passe on no further therein which notwithstanding afterward when they perceyued them selues strengthened through the aduow of the principal in the Realme they sought to bring to effect On the other side the Marquise d'Ellebeufe through the solliciting of the Duke of Aumale did practise his league in his gouernement of Touraine gathering togither from all partes all the thieues and common murderers of the countrie who vnder his protection dayly committed infinite robberies and slaughters so that neither any honest man might escape without trauaile nor quietnesse rest without troubles The Cardinal of Lorraine also for his parte practised sundry matters about the same time and endeuored to bring the Baronages of the Bishopricke of Metz vnder the Emperours protection if the lorde of Salcede the Kings lieutenant at Marsault had not through force stopped the publication of the said protection Vpon which occasion the Cardinall skirmished with him and arreared the warre called the Cardinals warre wherein he had as good successe as in his entry into Paris But albeit herein he became a laughing stocke and execrable altogither yet did he still beare a grudge vnto the said Salcede and razed him out at saint Bartlemewes murder procuring him to be slaine at Paris and his house vtterly to be sacked But the chiefe occasion of suspicion ministred touching this matter was that this drifte was not executed without the counsayl of the Baron of Poluiller the gouernour of Haguenau who for that cause came to the Cardinal to Rembeuiller in Lorraine who hath also bene a solliciter of the most parte of such enterprises as haue bene practised against the estate of France both during the warres of Picardie and after that they were ended This was he also who endeuored to surprise the towne of Lions and to procure the countries of Bresse and Sauoy to reuolte through the counsail of the Cardinal of Arras about the ende of the sayde warres This was the same Poluiller who practised the King of Nauarre to reuolt promising him in recompence the realme of Nauarre This is that Poluiller who being the Cardinall of Lorrains broker durst practise the Prince of Conde vnder pretence vayne hope of helping him to the landes of the Bishoprick of Metz in case he would haue professed the Romish religion wherefore the readers may well consider what coūsail is to be hoped for at such a counsaylours handes being also cōioyned vnto the Cardinall of Lorraine who during his aboade at Rembeuiller and in Lorraine did many goodly deedes for he pilled his subiectes of the Bishopricke of Metz vnder pretence of withdrawing the landes engaged vnto the Countie Iohn of Nassaw He perswaded the Duke of Lorraine to murder all his subiectes that were of the Religion which he had done in case the Lords of Castelet and Bassompierre had not with their counsaill restrayned him He procured him also to bannishe a great number of the inhabitauntes of Pont-amosson for hatred to the Gospell Moreouer he suborned some say he defiled and forcibly tooke the daughter of the Baylie of Rembeuillers wiues chamber mayde The originall of the Duke d'Aumales letters to his brother the Marquise whereof we haue seene parte of an abstract was presented vnto the King who thereupon hauing heard the depositiō of one of his Knights of the order who confessed that he had subscribed to the association aforementioned in the said letters caused in his priuie councill this acte folowing to be made which here we haue set downe to the ende thereby hereafter to consider certayn notable craftes of Italian Cardinallike policies This day being the 18. day of May 1565 the King being at Mont de Marsan assisted by the Queene his mother and his brother my lord the Duke of Orleans hath called and assembled the Princes of his blood his priuie councill and other his Lordes and Knightes of the order who were about his person to whom he hath giuen to vnderstande how he hath bene aduertised that in diuers places of his Realme there be made associations collections of coyne enroulings of men gatherings of armour and horses that some haue so farre strayed from their dueties as to sende men out of his Realme to haue intelligence and communication with forrein Princes without his knowledge contrary to his Edictes of Pacification of maioritie and other ordinances declarations and prohibitions against such like matters which he neither can ne yet will beleue by reason of such accompt as he maketh of the affection and syncere good wil of al his subiects to the obeying of his cōmandements the cōmoditie of his seruice and the quiet of his realme Neuerthelesse to the end better to be instructed in the trueth he admonished charged them to tel him the trueth of al that they haue heard Which they haue done moreouer do most humbly beseeche his maiestie to beleue that they are so farre wide of these so pernicious practises that rather they be ready prest to spend their liues
abide that desirous that in France there might shortly appeare as many robberies euen at the Kings his poore peoples costes as there be bridges and passages ouer riuers To be briefe to the end there might be no trafficke letters or purses which thirtene ribbauldes were not sufficient to visite from one place to another thereof to make reporte vnto the said Cardinal we must marke what order he tooke vnder colour said he to keepe the Protestantes from assembling togither to conspire against the Kinge As indeede that was one marke that he shot at together with certaine other more high attempts in case his enterprises against the Prince of Condye and the Admirall had had good successe Howbeit the commissiō which then he procured more manifestly did reueile the iniurie which he did to the King and the realme also his vehement desire to trouble al the estate to the ende to exalt his owne race through his enemies ouerthrowe This therefore was the tenour of the commission made about the time of the edict afore set downe namely in the moneth of Maye 1568. The King hath ordeined captaine N. in the towne of N. there to remaine Captaine and keeper of the bridge and passage to whome shal be deliuered twelue men to assist his person whome he may command whatsoeuer he thinketh meet conuenient for the Kings seruice which twelue men his maiestie shal pay ouer and besides the entertainment alowed to the said captaine He shal first procure to make a drawbridge ouer the sayde passage which he and his twelue men shall daye and night diligentlye and warily watche and keepe not permitting any to passe vnlesse he first knowe whence he commeth whither he goeth what his businesse is and who himselfe is Also seeing any numbers of men approching to the passage ouer the sayd bridge he shall presently cause it to be drawne not suffering the passage to be taken before he be assured of the same do know that they haue no meanes to hurt him Also to the ende that he his twelue men with him may continually remaine at the said bridge with al conuenient commodities he shal immediatly take order for the making of a lodge neere vnto the said bridge whither he and his souldiers may retire lodge and accommodate thē selues in not going from the saide bridge or abandoning the custodie thereof and to the same effect his maiestie hath written to the inhabitants of the same towne that they at their owne cost do make the said lodge and draw-bridge Also forasmuche as it may greatly aduantage the said captaine towarde his sure keeping of the said bridge and prouiding that there be no meanes to surprise the same to haue knowledge of things done in the said quarters he shal endeuour to discouer to his power the actions and intentes of those of the new religion and hearing of any thinge preiudicial to the Kings maiesties seruice he shal looke diligently to his charge and giue warning vnto the Captaine of the next bridge passage or towne and the like shal all other captaines do who haue commission for the keeping of any other bridges or passages til time the King be thereof aduertised so that he may take some order And although the principal cause which moued the King to commit this captaine to the charge of the bridge or passage aforesaid is for the safe custodie thereof yet shal he for his part take diligent heede that the Protestants haue no preachings or other exercises of their religion in any other place then his maiestie hath to them ordeined and established as wel by the contents of his edictes of pacification as also by the rule prescribed since the publication of the last edict He shal hearken and take good hede as much as possibly he may that the protestantes make no enroulings of men of warre no leuyes or collections of coyne no vnlawful assemblies or no motions of warre either where his charge lyeth or in any other place thereabout but shal prouide for faithful men to aduertise him and if neede be to send some of the skilfullest about him and such as haue any vnderstanding or do seme meet to penetrate into the said Protestants affaires to the end they may certifie him of whatsoeuer they can learne out He shal endeuour to knowe whether there be any gentlemen of the Kinges side that be displeased or do shewe anie countenance to fauour or followe the said protestants any whome they haue suborned or motioned to make any practises or drifts tēding to the surprising of any the Kings towns haue not disclosed the same to the end to keepe the said practises or enterprises the more secret farther from suspicion He shal also labour whē the said Protestants do holde their Synodes assemblies thorowly to detect vnderstand the causes of the same together with the conclusions therof He shal finde meanes to get in vnder such pretence as he shall thinke best some wise and trustie person who may know and smel out the ende of their intentes and giue him a good accompt of al that hath bene propounded or agreed vpon in the said assemblies he shal take hede that there be no assemblies made in any towne or place forbidden and defended either any secret exercise of their religion To the end also that his maiestie may be serued as appertaineth with good knowledge among his trusty faithful subiects the said captaine shal often commune with the gouernour who hath the charge of the towne of such matters as may fal out touching his said maiesties seruice the one not to encroche vpon the others authority lest any displeasure or controuersy should breed betweene the said gouernour him He shal curiously enquire who be the superintendēts ouer the protestants affaires in the said country what their pensions are and whether they do send any messengers into forein coūtries to what end He shall also certify the King of al such matters as he hath learned touching any the said matters or other things tending to his maiesties seruice neither shal he faile of sending weekly one or more messengers according as matters shal fal out the same shal he addresse to my Lord the Kings brother and lieutenant general who shal giue him answere And the said captain may certifie the King my said lord his brother of al that he knoweth by sēding his letters to him that shal haue the custody of the next bridge so from hand to hand shal the same be conueied by other captaines hauing like commission vnto the King or my Lord his brother Now may any man hauing wit or discretion consider in this cōmissiō wonderful policies of the Cardinal new preparatiues for warre by the meanes wherof he aduanced him self Also how by these drifts the third ciuil warre was sone kīdled for in lesse thē two moneths after the peace there were aboue ten thousand persons slaine here there in the
