difference except that our Kings are extract from the elder sonne of Saint Lewes and the Princes of Bourbon frō the yonger 10 The second sonne of said saint Lewes was Saint Robert of France to whom his father gaue for his maintenance y e Coūtie of Clermont in Beauuoys This Robert married Beatrix daughter and Heire of Archembault of Bourbon and they two had issue a sonne named Lewes who succeeded his said father in the Countie of Clermount and so was also Earle of March besides that in the right of his Mother hee enioyed the goods of the sayd Archembault of Bourbon namely the Lordship of Bourbō which in respect of the appertenaunces thereto was of such accompt that King Phillip of Valois in the beginning of his raigne which was about the yeere 1327. erected the said Landes into a Dutchie wherby the said Lewes tooke vpon him the name and state of Duke of Bourbon which since hath continued in his posteritie This Lewes had two sonnes by whom this stock was first deuided into two brāches the one was named Peter the other Iames Peter is now quite worne out as concerning the Masculine ligne neuerthelesse wee will briefly rehearse his issue and then retourne to the posteritie of Iames who was the yonger of whom is discended the house of Vandosme from whom the Princes of Bourbon now liuing doe fetch their originall Peter of Bourbou being the elder of this house as is aforesaid was of great credit and authoritie in the time of King Iohn and had many daughters among whom was one very fayre whome Charles the fifth couered to marry rather then Margaret of Flanders who had three goodly Counties to her marriage Flanders Artois and Henault whom he caused his brother Phillip the bould Duke of Bourgondy to marry An other named Blanch was maried to the King of Castile a third to the Duke of Sauoy a fourth named Catherin to the Earle of Harcourt He had also a Sonne called Lewes who was of great fame as well toward y e end of Charles the fifth as in the beginning of Charles the sixth to whom he was appointed tuter as also to his brother Lewes Duke of Orleance togither with the Duke of Burgondy their vnckle by their father The saide Lewes of Bourbon was Capteine and Leader of the armie against the Turke in Affrike in the time of Charles the sixth and had to wife Lady Anne Daulphine who brought into that house the Countie Dauphine of Auuergne and the lands of Cōbrailles with the Lordship of Mercure in the said land of Auuergne and by her he had a Sonne called Iohn who maried Mary daughter to y e Duke of Berry To this man was giuen the Dutchy of Auuergne with the Dutchy of Bourbo and Countie of Clermount 11 At Iohn the sayde principall braunch bearing away the eldership the Famelie began to bee deuided for he had two Sonnes Charles and Lewes Charles succeeded his father in Bourbon Clermont and Aunergne and Lewes had Montpensier which in y e end returned to his posteritie Charles marryed Agnes of Burgondy sister to Duke Phillip of Burg. and they had issue principall two sonnes Iohn and Peter It is sayd they also had two more of one name viz. Lewes of whom the one dyed yong the other was Bishop of Liedge and Abbot of Sainct Vaast Others doe saye that they had two Sonnes Charles who was Cardinal and Archbishop of Lyōs Iohn who was Bishop of Liedge They had also sundry Daughters as Iane married to the Prince of Orange Isabell to the Duke of Burgondie and Margeret to the Duke of Sauoy of whom are discended Philibert Duke of Sauoy deceased without issue and Lady Loise of Sauoy married to the Duke of Angolesme of whom came the late King Frances the first But to returne to the said Iohn and Peter sonnes of the said Charles of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgondie Iohn the eldest had his fathers goodes and married Iane of Fraunce Daughter to King Charles the seuenth sister to Lewes the eleuenth who neuerthelesse in the warre for the Commonwealth reposed no cōfidence in the sayd Iohn of Bourbon aswell because he was come of a Daughter of Bourgondie as for that he had not bene payd his mariage money The sayd Iohn had no children by either Lady Iane of Fraunce or Lady Iane of Bourgondie his Cousen whom he tooke for his seconde wife and so his whole succession fel to his brother Peter who was called Lord of Beauuiew This Peter maried Anne of France daughter to Lewes the eleuenth He was in great credite during Lewes raigne but in greater during Charles the eight so as in the voyage to Naples the sayde King left the sayd Peter Regent of Fraunce The sayde Peter also left no issue Male but one Daughter called Susan who might haue great controuersies for the goodes of that famelie for the preuēting wherof it was wisely aduised to marrie her to a male of this house which was brought to passe as hereafter shall be shewed 12 To Lewes of Bourbon of whom wee spake before fell the Countie of Montpensier and so continued the name and title so long as the ligne of the sayd Charles his elder brother lasted He married Gabriel of the Tower of whom came Gilbert of Montpensier Viceroy of Naples after that Charles the eight had gotten it He married Clare of Bousaigne of whom issued fiue children thrée sonnes and two daughters Charles Lewes and Frances of whom the two last died without issue Charles succeeded his father and with the consent of King Lewes the eleuenth maried the aforenamed Susan of Bourbon his Cousen whereby all the auncient goodes of this house were left to them and confirmed in their persons whereby also was exting uished a quarrell already framed for the sayde goods which neuerthelesse soone after brake out againe more fiercely then before because y ◠sayd Susan of Bourbō wife to her Cousen Charles and heire of the elder house of Bourbon dyed before her sayde Husband Charles without leauing any issue of her bodie and therefore Lady Lewes of Sauoy mother to King Frances the first and Regēt of France entituled and bare her self for heire to her said Cousen Susan and in deede was in degree neerer to succeede her then the sayd Charles her Husband wherevpon the processe controuersie began whereat it was sayd that the syd Charles tooke such displeasure that he withdrew himself out of the Kings obediēce therfore his Maiestie had a decrée of iudgement of his goodes and rightes by confiscation Also since that tyme was a composition made betwene the King and his sayd mother vpon condition that if hee deceased without heires male then the sayd goodes should returne into Lorraine But his Maiestie not willing so rigorously to vse his rightes and coueting to deale fauourably with the sisters of the said Charles he left to them part oft he sayd goodes as to the Lady Dutches of Lorraine the Baronage of Mercure
