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
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
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
Widow had Thessaly for his Year of our Lord 1204 share with the Title of a Kingdom upon which condition he gave up the Island of Candia to the Venetians The Grecian Princes preserved Asia to themselves where they established divers Sovereignties Theodorus Lascaris attired himself with Imperial Robes at Nicea in Bithynia and had the largest Dominion for extent Of the Family of the Comnenes Michael had part of Epirus David Heraclea Ponticus and Paphlagonia and Alexis his Brother the City of Trebisond on the Pontus-Euxinus There was the Empire of Trebisond formed which still remained separate and distinct from that of Constantinople till the Turks devoured both the one and the other Baldwin enjoy'd not the Empire two years for going to besiege Adrianople Joannitz or Calojan King of Bulgaria coming to assist the Greeks drew him into an Ambuscade made him prisoner and having carried him into Bulgaria cut off his Arms Year of our Lord 1205 and Legs and cast him into a Precipice where he languisht for three days It was thus given out but many are of opinion that he escaped from that imprisonment However it were his Brother Henry succeeded him in the Empire He left two Daughters the eldest Married Ferrand Brother of Sancho King of Portugal who by this means was Earl of Flanders the youngest had Children by Bouchard d'Auesnes Year of our Lord 1205 King John not attributing his misfortunes to his crime his cowardize or sloth but to the ill-will of his English Subjects particularly the Clergy who had not assisted him in his necessities sets himself upon molesting and vexing them by all Year of our Lord 1206 manner of exactions Guy de Touars who Govern'd Bretagne being Husband to the Dutchess Constance had turned to Philips party and assisted him not a little in his late Conquests He had likewise brought over to him the Vicount Touars his Brother but this year both of them were at variance with him Guy would Cantonnize himself in Bretagne the King begirts him in Nantes and compels him to return again to his Service how-ever the Vicount remained for the English Interest That King having Levied vast sums of Money and a powerful Army in England comes and Lands at Rochel the Vicount Savary de Maulcon and some other Lords joyn with him Philip finding himself too weak contents himself only with providing and strengthening his Towns in Poitou with all speed and then retires to Paris John marches into Anjou takes Anger 's dismantles it and presently after remembring that it was his Ancestors native City causes the Walls to be rebuilt At the same time there were some Bretons who seizing upon the Promontary de Garplic built a Fort there to favour the approaches of the English upon those Shallows These were all the Effects of the great Prowess of King John for being soon tir'd he caused a Truce to be propounded by the interposition of the Pope who threatned Excommunication in case of refusal Philip agrees it for two years against the opinion of the French Lords who proffer'd him all assistance and engaged not to forsake him although the Pope should proceed against him by censures Year of our Lord 1208 The two contenders for the German Empire Otho and Philip had agreed An. 1207. in such sort that Otho who had the approbation of the Pope but was the weaker should leave the Empire to Philip whom if he hapned to die without Children Otho should succeed him and in the interim Marry his Daughter Now this year Philip being Murthered in his Sick Bed by Otho Palatine of Vitelspack the Empire fell to his Competitor who the following year went into Italy and was Crowned at Rome Immediately after he had a quarrel with the Pope about some Enterprize upon the Lands belonging to the Church and those belonging to Frederick King of Sicily Feodary to the Holy See for which he was Excommunicated An. 1210. Innocent III. was then Pope a Prelat of great courage rare merit and who being in the strength of his age was stirring in every place and concern'd himself in every thing driving all things to the height where he met with a weak or divided party England made an unhappy Experiment King John being absolutely resolv'd not to accept of Cardinal Stephen Lanctbon for Arch-Bishop of Canterbury whom the White Friers had Elected to the Popes liking but without the Kings consent and the Pope standing stifly up to maintain and justify this Election the contest grew so hot that the Pope sends to three of the English Bishops a Sentence of Interdiction to be laid upon the whole Kingdom John was so enrag'd that he confiscated the Estates of all the Clergy and resolv'd utterly to abolish Episcopacy in the Nation Commanding them immediately to depart and to secure himself against any personal effects of the Excommunication wherewith he was threatned he took Hostages of the Towns and Nobility The Pope not being able to reduce the Hereticks of Languedoc who had almost gained the whole Province fals upon Raimond Earl of Toulouze because he was their chief promoter and encourager and had caused one of his Legats to be massacred it was Peter de C hastean-neuf a Monk de Cisteaux or White Fryer and the First that exercised the Inquisition He Excommunicated that Earl Absolv'd his Subjects of their Oath of Fidelity and gave his Lands to the first Occupier but without prejudice to the right of the King of France his Sovereignty Such an apprehension seized on the Earl that being come to Milon the Popes Legat at Valence he intirely submitted gave up eight places of strength to the Roman Church to perpetuity as a pawn of his Conversion and the following year to obtain Absolution suffred himself to be scourged with Rods at the Gate of St. Giles's Church where Peter de Chasteau-neuf lay buried and thence dragg'd to that Friers Tomb by the Legat who put the Stole about his Neck in presence of Twenty Arch-Bishops and an infinite multitude of People After which he likewise crossed himself or put on the badge of the Cross and joyned the next year with those that took his and the Towns of his Allies Year of our Lord 1208 It was not his penitence that humbled him to undergo so horrible a shame it was the fear he had of a dreadful storm just ready to break and fall upon his Head For the Pope having turned that sorvent Zeal which animated the People so much to go in defence of tho Holy-Land had this very year order'd a Croisade to be Preached against the Albigenses and many Lords Prelats and great numbers of common People had listed themselves in this Militia the King himself set out Fifteen thousand Men that were to be maintain'd at his own charge These bore the Cross upon their Breast to distinguish them from such as went to the Holy-Land who wore that badge upon their Shoulder Amongst these Heretiques there were some whom they called the Poor
others who named themselves the Humbled The First made profession of an Evangelical poverty the Second undertook to Preach wherever they came To contradict or countermine these two Religious Orders were instituted viz. The Friers Mineurs or Cordeliers and the Preaching Friers or Jacobins The First Foundation of that was laid in Italy by St. Francis d'Assise of the other in Languedoc by St. Dominique of the Noble Family of the Guzmans in Spain and Cannon of Osma who came into this Province with a Bishop to Convert the Albigenses Year of our Lord 1208 King Philip would have been himself in this Expedition or would have sent his Son for these Sectaries had committed some Hostilities in his Territory acknowledging his Enemy King John had he not feared a Landing of the English in Bretagne under favour of the Fort du Garplie He went not therefore beyond the Loire but Commanded the Nobility that held of him to arm themselves and take that Fort as in truth they did this year The Bishops of Orleans and Auxerre who had been sent thither with their Vassals upon this Expedition being return'd again without leave pretending not to be oblig'd to march with the Army but when the King was there in Person the King commanded their Regalia to be seized that is to say what they held in Fief of him not their Tithes Offerings and other dues necessarily belonging to People of that Function They made complaint by their Envoys to Pope Innocent III. then went themselves The Pope having examined the matter found they had failed and transgressed against the Customs and Laws of the Kingdom so that they were fain to pay a Mulct to the King to re-enter upon their Temporals Year of our Lord 1209 The number of these New-Crossed Soldiers were not less then 500000 Men not all Combatans as I believe amongst whom there were five or six Bishops the Duke of Burgundy the Earls of Nevers St. Poll and de Montfort The general Rendezvous was at Lyons about the Feast of St. John Thence going into Languedoc they assault the City of Beziers one of the strongest held by the Albigenses forced it and put all to the edge of the Sword there being slain above threescore thousand Persons Those in Carcassonne terrified with this horrible Slaughter surrendred upon Discretion thinking themselves very happy to escape naked or only in their Shirts Year of our Lord 1209 The Lords in this Army having called a Council elected Simon Earl of Montfort chief Commander in this War and to govern the Conquests they had and should make upon those Hereticks That done the Earl of Nevers returned with a great Party of those Soldiers and soon after the Duke of Burgundy with another so that Simon was left ill attended yet he maintained himself by a more then Heroick Valour and Conquer'd Mire-pâ—ix Pamiers and Alby In so much as in a little time he made himself Master of the Albigois the Counties of Beziers and Carcassonne and above an hundred Castles Year of our Lord 1209 In these times the School at Paris flourish'd more then ever They gave it the name of University because all sorts of Sciences were universally taught there although in effect the desire to Study or Learn and the affluence of Scholars were much greater then their Doctrine A certain Priest of the Diocess of Chartres named Almaric beginning to Preach up some Novelties had been forced to recant for which he died of grief Several after his Death following his Opinions were discover'd and condemn'd to the Fire he Excommunicated by the Council of Paris his Body taken out of the Grave and his Ashes cast on the Dunghil And because they believ'd the Books of Aristotles Metaphysicks lately brought them from Constantinople had fill'd their heads with these Heretical Subtilties the same Council prohibited either the keeping or reading them upon pain of Excommunication Year of our Lord 1209 Guy Count d'Auvergne for the violence and injustice he committed against the Clergy particularly the Bishop of Clermont whom he had imprison'd was deprived of his County by King Philip and could never be restor'd again Year of our Lord 1210 The Emperor Otho grew stubborn in the defence of the Rights of the Empire and prepared to go into Italy wholly to subdue it with a mighty Army which he raised with the Money his Nephew King John had sent him upon condition that from thence he should fall upon France Thereupon he was thunder-struck with Excommunication by Pope Innocent and a little after a great part of the German Princes elected Roger-Frederick II. Son of the Emperor Henry VI. about the Age of Seventeen years and who in his Fathers Life-time had already been named King of the Romans The Pope consented to this Election and the following year Frederic who was then in his Kingdom of Sicily passed into Germany Every other while there came new Bands of Soldiers of the Cross to the Earl de Montfort even from Flanders and Germany but slipt away again within six weeks or two Months With these Recruits he carried all the Places and Castles not only of the Hereticks but likewise of other Lords The King of Arragon of whom divers in those Countries held their Lands in Under-Fiefs because of some Lordships he was possessed of wrote to the Pope about it and the Earl of Toulouze went even to Rome to make his Complaints where his Holiness receiv'd him well enough and promis'd him Justice Year of our Lord 1210 But at his return they propounded an Agreement with Montfort if he would let him have all he had already taken He could never consent to it and Milon the Popes Legat Excommunicated him in the Council of Avignon because he levied certain new Tolls upon his Lands The King of Arragon came in Person to another Council which was held at St. Gilles to endeavour to accommodate Affairs and restore the Earl of Foix and the Vicount de Bearn who were dispossess'd as favourers of Hereticks but he could not obtain any thing Year of our Lord 1211 The Toulouzain after so many mean and ruinous Submissions takes the Bit in his Teeth and puts himself in a posture to defend his own Then is he openly Excommunicated and his Lands exposed to any that could Conquer them Montfort besieges Toulouze but the grand Recruits that were come with him stealing away in a little time he is forced to raise the Siege The Earls of Toulouze and de Foix with their Confederates pursue him and besiege him in Chasteauneuf a thing incredible above 50000 Men could not overpower or force three hundred are beaten and shamefully retreat Year of our Lord 1211 The young Princes Frederick II. and Lewis eldest Son of King Philip delegated by his Father Confer at Vaucouleurs upon the Frontiers of Champagne to renew the Alliance between France and the Empire and to unite themselves more closely against Otho and against King John his Uncle two irreconcilable Enemies Renauld Earl of
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
the eldest was the most happy being joyned this year to Lewis King of France a Prince that Year of our Lord 1235 was much greater by his Virtues then his Crown The same year the Earl of Champagee it is not said for what cause fell again into Rebellion for which he was punished with the loss of his Cities of Montereau-Faut-Yonne Bray and Nogent upon the Seine These losses did not make him much wiser he persisted still in his foolish passion for the Queen who had ruin'd him and retired to his Castle of Provins to write Verses and Songs for entertainment of his amorous Dotage Year of our Lord 1235. and 36. Nevertheless he was soon diverted by the death of Sancho VIII called the Strong King of Navarre who dying without any Males left the Kingdom to him as the next Heir and Son of his Daughter Blanch. So he went and took possession and transported a great number of Husbandmen from his Landes in Brie and Champagne who improved and made that Countrey very fertile and populous The Countrey of Artois was erected to an Earldom Pairrie in favour of Robert the Kings Brother on whom his Father had bestow'd it by his Will Some place this erection in the time of Philip Augustus However it were I think we may be confident it is the first of that nature At the sollicitation of Pope Gregory who had as well a quarrel to the Emperour Frederick's Forces his Enemy declar'd they being in possession of the remainder of Year of our Lord 1237. and 38. the Kingdom of Jerusalem as to the Saracens there was a great Crusado of French Lords over whom the new King of Navarre was made Chief But these Adventurers had no better success then all the rest for the ill conduct of these new Soldiers of the Cross and their Divisions brought the whole Army almost to ruine and most part of the Officers and Commanders were slain there or taken prisoners Year of our Lord 1238 Peter Duke of Burgundy died in his return from this Expedition his only Son John Surnamed Rufus succeeded him The affairs of Constantinople were no whit better the Emperour Baldwin comes into France to beg assistance against the Greeks and for a great sum of Money sold the Crown of Thorns wherewith our Saviour was Crowned the Spung and the Lance which pierced his Side to St. Lewis the King who put them into his Treasury of Reliques in the Holy Chappel which he had purposely built in his own Palace It was now about three years that all the Doctors both Seculars and Regulars of the Sacred Faculty of Divnity at Paris which was then almost the only School for that Science and as it were the perpetual Council of the Gallican Church had resolv'd the question and were all agreed upon this judgment in a famous Assembly and after mature deliberation and discussion that oue and the same Ecclesiastical person could in Conscience hold but one Benefice at one time This year 1238. William III. Bishop of Paris held another Assembly of the same Faculty in the Chapter of the Jacobins where it was unanimously concluded That one could not without forfeiture of Eternal Happiness possess two Benefices at the same time provided one of them were of the value only of Fifteen Liures parisis per annum There were none but Philip Chancellour of the Vniversity and Arnold afterwards Bishop of Amiens who were obstinately resolv'd to hold their own The First when he lay on his Death-bed being earnestly desired and pressed home by the Bishop William to discharge himself of that burthen which would sink him down to Hell replied That he would try whether that were true How few are to be seen in these days that do not chuse to run the same hazard or are not troubled that they cannot have the opportunity of such ✚ a Trial But it does not appear so great a risque to them since the Popes give Dispensations Year of our Lord 1239 The quarrels between Pope Gregory IX and the Emperour Frederic growing hot to all extremity of Outrages on either side Gregory sent to St. Lewis King of France to proffer him the Empire for his Brother Robert Earl of Artois The Lords assembled by the King upon a proposition so important did not approve that violent proceeding and said it was sufficient for Robert that he was Brother to a King who was more excellent in Dignity and Nobility then any Emperour whatever The Albigensis could not submit themselves to the Orders of the Inquisition Trincavel Son of the Vicount de Beziers and five or six Lords of the Countrey putting themselves at the head of them they seized upon Carcassonne and some Year of our Lord 1239 other places and ran into some parts belonging to the King in hostile manner He presently sent some Forces thither Commanded by John Earl of Beaumont who drove them out from Carcassonne and besieged them in Mont-real where after they had held some time they made their capitulation by means of the Earls of Foix and Toulouze Year of our Lord 1239 The old de la Montagne so they named the Prince of the Assassins a People that occupied the mountainous Canton of Syria had dispatched two of his Murtherers into France to kill the King but soon after I cannot say by what motive he repented and countermanded them by some others who before they could find them out advertised the King to have a care of himself This old de la Montagne bred up great numbers of young Youths in pleasant aud delicious Palaces and the hopes of an Eternal Felicity in the other World if they obey'd his Commands blindfold and to make them the more capable and fit to execute his bloody Will in all Countreys he made them learn all Languages Year of our Lord 1239 The interests of the Pope and the Emperour were not at all compatible together and therefore Frederick and Honorius and then Gregory IX who succeeded Honorius fell necessarily into discords and afterwards into mortal hatred Gregory le ts fly the Thunder-bolts of the Church against Frederick and his Legat having called the Prelats of France together at Meaux order'd several of them to go to Rome to hold a Council where they pretended to degrade that Emperour He complained to the King desired him not to permit his Bishops to go out of France and his desire not taking effect he caused them to be way-laid and watch'd at Sea and having taken them distributed them in divers prisons Then in his turn he for a while slighted the Kings intercession for their release which thing made some alteration in that good correspondence that for some time had continued between France and the Empire In the year 1240. The King having assembled the flower of the Barons and the Year of our Lord 1240 Knights of his Kingdom at Saumur gave the Girdle of Knighthood to his Brother Alphonso whose Marriage had a little before been compleated with Jane
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
excommunicate and wrote very harsh Letters Year of our Lord 856 to young Lotaire threatning to deprive him of his Kingdom There is no craft nor submissions which this Prince did not put in practice to elude that Sentence But the Pope not valuing all those Arts sent a Legat into France named Arsenius who addressing himself to the German Louis called a Synod Year of our Lord 866 and taking upon him a Supream Authority declared to Lotaire that he must take his Wife again or remain excommunicated with all his Adherents The Kings his Uncles maintained this Sentence in such sort that for the time he was forced to obey But so soon as the Legat was departed France he began afresh to mis-use his Wife to threaten to make process against her for Adultery and prove that crime by combat The accused retires to the protection of Charles the Pope takes her business much to heart and excommunicates Valdrade and Duke Huebert Brother Year of our Lord 867 of this Queen rebelling against Lotaire plunders his Country kills his people and exercised all manner of cruelty till he was slain himself by Count Conrard Father of that Rodolph who was the First King of Burgundy beyond the Jour or Transjurain Salomon had fancied that the Kingdom of Bretagne though Neomene had obtained it rather by conquest then succession belonged to him because he was the Son Year of our Lord 867 of Rivalon eldest Brother to that King Thus having forgotten he was carefully and tenderly bred under his tuition he contrives a conspiracy against Herispoux his Son assaults him in the Fields then kills him in the Church to which he fled for safety and so puts the Crown all bloody upon his own head Neomene and he intitled themselves Kings of Bretagne and a great part of Gaule because in effect they possessed the Countries of Mayne and with that the lower Anjou which they had wrested from the French For this cause was Anjou divided in two Counties the one containing what is beyond the River Maine and held by these Breton Kings the other what lies on this side and remained to the French At the same time the Normans entring into Neustria by the Loire spread themselves all over Nantois Poitou Anjou and Tourraine Ranulfe Duke of Aquitain and Duke Robert the strong who was so called because he guarded those Marches against these Barbarians and the Bretons having attaqued them in a Post which they had fortified near the River were by misfortune both slain in the combat So that their Army wanting a Head though they got the advantage let those robbers get away from them Robert had two Sons very young Eudes and Robert whom we shall find to have reigned hereafter The Saracens tormented Italy no less Lotaire went thither with his Forces not only to assist the Emperor Louis his Brother but moreover by this means to deserve and gain the Favour of the Pope which was Adrian successor to Nicholas hoping in time to obtain the dissolution of his Marriage with Thietberge The Holy-Father received him very well because he assured him he had punctually obey'd to all that was enjoyned him but when both he and his came to receive the Holy Communion from his hands he obliged them all to swear it was true that he had quitted Valdrade Now it hapned shortly after that the most part of these Lords died of sickness or otherwise in such numbers and so suddenly as if they had been cut down by the Sword of an exterminating Angel and Lotaire himself was Seized with a Feaver at Luca which he drag'd along to Piacenza where he gave up the Ghost the 6 th of August Which some interpreted a divine Vengeance for the false and Sacrilegious Oath he and his Courtiers had made The Body of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament being a destroying Sword to the wicked and unworthy Communicant Year of our Lord 868 His youngest Brother Charles King of Provence endeavoured to reap his succession and was Crowned at Mets by the Bishop Adventius But he survived not long after and died without Issue He was Interred in the Church of St. Peter's at Lyons LOUIS in Bavaria and Germany CHARLES in West-France Burgundy and Lorrain LOUIS II Emperour in Italy Year of our Lord 868. And 69. Charles who then held a Parliament at Poissy informed of the death of Lotaire went and Seized on the Kingdom of Lorraine neither minding the Emperor Louis Brother of the two last Kings to whom it should have belonged nor the Mediation of the Pope who desired him by an express Legation to do his Nephew Justice The Bishops of that Kingdom being Assembled at Mets gave him the Crown And Hincmar the Arch-Bishop chief promoter of that Decree put it on his Head with the usual Ceremonies Lotaire had one Son and two Daughters by Valdrade The two Daughters were Berte and Gisele Berte was first wife to Count Thibauld Father of Hugh Count and Marquess of Provence and by her second Marriage to Adelbert Marquess of Tuscany Father of Guy and Lambert Gisele was Wedded to Godfrey the Dane who Reigned in Friseland the Son was named Hugh who when he came to Age contended for the Kingdom of Lorrain Hermentrude Wife to Charles the Bald dying at St. Denis the 16 th of October Year of our Lord 869 he married for the second time Richende or Richilda his Mistriss Daughter of Earl Buvin or Boves and the Sister to Thietberge Widdow of King Lotaire III. It was with some justice but without legal power that the Pope should take Year of our Lord 870 any cognisance of the difference about Lotaire He dispatched a second Embassy to Charles the Bald to exhort him to surrender it to the Emperor Louis otherwise he would Excommunicate him And he wrote to the Bishops that they should forbear all Communion with that King unless they would be cut off from the Church of Rome Charles reply'd modestly enough to the Legats but the French Bishops went a higher Note and the Arch-Bishop Hincmar wrote very smart Letters to Adrian His Nephew of the same name Bishop of Laon was of an other opinion and with much heat maintained all those Orders brought from the Pope He had Excommunicated a Norman Lord because he detained some Lands belonging to his Church whereof the King had given him the Benefice His proceedings were blamed and condemned by the Bishops at the Synod of Verberie he appealed to the Pope for which cause his Uncle having cited him before the Council of Attigny which consisted of the Bishops of twelve Provinces he caused his Equipage to be Plundred by the way and when he came to the Assembly forced him to renounce Year of our Lord 870 his Appeal The Pope made grievous complaint of it and would have brought the Process and the two Hincmars to Rome but the Arch-Bishop reply'd with force and hindred him This dispute went so far that the Bishop of Laon was deposed and clapt in Prison
Italy betwixt them Year of our Lord 888 THus the Succession of the Carlovinian House was divided into five Dominions without counting the Lords who set up almost for Soveraigns 1. Italy which was joyned with the Title of the Empire 2. Germany which then also comprehended the Kingdom of Bavaria 3. France which had the Kingdoms of Neustria Aquitain and part of Burgundy 4. Burgundy Cis-jurane named ordinarily the Kingdom of Arles or Provence under which were likewise the Lyonnois and Daufine 5. and Burgundy Trans-jurane or beyond the Jour as the other on the contrary We need not doubt but these new Kings gave part of the Quarry to the Lords of their Party and consented to every thing to get only their Oaths and Homage nor can we imagine but these Lords did the like towards their Vassals and these again to the lesser Nobility From hence arose so many Lordships both small and great of which the Bishops themselves such as were of good Families and had but courage enough did not forget to take their shares Year of our Lord 889 Now Eudes to show himself worthy the choice they had made of him went out against the Normans who ravaged Burgundy He set upon them on St. John Baptists Day nigh Mountfaucon slew nineteen thousand and pursued the remainder to the very Frontiers shewing himself personally brave on all occasions Another party of them who were in Champagne descended by the Marne as far as Paris and there loading the Barks upon Waggons carried and put them into the River again below the City then falling down to the Sea and so running along the Coasts plund'red the Country of Constentine Year of our Lord 889 Alain and Judicael who were contending for their shares in Bretagne agreed together to sight the Normans their common Enemy Judicael alone rashly presents them Battel and so doing lost both his Life and honour But Alain having gotten all his Forces together fought them so fortunately that of fifteen thousand hardly did four hundred escape The Bretons attribute this success to a vow he made to bestow the Tythe of the Spoil he should gain upon St. Peter's at Rome Such Devotion towards the Holy-Chair was very ordinary in those Ages Divers Princes devoted their Estates and became Tributaries to St. Peter Which did not a little contribute to imprint that persuasion the Popes then had in their minds that they had a right both to give and to take away Crowns After these losses the Normans having but few men left in France two of their Chiefs Godfrey and Sigefroy went and shipped a new levy of a hundred thousand men raised in Denmark Sweden and Norway that their reputation might not be wholly blasted They entred the Meuse with fourscore and ten thousand leaving the remainder to guard their Vessels King Arnold's Lieutenants assaulting them indiscreetly were defeated with the loss of an infinite number of the Nobility Year of our Lord 890 But Arnold himself picqued at so bloody an affront passes the Rhine with the whole Force of Germany seeks them in their very Camp which was close by the Meuse and forced them with so much fury that he left not so much as one of them alive The dead Bodies made a Bridge quite cross the River and the Flood was swoln with the Blood of those Barbarians If any wonder whence there could come such vast numbers we must know First that all the rascally and pilfering French and the like of other Countries joyned with them That besides those Countries were then extremely populous and all those Inhabitants greedy of Plunder listed and embarqued themselves to come and rob such rich and fertile Nations In fine there came so many who were either destroyed or else Inhabited in France that those large Territories of the North are unpeopled to this very day Thus in these last Ages Spain which once swarmed with men has made her self become a Desart through the covetous humour in her Subjects who all transport themselves into that new World where are the Mines of Gold and Silver they so long for Year of our Lord 891. and 892. All the Neustrian Lords did not own Eudes for their King Aymar Earl of Poitiers whom he would have dispossessed of his Estate to give it to his Brother Robert Ranulfe II. Duke of Aquitain and some others in those parts had taken up Arms against him Year of our Lord 892 Now whilst he was employed in Poitou in the War a confederacy was contrived between Herebert and Pepin Brothers sprung from Bernard King of Italy the one Earl of Vermandois the other of Senlis and Baudouin or Baldwin Earl of Flanders Fulk Arch-Bishop of Reims and many others who having been to fetch Charles the Simple out of England whither his Mother had carried him caused Year of our Lord 893 him to be Crowned at Rheims the 27 th of January in the year 893. It was by the assistance of Fulk that he immediately wrote Apologetick Letters to Arnold Guy and Rodolph exhorting them to help the Pupil against the Usurper Which at first made some impression upon Arnold in favour of Charles but soon after either in terest or inconstancy turned him on Eudes side Some have said that that Guy of Spoleta whom we have mentioned had likewise been Crowned at Langres three years before So that there were three Kings chosen and Crowned in West-France But Guy had absolutely quitted it for Italy and seemed to pretend no more to it CHARLES Called The SIMPLE King XXX POPES STEPHEN VII Near Three years THEODORE II. Elect. 901. S. 20 dayes JOHN IX also Elected in 901. S. 3. Years 15 days BENNEDICT IV. Elect. 905. S. about 2. Years LEO V. Elected in 907. S. 40 days after which Christopher dethroned him S. 7 Months SERGIUS III. an 908. having dethroned Christopher S. about 3 years ANASTASIUS III. Elected an 910. S. 2 years 2 Months JOHN X. Elected in 912. S. 15 years whereof 12 under this Reign Arnold King of Germany Bavaria and Lorraine Eudes and Charles Competitors for West-France Guy Emperour and King of Italy Rodolph in Burgundy and LOVIS in Arles Year of our Lord 893 FOr two whole years the parties for Charles and Eudes made War with various success Eudes being returned from Guyenne drove Charles out of Neustria but shortly after he got in again by the assistance of the Lords of his party Eudes made him work enough and had no less to do himself being forced to guard himself as well from his own party as from his Enemies Count Gautier Son of Adelme his paternal Uncle and Count of Laon drew his Sword upon him in open Parliament and had afterwards the confidence to take shelter in the City of Laon but Eudes followed him so close that not giving him time to put himself into a posture of defence he took the Town and caused his Head to be cut off Year of our Lord 892. and 3. Arnold was sometimes on his side
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
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
fit we observe that at the Coronations of Kings they forgot not their own Interests nor failed to make them promise solemnly to maintain the Rights of the Church But we do not find them always so careful and zealous for the good of the People and the Prerogative of the Nobility Of those that appeared with most Splendor some were such as were noted for Intrigues and Factions and of them were a great number Ebbon of Reims Agobard of Lyons and Bernard de Vienne active in the degrading of Louis the Debonnaire Ebroin of Poictiers for disposing Aquitain to surrender themselves into the hands of that Emperor who would bestow it upon Charles his beloved Son Thietgaud de Colen and Gontier de Ments touching the marriage of Valdrade And Hincmar of Reims for his resisting the Pope and intermedling with all affairs both of Church and State wherein he acted with as much heat as judgment during the Reign of Charles the Bald. The others were illustrious for their Learning as the same Agobard Theodulfe and Jonas his Successor Rabanus Maurus of St. Bennets Order and Arch-Bishop of Mentz Hincmar of Reims who had been Abbot of St. Denis and the other Hincmar his Nephew Remy de Lyons Adon de Vienne Hilduin Abbot of St. Denis Loup Abbot of Ferrieres in Gastinois Henry Monk of St. Germain d'Auxerre Valafride Strabon Abbot of Richenoue Florus Master of the Church of Lyons that is a Divine and John Scot or Scotus surnamed Erigena This last was a great Philosopher and for the Beauty and Delicacy of his wit highly cherished by Charles the Bald even to the lying in his Chamber But in Theology he passed for one of a raving Brain whose sentiments were not right and sound As for Hincmar de Reims we have his works whereof every one may judge The other Hincmar his nephew very zealons for the Popes authority collected their Decretal Letters and was the first that durst put down the names of some Ancient Popes who till that time had none but which Isâ—dore Mercator had already gathered together Other Canonists followed his error till at length the more judicious found they were but fictitious Adon de Vienne composed a Matyrology which is yet in being Hilduin wrote the life of St. Denis the Areopagite by command of Louis the Debonnaire from the Memoires of Methodius Patriarch of Constantinople who to flatter the French endeavour'd to have two things believed which the Criticks pretend to condemn of false-hood The one that this Saint Denis had been Bishop of Paris the other that those Writings which go under his name were his own We have the Epistles of Loup de Ferrieres which give a great light in the affairs of those times And the Monk Henry wrote the Life of Saint Germain de Auxerre in more Elegant Verse then the roughness of that Age could promise I shall observe en passant that Latin Poetry began to rouze its self under Charles the Bald and amongst other Poets that flatter'd him there was one that made a Piece containing three hundred Hexameters in praise of the Bald where every word began with the Letter C. Some for their good lives deserved to be placed in the Catalogue of Saints as Anscher taken out of the Order of St. Bennet by Louis the Debonnaire to be the first Arch-Bishop of Hamburgh Established by that Emperor and to Preach to the Danes and Swedes the same Rabanus whom we have mentioned Two Audrâ—'s one of Sens the other of Mans Ayos de Bourges Prudence de Troyes Hildeman de Beauvais Foulquin and Hunfroy de Teroüanne Amant de Rodez and Bernard de Vienne This last had Adon above-named for Successor both in his Sanctity and his See But he had very few in that good Christian Maxim so often in his Mouth and ever in his Soul That the Riches and Goods of the Church are the Patrimony of the Poor and that a Clergy-man hath no right to them but for his necessities Nor did he keep any more Domestique Servants but one Priest and one Lay-man Proclaiming to all Prelats by this noble example That he who is great in himself hath no need of other Equipage or Train of Servants to make him appear so LOUIS IV. Surnamed TRANSMARINE King XXXII Aged XIX or XX Years POPES LEO VII in 936. S. 3 years 6 Months STEPHEN IX Elect. in 939. S. 3 years 4 Months MARTIN II. Elect. 943. S. 3 years 6 Months and one half AGAPET II. Elect. 946. S. 9 years 7 Months Louis IV. surnam'd Transmarine in France Otho I. in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Transjurane HUGH and Lotaire his Son in Italy Year of our Lord 936 OF all the French Lords Hugh le Blanc Earl of Paris and Orleans Duke of France and Brother in Law to the late King had the greatest Authority in the Kingdom He durst not however take the Crown because Hebert Earl of Vermandois and Giselbert Duke of Lorraine two very potent Enemies would have broke his Measures He found it therefore more safe to make a King of the Blood of Charlemaine who should be wholy obliged to him for his Crown To this purpose he dispatched a Famous Deputation of Prelats and Lords whereof William Arch-Bishop of Sens was the Chief into England to beseech Ogina the Widdow of Charles the Simple to bring back her Son Louis whom the French desired to own for their King She granted their request but not without great opposition of King Aldestan her Brother He apprehended his Nephew might be destroy'd by some treachery as his Father had been and therefore would not be satisfied with only their Oaths but took Hostages besides Hugh and the other Lords came to receive their King at his Landing at Bullogne tender'd their Hommage on the Strand and thence conducted him to Laon where he was Anointed by Arnold Arch-Bishop of Reims the 20 th day of June Year of our Lord 936 Immediately after his Coronation Hugh who still retained the Administration of the Kingdom carried him into the Dutchy of Burgundy for his own ends for there were some pretences but how grounded we do not well know And Hugh le Noir appropriated it to himself as Heir of the Deceased Rodolph his Brother who had it from Richard his Father on whom Boson had bestowed it when he was made King of Burgundy Le Noir or the Black had therefore Seized on the City of Langres after the Decease of King Rodolph but the new King and Hugh thrust him cut again without striking one blow and engaged him to yeild up one half of the Dutchy to Hugh le Blanc or the White An. 937. King Rodolph died having Reigned 25 years in Burgundy Transjurane and only five in the Kingdom of Arles He left three Children Conrade who Succeeded him but whom Otho Seized upon and detained fourteen years Burchard Bishop of Lausanne and Adeleis a most Illustrious Princess who by her first marriage was Wife to Lotaire King of
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
feared an absolute re-union between the King and his Subjects or whether the Tears of his Daughter Gerberge and compassion to behold a King so ill treated by his means moved his heart he roughly refused Hugh who sought his amity and Year of our Lord 946 profer'd Louis his assistance to revenge himself Year of our Lord 946 Lewis accepted it and soon after he was out of his imprisonment went to Otho at Cambresis where Arnold Earl of Flanders had joyned Forces with him So that they had together above thirty Legions And which is remarkable all these combatants except the Abbot of Corbie in Saxony had all Straw-hats without doubt to defend their heads from blows or from the cold Year of our Lord 946 One would imagine such a prodigious Army must overwhelm Hugh and all his Allies but after they had tried Laon driven away Arch-Bishop Hugh from Reims and restored Artold to his See having shewed themselves before the Gates of Senlis and the Suburbs of Paris they ran themselves on ground and Shipwrackt against Rouen The death of Otho's Nephew and a great number of Saxons who were slain there the autumnal Rains the approaching Winter Arnolds desertion who withdrew in the night time with his Forces apprehending to be delivered up to the Normans constrained Otho to raise his Siege and retire Year of our Lord 947 Afterwards Hugh besieged Reims and King Lewis Monstreuil held by Rotgar Son of Count Herluin but both without success In August the two Kings Louis and Otho conferred together on the Kar or the Cher concerning their affairs This River which coming from the Country of Luxemburgh falls into the Meuse between Sedan and Mouson hath ever since made the bounds or separation of the Kingdoms of France and Lorrain as it did heretofore of Neustria and Austrasia Year of our Lord 947 Anno 947. Italy suffer'd a New change Auscare and Berenger one Brother and the other Son of Adelbert Marquiss of Ivrea having ingratefully conspired against King Hugh that Prince put Auscaire to Death and Berenger escaped to Herman Duke of Suabia Now this man having good information that Hugh had rendred himself very odious to the Italians having sounded their affections repassed the Alpes He was received in Verona and in Milan and seemed welcom to most part of the Nobility Nevertheless the People moved with pity towards Lotaire the Son of Hugh a handsom young Prince not above 14 or 15 years old would have the Title of King to be preserved for him And Berenger consented for that time the more willingly because all the Authority was in him The agreement made Hugh returned into Provence with his Treasure where he died the same year Lewis in France Conrad in Transjurane and Arles Otho in Germany Lorraine LOTAIRE and Berenger in Italy The dispute for the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims between Hugh of Vermandois and Artold was a mighty business It was first treated of at Douzy by some Prelats Year of our Lord 948 who having not power to determine it referr'd it to a Synodical Assembly of Gallican and German Bishops which was held at Verdun in the middle of November Robert Arch-Bishop of Triers presided there Hugh appeared not but having sent thither certain Surreptitious Letters from the Pope which they little valued the enjoyment of the Arch-Bishoprick was awarded to Artold and Hugh was excluded for his contumacy till he should appear before the General Council in the Month of August following and had purged himself of the crimes imputed to him Hugh makes complaint to the Pope who sent a Legat to Otho to injoyn him to Year of our Lord 948 call a general Council of the Gallicans and Germans to determine this difference as also to decide the quarrel between King Lewis and Hugh le Blanc He convocated them at his Royal Palace of Ingelheim he and King Lewis assisting there and sitting on the same Bench. The Council heard the Kings complaint and then Artold's Petition The King declared all the mischiefs Hugh had done him even ☞ to the detaining him a Prisoner a whole year and offered if any one could reproach him that the troubles and calamities of the Kingdom were by any fault of his to justify himself in such manner as the Council should advise even by personal proof in the Field of Battel Upon these complaints they wrote Letters to Hugh le Blanc and his adherents to admonish them to return to their duty under pain of an Anathema and doing justice upon the Petition of Artold they confirmed the Arch-Bishoprick to him and excommunicated Hugh his competitor till he duly repented With this Otho assisted Lewis with good Forces the Lorrain Bishops his Vassals took Mouson and razed it excommunicated Thibault who maintained the City of Laon for Hugh and caused Hugh himself by vertue of the Legats letters to be cited to appear before the Council of Triers to give satisfaction for the damage he had done the King and the Church Who not appearing was excommunicated Year of our Lord 949 The War was not abated by this and divers Castles were taken by the two rivals for the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims as well as by the Kings Forces and those that belonged to Hugh This year hapned the death of Fulk the Good Earl of Anjou a mighty Religious Prince and a lover of Learning who being one day informed that the King scoffed at his going so often to Sing in the Quire wrote only these words to him Know Sir that a Prince without Learning is a Crowned Ass Year of our Lord 949 The Hungarians being fallen An. 949. upon Lombardy Berenger compounded with them for eight Bushels of Silver and upon pretence of raising that money committed violent extortions About that time Lotaire either out of grief to find himself despised or by some poyson fell into a Phrensie and died without Children towards the end of the same year Berenger immediately caused himself to be proclaimed King and was Crowned together with his eldest Son Adelbert Year of our Lord 950 Otho very glad of the disturbances in France gave slight assistance to Louis who in the necessity of his affairs relied much upon him and often went to him or sent his wife Gerberge He also made cessations from time to time In one of which he and Hugh meeting by consent at the Marne the River between them Year of our Lord 950 they patched up I know not what Peace upon which Hugh was to surrender up to him a great Tower which he held in the City of Laon. Peace being made on this side Lewis takes his progress towards Aquitain to secure himself of the Fidelity of the Lords of that Country For during these revolutions the Subjects faith was grown so wavering that often in less then a years time they swore obedience and fealty to three or four several Kings Which was indeed because they would have had none had it been in their power This year 951. Ogina Mother to
into his hands having obtained it by intelligence Richard followed him close at the heels and getting into the Country almost as soon as himself made terrible havock The Earl of Chartres had his revenge the very same year carrying Fire and Sword to the very Gates of Rouen but was rudely repulsed and lost his Son in the Retreat Year of our Lord 965 Arnold surnamed the Old the Fair and the Great Earl of Flanders died in the year 965. The Son of Baldwin his Son named Arnold the Young Succeeded him under the Guardianship of Matilda of Saxony his Mother This was that Arnold who being come to Age began to Fortify the Port of Petressa or Scalas which then belonged to the Abbey of St. Berthin It is now named Calais Neighbour to Portus Iccius in these days as it is believed called Blanc Nez and very Famous in the Romans times who from thence passed over into Great Britain He thought to make good use of it against the Normand Pyrats and because he could not always be on those Coasts he gave the County of Guisnes to Adolph Son of Siffroy who had married the Daughter of Hernieulle Earl of Boulogne King Lotaire having heard of the Death of Arnold the Old went immediately into the Country to receive Hommage of the Lords and took Arras and Doway As on the other side William Earl of Pontieu took from that Minor Boulogne and Terouenne and two of his Sons were Earls each of one of those Cities Year of our Lord 966 The same year Arch-Bishop Bruno being come into France to determine some difference between his Sister Gerberge and King Lotaire with the Children and Widdow of Hugh was Siezed with a Feaver at Compiegne which he carried to Reims with him and there Died. Some Authors give him the Title of Arch-Duke of Lorraine because he commanded all the Dukes and Earls of that Kingdom And this is the first time that I find that Title in any Authors There was before this time a Marquiss and Duke of the higher or Mosellanick Lorrain which was Gerard from whom it is held the Lorrain Princes of our days are descended Some Genealogists derive it from Erchinoald Mayre of the Palace and from the same stock they make the Austrian Habspurgh-House to spring with that of Zeringhen from whence is issued the Princes of Baden The King marry's Emme or Emina Daughter of that Lotaire King of Italy Poysoned by Berenger II. and the Queen Adeleida whom the Emperor Otho made his Year of our Lord 966 Second Wife which strengthned the good correspondence between the two Monarchs of France and Germany There hapned nothing very observable during these two years unless it were that in An. 967. King Lotaire gave his Sister Matilda in marriage to Conrad King Year of our Lord 967. and 68. of Burgundy and for her Dowre bestowed the City and County of Lyons The Earl Thibauld supported by the King went and encamped before Rouen from whence he could not be forced but by the help of the Infidel Normans which the King of Denmark of Kin to Richard sent thither who having made him retreat ran Year of our Lord 969 to the very Gates of Paris The ignorance of those times was extream which is the reason that for want of Historians we scarcely find any thing and must sometimes slip over whole years without mention of any occurrences In the year 973. Died the Emperor Otho very justly surnamed the Great founder of the Germain Empire Subduer of the Hungarians and Sclavonians and who found out the Method to Quell the Italians Pride and Chain up their persidious mutability LOTAIRE in France OTHO II. Emperor of Italy and Germany Aged 21 or 22 years CONRAD in Burgundy The Reign of his Son Otho II. was neither so steady nor so happy as his own Giselbert the Husband of Gerberge afterwards Queen had a Brother named Regnier Long-neck Earl of Mons in Haynault and Valenciennes who having been taken in that City by Arch-Bishop Bruno had been confined to the Country of the Venedes and some time after two Counts named Garnier and Raginald or Renold who were in my opinion of his Kindred were invested in his Lands But his Sons Regnier II. Year of our Lord 973 and Lambert after the Death of Otho Armed themselves with the Aid of the French to be restored This begot a Bloody and most obstinate War The two Brothers defeated and slew in a Battel fought at a Village of Peronne near Binns the Counts Garnier and Renold But Otho II. immediately substituted Renauld and Godfrey two Lorrain Lords whom he invested with the Earldoms of Hainault and Valenciennes Now Year of our Lord 975 after various events the two Brothers assisted by Charles Brother to King Lotaire and Hugh Capet whose Daughters they afterwards Married got possession again of those Counties But it was at soonest not till An. 983. Year of our Lord 977 The Emperor was highly displeased that these two Sons of a Rebel should possess such large and great Feoss in his Kingdom of Lorrain in despite of him however he dissembled it having other affairs which would not allow him time to break with King Lotaire Year of our Lord 977 Which is more whether out of design to oblige him or rather to put a Barr in his way he Created Charles his Brother Duke of Lorrain a young Prince about the Age of 23 or 24 years The French had not forgot the remembrance of their Ancient right to Lorrain And the King as Son of Gerberge who of her own held very many great possessions in Capite expected that Otho his Cousin German would restore some part to him especially seeing he had given such sweet Morsels to the Bishops of Liege and Colen But not doing so Lotaire undertakes to compel him He gets unexpectedly into the Country with an Army takes the Oaths of the Lorrainers in the City of Mets and from thence marches directly to Aix-la-Chapelle Otho was diverting himself there very securely with his Family it wanted not above half an hours time to have surprised him He could do no other but only just get on Horseback and fly for his safety leaving his Dinner at the Table and all his precious Year of our Lord 978 Houshold Furniture in the Palace which Lotaire plunder'd and then scowred thorough all the whole Country In revenge of this Exploit the very same year Otho made a great irruption in France with Three-score Thousand men sacked all Champagne and that which is called the Isle of France even to Paris sending word to Hugh Capet who being Count of that City had put himself in there that he would have an Alleluya sung upon Montmartre by so many Clerks it should be heard at Nostre-Dame Those Rodomontado's were not justified by the effects His Nephew going in a Bravado to plant his Lance in one of the Gates of Paris was slain by Gefrey Grisegonnelle Earl of Anjou Winter
Lotaire I. Emperor another in Germany by Lewis his Brother named the Germanick and a third in West-France by Charles the Bald. All three ended their Reigns with a Louis that of Italy by Louis II. great Grand-Son of Lotaire that of Germany by Louis Son of Arnold and that of France by this Lewis the Faineant The Princes of this Race at their Coronation received the Sacred Unction They were almost ever on Horse-back and in the Field and had their wives with Year of our Lord 987 them Charles Martel and Pepin when they were at rest and peace held their residence at Paris and thereabout Charlemain at Aix-la-Chapelle the Debonnaire in the same place or at Thionville Charles the Bald at Soissons and at Compiegne Eudes at Paris Charles the Simple at Reims Lewis Transmarine at Laon. If we consider the causes of the ruine of this Race or Line we shall meet with five or six principal ones 1. The division of the main Body of the Estate into divers Kingdoms which was necessarily followed by Discords and Civil-Warrs between the Brothers 2. The irregular Love the Debonnaire had for his too dear Son Charles the Bald. 3. The imbecillity of most part of these Princes there not having been amongst all of them above five or six who were furnished with Sence and Courage together 4. The ravages and inroads of the Normans who ransacked France for Four-score years together and favoured the attempts of the great Lords 5. The multitude of Bastard Children which Charlemaine had who plaid the Soveraigns in those Countries allotted them for their subsistance 6. And if we will believe the Clergy the Curse of God which fell upon those Princes because they gave the Churches goods to their Lay-officers and their Soldiers of Fortune 7. One may add that this Tree bearing no more good Fruit God would pluck it up to plant another in its place infinitely more fair and more fertile whose duration shall be extended to the end of time and it's renown and glory to the ends of all the Earth End of the Second Race or Line THE THIRD RACE OR LINE Of the KINGS of FRANCE Called the Capetine Race or of the Capets First Part. Hugh Capet King XXXV POPES JOHN XV. S. Eight years and an half during this Reign GREGORY V. Elected in June 996. S. Two years eight months whereof some months under this Reign HUGH CAPET Aged Forty four or Forty five years Year of our Lord 987 THere was none of the Carolovinian Race remaining but Charles Duke of Lorrain This Prince was absent of little Merit and very ill in the minds of the French Hugh Capet on the contrary was in the heart of the Kingdom Powerful and Esteemed He held the Dutchy of Burgundy by Henry his Brother that of Normandy by Duke Richard his Nephew and that of France with the Counties of Paris and Orleance in his own hands Besides he had a Party made so that having Assembled the Lords in the City of Noyon he prevailed to be Elected and Proclaimed King about the end of the month of May. From thence he went to Reims to receive the Unction and the Crown from the hands of the Archbishop Adalberon who invested him the Third of July Not one of all those that were present at Noyon and at that Ceremony claiming for Charles but on the contrary all giving their Oaths in Writing as well as by Word of Mouth to his Enemy One might say that this poor Prince had destituted or deprived himself by rendring himself a Stranger and that this Estate could not suffer or admit a Head that was Vassal to another King Hugh might also make use of the Testament which King Lewis made in his favour but his best Right and Title was the general consent of the French People Year of our Lord 987 c. After his being first Crowned he never put the Crown more upon his Head during his whole life time because it having been predicted to him by Divine Revelation That his Race should hold the Kingdom for seven Generations he thought to prolong that Honour one Degree more by not wearing himself the Regal Ornaments that so he might not be reckoned one of the seven He did not know the number seven in Sacred Language signifies an extent to all Ages You must observe that from about the time of Charles the Simple under the name of the Kingdom of France were comprehended that of Neustria that of Aquitain and that of Burgundy at least that part of it which lies on this side the Saon and therefore when those Kings would be Crowned they were fain to call together the Lords of all these three For this reason perhaps it was that the first Capetine Kings having joyned them all under one Title took likewise upon them the Quality of Emperors unless we should say they did so not to seem inferior to the German Kings but either by some Treaty or upon some other Condition to us unknown they quitted it and contented themselves with that of King Year of our Lord 987 The same year Geofrey called Grise-Gonelle Earl of Anjou ended his days His Son Fulk surnamed Nerra was his Successor Hugh Capet six months after his Coronation desiring to have an Assistant obtained in an Assembly of French Lords which was held at Orleance that his Son named Robert should be Associated in the Throne with him He was Crowned in the same Year of our Lord 988 City the first day of January in the year 988. HUGH CAPET and ROBERT his Son Aged about Sixteen years IT is to be presumed that Prince Charles did not omit to present himself to have or demand the Crown but being come too late he was rejected by the French so that he betook himself to Arms to resume his pretended Right Amongst all the Lords of the Kingdom there were only Arnold Earl of Flanders and Hebert Earl of Champagne his Wives Father that assisted him but the first died this year having been ill handled by Capet and Hebert durst not proceed to act any farther for his Son-in-Law but under-hand Mean time the young King Robert Married Lutgarde the Widow of the Earl of Year of our Lord 988 Flanders though she were already very aged and he not yet above Seventeen years old Duke Charles had a Bastard Brother named Arnold who was a Clerk in the Church of Loan by his means he seized upon that City and upon the Archbishop Ancelin-Auberon This Ancelin was a very subtil Man but without Faith who to regain his liberty pretended to be come wholly his Friend and wrought so upon his Mind that he made him the first of his Council Year of our Lord 988 The new King knowing that Charles was in Laon came presently to besiege him reâ—olved to take it by Famine In the length of the Siege his Men not standing carefully upon their Guard Charles made a stout Sally put them to the rout burnt their Lodgments and forced
years afterwards The Earl of Sens Raynard II. of that name called the Bad using much violence against Leoteric his Archbishop and all the Clergy within his Territory the Year of our Lord 1015 King besieged his City and took it deprived him of his Earldom and rejoyned it to his Demeasns The Burgundians having Rebell'd and divers Lords plundering and committing Robberies in the Province by means of their Castles and Fortified places the King Year of our Lord 1015 went thither and pulled down and destroy'd all those Nests and Dens of Thieves His eldest Son whose name was Hugh a Prince accomplish'd both in Mind and Body giving very great hopes though he were not yet Ten years old He caused him to be Crowned at Compiegne on the day of Pentecost in the year 1017. and afterwards his name was put to all Acts with that of his Fathers Year of our Lord 1017 ROBERT and HUGH his Son Year of our Lord 1018 THe Duke of Aquitain at his return from his third or fourth Pilgrimage to Rome those that made most were the most esteemed found his Country enriched with a new Treasure The Abbot of St. John's de Angery having lighted on the Scull of a Man in a Wall the Report was spread that it was the Head of St. John Baptist The People of France Lorrain and Germany who in those days ran with much Zeal after all sorts of Relicks flocked thither from all parts King Robert the Queen the Duke of Normandy and a great number of other Lords brought their Offerings thither The Kings was a Scollop-shell of Gold which weighed Thirty pounds an admirable Present in such times when Gold and Silver were fifty times more scarce then in our Age. The Danes or Normans beyond Seas having not quite forgotten their custom of Piracy did yet sometimes make Descents in England and on the Coasts of France They had Conquer'd a great part of England and at last made some Kings there This year they landed in Poitou being perhaps informed of the great Crowds of Pilgrims that came to see the Head of St. John and indeed they carried away a great many good Prisoners All the Country Armed to drive them thence The Duke of Aquitain going to attaque them twenty or thirty of his most considerable Gentlemen fell into Holes cover'd over with Branches and green Turfs which the Normans had digged about the Avenues to their Camp This accident disheartned the rest from going on however the Normans fearing a ruder onset dislodg'd in the night and got into their Vessels but they were forced to give them what Ransom they pleased to demand for the Prisoners they had gotten Gefroy Duke or Earl of Bretagne for in those times the Dukes took indifferently the Titles of Earls dying his eldest Son Alain III. of that name succeeded him in his Dukedom and Eudes his second had the Earldom of Pontieure in Partage Alain espoused the Princess Avoise Sister of Duke Richard and by that means Normandy and Bretagne hitherto great Enemies were united in Alliance and Amity Year of our Lord 1020 21 c. There was a War begun from the year 1017. between Richard Duke of Normandy and Eudes or Odon Earl of Champagne and Chartres because Eudes would not give up the City of Dreux granted him in Dowry with Matilda the Sister of Richard who was lately dead so that Richard had built the Castle of Tilleres from whence he made incursions on the Country of Dreux Eudes put himself in a posture to surprize the Garison having with him the Counts Valeran de Meulan and Hugh du Mans but he was soundly beaten and put to the rout Year of our Lord 1022 The War growing hotter he raised so many Enemies against the Norman Duke that that Prince fearing to be overwhelmed sent to Lagman or Lacime King of Sueden to assist him and also Olaus King of Norway who being landed in Bretagne and having forced and sacked the City of Dole marched towards the Chartrain Country All France upon remembrance of their former Desolations fell into an extream apprehension and dread and the King bestirr'd himself with so much activity to quench this Flame that he brought the two Princes to an Agreement and satisfied the Northern Kings who returned again after the Norwegian had received Baptism at Rouen having the name of Robert give him at the Sacred Font. The Emperor Henry and King Robert desiring cordially to take away all cause of difference between them agreed upon an Interview at the River Meuse Whilst the Courtiers on either side were making several Scruples about the Place the Manner and such like trivial Circumstances and Punctillios and the two Princes on the contrary had it in their thoughts to outvye each other in Civility Henry passes the River early in the morning and pleasantly surprizes Robert who the next day repays his Visit in the same manner Both Treated one the other Magnificently and offered each very rich Presents to the other but Robert took only a Book being the New-Testament and a Reliquary or Shrine wherein was a Tooth of the Martyr St. â—incent which was enriched with Precious Stones and Henry a pair of Ear-Pendants Year of our Lord 1024 This last being dead at Bamberg the German Princes elected Conrad Duke of Wormes who could not go to Rome to receive the Imperial Crown till the year 1027. At first the Italian Princes and Prelats hating the Teutonick Nation who Treated them Peremptorily ruling as it were with a Rod in hand refused to obey and sent into Year of our Lord 1025 France to profer King Robert the Kingdom of Italy for his Son Hugh Upon his refusal they Addressed themselves to William Duke of Aquitain very well known in Rome by his frequent Pilgrimages He hearkned to the Proposal understood their Methods sent some thither to found them throughly and after went himself When he was amongst them he found nothing of all they had promised every one demanding of him instead of giving to him they propounded no Conditions but such as were very ridiculous so that finding they had a design upon his Purse and feared his Power he laughed at them and left them The imperious and proud Humour of Queen Constance gave the King perpetual trouble and displeasures who used all means to soften her One day being offended and angry with a favourite of his named Hugh de Beauvais who upheld the Husbands Spirit against her undertakings she makes her complaint to Fulk Earl of Anjou her Cousin intreating to Revenge her The Count sent twelve of his own Country Gentlemen who taking their opportunity when this Favourite was Hunting with the King seized on him and cruelly cut off his Head in the Kings presence without any regard to his Intreaties Year of our Lord 1025 The King was forced to put up this Affront for fear of a greater mischief and withall to endure this Step-mother should Treat his Son King Hugh with the