meane time the Cardinal boasted that he would kil more betwene two trestles thē the King could with al his power sent word ordinarily to Rome other places that they had dispatched more Huguenots in one day during the peace then in one moneth whiles the warres continewed Besides al this the Cardinal doubting lest the Catholiks woulde not sufficiently rebel procured them to make brotherhoodes leagues and associations wherein sundry of the Parliaments and nobilitie assisted them gathering together of money giuing their othes enrowling of souldiers together with such other matters concerning the entertainement of their brotherhoodes which they called of the holy Ghost As in the towne of Dijon through the driftes of the Lord of Tauannes and one named Begad a counselour of the parliament the like league was made and when certaine standers by demanded whether it were by the Kings authoritie the said Begad answered that he had his maiesties letters for that purpose which Tauannes had deliuered to one of his secretaries who thē could not be found Also that though the King liked not thereof yet they nede not to feare for he knew wel enough whither els to repaire Morouer that they were not to regard such letters as the King ordinarily writte to the said Tauannes or vnto the court of Parliament tēding to the obseruatiō of the edict for they cōteined another mistery which al the world vnderstood not The like was also done in Bourgundy other places In the meane time the exercise of religion was forbidden in the hie and low countreis of Auuergne and in al other parts pertaining to the kings brethren and to certain Princes of the blood In other prouinces were dayly preparations for the apprehending of the principal yet by letters directed vnto such gouerners as had the wachword they were charged to let the gentlemen of the Religion vnderstand that the Kings minde was wel to intreat them and to maintaine them in the exercise of their Religion therby giuing them to wit that he accounted them as his faithful and good subiects and seruants and that such broyles as they heard of tended only to the assuring of his estate against sundrie townes men insolent and seditious persons and so afterward to the restoring of al things into quiet estate and to the fauouring of the nobilitie as wel of the one as other Religion for that they are his principal strength causing them to liue in agreement vnder the authoritie of his Edictes These now were faire wordes but least certaine Catholikes not being sufficiently trained in the Cardinal and his adherents affayres hearing such letters might quaile there were also other secret letters sent with commandement to communicate the same vnto such as were accompted meete to be called to like accomptes This enterprise did the Cardinal also communicate vnto the Cardinal of Crequies agent at the Castle of Madrit in August 1568 whereof the saide agent did at large write vnto his master the verie wordes of his letter which was surprised and brought to the Prince of Conde haue we here set downe They haue saide the Cardinal to this agente taken good order euerie where that the King may remaine master that the chiefe maye be caught and all opportunitie of gathering together taken from them to the ende that hauing brought them to that point as by the order alreadie taken it wil be easie to doe we may then vtterly roote out this vermine for so did the Cardinal call the Protestantes beeing enemies vnto God the King and the estate and not leaue one infected person in the Realme because it is such a seede as still will budde out newe mischiefe vnlesse we shoulde take this waye whereof our neighbours doe set before vs so goodly examples Attending which time that can not be past this moneth it is thought best in all the prouinces to speake fayre to the principal of them and to such of the Nobilitie as seeme least affected to the saide Religion thereby onely to content them in dalying and as much as may be lulling them on sleepe as already diuers haue hearkened therto and doe beginne to assure them selues yea some come of their owne accorde doe burne their winges in the candle yet doe we hope wel that more will doe the like who we know are already shaken This way vndoubtedly we shal sone winne our processe and obteine assured victorie without any great labour or resistance against the enemies of our faith These were the Cardinals fetches which togither with diuers other practises whereof we wil in more conuenient place make mention did kindle the fire of the third ciuil warres being of longer continuance and more tedious then the rest The Prince of Conde toward the ende of the same moneth in great haste saued him selfe by departing from Noyers in Bourgundie where he should haue bene enclosed within two dayes after gat to Rochell against which place the Cardinal had already practised many things but he troubled his head in vayne Then was the warre open and whyle they prepared to cause the Catholicke army to march vnder the conduct of the Duke of Anjou the Cardinal deuised two Edictes published both in one day in the Parliament of Paris namely the 28. of September to wit the third day after that they had bene framed in the councill In the first the King making a long discourse of things happened in his Realme through the Religion declareth among other things that the Edict of Ianuary wherein he granted the Protestantes leaue to exercise their Religion was but prouisionall attending his maiority also that now he was no lenger minded to permit the edictes touching Religion to stand any longer in force Also that now being come to his maioritye he forbiddeth all excercise of the same within his dominions willing perpetually that there be no other exercise of Religion sauing the Romaine in all his iurisdictions vnder payne of confiscation of body and goods Also vnder like penalty he chargeth al ministers of the said Religion to auoyde his Realme within fifteene dayes forbidding neuertheles that any of the said Religion be researched in their consciences so long as peaceably they wil liue in their houses In the other he declared that from that time forward he did not intende to vse the seruice of any of the said Religion and thereby did suspend them from their offices and functions commanding them to come and giue vp the same into his handes within fifteene dayes or else him selfe woulde otherwise prouide These two Edictes had long bene vpon the file and the Cardinall a farre of shewed the same to the Catholickes to moue them to come to the offring and to bring in coyne for the armyes paye wherein he the Queene mother and their mynions vsed their wonted sportes But these Edictes were more preiudicial to the Catholickes then they supposed for most of the Protestantes who otherwise were not determined to haue gone out at the
doores behoulding this so manifest periurye wherewith the Cardinal diffamed the house of Valois tooke the fieldes presently Also the Protestante Lordes sent these Edictes into England and Germany as assured testimonies that they were not pursued as seditious persons or aspirers vnto the crowne as before it had bene noysed but as defenders of the Gospel which the Catholickes endeuored to roote out of France This was all that the Cardinall or his adherents gate thereby About this time were many writings published against the presumptuous and ambitious cruelty of the Guisians but chiefly against the Cardinall whose nature was amply described by a certaine learned French Poete in a certaine Sonnet comprehending a curse in the ende And for that the said Sonnet is prety neuer yet to my knowledge was put in print I haue here presented the same to the Reader Sonnet De fer de feu de sang Mars Vulcan Tisyphone Bastit forgea remplit l'ame le cueur la main Du meurtrier embraseur du tyran inhumain Qui tue brusle perd la Francoise Couronne D'vn Scythe d'vn Cyclope d'vn fier Lestrygone La cruaute l'ardeur la sanglante faim Qui l'anime l'eschauffe conduit son dessein Rien que fer rien que feu rien que sang ne resonne Puisse-il par le fer cruellement mourir Ou par le feu du ciel horriblement perir Et voir du sang des siens la terre estre arrouset Et soit rouille estaint seche par la paix Le fer le feu le sang cruel ardant espais Qui tue ard rougit la France dissipee This third ciuil warre beginning in October 1568 continewed to the beginning of August 1570 the historye whereof hath bene at large written and published wherin is to be seene how the Catholickes and Protestantes haue one destroyed the other by viewing what battailles haue bene fought what places besieged and taken or what captaines and souldiers haue bene slayne so that the Frenchmen haue committed against them selues that which peraduenture all other nations in Europe together could not haue accomplished Whiles in the meane time the Cardinal behelde this bloody tragedie and practised all meanes to make the one parte to destroy the other And for that it would be an infinite labour to describe all his driftes it shall now suffice to consider parte of his subtilties vsed during this third ciuill warre First he assured him selfe of the Kings person whom he ledde hither and thither according as things fell out and so prouided that nothing might be done without his aduice He serued also in stead of a firebrand to kindle the King more more against the Protestants chiefly against the chief of them in whose respect he practised all kinde of violences and treasons for the compassing of his purposes Some being taken prisoners were notwithstanding all vowed faith slaine others were poisoned against others were murderers hiered vnto whom the Cardinal gaue great rewardes Then gatte he many seruantes about the Duke of Anjou the Kings lieutenant generall by whom he might incense the said Duke against the Protestants This was of so dangerous consequence vnto the Prince of Conde that finally it cost him his life For Montesquiou the said Dukes Captaine of his garde slew the Prince whom the lordes of Argence and of S. Iohn had taken prisoner Vnder the same policie the said Duke would grant no safe conduite vnto the lorde de l'Estrange the deputie in the behalfe of the Protestant Lordes Princes in Iune 1569 who should haue gone to present their supplication to the King as touching such meanes and remedies as he knew most conuenient and profitable for appeasing of the warre and establishing of a perfect peace The same policye did the Cardinall vse in hindering the concluding of the peace For being certified that the Admirall had sent the said supplication to his cousin the Marshal of Montmorency that he might offer the same to the King he preuented the said Marshal alleaging vnto the King that it was no reason that such rebellious subiects should speake to the King afarre of also that vnlesse they came and yelded them selues to his mercie they were not to be heard but with weapons to be subdued According to which counsayle the King shewed the said Marshall of Montmorēcy that he would neither looke vpon or heare any thing that came from the Protestants but chiefly from the Admiral before he had taken them to fauour which he would doe in case they would yelde to doe their dueties as if afore the said Admiral and his men had not most earnestly entreated the King like as now againe in this supplication they did for these wordes were therein conteined They doe most humbly desire your Maiestye to graunt and generally permit to all your subiectes of what estate or condition so euer they be free exercise of their religion in al townes villages and boroughes and in al other partes places of your realme and countries in your obedience and protection without exception moderatiō or restraint of persons time or place with all requisite and necessarie assurance And moreouer to ordeyne inioine al men openly to professe eyther the one or the other religion thereby to cut of diuers who abusing this benefite and fauour are fallen into Atheisme and all carnall libertie hauing freed them selues frō the exercise and profession of al religions being desirous to see nothing but confusion in this realme togither with the ouerthrowe and suppression of all order policie and ecclesiasticall discipline which is a most pernicious and daungerous matter vtterly intolerable Also deare Lorde for as much as the sayde Princes Lordes Knights Gentlemen and other in their companies doubt not but they who hitherto haue planted the foundations of their practises vpon such slaunders as impudently they doe publishe to the ende to procure the sayd Princes to be brought into the hatred and displeasure euen of such as through the grace of God are freed from all bondage and tyrannie of Antichrist wil not fayle but affirme that they will rather stifly without reason defend whatsoeuer they once haue determined to beleue touching the Articles of Christian religion then correct and withdrawe them selues therefore the aforesaid Princes Lordes Knights Gentlemen and other their companie doe declare and protest as alwayes they haue done that if in any one point of the confession of fayth heretofore presented to your Maiestie by the reformed churches of your realme they may be instructed that by Gods word comprehended in the Canonical bookes of the holy scripture they haue strayed from the doctrine of the Apostles or Prophetes they will readily yeeld and willingly graunt to such as by Gods word may better instruct them then in the beginning they haue bene if they doe erre in any article And for this cause doe desire nothing so much as a conuocation of a free general and lawful councill wherin euery man may