retourne to the line of Francis the Elder who maried Lady Mary of Luxembourg daughter to Sir Lewes Constable of France who brought great goods to that Famely in Picardy Artoys Flanders and other places Of these two issued diuers children namely Charles Frances Lewes Antoinet Loyse of Bourbon Charles the Eldest succeded in the Countie of Vendosme and procured it to be erected into a Dutchy and Pairry Francis had the Countie of Saint Paule and maried Lady Adriane of Touteuille daughter and heire of a great famely They had issue a daughter Lewes was a Cardinall Anthoinet was maried to the Lord of Guyze of whoÌ„ is discended the house of Guise now liuing Loise was abbesse of Fronteuault Now the said Charlâ—s the eldest maried Lady Francis of Alencon sister to the deceased sir Charles Duke of Alencon last deceased without children in the yere 1524. of this mariage issued Antonie Francis Charles Lewes Iohn Antony the Eldest and Heire of this family maried Iane of Albret Queene of Nauarre of whom came Henry of Bourbon now king of Nauarre who hath married Margaret of France Sister to the most Christian King Francis was named Lord of Anguien who gat the victory at the iorney of Serizoles died without issue Charles the third is Cardinal of Baurbon and Archbishop of Rouen Lewes was Lord Prince Conde who when he died left fower sonnes Henry Prince of Conde Francis Prince of Contie Charles Cardinall of Vendosme and Charles Countie of Soissons Iohn who after the decease of Francis was entituled Lord of Anguyen died also without Issue There were also some daughters of whom here we haue nothing to say as hauing in this argument to treate onely of the Succession of the house of FraÌ„ce which can not discend but to y â— Males of this famely The onely controuersie therefore and different that might through the Counsaile of the mischiuous be mooued resteth betweene Henry of Bourbon King of Nauarre sonne of Anthony the eldest of that famely and Charles Cardinall of Bourbon and Archbishop of Rouen his vncle by the father The end of the first part ⧠THE CONTENTS OF THE SEcond part of this Booke 1. Obiections moued against the King of Nauarre 2. The mariage betweene Lady Iane of Albret Princesse of Nauarre with the Duke of Cleue dissolued by the Ecclesiastical sentence the Popes dispensation auctorized in Parliament Also the marriage of the sayd Lady with Anthony Duke of Vendosme the eldest of the house of Bourbon from whom is discended the King of Nauarre 3. Marriage is by the Ciuill lawe voyde being contracted before age 4. The holy decrees haue inhibited the blessing of mariage of maidens before twelue yeeres of age of men before foretene the East Church haue proroged the Matrimonie of the man to fifteene and of the woman to thirteene 5. The honestie of Ciuill pollice forbiddeth mariage before age 6. Examples of mariages disanulled by reason of the noneage of the contracted 7 The explication of humaine pollicie wherefore hereticks are vncapable of successions 8. The right of Realmes is houlden immediatly of God by the continuation of the successiue lawes of the same Neither can the Estates depose a King vncapable or otherwise disabled Or the people transferre the right of their Lord vnto the person of any other to whom it ought not to be giuen 9. The office and duetie of the Clergie towarde Kings and Princes King Henry the second protested against the Counsell of Trent 10. Why those of the League would not take the Catholicke Princes of the blood therinto Those of the league haue sought to suborne those of the pretended reformed Religion 11. Kings are Stewardes of the Church goods The Church is in the Commonwealth not repugnant thereto Pollicie Iurisdiction and collation of Ecclesiasticall functions apperteineth to soueraigne Princes The Kings of Fraunce haue euermore preserued the state of the persons and goodes of the Clergie in their Crowne The Clergie were in olde tyme not capable to distribute Church goodes 12. The King neuer dyeth in France because of the successiue law thereof To what ende the Coronation of Kings was instituted The auncient maner of the Coronations of heathen Kings How long it is since anoynting was instituted and wherfore It is not necessary to annoynt or crowne Kings in one only place 13. Antiquitie is no necessary argument to auctorize common custome 14. The Church neuer disturbed the succession of Kings no not for heresie 15. Whether it be likely the K. of Na. wil force the conscience of his subiect 16. The estate of Bearne and Nauarre 17. The cause of the protestatioÌ„ that the King of Nauarre made the last yere at Montauban 18. The King cannot infringe the successiue law of the Realme The successor commeth not to the Crowne in the qualitie of heire to the deceased 19. The Popes reasons whereby he pretendeth aucthoritie to transferre Kingdomes The Popes haue euer exempted France out of their wonderfull power Gods lawe without polliticke confirmation is no sanction vpon earth Priestes haue no imperiall Iurisdiction Bishops and Popes haue acknowledged Kings and Emperors for their Lords The punishment of heretickes is executed by the seculer