958. not without suspition of poyson and thus left his Conquest imperfect Year of our Lord 958 Now the complaints of the Lords and Prelats and the earnest entreaty of the Pope pressing King Otho he resolved to go himself after he had Crowned his Son Otho II. at Aix la Chapelle though he were but seven years of Age. Upon his Arrival in Italy Berenger his Son and his Wife abandoned the Cities and Country and retired each of them into a strong Fort. Otho was there received with universal applause recovered Pavia was Crowned King of Lombardy at Milan by the Arch-Bishop and thence marched to Rome where he received the Imperial Crown upon Christmass-day by the hands of John XII who had been put into the Holy Chair by the Credit and Money of his Father Alberic before Year of our Lord 960. 961. 962. the Age of 18 years This Alberic was the Son of Marosia who had chaced King Hugh from Rome after which he had changed the Government there and made himself Consul that he might command in Chief with a Prefect and some Tribuns Year of our Lord 963 Now the young Pope who had earnestly desired Otho to come quickly changed his mind and recalled Berenger to Rome as soon as Otho was gone from thence to reduce the rest of those places which that Tyrant still held Otho being informed of this odd fantastical news did not give over his Conquests then when he thought it seasonable to return to Rome he led his Army thither The young Pope being fled with Berenger and the Treasure of the Church he caused his Process to be made not for his Intrusion but for Murther Sacriledge Adultery Incest Simony and other enormous crimes For this end he Assembled a Council John was cited before them in due form and not appearing they deposed him and in his place put Leo who was the VIII of that name Year of our Lord 963 This Pope to avoid the trouble the Cabals caused in Elections gave the Emperor Otho the power thenceforward to Elect the Popes and Bishops and to give him Investiture The Ecclesiastical History does likewise observe that this John XII was called Octavian before his Election and that he was the first Pope that changed his name Whilst Otho was passing the Christmass Holy-days at Rome with the new Pope having quartred his Army out of the City the Faction and money of John the deposed Pope made the Romans rise to Attaque him Treacherously he had notice of it time enough to prevent surprize put himself in the head of his Army Year of our Lord 965 and came boldly to them They were afraid and coming to a composition with him gave several Hostages He delivered them up again some few days after upon the entreaties of Leo but no sooner was he gone to besiege Camerin but they revolted drove out Leo and received John in their City where he exercised most revengeful cruelty upon Leo's Friends He had continued it to the end had he not been killed in the very act of enjoying a Woman After his death the Romans persisting in their Rebellion Elected the Arch Deacon Bennet Immediately Otho returns again reduces Rome to a Famine compels Bennet to ask pardon in the Synod of Bishops and causing him to be degraded of his Priest-hood sent him Prisoner into Germany where about a year after he died at Hamburgh Some months thence believing Italy might remain in Peace because he had taken Berenger and confined him to Bamberg in Germany he returned home and marched his Army with him After his departure some Lombard Counts revolted having Adelbert and Guy the Sons of Berenger at their head But Duke Burchard whom he sent back overthrew them in a great Battel which was fought on the Banks of the Po. Guy the most mischievous of them all was left dead upon the place and Adelbert escaped with much ado This last having gathered some Forces together hazards another Battel An. 968 ☞ which loosing he died with grief And thus with him ended the second Kingdom of Italy or if you will it passed over the German Princes who let it moulder away and come to nothing After Pope Leo VIII was dead and that John XIII had been set in the Chair with the consent of Otho on whom Leo had bestowed the power of Confirming the Election of Popes the Prefect Consuls Tribuns and other Magistrates of the City of Rome displeased that Otho had greatly limited their power which before led all Italy as they pleased they put this Pope in Prison then turned him out of Rome calling to their aid Rofroy Count of Campania The Pope retires to Pandolfus Prince of Capoua who restored him and John his Brother slew Rofroy In recompence the Pope erects an Arch-Bishoprick at Capoua Year of our Lord 966 and bestowed it on the murtherer of his Enemy But Otho desiring to remedy things once for all by suppressing these Rebellions returns to Italy where he setled his Authority by severe punishments by rewarding Year of our Lord 966. and 967. of friends by creating new Counts by good and wholesome Laws and in fine by the conquest of Calabria and Puglia which he wrested from the Grecian Empire who had kept them hitherto Year of our Lord 968 And to compleat all he Crowned his Son Otho at Milan by the hands of the Pope and joyned him in the Empire This young Prince three years after that is to say in An. 971. Married Teophania or Tifaine Daughter of the Emperor Nicephorus who was then dead Thus Otho but little inferior to Charlemaine raised the Western Empire the ☞ Title thereof ever since that time remaining as it were annexed to Germany with pretences much more great and extensive then their Forces We shall henceforth speak no more of the affairs of Italy and little of Germany unless where things do joyntly relate to the French Year of our Lord 962 During these Transactions in Italy divers quarrels were troublesome to France the two greatest were that about the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims and the hatred of the Counts Thibauld de Chartres and Arnold of Flanders against the Normans The first might have been ended by restoring Hugh of Vermandois to his Dignity in Reims Artold the Arch-Bishop being dead An. 962. if the Queen could have suffer'd it But far from giving her assent she so brought it about that the Council of Soissons refer'd it to the Pope who declared him Excommunicated Year of our Lord 963 The Brethren of this Hugh furiously Animated against Guibuin Bishop of Chaalons who in that Assembly had proved thechief obstacle against his restoration Burnt the City Year of our Lord 964. and 65. The Earl of Chartres was supported by the King against the Normans because he was joyned both by alliance and affection to the Interest of the Sons of Hugh the Great He lost a Battel in Normandy for which he received satisfaction by the conquest of Evreux which the King put
that the People did not believe a Prince wore it Legally if it were not put on by the hand of one Bishop and the consent of all Now those of Bretagne having for the most part been nominated by Louis the Debonnaire would not give their Ministery nor their approbation to this Usurper He contrived therefore an accusation of Simony against them by the means of an Abbot named Connoyon esteemed as a Saint by the People The assembly sends them before the Pope to justify themselves the Abbot follows them to Rome and Neomene causes him to be accompanied with a stately Embassy with a Present of a Gold Crown for the Pope and an order to desire of him the Restoration of the extinguished Royalty in Bretagne The whole House of France opposed this so strongly that he obtained nothing of the Holy-Father but some Relicks and verbal Reprimands for the accusation against the Bishops But at their return he frighted them so with the fear of Death as made them confess those crimes and thereupon caused them to be deposed Year of our Lord 848. And 849. Presently after he put men of his own Faction in their rooms made three more Bishopricks that is of Dole Treguier and St. Brieuc and Ordained the Bishop of Dole for Metropolitan The Popes had bestowed the Pall on those Prelats in the sixth Century All this tended towards his Crowning and Anointing after the Mode of the French Kings Which was performed in the City of Dole where he had assembled the Estates of his petty Kingdom All his Bishops assisted except Actard of Nantes who for that reason being turned out of his See retired to the Arch-Bishop of Tours his true Metropolitan who having called together the Bishops of his Province and those adjoyning caused some Remonstrances to be made to Neomene but to no purpose Year of our Lord 848 Two other Enemies perhaps leagued together young Pepin and the Normans drew Charles's Army into Aquitain In the Month of March he took some of those Pirats Ships in the Dordogne and compelled Pepin to leave the Field to him But when he was gone from that Province the Normands surprised Burdeaux by the treachery of the Jewes that were in it and took William Duke of the Gascons Prisoner and such others as their covetousness prompted them to spare alive after their fury had been glutted with blood The French were so feeble and weak as to let them make that place their Store-house and Armory for several years Year of our Lord 849 The two Kings Lotaire and Charles had an interview in the Palace of Peronne and by Oaths renewed again their affection and league for mutual Security Charles Brother to Pepin of Aquitain relying too much upon these seeming demonstrations was so imprudent when he returned from Lotaire's Court of whose protection he made no doubt as to pass by West France Count Vivian observing his steps stop'd him and carried him to Charles the Bald who at the Assembly of Chartres caused him to be shaved and sent him to the Monastery of Corbie About four years afterwards Louis the Germanick his Uncle made him Arch-Bishop of Ments Year of our Lord 850 King Pepin his Brother had many very ill qualities he was a Drunkard filthyly Debauched and Violent vexing and grieving his Subjects and Authorizing the unjustice and robberies committed by his Officers A good part of the Grandees of Aquitain having conceived a kind of scorn and hatred for him invited and called in Charles the Bald whom they received with great applause at Limoges and attended him to the Siege of Tolouse which surrendred on composition But as soon as he had left Aquitain they reconciled themselves to Pepin Year of our Lord 850 The Voyage which Charles the Bald made into Bretagne to put a reinforcement into Rennes did not prevent Neomene from Besieging that Town and taking Prisoners all the Chief Officers of that Garrison Year of our Lord 850 The same year the Traytor Lambert having turned his Coat seized Count Amaulry and divers other French Lords who were gotten into Nantes without doubt to defend that place Year of our Lord 851 The following year Neomene attaquing the French Territories by Anjou and destroying their Churches with as much Barbarity almost as the Normans was smitten as it is believed by the hand of God whereof he died in few hours space His Son Herispoux succeeded him There was a general Assembly held of all the Kingdoms of the French Monarchy on the banks of the Meuse where the three Brothers met and swore Amity and mutual Assistance At their departure from thence Charles goes into Bretagne to attaque Herispoux whom he guessed to be as yet unsettled Their Armies engaged on the Confines of Anjou If we credit the Bretons Charles's was but ill handled However it were he agreed to a Peace with the Breton to take possession of Aquitain which was a thing of more importance and also to oppose the Normans The same year the Pyrate Hachery coming out of Burdeaux with his Fleet destroyed the Abbey of Fontenelle to the very Foundations then going up the Seine with his small Boats he plundred all the Country for a great way on either side and burnt divers Cities amongst others that of Beaurais Year of our Lord 852 Pepins ill conduct had so highly offended the Lords of his Kingdom that in fine they seized on his Person and delivered him up to Charles who caused him to be shorn and confined to the Monastery of Saint Mard. Whence making his escape he roved a while and took part with the Normans which made him only the more odious So that being retaken he was close shut up in the Castle of Senlis Year of our Lord 852 The same year Lotaire associated his eldest Son Louis in the Empire He had three living this Louis Lotaire and Charles Lotaire and Louis his Son associate in the Empire Louis King of East-France Bavaria Charles of West-France and Aquitaine There would be no end if we should set down all the exploits and ravages of Year of our Lord 852. And 853. the Normans In An. 852 and 853. other multitudes went up the Seine again and this latter year some went up the Loire plundred the City of Tours and set Fire to the Churches particularly to that of the Grand Saint Martins Ebon had setled himself again in the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims when Lotaire invaded Year of our Lord 852 the Territories of Charles the Bald Afterwards that King expelled him and in his stead caused Hincmar to be Elected who after many contests was this year confirmed in that Arch-Bishoprick by the Synod of Soâ—ssons Year of our Lord 852 Whether it were by necessity or evil counsel the Bald treated the Aquitains very rudely He caused several of the principal Heads to fly amongst others that of a Count named Gosbert which begot so much aversion in them towards their new Soveraign that under pretence that he took no care to
excommunicate and wrote very harsh Letters Year of our Lord 856 to young Lotaire threatning to deprive him of his Kingdom There is no craft nor submissions which this Prince did not put in practice to elude that Sentence But the Pope not valuing all those Arts sent a Legat into France named Arsenius who addressing himself to the German Louis called a Synod Year of our Lord 866 and taking upon him a Supream Authority declared to Lotaire that he must take his Wife again or remain excommunicated with all his Adherents The Kings his Uncles maintained this Sentence in such sort that for the time he was forced to obey But so soon as the Legat was departed France he began afresh to mis-use his Wife to threaten to make process against her for Adultery and prove that crime by combat The accused retires to the protection of Charles the Pope takes her business much to heart and excommunicates Valdrade and Duke Huebert Brother Year of our Lord 867 of this Queen rebelling against Lotaire plunders his Country kills his people and exercised all manner of cruelty till he was slain himself by Count Conrard Father of that Rodolph who was the First King of Burgundy beyond the Jour or Transjurain Salomon had fancied that the Kingdom of Bretagne though Neomene had obtained it rather by conquest then succession belonged to him because he was the Son Year of our Lord 867 of Rivalon eldest Brother to that King Thus having forgotten he was carefully and tenderly bred under his tuition he contrives a conspiracy against Herispoux his Son assaults him in the Fields then kills him in the Church to which he fled for safety and so puts the Crown all bloody upon his own head Neomene and he intitled themselves Kings of Bretagne and a great part of Gaule because in effect they possessed the Countries of Mayne and with that the lower Anjou which they had wrested from the French For this cause was Anjou divided in two Counties the one containing what is beyond the River Maine and held by these Breton Kings the other what lies on this side and remained to the French At the same time the Normans entring into Neustria by the Loire spread themselves all over Nantois Poitou Anjou and Tourraine Ranulfe Duke of Aquitain and Duke Robert the strong who was so called because he guarded those Marches against these Barbarians and the Bretons having attaqued them in a Post which they had fortified near the River were by misfortune both slain in the combat So that their Army wanting a Head though they got the advantage let those robbers get away from them Robert had two Sons very young Eudes and Robert whom we shall find to have reigned hereafter The Saracens tormented Italy no less Lotaire went thither with his Forces not only to assist the Emperor Louis his Brother but moreover by this means to deserve and gain the Favour of the Pope which was Adrian successor to Nicholas hoping in time to obtain the dissolution of his Marriage with Thietberge The Holy-Father received him very well because he assured him he had punctually obey'd to all that was enjoyned him but when both he and his came to receive the Holy Communion from his hands he obliged them all to swear it was true that he had quitted Valdrade Now it hapned shortly after that the most part of these Lords died of sickness or otherwise in such numbers and so suddenly as if they had been cut down by the Sword of an exterminating Angel and Lotaire himself was Seized with a Feaver at Luca which he drag'd along to Piacenza where he gave up the Ghost the 6 th of August Which some interpreted a divine Vengeance for the false and Sacrilegious Oath he and his Courtiers had made The Body of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament being a destroying Sword to the wicked and unworthy Communicant Year of our Lord 868 His youngest Brother Charles King of Provence endeavoured to reap his succession and was Crowned at Mets by the Bishop Adventius But he survived not long after and died without Issue He was Interred in the Church of St. Peter's at Lyons LOUIS in Bavaria and Germany CHARLES in West-France Burgundy and Lorrain LOUIS II Emperour in Italy Year of our Lord 868. And 69. Charles who then held a Parliament at Poissy informed of the death of Lotaire went and Seized on the Kingdom of Lorraine neither minding the Emperor Louis Brother of the two last Kings to whom it should have belonged nor the Mediation of the Pope who desired him by an express Legation to do his Nephew Justice The Bishops of that Kingdom being Assembled at Mets gave him the Crown And Hincmar the Arch-Bishop chief promoter of that Decree put it on his Head with the usual Ceremonies Lotaire had one Son and two Daughters by Valdrade The two Daughters were Berte and Gisele Berte was first wife to Count Thibauld Father of Hugh Count and Marquess of Provence and by her second Marriage to Adelbert Marquess of Tuscany Father of Guy and Lambert Gisele was Wedded to Godfrey the Dane who Reigned in Friseland the Son was named Hugh who when he came to Age contended for the Kingdom of Lorrain Hermentrude Wife to Charles the Bald dying at St. Denis the 16 th of October Year of our Lord 869 he married for the second time Richende or Richilda his Mistriss Daughter of Earl Buvin or Boves and the Sister to Thietberge Widdow of King Lotaire III. It was with some justice but without legal power that the Pope should take Year of our Lord 870 any cognisance of the difference about Lotaire He dispatched a second Embassy to Charles the Bald to exhort him to surrender it to the Emperor Louis otherwise he would Excommunicate him And he wrote to the Bishops that they should forbear all Communion with that King unless they would be cut off from the Church of Rome Charles reply'd modestly enough to the Legats but the French Bishops went a higher Note and the Arch-Bishop Hincmar wrote very smart Letters to Adrian His Nephew of the same name Bishop of Laon was of an other opinion and with much heat maintained all those Orders brought from the Pope He had Excommunicated a Norman Lord because he detained some Lands belonging to his Church whereof the King had given him the Benefice His proceedings were blamed and condemned by the Bishops at the Synod of Verberie he appealed to the Pope for which cause his Uncle having cited him before the Council of Attigny which consisted of the Bishops of twelve Provinces he caused his Equipage to be Plundred by the way and when he came to the Assembly forced him to renounce Year of our Lord 870 his Appeal The Pope made grievous complaint of it and would have brought the Process and the two Hincmars to Rome but the Arch-Bishop reply'd with force and hindred him This dispute went so far that the Bishop of Laon was deposed and clapt in Prison
Italy betwixt them Year of our Lord 888 THus the Succession of the Carlovinian House was divided into five Dominions without counting the Lords who set up almost for Soveraigns 1. Italy which was joyned with the Title of the Empire 2. Germany which then also comprehended the Kingdom of Bavaria 3. France which had the Kingdoms of Neustria Aquitain and part of Burgundy 4. Burgundy Cis-jurane named ordinarily the Kingdom of Arles or Provence under which were likewise the Lyonnois and Daufine 5. and Burgundy Trans-jurane or beyond the Jour as the other on the contrary We need not doubt but these new Kings gave part of the Quarry to the Lords of their Party and consented to every thing to get only their Oaths and Homage nor can we imagine but these Lords did the like towards their Vassals and these again to the lesser Nobility From hence arose so many Lordships both small and great of which the Bishops themselves such as were of good Families and had but courage enough did not forget to take their shares Year of our Lord 889 Now Eudes to show himself worthy the choice they had made of him went out against the Normans who ravaged Burgundy He set upon them on St. John Baptists Day nigh Mountfaucon slew nineteen thousand and pursued the remainder to the very Frontiers shewing himself personally brave on all occasions Another party of them who were in Champagne descended by the Marne as far as Paris and there loading the Barks upon Waggons carried and put them into the River again below the City then falling down to the Sea and so running along the Coasts plund'red the Country of Constentine Year of our Lord 889 Alain and Judicael who were contending for their shares in Bretagne agreed together to sight the Normans their common Enemy Judicael alone rashly presents them Battel and so doing lost both his Life and honour But Alain having gotten all his Forces together fought them so fortunately that of fifteen thousand hardly did four hundred escape The Bretons attribute this success to a vow he made to bestow the Tythe of the Spoil he should gain upon St. Peter's at Rome Such Devotion towards the Holy-Chair was very ordinary in those Ages Divers Princes devoted their Estates and became Tributaries to St. Peter Which did not a little contribute to imprint that persuasion the Popes then had in their minds that they had a right both to give and to take away Crowns After these losses the Normans having but few men left in France two of their Chiefs Godfrey and Sigefroy went and shipped a new levy of a hundred thousand men raised in Denmark Sweden and Norway that their reputation might not be wholly blasted They entred the Meuse with fourscore and ten thousand leaving the remainder to guard their Vessels King Arnold's Lieutenants assaulting them indiscreetly were defeated with the loss of an infinite number of the Nobility Year of our Lord 890 But Arnold himself picqued at so bloody an affront passes the Rhine with the whole Force of Germany seeks them in their very Camp which was close by the Meuse and forced them with so much fury that he left not so much as one of them alive The dead Bodies made a Bridge quite cross the River and the Flood was swoln with the Blood of those Barbarians If any wonder whence there could come such vast numbers we must know First that all the rascally and pilfering French and the like of other Countries joyned with them That besides those Countries were then extremely populous and all those Inhabitants greedy of Plunder listed and embarqued themselves to come and rob such rich and fertile Nations In fine there came so many who were either destroyed or else Inhabited in France that those large Territories of the North are unpeopled to this very day Thus in these last Ages Spain which once swarmed with men has made her self become a Desart through the covetous humour in her Subjects who all transport themselves into that new World where are the Mines of Gold and Silver they so long for Year of our Lord 891. and 892. All the Neustrian Lords did not own Eudes for their King Aymar Earl of Poitiers whom he would have dispossessed of his Estate to give it to his Brother Robert Ranulfe II. Duke of Aquitain and some others in those parts had taken up Arms against him Year of our Lord 892 Now whilst he was employed in Poitou in the War a confederacy was contrived between Herebert and Pepin Brothers sprung from Bernard King of Italy the one Earl of Vermandois the other of Senlis and Baudouin or Baldwin Earl of Flanders Fulk Arch-Bishop of Reims and many others who having been to fetch Charles the Simple out of England whither his Mother had carried him caused Year of our Lord 893 him to be Crowned at Rheims the 27 th of January in the year 893. It was by the assistance of Fulk that he immediately wrote Apologetick Letters to Arnold Guy and Rodolph exhorting them to help the Pupil against the Usurper Which at first made some impression upon Arnold in favour of Charles but soon after either in terest or inconstancy turned him on Eudes side Some have said that that Guy of Spoleta whom we have mentioned had likewise been Crowned at Langres three years before So that there were three Kings chosen and Crowned in West-France But Guy had absolutely quitted it for Italy and seemed to pretend no more to it CHARLES Called The SIMPLE King XXX POPES STEPHEN VII Near Three years THEODORE II. Elect. 901. S. 20 dayes JOHN IX also Elected in 901. S. 3. Years 15 days BENNEDICT IV. Elect. 905. S. about 2. Years LEO V. Elected in 907. S. 40 days after which Christopher dethroned him S. 7 Months SERGIUS III. an 908. having dethroned Christopher S. about 3 years ANASTASIUS III. Elected an 910. S. 2 years 2 Months JOHN X. Elected in 912. S. 15 years whereof 12 under this Reign Arnold King of Germany Bavaria and Lorraine Eudes and Charles Competitors for West-France Guy Emperour and King of Italy Rodolph in Burgundy and LOVIS in Arles Year of our Lord 893 FOr two whole years the parties for Charles and Eudes made War with various success Eudes being returned from Guyenne drove Charles out of Neustria but shortly after he got in again by the assistance of the Lords of his party Eudes made him work enough and had no less to do himself being forced to guard himself as well from his own party as from his Enemies Count Gautier Son of Adelme his paternal Uncle and Count of Laon drew his Sword upon him in open Parliament and had afterwards the confidence to take shelter in the City of Laon but Eudes followed him so close that not giving him time to put himself into a posture of defence he took the Town and caused his Head to be cut off Year of our Lord 892. and 3. Arnold was sometimes on his side
them to retire Then made himself Master of Reims and Soissons But suffering this heat of good success to grow cool few People declared for him and even the Archbishop of Reims whom he importuned to Crown him told him that he could not do it of his own head and that it was a publick Business that is to say it required the Consent of the Lords of the Kingdom Year of our Lord 989 It was greatly Hugh's interest to gain Arnold Bastard Brother of Duke Charles to his Party To this end he gives him the Archbishoprick of Reims which was vacant by the death of Aldaberon having first taken an Oath from him in Writing but six months after his being in that Town Charles his Brother was introduced there and made himself Master by means of a Priest named Aldager and in Confederacy as was thought with the Archbishop who notwithstanding ever denied it and remained Prisoner in the hands of Charles either really or at least pretended Year of our Lord 990 At the same time William III. Earl of Poictou and Duke of Aquitain refused to acknowledge the two Kings Capet and Robert though he were Uncle to Robert by the Mother openly accusing the French of Perfidiousness and their having abandoned the Line and Blood of Charlemaine Both the Kings marched that way to bring him to Obedience and besieged Poitiers He repulsed them smartly pursues them to the Loire and there happens a bloody Engagement but the conclusion was to the Advantage of the French Year of our Lord 991 The year ensuing this Duke made War upon the Count of Anjou for Mirebalais and Loudunois and did so roughly handle him that in the end he was constrained to acknowledge him and hold them in Fief of him Year of our Lord 991 Charles living in too great security at Laon and with too much confidence in Ancelin King Hugh gained that Traitor who like another Judas upon Holy-Thursday-night opened the Gates and delivered the poor Prince and his Wife up to him He sent them away Prisoners to Senlis and from thence to Orleance where they were shut up in a Tower Year of our Lord 992 The Archbishop Arnold his Brother was taken with him The Bishops of France Assembled in Council at Reims made his Process as one that was guilty of Perjury and who had broken his Faith to King Hugh and therefore degraded him of his Prelature after which the King sent him Prisoner to Orleance to keep his Brother company Gerbert a Benedictine Monk who had been Tutor to the Emperor Otho III. and to King Robert was chosen in his place He was so Learned for those times particularly in the Mathematicks that it gave him the Reputation of a Magician amongst the ignorant Year of our Lord 993 Anno 993. William III. Duke of Aquitain made Peace with the King and owned to hold his Lands of him But another William Duke of Gascongne kept himself still independent He it was who having gained a memorable Battle against a Fleet of Normands landed in Gascongny towards the end of this Century and believing he obtained that Advantage by the intercession of St. Sever who was said to have appeared that day on a white Horse with glittering Arms fighting against the Barbarians put his Dukedom under the protection of that glorious Martyr and Erected a Church and Abby over his Tomb round about which Edifice is built that City called St. Sever Cape of Gascongny Many believe but without any certain proofs that Hugh Capet confirmed the Inheritance of all the great Estates Dutchies and Earldoms to those Lords that had usurped them and it is probable that they themselves had first given such as depended upon them to their own Vassals thereby to engage them to maintain and justifie them in their Usurpations It is certain he annexed to the Crown which had scarce any thing left in Propriety the Earldom of Paris the Dukedom of France containing all that is between the Loire and Seine and the Earldom of Orleance Amongst a very great number of Lords who enjoy'd of the Regal Rights the Eight most considerable were the Dukes of Burgundy Normandy Aquitain and Gascongne Bretagne then held of Normandy the Earls of Flanders of Champagne and Thoulouze This last was likewise Duke of Septimania and Marquiss of Gothia the Earl of Barcelonna in the Marches of Spain and the Earl of Anjou on the Frontiers of Bretagne this held of the Dutchy of France All these Lords had a great many more besides who took upon them to be Soveraigns I do not speak of the Estates that were set up in the Kingdom of Lorrain amongst others the two Dutchy's that bare that name to wit the higher or Mosellanick which retains it to this day and the lower which is Brabant Nor of those that were framed out of the Ruines of the Kingdom of Arles and that of Transjurane as the Earldom of Burgundy those of Viennois Provence and Savoy Daufine the Dukedoms of Zeringhen and Alman and divers others because those Countries were not of France but held of the Emperors of Germany who were Titularies of those two Kingdoms The Grandees of the Kingdom thought that Capet ought to suffer all from them because they had set the Crown upon his Head His Patience and Courage which he exercised diversly according as occasion required kept them from running to extremity and maintained him in his Throne One Adelbert Count de la Marche and Perigord was one of the most unruly and concerned himself in all their Quarrels Fulk Nerra had some Pretensions to the City of Tours he besieged it in his behalf The King sent and commanded him to desist Adelbert would do nothing and asking him Who was it that made you a Count He insolently replied Those same that made you a King continued the Siege and took the Town Year of our Lord 993 This year was memorable for the death of Conrad King of Burgundy William III. Duke of Aquitain and Hebert Count of Meaux and Troyes Conrad left his Estate to his Son Roldolph called the Faineant or Do-nothing William left his likewise to his Son of his own name but surnamed Fierabras and the third dying without Children to Eudes his Brother Earl of Chartres and Tours who was the first that intitled himself Earl of Champagne William IV. of that name Earl of Toulouse and of Arles turned Monk and his Son William V. succeeded him After the death of the Count of Poitou his Son being yet but young found his Country in Combustion by the Rebellion of many of his Vassals especially Adelbert who besieged Poitiers and made divers other Enterprizes but in the end he met with that fate which attends the Factious being slain at the Siege of a small Castle Boson his Fathers Brother succeeded in his Dominions Year of our Lord 994 95. The Pope could not suffer their having Deposed the Archbishop Arnold without his Authority which the Bishops of France believed to
years afterwards The Earl of Sens Raynard II. of that name called the Bad using much violence against Leoteric his Archbishop and all the Clergy within his Territory the Year of our Lord 1015 King besieged his City and took it deprived him of his Earldom and rejoyned it to his Demeasns The Burgundians having Rebell'd and divers Lords plundering and committing Robberies in the Province by means of their Castles and Fortified places the King Year of our Lord 1015 went thither and pulled down and destroy'd all those Nests and Dens of Thieves His eldest Son whose name was Hugh a Prince accomplish'd both in Mind and Body giving very great hopes though he were not yet Ten years old He caused him to be Crowned at Compiegne on the day of Pentecost in the year 1017. and afterwards his name was put to all Acts with that of his Fathers Year of our Lord 1017 ROBERT and HUGH his Son Year of our Lord 1018 THe Duke of Aquitain at his return from his third or fourth Pilgrimage to Rome those that made most were the most esteemed found his Country enriched with a new Treasure The Abbot of St. John's de Angery having lighted on the Scull of a Man in a Wall the Report was spread that it was the Head of St. John Baptist The People of France Lorrain and Germany who in those days ran with much Zeal after all sorts of Relicks flocked thither from all parts King Robert the Queen the Duke of Normandy and a great number of other Lords brought their Offerings thither The Kings was a Scollop-shell of Gold which weighed Thirty pounds an admirable Present in such times when Gold and Silver were fifty times more scarce then in our Age. The Danes or Normans beyond Seas having not quite forgotten their custom of Piracy did yet sometimes make Descents in England and on the Coasts of France They had Conquer'd a great part of England and at last made some Kings there This year they landed in Poitou being perhaps informed of the great Crowds of Pilgrims that came to see the Head of St. John and indeed they carried away a great many good Prisoners All the Country Armed to drive them thence The Duke of Aquitain going to attaque them twenty or thirty of his most considerable Gentlemen fell into Holes cover'd over with Branches and green Turfs which the Normans had digged about the Avenues to their Camp This accident disheartned the rest from going on however the Normans fearing a ruder onset dislodg'd in the night and got into their Vessels but they were forced to give them what Ransom they pleased to demand for the Prisoners they had gotten Gefroy Duke or Earl of Bretagne for in those times the Dukes took indifferently the Titles of Earls dying his eldest Son Alain III. of that name succeeded him in his Dukedom and Eudes his second had the Earldom of Pontieure in Partage Alain espoused the Princess Avoise Sister of Duke Richard and by that means Normandy and Bretagne hitherto great Enemies were united in Alliance and Amity Year of our Lord 1020 21 c. There was a War begun from the year 1017. between Richard Duke of Normandy and Eudes or Odon Earl of Champagne and Chartres because Eudes would not give up the City of Dreux granted him in Dowry with Matilda the Sister of Richard who was lately dead so that Richard had built the Castle of Tilleres from whence he made incursions on the Country of Dreux Eudes put himself in a posture to surprize the Garison having with him the Counts Valeran de Meulan and Hugh du Mans but he was soundly beaten and put to the rout Year of our Lord 1022 The War growing hotter he raised so many Enemies against the Norman Duke that that Prince fearing to be overwhelmed sent to Lagman or Lacime King of Sueden to assist him and also Olaus King of Norway who being landed in Bretagne and having forced and sacked the City of Dole marched towards the Chartrain Country All France upon remembrance of their former Desolations fell into an extream apprehension and dread and the King bestirr'd himself with so much activity to quench this Flame that he brought the two Princes to an Agreement and satisfied the Northern Kings who returned again after the Norwegian had received Baptism at Rouen having the name of Robert give him at the Sacred Font. The Emperor Henry and King Robert desiring cordially to take away all cause of difference between them agreed upon an Interview at the River Meuse Whilst the Courtiers on either side were making several Scruples about the Place the Manner and such like trivial Circumstances and Punctillios and the two Princes on the contrary had it in their thoughts to outvye each other in Civility Henry passes the River early in the morning and pleasantly surprizes Robert who the next day repays his Visit in the same manner Both Treated one the other Magnificently and offered each very rich Presents to the other but Robert took only a Book being the New-Testament and a Reliquary or Shrine wherein was a Tooth of the Martyr St. â—incent which was enriched with Precious Stones and Henry a pair of Ear-Pendants Year of our Lord 1024 This last being dead at Bamberg the German Princes elected Conrad Duke of Wormes who could not go to Rome to receive the Imperial Crown till the year 1027. At first the Italian Princes and Prelats hating the Teutonick Nation who Treated them Peremptorily ruling as it were with a Rod in hand refused to obey and sent into Year of our Lord 1025 France to profer King Robert the Kingdom of Italy for his Son Hugh Upon his refusal they Addressed themselves to William Duke of Aquitain very well known in Rome by his frequent Pilgrimages He hearkned to the Proposal understood their Methods sent some thither to found them throughly and after went himself When he was amongst them he found nothing of all they had promised every one demanding of him instead of giving to him they propounded no Conditions but such as were very ridiculous so that finding they had a design upon his Purse and feared his Power he laughed at them and left them The imperious and proud Humour of Queen Constance gave the King perpetual trouble and displeasures who used all means to soften her One day being offended and angry with a favourite of his named Hugh de Beauvais who upheld the Husbands Spirit against her undertakings she makes her complaint to Fulk Earl of Anjou her Cousin intreating to Revenge her The Count sent twelve of his own Country Gentlemen who taking their opportunity when this Favourite was Hunting with the King seized on him and cruelly cut off his Head in the Kings presence without any regard to his Intreaties Year of our Lord 1025 The King was forced to put up this Affront for fear of a greater mischief and withall to endure this Step-mother should Treat his Son King Hugh with the
nomination of Benefices nor lay his hand upon their Revenues He turned some out of their Sees and seized their Lands Stephen Bishop of Paris and Henry Archbishop of Sens adventur'd to Excommunicate him but the Pope Honorius annulled their Censures Year of our Lord 1130 Pope Innocent II. Successor to Honorius was no sooner elected but makes himself General of an Army to compel Roger Duke of Puglia to resign that Country to him which he pretended I know not wherefore to belong to the Holy See In the beginning he overcomes Roger and blocks him up in the Castle of Galeozzo but his Son William hastning thither disingages his Father cuts the Popes Army in pieces and takes him Prisoner Now although he set him immediately at liberty again nevertheless the report of his Captivity being carried to Rome caused them to elect another Pope who took the name of Anacletus Innocent not daring therefore return to Rome held a Council at Pisa where he Excommunicated Anacletus From thence he came into France where he called another at Clermont in Auvergne His Cause had some difficulties the King assembled the Prelats of his Kingdom at Estampes to know which Party they must take St. Bernard Abbot de Cleruaux strongly maintained Innocents after his example every one embraced it Nevertheless Girard Bishop of Angoulesmes advice to whom Anacletus had restored the Legation of Aquitain that had been taken from him had so much influence upon William Duke of Aquitain that he declared himself for this Anti-Pope and persisted a year and an half in that Schism vexing those Church-men extreamly who would needs side with Innocent Year of our Lord 1131 One day being the Fifth of October as the young King Philip was riding thorough some Street of the Suburbs of Paris a Hog thrusts himself betwixt his Horses Legs who flownced and curveted in such a manner as threw him on the Ground and then ran over his Body wherewith being much bruised he died the same night To Comfort the King for this loss and the great and sensible grief it was to him and in some measure repair it he was Counsell'd to let his other Son named as himself Lewis be Crowned He carried him to Reims where the Twenty fifth of the same Month he was Anointed and Crowned by Pope Innocent who then held a Council there against the Anti-Pope Peter Laon. It seems it was at this Coronation that they reduced the Pairs or Peers who were hereafter to be assistant at those Ceremonies to the number of Twelve Six Ecclesiasticks and Six of the Laity who were chosen from amongst all the Lords and Prelats of that Quality They did not however take away from the other Pairs their Prerogative of not being Judged by any but their Pairs in matters Feodal as well Civil as Criminal Of these Twelve Pairries are remaining only the six Ecclesiasticks five of the Lay ones having been re-united to the Crown by Confiscation Marriage or otherwise and the sixth which is that of Flanders torn from them by the Emperor Charles V. LEWIS the Gross the Father LEWIS the Young his Son called the Pious or Debonnair Aged about 20 years Year of our Lord 1132 THierry of Alsatia remaining Master and Possessor of the Earldom of Flanders was admitted to render Hommage to the King who received him because it would not have been in his power to drive him out and besides he was his Kinsman Geofrey Plantagenet was come to be Earl of Anjou Fulk his Father being returned to the Holy Land to take possession of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to which he was called by King Baldwin his Father-in-Law He pressed King Henry his Wives Father very earnestly to give him Places and Money for advancement of Succession which begot such a divorce between them that Gefroy besieged and burnt Beaumont and Henry had carried his Daughter back into England had she not been in Child-bed When she was up again she fell into Dispute with her Father and parted very much discontented from him which gave him so much jealousie and anguish that being taken ill of a slow Fever and a Loosness he died the First day of December having Reigned Thirty five years Year of our Lord 1136 c. His Succession no more then his Life was without great Troubles That Stephen Earl of Boulogne of whom we have spoken his Sister Adela's Son being in England seized on that Kingdom and maintain'd himself in it as long as he lived Not content with that he likewise disputed for Normandy and almost totally dispossessed Matilda and Gefroy her Husband The unhappy Province dividing it self in favour of both Parties was ravaged by both and the King of France favouring sometimes the one sometimes the other kept it still in a Flame William IX Duke of Guyenne touched with Compunction resolved to go in Pilgrimage to St. James's in Galicia Before he went he made his Will and Testament wherein he ordained that his eldest Daughter named Alianor should Marry the young King Lewis and should bring him all his Lordships in Dowry For his only Son was dead but he had yet another Daughter called Alix-Pernelle In his Journey he fell sick and died having confirmed his Will His Corps was conveyed to St. James's in Galicia and interred in the Church and yet the Legend-makers do not stick to say That he feigned only that he was dead and stealing away so privately that his own Secretary knew not of it he went and turned Hermit in a Grotto or Cave near Florence where he macerated his Body by terrible Pennance and that it was he who instituted the Order of the Guillermins Of the same Fabrick is the Tale they make of the Emperor Henry V. saying That to do the greater Pennance for his Faults he caused it to be reported that he was dead and retired to Anger 's where he ended his days serving the Hospital but before he died discovered himself to his Confessor and was known by Matilda his Wife who was again Married to Gefroy Earl of Anjou King Lewis was likewise fallen Sick of a Diarrhea which took him upon his return from his last Warlike Expedition in which he had razed the Castle of St. Bricson on the Loire the Lord thereof using to rob the Merchants William's last Will and Testament being brought to him he accepted of the Match bestowed a gallant Equipage upon his Son and ordered a Train of many Lords and above Five hundred Gentlemen with whom he went to Bourdeaux where Elienor Resided and there Espoused her in presence of the Lords of Gascongny Saintonge and Poitou then brought her to Poitiers towards the middle of July Year of our Lord 1137 In that City he heard of the Death of the King his Father which hapned at Paris the First day of August the Thirtieth of his Reign and the Fifty eighth of his Age. His Body was carried to the Church of St. Denis Before this Prince Violence reigned Majesty and Justice were
against the Infringers even to the killing them in the very Churches which served as a Sanctuary to all other the most enormous Criminals William the Conqueror had Establish'd this Law in England and in Normandy Anno 1080. Raimond Berenger Earl of Barcelonna in his Country Anno 1060. the Council of Clermont had confirmed it Anno 1096. and that of Rome Anno 1102. Now as these Truces were but ill observed and Languedoc and a part of Guyenne principally upon occasion of that War betwixt the King of Arragon and Raimond Earl of Toulouze were most miserably tormented with Factions Murthers and Robberies a certain Carpenter named Durand who seemed a plain simple Fellow Year of our Lord 1183 found the Remedy against these Calamities and a Means to enrich himself He asserted that God had appeared to him in the City du Puy in Auvergne commanding him to proclaim Peace and for proof of his Mission had given him a certain Image of the Virgin which he shewed So that upon his Veracity the Grandees the Prelats and the Gentry being Assembled at Puy on the day of the Feast of the Assumption agreed amongst themselves by Oath upon the Holy Evangelists to lay down all Animosities and the remembrance of former Injuries and made a Holy League to reconcile Mens Spirits and entertain Love and Peace which they named the Peace of God Those who were of it wore the Stamp of this Image of our Lady in Pewter upon their Breasts and Capuches or Hoods of white Linnen on their Heads which this Carpenter sold to them Which had such power over their Minds and had made such Impression that a Man with those Badges was not only in security but likewise in Veneration amongst his most mortal Enemies Year of our Lord 1184 Whether the three Princes of Champagne Brothers to the Queen Mother had gotten the upper hand at Court and put the King out of conceit with the Earl of Flanders or for some other cause the King summon'd him to surrender up Vermandois which Louis the VII had given him only as was pretended for a certain time The Earl being very Potent would maintain the possession passed the Somme with a great Army and came as far as Senlis But upon tidings of the Kings march he turns back the way he came and went and besieged Corbie from whence he decamped again immediately for the same cause The King not being able to overtake him besieges Boves the two Armies drew near to engage Some Mediators put a stop to their impetuous haste and made up the Peace The Earl yielded all Vermandois excepting Peronne and Saint Quentin which they let him enjoy during Life Year of our Lord 1184 To this Agreement the King called all the Bishops Abbots Earls and Barons that served in his Army with their Vnder-Vassals And such was then the Rights of the French The Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Prior of the Hospital of St. John's deputed on the behalf of the Christians from the Holy-Land brought the Keys of the Holy City to King Philip imploring his assistance and representing to him the extream danger it was reduced unto Whereupon having held a great Assembly of Prelats and Lords at Paris he enjoyned them to Preach the Cross or Croisade and to publish it every where and in the mean time sent at his own Expence a considerable Relief of Horse and Foot into that Country The Complaints of the Clergy of Burgundy whom Duke Odo had plundred and the Year of our Lord 1184 Lord de Vergy whose Castle that Prince besieged ingaged the King to march that way and besiege Chastillâ—n on the Seine the strongest Bulwark belonging to that Rebel Who finding his Fort taken by Assault came humbly to submit to his Commands promised to pay 30000 Livers for Reparation to the Clergy and gave up four Castles which however were soon after put into his possession again without doubt because they had some need of him Year of our Lord 1183 84. In Berry there were several Bands of Robbers that wasted the Country they were named Cottereaux and were believed to be tainte â—ith the Heresie that spread in Languedoc because they aimed chiefly to do mâ—schief to the Churchmen the Berriers getting together with the help of some Men sent them by the King cut them in pieces killing seven thousand upon the place The vast Multitudes of eople that flocked to Paris the Kings Train encreasing with his Authority made the Streets so dirty and 〈◊〉 that there was no going in them The King sent therefore for the Citizens and their Provost and enjoyned them to remedy it which they did by Pav ng it with Stone at their own expences I find about this time that one Girard de Poissi who managed the Exchequer brought in thither of his own proper Moneys or Fund Eleven thousand Mark in Silver It is to Year of our Lord 1185 be imagin'd that he had gotten them by the King but however we may say that this Example ✚ will be singular and that we shall never meet a Chequer-man will follow his Example What ever can be done that sort of People will sooner go to the Gibet then be brought to make Restitution Year of our Lord 1185 Margaret of France Widow of Henry the Young King of England is Re-Married to Bela III. King of Hungary Gesroy Duke of Bretagne and Brother of that Henry being come to wait on the King who tenderly lov'd him died of a Distemper at Champeaux and was Interr'd at Nostre-Dames in Paris He had one Daughter named Alienor and one Son only aged but three years The Bretons would give him the name of Artur in memory of that famous King whom the Romancers make to be the Author of the Knights of the Year of our Lord 1185 round Table and many high feats of Arms. He remained under the Guardianship of his Mother and the Protection of the King in despite of all the Efforts of Henry and Richard his Son who made several Attempts to seize upon his Person that they might get Bretagne into their possession The Widow Constance afterwards Married Guy Lord de Thouars The memory of Gefroy is still very famous amongst the Bretons because of that Law he made in his Parliament or Estates General which was called the Assize of Count Gefroy Whereby it was ordained that in the Families of Barons and Knights the Estates should not be shared or equally divided as heretofore but that the eldest should reap the whole Succession and bestow such part upon the younger as himself and the rest of his Kindred should think fit This hath since been thus proportion'd the Thirds amongst all the younger Children during Life to the Males and Inheritance to the Female In time the rest of the Gentry not to yield in Quality to the Barons would needs be comprehended herein likewise Towards the end of the year 1186. a War was raised between King Philip and Henry of England for
Jerusalem he purchas'd it of Guy de Luzignan giving him in exchange for it the Kingdom of Cyprus which the House of Luzignan held till the year 1473. as we shall observe in its due place We find frequently enough in History the apparitions of Meteors in the Air representing Battles Firing and as it were engaging one another but this year a most wonderful thing some were seen to descend upon Earth near the City of Nogent in Perche and fought in the Fields to the great terror of the Inhabitants of that Countrey Year of our Lord 1192 In the mean time Philip being returned into France remembred very well that Philip d'Alsace Earl of Flanders had promised upon his Marriage with Queen Elizabeth his Niece Daughter of the Earl of Hainault to give him after his death the County of Artois He consider'd likewise that to the Queen belonged some part of the inheritance of the said Uncle To this end therefore he goes very well attended into Flanders and forced him to give up all the Countrey of Artois with the hommage of the Counties of Boulogne Ghisnes and St. Pol which till then had ever held of the Earls of Flanders and extended as far as Neuf-Fosse This was the first leaven of that mortal hatred and obstinate feud and wars between the Flemming and French Year of our Lord 1192 Now the misunderstanding that was between Richard and the Duke of Burgundy the perpetual jealousie that King lay under lest Philip in his absence should seize upon his Lands and withal the indisposition of his Body which had been twice or thrice sorely shaken with Sickness during his stay in that Countrey would not let him remain any longer in the East Of a sudden he grew so impatient to return that he sacrificed all the fruits of his heroick Valour to that longing and pressing desire For on condition of a three years truce he renders to Saladin all those Places he had Taken or Fortified in this last Expedition Year of our Lord 1192 Some few days before Hugh Duke of Burgundy died of a fit of Sickness to whom Odo or Eudes III. his Son succeeded Year of our Lord 1192 After Richard had left what Forces he had yet remaining and such places as the Eastern Christians had still in Syria with Henry Earl of Champagne his Nephew he embarqued the 10th of October with little attendance and because he durst not pass thorough the territories of the King of France his declared Enemy he went and landed near Aquilea to pass thorough Germany But the Lords of those Countreys especially Leopoldus Duke of Austria whom he had highly offended at the Siege of Acre or Acon caused him to be so narrowly watched that notwithstanding he went disguised and travelled thorough unfrequented Roads he fell into the hands of that Duke He delivered him basely up to the Emperour Henry who kept him prisoner Fourteen Months When Philip heard of his Captivity he dispatched Messengers into Germany to negotiate with the Emperour to detain him as long as possibly he could Some Months after he sends to declare a War against him incites under hand his Brother John a Prince without Honour or Faith to seize upon the Kingdom of England and he at the same time falling into Normandy takes Gisors and some places in Vexin Some reckon this last event in Anno 1292. and by consequence before the imprisonment of Richard However it were in the month of February Anno 1193. he took the Town of Evreux which he gave to John keeping the Castle himself and went to besiege Rouen but lost his labour there Year of our Lord 1193 Queen Elizabeth his Wife had been dead about two years he demanded in Marriage the Princess Isemburge Sister of Canut King of Denmark a beautiful and chaste Princess but one that had some secret defect And indeed the first night of the Nuptials they being Married at Amiens in the beginning of the month of August he took such an aversion that he would never touch her He kept her notwithstanding some time and afterwards growing weary of that unnecessary Expence he so contrived it that the Arch-Bishop of Reims the Popes Legat with some French Bishops gave sentence of Divorce or Separation He did it upon the testimony of some Lords whom he produc'd who asserted they were of kindred within the Fifth and Sixth Degree In effect Isemburge and Philip had both of them for Great Great Great Great Grand-Father Jaroslas or Jarisclod King of Russia This Jaroslas was Father of Ann who was the Wife of King Henry I. and of Jaroslas II. whose Son was Vlodimer that had a Daughter named Isemburge wife of King Canut IV. This Canut begot Voldemar and from Voldemar came Canut V. and our Isemburge Year of our Lord 1194 Richad having in fine got himself out of Captivity in despite of all the obstacles Philip had made use of endeavour'd to revenge himself by force of Arms but having drained himself of Moneys to pay his Ransom his Exploits did not answer his Resentments During two years the two Kings reciprocally destroy'd eithers Countreys with Fire and Sword demolished a great many places and then made a Peace about the end of the year 1195. restoring on either side what they had taken from each other unless it were the Vexin which remained to Philip. Year of our Lord 1194. and 95. It hapned in this War that as Philip was passing by Blois the English who had laid themselves in Ambuscade took all his Baggage amongst which as the Grand Seignor does to this day he made them carry all the Titles or Papers belonging to the Crown Thus they were all destroy'd or lost to the great damage of the Kings affairs and the French History He caused Copies to be collected where ever they could meet with them to compleat and furnish the Treasury of his Charters or Paper-Office In the Month of March of the year 1196. the great overflow or inundations of Waters Year of our Lord 1196 especially the Seine were so terrible and frightful that Paris and the Isle of France seared a second Deluge We take notice of it because it was the greatest of any whereof the Histories of France make mention Year of our Lord 1196 The Peace betwixt the two Kings lasted hardly six Months Philip commences the War against Richard for two reasons One because he had built a Fort in the Island d'Andely on the Seine And the other because he had taken the Castle of Vierzon in Berry from the Lord to whom it belonged who claimed Justice of the King their Sovereign Lord. Year of our Lord 1197 The next year Baldwin XI Earl of Flanders grudging in his heart that Philip had taken from him the half of his Succession left by his Uncle Leagued himself with Richard against him as did likewise Renauld Son of the Count of Dammartin notwithstanding Philip had assisted him in getting the Heiress and the Earldom of Boulogue Year of our
Lord 1197 Amongst all the events of this War which amounted only to Burnings and Plunderings is to be observed what hapned to Philip de Dreux Bishop of Beauvais Cousin german to the King This Bishop being taken in the War Armed and Fighting by some of Richard's Soldiers was detained a long time in an uneasie prison The Pope would interpose his recommendation to Richard for his deliverance and in his Letters he call'd this Bishop His most dear Son But Richard having sent word back in what posture and manner he was taken and having sent his coat of Maille all Bloody with order to him that carry'd it to ask him Behold Holy Father whether this be the Coat of your Son The Pope had nothing to reply but that the Treatment they shewed to that Prelat was just since he had quitted the Militia of Jesus Christ to follow that of the World Death of the Emperour Henry As he had manifested himself as rude an enemy to the Popes as his Predecessors and besides was very odious for his cruelties Innocent III. strongly opposed the Election of Philip his Brother excommunicating all his Adherents and stood up for Otho Son of the Duke of Saxouy and a Sister of Richards who was Crowned at Aix la Chapelle so that there was a Schism in that Empire which had often occasioned one in the Church The King of England the Earl of Flanders and the Arch-Bishop of Colen supported Otho and King Philip on Year of our Lord 1197 the contrary made a League with his Rival The same year died in the City of Acre or Acon the generous Henry Earl of Champagne Titular King of Jerusalem his Nephew Thibauld or Theobald III. of that Name Earl of Blois inherited those Lands he had in France in prejudice of his Year of our Lord 1197 Uncles two Daughters The eldest was named Alix and was Queen of Cyprus and by her was born a Daughter of the same Name whom we shall find making War against Thibauld IV. The Second was called Philippa who was Married to Erard de Brienne Year of our Lord 1198 These bloody and obstinate Wars the particulars whereof cannot be brought within the compass of an Abridgement caused much mischief in France but the greatest was that Philip grew extreamly covetous and became too greedy in heaping up Treasure under pretence of the necessity of raising and maintaining great numbers of standing Forces which are truly very proper to make Conquests and new Acquisitions but some times become oppressive to the Subjects and destructive to the Laws of the Land As he was the First of the Kings of France that kept Men in pay and would have Soldiers always ready to employ them in what he pleased he set himself likewise upon making great exactions upon the People ransoming or taxing the Churches and recalling the Jews who were the introducers of Usury and Imposts But however he was very frugal and retrencht himself as much as possible knowing and considering ☜ that a King who hath great designs ought not to consume the substance of his Subjects in vain and pompous expences Year of our Lord 1199 At the end of two years War the Pope by his intercession procured a Five years truce between the two Kings during which Richard as covetous of Money as he was proud having intelligence that a Gentleman of Limosin had found a vast Treasure and carried it into the Castle of Chalus he went presently and besieged him he was wounded there with a Cross-bow and his debauchery having envenom'd his wound he died of it the Eleventh day of April in this year 1199. He had introduc'd the use of Cross-bows in France before that time Sword-men were so generous and brave that they would not owe their Victory but to their Lances or Swords they abhorr'd those treacherous weapons wherewith a coward sheltred or conceal'd may kill a valiant Man at a distance and thorough a hole Year of our Lord 1199 He had no Children therefore the Kingdom of England and the Dutchy of Normandy belonged of right to young Arthur Duke of Bretagne as being the Son of Gefroy his Brother elder then John without Land but John having seized the Money gained Richards Forces and stept into the Throne In the mean while the Earl of Flanders with his Allies regained the Cities of Aire and St. Omers It hapned that the Kings party took his Brother Philip Earl of Namur and Peter Bishop Elect of Cambray The King refusing to release this last the Popes Legat puts the Kingdom of France under a prohibition so that after three Months time he was constrained to set him free Year of our Lord 1200 The day of the Ascension in the year 1200. Peace was concluded at a solemn Conference between the two Kings between Vernon and Andeley It was warranted by Twelve Barons on either part who made oath to take up Arms against him that should break it and moreover confirmed by the Marriage of Blanche Daughter of Alfonso VIII King of Castille and Alienor Sister to King John with Lewis the eldest Son of Philip to whom King John in favour of this Alliance yielded up all the Lands and Places which the French had taken from him Each had a care to secure his Partisans John was oblig'd to receive his Nephew Arthur into favour who did hommage to him for his Dutchy of Bretagne but yet remained with Philip. Reciprocally Philip pardon'd Renauld Earl of Boulogne and some while after Treated the Marriage between his Son of his own name whom he had by his Queen Agnes and that Earls Daughter Since the repudiation of 1semburge of Denmark King Philip had kept her in a Convent at Soissons and at three years end that is Anno 1196 he had espoused Mary-Agnes Daughter of Bertold Duke of Merania and Dalmatia Pope Celestine III. upon the complaints of King Canut Brother of the Divorc'd Lady had Commissioned in the year 1198. two Legats to take cognisance of this Affair who had assembled a grand Council at Paris of the Bishops and Abbots of the Kingdom but all those Prelats being partly terrify'd and some corrupted durst give no Sentence and the Legats were suspected to favour the Cause of Agnes Afterwards the Holy Father more importunately desired to do justice had sent two more One of them in the month of Decemb in the year 1199. having called the Prelats of France to Dijon notwithstanding the Appeal interjected by Philip to the Pope pronounced Sentence of prohibiton upon all the Kingdom in presence and by consent of all the Bishops and nevertheless that he might have leasure enough to get away into some place of safety he was willing it should not be publish'd till twenty days after Christmass He had reason to fear Philips anger In effect it burst out with furty against all his Subjects against the Ecclesiasticks first whom he believ'd to be all accomplices in this injury for he drove the Bishops from their Sees cast the
to it daunted him so much that he came and threw himself at the Kings Feet He could not however obtain his Pardon till after he had been detained Prisoner a year in the Castle of Beaucaire At his return from the Holy Land Edward passed thorough France and did Homage to the King Being afterwards gone to visit his Countries of Guyenne Gaston de Moncado Lord of Bearn refused to render him Homage Edward seized upon his Person and kept him Prisoner in his Train for a while From whence making his escape the King of England made complaint to Philip Soveraign Lord of Guyenne This King having summon'd his Parliament and Debated the Case gave Judgment in favour of Edward and compelled Gaston to hold his Lands of him The Viscounty of Bearn was Originally a Member of the Earldom or County of Gascongny which held of the Dutchy but had been dismembred and held by Lords who were the Issue of those Dukes till it came to the House of Moncado by the Marriage of the Princess Mary Daughter of Vicount Peter and Sister of the Vicount Gaston deceased without Children This was about the year 1170. The Princess being yet a Minor having put her self I know not for what reason under the Power of Alphonso II. King of Arragon in whose Dominion she had also some Lands was obliged to do Homage for Bearn to that King and to Marry William de Moncado which Advantage Alphonso procured him as a Recompence for his having brought about the Marriage between Prince Raimond Berenger Earl of Barcelonna his Father and Petronella Daughter and Heiress of Ramir le Moyne king of Arragon The Family of Moncado is one of the Nine most illustrious of all Catalongne and are said to be Issue of a Dapifer or Grand Seneschal to Charlemain Year of our Lord 1273 The Electors displeased to see the German Empire so long in confusion met together at Francfort upon the earnest intreaties of the Pope and without any regard to the opposition King Alphonso made resolved never more to make any Emperor that was not of the German Nation So that at that very time they elected Rodolphus Surnamed Rufus who had been Master of the Palace to Othocare King of Bohemia He was Earl of Habspurg a Family which as well as that of Lorrain were the Issue of the Earls of Alsatia and the Mayre Erchinoald He was raised to the Imperial Dignity principally by the Suffrage of Vernher Archbishop Year of our Lord 1273 of Mentz the only Elector almost that knew him and whom he had otherwhile obliged in some Affair of Importance Now it was the more easie for this Elector to do him this good Office because the King of Bohemia and all the other German Princes refused this Title as being much more burthensom then gainful or honourable Year of our Lord 1273 Many and different Subjects required the Assembling of a Council The necessary Regulation for the future in the Election of Popes the Refermation of Abuses in the Church and of Morality amongst the Christians the Differences about the Grecian Empire between Michael and Baldwin and for that of Germany between Rodolph and Alphonso the hopes to unite the Greek Church to the Roman and the pressing necessity for assisting the Faithful that were remaining in the Holy Land to which the Pope had solemnly obliged himself at the time he received the news of his Election Year of our Lord 1273 For these Reasons he had Convoked a Council in the City of Lyons which lies as it were in the midst of the principal Estates of Christendom He came thither himself about the latter end of this year 1273. and was visited by the King who let him have several of his Gentlemen and Officers to serve him for a Guard Year of our Lord 1274 The Council was open'd the First day of May in the year 1274. there were present Five hundred Bishops seventy Abbots and a thousand others as well Doctors and Deputies as Chapters Gregory presided accompanied with Fifteen Cardinals The Ambassadors from the King the Emperor Rodolphus and from several other Western Princes were there Those from Michael the Emperor of Greece arrived there at the Fourth Session and prescuted some Letters from him by vertue of which they were admitted to an abjuration of their Schism and a profession to follow the Faith of the Roman Church especially about the Procession of the Holy Ghost After that the Pope owned Michael for rightful Emperor of the East and forbad Baldwin to bear that Title any longer This was the end for which Michael had feignedly desired the re-union The Election of Rodolph was likewise confirmed but not till after King Alphonso had submitted and referr'd his Right to the disposal of the Pope upon Condition he might have leave which was granted him to take the Tenths of all the Clergy in his Kingdom to make War against the Moors Thus all the Reparations whatever happens are ever laid upon the Peoples Shoulders to make satisfaction who pay for all at last There were several Constitutions concerning the Elections Provisions and the Residences of Benefices They Treated about the setling many Differences betwixt the Princes and Cities in Italy It was Ordained That the Cardinals should be hence-forward shut up in the Conclave for the Election of Popes and they made very severe Decrees against Usurers by vertue whereof the King put them all in Prison thoroughout the whole Kingdom but soon after he released them upon the payment of some certain Taxes which he imposed upon them Which was to tell the truth only the way to teach them for the future to take the greater Usury that so they might have enough both for themselves and for him They granted likewise a great many Indulgencies and Priviledges to such as listed themselves for the Holy Land or did contribute their Money towards that Expedition and they suppressed all the Orders Mendicants excepting only the Preachers and the Minors The Augustins and the Carmelites were tolerated only till a more ample deliberation Two great and Holy Scholastick Doctors died in these times St. Thomas Aquinas Year of our Lord 1274 near Terracina as he was coming to the Council and St. Bonaventure in Lyons after he had been assistant there The first was of the Order of the Preaching Friers the other of the Minors and had been made a Cardinal by Pope Gregory X. Year of our Lord 1274 Philip tired with being a Widower four years cast his Affection upon Mary Daughter of Henry and Sister of John Duke of Brabant Married her at the Bois de Vincennes in the Month of August and Crowned her the year following in the Holy Chappel of Paris on St. John Baptist's day He would needs have the Archbishop of Year of our Lord 1275 Reims perform â—he Ceremony without any regard to the right of him of Sens who was the Metropolitan The 21th of July Henry the Fat King of Navarre died at Pampeluna his
much that he died at Perpignan the 6th day of October He was in the beginning of the Five and fortieth year of his Life and the Sixteenth of his Reign His Flesh and Bowels were interred in the Cathedral of Narbonne and his Bones brought to St. Denis If we consider his Qualities he was Valiant Good Liberal Just and very Pious but too simple and too easie to be deceived If his Conduct it was not over-happy in those undertakings he made abroad but for his Enterprizes at home they could not succeed better for his Kingdom since it grew rich and flourishing by a Peace of Fifteen years continuance without any vexation of Imposts and the maintenance of a most exact and speedy Justice By Isabella Daughter of James I. King of Arragon he left two Sons those were Philip and Charles The first Reigned the second was Earl of Valois and Father of a Philip who came to the Crown By his second Wife Mary de Brabant he had one Son and two Daughters the Son was Lewis Earl of Euvreux From him sprang the Branch of Euvreux into which the Crown of Navarre was brought by Marriage The Daughters were Margaret and Blanch Margaret was Married in the year 1298. to Edwardâ— King of England Blanch having been twice Contracted once with John de Namur eldest Son of Guy Earl of Flanders the other time with John d'Avesnes Earl of Ostrevant eldest Son of John d'Avesnes Earl of Haynault Married at last in the year 1298. to Rodolph Duke of Austria eldest Son of Albertus the Emperor by whom she had a Son but both the Mother and the Child were Poysoned in the City of Vienna Anno 1305. Philip IV. King XLV POPES HONORIUS IV. Eighteen Months Vacancy Nine Months and an half NICHOLAS IV. Elected the 22th of February 1288. S. Four years one Month and an half Vacancy Two years three Months CELESTINE V. Institutor of the Celestines Elected the 5th of July 1294. S. Five Months and an half BONIFACE VIII Elected the 24th of Decemb. 1294. S. Eight years nine Months and an half BENNET XI Elected the 20th of October 1303. S. Eight Months seventeen days Vacancy Eleven Months CLEMENT V. Elected the 5th of June 1305. transfers the See into France S. Nine years wanting five weeks PHILIP IV. Surnamed the Fair King of France XLV and of Navarre also by his Wife Aged Seventeen years and some Months Year of our Lord 1286 After Philip had brought back into France the remainder of the Army and conveyed his Fathers Bones to St. Denis he went to be Crowned at Rheims by the hands of the Archbishop Peter Barbet the Sixth day of January with the Queen his Wife Year of our Lord 1286 Guy de Dampierre had succeeded in the Earldom of Flanders after the death of his Mother and had done Homage for it to Philip the Hardy but neither his Mother nor himself for want either of will or power had not as yet caused the Articles to be Sworn to and Ratified which were made in the year 1225. between Philip Augustus and Ferrand because in truth they were very destructive and ruinous to the Flemmings This year the King having threatned Guy if he did not perform it without delay to own him no longer for his Vassal but to declare a War the Cities and Commonalty of the Countrey were so alarmed and scared that they obey'd his Will and Pleasure Ever since the death of Philip III. Edward King of England had omitted no endeavour to confirm the Treaties with his Successor In the year 1286. being landed in France about Pontieu he was received at Amiens by several Lords whom the King sent to meet him from thence he came to Paris where he was Treated magnificently was present at the Parliament which was held after Easter and going from thence about Whitsontide went by Land to Burdeaux The apparent cause of his Voyage was the desire he had to Compose the business of the King of Arragon because Alphonso the eldest Son and Successor of Peter had Married his Daughter Alienor He forgot not likewise to press earnestly he might have some reparation for Normandy and those other Countries which both his Father and himself had renounced but could obtain nothing in either of these two points Being returned to Burdeaux he solemnly received the Ambassadors from the Kings of Castille of Arragon and of Sicilia all Enemies to France which gave no little jealousie to Philip. John de Launoy Vice-Roy for Philip in Navarre continued the War against the Arragonians But a Lord of the Country named John Corbaran whom he had entrusted with the Command of the Armies having been worsted by their Forces a Truce was agreed upon between the two Crowns The King of England laboured very seriously to Compose the Difference between the Kingdom of France and that of Arragon and Sicilia To this purpose he Conferr'd with Alphonso and Olâ—ron de Bearn and afterwards took the pains to make a Voyage into Sicily that he might Treat with James the Brother of Alphonso who as we have related had seized upon that Island The Negotiations of the King of England were somewhat retarded by the Progress some French Lords had made in that Island But the rest who were going thither to compleat that Conquest being beaten and taken at Sea by Lauria the Admiral they gave a more willing Ear to what was propounded Year of our Lord 1288 The Treaty was carried on so well that Charles the Lame was set at Liberty promising he would bring it so about with the Earl of Valois that he should renounce the Kingdom of Arragon and with the Pope that he should invest James of Arragon in that of Sicily which his Brother Alphonso should yield to him For security whereof Charles gave his Three Sons and Fifty Gentlemen of Quality as Hostages When he was deliver'd from his Imprisonment he did not hold himself obliged to make that good which he had been forced to promise on the contrary being in France he exhorted the Earl of Valois not to desist from his Right to the Kingdom of Arragon and going afterwards into Italy he got himself to be Crowned by the Pope who was then at Geronsa King of Sicilia both on this side and beyond the Fare So that James of Arragon perceiving the Treaty was broke fell upon Calabria where the City of Catensana had revolted in his favour Robert d'Artois laid Siege to it James and his Admiral Lauria hastned to its relief and being beaten went and blocked up Gaieta thinking to make a Diversion but Charles and Robert followed at the same time and besieged the Besiegers so straightly that they reduced them to Famine Then the Sicilian caused I know not how the Popes Legat to intervene who demanded a Truce for two years and Charles not well informed of the extremity wherein his Enemies were consented to it a little too easily at which Robert was so incensed that he retired into France and carried
for that Adolphus had given them no share of his it hapned that in an Assembly they had at Prague for the Coronation of King Venceslaus they easily suffer'd themselves to be persuaded that the Pope was consenting to the Deposition of Adolphus as being useless to the Empire And in effect the Cabal was so strong that they did Depose him and elected Albert Duke of Austria The two Competitors came to blows about it near Spire the Second of July Adolph fighting valiantly but betray'd or at least forsaken by his Men lost his Life there Year of our Lord 1298 The Election of Albert was illegal to rectifie it he was fain to lay it down at least seemingly in the hands of the Electors who elected him the second time with all the Formalities the Seven and twentieth of the same Month. But the Pope still refused to approve it and designed that Crown for Charles de Valois for whom he had a particular Esteem He seemed now as if he would have sweetned the sharp Humours of Philip for the year preceding he Canonized St. Lewis his Grandfather and he interpreted the Bull by which he had forbidden the Clergy to pay any Tenths or Contributions to Princes very favourably Philip believing he had done it expressly to choque him was offended several Letters had been written on that Subject to each other and things were like to have proceeded to the greatest Extremity However Boniface upon the intreaty of some French Prelats yielded to reason declaring that he intended not to forbid voluntary Contributions provided they were made without Exaction He added that they might be levied without permission from the Pope in times of the Kingdoms necessity and that even upon urgent necessities they might be constrained by the Authority Apostolick Spiritually and Temporally But as their Spirits were already exasperated on either side the Wound burst open afresh in a short while afterwards Boniface had been chosen Arbitrator of the Differences between the King with the English and the Flemming After the hearing of their Deputies he gave his Sentence of Arbitration which ordained That the Year of our Lord 1299 Flemmings Daughter should be set at liberty and his Towns restored and as if he had been the Soveraign Judge he caused it to be publickly pronounced in his Consistory Which so touched the King and his Council that it being brought to Paris by the English Deputy the Earl of Artois snatched it out of his hands rent it and threw it into the Fire The Queen on her part made use of the means within her power to highten the King her Husbands Wroth against the Flemming for whom she had a mortal hatred So that the Truce being expir'd the Earl of Valois had order to enter into Flanders and carry things on to the last push Year of our Lord 1299 He pursues him so smartly that having taken Dam and Dixmude from him he besieged him in Ghent with all his Family That unfortunate Prince destitute of all succour and forsaken even by his own Subjects was advised to render both himself and his two Sons into his hands The Earl of Valois promised he would carry him to Paris to Treat with the King himself and assured him that if within a Twelve-month he could not procure a Peace he should be set again at liberty and brought back to the same place where they had taken him But the King would have no regard to what his Uncle had sworn detains the Flemming and his two Sons and disposes them into several Prisons asunder from each other Year of our Lord 1300 The Earl of Valois being picqued for that they violated the Faith he had given the Flemming or by some other motive of Ambition went out of the Kingdom and passes into Italy whither the Pope had earnestly invited him for at least Three years He there Married Catharine the Daughter and Heiress of Baldwin the last Emperor of Constantinople and the Pope gave him that Empire and made him his Vicar or Lieutenant over all the Lands belonging to the Church hoping by his means to carry on that great design of the Holy War which was ever rumbling in his Head Year of our Lord 1299 For the third time the Truce was prolonged betwixt the two Kings by vertue whereof the Prisoners on both sides were set at liberty and particularly John Baliol King of Scotland who was brought into Normandy and left in the keeping of some Bishops who were willing to take that Charge upon them Year of our Lord 1299 The Emperor Albert could not obtain his Confirmation of Boniface and Philip was apprehensive of the audacious Undertakings of this Pope for this reason both the one and the other to prevent him from taking advantage of their Divisions to ruine them Conferred together at Vaucouleurs In that Interview they renewed the ancient Confederations of the Empire with France and to unite themselves more closely Treated the Marriage between Rodolph the Son of Albert and Blanch the Daughter of Philip. It was not compleated till the following year Year of our Lord 1300 At the end of the Thirteenth Age of the Christian Aera the Pope publish'd a general Indulgence or Relaxation of Canonical Pains due for Sins for all those who being Confessed and Penitent should visit the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul for a certain number of days Since that Clement VI. reduc'd it to Fifty years and called it the Jubile Boniface hath been reproached that on this Ceremony he appeared sometimes in Pontifical Habit sometimes in Habits Imperial causing two Swords to be carried before him to signifie his double power Spiritual and Temporal He had so in effect but the last only in his own Territory However he did not understand it thus as his Actions and the Sixth Book of the Decretals wherein he boldly affirms that there is but one Power which is the Ecclesiastical does but too plainly shew This Institution of the Jubile seems to have its Original from Secular Pass-times The Ancient Romans Celebrated them once in every Hundred years Paganism being abolished the People did not lay aside their Custom of coming from all parts to Rome the first year of every Age but sanctifying that profane Solemnity they paid their Devotions on the Tombs of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul Several do in this year place the beginning of that dreadful Family or House of the Othomans and tell us that the Turks having conquer'd much of the Countreys belonging to the Greeks in Asia divided those Lands into seven Principalities of which the Province of Bithynia fell by Lot to Osman or Othoman Son of Ortogules who was in great reputation of probity and valour amongst his Countrey-men His Successors have devoured not only the other six Principalities but the Grecian Empire the Kingdom of Egypt and so many Countreys of the Christian Princes that it is to be feared they may swallow up the Western Empire likewise Year of our
he was upon the Birth-day of our Lady to publish a Bull by which he Excommunicated the King dispenced his Subjects of their Obedience to him and gave his Kingdom to the first occupier He had already offer'd it to the Emperour Albert and to engage him to it had confirmed his Election But the Eve before Nogaret who was in a Castle near at hand assisted by Sciarra Colonna whom Boniface had kept in the Galleys with some other Gentlemen of the Countrey enemies to Boniface and Two hundred Horse of those Troops as Charles de Valois had left in Tuscany enters into Anagnia gained the People and having forced his Palace seized on his Person which was not done without some sort of Outrage worthy an Italian revenge and by plundring his Treasures which were immense together with the Houses of three or four Cardinals Year of our Lord 1303 The fourth day the People of Anagnia repenting of their baseness drove the French and their Soldiers out of the Town The Pope being thus at liberty withdrew to Rome and there that haughty spirit was assaulted by a burning Fever of which he died upon the Twelfth day of October Nicholas Cardinal of Ostia of the Order of the Preaching Friers elected by the Cardinals the Two and twentieth of November he was called Benedict XI carried things with more sweetness received the Ambassadours sent by the King very honourably not admitting Nogaret however at their Audience who was one and sent three other Bulls which annull'd all those of Boniface and restored all things to the Year of our Lord 1303 same condition they were in formerly He also revok'd the Condemnations of the Colonna's excepting only that he did not restore those two again to the dignity of Cardinals who had been degraded but he proceeded severely against Nogaret and all such as had assisted at the Capture of Boniface and the robbery of the Churches Treasure He died the Eighth Month after his Election being the Seventh of July in the Year of our Lord 1304 year 1304. The two Factions of Cardinals whereof the one were French the other Italians and friends to the Pope were almost eleven Months in the Conclave at Perugia before they could come to an agreement in the end the Italians named a French man which was Bertrand Got Arch-Bishop of Bourdeaux whom they knew to be a great enemy to the King and besides a Subject to the English The French before they would consent to it gave speedy notice to the King who having sent privately for him and conferr'd with him near St. John d'Angely declared to him it was in his power to make him Pope provided he agreed to Six things which he required of him whereof he named five of them to him but reserved the sixth to time and place The Arch-Bishop a Gascon and Vain cast himself at his Feet and promised him all by this means he was elected being absent the fifth day of Year of our Lord 1305 the year 1305. Year of our Lord 1305 Instead of going into Italy as the Cardinals be ought him he sends for them to Lyons to assist at his Coronation which was performed the Fourteenth of November The King his Brother Charles a great number of Princes and Lords and infinite multitudes of People came to be present at this Ceremony The King having for some space held the Reins of the Popes Mule left that Office to be done by his Brother Charles and John Duke of Bretagne whilst he mounted on Horseback to march along beside the Holy Father As they were in their march an old Wall over-charged with People tumbled down and by its fall overwhelm'd the Duke of Bretagne and a Brother of the Popes hurt Charles most grievously the King somewhat lightly and beat the Tiara off from the Head of the Pope A presage of the misfortunes the translation of the Holy See into France was to bring to the Kingdom and to all Christendom nay to the Papacy it self which by this means did submit to the discretion of the secular Power Year of our Lord 1306. 1307. Departing from Lyons the Pope returned to Bourdeaux where he sojourn'd all the year 1306. went the following year to Poitiers then in Anno 1308. to exempt himself from the importunities of the Court of France removed his See to the City of Avignon which belonged to Charles King of Sicilia his Vassal The Residence of the Court of Rome in France hath introduced three grand disorders Simony the off-spring of Luxury and Impiety Litigious Law-suits the exercise of Scratch-papers and idle fellows such as were the swarms of puny-Clerks who follow'd that Court and another execrable irregularity to which nature cannot give any name Year of our Lord 1306 To make good his promises Clement continued the Absolution which Benedict had given the King restored the Colonna's to their Dignities of Cardinals made a promotion of Ten Cardinals more Nine of them being French and explicated or revoked all the Bulls which Boniface had made that prejudiced the Kings Authority Year of our Lord 1307 Nogaret and the other persons of the Kings Council by the dispair they were in of obtaining their Absolution persisted still in their accusation against Boniface and the King pressed Clement to condemn his Memory and cause his Body to be burnt not believing he could otherwise wash himself clean of those censures and reproaches he had bespatter'd him withal but Clement to elude that pursuit referr'd it to a general Council which was assigned to be three years after that at Vienne in Dauphine and in the mean time there were divers proceedings and instructions towards carrying on that business Year of our Lord 1308 The Jews were still the execration of Christians and especially of the common people because they grated and even flayed them by their cruel Usury and by the exactions of new Imposts of which they were the Farmers And truly in revenge or retaliation they were liable to all sorts of affronts in any sedition in their Crusado's they ever fall upon them and they were every day accused either of having committed some insolence against the Sacred Host or the having crucified some Children upon Good-Friday or for having affronted the Image of our Saviour and if they did get out of the Judges Hands they could hardly save themselves from the fury of the Populace The Princes after they had made use of those cursed Instruments made them disgorge again and often drove them out that they might have Money to recall them back This year they were seized upon thorough out all France the Two and twentieth day of July banished the Kingdom and their Goods confiscated Was this Zeal or Avarice Year of our Lord 1307 The King had Ministers obdurate pityless and resolved to squeeze to the last penny The chiefest and most in power was Enguerrand le Portier Lord of Marigny who in scraping and levying great sums of Money to bring to his Master did not forget to
and misused him so strangely that he durst not go into any of them but Ghent The King as his Lord and of near Parentage took his part and entred Flanders with an Army of Twenty five thousand Men. The Flemmings had posted Sixteen thousand upon a Hill near Cassel to guard their Frontier He coming to encamp in a Valley beneath them they had the confidence to go and attaque him and appointed three Bodies at the same instant to make their way to his Tent to the King of Bohemia's and to that of the Earl of Hainault thinking to surprize them all three unawares His Person was in great danger but whilst the bravest of his Men stood as a Rampart and put a stop to the Enemy the rest Armed themselves and charged the Flemmings so stoutly that the three Princes defeated those three Parties not one Man of them escaping All Flanders quell'd by this great shock submitted to his Mercy He caused several hundreds to be Hanged Banished and Confiscated and the year after dismantled five or six of their Towns which allay'd their heat for some time but did not extinguish it The severest punishment for those that are corrupt Officers of the Treasury and indeed the most beneficial to the Publick is not the hanging of them but to pare their Rapacious Talons so close that they may not be in a capacity to deserve it Peter Remy Sieur de Montigny had succeeded to Marigny and la Guette in the management of the Treasury their sad example had not so great influence upon him as the passion to enrich himself as they had done So that by Sentence of Parliament where there were Eighteen Knights Five and twenty Lords and Princes and the King himself present he was Condemned to be Drawn and Hanged as a Traytor at the Gallows of Montfaucon which he had caused to be rebuilt His Confiscation amounted to Twelve hundred thousand Livers a prodigious Sum for those times Of the Six great Pairries of the Laity the Kings had appropriated four to themselves to substitute others in their place and erected many new to wit Beaumont le Roger in Anno 1328. for Robert d'Artois and Anno 1329. the Barony of Bourbon this with the Title of Dutchy that with the Title of Earldom Then afterwards in several years Alenson Evreux Clermont in Beauvoisis all for Princes of his Blood and upon Lands truly of much lower Dignity and Consideration then those of the former six Pairries but as much above those of this Age as the Princes of the Blood are above Private Gentlemen Edward Earl of Savoy was come into France to demand assistance of the King against the Dauphin de Viennois and the Earl of Geneva his perpetual Enemies Year of our Lord 1329 Dying at Paris and leaving only a Daughter John III. Duke of Bretagne Husband to this Princess made earnest sute to have the Succession but the Estates of Savoy wherein presided Bertrand Archbishop of Tarentaise declared That the Salique Law took place there and called Aymon Brother of the deceased to that Crown Year of our Lord 1329 Upon the first Summons they sent to Edward by two Lords who had express Commission according to the custom of Fiefs he promised to come and do Homage to the King of France The seizure of his Fiefs of Guyenne and Ponthieu was therefore deferr'd and he came to Amiens in great Equipage After he had there in vain demanded the restoring of what had been taken in Guyenne from his Father he did Homage But it was with his Tongue and in general words only intending to Advise first with his Barons what was to be done When he was returned into England he sent Letters to King Philip under his great Seal in which he declared That that Homage was Liege and that he owed it for the Dutchy of Guyenne and the Earldoms of Ponthieu and Monstereuil Year of our Lord 1328 The Troubles that hapned in England had hindred him from performing that Devoir sooner His Mother with her Mortimer had made him believe that his Uncle Edmund Earl of Kent had plotted to take away his Life Indeed thaâ— Earl endeavour'd to get King Edward II. out of prison who was his Brother and as he thought yet living Upon this Information young Edward causes him to be seized and condemned to death somewhat too lightly but afterwards Mortimer and the Queen his Mistress were Treated in the same manner For the young King weary of their scandalous deportment caused the Gallant to be hanged upon pretence of several Crimes and his Mother to be shut up in a Castle where they hastned her end a very just act had it been done by any other hand but that of a Son The discord between Pope John XXII and the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria grew to that extremity that Lewis being in Italy after the example of the Emperour Otho degraded John of the Papal Dignity and in his place substituted Michael de Corbiere a Frier Minor under the name of Nicholas V. Michael de Cesenna General of that Order and divers of his Monks supported him mightily by their Preachings and Writings These Monks and others of the Imperial party having spread many reproachful and bloody Invectives thorough all Christendom against Pope John XXII an Assembly of the Clergy was held at Paris where the Bishop in his Pontifical Habit attended by many other Prelats and Clergy-men declared to the People in the Church-Porch of Nostre-Dame the Attempts and Mistakes of Corbiere and pronounced Excommunicate both the said Corbiere the Emperour Lewis and Michael de Cesenna with their Adherents Two things ruined this Party the Emperours ill Conduct which forced him to go out of Italy and the disagreement between the Friers Minors many of whom having forsaken their General it weakned his Interest so much that in the end he was disowned by all of that Order So that Corbiere after many Adventures being caught and brought to Avignon in the year 1330. begged pardon of John XXII with a Rope about his Neck but he could not get off so they put him in prison where he died some Months afterwards Year of our Lord 1329 We must not confound this Assembly above-mentioned with another which was held in the same City and the same year 1329. upon complaint the Kings Judges made by the Mouth of Peter Cugnieres Kt. Counsellor and Advocate-General of the Parliament touching the Usurpations and Attempts of the Clergy upon the Secular Jurisdiction The business was discussed in a Council held at Vincennes then again in the Assembly of Parliament Cugnieres spake earnestly and to the good liking of all the Nobility who applauded him Peter Roger elected Archbishop of Sens afterwards made Pope and Bertrand Bishop of Autun who was a Cardinal having undertaken the defence of their Body replied very eloquently The Clergy was in great danger not only of being lopt off in part but quite rooted out of their Jurisdiction The King at
understood Divinity better then did the Canonists of the Court of Rome So that the Pope perceiving his Opinion was not well received and entertained said he had propos'd it only by way of Disputation or Argument Year of our Lord 1334 He died the year following leaving an immense Treasure scraped together by his exactions made upon the Clergy of France Peter Fournier Cardinal of very mean and low birth but greatly eminent for his Moderation and Frugality succeeded him in the Holy See and took the name of Benedict or Benet XII Year of our Lord 1335. and the following Arthur II. Duke of Bretagne had married two Wives the First was Mary Daughter and Heiress of Guy Vicount Limoges The Second Yoland Daughter of Robert IV. Earl of Dreux and one Beatrix Daughter and Heiress of Amaury V. Earl of Montfort by Mary came three Sons John II. who was Duke after his Father Guy who had for his part the Earldom of Pontieure and from whom came a Daughter named Jane and Peter who died without Children Of Yoland came a Son named John who had the Earldom of Montfort as his Great Grandfather by the Mother had Duke John II. having no Children and his Brother Guy being dead in the year 1330. leaving only a Daughter which was Jane it was easie to foresee that great troubles would arise for the succession of the Dutchy between this Daughter and John de Montfort for this last pretended that he was one degree nearer then she was and besides being a Male he ought to exclude her Now as Duke John had a particular affection for the House of France from which he was descended by the Male line he had it in his thoughts to avoid the destruction of Bretagne for to exchange this Dutchy with the King for that of Orleance or to leave it in Sequestration in his hands to restore it to which of the pretenders he pleased The Lords of the Countrey not able to endure either of these two methods he bethought him of Marrying his Niece to Charles de Chastillon Brother of Lewis Earl of Blois and Nephew by his Mother to King Philip de Valois upon condition he should take the Name the Motto and the Coat of Arms of Bretagne The Marriage was consummate in Anno 1339. The Duke kept him with him and Treated him as his presumptive Successor John de Montfort dissembling those pretences he had to the contrary Year of our Lord 1336 Edward having attained to full majority prompted by his own great courage and the Favours Fortune had newly bestowed in a Victory over the Scots was easily led by the continual instigations of Robert d'Artois animating him to recover the Kingdom of France by the Sword He thought it convenient to begin with complaints and accused Philip before the Pope for having ravished that Crown from him during his Minority The Pope having given him no other Answer but an exhortation not to disturb a Prince who had taken on him the Cross for an expedition to the Holy Land the young King impatient of such long delay sent to defie King Philip. All his Allies every one in particular except only the Duke of Brabant accompanied his Year of our Lord 1336 Cartel with their own and the Bishop of Limoges was the bearer Some time before the King having intelligence that they were preparing to make the Rupture went to Avignon with John Duke of Normandy his eldest Son to visit the Holy Father Benedict XII as well to justifie himself of the accusations of the King of England as to cut out work for the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria by rendring his agreement with the Pope more difficult Year of our Lord 1336 The defiance being signified Gautier de Mauny began first by opening the War on the Flanders-side surprizing the City of Mortagne not the Castle then that of Thin l'Evesque which he kept to bridle Cambray that shew'd it self for the French The King of England's Lieutenants likewise began the War in Saintonge by the taking of the Castle of Palencour the Governour whereof for having but poorly defended himself lost his Head at Paris Thus the expedition to the Holy Land was broken off the King called back the Forces he had at Marseilles and kept the Genoese in his pay the best Men for Sea-service in those days with theirs and the assistance of the Castilians he sent a Naval force to the coasts of England where they did a great deal of mischief there being no less then Sixty thousand of them under pay Year of our Lord 1336. and 37. At the same time his Land-Army commanded by Rodolph Earl of Eu and Guisnes his Constable entred Guyenne and gained the Lands of the Vicount de Tartas The Earl de Foix who succeeded him in that employ did likewise conquer many other petty places Year of our Lord 1337 The Cities of Flanders whereof Ghent is as it were the Head hesitated some time between the fear of the power of the French and the distress and indigence the English drove them into expresly having prohibited the carrying to them any Wools out of England into their Countrey but when an English Army had deseated one of theirs in the Island of Cadsant James d'Artevelle whom Edward had gained by the power of Money and Presents mtroduced his Ambassadors into Ghent and Treated his Alliance with that City This Artevelle was a private Brewer and Beer-Merchant but crafty undertaking and politique who had acquired almost the absolute Government in Flanders and maintained Agents in all the Cities So that the Earl could not possibly stop the torrent and was constrained to quit the Countrey Year of our Lord 1338 During all this Edward who after the Declaration of War had returned to his own Island came and landed at Scluse with an Army and Fleet of Four hundred Sail went by Land to Colen to confer with the Emperour who confirmed the Title of Vicar of the Empire to him and promis'd to attaque France with the Forces of Germany provided he might have such great sums of Money as he demanded Year of our Lord 1338 At his return from Colen he encamped some days before Cambray an Imperial City but wherein the Bishop had suffer'd Prince John the Son of King Philip to enter Finding he could do little there he passed the Scheld to give the King battle The two Armies were nigh each other about the Village of Viron-fosse in Cambresis The King much the stronger in appearance forbore to give battle because Robert King of Naples a great Astrologer had sent him word that in what place soever he should venture to fight the English he should lose the day and run his Kingdom into an extream danger The remainder of the year was spent in picquering and sending forth small parties to make inroads upon one another Year of our Lord 1339 For the Flemmings as the three Cities of L'sle Douay and Orchies stuck much in their Stomachs they proffer'd their Service to
at Court Year of our Lord 1413 It was not without ground that they accused the Burgundian of bringing Fuel to maintain this scroching Fire of Sedition though in effect he could not govern their hot Heads as he would In the mean while all were forced to give way to this Torrent The King was forced to consent they should bring their Prisoners upon their Trail to go to Parliament in his white Hood and publish certain Ordinances for reforming some abuses touching his Revenue displace Arnaud de Corbie his Chancellor who surrendred the Seal to Eustace de Laitre his Son-in-Law and to deliver up to Execution an Esquire belonging to the Duke of Guyenne and Peter des Essards whose Heads were cut off James de la Riviere Chamberlain to the said Duke rather then undergo so great ignominy beat out his own Brains with a large drinking Bowle or else was kill'd in Prison by Helion Jaqueville a Captain of Paris but however it hapned they dragg'd him to the Gallows as one that had despair'd and Murther'd himself So violent a Government could not last long The Duke of Guyenne privately agreed with the Leagued Princes they made use of the Kings name and a pretence of confirming the Peace of Chartres which was not fully executed to enter upon a Conference with them at Vernevil Their Deputies being come to the King at Paris Year of our Lord 1413 the Seditious often broke up their Assembles where they were Treating about the Peace but yet could not by all their art or insolent rudeness prevent so good a work from going on To attain their ends an Enterview was propounded between the Duke of Berry and the Duke of Burgundy then a Conference concerning the other Princes at Pontoise by Deputies All that were foundest and Wisest the University the Parliament and the honest Citizens inclined to Peace the Burgundian had but little stomach to it as promising but slender advantage to him however it was concluded at Pontoise the first day of August and the King agreed the Princes should come and Year of our Lord 1413 Congratulate him in Paris This being so setled the Duke of Guyenne puts himself in Arms at the head of the honest Citizens and having gotten together above Thirty thousand Men well sitted marched through the Streets The Chiefs of the Factious who held the Bastille the Louvre the Palace and the Town-Hall left those places to him and withdrew Then he sets free all those they had imprisoned he changes the Sheriffs and putting out the Chancellor whom they had put in by force gave that Office to John Juvenal then restores the Seals to Arnaud de Corbie who gave them up to Henry de Marle the first President The Burgundian not thinking himself too safe resolved to be gone before the Orleannois were come Having therefore got the King one day forth a Hunting he takes his leave on a suddain and without bidding adicu to Paris hastens to Flanders by long days Journeys though very well attended Year of our Lord 1413 After his retreat there was an absolute Revolution The Duke of Orleance was so much in the Kings favour that he would have him Cloathed in the same Stuffs as himself wore The Coultable d'Abret returned to Paris with great splendour the Chiefs and Authors of the Sedition were sought for some executed some proscribed all the Burgundians Creatures were removed divers Gentlemen and Burghers Friends to him imprison'd They went farther yet the Declarations that had been made against the Princes were declared a surprize their Innocency owned and published and he on the contrary detested as an execrable Murtherer And for the greater affront Lewis of Anjou King of Sicilia sent him back his Daugher who had been put into his hands in order to be Married to his eldest Son and two months after he gave one of his own to Charles Earl of Pontieu the Kings third Son who was not fully Twelve years of age by this means making both himself and his Son-in-Law mortal Enemies to the House of Burgundy Year of our Lord 1413 The ill Treatment was hard to be digested the Burgundian complained to the King wrote of it to the Citizens of Paris the Parliament and the University but neither his Complaints nor Letters effected any thing Finding he did not succeed that that way he found means to renew some kind of Correspondence with the Duke of Guyenne his Son-in-Law who in effect was angry to be detain'd at Court and as it were a Prisoner in Louvre This was pretence enough for him to raise a great Army and take the Field to come and deliver him He was received at Noyon at Soissons and at Compiegne but Senlis shut her Gates against him He made himself Master of St. Denis by Intelligence and afterwards presented himself before Paris notwithstanding the King had forbid him to come near upon pain de Loesae Majestatis He thought to have received the former humour of the People and have made some rising that would have given him entrance Thereupon the King being recover'd of a Fit made a thundring Declaration against him When he found this he was afflicted and retreated in most horrible confusion Year of our Lord 1414 Every one bawl'd after him stop Traitor stop Murtherer The Bishop of Paris Brother of Montaigu and the Faculty of Theology having examined the Herangue of his Orator John Petit who was then dead drew seven Propositions out of it condemned them of Impiety and Heresie and caused them to be burnt in the Porch of Noster-Dame John Charlier named Jarson from his Native Village near Reims Chancellor of the University and a Doctor of great Reputation shewed himself mighty zealous in this Prosecution He had formerly some contest with Petit and the Burgundians had sold his Houshold Goods the year before for certain Taxes The following year the Burgundian removed this Business by Appeal to the Council of Constance where it was debated with much heat He maintain'd that those Propositions that had been condemned at Paris were not Petits but that they were forged and contrived by Jarson The Commissioners deputed to examine the thing having made their Report the Council without taking any notice of Petit or Jarson did in general condemn that pernicious Proposition that a Tyrant may be killed or put to death by his Subject in what manner soever At the same time the King proceeded against him as an Enemy to the State went to St. Denis to set up the Orislame and summoned the Ban and Arriere-Ban against him He takes the City of Compiegne upon Capitulation and Soissons by force This was miserably plundred and Bournonville who had defended it to the uttermost had his Head cut off Without doubt the Burgundian was in a great consternation at the taking of it and more yet when the Flemmings refused to serve him and sent Deputies to the King to offer him all Obedience The taking of Bapawne by the Duke of Bourbon
