at their first arrival provided they might be furnished with a strong large and convenient Harbour where they might securely enter that there was no place more fit then Boulogne seated in those parts which were nearest the City of Paris placed right against England hard by Flanders to receive supplies from thence the Duke of Parma being there raising a very great Army to join with the Forces of the Fleet They shewed that the Enterprise was not difficult for the Provost Vetus a faithful instrument of the League using every three months to ride his circuit and visit those parts with fifty of his Archers which were commonly wont to go along with him might surprise one of the Gates of the Town at his entry and keep it till he were releived by the Duke of Aumale with the Forces of the Province at whose coming those few Soldiers which were there in the Garrison being cut off it was most easie to make themselves Masters of the place which being a very principal one was greatly desired also by the Duke of Aumale himself who never having been able to attain to the absolute Government of Picardy tried all wayes and plots though bold and dangerous to compass it This attempt of Boulogne did very much please the Confederates hoping that all the Spanish Forces would turn unexpectedly in favour of their designs but it was no less hopeful to the intents of the Ambassador Mendozza considering the great benefit the Navy would receive by so important a place and so large so commodious an Harbour as well in the prosecution of the Enterprise upon England as if it should be imployed in the affairs of France wherefore the common opinion concurring to the same end it was resolved in the Council that the business should be attempted and the Provost being informed thereof who was most ready to undertake it the fitting assignation was given to the Duke of Aumale who by reason of his wonderful inclination to the affairs of the League and his desire to make himself absolute in the Government of Picardy did with as much readiness put himself in order for the design But Lieutenant Poulain was no less sollicitous then they to give the King intelligence of all the business by means of the High Chancellor so that Monsieur de Bernay being advertised and carefully prepared received the Provost in so dextrous a manner that in the entry of the Gate between the Draw-bridge and the Percullise he was taken Prisoner with the greatest part of his men and the Duke of Aumale appearing a while after under the Walls was by the fury of the Canon shot forced to retire Yet for all the failing of this Enterprise did not the Confederates find that their secret Consultations were laid open to the Kings knowledge but ascribing the succesless event of that attempt to chance and to the wonted diligence of the Sieur de Bernay they continued their accustomed inclinations with so much ardour that they consulted of taking the King himself returning with a slender Guard as he was wont to do from the Boys de Vincennes whither he retiring himself from time to time to the exercise of his devotions or as his detracters said of his debauches at his return entred by the Porte S. Antoine the farthest part of all the City from the Louvre where his Guards were and about which the Court was lodged But they themselves had not courage to prosecute that attempt not having any Head of the Confederate Princes there present and the King having notice of it by the same means began to take better heed to himself and to go with more caution thorough the City and the places about it causing himself alwayes to be attended by the Captains of his Guards and by a good number of his most trusty Gentlemen not suffering the five and forty appointed for that service particularly to stir far from his Person He was oftentimes thinking to chastise their temerity and to revenge himself as well of the contempt which the Preachers shewed speaking publickly against him as of the conspiracies of those stirers up of the people which had caused the greatest and most important City of his Kingdom to revolt against him but many things withheld him from it the Treaty begun with the King of Navarre the end whereof he desired to see before he gave any new disturbance to the League the neer coming in of the forreign Army to oppose the violence whereof if he should not agree with the King of Navarre he was necessitated to make use of the Forces of the League and keep united with the Lords of the House of Lorain much less was that a fit conjuncture to break out into open War with them by punishing the Parisians the so numerous Forces of such a populous City alone requiring many preparations to subdue them and the absence of the Queen his Mother without whose advice he was not wont to take any resolutions of such consequence as concerned the whole summ of his affairs To these weighty respects and the unfitness of the time was added the Office also of Monsieur de Villequier who being Governor of Paris either out of a certain propension which men have to defend and excuse those that are under their command or out of a belief that they conspired not immediately against the King but onely for the good of the Catholick party and against the Duke d' Espernon or else disdaining that in his Government others should know more of the secret affairs of that People than he himself and should in a manner tax him of negligence laboured to make them appear lyers and satisfied the King by assuring him that the people did not bear him ill will and that they plotted not any thing at all against him and finally endeavoured by several meanes to perswade him to dissemble and bear with some indiscretions of the People who were jealous of their Religion In which opinion Secretary Villeroy did often also concurr being intent by all wayes possible to hinder the further greatness of Espernon Thus the King by dissembling increased the popular boldness and temerity so that the Duke of Mayenne being about this time returned to Paris who seeing his Army destroyed by toil and sickness in Guienne and not having been able to obtain from the King either recruits of men or supplies of money was come personally to Court after the taking of Chastillon the Heads of the Parisians were ready to make their addresses to him aspiring to bring their designs about under the protection and conduct of his authority Hot-man Bussy la Chapelle Mortel President Nully Prevost the Curate of S. Severine and the Preacher Vincestre went secretly by night unto him and made him acquainted with their Forces the union of the people the Armes already gathered and with the intention they had not only to reduce the City under the power of the League but also to seize upon
good order to the assault which being begun with great fierceness by the assailants and received with no less resolution by the Hugonots continued with great slaughter on both sides from twelve of the clock at noon till the evening the Catholicks not being able to make themselves Masters of the wall The night after the assault those of Diepe endeavoured to put succours into the Town to which purpose the Sieur de Corillan being advanced into a wood not far off with four hundred firelocks he thought by the benefit of the night to delude the guards and to steal in at the gate that answers to the lower part of the River But being discovered by Monsieur d' Anville who with his light horse scoured the fields he was with little difficulty defeated and routed and the Town remained hopeless of any aid Wherefore having already so many days sustained such hot skirmishes and the violence of the Cannon and it being therefore known that they within were reduced almost to nothing the twenty sixth of October in the morning about break of day the Catholicks not to lose more time went very fiercely but in good order to make another assault which they of the Town through weariness and weakness being not able to withstand Sancte Coulombe he that took the Bastion upon the Mount was the first with his men that passed the breach and entred into the City right against the Celestines street though mortally wounded and falling upon the place within three days after he ended his life At the same time Villers Regiment forced their passage at another breach and Sarlabous entred at the Street of St. Claire but not without some difficulty by reason of a barricado of cask that was made in the way After these that were the first entred furiously the whole Army and with great slaughter of the Souldiers and Inhabitants sackt the Town in the heat of their anger sparing no persons whatsoever but putting all to the Sword both armed and unarmed only the Churches and things sacred by the great diligence and exact care of the Commanders were preserved from violence The Count of Montgomery when he saw things in a desparate condition and the Town reduced into the power of the enemy getting into one of the Gallies that brought the succours wherein he had before imbarqued his wife and children passing down the River through all the Catholicks Cannon saved himself in Havre de Grace and from thence without delay passed over the Sea into England There saved themselves with him Monsieur de Columbiere and some few of his servants all the rest being left to the discretion of the Conquerour came to divers ends Captain Iean Crose who had introduced the English into Havre de Grace being fallen into the Kings hands was as a Rebel drawn with four Horses Mandreville who from being the Kings Officer carrying his Majesties money with him becamâ a follower of the English and Augustine Marlorat who from an Augustine Frier turned to be a Hugonot Minister were both condemned to be hanged Many were slain and many remained prisoners in the Army who afterwards redeemed themselves for a ransom The City continued forty eight hours at the mercy of the Souldiers the third day the King making his entry at the breach together with the Parliament and the Queen his Mother who in the heat of the sack sent all her Gentlemen and the Archers of her guard to take care that the women which fled into Churches might not be violated there was an end of the slaughters and rapines committed by the Army which being drawn out of the City quartered in the neighbouring Villages In the mean while the King of Navarre through the pain of his wound finding no rest either in body or mind would by all means imbarque upon the River to go to St. Maure a place near Paris whither by reason of the wholsomness of the Air and privacy he used often for recreation to retire himself and nothing prevailing that the Physicians could say to the contrary he caused himself to be carried into a boat accompanied by the Cardinal his Brother the Princes de la Roche-sur and Ludovico Gonzaga with some few servants amongst which some were Catholicks and others Hugonots and the principal among them Giovan Vicenzo Lauro then a Physician by birth a Calabrian who was afterwards Bishop and Cardinal But he was scarce arrived at Andeli a few leagues from Rouen when through the motion of the journey his feaver increasing upon him he began to lose his senses and in a short time after died He was a Prince as of high birth so of a noble presence and affable behaviour and if he had lived in other times to be remembred amongst the most famous men of his age But the sincerity and candour of mind with which he was indued and his mild tractable disposition in the distractions of a Civil War held him all his life-time in care and pain and many times doubtful and ambiguous in his deliberations For on the one side being drawn by the headlong violent nature of his Brother and spurred on by the ardour of his Faction in which he was the principal person and on the other side restrained by his love of justice and a natural inclination disposed to peace and averse from civil broyls he appeared many times fickle in his resolutions and of a wavering judgment For at the first he was reckoned and persecuted amongst those that fought to disturb the quiet of the Kingdom and afterward was seen head of the contrary Faction bitterly pursuing those that were up in arms And for matters of Religion sometimes through his Wives perswasion and Beza's preaching inclining to the Calvinists party sometimes through the general opinion and the Cardinal of Lorain's eloquence to the Catholick Religion he became mistrusted by both parties and left behind him an uncertain doubtful report of his belief Many were of opinion that being in his heart a Calvinist or rather inclining to that which they call the Augustan Confession yet nevertheless his vast insatiable Ambition withdrew him from that party which perceiving the Prince his Brother through his high spirit and resolution was of much greater reputation amongst them made him chuse rather to be the first among the Catholicks than the second among the Hugonots He died in the two and fortieth year of his age and in such a time when experience had made him so wise as would perhaps have produced effects very contrary to the common opinion that was conceived of him He left behind him his Wife Queen Ieane with the title and relicks of the Kingdom of Navarre and only two children Henry Prince of Bearne then nine years old and the Princess Catarine an Infant who remaining at Pau and Neraâ with their Mother by whom they were very carefully brought up at the same time received deep impressions of the Hugonot Religion Now whilst so much blood was spilt on both sides