of the crowne he should set forth an edict the contents whereof were that no man should from thence forth retaine in his hands two offices by meanes of the which they promised vnto them selues the spoyle of the noble men aforesaide besides that vnder colour therof they might haue free accesse vnto the handling of the whole estate and so in time atteine vnto their aspiring drifts purposes and that the rather because they perceiued none of the Princes of the blood ouer hastie to intrude them selues thereinto Howbeit now before we go any further we haue to cōsider two other notable chāces which happened presently at the death of King Francis afore named This King lying on his death bed called for his sonne the Dauphine to the end familiarly to talke with him In which communication like as the soule approching vnto his departure is for the most part more free and deuoyde of worldly cares earthly burdens and al other transitorie affaires and so consequently lesse tied vnto the bodie also that in maner al men in that extremitie time and place do entreat vpon more mystical and heauenly matter then before time they are wont yea diuers through a certaine prescience of things to come which surpasseth mans natural vnderstanding and reason do prognosticate of that that is most likely to happen euen so now among diuers other aduertisements and notable instructions which this King gaue vnto his sonne one was that he desired yea and charged him not to deale with the Children of Guise neither to permit them to haue any rule in the affayres of the estate For saith he I haue manifestly perceiued and am wel assured that the whole stock of thē is naught also that in case you transgresse this my precept they are to strip you into your doublet your subiectes into their shirtes This admonition deserued both to be marked put in excution but the simplicitie of the Dauphine being bewitched by this Seneschal together with Gods heauy displeasure against Frāce would not permit the childe to followe his fathers counsaile which in this case proued but ouer true for his affirming the whole race of them to be naught did shortlye after proue it selfe certaine The same day that this great King Francis let his life at Rambouillet whereas the Dauphine for very sorowe and griefe seeing his father lie in such extremitie and therewithal being in a maner ouercome was layed downe vpon his wiues bed who the whiles sat vpon the floore shewing great tokens of anguish and heauines the great Seneschal the Duke of Guise who yet was but Earle of Aumale walked there also although contraryly affected for she was very pleasant and ioyful seeing the time of her triumph drawe on and he stil from time to time walked to the doore to hearken after newes vsing alwayes at his returne this phrase Now the yonker goeth his waies but had not that yonker seing it pleased him so to tearme him bene both he and the rest of his whole familie had bene but simple vnderlings in Lorraine still But now to our former matter let vs marke the execution of the forenamed edict concerning retaining of sundrie offices The same being concluded vpon King Frācis dead was put in practise before it was eyther sene or published For presētly the Lord of Reims displaced the Cardinal of Tournon of his office of Chanceler of the order who in displeasure resigned to thē his mastership of the chappel also The Admiral d' Annebaut loste his office of Marshalship likewise nowe therfore I wil procede to the Great Mastership for the obteining whereof the Guisians were importunate mouing King Henry to write vnto the Constable that before his cōming to the court he should by proxy resigne one of his offices either the Cōstableship or els the great mastership for they supposed that he would stil kepe the Constableship as being of greate auctority credite But were it that the King was at that time determined to exempt his gossippe from their ambition or els that he sought through the others voluntarie resignation to cōferre the said office vnto the Marshal of S. Andrewes to whome he had already broken his minde to the end by such ordinary meanes to suppresse some part of the furious attemptes of the Earle of Aumale and his brother or what other occasion soeuer there were yet certain it is that he wrote to the said Cōstable with al speed to repaire to him but not to resigne any of his estates referring that vnto their owne priuate communication at their next meeting After his cōming the King who before euen burned with earnest zeale desire to see the said Constable who so long had bene absent out of his sight was now so farre frō taking from him any of his estates that contrariwise at their first embrasings he professed him self to be ashamed that he had in his hands no office worthy his person therefore in respect of such default the more to honour his welcōming he yelded and presented vnto his said gossip his owne person Now the Lord of Reims had gotten the great seale and the Earle of Aumale had seased vpon the keies of the castle as a seasine fallen to him euen by succession But hearing the King call to the one to render the keyes and command the other to carry the seale vnto the great master whereby they should be driuen necessarily to slepe vnder the locke of the said great Master walke at the cōmandement of the Constable not in any wise to deale in matters of estate without the said gossips permission it may be easy for eche man to comprehende into what part the affections of these brethren were bent Seeing also at the same instant an other estate of Marshal of France erected to the behoofe of Iames of Albon lorde of S. Andrews which was euen the last office that remained in the Kinges hands vpon the which as vpon his last refuge the Earle of Aumale had fixed his whole hope and truste This therfore hath bene one of the foūdations rootes of their quarell against the Constable and his progenie wherein besides their manifest iniurie offered vnto their owne persons in this respecte they haue also shewed them selues verye vnthankful toward the said Constable For it is not vnknowen vnto all those who duringe the reigne of the great King Francis had anie dealings in matters of estate that as wel the father as also the vncles of the said Lords of Guise had neuer any more assured or faithful friend in France then the said Constable who long before their comming into that country was alreadie in great creditte and estimation with his Prince and afterward with incredible fauour did succeede two great masters of France the one the Lord of Boisy his cousin germaine the other the Duke of Sauoy his Father in Law and finally atteined vnto the hiest degree next vnder the Princes of the kings blood that
of Lorraine neuer found surer or more stedfast foundations then the same which their cousins of Guise had laid in intent to ouerthrowe them For King Henrie tooke charge of the childe and afterward made him his sonne in lawe committing his Duchie into the hands of his vncle the Earle of Vaudemont Hereunto adding their practises against the towne of Metz what farther testimonie shal we neede For what mischief is there which this poore towne hath not suffred within these fewe yeres both within and without being vnder colour of protection bereaued of her libertie dismembred from the Empire for the most part destroyed and as a fulnesse of al miseries reduced into the bondage of the Cardinal who vnder a borowed name hath yerely wrested therout at the least a hundred thousand francks leauing vnto our King nothing but the dishonour of surprising the same vnder pretence of defence the charge of keeping of it with inestimable expenses the losse of great numbers of Frenchmen and the hatred of the Empire which yerely reneweth the decree of the recouerie of the townes of Metz Thoul and Verdun expressing therein their desire at the first opportunitie to restore the same to their former liberties For soone after ensued the siege of Metz aforesaid whereas the Cardinal fearing his brothers skinne and seeking to exalte him aboue al men procured to be sent vnto him most part of the Princes and great Lords of France for his more assurance and at the price of their bloods to raise him as it were vnto the shoulders of Victorie it selfe But what neede we to purchase the triumphe with the offence both of God and man or at the charge of the Kings honour and treasure Also how sweetely haue we paied for this so valiant defence of a forreine towne which neuer offended vs vnlesse it be an offence to giue ouer hastie credence vnto the wordes of a Cardinal therein brought vp whome she accompteth as her bishop and pastor yea to speake truely the Frenchmen haue dearely bought the exchange thereof through the burning and spoyle of Picardie euen vnto Noyon when as vnder the conduct of the third brother of this race and sonne in lawe vnto the great Seneschal Duchesse of Valentinois the French nobilitie receiued the sorest wound that euer it had since the battaile of Pauie because that without anie reasonable cause they were trained thereunto as to a butcherie rather then a battaile For in the same conflict wherein the said harebrained Duke of Aumale the third brother was through his owne default taken prisoner there were slaine about two hundred French gentlemen among whome were sundrie great Lords as the Lords of Rohan S. Forgeu Nancay la Motte Dusseau the Baron of Couches of Castres beside diuers other Lords of name Had our whole realme susteined that only losse through the conduct of these men yet were this sufficient to procure al men to detest them Shortly after this ouerthrowe ensued the siege of Metz aforesaid from whence the Emperour being forced to depart the Duke of Guise attributed to him selfe the whole glorie which the Princes and great Lords of France whome the Cardinal had procured the King to send thither had dearely paide for whervpon it is wonderful to see how the Guisians triumphed Wel to proceede what did the next yeres following bring with them other then two double irrecuperable losses namely the vtter sacke and spoyle of Tirwin and Hesdin the two keies of Picardie by reason whereof the Cardinal sang out his triumphes scoffing at the French nobilitie who said he through default of his brothers assistance were ouerthrowen by the enemie persuading the King that he had no man but of that race who was sufficient to guide the affaires both of peace and warre Howbeit the imprisonment of the third brother whome the Marquise of Brandebourge held did somewhat restraine the course of his brags wherefore they sought with speede to withdrawe him home to the end the one might heaue forward the other and yet were them selues vnwilling to disbourse anie penie of al their briberies and theftes either to take anie compassion of the French nation which was deuoured to the hard bones They inuented therfore an other reasonable honest shift as they supposed which was to borowe the Kings name and authoritie whereby they might vnder pretence of heresie vexe and torment whome so euer they thought best to the end to meete with some confiscations For it seemed not sufficient for him through his temeritie and rashnes to be the cause of the death of so manie great Lords and gallant French gentlemen at his owne taking but now his ransome must be gathered out of the liues of such as remained not forbearing the wiues of such good and vertuous Captaines as in the meane season ventured their liues and goods in the Kings seruice Whereof the Lord of Teligny might haue bene a sufficient witnes had he not shortly after lost his life in King Henries seruice For during the imprisonment of the Duke of Aumale the vertuous Ladie of Teligny was vniustly accused of heresie at the instance of a Sorbonist one of the Cardinals stalions as are the rest of our masters his companions who be men ignorant of all goodnes and honour as fierce cruel and seditious as any aliue vsing religion as a cloke to couer their peruersitie in this respect altogether like vnto the Cardinal of Lorraine the setter of them on worke at the cost of the Kings honour who for that cause incurred the euil wil of many In this fetch they disclosed an other of their sleightes for what with their spunge which was laid close to King Henries ribbes namely the Duchesse of Valentinois this prisoners mother in lawe who by al meanes robbed him on the one side them selues who ruled the common purse they wholy spoyled the King both of the loue and of the goods of his subiectes araying them selues in the same persuading him that nothing was wel done but what them selues did Yea they waxed so impudent as to affirme that their brother had verie wel discharged his duetie also that they whom he had led to the slaughter had in maner betraied him insomuch that the whole fault was imputed vnto the dead and he the suruiuer who had disobeyed the Kings commandement who sent him word not to hazard any thing after his deliuerie returned to the court where by the meanes of his mother in law he was as much or rather more cherished and made of then any of the lustiest lieutenants that the King had Thus did they on the one side laugh King Henry to scorne whome in the meane time they had so artificially bewitched that he accompted him selfe to haue none more assured or faithful seruants then the said lords of Guise except the Constable whom therefore they hated to the death as they afterward declared in diuers wise These warres of Metz were nothing in respect of those of Picardie wherof the house of Guise
