Bishops together who having heard his Reasons were of opinion upon consideration of the publick good that he might take her for his Wife notwithstanding the Canonical Obstructions which was a kind of Dispensation Abbon who was Abbot of Fleury a vehement Man not having been able to dissuade him from this match bestirr'd himself with much heat to have it dissolved The Pope to whom Robert had made no Application Excommunicated the Bishops that had authorized it and the two Parties that were Contracted if they did not separate forthwith Year of our Lord 1003 The King not giving Obedience to a Sentence which appeared to him contrary to the good of his Kingdom the Pope by an unheard-of Proceeding put the whole Nation under an Interdiction To which the People so humbly submitted that all the Kings Domestick Servants excepting only two or three forsook him and they threw whatsoever was left at his Table to the Dogs no body thinking it lawful to cat of that Meat he had but touched These Severities and not a Monstrous Birth by his Wife whom the Miracle-mongers say was delivered of an Infant with the Neck and Feet resembling a Goose constrained him to part from her but that was not till two or three years after and we find that they made a Journey to Rome either to defend their Cause before the Pope Year of our Lord 1006 or to crave his Pardon However it were the Marriage remained Null I cannot forget one memorable Example of the Soveraign Power and the extream Rigour of the Pope it was Silvester II. Guy Vicount of Limoges was cited to Rome by the Bishop of Angoulesme because he had detained him Prisoner in a Castle The two Parties appeared The Cause pleaded upon the very Easter-day the Pope pronounced that Guy for Reparation of his Crime should be tied to the Necks of two Wild-horses and his Body thus torn and bruised thrown on the Dung-hill which was to be put in Execution three days after In the mean time Guy was delivered up into the hands of the Bishop but the Prelat being moved with pity pardoned him and stealing away in the night generously brought him thence into France again with him About this time Henry Duke of Burgundy Brother of Hugh Capet died without Children Now by the induction of Giselle his Wife Widow of Adelbert as above King of Italy and Son of Berenger II. he left his Dakedom by Will and Testament to Otho-William surnamed the Stranger issue of that Woman by her first Husband Year of our Lord 1003 who finding himself already Earl of Burgundy beyond Soane named Franche-Comte and besides assisted by Landry Earl of Nevers his Son-in-Law and Brunon Bishop of Langres whose Sister he had Married took possession of all Burgundy by vertue of that Grant But King Robert to whom this Dukedom belonged lawfully as Heir to his Uncle led a powerful Army thither with the aid of Richard II. Duke of Normandy suppressed the Usurpers Faction took Auxerre by Composition and Avalon by Battery the Walls as 't is said falling down miraculously before him and at length forced out Otho-William and confined him beyond the Saone where he became the Stock of the Earls of Burgundy Year of our Lord 1004 Otho Son of Prince Charles Duke of the Lower Lorrain being dead without ever Marrying King Henry gave his Dukedom to Godfrey Count of Verdun Bouillon and Ardenne without any regard to the Sisters of the Defunct who were Married Gerberge to Lambert Earl of Brabant and Hermengarde to Lambert Earl of Namur From these issued the Dukes of Brabaut and the Earls of Namur Year of our Lord 1005 c. Baldwin Earl of Flanders already an Enemy to the Emperor undertook the Quarrel of these Daughters The Emperor came to the Relief of Godfrey whom he had invested with this Fief and the King of France embraced Baldwin's Party who was his Vassal The Emperor in vain besieged Valenciennes and then Gaunt Finally this War being made at the Charge and Expence of the Flemming he agreed with the Emperor and restored Valenciennes Year of our Lord 1008 Afterwards the Emperor desiring to make use of his Valour in the great Troubles brought upon him by the Rebellion of the German Princes gave him that City again and withall the Island of Walcheren being part of Zeland whence proceeded a long and bloody Contest between the Flemmings and the Hollanders these pretending that Zeland appertained to them by vertue of a certain Grant which they alledged had been made to them by the Emperor Lotrire Son of Lewis the Debonnaire Year of our Lord 1007 I think we ought to place in the year 1007. the Marriage of Robert with Constance surnamed Blanch Daughter of William V. Earl of Arles Provence and Toulouze a Beautiful Princess but Haughty Capricious and Insupportable We must observe that the Authors of those times frequently called Provence Aquitain whether out of ignorance or because of its City of Aix Aquae Sextiae Year of our Lord 1009 The Saracens at the instigation of the Jews in France demolish the Temple of Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre which re-inflames the Devotion of the Western Christians and their hatred against the Jews whom they Banish or knock on the Head every where Year of our Lord 1009 10 c. The good King Robert addicted himself intirely to works of Piety Charity Mercy and Justice re-edified old Churches or built new ones and fed great numbers of poor People in all the Cities throughout his Kingdom He kept above Two hundred in his House whom he led every where having no aversion to see them even under his Table to touch their Ulcers and make the Sign of the Cross over them whereby they were oftentimes made whole He delighted to Sing in the Quire and Compose Words and Notes for the Songs and Responses in honour of God or his Saints The Church hath preserved some of them which they make use of to this day This year 1012. was seen towards the farther Southern parts a Star of an extraordinary magnitude which seemed to dart its bright Rays into the beholders Eyes It appeared for three months together sometimes contracting its self other while seeming much greater as if it took new Fire then again as it were quite extinguished Anno 1003. a Comet had likewise been observed which kept near the Sun and appeared but seldom which was about the break of day Eight years before viz. Anno 995. another had been observed upon St. Laurences-day And in 981. also another yet about Autumn Which I take notice of to shew that these Phenomena are not so rare as to make so much noise about them Year of our Lord 1013 The King having bestowed the Archbishoprick of Bourges upon Goslin his Natural Son Abbot of Floury the Clergy of that Church made great opposition saying That the Holy Canons admitted no Bastards to the Prelacy Which occasioned many Tumults that were not allaied till five
prisoner But soon after having made his escape out of their hands he takes Shipping and Lands in Provence whence he was conducted to Lyons From that place always defrayed in his expences by the Bishops of France he came to Troyes where he held a Council the King came likewise thither and by his hands was Crowned Emperor the seventh of September Year of our Lord 878 In this Council the Pope Excommunicated Hugh Bastard Son to King Lotaire II. and Valdrade who pretended to be Legitimate and had collected together some herds of Robbers to regain the Kingdom of Lorrain He likewise restored Hincmar Bishop of Laon permitted him to say Mass though he were blind and bestowed one half of the revenue of the Bishoprick upon him Year of our Lord 879 After the Popes departure the Stammerer going towards Lorraine conferred about Marsenne upon the Meuse with Louis King of Germany They made a Treaty by which they divided Lorrain betwixt them as it had been betwixt their Fathers and the Stammerer promised him part in Italy Neither the obedience nor affection of the Lords was firm towards him they gave little heed to his Orders and it hapned that having taken up Arms to suppress Bernard Marquiss of Gothia whose Government he had given to Bernard Earl of Auvergne he fell sick in his passage by Autun in Burgundy not without suspicion he was poysoned wherefore he sent for his Son Louis whom he put into the hands and keeping of Bernard Earl of Auvergne Thierry his great Chamberlain the Abbot Hugh and some other Lords This Hugh or Hugues was very powerful towards the latter part of the Reign of Charles the Bald under Louis the Stammerer and likewise under his Children The Stammerer being with much difficulty brought to Compeigne gave up his Soul upon Holy Friday the 19 th of April He was buried at the same place in the Abbey-Church of St. Cornille his Age was 30 or 35 years of which he had Reigned only Year of our Lord 879 one and seven Months Before his death he sent the Crown and other Regal ornaments to his Son Louis by the Bishop of Beauvais and an Earl with order to have him annointed King as soon as possible He was in his youth married to Anâ—â—arde by whom he had had two Sons this Louis of whom we speak and Carloman but as she 〈◊〉 of mean extraction the King his Father without whose consent he married her obliged him to put her away For this reason it is that some Historians say that these two Princes are Bastards After this divorce he took another named Adelaid or Alive Daughter of some English Prince and Sister to Wilfrid Abbot of Flavâ—gny in the Dutchy of Burgundy She was with child when he died and brought a Posthumus Son into the World Born the 17 th of September following He was named Charles the Year of our Lord 879 Simple The Western Empire remained vacant two whole years and Italy in an extreme confusion thorough the discords of the Lords and the spoil and ravages of the Saracens to whom the Pope was fain to pay Tribute We may in this Reign place the Original of the Earls of Anjou from a Lord named Ingelger the Son of a Breton named Torquat or Tortulfe on whom Charles the Bald had bestowed some Lands in Gastinois and Perretta Daughter of Hugo Labbe in marriage This Ingelger was the Father of Fulke le Roux who being made Earl of Anjou by Charles the Simple valiantly defended that Country against the Normans LOUIS III. AND CARLOMAN King XXVII At the Age of Adolescency POPES JOHN VIII 3 Years and half in this Reign MARTIN Elected in January 883. S. one Year and 20 days ADRIAN III. Elect. in January 884. S. One Year 3. Months whereof Six Months in this Reign LOVIS III. And Carloman his Brother Kings of West-France Burgundy and Aquitain CARLOMAN King of Bavaria Louis the Young King of Germany or East-France Charles the Fatt of Germany properly so called   Lorrain to both Year of our Lord 879 TO the very end of this Race we shall find nothing but factions the Kings being but their May-games and even their Creatures Thierry and the rest to whom the Stammerer had recommended his Son sent to the other Lords to meet at the general Assembly at Meaux And they reconciled the quarrels between Thierry and Boson Gauzzelin one of the Princes or great Lords of Neustria Abbot of St. German des Prez forgot not the injuries he had received by the preceding Government and having made his Party with some Bishops and Lords proposed that to heal the distempers of France they ought to bring it all under one head and for that purpose call in Louis of Germany with whom he had contrived and held intelligence as having formerly been taken Prisoner by him at the Battel of Andernac promising to bring him in and make the French accept and own his Title to the prejudice of the Bastard Sons of Louis the Stammerer For thus he called them The greatest Friends to these two Princes could no other way divert this Storm but by yielding up to the German King that part of Lorrain which the Bald and the Stammerer had possessed And ever since that Kingdom though disputed and divers times resumed by the Kings of West France yet remained at last with the Germans or Kings of East France Year of our Lord 880 Louis would not have been satisfied with less than the whole Monarchy had not his affairs pressed him to return home in hast For being informed at Mâ—ts of the sickness of Carloman his eldest Brother who was Seized with the Palsie he posted to Bavaria to prevent him from giving the Kingdom to Arnold his Bastard Son Now Carloman died soon after and was Interred at Ottinghen in Bavaria in St. Maximilian's Monastery founded by him He had no Legitimate Children but two natural ones Arnold to whom he could leave only the Dutchy of Carinthia King Louis having even in his life time received the Oaths of his Subjects and Gisele who An. 890. married Zuendipold King of Moravia whom for that reason some have called Carloman's Son Louis III. and Carloman as beforesaid Louis and Charles the Fatt as abovesaid Year of our Lord 880 In the mean while Gauzelin and Conrard fearing to be oppressed by the other Neustrian Lords applied themselves to Lewitgarde the wife of Lewis of Germany a very ambitious Princess who sollicited her Husband so earnestly that she over-persuaded him to return once more into France with much greater strength then he at first carried Year of our Lord 880 Upon the rumour of this second Irruption the Lords caused not only Louis eldest Son of the Stammerer but also Carloman his Brother to be both Crowned in the Abbey of Ferrieres in Gastinois Year of our Lord 880 Some while after these two Brothers being at Amiens divided their Fathers Kingdom betwixt them Lewis had Neustria and Carloman the
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
it sacked all Picardy Artois Champagne and the Country of Messin often frighted Paris covered the Seine the Marne and the Loire with the Ashes of those Cities they consumed by Fire near those Streams and beat the French every where excepting at Chartres from whence they were repulsed by the protection of the Holy Virgin and the courage of Bishop Gosseaume and at Tonnere where one of their Parties was defeated by Richard Duke of Burgundy The foregoing year Lambert was killed by treachery as he was taking his pleasure in hunting by Hugo Earl of Milan The Western Empire remained vacant till the year 915. When Berenger was again Crowned by Pope John X. We may here place the Birth of the Kingdom of Arragon because about this time Sancho Abacca I. having extended his Kingdom of Navarre or Territory of Pampeluna towards Huesca and conquered all the rest of the Province of Arragon besides the Earldom of the same name which held already of him took the Title of King of Pampelune and Arragon Year of our Lord 911 In An. 911. hapned the Death of two Kings Rodolph of Burgundy beyond the Jour and Louis King of Germany The first left Rodolph II. his Son for Successor The second being only 19 or 20 years of age had only two Daughters Placidia or Plesance and Matilda who for Husbands had Conrard Duke of Franconia and Henry the Bird-Catcher Duke of Saxony and Son of Duke Otho The Lords of Lewis's Kingdom intending to bestow the Crown upon this Otho he excused himself upon the Score of his great Age and generously advised them to Elect Conrad Duke of Franconia though he had been his Enemy Charles the Simple in France Conrad in Germany Louis in Provence Rodolph II. in Trans-jurane Berenger in Italy Year of our Lord 911 Rollo the great Captain did by little and little make himself familiar and friendly with Franco Arch-Bishop of Rouen Upon his intreaties he had twice or thrice granted a Truce The design of that vertuous Prelat was to convert him Rollo's was to attain the Soveraignty and of the head of those Pirats become a Legal Prince The French Lords had much ado to suffer such a Stranger to be setled thus in the best Country of the Kingdom But the People so long and often tormented by their plundrings and continued disturbance cried out to them to put a period to their miseries Besides Robert Earl of Paris who aspired to the Monarchy desired he might remain in that Station to have his assistance in time of need For these reasons Charles made a Truce with him during which he propounded to him to give him in propriety and with the Title of a Dutchy that part of Neustria between the Sea the River of Seine and the Epte which falls into the Seine with his Daughter Gisele in marriage if he would be converted and embrace Christianity Upon these conditions Rollo was Catechised and received holy Baptism upon Easter-Eve An. 912. Earl Robert was his God-Father and named him After this Year of our Lord 912 he went and did homage to the King for the Lands he gave him and then wedded the Princess his Daughter but she lived only a short time with him and brought him no Children Thus this Province which the Romans called Lugdunensis Secunda was dismembred from the propriety of the Kings of France But not from their Soveraignty and according to the name of it's new Inhabitants took that of Normandy As this was granted to them because they knew not how to drive them out so for the same reason they were released of the Homage and dependance of Bretagne because they were indeed Masters of it and pillag'd it when ever they pleased And withal by this means it was reduced to the Soveraignty of the Crown by subjecting it under a Duke that held it of the King Year of our Lord 913 The year following Rollo failed not to demand Homage of the Bretons with his Sword in hand Duke Alain Rebre ' or the Great had been dead six years and left his Children very young Those that govern'd them rather then let them derogate from their Soveraignty carried them out of the Country with some of the greatest Nobility And since that we find no meution of them in History Count Porhouet named Mathued who had married a Daughter of Alain's the Grand went into England with his Wife Berenger Earl of Rennes and Alain de Dol having defended themselves the best they could were at last constrained to bow the Knee before the Normans and shake hands with them There were besides in divers other parts of France especially in Bretagne Anjou and the Country of Maine and the Islands in the River Loire numbers of these people but in time following the example of Rollo they took Habitations and Naturalized themselves French but not without first doing a vast deal of mischief and for a long while after the settlement of these drew in fresh swarms from Denmark and Sweden who were no less ravenous and cruel though not so formidable as the first Year of our Lord 913. and 14. All the Grandees of Germany were not satisfied with the Election of Conrard Arnold Duke of Bavaria Proud for having vanquished the Hungarians in his Dutchy rose up against him with design to make himself King and not being able to compass it pretended to stickle that Charles might have it Year of our Lord 915 That King had it ever in his thoughts to Sieze again upon the Kingdom of Lorrian Now meeting this fit juncture and the assistance of Reiner Count of Ardennâ— who was very potent in those Countries he enters into Lorrain and makes himself Master of part of that Kingdom whereof he made him Governor with the Quality of a Duke Year of our Lord 916 Duke Rollo had repudiated Pope Daughter of the Earl of Bayeux to marry the Daughter of Charles the Bald that Princess being dead he takes his former wife again by whom he had two Children William and Gerlote or Gerloc Henry Duke of Saxony rebels against Conrad gains a Battel over Everard his Year of our Lord 916 Lieutenant and gives chase to Conrad himself whilst on the other side the Hungarians over-run even to Alsace burning the City of Basle and can have no stop put to them but by Sums of Money which Conrad is forced to give them Year of our Lord 917 An. 917. Died Rollo first Duke of Normandy for ever renowned for that severe justice and exact policy he establisht within his Dominions Where the very mention of his name is able to this day to stop the Progress of Villians and bring those that are such before the judgment Seat Some put off his death to the year 924. his Son William afterwards surnamed Long-Sword Succeeded him And because he was but yet a Minor Robert Earl of Paris God-Father to his Father undertook his Tuition Year of our Lord 918 The following year hapned the Death of
Italy and at her second to the Emperor Otho I. LOUIS in France Conrad in Burgundy Arles Otho in Germany Lorrain HUGH and Lotaire his Son in Italy Year of our Lord 937. 938. The second year of his Reign Lewis Transmarine took the Government in hand and sent for the Queen his Mother to come to Laon to have the Benefit of her Counsel To settle his Authority the better he first began with some petty Rebels by little and little then falls upon Hebert himself whom he thought the more easily to overcome because he was grown odious for his Treachery against Charles the Simple And indeed he gained some places very quickly But Hugh fearing they would set upon him likewise joyned with Hebert who was besides his Uncle by the Mother And because he judged there would be little security in a person that had broke his Faith he armed himself likewise with the Alliance of King Otho by Wedding his Daughter named Havida The King on his side fortified himself in a more strict Union with Arnold Earl Year of our Lord 938 of Flanders a Mortal Enemy to Hugh Artold Arch-Bishop of Reims Hugh le Noir Brother of the Defunct King Rodolph and some others but this year Giselbert Duke of Lorraine being come to the assistance of Hugh the Great his Brother in Law Arnold and the Noir negociated a Truce till the first day of January of the following year between the King and that Duke As soon as that was expired the War began afresh Whilst the King was in Burgundy to divide it with the Noir Hugh le Blanc Hebert William Duke of Normandy over-ran and Burnt the Territory's of Arnold The Bishops censures had not power enough to stop them but the Kings Return gave them more cause of dread and made them renew the Truce to the Month of June Henry the younger Brother of Otho fancied to himself that the Kingdom of Germany belonged to him he being Born when his Father was a King whereas Otho came into the World before he was so Giselbert very powerful in Lorraine and who had married Gerberge Sister to these two Princes instead of behaving himself as a Mediator between them takes part with the Younger These two Brothers in Law thus Leagued sent to King Louis to put themselves under his obedience After which Otho having beaten and forced them at a passage over the Rhine the dispair they were under made Giselbert and some other Lorrain Lords come even to Laon to do him Hommage Louis wanted but very little of having the whole Kingdom of Lorraine surrender to him he got into Alsace and was well received every where But when he came to treat those as a conquered people who had voluntarily submitted to him it soon alienated their affections Year of our Lord 939 Mean time Hugh the Great Hebert William Duke of Normandy and even Arnold of Flanders not thinking it expedient for themselves that King Lewis should make himself so potent re-allied themselves with Otho who having quitted thâ— Siege of Capremont which was Giselbert's impregnable Fortress and joyned with them easily drove Louis out of Alsatia then laid Siege before Brisac a place very considerable in those days and where they shewed notable Feats of Arms. Whilst Otho was at this Siege a party of his especially the Clergy abandoned him But Giselbert and Everard were defeated by his men at their passage over the Rhine near Andernac where the last remained dead on the spot and the other that had been the Fire-brand of all these Wars was drowned This unhoped for advantage having ruined Henry's Party he grew wise and timely yielded Year of our Lord 934 himself up to the discretion of his Brother who sent him away Prisoner for some time In the interim Brisac surrendred and all Lorrain was his the Government whereof he bestowed upon Henry himself and soon after upon Count Otho The year following King Lewis thinking to strengthen himself on that hand or perhaps gain Vassals and Friends amongst the Lorrainers married that Kings Sister Gerberge the Widdow of Giselbert by whomshe had two Children Regnier Lambert Year of our Lord 940 Count Hebert of Vermandois had by craft and force got his Son but ten years of Age to be nominated Arch-Bishop of Reims which being contrary to the Rules of the Church the Clergy placed one Artold in that Episcopal See who by consequence was an Enemy to Hebert and a great friend to the King The contest about this Arch-Bishoprick begot a War which lasted 18 or 20 years and greatly molested all Champagne Year of our Lord 940 This year after some other inconsiderable actions Hebert with Earl Hugh and Wlliam Duke of Normandy besieged Reims The Inhabitants being terrified forsook Artold and opened their Gates to them Artold thorough the like fear suffers himself to be persuaded to renounce the Arch-Bishoprick and accept of an Abbey whereof repenting again the King embraces his defence and the quarrel revived again From thence the Confederates went and planted the Siege before Laon but upon the noise of the Kings March who was returning from Burgundy they retired towards Otho and having led him as it were in Triumph to the Palace of Atigny they put themselves into his protection King Louis having refreshed Laon retires into Burgundy His strength lay that way because of Hugh le Noir who together with William Count of Poitiers accompanied him King Otho having a potent Army pursued him thither and struck Hugh le Noir with so much terror that he made Oath never to employ his Forces more against Hugh le Blanc nor against Hebert who were his new Vassals Year of our Lord 941 The next year Louis notwithstanding besieges Laon wherein was Count Hebert but it was to his own great dammage for being surprised in his Legements by his base Subjects he beheld above one half of his men slain with his own Eyes and could not save himself but by a shameful flight After which forsaken of all his Neustrian Subjects he took shelter under Charles Constantine Earl of Vienne his Cousin German being the Son of Louis the Year of our Lord 941 Blind King of Italy and Arles and a Sister of Queen Ogina's Thence he had recourse to the Pope the Lords of Aquitain and to William Duke of Normandy The Pope sent a Legat to exhort the Lords of Neustria to be faithful to him those of Aquitain came and tendred him Hommage at Vienne and profer'd their assistance And William quitting the Associates treated him magnificently in his City of Rouen and served him with his Forces as did likewise the Bretons With these Forces he sought all opportunities to fight his Enemies but they were retreated on this side the Oise and having broken down all the Bridges would not come to any Engagement Therefore a Truce was made between them Year of our Lord 942 and by the mediation of King Otho a Peace was concluded by
some Method to bring Hugh in again to that See but considering that a small number could not undo what had been done by a greater and that they had notice from the Pope to clear their doubts that he had Excommunicated him in a Council held at Rome Anno 949. they broke up without proceeding any farther That of Reims in 975. wherein presided Stephen Deacon to Bennet V. Pope and Adolberon of Reims Excommunicated Thibauld who had usurped the See of Amiens In 983. that of Mount St. Mary in the Diocess of Reims where Adalberon presided confirmed the Decree made by that Bishop to put Monks into the Monastery of Mouson in the stead of those Canons that were there In the foregoing Age in many places the Canons were more desired The Humour was changed in this Gerbert solliciting with heat to have Arnold de Reims his Process made a Council was called in that same City Anno 992. where his Credit and the vehement Eloquence of Arnold d'Orleans carrying it against the Remonstrances of Abbon Abbot of Fleury and the Sentiment of Seguin de Sens who was President Arnold was deposed and Gerbert instaled in his See The Pope believing it intrenched upon his Authority if he suffer'd them to undertake this without his Order sent a Legat into France the year ensuing who first called together some Bishops at Monson then a greater number at Reims where Seguin representing the Person of the Pope it was said that Gerbert should be deposed and Arnold restored but this last being a Prisoner at Orleans Gerbert disputed it and stood his ground yet for some time and appealed to the Pope who grew more stubborn and stiff in favour of Arnold and forced the King by the threatnings of a terrible Excommunication to release him and suffer him to enjoy his Bishoprick Robert King XXXVI POPES GREGORY V. About two years under this Reign SILVESTER II. Elected in March 999. S. Four years and two Months JOHN XVIII Elected in May 1003. S. Five Months JOHN XIX Elected in Novem. 1003. S. Five years ten Months SERGIUS IV. Elected in Aug. 1009. S. Two years eight Months and an half BENEDICT VIII Elected in 1012. S. near Twelve years JOHN XX. Elected in March 1024. S. Nine years eight Months ROBERT King XXXVI Aged Twenty four or Twenty five years THis King compleat both in Body and Mind of a handsom Stature a sweet and grave Air a composed and sage Humour having been nurtur'd to Piety and good Learning by Gerbert became very knowing for that Age much more Religious and Zealous in the Service of God and as Just Charitable and Debonnaire towards his People as any Prince that ever wore a Crown And indeed God favour'd his Reign with the choicest Blessing he is wont to bestow upon those Kings who are according to his own Heart I mean with a long and happy Peace which he enjoy'd near Thirty years after some slight and petty Wars Year of our Lord 996 This year 996. died Richard I. Duke of Normandy who was past his Seventieth year He left his Dukedom to his Son Richard II. surnamed the Good Year of our Lord 997 98. William Earl of Poitou and Duke of Aquitain having War with Boson II. Earl of Perigord and de la Marche Robert was obliged to assist him as his Kindred and Vassal They both laid Siege to the Castle of Belac but their Army wanting Provisions because they were too numerous could not subsist till the taking of the Place The Chronicles of those times who are all very succinct do not give an account of the end of that War no more then of many other things Eudes Earl of Brie and Champagne prompted with great desire to have a passage Year of our Lord 999 over the Seine as he had already over the Marne thereby to go commodiously from Brie to his County of Chartres cast his Eyes upon Melun and with Money gained the Vicount or Castellaine belonging to Earl Bouchard who deliver'd it up to him Bouchard had been the favourite of Hugh Capet who had given him that Earldom and he was yet at this time Count Palatine for King Robert Wherefore this King took in hand his defence sent Richard II. Duke of Normandy his Cousin and good Friend and with him besieged the place The Battery with their Engines having made a Breach the Garrison surrendred upon Composition the Castellaine and his Wife were both Hanged on the top of a Hill near the place They did not punish Gentlemen with Death for Rebellion or Felony unless they committed Treason but in that case they hanged them in some eminent Place that Crime degrading them of all Nobility Year of our Lord 999 Poland was honoured with the Title of a Kingdom by the Emperor Otho III. who going to Gnesne to Visit the Sepulchre of St. Adalbert Martyr gave the Regal Ornaments to Duke Boleslaus The following year Hungary had the same Advantage and Honour but would receive it from the hands of the Pope to whom Prince Stephen the Son of Geisa who first embraced Christianity sent to demand the Royal Crown Year of our Lord 1000 Towards the end of January in the year 1002. the Emperor Otho aged but Twenty nine years died in the City of Rome or in Paterna not leaving any Children It was believed to be of Poyson the cursed practise thereof being much in use as I have observed in this Age thorough all the West Henry II. of that name called the Cripple Duke of Bavaria and Earl of Bamberg succeeded him by an Election of the German Princes but did not bear the Title of Emperor at least not in Italy till he had been Crowned by the Pope which was Twelve years afterwards Year of our Lord 1002 The degrees of Parentage wherein Marriage was prohibited having been extended to the Seventh besides the obstructions from Spiritual Alliance or Gossipship caused much Broil especially amongst Princes and Grandees who commonly are of Kin to one another even within that degree For so soon as a Husband or a Wife were disgusted with each other or that any one had a mind to trouble them they needed but to Article and make Oath they were of Kin within the degrees forbidden and produce Witnesses upon it to the number of nine as I believe which were not wanting or difficult to get and thereupon the Diocesan Bishop or an Assembly of Bishops if there were any greater difficulty pronounced Judgment Year of our Lord 1003 Now Queen Lutgard the first Wife of Robert being dead he was advised by Maxims of Policy to Wed Bertha Sister to Rodolph the Lazy King of Burgundy Widow of Eudes I Earl of Chartres and Mother of Eudes II. as yet but young She being of Kin in the fourth Degree and besides he having held a Child with her at the Font he thought he might prevent the inconveniency of nullity of Marriage by the Authority of the Gallican Church he called therefore 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
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
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
Archipelago and reduced Constantinople Year of our Lord 1262 to such streight that Manuel was upon the point to abandon it But the Genoese in hatred to the Venetians made a League with him and relieved him notwithstanding the intreaties of all the Christian Princes and the Popes Excommunications The Emperour Baldwin yet held for some time after the Island of Eubaea or Negropont The bastard Mainfroy not content to have usurp'd the Kingdom of Sicily without consent of the Holy See domineer'd over the Pope and the Countreys belonging to the Church most strangely Insomuch that Alexander IV. had offer'd that Kingdom to the King of Englands Son Edmund who had accepted it and to this end his Father had laid so many Imposts and Taxes upon the People that most of them made a League against him and were revolted Vrban IV. Successor to Alexander having caused the Crusado against Mainfroy to be Preached stirred up some French Lords to go into Italy who at the very first forced the passages of Lombardy and beat the Saracen Soldiers whom Mainfroy entertained in his Service but soon after their Pay falling short they came back into Year of our Lord 1262 France leaving the Pope more in the Briers then ever Year of our Lord 1262 The better to fortifie himself against his implacable wrath Mainfroy contracted Alliance with James III. King of Arragon giving his Daughter in Marriage to Peter his eldest Son who disdained not the Match because it gave him approaching hopes of having the Kingdom of Sicily Mainfroy having no Male-Children In effect it is by this means the Kings of Arragon have attained it and they must needs own they hold their Right from a Bastard an Usurper and Excommunicated person Year of our Lord 1263 The pious King Lewis did not understand this false policy which has quite other Maximes then are practised taught or allowed by Christianity and natural Justice And for this reason it was that he endeavour'd with all his power to decide the quarrels between his neighbours and not to foment them with this spirit of Charity he labour'd so happily to compose the business between the Barons of England of whom Simon Montford Earl of Leicester was Head with their King that they submitted to what he should ordain He calls his Parliament for this purpose at Amiens and pronounced the Sentence in presence of King Henry However the Barons found some difficulties and exceptions and would not abide by it Insomuch that the troubles continuing the Pope sent to revoke the gift of the Kingdom of Sicily which he had made to Edmund the King of Englands Brother since he could not pursue it and invested Charles Earl of Anjou Brother of St. Lewis His Wives vanity which made her greedily long to have the Title of Queen as well as her other Sisters inclined and perswaded him to accept of it Year of our Lord 1264 It hapned this year 1264. in a Village near Orviete that the Sacred Host cast forth Blood upon the Corporal or fine Linnen wherein the Sacrament is put to convince the incredulity of the Priest that celebrated the Mass Pope Vrban satisfied of the truth of this Miracle instituted the Feast and Procession of the Holy Sacrament to be solemnized the Thursay after the Octave of Whitsunday St. Thomas Aquinas who was then Professor in Theology at Orvieta composed the Office for it Vrban IV. being dead at Perusia the third of October the Cardinals after a vacancy of Four Months elected the Cardinal Guy the Gross a native of the Province of Languedoc who had been Married before he entred into Holy Orders He took the name of Clement IV. amongst his Virtues he is admir'd for his rare Modesty though very little imitated by his Successors He made a protestation at his first coming to the See that he would advance none of his kindred and so exactly did he keep his word that of three Prebendaries which his Brother had in possession he obliged him to quit two and far from Marrying his Daughters to great Lords ✚ as he might well have done he gave them such small portions that they chose rather to make themselves Nuns Towards the end of the Month of July about the beginning of the night a Comet was observed towards the West and some while after a little before break of day it appeared in the East pointing its tail Westward It was visible till the end of September lasting two Months and a half Year of our Lord 1405 Clement IV. upon his advancement to the Holy See ratified the Election his predecessor had made of Charles of France for the Kingdom of Sicily obtained of St. Lewis a Tenth of all the Clergy of his Kingdom for him and lent him all the Money he could scrape together having for that purpose engaged the Revenue of the Churches in Rome Year of our Lord 1265 Charles with this assistance with the Kings help and his Wives great care who sold all her Jewels to raise Soldiers which she cull'd and chose for the bravest got a good Army on foot to go into Italy by Land and in the mean time put to Sea with Thirty great Vessels and sailed to the Port of Ostia He was received at Rome with great Honour by the People declared Senator of that City which was as it were Governour and Sovereign Judge And the year following upon the 28th of June Crowned King of Sicily by the Pope in St. Peters Church upon condition to pay the Pope Eight thousand ounces of Gold and a white Palfrey every year never to be elected Emperour nor to unite that Kingdom to ☞ the Empire For the Popes would have no power left in Italy that was not lesser then their own Year of our Lord 1266 His Land-Army arrived not till about the years end which he compleated in Rome The following he marched to Naples the Guelphes flocking from all parts to List themselves under his Banner The Earl de Caserta quitted the passage du Gariglian most basely to him he afterwards gained the Post of St. Germain guarded by Six thousand Men and in fine the Twenty sixth day of February in the Campagne of Benevent he gained an entire but bloody victory against Mainfroys Army who was slain upon the place All submitted to the Conquerour both beyond and on this side the Fare except the City of Nocera where Frederic II. had placed a strong Garrison of Saracens which yet held out a long time It then appeared that Charles knew not how to Govern his good fortune with Humanity for he let Mainfroy's Wife and Children dye in prison with many Lords of that party and his Army committed horrid cruelties upon the taking of the City of Beneventum Year of our Lord 1267 Nevertheless as he shewed himself very obedient to the Popes Orders he declared him Vicar of the Empire in Italy with the Title of Keeper of the Peace and in this quality he by one of his Lieutenants subdued all the
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
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
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
Lord 1327 Alphonso of Castille surnamed de la Cerda who had brought some Forces against them was fallen sick in that Country from whence being returned to Court he died in the Village of Gentilly near Paris at the Inn of the Duke of Savoy He had a Son named Charles who was afterwards Constable but the cause of great Mischiefs At the request of the Romans who were troubled that their City was deprived so long of the presence and emolument of the Papacy Lewis of Bavaria had passed the Mountains in Year of our Lord 1324 and the following the year 1324. without coming to any agreement with the Pope Thus these two great Powers set all Italy in a flame the Guelphs and the Gibbelins by their Factions renewing their horrible Tragedies Year of our Lord 1327 France it self felt it in the excessive Levies the Pope made upon the Churches to maintain that War and to revenge himself upon the Milanois the most obstinate of all the Gibbelins and his worst Enemies At the first beginning the King opposed it with vigour but he relaxed as soon as the Pope had permitted him to levy the Tenths upon his Clergy for two years together Thus both the one and the other taught their Successors to share those Sacred Goods between them and gave the Church a Wound which is so far from closing up that it grows wider every day Year of our Lord 1327 Upon Christmas-Eve of the year 1327. King Charles grew sick at the Bois de Vincennes and after he had languished six weeks died at last on the First day of February Aged Thirty four years having swayed the Scepter Six years and one Month. He oppressed the People as his Father and his Brother Philip had done Though Year of our Lord 1328 he were otherwise of a Nature very liberal and gentle and loved to take Counsel of those he thought to have the clearest Judgments and most honesty having ever about him Noblemen and Prelats of known Prudence ☜ He Married three Wives The first was Blanch Daughter of Othenine Earl of Burgundy who being proved faulty he was contented only with a Divorce and chose to cover her Shame under a Sacred Veil The second was Mary Daughter of the Emperor Henry VII who having hurt her self when going with her first Child died with the Fruit of her Womb. The third which was Jane Daughter of Lewis Earl d'Evreux her Uncle had only two Daughters whereof the one named Mary survived her Father but a few years and the other which was Posthumus and was called Blanch Married Philip Duke of Orleance Son of King Philip de Valois REGENCY AS Charles the Fair had no Male Children and that his Wife was pregnant the Regency of the Kingdom and Guardianship or Care of the Fruit to come were given to Philip eldest Son of Charles Earl of Valois and the nearest Male to the deceased King whom it was said had so ordained it in his Testament and last Will. Year of our Lord 1328 in April Two Months afterwards the Queen was delivered of a Daughter she was named Blanch who in due time was Married as we have hinted Thus dried up at the Root and perished the whole Descent of Philip the Fair. Whereupon one might say as a famous Author hath done That the Divine Providence would not permit that those who had sacked the Kingdom by so many Exactions and Violences should have any Descendants that should possess it were it not that the Branch of Valois hath used them yet worse then they had done The end of the First Volume A Chronological Abridgment OR EXTRACT OF THE HISTORY OF FRANCE By the Sieur de Mezeray TOME II. Beginning at King PHILIP de VALOIS and Ending with the Reign of HENRY II. Translated by John Bulteel Gent. LONDON Printed for Thomas Basset Samuel Lowndes Christopher Wilkinson William Cademan and Jacob Tonson Philip VI. King XLIX The Second Part of the Third Race The first Collateral Branch POPES JOHN XXII Near Seven years under this Reign BENEDICT XII Son of a Miller of Saverdun in the Country of Foix Elected the 20th of December 1334. S. Seven years four Months CLEMENT VI. Elected the 14th of May 1342. S. Ten years seven Months whereof Eight years and three Months during this Reign PHILIP VI. De Valois Surnamed the Fortunate King XLIX Aged Thirty six years Year of our Lord 1328 ALthough Edward King of England had been excluded from the Regency during the Queens being with Child he did not hold himself excluded from the Kingdom when that Princess had brought forth only a Girle He agreed most readily that the Daughters could not attain to the Crown of France because of the imbecillity of their Sex neither did he claim it for his Mother but he maintained that the Sons of the Daughters having not that defect were not incapable and that on this score they ought to prefer him being a Male and Grandson to Philip the Fair before Philip de Valois who was but his Nephew Year of our Lord 1328 The Pairs and high Barons were called together at Paris immediately after the death of Charles upon this great Question Both Parties made their private and underhand Interests with all the pains and craft imaginable Robert d'Artois Earl of Beaumont whose Quality Eloquence and Reputation could do a great deal in that Assembly employ'd himself with all his might for Philip as thinking the advantage that Prince would receive by his Interest might be of service to himself in his Cause against Mahaud In fine his vehement Persuasions the force of the Salique Custom very conformable to the Law of Nature and that aversion the French had for the Government of a Stranger obliged the Assembly to preserve the right of the Males and to declare that the Crown belonged to Philip. Edward acquiesc'd in the Sentence and confirmed it by several Acts during some years Year of our Lord 1328 Philip was Crowned at Reims with the Queen his Wife the Eight and twentieth of May upon Trinity-Sunday He was surnamed the Fortunate because Death had taken his three Cousins out of the World to set the Crown upon his Head The Estates of Navarre having sent to intreat he would send them back their Lawful Queen and the King her Husband he granted their just Request having taken the Advice of his Lords whom he called together in Council upon a business of that weight However he still detained Brie and Champagne giving to the Queen of Navarre and her Husband several Lands in exchange which all together were to yield the same Revenue as those two large Counties They were not Crowned at Pampelonna till the Fifth of March in the following year Year of our Lord 1328 Since the time of Hugh Capet there was no Reign so much stained with the Blood of War as this same The beginnings were signalized by the gaining of the famous Battle of Mont-Cassel The great Cities of Flanders had mutinied against their Earl Lewis
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
which comes from the Hebrew Year of our Lord 1345 The Earl of Derby after the having refreshed himself at Bourdeaux with the Forces he had brought from England took the Field to fall upon the Provinces on this side the Dordogne The Earl de Laille and the Gascon Lords who had thrown themselves into Bregerac thinking to obstruct his passage over that River were constrained to abandon that Town to him and to let him over-run all the Upper Gascongny where he conquer'd several small places When he was returned to Bourdeaux the Earl de Laille took his opportunity having sent for the Lords of that Countrey he being as it were Vice-Roy and laid Sieg to Auberoâ—ke but not with the like success The Earl of Derby coming to its relief with only aâ—thousand Men defeated his Army which consisted of Tenthousand and took him prisoner with eight or ten Earls and Vicounts more After which he with much ease besieged and took the Cities de la Reole Angoulesine and divers others John Earl of Montfort had been set at liberty by virtue of the Truce upon condition that he should not depart the Court notwithstanding he goes and puts himself at the head of his Forces in Bretagne he besieged Kemper but was so far from taking it that himself had like to be taken Going from thence he sacked and burnt Dinant then over burthen'd with grief and anger for the slow progress in his Affairs he died about the end of September leaving the management of his pretensions to his Wife and his Son who was yet very young He had the same name as his Father and afterwards gained the Surname of Valiant Year of our Lord 1345 The famous Artevelle had made a promise to King Edward to procure that his Son the Prince of Wales should be owned for Earl of Flanders by the great Cities to the exclusion of their natural Lord. Upon this assurance Edward carries his Son to Scluse the Deputies of the Cities went to wait on him he treated them very magnificently but they would not hear of disinheriting their Earl Artevelle's enemies did not fail to make use of this occasion to stir up the peoples hatred against him When he was returned to Ghent having been so ill advised as to remain some days at Scluse after the other Deputies the People fell upon him and murther'd him The King of England retir'd in a fury for the death of his good friend however the Cities of Flanders having sent their Deputies to him he accepted their satisfaction and the offer they made him to bestow the Daughter of their Earl upon the Prince of Wales There was great reason to put some stop to the Earl of Derby's progress in Guyenne the Duke of Normandy goes to Toulouze in the beginning of January with an hundred thousand Men bearing Arms. All this formidable multitude did no more in three Months besides the taking of two or three little paltry Towns in Angenois and the City of Angoulesme whence they fell down upon Tonneius and after that came and hesieged Aiguillon seated on the confluence of the Rivers d'Olt and de Garonne well munition'd and well fortify'd those times In all this age we do not find a more memorable Siege either for the Attaques or the Defence They made three Assaults each day for a whole week together then they came to their Artillery and their Engins both by Sea and Land Philip the Son of Eudes Duke of Burgundy and Earl of Boulogne by his Wife who was Daughter and Heyress of Earl William was wounded upon a Salley whereof he died At last the Battle of Cressy being lost drew away the Duke of Normandy from this Siege which till then he obstaintely continued Year of our Lord 1346 The Second day of June Edward with a Fleet of Two hundred Sail wherein he had Four thousand Men at Arms Ten thousand Archers and as many Foot as well Irish as Welshmen puts to Sea with his eldest Son with intent to land in Guyenne He did not relye so much upon his Forces as upon the secret discontents of the French Nobility and the intelligence he held with many of the Grandees He had with him Gefroy Brother of the Earl of Harcoâ—r a Lord very powerful in Normandy who having lost the favour of King Philip in his indignation and finding no certain security there went into England The winds having turned Edward two several times out of his road towards Guyenne this Gefroy inslamed with revenge perswaded him that Heaven would have him steer his course for Normandy a fat and plentiful Countrey that had not felt a War for two ages so that he went and landed at the Port de la Hogue St. Vaast in Constantin near St. Sauveur which were Lands belonging to Gefrâ—y resolved to cross thorough France to go and joyn the Flemmings Year of our Lord 1346 His Army marched divided by day in three Bodies which joyned together at night Gefroy undertook the Office of Field Marshal The Cities of Valongnes Carentan St. Lo and Harfleur were his first prey Rodolph Earl of â—u and of Guisnes Constable of France and the Count de Tancarville whom the King had sent to Caen encreased his Spoil and Fame by taking them prisoners with the defeat of Twenty thousand Men the Burghers braver in words then deeds having fortaken them in the midst of the Fight Going from thence he continued his march by the Bishopricks of Lisieux and Evreux saccaged and burnt all along the Seine even to Paris but approached not nigh Rouen and came and encamped at Pâ—issy from thence he sent a defiance to Philâ—p to fight him under the Walls of the Louvre but after he had staid there five days fearing to be enclosed betwixt the Rivers of Seine and Oyse he caused the Bridges to be repaired and passed into Beatvaisis with design to retire into his County of Ponthieu marking his road all the way with long traces of Fire and Blood Year of our Lord 1346 Philip foaming with rage to behold with his own eyes from his capital City suh Flames in the very heart of his Kingdom goes forth to pursue him in great haste that he might fight him before he could pass the Somme Edward not being able to find any passage over the River was so happy as to have a prisoner that shewed him the Foord of Blanquetague below Abbevilie Gondemar du Fay a Norman Lord could not hinder him with Twelve thousand Men from passing at low Water and was put to the rout The same Evening Edward went and encamped at Cressy and the next day Philip lodged at Abbevilie which is within three Leagues of it on this side he had not less then an hundred thousand Men with which he might have hemm'd them in and reduced them to a Famine in a few days but he believieng that having over-taken them was conquering them he marches the next day out of Abbeville and gives him battle the
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
whilst Jane was alive nor would he take the Crown or leave them till he had made himself sure it took him up six Months time to reduce them and afterwards he loaded them with all manner of Taxes and Imposts as he had done the French Year of our Lord 1382 After he had exacted all he could he passes into Italy his Army consisted of Thirty thousand Horse Ame VI. Earl of Savoy one of the most renowned Princes of his time accompanied him with Fifteen hundred Lances all Knights or Esquires Being entred into the Kingdom by the Marca Anconitana not without much toil he took the City of Aquileae and divers other places in Apulia and Calabria and was acknowledged by several Grandees of the Countrey Charles desirous to be rid of him without any hazard against so potent an enemy had recourse to the inventions of those Countreys and sends him a crafty poysoner under the Title of a Herauld this wickedness being discover'd and the false Herauld Beheaded and Quartered he bethinks him of challenging Lewis to a Combat to amuse him and gain time their Cartels are to be seen they are dated in the Month of November a single Combat between Man and Man was first propounded then they agreed to decide all Disputes by ten on each side The Earl of Savoy was to be the Chief on Lewis's part but Charles by a hundred delays and evasions temporised till he furnished all his Places and then openly broke off all that Project Year of our Lord 1382 This year hapned the Tragical History of the only Son of the Count de Foix and Agnes Sister of the King of Navarre whose Name as his Fathers was Gaston Phebus The Count not much caring for his Wife because he entertained a Mistriss took occasion to send her back to her Brother for that he took no care to pay the Ransom of the Lord d'Albret Now the Son going to see his Mother in Navarre this wicked Uncle gave him a Powder to strew upon his Fathers Meat making him believe that so soon as he had swallowed any he would recall his Mother The young Boy too credulous took that for a Philtre which in effect was a deadly poyson and did not conceal what he would do from a bastard-Brother of his the Bastard having told the Count this unfortunate Father after he had most outragiously used his Son both by Words and Blows cast him into prison where he lost his Life either through Grief or by his hands that had given it him Year of our Lord 1382 The Earl of Flanders had besieged Ghent and was himself at Bruges whose Inhabitants rendred him all possible service to destroy that City their grand enemy The Ghentois reduced to hunger by their Earl without being able to obtain pardon stak'd down all they had left at once The First day of May by the advice of Artevelle and under his Conduct they went forth to the number of Five thousand Men resolved to dye and the Third day presented themselves before Bruges They had no more Provisions then what was loaded in seven Waggons and had left none at Ghent It had been easie for the Count to have famish'd them nevertheless blinded with revenge he chose rather to fight them the same day he had only Eight hundred Lances but of the Burghers there went forth above Forty thousand Men. Amidst this terrible multitude there was more of pride and outward pomp then inward and true courage they gave ground upon the very first shock the Ghentois pursued their point and entred pell-mell with them into the City made themselves Masters sacked it and slew above Twelve hundred of the principal Tradesmen their mortal enemies The Count that night hid himself in the Garret of a poor Widows House between the Bed and Matt where her Children lay and escaped the next day to l'Isle disguised like a Mechanique This miraculous success brought all the Cities in Flanders over to the Ghentois Faction only Audenard excepted Artevelle admired by all as the deliverer of his Countrey took upon him the garb and state of a Sovereign Prosperity tumbled him down again as Adversity had raised him Year of our Lord 1382 The Flemming thus rudely handled had recourse to the King of France his Sovereign by the interest of the Duke of Burgundy his Son-in-law and Artevelle craved the assistance of the King of England This last moving but slowly miss'd an opportunity that would have been of great advantage to him but those that were of Council to Charles complying with the humours of that young Prince which were conformable to the interests of France resolved to quell the City of Ghent which seemed to be the Spring-head of all those popular disturbances Having therefore taken out the Standard of St. Denis named the Oriflamme with the accustomed Ceremonies he went into the Field about the beginning of September Arras was the general Rende-vouz for his Army which was made up of Sixty thousand Fighting Men amongst which were Twelve thousand Men at Arms and almost all the Princes great Officers and Lords of the Kingdom Artevelle who had besieged Audenard about two Months left about Fifteen thousand Men there to keep those Posts Commanded by Dubois and marched thence with Forty thousand resolved to fight the French although he had no Cavalry The First brush was about the passage over the River of Lys where the French twice gained the Bridge de Comines the Second was near the City of Ypre where Dubois lost Three thousand Men and was wounded himself the Third was a general Battle between Rosebeque and Courtray Artevelle was come thither and had encamp'd himself with so much confidence and presumption that he commanded his Men to give no quarter but to the King whom he was to send prisoner into England whilst he went on to conquer and share all France Being informed of the great strength and excellent order of the French Army he would have avoided his personal danger and have absented himself upon pretence of going to fetch Ten thousand Men more to joyn with them but the rest made him stay there as it were perforce Year of our Lord 1382. in November The Battle was fought the Twenty seventh of November The Flemmings kept in a very close Order but did not fight with vigor and alacrity the French Horse pressed so hard upon them they had not Elbow-room to strike with much force There were near Forty thousand of them slain either in the fight or the pursute amongst whom was their General Artevelle whom they could hardly distinguish in such heaps of dead Carcasses The courage of the Ghentois much depressed by this cruel blow was afresh revived and inspired by Dubois who brought some Forces to them which he had in Bruges and by the coming on of Winter which hindred the Conquerours from besieging them so that in some overtures that were propounded for an accommodation their carriage appeared as haughty as if they had gained
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
relished that he should upon any occasion assume the Authority to bestow the Order of Knighthood upon a Gentleman He resolved to erect the Earldom of Savoy to a Dutchy for Ame VIII and divers Authors tell us he had made choice of the City of Lyons for that purpose Year of our Lord 1416 but the Kings Officers let him know it would not be suffered wherefore he performed the Ceremony at the Castle of Montluel in Bresse out of the Territories of the Kingdom However the Letters Patents for the said Erection are dated from Chamberry the Nineteenth of February It is fit we observe that ever since the time of the Carlian Race the Title of Count or Earl was as eminent as that of Duke and it seems the Grandees liked it better since we find some who having Dutchies yet took the names only of Counts Such in France was the Count of Toulouze who held the Dutchies of Septimania and Narbonne and the Earl of Savoy did the same though he had the Dutchies of Chablais and Aouste which he did not omit amongst his Titles But as Men who in length of time change their humours and fancies had an imagination that there was something greater in the Title of Duke Ame VIII Earl of Savoy was willing to have that Title given to the Earldom he bore the name of Year of our Lord 1416 France met with nothing but misfortune upon misfortune the defeat of the Constable before Harfleur which he besieged then of the Naval Forces upon that Coast the continual Incursions of the Burgundian Troops the death of the Duke of Berry who was the only Person that could have allayed these Disorders the King of Englands second landing this was at Tonques with the loss of divers places in Normandy taken by his Forces Besides all this the earnest endeavours of both Parties to make an Alliance with him but the Burgundian with most industry and forwardness enraged that they had thrust him out of the Government and the Earl of Hainault his Cousin to get a support for the Dauphin John his Son in Law whom the Orleans Faction would deprive of his Birthright to prefer and advance Charles Earl of Pontieu his younger Brother Year of our Lord 1416 The new Governor rendred himself daily more odious by Exactions without measure equality or justice laid upon the Clergy as well as the Laity for which reason the Parisians heartily desired the Burgundians return and indeed there was a Plot discovered to have let in his Forces The chief Conspirators paid down their Heads for it the rest were imprisoned all who were suspected banished even Members of the Parliament and University the Burghers Arms seized upon their Chains taken away and the Butchers Company abolished Year of our Lord 1417 The passion for Government did so far transport the Burgundian that he Conferr'd with the King of England at Calais and renewed the Truce for his Countries only which was in some manner an obligation not to assist the King at all From thence retiring to Valenciennes he had confidence with Duke William Earl of Hainault and the new Dauphin his Son in Law They sware mutual assistance against all their Enemies So the Dauphin declared himself against the Armagnacs and promised the Duke he would never return to Court till he carried him along with him It was therefore resolv'd that the Earl of Hainault should go thither to treat of those Affairs but should leave the Dauphin at Compeigne Not being able to obtain the recalling of the Burgundian he threatned to carry back the Dauphin home with him whereupon they intended to detain him till he had given up the Dauphin but having private notice he craftily made his escape But they secur'd themselves of the Dauphin another but a more wicked way by giving him Poyson of which he died the eighteenth of April Charles his Brother a sworn Enemy to the House of Burgundy succeeded to the Title of Dauphin and of Duke de Touraine and which is more to a right of inheriting the Crown to the great satisfaction and joy of the Duke of Anjou his Father in Law who was mightily suspected to have had some hand in the removal of the two eldest out of the World that his Son in Law might Reign Year of our Lord 1417 But his joy was not long lived dying in the following Month of August He left three Sons Lewis Rene and Charles the two first had successively the Titles of King of Sicilia Charles was Earl of Maine The Kings Person the Dauphin and the City of Paris were in the hands of the Constable d'Armagnac the Queen only was some kind of counterpoise to his Power They living with much freedom and licence in her Family it was easie for the Constable Year of our Lord 1417 to fill the Kings head with jealousies against this Princess so that he commanded one named Bouredon to be taken thence and thrown into the River as a Party concerned in those Intrigues and afterwards sent away the Queen his Wife as it were a Prisoner to Tours She could never be brought to forgive him this injury nor even the Dauphin her own Son it being by his consent although he were not then above the age of Sixteen years The Queens confinement the lamentable death of the two Dauphins the displacing of a great many Officers the plundering of all the open Country by the unpaid Soldiers the depredations of the Armagnac's who robbed the very Shrines in the Churches furnished the Burgundian with specious Pretences to publish his Manifesto's and to send to all the chief Cities to desire they would be assisting towards the restoring the King to his liberty The most part of those in Champagne and Picardy with the Isle of France received him with open Arms because he put down all Subsidies However all was nothing unless he could get into Paris he marched round about it approaching or going farther off for two Months together according to the Advice he had from his Friends that were in the place Whilst he was besieging Corbeil he goes away in haste to Tours with some Troops of Horse and having had a Conference with the Queen at Marmoustier whither she was come purposely under a pretence of taking the Air he brought her with him to Troyes From that time she claimed the Regency Year of our Lord 1417 In so favourable a juncture the King of England failed not to push on his Affairs Caen Bayeux Coutance Carenian Lisieux Falaise Argentan Alenson and in fine the greatest part of Normandy surrendred themselves up to him without scarce a blow given excepting Cherbourgh which defended it self three Months and yet the Constable chose rather to see the Kingdom lost then his Authority and the Burgundian consented rather to have it dismembred by the English then governed by his Enemy In Germany there were several Companies of Vagabonds began to strowle about having no Riligon no Law no Country or Habitation their Faces