out of that Laudible zeal he hath transmitted to all his posterity to procure the publick good There were more Propositions made no doubt then they intended to practise and fine studied speeches This is what they call in France de Belles actions brave actions Year of our Lord 1466 The excessive heats of the Summer bred many contagious Maladies which in the City of Paris alone swept away above forty Thousand People and frighted away a much greater number In so much as the King desiring to re-people it by an Edict called in all sorts of Nations and People even such as were banished or Criminals to whom besides the Abolition he gave Priviledges and Franchises Year of our Lord 1467 The Pragmatique subsisted yet Pope Paul II. sent as Legat to the King John Joffridi Cardinal Bishop d'Alby to get the revocation verified who employed John Balue Cardinal Bishop of Angiers to carry the Letters from the King to the Chastelet and the Parliament They passed at the Chastelet without opposition but in the Parliament he found John de Sainct Romain Attorney General who opposed him to his face and the University went to the Legat to signify their Appeal to the next Council and after entred it into the Register at the Chasteler Paris being as it were the Kings Bulwark against the Grandees that loved him not he ordained that all the Inhabitants even the Ecclesiasticks should enroll themselves under the Banners of their Principals and Sub-Principals that is to say of Colonels and Captains and should provide themselves with good Arms. At one Muster which was made the 4 th of September there were found to be between 70 and 80000 men between the ages of 16 and 60 years In another which was made the following year they counted 84000. Year of our Lord 1467 The 15 th of July in the year 1467. Philip Duke of Burgundy called le Bon i. e. the Good ended his days at Brussels in the 72 th year of his Age and the 45 th of his Domination He yielded not in power or riches to any King but the French but had not his like in Goodness and Magnisicence And indeed he was adored by his people respected by all the Princes of Christendom and dreaded even by the Infidels The Count de Charolois Succeeded in his great Dominions not at all in his Goodness and Wisdom He was Rash Presumptuous Quarrelsome and Bloody But withal Valiant Undaunted and Indefatigable in War and who within himself observed exact justice and right towards his own Subjects Year of our Lord 1467 At his first coming to this Estate he was engaged against the Liegois whom the King had wrought to break the Truce and he assisted them yet notwithstanding he offered to forsake them if the Duke would forsake the Breton whom the King held already as it were by the Throat being entred into his Country with thirty Thousand Men. The Duke would do nothing of this but hastned to make an end of the War with Liege Now the Liegois having lost a Battel when they came to relieve the City of St. Tron did submit themselves to any conditions he would require excepting firing and plundring He caused the Heads of 20 or 30 of the most guilty to fly together with the Towers and Walls of the City of Liege changed the Magistrates and the Laws and drained them of great Sums of Money for his expences This was in the Month of November The people of Flanders especially the Gantois who had mutined after the Death of his Father humbled themselves likewise before their victorious Prince and sent him all their Banners to Bruges In the Month of October the King received advice that the Duke of Alenson who made one in every discontented Party was joyned in that of Monsieur and the Duke of Bretagne and had given them up all his places by means of which and of those that yet remained in their possession amongst others Auranches Bayeux and Caen they held almost all the lower Normandy The King willing to tread him down first in his way to the others did presently cause his Army to march into the Countreys of Perche and of Mayn and arrived at Mans himself Year of our Lord 1467 One of the causes which had most stirred up the Cities especially Paris against the King in the League for the publick good had been the mutation of Officers For this reason before his march against the Leagued Princes he made this celebrated Ordinance of the 21th of October which bears That considering that in his Officers consists under his Authority the direction whereby are Policed and managed the publick affairs of the Kingdom and that thereof they are Essential Ministers as members of that Body whereof of he is the Head he would therefore free them from all doubts they had of falling into the ineonveniences mutation and destitution and provide for their security And therefore he Ordained that thenceforward there should be no Office disposed of unless it were vacant by Death or by voluntary resignation or by forfeiture judged and declared Judicially by a competent Judge His Army lay all the rest of Autumn without doing much for as subtil as he was he suffer'd himself to be amused by the Breton with the hopes of an accommodation Nevertheless he did not wholly lose his time Towards the end of the year he Debauched Rene Count du Perche Son of John Duke of Alenson who betraying his own Father delivered the Castle of Alenson up to him which in those days was reckoned for a very good place The Breton forsook the Town And sinding Monsieur and the Duke of Bretagne astonished at so unexpected an accident he employ'd the Popes Legat to let them know that he would refer all his Deputies to the judgment of the General Estates And for that purpose summoned them together at Tours the first day of April Year of our Lord 1468 All the Deputies proved to be so much at his Devotion that they ordained nothing but what was conformable to his desires That Normandy being united to the Crown could not be dismembred to be given to his Brother That that young Prince should be exhorted to be satisfied with twelve thousand Livers yearly Rent in Lands for his Appenage and 60000 Livers Annual Pension but this not to be a President for the futureSons of France That the Breton should surrender the places in Normandy and if he would not obey this Ordinance they should make War upon him with all their Forces and to do this they proffered their Lives and Fortunes He caused this to be immediately made known to his Brother and to the Breton and at the same time his Army led by his Admiral entred Bretagne took Chantoce and Ancenis and penetrated a great way into the Country whilst himself after he had visited his good City of Paris was gone towards the Frontiers of Picardy to make use of some Engines to endeavour to disjoyn the Duke of Burgundy
into their Hands and retired to Mantoua The Emperor continued the Truce for five Years with the Venetians for twenty thousand Crowns they were to pay him each Year and the King desiring to fasten and secure the Confederation with the Pope by some fresh Ties gave up into his Hands again the writing whereby he had obliged himself to surrender Reggio and Modena to the Duke of Ferrara Christendom enjoy'd a most Vniversal Calm when She was troubled with two of the most horrible Scourges or Plagues that did ever torment Her Selim the Turkish Sultan having conquer'd Syria laid Ismael Sophy's Power in the Dust extinguish'd the domination of the Mamalucs in Egypt by the utter defeat and death of Campson the last Egyptian Sultan vaunted that in quality of Successor to Constantine the Great he should soon bring all Europe under his Empire and at the same Time the Bowels of the Church began to be torn and rent by a Schisme that hitherto no Remedies have been able to take away The first Evil gave occasion for the birth of the second Pope Leo desiring to oppose all the Forces of Christendom against the furious Progress of the Turks had sent his Legates to all the Christian Princes and formed a great Project to attack the Insidels both by Sea and Land Now to excite the Peoples Devotion and get their Alms Year of our Lord 1517. 18 19. and the following and Benevolence for so good a Work he sent some according to the usual Custom in such Cases practic'd to preach Indulgences in every Province This Commission according to the allotments made of a long time amongst the four Orders Mendicants belonged to the Augustins in Germany Nevertheless Albert Archbishop of Mentz either of his own Head or by Order from Rome allots and gives it to the Jacobins The Augustins finding themselves wronged in their Interest which is the great Spring even of the most Religious Societies Camplain make a Noise and fly to Revenge Amongst Year of our Lord 1517 these there was a Monk named Martin Luther of Islebe in the County of Mansfield Doctor and Rcader in Theologie in the Vniversity of Witemberg a bold Spirit Impetuous and Eloquent John Stampis their General commanded him to preach against these Questors They furnished him but with too much Matter for they made Traffick and Merchandize of those sacred Treasures of the Church they kept their Courts or Shops rather in Taverns and consumed great part of what they gained or collected in Year of our Lord 1517 Debauches and it was certainly known besides that the Pope intended to apply considerable Summs to his own proper use Perhaps it would have been better done to prevent these Disorders only to have reremoved the occasion of his clamor but the thing seemed not worth while to trouble their Heads about it In the mean time the Quarrel grew high and was heated by Declamations Theses and Books on either side Frederic Duke of Saxony whose Wisdom and Vertue was exemplary in Germany maintained him and even animated him as well for the Honor of his new Vniversity of Witemberg which this Monk had brought in reputation as in hatred to the Archbishop of Ments with whom he had other disputes He at first began with proposing of Doubts then being hard beset and too roughly handled he engaged to maintain and make them good in the very Sence they condemned them in They had neither the Discretion to stop his Mouth or seize upon him but threatning him before he was in their Power he takes shelter and then keeping no more Decorum he throws off his Mask and not only declaimed against the Pope and against the Corruptions of the Court of Rome but likewise opposed the Church of Rome in many Points of Her Doctrine And truly the extream ignorance of the Clergy many of them scarce able to read the scandalous Lives of the Pastors most of them Concubinaries Drunkards and Vsurers and their extreme negligence gave him a fair advantage to persuade the People that the Religion they taught was corrupt since their Lives and Examples were so bad At the same Time or as others say a Year before to wit in Anno 1516. Ulric Zuinglius Curate at Zuric began to expose his Doctrine in that Swisse Canton and since almost every Year new Evangelists have arisen in such Swarms that it would be difficult to number them Year of our Lord 1518 Every Day brought forth some occasion of difference between the King and Charles of Austria the Lords de Chevres and de Boisy met at Montpellier to determine them but the Death of de Boisy made that great Work be left imperfect William his Brother Lord de Bonnivet much less wise then he held the same Rank in the Kings Favor who made him Admiral of France Year of our Lord 1518 About the same Time John Jacques Trivulcio lost it and died for Grief at the Burrough of Chastres under Montlehery Lautree his antagonist had given the King an ill impression of him upon his being made a Burgher amongst the Swisse and his Brother and others of his Kindred puting themselves into the Venetians Service There had been some Seeds of division sowed between the King of France and the King of England their Counsels before things grew to a greater height thought sit to unite them by a new Alliance The Admiral therefore going to London made a Treaty to this effect That the King of England should give his Daughter as then but four years of age to the Daufin not yet compleatly one year old That there should be a defensive League between the two Crowns and that Tournay should be restored to the King of France who should pay two hundred and sixty thousand Crowns for the Expences the English had been at there and three hundred thousand more in twelve years time besides that he should acknowledge to have received other three hundred thousand for the Dowry of the little Princess The King not having the Money ready gave six Lords in Hostage and by this means got Tournay It was likewise agreed that the two Kings should have an entre-view at their convenient time between Boulogn and Calais In Maximilian's Councel it was judged more proper for the Grandeur of the House of Austria to give the Empire to the Arch-Duke Charles his Grandson then to Ferdinand his younger Brother to whom for the same reason King Ferdinand his Grand-father would not leave his Kingdom of Arragon who bred him in his own Court. And therefore Maximilian treated with the Electors to get them to design him King of the Romans but before he had accomplished that affair he died at Lints in Austria aged sixty three years the two and twentieth day Year of our Lord 1519 of January in Anno 1519. After his Death King Francis and Charles declared themselves Aspirers or Competitors for the Imperial Crown without shewing however the lest picque against one another Of the Capetine Race none but Charles
some noble inclinations for great things he easily addicted himself to shew his State Year of our Lord 1577 and Grandeur in those pomps and vanities which carry some outward appearance of Greatness His Favourites had possess'd him with the opinion that all his Subjects wealth was his own and that France being an unexhaustible Fountain of Riches the greatest prodigality could never incommode him It is almost incredible what excessive Sums he lavishly squander'd away and in what magnificent wantonness he wasted them He plaid and lost one night Fourscore thousand Crowns he went often in Masquerade he was seen to run at the Ring in a Ladies Dress with all the trinkets and gew-gaws of a proud gossip he made one Feast amongst many others where the Women waited and served at Table in the habits of Men clad in Green all the Guests wearing the same Livery and the Queen his Mother requited him with another in the same kind where the fairest Ladies about the Court acted the like parts with their white Bosoms open and their Hair dishevel'd The poor People paid for all these follies and mourned many years for a divertisement that lasted perhaps but some few hours The Kings Coffers were empty and they must have recourse to the worst methods for the filling them again particularly the creation of new Offices which the Italian furnished with Titles and perswaded him that such a multiplication was an excellent means to get Money without violence to any man and to render the Kings power more absolute by filling every City with Creatures of his own and such as would be tied fast to his interests thorow fear of losing their employments and so aid him in suppressing his Subjects and force them to lie quiet and submissively under the feet of Power ☜ This luxurious humour which travelled into every Countrey for divertisements brought from the furthest parts of Italy a band of Comedians whose Plays consisting of amorous intrigues and agreeable inventions to stir up and soothe the softest passions proved most pernicious corrupters of Modesty and Virtue and Schools of impudence They obtained Letters Patents for their establishment as they had been some excellent Society The Parliament rejected them as vagabonds or such Cattle whom good Morality the Holy Canons the antient Fathers and even our own Kings had ever esteemed infamous and forbid them to act or endeavour any more hereafter the obtaining of such License or Patent and notwithstanding no sooner was the Court returned from Poitiers but the King would have their Theatre open'd again month October This year appeared the greatest Comet that had been ever seen it took up Thirty degrees in length embracing the Signs Sagitarius and Scorpio the Tail turned towards the West it was observed from the Eighteenth of October till about the end of November An Astronomer found it to be of the same height as the Planet Venus Year of our Lord 1577 In the preceding Month of March John de Morvilliers Bishop of Orleans a great Statesman died at Blois and in the Month of July the Mareschal de Montluc at his House of Estillac in Agenois Armand Gontaud had the Mareschals staff vacant by the death of Montlue and quitted his Office of Great Master of the Ordnance which was given to Philibert de la Guiche one of the Kings Favorites There was open enmity between the King the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Guise The great courage of this last and weakness of the other two made him almost their equal Their hatred broke into quarrels between their Favorites Quelus who was one of the Kings Darlings challenged Entroguet who was the Duke of Guises and took for his Seconds Livarrot and Maugiron who was likewise in favour ✚ His adversary chose Rybeyrac and Schombert Till this time Seconds had only served for witnesses of a combat but an itch of fighting came upon these and this one bad example has lasted to this very day Maugiron was killed upon the spot Quelus was brought back wounded in Sixteen places whereof he died in a Months time The King loved both these so infinitely that he kissed them when dead caused their flax-Locks to be cut off and treasured them up carefully assisted Quelus to his very death serving him with his own hands and erected a stately Mausoleum for them both in St. Pauls Church Some time after he likewise caused the Body of St. Maigrin to be interred there and Statues of all the three to be set upon their Tombs the rabble broke them down and dragg'd them to the River on the day of the barricades This St. Maigrin was also one of his Minions whom the Duke of Mayenne caused to be pistoll'd at his coming out of the Louvre for having vaunted he was in favour with the Dutchess of Guise For this reason the other Minions who apprehended the like Treatment if they plaid with such rough Gamesters never ceased exasperating the King by their stories and reports concerning these Princes and seeking by all manner of ways to ruine them Being thus pusht at they consider'd how to defend themselves and when they had examin'd and found their own strength and the Kings softness they did not stop at the defensive but carried things to a far greater height then their most daring thoughts durst ever make them hope to attain Whilst the Queen-Mother was in Guyenne whither she went to confer with the King of Navarre under pretence of carrying his Wife to him whom he little valued and by whom he was not esteemed much more the Duke of Anjou Treated with Year of our Lord 1577 the States-General of the Vnited-Provinces this was on the Tenth day of August and was assured moreover that Charles de Ganre Inchi Governour of Cambresis would deliver up to him the Citadel of Cambray for the Queen of Navarre his Sister had gained that Lord the year before in a journey she made to the Spaa Year of our Lord From Anno 1568. to the year 1578. We must now relate what had been transacted in those Provinces for some years past The Duke of 〈…〉 them near Five years during which time he exercised most unexpressible cruelties insomuch that he bragg'd that the very Confiscations of the Estates of those he had butcher'd amounted to Eight Millions of Gold yearly and the number of People who had suffer'd by the hands of the Hangman was Eighteen thousand He was recalled in the year 1513. by King Philip and Lewis dé Requesens Grand Commander of Castille put in his place This last gained a Battle at Mouker-Heyde near Nimeghen wherein Ludovic de Nassau was slain this was in Anno 1574. He afterwards assembled the Estates-General to raise some Moneys but far from granting any they firmly united together to desend their liberty and they took so much hearty grace upon his death which hapned some Months afterwards as to seize upon the Government which was then left in the hands of the Council of State till the
Austrasia environned with fierce and rebellious People wanted the presence of Pepin He durst not take King Thierry with him lest he should displease the Neustrians but he left a Lord with him called Nordbert who disposed of all and gave him an account Year of our Lord 687 The French found no prejudice by this change the interest of a new Prince who desired to Establish himself being to gain the Affections of the People and indeed he repaired all the Breaches that he possibly could which had been made in the foregoing Reigns restored what had been ravished from the Church the Bishops to their Sees the Grandees in their Dignities and Lands resolved upon nothing without the Advice of the Lords and Prelates defended the Cause of the Oppressed of Widdows and Orphans and applied himself to give vigour to the Laws which are the only Shields for the weak against the mighty ones Year of our Lord 688 The second year of his general Command he drew the French Militia together and by the Advice of the great ones carried the War into Frisia and compelled the Duke or King Ratbod who revolted to render him Obedience and to pay him Tribute At his return he called a Council the place is not named wherein they Treated and Considered of the ways and means that should be taken to repress Disorders and Violence and for the defence of the Church of Widdows and Orphans He knew there were no greater Charms to make them love his Government then Piety and Justice Poor Thierry being stripp'd of the real part of his Royalty which is his just Power and reduced to be contented with a moderate Revenue in Lands ended his Year of our Lord 690 or 91. days but not his shame in the year 690. or 91. They allow him Thirty nine or forty years of Age and his Reign to be Seventeen entire that is Thirteen before Pepins Victory and four under the Power of that Mayre He had two Sons Clovis and Childebert and two Wives Clotilda and Doda unless that name of Doda were an Epithet of Crotilda who perhaps was so called because she was fat and plump His Tomb and that of this Doda are to be seen at St. Vaasts of Arras Clovis III. King XVI POPE SERGIUS Who S. four years in this Reign CLOVIS III. In Neustria PEPIN Mayre in Neustria Soveraign in Austrasia IF there had been two Kings there must have been two Mayres but Pepin would Year of our Lord 691 hold that Office alone besides he could not suffer any King in Austrasia because he held that as properly his own for this reason he gave to Clovis which was the eldest of Thierry 's two Sons the Title of King in Neustria and Burgundy but himself kept the whole Administration Perhaps the French according to their ancient Right had conferred upon him the Soveraignty of Austrasia but it is certain that all those People who were Tributary's to that Kingdom as the Turingians the Frisians the Saxons the Almains shook off the Yoak and made themselves Independents On the other hand the Aquitains and likewise the Gascons created each a Soveraign Duke of their own and the Bretons enlarged their little Frontiers Clovis according to some Reigned but two years others more probably give him Year of our Lord 694 four compleat He died about the end of the year 694. or in the beginning of 695. Year of our Lord 694 or 95. being Aged Fourteen or fifteen years and neither had seen nor done any thing that was Memorable in his Reign Childebert II. King XVII POPES SERGIUS Who S. five years and an half during this Reign JOHN VI. Elected in Oct. 701. S. three years two months JOHN VII Elected in March 705. S. two years seven months SISINNIUS In January 708. S. twenty days CONSTANTINE In March 708. S. six years whereof three iâ— this Reign CHILDEBRT II. Called the Young aged Eleven or twelve years PEPIN Mayre c. Year of our Lord 695 IN his room Pepin set up his Brother Childebert who because of his Minority was yet reduced to a lesser scantling of Allowance then his Brother had been The great Officers as the Count of the Palace the great Referendary or Chancellor the Intendant of the Royal Houses were all with the Mayre The Kings had only a small number of Domesticks which served rather as Spies and Jaylors then Officers And indeed they needed them not being ever locked up in a House of Pleasure whence they never went forth but in a Chariot drawn with Oxen and shewed not themselves to the People but once a year in the Assembly of Estates which was held the First day of March. Year of our Lord From 690 unto 700. In these days Egica King of the Visigoths had War with the French towards the borders of the third Aquitain the success we know not Norbert who was the sub-Mayre and Lieutenant to Pepin in Neustria being deceased Year of our Lord 696 and 97. Pepin caused Grimoald his young Son to be elected Mayre of that Kingdom and gave the Dutchy of Champagne to his eldest Son Drogo whom he would keep near him Ratbod King of the Frisons notwithstanding he had given his Faith and Hostages revolts a second time and is again beaten by Pepin near Dorstat There was nothing observable in the eight or nine following years Pepin besides his Wife Plectrude who was already old had taken a Concubine or if you will a lawful Wife for the French notwithstanding the sacred Canons and the Prohibitions of the Church repudiated their Wives when they pleased and Wedded others The Kings themselves according to the ancient Custom of the Germans had often many at one time This same was called Alpaide Pepin had a Son by her named Charles and since surnamed Martel Lambert Bishop of Liege a Zealous Defender of the Christian Truth having dared to reprove him several times and called that Conjunction Adultery in publick Dodon the Brother to Alpaide Assassinated him by consent of Pepin Soon after the Murtherer being eaten with Worms and enduring horrible Torments a while cast himself into the Meuse This infection of Worms was very frequent and as it were Epidemick at that time as have been St. Anthony's Fire and some other odd Diseases Year of our Lord 708 Not long after Pepin lost Drogo or Dreux his eldest Son who left two Sons Hugh and Arnold by his Wife Austrude who was the Widdow of the Mayre Berthier The Almans and Souabues made now but one People governed by the same Duke who appertained to the Kings of Austrasia or held of them But Godfrey the now Duke had cast off the Yoke to make himself independent Being dead Anno 709. Willehaire succeeded him Pepin in two Expeditions which he made thither vanquished him and triumphed over his Pride He could not wholly subdue it though so that it was found necessary to send a third Army into that Country but when Year of our Lord 711 they were just
meet him and himself went and received him at Rheims whence he had him to his Palace of Crecy upon the Oise to pass his Christmass and from thence to Aix la Chapelle to consecrate the Church The Holy Father having been there eight dayes went back again to Rome thorough Bavaria He had undertaken this Journey to complain how that Maurice Duke of the Venetians and his Son John whom he had joyned with him persecuted the Patriarch Fortunatus whom he had approved of and honoured with the Pall and also how they favoured the Grecian Emperour The City of Venice was not yet built and the Seventy two Islands that compose it together with the Country and Towns upon the Shoars of the Gulph were governed by Tribunes who counter-balanced the power of the Duke Now those Tribunes Beat and Obelier whom our French Authors of those Times call Willeric had caused themselves to be Elected Dukes by one part of the People and had driven away Maurice and John who had recourse to the Assistance of the Greeks Year of our Lord 806 These therefore and John Duke of Zara with some other Lords of Dalmatia came to the Palace at Thionville to desire assistance of the Emperour in case the Greeks should assault them Whilst he remained there he shared his Estates between his three Sons in such manner that either of them hapning to dye without Children his Portion should ☞ be re-divided betwixt the other two but if a Son were born and that the People would Elect him to succeed his Father the Uncles were to consent thereunto This partition was made all his Sons being present subscribed by the French Lords and carried to the Pope that he might likewise Sign it not to make it the more Valuable but to render it the more Authentique Year of our Lord 806 This Year the Navarois were reduced to the Obedience of the French from whom they had withdrawn themselves upon what motives is unknown to put themselves under the dominion of the Saracens The Emperour's eldest Son employ'd himself without intermission in subduing the remaining Idolatrous people in Germany The preceding Year he had gained a very great Victory over the Beheman Sclavonians or Behains they are now called Bohemians and slew their Duke named Lechon This Year he had the like advantage over the Sclavonian Sorabes who inhabited on the other side of the River Elbe At the same time his two other Brothers laboured each in his division to encrease their Limits upon the Infidels Pepin made War against the Saracens at Sea Ademar Count of Genoa lost a Battle and his Life but Bouchard Count de l'Estable obtained another very signal one Lewis with his Aquitains made his Incursions to the further Shoar of the Elbe Year of our Lord 807 Nicetas Patrician of the East sent into the Adriatique Sea by the Emperour Nicephorus to recover Dalmatia restored that Country to the obedience of his Master and re-settled Maurice and John Dukes of Venice who had been expell'd and they soon expelled all those that had taken part with France Pepin had resolved to attaque Nicetas yet he made a Truce with him for some Months perhaps because he had enough to do with the Saracens who infested the Tuscan Seas This Year 807. was seen in the Heavens two extraordinary Phenomena besides three Eclypses two of the Moon and the third of the Sun For on the last day of January the Planet Jupiter seemed to enter into the Moon who was in her 17th day and the 14th of March Mercury appeared in the diske of the Sun a little above the Center like a little black speck which lasted so eight dayes Year of our Lord 807 The Pyracies of the Normands and their Descents and Landing on the Coasts of Neustria and even in the Mediterranean became more frequent and troublesome Charlemaine one day being in Provence and seeing some of them appear was so touched with the Misery France was like to suffer by these Pyrats that he could not refrain from Tears Year of our Lord 807 The Ambassadors from the King of Persia brought him Rare Presents Tents all of Silk and a Striking Clock with wonderful Automata They were accompanied by some Monks whom the Patriarch of Jerusalem for Syria was then under the obedience of the Persians had given them to be their Guides In the East all acknowledged or honoured Charlemaine There was none but Godfrey that countermined his Grandeur and Charles desired to get into his Country not to take possession of the Ice and barren Rocks of that Northern Region but to bring those poor ignorant Wretches to the Knowledg of true Faith Year of our Lord 808 The Dane prevented him and had the confidence to attaque his Country At first he made a great bustle drove before him Traciscon Duke of the Abrodites who was under the dominion of the French took by Treachery and hanged another of their Dukes and made two thirds of those people become his Tributaries Nevertheless having lost his best Men and his Brothers Son upon the storming of a Castle being informed that Charles eldest Son to the Emperour had passed over the Elbe he retreated and spoiled or ruined his Haven at Reric whither much Goods and Merchandise had wont to be brought for fear the French should fortify themselves there He designed likewise to shut up and cover his Country of Danemark by drawing a line and making a great rampart just opposite to the Saxons Territory from that Gulph of the Sea on the Eastern part to that on the West and all along the Banks of the River Egidore or Egid and in this part of his Earthen Wall or Work he had but one Gate well flanked for the passage of Carts and Soldiers Amongst divers exploits which were done in the Marches of Spain Lewis King of Aquitain took by force of Engins and assaults the City of Tortosa in Catalonia But Count Aureolus who had the Government of those Frontiers dying the year after Amoroz a Saracen Prince of Sarragosa seized upon several Fortresses of the French protesting notwithstanding he was ready to restore these places and his own person to the Emperors disposal Whereupon a Treaty was begun during which Abular King of Cordoüa to whom these Negotiations were no way pleasing sends his Son Abderaman who craftily seized upon Sarragosa and constrained Amoroz to retire himself to Huesca Year of our Lord 808 The Truce being expired between the French and the Greeks Pepin enters into the Gulph of Venice and gave Battel to Paul who was Patrician and one of the Greeks Generals Each side pretended they had gained the Victory Year of our Lord 809 The following year Nicetas having presented him Battel near Comachio was rudely repulsed At the same time Charlemain desiring to repress the Danes incursions sent orders and materials to build a great Fort on the River Sturia at the place called Aselfelt The Gascons were again revolted Lewis being gone to Dags
with a powerful Army ruined all the Countries of the most Factious and Stubborn and gave quarter only to those that besought his Pardon From thence finding he was so far on his way he pushes on to Pampeluna where he made some stay to assure himself of the fidelity of the Inhabitants of that Country which was very uncertain Before he Filed off his men thorow the passages of those Mountains he would needs be precautioned against the Robberies of those Gascon Mountaineers some of them being already in Ambuscade by seizing on their Women and Children and hanging one of their Spies who came on purpose to observe them and give his Companions notice of their motion Year of our Lord 810 Being returned into Aquitain he mightily laboured to reform that Kingdom and especially the Ecclesiastical Order which was so much deformed the Prelates and Priests being all turned Sword-men that there were no footsteps of any Discipline remaining He not only restored it by his exemplary devout life and by his good Rules and Orders but also by the great care he took to repair or build Monasteries which were as the Seminaries of good Church-men The Author who wrote his life reckons no less then Five and Twenty or Thirty Year of our Lord 810 Pepin not able any longer to endure the double dealing of Maurice and John Dukes of the Venetians who favoured the Greeks and desiring to restore Obelier and Beat who were expelled goes out of Chiassi which is the Port of Ravenna with his Fleet and enters the Lake of Venice In the beginning he took all the little Towns which were upon the Shore then turned towards the Island of Malamauca the Dukes Seat which he found quite forsaken Maurice and John his Son having withdrawn themselves into that of Rialto and Oliuolo The Venetian Authors relate that commanding his men to Attaque those Islands with floats of Boards or Timber and the Army of the Dukes defending them it hapned that wanting knowledge of the Channels and Depths his Fleet received a notable repulse That a great number of the French were slain and stifled in the Mud and that he himself who staid in the Island Malamauca with the least part of his Forces Retreated to Ravenna carrying Obelier and Valentine who had very unluckily engaged him in this enterprise along with him In this Island of Rialto was soon after built a Palace for the Duke and in that of Oliuolo another for the Bishop and in time they joyned all those little Islands near one another by Bridges so that all these together have made the City of Venice so renowned for its wonderful situation and more for the wisdom of its conduct In the mean time Godfrey with a Fleet of Two Hundred Sail lands in Frisia pillaged the Country and exacted Tribute He bragg'd also that he would give the Emperor Battel who was encamped near the place where the Rivers Alare and Veser joyn together but instead of coming forwards he retreats back into his own Country where he was killed by a certain Son of his in revenge for having repudiated his Mother Heming his Brothers Son who succeeded him Treated a Peace with the French Year of our Lord 810 France had not their revenge for the affront received in the Gulph of Venice because Pepin a Son worthy of his Father dyed at the age of 33 Years the 29 th of his Raign in Italy He left only one Bastard-Son named Bernard who succeeded him in that Kingdom a young Prince not above Twelve or Thirteen Years old at most About the end of the following Year Charles the Eldest Son of the Emperor dyed likewise who left no Children But the preceding Spring his Father concluded a Peace with the Dane and sent Three Armies one against the Sclavonick Year of our Lord 811 Hedinons beyond the Elbe the second into Pannonia to make head against the Sclavonians for they molested the Huns very much who were Subjects to the Year of our Lord 812 French and the third against the Bretons who renouncing that obedience they had sworn to him had chosen themselves a King named Coenulph Machon The Year of our Lord 812 two first returned home loaden with Spoil and the last with the honour of having vanquished the Bretons and their new King Year of our Lord 812 Charlemain being already broken with Age and Labour the loss of his two Sons made him more inclinable to have a Peace with the Saracens in Spain with the Greeks and with the Danes Which was the more easie to be compassed for that Mahumed King of the Saracens in Spain being in War with Abdella his Brother was the year following forced to let him have a share in the Kingdom in Greece Year of our Lord 812 the Emperor Nicephorus was slain in a Battel against the Bulgarians and Heming King of Denmark being dead there was a Civil-War about the Succession between Sigifroy and Amulon or Hamildon this Nephew to Hericold and the other to Godfrey They fought a bloody Battel where both of them were slain together with Ten or Eleven Thousand men but Amulon's Party remaining Victorious Secured the Kingdom to Heriold and Rainfroy his Brothers Amidst the Multitude of Affairs which Charlemain had in all the three several parts of the World he did not forget what concerned Religion Upon the intreaty of Biorn King of Sweeden he sent some Priests thither to instruct those People in the knowledge of the Gospel Ebon a Man of a holy life established a Bishoprick there in the City of Lincopen Year of our Lord 813 Finding himself grow weaker day by day he caused his Son Lewis to come to the Parliament of Aix where he had called together the Bishops Abbots Dukes and Counts he asked them all one by one whether they would be pleased that he should give him the Title of Emperor To which all having replied yes he declared him his Partner in the Empire commanded him to go and take the Crown which was upon the Altar and put it himself upon his own head In the same Parliament he likewise declared Bernard the Son of his Son Pepin King of Italy whither he had already sent him under the Conduct of Vala or Galon Son of Bernard his paternal Uncle The death of this mighty Prince was preceded with all sorts of prodigies both in the Heavens and upon the Earth enough to astonish even those that have but little faith in such presages and give least Credit to them Whilst he was studiously employed in the Reading and the Correcting some Copies or Manuscripts of the holy Bible in his Palace at Aix a Feaver seized him and carried him out of this World the 28 th of January the Two and Seventieth year of his Age at the beginning of the 14 th of his Empire and the 48 th of his Raign His Will and Year of our Lord 814 Testament which is yet to be seen is one of the greatest Tokens of his
him after his deposition Louis King of Germany feeling some remorse or thinking to Aggrandize himself if he restored him Sollicited Lotaire to deliver him to which Pepin joyned his interest But Lotaire not being inclinable thereto and having transfer'd him thence to Compiegne and then to Saint Denis both of them brought their Forces into the Field and appointed a place to joyn together nigh Paris Lotaire observing they flocked thither from all parts amuses them for some days with the Prospect of a Peace then finding there was no safety for him he takes his way by Burgundy and retires to Vienne leaving his Father at Saint Denis The Debonnaire being at liberty would not immediately put on his Imperial Robes but first desired to be reconciled to the Church by the Bishops So that even in Saint Denis Church it self they returned the Crown and Military girdle to him with the deliberation and consent or Counsel of the French People Some time after a couple of Bishops brought his Wife and his Son Charles to him who were set at liberty by those that were to guard him Year of our Lord 834 Lotaire had placed some Counts in the Cities above the Loire amongst others Lambert at Nantes and Mainfroy at Orleans who undertook to preserve those Countries for him These Counts having with great advantage defeated those sent by the Emperor who went and unadvisedly Attaqued them did so importunately Sollicite their Master to return thither and pursue the Victory that he went to them immediately having forced and burnt the City of Chaalons upon the Soane Pepin was come to the assistance of his Father with considerable Forces So that they were much Superiour to him in strength Nevertheless he came and Encamped right over against them not far from the City of Blois promising himself to withdraw and get away his Men as formerly But finding that on the contrary he was in danger of being forsaken by his men and that he could not make his retreat without a hazardous Battel he resolved to come and beg pardon which he could never have obtained had he been taken with his Sword in Hand His Father received him Sitting on a Throne which was raised very high in the midst of his Tent where he would see him prostrate on his knees and condescended not to pardon him and his but upon condition he should come no more into France without his leave but should remain in Italy all the passages from which place he shut up after him with strong Garrisons Year of our Lord 834 The Princes party being thus abandoned and without support Ebon Arch-Bishop of Reims who had most contributed to the degradation of the Emperor being taken as he was flying away with the Churches Treasure was brought before the Year of our Lord 835 Parliament of Mets. And there the Emperor accused him personally after his own restauration had been signed by all the Grandees The unhappy Creature did not endeavour to make any defence but as a favour desired he might be judged in private by the Bishops and owned his Crimes in writing whereupon he was deposed and subscribed his own degradation After this Ignominy he retired into Italy to Lotaire whither many others had already saved themselves Year of our Lord 835. And 836. It had been much better for the quiet of France that Lotaire had never repassed the Mountains But the Empress Judith desiring to have a support for her Son Charles after the death of the old Emperor who was very Sickly and Infirm endeavoured to reconcile them and caused word to be sent that he should come to Court To which notwithstanding he durst not trust so soon And besides he could not have come being at that time fallen ill of an Epidemical distemper which brought him to extremity and almost all the French Lords who went thither with him to their Graves It carried off Valac esteemed the best Head-piece and the most powerful Genius of his Court as it had been of Charlemains and so many other of the most considerable Lords that it was said it had left France naked both of Counsel and Strength Year of our Lord 836 In the year 836. the Emperor had a design to go and visit the Sepulchres of the Holy-Apostles in Rome But the Rumour of the Normands falling upon Frisia where they burnt Dorstat and Antwerp detained him in France where he called general Assemblies as was usual Year of our Lord 837 Towards Easter-day there appeared a Comet in the Heavens in the Sign Virgo which having in 25 days passed thorough the Signs of Leo Cancer and Gemini came and lost its Train and Globe of Fire right against the Head of Taurus under the Feet of the great Bear The Emperor who was a great Astronomer did first discover it There had been another Visible the preceding year on the 11th of April in the Sign Libra which shewed its self but three days only The principal cause of the trouble and Rebellions of Debonnaires Children was the frequent alteration he made in the partitions and division of the Portions of his Sons The Empress who feared Lotaire and desired to gain him persuaded her Husband to send for him and to propound to him the division of his whole Estate in two parts Aquitaine and Bavaria not comprehended whereof the Emperor should chuse one or else that he should divide it and Lotaire should take his choice Lotaire referr'd the division to him and that being done he took the Eastern France from the Meuse upward and left the Western to Charles his youngest Brother obliging himself by Oath to defend him and not to undertake any thing against the will of his Father Year of our Lord 838 The Normands ceased not from pillaging the Coasts of Flanders They had gained a great Battel in the Island Walcheren which makes part of Zeland where the Count of that Country was slian and having afterwards Fortified themselves in that Post made great Ravage till the French Army beat them from thence Year of our Lord 838 From the First of January a Comet appeared in the Sign Scorpio a little after the Sun-set Some fancied it presaged the Death of Pepin King of Aquitaine which followed in the Month of November after He was Aged some 35 years and had Reigned Twenty one They buried him at Sainte Croix of Poitiers He left by his Wife Engeltrude Daughter of Thiebert Earl of Matrie two Sons Pepin and Charles whose adventures we shall relate in due place and one Daughter named Matilda who Married Giraud Count of Poitiers To have done as Charlemain when a King had allotted his Children their division and that one hapned to dye if this left any Sons it depended on the People to Elect one in his stead or to let his share be given amongst the rest of the Brothers After the decease of Pepin there were two Parties in Aquitain One whereof a Lord named Emenon was Chief would have the eldest Son Pepin to
the Divine Authority do pray you to receive and govern them according to the will of God They then divided betwixt them that portion of Austrasia which had been possessed by Lotaire Nevertheless this partition did not stand for that Prince endeavouring an accomodation with them the Friends on all hands brought it so to pass that the three Brothers had a parley together in an Island on the Soane each accompanied and assisted with Forty Lords in the presence of whom they agreed to divide the whole Succession of their Father not including Bavaria Lombardy and Aquitain in three equal parts whereof Lotaire should take his choice That the same forty Deputies on the behalf of each of them should meet together in November in the City of Mets to make that division and that in the interim each of them should keep the same Portion he then enjoy'd and remain therein The Assembly of the Six-score Lords was not held at Mets because Lotaire being at Thionville it would not have been secure for those on the behalf of the two younger Brothers It was removed to Coblents where for want of ample powers they could agree to nothing but a Truce till St. John Baptist's-day and another meeting at Thionville before that time Year of our Lord 843 In this Interval Charles Married in his own Palace of Crecy upon Oyse with Hermentrude Daughter of Wodon Grand-child to Adelard who had governed Louis the Debonnaire and had been a most horrible squanderer of the Treasures and Demesnes belonging to the Crown which on the one hand had got him the hatred of those that loved the welfare of the State and on the other the affection and esteem of Courtiers and all such as were not able to maintain their expences but by the profusion of such Ministers Year of our Lord 843 The French Lords assembled at Thionville succeeded so well about the partition between the three Brothers that they compleated it the 6 th Day of March To Charles fell the western Kingdom of France which is near upon the same which we call at this very day France that is from the Brittish Ocean to the Meuse To Louis fell Germany unto the Rhine with some Villages on this side which he would needs have included because there were some Vine-yards and to Lotharius with the Title of Emperor the Kingdom of Italy and Provence and all that lay Year of our Lord 843 between the Kingdoms of his two other Brothers which were the Lands between the Scheld the Meuse the Rhine and the Soane In the German Tongue this was called Loterreich in Romance or Old-French Lohier-regne and by contraction Lorreine that is to say the Kingdom of Lotaire or Lotharius The Country that bears this Title at present is but a small part thereof As for Pepin they allotted him no share but having gained a great victory over those sent by his Uncle who endeavoured to take away his Kingdom of Aquitain he maintained himself for some years even till his Vices rather then the power of his Enemies dethroned him This division of the Kingdom betwixt Brothers equally divided the affections of the People of Germany Gaul and Italy who had begun to cleave if I may say so or joyn together in one Monarchick body and made the Subjects become inconstant unfaithful Factious and take to themselves a liberty of chusing their Princes believing they might do so provided they were of Royal blood But that which was worse was that France having lost the best of her Forces by that blooddy Battel at Fontenay was no longer able to keep those People under which had been subdued especially the Gascons and the Bretons neither to defend themselves against the incursions of the Normands As for the Gascons Azenar who had Seized upon the County being dead in the year 836. his Brother Sance had also invaded it in despite of Pepin and justified it by the assistance of the Basques and the Navarrois The Dutchy was then held by a Lord named Totilus Azenar far from obeying him did tyre him with his continual incursions and whilst he held him in play gave opportunity to the Normands to ravage the whole Province One cannot without horror recount the Ruines Murthers and Destructions by Fire which those Barbarians practised over all France Necessity forced them out of their houses to seek for a subsistence elsewhere for every fifth year they sent out Colonies or swarms of young People to go and seek out their Fortunes in other Countries The desire of plunder and honour made them ever fall upon the richest Provinces the false Zeal of their Brutish and Impious Religion made them cruel and bloody especially towards Church-men the French making use of their assistance in their publick quarrels had brought them into their Country and such rascally people as were but too much at liberty and in too great numbers during the Civil-War served them for guides and not only so but sometimes became their commanders and encouragers assisting them in their pillaging and robberies with so great destruction that no times nor History can parallel For from one Sea to the other there was not one Monastery standing that had not felt their fury and devilish rage not one Town that had not been ransom'd plundred or burnt two or three times Which was demonstration sufficient that it was a terrible vengeance sent from God Year of our Lord Towards 840. And to make this yet more plain there were every one of those years most visible fore-warnings to repentance by some extraordinary Signs shewed from Heaven A little before the death of Louis the Debonnaire appeared a Comet and another again in An. 842. From the year 840. to 850. there were frequently Battels in the Air to be seen And the Earth-quaked often times with Terrible roarings During the Government of Duke Totilus in Gascogny those Barbarians having failed in an attempt upon Burdeaux ruined Basas Ayre Laitoure Dags Tarbe de Bigorre Labour Oleron and Lascar and beat that Duke Twice But the Third time he had the advantage against them and drove them quite out of all Gascogny He survived but a short while after his victory that command was given to Seguin and to strengthen him the better against Sance and likewise against the Normans the County of Burdeaux was joyned to his Dutchy which before was Aquitania Secunda and if I am not deceived that of Saintes Which hindred not the Normans upon a second descent An. 843. from defeating him in a bloody Battel Year of our Lord 843 between Saintes and Burdeaux where his death Crowned their Victory Duke William his Successor could not stop this Torrent which overslowed Aquitania Secunda and made them Masters sometimes of Saintes another while of Angoulesme then of Lemoges or Perigueux The confusion they brought into those Countries and the revolt of Bernard Duke of Septimania which hapned in the same years gave so much confidence to the Gascons of the Dutchy that they
whereafter two years Persecution his Eyes were put out The two Brothers Louis and Charles after many persuasions used by the latter and by the mediation of the Bishops and Lords met in a place agreed upon on this side the Meuse each with a certain number of People and there divided the Kingdom of Lorrain in two without having any regard to their Nephew the Emperor Louis Whose cause the Pope still supporting sent a famous Legation to the two Brothers Louis sâ—nt them back to Charles and he taking time to delay advanced as far as Lyons as it were to confer with the Pope but it was in effect for a quite contrary design For very far from doing his Nephew justice he likewise seized on the Kingdom of Burgundy where he met with no opposition but from Berthe the Wife of Count Gerard who sustained a Siege in Vienne and surrendred it upon composition Charles the Bald gave this County in charge to Boson Brother to the Queen Richilda his Wife whom he also made Duke of Aquitain and Grand-Master of the Porters and raised him in such sort that he was shortly after one of those that dismembred the Monarchy Year of our Lord 871 During this Voyage he had left the Lieutenancy of his Kingdom to the Arch-Bishop Hincmar who by his Genius no less powerful then daring had rendred himself very necessary He had no small ado to hinder the designs and enterprises of Carloman eldest Son of his King This Prince had some years before conspired against his Father who had made him a Deacon in despite of him and having rebelled another time he put him in Prison The Prayers of the Popes Legates who came the year before into France had got him out again but abusing this mercy he fell again to his old Practices Now being fallen the third time into his Fathers hands he caused him to be condemned to Death and then changed that Sentence to a deprivation of his sight that he might have time to repent Some time afterwards a couple of Monks craftily got him out of Prison and convey'd him to his Uncle the German King who gave him an Abbey for his maintenance But Death did not leave him long in the enjoyment of it This cursed Custome of putting out Eyes and other ways of dismembring was the invention of the Greek Princes and it hath been long practised in the West so that Vassals in their Oaths of Fidelity swore they would defend the persons of their Lords and never consent they should be maimed in any part of their Bodies About these times the Gascons desiring to collect their Forces under a Duke of their own Nation and of the Race of their ancient Dukes to secure themselves against the fury of the Normans and the revenge of Charles the Bald went into Spain to the Son of Loup Centulle whom the King of the Asturias had made an Earl in old Castille to desire and get one of his Sons The youngest after the refusal of all his Brothers accepted the Honour his name was Sanche his surname Mitarra the Saracens had bestowed it on him because he was their Ruin and their Scourge From him are proceeded the Hereditary Dukes of Gascogny who lasted near 200 years He had a Successor of the same name and surname as himself This Son was Father of Garcia Sanchez the Crooked who had three Garcia Sanchez Duke of Gascogny William Count of Fezenzac and Arnold Count of Astarack This last not Born the natural way but by an incision they made in his Mothers Flank was surnamed Non-nat Not Born The Princes of the Carlovinian Line were for the most part of weak Spirits Fools or Sottish Louis Emperor of Italy though Pious and Valiant was so Year of our Lord 872 slighted by his Subjects that they would part him from his Wife because he had no Male-Children And even Adelgise Duke of Benevent made him Prisoner and extorted from him very unjust things Year of our Lord 873 The Children of Louis the German gave their Father a great deal of trouble and seemed to punish him for the disquiet he had given to his The eldest named Charles and afterwards surnamed the Gross troubled without doubt with horror for the conspiracies he had made against him had violent fitts of Madness believing he had seen the Devil and was possessed by him He was cured of that Frenzy for some time after many Devotions and Vows over the Graves of Saints but his Brain having been once so disturbed he felt it all his life afterwards Year of our Lord 873 The Normans had seized on the City of Anger 's about four years since and setled themselves there with their Families from whence when they had a mind to it they ran about the Loire and all those other Rivers which fall into it loading their Barks with the Plunder and Pillage of all the Country Charles assisted by Salomon King of the Bretons besieged them in that City The Siege was long the Bretons by great labour bring it to an end they turned the stream of the Maine and by this means their Vessels lay all on dry ground and gave them opportunity to aproach to the foot of their Wall The Pyrats could no way have escaped if they would have forced them however the Bald so terrible had they made themselves fearing the revenge such other Parties they had abroad in divers parts of the Kingdom might take not only did them no hurt but likewise gave them the liberty to depart with all their plunder They only made a promise never to return any more into France but at their departure from thence they went and nestled themselves in an Island within the Loire from whence they continued their old Trade Towards the Month of August an unknown cause brought towards the Coast or Borders of Germany a prodigious quantity of Locusts which were about the bigness of an inch having six wings and teeth as hard as a stone In less than an hour they had eaten up all the Herbs and Greens growing in a Country of seven or eight Leagues in length and two in breadth to the very Branches and Rinds of young Trees After they had done incredible mischiefs a strong Wind hurried them into the Brittish Sea where they were drowned But dead they did no less hurt then when living the great heaps thrown by the Waves upon the Shoar infecting the Country with the Plague Year of our Lord 874 While King Salomon who was become a good Man and devout to the doing of Miracles was thinking to retire into a Monastery and leave his Crown to his Son Gueguon two of his Cousin Germans Pasteneten or Pasquitan Son of Neomene and Vrsand assisted by Wygon Son of Duke Rodolph and some French Inhabitants of Bretagne whom he had treated ill conspired against him and besieged him in his Castle of Plelan where surrendring himself and his Son upon some false promises the French put out his eyes
of the Treaty made with his Father and offered him to prove by thirty witnesses whereof ten should undergo the trial of cold water ten more of hot water and other ten that of burning Irons that they had on their part never infring'd it in the least The Bald petended to give ear to those justifications and agreed to a Cessation during which he made Oath he would not molest them Yet he pursued his march by narrow and unfrequented ways through the Mountains intending to surprize him near Andernack where he lay encamped and to put out his Eyes But the Bishop of Colen who was with him having in vain used all his endeavours to dissuade him from this treachery gave secret notice to Louis who put himself into so good a posture as he deseated his great Army and might have cut them all off would he but have pursued them Year of our Lord 877 The three Brothers confirmed by this victory in the Succession of their Father divided it betwixt them Carloman the eldest had the Kingdom of Bavaria to which belonged Panonia Carinthia Bohemia and Moravia Louis the second had East France or Germany and with that part of the Kingdom of Lorrain Charles had the Country of the Grisions Swisserland Souaube Alsace and the other part of Lorrain bordering on them CHARLES the Bald Emperour King of Neustria Aquitain Burgundy Provence Carloman King of Bavaria and the Title of King of Italy Louis II. of East-France Charles of Germany properly so called   Lorrain between both During all these dissentions the Normans had fair play The Bald put no stop to them but with Presents of Gold and the like which rather invited them soon after to come again then perswaded them to stay away So that while he lost himself with the imaginations of vain conquests they imposed Tribute upon West France and had it paid as themselves demanded or after their own mode the reason perhaps why they were called Truands The Saracens on the other hand tormented Italy no less they had Fortified themselves at Tarente and having made a League with the Duke of Naples sacked all to the very gates of Rome Pope John cryes out and calls upon the Bald for help and as a great favour sends him the confirmation of his Election to the Empire He goes therefore into Italy with Richilda his wife whom he led about every where The Pope comes to meet him as far as Versel Crowned the Empress at Tortona and from thence they went down to Pavia to consult with the Lords of Italy about the means to drive out the Saracens While they were there they heard that Carloman King of Bavaria approached with a great Army to resume the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire Upon the bruit of his march the Assembly dissolves the Pope flies to Rome and Charles makes hast into France But at the same time Carloman Seized with a Pannique fear turns back again to Germany Whilst the Bald was absent from his Kingdom the French Lords formed a conspiracy against him Boson himself his Favourite and Brother in Law to his Wife was of the Knot They hated him mortally and the occasion or pretence was that he raised people of mean Birth and seemed to despise the French Nation in affecting to wear his Cloaths after the Greek Mode who were their mortal Enemies It hapned therefore by the wicked contrivances of these Factious persons combining that upon his return passing by Mount Conis he was poysoned by Sedecias his Physician a Jew by Birth and reputed a Magician Accidents not un-common Year of our Lord 877 to Great ones who make use of such-like People His body was Interred at Vercel and seven years after brought thence to the Abbey of St. Denis He died at the Age of 55 years the second of his Empire and the 38 th of his Reign accounting from the Decease of his Father At he loved Pride and vain Pomp more than Solidity so Fortune in conformity to his humour made him happy in appearance but unhappy in effect she bestowed many great Lordships and but little good success upon him The best of his qualities was that he acquired great learning and gratified good Schollars with Honour and rewards seeking and sending into Greece and Asia for them to enrich France by their knowledge worthy of praise for so doing had he but taken care to provide for the necessity and security of his Country before be brought in those Ornaments His Father was blamed for raising people of a servile condition to Ecclesiastical dignities And he going farther yet advanced very mean persons to Military Employments and to such dignities as were due only to the greatest in his Kingdom This turned the whole State as it were upside-down the greatest Families sunk to nothing and the meanest were raised to the highest pitch to whom the obscurity and ignorance of those times was very favourable in concealing and preventing ☜ all knowledge of the beseness or Poverty of their Original The City and Abbey of St. Denis are obliged to this King for the Faire at Landy He had no Children by Richilda his second wife but by Hermentrude his first he had many there was but one now alive which was Louis whom they surnamed the Stammering because in truth he was so The hatred they bare to the Father was transferred to the Son he endeavoured to take it away by force of gratifications bestowing Abbeys upon some to others Lands and Employments were given but by pleasing and pacifying a few he created a world of discontents and the Princes so the great Lords were called took offence that he should grant of himself what he could not well do without their consent and in the general Assembly Year of our Lord 877 Whilst they were making divers Cabals grounding all as I believe upon this pretence that it did not appear to them that his Father had ordained he should succeed him his Mother in Law Richilda comes with all speed and brings him his Father Charles the Bald's Will by which it was manifest he had given him his Kingdom and did invest him in it by the Sword of St. Peter and the Royal ornaments which he sent to him Louis being a little better Authorised by this means the Lords agreed with him but certainly not till it had cost him a great deal And the Arch-Bishop Hincmar Crowned him in the City of Reims the 8 th day of December LOUIS II. Surnamed The Stammerer King XXVI Aged about XXX or XXXII Years POPES JOHN VIII During all this Reign and in the following Louis called the Stammerer Emperour King of Neustria Aquitain Burgundy Provence Carloman King of Bavaria Louis of East-France Charles of Germany   Lorraine to both Year of our Lord 878 IN the mean time Lambert Count of Spoleta and Albert Marquiss of Tuscany partisans of King Carloman who pretended to the Empire being entred into Rome kept Pope John VIII a
sometimes for his Rival The well meaning French tyred with these discords during which the Normans took their opportunity to return contrived I know not what kind of Truce between the two Kings It seems Burgundy and Aquitain Champagne and Picardy were to belong to Eudes all the rest was Charles's It troubled Arnold very much that contrary to the custom of France such Princes who were of Charlemain's Blood but only by the Female side should dismember the best Portions of his Succession He goes down therefore into Italy drives Guy de Spoleta out of all Lombardy and forces him to retire to Spoleta But he satisfied himself with that advantage only and went back into Germany Now this Guy labouring to gather an Army about Spoleta died of a bloody Flux say some though others make him to live a great while longer How-ever it were Arnold gained nothing by his Death for as he was at distance the Lords conferred the Kingdom upon Lambert his Son before Berenger his Competitor who thought to restore his own Title had time to take his measures This Lambert was Crowned Emperor and bare the Title as long as he lived In the mean time Arnold attaqued Rodolph in Burgundy beyond the Jour or Trans-jourane and put him to a great deal of trouble however he could not force Year of our Lord 895 him quite out of those Mountains Year of our Lord 895 The year following he held a Council at the Palace of Tribur which is betwixt Ottenhin and Ments on the other side of the Rhine and after that a Parliament at Wormes where King Eudes was present and upon his return Plundred the Baggage belonging to the Ambassadors whom Charles the Simple was sending to Arnold In this Assembly Arnoid with the consent of the Lords which he had very much ado to obtain got Zuentibold his Bastard Son to be accepted for King of Lorrain This young Prince embracing Charles's Party besieged the City of Laon then esteemed very important because of its advantageous situation upon a Hill But when he found Eudes returned out of Aquitain with his Army he raised the Siege and turned his back to him The Normans began again their Incursions on that unhappy Kingdom with so much the more assurance and facility as they found Eudes backward and careless to suppress them who indeed was only able to do it but left them to go on to revenge the inconstancy of the French who having made him King would not obey him as he expected and required This year Rollo or Rol one of the most considerable Leaders of those Pyrats after he found he could do nothing in England where he had tried to Land being also advertised by a Dream or divine Vision steered his course towards France and puts in at the Mouth of the Seine Perhaps he might be called in by Charles who turned every Stone to ruin his Rival As for the Empire of Italy Arnold being invited by Pope Formosus who would revenge himself for the outrages received from the Romans forced the City of Rome and having chastised them was Crowned Emperor But soon after as he was besieging the Widdow of Guy in the Castle of Fermo one of his Valets de chambre whom that subtil woman had corrupted gave him a Drink which laid him asleep for three whole days and brought him to be Paralytick for a while Year of our Lord 897 There hap'ned this year a horrible scandal in the Roman Church Formosus Bishop of Porto otherwhile degraded and condemned by Pope Nicholas was elected Pope after Stephanus VI. This was the first example in the Church and of most pernicious consequence as we find it now every day that without any necessity a Bishop is transferr'd to another See and as one may say does quit and forsake his first wife to marry another But after his death Pope Stephen VII his Successor caused him to be taken out of his Grave and having placed him in the Papal Chair dressed up in his Pontifical Ornaments reproved and told him that Year of our Lord 897 thorough his ambition he had violated the orders of the Church then condemned him as if he had been living disrobed him of his Ornaments cut off those three fingers with which he gave his Benediction and caused him to be thrown into the River Tiber with a stone about his neck Year of our Lord 898 The enterprises surprises and ren-counters between Charles and Eudes ended by the death of the latter which hapned the 3 d. of January An. 898. about the end of the 36 th of his Age and the 8 th of his Reign At his death he very earnestly desired and enjoyned his Brother Robert and the other Lords to own and acknowledge King Charles whom he hoped they should find a Prince as much deserving for his Vertues as his Birth to Rule over them He left but one Son by his Queen Theodorade named Arnold who took the Title of King of Aquitain But death soon snatcht the Crown from him before he was married or as I believe of Age enough to be so Arnold Emperor in Germany Charles alone in France Zuendibold in Lorraine Louis in Provence Rodolph in Burgundy Lambert in Italy Year of our Lord 898 The loss of the Kingdom of Lorrain did much displease the French wherefore Charles to gain their esteem endeavoured to recover it The rebellion of Duke Reinier who had been the Favourite of Zuendibold and whom that Prince had driven out of his Country did facilitate the means he therefore passed the Meuse with a great deal of company Zuendibold betakes himself to flight but soon after all his Lords coming to him he pursues him in his turn and there had been a Battel if the Lords on either Part had not procured a Truce between them Soon after an Assembly was held in the Abbey of Gorze nigh Mets which confirmed a Peace between Charles Arnold and Zuendibold Towards the end of the year Arnold died having Reigned twelve years since the Death of his Father Charles the Fatt And held the Empire only two years Year of our Lord 899 and a half He had divers Children by three several women amongst others Zuentibold and Arnold the Bad by two Concubines and Louis by a lawful Wife This last was but eight years old when his Father died Charles the Simple in France Zuentibold in Lorraine Louis in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Transjurane Lambert and Berenger in Italy The German Princes immediately Crowned Louis and committed his person to the care and Guardian-ship of Otho Duke of Saxony who was married to his Sister and Arch-Bishop Haton as they did the conduct of his Army to Lutpold or Leopold Duke of the Eastern Frontiers of Bavaria From whom some make the House Year of our Lord 900 of Bavaria to be derived The Dominions of Louis were soon enlarged by the death of Zuentibold who behaving himself with much irregularity and little justice and making his chief exercise
the divertisement with women and taking counsel only of the lowest and meanest People gave the Lords of Lorraine just cause to forsake him to submit themselves to Louis Those that had the Government of this young Prince brought him purposely to Thionville where they put the Crown upon his Head and Zuentibold endeavouring to revenge it was slain in a Battel fought between them the Year of our Lord 900 3 d. day of August in this year 900. He Reigned five years Charles in Neustria or West-France Louis in Germany Lorraine Rodolph I. in Burgundy Louis in Provence Lambert and Berenger in Italy In the War which Arnold Earl of Flanders made against Hebert Earl of Vermandois Eudes had favoured Hebert and King Charles took part with Arnold to whom he was in some sort obliged for what he enjoy'd Now Eudes being dead Hebert who was subtil and insinuating found means to make friends with Charles and got into so much credit with him that this simple and un-knowing King took the City of Arras from Baldwin and gave it to Count Altmar that he might restore Peronne to Hebert Baldwin or Baudouin coming to the King to beseech him to let him have his Town again was denied with rough language Now Fulk Arch-Bishop of Reims great both by birth and merit was then chief Counsellor to Charles and holding the Abbey of Saint Vaast had excommunicated Baldwin for invading the Lands thereof Wherefore Winomach Lord of the Island Vassal to the Count imputing the affront his Lord had received to the Counsel of this Arch-Bishop way-laid him in a Wood and murthered him for which being pursued and excommunicated by all the Bishops made his escape into England where he was eaten up with Lice It seems this was an Epidemical distemper in those days For we find divers persons in History that died thereof amongst others Arnold the Emperor the preceding year and King Rodolph of whom we shall hereafter make mention The Hungarians began to make themselves known about the latter end of the Reign of Charles the Fatt They then seated themselves in Pannonia having chased out the Huns and from thence became a Scourge to all the Provinces beyond the Rhine and the Year of our Lord 900 Danube as the Normans were to all on this side They were Originally a People of Scythia Brutish and Barbarous beyond all imagination Their Mother 's trained them to inhumanity from their Birth gashing and mangling their Faces that they might have nothing of humane and by swallowing down blood mixed with their own tears before they sucked their first Milk they might grow Blood-thirsty and pitty-less to all mankind They caroused in blood and fed upon raw flesh cut the hearts of those they took Prisoners in quarters and swallowed the gobbets reeking warm had no faith nor truth nor honour no wit but to defraud and contrive mischief always a turbulent and furious courage either against an Enemy or against one another The women were yet worse then the men They had scarcely any other weapons besides Arrows but were so dextrous in the use of them that every one they shot did some execution and every wound almost was Mortal They were all Horsemen very serviceable in flat and open Countries who would notably harrass an Army within their Bow-shot but aseless in Mountainous or Woody places or for Sieges Nor indeed would they ever adventure to come to handy-blows but ever made a running Fight King Arnold had brought them in to fall upon the back of Zuentibold a Sclavonian Prince who would have usurped Moravia and make himself King He being dead they were not afraid to fall upon the Countries belonging to Louis his Son And this year they gained a great victory against his Forces near the Year of our Lord 901 City of Augsburgh and afterwards Plundred Bavaria Scwaben Franconia and Saxony Year of our Lord 902 The year following having good information of the Civil War betwixt Berenger and Louis the Son of Boson they marched into Italy The Italians An. 899. tired with the Government of Berenger and above all with Adebert Marquiss d'Yvree Father of another Berenger who was likewise King of Italy had called in Louis But Berenger I. had made himself so strong with the assistance of Adebert Marquiss of Tuscany that he hemm'd him in and forced him to a promise he would renounce the Kingdom upon condition he would give him free liberty to march home again without farther lett or molestation The oaths of ambitious Princes are as frail and short liv'd as the vows and promises of Lovers the same Adelbert who had supported Berenger's cause turning Coat and solliciting Louis to return thither again that un-advised Prince confides in Faithless men But he had time to repent at leasure For they delivered him up to Berenger who deprived him both of his Empire and his fight That done he forces the Pope it was John IX to Crown him Emperor but so soon as he was gone from Rome the Pope sent for Lambert who was then private in some corner of Italy and Crowned him Which was confirmed by a grand Council held Year of our Lord 902 at Ravenna Berenger Governed 22 years we might say happily enough had it not been for the incursions of the Bulgarians In the Month of August this same year they again entred Italy with a numerous Army and having ransack'd the Territory of Aquilea Verona Coma and Bergamo came at last towards Pavia Berenger mean while had got his Forces together When they saw his numbers three times more then they expected they endeavoured to make a retreat and when he followed and pursued them so close that they could not get off without fighting they profer'd him all their Plunder and their own Baggage The Italians would hear of nothing less then to have them all upon discretion Necessity converted their fear into fury and dispair the Hungarians now attaque their pursuers and cut their Army all in pieces And Lombardy did afterwards become their prey Nor did they attempt to drive them thence but with their money a Bait so sweet that it allured them to return again often In the year 903. a Star appeared near the Pole-Artick which darted from the North-North-East towards the South-West along Train resembling a Lance which passing between the Signs of the Lyon and the Twinns crossed the Zodiack It was seen for three and twenty days For seven or eight years together there was nothing so remarkable as the cruel incursions of the Normans An. 903. Heric and Haric two of their Captains burnt Year of our Lord 903 the Castle of Tours and Saint Martin's Church Year of our Lord 905 An. 905. Rodolph and Gerlon two other Commanders of the same Nation took the City of Rouen upon composition and there setled their Habitation fortifying the Castles that were near them From thence for five years space they made Incursions into all the neighbouring Provinces conquered Constentine and Inhabited
it sacked all Picardy Artois Champagne and the Country of Messin often frighted Paris covered the Seine the Marne and the Loire with the Ashes of those Cities they consumed by Fire near those Streams and beat the French every where excepting at Chartres from whence they were repulsed by the protection of the Holy Virgin and the courage of Bishop Gosseaume and at Tonnere where one of their Parties was defeated by Richard Duke of Burgundy The foregoing year Lambert was killed by treachery as he was taking his pleasure in hunting by Hugo Earl of Milan The Western Empire remained vacant till the year 915. When Berenger was again Crowned by Pope John X. We may here place the Birth of the Kingdom of Arragon because about this time Sancho Abacca I. having extended his Kingdom of Navarre or Territory of Pampeluna towards Huesca and conquered all the rest of the Province of Arragon besides the Earldom of the same name which held already of him took the Title of King of Pampelune and Arragon Year of our Lord 911 In An. 911. hapned the Death of two Kings Rodolph of Burgundy beyond the Jour and Louis King of Germany The first left Rodolph II. his Son for Successor The second being only 19 or 20 years of age had only two Daughters Placidia or Plesance and Matilda who for Husbands had Conrard Duke of Franconia and Henry the Bird-Catcher Duke of Saxony and Son of Duke Otho The Lords of Lewis's Kingdom intending to bestow the Crown upon this Otho he excused himself upon the Score of his great Age and generously advised them to Elect Conrad Duke of Franconia though he had been his Enemy Charles the Simple in France Conrad in Germany Louis in Provence Rodolph II. in Trans-jurane Berenger in Italy Year of our Lord 911 Rollo the great Captain did by little and little make himself familiar and friendly with Franco Arch-Bishop of Rouen Upon his intreaties he had twice or thrice granted a Truce The design of that vertuous Prelat was to convert him Rollo's was to attain the Soveraignty and of the head of those Pirats become a Legal Prince The French Lords had much ado to suffer such a Stranger to be setled thus in the best Country of the Kingdom But the People so long and often tormented by their plundrings and continued disturbance cried out to them to put a period to their miseries Besides Robert Earl of Paris who aspired to the Monarchy desired he might remain in that Station to have his assistance in time of need For these reasons Charles made a Truce with him during which he propounded to him to give him in propriety and with the Title of a Dutchy that part of Neustria between the Sea the River of Seine and the Epte which falls into the Seine with his Daughter Gisele in marriage if he would be converted and embrace Christianity Upon these conditions Rollo was Catechised and received holy Baptism upon Easter-Eve An. 912. Earl Robert was his God-Father and named him After this Year of our Lord 912 he went and did homage to the King for the Lands he gave him and then wedded the Princess his Daughter but she lived only a short time with him and brought him no Children Thus this Province which the Romans called Lugdunensis Secunda was dismembred from the propriety of the Kings of France But not from their Soveraignty and according to the name of it's new Inhabitants took that of Normandy As this was granted to them because they knew not how to drive them out so for the same reason they were released of the Homage and dependance of Bretagne because they were indeed Masters of it and pillag'd it when ever they pleased And withal by this means it was reduced to the Soveraignty of the Crown by subjecting it under a Duke that held it of the King Year of our Lord 913 The year following Rollo failed not to demand Homage of the Bretons with his Sword in hand Duke Alain Rebre ' or the Great had been dead six years and left his Children very young Those that govern'd them rather then let them derogate from their Soveraignty carried them out of the Country with some of the greatest Nobility And since that we find no meution of them in History Count Porhouet named Mathued who had married a Daughter of Alain's the Grand went into England with his Wife Berenger Earl of Rennes and Alain de Dol having defended themselves the best they could were at last constrained to bow the Knee before the Normans and shake hands with them There were besides in divers other parts of France especially in Bretagne Anjou and the Country of Maine and the Islands in the River Loire numbers of these people but in time following the example of Rollo they took Habitations and Naturalized themselves French but not without first doing a vast deal of mischief and for a long while after the settlement of these drew in fresh swarms from Denmark and Sweden who were no less ravenous and cruel though not so formidable as the first Year of our Lord 913. and 14. All the Grandees of Germany were not satisfied with the Election of Conrard Arnold Duke of Bavaria Proud for having vanquished the Hungarians in his Dutchy rose up against him with design to make himself King and not being able to compass it pretended to stickle that Charles might have it Year of our Lord 915 That King had it ever in his thoughts to Sieze again upon the Kingdom of Lorrian Now meeting this fit juncture and the assistance of Reiner Count of Ardennâ— who was very potent in those Countries he enters into Lorrain and makes himself Master of part of that Kingdom whereof he made him Governor with the Quality of a Duke Year of our Lord 916 Duke Rollo had repudiated Pope Daughter of the Earl of Bayeux to marry the Daughter of Charles the Bald that Princess being dead he takes his former wife again by whom he had two Children William and Gerlote or Gerloc Henry Duke of Saxony rebels against Conrad gains a Battel over Everard his Year of our Lord 916 Lieutenant and gives chase to Conrad himself whilst on the other side the Hungarians over-run even to Alsace burning the City of Basle and can have no stop put to them but by Sums of Money which Conrad is forced to give them Year of our Lord 917 An. 917. Died Rollo first Duke of Normandy for ever renowned for that severe justice and exact policy he establisht within his Dominions Where the very mention of his name is able to this day to stop the Progress of Villians and bring those that are such before the judgment Seat Some put off his death to the year 924. his Son William afterwards surnamed Long-Sword Succeeded him And because he was but yet a Minor Robert Earl of Paris God-Father to his Father undertook his Tuition Year of our Lord 918 The following year hapned the Death of
Baldwin the Bald Earl of Flanders His Eldest Son Arnold the Fatt Inherited his Earldom Adolph the Second Son the Cities of Teroüenne Boulogne and Saint Omers but some few years after he died without Children Fulk le Roux Earl of Anjou Son of Ingelger quickly followed Baldwin Fulk the Good his Son Succeeded him Year of our Lord 918 Conrad King of Germany went off likewise the same year by a Wound he received in the Bavarian War Dying he commanded with a more then Royal generosity Everard his Brother to carry the Regal Ornaments to Henry Duke of Saxony though he had always made war against him Thus he returned the kindness that Otho his Father had shewed in giving him the Crown and laid down all thoughts of revenge to promote the happiness and safety of his Country which stood in need of a Prince able to defend it against the Incursions of the Hungarians This Henry was called the Bird-Catcher because he was found catching of Birds when they brought him the news of his Election Charles the Simple in France Henry the Bird Catcher in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Transjurane LOUIS in Provence Berenger in Italy Before Henry was well settled Charles falls into Lorrain conquer'd it all as far as Wormes and compel's him to become his Subject for the remainder of that Kingdom Year of our Lord 919 But the French Lords who apprehended that if Charles grew too potent and too peaceable he might take away their Estates which they intended to make Hereditary stirred up new troubles Amongst others in Lorraine Gisalbert and Otho Son of Duke Regnier the first of these had wedded a Daughter of King Henry's and in France Robert Brother of King Eudes who held Intelligence with the Son of Regnier Year of our Lord 920. 21. These Male-contents being joyned with divers others during the time the two Kings Henry and Charles were thrusting each other out of Lorraine did in the end make their Cabal so strong that all Charles's Subjects abandoned him as had done otherwhile those of Charles the Fatt The pretence for this general revolt was that he had a Favorite by name Aganon who disposed of every thing wasted the Royal Treasure and treated the Grandees of the Kingdom insolently Year of our Lord 921 However Herve Arch-Bishop of Rheims getting him into his house found a means to make up the Breach between him and his Subjects so that they restored his Crown to him but not his Authority Year of our Lord 922 For a new broil being started up because Charles refused the Abbey of Chesles to Hugh called the Blanc Son of Robert who pretended to it for that his Aunt and Mother in Law had enjoy'd it to bestow it upon Aganon his Favourite the troubles not only began again but which was worse Robert at the Instigation of Gisalbert having gained a great Party amongst the French Lords got to be Elected and Crowned King at Rheims by the Arch-Bishop Herve the 20 th of June in the year 922. Charles the Simple in France Robert his rival Henry the Bird-Catcher in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Transjurane LOVIS in Provence Berenger Emperor in Italy Year of our Lord 922 Upon this news Charles raises his Siege from before the Castle of Capremont where he held Gisalbert one of his greatest Enemies cooped up This Gisalbert had once before been stripp'd of all his Estate by this King and being restored again by Henry his Father in Law had revolted this second time Then Charles who had had the advantage over Henry changed condition and became a supplicant to him Both he and his rival strove to get him first and by that means confirmed him in the possession of the Kingdom of Lorraine However these two competitors had each of them still some share Charles having raised considerable Forces in that part which he held came resolutely to find out Robert encamped with his men near Soissons on this side of the River Aisne and having passed over unawares charged him furiously whilst his men were feeding and refreshing themselves Robert fighting at the head of his Army was slain with the stroke of a Lance which honourable deed some Authors bestow upon Charles Nevertheless Hugh his Son Earl Hebert of Vermandois and the others Chief Officers of his Party not only made head against Charles but gained so upon him that they had utterly defeated him had they but followed their pursuit This combat hapned the 15 th of June so that Robert Reigned not one whole year He had married Beatrix daughter of Hebert II. Earl of Vermandois by whom he had a Son Hugh whom they surnamed the Blanc the Grand and the Abbot and one Daughter Emma wedded to Rodolph Duke of Burgundy Son of Duke Richard who died the year preceding Year of our Lord 923 The string or knot of Roberts Party was not broken thorough the loss of their Head but held the firmer united because their danger appeared the greater Therefore the Lords by the persuasions of Hugh his Son who found himself not potent enough to be a King but to make one Elected Rodolph Duke of Burgundy his Brother in Law a Noble-man of a brave presence and a much better judgment and Crowned him at Saint Medard in Soissons the 13 th Day of July The French Historians place this Rodolph and Eudes before mentioned in the rank of their Kings and yet they do not put in Robert Brother of Eudes for which there can be no reason assigned but the shortness of his Reign RODOLPH King XXXI Charles Rodolph the Simple his rival in West-France Henry the Bird-catcher in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Trans-jurane LOVIS in Provence Berenger Emperor AFter the Election of Rodolph all the world forsook Charles the Norman assistance which should have come to him not being able to pass because his enemies lay betwixt them rendred him more odious Having therefore no other refuge he wrote in a doleful manner to Henry King of Germany and gave him up Lorrain upon condition he would help him against these Rebels The reward was great and the Act of restoring a King very glorious Henry did therefore promise he would undertake it with all the power of Germany Robert's Party was greatly astonished at this News they did not know how to ward so dangerous a blow Hebert Earl of Vermandois draws them out of this difficulty King Charles believed he had quite taken him off from their interest But this Traytor whose Sister Robert had married having decoyed his King into the Castle of Peronne whither he was so simple as to let them lead him detained him Prisoner and confined him to Chasteau-Thierry where he was strongly guarded Queen Ogina having heard of this detention of her Husband fled to England her own Country and carried with her the only Son she had by him named Louis to wait a better opportunity out of the reach of those who could no way secure their Royalty but by
fit we observe that at the Coronations of Kings they forgot not their own Interests nor failed to make them promise solemnly to maintain the Rights of the Church But we do not find them always so careful and zealous for the good of the People and the Prerogative of the Nobility Of those that appeared with most Splendor some were such as were noted for Intrigues and Factions and of them were a great number Ebbon of Reims Agobard of Lyons and Bernard de Vienne active in the degrading of Louis the Debonnaire Ebroin of Poictiers for disposing Aquitain to surrender themselves into the hands of that Emperor who would bestow it upon Charles his beloved Son Thietgaud de Colen and Gontier de Ments touching the marriage of Valdrade And Hincmar of Reims for his resisting the Pope and intermedling with all affairs both of Church and State wherein he acted with as much heat as judgment during the Reign of Charles the Bald. The others were illustrious for their Learning as the same Agobard Theodulfe and Jonas his Successor Rabanus Maurus of St. Bennets Order and Arch-Bishop of Mentz Hincmar of Reims who had been Abbot of St. Denis and the other Hincmar his Nephew Remy de Lyons Adon de Vienne Hilduin Abbot of St. Denis Loup Abbot of Ferrieres in Gastinois Henry Monk of St. Germain d'Auxerre Valafride Strabon Abbot of Richenoue Florus Master of the Church of Lyons that is a Divine and John Scot or Scotus surnamed Erigena This last was a great Philosopher and for the Beauty and Delicacy of his wit highly cherished by Charles the Bald even to the lying in his Chamber But in Theology he passed for one of a raving Brain whose sentiments were not right and sound As for Hincmar de Reims we have his works whereof every one may judge The other Hincmar his nephew very zealons for the Popes authority collected their Decretal Letters and was the first that durst put down the names of some Ancient Popes who till that time had none but which Isâ—dore Mercator had already gathered together Other Canonists followed his error till at length the more judicious found they were but fictitious Adon de Vienne composed a Matyrology which is yet in being Hilduin wrote the life of St. Denis the Areopagite by command of Louis the Debonnaire from the Memoires of Methodius Patriarch of Constantinople who to flatter the French endeavour'd to have two things believed which the Criticks pretend to condemn of false-hood The one that this Saint Denis had been Bishop of Paris the other that those Writings which go under his name were his own We have the Epistles of Loup de Ferrieres which give a great light in the affairs of those times And the Monk Henry wrote the Life of Saint Germain de Auxerre in more Elegant Verse then the roughness of that Age could promise I shall observe en passant that Latin Poetry began to rouze its self under Charles the Bald and amongst other Poets that flatter'd him there was one that made a Piece containing three hundred Hexameters in praise of the Bald where every word began with the Letter C. Some for their good lives deserved to be placed in the Catalogue of Saints as Anscher taken out of the Order of St. Bennet by Louis the Debonnaire to be the first Arch-Bishop of Hamburgh Established by that Emperor and to Preach to the Danes and Swedes the same Rabanus whom we have mentioned Two Audrâ—'s one of Sens the other of Mans Ayos de Bourges Prudence de Troyes Hildeman de Beauvais Foulquin and Hunfroy de Teroüanne Amant de Rodez and Bernard de Vienne This last had Adon above-named for Successor both in his Sanctity and his See But he had very few in that good Christian Maxim so often in his Mouth and ever in his Soul That the Riches and Goods of the Church are the Patrimony of the Poor and that a Clergy-man hath no right to them but for his necessities Nor did he keep any more Domestique Servants but one Priest and one Lay-man Proclaiming to all Prelats by this noble example That he who is great in himself hath no need of other Equipage or Train of Servants to make him appear so LOUIS IV. Surnamed TRANSMARINE King XXXII Aged XIX or XX Years POPES LEO VII in 936. S. 3 years 6 Months STEPHEN IX Elect. in 939. S. 3 years 4 Months MARTIN II. Elect. 943. S. 3 years 6 Months and one half AGAPET II. Elect. 946. S. 9 years 7 Months Louis IV. surnam'd Transmarine in France Otho I. in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Transjurane HUGH and Lotaire his Son in Italy Year of our Lord 936 OF all the French Lords Hugh le Blanc Earl of Paris and Orleans Duke of France and Brother in Law to the late King had the greatest Authority in the Kingdom He durst not however take the Crown because Hebert Earl of Vermandois and Giselbert Duke of Lorraine two very potent Enemies would have broke his Measures He found it therefore more safe to make a King of the Blood of Charlemaine who should be wholy obliged to him for his Crown To this purpose he dispatched a Famous Deputation of Prelats and Lords whereof William Arch-Bishop of Sens was the Chief into England to beseech Ogina the Widdow of Charles the Simple to bring back her Son Louis whom the French desired to own for their King She granted their request but not without great opposition of King Aldestan her Brother He apprehended his Nephew might be destroy'd by some treachery as his Father had been and therefore would not be satisfied with only their Oaths but took Hostages besides Hugh and the other Lords came to receive their King at his Landing at Bullogne tender'd their Hommage on the Strand and thence conducted him to Laon where he was Anointed by Arnold Arch-Bishop of Reims the 20 th day of June Year of our Lord 936 Immediately after his Coronation Hugh who still retained the Administration of the Kingdom carried him into the Dutchy of Burgundy for his own ends for there were some pretences but how grounded we do not well know And Hugh le Noir appropriated it to himself as Heir of the Deceased Rodolph his Brother who had it from Richard his Father on whom Boson had bestowed it when he was made King of Burgundy Le Noir or the Black had therefore Seized on the City of Langres after the Decease of King Rodolph but the new King and Hugh thrust him cut again without striking one blow and engaged him to yeild up one half of the Dutchy to Hugh le Blanc or the White An. 937. King Rodolph died having Reigned 25 years in Burgundy Transjurane and only five in the Kingdom of Arles He left three Children Conrade who Succeeded him but whom Otho Seized upon and detained fourteen years Burchard Bishop of Lausanne and Adeleis a most Illustrious Princess who by her first marriage was Wife to Lotaire King of
which Hugh and Hebert submitted to their King Year of our Lord 942 There was a mortal hatred betwixt William Duke of Normandy and Arnold Earl of Flanders because this Last would constrain Herluin Earl of Monstreuil to become his Vassal and had taken his Castle whilst William on the contrary had espoused Herluin's quarrel and powerfully assisted him Arnold not being able to have his will of Herluin betook himself to base and treacherous means to compass it For having upon pretence of reconciliation procured an enter-view with William in an Island on the Somme right against Pequigny he caused him unhappily to be assassinated the 18 th of December An. 942. That good and vertuous Prince had just designed before he was murthered to take upon him the Habit of St. Bennet in the Monastery of Jumieges which he had begun to rebuild He left but one Son named Richard Born of Sporta his wife who was Daughter of Hebert Count of Senlis he Succeeded him in his Dukedom A great part of the Normans were yet Idolaters and there came every day new flocks of them from the North who encouraged them in their Superstitions After the Death of William they rebelled against his Son and would force him to Year of our Lord 943 renounce his Baptism Hugh the Grand allied to his Father assisted him against those impious revolters beat them in several rencounters and help'd him to destroy their Leaders their names were Setric and Rodard The King knowing that while the Normans were divided their little Duke Richard might easily be stript and that it would be a Noble act to recover so great and good a Country went to Rouen about Autumn and Siezed upon Richard's person under pretence of breeding him in his own Court The Burgher's at first took the Alarm and stood in his defence so that he was fain to shew him to the people and confirm the Dutchy to him but their first heat being spent he so managed the business that persuading them he would have a great care of his Education they suffer'd him to be carry'd away to Laon. When he had gotten him absolutely in his power Arnold Earl of Flanders whose interest it was to exterminate all the Normans by his Presents and Counsel easily inclined him to the resolution of incapacitating him for ever and resuming Year of our Lord 943 the Dukedom Before they came to the Execution of this Richard's wise Governor by name Osmond craftily drew him out of the Danger He stole him out of Court trussed up in a Faggot of Herbs and conveyed him into Senlis That City one of the strongest in those days was then held by Count Bernard Uncle to Richard by his Mother who kept that Pupil and would not surrender him either to the King nor to the Normans till he could see a little more clearly what was like to be the event of that War then threatned Year of our Lord 943 During these stirrs Hebert of Vermandois died at Peronne tormented with the gnawing remorse of his treacheries crying perpetually in his Agonies We were twelve of us that betrayed King Charles He had three Sons Hebert and Robert who shared his Lands and Hugues or Hugh pretended Arch-Bishop of Reims King Lewis who had that fault that he could not dissemble adventures rashly Year of our Lord 944 too early to ruine them His precipitate revenge drew great troubles upon him the other Grandees apprehending the like usage joyned all to defend them Even Hugh agreed with the Normans and King Otho made one and openly declared against Louis who for that reason reconciled himself to Hugh At first this Duke had embraced the cause of little Richard but the King promising he should share the Dutchy of Normandy with him and likewise have the Territory's belonging to the Bishopricks of Evreux Lysieux and Bayeux he not only abandoned the Pupil but also joyned with the King to ruine him They entred the Country therefore at the same time the King by the way of Rouen and Hugh towards Evreux Bernard Count of Senlis who had saved his Nephew did likewise preserve his Country by his wonderful Sagacity He advised the Normans to pretend a submission to the King to avoid the desolations of a War and afterwards easily persuaded him to reserve all that rich Province to himself and take away from Hugh those places which he had conquer'd so that by this Method he caused a new rupture between those Princes Year of our Lord 944 He afterwards omitted not to make those advantages he had designed for he engaged the discontented Hugh to undertake once more the protection of Richard and to promise him his Daughter Emine who was not however married till Sixteen years after And more-over this little Prince being still dispossessed he so craftily contrived his affairs that he restored him And thus it was There was a Chieftaine or Norman King named Aigrold who being come some years before from Denmark had taken his Habitation in Constentin This Prince having consulted with Bernard revolts against Lewis and sends to summon him to set the little Richard at Liberty Upon this news Bernard counterfeiting great zeal assures the King that all Normandy was united for his service and by these plausible pretences obliges the King to go thither in person to suppress that Pâ—rat His Army and Aigrold's being near each other Aigrold seems to be afraid and demands a Confâ—rence the King agrees to it and to that end goes to the Village of Crescenville in the mid-way between Caen and Lisieux The train was so well laid that the Norman finding himself the stronger cuts off all that came with him Seizes upon his person and sends him Prisoner to Rouen Year of our Lord 944 In this rencounter Herluin Earl of Monstreuil the principal subject of the quarrel between the deceased William and Arnold was slain by Aigrold in revenge for that although he had always been protected by William nevertheless he had ingratefully sided with Arnold to oppress Normandy and it's little Duke Year of our Lord 945 In vain did Queen Gerberge implore the assistance of King Otho her Brother for the deliverance of her Husband He refused to apply any other means but only his mediation By vertue of a plenarie power Signed by the Bishops at his desire and by all the French Lords he decreed with them at a Conference held at St. Clair sur Epte That Louis should restore Richard to his Dutchy and receive hommage and from that time he should be set at Liberty and give his second Son and two Bishops for security But Louis getting out of the hands of the Normans remained still under the power of Hugh who upon I know not what pretences detained him at least a year under the guard of Thibault Earl of Blois his Cousin German and would not let him go till he had gotten the City of Laon of him In the mean time King Otho who had conquer'd the County of Burgundy whether he
King Lewis Aged above 45 years went Year of our Lord 951 from Loan where her Son kept her as a Prisoner and married Hebert of Vermandois Count de Troyes Son of that Traytor Hebert who made her Husband die in Prison She thus satisfied her revenge to the prejudice of her honour or perhaps made that only a cover for her incontinence LOUIS Transmarine in France Otho in Germany Lorrain Conrad in Burgundy Arles Berenger II. and Adelbert his Son in Italy Year of our Lord 950 Adeleida the Widdow of Lotaire was Beautiful and Charming she had the City of Pavia in Dowre and besides great riches and possessions much credit and many Friends as well in that Country as on this side the Mountains being the Daughter of Rodolph II. and Sister to Conrad Kings of Burgundy For these reasons Berenger sought to gain her for his Son but she couragiously rejected the proposition Upon her obstinate refusal he besieges her in Pavia took her and sent her Prisoner to the strong Castle of Garda whence the Lake hath borrowed its name She notwithstanding made her escape by the help of a Priest reduced after she was got out to live upon such Alms as the Priest begg'd for her Then retired to the Marquiss Athon her Kinsman who undertook to protect her in his Fortress of Canossa Year of our Lord 950 Presently Berenger besieges it with all his Forces The second year of the siege and the end of their provisions drew near when that Queen sent to implore the aid of King Otho and to offer him with her self the Kingdom of Italy The Love of Honour more then Love to that Lady drew this Prince thither He Year of our Lord 951 delivered her Married her because he could not otherwise enjoy her and carried her into Germany leaving his Army with Conrad Duke of Lorrain to finish that War Year of our Lord 952 This Conrad prosecuted the War so briskly against Berenger and his Son that both of them laying down their Arms came to a Conference with him and thorough his persuasions went both of them into Germany to King Otho who having treated them magnificently and taken their Oaths and made them do hommage restored to them all that Kingdom excepting only Veronnois and Friuli which he bestow'd upon his Brother Henry Duke of Bavaria The contest about the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims and some other particular Lordships had brought King Lewis and Hugh le Blanc again to Daggers-drawing But Hugh in fine whatever motive prompted him desired to confer with Queen Gerberge his wives Sister who came to meet him And afterwards treating with the King personally in Soissons he made Peace about the end of March in this year 953. Year of our Lord 953 This re-union perhaps pleased King Otho but little but he found himself not in a condition to disturb it He was too much troubled with the Civil-War made against him by his own Son Luitolf incited by Conrad Duke of Lorrain who made him jealous of a Son as yet in the Cradle which his Father had by Adeleida his second wife Otho thrust Conrad out of his Dutchy and at length brought his Son to his duty not without much hazard fighting and labour Year of our Lord 954 But Conrad obstinately rebellious turned every stone to be revenged He made a League with Berenger King of Italy as ingrateful as perfidious against Otho and drew the Hungarians in twice first into Lorrain An. 954. whence they over-run even to Champagne and Burgundy and having done a world of mischief were beaten back into Italy the second into Bavaria where a most dreadful multitude got in Year of our Lord 955 together Yet Otho fought them and cut them all off after Conrad had been killed in the scuffle This was in Anno 595. Year of our Lord 954 During these troubles in the year 954. King Lewis died by a strange accident As he was going from Laon to Reims spurring to ride after a Wolfe which he met in his way his Horse stumbled and threw him so rudely on the ground that he was bruised all over These bruises turned into a kind of Leprosy which caused his death the 15 th of October in the City of Reims whither he would be carried and where he lies buried in the Church of St. Remy His Reignwas 18 years three Months and his Age 38 or 39 years Of five Sons which he had by Gerberge there were but two remaining Lotaire and Charles whereof Lotaire the eldest was about 14 or 15 years old and Charles but 15 or 16 Months The small Age of this last the poverty of the Kings who had scarce any other Towns in propriety but Reims and Laon and perhaps the interest of Hugh le Blanc were the reasons why he did not share the Kingdom with his elder as had been ever almost the Custom in the first and second Race or Line Since this time it was never equally divided amongst the Brothers the eldest alone hath had the Title of King and the cadets or younger have only had some Lands in appennage and under an entire Subjection And even of these the Kingly power being increased hath taken the Reversion for want of Heirs-males which hath not a little contributed to restore the Grandeur of the Monarchy LOTAIRE King XXXIII POPES AGAPET II. above a year in this Reign JOHN XII who was the first that changed his name introduced An. 955. S. 9 years within some Months is deposed BENEDICT V. put in by the Romans An. 964. S. some Months JOHN XIII nominated by the Empp. Otho in 964. S. almost 7 years DOMNUS Elect in 972. S. 3 Months BENEDICT VI. in 972. S. one year 3 Months BENEDICTUS VII in 974. S. 9 years and some Months JOHN XIV Elect. in July 849. S. one year one Month. Lotaire in France Otho in Germany Lorrain Conrad in Burgundy Arles Berenger and Adelbert his Son in Italy THE greatest part of the power being in the hands of Hugh he might have taken the Crown had he not feared the Forces of King Otho maternal Uncle to the Sons of the deceased King and the jealousy of the other French Lords For these reasons Queen Gerberge his wives Sister being come to him to take his Counsel he chose rather to preserve his Authority by protecting a Widdow and a Minor then by oppressing them Having therefore carried Lotaire to Reims he caused him to be Crowned the 12 th of November by the Arch-Bishop Artold Upon this occasion the young King gave the Dukedoms of Burgundy and Aquitain to Hugh le Blanc and to Hugh Capet his eldest Son who being satisfied and the Duke of Normandy likewise for their sakes it was not difficult to calm the other Lords who were less considerable These Dukes in my opinion were of two sorts in those times the one held the Cities and Lands and were become Hereditary the other were general commands over a whole Kingdom as well
for the Militia as to do Justice which the Kings could bestow or take away So there was a Duke for Lorrain which was Bruno Arch-Bishop of Colen King Otho's Brother One for France one for Aquitain and one for Burgundy and Hugh was such in all those three Kingdoms by consequence he was as the Kings Lieutenant General and in that quality might be set aside if his great alliance and the Cities in his possession had not rendred him indestituable Year of our Lord 953 France was quiet enough three years together only Hugh An. 955 led the King into Poitou to make William Earl of that Country and Duke of Aquitain become obedient and laid Siege to Poitiers Scarcity of provisions and the terror of a Thunder-clap which tore his Tent in two forced him to raise it and yet the Count presuming to pursue the French upon their retreat they turned head and put him to the rout with great slaughter of his Nobility The following year Hugh who without a Scepter had Reigned more then 20 years being the Son of a King Father of a King Uncle to a King and Brother in Law to three Kings died in his City of Paris full of years glory and riches He was surnamed the White * from his skin the Great from his power or perhaps his bulk and the Abbot because he held the Abbeys of St. Denis St. Germain des Prez and St. Martin's of Tours At his death he intreated Richard Duke of Normandy his Son in Law to be the Protector of his Children and Vassals He had three wives Rotilda Sister of Lewis the Stammerer Ethild Daughter of Edward King of England whose two Sisters were married to Charles the Simple and Otho and Avida or Avoye Sister of the same Otho and Queen Gerberge There came no Children by the first two but by the third he had Hugues or Hugh surnamed Capet who was Earl of Paris and Orleance then also Duke of France Otho who was Duke of Burgundy after the Death of Gilbert his Father in Law Eudes or Odon who succeeded him and Henry who likewise enjoyed it after them Year of our Lord 956. 57. and 58. These four Sons not being yet in a capacity to make any noise the eldest not above 16 years of Age Gerberge governed peaceably enough excepting some petty quarrels about the Castles belonging to the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims and some private contests The worst of it was that it seemed most of the affairs were managed according to the pleasure and will of King Otho and Bruno his Brother Arch-Bishop of Colen and Duke or Governor of Lorrain so that they became as it were the Moderators and Arbitrators of France Year of our Lord 959 The Queen being at difference with the Children of Hugh and the Widdow Avoye her Sister for some Castles which King Lotaire had taken from them in Burgundy Bruno came into France and brought them to an agreement in a Parliament held at Compiegne After which the Queen and her Son Lataire went to keep Easter at Colen with Bruno who entertained them splendidly and sent them back furnished with very brave Presents A while after being called to their assistance against Robert Earl of Troyes and Count of Chaalons by his wife who had surprized Dijon he returned into France with his Lorrainers and regained that place At the same time he sent some Saxon Forces to Troyes to restore the Bishop whom that Robert had thrust out thence But Renard Earl of Sens and Rimbauld Arch-Bishop of the same City friends to Robert gave them Battel and defeated them The same year died Alain surnamed Barbe-torte Duke of Bretagne and Son of Earl Matueda who left two Bastards Hoel and Guerec and one Legitimate Child named Drogon then in his Cradle whom he declared Heir Thibauld Earl of Chartres Grand-Father by the Mother to this Child had the Tuition and the Mother the care of his person Now marrying again with Fulk Earl of Anjou this Year of our Lord 959 wicked woman unhappily killed him by causing scalding water to be thrown down upon the Infants head The Succession begot a bloody debate in Bretagne which lasted 34 years The two Bastards of Alain disputed it with one Conan who was descended by a Daughter from King Salomon he made them both perish Hoel by the hands of a Souldier who assassinated him and Guerec by a poysoned Lancet wherewith a Chyrurgeon let him Blood But himself perished at length in a Battel he lost An. 992. against Fulk Earl of Anjou a Capital Enemy of the Bretons Geofrey the eldest of the four Sons he left succeeded him The Children of the Defunct Hugh the White thorough the persuasion of Arch-Bishop Bruno tendred hommage for their Lands to King Lotaire who in retribution declared the Eldest Duke of France as his Father had been and bestowed Poitou upon him you must understand if he could conquer it for it was possessed by another very potent Earl This is a conjecture that the Kings had not yet given entirely away their power of bestowing Dutchy's and Earldoms and that if they were Hereditary it was only by Usurpation not as yet by Concession All the new Principalities and Seigniories or Lordships which were started up in the Kingdom did not trouble the King so much as that of the Normans who being strangers and the Issue of those Fathers that had plagued and plundred France 80 years together should yet enjoy so rich a Province Wherefore Bruno who governed the affairs of the Kingdom being excited by the persuasions of Arnold Earl of Flanders Baldwin his Son Thibauld Earl of Chartres and Geofrey Earl of Anjou combined to ruine Duke Richard For this purpose he sent for him to come to the Royal Parliament or General Assembly of Estates at Amiens putting him in hopes if he came thither they would give him the Administration of the Kingdom But it was with design to Sieze and send him Prisoner into Germany Richard who was on his journey being informed of this Combination by two unknown Cavaliers returned whence he came and stood more upon his Guard Year of our Lord 959 He avoided likewise another Snare the King had laid for him near the River of Epte to which place sending for him to come and do him hommage he meant to lay hold on him The Duke had already passed the Epte when the Scouts he had sent forth to discover what the King was doing brought him word that all his Enemies were about the King and were making ready to set upon him By this he understood the meaning of the French and withdrew in time Year of our Lord 957 Since Berenger and Adelbert had been restored to the Kingdom of Italy by Otho they never ceased to conspire against him and withal cruelly vexing their Subjects so that he had sent his Son Luitolf to chastise them This young Prince had almost hunted them quite out of the Kingdom when he was surprised by Death An.