sought vtterly to root out him and his Thus may you see how they enuenimed the King against his blood and people naming to him Valois in steade of Guise openly playing at King put of thy coate yet could not their cruelties stop men from casting these things in their teeth both in worde and writing being accused of weakening deuouring and wasting both the King and his Realme But al this shal more particularly be described The Cardinal was then so malepart as in the Kings presence to sweare by Gods blood that the Baron of Castelnaul should die for it and that no man should saue him In the meane time the Kings edicts posted euery way and the Duke of Guise the more to floute the King and doubting lest the executiō of so many might procure him more hatred among al men fearing also least this worde estates which already began to tingle in their eares should tickle the peoples hearts thought it best to saue the liues after the maner of a thiefe which holdeth a man in his mercy at the corner of a wood of the most part of the poore souldiers who were come on foote which was done giuing euery man closely a testorne I wil not here say that they counseled the King to slaye the Prince of Conde neither speake of the meanes which they vsed in washing and clensing them selues in innocent blood neither of the slanders which they layed vpon the dead persons or of their faire promises for time to come and al in the Kings name and yet obserued nothing for we shal haue time enough to speake thereof more largely hereafter But I wil set before the readers an other wonderful iniury which their ambition wrought against the King and his estate Their niece who was married to Francis the second was Queene of Scots Now chalenged she some title to England because she was the daughter of the sonne of one of the sisters of King Henry the eight of England pretending that Queene Elizabeth at this present reigning might easely be displaced especially because that Marie Queene before her being married to King Philippe had declared her vnlawful They caused therfore their niece to take vpon her the title armes both of Englād Scotlād determining finally to appropriat to themselues the realm of England at the cost of France and in the name of their said niece whether it were by subtiltie or force Also the religion which Queene Elizabeth professed semed to them a meete pretence to winne some power in England where it is not vnknowen that there are suffred ouer many of the popes affectionate seruants Again the mightines of the King of France together with the inuincible alliāce of both kngdomes was vnto them an other couer or cloke vnder the which they gathered together many secret seruants pensioners who sould their wicked consciences by golde weite and in scoffing at the Guisians perswaded them that for the attaining of England it was requsite first to came the Scots who for the most part were become protestants For by this goodly exploit the English Catholikes should haue a sufficient gage of their rest for time to come also that it was necessary that one of the six brethren shoulde remaine stil in Scotland During these practises there arose some trouble in Scotland about religion King Henry the second died and they seeing themselues on horsback determined to pursue this pray with horne and crye They sent therefore the Bishop of Amiens a very nimble person in the court of the Church who in one moneth should reduce said he al the strayed Scots with him la Brosse a hairebrained and furious person who should murder al in that realme These two good commissioners being arriued in Scotland began in their owne fancies to make partition of the gentlemens lands and selling the beares skinne which yet they had not taken they writte vnto the Guisians that there were waies how to draw yerely two hundred thousād crownes out of this kingdō by puttīg to death the nobilitie and bringing the commons into subiection also that there they might wel lodge a thousand French gentle mē who should be to do the lords of Guise seruice God knoweth whither this council clawed them where they itched and whither they maligned the Queene dowager their sister and her minion the lord of Oysel who thought it not best to ouerrunne the said Scotts who had blood in their nayles as they shewed wel making the Bishop to feele that they had nought to doe with his instructions and compelling la Brosse to returne the same way he came and to goe and bragge it in some other place driuing away the priests the Cardinalty and the Papalty al which had it not bene for the foolish ambition of the Guisians might well haue remained Also besides this blowe they susteined an other onset on the coaste of England for Queene Elizabeth made a large protestation expressely against them therein setting before al mens sight the causes of these broyles to the Kings confusion and the destruction of his realme And whatsoeuer countenances or practises that they made afterward fastening according to their custome the foxes skinne vnto the lyons yet gained they nought els on that side sauing shame to themselues and losse and hinderance vnto the King and his realme Whiles they extended their wings so farre of in France one the one side the protestants multiplied and on the otherside such as misliked the gouernement of the Guisians began againe to take heart notwithstanding the successe of the enterprise of Amboyse had in the beginninge greatly quailed the greatest part Hereupon the Duke of Guise marueilously chafed that in his gouernement of Dauphine the protestants had first lifted vp their heades brought in sixtene ensignes of the olde bands of Piedmōt together with diuers cōpanies of other French souldiers vnder the conduct of Tauannes Maugiron and others who made marueilous hauocke in those countreis Sone after also they brought the King to Tours where they did what they could to haue had the towne destroyed for they supposed that the inhabitants thereof had fauoured the enterprise of Amboyse and therefore a great while bare them a milke tooth Thus walking the King vp and downe causing him to taste of the baite of al pleasures they abused his youth and simplicitie dayly planting other pillers of their greatnesse for time to come the more they se they were contrariried the sorer were they enuenimed bent vnto new practises brīging the King into the hatred both of his subiects and strangers more endamaging the realme in one moneth then then before it had bene in a whole yeres warre against the Spaniard for it was incredible what exactions and debtes they procured also what goods them selues hoarded vp during the raigne of their said nephue Frācis the second These behauiours together with extreeme violence vsed brought most part of the commons in maner into despaire of euer seeing France againe in
Ianuary was published by the aduise consent of the chiefest most notable persons in the Realme was the most cōuenient way to appease the tumultes and to reduce the estate vnto his pristinate beautie and renowme But the Guisians could not tolerate the same because that if all things had quietly succeeded in France they should haue bene called to their accomptes whereof none was readye except in leauying of souldiers and foreine power as well as of the Realme wherein they trauayled as followeth We haue here before seene how vnder pretence of Religion there was a barre layd betwene the Constable and his nephues of Chastillon whereby the Guisians might the more fortifie them selues and the sooner ouerthrowe the said lordes of Chastillon whom they hated and mightily feared The Constable thereby beganne by litle and litle to be offended with his said nephues but especially after he was certified that they togither with the Queene mother had bene the chiefe motioners of the estates to call for accomptes for in them should him selfe be examined notwithstanding he were not by twenty partes so deepe as the said Guisians Hauing thus wonne the principal officer of the crown they associated to them the Marshal of S. Andrewes who was as all men doe know one of the most accomptable Then tooke they counsayl among them selues wherein the Cardinal alwayes vsed this policie namely to propound Religion the better to cloke his intents made this resolution First that the superintendence of al affaires should be committed vnto the Catholike King who should in the beginning accuse the king of Nauarre as a fauorer of a new Religion should sollicite him through fayre promises to forsake all and to take the Catholickes parte In case the King of Nauarre remaine obstinate then should the Spaniard in continewing his glosing promises sometimes accompanied with threates in winter time rayse souldiers and then on a suddein set vpon him Also if there they should finde any resistance then should the Duke of Guise declare him selfe captaine of the Catholicke Confession and so goe and assayle the said King of Nauarre on another side who by that meanes should soone be ouerthrowne The Emperour and Catholicke Germaine Princes should be requested to hinder the Nauarrians of all succour The Catholickes should reteine the Protestant Switzers The Duke of Sauoye should assayle and vtterly roote out the Geneuians to the terrour of all others Thus much touching the first poinct of their league Now as for France they determined not to pardon any one who had bene knowen once to haue bene a protestante The commission for the murder was allotted to the Duke of Guise who also had the charge of rooting out the whole race of the Bourbons for feare lest in time to come any one of their progenie should haue reuenged the same murders and restored the Gospel Then should they haue raysed warre against the Protestant Princes and haue lent the Emperour and the Catholicke Princes all the money arising of the confiscations of so many Protestantes as should be murdered in France and the Cardinals Bishops and other holy fathers should be cottized to furnish the expenses of this holy warre These goodly articles did the Cardinall deuise And the Constable minding nothing but his religion was then so daseled that he could not perceiue that notwithstanding his family were not named yet the houses of Chastillon and Bourbon being ouerthrowne his race could not continue As for the Marshall of saint Andrewes he was gladde to see the accoumptes in this wise rendered for that in steade of restoring the most because he had most receiued he now hoped vpon a newe receipt and of neuer being coumptable for any thing and besides that the Guisians tended to the same ende they did moreouer perswade them selues at that blow to be bathed in all their enemies blood For the bringing therefore of these things to effect the Guisians departed from the Court about the end of Nouember manifesting their discontentation which sone after did more augment by reason of certaine proceedings houlden against the Duke of Nemours whom they had procured to steale away cōuey the lorde of Orleans into Lorraine where hauing him at their deuotion they purposed to make him captaine of their enterprise For at all assayes they sought to haue sundry strings vpō one bow because they yet knewe not which way the Queene mother would take Howbeit thinking that in case the King of Nauarre would take their parte she durst not ioyne with the Prince of Cōde for feare of being displaced they sought to bring their first purpose to passe by the ayde of