honour Those were the four heads of her Accusation but which they proved very ill as being unable to make out any thing clearly against her but only that she cloathed her self in the habit of a Man and had taken up Arms which they imputed a Crime because said they that change of habit stained the modsty of her Sex and flatly contradicted the express command of God against it Peter Cauchon Bishop of Beauvais in whose Bishoprick she was taken the Vicar to the Inquisition some Doctors in Divinity and Canon Law were her Judges the Chapter of Rouen during the vacancy of the See lending them place After divers captious interrogatories they condemned her to perpetual imprisonment the bread of sorrow and bitter water of affliction but the English not being satisfied with moderate injustice pressed them so earnestly that some days afterwards they said she had relapsed in putting on the Habit of a Man again Excommunicated her and delivered her over to the Secular Power who burnt her alive the Thirtieth day of May in the Market place of Rouen Being on the Pile of Faggots she foretold the English that the hand of God was lifted up to strike them and that his Justice would not only drive them out of France but pursue them even into England and make them suffer the same calamities and mischiefs they had inflicted on the French It is related that her heart was found entire amongst the ashes and that a milk white Dove was observed to fly out of the midst of the flames a token of her innocency and her purity Year of our Lord 1431 Charles Duke of Lorrain died in the year 1430. without any Male Children There was a debate for the succession between Antony Earl of Vaudemont his Brother who pretended that Dutchy was Masculine and Rene d'Anjou already Duke of Bar who had Married Isabella who was but the third Daughter of Duke Charles but the two elder had renounced the Dutchy The Burgundian in hatred to the House of Anjou the capital Enemy to his and the Duke of Savoy his Allie assisted Antony and fortune was kind to him in the Battle that was fought between Bullegueville and Neufchastel in Lorrain For Rene's Army was totally routed Lord Bazan a great Soldier slain and Rene taken and led away to Dijon to the Duke of Burgundy who detained him till the year 1437. Year of our Lord 1431 After the death of the Pucelle the English Affairs went still worse and worse To remedy this they brought their young King to Paris and Crowned him with a double Crown in Nostre-Dame the Twenty seventh of November and withal the better to retain the Duke of Burgundy who was ready to start from them they confirmed the donation of the Countries of Brie and Champagne to him Year of our Lord 1431 The Lord de la Trimouille made ill use still of his favour and interest against the Constable and the rest of the Lords One day he being with the King at the Castle of Chinon they by confederacy brought two hundred Men in thither who took him in his Bed gave him a wound in the Belly and led him Prisoner to the Castle of Montresor The Queen her self consented to it and therefore soon appeased the King and that his fancy which never could be satisfied without some particular favourite might not be left unfurnished she helped Charles of Anjou Earl of Mayne to gain the Kings good will and more then ordinary kindness La Trimou I le was not set free till he deliver'd up the City of Touars which he had usurped and the King in an Assembly of the Estates at Tours owned all that had been done in respect to him Year of our Lord 1431 By vertue of what had been ordained at Pavia by the Council and the Pope the Council of Basle began this year upon the Three and twentieth of July under Engenius IV. who newly succeeded to Martin V. There was never any good correspondence between him and the Fathers of this holy Assembly For if on their part the Fathers at the very first gave him to understand that they would put some curb to his Authority by stoutly maintaining that ancient rule That the Council is above the Pope he on his part made them know that his greatest desire was to dismiss or dissolve them But as he could not so suddenly do it because the Emperor upheld them he was obliged to confirm the Council after two years of Controversies Year of our Lord 1431 32 33 and the following The War was carried in all the Provinces of France with various success but very feebly Do not wonder to see it languish in this manner for seven or eight years together the weakness of both Parties was the cause thereof they wanting Money could set no great Armies on foot Add to this the weakness of the two Kings Henry of England for his minotity and Charles of France for the easiness of his mind still held in leading-strings by his Favourites and Mistresses Year of our Lord 1431 The Twenty fourth of November in the year 1431. Lewis of Anjou King of Naples died at Cosenza in Calabria without any Issue The Second of February the year following Queen Joan or Jane ended her life also and left Rene the Brother of Lewis to inherit her Kingdom The Pope confirmed this Institution but as Rene was yet a Prisoner to the Duke of Burgundy Alphonso King of Arragon had full leisure to seize upon the Kingdom In this Jane ended the first Branch of Anjou which had produced above thirty other Sprigs furnished Hungary and Poland with Kings and lasted near two hundred years Year of our Lord 1434 Ame VIII Duke of Savoy wearied with the noise and perplexity of Soveraignty had made his retreat to the delicious Hermitage built by himself at Ripailles and taken on the habit of a Hermit with two more Gentlemen his Confidents having resigned his Estates to Charles his Son Earl of Geneva whom he had Married some years before to Anne Daughter of Janus King of Cyprus Year of our Lord 1435 Amongst an infinite number of petty Combats hapning within these two or three years I do not meet with any that was considerable but that of Gerbroy a little City near Beauvais Saintraille and la Hyre had undertaken to fortifie it and the English to hinder them These although three times more in number were beaten the Earl of Arundel their Achilles mortally wounded with a Culverin Shot in his Heel and eight hundred of their Men left dead upon the place Year of our Lord 1434 and 35. The earnest intreaties of the Council and the Pope to the Duke of Burgundy did at length incline his good nature to shew his just resentment and to take pitty of the miseries of France His Treaty had been first begun and rough drawn by Ame Duke of Savoy who in the year 1423. had mediated a Truce between the King and him for the Dutchies of
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
Earl of Valois had hitherto desired it The Swisse denied Francis their Intercession with the Electors the Pope pretended to favor him but he was not either for one or other Year of our Lord 1519 of these two Princes because they were too Potent and if he recommended Francis it was to get the Suffrages from Charles and by this Intrigue to turn their Eyes and Thoughts toward some other German Prince The Electors for the same reason were in suspence a good while at the beginning the Palatine Triers and Brandenburgh seemed to be for Francis and the latter promised to gain the Archbishop of Ments his Brother likewise But when he had singer'd his Money and it came to give their Votes Ments pleaded stoutly for Charles and Brandenburgh seconded him Triers kept his Word The reputation of his Victories in Italy spake advantageously for the King and the War the Turks threatned Germany withal ought to have made him more considerable then Charles who had as yet done nothing and promised but little more But he was not of the German Nation besides the more he seemed to merit the more they feared he would reduce the German Princes to a low condition as his Predecessors had reduced those of France and if there were apprehensions of oppression on either Hand it did not appear so visibly on Charles's side nor seem to be so neer in likelihood from him who was five years younger then the other and of no very promising Genius In fine upon all these considerations and with three hundred thousand Crowns brought even a year before into Germany and not distributed but to good purpose Charles carried it and was elected at Francfort the twentieth of June being at that instant in Spain whither he was gone almost two years before Though King Francis set a good face upon it yet this refusal went to his Heart and he could not but imagine that Charles being Master of so many great Estates would revenge the Injuries done to his Grand-father and those of the House of Burgundy For this reason he applied himself with more care to gain the friendship of the Pope and the King of England but the Pope followed Fortune and invested Charles with the Kingdom of Naples notwithstanding the constitution of his Predecessors which forbid that the said Kingdom and the Empire should be in the same Hand Year of our Lord 1520 The election of Charles of Austria hastned the enterview of the King and Henry of England This was done in the Month of June between Ardres and Guines The two Kings equally Pompous and Vain made their magnificence appear to the highest profusion Francis expended more there then the Emperor did at his Coronation and put his Nobless to great inconveniences who ever imitate their Princes but more readily in their Excess then in their Wisdom This enter-view was called the Camp of Cloath of Gold After they had saluted each other on Horse-back they went into a Pavilion erected expresly with two or three Ministers of State belonging to either King and there talked a few Moments about their Affairs That done they left the care thereof to them and spent ten or twelve days together in Feastings and Turnaments at Nights Francis returned to Ardres and Henry to Guines Before they parted they confirmed their Treaty by solemn Oath upon the the Holy Communion which they received together But soon after Francis who too credulous built already on the Amity of the English might plainly perceive what stress he was to lay upon so jealous and so inconstant a Foundation Charles V. coming from Spain by Sea to the Low-Countries that from thence he might go to Aix to take the Crown passed first over into England and saw Henry with less splendor and perhaps more Fruit then he For the King of England promis'd him that in case any Difference hapned between him and Francis he would be Arbitrator and declare himself Enemy to him that would not stand to his Award or Judgment His Intention was not to joyn with either the one or the other but to keep himself in the midst and be sought to by them both giving them to understand that he could make the Ballance sway to that side he turned to As he seemed to point out to King Francis at their late enter-view at Ardres where over his Tent Door he had caused the Figure of an Archer to be placed with these Words He that accompanies or joyns with him is Master This was the Method he used all his Life The two and twentieth of October Charles was crowned at Aix la Chapelle and assigned a Diet at Wormes for the Month of January following In the mean time not staying for the Judgment of of the Assembly being at Colen he condemned Year of our Lord 1520 Year of our Lord 1520 Luther's Books to the Fire as Heretical but this so hasty proceeding he made more Friends and Defenders then Enemies In revenge Luther without respect either for Pope or Emperor was so confident as to burn the Book of the Decretals which he asserted to be contrary to the Word of God in several Passages he had extracted from them Year of our Lord 1520. 21. The Spaniards grew angry that their King had left them to go into Germany andbesides they could not endure the Government of the Flemmish for after the Death of that memorable Cardinal Ximene he left the Administration of Affairs to the Lord de Chevres They complained that those Strangers heaped up all their fairest Pieces of Gold and that they took into their Hands or sold the greatest Offices and the richest Benefices amongst others the Archbishoprick of Toledo wherewith the Lord de Chevres had provided his Brother Some Grandees of that Country who thought to do their business in the absence of a Prince whom they esteemed of little Courage kindled the Fire and made a League which they called la Sancta Junta Toledo and the greatest Cities came into it and the Chief Officers that commanded their Forces were John de Padillia and Antonio d'Acugno Bishop of Zamora They had a Design of giving the Kingdom of Arragon to Ferdinand Son of that Frederic that died in France and to make him come in with some Colour would marry him to Jane the Frantick Mother of Charles V. whom they siezed upon but whether he doubted the event or stood upon the Honor of keeping his Faith he rejected the proposition and would not stir out of the Castle where Charles V. had left him In the mean while the Vice-Rois of Castille and Arragon with the rest of the King's Servants having armed themselves against the Rebels lopp'd off by little and little the Branches of that Party and then fell'd it almost quite down by the defeat of their united Forces and the deaths of Padillia and the Bishop both slain in that Battle Now whilst the Vice-Rois had drained the Garrisons of most of the Places in Navarre to defend
the Emperor Constance nor the endeavours of Paul Bishop of Constantinople who had undertaken to obtain the Reception of that condemned Opinion and had joyned all those to his Party that adhered to the Doctrines of Severus of Eutyches and of Manes And indeed we find that in the year 649. he sent the Articles of the Council of Rome to Clovis II. and desired him and also King Childebert to depute some of their Bishops to Rome that they might accompany and countenance the Legation he intended to send to the Emperor upon that Subject Dagobert II. King XVIII POPES CONSTANTINE Three years in this Reign GREG. II. Elected March 714. S. sixteen years nine Months and an half of which one year in this Reign DAGOBERT II. Called the Young Aged Eleven or twelve years PEPIN Mayre in Neustria and Soveraign in Austrasia CHildebert being out of the World Pepin made choice of Dagobert his eldest Son to wear the Bauble and instaled him in the Royal Throne by the Counsel and Approbation of the Estates Where having caused him to preside after he had received the Gifts or Presents from the French after he had recommended the care of the Rights of the Church of Widdows and Pupils renewed the Decree against Rapine and give Command to the Army to Year of our Lord 711 hold themselves in readiness at a time appointed to March where Affairs required he sent him back to one of the Royal Houses to be Bred and Entertained with great Respect in outward appearance but without any Power or Function The first year of his Reign Pepin undertook a fourth Expedition against the Year of our Lord 712 Almans who were this time so battered that they could not stir again for many years After many Wars having not been able wholly to bring under him Ratbod Duke of the Frisons he not only came to an Agreement but likewise allied himself with him by Marrying his Son Grimoald to that Kings Daughter The Sarrazins who were Masters of Africa did not let slip the fair occasion that presented to invade Spain The Children of King Vitiza had been Excluded the Kingdom by Roderick whose Fathers Eyes Vitiza had caused to be put out and had retired themselves to Julian Governor of the Visigoths in the Province of Tingi who was himself likewise much offended for that this new King having Debauched his Daughter would own her but for his Concubine These three Lords having joyned their Resentments addressed themselves to Maza Lieutenant in Africa under Valit or Vlit Caliph or chief Soveraign of the Sarrazins He gave them some Forces over whom Roderick getting the better he again sent others commanded by Tarac this was he that gave the name to Gibal-Tar to the Mountain Calphe where he built a Fort whence likewise the Straights-mouth hath its denomination At length there hapned a great Battle betwixt him and Roderick where that King was overcome and slain with all the flower of the Visigoths Within two years all Spain was subjected to the Tyranny of the Sarrazins the remainders of the Visigoths fled part of them into the Mountains of Asturia and Galicia part into France from whence they by degrees came all to Prince Pelagus Son of Fafila and Grandson of King Chindasuint who yet preserved to himself a petty Principality amidst the Mountains of Asturia which in process of time and by assistance of the French increased so much that it consumed the Sarrazins in the end While Pepin was at Jupile he fell into a long and troublesome Distemper His Son Grimoald going to Visit him passing by Liege to make some Prayers for him on St. Lamberts Tomb this was in the Month of April he was Assassinated by a Rascal named Rangaire a Frison for which reason an Author hath pretended that it was Year of our Lord 713 714 April done by the command of Rotbod his Father-in-Law Pepin being Recovered severely revenged the Death of his Son upon all the Accomplices he could lay hold on This was the dearest to him of all his Sons he had likewise a great regard for his Bastard named Theodoald and obliged the Neustrian Lords to elect him for their Mayre Some months after he relapsed more grievously then before in so much as he died Year of our Lord 714. 714 in December of it the 16th of December having held the Government of all France from the Battle of Tertry which was in 687. even to his Death with great success and with much greater Vertue of which the most eminent and which gained him most the favour of Heaven was his Zeal for the propagation of the Faith not having spared any thing to plant it in Germania Secunda and beyond the Rhine where all the Inhabitants were at that time Idolaters Besides Drogon and Grimoald he had two more Sons Charles Martel and Childebrand It is unknown by what Woman he had the last but a very exact Historian hath proved that this Robert le Fort the Strong who was the Paternal Great great Grandfather of King Hugh Capet was descended from him by the Male Line Now be it that Pepin left the Mayrie of Austrasia to Arnold who was the Son of Drogon as that of Neustria to Theodoald or changing his mind a little before he died had bestowed it upon Charles for all the three Kingdoms or perhaps only the name of Prince of the French which seems to be above that of Mayre Plectrude his Widow seized upon the whole Government and got Charles by a wile into her hands keeping him Prisoner at Colen where she made her usual abode Year of our Lord 715 But the Neustrians already tired with the Domination of the Austrasians were yet more impatient of being ruled by a Woman They therefore Armed themselves and put their King Dagobert in the head of their Forces to prevent her from coming under the name of Theodoald a Child and a Bastard to usurp the Government of their Country The Army that brought Theodoald being near Compeigne the Neustrians went to meet them and put them to the rout All the Austrasians could do was to save Theodoald After this Victory they chose Ragenfroy or Rainfroy for their Mayre being one of the most considerable and most valiant Lords amongst them who to perplex the Austrasians the more made a League with Ratbod Duke of the Frisons and led King Dagobert to ransack Austrasia even to the Meuse Year of our Lord 715 It then hapned that the Austrasians being in a great consternation Charles happily made his escape out of Prison and having gotten his Friends together was received with incredible joy by all his People About the end of the same year died Dagobert King of Neustria after he had Year of our Lord 715 been a property to the Mayres for four or five years He left one Son named Thierry who was yet in his Cradle and who had afterwards the surname of Chelles because he was brought up there Immediately upon this
Rainfroy that he might have a name under which he might still hold the Government took Daniel out of the Monastery caused him to be instaled in the Throne by the Grandees according to custom and named him Chilperic It is not certainly known whose Son he was some believe him to have been Childeberts others Thierry 's and others again the Son of that Childeric who was Assassinated by Bodillon Anno 673. If these last are in the right he was at least Forty four years old when he began to Reign and indeed he must have been of some years since he had been a Clerk and had stayed time enought to let his Hair grow long again Chilperic II. King XIX POPE GREGORY II. Who S. six years during this Reign CHILPERIC II. King in Neustria with Rainfroy his Mayre CHARLES Mayre or Prince in one part of Austrasia THEODOALD Vnder the Regency of Plectrude in the other part BY vertue of a League contracted the foregoing year Rainfroy and Ratbod Year of our Lord 716 did both assult Charles on each side Ratbod being entred into the Country as far as Colen met him in his way it was in the month of March The Battle was very bloody on either hand but disadvantageous to the last and this was almost the only misfortune or defeat he met with in his whole Life After this Victory the Frisons and the Neustrians joyned their Forces sacked all Year of our Lord 716 the open Country and besieged Colen Plectrude who was in the Town with her Nephews found means to make them withdraw again by giving them Money In the mean time Charles having rallied his Men together laid an Ambuscade for Rainfroy at his return where he beat and plundered a Party of his Army This was in the Ardennes at the place named Amblave from the River which passes there near the Abby of Staulon The following year he in his turn made an irruption into Neustria Rainfroy with Year of our Lord 717 his Childeric came against him and gave him Battle at the Village of Vinciac in Cambresis upon a Sunday the 20th of March. The success being a long while doubtfull ended in favour of the last he put Rainfroy to the rout and pursued him very near to Paris At his return Austrasia owned him for their Head Colen opened him her Gates and Plectrude was constrained to give him up his Father Pepins Treasure together with his Grand-children Theodoald Hugh and Arnold whom he kept under a strong Guard Though he had all these Advantages he yet wanted the name of a King he Year of our Lord 717 therefore gave that Title to one Clotaire who was of the Blood Royal. Some make him the Son of Thierry III. not long since deceased perhaps he might be the Son of Clovis II. Son of Dagobert RAINFROY Mayre CHILPERIC in Neustria CLOTAIRE in Austrasia CHARLES MARTEL Mayre RAinfroy finding little Assistance from the Frisons had recourse to the Aquitains Year of our Lord 718 who during these Troubles had taken to themselves the liberty of electing a Duke his name was Odon or Eudes This Duke and Rainfroy having joyned their Forces nigh Paris took their March to find out the Enemy in Austrasia Being come near Soissons they were much amazed to hear that he was come to meet them himself and was very near at hand And indeed he Charged them so furiously that he routed them and gave them Chace even to Paris Eudes retired himself into Aquitain and carried Chilperic and his Treasure with him Charles pursuing him over-ran Orleannois and Tourrain at his pleasure This Victory put the whole Kingdoms of Neustria and Burgundy into his hands Year of our Lord 719 His Clotaire did not long bear the Title of King he died the same or the following year His Tomb is at Coucy in Vermandois After his death Martel governed some months without any King but knowing the People were too much accustomed to that name to be without it he sent to Eudes to profer him a Peace and to send back Chilperic Eudes accepted the Conditions and sent him to him with many Presents Charles causes him to be owned for King thorough all the three Kingdoms that so he only might be Mayre Pope Gregory II. calls him Duke and Mayre of the Palace of France which shews that he held himself as an Officer of the Kingdoms and not of the King CHILPERIC alone MARTEL sole Mayre OF all the People who being Tributary's to the French had revolted the Saxons were the most Potent They had not only thrown off the Yoak but had likewise imposed it upon the Bructeri the Attuari and the Toringians Martel carried his Forces thither three or four times to quell them but that honour was reserved for Charles the Great It is worthy our taking notice that they were divided into several distinct People and that they had almost as many Dukes as there were several Countries belonging to them The Saracens pretended that Septimania or Narbonnensis Prima having been part Year of our Lord 721 of the Kingdom of the Visigoths ought to be an Augmentation to their Conquests Zaman Governor of Spain under the grand Emir Isic or Gizit took Narbonna and put in a Garison but having besieged Thoulouze Duke Eudes began to bestir himself defeated his Army and drove him bravely thence Ambissa Successor to Zaman Conquered Carcassonna Nismes and all the rest of Provence as far as the Rhosne Chilperic did not live two years after his Re-establishment and Reigned in all but Year of our Lord 721 five or six dying in the City of Noyon either in this year 721. or in the year before He was buried in the same place Thierry II. King XX. POPES GREGORY II. Who S. near Ten years during this Reign GREGORY III. Elect 731. in Apr. S. Ten years Three Months of which about Seven in this Reign THIERRY II. named de Chelles aged about Six years CHARLES Duke and Maire of France IMmediately after Charles who would ever have an Image wherewith to amuse the People caused Thierry or Theoderic the II. Son of King Dagobert the II. to be Installed by an Assembly of the Grandees Year of our Lord 722 Rainfroy was abandoned by Eudes but had not yet laid down the Title of Mayre of Neustria and for this cause Charles besieged him in Angiâ—rs He secured himself for this bout by the strength of the place but the year after he was forced and slain or at least degraded of his Mayership and reduced to a private condition Year of our Lord 733 During these Four or Five years Charles had divers Wars with the Saxons the Almans and the Bavarois In the year 725. he reduced Hubert Duke of Bavaria Year of our Lord 725 and all that Countrey and carried away with him Bilitrude and her Neece Bilichilde Some are of opinion that this Bilitrude is the same before-mentioned Plectrude that had retired her self to this place to procure him fresh troubles She must
needs then have been very aged but it appears rather that she was Sister to Odillon Duke of Bavaria and Widow of some Lord of that Countrey as yet very beautiful since Martel would take the trouble of bringing her unless it were some affection he had for the Neece whom indeed he was Married unto some while after After divers Wars against the People beyond the Rhine of which we have no particulars Year of our Lord 730 hapned that against Aquitain Duke Eudes had broken the Treaty made with Charles and made a League with the Sarrazin Munuza giving him for pledge of this Union his Daughter Lampagia one of the most beautiful Princesses of those times This Munuza was Governour of the Spanish Countreys on this side the Hebrus but was revolted from Iscam who was Caliph Charles who was ever on Horseback having had intelligence that Eudes moved falls immediately into Aquitain and having sacked it all as far as the Garonne severely chastised him for his breach But he was not quit for all this for at the same time as Charles went out Abdiracman or Abderame Lieutenant-General of the Caliph Iscam in Spain being entred Year of our Lord 731 in another way after he had vanquished and taken Munuza prisoner in Cerdagne with his new Spouse traversed Aquitania Tertia perhaps not without fighting the Gascons who held it and forced and sacked the City of Burdeaux In this manner it was that Eudes drew the Sarracens into France which hath given occasion to some to write that they were called in Now he durst not wait for them beyond the Rivers but was retreated on this side the Dordogne and there being reconciled with Martel he assembled his Forces staying for him to come and joyn him with his French Men. Abderame would not allow him the time but pressing still forwards passed the River to attaque him in his Camp Year of our Lord 732 The Duke stood his ground and fought him as bravely as could be but in the end was overcome with inestimable loss of People However some small portions of this great wrack were left him with which he made his Retreat and came and joyned Martel's Army which had passed the Loire and were Encamped some say near Tours upon the River of Cher others a little on this side of Poitiers Abderame following his blow after he had sacked the City of Poitiers marched Year of our Lord 732 directly to Tours to plunder the Sepulchre of St. Martin in his way he meets with Martel who puts him to a full stop The two Armys having looked with threatning countenance upon each other seven days beginning first with several skirmishes at length came to a general Battle which was given upon a Saturday in the month of October The Saracens being light and nimble charged with much briskness but being ill Armed broke themselves against the great Battallions of the French who were sheltred under their Bucklers There were great numbers slain but not 375000 as hath been said for in their whole Army there were but 80 or 100000 Men. Abderame himself the General perished there The night parted the fray and favoured the Infidels who not daring to abide another days Engagement Retreated by long Marches into Septimania the French perceived very late that their Camp was forsaken but fearing some stratagem and withal being busie in getting together and sharing the Plunder which was very rich they did not endeavour to pursue them Year of our Lord 733 This great Victory secured Christendom which would have become a prey to the Barbarians if they had gained France which was its only Bulwark but it seems Charles did not make good use of this great advantage no more then of all those others that Heaven bestowed upon him when he gained his ends he set himself upon persecuting every thing that cast but the least shaddow upon his Grandeur even the very Prelats whom he banished and imprisoned taking away not only the Treasures and Revenues of the Churches to pay his Captains but likewise bestowing on them Abby's and Bishopricks for their reward so that there were many without Pastors and Monasteries were filled more with Soldiers then with Monks The Churches of Lyons of Vienne of Auxerre were destitute of their Bishops and dispoiled of their Goods which he had given to his Martial Officers as if they had been a Prize taken from the Enemy Upon his return from Aquitain he banished Eucher bishop of Orleans with some of his Kindred First to Colen then into the Countrey of Hesbain because he defended the Rights and Possessions of the Church with too much courage Five years before he had also banished Rigobert Bishoy of Reims who had refused him his Gates when he marched against Rainfroy Year of our Lord 733 The Kingdom of Burgundy did not as yet own his Commands perhaps Arnold the Son of Grimoald whom some believe was their Duke thought to hold the Sovereignty When he had conquered the Saracens he marches directly to them and brings all the Countrey into subjection Year of our Lord 734 With the like expedition he vanquished the Frisons killed their Duke Popon who succeeded Ratbod in a great Battle subjugated afterwards the Ostergow and the Westergow these are two Countreys in West Frisia pulled down all their Temples their Sacred Groves and their Idols and covered all the Land with slaughter and destruction and the rubbish of their Ruines Year of our Lord 735 The year following a new War was kindled betwixt him and the Duke of Aquitain this Duke having been compelled to make a very disadvantageons Treaty with Charles to procure assistance against the Saracens as soon as the danger was over scorned to keep his word Therefore Martel marches a third time into his Countrey and having followed him at the very heels with his drawn Sword from place to place without being able to catch him returned home loaden with spoil The same year Death ended the misfortunes of that Duke but not those of Aquitain He had two Sons Hunoud and Hatton some add Remistang who to others appears rather to be his Wives Brother He bestowed upon Hatton the County of Poitiers for his Portion Hunoud had all the rest of the First and Second Aquitain of which he took possession as if it had been an Hereditary and Independant Estate Charles who would have no other partaker soon returned again with his Army and marching quite thorough to the Garonne seized upon Blaye and some other places so that Hunoud was constrained to submit to his Will and receive the Dutchy from him as he had before from his Father giving his Oath both to him and to his Son Pepin Year of our Lord 737 His Celerity and his Valour did let nothing escape the same year he beat the Aquitain Forces and went and setled the Governours that had disturbed the City of Lyons and a part of Burgundy and proceeding forward made sure of Provence and put Governours into Arles and
Marseilles From thence he turned upon the Saxons beyond the Rhine and brought them so low that they did not afterwards make any attempt for divers years As Martel was an Usurper every Governour thought he had reason enough to disobey Year of our Lord 737 and 38. him and acted like Soveraigns Maurontus Governour of Marseilles that he might make himself Independent craved the assistance of the Saracens and delivered the City of Avignon up to them whence they spread themselves over Dauphine Lyonnois and if credible even as far as Sens with a horrible desolation of all those Countreys The Barbarians did not hold Avignon long Charles sent thither his Brother Childebrand who having made them quit the Field besieged them in that City Soon after he came thither himself with the gross of his Army gave an Assault by Scalado and forced them part of the City was burnt and all the Infidels that were within it put to the Sword This done he crosses over Septimania and goes to besiege Narbonne resolved to have it what ever it cost thereby to shut up that passage into Gall. Athim Governour of the City and perhaps of all that Countrey for the Saracens was gotten into the Town Those in Spain informed of the danger the place was in made great Levies of Soldiers and put them aboard some Vessels to relieve it There is a Lake between Narbonne and Ville-Salse at whose Mouth the little River of Bere discharges it self into the Sea it is called the Lake Oliviere there it was their Boats came into Land those Forces they had brought Amoroz Governor of Terragonne was their General Martel leaving his Brother with part of the Army to maintain the Siege went thither to them and gave them Battle nigh Sigeac It was very obstinate but in the conclusion Amoroz was overthrown upon huge heaps of his slain Men and most of the rest that fled into their Boats Drowned or put to the Sword Athim's courage increased by this ill success and he defended himself so bravely that Charles left him there and turning his Forces towards more easy Conquests made himself master of Besiers Agde Maguelonna and of Nismes all which he dismantled Year of our Lord 738 About the year 738. hapned the death of Thierry of Chelles about the 23 year of his age and the 17th of his imaginary Reign Now Charles Martel having perhaps the design of taking up the Title of King as he had the Authority put no other in his stead nor his Sons neither till a year after his death so that there hapned an Interregnum of Five years Interregnum Charles Martel Maire and Duc of the French A Second time Maurontus calls the Saracens into Provence Jusep Governour Year of our Lord 739 of Narbonne Besieged and Took the Town of Arles and from thence ove-ran and ransacked all Provence Charles summons Luitprand King of the Lombards to joyn with him against this Enemy Luitprand who did not desire to have them so near Italy and who besides was a friend to Martel presently marches to joyn him the Infidels dare not stay for them but retreat to Narbonne without striking a blow Maurontus likewise forsakes Marseilles and retires amongst the Rocks so that Provence remained peaceably in the hands of the French Year of our Lord 738 The power of the Saracens which threatned to overwhelm all Christendom being as it were upon its ebb the Spanish Princes recovered themselves by little and little again especially with the assistance of the French and yet nevertheless they were above Seven hundred years in regaining what they lost in three years time This year Charles Martel sent them a considerable assistance which helped them more then a little towards the setling their affairs In Spain they called the Saracens Moors because indeed they were come from Mauritania which they had conquer'd and because most of their Forces were composed of Men from that Countrey The dispute about the worship of Images caused a pernicious and bloody Schisme in the Church The Emperour Leon upon the reproaches the Saracens and Mahometans had made him that it was Idolatry to adore Stone and Wood would needs pull chem out of the Churches the Popes at the same time contending to keep them there Gregory II. stood up stoutly in this Cause the Dispute went so far that An. 726. not looking upon Leon as his Sovereign he wrote him Letters that were very haughty and full of new Maxims stop'd the Moneys he was raising in Italy and turned the People from that Obedience they owed to him Gregory III. his Successor went yet farther and Excommunicated him On the other hand the Emperour turned every stone to revenge it but all his endeavours proved fruitless and a shame to himself in the end Whilst affairs were in such a condition that the Pope could hope for no assistance of the Emperour in his occasions it hapned that he offended Luitprand King of the Lombards by giving Retreat to Trasimond Duke of Spoleta and making League with Godescal who had invaded the Dutchy of Beneuent That King pressing upon him with his Army and having seized some Towns within the Dutchy of Rome he had recourse to the protection of Martel and wrote two or three very moving Letters to him in Year of our Lord 740 the Titles whereof he called him his most excellent Son and gave him the Title of Year of our Lord 741 Sub-King or Vice-Roy Charles was a little hard to be moved the Letters having operated no great matter Year of our Lord 741 he sent him a most remarkable Embassy which carried as a Present the Keys of the Sepulchre of St. Peter and the Bonds wherewith that Apostle had been tied and after that came another which bestowed and conferred upon him the Sovereignty of Rome and the Title of Patrician He was not now any more in a condition for great enterprizes a troublesome and lingring distemper which undermined him by little and little forwarned him to think of his Death and the settlement of his Family He had three Children Legitimate Carloman Pepin called the Breif and Griffon the two first by Cbrotrude and the other by Sonichilde and besides these three Bastards Remy or Remede Hierosme and Bernard Remy was Bishop of Rouen Hierosme and Bernard Married The First had a Son named Fulrad Abbot of St. Quintins which he built The Second had three Sons and two Daughters the two eldest Sons were Adelard and Vala both Counts at Court then successively Abbots of Corbie and the Third named Bernier was likewise a Monk The two Daughters Gondrade and Theodrade vowed themselves to God in a Religious Life the first in her Virgin State the other in her Widdow-hood Now Prince Charles dividing the Estate between his three Legitimate Children as if he had been the lawful Sovereign gave to Carloman who was the eldest Austrasia Souaube and Turingia Bavaria had its Dukes Frista and Saxony were Revolted to Pepin Neustria Burgundy Septimania
and Provence and to Griffon a Portion betwixt his two Brothers made up of some parcels of the three Kingdoms The Son of the Duke Eudes held Aquitania Prima Secunda and the Duke of the Year of our Lord 741 Gascons the other Shortly after on the 20th of October he ended his Life in the Castle of Carissy upon the Oyse within three Leagues of Noyon He had ruled about three years in Austrasia and 28 in this Kingdom and in Neustria The Martial Courage and Spirit which inclined him to have always his Sword in hand to smite his Enemies acquired him the name of Martel in History and an immortal Fame But the Ecclesiasticks whom he had rudely handled fullied his Memory and would not forgive him in the other World For they affirmed according to a Revelation of St. Eucher Bishop of Orleans that he burned both Body and Soul in Eternal Flames and that his Tomb having been opened there was nothing to be found in it but a huge Serpent and a stinking Blackness the marks of the ill condition of his State or Salvation CARLOMAN in Austrasia and PEPIN in Neustria Burgundy Dukes and Princes of the French HOw little soever the share was which Griffon had his two Brothers could not endure it they Besieged him in the City of Laon shut him up in Chasteauneuf in Ardenna and having seized on his Mother Soxichilde allotted him the Abby of Chelles for his Subsistence and his Prison At the same time Theodebald Son of Grimoald whom Martel had left in Peace after he had strip'd him was taken out of the World perhaps because he had some intrigues with Sonichilde All those People whom Martel had brought to their Duty by the power of the Sword imagined that after his death it would be easie for them to cast off the yoak Particularly Thibaud Son of Godefroy Duke of the Almans and Hunoud Duke of Aquitain This last being the most dangerous the two Brothers joyned their Force against him They handled him so roughly having driven him beyond Poitiers and forced the Castle of Loches that he desired a Peace the conditions are not specified Before the two Brothers left Aquitain they shared the Kingdom betwixt them or rather what they had taken from Hunoud which they did at the place called The Old Poitiers between the Clain and the Vienne near Chastellerand Besides these two Expeditions the year was remarkable for the Birth of Charles Year of our Lord 742 called the Great or Charlemain the Son of Pepin and Berte his Wife who was born into the World in the Palace of Ingelheim upon the Rhine this year 742. The same year Carloman passed the Rhine marched into the Almans Countrey Year of our Lord 742 as far as the River Lee which separates them from the Bavarians and brought them so low that their Duke Thibaud Son of Godefroy gave him up Hostages for pledge of his Faith and the tribute he was to have from him It seems to have been in this year or at least the next that the two Brothers bethought Year of our Lord 743 themselves of filling the Royal Throne in appearance which had been vacant five years and putting Childeric in it who was surnamed the Witless or Senseless as being either really such or so represented to the People Some make him to be the Brother of Thierry de Chelles others of Clotaire III. and if so he must have been at least â—7 or 18 years of age but many think him the Son of Thierry and then he could be but 10 or 12 at most Childeric III. called the WITLESS King XXI Aged Eighteen years POPE Zachary Elect in Dec. 741. S. Ten years Three Months whereof above Nine Months in this Reign CARLOMAN in Austrasia and PEPIN in Neustria Dukes and Princes of the French Year of our Lord 743 THose Princes that had Revolted in the time of Martel obeying his Children but unwillingly made a powerful League to break and throw off the Bonds of their subjection Odillon Duke of Bavaria was the Head instigated no doubt by his Wife Chiltrude Daughter of Martel and Sonichilde who two years before having stollen away from her Brothers went into that Countrey and was Married to him The Saxons and Almans assisted him with Men and at the same time while the two Brothers were on their way thither Hunoud Duke of Aquitain falls upon Neustria and descends as far as Chartres which he forced and buried almost under its own Ruines Odillon was encamped with his Army on the brink of the River Lecq which he had Palisadoed with strong Timbers The two Brothers having staid Fifteen days right over against him without attempting to pass one fair night a kind of impatient Spirit prompting the French they forced their way over with the loss of many of their Men who were drowned and brought a terror to his whole Camp All his Men betook themselves to flight and left their Baggage and the two Brothers their full and free liberty to range over the whole Countrey of Bavaria for two Months together Year of our Lord 741 From thence Carloman marched against the Saxons gained the Castle of Hochsburgh upon Composition and Theoderic Duke of that Countrey who solemnly gave his Faith to him and yet he nevertheless broke it again presently and obliged Carloman to return thither the very next year to the very great damage of his Countrey But it was not till after the two Brothers having ravaged Aquitain had constrained Hunoud to crave their pardon the third time and redeem his fault with the price of many great Presents made to them Year of our Lord 745 He had the courage of a Woman quarrelsome and weak and consequently suspicious and cruel His Brother Hatton being come to see him upon the security of his Word he put him to death and a short while afterwards either upon some Motions of Repentance or lightness and giddiness of Brain he made himself a Monk in a Monastery in the Isle of Rhe having left his Dutchy to his Son Gaifre about the age of 18 or 20 years Prince Carloman after he had struck his last blow against the Almans whose pride Year of our Lord 746 he had abated by the blood of a great many of the most mutinous which was in the year 746. resolved likewise to quit the World either by a powerful and efficacious inspiration of God or the terror of those most dismal Stories they spread of his Fathers Damnation The Fifth year of his Principality having given up his Estate and his Son Drogon or Dreux into the hands of Pepin he went to pay his Devotions at St. Peters in Rome from thence he went to take the Habit of St. Bennet at Mount Soraâ—ie or Mount St. Sil and some while after because he was too much importuned by Visiters he retired to Mount Cassin Pepin allowed no share of his Dominion to his Nephew Dreux nor his Brothers other Children but the same year
and perhaps at his request he set their youngest Year of our Lord 747 Brother Griffon at liberty Treated him Honourably in his Court and gave him some Counties for his allowance The ambition of this young Prince not being tamed by a Prison could Year of our Lord 748 not be so by kindness he made his escape and went and stirred up the Saxons in his quarrel Pepin followed him close the Sorabe Sclavonians who were divided from the Turingians by the River of Sal the Abrodites and other Sclavonians who were spread all along the Frontiers of France brought him 10000 Fighting Men. Insomuch as the Saxons Nordsqaues overwhelmed with his numbers submitted to his pleasure and received Baptisme Griffon with the other Saxons was Encamped and Intrenched on the other side of the River Ovacre fear seized upon them they deserted their Post in the night time and their Countrey remained exposed to the mercy of the French so that not finding himself any longer in safety there he leaves them to make their Peace and retired to Bavaria where he seized on that Dutchy usurping it from the young Tasillon aged but 6 or 7 years who was the Son of his Sister Chiltrude and Odillon This Countrey no more then that of Saxony could not protect him from the pursuit of Pepin who joyning Gold and his Favours with his Sword and Threats soon unhinged his Party The Bavarois made their agreement Landfroy Duke of the Almans and Suidgard Earl of Hirsberg did the same and he finding himself alone was compelled to follow their Dance and come to his Brother He receiv'd him most kindly and assigned him the City of Mans and Twelve Counties in Neustria but the very self same year he made a third escape and cast himself into the Arms of Year of our Lord 749 Gaifre Duke of Aquitain Pepin having gained the better over all his enemies had no more left him to do Year of our Lord 750 but to sit down in the Throne a thing his Father durst not undertake He saw all the power in his own hands with the Treasures of the Kingdom and the Affections of the French and there was no other Prince of the Merovignian Race remaining but one young stupid and witless Man He therefore assembled a Parliament which being wholly Devoted to him were very willing to confer the Title of King on him but he was glad that he might be disengaged from his Oath of Fidelity to consult with the Pope who had great authority over the Galican Church and whose Answers passed for Oracles though not for Laws He who sate then in the Holy Chair was Zachary a most intimate friend of Pepins who wanted his assistance against the Lombards and who could well apprehend that what was desired of him was a most favourable prejudgment for the Popes Year of our Lord 750 against the Emperours Besides it seemed reasonable and just that France after so many Idols and Shadows should now have a King in reality and therefore he could not but answer favourably to the point that Pepin propounded and consulted him about and his Reply was certainly of great weight It is in this sence according to my opinion that we must understand some Authors of those times who tells us that Boniface set him upon the Throne by the Command of Zachary Otherwise we should say the French did not truly understand their own Right and that this Pope attributed to himself what did not belong to him Upon this Answer the French having called another Parliament at Soissons degraded Year of our Lord 751 Childeric and elected Pepin There is some likelyhood that this was done in the general Assembly which was held in the month of March The Bishops were there in great numbers Boniface Arch-Bishop of Ments being in the head of them who declared to them the validity of the Popes Answer and indeed this King and his Successors as if they had some obligation to the Clergy for their Royalty gave them a great share in the Government By the same Decree Childeric was shaved and made a Monk at Sitieu There are some affirm that from thence he was removed to the Monastery of St. Himeran at Ratisbonne and his Wife being vailed to that of Conchiliac But others believe he was not Married though he were of an age ripe enough for it Thus endeth the First Race of the Kings of France who if we reckon from the year 418. to the year 751. had Reigned 333 years and had 21 Kings only accounting those of Paris but Thirty six if we take in all those that had the Title as well in Austrasia where there was but one that resided at Mets as in Neustria while sometimes three of them at the same time had their Seats at Orleans at Soissons and at Paris The first Four of these Kings were Idolaters and all the rest Christians But their Baptisme did not quite purge away their Barbarity they were Savage and Bloody till Clotaire II. Those that followed were more Benigne Merciful and Religious excepting Childeric II. But all being either shallow-Brain'd or Minors they fell necessarily under the Government of others End of the First Race The Second Race OF KINGS Which have Reigned in FRANCE And are Named CARLIANS OR Carolovinians THIS Second Race is commonly called the Carlian or Carolovinian Race We know not whether it took that denomination from Charles Martel or Charles the Great After it had been raised to a great height by the Vertue of its Five first Princes to wit the two Pepins Charles Martel Charlemain and Lewis the Godly and had extended their Empire much beyond the Bounds of the First It began to decline under the Children of that Lewis and in the end was reduced to so narrow a compass all the Lords having made themselves Masters in their Governments that their last Kings had nothing left which was properly their own but the Cities of Laon and that of Reims It is observed That they had much resemblance with the First Race in that they had a very fair beginning and an unhappy end That Charles of Lorraine their last Male was deprived of the Crown as Childeric had been and that they had several stupid and senceless Princes amongst them But this held one Advantage above the other That they Reign to this day in all Europe by the Males in the House of France and by the Women in that of the other greatest Princes Insomuch that the Carlovinian Blood is held for the most Noble in all the Earth whereas there is not any remaining of that of Meroveus PEPIN named the Breif OR The Little King XXII Aged XXXVI or XXXVIII Years POPES ZACHARY One Year during this Reign STEPHANUS II. in 752. S. 2. Years 3. days STEPHANUS III. The same Year S. 5. Years 20 Days PAUL I. Elect in May 717. S. Ten Years one Month. CONSTANTINE and PHILIP False Popes in 767. STEPHANUS IV. In August 768. S. 3. Years 5 Months
This was a plausible pretence for Pepin to quarrel by demanding restitution of the Poors Patrimony He expected that Gaifre would refuse to do right thereupon he gets his Militia together and marches into Aquitain to the place they call Theodad where was an Ancient Palace of their Kings Gaifre who was not prepared for so sudden an Expedition was so much astonished that he promised him full satisfaction and gave him up some Hostages It was to be feared that the Saracens in Spain would bring assistance to this Duke and that he might be persuaded to deliver some places into their hands for Security and Retreat which would have given them footing in France Pepin provides against this by pretending to desire the Alliance of their Caliph to whom he sent a splendid Embassy The Caliph looked on this proposition as very honorable coming from so great a Prince agreed to all what was desired and sent back the Embassadors loaden with rich Presents whose Voyage thither and home again took up three Years time Year of our Lord 761 Instead of performing his promise Gaifre sent out his Forces who ravaged all about Chaalons upon the Soane Pepin extraordinarily offended at this Infidelity resolves to make a perpetual War upon him till he were quite ruin'd This Year he conquered Bourbon Chantelle Clermont and divers Places in Auvergne and from thence descends into Limosin and took Limoges having defeated and slain in a great Battle Chilping Count d'Auvergne and Amingue Count de Poitiers who would have hindred him His Eldest Son Charles began his first Apprentiship of Warr in this Expedition Year of our Lord 762 The following Year after he had held the General Assembly at Carisy or Crecy upon the Oyse he entred for the third time into Aquitain and by force took the City of Bourges and the Castle of Tours Year of our Lord 763 At his Fourth Expedition which was after the Sitting of the Parliament of Neuers he pierced as far as Cahors But the Duke Tasillon his Nephew whom he carried along with him having made his Escape and got into Bavaria he feared that Young Prince might have some League with the Saxons and with Didier King of Lombardy whose Daughter he had married Year of our Lord 764 Therefore returning again into France he let slip one Year without taking the Field during which time nothing was done but sending and receiving Messengers from Bavaria and Lombardy concerning Treaties with Didier and Tassillon Year of our Lord 765 When he had made sure of them by some agreement he undertakes afresh his design of Warr upon Aquitain Gaifre had dismantled most of his Towns as not having Numbers sufficient to maintain them Pepin Repairs them and places good Garrisons then made himself Master of Angoulesme Saintes and Agen. Year of our Lord 766 The Year after he fortifies Argenton in Berry and according to some Chroniclers took the Town of Limoges which by this reckoning must have been taken twice Year of our Lord 767 Anno 767. After the General Assembly of Orleans was over he enters into Septimania and gained the Cities of Nismes Maguelonne Beziers Thoulouse Albi and the Country of Givaudan We cannot find by what Title these Cities could belong to Gaifre and if it be said They were in the hands of the Visigoths what reason had Pepin to take them from those People He must of necessity have made all this long March in the Winter time since he kept his Easter Festival at Vienne held the Field-meeting of May at Bourges and in the Month of August descended from thence as far as the Borders of the Garonne clearing all the Country of such of Gaifres Garrison Soldiers as skulked amongst the Rocks and in the Caves of Auvergne and Perigord After the Celebration of the Christmass Festival at Bourges he crossed Aquitain Year of our Lord 768 as far as Saintes In his way he took Remistang Brother or Uncle by the Mothers side to Gaifre whom he caused to be hanged for having broken his faith to him Three Years before and while he was at Saintes they presented to him the Mother a Sister and a Niece of the same Dukes This Unfortunate Man fled still before him sometimes into one Town then into another In fine the King after he had kept his Easter at Selles in Berry divided his Forces in two Bodies that he might be hemm'd in So that Gaifre being put to a full stop neer Perigueux was constrained to stake his last Fortune in a Battle but he lost it and his Life soon after being slain either by the French or even by his own men who were willing to put an end to their Troubles and the desolation of their Country Thus all Aquitain was entirely subdued saving only they permitted the Gascons to have a Duke Pepin had but life enough just to finish this Conquest for being come back to Saintes he fell sick of an Hydropisia As they were conveying him to Paris he paid his Devotions and made his Offerings on the Tomb of St. Martin de Tours and being brought to perform the same duty at St. Denis Year of our Lord 768 in France he resigned up his Soul the 24 th of September in the Year 768. Aged 52. or 54. Years of which he had reigned Seventeen and a half if we reckon from the day of his Election supposing that was made in the Field of Mars Anno 751. He married but one Wife who survived him which was Bertha whom the Historians have surnamed Great Foot Daughter of Caribert Count of Laon by whom he had four Sons Carloman Charles Pepin and Gilles and three Daughters Rotaide Adelaide and Giselle Of his Sons the Youngest was thrust very young into the Religious Monastery of Mount Soracte Pepin dyed when three years old The Kingdom was left to the other two who were Crowned in the Month of October following Carloman at Soissons and Charles at Noyon As for the Daughters the two Eldest Rotaida and Adelaida dyed young Griselle married to a Cloister and was an Abbess Some Genealogists bestow five or six Sons more upon him and as many Daughters of which say they Berte was married to Milon Count of Angiers and Father of the invulnerable Orlando and Chiltrude to René Count of Genoa who was the Father of Oger the Dane Year of our Lord 768 The two Brothers being in dispute about their partition the Lords interposed to bring them to an agreement and obliged them till all should be determined by way of provision to take Charles all Neustria and Carloman Austrasia In the Reign of Pepin God began to make Christendom feel the stroakes of the severest scourge that was ever laid upon them I mean the insulting Turks which to this day threatens to overwhelm us They were not unknown in Pliny's time who reckons them amongst those who inhabited along the Palus Meotides There may have been some likewise amongst the Messagetes and elsewhere as we have observed of
some other Barbarians In the time of the Emperour Justin they were even then so potent that they over-awed the Avari and other Neighbouring people The Emperour Heraclius made use of them against Cosroes and they made a mighty diversion being entred into Persia a great part whereof paid them Tribute divers Years afterwards But in the Year 763. they fell upon Armenia and so spread themselves very far into Asia where they subdued even the Kingdom of Persia An. 1048. Nevertheless they had no Soveraign nor Chief General but only many Colonels till the first Croisado of the Christians in 1196. at which time they made choice of one to be the better united for their own defence and preservation CHARLES I. CALLED The Great OR CHARLEMAINE King XXIII Aged XXIX Or XXX Years POPES STEPHANUS III. S. Three Tears and Three Months ADRIAN I. Elected in Feb. 772. S. neer 24. Years LEO III. Elected in Decem. 795. S. Twenty Years Five Months of which Eighteen under this Reign Charles in Neustria and Burgundy Aged 29. or 30. Years Carloman in Austria Aged 22 Years Year of our Lord 769 DUring the Discord between the Two Brothers which lasted some Months Old Hunoud the Father of Gaifre who had put himself into a Monastery throwes down his holy Frock to take up the Title of Duke of Aquitaine and endeavoured to make that Province Revolt by the assistance of his Friends and a League he made with Loup Duke of Gascongny Charles to whose share this Province fell intreated his Brother to help him in quenching this Flame of Rebellion Carloman joyns Forces with him but in the mid-way either of himself or by the suggestions of some busy-bodies he conceives a Jealousie against his Eldest Brother and leaves him there Charles however continues on his March Year of our Lord 770 Upon the noise of his approach Hunoud flies and goes to hide himself in the farthest parts of Gascongny where he thought to find an Asylum But there is none against too great a Power The Duke of Gascongny fearing the Threatnings of Charles proved no more a Faithful Ally then he had been a Faithful Vassal but comes to meet Charles submits intirely to him and delivers up that Unfortunate Man to his disposal who notwithstanding a short while after having made his Escape got into Sanctuary at Didiers King of the Lombards Thus ended the Dutchy of Aquitaine which about Eleven years afterwards was Erected to a Kingdom by Charlemaine for Lewis the youngest of his Sons In this Expedition he built Franciac which is to say the Castle of the French upon the River Dordogne It is now called Fronsac Pepin in his Life-time had married his two Sons it is not mentioned to whom perhaps they were only betroathed but if they were compleatly married we must say they afterwards were divorced for their Mother obliged them to take other Wives Carloman espoused Berthe or Bertrade whom the old Annals make to be the Daughter of Didier King of the Lombards Charles likewise was married to Hildegard another of that King's Daughters notwithstanding the great opposition the Pope made even so far as to represent to him how the Lombards stunk and were infected with the Leprosie Carloman his Brother was of an odd humorous spirit which gave him a great deal of trouble But death happily delivered him in the Month of November of this Year 770. having cut the thrid of his Life in the Palace of Montsugeon nigh Year of our Lord 770 Langres at the beginning of the Third year of his Reign and the 28th of his Age. His Brother caused his Corps to be conveyed to the Abbey of St. Remy of Reims which he had greatly endowed He had one Wife named Berthe and two Sons While Charles held a General Assembly at Carbonnac most part of the Lords and Austrasian Prelats came thither to acknowledg him for their King They might do so and it must be granted that if he had not had that right he had been an Usurper The Widow of Carloman apprehending they might proceed further Year of our Lord 771 took her Children and went her way to Tassillon Duke of Bavaria Some Spanish Chroniclers to whom I know not what faith we are to give have written that besides Gaifre and Hatton Eudes Duke of Aquitaine had a Son named Aznar who considering the misfortune of his Brother passed the Hebre and having in Battle slain four petty Kings or Saracen Generals became the First Earl of Arragon It was at that time but a small Territory between two Rivers of that name whereof the City of Jacque was the Capital Charlemaine alone in all the Kingdom ONe cannot hear the Name of this Prince without conceiving some great Idea He was of a tall and becoming stature seven foot in height well shap'd in all his Limbs unless his Neck which was somewhat too thick and short and his Belly strutting out a little too much His gate was grave and firm his voice of the shrillest His Eyes were large and sparkling his Nose high and long his Countenance Gay and Serene his Complexion fresh and lively nothing of effeminate in his gesture and carriage his humour sweet facile and jovial his conversation easy and familiar He was humane courteous and liberal active vigilant laborious and very sober although fasting were prejudicial to him an enemy to Flatterers and vanity who hated huffing and new modes that were strange cloathing himself very modestly unless it were on some publique Ceremonies where the Majesty of the Kingdom ought to appear in their Soveraign At his Meals he made some read to him the History of the Kings his Predecessors or some Works of St. Augustine's took two or three hours repose after Dinner interrupted his sleep in the Night rising three or four times heard all Complaints did Justice at all Seasons even at his time of dressing himself The Spring and Summer time he spent in War part of Autumn in Hunting the Winter in Counsels and the Management of his Government Some certain hours both of the day and night in the Study of Learning as Grammer Astronomy and Theology And in truth he was one of the most Learned and most Eloquent of that Age the Works he left behind him to posterity are undeniable proofs of it With all this clement merciful charitable who maintained the Poor even in Syria Egypt and in Africa who employ'd his Treasure in rewarding Soldiers and Schollars in building publique Structures Churches and Palaces repairing of Bridges Cause-ways and great Roads making Rivers Navigable silling Sea-Ports with good Vessels civilizing Barbarous Nations and carrying the Honour of the French Nation with much Credit and Lustre into the remotest Kingdoms And who above all other things had the greatest care to regulate his People with good and wholesome Laws and bent all his Actions and Endeavours to the Welfare of his Subjects and the advancement of the Christian Religion Amongst the rest he had four very Potent Enemies to