into his hands having obtained it by intelligence Richard followed him close at the heels and getting into the Country almost as soon as himself made terrible havock The Earl of Chartres had his revenge the very same year carrying Fire and Sword to the very Gates of Rouen but was rudely repulsed and lost his Son in the Retreat Year of our Lord 965 Arnold surnamed the Old the Fair and the Great Earl of Flanders died in the year 965. The Son of Baldwin his Son named Arnold the Young Succeeded him under the Guardianship of Matilda of Saxony his Mother This was that Arnold who being come to Age began to Fortify the Port of Petressa or Scalas which then belonged to the Abbey of St. Berthin It is now named Calais Neighbour to Portus Iccius in these days as it is believed called Blanc Nez and very Famous in the Romans times who from thence passed over into Great Britain He thought to make good use of it against the Normand Pyrats and because he could not always be on those Coasts he gave the County of Guisnes to Adolph Son of Siffroy who had married the Daughter of Hernieulle Earl of Boulogne King Lotaire having heard of the Death of Arnold the Old went immediately into the Country to receive Hommage of the Lords and took Arras and Doway As on the other side William Earl of Pontieu took from that Minor Boulogne and Terouenne and two of his Sons were Earls each of one of those Cities Year of our Lord 966 The same year Arch-Bishop Bruno being come into France to determine some difference between his Sister Gerberge and King Lotaire with the Children and Widdow of Hugh was Siezed with a Feaver at Compiegne which he carried to Reims with him and there Died. Some Authors give him the Title of Arch-Duke of Lorraine because he commanded all the Dukes and Earls of that Kingdom And this is the first time that I find that Title in any Authors There was before this time a Marquiss and Duke of the higher or Mosellanick Lorrain which was Gerard from whom it is held the Lorrain Princes of our days are descended Some Genealogists derive it from Erchinoald Mayre of the Palace and from the same stock they make the Austrian Habspurgh-House to spring with that of Zeringhen from whence is issued the Princes of Baden The King marry's Emme or Emina Daughter of that Lotaire King of Italy Poysoned by Berenger II. and the Queen Adeleida whom the Emperor Otho made his Year of our Lord 966 Second Wife which strengthned the good correspondence between the two Monarchs of France and Germany There hapned nothing very observable during these two years unless it were that in An. 967. King Lotaire gave his Sister Matilda in marriage to Conrad King Year of our Lord 967. and 68. of Burgundy and for her Dowre bestowed the City and County of Lyons The Earl Thibauld supported by the King went and encamped before Rouen from whence he could not be forced but by the help of the Infidel Normans which the King of Denmark of Kin to Richard sent thither who having made him retreat ran Year of our Lord 969 to the very Gates of Paris The ignorance of those times was extream which is the reason that for want of Historians we scarcely find any thing and must sometimes slip over whole years without mention of any occurrences In the year 973. Died the Emperor Otho very justly surnamed the Great founder of the Germain Empire Subduer of the Hungarians and Sclavonians and who found out the Method to Quell the Italians Pride and Chain up their persidious mutability LOTAIRE in France OTHO II. Emperor of Italy and Germany Aged 21 or 22 years CONRAD in Burgundy The Reign of his Son Otho II. was neither so steady nor so happy as his own Giselbert the Husband of Gerberge afterwards Queen had a Brother named Regnier Long-neck Earl of Mons in Haynault and Valenciennes who having been taken in that City by Arch-Bishop Bruno had been confined to the Country of the Venedes and some time after two Counts named Garnier and Raginald or Renold who were in my opinion of his Kindred were invested in his Lands But his Sons Regnier II. Year of our Lord 973 and Lambert after the Death of Otho Armed themselves with the Aid of the French to be restored This begot a Bloody and most obstinate War The two Brothers defeated and slew in a Battel fought at a Village of Peronne near Binns the Counts Garnier and Renold But Otho II. immediately substituted Renauld and Godfrey two Lorrain Lords whom he invested with the Earldoms of Hainault and Valenciennes Now Year of our Lord 975 after various events the two Brothers assisted by Charles Brother to King Lotaire and Hugh Capet whose Daughters they afterwards Married got possession again of those Counties But it was at soonest not till An. 983. Year of our Lord 977 The Emperor was highly displeased that these two Sons of a Rebel should possess such large and great Feoss in his Kingdom of Lorrain in despite of him however he dissembled it having other affairs which would not allow him time to break with King Lotaire Year of our Lord 977 Which is more whether out of design to oblige him or rather to put a Barr in his way he Created Charles his Brother Duke of Lorrain a young Prince about the Age of 23 or 24 years The French had not forgot the remembrance of their Ancient right to Lorrain And the King as Son of Gerberge who of her own held very many great possessions in Capite expected that Otho his Cousin German would restore some part to him especially seeing he had given such sweet Morsels to the Bishops of Liege and Colen But not doing so Lotaire undertakes to compel him He gets unexpectedly into the Country with an Army takes the Oaths of the Lorrainers in the City of Mets and from thence marches directly to Aix-la-Chapelle Otho was diverting himself there very securely with his Family it wanted not above half an hours time to have surprised him He could do no other but only just get on Horseback and fly for his safety leaving his Dinner at the Table and all his precious Year of our Lord 978 Houshold Furniture in the Palace which Lotaire plunder'd and then scowred thorough all the whole Country In revenge of this Exploit the very same year Otho made a great irruption in France with Three-score Thousand men sacked all Champagne and that which is called the Isle of France even to Paris sending word to Hugh Capet who being Count of that City had put himself in there that he would have an Alleluya sung upon Montmartre by so many Clerks it should be heard at Nostre-Dame Those Rodomontado's were not justified by the effects His Nephew going in a Bravado to plant his Lance in one of the Gates of Paris was slain by Gefrey Grisegonnelle Earl of Anjou Winter
Lotaire I. Emperor another in Germany by Lewis his Brother named the Germanick and a third in West-France by Charles the Bald. All three ended their Reigns with a Louis that of Italy by Louis II. great Grand-Son of Lotaire that of Germany by Louis Son of Arnold and that of France by this Lewis the Faineant The Princes of this Race at their Coronation received the Sacred Unction They were almost ever on Horse-back and in the Field and had their wives with Year of our Lord 987 them Charles Martel and Pepin when they were at rest and peace held their residence at Paris and thereabout Charlemain at Aix-la-Chapelle the Debonnaire in the same place or at Thionville Charles the Bald at Soissons and at Compiegne Eudes at Paris Charles the Simple at Reims Lewis Transmarine at Laon. If we consider the causes of the ruine of this Race or Line we shall meet with five or six principal ones 1. The division of the main Body of the Estate into divers Kingdoms which was necessarily followed by Discords and Civil-Warrs between the Brothers 2. The irregular Love the Debonnaire had for his too dear Son Charles the Bald. 3. The imbecillity of most part of these Princes there not having been amongst all of them above five or six who were furnished with Sence and Courage together 4. The ravages and inroads of the Normans who ransacked France for Four-score years together and favoured the attempts of the great Lords 5. The multitude of Bastard Children which Charlemaine had who plaid the Soveraigns in those Countries allotted them for their subsistance 6. And if we will believe the Clergy the Curse of God which fell upon those Princes because they gave the Churches goods to their Lay-officers and their Soldiers of Fortune 7. One may add that this Tree bearing no more good Fruit God would pluck it up to plant another in its place infinitely more fair and more fertile whose duration shall be extended to the end of time and it's renown and glory to the ends of all the Earth End of the Second Race or Line THE THIRD RACE OR LINE Of the KINGS of FRANCE Called the Capetine Race or of the Capets First Part. Hugh Capet King XXXV POPES JOHN XV. S. Eight years and an half during this Reign GREGORY V. Elected in June 996. S. Two years eight months whereof some months under this Reign HUGH CAPET Aged Forty four or Forty five years Year of our Lord 987 THere was none of the Carolovinian Race remaining but Charles Duke of Lorrain This Prince was absent of little Merit and very ill in the minds of the French Hugh Capet on the contrary was in the heart of the Kingdom Powerful and Esteemed He held the Dutchy of Burgundy by Henry his Brother that of Normandy by Duke Richard his Nephew and that of France with the Counties of Paris and Orleance in his own hands Besides he had a Party made so that having Assembled the Lords in the City of Noyon he prevailed to be Elected and Proclaimed King about the end of the month of May. From thence he went to Reims to receive the Unction and the Crown from the hands of the Archbishop Adalberon who invested him the Third of July Not one of all those that were present at Noyon and at that Ceremony claiming for Charles but on the contrary all giving their Oaths in Writing as well as by Word of Mouth to his Enemy One might say that this poor Prince had destituted or deprived himself by rendring himself a Stranger and that this Estate could not suffer or admit a Head that was Vassal to another King Hugh might also make use of the Testament which King Lewis made in his favour but his best Right and Title was the general consent of the French People Year of our Lord 987 c. After his being first Crowned he never put the Crown more upon his Head during his whole life time because it having been predicted to him by Divine Revelation That his Race should hold the Kingdom for seven Generations he thought to prolong that Honour one Degree more by not wearing himself the Regal Ornaments that so he might not be reckoned one of the seven He did not know the number seven in Sacred Language signifies an extent to all Ages You must observe that from about the time of Charles the Simple under the name of the Kingdom of France were comprehended that of Neustria that of Aquitain and that of Burgundy at least that part of it which lies on this side the Saon and therefore when those Kings would be Crowned they were fain to call together the Lords of all these three For this reason perhaps it was that the first Capetine Kings having joyned them all under one Title took likewise upon them the Quality of Emperors unless we should say they did so not to seem inferior to the German Kings but either by some Treaty or upon some other Condition to us unknown they quitted it and contented themselves with that of King Year of our Lord 987 The same year Geofrey called Grise-Gonelle Earl of Anjou ended his days His Son Fulk surnamed Nerra was his Successor Hugh Capet six months after his Coronation desiring to have an Assistant obtained in an Assembly of French Lords which was held at Orleance that his Son named Robert should be Associated in the Throne with him He was Crowned in the same Year of our Lord 988 City the first day of January in the year 988. HUGH CAPET and ROBERT his Son Aged about Sixteen years IT is to be presumed that Prince Charles did not omit to present himself to have or demand the Crown but being come too late he was rejected by the French so that he betook himself to Arms to resume his pretended Right Amongst all the Lords of the Kingdom there were only Arnold Earl of Flanders and Hebert Earl of Champagne his Wives Father that assisted him but the first died this year having been ill handled by Capet and Hebert durst not proceed to act any farther for his Son-in-Law but under-hand Mean time the young King Robert Married Lutgarde the Widow of the Earl of Year of our Lord 988 Flanders though she were already very aged and he not yet above Seventeen years old Duke Charles had a Bastard Brother named Arnold who was a Clerk in the Church of Loan by his means he seized upon that City and upon the Archbishop Ancelin-Auberon This Ancelin was a very subtil Man but without Faith who to regain his liberty pretended to be come wholly his Friend and wrought so upon his Mind that he made him the first of his Council Year of our Lord 988 The new King knowing that Charles was in Laon came presently to besiege him reâ—olved to take it by Famine In the length of the Siege his Men not standing carefully upon their Guard Charles made a stout Sally put them to the rout burnt their Lodgments and forced
be in their own power He therefore took this Business mightily to heart and dispatched the Abbot Leon to France with an order to the Prelates to Assemble in Council about that Affair and to Seguin Archbishop of Sens to Represent his Person amongst them Year of our Lord 994 Hugh complained opposed it and held good some time against this Enterprize But a new born Royalty could not but comply and yield at last to those Orders for fear of being quickly tumbled down again The Council which was held at Reims deposed Gerbert and restored Arnold to his See after three years imprisonment Gerbert withdrew himself to his Disciple King Otho who bestowed upon him the Archbishoprick of Ranonna from whence some years after he was raised to the Holy Chair Year of our Lord 994 In the year 994. the unhappy Charles died in Prison at Orleance It is not said what became of his Wife but he two Sons Otho and Lewis and two Daughters Gerberge and Hermengarde All these Children went to the Emperor Otho III. The eldest enjoyed the Dutchy of the lower Lorrain some years and died without Heirs The other is not mentioned Hereafter we shall take notice to whom his Daughters were Married Year of our Lord 994 and the following King Hugh as well as Pepin and all such Princes as set up by a new Title amongst People that are not perfectly Barbarians was truly Religious Devout and a lover of the Church and Church-men gave up all the Abbies he held and surrendred the Right of Election to the Clergy and Monks By his Example those Lords that possessed Church-Lands as their own Patrimony not only restored them but for Restitution of their unjust Enjoyment and Detention founded divers Monasteries which they peopled with reformed Monks who certainly were much less good and more interested then the former had been Year of our Lord 996 He ended his Life Anno 996. the 29th of August or according to others the 22th of November aged about Fifty five years having Reigned nine years and some months He was buried at St. Denis If he Married Blanche the Widow of Lewis last Carolovinian King he had no Children by her but by his first Wife Adeleide Daughter according to some of William II. Duke of Aquitain he had a Son named Robert and three Daughters Haduige or Avoye Wise of Renier IV. Earl of Monts and of Haynault Adelais Wife to Renand I. Earl of Nevers and Gisle who Wedded Hugh I. Earl of Pontieu to whom she brought the City of Abbeville in Marriage Year of our Lord 996 The same year 996. Richard surnamed Sans Peur or without Fear Duke of Normandy ended his days in his Palace of Fâ—scamp aged Sixty four years of which he had Reigned nine and was Interred before the Portal of the Church there His Son Richard II. succeeded him About these times that Sacred Fire which they named the Burning Sickness and had otherwhile made great destruction broke out and kindled again cruelly tormenting France especially for two Ages It seized again on a suddain and burnt the Intrails or some other part of the Body which fell off piece-meal Happy were those that escaped with the loss of a Leg or an Arm. This caused many great Donatives to be given to those Saints whose help they believed they had received in the midst of their dreadful Torments as likewise the frequent sounding of Hospitals for such as were infected with this Distemper The Calamity which Anno 994. destroyed in Aquitain Angoumois Perigord and Limosin above 40000 Persons in a few days time wrought at least this good that the Grandees who had troubled this Province by their private Feuds fearing the Wrath of God made a Solemn Oath amongst themselves to do Justice to their Subjects and for this end formed a Holy League which drew other Provinces by their Example to do the like It was likewise in this Age that Pilgrimages to the Holy Land grew very Frequent I mean amongst the Seculars for the Monks and Clergy-men travelled to those Holy Places from the time of King Clovis If the Tenth have deserved the name of the Iron Age which is commonly bestow'd upon it must have been for the continual and very Bloody Wars between the Western Princes and for the terrible Devastations of the Normans the Hungarians and the Saracens but if they called it so for the ignorance and irregularity of their Manners it was rather in respect to the Church of Rome where in truth there were horrible Disorders and Crimes then those of France and Germany It is certain that the Bishops and Abbots notwithstanding the Prohibitions of Princes and Councils bore Arms and went to the Wars a Custom which passed into a Law and Obligation and lasted a long time in the third Race That several were plunged into Vanity Luxury and Dissolution and lived rather like Princes of this World then Apostles of Jesus Christ That those Wars which scourged them made them yet but more worthy of Chastisement for the Disorders and Licentiousness they fell into That their Manners run to ruine with their Buildings and that as there hardly remained any Monastery or Church entire so there was scarce any Discipline left not even amongst the very Monks That in fine many Churches were without a Pastor for example there was but one Bishop in all the Country of Gascongny who enjoyed the Revenue of six or seven Bishopricks But after all these Ruines they began before the middle of this Century to gather up the broken pieces or fragments and reform the behaviour of the Clergy as well as rebuild their Churches William Duke of Aquitain and Auvergne having founded the Monastery of Clugny in the year 910. and St. Mayeule having raised as it were a Nursery of Religious good Men they took some Plants from thence to stock and furnish those Abbys which the Princes re-edifi'd This Abbot and Odillon his Successor furnished at least twenty or thirty who remained still in submission to their common Mother and formed the Congregation of Clugny As much did William Abbot of St. Benigne at Dijon as likewise Abbon de Fleury to some others about Aquitain Subordinations which may procure much good and perhaps much greater evils St. Gerard of the Blood of the Dukes of Lorrain having embraced a Monastick Life reformed Eighteen or twenty Adalberon Bishop of Metz Brother to Frederic first Earlo Bar made a Regulation in those of his Bishoprick amongst others in that of Gorze and at St. Arnold from whence he expelled the Canons who were grown disorderly to place Monks in their stead Abbon de Fleury going to settle his Reformation in the Monasteries of Squirs upon the Garonne which therefore was called the Rule and in the Language of that Country La Reovle and near to which was built a City of that name was knock'd down by a Sedition which the Gascon Monks of that place and the Women had raised against him Amongst the Bishops there
the Province at Lisieux the Popes Legat presiding deposed him and banished him to the Island of Grenezay Year of our Lord 1047 The Earl of Arques having his Party Formed rises up in Arms the Duke gives him a repulse and besieges him in Castle of Arques the King who changed sides either according to his Interest or Humour highly undertakes his Defence and goes in Person to put Provisions and Relief into Arques Notwithstanding this Refreshment the Duke is bent to keep the place blocked up so that the Earl wanting Provisions is obliged to Capitulate provided he may enjoy his Life without loss of Members and some Lands for his subsistance The broken remnants of the party fled to the King who being a little jealous of the prosperity of William and pushed forwards by the Earls of Anjou and Poitou enemies to the Duke promised to turn him out of his Dutchy He had but the design the event was contrary being advanced towards Rouen the Normans cut his Van-Guard in pieces between Escouy and Mortemer he was compell'd to face about and after this checque to deliver up the Castle of Tilleres to him This Duke not wont to pardon any that took up Arms against him especially his Relations by the Fathers side most of those who had engaged for the King or the Count d'Atques went into Puglia where they made a better fortune then they were like to have found had they remained in Normandy The victorious Duke carries the War into Anjou and in his passage seizes on the County of Maine which Earl Hebert had given him by Will in recompence for that he had defended him against the Angevin The valiant Geofrey Martel Earl of Anjou in the year 1047. about Eight and forty years old quitted the World and retired to the Abby of St. Nicholas of Anger 's where he lived till An. 1061. Before his Retreat he left his Estates to Geofrey called the Bearded and to Foulke surnamed the Rechin who were the Children of his Sister Adeleida and Alberic Earl of Gastines in Poitou Geofrey bare the Title of Earl of Anjou and dying left it to Foulk Year of our Lord 1048. or 49. The Emperour Henry III. called the Black and Henry King of France had an Interview this year in the Countrey of Mesin where they renewed the antient Alliance between the two Crowns Year of our Lord 1050 and the following Pope Leo IX a Lorainer by Birth and who had been Bishop of Toul being come into Gall to reconcile Godfrey Duke of Lorrain with the Emperour and put a period to that bloody quarrel which was betwixt that Godfrey supported by the Earl of Flanders and the Houses of Alsace and Luxemburgh held a Council at Reims and negotiated so effectually that he made an end of that War At his going from Germany he carried some Forces into Italy to oppose the Normans who being grown potent did sometimes undertake upon the Countries belonging to the Holy Chair These brave Adventurers conducted by Onfroy did first Year of our Lord 1053 shew their valour to him by cutting his Army to pieces and taking him prisonet then their Piety and Respect by Treating him with great submission and restoring him to his Liberty In recompence he granted and gave them Title to all the Lands they had conquer'd and likewise all such Lands as they should hereafter gain from the Greeks and Saracens and Onfroy shared part of his Conquests with Robert surnamed Guischard which is to say the Crasty and Roger and the rest of his Brothers Year of our Lord 1054 Thibald Earl of Chartres taking it to heart that the King should thrust him out of the Earldom of Tours and not being able to get satisfaction went and waited on the Emperour at Ments who made him his Knight and promised him his protection Year of our Lord 1055 To prevent the seeds of Jealousie and Discord which this Voyage might have sown between the Emperour and the King 〈…〉 fit to set all right by a mutual Interview at the same place where they 〈◊〉 met The King complain'd that the Governour had contraven'd to the Articles o◠Alliance but he found no satisfaction and having conceived some apprehension of an ill design upon his Person retired by night The brave Robert Guischard with his Normans having compleated the Conquest of Year of our Lord 1057 and 58. Calabria called himself Earl for two years and after feared not to take upon him the Title of Duke Year of our Lord 1058 Normandy having still in its bosom some sparks of Division the King who thought to make advantage by it attempted to bring it to his bow by a second Expedition which was no more fortunate then the first his Army having been set upon and defeated on the Common of Varaville between Caen and Lisieux he accepted of a Peace with the Duke Year of our Lord 1059 Anno 1059. was seen an unheard of Prodigy a vast multitude of Snakes and other Serpents being assembled together in a Plain neer the City if Tournay divided into two Bodies who fought obstinately till one of them being overcome and fled left the Field all cover'd Year of our Lord 1059 with their Dead and retreated into the hollow of a great Tree whither the Conquerours pursued them to compleat their Victory but the Countrey people running thither with Clubs Fire and Fagots destroyed both the one and the other Not long after King Henry finding himself broken with labour though he were not above 54 years of age assembled the Grandees of the Kingdom and having told them the Services he had done for the Nation and how well he had acquitted himself Year of our Lord 1060 of the Command of the Armies he prayed them all in general and every ☞ one in particular to own Philip his eldest Son for his Successor and to give him their Oaths which having all promised he caused him to be Annointed and Crowned at Reims the 22 of May being the Feast of Pentecost by the Arch-Bishop Gervais whom afterwards this young King Honoured with the Office of Chancellor Year of our Lord 1050 About the end of the same year he was taken with a little Fever of which he dyed at Vitry neer Paris having Reigned Twenty eight years and four Months after the death of his Father To avoid the danger of contracting a Marriage within the Degrees prohibited he sent to seek a Wife as far as Russia or Moscovia She was Ann the Daughter of George some call him Juriscold King of those Countreys by whom he had three Sons Philip Robert and Hugh the Eldest was then but Seven years old Robert dyed ☞ in Infancy and Hugh when come to age had the Earldom of Vermandois and was the Stock of the Second House of that Name For they made him Marry Adeleida Daughter of Hebert last Earl of the First Branch of Vermandois She enjoying her Fathers Lordships though She had a Brother alive named Eudes his
it governed almost all Europe both in Spirituals and Temporals We must not omit how Robert Native of the Village d'Arbresel in the Diocess of Rennes founded the Order of Fontevralt whose Monasteries are double of Men and Women living according to the Rule and wearing the Habit of St. Bennet This Robert was at first Archdeacon of Rennes then had a particular Mission from Pope Vrban II. to Preach to the People Finding he was every where followed by an infinite multitude of either Sex he built Cells for them in the Woods of Fontevrault three Leagues from Saumur on the Confines of Poitou and then shutting up the Women apart this was perhaps after the good Advice of Gefroy de Vendosme he made a large Monastery which produced many others in each of them the Abbess Commands and she of Fontevrault is the General of the whole Order About the year 1048. began a famous Dispute between the Benedictine Monks of St. Denis in France and those of St. Himmeran of Ratisbonne these having given out a report that they had the Body of St. Denis the Areopagite and that it was bestow'd upon them by King Arnold They held a famous Assembly at St. Denis upon it where the Contenders of either side having fasted and pray'd the Shrine of this Saint was opened and there his Corps was found intire excepting one Arm which Pope Stephanus III. had carried to Rome Those of Ratisbonne would not yield for all this but always maintained their Supposition The great Zeal People then had for Reliques prompted such as hold nothing so Sacred as Money to go for some to Jerusalem and the East to steal Reliques where-ever they could come at them and oftentimes likewise to suppose and bring Counterfeit ones to make Merchandize and the great Lords gave dear Prices for them not only out of Devotion but also to enrich their Towns and Castles by the affluence of those People that came to behold them Lewis the Gross King XXXIX POPES PASCAL II. Nine years six Months during this Reign GELASIUS II. Elected in January 1118. S. One year CALISTUS II. Elected in Feb. 1119. S. Ten years ten Months HONORIUS II. Elected in Decem. 1124. S. Five years one Month and an half INNOCENT II. Elected in Feb. 1130. S. Thirteen years seven Months whereof Seven years seven Months during this Reign LEWIS the GROSS King XXXIX Aged about Twenty seven years Year of our Lord 1108 THis Prince no less Massive of Body then his Father but brave active vigilant exposing himself boldly to all Labours and all Dangers had undertaken to suppress the Pilferings and Licentiousness of the Lords They had made several Leagues against him and at that time there was one whereof Guy Earl of Rochefort was the chief Promoter and this perhaps had hindred him from being Crowned in his Fathers life time The fear of this League obliged him to hasten his Coronation so that five days after the Death of Philip he was Anointed and Crowned at Orleans by Giselbert Archbishop of Sens assisted by all his Suffragants He would not have it performed at Reims because Rodolph who was chosen Archbishop by the Clergy and confirmed by the Pope had not his approbation for which reason he disturbed him in the enjoyment and Rodolph thereupon had put the City under an Interdiction Year of our Lord 1109 The War raised by Guy de Rochefort and his Friends lasted still The new King besieged Chevreuse and other little Castles which the other party defended well Mean time Guy died and Hugh surnamed de Crescy his second Son succeeded to the Animosity of his Father Hugh Lord Puiset in Beauce mighty famous for his Robberies was of the League Eudes Ea. I of Corbeil Grandson to Earl Bouchard having refused to joyn with the Male-contents Crescy though his Brother by the Mother made him Prisoner and shut him up in the Castle of la Ferte-Baudouin The King set him free soon after taking the place partly by Intelligence Year of our Lord 1109. 1110 c. At the same time the King had War with Henry King of England and Duke of Normandy The Subject was that that Prince did not keep the Promise he made upon his doing Hommage for Normandy to pull down the Castle of Gisors built on this side the Epte a River which served as a Boundary between the Territories of the French and the Normans The Difference put to Discussion between the Deputies of the one and other side and the Parties not able to agree the Fact King Lewis offer'd to prove it by Combat Body to Body Some idle Jesters said the two Kings had best fight upon the Bridge which shook and was ready to fall Henry having refused this Challenge they came to a Battle the English lost it and their broken Remains sled to Meulan Robert Earl of Flanders pursuing them too rashly was wounded to Death His Son Baldwin surnamed a la Hache succeeded him Under the favour of this War the Male-contents drew Philip the Kings Brother to their Party The power and greatness of Amaury de Montfort his Uncle by the Mother the credit of his Mother Queen Bertrade and of Foulk Earl of Anjou afterwards King of Jerusalem his Brother heightned his courage He had two strong Holds Mantes and Montlebery the King besieged Mantes and forced it to surrender For that of Montlehery the better to keep it they would have given it to Hugh de Crescy with a Daughter of Amaury's in Marriage but the King prevented it and restored it to Milon Vicount de Troyes who had some right to it He after this attaqu'd le Puiset in favour of Thibauld Earl of Chartres who was mightily molested by Hugh Lord of that Castle and took the place together with the Lord whom he kept under a good strong Guard in Castle-Landon This War begot another Thibauld would build a Fort on the limits of the Country of Puiset the King obstructing him he maintain'd he had promised him leave to do it and therefore did him wrong which he offer'd to prove by Combat proposing his Chamberlain for Champion in his own stead he being yet too young The King on his part appointed his Grand Seneschal Anseau de Garlande but the Champions could find no Court or Judge in the Kingdom who would secure them the field of Battle Perhaps the King might underhand obstruct it The Earl therefore declares War against the King with the Assistance of Henry King of England his Mothers Brother and the Duke of Bretagne for according to the Customs of those times the Lords thought they might do it when they apprehended there was a denial of Justice With him joyned the Lords Hugh de Crescy Guy de Rochefort returned from the Holy Land Lancelin de Dammartin Payen de Mont-Jeay Rodolph de Beaugency Milon Vicount de Troyes and Eudes Earl of Corbeil To tell it in gross the King received a great deal of trouble and made them suffer so much too that
he brought most of them to their Duty one after another Eudes being dead during these Transactions he Treated with Hugh de Puiset who was to inherit that Earldom and making him resign his Right provided he would give him his liberty put himself in possession of that place of great importance at that juncture Year of our Lord 1112 c. Some time after Hugh having re-fortisied le Puiset and committing a thousand Insolencies upon the Neighbouring Countries he besieged him in that place but the Champenois having the rest that were in League together for him failed not to come to relieve it Two great Battles were fought one to the Kings disadvantage the other to his advantage after that they talked of an Accommodation and Hugh obtained his Pardon Milon Vicount de Troyes whom the King had re-setled in Montlehery had withdrawn himself from the rest of the Leagued Party Crescy not being able to draw him in again surprized him by Treachery and after he had led him about to divers Castles bound and setter'd not knowing where to secure him so but the King would deliver him nor how to let him go but he would take his Revenge he caused him to be Strangled in the night and thrown out of a Window at the Castle of Gumet He would have had it believ'd that he had broken his Neck endeavouring to make his escape but the Crime was discover'd and the King with great diligence besieged the Castle of Gumet The wretched Murtherer being condemned to justifie himself by Duel in the Court of Amaulry de Montfort had not the courage to expose himself to that hazard and therefore finding himself Convicted he came and cast himself at the Kings Feet gave up his Lands to him and put on the Habit of a Monk as his Pennance Year of our Lord 1116 Hugh du Puiset being Revolted the third time the King again besieged that Castle razed it and then turned that Rebel out of all his Estate This unfortunate Man having in a Sally killed Anseau de Garlande Grand Seneschal and Favourite to the King and not daring to remain any longer in the Country went a while after to the Holy Land which in those times was the Refuge of Banish'd and Condemned People as it was likewise of true Penitents Year of our Lord 1116 Thomas de Marle Lord of Coucy had been Excommunicated and Degraded of his Nobility Anno 1114. by the Popes Legat in the Council of Beauvais for the Sacriledge and Robberies he committed upon the Churches and the People belonging to the Bishopricks of Reims Laon and Amiens That Sentence had inflamed his Rage to do yet worse even to the setting Fire to the City of Laon and the Noble Church of Nostre-Dame I believe it was that of Liesse to Massacre the Bishop Galderic and cut off that Finger whereon he wore the Episcopal Ring The King who flew about every where with incredible Celerity ran that way before this Robber had seized the Tower of Laon forced and razed his Castles of Crecy and Nogent and brought him to Reason Year of our Lord 1116 17. He quelled likewise another puny Tyrannet named Adam that ravaged all the Neighbourhood of Amiens He had gotten possession of the City Tower which was very strong and gave a great deal of trouble but the King having begirt it for two years gained it and razed it About Ten or Eleven years afterwards Thomas draws the King again upon him by the like Deportment so that he went and besieged his Castle of Coucy It hapned that making their approaches Rodolph Count de Vermandois met him wounded him and took him Prisoner He was carried to Laon where he died miserably of his Wounds Henry King of England was the Boute-feu and Support of all these Revolts Year of our Lord 1117 King Lewis in Retaliation had stirred up against him his Nephew William Son of the Deceased Duke Robert whom he admitted to do Hommage for the Dukedom of Year of our Lord 1117 Normandy and gave him the Castle and City of Gisors the first occasion of the Quarrel This Nephew being thus supported put his Uncle to so much trouble that he was fain to make a Peace with Lewis promising to leave all the Rebels to his Mercy Year of our Lord 1118 Archambaud Lord of Bourbon being dead Hemon his Brother surnamed Vaire-Vache under pretence of claiming his Share detained the whole Possession to the prejudice of the Son and Treated his Subjects especially the Clergy very Tyrannically The King assigns him to plead his Right before the Parliament Upon his refusal to appear he went in Person to compel him and besieged his Castle of Germigny Hemon dreading his Wroth came and craved his Pardon he received him to Mercy and took both him and his Nephew along with him to bring them to an agreement of all their Disputes The Quarrel between the Emperor and Pope concerning the right of Investitures being burst out anew with more heat then ever Pascal II. being Pope the Emperor Henry V. had seized both upon him and all his Cardinals and constrained him to allow him the priviledge of nominating two Bishopricks Afterwards that Pope being at liberty annull'd that Treaty in the Council of Latran and Excommunicated the Emperor Year of our Lord 1118 In this year 1118. Galasius was elected in the room of Pascal or Paschalis but he sought not the approbation of the Emperor who being displeased at that neglect or contempt caused one Maurice Burdin to be chosen a Limosin by Birth and Archbishop of Braga in Portugal to whom they gave the name of Gregory Year of our Lord 1119 Gelasius being then driven from Rome took his way into France to hold a Council there as he did in the City of Vienne but he died the same year in the Abby of Clugny Year of our Lord 1119 The Cardinals that had followed him elected Guy Archbishop of Vienne who took the name of Calixtus II. He was the Brother of Stephen Earl of Burgundy and Uncle of Adele or Alix Queen of France who was the Daughter of his Sister and of Humbert Earl of Morienne and this consideration did fortisie the Holy See with great Alliances against the Emperor Year of our Lord 1119 The whole Kingdom of France having taken his part he came from Vienne to Toulouze where he held a Council Thence he went to Reims where he called another in which divers Canons were made to take away Simony the Investiture of Benefices from Laicks Concubines from Priests and the selling of Sacraments The King was present the Emperor Henry would not be there and having refused to part with the right of Investitures was Excommunicated There was almost the same contest and difference betwixt the Popes and the Kings of France These pretending the Election and Provisions of the Popes were not sufficient without their consent So that it had begot great troubles in the Churches of Bourges Reims Beauvais and
Popes Legat. Afterwards the Archbishop of Sens gave him leave to explain and make good his Propositions against St. Bernard But being come for that purpose to the Council of Sens he would or durst not dispute there but appeal'd to the Pope Being on his way towards Rome to pursue his Appeal he stopt at the Abby of Clugny and there led a holy Life in the Habit of St. Bennes which he had long before taken upon him These Prosecutions were carried on by the Zeal of St. Bernard Abbot of Clervaux a Burgundian Gentleman who had raised himself to so high an Esteem for several years before amongst the Clergy the Nobility and Common People that there hapned no Cause in Matters Ecclesiastical no considerable Contest no important Enterprize wherein his Judgment was not required together with his Counsel and Mediation To shew us that the Wise and Virtuous have a more natural ☞ Empire then that which proceeds from Power or the Institution of Man Year of our Lord 1141 The Clergy of Bourges had elected for their Archbishop one Peter de la Chastre a Person of singular Learning and Piety The King whether he did not like him or desired that Benefice for another refused to give his consent Peter would therefore have desisted but Pope Innocent enjoyned him to perform his Duty which the King obstructing it bred a great deal of trouble and grew to that height that the Pope Excommunicated the King and put the King under an Interdiction Thibauld Earl of Champagne a Lord of great Authority as well for his Power as his Vertues having intermedled somewhat too much about this business offended the King whose anger was yet more inflamed upon another occasion which was this Rodolph de Vermandois who was in effect the first Prince of the Blood but in those days that Title was not known those Princes being considered only according to the Year of our Lord 1141 42. dignity of their Lands caused his Marriage with Gerbete Cousin German to Thibauld to be dissolved upon pretence of Parentage that he might have Alix-Pernelle the Sister of Queen Alienor for his Wife The Pope at the instigation of Thibauld Excommunicated Rodolph and interdicted the Bishops that had pronounced the Divorce Lewis lays all upon Thibauld and enters his Lands in Hostile manner Thibauld has recourse to the Pope who to deliver him from that War which oppress'd him takes off the Excommunication but as soon as that was over he thunders it a second time and then the King more exasperated then before turns his Army into Champagne They take Vitry by force putting all to the Sword and setting Fire on the Church wherein three hundred poor innocent People were burnt who were got in to secure themselves Year of our Lord 1143 and 1144. At the recital of this Cruelty the Kings Bowels yearned and his Conscience was mightily troubled He mourned and dispairs St. Bernard had much ado to persuade him that he might obtain Mercy from God upon his Repentance In this Condition it was easie to persuade him to restore the Archbishop of Bourges to his See and procure a Peace for the Earl Year of our Lord 1143 and 1144. Fulk King of Jerusalem being dead Anno 1142. the Government being in the hands of Melisenda his Widow his youngest Son Baldwin and the Christians of that Country worse then the Turks their Affairs ran all into confusion so that Sangnin Sultan of Assyria tore the Principality of Edessa from them one of the four Members of the Kingdom of Jerusalem The King had before Vow'd a Voyage to the Holy-Land these sad Tidings moved both him and the other French Princes to carry them Relief St. Bernard the Oracle of those times being consulted with herein refers the business to the Pope who sent him orders to Preach the Croisade over all Christendom Year of our Lord 1146 Beginning with France he Conven'd a National Council at Chartres by whom he was chosen for Generalissimo of that Expedition but he refused the Sword and was content to be the Trumpet only He proclaim'd it every where with so much fervour so great assurance of good success and as they believed with so many Miracles that the Cities and Villages became Deserts every one listing themselves for this Service Year of our Lord 1147 The Emperor Conrad and the King were the first that took the Badge of the Cross with an infinite number of Nobility Each of these Princes had a Legat from the Pope in his Army Conrad led threescore thousand Horse he went away first and arrived at Constantinople about the end of March in the year 1147. Year of our Lord 1147 The King staid some while in France after him to receive Pope Engenius who by the Revolted Romans was forced to quit that Country He set forwards a fortnight after Whitsontide in the same year and having marched thorough Hungary and Thrace passed the Bosphorus so that the following Lent in Anno 1148. he got into Syria whilst on the other hand his Naval Force was put to Sea to meet him there Year of our Lord 1147 By Advice of his Parliament held at Estampes he left the Regency of the Kingdom to Rodolph Earl of Vermandois and Suger Abbot of St. Denis who was in great Credit at Court even from the time of Lewis the Fat. Before his departure he went according to the usual Custom into St. Denis Church to receive his Staff and Scrip the Badges of Pilgrimage and the Standard de L'Oriflamme on the Altar of the Holy Martyrs It is fit we should tell you the Kings of France of the Second Race display'd at the head of their Armies St. Martins Cope or Mantle But Capet and his Line after their great Devotion to St. Denis made use of the Banner belonging to his Church which they called Oriflamme It had wont to be carried or born by the Count de Vexin-Francois who was Hommager to the Church of St. Denis After the Kings had possession of this County they appointed some Person of great Merit and Illustrious Birth to carry it There is not that wicked or mean Artisice and Treachery but the perfidious Manuel Emperor of Greece put in practise to destroy both the Emperors and the Kings Armies Against the first he had his will by Poysoning their Meal he was to furnish them withall with Lime and Plaster and appointing such Guides as having led them a long way about which made them waste all their Provisions at last delivered them half dead and languishing into the hands of the Turks who cut them all in pieces so that there was not a tenth part of them escaped Year of our Lord 1148 The King being likewise gotten into Asia found the Emperor Conrad at Nicea where he comforted him in the best manner he could Then he marched along by the Sea-side and ran the same hazard as the other had done however he saved himself more by good fortune then
People pretended they had the better Title and had most commonly maintain'd themselves in possession of it alledging the Popes could not deprive them of a Right born with the Church its self and practised in the times of the Apostles Year of our Lord 1160 King Lewis relying upon the Judgment of the Gallican Church whom he Assembled for this purpose at Estampes adhered to Alexander All the West followed his Example excepting the Emperor Frederick who with his Almans and what Partisans he had in Italy fiercely rejected him because he was Install'd without his Approbation King Henry besides the Kingdom of England held the Dutchy of Normandy which had then a part of Bretagne holding of it the Country of Maine Anjou Touraine and the Province of Aquitain His Ambition upheld by this great increase Year of our Lord 1160 of Power made him revive afresh the Right his Wife had to the County of Toulouze For this end having made Alliance with Raimond Prince of Arragon and Earl of Barcelonna he raised a great Army of Aquitains and Routiers amongst whom was Malcolme King of Scotland enter'd upon Languedoc took Mâ—issac Cahors and some other places The jealousie Lewis had of his growing Greatness moving him at least as much as Year of our Lord 1160 61. the Prayers and Intreaties of Earl Raimond his Brother-in-Law caused him to march that way and cast himself into Toulouze but he had so few with him that it was in the power of Henry to have forced that City had not the scruple of falling upon his Soveraign deterr'd him from it After which they were reconcil'd but Henry would not let fall his claim and hold of the Earldom of Toulouze till he bestow'd his Daughter Jane Widow of William II. King of Sicily on Earl Raimond In these days the cursed Crew of Routiers and Cottereaux began to make themselves known by their Cruelties and Robberies we cannot tell certainly why they were so called but they were a kind of Soldiers and Adventurers coming from divers parts as from Arragon Navarre Biscay and Brabant who wandred over all Countries and would be hired by any one that offer'd to take them provided they might be allow'd all manner of Licence The Cottereaux were most of them Foot-Soldiers the Routiers served on Horseback In the mean while Pope Alexander fearing the Emperor after he had pull'd down the Pride of the Milannois might come to Rome did not judge himself a fit match and so retired into France where he remained above three years Year of our Lord 1161 This year he held a Council at Clermont in which he did not forbear to thunder against Victor Frederick and all their Adherents Year of our Lord 1161 The most Potent and most Factious Family in all France was the House of Champagne Lewis to divide them from the English and gain them to himself takes Alix for his third Wife who was youngest Sister to the four Brothers Champenois for Constance his second Wife was dead Anno 1159. and for the two Daughters of his first Bed he gave one to Henry the eldest of the four Brothers Earl of Troyes and the other to Thibauld the second Earl of Blois Year of our Lord 1162 Pope Alexander came to Torcy on the River Loire where the two Kings Lewis and Henry received him with extream submission Both of them alighted and each taking one of the Reins of his Horses Bridle conducted him to the House prepared for him Year of our Lord 1162 A second time the Emperor came into the County of Burgundy bringing his Victor with him and a second time some endeavoured to procure a Conference betwixt him and the King to determine that Difference which made the Schism by the Judgment of a Council They agreed upon the place of Interview to be at Avignon as being the Frontier of either Prince whither the King by Oath obliged himself to bring Alexander But that Pope refusing to go there saying he could be judged by none it broke off the Conference and put the King in very great danger For the Almans having reproached him that he kept not his word plotted to way-lay him and had taken him Prisoner had not the King of England caused his Army to advance to disengage him Thence follow'd a cruel War between the Emperor and Alexander which horribly tormented Italy and out of which the Emperor could not withdraw himself but by the means of a shameful submission craving Pardon of the Pope and suffering him to set his Foot upon his Throat Which hapned in Anno 1177. in the City of Venice Year of our Lord 1163 Anno 1163. Alexander assisted at the Council of Tours Assembled by his order and there he thunders once more against Victor and Frederick He caused some Decrees likewise to be made against the Hereticks who had spread themselves over all the Province of Languedoc There were especially of two sorts The one Ignorant and withall addicted to Lewdness and Villanies their Errors gross and filthy and these were a kind of Manicheans The others more Learned less irregular and very far from such filthiness held almost the same Doctrines as the Calvinists and were properly Henricians and Vaudois The People who could not distinâ—uish them gave them alike names that is to say called them Cathares Patarins Boulgres or Bulgares Adamites Cataphrygians Publicans Gazarens Lollards Turlupins and other such like Nick-names Year of our Lord 1163 Death of Odo III. Duke of Burgundy to whom succeeded Hugh III. his Son There being Peace between the two Kings Lewis employs himself in doing Justice and suppressing Disorders The Inhabitants of Vezelay having made a Corporation would have shaken off the Abbot who was their Lord protected by the Earl of Nevers He compell'd them and their Earl to ask Pardon and break their Corporation The same year he went in Person to â—ight the Earl of Clermont the Earl du Puy and the Vicount de Polignac Lords of Auvergne who denied to forbear plundering of Churches overthrew them and brought them Prisoners to Paris where having detained them a long while he releas'd them upon giving their Oaths and Hostages In like manner he punished the Earl of Chaalons with the loss of his County because he had pillag'd the Abby of Clugny and kill'd above five hundred some Monks some Servants However the Daughter of this Man re-entred upon her Patrimony Year of our Lord 1163 Thomas Becket Chancellor of England elected Archbishop of Canterbury Anno 1163. soon lost the good favour of King Henry for divers causes and particularly Year of our Lord 1164 for stickling too fiercely in maintaining the Priviledges of the Clergy Being banished the Kingdom he retired himself in France in the Abby of Pontigny of the Diocess of Sens whence he gave much trouble to his King and suffer'd not a little himself during six years Year of our Lord 1164 Death of Victor the Anti-Pope in whose stead the Cardinals of his Party elected Guy
de Creme who named himself Paschal and was confirmed by Frederick But Alexander III. recalled by the Romans left France the year following and returned to Rome to put an end to that Schism Year of our Lord 1165 In the year 1165. Lewis had a Son born whom he believed Heaven had sent him in return of his Prayers For this reason he was surnamed Dieu-Donne i. e. Gift of God or God-Gift and after for his brave Acts the Conqueror which Paul Emilius has rendred by Interpretation Augustus and is followed in the same by all the Modern Historians Year of our Lord 1166 The Life of Conan the Little Duke of Bretagne which had been ever full of trouble ended Anno 1166. to make room for Gefroy of Normandy his Son-in-Law This Prince being yet but Fifteen years of Age remained together with his Datchy under the Guardianship of the King his father for some time after which being at liberty he begins a War against him because he would make him do Hommage for his Dukedom a Duty he required by vertue of a Treaty made by Charles the Simple with Rollo Duke of Normandy Year of our Lord 1168 Thierry of Alsatia Earl of Flanders dies at Gravelin Philip his Son governs after him Year of our Lord 1169 70. The Feud was renewed between the two Kings upon several occasions one was the Earl d'Auvergne whom Lewis as Soveraign Lord took into his protection and safeguard against Henry to whom the Earl was a Vassal holding of him in Aquitain the other the support he gave to Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury The War thereupon breaks forth and lasted for two years however it was carried on but slowly and so as the Respect either of them had for Pope Alexanders Mediation brought them to an Agreement for some time Year of our Lord 1170 These two Princes having Conferr'd together at Saint Germain en Laye concluded the Peace betwixt them and there the King of England's Sons rendred Hommage to Lewis for those Lands their Father assured to them by advance of Inheritance Henry of the Dutchy of Normandy the County of Anjou and the Office of Grand Seneschal joyned thereto from the time of Grisegonnelle as also the Earldoms du Maine and de Touraine and the second named Richard of the Dakedom of Aquitain as for the third which was Gefroy he had Bretagne by his Wife and ow'd Hommage to none but the Duke of Normandy The Kings Intercession obtained of Henry that Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury might return into England but he continuing to act with the same heat four Gentlemen of Henry's Court out of Complaisance as mean as detestable having plotted and contrived to deliver their King of him entred the Church at Canterbury where that Holy Prelat was reading Service it was on the Christmas Holy-days and Murther'd him at the foot of the Altar Year of our Lord 1171 Though the King disown'd this Murther and shewed an extream grief nevertheless Year of our Lord 1172 having given cause to commit it if perhaps he did not command it the Pope Year of our Lord 1173 made a mighty business of it from which he could not get clear without submitting to great Pennance and such Reparations and Satisfactions as was ordained by his Legats The Holy Archbishop revered as a Martyr was Canonized the following year and the frequent Miracles wrought on his Tomb attested his Holiness Year of our Lord 1173 Every year almost there was some Rupture then a Peace or Truce between the two Kings either concerning their own proper Interests or that of their Friends and Vassals Lewis had this advantage that being the Soveraign Lord he had a right of hearing the Complaints of Henry's Vassals and of making himself his Judge Year of our Lord 1173 He had stirred up many in Aquitain and Normandy but this year he Armed his own Children against him The eldest with Margaret his Wife being gone to Visit him and having staid some time in that Court had a fancy put into his Head that since he was Crowned he ought to Reign and to demand of his Father the enjoyment either of the Kingdom of England or the Dukedom of Normandy With this disposition and fretted for that his Father had taken some young People from about him who gave him such like ill Counsels he stole away one Night from him and came and cast himself into the Arms of the King Immediately all the young Nobility follows him Queen Alienor favours him his two Brothers Richard Duke of Aquitain and Gefroy of Brâ—tagne joyns with him and those whole Provinces follow their Motions The King of France takes them into his protection William King of Scotland declares for them and attaques England whither at the same time went some French Forces under the Command of Robert Earl of Leicester Year of our Lord 1174 It seemed therefore as if the unhappy Father must needs be overwhelm'd on a suddain but he overthrew all the Enemies Lewis having taken Verneuil au Perche durst not hold it and retreated before him The Earl of Leicester is defeated in England and all those that followed him either slain or taken then all the Kingdom reduced in less then Thirty days by old Henry who went thither presently after this defeat Year of our Lord 1175 The following year whilst he was doing Pennance at St. Thomas Becket's Tomb William King of Scotland his most capital Enemy loses a Battle against his Lieutenants and was taken Prisoner The Fleet of young Henry is dispersed and disabled by Tempest King Lewis who had carried Philip Earl of Flanders with him is rudely repulsed from Rouen so that finding Henry who was come over-Seas again to Relieve this City made ready to give him Battle he hearkens to a Truce for some Months Year of our Lord 1175 Whilst that lasted old Henry going into Poitou and subduing Richard the worst of his three Rebellious Sons who held that Country all the others returned to their Obedience and he enters upon a Treaty of Peace with Lewis who gave him Alix his Daughter for his Son Richard and put her into his hands to compleat the Marriage when she should be Age for it Year of our Lord 1177 The two Kings now grown old were weary of so many Wars and Disturbances Either of them had cause to fear the one the activity of his three most valiant Sons the other the weakness of his only Heir as yet too young so that they confirmed the Peace by new Oaths promised mutual friendship against all others and took up a resolution to go joyntly into Languedoc to extirpiate those Hereticks already mentioned by us But they thought it more convenient first to send the Popes Legat thither with three or four other Prelats to endeavour to reclaim them by Exhortations and Anathema's which converted and brought back a great many and kept the rest within bounds for some time These Hereticks were all called Albigensis because they propaged
most in those Countries under the protection of Roger Earl of Alby who much favoured them Year of our Lord 1178 During the Calm of this Peace Lewis who was extream feeble with Age using the same provident foresight as his Predecessors resolved to have his Son Philip Crowned but it hapning that this young Prince fell ill upon an afright for having lost his way in a Wood as he was Hunting this Ceremony was fain to be put off which was not performed till the year following In the mean time Peoples Devotion increasing towards the Reliques of St. Thomas of Canterbury from the example of King Henry who of his Persecutor was become his Adorer King Lewis passes into England prayed on his Tomb and left very rich Tokens of his Piety there behind Year of our Lord 1177 In sine Prince Philip was Anointed Crowned at Reims on All Saints day by William Archbishop of that City and Cardinal Brother to the Queen his Mother The Duke of Normandy and Philip Earl of Flanders both Pairs or Peers assisting at that Ceremony and holding the Crown upon his Head Year of our Lord 1180 Soon after Philip Earl of Flanders faithful and affectionate to King Lewis procured the Marriage of his Neece Isabella-Alix Daughter of his Sister and of William Earl of Hainault with the new King who was his God-son and treating her as his own Daughter because he had no Children he gives her in favour of this Marriage the County of Artois and the County all along the River of Lys. Year of our Lord 1180 Hardly was the joy of this Festival over when King Lewis died of the Palsy in the City of Paris the 18th or 20th of September Aged as many tell us near Seventy years but according to my Computation not above Sixty three or Sixty four whereof he had Reigned Forty three His Corps lies in St. Denis He was not very happy in his grand Designs and too effeminate or mild in Affairs that required vigour but as Pious Charitable Good Just Liberal and Valiant as any Prince in his Time He can be taxed but for two faults the one against Prudence for Divorcing his Wife the other against the Laws of Nature having supported the Rebellion of Henry's Children against their Father He had three Wives Alienor or Eleanor of Aquitain Constance of Spain and Alix or Alice of Champagne By the first he had two Daughters Mary and Alix who Married the two Brothers Henry Earl of Champagne and Thibauld Earl of Chartres and Blois By the second came Margaret Married first with Henry the young King of England and then with Bela III. King of Hungary By the third he had two Daughters Alix who was betroathed to Richard of England afterwards Married to William Earl of Pontieu Agnes Married to Comnenius the Son of Emanuel of Constantinople and a Son named Philip who Reigned Philip II. King XLI POPES ALEX. III. One year under this Reign LUCIUS III. Elected 29 Aug. 1181. S. Four years three Months URBAN III. Elected in Decemb. 1185. S. One year and near Eleven Months GREGORY VIII Elected in Octob. 1187. S. a little less then two Months CLEMENT III. Elected in January 1188. S. Three years three Months CELESTINE III. Elected in April 1191. S. Six years nine Months INNOCENT III. Elected in January 1198. S. Eighteen years six Months nine days HONORIUS III. Elected in July 1216. S. Ten years eight Months whereof seven during this Reign PHILIP II. Surnamed the Conqueror or Augustus King XLI Aged Fifteen years EVen in the Life-time of Lewis the Young Affairs began to be governed in the name of Philip and by the Administration and Care as I believe of Philip Earl of Flanders who was his Guardian his Governor and his God-father The Methods of Piety and Justice his Father and Grand-father had taken to Year of our Lord 1180 strengthen their Authority had much advanced them in their Design He was therefore Councel'd to pursue them Wherefore immediately undertaking the Protection of the Church he with a high hand went and reduced Ebles Lord of Charenton in Year of our Lord 1180 Berry Imbert Lord of Beaujeu in Lyonnois and Guy Earl of Chaalons upon Soane who oppress'd the Ecclesiasticks At the same time he began to let the Grandees of the Kingdom know how he could order and reduce them for he dissolv'd a powerful League which they had formed against him perhaps out of the jealousie they had conceiv'd of the greatness of the Earl of Flanders and forced the Earl of Sancerre who was the first that declar'd himself to fly to his Mercy Year of our Lord 1181 After the Death of his Father desiring to Sanctifie his new Reign he publish'd an Edict against such as utter those horrible Blasphemies composed or made up of the Name and Body or Members of the Son of God condemning them to pay a certain Pecuniary Mulct if they were People of Quality and to be thrown into the Water if they were meaner People Year of our Lord 1181 Prompted with the same Zeal he caused strict search to be made after all those that were accused of Heresie and sent them to the Fire expell'd all the Jews within his Territories and Confiscated their Estates suffering them to carry away only the Price of their Household-Goods His Piety appeared no less in the expulsion of Comedians Juglers and Jesters or Buffoons whom he turned out of his Court as People that serve only to flatter Vice encourage Sloath and fill idle Heads with vain Chimera's which perverts them and puts their Hearts into those irregular Motions and Passions as Wisdom and true Religion commands us so much to suppress and mortifie Princes were wont to bestow great Presents on those People and reward them with their richest Clothes But he being persuaded says Rigord his Historian That to give to Players was to Sacrifice to the Devil chose rather according to the Example of that Holy Emperor ☜ Henry I. to make a Vow he would henceforth employ his Money towards the maintenance of the Poor Anno 1183. he encompassed the Park du bois de Vincennes with a Wall and stock'd it with Deer which the King of England sent over to him The same year Henry the young King of England died in the Castle of Martel in Quercy Perhaps by the just Punishment of Heaven for having been so often as he was at this time in Rebellion against his Father Year of our Lord 1183 Every private or particular Lord having usurped a Right of making War upon one another after either had sent his defiance there followed Murthers and continual Spoils and Plunderings For which the Bishops and some of the wisest Lords of the Kingdom had endeavour'd to find a Remedy from the year 1044. having ordained the Truce or Peace of God for those Disputes and Contests betwixt particular Men during certain times in the year and certain days of the week with most severe Punishments
two causes One was that Richard refused to do Hommage to Year of our Lord 1186 the King for his County of Poitou grounded perhaps on this that it held immediately of the Dutchy of Aquitain The other Henry deferr'd to surrender Gisors and other places of the Vexin which Louis VII had given in Dowre to Margaret who had no Year of our Lord 1187 Children by young Henry Philip sets upon him towards Berry took Issoudun and besieged the Castle-Ruouel The King of England and his Son came to its Relief and sent to bid Battle but the two Armies being ranged Henry's heart failed him he talks of an Agreement promises Satisfaction to Philip and leaves him Issoudun for his Expences in that War Year of our Lord 1187 The Fifth of September Lewis the first born Son of Philip came into the World for which the City of Paris expressed so much Joy that they made the whole week but one Holy-day keeping all darkness at a distance by the infinite numbers of Flambeaux every where Saladin King of Syria and Egypt who from a low Birth was raised to that high power not without great desert after his having obtained many Victories over the Christians at last tears the Holy City of Jerusalem from them whereof Guy de Luzignan was then King it was taken the Second day of October and all the Holy-Land excepting only Tyre Tripoly Antioch and some strong Holds Thus at the end of Eigthy eight years Ended the Kingdom of Jerusalem which Title after it had ambitiously passed through the Houses of divers Princes does at this day make us part of the Catholick Kings At this dreadful news which arrived towards the end of the year 1187. all the Faithful made a great moan never was any sorrow so great or so universal The Kings Philip and Henry being sensibly touched Conferr'd together at Gisors and Trie and resolved to take up the Cross with great numbers of Princes Lords and Prelats to recover those Holy Places out of the hands of the Infidels In remembrance whereof they erected a Cross in the Field where they had resolved upon this Croisade and mutually promised to leave all Disputes in the same posture they then were till after their return from this holy Expedition Year of our Lord 1188 The Month of March following Philip Assembles a Parliament at Paris where it was resolv'd by Advice of the Bishops and Barons to take the Tenths of all Goods Movables and Immovables of all Persons as well Ecclesiasticks as of the Laity excepting only the Monks de Cisteaux the Chartreux de Fontevrault and the Spittles belonging to the poor Leprous People This Impost was called the Saladine Tith Year of our Lord 1188 Whilst they were preparing with great chearfulness and courage for this Expedition Richard for I not what little Injury received of Alfonso Earl of Thoulouze renew'd the old Pretention of his Mother Alienor to that County and endeavoured to recover it by the Sword Philip to disengage his Brother-in-Law and make a Diversion falls into Berry takes all the places the English were possessed of drove out old Henry who was got thither with an Army and pursued him as far as Normandy Year of our Lord 1189 Winter brought them to a Truce In the mean time Richard falls out with his Father and threw himself into the Arms of Philip. His discontent proceeded from his Fathers delay in giving him Alix of France betroathed to him Some believe the old Man cast other looks upon her then he ought towards his Sons Wife and besides by compleating this Marriage he had been obliged according to the Contract to let his be Crowned and give him the Title of King The Physitian Rigord in the History of Philip relates That being at Argenteuil when the Moon was at Full and the Night very clear a little before day-break the Prior of that Monastery and several of the Monks saw that Planet descend in a Moment to the Earth where having rested some time it went slowly up again and took its former place Year of our Lord 1189 The following Spring Philip takes the Field Conquers all the Countrey of Mayne and the City of Mans Touraine and the City of Tours himself having as by Miracle found a Foard in the Loire which he discover'd to his Army At the same time John surnamed Without-Land the Third Son of Henry likewise takes up Arms against his Father who not knowing which way to turn himself leaves Chinon and advances towards King Philip humbly to desire a Peace Philip grants it and reconciles him to Richard upon condition that one of them should accompany him to the Holy-Land Year of our Lord 1189 But Henry as unfortunate in War as he was unfortunate in his Children overcome with shame and sorrow dies three days after he was returned to Chinon Richard succeeds him and then Philip his Brother-in-Law generously restores to him all he had Conquer'd of his excepting Issoudun and the Fiefs he held in Auvergne settling Gisors and all the Vexin for his Wives Portion The two Princes thus united in a Friendship which appeared to be very cordial and so firm that one would imagine nothing could untie or shake it fitted themselves for their Expedition to the Holy-Land appointed the Rendezvous for their Armies at Vezelay and took Shipping Richard at Marseilles and Philip at Genoa Both of them landed in Sicily but Philip not so happily as Richard a furious Tempest having forced him to throw over-board part of his Horses and his Equipage Year of our Lord 1190 Before their departure Philip with the leave and by the agreement of all his Barons left the Guardianship of his Son and the Government of the Kingdom to the Queen his Mother Alix de Champagne and to William Cardinal-Archbishop of Reims Brother to that Queen But fearing they might abuse it he left an Authentick Order in Writing Signed by the Great Officers belonging to the Crown which limited their Power and prescribed their Lesson in many cases Amongst others he would have them bestow vacant Benefices of the Regalia by the Advice of Brother Bernard who was a devout Hermit living in the Bois de Vincennes and that during his absence no Tailles should be levied by any Lords upon their Lands nor in case he should happen to dye by the Regents during the Minority of his Son Year of our Lord 1190 He likewise ordered the Sheriffs of Paris that they should take care to enclose it with Walls and Towers There were no Ditches made the Enclosure on the left hand of the River upwards hath been often enlarged and altred The Burghers of other Cities by their example were ambitious to Wall their Towns and make Ramparts for defence William the Good King of Sicily Son of William the Wicked or Bad being dead without Children Anno 1189. He had an Aunt the Daughter of King Roger named Constance who being almost Thirty years of Age not a Nun as some have
Canons out of their Churches put the Curats from their Parishes and consiscated and plundred all their Goods Then against the Laity vexing and loading the Citizens with new Imposts and unheard of Exactions tiercing or thirding the Gentry that was taking away Thirds of their Revenues and of all their Goods which had never been heard of in France The Interdiction lasted Seven Months during this time Philip sollicited the Pope so earnestly that he gave order to his Legats to take it off upon condition he should take Isemburge again and in six Months six Weeks six Days and six Hours he would have the Case of her Divorce decided by his two Legats and the Prelats of the Year of our Lord 1200 Kingdom the Friends and Relations of that Princess being assigned to defend her The Assembly was held at Soissons by Isemburges choice King Canut sent the ablest people in his Kingdom to sollicite and plead her Cause After twelve days jugling and proceeding Philip had intimation that Judgment would be against him he goes one fair Morning to fetch Isemburge from her House and setting her up on Horse-back behind him carries her thence having order'd notice to be given to the Legat not to give himself so much trouble about examining whether the Divorce he had Decreed were good or not since he owned it and would have her for his Wife Nevertheless he used her but little better then before nor did shew any more kindness besides some little Civilities to her Year of our Lord 1200 Besore the years end Agnes her Rival died having been five years with the King She had two Children by him One Son and One Daughter whom Pope Innocent III. Legitimated Died likewise Thibauld Earl of Champagne who had then only One Daughter a Minor The King would have the Guardianship-Noble but soon after the death of Thibauld his Wife was brought to bed of a Post-humus Son who had his Fathers Name and the Surname of Great The Daughter lived not long after the birth of the Posthume In those times Usury and Uncleanness Reigned bare-faced in France God raised up two great and virtuous Men Fulk Curate of Neuilly in Brie and Peter de Roucy a Priest in the Diocess of Paris to Preach against these Vices with so much power and efficacy that they reclaimed a great many Souls from those Sins and Follies Now it hapned that a few Months before the death of Thibauld Fulk who had this gift of perswading People to what he approved by his earnest Exhortations knowing there was to be a great meeting of Princes Lords and Gentlemen at a Year of our Lord 1120 Turnament or Justs at the Castle d'Ecris between Braye and Corbie went thither and exhorted them so earnestly effectually to undertake the voyage to the Holy Land that the Earls Baldwin of Flanders Henry d'Anguien his Brother Thibauld de Champagne Lovis de Blois his Brother Simon de Montfort Gautier or Gualtier de Brienne Matthew de Montmorency Stephen du Perche and several other Lords Crossed themselves nevertheless they could not set forwards till two years afterwards The reconcilation between the two Kings seemed perfect and sincere This year they conferr'd at Andeley Nay Philip had the the King of England with him Year of our Lord 1201 to his City of Paris and Treated him with all the magnificence and all the demonstrations of friendship he could desire But John had begun to contrive his own unhappiness by casting off his Wife Avice or Avoise Daughter of the Earl of Glocestre to Marry Isabel only Daughter of Aymar Earl of Angoulesme and Alix of Courtenay whom he ravished from Hugh le Brun Earl de la Marche to whom she was affianced From that time the said Lord sought all manner of ways to revenge himself for that injury He began to hold private intelligence with Philip he endeavour'd to make an insurrection in Poitou and Rodolph his Brother Earl of Eu began to commit Hostilities on the skirts of Normandy John chastised them for their Rebellion bydepriving them of their Lands especially some Castles in the County d'Eu They make address to the King of France their Sovereign Lord and demand Justice of him Upon this difference the two Kings saw one another near Gaillon where Philip who had laid his design spake high and summon'd John to appear in his Court that right might be done not only upon the complaint of Hugh but likewise of Prince Arthur who demanded Maine Anjou and Touraine Year of our Lord 1201 The Earl of Flanders and the other Lords that had taken the Cross departed for the Holy Land and as in those times there were but few Vessels upon the coasts of Provence they had taken their way by Venice where they hop'd to find a great many well fitted and there Thomas I. Earl of Savoy and Boniface Marquis of Montferrat joyned them But the Venetians would not furnish them with Vessels till they had first employ'd their Arms to recover the Cities of Sclavonia especially that of Zara for the Republique from whom they had withdrawn themselves to own the King of Hungary which retarded them above a year in those parts Year of our Lord 1201 In the year 1195. Isaac Angelus Emperour of the East had been deprived of his Empire his Sight and his Liberty by his own Brother Alexis And the Son of that Isaac likewise named Alexis had made his escape into Germany flying to Philip of Snevia pretended Emperour who had Married his Sister This young Prince having notice that there was an Army of the Crossed at Venice went thither to implore their assistance Several difficulties hindred them from going into the Holy-Land besides the Venetians hoped to find it better for their purpose to make a War in Greece because the spoil and plunder promised more gain and seemed more certain to them and more-over all the Latine Christians were ravish'd to meet with this occasion and opportunity to revenge the Treachery and Outrages the Greeks had practised since the beginning of the Holy-War They concluded therefore to turn their Arms that way upon condition the young Alexis would defray the charges of their expedition allow them great rewards and submit the Greek Church to the Obedience of the Pope To provide for the expences of his War King Philip endeavour'd to accustom the Clergy to furnish him with Subsidies and they excused themselves upon their Liberties and for that it was not lawful to employ the Moneys belonging to the Poor in prosane uses they only promis'd to assist him with their Prayers to God Now it hapned that the Lords de Coucy de Retel de Rosey and several others went and pillag'd and invaded their Lands they fly to the King for protection who in their own coin assisted them with Prayers to those Lords but as they understood one another they proceeded to worse dealing Then the Prelats redoubled their intreaties and besought him to employ his Forces
to which he replied that Soldiers could not be kept without Money They soon understood what he desired and the mischief pressing hard upon them they were constrain'd to give and immediately the Lords desisted from plundering Year of our Lord 1191. and the following In the interim John King of England summon'd for three several times to answer the accusation in King Philips Court endeavour'd to gain time and made all delays But Philip finding himself strong in Men and provided with Money having no counter-poise in his Kingdom because he held in his own hands the Garde-noble of the potent House of Champagne and the Earl of Flanders was gone into the Levant had resolved to push on against him He therefore gave some Forces to Prince Arthur to pursue his Right having before betrothed his Daughter Mary to him At the same time he entred upon Normandy where he forced five or six places and received the most considerable Lords of the Countrey into favour amongst the rest Hugh de Gournay and the Earl of Alenson who assured him of their Service and their Towns Arthur on his side attaques Poitou the Earls de la Marche and d'Eu Gefroy de Luzignan and their friends being joyned with him His Grand-Mother Alienor had Year of our Lord 1201 put her self into Mirebeau he besieges her there King John hastens thither with so much diligence that he surprizes him one fair Morning napping in his Bed takes him prisoner and sends him to the Castle of Falaize Normandy and Poitou being shaken in this manner comes a Legat from the Pope who ordains the two Kings to assemble the Bishops and Lords of their Countreys Year of our Lord 1202 and by their Consultations put an end to these Disputes John would readily have consented to this Order but Philip who was not willing to give over so fair a Game obliged his who were assembled at Mantes to throw in an Appeal from the Sentence of the Legat to the Pope himself which was to gain time and continue his progress Year of our Lord 1202 The respect for Queen Alienor had still with-held King John from staining his hands in the Blood of the unfortunate Arthur Soon after her death he caused him to be brought to the Castle of Rouen he kept his Court in that City and in a very obscure night he drew him forth thence and led him to such a place that afterwards he was never seen It being justly presum'd that he had murther'd him Constance the Mother of that young Prince demanded Justice of King Philip for that parricide committed in his Territory and upon the person of one of his Vassals He caused John therefore to be summoned before his Peers or Pairs where not appearing nor sending any to excuse him he was by judgment of that Court Condemned as attainted and convicted of Parricide and Felony to lose all the Lands he had in France which should be consiscated and forfeit to the Crown and all such as should defend them reputed Guilty de Laesae-Majestatis Year of our Lord 1203 In prosecution or rather execution of this Decree Philip partly by force partly by intelligence took from him this year almost all the higher or upper Normandy whilst this unworthy lazy Man pass'd away the time with his Wife at Caen as if all had been in a profound Peace We may imagine that if he would have taken some care of his Affairs Philip could not so easily have conquer'd so many places since the single Castle de Gaillard neer Andeley situate on a Rock both very high and steep on all sides endured a Five months Siege but both Heaven and Earth had declar'd against him his friends betray'd him his Subjects became unfaithful and he meanly abandonn'd himself Year of our Lord 1204 The following year Philip made himself Master of all the Cities of the Lower Normandy almost without a blow Rouen it self which was the Capital of the whole Province environ'd with a double Wall and very affectionate to her natural Dukes After a Siege of forty days being informed by the Deputies sent to King John that no Relief or assistance could be had from him surrendred to the Conquerour upon condition he should maintain the Citizens in their Franchises and Priviledges which he agreed to and they obtained Letters or a Charter to secure it a procaution as feeble against an absolute Power as Paper is against Steel Year of our Lord 1204 Two or three other places which yet defended themselves followd the example of Rouen and so it was that in less then three years he gained all Normandy which had had Twelve Dukes of that Nation whereof John was the last who had Govern'd them about Three hundred and sixteen years At the same time William des Roches who had quitted John's party to joyn with Philip secured the Counties of Anjou du Maine and de Touraine and Henry Clement Mareschal of France conquer'd all Poitou for him excepting only Niort Touars and Rochel Year of our Lord 1205 The next year the King himself having gotten a great Train of Artillery forced the Castle des Loches and some places that remained in the hands of the English in Touraine Year of our Lord 1203 The French and the Venetians sailing to Constantinople with only 28000 Men forced the Harbour and afterwards the City though there were above Threescore thousand Fighting Men there deliver'd Isaac out of prison and caused the young Alexis his Son to be Crowned The Tyrant Alexis and his Brother-in-law Theodorus Luscaris having made their escape over the Walls retir'd to Adrianople Year of our Lord 1204 Whilst this Army of the Cross wintered about Constantinople and Isaac and his Son endeavour'd to make good what they had promis'd them for their reward the people upon whom they Levied very great sums of Money mutined One certain Alexis Ducas surnamed Murzufle Great Master of the Wardrobe to young Alexis headed the sedition seized on that Prince whilst Isaac was in his last Agonie and strangled him with his own hands Then caused himself to be Declared Emperour and went forth with the City Militia against the aforesaid Army but they were presently beaten back Constantinople besieg'd and within Sixty days taken by Storm swimming in Blood and a great part consumed by Fire The Conquerours gave power to Twelve of the chief amongst themselves to elect an Emperour upon condition That if he were a French man the Patriarch should be a Venetian and so on the contrary The intrigues of the Venetians for whose interest Boniface Marquis of Montferrat was not so convenient though he seemed most worthy of the Empire manag'd it so that the Electors conferr'd it upon Baldwin Earl of Flanders and the Patriarchat upon Thomas Morosini a Venetian After they had setled things in order within the City they easily conquer'd all what the Grecian Empire possess'd in Europe and formed several Principalities there of which the Marquis de Montferrat who married Isaac's
Widow had Thessaly for his Year of our Lord 1204 share with the Title of a Kingdom upon which condition he gave up the Island of Candia to the Venetians The Grecian Princes preserved Asia to themselves where they established divers Sovereignties Theodorus Lascaris attired himself with Imperial Robes at Nicea in Bithynia and had the largest Dominion for extent Of the Family of the Comnenes Michael had part of Epirus David Heraclea Ponticus and Paphlagonia and Alexis his Brother the City of Trebisond on the Pontus-Euxinus There was the Empire of Trebisond formed which still remained separate and distinct from that of Constantinople till the Turks devoured both the one and the other Baldwin enjoy'd not the Empire two years for going to besiege Adrianople Joannitz or Calojan King of Bulgaria coming to assist the Greeks drew him into an Ambuscade made him prisoner and having carried him into Bulgaria cut off his Arms Year of our Lord 1205 and Legs and cast him into a Precipice where he languisht for three days It was thus given out but many are of opinion that he escaped from that imprisonment However it were his Brother Henry succeeded him in the Empire He left two Daughters the eldest Married Ferrand Brother of Sancho King of Portugal who by this means was Earl of Flanders the youngest had Children by Bouchard d'Auesnes Year of our Lord 1205 King John not attributing his misfortunes to his crime his cowardize or sloth but to the ill-will of his English Subjects particularly the Clergy who had not assisted him in his necessities sets himself upon molesting and vexing them by all Year of our Lord 1206 manner of exactions Guy de Touars who Govern'd Bretagne being Husband to the Dutchess Constance had turned to Philips party and assisted him not a little in his late Conquests He had likewise brought over to him the Vicount Touars his Brother but this year both of them were at variance with him Guy would Cantonnize himself in Bretagne the King begirts him in Nantes and compels him to return again to his Service how-ever the Vicount remained for the English Interest That King having Levied vast sums of Money and a powerful Army in England comes and Lands at Rochel the Vicount Savary de Maulcon and some other Lords joyn with him Philip finding himself too weak contents himself only with providing and strengthening his Towns in Poitou with all speed and then retires to Paris John marches into Anjou takes Anger 's dismantles it and presently after remembring that it was his Ancestors native City causes the Walls to be rebuilt At the same time there were some Bretons who seizing upon the Promontary de Garplic built a Fort there to favour the approaches of the English upon those Shallows These were all the Effects of the great Prowess of King John for being soon tir'd he caused a Truce to be propounded by the interposition of the Pope who threatned Excommunication in case of refusal Philip agrees it for two years against the opinion of the French Lords who proffer'd him all assistance and engaged not to forsake him although the Pope should proceed against him by censures Year of our Lord 1208 The two contenders for the German Empire Otho and Philip had agreed An. 1207. in such sort that Otho who had the approbation of the Pope but was the weaker should leave the Empire to Philip whom if he hapned to die without Children Otho should succeed him and in the interim Marry his Daughter Now this year Philip being Murthered in his Sick Bed by Otho Palatine of Vitelspack the Empire fell to his Competitor who the following year went into Italy and was Crowned at Rome Immediately after he had a quarrel with the Pope about some Enterprize upon the Lands belonging to the Church and those belonging to Frederick King of Sicily Feodary to the Holy See for which he was Excommunicated An. 1210. Innocent III. was then Pope a Prelat of great courage rare merit and who being in the strength of his age was stirring in every place and concern'd himself in every thing driving all things to the height where he met with a weak or divided party England made an unhappy Experiment King John being absolutely resolv'd not to accept of Cardinal Stephen Lanctbon for Arch-Bishop of Canterbury whom the White Friers had Elected to the Popes liking but without the Kings consent and the Pope standing stifly up to maintain and justify this Election the contest grew so hot that the Pope sends to three of the English Bishops a Sentence of Interdiction to be laid upon the whole Kingdom John was so enrag'd that he confiscated the Estates of all the Clergy and resolv'd utterly to abolish Episcopacy in the Nation Commanding them immediately to depart and to secure himself against any personal effects of the Excommunication wherewith he was threatned he took Hostages of the Towns and Nobility The Pope not being able to reduce the Hereticks of Languedoc who had almost gained the whole Province fals upon Raimond Earl of Toulouze because he was their chief promoter and encourager and had caused one of his Legats to be massacred it was Peter de C hastean-neuf a Monk de Cisteaux or White Fryer and the First that exercised the Inquisition He Excommunicated that Earl Absolv'd his Subjects of their Oath of Fidelity and gave his Lands to the first Occupier but without prejudice to the right of the King of France his Sovereignty Such an apprehension seized on the Earl that being come to Milon the Popes Legat at Valence he intirely submitted gave up eight places of strength to the Roman Church to perpetuity as a pawn of his Conversion and the following year to obtain Absolution suffred himself to be scourged with Rods at the Gate of St. Giles's Church where Peter de Chasteau-neuf lay buried and thence dragg'd to that Friers Tomb by the Legat who put the Stole about his Neck in presence of Twenty Arch-Bishops and an infinite multitude of People After which he likewise crossed himself or put on the badge of the Cross and joyned the next year with those that took his and the Towns of his Allies Year of our Lord 1208 It was not his penitence that humbled him to undergo so horrible a shame it was the fear he had of a dreadful storm just ready to break and fall upon his Head For the Pope having turned that sorvent Zeal which animated the People so much to go in defence of tho Holy-Land had this very year order'd a Croisade to be Preached against the Albigenses and many Lords Prelats and great numbers of common People had listed themselves in this Militia the King himself set out Fifteen thousand Men that were to be maintain'd at his own charge These bore the Cross upon their Breast to distinguish them from such as went to the Holy-Land who wore that badge upon their Shoulder Amongst these Heretiques there were some whom they called the Poor
others who named themselves the Humbled The First made profession of an Evangelical poverty the Second undertook to Preach wherever they came To contradict or countermine these two Religious Orders were instituted viz. The Friers Mineurs or Cordeliers and the Preaching Friers or Jacobins The First Foundation of that was laid in Italy by St. Francis d'Assise of the other in Languedoc by St. Dominique of the Noble Family of the Guzmans in Spain and Cannon of Osma who came into this Province with a Bishop to Convert the Albigenses Year of our Lord 1208 King Philip would have been himself in this Expedition or would have sent his Son for these Sectaries had committed some Hostilities in his Territory acknowledging his Enemy King John had he not feared a Landing of the English in Bretagne under favour of the Fort du Garplie He went not therefore beyond the Loire but Commanded the Nobility that held of him to arm themselves and take that Fort as in truth they did this year The Bishops of Orleans and Auxerre who had been sent thither with their Vassals upon this Expedition being return'd again without leave pretending not to be oblig'd to march with the Army but when the King was there in Person the King commanded their Regalia to be seized that is to say what they held in Fief of him not their Tithes Offerings and other dues necessarily belonging to People of that Function They made complaint by their Envoys to Pope Innocent III. then went themselves The Pope having examined the matter found they had failed and transgressed against the Customs and Laws of the Kingdom so that they were fain to pay a Mulct to the King to re-enter upon their Temporals Year of our Lord 1209 The number of these New-Crossed Soldiers were not less then 500000 Men not all Combatans as I believe amongst whom there were five or six Bishops the Duke of Burgundy the Earls of Nevers St. Poll and de Montfort The general Rendezvous was at Lyons about the Feast of St. John Thence going into Languedoc they assault the City of Beziers one of the strongest held by the Albigenses forced it and put all to the edge of the Sword there being slain above threescore thousand Persons Those in Carcassonne terrified with this horrible Slaughter surrendred upon Discretion thinking themselves very happy to escape naked or only in their Shirts Year of our Lord 1209 The Lords in this Army having called a Council elected Simon Earl of Montfort chief Commander in this War and to govern the Conquests they had and should make upon those Hereticks That done the Earl of Nevers returned with a great Party of those Soldiers and soon after the Duke of Burgundy with another so that Simon was left ill attended yet he maintained himself by a more then Heroick Valour and Conquer'd Mire-pâ—ix Pamiers and Alby In so much as in a little time he made himself Master of the Albigois the Counties of Beziers and Carcassonne and above an hundred Castles Year of our Lord 1209 In these times the School at Paris flourish'd more then ever They gave it the name of University because all sorts of Sciences were universally taught there although in effect the desire to Study or Learn and the affluence of Scholars were much greater then their Doctrine A certain Priest of the Diocess of Chartres named Almaric beginning to Preach up some Novelties had been forced to recant for which he died of grief Several after his Death following his Opinions were discover'd and condemn'd to the Fire he Excommunicated by the Council of Paris his Body taken out of the Grave and his Ashes cast on the Dunghil And because they believ'd the Books of Aristotles Metaphysicks lately brought them from Constantinople had fill'd their heads with these Heretical Subtilties the same Council prohibited either the keeping or reading them upon pain of Excommunication Year of our Lord 1209 Guy Count d'Auvergne for the violence and injustice he committed against the Clergy particularly the Bishop of Clermont whom he had imprison'd was deprived of his County by King Philip and could never be restor'd again Year of our Lord 1210 The Emperor Otho grew stubborn in the defence of the Rights of the Empire and prepared to go into Italy wholly to subdue it with a mighty Army which he raised with the Money his Nephew King John had sent him upon condition that from thence he should fall upon France Thereupon he was thunder-struck with Excommunication by Pope Innocent and a little after a great part of the German Princes elected Roger-Frederick II. Son of the Emperor Henry VI. about the Age of Seventeen years and who in his Fathers Life-time had already been named King of the Romans The Pope consented to this Election and the following year Frederic who was then in his Kingdom of Sicily passed into Germany Every other while there came new Bands of Soldiers of the Cross to the Earl de Montfort even from Flanders and Germany but slipt away again within six weeks or two Months With these Recruits he carried all the Places and Castles not only of the Hereticks but likewise of other Lords The King of Arragon of whom divers in those Countries held their Lands in Under-Fiefs because of some Lordships he was possessed of wrote to the Pope about it and the Earl of Toulouze went even to Rome to make his Complaints where his Holiness receiv'd him well enough and promis'd him Justice Year of our Lord 1210 But at his return they propounded an Agreement with Montfort if he would let him have all he had already taken He could never consent to it and Milon the Popes Legat Excommunicated him in the Council of Avignon because he levied certain new Tolls upon his Lands The King of Arragon came in Person to another Council which was held at St. Gilles to endeavour to accommodate Affairs and restore the Earl of Foix and the Vicount de Bearn who were dispossess'd as favourers of Hereticks but he could not obtain any thing Year of our Lord 1211 The Toulouzain after so many mean and ruinous Submissions takes the Bit in his Teeth and puts himself in a posture to defend his own Then is he openly Excommunicated and his Lands exposed to any that could Conquer them Montfort besieges Toulouze but the grand Recruits that were come with him stealing away in a little time he is forced to raise the Siege The Earls of Toulouze and de Foix with their Confederates pursue him and besiege him in Chasteauneuf a thing incredible above 50000 Men could not overpower or force three hundred are beaten and shamefully retreat Year of our Lord 1211 The young Princes Frederick II. and Lewis eldest Son of King Philip delegated by his Father Confer at Vaucouleurs upon the Frontiers of Champagne to renew the Alliance between France and the Empire and to unite themselves more closely against Otho and against King John his Uncle two irreconcilable Enemies Renauld Earl of
Boulogne had served Philip very well since his Reconciliation and had likewise been very well recompenc'd by a great deal of good Land bestow'd upon him in that Country Nevertheless the King suspecting him of holding Correspondence with the King of England demands his strong Holds of him and upon his refusal to deliver them he attaques them and press'd upon him so briskly that he durst not defend them but went away to the Earl of Bar his Kinsman and from thence to Flanders Year of our Lord 1212 Although King John had been Excommunicate the precedent year by the Popes Legat he scoff'd at those Censures But he was hugely astonished when he understood that by a more terrible Sentence the Pope had absolv'd his Subjects of their Allegiance and expos'd his Kingdom as a Prey and that King Philip made great preparations to invade it having already a prodigious number of Vessels ready at the mouth of the Seine The Legat by secret Informations increases his fears and disturbs him to that height as he promises to make his Kingdom hold of the Holy See and to pay a thousand Mark of Silver as a yearly Tribute besides the Peter-Pence When the Legat had wire-drawn all he desired from him he tries to persuade Philip to wave his Enterprize but he was too far engag'd in Honour and Expence to break off so Year of our Lord 1213 All the Lords of the Kingdom in a Parliament held at Soissons the Morrow after Palm-Sunday had promis'd to assist him with their Lives and Fortunes There was only Ferrand Son of Sancho I. King of Portugal Earl of Flanders that refused to accompany him in this Expedition unless he would restore the Cities of Aire and St. Omer which he had gotten from him to have his consent that he might Marry the Heiress of Flanders who was the eldest Daughter of Baldwin V. The King thought that his approach might bring him back to his Duty when he should see him on those Coasts ready to Embarque Therefore when he was at Boulogne he sent him order to come and meet him at Graveline The Earl made them wait for him but he appeared not so that the King resolv'd before he took Shipping to put him in a Condition not to be able to hurt him Year of our Lord 1213 The Towns of Ipres Cassel and all the Country to Bruges submitted to his Sword His Naval Force consisting of One thousand seven hundred Sail having cast Anchor at Dam. While the greatest part were in the Road with scarce any Men comes the English Fleet Commanded by the Earls of Boulogne and Salisbury who took and sunk a great many and laid Siege to the place Philip decamping from before Ghent routs those they had sent on shoar and slew two or three thousand Nevertheless they keeping the Seas and his Vessels not being able to get out without falling into their hands he took out all their Furniture and caused them all to be burnt and the City of Dam afterwards Year of our Lord 1213 Then having wasted and plundred the Territory of Bruges squeezed great Sums of Money from those Citizens as likewise from the Inhabitants of Ghent and Ipres sack'd and dismantled L'Isle he left his Son Lewis and Gaucher Count de Saint Pol in that Country with a strong Body of Horse and Garisons in the Cities of Doway and Tournay only When he was retir'd out of Flanders the Earl Ferrand re-entred and soon Master'd Tournay and L'Isle which Lewis was beginning to repair as in revenge Lewis sack'd and burnt Courtray Philip for the second time goes into Flanders to secure his Conquests and presently Ferrand withdraws but as soon as Philip was gone Renauld Earl of Boulogne took the Field with some Forces he brought out of England But without doing any Exploit only after he scowred about the Country once or twice and attempted two or three Sieges in vain he forced Henry Earl of Louvain and Duke of Brabant who had Married one of the Kings Daughters to joyn with him On the other side King John landed at Rochel with a great Army and having patch'd up again with the Earls de la Marche d'Eu d'Angoulesme de Lezignan and other Poitevins who assisted him with their Forces crosses Poitou made himself Master of some places in Anjou and began to rebuild the Walls of Anger 's his Native City To hinder this Progress the King recall'd his Son out of Flanders and sets him in opposition This Prince takes his head Quarters at Chinon and was seconded with the Forces of Bretagne by Peter de Dreux who this year had Married the Heiress of that Dutchy It was Alix or Alice Daughter of the Dutchess Constance and Guy de Touars Year of our Lord 1213 In the mean while the English wrought diligently about the fortifying Anger 's and enclosed that part towards the River of Maine with a Wall His Soldiers made excursions to the very Suburbs of Nantes on the other side of the Loire surpriz'd Robert the eldest Son of the Earl of Dreux in an Ambuscade who was got over the Bridge to attaque them cut his Men in pieces and made him Prisoner Peter King of Arragon having gotten into his League and under his Protection the Earls of Toulouze de Foix and de Comenges the Vicount de Beziers and others whose Lands Montfort had usurp'd sâ—â—t his Heraulds to deâ—ie him Montfort had left a strong Garison in Muret to make waste in the Neighbourhood of Toulouze This King lays Siege to it in the Month of September His Army consisted of an Hundred thousand Men almost Montfort who was at Castlenaudry having hardly drawn together a thousand or twelve hundred got into the place From whence making a furious Sally upon the King who slighting so small a number set down to eat at the beginning of the Fight cut all his Army off threw him on the ground where his Throat was cut by a private Soldier took his Royal Standard which was carried in Triumph to Rome and cover'd the Field with dead Bodies without the loss of Year of our Lord 1213 above eight Men. The weighty blow of this Club made the Earl of Toulouze and the Inhabitants of that great City fall down at the Legats Feet they offer'd to submit to whatever Conditions he would impose but they could not get off with words it was resolv'd they should be plum'd of all Year of our Lord 1214 This year 1214. France was shrewdly attaqu'd by King John and on the Flanders side by the Emperor Otho and the Counts Ferrand of Flanders and Renauld de Boulogne but both in the one and the other part his Arms remained Victorious Prince Lewis having drawn his Forces together at Chinon march'd resolutely against King John who besieged the Castle de la Roche au Moine upon the Loire between Anger 's and Nantes Being within a days Journey of that place that King was frighted repasses the River in such great haste
that he left all his Warlike Engines behind and part of his Men who were kill'd or drowned upon the Retreat Never after durst he shew his head in any place where he knew Lewis could come and abandoned all Anjou to him and his new Fortifications of Anger 's which were presently demolish'd Year of our Lord 1214 Before the Month was expir'd after Lewis's Victory King Philip his Father gained a much more signal one nigh the Village of Bouvines which is between L'Isle and Tournay against the Emperor Otho and his Confederates They had an Army of 150000 fighting Men his was weaker by one half but strengthned with the flower of the Nobility and many Princes of the Blood viz. Eudes Duke of Burgundy Robert de Courtenay Robert Earl of Dreux and his Brother Philip Bishop of Beauvais The Battle was fought the 25th of July and lasted from Noon till Night Guerin Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and a little before elected Bishop of Senlis to whom the King left all things drew up the Army in Battalia Matthew Baron of Montmorency William des Barres Seneschal to the King Henry Earl of Bar Bartholomy de Roye Gaucher Count de Saint Pol and Adam Vicount de Melun had the greatest shares in the Danger and in the Victory Guerin fought not with his hands because of his Quality of Bishop nor did Philip Bishop of Beauvais smite with the Sword but a Wooden Club believing that to beat out Peoples Brains was not shedding of Blood The King ran a great hazard in his own Person having been beaten down trod under the Horses Feet and wounded in the Throat but in fine his Enemies were worsted every where Otho put to flight his great Standard being a Dragon with an Imperial Eagle over it and the Chariot which bore it broken all to pieces and five Earls amongst whom were Ferrand and Renauld with two and twenty Lords that carried Banners taken Prisoners The Fortune-tellers had assured the old Countess of Flanders Ferrands Aunt that there should happen a great Battle that the King should be overthrown Horses tread over him and that Ferrand should enter in Triumph into Paris The first part of this Prediction held good without Equivocation the second was likewise true but after another manner then they imagined for indeed they carried him into Paris in Triumph but in quality of a Captive loaden with Chains and linked fast in a Chariot drawn by Ferrand Horses that is according to the Language then used of an Iron-grey-Colour The Parisians made the King a most pompous Entrance and Celebrated his Victory with Solemn Joy for eight days together Ferrand was shut up in the Tower of the Louvre without the City Walls and Renauld in the new Tower of Peronne with Shackles on his Legs and a Chain that fastned him to a great piece of Timber Philip had made a Vow in the midst of his Joy for this most happy success to build an Abby in honour of God and of the Blesled Virgin his Son Lewis performed it by founding that of Nostre-Dame de la Victoire near Sanlis The Lords of Poitou that had favour'd the English finding that Lewis was Victorious sent to tender him all manner of Submission He would not trust to their words but went into the Country with his Army to bring things to a full period The Vicount de Touars the most considerable of them all obtained the Kings Pardon without much ado by the intercession of Peter Duke of Bretagne the rest were utterly lost and King John who was then in Partenay could not have avoided being taken if he had not bethought himself of interposing the Popes Legat to demand a Truce That power was so formidable that the King durst not deny him and agreed to it for five years Year of our Lord 1215 When that was done Prince Louis or Lewis whether out of devotion or jealousie of the Power of Count de Montfort took up the Cross on him against the Albigeois and made a Voyage to Languedoc Montfort came to Vienne to meet him and the Legat to Valence Montfort who accompanied him received Bulls from the Pope Year of our Lord 1215 which in Consequence of the Decree of the Council of Montpellier held some Months before gave him the Tolosian Territories in guard or keeping and all those other that had been Conquer'd by the Adventurers of the Cross upon Condition to receive Investiture of the King and render him Feodal Duty So that we may say ☜ the Pope named and the King Confer'd upon his Nomination From thence Lewis was at Montpellier then at Beziers where he gave order the Walls of Narbonne and Tolose should be demolish'd Mean while the Lateran Council notwithstanding the pitiful Remonstrances of the Count de Tolose who was there in Person with his Son adjudged the propriety of his Lands to Montfort reserving only those he had in Provence for his Son and four hundred Marks of Silver yearly for his Subsistance to be understood if they shew'd themselves obedient to the Holy See From that time Montfort took on him the Quality of Earl of Toulouze and came to receive Investiture from the King in the City of Melun While Lewis was yet in those Countries the English Lords sent to offer him the Crown of England and demand Assistance against the Tyrannies of John who was Excommunicated by the Pope and who had robb'd them of their Liberties and Priviledges for which cause they had taken up Arms to Dethrone him They had the City of London and some other places for them nevertheless their design did not go on well and their dispair forc'd them to seek their safety by some Foreign Assistance Year of our Lord 1215 16. The Tyrant seeing his loss infallible stuck not to abase the Dignity of his Crown to gain the Popes Protection He satisfies him therefore and becomes his Vassal and Tributary of a thousand Mark of Silver but this abasement added scorn to the execration his Subjects had for him Now the Holy Father resolv'd highly to protect his new Vassal Excommunicated the English and sent a Legat into France to divert Lewis from that Enterprize and desired King Philip to put a stop to it Philip makes protestation of all Respect and Obedience to the Holy See but said he could not impose upon his Son that necessity not to pursue the Rights of his Wife who was Neece to King John So that Lewis accepted the Crown of England and landed with a great Equipage in the Isle of Thanet thence went to London where he was solemnly Crowned John being excluded from his Capital City retired to Winchester and by his flight gave him full leisure to receive the Hommage of all the Nobility and secure all about London The Legat not being able to put a stop to Lewis by any Arguments or Persuasions Excommunicated him and all his Adherents but he appeal'd to the Pope they had not yet found out the
A prodigious Comet appeared in the Heavens shortly after and whether it were the Sign or were the Cause or perhaps neither the one nor the other a Quartain Ague seized King Philip which continuing and wasting him near a years time did in the end bring him to his Grave Amaulry de Montfort had profer'd to give up all his Conquests in Languedoc to Prince Lewis But Philip knowing the Constitution of his Son was too delicate and tender could not give consent he should undertake so toylsom a War notwithstanding the Pope and the Clergy press'd mightily to have them make an utter destruction of those Hereticks who without any respect still aimed at their Persons Year of our Lord 1223 and Estates principally They had therefore at Paris called a grand Assembly of Prelats and Lords to compleat this business John King of Jerusalem and the Popes Legat were Assistants Philip sick as he was would needs be amongst them and went expressly from Chasteau de Pacy on the Epte where he had diverted himself When he arriv'd at Mantes the Distemper so encreased upon him that he was forc'd to stop there and some days after gave up the Ghost the Twenty fifth of July in the year 1223. The length of his days was Fifty eight years that of his Reign from his Coronation Forty four His Monument is at St. Denis whither his Corps was convey'd with great Ceremony By his Will made the year before he ordained and appointed that 50000 Livers or 25000 Mark of Silver at 40 Solz to the Mark should be put into the hands of his Executors to be restor'd and paid to those from whom it should appear he had detained or unjustly taken any thing He bequeathed likewise Ten thousand Franks to Queen Isemburge ..... to Lewis his Son to employ for the defence of the Kingdom and no other use 53500 Mark of Silver to the King of Jerusalem 2000 to the Templars and as much to the Hospitallers of St. Johns towards the Recovery of the Holy Land 21000 Livers Parisis to the Poor to Orphans to Widows and Leprous People and 20000 to Amaulry de Montfort to redeem his Wife and Children out of the hands of the Albigois He Married three Wives Isabella Daughter of Baldwin IV. Ears of Haynault Isemburge Daughter of Waldemar the Great King of Denmark and Agnes Daughter of Bertold Duke of Merania Of the first he had no Child remaining but Prince Lewis who Reign'd by the second he had none but he had two by Agnes these were Philip who had the Earldom of Boulogne by Marrying the Heiress which was Mahauld or Matilda Daughter of the unfortunate Regnauld de Dammartin and Mary who was first joyned in Marriage Anno 1206. with Philip Earl of Namur and afterwards Anno 1212. with Henry IV. Earl of Louvain and Duke of Brabant He had also a Natural Son named Peter Charlot who was Treasurer of Tours and afterwards Bishop of Noyon Of all the Kings of the Third Race he annexed most Lands to the Crown and most Power to those that succeeded him wresting Normandy the Counties of Anjou and Maine Touraine Berry and Poitou from John Without-Land he did not a little contribute on his part towards the lessening or pulling down the Earl of Toulouze and by ruining those two Princes took away the Counterpoise that balanced his own Power in the Kingdom After which he brought the Grandees more easily both to respect and fear him and the People to bear greater Burthens and Taxes then they had done under his Predecessors The French gave him the name of Conqueror which Paulus Emilius has rendred in Latin Augustus and this seemed so proper and sounded so well to all that have written since that they have follow'd and continued it and have almost forgotten the other He was well shap'd and without any Corporal defect excepting that one of his Eyes was half obscured by an Amblyopia for which some Italian Authors have called him One ey'd He was a brave Cavalier and excellent Captain laborious and active happy in his Enterprizes because he undertook with Deliberation and Counsel and executed with celerity and heat sometimes a little Cholerick and oversway'd with Passion but bating that a great Politician who knew where it was fit to use Caresses where to employ Threats whom to Reward and whom to Punish somewhat more enclined to Severity then Mercy Splendid and Magnificent highly Charitable to the Poor zealous in doing Justice to his Subjects and no less zealous in Religion taking as much care to preserve the purity of Faith by rooting out all Heresie and defend the Goods and Liberties of the Church against Usurpers as to maintain the Rights and Honour of the Kingdom and therefore he was respected by the Clergy and People as the Defender of the Church and Father of his Country It is to be observ'd that in his Reign and in his Fathers and Grandfathers there were five great Officers of the Crown that is the Grand-Seneschal in Latine Dapifer great Chamberer Butler Constable and Chancellor I believe they were in the Kings Gift who might both place and displace I do not know what the Formalities were he used or whether the Grandees and Parliament or General Assembly of Prelats and Lords had any part in the nomination but I know they were not perpetual and did in some measure resemble rather Commissions then Offices that nevertheless their Function was so necessary that whoever held those Places signed all Acts and Writings of importance so that if any one of these were vacant it was ever noted down at the bottom of such Writing or Act. The Author of the Lives of the Ministers of State hath very curiously observed that the Office of Constable was a Member taken from the Grand-Seneschal and that of Great Chamberlain from the Grand Chamberer That the Constable had no Power or Command in the Armies till about the year 1218. after Philip Augustus had long left the Office of Grand-Seneschal vacant on purpose to destroy it as I suppose because it had too great Power He likewise proves very plainly that the High-Chamberlain had the management of the Kings Treasury and that the Office of Chancellor was the lowest of the five great ones we have specified till Guerin Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and afterwards Bishop of Senlis having that Place conferr'd on him by Lewis VIII after he had held the Seal Five and twenty years together raised it to a higher pitch of Honour and Degree then ever Towards the end of this Reign Families began to have fixed certain and hereditary Surnames The Lords and Gentlemen took them most commonly from the names of their Lands and Estates they had in possession Men of Learning from the places of their Nativity and Jews when they were Converted as likewise the Wealthy Merchants from the place of their abode As for what has given Surnames to the Plebeians some had it
decamp till he brought the Besieged to Reason in so much that on the Assumption-day they were reduced to a Capitulation They gave up two hundred Hostages their Walls were pull'd down their Moats and Grafts fill'd up and three hundred Houses with Turrets demolish'd These were Inns belonging to Gentlemen who had the like at Toulouze and other great Cities in those Provinces Going thence the King went into Provence and all the Towns surrender'd to him within four Leagues of Toulouze The Season growing bad and he somewhat tender of Constitution he takes his way back towards France leaving the Conduct of his Forces and the Government of those Countries in the hands of Imbert de Beau-jeu Year of our Lord 1226 Upon his return one of the Grandees of the Kingdom whom History has not dar'd to name caused some Poyson to be given him whereof he died at the Castle of Montpencier in Auvergne upon a Sunday being the Octave of All-Saints He had Year of our Lord 1226 lived Thirty nine years and had Reigned three and about four Months He is buried at St. Denis by his Father The Clergy because of his Piety and his Chastity reported that his Sickness proceeded from his too great Continence for his Wife did not go with him and that he chose rather to dye then make use of an unlawful Remedy they presented him for Cure As he foresaw things in a posture that threatned great troubles after his death he took the Oaths and Seals of Twelve Lords that were about him that they should cause his eldest Son to be Crowned and if he failed they should put the Second in his stead By his Wife Blanche de Castille he had nine Sons and two Daughters there were but five Sons alive Lewis Robert Alphonso Charles and John According to his Will and Testament Lewis Reigned Robert had the County of Artois and propagated the branch of that name Alphonso had that of Poitou and Charles that of Anjou From him sprung the first Branch of Anjou John dyed at the age of 14 years Of the two Daughters only Isabella was left who having been promised to divers Princes and grown to be an old Maid took on the Holy vail and shut her self up the year 1260. in the Monastery of Longchamp between Paris and St. Cloud which the King her Brother founded for her Saint Lewis King XLIII Aged Eleven years six Months POPES HONORIUS III. Five Months GREG. IX Elect in April 1227. S. Fourteen years Five Months CELESTINE IV. Elect in Sept. 1241. S. Eighteen days Vacancy of Twenty Months INNOCENT IV. Elect in June 1243. S. Eleven years Five Months and a half ALEXANDER IV. Elect in Decemb. 1254. S. Six years Five Months URBAN IV. Son of a Cobler of Troyes Elected about the end of August 1261. S. Three years Thirty four days CLEMENT IV. Elected in Feb. 1265. S. Three years and about Ten Months Vacancy of Thirty five Months from Dec. in the year 1268. the Cardinals not agreeing amongst themselves in the Conclave about the Election THis is the Third Minority in the Capetine Race and the First wherein a Year of our Lord 1226. in Novembre Woman had the Regency Blanche de Castille a stranger but courageous and able undertook it and carried it being assisted by the Counsels of Romain the Cardinal Legat who had great power with her and grounded upon the Certificates of some Lords who attested that her Husband being on his Death-bed had ordered that he would have his eldest Son with the Kingdom and all his other Brothers be left to her Guardianship and Government Immediately before the Lords had time to contrive any obstacles to her Regency Year of our Lord 1226 she drew all the Forces she possibly could together and with them went and caused her eldest Son Lewis to be Crowned in the City of Rheims The Episcopal See being vacant the Bishop of Soissons who is the Suffragant performed the Ceremony It was on the First day of December The Lords of the Kingdom had been invited thither by Letters but the greatest part refused to come amongst others Peter Duke of Bretagne Henry Earl of Bar his Brother-in-law Hugh de Luzignan Earl de la Marche Thibauld Earl of Champagne Hugh de Chastillon Count de St. Pol and divers others They were framing a League amongst them demanding that the Regent who was a Stranger should give security for her good Administration that whatever had been taken from the Lords during the two last Reigns should be restored to them and such as were prisoners should be released especially Ferrand Earl of Flanders Year of our Lord 1226 After her departure from Rheims notwithstanding the severity of the Winter she marched towards Bretagne where lay the strength of the League The Confederates being not yet ready avoided what mischief they could by a Retreat but she followed so close at their heels that the Earl of Champagne fell off from the party then the others entred into a Treaty and promised to appear in full Parliament which was to be held at Chinon and which at their request was removed to Tours then to Vendosme Year of our Lord 1227 In that Parliament which was held in the Month of March a Peace was patched up between the Regent and the Lords but the same year they being assembled at Corbeil plotted to surprize the King as he was coming from Chastres to Paris their design had infallibly succeeded if the Queen Regent had not been informed and cast her self with the King into Montlehery The Citizens of Paris having taken up Arms went thither to guard him and brought him back with joyful acclamations to their City The Earl of Champagne was the man that had given this private intelligence to the Queen This young Prince had a pretence of Love or Gallantry for her rather out of some Court-like vanity then for the power of her charms she being a Woman of above Forty years of age she knew how to make her own advantage of his folly and wished him to continue amongst those discontented People that he might betray all their intrigues to her Year of our Lord 1227 The King of England would needs concern himself in this quarrel and promised them his assistance and the Earl of Toulouze taking his opportunity during these Brouilleries and Stirs had got possession again of all his Places The Queen Regent fearing this Flame might be blown too high renew'd a Treaty with the Princes of this League whom by that means she kept from farther proceeding all this year and in the mean while she confirm'd the Alliance with the Emperour Frederick made a Truce with the English for a Twelve-month and came to an agreement with the Duke of Bretagne who gave his Daughter to be Married to a Son of hers named John Thus the Earl of Toulouze was left alone Imert de Beau-jeu having received a notable re-inforcement bethought himself instead of taking the Castles one by one it would do