Destars others through bringing him into a vaine hope of being restored to his dominions Wherunto the Pope as said his Legate who was one of the chief solliciters of the matter would assiste him prouided alwayes that the said King of Nauarre would defend the Romish Churche the effect whereof did sone appeare when the said King draue away the Ministers and reuolted from the Religion by reason whereof there fell out many doubtes about the publication and verifying of the said Edict of Ianuarye Not long before the Guisiās had written to the Duke of Wirtēberg a protestant Prince requesting him to conferre with them about the confession of Ausbourg wherein they shewed some hope of a desire to be instructed Vpon this cause they came to Sauerne not farre from Strasbourg where they had such conferēce with the said Prince about the fiftenth of February 1561 that al of them hauing protested to follow the doctrine of the said cōfessiō of Ausbourg the Cardinal hauing for the same purpose cōferred with Brentius the Duke of Wirtēberges principal Minister the Duke of Guise did finally entreat this Prince that in fauour of their Religion he would so labour the rest of the Protestāt Princes that in as much as in auncient time the house of Lorraine stil appertained vnto the Empire now in the same respect he his brethren might be aduowed for Princes of the same bearing voice in the Imperiall diets wherby they might withdraw and exempt them selues out of the king of Frāces iurisdictiō hinder such succour as the Protestant Princes might sende to them of the Religion and with the same to strengthen them selues and finally in steade of recompence afterward destroy the same Protestant Princes As this Prince was at the point according to their request to procure them to be receyued newes came into Germanie of the murder of Vassye which the Duke of Guise had executed in his returne into France from the aforesayde towne of Sauerne The Protestant Princes greatly wondered hereat and that not without cause seeing it was in maner scarce three dayes betweene the time that the Cardinal gaue with the one hand siluer and gilt cuppes to Brentius other Germaine ministers and that nowe with the other he sacked the Protestantes But they had before determined to come strongly and armed
in this Realme since the death of the late King Henry are the declarers of the said Prince and his fautours to be seditious They who doe oppresse the Kings maiestie abolish his decrees and abuse his name and auctority to the ende with his ouerthrowe to establish their owne mightinesse are the same who haue declared vs guilty of treason Those those are guilty of treason against God whose workes haue alweys shewed that ambition is their God couetousnes their religion and worldly pleasures their paradise and last felicitie who haue sworne warre against the Sonne of God his worde and the defenders of the same who shew the deedes of Anabaptistes in rebaptising children baptised according to the ordinaunce of IESVS CHRIST whose houses are replenished with thefte and their handes bloody in all crueltye Those men also are guilty of humaine treason who haue violated the Kinges edictes armed them selues contrary to his commaundement and seased vpon his royall person who are inwarde friendes and to the same ende doe vse the helpe of those who in seeking to steale away the second person of the Realme endeuored to oppresse the King to bring his estate into ruine confusion And seing we must needes proceed I say that those men are guilty of treason who lately made a conspiracy in Prouence through the ayde of Lauris a president in the Parliament of Aix togither with Fabritius Cerbelone the Popes gouernour of Auignon tēding to the raising of fiftenth thousand men who as they sware marched at the commādement of the Duke of Guise of whom the said Fabritius furnished a thousand footemen and two hundred horse which conspiracy being detected and in the court of Parliament of Prouence verified Entrages and Laydet the two chiefe captaines of this faction were beheaded by sentence of the said courte If this be not sufficient I wil say yet more namely that the Guisians made the like match in Dauphine by meanes of captaine Mantil hoping to arme the said two prouinces then to cause them togither to march where they thought best So that these conspiracies made for the abolishing of the preaching of the Gospel these leauyings of men and this othe to marche at the Duke of Guises commandement doe crye out that he and his confederates are rebels seditious persons and guilty of treason against both God man Also that contrariwise those are the Kings true and faithfull seruantes who both haue and still doe valiantly withstand their rebellions seditions and attemps against the Kings maiesty and the estate of this Realme Also hereof aboue all that is yet spoken the ouerthrowe of the policy and subuersion of the iustice of this Realme togither with the peruerting of the court of Parliament of Paris may be a sufficient testimonye The ayde of which court they haue vsed in this false and pernicious iudgement of rebellion because they could not light vpon any other cōpany so corrupted depraued either so much bound to their willes and appetites as is the same for so many as now be members thereof either do keepe their rowmes through the said Guisians and their adherents fauour or els do liue in hope hereafter through their helpe to clime higher yea most of them are by name comprehended in the said conspiracie and league which the said Guisians and their adherents haue made Thus you see what was then published against the Guisians But vnto this policie of causing the Prince of Condies adherents to be proclaimed rebels the Cardinal yet added other sleights First he got the King and the Queen mother to be brought into his brothers campe by the King of Nauarre whom he sent to fetch them so caused both the Child and mother to march as it were in triumph the better to cloke the end of this warre Secondly he wonne to their parte al strangers euē the Protestant Germains whome hee caused to enter into the Realme and in the meane season scoffed at the said Protestants religion because said they that with money they brought them to roote out the gospel in France which them selues had plāted in Germany which also they stil professed yea the better to scorne the said Germaines the Guisians gaue them to vnderstande that of long time they had bene minded to establish the confession of Ausbourg in France which the Cardinal had openly detested in the assembly of Poissy notwithstanding that afterwarde at Sauerne he protested that he did allow of the same already had so done in case they had not bene letted by the Prince of Condye his adherents whom they charged to be rebels to seke to vsurpe the crowne to be Anabaptistes Atheistes and men deuoyd of al faith and religion Al this time in France there was no news but of tēpests and horrible confusions throughout al the Coūtry as more largely is and shal be discoursed vpon in certaine treatises tending to the same end but the Cardinal endeuouring to assure his matters as wel as he might determined to leaue his brethren at worke in France whiles him selfe went to practise with the Pope the Spanierd and others assembled vnto the Councill of Trent and all vnder colour of religion which he did openly scoffe at for at Gyen and Bloys among other the articles whereunto he caused the King his council to subscribe to the end they might said he passe in the Coūcil though in effect to bring the Pope and his adherentes to that whereat he shot were these fiue wherin his practises may plainely be perceiued First that the Canon of the Masse might be cut of and the rest corrected according to the forme of al auncient liturgies brought into Frenche Secondly that the Psalmes might be soūg in Churches after the maner of that Frēch translation which the doctors of Sorbone had corrected who in deede are as rude Poets although they loue their drinke well as euill diuines Thirdly that indifferently al men might participate in the Lordes Supper vnder both kinds Fourthly that al flat paintings tending to the storie only should be permitted in Churches al Images taken away or at the least wise the people shuld be exhorted not to worship any of thē either simplie or by relation Fifthly and finally that all curates and priors shoulde either by them selues or by others interpret the epistle and gospel for the day vnto the people Thus did this troublesome member handle France who was against al men and al men against him yea euen in Rome the Cardinal Vitelly did sharpely rebuke him calling him a busie fellowe and molester of al things who only by his driftes cut out more worke in a day then the whole consistory of Cardinals could sowe in a yere The better to frame his ginnes he got forth with him nine bishops foure Abbots and certaine Sorbonistes and arriued at Trent in Nouember 1562. wherevpon the twentye thirde daye of the same moneth he made an oration conteining some matters worth the noting First
of in the middest of his course Sometimes he woulde thrust his finger into the wounde as if he were extremely chafed against the surgeons and Physitions who coulde not prolonge Francis the second his life also as if he coulde not giue them one good looke because he sawe himselfe ensnared Finally after he had forgiuen his wife and lefte his children to the Cardinals tuition not without straight charge to reuendge his death and bring his driftes to their perfection which so often had bene frustrated he was as ye would say by death tyed to the suburbes and gate of Orleans This was the end of the fiercest of all the Guisians who fretted said manye in that he shoulde die in the towne where a King had dyed either that nowe aliue he shoulde come into the Citie which he and his partakers had destined for the death of a Prince of the blood and many good officers of the crowne The Catholikes especially of Paris who neuerthelesse had smal cause as afterward appeared did greatly bewayl his death Whē the King of Nauarre was slaine at Rouen the Duke of Neuers and the Marshal of S. Andrews at Dreux and diuers others in other places there was no token of sorow But for the Duke of Guise who had abandoned his captain who fought because he would not be accomptable to the estates of France who had violated the Kings edictes and sought to suppresse the house of Valois did they make hearses and vsed al other funeral solemnities as if he had bene a king Now therefore like as after the decease of Francis the second al the whole courte which enuironed the Guisians vanished away and al their multitudes at the same instant conuerted into solitarinesse yea that manye who before had followed them were now ready not onlye to hold the basen to whōsoeuer would cut their throats but euē thēselues to paunch thē so after the death of their eldest brother they remained as a body without members being forsaken of most men and through the vnreasonable authority which they had vsurped become odious vnto such as to them were most vprignt The Cardinal now being at Trente sought new meanes how to begin at an other end and first dealt with the Spaniard as himselfe did since disclose to one of the chiefe counselers of a certaine noble french Lorde for hauing declaimed against and reproued the estate of matters of France he toulde him that the Spaynishe gouernement was excellent and goode where the Great Lords of the country doe so bridle their King that they permit him scarsely to sport him self handling him after the maner of counters of which a man maketh that which somtime is worth but one somtime worth tenne sometimes worth a hundred sometimes worth ten thousand and immediatly reducing it againe to nothing at his pleasure neither were it said he a very harde matter to reduce France to the same poincte In the meane time he counterfaited the mourner writing such consolatory letters vnto his mother as a man would hardly reade without laughīg especially where he writeth these words Madame I say vnto you that God neuer so greatly honoured any mother neither at any time did so much for any his creature excepting alwayes his owne glorious mother then he hath done for you But this good childe of the most blessed mother in the world next to the virgine Marie inuented other new practises against the estate of his King and country as we now shal perceiue The Duke of Guise his mouthe beyng stopped peace presently ensued but in such maner as did easelie shewe that such remembraunces