to bestow it but they being now no longer acknowledged in Italy the Pope and Romans attributed that Power to themselves and which is more agreed That Charles should have the power of the Investiture of Bishopricks and even to Nominate the Popes to prevent those Cabals and the Disorders that hapned upon Elections The Italian Authors assure us that he remitted this right to the Romans but however he at least reserved to himself that of Confirming them which the Emperours had enjoyed without the least contradiction for above Three Ages After this there was a very great and strict Friendship betwixt Charles and Adrian Year of our Lord 774 Upon his Return Charles was Crowned King of Lombardy as the Kings of that Nation were used to be at the Burrough of Modece near Milan by the Archbishop of that Great City who Anointed him and put the Iron Crown upon his head It is so called because indeed it was made of a Circle or hoop of Iron but cover'd over with a Plate of Gold It is said That the generous Teudelaine Daughter of Garibald Duke of Bavaria she who about the Year 593. converted the Lombards from Arianism had it made for the Coronation of her Husband Agilulf The Order he established in Italy was thus To the Pope he left the Exarchat the Pentapolis they were since called Romandiola the Dutchies of Perusia of Rome of Toscana Vlteriora and Campagnia He gave the Dutchy of Benevent to Aragisa Son in law to Didier that of Spoleta to Hildebrand and that of Friul to Rotgaud upon conditions only of Homage and Service and to revert again to him for want of Heirs Males He gave the Earldomes and Captainries of those Countries upon the same conditions The rest he reserved for himself viz. Liguria Emilia Venetia and part of the Alpes and setled Counts there to govern them and do Justice He imposed a certain Tribute on the Cities and would have the Salique-Law be in force there so that they had three sorts of Laws the Lombard the Salique and the Roman and the Subjects were permitted to live and observe and make any Contracts according to such of these Laws as they best liked Since that this Conquest hath been called the Kingdom of Italy and it extended to the River Aufidus or Ofantus Puglia and Calabria together with Sicilia belonging then to the Grecian Emperors During his absence the Saxons had unchained themselves and put all in the Year of our Lord 774 Countrey of Hesse to Fire and Sword About the latter end of the Year he sent four squadrons of men thither who Attaqued them in four several parts and brought a great deal of booty thence Year of our Lord 775 The following Spring he went amongst them himself with greater forces took the Castle of Sigeburgh rebuilt that of Eresburgh which they had demolished drove them upon the Veser and having beaten them soundly forced them to quitt the Post of Brunsberg where they had fortified themselves He after this divided his Army in two Bodies and chased them to the River Ouacre and there he received the oaths and hostages of Prince Halson or Helsis and of the Ostfales or Ostrelands which is to say Easterlings then upon his return at the place named Buki those of Vitikind and the most considerable of the Dutchy of Angria In the mean time the other part of his Army had like to have been surprised by other Saxons near the River Ouacre of whom he took so severe a revenge by Fire and Sword that these likewise cryed him mercy and gave him up hostages During all this Adalgise Son of Didier whom the Emperor had honoured with the Title of Patrician got an Army at Sea to recover his Kingdom of Lombardy and debauched Rotgaud Duke of Friul who was very unwilling to obey a stranger Charles hastens thither with all diligence defeated Rotgaud in a great Battel caused his head to be cut off and having chastised those that supported this Rebellion gave that Dutchy to a French Lord by name Henry together with Stiria and Carinthia placing Counts and Garrisons in the Cities In his absence the Saxons fly to their Arms surprized and razed the Castle of Eresburgh but thinking to do the same to that of Sigeburgh they were repulsed by the French who pursued them with slaughter to the banks of the Lipp With this misfortune they had intelligence likewise that Charlemain was in their Year of our Lord 776 Countrey looking out for them they came with all humility to prostrate themselves before him together with their Wives and Children desiring his Pardon and Baptism Their submission and conversion though dissembled disarmed his wrath Year of our Lord 777 In the Month of March following they all came from their several quarters to the general Assembly of Paderborn excepting the Valiant Vitikind Duke of Angria who had retired himself into the Country of Danemark which the Authors of those times call Normandy Thither likewise came the Saracen Ibnalarabi Governour of Sarragossa with some other principal persons of the same Nation who implored the protection of Charles He easily granted it and would lead his Army thither himself rather to defend and encrease the Kingdom of Jesus Christ then for his own honour or augmentation of Empire There had been Nine or Ten Lieutenant Generalissimo's in Spain belonging to the Caliph who resided at Damas whence he ruled all that vast Empire extending from the Indies to the Pyreneans There were two very potent Families amongst the Saracens that of Humeia and that of Alevaci The first had held the Soveraignty for 150 years and there had been Fourteen successive Caliphs of them the other pretended to be descended from Fatima the Daughter of Mahomet and for that reason had their claim Now it hapned that Abulguchase who was of the Alaveci revolted and having vanquished and slain Meroüane the last of these Fourteen Caliphs and undertaken the task to destroy the whole Race Abderame flying from that Persecution had saved himself in Spain and freed that part from the dominion of the Caliph by making it a distinct and independent Kingdom But in this revolution other Governours had also fallen off from his obedience and amongst these was Ibnalarabi with the rest that came along with him who wanted the assistance of the French to maintain them in their Usurpation Year of our Lord 778 The great Forces raised by Charles being divided in two Bodies marched two different ways The first with whom he went in person passed thorough Bearn into Navarre and laid Siege to Pampelune This was the longest and the most memorable that ever the French had undertaken At last the place surrendred upon composition From thence he marched towards Sarragossa where the other part of the Army who had taken their way thorough the Countreys of Rousillon and Cerdagne joyned him Ibnalarabi and the other Saracen Chiefs came to meet him and tendred him hostages and other assurances of their
fidelity We must know that till this time the Christians on all those Frontiers as well as those of Spain had been subdued by the Saracens to whom they paid a Tribute Charlemain delivered them from that Slavery and made them joyn in a League with these petty Moorish Princes who had put themselves under his Protection It is said that he also sent some Forces to Alphonso the Chaste to help him to throw off the Yoake of Vassallage and Tribute to which he had been hitherto compelled Which these Divisions of the Moors made the more easie to be effected Thus do the Spaniards owe their first Enfranchisement to the Assistance of the ☜ French The Gascons about the Pyreneans who carried on the Trade of Theft rewarded him but very ill for all his generous help As he returned into France passing by Pampelune which he dismantled these Banditi lying in Ambuscade in the narrow Passages about Roncevaux took all the Baggage which was in his Rear and slew many of his brave Lords amongst the rest that Famous Rowland his Nephew his Sisters Son who was Marquess of the British Seas that is to say Governour of the French Coasts along that shoare The Lords of those Countryes fearing his just Anger delivered up many of those Robbers to him that they might suffer such punishment as he would have inflicted on them Year of our Lord 780 Year of our Lord 780 The Spanish Authors triumph of this Defeat and cry they have Vanquished Charles the Great and his Twelve Peers But certain it is that Navarre Arragon and all that is between the Pyreneans and the Hebre was at that time brought under the dominion of this King and that he placed Counts at Girone Ampuries Vrgel Barcelonna Ribagorra and other places This Extent of Land was called the Marches of Spain When he returned he placed French Counts in all the Cities of Aquitain and of Septimania to keep those People the better in obedience Some others will have this Establishment to have been in 781. at the time when he bestow'd the Kingdom Year of our Lord 778 of Aquitain upon Prince Lewis Year of our Lord 778 In his absence Vitikind had re-inflamed the Fury of the Saxons who made most terrible havock as far as Ments and Colen As soon as he was come back he sent away Three Squadrons of his Army who soon beat them off and the following year went thither in Person They had the confidence to wait for him near the Year of our Lord 779 River of Lipp and to give him Battle but he overcame them and afterwards reduced Westphalia Eastphalia and Angria and the next year went outwards as Year of our Lord 780 far as to that place where the River Hore meets and joyns with the Elbe and received many of their People amongst others those that are called Nordleudes and Bardogaves Then having given the necessary orders to secure these new Conquests and bridle the Sclavonians who were on the other side of the Elbe he returned into Neustria Now fearing left Italy wont to have a King and who besides were molested with the Huns by Land and the Saracens at Sea should receive Adalgise or give the Crown to some other He makes a third Journey to Rome under colour of Devotion He celebrated the Feast of Christmas at Pavia and that of Easter at Rome The Pope baptized his second Son Pepin and was his God-father and afterwards Year of our Lord 781 Crowned him King of Italy and Lewis his younger Son King of Aquitain This last was scarce three years old His Kingdom contained the Dutchy of Aquitain that of Gascoyne and the Marca of Spain The King gave not any to Charles his eldest Son because he would keep him near himself to manage the Affairs of France and of Germany Charlemaine King of France     Pepin King of Italy And Lewis King of Aquitaine Year of our Lord 781 HE sent Lewis to Orleance under the Tutelage of a Bail or Governor named Arnold and left Pepin in Italy where he kept his Royal Seat at Milan but yet was frequently at Ravenna Though he had been already Crowned at Rome yet he would be again Crowned at Modece Tassillon Duke of Bavaria had suffered his Faith to be shaken by Luitperge his Wife Daughter of King Didier Whilst Charles was at Rome the Pope had agreed Year of our Lord 781 with him to send a couple of Bishops to that Duke to put him in mind of his Oaths The Pope failed not and Tassillon having taken Hostages for his Security comes to Wormes and gave Twelve on his behalf Year of our Lord 782 For some Years Charles held his General Assembly in Saxony This was held at the Spring-head of the Lippe where he gave Audience to the Ambassadours of Sifroy King of Denmark and those from Cagan and Ingurre Princes of the Huns. The Assembly being ended he repassed the Rhine and then Vitikind who upon his former approaches had saved himself in Denmark returned to his own Country and caused part of the Saxons to rise up again The Sorabi a People that inhabited the Country between the Elbe and the Saal were of the Confederacy Three of the Kings chief Commanders who were ordered to observe and oppose them leaves them and goes against the Saxons and falling rashly and disorderly upon them without staying for Count Thierry who was of Kin to Charlemaine because they thought all the honour of the Victory and Success would be attributed to him they were surrounded and most of them cut off and destroy'd The shame for this rebuke and loss inraged the King so highly that for this time he would not forgive the Saxons unless the Country would deliver up Four thousand of the greatest Mutineers to him all whose heads he caused to be struck off upon the Banks of the River Alare Year of our Lord 783 This Severe bleeding did not yet qualify them so much as to hinder them from rising in Arms again the next Year not one part of them but all as one Their Courage was so undaunted that they gave him Battle and their Forces so numerous that having lost it they had yet enow left to sight him the second time wherein they were as unsuccessful as at the first Before he took the Field Charles had the unhappiness to lose a very good Wife Queen Hildegard who died on the last of April on the Ascension Eve The very same Year he married another who was named Fastrude Daughter of a French Count called Raol All the following Year the King with a Flying Army and Charles his Eldest Son with another did only scowre and make Incursions upon the Saxons sometimes upon Year of our Lord 784 one side of the Country sometimes on another and it was resolved in Councel That he should never give over till he had wholly subdued them Year of our Lord 785 Though he had much broken them yet they failed not the Year
after to take the Field again with the assistance of the Frisons their Allies but they were as ill handled as before In fine their two Bravest Leaders Albion and Vitikind being disheartned by so much ill success gave ear to the Friendly persuasions which the King being touched with a real esteem for their great Courage had made use of to bring to their duty Having taken their Sureties they appeared before the Estates at Paderborne and thence followed him into France where they were Baptised in his Palace of Atigny He gave the Dutchy of Angria to Vitikind who from that day forward led so good and Christian a life that some have placed him amongst the Saints From him many do derive the descent of the Race of the Capetine Kings Year of our Lord 785 At this Assembly of Paderborn Lewis King of Aquitaine came to his Father with all his Forces He often sent for him and his Brother Pepin either when he wanted them or to call them to an accompt thereby to keep them in subjection Year of our Lord 786 After Easter in the Year 786. the Army went and fell upon Bretagne whose Princes thought themselves independent and had their little Kingdom apart These likewise were compell'd after they had lost divers strong Places to submit to the Grandeur of Charles and to send several Lords to him to take their Oaths of Fidelity But not believing themselves bound to do so they kept them no longer then till they found an opportunity to violate their Faith without danger Year of our Lord 786 In the mean time Adalgise Son of the unfortunate Didier was at Sea with an Army solliciting his Brother in Law Tassillon to fall into Italy at the same time as he should land for the same purpose having made sure of Aregisa Duke of Benevent who married his Sister Charles to prevent the execution of their Designes passes the Mountains the fourth time and having taken Benevent and Capova from Aregisa who would be called King forces him to give sufficient Pledges and renounce that vain Title He had seen the Pope at his passing by Rome upon his return he saw him again Year of our Lord 786 In this Voyage to please himself he brought into France the Gregorian Singing and the Liturgy or Mass that was used at Rome and would needs abolish the Musick and Service of the Gallican Church This change begot many difficulties and stirred up Persecutions against the Ancient Galls who persisted in keeping their own Customs This good Prince was so wedded to this Singing that he made it a considerable business and a main point of Religion whereas several of the Ancient Fathers held it as a very indifferent thing Year of our Lord 787 Whilst he was last at Rome Tassillon's Ambassadors came thither to intreat the Pope to reconcile Charles perfectly to him The holy Father and the King willingly hearkned to it But when the King press'd them to name the time wherein their Master would perform what he promised they replyed that they had nothing in Commission but to carry back his answer So that the King perceiving he did not walk uprightly resolved when he got again into France to make him speak clearly Having therefore held the Estates at Wormes he drew three Armies into the Field his Son Pepin's in Italy one of the Eastern French and a third which himself Commanded Year of our Lord 787 When Tassillon saw them all upon his Frontiers the first in the Valley of Trente the second on the Borders of the Danube and the other under the Walls of the City of Augsburgh not knowing which way to turn he came with all humility to begg his pardon and delivered up Thirteen Hostages whereof his Eldest Son Theudon was one Yet the hatred he had for the French and the correspondence he held with Adalgise his Brother in Law still prompted him secretly to sollicite the Bavarian to take up Arms and to joyn in League with the Huns his Neighbours who held Pannonia which is Hungary and Austria Part of these were led by his persuasions but the rest apprehending the Calamities of War gave the King notice hereof For which cause this Duke being a second time summoned to the Assembly of Estates which met at Ingelhenin and there accused by his own Subjects and convicted of Treason was by his Peers condemned to lose his Life Howbeit the King in favour of him as being neer of Kin commuted that punishment so that both he and his Son Theudon were only Shaved and sent to the Cloister of Loresheim and then to Jumiege And at this time The Dutchy of Bavaria was Extinguished and divided into several hereditary Counties Year of our Lord 788 Out of these ruines sprung a more powerful Enemy The Huns angry for the loss of their Allie and that the French were become their Neighbours began a most bloody War with them which lasted for Eight Years together This Year let them however know what the Event was like to be for they lost three Battles against them one in Friul and two in Bavaria At the same time Adalgise having obtained some Forces of Constantine the Emperor of Greece who was netled for that Charles had denied him his Daughter Rotrude in Marriage descended into Italy by Calabria imagining the rest of the Lombards would take up Arms in his Quarrel But he was mistaken in his reckoning Grimoald Son of his Sister and Aragise Duke of Benevent whom Charles had gratify'd with the Dutchy after the death of his Father Hildebrand Duke of Spoleta Vinigisa who was so after him and some other of King Pepins Captains fought him at his going forth of Calabria and obtained an entire Victory That unfortunate man falling into their hands alive was cruelly put to death as generally most Princes are that endeavour to regain their own when they suffer themselves to be taken Year of our Lord 789 Of the German People there was hardly any but those that Inhabited along the Baltick Coasts who did not acknowledge Charlemain or held themselves Enemies to the French and their Allies Those nearest to his Frontiers were the Wilses seated on the further side of the Elbe in the Southern part of the Country He built a Fort upon that River which he strengthened with two Castles and having made an inroad even to their Principal City which they called Dragawit brought such astonishment amongst them that they all submitted without striking one blow Their chief Head named Viltzan coming forth together with the most eminent of them to take the Oath of Fidelity and offer him pledges for Security Year of our Lord 790 He spent the Year 790. in his Palace of Wormes without undertaking any Military expedition He addicted himself to works of Piety sent great Almes to the Christians in Syria Egypt and Africa who groaned under the Saracen yoak and besought the amity of those Infidel Princes thereby to oblige them to treat the Christians more mercifully Year of
our Lord 790 This very Year was begun as some do hold that indissoluble Alliance between France and Scotland Charles having sent four Thousand Men in assistance of King Achaius who made him a present say the Scottish Authors of Claudius Clement and Alcuinus an Anglo-Saxon two learned Men for that Age. It is added that they came to Paris and erected some publick Schools Beginning of that Famous Vniversity the Mother of all those that are in Europe Year of our Lord 791 France having at this time no other Affairs Charles thought it was time to take his Revenge of the Huns but so as it proved a blessing to them by their being subdued to embrace the Christian Faith They had say some Autâ—ors seven Ringues or Vast Enclosures lock'd within one another and wonderfully Pallisadoed and strengthned with Rampires into which they made their retreat with their Spoil which they had practised above two hundred Years Charles having passed the River Emms which divides Bavaria from their Country went forwards with his Forces who marched along the two sides of the Danube attended with a Fleet which sailed on the same River and at the same time another Body of Eastern French-men entred upon them from Bohemia Upon his arrival they all fled and left two of their Ringues to him and afterwards he made his way and ravaged as far as the River Rab. Had it not been for a great mortality which almost destroy'd all his Horses he would have push'd his Conquest further We must observe That the Country of those Avari which lay on the East of Bavaria was by the French because of their Situation Eastward in respect of them called Oosterich whence comes the name of Austria Year of our Lord 792 An eminent danger wherein he found himself the following Year prevented his return thither as he had projected The French Austrasian Lords offended at the lofty behaviour of the Queen Fastrade conspired to be freed from her to ridd themselves of their King her Husband and to set up one of his Bastards named Pepin in his stead who had a handsome face but crooked and as malicious as it was possible The plott was discover'd by a poor Priest who being accidentally in the corner of a Church where they met for this purpose over-heard them discoursing of the design Charles by Sentence of the Estates caused several to be beheaded some their Eyes to be put out others hanged and his Bastard to be shaved and thrust into the Abby of Prom which is in the Bishoprick of Triers Year of our Lord 793 This Year Liderick de Harlebec Great Forester of Flanders was made Earl of it but not hereditary though from him are descended the Earls of that Country Year of our Lord 793 The same Year a Tumult was raised in the Dutchy of Benevent contrived perhaps by Grimoald and the rest of the Lombards which proved so dangerous that Lewis King of Aquitaine went into Italy with his Forces to assist his Brother Pepin Year of our Lord 793 Whilst Charles was at Ratisbon and had laid a Bridge over the Danube to go and subdue the Avari A Design was propounded to him which would have proved of great benefit in that War and for ever after to all Europe Which was to make a Communication between the River Rhine and the Danube and by consequence between the Ocean and the Black-Sea by cutting a Channel from the River Almuâ—s which discharges it self into the Danube to the River Redits which falls by Bamberg into the Meine which does afterwards run into the Rhine near Ments To which end he caused a world of men to work but the continual Rains that hapned filling up his Trenches and over-flowing and washing away his Banks ruined that brave and useful Undertaking Besides he was diverted by two accounts of ill tydings one the revolt of the Saxons who having kept themselves quiet seven or eight years now threw off again both the Yoake of Obedience and of Religion The other that the Forces Commanded by his Counts in the Marea of Spain were defeated by the Saracens Year of our Lord 794 Felix Bishop of Vrgel had in his answers to Elipand Bishop of Toledo published a most dangerous heresy That Jesus Christ as Man was but the Adopted Son of God the Father And although about two Years before the King having sent for him obliged him to recant and to go to Rome to abjure his Errour nevertheless he began anew to dogmatize Wherefore he caused a Councel of French Bishops to assemble at Francfort as also several Bishops of Germany and Lombardy who all condemned that Error in presence of the Pope's Legat They also rejected the Second Councel of Nice which had ordained the adoration of Images and pronounced that it did not deserve the title of Oecumenique Whilst the King was at Francfort died Queen Fastrada his third Wife Year of our Lord 794 From thence he went and fell with all his Forces upon the Saxons Country his Army being divided in two whereof he Commanded one part himself and his Eldest Son the other struck so great a Terror thorough all those Provinces that instead of running to their Arms they came running to him to begg for Mercy and this good Prince sparing the blood of those obstinate People contented himself with the taking away of one third of all such as were capable of bearing Arms and transporting them to the Sea-Coast of Flanders Year of our Lord 796 Upon his Return he passed away his Winter in the Country of Juliers where having discovered some hot Baths he built a fair Palace and a Church to the honour of the Virgin Mary For which reason that place was called Aix la Chapelle These Baths had in former times been accommodated and adorned with handsome Structures by some great Lord or Roman Governor whose Name was Granus it is not well known in what time from whence in Latin it takes the name Aquis Granum But I should have told you that before this Year was expired the Saxons had once more play'd the enraged Devils cutting in pieces an Army of the Abodrites in the Passage to the Elbe as they were marching by the King's Command upon an Expedition against the Avari Viltzan who Commanded them was slain which put the King into so great Wrath that he gave up all Saxony to the mercy of the Sword and at this time there were slain at the least Thirty thousand of those People bearing Arms. Pope Adrian his intimate Friend being dead Leo was Elected by the Senators and the Principal of the Clergy at Rome He sent him an Ambassadour to give Year of our Lord 796 him notice of his Election and to carry the Keys of St. Peter's Church with the City Banner and other honourable Presents to him desiring him to send one of his Princes thither to receive the Oaths of Fidelity of the Romans a certain proof that the King in quality of Patrician held
Year 800 beginning the Year on the First day of January but Year of our Lord 800 801 if we account Christmass Day the first of the New Year as the French Authors of those Times are wont to do After the Ceremony the Pope adored the New Emperour that is to say Kneeled down before him and acknowledged him for his Soveraign and caused his Portraiture to be exposed in publique that so all the Romans might pay him the same respect If we give credit to some of the Annalists of those Times he did not seek for this honour and the Pope surprized him when he besought him to accept of this Title And indeed it was so far from bringing him any advantage that it made him now hold that only by the Election of the Romans which he before held by the power of his Sword By this means the West had an Emperour again but one that had no connexion now with that in the East as formerly it had Year of our Lord 801 As the New Emperour was returning into France being at Spoleta there was a furious Earth-quake accompanied with horrible Noise which shook the Country thereabouts Neither was France and Germany free from it But Italy felt it most a great number of Cities being thrown down and destroy'd and this Prodigy was followed with Furious Tempests and afterwards with divers Contagious Maladies This Year Charles made no Military Expedition but his Son Lewis made himself Famous by the taking of Barcelona Year of our Lord 801 When the petty Saracen Princes upon the Frontiers of Spain feared they should be oppressed by the King of Cordoüa who was Generalissimo of Spain they made an Alliance with the French but the danger once past they fell again to their wonted Treachery Zad Prince of Barcelona studying some Treason against the French was nevertheless so imprudent thinking the better to conceal his Design as to come to King Lewis at Narbonna who caused him to be seized The Saracens Elected one Hamar of his Kindred in his room resolved to defend themselves to the uttermost Whilst this hapned the Gascons revolted because Lewis had set up at Fesensac a Count they were not pleased with After he had severely chastiz'd them he undertakes the Siege of Barcelona The King of Cordoüa takes the Field to Relieve it but being informed there was a Body of an Army to hinder his passage he bends his Forces against the Asturians The besieged after a Twelve-months resistance surrendred themselves up to Lewis who came himself to hasten forwards the Attaques he settled a Count in it named Bera who is said to be the Stock of the Earls of Barcelonna All the Princes of the Earth either feared or loved Charlemaine Alphonso King of Galicia and the Asturia's writing or sending Ambassadours to him would be called no other but his Man his Vassal The Scottish Kings always stiled him their Lord and termed themselves his Subjects and his Servants The Chiefs of the Saracens of Spain and Africa reverenced him and besought his Alliance The Haughty Aaron King of Persia who despised all other Princes in the World desired no Friendship but his He this Year sent him Jewels and Silks and Spices and one of the largest Elephants Withal understanding that he had a great devotion for the Holy Land and the City of Jerusalem he gave him the Propriety of them reserving to himself only the Title of his Lieutenant in that Country And two Years after interposed so earnestly in his behalf with Nicephorus that he engaged that Emperour to conclude a Treaty of Peace with him very advantagious to France Year of our Lord 802 During this great Torrent of good Fortune it had been easy for Charlemaine to conquer all the remainder of Italy and their Islands the Grecians having only a very wicked Woman in their Imperial Throne it was Irene the Widow of Leo who had caused the Eyes of her own Son Constantine to be put out But to stop his progress had the policy to amuse him with the hopes of marrying her which would have put the Empire of the East into his hands This Negotiation was well advanced and Charle's Ambassadours were at Constantinople to conclude it when she was driven thence by Nicephorus who made himself Emperour Nicephorus having chaced away Irene proposed to the Ambassadours of France who were come to Treat with her to make an agreement with Charles about Year of our Lord 802 Sharing the Empire He agreed therefore that he should bear the Title of Emperour as well as himself and that all Italy should be his to the Rivers of Ofantus and the Vilturnia with Bavaria Hungary Austria Dalmatia and Sâ—lâ—vonia the Gauls and Spaines For as to Germany it had never been in subjection to the Romans But Great Brittain or England had been a Member and by consequence ought to hold of Charlemaine Year of our Lord 802. and 803. Grimoald Duke of Benevent had revolted under the favour and with the support of the Greeks The French gain'd from him the City of Nocera but soon after he retook it with Vinigisa Count of Spoleta who lay sick in the place But when the agreement was made betwixt the two Empires he sent him back again very civilly and made his peace with the French Year of our Lord 804 The Saxons now revolted for the last time especially those beyond the Elbe incited by Godfrey who was King of Denmark and very potent at Sea Charles being come thither with all his Forces aud having pitched his Camp near the River Elbe that King advanced as far as Sliestorp upon the Borders of his Kingdom and the Country of Saxony to confer with the Emperour but some kind of Jealousie made him on the sudden turn back again and so the Saxon Holsatians finding themselves abandoned redeemed themselves from utter destruction by turning all Christians But he transported one part of them into Flanders and another into the Helvetian Country whence it is said the Swisse are descended a People who are very free in their own Country and yet serve in all others He bestowed the Lands they inhabited beyond the Ebre upon the Abrodite Sclavonians and he established a Councel in Saxony in manner of an Inquisition who had power to punish Mutineers especially such as returned again to their Idolatry This sort of Inquisition lasted in Westphalia to the 15 th Age. Thus ended the long and obstinate Rebellion of the Saxons who partly by consent partly by force submitted to the Yoak of Jesus Christ and the Dominion of France Year of our Lord 804 In the Month of October of the same Year Pope Leo's Ambassadours came to him at Aix la Chapelle to let him know their Master desired to see and entertain him with some of the Miraculous Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was affirmed to have been found at Mantoüa The King sent his Eldest Son Charles as far as Saint Maurice in Chablais to
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
his accuser and should have shamefully forfeited his life according to the Law had not the Emperor changed his Sentence of Death for banishment Year of our Lord 819 It was ill counsel made the Emperor give his Sons their shares so young as he had done But it was worse after he had done so to Marry a second Wife But being resolved notwithstanding his Devotion to taste again the pleasures of the Nuptial Bed he made choice of Judith Daughter to Helpon Duke of Bavaria so much the more a trouble to his repose as she was Beautiful Witty and Gallant The Truce between the French and Saracens of Spain is broken and the Saracens begin to range about the Coasts of Italy Sardinia and Corsica Year of our Lord 820 Thirteen Normand Vessels having attempted to make a descent in Flanders at the Mouth of the Seine went and pillaged the Island of Amboum upon the Coasts of Poitou So great a Mortality hapned amongst Bulls and Cowes that it almost destroyed the whole Race of that sort of Cattel thorow all France Year of our Lord 821 The Emperor confirmed the partition he had made amongst his Sons and obliged all the Lords that were present to Swear they would maintain them therein and as though he feared his Family might want Princes he made hast to marry them Lotaire with Hermengard Daughter to Count Hughes and the year after Pepin with Engheltrude Daughter of Thietbert Earl of Matrie Lotaire when his Marriage was consummate went into Italy where the Pope Crowned him Emperor and Pepin returned into Aquitaine We omit several minute things as the Negotiations of Ambassadors from divers Princes little exploits in War against the Abodrites Bretons Saracens and others But it is a very memorable thing that Louis the Debonnaire touched with remorse for having put his Nephew to Death and Cloister'd all his Brothers and natural Cousins against their wills made his confession to the Bishops and did publick Pennance before all the People at the general Assembly of Attigny After which he gave liberty to all those he had caused to be shaven to quit their Cloister and recalled Valac and Adelard to be of his Councel Year of our Lord 823 Birth of Charles the Bald and with him a world of Michiefs Which one may say had been presaged by many terrible prodigies hapning this year an Earthquake which shoke the Palace of Aix la Chapelle Furious Stormes which spoiled the Corn and Fruits of the Country a showre of huge Stones which fell together with Prodigious Hail many Men and Beasts in divers places struck with lightning a Girl that lived ten Months without eating and after all these a most raging Pestilence Year of our Lord 823 The Authority of the French at Rome did much incommode the Pope He knew what Emperors he had to do with and sought under-hand to weaken them and to render them odious and contemptible It hapned that Theodorus Prmicere of the Church and Leon Donatour his Son in Law were killed in his House for no other reason but because they had too much affection for Lotaire He purged himself by Oath that he had not consented to this Murther but however he would not deliver up the Murtherers saying they were of the Family of St. Peter And Louis too Debonnaire or meek puts up this injury whereas he should at least have required Justice upon them Year of our Lord 824 Shortly after the Pope comes to die Eugenius II. his Successor made some satisfaction to the French and there were Judges establisht in Rome all of the Emperors Palace none of the Popes The Bretons as obstinate for their Liberty as the Saxons for their Religion assayed to withdraw themselves from the obedience of the French and Elected a Lord of their Country to command them He was called Wihormac or Guyormac and was Vicount of Leon. The Emperor being entred into the Country with three Armies whereof he commanded one and his two Sons the two others made so great waste in the parts belonging to those Rebels that about the end of ten or twelve days they were glad to come and fall at his Feet and give up the Children of the most Noted Families for a Pawn of their Submission The following year the Principals and Guyomare their Chief came to the general Assembly at Aix as making up now a part of the French Monarchy The Emperor rewarded them all with rich Presents but when occasion offer'd they made it appear they could swallow the Bait and yet avoid the Hook The Peace being broken with the Saraeens of Spain the French Earls Guardians of the Frontiers had in An. 822. passed the Segre and going a great way into the Country brought thence very rich booty The King of Cordona would needs have his revenge upon Navarre and those Neighbouring Countries that were under the French Those People could hardly receive any assistance For the Saracens held Sarragossa and Huesca which hindred the passage of any succours that would go the lower way I mean Catalonia and the way thorow Gascony by Aspe and Ronceveaux was very incommodious insomuch that the Emperor could send only the Gascons unde r command of the Counts Ebles and Azenar or Aznar who were of that Country When they had taken care to secure Pampelonna and thought to retreat they found the Saracens had cut off their way back So they were forced to get the assistance of the People Inhabiting those Mountains to shew them some Year of our Lord 824 bye unknown ways but those treacherous Villains led them into places where the Saracens lay in Ambuscade so that they were cut in pieces and Ebles sent in Triumph to Cordoiia but Aznar set at liberty as being of Kin to some of those false-hearted Robbers The Bulgarians had already signalized themselves by their Incursions into the Territories of the Eastern Empire The French began to know them when they came to be their Neighbours Omortag their King sent Ambassadors to the Emperor to settle the Limits between the two Nations He detained them above two years with him and then sent them back without any answer By the assistance of the French Heriold was received in part into the Kingdom of Denmark with the Sons of Godfrey But those Princes out of hatred for that he Year of our Lord 825. and the following and all his Family had received Baptism drove him out of the Country which broke the Truce made with the Dane Soon after it was renewed and Heriold forced to content himself with the Earldom of Riusty which the Emperor had given him in Frisia Year of our Lord 826 The Normands Scowring the Coasts of Spain took Sevil which they held a whole year The Affairs of France being in a declining condition towards the Marches of Spain since the defeat of Ebles and Aznar a Lord named Aizo who had left the Emperors Court in discontent seized by a wile upon the City of Ossonna in Catalonia and made
a League with the Saracen King who gave him Powerful assistance with which help he so tormented the Governors of places that some quitted them and others went and joyned with him There was none but Bernard Earl of Barcelonna that persevered in the fidelity he owed the Emperor Year of our Lord 827 The next year Aizo got a very great re-inforcement of the Saracens and the Emperor on his part gave Pepin an Army to chastise him and to re-settle his affairs in those Countries But the Infidels ransacked the Counties of Gironna and Barcelonna at their pleasure before the French Forces were in condition The negligence of their Commanders was the cause of this delay which was most severely punished at the general Assembly of Aix with the loss of their imployment And whatever other favour they held of the Emperor This done to repair their fault he gave a great Army to his Son Lotaire who advanced as far as Lyons but having conferred with his Brother Pepin he went no farther because the Saracens had made no new attempt This was the last Trial the French made for those Marches For the following year there being a division bred in the Royal Family whereof Bernard Earl of Barcelonna was the pretence the Saracens and Spaniards too made great advantages of the same So that France could preserve only the Lower Marches to wit the Counties of Barcelonna Ampuries Roussillon Cerdagne Vrgel Paillars Ossonna and Ribagorce The People of the higher Marches seeing themselves abandoned by the Year of our Lord 828 French bethought themselves of making a King and chose Eneco or Inniguo Earl of Bigorre surnamed Arista by corruption from Ariscat a word which in that Country Language signifies the bold the resolute By whose valour and the eredit he had amongst the Gascons and the Inhabitants of the Pyreneans they promised themselves assistance sufficient enough to make Head against the Saracens As indeed he regained Pampelonna and some other Cities from those Infidels Year of our Lord 829 Or 830. 'T is here therefore we must assign the beginning Of the Kingdom of Navarre and not 70 years earlier by one Garcia Ximenes For all the Six Kings whom they place before this Inniguo Arista are fabulous as well as the pretended Kingdom of Sobrarue where they tell us they Reigned Now Sobrarue is a little Country between the Ancient Earldom of Arragon and that of Ribagorce which is within the precincts of the Kingdom of Arragon not of Navarre and hath but six Leagues of extent and some Burroughs in a Valley with the Abbey of Penna Inniguo Arista had for Son and Successor Ximene or Semenon d'Innigo and he had one Innigo de Semenon and Garcia both Kings D'Innigo II. was Son of Garcia II. who had two Sons which were Successively Kings viz. Fortunius Garcia and Sance Abarca the first of that name After him the Succession of their Kings of Navarre is clear and indisputable The Bulgarians ransacked Pannonia Superiora as they listed Balderic Duke of Friuli never stirring to repel them But his cowardly neglect was punished as it Year of our Lord 829 deserved He was devested of all his Honours and his Dutchy was divided into four Counties The Emperor desperately fond of his Wife and of his Son Charles bestowed Rhetia and part of the Kingdom of Burgundy upon that Child his other Brothers present But Trembling with jealosie and wrath Year of our Lord 829 Louis Emperor Lotaire Emperor and King of Italy Pepin King of Aquitaine Louis King of Bavaria Charles King of Rhetia aged 6 years Then all the reâ—t of the Party that had been for King Bernard the Relations Year of our Lord 829 and Friends oâ— those whom the Emperor had put to Death those whom he had Banished and sent away and afterwards recalled Leagued themselves together and taking this opportunity of the discontent of these young Princes Heated and Animated the People with divers rumours and reflections The Emperor fore-saw the Tempest well enough by the gathering of these clouds His Wife as well to have the Absolute Government of her Husbands weak Spirit as out of affection increased his Apprehensions and perswaded him to put an entire confidence in Bernard Earl of Barcelonna whom she loved with the Office of Chamberlain that she might ever have him near her Year of our Lord 830 Bernards Pride and his too great familiarity with the Empress bred envy and jealousy which caused several other Lords to joyn with the contrary Party All the discontented therefore address themselves to Pepin And in the ill humour he had conceived against his Mother-in-Law easily made him believe that Bernard was her Gallant and that she had bewitched her Husband and therefore it was a becoming Duty in the Son to revenge those injuries Practised against his Father and to restore him to his Honour and Witts again He believes them and takes the Field The Emperor being informed that he approached permits Bernard to retire sends his Wife to a Monastery at Laon and comes to Compeigne The Conspirators Seize the Empress she promises them to perswade her Husband to suffer himself to be shaved or deposed and upon this assurance they grant her the liberty to speak with him in Private They having conferred together made an agreement that the Empress should wear the Vail for a time but that he should demand some longer time to consider and resolve them Mean time his Son Lotaire arrives from Italy who confirmed all that had been done shutts up his Father in the Abbey of St. Mard at Soissons and appointed some Monks to instruct and advise him to put on the habit Some time after the Empress was brought to her Husband and upon the Peoples clamours confined to the Monastery of St. Radegonde of Poitiers Year of our Lord 830 In this Miserable condition the Debonnaire passed the Spring and Summer-season his Courage so sunk that he would have consented to turn Monk if the very Monks themselves who designed to take advantage of the opportunity and by some methods bring the Affairs of Court into their management by his means had not dissuaded him and found a way for his escape out of that Captivity One Gondeband amongst others stickled much in his service and went in his behalf to his two Sons Pepin and Lewis to entice them to embrace their Fathers Case to which they were already much inclined out of the jealousy of the growing power of their elder Brother and his undertaking to govern all things according to his own fancy The Power of these two Brothers serving as a Counter-poise to that of Lotaire there needed a general Assembly to settle the Government The contrary Faction would have it in Neustria where they were the stronger to degrade him or at least to dissolve his Marriage with Judith because she was of Kin to him But yet he had Friends or craft enough to have the meeting held at Nimiguen There making his
Party the strongest by the help and addition of the Eastern French he obliged his Son Lotaire to come and submit to him in his Tent and give up the principals of the Confederates into his hands All the Lawyers and his Sons themselves Judged them worthy of Death He Pardoned them notwithstanding and did only command the Laity to be shorn and the Church-men to be shut up in Monasteries When he was got back to Aix he recalled his Wife and her Brothers who Year of our Lord 830 had been shaved at the beginning of the Commotion but he would not admit her till she had cleared her self according to the usual manner of every thing laid to her charge In the Easter-Holy-days he was so merciful that in Honour of him who with his own Blood had Redeemed all Mankind and obtained Pardon for Sinners He released and recalled likewise all those whom he had caused to be shorne and restored them to their Estates and Lands but he sent his three Sons into their own Kingdoms Bernard was admitted to purge himself by combat and there appearing no accuser to oppose him he purged himself by Oath Year of our Lord 832 After these broils neither of his three Sons shewed him a perfect obedience Pepin and Louis though he had enlarged their shares did not leave vexing him And Lotaire their elder did under-hand contrive all their practices Pepin being sent for to a general Assembly at Automne came not till they were broke up which made his Father keep him with him At the same time almost Louis was making ready to come and visit him with too great an Attendance But the Father going forth to meet him made him retire and pursued him as far as Augsburgh From thence he summoned him to be present at the Assembly of Franefort to which he obey'd Year of our Lord 832 When he had done with one another began anew He had intelligence that Pepin was again Arming himself he went therefore as far as the Palace of Iogontiac in Limosin where he Assembled the Estates of Aquitain The rebellious Son was forced to appear there And his Case having been discussed he was kept Prisoner As they were conveying him to Triers he escaped and assoon as his Father was out of Aquitain he got in again with the same evil Spirit In fine having been Summoned to appear at the general Assembly of Saint Martins he not obeying his Father punished his Rebellion by taking the Kingdom of Aquitain from him Year of our Lord 832 It was said that Gombaud the Monk enraged because Pepin hindred him from Governing the Emperor in recompence of his good Services stirred up his Fathers wrath against him and Judith with her Artifices compleating the Project pushed the young Prince on to these extreams that she might have his spoil for her own Son Charles as in effect the Emperor did bestow it on him and caused him to be acknowledged by the Lords of the Country to the great displeasure of the other two Sons who feared the like Treatment Year of our Lord 833 They therefore conspired all those afresh against him and the two youngest leave the management of it all to Lotaire who brings Pope Gregory along with him the better to Authorize him They take the Field with a numerous Army The Father on his side gets his Forces together at Wormes for they were arrived nigh Basle The Ambassadors he sent to his Sons and the Pope finding they urged the Pope to Excommunicate him declared before his face that if he came for that purpose he might return Excommunicated himself since he trangressed the Holy-Canons The two Armies remained encamped between Basle and Strasburgh Five or Six days during which time the Emperor and the Pope had some conference about a Peace But under the pretence of Treating his men were debauched and persuaded to forsake him and went to the service of his Sons In so much that himself was likewise compell'd to go over to them having before Stipulated that his Wife nor his Son Charles should either of them forfeit Life or Limbs They immediately confin'd young Charles to the Monastery of Prom but did not shave him and banished the Mother to Tortona in Italy maintaining that her Marriage was Null because she was of Kin to their Father within the degree prohibited which was truth And that in those days was accounted a crime so great by the Church that they punished it with the utmost rigour Add that the Prelats were mightily offended with her for that she had caused Frederic Bishop of Vtrecht a man reputed to be of Holy-life to be Massacred because he had dared to reprove the Emperor publickly as he was eating at his own Table The Debonnaire being thus detained Pepin returned to Aquitaine and Louis to Bavaria Lotaire assigned a general Assembly at Compiegne to be on the first of October leaving his Father under a strong Guard in the Monastery of Saint Medard Year of our Lord 833 of Soissons During the Assembly the French beginning to be touched with compassion towards their ancient Emperor some Lords with some of the Bishops who feared they should be punished if ever he were again restored contrived wholly to exclude him by degrading and condemning him to do publick Pennance Ebon Arch-Bishop of Reims his Foster-brother and his School fellow but Son of a Slave was the principal Author and Promoter of this Counsel The Ceremony of this Degradation was as follows The Bishops having remonstrated his Scandalous faults to him he sent for his Son Lotaire and his Princes and made his reconciliation with him Then they led him into St. Medards Church where prostrated before the Altar upon a Sack-cloth he confessed he had been the cause of great mischiefs and troubles to France and the Bishops exhorting him to name his Crimes openly he repeated them according to a writing they had given him containing amongst other things that he had committed Sacriledge Parricide and Homicide in that he had violated the Solemn Oath made to his Father in the Church and Presence of the Bishops consented to the Death of his Nephew and done violence to his Relations That he had broken the agreement made betwixt his Children for the Peace of the Kingdom and compelled his Subjects to take new Oathes which was Perjury from whence proceeded all manner of mischiefs in the Government That after so many disorders and infinite damages and losses to his People he had again brought them together to destroy each other For which he desired pardon of God Then he presented a Paper to the Bishops who laid it upon the Altar After this they took off his Military Girdle which was laid there likewise And lastly they disrobed him of his secular Habit and cloathed him with a Penitential one which was never to be quitted when once they had put it on The People that is say to the Soldiery who would dave trampled him under foot before he was depes'd now pittied
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
succeed him the other headed by Ebroin Bishop of Poitiers referr'd it to the Emperor Ebroin comes to him to know his Intentions for which he was rewarded with the Abbey of Saint Germain des Prez At the very time when the Emperor would have followed him into Aquitain with an Army he was drawn towards the German side Year of our Lord 839 After the partition made with Lotaire Lewis was forbidden to take upon him the Title of King of East France any longer his interest and resentment made him take up Arms to preserve it Now before he could put himself into a posture of defence his Father passed the Rhine and stuck so close to him that he was either advised or compelled to come and ask his Pardon At his return from this Voyage the Emperor goes into Aquitain and being entred as far as Clermont in Auvergne he there met and gave reception to the Lords of the Country whom Ebroin had disposed to obedience and made them give their Oaths for his Son Charles But young Pepin with his Friends kept the Inheritance of his Father still by some corner or other and held so fast and tugged so strongly against him that he could not be dispossess'd in many years Louis the Debonnaire Emperour and King of France Lotaire Emperour and King of Italy aged 45. years Louis King of Bavaria aged 34 years Charles King of Rhetia Burgundy Neustria Aquitain aged 17. years Pepin disputing Aquitaine aged 14. years Year of our Lord 840 When the Emperor after the Parliament of Chaalon was returned to Aquitain being at Poitiers to take some course to secure that Kingdom to his Son Charles he had notice that Louis had debauched the Saxons and Turingians that he had Siezed all the Country without the Rhine and then being come to Francfort had taken the Oaths of several Eastern French Never any business troubled him so greatly as this same Though he were indisposed by a defluxion upon his Stomach and the Weather as yet very unseasonable he went from Aquitain with the resolution of putting an end to that affair He left his Wife and his Son Charles at Poitiers kept his Easter at Aix passed from thence into Turingia and held a Parliament at Vormes Then his Malady encreasing he went down the Meine to Ingelheim near Ments where lying in his Tents his Heart pierced with grief and his Stomach oppress'd with an Impostume he gave up the Ghost the 20 th of June having every Morning for forty days together received the Sacrament or Body of our Lord Jesus Christ He was in the beginning of the 64. Year of his Age and the end of the 27 th of his Empire and Monarchy before which time he had been King of Aquitain 32 years His Brother Dreux convey'd his Corps to Mets whereof he was Bishop and Intombed him in the Abbey of Saint Arnoul who was the Stock of the Carlovinian Family He was of a mild and sweet Nature but too easy and too credulous insomuch that sometimes his Counsellors could persuade him to unjust things From his youth he had plunged himself into a profound Devotion And if we may not say that he gave too much credit to the Church-men we may at least own that he could not discern the good from the bad or that employing them in his affairs and bestowing too much wealth upon them he spoiled them His Fathers method had been much better who never suffer'd one man to have more then one employment or more then one Benefice at the same time For the rest of his character he was Laborious Sober Vigilant Liberal very knowing and Learned both Speaking and writing Latine as well as any man in his Kingdom and who together with the perfect knowledge and understanding in the Laws had ever a great care to see them put in execution His first Marriage was with Hermengard Daughter to Duke Ingelram by whom he had three Sons Lotaire Pepin and Louis and three Daughters Adelais whose first Husband was Conrard Earl of Paris her second Robert le Fort Gisele who married Everard Duke of Friuli Father of that Berenger who was King of Italy Hildegarde married to Count Theodorus and Alpais Wife of Count Begon By his second marriage which was with Judith Daughter to Velpon or Guelfe Earl of Ravensperg he had Charles whom they surnamed the Bald. CHARLES II. Surnamed The Bald. King XXV Aged xvii Years POPES GREGORY IV. S. 3. Tears under this Reign SERGIUS II. Elected in Febr. 844. S. 3 years one Month. LEO IV. Elected in April 847. S. 8. Tears 3 Months BENNET III. Elected in August 855. S. 4. Years NICHOLAS I. Elect. in April 858. S. 9. Years 6 Months ADRIAN II. Elect. in Decemb. 867. S. 5. Years JOHN VIII Elect. in Decemb. 872. S. 10 years whereof 5. under this Reign Lotaire Emperour and King of Italy Louis King of Germany Charles King of Burgundy and Neustria Pepin Fighting for the Kingdome of Aquitaine Year of our Lord 840 SOme few days before his Death the Debonnaire had sent his Scepter his Crown and his Sword the tokens of Empire to Lotaire his eldest Son recommending to him the protection of Prince Charles and enjoyning him to preserve that share for him which had been allotted with his own consent But Lotaire or Lotharius was possessed in his mind that his Birth-right and his Quality of Emperor ought to make him Soveraign over his younger Brothers With this design he parts from Italy comes to the Kingdom of Burgundy where he designed to Rendezvous and bring his Forces together with his Friends dispatches his Commissaries into all parts to sollicite the Lords to give their Oathes to him passes from thence to Wormes and draws the Saxons to his party From thence Marches even to Francfort But Lowis coming to encamp close by him startled him and as he made more use of craft then strength he made Truce with him till the 12 th of November at what time they were to meet in the very same place to decide their differences in a Friendly manner if possibly they could if not by Dint of Sword Charles was then at Bourges where he waited for Pepin who failed at the Rendezvous promised From thence he dispatched one to Lotharius to intreat him to remember his Oathes which he had made in the presence of his Father and withal Year of our Lord 840 to render him all respect and submission as to his eldest Lotaire amuses him with fine words and in the mean time adjusts all his Engines to turn him out of his Estates After Charles had by his presence confirmed those People betwixt the Meuse and the Seine and had withal made a Journey into Neustria he returned with diligence into Aquitain to put a stop to Pepin's progress whose courage was much augmented upon the approaching of Lotharius He took off somewhat of the sharpness of his Mettle by gaining a Battel but in the mean while the Neustrian People joyned with