the eldest was the most happy being joyned this year to Lewis King of France a Prince that Year of our Lord 1235 was much greater by his Virtues then his Crown The same year the Earl of Champagee it is not said for what cause fell again into Rebellion for which he was punished with the loss of his Cities of Montereau-Faut-Yonne Bray and Nogent upon the Seine These losses did not make him much wiser he persisted still in his foolish passion for the Queen who had ruin'd him and retired to his Castle of Provins to write Verses and Songs for entertainment of his amorous Dotage Year of our Lord 1235. and 36. Nevertheless he was soon diverted by the death of Sancho VIII called the Strong King of Navarre who dying without any Males left the Kingdom to him as the next Heir and Son of his Daughter Blanch. So he went and took possession and transported a great number of Husbandmen from his Landes in Brie and Champagne who improved and made that Countrey very fertile and populous The Countrey of Artois was erected to an Earldom Pairrie in favour of Robert the Kings Brother on whom his Father had bestow'd it by his Will Some place this erection in the time of Philip Augustus However it were I think we may be confident it is the first of that nature At the sollicitation of Pope Gregory who had as well a quarrel to the Emperour Frederick's Forces his Enemy declar'd they being in possession of the remainder of Year of our Lord 1237. and 38. the Kingdom of Jerusalem as to the Saracens there was a great Crusado of French Lords over whom the new King of Navarre was made Chief But these Adventurers had no better success then all the rest for the ill conduct of these new Soldiers of the Cross and their Divisions brought the whole Army almost to ruine and most part of the Officers and Commanders were slain there or taken prisoners Year of our Lord 1238 Peter Duke of Burgundy died in his return from this Expedition his only Son John Surnamed Rufus succeeded him The affairs of Constantinople were no whit better the Emperour Baldwin comes into France to beg assistance against the Greeks and for a great sum of Money sold the Crown of Thorns wherewith our Saviour was Crowned the Spung and the Lance which pierced his Side to St. Lewis the King who put them into his Treasury of Reliques in the Holy Chappel which he had purposely built in his own Palace It was now about three years that all the Doctors both Seculars and Regulars of the Sacred Faculty of Divnity at Paris which was then almost the only School for that Science and as it were the perpetual Council of the Gallican Church had resolv'd the question and were all agreed upon this judgment in a famous Assembly and after mature deliberation and discussion that oue and the same Ecclesiastical person could in Conscience hold but one Benefice at one time This year 1238. William III. Bishop of Paris held another Assembly of the same Faculty in the Chapter of the Jacobins where it was unanimously concluded That one could not without forfeiture of Eternal Happiness possess two Benefices at the same time provided one of them were of the value only of Fifteen Liures parisis per annum There were none but Philip Chancellour of the Vniversity and Arnold afterwards Bishop of Amiens who were obstinately resolv'd to hold their own The First when he lay on his Death-bed being earnestly desired and pressed home by the Bishop William to discharge himself of that burthen which would sink him down to Hell replied That he would try whether that were true How few are to be seen in these days that do not chuse to run the same hazard or are not troubled that they cannot have the opportunity of such ✚ a Trial But it does not appear so great a risque to them since the Popes give Dispensations Year of our Lord 1239 The quarrels between Pope Gregory IX and the Emperour Frederic growing hot to all extremity of Outrages on either side Gregory sent to St. Lewis King of France to proffer him the Empire for his Brother Robert Earl of Artois The Lords assembled by the King upon a proposition so important did not approve that violent proceeding and said it was sufficient for Robert that he was Brother to a King who was more excellent in Dignity and Nobility then any Emperour whatever The Albigensis could not submit themselves to the Orders of the Inquisition Trincavel Son of the Vicount de Beziers and five or six Lords of the Countrey putting themselves at the head of them they seized upon Carcassonne and some Year of our Lord 1239 other places and ran into some parts belonging to the King in hostile manner He presently sent some Forces thither Commanded by John Earl of Beaumont who drove them out from Carcassonne and besieged them in Mont-real where after they had held some time they made their capitulation by means of the Earls of Foix and Toulouze Year of our Lord 1239 The old de la Montagne so they named the Prince of the Assassins a People that occupied the mountainous Canton of Syria had dispatched two of his Murtherers into France to kill the King but soon after I cannot say by what motive he repented and countermanded them by some others who before they could find them out advertised the King to have a care of himself This old de la Montagne bred up great numbers of young Youths in pleasant aud delicious Palaces and the hopes of an Eternal Felicity in the other World if they obey'd his Commands blindfold and to make them the more capable and fit to execute his bloody Will in all Countreys he made them learn all Languages Year of our Lord 1239 The interests of the Pope and the Emperour were not at all compatible together and therefore Frederick and Honorius and then Gregory IX who succeeded Honorius fell necessarily into discords and afterwards into mortal hatred Gregory le ts fly the Thunder-bolts of the Church against Frederick and his Legat having called the Prelats of France together at Meaux order'd several of them to go to Rome to hold a Council where they pretended to degrade that Emperour He complained to the King desired him not to permit his Bishops to go out of France and his desire not taking effect he caused them to be way-laid and watch'd at Sea and having taken them distributed them in divers prisons Then in his turn he for a while slighted the Kings intercession for their release which thing made some alteration in that good correspondence that for some time had continued between France and the Empire In the year 1240. The King having assembled the flower of the Barons and the Year of our Lord 1240 Knights of his Kingdom at Saumur gave the Girdle of Knighthood to his Brother Alphonso whose Marriage had a little before been compleated with Jane
Daughter and Heiress of the Earl of Toulouze and also gave him the Counties of Poitou and Auvergne and all that had been conquer'd in Languedoc upon the Albigensis Year of our Lord 1241 These years the Tartars made cruel irruptions amongst others one in Hungary under the Command of Bath who was one of their Generals and one in Russia Poland and Silesia whither they were conducted by another of their Generals who was named Pera. These Barbarians were Scythians Originaries between the Caspian Sea and Mount Imaus Some make them descended from the Ten Tribes of the Hebrews who were transferr'd by the King of Assyria into those Countreys and derive their Name from the Hebrew Word which signifies Forsaken Others derive it from the River Tatar which ran thorough their Countrey and say it was given to the whole Nation of the Mogles composed of seven principal People of which they made one They were Tributaries and as we say Slaves to a Christian Nestorian Prince whose Kingdom was in the Indies he was called Prestor-John But Cingis or Tzingis-Cham set that Nation free about the end of the last age ruined the States of Prester-John and founded a very great Kingdom out of it from whence divers Colonies went forth and setled in other Countreys even in some parts of Europe The Earl of Toulouze sought out all means underhand to repair the shameful Treaty he had made with the King and therefore he consulted and contrived with James King of Arragon who was come to Montpellier and with the Earl of Provence though he were the Kings Father-in-law to Dissolve his Marriage with Sanchia Year of our Lord 1241 the Arragonians Aunt upon pretence of parentage that he might Marry the Daughter of the Earl of Provence and that his Daughter Jane whom he had perforce given to the Earl of Poitou might not be his Heiress An example that proves to any that might doubt that amongst Great ones Honour Parentage Alliance and ☞ Conscience does easily give way and stoop to their Interest and Humour Hugh Count de la Marche to his misfortune had Married Isabella the Widow of King John who had formerly ravished her from him This Womans pride would not suffer him to do Homage to Alphonso the new Earl of Poitou the King undertook to compel him and on a suddain took several of his Towns and demolish'd them amongst others Fontenay where his Brother Alphonso was wounded with an Arrow The King of Englands assistance in behalf of his Mother was too slow he and his Brother Richard landed in the River of Burdeaux The Earl de la Marche had assured them that all Poitou would rise and joyn with them upon their arrival but as his promise failed their courage failed too the King falls upon them at the Bridge of Taillebourg fighting desperately in person making them retreat as far as Xaintes and from thence to Blaye The Earl and his proud Dame being forced to forget she had been a Queen found no safety but at the Kings Feet They experimented his Goodness was as great as his Courage and although she had suborn'd Rascals to Murther him who had been discover'd and punished he pardon'd both her and her Husband keeping only two or three of their Places in his hands till he was better assured of their Obedience Year of our Lord 1243 Italy was horribly shatter'd by the Factions of the Guelphs and Gibelins The First held for the Pope the others for the Emperour Year of our Lord 1243 The jealousie betwixt the Franciscans and the Dominicans which had its Birth almost with their Orders encreased likewise proportionably with their growth Insomuch that the Pope who stood in need of them and the King St. Lewis who cherished them found it no little trouble to distribute their favours equally and hold the ballance so even that they should have no cause to take advantage of each other But both of them took much over all other Religions Orders whom they despised as more imperfect and not only set a value upon themselves for their Divinity wherein sometimes they were so meerly notional and over-subtil as it approached very near to error but likewise took upon them the functions of ordinary Pastors drawing the grists of Alms pious Legacies and Burials of rich people to their own Mills concerning themselves in the directing of Consciences and the administration of the Sacraments to the prejudice of the Hierarchy who from that time hath ever been contending with them to maintain her authority Year of our Lord 1244 The Holy See having been vacant near twenty Months Innocent IV. was elected He was thought to be a friend to Frederick but whether that Emperour had not used him well or what else it were he followed the steps of his Predecessors and began to quarrel with him upon the same score of differences The feud grew so hot that Frederic being the stronger in Italy Innocent went thence that he might with more safety let fly his Thunder against him and came into France where being arrived in December this year 1244. he called a Council at Lyons for the year following In the year 1228. the Emperour Frederic being constrained by the threats of Pope Gregory was gone into the Holy-Land where by his Reputation rather then his Sword he had so contrived it that the Sultan had given him up the City of Jerusalem but dismantled with part of the Holy-Land The Pope not satisfied with that agreement had afterwards procured other Adventurers to go who broke the Truce aforesaid to the great damage of the Christians who being mightily weakned it hapned Ann. 1244. that the Chorasmins a People drove out of Persia by the Year of our Lord 1244 Tartars others say of Arabia fell upon the Holy-Land laid it all waste ruined all the Holy places of Jerusalem and drowned them in the Blood of Christians This news was brought to St. Lewis whilst he was fallen sick at Pontoise towards the end of December All those that were about him despairing of his Life he made a vow to God if he restored him to health that he would go in person to make war against those Infidels and in truth being recover'd he took the Cross from the hands of the Legat but could not so soon accomplish his pious design Year of our Lord 1245 The Council of Lyons was open'd the Monday after St. John Baptists Feast in the Abbey de St. Just and from thence transferr'd to the Cathedral Church of St. Johns The Emperour Baldwin the Earl Raimond de Toulouze and Berenguier de Provence were present there these two solliciting for the dispensation that Raimond might Marry with Beatrix the youngest Daughter of Berenguier but the Kings of France and of England and Richard Earl of Cornwal who had Married the other three Sisters hindred the Grant of it Year of our Lord 1245 The Emperour Frederic having quitted his Affairs of Italy to come there and having in the mean time sent his
Ambassadors thither before received tidings when he was got to Turin that the Pope and the Fathers had Excommunicated him with Candles extinguished and degraded him for divers things imposed upon him amongst others That he detained the Church-Lands That he had intelligence with the Saracens That he erred in divers Articles of Faith Year of our Lord 1245 After this deposition all his Affairs crumbled to nothing in an instant The Milaneses beat him the other Christian Princes took an aversion for him as an impious person even the Germans that they may not reproach the French for contributing to ruine the Empire rejected him and for King of the Romans elected Henry VII Landgrave of Hesse and Turingia when as the King in an enterview he had with the Pope at Clugny endeavour'd to make up the breach by an agreement betwixt this unfortunate Emperour and the Roman Church by virtue of a Procuration he had from him Year of our Lord 1245 This year 1245. died Raimond Berenguier Earl of Provence having by his Testament constituted Beatrix his fourth Daughter his Heiress James King of Arragon caused some Forcesto march into Provence to secure so good a party for his Son But the King of France did not intend to let a stranger run away with such a prize He therefore drove the Arragonians out of that Countrey and by consent of the Daughter as well as her Mother and her Uncles the Earl of Savoy and the Arch-Bishop of Lyons he so order'd it that she was promised to her Brother Charles who was Earl of Anjou The Marriage was not consummated till the year following Year of our Lord 1245 The same year on the First of December died also Jane Countess of Flanders without having had any Children by her Second Husband Thomas Earl of Savoy no more then by her First who was Ferrand of Portugal her Sister Margaret succeeded her This Margret had had Children by two Husbands John and Baldwin by Bouchard d'Avesue her first Husband and William John and Guy by William de Dampierre her Second These pretended that the Sons of Bouchard ought not to inherit because it had been discover'd that he was in Holy Orders when he married their Mother and for that reason the Marriage was declared null Year of our Lord 1246 Those of the first Bed observing the Mother favoured the others had recourse to the King He sent both parties to a Parliament at Peronne and therein it was ordained that those of the first Bed should have Hainault and the others should have Flanders Year of our Lord 1246 The pretended King of the Romans Henry Landgrave of Hesse being dead in Battle or of sickness the Germans who persisted obstinately under the pretence of Biety to ruine the dignity of the Empire elected the year following William Earl of Holland potent in Friends and Alliances whilst Frederic was strugling with his misfortunes and his enemies in Italy Year of our Lord 1247 and 48. The Duke of Burgundy and some French Lords were Leagued with him to defend the Liberties of their Countreys against the usurpations of the Court of Rome being supported by this League he leaves Lombardy to come to Lyons whether to invest the Pope or to molâ—ifie him by his Prayers but he was recalled by a blow the Milanese had given his bastard Son Entius whom he had left in Parma These Affairs and the great preparations for War detained the King till the month of May of this year from accomplishing the Vow he had made three years before It cannot be written in Characters â—o great as it deserves how this pious King being perswaded that Sovereigns are responsable by Laws both Divine and Humane for all the miscarriages of their Officers caused it to be published thorow ✚ all his Kingdom that whoever had suffer'd any wrong or damage by any belonging to him should make it known and he would give them satisfaction out of his own I state which was performed punctually That done and having taken leave of the Holy Martyr and given the Regency to the Queen his Mother he quitted Paris being conducted out of the City by all the Orders in Procession He took his two Brothers Robert and Charles with him the Queen his Wife theirs and an infinite number of Princes Lords Prelats and Gentlemen He received the Popes Benediction in his passage thorough Lyons thence Year of our Lord 1248 he descended by the Rhosue and going on board at Aigues-mortes in Languedoc the 25th of August set sail two days after and landed happily in Cyprus the 25th of September where he past the Winter to wait for the rest of his Forces and Ammunitions In this Island he received at the beginning of December Letters from Ercalthay one of the chief Chams of the Tartars and soon after arrived Ambassadors from the King of Armenia Ercalthay sent him word how the Great Cham and a good number of his Captains had embraced Christianity and that he had sent him with a great Army to destroy the Sultan of Balduc or Bagdet the most potent of all the Mahometan Princes The Armenian Ambassadors assured him that this news was true and that their King had vanquished with the assistance of the Tartars the Sultan of Iconia or Cogny to whom they were tributary and cast off the yoke of those Infidels Year of our Lord 1249 The Saturday after the Ascension the Holy King having drawn all his Men togther from their Winter Quarters in the Island of Cyprus and received a new reinforcement brought him by Robert Duke of Burgundy came the fourth of June into the Road before Damiata in Egypt The Saracens expected him in good order upon the Shore he landed in despite of them and made them give way They being well beaten so great a fear seized upon them that the next day they forsook the Town after they had set fire to it in several places and carried off in Boats beyond the River Nilus all their Families and the richest of their Goods The overflowing of the Nile which infallibly begins some days before the Summer Solstice hindred the Army from going on at the same time to take the City of Grand-Cairo and kept them almost till the midst of Autumn in so much idleness as brought them into all manner of debauchery and dissoluteness Year of our Lord 1249 In the Month of September Alphonso the Kings Brother arrived with new Adventurers of the Cross Raimond his Father-in-law who had accompanied him as far as Aigues-Mortes where he took Shipping with his Wife died upon his way home in the Town of Millau in Rouergne giving all the demonstrations of a hearty Repentance He was the last of the Earls of Toulouze who had Ruled over the greatest part of Languedoc above 350 years His Daughter Jane being deceased without any Child by her Husband Alphonso his Lordships were re-united to the Crown in pursuance of the Treaty made in the year One thousand two hundred twenty eight The 20th of
being Ship'd turn'd back again and only sent some Vessels Commanded by Ferdinand his bastard Son but Edward did generously make good his Vow As for St. Lewis he turned his Enterprize against the Kingdom of Tunis the conquest thereof being in his judgment the way to conquer Egypt without which they could never keep the Holy-Land Besides his Brother perswaded him to it to make Year of our Lord 1270 the coasts of Africk become Tributaries to his Kingdom of Sicilia as they had been in the time of Roger the Norman Prince Having therefore left the administration of his Kingdom to Matthew Abbot of St. Denis and Simon Earl of Nesle he left Paris as I believe the first day of March Year of our Lord 1270 in the year 1270. if we begin it in January or the year 1269. if we make it begin at Easter as they then did in France He was accompanied by three of his Sons Philip Tristan and Peter his Brother Alphonso his Nephew Robert II. Earl of Artois Thibauld King of Navarre Guy Earl of Flanders and a great number of the Nobility He was near four Months either upon his way or about Aigues-mortes where he waited some time till his Vessels were ready He went on board in the beginning of July with his Brothers and set fail the day following his Forces and the other Lords took Shipping in several Ports particularly at Marseilles the Rendezvous for the whole Fleet was appointed to be at Sardinia in the Road of Calary Year of our Lord 1270 He got first thither with four great Vessels not without meeting with very bad weather the rest arrived Eight days after him and having all held a Council together they persisted in their design to Land in Africk and secure themselves of Tunis as well because it was thought important to have that coast as for that the King of those Countreys had given them hopes he would become Christian if they would but stand by him with their Forces against his resisting Subjects but this was only to amuse them The Army being then landed on the African shore immediately took the Castle and the City of Carthage built indeed upon the ruines of that famous rival to Rome but which had nothing now that was great but its name Afterwards they besieged the City of Tunis which is situate at the further end of the Lake of Goletta five miles distant from the Sea At five weeks end from the beginning of the Siege the excessive heats of the Countrey scarcity of Water the Sea Air and the toil the Army endured having the Saracens perpetually upon them it bred the pestilential Fever and Dysentery's amongst them whereof a great many people of note dyed amongst others Prince John Tristan de Nevers and Peter de Ville-Beon Chamberlain to the King and his intimate Confident The good King himself being seized with a Flux was some days afterwards taken with a continual Fever which put an end to his glorious Labours by a happy Death Year of our Lord 1270 the 25th day of August the Seventy fifth year of his Age and the Four and fortieth of his Reign Being on his Death-bed he called for his Son Philip to leave most Excellent and most Christian-like Instructions which he had some time before drawn up and written with his own hand He had together all the Vertues of a great Saint and a great King of a true Christian and a true Gentleman He was humble to his God and fierce to the Enemies of the Faith modest and a hater of Luxury as to his particular but brave and pompous in publick Ceremonies as mild and affable in Conversation as rough and terrible in Fight and Battle prodigal to the Poor and sparing of his Subjects Money more then of his own liberal to Soldiers and Men of Learning prompted with a sincere desire to keep the Peace between his Neighbours enflamed with an incredible zeal for the glory of God and for the administring of true Justice in fine worthy to be the Model of all Princes that desire to Rule according to the will of God and the good of their Subjects Amongst his servent Exercises of Piety which never did abate in all the days of his Life he observed the Fasts Ordained by the Church with great exactness eating but once that day and if either his weakness or the unavoidable labour in business did at any time oblige him to eat twice he redeemed the Transgression according to the Canons of the Church by some great Alms feeding an Hundred Poor some other day I mean an Hundred extraordinary for he ordinarily entertain'd a very great number and served Two hundred at Table upon every great Festival day I find that every Lent he distributed Sixty three Muids of Wheat sixty eight thousand Herrings and three thousand two hundred nineteen Livers Parisis to the Monasteries and Hospitals and One hundred pence a day to other poor People And to make this Alms and Charitable Benevolence perpetual he charged his own Demeasns with it as also with many other Pious Grants and Foundations which instead of diminishing the Estate of his Successors hath been as it were a miraculous Leaven that hath increased and multiplied it It were to be wished that that great and good Ordinance he made upon his return out of the Holy Land to root out the Misdemeanours of Judges the Debaucheries of Gaming Drinking and Women were as much in our practise as it is yet in our Books I cannot omit that he did never intermedle in the naming any to Bishopricks and Abbies but left the liberty of Elections entirely free Insomuch as an Ambassador of his having brought a Bull to him from Rome which gave him the right of Nomination he was very angry with him and threw it into the Fire For the other Benefices he ever bestow'd them upon the most Worthy and never on such as were in Employments already unless they first surrendred the other He founded a great many Churches and Monasteries particularly for the Orders of St. Dominique and St. Francis several Hospitals amongst others that for the Quinze-Vingts the fair Abby of Royaumont that of St. Matthew near Rouen and the Holy Chappel in his Palace where he put in Canons and Chaplains They attribute to him the Institution of the University and the first Parliament of Toulouze It is certain he was the first who out of humility added the Sign of the Cross to the Ceremony of touching those troubled with the Kings-Evil He had Eight Children four Sons and four Daughters The Sons were Philip who Reigned and was surnamed the Hardy or Daring John Tristan who was Earl of Nevers Peter Earl of Alenson these two left no Posterity Robert Earl of Clermont in Beauvoisis who Espoused Beatrix Daughter and Heiress of Agnes de Bourbon who was so of Archembald Lord of Bourbon and of John III. Son to Hugh Duke of Burgundy From this Marriage issued the Branch of Bourbon who
came to the Crown Three hundred years after by King Henry the Fourth surnamed the Great The Daughters were named Isabella Blanch Margaret and Agnes Isabella was Married to Thibauld the II. King of Navarre and died without Off-spring Blanch a little before this Voyage to Africk Married Ferdinand called De la Cerde eldest Son of Alphonso X. King of Castille and had two Sons who were unjustly deprived of the Kingdom by their Grandfather because their Father had preceded him and Representation had no place Margaret was Affianced to Henry Duke of Brabant and Limbourg then that Prince turning Monk Married to John his Brother and Successor They had no Children Agnes Espoused Robert Duke of Burgundy and brought him many Philip III. King XLIV POPES A Vacancy GREGORY X. Elected the 1st of September 1271. S. Four years four Months ten days INNOCENT V. Elected in January 1276. S. Seven Months JOHN XXI Elected in July 1276. S. Eight Months NICHOLAS III. Elected in November 1277. S. Two years nine Months Vacancy of Two Months Martin IV. Elected Feb. 21. 1281. S. Four years one Month seven days HONORIUS IV. Elected in April 1285. S. Two years one Month whereof six Months in this Reign PHILIP III. Surnamed the Hardy King XLIV Aged Twenty five years four Months Year of our Lord 1270 THE Christian Army wholly disconsolate for the death of their King and ready to sink under their Toils and Dangers resumed courage and received refreshments upon the arrival of Charles King of Sicily who with his Naval Forces landed at the very time the King his Brother was giving up the Ghost Being come ashoar he came and paid him his last Duty and caused his Flesh to be all taken from his Bones as it was then the Custom when any died in Foreign Countries He carried the said Flesh to Sicily with him and buried it in the Abby of Montreal near Palermo and King Philip kept the Bones which he deposited in St. Denis in France The Funeral being over they continued the Siege Charles having the Command of the whole Army because Philip being fallen Sick could not act At the end of three Months the taking of the place being most infallibly certain though not till the Winter was over King Philip's impatience who much desired to Year of our Lord 1270 go and take possession of his Kingdom and yet more the interest of his Uncle Charles who cared for nothing but to get Money and oblige the King of Tunis to pay him Tribute were the Motives that made them give Ear to Propositions of Peace with that Barbarian King Year of our Lord 1270 They allowed him a Truce for Ten years provided he would defray the whole Expences of that Expedition and that he would pay to Charles as much Tribute as he paid to the Pope Annualy That he would deliver up all the Christians he then held in Slavery That he would grant free liberty of Trade and exemption of Imposts to all their Merchants and would permit them to dwell in Tunis and have the Exercise of the Christian Religion At the end of the Siege Prince Edward of England arrived there with his Forces hoping that after the taking of that place the two Kings would go into the Holy-Land as they had promised but they thought it fitter to return to their own homes and left him to pursue his Voyage Year of our Lord 1270 Heaven seemed to be angry at their return all manner of misfortunes followed them Part of the Vessels wherein Philip was Embarked arrived happily enough at the Port of Trapani or Trapos in Sicily but the others that had King Charles and his on board were overtaken with a moit furious Tempest which destroy'd most of them with the loss of Four thousand Men all their Equipage and the Treasure that was in them Besides all this Thibauld King of Navarre being taken Sick ended his days at Trapani about the end of December his Brother Henry the Fat succeeded him Isabella of Arragon Queen of France being great with Child hurt her self by a fall from her Horse and died in the City of Cosenza Alphonso Brother of St. Lewis was taken off with a Pestilential Fever at Siena and his Wife Isabella de Toulouze died in the same place about twelve days after him So that King Philip cloathed in Mourning Weeds for the Death of his Father his Wife and his nearest Relations after so much Expence and Toil brought nothing back into France but empty Chests and Coffins full of the Bones of the dead Year of our Lord 1271 He staid in Sicily about two Months departed towards the end of February crossed Italy and arrived at Paris in the beginning of Summer He was Crowned at Rheims the Fifteenth day of August or as others say the thirteenth by the Bishop of Soissons the Archbishops See being vacant Of the ancient Pairs of the Laity there was none assisted at this time but the Duke of Burgundy and the Earl of Flanders Robert Earl of Artois bore the Sword of Charlemaine they name it Joyeuse At their going thence he intreated the King to go and visit his Country and received him in his City of Aâ—ras with such Welcom and Expressions of Joy as hitherto had not been heard of in France This King passing thorough Rome paid his Devotions on the Tomb of the Apostles At Viterbo finding the Cardinals had been there Assembled for two years together without coming to any agreement concerning the Election of a â—ope he exhorted them to make some end that the Church might be no longer without a Head His good Advice did not take effect till Eight Months afterwards upon their electing of Thibauld de Piacenza Archdeacon of Liege who went Legat into Syria with Prince Edward he took the name of Gregory X. Year of our Lord 1271 The Earldom of Toulouze was vacant by the decease of Jane the Daughter of Raimond and Wise of Alphonso Philip put himself into possession pursuant to the Terms of the Treaty made with Raimond in the year 1228. but it was King John that annexed it to the Crown Year of our Lord 1271 This year died Richard pretended King of the Romans The year after his Brother Henry III. King of England followed him and his Son Edward I. of that name who was in the Holy Land succeeded Year of our Lord 1272 Year of our Lord 1272 In a Bloody Quarrel the Earl of Armagnac had against Gerard Lord of Casaubon his Vassal it hapned that Roger Earl de Foix whom the Earl of Armagnac had called to his aid pursued Gerard and besieged him in a Castle belonging to the King whither he was fled and had put himself under his Protection The King angry for the little Respect these Earls had for him marched into those Countries with an Army capable of striking a terrour to the very heart of Spain He besieged Roger in his Castle de Foix and being resolved to level a Mountain wich hindred his approach
all his Forces with him Year of our Lord 1289 Don Sancho King of Castille desired earnestly to have a Peace with King Philip and for that reason he would have given him up the two Sons of Alphonso de Cerda and to this intent had endeavoured to get them out of the hands of the Arragonian who kept them Now the Arragonian having denied so to do he Treated with Philip obliging himself to give the Kingdom of Murcia to the eldest of those two Brothers and some other Lands to the second The Arragonian hearing of this Treaty made haste to set them at liberty that so they might be obliged to him and continue still Enemies to Sancho In effect they were so ill advised as to refuse to stand to the Agreement which Philip their Cousin German had made for them and immediately took up Arms against the Castillan Year of our Lord 1290 Philips displeasure for being thus cantradicted by these two Brothers was craftily manag'd by the Castillan so that those two Kings had Interview at Bayonne and there made a Treaty by which Philip according the Advice of some interessed Counsellors totally abondoned his unhappy Cousins and withall yielded up and gave to Don Sancho all the rights he might have to the Crown of Castille This year Alexander III. King of Scotland dying without Children there arose a long and bloody Quarrel for the Succession between two Lords each of them pretending to be the next Heir Both of them being of the Blood Royal by their Mothers who were the Daughters of Scotland Their names were Robert Bruce and John de Baliol. This last was Originally of Normandy History does not mention of what part for there are divers places have the name of Baliol. These two Competitors having referr'd their Difference to Edward King of England he gives Judgment in favour of Baliol whether he believed his Title to be the better or whether it were because he made himself his Vassal as the Scots reproach him and had promis'd to hold his Crown of him Year of our Lord 1291 Alfir Sultan of Egypt had in the year 1288. wrested all the Cities of Tripoly Syria Lidon and Tyre with some other strong Holds out of the hands of the Christians They had nothing more left in all those Countreys but the Sea-Port Town of Ptolemais which made a Truce with the Sultan The French the Pisans the Genoese and the Venetians had each of them their distinct Quarters and Magistrates The Pope the King of Cyprus the Earl of Tripoly the Patriach of Jerusalem and the Templars contended for the Soveraignty Amidst these Divisions there was nothing but Murthers Robberies and Plunderings both within and without the City Besides all this they were so imprudent as to suffer some numbers of new Recruits that were come to them as Adventurers of the Cross to break the Truce The Sultan Mebee-Arafe who succeeded to Alfir demanded Reparation but as it was not in their power to deliver up the Violators he besieged the City and after Forty days continual attaques gained it by Storm putting to the Sword all that were within excepting only such as could save themselves on Ship-board Such was the end of the Christians Conquests in Syria and their Expeditions into the Holy Land For although the Popes have since caused the Croisado's to be preach'd for the recovery of it and several Princes and great Persons have made ✚ â—ow to go thither for the same purpose Nevertheless since the loss of Ptolemais none of them have gone thither but only some Pilgrims Year of our Lord 1291 Charles the Lame was in the end forced that he might free his Children and release those Gentlemen he had given in Hostage and who were all sent into Arragon to persuade his Cousin Charles Earl of Valois to renounce the Kingdom of Arragon upon which Condition King Alphonso engaged himself to go with his Forces into the Holy Land and in his pasiage through Sicilia to do his utmost to induce his Brother James Usurper of that Island to restore it to Charles the Lame Who in the mean while gave his Daughter Clemence in Marriage to Charles de Valois and for a Portion the Counties of Anjon and Maine Year of our Lord 1291 Otheline Earl of Burgundy ready to be trod under foot by Robert Duke of Burgundy who would have the Earldom to hold of the Dutchy and do him Homage cast himself head-long into the protection of King Philip bringing to him his eldest Daughter named Jane that he might Marry her to one of his Sons and in favour of this Alliance he from that time gave him up his Earldom reserving only to himself the Revenue during his Life This Jane was afterwards Married to Philip the Long the Kings eldest Son who was then but in his Cradle and her Sister Blanch to the second who was called Charles the Fair. Year of our Lord 1291 The excessive Usury of the Italian Bankers suckt all the Substance of the poor People The King had need of Money he was glad oâ— such an opportunity and pretence to do Justice to get some from them He therefore caused them all to be seized upon May-day night This was a sweet Knot or Nose-gay of May-Flowers but since under the same pretence they laid hold of many honest Merchants likewise and raised great Fines or Taxes upon them as well as upon the Blood-sucking Leeches this inquiry which in it self was just and necessary was converted into a most odious Robbery Year of our Lord 1291 It is believed that this year the holy Virgins little House at Nazareth where the Incarnation of the Word was declared to her was by Angels transferr'd to the top of a little Mountain in Dalmatia on the other side of the Adriatique-Sea That from thence three years afterwards it was brought to the hither-side in a Wood that belonged to a Widow named Loretta and that it was removed at two other times into two several places in the last whereof the Angels left it There is a Magnificent Church built there and a pretty good Town and both are called by the name of Loretta Year of our Lord 1291 The Emperor Rodolph ended his days in the Burrough of Geâ—inesheim near Spire the last day of September having Reigned Eighteen years He laid the foundation of the prodigious Grandeur of the House of Austria but undermined that of the Empire in Italy by neglecting to go thither and selling the Soveraignty to divers Cities of Tuscany in the year 1286. especially to that of Luca and Florence who bought it of him with their Money Year of our Lord 1292 In his room Adolph Earl of Nassau was elected the 6th of January and Crowned at Francfort a brave and generous Prince who would have maintained that Title better then any of his Ancestors had he but had as much Riches as Vertue The Peace between France and England had lasted to this time to the great satisfaction of both
Nations when the accidental Quarrel of an English Mariner with a Mariner of Normandy upon the Coast of Guyenne where they had landed to take in fresh Water set them against one another First Ship and Ship endeavour'd to plunder or take what they could singly on each side then they brought Fleet against Fleet. The English had the worst their King Edward demanded restitution of such Merchants Goods as had been made Prize in these Scuffles Philip on the contrary Summons him to appear in his Court of Parliament as his Vassal Edward sent his Brother Edmund but Philip not satisfied with that caused him to be declared Contumacious and ordered his Lands should be seized Year of our Lord 1292. 1293. In Execution of this Decree the year following the Constable Rodolph de Nesle seized several Cities in Guyenne and even that of Bourdeaux which was the Capital Thus a Riot between Private Men blew their little Sparks of Contention into a flame of War which one may say proved very fatal to France since it gave way to the overthrowing of her ancient Laws and Liberties and the introducing and establishment of divers Charges and Subsidies on the People The increase and burthen whereof is ordinarily followed with Revolutions and Seditions as it fell out this year by a great Commotion hapning at Rouen but which had the same end and event as all the like Enterprizes generally come to that is to say the Hanging of the most froward and hottest and the Banishment or Ruine of the rest Year of our Lord 1294 The King of England vexed at the loss of those places in Guyenne sollicited all Princes against France particularly the Emperor Adolph with great Sums of Money and Guy de Dampierre Earl of Flanders with the hopes oâ— the Marriage of his Son Prince of Wales with Philippetta that Earls Daughter Adolph sent to defie the King in haughty language but they gave him no other answer but a Sheet of white Paper For which he shewed no other Resentment but by Threats and so turned his Arms against some German Rebels Year of our Lord 1294 As for Guy having been allured to Paris with his Wife and Daughter by Letters from the King fraught with Expressions of Kindness he was much amazed to find himself made a Prisoner there It is true that about a Twelve month after himself and his Wife were set at liberty but his Daughter they kept still to break the Measures of that Match too pernicious to the French Year of our Lord 1294 In the year 1294 the Cardinal Benedict Cajetan by intrigues or by deceit and fourbery obliged Pope Celestin to resign the Popedom and by the same Methods got himself to be elected he was named Boniface VIII His Ancesters were Originally Catalonians and had taken the name of Cajetan because they first dwelt near Cajeta before they transplanted themselves to the City of Anagnia where he was born Year of our Lord 1294 At his advancement to that Dignity he endeavours to mediate a Peace between all Christian Princes He could not procure it between France and England but he setled that between Arragon and France King Alphonso was dead and James his Brother succeeded him It was agreed that Charles Earl of Valois should renounce the Kingdom of Arragon wherein he had been invested by Pope Martin V. upon which Condition the Arragonian repudiating Isabella de Castille for being too nigh of Kin should Marry his Laughter set the three Sons of Charles the Lame and other Hostages at liberty and surrender Sicily and what he had Conquer'd in Abruzza but Frederic his younger Brother to whom Alphonso had by his last Testament will'd that Kingdom got himself to be named King by the Sicilians Since then that which we call the Kingdom of Sicilia was dismembred in two that beyond the Fare which was the Island and that on this side which they called the Kingdom of Naples They were again re-joyned in Anno 1503. and are to this day in the same hands Year of our Lord 1295 The Sons of Charles the Lame being set at liberty the eldest named Charles entred into the Order of the Friers Minors The following year he was by the Pope promoted to the Archbishoprick of Thoulouze which he accepted not of till after he had made his Vows The King of Englands heart was much set upon two things the one to Subject the Kingdom of Scotland and the other to recover the Tows in Guyenne He thought the first was pretty well advanc'd having obliged Baliol to render him Homage and to compass the second he prepared a mighty Fleet and had strengthned himself with Friends and Alliances But Philip to prevent his designs induced the King of Scotland already threatned by his Subjects who scorned to subject themselves to the English to break the Treaty he had made with Edward and Allie himself with France and for security of this new Bond of Alliance he promised to give the eldest Daughter of the Earl of Valois to his eldest Son whose name was Edward At the same time he caused the People of Wales also to rise who out of a wild and untamed humour for Liberty were easily heated and drawn into the Field The great devastations and spoil they made this time in Pembrook-shire and thereabout broke all the King of England's Measures He was forced to go in Person that way to stop their progress and lay aside the business of Guyenne till he had quell'd those hot and stubborn old Enemies as he did having overmaster'd almost all of them in four Months time About this time the Principality of Milan and Neighbouring Cities was fixed and perpetuated in the Family of the Vicounts to which Otho Vicount Archbishop of Milan contributed not a little Matthew his Brothers Son was created the first Year of our Lord 1295 Duke this year 1295. and took the Investiture of the Emperor Adolph who likewise gave him the Vicarship or Vicegerency of the Empire in Lombardy Year of our Lord 1295 In Pistoya a City in Tuscany as then powerful enough it hapned that the rich and numerous Family of the Cancellary were divided in two Factions the one of the White the other of the Black The first joyned themselves with the Guelphes the second with the Ghibelins and that fury and madness spread over all Italy and caused insinite Seditions and Murthers Year of our Lord 1295 Pope Boniface was Proud Haughty Imperious and Undertaking he thought all the Princes of the Earth must bow to his Commands but he found a Philip of France at the head of them a young Prince of no very patient Humour more Potent then any one of his Predecessors and who had a Council consiting of People that were Year of our Lord 1295 stout and impetuous So that Boniface who ardently pursued the Design he aimed at to oblige all Kings to the Holy War having sent to tell both him and the King of England that they must make
a Truce upon pain of Excommunication he made Reply That he took no Rule or Law from any one in the Government of his Kingdom and that the Pope had in this case no right but to Exhort and Advise not to Command This was the first occasion of Enmity betwixt these two great Powers Year of our Lord 1296 There were two more almost at the same time The one that Boniface received the Complaints of the Earl of Flanders who implored his Justice because Philip denied to restore his Daughter to him The other for that he erected the Abby of St. Antonine de Pamiez to a Bishoprick and put the Abbot of St. Antonine into it Observe en passant that this City was other while called Fredalas King Philip was offended at this Erection and more yet with the choice of the Bishop his name was Bernard Saisset because he believed him a Factious Man and too much devoted to Boniface Nor would he suffer him to take possession and therefore Lewis Bishop of Toulouze administred in that Church for two whole years together Year of our Lord 1295 and 96. The War was still carried on in Guyenne by the Earl of Valois and the Constable de Nesle and then by Robert Earl of Artois The English had for Commanders there John Earl of Richmond and Edmond the Kings Brother To what purpose would it be to relate the taking of many petty places and the divers small Skirmishes The French say they won two Signal Victories one of them was gained by the Earl of Valois and the other by the Earl of Artois It is certain that Edmond being beaten by the first near Bayonne was forced to retire into that City where he died and the Earl of Lincoln who commanded that English Army afterwards having lost many of his Men before Daqs durst not stay for Robert d'Artois and retreated Year of our Lord 1296 In the mean while a most dangerous Storm was forming against France A League was made at Cambray by the Interest of the King of England whereinto he entred with the Duke of Brabant the Earls of Holland Juliers Luxemburgh Guelders and Bar Albert Duke of Austria the Emperor Adolphus and the Flemming himself all which sent their several Cartels of Defiance to King Philip but none of them vexed him so much as the Challenge from the Earl of Flanders because he was his Vassal The Earl of Bar began the Attaque by ravaging Champagne but he retir'd when he heard how Gaultier de Crecy Lieutenant of the Kings Army burnt and plundred his Country Soon after the Queen being advanced that way to defend her Country of Champagne he was so saint-hearted as to surrendet himself to her without making any desence They sent him Prisoner to Paris from whence he could get no Release but upon very hard Conditions For he did Homage to the King for his Earldom which he ever had pretended to hold in Franc Alleud or Free-Tenure and moreover he was condemned by a Decree of Parliament to go and bear Arms in the Holy Land till the King were pleased to recall him Year of our Lord 1297 As for Florent Earl of Holland he was kill'd by a Gentleman whose Wife he had Dishonour'd His Son John died soon after him by eating of some ill-Morsel John d' Avesnes Earl of Haynault their Cousin and nearest Relation inherited Holland and Frisland Year of our Lord 1297 The greatest burthen of the War fell upon Flanders King Philip marched into the Country with a vast Army to whom the Queen joyned her Forces after she had subdued the Earl of Bar. He took L'Isle by a three Months Siege and Courtray and Douay without much difficulty whilst on the other hand Robert Earl of Artois gained the Battle of Furnes where the Earl of Juliers was so ill handled that he died of his Wounds Year of our Lord 1297 Adolphus detained in Germany by the private Troubles the French started amongst them or the Sums of Money Philip gave him under-hand did not bring the Flemming that Relief which he expected Withall they found a way by the all-powerfulinfluence of Money to debauch Albertus Duke of Austria from the Party who brought over with him the Duke of Brabant and the Earls of Luxembourg Guelders and Beaumont As for the King of England who was there in Person and had his Navy at Damm and his Land Forces in the Country Towns he brought more inconvenience then assistance to the Flemming Besides we may add that the greatest Cities in Flanders as Ghent and Bruges had been against the making of this War and amongst them a Faction had declared for the French who called themselves the Portes-Lys or the Flower-de-Luce-Bearers Now the King being retired to Ghent with the Earl of Flanders could find no other way to Charm the Swords of the French in those Countries but by a Truce The intercession of the Earl of Savoy and Charles King of Sicilia obtained it with difficulty for them from the Tenth of October till Twelfth-day for Guyenne and to S. Andrews Holy-day for Flanders only Edward knew how to employ that time to good purpose Having passed the Sea he went against the Scots who had shaken off the Yoke and not only forced their King John and his Barons to do Homage to him a second time of which a Charter written in French was Signed and Sealed and to renounce the Alliance with France but likewise kept him Prisoner a while with some of those Lords confining them in the Tower of London resolving not to release him till he had made an end of his Disputes with the French Year of our Lord 1298 The Truce being expir'd he made ready to return into Guyenne by the Month of March in the year 1298. Nevertheless as either of these Kings had partly what they desired that is the King of France the Towns in Flanders and the King of England the Kingdom of Scotland it was not difficult for their Ambassadors who met about it at Monstreuil on the Sea Coast to prolong the Truce to the end of the year It was agreed That the Allies of both Kings should be Comprised by consequence John Balâ—ol ought to have been so but they could never obtain his liberty and that all the places Conquer'd in Flanders should be in the hands of Philip during that Truce The King of England had obliged himself by Oath to the Flemming not to make a Peace till they were restor'd but in the mean time he agreed his Marriage with Margaret the Sister to Philip and that of his Son Edward with Isabella the Daughter of that King Year of our Lord 1298 The Money that Adolphus had received on both hands from the Kings of France and England was the cause of his Ruine and on the contrary what Albertus had taken for the same end served to raise his Fortune For this last having made use of some of it to corrupt the Princes of Germany who were displeased
at Malan but broke out more fiercely at Bruges where the French Garrison being all knoc'd on the Head the Towns of Furne Bergh Bourbourgh Cassel followed and Guy Earl of Namur one of the Flemmings Sons laid Siege before the Cittadel of Courtray The King raised a great Army to chastise the Rebels and gave the Command of it to Robert d'Artois That Prince marched to relieve Courtray with Ten thousand Horse and Forty thousand Foot The Flemmings though they were but ill Arm'd had neither Nobility nor Cavalry durst resolutely wait his coming and gained the Victory with the slaughter of Twenty thousand French amongst which number was that Prince himself above Twenty great Lords with him and Peter Flota principal cause of those misfortunes This was on the 9th of June Year of our Lord 1302 To revenge this bloody affront the King takes the Field himself with above an Hundred thousand Men but the assurance of the Flemmings and the intelligence sent him by his Sister the Queen of England that if he hazarded a Battle he would be betraid to his own Men hindred him from proceeding any farther then Douay besides the Autumnal Rains rendred his march very difficult This War very troublesome in it self would have been much more so had the King of England medled in it as he ought to have done after he had engag'd the Flemmings Their troubles help'd to advance his Affairs after his having prolonged the Truce two or three times with the French he converted it at last to a final Year of our Lord 1303 Peace The Treaty was concluded at Paris the Twentieth day of May 1303. It was agreed that Philip should restore to him all what he had taken from him in Guyenne and should grant him a Patent for the investiture of that Dutchy John Baliol was set at full liberty but the Scots despised him as a Man of little courage who had twice bowed the knee before the King of England and would not own him for their lawsul King so that he remained in France where he ended his days as a private person It is not said what the fortune of his Son Edward was However although the English had wholly subdued Scotland it nevertheless hapned that some years afterwards Robert Son of Robert Bruce raised that Kingdom again which seemed to be extinguished and freed it from the bondage of England Year of our Lord 1303 Now the courage of the Flemmings being untameable their old Earl who grew weary of his imprisonment obtained a Truce by the means of Ame Earl of Savoy during which interval they permitted him leaving his Sons in hostage to go to his Towns in Flanders to endeavour to bring them back again to the obedience of the King The same year the King having had information that there was a dangerous Faction brooding in Languedoc and in Guyenne took a progress into those Countreys where he visited and highly caressed the chief Cities and Nobility At his return Guy de Luzignan Earl of Angoulesme and Lord of Cognac having no Children resigned his Lands to him to the great prejudice of three Sisters he had The King to make those Sisters some manner of reparation gave them I know not what Lands in Angoulmois Queen Jane his Wife Heiress of Navarre Champagne and Brie built and founded in the University of Paris that famous Colledge that bears the name of Navarre and Year of our Lord 1303 which even to this day has been the Cradle or rather Nursery of the most illustrious Nobility of France She died about the end of the same year The Earl Guy not having been able to gain any thing upon the Flemmings the King resolved to make them bend by force He got together the most numerous Army that had been levied of a long time of French Germans Spaniards and Italians and put himself at the head of them At the same time he had a Fleet at Sea commanded by the famous Roger de Lauria This Admiral gained a bloody Battle against Philip one of the Flemmings Sons who besieged Ziriczea that held for John Earl of Holland who by this means preserved Zealand and kept it The King soon after Year of our Lord 1304 gained another at Land near Mons the Eighteenth of August but not without great danger to his Person Above five and twenty thousand Flemmings were slain there For all these rebukes they would not stoop nor give over but having shut up shop in all their Cities and got an Army on foot of Sixty thousand fighting Men they came before l'Isle which he then held besieged demanding Peace or a Battle This Year of our Lord 1304 furious resolution obtained them a Peace upon condition that they should enjoy their Liberties Goods Priviledges and strong Holds that the Earl should be restored to his Earldom excepting those Lands on this side the River Lys which should remain to the King as likewise the Cities of l'Isle and Douay till the Earl should be more fully agreed with him and the Flemmings paid down the sum of 800000 Livres The prisoners set at liberty the Earl Guy went to visit his Countrey and his Children Being returned to Compeigne upon his faith as he had promised to finish the Treaty he died some few days after aged Fourscore years His eldest Son Robert de Betune succeeded him in his Earldom Year of our Lord 1303 The preceding year before he undertook this Expedition King Philip had consider'd how to pre-arm himself against the Bulls of Boniface and for that purpose had Year of our Lord 1303 convoked a second general Assembly of his Subjects at Paris The Earls Guy de St. Pol John de Dreux and William du Plessis Lord de Vezenobre did there accuse the Pope of Heresie and divers things so horrible that a Christian can hardly tell how to name much less to believe them Duplessis offer'd to prosecute him before the Council adhering to the Appeal heretofore brought by Nogaret and putting himself under the protection of the Council and the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul The King promised to procure the Convocation and in case Boniface should any way proceed against him formed his Appeal as Duplessis had done Moreover fearing his People too much oppressed with Imposts and dissatisfied with the Government of his Ministers should chance to fail him in his necessity he found it necessary to prevent all stirs and factions that might be set on foot in favour of the Pope to have Writings or Letters of all the Provinces Cities Corporations Churches Religious Houses Prelats and Lords of his Kingdom who approved of his Resolution and joyned therein with him Year of our Lord 1303 During these proceedings Nogaret was gone into Italy to seize upon the Person of Boniface under pretence of bringing him by fair means or by foul to the Council The Pope had retired himself to Anagnia the place of his Nativity where he thought himself in greater security then in Rome and there
fill his own Coffers and to enrich his Family with more Lands Employments and Benefices then a faithful and disinteressed Servant ought to do So the People had extream troubles and vexations to undergo one of the greatest was the changing of Moneys they had made it light and weak of too base allay and put too high a value then they would set them at a lower rate the loss was great the people of Paris mutined pillag'd and ruined the House of Stephen Barbet Treasurer from thence ran to the Temple where the King lay and committed a hundred insolences there but the sedition over a great many were hanged in several places The Templers were observed to have contributed to this mutiny it was believed they had done it because having a great deal of Money they lost much by this abating the value of the Coine It is likely that the King who never forgot an injury kept the remembrance of this in his mind and it was one motive that induced him to revenge himself upon the whole Order In compleating the peace with the Flemmings several Articles were changed or added amongst others it was allowed that the King might banish Three thousand of the most factious that the Cities of Ghent Bruges Ipre l'Isle and Douay should be dismantled and that if the Countrey in general or any particular person offended the King or his Officers they should immediately be liable to the thunderings of Ecclesiastical censures Year of our Lord 1307 Lewis Hutin the Kings eldest Son visits his Kingdom of Navarre fallen to him by the death of his Mother and is Crowned at Pampelona the Fifth of June Before his return he took off the two Heads of the Factions that had much troubled Navarre these were Fortunio Almoravid and Martin Ximenes de Aybar The effect of that secret promise the Pope had made to the King began to appear in his revenge upon the Templers The too great riches of those Knights their unsufferable pride their covetous and disobliging behaviour towards such Princes and Noblemen as went into the Holy-Land the little esteem they made either of Temporal or Spiritual Power their dissolute and libertine Humours and rendred them obnoxious and very odious and furnished those with a specious pretence who were resolved to exterminate them Year of our Lord 1307 This year therefore upon the discovery and confession of some villains amongst themselves the greatness of whose crimes or the desire of the Kings mercy and reward had prompted to it the King by consent of the Pope whom he had newly held conference with at Poitiers caused them all to be laid hold on in the same day the Twelfth of October thoroughout the whole Kingdom seized their Goods and took possession of tho Temple at Paris and of all their Treasures and Writings The Great Master whose name was James de Molay a Burgundian being sent for by Letters from the Pope to come from Cyprus where he valiantly made War upon the Turks presented himself at Paris with Sixty Knights of his Order amongst whom was Guy Brother to the Dauphin de Viennois Hugh de Peralde and another of the principal Officers They were all arrested at the same time and their Process was immediately made excepting the three I have mentioned whom the Pope would reserve to his own judgment Fifty of them were burned alive in a slow Fire but who denied at their deaths what they had confess'd upon the wrack Without doubt they were guilty of many enormous crimes but not perhaps of all the things I cannot tell whether I should say horrible or ridiculous that were imposed upon them and laid to their charge in general In the mean time upon King Philips importunity the Templers were likewise seized on in all the other States of Christendom and severely punished yet not with death in many places This prosecution lasted to the year 1314. Year of our Lord 1307 As Edward I. was going to make War upon Robert Bruce who disputed for the Crown of Slotland he died upon the borders of that Kingdom His eldest Son Edward II. succeeded him but was neither like his own Father nor his own Son but only in Name This Prince suffered himself to be Governed first by his Favourite Peter Gaveston then by the two Spencers caused great troubles and commotions in his Kingdom Year of our Lord 1307 This year the first lineaments of the Helvetian Alliance were rough-drawn in a generous conspiracy of the Three Cantons of Swits Vren and Vndervald against the oppressions of the Lieutenants for the House of Austria who possessed the Duchy of Scawben But it was not till the year 1315. that they drew up conditions in writing and got them confirmed by the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria Year of our Lord 1308 In Anno 1308. the Emperour Albert was slain near Rhinfeldt under the antient Castle of Habsbourgh by the conspiracy of John the Son of Rodolph Duke of Scawben whose Countreys he kept from him King Philip importun'd the Pope extreamly to make the Empire fall into the hands of Charles Earl of Valois but the Pope dreading the too great power of the House of France sent to the Electors to make haste so that they named Henry Earl of Luxemburg who was the Eighth of that Name Year of our Lord 1308 The Sixth of May Charles the Lame King of Sicilia on this side the Fare a Prince unfortunate in War but very illustrious in Peace and highly beloved of his Subjects ended his Life and Reign in his City of Naples He had nine Sons the Eldest was named Charles Martel the Second Lewis and the Third Robert The First was King of Hungary by Mary his Mother Daughter of King Stephen IV. but he was dead before his Father having left a Son whom they named Carobert Successor in his Kingdom The Second was Bishop of Toulouze For the Third which was Robert a great question was started between him and Carobert to wit which is preferable to the Succession either the eldest Son or the Uncle and whether the Son represented the Father to succeed his Grandfather The Lawyers of those times and the Pope himself as well upon motives for the publique good as Reasons and Grounds of Right and Title were for the Nephew the Pope admitted him to Homage Invested him and Crowned him in Avignon the first Sunday of the Month of August Observe that Carobert had two Sons Lewis and Andrew that Lewis was King of Hungary after his Father and of Poland by his Wife Elizabeth Daughter of Ladislas and that Andrew Married to his great misfortune Jane I. Queen of Sicilia Daughter of Charles Duke of Calabria who was Son of King Robert As likewise that Lewis had two Daughters Mary Queen of Hungary who Married Sigismond of Luxemburgh afterwards elected Emperour and Heduige Queen of Poland who was Married to Jageston Grand Duke of Lithuania in which Family that Kingdom remained till the year 1572. Year of our Lord 1310 The
Council of Vienne coming on the Pope to hinder the obstinate pursute of the Kings people against the memory of Boniface gave all the Bulls they could desire for the justification both of the King and his Officers Nay even for fear lest Nogaret should blow up the flame anew he granted him Absolution but upon condition he should go on certain pilgrimages and also travel into the Holy-Land Year of our Lord 1310 The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem were retired to the Island of Cyprus after the loss of Ptolemais but finding themselves ill Treated by the King of that Island they sought another Habitation and gained themselves one by the taking of the Island of Rhodes and five other neighbouring Islands they gained it from the Turks after two years Siege the Turks had taken it from the Saracens and the Saracens from the Grecian Empire Year of our Lord 1311 A year afterwards the Turks made great attempts to recover it but the Knights maintained it bravely by the assistance of the generous Earl of Savoy named Ame V. who got the Surname of Great by it and preserved it as well as he had gained it by many other generous actions To this might well be applied the Simbol or Devise FERT which his Successors retain to this day and the four Letters might be thus made to say Fortitudo Ejus Rhodum Tenuit but it is certain the Princes of this House bear it a long time before Year of our Lord 1311 The General Council was open'd at Vienne the First day of October in the year 1311. the Pope declaring it was for the Process of the Templars for the recovery of the Holy-Land for the reformation of Manners and Discipline and for the extirpation of Heresie Philip came thither the year following about Mid-Lent with a stately Train of Princes and Lords assisted at the opening of the Second Session and took his Seat at the right Hand of the Pope but on a lower Chair The Order Year of our Lord 1312 of the Knights-Templars was there condemned and extinguish'd their Goods left to the disposal of his Holiness who bestow'd part of it upon the Knights of St. John That of the Begards and Begardes was likewise abolished they were a sort of Monks and Religious People that made profession of Poverty but not of Abstinence nor Celibacy and who besides were acccused of many errors As for the most important point which was the Process against the memory of Boniface the King though there present had no satisfaction in it For it was declared that Pope Boniface had always been a good Catholique the other crimes were not mention'd Three famous Doctors one in Theology another of the Civil-Law and the Third of the Canon Law made it out to the King by several reasons and particulars and there were two Catalonian Gentlemen that offer'd to justfy it by combat throwing down their Gantlets which no man there would take up However the Pope and Cardinals made a Decree importing that the King should never be hereafter reproached for all or any thing that he had done against Boniface Year of our Lord 1312 The City of Lyons had for a long time held of the Kings of Arles who had given the Temporal Lordship thereof to the Arch-Bishop but since the Kings of France taking advantage of the weakness and the distance of the Emperours who were Kings of Arles had by little and little drawn to themselves the Sovereignty of this Kingdom and the City of Lyons had began to hold of them Now during the War between Savoy and Dauphiné the Citizens fearing they might be plundred had recourse to Philip who gave them a Warden who coming within the City contrary to what had been agreed upon the Arch-Bishop stirred up the People against him Prince Lewis Hutin going thither with an Army brought the Bishop away prisoner and he could never get cleer but by yielding up the Temporal Jurisdiction to the King for which the Pope helped him to some recompence But afterwards Philip the Long gave it to him again Year of our Lord 1310 The Emperour Henry who was gone into Italy from the year 1310. thinking to restore the dignity of the Empire there found so much opposition from the Guelphs the great Cities and Robert King of Naples that he perished there as well as his Predecessors He died the Four and twentieth day of August in the territory of Year of our Lord 1313 Sienne having been poysonn'd as it was reported with the Sacred Host by a Dominican Monk a Florentine Robert Earl of Flanders would needs have again his Cities of l'Isle Douay and Orchies affirming that he had paid down the redemption to Enguerrand de Marigny who governed absolutely both King and Kingdom The Flemmings refused also to Year of our Lord 1313 dismantle their Towns or to pay either the Principal or Interest of those Sums they owed the King They were therefore forced to begin another War To provide for the charges of it the King summoned the Notables of the People and from a Theatre raised high he shewed them his Necessities The Deputies had suffer'd themselves to be perswaded and granted him by the mouth of Stephen Barbete the Impost of Six Deniers in the Livre and other Subsidies more troublesome yet but the Cities of Picardy and Normandy opposed it highly and all the rest called for the justice of Heaven to fall upon the Head of Marigny the Author of all these galling and flaying extortions These moans and curses did not move him on the contrary he aggravated their misery by making new Coins of very bad Gold and Silver After all none but himself and the Exchequer-men or Receivers could get any profit by it The King having past over the River of Lys and the Armies in sight of each other Marigny who had done his own business took advantage of the interposing of the Popes Legats to bring the parties to an agreement and perswaded the King to an ignominious Truce Thus that great Army which ought to have conquer'd all Flanders vanished in smoak This disgrace of Philips was followed with one much greater All the Wives of his three Sons were accused of Adultery Margaret Jane and Blanch. The First the wife of Lewis Hutin and the Third the wife of Charles being convicted of that crime with Philip and Gautier de Launoy Brothers and Gentlemen of Normandy ✚ were by decree of Parliament the King being present confined to the Castle Gaillard of Andeley and their two Gallants slay'd alive dragg'd into the Field de Manbuisson which was newly Mow'd those parts cut off that had committed the Sin then beheaded and their Bodies hung up being fastned under their Arm-pits upon a Gibbet Margaret the most guilty of the three perish'd in prison Blanch was divorced seven years after upon pretence of Parentage As for Jane who was wife of Philip the Long after she had been confined almost a year her Husband was willing to
on the highest part of the Gibbet with the other Thieves he was hanged His immense Riches sufficiently proved the Justice of this Sentence Afterwards those Receivers or Officers of the Treasury who were of his gang were laid hold on and several put to the Wrack they would confess nothing however so well those Caterpillars know how to wind up their bottoms desiring rather in the greatest extremity to lose their Lives then part with their Money They carried on this search even to his very friends and particularly Peter de Latilly Bishop of Chaalons and Chancellor of France He was accused of giving the Morsel that is to say of having poysonn'd the Bishop his Predecessor and also the late King He was put out of his Office and left a prisoner in tbe hands of the Arch-Bishop of Reims his Metropolitan The execrable Custom of Poysonning was grown very common in France and it grew so in my opinion because the Ministers of the deceased King had been so extream Violent and vindicative This Prelat accused of so Villanous a Crime was referr'd to the Judgment of the Bishops of his Province To that end there was a Council Assembled at Senlis in the Month of October of this year 1315. where the Archbishop of Reims was present with his Suffragans The Party accused upon his request and according to Law was first redintegrated to his Liberty and his Bishoprick and afterwards it having been proved that four Women had been Convicted and Punished for Poysonning his Predecessor he was absolved fully and wholly Year of our Lord 1315 The Gentry and Commonalty of the Country of Artois having divers causes of Complaint against their Countess Mahaut the King sent for her in presence of Ame the Great Earl of Savoy and obliged her to give him her Hand that he might take notice of it Year of our Lord 1315 This Ame the Great was one of the most considerable Princes of his time He acquir'd the Title of a Prince of the Empire which was granted him by the Emperor Henry VII in Anno 1310. He increased his Territory with the Lordships of Bresse and Baugey by his Marriage with Sibilla the only Daughter of Guy Lord de Baugey as likewise with a part of the little Country of Revermont by Purchase of the Duke of Burgundy who had it of Humbert Dauphin of Viennois and the Earldoms of Ast and Yvree the first whereof came to him by the Concession of the Emperor Henry VII the second by the voluntary subjection of the People His Wisdom made him reign in all the greatest Courts in Europe the Emperors King Philip's of France Edward King of England's and made him find the Art to be so much a Friend to all these Princes who were at great variance that he became the perpetual Mediator concerning those Differences which Interest and their Jealousie bred amongst them Year of our Lord 1316 The Truce with the Flemming being at an end about the very time of the Coronation the King assembled his Forces and whilst on the other side William Earl of Hayâ—ault ravaged the Country along the Scheld he besieged Courtray The unseasonable Weather did what the Flemming durst not undertake and forced him to raise the Siege but the infinite havock and spoil the Soldiers made caused a horrible Famine in Flanders About the end of the Month of May in the year 1316. King Lewis began to feel the effects of those Poysonnings grown so rife in France They had given him a Dose so violent by what hand was not known that it carried him off the Fifth day June An Accident which the Vulgar thought to be presag'd by a Comet which had Year of our Lord 1316 display'd its terrible Train in the Heavens the One and twentieth of the Month of December before He died at the Bois de Vincennes the Nineteenth Month of his Reign and the Eight and twentieth of his Age. He left Clemence his second Wife with Child being four Months gone By his first which was Margaret Daughter of Robert II. Duke of Burgundy he had had a Daughter named Jane to whom belonged the Kingdom of Navarre and the Counties of Brie and Champagne but the Kings Philip the Long and Charles the Fair found out pretences to detain them REGENCY without a KING for Five Months Year of our Lord 1316 WHen Lewis Hutin left this World Philip the Long Earl of Poitiers his Brother was at Lyons where in pursuance of his Orders he laboured to make them elect a Pope to supply the See that had been vacant for above three years He had employ'd himself with so much zeal that at length he got all the Cardinals to Lyons and had shut them up in Conclave in the Jacobins Convent They had been there together some days when the news was brought him of the death of Hutin this made him return to Paris with diligence after he had left the guard of the Conclave with the Earl de Fores. After the end of fourty days the Cardinals could come to no other agreement about the election of a Pope then to refer it to the single Vote of James Dossa a Cardinal Bishop of O Porto who without hesitation named himself to the great astonishment of the whole Conclave who notwithstanding let it pass so He took the name of John the Twenty second of that name He was of the Country of Quercy the Son of a poor Cobler but very Learned for those times The Succession of the Males to the Crown was established not by any Written Law but by the inviolable Custom of the French nevertheless because in all other Kingdoms and in great Fiefs the Daughters succeeded and that in France of a long time no occasion had been offer'd to exclude them The Friends and Parents of little Jane particularly Eudes Duke of Burgundy Brother of her deceased Mother were on the Watch pretending the Crown belonged to her in case the Fruit of Queen Clemences Womb should come to no Perfection In the mean time they named Philip the Kings Brother for Regent till the time of her delivery Philip V. King XLVII POPE JOHN XXII Elected the 7th day of August 1317. S. Eighteen years and Three Months whereof Five years under this Reign PHILIP V. Called the Long because he was Tall King of France XLVII and enjoying the Kingdom of Navarre Aged Twenty six years Year of our Lord 1316 THe Fifteenth of November the Queen brought a Son into the World whom they named John but he went out of it again eight days after He was buried in St. Denis and in the Funeral Pomp was declared King of France and Navarre Which hath given some occasion to some Modern Authors to increase the number of the Kings of France and to call him John I. Year of our Lord 1317 Then the Dispute touching the Crown was renewed with more heat then before Charles Earl of Valois seemed to favour little Jane and the Duke of Burgundy her Uncle claimed and
stickled for her but the Grandees of the Kingdom and the Pairs assembled in Parliament towards the Feast of the Purification confirmed the Right of the Males and gave Judgment in favour of Philip. Who well attended went to be Crowned at Reims the Ninth day of January the Gates of the City being shut fearing some might have come to make opposition The Bishop of Beauvais though only a Count-Pair carried the Precedency from him of Langres who hath the Title of Duke The Estates being Assembled at Paris where were present most part of the Lords the Deputies of Corporations and Cities and above all the Burghers and the University of Paris gave their Oaths to the Chancellor Peter d'Arablay afterwards Cardinal not to acknowledge any other King but Philip and his Heirs Male to the Exclusion of Females Robert II. Earl of Artois had had a Sister named Mahaut and a Son named Philip. Mahaut was Married with Othelin Earl of Burgundy and from that Marriage were issued two Daughters whom the Fair gave unto two of his Sons Now Philip died in the War of Flanders before his Father but he left a Son who was named Robert as his Grandfathers name The Earldom of Artois ought to have belonged to this same however the Fair had adjudged it to Mahaut upon this pretence that it was not a Fief Masculine and that according to the Custom of those Countries Representation did not take place Robert Armed himself during the Regency of the Long and got himself into the possession by force but the business being examined the Lands were sequestred into the hands of the King and at last adjudged to Mahaut whose Daughter Philip the Long had Married This partial or interested Judgment caused a world of mischief Year of our Lord 1318 c. For three several times in less then Eighteen Months they began a War against the Flemmings and three several times it ended in a Truce Eudes Duke of Burgundy could not forbear mentioning the wrong they did to young Jane by detaining the Kingdom of Navarre and the Earldoms of Brie and Champagne from her The Long desiring to appease him gave him his Daughter also named Jane in Marriage with the Earldom of Burgundy Year of our Lord 1318 Notwithstanding this tie Eudes insisted so highly for his Neece that the King was obliged to Marry her to Philip the Son of Lewis Earl d'Euvreux this Lewis was Paternal Uncle to the King with the Rights she could have to the Kingdom of Navarre and the Earldoms of Brie and Champagne The great Peril France was in after the death of Hutin about the doubt of Succession and the cruel War that had afflicted Scotland for a business almost of the same nature after the decease of Alexander IV. was cause that upon the renewing the Alliance which was made between the two Crowns they added this Condition That if ever there hapned any difference for the Succession of one of those two Kingdoms he of those two Kings that should survive should not suffer any other to step into the Throne but him that should have the Judgment of the Estates for him that he should come in Person to defent it and should oppose whomsoever would contend for the Crown against him Year of our Lord 1319 The Countess Mahaut was so obstinately bent to change the Customs of the Country of Artois that the Lords and Commonalties revolted against her and nevertheless they got nothing by it being subdued by the Assistance the King and the French Princes lent her Year of our Lord 1319 The Citizens of Verdun molested by Thomas de Blamont their Bishop put themselves under protection of the King A fourth time Robert de Bethune Earl of Flanders broke the Truce but Ghent and the other Cities in his Country who in all these Wars had gotten a Power that counterbalanced his being risen up in Arms against him he was fain to consent that the Popes Legat who was a Cardinal and had been chosen Arbitrator should come to Paris the following Spring Year of our Lord 1320 The Peace was then concluded the Twentieth of May. The Cities of Douay L'Isle and Orchies remained to the King The Flemmings obliged themselves to pay Thirty thousand Florins of Gold and gave Oath not to assist their Earl in case he contraven'd to this Agreement The King promised his Daughter Margares to Lewis Earl of Nevers and Retel Son of another Lewis eldest Son of Earl Robert upon condition he should succeed his Grandfather in the Earldom of Flanders though his Father should die before his Grandfather Year of our Lord 1319 20. The Gibbelins growing powerful in Italy Pope John XXII solicited the King so earnestly that he sent thither his Son Philip Earl of Valois who was afterwards King to relieve Vercel whom the Sons of Matthew Viscount Lord of Milan held besieged He had but Fifteen hundred Horse but the Pope Robert King of Sicilia the Florentines and other Guelphs were to send him Forces to make up a great Army while he was at Mortara Matthews eldest Son had so wrought upon his Lieutenant by Money and upon himself by submission and fair words that he persuaded him to return into France without once drawing his Sword after he had made I know not what kind of Treaty which plaistered up a reconciliation between the two Factions in Lombardy Year of our Lord 1320 A like Frenzy to that we have already seen in the time of St. Lewis seized the Peasants and Pastorels for the recovery of the Holy Land upon the instigation of a renounced Monk and a Priest put out from his Cure They made their Muster in the Pre an Clerks at Paris marched into Aquitain from thence to Languedoc Massacring the Jews every where and Plundering their Magazines The Earl de Foix gave them Chase so smartly that he dispersed them all Robert de Cassel second Son of the Earl of Flanders having accused Lewis his elder Brother that he would have poysoned his Father Lewis was made Prisoner his Servants and Confesser put to Torture but not being able to make out any proof he was set at liberty but upon condition however that he should never enter into the Country of Flanders By this means Robert would chalk out his way to the Succession to the prejudice of his elder Brother History has not thought it unworthy its Remarks that in this year 1320. the Prevost of Paris named Henry Capperel for having caused an innocent but poor Fellow to be Hanged in the stead of a Rich Man condemned for great Crimes was by a Sentence of Parliament tied up to the same Gibbet We every day see his parallels save the rich Man that is guilty and punish his innocent Purse The Lepers did not give only a horror to all the World but envy likewise because they enjoy'd great Wealth and that loathsom Distemper did not render them uncapable of enjoying their pleasures add that they paid no Subsidies wherewith
1325. The Council of England found it necessary that Queen Isabella who was Sister to Charles the Fair should pass over into France with Edward his eldest Son to Negociate the Peace She managed the business with a great deal of Skill and finished the Treaty contriving it so that her Son Edward was invested in the Dutchy of Guyenne and the Earldom of Pontieu for which he did Homage to the King The King of England had too near him the two Hugh Spensers Father and Son the last having been bred with him in an unbecoming familiarity had an absolute empire over him and made him do what ever he desired The English Lords having made some Conspiracy and taken up Arms against this Favourite he drew them to a Parly where he caused them also to be seized against the Publick Faith and afterwards chopt off the Heads of Two and Twenty Barons amongst whom was Thomas Earl of Lancaster Son of Prince Edmond who when living was Brother to King Edward Pursuring his design he kept Queen Isabella and the Earl of Kent the Kings Brother at distance from the Court and likewise did privately seek to destroy them whether for that they had been in the Conspiracy with the Lords or that he apprehended their Credid or Interest and this was the chief ground for their coming into France Year of our Lord 1325 King Charles received his Sister with all the tenderness of a good Brother kept her a great while in his Court Treating and Honouring her according to her Quality and promised her assistance both of Money and Men as much as he well could without breaking with the English to Chastise that insolent favourite who continued to take off all those Heads that stood in the way which his Ambition led him to Unhappy Flanders was hardly ever without Troubles The Flemmings had but little affection to their Earl because he was too much French by inclination and resided but little in that Country He had a long and bloody Contest with the Citizens of Bruges Robert de Cassel supported them because he would have had him been kill'd They made John Earl of Namur his Uncle Prisoner and a while after they also did detain himself But when the Pope had laid an Interdict upon the Country when those Mutineers had been beaten by the Ghentois and they found the King was sending Forces to his relief they were forced to bend the Knee and humble themselves before him He Chastised them by great Fines the loss of their fairest Priviledges and by the banishment of a great number of the hottest Spirits Year of our Lord 1325 It was above a year that Charles Earl of Valois languished with a Distemper which was very odd and yet more painful Who knows whether it were not the effect of some cruel Poyson The Physicians not knowing either how to find out the true cause of the Malady nor any Remedies the poor Prince falls into an imagination that it was a Divine Punishment for the too eager and severe pusute he had made against Enguerrand de Marigny They have not forgot to mention his Penitence and to enumerate the satisfactions he offer'd to his Memory but perhaps these proceeded from a Mind as sick and as much out of tune as his Body After all if God so severely Chastised a Prince for persecuting a publick Robber and bringing him to Justice by unjust Methods and with an ill intent what did not that Robber deserve who for so long a time had tormented Millions of innocent Souls Year of our Lord 1325 and 26. The Spensers dreading the Storm which threatned them from the Coast of France obliged Edward earnestly to re-demand his Wife and they made use of so many Arts and scattered so much Money in King Charles his Court and even in the Popes to make him bestir himself for them that at length Charles won by their Presents or frighted with the fears of a Rupture not only retracted those Promises he had made his Sister but likewise upon pain of Banishment forbid all Knights to assist her and Commanded her to go out of his Countries Year of our Lord 1326 One Roger de Mortimer a Gentleman of Normandy was very much in the favour and good opinion of this fair Princess the Spensers had taken occasion to raise some Jealousie in the King her Husband and detain this Roger in the Tower of London but having sound means to escape he was come over into France and perhaps this was none of the least Arguments for which King Charles who was an Enemy to that unclean Folly would endure her no longer and so abandon'd her Year of our Lord 1326 At her leaving the Court of France she retired disconsolate into the County of of Pontien then into Hainault where she was so happy that John Brother of William the Earl declared himself her Knight-Errant caused her to be well and kindly received in his Brothers Court and having mustred Three hundred Knights more he carried her back into England No sooner was the news of her being landed known but Henry Earl of Lancaster the Brother of Thomas came to her the Earls Barons and Knights flock'd thither from all parts She besieged the King and both the Spensers in Bristol Spenser the Father and the Earl of Arundel Son-in-Law to the younger Spenser were taken in the City and beheaded The King and Spenser the Son who were retired into the Castle and from thence thought to make their escape in a Bark were taken at Sea The Favourite according to his Sentence given by the Barons was drawn on a Hurdle thorough the Streets of Hereford then led to the top of a Ladder where the Executioner cut off those parts that had transgress'd and plucked out his Heart then threw it into the Fire and quarter'd his Body Year of our Lord 1326 As for the King the Lords made his Process degraded him of his Royalty and condemned him to perpetual Imprisonment to put his Son Edward III. in his stead Afterwards the Friends to this unfortunate Prince by practising several means to save him compleated his ruine It was resolved to dispatch him out of the World and that after a most cruel manner They thrust a red hot Iron up into his Fundament through a Pipe of Horn fearing the burning should be discovered His Wife in her turn was punished by her own Son in the same horrible manner of revenge Year of our Lord 1326 In the mean time young King Edward Married Philippa the second of the four Daughters which the Earl of Hainault had by Jane Daughter of Charles Earl of Valois Divers Bands of Gascon Adventurers whom they called the Bastards perhaps because their Chiefs were such ravaged Guyenne They went into Saintonge where they seized upon the City of Xaintes but perceiving that the Captains whom King Charles had sent thither were resolved to give them Battle they withdrew in the night having set Fire to the City Year of our
last by a Decree of the Twenty eighth of December maintained them in their possession protesting it was his hearty desire to augment the Rights and Priviledges of the Church rather then any way dimish or infringe them for which reason they gave him the Surname of the Good Catholick Notwithstanding after this shock the Authority of that Body hath been so much weakned especially by Appeals in all Cases that now they really believe they have more just cause of Complaints against the Secular Judges then the Seculars had in those times against them Year of our Lord 1330 France being in Peace King Philip following the foot-steps of his Predecessors had conceived a desire of undertaking an Expedition into the Holy-Land To this purpose upon his return from a Pilgrimage he made to Marseilles with a very small Attendance in performance of a Vow he had made to St. Lewis Bishop of Toulouze he visited the Pope in Avignon and discoursed in particular with him about his design Towards the end of the year he summon'd the Estates of his Kingdom and laid before them the passion he had for the Holy War By their advice he sent to demand permission of the Pope to levy the Tenths of all the Clergy in Christendom and many other things but so extraordinary that he could obtain no favourable Answer Year of our Lord 1331 The English could not well digest that Edward had so easily renounced to the Crown of France They ceased not from spurring him on opportunity seeming to present it self favourably because Scotland which France was wont to make a counterpoise to England was extreamly embroil'd For Edward the Son of John Baliol who for a long time led a private Life at his House in Normandy with a small Force had recover'd that Crown and driven out King David who was retired to the Court of France together with his Wife and Children After the death of Mahaut the Earldom of Artois sell Jane of Burgundy Wife of Philip the Long and according to the Articles of Marriage was given to Blancb her Daughter the Wife of Eudes Duke of Burgundy Robert d'Artois who could not yet forbear his pretentions to that Earldom renewed the Process and produced certain Grants under the great Seal which he said he had found by Miracle He believed the King being his Brother-in-Law and owing him so great obligation would not search too deep after the truth of it But the King because it concerned the interest of his Daughter who was much nearer to him then his Sister caused these Letters Patents to be examin'd so exactly that they were found to be false and a Gentlewoman of Artois that had counterfeited them was burnt alive for it they having accused her as being a Sorceress Robert enraged for the loss of his Process and of his Honour slew to reproaches against the King so much the more injurious as they were true and so exasperated his anger that he was pushed on to the utmost extremity against him They seized upon his Confessor whom they obliged by force or promises to bear Witness against him his Wiâ—e was laid hold on though she were the Kings own Sister and after some delay for want of appearing he was Banished by sound of Trumpet and Proclamation through all the Suburbs of Paris and his Estate was declared to be Confiscate He then knew there was no more quarter for him and would have taken Sanctuary at the Earl of Hainaults but the Kings wrath did not suffer him to be so near he excited the Duke of Brabant to make War upon the Hanuyer Robert not to be a Cause of the ruine of his Friend went out of those Countries and resolved to all the extremities whereunto dispair does usually hurry Men of courage he goes to the King of England and by force of blowing the Coals kindled the Flame that set all France on Fire Year of our Lord 1332 In the mean time the King of England strenghned himself with Alliances Moneys and all sorts of Ammunitions for some great Enterprize He had in his Party the Earl of Haynault the Emperor Lewis his Brother-in-Law several German Princes with the Cities of Flanders and to have the greater power in the Low-Countries and over the Princes along the Rhine he purchased at a dear rate the Quality of Vicar of the Empire The King was secure of the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Lorrain the Earl of Bar the Kings of Castille of Scotland and of Bohemia but especially of this last whom he had made fast by many several ties For besides that he had Married a Sister of his and his Son Charles born of that Wedlock had been bred in the Court of France he also Married his Daughter Bonne to John Duke of Normandy The Nuptials were compleated at Melun The Designs of the English being not yet formed gave Philip no apprehension so Year of our Lord 1332 that he was taking up the Cross for the Holy Land and with him three other Kings Charles of Bohemia Philip of Navarre and Peter of Arragon with a great number of Dukes Earls and Knights The Clergy took but small joy in it so mightily were they oppressed with extraordinary Exactions as if they had a design to ruine the Churches of France to go and restore those in Palestine Year of our Lord 1333 Upon the design of this War Philip endeavour'd to make Peace between all his Neighbour Princes he brought the Duke of Brabant to an agreement with the Earl of Flanders and the Earl of Savoy with the Dauphin de Viennois The difference betwixt the first was for the City of Malines It belonged to the Bishop of Liege and to the Earl of Guelders the Bishop had sold his part to the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Brabant claimed it saying he was the Lord of the Fief It was concluded it should remain to the Flemming unless the Duke would rather chuse to reimburse him 85000 Crowns With that was agreed the Marriage of three Daughters of the Brabanders with Lewis eldest Son of the Flemming William Earl of Holland and Renauld Earl of Guelders Year of our Lord 1333 Pope John XXII had publickly preached at Avignon That the Vision or Joyes of the Blessed Souls and the Pains or Torments of the Damned were imperfect till the final day of Judgment and endeavour'd to make this opinion pass current for the Doctrine of the Church The Faculty of Theology of Paris courageously opposed it He tried to get them to own it by two Nuncios whom he sent to them the one was the General of the Cordeliers the other a famous Jacobin Doctor The most Christian King did not judge the Pope to be infallible but order'd the question to be discuss'd by Thirty Doctors or the Faculty of Theology who confounded the Cordelier Nuncio whereupon a Decree was made and Sealed with their Thirty Seals which he sent to the Holy Father exhorting him to believe those who
the King in case he would surrender them which being denied they acknowledged Edward to be King of France and gave him their Oaths of Fidelity then did he begin to take that Title upon him in all publick Acts and to put the Flowers-de-Lys in his Coat of Arms and in his Seals However I find that the year before he had by a Declaration forbid any to call Philip by the name of King of France but only Earl of Valois Year of our Lord 1339 Having shortly after passed over into England to recruit himself with Money there was nothing done in all this year but sacking or plundering and some skirmishes that were not decisive In the mean time the King by his Craft and Money together had found means to take the Emperour off from the English Interest Insomuch as he repeated his Title of Vicar of the Empire which he had sold at so dear a rate to him Year of our Lord 1340 But whatever skill they did make trial of in tampering with the Flemmings they could not be brought over again and their Earl not daring to return into that Countrey nor put any trust in Artevelle kept himself within l'Isle The Pope upon the Kings request had put their Countrey under Interdict and all their Priests obey'd very exactly which did at first cause a great consternation but the King of England sent some that were less scrupulous amongst them who opened the Churches and officiated boldly Year of our Lord 1340 The Duke of Normandy this was John the eldest Son of Philip after he had made strange havock in Hainault laid Siege to the Castle of Thin-l'Evesque on the Sambre because it did much incommode the City of Cambray The French and Flemmish Armies were there once more near each other but the Flemmish now withdrew themselves without blows the besieged observing their retreat set fire to the place and made their escape As soon as the King of England had recruited himself with Money and Men he came and landed a Second time at Scluse and overthrew the French Fleet that lay Year of our Lord 1340 upon that coast in wait thinking to hinder his attempt The discord between their Admirals there were two of them was the main cause of their defeat Year of our Lord 1340 This advantage having abated the edge of their courage King Philip retired and distributed his Army in the several Garrisons The King of England sent to defie him in single combat one to one or else a hundred on either side or both Armies in a pitch'd battle He was answer'd That a Lord accepts of no challenge from his Vassal Some days after he besieges Tournay which was reduc'd to great distress but the long and vigorous defence of the besieged saved the place by the Truce that was then made Year of our Lord 1340 Mean time the Flemmings were cut in pieces before St. Omers Robert d'Artois who Commanded them was not only in danger of losing his Life there but afterwards being pursued by the Populace who cry'd out he had betray'd them was forced much wounded as he was to make his escape to the King of England Year of our Lord 1340 The French Garrisons were drawn together in a Body to relieve Tournay Philip had made divers attempts for that purpose had lost all hopes of succeeding in it when on the suddain Edward condescends to a Truce whether by the mediation of the Widdow Jane Countess of Hainault who was his Sister and Mother of the Queen of England at that time retired to the Convent of Fontenelles or as Villain tells it because of the desertion of the Duke of Brabant whom the King had gained by his Money and besides being unwilling that City should fall into the English hands went away from them with all his Forces It was to last from the Twentieth of September to the Five and twentieth of June following and was again prolonged at an Assembly which shortly after was held at Arras upon the earnest desires of the Popes Legats Year of our Lord 1341 John II. Duke of Bretagne dying this year 1341. upon his return from Flanders whither he had attended the King that War which he so much apprehended broke out in his Countrey and kept it in a flame for two and twenty years space For John Earl of Montfort being very liberal of those Treasures he had in Limoges secur'd himself of the best Soldiers and of the Cities of Brest Nantes Rennes Hennebond and Avray Then foreseeing his Antagonist would have recourse to the King of France his Uncle he goes over into England where he contracted a secret Alliance with Edward and also did homage to him Year of our Lord 1341 During this progress Charles de Blois comes unto the King as to his Sovereign Lord. The Dutchy was a Fief of the Crown of France ever since the Dukes Peter de Mauclere and John le Roux his Son had acknowledged it to be held of the Crown and moreover it was a Pairrie Philip the Fair having grac'd it with that Title in Anno 1277. in recompence for that John II. had brought him Ten thousand Men to the Siege of Courâ—ray Besides both of the contenders had presented their Petitions to the King to be admitted to do homage which no doubt but either of them would have performed in any manner required and for this reason the King Year of our Lord 1341 referr'd it to the judgment of the Pairs who caused both parties to be summon'd to make out their Right and Titles The Duke of Bretagne appeared but finding by the very first words the King spake to him that not only his Cause but likewise his Person was in danger he makes his escape one fair night into Bretagne with three more himself disguised like a Merchant â—aving left all his Officers at Paris who put a good face upon it as if their Master were not sled but kept his Bed for some indisposition The better to cover his evasion he left a procuration with one of his people to act and carry on this Cause before the King and Pairs and produce what Deeds and Papers were necessary to maintain his Right His adversary had done the same but either of them notwithstanding without power of concluding on any thing but only for debating and putting their Arguments and Titles into a method to instruct the Judges Year of our Lord 1341 Upon these imperfect proceedings the Pairs received Charles de Blois to homage and threw out Montfords Petition Immediately Charles and his friends were putting themselves into a posture to execute the Decree the Duke of Normandy entred into Bretagne with an Army and having forced Chantoceaux besieged Nantes where Montford had shut up himself The Nantois terrified at the misfortune of Two hundred of their Burghers taken in a Salley obliged Montford to surrender himself to the Duke who sent him to Paris where he was confined to the great Tower of the Lovre Thus one
would have guessed the business had been at an end but his Wife Margaret Daughter of Robert Earl of Flanders a wise and couragious Princess who made good use of her Head in Council and of her Sword upon occasion as well as the deepest Politician or the bravest Soldier of her time could have done upheld that ruined party and not only so but even raised it again by her heroick Virtue She retired to Brest fortify'd her places put her Son who was but four years old in a place of safety having sent him into England and pressed King Edward so earnestly for the assistance he had promised to her Husband that he sends it by Sea to her It came inde ed somewhat too late to preserve Rennes but early enough to save Hennebond whit her he was retired It was however too weak to maintain the cause the Enemies were Masters of the Field and took the Towns but Charles de Blois I cannot tell by what motive gave her some respite by a years Truce during which this Princess goes over into England to represent the state of her Affairs there Year of our Lord 1342 In the Month of April of this year 1342. hapned the death of Benedict XII This good Pope moreconcerned and affectionate for the exaltation of the Holy See then of his own Family left a vast Treasure to the Church and nothing at all to his kindred but good instructions for the saving of their Souls Peter Roger Native of the Village de Rose in Limosin and Arch-Bishop of Rouen succeeded him by the name of Clement VI. This Man behaved himself quite contrary he scrupled not at all to make use of his Wealth to enrich his Relations and restored the Nipotisine very prejudicial to to the Church Year of our Lord 1342 The Countess Margaret acted so successfully at the Court of England that she brought back a powerful supply commanded by Robert d'Artois The Naval Forces of the Genoese and Spaniards which were under the Command of Lewis of Spain Brother of Alphonso who was Constable set upon them smartly and might well have hindred their Landing if a sierce Wind had not obliged him at night to put out to Sea fearing his great Vessels should run aground their Ships being smaller got to Port near Vannes Robert d'Artois being landed besieged that City and carried it by Assault which he made upon them in the night presently after another very hot one which he had given them in the day time But after that the Captains of the contrary party knowing he had sent the greatest part of his Army to besiege Rennes and that himself staid in Vannes they came and besieged him and press'd so hard upon him by repeated Assaults that they regained the place Himself was hurt in the last attaque and with much ado saved himself by a postern and got to Hennebond from thence he went into England where he thought to find best Chyrurgeons he died of his wounds in London detested of all good and loyal Frenchmen and passionately regretted by Edward who promis'd him to revenge his death And in effect he landed soon afterwards in Bretagne where all at one time he besieged Vannes Rennes and Guincamp protesting he did not intend to break the Truce made with the French but only he would defend and protect the Lands of a Pupil he meant Montfort's Son to whom he had promised his Daughter in Marriage On the other hand the Duke of Normandy thought he did not infringe it if he assisted Charles de Blois his Cousin German Year of our Lord 1342 After divers exploits of War on either part the Duke hemm'd in Edward before Vannes both by Sea and Land Now as the English were reduced to hunger and the French extreamly incommoded with the Autumn Rains they were glad on both sides to get out of these straights by a Truce for two years which was concluded betwixt them only for Bretagne The Legats of the new Pope brought this about and withal got the promise of both Kings that they should send to Avignon to the Holy Father there to determine all their Disputes by a firm and lasting Peace Year of our Lord 1343 The Twenty eighth of January hapned the death of Robert the Wife King of Naples who left his Kingdom to Jane Daughter of his Son Charles and the Sixteenth of September that of Philip King of Navarre Charles his Son who since ws surnamed the Bad came to the Crown under the Guardianship of Queen Jane of France his Mother Year of our Lord 1343 The Duke of Normandy and the English Deputies met at Aviguon to Treat about a Peace and although they could not come to an agreement in any one thing yet nevertheless it was believed they would conclude a Peace at last because the Popes Mediation was pleasing to both Princes But here an unhappy accident falls in their way and not only stopt their proceedings towards a Peace but set them at farther distance then ever they were and overwhelmed France with a deluge of woes Year of our Lord 1344 Oliver de Clisson and Ten or Twelve Lords Bretons of the French party having accompanied Charles de Blois to a Turnament that was held at Paris the King caused them to be all made prisoners upon some suspition of their holding intelligence with the English and soon after beheaded without any Trial or Hearing of their Case to the great astenishment of all the World and indignation of the Nobility whose Blood till then had never been shed but in Battle and indeed this too severe King who revenged even his own mistrusts did so alienate the affection of his Grandees that they served him but very ill when he had need of them upon great occasions Year of our Lord 1344. and 45. The death of these Lords of Bretagne enraged the King of England he was almost like to have done the same to Henry Lord of Leon of Charles de Blois his party whom he held a prisoner but upon the humble intreaties of the Earl of Derby he gave him his Life and Liberty upon condition he should go and declare to King Philip that the Truce was infringed by this Murther and that he was now going to begin the War anew as he quickly did as well in Guyenne by the Earl of Derby assisted by the Gascon Lords under his obedience as in Bretagne by Montforts party till he could go himself and carry a War into the very heart of the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1344 The people of France had liberally granted to King Philip very notable Subsidies of Money for his Wars he raised them by much and which was worse he setled a new one upon Salt for which cause Edward by way of railery called him the Author of the Salique Law This impost which makes the Sun and Water to be sold so dear was the invention of the Jews mortal enemies to the name of Christians as the word or term Gabel denotes
same day which was the Six and twentieth of August His too hasty March and three long Leagues of way had made the French lose both their breath and strength before they engaged the enemy On the contrary the English were fresh and recruited and dispair re-doubled their courage The Genoese the chief strength of Philips Infantry who were commanded by Antony d'Oria and Charles Grimaldi did nothing to the purpose their Cross-bow strings being made useless by a deluge of Rain that fell just upon the first beginning of their Service they retreating from before a showre of the English Arrows the Count d'Alenson who suspected it to be Treachery rides quite over them with his Cavalry and so began the rout We must also take notice that in this famous Battle the English had four or five pieces of Canon which gave much terror for that was the first time they ever saw those thundering in our Wars To all this add that some amongst the Grandees very glad to see Philip engaged upon this occasion made more shew then they did service These causes chiefly gave the victory to the English The Battle lasted from four in the Afternoon till Two the next Morning A great flight of Ravens which a little hefore the Fight were observed to hover over the French Army were esteemed as a presage of their defeat Of the French side there remained dead upon the place Thirty thousand Foot Twelve hundred Knights and Fourscore Banners taken John King of Bohemia Charles Earl of Alenson Brother to the King Lewis Earl of Flanders and Twelve or Fifteen of the most illustrious Counts lost their Lives King John stark blind as he was fought very valiantly having caused his Horses Bridle to be sastned to the Bridles of two of his bravest Knights horses His Son Charles King of the Romans was hurt with three wounds but it is not true that the Kings of Majorca Scotland and Navarre were in this Engagement the two first were in their own Countreys busie enough about their own concerns and the other not above the age of Thirteen or Fourteen years under the tuition of his Mother The King this time Vnfortunate retired out of the Battle under the favour of the night and saved his Person in the Castle of Broye from thence got to Amiens and so to Paris to raise another Army The next day another slaughter twice greater then the former was made by Five hundred Lances and two thousand Archers amongst the common People who being ignorant of what had hapned were marching to the French Camp The English having ravaged all Boulonois at their pleasure went and laid Siege to Calais about the Eighth of September and stuck close to it with the more security upon the news that David King of Scotland was vanquish'd and made prisoner by the Queen of England upon his falling on the Frontiers Year of our Lord 1346 Before the Battle of Cressy the Emperour Lewis was Excommunicated by the Pope and degraded by Five Electors who in his stead placed Charles the Son of John King of Bohemia This Prince after the death of Lewis which hapned in October the following year got his Election confirmed and bought the Claims of two or three others who disputed their Title to the Empire with him because they had been named by some of the Electors Year of our Lord 1347 After the Duke of Normandy had raised the Siege of Aiguillon the Earl of Derby remained Master of the Field regained all that part of Guyenne which lies beyond the Dordogne and having passed the Rivers ravaged and burnt Saintonge and Poitou took St. John d'Angely and kept it sacaged the great City of Poitiers and quitted it after he had refreshed himself there for Twelve days together Year of our Lord 1346. and 47. The Flemmings having lost their Earl at the Battle of Cressy sent a Deputation to the King to re-demand his Son who was their natural Prince Whilst he was in their power they had assianced him to King Edwards Daughter but that Alliance being contrary to his inclination he escaped from them and returned to the Court of France After he had staid there a year he made a particular peace with the English by the consent of Philip his Sovereign It was agreed that he should permit the Flemmings to give them assistance but as for himself he should not intermeddle with the Affairs either of the one or other of the two Princes Year of our Lord 1347 The Flemmings being at Edwards Devotion made great inroads upon Artois and on the other side John de Montforts party got the upper hand in Bretagne by the help of the English For Charles de Blois going to besiege la Roche de Rien Montfort gave him Battle the Twentieth of June vanquish'd him and took him prisoner with his two Sons John and Guy and most of the Lords of his party His Wife whom ambition and the Royal Blood she came of inspired but with too much courage gathered up the fragments and maintained the business so well that he recover'd once more Year of our Lord 1347 It was but in vain that Philip advanced between Wissant and Calais with an Army of One hundred and fifty thousand Men to relieve the City the English had enclosed his Camp with such good Trenches that he could find no way to attaque him The besieged driven to the severest extremity of Famine were forced to surrender the last day of August Fame shall never forget the name of Eustace de St. Pierre the most noted Citizen of Calais and his heroick generosity to save his fellow Citizens Edward mortally enraged at their long resistance would not receive them on composition unless they would deliver up to him six of their principal Burghers to do what he pleased with them The Council not knowing what to resolve and the whole City remaining Year of our Lord 1347 exposed to the revenge of a cruel Conquerour Eustace freely proffer'd to be one of those Six By his example there soon follow'd enough to make up the number who went out in their Shirts with Ropes about their Necks to deliver the Keys to Edward He was so obstinately bent to put them to death that the Queen his Wife had all the trouble imaginable to obtain his pardon for their Lives He drove out all the Inhabitants of the place even the Ecclesiastiques and repeopled it with natural English Robert King of Sicilia having no Heirs of his own Body but Jane the Daughter of his Son Charles Duke of Calabria had Married her Anno 1333. to Andrew Second Son of Carobert King of Hungary the eldest of these two being then but seven years of age It hapned Twelve years afterwards Andrew not being enough to Jane's liking and having been Crowned King by the Pope pretending that the Kingdom did delong to him certain Conspirators made him rise one night out of the Bed where he was lying with her and hanged him at a