Magistrate 20. The opening of sundry places of Scripture concerning Ecclesiastical iurisdictioÌ„ Wicked Emperors were neuer deposed The Pope cannot excommunicate any body politick or Towne subiect to the King of France Appeales in cause of abuse from the Pope and other Clergie men obserued in France 21. The Church cannot excommunicate a Prince that is an euill liuer Subiects after the excommunication of their Lorde are not discharged of their dueties toward him 22. The sentence of the excommunication of a Prince cannot conteine any clause of depriuation from his Lordly rights 23. A Prince may lawfully arme himselfe against the Popes wrongful excommunication and appeale therefore as in abuse 24. The K. of Nauarres reason to proue him no Hereticke 25. The vsurpations of the Counsell of Trent ouer the Crowne of France 26. Most dauÌ„gerous drifts of y â— Leagued in the reformation of the Realme 27. The wicked entent of the Leagued Also what enuy they beare to the Duke of Espernon and others 28. The remembrances of Aduocate Dauid now put in execution by the Leagued The Kings duetie in matter of Religion 29. Forraine rule and gouernement is wretched FINIS THE SECOND PART OF the Cath. Apologie 1 SVch as mislike the king of Nauarres cause doe obiect against hym in this libell fonre principall points wherof three doe perticularly touche the qualitie of his owne personâ— the fourth concerneth the auncient controuersie betweene the Vncle and the sonne of the elder brother But we will endeâ—our to shewe that in all and throughout all they haue but a weake foundation Concerning the first they aleadge that the said Lorde King of Nauarre is not borne in lawfull matrimony of Anthony of Bourbon eldest sonne of the house of Bourbon because Ladie Iane of Albret mother to
to the Lady Loise married into the house of Roch-sur-you the Countie of Montpensier and landes of Combrailles which in so doing he rected into a Dutchy meete for the heires of the sayde Lady who at this day do beare the same name of Bourbon and are extract out of the second principall braunch of this house which we left of aboue vntill we had ended the first braunch of the elder And now to returne to the sayde Sir Charles in him dyed the ligne male of the principall stock of the house of Bourbon As for his two Sisters the one called Claude was wife to good Duke Antony of Lorrain whose stocke yet remaineth The other Loise was maried into the other principall braunch of Bourbon who hath left issue of the name of this house 13 Now let vs take the seconde braunch the first chiefe partition of this race which is the stocke of the latter yonger borne and yet remaineth to this day in the roume of the eldest and beareth the Name and full armes thereof as remayning alone after the default and ending of the elder Concerning y â— males this ligne beginneth againe in Iames of Bourbon the yonger Sonne of Lewes first Duke of Bourbon of whom we haue spoken before This Iames was Constable of FraÌ„ce after Charles of Spaine who flew Charles King of Nauarre in the time of King Iohn He had to wife Iehane of Saint Paule and was and so named himself Earle of Marche Of him came one onely sonne named Iohn who succeeded hym and married Catherin Countesse of Vendosme and Castres who brought into this house those two Counties togither with the landes of Carcuecy Lupe Conde Espernon MoÌ„doubleau and others Of these two issued three children Male Iames Lewes and Iohn also three daughters Anne wife to y e Duke of Bauiere Charlot maried to the King of Ciprus and Mary to Robert of the Crosses who tooke his saide wife by force and therfore fled and it was said he was drowned In his tyme hee gouerned King Charles the seuenth Now to retourne to the issue male Iames had to his protion the Counties of March and Castres Lewes the CouÌ„tie of Vendosme As for Iohn he had the Lordship of Carcuecy and maried a gossip of his called Margaret a Vandosmois by whom hee had some Children and got a dispensation to haue her to Wife notwithstanding the said children were not aduowed into this famely neither succeded in his goods but by sentence were declared illegitimate and which is more the said Iohn of Bourbon the Father in his Testament willed great giftes and substitutions to the behoofe of his other two sonnes Iames Lewes in whose persons he planted him selfe and raised the first after bough and vnder twigge of this second principall branch 14 This Iames of Bourbon eldest sonne to Iohn liued in the time of Charles the sixt and had two wiues the first Beatrix of Nauarre the yoÌ„ger daughter of the house of Nauarre which was the first alliaÌ„ce of those two houses They two had issue a daughter named Leonor After the decease of the saide Beatrix the said Iames of Bourbon allyed him selfe by marriage as it is pretended with Iane Queene of Naples who had before as the speech went promised marriage to the King of Arragon and deceiued them both So as the sayde Iames of Bourbon beeing gone into the Realme of Naples was in the ende forced to leaue the sayd Iane and to retire into Fraunce where after his returne he still bare the title and name of King of Naples notwithstanding the sayd Iane had afterward giuen it to others and finally deceased leauing for his onely heire the sayd Leonor his Daughter who succeeded him in the sayd Counties of Marche and Castres She maried Bernard of Armanack Earle of Pardiar a yonger sonne of the house of Armanack These two had issue two sonnes Iohn Bishop of Castres and Iames who succâ—eded in the sayd Counties of his father mother and besides in the right of his sayd mother Beatrix of Nauarre layd claime to the land of Nemours which he procured to be erected into a Dutchy tooke possession thereof and enioyed it He married the Daughter of Charles of Anieow Earle of Mayn and of Isabell of Luxembourg his wife This Iames of Armanack at the beginning was in fauour but afterward fall into