greatest indignity even to the reducing him to much indigence of all things fit for him I find in the Life of this most Wife King an act of Clemency more then Royal. There having been discovery made of a grand Conspiracy against his Life and State and the Authors taken when the Lords were assembled together to Sentence them to Death he caused those Wretches to be splendidly entertained and the next day admitted to the Sacred Communion then would needs have them be set free saying They could not put those to Death whom Jesus Christ had newly received at his Table This year William IV. Duke of Aquitain and Earl of Poitiers died and his eldest Son William V. surnamed the Gross took the Goverment of his Country The Widow Dutchess second Wife of William IV. having Children to gain assistance against those of the first Bed Married Geofrey Martel a most valiant Prince the Son of Fulk Earl of Anjou Year of our Lord 1025 The year after Richard the Good Duke of Normandy ended his days and for Successor Year of our Lord 1026 had Richard III. his eldest Son Year of our Lord 1027 Othe-William Earl of Burgundy left this World likewise and his Son Renauld possessed his Estates An enraged Passion to govern Armed Baldwin then surnamed the Frison and afterwards the Debonnaire against Bearded Baldwin his own Father Earl of Flanders so that he drove him out of his Country This unnatural Son valuing himself highly on the Alliance of King Robert whose Daughter he had Married but who nevertheless did not countenance his impiety Richard III. Duke of Normandy others affirm it was Robert received the old banished Man and restored him to his Earldom but he could not totally supress the Partialities in those Countries where some still sided with the Son as others stood up for the Father Year of our Lord 1028 The 17th of September the young King Hugh died in the Flower of his Age bemoaned of all Europe for his rare and lovely Qualities which had acquired him so great Reputation that he could hardly have made it good if he had longer survived King Robert had three more Sons remaining Henry Robert and Eudes Some Year of our Lord 1028 29. say that Eudes was the eldest of them all However it were the King after the Death of Hugh would have Henry Crowned but Queen Constance by a depraved appetite had undertaken to put Robert in the Throne The Fathers Authority and Reason carried it for Henry amongst the French Lords and yet this Womans Obstinacy could not acquiesce but caused many Tumults her Husband not being able to prevent her even in his Life time from contriving a great Conspiracy to dethrone the eldest and place the younger in his stead ROBERT and HENRY his Son Aged some Eighteen years Year of our Lord 1029 RIchard III. Duke of Normandy having Reigned but two years died of Poyson by by his Brother named Robert who after his death enjoyed the Dukedom obtained Year of our Lord 1028 by Fratricide Year of our Lord 1029 30. In the year 1029. and 30. there began a great War between Eudes Earl of Champagne Chartres and Tours and Fulk Earl of Anjou because Fulk fortified the Castle of Montrichard which Eudes said did belong to the Country of Touraine After some Rencounters they came to a pitched Battle each being at the head of his Army the loss was great on either side but the Angevin obtained the Victory Year of our Lord 1030 31 and the following Though King Robert commonly permitted the liberty of Elections yet the Bishop of Langres being dead he by his absolute Authority substituted another as having need of one wholly at his Devotion in that place to help him in the bridling and containing of Burgundy The Canons having Poysoned this he put in a second there which excited so great trouble amongst the Clergy of that Diocess that he was forced to send his Son to install the last promoted and to secure him from their Attempts Year of our Lord 1033 Whilst Henry was in that Country hapned a great Eclipse of the Sun and Robert his Father was seized with a Distemper whereof he died the 20th of July in the year 1033. having lived Sixty one years of which he Reigned Forty five and an half that was Nine and an half with his Father and Thirty six since his death He had four Children living three Sons Henry who had the Crown Eudes who contended with him for it and Robert who was Duke of Burgundy and one Daughter named Adeleida who Married Baldwin Earl of Flanders It was no fault of his Government that France was not compleatly happy he gave his Subjects what depended upon him Justice and Peace but had the unhappiness to see a Famine three times and after that a Plague make great destruction in his Dominions the first in Anno 1007. the second Anno 1010. and the third from the year 1030 to 1033. The first was general over all Europe and the last so severe in France that many People were seen to dig up dead Carkasses for Food to go a hunting after little Children and lie in wait at the corners of Woods like Beasts of Prey to devour Passengers Nay there was a Man so possessed with the covetous desire of gain more cruel then the Famine it self that he exposed Human Flesh to sale in the City of Tournus but that detestable Prodigy was by them expiated in the Flames Henry I. King XXXVII POPES BENEDICT IX A young Boy intruded in December 1033. S. near Ten years Three Anti-Popes the same BENEDICT SYLVESTER and GREGORY VI. Elected after the Abdication of BENEDICT Anno 1044. S. Two years CLEMENT VII Named by the Emperor Anno 1046. S. Nine Months DAMASUS II. Elected in 1048. S. Twenty three days LEO IX After Five Months vacancy Elected in Feb. 1049. S. Five years two Months VICTOR II. Named by the Emperor Anno 1054. S. Three years STEPHANUS X. Elected in August 1057. S. Eight Months NICHOLAS II. Elected in 1058. S. Two years six Months Year of our Lord 1033 THe first and most capital Enemy against this King was his own Mother who continuing to the prejudice of his Fathers Declaration and the right of Nature to endeavour to set the Crown upon the Head of Robert her beloved Son raised a good Party of the Grandees against him particularly Baldwin Earl of Flanders and Eudes Earl of Champagne bestowing the City of Sens upon this last to engage him to her Party But Henry whose Resolution was above his Age went himself being the Twelfth to Robert Duke of Normandy to implore his Assistance The Duke by Motives of Fidelity or hatred against the Champenois aided him with all his Forces With which having in a short time defeated the Queen's in several Rencounters and taken the Rebels Holds he unlinked the whole Party and reduced her in despite of all her Projects to live quietly with him The War ended
he gave Robert the Cities of Chaumont and Pontoise and the French Vexin Year of our Lord 1033 It was then likewise he yielded the Dukedom of Burgundy to his Brother Robert From whom issued the First Race of the Dukes of Burgundy of the Blood Royal. The Earl of Champagn did not hold himself vanquish'd by the defeat of the Party to make him lay down his Sword the King was forced to beat his Army twice and Year of our Lord 1033 and the following the third time put him to a rout and made him fly away half naked and hide himself before he could compel him to shake hands About the year 1032. or 33. Geofrey surnamed Martel made a cruel War upon William V. called the Gross Duke of Guyenne and Earl of Poitou whose Mother-in-Law or his own Fathers second Wife he had Married She was named Agnes Daughter of the Earl of Burgundy The Subject of the Quarrel was the Earldom of Saintonge and the Country of Aulnis which he disputed for The Authors do not tell us plainly by what Title he claimed but that he vanquish'd the Duke in a great Battle near Monstrenil-Bellay took him Prisoner and did not release him till three years end after he had yielded up Saintonge and paid a lusty Ransom Year of our Lord 1033 Rodolph or Rouel King of Burgundy beyond the Jour and of Arles dying in the year 1033. instituted his Heir Conrad the Emperor who had Married Gisâ—lle his youngest Sister and had by her a Son named Henry and made no account of Eudes Earl of Champagne the Husband of Berthe his eldest Sister because while he was living he would have forced him to acknowledge him for King and had bred Factions and Stirs in his Country By this Institution the Kingdom of Burgundy and Arles passing over to German Princes was by them as it were united and joyned to the Germanick Kingdom and the Empire who being at too great a distance have insensibly let it slip through their Fingers and after they had lost the Possession have likewise lost the very Title to it In these days lived Humbert Surnamed White-hands Earl of Maurienne and Savoy Stem of the Royal House of Savoy which at this day holds a great Rank amongst Christian Soveraigns the Off-spring of this Humbert having by Marriages Successions Conquests and other means assembled and joyned all the several pieces whereof that State is composed Some Historians make this Prince to be descended from Boson King of Provence others from Hugh King of Italy and some from the ancient Counts of Mascon but Tradition and which appears most probable makes him the Son of one Berald of Saxony who descended from Vitekind by the same Branch as the three Otho's Emperors or by some other Year of our Lord 1033 34 The Earl of Champagn not able to endure that Conrade should allow him no part of a Patrimony of which the best share ought to be his took his time when that Prince was employ'd in Hungary and with his own Forces and those of his Friends made himself Master of a great part of the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1035 But Conrad at his return having led his Army into those Countries drove Eudes Garrisons forth of all the Places he had taken put in his own and received Hommage Year of our Lord 1034 of all the Lords In fine he handled him so roughly that all help failing and perhaps an apprehension getting into his thoughts that the King of France who hated him might agree with the Emperor to strip him he went and surrendred upon Mercy and humbled himself before him Year of our Lord 1035 Robert Duke of Normandy by force of Arms constrains the Bretons to do him Hommage Year of our Lord 1036 He dies the year after at Nicea in Bithynia upon his return from a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem At his departure he had instituted an only Son of his but a Bastard named William to be his Heir begotten on a Citizens Daughter of Falaise leaving him at Paris in the guard and protection of King Henry who had very great Obligations to him and giving the Regency of the Country to Alain Duke of Bretagne Year of our Lord 1036 William had two Paternal Uncles Mauger Archbishop of Rouen who was Married and had Children and William Earl of Argues to whom the Nobility of the Country would much rather have obey'd then to a Bastard This was the occasion of great Troubles and would have ruined Normandy had the French King's Forces been but as great as his desire to regain it Year of our Lord 1003 and the following About this time the name of the Normands began to grow famous and potent in Italy especially in Puglia and Calabria In the year 1003. forty Adventurers of that Nation upon the quitting the Holy Land having acted some things there almost incredible against the Saracens in favour of Gaimar Duke of Salerna who was hugely tormented by them being returned into Normandy loaden with Honour and Presents had excited other brave Men of their Country to go seek their Fortunes beyond the Mountains The first that try'd was a Gentleman named Drengot-Osmond who being forced to quit the Country for killing one William Repostel in the presence of his Prince having vapoured that he had abused his Daughter went with four more Brothers and some others of his Kindred to offer his Service to Mello Duke of Bary and Pandolphus Prince of Capoua who were Revolted against the Greeks They received them with open Arms and gave them a City and some Lands to maintain themselves Then after these were setled not without many hazards Combats and Adventures six of the Sons of Tancrede d'Auterville a Gentleman of the Bishoprick of Constance who had twelve all of them brave and courageous arrived there and carried their same to a higher pitch then the former Year of our Lord 1036 Normandy was all in Fire and Blood by the particular Feuds of some Lords upheld by the Uncles of the young Duke Alain III. Duke of Bretagne his Guardian being come to appease them could not avoid a Mortal Poyson given him by the Factious Antagonists Conan II. his Son but then in his Cradle succeeded him Year of our Lord 1037 About these times William the Gross Duke of Aquitain was delivered out of Prison and died the same year Otho or Eudes his second Brother succeeded him Two years after he inherited the Dukedom of Gascongne taking possession thereof in the Church of St. Severin at Burdeaux according to the Custom He had this Lordship in Right of his Mother Brisce who was the Daughter of Duke Sance Thus the House of Gascongne resolved or dissolved into that of Poitiers or Aquitain Year of our Lord 1037 The Pretensions of Eudes Earl of Champagne to the Kingdom of Burgundy not being wholly stifled he fell with an Army into the Kingdom of Lorrain which belonged to the Emperor and took the City of Commercy but as he
would have attaqued Bar Gotolon Duke of Lorrain came and opposed him so roughly that he defeated his Army and laid him dead upon the place His two Sons Thibauld and Stephen shared his Lands Thibauld had the Earldoms of Chartres and Tours and Stephen those of Troyes or Champagne and Meaux in Brie Year of our Lord 1038 and 39. Geofrey Martel following the Passion of Agnes his Wife excited the Subjects of Eudes Duke of Aquitain to rebel against him thereby to advance his Brothers of the same Venter Peter-William and Guy the Son of that Agnes which succeeded as he wished for Eudes who had no Child being slain in the year 1039. at the Siege of a little paltry Town Peter-William succeeded him and Guy-Geofrey had the Earldom of Gascongny Year of our Lord 1038 and 39. The Normans under the Conduct of William surnamed Fierabras the eldest of Tanâ—reds Sons were employ'd by the Grecian Emperor's Lieutenant to drive the Saracens out of Sicily upon condition they should have part of the Conquests Whereof finding themselves frustrate by the Greeks they fell upon Puglia or Apulia which they began to take footing in Duke Fierabras their General hapning to die they chose his Brother Drogon in his stead and he being likewise treachcrously kill'd by the Lords of that Country they Substituted Onfroy the third of those Brothers Year of our Lord 1039 and the following The Grecian Emperor's Lieutenant brought his Army from Sicily to stop their Enterprize and fought them near the Streams of Aufidus and not far from Cannes where otherwhile Hannibal made so horrible a Slaughter amongst the Romans The Greek was not more fortunate then the Carthaginian he lost the Battle and so great a number of his Men that the Grecians could never raise themselves again in that Country and the power of the Normans increased so much that it suppressed theirs in a few years Foulk Earl of Anjou died in the City of Mets in his return from the Holy Land Geofrey surnamed Martel his Son succeeded him This Foulk being in Jerusalem touched with a deep Repentance for his Sins caused himself to be drawn all naked on a Hurdle with a Rope about his Neck and Whipt till the Blood run crying out Have Mercy Lord on the Treacherous and Perjur'd Foulk Year of our Lord 1040 and 41. The Sons of Eudes Earl of Champagne refused to do Hommage for their Lands to King Henry because he had not assisted their Father against the Emperor Conrad The pretence of their Felony was that they said the Crown belonged to his Brother Eudes In effect they encouraged him to set up for King Which hath made some suspect that he was the eldest Year of our Lord 1041 Henry did not give this Conspiracy time to make any progress he besieged his Brother in a Castle whither he was retired and having taken it sent him under a strong Guard to Orleans I do not find what became of him This done he marched against Stephen Earl of Brie and Champagne whom he put to a rout and thence turns against Galeran Earl of Meulan their Allie whom he deprived of his Earldom On the other hand he animated Geofrey called Martel against Thibauld whereupon he besieges the City of Tours and whatever Agreement could be afterwards made between the King and Thibald Martel would not give over his Enterprize He had kept it block'd up almost a year Thibald knowing it was like to perish for want of Victuals resolves to relieve it Geofrey going to meet him with the Chappe or Mantle of St. Martin which he caused to be carried in manner of a Standard gained the Victory made Thibald a Prisoner and afterwards reduced the Town which since belonged to the Earls of Anjou In those times Princes caused the Relicks of some Saint Worship'd in their Countries to be carry'd for their Ensigns or some which they had procured from other places and likewise often took the Banners used in Churches which served as their Standards Year of our Lord 1039 During the Troubles and Factions the Minority of William the Bastard occasioned in Normandy the King took his opportunity to make them deliver up the Castle de Tilleres upon pretence that the Rebels might seize upon it and in truth he caused it to be razed but soon after he rebuilt it and placed a Garrison there then stepping farther into Normandy he ransacked the County of Hiesmes and there burnt the little City of Argentan which perhaps is the place the Romans called Arae Genuae Year of our Lord 1040 Soon after William took the Government and because he was yet a Minor chose himself a Guardian it was Rodolph de Gace his Constable But the Lords obey'd unwillingly because of the defect of his Birth they had for Chief Guy of Burgundy who being the Son of Reynold Earl of the Franche Compte and Alix Sister of the deceased Robert pretended that in his Conscience the Dutchy belonged to him Year of our Lord 1041. and 42. The Faction was so strong that they had like to ruine William but being somewhat re-assured he had recourse to King Henry who having now another design then to destroy him went and joyned Forces with him both gave the Rebels Battle in a place called the Valley of the Downs some Leagues on this side the City of Caen. The King was struck down with a Lance by a Gentleman of Constantine but recover'd himself again without any hurt The Rebels were wholly cut off Guy of Burgundy Year of our Lord 1042 besieged and forced in Brionne was devested of the Lands he held in Normandy and retired to the Franche Comte Year of our Lord 1043 and 44. The Earl of Anjou who had been once in greatest favour with the King there being I know not what coldness grown betwixt them let fall some words which so highly offended the King that he undertook to chastise him he sent therefore to the Norman Duke to accompany him in this Expedition and entred upon the Earls Lands but they were immediately reconciled Year of our Lord 1041 The quarrel was still to be decided between the Norman and the Angevin it lasted as long as the life of the latter and Fortune was favourable sometimes to the one sometimes to the other The Norman Duke having attained to years fit for Marriage espoused Matilda Daughter of Baldwin called the Pious Earl of Flanders and Alix or Adeleida Daughter of King Robert Being of kin to him they were fain to obtain a Dispensation from the Pope who allowed it upon condition to build four Hospitals in four several Cities each to maintain an hundred poor People Year of our Lord 1046 The Church not being used to these Dispensations Mauger Arch-Bishop of Rouen Uncle to the Duke not out of any zeal for Canonical Discipline but because he would embroil them that his Brother the Earl of Arques might make himself Duke Excommunicated them both The Duke having Convened the Bishops of
the Province at Lisieux the Popes Legat presiding deposed him and banished him to the Island of Grenezay Year of our Lord 1047 The Earl of Arques having his Party Formed rises up in Arms the Duke gives him a repulse and besieges him in Castle of Arques the King who changed sides either according to his Interest or Humour highly undertakes his Defence and goes in Person to put Provisions and Relief into Arques Notwithstanding this Refreshment the Duke is bent to keep the place blocked up so that the Earl wanting Provisions is obliged to Capitulate provided he may enjoy his Life without loss of Members and some Lands for his subsistance The broken remnants of the party fled to the King who being a little jealous of the prosperity of William and pushed forwards by the Earls of Anjou and Poitou enemies to the Duke promised to turn him out of his Dutchy He had but the design the event was contrary being advanced towards Rouen the Normans cut his Van-Guard in pieces between Escouy and Mortemer he was compell'd to face about and after this checque to deliver up the Castle of Tilleres to him This Duke not wont to pardon any that took up Arms against him especially his Relations by the Fathers side most of those who had engaged for the King or the Count d'Atques went into Puglia where they made a better fortune then they were like to have found had they remained in Normandy The victorious Duke carries the War into Anjou and in his passage seizes on the County of Maine which Earl Hebert had given him by Will in recompence for that he had defended him against the Angevin The valiant Geofrey Martel Earl of Anjou in the year 1047. about Eight and forty years old quitted the World and retired to the Abby of St. Nicholas of Anger 's where he lived till An. 1061. Before his Retreat he left his Estates to Geofrey called the Bearded and to Foulke surnamed the Rechin who were the Children of his Sister Adeleida and Alberic Earl of Gastines in Poitou Geofrey bare the Title of Earl of Anjou and dying left it to Foulk Year of our Lord 1048. or 49. The Emperour Henry III. called the Black and Henry King of France had an Interview this year in the Countrey of Mesin where they renewed the antient Alliance between the two Crowns Year of our Lord 1050 and the following Pope Leo IX a Lorainer by Birth and who had been Bishop of Toul being come into Gall to reconcile Godfrey Duke of Lorrain with the Emperour and put a period to that bloody quarrel which was betwixt that Godfrey supported by the Earl of Flanders and the Houses of Alsace and Luxemburgh held a Council at Reims and negotiated so effectually that he made an end of that War At his going from Germany he carried some Forces into Italy to oppose the Normans who being grown potent did sometimes undertake upon the Countries belonging to the Holy Chair These brave Adventurers conducted by Onfroy did first Year of our Lord 1053 shew their valour to him by cutting his Army to pieces and taking him prisonet then their Piety and Respect by Treating him with great submission and restoring him to his Liberty In recompence he granted and gave them Title to all the Lands they had conquer'd and likewise all such Lands as they should hereafter gain from the Greeks and Saracens and Onfroy shared part of his Conquests with Robert surnamed Guischard which is to say the Crasty and Roger and the rest of his Brothers Year of our Lord 1054 Thibald Earl of Chartres taking it to heart that the King should thrust him out of the Earldom of Tours and not being able to get satisfaction went and waited on the Emperour at Ments who made him his Knight and promised him his protection Year of our Lord 1055 To prevent the seeds of Jealousie and Discord which this Voyage might have sown between the Emperour and the King 〈…〉 fit to set all right by a mutual Interview at the same place where they 〈◊〉 met The King complain'd that the Governour had contraven'd to the Articles o◠Alliance but he found no satisfaction and having conceived some apprehension of an ill design upon his Person retired by night The brave Robert Guischard with his Normans having compleated the Conquest of Year of our Lord 1057 and 58. Calabria called himself Earl for two years and after feared not to take upon him the Title of Duke Year of our Lord 1058 Normandy having still in its bosom some sparks of Division the King who thought to make advantage by it attempted to bring it to his bow by a second Expedition which was no more fortunate then the first his Army having been set upon and defeated on the Common of Varaville between Caen and Lisieux he accepted of a Peace with the Duke Year of our Lord 1059 Anno 1059. was seen an unheard of Prodigy a vast multitude of Snakes and other Serpents being assembled together in a Plain neer the City if Tournay divided into two Bodies who fought obstinately till one of them being overcome and fled left the Field all cover'd Year of our Lord 1059 with their Dead and retreated into the hollow of a great Tree whither the Conquerours pursued them to compleat their Victory but the Countrey people running thither with Clubs Fire and Fagots destroyed both the one and the other Not long after King Henry finding himself broken with labour though he were not above 54 years of age assembled the Grandees of the Kingdom and having told them the Services he had done for the Nation and how well he had acquitted himself Year of our Lord 1060 of the Command of the Armies he prayed them all in general and every ☞ one in particular to own Philip his eldest Son for his Successor and to give him their Oaths which having all promised he caused him to be Annointed and Crowned at Reims the 22 of May being the Feast of Pentecost by the Arch-Bishop Gervais whom afterwards this young King Honoured with the Office of Chancellor Year of our Lord 1050 About the end of the same year he was taken with a little Fever of which he dyed at Vitry neer Paris having Reigned Twenty eight years and four Months after the death of his Father To avoid the danger of contracting a Marriage within the Degrees prohibited he sent to seek a Wife as far as Russia or Moscovia She was Ann the Daughter of George some call him Juriscold King of those Countreys by whom he had three Sons Philip Robert and Hugh the Eldest was then but Seven years old Robert dyed ☞ in Infancy and Hugh when come to age had the Earldom of Vermandois and was the Stock of the Second House of that Name For they made him Marry Adeleida Daughter of Hebert last Earl of the First Branch of Vermandois She enjoying her Fathers Lordships though She had a Brother alive named Eudes his
Vassals judging him uncapable to succeed from the imbecillity of his understanding a defect very ordinary in the Carolovinian Race Henry left all his Three Sons under the Guardianship of Baldwin Earl of Flanders who had Married his Sister and likewise entrusted him with the Regency of the Kingdom Queen Anne his Widdow retired to Senlis where she was building a Church in Honour of the Martyr St. Vincent Her Solitude was not so Austere but she could listen to the Addresses of Rodolph Earl of Grespy who was of that neighborhood She made no difficulty to Marry him and this Second Flame had like to have kindled a Civil War not for the difference in their Qualities for the Grandees went almost equal with their Kings but because Rodolph was of Kin to the First Husband for which reason the Bishops Excommunicated that Lord but nothing could make him let go his hold of her save death which untied him from his Princess Ann. 1066. Being a Widow and destitute of support she returned to end her days in her own Countrey Philip I. King XXXVIII Aged Seven or Eight years POPES Vacancy of Three Months Alex. II. Elect 1 Octob. 1061. S. Eleven years and neer Seven Months Gregory VII Son of a Carpenter Elect in April 21. 1073. S. Twelve years One Month. Victor III. Elect in May 1086. S. about One year Four Months Vacancy Five Months Urban II. Elect in March 1088. S. Eleven years and Four Months Paschal II. Elect 12. August 1099. S. Eighteen years and Five Months Year of our Lord 1060 61 and 62. ALL quietly gave Obedience to the Regency of Baldwin the Gascons only refused to submit themselves apprehending said they lest by that Title he should destroy his Pupil to invade the Crown upon pretension that he was Married to the Daughter of King Henry He wisely dissembled this injury but two years after marched an Army towards the Pyreneans giving out it was to make War upon the Saracens in Spain and when he had passed the Garonne he stopp'd in the Rebels Countrey and brought them to their Duty without striking a blow Year of our Lord 1062 Guy Gefroy-William Duke of Aquitain believed that Gefroy Martel Earl of Anjou being dead without Children his Nephews Sons of his Sister had no right to Xaintongne He would therefore seize it and besieged Xaintes his Army was defeated by the two Brothers neer Chef-Boutonne but the following year he got another Army and took the Town from them Year of our Lord 1062 and 63. The two Brothers minded not the relieving it they were at mortal feud amongst themselves Foulk le Rechin the younger of the two gained the Lords of Touraine and Anjou who betraid his Brother Gefroy and unfortunately deliver'd him up with the City of Anger 's In the mean while the Duke of Aquitain having re-conquered Saintongne led his victorious into Spain where he forced the City of Barbastre at that time very rich and renowned The Zeal of Religion did often lead the Princes and Lords of Aquitain and Languedoc into Spain to succour the Christians against the Saracens and their assistance raised and very much supported the petty Spanish Kings Year of our Lord 1064 Edward King of England whose Christian Virtues have placed him in the number of Saints dying without Children left his Kingdom by Will and Testament to William the Bastard Duke of Normandy in consideration of the good Reception and Treatment he found in the House of Robert his Father when he was driven out Year of our Lord 1064 of his own Countrey as likewise because he was neer of Kin. But the English not affecting the Government of a Stranger gave the Crown to Harold Son of Godwin one of the great Lords of the Kingdom The Bastard on his side sought from all parts the assistance of his Friends and Allies to get himself into possession of his Right insomuch as having got by his large promises a powerful Army of Normans French Flemmings and others together he landed in England gave Battle to Harold the 14th of October who was slain in the Fight with his chief Commanders and left England to the discretion of the Conquerour A Revolution thought to be presaged by a terrible Comet which for Fifteen days blazed with three great Rays over-spreading almost all the Southern parts of the Heavens Before William past the Sea hapned the death of Conan Duke of Bretagne it was said he caused him to be poysonn'd because he claimed the Dutchy of Normandy as belonging to him by his Mother Daughter of Duke Robert Hoel who was Married to his Sister succeeded him Year of our Lord 1067. and the following The English ill-Treated by Williams Lieutenants and Officers Revolted the following years and called in the Danes to their aid but that only increased their misery and yoak for he took from them almost all their Lands and even their antient Laws introducing and imposing those of his own Countrey as he did that Language in all Courts of Justice and instruments of Law withal putting such Lords as follow'd him in possession of English Mens Estates the greatest part of them being punished or slain Thus ended the Reign of the English in that Island which hath notwithstanding retained their Name but in effect hath ever since been sway'd and is still by the Norman Blood their Kings and the greatest of the Countrey being descended and holding their Rights of this William the Bastard to whom was given the Surname of Conquerour Year of our Lord 1067 Baldwin Regent of the Kingdom of France and Earl of Flanders ended his days An. 1067. He had Two Sons Baldwin called of Monts who was Earl of Flanders and Robert who was Surnamed the Frison as being Lord of that Countrey of Friesland Year of our Lord 1069 It is observed that in the year 1069. Arnold Lord of Selne began to build the City of Ardres upon the ruines of his Castle of Selne A War did soon break out between Baldwins two Sons the Eldest thinking to devest the Younger was by him beaten and slain in the field of Battle leaving two Sons Arnold and Baldwin very young The Guardianship of these begot a bloody contest between Robert their Uncle and Richilda their Mother This Princess supported by Gefroy Crook-Back Duke of the lower Lorrain defeated Roberts Army and thrust him out of a part of his Countreys This happy success made her so haughty Year of our Lord 1068 towards her Subjects that the Flemmings Flammengant forsook her and she had none left but the Walloons and the Hennuyars The King would have made himself Judge and Arbitrator between both parties but Richilda coming to Paris with great Presents gained his Counsel and engaged him openly to take her quarrel Year of our Lord 1070 The King inflamed with the heat of Youth would needs go in person to make his first Essay in War and Arms. It proved not very successful for he was beaten and pursued Richilda taken and carried
to St. Omers But as he was retreating towards Monstreuil Eustace Earl of Boulogne who had a great Body of Reserves took Robert and carried him to St Omers He that Commanded the place surrendred it to deliver Richilda for which the King was enraged that he sacked and burnt the City Year of our Lord 1071 The same year Richilda though still assisted by the French lost another Battle in which Eustace Earl of Boulogne being made prisoner his Brother Chancellor of France and Bishop of Paris to obtain his freedom obliged the King to intermedle no more in that dispute Nay which was more he made him Marry Bertha the Daughter of Florent I. Earl of Holland and Gertrude of Saxony who had taken Robert for her second Husband By this means he was engaged to maintain the Cause for his Father-in-law who by his assistance defeated Richilda's Army the Fourth time and so remained Master Year of our Lord 1071 of Flanders Roger Brother of Robert Guischard Duke of the Normans in Puglia was by his Brother sent into Sicilia which was possessed by the Saracens he conquerd d the City of Panormus and Messina which opened him a way to become Master of the whole Island Year of our Lord 1073. and 4. After the death of Baldwin the Regent King Philip being arrived to the age of Adolescency ran into many disorders and vexations with his Subjects Whereupon Pope Gregory VII who sought but the occasion to constitute himself the Judge and Reformer of Princes wrote to William Duke of Aquitain that together with the Lords he should make him some Remonstrances and Declare that if he did not amend he would Excommunicate both him and all the Subjects that obey'd him and would place the Excommunication upon St. Peters Altar to re-aggravate it every day Year of our Lord 1076 The death of Robert I. Duke of Burgundy his Son being deceased before him had left two Sons Hugh and Otho the first of these succeeded his Grandfather Year of our Lord 1077 After William the Conquerour had entirely subdued England suppressed the Rebellion of his Son Robert and quelled the Manceaux he went into Bretagne to reduce them to his Obedience and laid Siege to Dol. The Duke or Earl Hoel implored the Kings help who marching in person to his assistance made them raise their Siege A Peace immediately follow'd but was broken almost as soon again upon another Year of our Lord 1076 score which was for that the Conquerour in the Kings Presence having given the Dutchy of Normandy to his Son Robert before he went to invade England Robert would take possession of it the Father hindred him and the King justified the Son in his demands This was the subject of a new War The Father besieges his rebellious Son in the Castle of Gerbroy near Beauvais In a Sally the Son wounds him and turned him off from his Saddle with his Lance but Year of our Lord 1077. 78. and the following coming to know who it was by his voice he helped him up again with Tears in his eyes and the Father at length overcome by the sentiments of nature and the intreaty of his Wife and Barons gave him his pardon and quitted the Dutchy to him then returned into England Gozelon Duke of the Lower Lorrain who in favour of Baldwin Earl of Monts Year of our Lord 1077. and 78. the Son of Richilda had fought and defeated Robert the Frison being a while after this Victory assassinated in Antwerp the Emperour detained the Dutchy of the lower Lorrain and gave only the Marquisate of Antwerp to Godfrey Duke of Bouillon the Son of Adde Sister of Gozelon and Eustace Earl of Boulongne but Twelve years after for his great Services he gave him the said Lorrain Year of our Lord 1080 The Lords of Touraine and of Maine extreamly pressing Foulk Rechin by force of Arms to set Gefroy his Brother at liberty this barbarous Man rather then release him chose sooner to give the County of Gastinois to King Philp that he might maintain him in his unjustice Some time after his own Son named Gefroy likewise and surnamed Martel moved Year of our Lord 1080 with the miseries of his Uncle forced his Father to set him free but whether it were the Melancholy he had contracted or some Drink they had given him he could never relish the sweetness of his liberty The famous Robert Guischard Prince of the Normans in Puglia after he had gained Year of our Lord 1085 two Naval Victories one over the Venetians and the other over the Greeks died this year 1085. He had two Sons Boemond and Roger the eldest being then upon the coasts of Dalmatia with a Navy his younger Brother seized on the Dutchies of Pouille and Calabria for which the Brothers were contending till the time of the first Croisado or Holy War when the French Lords passing that way to the Holy Land brought them to an agreement Their Uncle Roger held Sicily with the Title only of Earl Year of our Lord 1085 Upon complaints about the vexations and ill Treatment Duke Robert shewed to his Norman Subjects his Father the Conquerour comes over out of England to chastise him but his paternal tenderness did easily admit of a reconciliation The death of Guy-Gefroy-William his Son William VIII aged but 25 years succeeded him Year of our Lord 1086 King Philip a very voluptuous Prince being disgusted with Berthe his Wise made use of the pretence of Parentage which was between them and having proved it according to the course then in use caused his Marriage to be dissolved by authority of the Church though he had a Son by her named Lewis about Five years old and a Daughter named Constance He banished his Divorced Wife to Monstreuil upon the Sea-side where she lived a long time poorly enough Year of our Lord 1087 This Divorce according to Rule and a judicial Sentence being made he demanded the Daughter of Roger Earl of Sicilia named Emma who was conducted as far as the coasts of Provence however he did not Marry her the reason is not given Year of our Lord 1088 William the Conquerour become crazy was under a strict regiment of Dyet at Rouen to pull down his over-grown fatness which did much incommode him The King rallied at him and asked when he would be up again after his Lying in the Duke sent him word that at his Uprising he would go and visit him with 10000 Lances instead of Candles and indeed as soon as he could he got on Horseback he destroy'd all the French Vexin and forced and burnt Mantes But he over-heated himself so much in the assaulting of that place that it set his own Blood and Body on fire and brought a fit of Sickness so that he returned to Rouen where he dyed in a few days By his Will he gave the Kingdom of England to William called Rufus who was bat his Second Son Normandy to Robert who was
Italy to embark in Fuglia these conducted home the Pope and restored him to the Chair in despite of his Enemies They all got into Greece and thence passing the straight of the Hellespont or arme St. George arrived in Bithynia But those who were led by Peter the Hermit and Gautier de Saint Sauveur being ill conducted were almost all cut in pieces by Solyman Sultan of the Turks in Bithynia Year of our Lord 1096 Amongst the Chief Commanders of these Forces were Hugh the Great Brother to King Philip Robert Duke of Normandy the Earls Raimond of Toulouze Stephen de Chartres Baldwin of Hainault Hugh de St. Poll Rotrou du Perche William de Forez Rambol of Orange Baldwin of Mets Fulke of Guisnes Stephen d'Aumale another Stephen of Franche Comte William of Angoulesme Herpin de Bourges who sold his Earldom to the King Boemond Duke of Apulia Tancred his Nephew Son of Robert Guischard and above two hundred other Lords of note All these being passed into Bithynia elected for their Chief Godefroy Duke of Bouillon and the lower Lorrain Son of Eustace Earl of Boulogne An Election so glorious for him that all the Scepters of the Universe together are not comparable to it Year of our Lord 1096 For several nights together it was seen to rain down Stars by intervals but thick and very small as if some sparks had fallen from the shatter'd Orbs. Year of our Lord 1097 and 98. The City of Nicea in Bithynia was the first exploit of these Christian Adventurers The defeat of Solymans Army followed with the surrender of the places in Lycaonia Lycia Cilicia and Pamphilia the Second and the taking of Antioch which held them seven Months and cost them a great deal of Blood and Trouble the Third After they were got in they went to meet Corban or Corbaget General of the Army to the Sultan of Persia or Babylon fought him and slew an hundred thousand of his Men which weakned the power of the Turks so much that the Sultan of Egypt who was a Saracen took from them Judea and the Holy City of Jerusalem Year of our Lord 1099 He kept it but a little while the Christian Army besieged it the 9th of June and carried it by main force the 15th of July All the chief Commanders agreed to give it with all its dependencies and the Title of a Kingdom to Godfrey of Bouillon their Prime General who notwithstanding was so humble that he would never suffer them to put the Crown upon his Head nor give him the Title of King in a City where the King of Kings had been Treated like a Slave The Sultan of Egypt with reason apprehending left the Christians after so many advantages should deprive him of his Countrey likewise without which it is very difficult to preserve the Holy Land Seeing them therefore much weakned so that they had scarce 5000 Horse and 15000 Foot left he got together an hundred thousand Horse and four times as many Foot giving the Conduct of them to a Lieutenant to cut them off Godfrey the greatest Soldier of his age charged them so resolutely that he put them into disorder and slew above an hundred thousand So great a Victory gave him all Palestine one or two places only excepted Year of our Lord 1099 This year therefore commenced the Kingdom of Jerusalem under which were the County of Edessa the capital City of Media the Principality of Antioch in Celosyria and the County of Tripoly which was not conquer'd till many years afterwards upon the Maritime coasts of the Phenician Syria At that time was Caliph in Babilon Albuguebase Achamet the Son of Muquetady the Eight and twentieth of the House of Guebase Year of our Lord 1100. and 1101. The Fame of this Conquest published in the West by those Princes that returned excited such others as had not been there to go and signalize their Names They made therefore a Second Croisade composed of above 300000 Men French Almains and Italians William VIII Duke of Aquitain carried an hundred thousand two thirds of them being his own Subjects Hugh le Grand the Kings Brother and the Earl of Burgundy who had been in the first Expedition went also in this and divers Prelats and many illustrious Ladies would go this Voyage Godfrey being dead the preceding year his Brother Baldwin succeeded him in the Kingdom of Jerusalem Year of our Lord 1101 This Army took their way by Hungary and Thrace and by the straight crossed over into Asia In their passage Duke William saw the Grecian Emperour and in too lofty Language deny'd to pay him Hommage for those Lands he should conquer from the Infidels The persidious Emperour being offended in his mind ordered them such Guides who having harass'd and enseebled them by the difficulties of the bad ways and want of Food made them pass over a River where the Enemy waiting for them with advantage kill'd above Fifty thousand in one day the rest made their escape as they could in Cilicia Hugh the Kings Brother went to Tarses where he died of his wounds These Voyages to the Levant renewed and extreamly increased the hatred the Greeks had conceived against the Latins or Western People insomuch that those Traitors did them more mischief a great deal then the Infidels themselves Hereafter we shall mention no more of these Wars then what relates to our History But we must not forget to tell that they gave beginning to the use of Coats of Arms In all times every Nation bore some Figure or Symbol in their Banners or Ensigns The Roman Legions were distinguished by the different painting of their Shields or Bucklers and the different Lines traced or drawn upon them Particular Men did likewise adorn their Shields with devices which made known their birth or their brave acts or their Wit and Humour Now in these Expeditions to the Holy Land those that had such Symbols before made them more proper for them and those that had none contrived and made choice of such as might render them conspicuous and remarkable in Battle their Armour for the Head hindring them from being known by their Faces as well as to distinguish them from others And likewise that those Coats of Arms might serve them as it were for Surnames for in those days there were yet but few or none Some therefore to shew they were going in these Croisades took Crosses in their Shields of which there was infinite variety and several sorts others to make known they had been in the Levant and passed the Seas took Besants Lions Leopards or Escollop Shells Others framed their Arms of the Linings of their Mantles or Cloaks according as they were Checkie Varie Diapred Gyroned Lozanged Vndulated Paled Some there were that chose rather to charge their Field with some piece of their Arms as the Spurs Lance Maillets and Sword Several chose such things as had resemblance to the Surnames people had given them or to the Lands
others But the Popes durst not shock these Kings so rudely It was good Policy not to make so many Enemies at once to keep France in reserve as a Refuge against the Emperors and bring down the Germans first because they troubled them most The Peace between the two Kings Lewis and Henry was of no long duration The Friends of the late Duke Robert and William his Son declared for Lewis and the Earls of Anjou and of Flanders served him zealously as Thibald Earl of Champagne served Henry who was his Uncle Year of our Lord 1119 Baldwin Earl of Flanders being wounded upon an assault of the little Castle of Bures in Caux did so inflame his Wound with his Debauches that he died of it at Aumale Charles surnamed the Good Son of his Sister and Camut King of Denmark succeeded him in the Earldom of Flanders and maintain'd himself there courageously notwithstanding that Clemence of Burgundy Mother of Baldwin who was again Married to Godfrey Earl of Louvain endeavoured to make it fall into the hands of a Bastard of Flanders named William of Ypres who had Married her Neece After a world of Ravages Firings Sieges Surprizes and Plunderings of Places after two great Battles fought betwixt the two Kings one in the Plain of Bâ—eneville near Noyon on Andelle where the French had the worst the other near Breâ—euil where the success was doubtful Pope Calixtus as the common Father being come expressly Year of our Lord 1120 to Gisors brought them to agree by persuadin them to restore what places they had taken to each other Thus the Dutchy remained to Henry who gave it to his eldest Son William surnamed Adelin in wrong of William his Nephew This Peace did not put an end to his grief and troubles For a few weeks after he lost his three Sons and with them above Three hundred Gentlemen the flower of Year of our Lord 1120 his Nobility and his best Captains It was a strange misfortune They being Embarqued at Harfleur to go into England their Seamen who were drunk split the Ship as they were getting out of Harbor And at the same time his Nephew's Friends and Partisans stirred up new Disturbances in Normandy and re-engaged the King of France to uphold them Which renewed the Desolations of that Province In Anno 1119. died Alain surnamed Fergeant Duke of Bretagne Son of Hoel who departed this Life Anno 1084. His Son Conan surnamed the Gross or Ermengard succeeded him This Alain if we believe the Historian of Bretagne prescribed certain Forms and Rules for the doing Justice in his Country where before it was administred very confusedly For he Establisht a Seneschal at Renes to whom he would have all Persons to resort unless those of the County of Nantes who had one likewise and began to hold an Assembly or Parliament which judged of Appeals from the Seneschals of Rennes and Nantes for in Matters Criminal there lay no Appeal There were no certain and fixed Officers no more then any certain times for sitting They afterwards made a President in the absence of the Chancellor and a Master of Requests Year of our Lord 1123 The death of Hugh III. of that name Duke of Burgundy to whom succeeded Odon his eldest Son who Married Mary the Daughter of Thibauld Earl of Champagne Year of our Lord 1123 The War grew hotter in Normandy betwixt the French and King Henry and was ca ried on with various success But Henry found nothing more troublesome then his Domestick Officers and Servants who had framed a Conspiracy against his Life He could confide in no body he trembled at the approach of all that came near him he died a thousand times a day for fear they would Murther him and in the night shifted Beds five or six times and changed his Guards not thinking he was safe in any place believing there were none but Enemies about him Year of our Lord 1124 The Emperor reconciled himself with the Pope and laid down the Investitures But his Wrath still boiling in him would needs discharge it self upon France Year of our Lord 1124 He had Married Matilda Daughter of the English King for that reason as likewise for the Resentment he conceived because Lewis had protected Pope Calixtus he raised a very great Army to destroy and lay that City of Reims flat with the ground where Calixtus had held the Council against him Lewis on his side resolved to draw all the Forces of his whole Kingdom together even to the very Priests and Friers so that in a short time he had 200000 Men out of the Isle of France Champagne and Picardy only The Emperor having information of these prodigious Levics found it safer for him not to come into the Country of Messin but retire At his return Triumphant Lewis brings back the Martyrs Holy Standard called the Oriflamme and deposites it again in St. Denis whence he had taken it rendred Solemn Thanks to those Glorious Saints carried their Shrines upon his Shoulders which had been taken down and exposed on the high Altar during all the time of the War and made or confirmed several Grants to that Abby especially the Fair of Lendit out of the City for they had one already within Vpon this occasion we may observe the difference there was between the Forces of France and the Kings For when he made a War for himself he could have only the People of those Countries properly in his own possession and they served but unwillingly but when it was the Kingdoms Cause or Concern all the Forces of France were in action every Lord came in Person and brought all his Subjects along with him Year of our Lord 1125 The Emperor Henry being dead the Princes of Germany brought in Lotaire Duke of Saxony who likewise retaining the Kingdom of Burgundy as united to the Empire Renold Duke of Burgundy refused to acknowledge him For which he would have deprived him of his Earldom and have bestow'd it upon Bertold Duke of Zeringhen and this begot a bloody War between these two Houses who fought till the time of Frederick I. who Married Beatrix the Daughter of Renold This year 1126. the King received the Complaints made by the Bishop of Clermont Year of our Lord 1126 concerning the Usurpations and Tyrannies of Robert Earl d'Auvergne and going Year of our Lord 1126 thither in Person forced the Earl notwithstanding the Rocks and Castles of his High-Lands or Mountains to submit to Reason Five or six years after the repeated Violences of the same Earl engaged him to make a second Expedition and besiege Montferrand The Duke of Aquitain came to relieve his Vaslal but having from the height of a Mountain taken a view of the great Strength and Forces the King had with him he sent to offer him all Obedience and brought the Earl as far as Orleans to demand Pardon and submit to all that should be injoyned him Year of our Lord 1126 Death of
William VIII Duke of Aquitain Aged Fifty six years He left his Possessions to William IX his Son who was the last Duke of those Countries The Father had Married Emma only Daughter of William Earl of Arles and Toulouze and Brother of Raimond de Saint Gilles By her he pretended to the Earldom of Toulouze but Raimond de Saint Gilles said his Brother had sold it to him before he went to the Holy Land It caused a War between William Duke of Aquitain and Alphonsus Son of Raimond and afterwards again between Queen Elionor and the same Alphonso Year of our Lord 1127 Whilst Charles most justly surnamed the Good prudently governing Flanders relieving the Poor protecting the Clergy and doing Justice to all a Family in Bruges abounding in Riches and in numbers of Men but of Servile Race taking offence for that he had commanded them to open their Granaries in the time of Famine and withall being instigated by the Bastard William of Ypres plotted the Death of this Prince So that one Morning before day-light whilst he was at Prayers in St. Donats Church at Bruges these Villains Murther'd him at the foot of the Altar The horror of the Fact and intreaties of the Nobility of the Country made the King take Horse immediately to revenge this Parricide He besieged the wretched Authors in the Church and having taken them punished the two principal very severely For one after they had put out his Eyes and cut off his Nose was bound to a Wheel planted very high where they pierced him with an infinite number of Arrows and Darts thorough every part of his Body The other was hanged on a Gallows with a Dog tied on his Head whom they beat continually that he might tear his Head in pieces All the rest who fled into the Steeple were cast down from the top to the bottom and dasht against the Ground This done he adjudged the Earldom to William of Normandy Son to Duke Robert as being the nearest or next Heir without any regard to Baldwin Earl of Hainault and to William of Ypre who pretended a Right The last obstinately strugling to carry it by force the King handled him so roughly that he took from him the City of Ypre and all the Lands he held in Flanders Year of our Lord 1128 As little gained Stephen Brother to the Earl of Champagne who was Earl of Boulogne by his Wife though the King of England his Uncle supported him in this design not so much to advance him as out of hatred to the King of France and a fear of the growing greatness of his Nephew William The King finding that with the Assistance of the Earl of Hainaults and Godfrey of Namurs Forces he had besieged Ypres led his Army into that Country again gave them Chace and secured the Country to William However the Covetousness of this Prince vexing his new Subjects with Imposts he wanted not and selling of Offices the principal Cities revolted and invited in Thierry Earl of Alsatia whom they owned for their Prince and in truth he was of the Blood of their Counts by the Female side The King therefore made a third March towards those Quarters and advanced as sar as Artois to serve William but not finding things disposed so as he expected he came his ways back again William did not lose Courage for all this He gave Battle near Alost to Thierry and put him to the rout but pursuing his Victory he received a Wound in his Arm which being ill-dress'd caused his Death and after that all the Disturbances raised in Normandy by his Partisans wholly ceased In this Kings Reign there were four Brothers private Gentlemen of the Family of the Garlands Anseau William Stephen and Giselbert who had the greatest share in the favour of the King in his Council and Offices Anseau had that of Grand Seneschal or Dapifer which he held in Fief of the Earl of Anjou who was the Lord Suzerain for in those times Offices and Dignities were granted in Fief and even the Contributions or Offerings and other Revenues proceeding from the Charity and Devotion of the Faithful Stephen who was Archdeacon of Paris was provided with that of Chancellor and Giselbert with that of Butler Now Anseau being slain at the Siege of Puiset Anno 1118. the King bestowed his Office upon William and he being dead about the year 1120. Stephen desired it rather for himself then for his younger Brother Giselbert This was a Monster that never any Reason nor any Example could justisie a Soldering-Priest making profession to spill Human Blood And indeed all good People had him in horror but his Ambition and the flattery of Courtiers who lay the fairest Colours upon the fowlest Facts stopp'd his Ears that he might not hear the just Reproaches of his Brethren nor the checks of his Conscience His Pride ascended to that height to shock Queen Alix who had Spirit enough not to endure it and it was perhaps for that reason that he would surrender his Office to Amaulry de Montfort who was Married to his Neece the Daughter and Heiress of Anseau Year of our Lord 1128 c. The King not thinking that convenient he dared to take up Arms against him and made a League with the King of England Thibauld Earl of Champagne and other of his Masters Enemies plainly demonstrating thereby that in his former Services his ✚ aim was not the good of the Kingdom but his own Grandeur The King vigorously assaulted the Castle of Livry which they had fortified they shot at him and he was wounded in the Thigh with an Arrow The smart of his Wound redoubling his Anger he forced the Castle and razed it In fine he continued to make so hot a War upon them that Stephen was constrained to renounce the Office of Seneschal But the Party being strong he thought fit to leave him that of Chancellor Year of our Lord 1129 Great toil and labour more then number of years making Lewis old he found it fitting the better to secure the Kingdom to his Family to have his eldest Son Philip Crowned Which was performed in the City of Reims the 14th of April being Easter-day in presence of Henry King of England his Vassal LEWIS the Gross and PHILIP his Son HEnry likewise having no Children by his second Wife caused his Daughter Matilda Widow of the Emperor Henry to be acknowledged and accepted of as Heiress to his Crown and Dominions and Re-Married her to Gefroy surnamed Plantagenet Son and future Successor to Fulk Earl of Anjou The Party was good and besides he made it his choice thereby to divide this House of Anjou which had given him so much trouble from the King of France's Party and joyn it to his Interest King Lewis who had defended the Churches and protected the Clergy changed his Language towards the end of his Reign because they carried themselves too haughtily towards him and would not suffer he should meddle with the
nomination of Benefices nor lay his hand upon their Revenues He turned some out of their Sees and seized their Lands Stephen Bishop of Paris and Henry Archbishop of Sens adventur'd to Excommunicate him but the Pope Honorius annulled their Censures Year of our Lord 1130 Pope Innocent II. Successor to Honorius was no sooner elected but makes himself General of an Army to compel Roger Duke of Puglia to resign that Country to him which he pretended I know not wherefore to belong to the Holy See In the beginning he overcomes Roger and blocks him up in the Castle of Galeozzo but his Son William hastning thither disingages his Father cuts the Popes Army in pieces and takes him Prisoner Now although he set him immediately at liberty again nevertheless the report of his Captivity being carried to Rome caused them to elect another Pope who took the name of Anacletus Innocent not daring therefore return to Rome held a Council at Pisa where he Excommunicated Anacletus From thence he came into France where he called another at Clermont in Auvergne His Cause had some difficulties the King assembled the Prelats of his Kingdom at Estampes to know which Party they must take St. Bernard Abbot de Cleruaux strongly maintained Innocents after his example every one embraced it Nevertheless Girard Bishop of Angoulesmes advice to whom Anacletus had restored the Legation of Aquitain that had been taken from him had so much influence upon William Duke of Aquitain that he declared himself for this Anti-Pope and persisted a year and an half in that Schism vexing those Church-men extreamly who would needs side with Innocent Year of our Lord 1131 One day being the Fifth of October as the young King Philip was riding thorough some Street of the Suburbs of Paris a Hog thrusts himself betwixt his Horses Legs who flownced and curveted in such a manner as threw him on the Ground and then ran over his Body wherewith being much bruised he died the same night To Comfort the King for this loss and the great and sensible grief it was to him and in some measure repair it he was Counsell'd to let his other Son named as himself Lewis be Crowned He carried him to Reims where the Twenty fifth of the same Month he was Anointed and Crowned by Pope Innocent who then held a Council there against the Anti-Pope Peter Laon. It seems it was at this Coronation that they reduced the Pairs or Peers who were hereafter to be assistant at those Ceremonies to the number of Twelve Six Ecclesiasticks and Six of the Laity who were chosen from amongst all the Lords and Prelats of that Quality They did not however take away from the other Pairs their Prerogative of not being Judged by any but their Pairs in matters Feodal as well Civil as Criminal Of these Twelve Pairries are remaining only the six Ecclesiasticks five of the Lay ones having been re-united to the Crown by Confiscation Marriage or otherwise and the sixth which is that of Flanders torn from them by the Emperor Charles V. LEWIS the Gross the Father LEWIS the Young his Son called the Pious or Debonnair Aged about 20 years Year of our Lord 1132 THierry of Alsatia remaining Master and Possessor of the Earldom of Flanders was admitted to render Hommage to the King who received him because it would not have been in his power to drive him out and besides he was his Kinsman Geofrey Plantagenet was come to be Earl of Anjou Fulk his Father being returned to the Holy Land to take possession of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to which he was called by King Baldwin his Father-in-Law He pressed King Henry his Wives Father very earnestly to give him Places and Money for advancement of Succession which begot such a divorce between them that Gefroy besieged and burnt Beaumont and Henry had carried his Daughter back into England had she not been in Child-bed When she was up again she fell into Dispute with her Father and parted very much discontented from him which gave him so much jealousie and anguish that being taken ill of a slow Fever and a Loosness he died the First day of December having Reigned Thirty five years Year of our Lord 1136 c. His Succession no more then his Life was without great Troubles That Stephen Earl of Boulogne of whom we have spoken his Sister Adela's Son being in England seized on that Kingdom and maintain'd himself in it as long as he lived Not content with that he likewise disputed for Normandy and almost totally dispossessed Matilda and Gefroy her Husband The unhappy Province dividing it self in favour of both Parties was ravaged by both and the King of France favouring sometimes the one sometimes the other kept it still in a Flame William IX Duke of Guyenne touched with Compunction resolved to go in Pilgrimage to St. James's in Galicia Before he went he made his Will and Testament wherein he ordained that his eldest Daughter named Alianor should Marry the young King Lewis and should bring him all his Lordships in Dowry For his only Son was dead but he had yet another Daughter called Alix-Pernelle In his Journey he fell sick and died having confirmed his Will His Corps was conveyed to St. James's in Galicia and interred in the Church and yet the Legend-makers do not stick to say That he feigned only that he was dead and stealing away so privately that his own Secretary knew not of it he went and turned Hermit in a Grotto or Cave near Florence where he macerated his Body by terrible Pennance and that it was he who instituted the Order of the Guillermins Of the same Fabrick is the Tale they make of the Emperor Henry V. saying That to do the greater Pennance for his Faults he caused it to be reported that he was dead and retired to Anger 's where he ended his days serving the Hospital but before he died discovered himself to his Confessor and was known by Matilda his Wife who was again Married to Gefroy Earl of Anjou King Lewis was likewise fallen Sick of a Diarrhea which took him upon his return from his last Warlike Expedition in which he had razed the Castle of St. Bricson on the Loire the Lord thereof using to rob the Merchants William's last Will and Testament being brought to him he accepted of the Match bestowed a gallant Equipage upon his Son and ordered a Train of many Lords and above Five hundred Gentlemen with whom he went to Bourdeaux where Elienor Resided and there Espoused her in presence of the Lords of Gascongny Saintonge and Poitou then brought her to Poitiers towards the middle of July Year of our Lord 1137 In that City he heard of the Death of the King his Father which hapned at Paris the First day of August the Thirtieth of his Reign and the Fifty eighth of his Age. His Body was carried to the Church of St. Denis Before this Prince Violence reigned Majesty and Justice were
Popes Legat. Afterwards the Archbishop of Sens gave him leave to explain and make good his Propositions against St. Bernard But being come for that purpose to the Council of Sens he would or durst not dispute there but appeal'd to the Pope Being on his way towards Rome to pursue his Appeal he stopt at the Abby of Clugny and there led a holy Life in the Habit of St. Bennes which he had long before taken upon him These Prosecutions were carried on by the Zeal of St. Bernard Abbot of Clervaux a Burgundian Gentleman who had raised himself to so high an Esteem for several years before amongst the Clergy the Nobility and Common People that there hapned no Cause in Matters Ecclesiastical no considerable Contest no important Enterprize wherein his Judgment was not required together with his Counsel and Mediation To shew us that the Wise and Virtuous have a more natural ☞ Empire then that which proceeds from Power or the Institution of Man Year of our Lord 1141 The Clergy of Bourges had elected for their Archbishop one Peter de la Chastre a Person of singular Learning and Piety The King whether he did not like him or desired that Benefice for another refused to give his consent Peter would therefore have desisted but Pope Innocent enjoyned him to perform his Duty which the King obstructing it bred a great deal of trouble and grew to that height that the Pope Excommunicated the King and put the King under an Interdiction Thibauld Earl of Champagne a Lord of great Authority as well for his Power as his Vertues having intermedled somewhat too much about this business offended the King whose anger was yet more inflamed upon another occasion which was this Rodolph de Vermandois who was in effect the first Prince of the Blood but in those days that Title was not known those Princes being considered only according to the Year of our Lord 1141 42. dignity of their Lands caused his Marriage with Gerbete Cousin German to Thibauld to be dissolved upon pretence of Parentage that he might have Alix-Pernelle the Sister of Queen Alienor for his Wife The Pope at the instigation of Thibauld Excommunicated Rodolph and interdicted the Bishops that had pronounced the Divorce Lewis lays all upon Thibauld and enters his Lands in Hostile manner Thibauld has recourse to the Pope who to deliver him from that War which oppress'd him takes off the Excommunication but as soon as that was over he thunders it a second time and then the King more exasperated then before turns his Army into Champagne They take Vitry by force putting all to the Sword and setting Fire on the Church wherein three hundred poor innocent People were burnt who were got in to secure themselves Year of our Lord 1143 and 1144. At the recital of this Cruelty the Kings Bowels yearned and his Conscience was mightily troubled He mourned and dispairs St. Bernard had much ado to persuade him that he might obtain Mercy from God upon his Repentance In this Condition it was easie to persuade him to restore the Archbishop of Bourges to his See and procure a Peace for the Earl Year of our Lord 1143 and 1144. Fulk King of Jerusalem being dead Anno 1142. the Government being in the hands of Melisenda his Widow his youngest Son Baldwin and the Christians of that Country worse then the Turks their Affairs ran all into confusion so that Sangnin Sultan of Assyria tore the Principality of Edessa from them one of the four Members of the Kingdom of Jerusalem The King had before Vow'd a Voyage to the Holy-Land these sad Tidings moved both him and the other French Princes to carry them Relief St. Bernard the Oracle of those times being consulted with herein refers the business to the Pope who sent him orders to Preach the Croisade over all Christendom Year of our Lord 1146 Beginning with France he Conven'd a National Council at Chartres by whom he was chosen for Generalissimo of that Expedition but he refused the Sword and was content to be the Trumpet only He proclaim'd it every where with so much fervour so great assurance of good success and as they believed with so many Miracles that the Cities and Villages became Deserts every one listing themselves for this Service Year of our Lord 1147 The Emperor Conrad and the King were the first that took the Badge of the Cross with an infinite number of Nobility Each of these Princes had a Legat from the Pope in his Army Conrad led threescore thousand Horse he went away first and arrived at Constantinople about the end of March in the year 1147. Year of our Lord 1147 The King staid some while in France after him to receive Pope Engenius who by the Revolted Romans was forced to quit that Country He set forwards a fortnight after Whitsontide in the same year and having marched thorough Hungary and Thrace passed the Bosphorus so that the following Lent in Anno 1148. he got into Syria whilst on the other hand his Naval Force was put to Sea to meet him there Year of our Lord 1147 By Advice of his Parliament held at Estampes he left the Regency of the Kingdom to Rodolph Earl of Vermandois and Suger Abbot of St. Denis who was in great Credit at Court even from the time of Lewis the Fat. Before his departure he went according to the usual Custom into St. Denis Church to receive his Staff and Scrip the Badges of Pilgrimage and the Standard de L'Oriflamme on the Altar of the Holy Martyrs It is fit we should tell you the Kings of France of the Second Race display'd at the head of their Armies St. Martins Cope or Mantle But Capet and his Line after their great Devotion to St. Denis made use of the Banner belonging to his Church which they called Oriflamme It had wont to be carried or born by the Count de Vexin-Francois who was Hommager to the Church of St. Denis After the Kings had possession of this County they appointed some Person of great Merit and Illustrious Birth to carry it There is not that wicked or mean Artisice and Treachery but the perfidious Manuel Emperor of Greece put in practise to destroy both the Emperors and the Kings Armies Against the first he had his will by Poysoning their Meal he was to furnish them withall with Lime and Plaster and appointing such Guides as having led them a long way about which made them waste all their Provisions at last delivered them half dead and languishing into the hands of the Turks who cut them all in pieces so that there was not a tenth part of them escaped Year of our Lord 1148 The King being likewise gotten into Asia found the Emperor Conrad at Nicea where he comforted him in the best manner he could Then he marched along by the Sea-side and ran the same hazard as the other had done however he saved himself more by good fortune then