Lotaire Those Lords that accompany'd Charles observing these Artifices believed the best way was to breake thorow them all with a brave resolution and advised he would march directly to him Thus the two Armies were found to be within Six Leagues of each other the City of Orleans lying between them Then the Lords on either part endeavoured to bring them to an accord as was the usual custom of the French Those of Charles's party finding themselves by much the weaker yielded to an agreement very disadvantagious whereby was left to him only by provision Aquitain Languedoc and Province with some Counties between the Loire and the Seine and it was said they should meet at the Parliament to be holden at Atigny to compose all their differences but they added this Clause that in the interim Lotaire should attempt nothing upon Charles nor Louis otherwise they should be quit of their Oathes and promises Year of our Lord 841 This Treaty finished Charles marched towards Bretagne to quell the motions of some Lords of that Country From thence he returns on his way to be at the Parliament of Atigny Lotharius had in the mean while endeavoured to shut up the passages against him broken down all the Bridges over the Seine and ordered Forces on either Shoar who coasted along incessantly Which did him no good because Charles having information that there were several Vessels at Roüen Seized them with great diligence and wafted over his Army with them His enemies betook themselves to Flight upon the first appearance of his Standard At the same time Lotharius by the advice of Albert Earl of Mets his chief incendiary and Othbert Bishop of Ments were dealing with the French Austrasians and knowing that Louis of Germany was upon his march to joyn with Charles caused some Troops to pass over the Rhine to meet him and did entice away a part of his men so that he was councell'd fearing he might lose the rest to retreat into Bavaria where it had been easy for Lotaire to have crushed him had he but pursued it Year of our Lord 841 Charles marching up along the River Seine makes his Prayers in the Church of St. Denis joynes some Troops which two or three of his Counts brought him near Montereau on Yonne beats two of the Counts that Lotaire had sent to oppose him in his March goes on to Troyes where he celebrated the Feast of Easter From thence he went to Atigny to let them know he would not neglect to meet at the conference appointed between him and Lotaire After his having remained there some days he Marched towards Chaalons and there finds his Mother the Empress Judith and those Forces she brought him out of Aquitain He had intelligence at the same time that his Brother Louis having gained a Battel against Albert Count of Mets made all possible hast to joyn with him Wherefore he goes that way to meet him Lotaire gave out a report that he fled and pursues him Mean time Louis arrives and thus the two young Brothers being united were found to be the strongest Lotaire therefore gains some days time by his feigned negotiations till Pepin who was upon the March could joyn with him When he had this re-inforcement he talked of nothing but bringing them to obedience and having a Monarchical Soveraignty All the tenders they could proffer did but confirm his resolution of having all So that they were constrained to send him word they would give him Battel the next morning about the second hour of the day which was the 25 th of June Year of our Lord 841 The two Armies being encamped against one another near the Burrough of Fontenay by Auxerre The whole Power of France all the bravest Officers and most of the Grandees and Nobility were about the Four Kings who were to be both the Witnesses and rewarders of their Actions Since the Beginning of the French Monarchy to the very day I write these Lines there hath not been so much French Blood spilt in any Battel whatever A Hundred Thousand men perished there a horrible wound and which weakned the Carlovinian-House so greatly that it could never well recover it self again The victory fell to the younger Brothers share They used it with all humility and would not give the Emperor chace for fear of spilling more blood They likewise caused his men to be buried and took care to dress the wounded as their own proclaiming a general pardon to all those that would accept thereof Year of our Lord 841 The most part of those Officers that had been with these Princes being gone away they could not reap all the Fruits might have accrued upon so notable an advantage Louis repassed the Rhine and Charles took his way towards Aquitain to drive Pepin entirely from thence But some dissention hapning in his Councels so that he acted not vigorously enough Pepin who had been brought very low and would certainly have submitted re-assumed his courage On the other hand Lotaire having gathered up his scatter'd men and raised new ones appeared soon after in Neustria where he had a great many abetters His Army and Charles's drew near each other about St. Denis the River betwixt them Charles's being the weakest saved themselves in the Forrests of Perche Lotaire pursued them but not able to compel them to a Battel he sent back Pepin whom he had called thither with his Forces of Aquitain Year of our Lord 842 The two young Brothers at their parting had appointed to meet again at soonest As soon as Charles found the way open and clear he went to the banks of the Rhine to his Brother and both of them being met the 22 th of February in the City of Strasburgh made a new League and Alliance of Friendship promising by Solemn Oath never to forsake each other This Treaty was framed and written in two Languages viz. Romance the Original of the present French and the Tudesque It mentioned that if either of the two Brothers contravened their Subjects should be no longer obliged to serve them Which was in truth to leave a gap open for them to change their Soveraign when they pleased Year of our Lord 842 This union having reassured their Subjects brought back those whom Lotaire had inveigled and encreased their Forces they sought for him to give him battel but he left the Country in so much hast that he made no stop till he was gotten to Lyons and by his slight abandoned all Austrasia to them and part of the Kingdom of Burgundy Year of our Lord 842 When they were come back to Aix the Bishops by them Assembled pronounced a Solemn Judgment whereby they deprived Lotharius of all his Portion of Lands on this side the Mountains and yet they would not admit the two Brothers till they first were assured by them that they would govern according to the Commandments of God To which having answered that they desired so the Bishops told them And we by
joyned with those of the County and together made Count Sance Duke of Gascogny To whom some years after succeeded Arnold Son of Emenon or Immon Count of Perigord In the year 841. whilst the Kings were in the Field to destroy each other Hochery or Oger one of the most Famous Commanders of the Normands who commanded a Fleet of 150 Ships Burnt the City of Rouen the 14 th of May and the Abbey of Gemiege some days afterwards and for Fifteen or Sixteen years together continued his Barbarities upon Neustria and more particularly upon Bretagne and Aquitain They had also taken their course by Bretagne to make a descent The revolt of that Province opening a gap for them Louis the Debonnaire had given the Government to Neomenes descended from the Ancient Kings of those Countries and younger Brother of Rivalon Father of Salomon Now Neomene having acquired some reputation for having made head against the Normans An. 836. began to think himself worthy of the Crown belonging to his Ancestors however his design did not appear till after the Battel of Fontenay when being incited thereto by Count Lambert he openly declared himself Soveraign and drove all the French out of Bretagne unless those in Rennes and in Nantes who held out This Lambert enraged because King Charles had refused him the County of Nantes which he desired and demanded as a reward for having fought valiantly for him at the Battel of Fontenay renounced his Service and Leagued himself with Neomene with whose assistance having beaten and slain Reynold Count of Poitiers to whom the King had given Nantes he remained Master of the City But being in a short time driven thence in a contest hapning between Neomene and himself he mischievously went and fetched the Normans and brought them up the River before Nantes which they took by Escalado on Saint Johns Festival cut the Throats of most of the Inhabitants who were gotten into Saint Peter's Church Year of our Lord 844 and Massacred the Bishop at the High-Altar while he was saying Mass carried away all that were left alive and from thence went and Burnt the Monastery of the Islands which was Noir Moustier Thus Lambert became Count of a ruined City and endeavoured to maintain himself there wavering betwixt the King and Neomene unfaithful to both and beloved by neither After the division made by the Kings Bretagne being a pretended Member of West France which fell to the lot of Charles the Bald that Prince having now no enemies at home turned his Sword that way thiuking to bring Neomene to obedience But he confidently comes towards him and meeting him on his March in the Road from Chartres to Mans charged him so smartly that he put his Army to the Rout and forced him to fly to Chartres on Horse-back This advantage redoubled the Bretons Forces who made inroads upon Maine Anjou and Poitou It seems nevertheless there was some Truce since upon King Charles's intreaty Neomene drove Count Lambert out of Nantes who went and Nestled himselfin the Lower Anjou and there Built the Castle of Oudon At the same time that Charles was defeated by Neomene a Civil-War infesting Denmark the Lords of those Countries who found themselves strong at Sea amongst others Hasteng and Bier Iron-sides fell upon West France and haing forced the Guards that defended the Mouth of the Seine went up that River with their Barks They Sacked all on the right and left Shoar and Year of our Lord 845 being unable to take Paris they destroy'd all that lay without the Island Plundred the Abbey of Saint Germain des Prez and Ruined the City of Melun When they were pretty well laden with spoil they were soon tempted with Presents made them by Charles to withdraw themselves but as they returned they ravaged Picardy Flanders and Friseland and took the City of Hamburgh however observing all Germany was rising up to expel them from thence they quitted it The Priests and all Religious Orders fled before them from place to place seeking out places of safety or at least hiding places to conceal and keep the Churches Treasure in as also their Holy-Relicks towards which their devotion did so much ✚ increase when that furious Storm was over that it occasioned sometimes bloody contests between the Citizens and Nobility when the one would have them restored and the other would detain them Year of our Lord 843 Whilst Lotaire had denuded Italy of all it's Forces to lead them into France the Dukes Radelchise of Benevent and Sigenulfe of Capoua quarrelling with each other without regarding young Louis his Son called the one the Saracens of Spain to his assistance the other those of Sardinia for those Barbarians had invaded that Island and gave them entrance into Italy where having Fortified themselves â—in many places they exercised their fury for twenty years together And An. 847. pillaged the Burrough of Saint Peter and the Church of that Prince of the Apostles Which obliged Pope Leo the IV. to enclose it with a wall and quarter the Corsicans there whom the Saracens had driven from their Island Year of our Lord 846 The Nobility respected their Kings so little that Connt Gisabert dared to Steal away the Daughter of the Emperor Lotharius and convey'd her into the Dominions of Charles to marry her which gave great cause of complaint to Lotaire and much trouble to Louis of Germany to appease his resentment In Guyenne the great ones raised Forces for their private quarrels and fought in despite of Pepin In Italy in the year 844. the Clergy and Citizens of Rome had the considence to elect Sergius II. Pope without the Emperors permission who nevertheless having sent Twenty Bishops and with them some Soldiers forced the Pope to render his devoir and to acknowledge him for his Soveraign It is a Fable that this Pope first changed his Name and that before his Election he was called Swines-snowt for it was Sergius IV. had that filthy Name and he whom we here mention was called Sergius as was his Father It is held by some that it was one Octavian introduced this mysterious change who would needs be named John He was the 12th of that name Year of our Lord 846 The French being entred into Bretagne intangled themselves unadvisedly in Boggs and Fenny-grounds where they received a second blow Year of our Lord 847 While Charles was preparing for a Third expedition against that Country the terror of the Normans obliged him to agree to a peace with Neomene which nevertheless did not hold long for he began immediately again to make his inroads Year of our Lord 847. And 848. upon France For which Charles taking revenge by Fire and Sword in Bretagne Neomene did the like to all the adjacent Countries and the Territory of Rennes which did not then belong to his petty Kingdom Hitherto he had not taken the Title of King or at least had not put on the Crown The custom of those times were
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
defend them from the Normans they sent Deputies to Louis the Germanique to pray him to accept of the Kingdom or send his Son to them Year of our Lord 853 Whatever union or strictness of Amity there had been for ten years together between these two Brothers the German King scruples not to break it when it concerned the gaining of a Kingdom and sent one of his Sons into Aquitain to observe the disposition of those People He did not find it such as he desired there being none that concerned themselves or espoused his Interest besides the Friends and Relations of Gosbert But Charles having discovered his towards him sought the Friendship of Lotaire with whom he conferred in a Parliament holden at Valenciennes a place so situated between both their Territories that Lotaire possessed one half and Charles the other half of the City Year of our Lord 854 These two Brothers having brought themselves to a good understanding called another Parliament at Liege to which they invited Louis to advise together in common touching the general Affairs of the French Monarchy but he refused to be there Going from thence Charles passes into Aquitain and was Crowned at Limoges It is not true that he reduced it to a simple Dutchy for his Son of the same name held it for some time with the Title of a Kingdom and we find that it continued so under the first Kings of the Capetian Race Year of our Lord 855 In this year it was that after the Death of Pope Leo IV. hapned that strange adventure of Pope Joan as is said It was esteemed a very great truth for Five Hundred years together but in these latter ages the Learned nay even some of those that are separated from the Church of Rome have held it to be a ridiculous Fable The Motions of the Grace of God which when he pleases can mollifie the most obdurate hearts or perhaps the Melancholly and restless thoughts of the Emperor Lotaire a Prince Fantastical and inconstant gave him so much dissatisfaction and disgust of the Vanities and Pomp of the World that he stript himself of his Soveraignty and changed his Imperial Purple for a Frock wherewith he cloathed himself in the Abbey of Prom where he Died some Months after having ruled the Year of our Lord 855 Empire Fifteen years and the Kingdom of Lorrain Twelve reckoning from the time the partition was made amongst the Brothers He had for Wife Hermengard Daughter of Count Hughes the Coüard who brought him four Children Louis Lotaire and Charles and one Daughter named Hermengard who was stollen away by Gisabert Count of the Mansuarians Before his Abdication he shared his Lands between his three Sons giving to Louis the eldest of them Italy and the Empire wherein he had associated him in the year 851. To Lotaire the Kingdom of Lorrain and to Charles Provence and part of the Kingdom of Burgundy Louis the Germanique in Germany and Bavaria Charles in Neustria and Aquitaine Louis Emperour and King of Italy Lotaire II. King of Lorrain Charles King of Burgundy and Provence Year of our Lord 856. And 857. Upon this change all these Princes framed new leagues and new designs The young Lotaire much courted by his two Uncles joyned at last with Charles But the Emperor Louis made league with the German King who sought all manner of ways to ruin him Charles was much hated by the Grandees of his Kingdom forasmuch as out of mistrust of their affection or contempt of their small courage he bestowed his military employments upon people of Fortune rather then on them Neither was he over-much in the esteem of the people because he defended them but ill from the incursions of the Normans and Bretons and also connived at the pilferings of his Officers So that there being a grand Conspiracy contrived to set him beside the Throne they deputed some to Louis the Germanique offering to acknowledg him for their Soveraign if he would govern them with Justice and employ his Forces in their defence Therefore whilst Charles was gon to make Head against the Bretons he crosses Alsatia with an Army and comes into Burgundy where in the Palace of Pontigon he receives the Homage of a great many Neustrian Lords After that he assignes a Parliament at Atigny to receive it from all the rest and is introduced into the City of Sens by the Arch-Bishop named Wenilon or Guenilon ungrateful and treacherous to Charles his King who from a Clerk of his Chappel had made him Arch-Bishop and would needs be anointed and Crowned by his hands at Sainte Croix of Orleans Charles who was then on the banks of the Loire with his Army to make head against the Normans having information that his Brother invaded his Kingdom left those Barbarians there and advanced to Brie to fight him but when he perceived that all went on that side that his Soldiers themselves began to forsake him being afraid his own People might deliver him up he abandons his Army which quickly submitted to his Brothers commands This sudden revolution was as soon followed with one quite contrary Those that had called in the German were the first that repented and to repair one Treason by another they conspired to make him fall into the hands of Charles Which was very easy for them since having been so credulous to follow their advice he had sent away his own Forces But he discover'd their intentions and evil design early enough to escape the snare and upon the news he received of the incursion of the Venedes took therefore the opportunity to return to Germany As soon as his back was turned Charles having gotten his Friends together regained the Kingdom with as much facility as he had lost it Year of our Lord 859 The enterprize of the German gave some jealousy to young Lotaire and induced him to league himself with his Uncle Charles for their common defence In consequence of this union the Bishops of the Kingdom of Neustria and Lorraine being Assembled at Mets the 26 th of May charged Hincmar Arch-Bishop of Reims to go and summon the German to repair the wrongs he had done his Brother and meet at the approaching general Parliament where he that should be found guilty should make satisfaction and adhere no longer to those Traytors He reply'd that he was ready to appear there but having done nothing but by the Counsel of the Bishops he desired to consult with them About mid June therefore was held a Councel at Savonnieres in the Suburbs of Toul consisting of the Bishops of twelve Provinces wherein they laboured for the reconciliation of the two Brothers and Lotaire their Nephew It is not expressed upon what conditions The 16 th of that Month Charles presents them a Libel of complaints against Wenilon de Sens. It mentioned amongst other things That he was anointed King by consent of the Bishops therefore he could not be deprived of that consecration without their consent And likewise added
that he would have appeared there to answer them had he been called thereto They allotted four Metropolitans to Judge Wenilon who assigned him to give his appearance before them within Thirty days We do not find they continued this proceeding for he died peaceably in his Arch-Bishoprick in the year 865. It is a mistake if we believe this man to be the Subject of those ancient Fables of Ganelon so renowned for his Treacheries in the old Romances Such as understand the old French Tongue know that Enganner signifies to deceive and Gannelon a deceiver a Traytor The Fathers of this Council or perhaps of another held at the same place wrote likewise to the Bishops of Bretagne to exhort them to acknowledge the Metropolitan of Tours and sent them a Memorial to admonish King Salomon to obey Charles King of France his Soveraign which he took little notice of The two Brothers Lewis and Charles and their Nephew Lotaire being reconciled by the mediation of honest men had an enter-view at an Island on the Rhine near Andernac attended by an equal number of Lords who staid upon either hand of the River They shook hands and agreed to meet the following Autumn at a general Assembly which was to be held at Baste But they did not come there having adjourned the enter-view till the next Spring at the Assembly of Coblents At this place the Bishops who were then Masters of the Government through the weakness of the Princes and the little Credit of the Grandees who shewed no courage but in fighting one another and devouring the People contrived the agreement between these three Princes and drew up the Articles or Form to be observed in this Peace which the German first swore to and the two others after him This year 860. the Winter was so hard that the Adriatique Sea was Frozen and the Merchants of the Neighbouring Countries carried their Goods to Venice by Waggons Year of our Lord 860 In several places there was Snow observed to fall of the colour of Blood which will not seem wonderful to those that consider how often it hath Rained the same colour The Bretons continually infested the Territories belonging to Charles wherefore he gave the Dutchy that is to say the Government between the Seine and the Loire to Robert Surnamed the Strong or the Valiant to keep those Marches or Frontiers Which I was willing to observe because he was certainly The stock of that Glorious Race of the Capetines the which should we reckon their Original or Commencement but from this year would have eight hundred and odd years of Antiquity clearly made out from Male to Male and of crowned Heads an Honour which no Line on Earth besides can boast of This year the Bald made a Lord named Thierry Earl of Holland from whom are descended those that have Hereditarily held that Earldom but they have ever had a much limited Authority and such a one as could undertake nothing against the Liberty of that Country Baldwin Earl of Flanders having the support of the German took the confidence to come as far as Senlis and steal away Judith the Daughter of Charles his King the young Widdow of Eardulfe King of England He retired into the Country belonging to Lotaire whence he conducted her to his own and soundly beat those Soldiers under Charles's pay who would needs pursue them The Pope having excommunicated him at that Kings complaint the young Count was so startled that the following year he went to Rome and threw himself at his Feet the Holy Father touched with his submission and the Princesses tears interposed to obtain his Pardon Charles was advised to condescend Nor indeed could the fault be any other ways repaired The passion of King Lotaire bred a greater scandal He had married Thietberge Daughter of Huebert Duke d'outre le Mont-Jou and allied to Charles the Bald Year of our Lord 862 Now in the year 860. having some disgust against her and love for Valdrade Neece to Thietgaud and Daughter of Gontier this being Arch-Bishop of Colen the other of Treves these two Prelates Interessed and Flatterers having Assembled their Suffragans at Aixla Chapelle obliged them to dissolve the Marriage and immediately Lotaire publickly marries Valdrade The pretended Motives for this Sentence were a supposed Incest of Thietberges with her own Brother and the Bishop of Mets his assuring them that Duke Huebert who could do all things in that Court had forced the Prince to take Thietberge for Wife after the death of the King his Father who in his Life time said he had made him Marry Valdrade At this time Nicholas I. was Pope a Prelate of great capacity and one that carry'd it high He wrote concerning this to Charles who before sought to quarrel with Lotaire and indeed would have expell'd him to break this Match had not Louis the German King interpos'd and obliged them to meet at a general Assembly Lotaire appearing there promised to submit to the judgment of the Church and to elude Charles his pursuit appealed to the Pope praying to let this cause be judged by a Council of French Bishops to be held at Mets and whither his Holyness might send his Legats The Holy Father grants his request the Council was assembled in June The two Bishops Goutaire and Thietgaud served the passion of the young Prince his Year of our Lord 863 Presents corrupted the Popes Legats in a word the Council pronounced in favour of the dissolution The two Arch-Bishops had the confidence to carry this Sentence to Rome to have the Popes approbation But far from that he calls a Council in the Lateran Palace by whom they were deposed and both of them excommunicated and it was declared that all the other Bishops who were assisting at this false judgment should incur the same punishment unless they craved pardon by express Legats Thietgaud and Gontaire replied very smartly to the decree he published and framed another whereby they declared him excommunicate himself and contravening even said they the Holy Canons favouring the excommunicated and separating through pride from the society of the other Bishops Which did not a Year of our Lord 864 little encourage the revolt of Photius Patriarch of Constantinople and the obstinate resistance of Hincmar Arch-Bishop of Reims Nevertheless soon after Thietgaud submitted to the Sentence but could not obtain his absolution during the life of Nicholas But the Arch-Bishop of Collen regarded it not still continuing in his obstinacy Charles the Bald's subjects male-contented with his Government had made several Leagues against him he engages his Friends likewise to make one for his service and to meet in all parts of the Country under his Standards to be ready to Year of our Lord 865 March when ever he required it Valdrade had promised to go for absolution to Rome she went twice into Italy And twice repenting her having repented returned back The Pope having therefore Assembled his Church declared her
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
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
and a few days after put him to death The two Cousins having shared the Soveraignty soon quarrell'd each other and came to blows near Rennes Vrfand with a Thousand men only charged Pasquitan who had Twelve times as many and got the advantage The other Lords of the Country after the example of these two set up likewise Year of our Lord 875 for Soveraigns amongst others Alain Earl of Broerec that is to say the Territory of Vennes and that of Porhoet and Salomon Count of Rennes Son of the Sister to a King of the same name On the other hand the Normans wasted all the Country so that Bretagne thus torn lost the name of a Kingdom And took that of a County and then a Dutchy In those days these two Titles were confounded Soon after Vrfand fell sick to extremity Pasquitan having notice of it gets his Forces together Vrfand whose courage could not fail but with his Life was carried in a Litter to the head of his men his presence gave them the victory but hastned his death a little A great deal of honour which cost him but a Moments Breath Year of our Lord 875 His Rival did not long survive him sickness deprived him of that which death had bestowed on him His Succession remained in dispute between Alain his Brother and Judicael Son of the Daughter to Herispoux They found it better to share it by agreement then by the Sword and at length it fell to Alain by the Death of Judicael who was slain in a fight against the Normans Louis Emperor of Italy Dies without Male Children in the Month of August An. 875 the 20 th of his Empire who had been mightily disturbed by Factions of the Grandees his State and incursions of the Saracens His Tomb is to be seen at Milan in St. Ambrose Church His Wife was named Engelberge according to some the Daughter of Ethico who was Son of another Ethico Duke of Suevia or Germany by whom he had but one Daughter only named Hermengarde who An. 876. was Ravished by Boson Brother to the Queen Richilde and with the consent of Everard Berenger Son of the Duke of Friuli who had her in keeping Louis the Germanick Charles the Bald. Year of our Lord 875 It was now betwixt the Germanick and the Bald who should first Seize upon Italy The Bald making great diligence got thither before Charles and Carloman two of the Germanicks Sons who went two several ways whilst their Brother Louis fell upon France to make a diversion For the two first the Bald amused them with very fair words and sent them back handsomely and as for the third the Prelats made such pathetical remonstrances to him that he took pitty of the poor people and returned without committing many acts of Hostility The Popes interest was to have an Emperor of a great name one that could lend him powerful assistance as Pepin and Charlemaine had done but yet not abide in Italy where he must have lain too heavy upon his shoulders wherefore he would have no Italian Lord because they were both weak and resided upon the place and besides being to chuse out of the Carlovinian Line he could not so well comply with the roughness of those that Governed in Germany He therefore pitched upon Charles the Bald and incited him by a sumptuous Embassy to come to Rome to receive the Imperial Diadem as if it had been absolutely in his disposal Year of our Lord 875 He set it on his Head upon Christmass Day with great Solemnity After which the new Emperor bestowed the Dutchy of Spoleta upon Gay the Son of Lambert and that of Friuli on Berenger the Son of Everard At his return he received also the Crown of Lombardy at Pavia and a Confirmation of the Imperial one at an Assembly of Counts and Prelats in the said City Year of our Lord 875 the Pope assisting in Person And the following year there being yet several Lords in Italy who refused to acknowledge him the Pope held another Council in Rome to Confirm him a second time adding Excommunications against the refractory Year of our Lord 875 Year of our Lord 876 The Western Empire could be but a vain or empty Title and at most had nothing belonging to it but the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Pentapolis for his power was not Year of our Lord 877 absolute in the City of Rome and the Kingdom of Lombardy belonged nor held any wise of it Nevertheless the Bald esteeming himself wholly obliged to the Pope and of ☜ his Soveraign being become his Subject even so far condescending as to take it for an honour to bear the Title of his Counsellor of State endeavoured in recompence with all his might to extend his Authority over the liberties of the Gallican Church In a Council held at Pontigon he supported as much as he could the Popes Legats who brought Letters of Primacy to Ansegise Arch-Bishop of Sens saying the Pope had Commissioned him to assist at that Council and to cause his Orders to be put in execution and in effect he made him take his Seat immediately next the Legats But the French Prelats encourag'd by Hincmar who thought he better deserved that honour then Ansegise could never be induced neither by Prayers nor threatnings to give consent to that Novelty At the eight Session the Bald brought in the Empress his wife so fond was he of her with the Crown upon her Head to preside there with him of which the Bishops were so ashamed that they did not so much as rise up to receive her Though the Germanick were Seventy years old and much discomposed in his Family by the discord amongst his Sons he had nevertheless so great a resentment for that Charles the Bald did him no justice in the matter of the Empire and Territories of Italy that he gathered all his Forces to make a powerful irruption upon Neustria Being come to Francfort Death broke the thrid of his life and his undertakings the 28 th of August the Seventieth of his Age and the 59 since his first Coronation This Prince was well read in the Learning of those times He was all his life long Active Warlike and Liberal one that cared not for money but to bestow it and had a greater esteem for Steel then Gold a great Zealot in Justice and Religion an equitable distributer of commands and employments in Fine approaching more then any Prince of his Line to the noble virtues and qualities of Charlemaine By Emne his sole wife a Spaniard by Nation much applauded by the Authors of those days for her Wisdom and Piety he had three Sons Carloman Charles and Louis Year of our Lord 876 Upon the News of his death the Bald of a defender which he was just before became an aggressor and resolved to strip those young Princes his Nephews before they could be aware Louis nearest Neighbour to this danger sent Ambassadors to him to put him in mind
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
Kingdoms of Aquitain and Burgundy At their first accession they meet with the displeasure of seeing two Kingdoms belonging to their Father dismembred from the Succession which were Lorrein as we have observed and Burgundy As for this last it was lopp'd off by Boson That Lord had been in such high favour with Charles the Bald that he had given him Provence if not in Soveraignty at least to perpetuity and his Neece Hermengarde to Wife Having these advantages he was encouraged by that ambitious Princess to make himself King So that having gained the Lords and Prelats of those Countries he was Crowned King of Burgundy in the Royal Castle of Mantale in Dauphine by the hands of the Arch-Bishop of Lyons This attempt went near the hearts of the two Brother Kings but besides him they had two Enemies more to deal withal their Cousin Louis and the Normans They gained a Battel against the last night the River of Vienne the first day of November After which leaving their victory imperfect they turned head against Louis who by the instigation of the Abbot Gauzelin was advanced even to their Frontiers Having intelligence they were coming towards him he durst not march forward but demanded to parley with them at Gondouville where they saw each other In his retreat he defeated in Hanault a crew of eight or ten thosuand Normans but lost his Bastard Son in that Bustle Those Pyrats had burnt Saint Omers Teroüenne Arras Tournay Saint Riquier Saint Valery and all the Countries of Hainault Flanders and Boulonois Four Burghers of Tournay who fled to Noyon rebuilt the City and let houses at easy Rents Arras was deserted thirty years the Inhabitants having forsaken it for Beauvais The four Kings to compose their contests had assigned a general Assembly at Gondoul a Town near Mets. Louis of Germany sent to excuse himself because he was fallen into a sit of sickness but Charles his Brother came there and conferr'd with Louis and Carloman touching their common interest and affairs They found it necessary to enter into a league together for the destruction of their Enemies Louis the Germanick with Louis and Carloman against Hugh the Son of Year of our Lord 881 Valdrade who sacked all the open Countries of Lorrein And Charles the Fatt also with his two Brothers to pull down Boson's pride As for the first the Forces of Louis the German and the two Brothers having encountred the Army belonging to Hugh commanded by Tybault his Brother in Law they put it to the rout and made a great slaughter Then Charles the Fatt and his two Brothers marching joyntly against Boson defeated him in Battel and afterwards besieged Vienne where that Rebel had left his wife retreating himself to the Mountains We shall not find this siege at an end till about two years hence Charles was come thither upon the request of his Cousins and had left the affairs of Italy whither had he made one Voyage already and in some Months time had secured to himself all Lombardy whereof he was Crowned King by the Arch-Bishop of Milan And being impatient to return again he took leave of them and having repassed the Mountains went directly to Rome accompanied by the Patriarch of Aquilea At this time the Pope who hesitated on whom he should bestow the Imperial Crown could not deny a Prince so powerfully Armed and therefore set it on his Head upon Christmass Day in the year 881. Year of our Lord 881 In the mean while a Fleet of Normans entring by the Vaal or Waal fortified themselves at leasure in the Palace of Nimeghen So that Louis not being able to force them only obliged them to quit the Kingdom They went away indeed with all their men but took all their Plunder with them likewise Another very strong Fleet going up the Somme forced the rich Abbey of Corbie Year of our Lord 881 and the City of Amiens then spread themselves at large over the neighbouring Countries The mischief was very great therefore Louis leaving his Brother Carloman at the siege of Vienne hastned into Picardy fell upon the Normans near Amiens and laid nine thousand of them dead on the place Nevertheless whether it were that he expected some other greater Body of them was marching towards him or was Seized with a Pannique fear he returned home and the remainder of those Barbarians fell a plundring as before A third Body of them came to the place called Haslou nigh the Meuse and having fortified themselves there set the City of Liege on Fire and likewise burned Tongres which had otherwhile been ruined by the Vandals then set fire to Colen Bonne Nuis the Palace of Aix la Chapelle and Triers and Mēts and having Year of our Lord 881 gained a victory over the Bishops of those two Cities where the Bishop of Mets was slain made a horrible slaughter amongst the poor Peasants who were in Arms for them Year of our Lord 882 Whilst Louis the German was getting his Forces together to oppose them he died at Francfort the 20 th of January in the strength of his Age having Reigned but six years His Corps was conveyed to St. Nazaire the Abbey-Church of Loreshein where his Fathers lay He was the only Brother of three that married his wife was called Luidgarde daughter of Ludolfe Duke of Saxony and Sister to Otho Father of Henry L'Oiseleur or Bird-catcher He had but one Son who in An. 880. playing in a Window fell down and bruised himself so that he died Charles the Fatt Emperour King of Italy Germany or East-France Bavaria and Lorrain Louis and Carloman of East-France Aquitain and part of Burgundy The Succession of the German Kingdom and likewise the necessity of affairs called Year of our Lord 882 Charles the Fatt into France where the Normans posted at Haston plaid the Devils assisting and being reciprocally assisted by Hugh the Bastard of Valdrade who invited and animated those Barbarians and kindled factions amongst the Lords to revenge himself at least if he could not settle himself Charles therefore comes over the Mountains confirmed the donation of Carinthia to Arnold his Bastard Nephew and gave him the command of his Army and after he had held a Parliament at Wormes Arnold having joyned him he marched towards Haston His Van-guard at first made the Normans retreat And had it not been for the intelligence and correspondence between some of his Chief Officers in favour without doubt of Hugh and those Barbarians he might have forced them upon this first disorder The Emperor afterwards blocked them up with his whole Army But a most dreadful Tempest and furious Plague infesting his Army were once more favourable to them So that after ten days Siege they were quit upon condition to leave the Kingdom whence they carried infinite riches Year of our Lord 882 They had two Kings or Generals Sigefroy and Godfrey The first Embarked with above 40000 men The other whether for Interest or Devotion
received Holy Baptism and had the Emperor for his God-Father who gave him a natural Daughter of King Lotaires II. in Marriage named Gisile and two thousand and fourscore Livers in Gold with the Dutchy of Frisia Year of our Lord 882 About the same time Louis King of West-France going to meet some Breton Princes who were bringing him an Army to march against the Normans fell sick at Tours whence being brought back in a Litter he died at Saint Denis in France the of August having Reigned somewhat more then three years Paul Emilius says that spurring his Horse to run after a pretty Maiden that fled from him into a House he broke his back riding in at the door which was too low and thereof died Carolus Crassus or Charles the Fatt Emperor King of Germany Carloman King of West-France Aquitaine and Burgundy Year of our Lord 882 His Brother Carloman immediately went from the Siege of Vienne leaving the prosecution thereof to Earl Richard to secure his Succession and head that Army which was marching against the Normans Upon his arrival at Autan he had information that those Robbers being afraid were fled out of the River Loire and a few days after he sees Richard come to him who having taken Vienne brought thither both the wife and daughter of Boson Prisoners From thence he marches against another Body of Normans who having gotten in by the Mouth of the Somme ran up as far as Laon and Reimes he charged them vigorously and one part of them were defeated the rest made their escape in their Barks by the River Aisne At this time the grand Hincmar Arch-Bishop of Reims worn out with age and pierced with grief to see his Country thus Plundred and wasted himself being forced to fly from his City threatned by those Barbarians as they were conveying him in his Litter he died at Espernay leaving the Gallican Church almost quite destitute of any Prelate that understood her Rights or took care of her discipline After the example of the Emperor Charles the Fatt Carloman his Cousin treated with the Normans to go out of his Countries compounding with them for twelve thousand Marks of Silver to do so Year of our Lord 884 Shortly after being a-hunting in the Forrest d'Iveline near Montfort a days journy from Paris he was mortally wounded by a wild Boar or as others say by a Gentleman of his Train who thought to dart the Boar. He lieth buried at Saint Denis In all he Reigned five years that is three joyntly with his Brother and two alone His Father had contracted him to Boson's daughter An. 878. But it is most likely he never did marry her Nor do we find that he had any Children For that Louis le Faineant or Do-nothing which some would bestow upon him is a pure Chimera Year of our Lord 884 As soon as the Normans had the news that he was dead they entred upon the Kingdom again subtilly interpreting according to their Genius and their own interest that the Treaty expired with his life Hugh the Abbot fought them and made so terrible a slaughter that they left France in quiet for some time CHARLES III. Surnamed Crassus or The Fatt King XXVIII Aged about L. Years POPES ADRIAN III. Nine Months under this Reign STEPHEN IV. Elect. in May 885. S. five Years and some Months whereof 2 Years 8 Months under this Reign Charles the Fatt Emperor in Italy and Germany Charles the Simple aged 7 years a Minor under the Tutelage of Hugues the Abbot in France Year of our Lord 884 IT need not be thought strange if the Western-French standing in need of a King in his Majority to command their Armies did not confer the Crown upon Charles the Posthumus Son of Lewis the Stammerer who was but seven years of Age but gave their Oaths of Fidelity to Charles the Fatt who was very potent and was not as yet observed to be weak Spirited and inclining to be distracted Year of our Lord 884 How-ever it cannot be said that they excluded the Pupil since they entrusted the Abbot Hugh the Great with his Guardianship and Education who held in Fief the Earldom of Paris and the Dutchy of France that is to say all that lies within the Seine the Loire and the Sea excepting only the Bishopricks Year of our Lord 885 Valdrade's Bastard had not quitted his pretention to Lorraine And Godfrey the Norman Duke of Frisia his Brother in Law were creating some quarrel that they might have an opportunity to restore him to the possession of that Kingdom The Emperor Charles ridd himself both of the one and the other but by unhandsome means according to the contrivance of Henry Duke of Saxony For this Henry and Guillebert or Gilbert Arch-Bishop of Colen having drawn Godfrey to a Conference at an Island in the Rhine there massacred him and all the Normans that attended And at the same time Hugh who came upon his promise of Faith and security to Ioinville was Seized an d his Eyes put out then confined to the Abbey of St. Gal. Year of our Lord 886 The fury of the Normans which began to be allayed burst out again upon this bloody Treachery and made most horrible work under the conduct of Sigefroy They entred the River Seine with 700 Barks and so great a number of other Vessels that the stream was cover'd with them for above two Leagues in length the City of Paris seated on an Island and having Bridges on either branch of the River put a stop to this formidable Fleet. The Barbarians who would needs have the passage thorough this River free held it besieged three years Year of our Lord 886 87 and 88. During all that time they tried their utmost endeavours to accomplish their ends But the Bishop named Gosslin the Abbot Ebon his Nephew the Earl Eudes whom we shall hereafter find to be King with a great many valiant Knights and the Parisians whose courage was then greater than their City defended it better then it was attaqued The besiegers did from time to time make attempts and assaulted the Towers of the two Gates from whence being repulsed would make incursions upon the adjacent Provinces still keeping the City block'd up with Forts which they had built very nigh the place Twice did the Emperor Charles send thither Henry Duke of Saxony upon the carnest intreaties of the French who deputed Count Eudes to go and implore assistance from him The first time he forced the Danish Camp and put some relief into the City which done he returned but the second riding headlong imprudently into a ditch cover'd with straw and some small branches a Stratagem often used in those times he fell into the snare and was instantly slain and stripp'd His Army finding themselves a Body without a Head returned into Germany Year of our Lord 887 At last the Emperor came in person with numerous Forces and encamped at Montmartre Yet through some discontent which hapned between
him and the French Lords or some other cause he chose rather to make use of Gold then Steel to drive out those Robbers and came to composition with them importing that for seven hundred pounds weight of Silver they should go out of France in the Month of March that in the mean while they might winter about Sens in the Dutchy of Burgundy where those troublesome Guests staid six Months And this concluded he returned much troubled with a grievous Head-ach for which they were fain to make divers Incisions When they were assured of the State of his indisposition and affairs they came and planted themselves again in the Fields of St. Germans pretending however to keep their agreement but indeed to surprize the City as they thought to have done one day about dinner time for it was the custom then for all the Inhabitants to dine at the same hour if they had not been observed to come up slowly in their Boats which they had made proof against their darts and very well mann'd West-France was without any Head and all the Lords of almost equal Authority unless it were somewhat they shewed of more then ordinary respect to Hugh who was Tutor to Charles the Simple but this eminent Lord died in the great disturbance and trouble of the Kingdom An. 887. Year of our Lord 887 Count Eudes as I believe succeeded him in the most part of his Governments more for his vertue then because he was his own Brother by the Mother For the Genealogists assure us that their Mother was Adeleis Daughter of Louis the Debonnaire who had been first married to Count Conrard by whom she had this Hugh the Abbot and another Conrard Father to Rodolph Duke of Burgundy and in her second Marriage to Robert the Strong she had Eudes and Robert Charles the Fatt had ever had a weak Brain since he fancied he saw the Devil which grew weaker after they made Incisions in his Head He became suspicious of his Empress which gave confidence to Berenger Marquiss of Friuli to plunder the equipage belonging to Luitgard Bishop of Verseil accused of Governing that Princess at his pleasure Nevertheless Charles shewing some resentment the Marquiss came and made him satisfaction at the Parliament of Vberlinghen But Year of our Lord 887 yet that very same year he put her away in the open Assembly swearing that he had never touched her though they had lived ten years together She was named Richarde His frenzie appearing more notorious in the general Assembly at Tribur all his Subjects both of the Kingdoms of Germany and Bavaria forsook him even by the Brothers advice of his own Sister Hildegard to Elect and own in his stead Arnold his Bastard Son And when he thought to Arm himself against him he was likewise forsaken by the Lorrainers then by the Almans or Suabes his ancient Subjects In so much that he had not a man left to serve him nor a single penny to help himself There was none took any pity or gave him Food but Luitperd Bishop of Ments till Arnold to whom he sent a natural Son of his to beg Bread allowed him the revenue of two or three Villages for his Subsistence Thus was this Prince who in those days had been the most potent of the whole world having no apparent Vice but on the contrary was very good very just and Devout to excess reduced to this extremity because he had not strength of judgment and wanted lawful Children two things very necessary for a Soveraign This deplorable condition lasted perhaps a shorter time then he would yet have had it He died a little while after either with grief or strangled by his Enemies Year of our Lord 888 the 8 th of January An. 888. His Corps was buried in the Monastery of Richenoüe situate on an Island in the Lake of Constance Of all the Carlovinian Race there was but two Princes left Arnold and Charles one a Bastard the other but a Child According to the humour of the French in those days all should have been governed by Arnold But there were so many of the Nobility equally Powerful and Ambitious who thought themselves as worthy as a Bastard being of the Carlovinian blood by their Mothers-side that he could get no Authority amongst them neither in West-France nor in Italy Year of our Lord 888 There were two others in Italy that is Berenger Duke of Friuli and Guy de Spoletta Lands wherewith Charles the Bald had invested them Each of these descended of the Blood Royal though only by the Female side who believed that for want of Males capable to Govern they ought to take their shares of the Succession of Charlemaine They therefore agreed together that Guy should have the Title of Emperor and Gallick France and Berenger should enjoy Italy Now the first having spent time in getting himself to be Crowned Emperor at Rome stayed a little too long e're he came into France so that finding their humours changed he went back into Italy where he overthrew Berenger in two bloody Battels and forced him to take Sanctuary with Arnold Arnold likewise not making that diligence he ought and besides the Neustrians or Westerns not agreeing well with the Eastern or Germans was much amazed that the Lords of Neustria which henceforward we shall name simply France sent word to him when he was coming that in the Assembly at Compiegne they had Elected Eudes Earl of Paris and Duke of France And indeed though some made a noise in favour of Charles the Simple yet he was Crowned by Gautier Arch-Bishop of Sens. On the other hand Rodolph the Son of Conrard and Nephew of Hugh the Abbot occupied the Lands between the Mount-Jou and the Alpes Penines that is Savoy and the Swisse-Countrey and was Crowned King of Burgundy Trans-jurane or beyond the Jour at St Maurice's in Valais Year of our Lord 888 As likewise Louis the Son of Boson whose Father the Usurper of the Kingdom of Burgundy Cis-jurane having been drove from thence by the Kings Louis and Carloman Seized on the Country which lies between Lyons and the Sea betwixt the Rhosne and the Alpes under the Title of King of Arles or Provence and caused that Kingdom to be confirmed to him by a Council held purposely at Valence An. 890. Year of our Lord 890 He claimed and founded it upon this that he was the Son of a Daughter of the Royal blood and that Charles the Fatt had Adopted him in the Assembly of Vberlinghen You may observe that all those Princes that thus dismembred the Monarchy were sprung from the Daughters of the blood Royal and believed themselves fitter and more capable to Succeed then Arnold or Charles the Simple whom they looked upon as both of them Bastards EUDES King XXIX Aged XXVI Years Arnold Emperour and King of Germany Eudes King of West-France Aquitain Louis of the Kingdom of Arles Rodolph of Burgundy Trans-jurane Guy Emperour and Berenger disputing for
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
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
his Death Seulfe Arch-Bishop of Rheims having had some contest with the Kindred of Hetto his Predecessor for having taken some Fiefs from them which they held of the Church was joyned with Hebert's Party to gain their protection and had made him a promise never to assent to any Election whatsoever but whom he pleased Year of our Lord 925 During the Reign of Rodolph of Lewes Transmarine â—nd Lotaire III. there was almost a continual War betwixt the French and the Germans for the Kingdom of Lorrain We shall mention only the great events It is certain that Rodolph reduced a great part thereof to his obedience Year of our Lord 924 They were fain this year 924. to make a Collection for the Normans as Charles the Bald had done several times partly by voluntary contribution the rest by way of a Tax The Duke of Aquitain William I. of that name the Son of Ebles did not submit himself so much as he ought to Rodolph he was obliged to turn his Sword that way William knowing his resolution advanced to the River of Loire which made the bounds of his Dutchy where after some negociations he passed the same and alighting came to Rodolph who embraced and kissed him sitting on Horse-back and the next day granted him a Truce for eight Which being expired the Duke did him Hommage and in requital had the City of Bourges and Berry restored which Rodolph had taken from him Year of our Lord 924 The Italians grown weary of Berenger bestowed the Soveraignty upon Rodolph II. King of Burgundy Trans-jurane Berenger taking no other counsel but from revenge was so unhappy as to make a league with the Hungarians and drew them into Italy Those Barbarians having sacked Mantoua Brescia and Bergamo reduced the celebrated and rich City of Pavia Capital of the Kingdom of Lombardy to a heap of ashes Two hundred of the Citizens escaping the Fire and Captivity redeemed the Walls thereof from the hands of those destroyers for eight Bushels of Silver which they had raked together out of the Ashes and Rubbish of it's ruines This money being received the Bulgarians passed the Mountains and penetrated Year of our Lord 924 even into Languedoc The same Rodolph and Hugh Count of Vienne followed them and pressed so close upon them that those Barbarians partly cut off by the Sword and the rest perishing by the Flux or Dysentery and want of Food enriched greatly those Countries with their Spoil which they came to plunder Year of our Lord 925 The year following Berenger struggling to regain the Kingdom of Italy was slain by his own People at Veronna After his death the Title of Emperor in the West was not conferr'd upon any at least by the Pope or Italians till Otho I. An. 962. By his death the Kingdom remained entirely Rodolph's but the inconstancy of the Italians who were ever hunting out one Lord and Master by another made them resign themselves to Hugh Count of Arles the Son of Brethe to ridd themselves of Rodolph Who being informed that they had Treacherously killed Burchard Duke of Swevia his father in Law withdrew himself into his own Kingdom of Burgundy not daring to attempt any thing amongst such wickedly disposed people Rodolph King of France Henry of Germany Hugh of Italy Rodolph II. of Burgundy Every year almost the Normans made Incursions Besides those that were in Year of our Lord 926 Neustria there were others in Burgundy and towards Artois and at all times they were forced to be making head against them or be in pursuit of them but they had such sure friends amongst the Grandees who would not suffer the Kingdoms grievances to be scann'd that they ever got away scot-free This year Rodolph King of France having surrounded them in a Wood in the Country of Artois they made a Furious Salley unawares in which he was wouned and had been taken without the timely assistance Count Hebert gave him Those that held the Islands in the Loire having been a long time besieged by Hugh and Hebert defended themselves so stoutly that they gave them the City of Nants for their habitation Year of our Lord 927 Notwithstanding the strickt alliance which seemed to be between King Rodolph and Hebert the City of Laon became an occasion of discord between them Hebert would have it for Otho his Son and the King desired to keep it to himself Hebert not able to get it by friendship had thoughts of gaining it by force He therefore draws Charles the Simple out of Prison and carries him to parley with the Normans who suffer'd his confinement with great impatience because he had bestow'd upon them the richest Province of France This menace having effected nothing for as much as Emma the Wife of Rodolph was obstinately bent to preserve Laon and had put her self in there he conducts him to Reims as if designing to restablish him Then was the Queen forced to let go her hold and surrender up the place to Year of our Lord 927 Hebert who being by this means appeased returned Charles to the Castle of Peronne and made a new Oath to Rodolph Year of our Lord 928 In the year 928. Hugh King of Italy came into France we do not find for what reason King Rodolph went towards Lyonnois to receive him and conferr'd with him A crew of Normans gotten into Boulenois made a double Foss or Water-graft round about Guises Afterwards Arnold Earl of Flanders gave it in Fief to Sigebert Year of our Lord 929 Commander of that Fleet who some time after stole away his daughter Eltrude but finding he came to besiege him was in so much dread of his wrath that he hanged himself and left that Woman great with child of a Son named Adolph who was since Earl of Guisnes Year of our Lord 929 Sometimes Rodolph otherwhile Hebert gave hopes of setting the unfortunate Charles the Simple at Liberty and paid him all the respects due to a Soveraign Yet only death took him out of their custody putting a period to his Captivity and unhappiness in the City of Peronna the 7 th Day of October in the Year 929. He was Interred at St. Foursy's in the same City His Reign if we reckon from his Coronation day to that of his imprisonment was 37 years his life 50. He left but one Son named Louis by his Queen * Ogina Daughter of Edward King of England Rodolph King of France Henry of Germany Hugh of Italy Rodolph II. of Burgundy Whilst King Rodolph was gone into Aquitain he had news that the Normans of the Islands in the Loire had adventured to run as far as Limosin He went and Year of our Lord 930 set upon them in the place called Dextricios we cannot well tell where that was and so hemm'd them in that not one of them returned This seasonable victory gained him great esteem amongst the Aquitains and induced them to acknowledg him with a little more submission Year of our
Lord 930. 1. The Regal Authority was in an extreme low Ebbe and feeble condition the Lords made War upon one another for their under Vassals and such places as they usurped from each other and often times attaqued their Kings when they refused them certain Lands or Abby's Hebert could not agree with Rodolph because he was his Soveraign he held a correspondence with all his Enemies and sought all means to weaken him The pretence for this quarrel was that Hugh Brother in Law to the King had allured some of his Vassals from him amongst others Herluin Earl of Monstrueil Year of our Lord 931 There was a rude War betwixt them for five years together divers places taken and much Country laid wast Hebert made use of the assistance of the Lorrainers against him and had given his Oath to Henry King of Germany But Rodolph being helped by Hugh the Great took the City of Rheims which Hebert enjoy'd because he had caused them to Elect his Son Arch-Bishop though a Minor destituted Benon Bishop of Chaalons who had followed Hebert and besieged him in Laon himself which he gained upon composition Hebert's Insolence being a little abated Rodolph made a journey into Aquitain and Languedoc where he received hommage of Raymond and Ermengard Gothian Princes for so was named that part of Languedoc nearest to the Pyrennean Hills and of Loup Azenar Duke of Gascogny whom if we credit Flodoard was mounted upon a Horse one hundred years old and yet vigorous and lusty Year of our Lord 932 William Duke of Normandy did likewise pay him hommage and in retribution he gave him those Lands the Bretons held on the Sea-side I believe those were the Bessin and the Constentin In Italy King Hugh from the year 929. had obtained the Seignory of the City of Rome by wedding the lustful Merosia Widdow of Guy Marquiss of Tuscany who then Governed the City and the Holy Chair but he was soon driven thence by Alberic the Son of that Woman to whom he had given a Box on the Ear and retired into Lombardy Lambert who Succeeded in the Marquisat of Tuscany to Guy his Brother was likewise Brother by the Mothers-side to King Hugh for he was Son to Berte his Mother who in her widdow-hood married the second time to Adelbert Father of Guy and Lambert Hugh notwithstanding put him to death and bestowed Tuscany upon Boson his Brother both by Father and mother who proved as little faithful to him as Lambert Year of our Lord 931 The People were soon distasted with his Government and recalled King Rodolph These two Princes being ready to embroil all Italy their friends contrived an agreement between them which was such that Rodolph should renounce the Kingdom of Italy and also should assist Hugh with a certain number of men to preserve it on condition Hugh should give him la Bresse Viennois and all that he held in Provence ☜ with the Title of King of Arles which by this means was united to the Kingdom of Burgundy Trans-jurane The name of the Kingdom of Arles was not given it because those Kings that enjoy'd it did ever reside there nor were ever Crowned there but because that was so renowned a City as to deserve the Title having been in the Roman Emperors days the Capital of seven Provinces of the Gauls and her Metropolitans Vicars of the Holy Chair Notwithstanding this agreement the Italians persisting in their resolution to set aside Hugh invited Arnold Duke of Bavaria to come and take the Crown Year of our Lord 933 He made way as far as Verona and was well received but Hugh got good footing there and chased him back again into Bavaria After which to maintain his ground the better he associated his Son Lotaire to the Crown The Acts we find of Louis the Blind King of Provence makes it appear he was yet alive An. 933. So that there is no colour to mention his death till An. Year of our Lord 934 934. He was then 55 years of Age and had but one Son named Charles Constantine who not being at that time out of his Child-hood the Provensals who then stood in need of a King able to Govern Elected Hugh Son of Count Thibauld and Beâ—the who was Marquiss of Provence In the mean time the two most potent Lords in France Hugh le Blanc and Hebert Year of our Lord 933. 34. 35. 36. de Vermandois not being able to agree together made a rough War upon each other the King favouring Hugh whose Sister he had married Henry King of Germany having interposed to make up this Breach Saint Quintins was restored to Hebert and likewise Peronne by a Cessation which ended in a final Peace Anno 935. The three Kings of Germany France and Burgundy had an enterview near the Meuse to give joynt orders for repressing the cruel incursions of the Bulgarians who infested the Dominions of all these Princes This very year having ransacked Lombardy they were gotten into Burgundy but when they understood the King of France was marching that way they returned speedily into Italy In this march the same King besieged and took Dijon which Boson his own Brother had got in his possession Which I mention only to shew the universal disorders of those Reigns even amongst the nearest Kindred Year of our Lord 936 In the year 936 died Ebles Earl of Auvergne and Poictou and Duke of Aquitain the Son of Ranulfe and Successor to William leaving his Estates to William surnamed Teste d'estoupe or Flaxen-head his Son As likewise Rodolph the King of France left this World the 14 th of his Reign and the 15 th of January in the City of Auxerre where he fell sick in the former Autumn of a Phtiriasis His Monument is at St. Columbes of Sens. He was a Prince most Liberal Valiant Religious Just and worthy of better times His wife died a Twelvemonth before him and his Brother Boson about a quarter of a year both Child-less But they had another Brother called Hugh le Noir i. e. the Black who bare the Title of Duke of Burgundy and the surname of Capet Year of our Lord 936 The same year Henry the Bird-Catcher also ended his days and in his place the Germans set up Otho his eldest Son afterwards surnamed the Great Never Prince employ'd so much care and so much Time in regulating all that concerned the advantage and administration of the Church the Discipline of the Clergy and Christian manners as Louis the Debonnaire In all the Assemblies hardly any other thing was ever treated of He and the Grandees of his Kingdom were present in the Councils to approve and subscribe what was ordained which afterwards he confirmed by his Letters Patents At the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 816. were digested in writing the Form and Method of the Insticution of the Ecclesiasticks in CXLV Articles and those of Religious Orders in XXVIII both taken out of the Ancient Councils and
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
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