suspition with Lewes the eleuenth and was executed at the Halles in Paris the 24. of August 1147. he left fower Children two Sonnes and two Daughters Iames Duke of Nemours and Lewes Earle of Guyze the two Daughters Margaret Charlot married into the house of Rohan who deceased without issue of their bodies so as in them failed this vnder twigg both male and female 15 Now remaineth to bee spoken of the ligne of Lewes brother to Iames. He for his part had the Countie of Vendosme and was taken at the battell of Agincourt in the tyme of Charles y e sixt He maried first Lady Iane of Roussy secondly Lady Iane of Lauall of whom discended one only sonne called Iohn of Bourbon who maried Lady Isabell of Beaumount of these two were borne two sonnes the one called Francis the other Lewes They had also sixe Daughters Iane wife to the Lord of Ioyâ—use the scond Iane first maried to Iohn Duke of Bourbon who was of the line of the elder of this house and secoÌ„dly to Iohn of the Tower Earle of Bologne of whome is issued Lady Katherine of Medecis Queene mother to the king Kitherin wife to Sir Gilbert of Chabaues in Limosin Charlot maried to Gilbert of Cleue of whoÌ„ came the last Lord Duke of Neuers Rene Abbesse of Fronteuout Isabell Abesse of Caen as for the two Sonnes Francis the Eldest succeeded in the Countie of Vendosme Mondoublean Espernon and other Lands houlden of that famely wherto was added the Lordshippe of Saint Calais Lewes the yonger was made Lord of Rochsur-yan and of the landes of Lupe and Conde in Henault 16 Now because concerning the question now to be delt in wee are to argue of the succession of the elder we will seeke out the farthest and will first speake of the Branche of Lewes the yonger sonne Prince of Roch suryen He maried Loise of bourbon who was of the elder liue and sister to Sir Charles of Bâ—urboun the last Of this mariage proceeded two Sonnes and a Daughter the elder sonne was Lewes who died but lately bearing the title of Duke of MontpeÌ„sier by the coÌ„position made in the time of the late Francis the first after the decease of Sir Charles of Bourbon Hee left one heire Male named Francis of Bourbon nowe Duke of Montpensier and sundrie daughters This Francis hath of his mariage with the daughter of the Marquize of Mezieres one onely sonne called Henry Prince of Dombes The other sonne of Lewes Prince of Roch-sur-you and of Lady Loyse of Bourbon was Prince of Roch sur-you who died within these fewe yeres without issue Wee must now then
the said lord King was married to the Duke of Cleue when she ioyned with the said Lord Anthony and so consequently the King of Nauare discended of the said Anthonie of Bourbon and Iane of Albret is illegitimate and vncapable to succede in the Crowne of France wherin Basterds did neuer succeede 2 This point is easie to bee answered by the trueth of the matter which is that the late King Francis the first desirous to drawe to himselfe and to disunite from the Emperour Charles the fifth the Duke of Cleue vrged forced his sister Lady Margaret of FraÌ„ce and Henry of Albret King of Nauarre father and mother to the sayd Iane who then was a yong Princesse of eight or nine yeres of age at the most to marry her to the sayd Duke of Cleue with whom the solemnitie was accoÌ„plished and the maiden conducted to the nuptiall bed in the Towne of Chastelerauld but before the time of mariage was lawfully perfect and accomplished in the said Lady Iane she complayned of this pretended marriage crauing the dissolution thereof which by the sentence of the Church and the Popes dispeÌ„sation afterward in the yeere 1541. enrowled in the Court of Parliament was broken After all which acts the said Anthony of Bourbon father to the sayd Lord King of Nauarre maried the sayd Princesse 3 It followeth therfore that the pretended mariage betweene the sayde Duke of Cleue and the sayd Iane of Albret was voyde and of no force or effect as well by the Ciuill lawe of the Romaines which ordinarily we do vse as by the holie decrees of the Catholicke Church Antistius Labeo and after him Papinian Vlpian gaue sentence against Saluius Ialianus A maideÌ„ vnder twelue yeres of age brought into her husbands house is not so much as espoused if the affâ—ancing weÌ„t not before In an other place Papinian arguing whether the promise of dowrie eonteineth in it a condition if the marriage doe ensue setteth downe for an assured resolution That if a maiden vnder twelue yeeres of age be brought into her husbands dwelling house hauing there accomplished her lawful age she may as of age require her dowrie Labeo vpon the propoâ—itioÌ„ of donations by the husband made vnto his wife which in lawe are prohibited maintaineth that whatsoeuer the husband giueth to the pupill his pretended wife is in Romaine pollicie good and of force In an other place he saith Whatsoeuer is bequeathed to a pupill at her day of mariage if she coÌ„tract matrimonie before her perfect age the gift is deemed vnprofitable and the condition iudged not to be performed which Vlpian doth expressely confirme In an other place the same Author repeateth the rescript of the Emperour Seuerus whereby the husband is forbidden in the qualitie of a husband to accuse his wife of adulterie coÌ„mitted during her noneage Pomponius hath left vs the generall rule of this question in writing conteining A maiden vnder twelue yeeres of age shalbe a lawfull wife when in her husbands company she hath atteyned the sayd age of twelue yeeres Which likewise Vlpian and Paulus doe repeate in their discourses vpon the priuiledges graunted to the wife for the redemand of her dowrie 4 The holy decrees of the Cath. Church are full of such decisions Pope Euaristus who held the Sea of Rome about the yere of Iesus Christ 110. confesseth that he had learned of y e fathers his predecessors that the inequalitie and insufficiencie of age doe make the wife vnlawfull Wee reade a decre of the