having sent for the Count de la Roch-fou-cault and the Prince of Porcieâ who brought succours out of Brittany and the neighbouring Countries making in all eight thousand Foot and four thousand Horse put himself in order with great diligence to go to the succour of his Brother with all the speed that was possible hoping either by force or art to make them raise their siege from that place But the Duke of Guise having already though with loss of much blood taken the Towrelles the Defendants were reduced to great straights nor could the Admiral have arrived soon enough to succour the besieged if other stratagems and means had not been used to deliver them from that imminent danger There was among the Hugonots Faction one called Iohn Poltrot Sieur de Mereborn of a noble Family near Angoulesme This man being of a ready wit and by nature subtile having lived many years in Spain and afterwards imbracing Calvins opinion being made cunning by the preachings and practises of Geneva was esteemed by all as he was indeed fit to undertake any great attempt Whereforefore being known to all the heads of the Hugonot Faction as a proper Instrument for any such designs which are the daily effects of Civil Wars he was perswaded as they say by the Admiral and Theodore Beza to endeavour to kill the Duke of Guise the one proposing to him infinite rewards and acknowledgments the other laying before him that by taking out of the World so great a Persecutor of their Faith he should merit exceedingly of God Which perswasions working upon Poltrot feigning to have abandoned the Calvinists party he went to be a Souldier in the Kings Army and there insinuating himself likewise into the Duke of Guises Court watched an opportunity to put in execution his purposed mischief So the 24 of February in the evening being the Feast of St. Matthias the Apostle the Duke having given order for an assault which the day after he intended should be made upon the Bridge of Orleans and retiring unarmed to his lodging was was little less than a league from the Trenches Poltrot lying in wait on Horseback upon a swift Jennet and seeing him come alone discoursing with Tristan Rostine a servant of the Queens discharged a Gun at him laden with three bullets which all three hit him on the right shoulder and passing through the body laid him upon the ground for dead At which suddain accident his Gentlemen who not to seem to hearken to what their Master said rode a little before running to help him Poltrot aided by the swiftness of his Horse saved himself in the neighbouring Woods and the Duke being carried to his lodging shewed at the first dressing very little hopes of life At the News of this sad accident the King and Queen-Mother with all the Lords of the Army went presently to see him but neither the diligent care nor remedies that were applied taking any effect the third day after his hurt he died with great demonstrations of Religion and Piety and discourses full of constancy and moderation He was a man of mature wisdom singular industry and sprightly valour wary in Council quick in execution and most fortunate in conducting his designs to their intended ends For which qualities he was reputed by the general consent of all men the chief Captain of his time Likewise by the merit of his own Actions he acquired the title of Defendor and Protector of the Catholick Religion and dying left the glory of his Name to be celebrated and renowned to all posterity The Murtherer as if he had bâen besides himself either through consciousness of the fact or else through fear that he had to be pursued from every part not finding the way to Orleans wandred all night in the ways and woods thereabouts and at last in the morning neither he nor his horse being able to bear themselves longer upon their legs he fell into certain companies of Swisses that were in guard at the Bridge d'Olivette by whom being taken and carried before the Queen and the Lords of the Army First he confessed voluntarily the whole plot of the Fact and afterwards being put upon the torture ratified the same confession wherefore being led to Paris he was by sentence of Parliament publickly quartered The Admiral and Theodore Beza endeavoured by large Writings scattered in all parts of Christendom to clear themselves of the suspition but the common opinions of men confirmed not only by reason but from the mouth of the Delinquent refuted all their excuses and the memory of it stuck close to his posterity till the consummation of their revenge The proceedings of the Queen-Mother were much different to whom a Hugonot Captain commonly called la Motte having offered himself to find a means to kill Andelot She causing him to be apprehended by her Guards sent him bound to the same Andelot that he might punish him as he pleased himself Which though some interpreted sinisterly believing that the Queen had either discovered a treacherous intent in the assassine or else that she hoped to win Andelot by such a kindness in gratitude to deliver up Orleans which they found hardly to be reduced by force yet it is certain that the greatness of the Queens mind made it generally believed that she used no dissimulation in so generous an Action and surely there are few examples of the like in any of our modern Stories After the death of the Duke of Guise an Accommodation followed without difficulty the treaty whereof was never intermitted in the greatest fervour of the War For the Queen being freed from the King of Navarre and the Duke of Guise the one of which through his nearness to the Crown and the other by reason of his immense power and great esteem amongst men was always suspected by her She desired by a domestick quieting the troubles of the Kingdom to drive out the foreign forces before they setled themselves Neither had she now any jealousies of the Prince of Conde or the Constable For they had so offended each other that she believed it was impossible that they should ever be sincerely reconciled Besides the Constable being grown decrepid with age had neither force nor thoughts to aspire to the Government and the Prince of Conde though in the quality of first Prince of the Blood for things past and particularly for the Agreement made with England was become odious to the whole Kingdom except only those that followed the Hugonot party Wherefore thinking it most expedient for the prâsent to settle a peace that with their united Forces they might without diversion attend the recovery of Havre de Grace the alienation of which place into the hands of so powerful Enemies more than any thing else troubled the Queen that those things might be effected and the Reiters expelled the Kingdom who without regard destroyed the Country and with unheard of cruelties oppressed the people She was inclined to grant very large
unbeseeming the piety of the most Christian King and the eldest Son of the Holy Church would draw on consequences of greatest moment the alienation of all the remaining part of the Catholicks and the revolt of the City of Paris so constant to the true Religion and so natural an enemy to the Hugonots the addition of greater Forces to the League which could receive no better news nor greater nourishment the making authentick all those lies and scandals which till then had been spread abroad against the King's designs and real intentions That it would colour and justifie the Spaniard's Protection of the League necessitate the Pope to declare himself in favour of it as soon as the Enemies of the Apostolick Sea should be united with the King That the most important near and inland Provinces of France would be lost by staying for the supplies and assistance of those that were far remote at the utmost confines of the Kingdom Nor was the strength of the Hugonots great or their aid secure who on the one side were exhausted and unable to go forth of their Native Provinces where they could hardly subsist of themselves and on the other side they could not easily in so short a time unite themselves with the King faithfully and sincerely who had ever been their bitter enemy and their fatal terrible persecutor That the fresh memory of the bloody Massacre at Paris whereof he was esteemed the chief author and as it were the sole executer would be more prevalent with them then the present demonstrations which by many suspicious men would be interpreted cunning and dissimulation to catch them that were unwary again suddenly in the net And finally that the Proverb was true Different natures never sute well together Wherefore they judged it to be a much better resolution to give satisfaction to all in general and to the Lords of the League in particular the major part whereof they knew had for private disgusts consented to that publick Commotion for the Lords of Guise being quieted and the other principal men of the Kingdom satisfied the colour of Religion vanishing and growing stale the League would of it self be broken and dissolved insisting that the causes being taken away the effects would cease of themselves and shewing by many particulars that it was in the Kings power to disunite the League by giving and granting to the Heads and other Confederates of his own accord those things which they strove for but were uncertain to obtain by War The Queen-Mother consented to this advice as the most secure of less noise and less scandal and being experienced in the several revolutions of so many years thought it no less destructive than opprobrious to forsake the more favourable more certain more powerful and more constant Party of the Catholicks to follow the almost desperate fortune of the Hugonots And this was the common vote and general opinion of the ordinary sort of Courtiers who are wont every where but most especially in France to discourse very freely of the highest deliberations of their Masters But the Authority of the Duke d' Espernon and of the other Minions was very great and they foresaw their own assured ruine in that satisfaction which was motioned to be granted unto the Lords of the League because it could not be given them without divesting the Favourites of that greatness and authority and of those Offices which they enjoyed so that of them all only the Duke of Ioyeuse consented to an Agreement with the Catholick League partly through the hatred which he bore to the Duke d' Espernon who was infinitely before him in the Kings favour partly because being nearly allied unto the House of Lorain he thought at the fall of all the rest he alone should be able to hold his place and keep upon his feet Besides this advice was very contrary to the designs and inclinations of the King himself being thereby obliged to throw down at one instant all that he had been so many years in building up for by consenting to the satisfaction of the Guises and their Confederates he must be brought to put that authority those Fortresses and Offices into their hands from whence he had so long been disengaging but a part of them by little and little with infinite cost and industry and so by consequence must himself destroy his first resolution of the total ruine and extirpation of both Factions Therefore he would more willingly have concurred to oppose the League and unite himself to the Hugonots if the sting of his own conscience the unseemliness of the thing and the resistance of the Queen-Mother had not made him absolutely abhor it Wherefore his mind remaining yet doubtful and his determination suspended he resolved in the mean time to sound the King of Navarre more perfectly and find out the strength of the Hugonots endeavouring to perswade him to reconcile himself to the Church with the other Princes of Bourbon which if he could compass he thought he should destroy the foundation of the League and reduce the Guises into a very hard and dangerous condition For the principal point of the Succession of the Crown failing which gave colour and credit to the affairs of the League and he uniting the Forces of the House of Bourbon sincerely to himself should remove the obstacle of Rome the concourse of the foolish multitude who believed the business only to concern the defence of the Catholick Religion the abetting of Religious Orders and so compose all those stirs He hoped also that many particular men and perhaps the very Heads of that Party would be drawn by respect and shame from those practices which then would have no other foundation left but the ambition and unjust desires of the Great Ones and that by taking away the fuel the flame which then blazed so high and spread so far would in a moment be extinguished To this end he dispatched the Duke of Espernon under colour of going to see his Mother who being old lived in Gascogne to confer with the King of Navarre believing that for his own interest he would effectually labour to convert him to the Catholick Religion for if he did not he saw the King inevitably necessitated to satisfie the Lords of the League and abase the greatness of his Favourites among which he held the chiefest place But the Duke of Espernon being come into Gascogne to the King of Navarre and proposing very large Conditions in the Kings Name if he would resolve to turn Catholick and come to Court the doubts and consultations were no less there than they had been before in the Court of France for Monsieur de Salignan and Monsieur de Roche-Laure Confidents to the King of Navarre perswaded him earnestly to trust the King to reconcile himself to the Catholick Church and return to Court as first Prince of the Blood alledging that that was the way to conquer his Enemies without Arms or Dispute to recover the
with reason that their common Enemies being the same and the same interests pleading for them both he would labour with that candour and that efficacy which the exigency of the matter required To these reasons the Queen answered That as his Conversion was easie so neither could it want just pretences for if the King should make a League with him while he was disobedient to the Catholick Church and openly excommunicated besides the infamy which his name would incur by mingling in a conjunction not only abhorred and never so much as in thought consented to by any other of the most Christian Kings but also immediately contrary to the Vow and Oath taken solemnly at his Consecration he should moreover give colour to the complaints and justifie the practices of the League and which was of very great consideration he should stir up all other Catholick Princes of the World against him That upon their agreement would presently ensue the revolt of the City of Paris already in an uproar with but seeing that they treated with him and the rebellion of many other chief Cities as also the alienation of all the Catholick Nobility and the greater part of the Kingdom that this was the way to facilitate the King of Spain's assistance of the League who would presently be forced to turn those preparations into France which were made against England That at the first news of it the Pope of an angry hasty nature would run precipitately to Excommunications and Interdictions would presently dispatch great Supplies in favour of the League and stir up all the Italian Princes to unite themselves with him for the defence of Religion That the Duke of Lorain would not consent the marriage of his Daughter should be consummate whilst he was an alien from the Church nor would the States endure he should be declared the lawful Successor of the Crown whilst he held the Faith of the Hugonots In conclusion that his perseverance was accompanied with all manner of difficulties and impediments but his conversion did wonderfully facilitate and lay open the way to all his hopes neither doubtful not uncertain but well grounded and secure The King of Navarre excused himself sometimes with the indecency of changing sometimes with his Conscience sometimes discovering his fear of being brought into the net again but in his excuses the perplexity of his mind and the force of the Queens reasons appeared whereupon new time was taken and another Conference appointed within two or three days wherein to facilitate the business the Duke of Nevers was admitted on the Queens side and the Viscount de Turenne on the King of of Navarre's but they contrary to expectation did rather increase the difficulties than open the way to any resolution for the Duke of Nevers desiring to shew his Eloquence and Learning as he was wont to do wrought greater doubts in the mind of the King of Navarre to whom the Italian arts were suspected and the Viscount a man no less wise and cunning than stout and valiant though he shewed a great inclination to favour the Queens reasons yet the common opinion was that for fear of being abandoned with the Duke of Momorancy so they called the Mareschal d' Anville after the death of his Brother and of losing those great hopes which he had of power and command in the Hugonot party neither desired Peace nor the King of Navarre's Conversion and that therefore he secretly disswaded him from it wherefore neither in this third Conference could they conclude any thing but at the very time the King of Navarre had warning given him to take heed of the artifices of the King and Queen who at the same instant while they treated with him did assure the Popes Nuncio the Duke of Guise and the people of Paris that whatsoever was done was in favour of the League and that the end would justifie that this Treaty included such a design as would at last break forth for the good of Religion whereby his jealousie increasing not thinking it safe to trust either the Kings inconstancy or the Queens too much cunning he resolved in the end to follow the fortune of the Hugonots and not to trust the Court neither would he come to the Conference any more himself in person but continued to send the Viscount of Turenne who treating very dexterously with the Queen would never come to any conclusion at all With these Negotiations began the year 