have no more war on that side but the Nobility liked rather to be under the King of France who had Employments and Offices to bestow Henry de Villars Arch-Bishop of Lyons and John de Chisy Bishop of Grenoble byass'd the Dukes mind so as to make it run that way He had therefore in the year 1343. made a Donation to King Philip of the Lordship of Daulphine and the Lands adjoyning upon condition that all their priviledges should be preserved intirely that it should be incorporated for ever in the Crown of France and that the Kings eldest Son should enjoy it and bear the Title and the Arms of Daulphine for which the King gave him Forty thousand Crowns of Gold and ten thousand Florins Rent to be levied on the Countrey Year of our Lord 1349 This year 1349. he confirmed the Contract and afterwards retired himself into a Convent of the Jacobins where he took on the Habit. The Pope tyed him to the Church by Sacred Orders fearing he might start back and gainsay the thing He received them all on Christmass-day the Subdiaconal at midnight Mass the Diaconal at Mass by break of day and the Priesthood at the Third Mass The same day he Celebrated and eight days after was promoted to Episcopacy and honoured with the Title of Patriarch of Alexandria Year of our Lord 1350 In 1350. Philip had likewise either by purchase or by engagement of James of Arragon King of Majorca the Counties of Rousillon and Cerdagna in the Pyreneans and bought of the same Prince the Barony of Montpellier in Languedoc which the House of Arragon held in Under-Fief of the Crown of France for the sum of Sixscore thousand Crowns of Gold currant Money In the Month of June of the year 1350. the Truces wer prolonged between the Kings for three years Year of our Lord 1350 Two Months afterwards Philip fell sick at Nogent le Roy perhaps of the toil and fatigue of his new Marriage very often mortal to antient people that take beautiful Wives Feeling his last hour draw near he sent for his Children and the Princes of his Blood and gave them warning and counsel to live in amity and concord with one another make a Peace if it could be had maintain good Order and countenance Justice case the People and other fine and excellent things which Princes oftner recommend to their Successors at their deaths then practise themselves while they are alive He expired the Two and twentieth day of August in the seven and fiftieth year of his age and in the Three and twentieth of his Reign Very brave in his own person more happy in Negotiations then in Battle hard-hearted towards his Subjects suspitious vindicative and one that suffer'd himself to be too far transported by the impetuosity of his anger He had two Wives Jane and Blanch that the Daughter of Robert II. Duke of Burgundy and this of Philip d'Evreux King of Navarre By the First he left two Sons John who Reigned Philip who was Duke of Orleans but had no posterity and one Daughter named Mary who Married John Duke of Limburgh Son of John III. Duke of Brabant By his Second he had but only one Daughter Posthumus she was named Jane who died at Beziers in the year 1373. as they were conducting her to Barcelona to marry John Duke of Girona eldest Son to Peter IV. King of Arragon The Queen her Mother survived her Husband almost Fifty years which she passed in perpetual Widdow-hood Thus under the Reign of King John there were two Queens Dowagers in France this same and Jane d'Evreux widdow of Charles the Fair who died in the Month of May Anno 1970. John I. King L. By some called the Good King Aged XLII years POPES CLEMENT VI. Two years three Months during this Reign INNOCENT VI. Elected in December 1352. S. Nine years and near Nine Months URBAN V. Elected the Eighth of October 1362. S. Eight years and above Two Months whereof one year and Six Months during this Reign Year of our Lord 1350 AFter John had assisted at the Funeral of the King his Father he was Crowned at Reims with his Second Wife Jane of Boulogue the Twenty sixty day of September From thence he came and made his entrance into Paris the Seventeenth of October sate in his Seat of Justice in Paris gave the Order of Knighthood to his two eldest Sons to some other Princes and Lords and began some shew of labouring about the Polity and the Reformation of the whole Estate The Prince having maturity of age the experience of Affairs a valour tried in occasions the example of his faults before his Eyes and four Sons that would soon be able to draw their Swords promised a happy conduct and a most flourishing Government yet having the same defects as his Father too much of impetuosity and precipitation for revenge little prudence and as little consideration for the miseries of his poor people he fell into greater misfortunes and such as did not let go their hold but stuck to him till his death The Blood wherewith he sullied the entrance of his Reign was a presage and perhaps a cause of it much likelier then the prodigious Comet which appeared this year Rodolph Earl of Eu and of Guisnes Constable of France a prisoner of War to the English ever since the Battle of Caen had made divers voyages into France Year of our Lord 1350 to procure his own deliverance and that of his Compagnons Some perswaded the King were it true or false that under this pretence he practised some contrivances in favour of the English he was then arrested by the Prevost of Paris the Sixteenth of November and the Nineteenth beheaded obscurely and without form of Process in presence of the Duke of Bourbon and seven or eight Lords of note before whom it was given out in publique he had confessed his crime His spoil was thus divided his Office of Constable was given to Charles d'Espagne de la Cerde Favourite to the King the Earldom of En to John d'Artois Son of that Robert of whom we have mention'd so much and that of Guisnes to Jane the only Daughter of the defunct whose first Husband was Gualter Duke d'Athenes and her Second to Lewis Earl d'Estampes of the Branch d'Evreux from which sprung that of the Earls d'Eu Princes of the Blood Year of our Lord 1351 That he might not be inferiour in magnificence to the English who was a sumptuous and liberal Prince who had instituted the Order of the Garter King John instituted or rather revived the Order of the Star in a famous Assembly which he held in his Palace of St. Ouyn neer Paris and ordained that whereas those Knights did formerly wear the Star upon their Helmets or Crest or hung about their necks they should now have them embroidered on their Cloaths The Chapter was held upon Twelfth-day Charles the Fifth his Son observing this Order much debased by the multitude of mean
people admitted left it to the Chevalier that Commanded the Watch and his Archers Though the Truce was not expir'd there was still some enterprize upon one another The English seized upon Guisnes having corrupted the Governour with Money Edward excused it pleasantly saying The Truces were Merchandise and that he did no more then follow the example of King Philip who would have bought Year of our Lord 1351 Calais The Traytor that had sold Guisnes was taken and drawn in pieces by four wild Horses Guy de Nesle Mareschal of France was defeated and taken with Arnold d'Endreghen and several people of note in a rencounter in Guyenne Year of our Lord 1350 and 51. In Bretagne the two parties of Blois and Montfort though they had only two Women in the head of them were perpetually engaging and fighting it out desperately In those days challenges between Cavaliers and the chief Commanders of parties that were enemies was very common but more frequent between a certain number appointed on each side then singly hand to hand and indeed they called them Battles The most remarkable in these years was that of Thirty Bretons against as many English Richard Brembo was the chief of these and the Lord de Beaumanoir of the others The victory fell to the Bretons and the greatest Honour to their Chief The following year 1351. Charles de Blois who had been four years a prisoner in England was released upon ransom giving two of his Sons for hostage till the payment of it and till he had discharged that debt he forbore to take up Arms. The Lords that had been taken prisoners in their attempt upon Calais having been discharged carried on the War with the Mareschal de Beaujeu about the Countrey of St. Omers having upon a time surprized the Lombard that had betraid them they Year of our Lord 1351 caused him to be quartered alive The Earl of Flanders had deny'd to assist at the Kings Coronation because they refused to restore his three Cities to him nevertheless he came to Paris to pay homage for his Lands and renew the Treaty of Confederation Year of our Lord 1352 The Sixth of December hapned the death of Pope Clement VI. Cardinal Stephen d'Albert a Limosin by birth and Bishop of Clermont succeeded him the Eighteenth of the same Month and took the name of Innocent VI. Year of our Lord 1353 King Charles of Navarre his return into the Kingdom brought with it a long train of war and calamities He had all the good qualities that a wicked Soul renders pernicious Wit Eloquence Craft Resolution and Liberality Though he had this year 1353. married Jane one of the Kings Daughters he gave not over from pursuing his pretensions to the Counties of Brie and Champagne and also Angoulesme Charles d'Espagne to whom the King had given this last disswaded him from proffering satisfaction The Navarrois discontented retires to his County of Evreux and understanding that the Constable was in his Castle de l'Aigle he undertakes a thing as base as it was bold He carries with him a hundred Horse men Year of our Lord 1354 scales the Castle it was on the Sixth of January and makes them stab him in his Bed That done he had the insolence to own the fact to justifie himself by Letters to the King and Council and all the good Cities of the Kingdom to raise Forces fortifie his Towns and sollicite all the neighbouring Princes to a League against France Year of our Lord 1354 The King dissembles him and flatters him to draw him to Paris but he will not come till they grant him conditions very advantagious of Lands for the value of Brie and Champagne the independance of his Earldom of Evreux from all others but the King full and free Absolution for those that had murthered the Constable and besides all this a very considerable sum of Money and the Kings Second Son in Hostage Year of our Lord 1354 Upon these Securities he appears in the Parliament of Paris the third day of March The King sitting on his Throne attended by the Pairs the Legat and divers Prelats The criminal having crav'd his pardon in a studied Speech intermixed with complaints and excuses the Constable had order to arrest him only for forms sake and lead him out to the next room while they debated then straightway he was released upon the request of the two Queens the Widdows of Charles the Fair and of Philip de Valois The Legat made him a grave Remonstrance and after all the King declared him Absolv'd Some few days after he retired into Normandy but went immediately without leave of the King and made a journey to Avignon He went ierreting up and down till the English should take the Field whereupon the King enters again into Normandy and seized his Lands but that Prince returning from Navarre by Sea having brought Forces that sacaged all the Countrey and besides it being Year of our Lord 1355 feared the English would soon Land it was thought sitter to make use of kindness Charles the Kings eldest Son soothed him so finely that he was pacified and least in appearance and came with him to Paris The Emperour Charles IV. goes to be Crowned at Rome or rather to be cover'd with shame having made that infamous Contract with the Pope that he would not sojourn so much as one whole day in that City which brought both Year of our Lord 1355 himself and the Empire into the most despicable condition The year following upon the Eleventh of January he made that famous Constitution called the Golden Bull of which the Politicians judge very variously Upon a Shrove-Tuesday night the English by Scalado took the Castle of Nantes and the very same night Guy de Rochefort took it again and hew'd them all in pieces as a reward for their having broken the Truce Gaston Phebus Count de Foix who Married the Sister of the King of Navarre was sent prisoner to the Chastellet at Paris because he refused to hold his Lands of the Year of our Lord 1355 King perhaps it might be those holden of the English But in a Month after he was set at liberty upon condition he should go into Guyenne and command the Kings Army against the Prince of Wales For the Truce was no sooner at an end but that young Prince invested in the Duchy of Guyenne by his Father began to make himself known by ravaging and burnings He made incursions even as far as Beziers and Narbonne without meeting any opposition from the French Commanders the Earl of Foix James de Bourbon Constable Year of our Lord 1355 and John de Clermont who were stronger then his party but too much divided by jealousies amongst themselves His Father at the same time landed at Calais and ran over all the Boulonois and Artois even to Hesdin where he broke through the Park yet could not force the Castle but having intelligence that King John was coming directly to
him he presently retires to Calais and from thence to his own Island without returning any answer to the generous challenge sent him by that Prince to fight him either hand to hand or Army against Army Year of our Lord 1356 The charges of this War could not be defray'd without great expences and at that time no extraordinary Subsidies were Levied without consent of the Estates The â—ing summon'd them to the Castle of Ruel where having laid open to them the necessity of Affairs they consented to the maintenance of Thirty thousand Men To make a fund for this they were fain to set up that Gabel upon Salt again which had been laid aside and moreover impose Eight Deniers per Liver upon all Merchandise and a certain annual Tax upon every mans Revenues whether Lands Benefices Offices nay even Salarys and Servants wages Year of our Lord 1356 These excessive Subsidies caused Seditions in many places especially at Arras The Mareschal d'Endreghen going in amongst them under the notion of a pacificator seized upon about a hundred of the most turbulent whereof a score of them had their Heads taken off Year of our Lord 1356 The Navarrois stirred up the people every where upon pretence of the publique good But with all his malice he was nevertheless so much gull'd as to be allured by the Dauphin and drawn into the Castle of Rouen with Lewis Earl of Harcourt John and William his Brothers the Lords de Clere de Graville de Maubue de Preaux and seven or eight more of his Confederates One day while the Dauphine was Treating them at a Dinner behold the King comes in at a Postern Gate well armed seizes upon the King of Navarre and his company puts the Earl of Harcourt Graville Maubue and Doublet in two Carts carries them out into the open fields and there causes their four Heads to be cut off without any form of Process or Trial. That done he sends the Navarrois under a strong Guard to the Castle Gailliard d'Andelis from whence having been removed into several prisons and often threatned with death he was conducted to the Castle d'Arleux in Cambresis Year of our Lord 1356 This violent proceeding had very bloody consequences Philip Brother of the Navarrois and Gefroy Brother to the Earl of Harcourt who had a good many places in Normandy called in the English to revenge that outrage done to their Brothers The Earl of Derby and the Duke of Lancaster with Four thousand Men began the War in that Countrey Year of our Lord 1356 The King went thither in person gave them chace as far as l'Aigle and having scatter'd them in the Woods laid Siege to Breteuil a little place which defended it self Seven weeks In these unhappy times the smallest Towns fortified themselves so as to put a stop to the greatest Armies The very Villages enclosed themselves with Works or Walls against the plundering Soldiers and this infinite number of Castles served only to lengthen out the War and devour the People by harbouring Thieves and Cut-throats The Nobility and Soldiery seemed as it were to triumph in the miseries of the poor common people Luxury who would believe it took its birth from desolation The Gentry who had ever been very modest in their Habits began to adorn themselves with Jewels Pearls and Gew-gawes like the Women to wear plumes of Feathers in their Bonnets a sign of their levity and give themselves passionately over to play at Dice all the night long and all the day at Tennis Year of our Lord 1356 While the King was at Chartres where he was drawing all his Forces together he was informed that the Prince of Wales with Twelve thousand Men of which there were but Three thousand natural English had pillaged Quercy Auvergne Limosiu Berry and was marching to do the same in Anjou Tourain and Poitou He thought fit to cut off his March upon his Retreat and led his Army along the Loire The Prince being advertiz'd left the Road to Tours and retired by Poitou but he could not do it so speedily but that the Kings Army overtook him within two Leagues of Poitiers The Prince finding him so neer entrenched himself amongst the Vines and strong thick Hedges nigh the place called Maupertuis Year of our Lord 1356 Cardinal de Perigord the Popes Legat went often from the one Army to the other to prevent them from coming to blows Edward offer'd to pay for all the damages he had done in his march from Bourdeaux to deliver up all his prisoners and not to bear Arms himself nor any of his Subjects for Seven years time against France But King John believing the Victory secure and certain rejected all his submissions and blinded with passion and anger instead of hemming him in and starving him which could not have failed in three days time went on headlong with the courage and fury of a Lyon rather then of a Captain to attaque him within his fastness the Nineteenth of September Nay by the worst advice in the world he caused all his Horsemen to alight excepting three hundred select Men who were to begin the onset and the German Cavalry who had Orders to second them Year of our Lord 1356 The thickness of the Hedges hindred these three hundred Horse from breaking in upon them the Englishmens bearded Arrows made the Horses mad and turned theâ— upon the Germans these fell into the Avant-Guard and they were totally routed by a gross of the enemies who came forth and charged them during their disorder Of the four Sons the King had in this Battle three of them were a little too soon carried out of the fray by their Governours together with Eight hundred Lances and this gave a fair pretence of excuse to all such Cowards as were glad to ollow them There was only Philip the youngest of the four who obstinately resolved to run the fortune of his Father and fought by his side The Kings single valour sustained the enemies charge a considerable time and if one fourth part of his Men had but seconded him no doubt but he had gained the victory At length he yielded himself up into the hands of John de Morebeque an Artesian Gentleman whom he had banished the Kingdom for some crime Philip his Son was taken prisoner with him There were but Six thousand French kill'd in this fatal day but of that number were Eight hundred Gentlemen and amongst those the Duke of Bourbon the Duke d'Athenes Constable the Mareschal de Nesle and above Fifty more of good quality The youg Prince as courteous as he was valiant Treated the King as his Lord. The same night he served him at his Table and endeavour'd to allay his grief and misfortunes by the most obliging and becoming Language he could express The next day fearing this noble prey might be snatched from him and withal observing his soldiers were so loaden with plunder that they were uncapable of further service he took his March towards
Besieged on the other hand reduced to Famine Betrand de Guesclin found an expedient to save the Dukes Oath which was That he should enter the Town with nine more and his Colours should be set up on the Gate for some hours To conclude this Treaty they made a Truce between the two parties which was to last till the year 1360. Year of our Lord 1357 The bands of Soldiers being neither cashier'd nor paid the Robbers flock'd together with all sorts of other rasâ—ally people and scowred all the Countreys about without any fear or punishment all the open Countrey lying exposed to their merciless mercy There were five or six several Gangs but the most dreadful crew of them was Year of our Lord 1357 that of one Arnold de Ceruoles who called himself the Arch-Priest he entred into the County of Avignon forced the Pope to redeem the plunder of his Lands at the price of Forty thousand Crowns and afterwards to give him Absolution and Treat him at his own Table with as much Honour as if he had been a Sovereign Prince Year of our Lord 1357 The persons Commissioned by the Estates for the administration of the Treasury made it soon apparent that they had not taken it in hand to dispossess Knaves but to have a share in that prize and pillage themselves so that their corrupt dealing no less criminal then that of the former Officers so much cried out upon did much blemish their choice and by consequence the authority of the Estates The Dauphin being therefore better fortified by the arrival of the Earls of Foix Year of our Lord 1357 and Armagnac and a great number of the Nobility did at length shake off their Tutelage and making le Coq return to his own Bishoprick his party became the strongest in Paris But immediately afterwards the Navarrois was set free from his imprisonment by the intrigues of his people who escalado'd the Castle wherein he was detained which was not done without connivance of the Lord de Pequigny to whom King John had committed the keeping of this Prince Then le Coq returns and the Council resumed greater power then formerly The Dauphin apprehended nothing so much as the malignity of that Prince exasperated by a long imprisonment nevertheless the importunities of the Council establisht by the Estates and the intercession of the two Queens Dowagers Jean and Blanch obliged him to give him a safe Conduct with which he came and lodged in the Abbey of St. Germain des Prez accompanied with a huge number of his friends Some while after having caused it to be proclaimed about the City That he would entertain the People upon St. Andrews day there came above Ten thousand Men to the Tilting-place which was between the Abbey of St. Germains and the Pré aux Clercs He mounted the Scaffold from whence the King was wont to behold Combats or Duels and there with a most pathetical Eloquence declared the injustice of nis tedious Confinement the tyrannical execution of his friends the zeal he had for the good of the Nation and above all express'd his mighty affection for the defence of Paris which was the capital City His flattering harangue tickled the People the more by reason that for some time they had met with nothing but severities The next day he was received into the City the Dauphin and he had an enterview in an indifferent place Le Coq Head of the Council the Prevost des Merchands nay even the University pressed the Dauphin so home to give him satisfaction that he was sain to agree to all he pleased However when he would have gone into his Towns thinking to take possession those that commanded there for the King refused to deliver them up to him or his Commissaries Year of our Lord 1358 Upon this refusal he begins the War anew Had the English assisted him considerably he would have over-turned the whole Kingdom but having dropt an expression in his speech to the People That he had more right to the Crown of France then those that disputed for it they lent him no more assistance then to enable him to draw the War to a great length that so each party weakning and tiring the other might both of them be forced to submit to that yoak the English designed to lay upon them Year of our Lord 1358 That zeal the Prevost des Marchands had for the publique liberty meeting with too great oppositions degenerated perhaps in despite of him into a manifest and most pernicious faction The mark or distinction was a kind of a Hood party-colour'd Red and Blue which he bestow'd for New-years-Gifts upon the People of Paris Who being divided and wavering in their Affections applauded sometimes the Dauphin who made Speeches in publique to them then straightway wheel'd about to their Magistrate whom they judged to be honest in his designs and anon they became indifferent to either Year of our Lord 1358 For the third time the Estates were called together at Paris the Dauphin designing to make himself Master of them drew some Forces about the Town the Navarrois had some likewise who kept the Field This troublesome neighbourhood did greatly incommode the City of Paris and all that lay neer it Marcel cast the fault upon the Dauphin and he discharged himself and laid it on the Navarrois Upon this brangle a Partisan of Marcels named Perrin Macé a Changer belonging to the Treasury Massacred John Baillet Treasurer of France and the Deed being done retired into the Church St. James de la Boucherie The Dauphin commanded the Mareschal de Clermont John de Chaalons Seneschal of Champagne and the Prevost of Paris to drag him thence by force and put him into the hands of Justice They haled him out and the Prevost of Paris caused his Hand to be cut off and sent him to the Gibbet The Churches were then inviolable Sanctuaries the Clergy and People grew into heats because they had pluck'd a Criminal from the feet of the Altar and the Bishop of Paris Excommunicated those that had committed this attempt After this Marcel having armed Three thousand Trades-men who all wore those party-colour'd Hoods entred into the Palace where the Dauphin Lodged and caused those three Lords to be murther'd in his presence This was not all he compell'd him to own the Fact in an Assembly of the Estates which was held at the Augustins and in Parliament to suffer the Navarrois to return to the City and to give him Lands and great satisfaction for damages notwithstanding the other Cities refused to joyn with Paris in any thing otherwise then for the Kings service Year of our Lord 1358 After the Navarrois had remained for some time in Paris and thought he had well secur'd himself of them going forth again to give some Order touching his Affairs he was no sooner out of Town when the Dauphin to lose no time caused himself to be declared Regent by the Parliament After that
all France was left exposed to the plundrings of the licentious Soldiers as well French as English Now at the very hour that Paris was reduced to the extreamest want and it was in the power of the Navarrois and only depended upon him alone to give the mortal blow to France his heart was changed in a moment without any apparent cause but an extraordinary favour of Heaven towards this Kingdom Insomuch as he made his agreement with the Dauphin and referr'd almost all his pretensions to his own free Will in despite of all the arguments and oppositions of his Brother who quitted him and retired to the English at Saint Sauveur le Vicomte Year of our Lord 1359 This Peace saved the City of Paris but did not ease the neighbouring Provinces * for those Garrisonn'd places that had held for the King of Navarre declared for the English that they might still have opportunities to plunder The Lord Auberticour a Hennuger ravaged Champagne by means of certain Castles he held upon the Marne and the Seine Broquard de Fennestranges a Knight of Lorrain drawn into the Service of France with Five hundred adventurers whom he had under his Pay delivered the Countrey of him having defeated and taken him prisoner in a great Fight near Nogent upon the River Seine but himself became a more severe scourge burning and laying all waste till the Dauphin could give him the Arrears due to his Soldiers During all these Wars with the English until Charles VIII had driven them out of France there were many of these Captains whereof some paid their Men out of their own pockets and then hired them out to those that would bid most and others maintained theirs with the plunder they took indifferently on either side These last were called Robbers those that Commanded them were meer Soldiers of Fortune when they were snapt they found no quarter Year of our Lord 1359 There were Propositions of Peace perpetually on foot between the two Crowns King John though he had all manner of liberty even for Hunting and all pastimes and gallantries was very weary of his imprisonment nevertheless he referr'd those conditions the English propounded for his Release to the Estates of his Kingdom They being assembled at Paris for this purpose it was in the Month of May found them so hard that all with one voice chose rather to have War and offer'd very great sums to carry it on but these could not be levied so soon The King of England netled with their Reply raised a formidable Army there were Eleven hundred Vessels and near an hundred thousand fighting Men landed at Calais with his four Sons who began to march although the Season was very far spent They let him keep the Field at his own pleasure the Towns were so well provided that he could not take one neither St. Omers nor Amiens nor Reims where he thought to have been Crowned King of France nor Chaalons Burgundy redeemed themselves from plundering for Two hundred thousand Florins and some Provisions for his Camp Nivernois compounded likewise Brie and Gastinois were ransacked About the latter end of Lent he came and encamped within Seven Leagues of Paris between Chartres and Montlehery and finding they made no one step towards the satisfying his demands he plants himself just before the City Gates with design to oblige the French to Speak or to Fight Year of our Lord 1360 After he had tarry'd there some time without being able to gain either the one or the other he turns back towards Beauss resolved to refresh his Men along the River Loire and in case of misfortune retreat into Bretagne Cardinal Simon de Langres the Popes Legat and the Dauphins Deputies always follow'd his Camp and sollicited him eternally for a Peace One day he being encamped in the Chartrain Countrey there arose a dreadful Storm with so much Lightning and Thunder and such a shower of great Hail that it grievously maim'd a great many of his Men and killed above a thousand of his Horses He took this prodigy as a warning and command from Heaven and turning himself towards our Lady's Church of Chartres which was to be seen about five or six Leagues off made a promise before the Almighty of concluding the Peace besides the Duke of Lancaster with other English Lords pressed him earnestly because his Army was much shatter'd and he had brought over almost all the force of England Year of our Lord 1360 The Deputies on either part met the First of May at the village called Brotigny within a mile of Chartres In this place Treating in the name of the two Kings eldest Sons they concluded upon all the Articles in eight days time On the one side they gave the English King besides what he had already all Poitou Saintongne Rochel and the Countrey of Aulnis Angoumois Perigord Limosin Quercy Agenois and la Bigorre in full Sovereigaty besides Calais the Counties of Oye Guisnes and Pontieu and three Millions in Gold for the Ransom payable at three several Terms of King John who should be brought to Calais and set at liberty after the restitution of those places force-mentioned and upon giving up as Hostages his Three youngest Sons his Brother Philip and other Princes of the Blood and besides all these Thirty more as well Earls as Illustrious Knights and two Deputies of each of the Nineteen Cities whose Names were expresly mention'd On the other hand the King of England renounced the Title of King of France and generally all his other pretensions Year of our Lord 1360 And till the two Kings could ratify the Treaty a Truce was agreed upon for a year In the Month of July King John was brought over to Calais where he was immediately visited by his Children and staid there till the Five and Twentieth of October when King Edward coming thither both of them swore to the agreement of Peace very solemnly That between the King of England and the Earl of Flanders and another between the King of Navarre and King John were made up in the same place and Year of our Lord 1360 this last sworn by the two Philips Brothers of those two Kings the Treaties were confirmed by the Holy Father under the penalty of Ecclesiastical censures against those as should first contravene King John being freed from Captivity the Four and twentieth of October which he had now undergone four years and one Month went to give Thanks to God at the Church of St. Denis in France There he received the King of Navarre into Favour who came and Saluted him The Thirteenth of December he made his entrance into Paris and the City testified their joy by a Present of Plate of a Thousand Marks Year of our Lord 1361 The extream necessity he was in for Money to pay his Ransom made his generous courage stoop to a weakness judged to be more prejudicial to the Honour of the Noble House of France then even the Treaty of Britigny it self
But nothing could quench the irreconcileable animosities of these two Houses nor prevent their seeking all opportunities to destroy each other as they did this year 1362. and the following Year of our Lord 1362 Whilst they were labouring but not effectually enough to have the Garrisons vacated King John took a fancy to go to Avignon and visit Pope Innocent with design as was believed to endeavour a Marriage with Jane Queen of Naples the second time a Widdow defamed indeed for her ill life but who would have brought him in Dower the Counties of Provence and Piedmont being on his way he heard of the death of Innocent but he went forwards and on the eighth day of October assisted at the Coronation of William Grimouard a Native of Montferrat who was chosen out of the Sacred Colledge being but a simple Abbot They named him Vrban V. Whilst he staid at Avignon the Holy Father Preaching for a new adventure to the Holy Land he accepted of the Command of Generalissimo in the Expedition The two Kings Peter of Cyprus and Woldemar III. of Denmark took the badge of the Cross for the same purpose in the same place But the affairs of France not suting very well with this Enterprize was so far from being put in execution that it was not so much as approved of or countenanc'd Year of our Lord 1363 At his return he took possession of the Dutchy of Burgundy but whilst he was yet in that Countrey the Burgundians did so positively make him understand that they could not live without a Prince that was Resident amongst them that he revoked and null'd the re-union he had made of this Dutchy to the Crown and yielded and bestowed it upon Philip his youngest Son who had deserved the Name of Hardy at the Battle of Poitiers To hold it for him and his Heirs begotten in lawful Marriage About the end of this year 1363. King John Embarqued at Boulogne and went again into England the occasion of his voyage was not his love towards a Lady with whom he had familiarity when he was formerly there but upon notice that the Duke of Anjou his second Son and one of his Hostages had escaped out of England this generous King would repair the Honour of that young Prince and demonstrate Year of our Lord 1364 that he had no hand in that juvenile act as likewise to dispose if it were possible King Edward to the expedition of the Holy War Charles the Dauphin Regent for the Second time Year of our Lord 1364 HIs eldest Son to whom he had left the Regency sound himself presently attaqued by his Cousin the King of Navarre upon the pretensions he had to the Dutchy of Burgundy This Prince having rashly sent him defiance before he had any Army ready to justify it lost the Cities of Mantes and Meulan which were taken by Bertrand du Gueselin whose valour was already raised much above the common standard Year of our Lord 1364 In England King John having had many Conferences with King Edward when he hoped to have dispatched all his Affairs was surprized about mid March with a distemper which ended his days the eighth of April He died in the Savoy without the Walls of London after he had lived Two and fifty years and held the Scepter Thirteen years and eight Months His Son the Duke of Berry the Dukes Philip of Orleance and Lewis II. of Bourbon and John of Artois Earl of Eu all Princes of the Blood heard his last Sighs and closed his Eyes The King of England made him a magnificent Funeral worthy the grandeur of that King and becoming his own generosity His Corps was brought back into France and interred at St. Denis upon the seventh day of May. He was esteemed to be the bravest and the most liberal Prince of his time but the same root which produced these virtues did likewise bring forth Pride and the scorn to follow any other Counsel but that of his own Brain attended with prodigality precipitation and that violence which exposed his own Kingdom to pillage and plunder and his own Person to the mercy of his enemies But we must not deny him two great advantages or perfections he had above other Princes that he was frank and sincere and did most inviolably keep his word nor forget that heroick saying attributed to him That if Faith and Truth should be banished from all the rest of the world yet they onght to be found in the mouths of Kings He married two Wives who were named Jane the First Daughter of John King of Bohemia in Anno 1332. and the Second of William Earl of Boulongne and Widow of Philip of Burgundy Earl of Artois in Anno 1349. By the First he had four Sons and four Daughters the four Sons were Charles who succeeded to the Crown Lewis Duke of Anjou and Earl of Mayne John Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Earl of Poitou Philip first Duke of Touraine then of Burgundy The Daughters were named Mary Jane Isabel Margaret the first married Robert eldest Son of Henry Duke of Bar the second Charles the Bad King of Navarre the third John Galeaz Viscount First Duke of Milan the fourth devoted her self to JESUS CHRIST in the Monastery of Poissy By his Second Wife he had two Daughters that attained not to the ripeness of Marriage Charles V. called the VVise and the Eloquent King of France LI. Aged about XXVI years POPES URBAN V. Seven years Four Months under this Reign GREGORY XI Elected the Thirtieth of December 1370. S. Seven years three Months Schisme URBAN VI. Elected the Eighth of April in the year 1378. S. at Rome II. years six Months six Days whereof two years and above five Months under this Reign And CLEMENT VII Elected the Twenty first of September S. in Avignon Twenty six years whereof Two years under this Reign THe prosperous Conduct of this King is the noblest proof we meet with thoroughout all the History of France that the weightiest Affairs are managed better by skill and judgment then by sorce and that success in Year of our Lord 1364 Battle is oftner the effect of the judicious Orders and Contrivances in the Closet then the valour of those that sight them Year of our Lord 1364 His Coronation was performed at Reims the Nineteenth of May. It is to be observed that Wenceslaus of Luxemburgh Duke of Brabant his maternal Uncle John Duke of Lorrain and Robert Duke of Bar though Strangers and Vassals of the Empire did the Office of Pairs there the First representing the Duke of Normandy the Second the Earl of Champagne the Third the Earl of Toulouze The Duke of Burgundy and the Earl of Flanders held their natural places and Lewis Duke of Anjou that of the Duke of Guyenne They had just reason to say that never King armed himself so little and yet did so many brave exploits in War as this same It seemed as is Wisdom had tyed Fortune to his
Service From the beginning he made it appear that the French could beat the English who had always beaten them in the preceding Reigns The Navarrois and Montfort not having been comprehended in the Treaty of Bretigny their people continued the War and the English Forces and the French took part with them John de Grailly Captal de Buchs who was come to the aid of the Navarrois took the Command of all their Forces The French Officers being met to Fight him found him near the place called Cocherel and de la Croix St. Leufroy between Evreux and Vernon Bertrand de Gueselin on whom he had conferr'd the Command upon refusal of the young Count d'Auxerre behaved himself so well with his companions that Captals Men were beaten out of their advantageous Post and he taken prisoner The King thinking to get him on his side released him a while after but he was rather desirous to retaliate his defeat then that obligation Year of our Lord 1364 During these Occurrences Philip of Navarre hapning to dye Lewis his young Brother got the Forces of that Party together and fell upon Bourbonnois and the lower Auvergne where he rifled several Castles Nay some of his Men surprized la Charite upon the Loire a place very important for the passage it gave from thence he made a cruel War upon the Countries on this side whilst on the other hand the Count Montbeliard was fallen upon Burgundy to serve the House of Navarre who pretended that Dutchy appertained to them But Philip of France to whom King Charles had confirmed the Grant was order'd to go and defend his Country and to quit la Beausse from whence he had resolved to expel the Robbers and had already cleared four or five small Castles by turning them out of their Kennels He carried the War therefore into Montbeliard and compell'd the Earl to go out of Burgundy Then laid his Siege before la Charite Lewis d'Evreux not finding himself strong enough to make him raise it retreated with his Forces to Cherbourgh in Normandy The Besieged surrendred upon Composition which the Duke agreed to by the Kings order that he might be able to send help to Charles de Blois his Cousin who was engaged with John de Montfort for the Dutchy of Bretagne Year of our Lord 1394 The Battle d'Auvray decided the Controversy between these Contenders John de Montfort had besieged that place with the assistance of the English led by John Chandois that Kings Lieutenant in Guyenne Charles de Blois undertakes to relieve it back'd by the French Forces commanded by the Count d'Auxerre and Bertrand du Gueselin The Armies came to an engagement the Nine and twentieth of September the Feast-day of St. Michael The Fight was obstinate and bloody to extremity in the conclusion Charles lost the day the Dutchy and his Life For the Lords of Bretagne had agreed amongst themselves that to put a period to that tedious Quarrel they would certainly kill that Chief of the two that was vanquished Year of our Lord 1364 The Children of Charles de Blois were still Prisonners in England and his Widow had more of Pride then Wisdom and good Conduct The Duke of Anjou her Son-in-Law would willingly have assisted her with all his power but the Council of France did not think it fit to drive that business too far least Montfort should turn Homager to the English They therefore made a Peace with him by the Treaty at Guerrande The Dutchy was left to him upon condition of paying his Devoirs to the King of France The Title of Dutchess to the Widow of Charles during her life and for all her Posterity the right of being restored upon want of Heirs descended from Montfort Moreover she had the County of Pontieure and divers other Lands with Forty thousand Livers of Rent for her self alone to be raised upon the whole Dutchy Year of our Lord 1365 Although the Holy War had been interrupted by the death of King John nevertheless Peter King of Cyprus having collected some assistance of Moneys from the Christian Princes and gathered up here and there some numbers of Adventurers together with the Knights of St. John went and landed in Egypt where he valiantly forced a part of the great City of Alexandria and might have brought it all under his power if those that went with him having more regard to their Plunder then their Honour had not returned on board their Vessels with the Spoil Year of our Lord 1365 and 66. With the like Valour and more Perseverance Ame VI. Earl of Savoy carried his Forces against Amurat Sultan of the Turks and the King of Bulgaria who would needs dispossess John Paleologus his near Kinsman of the Grecian Empire the Bulgarian holding him already a Prisoner Ame having taken the City of Calipolis in the Thracian Chersonese by Storm from the Turks entred Bulgaria and upon the taking of divers places forced that King to release the Emperor into whose hands he also put the City of Calipolis but the Greeks lost it again immediately afterwards so much was their Valour declined as well as their Empire The Emperor Charles IV. had much more fancy to design vast Undertakings then Understanding or Means to put them in execution He pleased himself with the empty pride and vain-glory of pompous Ceremonies because he could not attain to those things that were truly real and solid And as his small Revenues and his great Expences still kept him in a necessitous Condition when he began any Year of our Lord 1365 considerable Enterprize it was but only with intent to have Money given him This year 1365. he visited the Pope in Avignon to make a League with the Holy Father and the other Princes of Italy against Barnaby Viscount of Milan He was at Mass Celebrated by the Pope himself on the day of Pentecost in his Imperial Habit and then went and was Crowned King of Arles in the City of the same name Then returned again to Avignon where he obtained permission of the Pope to levy the Tenths upon all the Clergy of Germany and Bohemia for the Expences of that War which he never made Year of our Lord 1365 Gueselin who had been taken at the Battle of Auvray was set free upon Ransom and Oliver de Clisson who was of Montforts Party allured to the Kings service In the Month of December Montfort came to Paris and did Homage first for his Dutchy but only by word of Mouth and without any Oath then for the County of Montfort ungirt and on his Knees and both his hands joyned together between the hands of the King his Soveraign Lord. This year we met again with some Troops of those revolted Peasants of the Jaquerie Year of our Lord 1365 who being re-inforc'd and joyned with some Companies of Plunderers went even into Alsatia from whence they were hunted out and most of them destroy'd by the Emperor Charles IV. and the other Princes of Germany The
was nothing of all this in the Letter but the Captain who could not read believed it and drew out the Garison The Mayor had laid an Ambuscade amongst some Ruinous Buildings which cut off his passage and hindred his return Ten or twelve Forelorn Wretches that were left in the Castle Capitulated After this the crafty Rochellers before they would open their Gates to the French made their Treaty with the King and obtained to have the Castle demolished or if we will believe their Memoirs an Amnesty for having demolish'd it before the Treaty Besides this they got so many Priviledges and great Advantages as tended as much towards the putting this City at liberty as for the exchanging their Master After the Constable who represented the King had taken their Oaths of Fidelity he pursued the Conquest of Poitou and Saintonge Most part of the Lords were retired to Touars he laid Siege to it and forc'd them to Capitulate That they should put themselves their Lands and that place under Obedience of the King unless the King of England or one of his Sons did come with an Army strong enough to sight the Besiegers by Michaelmass-day This sort of Composition was practised as long as there was the least faith left amongst Men. It ever included a Cessation of Arms during which the Besiegers taking Hostages of the Besieged raised their Camp and left them all manner of liberty excepting only the admitting more Soldiers into the Garison or to furnish or provide it with Stores Year of our Lord 1372 When King Edward heard of this Capitulation Honour and Necessity rowzing and bringing to his mind the remembrance of his Victories he puts to Sea himself with four hundred Vessels that he might not lose so fine a Country and so many brave Men. But the Winds refused to be serviceable to him upon this occasion they tossed him about for six weeks together and would not afford one favourable gale but what blew him towards his own Ports of England The time being expired the Lords performed the Capitulation after which the Cities of Saintes Angoulesme Saint John d'Angely and generally all the Country even to Bourg and Blaye returned to the Obedience of their Ancient and Natural Soveraign Year of our Lord 1372 John de Montfort Duke of Bretagne looked with fear upon the Prosperity of the French his ancient Enemies and with regret upon the decay of the King of England his Father-in-Law and his Protector but he was not Master in his Dutchy the People would have no more War the haughty humour of the English was not compatible with their Liberty and the Barons dazled with the lustre of de Guesclin and de Clissons Fortune had their Eyes turned upon the Employments and Pensions of the Court of France Thus the Duke was under great constraint If he admitted any English to land upon those Coasts the Common People fell upon them if he quarter'd them in his Garisons the Lords rose up Having placed some in Brest Conquet Kemperle and Henneband they besought the King to send them some Forces to drive them thence and put the Cities into his hands as they did Vennes Renes and divers others The Revenge he would have taken by laying Siege to St. Mahé did but hasten his loss and the Constables march with the Duke of Bourbon Some English Soldiers that he had sent for to strengthen himself withall had the whole Country against them and were all cut in pieces so that although he had some good places left he durst not shut himself in any of them but passed over to England to cry out for help Whilst he was gone the Constable secured them all excepting three Brest Becherel and Derval this last belonged to Knolles he laid Siege to all these at the same time as likewise to la Roche-sur-yon in Anjou This last being farthest off from all Assistance surrendred Brest Becherel and Derval promised to do as much if within a certain prefixed time there appeared not an Army sufficient and that would hold Battle to make the French raise their Siege As for Brest and Derval they saved themselves by this means The Earl of Salisbury was then at Sea to guard the English Coasts against the Spanish Navy Commanded by Evans of Wales whose Father King Edward had put to death to get that Principality Hearing what danger Brest was in he landed in Bretagne encamped and entrench'd himself near that place then sent his Heraulds to the Constable to proclaim that he was come to raise the Siege and expected him there The Constable did not think sit to attaque him in so well fortisied a Post Thus that place was deliver'd At their departure thence Knolles who had defended it threw himself into Derval not thinking himself obliged to stand to the Treaty made by that Garison which cost the Lives of their Hostages and by way of Reprizal the Lives of some Gentlemen whom Knolles had taken Prisoners As for Becherel it held out a whole year at the end whereof no Army appearing on the day prefixed to relieve it it fell into the hands of the French The King of England did not fail of his Guaranty to the Duke of Bretagne he raised an Army of above Thirty thousand Men whom he gave to the Duke of Lancaster to restore that Prince who had the confidence to send defiance to the King of France his Sovereign they landed at Calais the twentieth of July marched thorough and pillaged Artois Picardy Champagne Fores Beaujolois Auvergne and Limosin and descended into Guyenne instead of going into Bretagne as Montfort hoped and expected It was the constant resolution of this wise King not to hazard any great Battle against the English but he ordered his Forces should be lodged every night in some Town should follow the enemy by day and never cease from galling and disturbing them falling upon all straglers and sitting so near their skirts as to keep all Provisions and Forage from them by which means he defeated their great Armies by little and little and made them moulder away to nothing These having been observed and pursued by the Duke of Burgundy as far as Beaujolis and from thence to the Dordogne by the Constable were not only prevented from undertaking any thing considerable but were so much weakned and diminished that scarce six thousand of them got into Bourdeaux Year of our Lord 1373 During this irruption the Duke of Anjou Governour of Languedoc made another much more advantageous into the upper Guyenne He conquer'd several places of little or no name at present but in these days of great importance Two great Judgments a Famine and a * Plague tormented France Italy and England this year 1373. There likewise Reigned especially in the Low Countreys a phrantick passion or phrensie unknown in the foregoing ages Such as were tainted with it being for the most part the scum of the people stript themselves stark naked placed a Garland of
mean time were forced to dissemble till they could have fit opportunity to declare the Truth and to write Letters to all Princes that his Election was Canonical however they gave notice to the King of France that he should give no faith to their Letters till they were out of danger But when upon pretence of avoiding the extream heats in Rome they were retired to Anagnia being moreover offended at the proud deportment of Bartholomew they made the Truth of the matter of Fact known to all Princes admonished Bartholomew three several times to desist from pretending to the Papacy since he well knew they had no intention to elect him and afterwards they proceeded judicially against him and declared him an intruder That done they retired to Fundy under protection of the Earl of that place and there elected one of the six Cardinals Year of our Lord 1379 that had remained in France This was Robert Brother of Peter Earl of Geneva whose Courage was as high as his Birth He took the Name of Clement VII France after several Assemblies had been held of the most Learned of the Clergy and the most judicious Prelats and Nobility adhered to Clement the Kings of Castille and of Scotland who were his Allies did the same the Earl of Savoy and Jane Queen of Naples also although in the beginning she had protected his Competitor But all the rest of Christendom owned Vrban the Navarrois the English and the Flemmings out of spite to France the Italians to preserve the Papacy in their Year of our Lord 1378 and 79. Nation the Emperour in acknowledgment because that Pope before he was ever required had made haste to confirm the election of Wenceslaus his Son the King of Hungary that he might have a pretence to dispoliate the Queen of Naples and the rest for divers interests Peter King of Arragon remained Neutre At first Clement was well armed and in a condition to over-top his adversary having in his service one Sylvester Bude a Captain of Bretagne with Two thousand old Adventurers of that Nation who took the Castle St. Angelo defeated the Romans in Rome it self and made themselves Masters of the City But after another famous Captain who was an Englishman and was named Hacket otherwhile Head of the ✚ Bands of the Tard-Venus and now in the service of Vrban had vanquished and taken him prisoner Clements Affairs went on so ill that he was driven out of Italy and retiring himself to Avignon left his Rival sole Master of Rome This Schisme lasted Forty years either party having great Persons Saints Miracles and Revelations as they said and even such strong Arguments and Reasons on his side that the dispute could never be decided but by way of Cession that is by obliging the two Contenders to abdicate the Papacy so that it is great boldness to call those Anti-Popes who during this Schisme held the See at Avignon Year of our Lord 1379 The death of the Emperour Charles IV. fell out upon the Nine and twentieth of November in the year 1378. in the City of Prague the 63 year of his age Wenceslaus his Son who was elected King of the Romans in the year 1376. succeeded him in the Empire and the Kingdom of Bohemia a Prince deformed both in Body and Soul Year of our Lord 1379 It was a kind of Rebellion in the Earl of Flanders to own any other Pope then his King had done and indeed he shewed him ill will for it and more yet towards the Breton who encouraged him in his obstinacy Besides it had so fortuned that the Flemming by the Counsel of that Duke had caused one of his Envoyes to be staid who was passing thorow his Countrey on his way to Scotland to incite Robert Stewart to break the Truce with the English The King made complaint to the Flemming and Commanded him to drive the Breton out of his Countreys but the Flemming having taken advice of his People who assured him of Two hundred thousand Combatants in case he were attaqued refused to give him that satisfaction The Breton nevertheless went out of Flanders and took refuge in England The place of his retreat aggravated his crime the King orders him to be summoned to appear in Parliament to be judged by his Pairs Not presenting himself he was declar'd by Sentence of the Ninth of December attainted of the crime of Felony and all his Lands as well in Bretagne as all others he held in the Kingdom consiscated for having defied the King his Sovereign Lord and for having entred the Countrey in Arms with the enemies of the Kingdom That which in appearance seemed likeliest to ruine this Duke raised him The Bretons who for a thousand years past had so generously fought for the liberty of their Countrey having discover'd that the King designed more against the Dutchy it self then the Duke alone and that he would take it away from the guilty only to apply it to himself began to complain to withdraw from their affection to the French to re-unite amongst themselves and to make divers Leagues and Associations between the Cities and the Nobless Even the Widow of Charles de Blois by Counsel of the friends of her House sent to protest against that Decree and alledged that Bretagne was not subject or liable to consiscation because it was not a Fief and that if the Dukes had submitted their persons by obliging themselves to certain Service it was not their power to subject their Countrey This year a most cruel War was kindled in Flanders which lasted Seven years The interior cause of this inflammation was the Luxury of the Nobility and the dissolute and excessive expences of the Earl the occasion was a quarrel that rose between one called John Lyon and the Matthews who were six Brothers both the one and the other were very powerful amongst the Navigators or Mariners and between the Cities of Ghent and Bruges for a certain Canal or River which those of Bruges would needs make The Earl took part with these and was cause that John Year of our Lord 1379 Lyon formed against him a faction of White Hats in the City of Ghent He sets up the Matthews to oppose and countermine them John Lyon was found to be the stronger and pushed the contest on to the utmost extremity The Duke of Anjou was mighty greedy of Money and a great exactor his People by his Order or upon their own Authority having laid some new Imposts upon the City of Montpellier which was under his Government but of the Propriety of the King of Navarre the People mutined and killed Fourscore of them amongst which number were his Chancellour and the Governour The Duke hastned thither with some Forces and caused a most horrible Sentence to be given for punishment of that crime but it was moderated almost in every point by the intercession of his Holiness excepting against the Authors of that Sedition who paid down their Heads for it
he even left them there two Months without joyning them as he had promised They were fain to go and find him out at Vennes He was mightily perplexed for the Breton Lords even those who were the most affectionate being tired with suffering under strangers and the miseries of War and withal revolted from him by the intrigues of Clisson and the credit of Beaumanoir would peremptorily have him agree with France in effect they compell'd him to make a Peace with the King to dismiss the English and renounce their Alliance and also gave such cautions as obliged him to make good this Treaty They did not breed up the young King conformable to the good instructions of his Father but according to the inclinations of his age and airy Nature to Hunting Dancing and running about here and there One day when he was Hunting in the Forest of Senlis a large Stag was rowzed which he would not pursue with his Dogs but took him a Toil They found about his Neck a Copper Coller Gilt with an Inscription in Latine which imported * that Casar had given him it The young King because of this or for that in a Dream he had been carried up into the ✚ Air by a Stagg that had wings took two Staggs Volant for Supporters to the Arms of France Before him our Kings had Flowers-de-Luce Sans number in their Scutcheon he reduced them to three we do not know wherefore Year of our Lord 1381 The Children of the Navarrois to wit his Eldest and his Second Son and one Daughter who had been taken in one of his places of Normandy being yet prisoner the wicked King hired an Englishman to poison the Dukes of Berry and Burgundy in revenge for that they hindred their being set at liberty This wretched fellow was discover'd and quarter'd alive Nevertheless John King of Castille the Son of Henry importun'd by the continual sollicitations of his Sister who Married the Infant of Navarre interceded so effectually with the Kings Uncles that they released those innocent Children of a very wicked Father Year of our Lord 1381 The meanness and condescentions of the two Popes towards those Princes of their parties to attain their ends was a most lamentable thing nor can it without indignation be express'd what exaction and violence they committed on the Clergy and those Churches of their dependance The six and thirty Cardinals of Avignon were so many Tyrants to whom Clement gave all sorts of Licence They had Proctors every where with Grants of Reversions who snapp'd up all the Benesices the Claustral Offices the Commandery's retained the best of them and sold the rest or gave them upon pension or rather Farmed them out Clement himself besides his seizing upon all that any Bishop or Abbot left after his death besides his taking a years Revenue of each Benesice upon every change whether it hapned by vacancy or by resignation or by permutation ravaged the Gallican Church by infinite Concussions and extraordinary Taxes Good People bewailed these disorders there were none but Purloiners that wished they might be continued and nothing but the particular Interests of Princes kept this Schisme still on foot Clement allowed the Duke of Anjou the Levying of the Tenths and the Duke allowed of all his pilserings and violently reproved all those that durst complain This unjust proceeding rather then the Justice of Vrbans party was the cause why many of the principal Doctors of the Faculty put themselves under the Obedience of that Pope and also made the University begin to desire and demand a Council as the Sovereign remedy for all these mischiefs Year of our Lord 1381 The Duke of Berry angry that he had no part in the Affairs his Father-in-law the Earl of Armagnac perswades him to demand the Government of Languedoc as then in the hands of his Enemy the Count de Foix. The Council consents to his demand but the Count armed to maintain himself and the Province where he was as much beloved for his Justice and his Generosity as the Duke of Berry was hated for his Thievery stuck close to him The Duke with an Army to take possession by force the Count beat him foundly near the City of Rabasteins but after he had let him know he was able to keep his Government he yielded it up to him that he might not be the ruine of those that defended him Year of our Lord 1381 John Lyon chief of the White Hats had so blown up the troubles in Flanders that his death could not extinguish the Flame Most part of good Towns in that Countrey had joyned themselves to the Ghentois the Peace the Duke of Burgundy had made betwixt them and the Earl his Father-in-law lasted but a very short time the Earl goes secretly out of Ghent and the Gentry combine against the Cities Ghent had all manner of ill success but neither their being thrice let Blood which cost above Fifteen thousand Lives nor Waste nor Famine nor being fortaken by the other Cities nor yet the miseries of two Sieges could quell those stubborn obstinate lovers of their liberty After the loss of most of their stoutest Leaders they chose one named Peter du Bois and upon his perswasions another also to wit Philip d'Artevelle Son of that James formerly mentioned much richer then his Father but less crafty and much prouder This last took the upper-hand and pretended to all the Functions of a Sovereign Year of our Lord 1384 Although they had promised the People to take off the Imposts the Regent nor the Treasurers who Governed him could not resolve upon 't The great Cities took up Arms to oppose it Peter de Villiers and John de Marais Persons venerable with the People and also very much regarded by the Regent somewhat appeased the commotion at Paris but could by no means perswade them to suffer those new Levies The Burghers took Arms set Guards at the Gates created Diseniers Cinquanteniers Centeniers and made some Companies to keep the Avenues and Passages to the City free Year of our Lord 1381 The Duke of Anjou was therefore forced to dissemble for the present but he had not resolved to let go the thing thus and intended only to wait till their heats were grown colder to go on as before It hapned the following year that having published the Farming of those at the Chastellet one of the Officers belonging to the Farmers demanding a Denier of an Herb-Woman for a bundle of Cresles the Rabble gathered together upon the noise this Woman made grew into fury went and broke open the Town-Hall to get Arms and took out three or four thousand iron Maillets or Hammers for which cause this seditious crew were named the Malletiers After this they massacred all that were concerned to gather it plundred their Houses and razed them open'd the Prisons and took out all the Criminals amongst others Hugh Aubriot Prevost of Paris whom they made their Captain but
he forsook them the very same night and fled to his own Countrey of Burgundy He had been condemned some Months before at the Suit of the Clergy to end his days between four Walls for crimes of Impiety and of Heresie and shewing himself a most bitter Enemy to the Scholars and Heads of the University The Sedition at Rouen which hapned at the same time was called the Harelle The Populace took a wealthy Merchant and perforce gave him the Title of King then leading him in triumph about the City compell'd him to declate an abolition of all Imposts The King was counsell'd to punish the Mutiniers and not let fall any of those Impositions He began with Rouen going thither in person he caused a Gate to be beaten down that he might enter by that breach Commanded all their Arms to be carried into the Castle punish'd a great many of the Faction with death then set up the Imposts with Taxes and Fines Year of our Lord 1381 To compass their ends the more readily amongst the Parisians they pretended to listen to the intercessions of the University and a Deputation of some honest Burghers who went to wait upon the King at the Bois de Vincennes and to consent at last to the suppression of the Imposts and forgiveness for all excess committed in their Mutinies only they excepted those that had any hand in forcing the prisons of the Chastellet Under this pretence a great many were taken and the Prevost of Paris not daring to execute them publickly threw them into the River by night at several times This severity not being capable to fright the Parisians so far as to make them consent to the setling of the Imposts they fell to Treaty with them which ever proves advantageous to the Superiour against his Inferiours By this means the Court got an hundred thousand Francs of the City to whom perhaps they would have given double the sum could they have done it with Honour to have had the liberty of returning thither Year of our Lord 1382 England was not less troubled with the like Commotions having a King under age and Governours extreamly covetous Never was that Kingdom in so great danger The Commons revolted against the Nobility who in truth kept them in a most servile condition One John Valee a Priest of the Archbishoprick of Canterbury had so well catechised and instructed the Countrey fellows by divers Discourses after they had been at Church concerning the equality that God and Nature made amongst all Mankind that they conspired the destruction of the Rich and Noble To this end they flock to London in several parties under pretence of demanding justice of the King and stirred up all the Counties to joyn with them like so many packs of Blood-hounds For some Months the Citizens and Gentry durst not stir but these Russians having neither Head nor Council nor Discipline their Captains being surprized and executed they were soon dispersed and beaten home with Cudgels like so many brute Beasts Because of these disorders the English entred upon a Conference with the French to make a Peace Boulogne was the place they met in the Deputies not coming to a conclusion made only a Truce for one year during which time they went and entangled themselves in that War which Ferdinand King of Portugal made against John King of Castille The Earl of Cambridge who had married a Daughter of Peter the Cruel carried some Forces thither fancying he might regain Castille both to his own advantage and the Duke of Lancaster's his Brother France failed not to assist the Castillan and thus the French and English having a Truce in these parts made War upon each other in Spain Scarce had it lasted eight Months when the Portugais not receiving from England all that assistance they were promised claps up an agreement with the Castillans and made the English their enemies The hundred thousand Francs they drew from the Parisians was the Duke of Anjou's last hand who did not forward those Impositions but only to have the greatest share himself for his voyage to Italy whereof this was the Subject After Clements party were ruined at Rome Vrban thinking to revenge himself upon Jane Queen of Naples perswaded Lewis King of Hungary to send him Charles de Duraz surnamed Peaceable to come and take possession of that Kingdom to whom he proffer'd the investiture as being the nearest of the Males This Prince had all the obligations imaginable to Queen Jane or Joane for he was of the very same Blood as she Son of Lewis Count de Gravines who was the Son of John VIII Son of Charles the Lame and therefore Brother to King Robert She had bred him with as much care and tenderness in her Court as if he had been her own Child she had married him to the Princess Margaret her Neece she designed to make him her Successor and kept his Children at this very time in her own Family The execrable ambition for a Crown rendred him ingrateful and made him break thorough all these obligations and noble endearments The Queen finding he was coming with an intention and preparation to Dethrone her had recourse to France her first Original and adopted the Duke of Anjou for her Son and presumptive Heir in Anno 1380. King Charles the Wise after the example of St. Lewis would have spared nothing to establish his Brother in the Throne but hapning to dye the Enterprize was left in suspense In the mean while Charles lost no time for being Crowned King of Sicilia Year of our Lord 1381 at Rome in the beginning of the year 1381. he marched towards Naples where being received without opposition he besieged the Queen and her Sister Mary in the Castle del'Ovo forced them in fine to surrender after his having defeated and taken Otho of Brunswic Janes fourth Husband and caused both of them to be strangled in prison Year of our Lord 1381. and 82. Those succors the Duke of Anjou was leading to that unhappy Princess being now useless and Charles by that time setled in the Kingdom the Duke was hesitating whether he should pass the Mountains Pope Clement who had but this one way to Dethrone Vrban engag'd him by such great allurements and advantages as plainly manifested he did not care whether he ruin'd the Church both in her Spirituals and Temporals provided he could but compass his own establishment Year of our Lord 1382 It was about the end of the last year the Duke had certain news that Queen Jane was Besieg'd and caused his Forces to march towards Provence The Pope invests him with the Kingdom of Sicilia and Crowned him at Avignon the Thirtieth day of May. Jane had been dead eight days but as it was not known in a long time he gave him only the Title of Duke of Calabria The Provensals were not satisfied or consenting to the adoption of the Duke much less would they own him for their Sovereign
into Africk with the Count de Harcour the Lord de la Tremonille and other Lords and Gentlemen to the number of Eight hundred and a much greater number of Adventurers of divers Countries with whom he signaliz'd his Courage and Conduct against the Moors of Barbary The King of Armenia Minor sprung from the Blood of Luzignan flying from the cruelty of the Turks who had conquer'd his Kingdom and kept his Wife and Children in Captivity came for relief and assistance to the French Court where the King gave him Honourable Entertainment during all the rest of his days He enjoy'd it to the year 1404. then died at Paris and was interred at the Celestines Year of our Lord 1383. and 84. As to the Affairs of Naples Charles de Duras and his Captains behaved themselves so well that cutting off all Provisions from Lewis of Anjou and either following or flanking him so as to prevent his Fighting them they reduced him to the extreamest want of all necessaries even of Cloaths insomuch as this Prince who had carried away all the Kings Treasure had no more left him then a Coat of painted Cloth to wear and one Silver Bowl to drink in He had sent Peter de Craon an Angevin Lord into France to bring him Money and Succours this faithless Friend made no haste to return amusing himself at Venice with the divertisement of some Courtisans After the unfortunate Prince had waited a long time without any tidings of him he sunk under his grief and died the Tenth day of October in this year 1384. or Year of our Lord 1384 as some others will have it the One and twentieth day of September the year following The Earl of Savoy died in the month of March either of the Plague or by drinking Water out of a Fountain that had been poyson'd His Son Ame VII Surnamed Le Rouge succeeded him We must observe that this Amè VI. was the Institutor of the Order of the Collar which was composed of Love-knots together with the Symbolical Letters of the House of Savoy and had at the end a kind of a Ring or wreathed Coronet Duke Charles III. being at Chamberry Anno 1518. changed the name of this Order to that of the Annunciado to honour the Holy Virgin in that mystery which is the most agreeable to her adding Fifteen White Roses to the Fifteen Love-knots in remembrance of her Fifteen Joyes and filled the Pendant with Figures of the Annunciation Year of our Lord 1385 The unhappy remnants of the Duke of Anjou's Army perish'd by Famine and Want excepting such as dispersing by small parties retired into France begging their lively-hood and receiving more injuries and opprobrious words in their Travels then they got bits of Bread The Angevin party was not for all this quite extinct in that Kingdom it subsisted yet in the hearts of some Lords of that Countrey whereof Thomas de St. Severin was the Chief and who afterwards served very well upon occasion For this time the Kingdom rested quietly under Charles de Duraz. The Truce with the English being expired the King who began to take cognizance of his Affairs held a grand Council to deliberate whether they ought to continue it It was the interest of the Duke of Burgundy because of his Low-Countreys to have a Peace with the English but to counterpoise his Power and to flatter Year of our Lord 1385 the young Kings heat they resolved on a War and even to carry it into their own Countrey To this purpose they fitted up a great Fleet at Sluce and they sent to the Scots to oblige them to a rupture of the Truce on their side Year of our Lord 1385 By the methods the Kings Uncles Governed it appeared plainly they had a mind to suck the Peoples Blood to the very last drop The Clergy that they might secure something for their subsistance held an Assembly where they decreed that their Revenues should be divided into three parts the one to be for the maintenance of the Churches the other for Ecclesiastical Persons and the Third for the King without any mention of the Poor Pursuant to the recommendation of the late King Charles the Wise the young Kings Uncles sought a Wife for him in Germany the opinions in Council were different and divided the Duke of Burgundy carried it for Isabella Daughter of Stephen Duke of Bavaria Count Palatine of the Rhine The King Married her at Amiens the .... of July In the preceding month of April the Nuptials between John the Duke of Burgundy's Son and Marguerite Daughter of Albert Duke of Bavaria Earl of Hainault Holland and Zealand were consummate Year of our Lord 1385. and 86. The great design upon England being laid aside after a vast expence that something might come of it John de Vienne Admiral went with Threescore Sail to Scotland and there landed to attaque the English on that side He made an irruption into their Countrey and took some Castles but the savage humour of the Scots could not comply with the free liberty of the French Besides Love had invaded the Admirals Heart and Head which made him courta Lady of the Kings Parentage whereat that wh ole Court not being acquainted with those Gallantreys took such offence that he found it the best way to make his escape with all diligence Year of our Lord 1385 The obstinate Ghentois would not yet bend they had two new Leaders Francion and Atreman who hardned them against all apprehensions of punishment This obliged the King to make a third step into Flanders They had no Port could receive any English Succours but Damm the king having taken that by force and afterwards burning all the Houses round about their City the Rebels in the end began to hearken to Propositions for an accommodation being inclined by the more pacifique humour of Atreman one of their new Chiefs in despite of all the practises of John du Bois and returned to the obedience of the King and the Duke of Burgundy their Lord. This Prince quite wearied with this tedious War which ruined all his Countrey gave them a general Amnesty for all things that were past and the confirmation of all their priviledges upon condition they would renounce all Leagues and that the first that should violate the Peace might forfeit his Life and all his Goods The Treaty was Signed the Eighteenth of December A Truce was renewed likewise between France and England for some Months Charles de Duraz not being satisfied with having invaded the Kingdom of Naples went also into Hungary and usurped that upon Mary one of the Daughters of Lewis the Great his Benefactor who died Anno 1381. and Wife to Sigismund Brother of the â—mperour Wenceslaus whom he detamed in captivity with the Widow Queen his Mother After so many Treacheries and cruel Ingratitudes Heaven suffer'd him to be murther'd himself by the order of Nicholas Gato one of the Palatines of that Kingdom who was very
affectionate to the Princesses which hapned the Sixth day of January in the year 1386. Year of our Lord 1386 The same year the Widow-Queen and her Daughter going into the Countrey fell into the hands of Horvat Governour of Croatia one of King Charles's Partisans or Confederates who to revenge the death of his Master caused the Widow and the Murtherer Gato to be massacred He kept the Princess some time then sent her to Sigismund having first obliged her by all sorts of Oaths to pardon him Sigismund did not think himself bound by her promises and therefore having surprized him made him dye amidst a thousand torments Year of our Lord 1386 The news of Charles's Murther being brought into Italy Thomas de Sanseverin caused Lewis II. eldest Son of the deceased Duke of Anjou to be proclaimed King and Clement VII to be owned Pope Afterwards Marguerite the Widow of Charles being retired to Cajeta with Ladislaus or Lancelot her Son aged about Ten years he reduced almost the whole Kingdom and Naples it self Thus all things went on smoothly for Lewis till Mary de Blois his Mother and Governess having sent Clement de Montjoye Nephew to Pope Clement with the Title and Authority of Vice-Roy the Sanseverins thinking themselves under-valued were alienated from her Service and turned to Ladislaus Year of our Lord 1386 In the mean while Lewis was put into possession of Provence and invested with the Kingdom of Naples by Clement but it was not without great trouble before the Provensaux would acknowledge him the Kings Counsel themselves inciting them underhand to a Rebellion upon divers motives because they would have disposed them to give themselves up to France After Five or Six years Truces and petty Wars the Council resolved to attacque the English not in Guyenne only but even in their own Island For this end they made the most formidable preparations of Men Engines and Ships that ever yet were seen They bought up or hired all the Vessels they could light on from the Ports of Sweden to those in Flanders they built a City of Wood which was to be taken in pieces to shelter themselves upon their Landing The King went to Sluyce to take a view of his Army and Navy consisting in Nine hundred Vessels The Duke of Berry's envy and jealousie retarded the progress he would needs break the design because he was not the contriver In order to which he made them wait for him till the Fourteenth of September when the Seas began to appear un-navigable So the Forces drew off into Quarters part of this numerous Fleet were scattered by Tempests the English pickt up many that were wrack'd or stragled Year of our Lord 1386 There was no reason to trust the Duke of Bretagne too much because of his too many Obligations to the English and the consideration that their suppression must he his ruine wherefore they warily minded his actions but he to justify himself laid Siege to Brest which they yet held as a bridle to Bretagne The Constable assisted him in the undertaking the place was mightily streightned but when they were at the last gaspe the Duke of Lancaster who was going into Spain with great Forces made them raise the Siege The occasion of his voyage was this Ferdinand last King of Portugal had no Child but a Daughter born of a Lady whom he had taken from her Husband He caused this Girl to be owned as his presumptive Heyress as likewise the Mother had been owned Queen and married her to John King of Castille who was a Widower and had two Sons but when he died the principal Cities of Portugal apprehending the Castillan bondage had more mind to have a bastard Brother of Ferdinands for their King his Name was John Froissard names him Denis thorow a mistake instead of saying he was Grand Master of the Order D'Avis The fortune of the War was favourable to the Bastard he gained a Battle at Juberot against his adversaries the Castillans having out of an ugly jealousie suffer'd the Gascons and French to be defeated who took their part with above Eight thousand Men and then were afterwards themselves defeated Notwithstanding this advantage it was to be feared the Castillan would be able yet to crush them and therefore the Bastard sent to the Duke of Lancaster inviting him to come and pursue the right he had to the Kingdom of Castille as on the other hand the Castillian had recourse to France Year of our Lord 1386 The Duke of Lancaster passed therefore into those Countreys with a huge force conquer'd a part of Castille and struck such a terror into all the rest that King John made some overtures of Peace but he spun out the Treaty awhile expecting the French succours when he sound those did not come the Duke of Bourbon their Conductor marching very slowly he concluded the Treaty the Duke of Lancaster Sealed it by the Marriage of two of his Daughters one with the King of Portugal and the other with the Castillans eldest Son This little piece of Honour cost the English very dear the losses they suffer'd by contagious Sicknesses in Spain and afterwards by Storms in their return were so great that the Duke of Lancaster hardly carried home the sixth part of his Men and not one but in a languishing condition half dead with malady and pain At last by a just punishment from Heaven Charles the Wicked who had blown up so many flames and burnt so many entrails with his violent poysons was most cruelly burnt himself He had caused his Body to be wrapp'd all over with Sheets drenched in Spirit of Wine and Sulpher to corroborate the natural heat decay'd by his debauches this took fire I know not by what accident and broiled him to the very bones whereof he died three days after being the First of January in the year 1387. Charles called the Noble his Son succeeded him Year of our Lord 1387 The Constable Clisson and the Admiral John de Vienne had so fill'd the King's Head with the expedition for England that he makes another preparation to execute it this year The state of Affairs was very favourable all England was in combustion against King Richard because he had put mean and vile People into places of the highest Trust who bear all the sway which his Uncles could not endure nor indeed would they have the Power lodged in any other hands but their own Now when France was on the point of making advantage of these troubles the Duke of Bretagne either of intelligence with the English or without thinking of them was cause of interrupting the Enterprize this time as it had been formerly Clisson was then in Bretagne to dispatch the Forces that were at Treguier that they might go and joyn with those at Sluyce but at the same time he was Treating of the Marriage of one of his Daughters with John the Son of Charles de Blois whom he had purposely got out of the hands
of the English where he had been detained ever since the time his Father Charles had left him there in hostage Year of our Lord 1387 The Duke not without cause imagined that this Alliance was making with design to disturb him in the possession of his Dutchy He sent for the Lords of the Countrey of Vennes under a pretence of holding a great Council Clisson goes thither with his Train after Dinner the Duke carrying him to see his Castle de l'Ermine which he was building by the Sea-side he caused him to be stopt in a Tower and Beaumanoir with him and commanded Bavalan who was Captain of the Castle to throw them by night into the Sea The faithful disobedience of this good Servant gave the Duke his Master time to repent his having given Command for the death of the Constable and the intercession of the Lord de Laval who at the peril of his Life would never forsake his Brother-in-law drew him out of prison upon condition of paying the sum of One hundred thousand Franks and the surrendring of three Castles But Clisson would not forgive as the Duke had forgiven and the King taking this affront done to his prime Officers much to heart sent for the Duke to give an account of his actions Year of our Lord 1388 The King went to Orleans expresly the Duke having made them wait for him a long time sent to be excused Clisson pleaded his own Cause accused him of Treason and threw down his gage of Battle which no body took up The Duke taking the advice of the Barons came at length to Paris and by the favour of the Dukes of Berry and Burgundy was kindly received by the King and in some measure made friends with the Constable by restoring him both his Money and his Castles Year of our Lord 1387. and 88. That question so much debated touching the conception of the Sacred Virgin Mother was begun in the last age amongst the Professors of Divinity The Jacobins according to the opinion of their St. Thomas and their Albertus the Great maintained that she had not been exempt of the original stain The Cordeliers their perpetual antagonists took occasion upon this point to fall foul upon them as if they did denigrate the Honour of the Mother of God The common People and such as were most zealous applauded these last and most part of the Prelates and the Universities adhered to them but the Jacobins standing up too stifly against the Torrent fell under the Peoples hatred and the reputation of being Heretiques One of their principal Doctors named John de Moncon for having Preached too freely on that point was condemned solemnly by the Bishop of Paris and then by the Pope himself before whom he had brought his Appeal Which was more the University forbid them the Pulpit and cut them off from their Body to which they were not rejoyned till the year 1403. And in the mean time they were to undergoe the indignation of the Court the shoutings of the common People and which was worst great necessity Year of our Lord 1388 William the Son of the Earl of Juliers and who was Duke of Guelders by his Mother Daughter of Duke Renauld the I. of that name had some contest or wrangle with the Duke of Burgundy who supported the Dutchess of Brabant whom he was to succeed in the detention of certain places of Guelders which Renauld had otherwise engaged Now because the Burgundian employed the Forces of France against him this petit Duke truly generous and magnanimous but rash in this point had the confidence to declare a War against the King who had twenty Lords in his Train more powerful and considerable then he His bold bragging did not last long the King fell on a suddain upon the Countrey of Juliers The Father much astonished disowns his Son to turn away the storm demands Peace by the Arch-Bishop of Colens means and offers his Homage The Army therefore quits his Territory and goes into that of Guelders the young Duke persists a month longer in his obstinacy In the end the Duke of Burgundy perswades him to crave pardon Being come to wait upon the King he disowned his Challenge though Sealed with his own Seal and submits and referrs the Disputes he had with the Dutchess of Brabant to him but did not renounce his Alliance with the English nevertheless he was presented with such noble Gifts as proved a temptation to the rest of the Germans to engage them to the service of France The King had attained to the age of Twenty years wherefore upon the Proposition which Peter Aisselin de Montaigu Bishop of Laon made in Council he declared that he would take the administration of the Government into his own hands and that he discharged his Uncles He kept the Duke of Orleans his Brother near him the Author of this Counsel and the Duke of Bourbon not suspected by this Duke and one whose sinceriry was likely to give a fair prospect of good success to the Government The other two withdrew in discontent The suddain death of the Cardinal de Laon which hapned soon after was held in the opinion of many for an effect of their resentment Year of our Lord 1388 When the King first began to apply himself to take cognizance of his Affairs the face of the whole Government looked with a better countenance for some little time The King made choice of a new Council wherein three Citizens Bureau de la Riviere John le Mercier Sieur de Novian and John de Montaign had the best part He afterwards took off all the new Imposts set aside the theeving Officers whom the Princes had put in gave the Provostship which he had newly restor'd to John Jouvenal the Advocate an honest Man Wise and Courageous that of First President to Ouchard des Moulins sent all the Prelats to reside on their Benefices and to have time to heal the Kingdom whose very Bowels were torn and mangled made a Truce for three years with the English Year of our Lord 1389 During this calme he diverted himself with actions of pomp and ceremony at St. Denis the Knighthood of Lewis II. King of Sicilia and Charles Earl of Mayne his Brother with Turnaments and Tiltings very stately after that the Funeral of Bertrand de Gueselin at Melun the Marriage of his Brother Lewis with Valentine Daughter of John Galeazo Duke of Milan and Earl de Vertus in Champagne and at Paris in the Holy Chappel the Coronation of the Queen his Wife The Marriage of Lewis his only Brother with Valentine was in Treaty Anno 1386. and consummate this year she brought him in Dower Four hundred thousand Florins of Gold the County of Ast to be enjoyed from that hour and that of Vertus in Champagne after the death of the Father with Rings and Jewels of an inestimable value These huge sums enabled the young Prince to make great Purchases These Acquisitions and the greediness of
drift being to keep them from agreeing all together upon one method or expedient Year of our Lord 1396 The Gallican Church did not allow of Confessors to such as were condemned to suffer death by the Law in this particular she followed the usage of the antient Canons which did not admit to the Communion those that were branded with enormous crimes The Monk of St. Denis observes in this year that Charles the VI. was the first that granted them this favour and says the honour of obtaining it was attributed to Peter de Craon because he set up a Cross of Stone nigh Montfaucon where those poor wretches use to make a stop to be confessed In those times they did not hang any criminal within their Cities they would have been thought too much polluted ✚ by that infamous execution but they cut off their Heads In many places they led the condemned persons on foot to the Gallows and that before break of day Year of our Lord 1396 The Seigneury of Genoa rather then submit to the command of John Galeazo Viscount of Milan put themselves under obedience of the King and transferr'd all the right of propriety they had to him The Kings Commissioners left the Government to the Doge or Duke after he had first resigned his Power and Dignity into their hands but in a little time they gave that Command to Boucicaut The Factions in that Seigneury had very near destroyed and brought it to nought The City was filled only with Robbers and Murtherers the Noblest were banished thence Merchants durst not open their Bank those most in power made War upon each other from street to street and had raised Towers at each corner of their Palaces to defend themselves The Mareschal desiring to settle some Order and his own Authority amongst them commanded they should bring all their Arms into his Palace forbad all Assemblies cut off the Head of Boccanegra and a dozen or fifteen more of the most Factious made strict inquiry after such as had committed notorious crimes raised and entertained several Companies that kept Guards in all the Markets and publique places and built two Castles which had communication with each other the one named the Darse at the mouth of the Port the other in the City called the Chastelet Year of our Lord 1396 The Twenty seventh of October was appointed for the stately and magnificent enterview of the two Kings upon the confines of their Territories between Ardres and Calais where they confirmed the Truce The King of England espoused the Daughter of France and rendred up Brest to the Duke of Bretagne and Cherbourgh to the King of Navarre who three years afterwards sold it to the King France having granted succors to the King of Hungary against Bajazeth the Duke of Burgundy gave them John Earl of Nevers his Son to be their Leader He had in his Army Two thousand Gentlemen of quality besides the Earl of Eu Constable Admiral John de Nienne John le Maingre-Boucicaut Mareschal of France Henry and Philip Sons of the Duke of Bar Guy de la Trimouille his Fathers Favourite and other Lords Year of our Lord 1396 At first they performed such valiant acts as are almost incredible but their follies and dissolute lives did after render them ridiculous to the very Turks Besides their presumption swoln by success engaged them with the Hungarians in the Siege of Nicopolis and then in a Battle the Twenty eighth of September where the Hungarians not caring to second them as they ought they were all cut off or taken prisoners Bajazeth caused above Six hundred to be hewed in pieces in presence of the Earl of Nevers and having made him dye almost as often with his threats and terrors he reserved him with Fifteen more of the great Lords for whose Ransom he obliged himself to pay Two hundred thousand Ducats That sum being made good to them five Months afterwards they were all set at liberty The Earl of Nevers arrived in France about the end of March following It is said that Bajazeth was so far from taking any Oath that he should never make War again upon the Turks that he exhorted him to take his revenge and promised he should ever find him in the Field ready to give him any satisfaction Year of our Lord 1397 The King was seized with the Fourth Fit of his Malady more severely then all the former had been He recover'd it again but was ever after troubled with it at least three or four times each year The Earl of Eu dying in his imprisonment amongst the Turks the Earl de Sancerre who was a Marescal of France was honoured with the Office of Constable Year of our Lord 1397 We must observe the better to understand what we shall relate hereafter that this year King Richard for some conspiracy whether real or pretended put his Uncle the Duke of Gloucester to death as also the Earl of Arundel and divers other Lords and banished the Earl of Derby Son to the Duke of Lancaster who sheltred himself in France and began to Reign very tyrannically The Emperour Wenceslaus King of Bohemia took a fancy for what reason I know not to visit the Court of France the King went to meet him as far as the City of Rheims this was in the Month of March and received him with as much magnificence as affection That Prince shewed his brutality the very second day the King had invited him to Dinner and when the Dukes of Berry and Bourbon went to fetch him from his own Lodgings they found he was already drunk and taking his Nap to refresh himself and digest his load of Wine Next day the King Treated him the Entertainment and Mirth had lasted longer if the King had not found a Fit coming upon him which brought him back to Paris He left the Duke of Orleance with him to keep him company and confer with him about the means of putting an end to the Schism Year of our Lord 1398 The Kings Council being weary of Bennets playing fast and loose and daily disappointments did decree according as they were advised by a great Assembly of Bishops Abbots and Deputies of the Universities that the whole Kingdom should be subtracted from his Obedience till he would condescend to the Session propounded and that in the mean while the Gallican Church conformable to her antient liberty should be governed by her Ordinaries according to the Holy Canons Bennets Cardinals approved of this substraction and forsook him retiring themselves to the new Town of Avignon but he stood it out and having gotten some Arragonian Soldiers to serve him for a Guard shut himself in the Palace of Avignon The Mareschal Boucicaut had order from the King to besiege him there he acquitted himself faithfully and pent him up so close that in a few days he would have been reduced to want of Provisions when order came to him from Court to change the Siege into a Blockade and suffer refreshments
Men at Arms the Burgundian was not weaker but the Queen the Dukes of Berry and Bourbon appearing as Mediators reconciled the Uncle and the Nephew at least to outward shew At that time the King was in his Fits when he was recover'd the Duke of Orleans obtained of him that when he was ill he should have the Goverment of Year of our Lord 1402 the Kingdom He imprudently began it by new Imposts which rendred him odious to the People Insomuch that the Burgundian being returned to Court found his party strong enough in the Council to obtain the Government again Soon after the King coming out of another Fit gave order that they should Govern joyntly but the Council the Queen and the other Princes and Lords prayed him to recal it The Duke of Orleans went to take passession of the Dutchy of Luxemburgh which he had purchased of Wenceslans King of Bohemia and made an agreement between the Duke of Lorrain and the City of Mets. As for the Duke of Burgundy he went into Bretagne where he rendred a signal piece of Service to France Jean de Navarre the Widow of Duke John de Montfort was going to be married with Henry King of England and was ready to have carried her three Daughters with her the Duke prevented this and having taken order to preserve the Dutchy for them brought them to the Court of France to be bred up in an affection to that Crown Bennet found means to make his escape out of the Palace of Avignon bearing about him the Body of our Lord and certain Letters from the King in which he had made promise never to forsake him Immediately his Cardinals were reconciled to him the City craved his Pardon and the King of Sicilia made him a visit The Court of France was hugely divided about the business of the Substraction the Dukes of Berry Burgundy and Bourbon insisted to persevere therein the Duke of Orleans on the contrary The Clergy of France were assembled to decide it The King of Spain declared by his Ambassadours that he would take it off In a word they bestirred themselves so with the King that he restored the Kingdom to the Obedience of Bennet All the Universities consented even that of Paris at last unless the Norman People who resisted a long while And all this change was made upon the Duke of Orleans becoming security for Bennets good intentions who after this setled himself in Avignon fortify'd it and got some Soldiers into the City and others quarter'd round the neighborhood to maintain himself by power Year of our Lord 1403 The Dukes of Orleans Berry and Burgundy disputed daily and contended daily for the Government they agreed in no one thing but the laying of new Imposts they had their shares all three but the odium fell chiefly upon the first for this as well as for the Schism in the Church All the whole time of this Reign poor France was beaten with divers rods of Affliction sometimes with parching Droughts then otherwhiles with Floods of Rain and Inundations of Rivers sometimes with violent Storms and Tempests often Year of our Lord 1404 with contagious or epidemical Diseases There hapned so great a Mortality at Paris in the year 1399. that they were fain to forbid all great Meetings This year another was so rife it carried off an infinite number Philip Duke of Burgundy dyed of it at Halle in the Countrey of Brabant the Twenty seventh of April His Heart was brought to St. Denis his Body to the Chartreuse of Dijon which he had built most magnificently This Prince without being a King had the greatest Estate in Lands of any in his Days but his Magnificence which we may say hath been Hereditary to the House of Burgundy which yielded not for number of Officers nor rich Furniture to that of the Royal Family and the excessive expences he was at upon all occasions had so much impoverish'd him that his Wife renounced the Community and laid down his Girdle Keys and Purse upon his Coffin as her surrender He had three Sons and four Daugters Of his Sons John had the Dutchy and the County of Burgundy with Flanders and Artois Anthony was Duke of Brabant Lothier and Limbourg Philip had the Earldoms of Nevers and Rhetel Of the four Daughters Marguerite espoused William eldest Son of Albert Duke of Bavaria who was Son of the Emperour Lewis and Earl of Haynault Holland and Zealand and Lord of Friesland From them came an only Daughter named Jacqueline of whom we shall have many things to relate Mary was wedded with Ame VIII First Duke of Savoy who afterwards was made Pope under the name of Felix Catharine was Wife of Leopold IV. Duke of Austria and Earl of Tyrol Bonna died before she was Married Year of our Lord 1404 It was now two years that the Duke of Bretagne's Children had been bred in the Court of France this year the Eldest who succeded to the Dutchy he was called John and was the Sixth of that name went to take possession thereof and shewed himself a better Frenchman then his Father They were sensibly troubled in France for the death of King Richard and they had used all their endeavours to turn that great affection the Cities of Bourdeaux and Bayonne had for Richard into a hatred against his Murtherer but they were so strictly tied to the English by their intercourse of Trade they could not pervert them from their Interest and Obedience nor gain the least of their ends upon them And the Kings indisposition would not suffer them to venture to take a revenge for the Murther of his Son-in-law There were none but the Duke of Orleans and Valeran Count de St. Pol who had Married Richards Sister that shewed any resentment The First sent to defy Henry in very opprobrious terms but received a sutable return The Second after most outragious challenges and bravado's much above what was in his power to perform besieged Mere by Land from whence he was driven away most shamefully Henry had sent back Queen Isabella to her Father with her Portion and all her Jewels and Truces had been made at divers seasons but those were more punctually observed Year of our Lord 1404 on the French side then by the English For accordingly as Henry setled himself he loosed the Reins of the Englishmens hatred who committed many hostilities by Sea and Land in Normandy and in Guyenne The Bretons and Normans did not leave them un-retaliated as likewise at the same time the Constable Albert he succeeded Lewis de Sancerre in that Office cleared all the neighborhood of Bourdelois of a great many petty Castles by means whereof they gathered great Contributions in the Countrey of Guyenne The Earl de la Marche Son of the Duke of Bourbon did as much in Limosin Year of our Lord 1404 But this last by his too long delay ruined that relief he should have carried to Clindon a Prince of Wales who made
War upon the English and a very beneficial diversion for France Observe we hear a great mark of the power of University of Paris as they were going in Procession to St. Catherine du Val near the Hostel of Charles de Savoisy Chamberlain to the King some of that Lords Domestique Servants quarrell'd with the Scholars and coming insolently into the Church with their Swords drawn committed great Outrage there The University prosecuted this business with so Year of our Lord 1404 much heat that by a Sentence in Parliament to whom the King referr'd it three of Savoisy's Servants were whipp'd and banished and his Hostel or House razed by sound of Trumpet excepting his Galleries where on the Gate we have seen an Inscription containing the Fact which was obliterated when they rebuilt the House It is now the Hostel de Lorrain Year of our Lord 1404 The Treasury being quite exhausted by the Duke of Orleans who was a gulph that nothing could fill up or supply fast enough he called the Council together to give Orders for some new Levies John Duke of Burgundy who had taken his Fathers place opposed it publickly and thereby gained the love of the Parisians However the plurality of Votes inducing him to a compliance with the rest they laid new Impositions upon pretence of raising great Forces The Princes had agreed to lock the Money up in one of the Towers belonging to the Palace and no one was to touch a Penny of it without the knowledge and consent of all the Duke of Orleans for all this Engagement scrupled not to come one night with a strong hand and take away the best part of it Year of our Lord 1405 The Thirtieth of April Lewis Dauphin of France and Duke of Guyenne espoused Marguerite Daughter of John Duke of Burgundy and John's eldest Son his name was Philip was betrothed to Michelle the King's Daughter Year of our Lord 1405 When Bennet was confirmed in the Papacy he vexed the Clergy as he had done before and would have Levied the Tenths but he found the University in his way who put a stop to his Undertakings In the mean time his Soldiers having consumed all his Silver even his very Plate the Duke of Orleans because he had nothing else to give him went to Avignon to press him in the behalf of the King to labour for a re-union in the Church as he had promised For this purpose he sent a Legation to Boniface where they set upon him with so many reasons to consent to the Abdication that having nothing to reply he fell sick and died upon it His Cardinals elected Cosmo Meliorat who was called Innocent VII He likewise appearing to be well enough inclined to some methods of accommodation Bennet resolved to confer with him promising himself to gain him by his skill or by the strength of his genius which was prevalent Thus he went to Nice and from thence passed in some Gallies to Genoa being accompanied by Lewis II. King of Sicilia They were scandaliz'd both at Court and in the City of Paris at the too close Year of our Lord 1405 union between the Duke of Orleans and the Queen especially since the death of Philip the Hardy whom she ever dreaded and also because they took the whole management of the Government to themselves and oppressed and loaded the Kingdom with redoubled and violent exactions The Queen they said sent one part of it into Germany and employ'd the other in all sorâ—â— of profusions whilst the Kings Children were in a pitiful equipage and himself was left to rot in his own ordure without any care of undressing him or exchanging his foul Linnen They were not only hated by the People but the other Princes the Dukes of Burgundy and Bretagne retired from Court The King having a lucid interval and understanding the reason of his Uncles absenting and heard the general complaints against the Queen and his Brother he thought it necessary to call a great Assembly and sent for the Duke of Burgundy thither This Duke thought it unfit to come without bringing a good force along with him as well for his own security as because he knew the Queen and her Duke had a design to seize upon the Kings Children and prevent that double Alliance he would contract between his and them Upon the noise of his arrival the Queen and Duke take Alarm and withdraw to Melun having left order with Lewis of Bavaria Brother to the Queen to bring away the Dauphin and even the Duke of Burgundy's Children to the Castle of Pouilly The Burgundian who was arrived at the Louver gets upon his nimblest Horse with a good guard of brave fellows gallops thorough Paris without stop or stay and made so much haste that he overtakes the Dauphin at Juvisy and brings him back to Paris with his own consent and in despite of the Bavarian Year of our Lord 1405 This Rupture was followed with justifications on the Burgundians part who gave his reasons for this action in presence of the Kings Council and the University as also for his reproaches and the drawing of Soldiers together on either side All Paris was in a perpetual Allarm the Dukes of Berry and of Burgundy fortify'd themselves in their own Houses the Duke of Orleans breathed Fire and Flames and the Burgundian omitted nothing to gain the favour of the People The Duke of Bourbon and the University labour'd in vain to make a reconciliation the King of Sicily had as ill sucess but at last the King of Navarre and the Duke of Bourbon after several goings and comings brought it about the two Princes embraced each other in Paris and swore mutual friendship with their Tongues but in their Hearts quite other things lay hid Year of our Lord 1406 England was in a bad condition by reason of the Famine that pinched her and the defeat they received by Henry Piercy Earl of Northumberland who would revenge the death of King Richard The Constable Albret and the Count d'Armagnac had taken or by Intelligence and Money got possession of above Threescore places in Guyenne The Dukes of Orleans and Burgundy undertook to drive them totally out of France the first by attaquing them in Guyenne the other about Calais to which he was to lay Siege The Duke of Orleans lost both his time and reputation before Blaye and before Bourgh the Second after very great expences durst not approach near Calais Thus neither reaped any thing but shame and the Burgundian increased his hatred against the other whom he accused of having spoiled his design by craftily hindring the Levies of those sums of Money had been allotted for the payment of his Forces Year of our Lord 1406 The valour of the Mareschal de Boucicaut encreased the power and reputation of the French not only in Italy but thorough all the Levant The City of Famagousta belonged to the Seignory of Genoa they having gained it from the King of Cyprus that King
had a design to recover it by force and to this end had besieged it the Mareschal having armed himself to relieve it the Grand Master of Rhodes undertook to make an acommodation Year of our Lord 1406 Whilst they were in Treaty the Mareschal employ'd his Arms against the Turks After he had conducted the Emperour Manuel from Modon to Constantinople he went and besieged the City of Scandeloro which he took by assault Then the Peace with Cyprus being made he turned his designs towards the coasts of Syria because he had War with the Sultan of Egypt for some Merchants Goods which that Barbarian had taken from the Genoese The Venetians jealous of their prosperity and watchful of the Mareschals actions gave speedy notice by a nimble vessel to all the Ports upon that coasts So that where ever he would have gon on shoar he found them armed and well provided to receive him Thus he missed Tripoly and Sayeta but he took Baruc which he carried by storm This good success encreased the Venetians rage so much that lying in wait for him upon his return having discharged the greatest part of his Men and Ships Charles Zeni who commanded their Gallies set upon him without any War declar'd How weak soever he was he defended himself so stoutly that they could not force him but they took three of his Gallies wherein was Chastean Morand and Thirty Kinghts of Note The mournful Letters these prisoners sent to the Court because they knew the Venetians never set any free whom they had taken till the Peace was made and their friends lamentations to the Princes and the Kings Council wrought so much that they sent to the Mareschal not to revenge himself for this Treachery but allow of those excuses the Venetians made The Mareschal knowing they were contrary both to the Truth and his own Honour published a Manifesto directed to the Duke and to Zeni relating the whole Fact in a quite different manner giving them the Lye and challenging them to a Combat either One to One or Ten against Ten all Knights or either of them in a single Galley to which no answer was made Year of our Lord 1406 The University of Paris did not desist from pursuing the re-union of the Church and had in order to it dispatched some Deputies to Rome to Innocent but Bennet endeavour'd to break these measures by his intrigues in the Court of France The Cardinal de Chalan his Envoye was but ill receiv'd yet he for a while hindred the Decree the Parliament were about to make against the University of Toulouze who had embraced the defence of that Pope and written Letters in his favour injurious both to the King and his Council but that of Paris addressing themselves to the King with as much zeal obliged the Parliament at last to give Sentence That the said Letters should be burnt at the Gates of Toulouze Lyons and Montpellier and those that wrote them should be proceeded against Notwithstanding theycould not obtain that substraction so many times demanded Year of our Lord 1406 During these Transactions Innocent the Pope of Rome dies and his Cardinals elected Angelo Coraro a Venetian called Gregory XII but obliged him both by Oath and Writing to abdicate the Papacy when Benedict would do the same and to give notice of this condition to all Princes He at first comply'd with his Promises and sent an Embassy to his Competitor for the Union They agreed upon the City of Savonna for their Conference all necessary Orders for their security and for their conveniencies were issued out and the King omitted nothing that might be helpful sending his Ambassadors to labour in it who were well received every where But the two Anti-Popes each on Year of our Lord 1407 his part sought difficulties and delays denying to meet personally and endeavouring to put things off by a thousand tricks Bennet shusfled a long time before he would give up his Abdication in Writing Gregory yet longer about his security and the way he should go Sometimes he pretended he must go by Sea another while it must be by Land finding out most incomprehensible difficulties in adventuring either way Year of our Lord 1407 The Duke of Burgundy notwithstanding his feigned reconciliation which he daily coloured over with new marks of confidence causes the Duke of Orleans to be assassinated The executioner of this so abhorred a Fact was a Norman Gentleman named Rodolph d'Oquetonville animated by a particular resentment for that the Prince had put him out of an Office he held under the King Upon the 23 or 24th of November in the night time as the Duke returned from visiting the Queen who was then in Child-bed mounted upon a Mule with only two or three Servants about him he who had Six hundred Gentlemen his Pensioners the Murtherer who waited for him in the Street called Barbette accompanied with Ten or a Dozen more like himself First gave him a blow with a Battle-axe which cut off one hand and then a Second that cleft his Head in two the rest likewise mangled him with divers wounds and left him lying in the Street This done they all saved themselves in the Duke of Burgundy's House having strowed the way with Calthrops and set fire to a House that they might not be pursued Upon the first noise of this Murther the Burgundian put a good face upon it and went to the Funeral of the deceased bemoaned him and wept for him but it being mentioned in Council that search should be made in all Princes Hostels for the murtherers the horror of this crime did so confound him that he took the Duke of Bourbou aside and confessed to him that he was the Author of it Afterwards being come to himself again he went from thence and the next day fled into Flanders with his Cut-throats His retreat with his threatnings gave some apprehension that he would put the Kingdom into a flame and every man feared the like treachery might fall upon his own Head And for this reason instead of prosecuting him they sought by all mean toa ppease him The Duke of Berry and the Duke of Anjou King of Sicilia took a journey to Amiens to confer with him he came to them well attended his ill act leaving him no security but force and promised to return to Paris and justify himself before the King provided they kept no Guards at the City Gates Year of our Lord 1407 In the interim the Dutchess of Orleans who was at Blois when her Husband was murthered came to Paris with her Sons she had three Charles Philip and John the eldest was not above Fourteen years old to make her complaints to the King He gave her the Guardianship of her Children but durst not promise to do her justice for fear of over-turning his Kingdom The disconsolate Widow knowing therefore that her Husbands murtherer was returning retired with her young ones to Blois Year of our Lord 1408 According to his
for a farther tye toma ke this agreement sure they stipulated the Marriage of a Daughter of the Burgundians with Philip Count de Vertus the Second of the Three Brothers Year of our Lord 1409 The Peace concluded the King returned to Paris and the Burgundian to the Low-Countreys From whence coming again about the month of July he took the whole Government upon him and to give some satisfaction to the People whose affection he had gained in shewing his dislike against Taxes he caused the Council to call the Financiers to Examination and Account The most of them got off for Money but it cost John de Montaigu his Life who had been Sur Indtendant He was a man of mean birth Son of a Citizen of Paris whom the Kings favour without any great desert of his had raised to the Office of Grand Maistre of his House and his Brothers one to the Arch-Bishoprick of Sens the other to that of Paris His immense Riches which never are acquired without crime did blind this little fellow and drew the eyes of all great Men upon him insomuch as he bad married his Son to a Daughter of the Constable d'Albret and his Daughters to the greatest Lords of the Kingdom Though he had been very serviceable in negotiating the Treaty of Chartres nevertheless the Duke of Burgundy and the King of Navarre conspired his destruction because he had given the advice to carry the King to Tours They caused him to be accused of divers hainous crimes taking their opportunity when the King who loved him was in one of his Fits of Folly he was Arrested by Peter des Essards Provost of Paris examined by Commissioners of Parliament and cruelly tormented on the Rack His sufferings could not draw one word from him however his Head was chopt off at the Halles At his death he freely of his own accord confessed his depredation of the Kings Treasure which in it self contains all the greatest crimes The Trunk of his Body was hanged on a Gibbet his Head planted upon a high Pole Afterwards the Vicount de Lionnois had interest enough to re-abilitate his memory and having caused the Body to be taken from Montfaucon with an honourable convoy or attendance of Priests and Torches carried it to the Celestines Church at Marcoussy which he had founded Year of our Lord 1409 At this examination of the Officers it was ordered that all the Receivers should Account before the Earls de la Marche de Vendosme and de St. Pol and that till the had so done nothing should be allowed without Receipts and Vouchers The Treasurers were likewise all put out and the management thereof was given to some Citizens who were esteemed rich and less interessed Thus the Princes strove to gain the affection of that Queen of Cities For the same reason they renewed all their former Priviledges and the Provostship of Marchants of which they had till now only given them the keeping and they also granted them but to such only as were Natives the priviledge of holding Fiefs with the same Franchise as any Gentleman The Kings sorrow was very great when upon his recovery he heard of the death of Montaigu whom he had tenderly loved But there being no way to recall things past he would consider of what was to come Having therefore assembled the Grandees of the Kingdom he told them that he desired when he was at any time ill the Queen should take cognisance of Affairs and upon her default the Dauphin Duke of Guyenne whom he discharged from being under the conduct of his Mother but would that he should Govern with the Councils of the Dukes of Berry and of Burgundy This last usurped all the Authority Year of our Lord 1409 Whilst the Mareschal de Boucicaut was gone to Milan to receive that State under the Kings Protection and Government for John Galeazo chose this rather then that of the Marquis de Montferrat and Facin Can de l'Escale who had halfe subdued it the Marquiss to prevent him in it had caused the Genoese to rise up in Arms by means of the Gibbeline party They massacred all the French within their City forced the Cittadel and called him in to be their Lord but soon after they threw him out as they had done Boucicaut Year of our Lord 1409 Maugre the fulminations of the two Anti-Popes Maugre the Councils each of them had called Gregory in the Patriarchat of Aquilea and Benedict at Perpignan that Assembly which the Cardinals of both parties had summoned was open'd at Pisa the Five and twentieth of March. The Anti-Popes having been cited to appear there and all the Forms observed the Substraction was first order'd then they declared Schismatiques and Hereticks and Faculty given to the Cardinals to elect another Their Suffrages agreed in favour of Cardinal Peter Philargi called of Candia because a Native of that place He was named Alexander V. During the Schism Ladislaus King of Naples had seized upon Rome and the Lands of the Church which was the cause why the Council and the new Pope Alexander more willingly invested Lewis of Anjou with that Kingdom and gave him the Command Year of our Lord 1409 of Lieutenant-General of the Church In the beginning he had good success regained all the places that Ladislaus had usurped and drove him out of Rome but the end was not alike Year of our Lord 1410 The Eighteenth of May or according to others the First of June the Emperour Robert dyed at Oppenheim in Bavaria The Electors divided into two parties whereof one elected Sigismund de Luximbourgh King of Hungary the other his Cousin Josse Marquis of Moravia This last dying soon after all the Suffrages joyned for Sigismund Alexander V. had been a Cordelier Frier upon this consideration he granted a Year of our Lord 1410 new Priviledge to the Four Orders of Mendicants to Administer all the Sacraments in the Parishes and receive the Tythes iâ— they were bestow'd on them The University of Paris much offended at this Novelty retrenched all these Orders from their Body unless they would renounce this Bull. The Jacobins c ..... and Carmelites who found themselves feeble obey'd this Decree The Cordeliers and the Augustins remaining refractory were deprived of the Pulpit and Confessional of which the Jacobins made advantage as the Cordeliers had done upon their being in disgrace Pope John XXIII revoked all these Priviledges and reduced all things to the same condition they were in before We find amongst Historians that in these times there were many bloody Battles fought betwixt Birds of all sorts even amongst the smallest as Sparrows and amongst the domestique ones which proceeded from certain minute Bodies spread in the Air which pricked and irritated them in such measure as provoked and Year of our Lord 1410 pushed them on to discharge their anger upon one another This year 1410. in the Countrey of Hainault the Storks were observed to League with the Hernes and Pyes