Counsaile of Foruile holden vnder Charlemagne and Pepin his eldest Sonne concerning this question Moreouer saith the text For the remedying of all we forbid all persons to ioyne in matrimony before their ripe age also all such as are of vnequall yeeres in any wise to match together but only those who in respect of equall birth beare like minde and consent Pope Nicholas the first who sat about the yeere 858. to the same effect writeth That where consent wanteth it is no mariage Such therfore as doe make alliances of their children being yet in their cradles do no whit bind theÌ„ vnlesse the coÌ„ioyned hauing atteyned the yeres of discretion doe allowe thereof notwithstanding their parents would marrie them Vpon this text also Iohn Andrewe teacheth vs that wee must enquire the willes of the pupilles when they are of ripe age therein following that which Pope Marcel coÌ„curring with the seconde decree of the Counsaile of Toledo hath written of those who before the tyme appoynted doe make and promise the vowe of Religion for although according to Isidore Puberes doe take that name of Pube that ripe age appeareth in such as are able to engender yet must wee not iudge this habilitie by the onely naturall power in the act of generation but by the iudgemeÌ„t counsaile and discretion of the will because marriage is an act of discretion pollicie and housholdrye euen as the making of a Will Which was the cause why Pope Alexander the third declareth that such as before the age of discretion are married both may and ought by the censure of the Church to be seperated considering they haue not consented if when and after they haue atteined ripenesse of iudgement they doe not ratefie the same or that there haue beene no carnall knowledge betweene them in which case Malice is sayd to supplye age This the sayd Alexander decreed by the authoritie of the Connsaile of Lateran holden in the yeere 1180. in the assembly of 280. Bishops Vrban the third writing to the Bishop of Mans declareth that these constitutions ought to bee obserued yea notwithstanding the two conioyned had done their endeuours to corrupt each others virginitie Innocent the third also doth iudge such a pretended marriage to bee rather a simple promesse to contract in tyme to come then any certaine or firme obligation for the tyme present Vpon which reason also the aforesaid Pope Nicholas expressely forbiddeth the ceremonies institued by the Church as the blessing and others before the age prescribed and ordeined for lawful mariage leasâ— they should be ministred in vaine then could not easely be reuoked This haue not bene obserued in the West church only but also y e Emperours of the East haue caused their Subiects religiously to keepe the same as a matter most holy and Catholicke As wee reade in their nouel CoÌ„stitutions wherein they haue moreouer proroged the tyme of mariage vnto 13. yeeres in the maiden and to 15. in the man expressely decreeing that the blessing giuen before that age in such coniunctions shall bee of no effect or force to make the marriage indissoluble but bee accoumpted as a simple promesse or ciuill couenant Furthermore to proue that the East Churches haue allowed of these constitutions Balsamen Patriarck of Constantinople doth to the same purpose repeate some decrées of Nicholas Patriarck of Constantinople and of Simon Metropolitan of
Greece Also among other the Ecclesiastical aunswers of the Patâ—iarkes of Constantinople is to bee seene this of Germanus to the Bishop of Ara who enquired how he was to proceed against a maiden that had bene blessed and corrupted before her ripe age also against the Priest that had ministred these ceremonies Whereto aunswer was made that the maid should be seperate and the Priest put from his charge 5 As in trueth in all well ordered Commonwealthes there haue euermore bene established a certaine age for the conioyning and mariage of the Citizens of the same because as saith Fulâ—entius the lawe of mariage is by the will of God ordeined fâ—r hauing of issue it is meete that it be contracted at lawfull age So as by the pollicie of some Citties it was considered that the tyme of generation doth for the most part by nature ende in the man at the 70. and in the woman at the fiftie yeere Aristotle is of opinioÌ„ that after that age mariage is not to be permitted Whereto seemeth to agree that which is found in the establishment of the Romaines Among whom those Citizens were not iudged to haue satisfied the lawe Iulia which was made for mariages who to the ende not to be subiect to the penalties limitted in detestation of vowed chastitie did contract matrimonie the man after sixtie yeres or the woman after fiftie For Iustinian also writeth that some accompted it almost a wonder in nature to see a woman with childe after she were fiftie yeres of age And it seemed such marriages were contracted not so much in hope of begetting children into the CommoÌ„-wealth as in respect of some wealth or other perticuler commoditie that the one hoped for of the other by which reazon wee reade that Antigonus perswaded his sonne Demetrius to marrie an old woman named Philla vsing the authoritie of Euripides which he altered to his purpose and in liew that the verse said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he sayd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the ende the sence might importe that for some benefite hee should not differ the mariage of a wife though of a contrary age As on the other side also ouermuch youth was neuer accoumpted meete for the coniunction of mariage because therein generation cannot bee but lame and vtterly vnperfect the mother in greater daunger at her childbirth the father more vndiscreete in the coniunction and so the more hindered from atteining to that perfection and force which Nature reserueth to their bodies wherevpon the auncients imagined that the Idoll of Apollo gaue the