1587 upon the first day whereof the King celebrating the Ceremonies of the Knights of the St. Esprit in Paris swore solemnly not to suffer any other Religion than the Roman Catholick This Oath of his as it was sudden and inconsiderate so both then and many times after it was blamed as absurd and contrary to his own designs for to treat of an Agreement with the King of Navarre and vow the extirpation of the Hugonots did immediately contradict one another But neither they that spake of it then nor they that looking upon things afar off reprehended it did so afterwards when they knew either the Kings intention or the contents of what was secretly treated with the King of Navarre for Monsieur de Rambouillet being come post from Pâictou and arrived already at Court upon the 27 of December with Letters from the Queen and with a Relation of all that had passed with the King of Navarre whereby the King was certified that it was impossible to conclude any thing he standing averse from changing his Religion and proposing an Agreement without speaking any thing about matters of Faith the King to take away that hope from the King of Navarre and to make him consent to be converted or if he would not change his mind being resolved or rather necessitated to join with the League to oppose the German Army made this Protestation very opportunely whereby he at once beat down all the complaints and calumnies of the Heads of the League and appeased in great part at least for a time the minds of the Parisians who as the commotions of the people are wont varied their thoughts and inclinations with the breath of every the slightest accident whereupon he was afterward able to stir to gather an Army and turn against the foreign Forces without being molested by the Parisians though the wonted Incendiaries did not fail to strive to raise them more than once The Kings inclination was clearly seen in this That when the course of affairs did necessarily force him to treat of any thing in favour of the Hugonots he consented to it very slowly ambiguously and after long consideration But if the business were to favour or unite himself to the Catholick party he concurred in that with so much readiness and resolution that his motion to the benefit to the benefit of the Catholick Faith plainly appeared to be natural but the other produced by necessity and violently constrained And as for the King of Navarre the news of the Kings Proteââation being
new Prohibition about the middle of August the Army was ready to begin to march And to the end that businesses might prosper under the conduct of the Duke of Bouillon and the Baron d' Onaw the Count de la Marck was appointed to lead the Van the command of the German Cavalry was given to the Baron de Bouck an expert Souldier of that Nation that of the Swisse Infantry to Claude Anthony Sieur de Clervant to Mouy the command of the French Foot the Sieur de Guitry a French man and Lodovick Romf a German being Marshals of the Field Against all these preparations the Duke of Lorain who in all the other Wars had ever stood Neuter and now had declared himself in favour of the League and of the Lords of his Family being first at the Frontiers was in a very great fear finding he had not sufficient force to make resistance and with Letters and Messages sollicited the Duke of Guise and all his Friends and Confederates that since they had drawn him into so much danger they would also be ready and speedy to help him out He had raised two thousand Reiters out of the Territories of the Catholick Princes of Germany under the command of the Baron of Swartzembourgh eight hundred other Horse some Albanians some Italians and four thousand Foot of his own State to which Forces the Prince of Parma Governour of the Low-Countries in performance of the League with the Catholick King had added eight hundred Bourguignon Horse under the Command of the Marquess de Havray and two thousand Foot all Walloons under the command of the Marquess de Varambone But it being necessary to put a Garison in Nancy the chief City of Lorain and many other lesser Towns he had neither Force enough left to hinder the passage of the Germans nor to defend his Country from their Incursions and therefore the Duke of Guise the very Soul and Life of his Party and upon whom the Foundation of all the Affairs of the League was setled drew Friends and Forces together from all parts to assist and defend the Duke of Lorain Nor did the King of France make less preparations than the rest but being resolved to shew his face and make himself Arbitratour of Affairs he drew all his Forces together for besides eight thousand Swisse Foot raised under the publick colour of the Catholick Cantons he also levied fourteen thousand French Foot summoned all the Souldiery called all the Nobility to attend him having determined to command his Army himself in person wherein he received no other hinderance but the unquietness of the Parisians for the Preachers and the Council of Sixteen ceased not to stir up the people and to make frequent tumults in the City insomuch as the Authority of the King and his Magistrates was despised and trodden under Foot with very great danger of an open change desired and procured by them Nor durst the King in that present condition punish the authors of those tumults for fear of causing an absolute revolt and in a conjuncture of so great danger deprive himself of that City which had ever been the Basis and Foundation of his Party this encouraged them with more boldness to multiply their designs which would have produced the event aimed at by the Heads of the League if first the imminent fear of the German Army and then the Kings Oath taken against the Hugonots and the promise wherewith he took Arms for the common defence had not restrained and withheld the people who out of fear and some certain respects of duty were not very forward to embrace seditious counsels But the King having with great dexterity and patience often quieted those uproars raised without occasions full of ill-will towards the Heads of Sedition though cunningly dissembling it having left the Queen-Mother as Regent in Paris and Monsieur de Villequier as Governour departed from the City about the end of Iuly and went to Meaux ten leagues from thence about which place he had caused Quarters to be taken up for his Army Thither the Duke of Guise came unto him Meaux being a Town under his command and they met together with shews of exceeding kindness and respect but thoughts very different from the outward appearance The division of both Horse and Foot was made in the Duke of Guise's presence the King having appointed twenty Cornets of Horse and four Regiments of Foot for the Duke reserving all the rest for the Army which he was to lead himself but almost all the Horse were withheld afterward with several excuses and the Duke of Guise had only those Foot left him which were brought by his dependents for in their meetings and discourses suspicions being rather increased than former hearts-burning taken away the King was so much the more firmly setled in his intention to beware no less of the Duke of Guise than of the foreign Army and to leave him weak that he might be the more easily cut off since that whether his Forces were many or few he could do no less than draw near the Enemy and fall upon him either in the State of the Duke of Lorain or in the Confines of his own Government After two days the Duke of Guise departed and making his Rendezvous at St. Florentine a place near Troye with seven hundred Cuirassiers of Gentlemen that were his dependents six hundred Light-horse part Albanians part Italians and part sent by the Sieur de Balony Governour of Cambray and with two thousand French Foot led by the Sieurs de Ioannes de Clusseau de Gies and de St. Paul his old Colonels he marched streight toward Lorain All the Lords of that Family were met together at Nancy where the Duke commonly resides and there fell to consult which way they should oppose the German Army The opinions were different or rather oppositely contrary for the French Lords among which the Duke of Guise was the chief would have made the seat of the War in the State of the Duke of Lorain a streight narrow Country and by reason of the abundance of Rivers fit for some great enterprise keeping the Germans busied in a place where they could not hope to join with the King of Navarre and where being near their own Country they would easily disband and run home upon every small occasion or disorder that might arise nor did the greatness of the foreign Army at all dismay the Duke of Guise a man of a resolute undaunted courage but despising the number of raw untrained men newly raised in haste he thought himself able to accomplish any thing with his old tried Souldiers But the Duke of Lorain was of a contrary opinion who with the Marquess du Pont his eldest Son the Count de Saulme his principal Minister the Count de Chaligny one of the King of France his Brothers in law and with the Sieurs de Ossonville and Bassompierre thought not fit to submit his Country to all the dangers
of Nemours and the Chevalier d' Aumale did use all possible means to keep them together The besieged finding themselves in this streight writ to the Duke of Mayenne for a final resolution that if they were not relieved within ten days it would be impossible for them to hold out and having done all that was possible they should be excused both before God and man if they took care of their own safety and the Dutchess of Mayenne wrote to her Husband to the same purpose conjuring him by his affection to their children that he should not suffer them to fall into the hands of so bitter an Enemy Which Letters being reing received by the Duke and being in no less perplexity of mind than the Parisians he united all his Forces together and advanced to Meaux ten leagues distant from Paris and dispatched the Marquiss Alessandro Malaspina to let the Duke of Parma know that if he made not haste with his Army all their labour would be lost the besieged not being able to hold out any longer and for assurance of it sent him the same Letters he had received There were with the Duke of Mayenne besides Quiroga's mutineers Capizucchi's Tertia and the Walloon Horse the Duke of Parma had given him six hundred Lanciers of the Duke of Lorain's commanded by the Count de Chaligny Brother to the Queen Dowager of France the French Infantry under Colonel St. Paul the Duke of Aumale with the Troop of Picardy the Marquiss de Menelay Monsieur de Balagny Governour of Cambray and the Sieur de Rhosne and de la Chastre with their Regiments and Attendents which in all amounted to the number of Ten thousand Foot and Two thousand and four hundred Horse With these Forces though he advanced as far as Meaux to be ready upon any occasion that should be offered and to put courage in the besieged by being so near yet he did not think them sufficient to be able to relieve or victual Paris because he knew the King by the addition of many supplies had under his Colours Six and twenty thousand Foot and more than Seven thousand Horse among which Five thousand were Gentlemen who bearing Arms only for Honour being well attended and gallantly mounted were esteemed by him both for their number and quality without comparison superiour and therefore he dispatched Letters and Messengers every hour to the Vice-Seneschal de Montelimar who resided for him near the Duke of Parma to the end that he might with all diligence sollicite his coming without which he thought it impossible to relieve the besieged The Duke of Parma having called a Council of War upon the first of August told them the Order he had received from the Catholick King to march with the whole Army into France and said That that resolution was contrary to his opinion alledging the Reasons for which he esteemed the enterprise to be of great danger and little advantage But since it had pleased the King their Master to command it so as he was resolved in that Expedition to imploy all those abilities God had given him so he prayed all the rest to apply their endeavours to the end that the Offices committed to their care might be discharged to the praise of God the Kings satisfaction and to their own honour And there having given every one his charge he commanded that the Army already drawn down together should be ready to march by the fourth of that month He writ to the Duke of Mayenne the certainty and time of his coming and gave the Parisians notice of the same attesting to them That for the only purpose of relieving them and for the maintenance of Religion the Catholick King neglecting his own Affairs sparing neither blood nor money and without those securities of strong Towns for Magazines of Arms and places of Retreat upon the Confines which are wont to be demanded and granted to the end that every one might know his candour in proceeding to be more lively and more real undertook that weighty enterprise which nevertheless he hoped by the help of God and the justice of the Cause to bring to an happy conclusion and with this Resolution his Army moved upon the Fourth of August toward Valenciennes The Marquiss de Ranti led the Van in the Battel with the Duke were the Princes of Ascoli Chasteau-bertrand and Chimay the Count de Barlemont the Count of Arambergh and many other Flemish Italian and Spanish Lords The Sieur de la Mothe Governour of Graveling commanded the Reer in which there were twenty pieces of Cannon two Bridges to be made upon Boats and all those other warlike instruments which are wont to be carried along in Royal Armies The Duke of Parma's Armies had ever been very well disciplined ready and accustomed to hardship punctual in obedience of commands and no ways given to pillage or plunder in a Friends Country And now knowing he was to enter into a Kingdom where the name of a Spaniard was generally hated by the people and that he was no less to govern suspicious minds ready to rise upon every slight occasion than to make War with a victorious Army and a wary compleat Souldier he was more careful than ever and strove with all possible diligence to keep his Souldiers from doing any injury using any violence or giving any cause of complaint unto the French He encamped always as if the Enemies Army had been close by him kept all his men together from stragling and orderly in their quarters he made careful discoveries and marched without confusion or tumult he came into quarters betimes in the evening and while they were disposed of and made defensible he caused the greater part of the Army to stand to their Arms he ordered strong Convoys to attend the Victual whereof he had made and did still make exceeding great provisions and yielding the honour and advantage in all things to the French strove to gain the love of the Nation to which end he having lived in Flanders among the Spaniards with retiredness and gravity equal to the humour of those with whom he conversed now being come into France he laid aside the state of Ante-chambers and the strict keeping of doors eat in publick kept a Table for the French Gentlemen and both in words and actions shewed himself wonderful affable and familiar And because in that multitude of Officers of note that were about him he resolved only to trust himself he would personally hear the relations of those parties that had been abroad to discover and scowr the ways himself would talk with Spies dispose the order of the Guards and hearken to all things appertaining to the discipline of his Army for which purpose watching all the night he only gave those few hours to sleep which past between the beating of the Keveille and the marching of his Army With this diligence marching gently not to tire out his men he came to Meaux ten