and give battle to the Ravens who in their Flocks had Rooks and Choughs the Storks gained the Victory In the Countrey of Liege in like manner some Crows or Ravens having insulted over a Faulcon breaking the Eggs in its Airy the next day were to be seen in that very place a vast quantity of Birds of both those kinds who fought most obstinately till the Crows betook themselves to flight after a very great slaughter of their Forces It was wisely Counsell'd whereby to lay asleep all discords to employ all the Forces of France in a War upon the English under that specious pretence of revenging the death of King Richard II. The Nobless went about it with much resolution but the envy which other Princes had against the greatness of the Burgundian who sate at the Helme broke off this design Year of our Lord 1410 At the end of August the Dukes of Berry and Bourbon having made a League at Gyen with the House of Orleans and with the Duke of Bretagne the Earls of Alenson Clermont and Armagnac who were all his friends or picqued against the Burgundian sent to make their demands of the King Every one armed himself the King might command them to lay down their Arms but it was in vain for they went on with their Levies The Burgundian having to little purpose proffer'd them Peace made use of the Kings Authority to summon the Arriere-ban puts Ten thousand Men into Paris The Duke of Berry and the Princes lodged themselves at the Castle of Wicestre and began to make the War The neighbouring parts round that City were eaten up by Two hundred thousand hungry Soldiers About the end of November when all the Provisions were consumed necessity compell'd both parties to come to an agreement It was Articled that the Duke of Burgundy should go out of Paris and that the Duke of Berry should not go in That those two Princes should name some Lords that should take care for them of the Government and the Dauphin's Person That the King sho u l d chu Council of Twelve Persons not suspected whose Names he should communicate to them That all the Princes should withdraw with their Forces and that none of them should return near the King unless he were commanded by Letters under the Great Seal and written in Council Year of our Lord 1411 The Burgundian obey'd with sincerity and retir'd forthwith but the Duke of Orleans with those of his party began immediately to make new Levies The Queen and the Duke of 〈◊〉 appeared as Neuters and offer'd to be Mediators The King spake 〈◊〉 Master and Commanded them to disarm the Burgundian lay quiet and remained in Obedience but the Orleannois with his Sword in hand demanded Justice for the death of his Father After many Letters and fruitless Negotiations he sent a very biting Cartel to the Burgundian who answered in the same stile Their Challenges were in the month of August Year of our Lord 1411 The King had ordained the Queen and the Duke of Berry who were at Melun to labour for a Peace and sent thither Persons that were Notables of the Clergy the Nobility the Parliament and the University the better to Authorize what they should conclude therein but their design was only to pillage Paris and deliver themselves to the Orleannois The Parisians having timely notice demanded the Count de St. Pol might be their Governour It was agreed to but instead of strengthening himself with good honest Citizens he furnishes himself with Rascals and raises a Company of Five hundred Butchers Commanded by the Goix the Kings Butchers who committing a thousand insolencies obliged a great many good Citizens to retire elsewhere France then divided her self in two Factions the one the Orleannois vulgarly named Armagnac's from the Count of Armagnac one of their principal Chiefs they carried a White Bend and a Cross with Right Angles and the other the Burgundians who bare the St. Andrew's Cross The best of the Citizens of Paris inclined towards the First the Populace towards the Second From thence proceeded so many Murthers plunderings and Proscriptions according as the success varied on either side Year of our Lord 1412 The Burgundian party was then the strongest having the King the Dauphin Duke of Guyenne and the City of Paris on that side so that they displaced the Prevost des Marchands and imprisoned and banished divers of the contrary party In the mean time the Forces under the Duke of Orleans plundered Picardy and he seized upon Montlehery Upon this they perswaded the Duke of Guyenne to oblige the King to recall the Burgundian to his assistance This Duke embraced the opportunity enters into Picardy with Sixty thousand Men besieged and forced Ham but he could go no further The contest about the plunder of that City begot a mortal dissention between the Picards and the Flemmings wherewith his Army was made up insomuch as the Duke of Orleans approaching with his the Picards forsook him the Flemmings withdrew and he though much against his Will with them The greediness with which the party Orleannois gaped for the plunder and spoil of Paris hindred them from pursuing and destroying the Burgundian They marched immediately to block up this great City made themselves Masters of St. Denis by a Siege of the Tower of St Cloud by the Treachery of him that Commanded it and fired the Houses of such Citizens as were not of their Faction In retribution the Company of Butchers went and burnt the Castle of Wicestre which belonged to the Duke of Berry Year of our Lord 1412 The Orleannois thought themselves so very sure of the taking of Paris that they had already agreed upon their shares in the spoil But now the Burgundian returns with a relief of English pierces thorough the midst of their Forces and the Thirtieth of October is received into the City as the deliverer of the Kingdom Then their party declines St. Cloud is forced out of their hands with the loss of above Nine hundred Gentlemen they raise their Blockade and having drawn all their Men together at St. Denis retreat in disorder over the Bridges they had laid upon the Seine Year of our Lord 1412 All the misfortunes that attend a routed party fell upon these The victorious Burgundian causes them to be excommunicate and proscribed gives them chace every where puts their Goods to sale by out-cry imprisons all their Friends and Servants displaces the Constable Albret John de Hangest Hugueville Grand Master of the Cross-Bow-Men and the Sire de Rieux Mareschal to give their places to the Count de St. Pol the Lord de Rambures and Lewis de Longny his partisans All the neighbouring Cities about Paris enter into the same interests Orleans alone remains of the side of her Princes The other places and of such as followed them are forced to abandon them even Guyenne and Languedoc submit and renounce the Government of the Duke of Berry Year of our
tawny speaking in a particular Canting Language of their own and using a Slight of Hand in Picking Pockets while they pretended to tell Fortunes They were called Tartars and Zigens These were the same in my own opinion as those the French at present call Bohemians and the English Gypsy's Year of our Lord 1417 We find in the Acts of the Council of Constance how the memory of Wicklef was Anathematiz'd and John Huss who treading his steps had sowed new Doctrines in Bohemia was burnt alive Anno 1415. notwithstanding he had a safe Conduct of the Emperor and how Jerome of Pragne his Associate but more cautious then he chose rather to be condemned absent then present In the same Council Bennet having been declared Contumacious and intruded into the Papacy the Cardinals of all Parties joyning together elected Otho Colomna who took the name of Martin as being promoted on the Eve of that Saints day Year of our Lord 1418 He immediately employs his Care and Paternal Authority to endeavour the making a Peace in France To this end he sent two Cardinal Legats upon whose sollicitation an Assembly was held at Montereau Faut-yonne where the Deputies on either side agreed upon the Seventeenth of May that all hatred being laid aside the Dauphin and Duke of Burgundy should have the Government of the State during the Kings Life But the Constable the Chancellor and those that had the greatest share in the management of Affairs fearing they should be pack'd away or apprehending the Burgundian's Resentment formally opposed it and the Chancellor did absolutely refuse to Seal the Treaty he who was said to have Sealed so many Instruments to the Peoples ruine and for his own private Interest Paris being sick of the War this was an excellent Theme to be preached to the People and stir up their hatred against them and also to rowze the Burgundian Faction who had still remained quiet had not the Populace been drawn to side with them upon this ill management In fine those of his Party holding themselves assured of his Affection introduced into their City Philip de Villiers L'Isle Adauâ— Governor of Pontoise by St. Germains Gate He entred by night upon the Twenty eight of May with Eight hundred Horse crying out Peace and Burgundy The People did not stir till they were come into Year of our Lord 1418 the Streets of St. Denis and St. Honore then they came out on all hands and joyned with them Tanneguy du Chastel Provost of Paris hearing the noise ran and took the Dauphin out of his Bed and wrapping him up in his Night-Gown convey'd him to the Bastille and from thence to Melun The King who was in his Hostel remained in the power of the Burgundians From thence spreading themselves over the whole Town they fell upon the Houses of the Armagnac's and searched from the very tops of the Garrets to the bottoms of the Cellers Some plundered the Household Stuff and carried away the Money but were most eager to seize upon their Persons and those were least unhappy that were coop'd up in private places till they had paid their Ransoms Most of them were haled to Prisons whither a great many fled voluntarily to avoid other mischiefs The Chancellor was taken the very same day and imprisoned in the Palace The next day the Constable was dragged to the same place He had concealed himself in a Masons House but Proclamation being made to discover all the Armagnac's upon pain of death his Hoste produced him Year of our Lord 1418 The Banished being return'd from divers parts with indignation and revenge in their Hearts made the most cruel Mutiny that ever was heard of this was upon the Two and twentieth of June They began with the Palace whence they drew forth the Constable and Chancellor Murther'd them and exposed their Bodies upon the Table de Marbre From thence they went to the Prisons Massacred the Bishops of Senlis and de Coutances in the Petit Chastelet and made the rest leap from the tops of the Towers receiving them below upon the points of their Swords and Javelines There was no part of the City which was not stained with the Blood they spilt Near two thousand Men were killed whose Carcasses were drawn into the Fields with deep Incisions made upon their Backs in form of a Bend or Scarfe which was the Signal that Party had marked themselves withal for distinction Such as were found with them were held to be worse then Hereticks the Priests denied them Burial and Baptism to their Children Whether it were Policy or not the Duke of Burgundy would not come to Paris till a month after L'Isle Adam had made himself Master of it The Queen and he made their entrance the fourteenth day of July as Triumphantly as if they were returned Year of our Lord 1418 from the Conquest of some new Empire There was nothing heard in the Streets but the soft Musick of Voices and Instrumens and yet their presence did not stop the bloody hands of Murtherers Whoever had Money or an Enemy an Office or a Benefice was an Armagnac The vilest and the most wicked had made themselves the Chiefs of that Blood-thirsty Militia The very Hangman was one of them and he had so much impudence as to shake the Duke by the Hand who knew not what he was The One and twentieth of August they made another great Commotion that infamous Villain being their Captain in which they killed above two hundred Persons and amongst others even some of those that dwelt in the Dukes Hostel and perhaps they would have carried it home to himself had he not been provided against that Scum of the Rabble He bethought himself of a wyle which was to send six thousand of that common Herd to besiege Montleberry and when they were gone he ordered the Hangmans Head to be chopt off and several of the most deserving to be Hanged or cast into the River Year of our Lord 1418 It seemed that Heaven would revenge those horrible Murthers with its severest Rod About the Month of June Paris began to be infected with the Plague which raged extreamly to the end of October carried off above forty thousand most of them being the meanest of the People and such as had dipt their Hands in Blood After the Dauphin was gone from Paris his Partisans made War in his Name Those Frenchmen that were disinteressed and impartial found themselves much perplexed between the Kings Commands whom the Burgundian made to speak as pleased himself and the Commands of the Presumptive Heir to the Crown which side soever they could take they were sure to be treated as Rebels and Traitors Year of our Lord 1418 The Duke of Bretagne labour'd so much that he made up the breach a second time All the Articles were agreed upon at St. Maurdes Fossez but those that had influence over the Dauphin kept him from Ratifying them so that there was only a Truce for three weeks After he
had taken all the pains imaginable to find out some way to reconcile the two Parties perceiving as little faith on the one side as the other he retir'd into his own Country and renewed his ancient Alliance with the English only for his Year of our Lord 1418 defence When now he thought himself out of all trouble he found himself fallen into the greatest Peril Marguerit de Clisson Widow of John de Blois Earl of Pointieurs a Woman ambitious even to the highest Crimes never left provoking her Sons she had four in all to seize upon the Person of the Duke that they might enter upon the Dutchy of Bretagne which she told them was their Inheritance The Dauphins Council offended because the Breton did not Arm himself against the English Treated underhand with these Brothers and gave them Letters and Orders to prosecute their design To effect this they made use of all sorts of means to get into the Dukes favour went to visit him at Nantes gained great Credit with him by their Respect and Complaisance in fine engage him to go and divert himself at their House of Chuntoceaux in Anjou upon the Second of February Going thither with his Brother Richard unarmed and with little Company as being unwilling to give them too great trouble Oliver the eldest of the four causes him to be set upon and taken by forty Horsemen well armed who carried them away bound Legs and Arms to the Castle of Paluan in Poitou From thence they were removed from place to place all the year round causing divers reports to be spread sometimes that they died in despair at other times that they were drowned and lastly that for a Pennance they were both gone on Pilgrimage to Jerusalem there to end their days They had made account that if they could but once catch these two Brothers they should find strength and friends enough to get themselves into possession of the Dutchy but the Act was so base that even their most devoted friends were ashamed Year of our Lord 1419 to own it All Bretagne moved with the horror of the Fact and the lamentations of the sorrowful Dutchess took up Arms and sent her above Fifty thousand Men to recover her Husband In the absence of Arthur Earl of Richmond whom the English would not set at liberty the Bretons chose Commanders of their own Nobility to lead them Chantoceaux was besieged The Duke was not then there as they had hoped but Marguerit de Clisson and one of her Sons were in it The breach being made this Womans heart failed fear seized upon her Spirits she dispatches Messenger after Messenger to her Son Oliver to intreat him if he would ever see her again alive to release the Duke The Dukes Head was a pawn sufficient enough to answer for his Mothers notwithstanding he was so weak as to let him go But he had beforehand made him sign to what Articles he would The Estates of the Country never regarded them the four Brothers were brought to their Trial who were condemned to die their Houses razed their Lands confiscated and given to great Men that so they might never be recover'd again Year of our Lord 1419 During these Brouilleries King Henry had laid Siege to Rouen from the Month of June The importance of that City and the constant fidelity of her Burghers deserved some care should be taken to relieve them They first endeavour'd it by treating with the King of England concerning the Marriage with Catharine of France by the Mediation of the Popes Legats who for that purpose carried the Picture of that beautiful Princess to him Then that Project having failed he making too high demands they got some Forces together and carried the King as far as Beauvais but they were found too weak to attempt its relief The Besieged being in the greatest extremity make their address to the Dauphin this was the fairest Jewel of the Crown which was so near being lost he took no care for it considering the place as rather belonging to the Duke of Burgundy then to France What Miseries did they not undergo Thirty thousand died of Famine hunger forced them to eat their very Bed-straw and all the Leather they could come at The King of England refusing to receive them on any other terms then at discretion they undermined five hundred Rod of their Walls and in their extremity resolved to set fire on the Timbers that propt it and then sally out of the breach both Men and Women and take their fortune either in Death or Victory This desperate Resolution gave the King some apprehension he allows them tolerable Conditions and was contented with the payment of three hundred thousand Gold Crowns and three of their Chiefs whom he should name of those one called Blanchard lost his Head Upon these Conditions he confirmed all their Priviledges He made his entry the nineteenth Year of our Lord 1419 of January The taking of this City brought in all the rest of Normandy and that Province for some few years returned to the obedience of the English from whom it had been conquer'd two hundred and fifteen years past by King Philip Augustus They did notwithstanding negotiate between the two Kings and at the same time between the two Parties of Armagnacs and Burgundians A Truce for three Months Year of our Lord 1419 was agreed upon between the two Crowns after which there was to be an Interview near Melun to conclude on the Peace and Marriage Men of most Judgment foreseeing France must be ruined if it came to that never left off till they had made Truce betwixt the two Factions The Dauphin would have had it for three years the Burgundian for two Months only his aim was that if within that time he could make a full and perfect agreement with the Dauphin they might with their united Forces fall both joyntly upon the English when the Truce expired if not he would make a Peace with them that he might be the more enabled to quell the Dauphinois The first not succeeding well he comes back to Treat with the English To this purpose there was an Interview between both Kings in a Park prepared for it near Melun in the midst whereof they had pitched a Tent for the Conference The King of France being fallen ill at Paris the Queen supplied his place and carried thither but only the first time Madam Catharine whom the King of England sought in Marriage They met in this Tent frequently almost three weeks together the King of England coming from Mantes and the Queen from Pontoise where they were lodged The Dauphins Council knowing what they treated on sought to the Burgundian for an Accommodation and flattered him with a perfect Reconciliation The Duke did ardently desire it and therefore being pleased with that hopes he stood on higher terms with the English and would scare condescend to any thing that he demanded Thus they began to shew some coldness and then were picqued
at one another the Burgundian breaks off the Treaty and thinks of nothing now but to accommodate Affairs with the Dauphin They conferred therefore in the open Field near Povilly le Fort within two Leagues of Melun between the two Armies each of them attended by half a score Horsemen and there they made a Treaty in which they sware to love and assist each other like Brothers submitting themselves in case of any failure to the Soveraign Judgment of the Holy See After which they agreed to meet upon the Bridge de Year of our Lord 1419 Montereau Faut-yonne the Eighteenth of August each accompanied with ten Men armed to determine all their disputes in a most amicable manner The Servants belonging to the deceased Lewis Duke of Orleans particularly Taneguy du Chastel and John Louvet President of Provence procured these Interviews for no other end but to find an opportunity to revenge the death of their late Master upon him that was the Author of it They durst not attempt it at Pouilly but they put things in better order at Montereau by the contrivance of certain Barriers which being made in appearance for the mutual safety of them both served as a snare or trap to that unfortunate Prince The day being come the Dauphin arrives at Montereau the Duke made him wait almost fifteen days His friends forewarning and advice his own pressentiment all humane prudence and reasonning forbid his going thither the power of his ill destiny dragg'd him along by the horrid treachery of a second Dalila I mean the Lady de Gyac his Mistress or perhaps it was the hand of Divine Justice for the Blood of his own Cousin and so many thousands of Men as had been spilt in that Quarrel To allure him the better they delivered up to him the Castle of Montereau but wholly unfurnish'd of Provisions or Artillery From thence he descended to the Bridge with his ten Men and placed a guard at the end While he was kneeling before the Dauphin Taneguy du Chastel and some others leaping over the Barriers Massacred him by several wounds his People making but a slight defence only Nouailles Brother of Captal de Buch who was kill'd with him We must believe this act was done without the Dauphins order for he was not above Seventeen years of age and Heaven would never have permitted a Prince designed to wear the Year of our Lord 1419 Crown of France should have perpetrated so horrible and base a piece of treachery However it were the event made it appear how much those wounds did blemish his Honour and not only proved hurtful to him but almost mortal to the whole Kingdom For Philip the only Son of the deceased although a very good Prince highly undertakes to revenge his Fathers death and wanted not for means to do it All that were friends to that House all those that were discontented came and tendred their service to him compassion and horror for this Murther renewed and heated the affections even of such as were grown coldest the Parisians sent to assure him of their Services and he to gain the love of the People obtained a Truce of the English to the exclusion of the Dauphins People who were come to Rouen to desire the same thing for which they made great profers From this time the French the English and the Burgundians began to mix and live together as if they had all been but one Nation but the difference of their humours and interests would suffer no long unity amongst them Year of our Lord 1419 On the other hand the Dauphin gathered up all his Friends in the Provinces of Poitou Orleannois Berry Auvergne Lyonnois Dauphine Provence and above all thought to secure himself of Languedoc He took away that Government from the Earl of Foix and gave it to Charles Count de Clermont eldest Son of the Duke of Bourbon From these Provinces it was that he drew his Succours that maintained him Besides the Kings of Castille and of Scotland with the Duke of Milan suppli'd him in his necessities with some of their Forces Year of our Lord 1420 According to what had been agreed upon the King of England and Philp Duke of Burgundy met at Troyes where the King and Queen were and there the Peace was Treated together with the Marriage of Catharine of France with King Henry Which was first sworn to by all the Lords there present and then by all the good Cities that were of their party The Marriage was compleated the Second day of June This Treaty amongst other things contained That King Charles named and owned Henry for his Heir to the Crown of France That however Henry should not take the Title of King of France during the life of Charles but that he should have the quality of Regent and the government of Affairs That the two Kingdoms of France and England should be united and held by the same hand viz. by Henry and his Heirs but that they should not depend upon one another and should be governed according to their Laws That all Priviledges and Rights should be preserved to all Estates and to every particular Person That no Treaty of Accommodation should be made with the Dauphin without the consent of both the Kings the Duke of Burgundy and the three Estates of both the Kingdoms The two Kings afterwards with the Burgundian having taken Sens and Montereau journyed towards Paris Melun made the King of England know how much all France might cost him he was four Months before it and not able to force it Famine only did what his Sword could not The Besieged surrendred upon composition but contrary to the faith given they were all detained Prisoners At their departure from thence the two Kings made their entrance into Paris the first Sunday of Advent and the next day the two Queens The Duke of Burgundy having tender'd his complaint before them and their Councils in the Hostel St. Pol the Dauphin was summon'd to the Table de Marbre with the usual formalities and afterwards as attainted and convict of Murther was declared unworthy of all Succession namely of that to the Crown of France and banished the Kingdom to perpetuity From this Sentence given by incompetent Judges against all Right and contrary to the Laws of the Kingdom he appealed to God and his Sword and transferr'd the Parliament and University to Poitiers at which place the most illustrious Members of those two Companies did not fail to appear Thus almost every thing was double in the Kingdom there were two Kings two Regents two Parliaments two Constables two Chancellors two Admirals and so of most of the great Officers not to mention the multitude of Mareschals of France whereof each Party made seven or eight Year of our Lord 1420 This year 1420. the Portugal Navigators defray'd and encouraged by Henry Duke of Visen Son of John King of Portugal sailing at large in the Ocean found in their midway between Lisbonne and
the Fortunate Islands a little Island which they named Madera because it was full of Wood or Materials fit for building From thence steering along the exteriour coasts of Africa they there discover'd several large Countries and in time sailed to the East-Indies which till then were unknown at least those parts towards the Sea Pope Martin and after him his Successors bestowed upon the Portugals all those Lands by them discover'd or to be discover'd from the Cape which lies at the end of Mount Atlas to the Indies When the King of England had sojourned some weeks at Paris he laid Siege to the City of Meaux the only place the Dauphin had left upon the Rivers of Seine and Year of our Lord 1420 Marne After a three Months brave defence the Besieged capitulated the ninth of May the Inhabitants had their lives and liberties but all the Soldiers were sent Prisoners to divers places where they let them cruelly perish for hunger The Bailiff named Lewis de Gas had his Head cut off in the Halles at Paris The City taken King Henry went into England to draw over a new supply of Men and Money So great was the fondness of the French for the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples that Lewis Duke of Anjou forgetting those disasters of his Father and Grandfather and abandoning his own Country to the mercy of the English suffers himself to be cajolled by the promises of the Pope and Sforza who called him to dispossess Queen Jane a Princess lost in her Reputation by her continual Galantries Year of our Lord 1421 or Amours The Affairs of Lewis being in a pretty good posture in that Country Alphonso King of Arragon who held the Island of Sicilia undertakes the protection of Jane she having adopted him her Son Sforza does reconcile himself to her and in a word there was nothing left for the poor Angevin but the way to walk home again Year of our Lord 1421 One of the first seeds of division between the English and the Duke of Burgundy was about Jacqueline Countess of Hainault Holland Zealand and Friseland After the death of John Dauphin of France they had Married her to John Duke of Brabant Son of Anthony and Cousin German to Duke Philip but the young Gossip not being satisfied with her second Husband a Man of little merit prosecuted for a Divorce and consederated with some Captains to carry her away as it were by force into England where she Married Humphrey Duke of Gloucester Brother of King Henry This undertaking turned much to the contempt of Philip who besides observed that the English began to treat him with more pride and endeavour'd so to settle their affairs as they might have no further need of him Year of our Lord 1421 The War was very hot in every Province on this side the Loire particularly in Champagne Picardy and in the Countries of Perche Maine and Anjou The Duke of Clarence Brother to King Henry having got together eight or ten thousand Men went and besieged Bauge in Anjou John Earl of Bouchain a Scot and the Mareschal de la Fayette marched to its relief gave him battle and won it He was slain upon the place with two thousand of his Men the rest escaped through the Country of Mayne into Normandy This Earl of Bouchain had brought three or four thousand Men from his own Country to the Dauphins service in recompence he gave him the Constables Sword Year of our Lord 1421 The Field being clearly left to the French the Dauphin accompanied with his new Constable and the Duke of Alenson regained some places in the Countries of Perche and the Chartrain In the mean time Henry being come back from England with a great reinforcement and in a rage and fury for the defeat and death of his Brother did endeavour all that was possible to meet with the Dauphin He marched by Chartres and Chasteaudun lodged in the Suburbs of Orleans and not meeting him in the Field but a violent Dysentery that took off three thousand of his Men he falls upon the City of Dreux which being surrendred upon Composition he goes to rest himself at Paris and sends over his Queen who was great with Child to be deliver'd in England Year of our Lord 1421 Whilst he lay at the Siege of Dreux an honest Hermit unknown to him came and told him the great evils he brought upon Christendom by his unjust ambition who usurped the Kingdom of France against all manner of right and contrary to the will of God wherefore in his holy name he threatned him with a severe and suddain punishment if he desisted not from his Enterprise Henry took this exhortation either for an idle whimsey or a suggestion of the Dauphinois and was but the more confirmed in his design Year of our Lord 1422 But the blow soon followed the threatning for within some few Months after he was smitten in the Fundament with a strange and incurable Disease the acuteness of its pain made him go to Senlis to seek for cure The Queen his Wife was a while before this returned out of England having brought forth a Son to whom they gave the same name as his Fathers Both she and her Husband made their entry with great splendour into Paris and kept open Court at the Louvre upon the Feast of Pentecost each Crowned with their Royal Diadems but the People that went to see the Ceremony had cause to regret regret the liberalities of their ancient Kings and detest the niggardliness or pride of the English who gave them none of their good Cheer nor did vouchsafe to profer them one Glass of Wine The Dauphin in the mean time had besieged the City of Cosne on the Loire and the place had capitulated to surrender if they were not relieved by a prefixed day with an Army able to give them battle The Duke of Burgundy got a great number of Men to go thither the Dauphin being informed of his march did not think fit to stay for him but raised his Siege Year of our Lord 1422 The King of England though already indisposed was gotten into his Litter that he might be present at this memorable Action While he was at Melun his distemper encreased so much that he could proceed no further but made them bring him back to Vincennes where he died the eight and twentieth day of August He had only one Son who was named Henry he left him to the education of the Cardinal of Winchester his Uncle who bred him in England gave the Government of that Kingdom to the Duke of Gloucester and the Regency of the Kingdom of France to John Duke of Bedford to whom he recommended above all things to give content to the Duke of Burgundy never to make any Peace with the Dauphin unless Normandy were yielded to be left in full Soveraignty to the English and not to release those Prisoners that were taken at the Battle of Azincour till his Son were
of all these was Lonvet the President of Provence who had an ambition to govern in despite of all the Grandees He chose rather to be the ruine of his Master whom he had strangely fetter'd then to be thrust away from him so that Year of our Lord 1425 he found means by his contrivances to animate him against the Constable but the Constable made his Party so good that the King found himself abandoned of all the Grandees and all his places refused obedience to him excepting Selles and Vierzon Then he saw it was high time to discharge Louvet and all the rest Taneguy generously sacrificing his fortune to serve his King begged leave to be gone as his Reward Louvet upon his retreat as his Master-piece of Court-craft put the Lord de Gyac in his place The Constable had no little ado to reconcile himself to the King who fled before him that he might not see him At length he suffers him to approach that he might get assistance of the Breton Who being in the end satisfied by the expulsion of his Enemies came to him at Saumur rendred him Homage and gave him his Contract and the Contracts of all the Lords within his Dutchy under Hand and Seal commanding them to go upon his Service They did him but little good but they might Year of our Lord 1425 have done him a great deal of hurt The Seventh of September Charles the Noble King of Navarre ended his Life Blanch his only Daughter Married to John the Brother of Alphonso King of Arragon was his Heiress Year of our Lord 1424 and 25. As on the one hand these Broils prejudiced the Affairs of King Charles on the other hand the Quarrel which hapned between the Duke of Burgundy and the Duke of Gloucester about Jacqueline Countess of Hainault and the Duke of Brabant her lawful Husband did much retard nay set back those of the English forasmuch as it diverted the Forces of those two Princes who would undoubtedly have wholly subdued France had they joyned them to the Duke of Bedfords Jacqueline would not endure that the Duke of Brabant whom she affirmed was nothing to her should enjoy her Lands and the Duke of Gloucester who had Married her did serve and assist her in that Quarrel The Duke of Bedford desiring not to distaste the Duke of Burgundy endeavour'd to patch up some agreement between the Parties the Duke of Brabant submitted but Gloucester regarded it not but still pursued the right of his pretended Wife with Sword in hand Year of our Lord 1424 and 25. He and the Burgundian pickered by Letters and went on so far as to defie each other to a Personal Combat agreeing upon the time the place and the Weapons The Duke of Bedford having assembled the chiefest of the French and English Lords brought that Challenge to nothing and declared that there was no just or legal cause for Combat And to testifie to the Burgundian that he had no hand in the Enterprizes of his Brother he desired they might see one another at Dourlens as they did upon the Eve of St. Peters day This did not hinder them from making a brisk War in Holland where the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Burgundy tried their Forces but at two years end the Pope having declared that the Marriage of Jacqueline with the Duke of Gloucester was of no value that Prince desisted from his prosecution and Married a Damlet whom he entertain'd Year of our Lord 1425 The English had taken and fortified the City of Pontorson nigh Auranches from whence they perpetually molested Bretagne the Constable laid siege to it and regained it in a short time He was not so happy at Saincte James de Beuveron which they had repaired His Soldiers having forsaken him for want of their pay he made a shameful retreat and left all his Artillery and Equipage to the Enemy Pontorson was afterwards besieged by the English and having surrender'd the Duke of Bedford came to the Frontiers of Bretagne with a great Army upon which the Duke was so astonished that he renounced the Alliance he had made with France returned to that with England and promised to do Homage to King Henry The shocks great Captains meet with does often times proceed from the malice Year of our Lord 1426 and envy of those that are of the Kings Council whose care and province it is to provide for the subsistance and payment of the Armies The Constable knew that Gyac was the cause of his disaster because in stead of sending him Money he stop'd the current from running that way and diverted it to his own use and entertained his Prince in solitude and private pleasures that he alone might enjoy his Person and his Favours For this reason in the Month of January following he went with a strong hand to surprize him in his Bed at Issoudun and after some slight formalities of Justice caused his Head to be cut off or as others relate drowned him Year of our Lord 1426 Another Gentleman named le Camus de Beaulieu undertook to supply the place of Gyâ—c and tread in his footsteps some while after People were amazed to see the Constable rid himself of him as he had done of the other The Mareschal de Bouslac by his order slew him in the open Street and almost in the Kings sight in the City of Poitiers He remembred too well what the Favourites had contrived at Montereau and against the Duke his Brother wherefore he would suffer none to be near the King of whom he was not well assured he therefore places the Lord de la Trimouille at Court whom he judged to have sentiments contrary to the two former his House owing all their good fortunes and rise to the Dukes of Burgundy But this Man soon blinded with his new fortune as well as those whose post he now had taken he kept the Princes as much at distance as he possibly could so that even the Constable himself retired into Bretagne This proceeded to a kind of a War which divided the Court and retarded all the Kings Affairs for seven or eight Months Year of our Lord 1426 and 27. It would be endless to take notice of all the Sieges Fights and Enterprizes in these Wars both Foreign and Domestick There was not a City or Burrough but had Garrisons Forts and Castles were built in all convenient places upon Hills on Rivers in narrow ways and in the open Fields Every Lord had his Soldiers or to speak more properly his Bands of Robbers who maintained themselves by feeding on the poor Country People I shall therefore mention only the most remarkable Events in this place that the French raised the Siege of Montargis in the year 1426. and the year after recovered the City of Manse which had been taken by the English during the divisions of the Court. The Siege of Orleance was yet much more memorable and more important The Year of our Lord 1428 Earl of
Salisbury having brought new Forces out of England began it upon the Twelfth of October of the year 1428. and made several Bastilles or Forts as well on the side towards la Beausse as that towards Soulogne having before cleared all the places in la Beauasse and all others for twelve or fifteen Leagues both above and beneath the Town along the River of Loire Year of our Lord 1428 All the year 1428. the Duke of Burgundy was busied in the Low-Countries in pursute of Jacqueline of Bavaria He followed her so close that having besieged her in the City of Ghent he compell'd her to declare him Heir to all her Lands so that to Flanders and Artois he joyned Hainault Holland Zealand and Frise and again the same year the Earldoms of Namur and Zutphen after the death of Count Theodoric who sold them to him only reserving the possession to himself during his life time Two years after in Anno 1430. there likewise fell to him the Dutchies of Lothier Brabant and Linbourgh the Marquissate of the Holy Empire and the Lordship of Antwerp by the decease of his Cousin Philip of Burgundy the second Son of Anthony who had succeeded to Duke John his elder Brother Husband of Jaqueline who died in the year 1426. In the beginning of this year he went to Paris to the Duke of Bedford whither came also some Ambassadors from King Charles and Deputies from Orleans to intreat him that he would suffer the said City to be sequestred into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy They remonstrated that the Princes of the House of Orleans who were Prisoners in England could have acted nothing for which they ought to be dispoiled of their Towns and that it would he sufficient to put them under Sequestration as a security for what they should do when they were set at liberty The English believing this important City was now as good as their own scoffed at the request they would not lose the time and Money they had expended in the Siege Besides Bedford granted but very little of those things which the Burgundian demanded However that he might not be exposed between two Enemies without any Party to support him he put on the masque of an apparent satisfaction upon the face of his discontent Their attaques at Orleans were very brave and the defence of the Besieged much braver yet the Earl of Salisbury lost his life by a Cannon shot but the French having been beaten near Rouvroy at their falling upon a Convoy of Herrings which was going to the Camp it was in Lent and the Constable being retired Malecontent into Bretagne the place was just going to fall and the courage of all the French with it The King was already diposing himself to retire into Dauphine When a most extraordinary thing pulled down the English pride and raised up the hopes of France About the end of February the Lord de Baudricourt Governor of Vaucouleurs in Champagne sent a Maiden to the King about the age of Eighteen or twenty years who affirmed that she had an express Commission from God to relieve Orleans and cause him to be Crowned at Reims being sollicited thereto by the frequent apparitions of Angels and Saints She was named Joan or Jane was Native of the Village of Damremy upon the Meuse Daughter of James of Ave and Isabella Gautier and bred to keep Sheep in the Country Her Vocation was confirmed by miraculous proofs for she knew the King though meanly habited amidst the throng from all his Courtiers The Doctors of Divinity and those that were of the Parliament who examined her declared that there was somewhat of Supernatural in her behaviour She sent for a Sword that lay in the Tomb of a Knight behind the high Altar in the Church of St. Catharine de Fierbois upon the Blade whereof were several Crosses and Flower-de-Luces graved and the King openly affirmed that she had devined a very great secret not known to any but himself They gave her therefore a suitable Equipage and some Forces yet did they not trust the conduct of this relief to her management but gave it to the Mareschal de Rieux and the Bastard of Orleans followed by many other brave Knights who understood the Trade When she had display'd her Banner whereon there were two Images one a Crucifix the other the Annunciation with the Sacred Names of Jesus-Maria she wrote to the English in the name of God That they should leave the Kingdom to the Lawful Heir if not then she would make them go perforce But they kept her Herauld Prisoner He was found in Fetters when the City was relieved and it was discover'd that they intended to have burnt him as a Confederate of hers whom they called a Witch Year of our Lord 1429 The success made good her threatnings From that very day all their Affairs declined When she had thrown Provisions into Orleans and soon after entred the City in Person the Besieged believing her to be sent from Heaven resumed courage made divers Salleys where she fought valiantly and in two or three days took their chief Bastilles and constrained them to decamp for good and all the Twelfth day of May. The French ran up and down every where with this Heroine as to a certain Victory the English fled before her as from a Thunder-Bolt and durst not stand her approach They were chaced from Jargeau from Beaugency beaten at Patay in Beausse upon a retreat and in fine dislodged from all the places in those Countries Year of our Lord 1429 Touching the second point of her Commission she over-ruled it in the Council that the King should go to Reims to be Crowned though that City and all Champagne were yet in the Enemies power In their passage Auxerre Troyes and Chaalons surrendred to the King then the City of Reims it self as soon as ever those Lords that held it for the Duke of Burgundy were gone forth to fetch some assistance from Burgundy he was Crowned upon a Sunday being the Seventh day of July by Renauld de Chartres Archbishop of that City and their Chancellor Year of our Lord 1429 In recompence of these so important Services the King Ennobled the Pucelle her Father and her three Brothers and all their Descendants even by the Females changed the name of their Race which was of Arc into that of de-Luce or Lily and for their Coat of Arms gave them a Field Azure with a Sword placed in Pal the Cross and Pumel Or accosted with two Flowers-de-Luce and sustaining a Crown of the same upon its point Year of our Lord 1429 Upon his return they gave him up Laon Soissons Beauvais Compiegne Crespy and all the Cities even to Paris The Duke of Bedford came and presented him Battle in the Plain of Montepilloy the Armies were in sight but parted after some Skirmishes From thence he went to assault St. Denis and made an attempt upon Paris his Men were repulsed with loss and
the Pucelle wounded at the foot of the Wall She was willing to have returned to her own Village after she had executed the two points of her Mission but was overpersuaded by the Soldiery to stay with them which succeeded not so well for her Heaven being not obliged to assist her in what it had not commanded her to undertake That attempt failing the King takes his march towards Berry En passant he recovered Lagny upon the Marne Soon after he made his approach near Burgundy thinking to conclude an Agreement which was Negociating at Auxerre with the Duke but the business was not ripe But his good fortune was put to some kind of stand by the differences at Court which lasted almost a year concerning the Vicounty of Touars which the Lord de la Trimouille had usurped and held Lewis d'Amboise in Prison whose Cause the Constable had taken in hand as being of his Kindred La Trimouille had so prepossessed the Kings mind that he made him turn his Sword against his Constable and by this means gave the English time to breath The raising the Siege of Orleans had not much troubled the Duke of Burgundy if he had not found the Kings success go on with greater speed then he desired He was little less amazed at this suddain revolution then the Duke of Bedford He who had lately scorned his intercession in the Affair of Orleans began to seek and court him with submission and earnest application On the other hand the Kings Agents offer'd him an Accommodation and granted him a Pass-port to come to Paris upon some hopes they had that he would reduce them to the obedience of the King But when he had conferr'd with the Duke of Bedford he found it better to renew with the English who gave him a Blanc and together with that the Countries of Champagne and Brie only the Homage reserved Year of our Lord 1429 and 30. The Duke of Savoy and Lewis de Chalon Prince of Orange and Partisans of the Duke of Burgundy had promised to themselves to share the Country of Dauphine betwixt them Grenoble and the Mountains were to have been the Dukes and Viennois for the Prince Lewis de Gaucour Governor of that Country for the King soon spoiled the Market He gained a great Battle between Colombiez and Anton against the Prince slew and took eight hundred Gentlemen and afterwards seized upon all the places he held in those Countries It is related that in the rout the Prince chose rather to leap into the Rhosne on Horseback Armed and venture to swim over then fall into the Enemies hands Year of our Lord 1429 Towards the end of this year 1429. the City of Sens was reduced to the obedience of King Charles Melun recover'd themselves by shutting their Gates against the Garrison who had been making inroads in Gastinois The Kings kindness to such Cities as returned to him was a great bait for others to do the same Year of our Lord 1430 At his departure from Paris the Burgundian returned to the Low-Country where on the Tenth of January he Wedded in second Marriage Isabella Daughter of John I. King of Portugal Then was it that to grace the Solemnity at Bruges he instituted the most illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece composed only of thirty Compagnions or Knights nor did he quite fill up that number making then but twenty four The King of Spain as Heir to the House of Burgundy holds it an honour to be their Chief and maintains it in all its splendour not only by the great dignity of those on whom he bestows it but likewise by not making it cheap by too great a multitude Year of our Lord 1430 Amongst the many Sieges in every Province that of Compeigne was the most remarkable for the disgrace the Burgundians met with as being forced to raise it and much more yet by the Pucelles misfortune who was there taken Prisoner the Four and twentieth day of May upon their retreat after a Salley made the misfortune hapning to her by the imprudence or else the malice of William de Flavy Governor of the place who shut her out of the Barricado She fell into the hands of a Gentleman of Picardy who sold her to John de Luxemburgh one of the Generals he sold her again to the English for the Sum of Ten thousand Livers ready Money and five hundred Livers yearly pension Year of our Lord 1430 The wonders of this Shepherdess having succeeded so well at Orleans as we have mentioned Renaud de Chartres Chancellor of France the Mareschal de Boussiac and Poton de Saintrailles resolved to go to Rouen upon the faith of a simple Shepherd who told them that God had sent him to lead them into that place but the English having notice of it way-laid and fought them in their march defeated part of them and took Poton Prisoner Year of our Lord 1431 An Arragonian Captain named Francis de Surienne who was in the English Service surprized the City of Montargis after this manner Having made himself familiar with a Damsel who was in Love with the Governors Barber he promised her great Sums of Money and a Contract of Marriage if she would introduce his Men into the place thorough her House which was adjoyning to the Wall The Damsel gained the Barber with the temptation of Money without mention of the other part concerning her Marriage Both of them assisted the English in setting up their Ladders and getting in but the place being once taken they were turned out for fear they might play the same trick again by some bargain for the French and got nothing but scoffs and reproaches for reward Year of our Lord 1431 In exchange the French surprized the City of Chartres by the contrivance of a Fellow that carried Goods in a Wheele-barrow Whilst he pester'd the Draw-bridge with his load of Merchandize a hundred Men running out of a Cellar hard by where they had lain hid that night and upon a Signal by them given the Bastard of Orleans and Gaucour who were within a League hastned thither with three thousand Men. The Garrison without striking a blow sled to Evreux by another Gate Some Burghers made resistance by the example of their Bishop John de Fritigny a zealous Burgundian but he was slain with his Weapon in hand upon the steps of the great Church The Pucelle was a Prisoner of War and they could use her no otherwise without violating the common right of all People But the English too much enraged for their being beaten by a Maiden could not endure her glory who caused their shame They thought to repair their honour by branding her with infamy so that having obliged that remnant of an University which yet remained at Paris to make a Request to their King desiring Justice might pass upon her they carried her to Rouen and accused her in the Ecclesiastical Court for a Witch a Seducer an Heretick and one that had forfeited her
Burgundy and the Earldom of Nevers on the one part and Bourbonnois Beaujolois Lyonnois and Forez on the other Then it proceeded a little further at Nevers in the interview of Charles Duke of Bourbon and the Burgundian whose Sister Charles had Married These two Princes having accommodated those Affairs that were between them concerning the Homage for some Lands which the Duke of Bourbon refused to render him and for which they had made a rude War for some time began to fall into discourse of the Affairs of the whole Kingdom and agreed together that there should be a Conference held at Arras to find out the best means for procuring Peace between the two Crowns and between the King and the Burgundian Year of our Lord 1435 According to this Resolution there was held at Arras the greatest and the most noble Assembly that ever this Age had heard of All the Princes of Christendom had their Ambassadors there the Pope and the Council each their Legats The Harbingers took up Stabling for ten thousand Horse This was opened the Sixth day of the Month of August Year of our Lord 1435 The Duke was obliged in honour not to Treat without the English provided they would be satisfied with reasonable Conditions They were profer'd Normandy and Guyenne if they would do Homage for them but when he found they would relinquish nothing of their Pretensions he disengaged himself from them and made a separate Treaty the Popes Legat having absolved him of that saith he had given them The Popes did often practise this believing it a part of the power which our Lord Jesus Christ had given to bind and unbind Here is the Summary of the chiefest Articles The King by his Ambassadors disown'd that he had consented to the Murther of Duke John wickedly perpetrated and by wicked Counsel for which he was sorry with all his heart Promised he would do justice and cause such as were guilty to be prosecuted whom the Duke should name to him That if they could not be taken he would banish them from the Kingdom for ever and never admit them upon any Treaty He obliged himself to build for the Soul of the deceased Duke the Lord de Novailles and of all those that died since in that quarrel a Chappelat Montereau on the place where the Body of that Duke lay interred to set up a Cross on the Bridge to found a Monastery or Chartreuse where should be twelve Friers and a high Mass that should be sung every year in the Church at Dijon To pay fifty thousand Gold Crowns at 24 Carats c. for the Goods and Equipage taken when the Duke was Murther'd Moreover he relinquished and acquitted him of all Homage due for any Lands he held of the Crown and his Service and Personal Assistance during his life Gave him to perpetuity for him and his Heirs Males and Females the Countries of Mascon and Auxerre the Lordship of St. Jengon the Bailliwick of St. Laurence the Castlewick or Chastelleny of Bar upon the Seine and as security for four hundred thousand Crowns payable at two certain terms the Chastellenies of Peronne Roye and Montdidier and the Cities of the Somme that is St. Quentin Corbie Amiens Abeville and others As also the County of Pontieu on either side the Somme and the enjoyment of the County of Boulogne for him and the Heirs Male of his Body with all the Rights of Tailles Gabelles and Imposts all profits of Courts of Justice of the Regalia and all others arising from all those Countries That the Burgundians should not be obliged to quit the St. Andrews Cross even when they were in the Kings Army That in case of any contravention of the Subjects both of the one and other of these Princes should be absolved from their Oaths of Fidelity and should take up Arms against the Infringer That the King should tender his submissions for the compleating of this Treaty into the hands of the Legats from the Pope and the Council upon pain of Excommunication Reagravation Interdiction of his Lands and all other to which the Censures of the Church can extend That to the same purpose he should give the Seals of the Princes of his Blood the Grandees of the State the most noted Prelats and the greatest and chiefest Cities Year of our Lord 1435 And to make this Reconciliation the more firm and durable there was added the promise to bestow Catharine the Kings Daughter upon Charles Earl of Charolois the Dukes Son both as yet very young Four years after they sent this Princess to the Duke of Burgundy to compleat the Marriage Year of our Lord 1435 Besides this weighty blow which amazed the English much they received another which was the death of the Duke of Bedford Regent in France after whom they never had any but Men that were very violent hare-brain'd without either prudence or conduct The French in the mean time time took Diepe by Escalado and the kind usage they shewed to the Inhabitants brought them all the places of the Country of Caux Year of our Lord 1435 At the same time which was about the last day of September died the Queen Mother Isabella de Baviere in the Hostel de Saint Pol at Paris where she lived in a mean condition since the time of her Husbands death justly hated by the French and ingratefully despised by the English Some have written that to save the expences of her Funeral they conveyed her Corps in a small Boat to St. Denis attended only by four People Her death is attributed to an inward grief occasioned by the outrageous railleries of such as delighted to tell her face that King Charles was not the Son of her Husband Year of our Lord 1435 and 36 One of the greatest faults they committed after they had refused the offers made them at Arras was their not treating the Duke of Burgundy well their giving him reproachful language and not suffering him to be Neuter as he desired but to fall on his People wherever they met them endeavouring to surprize his places and harrasing him so perpetually that at length they constrained him to become their utter Enemy The Parisians comparing the pride and wretchedness of these Strangers with the courtesie and magnificence of their Natural Kings could no longer endure them or if any thing did yet with-hold them it was some remainders of that affection they preserved for the Duke of Burgundy But this knot being broken they now sought nothing but the opportunity to free themselves from their Bondage Year of our Lord 1436 The English having therefore been beaten at St. Denis by the Constable the honest Citizens of Paris took that opportunity to treat about their surrender to him Having obtained an Act of Oblivion and the confirmation of their Priviledges in such form as they desired they introduced him by the Gate called St. James This was on the Friday after Easter When he was entred the People fell upon the English
on all hands crying out a la queue Many had their Brains beaten out in the Streets the rest escaped to the Bastille where they made composition All the little Neighbouring Forts were an Accessory to this Reduction In the Month of August following the King recalled the Parliament the Chambre des Comptes and the University thither The English had declared themselves Enemies to the Duke of Burgundy by all Acts of Hostility upon his Countreys and by underhand-dealings to stir his Subjects up to Rebellion in those days very much knit to and concerned for England as well by Commerce and Trade as out of a real hatred they had towards the French He would therefore needs revenge himself by taking of Calais which he esteemed no great difficulty and laid Siege to it with a numerous Army In the midst of this Enterprize the Flemmings finding it spin out to a great length fell into an imagination that they were betray'd and herding together in several small parcels on a suddain made up all their packs in great confusion leaving their Provisions and Artillery behind for want of Waggons to carry them off All that their Duke could possibly do for them was to cover them with his Cavalry leâ—t the English should have charged them and after that to follow them The Duke of Gloucester who had sent word that he was coming to give him Battle not finding him there entred into Flanders where he increased their former jealousie by his burning all those places he came near Year of our Lord 1437 It was impossible for Rene of Anjou to obtain his liberty of the Duke of Burgundy without paying him an extraordinary Ransom yielding up several places and consenting to a Marriage between his eldest Daughter whose name was Yoland as then but nine years old and Ferry eldest Son of Anthony Earl of Vaudemont the means whereby Lorrain returned to the Males of that House Year of our Lord 1437 In the interim they carried the King into Lyonnois and Dauphine to make Moneys in those Countries and the following year he went even to Languedoc for the same end Upon his return he laid Siege to Montereau Faut-yonne which submitted not till after a long resistance From thence he came to make his entrance into his good City of Year of our Lord 1437 Paris the fourth of November and then he might truly call himself King of France having replanted his Throne in the capital City of his Kingdom Year of our Lord 1438 These long and tedious Wars did necessarily produce great licentiousness and daily Robberies The Soldiers not being paid lived at discretion and the extream scarcity of all things rendred them most inhumane There were divers Bands commanded even by the Kings best Officers who under colour of seeking for subsistence ran from Province to Province rifling all they could lay lands on Those called Escorcheurs and then the Redondeurs committed strange disorders By these ravages the flight of the Husbandmen and Peasants who neither ploughed nor sowed and the continual Rains during two years 1437 and 38. ensued a great Famine and then a horrible Mortality over all France especially at Paris and its Neighbourhood That City was so depopulated the Wolves came and devoured Children even in the midst of the Street St. Anthoine They were forced that they might rid themselves of those Beasts greedy of humane Flesh to make Proclamation that any one should have twenty Solz a piece for every head of a Wolfe they brought to the Magistrate Pope Eugenius and the Council of Basil were imbroiled to that height that Eugenius declared the Council dissolved and called another to Ferrara and on the other hand the Prelats that were at Basil having summon'd him divers times to come thither began to think of deposing him with the greater confidence for that the Most Christian King seemed then to favour them having forbid the Prelats of the Gallican Church from going to Ferrara Year of our Lord 1438 This Discord in the end turned to a Schism he that might have extinguisht it hapning to die I mean the Emperor Sigismond who ended his days in Moravia the Eighth of November 1437. Albertus Duke of Austria his Son in Law succeeded him in the Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia and the year following in the Empire by the suffrages of the Electors The Clergy of France ever since the translation of the Holy See to Avignon had suffered infinite oppressions by the Court of Rome And therefore the King having assembled them at Bourges to find out some way to reconcile the Pope to the Council who had each sent their Legats they embraced the opportunity which they could never have since the Council of Constance and made their remonstrances touching those insupportable abuses The King desiring to provide against it order'd them to apply the most convenient remedies To this end by advice of his Council they framed that so celebrated Reglement called the Pragmatique which preventing any the like Enterprizes of the Court of Rome might well be termed the Bulwark of the Gallican Church Year of our Lord 1439 Eugenius transferr'd his Council of Ferrara to Florence where they treated concerning the uniting the Greek to the Latine Church their Emperor John VI. assisting with a good number of his most illustrious Prelats But in the mean while those who were assembled at Basil though reduced to a small number and not well agreed amongst themselves deposed Eugenius and elected Ame VIII Duke of Savoy who had retired himself as was before related to the solitude of Ripaille France Germany and most part of the West paid their obedience to him during the life of Eugenius but after his death all of them almost turned to Nicholas V. Two years after Rene was delivered from captivity he went into his Kingdom of Naples where according to the example of his Predecessors his entrance was very happy but his exit very different Year of our Lord 1439 The Siege of Meaux by the Constable although long and full of difficulty succeeded happily for the French but that of Auranches in the Lower Normandy being ill managed by the same Person and the Duke of Alenson brought them nothing but shame the English having made them raise it and taken part of their Bagage and their Ammunition At the Sollicitation of the Dutchess of Burgundy and the Popes Legats a great Conference was held between Graueline and Calais the Deputies of France England and those of Burgundy meeting to treat about a Peace The English not receding from that Condition that Normandy and their other Conquests should be left to them in full Soveraignty they parted without doing any thing in it Year of our Lord 1440 The King by inclination was well enough disposed for the good of his Country and we observe that from this very time even to the Reign of Henry II. the Kings did often and willingly make use of this term The Publick Concerns of Our
Kingdom This year he held a great Assembly of Notables and Deputies of the Lords of the Estates at Orleans where it was resolved that a Peace should be endeavoured without which all designs for reformation would be useless and indeed impossible and that in the mean while the Souldiery should be all reduced into Companies established and well regulated every Gentdarm to three Horses who should be paid every Month. Before this they had seven or eight and a great number of Roguy-boys who devoured all the Country where-ever they passed Year of our Lord 1440 This reform could not be pleasing to the Grandees nor Captains who grew fat by eating up the People whose misery was their happiness They interrupted it by a dangerous Commotion which was named La Praguerie The Dukes of Alenson Bourbon Vendosme the Bastard of Orleans and divers others had a hand in it They complained that the King allowed no share in his Government but to three or four private Persons and thereupon entred into a League against his Ministers La Trimouille who was in disgrace joyned also with them that so he might by any means whatever be brought into play again at Court Year of our Lord 1440 The Conspiracy being made the Duke of Alenson hies to Niort to debauch the Dauphin who was his Godson aged but Sixteen years but Married already to Marguerit Daughter of James I. King of Scotland and turned away the Count de Perdriac his Governor and all those the King had placed about him The King ran immediately to quench this new lighted Fire after he had well provided his Frontiers against any attempts of the English he takes the Field accompanied with his Constable the Earls de la Marche and Dunois whom he had drawn off from that League with eight hundred Men at Arms and three thousand others He pursued the Leagued so smartly into Poitou and from Poitou into Bourbonnois taking all the places where they thought to stand at Bay and make Head that they were forced to give up his Son to him and come and beg his pardon on their knees Year of our Lord 1440 A marvellous change Charles Duke of Orleans who was detained Prisoner in England for five and twenty years was delivered from captivity by that hand from which he had the least hopes in the world to expect it It was by Philip Duke of Burgundy who desiring to put a final end to the mortal quarrel between his Family and that of Orleans by a principle of goodness as generous as it was politique contrived the deliverance of this Prince and helped him to pay his Ransom which was three hundred thousand Crowns These two Princes by a sincere and cordial Reconciliation quenched the mortal Enmities their Fathers had begot Philip received Charles with great honour in his Year of our Lord 1440 City of Graveline the Twentieth of November gave him his Order of the Fleece and accepted the Order of the Porcupine from him Moreover Charles Married his Niece Daughter of his Sister and of Adolph first Duke of Cleves In fine each strove to shew the other all the marks and tokens of the most sincere and perfect amity Amongst the Mareschals of France there was one Giles Lord de Raiz of an illustrious House and very valiant but a great squanderer of Wealth whose mind was so depraved that he addicted himself to all sorts of Vice and Sins both against God and Nature entertaining Sorcerers and Enchanters to find out Treasures and corrupting young Boys and Girls whom he afterwards Murther'd that he might have their Blood to compound his Charm and Spells This being a publick Scandal he was put into the hands of Justice the Bishop of Nantes made his Process the Seneschal of Renes Judge-General of that Country assistant the Cause being of a mixt nature He was condemned to be burnt alive in the Field of Nantes The Duke was present at his Execution but mitigating the Sentence he permitted them first to strangle him and then to bury his Body not much consumed by the Flames I think I do remember in his Process that there was some Crime of State against the Duke who was glad he had this occasion to revenge that offence in punishing those hainous offences against Almighty God Year of our Lord 1441 The King had laid Siege before Pontoise which charge the Parisians were to defray The City having been re-victualled three or four times by Talbot the honour of the English Commanders his heart seemed to fail and he withdrew to Poissy but observing this retreat despicable he courageously returns commanded a general assault and by his presence so animated his People that he carried it by main strength That done he went to clear all the Country of Poitou and Angoulmois of those Robbers that infested them and to effect this he turned all the pilfering Captains out of their places and put honest Men in their steads Returning thence he came to keep his Court at Limoges during the Feast of Pentecost where he received the Duke of Orleans and his Wife and gave him 160000 Franc's towards the payment of his Ransom and six thousand Livers Pension From thence he went to Gascongne saved Tartas which had Capitulated to surrender to the English if they were not relieved by a prefix'd day He presented himself Year of our Lord 1442 before the place on the Eve of St. John's day with so considerable an Army that the Enemy durst not appear St. Sever was forced Dacqs compounded so did Marmande and la Reole But so soon as the King had but turned his back the English by correspondence regained Dacqs and St. Sever. The King spent the Winter at Montauban Year of our Lord 1442 which was so sharp that all the Rivers in that Country were frozen up and kept the Soldiers in their quarters not able to stir abroad Year of our Lord 1442 Whilst he was there he secured himself of the succession to the Earldom of Cominges Matthew de Foix had for his fourth Wife Married Jean who was the Countess of it As she was very aged and had no Children by him he kept her Prisoner in a Castle to compel her to make a donation of all she had to him The King having received the good old Womans complaint fails not to take this advantage for himself and at the same price delivers her and brings her into his Court. Year of our Lord 1443 Dying shortly after in Poitiers the Earl of Armagnac who had at his second Marriage wedded a Daughter of hers by another Husband seized upon her Lands He did not hold them long the Dauphin Lewis going into that Country ensnared him with fair words and clapt him in Prison as also his Wife and his Children The Earl of Foix by his intercession got him out again but not without much trouble and a surrender of all the Lands he had usurped Year of our Lord 1443 The Eight and twentieth of the Month of August John V.
all Normandy regained by the French or to speak more properly helped to recover it self in one year and six days The King desiring the remembrance should be preserved and that eternal thanks should be rendred to God ordained general Processions should be made in the Month of September of the same year and annually hereafter upon same day that Cherbourgh surrendred Year of our Lord 1450 After the King had given Order for all the Affairs of this great Province leaving only six hundred Lances and their Archers he turned towards Guyenne and this same year open'd the passage over the Dordogne by the taking of Bergerac which was besieged and mastered by John Earl of Pontieure and Vicount of Limoges He was one of the four Sons of Marguerite de Clisson who was restored to the Estate belonging to his Family by Duke Francis pursuant to the Treaty made at Nantes in Anno 1448. As the loss of the Battle at Fourmigny made the English lose all Normandy the defeat of the Bourdelois made them lose all the rest of Guyenne Amanjeu d'Albret Lord d'Orval going to scowre about the Neighbourhood of Bourdeaux with seven hundred Horse only there came forth ten or twelve thousand Horse and Foot English and Bourdelois who ran confusedly upon him as to a certain Victory D'Orval knowing whom he had to deal with charges them briskly puts them to the rout strewed the ways and Fields with a thousand of those giddy-brain'd Fellows and carried away a great many more to Basas Year of our Lord 1452 The following Summer the King who was still at Tours having drawn together a great many Men resolved to compleat the Conquest of Guyenne much crest-faln at that shock The Count de Dunois is Lieutenant General the Count de Pontieure Foix and Armagnac attaqu'd it at the four corners the English were beaten and gave ground every where so that having no more then Fronsac Bourdeaux and Bayonne the Count de Dunois having besieged Fronsac they capitulated to surrender those three places if upon St. John Baptists-day there appeared not in the Field and near Fronsac an Army able to give them Battle Which not having been able to do they executed the Agreement excepting only as to Bayonne whom they abused with the flattering hopes that the King of England was preparing to come and relieve it Personally The French Generals made their triumphant entry into Bourdeanx the Nineteenth day of June Year of our Lord 1451 In vain did the English struggle obstinately to keep Bayonne after some assaults the apprehension of being taken by Storm obliged them also to capitulate on Friday the Twentieth of August The Governor John de Beaumont with all the Garrison were made Prisoners of War and it cost the Inhabitants forty thousand Crowns of Gold to be spared The favour of Heaven was so benign towards the French or the Peoples fancies so strong that upon that same Friday they beheld a white Cross in the Air over Bayonne which seemed to instruct them that God would have them to forsake the red Cross of England and take up that of France This place being reduced the English had nothing left them in all France but only Calais and the County of Guisnes If we search into the causes of this so suddain and wonderful a revolution we shall find it was the neglect of the English in not well providing and strengthning their places their wont of good Commanders the hatred the People had for their scornful and imperious way of Government On the other hand the union and hearty zeal of the Nobles and all the French Militia the good order and discipline in their Armies the huge stores and provision of Canons and all sorts of Warlike Engines Pioneers and Ammunitions and the new method of approaching and attaquing of Towns by Works and Trenches but above all the Civil War that Richard Duke of York had kindled amongst the English Year of our Lord 1451 and 52. That Duke knew how to make such use of the disgust that Nation had taken against the Government of Queen Marguerite who was a French-woman as to raise himself amidst their discontents up to the Throne which he pretended was due to him rather then to Henry For he descended but only by the Female side from Lionel of Clarence who was second Son of King Edward III. and Henry came but from the third Son who was John Duke of Lancaster his Paternal Great Grandfather Year of our Lord 1452 These Divisions were calmed for a while upon the intreaties of the Lord de L'Esparre deputed from the City of Bourdeaux and the Lords of the Country of Bourdelois who taking distaste at some new Impost that was laid upon them offer'd to restore that Country to the English Talbot the bravest of that Nation and the most zealous for its honour being therefore landed in Medoc with four thousand Men was brought into Bourdeaux by the Citizens the Twenty fourth day of October and about the latter end of the year having received a like reinforcement from England he made himself Master of Castillon Cadillac Libourne Fronsac and some other small places besides The Bourdelois had taken their opportunity when the King was just going to engage in a great War against the Duke of Savoy who apparently must have been upheld by the Dauphin and by conseqence had correspondence in the very heart of the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1452 The Kings quarrel to that Duke was because he had agreed the Marriage of his Daughter Charlotte and the Dauphin without his consent This was the true motive of the War but that he might have some apparent cause he had taken into his protection certain Lords belonging to the Estates of Savoy who having joyned in a League against their Princes chief Minister named John de Compeis were for ever banished by a Sentence given at Pont de Beauvoisis The King advanced even to Fores to restore them but being informed the English were landed at Bourdeaux the Duke being come to wait upon him at Feurs he suffer'd himself to be overcome by his most humble submissions and agreed to a Peace Year of our Lord 1453 The following year he marched to Lusignan in Poitou thence to St. Jean d'Angely for the recovery of Bourdelois His Army besieged Castillon Talbot coming to its relief with six thousand Men was beaten and slain together with his Son His defeat caused the surrender of the City the utter ruine of the English Party and after that the regaining of Bourdeaux For they perceiving Fronsac Libourne Langon Cadillac and all the other Towns about them were reduced the King quartered at Lermont all Relief and even all Provisions failing them surrendred upon composition which the King would never have granted them if a great mortality had not swept away his Men. However the better to curb and keep this City which the interest of Traffick and reciprocal Marriages inclined to be for the English he banished forty
Lords and Citizens who were most to be suspected and bridled them with two strong Castles which he order'd to be built there Year of our Lord 1452 The University being one of the greatest Bodies and one of the most necessary to all Christendom the Cardinal d'Estouteville the Popes Legat making use of his faculty but by the Kings express Order employ'd himself in purging it of some abuses that had much disfigur'd them and made many good Reglements which are yet kept in their Archives Year of our Lord 1452 53 54 55 56 and 57. Never since the Slege of Calais had the Duke of Burgundy much concern'd himself in the War against the English but yet he was not free from crosses in his own Countries Those of Bruges being up in Arms Anno 1437. let him into their City as if they had intended to give him satisfaction then fell upon his Men killing above an hundred of them amongst the rest the Lord de L'Isle-Adam Himself ran a great hazard and escaped with much difficulty by breaking open one of the City Gates with Hammers After this fury they betook themselves to rove all about the Country Their rage began to cool when they found the rest of the Towns did not approve of their rash actions and that the Duke was coming to besiege them with a vast Army They craved his pardon which they obtained not but upon rude Conditions It cost them two hundred thousand Gold Crowns the loss of many of their Priviledges and the Lives of a dozen or fifteen of the most Factions The Ghentois gave him much more trouble by their frequent disturbances The most dangerous was that in Anno 1452. a Gabel or Impost was the cause of it He would needs settle it in Flanders and make it certain and fixt imposing 24 Gross Money of that Country upon every Sack of Salt They resolved to run all the hazards and extremities imaginable rather then suffer an Impost upon Water and the Sun which are free and universal Gifts bestow'd by Nature They relied upon the protection of the King and indeed he wrote earnestly and in high terms in their behalf to the Duke of Burgundy but having received an answer in terms that were yet higher he thought it not prudence to embarque himself in a Civil War being as yet not come to an end of the War against the English his Foreign Enemy The losses which the Ghentois met with in five or six great Fights did but heat their savage hearts the more but the Battle of Ripelmond and afterwards that of Gavre where they lost twenty thousand Men brought them so low they were forced to come to composition Two thousand Men bare Head and bare Foot with all their Counsellors Sheriffs and Officers only in their Shirts went out a League to meet the Duke and his Son to implore their Mercy The Gate through which they marched out to fight him at Riplemond was stopt up for ever They were condemned to pay four hundred thousand Ridders of Gold to bring their Banners that he might dispose of them as he pleased and to suffer a change of their Usages and Priviledges Year of our Lord 1453 Upon a Tuesday the Nine and twentieth of May Constantinople the Trunk of the Grecian Empire from which the Turks had lopp'd off all the Branches was taken perforce by Mahomet II. not more then three and twenty years of age Constantine her last Emperor perished there crowded to death by the multitude at one of the Gates of the City Such was The End of the Eastern Empire the which to reckon from the dedication of Constantinople upon the Nineteenth of May in the year Three hundred and thirty had lasted Eleven hundred twenty three years We shall henceforwards place the Turkish Sultans in the room of those Emperors Year of our Lord 1454 and 55. The Count d'Armagnac was not grown the wiser by his first chastisement he would play Rex hindring him that had provisionally the Archbishoprick of Ausch from taking possession and obstinately persever'd to keep his own Sister for his Wife maugre the Censures of the Church The King being therefore moved at the importunity of the Pope to wipe off this scandal from the Kingdom sent some Forces thither with five or six of his chief Commanders some whereof seized on the Country of Rovergne others on the Valley d'Aure and another Party on the County of Armagnac The City of Leytoure environed with a triple Wall and its Castle situate upon a steep Rock did not hold out long so that the Count sled out of the Country and retired safely to some Lands he had upon the Frontiers of Arragon Year of our Lord 1455 It concerned the honour both of the Kingdom and the King of France to justifie the memory of the Pucelle The King therefore ordered her Parents to Petition the Holy See to appoint some Judges that might review the Process Upon their request Calistus III. ordered Commissioners who were the Archbishop of Reims and the Bishops of Paris and Coutances who being met at Rouen looked into and examined the Proceedings heard divers Witnesses and thereupon fully justified that Heroick Virgin caused the former Process to be torn and burnt by which they had condemned her Their Sentence was proclaimed in Rouen at St. Ouins Churchyard and the old Market and likewise in many other Cities of the Kingdom There was no need of taking any course against her false Judges the greater part of them being perish'd either by suddain or such a shameful death as seemed to shew the hand of God upon them Year of our Lord 1455 During these years began those divisions which did not a little contribut to the losing of Navarre Blanch the Heiress of that Kingdom had a Son named Charles by John King of Arragon her Husband This Princess dying in Anno 1441. John took in second Wedlock Isabella of Portugal and retained the enjoyment of Navarre which in effect belonged to Charles as then about One and thirty years of age This dispute Armed the Son against the Father the Kingdom was divided The House of Gramont which was considerable took part with the Father that of Beaumont which was not inferior joyned with the Son The Mother in Law who could have wished the Son out of the World blew the coals and exasperated the Fathers anger From thence grew irreconcilable Enmity and cruel Wars Prince Charles having given Battle to his Father lost it and was taken Prisoner A while after he was set at liberty upon an Accomodation Year of our Lord 1456 The Dauphins ill Conduct and those insupportable Exactions he laid upon Dauphine particularly the Clergy did so irritate the King his Father that he commanded Anthony de Chabanes Earl of Dammartin to go and Arrest him Dammartin having been cruelly offended as we have related would have executed this Order severely had not the Dauphin been informed and made his escape in post-haste into the Principality of
Orange and from thence into the Franche-Comte from whence he was conducted into Brabant The Duke of Burgundy received him as the Son of his Soveraign and assigned him twelve thousand Crowns for his use and the Castle of Gueneppe within four Leagues of Bruxels for his oridinary Residence Year of our Lord 1457 Whatever noble Reception and Entertainment he met with in that Country he had not been long there before he sowed division between the Father and the Son having gained the Lords of the House de Crouy who governed the Father and countenancing and abetting them against the Son who could not endure them The first year of his sojourning there they brought Charlotte of Savoy to him to Consummate his Marriage by whom a Son was born about three years afterwards who died Year of our Lord 1456 The Kings wrath discharged it self upon John Duke of Alenson the Dauphins God-father This Prince returning from Dauphine where he had been to brew some Intrigue with his God-son and having contrived I know not what League with the English to make some disturbance in favour of them was seized and imprisoned in the Castle de Loâ—hes Year of our Lord 1457 In the year 1457. as it is usual after a long War to squeeze the Finances of what they have sucked in during the publick Calamities the King called those to account who had managed the Treasury One John Xancoins Receiver General convicted of misdemeanour and of having detained sixty thousand Crowns was banish'd for ever his Goods consiscate and the fair Houses he had built bestowed upon the Count de Dunois Year of our Lord 1458 Two years after the imprisonment of the Duke of Alenson for it required all that time to find out proofs the King convened his parliament and his Pairs at Montargis to make his Process They laboured three Months in it he being at Baugency The business not going on with that expedition as he desired he removes the Assembly to Vendosme where he intended to be present At last by a Sentence of the Tenth of October they condemned the Duke to lose his Head and confiscated all his Estate The King gave him a pardon for his life but took the best of his Lands and sent him back Prisoner to Loches Year of our Lord 1458 The Twenty sixth of December of the same year was the last of brave Arthur's days Earl of Richmond Constable of France who had likewise been Duke of Bretagne a year and an half by the death of Peter the Simple second Son of his eldest Brother He had no child and so the Duthy went to Francis his Nephew Son of Richard Earl of Estampes his younger Brother Charles of Anjou Earl of Mayne had the Office of Constable The same year the Twenty seventh of June Alphonso King of Arragon and Sicilia pass'd into the other World At his death he left the Kingdom of Naples then called Sicilia on this side the Fare to Ferdinand his Natural Son Rene of Anjou finding this a fair opportunity to pursue his right against him before he could be well setled sent John Duke of Calabria his Son into those Countries This Prince guided by the destiny of his Predecessors had very prosperous beginnings and an unfortunate end Year of our Lord 1459 Since the taking of Constantinople the Duke of Burgundy had for two or three times made shew as if he would employ his Forces and Person against the Insidels We may fee in Oliver de la Marche the Vows which he and the Lords in the Assembly of Bruges made on the Peacock at a stately Banquet all this vanish'd into Air together with the Wine and Mirth of the Feast Year of our Lord 1459 As little did Pope Pius II. this was Aeneas Sylvius succeed in his Project which was to unite and engage all Christendom against the Turks In order to which he had convened a General Assembly at Mantoua where appeared Ambassadors from all Soveraign Princes and the War was resolved upon with great designs but without any effect The French Ambassadors returned but ill satisfied the Pope not condescending to favour Rene in his pretence to the Kingdom of Naples but threatning to Excommunicate the King upon the score of the Pragmatick whereupon John Dauvet Attorney General of the Parliament made Protestations and appealed to the future Council Year of our Lord 1458 and 59. The Duke of Tork had for the second time vanquish'd and taken King Henry Prisoner afterwards Queen Margaret with the aid of the Scots slew that Duke in Battle and deliver'd her Husband but Edward Son of that Duke having brought other Forces tried fortune once more and defeated the Queens Army under the Walls of York Then Henry being fled into Scotland and Queen Margaret into France he was Crowned King in the year 1461. This was the first Act of the Tragedy between the Houses of York and Lancaster that of York wore the White Rose and Lancaster the Red. Year of our Lord 1460 and 61 It was now thirteen years that the Dauphin had been absent from the Court his Father sent often for him which he cared not to obey he often called upon the Duke of Burgundy to send him back telling him he nursed and hugged a Serpent which when well warmed in his Bosom would one day make him feel his mortal Sting He sometimes proceeded even to threaten the Duke and stirred up divers of his own People against him who finding himself so harrass'd sent at last a smart Message desiring him to consider whether he would maintain the Peace of Arras or not For this time therefore the King left him quiet but two years after his Counsel or his own Resentment pressing him he was about to go and fetch him with an Army However he changed his mind again and thought it were better punish him by advancing Charles his second Son to the birth-rights of eldership according to the power the Kings of the first and second Race had had Which no doubt he would have put in execution had not the Pope strongly dissuaded him or perhaps if he could have had time enough to dispose the minds of the French Nation to admit of such a change Year of our Lord 1461 While he was at Meun on the Yeurre in Berry he had notice that his Domesticks had plotted to take away his life The poor Prince after that thought he saw nothing but poyniards and poyson His apprehensions were so great that not knowing from what hands he might take his food without danger he refrained from eating some days after which it was not in his power when he would have done it to swallow any thing So that he died of hunger the Two and twentieth of July about the midst of his Sixtieth year and near the end of the Nine and thirtieth of his Reign Never Prince had greater Traverses or more potent Enemies nor overcame them more gloriously After he had driven those out of France that
attempted at his Crown he sound a more dangerous Enemy in his House that attempted on his Life He might have been called Happy had he had another Father and another Son He was affable debonnaire liberal just He tenderly loved his People and spared them as much as it was possible rewarded those that served him very largely took particular care of the Justice and Policy of his Kingdom laboured greatly for the reformation of the Church and was so religious he would not charge it with any Tenths But being of somewhat too soft a temper he was governed and led away by his Favourites and Mistresses too much and in his latter days became apprehensive jealous and suspicious to the extreamest degree He had three Bastards by his Mistresses and eleven Legitimate Children by his Wife Mary Daughter of Lewis II. Duke of Anjou four Sons and seven Daughters Of his Sons two only survived him which were Lewis and Charles As for Daughters Radegonde died betroathed to Sigismond eldest Son of Frederic V. Arch-Duke of Austria Yoland was Wife of Ame VIII Duke of Savoy Catharine of Charles Duke of Burgundy Jean or Joan of John II. Duke of Bourbon and Magdelain of Gaston Prince of Viana and Earl of Foix another Jeane and Mary Twin-Sisters did not outlive the age of Infancy LEWIS XI King LIV. Aged XXXVIII Years POPES PIUS II. 3 years under this Reign PAUL II. Elected the 29th of August 1464. S. 7. years wanting one Month. SIXTUS IV. Elected the 9th of August 1471. S. 13 years whereof 12 under this Reign Year of our Lord 1461 THe conduct which the Prince had made appear in all his actions particularly towards his Father and towards his People of Daulphine made it plainly enough known what his Friends and Subjects were to expect from him He ever Governed without Counsel most commonly without Justice and without Reason He thought it the finest Policy to go out of the great and beaten Road of his Predecessors to change every thing were it from better to worse that he might be feared His judgment which was very clear but too subtil and refined was the greatest enemy to his own and his Kingdoms quiet having as it seems taken pleasure in putting things into disorder and throwing the most obedient into Rebellion He rather loved to follow the bent of his own irregular fancies then the wise Laws of the Land and made his Grandeur consist in the oppression of his People in the pulling down of the great ones and the raising up of others from the very dust and nothing This is what another calls putting their Kings hors de page i.e. out of their Minority he should have said putting them out of their Sence and their Reason The Creatures of the late King formed a Party in favour of Charles his second Son they named him the young Lord which perhaps tended to exclude the Eldest He therefore stood in need of diligence and power to prevent it The information given him by the Count du Mayne not so much out of affection as of hatred to the Count de Dammartin who had been his Rival in the favour of Charles caused him to mount on Horse-back the soonest he could And the Duke of Burgundy and his Son accompany'd him with four thousand Horse chosen out of ten Thousand He went directly to Reims where he was Crowned the 15 th of August by John Juvenal of the Vrsins Before he received the Sacred Unction he would be made a Knight by the Duke then distributed that honour to 117. Lords At the end of the Feast the Duke kneeling down beseeched him to forget the injuries which had been done to him upon occsion of the discontents that had been betwixt his Father and himself He granted him that request but he excepted against seven and under pretence of that number pardoned not any one He made his entrance into Paris the last day of August followed by thirteen or fourteen thousand Horse The feastings being ended the Duke returned into Flanders the Count went on Pilgrimage to St. Claude's in the Franche-Comte and the King to Amboise to see his Mother She died in a short time after to the great regret of the wisest who could have wished that the respect he had for her might for a longer time have been as a Bridle to the voilence of her Son He was much delighted at Plessis les Tours the Count found him there at his return to whom he gave the Government of Normandy and 12000 Crowns by Establishment But it was only a Paper-security and seeming marks of Friendship which were accepted for no other then they were given These two Princes resembled each other too little and knew one another too well to love on either side and indeed from that time the Count treated secretly with Romille Vice-Chancellor of Brittany and gave him his Commission Sealed Year of our Lord 1461. and 62. As soon as Lewis was entred into his Kingdom he Governed himself as in a conquered Country He destituted all the Officers of the Royal Family of War of Judicature and of the Treasury treated all the Creatures belonging to the King his Father very ill took delight in destroying all he had set up gave nothing but Berry to his Brother for his whole Apenage or Portion set the Duke of Alenson at liberty and put the Count de Dammartin into the Bastile restored the Count of Armagnac to his Lands loaded the people with Taxes strip'd the great ones and offended all the Clergy Year of our Lord 1461 Never had any private person laboured more to reduce the power of the Pope within the terms of the Canons then Aeneas Sylvins and never Pope did struggle more to enlarge it bounds of right and reason then the same when he was Pius II. The Pragmatique was a Curb very troublesome to his undertakings He made so many applications to the King that he allowed of a Declaration in November 1641. to abolish it The Court of Rome transported with an insolent joy did immediately cause that Constitution to be dragged along the Streets But it was not yet time for the oppositions of the University hindred the effect of the Declaration and the King never troubled himself to have it put in Execution because the Pope had failed of his word in many things John Gefrey Bishop of Arras had the Cardinals Cap as a recompence for having negociated this affair with the King Year of our Lord 1462 In the mean time the Pope maintained the Bastard Ferdinand in the Kingdom of Naples so that John de Calbria the Son of Rene of Anjou after various revolutions was utterly driven thence The Kings intreaties could obtain nothing from the Holy Father in favour of those Princes of his own Blood But Pius thinking to slatter him confirmed the Title of Most Christian to him which had been already derived to him with more honour from his Ancestors and exhorted him to a Croysade against the Turks presenting him
with a Sword on the Blade whereof were some Latin Verses engraved which invited him to that expedition Year of our Lord 1462 There was a rude War between Henry King of Castille and John King of Arragon This last had by a Treaty of accommodation given Catalogna to Charles Prince of Viana Son of his first Bed and therefore his principal Heir His Mother in Law harrass'd him so much that he once more fell out with his Father and took up Arms. He was again defeated and taken Prisoner The Catalonians making an insurrection in his favour forced his Father to set him at Liberty but the same day of his deliverance he Died of a Morsel which his Mother in Law had caused her own Physician to give him After his Death the Catalonians being revolted against John and having degraded him as the Murtherer of his Son Charles The King of Castille assisted them It was not the zeal of justice that led him to it but the desire of Siezing those places in Navarre which were for his purpose Mean while John that he mught have Men and Money in this pressing necessity had engaged the Counties of Roussillon and of Cerdagne to the King of France for 300000 Crowns Gaston de Foix Brother in Law to the Castillian and Son in Law to the Arragonian brought these two Princes to refer their differences to the judgement of the King who then was at Bourdeaux to treat of the Marriage of Magdelin his Sister with Gaston de Foix Count of Viana When he had heard the reasons of either party from the mouths of their Ambassadors he pronounced his Sentence of Arbitration but it satisfied neither the one nor the other any more then his enterview with Henry King of Castille satisfied either the French or Spaniards These scoffed at the Niggardlyness and mean and simple countenance of King Lewis who was cloathed only in coarse Cloth had a short and straight Garment on and wore a Madona of Lead in his Cap The others had an indignation at the Castillian Arrogance and the Pride of the Count de Lodesme Favourite of Henry But it is true that their King condescending as he ought to the Majesty of France passed over not only the River Bidasso which seperates the two Kingdoms to come to the King but likewise advanced two Leagues within his Dominions and came even to the Castle of Vterbia where they conferred together At his return from this Voyage Lewis found that the Lords de Crouy Father and Son had so well managed the mind of Philip Duke of Burgundy with whom they could do any thing that he consented to render up to him the Cities of the Somme for the 400000 Crowns The business was of importance and indeed for fear the Duke should find out some excuses to retract his word he caused the money to be immediately sent to Hesdin and went thither himself The surrender being executed he would shew himself in the Low-Countries where his Soveraignty was but little acknowledged He visited Arras was received at Tournay and went as far as l'Isle where the Duke came and saluted him The City of Tournay which had never owned any other Dominion but that of France sent three Thousand Citizens forth to meet him each of them having a Flower-de-Luce embroidred with Gold just upon his Heart Lewis Duke of Savoy waited for him at St. Cloud to make complaints of the disobedience of Philip his young Son who more sprightly then Amedea his elder Brother had gained the affections of the Nobility and was making his way to invade the Crown The King commanded Philip to come to him he immediately did so upon the Faith of a safe conduct which hindred not his being Arrested and then his sending him Prisoner to Loches He was detained two years to give his Father time to settle his affairs and authority and establish his eldest Son in the Succession The hatred betwixt the King and the Charolois was augmented more and more There are five or six principal causes taken notice of The surrender of the places in the Somme the kind reception the King made the Lords of Croüy whom the Charolois had driven from his Fathers Court and Country for that reason moreover the Kings endeavours to lay a Tax or Gabelle upon Burgundy contrary to the Articles of the Traty of Arras and the favour he manifested to the Count d'Estampes who was accused to have intended to poyson the Duke and his Son Year of our Lord 1463 At the same time the Chancellor de Morvilliers a Man vehement and bold went on the Kings behalf to forbid the Duke of Bretagne to Style himself any more Duke by the Grace of God to Coyn any money or to raise any Taxes in his Dutchy The Duke taken unprovided acted cooly and promised all but demanded time to Assemble the Estates of his Country and in the mean while he diligently negociated with the Burgundian by Romille and with all the Grandees of the Kingdom whom he knew to be highly discontented The Habits of Fryers Mendicatns especially of the Cordeliers served to make the Messengers of these intrigues pass securely up and down The Charolois had chosen Gorcum in Holland for his ordinary residence the Bastard de Rubempre slunk privately into that Port with a small Vessel being disguised like a Merchant to Sieze and carry away alive or dead this Romille the Engine of all these designs or perhaps the Count de Charolois himself However it were the Count having discover'd it caused him to be imprisoned and gave notice thereof to the Duke his Father who was going to Hesdin to Confer with the King Upon this intelligence the Duke retires in hast his People gave out that there had been a design to Sieze upon the Father and the Son both at the same time the Preachers entertained their Auditors with it and Oliver de la Marche Made mention of it in Terms which hugely offend the Kings Honour To justify himself against these reproaches the King sent Morvilliers his Chancellor and some Lords to make great complaints to the Duke and demand reparation The Chancellor did it in such high words and Soveraign expressions that he seemed to design rather to exasperate then to compose differences And indeed the Cound de Charolois said to one of the Ambassadors at their departure that before one year were past he would make the King repent it The King thought he had time to subdue the Breton before Philip whom Age render'd unwieldy could Dream of stirring He therefore called the Grandees of the State together at Tours to make them know what reasons he had to undertake it Charles Duke of Orleance first Prince of the Blood whould needs speak there of the disorders of the Kingdom as his Age his Reputation and his Rank obliged him to do but his Remonstrances grated the Ears of the King and were received with anger and contempt In so much as he died for grief within two
for that purpose He could not consent to the dismembring that fair Province but in the mean time having information that the Duke of Bourbon who made War in that Country having been by some intelligence introduced into the Castle of Rouen had made himself Master of that City and that all the Province inclined to the same resolution allured with the desire of having a Duke as Bretagne had who found themselves very well under him he was induced to grant them what they held already Year of our Lord 1465 The Treaty was concluded the 29 th of October The Count de Charolois had the Cities of the Somme redeemable only after his Decease for two hundred thousand Crowns and moreover the Counties of Guisnes of Boulogne and of Pontieu The Count de St. Pol who Governed him had the Constables Sword To the Count of Armagnac and to all the rest they restored their Lands and those Offices they were dispossessed of and withal they gave them Pensions and employments but in such a manner as sowed the Seeds of discord amongst them The Duke of Bretagne made them pay the charges of his Army and his Journey The Publick which served for a Stalking-Horse to this War and who had born all the expences gained no advantage save only that it was promised That there should be named Six and Thirty Notables or prime Men twelve of the Nobility twelve of the Clergy and twelve of the long Robe to consult of Methods to ease the People and redress the disorders of the State Year of our Lord 1465 The next day the King and the Confederate Princes met at the Castle de Vincennes which he had put into the hands of the Count and there Monsieur rendred Hommage for his Dukedom of Normandy Two days after the Count took his journey towards Flanders the King conducting him as far as Villers le Bel and at the same time the Duke of Bretagne went with Monsieur into Normandy to see him take the possession of it The good success of Francis Sforza's Counsel did soon appear the King gained the most valiant of their Commanders to be for him put some of them into jealousies and divisions sought occasions to strip others and in time lighted on fit opportunities which entangled them in great troubles and perplexities The Count de Charolois was gotten into one that was bad enough to wit a War with those of Liege he needed but to encourage them by blowing up the Flame and assisting those inveterate people in their furious hatred Year of our Lord 1465 Their Bishop was Brother to the Duke of Bourbon Nephew by his Mother to Duke Philip of Burgundy they had expelled him the Country because he did not live like a Prelate and the Burgundian had undertaken to restore him Those of Leige and those of Dinant sent to declare a War against the Charolois when he was on his March towards Paris For that time the Duke his Father with the assistance of the Dukes of Cleves and Guelders compelled them in a few days to buy a Peace But a while after upon the flying report that the Count was kill'd at Montlehery they reassumed their Arms with more fury relying upon the promise the King had made to give them assistance and that he would make no Peace without them Those of Diant a City Famous and enriched by their works in Copper burst out into a Thousand outrages against the Charolois even to the calling him Bastard and hanging him in Effigie Year of our Lord 1466 Their chastisement followed their outragious Insolence very close The Duke laid Siege to the Town his Son commanded the Army The place was taken by Storm and burnt eight Hundred of the Inhabitants drowned in the Meuse and the rest abandoned to extream misery The Liegois who came to their relief terrified with the smoak of this Fire desired a Truce for a year till the month of January the year following and gave up three hundred Hostages Year of our Lord 1465 The Duke of Bretagne would monopolize Monsieur to himself alone and enjoy all the favours he could confer in Normandy John Duke of Calabria and the old Servants of Charles the VII had their pretences too divisions grew amongst them one may guess whether Engines were then wanting to blow up the Sparks They made John Duke of Calabria believe that the Breton had plotted to convey away Monsieur into Bretagne Duke John gives notice hereof to the Normands the noise is spread all over the City the Foolish people take it for a truth run to the Mount St. Catharine where Monsieur was waiting till they had made all ready for his reception sets him upon a Horse and forces him to make his entrance Tumultously without Ceremony The Breton durst not appear and was constrained for his own safety and to avoid that fury to retire into the lower Normandy whose Cities were in his hands Year of our Lord 1465 Soon as the King knew this he took opportunity by the foretop He marched directly to him frighted him brought him to a Conference at Caen where the Duke consented that those places which he held should be put as in Sequestration into the hands of Oder Daydic-lescun since Count of Cominges Whilst the King was in this Country the same Duke of Bourbon who had put Normandy into the power of Monsieur laboured to get him out again and put it into the Kings possession In all his life the Duke of Burgundy felt not a more sensible displeasure then to find that Prince whom he had loved above all the Men in the World turn his back upon him so soon and ruine his own designs Year of our Lord 1466 Louviers and the Pont de Larche being surrendred to the King those of Rouen demanded composition the 10 th of January and their miserable Duke denuded of Friends Money Heart and Counsel escaped in pittiful equipage and thought himself happy in finding a shelter at the Bretons Thus Normandy kept her Duke but two Months The King could not pardon the passion they had shewn to have one It cost the lives of a great number of the most considerable in that Country The War with the Liegois detained Count de Charolois so that he could not prevent this revolution and old Age hindred Duke Philip his Father from stirring in it so early as he would have desired He held only a Correspondence with the Breton and strove to Animate King Edward whose Daughter he had demanded in marriage to make a descent in France During the noise which was spread every where of this irruption and the murmurings of infinite numbers of discontented persons the King amused the people with the hopes of easing them having Summoned an Assembly des Notables at Paris out of which were chosen 21 Commissaries who began to set themselves about it in the Palace the 16 th of July The Count de Dunois presided It was he alone who amongst so many Princes had followed it
from them At that time the said Duke having vanquished the Liegois had sent to entreat him to leave his Friends in Peace otherwise he should be obliged to Succour them And indeed he advanced by long Marches for that end but mean while they being affrighted though nothing appeared which could oblige them to precipitate themselves so soon concluded their agreement and complied with the resolution of the Estates The King failed not to give speedy notice of it to the Burgundian but he would believe nothing even the Herald from the Breton who carry'd him the News ran the hazard of being hanged as a Party Suborn'd because he had seen the King in his journey At length he met with so many demonstrations that he must give Faith He encamped in great order along the Somme He was the first that renewed the Roman Method to enclose his Forces in a Camp entrenched Notwithstanding those precautions the Kings Army was so strong and his Soldiers so Animated that he might easily have forced him had he undertaken it but he would rather try a less hazardous way and gave him six Score Thousand Crowns of Gold to ☞ procure a Truce He never let any thing slip which could be purchased by money which cost him nothing for that he drained out of his Subjects pockets but the chance of a Battel concerned him most Year of our Lord 1468 The Catalonians notwithstanding the Kings Sentence and the accommodation of the Castillian had chosen the foregoing year John Duke of Calabria for their Soveraign as well for his valour as the pretensions the House of Anjou had to the Kingdom of Arragon He made a War in that Country with the Kings assistance three years together having sometimes good success and sometimes bad but in the year 1470. When he had routed the Army of John King of Arragon who besieged the City of Peralta he Died of a Burning Feaver in Barcelona Lewis had a Genius that was marvellously Subtil Insinuating and Intriguing He knew it perfectly well and had conceived that if he could but confer with the Burgundian he could difunite him from the other two or at least cast the Seeds of jealousies amongst them He therefore negociated for an enterview and by the advice of Cardinal la Balue went to find him at Peronne where he was without taking any Guards but only the Cardinal the Duke of Bourbon the Count de Saint Pol and two or three other Lords thereby to shew an entire confidence The Duke had lodged him in the City Soon after there arrives three Princes of the House of Savoy Philip Lord of Bresse the Count de Romont and the Bishop of Geneva then the Mareschal of Burgundy the Lords du Lau and d'Vrfe and some others all Enemies to the King Du Lau had been otherwhile his Favourite but afterwards had been clapt in Prison whence he made his escape The sight of these People put him in such fear that he desired the Duke to lodge him in the Castle This was to go into the Trap and give himself up a Prisoner Before his going to Peronne he had sent Ambassadors to Liege to stir those bustling People to take up Arms and he had taken no care to countermand it Now the Mine was sprung earlier then he would have had it for at the first word those impetuous People went forth out of hand took the City of Tongres immediately where they Seized their Bishop tore in pieces five or six of his Canons and slew some Burgundians Year of our Lord 1468 At this news the Duke grows in a Rage causes the Gates of the Castle of Peronne to be shut up and hardly could retain his wrath from a revenge upon the King himself Three days together the King was in mortal Trances he saw himself in the hands of his Enemies justly provoked and enraged and who might have gained all by loosing him amidst People that hated him to the very Death and in a House at the foot of that Tower where Hebert Count de Vermandois had heretofore put Charles the Simple to Death In effect he had been lost had he not found out the means to gain some of the Dukes Domestick Servants amongst others Philip de comines who softned the Spirit of the Duke their Master He would not withdraw himself from his Precipice but by making a new Treaty with the Duke by which he agreed Monsieur should have the Counties of Champagne and Brie and promised to follow the Burgundian to the destruction of the unhappy Liegois with what numbers of men he should desire He carry'd only some Guards and 300 Soldiers Although the City of Liege were dismantled and without Guns they nevertheless Year of our Lord 1468 defended themselves desperately eight days together made great Salley's amongst others one in the Night wherein they had like to have killed the King and the Count in their Quarters But on a Sunday the 30 th of October which they believed to be a day of rest amongst Christians as if there were any Religion in a War they were Attack'd about Dinner time and made but little defence One great part of the People fled over the Bridge that crossed the Meuse into the Forrest of Ardennes where more then half of them perished by hunger and cold the rest got into Churches or hid themselves in their Houses Fearconstrained the King to rejoyce at the unhappiness of his miserable Allies to applaud the great actions of the Duke of Burgundy before his own People and in his presence and make Courtship to his own Vassal Four days after he managed it so by means of those whom he gained to be for him that he was permitted to go to cause the Treaty of Peronne to be verify'd in the Court of Parliament for without that as Philip de Comines says the Treaties were at no value The Duke having made him some ill-favour'd excuses for having brought him thither conducted ☞ him only half a League After the Kings departure he caused about a Thousand or twelve Hundred of those miserable wretches to be drowned that had been taken in their Houses at Liege and set fire to the whole City excepting the Churches and three hundred Houses about them which were preserved to lodge the Clergy The Parisians could not refrain from Scoffing at the craft of the King which brought him into this Trap at Peronne he contrived to turn their discourse upon another Subject by sending to their Houses to take away all their Deers Goats Cranes Swans Cormorants and other Creatures which they kept for their pleasure as likewise all such Birds as were taught to whistle and speak Perhaps they had instructed some Parrot to say Peronne At his parting with the Duke he had asked him what he understood he was to do in case his Brother would not be contented with Champagne for his Apennage the Duke answered that if he would not take it and that the King could otherwise satisfy or content him he