Trezenians warning when he had them beware of casting their seede ouer hastely vpon the fieldes of their countrey 6 Finally concerning this present argument although the sayd Lady Iane of Albret had offended in marying with the late Antonie of Bourbon Duke of Vendosme because she had beene afore married to the Duke of Cleue yet were that no let why the King of Nauarre now raigning should not bee borne of the lawfull mariage of the sayd Antony of Bourbon his father who doing amisse that vpon simplicitie vnder the authoritie and in the face of the Church with publicke credite did solemnize the said mariage in which cace there is no doubt but the ChildreÌ„ of a putatiue mariage as say the Canonistes are legitimate because in a doubtfull cace senteÌ„ce must passe in fauour of the marriage and of the children borne in the same the question depeÌ„ding vpoÌ„ the simple meaning conscience of him that meaneth to marrie a wife for by the lawes and decrees of the Church opinion hath the vpperhand of trueth so as by the common resolution it is enough for the legitimation of children that either the one or the other of the coÌ„tracters ment good faith in that coniunction beleeuing it to be a thing lawful for him Thus doe you briefly see how children borne of such mariages are legitimate In our cace wee haue moreouer aduowed that the pretended marriage of Lady Iane of Albret mother to the now raigning King of Nauarre was voyd and of no effect and for such by all reason iustly broken and disanulled by the iudgement of the Church with whose authoritie the sayd Lady Iane was permitted to marie where she pleased which was not done without president For wee reade in the auncient Chronickles that for the like cause the Emperour Ottho the fourth was diuorsed from Margaret Daughter to the Duke of Brabant Lewes Daulphin of Viennois sonne to King Charles y e sixt a litle before he dyed vsed as some say the like pretence to returne Catherin daughter to y e Duke of Bourgondy home again In later tyme King Charles the eight of Fraunce in the yeere 1480. was by his father Lewes the eleuenth before hee was foreteene yeeres old affianced by words present and so by indissoluble marriage vnto Margaret of Austrich daughter to the Emperour Maximilian who being then but two yeeres olde was conueyed into Fraunce and there brought vp for the space of ten whole yeeres after the which they were neuerthelesse diuorced by a dispensation from Pope Innocent the eight who also for the like reason dispensed with Lady Anne of Brittaine and gaue her leaue to marrie where she pleased notwithstaÌ„ding during her minoritie her father Francis Duke of Brittaine had matched her with the Emperour Maximilian by proxye had celebrated the sayd mariage Nicholas Duke of Lorrain while his father Duke Iohn liued did in the yeere 1460. by present words affiance Lady Iane of France daughter to King Lewes the eleuenth and yet comming to the age of foreteene yeeres he did through the Popes dispensatioÌ„ betroth Lady Mary of Bourgondy Daughter to Charles the last Duke of Bourgondy whom he was going to marrie when death euen during the preparatiues of the solemnitie of the mariage preuented him So the manifolde decrees and iudgements passed in like matters doe manifest vnto vs the exceeding malice of the enemies of the sayd Lord King of Nauarre 7 Their seconde obiection importeth that the sayd Lorde King of Nauarre is an Hereticke and therefore vnworthy to succeede in the Realme of Fraunce whose Kings are intituled most Christian in respect of the oath that they take at their sacring in the hands of the Archbishop of Rheimes which is that to their powers they shall defende the Catholicke Religion and faith which the sayd Lord King of Nauarre cannot doe as professing an opinion already condemned by the Church and so consequently can not pretend aught in the sayd Crowne neither may the subiects thereof obeye him according to the decree of the generall Counsaile holden at Roome vnder Innocent the third about the yeere 1215. repeated out of the auncient constitutions of Theodosius the yonger Valentinian the 3. and Martian all most Catholicke Princes vpon the confirmation of the general Counsailes of Ephesus and Chalcedon and afterward recited by Iustinian the first in the fifth Counsaile of
behaued our selues toward them we shall surely find that we haue left no more to doe but either to destroy our selues and perish all togither whereby the one shall not scorne the other either els to let them liue among vs one with an other in peace and libertie of conscience and neuer be so desirous to driue them into heauen with the edge of the Sword But will you haue me tell you the trueth your pompe your pride your ambition and the ignorance of yours is cause of al this mischiefe Notwithstanding you see the the Church on a flame who is there among you I will except some small number that endeuoureth to amend his life and to distribute y â— Church goods in such sort as he ought See wee not still the Kinges Courtes the Townes and Country full of superfluitie of our Bishops and other Clergie men such a number of Abbots called Commendatories who are of no professed order of Religion but doe neuerthelesse deuour the reuenues that belong to the poore so many beneficed persons with diuers Bishoprickes Abbayes Priories and Cures some in title others in commendam of the which they neuer see so much as one vnlesse it were to the ende to farme the same foorth You may see their Churches fall in decay and the Priestes whoÌ„ themselues haue annoynted begge their foode the rest of the poore dye for hunger at their gates And in one word to say all these Maisters haue no money to doe their dueties w tall no not so much as to procure preaching which themselues can not doe or for performing the deuine seruice either to instruct the youth For euery one doth sufficiently know that the late King Charles the nineth whom