of Allemans or Almans because this Prince being Duke of the Almans had ever both in his Train and in all Offices more of those People then of any other Country The Italians even in those days called then Tudesâ—hi as they do still Death ravisht from the King his two ablest Councellors which were Suger Abbot of St. Denis the Fifteenth of January and Rodolph Earl of Vermandois the last Prince of the second Royal Branch of that name He having no Children and his Sister being Married to Philip Son of Thierry Earl of Flanders the King who cherished this Philip left him the possession of Vermandois the Subject of a Quarrel in the Reign following Year of our Lord 1152 Whether it were jealousie or scruple of Conscience the King eagerly pursued the Separation from his Wife and obtain'd it by Sentence of the Prelats of his Kingdom whom he had called together at Baugency Immediately proceeding with integrity he withdrew his Garrisons from Aquitain to leave her that Country in freedom and gave her liberty to go whether she pleased keeping the two little Daughters he had by her with him This Woman burning with Love and Ambition Married some Months after Henry Duke of Normandy and Presumptive King of England a Prince both young hot and Red-Haired very able to satisfie her Desires As soon as Alienor was Divorced Lewis sent to demand Constance-Elizabeth Year of our Lord 1152 Daughter of Alfonso King of Castile by Hugh Archbishop of Sens who performed the Ceremony of that Marriage at Orleans and there Crowned the new Queen the Archbishop of Reims protesting in vain that this Right belonged to him only Lewis not able to endure his Vassal should go equal with him nor Henry who had so many great Lordships suffer a Soveraign above him it was imposible they should continue good Friends This last being assigned to appear in Parliament refused to come Lewis to punish him besieged and took the City of Vernon but Henry submitting out of some apprehension he yet had of King Stephen the Lords reconciled him with Lewis who restored the place to him Year of our Lord 1152 King Stephen the Usurper of the English Crown being dead Henry gets into possession of that Kingdom according to the former agreement betwixt them It was not permitted the Kings of France says Yves de Chartres to Wed any Bastards Now there went a report that Constance was such wherefore King Lewis two years after his Marriage would satisfie himself herein and under the pretence of going on Pilgrimage to St. Jago in Galicia took her Fathers Court in his way the most magnificent Prince of those times who received and entertained him Year of our Lord 1154 most Royally at Burgos and took away that suspicion he had conceived Year of our Lord 1154 Divers do in this year 1154. reckon the Death of Roger I. King of Sicily one of the most Warlike and Potent Princes of this Age. He raised the reputation and fame of the Normans to its highest pitch in so much as after him it did ever decline He had a Son named William and a Daughter called Constance the Son Reigned but with so much Injustice Avarice and Tyranny that he deserved the surname of Wicked or Bad. He prided himself most in filling his Coffers and draining his Subjects to the very last Penny Constance being an old Maid Married the Emperor Henry VI. in the year 1186. Year of our Lord 1155 Gefroy Earl of Gien on the Loire knowing himself too weak to oppose William Earl of Nevers who made a rude War upon him allied himself with Stephen de Champagne Count of Sancerre and gave his Daughter to him and for Dowry his Earldom to the Exclusion of his Son Herve The Son thus disinherited by his Father without any fault committed implored the Kings Justice who goes in Person and besieges Gien takes it upon Composition and settles him there Year of our Lord 1159 When Henry was possess'd of England Gefroy his Brother demands Anjou Touraine and Maine according to their Fathers Will but far from giving these he takes Loudun Chinon and Mirebeau from him so that he had been left without any thing had it not been his good Fortune to be chosen by the Nantois for their Earl who having forsaken Hoel stood in need of a Prince to defend them against the Assaults of Conan Year of our Lord 1158 The Enmities between King Lewis and Henry being ready to break forth the Lords found out a way to prevent it yet a while by the Alliance of Henry's eldest Son of the same name with Margaret Daughter of Lewis by his second Wife though both of them were Children and had scarce left off their Bibs The Girl was put into the Father-in-Law's hands and Lewis promis'd to bestow in Dowre with her Gisors and other places in the Normand Vexin which in the interim were trusted to the keeping of the Grand Master of the Knights-Templars to be deliver'd up to Henry when the Marriage should be Consummate The Emperor Frederick composed the Difference between Bertold of Zeringhen and Renauld about the Earldom of Burgundy in such a manner that he dismembred or cut off from it the little Country of Nuctland which is beyond Mount-Jou and the Cities of Geneva Lausanna and Sion to give them to Bertold leaving the remainder to Renauld whose Daughter and Heiress named Beatrix he Married After which keeping open Court with great Pomp at Besancon he received Hommage of all the Lords and Prelats belonging to the Earldom of Burgundy and the Kingdom of Arles who notwithstanding regarded not his Soveraignty but only to obtain a better Title to their Usurpations Those that were common Friends to both endeavour'd to procure an Enterview between him and the King of France and agreed upon the time and place but the King stung with Jealousie at the Grandeur of that young Prince or having some suspicion he would design upon his Person would go attended with a great number Year of our Lord 1159 of Soldiers which caused Frederick to withdraw very much dissatisfied Gefroy Earl of Nantes being dead without Children Conan Earl of Renes or of Little Bretagne seized on the City of Nantes King Henry Brother of Gefroy pretending it belonged to him by Succession undertakes to recover it by force of Arms. Year of our Lord 1160 Conan being hardly press'd buys his Peace by giving him his Daughter and Heiress named Constance for his Third Son by name Gefroy the same as his Uncle deceased After the Death of Pope Adrian the greater number of the Cardinals elected the Cardinal Rowland a Siennois who was named Alexander III. But the Roman People and two Cardinals only gave their Votes for Cardinal Octavian a Roman who took the name of Victor The Right of either side was dubious for on the one hand the Decrees of some Popes had referr'd the Election to the Cardinals only and on the other the Roman
de Creme who named himself Paschal and was confirmed by Frederick But Alexander III. recalled by the Romans left France the year following and returned to Rome to put an end to that Schism Year of our Lord 1165 In the year 1165. Lewis had a Son born whom he believed Heaven had sent him in return of his Prayers For this reason he was surnamed Dieu-Donne i. e. Gift of God or God-Gift and after for his brave Acts the Conqueror which Paul Emilius has rendred by Interpretation Augustus and is followed in the same by all the Modern Historians Year of our Lord 1166 The Life of Conan the Little Duke of Bretagne which had been ever full of trouble ended Anno 1166. to make room for Gefroy of Normandy his Son-in-Law This Prince being yet but Fifteen years of Age remained together with his Datchy under the Guardianship of the King his father for some time after which being at liberty he begins a War against him because he would make him do Hommage for his Dukedom a Duty he required by vertue of a Treaty made by Charles the Simple with Rollo Duke of Normandy Year of our Lord 1168 Thierry of Alsatia Earl of Flanders dies at Gravelin Philip his Son governs after him Year of our Lord 1169 70. The Feud was renewed between the two Kings upon several occasions one was the Earl d'Auvergne whom Lewis as Soveraign Lord took into his protection and safeguard against Henry to whom the Earl was a Vassal holding of him in Aquitain the other the support he gave to Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury The War thereupon breaks forth and lasted for two years however it was carried on but slowly and so as the Respect either of them had for Pope Alexanders Mediation brought them to an Agreement for some time Year of our Lord 1170 These two Princes having Conferr'd together at Saint Germain en Laye concluded the Peace betwixt them and there the King of England's Sons rendred Hommage to Lewis for those Lands their Father assured to them by advance of Inheritance Henry of the Dutchy of Normandy the County of Anjou and the Office of Grand Seneschal joyned thereto from the time of Grisegonnelle as also the Earldoms du Maine and de Touraine and the second named Richard of the Dakedom of Aquitain as for the third which was Gefroy he had Bretagne by his Wife and ow'd Hommage to none but the Duke of Normandy The Kings Intercession obtained of Henry that Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury might return into England but he continuing to act with the same heat four Gentlemen of Henry's Court out of Complaisance as mean as detestable having plotted and contrived to deliver their King of him entred the Church at Canterbury where that Holy Prelat was reading Service it was on the Christmas Holy-days and Murther'd him at the foot of the Altar Year of our Lord 1171 Though the King disown'd this Murther and shewed an extream grief nevertheless Year of our Lord 1172 having given cause to commit it if perhaps he did not command it the Pope Year of our Lord 1173 made a mighty business of it from which he could not get clear without submitting to great Pennance and such Reparations and Satisfactions as was ordained by his Legats The Holy Archbishop revered as a Martyr was Canonized the following year and the frequent Miracles wrought on his Tomb attested his Holiness Year of our Lord 1173 Every year almost there was some Rupture then a Peace or Truce between the two Kings either concerning their own proper Interests or that of their Friends and Vassals Lewis had this advantage that being the Soveraign Lord he had a right of hearing the Complaints of Henry's Vassals and of making himself his Judge Year of our Lord 1173 He had stirred up many in Aquitain and Normandy but this year he Armed his own Children against him The eldest with Margaret his Wife being gone to Visit him and having staid some time in that Court had a fancy put into his Head that since he was Crowned he ought to Reign and to demand of his Father the enjoyment either of the Kingdom of England or the Dukedom of Normandy With this disposition and fretted for that his Father had taken some young People from about him who gave him such like ill Counsels he stole away one Night from him and came and cast himself into the Arms of the King Immediately all the young Nobility follows him Queen Alienor favours him his two Brothers Richard Duke of Aquitain and Gefroy of Brâ—tagne joyns with him and those whole Provinces follow their Motions The King of France takes them into his protection William King of Scotland declares for them and attaques England whither at the same time went some French Forces under the Command of Robert Earl of Leicester Year of our Lord 1174 It seemed therefore as if the unhappy Father must needs be overwhelm'd on a suddain but he overthrew all the Enemies Lewis having taken Verneuil au Perche durst not hold it and retreated before him The Earl of Leicester is defeated in England and all those that followed him either slain or taken then all the Kingdom reduced in less then Thirty days by old Henry who went thither presently after this defeat Year of our Lord 1175 The following year whilst he was doing Pennance at St. Thomas Becket's Tomb William King of Scotland his most capital Enemy loses a Battle against his Lieutenants and was taken Prisoner The Fleet of young Henry is dispersed and disabled by Tempest King Lewis who had carried Philip Earl of Flanders with him is rudely repulsed from Rouen so that finding Henry who was come over-Seas again to Relieve this City made ready to give him Battle he hearkens to a Truce for some Months Year of our Lord 1175 Whilst that lasted old Henry going into Poitou and subduing Richard the worst of his three Rebellious Sons who held that Country all the others returned to their Obedience and he enters upon a Treaty of Peace with Lewis who gave him Alix his Daughter for his Son Richard and put her into his hands to compleat the Marriage when she should be Age for it Year of our Lord 1177 The two Kings now grown old were weary of so many Wars and Disturbances Either of them had cause to fear the one the activity of his three most valiant Sons the other the weakness of his only Heir as yet too young so that they confirmed the Peace by new Oaths promised mutual friendship against all others and took up a resolution to go joyntly into Languedoc to extirpiate those Hereticks already mentioned by us But they thought it more convenient first to send the Popes Legat thither with three or four other Prelats to endeavour to reclaim them by Exhortations and Anathema's which converted and brought back a great many and kept the rest within bounds for some time These Hereticks were all called Albigensis because they propaged
most in those Countries under the protection of Roger Earl of Alby who much favoured them Year of our Lord 1178 During the Calm of this Peace Lewis who was extream feeble with Age using the same provident foresight as his Predecessors resolved to have his Son Philip Crowned but it hapning that this young Prince fell ill upon an afright for having lost his way in a Wood as he was Hunting this Ceremony was fain to be put off which was not performed till the year following In the mean time Peoples Devotion increasing towards the Reliques of St. Thomas of Canterbury from the example of King Henry who of his Persecutor was become his Adorer King Lewis passes into England prayed on his Tomb and left very rich Tokens of his Piety there behind Year of our Lord 1177 In sine Prince Philip was Anointed Crowned at Reims on All Saints day by William Archbishop of that City and Cardinal Brother to the Queen his Mother The Duke of Normandy and Philip Earl of Flanders both Pairs or Peers assisting at that Ceremony and holding the Crown upon his Head Year of our Lord 1180 Soon after Philip Earl of Flanders faithful and affectionate to King Lewis procured the Marriage of his Neece Isabella-Alix Daughter of his Sister and of William Earl of Hainault with the new King who was his God-son and treating her as his own Daughter because he had no Children he gives her in favour of this Marriage the County of Artois and the County all along the River of Lys. Year of our Lord 1180 Hardly was the joy of this Festival over when King Lewis died of the Palsy in the City of Paris the 18th or 20th of September Aged as many tell us near Seventy years but according to my Computation not above Sixty three or Sixty four whereof he had Reigned Forty three His Corps lies in St. Denis He was not very happy in his grand Designs and too effeminate or mild in Affairs that required vigour but as Pious Charitable Good Just Liberal and Valiant as any Prince in his Time He can be taxed but for two faults the one against Prudence for Divorcing his Wife the other against the Laws of Nature having supported the Rebellion of Henry's Children against their Father He had three Wives Alienor or Eleanor of Aquitain Constance of Spain and Alix or Alice of Champagne By the first he had two Daughters Mary and Alix who Married the two Brothers Henry Earl of Champagne and Thibauld Earl of Chartres and Blois By the second came Margaret Married first with Henry the young King of England and then with Bela III. King of Hungary By the third he had two Daughters Alix who was betroathed to Richard of England afterwards Married to William Earl of Pontieu Agnes Married to Comnenius the Son of Emanuel of Constantinople and a Son named Philip who Reigned Philip II. King XLI POPES ALEX. III. One year under this Reign LUCIUS III. Elected 29 Aug. 1181. S. Four years three Months URBAN III. Elected in Decemb. 1185. S. One year and near Eleven Months GREGORY VIII Elected in Octob. 1187. S. a little less then two Months CLEMENT III. Elected in January 1188. S. Three years three Months CELESTINE III. Elected in April 1191. S. Six years nine Months INNOCENT III. Elected in January 1198. S. Eighteen years six Months nine days HONORIUS III. Elected in July 1216. S. Ten years eight Months whereof seven during this Reign PHILIP II. Surnamed the Conqueror or Augustus King XLI Aged Fifteen years EVen in the Life-time of Lewis the Young Affairs began to be governed in the name of Philip and by the Administration and Care as I believe of Philip Earl of Flanders who was his Guardian his Governor and his God-father The Methods of Piety and Justice his Father and Grand-father had taken to Year of our Lord 1180 strengthen their Authority had much advanced them in their Design He was therefore Councel'd to pursue them Wherefore immediately undertaking the Protection of the Church he with a high hand went and reduced Ebles Lord of Charenton in Year of our Lord 1180 Berry Imbert Lord of Beaujeu in Lyonnois and Guy Earl of Chaalons upon Soane who oppress'd the Ecclesiasticks At the same time he began to let the Grandees of the Kingdom know how he could order and reduce them for he dissolv'd a powerful League which they had formed against him perhaps out of the jealousie they had conceiv'd of the greatness of the Earl of Flanders and forced the Earl of Sancerre who was the first that declar'd himself to fly to his Mercy Year of our Lord 1181 After the Death of his Father desiring to Sanctifie his new Reign he publish'd an Edict against such as utter those horrible Blasphemies composed or made up of the Name and Body or Members of the Son of God condemning them to pay a certain Pecuniary Mulct if they were People of Quality and to be thrown into the Water if they were meaner People Year of our Lord 1181 Prompted with the same Zeal he caused strict search to be made after all those that were accused of Heresie and sent them to the Fire expell'd all the Jews within his Territories and Confiscated their Estates suffering them to carry away only the Price of their Household-Goods His Piety appeared no less in the expulsion of Comedians Juglers and Jesters or Buffoons whom he turned out of his Court as People that serve only to flatter Vice encourage Sloath and fill idle Heads with vain Chimera's which perverts them and puts their Hearts into those irregular Motions and Passions as Wisdom and true Religion commands us so much to suppress and mortifie Princes were wont to bestow great Presents on those People and reward them with their richest Clothes But he being persuaded says Rigord his Historian That to give to Players was to Sacrifice to the Devil chose rather according to the Example of that Holy Emperor ☜ Henry I. to make a Vow he would henceforth employ his Money towards the maintenance of the Poor Anno 1183. he encompassed the Park du bois de Vincennes with a Wall and stock'd it with Deer which the King of England sent over to him The same year Henry the young King of England died in the Castle of Martel in Quercy Perhaps by the just Punishment of Heaven for having been so often as he was at this time in Rebellion against his Father Year of our Lord 1183 Every private or particular Lord having usurped a Right of making War upon one another after either had sent his defiance there followed Murthers and continual Spoils and Plunderings For which the Bishops and some of the wisest Lords of the Kingdom had endeavour'd to find a Remedy from the year 1044. having ordained the Truce or Peace of God for those Disputes and Contests betwixt particular Men during certain times in the year and certain days of the week with most severe Punishments
against the Infringers even to the killing them in the very Churches which served as a Sanctuary to all other the most enormous Criminals William the Conqueror had Establish'd this Law in England and in Normandy Anno 1080. Raimond Berenger Earl of Barcelonna in his Country Anno 1060. the Council of Clermont had confirmed it Anno 1096. and that of Rome Anno 1102. Now as these Truces were but ill observed and Languedoc and a part of Guyenne principally upon occasion of that War betwixt the King of Arragon and Raimond Earl of Toulouze were most miserably tormented with Factions Murthers and Robberies a certain Carpenter named Durand who seemed a plain simple Fellow Year of our Lord 1183 found the Remedy against these Calamities and a Means to enrich himself He asserted that God had appeared to him in the City du Puy in Auvergne commanding him to proclaim Peace and for proof of his Mission had given him a certain Image of the Virgin which he shewed So that upon his Veracity the Grandees the Prelats and the Gentry being Assembled at Puy on the day of the Feast of the Assumption agreed amongst themselves by Oath upon the Holy Evangelists to lay down all Animosities and the remembrance of former Injuries and made a Holy League to reconcile Mens Spirits and entertain Love and Peace which they named the Peace of God Those who were of it wore the Stamp of this Image of our Lady in Pewter upon their Breasts and Capuches or Hoods of white Linnen on their Heads which this Carpenter sold to them Which had such power over their Minds and had made such Impression that a Man with those Badges was not only in security but likewise in Veneration amongst his most mortal Enemies Year of our Lord 1184 Whether the three Princes of Champagne Brothers to the Queen Mother had gotten the upper hand at Court and put the King out of conceit with the Earl of Flanders or for some other cause the King summon'd him to surrender up Vermandois which Louis the VII had given him only as was pretended for a certain time The Earl being very Potent would maintain the possession passed the Somme with a great Army and came as far as Senlis But upon tidings of the Kings march he turns back the way he came and went and besieged Corbie from whence he decamped again immediately for the same cause The King not being able to overtake him besieges Boves the two Armies drew near to engage Some Mediators put a stop to their impetuous haste and made up the Peace The Earl yielded all Vermandois excepting Peronne and Saint Quentin which they let him enjoy during Life Year of our Lord 1184 To this Agreement the King called all the Bishops Abbots Earls and Barons that served in his Army with their Vnder-Vassals And such was then the Rights of the French The Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Prior of the Hospital of St. John's deputed on the behalf of the Christians from the Holy-Land brought the Keys of the Holy City to King Philip imploring his assistance and representing to him the extream danger it was reduced unto Whereupon having held a great Assembly of Prelats and Lords at Paris he enjoyned them to Preach the Cross or Croisade and to publish it every where and in the mean time sent at his own Expence a considerable Relief of Horse and Foot into that Country The Complaints of the Clergy of Burgundy whom Duke Odo had plundred and the Year of our Lord 1184 Lord de Vergy whose Castle that Prince besieged ingaged the King to march that way and besiege Chastillâ—n on the Seine the strongest Bulwark belonging to that Rebel Who finding his Fort taken by Assault came humbly to submit to his Commands promised to pay 30000 Livers for Reparation to the Clergy and gave up four Castles which however were soon after put into his possession again without doubt because they had some need of him Year of our Lord 1183 84. In Berry there were several Bands of Robbers that wasted the Country they were named Cottereaux and were believed to be tainte â—ith the Heresie that spread in Languedoc because they aimed chiefly to do mâ—schief to the Churchmen the Berriers getting together with the help of some Men sent them by the King cut them in pieces killing seven thousand upon the place The vast Multitudes of eople that flocked to Paris the Kings Train encreasing with his Authority made the Streets so dirty and 〈◊〉 that there was no going in them The King sent therefore for the Citizens and their Provost and enjoyned them to remedy it which they did by Pav ng it with Stone at their own expences I find about this time that one Girard de Poissi who managed the Exchequer brought in thither of his own proper Moneys or Fund Eleven thousand Mark in Silver It is to Year of our Lord 1185 be imagin'd that he had gotten them by the King but however we may say that this Example ✚ will be singular and that we shall never meet a Chequer-man will follow his Example What ever can be done that sort of People will sooner go to the Gibet then be brought to make Restitution Year of our Lord 1185 Margaret of France Widow of Henry the Young King of England is Re-Married to Bela III. King of Hungary Gesroy Duke of Bretagne and Brother of that Henry being come to wait on the King who tenderly lov'd him died of a Distemper at Champeaux and was Interr'd at Nostre-Dames in Paris He had one Daughter named Alienor and one Son only aged but three years The Bretons would give him the name of Artur in memory of that famous King whom the Romancers make to be the Author of the Knights of the Year of our Lord 1185 round Table and many high feats of Arms. He remained under the Guardianship of his Mother and the Protection of the King in despite of all the Efforts of Henry and Richard his Son who made several Attempts to seize upon his Person that they might get Bretagne into their possession The Widow Constance afterwards Married Guy Lord de Thouars The memory of Gefroy is still very famous amongst the Bretons because of that Law he made in his Parliament or Estates General which was called the Assize of Count Gefroy Whereby it was ordained that in the Families of Barons and Knights the Estates should not be shared or equally divided as heretofore but that the eldest should reap the whole Succession and bestow such part upon the younger as himself and the rest of his Kindred should think fit This hath since been thus proportion'd the Thirds amongst all the younger Children during Life to the Males and Inheritance to the Female In time the rest of the Gentry not to yield in Quality to the Barons would needs be comprehended herein likewise Towards the end of the year 1186. a War was raised between King Philip and Henry of England for
falsely maintained who had Married Anno 1186. Henry Son of the Emperor Frederic This young Prince was raised to the Empire this year 1190. The Emperor his Father having drowned himself while he was bathing in the little River of Serre between Antioch and Nicea as he was leading great succours into the Holy Land Now Constance pretended to succeed his Nephew but Tancred his Bastard Brother had excluded him and seized on the Kingdom It was he that received the two Kings at Messina where they landed in the Month of Year of our Lord 1190 March and sojourn'd there above six Months During their stay Richard had great Contests with Tancred concerning the Articles of his Sister Jane's Dowry Widow of King William He was often like to come to blows about it and had thoughts of forcing the Town of Messina In sine Philips Mediation procur'd him 60000 Ounces of Gold from Tancred whereof he had a third for his pains Year of our Lord 1190 Now Tancred whether it were true or whether by a Diabolical Artisice shew'd Richard some Letters which he affirmed to have been written to him by Philip wherein that King profer'd him all his Forces to attaque Richard and seize upon him in the night if he would at the same time fall upon him likewise Richard believed the Letters to be real and made a great stir about it Thus the two Kings were mightily exasperated against each other Richard for the design contrived against his Life Philip for the reproach against his Honour Year of our Lord 1191 Towards the end of the Winten Richard makes known to Philip that he cannot Wed his Sister for certain Reasons which he will not discover perhaps it was because old Henry his Father had kept her too long and declares to him he had betrothed Berengaria Daughter of Garcias King of Navar and that his Mother Alienor was bringing her thither to Consummate the Marriage Philip was not Transported but wisely suppressing his Anger left him to his liberty of quitting his Sister provided he would surrender those Lands he had given him for her Dowry and would at the first conveniency go along with him to the Holy-Land Also he consented to a Truce for those Countries during all the time they should remain abroad Richard accepted of the Truce willingly but refused to go so soon These were the chief causes that changed the mutual affectionof these young Kings into a cruel hatred Year of our Lord 1191 James d'Avesnes with some Flemish Forces and the remainders of the Emperor Frederic's had already besieged the City of Acre it was otherwhile called Ptolemais very considerable for its Port and its strong Walls King Philip parted from Messina in the beginning of March and landed near this place took his Quarters about the Town raised his Batteries and made a wide breach Year of our Lord 1191 In the mean time Richard putting to Sea was driven by Tempest on the Coasts of the Island of Cyprus It was then in the possession of one Isaac a Grecian Prince who having abused and pillag'd his weather-beaten Soldiers whereas he ought to have relieved them provoked his just wrath in so much that he seizes on that Kingdom and carried away an immense quantity of rich Plunder together with the said Isaac and his Wife both of them bound in Chains of Gold Year of our Lord 1191 He got not to Acre till two Months after Philip and far from promoting the taking thereof he retarded it by the continual disagreement between them The Siege lasted five Months in all and caused a great many Princes and brave Men to perish there In the end the City surrendred upon Composition importing that the Besieged should obtain of Saladine the release of all the Christian Prisoners in his hands and the true Cross which he had taken in Jerusalem for which their Lims and Lives were to be Security till performed at the Mercy and discretion of the Conquerors They were therefore together with all the Spoil equally shared betwixt the two Kings and as Saladine would not perform the first of these two Conditions and the second was not in his power because the true Cross was not to be found Richard too passionate and cholerick put seven thousand of them to the edge of the Sword who were his Prisoners and reserved not above two or three hundred of the Principal In this Siege were slain a great number of People of quality Rotrou Earl of Perche Thibauld Earl of Blois Great Seneschal and Uncle to the King and Alberic Clement Lord du Mez his Mareschal Son of another Clement who had executed the same Office Our Kings of France in those times had but one and these Clements were the first who raised or improved this Office by their favour and extended it to the Soldiery whereas before them it had nothing to do but with such as belonged to the Kings Stables Year of our Lord 1191 The contagious distempers destroy'd yet more of their Men then the Sword Philip d'Alsace Earl of Flanders ended his days in the Month of June He had no Children but only one Sister whom he had Married to Baldwin Earl of Haynault from whom were sprung two Elizabeth who was Married to King Philip and a Son of the same Name as the Father Year of our Lord 1191 King Philip being likewise seized with a long fit of Sickness which was suspected to proceed from some ill morsel because his Nails and Hair fell off resolved to return into France but to remove the jealousie Richard might conceive at his departure he made Oath he would not in the least meddle with his Lands till forty days after he were certain of his being returned into France He likewise left with him near Six hundred Horse and Ten thousand Foot with their m inainance for their three years under the Conduct of Hugh III. Duke of Burgundy After that having taken leave of his Lords he puts to Sea and being Convoy'd by three Gallies only which the Genoese furnished him withal landed in Puglia When he had somewhat recover'd his Health he sets forward on his journey with a small number of followers visited the Sepulchre of the Apostles at Rome and Year of our Lord 1191 having received the Popes Blessing parted from thence and arrived in France in the Month of December He pass'd his Christmass Holy-days at Fontaine Eblaud and from thence came to his dear City of Paris After his departure all the Forces put themselves under the Command of Richard who did so many prodigious acts of valour that they surpass the belief as well as the ordinary strength of Mankind In a word he had regained the Holy-City if Year of our Lord 1191. and 92. the jealousie of Hugh Duke of Burgundy had not obstructed his progress And indeed he had a design in his Head of forming a great Kingdom in those Countries and that none might dispute the Title with him of King of
Jerusalem he purchas'd it of Guy de Luzignan giving him in exchange for it the Kingdom of Cyprus which the House of Luzignan held till the year 1473. as we shall observe in its due place We find frequently enough in History the apparitions of Meteors in the Air representing Battles Firing and as it were engaging one another but this year a most wonderful thing some were seen to descend upon Earth near the City of Nogent in Perche and fought in the Fields to the great terror of the Inhabitants of that Countrey Year of our Lord 1192 In the mean time Philip being returned into France remembred very well that Philip d'Alsace Earl of Flanders had promised upon his Marriage with Queen Elizabeth his Niece Daughter of the Earl of Hainault to give him after his death the County of Artois He consider'd likewise that to the Queen belonged some part of the inheritance of the said Uncle To this end therefore he goes very well attended into Flanders and forced him to give up all the Countrey of Artois with the hommage of the Counties of Boulogne Ghisnes and St. Pol which till then had ever held of the Earls of Flanders and extended as far as Neuf-Fosse This was the first leaven of that mortal hatred and obstinate feud and wars between the Flemming and French Year of our Lord 1192 Now the misunderstanding that was between Richard and the Duke of Burgundy the perpetual jealousie that King lay under lest Philip in his absence should seize upon his Lands and withal the indisposition of his Body which had been twice or thrice sorely shaken with Sickness during his stay in that Countrey would not let him remain any longer in the East Of a sudden he grew so impatient to return that he sacrificed all the fruits of his heroick Valour to that longing and pressing desire For on condition of a three years truce he renders to Saladin all those Places he had Taken or Fortified in this last Expedition Year of our Lord 1192 Some few days before Hugh Duke of Burgundy died of a fit of Sickness to whom Odo or Eudes III. his Son succeeded Year of our Lord 1192 After Richard had left what Forces he had yet remaining and such places as the Eastern Christians had still in Syria with Henry Earl of Champagne his Nephew he embarqued the 10th of October with little attendance and because he durst not pass thorough the territories of the King of France his declared Enemy he went and landed near Aquilea to pass thorough Germany But the Lords of those Countreys especially Leopoldus Duke of Austria whom he had highly offended at the Siege of Acre or Acon caused him to be so narrowly watched that notwithstanding he went disguised and travelled thorough unfrequented Roads he fell into the hands of that Duke He delivered him basely up to the Emperour Henry who kept him prisoner Fourteen Months When Philip heard of his Captivity he dispatched Messengers into Germany to negotiate with the Emperour to detain him as long as possibly he could Some Months after he sends to declare a War against him incites under hand his Brother John a Prince without Honour or Faith to seize upon the Kingdom of England and he at the same time falling into Normandy takes Gisors and some places in Vexin Some reckon this last event in Anno 1292. and by consequence before the imprisonment of Richard However it were in the month of February Anno 1193. he took the Town of Evreux which he gave to John keeping the Castle himself and went to besiege Rouen but lost his labour there Year of our Lord 1193 Queen Elizabeth his Wife had been dead about two years he demanded in Marriage the Princess Isemburge Sister of Canut King of Denmark a beautiful and chaste Princess but one that had some secret defect And indeed the first night of the Nuptials they being Married at Amiens in the beginning of the month of August he took such an aversion that he would never touch her He kept her notwithstanding some time and afterwards growing weary of that unnecessary Expence he so contrived it that the Arch-Bishop of Reims the Popes Legat with some French Bishops gave sentence of Divorce or Separation He did it upon the testimony of some Lords whom he produc'd who asserted they were of kindred within the Fifth and Sixth Degree In effect Isemburge and Philip had both of them for Great Great Great Great Grand-Father Jaroslas or Jarisclod King of Russia This Jaroslas was Father of Ann who was the Wife of King Henry I. and of Jaroslas II. whose Son was Vlodimer that had a Daughter named Isemburge wife of King Canut IV. This Canut begot Voldemar and from Voldemar came Canut V. and our Isemburge Year of our Lord 1194 Richad having in fine got himself out of Captivity in despite of all the obstacles Philip had made use of endeavour'd to revenge himself by force of Arms but having drained himself of Moneys to pay his Ransom his Exploits did not answer his Resentments During two years the two Kings reciprocally destroy'd eithers Countreys with Fire and Sword demolished a great many places and then made a Peace about the end of the year 1195. restoring on either side what they had taken from each other unless it were the Vexin which remained to Philip. Year of our Lord 1194. and 95. It hapned in this War that as Philip was passing by Blois the English who had laid themselves in Ambuscade took all his Baggage amongst which as the Grand Seignor does to this day he made them carry all the Titles or Papers belonging to the Crown Thus they were all destroy'd or lost to the great damage of the Kings affairs and the French History He caused Copies to be collected where ever they could meet with them to compleat and furnish the Treasury of his Charters or Paper-Office In the Month of March of the year 1196. the great overflow or inundations of Waters Year of our Lord 1196 especially the Seine were so terrible and frightful that Paris and the Isle of France seared a second Deluge We take notice of it because it was the greatest of any whereof the Histories of France make mention Year of our Lord 1196 The Peace betwixt the two Kings lasted hardly six Months Philip commences the War against Richard for two reasons One because he had built a Fort in the Island d'Andely on the Seine And the other because he had taken the Castle of Vierzon in Berry from the Lord to whom it belonged who claimed Justice of the King their Sovereign Lord. Year of our Lord 1197 The next year Baldwin XI Earl of Flanders grudging in his heart that Philip had taken from him the half of his Succession left by his Uncle Leagued himself with Richard against him as did likewise Renauld Son of the Count of Dammartin notwithstanding Philip had assisted him in getting the Heiress and the Earldom of Boulogue Year of our
Lord 1197 Amongst all the events of this War which amounted only to Burnings and Plunderings is to be observed what hapned to Philip de Dreux Bishop of Beauvais Cousin german to the King This Bishop being taken in the War Armed and Fighting by some of Richard's Soldiers was detained a long time in an uneasie prison The Pope would interpose his recommendation to Richard for his deliverance and in his Letters he call'd this Bishop His most dear Son But Richard having sent word back in what posture and manner he was taken and having sent his coat of Maille all Bloody with order to him that carry'd it to ask him Behold Holy Father whether this be the Coat of your Son The Pope had nothing to reply but that the Treatment they shewed to that Prelat was just since he had quitted the Militia of Jesus Christ to follow that of the World Death of the Emperour Henry As he had manifested himself as rude an enemy to the Popes as his Predecessors and besides was very odious for his cruelties Innocent III. strongly opposed the Election of Philip his Brother excommunicating all his Adherents and stood up for Otho Son of the Duke of Saxouy and a Sister of Richards who was Crowned at Aix la Chapelle so that there was a Schism in that Empire which had often occasioned one in the Church The King of England the Earl of Flanders and the Arch-Bishop of Colen supported Otho and King Philip on Year of our Lord 1197 the contrary made a League with his Rival The same year died in the City of Acre or Acon the generous Henry Earl of Champagne Titular King of Jerusalem his Nephew Thibauld or Theobald III. of that Name Earl of Blois inherited those Lands he had in France in prejudice of his Year of our Lord 1197 Uncles two Daughters The eldest was named Alix and was Queen of Cyprus and by her was born a Daughter of the same Name whom we shall find making War against Thibauld IV. The Second was called Philippa who was Married to Erard de Brienne Year of our Lord 1198 These bloody and obstinate Wars the particulars whereof cannot be brought within the compass of an Abridgement caused much mischief in France but the greatest was that Philip grew extreamly covetous and became too greedy in heaping up Treasure under pretence of the necessity of raising and maintaining great numbers of standing Forces which are truly very proper to make Conquests and new Acquisitions but some times become oppressive to the Subjects and destructive to the Laws of the Land As he was the First of the Kings of France that kept Men in pay and would have Soldiers always ready to employ them in what he pleased he set himself likewise upon making great exactions upon the People ransoming or taxing the Churches and recalling the Jews who were the introducers of Usury and Imposts But however he was very frugal and retrencht himself as much as possible knowing and considering ☜ that a King who hath great designs ought not to consume the substance of his Subjects in vain and pompous expences Year of our Lord 1199 At the end of two years War the Pope by his intercession procured a Five years truce between the two Kings during which Richard as covetous of Money as he was proud having intelligence that a Gentleman of Limosin had found a vast Treasure and carried it into the Castle of Chalus he went presently and besieged him he was wounded there with a Cross-bow and his debauchery having envenom'd his wound he died of it the Eleventh day of April in this year 1199. He had introduc'd the use of Cross-bows in France before that time Sword-men were so generous and brave that they would not owe their Victory but to their Lances or Swords they abhorr'd those treacherous weapons wherewith a coward sheltred or conceal'd may kill a valiant Man at a distance and thorough a hole Year of our Lord 1199 He had no Children therefore the Kingdom of England and the Dutchy of Normandy belonged of right to young Arthur Duke of Bretagne as being the Son of Gefroy his Brother elder then John without Land but John having seized the Money gained Richards Forces and stept into the Throne In the mean while the Earl of Flanders with his Allies regained the Cities of Aire and St. Omers It hapned that the Kings party took his Brother Philip Earl of Namur and Peter Bishop Elect of Cambray The King refusing to release this last the Popes Legat puts the Kingdom of France under a prohibition so that after three Months time he was constrained to set him free Year of our Lord 1200 The day of the Ascension in the year 1200. Peace was concluded at a solemn Conference between the two Kings between Vernon and Andeley It was warranted by Twelve Barons on either part who made oath to take up Arms against him that should break it and moreover confirmed by the Marriage of Blanche Daughter of Alfonso VIII King of Castille and Alienor Sister to King John with Lewis the eldest Son of Philip to whom King John in favour of this Alliance yielded up all the Lands and Places which the French had taken from him Each had a care to secure his Partisans John was oblig'd to receive his Nephew Arthur into favour who did hommage to him for his Dutchy of Bretagne but yet remained with Philip. Reciprocally Philip pardon'd Renauld Earl of Boulogne and some while after Treated the Marriage between his Son of his own name whom he had by his Queen Agnes and that Earls Daughter Since the repudiation of 1semburge of Denmark King Philip had kept her in a Convent at Soissons and at three years end that is Anno 1196 he had espoused Mary-Agnes Daughter of Bertold Duke of Merania and Dalmatia Pope Celestine III. upon the complaints of King Canut Brother of the Divorc'd Lady had Commissioned in the year 1198. two Legats to take cognisance of this Affair who had assembled a grand Council at Paris of the Bishops and Abbots of the Kingdom but all those Prelats being partly terrify'd and some corrupted durst give no Sentence and the Legats were suspected to favour the Cause of Agnes Afterwards the Holy Father more importunately desired to do justice had sent two more One of them in the month of Decemb in the year 1199. having called the Prelats of France to Dijon notwithstanding the Appeal interjected by Philip to the Pope pronounced Sentence of prohibiton upon all the Kingdom in presence and by consent of all the Bishops and nevertheless that he might have leasure enough to get away into some place of safety he was willing it should not be publish'd till twenty days after Christmass He had reason to fear Philips anger In effect it burst out with furty against all his Subjects against the Ecclesiasticks first whom he believ'd to be all accomplices in this injury for he drove the Bishops from their Sees cast the
Canons out of their Churches put the Curats from their Parishes and consiscated and plundred all their Goods Then against the Laity vexing and loading the Citizens with new Imposts and unheard of Exactions tiercing or thirding the Gentry that was taking away Thirds of their Revenues and of all their Goods which had never been heard of in France The Interdiction lasted Seven Months during this time Philip sollicited the Pope so earnestly that he gave order to his Legats to take it off upon condition he should take Isemburge again and in six Months six Weeks six Days and six Hours he would have the Case of her Divorce decided by his two Legats and the Prelats of the Year of our Lord 1200 Kingdom the Friends and Relations of that Princess being assigned to defend her The Assembly was held at Soissons by Isemburges choice King Canut sent the ablest people in his Kingdom to sollicite and plead her Cause After twelve days jugling and proceeding Philip had intimation that Judgment would be against him he goes one fair Morning to fetch Isemburge from her House and setting her up on Horse-back behind him carries her thence having order'd notice to be given to the Legat not to give himself so much trouble about examining whether the Divorce he had Decreed were good or not since he owned it and would have her for his Wife Nevertheless he used her but little better then before nor did shew any more kindness besides some little Civilities to her Year of our Lord 1200 Besore the years end Agnes her Rival died having been five years with the King She had two Children by him One Son and One Daughter whom Pope Innocent III. Legitimated Died likewise Thibauld Earl of Champagne who had then only One Daughter a Minor The King would have the Guardianship-Noble but soon after the death of Thibauld his Wife was brought to bed of a Post-humus Son who had his Fathers Name and the Surname of Great The Daughter lived not long after the birth of the Posthume In those times Usury and Uncleanness Reigned bare-faced in France God raised up two great and virtuous Men Fulk Curate of Neuilly in Brie and Peter de Roucy a Priest in the Diocess of Paris to Preach against these Vices with so much power and efficacy that they reclaimed a great many Souls from those Sins and Follies Now it hapned that a few Months before the death of Thibauld Fulk who had this gift of perswading People to what he approved by his earnest Exhortations knowing there was to be a great meeting of Princes Lords and Gentlemen at a Year of our Lord 1120 Turnament or Justs at the Castle d'Ecris between Braye and Corbie went thither and exhorted them so earnestly effectually to undertake the voyage to the Holy Land that the Earls Baldwin of Flanders Henry d'Anguien his Brother Thibauld de Champagne Lovis de Blois his Brother Simon de Montfort Gautier or Gualtier de Brienne Matthew de Montmorency Stephen du Perche and several other Lords Crossed themselves nevertheless they could not set forwards till two years afterwards The reconcilation between the two Kings seemed perfect and sincere This year they conferr'd at Andeley Nay Philip had the the King of England with him Year of our Lord 1201 to his City of Paris and Treated him with all the magnificence and all the demonstrations of friendship he could desire But John had begun to contrive his own unhappiness by casting off his Wife Avice or Avoise Daughter of the Earl of Glocestre to Marry Isabel only Daughter of Aymar Earl of Angoulesme and Alix of Courtenay whom he ravished from Hugh le Brun Earl de la Marche to whom she was affianced From that time the said Lord sought all manner of ways to revenge himself for that injury He began to hold private intelligence with Philip he endeavour'd to make an insurrection in Poitou and Rodolph his Brother Earl of Eu began to commit Hostilities on the skirts of Normandy John chastised them for their Rebellion bydepriving them of their Lands especially some Castles in the County d'Eu They make address to the King of France their Sovereign Lord and demand Justice of him Upon this difference the two Kings saw one another near Gaillon where Philip who had laid his design spake high and summon'd John to appear in his Court that right might be done not only upon the complaint of Hugh but likewise of Prince Arthur who demanded Maine Anjou and Touraine Year of our Lord 1201 The Earl of Flanders and the other Lords that had taken the Cross departed for the Holy Land and as in those times there were but few Vessels upon the coasts of Provence they had taken their way by Venice where they hop'd to find a great many well fitted and there Thomas I. Earl of Savoy and Boniface Marquis of Montferrat joyned them But the Venetians would not furnish them with Vessels till they had first employ'd their Arms to recover the Cities of Sclavonia especially that of Zara for the Republique from whom they had withdrawn themselves to own the King of Hungary which retarded them above a year in those parts Year of our Lord 1201 In the year 1195. Isaac Angelus Emperour of the East had been deprived of his Empire his Sight and his Liberty by his own Brother Alexis And the Son of that Isaac likewise named Alexis had made his escape into Germany flying to Philip of Snevia pretended Emperour who had Married his Sister This young Prince having notice that there was an Army of the Crossed at Venice went thither to implore their assistance Several difficulties hindred them from going into the Holy-Land besides the Venetians hoped to find it better for their purpose to make a War in Greece because the spoil and plunder promised more gain and seemed more certain to them and more-over all the Latine Christians were ravish'd to meet with this occasion and opportunity to revenge the Treachery and Outrages the Greeks had practised since the beginning of the Holy-War They concluded therefore to turn their Arms that way upon condition the young Alexis would defray the charges of their expedition allow them great rewards and submit the Greek Church to the Obedience of the Pope To provide for the expences of his War King Philip endeavour'd to accustom the Clergy to furnish him with Subsidies and they excused themselves upon their Liberties and for that it was not lawful to employ the Moneys belonging to the Poor in prosane uses they only promis'd to assist him with their Prayers to God Now it hapned that the Lords de Coucy de Retel de Rosey and several others went and pillag'd and invaded their Lands they fly to the King for protection who in their own coin assisted them with Prayers to those Lords but as they understood one another they proceeded to worse dealing Then the Prelats redoubled their intreaties and besought him to employ his Forces
Boulogne had served Philip very well since his Reconciliation and had likewise been very well recompenc'd by a great deal of good Land bestow'd upon him in that Country Nevertheless the King suspecting him of holding Correspondence with the King of England demands his strong Holds of him and upon his refusal to deliver them he attaques them and press'd upon him so briskly that he durst not defend them but went away to the Earl of Bar his Kinsman and from thence to Flanders Year of our Lord 1212 Although King John had been Excommunicate the precedent year by the Popes Legat he scoff'd at those Censures But he was hugely astonished when he understood that by a more terrible Sentence the Pope had absolv'd his Subjects of their Allegiance and expos'd his Kingdom as a Prey and that King Philip made great preparations to invade it having already a prodigious number of Vessels ready at the mouth of the Seine The Legat by secret Informations increases his fears and disturbs him to that height as he promises to make his Kingdom hold of the Holy See and to pay a thousand Mark of Silver as a yearly Tribute besides the Peter-Pence When the Legat had wire-drawn all he desired from him he tries to persuade Philip to wave his Enterprize but he was too far engag'd in Honour and Expence to break off so Year of our Lord 1213 All the Lords of the Kingdom in a Parliament held at Soissons the Morrow after Palm-Sunday had promis'd to assist him with their Lives and Fortunes There was only Ferrand Son of Sancho I. King of Portugal Earl of Flanders that refused to accompany him in this Expedition unless he would restore the Cities of Aire and St. Omer which he had gotten from him to have his consent that he might Marry the Heiress of Flanders who was the eldest Daughter of Baldwin V. The King thought that his approach might bring him back to his Duty when he should see him on those Coasts ready to Embarque Therefore when he was at Boulogne he sent him order to come and meet him at Graveline The Earl made them wait for him but he appeared not so that the King resolv'd before he took Shipping to put him in a Condition not to be able to hurt him Year of our Lord 1213 The Towns of Ipres Cassel and all the Country to Bruges submitted to his Sword His Naval Force consisting of One thousand seven hundred Sail having cast Anchor at Dam. While the greatest part were in the Road with scarce any Men comes the English Fleet Commanded by the Earls of Boulogne and Salisbury who took and sunk a great many and laid Siege to the place Philip decamping from before Ghent routs those they had sent on shoar and slew two or three thousand Nevertheless they keeping the Seas and his Vessels not being able to get out without falling into their hands he took out all their Furniture and caused them all to be burnt and the City of Dam afterwards Year of our Lord 1213 Then having wasted and plundred the Territory of Bruges squeezed great Sums of Money from those Citizens as likewise from the Inhabitants of Ghent and Ipres sack'd and dismantled L'Isle he left his Son Lewis and Gaucher Count de Saint Pol in that Country with a strong Body of Horse and Garisons in the Cities of Doway and Tournay only When he was retir'd out of Flanders the Earl Ferrand re-entred and soon Master'd Tournay and L'Isle which Lewis was beginning to repair as in revenge Lewis sack'd and burnt Courtray Philip for the second time goes into Flanders to secure his Conquests and presently Ferrand withdraws but as soon as Philip was gone Renauld Earl of Boulogne took the Field with some Forces he brought out of England But without doing any Exploit only after he scowred about the Country once or twice and attempted two or three Sieges in vain he forced Henry Earl of Louvain and Duke of Brabant who had Married one of the Kings Daughters to joyn with him On the other side King John landed at Rochel with a great Army and having patch'd up again with the Earls de la Marche d'Eu d'Angoulesme de Lezignan and other Poitevins who assisted him with their Forces crosses Poitou made himself Master of some places in Anjou and began to rebuild the Walls of Anger 's his Native City To hinder this Progress the King recall'd his Son out of Flanders and sets him in opposition This Prince takes his head Quarters at Chinon and was seconded with the Forces of Bretagne by Peter de Dreux who this year had Married the Heiress of that Dutchy It was Alix or Alice Daughter of the Dutchess Constance and Guy de Touars Year of our Lord 1213 In the mean while the English wrought diligently about the fortifying Anger 's and enclosed that part towards the River of Maine with a Wall His Soldiers made excursions to the very Suburbs of Nantes on the other side of the Loire surpriz'd Robert the eldest Son of the Earl of Dreux in an Ambuscade who was got over the Bridge to attaque them cut his Men in pieces and made him Prisoner Peter King of Arragon having gotten into his League and under his Protection the Earls of Toulouze de Foix and de Comenges the Vicount de Beziers and others whose Lands Montfort had usurp'd sâ—â—t his Heraulds to deâ—ie him Montfort had left a strong Garison in Muret to make waste in the Neighbourhood of Toulouze This King lays Siege to it in the Month of September His Army consisted of an Hundred thousand Men almost Montfort who was at Castlenaudry having hardly drawn together a thousand or twelve hundred got into the place From whence making a furious Sally upon the King who slighting so small a number set down to eat at the beginning of the Fight cut all his Army off threw him on the ground where his Throat was cut by a private Soldier took his Royal Standard which was carried in Triumph to Rome and cover'd the Field with dead Bodies without the loss of Year of our Lord 1213 above eight Men. The weighty blow of this Club made the Earl of Toulouze and the Inhabitants of that great City fall down at the Legats Feet they offer'd to submit to whatever Conditions he would impose but they could not get off with words it was resolv'd they should be plum'd of all Year of our Lord 1214 This year 1214. France was shrewdly attaqu'd by King John and on the Flanders side by the Emperor Otho and the Counts Ferrand of Flanders and Renauld de Boulogne but both in the one and the other part his Arms remained Victorious Prince Lewis having drawn his Forces together at Chinon march'd resolutely against King John who besieged the Castle de la Roche au Moine upon the Loire between Anger 's and Nantes Being within a days Journey of that place that King was frighted repasses the River in such great haste
better to spoil and ruine the whole Countrey about Toulouze pull down the Houses root up the Vineyards and burn the Corn which so disheartned the Toulousains that both they and their Earl were forced to submit to what conditions he pleased Year of our Lord 1228 The Treaty was chalked out at Meaux and compleated at Paris the Earl and Deputies of Toulouze being present The Earl was deprived of all his Lands excepting some little fragments they for meer pity left him It was order'd they should all devolve to his Daughter Jane who should be Married to Alphonso the Kings Brother into whose custody she was put forthwith That the Earl should pay Seventeen thousand Marks of Silver part to the King some to the Monks de Cisteaux and the rest for a Foundation of Doctors in Divinity at Toulouze That the Walls of that City and of Thirty more should be demolish'd for performance whereof he should give Hostages and in the mean time remain prisoner That there should be an exact search after Heretiques at his charge and that for pennance he should go and make war five years against the Saracens These Articles Signed he and those of his company that had been Excommunicated were at Nostre-dames of Paris upon Good-Friday bare-footed in their Shirts to receive Absolution of the Popes Legat. That done the Earl returned prisoner to the Tower of the Louvre till he had given his Hostages About the Feast of Pentecost the King gave him the Order of Knighthood and sent him into his own Countrey The Legat went with him and setled the Inquisition which exercised great severities and was again the cause of many troubles and Massacres Year of our Lord 1228 The Male-contented could not disgest that the Government should be in the hands of two Strangers a Spanish Woman and an Italian Cardinal they therefore took up Arms again drew to their party Robert Earl of Dreux elder Brother to the Duke of Bretagne and Philip Earl of Boulogne the Kings paternal Uncle to whom they promised the Crown so that the King feared a second time to be involved by this conspiracy and had been surprized if the Earl of Champagne had not run seasonably to him with 300 * Horse-men to bring him off In Spring the Conspirators turned all their Force against the Earl of Champagne and Brie They demanded those Counties of him for Alix Queen of Cyprus Daughter of his Uncle Henry who died in the Levant and more then that called him Traytor and accused him of having poysonned the deceased King proffering to convict him by Duel a reproach that made him so black and loathsome amongst his Vassals that they joyned in League with his Enemies against him The Count finding so heavy a burthen on his Shoulders and his City of Troyes besieged implores the assistance of the Queen Regent who caused the King to march to his relief and commanded them if they had any thing to say against the Earl they should come and require justice upon him in her Court But they who would not acknowledge her Regency as if the Kingdom had been vacant elected in a private Assembly or Cabal the Lord de Coucy for King who was in great reputation for his Wisdom and Justice The Queen Regent having got intelligence gave immediate notice of it to Philip Earl of Boulogne whom they had made believe they would give the Crown to by this means she took him off from them then by divers politique contrivances made all their designs vanish but not their ill intentions Year of our Lord 1228 For a few days afterwards the Duke of Bretagne by their assistance and Councils took up Arms again and called the King of England to his aid who landed in Bretague with considerable Forces but when he saw the King conducted by the Queen Regent had taken the Castle de Belesme au Perche from the Duke which was held impregnable he Shipp'd himself again The Duke thus abandonned was constrained to betake himself to an agreement Year of our Lord 1229 The very next year he broke it but not without punishment the King having taken all his Holds and Places and gained all his Vassals and Friends shuts him up in his City of Nantes so that to get out of the Briars and make the best of a bad bargain he was forced to render him hommage of Allegiance for the Dutchy The Bretons who pretended they owed but ouly single Homage named him because of his so doing Mau-clerc as who should say Witless or wanting Judgment and Understanding Thibauld Earl of Champagne was ill rewarded for the good services he had done the Queen Regent She took in hand the cause of her Cousin Alix and condemned him to pay her Forty thousand Marks of Silver and sell to the King to raise that Money the Counties of Blois Chartres Sancerre and the Vicount of Chasteaudun Year of our Lord 1230 After all these disorders there was a calm and peace for four years which was only a little disturbed by some tumults caused by the remainders of the Albigensis and the hurly-burlies of the Scholars belonging to the University of Paris It was then the fairest Ornament of the Kingdom and the innumerable numbers of Scholars that flocked thither from all parts of Europe brought great riches to that City which in a manner made all the other Universities in Christendom submit to it Now some of them having been ill handled in some scuffle with the Citizens and not obtaining such satisfaction as they desired they all resolved to quit Paris not without having first published a great many Songs and Licentious Poems which fullied the reputation of the Queen Regent and Cardinal Romain the Popes Legat who swayed her The Duke of Bretagne and the King of England proffer'd to receive them into their Countries and to grant them great priviledges but the Kings Council fearing that capital City might be deprived of so great an advantage and benefit found means to allay their heats and keep them there Year of our Lord 1231. and the following The Inhabitants of Marseilles and the adjacent Countreys being revolted against Raimond Berenger Earl of Provence called in Raimond Earl of Toulouze to Command them because he was next Heir For we must know that Gilbert Earl of Provence and Nice had had two Daughters Faidide who Married Alphonso Great Great Great Grandfather of Raimond de Toulouze and Douce that had married Raimond Berenger Earl of Bacelonna from whom was descended the Earl of Provence now mentioned He therefore accepted of their Homage and acted as their Lord whence follow'd a War that lasted four years between those two Cousins This Earl of Provence having been harrass'd by divers Revolts and other misfortunes was at the end of his days made compleatly happy by the Marriage of four Daughters he had by his Wife Beatrix of Savoy a most Virtuous Princess For all four of them had the honour to be Married to Kings Margret who was
Daughter and Heiress of the Earl of Toulouze and also gave him the Counties of Poitou and Auvergne and all that had been conquer'd in Languedoc upon the Albigensis Year of our Lord 1241 These years the Tartars made cruel irruptions amongst others one in Hungary under the Command of Bath who was one of their Generals and one in Russia Poland and Silesia whither they were conducted by another of their Generals who was named Pera. These Barbarians were Scythians Originaries between the Caspian Sea and Mount Imaus Some make them descended from the Ten Tribes of the Hebrews who were transferr'd by the King of Assyria into those Countreys and derive their Name from the Hebrew Word which signifies Forsaken Others derive it from the River Tatar which ran thorough their Countrey and say it was given to the whole Nation of the Mogles composed of seven principal People of which they made one They were Tributaries and as we say Slaves to a Christian Nestorian Prince whose Kingdom was in the Indies he was called Prestor-John But Cingis or Tzingis-Cham set that Nation free about the end of the last age ruined the States of Prester-John and founded a very great Kingdom out of it from whence divers Colonies went forth and setled in other Countreys even in some parts of Europe The Earl of Toulouze sought out all means underhand to repair the shameful Treaty he had made with the King and therefore he consulted and contrived with James King of Arragon who was come to Montpellier and with the Earl of Provence though he were the Kings Father-in-law to Dissolve his Marriage with Sanchia Year of our Lord 1241 the Arragonians Aunt upon pretence of parentage that he might Marry the Daughter of the Earl of Provence and that his Daughter Jane whom he had perforce given to the Earl of Poitou might not be his Heiress An example that proves to any that might doubt that amongst Great ones Honour Parentage Alliance and ☞ Conscience does easily give way and stoop to their Interest and Humour Hugh Count de la Marche to his misfortune had Married Isabella the Widow of King John who had formerly ravished her from him This Womans pride would not suffer him to do Homage to Alphonso the new Earl of Poitou the King undertook to compel him and on a suddain took several of his Towns and demolish'd them amongst others Fontenay where his Brother Alphonso was wounded with an Arrow The King of Englands assistance in behalf of his Mother was too slow he and his Brother Richard landed in the River of Burdeaux The Earl de la Marche had assured them that all Poitou would rise and joyn with them upon their arrival but as his promise failed their courage failed too the King falls upon them at the Bridge of Taillebourg fighting desperately in person making them retreat as far as Xaintes and from thence to Blaye The Earl and his proud Dame being forced to forget she had been a Queen found no safety but at the Kings Feet They experimented his Goodness was as great as his Courage and although she had suborn'd Rascals to Murther him who had been discover'd and punished he pardon'd both her and her Husband keeping only two or three of their Places in his hands till he was better assured of their Obedience Year of our Lord 1243 Italy was horribly shatter'd by the Factions of the Guelphs and Gibelins The First held for the Pope the others for the Emperour Year of our Lord 1243 The jealousie betwixt the Franciscans and the Dominicans which had its Birth almost with their Orders encreased likewise proportionably with their growth Insomuch that the Pope who stood in need of them and the King St. Lewis who cherished them found it no little trouble to distribute their favours equally and hold the ballance so even that they should have no cause to take advantage of each other But both of them took much over all other Religions Orders whom they despised as more imperfect and not only set a value upon themselves for their Divinity wherein sometimes they were so meerly notional and over-subtil as it approached very near to error but likewise took upon them the functions of ordinary Pastors drawing the grists of Alms pious Legacies and Burials of rich people to their own Mills concerning themselves in the directing of Consciences and the administration of the Sacraments to the prejudice of the Hierarchy who from that time hath ever been contending with them to maintain her authority Year of our Lord 1244 The Holy See having been vacant near twenty Months Innocent IV. was elected He was thought to be a friend to Frederick but whether that Emperour had not used him well or what else it were he followed the steps of his Predecessors and began to quarrel with him upon the same score of differences The feud grew so hot that Frederic being the stronger in Italy Innocent went thence that he might with more safety let fly his Thunder against him and came into France where being arrived in December this year 1244. he called a Council at Lyons for the year following In the year 1228. the Emperour Frederic being constrained by the threats of Pope Gregory was gone into the Holy-Land where by his Reputation rather then his Sword he had so contrived it that the Sultan had given him up the City of Jerusalem but dismantled with part of the Holy-Land The Pope not satisfied with that agreement had afterwards procured other Adventurers to go who broke the Truce aforesaid to the great damage of the Christians who being mightily weakned it hapned Ann. 1244. that the Chorasmins a People drove out of Persia by the Year of our Lord 1244 Tartars others say of Arabia fell upon the Holy-Land laid it all waste ruined all the Holy places of Jerusalem and drowned them in the Blood of Christians This news was brought to St. Lewis whilst he was fallen sick at Pontoise towards the end of December All those that were about him despairing of his Life he made a vow to God if he restored him to health that he would go in person to make war against those Infidels and in truth being recover'd he took the Cross from the hands of the Legat but could not so soon accomplish his pious design Year of our Lord 1245 The Council of Lyons was open'd the Monday after St. John Baptists Feast in the Abbey de St. Just and from thence transferr'd to the Cathedral Church of St. Johns The Emperour Baldwin the Earl Raimond de Toulouze and Berenguier de Provence were present there these two solliciting for the dispensation that Raimond might Marry with Beatrix the youngest Daughter of Berenguier but the Kings of France and of England and Richard Earl of Cornwal who had Married the other three Sisters hindred the Grant of it Year of our Lord 1245 The Emperour Frederic having quitted his Affairs of Italy to come there and having in the mean time sent his