would leave it to them two He failed not to take his advantage of these inconsiderate words He would not have his Brother be so near a Neighbour to the Burgundian his Interest was to place him at the other end of the Kingdom to break off their Communication That young Prince Weak Year of our Lord 1468. and 69. and Inconstant of mind was Governed by Oder-Daydie Lord of Lescun a Gascon and vain who would needs be a Prophet in his own Country by his means he was persuaded to renounce Champagne and accept of Guienne with the City of Rochel This change was the loss of that young Prince The Cardinal de la Ballue in whose hands the Treaty of Peronne had been Sworn with much regret suffered it to be altered whether out of love to Monsieur or that he would have had the King still in some perplexity This good Prelat and William de Hoeraucoux holding Intelligence with the Burgundian wrote to Monsieur to dissuade him and represented many things to him for his advantage but contrary to the Kings intentions Their Letters having been intercepted and they Seized they ingenuously confessed their practices The King sent the information to his Brother who suffering to be overcome by his Carasses accepted of Guyenne and came to meet him at Tours The Bishop was shut up in an Iron Cage a punishment he well deserved since he was the first inventor of it The Cardinal was convey'd to the Bastille where he remained twelve years the Pope demanding him as liable only to his Justice and the King pressing the Pope to let him have Judges assigned him within the Kingdom to hear his cause Year of our Lord 1469 The good correspondence between the two Brothers seemed to be perfected and the King to gain or wean Monsieurs Heart from the Countries on this side allured him with a great Match in Spain Henry King of Castille had a Daughter named Jeane but whom the Castillians held for a Bastard because he was esteemed impotent in so much as they had constrained him to declare the Infanta Isabella who was his Sister his Heiress The King sent the Cardinal of Arras to demand this Isabella for Monsieur But the Lords of the Country having stollen her away and married her to Ferdinand Infant of Arragon he seeks to have Jane which Henry agreed to A Matter for a long War if Charles had lived The first day of August the King being at his Castle of Amboise instituted an Order of Knighthood in honour of St. Michael and limited the number of Knights to 36 yet was it never filled up in all his Reign The French particularly Honoured St. Michael as the Tutelary Angel of that Monarchy And a better could not be pitched upon to tread down the Pride of the English who carr'd Dragons in their Ensigns then that Prince of they Celestial Militia who is painted with a Dragon under his feet And indeed it had been reported that he was seen at the head of our Army 's sighting against them for the French He imagined by means or vertue of this Collar that he should have drawn all the Grandees of the Kingdom within his clutclies when he held this Chapter And therefore the Duke of Bretagne refused it and the Duke of Burgundy doing yet worse received the Order of the Garter and wore it to his Death The Breton had in his service one Peter Landays his Treasurer a man of Low Birth but very knowing and able to countermine all the Artisices of Lewis XI It was he that led him to all these evasions and emboldned his Master to withstand all his devices and his threats Thus what ever endeavours he could use though he were on his Frontiers with an Army he could never disunite him from the Burgundian but only obliged him by a Treaty made at Saumur to renounce all offensive Leagues against the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1470 In the year 1470. John the Natural Son of Lewis Duke of Orleance left this world aged 70 years having divers years before left the Court because of his almost continual pain of the Gout which the hardships in the Wars had brought upon him This Prince valued in all things says Comines having made himself as able a Counsellor as he was a Captain was one of the principal instruments God made use of to drive the English out of France Therefore the Princes of his Family gave him the County of Dunois King Charles that of Longue-ville the Office of Great Chamberlain and the Lieutenancy General of his Army's and strong Forts A power of so great extent that it hath been communicated to none but himself in the third Race Year of our Lord 1470 The renunciation which the King caused the Breton to make had most respect to Edward of York King of England and Brother in Law to the Burgundian of whom it was hourly reported that he was coming to Land at Calais He was wholly prevented by the Earl of Warwick who in revenge of some injuries received from him set himself to carry on the interests of the House of Lancaster and had even Debauched the Duke of Clarence his Brother He had the foregoing year defeated his Army and afterwards took him Prisoner Then Edward having escaped beat him in his turn So that he was forced to save himself in France about the end of the Month of May this year From thence returning into England with the Succours the King leâ—t him he changed the Scene a second time For all slocked to him according to the Genius of that Country which loves change and Year of our Lord 1471 Edward wholly forfaken fled into Flanders to the Duke of Burgundy his Brother in Law Then King Henry who was in the Tower of London was set at Liberty and Warwick and Clarence took upon them the Government of the Kingdom Though the King still resented in his Heart the affront received at Peronne nevertheless being of a fearful Spirit and the length of any enterprize putting him out of patience if the success were not as swift as his desires he would have lived in peace if the Constable and those that were about him had not excited his resentment to draw him to a rupture They feared and the Constable most of all that a Peace making them appear useless the King might think of retrenching their great allowances and his stirring mind if it were not employ'd abroad might put him upon great alterations at home in his Court. Besides these motives there was also an Intrigue of the Bretons and the Constables in favour of Monsieur As they desired to strengthen him against the King they had inspired him with a desire of marrying the only Daughter of the Burgundian And because they knew the Father would not easily consent to it they believed they should sooner bring it about by force then by friendship and therefore they resolved to engage the King to make a War upon him The Bias they took
for this was to assure him that they had Infallible Intelligence how to surprize the Dukes Towns and make his Subjects revolt in the very Heart of Flanders Upon the hopes of these great advantages he sent an Usher of the Parliament to Summon him even in the very City of Ghent to give satisfaction to the Count d'Eu from whom he detained some Lands belonging to the County of Pontieu In stead of appearing upon the Summons he levy'd Soldiers at half Pay but having been at this charge three Months seeing no Body moved he thought it was only a huffe and dismissed them The House of Burgundy spared their People so much that they kept up no Militia nor Garrisons in their Towns they thought that by Treating their Subjects well they were Guard good enough However when he had laid down all his Arms he received divers informations that all was ready to overwhelm him John de Chaalons Prince of Orange and some of his Domestick Servants for sook him Baldwin one of his Bastard Brothers he had eight Plotted to poyson him the Breton renounced his alliance and the Constable Seized upon the City of Saint Quentin Then he that had feared nothing began to apprehend every thing He got together with much ado three hundred Horse with which he advanced to cover his other Cities on the Somme But upon sight of him those of Amiens turned their backs and received the Kings Forces Abbeville would have done as much if Desquerdes had not hinderd it He retired therefore to Arras with more hast then he went forth and sent a private messenger to the Constable to pray him not to push things forward to extremity He received for answer that unless Monsieur would declare for him he could not be served in it But that he was ready to embrace his defence if he would give his Daughter in Mrrriage to him A Note from Monsieur conveyed to him in a piece of Wax assured him the same thing and the Breton gave him intelligence that all his Towns even Bruges and Ghent were upon the point of revolting and that the King was resolved to besiege him whithersoever he went But the more they will force him the more he stands out against them Not being followed so closely as he might have been by the King he resumes his Courage gathers up Men takes the Field and having gained Pequiny presents himself before Amiens and Fired his Guns at the Town to invite the Constable to give him Battel But finding the great numbers of men coming which the King got together at Beauvais he retreated back and wrote a very Submissive Letter to him which in gross discovered the Artifices of those that Animated the King against him The King who found he was as little secure as the Duke amongst such double dealing People agreed to a Truce for a year the 12 th Day of May. St. Quintin remained the Constables and was at last the cause of his ruine The Treaty Signed the King went into Touraine Monsieur to his Apennage of Guyenne and the Burgundian to Flanders During this War Edward of York with a Moderate assistance which the Burgundian and secretly furnished him withal for he apprehended to offend the Earl of Warwick had by the favour of the Duke of Clarence his Brother whom he had regained by the intrigues of a Woman re-enters England gained two Battels one against Warwick who was killed on the spot the other against young Edward Son of King Henry and the Queen his Mother in which that Prince was slain The Queen became a Prisoner to the Conqueror whom afterwards King Lewis redeemed by a ransom of 6000 Crowns Thus Edward re-establisht himself in his Throne and maintained it till his Death Year of our Lord 1471 Sigismond Duke of Austria having need of Money which that House hath ever been in great scarcity of till the time of the Emperor Charles V. engaged his County of Ferreie for a Notable Sum to the Duke of Burgundy The Duke puts ☜ in a very courteous Governor he was called Hagembach who laying great exactions was the first cause of the Germans hatred towards his Master Year of our Lord 1471 Pope Sixtus the IV. this was Francis de la Rovere Elected in the Room of Paul II. to follow the example of his Predecessors Sollicited the Christian Princes to unite themselves against the Turks For this purpose he sent the Cardinal Bessarion a Greek by Birth and a person of great merit to the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy The Cardinal having seen the Duke first the King was so much offended at it that he made him wait a long time before he would admit him to his presence and giving him Audience he rallied with him and treated him as a Grecian Beard The Truce displeased the Duke who had made it by compulsion neither was it to the good liking of Monsieur nor the Breton nor the Constable thus all four sought to re-unite themselves rogether The marriage of Monsieur was the only tye that could be secure the Burgundian promised it though he had no mind to it and upon this foot they renewed their League The Constables solliciting the other Princes to enter into it the Duke of Bourbon gave notice of his practices to the King who wisely dissembled it contriving to be quit with them by the same method For he every day pared away somewhat of his Brothers Apennage threw one rub one day and another the next Debauched his Friends from him corrupted his Servants and got them to reveal all their Masters secrets By the Treaty of Constans John Court of Armagnac had been restored to his Lands the King had caused them to be again Seized on in the year 1468. And had given them to Monsieur with the Government of Guyenne Monsieur being discontented had caused that Count to return put him into possession of his Estate and by his means and with the assistance of the Counts de Foix and the Lord de Albret he raised Men either that he might not be Surprized or to undertake something Year of our Lord 1471 Whatever his designs were they were blasted by a detestable and cruel remedy He loved a Lady Daughter of the Lord Monsereau and Widdow of Lewis d'Amboise and had for Confessor a certain Benedictine Monk Abbot of St. John d'Angely named John Favre Versois This wicked Monk poyson'd a very fair Peach and gave it to that Lady who at a Collation put it to steep in Wine presented one half of it to the Prince and eat the other her self She being tender died in a short time the Prince more robust sustained for some while the assaults of the Venome but how-ever could not Conquer it and in the end yielded his Life to it Year of our Lord 1471 Such as adjust all the Phenomena's of the Heavens to the accidents here below might have applied to this same a Comet of extraordinary Magnitude which was visible four score days
together from the Month of December It 's Head was in the Sign of the Ballance and it had a long Tail turning a little towards the North. In Spring the King drew near towards Guyenne the Monk had perhaps reiterated his Dose However it was Monsieur died the 12 th of May. In the mean time the Burgundian passionately desiring to recover St. Quintin and Amiens was entred into a Treaty with the King who promised to restore it and to leave the Counts of Nevers and St. Pol to his Mercy and the Duke reciprocally did oblige himself to abandon Monsicur and the Breton to him Neither of these Dreamt of keeping their Word of Faith The Duke Signed the first the King deferr'd from day to day expecting what would become of his Brother when he had certain news of his Death he scoffed at the Duke and Seized Guyenne again into his own hands Although in many actions he had not too much of the Fear of God before his Eyes nevertheless he had great Devotion towards the Saints enriched their Churches went several Pilgrimages every year particularly to places Consecrated to our Lady He Ordained on the first of May that at the sound of the great Bell at Noon every one should kneel down and say the Ave Maria. The same day after the procession William Chartier Bishop of Paris Died suddenly not without suspicion that some had contributed towards his Death Year of our Lord 1472 It was in this year that Philip de Comines quitted the Duke of Burgundy whose Domestick and Subject he was to go into the Service of the King his Soveraign Lord. If the Motive thereto had been Honest no doubt but it would have been explained by him who hath reasoned so well on every thing else Who could express the rage the Duke of Burgundy was in when he Learn'd the Death of the Duke of Guyenne He entred into Picardy with a Torch in one hand and his Sword in the other Hitherto burnings had not been practised by either Party nevertheless he made a Bon-fire of all the open Country and Sacrificed all that fell under his power to his Friends Ghost Nesle taken by assault endured all sorts of cruelties because the Inhabitants had killed a Herald at Arms who went to Summon them and two men besides during a Surcease which had been allowed them to Treat in The reverence to the Altar could not save those innocent people who fled to the Church for refuge and such as escaped the Sword were all hanged or had their hands cut off His blind fury ran aground at the Siege of Beauvais The want of attacking it roundly at first made him lose six Weeks time and two Thousand Men. It is Memorable that upon a General Assault which was given the Thursday 9 th of July the Men within being ready to give ground the Women conducted by one Jane Hatchete did wonders repelling the Enemy with showers of Stones Wild-fire and Lead melted with scalding Rozen The Effigies of that Woman is yet to be seen in their Town-Hall grasping a Sword in her hand and there is a procession the 10 th of July which is the Day on which the Siege was raised where the Women march first the Men following after Year of our Lord 1472 Going thence the Burgundian Ravaged all the Country of Caux took Eu and St. Valery but was repulsed before Diepe then before Rouen and having threatned Noyon he retired to Abbeville From Guyenne the King passed into Bretagne to force the Duke to renounce the League and surrender the Monk to him who had Poyson'd Monsieur For Odet-Daydie had Seized him and transfer'd him to Nantes The Monk was found dead in Prison the Devil as was said having broken his Neck the Night before that day wherein they were to pronounce his Sentence This was what the King desired that so the Proof of the Crime might perish with the Poysoner and it was more easie now for the Breton to avoid the heavy strokes of his power by the ordinary craft of his Landays He granted him a Truce the 10 th of September and remained still in Poitou till it was converted into a final peace Which was brought about by the Mediation of Odet-Daydie whom he allured to his Service by great rewards He knew better then any Prince in the World how to gain Men discover his Enemies secrets distract them with jealousies divide the most united but in his mirth he could not hide his secrets every thing came to light and he was likewise more subject to commit faults then able to repair them which he strove to do by Methods more frequently bad then good Year of our Lord 1472. 73. In the beginning of Winter the Burgundian accepted a Truce In the Month of February the Duke of Alenson who had a troubled and unquiet mind for having contrived I know not what League with him was made Prisoner and conveyed to the Castle of Loches and from thence to the Lowre The following year the Parliament by a Sentence of the 18 th of July Condemned him to loose his Head The King his Godson gave him his Life and Seventeen Months after took him out of Prison and put him into a Citizens House at Paris under a good Guard Year of our Lord 1474 where he soon Died. John V. Count of Armagnac who had been once more driven from his Country after the Death of Monsieur had again Siezed upon his City of Leytoure by certain correspondence and had there surprised Peter de Bourbon Beaujeu Governor of Guyenne He was straightly besieged in that place by the Kings Army commanded by the Cardinal of Arras 'T is said that having capitulated with him that good Prelate broke his Faith so that the City was invaded during the Suspension and the Count miserably Murth'red in his House His Brother Charles was brought Prisoner to Paris During the Truce the Burgundian wont to conquer the Dutchy of Guelders Duke Arnold had either sold or given it to him disinheriting his wicked Son Adolph who had a long time held his Father Prisoner and was himself so now by the Burgundian at Ghent This new Acquisition gave him the Appetite to encrease on the German side He flatter'd the Emperor Frederick with the marriage of his Daughter to his Son Maximilian and was even willing she should give him her promise and a Diamond With this Lure he brings Frederick to Mets thinking by his Authority to make himself Lord of that Town which did not Succeed and got his promise that he would raise his Dukedom to a Kingdom With these hopes he went awhile after to him at Treves carrying along the Regal Ornaments and made him a Feast with more then Royal Profusion But the Emperor meant the Marriage should be first accomplished and the Duke would sign the Contract in Quality of King They could not agree thereon And the Emperor left him there without taking his leave Year of our Lord 1473 The King let
Anno 1436. being Aged but 14 years and then Anno 1451. Charlotte Daughter of Lewis Duke of Savoy The first he loved not much by reason of some secret imperfection neither had he any Children by her She died in the year 1445. He would have visited the Second as little had it not been for the desire of having an Heir he had three Sons by her of which Charles only Survived him who Reigned divers even suspecting that this had been suppos'd and three Daughters Lowise Anne and Jane Lowise died young Anne was wife to Peter de Bourbon Lord of Beaujeu and as for Jane the Father constrained Lewis Duke of Orleance to Espouse her and to Consummate the Marriage whereof he made his secret Protestations CHARLES VIII Called The AFFABLE AND THE COURTEOUS King LV. Aged XIII Years II. Months POPES SIXTUS IV. one year under this Reign INOCENT VIII Elected the 29th of August 1484. S. Eleven years wanting one Month. ALEXANDER VI. Elected the 25th of August 1493. S. II. years and some days whe reof five years under this Reign Year of our Lord 1483 THe Deceased King had by his last Will left the Government to the Dame de Beaujeu his Daughter without mentioning the Regency because his Son was entring into his fourteenth year Two Princes of the Blood Lewis Duke of Orleans and John II. Duke of Bourbon disputed it with her and maintained that King Charles ought to be counted a Minor seeing the weakness of his Complexion and his not being well Educated his Father haing always kept him shut up in the Castle of Amboise bred amongst inferior Servants Lewis pretended to it as first Prince of the Blood but himself was not yet come to Majority and the Duke of Bourbon as having married the Kings Aunt and esteeming himself more worthy and proper for it then a Woman who in France were not thought capable to Govern since they were not held fit to Reign The three Competitors not able to agree whose right it was referred the contest to the General Estates and the Kings Coronation to the following year Year of our Lord 1483 In the interim a Council of fifteeen was chosen whereofso m were put in by one Prince some by another but they were all such as belonged to the former Court and bred up to ill Maxims who having learned nought but what was indeed Evil could produce nothing that was really good Year of our Lord 1484 In the Month of January the Estates Assembled at Tours The King attended by the Princes of his Blood and all that were Eminent in the Kingdom went thither William de Rochefort his Chancellor open'd it the fourteenth of the Month in the great Hall belonging to the Arch-Bishop It was there ordained that the King since he had attained the Age of fourteen should be reputed Major That he should preside in the Council the Duke of Orleans in his absence and in case he failed the Duke of Bourbon That the Dame de Beaujeu should have the Government of the young King for whom a Council of Twelve persons should be chosen consisting of Princes of the Blood and others of the most considerable in the Nation In the mean time the Constables Sword was given to the Duke of Bourbon Governments and Pensions bestowed upon the Duke of Orleans and the rest of the Princes Never had they so fair an opportunity to rectify abuses and raise up strong Bulwarks against all oppression But the President of the Estates many Ecclesiasticks the Deputies of the City of Paris and some others suffered themselves to be deluded Sailed and Steered by the Court-gale and Compass and betray'd the publick cause They could not however hinder them from annulling most of the Acts made by Lewis XI from exclaiming against his excessive gifts from setting a Brand-mark upon the memory of those that had been the Executors of his injustice nor from discharging the People of a great part of their Taxes and Soldiers Quarter'd upon them Year of our Lord 1482 This meeting of the Estates being over the Attorney General of the Parliament upon certain Accusations made process against two of the most Rascally Insolent Ministers of the late Kings These were Oliver le Diable Barber to Lewis XI and John Doyac This Oliver had changed his Surname very suitable to his behaviour into that of Daim and bare the Title of Earl of Meulanc Doyac was a Fellow of the same stamp and yet his Master had made him Governor of Auvergne The first was trussed up on the Gallows the second lost his Ears and was Whip'd first at Paris then at Montferrand in Auvergne the place of his Nativity There were perhaps others more Guilty but there were none more odious and besides they had spoken ill of the Princes Doyac having secur'd his money regained his Credit upon the Expedition into Italy having been very serviceable in contriving to convey the great Guns over the Hills Year of our Lord 1484 Francis II. Duke of Bretagne had one about him of the very same Mettal as impudent and much more wicked yet then these but withal more crafty and able Peter Landais a Taylors Son of the Suburbs of Vitre He governed his Prince above fifteen years and had raised up People of his own Quality and some of his Kindred to places of Trust amongst others the Guibez Sons of his Sister for which cause the Lords did much envy him But this was only whisper'd from one to another all the time the Duke was in Health and Vigour but when his Senses began to grow weak and fail him it proceeded to Intrigues and then to Factions to ruin him Especially when he went about to support himself by Crimes and had cruelly suffered the Chancellor John Chauvelin and James de Lespenay Bishop of Renes to be starved in Prison It happened therefore that in the time they were holding the Estates at Tours the Lords of the Country assumed the confidence to try to force him away from the Duke but having missed their enterprize he let loose all the Authority of his Prince against them and reduced them to the troublesome necessity of defending themselves The Duke of Orleans who was then at Tours having a design in his Head of acquiring Bretagne by marrying the Dukes Eldest Daughter goes Year of our Lord 1484 down into that Country to proffer this Fellow his assistance persuading himself that by obliging him in this manner he might help him to that great Match The Lords would willingly have taken shelter under the Protection of this young Prince in whom appeared many signs of Probity and Honour But Landais having Year of our Lord 1484 fore-stalled them they made their Addresses to the Dame de Beaujeu his Enemy who presently espoused their cause This fire lying hid for some years under its ashes did at last break forth to the ruin of Bretagne Year of our Lord 1484 The 5 th day of June King Charles was Crowned at Reims with
the accustomed Ceremonies and Magnificence Being returned to Paris the Duke of Bretagne sent a complaint to him for having supported the Rebellion of his Subjects The Dame according to her Father's wonted Method in stead of returning him an answer Debauched his Ambassadors from his Service These were the Lord D'Vrfe whom she made Grand Escuyer and Poncet de la Riviere on whom she bestowed the Mayoralty of Bourdeaux Year of our Lord 1484 The Cardinal de Balue after his being set at Liberty went to Rome and as that Court is a Region of perpetual Intrigues he Succeeded so happily therein that in short time be got great Credit and some good Benefices He moreover prevailed with the Pope so far that after the Death of Lewis XI he sent him into France as Legat à Latere He made his entrance with so much arrogance that he made use of his faculties before ever he had the Kings consent or had presented them in Parliament to be examined whether they contained nothing contrary to the Rights of the Crown and the Liberties of the Gallican Church The Parliament offended at this bold undertaking forbid him to take upon him the Characters of his Legation or to exercise the power Notwithstanding the Kings Council after he had shewed his reasons and made his necessary Submissions gave order he should be received in that Quality with the usual Respect and Honour and that he should exercise his Functions Which he did for some days when hearing news of the Death of Sixtus he returned on his way to Rome with a Present only of a Thousand Crowns in Gold which the King gave him towards defraying the Expences of his Journey Year of our Lord 1484 The Council Establish'd by the Estates had neither Power nor Vertue the Dame de Beaujeu usurped all the Authority She turned out all those from the Kings Service as were not at her Dvotion and brought in d'Vrfe Riviere and Graville prime Chamberlain who watched and as it were beleaguer'd the young King These Folk wanting some brave daring Heroe to oppose the Duke of Orleans did likewise keep Rene the Duke of Lorrain at Court to whom they restored the Dutchy of Bar till such time as the King should be of Age to do him right for the County of Provence assigned him a Pension of 36 Thousand Livers per Annum and a company of an Hundred Lances During these disorders in France the Scene was wholly changed in England Henry Earl of Richmond after the Battel in the year 1471 where Henry VI. Lost his Crown and Liberty endeavouring to make his escape into France was by Tempest thrown upon the Coasts of Bretagne where the Duke Seized on him and detained him Prisoner in favour of Edward or rather to engage that King to protect him always against Lewis XI And indeed Edward never forsook him whatever advantage Lewis could propound to him and which was more paid him fifty Thousand Crowns yearly for his Pension When Edward Died he gave him his full Liberty and withal assisted him with Money and six Thousand Men wherewith he put to Sea having a Strong Faction in England whereof the Earl of Buckingham was Head Now it happened that a Storm having scattered his Ships the Confederacy was discover'd and Buckingham Beheaded with most of the great men who were concerned in it So that he returned and Landed in Normandy and from thence got back into Bretagne waiting for a better opportunity King Richard desiring to have him at what price soever profer'd Landays so much Money and such considerable assistance in time of need against the Breton Lords that this Perfidious and Mercinary Soul promised to deliver him up to his People The Earls Friends in England got a hint of this bargain and gave him Notice at the very nick of time when it was to be put in execution He immediately departs from Vannes under pretence of going to wait upon the Duke who was at Renes then striking into another Road made his escape with four more to Anger 's He was so closely pursued by Landays Men that he slipt thorough the passage but one hour before they came to the place The King was then at Langeais who received him very kindly And a great number of English Landing every Day in the Ports of France to joyn with him he gave him some broken Companies that were in Normandy with which he adventured over into England In fine having gained the Victory over Richard who was slain in the Field be ascended the Throne which he pretended did belong of Right to him as being the Eldest of the House of Lancaster He was indeed of that Family but at a remote distance as being but the Son of a Daughter of the Duke of Somerset's and of Edmond who was Son of Owen Tudor a Gentleman of Wales and Catherine of France who after the Death of King Henry V. her Husband was clandestinely Married to him Year of our Lord 1485 The Duke of Orleans the Duke of Bourbon likewise to whom the Constables Sword without any power was more an injury or burthen then an Honour made a new party against the Government The Duke of Bretagne Charles Earl of Angoulesme the Duke of Alenson and John de Chaalon Prince of Orenge who was Son of a Sister of the Duke of Bretagne entred into it Charles Earl of Dunois was the primum mobile The Duke of Orleans was the first that spoke and being retired to Beaugency demanded an Assembly of the Estates They immediately carried the King thither He besieged him in the place and forced him to an accomodation wherein it was agreed that the Earl of Dunois should retire to Ast in Piedmont After that they got the King to March against the Duke of Bourbon who finding him on a sudden in the midst of his Country accepted of such conditions as they would impose Year of our Lord 1485 The Soldiers they had Levied for these ends fell most of them into Bretagne The Duke of Orleans having sent all his thither for the Dukes Service the Dame sent the Kings thither also in behalf of the Lords Landays prompted as we may believe by his wicked Genius pursued the utter Destruction of the Lords with all his might and would not recede in the least from the Sentence he had obtained that they should lose both their Castles and their Heads He had raised a great Army for this purpose who had Ordersto Besiege Ancenis a place belonging to the Mareschal de Riux The Lords had taken the Field to prevent it The Armies being in sight of each other some good minded People made the Chief Commanders of the Dukes Army so Sensible how heighnous it would be in them to spill the Heart Blood of their own Friends and Kindred for the sake of the most profligate wretch in the whole World that they embraced each other mutually and agreed to joyn their Supplications to the Duke that he would be pleased
could he by going a long way about get entrance into the Castle del Ovo again From thence he descended again into the City with his Sword and Flambeau in Hand and strugled mightily to recover it but the Revolters opposed him with Retrenchments and Barricado's which they wrought upon with so much diligence both Night and Day that they coop'd him in the Castle This hapned at the same time as the Battle of Fornowa After three Months Siege and continul Skirmishes Montpensier wanted Provisions and was informed at the same time that the relief which was coming from France by Sea meeting with great Storms was driven to Legorne and there dispersed In this extremity he capitulated with the Enemy to deliver up the Castles in a Months time if he were not relieved In the mean time he bethinks himself but very late to send to Aubigny to dravv all his Forces together and come to disengage him Aubigny could not go in Person being yet sick he sent Percy who cut four thousand of the Count de Matalonas Men in pieces near Eboli Ferdinand vvas so much dismay'd that he had thoughts of Flying but the Neapolitans and the Colonnas whom fear of Punishment had made desperate labour'd so much as to make him change his Fear into Year of our Lord 1495 a Re-assurance Percy coming thither found their Intrenchments so well guarded that he could not approach the Castle whereupon he returned to Nola. Mean while Stephen de Vers whom the King had made Duke of Nola being gone into France did earnestly sollicite they would provide for the maintaining of that Kingdom the Ambassadors from the Florentines the Cardinal of Saint Peters c. and Signor Trivultio joyned their Intreaties and the French even those that had advised against the first Attempts for this Conquest declared all with one Voice that it now concerned the Honor of the Nation to preserve it and not suffer the Great Monarch of France to be braved by those Bastards of the House of Arragon Every one desired this excepting those that managed the Affairs particularly the Cardinal Briconnet who either by intelligence with the Pope or out of Sloath and Cowardize hindred the rest from acting The King might be angry with them if he pleased nothing went forward Year of our Lord 1496 The importunity of those Lords who were engaged in the Kingdom of Naples the reproaches of the French and those of his own Conscience obliged the King to resolve upon a new Effort for the Affairs of Italy He parted from Tours where he left the Queen his Wife came to Saint Denis to take his Farewell of the Holy Martyrs advanced to Lyons and gave out his Orders every where then when it was believed he would have passed the Mountains he returned Post to Tours whither the Charms of one of the Queens Maids attracted him as it were per-force These grand Preparations amounted to six Vessels loaden with Provisions and Men for Cajeta Year of our Lord 1496 Ludovic had perswaded the Emperor Maximilian to enter into Italy to embrace the Defence of Pisa which he thought by this means to get into his own Hands Upon this Expedition it was that the Pisans pull'd down the King's Statute to set up the Emperors in its stead As for the rest of this Enterprize no more then in all his others he showed neither Valor nor Perseverance and to speak the Truth he minded no more but only to make his Musters compleat that he might get the Pay and then drew off again like a Hireling The French Affairs declined from Bad to Worse Aubigny was Sick still Percy marr'd his greatest Success by his unsufferable Pride the Germans Mutined for want of Pay and the Garrisons were quite unfurnished And to compleat these Misfortunes Montpensier suffers himself to be shut up in Atella by three Armies of Venetians Spaniards and Arrogonians and for want of Provisions capitulated to Surrender the whole Kingdom in one Month. The other Chiefs especially Aubigny and Guerre refused to obey him in the execution of this Infamous Treaty As a Punishment for this Stubborness Ferdinand banished both him and all his Soldiers into the Maritime Countries where the Pestilential Air destroy'd most of them Of five thousand Men he had with him hardly did five hundred escape and Montpensier himself died at Puzzoli of Sickness or of Poison From Atella Gonsalvo passed to Calabria reduced Manfredonia and Cosenza and Besieged Daubigny in Gropoli That generous Captain defended himself so bravely that he made an honourable composition they gave him leave to carry back his Forces into France with Colours Flying but the surrender of Cajeta was comprehended in it Nothing was left the French of this glorious and suddain Conquest but a villanous Disease which cannot handsomely be named The Spaniards having gotten it in the Islands of Florida where it is almost Epidemical had brought into and infected the Kingdom of Naples with it the Women whom they had spoiled with this Venome communicated it to the French Year of our Lord 1496 Before Cajeta was Surrendred King Ferdinand Died and Frederic his Uncle ascended that mournful Throne with the good wishes and acclamations of all his Subjects Ferdinand King of Spain his own people called him so and the French in railery John Gipon made an Inroad towards Narbonna in favour of Ferdinand King of Naples Charles d'Albon Saint Andre Lieutenant for the King in Languedoc did not only repress them but in ten hours forced the City of Salses in sight of their Army The Spaniards fearing they might draw the whole burthen of the War upon themselves entred into a Conference which towards the end of the year produced a Truce for some Months Year of our Lord 1497 Several designs were set on foot and divers means considered and projected for the recovery of the Kingdom of Naples sometimes to receive Hommage and Tribute of Frederic at other times to agree with the Pope who was Lord of the Fief then to begin with the Milanois and give the conduct to the Duke of Orleans To this purpose Levies were made amongst the Swiss and the Cavalry advanced as far as Ast but the Duke refused that employment Several consultations were held afterwards some resolutions taken but no effects though the several and various interests of the Italian Princes did call every day for the Kings return and opened the Gates wide enough for his re-entrance Year of our Lord 1498 But his Health hourly diminishing as well because he was of a washy constitution and had loved the Ladies too much or perhaps some slow working poyson given him by the Italians made him lose the relish of all these Conquests nay even of those amongst the Beauties so that he now thought of nothing but how to lead a quiet and Christian life He therefore turned himself wholly towards God and applied himself to the reforming of his State He heard the complaints and causes of his Subjects
10 Months under this Reign Year of our Lord 1498 LEwis Duke of Orleans Succeeded to Charles VIII as being the nearest to him of the Masculine Line and his Cousin in the third and fourth degree His Age was ripe his Temper very Humane Sweet and Just his Prudence tried and his Ministers honest and disinteressed The long Imprisonment he suffered had made him more merciful and his Adversities had taught him more wisdom He proved the better King by having been so long a Subject and had Learned to moderate the severities of Sovereign commands by having undergone and felt the weight of them The 27 th of May he was Crowned at Reims the first of July he was Crowned at St. Denis the day after he made his entrance into Paris and by a Decree of the Council took the Title of King of France and of both Sicilia's and Duke of Milan This Dutchy belonged to him by Right of Valentine his Grandfather From the first day of his ascending the Throne he incessantly laboured for the felicity of his People easing them from the burthen of Imposts and taking great care that Justice should be Administred duly to them As to the first he diminished the Taxes year after year though they were already easie enough Because he knew the Princes Exchequer to be like the Spleen the less it is the more healthful the Body of the State does ever find it self He did so much abhor new impositions that wanting Money for his War in Italy ho chose rather to expose the Offices belonging to his Revenue to Sale then to take any thing from his People However in length of time he found that such Venality caused those evils he would avoid and therefore would he have taken that off again had he survived but a year or two longer As to the distribution of Justice he Created divers Companies of Judges out of pure zeal to have it equally administred and without any pecuniary Interest which ever since hath been the only end of all such Creations He setled that called the Grand Council which had been before projected by Charles VIII He made a Parliament for Normandy at Rouen to whom he first gave the Title of perpetual Exehequer and three years after he did the same for Provence in the City of Aix He made most excellent Ordinances for the abbreviating of all Process but there happening to be some Articles that touched the Priviledges of the University that great Body stirred in it with too much heat The tumult had proceeded to a Sedition had not the King made hast to get to Paris His presence quelled the hottest Heads amongst them and banish'd the Rector Year of our Lord 1498 Upon his first coming to the Crown he dispatched Ambassadors to the Pope to Venice and to Florence and three Months after he received theirs who brought him complements and excuses King Frederic and Duke Ludovic sent none to him he being their declared Enemy From that hour divers negociations were set on foot Those Potentates were not become much wiser for all the dangers they had undergone they busied themselves more about their little particular revenge then to preserve the common Liberty of Italy Alexander had reconciled himself with the Vrsini but he hated King Frederic to the Death for having denied to give his Daughter to Borgia his Bastard and the Venetians sought to ruin Ludovic because he hindred their aggrandizing and had a design upon the City of Pisa which they endeavoured to appropriate to themselves As for the Florentines they had an extraordinary passion to recover their Towns and made a War to that end Thus all the three blinded by their interest did eagerly Sollicite the Kings alliance An occasion proffer'd it self wherein the Pope might oblige him which was that desiring to break his marriage with Jane Daughter of King Lewis XI he wanted a Commission from him to take cognisance of that affair And to obtain this he gave the Dutchy of Valentinois to his Bastard who straightway laid down his Cardinals Cap. The Pope sent him into France with a Bull which named three Judges for the Kings Tooth these were Philip de Luxembourgh Cardinal Bishop of Mans Lewis d'Amboise Bishop of Alby and Peter Bishop of Sente who was a Portugueze The Bastard would have played the Sir Politique and said he had not brought the Bull the King informed to the contrary gave him a sowre look and assured him he would go forward He was therefore forced to produce it He had likewise brought a Cardinals Cap for George d'Amboise Archbishop of Rouen who managed all Affairs In recompence the King made him Marry Charlota Daughter of Alain Lord d'Albret and Treated a League with him by which the new Duke was to serve him towards the recovery of the Milanois and he afterwards to assist him in dispossessing all those petty Lords who detained the Cities of Romandiola We must observe that about Two Ages before this when the power of the Popes was much weakned such as were then Governours of the Towns belonging to the Holy See had usurped the absolute Soveraignty of them and that they might possess them with some apparent Title had obtained the Seigneury or Lordships thereof from the Popes under the Title of Vicars or Lieutenants upon condition of paying them a certain Tribute yearly but since then had taken no care to satisfie the same and had sometimes even taken up Arms against the Popes The Polentines Citizens of Ravenna had usurped Ravenna and Cerviae but the Venetians had taken them into their hands The Malatestes had made themselves masters of Cesena but that returned again to the Holy See by the Death of Dominique the last of that Branch dying without Children The Riari did yet hold Imola and Forli Pandolphus Malatesti Rimini Astor Manfrede Faenza John Sforza Pizaro as the Bentivogles did Bologna and the Baillons Perugia Year of our Lord 1499 The Kings Marriage with Jane was declared Null by the Commissioners upon cleer proof that Lewis XI had forced him to it though in truth he consummated it afterwards Being at liberty he Married Anne of Bretagne Widdow of his Predecessor and his first inclinations The Nuptials were kept the Eighteenth of January The people of Paris who alone of all the People in France had received much favour from Lewis XI highly murmured that the King should repudiate his Daughter and there were some scrupulous Doctors that blamed him in their Pulpits but Jane patiently underwent that affliction and gave her self up intirely to God spent her days devoutly in the Nunnery of the Annunciation in the City of Bourges where she put on the Sacred Vail Year of our Lord 1499 Before he began to stir at all in the Affair of Italy he bethought himself of securing the friendship of his Neighbours first of the King of England then of Ferdinand and Isabella and afterwards of the Arch-Duke Son of Maximilian Ferdinand and Isabella withdrew their Forces out of
time For his Army having twice approached Genoa could not make them stir a re-inforcement having been timely put in and Chaumont shut up the Passages to Milan so carefully against the Swisse that having in vain attempted to get thorough in several Places they returned again Year of our Lord 1510 The King perceiving that whether he would or not there must be a War with Julius appointed an Assembly of the Gallican Church at Tours about the end of September to know how far in Conscience he might proceed upon such an Occasion The Assembly having considered eight Questions which he caused to be propounded answered as to the substance of them that this was a just War Year of our Lord 1510 and that he might make it offensive to defend himself After this Advice he made inhibition his Subjects should not apply themselves to the Court of Rome for Provisions of Benefices or carry any Money out of the Kingdom Of all the Potentates in Italy there were none but the Duke of Ferrara the Florentins and the Bentivogli dispossessed of Bologna that took his Part The Venetians were openly in League with the Pope who for above a Twelve-Month past had renounced the League of Cambray King Ferdinand likewise having received from him the investiture of the Kingdom of Naples for a white Palefroy without payment of the forty thousand Ducats as his Predecessors were wont to do He did not however declare himself so soon but acting the Mediator between the one and the other he pretended to appease the Pope to animate him the more dived into the Kings and the Emperors Secrets and amused them with divers propositions The only considerable Ally that stood for the King was the Emperor who being always indigent by his continual Expences and delaying his Affairs from Diet to Diet where the Pope by his Intrigues easily blasted all his Designs especially in the matter of getting Monies was not at all advanced in his business against the Venetians yet however he being obstinately bent to bring them to reason notwithstanding all the Intercessions of the Pope was obliged to hold himself strictly united with the King Who for his own part flatt'ring his Ambition proffer'd to assist him with all his Forces to reduce the City of Rome and all Italy to his Obedience excepting Milan the Dutchy of Ferrara the Seigneuries of Genoe Florence and the Kingdom of Naples Thus both the one and the other to pull down the Pride of Julius concluded between themselves to assemble a General Council for the reformation of the Church as well in it's Head as in it's Members Year of our Lord 1510 This Year an Epidemical Disease spread it self over all France which they named Coqueluche because it clowded the whole Head with a drowsy yet painful heaviness It caused likewise great Pains in the Stomach the Reines and the Calves of the Leggs with a burning Feaver attended with dangerous Deliriums and a Disgust of all sorts of Food Few People were exempt from it and a great many Died of it Year of our Lord 1510. 11. The mischief to the King's Designs was that weakness of his to spare Julius and not utterly ruine him as it was in his Power for above two Years He had forbid Chaumont from attacking the Lands belonging to the Church this did not keep him from excommunicating that General and the Duke of Ferrara likewise A few days after Chaumont had a fair opportunity to take him in Bologna where he had rashly engaged himself but in stead of besieging the Town smartly he suffered himself to be amused with Propositions for an accommodation several days together in which time the Venetians and Turks came with some Forces and freed him from that Peril Year of our Lord 1511 When those Forces were joyned Julius commanded his Generals to besiege Ferrara and to facilitate the taking of it first to attack the little City of Miranda belonging to the Children of John Picus who had in no manner offended him This Siege not going on with speed enough to his Mind he goes thither himself notwithstanding the Frost and Snow having no regard neither to his Age of seventy Years nor to the Dignity of his Sacred Tiara He hastned on the Works ordered the Batteries encourag'd and pusht on the Soldiers sometimes by Caresses otherwhile by Threats And the Town being taken on composition the nineteenth of March he was carried into it thorough the breach The King's Reputation being much declined in Italy by the taking of Miranda he sent fresh Troops thither and Orders to Chaumont not to spare Julius any longer Chaumont followed him so close at the Heels that he constrained him to retire to Bologna and from thence to Ravenna but thereupon this honest General happens to die at Corregio and amidst the weakness caused by his Sickness was so touched with Scruples of Conscience that he sent to beg Absolution of the Pope The Command of the Army fell to Trivulcio because of his Office of Mareschal and the King confirmed it till he could send Gastande Foix his Nephew who was as yet but twenty Years of Age. King Ferdinand was press'd by both Parties to declare himself he was unwilling to Arm against the Emperor being Grand-Father to the young Prince the insolence of Julius shock'd him the Kings Power was ever formidable to him and whatever the event of this War might be he almost equally feared both the one and the other So that he thought it fitter to endeavor an accommodation and engaged those three Potentates to send Ambassadors to Montoua that they might find out some expedients Year of our Lord 1511 Stephen Poncher Bishop of Paris a Prelate of rare Prudence and great Learning went thither in behalf of the King Matthew Lang Bishop of Curs for the Emperor Many things were propounded the French Ambassador yielded and complied in several Points but the more he gave ground the more the others flew off Year of our Lord 1511 In the mean time the Pope desired the Bishop of Curs to come to him at Ravenna He thought to gain him by force of Promises and the splendor of a Cardinals Cap which he had newly communicated to eight other Prelates very considerable for their Learning or Credit of which number was Matthew Schiner to fortifie and support himself by their Suffrages against the Council with which he was threatned But the Bishop who more valued the Dignity of his Character then the Roman Purple did not mind his Proffers but treated him with unheard of haughtiness For he obliged him to come and meet him as far as Bologna sat on a like Chair as his and would confer with none but himself leaving it to his Gentlemen to treat with those Cardinals the Pope had sent to him Withal he kept firm to the Interests of the Emperor and the King and returned without concluding ought Year of our Lord 1511 Trivulcio therefore began the War anew and took Concorda Approaching Bologna
make a Peace with the King Ferdinand and the Venetians having brought him a little to heart again he fell to practise his wonted Artifice which was to amuse the King with Propositions of an Accommodation and to engage the Queen to act who by Motives of Conscience Caresses Intrigues and Importunities often disarm'd him and made him relent With this his trouble in Mind occasioned by the death of his Nephew the misunderstanding which arose between the Cardinal Sanseverin who was Legate and la Palice who had the Title of General the little obedience the other French Captains yielded to this last and the ill-timed good Husbandry or sparingness of the Treasurer Pay-Master to the Army did not only render that Victory fruitless but occasioned the loss of the Dutchy of Milan For the Treasurer disbanded a considerable part of the Forces and la Palice left Sanseverin but six thousand Foot and a thousand Horse and led the rest into Milan There being encamped at Pontevica a Place proper to relieve Milan Cremona Bress and Bergamo four thousand Lansquenets which made up two thirds of his Infantry and had been raised in the Territories of the House of Austria were recalled by the Emperor Maximilian at that instant when the Swiss were entring into that Country In few Words the French reduced to two or three thousand Men did wholly abandon all Milanois Maximilian Sforza was restored to that Dutchy by the Year of our Lord 1512 Swiss who declared themselves Protectors of it The City of Genoa revolted and created a Duke which was Janus Fregosa Almost at the same time the King of England sent a Herauld to declare a War against the King and the Emperor who had so often protested never to seperate from him forsook him and knit a new Alliance with Julius Amidst this rout amongst the French the Council of Pisa who were retired to Milan made their escape to Lyons During the time they had been at Milan they held four or five Sessions in which the Fathers had Summond Julius to name some free Place for the Council and to meet there in Person to justifie himself had declared him suspended of the Papal Administration and forbid to pay him Obedience The Council of Latran much more numerous and better authorized thundred with more force especially after the Emperor had owned them In their third Session which was upon a Friday the sixteenth of November a Bull was read which condemned the Council of Pisa their Abettors and Adherents and confirmed the Excommunications and Degradations which Julius had fulminated against the Cardinals and Bishops who composed it As also their Letters Monitorie of the fourteenth of August whereby he put the Kingdom of France under interdiction excepting the Dutchy of Burgundy and tranferr'd the Faires from Lyons to Geneva In the Fourth which was the eleventh of December there was read a Decree which adjourned the King and the Prelates Chapters and Parliaments to appear before him within sixty Days and to shew their Reasons why Year of our Lord 1512 they would not have the Pragmatick Sanction abrogated The Lure which King Ferdinand had made use of to engage the Young King of England his Son-in-Law in a War against France was the Promise he had made him to assist him with all his Forces to conquer Guyenne Upon this assurance the English by the end of May landed a great Army near Fontarabia but Ferdinand had of a long time formed the design of conquering Navarre so that in stead of joyning with him he falls upon that unhappy Kingdom nothing concerned in the Quarrel and took occasion upon the apprehensions of their Army to invade it the more securely and easily Year of our Lord 1512 King John d'Albret had not dar'd to arm himself for fear of giving him that Pretence he desired to oppress him So that as soon as he appeared on the Frontiers he coward-like retired into Bearn and abandon'd the whole Kingdom to him excepting only some Fortresses When Ferdinand had usurped Navarre he sought out some Title to it that he might still hold it He could find no other but the right of War and a Bull of the Popes which left it as a Prey to the first Occupier because John said he Year of our Lord 1512 was an Abettor of the Council of Pisa and an Ally of the King of France Enemy to the Holy See But as to the right of War unless they mean the Force ✚ or Power of the Sword which gives no right but amongst the Barbarians Ferdinand had none at all since John had no way wronged him and was so far from taking Arms against him that on the contrary he proffer'd him free Passage thorow his Kingdom And as to the other Point that Bull so much alledged is no where to be found but could it be produced it could give no right to a Crown which is held only from God and if it could give any it was published say the Spaniards in the Month of July and the Invasion was made in June Which is to chop off a Man's Head and then pronounce his Sentence The Succors which the King sent to John his Ally being ill conducted did him no Service The Duke of Longueville Governor of Guyenne and Charles Duke of Bourbon who commanded them could not agree The King sent Francis Duke of Valois thither His Authority stifled their Discord he entred into Navarre in dispite of the Duke of Alva who was encamped at Saint John's de Pied de Port and laid Siege to Pampelonna but the want of Provisions and Inconveniences of the Season constrained him to De-Camp at the end of six Weeks Ferdinand having reaped what Fruit he could hope for by this War did willingly make a Truce with the King About these Times began the Reign of the Cherifs in Affrica by one Mahomet Benhemet who saying he was descended of the Blood of his Great Prophet and having Sanctified himself in the Opinion of the People by a tedious and long Solitude animated them with a furious Zeal to Make War upon the Christians and those Moors that had made Alliance with them and by the help and means of his two Sons conquer'd the Kingdoms of Fez of Morocco and of â—remissen Year of our Lord 1513 The wrath of Julius had no bounds he had framed a Decree in the Name of the Council to transfer the Kingdom of France and the Title of Most Christian to the King of England When he was just on the Point of publishing it the Heavens taking pitty of him and of all Christendom called him cut of the World the three and twentieth of February He died of a lingring slow Feaver contracted as they said thorow Grief for that he could not persuade or incline the Venetians to make an Agreement with the Emperor So violent were his Passions much fitter for a Turkish Sultan then the common Father of all Christians Year of our Lord 1513 The Cabal of Young Cardinals having observed
the prospect he had of what would be squander'd and wasted in Luxury and vain Prodigallity by Francis I. after his death he sighing said Ah! we labour in vain this great Boy will spoil all Two Male Children he had by Anne of Bretagne died in the Arms of their Nurses There were only two Daughters left Claude who was married to Francis I. and Renee who in Anno 1528. was by that King married to Hercules Duke of Ferrara a petty Prince whom he made choice of purposely that he might not be able to contend with him for the Dutchy of Bretagne FRANCIS I CALLED The Great KING AND THE Father of Learning King LVII Aged XX Years and about four Months POPES LEO X. near seven Years under this Reign ADRIAN VI. Elected the 4th of January in the Year 1522. S. 1 Year and above eight Months CLEMENT VII Elected the 29th of November 1525. S. 10 Years and above 10 Months PAUL III. Elected the 13th of October 1534. S. Years and one Month whereof 12 Years and a half under this Reign Year of our Lord 1515. in January THis is the third time in the Capetine Race that the Scepter for want of Male-Children in the direct Line passes in a collateral Line Lewis I. Duke of Orleans had two Sons Charles who was Duke of Orleans after him and John who was Earl of Angoulesme Lewis XII was the Son of Charles and from John came another Charles who was Father of Francis I. who succeeded to Lewis XII He was crowned at Reims the five and twentieth of January and took the Title of Duke of Milan with that of King of France When this Prince appeared on the Throne in the Flower of his Youth with the Meene and Stature of a Hero with wonderful dexterity and address in all the noble Exercises of a Cavalier Brave Liberal Magnificent Civil Debonnaire and well Spoken he attracted the Adoration of the People and the Love of the Nobility and indeed he had been the greatest of Kings if the too high Opinion of himself grounded upon so many fair Qualities had not inclined him to suffer himself to be entangled in the Snares of Women and the Flatteries of Courtiers who corrupted his Mind and made it spend its self most in outward vain Glory and superficial appearances His first Cares were to seek the Alliance and Amity of the Princes his Neighbours The King of England taking yet to Heart the Infidelity of Ferdinand his Father in Law continued the Peace with him on the same Conditions as he had made with his Predecessor and to last during both their Lives The King sent back Queen Mary to him who afterwards married the Duke of Suffolk The Arch-Duke likewise being thereto obliged by the Flemmings who in no wise would have a War with France and besides judging there might be danger to let things stand without any Colligation between France and England sent the Count of Nassaw Ambassador to him who after he had rendred the Homage due for the Counties of Artois and Flanders treated a perpetual confederation between the two Princes Year of our Lord 1515 The Band and Knot that was to tye this fast was the Marriage in future of his Master with Renee the Queens Sister It was stipulated under terrible Oaths and great pains of refusal on either Part for which Francis stak'd down the Faith of several great Lords and twelve of his best Cities for security The Conditions were six hundred thousand Crowns of Gold and the Dutchy of Berry for her and for her Children That she should renounce to the Succession of Father and Mother namely to the Dutchies of Milan and Bretagne and that the King should be engaged to assist the Arch-Duke with Men and Ships to go and take Possession of the Kingdoms of Spain upon the Death of Ferdinand his Grand-Father It would have been very easie also for the King to have confirmed the League made by his Predecessor with the Venetians but Ferdinand refused the continuation of the Truce unless upon the same Conditions as the last which was that he should not meddle with or touch the Dutchy of Milan Which the King not having accepted of the said Ferdinand the Emperor the Swisse and Sforza Duke of Milan made a League which imported That to compel the King to renounce that Dutchy the Swisse should attack France by the way of Burgundy That in order to it they should receive three thousand Ducats Monthly from the other Confederates and that King Ferdinand should fall with a powerful Army into Guyenne or Languedoc The Pope for whom they had left room in this League did not enter till the Month of July when he found that the King who had kept this design conceal'd all the Winter marched in good earnest to pass the Mountains Upon his access to the Crown he supplied the Offices of Constable and Chancellor with two Persons whereof one caused great mischiefs to France in this Reign only and the other was the occasion of such as were felt then and perhaps may last to all the following Ages He gave that of Constable to Charles de Bourbon who afterwards stirred up great Troubles against him and that of Chancellor to Antony Duprat at that Time first President of Paris who to furnish the Prodigal and conquering Humor of a young King with Money suggested to him the Sale of Justice by creating a new Chamber of twenty Counsellors in the Parliament of Paris and so proportionably in all the others to augment the Tailles and lay new Imposts without waiting the Consent or Grant of the Estates as was the ancient Order and Practice of the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1515 All the Apparel for War being ready the King went to the City of Lyons where he staid some time till Trivulcio and the Lord de Morete with the Mountainers whom the Duke of Savoy had sent to them could find a Passage over the Alpes for his Troops which were arrived in Dauphine For the Swisse who had posted themselves at Suza and those Parts hindred their way by Mount Cenis and the Mount of Genevra which begin both in that Place The Popes Army and that belonging to Ferdinand were encamped on the other side of the Po towards Piacenza and Parma and Prespera Columna had come and lodg'd himself with a thousand Horse in Villa Franca which is within seven Leagues of Saluzzes where he thought himself very secure When with incredible difficulty and by meer strength of Arms Trivulcio had made them sling and hoyst the Artillery over the tops of the Mountains and from thence with no less toyl let them down again in the Country of Saluzzes the King's Forces passed the Alpes at Dragonniera Roquepavier and other Passes which are nigh Provence La Palice who was passed one of the first having correspondence Year of our Lord 5115 with some Inhabitants of Villa-Franca used so much Skill and Celerity that he surprized Prospera as he was sitting down
the Kingdom of Arragon the ancient Laws thereof not allowing the Daughters nor any descended from them to come to the Crown durst not hinder him in this Enterprize and would even be obliged to let him have the Kingdom of Naples But he did not know that though Charles himself should have consented the Politicks of Italy could never suffer it what Affection soever they might seem to shew him In effect the Pope under-hand procured the English the Swisse and the Medicis to break his Measures The Emperor on his side being entred into Milanois with twenty thousand Swisse of the five Cantons ten thousand Germans and four or five thousand Horse amongst whom were the Cardinal of Sion and the banished Milaneses after the having refreshed and relieved Bress and Verona which were straightned by the Venetians and the French joyned together passed the River Addo in the beginning of the Spring ravaged all the Country between that River and those of the Po and Olli and gave so much Terror to the French that they were ready to abandon Milan and likewise fired the very Suburbs by the malicious advice of the Venetians who ever hated the Milanese rather then out of any real Necessity Year of our Lord 1516 Had he gone on directly perhaps they would have given ground his slowness gave the Constable time to provide himself so well that they startled not upon his approach But himself being informed of twelve thousand Swisse who were come to the Constable knowing the brutish Avarice of that Nation and that he had no Money to pay his own he on the sudden decamped and repassed the River Addo He remained there some Weeks giving still much dread to the French because their Swisse refused to Fight the Swisse that were in his Army and at length even retired but at three Weeks end most of his Troops moulder'd to nothing for want of Pay his Swisse returned by the Valtoline and three thousand of the Germans and Spaniards went over to the Constable It was not doubted but the Pope had been of intelligence with the Emperor for this irruption since Marc Anthony Colomna appeared in his Army Notwithstanding the King could not believe it so well was he persuaded of his Affection and faithfully observing the Treaty permitted him 〈◊〉 dispossess Francis Maria of the Dutchy of Vrbin to bestow it on 〈…〉 Medicis his Nephew although he had put himself into his Protection If the Grandeur of King Francis Young War-like and Rich◠were formidable to the Italians they beheld another Springing up now who astonished them much more I speak of Charles Heir to Spain Naples Sicilia and the Low-Countries and who being in a fair Way of succeeding to the Empire after his Grand-father could not fail when once he had attained to it of desiring to re-unite Italy to the other as being indeed the Head Now they found that to drive out those two great Powers who held it at both ends there was no way to do it That to keep the Ballance steady between them was to undertake an impossibility and besides it were to expose themselves to be the Theater and Prey to Forreign Arms and to cast themselves all on one side were to bring in an Absolute Master and slavery beyond all redemption That it might not look as if the Concordat made between the King and the Pope were a simple convention between two particulars the Council of Lateran having caused it to be read in their last Session which was the fifteenth of December confirmed it by their Authority but the Clergy of France the Universities the Parliaments and all understanding and good Men opposed it by their Complaints Remonstrances Protestations and Appeals to future Councils However at two Years end they were fain to submit to absolute Authority and Register the Concordat in Parliament Thus under Colour of taking away the Inconveniences of Elections which might well have been remedied they authorised others which are insinitely greater and can never have any Redress The Councel of Charles of Austria found it was necessary for his Affairs that he should renew the Alliance with King Francis thereby to have free Passage into Spain This was done by the Treaty of Noyon the sixteenth of August between the Lords Arthur de Goussier Boisy and William de Crovy Chovres who had been Governors of two Kings and the first Grand Maistre of the Royal House It was agreed amongst other Articles That Charles should marry Louisa the Kings Eldest Daughter or upon her default the second if another were born or if no other were born Renee the Queens Sister who for her Dowry should have that part the King pretended to the Kingdom of Naples with reversion in his Favor in case of want of Issue That Charles should pay an hundred thousand Crowns yearly for the maintenance of this Daughter That he should give up Navarre within six Months to Henry d'Albret If not that after the expiration of that term the King should be permitted to assist him That the Emperor should be admitted into this Treaty if he would come in That if he rendred Verona to the Venetians they should pay him two hundred thousand Crowns and that the King should give him an Acquittance for the three hundred thousand which King Lewis XII had lent him to make War upon them Year of our Lord 1517 Though the Emperor had again made an Attempt with Success enough by General Rocandolf to revictual Verona which the French and Venetians blocked up he dispaired nevertheless to keep it any long time because all the Avenues were shut For this reason he rather chose according to his covetous Humour to surrender it to Lautree who restored it to the Venetians for the Summ mentioned by the Treaty After this he wholly laid aside the Fancy of further Conquests in Italy and he moreover permitted the five Cantons who had refused the Confederation with France to accept of it as well as the other eight By all ways and means the King desired to gain the Pope for his Designs in Italy And for this reason he assisted him with his Forces against Francis Maria de la Rovere who made War upon him to regain his Dutchy for this Lord upon the hopes of Booty had drawn into his Service the Troops of either Party that had been disbanded after the giving up of Verona Moreover his Wife being deliver'd of her first Son the last day of February he would needs have Laurence de Medicis who was come into France to marry Margaret Daughter of Year of our Lord 1517 John Earl of Auvergne Boulogne and Laraguez hold it at the Font in the Name of the Pope his Uncle This Couple died both within the Year and yet left a Daughter named Catharine who afterwards was Queen of France The War of Vrbin lasted some eight Months the Spanish Troops having been regained by force of all-powerful Money by the Medicis Francis Maria was apprehensive left they would deliver him
forth with Bag and Baggage and all their Galleys and Vessels that were in Port. He made his entrance upon Christmass-Day Year of our Lord 1523 The Grand Master Peter de Villiers-l'Isle-Adam to whose conduct and Heroick Vertue the greatest Honour of this Generous defence was due setting Sail with his Knights and four thousand of the Inhabitants as well of that as of the Islands depending on it retired to Candia where he Winter'd From thence he went to Sicilia and three months after to Rome the Pope giving those Knights his City of Viterbo for their Retreat Six Years after in Anno 1530. they placed themselves in the Island of Malta The Emperor bestowed it upon them to cover his Kingdom of Silicia and they accepted it with the consent of all other Christian Princes in whose Territories their Order had any Lands or Possessions Year of our Lord 1523 The loss of Rhodes being partly occasioned by Pope Adrian's Fault it concerned him in Honour to repair it Therefore upon that consideration and to make his name glorious he employ'd all his cares to procure a Peace or at least a Truce betwixt all Christian Princes that so they might make War upon the Insidels with their united Force Francis would yield to nothing but a Truce and that a very short one this did not sute with the Popes designs So that not being able to overcome him by his Exhortations nor by the threats of the English nor upon the consideration that he made himself odious to all Christendom he would needs bring him to it by Force and thus of a Common Father he became a Partial and open Enemy Prompted with this Spirit he acted so powerfully with the Venetians that he broke them off from his Alliance and made a League with them the Emperor and the King of England to thrust him out of Italy The King had therefore all the great powers of Christendom against him nevertheless his passion to recover Milan did so over-rule his mind that he was resolved to go thither in Person at the Head of his best Men had not the Conspiracy of the Duke of Bourbon which he happended to discover kept him back And though this did strangely embarass him yet he sent Bonnivet thither with an Army For divers years past Madame had sought all opportunities of doing some displeasure to Charles de Bourbon and the Chancellor and Admiral employed themselves most willingly to gratifie both her passion and their own For Bonnivet Year of our Lord 1523 imagin'd if he could ruin him he should have the Connestables Sword and the other had a secret grudge against him for having denied his Family some Favour in Auvergne It did not satisfie Madame that she had deprived him of the Chief Functions of his Office and hindred his Marriage with Renee the Kings Sister she had process against him likewise in Parliament to strip him of the Dutchy of Bourbon and the other great Estate of Susanna his Wife who Died without Children in the year 1521. The Succession whereof as she pretended did belong to her as the next Heiress Indeed she was Daughter of Margaret and Philip who was Lord of Bresse and afterwards Duke of Savoy and that Margaret who was Daughter of Charles I. Duke of Bourbon and Sister to Peter who had the same Dutchy after John II. his Brother and was Father of this Susanna above mentioned As for Charles de Bourbon he was Son of Gilbert Earl of Montpensier who was Son of Lewis Uncle of Duke Peter and by consequence he was farther removed than she But besides that he made it appear by very ancient Titles by Solemn Judgments and Decrees and by many Examples that the Lordship of Bourbon was a Feif Masculin he shewed likewise how in his Contract of Marriage with Susanna he was acknowledged the right Heir of that House and as for the other Estate there was a mutual donation between him and his Wife by vertue whereof he enjoy'd it 'T is true that Susanna was then in minority and not authorized by the Judge but she was authorized sufficiently by the presence of King Lewis XII the Cardinal d'Amboise and four or five and twenty Princes Bishops and Eminent Lords He believed his cause would have been very good in any other times and against any other Party But as soon as they Commenced this process he imagin'd it was before resolved and concluded and that he must Infallibly be cast before Judges who were all Creatures of Madame's or of the Chancellor And this last Affront which reduced him to extream inconveniences blinded him so with rage and revenge that without any consideration of what he was and what he might come to be he casts himself into the Emperor's Arms having Treated with him by the assistance of the Lord de Beaurien Son of Adrian de Crovy Count de Rieux The King of England came into this Treaty It imported That all three were to share France betwixt them That Bourbon should have the Ancient Kingdom of Arles with the Title of King and as a Seal to this Alliance the Emperor should give him his Sister Eleonor who was the Widdow of Emanuel King of Portugal Bourbon had a particular pretension of his own Head to Provence because Year of our Lord 1523 Rene Duke of Lorrain had yielded up the right he had to Anne of France the Mother of Susanna and Anne by her Will and Testament had given it to him Now while the King was at St. Peter le Monstier on the Confines of Nivernois and Bourbonnois two Normand Gentlemen Matignon and d'Argouges Houshold-Servants belonging to the Connestable discovered all their Masters correspondence to him He would needs be satisfied from his own Mouth saw him in the City of Moulins and told him his whole mind The Connestable owned that he had been Sollicited by the Count de Rieux but stiffly denied that he had given any ear to it They would perhaps have laid hands on him if they durst But indeed the attempt would have been dangerous in the midst of his own Country for he was mightily beloved by the People and the Nobility and the King had but four thousand Foot with him and five hundred Horse so he only commanded him to follow the Court. The Connestable taking his Litter under pretence of some indisposition went easy Journeys At la Palice he had news that a Decree was made the of August which put his Estate under Sequestration thereupon he dispatches Huraut Bishop of Autun his Confident to the King to beseech him to stopt he execution of it and to assure him that this favour would bind him for ever to his Service but he was informed they had stopp'd the Bishop six Leagues from that place Then flying from the King's indignation he retired to his Castle of Chantelle where all his richest Goods were And there having intelligence that four thousand men were coming to besiege him he went forth by Torch-light When he had Rode a
with a great Fleet which carried Ten Thousand Men and at the same time Felix of Wirtembergh entred by Land upon Milanois with a like number The Potentates of Italy did all bow down to this Power and the Pope himself came to Bologna to receive him But the Emperor informed of Solyman's irruption in Hungary durst not use all his Power to oppress them but on the contrary yielding to their Intreaties he resettled Francis Sforza in the Dutchy of Milan and agreed with all the other from whom he drew vast Sums of Money Year of our Lord 1529. and 30. There were none but the poor Florentines who remained exposed to the resentments of the Pope because they refused to submit themselves to the Medicis who were but private Citizens no more then the rest The Emperor lent him his Forces to Besiege their City who having defended themselves for Eleven Months in vain imploring the help of France and their ancient Confederates Surrendred upon Composition the Fifth of August in the following Year and were reduced under the Dominion of the Medicis although by the Treaty it was said that the Pope should Establish no Government that should be contrary to their Liberty Year of our Lord 1529 During these troubles between the two greatest Powers of Christendom Solyman snatched away the best part of Hungary The pretended King John had called him to his aid making himself his Subject and his Tributary but the Tyrant instead of putting him into possession of the Kingdom took for himself the Cities of the five Churches Alba Royal where were the Sepulchers of their Kings Buda Strigonium and Altemburgh After these Conquests he laid Siege to Vienna but in a Months time the scarcity of Provisions and the approach of Winter made him dislodge He raised his Siege the Fourteenth of October after he had lost near Threescore Thousand men and took his March towards Constantinople threatning to return the next year with a much greater force Those that adher'd to the doctrine of Luther acquired this year the Surname of Protestants because there having been a Decree made by the Arch-duke Ferdinand and other Catholick Princes in the Diet of Spire in favour of the ancient Religion and to hinder the progress of theirs they protested against it and appealed to the Emperor and to a General or National Council Year of our Lord 1530 The following year appeared their Confession of Faith which is called the Ausburgh Confession because they presented it to the Emperor in the Assembly which was held in that City to endeavour to pacifie and allay the differences in Religion Luther had composed it in Seventeen Articles Melancton explained and enlarged them The Affairs of Hungary and Germany not permitting the Emperor to be long absent the Pope gave him the Imperial Crown at Bologna with the same Ceremonies as if he had been at Rome The Emperor affected to pitch upon the Twenty fourth day of February for this great Ceremony as being his Birth-day and the day likewise of the taking of King Francis at Pavia Having sojourned there till the Two and Twentieth of March he returned into Germany and before he left Italy erected the Marquisate of Mantoua to a Dutchy in favour of Frederic Gonzague who merited a greater Title if Year of our Lord 1530 his Territory could have born it They had much adoe in France to make up the Twelve Hundred Thousand Crowns promised by the Treaty of Cambray for the Release of the Kings Children The Mareschal de Montmorency carried them to Endaya and the first day of June exchanged them for the two Princes in the same place and in the same manner as they did the Father The King went to meet them as far as Verin which is a Nunnery in the Launds of Bourdeaux near the Mount de Marsan In the same place he Married Eleonora the Emperors Sister who had sent her to him with his Sons The year following in the Month of March she was Crowned at Saint Denis and the City of Paris graced her with a Magnificent Entry This Princess aged thirty Years and rather ill-favour'd then handsom never possessed the heart of her Husband but that she might be consider'd gained the respects of the Mareschal de Montmorency who at that time governed the King and the Kingdom The Catholicks and Protestants had agreed in the Assembly at Ausburgh to call a Council that might put an end to their differences and the Emperor had given his assent because he would make use of this Proposition to awe the Pope In effect he was so alarmed at it that he wrote to the Kings of France and England that he would do all they would desire provided they hindred the Council In the mean time the Catholicks of Germany finding their Religion endanger'd made a League amongst themselves in the Month of November Which gave occasion to the Protestants to frame one likewise at Smalcalde about the end of the following Month. Year of our Lord 1531 The first effect of the Catholicks League was that by their help the Emperor got his Brother Ferdinand to be Elected King of the Romans who was already so of Hungary and Bohemia it was upon the Fifth of January in the Diet of Colen without having any regard to the oppositions of John Duke of Saxony and the Remonstrances of other Protestant Princes who being yet more alarmed upon this Election sent to the Kings of France and England to implore their Assistance They willingly granted it and Entred with them into a League but only to defend their Lands and the Rights and Liberties of the Empire The English promised to furnish them with Fifty Thousand Crowns monthly if they were Assaulted and the French deposited an Hundred Thousand Crowns in the hands of the Bavarian Princes to Levy Men in case they found reason for it or were necessitated thereto During the calmes of Peace to the Love for Ladies he joyned the Love of Learning The good King Lewis XII had caused him to be bred in the Colledge of Navarre and although he had made but a very small progress in the Latine Tongue nevertheless the little smattering he had gave him a great Gusto for the Sciences especially Astronomy Physick Natural History and Law He kept near him the ablest men in all the Kingdom who studied to make handsome and Methodical discourses to him upon all those parts of Learning most commonly whilst he sat at Dinner sometimes in his Walks or in his Closet and he improved so well by those entertainments that he became as knowing as the greatest Masters In acknowledgement of those Inestimable benefits he raised many of them to Offices and showred Presents and Pensions upon the rest Nor did they advance his Affairs a little by their Services and render his Name Illustrious to the Eyes of all Nations by their Works so that in spite of Fortune he gained most Renown though his rival flourish'd with more Success He instituted the Royal or
Italian Princes because he had oppressed the City of Florence which was the place of his Nativity could not be induced to grant it but replyed in general terms he must Communicate the thing first to the other Princes of Christendom As to the second he gave his consent and made a League for some Year of our Lord 1533 Months For the third he excused himself because he had hopes of Marrying his Niece with the Kings second Son a party much more Advantageous then Sforza could be The Cardinal de Tournon and de Gramont were then upon the Negociation with him about this Alliance The Emperor could not believe the King would so much Debase and Vilifie the Noblest Bloud in the World He was much amazed when the two Cardinals shewed him the Powers they had for it Then went he away very ill satisfied with his Holiness though to appease him he promised to give him content in what he demanded against the King of England and Embarquing at Genoa about the end of February he passed into Spain Henry made most Vehement instances to Francis that he would Impetrate of the Pope he might have Judges appointed on the Place The two Cardinals whom we have mentioned being arrived at Bologna the fourth of January in the year 1533 obtained of his Holiness that he would defer the Judgement of that business till the King and he should had seen one another at the place appointed for that Meeting They had agreed upon the City of Nice but the Duke of Savoy making too many Difficulties the Pope consented not without much Repugnance that it should be at Marseilles and that they should come there in the Month of October The Amorous Impatience of Henry could not attend till then he caused his Marriage with Catherine to be Dissolved by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Espoused Anne Bullen in the presence of four or five Witnesses only He was Emboldned thereto by the three Thomases who governed him these were Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Cromwel Lord Chamberlain and Privy-Seal and Audley Lord High Chancellour The thing being done he gave notice of it to King Francis intreating his assistance for what he demanded of the Pope and to keep the business Secret It could not be kept so Private but that in one Months time both the Pope and the Emperor were made acquainted with it Both of them were Netled and Incensed to the greatest Extremity in-so-much as the Pope Pronounced the Sentence of Excommunication against Henry and nevertheless he refrained from Publishing it upon the Kings request who on the one hand being obliged to Henry and on the other desiring to be firmly united to the Pope sought out some way for an Accommodation However he promised nothing to King Henry saving that he would do him all the good Offices he could without prejudice either to his Religion or his Conscience And indeed the Pope desired that he would not press him in that concern beyond his Duty and the rules of Justice Year of our Lord 1533 In the mean time Anne Bullen was deliver'd of a Daughter who was named Elizabeth This was in the Month of September of this year 1533. The tenth of October the Pope arrived at Marseilles in the Kings Galleys who took him in at the Port of Pisa Some days before John Stuard Duke of Albany had brought thither Catherine de Medicis whose Maternal Aunt he had Married John de Bellay Bishop of Paris and afterwards Cardinal Harangued his Holiness in most Elegant Latin The next day after he had made his Entrance into the City the King made his with his Queen The Nuptials between Henry and Catherine were Celebrated the seven and twentieth of the Month with as great Joy as Magnificence The Pope and the King spent several days together being Lodged in two Houses just opposit the Street betwixt them but joyned by a Timber Gallery so that they went to each other unseen and could treat of their Affairs with the greatest Privacy Upon this occasion the King did not forget his usual Magnificence but rather Surpassed it very much He Loaded with exquisite Presents and great Pensions all those Cardinals that were with his Holiness But he made the Beauty of his mind and Eloquence out-shine the luster of his Gifts and that whole Court was satisfied that if there were a richer Prince in the World yet there could not be any one that made a more generous use of his Riches nor that accompanied his favours with so much wit and so much kindness as he The two and twentieth of November the Pope and he parted very well pleased with all their Negociations excepting that the King had extorted from the Pope four Cardinals Hats for four Relations of his Favorites these were John le Veneur Bishop of Lisieux Grand Almoner of France Claude de Giury Paternal Uncle to the Wife of de Brion Odet de Coligny but thirteen years of Age Son of Montmorency's Sister and Philip de la Chambre Brother by the Mother to John Duke of Albany This last took the name of Cardinal of Boulogne he being descended from that House by his Mother As to the rest there was no new League made between the Pope and the King contrary to the expectation of the whole World The Pope promised only to do all he could in favour of Prince Henry his second Son to obtain the Dutchy of Milan of the Emperor for him And as to the business of the King of England the King could not prevail with the Pope to revoke the Excommunication but only that he would not Publish it till he had first tryed by all manner of perswasions to bring that Prince again to reason To this intent he forthwith dispatched John du Bellay Bishop of Paris into England to exhort him not to depart from the Communion of the Roman Church This wise and able Prelate having obliged King Henry to promise him that point provided the Pope on his part would forbear publishing the Excommunication went Post to Rome to carry this good News and demand time to reclaim and fix that inconstant and stubborn Spirit The Imperialists could not prevent him from procuring it but they caused it to be limited to a much shorter space then was requisite Du Bellay therefore sent back a Courier into England with order to return by such a certain time Now the day being come but not the Courier the Imperialists pressed the business so hotly that although he represented that the Frosts and Snows and other Inconveniencies of the Season and Way might hinder and retard him and desired another respite only for six days Yet the Pope refused it and doing in one Meeting what he ought not to have done but in three he Pronounced the Sentence and caused it to be affixed in the usual places Two days after the Courier arrived bringing very ample Powers by which King Henry Submitted himself to the Judgement of the Holy See provided certain Cardinals whom
but one narrow Channel to go in It was not thought sit either to fortifie the Island nor to fall upon them in a place of such advantage but to Land on their Coasts in sight of King Henry who was come down to Portsmouth to see what passed and send forth his Men of War They made two or three Landings with a great deal of Noise but Annebaut perceiving they would not come forth and his Provisions being spent he turned his Prow towards France and arrived there about the end of July The Mareschal de Biez advanced little against Boulogne though the King himself to push the business forward were come with Charles Duke of Orleans his second Son to the Abbey of Forrest-Moustier which is within ten Leagues of it between Abbeville and Monstrevil The Wound which Francis Duke d'Aumale received in a Salley made by the Enemies is a thing very remarkable He returned from the Engagement with the Iron head of a Lance and a piece of the Wooden Truncheon sticking in his head which entered at the Angle betwixt his right Eye and his Nose and came out behind between the Nape of his Neck and his Ear. The Chyrurgeon whose name was Ambrose Paré was forced to draw it out with a strong hand and Instrument and yet he most happily recover'd In the mean time Contagious distempers got into the Kings Army and the Duke of Orleans a Prince of great hopes dyed the eight of September at Forrest-Moustier whether of Venom or of some Poison that was thought to have been given him by some Creatures of his Brothers For they could not endure the King should cherish him so much as he did and be angry that the Daufin notwithstanding his command to the contrary kept correspondence with the Conestable Montmorency whose return they desired because their Master earnestly longed for it The death of this Prince broke all the bonds of Concord if there were any between the King and the Emperor The Envoyez carrying the News of it to the latter and asking how he intended to dispose of the Dutchy of Milan he plainly told them that he to whom he had promised it being no more he thought himself disengaged of his promise He declared his intention with so much the greater confidence as finding his Affairs against the Protestants in a very good posture some of whom as Maurice one of the Dukes of Saxony had taken his Party Frederic the Elector Palatin had Submitted Year of our Lord 1546 John Frederic Duke of Saxony and Philip Landgrave of Hesse who had declared War against him did not well agree together in-so-much as their vast Army which at first was Seventy Thousand Foot and Fifteen thousand Horse were almost dwindled to nothing and that his own encreased daily by the Supplyes sent him from the Pope and the Princes of Italy and those Forces he drew out of the Low-Countries his Hereditary Lands and from the Catholick Princes A Peace was equally desired by King Francis and by the King of England The first was not in very good health his Army wasted by Sickness and he apprehended those great Forces which Charles V. raised to quell the Protestant Princes of Germany might fall upon him Henry had neither Men nor Money and feared that a Forreign War might favour such as had a mind to rise at home Upon these considerations they named their Deputies about the end of April who meeting at a place between Ardres and Guines after six weeks debate concluded the Peace upon the eight day of June by which the King of England promised to restore Boulogne within eight years and the King was obliged to give him eight hundred thousand Crowns of Gold to be paid by one hundred thousand each year The residue of this same King Francis employed in visiting and furnishing his Frontiers fearing lest the Emperor should attempt something upon him as no doubt he would had the Protestants Submitted so early as he expected Francis was advised to assist them to keep the War out of his own Kingdom and maintain it in his Enemies He might do it with honour they were his Allies he might in Conscience do it since the Emperor by his Manifesto's declared he designed nothing against their Belief but their Rebellion Nevertheless the Scrupulous Counsel of the Cardinal de Tournon diverted him and even to let them know they were to hope for nothing from him engaged him to express his wrath against such as were Professors of their Religion by kindling the Flames of persecution throughout all his Dominions Great numbers of those miserable Creatures were Burnt many redeemed themselves from Fire and Faggots by Singing Palinodia and the more Sagacious by a timely Flight Year of our Lord 1547 The eight and twentieth of February in the year 1547. Henry King of England aged fifty seven years ended the Thrid of his Life which his incontinency had horribly knotted and entangled by the Multiplicity of his Marriages and the terrible change he made in the Anglicane Church He had six Wives Catherine of Arragon Anne Bullen Jane Seymour Anne of Cleve Catherine Howard and Catherine Parre He was divorced from the first and the fourth saw the third die in Child-Bed and caused the second and the fifth to be Beheaded for the crimes of Adultery the sixth survived him and Married Thomas Seymour Admiral of England By the first he left a Daughter named Mary by the second another named Elizabeth and by Jane a Son named Edward as then nine years of Age who came to the Crown immediately after him The rumour of the Emperors Armes gave astonishment to all Christendom the Pope himself Trembled for fear lest having Subdued Germany he should pass into Italy When Francis had therefore well considered the consequences of the ruin of the Protestants he changed his mind and made a League with them obliged himself to receive the Eldest Son of the Duke of Saxony into France and in particular permit him the exercise of his Religion promised to send an Hundred Thousand Crowns to his Father and as much to the Landgrave of Hesse till such time as he could assist them with Forces In the mean while his trouble for the death of King Henry encreasing his inveterate distemper changed a lingring Feavour that was upon him into a continued one and stopt him at the Castle of Rambouillet where he finished his life the last day of March by an end worthy of a most generous Prince and a most Christian King He earnestly recommended to his Son the diminishing of the Tallage which he had raised too much not to recall Montmorency to continue the Cardinal de Tournon to whom he willed a Hundred Thousand Crowns and Annebaut in the Administration told him that the Sons ought to imitate the Vertues of their Fathers and not their Vices that the French being the best people in the world deserved so much the more to be well Treated as they refused their King nothing in his
differences It was called the Interim It contained 26 Articles whereof two were favourable to the Protestants those were a liberty of Marriage for their Priests and the use of the Cup for the Laity This accommodation pleased neither the one nor the other Party nor was received but by force and compulsion The Emperors ill will towards the King discover'd its self but too much by several tokens particularly the death of Volgesperg Mentel and Volfius German Captains whom he seized upon in their houses and caused them to lose their heads by the Hangman making it criminal for that they had raised some Troops to assist at the Kings Coronation He would at that very time have given him a taste of his good affection by declaring an open War had he not been hindred by three grand Obstacles one of them being his indisposition for he was much tormented with the Gout perhaps complicated with some other distemper for which he used Guajacum the other that he durst not so soon leave Germany held in obedience meerly by his presence and the third that Solyman in the instrument of the Truce had comprehended the King in these terms that he was not only his Friend but also a Friend to his Friends and Enemy to his Enemies Henry King of England had ordained that his Son Edward should succeed him to the Crown that he failing Mary should attain to it and after her Elizabeth whom he had by Anne Bullen He had left the Government of the Kingdom and of young Edward to twelve Lords but the eleven yielded up their authority to Edward Sâ—ymour Earl of Hereford and Duke of Somerset his maternal Vncle who by this means was Regent or Protector of England This Duke being imbued with the Opinions of Zuinglius laboured in such sort with the help of Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury who was a Lutheran that by an Ordonnance of Parliament held in the Month of November he caused the exercise of the Catholique Religion to be abolished and introduced another Medly of the Opinions of Calvin and those of Luther Year of our Lord 1548 Whilst the King was taking his measures and before he would adventure to shock so potent an Enemy as a Victorious Emperor he thought fit under colour of making a Progress through his Kingdom to visit Champagni Burgundi and Lyonnois making his entrance into all the Cities with Prodigious Magnificence especially into Lyons He proceeded even to Piedmont and every where carefully stored his Frontier Towns in case Philip the Emperors Son who was just gone into Italy should have some untoward design but he stayed little there Year of our Lord 1548 At his return being in the City of Moulins the Eighteenth of October he Celebrated the Nuptials of Anthony de Vendosme with Jane d'Albret Daughter of the King of Navarre whose former Marriage with the Duke of Cleve was easily vacated as not having been consummated After the defection of that Francis Marquiss de Salusses who as we have seen before perished at Carmagnoles King Francis would not seize upon the Marquisat of Salusses which was forfeited to him and confiscate for the Crime of Rebellion and Felony but had invested his younger Brother named Gabriel in it This being dead without Children and there remaining no lawful Heirs of that House as I believe Henry seized upon the said Fief as holding of Daufiné to which it remained United till the Year 1587. that Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy seized it as having some pretensions upon it During the Kings absence a furious flame of Sedition was kindled over all Guyenne because of the Gabel and Garners for Salt set up amongst them by Francis I. and the violence committed upon that Score by the swarms of Officers and Satellites against those poor people The Commotion began in Saintonge by some Villagers who beat and hunted them away their number increased to Sixteen Year of our Lord 1548 Thousand Men well Armed who chose Leaders among themselves Another Gang headed together in Angoulmois who seized upon Angoulesmâ— as the former did upon Saintes then they quitted those places to scour about the Countries committing all the cruel and villainous acts such brutish souls were capable of These two Kennels of Blood-Hounds being joyned were received into Bourdeaux by the Populace constrained the Captain of the Castle and him that commanded the Town the Presidents and Counsellors of Parliament to march in the Head of them in Sea mens habits and inhumanely Massacred Tristan de Moneins Lieutenant to the Governor of the Province It was parâ—ly his own fault for he was so imprudent as to come to Bourdeaux without bringing a sufficient number of the Nobless with him he amused himself with commanding his Souldiers to out-face and make mouths at those People and then afterwards went out of his Castle du Ha to the Mairâ— to Treat with those Furies After they had spent their first fire they dispersed in a few days The Parliament Year of our Lord 1549 having resumed their Authority severely chastised some of them It was to be feared that if they had in cold blood consider'd the horror of their Crime the dispair of Pardon would have cast them into the arms of the English the Kings Counsel therefore thought requisite to amuse them with fair words and to promise them a general Amnistie and the revocation of the Gabelle but having put all in good order he fail'd not to send the Connestable and the Duke d'Aumale thither with two small Armies each consisting of Four or Five Thousand Men to punish them The Duke passed by Saintonge Poitu and Aulnis without exercising any great severities and came to Langon but the Connestable descending from Languedoc whereof he was Governor along the Garonne with a courage whetted by revenge for the Murther of Moneins who was his Kinsman was not so mild For having joyned him at that place and marching to Bourdeaux he caused thirty fathom of their Wall to be broken down that he might enter at the breach which was on the Tenth day of August when he was within he first disarmed the Bourdâ—lois and placed his Canon and his Souldiers in the Markets and at the opening of the Streets then caused present process to be made against the whole City by Stephen de Neuilly Master of Requests This man extremely violent by Sentence of the Twenty Sixth of October declared it guilty of Rebellion and therefore all their Priviledges forfeited of Majoralty Sheriffalty and Jurisdiction Condemned them to maintain two Galleys for the Governor to furnish the two Castles with â—mmunitions and to pay Two Hundred Thousand Livers as a Fine besides took away their Bells suspended the Parliament which was so for a whole year Ordered their Town-Hall should be razed and a Chappel built on the same place where they should pray for the Soul of Moneins that the Jurats with an hundred of the most noted Citizens should dig up the Corps of that Lord
with their Nails and bear him each having a Flambâ—au in his hand to St. Andrews Church About Five Thousand Burghers assisted at this Funeral Pomp carrying all Wax-Candles and making a stop before the Connestables door cryed out for mercy and confessed they had deserved a more heavy punishment Besides all this he put above an hundred to death most part being of the principal Citizens and Officers belonging to the place This great severity â—lienated the affection of the people from him as the tender humanity of the Duke of Aumale gained it so as from this very time that Lorrain Branch began to reign in their hearts Some while after the King who was benign and easie following the counsel of that Prince did in many particulars moderate the rigour of the Sentence preserved the Town-House gave Pardon to many that were Condemned and restored the Bells and Priviledges again to the Bourdelois Charles IX his Son gave them more ample ones After Bourdeaux had been humbled in this manner the Provost belonging to the Connestables going thorough all the Provinces laid hold on several of the most Seditious amongst others Three of their Chiefs viz. a Gentleman who had his Head cut off and two Chiefs of the Commons who were broken upon the Wheel with a Crown of red hot Iron clap'd upon their Heads Year of our Lord 1549 After all these Tragical Executions the Year 1549 was spent for the most part in rejoycings and in Carousels The Birth of the Kings Second Son of whom the Queen was deliver'd at Saint Germains was one occasion of these Feastings He was named Lewis The Figure-Flingers foretold wonders of him and yet he lived but two years The divertisements of the Carneval succeeded that of his Christ'ning then in the Month of July the King and Queen made their Magnificent Entrance into Paris after her being Crowned aâ— Saint Denis To this Ceremony they added Tiltings running at the Ring Balls great Entertainments and all the vain past-times that an ingenious and opulent idleness could invent to delight and glut the Eyes of the Women and multitudes of People When the Court was weary of these Sports the Scene of it was changed and a fit of Piety succeeded their Gallantry They made a general Procession to Nostre-Dame whereat the King was present This was to testifie by a publick Act the Zeal he had to maintain the Religion of his Ancestors and to punish all those that would disturb it Which he confirmed by the horrible Executions of great numbers of those miserable Protestants who were burned in the Greve They were haled up by a Pully and an Iron Chain then suffered to fall down in the midst of a great Fire which was repeated several times He would needs feed his own Eyes with this Tragical and Melancholly Spectacle and it is said that the horrible and mournful Shricks of one of those poor wretches left so lively an impression in his imagination that all his life long he had from time to time a very frightful and terrifying remembrance of those dreadful groans However that were it is certain the smell of those Carkasses thus roasted got into the Brains of a great many People who on the one hand beholding their false constancy and on the other the scandalous dissolute living at Court named this Justice a Persecution and their punishment a Martyrdom The 12 th of June the Alliance was renewed with the Swiss but not without much opposition of the Protestant Cantons exasperated for the burning those of their Religion Year of our Lord 1549 When the English were contriving better measures to invade Scotland there hap'ned some division between the Duke of Sommerset and the Earl of Warwick and between the Nobility and the People This Juncture being favourable to France the King would lay hold of it to recover Boulogne He armed powerfully by Sea and Land went before the place in person and gained four or five Forts the English had built round about it Then Autumn coming he Block'd up the Tower d'Ordre meaning to return in the following Spring Pope Paul having lost all hopes of recovering Piacenza from the hands of the Emperor or even to preserve Parma in his Family resolved to re-unite this to the Demeasnes of the Church and to give the Dutchy of Camerino to his Grand-Son Octavio Octavio positively denied to accept of this exchange and wrote to the Cardinal Farneze his Brother that rather then consent to it he would Surrender up Parma to Frederic de Gonsague The Cardinal shewed the Letter to the Pope who was so moved with wrath that his whole Body fell into a strange fit of trembling and afterwards into a violent Feavour whereof he died within three days The Cardinals after three Months practices and juggling Elected John Maria de Monte who assumed the name of Julius III. Year of our Lord 1550 The English not having Forces sufficient would not stand off too long but came to a Treaty of Peace which was concluded between the City of Boulogne and the Fort d'Outreau the 24 th of March They promised to resign Boulogne upon the payment of four hundred thousand Crowns of Gold to wit the one half when the French entered the Town the other moiety six Months after Scotland was comprized in this Treaty and those places the English had Invaded were to be restored to the Queen-Regent The House of Guise obtained great augmentations Duke Claude and John Cardinal of Lorrain his Brother being dead Francis Duke of Aumale took his Fathers Title and Charles who was called the Cardinal de Guise that of his Uncle and his Benefices This same raised his power mightily and that of his whole House not so much by his merit though he had a great deal as by his complaisance to the Kings Mistress He had so much power that he caused Peter Lizet the first President of the Parliament of Paris to be displaced He had dared to affront him by refusing to Treat him as a Prince but was forced Year of our Lord 1550 humbly to have recourse to his intercession to obtain some Benefice for his subsistance they gave him the Abbey of Saint Victor lez Paris John Bertrand second President was put in his place Soon after Diana caused the Seals to be taken from the Chancellor Olivier whose probity did not sute with her conduct and because he stood upon it not to lay down his Title of Chancellor which by the Laws of the Land cannot be taken away but with his Life She obliged the King to grant the Commission and Office of Keeper of the Seals and to give it to Bertrandi who by this means left that of first President to Giles le Maistre who had before succeeded him as second Though Faggots were lighted every where against the Protestants yet the Inhabitants of Merindol and Cabrieres presented their Petition to the King demanding Justice for the Violence done against them under pretence of a Decree of
Funeral Of so many Lords and so many Bishops as were then at Orleans there were none but Sansac and la Brosse who had been his Governors and Lewis Guillard Bishop of Senlis who was blind that conducted his Corps to Saint Denis His Heart was left to the Church named Saincte Croix at Orleans The Guises excused their not attending it upon the necessity there was for them to stay with their Niece to comfort her But they were not exempted from reproach such as had more sence of Honour then Ambition much blamed them for not paying that little devoir to him from whom they had received so much honour And indeed some body tack'd a Paper upon the Pall that cover'd his Coffin wherein were these words Taneguy du Chastel where art thou This Taneguy as was well known tho banished from Court during the Reign of Charles VII his Master came generously back again thither to make a Funeral for that King at his own charges shewing his gratitude thereby and making it appear to all the World that his thankfulness for the favours he had received were above his fear of the resentments of Lewis XI a mortal Enemy to the memory and Servants of his own Father The Constable who had been sent for several times but crept along slowly by little Journeys having heard the tydings of the Kings death doubled his pace and Arrived the Eight of the Month of December at Orleans Entring into Year of our Lord 1560 the City he made use of the power belonging to his Office and commanded away the Guards that were at the Gates threatning to send them to the Gallows if he found them any more besieging or investing the King in that manner in a time of Peace and in the very heart of his Kingdom As for the Prince though he had free liberty as soon as ever the King expir'd nevertheless he refused to go out of Prison till he knew who were the prosecutors against him and who his accusers There were none durst undertake to play so desperate a Game and the Guises replied that all had been done by express Command of the King but did not produce any Order by vertue whereof he had been so prosecuted So that Thirteen dayes afterwards he came forth and went to Ham in Picardy attended with Honour and respect by those very men that had served as Guards upon him in his Confinement CHARLES IX King LX. POPES PIUS IV. Five Years under this Reign PIUS V. Elected the 7 January 1566. S. 6 Years 3 Months and 24 dayes GREGORY XIII Elected the 13. of May 1572. S. 13. Years wanting one Month whereof two years under this Reign Year of our Lord 1560. in December THose hopes many had conceived that King Francis II. being near the time of his compleat Majority might possibly extinguish all the Factions were now by his death changed into a just fear of finding them rather more enflamed and heightned from a Sedition to a Bloody War wherefore the Tumults increasing every day they made hast to Assemble the Estates from whom the silly vulgar expect a redress of all their grievances and troubles The first Session was held the Thirteenth of December in a great Timber Hall expresly built in the place called l'Estape The Chancellor begun it with a Speech becoming his gravity He blamed the violent proceedings in matters of Religion told them the only means to reclaim such as went astray was a good exemplary Life and sound Doctrine exhorted them earnestly to lay aside the injurious names of Lutherans Huguenots Papists and desired every one to forbear all hatred and own no passion but for the publick good in which consists the benefit of all particular Persons There was nothing else done at this first meeting only the three Orders were sent to confer together about their Papers and Instructions Some who were inspired with a bolder zeal had a mind to confer the Regency upon the King of Navarre but withal to leave the Education of the young King to his Mother to set bounds to the Government and make choice of a good Council for the management of all Affairs of State The Queen Mother took the Allarm caused the Kings Council to make a Decree which forbad the Deputies to intermeddle with the Government and made use of so many intrigues that the Navarrois a Prince very inconstant and irresolute was perswaded to confirm what he had promised her during the Imprisonment of his Brother Year of our Lord 1561 The second of January was the second Sessions of the Estates The three Orders made their Harangues John de Lange Advocate of Bourdeaux spake for the Third Estate James de Silly Earl of Rochefort for the Nobility and John Quintin a Canon of Autun and Doctor en Decret for the Clergy The two first laid great stress and weight upon the Vices of the Ecclesiasticks the cause of all the disorders The last endeavour'd to defend them retorted all upon the new Sectaries and reflected particularly upon the Admiral who demanded reparation Year of our Lord 1561 Quintin was obliged to do it in a set Speech at the closing up of the Estates Whatever accord there could be between the Navarrois and the Regent yet there was danger that the Estates if they consider'd their power might put some Fetters upon this Woman who was a stranger and besides they began to perceive that the Princes were forming parties and tryed to foist in certain propositions for their own interests or concerning their private quarrels Amongst others the King of Navarre put them upon calling for an account of the Finances and a particular of all the Gifts bestowed in the Reign of Henry II. himself proffering to surrender all that were given him This touched the Constable and the Mareschal de Saint André more then the Guises as having expended more in the Kings Service then they had gained The Regent soon perceived where it pinched and joyning them to her self upon this consideration easily adjourned the Estates to the Month of May and the City of Pontoise and ordained that she might be at less Charge and trouble to bribe them that there should come but two Deputies from each Government In the Month of February the King being come to Fountainbleau the Prince of Condé appeared there with a slender attendance that he might give them no jealousie The next day being admitted to the Privy-Council and having spoken of his innocency he asked the Chancellor whether there were any proofs against him the Chancellor answered No and all the Princes and Lords having testified that they were satisfied of his innocency the King commanded him to take his Seat The Council did after make a Decree which declared him wholly innocent and sent him back to the Parliament of Paris to get a more Authentique one as he did in a few days afterwards The courage of the Guises did not sink upon the rise of their enemies they were supported by the Catholick Party and
them that they made a Decree quite contrary Whereupon the King made another in July referring the Cognizance of all Crimes of Sedition and unlawful Assemblies to the Presidial Courts and those of Heresie to the Judges Ecclesiastical by whom the Parties convict should be delivered up to the Secular Power who should not however condemn them to any thing above banishment Year of our Lord 1561 They had often discoursed of a National Council till that could be called it was thought convenient to have a Colloquy or Conference between the Catholick Priests and the Huguenot Ministers The Cardinal de Lorrain was one of the chief Promoters whether to hinder the National Council which did not at all please the Court of Rome or to make ostentation of his learning and eloquence The Ministers did likewise promise much advantage to themselves for by this means they were made equal with Bishops whereas in a Council they could have had no place Besides they thought themselves able enough to throw Dust in the Catholicks Eyes and they reckon'd they must needs have the better of it seeing the two Bishops of Sées and of Valence who were of the most knowing Prelates leaned towards them Year of our Lord 1561. in May. In the interim the Assembly of the States which had been adjourned to Pontoise in May began to fall to work Whatever the Regents Emissaries had been able to do there was yet so much of the ancient French spirit left in the heads of the Deputies as would not suffer them to let a Woman have the Regency the King of Navarre was forced to go thither himself to let them know he had yielded up his right and together with the Mareschal de Montmorency Governor of the Isle of France intreat them they would speak no more of it This was not sufficient but for fear they should bring it again upon the Stage it was judged necessary to dismiss the Assembly till the Month of August and to appoint it might be held at Saint Germain en Laye where they did meet The King was present there sitting on his Throne the Queen-Mother at his left hand with her Daughter Margaret and somewhat lower the King of Navarre the Cardinal de Bourbon and the Prince of Condé before these on the right hand were the Constable on the left the Chancellor the Duke of Guise as grand Chamberlain lay at the Kings Feet The Cardinals pretended to take place before the Princes of the Blood and had often had it in other Assemblies but it was now judged otherwise in favour of those Princes The Cardinals de Chastillon and d'Armagnac did acquiesce and the old Cardinal de Bourbon remained there also who having the right of birth before the Prince of Condé had likewise the precedence but the Cardinals de Tournon de Lorrain and de Guise would not submit to it and so withdrew The Admiral being the person that had persuaded the King of Navarre and the Deputies of the Estates to confirm the Regency to the Queen-Mother She would in recompence whilst She stood in need of him favour the Huguenot party and according to that Air wherewith She had inspired the Court or to intimidate the Clergy and incline them to give Money it was observed that in this Assembly every thing was turned against the whole Body of them Those that spoke in the name of the third Estate and the Nobility mentioned no other thing but their irregularities and disorder and concluded as the Hereticks ever do and all such as have more Policy then Religion not so much to reform them as to retrench their vast Riches and take away their Temporal Jurisdiction and adjudg the possessions of Religious Rents to the King They added that a National Council ought to be called and in the mean time did tolerate the Religionaries to Preach with all freedom in such Temples where the King should appoint and give leave After these Harangues they considered and debated the propositions contained in the Deputies papers and instructions wherein some Reglements were made by way of satisfaction But the Regent did not forget to take those advantages which the Council of Kings is ever wont to draw from such Assemblies that is to say great Sums of Money For the Clergy having a hot Allarm gave consent they should raise four Tenths in Six years and the third Estate five Solz upon every Tierce of Wine that was carried into any Walled Town An impost that hath encreased ever since that time to this very day The day for the Colloquy being come there met six Cardinals and four Bishops at Poisy with a good number of the Most Learned Theologues amongst others Claude d'Espences and Claude de Saintes that which made the number of these Prelates there so great was their being sent for to advise about the place and time for a Council and to deliberate concerning the publick Affairs of the State Now before the Ministers were come they had propounded several things amongst themselves in order to restore the Discipline supposing as it was true that the corruptions thereof had given rise and birth to the present heresies but they came to no result of any importance Year of our Lord 1561 Some days afterwards ten or twelve Ministers arrived there the most famous of them were Theodore de Beze Augustin Marlorat Francis Morel who compiled the first Articles of their Religion Peter Martyr and John Viret The King and the Regent were present with the Royal Family the Princes of the Blood the Bishops Cardinals Council of State and the Grandees of the Kingdom both of the one and the other Religion all seated according to their Qualities and Degrees within a place enclosed with rails the Doctors were behind the Bishops upon low Forms The Ministers would have gone within the Enclosure but they were excluded and remained without and standing Though the Colloquy was appointed upon the Tenth of August it did not however commence till the Fourth of September After the Chancellor had open'd it the Cardinal de Tournon desired since the thing was new and without a President he might deliberate or consult of it with the Clergy The Queen-Mother would not allow it and commanded de Beze to speak for they had resolved to treat of and handle the questions by discourses and harangues not by argumentations month September and syllogismes which suited very well with the desire the Cardinal de Lorrain and Beze had to shew their Eloquence We may say of de Beze on this occasion to say no worse that he had neither the prudence nor the moderation he ought to have shown For upon the point touching the Holy Sacrament his zeal transported him to such expressions and discourses as horribly grated the Catholick Ears saying that the Body of Jesus Christ was as far distant from the Eucharist as Earth is from Heaven The Prelates trembled with horror of the expression the Cardinal de Tournon made a great deal of noise and