God pardon and King Henry the third now raigning visiting and comming to those Townes wherein the principal Vniuersities of their Realme are planted did ordeine that the Clergie of certaine Dioceses should contribute some small portion toward the salaries of the Doctors and RegeÌ„ts of the same yet was it neuer possible for these poore people who are the seedes of iustice and vertue to reape any one penny Our Maisters haue nowe money enough to helpe to maintaine warre against the King vnder an imaginary and false preteÌ„ce of defending the Catholicke Religion You deceiue your selues if you hope to conuert others before ye make cleane your selues no neuer looke for it for it will still be obiected vnto you that you can see a mote in other mens eyes but cannot take away the whole blocke that blindeth your selues Why follow you not the example of Moses who when he beheld and sawe Gods people offende the deuine Maiestie with Idolatrie did not take the sworde to put them to death but began to crye O Lorde this people haue sinned forgiue them or els blot mee out of thy booke which thou hast written Let vs liue well let vs reforme our selues and let vs not be so careful for the wealth of the world We haue so long cryed out against those of the pretended Religion concerning this poynt that now they can say of vs The Doctor is to blame who reproaueth other for the fault that himself hath Yea they will saye worse for still they stand vpon the defensiue you are the assailants They haue euermore acknowledged the Kings Maiestie for their soueraigne Lord and neuer contemned the Princes of his bloud as the King himselfe in his Edicts hath not sticked to confesse but you endeuour to enstale Straungers against the estate and dignitie of his Maiestie who both before he was King and since hath prodigally ventred his life and hazarded his Crowne for the glutting of your desires and putting of your ouer rude counsailes in executioÌ„ What reason therefore haue you now to match your selues with the meere enemies to the peace of the Church enemies to your Common-wealth enemies to your King and the Princes of his bloud I saye to your most Christian and Catholicke King one that feareth God and one who hath peraduenture done more then he ought for the getting by armes that contention which you do wish for I am moued so to say because in trueth I beleeue and experience hath taught vs that the more we stirre vp this euill the more it encreaseth wherefore herein the best counsaile that wise men haue left vs were to resolue our selues that if this pretended reformed Religion bee not by the decree and establishment of Gods worde it will without any warres perish and vanish of it self as haue done so many former heresies but contrariwise if it be according to the wil of the holy Ghost we may crye out at our pleasures but it will fulfill his worke 10 But my Maisters if you be not led by malice are you so blinde as to thinke that the authors of this conspiracie which they terme a holy League bee ledde by any zeale of Catholicke Religion If that were their drift wherefore haue not they also called into the same such Lords Princes of the bloud as stil continuing Catholickes and liuing according to the Romish Church were neuer so much as suspected to bee of the pretended reformed Religion We know very well that the Lord Cardinal of Bourbon whose yeres they haue seduced and whom vnder a vaine hope of smoke they make to weare the knife wherewith to embrue his hands in his owne bloud hauing wrested from him the fayrest and most of his Benefices whereof by their suggestion hee hath depriued his owne Nenewes before he altogether became vnnaturall when they bounde him to this peeuishnesse offering vnto him their fayned League to signe requested that his Neuewes the Lordes Cardinall of Vandosme Prince of Conty and Earle of Soissons might bee included in y â— same wherto these our Maisters could not intend Whereof doe they suspect the Lord Duke of MontpeÌ„sier and the Lord Prince of DoÌ„bes his sonne both being most Catholicke Princes onely that they bee of the house of Bourbon which they seeke to roote out and so doe make accoumpt to transferre the Crowne into their owne handes trying themselues onely vpon the sayd Lord Cardinall a man worne and of small continuance so contenting themselues to make him the standerd whereby to establish their armes neither would they auctorize the rest amoÌ„g their troupes fearing least they should haue better eyes then the sayd Lorde Cardinall to discouer their wicked entents besides that if it shoulde so fall out that they shoulde come to the drawing of lâ—ttes for the beane in the cake the people would rather haue recourse to these Princes as to the braunches and sprigges of their Kings and those who onely in their degrees and order are capable of the Crowne of France either els least the FreÌ„ch Nobilitie should blush for shame at the preferring of the tirannous dominion of straÌ„gers before their French Princes and lawfull Lordes This is not the first day that the house of Bourbon haue bene subiect to the enuie and malice of these Espaniolized