which came on obliged him to retire and Lotaire and Hugh Capet having drawn their Forces together cut off all his Reare-Guard at his passage over the River of Aisne which was overflown and pursued him fighting to the Ardennes The Almain Monks of those days as it is the Genius of men to pretend Miracles in great danger write that St. Udalric Bishop of Ausburgh who accompanted that Emperor in this War went over the River Aisne dry-fout leading the way before him and his whole Army who followed the over-following Stream miraculously growing hard and firm under them the River becoming a Bridge to it's self In this retreat the Earl of Anjou did let the Germans know that the quarrel being between the two Kings it would be better according to common right for them to decide it singly hand to hand then to spill the Blood of so many innocent people But the Germans reply'd that although they did not doubt the courage of their ☞ King nevertheless they would not consent that he should expose his person singly Confessing tacitely thereby that they did not think him so brave as the King of France Year of our Lord 978 Otho thus roughly handled sought an accommodation with the French Lotaire and he conferring together in the City of Reims concluded a Peace upon condition that Lotaire should yeild him Lorrain to be held in Feif of the Crown of France say our Authors for which the French Lords shewed a great deal of discontent Year of our Lord 978 Thus the Soveraignty of that Kingdom remained in Lotaire the Dutchy of the Lower Lorrain which two years before had been bestowed upon Charles his Brother by Otho reverted to his disposal but as he must give some part to Charles he agreed he should enjoy that also Which was consented to at an enter-view between that King and Otho upon the River of Kar the German Prince having desired that conference before he undertook this expedition into Italy against the Saracens Year of our Lord 978 Charles imagining his Brother had yeilded him that Dutchy but by compulsion was so ill advised that he might have some body to support him in it as to render Hommage for it to Otho instead of holding the Soveraignty himself as he might have done Year of our Lord 981 Two years after Otho to oblige hm the more gave him likewise the Country all about Mets Toul Verdon and Nancy and other Lands between the Meuse and the Rhine Now this submission tendred by Charles to a Stranger sounded very ill amongst the French and the Augmentation of his power certainly shock'd the designs of Hugh Capet who was preparing his way to the Throne For we must consider that Charles was the only obstacle Lotaire having but one Son weak both in Age and understanding and of very small hopes Besides the long abode of that Prince in those Countries without coming into France the too great affection he shewed for the Germans who at that time were the Capital Enemies of France as likewise some ren-counters with the King his Brother one amongst the rest about the City of Cambray which he defended against that King who would have plundred the Churches as he had done those of Arras gave his Enemies occasion to decry him amongst the French Year of our Lord 982 The Emperor Otho II. Died in the year 982. having before declared his Son of the same name Successor of his Estates LOTAIRE and LOUIS his Son in France OTHO III. Emperor and King of Germany and Lorraine Aged 17 years CONRAD in Burgundy Upon the News of his Death Lotaire believed that Germany was going to be all in confusion and combustion by reason of the contests about the Guardianship of young Otho who was then but seven years old wherefore he entred Lorraine An. 983. to regain it and took 〈◊〉 with Godfrey Earl thereof but when he understood Otho was Crowned by thâ— content of all the Grandees he engaged no Year of our Lord 982 farther but returned home to Franâ—â— Year of our Lord 985 Two years after he rendred up the City of Verdun gave Godfrey his liberty and caused his Son Louis to be Crowned to Reign with him He had already married him to a Princess of Aquitain named Blanche And yet was at most not above 18 or 19. years of Age. It is not well known of which Aquitain she was for in that Age and the next following the French comprehended Languedoc and Provence likewise under that name Year of our Lord 986 This couple were ill-matched the Woman couragious and gallant the Husband wanting vigour of mind and perhaps of Body in so much that she despised him and carrying him into her own Country under colour that she could procure the conquest of it by the assistance and interest of her Kindred and Allies she planted him there and the King his Father was forced to go and fetch him thence again This was a great misfortune in the Royal Family and a greater yet that Lotaire Died the 12 th Day of March in the following year of some desperate morsel given Year of our Lord 987 him by his own wife He was a Warlike Prince active careful of his affairs and worthy in fine to have commanded better Subjects He survived little more then the 45 th year of his Age and the 33 th of his Reign LOUIS THE Lazy or Sloathful King XXXIV Aged about XX Years POPES JOHN XV. Elected towards the end of An. 985. S. 10 years 4 Months and a half whereof 16 Months under this Reign LOUIS the Do-Nothing in France OTHO III. CONRAD IT was divulged that at his Death he left the Guardianship of his Son to Hugh Capet who in effect was his Cousin German How-ever it were Emina Year of our Lord 986 not relying too much upon him as it seems had resolved to carry him in the Month of June to his Grand-mother Adeleida Widdow of Otho I. and Tutoress of Otho III. A Heroick Princess who was called the Mother of Kings But they did not give her the time for the 22 th of the same month the Poor Prince ended his Life in the same manner as his Father and by the crime of Blanche of Aquitain his wife He lieth at St. Corneille of Compiegne An Author of those times sayes that he gave his Kingdom to Hugh Capet another that he bequeathed it to his wife upon condition he should marry her He Reigned in all about three years Eighteen or Twenty Months with his Father and sixteen Months alone With his Reign ended that of the Carlian or Carlovingnian Line after it had lasted 236 years and had a Succession of Eleven Kings taking only those of West-France for if we reckon all the others we shall find above thirty without speaking of all those Princes who dismembred this Kingdom as being issued of this August blood descended by Women There were sprung up three Branches of this Race one in Italy by
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
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
belonged to the Church from the Rapine and Thefts of some Lords and restore the Discipline for which some Canons were made in the Second of Limoges That of Beauvais was held Fifteen days after that of Bourges Pope Leo IX being come into France Convened one at Reims towards Autumne An. 1049. Victor II. One at Toulouze An. ✚ 1056. To extirpate abuses and especially Simony which is more difficult to be taken from the Church then their Riches which is the cause of it King Henry desiring to have his Son Philip Crowned Assembled the Prelats and Lords of the Kingdom at Paris An. 1059 or 60. Amat Bishop of Oleron Legat from Rome in Aquitania Tertia and Narbounensis held divers Two in Gascongne One wherein he Excommunicated such as detained any Goods belonging to the Church another wherein he Dissolved the Marriage of Centulle Vicount of Bearn and another also at the Burrough of Deols in Berry with Hugh Legat and Arch-Bishop of Lyons about the affairs of that Abby The same having the Popes Legation in the lesser Bretagne Convened one An. 1079. in that Province to take some course against the abuses of false pennances that is to say their ☞ imposing of slight pennances for great crimes About the end of the year 1080. there were three One at Lyons where Hugh de Die the Popes Legat caused the Sentence to be confirmed whereby Manasses Arch-Bishop of Reims had been deposed One at Avignon where he consecrated another Hugh Bishop of Grenoble and the Third at Meaux in which Vrsion de Soissons was deposed and Arnold a Monk of St. Medard installed in his place The year following the same Hugh and Richard Abbot of Marseille Cardinals called one at Poitiers Amat d'Oleron Legat in Aquitain came likewise thither They provisionally ordained a Divorce of William Earl of Poitiers from his Wife because of their consanguinity That of Toulouze in An. 1090. was Convened by the Legats of Vrban II. Some Rules were there made concerning Causes Ecclesiastical and the Bishop of that City purged himself of certain things imposed upon him The most famous of all was the Council of Clermont An. 1095. where the same Pope with great zeal Preached up the First Croisade and to obtain the assistance of the Holy Virgin towards those that should undertake the Expedition ordained the Clergy to recite the Office or Heures of our Lady which the Chartreux and Hermits instituted by Peter Damianus had already received amongst them There was one more at Tours the year following to prepare them to that expeditition of the Holy Land The last year of this Century they had one likewise at Poitiers whereat John and Benedict Cardinal Legats presided King Philip was here struck with an Anathema for having retaken Bertrade and the Kingdom of France put under an interdiction The precedent year there had been one held at Autun and the following there was also one at Baugency for the same business The prohibition of Marriages even to the seventh Degree extreamly embarrass'd the Eleventh and Twelfth Century and as that rigour was excessive the Princes broke thorough without much scruple and afterwards became obstinate against Excommunications with so much the more Reason and Pretence as having the opinions of many great Lawyers who reckoned these Degrees after another manner then the Church-men so that it served for little else but a specious colour for such as were distasted with their Wives to procure their Divorce The custom practised in the Church of Jerusalem where because of the too great confluence the Laity communicated only under the species of Bread introduced it self by little and little into the Western Church and there is some appearance that the Canon of the Council of Clermont was favourable to it ordaining That those that communicated should take the two species separately this was to avoid that abuse of the Greeks who soaked or dipped the Bread in the Wine Vnless in case of necessity or by PRECAVTION That is to say if there were danger of spilling the Challice as when the multitude and throng of Communicants was too great There was like a change in the Government of some Churches the Sees of Gascongny which had been vacant above two ages were filled the Bishopricks of Arras and Cambray both which had been Governed by one Pastor since Saint Vaast began each to have their own after the death of Gerard II. who held them both and Manasses was the first Bishop of Cambray An. 1095. The same thing was attempted for Noyon and Tournay which had been joyned since St. Medard but King Philip opposing they remained so united till the year 1146. When Simon the Son of Hugh the Great being Bishop thereof they were divided Anselme a Monk of Soissons and Abbot of St. Vincent de Laon was the first that held the See of Tournay An. 1179 Gregory VII by his Bulls gave or as others say confirmed to the Arch-Bishop of Lyons the Primacy of the four Lyonnoises only being perhaps perswaded as some others that Lyons was in antient times the capital City and first Church of the Galls The Arch-Bishop of Tours was the first who submitted but those of Sens and Rouen opposed it with all their might and although this establishment had been maintained in the Council of Clermont and since by judgment contradictory which was given in the Court of Rome Anno 1099. they had much ado to submit themselves and it was as I believe during this Contest that he of Rouen began out of emulation to take up the Title of Primate of Normandy The Abbot Odillon being excited by divers Revelations to ease the Souls that were in Torments after Death ordained the Monks of his Congregation of Clugny to make a Commemoration every year the day after All-Saints in their Prayers and Divine Service which the Universal Church received soon after About the end of his Age three famous Religious Orders had their Birth That of the Chartreax Anno 1086. by Bruno Canon o◠Reims and St. Hugh Bishop of Grenoble who were the first that retired into the horrid Solitude of the Chartreuse in Dauphine which gave name to this Order That of St. Anthony at Vienne in the same Country by a Gentleman named Gaston who devoted his Person and Estate to the assistance of those that were seized with the Distemper called St. Anthony's Fire and came to implore the intercession of that Saint at Vienne where they had his Corps brought thither from Constantinople by Jocelin Count d'Albon in the time of King Lotaire Son of Louis Transmarine This Gaston got together some Companions who at first were of the Laity but soon after they became Friars under the Rules of St. Augustin and planted their Congregation in several Provinces In the year 1098. Robert Abbot of Molesme Instituted the Order of the Cisteaux being as it were a younger Sprig of that of St. Bennet and became so Potent that for more then Twenty years
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
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
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
cannot say how long she survived after the year 1180. but there is yet to be seen in the Parochial Church of that place her Monument and her Effigies also in Stone which over-head is crowned with Flowers The People of that Country assure us That God by divers Miracles hath approved the Devotion they have towards her Lewis VIII King XLII POPE HONORIUS III. All along this Reign and beyond it LEWIS VIII Surnamed the Lyon and the Father of St. LEWIS King XLII Aged Thirty six years compleat Year of our Lord 1223 PHilip Augustus had not caused his Son to be Crowned in his Life-time whether he had a jealousie of him or thought his Family so well Establish'd that he had no need of such precaution to secure the Crown to him He was therefore Crowned at Rheims with his Wife Blanch de Castille the Tenth day of the Month of August The King of England did not assist at his Coronation as he ought to have done in Quality of Pair of France but sent Ambassadors to summon him according to the Oath he had made at London to surrender Normandy to him with all those other Countries that had been taken from King John his Father They receiv'd for Answer That they had been Consiscated by Judgment of the Pairs and that they pretended to have the remainder likewise which he held so far were they from giving back what he demanded Year of our Lord 1022 and 1223. As the People of Languedoc did easily return again to their Natural Lord Raimond Earl of Toulouze Amaury finding himself too weak to stay in those Countries came and resigned and yielded up all the Right and Title he had into the hands of the King who for Recompence made him High Constable It was then but an Employment lasting no longer then the War So that we sometimes find such Lords on whom it hath been conferr'd two or three several times Year of our Lord 1224 Raimond Earl of Toulouze having made his Address to Pope Honorius with all imaginable submission the Holy Father sent to his Legat to call a Council at Montpellier to reconcile him with the Church After which Raimond before an Assembly of the Clergy in Languedoc promis'd and sware entire Obedience to the Roman Church sufficient security to the Clergy for restitution and the enjoyment of their Goods and Profits and the extirpation of Hereticks throughout all his Country Upon this satisfaction the Pope received him to Mercy and owned him for Earl of Toulouze Year of our Lord 1224 But as the resistance and opposition of his Subjects hindred him from making good his Promises the Pope sent a Legat to the King it was Romain a Cardinal that had the Title of St. Angelo to persuade him to undertake that Expedition which he did the more readily because it suited with his zeal and with his Interests Year of our Lord 1224 The two Kings Lewis of France and Henry of Germany eldest Son to the Emperor Frederic had a Conference at Vaucouleurs where they Treated about several Difference between the two Crowns and made divers Propositions but came to no conclusion At his return from thence pursuant to a Resolution had been taken to drive the English wholly out of France Lewis enters Poitou gains a Battle there over Savary de Mauleon General of the English in Guyenne makes himself Master of the Cities of Niort and of St. John d'Angely and generally over all the Places even to the Garonne and receives the Homage of all the Lords of those parts Year of our Lord 1224 There was nothing left but Rochelle where Savary de Mauleon defended himself for a long time expecting Relief from England In fine being basely disappointed and deceived by the King of England's Ministers who sent him Chests full of old Iron in stead of Silver to satisfie the Garison he was forced to surrender the Town the 28th day of July and afterwards pretending whether true or false that he had been Treated in England as a Person whose Faith they suspected he quitted his old Master and went to the King of France After the taking of that important City the Kings to secure it the better to themselves had as it were outvied each other in gratifying it with many great Priviledges by which means it was raised to a high pitch of Renown for its Wealth and Liberty but through their ill management of those Advantages she hath utterly lost them all in these latter times Year of our Lord 1225 The rest of Guyenne had been gained by the French if Richard Brother to King Henry had not landed at Bordeaux with a great Army which raised up the drooping Spirits He took St. Macaire near Bordeaux by Storm but la Reoule gave him a great Repulse and being inform'd that the French Army was at the River Garonne he Ship'd himself again and left order with Aimery Vicount de Touars to procure a Truce There wandred a certain Person about Flanders near this time who said he was that Baldwin Earl of Flanders and Emperor of Constantinople that had been taken Prisoner by the King of Bulgaria He related how he made his escape out of Prison and put them in mind of several Tokens and Circumstances to know him by The Flemings who mightily loved Baldwin gave Credit to this Man and put him in possession of all Flanders Year of our Lord 1225 The Countess Jane Daughter of Baldwin finding her self at a loss for her Husband Ferrand was still a Prisoner at Paris had recourse to the King who sent word to this pretended Baldwin that he should come to him at Peronne He came boldly thither but disdaining or not being able to answer the Questions put to him which he must needs have known if he were not a Cheat the King commanded him to depart his Territories within three days and gave him a safe Conduct Being afterwards forsaken by all the World he endeavour'd to escape away in a disguise but he was taken in Burgundy and carried to the Countess who after ✚ she had made him undergo divers Tortures sent him to the Gibbet as an Impostor His Execution did not hinder malicious People from believing that the Daughter had chosen rather to hang her Father then to restore him to his Soveraignty Year of our Lord 1225 This same year the King being in Touraine the Legat went to him and obliged him to prolong the Truce with Aymery Vicount de Touars the only Nobleman that opposed the King yet in Poictou This Vicount shortly after came to Paris to render Hommage to the King in presence of the King of England's Ambassadors Year of our Lord 1226 The City of Avignon having refused the Army passage was besieged the 14th of June It defended it self obstinately Guy Count de Saint Pol one of the bravest of the Besiegers was slain there the Plague got amongst the Soldiers and the Earl of Champagne Male-content went away without leave The King nevertheless swore he would not
November the pious King parted from Damiata and marched against the Saracens who had drawn all their Forces about the City of Massoura He encamped on an arm of the Nilus formerly called Canopus and in those times the Raschit which was not foordable whilst this was doing their Sultan named Melidin hapned to dye and till his Son could come they gave the Command to the most valiant of his Emirs or Satrapes who was Farchardin Year of our Lord 1250 In sine the French having passed over the Raschit gained in two several days two Battles against the Insidels wherein St. Lewis animated with a Sampson-like Spirit and Zeal did prodigious acts of Valour but in the first which was fought in February his Brother Robert was slain pursuing too inconsiderately the flying enemy thorough the City of Massoura Year of our Lord 1250 The Christians Army being Encamped near to Pharamia to refresh themselves Melec-Sala the Son of Meledin arrives with another Army which he had obtained of the several Sultans of his Religion wherewith he so beset the Christians stopping up all passages by which they were to receive Provisions that hunger and the distemper now call'd the Scurvy or Scorbut reduc'd them to a miserable condition In this extremity it was resolv'd to lead them back to Damiata but it proved too late the Army was utterly defeated in their march and the King taken prisoner with his other two Brothers Alphonso and Charles and almost all the Officers there were but very few of his who escaped from captivity or death This misfortune hapned the 5th day of April To this grief of the good King 's the Barbarian Conquerours added an outrage which touched him yet more sensibly than either the loss of his Army or his Liberty They scourged a Crucifix before him defiled it with spitting upon it and dragg'd it thorough the Mire However the Sultan Melec-Sala took a particular care of his person so that he restor'd him to his health again He also agreed a ten years Truce with him but thereupon being murther'd by his Emirs the King was likewise in great danger of perishing in the same storm of rage notwithstanding him whom they elected for Sultan he was named Turquemir preserved him and confirm'd the Treaty By those Articles they gave both him and all the Christian Captives their liberty with leave to carry away with them all their equipage they agreed to a Truce for Ten years and left them all they held beside in the Holy Land upon condition they Year of our Lord 1250 surrendred Damiata and should set free the Saracen Slaves and give them 400000. Liures ready Money It is remarkable that this generous King not enduring they should set a price upon his Person would needs have that sum to be the ransom for the rest and the City of Damiata for his and having notice that upon payment of the said Moneys the Saracens had mis-told and taken less then was agreed by a great deal he sent them the remainder immediately It is a Fable that he should give a consecrated Host to those Barbarians for security of his Word He would have exposed himself a thousand times to death rather then have deliver'd uphis God to those impious enemies It is true indeed that they afterwards coined Moneys with a Pix stamped upon it and the Sacred Host over it and that the same Figures were wrought in some pieces of their Tapistries and to this day there are the Figures of some Chalices Graved or Carved about the Walls of Damascus or Damas perhaps they meant to let the World know by these means and preserve the memory of it to future ages what Victories they had obtained against the Christians and how they had led their God in Triumph Year of our Lord 1250 The Sum paid and Damiata restored the King and Princes were deliver'd and embarquing upon some Galleys belonging to Genoua landed at the Port of Acon but for the rest of the prisoners such as were sick being in great numbers were knock'd at head and the remainders constrain'd to pay a new Ransom or to renounce It hath been said that the Barbarians put out the Eyes of Three hundred Gentlemen and that in memory of those Noble Martyrs that St. Lewis some years afterwards Founded the Hospital des Quinze-vingsts at Paris but this is no whit mentioned in the Grant or Writings for this Foundation and I find far before this time that a Norman Duke built one of the very same sort at Rouen only it was for maintenance but of One hundred blind People Of above 30000 Fighting Men who follow'd him in this Expedition there were hardly Six thousand remaining too scanty a number for any Enterprize Notwithstanding upon the Christians carnest intreaties who belonged to those Countreys and because he knew those Barbarians would break the Truce as soon as ever he were gone he resolv'd to stay some time and in the interim sent his Brothers Alphonso and Charles home into France Year of our Lord 1250 Whilst the Emperour Frederic was again drawing his Sword to be revenged on the Pope he died at Firenzuole the 13th of December perhaps stifled or poison'd by Mainfroy one of his Bastard Sons He left the Empire and Germany to his eldest Son Conrad to Frederic his Grandson issue of his eldest Son Henry the Dukedom of Austria and to the above-named Mainfroy the Principality of Tarentum But all that Race was extinct in a few years for having say some opposed the Holy See Year of our Lord 1251 When Pope Innocent had heard of the death of Frederic he went from Lyons where he had staid Six years and a half to return again to Rome Year of our Lord 1251 Upon the news of the pious Kings imprisonment a certain Apostate Monk by name Master Hungary pretending and affirming he had a particular Mission from God went picking up all the young Countrey fellows over the whole Kingdom to go said they and deliver their Prince and the Holy Land These new Brothers of the Cross were called Pastoureaux i. e. Shepherds or Graziers The Bandits Robbers Heretiques and all manner of wicked rascally people listed themselves in this crew who took the liberty to commit all manner of disorders especially against the Clergy and against the Jews The Inhabitants of Berry with the Nobility fell upon them and routed them some of them were hanged afterwards this rabble was dispers'd and vanish'd to nothing Year of our Lord 1252 Queen Blanch afflicted for the absence of the good King her dear Son and for the sickness of her other Son Alphonso who seemed incurable ended her days at Melun the Six and twentieth of November aged above Sixty and five years Her Son having sounded the Monastery of Maubuisson of the Order des Cisteaux for her She was conveyed thither in great pomp upon the Shoulders of the chief Nobility of the Court sitting in a Golden Chair her Face bare being cloathed in her
Royal Robes over her Religious Habit of that Order which she had taken some time before her death being besides and long before that time of the third Order of St. Francis according to the Devotion of those times Some modern Historians are much in doubt whether she were elder or younger then Berenguelle who was Married to Alphonso King of Leon. This had the Guardianship of her Brother Henry and that Prince being dead succeeded to the Kingdom of Castille but some have believed that it was by Usurpation upon Blanch her Sister who was then a great way off from that Countrey and they go upon this ground that amongst the Records they find Letters from nine Castillian Lords to Lewis VIII in which they own and acknowledge his Son for their King and say that Alphonso IX King of Castille had declared by his Will that in case his Son Henry died without any Heirs the Children of Blanch were to succeed by right of Inheritance but to tell the truth it does not follow from thence that Blanch was the eldest it is more probable that these discontented Lords grounded it upon this that Alphonso and Berenguelle being of kin within the degrees prohibited Pope Innocent III. had declared their Marriage to be null and the Children that should proceed from that conjunction incestuous Bastards and incapable to succeed So that upon their exclusion those of Blanch came to the succession of Alphonso IX their Grand-father and this is it that gave a Right to the Kings of France which they held a long time to the Kingdom of Castille Year of our Lord 1252 Some Months before the death of Blanch there arose a sharp contest between the Secular Doctors of Theology at Paris whereof William de St. Amour was as it were the Head and on the other part the Orders Mendicants of Preaching Friers and Friers Minors because those Monks as the others reproached them were so far from submitting to the Statutes and Discipline of the University that they aimed to make themselves the Masters The thing was obstinately debated five or six years together St. Amour got the better at Paris but the Dispute being transferr'd to Rome he was worsted and his Book was condemned not as Heretical but as scandalizing those good Fathers They had great credit in that Court and obtained great Priviledges with so much the more facility as their trampling on the Laws increased the power of the Donor and diminished that of the Bishops to whose prejudice they were granted About the beginning of this quarrel Robert de Sorbonne Doctor in Divinity and very highly esteemed by St. Lewis built the Colledge of the Poor Masters of SORBONNE under which Name the Vulgar are wont to comprehend all the Faculty of Theology of Paris In effect it is the most renowned of all those Colledges Year of our Lord 1253 In the year 1253. died Thibauld who was the Fifth of that Name as Earl of Champagne but only the First as King of Navarre His Successor in all his Estates was Thibauld II. or VI. aged Fourteen years under the Guardianship of his Mother Year of our Lord 1254 Conrad the Son of Frederic did not find himself strong enough in Germany to cope against William Earl of Holland pretended King of the Romans he was gone into Italy in the year 1251. and some time after having unhappily caused his Nephew Frederic to be strangled had seized upon his Treasure and upon his Kingdom of Sicilia But this year 1254. was himself poysonn'd by Mainfroy to whom not knowing he was the Author of his death he lest the Regency of the Kingdom and the Guardianship of his Son Conrad the Young vulgarly named Conradin aged but Three years Year of our Lord 1254 It was neer Six years since St. Lewis the King went out of France and Three years and a half that he had been in the Holy Land visiting the Holy Places with an incredible Devotion sortifying the Towns and reviving the courage and affairs of the Christians in those Countreys as much as possibly he could France destitute of any Pilot by the death of his Mother most earnestly desired his return He therefore took Shipping at the Port of Acon or Ptolemais on St. Year of our Lord 1254 Marks Eve and landed at Marseilles the Eleventh day of July Year of our Lord 1254 The King of England who was this year come into Gascongne desiring to avoid the long voyage by Sea obtained leave of the good King to cross thorough France and take Shiping at Boulogne He met the King at Chartres who from thence took him along to Paris where he Treated him Four days together with all the magnificence imaginable The joy and splendor was the greater because the four Sisters Daughters of the Earl of Provence the eldest Married to the King of France the Second to the King of England the Third to Richard his Brother and the Fourth to Charles Earl of Anjou met all there together William Earl of Holland and King of the Romans making War against the Friezelanders who were Rebels to him had lately been knocked on the Head by certain Peasants hid amongst the Reeds when his Horse was sunk into the Snow and Ice The following year being 1256. the Electors basely selling the Honour of the German Nation and their Votes to Foreign Princes gave the Empire some of them to Richard Brother to the King of England others to Alphonso X. King of Castille Richard went into Germany and sojourn'd there above two years having been Crowned at Aix la Chapelle in the year 1247. Alphonso was no way known to them but by his Money and both of them disputed their Right and Title before the Pope for divers years without eve coming to any agreement The Son of Bouchard d'Avesnes cast out by Guy Earl of Flanders and their Brothers of the Second Bed by the same Mother took Sanctuary with William Earl of Year of our Lord 1255 Holland who had vanquish'd Guy and taken him prisoner with one of his Brothers The Mother to be reveng'd had called in Charles Earl of Anjou and given him the enjoyment of Hainault and Valenciennes during his life He regained those Countreys easily enough from the Hollander because he found him fully enough employ'd against the Frisons where he was kill'd as we have related His Son Florent who succeeded him set the two Brothers at liberty for a great Ransom and St. Lewis obliged his Brother Charles to restore Hainault for a sum of Money as likewise the parties concern'd to stand to the award he had made in Anno 1246. Year of our Lord 1256 There being an universal calme thorough all his Kingdom he set himself upon the regulating it by good and wholsome Laws the banishing from it all violence and oppression the instructing others by his good examples and by all manner of Just and Holy Works undertaking the protection of the Weak the Widdows and Orphans procuring with all his
Power the advancement of Religion and the Service of God providing for the nourishment of the Poor the Marriage of decay'd Gentlewomen the maintenance of the Church and above all the ease of the People by the revocation of all Tolls and extraordinary Subsidies and Taxes which the malignity or necessity of former times had introduced and imposed The Titles of the Chamber of Accompts which have been shewed us by Mr. d'Heroval to whose care the History of our Kings of the Third Race is indebted for the greatest part of the new discoveries made known in these last times tells us amongst many other rare and curious things that this truly most Christian King spared nothing for the Conversion of Infidels that for this end he took up all the Jewish Children that were Fatherless or in want caused them to be bred up in the Christian Faith and allowed them two four six Silver Deniers a day for their Dyet or Keeping which was paid out of his own Demesnes and pass'd in Dowry to their Widdows and oftentimes to their Children that these were called the Baptized as those who embraced Christianity being of age were called the Converted That the Duke of Burgundy the King of England and some others practis'd the like in their Countreys which brought over a world of Jews from their obstinacy and that the Kings his successors did imitate him therein till the Reign of King John We have by the same means likewise learn'd that when St. Lewis made a journey any where there was always a Prelate which was ordinarily the Arch-Deacon of Paris and a Lord of some note that follow'd some days after the Court and made inquiry at all the Lodgings and in all the Countreys and Places they had pass'd what wrong or spoil they might have done to the Landlords or to their Lands and the just King made present reparation and satisfaction with his own Money without any complaint made by the party agrieved so far was it from suffering ☞ them to spend and squander away what they had in Fees and Charges to get Justice done to them Year of our Lord 1256 The City of Marscille did not give that obedience to Charles as he expected and desired wherefore he blocked them up with his Army and brought them to that low condition by Famine that they surrendred at discretion to this merciless Prince who caused many of the principal Citizens to be beheaded Year of our Lord 1256 Three sorts of People of Italy the Venetians the Genouese and the Pisans were become mighty powerful in the Levant Seas and for that reason were grown very jealous of Year of our Lord 1256 each other The two first having each of them their several quarters and their Magistrates in the City of Acon or Acre fell to quarrelling with each other upon some private pieque and went together by the ears to their mutual destruction which compleated the ruine of the Western Christians in the East Year of our Lord 1258 In an enter-view at Montpellier the two Kings Lewis of France and James of Arragon Treated the Marriage of Philip then Second Son to King Lewes but who in two years after became the eldest with Isabella younger Daughter of James to whom her Father gave in Dowry the Counties of Carcassone and Beziers Year of our Lord 1258 After this they agreed about their other differences in this manner St. Lewis yielded up to the Arragonian the Sovereignty which France had still held upon Catalonia Barcelona Rousillon Empurs Vrgel and Geronde from the time the French first conquer'd those Countreys of the Saracens And on the other hand the Arragonian yielded to him all the right he pretended whether by Marriage of his predecossors or otherwise by any Title whatsoever to the Counties de Razez Narbonne Nisines Alby Foix Cahors and other parts in Languedoc held in Under-Fief of the Crown of France as also the Rights he had in Provence to the Counties of Forcalquier and Arles and to the City of Marseilles Year of our Lord 1259 The English had still a very passionate desire to recover Normandy and the other Countreys they had lost in France and if Richard could have fixt himself well in Germany he and his Brother Henry might have attaqued France very shrewdly on both sides The pious King was not ignorant of it but he knew likewise that Henry was so dangerously engaged in a quarrel with his Barons that it would be easie to content him with a little and even to oblige him to an acknowledgment and therefore the business having been stated by the Popes Legats the King of England passes over into France together with his Wife his Brothers and his Children and being arriv'd at Paris confirmed the Treaty The substance of it was That he his Sons Brothers and Successors should for everrenounce all claim to Normandy Anjou Maine Touraine and Poitou and that the King gave a great sum of Money to Henry and released to him and his that part of Guyenne beyond the Garonne and on this side Limousin and Perigord upon condition to do Homage-Liege to the Kings of France and take place amongst his Pairs in quality of Duke of Guyenne Immediately upon this the King of England does this Homage and the eldest Son of France hapning to dye he was at his Funeral and helpt to bear his Corps upon his own Shoulders with the other Lords part of the way from Paris to St. Denis Year of our Lord 1260 In the year 1260. a new and strange heat of Zeal inspired many Christian people which was to whip themselves in publique with small Cords or with Thongs of Leather These whipsters were called the Devots and afterwards they were named the Flagellants This Phrensie begun in the City of Perugia in Tuscany by the example and Preaching of a Hermit named Râ—ynier spread it self even into Poland travell'd as far as Greece and in the end degenerated into Superstition and Heresies Year of our Lord 1261 In the month of July of the year 1261. a Lieutenant to Michael Paleologus VIII of that name Emperour of Greece who returned from making a War against Michael the Despote of Epirus made himself Master of Constantinople getting entrance by a hole under the Walls of the Town discover'd to him by some Traitors a thing of great importance which he effected the more easily because the Emperour Baldwin was abroad having carried his Naval force to besiege a little City upon the Black Sea or Pontus Euxinus Thus was it that Constantinople fell again into the hands of the Greeks from whom about two hundred years afterwards it fell under the Tyranny of the Turks The Latins had kept this fragment of the Eastern Empire about Seven and fifty years and as it had begun with a Baldwin it ended with a Prince of the same name The Venetians who had a great interest in this loss put a mighty strong Fleet to Sea wherewith they Commanded the whole
Gibbelins of Tuscany especially those of Florence and restored all the Guelphes to their Lands and Dwellings In the mean time the young Conradin had sent a Manifesto to all the Princes of Europe declaring himself to be the rightful Successor to the Kingdom of Sicily and imploring their assistance to recover that Succession of his Fathers Insomuch that with the aid of the antient friends of the House of Souaube or Scwaben and some Year of our Lord 1267 adventurers that sought their fortunes he gathered a huge Army and came into Italy about the end of October observing and giving ear rather to the importunities of the Gibbelines who pressed him to march on then the wise Counsels of his Mother who feared the unexperimented Youth of her Son scarce Sixteen years of age would be Ship-wrack'd against the fortune and courage of Charles He had brought with him out of Germany the young Frederic Son of Herman Marquiss of Baden who said likewise he was Duke of Austria being Son of a Daughter of Henry Brother to Frederic last Duke of those Countreys and withal he held himself certain of the assistance of Henry and Frederic Brothers of Alphonso X. King of Castille who upon his arrival in Italy were to declare in his favour Those Brothers having been driven out of Spain by the King Alphonso had retired themselves into Africk to the King of Tunis where they had acquir'd a great deal of reputation Money and Friends Henry having information of the progress of Charles in Italy was come to proffer him his Service with Eight hundred Horse and had lent him a considerable sum of Money In requital Charles had gotten him to be chosen Senator of Rome hut because he afterwards thwarted him in his designs of obtaining by the Pope the Kingdom of Sardinia that Spaniard was alienated from him and secretly conspired with Conradin so that he disposed the City of Rome to receive him driving thence or imprisoning all those that contradicted and when he saw him approaching near he set up his Flags and Arms upon the Gates and joyned openly with him Conradin having spent the Winter at Verona despising the Popes Thunders embarqued at the coast of Genoa on some Vessels belonging to Pisa Being landed in Tuscany he surprized and cut in pieces those Forces that Charles had left there and Year of our Lord 2268 at the same time Conrad being come from Antioch caused all Sicily to Revolt except only Messina and Palermo These prosperous beginnings betraid young Conradin and flattered him to bring him to his death while he was entring into the Kingdom of Sicily Charles quitted the Siege of Nocera and came to meet him resolved to decide the quarrel by a Battle it was fought the Five and twentieth day of August near the lake Fucin now Year of our Lord 1268 called the lake Celano the French gained it but not without much hazard and much blood Conradin Frederic Duke of Austria and Henry of Castille saved themselves by flight but being discover'd they were taken and brought back to the Conquerour After this Victory he took upon him again the dignity of Senator of Rome which he had been obliged to lay down and by the Pope was constituted Vicar of the Empire in Tuscany His Fame would have been beyond a parallel had he been but as merciful as valiant and had not exercised such mortal feverities upon his prisoners of War and such people as revolted from him Year of our Lord 1269 They were so great that being resolved to pass into Africk with St. Lewis the King not knowing what to do with Conradin and Frederic whom it was very dangerous to keep and more to set them free in a Kingdom full of Factions and Rebellion he caused their Process to be made by the Syndics of the Cities of that Kingdom Those Judges having condemned them to death as disturbers of the Churches quiet their Heads were cut off upon a Scaffold in the midst of the City of Naples the Twenty seventh day of October an execution which makes posterity tremble yet with horror but which seemed a retribution of the Divine Justice for those yet more horrible barbarities which Frederic the Grand-father of Conradin had used to all the Family of the Norman Princes Henry de Castille had his Life given him but was confin'd to a prison from whence he got not out till Five and twenty years after to return into Spain Almost at the same time this Conrad Prince of Antioch Son of one Frederic a bastard of the Emperour Frederic II. who was come from the East to the assistance Year of our Lord 1269 of Conradin and had contributed to make the Island of Sicily revolt being taken by some belonging to Charles was hanged and thus ended by the Hangmans hands that famous and glorious Race of the Prince of Scwaben of whom there have been so many Kings and Emperours I should have told you before that Conradin being upon the Scaffold after he had made bitter complaints of his misfortunes and the cruelty of his Enemies threw down his Glove in the Market-place as a token of the investiture of his Kingdoms to such of his kindred as would prosecute his quarrel a Cavalier having taken it up carried it to James King of Arragon who had Married a Daughter of Mainfroy's The abuses and the designs of the Court of Rome were grown to such a height and come to that pass that the King St. Lewis though very devout to the Holy See made this year a Pragmatique to stop the current of them in France especially touching the dispensation of Benefices This same year the Marriage of his Daughter Blanch was made with Ferdinand eldest Son to Alphonso X. King of Castille the Pope having given his Dispensation for the near consanguinity between the parties The Nuptials were celebrated at Year of our Lord 1269 Burgos Philip Brother to the Bride Edward Prince of England James King of Arragon the Bride-grooms Grand-father Alhumar King of Granada and divers other Princes and great Lords honoured the Solemnity with their Presence and it was expresly said in the Contract that if Ferdinand died before his Father her Children should represent him and succeed to the Crown The affairs of the Christians in the Levant being reduced to the last extremity by Bendocabar Sultan of Egypt the exhortations of the Pope and the zeal of St. Lewis stirred up those of the West to make one more great attempt to support them The King of Arragon and Edward eldest Son to the King of England promised to Second St. Lewis and his Brother Charles to go thither with all the force of Italy The number of Adventurers of the Cross consisted of Fifteen thousand Horse and Two hundred thousand Foot which were divided in two Armies to attaque the Saracens in two several places at once Year of our Lord 1270 The Arragonian and the English undertook to go and make War in the Holy Land the Arragonian
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
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
King having read it stood much amazed It must be some Intelligence he gave to the King of Castille Whatever it were he was made a Prisoner carried to Paris thence transferr'd to the Castle of Janville in Beausse then some days afterward brought back again to Paris where he was Hanged on the publick Gallows in the presence of the Dukes of Burgundy and Brabant and of Robert Earl of Artois Guilty enough had he committed no other Crime but the bewitching his King and fettering both his Sacred Person and Mind in his Artificial Snares The Fortunes of all those whom he had advanced were utterly ruined the Bishop of Bayeux his Brother-in-Law made his escape to the Pope where he remained a long time in Exile Year of our Lord 1277 The boundless Ambition of Charles King of Sicilia aspired to all He thought to hold all Italy by the Offices of Senator of Rome and Vicar of the Empire he was contriving the Conquest of the Grecian upon the right Baldwin had to it whose Daughter he had taken for his second Wife and this year 1277. he purchased the Title of King of Jerusalem of the Princess Mary Widow of Frederic Bastard of the Emperor Frederic the II. and Daughter of Raimond Rupin Prince of Antioch and Melisinda Daughter of Aymeric de Lusignan King of Cyprus and Jerusalem This Kingdom had been already annexed to Sicilia by the Marriage of Yolante de Brienne who was Heiress to it and since it hath ever remained so annexed Year of our Lord 1278 But the Pope the Emperor Rodolph and the Emperor Michael Conspired together to put a stop to that Grandeur which run up too fast and threatned to stifle theirs And besides the Pope it was Nicholas III. of the House of Vrsini who not only did not desire to have to so Potent a Neighbour but withall was cruelly offended for that having demanded one of his Daughters for one of his own Nephews Charles had received his insolent Proposition with raillery and contempt Year of our Lord 1278 At the same time the power of Rodolph mightily increased by the Victory he gained over Othocare King of Bohemia who was left dead in the Field Of the Spoils of that Prince whose Domestick he had been he got the Dutchy of Austria and invested his Son Albertus in it His Posterity have still preserved it and have taken the name of it as more illustrious then that of Habspurg Year of our Lord 1278 Not to thwart the Pope who sought to pick a Quarrel Charles quitted the Title of Senator and that of Vicar He wanted but little in Anno 1279. of losing Provence likewise Queen Margaret Widow of St. Lewis his Sister-in-Law disputed it with him as being elder Daughter of Earl Raimond Berengier and implored assistance of the Emperor of whom that County was held because of the Kingdom of Arles Notwithstanding the business being brought to Examination Provence was left to Year of our Lord 1279 Charles upon Condition of doing Homage to the Emperor whose Daughter Clemence should likewise be Married to the Son of his eldest Son His Name was Charles as was his Fathers and Grandfathers Year of our Lord 1279 Edward King of England crossed over Seas with Alienor his Wife and came to King Philip at Amiens to Treat of their Affairs Philip agreed he should have the Earldom of Agenois and surrendred up that of Pontieu which belonged to Alienor by right of her Mother She was Jane the Wife of Ferdinand III. King of Castille and Daughter of the Earl Simon and Mary Daughter and Heiress of William likewise Earl of Pontieu Reciprocally Edward renounced the Dutchy of Normandy but retained Thirty Livers Rent upon the Exchequer or Court of Justice of the Province John otherwhile Lord of the Island de Procida had been devested of his Estate by Charles for having tamper'd in some Conspiracy Being therefore prompted by a cruel Resentment he framed the design to bring the King of Arragon as Heir to the House of Scwaben by his Mother into the Kingdom of Sicilia and made so many Journeys backwards and forwards to the Pope the Emperor and the Sicilians that he brought the Project to his desired issue Year of our Lord 1281 Mean time Pope Nicholas who had projected for the most part what we shall find to break out in those Countries hapned to die and a French Cardinal it was Simon de Brie was Elected in his room he was named Martin IV. This last knew nothing of the Tragical design contrived by his Predecessor and had intentions quite contrary but it being already put in motion he found the effect of it before ever he could foresee the blow The Death of Nicholas did not discourage the Conspirators the Lord de Prochyda continuing his Voyages disguised like a Monk brought from Constantinople Three hundred thousand Ounces of Gold to the Arragonian who was ready to put a great Naval force to Sea under pretence of making War upon the Saracens and had the Craft the better to conceal his intentions to borrow Twenty thousand Gold Crowns of King Philip and even as some say of Charles himself whom he was going to Dethrone Year of our Lord 1282 He lay for some time upon the Coasts of Africa to favour the Enterprize agreed upon and in the mean while Charles neglected the Advice was given him to stand upon his Guard and be aware and employ'd all his Forces for the Conquest of the Eastern Empire in which he did not succeed very well his Fleet having been worsted at Sea by that of the Emperor Michael Whilst he is thus lull'd asleep by his ill fate the Sicilians upon an Easter-day at the first ringing of the Bell to Vespers cut the Throats of all the French that were in the whole Island which they did execute with so much fury and rage that the good Friers Jacobins and the Cordeliers did with pleasure wash their hands in Blood and Murthered their unhappy Enemies at the very Altars The Fathers ripping up the Wombs of their own Daughters if great with a French Child and dashing little Infants against the Rocks They killed Eight thousand in two hours space and pardoned but only one by reason of his rare Probity He was called William des Pourcellets a Gentleman of Provence Year of our Lord 1282 Charles who was at this time in Tuscany more enraged then frighted at so terrible a blow Arms himself powerfully by the assistance of the Pope and the King of France which was brought him by the Earl of Alenson and besieges Messina That City terrified with the glittering of his Arms and the Fulminations of the Holy See would have surrendred at the very first and all the Island afterwards if his just Wrath could have received them to any Mercy but that Prince being grown inexorable dispair puts some courage into their faint hearts and the arrival of the Arragonian who landed at Palermo about the end of August and was
Crowned King of Sicily there re-assured them wholly So that Charles whether for that or for some other reason raised the Siege at the latter end of September and went back into Calabria The Arragonian notwithstanding finding himself unequal in Strength to Charles whom he observed to be daily supplied out of France bethought himself of a Villanous piece of Subtilty which made him keep Sicily but with the loss of his Honour He profer'd Charles to decide this great Quarrel by a Personal Combat between them each to be assisted with an hundred choice Knights Charles more brave then well advised accepted the Challenge notwithstanding the contrary Counsel and reiterated Commands of the Pope King Edward being related to both undertook to secure the Field for them at Burdeaux the day was appointed to be the first of July the year following and upon the word of this perfidious Man Charles raised imprudently the Siege and agreed to a Truce In the interim the Pope pouring all the Treasures or Viols of his Wrath upon the head of the Arragonian not only Excommunicated him but likewise degraded him of his Kingship and exposed his Kingdom as a prey but he turned all this into raillery and as though he would obey the Popes Sentence he would no longer be called King but the Knight of Arragon Lord of the Sea and the Father of three Kings The day of Combat being come Charles enters the Field with his hundred Knights and remained there from the Suns rise till Sun setting The Arragonian appeared not but towards night comes post thither goes to the Seneschal of Burdeaux takes Witness that he had presented himself and leaves his Arms with him to serve for Testimony then retires in great hast feigning he was in dread of some suprizal by the King of France A very brave act of Apparence or Comparition worthy the Courage of a Prince to whom his Subjects have given the Surname and Epithet of Great The Pope who had thundred his Excommunication against him the former year did re-aggravate it again in this published a Crusado or Holy War against him with the very same Indulgences and Priviledges as for the Holy Land and gave his Kingdom to Charles de Valois the second Son of France whom he caused to be invested by Cardinal John Cholet his Legat whom he expressly sent into France And certainly the destruction of Peter having place that Crown was devolved to this Charles Year of our Lord 1283 by Hereditary Right since he was the Son of that Kings Sister Year of our Lord 1284 These Threatnings did not daunt the Arragonian he was confirmed in his Crime by the good success of Roger de Lauria his Admiral This Captain the ablest Seaman of his Age having gained several Advantages over Charles's Subjects came and planted himself before Naples in his absence engaged Charles the Lame his Son to a Battle the fifth of June vanquished him and carried him Prisoner to Palermo His Head ran great danger of serving as a Reprizal for the Head of Conradin The Sicilians had Condemned him to Death Constantia drew him subtilly out of their hands and sent him into Arragon to the King her Husband Year of our Lord 1284 The Fathers anguish was the greater for that he arrived there within three days after the taking of his Son with a good number of Ships well Armed He had much ado to keep Apulia and Colabria and having wrastled six Months longer with his Misfortunes Year of our Lord 1285 he died at Foggi in Apulia the 17th of January in the year 1285. leaving his Son Charles the Lame the Heir to his Misfortunes as well as to his Crown Year of our Lord 1284 The foregoing year Alphonso King of Castille died dispossessed almost of all his Estate by Sancho his unnatural Son On his Death-bed he made his Will and Testament whereby he left him his Paternal Curse deprived him of the Succession and recalled Alphonso and Ferdinand who were the Sons of his eldest Son Ferdinand and upon their default Philip King of France to whom Castille already did belong by right of Blanch de Castille the Mother of St. Lewis but Sancho knew how to keep himself securely enough in possession of it Year of our Lord 1284 The 16th of the Month of August King Philips eldest Son of the same name and the Surname of Fair Aged but Fifteen years Married Jane Queen of Navarre and Countess of Brie and Champagne who was but Thirteen the Pope having given Dispensation because she was his Cousin German A Legat of the Pope having caused the Croisado to be Preached against Peter King of Arragon King Philp would go himself in this Expedition to Install Charles his second Son in that Kingdom He had no less then Twenty thousand Horse and fourscore thousand Foot He Shipt part of these Foot-Soldiers in fourscore Vessels which he took with him to carry Ammunition Provisions and Artillery James King of Majorca and Minorca whom Peter his Brother had devested of his Lands followed him or to say better Conducted him in this Voyage thereby to recover them Year of our Lord 1285 The Army being drawn together at Narbonna began to march in the Month of May. Perpignian surrendred to James and received the French Elna was taken by Storm and all that were within destroy'd excepting the Bastard de Roussillon who shewed them a passage through the Mountains These two Cities were belonging to James The Arragonian who guarded the narrow Passages finding the French at his back quitted his Posts and left their entrance into Catalonia free They on the suddain took several little places and laid Siege to Geronde That King was lying in wait to relieve it but being beaten and grievously wounded in an Ambuscade he had designed to intercept the Convoy which was marching from the Port of Roses the place surrendred for want of Provisions after a two Months Siege Three Months after the Fight that King died of his Wounds in Valentia Alphonso his eldest Son succeeded him in that Kingdom and James the second Son seized on that in the Island of Sicilia Year of our Lord 1285 The rest of the Campagne was not so happy for the French the Admiral Lauria knowing that out of an imprudent Management and Husbandry to save Charges they had sent back the Vessels belonging to the Pisans and Genoese who were under pay fell upon the rest of the Fleet and defeated them all except such as escaped into the Port de Roses The scarcity of Provisions and Sickness brought the whole Army almost to nothing The King falling Sick and hoping for no good by the approaching Winter took his way towards France and was brought back to Perpignian in a Litter Year of our Lord 1285 Geronde and all the places he had Conquer'd in Catalongne held but a very few days after his departure The Melancholy he conceived upon this Revolution and the agitation of the Journey increased his Sickness so
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
had been erected by Pope Nicholas IV. and by the Kings Letters Patents in the year 1289. The others of this Kingdom which are now Ten in number Anger 's Poitiers Bourges Bourdeaux Cahors Valence Caen Reims Nantes and Aix were instituted in the following ages and at several times Now the University of Paris which excepting that of Toulouze was as yet the only singular one in France drew thither or bred there all that were then Men of Parts and Learning Albert the Great Thomas Aquinas Vincent de Beauvais all three of the Order of the Preaching Friers John Gilles or Joannes Aegidius who was also of the same Order Rigord of the Order of St. Bennet and Chaplain to Philp Augustus and Richard of Oxford all three Philosophers and Physitians James de Vitry Cardinal John de Sacrobosco who excelled in the Mathematiques Roger Bacon an English man by birth and of the Order of St. Francis a very subtil Genius and thoroughly versed and accomplished in all manner of Learning particularly in Chymistry in whose Works is to be found the secret for making Gun-powder Michael Scot who to acquire the knowledge of these Arts more perfectly and that of Astronomy and the Mathematicks Learned the Oriental Languages Alexander de Halez Bonaventure his Disciple and a long time after him John Duns Scotus all three of the Order of the Friers Minors and great Scholastiques Scotus lived Ten years in the following age they called him the Subtil Doctor and he was so indeed He was excited to some Opinons opposite to those of St. Thomas as their two Orders were which produced in the Schools those two Sects the Thomists and the Scotists They also reckon amongst the Learned Guy le Gross and Gilles de Rome famous Lawyers the first had been Married and yet became Pope the other was an Augustine Monk then Arch-Bishop of Bourges he lived many years in the age following and wrote Anno 1302. in favour of Philip the Fair against Boniface demonstrating that the Popes Authority does not extend to Temporals Robert de Sorbonne a native of the Village of that Name near Sens William de St. Amour and Christian de Beauvais born in those places and rough adversaries of the Friers Preachers and Minors William III. and Stephen II. Bishops of Paris Henry de Grand a famous Doctor in Divinity Hugh the Cardinal William Arch-Bishop of Tyre and Chancellour to St. Lewis Many of these Learned persons joyned a Holiness of Life to their exquisite knowledge The Church implores the Suffrages of Albert the Great of Thomas Aquinas and of Bonaventure as likewise of Peter de Chasteau neuf of the Order de Cisteaux and Legate from the Pope Martyr'd by the Albigensis in the year 1208. Of Bertrand Bishop of Cominges who rebuilt that City to which the name of its Restorer hath been given Of William de Nevers who daily fed Two thousand Poor Of Stephen de Die in Dauphiné taken out of the Order of the Chartreux Of Gefroy de Meaux who renounced his Bishoprick and retired himself into the Monastery of St. Victor in Paris which then was as it is now at this day most flourishing in Doctrine and Piety Of William de Valence under whom the Bishopricks of Valence and Die were united in the year 1275. and of Robert de Puy This Man very Noble for his Birth and much more so for his Virtue being slain by a Gentleman whom he had Excommunicated for his Crimes the People in revenge razed all the Houses belonging to the Murtherer and the King banished both him and all his Race out of the Kingdom We ought to add to this immortal company Eleazar de Sabran a Gentleman of Provence Earl of Ariâ—n whose perpetual celibacy in Marriage made him the compagnon of Angels and his charitable liberalities the Father to the Poor Yves Priest Curate and Official of the Diocess of Treguier in Bretagnc a good Lawyer and who by a more noble interest then that of Money was ever the Advocate of the Indigent and the Orphan The Men of that Calling own him for their Patron but imitate him seldom He died in the year 1303. Amongst those that wear the Crown of Glory in Heaven the great King Saint Lewis who wore the Royal Crown here below and his Nephew of the same name the Son of Charles II. King of Sicilia are of the highest rank This last buried the Grandeurs of this World in the Sack-cloath of his pennance turning Monk of the Order of St. Francis from whence he was drawn out againsth is Will to be made Bishop of Toulouze He died in the year 1298. Lewis X. called Hutin King XLVI Aged XXV or XXVI years Vacancy which began at the end of the Reign of Philip the Fair and lasted in all Two years Three Months and a halfe AS soon as Philip was dead his eldest Son Lewis succeeded him but he could not get to be Crowned at Reims till the Third day of August in the following year as well because he waited for his new Spouse Clemence Daughter of Charles Martel King of Hungary as because all the Kingdom was in combustion for the vexation of Imposts and the alteration of Moneys Year of our Lord 1314. and 15. Though he were in his majority and had been employ'd in Affairs for divers years nevertheless Charles de Valois his Uncle put himself in possession of the Authority displaced many Officers to advance his own Creatures and there being no Money to be found for the expences of the Coronation he upon that score took occasion to inquire into and examine the Officers of the Treasury especially Enguerrand de Marigny with whom he before had some rude bustlings Enguerrand sent for before the King to give an account of the Treasury had the impudence to tell him who was his Masters Uncle that he had had the greatest part and even to return him the Lie That Princes Sword had punished him at the same time if Heaven had not reserved him for a more infamous chastisement He was therefore seized upon some weeks after as he was coming to the Council this was on the Tenth of March put in prison in the Tower of the Louvre and from thence transferr'd into that of the Temple The prosecution being slow it was discover'd that his Wife abused by some Enchanters sought to bewitch or charm the King and make him languish to death by means of some waxen Images Those rascals being taken the King gives him up to the Law There were four chief Heads of accusation against him his having alter'd the Coins loaden the people with Taxes stollen several great sums and degraded the Kings Forrests His Process was made in the Bois de Vincennes by the Lords Pairs and Barons of the Kingdom who condemned him to the Gallows the Saturday before the Festival of the Ascension The Saturday following he was transferr'd from the Temple to the Chastelet and from thence they carried him to Montfaucon Where