was not much more welcome to the Duke of Mayenne who apprehended clearly that since the Spaniards had not made any application to him they were resolved for the future to manage the War of themselves which thing grieving him extreamly because it not only deprived him of the remainder of his hopes but also took away from him both his reputation and force by means whereof he thought to better his condition for the accommodation which he might have occasion to make with the King and judging that all proceeded from the sinister relations of the Duke of Feria and Diego d' Ivarra he resolved at last laying all respects aside to have an enterview with the Archduke and try to set his affairs right again with the Spaniards The Archduke likewise desired this enterview not for the same end the Duke of Mayenne had but to see if he could induce him to put himself under the Catholick King as the Duke of Aumale had done and to deliver up into his hands those Towns and Fortresses which yet depended on him and therefore with courteous friendly Letters and with messages full of trust and confidence invited him to come to Bruxelles which not being longer to be deferred the Duke leaving his second Son the Count de Sommerive at Laon with part of the Forces commanded by Colonel du Bourg he that came out of the Bastile went with the remainder as far as Guise where having left all his Souldiery he passed on with a Train of only threescore Horse to meet the Archduke who having received him with all the most exquisite demonstrations of Honour in other matters shewing himself very averse from the beginning to the demands which he made The Duke thought that the same Spanish Ministers who had crossed him in France did so likewise in his present Treaty and therefore being in private with Iuan Baptista Tassis and President Riccardotto he began at large with the narration of all particulars to shew that the adverseness of businesses had proceeded wholly from the imprudence and perverse managery of those Ministers to whom it not being obscure what was imputed to them by the Duke for they were provoked to clear themselves of many things they went on so far in anger that they began to counsel the Archduke to keep the Duke of Mayenne prisoner and trust the managing of affairs of France unto the Duke of Guise accusing the Duke of Mayenne of perfidiousness and too crafty and dissembling a nature and that only minding the object of his ambition he was much a greater Enemy to the Catholick King than to the King of Navarre But the Archduke not only thought that a counsel too unworthy and such an one as he believed would gain him the general hatred of all men but also judged that in many things the Duke had reason on his side and that those Ministers had indiscreetly abused him beyond measure nor did it seem strange to him since the Spanish Ministers had treated of making any other man King of France without consenting to his person that he on the other side paying them in their own coyn should think of any other resolution rather than to content and satisfie the Spaniards and as he was a Prince of great vertue and a Friend to what was just and fit he counted it too great a fault to deny the principal recompences and honours to so principal a Head and one that had done so much for the common benefit Besides he was of opinion that those Ministers counselled very crosly to take away the management of affairs from a man of so great reputation and such experienced wisdom to put it into the hand of the Duke of Guise a young man and though of a high spirit yet by reason of his youth and want of experience little able to rule so great a weight To all this he added the continual treating of the Dutchess of Guise to make her Sons peace with the King which besides that it was known in the Archdukes Court was likewise dexterously mentioned by the Duke of Mayenne at convenient times for which reasons there having been many meetings between the Princes the business in hand began to change its form the Archduke knowing that the Duke of Mayenne was not in so weak a condition as that he would easily submit himself to the Spanish yoke and on the other side that he abated much of his former pretensions by reason of the urgent necessity which pressed him at that present so that both of them reserving themselves for the opportunity of after-times determined that the Duke of Mayenne should go with his forces to join with Count Mansfelt and that jointly with a common consent they should manage the War to oppose the Kings proceedings deferring till another time both the establishing of conditions and the manner how they should order matters for the future The King to whom the Duke of Nevers lately returned out of Italy and the Duke of Bouillon were joined was already marched from Chauny with twelve thousand Foot and two thousand Horse with intention to besiege Laon where besides the Duke of Mayenne's young Son there was also the greatest part of his Personal Estate but to come upon it the more unexpectly and catch the Defendents unprovided he marched with the Army before and by the way of St. Quintin and Cressy came near to la Chappelle making show as if he would assault the Spanish Camp but while standing near and facing the Enemy they were skirmishing with one another he gave order that the Reer led by the Mareschal de Byron should march off and go back to besiege Laon whither not many hours after having first sent away the Sieur de St. Luc and then the Baron de Salignac he with the Duke of Nevers departed the next morning and came last of all before the Town In it with Colonel du Bourg and the Count de Sommerive there were many Commanders of note six hundred French Foot two hundred Germans three hundred Neapolitans sixty Cuirassiers and two hundred Light-Horse and besides the Souldiers of the Garison the Towns-men also concurred willingly to defend the place they had great store of Ammunition and Fire-works and the Commanders who had suspected a siege had prepared and fortified all convenient places in such manner that the siege seemed like to be of great difficulty and uncertain event and so much the rather because the Spanish Camp being near it might keep the Kings Army in jealousie many ways nor was it to be doubted but that the Duke of Mayenne would use his utmost Forces to relieve and disingage his Son Wherefore the King intent before all things to shut up the passage against the relief which might come from many places sent Monsieur de la Chastre with the Troops under his command to lie upon the way that leads from Reims and the other places of Champagne doubting that the Duke of Guise with the Forces
removed partly by industry partly by fortune it was no difficult matter to get the King who was likewise more than ordinarily led by the beauty and allurements of the Queen his Wife to remit his whole authority into the hands of their nearest Allies So to the Duke was committed the care of the Militia the Civil affairs to the Cardinal and to the Queen-Mother the superintendence of all Things thus setled according to their own will they began to take surer footing and there being none present who by complaints or practice could work the King to open a way to alterations they presently entred into consultation how to remove all such as might in any way oppose their designs There was no doubt but their first attempt would be upon the Constable as one whose authority and wisdom the Guises most apprehended and the Queen-Mother long though secretly hated The Guises feared him by reason of the ancient emulations that had ever been between them and because the opinion of his wisdom though he had lost his power at the Court preserved him still in great credit with the people But the Queens hate of him proceeded from many causes and particularly because when she was first married he used all manner of endeavour to perswade the King to repudiate her as barren and afterward when she proved to have children he never ceased to speak scandalously of her saying Of all the Kings children not any one resembled him but only Diana his bastard-daughter who was destined for wife to Francis of Momorancy one of his sons which speeches though not directly cast a blemish upon the Queens honour and chastity Nor besides these injuries could she easily forget that he as he was naturally averse to strangers had obstinately persecuted all those Florentines who through relation either of Blood or Country had recourse to her Court and as if he pretended to an emulation with her herself had ever used what means he could possible to affront and keep under all her dependants All which things in her Husbands life-time she either patiently overcame or wisely seemed not to take notice of as indeed she was a woman of a most insearchable mind and a most profound dissembler But now that there was an opportunity they made her easily to consent to the desire of the Guises which was under other pretences to deprive him of all Government in the Kingdom or favour at Court Wherefore in private discourse cunningly falling into that Argument they with one accord represented to the King the too great authority of that man that if he remained at Court he would pretend to keep him like a Child under Government and the lash of his Discipline and that being straightly united with the Princes of Bourbon always enemies to those that possessed the Crown which they had long looked after it was not fit in any manner to trust him lest through that means his Majesty might expose both his own life and his young brothers to the treacheries of those men who being suspected by reason of their restless ambition were by the Kings his Predecessors always kept under and at a distance These Arguments easily making an impression in the Kings weakness as those that know little are naturally jealous of those that know more they resolved upon a dextrous manner to license him from the Court Wherefore his fathers Obsequies ended receiving him with great expressions of kindness he told him that being not able any other way to reward the greatness of his merits and the pains he had undergone in the service of his Predecessors he was determined to ease him from the cares and weight of the Government which he knew now were burdensom and disproportioned to his age which he would not oppress with the excessive toil of business but reserve him for some great occasion and that therefore he might retire himself to his ease where best pleased him he being resolved not to wear him out as a servant or a vassal but always to honour him as a father By which speech the Constable knowing it was no time to dispute the matter but that it would be best for him to accept that for a reward which otherwise would turn to a punishment having thanked the King and recommended to his protection his sons and nephews retired himself to his Palace of Chantilly ten leagues from Paris where he had formerly been sheltred from the persecutions of the Court. The Constable thus sent away the next thought was how to remove the Prince of Conde whose arrogancy and animosity appeared every day more prompt to take hold of any whatsoever occasion to attempt innovations and to disturb the form of the present Government But there being yet no means found to remove him by reason of his quality of Prince and for want of a just pretext it was thought a good expedient to send him out of the way until such time as the foundation of their new-formed Government were setled Wherefore being appointed Ambassador to the Catholick King to confirm the Peace and Alliance contracted at the end of the last Kings Reign departing from the Court he left them the Field free to perfect their purposed designs In the same manner they proceeded with all other persons For the Queen and the Guises having resolved formerly to establish their commenced greatness they thought it would happen according to their desire if reducing by little and little the Fortresses Souldiers Treasure and Sinews of the State into their own power all the essential important businesses of the Kingdom were either managed by themselves or else committed to the trust of their nearest followers and adherents But they were not so wholly governed by their interests that they had not still a regard to the publick good and their own reputation For they advanced not as the common course is men of little merit and abject condition thinking they would be more trusty because of their obligation but were industrious to get about them persons of known worth noble birth and above all of good reputation among the common people by which they obtained two ends at the same time the one that the people were commonly pleased and their ill-willers could have no just exceptions the other that crediting persons of honour and sincere intentions they were not cozened nor deluded in their trust as often those are that in great business rely upon men of base extraction or of vitious life According to which Maxim they recalled to the exercise of his charge Francis Olivier High Chancellor of the Kingdom a man of tried integrity and severe constancy in the Government who for too much freedom or too much persevering in his opinions was at the beginning of Henry's Raign by the Constables perswasion dismissed from the Court Likewise they recalled to the Council of State and near to the Kings Person the Cardinal of Tournon he who in the time of Francis the First Grandfather to this King had