conspirators for it appeared more euidently wheÌ„ the Duke of Vendosme father to the now raigning King of Nauarre maried the heire of Nauarre whom one of their predecessors was very desirous to match withall The said Lord of Montpensier should be very blinde if he could not by the welcome that the parrisans gaue him lately at Orleans with Cannon shot perceiue that it is not Catholicke Religion that they fight for but the rooting out of the royall famelie As also before wheÌ„ in his absence while he was gone to accompanie the late Monsier the Duke brother to the King into Brabant they procured the taking away of the gouernement of Brittaine froÌ„ him which now they clayme to be theirs some in the right of their mother and other of their wife But I hope the King shall be able notwithstaÌ„ding they endeuour to dispossesse him to make himselfe whole to y e and after to heare them in their petitions if hee finde the same reasonable Moreouer to returne to you my Maisters of the Clergie I will set you downe most pertineÌ„t demonstrations of their zeale to the Catholicke Church and will tell you that after they had fayled of their enterprise against the Towne of Straus borowe by the spoyle whereof they hoped for meane sufficient to demaunde Mets Thoul Verdun and therewithall together with other the Townes vpon the shore of Rhine which easily they would haue forced to haue prosecuted their purpose for the rest of the Realme of Fraunce they endeuoured to winne those of the pretended reformed Religion vnto whom they promised not only such free exercize of their religioÌ„ as y â— King now raigning had permitted them but also if neede were with greater libertie and assurance and to the same ende offered to send their male children and young Cousens for hostages into Germany vnder the pretence of learning the Dutch tongue perswading the French of the sayd Religion that they should neuer liue assured vnder the King that by that which was passed they might beleeue that he would enfringe his Edicts of Pacification vpon his first oportunitie that neither y â— King of Nauarre neither the Prince of Condy had authoritie sufficient to defend them to be brief that it was their best to offer themselues into their protection who had both the men of warre the Clergie and the gouernors of the Prouinces at their deuotion To the same effect they also sent the late Lorde of May to Duke Casemire to winne hym into this League and also to practize the same with those of the pretended reformed Religion offering to commit their forces into his hands besides setting before him that he was discended of the race of Charlemagne as well as they that they might make the one a great Emperour the other a great King that the Capetiâ—s had ouer long enioyed their inheritance and that they were resolued no loÌ„ger to suffer it As in deede about the time of the siege of Fere the sayd May practized all that he perceiued discontented to signe the sayde conspiracie vntill he was wouÌ„ded at the said siege whereof when the chief of this drift had notice he posted from Paris vnto him to get from him the Articles of the League as also after the decease of the sayd May hee sent to his house to make search amoÌ„g al the papers remeÌ„brances of the sayd deceased Beleeue not therefore my Maisters that it is the loue of God that leadeth them either piety of Catholicke Religion but say boldly that it is no other but ambition a wicked and abhominable entent to lose and alter this Estate and to get it into their handes and so to make you bondmen to their passions or executioners of their tyrannie Wherefore I beseech you to call to minde the saying of Ioel. Awake my Maisters you that are dronken with your Wine weepe and lament for all your ioye and mirth is gone farre from you Put on your mourning weedes ye Priestes that serue at the Aulter for our land is become miserable and our fieldes doe now weepe sith they are become barren our Wines withered our Oyle diminished and our labourers brought into necessitie And againe weepe ye Clergie that serue God and in liew of other weapons say Lorde forgiue this people and forsake not thy enheritance As for your liues direct them after the example of the Apostle who sayth Wee are as young children among you or as the nurse preserueth her little ones euen so we doe merueilously loue you and doe couet not onely to teach you but to offer our liues for your preseruation Put awaye all hatred mallice guile emulation enuie and backbyting feede vpon milke that we growe therein to our saluation for almightie God is mercifull My Maisters I pray you pardon me I knowe I might haue spoken more gently vnto you but to what purpose is it only with the fingers to touch the wound or to annoynt onely the outside thereof with too easie an oyntment when you see it is tyme to crush it throughly to expell all corruption that marreth the whole body What had I bene the better to haue ministred a tent of lint when it wanted a sharpe corosiue Take therefore in good parte this that I say vnto you for it is the doctrine y â— I haue learned in the Schoole of the Catholicke Apostolicke and Romish Church the greatest Doctors whereof without humaine passions will graunt that al the Sermons and Preachings wherewith you stirre vp the people to take armes and shed bloud are no other then the deuilles TroÌ„pets and Drommes as also surely if you seeke any other weapons then clemencie and Christian pietie doe teach and that with Tertullian you say not you had rather be killed theÌ„ kil I do foreshew vnto you the wrath of God vpon you and that vndoubtedly the prophesie of Malachie will bee verefied in you in these wordes My wrath is kindled against the Shepeheards whom I will visite among the flockes 11 Much lesse are we also to care for the complaint that some of the vnwisest of your men doe lay vpon the King for exacting some of your tenths and vsing sometimes as the necessitie of his Estate requireth the temporalties of his Churches wherein they are much to blame and do ouergreatly abuse the libertie that the conniuence of Princes haue tollerated in your predecessors in respect of their pietie and endeuours in the distribution of their meanes possessions and almoses giuen to the poore vnto whoÌ„ the Church goods doe appertaine and not to you Besides that I will by the way tell you that the wealth of the Church is the onely poyson thereof for that the greatnesse thereof consisteth not in temporall goodes and worldly pompe as the deuill hath perswaded most of our Clergie but in the holy and commendable life of our Pastors and in that heauenly foode that they giue to their flockes ouer y â— which they watch night day And as Chrisostome doth well