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
the rest were so overloaden It was perhaps for these reasons they were accused for having by a Compact made with the Jews these had been restored in the Reign of Lewis Hutin and Intelligence with the Turks cast some of their Ordures or some Bags of Poyson into the Wells and Fountains thereby to infect all those that were in Health with their fowl Leprosie or else to poyson them They were besides guilty of several Crimes against nature so that great numbers were condemned to the Fire the rest shut up very close within their Lazar-Hospitals As for the Jews the Populace did justice upon those themselves and burned a great many The King drove the whole Nation of them out of the Realm Year of our Lord 1321 His Council had resolved to settle over all France the same Weights the same Measures and the same Coyns but as under the pretence of some Expence and Charges they would be at they would likewise take the Fifth part of the Subjects Goods The Princes and Prelates who had a right of Coyning Money would not suffer the Kings Commissaries to go on in this Reformation they appealed to the Estates and Leagued themselves with the Cities so that the Impost being not raised the Reglement was let alone Year of our Lord 1322 During these Disturbances Philip loaden with the Curses of his People and hated of the Clergy because of his too frequent exaction of the Tenths fell sick of a Quartan Ague wherewith he langushed five whole Months and in the end died at Bois de Vincennes the Third day of January He lived One and thirty years and Reigned Five years and six weeks His Corps was conveyed with Ceremony to St. Denis his Heart to the Cordeliers at Paris his Bowels to the Jacobins Ever Year of our Lord 1322 since St. Lewis these good Fathers claim it as a special Right to have some part of the Entrails of our Kings which were not given them without Foundations He Married but one Wife to wit Jane who was Daughter of Othenine Earl of Burgundy and was also his only Heirese her Sister Blanch having been forced to Encloister her self to expiate her Crime By this Jane he had Three Daughters Jane Countess of Burgundy and Artois who Married Eudes IV. Duke of Burgundy and brought him these two Earldoms Margaret who had for Husband Lewis Earl of Flanders Nevers and Rhetel and Isabella who first Married Guignes Dauphin of Viennois and afterwards John Baron de Fanlcongmey in Franche-Comte Charles IV. King XLVIII POPE JOHN XXII During all this Reign CHARLES IV. Called the Fair King of France XLVIII and enjoying the Kingdom of Navarre Aged Twenty eight years Year of our Lord 1322 THe Succession of the Males being well setled Charles came to the Throne and was Crowned at Reims the Eleventh of February without any opposition all the Pairs assisting thereat excepting the King of England and the Earl of Flanders The named Gerard de la Guerre Native of Clermont in Auvergne and of mean Parentage had held the Soveraign management of the Treasury under Philip the Long and had been the grand Projector of the Imposts In the beginning of this Reign being sought for and taken for his Depredations he was put to the Wrack and Examined which they did so rudely that he died in the midst of those Torments This prevented not the dragging his Body thorough the Streets and hanging him on the Gallows at Paris There was afterwards a general search made for all the Farmers and such as were any ways concerned in the Revenues who were for the most part Lombards and Italians horrible Usurers and Exacters Their Goods were all Consiscate and they sent back into their own Country as beggerly as they came thence The King had been indulgent enough in not putting his Wife Blanch to Death who had been condemned for Adultery When he came to the Crown the desire of having Children prompted him to repudiate her under pretence of Parentage and after she had taken on the Vail at Maubuisson he Espoused Mary Daughter of the Emperor Henry of Luxembourg Who dying in the year 1324. in her first Child-bed and the Infant some few days after he Married for the thrid time Jane Daughter of Lewis Earl of Evreux his Uncle having to that end obtained a Dispensation from the Pope After the death of Lewis de Nevers Earl of Rhetel which hapned at Paris for he had retir'd himself into the Court of France and also the death of Robert de Bethune his Father Earl of Flanders which followed soon after the eldest Son of Lewis bearing his Fathers name enjoy'd all those three Earldoms But Robert de Cassel his Uncle pretending to be the nearest by one degree because he was the Son of Robert whereas Lewis was but Grandson presented himself to the King demanding the Investiture of that of Flanders In the mean while Lewis went immediately to take possession without rendring him that Devoir Which so irritated the King that although this young Prince were his Nephew he caused him to be summoned before the Parliament and kept him Prisoner The Parliament taking this weighty Affair into their Cognisance pronounced in favour of Lewis who being set at liberty did Homage to the King and gave Oath never to re-demand the Cities of Lisle Douay and Orchies The King confirmed the Appennage given by the Father to Robert de Cassel He likewise made an Agreement between William Earl of Haynault and Holland with Lewis who desisted from disputing with him for the Islands of Walcheren One Jordain Lord of the Island in Aquitain had committed many enormous Crimes and Murthered an Usher of the Kings with his own Mace as he was summoning him to appear in Parliament He was notwithstanding so much a fool as to come to Paris trusting to his great Alliances and upon his having Married the Neece of Pope John XXII But for all those Considerations he was committed Prisoner to the Chaâ—tellet and by Sentence dragg'd at a Horses Tail and hung up on the Gallows at Paris Year of our Lord 1323 and 24. The King had cause to compalin of Edward because he had not assisted at his Coronation and that his Seneschal of Bourdelois had placed a Garison in a Castle which the Lord de Montpesat had built in a place which was Land belonging to France Wherefore after some Negotiations in which the English seemed not to proceed fairly he sent Charles de Valois his Uncle into Guyenne who set so close upon the Skirts of Edmond Earl of Kent Brother to King Edward in the City de la Reoule that he obliged him to Capitulate and then pass immediately over into England to persuade his Brother to give the King satisfaction promising that if he could not obtain it to return as his Prisoner In the mean time the Earl of Valois made an end of the Conquest of Guyenne excepting only Bourdeaux St. Sever and Bayonne Year of our Lord 1324 and
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
Windore Charles Prince of Duras who was likewise of the blood of the Kings of Sicilia and had espoused Mary the Sister of Jane was Counsellor and Author of this infamous act Jane was not innocent well might she lament and sigh her cries and tears signified less towards her justification then her subsequent Marriage with Lewis her Cousin-German a lovely Prince and according to her desires made for her conviction Lewis the Great King of Hungary being come into Italy to revenge the death of his Brother Andrew and to get the Kingdom Treated Charles de Duras in the same manner as they had used King Andrew He would have done the like to the Princess and her fair Husband had they fallen into his hands for which reason she fled away in good time to her County of Provence and her Husband soon after her The Pope shewed her great respect but taking advantage of the extreme necessity she was reduced unto he got from her the City and County of Avignon for which he was to give but Fourscore thousand Gold Florins of Florence but over and besides this bargain he approved her Marriage with Prince Lewis who in requital ratified this sale It belongs to the Lawyers to judge whether the minority of this Queen and the Edicts she afterwards made to declare null all alienations of the Lands in Provence which had been made as well in the Reign of Robert as by her self whilst she was yet a Minor do not make this Contract void and null but the Emperour Charles IV. confirmed it and wholly freed this County from the subjection of the Empire of whom it held as being an Under-Fief of the Kingdom of Arles We ought to know that when the Earls Alphonso de Toulouze and Raimond Berenger of Barcelona married the two Daughters of Gilbert â—arl of Provence and parted his Succession between them whereof Alphonso had all from the Durance to the Lisere with the Title of a Marquisate and Raimond what is from the Durance to the Sea with that of an Earldom they likewise divided the City of Avignon betwixt them and that the Kings of France as Successors to Alphonso de Poitiers Brother of St. Lewis who married the Heyress of Toulouze had enjoy'd the one moity till the year 1290. When Charles the Fair gave it to Charles II. King of Sicilia upon the Marriage of Charles de Valois his Brother with Margaret the Daughter of that King The Lords of Montmorency de Charny and others who commanded the French Forces in Artois and Picardy thinking it might not be amiss to recover Calais during the Truce held some intelligence with Aymery of Pavia a Lombard Captain in that City but the double-hearted Traitor gave ear to them only to surprize them he gave notice of it to Edward who desiring to be of the party passed the Sea with â—ight hundred Men at Arms that this great draught might not break out of the Net so that when it came to be put in execution they found themselves unfortunately caught in the toyl with the Twenty thousand Crown bargain and a thousand select Men whereof One hundred of them who had engaged themselves in a Tower belonging to the Castle and the rest who waited for entrance were charged and cut in pieces after a brave defence In the Month of August of the year 1348. there appeared on the side of Paris a kind of Comet or Star extraordinary Luminous the Sun being not then Set it appeared as not very far distant from the Earth the following night it was thought to be much greater and divided in several Rayes but soon after it disappeared Year of our Lord 1348 France was miserably tormented all manner of ways it had undergone a horrible Famine Anno 1338. and after that the spoil the Soldiers made had caused every thing to be held excessive dear and kept the whole Kingdom in great scarcity This year 1348. A cruel Plague made all the Provinces desolate the Exactions worse then all these Plagues together ruined the People utterly and by I know not what curse the more the Taxes were increased the more indigent was the King Year of our Lord 1348 There never had been any Plague more furious and destructive then that in Ann. 1348. It was universal over all our Hemisphere there was neither City nor Village nor House but was infected It began in the Kingdom of Cathay Anno 1346. by a vapour that was most horrible stinking which breaking out of the Earth like a king of subterraneal Fire consumed and devoured above Two hundred Leagues of that Countrey even to the very Trees and Stones and infected the Air in such manner that there fell down millions of young Serpents and other venemous Infects From Cathay it passed into Asia and Greece thence into Africk afterwards into Europe which it ransacked throughout to the very utmost bounds of the North. The venome was so contagious that it infected by the very sight It was observed to last Five Months in its full force and rage where once it had got footing Those that suffered least by the Sword of this exterminating Angel could hardly save one Third of the Inhabitants but in many places it did not leave above the Fifteenth or the Twentieth person alive Year of our Lord 1348 Money was wanting they set upon squeezing the Officers of the Treasury amongst others Peter des Essards the Kings Treasurer was condemned to the sum of a hundred thousand Gold Florins which was moderated to the half Afterwards to stop the peoples Mouths and daily complaints they chose out for the management of the Treasury two Bishops two Abbots and four Knights and they expelled all the Italian Usurers called Lombards out of the Kingdom The principal Lottery-Money they had lent was taken and confiscated to the King this was but about Four hundred thousand Livres but their Use-Money which was two Millions was remitted to the Owners Year of our Lord 1348 Queen Jane Daughter of Robert Duke of Burgundy being dead in the year 1349 King Philip though he were yet in mourning weeds took fire for Blanch Daughter of Philip King of Navarre He had sent for her to be Married to his Son but he liked her best for himself and did wed her Year of our Lord 1349 There had been for many years a mortal War between the Earls of Savoy and the Dauphins de Viennois The Dauphin Humbert feeble in Body and Courage not able to endure the continual Attaques of Amé VI called the Earl Verd and besides being very melancholy for the loss of his only Son withal over Head and Ears in debt and having no love for his kindred bethought himself of giving up his Countrey to some great potentate who might plague and put the Savoyard to as much trouble as he had put him His inclination was to make an accommodation with the Pope the People could have wished to be under the Government of the Savoyard that they might
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
Bourdeaux and carried away the King and his Son along with him tg ether with a prodigious number of prisoners Charles the Dauphin Lieutenant then Regent Aged some XXI years Year of our Lord 1356 THere being no Authority left in the Kingdom and the King before his departure having not setled any thing in order all was in a most horrible confusion The Dauphin at the first took only the quality of Lieutenant upon him he believed it belonged to the general Estates to provide for the Government of the Kingdom and the redemption of the King and therefore having called them together at Paris the Fifteenth of October he propounded these two things to them But that hapned then which ever happens in such great disorders where the people have been evilly treated in their prosperity Instead of assistance he met with nothing but complaints and sharp rebukes They would deliberate of nothing in the presence of his Commissioners they demanded to have the Chancellor set aside this was Peter de la Forest Archbishop of Rouen Simon de Bucy First President and six or seven Officers more that had mis-mannaged the Treasury They would have him set the King of Navarre at liberty and would have him be governed and guided by a Council they chose for him upon which conditions they promised to maintain Thirty thousand Men but which should receive their pay from their own hands In the mean time they set up a Council for the Government of the Kingdom whereof Robert le Coq Bishop of Laon was the Chief and Commissioned People that were at their own Devotion to manage the Treasury The Dauphin not being able to perswade them to condescend to any other method nor bias their resolutions made use of some wile to break up that Assembly and upon divers pretences obliged the Deputies of the several Cities to return Afterwards he dispatched others to all the Bailywicks and Seneschals Courts to demand a subsistence of them severally hoping that none in particular would dare to refuse him what when altogether they had boldly denied During this confusion every one imagined now was the proper time to recover their Rights and Priviledges The Nobility began to make Alliance with the Cities The Dauphin found out the way to prevent that union and draw them to himself The Cities on the other hand grew jealous of the Gentry so that to preserve themselves from being pillaged by the Soldiery who had all manner of Licence allowed them they began to fortifie especially at Paris where they chained their Streets repaired their Walls made good their Ditches and enclosed all that quarter of the Street St. Anthoine and St. Pol which before was but the Suburbs Stephen Marcel Prevost des Merchands and Ronsac the Sheriff had full power over the People and govern'd them at their own pleasure Year of our Lord 1356 The unfortunate Gefroy de Harcourt had sold his Lands in Normandy to the English to enjoy it after his decease disinheriting Lewis his Nephew because he would not take up ARms against his own Countrey He had some Forces at St. Sauveur le Vicomte from whence they made their incursions to the Suburbs of Caen and even to Evreux The Estates assembled at Paris had sent four Captains thither to make head against him he marching into the Fields to meet them near the City of Coutances was there defeated and slain had he been taken alive they would have made him pay down his Head upon a Scaffold he chose rather to dye with his Sword in hand The Duke of Lancaster and Philip of Navarre who made War in Normandy with Philip d'Evreux not being able to pass over the Loire to assist the Prince of Wales amidst the danger he was in before the Battle of Poitiers were fallen down into Bretagne The Duke laid Siege to Rennes the Third of December in this year 1356. but Year of our Lord 1356 the place was so well defended that he could make nothing of it in Ten Months time After the example of their Sovereign who had studied more the enlarging of his ☜ power then the publique good every one took care now of his particular interest and overturned all that lay in his way to attain his own ends The Deputies whom the Dauphin had sent into all the Provinces brought nothing back but grievances the only Countrey of Languedoc because they had been less oppressed by Taxes then the rest testified a publique sorrow for the captivity of their Prince and proffer'd to maintain Five thousand Horse for his Service the others refused every thing but what should be ordained by the Estates Year of our Lord 1356 The Dauphin had Commanded some new Money to be Coined but being gone to Metz to confer with the Emperour Charles IV. his Cousin who stood up mightily for the interests of the House of France the Duke of Anjou whom he had left at Paris was compell'd by Stephen Marcel to forbid the carrying it on Year of our Lord 1357 Wanting some publique Authority to get himself to be declared Regent he had summoned the Estates upon the Fifth of February to meet at Paris at the Cordeliers but could obtain no more from them then he had done the former time They forced the Chancellor la Forest to lay down the Seals turned out all the principal Officers of the Treasury caused all their Goods to be seized and inventoried and upon the warm Remonstrances of Robert le Coq Bishop of Laon removed all the Great Officers of the Kingdom even those of the Parliament excepting Sixteen The Dauphin not finding what he reckon'd on Adjourn'd the Assembly till Fifteen days after Easter Whether it were the inconveniency of that time of the year or the greediness and covetous humor of the Gascons each one of them demanding as much reward as if he alone had gained the Battle and taken the King which hindred the English from removing him out of Bourdeaux he passed all the Winter there but Served and Treated as if he had been in his own Courr Year of our Lord 1357 About the beginning of April they transferr'd him into England where he was entertained with as much Honour and Respect as if he had gone over only to pay a kind visit to King Edward They made him a publique entrance at London he was mounted upon a White Horse a mark of Sovereignty and the Prince of Wales on his left hand upon a little Hackney They lodged him in the Savoy palace the King the Queen and the Grandees visited him and gave him all sort of liberty In the mean time the Popes instant mediation obtained a Truce for two years between both Crowns in which John de Montfort and Philip d'Evreux were not comprehended The Duke of Lancaster had sworn not to rise from before Rennes till he had gotten in and planted his Banners upon their Ramparts whist his Army was in apprehension Year of our Lord 1357 of a second Winter and the
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
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
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
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
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
Nicholas d'Outrecour was forced to retract from sixty Articles which he had framed upon divers Heads of Philosophy and Divinity owning them to be false and Heretical and the Books wherein they were contained were ordered to be torn and thrown into the Fire The year 1369. a Frier Minor named Denis Soulechat had taught some errors concerning the renouncing of Temporal Goods and about Charity and the perfection of Love which being condemned by the Faculty of Divinity he appealed to the Pope who confirmed their Judgment and sent him back to Paris to retract them in the presence of John de Dormans Cardinal Bishop of Beauvais The great Plague which reigned over the whole Earth about the middle of this Age begot a Spiritual one which was the Sect of Flagellants which taking birth in Hungary spread it self in short time over Poland Germany France and England They carried a Cross in their Hands and wore a Capouch on their Heads were naked to their Wast scourged themselves twice a day and once in the night with knotted Cords stuck with sharp pointed Rowels prostrating themselves upon the ground in form of a Cross crying out for Mercy Each Band had their Chief These Pious beginnings degenerated into Heresie by their own pride and their herding with the Begards Rascals and all sorts of idle People They affirmed that their Blood was united in such manner to the Blood of Christ that it had the same vertue and that after thirty days scourging all their Sins were remitted both as to the guilt and punishment so that they did not care for the Sacraments This phrensy lasted a great while in the subsequent Age and neither the Censures of the Church nor the Writings of Learned Doctors nor the Edicts of their Princes could purge the Brain of these melancholy Zealots There started up another sort of Hereticks that were more pleasant but more infamous withall in Dauphine and Savoy they were called Turlupins These lived without any shame like the Cynick Philosophers prayed not but with their hearts and believed that Men who were perfect ought to have a liberty of Spirit not subject to any Law That Opinion which Pope John XXII endeavoured to set up touching the state of the Soul till the day of Judgment had it seems been very common in the foregoing Ages but the World had examined and consider'd it better so that for a long while it had passed for an error The University therefore corrected the Holy Father in that point and he not only desisted from it himself but likewise gave a publick Act of his Retraction whether upon King Philip de Valois his threats who sent a Message to him in these very words That if he did not retract he would have him burnt or rather his being better satisfied in the Point The grand Assemblies being formidable to all such as govern by absolute Authority rather then by Law there were very few Councils in this Age. I have told you to what end that of Vienne was held Anno 1311. some will have it a General one because Pope Clement V. presided there and it consisted of a great number of Bishops and Prelats In the year 1318. Robert de Courtenay Archbishop of Reims convened one at Seulis where his eleven Suffragants were in Person or by their Proxies They there pronounced Excommunication against all those that were Usurpers or Detainers of the Churches Goods The Eighteenth of June of the year 1326. the Archbishops of Arles Aix and Embrun assembled the Prelats of their Provinces in the Abby of St. Ruf near Avignon to labour for the reformation of Manners the establishment of Discipline the preservation of Ecclesiastical Immunities and the Hierarchial Authority over the Regulars Anno 1337. there was another at the same place and from the same Provinces which treated about the same things Pope Bennet XII presided there That of Lavaur in the year 1368. composed of three Provinces Narbona Toulouze and Ausch and convened by the Authority of Pope Vrban V. had for their chief aim the reformation of Manners We must not omit that in the year 1377. King Charles V. used his intercession to Pope Gregory XI to order it so that the Bishoprick of Paris might be no longer subject to the Metropolis of Sens and that it might be honoured with the Pall like the other Bishopricks in France His Holiness excused himself as to the first point as a thing too prejudicial to the Church of Sens whereof Clement VI. his Uncle had been Archbishop and where himself had held one of the highest Dignities but for the second he willingly granted it However we do not find that the Bishops of Paris ever thought of making use of it Charles VII King LIII POPES MARTIN V. Eight years five Months under this Reign EUGENIUS IV. Elected the 15th of March 1431. S. sixteen years NICOLAUS V. Elected the 12th of March 1447. S. eight years wanting twelve days CALIXTUS III. Elected in April 1455. S. three years three Months PIUS II. Aeneas Silvius Elected the 19th of August 1458. S. six years whereof four under this Reign CHARLES VII Called the Vctorious King LIII Aged Twenty years eight Months Year of our Lord 1422 THE Dauphin was at the Castle of Espailly near du Puy in Auvergne when he received the news of the death of his Father The first day he put himself into Mourning the second he Cloathed himself in Scarlet and after he had heard Mass in the same Chappel made them set up the Banner of France upon sight whereof all those Lords that were then present with Pennons of their Arms cried out Vive le Roy The English and the Burgundian held the best Provinces of France they had Normandy entirely and all that is between the Scheld even to the Loire and the Saosne excepting some few places which Charles had yet here and there As for his part he had only all that lies beyond the Loire excepting Guyenne but then he had all the Princes of the Blood on his side the Burgundian excepted the best Captains and the bravest Adventurers or Volunteers as the Bastard of Orleans Taneguy du Chastel James and John de Harcour Lewis de Culan Lewis de Gaucour the Mareschals de la Fayete de Rieux de Severac de Boussac Poton de la Hire Stephen de Vignoles-Saintrailles Ambrose de Lore William de Barbasan called the Knight without reproach and a great many others and indeed he purchased them at a dear rate for he was constrained to engage his Castles and the best part of his Demeasnes in pawn for them Now because during his first years he commonly resided in Berry his Enemies nick-named him in raillery the King of Bourges Year of our Lord 1422 In the beginning of November he was Crowned at Poitiers whither he had transfer'd his Parliament The accident that hapned to him at Rochel some days before was a kind of presage that he should fall into extream dangers but yet
should happily get out of them at last Holding one day a grand Council in a House near the Walls of the City the Floor sunk down under his Feet James de Bourbon Lord de Preaux was crushed beneath the Ruines divers others mightily bruised and hurt they had much ado to pluck him out but he had no other hurt then only some parts of his Skin rubb'd off In like manner at his first coming to the Crown all was in a tottering condition threatning to overwhelm him The Duke of Bretagne enraged for that amongst the Papers belonging to the Lords de Pontieure they had found Orders which authorized and warranted them to make him Prisoner went his way to Amiens about mid March with his Brother Arthur Earl of Richmond where he made a League against him with the Duke of Bedford and the Burgundian These four Princes confirmed their Alliance by a double Marriage of the Duke of Bedford and the Bretons Brother Arthur with two of the Burgundians Sisters he had seven in all whereof six Married Arthur took the eldest named Marguerite Widow of the Dauphin Lewis and Bedford the fifth who was called Anne Year of our Lord 1423 There appeared not the least glimpse of good fortune for King Charles he received melancholy news from all Quarters the taking of Meulaue Crotoy Compeigne and Basas in Gascongne But the worst of all was that of the deâ—eat of his Men before the City of Crevant near Auxâ—rre The Earl of Salisbury had laid Siege to it the Constable de Bouchain and the Mareschal de Severac who went thither to relieve it were beaten a thousand of their valiantest Soldiers lay dead upon the place and almost as many led away Priseners amongst whom were the Constable and the Count de Ventadour Year of our Lord 1423 The Birth of his first Child which came into the World in the City of Bourges the fourth of July did for a time afford him some consolation This was a Son whom they named Lewis Year of our Lord 1423 The Council of Constance had by their Forty four Session appointed a Council at Pavia for the year 1423. so few Prelats met there that they were sain to transfer it to Sienna When they had held some Sessions Alphonso King of Arragon endeavoured by his Ambassadors to bring the business again on foot concerning the Anti-Pope Peter de Luna which he did in revenge for that Martin V. had denied him the Investiture of the Kingdom of Naples which he could not possibly grant him because the Council of Constance had bestowed it on Lewis III. Duke of Anjou Now Martin to prevent a Schism could find no readier Expedient then to dissolve the Council upon pretence of a Plague in the Neighbourhood though there appeared no sign of it But that it might not be suspected he in the least apprehended the Judgment of so Holy an Assembly he assigned another in the City of Basle or Basil for the year 1430. Some jealousie and mistrust arising which afterwards grew up to hatred betwixt Jean Queen of Naples and Alphonso King of Arragon whom she had Adopted This ungrateful Man endeavour'd to dispossess her and carry her away by force into Catalonia They fell to open War he held his Benefactress a long time besieged in one Year of our Lord 1423 of the Castles at Naples and without doubt had forced her to surrender if Sforza had not come to deliver her This offence in respect of the publick and according to strict Rules of Law was cause enough to annul the Adoption Jean or Joan therefore sets it aside and by the advice of her Barons gave the same right to Lewis III. Duke of Anjou whom she immediately called into Italy caused him to be owned by her Subjects and gave him the Dutchy of Calabria Year of our Lord 1424 The year 1424. proved not more happy to King Charles then the foregoing one had been True it is that the Earl Douglas a Scot brought him four thousand Men and the Duke of Milan sent him six hundred Lances and twice as many Cross-bow-men on foot but they were almost as soon defeated as arrived The Duke of Bedford after the taking of some places had besieged Yvry which had capitulated after the manner used in those times to surrender upon the Twentieth day of August if no Army appeared before that time expired able to give battle Upon this the Constable the Duke of Alencon and seventeen or eighteen Lords more got all their Forces together and marched near the Town of Yvry but not daring hazard a battle they went all to Verneuil and made him that kept it for the English believe they had gained the Victory and by this Stratagem wrought upon them to open the Gates to them The day astigned for the Battle being past Yvry surrendred Bedford the same moment went and sought them out under the very Walls of Verneuil fought them and carried the day having slain four thousand of their Men and taken Prisoners the Duke of Alencon the Mareschal de la Fayette Lewis de Gaucour and above three hundred Gentlemen Amongst the dead were found Earl Douglas and the Vicount de Narbonne The Body of this last was quarter'd and set upon Stakes in several places he being an Accomplice in the Murther of John Duke of Burgundy Year of our Lord 1424 On the other hand the King drew over Arthur Earl of Richmond to his Party with hopes by his means to regain the Duke of Bretagne This Earl had ever a Soul devoted to France and hated the English the more for that he had offended them in making his escape from thence after the death of Henry V. pretending the faith he had given obliged him only to that King but not to his Successor He had afterwards patch'd up an agreement with the Duke of Bedford at their enterview at Amiens but that tye was too weak to hold him he forsook them upon some little picquant words which passed between him and the Duke of Bedford and Treated with King Charles perhaps not without the instigation or at least the consent of the Duke of Burgundy There were a great many precautions before he could adventure to come to Court they were fain to give him Lords and Towns in Hostage Having his securities he saw the King at Tours but he obliged himself to nothing till he had taken advice of the Duke his Brother the Dukes of Burgundy and Savoy After all these Formalities he came to wait upon the King at Chinon and from his hands received the Constables Sword in the Field of Chinon in presence of all the Lords the Seventeenth of March 1425. as the Bretons tell us though there is a Chronicle Year of our Lord 1425 that says it was in the Month of November 1424. He was positively promised the King would dismiss all those that were of Counsel for the Murther committed at Montereau and in that for seizing the Duke of Bretagne The most fixed
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
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
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.
who then had the Government and prevailed with him at last to put him to death without any form of Process Which excited the hatred of all the great ones against her and made them think of ruining her that they might preserve themselves Year of our Lord 1444 or 45. King Charles was then not much above the age of forty three and the Dauphin who was already two and twenty trod upon his Heels and would have plaid the Master in so much as one day at Chinon he gave a box on the Ear to the fair Agnes There hapned another incident worse yet then this He had bargained with Anthony de Chabanes Earl of Dammartin to assassinate some body that had displeased him James Brother of that Earl who was Grand Maistre of the Kings Houshold dissuaded him from it The King coming to the knowledge of this gave the Dauphin a sharp reprimand The young Prince to excuse himself charged the Earl as having suggested this base design first to him the Earl boldly denied it in the Kings presence and offer'd to justifie himself by Combat against any of the Dauphins Gentlemen that would undertake it The King then found the malignity of his Son abhorred it and commanded him not to see him in four Months time but to go into Dauphine He retir'd with menaces and being once gone thought no more of returning but to Cantonise and Reign alone without any dependance but on his malicious fancies The City of Genoa in a few years had changed their Lords and Governors four or five times The Fregoses and the Adornes who were of their principal Citizens disputed for the Siegnory amongst themselves Barnaby Adorne had usurped it Year of our Lord 1445 with the Title of Doge Janus Fregose pretending he would put it into the Kings hands having treated with him for that purpose made use of the Forces and Money of France to make himself Master then kept it in his own hands and Year of our Lord 1446 scoffed at the French Year of our Lord 1446 The King had for a while adhered to Pope Felix or at least stood Neuter but when informed that Nicholas was elected in the room of Eugenius he would let all Christendom understand he approved his Election He sent a famous Embassy to tender his obedience which perhaps brought in the custom of those stately and expensive Embassies of Obedience which Kings now send to every new Pope Year of our Lord 1447 The Government of the Viscounts at Milan after its having lasted One hundred and seventy years ended this year by the death of Duke Philip And that Estate was claimed by divers Pretenders as either having a right or thinking it would be of great convenience and necessary for them The Emperor Frederic the Duke of Savoy the Venetians Alphonso King of Naples and Charles Duke of Orleans Now as it truly appertained to this last according to the Conditions of the Contract of Valentine his Mother he went thither with some Forces but the Milanese intending their own liberty he could get no more then only his Earldom of Ast Afterwards those People having for many years undergone much trouble and affliction by the contending Parties that strugled for the Mastery fell as we use to say out of the Frying-pan into the Fire by accepting for their Duke Francis Sforza who had Married a Bastard of Duke Philips Year of our Lord 1448 There were but little Infantry in France The King that he might have some that were good and well maintain'd ordained that every Village throughout the Kingdom should furnish him with and pay one Foot-Archer who should be exempt from all Taxes and Subsidies For which they called them the Franc-Archers These made a Body of two or three and twenty thousand Men. Year of our Lord 1448 The Truce prolonged three or four several times was not to end till about a Twelvemonth after this time a Captain of the English Party this was Francis de Surienne extreamly greedy after Prey surprized the City of Fougers belonging to the Duke of Bretagne where he met with a Booty of above Sixteen hundred thousand Crowns and at the same time the English made irruption in Scotland which was also comprehended in the Truce as well as Bretagne but they were soundly beaten there England began likewise to be imbroil'd within its self by reason of some new Tax which King Henry would raise in London which hath most commonly been the occasion or at least the pretence for a Civil War Year of our Lord 1448 The Duke of Bretagne and the Scots likewise make their complaints to King Charles for this breach of the Truce The English are summon'd to repair the damage they disown'd Surienne indeed but for the rest gave no satisfaction but put off's and delays All this was suffer'd six Months they imagine the French are afraid At length the Duke of Bretagne flies out and with the Kings consent surprizes at the same time the Pont de Larche above Rouen Conches near Evreux Gerbroy not far from Beauvais and Cognac upon the River Charente Year of our Lord 1449 By force of many Intreaties Negotiations and Menaces the King overpersuaded Felix to set his hand to the re-union of the Church He renounced the Papacy more gloriously then he had accepted of it His Conventions with Nicholas V. were such that he seemed to quit it as a thing belonging to him which he conferr'd as a favour upon his Rival For he made his demission in the Council which he had purposely transferr'd from Basil to Lausanna and after he had deposited his Pontifical Ornaments the Fathers elected Nicholas who left him perpetual Legat in all the Countries of Savoy Montferrat Lyonnois Swisserland and Alsatia and received all those Cardinals he had created into the Sacred Colledge Year of our Lord 1449 The disturbances of England continuing King Charles found the opportunity so favourable that he resolved to chace the English out of his Kingdom He had made the Earl de Foix Lieutenant of his Armies from the Garonne to the Pyrenees and the Earl de Dunois in all the Kingdom in such sort nevertheless as he rendred respect and honour to the Constable when they both met in the same place The first had Order to take all places the English held at the foot of the Pereneans thereby to block up the passage against John of Arragon King of Navarre who had made a League with them and obliged himself for a certain Sum of Money to keep and guard Mauleon de Soule for them a place very strong in those times and situate upon a high Rock For this purpose he had taken it into his protection and had placed his Constable in it The Count de Foix was Son in Law to that Prince however he had more regard to the Kings Orders then his Father in Law and scruples not to besiege it The Navarrois knowing it wanted Provisions Arm'd himself to relieve it and came within two
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
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
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
recover'd to his full Sences he obstinately continued against all reason to undertake afresh the Siege of that place though he had but 3000 Men only and it was in mid-Winter His great Confident was the Count Nichole de Campobasse a Neapolitan who was come into his Service after the Death of Prince Nicholas Grandson to King Rene. He it was that had the whole superintendance of the Siege This Traytor hindred him from advancing causing all things necessary to be wanting He had Sworn the destruction of his Master and even bargained openly enough for his Life with all his Enemies In the mean time the Duke of Lorrain arrives with 20000 Swisse and Germans and the Kings Army was in Barrois thus this unhappy Prince was environed with Enemies on every hand He had no more then Twelve Hundred men in a condition to fight he was resolv'd to it nevertheless to his utter misfortune In the beginning of the Battel Campobasse retires with 400 Horse which he commanded and left ten or twelve Men to Assassinate him upon his being Routed which he took for certain in effect the Burgundians held Year of our Lord 1477. In January out but a moment and the Duke was killed with three wounds He was in his 46 th year and had ruled Eight only They guessed they knew his Body by several marks and the Duke of Lorrain went in a Mourning Habit and with a Golden Beard after the manner of the Heroe's to besprinkle him with Holy water and then caused him to be Interr'd at Nancy Nevertheless being much beloved by his own Subjects the People imagined he had saved himself and for very shame had gone and hid himself in a Hermitage whence they said he would return again after seven years Pennance In so much that many lent money upon condition to be repaid when he appeared again His Atrabilary humour and a certain person that had been seen in Suabia who resembled him much in Shape Hair Voice and Countenance gave colour to this report Year of our Lord 1477 He had no Children but one Daughter named Mary aged almost Twenty years All the Forces of this Puissant Family had been cut off in these three great Battels his Captains and Noblemen almost all taken There were no Garrisons in their Towns no Money in their Coffers but a Tumultuous and amazed Council People astonished and disobedient and a Potent Enemy well Armed subtil and who spared nothing Thus every thing had soon passed under the Dominion of the King if he would have taken the method propounded for the Marrying that young Princess with his Son or to some other Prince of the Blood And truly if he had bestowed this wealthy Heiress upon Charles Duke of Orleance Count of Angoulesme whom she ardently desired all the Low-Country's would have been to this day united to France For that Prince had a Son that attained to the Crown which was Francis the I. But he so perfectly hated that House of Burgundy that he would anihilate it making account to take away all such Lands as appertained to the Crown and to make the rest fall into the hands of some German Princes his Allies As to the first he brought it to pass almost entirely and without much difficulty there being no Governors left that were Proof against his Bribes or the fears of loosing their Estates The Burghers of Abbeville surrender'd first to his Men whom he had sent before him When he appeared in Picardy William Bische a man of low condition raised by the Deceased Duke Charles gave him up Peronne Others delivered to him Han and Bouchain St. Quentin Roye and Montdidier were taken by themselves While he was at Peronne there came Ambassadors from the Princess Mary to desire Peace of him and offer all obedience to him and the Marriage of their Soveraign with the Dauphin He neither accepted nor refused the conditions but obliged them to facilitate the Peace to acquit Philip de Crevecoeur Desquerdes of the Oath he had made to the House of Burgundy and to order him to deliver the City of Arras to him This Desquerdes having already Treated secretly with him entred into his service and caused Hesdin Boulogne and Cambray likewise to be also surrendred up to him Hesdin staid till it was a little battered only for form sake and then conditioned The City of Boulogne resisted but little more Year of our Lord 1477 It belonged to Bertrand de la Tour d'Auvergne from whom the Burgundian detained it The King would keep it himself and in exchange gave him the County de Lauraguez The City of Arras had likewise taken an Oath But soon after they repented and would have called in some Forces that were at Doway remainders of the defeat at Nancy Those of Doway whose Pride had not yet been humbled having adventured to March by open day-light were cut off in the plain Field and the Lord de Vergy who conducted them was made Prisoner The King afterwards went to besiege Arras His wrath went no less then to raze it to the very Foundations Nevertheless the Supplications of Desquerdes obtained composition but it was not observed towards the rich Citizens To get their Fleeces they took away their Lives On the other hand the Prince of Orange having for the second time reconciled himself to the King persuaded the Estates of the Dukedom and the County of Burgundy partly by reason partly by force to submit themselves to his Obedience Which he did the more easily for that Vergy the most powerful and the most zealous Lord of those Countries was yet a Prisoner They had given that Prince hopes of his having the Government of both the Burgundy's and to restore some certain Lands to him which Duke Charles had made him lose by a Sentence given in favour of his Uncles the Lords of Montguyon and besides he had this for a Cover of his persidiousness and made use of it as a Lure to the Estates That the King did not Seize upon these Country 's to detain them but only to preserve them for the Princess against the Swiss and Germans They soon found how it was when he had gotten possession For he declared the Title he had to wit that of Reversion for want of Heirs Males to the Dutchy and that of Donation to the County which he pretended had been given to the Crown of France by Count Otho V. of that name when he married his Daughter with Philip le Long. The greatest disorder in the affairs of the Princess of Burgundy was caused by the Gauntois As soon as they were assured of the Death of Duke Charles they renewed their Commotions slew their Magistrates made themselves Masters of the Person of their Princess and as they were induced with great Pride and little understanding they would needs do every thing and did nothing but mischief She had in her Council the Dutchess Dower Philip of Cleves Lord of Ravenstein the Chancellor Hugonet and the Lord
two Factions one for the Pope and Ferdinand King of Naples the other for the Duke of Milan with the Venetian and the Florentines At Florence there were two Potent Families that of the Passi most ancient and that of Medecis richest The latter as then Governed and the two Brothers Julian and Laurence were the Heads Year of our Lord 1478 The Passi under the secret protection of the Pope conspired to assassinate them at Church upon Sunday 26th of April Julian was Murthered Laurence saved himself in the Sacrary The Populace being raised ran upon the Passi and exterminated all of them The Conspirators who had gotten themselves into the Palace to Seize it were shut in there and Hanged up at the Windows amongst others the Arch-Bishop of Pisa and they imprisoned a young Cardinal Nephew to the Pope who was found to be Innocent Now the Pope upon pretence of revenging the Honour of the Ecclesiasticks commenced a rude War on the Florentines both with the Fulminations of the Church and with material Arms and Forces The King endeavoured an Accommodation but being unable to effect it he took part with the Florentines and sent Philip de Comines to them who only brought some Succours from Savoy and Milan He had no mind to employ his Forces in so Forraign an Expedition but to frighten the Pope he spoke of calling a Council and continuing the Pragmatick For this purpose he convened all the Prelats and the Deputies of the Universities of the Kingdom at Orleans and dispatched a Noble Embassy to the Pope Guy d'Arpajou Vicount de Lautrec was the principal to demand of him that he should off the Excommunication he had thundred against the Florentines and that they should severely punish all the Complices of that Conspiracy The Scandalous Chronicle has noted That in this year in a Monastery of Benedictines in Avergne it was that of Issoire there was found a Monk both Male and Female who made use of either Sex particularly of the Femininr as appeared by proving great with Child Year of our Lord 1479 The second Truce expired Chaumont got first into the Field and scowred all the Franche-Comte even to the City of Dole Which having been taken by the Teachery of the German Forces who entring therein to relieve it introduced the French was sacked and destroyed and remained some years Buried under its own Rubbish At the same time Maximilian with his Army besieged Terouenne The Kings which was commanded by Desquerdes going to its Relief the Besiegers raised their Siege to encounter them The Shock was given near the Village of Guinegaste Desquerdes at first made the Flemmings give ground but pushing it too far the Counts of Nassaw and de Romont rallied some Companies and put the French to a Rout The Field remained to Maximillian though much more cover'd with the dead Bodies of his own Men than of Enemies and this day regained him some Reputation in his Affairs Year of our Lord 1479 At Sea the Normand Captains took 80 Vessels laden with Wheat which the Flemmings were bringing from Prussia and all their Fleet of Herrings an inestemable damage to that Country In these times arose the power of the great Czar of Russia or Muscovy Russia had heretofore many Princes But they were as Slaves to the Cham of those Tartars who Inhabit the other side of the Volga Duke John shook off that Yoke of Slavery and besides Conquered divers Cities in Russia Alba who obeyed the Duke of Lithuania and reduced to his Command the Great and Famous City Novogorod Capital of Russia then that of Mosco which takes it's Name from the River on which it is Scituate and gives it to all this State Year of our Lord 1479 When the good King Rene was Dead which hap'ned the 10 th of July in the year 1479. The King not openly permitted Charles II. Count de Mayne to put himself into possession of Provence according to the Testament we have before mentioned but likewise interposed his Authority with the Provensals to Enthronize him in that County being perhaps well assured of what hap'ned two years after Year of our Lord 1480 As all things went according to his wishes it hap'ned that being at a Village near Chinon during the Month of March he was on a Sudden deprived of his Speech and all manner of Knowledge At two days end he recover'd both the one and the other But his Body remained so Weak and Languishing that he could never regain his perfect Strength The Legat Nephew to the Pope took his time upon occasion of this Malady to intecede for the Cardinal de la Ballue who on his part did so cunningly feign a Retention of Urine that the King believing he would not live long and making conscience to let him die in Prison set him at Liberty towards the end of November upon condition he should leave the Kingdom which he did and retired to Rome Revenge jealousie and distrust which are the Signs of a weak and ill temper'd Soul encreased upon his Spirits whilst he decreased in Strength He was afraid that if they thought him uncapable to act they would usurp the Government the Duke of Bourbon being the only Prince almost that had the Qualities requisite for such a Pretension he fell into so much hatred against him that he caused his Lands to be Seized and sought out some colourable occasion to ruin him At the same time whether he could not confide in his natural Subjects or for some other reason he disbanded the Franc's Archers and in their stead raised Companies of Strangers especially Swissers Year of our Lord 1480 In this condition he was glad to make Truce with Maximilian for Seven Months to Commence in August The following year it was prolonged a Twelve-month more Year of our Lord 1481 Year of our Lord 1480 The Sultan or Grand Seigneur Mahomet II. caused the Island of Rhodes to be Besieged by the Visier Messite one of his Captains and sent almost 〈◊〉 the same time the Bassa Gedue Acmet to make a Descent on the Coast of Calabria The first after he had lost ten Thousand Men and spent three Months time shamefully raised the Siege but the other took Otranto by Assault the 27th Day of August and struck a Terror through all Italy Charles Duke of Burgundy whose thoughts had only been for War desiring to imitate the Roman Discipline had begun to keep and to exercise his Men in Camps The King after his example caused one to be made in a Plain near the Pont de Larche retrenched and closed up with Waggons He gave the command of it to Desquerdes and put in 10000 Foot Pikemen and Halberdiers for experience had taught him in the Warrs with the Swiss and Liegois that those were the best Weapons or Arms for the Infantry 2500 Pioneers and 1500 Lances After these Soldiers had remained there a Month only he disbanded them and took off as I believe the 1500 thousand Livers
tax which he had ordered for their maintenance Being returned to Tours he fell into the like Fitts of fainting as before His Servants having vowed him to Saint Claude he went thither on Pilgrimage and left the General Lieutenancy of the Kingdom to Peter de Bourbon Lord of Beaujeu his Brother Never was such a Pilgrim seen the Countries he passed felt his Devotions he marched accompanied with six thousand Soldiers and did always some terrible thing or other in his way In this he seized Philibert Duke of Savoy and brought him into France that young Prince dying the next year in the City of Lyons and his brother Charles succeeding him he declared himself his Guardian For since the decease of Duke Ame IX their Father he had alwayes had a great hand in the affairs of Savoy upon pretence that these young Princes were his Sisters Children Year of our Lord 148 Happily for Italy Mahomet being on the point to begin again the Siege of Rhodes and to send a new Army to Otranto dyed at Nicomedia the third of May. Now whilst his two Sons Bajazeth and Zizim were contending for the Empire between themselves the Pope and King Ferdinand took the courage to besiege Otranto and the Turks whilst the division betwixt their Princes lasted expecting no succours surrendred upon composition A short while after Zizim having been defeated twice fled to Rhodes where expecting to find an Asylum he fell into captivity For the Knights for a Pension of 50000 Crowns which Bajazeth promised to pay them yearly detained him Prisoner and with the Kings permission sent him to the Castle of Bourgneuf in Auvergne where he remained some years treated honourably enough Year of our Lord 1489 Year of our Lord 1481 Every thing gave apprehensions to King Lewis he still kept his wife at distance from him and these last years he continued her in Savoy he bred his Son like a Captive at Amboise amongst Servants lest he should grow too high-spirited and alwayes took along with him the first Prince of the blood Lewis Duke of Orleance not suffering any to cultivate his mind by any Education He married him this year to one of his daughters named Jane a most wise Princess but ugly and Lame and one whom the Physitians assured uncapable of bearing any Children Perhaps themselves had taken a course for that purpose Year of our Lord 1481 A little while after his return from Saint Claude he fell again for the third time into his fits of Swooning He caused himself to be carry'd to Clery where he had built a Church to his good Our Lady And there he received some relief but which lasted not long Year of our Lord 1481 The 10th of December Charles d'Anjou Count du Mayne being sick at Marseilles whereof he dyed the next day by his Testament instituted King Lewis his universal Heir in all his lands to enjoy the same he and all the Kings of France his Successors recommending most earnestly to him to mantain Provence in it's liberty 's Perogatives Customs Rene Duke of Lorraine Son of Yoland d'Anjou reclaimed against this institution maintaining that it could not be made to his prejudice the King on the contrary justified it to be good because Provence is a Country ruled by written Law according to which any person may dispose of his own in favour of whom he pleaseth besides the Counts of Provence had always called the Males to their Succession to the prejudice of the daughters Palamedes de Fourbin Sieur de Souliers who managed the Mind of Charles made him find these reasons to be good and for this he in recompence had the Government or to say better the Soveraignty of Provence during his whole life Year of our Lord 1482 When the Affairs of Mary of Burgundy began to be setled that Princess going ahunting fell from her horse and died of it at Gaunt the 25th of May with the fruit wherewith her womb was pregnant In four years she had borne three children Philip Margret and another that had but a short life The death of Mary brought trouble and disorders afresh amongst the Flemmings Her Husband had so little Authority because of his Covetous Poverty amongst those people who were wont to have Princes extreamly Liberal and Magnificent that he was forced to suffer that the Children he had by her should remain under the guard of the Gauntois After a great famine which had afflicted France during the year 1481. there followed an Epidemical Sickness altogether extraordinary which seized upon the Great as well as the Little ones It was a continual and violent Feaver which set the Head on fire whereby the most part fell into Phrensies and died as it were Mad. Year of our Lord 1482 William de la Mark called the wild Boar of Ardenne incited and assisted by the King Massacred most inhumanely Lewis de Bourbon Bishop of Liege either in an Ambuscade or after he had defeated him in Battle and soon after himself being taken by the Lord de Horne brother to the Bishop successor to Lewis had his head cut off at Mastrict Desquerdes had even the last year made himself Master of the Town of Air at the price of 50000 Crowns bestowed on the Governour From this advantagious Post which bridled the Flemmings he made them incline as well by cunning too as force to treat of the Marriage of Margret Daughter of their deceased Princess with the Dauphin Charles though she were hardly two years old and Charles almost twelve The Gauntois Ambassadors having seen the King at Clery made report to their Council of the Kings intentions He demanded for her dowry only the County of Artois and they would needs add to it those of Burgundy of Masconnois Auxerois and Charolois thereby to weaken their Prince so much that he might never be able to bring them under his Yoke Year of our Lord 1482 The King was in so ill a condition that hardly could he suffer them to see him to present so advantagious a Treaty The Daughter was to be put into his Hands about the end of this Year but there remaining yet some difficulties to be determined they brought her not into France till the April following and the Wedding was celebrated at Amboise at the end of July Year of our Lord 1483 Then Edward King of England who upon the faith of the Treaty of Pequigny had ever flattered himself that the Dauphin should Marry his Daughter and held himself so well assured that he made her be called the Dauphiness seeing himself bafled by the French and scoffed by his own Subjects as one fouly imposed upon was so moved with shame and grief that he died the 4th of April delivering France from the apprehension of many mischiefs he might have done them during the Minority of Charles VIII He had two Sons Edward and Richard and five daughters Marry'd to Noblemen of that Country He had also had two Brothers George Duke of Clarence
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