as the Cardinal lefte at his goynge to the Councille were of greate force For the edicte made in the moneth of Ianuarye was in maner extinguished the Prince of Condye displaced from the rowme which to him apperteined as to the first Prince of the blood the Admiral and other great Lordes expulsed the Courte but principally the sayde Admirall who was charged with procuring the shotte at the Duke of Guise which neuerthelesse was but a policie which the Cardinal and his fautours practised to the ende still to keepe the water troubled and them selues out of accomptes in whiche poincte the Queene mother somewhat fauoured the Guisians in that she was glad to put from her sonne al honourable persons to the ende to bring him vp and frame him according to her own humors the effects wherof haue since manifestly appeared Many things chanced in France betwene the first and second troubles wherein the Guisians sleightes diuersly appeared to the destruction of the realme wherof we wil touch some the most notable particularities not staying ouermuch vpon the circumstance of Dayes in that that entreating of their iniuries offred to the Princes of the blood to the nobilitie to the estates and to other priuate parties in the Realme we may beholde such matters as nowe we wil passe ouer First the Cardinal laboured the Queene mother to grant the estate of great master vnto his nephue Henrie sonne to the late Duke of Guise So that notwithstanding this childe was not capable thereof yet to the great dishonour of the King and the Realme and in despite of the Constable and the Protestants whome the Queene began to hate he was chosen great Master standing in deede in greater neede of a Scholemaster and roddes After the King of Nauarre was dead the Queen mother became a Catholike for she douted lest the Prince of Conde then first Prince of the blood would holde his estate knowing her humours through the assistāce of the Chastillōs the Cōstable himself whose heate began now to coole reduce her to order take the gouernemēt from her The Cardinal foreseing also that if this were brought to passe both he and al his should be plucked away determined to take some order At the assemblie at Orleans the estates with one common consent had made great complaintes of the vnreasonable giftes which both King Henrie and King Francis the second had giuen to sundrie persons of whome some were vnworthie others had had too much seeking to cal to accounts those who had the charge and gouernement of the treasure The first part of these complaintes touching the vnworthinesse of persons concerned especially and from the bottome of their hearts the Duchesse of Valentinois and al her abomination The second of excesse did pinche to the quicke the Guisians the Marshal of S. Andrewes and some others An other point of this complaint tended wholy against the Guisians as hauing relation only to the time of Francis the second whom they had ordered at their pleasures in whose time much money was spent and consumed On the other side the reformation of the ecclesiastical estate wherupon the nobilitie and third estate did earnestly call killed the Cardinals heart outright Wherefore to the end to procure this pursuite to vanish away he and his brethren could inuent no better shift then by kindeling the ciuil warre aforesaide
which immediatly ensued doeth sufficiently detect the purposes both of the Cardinall and his adherents But to be able here to specifie those purposes aswell in the outridings which they procured the King to make vnder pretēce of the iourney to Bayonne where their holy league was confirmed order taken with the Duke of Alba for the ouerrunning of the Protestantes eyther of certayne other leagues made in sundrie partes of the realme through the driftes of the Guisians frō the which proceded the horrible murders especially in the Counties of Maine Tourayne Vandosme Also in Guyen where the Marshal of Bourdillō in other places other officers were to much at the becke of the Queene and the Guisians Neyther will I here particularly rehearse these murders whereafter folowed extorsions and wonderfull iniustices in sundrie cities of the realme neyther the sleights which the Cardinall vsed to winne the Prince of Conde vnder pretence of an imaginatiue kingdome mariage whereby to weaken the Admirall Neyther will I speake of the Citadels erected in sundrie places in the Realme of the razing of townes which the Protestantes held in the first troubles of the false accusations layde to their charges of the declaration or Edict of Roussillon which manifestly abolished the Edict of pacification of the scorning of the declarations which the Prince of Conde made against the same edict togither with the flouting of those who sought for quietnesse and iustice Of the murders at Tours and at the castle of Loyre of the presumptiō of Chauigny who was slaue to the Queene and the Guisians of the banishment of certaine Protestantes in the towne of Rochelle I will not here make any larger mention of the forbidding of the Protestants to keepe any scholes which was done at the Cardinals pursuite who therin did imitate the Edict of Iulian the Apostate against the Christians either of the said Cardinals endeuour to destroy the soules togither with the bodies in that he procured that the ministers should not visite the sicke or abide in any other place then where the exercises of the Religion should for the Bailiwickes be houlden On the one side the Cardinal of Guise practised with the bishop of Mans whereof ensued infinite mischiefes On an other side the Duke of Aumale was in Champagne where he did litle better He tooke from them of Troye the exercise of their Religion which by the Kings declaration was permitted in their suburbes and assigned them an other very discommodious village He by his owne auctority changed the place of the Bailiwick of Chaumont vnto Bassigny against the Kings expresse decree And to the declaration which the Lieutenant of the Bailiwick a manifest enemy to the Gospel concerning the commandement which he had to accommodate the Protestantes in case the gouernour should refuse he answered that he had contrary Edicts from the King in his sleeue and therefore forbad the said lieutenant from proceeding any further He imprisoned an Aduocate at Troye because he had presented to the King a poore widowes supplication whose armes and legges they had after the peace cut of He caused to pill and sacke the receauer of Mascons house He in all maner of wise fauored the seditious and open murderers of Creuant On an other side the Cardinal of Lorraine was in armes accompanied with certaine knightes of the Order and the rebels of Paris and other places who seing the Protestantes on all sides ouerrunne sought nothing but some mighty man to set them to the like worke considering also that the King was farre of in whose absence they were very desirous to be doyng and to make a terrible broyle But the Marshal of Montmorency foreseing the same and vnderstanding that not only at Paris but also in most townes of the Realme the seditious persons lay in waite and watched for the Cardinals comming certified the King of whatsoeuer he vnderstood whereupon he receiued a precept that he should not permit the Cardinal or any of the Guisians to enter in warlike araye into Paris Again after that the Marshall was aduertised of the brief which the Cardinal had obteined of the Queene mother he diuers times aduertised the King especially at Chaalons Bar Mascon and Lions that if the Cardinal and his garde came armed to Paris he would indeuour to vnarme him Also fiue or sixe moneths before the rumour was spred in Paris of the Cardinals comming garded with harquebuziers the said Marshal made the like declaration both openly and particularly vnto the Cardinals especiall seruantes And to the ende no man might pretende any cause of ignorance the thirtenth of December 1564 he made proclamation with sound of trumpet and then printed that vpon payne of death no souldiers ordeined for the garde of any gouernours or gouernement should enter within his precinct declaring in expresse wordes to the ende the Cardinal might vnderstand that this defence touched himself that it was not lawfull for any lorde whatsoeuer vnlesse he were a Prince of the house of France to enter into the gouernement of the yle of France with any garde All this notwitstanding the Cardinal tooke his way to Paris and departing from Reims noysed that he went vnto Ginuille And although he were tender yet did he in the sharpest of winter take the fields making exceeding iourneys and such as him selfe was neuer wonte to doe in any time whatsoeuer or vpon any kinde of occasion After his comming to S. Dionice there were many goings to and fro In the meane time the Marshal went to the Parliament house where he knew the Cardinal had alwayes endeuored to procure most benefactours and friendes there to complayne of the said Cardinal in that he came to throwe himselfe headlong and as the prouerbe is to burne in the flame Moreouer he sent a Prouost to keepe the way who endeuored to apprehende the formost of the Cardinals garde and harquebuziers that he met who notwithstanding all these warninges vnderstanding that his brother d'Aumale who before with his troupes had kept the fieldes should now enter into Paris at one gate came thither also with his men toward euening the streetes being replenished with people attending his comming But the Marshall of Montmorency accompanied with certaine lordes and gentlemen of name came in his way and so sone as he perceiued the weapons of those who accompanied the said Cardinal called alowde to them to lay the same awaye whereupon some fledde and a few strokes were giuen wherewith one of the said Marshal of Montmorencyes gentlemen was slaine And the Cardinal and his nephue the Duke of Guise were worse afeard then hurte so that sodeinly alighting they saued them selues in a house at hande where it was said that the Cardinal was in such plight that his hosen serued him in stead of a basen and his doublet for a close stoole hereupon the said Cardinal more coward then a hare seeyng himselfe thus disapointed togither with his companie departed without any sound of trumpet
others without anie kinde of iustice for the Lord of Prie gouernour of Auxerre where this great murder was committed had the Cardinals word We wil here nowe briefely rehearse the practises which the Guisians after the second peace vsed for the more spedie dissoluing thereof and reducing the Realme into new troubles thereby vtterly to roote out the Protestants so to aduance their owne affaires Wherin we wil recite part of the lamentation then published referring to the readers remembrance certaine the particularities here omitted the number whereof is so great that it is vnpossible for one man to thinke vpon them al. The strength therefore and certaine assurance of this peace consisted in that that the King his brethren and their mother should wholy blot out al kinde of mistrust conceiued against the Protestants wherein they hoped that themselues had alreadie taken a verie good order through their so readie spedie obedience in forsaking their weapons sending away of such of their power as had bene sufficient to haue subdued the Guisians and other their enemies and in yelding those places wherein consisted their sauegard The Cardinal therefore to the end to preuent so great a commoditie which vndoutedly had spoyled his attempts tended onely to the entertaining of the King and the Duke of Anjou for as for the Queen mother she vsed her children after the Guisians desire in these mistrusts and mortal hatreds against the Protestants daily repeating and putting them in minde of new occasions Wherein he holpe him selfe with two vertues which alwaies he hath bene verie familiar withal namely of boldnesse to inuent al kinde of lies being stil assisted by men meete for his purpose in that respect and of such shamelesse assurance that he would neuer be dashed out of countenance notwithstanding his falsehoods were detected His practises which he hath exercised for both the entertainement and destruction of the nobilitie at once his briberie and exactions against the Clergie and the goodly pretences vnder the which for that purpose he hath shrouded him selfe shal be reueiled in place conuenient In the meane time we wil beholde what iniuries he his haue stil done to the King and generallly to the whole Realme wherein we wil againe speake of the true complaintes published thereagainst