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
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
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
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
Nations when the accidental Quarrel of an English Mariner with a Mariner of Normandy upon the Coast of Guyenne where they had landed to take in fresh Water set them against one another First Ship and Ship endeavour'd to plunder or take what they could singly on each side then they brought Fleet against Fleet. The English had the worst their King Edward demanded restitution of such Merchants Goods as had been made Prize in these Scuffles Philip on the contrary Summons him to appear in his Court of Parliament as his Vassal Edward sent his Brother Edmund but Philip not satisfied with that caused him to be declared Contumacious and ordered his Lands should be seized Year of our Lord 1292. 1293. In Execution of this Decree the year following the Constable Rodolph de Nesle seized several Cities in Guyenne and even that of Bourdeaux which was the Capital Thus a Riot between Private Men blew their little Sparks of Contention into a flame of War which one may say proved very fatal to France since it gave way to the overthrowing of her ancient Laws and Liberties and the introducing and establishment of divers Charges and Subsidies on the People The increase and burthen whereof is ordinarily followed with Revolutions and Seditions as it fell out this year by a great Commotion hapning at Rouen but which had the same end and event as all the like Enterprizes generally come to that is to say the Hanging of the most froward and hottest and the Banishment or Ruine of the rest Year of our Lord 1294 The King of England vexed at the loss of those places in Guyenne sollicited all Princes against France particularly the Emperor Adolph with great Sums of Money and Guy de Dampierre Earl of Flanders with the hopes oâ— the Marriage of his Son Prince of Wales with Philippetta that Earls Daughter Adolph sent to defie the King in haughty language but they gave him no other answer but a Sheet of white Paper For which he shewed no other Resentment but by Threats and so turned his Arms against some German Rebels Year of our Lord 1294 As for Guy having been allured to Paris with his Wife and Daughter by Letters from the King fraught with Expressions of Kindness he was much amazed to find himself made a Prisoner there It is true that about a Twelve month after himself and his Wife were set at liberty but his Daughter they kept still to break the Measures of that Match too pernicious to the French Year of our Lord 1294 In the year 1294 the Cardinal Benedict Cajetan by intrigues or by deceit and fourbery obliged Pope Celestin to resign the Popedom and by the same Methods got himself to be elected he was named Boniface VIII His Ancesters were Originally Catalonians and had taken the name of Cajetan because they first dwelt near Cajeta before they transplanted themselves to the City of Anagnia where he was born Year of our Lord 1294 At his advancement to that Dignity he endeavours to mediate a Peace between all Christian Princes He could not procure it between France and England but he setled that between Arragon and France King Alphonso was dead and James his Brother succeeded him It was agreed that Charles Earl of Valois should renounce the Kingdom of Arragon wherein he had been invested by Pope Martin V. upon which Condition the Arragonian repudiating Isabella de Castille for being too nigh of Kin should Marry his Laughter set the three Sons of Charles the Lame and other Hostages at liberty and surrender Sicily and what he had Conquer'd in Abruzza but Frederic his younger Brother to whom Alphonso had by his last Testament will'd that Kingdom got himself to be named King by the Sicilians Since then that which we call the Kingdom of Sicilia was dismembred in two that beyond the Fare which was the Island and that on this side which they called the Kingdom of Naples They were again re-joyned in Anno 1503. and are to this day in the same hands Year of our Lord 1295 The Sons of Charles the Lame being set at liberty the eldest named Charles entred into the Order of the Friers Minors The following year he was by the Pope promoted to the Archbishoprick of Thoulouze which he accepted not of till after he had made his Vows The King of Englands heart was much set upon two things the one to Subject the Kingdom of Scotland and the other to recover the Tows in Guyenne He thought the first was pretty well advanc'd having obliged Baliol to render him Homage and to compass the second he prepared a mighty Fleet and had strengthned himself with Friends and Alliances But Philip to prevent his designs induced the King of Scotland already threatned by his Subjects who scorned to subject themselves to the English to break the Treaty he had made with Edward and Allie himself with France and for security of this new Bond of Alliance he promised to give the eldest Daughter of the Earl of Valois to his eldest Son whose name was Edward At the same time he caused the People of Wales also to rise who out of a wild and untamed humour for Liberty were easily heated and drawn into the Field The great devastations and spoil they made this time in Pembrook-shire and thereabout broke all the King of England's Measures He was forced to go in Person that way to stop their progress and lay aside the business of Guyenne till he had quell'd those hot and stubborn old Enemies as he did having overmaster'd almost all of them in four Months time About this time the Principality of Milan and Neighbouring Cities was fixed and perpetuated in the Family of the Vicounts to which Otho Vicount Archbishop of Milan contributed not a little Matthew his Brothers Son was created the first Year of our Lord 1295 Duke this year 1295. and took the Investiture of the Emperor Adolph who likewise gave him the Vicarship or Vicegerency of the Empire in Lombardy Year of our Lord 1295 In Pistoya a City in Tuscany as then powerful enough it hapned that the rich and numerous Family of the Cancellary were divided in two Factions the one of the White the other of the Black The first joyned themselves with the Guelphes the second with the Ghibelins and that fury and madness spread over all Italy and caused insinite Seditions and Murthers Year of our Lord 1295 Pope Boniface was Proud Haughty Imperious and Undertaking he thought all the Princes of the Earth must bow to his Commands but he found a Philip of France at the head of them a young Prince of no very patient Humour more Potent then any one of his Predecessors and who had a Council consiting of People that were Year of our Lord 1295 stout and impetuous So that Boniface who ardently pursued the Design he aimed at to oblige all Kings to the Holy War having sent to tell both him and the King of England that they must make
for that Adolphus had given them no share of his it hapned that in an Assembly they had at Prague for the Coronation of King Venceslaus they easily suffer'd themselves to be persuaded that the Pope was consenting to the Deposition of Adolphus as being useless to the Empire And in effect the Cabal was so strong that they did Depose him and elected Albert Duke of Austria The two Competitors came to blows about it near Spire the Second of July Adolph fighting valiantly but betray'd or at least forsaken by his Men lost his Life there Year of our Lord 1298 The Election of Albert was illegal to rectifie it he was fain to lay it down at least seemingly in the hands of the Electors who elected him the second time with all the Formalities the Seven and twentieth of the same Month. But the Pope still refused to approve it and designed that Crown for Charles de Valois for whom he had a particular Esteem He seemed now as if he would have sweetned the sharp Humours of Philip for the year preceding he Canonized St. Lewis his Grandfather and he interpreted the Bull by which he had forbidden the Clergy to pay any Tenths or Contributions to Princes very favourably Philip believing he had done it expressly to choque him was offended several Letters had been written on that Subject to each other and things were like to have proceeded to the greatest Extremity However Boniface upon the intreaty of some French Prelats yielded to reason declaring that he intended not to forbid voluntary Contributions provided they were made without Exaction He added that they might be levied without permission from the Pope in times of the Kingdoms necessity and that even upon urgent necessities they might be constrained by the Authority Apostolick Spiritually and Temporally But as their Spirits were already exasperated on either side the Wound burst open afresh in a short while afterwards Boniface had been chosen Arbitrator of the Differences between the King with the English and the Flemming After the hearing of their Deputies he gave his Sentence of Arbitration which ordained That the Year of our Lord 1299 Flemmings Daughter should be set at liberty and his Towns restored and as if he had been the Soveraign Judge he caused it to be publickly pronounced in his Consistory Which so touched the King and his Council that it being brought to Paris by the English Deputy the Earl of Artois snatched it out of his hands rent it and threw it into the Fire The Queen on her part made use of the means within her power to highten the King her Husbands Wroth against the Flemming for whom she had a mortal hatred So that the Truce being expir'd the Earl of Valois had order to enter into Flanders and carry things on to the last push Year of our Lord 1299 He pursues him so smartly that having taken Dam and Dixmude from him he besieged him in Ghent with all his Family That unfortunate Prince destitute of all succour and forsaken even by his own Subjects was advised to render both himself and his two Sons into his hands The Earl of Valois promised he would carry him to Paris to Treat with the King himself and assured him that if within a Twelve-month he could not procure a Peace he should be set again at liberty and brought back to the same place where they had taken him But the King would have no regard to what his Uncle had sworn detains the Flemming and his two Sons and disposes them into several Prisons asunder from each other Year of our Lord 1300 The Earl of Valois being picqued for that they violated the Faith he had given the Flemming or by some other motive of Ambition went out of the Kingdom and passes into Italy whither the Pope had earnestly invited him for at least Three years He there Married Catharine the Daughter and Heiress of Baldwin the last Emperor of Constantinople and the Pope gave him that Empire and made him his Vicar or Lieutenant over all the Lands belonging to the Church hoping by his means to carry on that great design of the Holy War which was ever rumbling in his Head Year of our Lord 1299 For the third time the Truce was prolonged betwixt the two Kings by vertue whereof the Prisoners on both sides were set at liberty and particularly John Baliol King of Scotland who was brought into Normandy and left in the keeping of some Bishops who were willing to take that Charge upon them Year of our Lord 1299 The Emperor Albert could not obtain his Confirmation of Boniface and Philip was apprehensive of the audacious Undertakings of this Pope for this reason both the one and the other to prevent him from taking advantage of their Divisions to ruine them Conferred together at Vaucouleurs In that Interview they renewed the ancient Confederations of the Empire with France and to unite themselves more closely Treated the Marriage between Rodolph the Son of Albert and Blanch the Daughter of Philip. It was not compleated till the following year Year of our Lord 1300 At the end of the Thirteenth Age of the Christian Aera the Pope publish'd a general Indulgence or Relaxation of Canonical Pains due for Sins for all those who being Confessed and Penitent should visit the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul for a certain number of days Since that Clement VI. reduc'd it to Fifty years and called it the Jubile Boniface hath been reproached that on this Ceremony he appeared sometimes in Pontifical Habit sometimes in Habits Imperial causing two Swords to be carried before him to signifie his double power Spiritual and Temporal He had so in effect but the last only in his own Territory However he did not understand it thus as his Actions and the Sixth Book of the Decretals wherein he boldly affirms that there is but one Power which is the Ecclesiastical does but too plainly shew This Institution of the Jubile seems to have its Original from Secular Pass-times The Ancient Romans Celebrated them once in every Hundred years Paganism being abolished the People did not lay aside their Custom of coming from all parts to Rome the first year of every Age but sanctifying that profane Solemnity they paid their Devotions on the Tombs of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul Several do in this year place the beginning of that dreadful Family or House of the Othomans and tell us that the Turks having conquer'd much of the Countreys belonging to the Greeks in Asia divided those Lands into seven Principalities of which the Province of Bithynia fell by Lot to Osman or Othoman Son of Ortogules who was in great reputation of probity and valour amongst his Countrey-men His Successors have devoured not only the other six Principalities but the Grecian Empire the Kingdom of Egypt and so many Countreys of the Christian Princes that it is to be feared they may swallow up the Western Empire likewise Year of our
at Malan but broke out more fiercely at Bruges where the French Garrison being all knoc'd on the Head the Towns of Furne Bergh Bourbourgh Cassel followed and Guy Earl of Namur one of the Flemmings Sons laid Siege before the Cittadel of Courtray The King raised a great Army to chastise the Rebels and gave the Command of it to Robert d'Artois That Prince marched to relieve Courtray with Ten thousand Horse and Forty thousand Foot The Flemmings though they were but ill Arm'd had neither Nobility nor Cavalry durst resolutely wait his coming and gained the Victory with the slaughter of Twenty thousand French amongst which number was that Prince himself above Twenty great Lords with him and Peter Flota principal cause of those misfortunes This was on the 9th of June Year of our Lord 1302 To revenge this bloody affront the King takes the Field himself with above an Hundred thousand Men but the assurance of the Flemmings and the intelligence sent him by his Sister the Queen of England that if he hazarded a Battle he would be betraid to his own Men hindred him from proceeding any farther then Douay besides the Autumnal Rains rendred his march very difficult This War very troublesome in it self would have been much more so had the King of England medled in it as he ought to have done after he had engag'd the Flemmings Their troubles help'd to advance his Affairs after his having prolonged the Truce two or three times with the French he converted it at last to a final Year of our Lord 1303 Peace The Treaty was concluded at Paris the Twentieth day of May 1303. It was agreed that Philip should restore to him all what he had taken from him in Guyenne and should grant him a Patent for the investiture of that Dutchy John Baliol was set at full liberty but the Scots despised him as a Man of little courage who had twice bowed the knee before the King of England and would not own him for their lawsul King so that he remained in France where he ended his days as a private person It is not said what the fortune of his Son Edward was However although the English had wholly subdued Scotland it nevertheless hapned that some years afterwards Robert Son of Robert Bruce raised that Kingdom again which seemed to be extinguished and freed it from the bondage of England Year of our Lord 1303 Now the courage of the Flemmings being untameable their old Earl who grew weary of his imprisonment obtained a Truce by the means of Ame Earl of Savoy during which interval they permitted him leaving his Sons in hostage to go to his Towns in Flanders to endeavour to bring them back again to the obedience of the King The same year the King having had information that there was a dangerous Faction brooding in Languedoc and in Guyenne took a progress into those Countreys where he visited and highly caressed the chief Cities and Nobility At his return Guy de Luzignan Earl of Angoulesme and Lord of Cognac having no Children resigned his Lands to him to the great prejudice of three Sisters he had The King to make those Sisters some manner of reparation gave them I know not what Lands in Angoulmois Queen Jane his Wife Heiress of Navarre Champagne and Brie built and founded in the University of Paris that famous Colledge that bears the name of Navarre and Year of our Lord 1303 which even to this day has been the Cradle or rather Nursery of the most illustrious Nobility of France She died about the end of the same year The Earl Guy not having been able to gain any thing upon the Flemmings the King resolved to make them bend by force He got together the most numerous Army that had been levied of a long time of French Germans Spaniards and Italians and put himself at the head of them At the same time he had a Fleet at Sea commanded by the famous Roger de Lauria This Admiral gained a bloody Battle against Philip one of the Flemmings Sons who besieged Ziriczea that held for John Earl of Holland who by this means preserved Zealand and kept it The King soon after Year of our Lord 1304 gained another at Land near Mons the Eighteenth of August but not without great danger to his Person Above five and twenty thousand Flemmings were slain there For all these rebukes they would not stoop nor give over but having shut up shop in all their Cities and got an Army on foot of Sixty thousand fighting Men they came before l'Isle which he then held besieged demanding Peace or a Battle This Year of our Lord 1304 furious resolution obtained them a Peace upon condition that they should enjoy their Liberties Goods Priviledges and strong Holds that the Earl should be restored to his Earldom excepting those Lands on this side the River Lys which should remain to the King as likewise the Cities of l'Isle and Douay till the Earl should be more fully agreed with him and the Flemmings paid down the sum of 800000 Livres The prisoners set at liberty the Earl Guy went to visit his Countrey and his Children Being returned to Compeigne upon his faith as he had promised to finish the Treaty he died some few days after aged Fourscore years His eldest Son Robert de Betune succeeded him in his Earldom Year of our Lord 1303 The preceding year before he undertook this Expedition King Philip had consider'd how to pre-arm himself against the Bulls of Boniface and for that purpose had Year of our Lord 1303 convoked a second general Assembly of his Subjects at Paris The Earls Guy de St. Pol John de Dreux and William du Plessis Lord de Vezenobre did there accuse the Pope of Heresie and divers things so horrible that a Christian can hardly tell how to name much less to believe them Duplessis offer'd to prosecute him before the Council adhering to the Appeal heretofore brought by Nogaret and putting himself under the protection of the Council and the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul The King promised to procure the Convocation and in case Boniface should any way proceed against him formed his Appeal as Duplessis had done Moreover fearing his People too much oppressed with Imposts and dissatisfied with the Government of his Ministers should chance to fail him in his necessity he found it necessary to prevent all stirs and factions that might be set on foot in favour of the Pope to have Writings or Letters of all the Provinces Cities Corporations Churches Religious Houses Prelats and Lords of his Kingdom who approved of his Resolution and joyned therein with him Year of our Lord 1303 During these proceedings Nogaret was gone into Italy to seize upon the Person of Boniface under pretence of bringing him by fair means or by foul to the Council The Pope had retired himself to Anagnia the place of his Nativity where he thought himself in greater security then in Rome and there
Council of Vienne coming on the Pope to hinder the obstinate pursute of the Kings people against the memory of Boniface gave all the Bulls they could desire for the justification both of the King and his Officers Nay even for fear lest Nogaret should blow up the flame anew he granted him Absolution but upon condition he should go on certain pilgrimages and also travel into the Holy-Land Year of our Lord 1310 The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem were retired to the Island of Cyprus after the loss of Ptolemais but finding themselves ill Treated by the King of that Island they sought another Habitation and gained themselves one by the taking of the Island of Rhodes and five other neighbouring Islands they gained it from the Turks after two years Siege the Turks had taken it from the Saracens and the Saracens from the Grecian Empire Year of our Lord 1311 A year afterwards the Turks made great attempts to recover it but the Knights maintained it bravely by the assistance of the generous Earl of Savoy named Ame V. who got the Surname of Great by it and preserved it as well as he had gained it by many other generous actions To this might well be applied the Simbol or Devise FERT which his Successors retain to this day and the four Letters might be thus made to say Fortitudo Ejus Rhodum Tenuit but it is certain the Princes of this House bear it a long time before Year of our Lord 1311 The General Council was open'd at Vienne the First day of October in the year 1311. the Pope declaring it was for the Process of the Templars for the recovery of the Holy-Land for the reformation of Manners and Discipline and for the extirpation of Heresie Philip came thither the year following about Mid-Lent with a stately Train of Princes and Lords assisted at the opening of the Second Session and took his Seat at the right Hand of the Pope but on a lower Chair The Order Year of our Lord 1312 of the Knights-Templars was there condemned and extinguish'd their Goods left to the disposal of his Holiness who bestow'd part of it upon the Knights of St. John That of the Begards and Begardes was likewise abolished they were a sort of Monks and Religious People that made profession of Poverty but not of Abstinence nor Celibacy and who besides were acccused of many errors As for the most important point which was the Process against the memory of Boniface the King though there present had no satisfaction in it For it was declared that Pope Boniface had always been a good Catholique the other crimes were not mention'd Three famous Doctors one in Theology another of the Civil-Law and the Third of the Canon Law made it out to the King by several reasons and particulars and there were two Catalonian Gentlemen that offer'd to justfy it by combat throwing down their Gantlets which no man there would take up However the Pope and Cardinals made a Decree importing that the King should never be hereafter reproached for all or any thing that he had done against Boniface Year of our Lord 1312 The City of Lyons had for a long time held of the Kings of Arles who had given the Temporal Lordship thereof to the Arch-Bishop but since the Kings of France taking advantage of the weakness and the distance of the Emperours who were Kings of Arles had by little and little drawn to themselves the Sovereignty of this Kingdom and the City of Lyons had began to hold of them Now during the War between Savoy and Dauphiné the Citizens fearing they might be plundred had recourse to Philip who gave them a Warden who coming within the City contrary to what had been agreed upon the Arch-Bishop stirred up the People against him Prince Lewis Hutin going thither with an Army brought the Bishop away prisoner and he could never get cleer but by yielding up the Temporal Jurisdiction to the King for which the Pope helped him to some recompence But afterwards Philip the Long gave it to him again Year of our Lord 1310 The Emperour Henry who was gone into Italy from the year 1310. thinking to restore the dignity of the Empire there found so much opposition from the Guelphs the great Cities and Robert King of Naples that he perished there as well as his Predecessors He died the Four and twentieth day of August in the territory of Year of our Lord 1313 Sienne having been poysonn'd as it was reported with the Sacred Host by a Dominican Monk a Florentine Robert Earl of Flanders would needs have again his Cities of l'Isle Douay and Orchies affirming that he had paid down the redemption to Enguerrand de Marigny who governed absolutely both King and Kingdom The Flemmings refused also to Year of our Lord 1313 dismantle their Towns or to pay either the Principal or Interest of those Sums they owed the King They were therefore forced to begin another War To provide for the charges of it the King summoned the Notables of the People and from a Theatre raised high he shewed them his Necessities The Deputies had suffer'd themselves to be perswaded and granted him by the mouth of Stephen Barbete the Impost of Six Deniers in the Livre and other Subsidies more troublesome yet but the Cities of Picardy and Normandy opposed it highly and all the rest called for the justice of Heaven to fall upon the Head of Marigny the Author of all these galling and flaying extortions These moans and curses did not move him on the contrary he aggravated their misery by making new Coins of very bad Gold and Silver After all none but himself and the Exchequer-men or Receivers could get any profit by it The King having past over the River of Lys and the Armies in sight of each other Marigny who had done his own business took advantage of the interposing of the Popes Legats to bring the parties to an agreement and perswaded the King to an ignominious Truce Thus that great Army which ought to have conquer'd all Flanders vanished in smoak This disgrace of Philips was followed with one much greater All the Wives of his three Sons were accused of Adultery Margaret Jane and Blanch. The First the wife of Lewis Hutin and the Third the wife of Charles being convicted of that crime with Philip and Gautier de Launoy Brothers and Gentlemen of Normandy ✚ were by decree of Parliament the King being present confined to the Castle Gaillard of Andeley and their two Gallants slay'd alive dragg'd into the Field de Manbuisson which was newly Mow'd those parts cut off that had committed the Sin then beheaded and their Bodies hung up being fastned under their Arm-pits upon a Gibbet Margaret the most guilty of the three perish'd in prison Blanch was divorced seven years after upon pretence of Parentage As for Jane who was wife of Philip the Long after she had been confined almost a year her Husband was willing to
on the highest part of the Gibbet with the other Thieves he was hanged His immense Riches sufficiently proved the Justice of this Sentence Afterwards those Receivers or Officers of the Treasury who were of his gang were laid hold on and several put to the Wrack they would confess nothing however so well those Caterpillars know how to wind up their bottoms desiring rather in the greatest extremity to lose their Lives then part with their Money They carried on this search even to his very friends and particularly Peter de Latilly Bishop of Chaalons and Chancellor of France He was accused of giving the Morsel that is to say of having poysonn'd the Bishop his Predecessor and also the late King He was put out of his Office and left a prisoner in tbe hands of the Arch-Bishop of Reims his Metropolitan The execrable Custom of Poysonning was grown very common in France and it grew so in my opinion because the Ministers of the deceased King had been so extream Violent and vindicative This Prelat accused of so Villanous a Crime was referr'd to the Judgment of the Bishops of his Province To that end there was a Council Assembled at Senlis in the Month of October of this year 1315. where the Archbishop of Reims was present with his Suffragans The Party accused upon his request and according to Law was first redintegrated to his Liberty and his Bishoprick and afterwards it having been proved that four Women had been Convicted and Punished for Poysonning his Predecessor he was absolved fully and wholly Year of our Lord 1315 The Gentry and Commonalty of the Country of Artois having divers causes of Complaint against their Countess Mahaut the King sent for her in presence of Ame the Great Earl of Savoy and obliged her to give him her Hand that he might take notice of it Year of our Lord 1315 This Ame the Great was one of the most considerable Princes of his time He acquir'd the Title of a Prince of the Empire which was granted him by the Emperor Henry VII in Anno 1310. He increased his Territory with the Lordships of Bresse and Baugey by his Marriage with Sibilla the only Daughter of Guy Lord de Baugey as likewise with a part of the little Country of Revermont by Purchase of the Duke of Burgundy who had it of Humbert Dauphin of Viennois and the Earldoms of Ast and Yvree the first whereof came to him by the Concession of the Emperor Henry VII the second by the voluntary subjection of the People His Wisdom made him reign in all the greatest Courts in Europe the Emperors King Philip's of France Edward King of England's and made him find the Art to be so much a Friend to all these Princes who were at great variance that he became the perpetual Mediator concerning those Differences which Interest and their Jealousie bred amongst them Year of our Lord 1316 The Truce with the Flemming being at an end about the very time of the Coronation the King assembled his Forces and whilst on the other side William Earl of Hayâ—ault ravaged the Country along the Scheld he besieged Courtray The unseasonable Weather did what the Flemming durst not undertake and forced him to raise the Siege but the infinite havock and spoil the Soldiers made caused a horrible Famine in Flanders About the end of the Month of May in the year 1316. King Lewis began to feel the effects of those Poysonnings grown so rife in France They had given him a Dose so violent by what hand was not known that it carried him off the Fifth day June An Accident which the Vulgar thought to be presag'd by a Comet which had Year of our Lord 1316 display'd its terrible Train in the Heavens the One and twentieth of the Month of December before He died at the Bois de Vincennes the Nineteenth Month of his Reign and the Eight and twentieth of his Age. He left Clemence his second Wife with Child being four Months gone By his first which was Margaret Daughter of Robert II. Duke of Burgundy he had had a Daughter named Jane to whom belonged the Kingdom of Navarre and the Counties of Brie and Champagne but the Kings Philip the Long and Charles the Fair found out pretences to detain them REGENCY without a KING for Five Months Year of our Lord 1316 WHen Lewis Hutin left this World Philip the Long Earl of Poitiers his Brother was at Lyons where in pursuance of his Orders he laboured to make them elect a Pope to supply the See that had been vacant for above three years He had employ'd himself with so much zeal that at length he got all the Cardinals to Lyons and had shut them up in Conclave in the Jacobins Convent They had been there together some days when the news was brought him of the death of Hutin this made him return to Paris with diligence after he had left the guard of the Conclave with the Earl de Fores. After the end of fourty days the Cardinals could come to no other agreement about the election of a Pope then to refer it to the single Vote of James Dossa a Cardinal Bishop of O Porto who without hesitation named himself to the great astonishment of the whole Conclave who notwithstanding let it pass so He took the name of John the Twenty second of that name He was of the Country of Quercy the Son of a poor Cobler but very Learned for those times The Succession of the Males to the Crown was established not by any Written Law but by the inviolable Custom of the French nevertheless because in all other Kingdoms and in great Fiefs the Daughters succeeded and that in France of a long time no occasion had been offer'd to exclude them The Friends and Parents of little Jane particularly Eudes Duke of Burgundy Brother of her deceased Mother were on the Watch pretending the Crown belonged to her in case the Fruit of Queen Clemences Womb should come to no Perfection In the mean time they named Philip the Kings Brother for Regent till the time of her delivery Philip V. King XLVII POPE JOHN XXII Elected the 7th day of August 1317. S. Eighteen years and Three Months whereof Five years under this Reign PHILIP V. Called the Long because he was Tall King of France XLVII and enjoying the Kingdom of Navarre Aged Twenty six years Year of our Lord 1316 THe Fifteenth of November the Queen brought a Son into the World whom they named John but he went out of it again eight days after He was buried in St. Denis and in the Funeral Pomp was declared King of France and Navarre Which hath given some occasion to some Modern Authors to increase the number of the Kings of France and to call him John I. Year of our Lord 1317 Then the Dispute touching the Crown was renewed with more heat then before Charles Earl of Valois seemed to favour little Jane and the Duke of Burgundy her Uncle claimed and
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
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
and misused him so strangely that he durst not go into any of them but Ghent The King as his Lord and of near Parentage took his part and entred Flanders with an Army of Twenty five thousand Men. The Flemmings had posted Sixteen thousand upon a Hill near Cassel to guard their Frontier He coming to encamp in a Valley beneath them they had the confidence to go and attaque him and appointed three Bodies at the same instant to make their way to his Tent to the King of Bohemia's and to that of the Earl of Hainault thinking to surprize them all three unawares His Person was in great danger but whilst the bravest of his Men stood as a Rampart and put a stop to the Enemy the rest Armed themselves and charged the Flemmings so stoutly that the three Princes defeated those three Parties not one Man of them escaping All Flanders quell'd by this great shock submitted to his Mercy He caused several hundreds to be Hanged Banished and Confiscated and the year after dismantled five or six of their Towns which allay'd their heat for some time but did not extinguish it The severest punishment for those that are corrupt Officers of the Treasury and indeed the most beneficial to the Publick is not the hanging of them but to pare their Rapacious Talons so close that they may not be in a capacity to deserve it Peter Remy Sieur de Montigny had succeeded to Marigny and la Guette in the management of the Treasury their sad example had not so great influence upon him as the passion to enrich himself as they had done So that by Sentence of Parliament where there were Eighteen Knights Five and twenty Lords and Princes and the King himself present he was Condemned to be Drawn and Hanged as a Traytor at the Gallows of Montfaucon which he had caused to be rebuilt His Confiscation amounted to Twelve hundred thousand Livers a prodigious Sum for those times Of the Six great Pairries of the Laity the Kings had appropriated four to themselves to substitute others in their place and erected many new to wit Beaumont le Roger in Anno 1328. for Robert d'Artois and Anno 1329. the Barony of Bourbon this with the Title of Dutchy that with the Title of Earldom Then afterwards in several years Alenson Evreux Clermont in Beauvoisis all for Princes of his Blood and upon Lands truly of much lower Dignity and Consideration then those of the former six Pairries but as much above those of this Age as the Princes of the Blood are above Private Gentlemen Edward Earl of Savoy was come into France to demand assistance of the King against the Dauphin de Viennois and the Earl of Geneva his perpetual Enemies Year of our Lord 1329 Dying at Paris and leaving only a Daughter John III. Duke of Bretagne Husband to this Princess made earnest sute to have the Succession but the Estates of Savoy wherein presided Bertrand Archbishop of Tarentaise declared That the Salique Law took place there and called Aymon Brother of the deceased to that Crown Year of our Lord 1329 Upon the first Summons they sent to Edward by two Lords who had express Commission according to the custom of Fiefs he promised to come and do Homage to the King of France The seizure of his Fiefs of Guyenne and Ponthieu was therefore deferr'd and he came to Amiens in great Equipage After he had there in vain demanded the restoring of what had been taken in Guyenne from his Father he did Homage But it was with his Tongue and in general words only intending to Advise first with his Barons what was to be done When he was returned into England he sent Letters to King Philip under his great Seal in which he declared That that Homage was Liege and that he owed it for the Dutchy of Guyenne and the Earldoms of Ponthieu and Monstereuil Year of our Lord 1328 The Troubles that hapned in England had hindred him from performing that Devoir sooner His Mother with her Mortimer had made him believe that his Uncle Edmund Earl of Kent had plotted to take away his Life Indeed thaâ— Earl endeavour'd to get King Edward II. out of prison who was his Brother and as he thought yet living Upon this Information young Edward causes him to be seized and condemned to death somewhat too lightly but afterwards Mortimer and the Queen his Mistress were Treated in the same manner For the young King weary of their scandalous deportment caused the Gallant to be hanged upon pretence of several Crimes and his Mother to be shut up in a Castle where they hastned her end a very just act had it been done by any other hand but that of a Son The discord between Pope John XXII and the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria grew to that extremity that Lewis being in Italy after the example of the Emperour Otho degraded John of the Papal Dignity and in his place substituted Michael de Corbiere a Frier Minor under the name of Nicholas V. Michael de Cesenna General of that Order and divers of his Monks supported him mightily by their Preachings and Writings These Monks and others of the Imperial party having spread many reproachful and bloody Invectives thorough all Christendom against Pope John XXII an Assembly of the Clergy was held at Paris where the Bishop in his Pontifical Habit attended by many other Prelats and Clergy-men declared to the People in the Church-Porch of Nostre-Dame the Attempts and Mistakes of Corbiere and pronounced Excommunicate both the said Corbiere the Emperour Lewis and Michael de Cesenna with their Adherents Two things ruined this Party the Emperours ill Conduct which forced him to go out of Italy and the disagreement between the Friers Minors many of whom having forsaken their General it weakned his Interest so much that in the end he was disowned by all of that Order So that Corbiere after many Adventures being caught and brought to Avignon in the year 1330. begged pardon of John XXII with a Rope about his Neck but he could not get off so they put him in prison where he died some Months afterwards Year of our Lord 1329 We must not confound this Assembly above-mentioned with another which was held in the same City and the same year 1329. upon complaint the Kings Judges made by the Mouth of Peter Cugnieres Kt. Counsellor and Advocate-General of the Parliament touching the Usurpations and Attempts of the Clergy upon the Secular Jurisdiction The business was discussed in a Council held at Vincennes then again in the Assembly of Parliament Cugnieres spake earnestly and to the good liking of all the Nobility who applauded him Peter Roger elected Archbishop of Sens afterwards made Pope and Bertrand Bishop of Autun who was a Cardinal having undertaken the defence of their Body replied very eloquently The Clergy was in great danger not only of being lopt off in part but quite rooted out of their Jurisdiction The King at
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
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
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
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
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
was almost the only Man who was capable of revenging him for all these Affronts to this end the second day of October he puts the Sword of High Year of our Lord 1370 Constable into his hands which Moreau de Fiennes too much broken with age and toil could bear no longer but gave him few Soldiers that he might only observe the Enemy and not fight them Du Guesclin who had another aim encreased the numbers at his own expence having sold all his Jewels and rich Household Furniture he had gotten in Spain to buy up more Soldiers After he had followed and annoyed the Enemy for some time he had an opportunity to be t up one of their Quarters near the Pont Valain in the Country of Mayne By this means having broke the ice he put them to a rout then defeated them piece after piece till even Knolles himself had much ado to escape Year of our Lord 1371 From thence he turned up into Berry and drove out the English who fled into Poitou cleared Touraine and Anjou and did the like in Limosin and in Rovergne Year of our Lord 1371 He also rendred a most important piece of Service to France having brought the King of Navarre to an Enterview with King Charles In the present posture of Affairs that Prince might have done a great deal of mischief by introducing the English into Constentin where he held Cherbourgh with some other places and into the County of Evreux which was all his own But he being as irresolute as malicious he neither knew how to keep his Faith nor break it to his own advantage Though he had made a Truce the preceding year he still deferr'd the concluding of the Peace by his Artifice In fine he suffers himself to be led to it when he had least need and was contented with the City of Mâ—ntpellier which was put into his possession Upon which Consideration he renounced the English Interest at that time when it would have been more advantage not to do it Year of our Lord 1371 In the year 1367. Pope Vrban V. had made a Voyage to Rome in appearance to give some Orders for the Affairs of Italy but indeed out of anger for that the Army going into Spain had oppressed and extorted a great deal from him After he had staid there two years and an half he returned to Avignon where in short time he died the 19th of December The Cardinals placed in the Holy Chair Peter Roger who was Son to William Earl of Beaufort in Valee and Jane Sister of Pope Clement VI. In the Month of May of this same year David King of Scotland Son of Robert Bruce died without Children Thus that Crown passed into the House of the Stewarts by one Robert who was his Sisters Son He ratifi'd the Truce with the English and prolonged it for thirteen years The Maritine Cities of Flanders being all filled with Merchants had no other Interest to mind but Trade Wherefore neither considering that of their Earl nor Year of our Lord 1371 the Kings they made a League with the English thereby to secure their Commerce which appeared more advantageous from that side then from the French Within a while after the new Constable had re-conquer'd Perigord and Limosin from the English the Prince of Wales though he could not stir but in a Litter draws his Men together at Cognac and went to besiege Limoges His Hurons or Miners of which he had great numbers having thrown down a great part of the Wall into the Ditches the Town was taken by Storm He was so enraged against the Inhabitants that he took cruel Vengeance even upon the very Women and Children above four thousand of them dying by the edge of the Sword This was his last exploit in War afterwards he retired very much indisposed into England where yet he languished three years When he was gone the Affairs of the English ran every day into decay the greatest part of the Lords and Commanders in Guyenne whom his Valour and Bounty tied to his Court going over to the French Year of our Lord 1372 He had left the care of his Affairs to the Duke of Lancaster who stay'd no long time in Guyenne but went over into England to be present in a great Council which was held about the concerns on this side the Water At his departure he Married the Daughter of Peter the Cruel and stiled himself King of Castille his Brother the Earl of Cambridge likewise took the youngest Sister to his Bed Year of our Lord 1372 This was to declare a Mortal War against King Henry who besides being engaged to the Crown of France resolved as well for his own security as out of gratitude to Year of our Lord 1372 serve it with all his power He knew the English were sending an Army into Poitou Commanded by the Earl of Pembrooke he put out a Fleet of forty great Ships to Sea well stored with Canon and Fire-Arms who lay in wait for the Earl of Pembrooke at the chops of the Rochel Channel The Fight lasted two days the Eves-eve and the Eve of St. Johns Feast the Rochellâ—rs looking on in cold blood not to be persuaded by their Governor to go out to the aid of the English who in the end were overcome and all either taken or sunk The Victors carried away the Earl of Pembrooke with the rest of the Prisoners into Spain all laden with Chains This was the Custom both of the Spaniards and Germans towards their Enemies the French and English treated theirs with more generosity and civility ☜ This disaster was the utter ruine of the English Party The Constable besieged Year of our Lord 1372 and took all places with ease After he had help'd the Duke of Berry in reducing St. Severe which was believed to be impregnable he came to take possession of the great City of Poitiers that opened her Arms to him The Commanders that kept the Field were all amazed at it but much more astonished upon the defeat of the Captal de Buch who marching to relieve the City of Soubise situate at the mouth of the Charente sound himself surrounded and taken by the Spaniards whose Fleet hover'd about that Coast No Ransom nor Exchange could persuade the King to set him at liberty a second time he was shut up in a Tower belonging to the Temple at Paris where he died four years after Year of our Lord 1372 The Rochellers could never agree with the English humour scarce compatible with any Nation whatsoever they studied how to withdraw themselves from their Government and for this purpose it was that the Spaniards kept so nigh to favour their design The Castle only hindred them the Mayor bethought himself of a Wyle Having given the Captain a Dinner he presented him certain Letters Sealed with King Edwards Signet out of which he read That they were ordered to make a Muster of the Garison in the Castle and the City Militia There
Flowers upon their Heads and taking Hands with one another went into the Streets and Churches Dancing Singing and running round with so much violence that they fell down for want of breath This agitation made them swell so prodigiously they would have burst had not great pains and care been taken to swathe them with bands about their Bellies immediately such as looked on them too attentively were often infected with the same distemper Some believed it an operation of the Devil and that Exorcisms did much help them The vulgar named it The Dance of St. JOHN Year of our Lord 1375 Upon the instant and continual exhortations of the Pope the two Kings entred into a Negotiation to compose their differences For this an Assembly was held at Bruges in Flanders whither they sent their nearest Princes of their Blood and the most illustrious Lords of their Kingdoms It lasted almost two years incredible expence There was first a Truce made for a year to commence in the month of May of this year 1375. which being concluded the Duke of Lancaster and the Duke of Bretagne passed into England Bretagne not being comprehended their Duke returns with an Army of English and partly by force partly by correspondence regained St. Mahé St. Brieue and seven or eight other places whilst John d'Evreux Brother to the King of Navarre made great spoil and waste all about Kemperlay He had built a Fort thereabouts for his retreat from whence he very much incommoded that City Clisson Roban Beaumanoir and other Lords of Bretagne besieged him in it The Duke hastned thither to deliver him they quickly marched off he pursues them and besieged them in Kemperlay Now when they were just ready to be exposed to his mercy he would have shewed but little to those whom he proclaimed Traitors and Rebels a second Truce wherein they comprized him drew them most fortunately out of his hands Year of our Lord 1375 The minority of the King of France if I do not deceive my self lasted to the age of Twenty years and during all that time all Command all Orders and all Acts were made under the name of the Regent The wise King considered that an Authority so absolute might force or snatch the Crown from his Son if he left him a Minor That the people were it error or custom did not willingly acknowledge a Prince for their King till he was Crowned and that it might be feared lest the Duke of Anjou should make them believe by some former examples or presidents that they ought to chuse one that was in Majority and capable to Govern For these reasons or for others we are ignorant of he made his memorable Ordonnance by the advice of the Princes Lords Prelates University and other notable persons which imports That the eldest Sons of France as soon as they have attained to the age of Fourteen years should be held for Majors and capable of being Crowned and that they should receive the Homage and Oaths of sidelity from their Subjects This was made at the Bois de Vincennes in the month of August 1374. and verified in Parliament the Twentieth of May of the following year We must not however imagine that he believed as much King as he was that he could advance the course of Nature and give his Son the Sence and Wit that age alone can bestow since the same Year and the same Month he made a Declaration which mention'd that in case he died before his Son should have attained to the age of Fourteen years he left the Guardianship and Government of him and of his other Children as also the Government and Defence of the Kingdom to the Queen Mother she was then living and joyned with her the Dukes of Burgundy and of Bourbon with a necessary and sufficient Council of near Forty persons Year of our Lord 1376 The Popes Legats remained still constantly at Bruges and kept the Ambassadors of both Crowns there with them to labour for a Peace But the Propositions on either side being at too great a distance to be brought to a meane they obtained at least a prolongation of the Truce to the Month of April in the year 1377. In Gascongne the Earl of Armagnac thinking to take revenge upon the Earl de Foix who had beaten him increased both his shame and loss He had taken the little City of Caseres and put himself into the place without providing it with Ammunition the Earl de Foix besieges him and without striking a blow reduces him to the extreamest want but he would not agree to give him and his their Lives but upon condition that they should creep out thorough a hole made purposely in the Year of our Lord 1376 Wall which they could not do but by crawling with their Bellies upon the ground nor were they quit for all this affront the Earl of Armagnac and twenty more of the principal paid great ransoms before they could be released The King of Navarre pass'd his word for that of the Sire d'Albret Year of our Lord 1377 During the long absence of the Popes Italy had accustom'd it self to disregard and disown them The People of Rome set up themselves as several petty Tyrants to preserve some Image of their Liberty and by the same Spirit the Cities belonging to the Ecclesiastical State at the sollicitation and with the aid of the Florentines had shaken off the yoak and turned out his Apostolical Legats Gregony IX thinking to redress these disorders and besides being earnestly pressed by St. Bridget of Sweden and by St. Catherine of Sienna two persons who were thought to have a very frequent Commerce with Heaven resolved to transfer the Holy See back to Rome from whence it had been removed Seventy two years He departed from Avignon the three and twentieth of September embarqued at Marseilles and after very great dangers on the Sea Signes of the agitations that change had wrought in the Church he arrived at Rome the Twenty seventh of January following Year of our Lord 1377 King Edward in the mean while had lost the brave Prince of Wales his eldest Son who had left a Son named Richard very young and for two years past found himself much broken and his Brain decay'd with weight of continual business and contention though he were but 65 years of age This was it made him desire to have a Peace and made him willing to relinquish many Articles of the Treaty of Bretigny But death prevented the effects of that disposition and took him out of the World the 21 of June His Grandson Richard II. Surnamed of Bourdeaux succeeded him He had seven Sons whereof five only lived to Mens Estate and were Married those were Edward Lyonel John Edmond and Thomas Edward was the brave Prince of Wales for the other four the First was Duke of Clarence the Second of Lancaster both of them by the Heiresses of those two Houses and the Third Earl of Cambridge then Duke of York the Fourth
Earl of Buckingham and afterwards Duke of Gloucester He had also Four Daughters Isabella who Married the Earl of Bedford Jane who was Wife to the King of Spain Mary that was so to John de Montfort Duke of Bretagne and Margaret to the Earl of Pembrook This great multitude of Children was his strength during his life-time and the ruine of England after his death Year of our Lord 1377 The Wise King had not consented to suspension of Arms but to prepare himself the better Therefore he would hear of no more Propositions and making himself assured of the event o◠the War he began it anew with five Armies He sent one into Artois One into the Countreys of Berry Auvergne Bourbonnois and Lyonnois One into Guyenne One into Bretagne and kept the Fifth near himself as a reserve Year of our Lord 1377 to assist either of the other Four that might stand in need of it They were Commanded by the Dukes of Burgundy of Berry and of Anjou Oliver and the Constable all which behaved themselves so well that the English could not preserve any places of importance but Calais in Belgica Bourdeaux and Bayonne in Guyenne and Cherbourgh in Normandy which was sold to him by the Navarrois Year of our Lord 1378 The eldest Son of that King named Charles as himself was had a great desire to see the King of France his Uncle his Father was just then upon the point of concluding a bargain with the English very disadvantageous to France which was to give them some Lands and Places he held in Normandy and to take the Dutchy of Guyenne in exchange for the defence whereof they were to furnish him every year with Two thousand Men at Arms and as many Archers to be paid by them When his Son therefore went to see his Uncle he would needs take this opportunity to brew some Plot or Conspiracy in France and even to poison the King He had therefore placed about his Son the most crafty and most wicked Men he could pick out amongst others la Rue his Chamberlain and du Tertre his Secretary but was so unadvised withal as to send the Captains of his best places of Normandy His design was discover'd or perhaps prevented the King caused his Son and his Captains to be seized and la Rue and du Tertre to be put into the hands of Justice The Son whatever intercession could be made remained a prisoner Five years the Captains were not set free till the places they belonged to were surrendred to the King du Tertre and la Rue had their Heads cut off At the same time some Forces were sent into Normandy and took all his Holds to the number of Ten or Twelve excepting Cherbourgh which after a long Siege remained still in English hands and immediately dismantled them The Duke of Anjou pressed the English very home likewise in Guyenne The taking of Bergerac and the gaining of a Battle which was fought near the little City of Aymet where almost all the Chiefs and Barons of Gascongne remained prisoners made himself Master of all the Places above the two Rivers the Dordogne and the Garonne Three things weakned the English so much that they had neither the Sence nor Courage nor Forces and Strength to defend themselves One was the Minority of their King aged but Thirteen years the Second a great Plague which depopulated England and the Last the incursions of the Scots who had broken the Truce being incited to it by the King and upon condition of a hundred thousand Gold Florins with the Pay for Five hundred Men at Arms and as many Sergeants Year of our Lord 1377. and 78. The Pope ceased not to exhort the King of France to make Peace and pressed the Emperour Charles to make use of his intercession The Emperour whether out of affection for the Royal House of France or to take measures to secure the Empire to his Son Wenceslaus or for some other subject desired to visit that Court though he were very much tormented with the Gout The King sent two of the most illustrious Earls and two hundred Horse to meet him at Cambray where he kept his Christmass the Duke of Bourbon to Compiegne and two of his Brothers to Senlis himself went beyond the Suburbs of St. Denis to receive him and lodg'd him in his Palace All the time he was in France he entertained him with all the magnificence imaginable paid him all manner of Respects unless such as denote a Sovereignty and which hereafter might give a Title to some imaginary pretences For this reason when they received him into any City they did not ring their Bells nor bring their Canopy of State such as made Speeches did not forget to tell him it was by order of their Sovereign and at his entrance into Paris the King affected to be mounted upon a White Horse and ordered a Black one for the Emperour He came in thither the Fourth day of January and went out thence the Sixteenth returning by the way of Champagne Year of our Lord 1379 During his abode in the Court of France he gratify'd the Dauphin with the Title of Vicar irrevocable of the Empire by Letters Patents Sealed with a Seal of Gold and by others he likewise gave him the same Office for Danphiné with the Castles of Pipet and Chamaux which till then he was possessed of in the City of Vienne Since that we do not read that the Emperours have concerned themselves any more in the ✚ Year of our Lord 1378 Affairs of that Kingdom of Arles nor touching Daupiné which have remained in compleat Sovereignty under the Kings of France who indeed even long before did not acknowledge the Emperour Gregory XI had scarcely been Fourteen Months at Rome when either of Melancholy or otherwise he fell ill of a detention of Urine whereof he died the Seventh of March having declared in his agony that he foresaw grievous troubles and that he did heartily repent his having rather given credit to deceitful Revelations then followed the certain light of true knowledge and good understanding There were in all in the Roman Church three and twenty Cardinals six whereof remained still at Avignon and one was gone upon a Legation Of the Sixteen that were in Rome there were Twelve of them French-men and four Italians all of them foreseeing that the Roman Populace would force them to elect a Pope of the Italian Nation agreed amongst themselves that they would elect one feignedly only to avoid the fury of the People and another in good earnest whom when they were gone thence they would own for the true Pope During this Convention the heat and violence of the People growing more terrible then they Year of our Lord 1378 could have imagined they named the Cardinal Bartholomew Boutillo a Native of Naples Arch-Bishop of Barry in that Kingdom who immediately took himself to be lawful Pope and assumed the Name of Vrban VI. The Cardinals in the
After all the King coming to know of the capacity of that Duke took the Government of the Province from him and bestow'd it on the Earl of Foix. Whether the King were ignorant of the disposition of the Bretons or thought he could change them he sent for the Lords of that Countrey and screw'd a promise from them that they should assist the Duke of Bourbon and those other Chiefs he would send into Bretagne to execute the Decree against their Duke But the Lords on the contrary sent for him to come thither and stood by him so effectually with their Forces and such as he brought over with him from England that they restored him to most of his Towns This was the greatest and almost the only shock this wise King met with in all his Enterprises He was so transported and sensibly touched that he Commanded all Year of our Lord 1380 the Bretons who should refuse to serve against the Duke to go out of his Kingdom and shewed more severity towards some of them then was agreeable to his nature But this usage did only strengthen the party for the Duke and draw those over to his service that were at that time the ablest Men of the French Armies He durst not even upon this occasion make use of the valour of his Constable who would but unwillingly have drawn his Sword for the destruction of his native Countrey he chose rather to send him into Guyenne to cleer some places from whence the English and certain crews of vagabonds by their connivance foraged the Countrey of Auvergne After the taking of some Castles and beating some of those Bands whilst he was besieging one of them in Chasteau-neuf de Randan between Mendes and le Puy in Velay he was assaulted by a Fever whereof he died the Thirteenth of July his very Name compleated the Work the Besieged surrendred and brought and laid the Keys upon his Coffin The King upon the refusal of Enguerrand de Coucy gave the Constables Sword to Oliver de Clisson Compagnon and Countrey-man of the Deceased no less valiant then the other but very unlikein all things else Unjust Proud Covetous and Cruel Bretagne was then the Theater of War the King had resolved to throw in all his Armies there when he was constrain'd to quit the World and all his Designs Some years before Charles the Bad had caused some poyson to be given him the violence whereof a Physitian belonging to the Emperour Charles IV. had allayed by opening an issue in his Arm to discharge part of its venome that issue being stopt it took his Life away He died in the Castle of Beaute upon the Marne which is beyond the Bois de Vincennes the Sixteenth of September the Sixth Month of the Seventeenth year of his Reign and the Four and fortiethof his Life His Tomb is to be seen at St. Denis his Heart was carried to the great Church of Rouen because he had been Duke of Normandy and his Bowes to Maubuisson and laid by the Body of the Queen his Mother Upon his Death-bed this Wise King could not forget his care for the Kingdom he confirmed the Law concerning the Majority left the Government to Lewis Duke of Anjou his eldest Brother with a Council and the Guardianship and Education of his Son Charles to the Dukes of Burgundy and of Bourbon Commanding them most expresly to take off the Imposts to make some agreement with the Duke of Bretagne if it were possible and to Marry his Son into some potent Family of Germany In all his Conduct there appeared much solidity of Judgment and marvellous clearness of Wisdom and Understanding a great deal of Moderation and Goodness much Frugality and Aeconomy and yet Magnificence and liberality upon occasion He had been carefully bred in the Study of good Learning by Nicholas Oresme a Theologian of Paris and Dean of Rouen whom he made Bishop of Lisieux and indeed he had as much affection for the Sciences and for Learned Men as aversion for Comedians Juglers Buffoons and all those sorts of People who under the pretence of Divertisement corrupt the bravest Souls He delighted to hear the Truth from the Mouths of honest Men and although ☞ he merited the loftiest praises he could hardly endure any and despised them because in all times Courtiers have given the very same both to good and to bad Princes The expences of his Wars did not hinder his Magnificence from shewing it self in the Buildings of the Castle du Bois de Vincennes which subsists to this day and that of the Louvre the other parts whereof we have seen demolished to make room for tho proudest Structure that ever Architecture raised upon Earth but which how great soever it can be shall yet be much less then the King that undertakes it But above all his Virtues the fear of God and zeal to Justice did shine in him to a supream Decree the care of which being the noblest Function of a King he took pleasure in dispensing it himself and very often came to hear the Pleadings in his Parliament where he made them admire his Reasoning and Eloquence speaking so fully to the Subject in hand that there was nothing left for his Chancellour or Attorney-General to say He left considerable Treasures behind him in Lingots of Gold and rich Furniture It is a Problem in the Politiques whether he did well in heaping it up In point of Justice it is none if they may make Millions of People miserable to enrich one single Man And in truth his memory is not exempt from all blame on that side but they throw it upon the Cardinal of Amiens one of his principal Counsellors His Name was John de la Grange an obdurate Soul ambitious and covetous whose great possessions fully demonstrate that he caused the Subsidies to be doubled meerly out of design to enrich himself By Jane Daughter of Peter Duke of Bourbon and Isabella de Valois a Princess much accomplish'd both in Body and Mind he had two Sons Charles who Reigned Lewis who was Duke of Orleans and six Daughters who all dyed very young Charles VI King LII Called by some The Well-beloved King Aged near XII years POPES URBAN V. S. at Rome Nine years One Month during this Reign And CLEMENT VII in Avignon S. Fourteen years during this Reign BONIFACE IX at Rome Elected the Second of November 1389. S. Fourteen years Eleven Months BENNET XII Peter de Luna in Avignon Elected the Twenty eighth of September 1394. S. till his Deposition in Anno 1409. INNOCENT VII at Rome Elected the Seventeenth of Octob. 1404. S. Two years and Twenty two days GREGORY XII at Rome Elected the last of November 1406 till his Deposition by the Council of Pisa 1409. ALEXANDER V. in 1409. S. Ten Months JOHN XXIII Elected the Seventeenth of May 1410. S. Five years Deposed at Constance Ann. 1414. Vacancy from the year 1414. to the year 1417. MARTIN V. Elected the Tenth of November 1417.