Instrument of Oblivion or Abolition the Twentieth of June The Mareschal de Rieux declaring openly for him received some of his men into Ancenis and took upon him the command of the Army as for Rohan and Quintin his Brother they adhered to the Royalists The Lord de Laval was not suffered to remain Neuter as he would fain have done they forced him to deliver up Vitre to the King Dole was taken and sacked The Duke of Bretagne's affairs had a good aspect for those two or three Months that the King was at Paris Rieux regained Vannes d'Albret brought him a Thousand Horse and the King of England sent him some Foot In retaliation the Kings Army commanded by la Trimoville taking the Field in the Month of April took Chasteau-Briand and razed it gained Ancenis then Besieged Fougeres a Rich place and of great importance which surrendred and after that St Aubin du Cormier The French and Bretons Forces Leagued together joyned in one Body to go to the relief of Fougeres contrary to the wise Counsel of the Mareschal de Rieux Being on their March they were informed the place had Capitulated and Saint Aubin du Cormier likewise The Kings Army commanded by la Trimoville apprehending they would go and retake St. Aubin marched up to them The Battel was fought near the Burrough of Orange between Renes and St. Aubin the 28 th Year of our Lord 1488 of July La Trimoville obtained the Victory the Duke of Orleans and the Prince of Orange who alighted and fought for the Bretons were made Prisoners six Thousand of their Men being slain Year of our Lord 1488 The Dame de Beaujeu did soon after set the Prince of Orange at Liberty he having Married her Husbands Sister and made him Lieutenant for the King in Bretagne But she kept the Duke of Orleans with great care in the Castle of Lusignan and afterwards in the great Tower at Bourges Some days before this Battel there had been another fought in the Air Great Flocks of Jays and multitudes of Pies grappled so furiously with their Bekes and Claws against each other that a Vast deal of ground was quite coverd with their Dead Carcasses The fidelity of the Breton Lords was sorely shaken by this rude Shock The Vicount de Rohan encouraged to declare the pretensions he had to the Dutchy as being the Son of Mary Sister and as he alledged partly Heiress of Duke Francis I. caused Dinan and St. Malo's to fall into the Kings hands this last place was plundred But Renes very couragiously told the Herald that came to Summon them That they would sooner chuse to be nothing then to be unfaithful The Duke thus ill handled by the blind Baggage Fortune was advised to endeavour an accommodation with the King To effect this he sent the Count de Dunois and wrote to him with that submission not usual from the Dukes of Bretagne The King had great pretension to that Dutchy and demanded the Noble Guardianship of the Daughters they agreed upon Arbitrators to judge the right of it But in the mean while he consented to a Peace with the Duke upon condition he should not marry them without his leave that he should renounce all Foreign Leagues and Alliances and should let him keep those places he had Conquer'd in that Country The Treaty was agreed in the Castle of Vergy in Anjou where the King was at that time and Signed at Coiron by the Duke Soon after the Duke grown very old overwhelmed with Sorrow and hurt with a fall from his Horse died at Nantes the 9 th day of September having Reigned two and Thirty years By his Will he appointed the Mareschal de Rieux Guardian to his Daughters with whom he joyned Odet-Daydie Earl of Cominges his Gossip and Intimate Friend and allotted Frances de Dinan Dame of Chasteau-Briand to be their Governess They were two Anne and Isabeau the latter Died about two years after At this time they retired to the City named Guerrande Year of our Lord 1488 The Duke of Lorrain after the Death of the Breton reconciled himself to the Court upon hopes of obtaining some assistance towards recovery of the Kingdom of Naples Opportunity presented it self very fairly most of the Barons of that Country being revolted against King Ferdinand by reason of his Tyrannies and invited Rene to come and take possession of that Crown His Holyness Pope Innocent VIII did favour him whose Galleys with Julian de la Rovere Cardinal of St. Peters waited for him a long time in the Port of Genoa and the French Nobless shewed a great deal of eagerness to follow him But those that Governed the King thwarted this Prince as much as they possibly could as envying him the Glory of this Conquest So that making too long delay the Pope makes an agreement with Ferdinand and such as had faln off cast themselves upon his Mercy which did but ill Succeed with them for he made them all Prisoners and Alphonso his Son coming to the Crown commanded their Throats to be cut The Prince of Salerno wiser then the rest would not trust to it but retired to Venice resolving to seek out some abler Protector The Lorrianer withdrew into his own Country greatly confounded and ashamed and much sunk in his Reputation The Bretons being somewhat at their ease on the French-side were embroiled amongst themselves about the Marriage of their Dutchess Anne The Mareschal was obstinately bent to have her married to the Lord d'Albret to whom the Father had promised it in Writing But Montauban her Chancellor and the Earl de Cominges thought it too inconsiderable a Match and too weak to restore the Affairs of that Dutchy being ruined himself the King having Seized on all his Towns in Gascongny and besides the Princess had no manner of inclination for him So that as soon as ever she had attained the Age of puberty she made her protestations against that promise which were declared to him personally The Count de Dunois opposed it as much as they but for another end He aimed to have her Married to the Duke of Orleans whereas the rest designed her for the Arch-Duke Maximillian Their Disputes grew so high it had like to have come to blows The Dutchess got out of the Mareschals hands being assisted by her Chancellor and the Count de Dunois The Mareschal way-laid her thinking to stop the journey but his respect made him desist and leave her her presence having disarmed him Fearing to be Besieged in Redon by the French she would needs retire to Nantes the Lord d'Albret and the Mareschal refused to admit her but only with her Family-attendance upon this refusal she goes to Renes where the Inhabitants made her a Solemn reception Thus there were two Parties Cantonized the one at Renes with the Dutchess the other at Nantes with the Mareschal who was her Guardian and Authorized by the Orders of the defunct Duke During these Garboils the King seizes upon the
Ports of Brest and Conquet and it was put to the question in the King's Council whether he should compleat the Conquest of that Country by force of Arms. The Courtiers did all advise and desire it the Chancellor Rochefort alone disswaded them representing that a Most Christian King ought not to measure his Conquests by his Sword but his Justice That it were most shameful to dispoil a Pupil one that was innocent of his Kindred and his own Vassal in that Dutchy which he might have by Marriage a much more honest and more easy Method to obtain his desired ends This remonstrance and perhaps the Arrival of six thousand English with whom she garrison'd her Towns put a stop to their present acting to the great regret of the Dame de Beaujeu who had already got a Grant of the County of Nantes Year of our Lord 1489 Innocent VIII Successor to Sixtus IV. whether out of a design to make a Holy War against the Turks or perhaps to draw a good Pension from Bajazeth obtained of the King's Council that Prince Zizim should be put into his Hands upon a condition he should not send him out of Rome but should always have him guarded by some Knights of Rhodes Peter Vaubusson Grand Master of the Order had a Cardinals Cap for managing this Affair For some time after the King had delivered him up to the Popes Agents came an Embassy from Sultan Bajazeth to demand him offering in exchange all the Relicks that were at Constantinople to recover the Holy Land at his own Expences and to pay him a very great Pension Year of our Lord 1490 As for the Affairs of Bretagne upon divers Ruptures there were divers Negotiations There had been some French and Breton Arbitrators appointed but they being thought too much interested or dependent it was judged fitter to make choice of two that were not so and to this purpose the King and the Dutchess agreed upon Maximilian of Austria and the Duke of Bourbon a Prince of great Integrity and withal no great Friend to the Dame de Beaujeu The Deputies of both Parties being met at Francfort it was agreed by Provision that the King should restore all the Places to the Dutchess excepting Saint Aubin Dinan Fougeres and Saint Malo which were to be put under Sequestration into the Hands of the two Arbitrators who should surrender them up to those to whom the Dutchy should be adjudged to belong of Right That in the mean time they should put out all the Soldiers both French and English That the two Parties should produce their Titles before certain Lawyers appointed to examine them in Avignon and that the Deputies should meet again at Tournay the five and twentieth of March following to hear the definitive Sentence which should then be given by the Arbitrators In the midst of all these Goings and Comings there was another secret Treaty carrying on of which the King's Council had not the least suspicion which was the Marriage of Maximilian with the Dutchess and this was so far advanced that in the Year 1489. this Dutchess married him by his Proxy who was the Earl of Nassaw The thing was kept secret a long time and yet nothing of what they agreed on at Francfort was put in Execution So that the King whether he had discovered the Marriage or was tyred at the tedious delay of the Arbitration took up Arms again and caused his Forces to March to besiege the Dutchess in Renes but they were countermanded for what Reasons I know not Year of our Lord 1491 In vain the Princess presses for Assistance from England and Germany she had but very weak returns Maximilian a Poor and a Cold Lover did not bestir himself as he should have done for so fair a Mistriss he never furnish'd her with above two thousand Men. In the mean time Bretagne was invaded on all Hands by the French and the Lord d'Albret enraged to see himself supplanted by a German gave them up the City of Nantes upon condition of some compensation promised him for those Pretensions he had to the Dutchy This claim was derived from his Wife Frances of Bretagne Daughter of William Vicount of Limoges youngest Son of the House of Pontieure During these Disorders nothing could be more facile then for the King to have taken away the Dutchess by force However he was advised to try Maximilian's way rather then force and to Marry the Princess and so gain her by composition Of an Enemy therefore he became her Lover and sought to win her by Courtship and Allurements but she was haughty in her Misfortune she could not resolve to break her Faith nor bestow her Heart upon a Prince that had treated her so ill and who had too much Power not to violate in a short time the Laws and Liberties of Bretagne The Duke of Orleans had acquired a great deal of Credit with her the King desiring to make use of him to conquer her high Spirit and besides being perswaded thereto by some of the Gentlemen of his Chamber goes one Day and takes him out of the Tower at Bourges without consulting the Dame de Beaujeu who had kept him Prisoner two Years and some Months This Duke by the Mouth of the Count de Dunois and with the help of Prince of Orange and the Mareschal de Rieux who was reconciled to the Dutchess omitted no Courtship nor Reasons of State to perswade her in favour of the King She resisted for a while but in fine the great negligence of Maximilian and he pressing necessities added such force to their Arguments and Reasons that she yielded and with a Sigh gave her self up a Sacrifice for the Safety of her Country Year of our Lord 1491 Wherefore after the deliberation of the Estates of Bretagne the Contract of Marriage was perfected at Langeais in Touraine the sixteenth of December and the Nuptials consummated the same Day By the Contract either of the Parties in case of Death did reciprocally yeild up all the Rights each of them had to the Dutchy and the King made a Separate Treaty with the Estates of that Country for the Preservation of their Laws and their Priviledges Some time before this Marriage was spoken of the great Authority of the Dame de Beaujeu diminished a little and gave way to the favour of some of the young King 's Domestick Officers which she did the more cheerfully undergoe because her Husband was become Duke of Bourbon by the decease of John his eldest Brother which hapned in 1488. Year of our Lord 1490. And 1491. The young King now become Master of his own Will and Desires did endeavour to form himself to Goodness by his own inclination addicting his Mind to the Study and Reading useful Books and delighting in the Conversation of knowing Men as much as his former neglected Education and narrow Breeding could give him Light to do but the flattering Courtiers to whose Humors a wise serious Prince proves but a
such as lay aside a great many Wares but can never find Money to pay or fetch them away The following Month he sent to Summon the King to perform what he had promised by the Treaty which was to restore the banished Milanese the fifty thousand Florins for the Investiture the five hundred Lances to attend him into Italy whither he desired to go to take the Imperial Crown The King satisfied him in all things excepting the Payment which was not yet due but underhand he supported the Duke of Guelders against the Arch-Duke and put some jealousy into the Heads of the Pope and the Venetians insomuch as they prayed the Emperor not to enter into Italy with an Army The Pope having discover'd the Genius and the Conduct of these Princes being Proud and Presumptuous believed himself to be above them all in Understanding as well as in Dignity that therefore he could awe them with a Nod lead them as he pleased and in the end destroying them by one another drive them both out of Italy and govern alone himself And they on their Parts were weak enough to believe they could do nothing without him and so by their fears encreased his Power He made the King set a great Value upon the Power he gave him to dispose of the Benefices in Milanois and the two Cardinals Caps the one for the Nephew of the Cardinal d'Amboise the other for la Trimovilles and therefore for this he in return obtained that the King should employ his Forces to recover Bologna for him out of the Hands of John Bentivoglio This Lord finding himself assaulted by him who had ever been his Protector intreated him at least to interceed with his Holyness that he might have the liberty to go out of the Town Year of our Lord 1506 and carry his Goods along with him Julius did not seem to be a jot the better pleased with the French but on the contrary he despised the King and the Nation though he had very great obligations to them besides For in the time of Pope Alexander his Capital Enemy he found his Refuge in France and a great deal of kindness from Lewis six years together but far from bearing in mind so many Favors this good Prelate when his Brain was pretty well warmed with Wine it evaporated in Discourses injurious both to the King and Kingdom of France The King and Courtiers were not wanting in their returns by reparties so much the more picquant as they were Ingenious and which left their tormenting Stings in his haughty and implacable Soul Year of our Lord 1507 The first important Occasion wherein they perceived his hatred was about the Affairs of Genoa where his Emissaries by their contrivance turned a Commotion which hapned betwixt the Nobility and the People into a down-right revolt against the King The mutinous Rabble being at perpetual Discord with the very insolent Nobless chose eight Tribunes under whose Authority they took those Places which Lewis de Fiesque held along the River and far from restoring them as the King commanded besieged Monaco so that Ravestein not thinking himself secure at Genoa went thence and then they Elected a Duke who was only a simple Dyer named Paul de Nova The Pope had omitted no under-hand Devices to excite this Rebellion The Emperor on his Part had blown up this Flame as much as it was possible and yet both the one and the other left these Wretches in the Perils they had drawn them to They had raised a Fort to defend the Passage into the Mountains which surrounds their City and had posted themselves near it with all their Militia The King presenting himself with twenty thousand fighting Men Master'd it at the first Assault and put their Army to a Rout which astonished them so much that they brought him the Keys of their Town without any Composition Year of our Lord 1507 Two days after which was the twenty ninth of April he made his Entrance in Arms having his Back and Breast-piece on his Sword drawn in his Hand all the People crying out for Pardon and Mercy and the Women and Children cloathed in White casting themselves down at his Feet Their Crime was expiated only by the Blood of Demetrius Justinian of Paul de Nova and a fine of three hundred thousand Ducats which was laid out in building of Castles to bridle them The King's Clemency pardoned all the rest and made them experiment the truth of that Devise which he had on his Coat of Armour the Day he made his Entrance It was a King of the Bees surrounded with his Swarm with these apt Words Non utitur aculeo Rex cui paremus Year of our Lord 1507 It would have been facile for him with a Victorious Army and in the astonishment it gave to all Italy to have made a mighty Progress which way soever he would have turned his Sword but he was so fearful of displeasing the Pope and of drawing the Innundation of all Germany upon Milanois very much exasperated against him by some Speeches of Maximilians in their Diet that to avoid all jealousy both in the one and other that he designed any Enterprize he disbanded his Forces He had likewise returned immediately into France had he not waited for King Ferdinand who desired to confer with him The Arch-Duke Philip died in the five and twentieth of September in the foregoing Year being eight and twenty years old By his Testament he left Charles his eldest Son under the Protection of King Lewis and desired him to take the Guardianship which he generously did and had so great and particular a care of his Education assigning him Philip de Crovi-Chevres a most ingenious Lord for his Governor that he made him much more able and knowing then consisted with the benefit of France Jane de Castille his Wife who before had her Mind a little discomposed was so concerned at his Death that she lost all her Wits and Reason she being therefore uncapable to Govern Ferdinand parted from Naples where he had been to take Possession to come and administer the Kingdoms of his Grand-Son In his Passage he conferr'd with the King at Savonna each of them treated the other with all imaginable Honour and Token of reciprocal Affection King Lewis went first to visit Ferdinand in his Galley Ferdinand came to see him in his House putting themselves thus into one anothers Power without any precaution They Swear upon the most Holy Sacrament to keep the Peace but the Event made it apparent that on Ferdinand's Side it was but feigned he stood no longer in need of the Friendship of Lewis the jealousy of the Arch-Duke which had before troubled him was now vanisht with his Life The German Princes were much heated in the Diet of Constance against the King they were made to believe that he dispised them and that the Army he had Marched over the Mountains to Chastize the Genoese were to invade all Italy In this beliefe they
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
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
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
Regis Professors at Paris for the Sciences and for the Tongues He had likewise a design to Build a Colledge and to settle a Fund of Fifty Thousand Crowns Revenue for the breeding and maintenance of Six Hundred Gentlemen He got together a huge number of Manuscripts of Ancient Authors which make up that precious Library which is the rarest Treasure of our Monarchs of France In a word he merited the glorious Surname of the Father or Patron and restorer of Learning The long and tedious Wars and his Imprisonment had accustomed the Nobility to all sorts of Violence and Crimes He caused the Grand-Jours or Sessions to be held at Poitiers this is an extraordinary Tribunal of Judges Commissioned Year of our Lord 1531 for a certain time and chosen out of those belonging to the Parliament to punish the most guilty There were others held during his Reign at Rion in Auvergne in the Year 1545. Towards the end of July there was a Hairy Comet observed in the Heavens which was visible all the Month of August The vulgar imagined it foretold the death of Louisa of Savoy the Kings Mother who might justly boast she brought him twice into the World once when he was born and again when by her care she deliver'd him from his Captivity She died at Grez in Gastinois the two and twentieth of September as she was Travelling to her Castle of Remorantin in Berry after a long fit of Sickness she had endured at Fontainebleau From the end of the Year 1528. to the beginning of the Year 1534. the wrath of Heaven was so great against France that there was a perpetual irregularity in the Seasons or to speak truth Summer alone usurped the place of the other three insomuch as in five years there had not been two days Frost together These tedious heats enervated as we may say and decay'd Nature making her impotent she brought nothing to maturity The Trees put forth their Blossoms immediately upon their Fruit Corn did not multiply in the Fields and for want of Winter there were such multitudes of Vermin and Insects that fed upon it at its first tender sprouting up that the Harvest yielded not enough for Seed against the next Season for Sowing This scarcity caused a general Famine then came a Disease which they named Truss-Galant after that a dreadful Plague so that these three destroyed above a fourth part of the People Year of our Lord 1532 Anno 1532. The King made a Journey into Bretagne and there after the deliberation which he procured with no small trouble of the Estates of the Country Assembled at Vannes he United that Province to the Crown and would needs have his Son Crowned Duke at Rennes and bear their Arms with those of France and Daufine The Patent for this Union bears date at Nantes in the Month of August of this Year 1532. During the six years of Peace the Emperor labour'd in Settling and Composing his Affairs in Germany which were much embroiled by the different Sects in opposing the designs of Solyman and more yet in contriving wayes and means to ruine the Affairs or at least blast the reputation of King Francis This year he went to the Diet at Ratisbon where at the request of the Princes of the Empire he reformed the Imperial Chamber and obtained of them and the Cities a very great Supply against the Turk who was making ready to fall upon Hungary with innumerable Forces by Land and upon Italy with a powerful Fleet by Sea He made use of this occasion to demand of the King that he would lend him Money and his Gentdarmerie He answer'd as touching the Money that he was no Banker and for his Horse-men that they were the strength of his State and that he lent them no more then he would his Sword but would fight at the head of them that he might have his share in the Honour or in the Danger But because the Imperialists proclaim'd it was a shame that both he and the King of England should stand idle or with their Hands in their Pockets amidst the danger that threatned all Christendom they made a League whereby they engaged betwixt them to set Four-score Thousand Men on Foot with an Equipage suitable and convenient to Attack the common Enemy and the King in particular proffer'd to defend Italy which the Emperor had denuded of all his Forces in case the Turkish Navy should land there The year was much advanc'd when Solyman appeared upon the Frontiers of Hungary with Two Hundred Thousand Men. Germany notwithstanding their Divisions made a greater effort then ever They opposed him with an Army of Ninety Thousand Foot and Thirty Thousand Horse all modelled Troops The Emperor was at their Head and this was his first Expedition which gave him a gusto for the Trade ever afterwards One Battle would have decided the Fate of either Empire and made one sole Master of the Universe But neither the one nor the other durst run the hazard of so great an Event there were only some Combats between detached Bodies Solyman withdrew first Charles V. afterwards in so great hast that he staid not to drive the pretended King John out of Hungary as he might have done Before his return into Spain he went to Bologna where he confer'd a second time with the Pope Year of our Lord 1532 The Union appeared very strickt between King Francis and King Henry These Princes desiring to confer with each other about their Affaires met in the Month of October at Saint Joquevert between Boulogne and Calais according as they had appointed the foregoing year Henry came to Boulogne to visit Francis who returned him his Visit at Calais Both of them were much dissatisfied with the Pope particularly Henry because he refused to appoint him Judges upon the place to take Cognizance in the matter of Divorce They treated therefore a League defensive with and against all and projected to demand of the Pope one his Assistance to recover the Dutchy of Milan the other a Bull for the dissolving of his Marriage otherwise they would withdraw their Kingdoms from his Obedience till a General Council the only Name whereof as they well knew made him even tremble But the news they received af Solymans retreat somewhat allayed those Propositions and delivered Italy from that approaching War they had threatned it withal The Pope and Emperor saw each other at Bologne with the same Demonstrations of Amitie as the first time but with much different Sentiments The Emperor pressed him to call a Council because he had promised the Germans one to renew a Confederation with all the Princes of Italy for their common defence against the French and to bestow his Niece Catherine upon Francis Sforza He likewise was earnest with him to cast his Spiritual Thunderbolts against the King of England for having Divorced himself from his Aunt Katherine As to the first the Pope not finding himself irreproachable but much hated of the
three Counties and in the mean time the King declared all the Vassals in those Countries acquit and discharged from their Oathes to him from all Faith and Homage and enjoyned them to serve the King upon the Penalty of Forfeiture of their Fiefs and to be Proclaimed Rebels whereof publication to be made upon the Frontiers The Heraulds went therefore to Summon Charles by posting up Papers and making Proclamation He replied fuming with rage that since they recalled him into France he would return thither with such powerful Justifications as would Year of our Lord 1537 make the Treaties to be duely observed and in the mean while for Comparition Adrian de Crouy Count de Roeux having drawn together the Commons of the Low-Countries came and ransacked the Frontiers of Picardy This proceeding of the Kings was variously spoken of but none could approve of the Alliance he made with Solyman the Enemy of Christendom as well to defend himself against the Emperor as in hatred to the Venetians with whom he was extreamly offended for having despised his Amity and the offer he made to share Milanois with them One might nevertheless in some Measure excuse this League of a Christian King with an Infidel not only by the example of the Kings of Spain Grand-Fathers of this Emperor who had contracted the like with Mahometan Kings but even by that of the Emperor himself who had endeavour'd earnestly to do the same with Solyman so that he was no less guilty in that particular but less prevalent or skilful or less fortunate then Francis The Kings attempts did not answer this grand Arrest or Decree of his Parliament He took only Hesdin and Saint Paul and having spent his first Fire returned in the beginning of May to Paris leaving his Army with the Count de Saint Paul and order to Fortifie the City of the same name where they put three Thousand Men in Garrison So soon as he was retired the Enemies being Assembled forced that City and received that of Monstreuil upon Composition but they could gain nothing at Terouenne the Dauphin and Montmorency having got their Troops together timely enough to Relieve it as they did During this Siege a Conference was held at the Village of Bommy at the solicitation of the two Queens Eleonora of France and Mary of Hungary where the Deputies agreed upon a Cessation of all hostilities for three Months in the Low-Countries that they might endeavour to bring about a Peace Some believed the King accepted of it to Transport all his Forces into Italy pursuant to the Treaty made with the Turks who at the same time were to fall upon the Kingdom of Naples In effect the Emperor Solyman did himself lead an Army of One Hundred Thousand Men into Albania from whence he sent Lusti-Bacha and Barbarossa to Cruise upon those Coasts and discover the Country resolved to follow them as soon as they had gained any Port but when he found that the King was making War in Flanders he returned with great Indignation that he should break his word with him As for Barbarossa having no certain News of the King he was fallen upon the Island of Corfu belonging to the Venetians where finding the Places too well provided he ruined the open Country and carried Sixteen Thousand Souls into Captivity The same Summer King Ferdinand received two great Foiles by the Turks the one at Belgrade in Hungary the other before a City in Dalmatia where his two Armies besieging those two places were shamefully defeated In the Interim it hapned in Piedmont as well by the little esteem the Soldiers had of Humieres as the particular quarrels amongst the other Officers and the Mutinies of the Lansquenets the French Forces were dissipated Humieres was retired into Pignerol to wait for Supplies from France and had quitted the Field to Du Guast who had retaken several Towns and almost the whole Country of Salusses The Marquess whom we told you had so unworthily forsaken the French Party was kill'd with a Cannon Bullet at the Siege of Carmagnoles His death so enflamed the fury of the Soldiers that they forced the Place and Du Guast to revenge his death hanged the Captain The Love of Liberty could not be so soon effaced out of the hearts of the Florentines One that was of Kin to the new Duke Alexander named Laurence de Medicis slew him in his own Chamber whither he had allured him with the hopes of meeting a certain Lady for whom he had a great passion but flying as soon as the blow was given the Cardinal Innocent Cibo Son of a Sister to Leo X. who was then at Florence and Alexander Vitelli Captain of the City Guards set up a young man of the House of the Medicis in the place of Alexander where he maintain'd himself in spite of Strossy and other Zealots for their Liberties His name was Cosmo and descended of one Laurent Brother of the Grand Cosmo To gain the People he promised them at first that he would have from the City but Twelve Thousand Crowns for his Maintenance but when he was well establisht he raised it to Twelve Hundred Thousand As for Laurence de Medicis after he had wandred in divers places because Cosmo had Year of our Lord 1537 set a price upon his head he was at last stabbed at Venice by two Assasins Christierne III. King of Denmark introduced Lutheranisme into his Kingdom and turned out the Bishops but kept the Canons that he might have the bestowing of Prebends He did the same in Norway which he had Conquer'd Some years before King Gustavus Erecson had made a like change in Sweden The King being informed that his Affairs went on very ill in those Countries that du Guast besieged Humieres in Pignerol and that before the years end he would drive the French quite out of Piedmont resolved to prevent it and in some measure satisfie Solyman to go thither in Person At Lyons being fallen sick of a slight Feaver he gave order to the Daufin and to the Mareschal de Montmorency to march before-hand with the Army At first coming they forced the Pass of Sufa guarded by ten thousand men a famous exploit in War drove Du Guast to Quiers and got several advantages which drew the King himself thither with great hopes of recovering Milanois His Army was found to be above Forty Thousand Men the French were in good Heart the Enemy affrighted and their Places ill provided but it was the end of October he apprehended the inconveniences of the Season the length of some Siege the Irruption of the Flemmings and the uncertainty of accidents so fatally experimented before Pavia So that making a specious pretence of the having given his word to the Queen of Hungary that he would not do any thing that should obstruct the Peace he upon the mediation of the Pope and the Venetians granted a Truce of three Months for those Countries beyond the Mountains and prolonged that with the Low-Countries
Duke of Savoy to all his Lands but that he should retain the Towns so long as the Emperor did hold Milan and Cremona That what had been taken Year of our Lord 1545 in those Countries since the truce of Nice the Emperor had taken but one place and the King above twenty should be resigned by either party as likewise all those which had been taken in France and in the Low-Countries This Place being more Advantageous to the Duke of Orleans then to France the Daufin who could not Suffer either the Aggraâ—dising of his Brother nor the damage of the Kingdom made Protestations against it in the Castle of Fontainebleau in presence of the Duke of Vandosme the Count d'Enghien his Brother and Francis Earl of Aumale the second day of December The Kings People of the Parliament of Toulouze did so likewise as to what concerned the Rights of the Crown and the Translation of the Subjects to another Prince That which hastned the King to conclude this Treaty was not alone the instigation of the Duke of Orleans but likewise the unwelcom news he received of Boulognes Capitulating and the extreme danger Monstreuil was in The Mareschal de Biez defended the last most Stoutly though it were nothing worth but his Son-in-Law James de Coucy Vervin a young Fellow easie to be scared as having no experience Surrendred Boulogne most unworthily before it was in danger and when the Daufin was within two days March of the Place to Relieve it Nor did he forgive him for it having ever a strong conceit that he had given it up to favour the Duke of Orleans Monstreuil was saved because the Peace being concluded at Crespy the Count de Bures and de Roeux who were joyned with the Duke of Norfolk had very express Orders to retire The Daufin who had used great diligence to come to the relief of Boulogne finding it Surrendred made an attempt in the Night upon the Basse Ville which was enclosed only with a Ditch without any Wall and yet nevertheless where the English had put their Cannon and Equipage He gained it very â—asily But for want of good Order his men falling upon the Baggage the English came down from the upper Town and though much inferior in Numbers beat and drove them out but not all for there were four or five hundred remained dead upon the place This project failing the Mareschal de Biâ—z had orders to raise a Fort upon the point of Land which lies right over against the Old Tower to hinder the entrance into the Harbour but they having no Water there and it being impossible the Souldiers could abide in it by reason it lay exposed to all Wind and Weather they built another that faced the Basse-Ville or lower Town in a place called Outreaâ— but made it so small that after three Months labour they were fain to fill up the Trenches to enlarge it Year of our Lord 1545 The Affairs of Scotland being Embroiled by the King of England who whatever it cost him would have the Heiress for his Son the King took a care to assist the young one and the Queen her Mother The Earl of Lenox in the year 1543. carried some Forces thither which he sent But that Spark having gamed away the Money which was for Payment of their first Muster went over to the King of England's Service who bestowed his Neece upon him In his room were sent the Lord de la Brosse a Gentleman of Bourbon then Lorges Earl of Montgomery Captain of the Scotch Guards with some Soldiers Some Vandoâ—s were still remaining in the Valleys of the Alpes between Daufiné and Savoy There were of them in the two Burroughs of Merindol and Cabrieres the first being part of the County of Venisse the other in the Territories belonging to the King Since Luther's starting up they began to Preach publickly About the year 1536. the Parliament of Provence whereof Anthony Chassane was then Premier President had made a Decree for the punishing them This had been put by several times but this year 1545. John Menier d'Oppede who succeeded Chassanâ— that dyed suddenly being moved either out of Zeal or because one of his Tenants went away to Cabrieres without paying his Rent undertook to Execute it He raised Forces and joyning them with such as the Vice-Legat of Avignon was pleased to furnish him withal went to Exterminate those miserable creatures and made a general Massacre of all of them without distinction of Age or Sex excepting only such as made their Escape to the Rocks The preceding year Anthony Duke of Lorraine had left this World this year Duke Francis his Son followed him leaving a Son named Charles aged but two years Anthony was fain to use great skill to preserve and poyse himself between the King and the Emperor He Married one of his Daughters to Rene de Chaalons Prince of Orange and Francis his eldest Son to Christina Daughter of Christierne II. King Year of our Lord 1545 of Denmark and Dorothy Sister to the Emperor The King had conceived great jealousies upon it Nevertheless his conduct was so prudent and his proceedings seemed so cordial in his Laborious undertakings to procure a Peace between him and the Emperor that at length he was fully satisfied in him The Council was earnestly demanded for by the Emperor and by the Germans but the Catholicks desired a general one and the Protestants a National where the Pope should not be Judge In the year 1542. Paul III. had indicted it at Trent And nevertheless for divers causes he delay'd the opening of it till the thirteenth day of December in this year which was the third Sunday in Advent The Orders for the Convocation were directed to the Emperor and the King by Name but to all other Princes only in general When the King found he could not recover Boulogne either by force or by way of Treaties he believed the best means to regain it would be to attaque the King of England in his own Island He therefore sent Orders to Captain Paulin to sit his Galleys at Marseilles and bring them to the Mouth of the River Seine got ten great Genoese Ships divers of which perished at the entrance into that River and joyned all the Good Vessels he had in any of his Harbours But intending to Treat the Ladies at Dinner in his great Carrack which was the stateliest Vessel belonging to the Sea the Cooks by their carelesness set it on Fire utterly consumed it and much damnified all those that lay about her by the discharging one hundred Guns she had on Board Which greatly disordered the Feast and gave an ill presage of that expedition The Admiral Annebaut had the Command of the Fleet. He went to seek out the English upon their own Coasts and Seized upon the Isle of Wight The English after some small Firings retired between that Island and Portsmouth in a place surrounded with Banks and Rocks where there was
Bayard one of the Secretaries was Imprisoned and Villeroy his Compagnon deprived of his Employment James du Tiers and Claude Clausse Marquemont were put in their Places as in that of John du val Tresorier de l'Espargne Blond de Bochecour whose Wages or Salary was augmented to thirty Thousand Livers a certain presage of the future wasting of the Finances They likewise took away the Office of Grand Master of the Artillery or Ordnance from Claude de Tais to give it to Charles de Cossé Brisac the Lord amongst all the Courtiers the most lovely and the most beloved by the Kings Mistress Longeval accused to be of Intelligence with the Emperor redeemed himself by selling his fair House de Marchez in Laonnois to Charles de Lorrain who soon after was made Cardinal Of Twelve Cardinals that were then in France the new Ministers to be the more at large and at their own ease sent Seven of them to Rome upon pretence of Fortifying the French Party for the Election of a Pope when Paul III. who was near Fourscore years old should come to die Annebaud to satisfie to an Edict which they had purposely made that one man could not hold two great Offices was forced to quit that of Mareschal wherewith Saint André was gratified Francis I. had encreased the number of Mareschals even to Four but finding that the multitude debased that great dignity he had resolved to reduce them to two so that at this time there were but three They added a fourth which was Robert de la Mark Sedan Son in Law of Diana They made process against Odard de Biez likewise Mareschal of France and against Vervin his Son in Law They were not Condemned till the year 1549. Vervin lost his head His Father in Law an Honourable old Man and by whose hands Henry being then but Dausin would needs be made a Knight was shamefully degraded of his Office and the Order of Saint Michael He died of Grief in the Fanxbourg Saint Victor whither he had permission to retire The Earldom of Aumale was erected to a Dutchy in favour of Frances Eldest Son of Claude Duke of Guise The Dutchess d'Estampes having no more support at Court and seeing her self despised by all the World even of her own Husband chose one of his Houses for her Retreat where she yet lived some years in the Exercise of the new Religion to which her Example and Liberalities drew a great many People All the Kings Revenues being too little to satisfie the Covetousness of the new Ministers they sought to have Advice what to demand of him but the Genius of the French nor their Parliaments being yet used to suffer Monopolies and Farmers they employ'd Accusers or Informers who brought the richest Delinquents to Justice that they might enjoy their Spoils by Confiscations or by Compositions As to Things without Doors the Pope desired to have a defensive League with the King and for that end had sent the Cardinal Saint George Legate into France to give the King thanks for having promised his Natural Daughter Diana but nine Years old to his Grand-Son Horace and to negociate a more strickt Alliance with him The King gave no Positive Answer to the last Proposition his Affairs not being as yet in good Order and they suspecting his great Age and the Fidelity of his Children And indeed he was at the same time treating with the Emperor to get the Dutchy of Milan for John Lewis Farneze his bastard Son The King and the Emperor laboured separately and distinctly with the Turk the one to have a Peace with him the other to incite him to fall upon Hungary Year of our Lord 1547 as he had promised King Francis Now as on the part of France they neglected a while to send any News to Constantinople or even give notice of the death of that King the Emperor meeting no Obstruction obtained a Truce of Solyman for five Years paying him thirty thousand Crowns Tribute Annually and making him believe he held a very good Correspondence with the French and that they would have no more to do with the Port. Nevertheless Solyman desiring still to preserve his Amity with France would needs without being required have the King to be comprized in the Truce of Hungary as if he had been absolutely a Party contracting It is to be observed that in the Writings or Instrument of this Truce Solyman stiles Charles V. only simply King of Spain and the King of France the most serene Emperor of France his most dear Friend and Allie The Sixteenth of July the King being returned out of Picardy where he had been to visit the Frontiers saw at Saint Germains en laye the famous Duel between Guy Chabot Jarnac and Francis Vivonne la Chasteigneraye they quarrell'd about some certain intrigues of the Womens Jarnac had given the Lie to Chasteigneraye upon some villanious reproach of his concerning his Fathers second Wife He challenges him to fight the King permitted it causeth the Lists to be made ready and would needs be a Spectator with the whole Court He fancied Chasteigneraye would have the better whom he cherished and yet it fell out that Jarnac though much weakned with a Feavour that tormented him brought him down with a back blow he gave him on his hams They parted the Combatants but the vanquished not able to undergo so much shame in the Kings Presence would never suffer the Chyrurgions to bind up his wound but dyed of rage within a few days The King was so concerned at it that he sware solemnly never to permit the like Combats In the Month of August the Grands Jours or extraordinary Court of Justice began to be held in the City of Tours The troubles continued in Scotland The English were obstinately bent to have the young Queen for their King Edward and had gained a furious Battel against the Scots and after it taken several places The King sent therefore an Army into Scotland Commanded by Dessé Epanvillers who was accompanied by Peter Strozzi and Dandelot Brother to Chastillon They settled the Authority of the Queen Dowager stopt the Progress of the English and the year following brought the young Queen into France she was but six years of Age. Two Months before the Kings Coronation news came into France that the Protestant Princes of the League of Smalcalde were vanquish't by the Emperor in the Battel of Mulberg the twenty fourth of April That John Frederic Duke of Saxony their chief head and a Prince of great worth was taken Prisoner in the rout that the Emperor had caused him to be Condemned to lose his Head and having with much ado given him his life he detained him in Prison and had deprived him of his Dutchy to invest his Consin Maurice with it who was of the same House of Saxony and of the same Religion that all the great free Cities excepting Magdenbourgh had submitted that the Landgrave of Hesse had been forced to
and Pensions for his Nephews and Friends That the Duke of Ferrara and in his absence a Prince whom the King should name should have the General Command of the Armies This League was held secret for some time the Cardinal de Lorrain at his going to Rome had by his fair words drawn in Hercules de Ferrara to be an Allie but his eloquence had not the same power over the Venetians The Cardinal Nephew did likewise employ motives of interest and those of fear He propounded to give them Ravenna in pawn and Puglia when it was conquer'd threatning in case they did not make a League with him to call in the Turks which they dreaded above all things but all this could not move them On the other hand King Philip foreseeing the Pope would by his Sentence endeavour to deprive him of the Kingdom of Naples and Excommunicate him prepared to assemble all the Cardinals together at Pisa to declare the promotion of the Pope not Canonical and by that means invalidate all that he should do to his prejudice He had thirteen or fourteen very sure on his side without reckoning such others as he might gain besides In the mean time the Duke of Alva informed of those Treaties after he had taken order for the Affairs of Milanois and Piedmont passed by Sea into Tuscany where he conferr'd with the Duke of Florence and from thence went to the Kingdom of Naples At the same time the King who had resolved upon the rupture wrote to his Ambassador at Constantinople his name was la Vigne that he should speak of it to Solyman as if he did it for his sake and by that means endeavour to procure a considerable assistance Solyman much pleased to find that a new flame was breaking forth in Christendom promised wonders and made his Fleet put out to Sea But it served the French only to clear themselves in some sort For an Agent of the Kings named Codignac who was discontented going over to the Spaniards had given the Turks some jealousie upon the Kings designing to make himself Master of Italy as if he from thence intended to pass into Greece as Charles VIII would have done and to encrease their apprehensions he discover'd to them I know not what kind of ancient Prophesies which threaten that the Franc's shall overthrow the Empire of the Crescent Year of our Lord 1555 Though this League were concluded before the end of the year 1555. it did not hinder but by the mediation of Mary Queen of England and Cardinal Pool the King and the Emperor were inclined and at last brought to agree upon a general and trading Truce for five years It was treated at Vaucelles near Cambray the fifth of February in Anno 1556. The Emperor contributed much to it Year of our Lord 1556 very well satisfied that this calm consolidated the new begun Reign of his Son When the Cardinal Caraffa heard of this Truce he made a great complaint to the King that they had abandoned the interests of his House that they left it exposed to the vengeance of the Spaniards and the Florentines He demanded that for security the King would at least be pleased to put those places into the hands of the Pope which were yet left him in Sienna He imagined that by this means he should be sought to by those Princes and that they would be glad to buy his amity and when the King had refused them he importun'd his Uncle so much that he condescended he should go Legate into France to dispose the King to break the said Truce He came in a proud Equipage but concealing his Design and giving out it was to labour for a Peace between the two Crowns He saluted the King at Fontainbleau made him a Present of a Sword and an Hat which had been blessed by the Pope and entertain'd him in private with his grand Designs The King was very irresolute but in the end the Legates vast promises and the opinion he possess'd him with that nothing was able to resist his power and withal the artificial address of Valentinois who had already made Alliance with the Guises by giving one of her Daughters to the Duke of Aumale with the intrigues of the Queen who desired a War in Italy to employ her Kinsman the Mareschal de Strozzi there thrust him into the Precipice and made him resolve to declare a War against the Spaniard But before this the Council thought expedient to send to the Emperor and to King Philip to admonish them to recall the Duke of Alva and his Forces out of the Territories of the Holy-See They had already taken divers places there and even the City of Ostia which the Nephews had neglected to provide The Legate made his entrance into Paris with the Magnificence usual on such Ceremonies At Court and in the City he shewed himself a Cavalier to the Nobility a Gallant in the Ladies Company of a merry humour amongst the gay people made Courtship to the Dutchess of Valentinois and gave her extraordinary fine Presents both from his Holyness and from himself The Queen being brought to Bed of Twin-Girls he had the honour to be Godfather to one of them and gave her the name of Victoria as expressive of the great advantages the League between the Pope and the King would acquire in Italy but soon after this presage vanished with the life of that Princess In the mean time whilst the Army they were to send into Italy was making ready they gave Strozzi orders to assist the Pope to whom they sent Three Thousand Men under the Conduct of Montluc who made the Duke of Alva retire from the Neighbourhood of the City of Rome Then when they had fathom'd Philip's intentions by his haughty reply they judged it was high time the Duke of Guise should pass the Alpes At the beginning of March a Comet with a flaming Train was visible in the Eight Degree of Libra and lasted but twelve days only The Emperor fancied this Phaenomena called him to the other World so that not being able to gain his Brother to a consent of yielding the Empire to his Son he Commissioned some Ambassadors to carry his Renunciation to the Electoral Colledge However they went not till two years after because of the War new breaking out between the two Crowns and Three of the Electors were dead That done he Embarqu'd at Sudburg in Zealand about the beginning of September and went into Spain where he retired into the Covent of Saint Just of the Order of the Hieronymites which is in the midst of a delicious Valley surrounded with high Rocks in the Province of Estramadura eight Miles from Placentia near the Burrough of Scarandilla It is believed this was otherwhile the place of Sertorious his retirement He reserved no more to himself of all his great Train and his large-possessions but twelve Men a little Horse to ride out for Pleasure and Air and one Hundred Thousand
compassion in every one and inspired many with this perswasion that the Belief so good and so understanding a man professed could not possibly be bad The other Counsellors Eustace de la Porte Paul de Foix and Lewis de Faur were severally condemned to retract and suspended from their employments for some time but the heat of these prosecutions being over the Parliament restored them Anthony Fumee alone was fully and wholly absolved As for the other Prisoners which were in great numbers the reiterated commands from Court heightning the severity of the Judges they soon emptied all the Goals They were all sent to death or banishment As for Rohert Stuard being able to find no favour or yet the least recommendation in his behalf from the young Queen who disowned any thing of Kindred or Relation to him he endured the greatest torments of the Rack without confession and by that means was cleered About these times the ordinary and mean people of their own heads or by the suggestions of some Zealots bethought themselves of setting up Images at all the corners of the Streets especially that of our Lady they adorned them lighted Wax Tapers before them and met together in Crowds singing the Litany and other Prayers And if any one passed by without saluting them and staying there or if they forgot to put something into the Box he was taken for a Lutheran and beaten and dragged in the Myre nay sometimes to a Prison The wiser Churchmen who consider'd that those sacred Rites and that worship was not to be used in such undecent places nor by people of that sort took away asmany of those Images as they could and placed them in their Churches Margaret de Lorrain Mother of Queen Mary Stuard Governed the Kingdom of Scotland for her Daughter assisted by Henry Clutin-Loysel who was sent thither from France She being disturbed by the Religionaries of whom James a Bastard of the Kings Earl of Murray was head they dispatched to her a supply of Three Thousand Men commanded by la Brosse a Bourbonnois Loysel was recalled and in his place they sent Nicholas de Pelve Bishop of Amiens with whom they joyned some Doctors of the Sorbon to endeavour to reclaim those that were gone astray either by instruction and perswasion or else by compulsion These Forces had orders when they should have subdued the Rebels to March directly into England and conquer that with the assistance of the Catholicks for the benefit of Queen Mary who pretended she was Heiress thereof and had already taken the Arms into her own Coat Elizabeth having information of it perhaps by the Admirals means furnished the Rebels with Twelve Hundred Men and those together in one Body besieged the Port of Lieth within half a League of Edinborough La Brosse and Sebastian de Luxemburg Martigues put themselves into the place to defend it There were gallant feats of Arms acted by either party during this Siege At last both sides being tyred with the War made up a Peace In which it was agreed that all their differences and disputes should be judged and determined by the general Estates of the Country and that the King of France and the Queen his Wife should quit both the Arms and the Title of Kings of England Pope Paul V. who longed for nothing so much as to establish the Inquisition over all Christendom made his Exit out of this World eight days after King Henry II. The Roman People in hatred for his having put that Yoak upon their necks broke his Statues and pull'd down his Arms in all places where they could come at them The intrigues Year of our Lord 1559 of Vargas Ambassador from Spain and the Caraffa's together kept the See vacant for above three Months at the end whereof was Elected the Cardinal de Medequin Brother to the Marquiss de Marignan by the ways and methods usual in their Conclaves Of whom it may truly be said that he added the greatest lustre to the sacred purple it ever had by bringing his Nephew the great Saint Charles Boromeus into the number of Cardinals Year of our Lord 1560 The Year 1560. began happily enough by a very wholsome Edict ordaining in all Soveraign Companies and all inferiour Courts of Justice that when any places were vacant they should present three persons to the King such as were without reproach and men thoroughly versed in the knowledge of the Law of whom he was to chuse the party he best liked But the importunity of Court flies who ever stick close to what is most corrupted and indeed live by it would not allow so holy an Ordonnance should take place Thus though justice in it self be a most divine and most necessary thing to all Societies yet since the number of the wicked and such as are self-interessed will be eternally the greater such endeavours for setling good and wholesome methods may always be praise-worthy ☜ but will ever prove ineffectual Although the Prince of Condé the Admiral and Dandelot his Brother were notoriously imbued and tainted with the Novel Opinions and favoured to the utmost of their power those that did profess them they had not as yet dared to declare themselves their Chiefs In the end those miserable people being prosecuted with all extremity united together to extinquish those flames that were kindled to consume them but they did not restrain themselves to the defensive only their dispair carried them far beyond those bounds and limits A Gentleman of Angoumois by name George Bary la Renaudie one who had been formerly condemned for some Crime was entrusted by the Principals to go to all the Churches of those pretended Reformed People and perswade them to send their Deputies to Nantes about the time when the Parliament of Rennes was to be transferr'd thither He acquitted himself so well that there came to him at the day appointed to the number of above one hundred and fifty When they had heard his harangue and weighed the opinions of several Divines of their Belief who affirmed they might take up Arms in their own defence and make way for a free access to the King to present their Remonstrances they Elected for their private or nameless Chief the Prince of Condé and under his Authority la Renaudie and resolved that in every Province should be chosen a certain number of Un-Married Men who under such Chiefs by them named should go to Amboise upon a day assigned that they should there present their Petition to the King and seize upon the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal de Lorrain that they might be brought to Tryal by process before the Estates But who could give security or answer for them they would not have kill'd them out of hand and have made themselves Masters of the Queen-Mothers person and the King himself This was certainly all laid to their Charge The design was kept so private that the Guises had advice of it from Forraign Countries sooner then they discover'd
likewise to Marry the King who was in his One and twentieth year His Mother with vast and Chimerical designs rowling in her Head had some thoughts thereby to acquire the Kingdoms of Scotland and England of getting for him Mary Stuard his Brothers Widdow Then finding Affairs did not succeed well with her she next made her Address to gain Queen Elizabeth for him and propounded a League with her in Order to a Conquest of the Low-Countries This Negotiation lasted near two years at the end whereof Elizabeth having made answer That the King was too great and too little That is to say too great a King to go and dwell in England and too young for her who was Eight Year of our Lord 1570 and Thirty years old the Queen cast her Eyes upon another Elizabeth daughter of the Emperor Maximilian II. a good and virtuous Princess but whose Innocency for she was scarce 16 and whose Simplicity could create no jealousie in her The Match had been propounded the foregoing Year The Marriage being contracted by Proxy he sent his two Brothers and with them the Duke of Lorraine the Duke of Guise and of Aumale to receive his Spouse at Sedan and himself went to Mezieres where the Archbishop of Trier put her into his Hands The next day being the Six and Twentieth of November the Nuptials were Celebrated in the same place At his return from thence being at Chantilly he gave Audience to the Ambassadors of the Protestant German Princes who came to Congratulate with him for the Peace he had granted his Subjects and to exhort him to maintain it shewing him plainly by many reasons and examples the Errour and mistake of those who aver that the Calm of Peace and a diversity of Religions are incompatible and cannot be maintained or made to live quietly together in the same Kingdom With this year ended in Spain the War with the Moors after it had lasted above three years The obstinate remainders of the Moors mixed with some Jews were revolted and had created a King then he being Slain another The Marquises de Montdjeu and de loz Velez Commanded in the beginning of this War John of Austria Bastard Son of Charles V. and then the Duke of Sesse continued it and afterwards Lewis Duke d' Arcos finished it This last was the Chief of the House of Ponce de Leon. Year of our Lord 1570. and 71. The Queen Mother had the Alliance with England much in her Head or at least she feigned so the better to lull and blind the Huguenots and hinder Queen Elizabeth from lending them Assistance She therefore makes a fresh overture of Marriage between that Princess and her Second Son the Duke of Anjou Now whatever intention she had she neither spared cajolleries nor addresses nor advantageous offers to the Queen nor caresses and presents to her Ministers to win their Hearts They proceeded even to the Treating about the Conditions there was but one they could not agree upon that the Duke might have the exercise of the Catholick Religion in England at least in his own Chamber This difficulty put the business to a stop till the Massacre on Saint Bartholomews which broke it absolutely off In these years 1570. and 71. was that memorable War between the Turks and the Venetians for the Island of Cyprus Selin who succeeded Solyman his Father having a design to build some Mosques and some Hervan-Sarays or Hospitals his Muâ—ty had told him that he might not do it but with the Spoils conquer'd from some Christians Consulting then which way he should bend his Force the desire he had to possess a Country that produced excellent Wine after which he was very Liquorish made him determine to Conquer the Island of Cyprus which bears of the best in the World His pretence to break with the Venetians who were in Possession was that they allowed those Pirates to harbour in their Ports who plyed and robbed upon the Coasts of Asia and Syria and that their Governors did not shew him that respect they ought He likewise added as some kind of Title which those Barbarians however do but little regard that the Kingdom of Cyprus was a Dependance on that of Egypt which his Predecessors had Conquer'd from the Mamalukes The Bashaw Mustapha who Commanded Selim's Army Landed on the Island with Fifty Thousand Men in the month of July and laid Siege to Nicosia a Mediteranean City Seated at the Foot of the Mountains and very well Fortified The Venetians set out an Hundred nimble Galleys and Eleven great ones but the Plague having destroyed above one half of their People that manned them and the Bashaw Piali General of the Turkish Galleys being in those Seas they durst not go near the Island So that after a Siege of Eight and Forty dayes the City was taken and Nicholas Dandolo who Commanded was Slain at the taking of a Fort. Mustapha ordered his head to be cut off and planted upon the top of a Pike within sight of Famagusta In the mean time Marc Antonio Colonna and Doria this General of the King of Spain Galleys the other of the Popes had joyned the Venetian Armada and lay Year of our Lord 1571 upon the Coasts of Caramania together making up above Two Hundred Galleys and great Vessels but Doria failed them at need and upon the News of the loss of Nicosia carried back his Fleet to the Kingdom of Naples In the following Spring Famagusta the Capital of Cyprus and the best Port in the Island was assaulted Marc Antonio Bragadin defended it with extraordinary Valour and did not Surrender it till the utmost extremity Mustapha enraged at his too long and too great resistance satisfied his Faith and cruelly caused him to be flea'd alive after they had cut off his Nose and Ears Bragadin appeared more invincible yet under his Torments than in his Fighting and Triumphed over the Treachery and Cruelty of his more than brutish Enemy by his generous Sufferings At the instant pursuits of Pope Pius V. at length a League was concluded between him the King of Spain and the Venetians their Vessels or Fleet together made up Two Hundred Twenty Five Galleys Sottili Six Galleasses and Twenty Five great Ships Whil'st the Chiefs were contending with each other about Place and Authority Famagusta was lost Don John of Austria Bastard Son of the Emperor Charles V. Commanded the Forces of Spain Marc Antonio Colonna the Popes and Sebastian Venier those belonging to the Venetians Don Juan was declared Generalissimo and in his absence Colonna was tohave the same Authority Venier having craftily engaged Don Juan to enter the Gulf of Lepanto otherwise called the Gulf of Corinth a famous Battel ensued the most Memorable that ever the Christians Fought upon the Sea It was within the Streight between those little Islands named the Echinades and the main land some Threescore Miles off the Promontory Actium so Famous by that Battel which decided the Roman Empire betwixt Octavius Caesar