Soone after the peace whereof the Cardinal sent his mother word that he would hinder the execution he tooke order by certaine preachers of his owne faction that the people might be persuaded that it was a matter of conscience to keepe this peace not only for that it was made with heretikes and Atheists but also because through the necessitie of time it was in maner wrested from the King by force This caused that sundrie Catholikes made no conscience of putting of al natural affection and that the most wicked finding the gate open vnto al theft and extorsions did without stoppe runne headlong into al kinde of mischiefs and the most horrible violences in the world Whereunto the wincking of iudges and parliaments being for the most part subiect vnto the Guisians did greatly auaile insomuch that within three or foure moneths after diuers persons of al estates professing the Religion were murdered the particularities whereof we wil referre vnto the historie of our time But in this place are two notable particularities Presently after the peace the Catholikes of Amiens among other murdered six or seuen score Protestants of al kindes ages and conditions Now to the end to make men beleeue that they sought to chastise and punish so wicked and cursed a deede they sent thither the Marshal de Cosse who imprisoned the authours of this murder but soone after at the solliciting of the Cardinal they were released set at libertie for he in ful counsayle affirmed that they ought to take pitie of these poore prisoners who through a godly zeale of Religion had bene moued to do this deede and that him selfe would be the first that should sue for their pardon and so for a forme of iustice they caused to whippe three or foure rascals whom they persuaded to confesse what they were and in picture executed such as indeede ought to haue bene punished in person who also were present at the execution of their owne pictures Toward the end of Iune in the same yere 1568 was Rene of Sauoy Lord of Sipierre murdered in Prouence togither with fiue and thirtie gentlemen and souldiers of his traine according to a certaine precept which the Guisians sent vnto the Baron des Arts and fiftene daies before the said murder the Cardinal of Guise in much companie said that they might alreadie accompt the Lord of Sipierre for a slaine Captaine and that so they shoulde shortly haue al the rest By these and infinite such other deedes the Protestants in stead of being taken into their houses with the freedom of conscience according to the Edict were now forced to flie the townes being in stead of townes become dennes of Tygres and Lions And afterwarde the gouernours parliaments other officers whome the Cardinal vsed at his pleasure and who also for the most part were not verie desirous to publish the peace least thereby they shoulde lose the meanes to spoyle after their vsual maner had their excuse readie namely that the people being thus moued alreadie it was not best to proceede anie farther for feare of marring all In the meane while the King him selfe was not onely entertayned through a thousand false and impudent slaunders in the mistrust alreadie conceiued of his subiectes which is the greatest mischiefe that may alight vpon anie Prince but also contrarie vnto al royal generositie was put in feare and reduced to this point that he was fully persuaded that it was vnpossible that he shoulde be thorowly obeyed vnlesse the one part of his subiectes might be permitted to destroye the other and therefore it was an easie matter for the Cardinal to wrest the edict of peace into an occasion of a thousand millions of troubles Moreouer the Cardinal foreseeing that if all the protestants should at once be turned out at doores they might assemble and fortifie themselues againe in sundrie places therefore prouided against that mischiefe as followeth yea he presumed to write into the prouinces that they should not credit the Kings letters vnlesse they had some other assured tokens First he procured the edict by litle and litle to be published sometime here and sometime there to the end to drawe the most needy and simple persons into the townes but with this watchword that the gates should be kept with armes euē more diligently then during the warres that they should vtterly vnarme the Protestants at their entrye that they should not permit any that once were entred to get forth againe notwithstandinge they abiured And in al this the Cardinal was so wel obeyed that few townes escaped without some manifest and open murder besides al other violences which were exercised to the end to make the most constant to
reuolt which could not but come to passe when the sword was once taken from the King and iustice and committed to the hands of the communaltie with al immunitie Also to the end to be assured that neuer a protestant might escape the Cardinal gaue the King to vnderstand that he should neuer remaine safe from the Huguenots practises vnlesse the townes which they had holden together with such as were their captaines neighbours were furnished with good and strong garrisons so that this was no sooner counselled but it was also commanded Also yet for their more assured delīgs herin if there were any captain renowmed for theuery or cruelty either any who had euer a priuate quarel or any company giuen ouer to al leudenesse those were sure to be preferred how many soeuer there were of them to the ende to replenish the townes so sone as they were yelded or to lye about the houses of the Prince of Condie the Admirall and other Lordes whome the Cardinal hated and stood in most feare of Also when one of the priuie Councill chaunced to shewe the sayde Cardinall that it was to be feared least hereby the Protestantes should ouer soone perceiue and smell that they would not obserue the edict also least the Catholikes should complaine of being ouerpressed the charges being so great that the King were not able to beare them he answered saying You knowe not what you say For the first of these two pointes the answere is ready namely that it is for the mainteining of both parties in peace according to the edict and as for the second for the Souldiers lodging among the Huguenots and so an hundred fould ouercharging of them as touching Cottisings all such matters shal light vpon their coffers howsoeuer it be their confiscations shall paye for all and ouer and besides such recompences shall discharge the Kings debts The Cardinal not yet content to the end to keepe the said lords of the Religion from comming to the court and more surely to prouide for the execution of his drifts persuaded the King that his person should neuer be in safetie without keeping him selfe as it were shut vp in Paris for a time and not to stray away thence but by litle and litle This when he had obtained for the better keeping of his prisoner he made drawbridges and other gardes in al the waies and entries into Paris as in time of open warre Hauing thus framed his nets he made an Edict in the Kings name wherewith to drawe all the Protestants into the townes there to murder them or keepe them prisoners in their owne houses at the mercie of a number of thieues vntil the appointed houre for the Sicilian euensong And to the end men might the better cōceiue hereof we haue set downe the Edict conteining as followeth Like as to procure the obseruing interteyning and inuiolable keeping of the contentes of our Edict made for the pacification of the last troubles chanced in this our Realme among our subiectes we haue heretofore written and sent word vnto our gouernours of our prouinces our intent and pleasure as followeth That the gates of our townes should be open vnto such our subiects as do professe the reformed Religion and that them selues shoulde be receiued and setled in their houses in ful possession of their goods as before the sayd troubles they were leauing their weapons at the gates of the sayd townes according to an order which to that end we haue sent into all partes and places of our dominions So nowe beeing since aduertised that sundrie our subiectes of the saide Religion taking an opinion that they can not be receiued into the saide townes either beeing entred cannot tarie without beeing oppressed and molested by other the inhabitantes haue therefore retired into the fieldes armed in great companies there committing infinite euils and oppressions against our poore people so that it is to be feared least they may procure in our Realme new troubles whereunto desiring to prouide as it is requisite we haue againe said and declared and now do say and declare that our intent alwayes was and stil is That the said of the Religion pretended reformed as well such as haue borne armes as all others comprehended in the bounds of our Edict shall haue free entrie and be receiued into their mansion houses whereinto we will and doe meane that they be admitted by the gouernours of our prouinces and townes bayliefs Seneschals and others our iustices and officers of the same by whome they shall be summoned so to doe with al gentlenes possible maintayned in peaceable possession and vse of their sayde goods and preserued from all iniuries and oppression to the end that in all suretie and quietnes they may with other our subiectes of the Catholike Religion vnder the benefite and according to the true meaning of our Edict of pacification liue in al assurance and quietnes taking them into our protection and sauegarde and giuing euerie man charge with the custodie the one of the other Also in case anie do goe against this our determination our will and pleasure is that all such be punished with the extremitie and rigour of our Edictes and ordinances of whatsoeuer Religion that they be without exception of persons Also wheresoeuer after these summons and calling anie shal be found enemies of common tranquilitie or still keeping the fieldes there to molest our subiectes or to gather together in armes to begin anie newe troubles We will and our intent is that all our saide gouernours of prouinces and townes all Bayliefes Seneschals and other our iustices and officers euerie man in his owne iurisdiction as to him appertaineth shal assemble such numbers of men of warre whether of men of armes of footemen being in our paye or inhabitants of townes and villages as they shal thinke conuenient and necessarie according to the aduertisements which they shal receiue of the perfect number of the said perturbers of the common quiet for to ouerset them and by all such meanes as them selues shall thinke conuenient them ouerthrowe and heaw in pieces in such wise as may be for our strength and obedience For such is our will and pleasure Giuen at Paris the 19. of May 1568. Charles Robertet This Edict conteineth infinite clauses and guiles of the Cardinal for the rooting out of the Protestants aswel with in the townes as in the fieldes which the murders following together with an other practise now to be seene did but ouer truely verifie to the great interest of the whole Realme and perpetual ignominie of the royal Name Al men do knowe that the profite of al countries consisteth especially in trafike and marchandise which is the thing which most commendeth France aboue al countries in the world Now did one of the Articles of pacification import that the townes should immediatly be restored into such estate as they were before the troubles al trafike marchandise restored The Cardinal not being able to