the principal Authority in the State by which means being men of tried and known goodness and enemies to all impositions which oppressed the Commonwealth they not only satisfied the desire of the common people and publick expectation but being disgraced and as it were cast out by the Constable and now recalled with much credit to the present Government they served also by their counsels and industry to establish the foundation of their commenced greatness Like dexterity and like artifices were used to fetch in the rest But with the House of Bourbon and the House of Momorancy they proceeded not with such moderation on the contrary the Guises transported with a desire as much as was possible to abase their old enemy and the splendour of the Royal Family readily embraced any occasion to diminish their reputation or otherwise to prejudice them Gasper de Coligny the Admiral was possessed of two several Governments the Isle of France so that Province is called wherein Paris is situated and Picardy and because the Laws of the Kingdom prohibit any one to have two charges the late King had resolved to give the Government of Picardy to the Prince of Conde thinking by that means in some measure to pacifie his mind which he knew thâough his oppressions was much incensed To which he was the rather induced because his father having long enjoyed that Government and after him the King of Navarre his brother he not only very much desired it but had also some just and reasonable pretences to it But the Admiral having in consideration of the Prince surrendred it and the King dying almost at the same time Francis not regarding his fathers purpose though already declared at the instance of the Guises conferred the same Government upon Charles de Cosse Mareschal of Brissac a Captain of great reputation and no less vertue but who taking his rise from the fortune of the House of Lorain and straitly united with those Princes in all things depended absolutely upon them The same respect was born to Momorancy the Constables eldest son For he having married Diana bastard-daughter to Henry with promise to have the Office of Grand Maistre conferred upon him which his father had enjoyed many years the Duke of Guise as soon as Francis came to the Crown got it for himself it being his chief end to add to his new greatness new authority and new lustre and to deprive that family of it which he desired to bring as low as was possible Thus the Duke and much more the Cardinal when any opportunity was offered to depress their adversaries and advance themselves most greedily entertained it But the Queen-Mother who knew such excessive covetousness and great animosity must of necessity at one time or other produce some great evil and wished they would proceed with more dexterity and dissimulation was so bold as in the beginning to oppose the counsels and resolutions of those by whose power her own authority was chiefly upheld Now the Princes of Bourbon in this manner excluded from any part of the Government and almost from the Court and from the Kings ear began at last to weigh the estate of their own affairs and considering the proceedings of their adversaries who not content with their present authority contrived all means to establish themselves for the future they resolved no longer to stand by as idle spectators of their own disgraces but to find out some remedy for the time to come which might recompence their past losses and stop the precipice of their future ruine which they saw undoubtedly lay before them To this end Antony King of Navarre having left his young son to the care of the Queen his wife in Bearne in a manner secure from that fire which he saw now kindling to consume the Kingdom of France came to Vandosme where met him the Prince of Conde then returned from his Embassie together with the Admiral Andelot and the Cardinal of Chatillon his brothers Charles Count of Roche-faucault Francis Vidame of Chartres and Antony Prince of Portian all near Allies and Friends with whom came divers other Gentlemen ancient dependents and adherents to the Families of Bourbon and Momorancy Nor did the Constable who under pretence of retiredness and a quiet life secretly gave motion to all the wheels of this attempt fail to send thither his old Secretary Dardres that by assisting at the Assembly he might represent to them his judgment concerning the present business Now entring there into a debate what as things stood was fittest to be done they all agreed in the end but were of different opinions concerning the means For they all knew the great indignities received by the Princes of the Blood who were not only put by the first place in the Government but deprived of those few charges that remained amongst them likewise they clearly foresaw how great a ruine suddenly threatned both the Princes of the Blood themselves and their whole party the suppression of which they saw was the Guises chief aim Wherefore they all concluded that in the first place it was necessary to provide as much as might be possible against so great a danger before things were brought to the last extremities and irrepairable But by what means this was to be done they did not so easily agree among themselves The Prince of Conde the Vidame of Chartres d' Andelot and divers others the most ardent and resolute amongst them were of opinion that without giving more time to their adversaries to strengthen themselves and augment their power and reputation they should forthwith have recourse to Arms as the most expedite remedy and more secure than any other They furâher shewed it was but in vain any longer to expect in hope that the King would at length be moved of his own free-will to restore them to their rights for being of himself unable to resolve any thing he would hardly perceive or shake off that carelesness wherein from his birth his own nature had as it were buried him that over-awed by the authority of a Mother and the power which the Guises usurped over him he would not dare to resume that Sovereignty which he had so easily parted with that the complaints and admonitions of the Princes of the Blood and subjects well affected to the Crown would never come to his ears being as it were besieged even to the servants about his person by men hired by their adversaries the Champions of the present Tyranny and therefore it was not to be expected that the King should of his own deliberation yield them any relief to whom their complaints would never be admitted but deformed and blasted with the odious names of Rebellion Treason and Conspiracy What else then could they look for that the Queen-Mother and the Guises should willingly depart from that greatness which with such pains and artifices they had established to share it with their enemies that was a hope more vain and more unreasonable than
But nevertheless desirous to withstand as much as was possible the publick distractions and tumults of War she proposed to her self not to leave them altogether hopeless but to essay by dissimulation and artifices to divert the King of Navarre whom she knew pliable enough from such intentions and by delays in time to effect something that might be beneficial to the Common-wealth To which purpose at their first meeting having with shew of kindness filled him with hope she began most dexterously in the progress of their discourse to demonstrate unto him that the King being of a delicate disposition was not to be exasperated by demands and unreasonable complaints but that it was necessary to expect some fât opportunity which time would at length produce For as the King being now past his minority was not bound in matters of Government to conform himself to the arbitrement or opinion of any body but only to his own will and judgment so when an occasion should be offered to honour or gratifie the Princes of Bourbon he would without all doubt satisfie the bond of consanguinity and shew to all the world how great an account and esteem he made of their vertue and loyalty That the King ought not in any manner by a change to destroy or alter the things already established lest he should give occasion to be thought of a variable nature unconstant irresolute and inconsiderate But when places grew void as daily some or other did he would not fail so far as was reasonable to satisfie the pretences of every one Withal she offered her self to undertake the protection of the Princes of the Blood and earnestly to sollicite her Son as soon as was possible to satisfie their desires that it would not be seemly for the King of Navarre who was a wise man and had ever been a pattern of moderation that he should now suffer himself to be guided by youthful rash Counsels and led into those precipices which were neither becoming his age nor wisdom but expecting with patience that which he ought to acknowledge simply the Kings courtesie and affection teach others the way how to receive in fit time the favours and benefits of their Prince With these discourses having often tasted his temper and perceiving he began already to stagger finally to give him the last shock she proposed to him that Elizabeth the Kings sister being to be sent into Spain accompanied with some Person of great quality and esteem she had thought to recommend that charge to him being every way qualified both for gravity and Royal Birth to honour and dignifie those Nuptials which besides the content the King her Son would receive by it would by the way prove very advantageous to his particular ends For he would have opportunity to gain the Catholick King and withal to treat in person concerning the restitution or change of his Kingdom of Navarre in which business she proffered to imploy all her own authority and the power of the King her Son to bring his desires to their wished ends The King of Navarre who in discovering and penetrating into the inclinations of the Court found those who had any employment there complying with the present occasions took little care of the pretences of the Princes of the Blood and those that had reason to desire his greatness and his Brothers some of them disheartned others ill satisfied with his long stay and all equally desperate of effecting any thing easily returning to his former thoughts of recovering his Kingdom he conceived he ought not to refuse that occasion which would be a means not only to renew the Treaties of Agreement with Spain but also to depart with honour from the Court where he found he could not remain with any reputation Wherefore willingly entertaining the motion to conduct Queen Elizabeth into Spain and filled with infinite hopes by the Queen-Mother notwithstanding the other Princes his adherents were very much offended at it he hasted his departure with such eagerness of mind that his enemies themselves could not have desired it more Nor did he with less facility entrap himself in the Treaty with the Spaniards for King Philip being already advertised of the particulars of that business by the Queen-Mother and he desiring no less than she that the King of Navarre who had such strong pretences against his State should be kept low and far from any power in the Government commanded the Duke of Alva and the other Lords appointed to receive the Queen his wife that they should be forward to use all manner of means to allure him on and entertain him but slowly imbracing his propositions they should offer themselves to make report thereof to the King and his Council without the opinion of whom nothing could be determined that concerned the interest of the State So the King of Navarre being come to the confines of Spain and having delivered Queen Elizabeth to the Spanish Deputies he presently entred into a Treaty that began fairly as he thought of his own private business which being managed with excellent dexterity by the Spaniards so filled him with great but delayed hopes that he had no other thoughts but of his own affairs in such manner that having at their request sent an Ambassador to that Court he determined to retire himself to his ancient quiet in Bearn with a firm resolution not at all to meddle in the businesses of France since their desires by way of negotiation proved fruitless And for the War he thought there was but little Justice in it and too much hazard But contrary was the opinion and other the resolutions of Lewis of Conde his Brother a poor Prince but hardy and couragious who having fram'd his hopes to aspire to great matters precipitated through the hate of his adversaries constrained by the narrowness of his fortune and continually spurr'd on by his Wife and Mother-in-law this Sister that Neece to the Constable but both of them fierce and ambitious women he could no longer support the wearisomness of his present condition but with all his power promoted new and dangerous counsels having already figured to himself that if he were a means and instrument to set the War on foot he should not only obtain a great power amongst his own party but riches also with divers other conveniencies many adherents to his faction and absolute Dominion over divers Cities and Provinces in the Kingdom Wherefore having again assembled at his own house at la Ferte in Champaigne the Princes his Allies and Lords adhering to his faction he laid before them that having till then tryed gentle pleasant remedies and found no ease by them it was necessary to apply a stronger medicine to cure the distemper which from the beginning so violently tended to the ruine not only of the Royal House but even of all that did not adore and depend as slaves upon the rule of the Queen-Mother and the Guises That it was no longer time to hide
as it let in all the miseries and calamities which with such prodigious examples have for a long time afflicted and distracted that Kingdom so it brought to a miserable end both the Author himself that made the Proposition and all those who led by their own affections and interests consented to it But since the beginning and progress of Calvins Doctrine is fallen into mention under the colour of which so many great and several Factions have been engaged in the Civil Wars of France both for the better clearing the business in hand as also not to be forced often to look back to those beginnings which are so requisite to the understanding of matters of fact it is necessary to make some short relation of it After Martin Luther in Germany opened the way to let in Schism into Religion and new opinions into our Faith Iohn Calvin born at Noyon in Picardy a man of a great but unquiet wit marvellously eloquent and generally learned departing from the Faith generally held and observed so many Ages by our Predecessors proposed in his Books which he published in print and in his Sermons which he preached in divers places in France One hundred twenty eight Axioms so he called them disagreeing from the Roman Catholick Faith The French Wits curious by nature and desirous of Novelties began at first rather for pastime than through choice to read his Writings and frequent his Sermons But as in all businesses of the world it uses often to fall out that things beginning in jest end in earnest these Opinions sowed in Gods Church so crept up that they were greedily embraced and obstinately believed by a great number of people and persons of all qualities in so much as Calvin at the first thought a man of little worth and of a seditious unquiet spirit in a short time came to be reverenced of many and believed for a new miraculous Interpreter of Scripture and as it were a certain infallible Teacher of the true Faith The foundation of this Doctrine was in the City of Geneva situate upon the Lake anciently called Lacus Lemanus upon the Confines of Savoy which having rejected the Government of the Duke and Bishop to whom formerly it paid obedience under the name of Terra Franca and under pretence of living in Liberty of Conscience reduced it self into the form of a Commonwealth or Commonalty From thence Books coming out daily in print and men furnished with wit and eloquence insinuating themselves into the Neighbour-Princes who secretly sowed the seeds of this new Doctrine in progress of time all the Cities and Provinces of the Kingdom of France were filled with it though so covertly that there appeared openly only some few marks and conjectures of it The Original of this dissention began about the time of Francis the First who though sometimes he made severe resolutions against them notwithstanding being continually busied in foreign Wars either remitted it or was not aware how at that time the Principles of that Faith then rather despised and hated than any way feared or taken notice of began by little and little to spread in the world But Henry the Second a religious Observer of the Catholick Faith knowing withal that from distraction of Religion in mens minds would infallibly follow as a necessary consequence distractions in the State used his uttermost endeavours to extirpate the roots of those seeds in their first growth And therefore with inexorable severity resolved that all who were found convict of this imputation should suffer death without mercy And although many of the Councellors in every Parliament either favouring the same Opinions or abhorring the continual effusion of blood made use of all their skill to preserve as many as they could from the severity of this execution notwithstanding the Kings vigilance and constancy was such chiefly by the incitements of the Cardinal of Lorain that he had reduced things to such a point as he would in the end though with the effusion of much blood have expelled all the peccant humours out of the bowels of the Kingdom if the accidents which followed had not interrupted the course of his resolution But thereupon the death of Henry happening unexpectedly which the Calvinists used to preach of as miraculous and magnifie to their advantage In the beginning of