took up at Nismes both Money and refreshments from that place Marched towards the Vivarets reposed themselves for some days at Aubenas passed the Rhosne by Pousin which they held and under the favour of a Fort which Montbrun sent before by the Princes for that very purpose had built on the other Shoar then coasting Year of our Lord 1570 along that River they in vain Attaqued Montelimar and having sojourned a while in Daufiné took their course towards the Country des Forés where they surprised the City of Saint Estienne Year of our Lord 1570. May c. In this place the Admiral was taken sick of a Feaver which put him in great danger of his life and staid them above three weeks there When he began to recover Saint John younger Brother to Montgommery seized the Bridge called Sainct Rambert upon the Loire and Briquemaut sent by the Princes brought them from la Charité fifteen Companies as well Foot as Horse which made up fifteen hundred Horse and two thousand Foot Their Army being thus re-inforced descended into Burgundy and having given the Allarm to Chalon surprised Arnay le Duke by means of a long March they made in one day for that purpose The King's Council could never have believed it possible they should March securely by so many Cities strong Forts over Rivers narrow steights in Mountains and such hilly and uncouth Countries or that they could have the strength and good fortune to break thorough so many Garrisons of their Enemies and Multitudes of People risen up in Arms against them who night and day lay in wait to destroy them and at the same time endure the severity and inconveniencies of a sharp and uncomfortable Winter the difficulties of the ways and the opposition of Seven or Eight Provinces Besides they relied upon a Negociation for a Peace to which end there was a perpetual sending backward and forward from the time of the Surrender of Saint Jean d'Angely so that they were much amazed to find they were come so nigh and upon their March directly for Paris threatning to execute the same vengeance as they had done in the Voicinage of Thoulouze Then that peril they had neglected whilst they were in distant Provinces appearing greater by how much nearer it approached they gave Orders to the Mareschal de Cossé to draw the King's Forces together and go forth to meet them In all this long and toilsome March the Princes had maintain'd their Forces as well by the plunder of above fifty small Towns which they had taken and twice as many which they had ransomed as by the reinforcements of Horse that came to them and a great number of Arquebusiers of those Countries thorough which they Marched serpenting and turning every way to receive such as desired to joyn with them and who being scatter'd here and there could never of themselves have made their way thorough those Crowds of common people who rose up in Arms in every part against them But after all they notwithstanding lost greater numbers than they could pick up for those that had been in Poitou as soon as they drew near their own habitations retired thither and desired to stay at home both to repose themselves and to protect and defend their Families The incommodities of the Winter the fatigues of the March the wants they met withal in their Lodgments or Quarters where most commonly there was neither Bread nor Wine for the Peasants fled the continual attempts made upon them by the Catholicks not sparing so much as any one that stray'd never so little from the main Body had made them lose above six thousand Of five hundred English they had at first amongst them but twelve were left above the one half of their Reisters were dead and the rest were most of them disarmed for not being able to have Carriages in so tedious a March and thorough such rugged ways the greater part had left their Corselets and Head-pieces behind them with all their Horses as likewise those that belonged to the French were grown so poor and weak they could scarce support themselves And as for the Foot their condition was not much better for a great part of them were but raw Soldiers in those times they named them Bisongnes but they had this advantage most of them were mounted upon little Naggs that they might be enabled to make long Marches and yet be little tyred The Mareschal de Cossé having about Orleans drawn the Royal Forces together to the number of thirteen or fourteen thousand Men passes the Loire at Desise and Marched directly towards the Princes imagining that being so tatter'd and out of sorts as they were he need but only attaque them to defeat them He soon changed his opinion when he found upon a great Skirmish between the two Armies near Arnay le Duke that they would put him to half the trouble at least After this he would run no more hazards but let them go quietly towards la Charité contenting himself with coasting along by them upon the right hand During these times there were divers other exploits performed in the other parts of this Kingdom but the most observable about Rochel The Baron de la Garde Puy-Galliard and Puy-Taillé pressed mightily upon those that were retired Year of our Lord 1570 to that place La Garde and Puy Taillé having besieged Rochefort situate upon the Avenues of the Islands were drove thence by la Noüe whom notwithstanding they soon afterwards forced to take shelter in Rochel Afterwards Puy-Galliard with an Army of ten or twelve thousand Men took all the Forts the Huguenots had seized in Poitou after the surprizal of Marans and to streighten them the more he built one at Lucon upon the Avenue to the Marshes La Noüe who understood the consequence immediately laid Siege to it Puy-Galliard draws all his Men together again whom he had distributed in the higher Poitou and Marches up to him but loses the Battel between Sancte Gemme and Lucon La Noüe follows his blow Besieges Fontenay and receives it upon composition He afterwards regains Oleron Matennes Soubize and Broüage In those very days Broüage was of great importance for its situation upon a Canal very difficult to enter and wholly surrounded by Salt-Marshes which produce the greatest Riches of that Country it was begun to be fortified by James de Ponts-Mirembeau who being Lord thereof would have given it the name of Jacopoli All the Catholicks of those quarters were forced to retire to Sainct John d'Angely The Baron de la Garde having kept the Seas a while with his Galleys brings them back into the River of Bourdeaux To stop the further Progress of the Huguenots it was resolved Prince Henry Daufin of Auvergne Son of Lewis de Bourbon Duke of Montpensier should go into that Country and he was preparing himself for that expedition when the news of the Peace discharged him both from that trouble and expence The Army of the
Queen Mothers Closet The Duke of Anjou the Duke of Nevers the Bastard d'Angoulesme the Keeper of the Seals Birague the Counts de Tavanes and de Rais were of it There upon the Report made by the Gentleman it having been consider'd that if the Admiral escaped they should fall into greater perplexities then ever it was concluded that both he and all the Huguenots should be dispatched excepting the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde It hath been said that at the first they spake only of the Chiefs and principal Men but that the King after he was with much adoe perswaded to resolve upon it added swearing in his wonted manner Well then since it must be I will not have one left alive to reproach me with it They then gave out Orders to Execute such their Resolution that same Night and the Duke of Guise was made the Chief Manager as well because the People had more Confidence in him as because he was animated with the Resentment of the death of his Father and had drawn together a great number of People Armed for that purpose Wherefore about Ten a Clock at Night he sends for Year of our Lord 1572 the Swiss Captains of the Five little Cantons and some of the French Companies orders them to put themselves all in Armes and to John Charon Prevost des Marchands as also to Marcel who was newly out of that Employment to Arm the Citizens and first draw them together within some Houses then bring them into the Market places to light Flambeaus in all their Windowes to wear a white Scarfe or Linnen on their left Arm and a Cross of the same upon their Hats and when they were in readiness then to begin the Butchery at a Signal given them by Ringing out the great Bell belonging to the Palace which is not wont to be used but upon some extraordinary Occasion of rejoycing The Orders given he returned to the Louvre where the Queen Mother the Duke of Anjou Nevers and Birague used their utmost Endeavors to resolve the King's Mind for the nearer he came to the Moment of Execution the more he was troubled in his Soul so that the very Sweat ran down his Forehead and his pulsation was like one in a Feaver They had much adoe to force a positive and precise consent from him but as soon as ever they had obtained it the Queen Mother hastned the Signal above an hour and caused the Bell to be rung at Saint Germains de l'Auxerrois as the Alarum agreed upon When he heard this and the report of some Pistols fired at the same time he was so moved that he sent orders they should forbear a while longer but word was brought back that they had proceeded too far and indeed the Duke of Guise had caused both the Admiral and Teligny his Son in Law to be Massacred in their Lodgings and the fierce Woolfs being unchained and let loose ran to every House and filled all with Blood and Slaughter To draw the Picture of this Horrible Massacre in little it lasted seven whole dayes the three first which was from Sunday the Feast of St. Bartholomew till Tuesday in it's greatest fury the other Four till the Sunday following with somewhat more of abatement During which time were Murthered near Five Thousand Persons by divers sorts of Deaths and many by more then one amongst others Five or Six Hundred Gentlemen Neither the Aged nor the tender Infants were spared nor Women great with Child some were Stabb'd others hewn in pieces with Halberts or Shot with Muskets of Pistols some thrown Head-long out of the Windows many dragged to the River and divers had their Brains beaten out with Mallets Clubs or such like Instruments Seven or Eight Hundred had thrust themselves into the several Prisons hoping to find shelter and protection under the Wings of Justice but the Captains appointed for this Execution caused them to be haled out and brought to a place near la Valeé de Misere or the Valley of Misery where they beat out their Brains with a Pole-Axe and then cast them into the River A Butcher going to the Louvre upon Tuesday told the King that he had dispatched an Hundred and Fifty the Night before and a Gold-Wyre drawer often boasted shewing his Arm that he had kill'd Four Hundred for his share The most Eminent of the Massacred besides the Admiral and Teligny were the Count de la Rochelfoucaud the Marquess de Renel Brother by the Mother to the Prince de Porcean the Baron de Lavardin Beaudiné Brother of Dacier Francis de Nonpar Caumont la Force and his Eldest Son the brave Piles Francis de Quellevé Pontivy Brion Puviant Pardaillan Montalbert Valavoire Guerchy Peter de la Place First President of the Court des Aydes Francour the King of Navarres Chancellor and Lomenie Secretary to the King Who could believe it of so many Valiant Men not one died with his Sword in Hand besides Guerchy and of Six or Seven Hundred Houses that were plunder'd but only one that made Resistance The Earl of Montgomery and about a Hundred Gentlemen who either more suspicious or more happy then the rest had Lodged themselves in the Fauxbourg Sainct Germain hearing the hideous noise that was made all over the City and being privately informed of what passed could not possibly believe it they fancied that the Guisians together with thâ—â—eople had Attaqued the Louvre and ran to the Water-side to crose over by Boat but perceiving some small Vessels full of Soldiers making towards them for they could not find the Keys of the Gate Bucy soon enough and the King himself from the farther side of the River with his great Fowling-piece endeavouring to bird them they fled back to their Lodgings and getting immediately on Horse-back most of them without Boots some even in their drawers made their escape with all possible speed into Normandy Year of our Lord 1572 Those that were Lodged in the Louvre it self were not spared After they had disarm'd and hunted them out of the Chambers they lay in they cut the Throats of them all one after another and exposed their Bodies stark naked at the Gate of the Louvre the Queen Mother being at a Window feasted her Eyes with the horrid Spectacle This deluge of Blood swallow'd up many Catholicks likewise who were dispatched by Order of the Higher-Powers or at the Instigation of some particular Persons It was enough to make them Huguenots if they had Money or a wished for Employment or vindicative Enemies or impatient heyres Some called this Massacre The Paris Matins as they had formerly called that in Sicily Anno 1281. The Sicilian Vespers Whatever diligence they used to find out the Huguenots there were more escaped then were killed for number Divers saved themselves by Money by Friends by good hap and by their craft the Duke of Guise in his own Hostel sheltred above an Hundred of those he believed he might bring over to his
League the Politique Catholicks were likewise joyned with them Toré and the Vicount de Turenne managed the intrigues and all of them together demanded an Assembly of the general Estates The Queen Mother that she might amuse them had assigned an Assembly of the Notables at Compiegne to deliberate whether it would be expedient to call them and when they saw they could not make their Party strong enough at Court they resolved to retire to Sedan where the Duke of Bouillon had promis'd to give them reception month March and April The Huguenots had promised themselves so great advantage by the Duke of Alencon that they had resolved to take up Arms over all the Kingdom at the latter end of the Carnaval Rochel it self was born along with this Torrent and had for that purpose elected la Noue for their General This Man the Night between Shrove-Tuesday and Ash-Wednesday surprized Mesle and Lusignan by Escalado as Giron de Bâ—ssay who brought Twelve hundred Men from Bearn took Fontenay and the Lord de la Case in Saintonge Royan Talmont and four or five other little Places In Daupfiné Montbrun seized upon Lorial and Liwron the which he repaired In Normandy Coulombieres and some Gentlemen of the Country upon the hopes of greater Troubles at Court and of having the Duke of Alencon shortly with them seized upon Saint Lo Montgommery who being hated in France and unwelcom in England kept himself close and under shelter of the Islands of Jersey and Guernsey sided with them took Carentan and Valognes and set all the Country thereabouts under Contribution Year of our Lord 1574 At the same time being the Tenth of March that la Noâ—e had made the Huguenots resolve to take up Arms it was likewise resolv'd that John de Chaumont Guitry should draw near Saint Germains en Laye with as many Horse as he could get privately together to receive and bring with him the Duke of Alencon and the two Princes But it hap'ned by whose fault it is not known that Guitry anticipated the Assignation by at least Ten days so that the Duke of Alencon being fearful and irresolute could not determine with himself to forsake the Court so suddenly and la Mole his Favorite judging so great a design could not be long conceal'd went and discover'd it to the Queen Mother About Midnight behold an Alarm over all the Court The King sends for the Duke of Alencon and the King of Navarre the first tells all not caring what became of those he had employ'd The other taxed neither him nor any Friend They give out there is a Design upon the King's Person The Men of the long Robe especially and the Women hurry to Paris all Night and the Queen her self to render the Princes more odious flyes in great disorder However the King went not till the next day and lodged himself at the Bois de Vincennes whither he carried the Duke of Alencon and the King of Navarre not yet as Prisoners but carefully observed Thus the Huguenots fell very short in their accounts and besides in a Month after they set out Three Armies to destroy them in the Provinces of Normandy Poitou and Languedoc Matignon Commanded the first the Duke of Montpensier the second the Prince Daufin his Son the third Montpensier went and cool'd his heels before Fontenay but Matignon invested Montgommery in Saint Lo's from whence making his escape he pursued and besieged him in Donfront so straitly that he constrain'd him to Surrender giving him assurance for the lives of his Men but nothing more then ambiguous and random Promises for his own This fell out four or five days before the Death of the King From thence Matignon returned to the Siege of Saint Lo carrying him thither to persuade Coulombieres who was within to Surrender but the other reproached him of Cowardize and put himself courageously in the breach and his two Sons on either side of him not above Fourteen or Fifteen years of Age both having Javelins in their hands to Sacrifice said he all his Blood for the Truth of the Gospel He died there with his Sword in hand but Fortune or Pity saved the lives of his two Sons Guitry afterwards making his Courage submit to his Prudence gave up Carentan and Lorges Son of Montgommery was detained Prisoner but escaped by the favour of one of the Catholick Commanders As to Languedoc the Queen Mother who was more bent against Danville than against the Huguenots themselves had contrived to ridd her self of that Lord by the means of James de Crussol Duke d'Vzez his Capital Enemy before the War began in those Countries Some intercepted Letters giving him notice thereof he designed to make himself Master of the Province but proceeded so slowly that he could only seize upon Montpellier Lunel Beaucaire and Pezenas He was not the less noted for it at Court Martinengue shewed an Order to all the Province whereby the King dismissed him of his Government and forbid the People to own him or the Soldiers to obey him In the Spring time when the Humors overflow the King's Distemper which had been as it were laid asleep during the Winter awaked and made the Queen sufficiently understand it was high time to seize upon and secure all those that might oppose or disturb her Regency particularly the Mareschals de Montmorency and de Cosseé To this end she order'd a Commission to be given to Christopher de Thou first President and to Peter Hennequin a President likewise to inform themselves diligently about the Conspiracy of St. Germains thereby to involve them La Mole a Favorite to the Duke of Alencon and the Count de Coconas an Italian whom he had lately introduced to the Acquaintance and Confidence of that Prince were arrested The first denied all the other flatter'd with the vain hopes of getting his Pardon and a great Reward besides told a great deal more than indeed he knew The Duke of Alencon and the King of Navarre were also examined The first answered like a Criminal stuttering and trembling the other more like an Accuser than one accused with such reproaches as put the Queen Mother out of Countenance At la Mole 's was found an Image of Wax which one Cosmo Rugiero a Florentine and famous Quack had made for him to Charm a young Damsel with whom he was in Love The Queen Mother would needs have it be believed that it was Year of our Lord 1574 made on purpose to bewitch the King he still denied it stiffly but notwithstanding he was Beheaded and Coconas with him It was said that two Princesses who were in love with them caused their Heads to be stoln and Embalmed them to preserve them as long as they could Another of their Complices was broken upon the Wheel and Rugier sent to the Galleys The Queen Mother very credulous in Matters of Divination and Sorcerers released him some time after to make use of him in his Art The Mareschals de Montmorency and de
Bouchard and even Chastelleraud it self open'd their Gates to him From thence he advanced as far as Argenton in Berry to aid the City which held for the King against the Castle that stood for the League Which gave so much jealousie to la Chastre that he declared for the League and made the City of Bourges declare with him The happy progress of this Prince and his Proximity gave the King some reason Year of our Lord 1589 to court his assistance in his extream necessity the Duke of Nevers who apprehended month April this medley of Huguenots and Catholicks might bring Religion into danger dissuaded him with all his might and there were withal great obstructions on either hand On the Kings part the fear of farther offending the Court of Rome and scandalizing the Catholicks the Conscience of so soon violating an Oath twice reiterated before the Estates and the shame of being forced to call into his assistance him whom he had so roughly persecuted On the King of Navarres part the just suspicion lest they should sacrifice him to appease the fury of the League for this King that invited him was himself one of the principal Authors of the bloody St. Bartholomew and the constraint of stooping to the Favourites who sported with the lives of those that did not bow the knee before them Notwithstanding Du Plessis Mornay and some others by their prudent management removed all these Obstacles and accommodated every thing between these two Kings upon condition the Treaty should not be divulged till the King should think it fit It contained an agreement of a Truce for a year during which time the King of Navarre should aid him with all his Forces and should give him up all such places as he should take from the common Enemy Reciprocally the King should give him the Pont de Ce upon the Loire and one place in every Bailiwick as a retreat for his sick Men. When the Legat had discover'd this new Confederation he employ'd all his power and interest to incline the Duke of Mayenne to an Accommodation even so far as to offer him Conditions much beyond the power of his Commission The King finding he did but only lose time that in the Dukes Army they gave him no better Title then the Tyrant the Massacrer and dethroned Henry and that the Duke was at Chasteaudun within three days Journey of Tours he caused the Truce to be proclaimed though with a great deal of repugnance There were at Rome some Envoys on his behalf to sollicite for his Absolution and others in behalf of the League to oppose it The thing was found to be much more difficult to obtain of the Pope then he had imagined In that Court the Blood of a Cardinal is not so lightly valued and Pope Sixtus who gloried in trampling upon Crowned Heads would be sure not to let slip this opportunity of magnifying his own power He demanded before any further proceedings that they should set the Cardinal de Bourbon and the Archbishop of Lyons at liberty Charles d'Angennes Bishop of Mans had made him believe the King would grant him this but when in stead of a compliance that Prelat entertain'd him with excuses and ragione di stato and at the same time they were informed by Letters from the Legat of the Kings Confederation with the Head of the Huguenots the Pope le ts fly a Monitory the Fifth of May by which he demanded and commanded to set the Cardinal and the Arch-Bishop Year of our Lord 1589 at liberty within ten days after publication and to give certain notice month May and June thereof within thirty by an authentick Act In default whereof he declared he had incurr'd the Censures Ecclesiastical especially those which are contained in the Bull in Coena Domini of which he could not be absolv'd but by the Pope himself unless at the point of death and upon giving security to make satisfaction cited him to appear personally at Rome within sixty days allowing him twenty days for each Admonition and disanulling all Indulgences Faculties and Priviledges to the contrary granted by the Holy See either to him or to any of his Predecessors This Monitory was published in Rome and affixed upon the Church doors of St. Peters and St. John de Latran the Three and twentieth of May and the Month of June following in the Cathedral of Chartres in that of Meaux and some other Churches in France but the King still pretended cause of ignorance He notwithstanding had well enough foreseen this thing and the apprehension he had of it hastned him to satisfie the King of Navarre by giving him a passage upon the Loire Du Plessis Mornay by his Address brought it so about as in lieu of Pont de Ce a very ill-favoured place he gave him the City of Saumur whereof his Master gave him the Government This security being granted the two Kings met about the Thirtieth of April about the hour of One in the Afternoon at Plessis Les Tours in the Park he of Navarre was come to the Bridge de la Motte which is a Rivolet a quarter of a league beyond Tours and had brought part of his Forces which were quarter'd about two leagues beyond that but would venture no farther Nevertheless d'Aumont and Chastillon having informed him that such mistrust displeased the King pressed him so home that they prevailed with him to pass the River of Cher and come into the Park His old Captains trembled both for anger and for fear lest the King said they in a season wherein treachery may be so advantageous to free himself out of that Labyrinth whereinto another had drawn him should have agreed for his Absolution at the price of this Princes Life and destined his Head a present to the Pope to accompany the Admirals The same day to dispel their fears he returned to his lodgment but the next day by six in the morning and without giving them notice he repasses the River with only one Page and came to the King as he was rising The two Princes spent all that morning and the next in consulting of their Affairs Their resolution in gross was to attaque Paris the principal head of the League and that which gave motion to all the rest They reckon they should for this purpose have the Forces of the Huguenot Party and great numbers of the Nobility a powerful assistance which the King expected from England and a levy of twelve thousand Swiss whom Sancy was gone to raise in the Protestant Cantons After they had remained together two days Year of our Lord 1589 the King of Navarre went to Chinon to bring forward the rest of those Troops he month April had left there In the Provinces the two Parties had had divers Rencounters Sautour a Royalist besieging Mere upon Seine Hautefort who qualified himself Lieutenant General for the Union in Brie and Champagne charged him kill'd or caused most of his Men to drown themselves
but he drew Vitry thither with an hundred and fifty Masters and Berdnrdine de Mendoza Ambassador from Spain sent for a hundred Horse In the City were the Princesses of Nemours Montpensier d'Aumale de Guise with her Daughter and some other Ladies of Quality the Spanish Ambassador the Archbishop of Lyons Keeper of the Seals for the League the Legat with all his Train and divers French Prelats besides the Cardinal de Gondy who though more Royalist then a Leaguer would not however forsake his Flock in their necessity but very charitably relieved them It would be very difficult to say which was greater either the vigilance and cares of the Governor or the zeal of the Parisians In a short time they had made great quantities of Powder repaired the breaches in their Walls cast up Breast-works and Mounts cover'd the Suburbs with great Intrenchments fixed Chains in every Street filled great numbers of Barrils with Earth to make Barricado's planted Posts Year of our Lord 1590. May. and Bars at all the Avenues cast seventy five pieces of Cannon wherewith he furnished the Rampiers and secur'd the River both above and below with Massive Chains which were held up by strong Estacado's and defended by Forts built on either hand The Parisians on their part gave the very Furniture of their Kitchins to found their Cannon each House provided a Labourer to work upon their Fortifications paid all the poor that put their helping hand exercised their Soldiery three times a week and which is more considerable admitted a Garison amongst them and saw their Country Houses ransack'd and destroy'd without murmurring Most of the Handicrafts-men and all Forreigners were gone out of the City the great Hostels were empty the substantial Citizens had sent their Families away yet there remained two hundred thousand Souls and but Provisions for one Month only at the rate of a pound of Bread a day for each Person besides fifteen hundred Muids of Oats and an hundred Muids of Pulse The King in the first place master'd the Bridges of Charenton and Sainct Cloud six young Parisians defended themselves three whole days in the Bridge-Tower of Charenton took Vincennes besieged St. Denis and placed Garisons of Light-Horsemen in all the strong Houses for seven or eight Leagues round about whence they beat the Roads night and day that nothing passing by the City might in short time be reduced to Famine This method after seven or eight days trial seeming too tedious he endeavour'd to draw the Besieged to a Battle and for that purpose order'd an attaque upon the Fauxbourg Sainct Laurence but there experimenting their brave defence and by some other great Skirmishes observing they had yet too much vigour to be forced within their Barricado's and their Commanders too much prudence to hazard themselves in the Field he returned to his former design of famishing them The Duke of Mayenne was gone to beg some assistance in Flanders where he had enough to do to endure the pride and affected slow pace of the Spanish Council In the condition he left Paris he did not believe it could hold out one Month and not being able to relieve it but by the aid of the Spaniards he feared he should lose it in saving it and that they would deliver it only to get it for themselves At the same time also happens the death of the old Cardinal de Bourbon who ended his days the Ninth of May at the Castle of Fontenay in Poitou under the guard of the Year of our Lord 1590. May. Lord de la Boulaye The King had put him into this Lords custody after the taking him out of the hands of the Lord de Chavigny who was both old and blind at the very time when the Lords of the League were bargaining with that good Man to set him at liberty This fresh accident put him to great trouble he was in need of a King to fix the Eyes and Veneration of the People he foresaw the Spaniard would press him to chuse one and he knew the difficulties that would arise on that side as also from the Chiefs of his own Party who hindred him from attaining it all his study was therefore to find out plausible delays to put off this Election and he did succeed therein as he desired but such proceeding ruin'd his Party The Heads of the League had wisely before-hand disposed the People so as that this death should cause no alteration The Faculty of Divinity consulted by the Prevost des Merchands and by some noted Bourgeois had made Answer That Henry of Bourbon could not because of the scandal and danger of his relapsing be admitted to the Crown if King Charles X. or any other lawful Successor should happen to die or yield him up his right or if even the said Prince should obtain Absolution and that those who died for so holy a Cause should gain the Palm of Martyrdom and be Crowned in Heaven as brave Defenders of the Faith At five weeks end the Duke of Mayenne could get of the Duke of Parma but four thousand Foot and two hundred Lances with which having joyned some two thousand month June French whom he pickt up or who were sent him by Balagny he advanced as far as Laon. Immediately the King goes from his Camp with five and twenty hundred Horse thinking to meet him in the Field and charge him the Duke had a hint of it and making use this time of great celerity got under shelter of the Walls of Laon. Whilst the King was harrassing him St. Pol being detached privately with eight hundred Horse and some Foot and having gotten together a pretty good Convoy of Provisions conducted it along the Banks of the Marne and put it into Paris before the King could get back to his Camp to prevent him During the Siege the War went on variously in the Provinces I shall mention only the most remarkable passages Francis de Roussel May-David surprized the Castle of Year of our Lord 1590. April May c. month April May c. Verneuil and likewise made himself Master of the City after a very bloody sight in which John de Dreux Morainville was slain who was said to be the last Male of the House of Dreux Issue of Lewis the Gross by Robert fifth Son of that King Lansac had a design upon Mans which was discover'd and his Troops defeated at Memers where they waited to see the event by Hertre Governor of Alencon He was more unfortunate yet in another Enterprize upon the Town of Mayenne having taken it and holding the Castle besieged the same Hertre and Montataire put him to the rout and cut off or took above twelve hundred Men of two thousand he commanded The Leagued Gentlemen of Bretagne surprized the City of Sable and attaqued the Castle Rambouillet whose Wife had been taken Prisoner in that place intreated the Nobless of the Country to assist him His two Brothers with as many as they could get together fell
Mareschals Staff to him The Duke who would needs get this prey to make his own Composition the better quarrel'd with him one day in the Streets of Rheims and ran his Sword into his Belly By his death he became Master of Rheims and having withall the Cities of Rocry St. Dizier and Ginville he procured a very advantageous Treaty For they gave him four hundred thousand Crowns in Silver the Government of those Places besides that of Provence The last not so much to gratisie him as to dispossess Espernon and perhaps that they might ruine one another thereby Burgundy which hitherto had remained almost entirely for the Duke of Mayenne began to give him the slip Auxerre Mascon and Avalon broke his Bonds Dijon and Beaulne were upon the point to do the same when he flew thither with his Light-Horse Now perceiving he could contain them no longer by fair he used foul means and severity caused in Dijon the Heads of James Vernes who was the Mayor to be â—ut off and Captain Gau's razed the Suburbs of Beaulnâ— doubled the Garison Year of our Lord 1594 and fill'd up all the Gates excepting one Moreover to preserve the rest of the month November Province he persuaded the Spaniards to make a sudden War on that side Meer necessity kept him yet in Confederacy with those dangerous Friends He knew the Duke of Feria and Diego d'Ibarra imputed all this decadency of Affairs to his treachery which could indeed be justly imputed to nothing but his slowness and irresolution He knew they hated him so mortally that when he went to the Arch-Duke Ernestus after the Siege of Laon they had deliberated to take off his Head as a Traytor and seeing the Arch-Dukes Council would not concur in that point they had essay'd to rid their hands of him by Poyson or by Poniard And indeed some imagin'd it was he who first to revenge himself for their unhandsom Treatments possess'd the Kings Council by such Friends as he had amongst them with the design of declaring War against them and that he had privately made his Treaty with the King However it were the Party was strong enough in Council to persuade him to a Rupture The Huguenots desired it out of that perfect hatred they still bear to the Spaniards The Catholicks to divert the Huguenots from their Contrivances by giving them this satisfaction and such Employments as would have been improper to entrust them withall upon any other Service The honest Frenchmen to unite all hearts together revive their affections for their Country and consound all the remainders of Factions and Cavils about Religion in the more zealous prosecution of this common Quarrel The Politicks in fine to make a strong Revulsion without of that Venom which caused so much mischief within and to employ the Enemies of the Kingdom in quenching a Fire at their own homes in stead of suffering them to blow the Coals continually in France It was therefore resolved in the Kings Council to carry the War into their Country and because Hainault and Artois were known to lie the most exposed to that ruine which must follow upon a Rupture between the two Crowns it was judg'd fit to write to the principal Cities of those Provinces that if they could not prevail with the King of Spain to withdraw his Forces out of the Territories of France and if they did not forbear to make War upon his Subjects and the Cambresians whom he had taken into his protection he was resolved quickly to make them feel the weight of his Arms. It is held that three Persons did more especially inspire the King with this design Gabrielle d'Estree his Mistress Balagny and the Mareschal de Bouillon Gabrielle that Year of our Lord 1594 he might Conquer the Franche-Compte for her Son Caesar Balagny that he might month November plunder Hainault and Artois the Mareschal for two ends the one to maintain himself in the Seigneury of Sedan the other to give an opportunity to Prince Maurice of Nassaw his Brother in Law to fix his Grandeur by securing the liberty of the United-Provinces For we must know that Charlote de le Mark the Mareschals Wife hapning to die some Months before without Children he retained that Principality by vertue said he of a Testamentary Donation she had made to him and the acquisition of the right of the Duke of Montpensier and had very lately betroathed Elizabeth the Sister of Prince Maurice He vaunted of having Correspondents ready to spring their Mines in the Country of Luxembourg Balagny promised to make a great breach in Artois and Sancy was positively confident of prevailing with the Swiss to Conquer the Franche-Compte The Duke of Lorrain too offer'd towards this Expedition four thousand Men commanded by Tremblecour and Aussonville In effect they did enter the Comte at the very beginning of the following year but it was against his interest and contrary to his intention Neither did they do any thing but make some incursions very ruinous to the poor People except it were their taking the little Towns of Vezou Luxeu and Jonville month December The King made his approaches to the Frontiers of Artois imagining to have had some good success there the severity of the Winter brought him back to Paris and almost to a tragical death For the same day he arrived which was the Seven and twentieth of December at six in the Evening while he was in his Mistresses Chamber at the Hostel du Bouchage and stepped forward to embrace Montigny he received a stroke with a Knife on the lower Lip which broke one of his Teeth Immediately they seized upon a young Fellow who was thrusting into the Crowd and by his scared Countenance they knew it must be he had made the attempt His name was John Chastel Son of a Woolen-Draper dwelling before the great Gate of the Palais aged about Nineteen years a melancholy Spirit who said in his Interrogatories That he was prompted to commit this Crime because finding himself laden with hainous and unpardonable Sins and imagining he could not avoid the Torments of Hell he had thought at least to diminish them by this attempt which he believed to be a Meritorious Act for that said he the King not being reconciled to the Church could be nought but a Tyrant He confessed likewise that he had made his Exercises in the Colledge of Clermont under the Jesuits and that Year of our Lord 1594 they had often led him into a Chamber of Meditations where Hell was represented month December with several most frightful Figures This disposition added to the injurious Libels against Henry III. and against the King now Reigning found in the Chamber of John Guignard one of the Fathers of the Society and whereof he was the Author and likewise the remembrance of the zeal which some amongst them had manifested for the interests of Spain and some Maxims their Preachers had published against Kings and against the ancient Laws of the
Surrender till they had no more Earth left to cover themselves When the Spaniards were come in and found the Walls beaten quite down by the Cannon the Earth all torn up with their Mines and nothing remaining but Rubbish and Ruine they were but little satisfied for having bought so dear a little heap of Dust and Sand or rather a place of Burial which cost them above Ten Millions of Money Seventy thousand Men and Three hundred thousand Cannon-Shot not reck'ning the Cities of Rhimbergue Grave Sluce Ardembourg with the Forts of Issendre and Cadsant taken by Count Maurice whil'st they were pelting at this Siege In these times there hapned a not able Change in the Kingdom of Sweden The King Gustavus Eric-son had set up the Confession of Ausburg in the place of the Catholick Religion and bred his two Sons in that Profession namely John who succeeded him and Charles Duke of Sudermania John maintained the same yet notwithstanding whether he were not fully satisfied or were over-persuaded by his Wife Year of our Lord From the year 1602. until the year 1604. who was a Catholick he cansed Sigismond his Eldest Son to be bred up in that Religion Besides this Sigismond he had also another Son named John Sigismond was Elected King of Poland in the year 1587. during the Life of his Father and went into that Country the Second remained in Sweden Now when King John died in Anno 1592. he by Will either real or supposed left the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden to his Brother Charles this Prince making good use of the Assistance of the Lutherans to Exclude his Nephew and get into the Throne himself managed his Design so Prudently that he had the Government of the said Kingdom settled upon him by the Estates Anno 1595. and afterwards obliged them to take the Crown from the Sigismonds Anno 1599. And in fine after a War of some years to place it upon his Head Which was done this year 1604. Sigismond not being ever able to wrest it from him again so that after his Death it descended to the Great Gustavus his Son and to his Heirs Year of our Lord 1605 During the Balls and Mascarades which since the Peace ever began the year month January and February they went on with the Process against the Count d'Auvergne and his Complices with the more diligence because the Queen seemed to be a Party the King not to exasperate her shewed no less heat then she and the Parliament made all the dispatch they possibly could But the intentions of all three were very different for the Queens were to chastize a Mistress of the Kings that hereafter such as succeeded might dread her anger as for the Parliament such as minded Courtship more then to unriddle the hearts of Kings thought they did great service by proceeding with all severity and as for the King he had no mind to disgrace his Mistress for fear of distasting those by whom he expected to be obliged he only desired a thundring Arrest or Decree might pull down that haughty spirit and make her readily submit who of late treated him like a meer stranger and to his enjoyment opposed the fear of God and the prohibitions of her Confessor The Count d'Auvergne was Examined three times the King having given notice to the Parliament by his Attorney-General that they ought to have no regard to his pardon nor that Brevet he had granted him Entragues the Marchioness his Daughter and Morgan were likewise interrogated the Count laid all upon the Marchioness his Sister believing the King could never find in his heart to ruine her he cast all the reproaches on her he possibly could express and she upon him Entragues on the contrary did wholly acquit her and took all upon himself chusing rather to hazard three or four years of a languishing remainder of life for he was above seventy three years of age then to put his dear Daughter in danger of losing her head with ignominy The business was carried on with such heat that the first day of February there was an Arrest or Act which condemned the Count Entragues and month February Morgan to be beheaded in Greve and the Marchioness to be reclused in a Nunnery at Beaumont near Tours till more ample Information concerning her The Queen received much joy yet reaped not all the advantage she expected from this grand Arrest for the King acquainted the Court by his procurer or Sollicitor General that he desired the Sentence might be suspended till he had made a more narrow inspection When therefore he had humbled the haughty Marchioness by so terrible a Decree he began to show favour that he might obtain some from her and caused an instrument to be passed under the Great Seal which was verified in Parliament the three and twentieth of March giving her liberty to month March retire to her house of Vernueil After all this there were some people in Parliament so unacquainted with intrigues of this nature that they importun'd him for leave to pronounce Judgment but he eluded their pursuits by divers delays and at length by other instruments commuted the punishment of the Count and of Entragues to a perpetual imprisonment and then restored them to all their honours and estates though not to their month Septemb. Offices and Commands Soon after he allotted Entragues his house of Malesherbes for his Prison and as for Morgan he only banished him the Kingdom for ever Seven Months being pass'd and no new proofs coming in against the Marchioness for indeed who could have taken the pains to produce any the King gave her a Writing of the sixteenth of December which declared her perfectly innocent and imposed perpetual silence on his Sollicitor General touching that Fact The Count d'Auvergne being the most dangerous was therefore handled the worst they left him in the Bastille where he remained twelve years without any other consolation then what he received from good and ingenious Books the faithful compagnons for all Ages fortunes and places During these amorous intrigues which were managed as grand Affairs of State the King began to engage in affection with Jaquelina de Bueil whom he made Countess of Moret yet nevertheless he soon after recalled the Marchioness whose charming humour and conversation ever seasoned with pleasant railleries and picquant reflexions upon the other Court Ladies did most agreeably divert his mind from the too intense thoughts of his Affairs and vexations caused by the ill humors of his Wife but on the other hand it begot new Brouilleries every hour with her as also frequent punctillio's between the other Lords and Ladies of this Court a Subject much more worthy and fit for a Romance then such a Chronicle but which have occasion'd the most considerable Events in the Court of France since the Reign of Francis I. Year of our Lord 1605 As to the business of Ladies I must note that Queen Margaret having often earnestly desired permission to come
Parliament were Assembled and so blow up the King with all his Lords and Commons there attending One of the Conspirators could not forbear writing a Letter to a Gentleman his Friend but in a Counterfeit hand and without any Name conjuring him not to meet there in Parliament for some days This Gentleman Communicates his notice to a couple of the Lords belonging to the Privy Council who made their Report of it to the King thereby to discharge their Duty They took it to be a piece of Raillery on purpose to affright and scoff at them but the King was not of their Opinion and judged by the terms of the Letter which said That it should be a terrible Blow and the Danger past as soon as you can burn this Letter that this must be some Execution by Fire It was therefore thought necessary to search into all the Cellars and the neighbouring Houses the first time nothing was discover'd but the great quantity of Woods and Coals giving some suspition they returned agen the second time this was the Night preceding the Day the Parliament was to Assemble viz. the Fifth day of November They then perceived one of Percy 's Men at the Door named Faukes he had been observed there before and his Countenance was now Agast they seized him therefore and finding him provided with Match to give fire to the Train he boldly owned the Design The Conspirators who were retired into the Country till the Fougade had taken Effect hearing it was discover'd dispersed several ways to draw their Friends together and make the People rise but they were so roughly handled that some were slain others taken and the rest in great Numbers forced to quit the Kingdom Most of these last got over to Calais where the King had Year of our Lord 1606 commanded the Governor to give them shelter those that governed his Conscience month January having first persuaded him it was a meer Persecution contrived by the Ministers of State against those of the Catholick Religion The last day of January Eight of the Chief Conspirators suffer'd in London the Punishment inflicted on such as are found Guilty of High-Treason Not one of them accused the Priests or Friers being bound not to discover them by terrible Oaths yet King James caused diligent Search to be made for them especially the Jesuits Two of those Fathers had made their Escape viz. month January February c. Garnet and Hall with a Boy that served them to the Castle called Abington belonging to a Gentleman the People hid them in the Tunnel of a Chimney and fed them with Broath convey'd to them by a long Pipe But the Searchers having turned out all the Domesticks of the Family and left a strong Guard Year of our Lord 1606 there the poor wretches were fain to produce themselves They were brought to London the Boy whether in dispair or for fear he should by force oftortures discover his Masters Secrets ript open his own Belly with a Knife whereof he died before he could be examined King James was persuaded that Garnet knew every particular of the Plot as being an intimate Confident of Catesby's but would not put him to the month February c. Rack for he had rather his Confession should be free and voluntary than have the reproach of being extorted for Compulsion would have rendred it suspected He therefore made use of Moderation and Craft instead of Severities and the Rack They allowed him much liberty in Prison and suborn'd a Fellow who feigning himself a Catholick spake so much till he made him both speak and write They permitted him to converse even with his Compagnon Hall and from their Discourse which was over-heard by two Witnesses who lay conceal'd they got full proof for his Condemnation He died as a Martyr notwithstanding and passed for such in the opinion of the English Catholicks His Apologist writing also four years after affirm'd that a Gentleman who was present at his Death desiring to have of his Reliques having month May. gather'd up some few Straws which he saw stained with his Gore found Garnet's Picture traced in lines of Blood upon one of them which was at that time kept by a Lady as a most precious and wonderful Relique The Pope fully justified himself from the reproach of this horrible attempt and shewed by good literal Proofs that he had forbid the English to maâ—â— use of any such Bloody ways The Jesuits labour'd also on their part to make Father Garnet's innocency appear And King Henry IV. whose honor was much concerned in their Conduct since he had recalled them sent Father Coton to the English Ambassadour to assure him the Society had no hand in that Conspiracy and that if some particular Members of theirs were concerned they disowned and detested them There was however another Jesuit in England named Oldcorne who maintain'd that the said Enterprize was good and laudable and for so doing was Condemned and Executed as Garnet had been Year of our Lord 1605 In France about the end of the fore-going year was discover'd the Treason month December of John d'Alagon de Merargues a Gentleman of Provence but originally by his Ancestors of the Kingdom of Naples whence King René had brought his great great great Grandfather The resemblance of his Surname had infected him with the vanity to believe he was of the House of Arragon and upon that score it came into his head to make himself a Fortune by the Spaniards to deserve which by some Signal action he had undertaken to bring the Spaniards into Marseilles The Office of Procureur Syndic of that Country and his great Alliances by Marriage his Wife being related to the Duke of Montpensier and the House of Joyeuse rendred him very considerable the Command of two Galleys maintained for the King's Service seemed to facilitate the means to make him Master of the Harbour or Port and the Office of Viguier which he was assured of for the next year now at hand gave him great Power over the City He had notwithstanding so few Instruments for so great a Design that he communicated it to a Slave belonging to one of his Galleys whom he would needs employ in it the Slave discover'd it to the Duke of Guise and the Duke of Guise sent notice of it to the Court. Merargues going thither soon after about some Affairs of the Province la Varenne had order to observe him and acquitted himself so well that one evening slipping into his House with a Prevost he surprized him while he was entertaining Bâ—uneau Secretary to the Spanish Ambassadour with his Design They seized upon both and searching them found a Writing tied under Bruneau's Garter which decypher'd the whole Mystery Bruneau was Imprisoned in the Bastille Merargues in the Chastelet and from thence transfer'd to the Conciergerie The Spanish Ambassadour made great noise at the detention of his Secretary he spake of it as a high injury to the Dignity of his Master
's new flame increasing by the Presence of the Princess of Condé appeared so plain and shone so bright and hot as offended the Eyes of her Husband and gave him a shrewd Fit of the Head-Ach Then the scrupulous the discontented the King 's concealed Enemies those People whose Malignity is never pleased but in Troubles without any other aim but to make mischief and even the Queen her self peeked him with Honour Year of our Lord 1609 and Jealousie He flies out and held Discourses very dis-respectful the King chastizes him by taking away his subsistence which was in Pensions and the Money he had promised upon his Marriage This rough treatment had an effect quite contrary to what he desired the Prince being the more enraged and withal apprehending some violence from so head-strong a passion though he had seen no such example in this good King resolved to retire himself from Court. Having therefore disposed every thing for his design he did as we may say steal away his wife the nine and twentieth of August set her behind him on Horse-back and when he had rode some month August Leagues put her into a Coach with six Horses He passed by Landrecy without entring there and from thence travell'd with all speed to Bruxels where the Popes Nuncio and the Arch-Dukes received him with a great deal of joy and render'd him all the honour that was due to his quality Upon the news of this unexpected Evasion the King full of anger and love could not dissemble his emotions not even before the Queen but yet endeavour'd to colour them with reason of State His Council was of Opinion he should resolve on nothing in so important a business till they were certain of the place of his retreat A Month afterwards they had certain notice he was at Bruxels then the King order'd Praslin Captain of his Guards to go to the Arch-Dukes and demand they should surrender to him the first Prince of his month October Blood To which they answered That the consideration and esteem they had for that Noble Blood having obliged them to allow him a retreat the Laws of Hospitality and honour would not suffer them to deliver him up and that there was no ground to fear he would attempt any thing either in word or deed contrary to that respect and service which he owed him This Answer did not satisfie the King he counted as dishonour all the honour they could shew to him who had incurr'd his disfavour and had carried Reports into stranger Countries which wounded his reputation Besides the too great familiarity that Prince had contracted with the Duke d'Aumale a mortal enemy to his person gave him a plausible pretence to evaporate his cholerick transports which were known to be produced by another and a fairer cause He therefore sent Ambassadors to the Arch-Dukes who spake yet lowder to them then Praslin yet gained no more then he Some of his Confidents thinking to do him good service would needs employ themselves without Commission and made attempts month Novemb. to steal away the Princess and others agen more imprudent then the first contrived some against the Prince himself the rumour of it being spread in Bruxels this was in February Anno 1610. the whole City put themselves in Arms to defend so Noble a Guest but he fearing some dangerous Event retired from thence and passed into Milan The Count de Fuentes a furious Enemy to the King set malitiously a report Year of our Lord 1610 on Wing that he had put the price of two hundred thousand Crowns month February upon his head and under that pretence ordered a Guard both of Horse and Foot to attend him which he did not so much for the safety of his person as to vilifie the reputation of the King and hinder any Envoy from reclaiming that Prince either by making him some offers very advantageous or by bringing him to abhor and repent what he had done He had in effect some reason to apprehend such a change since notwithstanding all this Precaution the Prince as it was said began to listen to the propositions were made him by France and was going to submit and comply when the death of the King hapned Whatever some may have said the greatest passion the King had was for Fame in the pursuit of his brave and noble design The death of John William Duke of Cleve Juliers and Bergh Count de la Mark and Lord of Ravestein hapning the five and twentieth of March afforded him a specious overture This Prince Year of our Lord 1609 was Son of Duke William who was so of John Duke of Cleves Count de la month March c. Mark and Lord of Ravestein which John had espoused Mary Daughter and Heiress of William Duke of Juliers and Bergh and Lord of Ravensburgh Observe it was expresly said in their Contract That those Lands should ever remain united in one hand thereby to be enabled the better to defend themselves against their Neighbours who became too powerful The Succession of Duke John William was extremely litigious amongst his Heirs as well because of the divers dispositions of the Dukes his Predecessors Year of our Lord 1610 as the Constitutions of the several Emperors directly contrary to one another For some had treated these Dutchies as Fiefs Masculine others would have it that they might fall to the distaff or females The Emperor Frederic III. had conceded them to Albert Duke of Saxony for services rendred to the Empire in case those who then were in possession should come to dye without Heirs Males and Maximilian I. had ratified this concession two several times Afterwards quite contrary when William Son of Duke John and Brother of Sibylla married to John Frederic soon after Elector of Saxony espoused Mary of Austria Queen of Hungary and Sister of Charles V. this was in Anno 1545. that Emperor granted to him and his Successors confirm'd it That if they left no Sons of this Marriage the Daughters should be capable of succeeding in all his Estates the Eldest first then the younger consecutively one after another and if there were none living at the time of the decease of the Father the said principalities should appertain to their Male-Children The same condition had been apposed in the Contract of Sibylla Sister of this William in the year 1526. when Duke John their Father Marry'd her to the said Frederic Elector of Saxony who was afterwards defeated and destituted of his Dutchy by the Emperor Charles V. Now this William Son of Duke John had had a Son to wit the John William whose death we now mention'd and four Daughters who were Mary-Eleonora Anne Magdalen and Sybilla These Daughters had Married the first Albert Frederick Duke of Prussia Anno 1572. of whom there were none but Daughters remaining The second Philip Ludovic Duke of Newburg of whom were born Wolfang and some other Males The third John Duke of Deux-Ponts Brother of that Ludovic
decimations for Leo did grant them so easily to the King that ever since the Pope his Successors have made no difficulty to do the same and have suffer'd them to become very common and frequent Such was the State and disposition of things when Luthers Schisme began first to appear The great noise it made soon stifled all the lesser disputes particularly that between the Orders of Saint Francis and Saint Dominique about the Conception of the Virgin-Mary which hath been since revived by the Dominicans stiff adherence to the Doctrine of Saint Thomas It likewise put an end to those which some Monks of Colen had raised against John Reuchlin who called himself Capnion Occasioned thus A certain Pseffercorn Renegado Jew had advised the Emperour Maximilian to cause all the Hebrew Books of the Rabins to be burnt not with design this counsel should be put in execution but to oblige the Jews to redeem the Writings of their learned Doctors with great Sums of Money of which he pretended to have his share Reuchlin very Skilful in the Hebrew Tongue having been consulted with by the Emperour upon this Subject was of a contrary Sentiment and put down his Reasons in Writing Pseffercorn mad he should hinder him of his Prey wounded his Reputation with biting Satyrs and some Monks of Colen taking up the cause and quarrel of this Fourbe because he had been Baptized in that City caused his Adversarie's Book to be burnt It is sufficiently known what Martin Luther was an Augustine Monk Native of Islebe in the County of Mansfeild Professor in Theology in the new University of Wittemberg Founded by Frederic Elector and Duke of Saxony who loved and valued him for the volubility of his Wit and his Eloquence He was a chearful Man and of very gay humour but too vehement and too intemperate in Speech extremely Confident who never retracted and delighted too much in the Musick of his own Commendations and Applause The occasion that brought him into the Lists is known likewise and that he was not excited to it but by the interest of the Wallet because the Preaching of the Croisade had been committed in Germany to the Jacobins against the ancient Custom which ever allotted it to the Augustins in those Countries In the beginning he Preached only against the abuse of those Indulgences by that means to ruin the Trade of the Jacobins who vended them but being pusht onward from Dispute to Dispute he was transported so far that he declared himself wholly against the Roman Church Anno 1520. 'T was the Protection of Frederic Duke of Saxony then esteemed the wisest of the German Princes and the Applause of the Nobless of Franconia that emboldned him to set up the Standard of Rebellion So long as Frederic lived he durst make no change in the outward form of Religion nor quit his habit of a Year of our Lord 1524 Monk but after his Death which hapned in the year 1524. Duke John his Successor being absolutely intoxicated with his Eloquence permitted him every thing He therefore cast off his Froe and Three years afterwards Married an un-vailed Nun. Then cutting at large as we may say in the whole piece he shaped a Religion after his own Mode which he changed added to or retrenched so long as he lived So that one may say he had no steady or certain belief and those Articles he framed were rather dubious than Dogmatical although he published them as Oracles He died at Islebe Anno 1546. the Six and twentieth of February revered of all those who followed his Doctrine as a great Apostle and on the contrary detested by the Catholicks as an Hereslarque and the publick Incendiary of Christendom Some time before he thus Un-masqued himself there had appeared several Preachers who fell foul upon the Vices of the Prelates and the Court of Rome threatning them with Divine Punishment as horrible as sudden and near at hand A Constitution of Leo X. made in the year 1516. which forbids them Preaching the like things of the farcing their Sermons with Tales Prophecies Revelations and Miracles is an evident proof thereof Luther's Credit drew after him one Party of the Augustins startled many more and rendred all of them so suspected that the Pope was like to have abolish'd the whole Order This pretended Evangelical Liberty open'd the Cloister Gates to many other Monks especially in Germany un-vailed great numbers of Nuns let loose the People against the Church-men and push'd on the Nobility to seize upon their rich Possessions But Luther did not remain long sole Head of this Revolt for whether it were he gave rise to these Motions or whether some malign influence disposed mens Minds thus to Brouilleries and Contention there arose in a short time a Prodigious quantity of new Doctors and of novel Sects who destroyed the one the other yet notwithstanding agreed all in these Six points The first That they directly shock'd the Superiority of the Pope The second That they would admit no other Judges of the Articles of Faith but the Holy Scriptures only The third That they rejected certain Books of it some more others fewer which they said were not Canonical The Fourth That they retrenched several Sacraments The Fifth That they held several Novelties concerning Grace and free Will And the Sixth That they denied Purgatory Indulgences Images Prayers to Saints and many Ceremonies of the Church After his Death the Confusion was incomparably greater It would be endless to enumerate all the Authors the Names and the Whimseys of these different Sects there were some that received the Errors of Ebion of Manes of Year of our Lord 1547. c. Paulus Samosatenus of Sabellius of Arius of Eutyches and other ancient Hereticks There were such who finding no firm footing or foundation any where did only acknowledge there was one God the Creator of all things these were called Deists Others going farther and making a last effort of Impiety denied there was any other Divinity besides Nature alone The furious Irruptions of the Turks into Hungary and the fatal Discords amongst the three greatest Princes of Christendom Charles V. Francis I. and Henry VIII were very favorable to these Sowers of new Seeds For whil'st Christendom was affrighted at the Ravages of the Infidels and every where in Divisions they had not the leisure to consider of these disputes And then Charles V. standing in need of the Princes of Germany to resist Francis I. and to get the Empire to be settled upon his Son which he could never obtain would not prosecute them to the utmost or totally destroy them as he might have done after the gaining of the Battel of Mulberg On the other hand Francis I. his Rival openly supported them and entred into League with them though at the same time he burnt the Sacramentaries in his own Kingdom Add thereto the difficulties the Popes made for the holding of an Oecumenical Council whose Authority perhaps
Heresies already sowed in France For Anno 1492. the Morrow after Corpus-Christi Day a Priest who was hearing Mass at Nostre Dame snatched away the Host from the Celebrator after the Consecration and cast it on the ground to trample it under foot And in Anno 1502. a Picard Scholar Native of Abbeville committed the like Fact on Saint Lewis's Day in the Holy Chappel Both were seized immediately and some days after burnt alive in the Market aux Cochons without any signs of Repentance the first having his Tongue torn out the second his Hand cut off upon the very place where they brake the holy Wafer King Lewis XII having a great contest with Pope Julius II. demanded a general Council to reform the Church both in its Head and in its Members and caused one to be assembled at Pisa by the Suggestion and with the assistance of certain Cardinals dissatisfied with that Pope The said Council was soon driven from thence and retired to Milan from whence they were likewise forced to remove and came to end their days at Lyons That whole Affair was very ill managed the Pope opposed him with another Council which he assembled at Lateran and this being grown the more powerful did in the end constrain Lewis XII to renounce his and those Cardinals and Bishops that had been the Promoters of it to humble themselves before his Holiness to obtain Absolution The Officers of the Parliament of Provence having been all excommunicated by the Pope in this Council because they had hindred the execution of his Orders if they had not approved of the others and because they acted daily several things which in those times were taken to be designs The King desired they might submit and that Lewis de Souliers his Ambassadour to the Council having their special Procuration should in their Name formally disown all they had done against the Liberties of the Church against the respect due to the Holy See promise that for the future they would be more circumspect that they should ratifie this Submission within four Months and that he should desire their Absolution which was granted them The same Council had likewise cited the Prelates of France to come and shew the reasons why they still justified and maintained the Pragmatique It is probable they would to his Decrees have opposed or alledged the Liberties of the Gallican Church but Francis I. very far from supporting them did himself abandon that which his Predecessors had defended with so much resolution and firmness and passed or agreed to the Concordat with Leo X. of which we have made mention in the year 1516. The smart of so great and desperate a wound made the Clergy the Parliament and the University cry out in vain those two great Powers being now joyned together valued not their Complaints The Clergy had protested to take all Opportunities for the making of Remonstrances to the King for the Re-establishment of Elections this they pursued very well four or five times under King Henry III. and Henry IV. but at length they grew weary whether believing they were no longer obliged to labour to no end or that several of the Bishops gave it over in Charity to themselves as ☜ knowing they should never have attained the Preferments they enjoy'd if the right of Elections had been restored The Authors of the Novel Opinions spared no pains to convey and plant their Doctrines in the remotest Provinces Printing was a great help to bring their Works to light and make them spread the Zealots were at the charge of Printing and Dispersing them and the Country Pedlers whom they paid very well had always some of these new-fashion Wares in their Packs which they shewed for great Rarities to the curious and inquisitive Their Disciples crept into the Universities where under colour of teaching the Law or Greek or Hebrew they instilled their Doctrine into the hearts of the younger fry Others more polite and more dexterous insinuated into the Society of Women and studied to gain their favour that they might gain their belief Thus they gained an Absolute Power over Anne de Pisseleu Dutchess d'Estampes Mistriss of Francis I. over Margaret Queen of Navarre and over Renée of France Daughter of good King Lewis XII There were others who endeavour'd to get into the Houses of such Bishops as they believed to be most susceptible of their fancies James le Fevre Native of Estaples a little Town in Boulonois who was not Doctor in Divinity at Paris as many will have it at least he is not to be found in the Registry of that Faculty William Farel a Daufinois Arnold and Gerard Roussel Picards fell in about the year 1523. with William Briconnet Bishop of Meaux and entangled his Mind so with those dangerous Opinions that he began to own and Preach them There was the same year in that City a Wool-Comber by Name John le Clere who had the Impudence to say That the Pope was the Anti-Christ he was Whipped for it by the hands of the Hang-man and Banished the Kingdom This Punishment corrected him not he went to Mets to vend his Wares and was there Burnt for having broken down some Images Lewis Berquin Artesian by Birth a powerful Genius according to the Sentiment of Erasmus suffer'd a like Death at Paris the One and twentieth of April in Anno 1528. Now the Bishop of Meaux being charged with the Crime of Heresie retracted upon the first Admonition having before-hand sent away his Doctors amongst whom Arnold was so terribly scared that he continued a good Catholick ever after Gerard made his escape to Luther Farel went to Zuinglius at Zurich and le Fevre to Nerac to Queen Margaret The two others came also thither some time after and there began to form a new Church wherein they used no Mass nor observed the Canonical hours for Prayer but communicated by taking Bread and Wine and giving it to all that were present in the same manner said they as Jesus Christ and the Apostles had practised Before and after they made Sermons wherein they explained the Word of God They called it Preaching and their way of taking the Eucharist Manducation The Queen went amongst them and sometimes led her Husband thither who was very submissive to her Will and no less Zealous against the Authority of the Pope because that had furnished the Spaniard with a fair pretence to Invade the Kingdom of Navarre In the mean time Anthony Duprat Archbishop of Sens Cardinal and Legate Year of our Lord 1528 employ'd the whole Authority both of the Church and King to restrain this licentiousness he assembled a Provincial Council in the City of Paris Anno 1528. where appeared Six of his Suffragants and a Delegate from the Seventh They there propounded the Catholick Doctrines and condemned Luther's they Prohibited all Nocturnal Assemblies and the Reading of any Heretical Books with Excommunication against them their Abettors and Adherers On their part
between him and the Father in Law 255 Alix of Champagne Regent of the Kingdom 255 Alliance by Marriage between the Kings of France and England 247 Alliance of France confirmed with the Emperor Frederic 299 Alliance of Scotland with France 325 Alliance of the Empire renewed with France 328 Alliance of Scotland renewed with France 348 Amalaric King of the Visigoths 22 Amalasunta cause of the ruine of the Ostrogoths 24 Amaury Count de Montfort made Constable 295 Arnold Amaulry Inquisitor against the Albigeois 239 Amaulry or Aimery Doctor of Paris teaches a new and scandalous Doctrine 337 Amee the Great Count of Savoy and Prince of the Empire augments his Estate by several Seigneuries 345 Of the St. Ampoule or Holy Oyl 15 Anaclet Antipope 239 Anger 's taken by the Normans and retaken 144 Anjou divided into two Counties 141 Anne Widow of King Henry Marries again the Count de Crespy 219 Anseau de Garlande great Seneschal or Dapifer 239 Ansegise Archbishop of Sens. 145 Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury banished 289 St. Anselme writes a Treatise of the Incarnation ibid. Ansgard Wife of Lewis the Stammerer 149 St. Anthony the establishment of his Order in France 233 Apostolick Hereticks 276 Appeals to the Court of Rome 51 Archembault Lord of Bourbon 236 Archbishops at what times the Metropolitans took that Title 114 Archbishop of Reims a great debate between the Bishops of France between Artold and Hugh Son of Hebert Count of Vermandois 206 Of the same again between Arnold de Reims and Gerbert 206 207 Archbishop of Rouen named Primate of Normandy 232 Aribert King of a part of Aquitain 54 His death 55 Arles of the Ancient Rights and Preheminencies of its Archbishop in Gaul 50 Arles Kingdom united to that of Burgundy Transjurane 169 Arles the Temporal Seigneury belongs to the Archbishop of it 335 Great Naval Army 296 Of Coat-Arms and the beginning of their use 225 Armand Clerk of the City of Bress causes Rome to rebel against the Popes 272 Arnold King of Germany of Bavaria and Lorraine 156 Drives Guy of Spoletta out of all Lombardy 160 Arnold Emperor his death his Wife and Children 161 Arnold Count of Flanders 168 Arnold the Fat Count of Flanders 164 Arnold Earl of Flanders does cause the Duke of Normandy to be treacherously slain 178 Arnold the old Earl of Flanders his death 186 Arnold Archbishop of Reims degraded of his Dignity 204 Restored 207 Count d'Argues takes up Arms against the Duke of Normandy to his confusion 144 Of the County of Arragon and its Original 97 Arragon Kingdom its Original 163 Artois made a County and Pairie 301 Artois adjudged to Mahaut in prejudice of Robert grandson of Robert of Artois 347 Robert of Artois commands the Kings Army in Flanders is defeated and slain 330 Artold Archbishop of Reims 179 Arthur Duke of Bretagne 256 Takes up Arms against John without Lands who takes him Prisoner then Assassinates him 262 Asylum in Churches 53 Assembly general appointed in May no more for the future in March 124 Assemblies three sorts of great Assemblies 117 Assembly at Aix la Chapelle 122 Assembly or Parliament of Nimeghen 126 Of St. Martin 126 Assembly general of Franefort 127 Assembly general or Parliament of Mets. 139 Assembly of Coblents 140 Assembly of Meaux 150 Assembly general of Tribur 155 Assembly Synodal of the Bishops of Gaul and Germany at Verdun 180 Assembly of Prelats at Estampes 240 Assembly of the Estates of the Kingdom at Paris 329 Assize of Count Geofry Law for the Partage amongst the Bretons 254 Astolfus King of the Lombards seizes the Exarchat of Ravenna c. makes himself Master of Rome 91 Is constrained by the French to desist from his Enterprize and to restore the Exarchat c. 92 His death 93 Ataulfe King of the Visigoths passes in Gallia Narbonensis 3 Athalaric King of Italy 21 His death 24 Attila King of the Huns surnamed the Scourge of God enters into Gaul is there beaten and vanquished and forced to retire 10 His death 11 Avari ravage Turingia 29 Avari seize upon Lombardy 46 Avari are those of Austratia 104 Are wholly subdued 106 Avarice insupportable of the Ecclesiasticks during the eight Century 116 d'Aresnes John Earl of Hainault becomes Earl of Holland 326 Augustines Friers their Institution and their Establishment 340 St. Avi Abbot of Mici 21 Avignon besieged and taken by King Lewis VIII her Walls thrown down and Moats fill'd up 296 Austerities at the Article of death 288 Austrasia and its extent 20 Austrasia given to Dagobert by King Clotair and the Conduct of Pepin the old Maire of the Palace 46 Austrasians despise the commands of Brunehaut during the minority of King Childebert 34 Will not endure the Government of a Woman 78 Beaten by the Neustrians 78 Austria falls into the hands of the Emperor Rodolph 316 B. Baliol John declared King of Scotland 323 Is vanquish'd by the English taken Prisoner and constrained to renounce his Alliance with France 327 Set at full liberty but despised by the Scots 330 Banners belonging to the Church formerly used in time of War as their Standards 216 Bankers and of their excessive Usury and Extortion 324 Barcelona besieged and taken by the French 107 Bastards not admitted to Prelacy by the Holy Canons 210 The Kings of France not allowed to be Married to a Bastard 246 Bastards Adventurers of Gascongny 352 Battles 32 33 35 Battle between the Armies of Clotair II. and Thierry King of Burgundy in the year 599. 42 Battle near Toul and Tobiae 44 Battle of Tetry 69 Battle of Vinciac in Cambresis 79 Battle very famous near Tours wherein the Saracens were beaten and utterly defeated 82 Battle of Sigeac 83 Battle near Periguex 94 Battle very bloody at Fontenay 132 Battles in the Air. 134 Battle lost by the Romans 185 Battle near Monstreuil Bellay 211 Battle of Tinchelray in Normandy 227 Battle between the French and the English 234 Battle between the Flemings and the French to the disadvantage of the last 330 Battle very bloody between the French and the Flemmings to the loss of the last 331 St. Batilda Queen of France her Elogy 60 61 Bavarians and their Original and establishment in Bavaria under the obedience of France 23 Baldwin or Badouin Earl of Flanders steals away the Daughter of Charles King of Neustria 140 Baldwin the Bald Earl of Flanders 162 164 Baldwin with the Beard Earl of Flanders chaced from his Estates by his Son is restored by the Duke of Normandy 212 Baldwin surnamed the Frisonian chaced his Father 212 Baldwin Regent of the Kingdom of France and Earl of Flanders his death 218 220 221 Baldwin King of Jerusalem 222 Baldwin of Hainault 224 Baldwin XI Count of Flanders makes a League with the King of England against France 257 358 259 Baldwin Earl of Flanders takes up the Cross for the Holy Land 261 Is elected and declared Emperor of Constantinople 263 His death ibid. Baldwin an Impostor pretending
out the French declaring himself the Soveraign 135 Is Crowned King of Bretagne 136 Over-runs and ransacks Anjou 137 Nera Foulges 204 Neustria and its extent 17 Nicephorous Emperor of the East 107 His death 110 Nicholas Moine or Monk of Soissons contradicted by a Modern Author Church of the Twelfth Age. Nicholas I. Pope Excommunicates a Council of Bishops in France who declare him Excommunicate 141 Annul the second Marriage of Lotaire King of Lorraine with Valdrade and confirm the first with Thietberge ib. Nicholas III. Pope conspires against Charles King of Sicilia 318 His death 319 Nogaret William seizes on the Person of Pope Boniface 332 c. St. Norbert Founder of the Order of Premonstre afterwards Archbishop of Magdeburg Church in the Twelfth Age. Normandy first erected to a Dutchy 163 Ravaged by a Civil War between the Heirs of Henry King of England after his death 170 c. All in Blood and Fire by the quarrels of the particular Lords of the Country 215 Normans course along the Coasts of France 123 Their descents and pillaging of Gascogne and Aquitania Secunda 134 Course along the Coasts of Spain and take Sevill 125 Course along the Coasts of Flanders 129 Land in Neustria and Bretagne 135 Enter upon Neustria again ib. Called Truands 146 Scowre pillage and ravage France 151 c. Besieges the City of Paris 155 Defeated and cut in pieces 157 Whence so great numbers of such barbarous People could come into France 158 Re-enter France by the Mouth of the River Seine 160 Become Masters of that Province called since Normandy and on Bretagne 163 Revolt against their Duke 178 Their name began to grow glorious and powerful in Italy 215 Nantes County Difference between Henry King of England and Conan Count of Renes or of the Lesser Bretagne 247 O. Odo Duke of Burgundy 237 Odo third Duke of Burgundy 248 Reduced to reason 254 Odo I. Abbot of St. Genevieve 278 Office of Constable 295 Officers Princes are responsable for the faults of their Officers 304 Ogine Queen of France 175 Onfroy Chief of the Normans in Italy and of his Conquests 216 Orders Sacred and of such as were admitted during the Eighth Century 115 Orders famous which took beginning during the Eleventh Age. 233 Orders Religious established during the Third Age. 339 Orders Sacred have each their Function 286 Order of Fontevraud and its confirmation 290 Organs when first brought and used in France 93 Oriflame born as a Standar in time of War 244 Ostrogoths over-run and ravage all Italy 217 Otho William chief of the Earls of Burgundy that is to say of the Franche-Comte 209 His death 212 Othelin Earl of Burgundy puts himself under protection of the King of France and gives him his Earldom 324 Othomans or Ottomans and the beginning of their dreadful Family or House 329 Otho King of Germany and Lorrain assists Lewis the Transmarine against his Subjects 179 Otho Duke of Burgundy 184 Otho King of Germany makes himself Master of Italy Is Crowned King of Lombardy afterwards Crowned Emperor 185 Remedies several Commotions in Italy by severe punishments ib. Causes his Son Otho to be Crowned and Associated in the Empire 186 His death 187 Otho II. Emperor and King of Germany 186 Gives Lorraine to his Brother Charles 188 Makes an irruption in France to his confusion ib. His death 189 Otho III. Emperor and King of Germany his death 209 Otho Emperor 263 Is Excommunicated by Pope Innocent 264 P. Paganis Hugh Institutor of the Order of the Templers 275 Pairs of France who were to assist at the Coronation of the Kings reduced to the number of Twelve 240 Paleologus Michael becomes Master of the City of Constantinople 309 Pamiez made a Bishoprick 326 Paris very much consider'd by the Kings of the first Race 31 Paving of its Streets 254 Surrounded with Walls 255 Parliament of Wormes 142 Of Attigny 265 Parliament of Poissy 142 Parliament of Compeigne 184 Parliament of Wormes 152 Parliament of Estampes 217 Parliament of Soissons 266 Parliament of Amiens 309 Pascal Pope Murther committed in his House in hatred of the French His death 124 Paschal II. Pope comes into France and holds a Council at Troyes in Champagne 227 Ill treated by the Emperor 236 Paschal III. Antipope 272 Pastorels Crossed 306 Patarins Hereticks 278 Peasants and Pastorels take up Arms for the recovery of the Holy Land 348 Peace with the Danes 110 With the Saracens of Spain ib. With the Greecks ib. Peace between King Lewis the Transmarine and his Rebellious Subjects 178 Peace between King Lewis the Transmarine and Hugh le Blanc 180 Peace between the two Empires Between the French and the Danes 123 With the Saracens of Spain 123 Peace between King Lothaire and the Emperor Otho II. 188 Peace with the English 236 Penitence publick 274 Penitents publick excluded from Functions Civil Military and from Marriage ib. Pepin Maire of the Palace of Austrasia his death 58 Pepin the Gross or d'Herstal Prince of Austrasia 69 Makes War upon Thierry King of Neustria seizes his Person and the Government of all France ib. Reduceth the Revolted Frisians ib. Assembles a Council 70 Expedition against the Almans 72 Makes an Alliance with Bathod Duke or King of the Frisons ib. His death his Children 78 Pepin the Brief Son of Charles Martel Duke and Prince of the French in Neustria 84 He with his Brother ranges the Dukes of Aquitain who were revolted to reason 86 Pepin called the Brief Elected Annointed and Crowned King of France 90 A generous action that made him more considerable amongst the French Lords of his Court ib. Makes the Saxons Tributaries to France 92 Becomes Protector of the Roman Church against the Lombards Marches into Italy with his Army and compels Astolphus to give up the Exarchat of Ravenna and the Justices of St. Peter 92 93 Receives the Oath of Fidelity of the Duke of Bavaria 94 Forces the Saxons to do the same and to pay him Tribute ib. Subdues all Aquitain in divers and several Expeditions 95 His death his Wives and Children ib. Pepin King of Italy his feats of Arms. 109 Unfortunate Enterprize against the Venetians 110 His death ib. Pepin Son of Lewis the Debonaire is made King of Aquitain 122 Espouses Engheltrude 123 Pepin Son of Bernard King of Italy chief of the first Branch of Vermandois 123 Pepin King of Aquitain 122 He embraces the Cause of the Emperor his Father against his Brother Lothaire then turns against him 126 His death his Wife and his Children 129 Pepin King of Aquitain shaved and confined in a Monastery and afterwards in the Castle of Senlis 137 Perfidiousness of the Emperor against the Christians of the second Croisade to the Holy Land 225 Phenomenas very extraordinary 109 Philip King of France 220 Concerns himself in the Quarrel of the Flemings unsuccessfully 222 Runs into disorders and vexations with his Subjects ib. Is threatned with Excommunication by the Pope ib. Repudiates Berthe his
and from whence came about Eighteen or Twenty good Friars who spread themselves in several Countreys where they are all at present prayed to as Saints nor the good Hermit Severin whom Clovis being long sick of a Fever caused to come from the Monastery d'Agaune that he might be healed by his Prayers Nor that other named Maixan who had his little Cell in that part of Poitou whereon there is built an Abby and at length a Town of his Name Clovis resetled the Bishopricks in Belgica bestowed great Possessions on the Church and built many The French who were Converted imitated his Pious Examples I do not know whether before his Reign there were many Parish Churches in the Countrey but since his time we find great numbers and likewise many Oratories in which the Sacraments were not administred We need not tell you that the Titles of Pope of Father of the Church of Beatitude and of Beatissimus of Holiness of Sovereign-Priest of Servant of the Servants of God of Apostolique were common to all the Bishops nor that almost every one of them erected Monasteries in their Episcopal Cities They often elected Widowers and Married Men provided they had been so but once and to a Maiden The Vote of the People passed in these things for a Call from God they were bound to obey and to live with their Wives as with their Sisters if they had any Children or Nephews that were Wise and Learned they often succeeded them Their Election was made by the Clergy of their Church and by the People the Confirmation by the comprovincial Bishops principally by the Metropolitan and never without him They were to have regard only to Merit oftentimes they considered his Birth and even in those early days there were some wicked enough to make use of Bribes and Corruption Simony is the most antient or first and will be the last of Heresies In all Ages it hath stuck like Rust on the Church the others did not make any great mischief in Gall during this age That of Eutyches did not extend so far but the Condemnation of him by the Council of Chalcedon was sent by Pope Leo I. who before had demanded the Suffrages of the Bishops the more to authorize that celebrated Letter which he wrote to the Council The Monk and Priest Leporius hatched an Heresie almost the same as that which Nestorius maintained since but having been for that reason expelled from his Church at Marseilles he retracted in Writing Anno 425. That of Pelagius a Monk of Great Britain who began to dogmatize towards the year 412. was first discovered by two of the Gallican Bishops named Heros and Lazarus who prosecuted his condemnation first in Palestine afterwards in Africa After St. Augustin had trampled that proud Heresie in the Dirt which made the Salvation of Man depend upon his own strength no body in France durst openly embrace it But in Provence there were Priests and Monks who framed a middle Opinion between that Error and the Doctrine of this great Bishop they were called Semipelagians As for Councils they were often held by Order from the Emperours and Kings Sometimes the desire of the Pope the request of a Metropolitan that of a single Bishop or the least occasion caused them to assemble It is not known in what place that was held which Anno 429. sent St. German and St. Lupus into England to oppugne the Errors of the Pelagians nor that which Anno 444. deposed Chelidonius Bishop of Besancon because he had been married to a Widow and had been assisting in Judgment of matters criminal but it is well known that the Council at Riez was held in 439. The first at Orange in 441. That of Vaison in 442. That of Angiers in 443. The second of Axles towards the year 452. The third of the same place Anno 455. That of Tours 461. That of Vannes 465. The fourth of Arles 475. That of Agde Anno 506. and that of Orleans the first that was celebrated under a French King Anno 511. All these Councils were composed only of the Bishops of the Province where they were held excepting that of Agde and that of Orleance whereof the first comprehended the three Aquitanes and the two Narbonnoises as yet subject to Alaric King of the Visigoths and the other of the three Aquitanes newly conquered by the French and the second third and fourth Lyonnoises for the first belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy At the third of Arles that Error was condemned which they call the Predestinati and there was another called at Lyon for the same purpose but both by the pursuit of Faustus de Riez who was a Semipelagian At the fourth of Arles was Treated concerning the difference of Foustus Abbot of Lerins with the Bishop Theodorus and there they made for the first time a notable breach upon the Authority of the Bishops in limiting their power over Monasteries they had ever had it entire even to that degree that they had the power of placing Abbots and to chuse them out of any of the Clergy In these Councils several Canons were made for Ordinations to prevent the encroachments the Bishops made upon one another to preserve the Rights the Priviledges and the Goods belonging to the Church To regulate the Functions of the Clergy hinder them from Pleading before Secular Judges Repress Usury and the liberty of running out of their Diocess To preserve the Chastity of Virgins and Widows touching Homicides and false Witnesses touching Penances and the Penitents touching the Holiness and Celibacy which the Priests and Deacons ought to observe To the same end tended the Epistles of the Popes Innocent Zozimus Boniface Celestin Leons Simplicius Felix Gelasius Anastasius Symmachus which they generally directed to the Bishop of Arles as their Vicar to be sent to the other Gallican Bishops As there were no great Bishopricks in Gaul the Gallican Church was much more submissive and subjected to those Bishops of Rome then the Eastern ones or those of Africk but yet much less then the Italians There was often recourse had to them upon the greatest occasions they were consulted withal touching the usages and meaning of the Canons and afterwards when they found that their Answers were held for Decisions they Ordained what they thought good even before they were consulted withal They made themselves immediate Judges of all Disputes between Bishops before the Cause had been brought to the Metropolitan intermedled in bounding their Territories and Jurisdictions deposed those that were not well Ordained or were Criminal and compelled them to trudge to Rome to prosecute their business before them The Power they had by the Primacy of their See to cause the Canons to be duly observed advanced them to this great Authority but the Bishops took great care they should not be infringed and themselves acknowledged they were obliged to walk by them Childebert I. King VI. POPES Year of our Lord 512 HORMISDA The 26 th of July 414. S.
Nine years JOHN I. The 23 August 423. S. Two years nine Months and a half BONIFACE II. The 15 th Oct. S. One year JOHN II. In Decemb. 431. S. Three years four Months AGAPETUS In July 534. S. One year SILUERIUS In June 536. S. Four years VIGILIUS In 540 S. 15 years Thierry King of Meâ—z or of Austrasia aged between 28 and 30 years Clodomir of Orleans aged 16 or 17 years Childebert of Paris aged 13 or 14 years Clotaire of Soissons aged about 12 years Year of our Lord 511 THese four Brothers divided the Kingdom betwixt them and drew their shares by Lot Thierry had all Austrasia and the Countreys beyond the Rhine the other Three had Neustria they were all equally Kings and without dependence upon one another yet nevertheless all these parts together made but up the body of one Kingdom The Historians count their Succession by the Kings of Paris because that City hath since been the Capital of all France Year of our Lord 512. c. Five or six years successively these Princes lived in quiet the three Sons of Clotilda being yet young and perhaps the two last under the Government of their Mother it seems a little after the death of their Father the Visigoths regained from them the Countrey of Rouergne and some other Lands in the neighborhood of Languedoc France then began to be divided into Oosterrich or the Eastern part called by corruption Austria and Austrasia and into Westrich or Western part and by corruption Neustria Austrasia comprehended all that is between the Meuse and the Rhine and even on this side the Meuse Rheims Chalons Cambray and Laon. Besides antient France and all those people subdued beyond the Rhine as the Bavarois the Almains and a part of the Turingians depended upon it Neustria extended from this side the Meuse unto the Loire Aquitain was not comprised under the name of France nor Burgundy not even after it was conquer'd nor Bretagne Armorick at least the lower because it was an independent Estate Year of our Lord 516 Gondebaud King of Burgundy dyed in the year 516. He had compiled or written a Law called by his Name the Law Gombete which was long in use amongst the Burgundians as the Salique was amongst the French He had two Sons Sigismond and Gondemar The first succeeded him in all his Dominions and having been Converted many years before by the Instructions of Avitus Bishop of Vienne he abjured Arrianisme at his first coming to the Crown and brought all his People over with him to the Orthodox Faith A Danish Captain named Cochiliac exercising Piracy had made a Descent on the Year of our Lord 518. towards 519. Lands belonging to Thierry 's Kingdom near the mouth of the Rhine when he would have gotten on Ship-board again with his Plunder comes the Prince Theodebert eldest Son of Thierry who assaults him kills him and having stained both Land and Sea with the Blood of those Pirats regained all what they had seized and stollen Sigismond bad at his first Marriage espoused Ostrogotha Daughter to King Theodorick of Italy by whom he had a Son named Sigeric After the death of that Queen he took one of his Servants into his Bed who having conceived a Step-mothers hatred against the young Prince made him seem criminal in his Fathers Eyes by her frequent calumnies who caused him to be strangled with a Napkin as he was sleeping but immediately he was so struck with Remorse that he retired himself for a time to weep for this Year of our Lord 522 crime into the Monastery of d'Agaune which he himself had built or much enlarged in Honour of St. Maurice and his Companions The Divine Justice as may be well believed stirred up the French Kings to chastise him though he had married his Daughter Sister to Sigeric with King Thierry the other three Brothers forbore not to conspire his ruine being incited thereto by Year of our Lord 523 their Mother Clotilda who yet cherished in her bosome the desire to revenge her Fathers death If at least we may suspect such a thing from so pious a Princess In few days they made themselves Masters of a great part of Burgundy either by the gaining of some Battle or the defection even of the Burgundians Sigismond fearing to be delivered up by his own Subjects disguises himself like a Monk and retires to the top of an inaccessible Mountain he had not long been there but some of those he thought his most faithful Servants went and found him and advised him to quit that place as not safe and betake himself to St. Maurice's Church the most Sacred Asylum of all those Provinces when he was come almost to the Gate of that Monastery the Traitors delivered him into the hands of the French Clodomir carries him away with his Wife and Children and shuts them in a Castle not far from Orleans As for Gondemar having saved himself by flight he awhile afterwards gathers Year of our Lord 524 up his Brothers Wrecks and puts himself in possession of the Throne Clodomir could not endure it and Leagued himself with Thierry his elder Brother to compleat his overthrow Before he set forth he was resolved to rid himself of Sigismond St. Avy Abbot of Micy endeavoured in vain to prevent him by his Pious Arguments adding In the Name of God the threats of a Reprisal on his Head and his Family but he Treated him in Ridicule and caused Sigismond to be cruelly Massacred with his Wife and Children and their Bodies to be thrown into a Well The prophetick threatnings of the Holy Abbot soon had their effect It was impossible but Thierry must in his Soul have a just Resentment for the death of Sigismond his Father-in-law so that when he beheld Clodomir far engaged in the medley which was in a Battle they fought against Gondemar near Autun he forsook him and suffer'd him to perish The Burgundians knowing him by his long Royal Locks cut off his Head and fixed it on a Lance but that spectacle instead of terrifying the French inflamed their Courage and Fury they revenged his death by a horrible slaughter of the Burgundians and conquer'd a part of that Kingdom to wit that which lay nearest the Kingdom of Orleans Clodomir was aged some Thirty years he left three Sons then but Children Theobald Gontair and Clodoaldo whom Clotilda their Grand-mother took care to breed hoping that when they came to be of age their Uncles would restore their Fathers Kingdom to them Clotaire his younger Brother presently married his Widow she was named Gondiocha so little the Princes of this First Race had any consideration for their Blood being as bruitish in their Amours as in their Revenge THIERRY in Austrasia at Mets. CHILDEBERT in Neustria at Paris CLOTAIRE in Neustria at Soissons The Kingdom of Burgundy was not shared amongst these Brothers till some years afterwards and Thierry had no part of it Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths
which was the selling his Daughter to John Viscount of Milan for Six hundred thousand Gold Crowns in Marriage with his Son Galeas Although the Crown of France and its Sovereignty came to the Eldest wholly and was not to be divided amongst the younger Brothers yet they assigned a share of Lands to them which was entirely theirs which descended to the Daughters as well as to the Sons and which they might dispose of as properly their own Now the King to keep the Body of his Kingdom in more strength and not suffer his great Provinces hereafter to be as it were dismembred by such partage or by any Treaty united inseparably to the Crown the Dutchy's of Normandy and Burgundy Year of our Lord 1361 and the Earldoms of Toulouze and Champagne by Writings made at the Castle of the Louvre in the Month of November in the year 1361. Year of our Lord 1361 In the foregoing Easter Holy-days Death had snatched away the young Philip Duke of Burgundy and in him extinguished the first Branch of those Dukes which had produced Twelve and lasted 330 years He left no Children Margaret of Flanders his Wife being as yet but Eleven years of age and he but Fifteen He was Grandson of Duke Eudes IV. and Son of that Philip who was slain at the Siege of Aiguillon and of Jane of Boulogne who for Second Husband married King John and died the last year Year of our Lord 1361 The Lands belonging to this Prince which came by his Mother returned to the Heirs of that Line which were the County of Artois and the Franche Comte to Margaret Daughter of Philip the Long and the Countess Mahaut and Wife of Robert Earl of Flanders by consequence Grandfather of the Wife this young Duke Poilip had Married Boulongne and Auvergne went to the House of Boulongne as for the Duthcy of Burgundy the Navarrois challeng'd it as being the Son of Jane Daughter of Queen Margaret who was the Wife of King Lewis Hutin and eldest Daughter of Duke Robert Father of Eudes IV. Duke of Burgundy but the King laid his hand upon it as being said he nearer of kindred by one degree being Son of the Second Daughter of Duke Robert whereas the King of Navarre was but Grandson of the eldest Some will say that he did not understand his Rights well and that he should have reaped this Dutchy as he was Sovereign and have maintain'd that Burgundy was a Masculine Fief which reverted to him for want of Heirs-Males Year of our Lord 1361 The Soldiers of all the parties did not evacuate the places without a great deal of trouble and committed the same depredations and Robberies as during the War The Gascons and the Bretons rambled all over Anjou Poitou and Tourain for pillage and plunder and those Bands that were named the Tard-Venus or Late-Comers led by some Gascons having in the same manner treated Champagne Burgundy Masconnis and Lyonnois in a Battle at Brignais near Lyons defeated James de Bourbon Count de la Marche whom the King had given Orders to chastise them for their Thefts after that they divided themselves into two parties whereof one was hired for Money to go into Italy by the Marquis de Montferrat who was in War with the Viscounts of Milan the others fastned on Masconnois and never let go their hold till they were fully gorged like blood-sucking Leeches Year of our Lord 1361. and 62. Those that levy'd the Taxes and Gabelles tormented the People no whit less then the other Robbers The burthen and grievance was so great that infinite numbers of Families quitted France and sought elsewhere for a more easie livelyhood and subjection Such as did know how to secure themselves from all these miseries did not know where to find an Asylum against the Pestilence which for seven or eight years growing worse and worse upon divers returns seized indifferently upon all sorts of People both in City and Countreys There fell by it this year nine Cardinals and Seventy Prelats in the Popes Court and above Thirty thousand People in Paris The Jews were recalled into France for the fifth time another plague added to the Imposts the Pestilence and Famine Year of our Lord 1362 It was the Right or to â—speak properly a practise suffer'd time out of mind amongst the French that they might make War one upon another for their particular quarrels the King forbid it among all his Subjects till all the enemies were quite out of the Kingdom He afterwards added to this Order a prohibition of all Duels Challenges c. as well during the Peace as in time of War Notwithstanding his defence he durst not take notice of the cruel War that was renew'd between the Earls de Foix and d'Armagnac because he feared it might offend the King of England to whom they were Vassals for those Lands in contest between them We had omitted to take notice before how the difference for the Succession of Gaston de Bearn had given birth to this bloody War between these two Houses That Gaston who died Anno 1289. had by Mate Countess of Bigorre four Daughters Constance who married William the Son of Richard of England King of Germany from whom there came no Children Margaret who was the Wife of Roger Bernard Earl of Foix Mate of Gerauld Count d'Armagnac and of Fezenzac and Guillemette of Don Pedro Son of Don Pedro King of Arragon and Brother to James II. That the first and the last left no Children behind them that Gaston their Father by his Testament made them all sharers of the Lands he had in France as well as those in Catalonia and that in case the first dyed without Children he then gave Bearn to the Second who was Countess of Foix. Neither had we observed how Mate Countess of Armagnac finding her self wronged by this Testament had refused to approve thereof That in Anno 1294. Bernard her Son for her Husband Geraud was dead accused the Count de Foix of having falsified it and called him to try it in Combat or Duel in the Court of King Philip the Fair. That by Decree of Parliament in the year 1295. the two parties were admitted to Combat in the City of Gisors but when they were come into the Field the King caused them to be put out again and annull'd the Duel by taking upon him to let them know That this private feud should surcease according to the Law or Rights of the Kingdom during the publique War between the French and the English That the same King in the journey he made to Languedoc Anno 1303. finding he could not bring the parties to an amicable composition made a Decree to settle and regulate their pretensions to which Margaret Countess de Foix her Husband being deceased would not obey That the death of Guillemete the youngest of the four Sisters occasioned new debates and that Philip King of Navarre endeavour'd to determine them Anno 12â—9 by a Sentence of Arbitration
him run after his fancies and endeavoured then to recover Perpignan whereof John King of Arragon was repossessed by Intelligence it was only the Town for the Castle held out still for the French Their Army went thither after the taking of Leytoure King John besieged in the City though Aged above Seventy years defended himself bravely for two Months together till his Son Ferdinand came to his assistance and relieved him The Twelfth day of August Nicolas d'Anjou Son of John of Calabria who had Succeeded to the Dutchy of Lorrain after the Death of his Father Died of the Plague at Nancy Thus his Cousin Rene of Lorrain Son of his Aunt Yoland d'Anjou and de Ferry who was Son of Antony Count of Vaudemont restored the Dukedom to their House whence it came For about four or five years past the Constable play'd double betwixt the King and the Burgundian and incited them the one against the other He thought their broils was his only safety but both offended with his duplicity agreed his ruin at the price of his head and his plunder if they could but catch him He had some hint of it and broke the project by the many reasons he gave the King in writing But after he had obtained his pardon he again offended him more grievously then ever For he Seized on the City of St. Quentin and which was worse had the impudence to confer with him well Armed upon a Bridge with a Barrier betwixt them as he had been his equal Year of our Lord 1474 The Burgundians ambition was insatiable He had invited Edward of the House of York to make a descent in France where the Burgundian promised to do as much by his correspondence as they with their Forces and nevertheless instead of waiting for them he went and ruined his Army before the Town of Nuz building great designs upon the taking of this place which lies on the Rhine The apparent reason why he laid that Siege was to re-settle Robert de Bauiere in the Arch-Bishoprick of Cologn whose Channons had refused to admit him and for their Chief had taken one of their Colleagues to wit Herman Brother of the Landgrave of Hesse Year of our Lord 1474 As King Rene was good liberal and devout so was he inconstant and variable of Courage tame and weak His Sons and Grand-sons being all dead there remained only his Daughter Yoland mother of Rene Duke of Lorrain but that House was at distance from him and such as were near made him believe that having received so many troubles from her he ought not to love her and inclined him according to their interests to give his Succession one while to the King of France another while to Charles Count du Maine his Nephew Son of his Brother of the same name another time to the Duke of Burgundy And this is the reason of so many several Wills and divers Donations made by him on that Subject It is believed that he caused one to be written in Letters of Gold and Adorned with Miniature whereby he made the King his Heir to the County of Provence It is certain that this year 1474. he instituted Charles du Maine in all his Lands reserving only the Dutchy of Barr which he left to his Daughters Son Duke Rene. Now the following year when he saw the King had Seized his City of Anger 's and the Castle of Barr for the Portion said he of Mary d'Anjou his Mother he changed his mind or pretended so and to make him afraid said he would bestow it upon the Duke of Burgundy but the King being purposely advanced as far as Lyons hindred him and thereupon hapned the defeat of that Duke as you shall see Whilst he was battering his Head against that potent Body of Germany which is all of Iron the King accumulated Enemies on that part against him especially the Swisse whose alliance he had gained with the Cities of Basle and Strasburgh and others on the Rhine Sigismund Duke of Austria Rene Duke of Lorrain and even the Emperor Frederic Sigismund with the aid of the Swisse re-enters the County of Ferrete and caused Hagenbac's head to be cut off for the Concussions he had useâ— â—ene Duke of Lorrain sent to declare War against him even before Nuz by a Moorish Servant who belonged to the Lord de Craon and Frederick Armed all the power of the Empire to force him to raise the Siege Nevertheless durst he not attack him though he were four times more in number The Bishop of Munster alone had brought thither 1200 Horse and 60000 Foot all cloathed in Green with 1200 Waggons Year of our Lord 1475 The Truce betwixt the King and the Duke being expired the King goes into the Field and snatched from him Roye Montdidier and Corbie but neither this multitude of Enemies nor the Winter long and sharp nor the loss of his Towns could not make his stubborness Flexible which held him still to that Siege for ten Months from its beginning In the Month of June Edward King of England caused his Army to Land at Calais which took up three Weeks time Whilst he was putting them ashoar he sent two or three dispatches to him prayed him and pressed him to come and joyn with him the Duke making now one delay and then another The Mediation of the Apostolick Legat and of the King of Denmark who was in a City near at hand was a plausible pretence for him to withdraw from that dangerous enterprize with Honour but he obstinately refused it In the end when he saw it was too long a business though he was within ten days of taking the City by Famine he consented it should be put into the hands of the Legat. That done he comes post to find the English at Calais leaving his Forces in Barrois so shatter'd that he durst not let them be seen He conducted the King all along the way to Peronne and from thence went to see the Constable at St. Quentin who gave him his word he would deliver that City and all his other places up to the English the Duke assured them of it But when they would have approached he caused them to Fire upon them It is hard to express whether was then greatest their amazement or their rage the Duke having spent a great many words to Interpret this in the best Sence returned to Barrois to recruit his Forces Edward was a Voluptuous Prince very Fat and naturally slow who sought only to cram his Purse and who having undertaken this War rather to screw money from his Subjects then to acquire Dominion or Honour had brought over with him some of the Fattest London Citizens such as loved their ease mightily that so their weariness and toyl might make them sooner willing to desire a Peace It hapned therefore that during the Burgundians absence the King by force of intrigues of flattery and withal some Presents whereof the English are very greedy persuaded that Prince and
that the Oldest were sometimes the most passionate would essay whether amongst the youthfull there might not be found one more Temperate And for this consideration elected John de Medicis Son of Laurence who was but thirty six years of Age. He took the Name of Leo X. There were two Opinions in the Kings Council the one to make an Accommodation with the Venetians the other to regain the Emperor Stephen Poncher Bishop of Paris was of the first such as would be complaisant to the Queen stood for the second This Princess passionately desired to marry Renee her second Daughter to the Arch-Duke Charles and this Advice had carried it if she would at that very time have given her up to Maximilians Hands to breed her and had not obstinately resolved to keep her near her self till she were marriageable Ferdinand on the other side fearing lest the Venetians should renew and joyn in friendship again with France endeavoured to reconcile them with Maximilian and propounded to get Veronna to be restored again to them but the Emperor demanded prodigious Summs of Money and very crabbed Conditions So that the Venetians not being able to come to an Agreement on reasonable Terms with him condescended to a League with the Kings Year of our Lord 1513 By means of their Assistance and during the Truce he had with Ferdinand he believed he might recover the Dutchy of Milan He gave Commission for this to la Trimoville the most renowed of his Captains together with sixteen thousand Foot one thousand Men at Arms and two thousand light-Horse to whom the Venetian Army commanded by Alviane newly deliver'd by the French were to joyn in case of need At his arrival though he had not much more then the half of his Men it spread so great a Terror thorow Italy that all the Places in Milanois surrendred to him excepting Coma and Novarre in the last of which Duke Francis Sforza put himself with five thousand Swisse At the same time the Fleet which consisted of nine Galleys and some Ships having appeared on the Coast of Genoa the Fiesques and the Adornes drew near to Genoa with four thousand Men and having beaten some Soldiery whit which Duke Janu Fregoso thought to hinder their Passage from the Mountains chaced away that Duke and restored that Seigneury to the Obedience of the King having caused Antonio Adorno to be created Duke to administer in his Name Year of our Lord 1513 The injoyment of this Conquest lasted not so long as the time they had imploy'd in acquiring it La Trimoville had besieged Sforza in Novarre and made a Breach but he durst not make his Assault because the said Breach was hardly large enough and there was another Body of Swisse coming to relieve the besieged There were two Opinions that divided the Officers la Trimoville thought it best to go and meet the Swisse John Jacques Trivulcio on the contrary to avoid fighting and wait for the French Troops that were marching to re inforce them The plurality of Votes made them resolve to pursue the first and for that purpose Trivulcio with the Van-Guard should go and take his Lodgment upon that Road whilst la Trimoville should remain yet some time longer before Novarre with the Rear-Guard to expel the Swisse if they endeavour'd to make any Sallies But having some Lands of his own in the Place they had assigned him to take his Lodgment and besides being proud and haughty his Pride and Avarice made him turn another way and take his Lodgment near la Riota in a Boggy Ground and cut up and down with deep Trenches so that the Horse could be of no Service nor be able to help the Foot Year of our Lord 1513 The Swifse that were in Novarre therefore marching forth in the Night which could not have been imagin'd and having joyned the others came with much fury to charge the French Army at the first birth of Day Their Charge was received with the like courage Fifteen hundred of their Men were slain and as many wounded nevertheless they gained the Victory and hew'd all the German Infantry in pieces together with the Gascons La Trimoville wounded in the Leg retreated with all his Cavalry to Vercel and from thence to Susa The burthen of the War fell afterwards upon the Venetians they maintained it well enough but all those Cities that had given themselves up to the French returned and submitted themselves to the mercy of Sforza and were chastized for their defection by great Fines which served him to pay the Swisse The Adornes who had not yet held the Government of Genoa above one and twenty Days having not wherewith to support themselves after such a revolution made their best advantage of it They assembled the People and having declared that they would not maintain an ambitious Government to the great hazard of their Country withdrew themselves out of the City most of the People and Senate conducting them forth with Tears and Wishes for their return By the interest of Cardonna General of Ferdinand's Army and upon the Popes recommendations Octavian Fregosa was â—etled in that Principallity and not Janus who was formerly expell'd Hitherto Maximilian although he had abandoned the King had not yet formally declared himself When he found the opportunity so fair he enters into open hostility against him and then was France in more eminent danger then it had of a long time been For on the one side the Swisse extremely puff'd up by the Victory at Novarre entred by the Dutchy of Burgundy and he with the King of England fell upon them in Picardy Year of our Lord 1513 The Swisse besieged Dijon with five and twenty hundred Men to whom the Emperor had joyned the Nobless of the Franche-Comte and some German Horse commanded by Vlric Duke of Wirtemberg La Trimoville having defended it six Year of our Lord 1513 Weeks judged it better to turn this Torrent another way which after the taking this Place would have overflowed all even to Paris than to render it more violent by thus putting it to a stop He enters upon a Treaty with them and manag'd it so wisely as to send them back into their own Country obliging himself that the King should pay them six hundred thousand Crowns and should renounce the Council of Pisa and the Dutchy of Milan He had no express Order to make these conditions but thought he might be allowed to do it for the saving of all France and thereupon gave them up six Hostages two Lords and four Citizens The King refusing to ratifie this Treaty their Heads were in great danger Only the fear the Swisse had of losing the great Summs of Money he proffer'd them saved the Lives of those innocent Persons Year of our Lord 1513 At the same time about mid July the Emperor and the King of England had besieged Terovenne with above fifty thousand Men. The French Army happily enough threw a Convoy of Provisions and Ammunitions into