be heard alleadge their reasons which must be either confirmed or conuinced by the onely word of God according to the maner vsed in all times for like occasions In the meane time the Cardinall brought vp the Duke of Aniou at the charges of the Clergie and Catholikes to the end to destroy the Protestants and to get a new string vnto his bow wherwith he might shoote at other matters in case the warre had such successe as he wished For as for peace he accompted it vnpossible and past hope of beyng concluded without the vtter destruction and abolishing of the contrary faction Now sought he continually to cloke his priuate interest and to cause the King to thinke it vnpossible to come to any peace and so consequently to hazard all things rather then to yeelde so much and to that end propounded two great lets The first taken of the contrariety of religiō which said he neither could nor ought to be borne withall in the realme The other deriued from the Kings maiesties fame which sayd he the protestantes had blemished and therfore it was vnpossible for them to salue vp such a wound vnlesse laying down their weapons they came in haulters about their neckes to submit them selues to the Kings mercie sitting in his seat of the Cardinals iustice But he alleaged these reasons to the which the protestants haue often sufficiently answered not so much for any zeale to religion whereof in the bookes folowing we will more amply entreat neither for any affectiō to the King against whom he conspired but rather because that before he graūted to any motion of peace he would be assured that howsoeuer matters went he his would keepe the chief roome in the counsail of the King realme that he might put out or in the officers of the crown at his own discretion that he might ordeine and dispose the lawe treasurie as seemed best to his couetous appetite to be brief that the realme might of him take lawes to do or not to do to speake or not to speake at one word that at his pleasure he might remoue both soules bodyes and goods both of the heade and members of the said Realme He feared also least the King should giue eare vnto the declarations of the Protestantes deputies wherby in time he might easely perceiue that those counseilers who haue giuen him to vnderstand that the onely meanes to extinguishe in his realme all diuersitie of Religion was through warre were Atheistes or els brainelesse persons wholy ignorant euen to the ende Also least the King might call to minde how that since the said Cardinals returne from the Councill of Trent the whole body of his priuie councill hath bene deuided and parted into two seuerall opinions the one part wishing for peace the other for warre and therefore the Cardinall and his adherentes might be the worse entreated Wherefore he resolued togither with his partakers so much as might be to prolong the warre therby to corrupt and frame the King after his owne appetite and so destroye the Protestantes thereby to prepare the readier path to the performance of his secret driftes He perswaded him selfe in time to conquere the saide Protestantes First being driuen out of most townes in the Realme and reduced into the extremities of the same in a litle corner of Saintonge they might easely be inclosed in this small quantitie of ground by meanes of such riuers townes as doe abbut vpon the Marches of Angoulmois the places thereabout so that being once raunged within such barres the famine and infection of the ayre raysed through the vapoures of their troupes and companies should within fewe moneths force them to come in with haulters about their neckes and so to yeelde them selues to his discretion mercy Then that the principal strength of the Princes campe consisting in straungers for the payment of whose arrearages alreadie due vnto thē vntill then the protestants had almost drawē their purses drie therfore had small opportunitie in tyme to come to satisfie thē they of friēds should become foes which easely might be compassed and they be entised if not to fight with the Protestantes yet at the least vpon payment of their dueties to returne home into theyr owne countries Finally the Cardinal grounded the prolōging of the warre vpon the vncertayne hazard of battayles by reason of inconueniences of his owne parte All such as cōsidered that now all the French Nobilitie and the chief part of their warriours were already in the fields vpon the point in case any battayle should be fought to murder one an other did bewayle the miserable estate of the King and his Realme who leaned to their subuersion through the happe of such a meeting to whom soeuer the victorie fel. But the Cardinall and his factiō made so smal accompt hereof that they could haue wished that the parte lying vpon the ground had left the conquerours so wounded that they might neuer haue risen again not in hope to haue created any new French nobilitie with a sheet of paper or a skinne of parchement and foure vnces of waxe according to the Cardinals apophthegme which was that the King was able in one houre to create more Gentlemē then in tenne yeres space might be cōsumed in the warres but rather for that that the sayd French nobilitie being extinguished the way would be the readier vnto the accomplishmēt of the Guisians forecastes and through the supporte of the Mayres Sheriffes and Counsaylours of the most part of the townes in France of long time affectionate vnto the Cardinal like as were the courtes of Parliamēt vnder pretence of maintayning the Catholike Church they might chalenge the title to the Crowne the which they haue so long boasted to appertaine vnto the house of Lorraine by vertue of an imaginatiue succession from the stocke of Charles the great Howbeit the Cardinall fearing least the battayle should be tryed rather in the maner of a fraie and dispersion of one of the armies then by any great bloodshead thought best to assure him selfe through delayes in prolōging the time rather then to buylde his full hope vpon so wauering and daungerous a foundation For if the victorie had fallen to the Protestants the Guisians would haue accompted them selues vndone also if the Cardinals armie had gotten the best then did he forecast that their furie being ouer some of the Catholikes might haue commenced as dangerous a quarel against him as that and agayne require of him the liues of such Lords and Gentlemen as peraduenture had bene offred vpon the altar of his ambition For all they that serued the Duke of Anjou were not so bent vnto the Guisians seruice as the said Cardinal and his adherents could haue wished Thus did the Cardinal spin this corde of Ciuil warres draw it as long as he could notwithstanding that in his cōsiderations there passed great ouersights which here I will neyther detect neyther confute for that is the
support troubles and partialities in the realme For she told them flatly that they must not loke to haue the edict of Ianuarie obserued neither that in France should be any other religion vsed then the Romish also that the Catholiks were so strong therwith so chafed especially at Paris that without further tumults the said edict could not be kept wherfore they ought to be content in being tolerated to liue quietly in their owne houses without any slaunder or being searched in their consciences prouided alwayes that they practised no preachings administratiō of the Sacraments or other exercises of their religion The Guisians also remēbring how diuers times before the said Prince of Cōde his adherents had declared which lāguage they now also vsed vnto the Queene that rather then for their partes to agree to the forcing of their cōsciences or to tolerate any thing contrary to Gods honour or his worde they would depart the realme incurre perpetual exile did now expressely aduertise the Quene that at this parly she should reduce thē againe to the same cōmunication then take thē at their word which she both promised and diligently brought to passe For hauing declared to the Prince his partakers that their protestations touching the maintenance of the edicts religion were not receyueable she did very liberally yelde to the other point namely that their best was to withdrawe them selues out of France promising to procure vnto thē as well generally as particularly al such letters of assurance as thē selues would deuise then accōpting her self assured of their departure she began to discourse with thē vpō the time whē the king should come out of his nonage shewing them that there were some who threatned to cōtinue it vnto the twentieth yere of his age notwithstāding she were determined at the four tenth yere to proclayme his maioritie alleadging that she assured her selfe that in case any man sought therein to contrary her the said Prince the rest would not faile but come to her ayde and assistance Yet was she not content so accursedly to mainteine both the Guisians her owne ambition but that she must needes the same night after she came from Talsye dispatch Ramboillet to the ende in the morning to be at the said Princes vprising to hastē the departure of him his to bring her worde of the assured houre time of their said departure out of the Realm writing vnto the said prince that she would send him ten thousand crownes to what part soeuer he wēt therin manifestly declaring her self the instrumēt of the said Guisians wherwith to banish him so that hereby euery man may perceiue what way poore France was like to goe through such accursed gouernement The Prince hereupon returned with such lords as acompanied him into his owne cāpe hauing first reueiled to the Queene mother certain of the Guisians practises whereby they endeuored to haue apprehended him in his returne from the said parlye which he had discouered But all this notwithstanding they were so wide from quayling his constancie that contrariwise being fully resolued to mainteine the liberty and lawes of his countrie and to doe his duety vnto God the Church against the enemies he twise offered them battayle But the Duke of Guise and his friends who so greatly before trusted in their power knowledge and experience as to presume to say euen before the Kings face that with three hūdred men of armes they would not fayle but so beate the Huguenots that for their safety they should haue enough to doe quickly to get into the corners of the Realme then with all the power that they could get in seuen or eight dayes togither with such forces as they gathered vnder the Kings name and auctoritie could not now otherwise shifte but by stealing away and in the night departing vnto Bloys a towne of no strength where they found the poore inhabitants vtterly disarmed of whom some they murdered some they drowned violating women and maydens and committing wonderfull hauocke and thence hauing that passage open they went and sacked sundry other townes and forraged a great parte of the Realme The Cardinal also togither with the Popes Legat followed the army to the armye whereby to preuent all meanes of agreement to mainteine the troubles wherof we neede no more assured proofe then of a certeine remēbrance which at the same time was met withall which the said Cardinal sent to his brother the Duke of Guise and his companions to the campe at Bloys by Seure the controuler of his said brothers houshoold This remembrance among other did conteine these wordes As for breaking of or hindering whatsoeuer is newly propounded touching agreement it is that that is the hardest and conteineth most labour and neuer beleeue that any man taketh any heede thereto or hearken vnto them either that they shal come to any poinct vnlesse they submit them selues to such offers as the Queene saith she hath made vnto them Afterward he addeth saying As for cōtinuing about the Queene that is done all diligence is employed according to the instructions without omitting any houre or occasions and so shal be continued Concerning the Pope those be so long delayes that we can come to no ende neither is there any defaulte of calling vpon yea euen of angring outright Touching the succours of Flanders we perceiue nothing redy without long attent yesterday the Embassadour was spoken vnto who saith he hath done his endeuour in writing to the Lady of Parma For Meaux we haue not power sufficient to doe any thing and therefore we seeke to get them to yelde In any wise forget not Mans and Bourges see that after your departure from where ye are you be not new to beginne The declaration of rebellion was yesterdaye red in the council and well liked of all men The Kings men penned it and it should this day haue bene published But they say they haue promised to doe nothing without you and therefore doe send it to you to adde or diminish Time wasteth send it therefore backe againe speedily This declaration of rebellion had the Cardinal practised thereby to breake the Prince of Condes power and so with more ease to attaine to his purposes The arrest thereof was published in the Parliament of Paris the 27 day of Iuly 1562. But the Prince and his partakers did first refuse the Guisians slaues who prepared them selues to make this declaration and then vttereth the vniustice of the same whereby the Cardinal gotte not much that way sauing that he detected his owne practises and rebellions as the said Prince and his confederates published in their declaration to the Queene wherein were these notable wordes among other Considering with a single eye the parties in this cause ye shall finde that the said lorde Prince and his confederates haue bene wrongfully declared rebelles by those who are so in deede The procurers of all the troubles happened