into Africk with the Count de Harcour the Lord de la Tremonille and other Lords and Gentlemen to the number of Eight hundred and a much greater number of Adventurers of divers Countries with whom he signaliz'd his Courage and Conduct against the Moors of Barbary The King of Armenia Minor sprung from the Blood of Luzignan flying from the cruelty of the Turks who had conquer'd his Kingdom and kept his Wife and Children in Captivity came for relief and assistance to the French Court where the King gave him Honourable Entertainment during all the rest of his days He enjoy'd it to the year 1404. then died at Paris and was interred at the Celestines Year of our Lord 1383. and 84. As to the Affairs of Naples Charles de Duras and his Captains behaved themselves so well that cutting off all Provisions from Lewis of Anjou and either following or flanking him so as to prevent his Fighting them they reduced him to the extreamest want of all necessaries even of Cloaths insomuch as this Prince who had carried away all the Kings Treasure had no more left him then a Coat of painted Cloth to wear and one Silver Bowl to drink in He had sent Peter de Craon an Angevin Lord into France to bring him Money and Succours this faithless Friend made no haste to return amusing himself at Venice with the divertisement of some Courtisans After the unfortunate Prince had waited a long time without any tidings of him he sunk under his grief and died the Tenth day of October in this year 1384. or Year of our Lord 1384 as some others will have it the One and twentieth day of September the year following The Earl of Savoy died in the month of March either of the Plague or by drinking Water out of a Fountain that had been poyson'd His Son Ame VII Surnamed Le Rouge succeeded him We must observe that this Amè VI. was the Institutor of the Order of the Collar which was composed of Love-knots together with the Symbolical Letters of the House of Savoy and had at the end a kind of a Ring or wreathed Coronet Duke Charles III. being at Chamberry Anno 1518. changed the name of this Order to that of the Annunciado to honour the Holy Virgin in that mystery which is the most agreeable to her adding Fifteen White Roses to the Fifteen Love-knots in remembrance of her Fifteen Joyes and filled the Pendant with Figures of the Annunciation Year of our Lord 1385 The unhappy remnants of the Duke of Anjou's Army perish'd by Famine and Want excepting such as dispersing by small parties retired into France begging their lively-hood and receiving more injuries and opprobrious words in their Travels then they got bits of Bread The Angevin party was not for all this quite extinct in that Kingdom it subsisted yet in the hearts of some Lords of that Countrey whereof Thomas de St. Severin was the Chief and who afterwards served very well upon occasion For this time the Kingdom rested quietly under Charles de Duraz. The Truce with the English being expired the King who began to take cognizance of his Affairs held a grand Council to deliberate whether they ought to continue it It was the interest of the Duke of Burgundy because of his Low-Countreys to have a Peace with the English but to counterpoise his Power and to flatter Year of our Lord 1385 the young Kings heat they resolved on a War and even to carry it into their own Countrey To this purpose they fitted up a great Fleet at Sluce and they sent to the Scots to oblige them to a rupture of the Truce on their side Year of our Lord 1385 By the methods the Kings Uncles Governed it appeared plainly they had a mind to suck the Peoples Blood to the very last drop The Clergy that they might secure something for their subsistance held an Assembly where they decreed that their Revenues should be divided into three parts the one to be for the maintenance of the Churches the other for Ecclesiastical Persons and the Third for the King without any mention of the Poor Pursuant to the recommendation of the late King Charles the Wise the young Kings Uncles sought a Wife for him in Germany the opinions in Council were different and divided the Duke of Burgundy carried it for Isabella Daughter of Stephen Duke of Bavaria Count Palatine of the Rhine The King Married her at Amiens the .... of July In the preceding month of April the Nuptials between John the Duke of Burgundy's Son and Marguerite Daughter of Albert Duke of Bavaria Earl of Hainault Holland and Zealand were consummate Year of our Lord 1385. and 86. The great design upon England being laid aside after a vast expence that something might come of it John de Vienne Admiral went with Threescore Sail to Scotland and there landed to attaque the English on that side He made an irruption into their Countrey and took some Castles but the savage humour of the Scots could not comply with the free liberty of the French Besides Love had invaded the Admirals Heart and Head which made him courta Lady of the Kings Parentage whereat that wh ole Court not being acquainted with those Gallantreys took such offence that he found it the best way to make his escape with all diligence Year of our Lord 1385 The obstinate Ghentois would not yet bend they had two new Leaders Francion and Atreman who hardned them against all apprehensions of punishment This obliged the King to make a third step into Flanders They had no Port could receive any English Succours but Damm the king having taken that by force and afterwards burning all the Houses round about their City the Rebels in the end began to hearken to Propositions for an accommodation being inclined by the more pacifique humour of Atreman one of their new Chiefs in despite of all the practises of John du Bois and returned to the obedience of the King and the Duke of Burgundy their Lord. This Prince quite wearied with this tedious War which ruined all his Countrey gave them a general Amnesty for all things that were past and the confirmation of all their priviledges upon condition they would renounce all Leagues and that the first that should violate the Peace might forfeit his Life and all his Goods The Treaty was Signed the Eighteenth of December A Truce was renewed likewise between France and England for some Months Charles de Duraz not being satisfied with having invaded the Kingdom of Naples went also into Hungary and usurped that upon Mary one of the Daughters of Lewis the Great his Benefactor who died Anno 1381. and Wife to Sigismund Brother of the â—mperour Wenceslaus whom he detamed in captivity with the Widow Queen his Mother After so many Treacheries and cruel Ingratitudes Heaven suffer'd him to be murther'd himself by the order of Nicholas Gato one of the Palatines of that Kingdom who was very
to be carried in Bennets Artifice and his Money had gained some of the Grandees who contrived this for him Year of our Lord 1398 The Earl of Perigord Archambauld Taleyrand tormenting the Countrey with the help of the English to whom he had ally'd himself and especially the City of Perigueux which belonged to the King was forced in his Castle of Montagnac brought to the Parliament and condemned to death The King gave him pardon for his life but bestowed his forfeited Estate upon the Duke of Orleans Archambauld de Grailly Captal de Buch having a Right to the Earldom of Foix as having married the Sister of Earl Matthew dead without Children got into possession of it by the Sword The King would not endure this because he was a Vassal Year of our Lord 1399 to the English and from Father to Son very affectionate to that party He therefore sent the Mareschal de Sancerre who pursued him so close that he was compell'd to desire a Cessation during which he came to the King and submitted himself to the judgment of the Parliament giving up in the mean time his two Sons in Hostage The Parliament declared in his favour conditionally he would relinquish the English and the King put him in possession This was in the year 1400. Year of our Lord 1399 Constantinople was invested by the Turks and in the greatest danger Pera which is as the Suburbs to it and from whence they fetched all their Provisions was very likely to be taken It belonged to the Seignory of Genoa the Mareschal de Boucicaut going thither with only Twelve hundred Men secured it and by consequence the City After he had disengaged all the parts round about and made the Turks retire whom he worsted in several Rencounters his Pay and Soldiers failing him he came into France to sollicite for a greater reinforcement bringing the Emperour along with him leaving the Lord de Chasteaumoran in Constantinople to defend it The discords in the Court of England caused by the ill Government of Richard and the ambition of his Uncles ended in a most Tragical Catastrophe Henry Earl of Derby became Duke of Lancaster by the death of his Father puts King Richard prisoner in the Tower of London Deposed him by the Authority and Consent of Parliament who degraded and condemned him to a perpetual imprisonment Then he took the Crown the Eighteenth day of October and was anointed with a Holy Oyl which some English say was brought by the Virgin Mary to St. Thomas of Canterbury whilst he took refuge in France This Ampoulle or Bottle that contains the Oyl is of Lapis and on the top stands a Golden Eagle enriched with Pearls and Diamonds Notwithstanding this Unction some while afterwards he gives way to the out-cries of the People who demanded that the unfortunate King might be strangled The London Citizens held Richard in execration because he had deliver'd up Brest and Cherbourg to the French The Duke of Bretagne who enjoy'd some repose after the many traverses which Year of our Lord 1399 had disturbed him from his Infancy died the First day of November in the Castle of Nantes He left his Children to the custody not of his Wife Jean of Navarre but of the Duke of Burgundy and Oliver de Clisson who alone were able to trouble them He had three John Arthur and Giles In the Month of November of this year 1399. a Comet was seen of an extraordinary brightness and darting its train towards the West It appeared only for one weeks time and was by Prognosticators held as a sign of those great Revolutions Year of our Lord 1399 that hapned all Chistendom over especially in the Kingdom of Naples and the Empire Lewis of Anjou had peaceably enough enjoy'd the better part of the Kingdom of Year of our Lord 1399 Sicilia when Thomas de Sanseverin Duke de Venousia offended for that he did not conclude upon the Marriage of his Brother Charles Earl of Mayne with his Daughter made him odious to the Neopolitans and introduced Lancelot and his Mother into the City where he was Crowned King and invested by the Pope of Rome So that Lewis having only some Castles left returned into France to crave assistance The Electors could no longer endure the Vices and brutish drunkenness of Year of our Lord 1400 Wenceslaus they degraded him and in his stead elected Henry Duke of Brunswic a generous Prince and great Captain and this Henry being basely assassinated upon his return from the Diet by the Count of Waldeck they substituted Robert Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine who was of the Electoral Colledge The Duke of Milan fearing left he might dispossess him shout up all the passages and hindred him from going to take the Imperial Crown at Rome and Sigismund King of Bohemia having procured himself to be chosen Guardian to Wenceslaus his Brother under this Title made many of the German Princes of his party who adhered to the House of Luxemburgh or rather made this a colourable pretence to avoid the owning any Sovereign Year of our Lord 1400 This year 1400. the Court of France received Emanuel II. Emperour of Greece who came to give the King thanks for his assistance and to crave more help of him He met with all manner of good Entertainment but nothing else unless it were an annual Pension for his subsistence He remained almost two years in France at the and whereof news being brought of the defeat and taking of Bajazeth by Themir-Lanc the King lent him the Lord of Chasteaumorand with two hundred Men at Arms and gave him a sum of Moneyto re-conduct him to Constantinople There was not any thing of advantage presented it self which the Duke of Orleans did not embrace with passion he undertook the quarrel of degraded Wenceslaus Year of our Lord 1401 and raised a good force to restore him but being informed of the ruine of his whole party he came back again The desire to Rule and ambition for Government grew hotter every day betwixt him and the Duke of Burgundy Twice had they displaced each other from that advantageous Post and besides the Burgundian resented it highly that the Duke of Orleans would have the Duke of Bretagne to be thrust out of all who was his Wives Cousin-german and his own surest friend The frequent punctillo's between their Wives exasperated them more than their own true interests the Duke of Burgundy's being the elder Heiress of a vast Estate and sprung from very Noble Blood despising the other who in truth had been much beneath her had she not been considered as Wife of the Kings only Brother Year of our Lord 1401. and 2. The Duke of Orleans had then the upper hand and was seized of the management of Affairs the Burgundian could not quit his part both the one and the other got their friends together and Paris was surrounded with Soldiers The Orleannois had called in the Duke of Guelders with Five hundred
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
encreasing his astonishment he sent the Earl of Nevers his Brother to the King then the Countess of Hainault his Sister and afterwards the Duke of Brabant his other Brother who made several Journeys to Court to endeavour to put some stop to the Kings wroth but nothing less would serve then the Confiscation of all his Lands Year of our Lord 1414 Happily for him the King fell ill again In this interval taking breath a little he got a Garison into Aras the Princes brought the King thither and besieged the Town It made an obstinate defence perhaps encouraged by advice from some of the Besiegers So that their Army growing tir'd and weak by Sickness the Countess of Hainault took this opportunity and sollicited the Duke of Guyenne so earnestly who had all Authority in his hands that without consulting the rest of the Princes he granted a Peace to the Duke of Burgundy This was made about the end of September but the Agreement or Articles were not Signed till the sixteenth of October at Quesnoy The Conditions were very hard upon the Burgundian That five hundred of his Men should be excluded from the Indempnity That several Officers belonging to the King the Queen and the Dauphin who favoured him should be removed That he should not come near the Court without express Order from the King under the Great Seal and by Advice of the Council It was added That for the Kings Honour his Banner should be set upon the Walls of Arras the Governor displaced and the Burghers obliged to take an Oath of Fidelity to the King Year of our Lord 1414 We have not taken notice what the English did both by Sea and Land these two last years against the French as being of little importance nor how they Conquer'd several places in Guyenne the Earl of Armagnac and the Lord d'Abret siding with them because they had been banish'd from the Court The Animosity of that Nation would allow of no Peace with France but their King Henry V. the Son of Henry IV. who died of a Leprosie the twentieth of March in the year foregoing sought to make an Alliance with the French that he might be supported against the inconstant and factious humour of his own Subjects so that the Duke of York was come into France the preceding year for that very purpose In the Month of February of this same his Ambassadors came to make Overtures and demanded Catharine the Kings Daughter agreeing to a Truce for a year to commence from the Year of our Lord 1414 second day of the same Month. A strange Rheum called the Coqueluke tormented all sorts of People during the Months of February and March and made them so very hoarse that the Bar the Pulpits and Colledges became all dumb It caused the death of most of the old People that were aflected with it Ladislaus of whom we have made mention was become Master of the whole Kingdom of Naples but as he was too much addicted to Women and besides mightily hated for his Cruelties he was this year poisoned after a Villanous manner Year of our Lord 1414 He found his Death in the Fountain of Pleasure and Life Jane II. of that name his Sister Widow of William of Austria succeeded him she was then forty years old and nevertheless her many years were so far from quenching her Passions they rather inflamed them to the highest excess The Council of Pisa had ordained that another general one should be held within three years and in the mean time was continued by Deputies At the expiration of that time John XXIII had called one at Rome for the year 1412. which being not numerous by reason by reason of the troubles occasioned by Ladislaus was put off till another time Now the Emperor Sigismund being gone into Italy in the year 1412. about some Disputes he had with the Venetians the Pope sent some Legates to him to appoint the place and time for the Council They agreed upon the City of Constance on the Rhine and as to the time the Pope assigned it on All-Saints-day of the following year Year of our Lord 1414 Notwithstanding it was not opened till the sixteenth of the Month by the Pope himself The Emperor came thither upon Christmas-Eve and sung the Epistle at the Holy Fathers Midnight-Mass being in the Habit of a Subdean The second Session was not held till the second day of March following He was present at divers afterwards array'd in his Imperial Robes Year of our Lord 1415 In this Session the Pope sitting on his Throne being turned towards the Altar read a Schedule aloud wherein he promised and gave his Oath that he would renounce the Papacy in case the two others Gregory and Bennet did renounce or happen to dye Now whether this act were by compulsion or that he had done it without reflecting on the Consequences he immediately repented and fearing lest they should take him at his word he ran away by night to the City of Schaffhausen under the protection of the Duke of Austria Year of our Lord 1415 After he had wandred some Months from one City to another forsaken by that Duke and not able to find any that could afford him a secure retreat he was taken Prisoner brought back to Constance and deposed the eighteenth of May by the Council He then made a vertue of necessity and submitted to the Sentence very calmly Gregory did likewise submit to the Judgment of the Council and gave in his Cession by Proxy Bennet only remained obstinate and kept himself shut up in his Castle of Paniscole in Arragon till the year 1424. when he ended his days Even at his death he commanded a couple of Cardinals who had all along kept him company to elect him a Successor They put a Cannon of Barcelona in his place who took upon him the name of Clement VIII and King Alphonso caused this Idol to be adored for five years in hatred to Pope Martin with whom he had some quarrel then obliged him to lay down his pretended Tittle Anno 1429. Year of our Lord 1415 The Treaty concerning the Peace and Match between France and England was yet continued and three or four solemn Embassies were sent on either side They offer'd the King of England Eight hundred thousand Florins of Gold and to give up to him fifteen Cities in Guyenne and all Limosin as a Portion for the Lady Catharine He seemed to give ear to these Propositions yet demanded every day some new thing to hinder the concluding of it His design was to fall upon France his Subjects desired it with so much passion that the whole Kingdom would have risen against him if he had not satisfi'd their longing It was suspected likewise that he was encouraged to it by the instigation and correspondence of some Traytors at least he was assured he should have but half the French to deal with it being impossible for the two Houses of Orleans and Burgundy ever to be
united Year of our Lord 1415 When all his Forces were in readiness he made no scruple to declare his Pretensions and after he had written Letters full of Protestations and Threatnings to the King whom he stiled only his Cousin Charles of France he came and landed at Havre de Grace at the mouth of the River of Seine where he put on shoar six thousand Men at Arms thirty thousand Archers and all other Necessaries proportionably With these he laid Siege to Harfleur The place defended it self bravely by the courage of four hundred Men at Arms and seven or eight Lords of that Province that had thrown themselves in there In fine it was taken by assault and sacked perhaps not without some secret intelligence or at least the cowardize or baseness of the Chiefs of the French Army who took no great care to relieve them The blame fell on the Constable d'Albret In the mean time the King having set up the Oriflamme or Standard at St. Denis got his Soldiers together The English had lost a great many of their bravest Men upon their Attaques Diseases reigned in their Army and a scarcity of Provisions for they were forced to keep close together reduced them to great streights Insomuch as having held his Quarters for three weeks together along the Sea Coasts they were forced to remove and took their march towards Calais They crossed the Country of Caux the Earldom of Eu and the Lands of Vimeu with intention to pass the River Somme at Blanquetaque Year of our Lord 1415 The French Army which was as yet nothing but a multitude of Rascals pickt up in haste durst not attaque them in their march but when the King who was come in Person to Rouen had sent fourteen thousand Men at Arms and all the Princes to them excepting the Dukes of Guyenne Berry Bretagne and Burgundy it wa resolved they should go and fight them and instead of strongly guarding the passages over the Somme whereby to ruine them they went to way-lay them on the other side of the River and lodged themselves at Azincour in the County of St. Pol. The English being tired seeing the French to be four times stronger then themselves and believing they should be utterly lost if they came to an Engagement sent to profer them reparations for all damages done from the time of their landing in France But their Offers were rejected and Battle presented for the next day being the five and twentieth of October Year of our Lord 1415 The same causes that made them lose that of Crecy and that of Poitiers made them again lose this same I mean the necessity or desperate condition they reduced them unto either to vanquish or to dye their impetuous precipitation the confusion in which they fought all the Chiefs striving to be in the Head besides the ill order of their Van-guard drawn up so close that none but the first Ranks had room to stir themselves and the inconvenience of the Soil so fat and slippery with the Rain and withal so deep that they stood half way the Leg in Myre The Field was bestrewed with Six thousand of theirs and with Sixteen hundred of the English Amongst the slain were the Earl of Nevers and Anthony Duke of Brabant Brothers to the Duke of Burgundy the Duke of Alenson the Constable d'Abret the Duke of Bar the Mareschal de Boucicaut the Admiral Dampierre the Archbishop of Sens Brother of Montaigu and the Vicount de Lannois Son of the same Amongst the Prisoners the Dukes of Orleans and of Bourbou the Earls of Vendosme and Richemont and fourteen hundred Gentlemen The Army indeed Victorious but as much shatter'd as if they had been vanquish'd had much ado to crawl to Calais from whence their King Henry went over again into England Year of our Lord 1415 This great misfortune begot such Civil Discords as made the Wound much greater The Duke of Burgundy went on with his design of usurping the Government and he believed this Juncture very favourable towards it But when it came to be known that he was marched to Dijon with the Duke of Lorrain and ten thousand Horse to come again to Paris they brought the King back with speed and the Duke of Guyenne quartered Men in all the places thereabout The Burgundian being arrived at Lagny sent to the King to desire he might come to him and that the Duke of Guyenne might receive his Wife again whom he had pack'd away to entertain a Mistress He was promised satisfaction in this second thing he demanded but for the first he could never obtain it he was expressly forbidden to come near Paris but only with his own Servants There had been no security for him he found they had put all his Friends in Prison Hang'd up all his Soldiers they could light upon and sent for the Count of Armagnac his greatest Enemy to take the Constables Sword The mischief proceeded principally from the evil Counsels of certain Plagues in Court who for their private Interests promoted the differences between the Princes and plunged the young Duke of Guyenne into all Debauchery The University and Parliament made loud Complaints and moved that young Prince so much that he did promise to take some order but in few days afterwards he fell sick of a Loosness whereof he died the Five and twentieth of December not without visible marks Year of our Lord 1415 of Poyson The Count d'Armagnac being arrived at Paris the nine and twentieth of the same Month set aside the Propositions for Peace envenomed the Sore instead of healing it and made himself absolute Master of the Government having obtained the Soveraign Administration of the Treasury and the Command of Captain General of all the Fortresses with power to put in what Governors and what Garrisons he pleased After the death of the Duke of Guyenne the Succession to the Crown was to fall to his second Brother John Duke of Touraine The Earl of Hainault whose Daughter he had Married had carried him into his Country all honest Frenchmen wished he might return to inform himself in all Affairs In the mean time to gain the affection of the People and shew he was not engaged to any Party he Commanded both of them to lay down their Arms. The Burgundian who had stood gaping idly in Lagny was glad of so fair a pretence to retire He went back into the Low-Countries vexed to the very Soul that his Enemies should deride him and call him John de Lagny not much in haste The Emperor Sigismund desiring to procure the Churches Peace and also a Peace amongst Christian Princes made a Voyage into France and from thence Year of our Lord 1416 into England but without any success because the Constable refused the Truce for four years which he had propounded betwixt those two Crowns The King received him magnificently at Paris and was willing he should take his place in Parliament but it was not so well
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
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
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
on all hands crying out a la queue Many had their Brains beaten out in the Streets the rest escaped to the Bastille where they made composition All the little Neighbouring Forts were an Accessory to this Reduction In the Month of August following the King recalled the Parliament the Chambre des Comptes and the University thither The English had declared themselves Enemies to the Duke of Burgundy by all Acts of Hostility upon his Countreys and by underhand-dealings to stir his Subjects up to Rebellion in those days very much knit to and concerned for England as well by Commerce and Trade as out of a real hatred they had towards the French He would therefore needs revenge himself by taking of Calais which he esteemed no great difficulty and laid Siege to it with a numerous Army In the midst of this Enterprize the Flemmings finding it spin out to a great length fell into an imagination that they were betray'd and herding together in several small parcels on a suddain made up all their packs in great confusion leaving their Provisions and Artillery behind for want of Waggons to carry them off All that their Duke could possibly do for them was to cover them with his Cavalry leâ—t the English should have charged them and after that to follow them The Duke of Gloucester who had sent word that he was coming to give him Battle not finding him there entred into Flanders where he increased their former jealousie by his burning all those places he came near Year of our Lord 1437 It was impossible for Rene of Anjou to obtain his liberty of the Duke of Burgundy without paying him an extraordinary Ransom yielding up several places and consenting to a Marriage between his eldest Daughter whose name was Yoland as then but nine years old and Ferry eldest Son of Anthony Earl of Vaudemont the means whereby Lorrain returned to the Males of that House Year of our Lord 1437 In the interim they carried the King into Lyonnois and Dauphine to make Moneys in those Countries and the following year he went even to Languedoc for the same end Upon his return he laid Siege to Montereau Faut-yonne which submitted not till after a long resistance From thence he came to make his entrance into his good City of Year of our Lord 1437 Paris the fourth of November and then he might truly call himself King of France having replanted his Throne in the capital City of his Kingdom Year of our Lord 1438 These long and tedious Wars did necessarily produce great licentiousness and daily Robberies The Soldiers not being paid lived at discretion and the extream scarcity of all things rendred them most inhumane There were divers Bands commanded even by the Kings best Officers who under colour of seeking for subsistence ran from Province to Province rifling all they could lay lands on Those called Escorcheurs and then the Redondeurs committed strange disorders By these ravages the flight of the Husbandmen and Peasants who neither ploughed nor sowed and the continual Rains during two years 1437 and 38. ensued a great Famine and then a horrible Mortality over all France especially at Paris and its Neighbourhood That City was so depopulated the Wolves came and devoured Children even in the midst of the Street St. Anthoine They were forced that they might rid themselves of those Beasts greedy of humane Flesh to make Proclamation that any one should have twenty Solz a piece for every head of a Wolfe they brought to the Magistrate Pope Eugenius and the Council of Basil were imbroiled to that height that Eugenius declared the Council dissolved and called another to Ferrara and on the other hand the Prelats that were at Basil having summon'd him divers times to come thither began to think of deposing him with the greater confidence for that the Most Christian King seemed then to favour them having forbid the Prelats of the Gallican Church from going to Ferrara Year of our Lord 1438 This Discord in the end turned to a Schism he that might have extinguisht it hapning to die I mean the Emperor Sigismond who ended his days in Moravia the Eighth of November 1437. Albertus Duke of Austria his Son in Law succeeded him in the Kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia and the year following in the Empire by the suffrages of the Electors The Clergy of France ever since the translation of the Holy See to Avignon had suffered infinite oppressions by the Court of Rome And therefore the King having assembled them at Bourges to find out some way to reconcile the Pope to the Council who had each sent their Legats they embraced the opportunity which they could never have since the Council of Constance and made their remonstrances touching those insupportable abuses The King desiring to provide against it order'd them to apply the most convenient remedies To this end by advice of his Council they framed that so celebrated Reglement called the Pragmatique which preventing any the like Enterprizes of the Court of Rome might well be termed the Bulwark of the Gallican Church Year of our Lord 1439 Eugenius transferr'd his Council of Ferrara to Florence where they treated concerning the uniting the Greek to the Latine Church their Emperor John VI. assisting with a good number of his most illustrious Prelats But in the mean while those who were assembled at Basil though reduced to a small number and not well agreed amongst themselves deposed Eugenius and elected Ame VIII Duke of Savoy who had retired himself as was before related to the solitude of Ripaille France Germany and most part of the West paid their obedience to him during the life of Eugenius but after his death all of them almost turned to Nicholas V. Two years after Rene was delivered from captivity he went into his Kingdom of Naples where according to the example of his Predecessors his entrance was very happy but his exit very different Year of our Lord 1439 The Siege of Meaux by the Constable although long and full of difficulty succeeded happily for the French but that of Auranches in the Lower Normandy being ill managed by the same Person and the Duke of Alenson brought them nothing but shame the English having made them raise it and taken part of their Bagage and their Ammunition At the Sollicitation of the Dutchess of Burgundy and the Popes Legats a great Conference was held between Graueline and Calais the Deputies of France England and those of Burgundy meeting to treat about a Peace The English not receding from that Condition that Normandy and their other Conquests should be left to them in full Soveraignty they parted without doing any thing in it Year of our Lord 1440 The King by inclination was well enough disposed for the good of his Country and we observe that from this very time even to the Reign of Henry II. the Kings did often and willingly make use of this term The Publick Concerns of Our
Duke of Bretagne ended his days at the Castle de la Tousche near Nantes He left his Dutchy very much enriched and improved by a long Peace and mightily Peopled by that War which Year of our Lord 1443 made its Neighbouring Countries desolate particularly Normandy From that single Province there went above thirty thousand Families to inhabite in Bretagne and a great part of them at Rennes which mightily enlarged it and gave occasion to inclose with Walls that quarter of the Town which is named the Basse-ville He had three Sons Francis Peter and Giles whereof the two eldest were Dukes of that Country successively The foregoing year the English laid Siege to Diepe The Dauphin being returned out of Guyenne went thither in quality of Lieutenant-General for the King and chaced them shamefully thence But the Earl of Sommerset landing at Cherbourgh with six thousand fighting Men pierced as far as Anjou and Bretagne defeated the Mareschal de Loheac and the Lord de Rueil then returned loaden with spoil back to Rouen Year of our Lord 1443 Year of our Lord 1440 or 42. In the year 1440 or 1442. is placed the Invention or at least the first use of Printing which would be as excellent as it is wonderful were it not that like Fame whose clearest Trumpet it is it vends as many ill things as it does good ones The City of Leyden in Holland attributes the honour to it self in behalf of Laurent Johnson one of her Burghers Mentz for a Gentleman named Gutemberg Some allow it to one John Mentel of the same City Those deceive themselves that say it came from China for although it be true that they printed there a long time before yet was it not with Letters separate and movable as are ours theirs were graved on plates Year of our Lord 1444 The two Kings loved their pleasures enough to make them have but little love for War The King of England was the first that made mention of an accommodation the Deputies met at Tours where not being able to agree a final Peace they made a Truce of eighteen Months the Twentieth day of May and the Marriage of Marguerit Daughter of Rene of Anjou with the King of England to whom she was conducted by the Duke of Suffolk By consent of both Kings it was thought good to throw the French and English Forces upon the Countries of the Empire which were fat and but poorly defended The apparent pretences were to assist the House of Austria against the Swisse to revenge some incursions the Count de Montbelliard had made upon the Territories of France to affright the Council of Basil that they might put an end to the Schism and to take part with Rene of Anjou Duke of Lorrdin in his contest with the City of Metz for their having assisted Anthony Earl of Vaudemont his Enemy but the real design or cause was to discharge the Kingdom of those troublesom Sons of Mars the Soldiers Year of our Lord 1444 The Dauphin leading these Men there were near 20000 Horse parted from Troyes in the Month of July took Montbelliard and from thence went into Alsatia between Basil and Strasbourg Basil fortifi'd it self and called the Swisse in to their aid He sought four thousand near that place who rather tired then overcome died all upon the place but sold their lives at double the number There were but sixteen escaped others say but only one single man who being returned home to his Canton lost his Head as a deserter The Dauphin judging by this that he should gain nought from them but by losing too much himself and withall being gorged with spoil and observing the heavy German Body began to move he retired for fear of being over-matched and went to joyn with his Fathers Army that lay before Mets. He besieged that Town in favour of Rene Duke of Lorrain The Citizens seeing the Country wasted and ruined for seven or eight Months together bought their redemption at the rate of three hundred thousand Florins of which the King had two hundred thousand and the other hundred thousand they give Rene acquittance for who owed it to them The Army paid with this Money were all disbanded excepting fifteen hundred Men at Arms as many Coustilliers these were Foot that accompanied the Horse and three thousand Archers This was the establishment of what they called Companies d'Ordnnonance Year of our Lord 1444 and 45. He caused them to be quarter'd and cloathed and fed in the Towns but the Vulgar who look no further then the present and will never consider what may happen hereafter minded nothing but how to ease themselves of this burthen and granted a Tax in Money for the subsistence of these Gents-darmes not considering that when once this Tax was setled it would not be in their power to say either how long it should last or how much or little it should be increased or diminished Year of our Lord 1444 The Tenth of November was fought the bloody Battle of Varnes between the Turks and young Ladislaus King of Hungary He had solemnly sworn a Peace with them having unhappily broken it by the Popes instigation who dispenced him of his Oath he most unfortunately lost his Life and all his Army a wound that bleeds yet to this very day The Counties of Valentinois and Diois were united this year to Dauphine Lewis de Poitiers who possessed them had in Anno 1419. given them by his Will to Charles V. who was then Dauphin upon a condition to furnish fifty thousand Crowns to pay off his Debts and Legacies and in case he failed so to do he then gave the succession to Ame Duke of Savoy The Dauphin not having done it Ame was got into possession and had setled a Governor there But this year upon a Treaty at Bayonne agreed the third of April Lewis the Son of Ame gave up all the right he had in favour of the Dauphin Lewis who in retaliation quitted to him the absolute Siegneury and Homage of Foucigny Year of our Lord 1445 and the following During the quiet and soft minutes of the Truce the King enjoy'd the sweet pleasures of his Gardens and languished amidst his Amours and Mistresses Ease and prosperity had plunged him into daliance and effeminate softness His greatest inclination was Agnes Soreau a Gentlewoman of Touraine a very agreeable and generous Lady but who setting her self up as equal with the greatest Princesses became the envy of the Court and a scandal to all France Year of our Lord 1445 The King of England lived much more reserved He was a devout Prince fearing God and of a gentle disposition but having no great Spirit or parts and loving nothing but his Wife he suffer'd her to possess him wholly This Princess bold and undertaking beyond the nature of her Sex would needs take the Helm and make her self absolute To this end she gives some sinister impressions to her Husband concerning his Uncle Humphry Earl of Gloucester
the accustomed Ceremonies and Magnificence Being returned to Paris the Duke of Bretagne sent a complaint to him for having supported the Rebellion of his Subjects The Dame according to her Father's wonted Method in stead of returning him an answer Debauched his Ambassadors from his Service These were the Lord D'Vrfe whom she made Grand Escuyer and Poncet de la Riviere on whom she bestowed the Mayoralty of Bourdeaux Year of our Lord 1484 The Cardinal de Balue after his being set at Liberty went to Rome and as that Court is a Region of perpetual Intrigues he Succeeded so happily therein that in short time be got great Credit and some good Benefices He moreover prevailed with the Pope so far that after the Death of Lewis XI he sent him into France as Legat à Latere He made his entrance with so much arrogance that he made use of his faculties before ever he had the Kings consent or had presented them in Parliament to be examined whether they contained nothing contrary to the Rights of the Crown and the Liberties of the Gallican Church The Parliament offended at this bold undertaking forbid him to take upon him the Characters of his Legation or to exercise the power Notwithstanding the Kings Council after he had shewed his reasons and made his necessary Submissions gave order he should be received in that Quality with the usual Respect and Honour and that he should exercise his Functions Which he did for some days when hearing news of the Death of Sixtus he returned on his way to Rome with a Present only of a Thousand Crowns in Gold which the King gave him towards defraying the Expences of his Journey Year of our Lord 1484 The Council Establish'd by the Estates had neither Power nor Vertue the Dame de Beaujeu usurped all the Authority She turned out all those from the Kings Service as were not at her Dvotion and brought in d'Vrfe Riviere and Graville prime Chamberlain who watched and as it were beleaguer'd the young King These Folk wanting some brave daring Heroe to oppose the Duke of Orleans did likewise keep Rene the Duke of Lorrain at Court to whom they restored the Dutchy of Bar till such time as the King should be of Age to do him right for the County of Provence assigned him a Pension of 36 Thousand Livers per Annum and a company of an Hundred Lances During these disorders in France the Scene was wholly changed in England Henry Earl of Richmond after the Battel in the year 1471 where Henry VI. Lost his Crown and Liberty endeavouring to make his escape into France was by Tempest thrown upon the Coasts of Bretagne where the Duke Seized on him and detained him Prisoner in favour of Edward or rather to engage that King to protect him always against Lewis XI And indeed Edward never forsook him whatever advantage Lewis could propound to him and which was more paid him fifty Thousand Crowns yearly for his Pension When Edward Died he gave him his full Liberty and withal assisted him with Money and six Thousand Men wherewith he put to Sea having a Strong Faction in England whereof the Earl of Buckingham was Head Now it happened that a Storm having scattered his Ships the Confederacy was discover'd and Buckingham Beheaded with most of the great men who were concerned in it So that he returned and Landed in Normandy and from thence got back into Bretagne waiting for a better opportunity King Richard desiring to have him at what price soever profer'd Landays so much Money and such considerable assistance in time of need against the Breton Lords that this Perfidious and Mercinary Soul promised to deliver him up to his People The Earls Friends in England got a hint of this bargain and gave him Notice at the very nick of time when it was to be put in execution He immediately departs from Vannes under pretence of going to wait upon the Duke who was at Renes then striking into another Road made his escape with four more to Anger 's He was so closely pursued by Landays Men that he slipt thorough the passage but one hour before they came to the place The King was then at Langeais who received him very kindly And a great number of English Landing every Day in the Ports of France to joyn with him he gave him some broken Companies that were in Normandy with which he adventured over into England In fine having gained the Victory over Richard who was slain in the Field be ascended the Throne which he pretended did belong of Right to him as being the Eldest of the House of Lancaster He was indeed of that Family but at a remote distance as being but the Son of a Daughter of the Duke of Somerset's and of Edmond who was Son of Owen Tudor a Gentleman of Wales and Catherine of France who after the Death of King Henry V. her Husband was clandestinely Married to him Year of our Lord 1485 The Duke of Orleans the Duke of Bourbon likewise to whom the Constables Sword without any power was more an injury or burthen then an Honour made a new party against the Government The Duke of Bretagne Charles Earl of Angoulesme the Duke of Alenson and John de Chaalon Prince of Orenge who was Son of a Sister of the Duke of Bretagne entred into it Charles Earl of Dunois was the primum mobile The Duke of Orleans was the first that spoke and being retired to Beaugency demanded an Assembly of the Estates They immediately carried the King thither He besieged him in the place and forced him to an accomodation wherein it was agreed that the Earl of Dunois should retire to Ast in Piedmont After that they got the King to March against the Duke of Bourbon who finding him on a sudden in the midst of his Country accepted of such conditions as they would impose Year of our Lord 1485 The Soldiers they had Levied for these ends fell most of them into Bretagne The Duke of Orleans having sent all his thither for the Dukes Service the Dame sent the Kings thither also in behalf of the Lords Landays prompted as we may believe by his wicked Genius pursued the utter Destruction of the Lords with all his might and would not recede in the least from the Sentence he had obtained that they should lose both their Castles and their Heads He had raised a great Army for this purpose who had Ordersto Besiege Ancenis a place belonging to the Mareschal de Riux The Lords had taken the Field to prevent it The Armies being in sight of each other some good minded People made the Chief Commanders of the Dukes Army so Sensible how heighnous it would be in them to spill the Heart Blood of their own Friends and Kindred for the sake of the most profligate wretch in the whole World that they embraced each other mutually and agreed to joyn their Supplications to the Duke that he would be pleased
in one of his Houses The Bishops were set at Liberty at two years end by the intercession of the Legat. At the same time the Earl of Angoulesme and the Lord de Ponts made Guyenne to rise where Odet-Daydie Brother of Odet Earl of Cominges held Saintes Fronsac la Reoule Dags and Bayonne and the Duke of Orleans Levied Forces in Bretagne The Towns in Guyenne surrendred at the first sight and naming of the King the Lord d'Albret had got some Men together to assist them but he durst not appear The King having made his entrance into Bourdeaux the Seventh of March returned to Poitiers Partenay capitulated as soon as they were Summon'd That done he divided his Army into four who fell upon Bretagne in as many several Quarters and himself in the mean time remained at Laval to see what progress they could make Year of our Lord 1487 Upon the arrival of these Forces three times more numerous then was agreed to by the Treaty the Duke withdrew into the Center of his Country During this astonishment of the People and the division amongst the Nobility they took from him Ploetmel Vannes and Dinan and then it was that the Lords too late perceived the error they had committed in bringing them into their Country After this they laid Siege to Nantes The Duke was in the place with all the Soldiers he had left him and had dispatched the Count de Dunois to the King of England to crave assistance This Count being twice or thrice forced back by tempestuous weather Armed the common People of the Lower Bretagne the number of them amounting to above Sixty Thousand Men and was so fortunate that with this confused multitude he terrified the French and put a Relief into the Town which afterwards valued not the Siege about six Weeks after they were wholly delivered from them The Lord d'Albret had likewise raised three or four Thousand men to aid the Breton whose eldest Daughter they had promised him But the Lords of the Royal Party block'd him up so closely in his Castle of Nontron upon the confines of Limosin that he was fain to capitulate and Disband his Forces The King conceiving he had absolutely gained him to his Service gave him a Company of an hundred Lances Year of our Lord 1487 During these Transactions Desquerdes by correspondence surprized the Cities of St. Omer and Terouenne and defeated the Forces of Philip de Cleves Ravestein whom they had drawn thither by a pretended bargain for the City of Bethune the Duke of Cleves and the Count de Nassaw fighting on Foot were taken Prisoners In the foregoing Month of March the Lord de Montigny Brother of Count Horn the bravest of his Captains thinking to take Guise by assault was wounded with a Pike in the Suburbs of which he Died in a few days Year of our Lord 1487 The City of Ghent had declared themselves Capital Enemies to Maximilian because he had taken his Son from them and removed him to Malines By their example Bruges and most of the Towns in Flanders rose up against him because he burthened them too frequently with his exactions Year of our Lord 1487 In the Month of July of this year 1487. Charlota Queen of Cyprus Widdow of Lewis of Savoy who was Son of Lewis and Brother of Ame IX Dukes of Savoy ended her miseries with her Life at Rome where she had subsisted twelve years on the Bounty of the Popes She was Daughter and Heiress of John II. King of Cyprus after whose Death her Husband and her self enjoy'd that Kingdom three years but his Bastard James drove them out thence with the help of Melec-Ella Sultan of Egypt to whom this Crown was Tributary All the endeavours they could use to regain it proved vain and unsuccessful Lewis Died the first in the year 1482. Charlota retired to Rome After her Death the right to that Crown fell to Charles II. Duke of Savoy her Cousin and so passed to all his descendants not only because she Adopted him and made him a Donation of her Kingdom but because he also was her next of Kindred and Heir being the Son of Anne of Cyprus Daughter of King Janus or John I. But Catharine Cornaro a Venetian Widdow of the Bastard who Died in the year 1473. had given and resigned that Kingdom by what Tittle I do not know to the Seigneury of Venice The Great Turk wrested it out of their possession in the year 1557. Year of our Lord 1488 The disorders were so great in Flanders that on the second of February Maximilian being at Bruges the Inhabitants ran to their Arms made him Prisoner and put divers of his Creatures to Death The Pope Excommunicated the mutineers but the Kings Attorney General stood up against it maintaining that the Flemmings had no other Soveraign but the King who owned them in what they had done Neither the threats nor Forces of the Emperor Frederic did avail for the delivery of his Son they had resolved to give him up to the King of France when they were just upon the point to do it this poor Princes Tears and the Solemn Oaths himself made to them and which were confirmed by several Lords that he would forget all their injuries did at last subdue the fury of the Brugois so that they set him at Liberty When he was out of their hands he retired into Germany to his Father and left the Government of his Son Philip and his Lands to Albert Duke of Saxony The Emperor Frederic desiring to render him more fit to take in second marriage one of the Daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella who had interceeded for his Liberty at Bruges dignified Austria with the Title of Arch-Dutchy which till then was a Stranger and unknown in the Western parts Year of our Lord 1488 Besides the Force of Arms they proceeded by way of Justice against the Princes that were Leagued with the Breton In the Month of February the King sitting in Parliament ordered a Summons for the Duke of Bretagne and the Duke of Orleans to appear at the Table to Marbre Which was sent by the Provost of Paris accompany'd with a Counsellor of that Court and the Prime Usher and all advantages of defaults were taken against them The Mareschal de Rieux and some Barons of Bretagne finding he went much farther then the terms of the Treaty did allow Petitioned him not to go on and profer'd to send the Duke of Orleans out of the Country together with all the French belonging to him who in effect shewed themselves willing to lay down their Arms and retire to their own dwellings provided they might be left in Peace The Dame thinking she was now above all danger imprudently replied that the King would have no Rival or Equal that he would not stop there but proceed to the end of his enterprize This discourse laying his intentions clearly open they took another resolution and reconciled themselves with their Duke who gave them an
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
Tenth of June and makes them continue the debate before him His presence did not so much daunt them but that three amongst the rest Anne de Bourg Councellor Clerc proceeded boldly to deliver their Sentiments upon the principal points of Religion and concluded by demanding a Council and that in the mean time Executions might be suspended He had the patience to hear them to the very last Argument and then to make the Clerk read over the Result of all Having thus discover'd their opinions he gave order to seize upon Du Bourg and Du Faur in the place and afterwards sent to take the President Ranconnet and the Counsellors Paul de Foix and Anthony Fumee all which were carried to the Bastille The President du Ferrier the Councellors Viole Du Val and Regnaute had met with the same treatment could they have been found Never did that August Assembly receive so great and so shameful a rebuke and blemish They appointed Commissioners for Trial of the Prisoners The Tragical accident which interven'd three Weeks after put some stop to those vehement prosecutions The Court being filled with all manner of Mirth Divertisements and expressions of Joy for the Nuptials of the Kings Daughter which was celebrated by Proxy the Seven and Twentieth of June and there being Turnaments and Carousels within Lists made cross the Street Saint Antoine from the Palace Royal des Tournelles to the Bastille Death as we may say having placed himself in Ambush amidst those pastimes and pleasures gave a blow as fatal as un-foreseen which converted all those gawdy Liveries into Mourning Weeds About the end of the third dayes tilting which was the Thirtieth of June the King had a great desire who had before broken several Lances with a great deal of dexterity to Just or Tilt agen with his Beaver open against the Earl of Montgommery Son of the Lord de Lorges one of the Captains of his Guard du Corps The Earl excused himself as much as he could but he would absolutely have it so now it hapned Year of our Lord 1559 that the Earl having broken against his Breast Plate hit him likewise above the right Eye-brow with the Truncheon that remained in his hand The stroke was so great that it threw him backwards on the ground and deprived him both of knowledge and speech He never recover'd them more which may convict of falsity those different discourses which both the one side and the other did put into his Mouth suitable to their divers interests and passions Notwithstanding he survived yet near eleven dayes and breathed not his last sigh till the tenth day of July He was in the fourth Month of the one and fortieth year of his Life and the thirteenth of his Reign About the end of June the Duke of Savoy was come to Paris accompanied with the Duke of Brunswic the Prince of Orange and an Hundred Gentlemen of Quality He had been received with extraordinary Civility by the King who met him at the Foot of the great Stair-Case in the Louvre When he found they dispair'd of the Kings Life he so much press'd the consummating of his Marriage that it was performed in Nostre Dame without any Pomp the ninth of July Margaret his Wife was in the seven and thirtieth year of her Age. They blamed King Henry of too much Indulgence or to speak better too great weakness towards his Mistress and his Favorites but they applauded a generous bounty in him to his Domesticks a great moderation and sweetness an agreable Conversation and a marvellous facility of expressing himself as well in publick as in particular He might have been praised likewise for his love to Learning for indeed he cherished it if the dissolutions of his Court authorised by his example had not perverted the best and choicest Wits to Compose Romances full of ☜ extravagant Visions and Lascivious Poems to flatter those Vices and that Impurity which had all the rewards in custody and to furnish that Sex with vain delights and amusements who still reign and govern by Fopperies Most of those Vices which ruine great States and draw down the wrath of Heaven reigned in that Court their gaming was seen in Triumph Luxury Impudicity Libertinage Blasphemy and that curiosity as foolish as impious to look into the Secrets of what is to come by the detestable Illusions of Magick Art Catherine de Medicis after a ten Years Barrenness brought this King ten Children as many of the one as of the other Sex the Eldest at this time being but seventeen Years old One of the Sons and two of the Daughters died in their Cradle There remained four Sons and three Daughters The four Sons were named Francis Charles Alexander and Hercules the names of the two last were changed at their confirmation Alexander was named Henry and Hercules changed for Francis The three first reigned after each other and all four died without Children The three Daughters were Isabella Claude and Marguerite Isabella Married Philip II. King of Spain Claude Charles III. Duke of Lorrain and Marguerite Henry de Bourbon who was then King of Navarre and afterwards King of France He had besides two Illegitimate Children Diana whom he Married to Horatio Farnese then to Francis Eldest Son of the Connestable de Montmorency and Henry who was Grand Prior of the Order of Malta and Governor of Provence The End of the Second Volume A Chronological Abridgment OR EXTRACT OF THE HISTORY OF FRANCE By the Sieur de Mezeray TOME III. Beginning at King Francis II. and ending at the end of the Reign of Henry IV. Translated by John Bulteel Gent. LONDON Printed for Thomas Basset Samuel Lowndes Christopher Wilkinson William Cademan and Jacob Tonson MDCLXXXIII FRANCIS II. King LIX Aged XVI Years and VI. Months POPES PAUL IV. 27 dayes under this Reign PIUS IV. Elected the 26 of December 1559. S. Five Years and eleven Months and a half Year of our Lord 1559 IF in a State it be a certain sign of it's decadency the want of good Heads for Council and good hands great Soldiers for Execution it is as certain a fore-runner and cause of troubles and Civil Wars to have multitudes of Princes and over-grown Nobility when there is not an Authority great enough to contain and keep them to their duty This misfortune hapned to France after the death of King Henry II. as soon as he was no more the Factions which were formed during his Reign began to appear and by an unluckly fate met with to fortifie themselves differing Parties in Religion great numbers of Malecontents lovers of Novelties and which was more and worse Soldiers of Fortune who having been disbanded would needs get themselves some employment at what rate soever On one side were to be seen the Princes of the Blood and the Constable on the other the Princes of the House of Guise betwixt these two Parties the Queen Mother who was bargaining to make her best Market and sided sometime with
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
Wife and Marries Bertrade 223 Is Excommunicated because of this new Marriage by the Bishops by the Pope and by a Council at Poitiers ib. Braved by the Lord de Montlehery ib. In fine obtains a dispensation in the Court of Rome is absolved and his Marriage is confirmed 226 His death his Wives and Children 227 Philip Brother of King Lewis the Gross sides with the discontented Party 2â—5 Philip Augustus King of France his Birth 249 His Coronation 250 His Marriage with Isabella Alix 251 He begins his Reign and Government with Piety and Justice 252 He withdraws Vermandois from the hands of the Earl of Flanders 252 He sends succours to the Holy Land and causes the Croisade to be preached 253 Difference between him and the King of England 254 Takes the Cross on him with the King of England for the recovery of the Holy Land 255 Gives chace to the King of England who was entred upon France ib. His Voyage to the Holy Land Order for the Regency of his Son and Kingdom during his absence ib. Difference intervened between him and Richard King of England 256 Takes the City of Acre or Ptolemais ib. Falls sick and returns into France 257 Withdraws the County of Artois from the hands of the Earl of Flanders ib. Declares War against the King of England 258 Repudiates Isemberge his Wife then takes her again ib. Reconciles himself with John King of England 259 Endeavours to accustom the Ecclesiasticks to furnish him with Subsidies 261 Conquers all the Territories of King John which held of the Crown 261 c. Philip the Fair King of France Marries the Queen of Navarre 320 Is Crowned at Reims 322 Accommodates and makes Peace with the Castillian 323 Causes search to be made amongst the Banquers 324 Opposes the designs of the King of England for the subjecting of Scotland and recovering the Cities in Guyenne 325 Is offended with Pope Boniface 326 A great Conspiracy against him 326 Makes War in Flanders his progress 327 c. Confers with the Emperor Albertus 328 Enters into a quarrel with the Pope and hinders the French Prelats from going to Rome whither the Pope sent for them 329 Is Excommunicated by the Pope ib. Takes up Arms to chastize the Rebellion of the Flemings 330 Treats a Peace with the English ib. Makes a Voyage into Guyenne and Languedoc 331 Fore-arms himself against the Bâ—lls of Bâ—niface ib. Assists at the Coronation of Pope Clement at Lyons 332 Appears at the General Council of Vienne in Daufine ib. Undertakes War against the Flemings His three Sons Wives accused of Adultery His death his Wives and Children 336 Philip of Alsace Earl of Flanders his death 257 Philip of Dreux Bishop of Beauvais is held Prisoner 258 Philip Earl of Boulogne 299 Philip Emperor assassinated 264 Philip the Hardy King of France 314 Returns from Afric into France ib. He Arms against the King of Castille in favour of the Princes of Navarre his Nephews 316 Takes up Arms and passes the Pyrenean Mountains against the King of Arragon 320 His death his Wives and his Children 321 Philip the Long espouses Jane of Burgundy 324 Philip d'Euvreux 348 Philip the Long King of France 347 His Wife accused of Adultery 336 Brouilleries in the State 348 His death his Children 349 Philip de Valois passes into Italy against the Gibbelins 348 Philippa Daughter of the Earl of Hainault 352 Peter Son of King Lewis the Gross chief of the House of Courtenay 241 Peter Duke of Bretagne takes Arms against the King 296 Surnamed Mauclerc or Illiterate or Witless 300 His death 301 Peter Earl of Alencon 312 Peter Earl of Arragon Crowned King of Sicilia 317 A villanous and shameful slight 320 Is Excommunicated and degraded by the Pope ib. His death 321 Peter Abbot of Cane refuses the Miter 270 Planet Mars not visible in a whole year 105 Plectrude Widow of Pepin intrudes into the whole Government of France 78 She is constrained to quit the Government to Charles Martel 79 Poissy Gerard Financier 254 Politicks Hereticks 276 Poland honour'd with the Title of a Kingdom 209 Ponce Abbot of Clugny by his Debauches loses the Reputation of his Order 279 Papeliâ—ans Hereticks their Forces and Erâ—ors 276 Popes of the Fourth Age. 5 Popes when they began to change names at their creation 136 Memorable example of their Soveraign power and of an extream severity 209 Of their Elections 247 Have a right to exhort not to command the Kings of France 326 Acts of Temporal Soveraignty they assumed on all occasions during the Thirteenth Age. 337 They would raise themselves above all Soveraigns 293 Gilbert Porct Bishop of Poitiers condemned 289 Port-Royal its foundation 83 Portugal of a Dutchy made a Kingdom 243 Pragmatick of St. Lewis 312 Pretextat Archbishop of Rouen 32 Restored to his See and assassinated 38 Prior of the Monastery of Gristan his History 288 Primacy of the Church of Lyons over the four Lyonnoises 232 Prince that oppresses his Subjects is easily abandonned by them 45 Prince dispoiled of his Estate because of his ill Conduct 161 Priviledges of Monks 282 Bring a Scandal to the Church Buy it off dearly at Rome ib. Prodigy unheard of of Snakes and other Serpents who fought most obstinately 2â—8 Protade Maire of the Palace 43 Provenceaux rise against their Earl and Lord. 301 Provisions of the Pope 236 Petro Brusians Hereticks 276 Puisset Hugh 235 Q. Quarrel between Thierry and Boson 146 Quarrel for the Archbishoprick of Reims 177 c. Quarrel and hatred of the â—arls of Charâ—res and Flanders against the Normans 186 Quarrel famous between the Pope and the Emperors 223 Quarrel between Robert Duke of Normandy and Henry his younger Brother for the Kingdom of England 226 Quarrel of the Popes with the Emperor Henry IV. 227 c. Quarrel between the Bishops and the Monks for the Tenths 228 Quarrel between the Emperor and the Pope for the investiture of Bishopricks 236 Quarrel between the Secular Doctors of Theology and the Orders of Religious Mendicants 307 Quarrel of the Count d'Armagnac and the Lord de Casaubon 315 Quarrel bloody and long for the Succession of the Crown of Scotland 323 Quarrels Little particular Riots do often produce very great Quarrels 325 Qâ—iâ—alet Bishoprick transfer'd to St. Malo's Church of the Twelfth Century R. Rabanus Maurus Archbishop of Ments 173 Race Carolovinian and the end of it Causes of its ruine 198 199 Rachis King of the Lombards turns Monk 91 Leaves his Monastery whither he is forced to return again Radbod King of the Frisians 72 Radegonda Sainct 22 Raillery that cost very dear 222 Raimond Earl of Tolose principal Favourer of the Hereticks in Languedoc is Excommunicated 264 Reconciles himself to the Church 295 Is brought to reason 299 Raimond Earl of Toloze pretends to be Lord of the Marsellois c. 300 Raimond Prince of Antioch Rainfroy Maire of the Neustrians 79 His death 81 Rambold of Orange 224 Ranulf Duke of Aquitaine