Duke of Alenson after the Peace made his residence at Bourges where Bussy d'Amboise Fervaques Laffin Simiers and some other Favourites of his obliged him to stay for their own advantage or for their security Towards the end of October he was prevailed upon to go to Court by the perswasions of the Queen-Mother and came to salute the King at the Castle d'Olinville near Chastres The King received so much joy by this visit that he gave notice by Letters Patents of it to all his Kingdom Bussy would not follow his Master but went and setled his Habitation in the Castle of Angiers chusing rather said he to play the King in that Countrey then the Waiting-man or Valet at Court As soon as they had thus withdrawn the Duke of Anjou they began to continue the ruine of the Huguenots to form powerful Leagues as well within the Kingdom which we shall presently mention as without by communication with Don Juan of Austria whom King Philip was sending Governour to the Low-Countreys and with the Popes Legat. Year of our Lord 1576 Don Juan and the Legat arriving at Court on the very same day and from different places the first incognito and the other in great state had access and very private Conference with the Kings Council and yet more particularly with the Duke of Guise The Queen-Mothers aim was in the first place to take off the King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé from the party and in order to this she was resolved to make a journey into Guyenne and discourse with them but whether she found they were not so disposed as she desired to be deluded by her or not she did not go In the mean time these two Princes who had no secure retreat for their Persons endeavour'd to make sure of some the Prince with more Craft then Faith or fair Play seized upon Brouage having order'd some Companies to slip in then upon Mirembean himself who was Lord thereof whom he forced to put him in possession of the place promising however to render it again within three Months In effect he did render it to him but soon after seized it the Second time upon some jealousie either real or pretended The Rochellers took the allarm and the Court fomented their suspitions so much that the Mayor sent to desire the Prince not to come to Rochel but the Ministers and People made them change that resolution and ordered that he should be invited provided he brought no more then his ordinary attendance Thus the Court plainly perceived he was not so absolute over the party as he would have made them believe The late conjunction of the Duke of Alenson with the Religionaries and Politiques and the advantageous Peace granted to them produced that mightly Faction to which the Authors of it gave the name of Holy Vnion and the vulgar that of The League or to say better revived and fagotted together all the other particular ones which had been already formed in divers parts under the Reign of Charles IX For the Lords during those troubles had taken the confidence to make Treaties and Confederacies amongst themselves without asking permission of the King and the People arrogated to themselves the liberty of giving their Oaths to others besides their Sovereign justifying themselves by presidents drawn from the Huguenots who indeed shewed them first the example Thus they framed one in Languedoc between the Cardinals de Strossy and Armagnac and some Lords of that Countrey another again in Bourdelois of which the Marquis de Trans of the House of Foix was General another much greater whereof Montluc advised Charles IX to be the Head There were also certain Fraternities joyned in Burgundy which to speak properly were a kind of a League Besides that in Limosin in the Vivarets and some other Provinces the People armed to defend themselves against all Soldiers of either party Year of our Lord 1576 They tell us likewise that the Queen-Mother had given notice to Charles IX that if he would not consent to the Massacre on St. Bartholomews there was a League ready form'd should execute it without him and it is certain that upon the apprehension there was of King Henry's being stopt in Poland several Associations were made in the Provinces to preserve the State and the Catholique Religion So that it was but only the joyning and cimenting all these distinct parties together to make up the great Body of the League The zealous Catholiques were the instruments the new Religious Orders the Paranymphs and Trumpeters the Grandees of the Kingdom the Authors and Heads The easy temper of the King gave way to its growth and the Queen-Mother lent it her helping hand She was not prompted to it by any zeal for Religion nor for any love or kindness towards the Guises but out of her mortal hatred to the Huguenots above all other Reasons because they earnestly desired she should give an account of her Administration and bawled open mouth'd against the disorders of the Court and the enormous Vices of the Italians especially against the new and vexations Tolls and Faxes those strangers invented every day The Pope and the King of Spain were the promoters of it this because the Huguenots were in friendship with the Gueux the Rebels in the Low-Countreys and he apprehended lest the Duke of Anjou grown more powerful might affect to embrace the Sovereignty of those Provinces or that the King of Navarre young and valiant would endeavour to wrest that Kingdom out of his hands which he so unjustly detained from him the other because he feared the Huguenots might become so strong as would oblige the King to hold a National Council and believed withal that if he could but exterminate them in France he might very easily attain his ends and trample on all the Protestants elsewhere Now the League appeared first in Picardy The People in that Countrey ignorant and devout but hot-headed easily took fire upon the apprehension was spread on purpose amongst them how the Prince of Condé would plant his Religion in that Province if he came to make his Residence at Peronne pursuant to the Treaty of Peace James de Humieres Governour of Peronne Montdidier and Roye great in Estate and Credit induced the Nobility and most of the Cities in that Province to sign it and Aplincourt a young Gentleman of his kindred took the Oaths of the Inhabitants of Peronne The Duke of Guise and the Duke of Mayenne engaged Champagne and then Burgundy to do the like Lewis de la Tremouille prevailed in Poitou being offended with the Huguenots who now and then surprized some Castle of his withal desirous to impugne the Count de Lude Governour of the Province In fine this Faction which had this taken root in every Province did on a suddain shoot forth such thick and lofty branches that it both cover'd and eclipsed nay almost stifled the whole Regal Authority When the Huguenots demanded with such instance the Estates-General
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
an Equipage nor was his Presence useless to him there towards the bringing that Nobility to submit to his Command and thereby confirming his Authority The only hopes of the Huguenots was therefore in an Army of Reisters the King dreaded it above all things and France trembled at the very name of those cruel Plunderers who had so often prey'd upon them This makes the Queen Mother and the Duke of Alencon mediate a Peace the King of Navarre desired it as his only refuge and the Duke procured it that he might be able to carry the whole force both of the one and the other Party into the Low-Countries For the States having resolved to declare that the King of Spain had forfeited the Soverainty of those Provinces as they did the following year in their Assembly at the Hague had sent their Deputies to this Duke being then at Plessis lez Tours with whom they made a Treaty In which they owned him for their Prince and Lord him and his lawful Sons with the same rights as their preceding Lords upon condition that if he had several Sons they should have liberty of chusing which of them they best liked That he should preserve the ancient Alliances Rights and Priviledges of the Provinces should give no Offices or Employments but to the Natives of those Countries and do in such sort that the Provinces might ever be linked to France but without being either incorporated or united to the Crown This Treaty Signed he posted into Guyenne to Negociate the Peace the place month November for Conference was the Castle de Fleix belonging to the Marquiss de Trans In this place by the care and industry of the said Prince with the Duke of Montpensier and likewise the Mareschal de Cosse whom the King sent after him they came to an agreement towards the end of November in the explanation of certain Articles of the former Treaty of Peace which they confirmed by this same They likewise granted some places to the King of Navarre and to satisfie the passion of his Wife a revocation of Biron from whom they took away the Lieutenancy of Guyenne to bestow it upon the Mareschal de Matignon which she demanded for him whose sober and staid gravity seemed very proper to allay the quick and fiery temper of the Gascons month August The Thirtieth day of August 1580. Philibert Emanuel Duke of Savoy ended his Mortal Pilgrimage and left his Estates which he had happily recover'd by his Valour and his most prudent Conduct to his only Son Charles Emanuel who Year of our Lord 1581 was then in the One and twentieth year of his Age. France was at the same time afflicted with two cruel Diseases the Coqueluche and the Plague the first as we formerly noted having tormented this Nation twice already was very painful and sometimes mortal but lasted not above six months the other killing most that were therewith infected continued its violence five or six years ransacking sometimes one Province sometimes another so that before it ceased above the fourth part of the People died of it After the Duke of Anjou's quitting of Flanders their Discords and Confusions daily increased whereupon the Archduke Matthias whom the States had called in to Govern retired again The Duke of Parma who had the Command of the Spanish Army after the death of Don Juan of Austria defeated a Party of Casimirs Keisters and so beset the rest that they were glad to accept of quarter and return into Germany at which Casimir who was then gone into England to see Queen Elizabeth was so much ashamed that he goes directly home not daring to pals by way of the Low-Countries After their departure the Duke of Parma besieged Maestric He took it by Storm at four Months end and in the mean time Negociated it so well with the Male-contented Lords that they returned to the obedience of King Philip and brought in the Provinces of Arâ—ois and Hainault with the Cities of L'Isle Douay and Archies On the opposite the Provinces of Guelders Zutphen Holland Zealand Frise and Vtrect then the Cities of Bruges Ypres and others united more closely together for their mutual defence From thence came the name of the Vnited Provinces The ☞ Malecontents in the mean time did mightily annoy the other Catholick Provinces It is true the Fit of Sickness which the Duke of Parma fell into after the taking of Marstâ—ie gave the States a little breathing time and la Noue though he had but three thousand Men made Head most bravely against all their Enemies As the Spaniards took Groeningben from the States on his side he took Ninoue from them and in the said place the Count of Egmont with his Wife but shortly after this generous Commander was defeated in a Rencounter near the Castle of Ingel-Monster and fell into the hands of the Spaniards who set him not at liberty till the year 1585. and that upon the payment of an hundred thousand Crowns Ransom Year of our Lord 1581 The Edict granted to the Huguenots met not with so much difficulty neither for the verification in Parliament nor for the execution as the former ones had done month January and it was pretty punctually and quietly observed near five years As a violent agitation is so far from curing of Distempers it rather increases them and to allay hot Spirits we must let them a while repose so soon as they had left off Year of our Lord 1580 baiting and pursuing the Huguenots their Zeal grew much more temperate and indifferent The King taking the right course gave them assurance that they needed to fear no hurt from him but might expect much good That he would do them equal justice but that he would bestow no Offices or Employments upon them nor any Governments but keep all Dignities out of their reach Withall he endeavour'd to reclaim them by wise and Christian like Instructions and Arguments which method converted more of them in four years time then the Sword or Hangman had compell'd in forty and if they had continued the same way of proceeding this Opinion of Conscience would no doubt have given place to the sence of Honour During this calm the King instead of fortifying himself grew still weaker and was enervated by idleness and vain pleasures Since the death of the Princess of Conde he had but little inclination to Women and his Adventure at Venice gave him another bias His three chief Favourites were Arques the young la Valette and Saint Luc the last forfeited his favour by endeavouring to cure him of his depravation by an illusion which was very ingenious the other two remained in full power with no other Rivals but themselves and individually enjoy'd the affection of the King who called them his Children He was not satisfied with having erected the Vicounty of Joyeuse to a Pairie for d'Arques and the Territories of Espernon which he bought of the King of Navarre for la Valeste he would needs honour
great Guns they lowred their Pikes and surrendred their Colours which were immediately restored to them again by the generosity of the King who desiring to oblige the whole Nation wrote a very civil Letter to the Cantons The Duke of Mayenne after he had performed all the Duties of a great Commander and brave Cavalier drew part of his Men over the Bridge then caused it to be broken down and with that remnant escaped to Mantes The Inhabitants were willing to receive his Person but not quarter his Troops but made them go thorough ten by ten Nemours Aumale and some other Chiefs with what they could rally retired to Chartres over the Plain The Duke attributed the loss of this Battle to his Flemish Men at Arms who were heavy and unskilful as well the Men as their Horses to the temerity of Count Egmont who commanded them to the mistake of the Vicount de Tavanes who being short-sighted ranged the Squadrons so near each other that there was not space enough in the intervals for the Reisters to wheel about and draw up again in the rear of the rest and above all to the cowardize of those very Reisters who having at first given ground fell into the Dukes Squadron and continuing still to wheel off during the whole fight fell upon the others likewise and so put them into disorder For fear of being pursued he had broken down the Bridge of Yvry and there hapned the greatest slaughter of the run-aways the Reisters defended themselves a while in the Burrough but were all knock'd on the Heads The King having past the River at the Ford of Anet was come to Lodge at Rosny which is a League beyond Mantes His approaches startled the Inhabitants of that Town the Duke perceived by their looks there would be little security for him there and for that reason retired speedily to St. Denis The Plain of Yvry was not the only place wherein destiny to speak like the Vulgar declared for the King the same day it gave him in Auvergne another advantage of great importance and such as wholly confirmed his Affairs in that Province The Count de Randan had surprized the Town of Issoire and built a Citadel the Gentlemen Royalists and the Citizens of Clermont who in hatred to those of Rion Year of our Lord 1590. March had a great deal of Zeal for the Kings Party surprized the City by their intelligence with a Consul and besieged the Citadel Florat Seneschal of Auvergne Commanded on this occasion Randan comes to relieve the Citadel and invested both him and his Party in the Town The Lords of that Country amongst others Rostignac the Kings Lieutenant the Vicount de Lavedan the Baron de Chaseron the Marquiss de Curton who commanded the little Army and d'Effiat came to disengage their Friends This could not be without a Battle it was very obstinate but in fine the Leagners were overthrown It cost them five hundred Men whereof there were an hundred Gentlemen and amongst the rest the generous Count de Randan who being taken Prisoner died of his Wounds in Issoire Those of the Citadel having heard of this defeat capitulated and the Victors returned in great triumph to Clermont The Duke of Mayenne was no sooner parted from Mantes but that City and that of Vernon turned their backs upon him It was said that if he could but have left a good Garison there he had stopt the King upon the Banks of the Seine and made his Victory vanish In effect he had neither Implements nor Ammunitions to make a Siege nor could he keep the Nobility with him any longer who upon the rumour of a Battle came in all haste to him without any Equipage The Wise la Noue was of opinion he should go directly to Paris where the Victory of Yvry had wonderfully raised the courage of his Friends and depressed that of the Seize the Mareschal de Biron most prevalent in the Council of War and d'O Surintendant of the Finances hindred it The first as it was said because he feared lest the King whom he treated as his Scholer should free himself if we may so say from the power of his Ferula and have the less regard of him if his business came to be dispatched so soon The second because he desired rather to reduce Paris by violent means For he judged that in case it were so the King would have just cause not only to take away the Cities Revenue but likewise extort great Ransoms from them and lay such Imposts as he pleased Now whatever motive he had he rested fifteen days at Mantes in which space the League did a little recover out of their astonishment calmed the Peoples fears and repaired their leaks Their Chiefs that they might gain more time made some Proposals for an Accommodation Villeroy first entred into Conference with Plessis Mornay in the Castle of Suindre near Mantes the Legat procured another at Noisy le Sec between the Cardinal de Gondy and the Marâ—schal Biron and was also present himself All very ineffectually for them because the King without any delay prepared himself to besiege Paris Year of our Lord 1590. March and April He had already taken Lagny Provins Monstereau Bray on the Seine and Melun Some false intelligence put him upon attempting the City of Sens but he was repulsed by Chanvallon with the loss of three hundred Men. From thence he came and seized on the Castle and Bridge of Sainct Maur des Fossez the Five and twentieth day of April having fifteen thousand Foot and little less then four thousand Horse Then Paris found they were block'd up That innumerable and confused multitude of People without Heads at least not absolute without foresight without Discipline who apprehended no danger because they understood it not and who relied upon their great numbers and strength had made no provisions for the Belly nor for War neither had the Chiefs taken any care to provide against either publick or private necessities When it came into their thoughts it was too late the Countries about them had no Corn nor Forrage all the Bridges beneath the City were in the Kings power and the Marne could furnish them with little because the Harvest that year had been very ill in Champagne They had scarce any other Stores but three thousand Muids of Corn and ten thousand Muids of Wine which Givry suffer'd to pass the Bridge of Chamoy for a present bestow'd upon him of ten thousand Crowns and out of a secret Complaisance he had for Mademoiselle de Guise with whom he was mightily smitten month May. The Duke of Mayennes Orders and their Necessity confer'd the Government of the City on the Duke of Nemours his Brother by the Mother a young Prince of an active boldness and great vigour He had then no Men of note about him but the Chevalier d'Aumale brave but wild and untractable and of Soldiers only twelve hundred Lansquenets as many French and a thousand Swiss
Fellow not able to get away revealed the whole Conspiracy They found twelve Soldiers concealed in the House of a Chanoine who were all Hanged and with them twenty seven as well Priests as Monks in their Ecclesiastical Habits There flocked People from all parts to the Siege of Paris some that till now had been irresolute were brought in for fear of sinking with a Party they believed could never rise again others in hopes of Plunder believing Paris would be left a Prey Year of our Lord 1590. June and July and that they should get Mountains of Gold many by the express Order of the King The Prince of Conty brought the Forces of Poitou Touraine Anjou and Maine Humieres sent a Party of those of Picardy and the Vicount de Turenne being recover'd of a great fit of Sickness was brought in a Litter at the head of a thousand Horse and four thousand Foot The King was not without great disquiets the interests and desires of the Catholicks and Huguenots were very different for the gaining of Paris The former as we have observed wished he might get in by an Accommodation the others would have it by force All agreed in this one point that they were much dissatisfied with him because the Catholicks urging him to become a Convert and the Huguenots to revoke the Edict made against them by Henry III. he could not as yet satisfie either the one nor the other so that from complaining they fell to caballing and conspiring In this perplexity he had about the end of May given a Pass-port to some Deputies of Paris to find out the Duke of Mayenne and exhort him to Peace but by what motive I know not presently recalled it again A Month after finding the Siege drew out in length and the disturbances caused by the two Parties in his Army increased more and more he consented to a conference betwixt the Legat and the Marquiss de Pisany newly returned from his Embassy at Rome It was held in the Hostel de Gondy in the Fauxbourg St. Germains but the Propositions on either part were so far distant that the Cardinal de Gondy who was present could find no medium to bring them any thing near a conclusion After the first fifteen days of the Siege the People beginning to find some scarcity they made a review of all Provisions in every House and they commanded all those month May and June that had more then for two Months to carry the overplus to the Markets and to the Bakers by this means they had Bread at six blanks the pound three weeks together During which the Populace allured by those distributions the Spanish Ambassador under-hand made of Pensions to the most Factious and publickly to the Rascality of some handfuls of half Sols stamped with the Arms of Castille spent their time in singing and dispersing Songs of false news which Madam Montpensier forged from day to day to amuse the Citizens At six weeks end which was the midst of June Wheat came to be at double the price and a fortnight after failed them all of a sudden Then their hunger spoiled their Mirth and turned their lewd Songs into sighs and groans The poor subsisted some days with Bread made of Bran then fed upon Herbs whereof they found good store in many Gardens Those to whom they had committed the oversight of these things had not taken timely care to send away such People as were unserviceable whose number amounted to above five and twenty thousand These were poor Peasants or Handycraftsmen to whose lot the bitter Potion first did chance to fall One day great Crowds of them were gathered together at the Gate St. Victor Year of our Lord 1590. June hoping to get out by a Pass-port they had sent to the King for but his Council dissuaded him from allowing that favour When those Wretches saw he had refused it they made so horrible an out-cry as much startled the whole City They resolved therefore in the first place to take some order to supply their present necessities and for this purpose went to search all the Clergymens Houses and Convents who ☞ were found to be provided even the very Capucins for above a twelve-month they were therefore enjoyned to bestow Food twice a day on all that were in want of Bread They reckoned seven thousand Families that purchased it for their Money and five thousand that had no other Money but their grateful Thanks The said time expired their Miseries began to grow greater then before they bethought them of husking and grinding of Oats to make Potage and because Wine failed in the Cabarets they invented and distributed I know not what kind of Beverage made with Oatmeal and Roots In the Month of July Bread rose to a Crown the pound weight the Septier of Wheat above sixscore Crowns one Sheep a hundred Livers and other things in proportion Amongst the Poor Dogs Cats and Mice were greater dainties then month July formerly Partridge or Hares old Unguents Candles Grease and the most fetid Oyls were used for seasoning their Broths of Herbs or Grass For want of Aliments they were fed with Processions particular and solemn Vows imposed upon them Prayers of forty hours long Sermons twice a day several Fraternities and Spiritual Assemblies withall various and false coined Intelligence and approaching hopes which though prepared for them a thousand several ways to fit their Palates and stay their Stomachs proved notwithstanding so thin a Diet as afforded but slender nourishment There are strange things related of this Famine Perhaps they may have added somewhat to the truth of the Stories but certain it is above ten thousand People perished for want of Food And yet of these poor Wretches some were so persuaded of the justice of their Cause and the glory of Martyrdom that they crawled to the Gates of the Churches there to surrender up their Souls to Almighty God others were so cowardly they rather chose to starve in their own Houses then die bravely with their Swords in hand Some few only leaped over the Walls and stealing thorough the Enemies Guards retired to certain Officers who were their Friends These being for the most part some Servants of the Kings did implore his Clemency with such repeated importunities that he gave leave for three thousand of those wretched Ghosts to come out of the Town divers whereof were choak'd so soon as the compassionate Soldiers gave them Bread to eat The said Commanders perceiving by this that the King would not use the extreamest severity took the confidence to let some numbers of them daily pass by when they were upon the Guard nay many did even send in small refreshments to their Acquaintance to their old Landlords and most particularly to the Ladies and by their example the common Soldiers conveyed Meat Bread and runlets of Wine over the Works in exchange whereof they received good Cloth and rich Stuffs at an easie rate It is believed that this
others propounded to summon a National Council The King was very glad they mentioned those two Expedients which would frighten the Pope but he indeed would allow of neither the one nor the other so that nothing was resolved upon Soon after this Assembly was transfer'd to Chartres because the Duke of Mayenne Year of our Lord 1591 had made an attempt to surprise the City of Mantes and the Prelats that were there month July During the four Months they sat the King besieged Noyon He invested it the Four and twentieth of July Three Reliefs that endeavour'd to get in being beaten and the Vicount de Tavanes who commanded one taken Prisoner the Duke of Mayenne resolved to put in some himself with all his Forces He had Two thousand Horse and eight thousand Foot who shewed the greater eagerness to fight because the Kings Army were fewer by a third part but the Spaniards refused to follow his motions and obliged him to pass the Somme for security The Besieged finding themselves abandoned parlied and made their Composition to quit the place the Eighteenth of August if they were not relieved The day being come they surrendred month March c. There was no Province so embroiled as Provence The Marsellois had refused the Duke of Savoy and then received him by the practises of the Countess de Sault the Second day of March His success did not answer the reputation of his Forces It was but an ill presage of his Expedition the defeating a Body of his Army commanded by the Count de Martinengues at Esparton de Palieres He had block'd up Berte with several Forts La Valete too weak to relieve it called Lesdiguieres to his aid these two joyned together razed them but Lesdiguieres being recalled into Daufine for fear of the Popes Forces who were passing that way the same Martinengues and the Count de Carces blocked it again The Duke of Savoy was then gone into Spain whence he brought fifteen Galleys loaden with Ammunition and a thousand Natural Spaniards He landed them at Cieutat and put his Galleys into the Port of Marseilles but found things mightily changed there since his departure One Lewis de Casaux who had raised his Credit in that City by means of the Money the Duke had given him to distribute and by the practises of the Countess found so much relish in ruling the Roast that he became absolute Master of Marseille so that he alone made their Consuls The following year he put Lewis d'Aix into the Office of Viguier and joyned him in his Government He made the People believe the Duke would reduce them to slavery and awe them with two Citadels whereas they ought to preserve their Town for a most Christian King who was to be chosen by honest Frenchmen and that he had order from the Duke of Mayenne to look after it The Duke spared nothing to gain him he order'd his Galleys to retire to Genos Year of our Lord 1591 to take away all Umbrage from the Marseillois threw and squander'd away a great month August deal of Money amongst that fickle People to no purpose and finding all was in vain he went to Aix to press forward the Blocade of Berre The Count de Carces by Intelligence with the Inhabitants got three hundred Men privately into the place Mesplez who was Governor of it beat them back and drove them out with incredible valour and surrendred not till the Twentieth of August but it was after the enduring two assaults and giving so many proofs of his vertue the the Duke who had been Spectator offer'd him the General Lieutenancy of his Army if he would have entred into his Service There ended the Conquests of the Duke of Savoy after this he met with nothing month September almost but Disgraces Amadea his Bastard Brother who had six or seven thousand Men some being of the Popes Forces very ill Soldiers had besieged the Fort of Morestel which would have contributed much towards the regaining of Grenoble He there suffer'd a notable loss Lesdiguieres having drawn his Men together was not satisfied he had made him 〈◊〉 his Siege but went and attaqued him at Pontchara where he was intrencht broke in upon him routed him kill'd three thousand of his Men upon the place the Eighteenth of September and the day following took two thousand Italians at discretion who were fled into the Castle of Avalon His Soldiers massacred three hundred the remainder he sent packing to their own homes with white Staves in their hands In the mean time a kind of feud was crept in between the Duke and the Countess de Sault he believed she obstructed his designs and she imagined he despised her because he had refused to give her the Government of Berre for her Son La Valete on the one side and Casaux on the other both for their own ends increased that Discord and made him be ill thought of by the People who greatly suspected him month October especially when he had master'd the City of Arles by means of Biord Lieutenant in the Seneschaussee Now when he perceived he could be at no certainty with the Countess he caused both her and her Son to be apprehended but she was so fortunate as to make her escape in the habit of a Swiss and her Son like a Peasant and took Sanctuary at Marseille He would needs have her again per force and to that end surprized the Abby St. Victor but Casaux who desired no better opportunity to render him odious to the People constrained his People to dislodge and retire out of Cannon-reach To compleat his misfortune he received another shock He besieged Vinon which hindred the bringing of Corn to the City of Aix the Town lay as it were open there being in many places nothing but a bare Wall of dry Stones laid upon one another but Mesplez was in it and that was a good Bulwark This brave Captain Year of our Lord 1591 sustained his attaques for three days together and gave la Valete time to come to his month December relief The Duke as much the more numerous went forth to fight him but lost a great many of his Men and all his Bagage which hapned the Fifteenth of December Afterwards many of the places that had sided with the Duke renounc'd him However he persisted in his design and the engaging himself in greater Expences though he found by the loss of six or seven thousand of his Men slain in several Rencounters and a million of Gold thrown away in Presents that it was very difficult though he were brave and the Prince the most discreet and most liberal in the World to get any advantage against so many great Warriers with such unexperienc'd raw Soldiers as his were or fix the inconstant humour of the Provencaux month August The Kings prosperity was disturbed by the unexpected accident of the Duke of Guises evasion who made his escape from the Castle of Tours where he was Prisoner
This young Prince had for this purpose made choice of the day called the Assumption of our Lady about noon when the City Gates were shut as is usual all the Dinner time Having corrupted one part of his Guards and deluded the other he was let down from the top of a Tower by a Rope brought to him in the belly of a Lute to which a Stick was tied cross that he might sit securely thereon in his descent to the Strand He found Horses laid ready for him on the farther side of the River and spur'd away to St. Avertin a League off from Tours where Maison-forte Son of la Chatre attended with fifty Horse and convoy'd him to Selles and some days afterwards to Bourges It was believed the Ladies about Queen Louisa who were then at Chenonceaux had greatly contributed towards this escape and Rouvroy in love with one of them was suspected to have granted her this one favour upon promise of another The Parliament would have put him to infinite trouble had not Souvray Governor of Tours befriended him mightily in his justification before the King As the King was much alarmed dreading the great name of Guise and the growing fortune of a young Prince who was said to resemble his Father in all things so the League was over-joy'd they made Bonfires every where and the Pope gave publick Thanks to God for his deliverance But the jealousie the Duke of Mayenne conceived caused the fears of the one and the promising hopes of the other quickly to vanish He apprehended his Nephew would easily acquire the same good will and fondness of the People they had shewn to his Father therefore did not reckon him a new Reinforcement but a new Trouble and Competitor nevertheless he sent la Feuillade to congratulate his escape and carry him some Money desiring they might Year of our Lord 1591 meet to communicate together of their common Affairs month September The Prince of Conty and the Vicount de la Guierche both Lieutenant Generals in Poitou the Prince for the King and the other for the League fought to extremity La Guierche met with divers shocks whereof the greatest was at the taking of Montmorillon where he lost his Cannon and all his Inâ—â—ntry he had left them there having shamefully raised the Siege of Belac a Month after he himself unfortunately perished for running to the rescue of his Castle of la Guierche nigh Loches in Touraine which was surprized by a Gentleman named Salerne the Lords d'Abin and de la Roche-Posay who had notice of his march got five hundred Gentlemen together and with those charged him so briskly that all his people fled and as he thought to save himself in the Ferry-boat on the Creuse so many men jumpt in after him that they sunk in the River and were all drowned Bretagne was not only vexed by the French but by Strangers too The Duke of Mercoeur had brought in the Spaniards and given them the Port of Blavet for a retreat where in a short time they so well fortified themselves that it was very apparent they intended to settle there The King had likewise order'd Three thousand English to go into that Country sent over to him by Queen Elizabeth besides those that were landed at Diepe for the Siege of Rouen The Prince de Dombes with this re-inforcement went and besieged Lambale when it was at the point of Surrendring the Besieged re-assumed Courage and the Besiegers lost theirs all of a sudden upon the death of the prudent la Noüe He being got on the top of a Ladder to see what they were doing within the place was wounded in the Head of which he died Bemoaned equally almost by Friend and Enemy a very great Soldier and which was more a very honest Gentleman His Son inherited his good qualities He had been Prisoner four years in the Low-Countries and being upon his deliverance now come to rejoyce with his Father found the last Duty he could ever pay him was to attend him to his Grave Both Parties were now expecting their Foreign Supplies the Duke of Mayenne went to Verdun to receive some Forces from the Pope they were in bad condition their Foot ruined with the Dysentery and their Horse strangely harassed and partly dismounted Those from Germany who came to the King almost at the same time were not so there were Eleven thousand Foot and five hundred Reisters these Levies being made at the Expences of the Queen of England and the free Towns of Germany under the favour of George Marquiss of Brandenbourg Casimir Prince Palatine with some other Princes and by the Negociation of the Vicount de Turenne The King going to meet them with Two thousand Horse order'd them to be Muster'd in the Plain of Vandy on Michaelmas-day and from thence went directly with the news of this conjuction to the Dukes of Lorrain Mayenne and Montemarcian who durst not Year of our Lord 1591 stir out of the Gates of Verdun The latter being withal in great disorder upon the month September news he received from Italy of the sickness of Pope Gregory his Uncle who died the Fifteenth of October month November Whilst the King was in those parts he would needs secure himself of Sedan The Dukes of Lorrain Montpensier and Nevers sought to gain the Heiress for their Sons the first by force the other two by friendship but besides that the difference in Religion was an obstruction to all the three he thought it would make them too powerful on that Frontier And therefore chose rather to bestow her on the Vicount de Turenne whose Estate was far distant from thence and to whom he should thereby acquit himself of those great obligations he owed him He therefore honoured him with the Staff of Mareschal a of France that he might not appear too unequal to match her then went himself into Sedan to conclude the Marriage The Mareschal the night before that of his Nuptials surprized Stenay by Escalado from whence he afterwards made a brisk War against the Duke of Lorrain The Marriage Consummate the King took his way to Noyon and from thence at the instance of the Queen of England who apprehended lest the Spaniards should settle themselves upon the Coasts of Normandy he sent the Mareschal de Biron to lay Siege to Rouen The Duke of Aiguillon Son of the Duke of Mayenne Governor of that Province for the League was but lately gone thence and had left the absolute Government to the Marquiss de Villars This Lord had about him Philip Desportes Abbot de Tyron a no less crafty Courtier then delicious Poet who had disposed him to admit of Propositions for an Accommodation in hopes the King would let him enjoy the Fruits of his Benefices in that Country Now those that had obtained the grant of them from the King caused his demands to be rejected with disdain In revenge whereof he prevailed with Villars to break the Treaty and possessed him
Treasury As to the remainder he soon made himself so much Master of the Council for the Finances that he retrencht all the little Tricks and Projects and made it apparent to those grand Statesmen that to discharge his Office there was no need of so great Politiques and Craft but only to be diligent and laborious and both know how to add and to substract The Kings clearest Revenues were alienated or engaged to the greatest Lords he assigned their payments on the Espargne or Exchequer and restored all these Alienations to the Kings who made them treble the value He likewise abolish'd all those Levies they had setled for their own profit without any other Authority but the Licence of a Civil War He also caused all such Priviledges to be revoked as had been granted for above thirty years together with all Patents of Nobility from the said term King Henry III. had sold a thousand in Normandy alone and it was said that under colour of that profusion others had traded for above double that number Those Gentlemen of Parchment were allowed the Exemption they had enjoy'd during all that time for their re-imbursement Then was the famous Priviledge called The Franchise of Chalo Sainct Mars utterly abolished After these Revocations he sent Commissioners into the Provinces to regulate the Tailes And because the open Country was much destroy'd he was constrained to lessen them about Six hundred thousand Crowns and to remit all Arrears to the year 1597. which amounted to above twenty Millions As well it would have been impossible to have raised them and then it was not so much a loss to the King as to the Receivers who had advanced one part of it and those Captains and Lords who had Assignments on the other They cancell'd all the Obligations the Debtors had given to the former and revoked the Assignments of the latter His design was said he to take off all the Tailles to this purpose to dis-engage the Kings Demeasns in which he labour'd very much and so supply what more should Year of our Lord 1599 be wanting by an Augmentation of Imposts upon Wares These happy thoughts whether really intended or not were very sutable to the Kings great goodness who in effect cherish'd his People as his Children and was much more fearful of oppressing them then desirous to fill his own Coffers Any other way but that of Arbitration would have better pleased the Duke of Savoy He would willingly the Spaniards had undertaken his defence and although he had already experimented at the Treaty of Vervins they had not over-much zeal for his interests he omitted not to solicite them and to give them great Respect but when they had made him know they would not engage their young King in a War for love of him he thought it might do well to inform the Pope with the Reasons he had for detention of the Marquisate Francis d'Arconnas Count de Touzaine his Ambassador in the Court of Rome and Sillery who was there in the same Quality for the King gave in an Abstract of their Titles whilst those were under examination the King demanded as having been disseized he should be restored before all other Proceedings and the Duke replied that the said Maxim of Right had place between private Men not amongst Potent Princes as the King was to whom if they should once adjudge the possession he would never quit or surrender it again Upon this Sillery propounded an Expedient viz. that the enjoyment should rest in the Duke till a definitive Sentence provided he would hold it as a Feif Mouvant of Daufine Arconnas not yielding to that the Pope found out another which was that it should remain in Sequestration in his hands The Patriarch of Constantinople this was Calatagirone General of the Order of St. Francis whom he had honoured with that Title was enjoyned by him to propound it to the two Princes and if they approved it to demand a prolongation of the time agreed for Sentence which was ready to expire Both of them feigned to think well of it and yet neither of them were really contented for they feared lest the Pope if he had it in his hands should take a fancy to bestow it upon one of his Brothers Sons Thereupon Arconnas either with design to gain his friendship or to fore-stall his Judgment went and assured him on the behalf of his Duke that if the Marquisate fell to his Master he might dispose of it to such of his Nephews as he should think fit The Pope interpreted this Compliment a high injury to his Integrity and from that time waved the Arbitration Year of our Lord 1599 The Duke was not much troubled he was setting other Engines at work in France by means of his Ambassadors When he found they could not succeed to his wishes he resolved to come himself and because he knew his Council would not permit him to hazard thus his Person and Reputation he order'd Roncas to write to him that the King would be very glad to see him though on the contrary he had told his Agents plainly that unless he were disposed to render up the Marquisate he would find little satisfaction in his Voyage This Prince had so good an opinion of his own ability and his Talent of Wit which indeed were admirable that he doubted not to gain the heart of the King and his Ministers by his subtil ingenuity or over-persuade them by his Arguments and Reasons In the Month of June was fought that famous Duel betwixt Philipine his Bastard Brother and the Lord de Crequy Philipine was slain and that sinister accident for he relied much upon the like presages should have made him alter his Resolution but another Omen seemed to promise he should reap something of his labour which was that in the Month of September all the Fruit-Trees in Savoy put forth their Blossoms which turned to Fruit in less time then an hour So he parted from Chambery the first day of December with his Council a Train of twelve hundred Horse whereof he sent back the one half from Lyons and great Riches in Moneys Toys and Jewels The Marriage of Queen Margaret being dissolv'd the Kings Agents engaged him upon seeking for Mary de Medicis Daughter to Francis in his life time Duke of Florence month October and November and Niece of Ferdinand Brother and Successor to that Francis but in the interim his heart which was not wont to be long in freedom was taken by the attractive Charms of Henrietta de Balsac a pleasant airy witty and engaging Virgin Lady and indeed she came of a Race that inspired Love for her Mother was that Mary Touchet who had been Mistress to Charles IX and was after Married to the Lord d'Entragues from whose Embraces this young Venus sprung Her Parents desiring to make the best of such an opportunity were very watchful and kept her close lest enjoyment should extinguish that bright flame of Love her Eyes had
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
from which the Reader may draw what consequence he pleases the one That when they had taken him seven or eight Men were seen to come up with their drawn Swords who cried aloud he deserved ☞ and ought to be cut in pieces presently and then immediately sheltred themselves in the Crowd the other That he was not presently put into Goal but into the hands of Montigny where they kept him two days in the Hostel de Rais with so little care that all sorts of people spake with him and amongst others a Frier who had great Obligations to the King having accosted him and called him My Friend said to him he should have a care of accusing honest people There were in the Kings Coach the Dukes of Espernon and of Montbason the Mareschals de Lavardin and de Roquelaure and the Marquesses de la Force and de Mirebeau these Lords being allighted and having cover'd his face and drawn the Curtains made them drive back towards the Louvre and commanded at their Entrance they should call out for a Chyrurgeon and some Wine that it might be believed he was not yet dead They laid his Bleeding Corps upon a Year of our Lord 1610 Bed with negligence enough and he was there exposed for some hours to any that would see him but attended or regarded only by those who had no great interest of Fortune at the Court All such as were in hopes of any thought more upon their own Affairs than on him who could now do no more for them Thus was there but a moment space between their Adorations and Oblivion ☜ The pressing necessity of Affairs obliged the Queen to disband her Sorrows and dry up her Tears she left the care and present management of all Affairs to such as she confided in most particularly to the Duke of Espernon and the Mareschal de Lavardin We shall show in the following Reign if the times will permit us how the Court wholly changed it's Face the Government its Maximes the Ministers their designs How the Orders which Henry the Great had established were renversed his Oeconomies dissipated his faithful Servants turned out of doors and his Alliances forsaken to take up new ones so that France which was so lately triumphant and Mistress of Europe saw her self almost reduced month May. under the Government and Direction of Spain and the Agents of the Court of Rome who were the Oracles of the Regency It must however be acknowledged that it proved very happy both for the quiet and the ease of the People in general So soon as the King was dead the Duke of Espernon ran to order the Companies of the Regiment that had the Guard to seize upon the Gates of the Louvre sent for the rest who were quarter'd in the Fauxbourgs to come and post themselves upon the Pont-neuf in the Street Daufine and about the Augustins thereby to invest the Parliament and compel them if requisite to declare the Queen Regent The President de Blanc-mesnil who then held the Afternoon Audience broke off upon the dreadful rumour of the King 's being wounded but durst not or would not stir from thence And in the mean time the President Seguier whom the Duke of Espernon had been with for his advice and assistance came thither immediately with a good number of his Friends So that the Company was assembled to serve the Duke in his Design Amidst that innumerable and confused multitude of People wherewith Paris was then thronged who were of so great diversity of Humours and Interests amidst the Animosities betwixt the Catholicks and the Huguenots the Feuds amongst the Grandees the Suspitions which the one cast upon the other concerning this Murther the specious pretence there was to animate the People to revenge the Death of a Prince so greatly and generally beloved and the avidity of the Rascally sort to be Plundering it is manifest that the least spark of Sedition would have set all Paris in a flame and the more easily because the Bourgeoisie had their Arms in readiness having Mustered twice or thrice a Week for above a Month to be prepared for the entrance of the Queen The Prudence of her Magistrates I mean the Prevost des Marchands and the Lieutenant Civil did most happily obviate those Disorders The first was James Sanguin the second Nicholas le Jay a man of great Sence and who had acquired a great deal of Credit amongst the Citizens because he made the Honor of his Office to consist in serving the Publick well Both appeared every where about the Streets amused the populace with divers reports exhorted the considerablest Bourgeois to keep them in awe managed every thing so wisely and gave such excellent Orders the one Commanding the Captains of every Precinct the other the Commissaries Archers and Huissiers to be in a readiness that nothing was able to make the least disturbance Henry IV. died in the midst of the Fifty seventh year of his Age three Months before the end of the Two and twentieth of his Reign leaving three Sons and three Daughters by Mary de Medicis his Second or rather his only Wife since the Marriage between him and Margaret de Valois was declared Null The eldest named Lewis hath reigned the second had no Baptismal Name and died within the fourth year of his Childhood he bare the Title of Duke of Orleans The Third had it likewise and the Name of John Baptista Gaston The three Daughters were called Elizabeth Christian and Henriette-Maria The eldest was Wife of Philip IV. King of Spains the second of Victor Amedea Prince of Piedmont then Duke of Savoy after the death of Duke Charles his Father the last of Charles I. King of Great Britain The number of his Natural Children did by much surpass his Legitimate ones for besides those whom he would not or could not well own he had Eleven S ix Year of our Lord 1610 by Gabriella d'Estree which were Caesar Duke de Vendosme Lewis Francis and Isabella these three died young Alexander Grand Prior of France and Catharine Henrietta Wife of Charles Duke de Elbaeuf Two by Henrietta de Balsac d'Entragues to wit Henry Duke de Verneüil and Bishop of Mets at present Governor of Languedoc and Gabriella Wife of Bernard de Nogaret Duke de la Valette then Duke of Espernon one only by Jacqueline de Bueil which was Anthony Count de Moret And two Daughters by Charlotta des Essars a private Gentlewoman They were named Jane and Mary Henrietta the former was Abbess of Fontevrault and the latter of Chelles It may be seen and judged by the course of his whole life whether he justly merited the Title they gave him of Great with that of Arbitrator of Christendom There were some would needs reproach him That he loved Money too well and that to gather it he exposed his Kingdom to the avidity of Partisans who amongst a great number of odd Projects they put him upon made him establish the Paulete or
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
the Lordship of the City of Rome Year of our Lord 796 The Two most potent Princes of the Avari-Huns were so strangely bent to destroy one another that both of them perished in that Civil War Henry Duke of Friuli taking his opportunity when that Nation was weakned by so much loss of Blood enters the Country and makes himself Master of their principal Ringue where he sound Vast Treasures which those Robbers had heaped up out of the plunder of all their Neighbouring Provinces for at least two Ag s. He sent all to Charlâ—â—aine and Theudon one of their Princes came to him almost at the same Year of our Lord 796 797. time and was Baptised but being sent again to Rule in these Countries along the River Raab he did not keep his Faith long And so he was slain by the French and Bavarians Year of our Lord 796 The other Avari thinking to restore themselves Elected a Kan that is to say a Commander for so they called all their Princes but he was likewise Slain in a Battle by King Pepin all the Country conquer'd from the River Raab to the Dravus and from thence to the Danube and all those Barbarians put to the edge of the Sword or driven over the River Tissa Year of our Lord 797 There was a continual War between the French and the Moors beyond the Pyreneans The City of Barcelonna which was sometimes the ones sometimes the others fell into the hands of Zad a Saracen Prince who fearing he should not be able to keep it came and paid Homage to King Lewis but upon the first occasion broke his Faith with him Charlemaine spent this Year and almost the two following in compleating the Conquest of the Saxons who broke all Agreements as soon as they had made them and sometimes signalized their Treachery by some base and mean Cruelties As they did Anno 798. having killed the King's Commissaries or Judges who did not Year of our Lord 798 leave that Crime unpunished He built some Cities within their Country amongst Year of our Lord 799 others Heristal upon the Weser The Astronomers of those times observe that the Planet Mars was not visible in the Heavens from the Month of July in the Year 797 untill the same Month of the Year 798. Some Roman Officers Kindred of the deceased Pope Adrian and Enemies of Pope Leo having made a great Faction fell one day upon him whilst he was at a Solemn Procession and endeavoured to tear out his Eyes and cut out his Tongue afterwards dragging him to a loathsom Prison But he scaped being so mangled as they supposed him to be and he found friends that contrived his escape to the French Ambassadors who were lodged at Saint Peters they conducted him to Spoleta and thence sent him to the King well guarded who at that time was in Saxony The King having heard his sad complaints sent him back again to Rome with the same honour as he had received him promising he would soon be on the place to do him justice The Islands called Baleares gave themselves up to France that they might be protected against the Saracen Pyrats Year of our Lord 799 The Saracen Aza who had made himself Soveraign of Huesca that he might have the protection of the French sent the Keys of his City with Presents to Charles the Great proffering to deliver it up to him when ever he desired it But when they would have taken him at his word he failed them and they did very well in keeping the Forts in their own hands which were erected opposite to Huesca and Sarragossa Count Aureolus Commanded them Year of our Lord 799 The Avari after several vain attempts to recover their Liberty were entirely subdued all their Nobility cut off in the several Battles that had been fought and the remainder of their Wealth carried away by the French who became very rich and began to adorn themselves with Ornaments of Gold even to the very common Soldiers Year of our Lord 799 Guy Count of the Marches of Bretagne wholly submitted that Country and brought the Shields and Arms together with the Names of all the Lords and Commons that were become Subjects to the King So that all that Country was for a time under the Dominion of France Year of our Lord 800 The Danes Normands and Saracens began their Pyracy and robbed the Coasts of France these in the Mediterranean the others in the Ocean Charlemaine Visited them all gave Orders to build Vessels and to raise Forts in several places and amongst others to repair the Tower d'Ordre at Boulogne an ancient Building which had been erected by the Romans The Pyracy of those Insidels was not only an effect of their inclination to get Wealth and Plunder but like wise of their false Zeal against the Christian Religion Idolatry being hunted and pursued from one Country to another and drove beyond the Rhine had taken refuge in Saxony with her false Priests together with all those that struggled in their defence And then being hotly attaqued by the French had thrown themselves beyond the Elbe and in Denmark as their last Bulwark From whence those Exiles and their Off-spring burning with the cruel desire of avenging their Gods and their loss of Liberty made perpetual Excursions and principally exercised their bloody malice upon such Priests and Monks aâ— they could light upon as being those that had destroy'd their Superstitious Temples and false Gods Luitgard fourth Wife of Charlemaine dies at Saint Martins de Tâ—ars whither she was gone to pay her Devotions From Ments where he had called a Parliament he went into Italy as well to take cognisance of those Outrages committed against the Pope as upon some vehement suspitions that they were contriving with Grimoald Duke of Benevent not well affected and the Inhabitants of Friuli who had â—lain their Duke Henry to revolt from the French Year of our Lord 800 Passing by Friuli he punished the Authors of that Murther Being at Rome he admitted Pope Leo to justify and purge himself by Oath no body then appearing to accuse him He afterwards ordered Process to be made against those that had attempted him so basely who were all condemned to death but the Pope imitating the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ interceded and obtained that both their Lives and Limbs should be spared For in those times it was so common a punishment to Mutilate that even some Abbots used it towards their Monks The Pope in retribution of so many favours which this King his Father and Grand-father had conferr'd upon the Holy Chair and to gain that protection which the Grecian Emperours were uncapable to give obliged the Romans to demand him for their Emperour and Crowned him upon Christmass Day in Saint Peter's the People crying aloud three times A long and happy Life and Victory to Charles the August Great and Peaceable Emperour of the Romans Crowned by God This was in the
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
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
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
Forces belonging to the Navarrois continued their Incursions in Normandy Year of our Lord 1365 it was believed they might be drawn from thence by a Diversion towards Navarre A League was therefore made with the King of Arragon his Capital Enemy who immediately fell with an Army into that Kingdom The Navarrois had the more apprehension because he knew that France was necessarily obliged to joyn with that Prince the King of England having made a League with Peter King of Castille an Eternal Enemy to the Arragonians Wherefore Captal de Buch and the rest of his Friends applied themselves with so much zeal that they made his peace with the King By this Treaty he renounced all his rights to Champagne and to Burgundy upon condition he should have the Lordship of Montpellier in Languedoc which was given him The Habits of Men of Quality and honest People dwelling in Cities was a long Gown and a Hood almost of the same fashion as the Monks sometimes they threw these back upon their Shoulders and made use of a Cap or Bonnet for their Heads Now luxury and folly had shortned their long Robe so much that their Thighs and the whole motions of their Bodies from their Reins was plainly Year of our Lord 1365 seen They had likewise brought in use a certain sort of Shoes the Toes whereof were turned up with a long neck they named them Poulenes and at their Heels a kind of Spurs The King by his Edicts banished these ridiculous Modes after the example of his Holiness who but a while before had by his Bulls condemned the dissoluteness of Apparel both in the one and the other Sex France could not rid her self of those droves of Robbers that knawed her to the Year of our Lord 1365 very bones The English tolerated them that they might have their help upon occasion and there were not Forces enough besides to suppress them Gueselin found out a way to carry them all off into Spain upon this occasion Alphonso XI King of Castille had had by his lawful Wife a Son named Peter who succeeded him and by a Mistress five Natural Sons the eldest of whom was called Henry and was Earl of Tristemare This Peter was rightly surnamed the Cruel and the Wicked for he shewed himself more a friend to the Alcoran then to the Gospel having alliance and amity with the Moorish Kings He overturned all the Laws and committed all the Injustice and Cruelties that Tyrants can commit He lived in publick Adultery with Mary de Padilla and had in Anno 1361. caused his Wife Blanch to be poyson'd who was Daughter to Peter Duke of Bourbon and Sister to the Queen of France a Princess as vertuous as fair after she had endured all the outrages imaginable for ten years together He put the Lady to death that had been his Fathers Mistress and shed the blood of the greatest in his Kingdom almost every day nor did he spare his own Brothers having Murthered Frederic one of the five who was Grand Master of St. James and often attempted against the lives of the other four Henry being thereâ—ore prompted by a just Resentment for the death of his Brother and his Mother and besides authoriz'd by the Law of Nature which allowed him to defend his life rose up against him with the greatest part of the Nation Leagued himself with the Arragonian and made War upon him for some time Year of our Lord 1365 His Cause in the beginning had not so much success as justice he was overmatch'd and worsted by the Tyrant and took shelter in France The King gave him protection the more willingly because it offer'd a fair occasion to employ his Soldiery It was thought fit for the better countenance of it to let John de Bourbon Count de la Marche Cousin German to the late Queen Blanch have the chief Command in appearance but for their true Conductor Bertrand du Gueselin who was delivered out of the hands of Chandois the Pope the King and Don Henry having paid down his Ransom Year of our Lord 1366 With these Forces and great numbers of the Nobility Volunteers even out of those Countries under the obedience of the English the Count de la Marche and Gueselin carried Henry back into Spain The Pope fearing this Army might approach near Avignon sent them Two hundred thousand Livers with Indulgences The King of Arragon gave them passage and the Dutchy of Borgiae to Gueselin and before they entred upon Castille they regained all those places Peter had taken from him and put them honestly again into his hands Upon the arrival and sight of Henry all the Nobles of Castille excepting one single Knight abandoned the Tyrant They all cry'd out Long live King Henry and open'd their Gates to him in a word he was Crowned at Burgos about the end of March. That done he liberally rewarded with Estates in Lands all such as had follow'd him and thinking himself secure upon the Tyrants flight he discharged the most part of his Forces who would have lain too heavy on his new Subjects reserving only Fifteen hundred Lances with Gueselin and Bernard Bastard of the Count de Foix. Year of our Lord 1366 The Tyrant made his escape first towards Portugal but the King of that Country having refused to allow him any retreat there he got into Galicia and from thence by Sea to Bayonne to implore the assistance of the Prince of Wales The jealousie that Prince had for the fame of du Gueselin made him give an ear to his supplications he promised to restore him and to act Personnally in the Employment To this end he retains the Gascon Lords and the same Companies that had served du Gueselin who were disbanded by Henry but the Arragonian keeping the passages shut and well guarded they could not get to him but with a great deal of difficulty Year of our Lord 1367 There was no other way but by Navarre King Charles the Bad having made a League with either Party found himself perplexed In the end he leans towards the Tyrant and gives him passage and three hundred Lances Whilst he was wavering betwixt both Parties and endeavoured to delude them both he was made Prisoner by Oliver de Mauny who held the Castle of Borgia upon that Frontier It was imagin'd he had contriv'd it so himself to keep his Faith with Henry but Oliver treated him as a real Prisoner and got a good Ransom from him When Henry knew that his Enemies had taken the City of Navarrette he came to meet them and instead of stopping their passage and hindring their having Provisions brought to them which he might easily have done being above three times more numerous then they he gave them Battle This was the Fourth of April between Nagera and Navarrette but he lost it through the Cowardize of his Brother Teilo who betook himself to flight upon the first Charge Gueselin was made Prisoner with the Mareschal d'Endreghen and some