Francis the Second his Reign this severity being of necessity somewhat remitted the disease by intermission of the purge grew stronger and as the remedies were gentler and less operative so inwardly it increased and spread it self the more For the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorain who governed in chief continued the same resolutions of severity but it continued not in the Court of Parliament nor were the other Magistrates so obedient to the Regal Authority but over-awed by the number and quality of those that had embraced that Doctrine which they called Reformed and already weary of such cruelty towards their Country-men and kindred silently slackned the rigour and were less diligent in enquiring after them Besides there were many amongst the Counsellors who according to the inclination of the present Government and through desire of change were well pleased to have things so brought into confusion that every one might live with Liberty of Conscience For Theodor Beza Calvins disciple a man of great eloquence and excellent learning having by his Sermons seduced a great number of men and women and many of the chief Nobility and greatest persons of the Kingdom being revolted to that Religion their Assemblies and Sermons were then no more celebrated in Stables and Cellars as in the Reign of Henry the Second but in the Halls and Chambers of the best Gentry and most eminent Nobility These people were formerly called Hugonots because the first Conventicles they had in the City of Tours where that belief first took strength and encreased were in certain Cellars under ground near Hugo's gate from whence they were by the vulgar sort called Hugonots as in Flanders because they went in the habits of Mendicants they were called Geux Others count other ridiculous and fabulous inventions of this name but howsoever it were these Hugonots had not yet any Head nor authority of any Prince to protect them For though the Admiral and other Lords inclined to their opinions they durst not as yet declare themselves but were bridled with the fear of punishment and therefore kept their Assemblies exceeding privately Now the Princes of Bourbon finding France in this state and so agreeing with their interests they greedily embraced the Admirals propositions and unanimously consented to his opinion to make use of this pretext and the opportunity of these conjunctures to perfect their designs and to this end deputed Andelot and the Vidame of Chartres to negotiate their business Andelot was brother to the Admiral a man of great fierceness and much experience in war but being of a precipitate nature and turbulent spirit still mingling and interesting
lain hid secretly and carrying arms under their garments went divers ways in several companies according to their order at that time prefixt from divers parts towards Blois where for the present by reason of the goodness of the air the Court remained a plain open City and not any ways fortified near which in the places adjacent they were all to meet the 15 day of March in the year 1560. a day more than once destined for the execution of great designs But the diligence and secrecy of the Conspirators was not such although very great but that it was exceeded by the industry of the Queen-Mother and the Guises who through great rewards and the authority they had in the State having infinite dependants in all parts of the Kingdom were particularly informed of the whole frame of the Conspiracy and it was impossible in reason that the rising of so great a multitude could be concealed for we see the secretest plots trusted to few persons of tried secrecy and known faith use often to be discovered before they come to execution Some will have it that la Renaudie communicated all the particulars to Pierre Avanelles an Advocate in the Parliament of Paris whom he thought a man to be trusted because he was one of the same Religion But he either looking upon it as too great an attempt or designing to get a reward revealed the business confusedly to the Duke of Guises Secretary by whose counsel afterwards sent for in person to the Court he discovered all the particulars to the Queen-Mother But whether this secret came from Avanelles or spies entertained in the houses of the chief Conspirators accused them or that the advice as some have said came out of Germany the Queen-Mother and the Guises having notice of it consulted what course to take to divert or else suppress the mischief of the present Conspiracy The Cardinal not accustomed to the dangers of War inclining to the securest resolution advised that all the Nobility of the nearest Provinces should be sent for that all the Foot in the Neighbour-Garisons should be drawn into a Body that Curriers should be dispatched to all the Princes and Governours of the Kingdom with absolute command to put themselves into the field to pursue all such as they found bearing Arms conceiving that the Conspirators finding they were discovered and hearing of such great preparations which are commonly increased by reports would of themselves scatter and disband rather than try the uttermost danger But the Duke of Guise who used to the greatest dangers made little account of the force of a confused multitude without discipline or government thought by following that way which the Cardinal proposed the mischief would be delayed but not extinguished which still perniciously creeping into and setling in the inward bowels of the Kingdom would break forth again at some other time with greater violence and perhaps with more trouble and damage to the State In which consideration he was of opinion that dissembling and making shew of knowing nothing they should give courage and commodity to the Conspirators to discover themselves that so being vanquished and punished the State might be freed from the repletion of so pestilent and dangerous an humour which shewing it self like to occasion such great distempers it was no time to appease it with lenitives only but being already grown to a head to expel it with strong purging medicines He added yet to those reasons that the Conspirators being so separately suppressed but in part it would be in the arbitrement of malignants to calumniate the act and the people not accustomed to such proceedings would difficultly believe it so that many would think it an invention of those that governed to depress their enemies and more surely to establish their present power but that oppressing them all united together in one Body at the same instant that they meant to put their designs in execution all calumnies would be taken away and the truth and sincerity of their proceedings be evident to all the world The Queen-Mother moved with these Reasons concurred with him in opinion Wherefore not making any provisions extraordinary that might make the Conspirators suspect they had any advertisement of their design they carried the King with all the Court as for recreation only from Blois to Ambois ten leagues distant a French league contains two English miles upon the River Loire and by reason of that and the woods that inviron it very strongly situated They did this partly to delude the Conspirators in their first attempt who thought to find the King in a nearer place and more open partly that by means of the Castle the Kings person and the Queens might be more secure and being a place but of little compass it was easily to be defended by those few people that were to be gotten thereabouts There the day appointed drawing near in which the Conspirators were to appear the Guises having devised amongst themselves how to make use of this so great an occasion for their own advantage not only better to establish but to increase and bring to perfection their newly atchieved greatness and convert this assault of their enemies to their own advancement as from poisons are often extracted cordials without making the Queen privy thereunto they went directly to the King and with shew of great fear exaggerating and magnifying the attempt of the Conspirators laid before him how greatly the Government and by consequence his own person and all his Allies were indangered by their practices and withal told him of the nearness of the danger the Conspirators being already at the gates of Ambois and that their number and force being more than at first was believed it was necessary to resolve upon some present expedient to prevent them The King of a timorous feeble nature and at the present much moved with the greatness of so imminent a danger calling to his presence not only his Mother but all the Council began to debate the means of opposing the force and suppressing the violence of so great an insurrection The Council was tumultuous and confused by reason whereof many doubts and infinite dangers appearing on all sides which were much increased by the vehemence and art of the Cardinal of Lorain the King of himself unable to resolve any thing in matters of such difficulty much less to sustain the weight of the Government in so troubled a time without any other motive but his own was of opinion to declare the Duke of Guise his Lieutenant-General with absolute power and relying upon the vigour of his courage and mature wisdom to leave the Government of the State during those troubles wholly to him for as much as he found himself unable to undergo so great a burthen The Queen-Mother though inwardly struck with so bold an attempt readily consented to the Kings opinion because she saw she could not oppose that resolution without coming to open variance with the Guises which in that
Art of dissembling graciously received the Paper and with affable speeches commended the Admirals confidence in presenting to him the desires of his Subjects This Paper being read by Aubespine it appeared to be a Petition from the Hugonots by which with many tedious circumstances they desired in substance Liberty of Conscience and Temples to be assigned them in every City where they might freely exercise their Religion After the reading of which the Admiral being returned to his place and the murmur ceased which proceeded from the diverse sense that men had of this proceeding every one was appointed in order to deliver his opinion The Cardinal of Lorain of himself ardent and put on by the obligation of his calling could not forbear to answer the contents of the Petition which he termed seditious impudent rash heretical and petulant concluding that if to strike a terrour into the Kings youth it had been said that the Petition should be subscribed by 150000 seditious persons he made answer There was above a Million of honest men ready to suppress the boldness of such rebellious people and make due obedience be rendred to the Royal Majesty Whereupon the Admiral offering to reply a great contest would have followed to the hindrance of the business intended if the King imposing on them both silence had not commanded the rest to proceed in order to deliver their opinions For so much as concerned Controversies in Religion those that favoured Calvins Doctrine as there were many even among the Prelates that inclined that way proposed that the Pope should be desired to grant a free General Council where the differences in matters of Faith might be disputed and determined by common consent and if the Pope refused to grant it in such manner as was necessary for the present times and the general satisfaction of all men the King ought according to the wise example of many his Predecessors to call a National Council in his own Kingdom where under his protection those differences might be determined But the Cardinal of Lorain and the rest who constantly persevered in the Catholick Religion and were the major part in the Assembly denied that any other Council was necessary than that by the Popes order many years since begun and now newly entred into again in the City of Trent whither according to the Canons and ancient use of holy Church it was free for every body to have recourse and to bring all differences in matters of Religion to be decided by the natural competent Judges and that to call a National Council whilst the General was open would be to separate through the capriciousness of a few desperate persons a most Christian Kingdom from the union and fellowship of the holy Church that it was not necessary to look so far back For the General Council of Trent having discussed and examined the Doctrine of those Teachers that dissented from the Roman Church had already for the most part reproved and condemned it That they should endeavour by the best means that could be to purge the Kingdom and not by hopes or propositions of new Councils increase the disorders and multiply the confusions But if the manners of the Ecclesiasticks or abuses introduced into the Government of the Church of France required reformation or more severe constitutions an Assembly might be called of Divines and Prelates in which without medling with controversies in Faith those disorders might be remedied by common consent This opinion was approved by the major part of voices and finally imbraced by all Then for the concernment of the State after many Propositions and Disputes which proceeded from the divers interests Iohn de Monlâe Bishop of Valence having by secret order from the Queen proposed an Assembly of the States both parties willingly consented thereunto The Constable the Admiral and their faction because they hoped from that a Reformation in the Government The Queen-Mother and the Guises because they saw things go on of themselves to their own ends This consultation ended the King by his Chancellor thanked the Lords of the Assembly and forthwith Letters Patents were dispatched by the Secretaries of State to all the Provinces in the Kingdom containing That in the Month of October next they should send their Deputies to the City of Orleans there to hold a general Assembly of the States and order was likewise given to the principal Prelates that in the Month of February following they should all meet at Poissy to reform by common consent those abuses that were introduced in the Government and Ministry of the Church and to take such order that a considerable number of them should go to the general Council of Trent The Assembly ended all were licensed to return to their houses and desired to meet again at Orleans to assist at the Assembly of the States But Iaâues de la Sague the King of Navarre's servant being charged with Letters of Instructions from the Constable the Admiral and the rest of the Adherents directed to his Master as soon as he left the Court returning towards Bearne being gone as far as Estampes was by secret order of the Queen stayed prisoner from whence with all his papers he was privately conveyed to Court The Letters contained only private and general compliments such as use to pass amongst friends and being examined he constantly denied that he had any other commission than what was plain to be seen by the Letters But being brought to the place of torture to draw the truth from him by force not enduring the rack he confessed That the Prince of Conde had advised and the King of Navarre in part also consented thereunto that he should leave Bearne and under pretence of coming to the Court by the way take possession of all the principal Towns thereabouts seise Paris by the help of the Constable his Son the Mareshal of Momorancy being Governour of it make Picardy revolt by means of the Lords of Senarpont and Bouchavaâne and draw Britanny to his party by aid of the Duke of Estampes who being Governour of that Province had great dependances there and so armed and accompanied by the Forces of the Hugonots come to the Court and force the States to depose the Queen-Mother and the Guises from the Government and declaring the King was not out of his minority till he came to 22 years of age create his Tutors and Governours of the Kingdom the Constable the Prince of Conde and the King of Navarre He added to his confession that if they put the cover of the Visdame of Chartres Letters which were taken from him in water the characters would presently appear and they should find there all written that he had said Thus by the confession of one imployed by them and the testimony of the Letters the new designs of the Conspirators were discovered But as the discontented Princes resolved to bring in Innovations increased in power and dependents with so much the more sollicitousness and