caused by the Minority of Duke William the Bastard and by the defect of his Birth 216 Tumult in the Dutchy of Benevent 104 Tumult in Rome 121 Turks and of the time wherein they began to make War upon the Christians 95 Of their irruptions upon Christendom 223 c. Turingians revolt against the French 58 c. V. Vaire-Vache Hemon 224 Valda Heretick Chief of the Vaudois 245 Valdrade Espouses King Lothaire King of Lorraine 140 Excommunicated by the Pope 142 Valentinian Emperor his death 11 Vallia King of the Visigoths 4 Vamba King of the Visigoths 65 Vamba King of Spain Vowed and Consecrated to Penitence in an extream Sickness which took away his understanding is obliged to renounce his Royalty Church of the Twelfth Age. Vandals over-run and ravage Gall thence passing into Spain and from thence into Africa 3 c. Vandals absoutely vanquished and their Kingdom extinguished in Africk 23 Varaton Maire of the Palace of Austrasia 69 Varnaquiâ—r Maire of the Palace of Buâ—gundy 44 Varnes Garnes or Guerins a People of Germany exterminated 40 Venedi and Sclavonians 46 Venice and its first establishment 11 Venice its situation and construction 108 110 111 Venetians joyn with the French in the Expedition to the Holy Land 261 262 Venetians in trouble and disorder amongst themselves 108 Verdun puts it self under the protection of the King 348 Vermandois the Subject of a War between King Philip II. and the Earl of Flanders 253 Vespers Sicilian 319 Vexin French given to the Duke of Normandy 214 Given for a Dowry with Margaret Daughter of the aforesaid Prince 242 Vezelay Revolt of the Inhabitants against the Abbot their Lord. 249 Victor elected Pope to the prejudice of Alexander III. 247 His death 248 Victor IV. Antipope 272 St. Victor its foundation 290 Otherwhile the dwelling of a Recluse ib. Divinity taught there Praise of that House ib. Peter de Ville-Beon Chamberlain his death 312 Visigoths pass from Italy into Gall under the Conduct of their King Ataulfus 3 4 Visigoths Civil War amongst them 26 Visigoths elect their Kings ib. Vitiges elected King of the Ostrogoths ib. Vitri in Champagne forced sacked and burnt 2â—3 Vltrogolthe Queen of France leads a Holy Life 27 University of Paris those of Orleance of Toloze and Montpellier and of their institution 341 c. University of Paris its first Institution or Establishment 104 Voyage to the Levant 224 c. Voyage to the Holy Land 261 c. Vrgel Felix Heresiarque 104 Usury 260 Vrban II. Pope dethroned by the Emperor comes into France holds a Council at Clairmont in Auvergne and there Excommunicates the King and his Bertrade 223 Exhorts the Prelats Zealously to the defence of the Christians in the East against the Turks ib. Vrban IV. Pope orders a Croisade to be Preached against Mainfroy the Bastard 309 His death 310 Waroc or Gueret a Breton Earl seizes upon Vannes 33 Wenillon or Guenillon Archbishop of Reims ingrateful and a Traytor to his Prince 139 Not the Fabulous Ganelon ib. Y. Yolante Queen of Castille 317 Ypres William 238 Yves Chanon of St. Victor Cardinal The Twelfth Age. Yvetot in Normandy a Kingdom 25 The end of the Table of the First Volume A TABLE OF THE KINGS OF FRANCE Contained in this SECOND PART PHILIP VI. called de Valois surnamed the Fortunate King XLIX Page 357 1328. In February JOHN I. by some called the good King King L. 371 1350. In August CHARLES V. called the Wise and Eloquent King LI. 384 1364. In April CHARLES VI. called by some the Well-beloved King LII 400 1380. In September CHARLES VII called the Victorious King LIII 447 1422. In October LEWIS XI King LIV. 481 1461. In July CHARLES VIII called the Affable and Courteous King LV. 507 1483. In September LEWIS XII surnamed the Just and the Father of the People King LVI 532 1498. In April FRANCIS I. called the Great and the Father or Patron of the Learned King LVII 556 1525. In January HENRY II. King LVIII 622 1547. In March till 1559 in July A TABLE Of the Principal Matters contained in this SECOND VOLUME A ADornes voluntarily quit the Government of Genoa Pag. 553 Ant. Adornes Duke of Genoa 546 Adrian Pope 570 Makes a League with the Venetians the Emperor and the English against France 573 His death 575 Aiguillon Besieged and well Defended 365 c. Alva Duke Governor of Milanois enters upon the Territories of the Church 647 Albert Marquiss of Brandenburg 632 d'Albret Connestable his death 433 d'Albret General of an Army 540 d'Albret John King of Navarre his death 560 d'Albret Henry King of Navarre ibid. d'Albret Henry of Navarre made Prisoner of War 579 d'Alegre 540 d'Alencon b. 426 d'Alencon Duke his death 433 d'Alencon Duke Prisoner of War 448 Chief of the Praguerie debauches the Daufin from the Service of the King 457 Is taken Prisoner 466 Is Condemned ibid. Is set at Liberty 482 Falls in with the Party for Charles of France and the Duke of Bretagne 488 Is made Prisoner his death Duke of Alencon his shameful flight his death 495 Alexander V. Pope by Election in the Council of Pisa 426 Gives priviledge to four Orders Mendicants to administer the Sacraments in the Parishes and to receive the Tithes if any be given them ib. Alexander VI. Pope 517 Makes a League against the French with the Venetians Pag. 518 His death 540 Alfonso King of Arragon adopted by Queen Jane of Nâ—ples and his adoption â—acated and nulled 448 Alfonso King of Arragon and Sicilia his death 467 Alfonso King of Arragon Enemy of Ludowick Sforza 519 Alfonso King of Naples hated of his Subjects shuts himself in a Monastery his death 521 Alfonso Duke of Ferrara in War with the Pope 546 Alliance by Marriage between the King of France and the Emperor 537 Alliance renewed with the Swiss 628 Ambassadors 587 Ambassadors of France Assassinated and Slain by the Spaniards 612 d'Amboise Chaumont Commands the Kings Army in Burgundy 501 d'Amboise Cardinal in Milan 535 Legate in France 536 Goes to the Emperor Maximilian on behalf of the King of France 537 Aspires to the Papacy 540 His death 546 Amé VI. Earl of Savoy carries his Arms gloriously against Amurath Sultan of the Turks and the King of Bulgaria 385 Accompanies the Duke of Anjou in his Voyage to Italy 405 His death 408 Amé VII Earl of Savoy ib. Amé VIII Duke of Savoy quits his Estates and retires himself to Ripailles 454 Ameri of Pavia a Lombard Traytor rewarded for his Treason as he deserved 368 c. Amurat Sultan 412 Anabaptists and their horrible Tragedies in the City of Munster 598 d'Andelot held Prisoner 651 Andrew King of Sicilia hanged and strangled at his Chamber Window 396 Anjou Duke Lewis foolish enterprise for the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples 439 Anjou Charles Connestable 467 Anne of France Wife of Peter de Bourbon Beaujeu 506 Governess of the young King Charles VIII 508 She usurps all the Authority ib. Anne
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
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
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
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
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
for the Militia as to do Justice which the Kings could bestow or take away So there was a Duke for Lorrain which was Bruno Arch-Bishop of Colen King Otho's Brother One for France one for Aquitain and one for Burgundy and Hugh was such in all those three Kingdoms by consequence he was as the Kings Lieutenant General and in that quality might be set aside if his great alliance and the Cities in his possession had not rendred him indestituable Year of our Lord 953 France was quiet enough three years together only Hugh An. 955 led the King into Poitou to make William Earl of that Country and Duke of Aquitain become obedient and laid Siege to Poitiers Scarcity of provisions and the terror of a Thunder-clap which tore his Tent in two forced him to raise it and yet the Count presuming to pursue the French upon their retreat they turned head and put him to the rout with great slaughter of his Nobility The following year Hugh who without a Scepter had Reigned more then 20 years being the Son of a King Father of a King Uncle to a King and Brother in Law to three Kings died in his City of Paris full of years glory and riches He was surnamed the White * from his skin the Great from his power or perhaps his bulk and the Abbot because he held the Abbeys of St. Denis St. Germain des Prez and St. Martin's of Tours At his death he intreated Richard Duke of Normandy his Son in Law to be the Protector of his Children and Vassals He had three wives Rotilda Sister of Lewis the Stammerer Ethild Daughter of Edward King of England whose two Sisters were married to Charles the Simple and Otho and Avida or Avoye Sister of the same Otho and Queen Gerberge There came no Children by the first two but by the third he had Hugues or Hugh surnamed Capet who was Earl of Paris and Orleance then also Duke of France Otho who was Duke of Burgundy after the Death of Gilbert his Father in Law Eudes or Odon who succeeded him and Henry who likewise enjoyed it after them Year of our Lord 956. 57. and 58. These four Sons not being yet in a capacity to make any noise the eldest not above 16 years of Age Gerberge governed peaceably enough excepting some petty quarrels about the Castles belonging to the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims and some private contests The worst of it was that it seemed most of the affairs were managed according to the pleasure and will of King Otho and Bruno his Brother Arch-Bishop of Colen and Duke or Governor of Lorrain so that they became as it were the Moderators and Arbitrators of France Year of our Lord 959 The Queen being at difference with the Children of Hugh and the Widdow Avoye her Sister for some Castles which King Lotaire had taken from them in Burgundy Bruno came into France and brought them to an agreement in a Parliament held at Compiegne After which the Queen and her Son Lataire went to keep Easter at Colen with Bruno who entertained them splendidly and sent them back furnished with very brave Presents A while after being called to their assistance against Robert Earl of Troyes and Count of Chaalons by his wife who had surprized Dijon he returned into France with his Lorrainers and regained that place At the same time he sent some Saxon Forces to Troyes to restore the Bishop whom that Robert had thrust out thence But Renard Earl of Sens and Rimbauld Arch-Bishop of the same City friends to Robert gave them Battel and defeated them The same year died Alain surnamed Barbe-torte Duke of Bretagne and Son of Earl Matueda who left two Bastards Hoel and Guerec and one Legitimate Child named Drogon then in his Cradle whom he declared Heir Thibauld Earl of Chartres Grand-Father by the Mother to this Child had the Tuition and the Mother the care of his person Now marrying again with Fulk Earl of Anjou this Year of our Lord 959 wicked woman unhappily killed him by causing scalding water to be thrown down upon the Infants head The Succession begot a bloody debate in Bretagne which lasted 34 years The two Bastards of Alain disputed it with one Conan who was descended by a Daughter from King Salomon he made them both perish Hoel by the hands of a Souldier who assassinated him and Guerec by a poysoned Lancet wherewith a Chyrurgeon let him Blood But himself perished at length in a Battel he lost An. 992. against Fulk Earl of Anjou a Capital Enemy of the Bretons Geofrey the eldest of the four Sons he left succeeded him The Children of the Defunct Hugh the White thorough the persuasion of Arch-Bishop Bruno tendred hommage for their Lands to King Lotaire who in retribution declared the Eldest Duke of France as his Father had been and bestowed Poitou upon him you must understand if he could conquer it for it was possessed by another very potent Earl This is a conjecture that the Kings had not yet given entirely away their power of bestowing Dutchy's and Earldoms and that if they were Hereditary it was only by Usurpation not as yet by Concession All the new Principalities and Seigniories or Lordships which were started up in the Kingdom did not trouble the King so much as that of the Normans who being strangers and the Issue of those Fathers that had plagued and plundred France 80 years together should yet enjoy so rich a Province Wherefore Bruno who governed the affairs of the Kingdom being excited by the persuasions of Arnold Earl of Flanders Baldwin his Son Thibauld Earl of Chartres and Geofrey Earl of Anjou combined to ruine Duke Richard For this purpose he sent for him to come to the Royal Parliament or General Assembly of Estates at Amiens putting him in hopes if he came thither they would give him the Administration of the Kingdom But it was with design to Sieze and send him Prisoner into Germany Richard who was on his journey being informed of this Combination by two unknown Cavaliers returned whence he came and stood more upon his Guard Year of our Lord 959 He avoided likewise another Snare the King had laid for him near the River of Epte to which place sending for him to come and do him hommage he meant to lay hold on him The Duke had already passed the Epte when the Scouts he had sent forth to discover what the King was doing brought him word that all his Enemies were about the King and were making ready to set upon him By this he understood the meaning of the French and withdrew in time Year of our Lord 957 Since Berenger and Adelbert had been restored to the Kingdom of Italy by Otho they never ceased to conspire against him and withal cruelly vexing their Subjects so that he had sent his Son Luitolf to chastise them This young Prince had almost hunted them quite out of the Kingdom when he was surprised by Death An.
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
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
be in their own power He therefore took this Business mightily to heart and dispatched the Abbot Leon to France with an order to the Prelates to Assemble in Council about that Affair and to Seguin Archbishop of Sens to Represent his Person amongst them Year of our Lord 994 Hugh complained opposed it and held good some time against this Enterprize But a new born Royalty could not but comply and yield at last to those Orders for fear of being quickly tumbled down again The Council which was held at Reims deposed Gerbert and restored Arnold to his See after three years imprisonment Gerbert withdrew himself to his Disciple King Otho who bestowed upon him the Archbishoprick of Ranonna from whence some years after he was raised to the Holy Chair Year of our Lord 994 In the year 994. the unhappy Charles died in Prison at Orleance It is not said what became of his Wife but he two Sons Otho and Lewis and two Daughters Gerberge and Hermengarde All these Children went to the Emperor Otho III. The eldest enjoyed the Dutchy of the lower Lorrain some years and died without Heirs The other is not mentioned Hereafter we shall take notice to whom his Daughters were Married Year of our Lord 994 and the following King Hugh as well as Pepin and all such Princes as set up by a new Title amongst People that are not perfectly Barbarians was truly Religious Devout and a lover of the Church and Church-men gave up all the Abbies he held and surrendred the Right of Election to the Clergy and Monks By his Example those Lords that possessed Church-Lands as their own Patrimony not only restored them but for Restitution of their unjust Enjoyment and Detention founded divers Monasteries which they peopled with reformed Monks who certainly were much less good and more interested then the former had been Year of our Lord 996 He ended his Life Anno 996. the 29th of August or according to others the 22th of November aged about Fifty five years having Reigned nine years and some months He was buried at St. Denis If he Married Blanche the Widow of Lewis last Carolovinian King he had no Children by her but by his first Wife Adeleide Daughter according to some of William II. Duke of Aquitain he had a Son named Robert and three Daughters Haduige or Avoye Wise of Renier IV. Earl of Monts and of Haynault Adelais Wife to Renand I. Earl of Nevers and Gisle who Wedded Hugh I. Earl of Pontieu to whom she brought the City of Abbeville in Marriage Year of our Lord 996 The same year 996. Richard surnamed Sans Peur or without Fear Duke of Normandy ended his days in his Palace of Fâ—scamp aged Sixty four years of which he had Reigned nine and was Interred before the Portal of the Church there His Son Richard II. succeeded him About these times that Sacred Fire which they named the Burning Sickness and had otherwhile made great destruction broke out and kindled again cruelly tormenting France especially for two Ages It seized again on a suddain and burnt the Intrails or some other part of the Body which fell off piece-meal Happy were those that escaped with the loss of a Leg or an Arm. This caused many great Donatives to be given to those Saints whose help they believed they had received in the midst of their dreadful Torments as likewise the frequent sounding of Hospitals for such as were infected with this Distemper The Calamity which Anno 994. destroyed in Aquitain Angoumois Perigord and Limosin above 40000 Persons in a few days time wrought at least this good that the Grandees who had troubled this Province by their private Feuds fearing the Wrath of God made a Solemn Oath amongst themselves to do Justice to their Subjects and for this end formed a Holy League which drew other Provinces by their Example to do the like It was likewise in this Age that Pilgrimages to the Holy Land grew very Frequent I mean amongst the Seculars for the Monks and Clergy-men travelled to those Holy Places from the time of King Clovis If the Tenth have deserved the name of the Iron Age which is commonly bestow'd upon it must have been for the continual and very Bloody Wars between the Western Princes and for the terrible Devastations of the Normans the Hungarians and the Saracens but if they called it so for the ignorance and irregularity of their Manners it was rather in respect to the Church of Rome where in truth there were horrible Disorders and Crimes then those of France and Germany It is certain that the Bishops and Abbots notwithstanding the Prohibitions of Princes and Councils bore Arms and went to the Wars a Custom which passed into a Law and Obligation and lasted a long time in the third Race That several were plunged into Vanity Luxury and Dissolution and lived rather like Princes of this World then Apostles of Jesus Christ That those Wars which scourged them made them yet but more worthy of Chastisement for the Disorders and Licentiousness they fell into That their Manners run to ruine with their Buildings and that as there hardly remained any Monastery or Church entire so there was scarce any Discipline left not even amongst the very Monks That in fine many Churches were without a Pastor for example there was but one Bishop in all the Country of Gascongny who enjoyed the Revenue of six or seven Bishopricks But after all these Ruines they began before the middle of this Century to gather up the broken pieces or fragments and reform the behaviour of the Clergy as well as rebuild their Churches William Duke of Aquitain and Auvergne having founded the Monastery of Clugny in the year 910. and St. Mayeule having raised as it were a Nursery of Religious good Men they took some Plants from thence to stock and furnish those Abbys which the Princes re-edifi'd This Abbot and Odillon his Successor furnished at least twenty or thirty who remained still in submission to their common Mother and formed the Congregation of Clugny As much did William Abbot of St. Benigne at Dijon as likewise Abbon de Fleury to some others about Aquitain Subordinations which may procure much good and perhaps much greater evils St. Gerard of the Blood of the Dukes of Lorrain having embraced a Monastick Life reformed Eighteen or twenty Adalberon Bishop of Metz Brother to Frederic first Earlo Bar made a Regulation in those of his Bishoprick amongst others in that of Gorze and at St. Arnold from whence he expelled the Canons who were grown disorderly to place Monks in their stead Abbon de Fleury going to settle his Reformation in the Monasteries of Squirs upon the Garonne which therefore was called the Rule and in the Language of that Country La Reovle and near to which was built a City of that name was knock'd down by a Sedition which the Gascon Monks of that place and the Women had raised against him Amongst the Bishops there
eldest and some Rents and Moneys to Henry the youngest of the three Year of our Lord 1089 An. 1089. hapned the death of Robert called the Frison Earl of Flanders His Son of the same name succeeded in his Earldom Some time after he was Surnamed of Jerusalem because he was present at the Siege of that City An. 1099. Year of our Lord 1093 Foulk le Rechin extreamly incontinent and changeable towards Women but yet fuller of desire then ability after he had turned away two under colour of Proximity had in An. 1089. Married Bertrade the Daughter of Simon de Montfort The appetite of this Woman Young Beautiful and Gay did not sute with the age of her Husband she forsook him at three years end to cast her self into the Arms of King Philip who was a lover of Ladies and had not passed his 35th year There hapned to be a Bishop it was Eudes of Bayeux who undertoo to Marry them together upon condition he might have the Revenue of some Churches which the King bestowed upon him Year of our Lord 1094 Bertrade was of Parentage to the King in the Fifth or Sixth Degree and le Rechin her Husband in the Third or Fourth these were therefore two obstacles besides if Philip were free as he pretended he was Bertrade was not because her former Marriage had not been dissolved wherefore upon the hot pursuit of Ives Bishop of Chartres who shewed himself a zealous Defender of the Discipline of the Canons he was threatned with Excommunication at the Council d'Autun though the Pope suspended the effect or execution till the following year that he thundred it himself Year of our Lord 1095 in the Council of Clermont Year of our Lord 1095 The famous quarrel between the Pope and the Emperours which has caused so much mischief to Christendom was grown very hot it began betwixt Gregory VII and Henry VI. The First very imperious and undertaking the latter wicked cruel and irregular to the highest degree The Pope pretended to take away from the Emperour the investiture of Benefices as an unjust and sacrilegious thing but his true motive was a desire of the Empire of Italy and to subject all Princes to his Pontifical Power which seemed very feasible and easie because all Europe being divided into a Hundred and a Hundred several Dominions the Princes were but weak and the greatest number of them either out of Devotion or to avoid the Sovereignty of the more potent submitted and even devoted themselves to the Holy Chair and paid him Tribute so that had there been but three or four successive Popes crafty enough to have cloaked this design with at least an appearance of Sanctity and would have taken fit opportunities of relieving the people against their Oppressors they had made themselves sole Monarchs as well in Temporals as in Spirituals There was not that little Lord that did not Brave King Philip rocked asleep within the Arms of his Bertrade Miles Lord of Montlehery and Guy Troussel his Son made him sweat for anguish with their Castle of Montlehery and four or five others which they held in those parts with which they domineer'd over all the Country and interrupted the Trade betwixt Paris and Orleans though Guy Lord of Rochefort Brother of Miles was greatly in favour with Philip. Year of our Lord 1095 This year Vrban II. being come into France the refuge of persecuted Popes that he might be owned the true Head of the Church for the Emperour had dethroned him and caused another to be Elected Assembled a Council at Clermont in Auvergne in the Octave of St. Martins wherein he made a great many Canons for the reformation of the Clergy and especially to root out Simony and prohibit the Marriage of Priests and afterwards he Excommunicated King Philip and Bertrade his Concubine In the same Council upon the application and instances made by the Emperour Alexis to have some assistance against the Turks and upon the Remonstrances of Peter the Hermit a Gentleman of Picardy neer Amiens who having made a voyage into the Holy Land had been witness of the cruelties those Insidels did exercise upon the Christians the Pope by a warm discourse animated all the Prelats then present to incline the Faithful to take up Arms for the defence of Christendom and go into the East His Exhortations were so moving that they made impression on all their minds and this Zeal in a short time was spread all over Europe an infinite number of all qualities of all ages and of all Sexes Listed and Enroul'd themselves in this Sacred Militia The Signal was a Red Cross sowed upon the left Shoulder and the word Dieu le Veut The Turks after divers irruptions being called and taken into Pay by Machmet King of Persia who was a Saracen and had War with the Caliph of Babilon a Mahometan turned their Swords against himself and made themselves Masters of part of his Countrey in An. 1048. then of Mesopotamia Syria Judea and almost all Asia and had formed five or six Kingdoms one in Persia one in Bithynia one in Cilicia one in Damas whereon Jerusalem depended and one in Antioch Now subduing the Persian they had taken up their Religion which was the Mahometan This Reason joyned with their natural Barbarity inclined them to treat those Christians that inhabited Judea with all manner of cruelties and besides they threatned to invade the rest of Asia and destroy the whole Eastern Empire These Croisado's and beyond-sea Voyages the heat whereof lasted for above two hundred years was the ruine of the Great Lords and multitudes of the common people But the Popes and Kings found great advantages towards the making themselves absolute Those because they had the Command of these Expeditions whereof they were the Heads took into their protection the Persons and Estates of such as adventured made the use of Indulgences and Dispensations more common and current then formerly their Legats collected and managed the Alms and charitable Contributions that were given for the carrying on these Wars and it was even made a fair pretence to raise the Tenths upon the Clergy The Kings found their reckoning likewise because all the brave active and hottest Spirits going into these forreign Provinces left them a cleerer stage and more easie Government with less opposition to attain their chiefest ends The Lords and Grandees sold them their Estates or Engaged and Mortgaged them to raise Moneys or at their death they fell to Minors or Women from whose hands they were easie to be wrested And in fine France which swarmed with prodigious numbers of Men being evacuated by these great and frequent Phlebotomies became more gentle and submissive and their Wills less dependant on the Laws and antient Orders of the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1096 In the first Expedition there adventured above 300000 Men which were divided in several bodies Some took their way by Germany and Hungaria others by Sclavonia others again by
they held as what they produced how situated or some particularities of their Castles or such Office they bore Some there were that chose such things as preserved the memory of their brave Feats of Arms or some singular Adventure which had hapued to them or theirs and others in fine would have such as betokened their inclination not to mention those that would needs have their Coats out of a meer fantastical Humour and without any design These glorious Marks and Badges belonged otherwhile only to the Nobility and was not the least illustrious part of the Succession of their Noble Families Now at this time every one hath them the meanest villains are the most curious herein they have not only brought the ✚ Rebus's of the little Citizens Merchants Cyphers Shop-keepers Signs and Artists tools and implements into their Coats under the shadow of Crowns Helmets and Supporters but likewise by a confidence not to be endured they have made choice of the most illustrious things and given occasion to observe that there are no better Coats then the Arms of a Villain or Plebeian Year of our Lord 1096 97 98 and 99. From the first Croisade William Rufus King of England taking the opportunity of his Brothey Roberts absenc had seized on the Dutchy of Normandy Swoln with this increase of Power he promised himself to invade France because he saw the Excommunicated King languishing in the Arms of his Concubine who besides had but one lawful Son of 15 or 16 years of age and was destitute both of Money and Friends Nevertheless this young Prince surpassing his age did by his Courage and Virtue defend himself so well three years together that Rufus was forced to leave him in Peace and retired again into England In that Countrey letting himself loose to all sorts of infamous pleasures tiranny Year of our Lord 1100 and execrable wickedness both towards God and Man he perished in a tragical manner being as he was Hunting shot with an Arrow either designedly aimed at ☞ him or by chance which pierced his very Heart Henry his younger Brother got into the Throne during the absence of Duke Robert who was still in the Holy-Land Notwithstanding the Popes Excommunications the King had renewed society with Bertrade by the consent even of Foulk her Husband being so infinitely enchanted with that Woman that he was often seen at her Feet there to receive all her Year of our Lord 1098 99 and 1100. Commands as if he had been a Slave Some of the Belgick Bishops honour'd the Kings Adultery with the name of Marriage and on their great Feasts according to ancient custom placed the Crown upon her Head to shew or signifie they did not hold her to be Excommunicated but the Popes Legats denied to communicate with him and conven'd a Council at Poitiers in July where he was Excommunicated once more William Duke of Aquitain who feared the like Treatment having committed the like fault for he entertained a Concubine and had forsaken his lawful Wife affronted and abused the Prelats greatly and perhaps his Sorrow and Repentance for it afterwards prompted him to go to the Holy Land as we have observed The King constant in his Affections solicited the Popes Favour so earnestly that he sent some Legats to re-view the Cause Year of our Lord 1101 They assembled a Council at Baugency The King and Bertrade promised to abstain from each other till the Popes Dispensation and thus the Council broke up Year of our Lord 1102 without giving any Judgment The King continued with the recommendation of the Bishops to endeavour the obtaining a Dispensation in the Court of Rome in the end he had it he was Absolved in the City of Paris and his Marriage confirmed so officacious is constancy even in things not commendable The opposition of the Bishops served only to authorize the use of Dispensations from Rome which since have been very common in all matters and occasions Young Lewis whom they named the Prince of the Kingdom and was designed King by his Father it is not specified in what year took the Government of Affairs Year of our Lord 1102 3. and the following PHILIP LEWIS Surnamed the Gross designed King aged 19 or 20 years In those times the Rights of the French were such that they could not legally arrest the Lords nor punish them with death unless it were for Treason but only deprive them of their Lands I mean those they held of the King they called them Honours This was it that gave them Licence to arme to oppress the weaker to rob and plunder and above all usurp the Goods of the Church Year of our Lord 1100 Lewis had to do first with Bouchard Lord of Montmorency against whom he embraced the Cause of the Monks of St. Denis whose Lands that Lord had pillaged and having appeared according to an assignation in the Kings Court of Justice refused to obey the Sentence or Judgment given against him therein He forced him by destroying and burning all his Villages and his Castle it self to submit to Reason In like manner he chastifed Droco or Dreux de Mouchy and Lionnet de Meun who tyrannized this over the Churches of Orleans the other over those of Beauvais Also he humbled Matthew Count of Beaumont upon Oise Son-in-law to Hugh Earl of Clermont in Beauvoisis who having half of the Lands of Luzarches in Dowry had seized upon all and had devested the good Man his Father-in-law Year of our Lord 1103 He durst or would not intermeddle with the quarrel between the two Norman Brothers Robert and Henry The First upon his return from the Holy Land demanded the Kingdom of England of his younger Brother who had usurped it after the death of William Rufus The business after three years Negotiation and War was determined in this manner Robert An. 1107. having lost a Battle at Tinchâ—bray in Normandy was made prisoner by his cruel Brother who deprived him of Sight by placing a burning Bason of Brass before his Eyes whereof he dyed in Prison Thus the whole Succession of William the Conquerer remained in Henry the youngest of his three Sons Year of our Lord 1103 In the year 1103. Lewis passed into England to King Henry I cannot tell upon what design Bertrade his Mother-in-law who could willingly have sent him out of the World sollicited Henry to make him away and this Artifice failing she caused poison to be given him at his return into France which put him in great hazard of his Life Year of our Lord 1104 The King to rid himself of the trouble brought upon him by the Family of Montlehery agreed upon a Marriage with Guy Troussel betwixt Philip his Son and bertrade to whom he gave the Earldom of Mantes on condition that Guy should deliver him the Castle of Montlehery which he did Year of our Lord 1104 At the same time or a little after Guy Lord of Rochefort Uncle of Troussel entirely possessing the Kings
Favour contracted his Daughter Luciana but ten years old to Prince Lewis Year of our Lord 1103 Ebles Baron de Roucy a famous Captain who often raised Soldiers with which he went into Spain not so much to fight the Saracens as to find opportunity to plunder and pillage the Churches vexed all those of Champagne upon complaint of the Clergy Lewis hastens to Reims his Celerity astonished the Plunderer so much that he laid down his Arms and promised to forbear those Robberies Year of our Lord 1106 The protection he gave to Thomas Lord of Marle against Enguerrand de Boves his Father was not so just Thomas by means of his Castle of Montagu in Laonnois committed a thousand Cruelties and Robberies insomuch that his Father was forced to besiege him Lewis upon the request of Thomas re-victuals the Castle at which Enguerrand and the Lords were so enraged that they declared they owned him no longer for their Sovereign since he protected the wicked They were almost ready even to give him battle but being brought to a Conference they kissed his Hand and swore Service to him The unhappy Emperour Henry IV. against whom the Popes had stirred up first his eldest Son Conrad then he being dead Henry his Second Son being taken prisoner by this unnatural Child wrote very pathetical Letters to King Philip and Prince Louis which begot a great deal of compassion towards him but no help Being got out of prison he died in the City of Liege the Second of August and Henry V. his Son succeeded him in his quarrel with the Pope as well as in his Estates Pope Paschal II. not willing to go to this Henry because said he the Germans are yet enough humbled came into France passed to Clugny la Charite Tours Paris and went to St. Denis where the King and his Son paid him their Respects by bowing Year of our Lord 1106 down to the very ground At Chaalons he Treated with the Ambassadors of Henry V. and held a Council at Troyes In this Council whether by the zeal of the Prelats or the suggestion of Prince Lewis the Pope pronounced the Dissolution of his Marriage not yet consummated with Luciana Guy de Rochefort discontent for the Divorce of his Daughter retires from Court Anseau and Stephen de Garland the Brothers exasperate Prince Lewis's Spirit against him which they swayed Rochefort commits some hostilities at his Castle of Gournay upon Marne Lewis besieges the place a League is formed between Rochefort and Thibauld Earl of Blois and Chartres Lewis goes to meet the Army of these discontented Gentlemen defeats them and returning to the Siege takes Gournay Year of our Lord 1108 King Philip quite wasted with excess of pleasures dies at Melun the 26th of July aged 56 years whereof he had Reigned 48 and two Months From thence he was carried to St. Bennets Abby on the Loire where he had chosen his Burying place He was a Prince of a good shape and stature but his softness and amorous Commerce had rendred his Body unactive and heavy and stupisied his Conscience and Courage He had had two Wives Berthe the Daughter of Florent Earl of Holland and Bertrade of Simon de Montfort The First brought him two Children Lewis who Reigned and Constance who Married Boemond Prince of Antioch An. 1106. By Bertrade were born two Sons Philip and Florus or Fleury and one Daughter named Cecely The two Sons were Married but had no Male-issue The First was Earl of Mantes Mâ—un upon Yeurre and Montlehery the Daughters first Husband was Tancred Prince of Antioch the Second was Ponce de Toulouza Count of Tripoly The Tenths the Offrings the Presentations and the very Churches as we have related had been Infeoffed to the Laity by a strange abuse whereof the Footsteps are yet to be seen in Gascongne The Lords took the investiture of the Prince and held them of him in Fief so that they could not alienate them without his consent and when they sold them it was upon condition of preference for the Curate or for the Bishop if he would Now to bring them back by little and little to the Ordinarys it had been ordained by the Councils especially by that of Mets under King Arnulf that the Laicks should not put them off of their hands nor give them to the Monasteries without the permission of the Diocesan Bishops or the Pope which was since confirmed by the Council of Rome in the year 1078. and by that of Melfe An. 1090. When it hapned then that the Seculars would discharge their Consciences and restore those Possessions to the Church which their Fathers had usurped during the Wars the Ordinaries believed they ought not to suffer the Monks should draw these to themselves and joyned together to make them revert to the benefit of the Hierarchical Order This was the subject of an obstinate and bloody quarrel between the Bishops and the Monks the First held divers Assemblies to preserve their Rights There was one amongst the rest in the Abby of St. Denis about the end of the Tenth Century where Seguin de Sens venerable both for his Age and Virtue presided The Monks perceiving the Council was going to pronounce against them raised a furious Sedition to scatter them Abbon de Fleury was accused to have been the Boute-feu How ever it were Seguin was wounded with an Axe betwixt the two Shoulders and Arnold d'Orleans a particular enemy to Abbon had lost his Life there had he not fled away betimes As the conduct of the Prince is the Rule to all his Kingdom the Piety of Robert served not a little to contain the Ecclesiasticks in their Duty and incline them to the exercise of their Religion and the study of good Literature We ought certainly to reckon him the first amongst the Learned Men of this age not so much for his quality and rank as for his capacity which was not little for those times and to him we may add Gauslin his bastard Brother Arch-Bishop of Bourges who amongst other Works composed a Discourse about the causes of the showre of Blood that had fallen An. 1017. in Aquitain for three days together and had this of wonderful in it That it could not be wiped or rubbed off from any Flesh Cloaths or Stones but out of Wood the spots might be easily taken away and leave no stain behind Amongst other persons of erudition those that most excell'd were Foulk and Yves Bishops of Chartres Leoterick of Sens Gervas de Reims Chancellour of France Beranger Arch-Deacon of Anger 's Hildebert du Mans his Disciple and Admirer and Gefroy de Vendosme these two passed very far in the other age Lanfranc Abbot of St. Stephens at Caen Durand Bishop of Liege and the Monks Sigebert of Gemblours Glaber of Clugny and Helgaud de Fleury who all three labour'd in History We must take notice besides those most eminent Servants of God Odillon whom we have already
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
he brought most of them to their Duty one after another Eudes being dead during these Transactions he Treated with Hugh de Puiset who was to inherit that Earldom and making him resign his Right provided he would give him his liberty put himself in possession of that place of great importance at that juncture Year of our Lord 1112 c. Some time after Hugh having re-fortisied le Puiset and committing a thousand Insolencies upon the Neighbouring Countries he besieged him in that place but the Champenois having the rest that were in League together for him failed not to come to relieve it Two great Battles were fought one to the Kings disadvantage the other to his advantage after that they talked of an Accommodation and Hugh obtained his Pardon Milon Vicount de Troyes whom the King had re-setled in Montlehery had withdrawn himself from the rest of the Leagued Party Crescy not being able to draw him in again surprized him by Treachery and after he had led him about to divers Castles bound and setter'd not knowing where to secure him so but the King would deliver him nor how to let him go but he would take his Revenge he caused him to be Strangled in the night and thrown out of a Window at the Castle of Gumet He would have had it believ'd that he had broken his Neck endeavouring to make his escape but the Crime was discover'd and the King with great diligence besieged the Castle of Gumet The wretched Murtherer being condemned to justifie himself by Duel in the Court of Amaulry de Montfort had not the courage to expose himself to that hazard and therefore finding himself Convicted he came and cast himself at the Kings Feet gave up his Lands to him and put on the Habit of a Monk as his Pennance Year of our Lord 1116 Hugh du Puiset being Revolted the third time the King again besieged that Castle razed it and then turned that Rebel out of all his Estate This unfortunate Man having in a Sally killed Anseau de Garlande Grand Seneschal and Favourite to the King and not daring to remain any longer in the Country went a while after to the Holy Land which in those times was the Refuge of Banish'd and Condemned People as it was likewise of true Penitents Year of our Lord 1116 Thomas de Marle Lord of Coucy had been Excommunicated and Degraded of his Nobility Anno 1114. by the Popes Legat in the Council of Beauvais for the Sacriledge and Robberies he committed upon the Churches and the People belonging to the Bishopricks of Reims Laon and Amiens That Sentence had inflamed his Rage to do yet worse even to the setting Fire to the City of Laon and the Noble Church of Nostre-Dame I believe it was that of Liesse to Massacre the Bishop Galderic and cut off that Finger whereon he wore the Episcopal Ring The King who flew about every where with incredible Celerity ran that way before this Robber had seized the Tower of Laon forced and razed his Castles of Crecy and Nogent and brought him to Reason Year of our Lord 1116 17. He quelled likewise another puny Tyrannet named Adam that ravaged all the Neighbourhood of Amiens He had gotten possession of the City Tower which was very strong and gave a great deal of trouble but the King having begirt it for two years gained it and razed it About Ten or Eleven years afterwards Thomas draws the King again upon him by the like Deportment so that he went and besieged his Castle of Coucy It hapned that making their approaches Rodolph Count de Vermandois met him wounded him and took him Prisoner He was carried to Laon where he died miserably of his Wounds Henry King of England was the Boute-feu and Support of all these Revolts Year of our Lord 1117 King Lewis in Retaliation had stirred up against him his Nephew William Son of the Deceased Duke Robert whom he admitted to do Hommage for the Dukedom of Year of our Lord 1117 Normandy and gave him the Castle and City of Gisors the first occasion of the Quarrel This Nephew being thus supported put his Uncle to so much trouble that he was fain to make a Peace with Lewis promising to leave all the Rebels to his Mercy Year of our Lord 1118 Archambaud Lord of Bourbon being dead Hemon his Brother surnamed Vaire-Vache under pretence of claiming his Share detained the whole Possession to the prejudice of the Son and Treated his Subjects especially the Clergy very Tyrannically The King assigns him to plead his Right before the Parliament Upon his refusal to appear he went in Person to compel him and besieged his Castle of Germigny Hemon dreading his Wroth came and craved his Pardon he received him to Mercy and took both him and his Nephew along with him to bring them to an agreement of all their Disputes The Quarrel between the Emperor and Pope concerning the right of Investitures being burst out anew with more heat then ever Pascal II. being Pope the Emperor Henry V. had seized both upon him and all his Cardinals and constrained him to allow him the priviledge of nominating two Bishopricks Afterwards that Pope being at liberty annull'd that Treaty in the Council of Latran and Excommunicated the Emperor Year of our Lord 1118 In this year 1118. Galasius was elected in the room of Pascal or Paschalis but he sought not the approbation of the Emperor who being displeased at that neglect or contempt caused one Maurice Burdin to be chosen a Limosin by Birth and Archbishop of Braga in Portugal to whom they gave the name of Gregory Year of our Lord 1119 Gelasius being then driven from Rome took his way into France to hold a Council there as he did in the City of Vienne but he died the same year in the Abby of Clugny Year of our Lord 1119 The Cardinals that had followed him elected Guy Archbishop of Vienne who took the name of Calixtus II. He was the Brother of Stephen Earl of Burgundy and Uncle of Adele or Alix Queen of France who was the Daughter of his Sister and of Humbert Earl of Morienne and this consideration did fortisie the Holy See with great Alliances against the Emperor Year of our Lord 1119 The whole Kingdom of France having taken his part he came from Vienne to Toulouze where he held a Council Thence he went to Reims where he called another in which divers Canons were made to take away Simony the Investiture of Benefices from Laicks Concubines from Priests and the selling of Sacraments The King was present the Emperor Henry would not be there and having refused to part with the right of Investitures was Excommunicated There was almost the same contest and difference betwixt the Popes and the Kings of France These pretending the Election and Provisions of the Popes were not sufficient without their consent So that it had begot great troubles in the Churches of Bourges Reims Beauvais and
trampled under foot the People Merchants Clergy Widows and Orphans were exposed to Rapine and Plunder The Lords and Gentlemen had all of them Castles from whence they fallied out to Rob upon the High-ways upon Rivers and the defenceless Countries As soon as he could ride on Horseback he buckled on his Armour running wherever the Oppressed cried out to him for help and sighting Personally as a private Soldier so that having brought many of these Tyrannets to Reason he began to settle things again in order and security He had by his Wife Alix Daughter of Humbert Earl of Savoy Seven Children yet living Six Sons and one Daughter The Sons were Lewis who Reigned Henry who was a Monk at Clerveaux then Bishop of Beauvais Hugh of whom we know nothing but his Name Robert who for his share had the Earldom of Dreux from whom sprung the Branch of the Earls of that name Peter who Married Isabella Daughter and Heiress of Renaud Lord of Courtenay whence came the Branch of Courtenay whereof there are yet some younger Brothers or Cadets Philip who was Archdeacon of Paris and being elected Bishop had so much modesty that he yielded it to Peter Lombard called the Master of Sentences whose Book hath served as a foundation of School-Divinity The Daughter was called Constance she was Married first to Eustace Earl of Boulogne by whom she had no Children her second Marriage was with Raymond V. Earl of Toulouze As for Scholastick Learning it is fit we observe that towards the end of the Reign of Lewis the Gross a Philosopher named John Rousselin and after him the famous Peter Abelard his Disciple both Bretons introduced in the Schools certain Notions and certain Expressions with a Sophistical manner of Arguing drawn from Philosophy and applied to Theology which hath intangled it with Questions subtil and dangerous and which savour more of the Metaphisicks then of the Holy Scripture The great Wits of those times having nothing better to apply themselves to there being none that taught the true Sciences nor good Literature fell all into these Ergotries Lewis called the Young King XL. POPES INNOCENT II. S. Six years under this Reign CELESTINE II. Elected in Sept. 1143. S. Five Months and an half LUCIUS II. Elected in March 1144. S. Eleven Months and an half ANASTASIUS IV. Elected in July 1153. S. One year and five Months ADRIAN IV. Elected in Dec. 1154. S. Four years and near eight Months ALEX. III. Elected in Sept. 1159. S. almost Twenty two years LEWIS called the Young during his Fathers Life time and the Pious King XL. Aged Nineteen or Twenty years Year of our Lord 1137 AFter Lewis the Young had taken possession of Guyenne he brought his new Spouse to Paris where he laboured with his Council to establish the publick Safety and that Justice which some petty Tyrants began to disturb afresh Ranfomming the Common People and Merchants The Cities to defend themselves from these Oppressions had framed Communities that is to say created Popular Magistrates with power to Assemble the Citizens and Arm them For this end they must have the Kings Letters Patents which he granted willingly with many fair Priviledges thereby to oppose them against the overgrown power of the Lords Some Citizens of Orleans making use of this power to the prejudice of the Regal Authority and running into Mutinies he repress'd them as he past that way and brought them to their Duty again Year of our Lord 1138 As he was Soveraign Lord of Normandy he was obliged to concern himself in the Dispute between Gefroy Plantagenet Husband to Matilda and Stephen Earl of Blois and Boulogne who disputed it between them At first he took part with Gefroy invested him in the Dutchy and received Hommage from him and in Recompence Gefroy gave him the Normand Vexin but when Stephen who was come over from England had got some advantage upon Gefroy Lewis changing his Party puts his Son Eustace into possession aged not above Fourteen or Fifteen years and gave his Sister Constance in Marriage to him The Schism in the Roman Church was extinguished by the Death of Anacletus and after by the Cession of Victor whom the Cardinals of Anacletus had elected Pope The Emperor Lotaire II. deceased in a thatched Cabbin the Third of December Anno 1138. After four Months Interregnum Conra d III. of that name was elected Year of our Lord 1139 Roger having made himself Master of the Dutchy of Puglia by the Death of Duke Reynold Feudatary to the Holy See bad taken Pope Innocent Prisoner who made War upon him without Mercy ever since he got into the Papacy Now having him in his own hands be obliged him partly by force partly by his good Vsage and Respect to confirm the Title of King of Sicily to him which Anacletus the Anti-Pope had already bestowed upon him Thus began the Kingdom of Sicily which besides the Island likewise comprehended Puglia and Calabria that is to say what we now call the Kingdom of Naples Thierry of Alsatia goes into the Holy Land with great numbers of the Nobility to the relief of Fulk King of Jerusalem his Wives Father and leaves the Administration of his Earldom of Flanders in the hands of Sibylla his Wife Stephen returned into England is vanquish'd and taken by Robert Earl of Gloucester Bastard Brother to Matilda William of Ipres a brave Soldier who had taken Sanctuary in that Country found a way to make this Robert Prisoner the sole Counsellor and Support of Matilda so that to get him again she releases Stephen but during the time he was under Restraint Gefroy recover'd a great part of Normandy Year of our Lord 1139 This year Alfonso I. Duke of Portugal having obtained a most famous Victory over five petty Moorish Kings or Generals was saluted and proclaimed King by his Army Five Year of our Lord 1139 years after he renders his Estates Tributary to the Holy Chair to pay down four Ounces of Gold annually Anno 1078. he puts it wholly under the protection of the Pope and encreases the Tribute unto two Marks of Gold upon which Condition Alexander II. confirmed the Title of King to him This Alfonso was the Son of one Henry who going into Spain about the year 1089. to seek his Fortunes Married Tresa Daughter of Alfonso VI. King of Castile and had for Dowry the Earldom of Portugal formerly gained by him from the Moors The most exact Genealogists assure us that this King Henry was of the French Blood being Son say they of another Henry who was Son of Robert Duke of Burgundy Son of King Robert Year of our Lord 1140 We do not find during these years any Stirs or Troubles in the King of Frances Territories unless it were some Contentions amongst the Divines Peter Abelard disputing with too much subtilty concerning the Trinity and other Misteries of Faith had given occasion to accuse him of Novelty and Error for which he was condemned by the
prudence He won a Battle at his passage over the Meander but reaped little benefit for after that not standing upon his Guard he received a notable check in a narrow Pass through the Mountains At last he arriv'd at Antioch whereof Raimond Uncle to the Queen his Wife then held the Principality Year of our Lord 1148 This Raimond did all he could to oblige him to employ his Forces for the enlarging the limits of his Principality The King refusing it because he would continue his march towards Jerusalem he resolved to be reveng'd and to this purpose persuades the Queen to demand to be Divorc'd from him as being of Consanguinity within the third or fourth Degree This Princess being Fickle and Amorous and having but a mean Esteem for her Husband was easily over-sway'd by her Uncle The King could find no other remedy to avoid this scandal then by taking her away in the night time out of Antiocb and sending her before him to Jerusalem Now the Emperor Conrad after he had been at Constantinople to refresh himself was come to Jerusalem to pay his Devotions The King and he holding a Council together with the Lords in that Holy City resolved to besiege Damascus This Enterprize had no better success then all the rest by reason of the horrid treachery of the Christians of those Countries So these two Princes detesting their wickedness which outvied the Malice and abominable Vices of the very Infidels thought of nothing but their return again The Emperor having made Alliance with the Greeks against Roger King of Sicily was by them brought back into Italy Soon after the King being Embarqu'd in his Year of our Lord 1149 Fleet met the Navy belonging to those Traitors who lay in wait for him Whilst they were engaged or as some Authors tell us were carrying him away Prisoner by good fortune arrives the Fleet of Roger King of Sicily their capital Enemy commanded by his Lieutenant who made them quit their Prize having burnt taken and sunk a great many of their Vessels Alfonso Earl of Tonlouze Third Son of Raimond de Saint Gilles had also made that Voyage about the same time as the King but went all the way by Sea and landed at the Port of Ptolemais He got not far into the Country before he died having been basely Poyson'd though it could not be known who had committed the Execrable Deed. His Son Raimond was his Successor During the time of this Expedition St. Bernard was wholly employ'd in Languedoc in opposing one Henry a certain Monk that had cast off his Frock a Disciple of Peter de Bruys who Preached with much applause but with little integrity of Life as it was said of him almost the same Opinions as the Zuinglians and the Calvinists Preached in these latter Ages Year of our Lord 1148 A certain Wealthy Citizen of Lyons named Valdo did likewise about Ten or twelve years after this Preach the same things in Lyonnois and the neighbouring Provinces They called such as were Followers of Henry and Peter de Bruys Henricians and Petro-Bruysians and those Valdo Poor of Lyons or Vandois There were some Remnants of these last in the Valleys of Dauphine and Savoy when Luther began to appear Year of our Lord 1148 In the year 1148. hapned the death of Conan the Gross Duke of Bretagne Eudon Earl of Pontieure who was Married to Berthe his Daughter seized on the Dutchy to the prejudice of Hoel whom the Duke Conan had disowned for his Son From hence broke forth a War between these two Princes which two or three years afterwards was complicated with another much longer which lasted Thirteen or fourteen years at times between the same Eudon and Conan III. surnamed the Little his own Son who would needs enjoy the Dukedom because it came by his Mothers side This bad Son having recourse to Henry King of England for assistance used his Father roughly and also compell'd the Nantois who took Hoels part to forsake him we do not know what became of him at last The ill success of the Foreign Expedition which had made so many Widows and Orphans ruin'd so many good Families and unpeopled so many Countries bread Year of our Lord 1149 50. grievous Murmurings and Reproaches against the Reputation of St. Bernard who seemed to promise them a quite contrary Event So that when the Pope would two years after have had him Preach up another Croisado and obliged him to go Personally to the Holy-Land to draw the greater numbers after him the Monks of Cisteaux broke all those Measures fearing a second misfortune which might have proved greater then the first Year of our Lord 1150 The King at his return to France finding the War continued still between King Stephen and Matilda joyned his Army with Eustace Son of Stephen to besiege the Castle d'Arques Gefroy the Husband of Matilda and his Son Henry to whom the year before he had resigned the Dutchy marched to the Relief The two Armies being within sight the Lords on either side undertook an Accommodation and manag'd it so that the King who without doubt found himself to be the weaker agreed to receive Prince Henry upon Hommage who by this means was the Twelfth Duke of Normandy Towards the end of the year Gefroy ended his days at the Castle du Loir leaving three Sons Henry Gefray and William He ordained that forthwith Henry should Year of our Lord 1150 quietly enjoy the Mothers Estates to wit England and Normandy That Gefroy should have the Paternal that is Anjou Touraine and Maine with the Castles of Loudun Chinon and Mirebeau and William the Earldom of Mortaing Year of our Lord 1151 Not long after died Enstace Earl of Boulogne his Death was a means to restore Englands Peace for as much as Stephen his Father seeing himself Childless was over-persuaded it was not though till two years after to consent that when he died the Kingdom should return to Henry This Prince as English Authors tell us would have resumed the County of Toulouze in right of his Wife but Earl Raimond gained so much upon him by Marrying his Sister Constance the Widow of Earl Eustace newly dead that he confirmed to him the possession thereof The following year 1152. hapned the death of Thibauld Count Palatine of Champagne Year of our Lord 1152 surnamed the Liberal the Father of the Council and Guardian of the Poor and Orphans a Man of great Justice who notwithstanding was almost in continual War with the Kings He had four Sons and five Daughters The Sons were Henry Earl of Troyes or Champagne Thibauld Earl of Blois and Chartres Stephen Earl of Sancerre Henry Archbishop of Sens afterwards of Reims This year also died the Emperor Conrad to whom for want of Male Issue by Election succeeded Frederick I. surnamed Barbarossa Duke of Alman or Sâ—wabe his Sister Son If I do not mistake it was under this Frederick that the French began to give the Germans the name
to which he replied that Soldiers could not be kept without Money They soon understood what he desired and the mischief pressing hard upon them they were constrain'd to give and immediately the Lords desisted from plundering Year of our Lord 1191. and the following In the interim John King of England summon'd for three several times to answer the accusation in King Philips Court endeavour'd to gain time and made all delays But Philip finding himself strong in Men and provided with Money having no counter-poise in his Kingdom because he held in his own hands the Garde-noble of the potent House of Champagne and the Earl of Flanders was gone into the Levant had resolved to push on against him He therefore gave some Forces to Prince Arthur to pursue his Right having before betrothed his Daughter Mary to him At the same time he entred upon Normandy where he forced five or six places and received the most considerable Lords of the Countrey into favour amongst the rest Hugh de Gournay and the Earl of Alenson who assured him of their Service and their Towns Arthur on his side attaques Poitou the Earls de la Marche and d'Eu Gefroy de Luzignan and their friends being joyned with him His Grand-Mother Alienor had Year of our Lord 1201 put her self into Mirebeau he besieges her there King John hastens thither with so much diligence that he surprizes him one fair Morning napping in his Bed takes him prisoner and sends him to the Castle of Falaize Normandy and Poitou being shaken in this manner comes a Legat from the Pope who ordains the two Kings to assemble the Bishops and Lords of their Countreys Year of our Lord 1202 and by their Consultations put an end to these Disputes John would readily have consented to this Order but Philip who was not willing to give over so fair a Game obliged his who were assembled at Mantes to throw in an Appeal from the Sentence of the Legat to the Pope himself which was to gain time and continue his progress Year of our Lord 1202 The respect for Queen Alienor had still with-held King John from staining his hands in the Blood of the unfortunate Arthur Soon after her death he caused him to be brought to the Castle of Rouen he kept his Court in that City and in a very obscure night he drew him forth thence and led him to such a place that afterwards he was never seen It being justly presum'd that he had murther'd him Constance the Mother of that young Prince demanded Justice of King Philip for that parricide committed in his Territory and upon the person of one of his Vassals He caused John therefore to be summoned before his Peers or Pairs where not appearing nor sending any to excuse him he was by judgment of that Court Condemned as attainted and convicted of Parricide and Felony to lose all the Lands he had in France which should be consiscated and forfeit to the Crown and all such as should defend them reputed Guilty de Laesae-Majestatis Year of our Lord 1203 In prosecution or rather execution of this Decree Philip partly by force partly by intelligence took from him this year almost all the higher or upper Normandy whilst this unworthy lazy Man pass'd away the time with his Wife at Caen as if all had been in a profound Peace We may imagine that if he would have taken some care of his Affairs Philip could not so easily have conquer'd so many places since the single Castle de Gaillard neer Andeley situate on a Rock both very high and steep on all sides endured a Five months Siege but both Heaven and Earth had declar'd against him his friends betray'd him his Subjects became unfaithful and he meanly abandonn'd himself Year of our Lord 1204 The following year Philip made himself Master of all the Cities of the Lower Normandy almost without a blow Rouen it self which was the Capital of the whole Province environ'd with a double Wall and very affectionate to her natural Dukes After a Siege of forty days being informed by the Deputies sent to King John that no Relief or assistance could be had from him surrendred to the Conquerour upon condition he should maintain the Citizens in their Franchises and Priviledges which he agreed to and they obtained Letters or a Charter to secure it a procaution as feeble against an absolute Power as Paper is against Steel Year of our Lord 1204 Two or three other places which yet defended themselves followd the example of Rouen and so it was that in less then three years he gained all Normandy which had had Twelve Dukes of that Nation whereof John was the last who had Govern'd them about Three hundred and sixteen years At the same time William des Roches who had quitted John's party to joyn with Philip secured the Counties of Anjou du Maine and de Touraine and Henry Clement Mareschal of France conquer'd all Poitou for him excepting only Niort Touars and Rochel Year of our Lord 1205 The next year the King himself having gotten a great Train of Artillery forced the Castle des Loches and some places that remained in the hands of the English in Touraine Year of our Lord 1203 The French and the Venetians sailing to Constantinople with only 28000 Men forced the Harbour and afterwards the City though there were above Threescore thousand Fighting Men there deliver'd Isaac out of prison and caused the young Alexis his Son to be Crowned The Tyrant Alexis and his Brother-in-law Theodorus Luscaris having made their escape over the Walls retir'd to Adrianople Year of our Lord 1204 Whilst this Army of the Cross wintered about Constantinople and Isaac and his Son endeavour'd to make good what they had promis'd them for their reward the people upon whom they Levied very great sums of Money mutined One certain Alexis Ducas surnamed Murzufle Great Master of the Wardrobe to young Alexis headed the sedition seized on that Prince whilst Isaac was in his last Agonie and strangled him with his own hands Then caused himself to be Declared Emperour and went forth with the City Militia against the aforesaid Army but they were presently beaten back Constantinople besieg'd and within Sixty days taken by Storm swimming in Blood and a great part consumed by Fire The Conquerours gave power to Twelve of the chief amongst themselves to elect an Emperour upon condition That if he were a French man the Patriarch should be a Venetian and so on the contrary The intrigues of the Venetians for whose interest Boniface Marquis of Montferrat was not so convenient though he seemed most worthy of the Empire manag'd it so that the Electors conferr'd it upon Baldwin Earl of Flanders and the Patriarchat upon Thomas Morosini a Venetian After they had setled things in order within the City they easily conquer'd all what the Grecian Empire possess'd in Europe and formed several Principalities there of which the Marquis de Montferrat who married Isaac's
way of appealing to the Councils and notwithstanding goes on and reduces Sussex and all the Southern parts excepting Windsor and Dover The Ambassadors pleaded his Cause earnestly at Rome they shewed that John was justly degraded for his Tyrannies and because he had been condemned to death for the Murther of his Nephew Arthur by the Pairs of France and made it out that the Kingdom since he was Excluded belonged to his Neece the Wife of Prince Lewis Whilst they disputed their Masters Rights he successfully employs his Sword in Conquering Essex Suffolk and Norfolk Having reduc'd them he returns to besiege Dover his Father reproaching him for having imprudently left that place behind him The Pope offended at his Progress confirmed the Sentence of Excommunication against him and although Philip protested he gave him neither Assistance nor Advice prosering even if the Church did so ordain to Confiscate his Lands nevertheless he commanded the Bishop of Sens to denounce him Excommunicate likewise and to put France under an Interdiction but the Prelats assembled at Melun declared they would not submit to that Sentence till they were more fully informed of the Popes Intentions Mean while King John who wandred about the Country hating all his Subjects hapned to dye by Poyson which as it was believ'd a Monk had given him He left three Sons very young Henry Richard and Edmond The hatred of the Englishmen towards him expired with his Life and their Affection for his Son Henry revived being their Natural Lord and one whose Innocence and Tender Age called for their Compassion so that the young Kings Affairs began to prosper and Lewis's to decline He perceiving the English forsook him one after another and his own People afrighted with the thundring Excommunications from Rome inclined to make a Truce with Henry for some Months Year of our Lord 1216 During this Suspension he returns into France to Consult with the King his Father but he fearing to exasperate the Pope refuses to see his Son and would not Confer with him but by the interposition of others Lewis upon his return into England found his Enemies Party were the stronger his Army was afterwards defeated near Lincoln and he besieged in London after that rout Wherefore to free himself from farther danger and retire with Bag and Baggage he was forc'd to Treat with Henry promising amongst other Conditions to surrender all the places he held in England to submit his Pretensions to the Judgment of the Church to use his utmost endeavour to oblige his Father to restore all what he had taken from King John in France and if he could not prevail to do it then himself when he came to the Crown Which was to promise more then he would or could perform Year of our Lord 1216 Henry Emperor of Constantinople and Brother to Baldwin who had been so likewise died Anno 1216. having Reigned Eleven years Peter de Courtenay Earl of Auxerre who Married his Sister Yolant went this year from France to take that Crown Passing thorough Italy he was Crowned at Rome with his Wife took Shipping eight days after and arriv'd in Greece but as he was crossing Thessalie having Pass-ports from Theodorus Comnenus he was made Prisoner by that perfidious Man who slew most part of those Lords that went with them and having detained him three or four years caused him cruelly to be Murthered Yolant a Heroick Woman govern'd the Empire two years after his death in which time the Lords sent to profer the Empire to Philip Earl of Nevers his eldest Son but he refused to accept it and yielded up willingly that perilous Honour to Robert his younger Brother Year of our Lord 1217 When young King Henry was fully setled in his Throne his Council sent Ambassadors into France to challenge Lewis of his Promise and re-demand the Dutchy of Normandy and other Countries taken from his Father They were answer'd with the Confiscation that had been ordered by the Judgment of his Pairs Year of our Lord 1217 18. Whilst the Eari of Montfort in vain besieged the City of Beaucaire Count Raimond brought some Forces from Arragon whither he was retir'd with which he regained several of his places and especially Toulouze which he presently fortifi'd with Intrenchments and Pallisado's Montfort went and laid Siege to it but after he had held it besieged seven whole Months he was slain in a Sally He had three Sons Year of our Lord 1218 Amaulry who succeeded him in the Rights of his Conquests Guy who was Married to Petronella Heiress to the Count of Bigorre as being Daughter of Estiennete the Daughter and Heiress of Count Centulle and Simon Earl of Leicester in England by the Grandmother Year of our Lord 1219 Amaulry was not strong enough to maintain his Conquests the King assisted him first with Six hundred Men then with Ten thousand Foot who not being yet enough to compass that business Prince Lewis upon the Popes earnest Request undertakes that Expedition the second time He happily succeeded in the taking of Marmanda on the Garonne and some other places in Angenois but not in the Siege of Toulouze because his Father recalled him fearing the Troubles that were begun in Bretagne might be created by the English on purpose to set France in a greater flame Year of our Lord 1218 19 and 20. The business was that the Earls Salomon and Conan whom Duke Peter had unjustly thrown out of their Estates being retir'd into the Forests ravaged and wasted his Country with some Bandits they had got together and at the same time the Barons revolted against him because he would arrogate to himself the Guardianship or Wardnoble of Gentlemens Orphan-Sons till they had attained to Twenty years of Age. They had Combined in a League and with Amaulry Lord de Craon very potent in Friends and Alliance who had declared War against him about a certain Castle that Duke had usurped from him This Quarrel complicated with several Interests lasted above two years and ended not but by a great Battle fought near Chastean-briand where the Duke much the weaker in numbers of Men gained the Year of our Lord 1220 Victory and made Amaulry Prisoner The Barons were not brought so low by this bloody loss but they continued the War for some Months but that was only to obtain the better Conditions Year of our Lord 1220 21 and 22. The Truce with the English being prolong'd France enjoy'd a Calm for three or four years during which Philip employ'd himself about the Walling Enlarging Fortifying building Bridges making Causeys and the like conveniencies in all the Cities that were of his Demeasns or belonging to the Crown which Expences though for the publick good was out of his own proper Fund not raised or exacted upon his Subjects but paying very justly for all those Grounds and Houses belonging to private Persons which were necessary for him to have towards carrying on these Publick Works Year of our Lord 1222
decamp till he brought the Besieged to Reason in so much that on the Assumption-day they were reduced to a Capitulation They gave up two hundred Hostages their Walls were pull'd down their Moats and Grafts fill'd up and three hundred Houses with Turrets demolish'd These were Inns belonging to Gentlemen who had the like at Toulouze and other great Cities in those Provinces Going thence the King went into Provence and all the Towns surrender'd to him within four Leagues of Toulouze The Season growing bad and he somewhat tender of Constitution he takes his way back towards France leaving the Conduct of his Forces and the Government of those Countries in the hands of Imbert de Beau-jeu Year of our Lord 1226 Upon his return one of the Grandees of the Kingdom whom History has not dar'd to name caused some Poyson to be given him whereof he died at the Castle of Montpencier in Auvergne upon a Sunday being the Octave of All-Saints He had Year of our Lord 1226 lived Thirty nine years and had Reigned three and about four Months He is buried at St. Denis by his Father The Clergy because of his Piety and his Chastity reported that his Sickness proceeded from his too great Continence for his Wife did not go with him and that he chose rather to dye then make use of an unlawful Remedy they presented him for Cure As he foresaw things in a posture that threatned great troubles after his death he took the Oaths and Seals of Twelve Lords that were about him that they should cause his eldest Son to be Crowned and if he failed they should put the Second in his stead By his Wife Blanche de Castille he had nine Sons and two Daughters there were but five Sons alive Lewis Robert Alphonso Charles and John According to his Will and Testament Lewis Reigned Robert had the County of Artois and propagated the branch of that name Alphonso had that of Poitou and Charles that of Anjou From him sprung the first Branch of Anjou John dyed at the age of 14 years Of the two Daughters only Isabella was left who having been promised to divers Princes and grown to be an old Maid took on the Holy vail and shut her self up the year 1260. in the Monastery of Longchamp between Paris and St. Cloud which the King her Brother founded for her Saint Lewis King XLIII Aged Eleven years six Months POPES HONORIUS III. Five Months GREG. IX Elect in April 1227. S. Fourteen years Five Months CELESTINE IV. Elect in Sept. 1241. S. Eighteen days Vacancy of Twenty Months INNOCENT IV. Elect in June 1243. S. Eleven years Five Months and a half ALEXANDER IV. Elect in Decemb. 1254. S. Six years Five Months URBAN IV. Son of a Cobler of Troyes Elected about the end of August 1261. S. Three years Thirty four days CLEMENT IV. Elected in Feb. 1265. S. Three years and about Ten Months Vacancy of Thirty five Months from Dec. in the year 1268. the Cardinals not agreeing amongst themselves in the Conclave about the Election THis is the Third Minority in the Capetine Race and the First wherein a Year of our Lord 1226. in Novembre Woman had the Regency Blanche de Castille a stranger but courageous and able undertook it and carried it being assisted by the Counsels of Romain the Cardinal Legat who had great power with her and grounded upon the Certificates of some Lords who attested that her Husband being on his Death-bed had ordered that he would have his eldest Son with the Kingdom and all his other Brothers be left to her Guardianship and Government Immediately before the Lords had time to contrive any obstacles to her Regency Year of our Lord 1226 she drew all the Forces she possibly could together and with them went and caused her eldest Son Lewis to be Crowned in the City of Rheims The Episcopal See being vacant the Bishop of Soissons who is the Suffragant performed the Ceremony It was on the First day of December The Lords of the Kingdom had been invited thither by Letters but the greatest part refused to come amongst others Peter Duke of Bretagne Henry Earl of Bar his Brother-in-law Hugh de Luzignan Earl de la Marche Thibauld Earl of Champagne Hugh de Chastillon Count de St. Pol and divers others They were framing a League amongst them demanding that the Regent who was a Stranger should give security for her good Administration that whatever had been taken from the Lords during the two last Reigns should be restored to them and such as were prisoners should be released especially Ferrand Earl of Flanders Year of our Lord 1226 After her departure from Rheims notwithstanding the severity of the Winter she marched towards Bretagne where lay the strength of the League The Confederates being not yet ready avoided what mischief they could by a Retreat but she followed so close at their heels that the Earl of Champagne fell off from the party then the others entred into a Treaty and promised to appear in full Parliament which was to be held at Chinon and which at their request was removed to Tours then to Vendosme Year of our Lord 1227 In that Parliament which was held in the Month of March a Peace was patched up between the Regent and the Lords but the same year they being assembled at Corbeil plotted to surprize the King as he was coming from Chastres to Paris their design had infallibly succeeded if the Queen Regent had not been informed and cast her self with the King into Montlehery The Citizens of Paris having taken up Arms went thither to guard him and brought him back with joyful acclamations to their City The Earl of Champagne was the man that had given this private intelligence to the Queen This young Prince had a pretence of Love or Gallantry for her rather out of some Court-like vanity then for the power of her charms she being a Woman of above Forty years of age she knew how to make her own advantage of his folly and wished him to continue amongst those discontented People that he might betray all their intrigues to her Year of our Lord 1227 The King of England would needs concern himself in this quarrel and promised them his assistance and the Earl of Toulouze taking his opportunity during these Brouilleries and Stirs had got possession again of all his Places The Queen Regent fearing this Flame might be blown too high renew'd a Treaty with the Princes of this League whom by that means she kept from farther proceeding all this year and in the mean while she confirm'd the Alliance with the Emperour Frederick made a Truce with the English for a Twelve-month and came to an agreement with the Duke of Bretagne who gave his Daughter to be Married to a Son of hers named John Thus the Earl of Toulouze was left alone Imert de Beau-jeu having received a notable re-inforcement bethought himself instead of taking the Castles one by one it would do
Ambassadors thither before received tidings when he was got to Turin that the Pope and the Fathers had Excommunicated him with Candles extinguished and degraded him for divers things imposed upon him amongst others That he detained the Church-Lands That he had intelligence with the Saracens That he erred in divers Articles of Faith Year of our Lord 1245 After this deposition all his Affairs crumbled to nothing in an instant The Milaneses beat him the other Christian Princes took an aversion for him as an impious person even the Germans that they may not reproach the French for contributing to ruine the Empire rejected him and for King of the Romans elected Henry VII Landgrave of Hesse and Turingia when as the King in an enterview he had with the Pope at Clugny endeavour'd to make up the breach by an agreement betwixt this unfortunate Emperour and the Roman Church by virtue of a Procuration he had from him Year of our Lord 1245 This year 1245. died Raimond Berenguier Earl of Provence having by his Testament constituted Beatrix his fourth Daughter his Heiress James King of Arragon caused some Forcesto march into Provence to secure so good a party for his Son But the King of France did not intend to let a stranger run away with such a prize He therefore drove the Arragonians out of that Countrey and by consent of the Daughter as well as her Mother and her Uncles the Earl of Savoy and the Arch-Bishop of Lyons he so order'd it that she was promised to her Brother Charles who was Earl of Anjou The Marriage was not consummated till the year following Year of our Lord 1245 The same year on the First of December died also Jane Countess of Flanders without having had any Children by her Second Husband Thomas Earl of Savoy no more then by her First who was Ferrand of Portugal her Sister Margaret succeeded her This Margret had had Children by two Husbands John and Baldwin by Bouchard d'Avesue her first Husband and William John and Guy by William de Dampierre her Second These pretended that the Sons of Bouchard ought not to inherit because it had been discover'd that he was in Holy Orders when he married their Mother and for that reason the Marriage was declared null Year of our Lord 1246 Those of the first Bed observing the Mother favoured the others had recourse to the King He sent both parties to a Parliament at Peronne and therein it was ordained that those of the first Bed should have Hainault and the others should have Flanders Year of our Lord 1246 The pretended King of the Romans Henry Landgrave of Hesse being dead in Battle or of sickness the Germans who persisted obstinately under the pretence of Biety to ruine the dignity of the Empire elected the year following William Earl of Holland potent in Friends and Alliances whilst Frederic was strugling with his misfortunes and his enemies in Italy Year of our Lord 1247 and 48. The Duke of Burgundy and some French Lords were Leagued with him to defend the Liberties of their Countreys against the usurpations of the Court of Rome being supported by this League he leaves Lombardy to come to Lyons whether to invest the Pope or to molâ—ifie him by his Prayers but he was recalled by a blow the Milanese had given his bastard Son Entius whom he had left in Parma These Affairs and the great preparations for War detained the King till the month of May of this year from accomplishing the Vow he had made three years before It cannot be written in Characters â—o great as it deserves how this pious King being perswaded that Sovereigns are responsable by Laws both Divine and Humane for all the miscarriages of their Officers caused it to be published thorow ✚ all his Kingdom that whoever had suffer'd any wrong or damage by any belonging to him should make it known and he would give them satisfaction out of his own I state which was performed punctually That done and having taken leave of the Holy Martyr and given the Regency to the Queen his Mother he quitted Paris being conducted out of the City by all the Orders in Procession He took his two Brothers Robert and Charles with him the Queen his Wife theirs and an infinite number of Princes Lords Prelats and Gentlemen He received the Popes Benediction in his passage thorough Lyons thence Year of our Lord 1248 he descended by the Rhosue and going on board at Aigues-mortes in Languedoc the 25th of August set sail two days after and landed happily in Cyprus the 25th of September where he past the Winter to wait for the rest of his Forces and Ammunitions In this Island he received at the beginning of December Letters from Ercalthay one of the chief Chams of the Tartars and soon after arrived Ambassadors from the King of Armenia Ercalthay sent him word how the Great Cham and a good number of his Captains had embraced Christianity and that he had sent him with a great Army to destroy the Sultan of Balduc or Bagdet the most potent of all the Mahometan Princes The Armenian Ambassadors assured him that this news was true and that their King had vanquished with the assistance of the Tartars the Sultan of Iconia or Cogny to whom they were tributary and cast off the yoke of those Infidels Year of our Lord 1249 The Saturday after the Ascension the Holy King having drawn all his Men togther from their Winter Quarters in the Island of Cyprus and received a new reinforcement brought him by Robert Duke of Burgundy came the fourth of June into the Road before Damiata in Egypt The Saracens expected him in good order upon the Shore he landed in despite of them and made them give way They being well beaten so great a fear seized upon them that the next day they forsook the Town after they had set fire to it in several places and carried off in Boats beyond the River Nilus all their Families and the richest of their Goods The overflowing of the Nile which infallibly begins some days before the Summer Solstice hindred the Army from going on at the same time to take the City of Grand-Cairo and kept them almost till the midst of Autumn in so much idleness as brought them into all manner of debauchery and dissoluteness Year of our Lord 1249 In the Month of September Alphonso the Kings Brother arrived with new Adventurers of the Cross Raimond his Father-in-law who had accompanied him as far as Aigues-Mortes where he took Shipping with his Wife died upon his way home in the Town of Millau in Rouergne giving all the demonstrations of a hearty Repentance He was the last of the Earls of Toulouze who had Ruled over the greatest part of Languedoc above 350 years His Daughter Jane being deceased without any Child by her Husband Alphonso his Lordships were re-united to the Crown in pursuance of the Treaty made in the year One thousand two hundred twenty eight The 20th of
being Ship'd turn'd back again and only sent some Vessels Commanded by Ferdinand his bastard Son but Edward did generously make good his Vow As for St. Lewis he turned his Enterprize against the Kingdom of Tunis the conquest thereof being in his judgment the way to conquer Egypt without which they could never keep the Holy-Land Besides his Brother perswaded him to it to make Year of our Lord 1270 the coasts of Africk become Tributaries to his Kingdom of Sicilia as they had been in the time of Roger the Norman Prince Having therefore left the administration of his Kingdom to Matthew Abbot of St. Denis and Simon Earl of Nesle he left Paris as I believe the first day of March Year of our Lord 1270 in the year 1270. if we begin it in January or the year 1269. if we make it begin at Easter as they then did in France He was accompanied by three of his Sons Philip Tristan and Peter his Brother Alphonso his Nephew Robert II. Earl of Artois Thibauld King of Navarre Guy Earl of Flanders and a great number of the Nobility He was near four Months either upon his way or about Aigues-mortes where he waited some time till his Vessels were ready He went on board in the beginning of July with his Brothers and set fail the day following his Forces and the other Lords took Shipping in several Ports particularly at Marseilles the Rendezvous for the whole Fleet was appointed to be at Sardinia in the Road of Calary Year of our Lord 1270 He got first thither with four great Vessels not without meeting with very bad weather the rest arrived Eight days after him and having all held a Council together they persisted in their design to Land in Africk and secure themselves of Tunis as well because it was thought important to have that coast as for that the King of those Countreys had given them hopes he would become Christian if they would but stand by him with their Forces against his resisting Subjects but this was only to amuse them The Army being then landed on the African shore immediately took the Castle and the City of Carthage built indeed upon the ruines of that famous rival to Rome but which had nothing now that was great but its name Afterwards they besieged the City of Tunis which is situate at the further end of the Lake of Goletta five miles distant from the Sea At five weeks end from the beginning of the Siege the excessive heats of the Countrey scarcity of Water the Sea Air and the toil the Army endured having the Saracens perpetually upon them it bred the pestilential Fever and Dysentery's amongst them whereof a great many people of note dyed amongst others Prince John Tristan de Nevers and Peter de Ville-Beon Chamberlain to the King and his intimate Confident The good King himself being seized with a Flux was some days afterwards taken with a continual Fever which put an end to his glorious Labours by a happy Death Year of our Lord 1270 the 25th day of August the Seventy fifth year of his Age and the Four and fortieth of his Reign Being on his Death-bed he called for his Son Philip to leave most Excellent and most Christian-like Instructions which he had some time before drawn up and written with his own hand He had together all the Vertues of a great Saint and a great King of a true Christian and a true Gentleman He was humble to his God and fierce to the Enemies of the Faith modest and a hater of Luxury as to his particular but brave and pompous in publick Ceremonies as mild and affable in Conversation as rough and terrible in Fight and Battle prodigal to the Poor and sparing of his Subjects Money more then of his own liberal to Soldiers and Men of Learning prompted with a sincere desire to keep the Peace between his Neighbours enflamed with an incredible zeal for the glory of God and for the administring of true Justice in fine worthy to be the Model of all Princes that desire to Rule according to the will of God and the good of their Subjects Amongst his servent Exercises of Piety which never did abate in all the days of his Life he observed the Fasts Ordained by the Church with great exactness eating but once that day and if either his weakness or the unavoidable labour in business did at any time oblige him to eat twice he redeemed the Transgression according to the Canons of the Church by some great Alms feeding an Hundred Poor some other day I mean an Hundred extraordinary for he ordinarily entertain'd a very great number and served Two hundred at Table upon every great Festival day I find that every Lent he distributed Sixty three Muids of Wheat sixty eight thousand Herrings and three thousand two hundred nineteen Livers Parisis to the Monasteries and Hospitals and One hundred pence a day to other poor People And to make this Alms and Charitable Benevolence perpetual he charged his own Demeasns with it as also with many other Pious Grants and Foundations which instead of diminishing the Estate of his Successors hath been as it were a miraculous Leaven that hath increased and multiplied it It were to be wished that that great and good Ordinance he made upon his return out of the Holy Land to root out the Misdemeanours of Judges the Debaucheries of Gaming Drinking and Women were as much in our practise as it is yet in our Books I cannot omit that he did never intermedle in the naming any to Bishopricks and Abbies but left the liberty of Elections entirely free Insomuch as an Ambassador of his having brought a Bull to him from Rome which gave him the right of Nomination he was very angry with him and threw it into the Fire For the other Benefices he ever bestow'd them upon the most Worthy and never on such as were in Employments already unless they first surrendred the other He founded a great many Churches and Monasteries particularly for the Orders of St. Dominique and St. Francis several Hospitals amongst others that for the Quinze-Vingts the fair Abby of Royaumont that of St. Matthew near Rouen and the Holy Chappel in his Palace where he put in Canons and Chaplains They attribute to him the Institution of the University and the first Parliament of Toulouze It is certain he was the first who out of humility added the Sign of the Cross to the Ceremony of touching those troubled with the Kings-Evil He had Eight Children four Sons and four Daughters The Sons were Philip who Reigned and was surnamed the Hardy or Daring John Tristan who was Earl of Nevers Peter Earl of Alenson these two left no Posterity Robert Earl of Clermont in Beauvoisis who Espoused Beatrix Daughter and Heiress of Agnes de Bourbon who was so of Archembald Lord of Bourbon and of John III. Son to Hugh Duke of Burgundy From this Marriage issued the Branch of Bourbon who
a Truce upon pain of Excommunication he made Reply That he took no Rule or Law from any one in the Government of his Kingdom and that the Pope had in this case no right but to Exhort and Advise not to Command This was the first occasion of Enmity betwixt these two great Powers Year of our Lord 1296 There were two more almost at the same time The one that Boniface received the Complaints of the Earl of Flanders who implored his Justice because Philip denied to restore his Daughter to him The other for that he erected the Abby of St. Antonine de Pamiez to a Bishoprick and put the Abbot of St. Antonine into it Observe en passant that this City was other while called Fredalas King Philip was offended at this Erection and more yet with the choice of the Bishop his name was Bernard Saisset because he believed him a Factious Man and too much devoted to Boniface Nor would he suffer him to take possession and therefore Lewis Bishop of Toulouze administred in that Church for two whole years together Year of our Lord 1295 and 96. The War was still carried on in Guyenne by the Earl of Valois and the Constable de Nesle and then by Robert Earl of Artois The English had for Commanders there John Earl of Richmond and Edmond the Kings Brother To what purpose would it be to relate the taking of many petty places and the divers small Skirmishes The French say they won two Signal Victories one of them was gained by the Earl of Valois and the other by the Earl of Artois It is certain that Edmond being beaten by the first near Bayonne was forced to retire into that City where he died and the Earl of Lincoln who commanded that English Army afterwards having lost many of his Men before Daqs durst not stay for Robert d'Artois and retreated Year of our Lord 1296 In the mean while a most dangerous Storm was forming against France A League was made at Cambray by the Interest of the King of England whereinto he entred with the Duke of Brabant the Earls of Holland Juliers Luxemburgh Guelders and Bar Albert Duke of Austria the Emperor Adolphus and the Flemming himself all which sent their several Cartels of Defiance to King Philip but none of them vexed him so much as the Challenge from the Earl of Flanders because he was his Vassal The Earl of Bar began the Attaque by ravaging Champagne but he retir'd when he heard how Gaultier de Crecy Lieutenant of the Kings Army burnt and plundred his Country Soon after the Queen being advanced that way to defend her Country of Champagne he was so saint-hearted as to surrendet himself to her without making any desence They sent him Prisoner to Paris from whence he could get no Release but upon very hard Conditions For he did Homage to the King for his Earldom which he ever had pretended to hold in Franc Alleud or Free-Tenure and moreover he was condemned by a Decree of Parliament to go and bear Arms in the Holy Land till the King were pleased to recall him Year of our Lord 1297 As for Florent Earl of Holland he was kill'd by a Gentleman whose Wife he had Dishonour'd His Son John died soon after him by eating of some ill-Morsel John d' Avesnes Earl of Haynault their Cousin and nearest Relation inherited Holland and Frisland Year of our Lord 1297 The greatest burthen of the War fell upon Flanders King Philip marched into the Country with a vast Army to whom the Queen joyned her Forces after she had subdued the Earl of Bar. He took L'Isle by a three Months Siege and Courtray and Douay without much difficulty whilst on the other hand Robert Earl of Artois gained the Battle of Furnes where the Earl of Juliers was so ill handled that he died of his Wounds Year of our Lord 1297 Adolphus detained in Germany by the private Troubles the French started amongst them or the Sums of Money Philip gave him under-hand did not bring the Flemming that Relief which he expected Withall they found a way by the all-powerfulinfluence of Money to debauch Albertus Duke of Austria from the Party who brought over with him the Duke of Brabant and the Earls of Luxembourg Guelders and Beaumont As for the King of England who was there in Person and had his Navy at Damm and his Land Forces in the Country Towns he brought more inconvenience then assistance to the Flemming Besides we may add that the greatest Cities in Flanders as Ghent and Bruges had been against the making of this War and amongst them a Faction had declared for the French who called themselves the Portes-Lys or the Flower-de-Luce-Bearers Now the King being retired to Ghent with the Earl of Flanders could find no other way to Charm the Swords of the French in those Countries but by a Truce The intercession of the Earl of Savoy and Charles King of Sicilia obtained it with difficulty for them from the Tenth of October till Twelfth-day for Guyenne and to S. Andrews Holy-day for Flanders only Edward knew how to employ that time to good purpose Having passed the Sea he went against the Scots who had shaken off the Yoke and not only forced their King John and his Barons to do Homage to him a second time of which a Charter written in French was Signed and Sealed and to renounce the Alliance with France but likewise kept him Prisoner a while with some of those Lords confining them in the Tower of London resolving not to release him till he had made an end of his Disputes with the French Year of our Lord 1298 The Truce being expir'd he made ready to return into Guyenne by the Month of March in the year 1298. Nevertheless as either of these Kings had partly what they desired that is the King of France the Towns in Flanders and the King of England the Kingdom of Scotland it was not difficult for their Ambassadors who met about it at Monstreuil on the Sea Coast to prolong the Truce to the end of the year It was agreed That the Allies of both Kings should be Comprised by consequence John Balâ—ol ought to have been so but they could never obtain his liberty and that all the places Conquer'd in Flanders should be in the hands of Philip during that Truce The King of England had obliged himself by Oath to the Flemming not to make a Peace till they were restor'd but in the mean time he agreed his Marriage with Margaret the Sister to Philip and that of his Son Edward with Isabella the Daughter of that King Year of our Lord 1298 The Money that Adolphus had received on both hands from the Kings of France and England was the cause of his Ruine and on the contrary what Albertus had taken for the same end served to raise his Fortune For this last having made use of some of it to corrupt the Princes of Germany who were displeased
Lord 1300 Boniface was grown obstinate in his design for the expedition to the Holy-Land and perswaded himself he had a right to oblige all Christian Princes to it He therefore sent Bernard Saisset Bishop of Pamiez to Philip with a charge to exhort him to this voyage and also to summon him to make good his word to the Earl of Flanders by setting his Daughter at liberty He acquitted himself of his Commissions in such high terms and it was told the King that he held discourses upon several occasions so injurious to his Person and so factious against the quiet and peace of the Kingdom that he made him be seized and kept prisoner Then their hatred ran up to the extremity the King besides all this being mightily heated by the ill reports of William de Nogaret For he informed him that when he was sent Ambassador to the Pope to acquaint him of his Alliance with the Emperour Albert he perceived that his Holiness was very ill inclined towards him that he had bad designs and that he led a scandalous life and most unworthy of the Succession to the Apostles Year of our Lord 1301 On his part Boniface dispatched the Arch-Deacon of Narbonna to Command him to set the Bishop of Pamiez at liberty and let him know there was a Bull importing that the King was under his correction for the sins he committed in his Temporal Administration as well as for others That the collation of Benefices did not appertain to him and that the Regalia was an usurpation By another Bull he suspended all the priviledges granted by his predecessors to the King to those of his House and to his Council And by a Third he ordered all the Prelats of the Kingdom should come to Rome to find out some remedy against Philips disorders and the Enterprizes he made upon the Ecclesiastical State Year of our Lord 1300 The King upon the earnest intreaties of the Clergy put the Bishop of Pamiez into the hands of the Arch-Bishoy of Narbonna his Metropolitan but he forbad the Prelats for going out of the Kingdom or the transporting of any Gold or Silver And for that point which he believed did concern his Sovereignty he thought it best to support himself with the Authority of all the Estates of his Kingdom against Boniface The Estates assembled in Nostre-Dame the 10th of April in the year 1301. Year of our Lord 1301 declared that they owned no other Superiour in Temporals besides the King and in conformity to that the Clergy wrote to the Pope as the Nobility and the third Estate did to the Cardinals who in their answers assured that it had never been the Popes intention to attribute that Superiority to himself During these quarrels a prodigious Comet appeared in the Heavens it began to shew it self in Autumn towards the West and in the Sign of Scorpio darting its Rays sometimes to the Eastward and sometimes to the Westward It was seen but one Month. The Earl of Artois Nogaret Peter Flote Chancellor to the King and the Colona's whom Boniface had thrust out of all proscribed and imprisoned exasperated all things more and more Many nevertheless were scandalized that they should contend against the Pope and therefore it was thought decent to maintain that he was not so and that by opposing his Person they did not oppose the Vicar of Jesus Christ but an ill Man that had intruded himself into the Papacy The King being therefore at the Louvre Nogaret in presence of divers Princes of the Blood and Bishops presented a Petition the Twelfth day of March accusing him of Heresie Simony Magick and other enormous crimes and demanding the Kings assistance that there might be a general Council called to deliver the Church from this oppression The Pope had dispatched into France a Cardinal named John Le Moyne a native of the Diocess of Amiens a knowing Man and very Learned upon pretence of negotiating some agreement with the King but indeed to sound the inclination of the Clergy in his favour Now being but ill satisfied with the answers the King made to his Quaeries he sent another Bull which declared him Excommunicate for having hindred the Prelats from going to Rome forbid them to admit him to the Sacraments or Mass Commanded them to be at Rome within three Months and summoned some by name upon the penalty of being deposed Year of our Lord 1302 During these Contrasto's Charles Earl of Valois was gone into Sicilia with a great Army with design to reduce it to the Obedience of Charles the Lame his Nephew He made so little progress that he thought fitter to make peace between both parties In effect he succeeded better in it then in his War The conditions of the Treaty were That Frederic should marry his Daughter Eleonor for whose Portion Sicilia should remain to him under the Title of the Kingdom of Trinacria but if he had no Children by her the Island should return to Charles the Lame or to his Heirs upon their payment of a hundred thousand Ounces of Gold Before his expedition into Sicilia he had been sent to Florence by the Pope to calm the Factions wherewith that Republick was most horribly tormented During five Months time that he remained there his Care nor his Authority could by no means prevent the Guelphs and Black from proscribing the White who were for the most part Gibbelins and from ruining their Houses Dante Aligeri one of the rarest wits of his time who was of the faction of the White though otherwise he were a Guelph was put into the number of the banished and could never obtain to be recalled He lays the fault upon the Earl of Valois for not having provided against those injurious proceedings and tried to place his revenge upon all the House of France by the cruel bitings of his Pen which certainly would have made some impression upon their posterity had there not been prooss much clearer then the Sun at Noon-day which dispelled that Satyrical calumny Year of our Lord 1302 There are some Authors that assign in this year 1302. the Invention of the Mariners Compass or Needle by one Flavio a native of Melplus However since we find some mention of it in Authors long before this timeâ— we can at most but give this Flavio the honour of having brought it to greater use and perfection This same year 1302. Flanders revolted and was lost as to the French Those people irreconcileable enemies to Taxes and heavy oppressions could not endure the violence and imposts wherewith their young Governour James de Chastillon vexed and tormented them by the evil Counsels of Peter Flote a violent and most covetous Man and indeed he was one-ey'd They therefore called in William Son of the Earl of Juliers and a Daughter of â—arl Guy's to be their Chief whose younger Sons with the Sons of his Brother John came into the County of Alost to support this Rising Year of our Lord 1302 The Fire began
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
have no more war on that side but the Nobility liked rather to be under the King of France who had Employments and Offices to bestow Henry de Villars Arch-Bishop of Lyons and John de Chisy Bishop of Grenoble byass'd the Dukes mind so as to make it run that way He had therefore in the year 1343. made a Donation to King Philip of the Lordship of Daulphine and the Lands adjoyning upon condition that all their priviledges should be preserved intirely that it should be incorporated for ever in the Crown of France and that the Kings eldest Son should enjoy it and bear the Title and the Arms of Daulphine for which the King gave him Forty thousand Crowns of Gold and ten thousand Florins Rent to be levied on the Countrey Year of our Lord 1349 This year 1349. he confirmed the Contract and afterwards retired himself into a Convent of the Jacobins where he took on the Habit. The Pope tyed him to the Church by Sacred Orders fearing he might start back and gainsay the thing He received them all on Christmass-day the Subdiaconal at midnight Mass the Diaconal at Mass by break of day and the Priesthood at the Third Mass The same day he Celebrated and eight days after was promoted to Episcopacy and honoured with the Title of Patriarch of Alexandria Year of our Lord 1350 In 1350. Philip had likewise either by purchase or by engagement of James of Arragon King of Majorca the Counties of Rousillon and Cerdagna in the Pyreneans and bought of the same Prince the Barony of Montpellier in Languedoc which the House of Arragon held in Under-Fief of the Crown of France for the sum of Sixscore thousand Crowns of Gold currant Money In the Month of June of the year 1350. the Truces wer prolonged between the Kings for three years Year of our Lord 1350 Two Months afterwards Philip fell sick at Nogent le Roy perhaps of the toil and fatigue of his new Marriage very often mortal to antient people that take beautiful Wives Feeling his last hour draw near he sent for his Children and the Princes of his Blood and gave them warning and counsel to live in amity and concord with one another make a Peace if it could be had maintain good Order and countenance Justice case the People and other fine and excellent things which Princes oftner recommend to their Successors at their deaths then practise themselves while they are alive He expired the Two and twentieth day of August in the seven and fiftieth year of his age and in the Three and twentieth of his Reign Very brave in his own person more happy in Negotiations then in Battle hard-hearted towards his Subjects suspitious vindicative and one that suffer'd himself to be too far transported by the impetuosity of his anger He had two Wives Jane and Blanch that the Daughter of Robert II. Duke of Burgundy and this of Philip d'Evreux King of Navarre By the First he left two Sons John who Reigned Philip who was Duke of Orleans but had no posterity and one Daughter named Mary who Married John Duke of Limburgh Son of John III. Duke of Brabant By his Second he had but only one Daughter Posthumus she was named Jane who died at Beziers in the year 1373. as they were conducting her to Barcelona to marry John Duke of Girona eldest Son to Peter IV. King of Arragon The Queen her Mother survived her Husband almost Fifty years which she passed in perpetual Widdow-hood Thus under the Reign of King John there were two Queens Dowagers in France this same and Jane d'Evreux widdow of Charles the Fair who died in the Month of May Anno 1970. John I. King L. By some called the Good King Aged XLII years POPES CLEMENT VI. Two years three Months during this Reign INNOCENT VI. Elected in December 1352. S. Nine years and near Nine Months URBAN V. Elected the Eighth of October 1362. S. Eight years and above Two Months whereof one year and Six Months during this Reign Year of our Lord 1350 AFter John had assisted at the Funeral of the King his Father he was Crowned at Reims with his Second Wife Jane of Boulogue the Twenty sixty day of September From thence he came and made his entrance into Paris the Seventeenth of October sate in his Seat of Justice in Paris gave the Order of Knighthood to his two eldest Sons to some other Princes and Lords and began some shew of labouring about the Polity and the Reformation of the whole Estate The Prince having maturity of age the experience of Affairs a valour tried in occasions the example of his faults before his Eyes and four Sons that would soon be able to draw their Swords promised a happy conduct and a most flourishing Government yet having the same defects as his Father too much of impetuosity and precipitation for revenge little prudence and as little consideration for the miseries of his poor people he fell into greater misfortunes and such as did not let go their hold but stuck to him till his death The Blood wherewith he sullied the entrance of his Reign was a presage and perhaps a cause of it much likelier then the prodigious Comet which appeared this year Rodolph Earl of Eu and of Guisnes Constable of France a prisoner of War to the English ever since the Battle of Caen had made divers voyages into France Year of our Lord 1350 to procure his own deliverance and that of his Compagnons Some perswaded the King were it true or false that under this pretence he practised some contrivances in favour of the English he was then arrested by the Prevost of Paris the Sixteenth of November and the Nineteenth beheaded obscurely and without form of Process in presence of the Duke of Bourbon and seven or eight Lords of note before whom it was given out in publique he had confessed his crime His spoil was thus divided his Office of Constable was given to Charles d'Espagne de la Cerde Favourite to the King the Earldom of En to John d'Artois Son of that Robert of whom we have mention'd so much and that of Guisnes to Jane the only Daughter of the defunct whose first Husband was Gualter Duke d'Athenes and her Second to Lewis Earl d'Estampes of the Branch d'Evreux from which sprung that of the Earls d'Eu Princes of the Blood Year of our Lord 1351 That he might not be inferiour in magnificence to the English who was a sumptuous and liberal Prince who had instituted the Order of the Garter King John instituted or rather revived the Order of the Star in a famous Assembly which he held in his Palace of St. Ouyn neer Paris and ordained that whereas those Knights did formerly wear the Star upon their Helmets or Crest or hung about their necks they should now have them embroidered on their Cloaths The Chapter was held upon Twelfth-day Charles the Fifth his Son observing this Order much debased by the multitude of mean
him he presently retires to Calais and from thence to his own Island without returning any answer to the generous challenge sent him by that Prince to fight him either hand to hand or Army against Army Year of our Lord 1356 The charges of this War could not be defray'd without great expences and at that time no extraordinary Subsidies were Levied without consent of the Estates The â—ing summon'd them to the Castle of Ruel where having laid open to them the necessity of Affairs they consented to the maintenance of Thirty thousand Men To make a fund for this they were fain to set up that Gabel upon Salt again which had been laid aside and moreover impose Eight Deniers per Liver upon all Merchandise and a certain annual Tax upon every mans Revenues whether Lands Benefices Offices nay even Salarys and Servants wages Year of our Lord 1356 These excessive Subsidies caused Seditions in many places especially at Arras The Mareschal d'Endreghen going in amongst them under the notion of a pacificator seized upon about a hundred of the most turbulent whereof a score of them had their Heads taken off Year of our Lord 1356 The Navarrois stirred up the people every where upon pretence of the publique good But with all his malice he was nevertheless so much gull'd as to be allured by the Dauphin and drawn into the Castle of Rouen with Lewis Earl of Harcourt John and William his Brothers the Lords de Clere de Graville de Maubue de Preaux and seven or eight more of his Confederates One day while the Dauphine was Treating them at a Dinner behold the King comes in at a Postern Gate well armed seizes upon the King of Navarre and his company puts the Earl of Harcourt Graville Maubue and Doublet in two Carts carries them out into the open fields and there causes their four Heads to be cut off without any form of Process or Trial. That done he sends the Navarrois under a strong Guard to the Castle Gailliard d'Andelis from whence having been removed into several prisons and often threatned with death he was conducted to the Castle d'Arleux in Cambresis Year of our Lord 1356 This violent proceeding had very bloody consequences Philip Brother of the Navarrois and Gefroy Brother to the Earl of Harcourt who had a good many places in Normandy called in the English to revenge that outrage done to their Brothers The Earl of Derby and the Duke of Lancaster with Four thousand Men began the War in that Countrey Year of our Lord 1356 The King went thither in person gave them chace as far as l'Aigle and having scatter'd them in the Woods laid Siege to Breteuil a little place which defended it self Seven weeks In these unhappy times the smallest Towns fortified themselves so as to put a stop to the greatest Armies The very Villages enclosed themselves with Works or Walls against the plundering Soldiers and this infinite number of Castles served only to lengthen out the War and devour the People by harbouring Thieves and Cut-throats The Nobility and Soldiery seemed as it were to triumph in the miseries of the poor common people Luxury who would believe it took its birth from desolation The Gentry who had ever been very modest in their Habits began to adorn themselves with Jewels Pearls and Gew-gawes like the Women to wear plumes of Feathers in their Bonnets a sign of their levity and give themselves passionately over to play at Dice all the night long and all the day at Tennis Year of our Lord 1356 While the King was at Chartres where he was drawing all his Forces together he was informed that the Prince of Wales with Twelve thousand Men of which there were but Three thousand natural English had pillaged Quercy Auvergne Limosiu Berry and was marching to do the same in Anjou Tourain and Poitou He thought fit to cut off his March upon his Retreat and led his Army along the Loire The Prince being advertiz'd left the Road to Tours and retired by Poitou but he could not do it so speedily but that the Kings Army overtook him within two Leagues of Poitiers The Prince finding him so neer entrenched himself amongst the Vines and strong thick Hedges nigh the place called Maupertuis Year of our Lord 1356 Cardinal de Perigord the Popes Legat went often from the one Army to the other to prevent them from coming to blows Edward offer'd to pay for all the damages he had done in his march from Bourdeaux to deliver up all his prisoners and not to bear Arms himself nor any of his Subjects for Seven years time against France But King John believing the Victory secure and certain rejected all his submissions and blinded with passion and anger instead of hemming him in and starving him which could not have failed in three days time went on headlong with the courage and fury of a Lyon rather then of a Captain to attaque him within his fastness the Nineteenth of September Nay by the worst advice in the world he caused all his Horsemen to alight excepting three hundred select Men who were to begin the onset and the German Cavalry who had Orders to second them Year of our Lord 1356 The thickness of the Hedges hindred these three hundred Horse from breaking in upon them the Englishmens bearded Arrows made the Horses mad and turned theâ— upon the Germans these fell into the Avant-Guard and they were totally routed by a gross of the enemies who came forth and charged them during their disorder Of the four Sons the King had in this Battle three of them were a little too soon carried out of the fray by their Governours together with Eight hundred Lances and this gave a fair pretence of excuse to all such Cowards as were glad to ollow them There was only Philip the youngest of the four who obstinately resolved to run the fortune of his Father and fought by his side The Kings single valour sustained the enemies charge a considerable time and if one fourth part of his Men had but seconded him no doubt but he had gained the victory At length he yielded himself up into the hands of John de Morebeque an Artesian Gentleman whom he had banished the Kingdom for some crime Philip his Son was taken prisoner with him There were but Six thousand French kill'd in this fatal day but of that number were Eight hundred Gentlemen and amongst those the Duke of Bourbon the Duke d'Athenes Constable the Mareschal de Nesle and above Fifty more of good quality The youg Prince as courteous as he was valiant Treated the King as his Lord. The same night he served him at his Table and endeavour'd to allay his grief and misfortunes by the most obliging and becoming Language he could express The next day fearing this noble prey might be snatched from him and withal observing his soldiers were so loaden with plunder that they were uncapable of further service he took his March towards
Besieged on the other hand reduced to Famine Betrand de Guesclin found an expedient to save the Dukes Oath which was That he should enter the Town with nine more and his Colours should be set up on the Gate for some hours To conclude this Treaty they made a Truce between the two parties which was to last till the year 1360. Year of our Lord 1357 The bands of Soldiers being neither cashier'd nor paid the Robbers flock'd together with all sorts of other rasâ—ally people and scowred all the Countreys about without any fear or punishment all the open Countrey lying exposed to their merciless mercy There were five or six several Gangs but the most dreadful crew of them was Year of our Lord 1357 that of one Arnold de Ceruoles who called himself the Arch-Priest he entred into the County of Avignon forced the Pope to redeem the plunder of his Lands at the price of Forty thousand Crowns and afterwards to give him Absolution and Treat him at his own Table with as much Honour as if he had been a Sovereign Prince Year of our Lord 1357 The persons Commissioned by the Estates for the administration of the Treasury made it soon apparent that they had not taken it in hand to dispossess Knaves but to have a share in that prize and pillage themselves so that their corrupt dealing no less criminal then that of the former Officers so much cried out upon did much blemish their choice and by consequence the authority of the Estates The Dauphin being therefore better fortified by the arrival of the Earls of Foix Year of our Lord 1357 and Armagnac and a great number of the Nobility did at length shake off their Tutelage and making le Coq return to his own Bishoprick his party became the strongest in Paris But immediately afterwards the Navarrois was set free from his imprisonment by the intrigues of his people who escalado'd the Castle wherein he was detained which was not done without connivance of the Lord de Pequigny to whom King John had committed the keeping of this Prince Then le Coq returns and the Council resumed greater power then formerly The Dauphin apprehended nothing so much as the malignity of that Prince exasperated by a long imprisonment nevertheless the importunities of the Council establisht by the Estates and the intercession of the two Queens Dowagers Jean and Blanch obliged him to give him a safe Conduct with which he came and lodged in the Abbey of St. Germain des Prez accompanied with a huge number of his friends Some while after having caused it to be proclaimed about the City That he would entertain the People upon St. Andrews day there came above Ten thousand Men to the Tilting-place which was between the Abbey of St. Germains and the Pré aux Clercs He mounted the Scaffold from whence the King was wont to behold Combats or Duels and there with a most pathetical Eloquence declared the injustice of nis tedious Confinement the tyrannical execution of his friends the zeal he had for the good of the Nation and above all express'd his mighty affection for the defence of Paris which was the capital City His flattering harangue tickled the People the more by reason that for some time they had met with nothing but severities The next day he was received into the City the Dauphin and he had an enterview in an indifferent place Le Coq Head of the Council the Prevost des Merchands nay even the University pressed the Dauphin so home to give him satisfaction that he was sain to agree to all he pleased However when he would have gone into his Towns thinking to take possession those that commanded there for the King refused to deliver them up to him or his Commissaries Year of our Lord 1358 Upon this refusal he begins the War anew Had the English assisted him considerably he would have over-turned the whole Kingdom but having dropt an expression in his speech to the People That he had more right to the Crown of France then those that disputed for it they lent him no more assistance then to enable him to draw the War to a great length that so each party weakning and tiring the other might both of them be forced to submit to that yoak the English designed to lay upon them Year of our Lord 1358 That zeal the Prevost des Marchands had for the publique liberty meeting with too great oppositions degenerated perhaps in despite of him into a manifest and most pernicious faction The mark or distinction was a kind of a Hood party-colour'd Red and Blue which he bestow'd for New-years-Gifts upon the People of Paris Who being divided and wavering in their Affections applauded sometimes the Dauphin who made Speeches in publique to them then straightway wheel'd about to their Magistrate whom they judged to be honest in his designs and anon they became indifferent to either Year of our Lord 1358 For the third time the Estates were called together at Paris the Dauphin designing to make himself Master of them drew some Forces about the Town the Navarrois had some likewise who kept the Field This troublesome neighbourhood did greatly incommode the City of Paris and all that lay neer it Marcel cast the fault upon the Dauphin and he discharged himself and laid it on the Navarrois Upon this brangle a Partisan of Marcels named Perrin Macé a Changer belonging to the Treasury Massacred John Baillet Treasurer of France and the Deed being done retired into the Church St. James de la Boucherie The Dauphin commanded the Mareschal de Clermont John de Chaalons Seneschal of Champagne and the Prevost of Paris to drag him thence by force and put him into the hands of Justice They haled him out and the Prevost of Paris caused his Hand to be cut off and sent him to the Gibbet The Churches were then inviolable Sanctuaries the Clergy and People grew into heats because they had pluck'd a Criminal from the feet of the Altar and the Bishop of Paris Excommunicated those that had committed this attempt After this Marcel having armed Three thousand Trades-men who all wore those party-colour'd Hoods entred into the Palace where the Dauphin Lodged and caused those three Lords to be murther'd in his presence This was not all he compell'd him to own the Fact in an Assembly of the Estates which was held at the Augustins and in Parliament to suffer the Navarrois to return to the City and to give him Lands and great satisfaction for damages notwithstanding the other Cities refused to joyn with Paris in any thing otherwise then for the Kings service Year of our Lord 1358 After the Navarrois had remained for some time in Paris and thought he had well secur'd himself of them going forth again to give some Order touching his Affairs he was no sooner out of Town when the Dauphin to lose no time caused himself to be declared Regent by the Parliament After that