consent to his demands to propose things necessary for the good of their order to oblige the common people to new taxes and to give and receive new Laws and Constitutions but when the King is in minority or otherwise uncapable they have authority when it falls into controversie to chuse the Regents of the Kingdom to dispose of the principal Offices and to appoint who shall be admitted to the Council and when the Kings line fails or a descendant of the Royal Family they have power according to the Salique Laws to chuse a new Lord. But besides these supreme Priviledges the Kings have always used in any urgent weighty occasions to assemble the States and to determine of matters of difficulty with their advice and consent thinking not only by a publick consent to make the Princes resolutions more valid but that it was also necessary in a lawful Government and truly Royal that all great businesses should be communicated to the whole body of the Kingdom Now at that time it plainly appearing that through the dissentions among the Princes and differences in Religion all things were full of disorder and had need of speedy remedy the Deputies elected by the Provinces and instantly called upon with reiterated Orders from the Court met together with great diligence at Orleans at the beginning of October where the King himself being also arrived with a great company of the principal Lords and Officers of the Crown he now expected nothing but the coming of the discontented Princes The Constable with his sons stayed in the wonted place at Chantillii the King of Navarre and the Prince his Brother were retired into Bearn and being summoned by the Kings Letters to come to the Assembly of the States they did not plainly refuse it but with divers excuses and many delays put off the time of their appearance This kind of proceeding held the King and all his Ministers in great dispense doubting not without reason that the Princes either suspecting something of themselves or advertised by some Confident by refusing to appear at the Assembly would frustrate all their great designs and preparations which were founded only upon their coming And the Prince of Conde who ruled his actions by the guiltiness of his Conscience it appearing to him a thing impossible but that by the prisoners at Ambois Saga's confession and the Conspirators taken at Lions there was enough discovered to lay open his intents was grown so extreamly jealous that no reasons could perswade him to put himself again into the Kings power or his Ministers the chief of which he knew were all his mortal enemies But the King of Navarre either being less guilty or of a more credulous nature than his brother thought that by going to the States they should easily obtain a reformation in the Government which was the thing they had so much laboured for and that by refusing to go thither they should condemn themselves and leave the field free to the avarice and persecution of the Guises Nor could he possibly believe that in the face of a General Assembly of the whole Kingdom the King yet as it were a Pupil an Italian woman and two strangers would venture to lay violent hands upon the Princes of the Blood against whom the most masculine Kings and most revengeful had ever proceeded with great regard as against persons not to be violated and in a manner Sacro-sancti Wherefore he was of opinion whatsoever came of it to go to the Assembly and to take the Prince with him not meaning to give them that advantage to condemn him in absence without any kind of defence as he was sure they would if he stayed so far off whereas if he were there to sollicite the Deputies himself he hoped his cause if it were not approved of by the rigour of justice yet the equity of his reasons would at least make it be born with and at the last if no better in consideration of his quality and pre-eminence of Blood pardoned All their Counsellours and Friends concurred in this opinion except the Prince's Wife and his Mother-in-law both which constantly opposed it esteeming all other loss inferiour to the danger which they thought evident of leaving their lives there Whilst they were in this debate there arrived on a sudden first the Count of Cursol and afterwards the Mareschal of Saint Andre whom the King had dispatched one after the other to perswade the Princes to come They represented to them that this grave venerable Assembly was called with much expence to the King and great incommodity to the whole Kingdom only in consideration of the Princes of the Blood and to satisfie their instances and complaints That they were obliged to deliver their opinions in regulating the Government and decision of points controverted in Religion businesses of such weight as without the assistance of the chief Princes of the Blood could not be determined That the King had great cause to think himself mocked and the States that they were slighted by the Princes of Bourbon since having so often desired a Reformation in the Government and to have the Hugonots cause examined now that the time was come and the States assembled for that purpose they took not any care of going thither as it were contemning the Majesty of that Assembly which was the representative Body of the whole Kingdom that hereafter they ought not to blame any body but themselves if they were worthily excluded from any part or charge in the Government since they would not vouchsafe to come to receive that portion which the King with the approbation of the States thought good to assign them and shewing themselves thus manifestly averse to the Kings service and good of the Crown they ought not to wonder if quick resolutions were taken to suppress and extirpate those roots of discord and apparent designs of innovation That the King was resolved as he meant to gratifie such who shewed themselves respectful and obedient to him so he would bind those to a necessary and forced obedience that had any intents to separate themselves from his Councils or to stir any commotions in the Cities and Provinces of the Kingdom Of which delinquency he would think the Princes of Bourbon guilty if they took no care at all to shew their innocence but with their absence and contumacy should confirm the reports of fame which being never believed either by the King or his Council yet his Majesty desired for the honour of the Blood-Royal that with true demonstrations of duty and loyalty and a real union for the publick good they would testifie as much to all France which with wonderful expectation had turned her eyes upon the actions of the present times This Message was delivered from the King to the Princes of Bourbon which had little moved the Prince of Conde resolved not to venture his person in a place where his enemies were the stronger if necessity had not forced him to break that resolution
matter to appease him The other that beginning to treat with him she might give cause of suspition to the Guises and so greatly endangered the losing that support before she had time to settle the affairs Which obstacles though they appeared invincible yet the urgency of the occasion inforced a necessity to try all kind of policies though never so doubtful The first thought was to assure the Guises for it had been but an unwise counsel to abandon all old friendship already confirmed before there was any manner of assurance that it was possible to contract a new one But a business of that nicety and on every side full of suspition was not to be managed but by persons of great dexterity Wherefore having thought upon many the Queen at length resolved there was no instrument so proper for that negotiation as the Mareschal S. Andre For being a great Confident to the Guises privy to all their secretest thoughts and besides that a man of prudence and singular quickness he would not believe the Queen could have any hope to cozen him and the businesses treated by him would have credit and great authority with his own Faction So that having sent for him and deplored the state of the present affairs she enquired what resolution the Princes of Lorain meant to take professing that she would not differ from them but follow any advice that they by agreement amongst themselves should think most reasonable To which he making a doubtful reply with an intent rather to penetrate into the Queens designs than to discover to her the intentions of his own party after many several discourses at last all their arguing ended in this conclusion That the differences between the two Factions could not be accommodated without great troubles and the danger of a doubtful War if both parties did not yield something in their reasons and retire as it is commonly said a step backwards leaving to her to mediate between them who both as a Judge and Moderatrix and as an indifferent party might limit the pretentions of the Princes in such a manner that one side should not seem to yield to the other but through modesty and respect that they bore to the Mother of their King forget all past injuries and so things might remain equally balanced between them This counsel proceeding in a manner wholly from the Mareschal the Queen feigning rather to take than give advice they began to consult which way was best to proceed Then shewing that the King of Navarre was a man of right intentions and of a facile moderate nature she doubted not but she could perswade him to it so the Princes of Lorain would be content The Mareschal that was free from any private passion and knew the slippery dangerous condition in which the Guises stood took upon him the charge to manage the business with them which being proposed to the Duke and the Cardinal and afterwards debated in a meeting of their Confederates they all approved of it But the two Brothers were of different opinions For the Duke being more placable and moderate consented to an accommodation provided his Governments and Revenues that he enjoyed by the favour of the late Kings might remain untoucht But the Cardinal being of a more ambitious nature and vehement disposition desired still to persist in the strifes they had begun and to endeavour to preserve themselves in the same authority they had obtained and exercised during the life of Francis Notwithstanding not only the Cardinal of Tournon concurring with the Duke in opinion as desirous to avoid the tempest of War but also the two Mareschals of Brissac and S. Andre and especially the Sieur de Sipierre whose opinion through the fame of his wisdom was of great esteem amongst them and conceiving they got enough if preserving their reputation their estates and honours which they possessed they could preserve themselves for times of better conjuncture leave was given to the Queen by means of the same Mareschal to try all the ways she should think good to make an agreement with the King of Navarre This difficulty being overcome the greatest obstacle was yet to pass through which was to appease the Faction of the discontented Princes a thing judged by many not possible to be brought to pass and absolutely desparate But the Queen knowing the nature and inclination of those she haâ to deal with a thing chiefly necessary for the effecting any great design did not doubt to compass her desire The intimate Counsellors to the King of Navarre were Francis de Cars a Gascoigne and Philip de Lenon-court Bishop of Auxerre That a man of small judgment and little experience in the world This of a deep reach extreamly vigilant and altogether intent upon those interests that were most for his own advancement These being secretly gained by the working of the Queen-Mother with such means as were most likely to prevail over their several humours for she fought by rewards and apparent specious reasons to corrupt and perswade de Cars and to Auxerre she offered honours and Ecclesiastical preferments which by means of the King of Navarre only he could not so easily attain unto they became Ministers to the Queens designs and under the name of faithful sincere Counsellors were ready to favour those negotiations that tended to an agreement and the advancement of her greatness The first overtures of this accommodation were made by the Dutchess of Montpensier by reason of her goodness and candid disposition very inward with the Queen and a great friend to the King and Queen of Navarre through the inclination she had to the Hugonots Religion and in the progress of the business came in by little and little Tanneguy de Cârrouges and Louis de Lansac men of approved wisdom in whom the Queen reposed great confidence and these three continually employed their endeavours to shake the King of Navarre's resolution who being now drawn from his wonted inclinations to peace and quietness and incited by the ardour of enmity and the memory of dangers past had his thoughts so confused that he stood in suspence and doubtful what course to take Three conditions were proposed from the Queen First that all prisoners should be set at liberty and particularly the Prince of Conde Madam de Roye and the Visdame of Chartres causing the Parliament of Paris to declare null the Sentence pronounced against the Prince by the Judges Delegate Secondly that the King of Navarre should have the Government of all the Provinces in the Kingdom provided the Queen should enjoy the name and authority of Regent And the third that the Catholick King should be sollicited to the restitution or change of Navarre and the Isle of Sardinia was particularly named These conditions being proposed by the Queens Agents the Kings Counsellors highly approved them shewing that the Regency a Title without substance and only an airy name was abundantly recompenced by the authority and power over the Provinces wherein consisted the