all Acts were passed in his name without any mention of the Kings the little Seal du Chastelet which they used in his absence was laid aside and they had a great Seal made purposely for the Regency He would be no longer at the mercy of the Parisians nor the general Estates he found it better to hold with particular ones those of Champagne at Vertus and those of Picardy at Compiegne consented to some Contributions The Parisians offended that they were despised endeavoured to seize upon the Posts about their City not being able to effect it they proceeded to enclose it with Walls from that part where the Bastille is even to the Wooden Tower near the Louvre filled up all their Gates towards the University excepting that called St. James's and from that Gate to that de Nesle caused Ditches to be made before the Walls for till this time they had not any Year of our Lord 1358 During this Anarchy the Nobility and other Men of the Sword exercised all manner of violence upon the poor Countrey people Those unfortunate wretches beaten plundred hunted like savage Beasts having for the most part no other places of retreat but Woods Caves and Boggs did like those hunted Beasts who being at the last gasp fly at the Greyhounds throats they muster'd together in great companies and were resolv'd to destroy all the Gentry This fury was begun in Beauvoisis and for their chief Leader they took one named Caillet a Peasant They called it La Jacquerie because the Gentlemen when they pillaged the Peasant called him in raillery Jacques bon homme Had the Citis joyned with these Rustiques there had been an end of the Nobility and Monarchique Government as well as in Swisserland but not one of them open'd their Gates for fear of being ransack'd they attempted divers to no purpose destroyed all the little Castles in the Countrey amongst the rest that of Beaumont upon Oyse and made themselves masters of Senlis but besides all this they committed so many more then brutish cruelties that the Nobility of all parties French English and Navarrois rallied themselves unanimously against them The King of Navarre defeated Caillets crew who being taken was beheaded The Dauphin cut off more then Twenty thousand and so this insurrection was quashed on a suddain In the time the Dauphin was gone towards Senlis having left the Earl of Foix in that part of the City of Meaux named le Marche the Parisians who were much concerned to secure that Key of the Marne sent out some Forces under the command of a Grocer to seize upon it The Mayor of Meaux open'd the Gates to them but as they were attacquing the Market the Earl sallied out with Horse and Foot and cut them all off The Grocer was slain the City sacaged and burnt the Mayor and some of the Citizens beheaded Year of our Lord 1358 Against his promise made to the Dauphin the Navarrois drew near to Paris and having conferr'd with Marcel at St. Ouin entred the City and harangued the People who declared him their General but the Nobility affronted to see him caresse them less then he did the Citizens forsook him and in an Assembly which was held at Compiegne promised the Dauphin all their assistance for the besieging of Paris The Factious party having notice of it engaged the University to go and beg their pardon of that Prince offering such satisfaction as he pleased saving their Lives and Honours to which not condescending unless they would deliver up to him Twelve of the principal Mutineers they united themselves together again as firmly as ever they possibly could and stuck close to the King of Navarre Year of our Lord 1358 The Dauphins friends having gotten some credit amongst the People of Paris insinuated a jealousie into their minds for that the King of Navarre had brought some English thither they massacred a great many of those strangers Marcel to save the remainder clapt them all in prison then let them make their escapes they retired to St. Denis from whence teey cruelly revenged the deaths of their compagnons upon all those of Paris that they could light upon The People whatever the Navarrois could urge in his florid Speeches against it forced both him and Marcel to lead them thither that they might make a final end of them but whether by the treachery of those two Commanders or otherwise the English drew them into an Ambuscade and slew above Six hundred of them in the night as they were returning home all in disorder Year of our Lord 1358 This bloody check redoubled their suspicions and the Peoples out-cries Marcel and his associates fearing to be at length deliver'd up to the Dauphin conspired to deliver up the City rather to the Navarrois by letting him one night into the Bastille But as the Dauphins friends had their Eyes and Ears in every corner one John Maillard and one Pepin des Essards who were the Chiefs contrived their business so well that having got their friends together just at the nick of time as Marcel was to put his plot in execution they kill'd both him and all those that accompany'd him before he could get the Gates open Year of our Lord 1358 His Corps were dragg'd thorough the Streets and his death attended with the Massacre the execution and the banishment of many of his friends amongst others Ronsac the Sheriff Josserand the King of Navarre's Treasurer and Caillard who had delived up the Castle of the Louvre all which lost their Heads in the place of Execution called the Greeve After this the face of Affairs was wholly changed the party-colour'd Hoods were thrown into the Fire and the Dauphin returned to Paris the Twenty fourth day of August Year of our Lord 1358 But the Navarrois fretted beyond all patience for the death of his Friends and his Officers protested he would never have peace with the Princes of the House of Valois nor did he any longer own them for Sovereigns In this heat he got his Forces together from every quarter sent to desie the Dauphin block'd up Paris both by Land and Water and called to his assistance the Captal de Buch and Robert Knolles an English Captain This Man notwithstanding the Truce made horrible depredations every where particularly in Auxerrois and in Champagne Now having been forced away from before Troyes by the Count de Vaudemont he came and joyned with the Navarrois in hopes to plunder Paris It was at this time they burnt the City of Montmorency which was none of the least as may be guess'd by its ruines while in the mean time Philip de Navarre ran about Picardy and made several attempts upon many Cities which all miscarried Year of our Lord 1359 The Dauphin durst not stir out of Paris for fear they should recall the Navarrois who had yet good store of friends remaining amongst them In the mean time as he could settle nothing in order in no part
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
mean time were forced to dissemble till they could have fit opportunity to declare the Truth and to write Letters to all Princes that his Election was Canonical however they gave notice to the King of France that he should give no faith to their Letters till they were out of danger But when upon pretence of avoiding the extream heats in Rome they were retired to Anagnia being moreover offended at the proud deportment of Bartholomew they made the Truth of the matter of Fact known to all Princes admonished Bartholomew three several times to desist from pretending to the Papacy since he well knew they had no intention to elect him and afterwards they proceeded judicially against him and declared him an intruder That done they retired to Fundy under protection of the Earl of that place and there elected one of the six Cardinals Year of our Lord 1379 that had remained in France This was Robert Brother of Peter Earl of Geneva whose Courage was as high as his Birth He took the Name of Clement VII France after several Assemblies had been held of the most Learned of the Clergy and the most judicious Prelats and Nobility adhered to Clement the Kings of Castille and of Scotland who were his Allies did the same the Earl of Savoy and Jane Queen of Naples also although in the beginning she had protected his Competitor But all the rest of Christendom owned Vrban the Navarrois the English and the Flemmings out of spite to France the Italians to preserve the Papacy in their Year of our Lord 1378 and 79. Nation the Emperour in acknowledgment because that Pope before he was ever required had made haste to confirm the election of Wenceslaus his Son the King of Hungary that he might have a pretence to dispoliate the Queen of Naples and the rest for divers interests Peter King of Arragon remained Neutre At first Clement was well armed and in a condition to over-top his adversary having in his service one Sylvester Bude a Captain of Bretagne with Two thousand old Adventurers of that Nation who took the Castle St. Angelo defeated the Romans in Rome it self and made themselves Masters of the City But after another famous Captain who was an Englishman and was named Hacket otherwhile Head of the ✚ Bands of the Tard-Venus and now in the service of Vrban had vanquished and taken him prisoner Clements Affairs went on so ill that he was driven out of Italy and retiring himself to Avignon left his Rival sole Master of Rome This Schisme lasted Forty years either party having great Persons Saints Miracles and Revelations as they said and even such strong Arguments and Reasons on his side that the dispute could never be decided but by way of Cession that is by obliging the two Contenders to abdicate the Papacy so that it is great boldness to call those Anti-Popes who during this Schisme held the See at Avignon Year of our Lord 1379 The death of the Emperour Charles IV. fell out upon the Nine and twentieth of November in the year 1378. in the City of Prague the 63 year of his age Wenceslaus his Son who was elected King of the Romans in the year 1376. succeeded him in the Empire and the Kingdom of Bohemia a Prince deformed both in Body and Soul Year of our Lord 1379 It was a kind of Rebellion in the Earl of Flanders to own any other Pope then his King had done and indeed he shewed him ill will for it and more yet towards the Breton who encouraged him in his obstinacy Besides it had so fortuned that the Flemming by the Counsel of that Duke had caused one of his Envoyes to be staid who was passing thorow his Countrey on his way to Scotland to incite Robert Stewart to break the Truce with the English The King made complaint to the Flemming and Commanded him to drive the Breton out of his Countreys but the Flemming having taken advice of his People who assured him of Two hundred thousand Combatants in case he were attaqued refused to give him that satisfaction The Breton nevertheless went out of Flanders and took refuge in England The place of his retreat aggravated his crime the King orders him to be summoned to appear in Parliament to be judged by his Pairs Not presenting himself he was declar'd by Sentence of the Ninth of December attainted of the crime of Felony and all his Lands as well in Bretagne as all others he held in the Kingdom consiscated for having defied the King his Sovereign Lord and for having entred the Countrey in Arms with the enemies of the Kingdom That which in appearance seemed likeliest to ruine this Duke raised him The Bretons who for a thousand years past had so generously fought for the liberty of their Countrey having discover'd that the King designed more against the Dutchy it self then the Duke alone and that he would take it away from the guilty only to apply it to himself began to complain to withdraw from their affection to the French to re-unite amongst themselves and to make divers Leagues and Associations between the Cities and the Nobless Even the Widow of Charles de Blois by Counsel of the friends of her House sent to protest against that Decree and alledged that Bretagne was not subject or liable to consiscation because it was not a Fief and that if the Dukes had submitted their persons by obliging themselves to certain Service it was not their power to subject their Countrey This year a most cruel War was kindled in Flanders which lasted Seven years The interior cause of this inflammation was the Luxury of the Nobility and the dissolute and excessive expences of the Earl the occasion was a quarrel that rose between one called John Lyon and the Matthews who were six Brothers both the one and the other were very powerful amongst the Navigators or Mariners and between the Cities of Ghent and Bruges for a certain Canal or River which those of Bruges would needs make The Earl took part with these and was cause that John Year of our Lord 1379 Lyon formed against him a faction of White Hats in the City of Ghent He sets up the Matthews to oppose and countermine them John Lyon was found to be the stronger and pushed the contest on to the utmost extremity The Duke of Anjou was mighty greedy of Money and a great exactor his People by his Order or upon their own Authority having laid some new Imposts upon the City of Montpellier which was under his Government but of the Propriety of the King of Navarre the People mutined and killed Fourscore of them amongst which number were his Chancellour and the Governour The Duke hastned thither with some Forces and caused a most horrible Sentence to be given for punishment of that crime but it was moderated almost in every point by the intercession of his Holiness excepting against the Authors of that Sedition who paid down their Heads for it
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
the Battle Year of our Lord 1382. in December The other Cities that had sided with them redeemed themselves by great sums of Money Courtray did not enjoy that favour although they had paid down the purchase the cause of this their misfortune was said to be the resentment of the French for their annual Festivity in commemoration of that Battle they had gained over them in the year 1302. with certain Letters from the Parisians which were found making mention of a League between the Cities in France with those in Flanders for the utter rooting out of the Nobility they were therefore plundered massacred and the Town afterwards set on fire And in effect as soon as the King was gone out of France the Citizens of Paris Rouen Troyes Orleans and several others had taken up Arms upon occasion of the Imposts insomuch that the Princes and the Grandees who sought to make advantage of Confiscations and Fines having easily perswaded the King whether it were true or not that the People had conspired against the Crown that young Prince by their advice and instigation severely chastised those Cities by putting great numbers to death by Proscriptions revocation of Priviledges and excessive Taxes The Parisians as proud but less courageous then the Ghentois went armed forth to meet him in the Plain near St. Denis to the number of Thirty thousand to pay Year of our Lord 1383 their respect to him in appearance but in truth to let him see their strength Nevertheless they did too much and too little for they returned every one to his own home upon his first word of Command He entred their City therefore as into a place conquer'd by force caused their Gates to be unhinged their Barricado's to be broken down took away their Chains and all their Arms their Prevost of Marchants and Sheriffs Offices and afterwards a great many of their Lives who were drowned in the River or hanged or else beheaded Amongst those of the last number was the Kings Advocate John de Marais more guilty for opposing the Princes exactions then for contributing towards their popular commotions After all these punishments they ordered all the Citizens of Year of our Lord 1383 both Sexes to appear together in the Palace-yard The King sitting on his Throne which was raised very high the Chancellour d'Orgemont shewed them the horror of their reiterated crimes in such harsh terms and terrible expressions as seemed to bid them all prepare for death They prostrated themselves upon the ground the Ladies with dischevell'd Hair the Men beating their Breasts all crying out for Mercy The Dukes of Berry and Burgundy fell on their knees before the King who as if he had been moved at their Prayers did with his own Lips pronounce that he did pardon them and did commute the punishment they had deserved to pecuniary Mulcts and Fines This was the true meaning of all that Theatrical project above one moity of their Goods was now exacted from them and then whilst their terror was yet upon them the Imposts were again setled and they were levied with unexpressible extortion The other Cities were Treated in the like manner and these vast sums went almost wholly into the pockets of the Nobility who soon squandring them away agen in foolish and vain expences did in some sort justify those commotions which they so horribly chastised Year of our Lord 1383 The English perceived but too late the fault they had committed in not supporting the Ghentois more early and therefore the Truce being expir'd they resolved to assist them Vrban sounding his Trumpet of war in every corner against the Clementines a Croisado had been preached up in England whereof Henry Spencer Bishop of Norwich made himself Chief Being landed at Calais instead of attacquing the French he fell upon Flanders pretending that Countrey belonged to the King of France who was a Clementine The taking of Gravelin and a Battle he won nigh that place over twelve thousand Flemmings brought a terror upon the whole Countrey After which having had a re-inforcement from the Ghentois he laid Siege to Ypres but the King returning personally into Flanders with a powerful Army drove him from that place re-took and saccaged Bergh which the English had forsaken and shut them up in Bourbourgh he might have taken them at discretion had not the mediation of the Duke of Bretagne obtained them terms that were honourable enough The History written by the Monk of St. Denis speaks not a word of the Bishop of Norwich but attributes this expedition to the Duke of Gloucester However it were he that Commanded was forced to go back into England without much credit and almost without any of his Men. Year of our Lord 1383 This rebuke inclined the English to desire a Peace Deputies on either side were sent to the Village of Lelinghen in the mid-way between Calais and Boulogne The Duke of Lancaster would comprehend the Ghentois and the Earl of Flanders opposed it which caused the Conference to end only in a Truce from the Month of October till St. Johns day following of which it was allowed the Ghentois should be partakers Year of our Lord 1384 The Earl at his going thence having retir'd himself to St. Omers was seized with a Malady whereof he died the Three and twentieth of January in the year 1384. this grief attending him to his death that he beheld his Countrey laid in ashes and glutted with the blood of his own Subjects Perhaps it wounded his Heart to hear the Duke of Berry reproach him with most injurious terms That his too obstinate revenge was cause of all those mischiefs Philip I. Duke of Burgundy his Son-in-law succeeded him in all his Estates and carried on the War against the Rebels but with more mildness and a design of reclaiming those stubborn Spirits and bringing them to a true submission rather by policy and perswasion then by force Year of our Lord 1384 During the Truce there were certain Troops of Robbers who ravaged all Guyenne The Mareschal of Sancerre Governour of the Province could not put up their Robberies they having been so insolent as to attaque himself wherefore he cut them all off There was another rising of the Peasants as cruel as those of the Jacquerie who over-ran Poitou Berry and Auvergne and most inhumanely butcher'd all those whose Hands were not hardned with Labour they were named the Tuchins Year of our Lord 1384 their Leader was named Peter de la Bruyere The Duke of Berry drew his Forces together dispersed them and put their Ring-leader to death with many more of his Rustiques Year of our Lord 1384 After the departure of the Duke of Anjou the Duke of Berry and the Duke of Burgundy engrossed all Authority but especially this last The Duke of Bourbon finding he was not able to make head against him quitted the Government of the Kings Person and partly to perform a Vow he had made to go into the Holy-Land went
kept the Field some time but being less crafty he fell into an Ambuscade near Alexandria and was wounded to death after which his whole Army was dispersed and dwindled to nothing Year of our Lord 1392 The great desire the two Kings Charles and Richard had to joyn their Forces against the Turks brought the Duke of Lancaster to a Conference with King Charles at Amiens but the Propositions were so high on the English side that the result at last was only a Truce for a year The more the authority of the Constable and his three dependants was confirmed the more grievous was their power to the People The King's Uncles fretted and grew enrag'd the Clergy betraid by some of the Chief of their own Body were on the brink of losing their immunities had not the University from whom they were also taking away all their Priviledges bestirr'd themselves and put a stop to all School-Exercises and Preaching When they observed that all Foreigners went away from Paris and that such an Interdiction made a great noise all over Europe even those that had undertaken the ruine of that Body would needs have the honour of procuring them an Audience of the King who did them justice upon their Complaints The Support and Priviledges the Kings ever since the time of Lewis the Gross had granted to this famous University the Mother of all the rest that are in Europe the infinite numbers of Students that came thither from the remotest Countreys the strict adherence of the whole Clergy to them to whom they were a Nursery and Seminary and the Authority their Faculty of Divinty had acquired to judge of Doctrine and Matters thereto relating had rendred them so considerable that in times of confusion they were called to consult in all Affairs of Importance if not they took upon them to make Remonstrances and knew how to oblige others to follow them Year of our Lord 1392 Peter de Craon was notoriously guilty of the loss of Lewis Duke of Anjou his Lord the Duke of Berry had threatned to have him hang'd for it yet he was no less regarded at Court where the splendor of Birth and Riches easily covers baseness and crimes It hapned that he fell into disgrace with the Duke of Orleans he fancied the Constable had done him that ill Office he resolved upon revenge and one Evening the Thirteenth of June as he was coming from the King Assassinates him in St. Catherines street being assisted by Twenty Russians whom he had gotten together in his House He alterwards easily escaped out of Paris the Gates having been always left open ever since the Constable had caused them to be taken down upon his return from Flanders These wounds did not prove the death of the Constable but they were the ruine of Craon Three of the Murtherers being discover'd and taken were beheaded his Goods confiscated and given to the Duke of Orleans his House turned into a Churchyard for St. John's in Greve and his stately Seats in the Countrey demolished He could save nothing but his Person by flying to the Duke of Bretagne who kept him carefully conceal'd Some years after the King granted his Pardon upon the request of the Duke of Orleans When the Constable began to recover of his wounds both those that were his friends and such as were no way concerned called earnestly upon the King to punish this attempt There was upon this Command sent to the Duke to deliver up the Assassin he denies him to be in that Countrey the Ministers exasperate the King and perswade him to march towards Bretagne to destroy the Duke In vain did his Unclâ—s urge that this was but a private quarrel which ought to be legally determined by the ordinary ways and methods of Justice and that it was against the common Rights of Mankind to fall upon the Duke of Bretagne before he was proved Guilty or Condemned they could not alter that Resolution Year of our Lord 1392 Marching in the Sun-shine and great heats of weather in August his Brain already much weakned with the debauchery of his youth was discomposed with black and noxious vapours Two unexpected but frightful objects heightned and hastned his phrensy One day as he was going out of Manse passing thorough a Wood there came forth a tall black fellow all weather-beaten and ragged who laid hold of his Horses Bridle bawling out Stop King Whither goest thou thou art betray'd then vanish'd Soon after a Page who carried a Lance sleeping on horseback let it fall upon a Helmet which another carried before him At this shrill noise and the sight of the posture of the Lance the Apparition or Fantasme and its threatnings came fresh into his mind his Fancy was disturbed he imagines they were going to deliver him up to his enemy and believed all those that were about him to be Traitors This puts him into a violent fit of Fury he runs strikes kills without Rime or Reason till he fell into a Swoon They carry him bound in a Chariot back to Manse Witchcrafts and Poysonings were so frequent in those days that it was believed his malady proceeded from some such Cause The third day he recover'd his Sences and by little and little his Strength which was attributed to the publick Prayers made for him but not the full vigor of his understanding In this disorder his Uncle resumed the Government conducted him back to Paris seized upon the three Citizen Favourites who having undergone three Months imprisonment with the continual fear of being led to execution as was threatned were set at liberty by the Kings Command who ordered the greatest part of their Goods to be restored but declared them for ever incapable of holding any Office-Royal The Constable was so fortunate as to make his escape to his own Countrey in Bretagne where he most bravely defended himself against the Duke by the assistance of the Duke of Orleans and the rest of his friends The Princes gave his Office to Philip of Artois Earl of Eu. All Offices being as then but Commissions which were revocable Year of our Lord 1390 Vrban the Pope of Rome died in the Month of October Anno 1389. Boniface IX succeeded him this Pope shewed himself to be very much inclined to re-unite the Church dispatched a Frier to Clement to consult of some method to bring it about Clement puts him in prison but the University exclaimed so that he released him Clament was therefore compell'd to feign that he had a desire to put an end to that Schism But when the University had declared it was impossible to be effected without the renunciation of both Competitors he and the Duke of Berry who took his part highly broke off the Proposition But they could never stop the mouth of that Mother of all Learning and Piety from crying out against that scandal which so afflicted the whole Church Year of our Lord 1393 The 29th of January at the Nuptials of a Lady
Men at Arms the Burgundian was not weaker but the Queen the Dukes of Berry and Bourbon appearing as Mediators reconciled the Uncle and the Nephew at least to outward shew At that time the King was in his Fits when he was recover'd the Duke of Orleans obtained of him that when he was ill he should have the Goverment of Year of our Lord 1402 the Kingdom He imprudently began it by new Imposts which rendred him odious to the People Insomuch that the Burgundian being returned to Court found his party strong enough in the Council to obtain the Government again Soon after the King coming out of another Fit gave order that they should Govern joyntly but the Council the Queen and the other Princes and Lords prayed him to recal it The Duke of Orleans went to take passession of the Dutchy of Luxemburgh which he had purchased of Wenceslans King of Bohemia and made an agreement between the Duke of Lorrain and the City of Mets. As for the Duke of Burgundy he went into Bretagne where he rendred a signal piece of Service to France Jean de Navarre the Widow of Duke John de Montfort was going to be married with Henry King of England and was ready to have carried her three Daughters with her the Duke prevented this and having taken order to preserve the Dutchy for them brought them to the Court of France to be bred up in an affection to that Crown Bennet found means to make his escape out of the Palace of Avignon bearing about him the Body of our Lord and certain Letters from the King in which he had made promise never to forsake him Immediately his Cardinals were reconciled to him the City craved his Pardon and the King of Sicilia made him a visit The Court of France was hugely divided about the business of the Substraction the Dukes of Berry Burgundy and Bourbon insisted to persevere therein the Duke of Orleans on the contrary The Clergy of France were assembled to decide it The King of Spain declared by his Ambassadours that he would take it off In a word they bestirred themselves so with the King that he restored the Kingdom to the Obedience of Bennet All the Universities consented even that of Paris at last unless the Norman People who resisted a long while And all this change was made upon the Duke of Orleans becoming security for Bennets good intentions who after this setled himself in Avignon fortify'd it and got some Soldiers into the City and others quarter'd round the neighborhood to maintain himself by power Year of our Lord 1403 The Dukes of Orleans Berry and Burgundy disputed daily and contended daily for the Government they agreed in no one thing but the laying of new Imposts they had their shares all three but the odium fell chiefly upon the first for this as well as for the Schism in the Church All the whole time of this Reign poor France was beaten with divers rods of Affliction sometimes with parching Droughts then otherwhiles with Floods of Rain and Inundations of Rivers sometimes with violent Storms and Tempests often Year of our Lord 1404 with contagious or epidemical Diseases There hapned so great a Mortality at Paris in the year 1399. that they were fain to forbid all great Meetings This year another was so rife it carried off an infinite number Philip Duke of Burgundy dyed of it at Halle in the Countrey of Brabant the Twenty seventh of April His Heart was brought to St. Denis his Body to the Chartreuse of Dijon which he had built most magnificently This Prince without being a King had the greatest Estate in Lands of any in his Days but his Magnificence which we may say hath been Hereditary to the House of Burgundy which yielded not for number of Officers nor rich Furniture to that of the Royal Family and the excessive expences he was at upon all occasions had so much impoverish'd him that his Wife renounced the Community and laid down his Girdle Keys and Purse upon his Coffin as her surrender He had three Sons and four Daugters Of his Sons John had the Dutchy and the County of Burgundy with Flanders and Artois Anthony was Duke of Brabant Lothier and Limbourg Philip had the Earldoms of Nevers and Rhetel Of the four Daughters Marguerite espoused William eldest Son of Albert Duke of Bavaria who was Son of the Emperour Lewis and Earl of Haynault Holland and Zealand and Lord of Friesland From them came an only Daughter named Jacqueline of whom we shall have many things to relate Mary was wedded with Ame VIII First Duke of Savoy who afterwards was made Pope under the name of Felix Catharine was Wife of Leopold IV. Duke of Austria and Earl of Tyrol Bonna died before she was Married Year of our Lord 1404 It was now two years that the Duke of Bretagne's Children had been bred in the Court of France this year the Eldest who succeded to the Dutchy he was called John and was the Sixth of that name went to take possession thereof and shewed himself a better Frenchman then his Father They were sensibly troubled in France for the death of King Richard and they had used all their endeavours to turn that great affection the Cities of Bourdeaux and Bayonne had for Richard into a hatred against his Murtherer but they were so strictly tied to the English by their intercourse of Trade they could not pervert them from their Interest and Obedience nor gain the least of their ends upon them And the Kings indisposition would not suffer them to venture to take a revenge for the Murther of his Son-in-law There were none but the Duke of Orleans and Valeran Count de St. Pol who had Married Richards Sister that shewed any resentment The First sent to defy Henry in very opprobrious terms but received a sutable return The Second after most outragious challenges and bravado's much above what was in his power to perform besieged Mere by Land from whence he was driven away most shamefully Henry had sent back Queen Isabella to her Father with her Portion and all her Jewels and Truces had been made at divers seasons but those were more punctually observed Year of our Lord 1404 on the French side then by the English For accordingly as Henry setled himself he loosed the Reins of the Englishmens hatred who committed many hostilities by Sea and Land in Normandy and in Guyenne The Bretons and Normans did not leave them un-retaliated as likewise at the same time the Constable Albert he succeeded Lewis de Sancerre in that Office cleared all the neighborhood of Bourdelois of a great many petty Castles by means whereof they gathered great Contributions in the Countrey of Guyenne The Earl de la Marche Son of the Duke of Bourbon did as much in Limosin Year of our Lord 1404 But this last by his too long delay ruined that relief he should have carried to Clindon a Prince of Wales who made
Lord 1412 That party being reduced to dispair and finding themselves ruined even in those Provinces of the Kingdom where they had been strongest makes an Alliance with the English but upon Conditions very prejudicial to France The King being again restored to his health and finding this Treaty was agreed upon vowed their â—estruction as the greatest of his enemies After he had been at St. Denis and set up the Standard of the Oriflamme which never was display'd but against the publique enemy and against Insidels he went in Person to besiege the Duke of Berry in the City of Bourges this was in June and marched with so much eagerness that he did not stop one day in all that march although he received a kick on his Leg from one of his Horses In the mean time his other Commanders made War upon the Orleannois in several other parts There were too many brave Men in the Town and too much Division and Treachery in his own Army to gain it easily The Siege drawing out in length Sickness invades his Forces and constrained him to grant a Peace to the Princes The English who landed at the same time in Normandy under the conduct of Thomas Duke of Lancaster the Kings Brother to assist them made themselves formidable to both parties the dread they had made them hasten the execution of the Treaty But the Duke of Orleans who had called them in was obliged to satisfy them at his own expence and gave them his Brother John Earl of Angoulesme for hostage Year of our Lord 1412 The Treaty having been confirmed at Auxerre they carried the King whom they found to be falling again into his distemper to Melun and from thence when he was grown better to Paris He made his entrance in great pomp together with the Queen and the Dauphin and caused the Peace to be proclaimed to the unspeakable joy of the People Year of our Lord 1413. in January The University and the honest Citizens of Paris the only Members of the State that were not utterly corrupted observing that the Grandees and such as were in Office desired no other but to continue those troubles that they might fleece the People And that besides unless it were prevented the English had undertaken to conquer Guyenne perswaded the King who ever intended well to labour towards the Reformation of his Kingdom that so he might be the better enabled to resist them For which purpose he calls an Assembly of Notables at Paris towards the latter end of January The University thoroughly noted all disorders in the administration of the Revenue in Courts of Justice the Chancery the choice of Officers and the Mint such as were guilty were not spared not even the Chancellour Arnand de Corbie who was accused of Concussion There were Commissioners chosen of all the Orders to reform the State in all these particulars but neither the Princes nor others that were in power could endure to be obliged to be honest they must have lost too much by it especially ☞ those that were about the Dauphin Duke of Guyenne This young Prince aged but Sixteen years was fantastical inconstant and debauched Besides they bred him up in all manner of Licentiousness and disorder as Gaming Women Feasting and dissolute Dancing and worse yet in Maxims of irregular Government very proper indeed for such a life as he would lead for to enable ones self to commit all Licentiousness a Man must set himself above all Laws Year of our Lord 1413 These People put it into his Head that to be absolute Master of France Paris must be quell'd and the Citizens disarmed whom he might afterwards load with Taxes even as he pleased It was therefore by their advice that he seized upon the Castle of the Bastille by the means of Peter des Essards The Burghers took the Allarm the Burgundian under-hand exasperates the People and incites his Companies of Butchers He gets together Ten or Twelve thousand Men who having a Chyrurgeon at the head of them named John de Troyes ran all about the streets one part of them surrounds the Bastille the rest went and planted their City-banner before the House of the Duke of Guyenne He shews himself at the Window to appease those furies John de Troyes lets him understand that they came thither to take away those from about him who mischievously corrupted his youth The Chancellour having desired they would name them they delivered him a List of them wherein he found his own Name to be the very first and forced him to read it aloud twice over At the same instant they beat open the Gates search every where and carry away above twenty Persons of whom were the Duke of Bar Cousin-german to the King John de Vailly Chancellour to the Duke James de la Riuiere his Chamberlain whom they led Prisoners to the Louvre The next day Peter des Essards surrenders the Bastille and himself to the Duke of Burgundy who kept him very strictly in the Chastelet because he had been accused of a design to have carried away the King and the Duke of Guyenne The University refused to joyn with those Factious people the Princes of the Blood detested such attemps but they were glad in their hearts that the Duke of Guyenne had met with such correction In the beginning of May the Factious bethought them of making White Hoods they carried some to that Prince and John de Troyes usher'd in the Fince present with a very rude Remonstrance A Doctor of Divinity named Eustatious de Pavilly a Religious Carmelite being their Mouth very freely told him of his extravagant manner Year of our Lord 1413 of life He scrupled not to say that the misfortunes of the King his Father and of the Duke of Orleance was a punishment due for their Debaucheries And added likewise that if he did not suddenly change he would render himself unworthy of the Crown and give just occasion to transfer his Birthright to his Brother Which he urged with the more confidence because the Queen had often menaced him in the same manner He would very sain have freed himself out of the hands of these impertinent Pedagogues but the doors were to well guarded the People being Masters One day as the King was going to Noster-Dame John de Troyes obliged him to put on a white Hood Two days after he came to the Hostel de Saint Pol justified before the King by his Spokesman de Pavilly the imprisonment of the Duke de Guyennes Servants and named many others yet that were to be rooted out then Addressing himself to the Duke of Guyenne demanded him to deliver them up Whatever Intreaties he could made they took away a great many more not only Private Gentlemen but likewise Lewis of Bavaria the Queens Brother several Ladies that belonged to her to the Dutchess of Guyenne and to the Countess of Charolois whom they accused as Instruments of the most pernicious Intrigues and dissolute Actions
the Fortunate Islands a little Island which they named Madera because it was full of Wood or Materials fit for building From thence steering along the exteriour coasts of Africa they there discover'd several large Countries and in time sailed to the East-Indies which till then were unknown at least those parts towards the Sea Pope Martin and after him his Successors bestowed upon the Portugals all those Lands by them discover'd or to be discover'd from the Cape which lies at the end of Mount Atlas to the Indies When the King of England had sojourned some weeks at Paris he laid Siege to the City of Meaux the only place the Dauphin had left upon the Rivers of Seine and Year of our Lord 1420 Marne After a three Months brave defence the Besieged capitulated the ninth of May the Inhabitants had their lives and liberties but all the Soldiers were sent Prisoners to divers places where they let them cruelly perish for hunger The Bailiff named Lewis de Gas had his Head cut off in the Halles at Paris The City taken King Henry went into England to draw over a new supply of Men and Money So great was the fondness of the French for the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples that Lewis Duke of Anjou forgetting those disasters of his Father and Grandfather and abandoning his own Country to the mercy of the English suffers himself to be cajolled by the promises of the Pope and Sforza who called him to dispossess Queen Jane a Princess lost in her Reputation by her continual Galantries Year of our Lord 1421 or Amours The Affairs of Lewis being in a pretty good posture in that Country Alphonso King of Arragon who held the Island of Sicilia undertakes the protection of Jane she having adopted him her Son Sforza does reconcile himself to her and in a word there was nothing left for the poor Angevin but the way to walk home again Year of our Lord 1421 One of the first seeds of division between the English and the Duke of Burgundy was about Jacqueline Countess of Hainault Holland Zealand and Friseland After the death of John Dauphin of France they had Married her to John Duke of Brabant Son of Anthony and Cousin German to Duke Philip but the young Gossip not being satisfied with her second Husband a Man of little merit prosecuted for a Divorce and consederated with some Captains to carry her away as it were by force into England where she Married Humphrey Duke of Gloucester Brother of King Henry This undertaking turned much to the contempt of Philip who besides observed that the English began to treat him with more pride and endeavour'd so to settle their affairs as they might have no further need of him Year of our Lord 1421 The War was very hot in every Province on this side the Loire particularly in Champagne Picardy and in the Countries of Perche Maine and Anjou The Duke of Clarence Brother to King Henry having got together eight or ten thousand Men went and besieged Bauge in Anjou John Earl of Bouchain a Scot and the Mareschal de la Fayette marched to its relief gave him battle and won it He was slain upon the place with two thousand of his Men the rest escaped through the Country of Mayne into Normandy This Earl of Bouchain had brought three or four thousand Men from his own Country to the Dauphins service in recompence he gave him the Constables Sword Year of our Lord 1421 The Field being clearly left to the French the Dauphin accompanied with his new Constable and the Duke of Alenson regained some places in the Countries of Perche and the Chartrain In the mean time Henry being come back from England with a great reinforcement and in a rage and fury for the defeat and death of his Brother did endeavour all that was possible to meet with the Dauphin He marched by Chartres and Chasteaudun lodged in the Suburbs of Orleans and not meeting him in the Field but a violent Dysentery that took off three thousand of his Men he falls upon the City of Dreux which being surrendred upon Composition he goes to rest himself at Paris and sends over his Queen who was great with Child to be deliver'd in England Year of our Lord 1421 Whilst he lay at the Siege of Dreux an honest Hermit unknown to him came and told him the great evils he brought upon Christendom by his unjust ambition who usurped the Kingdom of France against all manner of right and contrary to the will of God wherefore in his holy name he threatned him with a severe and suddain punishment if he desisted not from his Enterprise Henry took this exhortation either for an idle whimsey or a suggestion of the Dauphinois and was but the more confirmed in his design Year of our Lord 1422 But the blow soon followed the threatning for within some few Months after he was smitten in the Fundament with a strange and incurable Disease the acuteness of its pain made him go to Senlis to seek for cure The Queen his Wife was a while before this returned out of England having brought forth a Son to whom they gave the same name as his Fathers Both she and her Husband made their entry with great splendour into Paris and kept open Court at the Louvre upon the Feast of Pentecost each Crowned with their Royal Diadems but the People that went to see the Ceremony had cause to regret regret the liberalities of their ancient Kings and detest the niggardliness or pride of the English who gave them none of their good Cheer nor did vouchsafe to profer them one Glass of Wine The Dauphin in the mean time had besieged the City of Cosne on the Loire and the place had capitulated to surrender if they were not relieved by a prefixed day with an Army able to give them battle The Duke of Burgundy got a great number of Men to go thither the Dauphin being informed of his march did not think fit to stay for him but raised his Siege Year of our Lord 1422 The King of England though already indisposed was gotten into his Litter that he might be present at this memorable Action While he was at Melun his distemper encreased so much that he could proceed no further but made them bring him back to Vincennes where he died the eight and twentieth day of August He had only one Son who was named Henry he left him to the education of the Cardinal of Winchester his Uncle who bred him in England gave the Government of that Kingdom to the Duke of Gloucester and the Regency of the Kingdom of France to John Duke of Bedford to whom he recommended above all things to give content to the Duke of Burgundy never to make any Peace with the Dauphin unless Normandy were yielded to be left in full Soveraignty to the English and not to release those Prisoners that were taken at the Battle of Azincour till his Son were
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
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
to Establish a Council made up of the Princes of his own House together with the Lords of the Country for the Administration of his Affairs Landays having intelligence of this was possessed with such fury that he caused a Patent to be drawn in the Dukes name which declared all the Commanders of his Army which had entred into that capitulation with the Rebels Criminals de Lesae Majestatis and their Estates consiscate The Chancellor his name was Francis Christian refused to Seal it notwithstanding the Dukes reiterated order But on the contrary being Summoned by the Lords to bring Landays to Justice he took several informations upon which a Decree was made to take the Body of Landays Year of our Lord 1485 The Lords of the Dukes Council held private correspondence to ruin this Fellow One day therefore the People of Nantes excited by some Emissary's and their own hatred towards him got in throngs into the Castle crying out for Jusstice upon Landays and at the same time the Chancellor was compell'd by the Lords to wait upon the Duke and beseech him to give leave that he might be arrested and brought to his Trial. The Duke to avoid greater danger took the miserable wretch by the Hand who had secur'd himself in his Chamber and delivered him up to the Chancellor expresly commanding him they should not touch his Life for he granted him pardon for whatever Crime they might convict him of But as that Prince was weak they had no regard to his injunction They made quick dispatch with Landays the Gibbet was the last step his Ambitious Pride raised him to Being found guilty of Concussions Depredations Murthers and other Crimes he was Hanged at Nantes the 18 th Day of July Year of our Lord 1486 The following year Maximilian was Elected King of the Romans at Francfort the one and Twentieth of February and Crowned at Aix la Chapelle with Charlemains Crown the 12 th of April He had surprized the City of Terouenne for which cause the Mareschal D'Esquerdes made a rude War upon him He pressed him so hard that he was forced to write to all those Cities in the Kingdom as had obliged themselves for Guaranty of the Treaty he had made with the King complaining of this injustice done him by that Lord and the Dame de Beaujeu in the name of the King The Letter was brought by one of his Heralds whom the King being then at Beauvais caused to be Guarded in his Journey It was Read in the Town-Hall of Paris but he received no other answer then what it pleased those about the King to dictate He was as little successful in the Cavalcade he made thinking to surprize Guise which Garrison did infinitely molest the Country of Hainault Having furnished Terouenne with provisions he came into Cambresis But the Mareschals Desquerdes and Guy still pursuing him and Poverty pinching him yet more then his Enemies he durst not undertake any thing Every thing failing him his Germans Disbanded and he retired to Melines where he caused his Son to be kept and Educated Year of our Lord 1486 One cannot conceive a greater grief then what the Duke of Bretagne felt for the loss of his Landays nevertheless he was forced to contain himself and grant an Abolition or Indemnity to all the Lords for fear of intailing a Cruel and Bloody War upon his Country but all that precaution would not serve turn The time was come to put a Period to that Estate and I know not what fatallity hurried them to it by unavoidable accidents The Dame de Beaujeu being informed that the Duke of Orleans was forging some design against her made him to be commanded to come to Court he came upon the second Summons he received but the next Day being the 5 th of January he went into the Country upon pretence of Hawking and took his flight into Bretagne The good reception he met with from the Duke the power he gave him there and the strict knot of Friendship he tied with Guibe one of the Nephews of the Deceased Landays who commanded the greater part of the Dukes Gendarmerie gave both suspition and fear to the Breton Lords The Kings Council knowing their apprehensions offer'd them all assistance imaginable to help them drive out both the Duke of Orleans and the rest of the French from their Country of Bretagne The wisest amongst them were not for Engaging so great a power in their quarrel as would sooner or later swallow up all if called in But the rest imagining they could easily Limit and Curb them by Articles of Agreement This opinion carried it they made a League with the King upon these conditions That he should bring into the Country no more then four hundred Lances and four thousand Year of our Lord 1486 Foot That he should recall them as soon as ever the Duke of Orleans and his partisans should quit the Country That he should neither take nor Besiege any place without the consent of the Mareschal de Rieux nor should lay any claim or pretence to the Dutchy Whatever was in the Treaty expressed yet the Kings Council were persuaded that Bretagne appertained to him by vertue of a Cession which the Heirs of Pontieure had made to Lewis XI Nay even some Bretons who loved to swim in deep and large Waters and hoped to find fairer fortunes in the Court of France confirmed them in this opinion And it was for this design they led the King to the Borders of that Country Year of our Lord 1486 Whilst he was at Amboise he had private notice that the Count de Dunois was returned from Ast notwithstanding his commands to the contrary had got to Partenay in Poiton which he Fortified that being there he was making a League for the Duke of Orleans and that he had drawn in the Earl of Angoulesme the Duke of Lorrain the Lords de Ponts and de Albret He cajoled these two last with the hopes that they should marry the Duke of Bretagne's eldest Daughter and the Duke of Lorrain was tyred with the put off's they had so long used towards him concerning the Succession of the House of Anjou Year of our Lord 1487. in January Those friends the Duke of Orleans had left at Court plotted together to carry away the King who would have warranted them and as they said had intreated them to do it being quite wearied and distasted with the imperious Government of his Sister This would have ended the Quarrel to the Dukes advantage but the contrivance having taken Air by a Valet the Bishops of Periguex and Montauban these were Gefroy de Pampadour and George d'Amboise Comines and some others who had the management of it were Arrested Comines having been a Prisoner near three years of which time he was shut up eight whole Months in an Iron Cage was condemned by Sentence of the Court of Parliament to lose the fourth part of his Estate and to remain a Prisoner for ten years
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
in his City of Ast with orders to bring him a re-inforcement of eight or nine Thousand men But Lewis who had some pretensions to the Dutchy of Milan having found a fair opportunity to surprize the City of Novarre had amuzed himself there leaving the King exposed to great danger And indeed it Succeeded but ill with him for Ludovic Besieged him in it before he could have time to furnish it with Victuals Though the Kings Army were very weak yet being on it's March he sent a re-inforcement of some Companies which came to him from France commanded by Philip de Savoy Earl of Bresse and another besides who were in eight Galleys to execute an enterprize upon the Genoese The Fregoses Enemies to Ludovic and the Adornes made him believe it very easie but it fell out very ill the Genoese Year of our Lord 1495 taking his Galleys in the Port of Rapalo and the Earl of Bresse who was advanced into the very Suburbs retreating with a great deal of shame The Confederates had in their Army neer forty thousand sighting Men Francis Marquiss of Mantoua commanded them in Chief the King had not above nine thousand at most yet they durst not attack him in the Mountains but waited for him at his descent neer the Village of Fornoua in a Valley of about a Mile and a half wide where he was necessarily to pass Fornoua is a Village about nine Miles on the other side of Piacenza The King being come to Lodge there the little River of Tar was between the two Armies sent to the Confederates to demand Passage and receiving no Answer he resolved to make Way with the Sword Theyca me to Blows on the Sixth of July the Confederares in less then a quarter of an Hour were beaten back to their very Camp with the loss of three thousand of their Men The Field was the Kings and this important Victory which did not cost him above fourscore Men and a small part of his Baggage secured him the Way to Ast He arrived there the Fifteenth of the Month very much harassed and tyred not so much by the Enemy who followed him at a great distance as the Difficulties of the Ways and the Scarcity of Provisions Year of our Lord 1495 Whilst he refreshed himself and walked from Ast to Quiers and to Turin the Florence Ambassadors solicited him for the Restitution of their Towns He commanded those Captains that held them to surrender them but he was so easy and so little absolute that very far from obeying him they presumed to sell them some to the Pisans and the rest to the Venetians The Confederates after the Battle of Fornoua had sent part of their Forces to the Siege of Novarre The Duke of Orleans had not turned out the useless Mouths soon enough and had suffer'd himself to be coop'd up in hopes the King would soon come and deliver him But as he had not oblig'd him over-much and besides had more Passion for a new Amour he had begun at Quiers then for the War he made no great haste but left him to suffer the extremest Famine Year of our Lord 1495 At length however he resolved to disingage him and came to Vercel with that Design His Army encreasing every day the Enemies were afraid and hearkned to a Treaty Whilst that was concluding they permitted the Duke of Orleans and three Days afterwards his whole Garrison more then half Hunger-Starved to crawl out of the City which was left to the Charge of the Inhabitants upon condition that if they did not agree upon the Treaty the Duke should return and put himself into the Castle which some Men of his had still in their keeping Some few Days after the Treaty being almost perfected there arrived a Party of sixteen thousand Swisse who came to the French Army The Duke of Orleans insisted highly to give Battle to the Enemy the gaining of it would at least have been so of all the Milanois He had been satisfied in his Desires had there not been more apprehension of the boldness of the Swisse then the Enemies Army for being double their own Number they might have seized the King's Person if they would This consideration made them think it more Prudence to conclude with Sforza They restored Novarre to him and the Port de la Spezzia and he promised to furnish a certain number of Ships and Men for the Conquest of Naples to give Passage through his Countries to pay the King four score thousand Crowns and fifty thousand to the Duke of Orleans to make Restitution of the eight Galleys taken by the Genoese at Rapalo and to admit the French to Equip their Fleets in that Port. The King's impatience was so great he had not leisure to stay till the Execution of this Treaty as soon as it was Signed he went away with all speed to Lyons to Dance Masquerade and make Love Sforza observing him so wholly taken up with his Pleasures not in a likely-hood of returning thither suddenly did not perform one Article of the Treaty Ferdinand King of Naples did for his part take the Advantages he ought of his Absence and his Carelesness All the Princes that were in the Italian League contributed to restore him to his Kingdom The Pope and Cardinal Sforza practised to gain the Cities for him by their Intrigues especially that of Naples The King of Arragon his Relation sent him two Armies One for the Land-service commanded by Ferdinand Gonzales the Vulgar called him Gonsalvo who assumed the Name of the Great Captain the other for Sea-service by Villamiarmo The Venetians did likewise set two Armies on Foot Grimani was Chief of that at Sea and Francis de Gonzague of the other but this arrived not till the end of the Year These crafty Politicians imagined that this conjunction would in time give them the whole Empire of Italy for Ferdinand engaged Brindes and Otranto to them and soon after Grimani seized upon Monopoli Mola Siponte and Trani The French could hardly save Tarenta the City of Cajeta revolted and penn'd them up in the Castle On the other side Frederic and Gonsalvo made themselves Masters of Regio of Saint Agatha and Seminaro Aubigny shut them up in Seminaro they sallied forth to remove him and lost the Battle This might have proved the Total ruine of Frederic had Aubigny pursued his Point home but he fell Sick by the intemperance of the Climat or his own Intemperance and the French Affairs languished with him Ferdinand was more Fortunate at Sea So soon as he appear'd upon the Coast with some Ships of his own and some belonging to the Spaniard Salerna and Malfus set up his Standard the Citizens of Naples who had not dared to stir for three Days together upon the fourth besought him to send some Men on Shoar Montpensur was so imprudent as to March out of the Town to attack them No sooner was he out but they shut the Gates at his Heels and scarcely
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
taken four Pieces of Canon Then believing they were half routed he imprudently went out of his Camp where they durst never have set upon him and goes on to charge them Year of our Lord 1525 He fell upon them with so much Impetuosity that at the very first he broke in amongst their Horse and with his own hand slew Fernand Castriot Marquess of Saint Angelo but the Arquebusiers they had mixed with their Horse put his to a Stop Then comes Bourbon and Lanoy who rallied their own and gave a furious charge The Duke of Alenson who cover'd the Swisse with four hundred men at Arms betook himself to flight and retired to Lyons where some days after he died with grief and shame The Swisse lying open made but a poor Fight and then withdrew the Lansquenets or German Foot who were but three or four thousand Fought to the last moment and were all cut in pieces All the Storm fell then upon the King His Horse being kill'd under him he defended himself on Foot some time without being known But meeting and knowing Pomperan he surrendred himself to him The Baggage and Cannon were taken eight thousand of his men killed upon the place amongst others Lewis de la Trimouille the Mareschal de la Palice Francis Earl of Lambesc Brother to the Duke of Lorrain Aubigny Sanseverin and Bonnivet this last too late as it was said for the good of France and divers other Lords of Note Together with the King were taken the Mareschal de Lescun René Bastard of Savoy these two died of their Wounds Henry d'Albret King of Navarre Francis de Bourbon Earl of Saint Pol the Mareschal de Montmorency Florenges Brion Lorges Rochepot Montejam Montpesat Langey Curton and a great number besides Upon the noise of this event the Garrison that was in Milan forsook it immediately and all the Dutchy fell to the Imperialists The next day after the battle Lanoy fearing the Souldiers might Seize upon the Kings Person to secure their Pay conveyed him to the Castle of Pisqueton and Committed the Guard of him to Captain Alarcon One cannot well conceive the divers effects the news of this great event produced all over Europe It caused infinite joy in the Court of Spain jealousie in that of England an universal affliction to France together with a marvellous consternation which was not much less amongst the Italians who with all their great wisdom and politiques saw themselves exposed as a prey to the Conquerour The French besides the particular sorrow every one resented for the loss of some Kindred or dear Friend did likewise participate in the common Calamity and apprehended lest France having none to defend her now they had lost their King the Flower of their Nobility and best Souldiers should be Invaded by the Emperours Forces Bourbons and the King of Englands The Venetians very wise in Adversity did endeavour their utmost with the Pope to form a League against this Torrent They were of opinion to raise ten thousand Swisse immediately to joyn a good body of Horse with them to exhort the King of England for his own interest to come into a League with them and to inform and instruct Madame in all these points who would not fail to contribute her utmost Cares The Pope consented to all and had given order for a Courier to go into England but the Spaniards having gotten the wind of it gave him such great assurance he should have whatever conditions he desired of the Emperour that as he was very irresolute and besides feared to be put to expences and never knew how to time his business he recalled his Courier changed his mind and made a League with the Emperour The Treaty made he obliged the Duke of Albany whom till then he had amused in Tuscany to Disband all the Italian Troops he had and Ship all the French at Cornet Port to send them back to their own Country lending him some Galleys for that very purpose those the Regent had sent not being sufficient to Transport them The Emperor having received the News of Pavia with great Moderation in so much as he would not suffer them to make Bonfires saying there was greater reason to Mourn for such Victories over Christian Princes then rejoyce it gave some reason to hope that he would make the same use of the advantage he had over his Prisoner in moderation towards him And indeed when he propounded to his Council after what manner he should Treate him His Confessor pleaded that he ought to release him generously and without conditions because it would be a most Christian-like Act worthy of a great Emperour famous to all Posterity which would make the King really his inferior and become ever obliged to him and would tye him more Strictly then any Treaty they could make with him But Fredric Duke d'Alva and after him all the rest of the Council being of opinion Year of our Lord 1525 he was not to be set free till they had so weakned him that he should be hereafter unable to give them any further trouble and that the abatement of his Power would be the re-establishment of the ancient Empire over Europe the Emperour declared that he was of their mind He therefore sent the Lord de Beaurien into Italy to propose to the King who was yet in the Castle of Pisqueton the conditions he desired for his release That he should renounce to the Kingdom of Naples and the Dutchy of Milan That he should surrender up to him the Dutchy of Burgundy which was the Patrimony of his Ancestors That he should give Provence Dauâ—iné and Lyounois to the Duke of Bourbon to be joyned with his other Lands and make them an independant Kingdom That he should Satisfie the King of Englands demands To which Francis replyed That a perpetual Imprisonment would be less severe to him then those conditions That they were not in his Power because they shock'd the Fundamental Laws of France to which he was Subjected but that he offer'd to take in Marriage Eleonora the Emperours Sister to hold Burgundy in Dower and Hereditary for the Children that should be Born of that Marriage to restore the Duke of Burbon to all his Lands and to give him his Sister Margaret Widow of the Duke of Alenson to satisfie the English in Money to pay a Ransom such as King John had paid and to lend him a Land Army and a Fleet whenever he would go into Italy to receive the Imperial Crown If the Regent mother to the King was troubled with grief she was much more so with Fear She apprehended to lose the Regency which Paris and the Parliament very ill satisfied with her conduct would have put into the hands of Charles de Bourbon Duke of Vendosme But that Prince either out of discretion or fear which in this circumstance made it vertue and merit seeing his Family already too hateful in the Kings Eyes refused to take it upon him He went
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