real command and essential Government of the Kingdom to which being added the honourable release of the Prince with the suppression of his enemies and hope to recover an estate befitting his quality and birth there was not any doubt at all to be further made They added that their affairs for the present were in so doubtful a condition that putting themselves upon the rigour of the Laws against such potent enemies and with the prejudice of their past machinations it was rather to be feared they would be utterly ruined than advanced to those honours they desired that the States then at Orleans depended wholly upon the Queens will and the Guises by whose means they were with great regard assembled for which cause they were for the most part united and joined with them wherefore it was greatly to be feared if their cause were remitted to the arbitrement and determination of the States that they being incensed by their former practices would exclude the Princes of the Blood from the Government and commit it to the Guises as persons they could more confide in upon which would follow the inevitable destruction of the whole family of Bourbon That it was necessary to stop this precipice with moderate Counsels and shewing they desired nothing but what was just and reasonable by yielding to the Laws clear themselves from suspition and their former contumacy and although the change proposed with the Catholick King were very uncertain and doubtful yet it would be great imprudence any way by pretending to the Government of other States to weaken the hopes of recovering his own and the inheritance belonging to his children These reasons wrought upon the King of Navarre of himself inclined to such kind of thoughts but he was spurred on to the contrary by the instigation of the Prince his Brother though rather with a violent passion of revenge than any founded reason Notwithstanding there being joined to that party which perswaded an accord the authority of the Duke of Montpensier and the Prince de la Rochesur-yon both of the same family of Bourbon but who being many degrees removed from the Crown had not interested themselves in these late businesses the King of Navarre inclining to come to an agreement with the Queen proposed by the saâe persons that treated the Accommodation besides the three Conditions offered two others The first that the Guises should be deprived of all places of command at Court The other that Liberty of Conscience should be granted to the Hugonots When Calvins Doctrine was first preached the seeds thereof were planted in the family of Henry King of Navarre and Margaret his wife father and mother to Iane the present Queen and as the minds of those Princes were ill-affected to the Apostolick See being deprived of their Kingdom under pretence of Ecclesiastical Cânsures thundred out by Pope Iulio the Second against the Kingdom of France and the adherents of the same with which Navarre was then in confederacy so it was likeliest they should apply themselves to that Doctrine which opposing the Authority of the Roman Bishop by consequence concluded those Censures invalid by vertue whereof they had lost their Kingdom Wherefore the Ministers so they call them of Calvins Religion frequenting the house of those Princes and there teaching their Opinions they made such an impression in Queen Iane that departing from the rights of the Catholick Church she had wholly entertained and embraced the Religion of the Hugonots Whereupon being married to Anthony of Bourbon at the present King of Navarre she not only continued in the same belief but had in great part drawn her Husband to that Opinion being besides perswaded by the zealous eloquence of Theodore Beza Peter Martyr Vermeil and other Teachers that went freely into Bearne to preach their new Doctrine And the Prince of Conde the Admiral and other principal men of the Faction of the Princes of the Blood having at the same time partly through Conscience partly through interests of State embraced those Opinions with so much the greater constancy the King of Navarre persevered to continue the protection of the Hugonots For this cause he desired of the Queen in the Treaty of Accommodation between them that Liberty of Conscience might be granted to the Calvinists and she who thought all other things inferiour to the evident danger wherein she saw the Kingdom to be lost both to her sons and her self not to interrupt the Treaty of agreement would not absolutely deny those two Conditions though very hard ones but shewing that to deprive the Guises of their charges at Court was immediately contrary to the Accord then in agitation and to the thought of reducing the wavering estate of the Kingdom into peace and repose for they being armed and powerful would never suffer so great and manifest an affront but joining with the Catholick Faction and the greater part of the States would to maintain their dignity soon have recourse to Arms notwithstanding she obliged her self that with time and art she would continually lessen their authority and power which they being by degrees deprived of their Governments would soon fall to nothing And for so much as concerned the liberty of the Hugonots being a thing of too great importance to be granted upon so little deliberation and which the Parliaments and the States themselves would undoubtedly oppose she was content to promise secretly that governing by common consent with the King of Navarre she would by indirect by-ways and upon the emergencies of occasions which might happen every day so work under-hand that by little and little they should in great part obtain their desires The Queen promised these things being forced by the present necessity yet with an intent when the Government was established and the King of Navarre appeased to observe none of them but delaying the execution of them with her wânted artifices at length with dexterity to render them altogether vain For she thought it not expedient for her own interests and the preservation of her sons wholly to suppress the Guises who served marvellously to balance the power of the Princes of the Blood and to permit a Liberty of Conscience she knew it would not be done without great scandal to the Apostolick See and all other Christian Princes nor without great disorder and dissention in the Kingdom but reserving many things to the benefit of time and future industry she endeavoured by all manner of means to provide for and remedy the present distractions Now the Accommodation being in a manner confirmed upon these Conditions the King of Navarre declared that he would not conclude any thing without the consent and authority of the Constable who was already near upon his arrival so that it was necessary to return to the old arts to overcome this last impediment esteemed by many no less difficult to master than the former Wherefore the Queen who very well knew the nature and inclination of the Constable thought by restoring
the arts of a woman suffer himself to be led by her appetite and one of so little wisdom as the King of Navarre to consent to those things which they did to the prejudice of Gods Church That he who had strength and power in his hands was streightly obliged to disturb and hinder those wicked Counsels which then prevailed and once more to lend that help with which he had oftentimes formerly supported the Crown afflicted and Religion wholly abandoned That he should call to mind his own Maxim so constantly observed in the glorious actions of his youth according to which he had ever condemned and opposed the power of strangers which always tends to the ruine not edifying of States and not now suffer two women one an Italian the other a Navaroise so perversly to destroy the foundations of the French Monarchy chiefly established upon the Basis of Piety and Religion That he should remember this was that same Catherine whose manners and disposition he had ever blamed and detested That these were the very same Hugonots whom he had so fiercely persecuted in the Reign of Henry the Second that the persons were not changed nor the quality of things but every one would believe that he in his old age suffered himself to be led either by ambition or inclinations of others to shew himself altogether different from those Maxims by which formerly he had guided his Actions To these perswasive speeches many times on purpose reiterated and adding many other reasons and by often visiting and sollicitation finding that the Constable began to yield partly through indignation conceived against his Nephew for what concerned his estate and partly through the hate of Calvinism at length Magdalen de Savoy his wife undertook the task wholly to vanquish his resolution who being not well pleased to see him bear such an ardent affection to his Nephews de Coligni and desirous to insinuate into the same place of his favour Honore de Savoye Marquis of Villars her Brother she let pass no occasion whereby she might prejudice them and advance his interest Nor did the practice end there but by the means of Diana the Mareshal of Saint Andre being also brought in who was no less concerned in the restitution they so wrought with him that partly to unite himself with those who had the same interest partly through the hate to his Nâphews and partly through the just apparence of the preservation of the Catholick Religion to which he was ever affected he began to incline to a friendship with the Guises Which when they once perceived they omitted not any artifice nor submission or other means that might conduce to draw him absolutely to their party having conceived new hopes to recover this way some part if not all of their former power in the Government And it so fell out that Diana Wife to the Mareshal of Momorancy who was the only obstacle to this Treaty being sick at Chantilly his affection forc'd him to leave his Father to visit her so that he being thus removed out of the way the friendship was finally concluded and a league made between the Constable and the Guises for the preservation of the Catholick Religion and mutual defence of their several Estates But when this combination was known to the Queen she conceiving she had lost her greatest stay and that the Princes of Lorain so much increased in strength and reputation being ill satisfied with her proceedings would endeavour to deprive her of the Government thought it so much more necessary to enter into a streighter union with the King of Navarre to counterpoize as much as was possible the other party knowing she was to be very studiously vigilant to preserve things in an equality so as neither the Kings safety nor stability of the Government should be endangered Wherefore the King of Navarre solliciting it and the Queen not disliking that his party should increase under the pretence to keep the Kingdom in peace during the Kings minority to appease the people formerly exasperated and at their first entring upon the Government to gain a plausible name of clemency it was commended to all the Parliaments by new Edicts and Decrees not further to molest any body for matter of Religion and to restore the goods houses and possessions of all such who for suspicion of Calvinism had been formerly deprived of them Which Edicts though the Parliament of Paris opposed and many Magistrates refused to obey them nevertheless the Hugonots having so specious a colour as the declared will of the King and the Regent approved of by the Council of State they of themselves took upon them to exercise a Liberty of Conscience encreasing still in number and force which perhaps would have fallen out according to the Queens intention if the multitude of the Hugonots had known how to contain themselves within the limits of modesty and reason But they on the contrary as those use who are led by a popular rage without the bridle of a formal Government finding themselves now supported and favoured loosed from the fear of punishment and laying aside all respect due to Magistrates by open Assemblies insolent speeches and other odious acts provoked against themselves the hate and disdain of the Catholicks from whence arising in all parts obstinate jars and bloody Factions every thing was full of tumult and all the Provinces of the Kingdom troubled with seditious rumours So that contrary to the intention of those that governed and contrary to the common opinion the remedy applied to maintain the State and preserve an union of peace during the Kings minority fell out to be dangerous and destructive and upon the matter occasioned all those dissentions and perils which with so much care they ought to prevent This gave opportunity to the Guises being encouraged and increased in strength to begin to oppose the present Government Insomuch as the Cardinal of Lorain taking a time to speak at the Council-Table without bearing any regard to the Queen or the King of Navarre who were present began to enter upon the point of Religion and with hot words and effectual speeches to shew with what indignity to the most Christian Kingdom what sin towards God and with how great scandal to all the world Liberty of Conscience was permitted to those who professing manifest heresies already condemned in all Councils went about scattering monstrous opinions in Religion corrupting the youth seducing simple persons and in all places of the Kingdom stirring up the people to tumult contempt and Rebellion Already the Priests could no longer celebrate their Sacrifices in Churches for the insolencies of the Hugonots already the Preachers durst not go into the Pulpit for the arrogancies of the Calvinists the Magistrates were no longer obeyed in their Jurisdictions through the Rebellion of Hereticks all places raged with discords burnings and slaughters through the presumption and perverseness of those who assumed to themselves a liberty of teaching
and believing after their own fashion and now the most Christian Kingdom and first-born of the Church was ready to turn Schismatick to separate it self from the obedience of the Apostolick See and the Faith of Christ only to satisfie the capritious humours of a few seditious persons Upon this subject he so enlarged himself with his wonted eloquence by which he used to prevail in all disputes that not any of the Hugonots favourers being able to answer the reasons he alledged but the King of Navarre holding his peace the Queen-mother not replying a word and the Chancellor startled and confounded it was resolved with great alacrity of all the Council who were exceedingly scandalized at the excessive license of the Hugonots that forthwith all the principal Officers of the Crown should assemble at the Parliament at Paris there in the Kings presence to debate these matters and resolve upon such remedies as were most necessary for the future It was impossible to hinder them from coming to the Parliament which was appointed upon the thirteenth day of Iuly for the King of Navarre durst not openly oppose it lest by declaring himself a Hugonot he should gain many Enemies and the Queen-Mother although she desired not to see the Catholick party increase in strength yet she was very much perplext in mind and above all things apprehensive lest the advancement and establishment of heresie should be imputed to her The contestations in the Parliament were very great and although the Protectors of the Hugonots employed their uttermost endeavours to obtain them a Decree for Liberty of Conscience by which Declaration they pretended that these stirs and dissentions would cease yet all was in vain For indeed it being clearly not only against the intention and authority of the Catholick Church but also contrary to the ancient customs of the Kingdom and the Councellors of the Parliament being exasperated by the continual complaints which were brought them from all parts against the insurrection of the Hugonots It was with a general consent expresly ordered that the Ministers should be expelled out of the Kingdom with a prohibition to use any other rites or ceremonies in Religion than what were held and taught by the Roman Church and all Assemblies and Meetings forbidden in any place either armed or unarmed unless in the Catholick Churches to hear Divine Service according to the usual âustom And to give some balance to the other party the same Edict contained that all Delinquencies found in matter of Religion before the publication thereof should be pardoned and that for the future all accusations or complaints of Heresie should be brought to the Bishops their Vicars or Surrogates and the Civil Magistrates to be assisting to them upon all occasions and that they should not proceed against those convict of Heresie further than banishment but abstain from any corporal punishment or effusion of blood This Deliberation comprehended in a solemn Edict approved and subscribed by the King the Queen and all the Princes and Lords of both Factions absolutely restrained the liberty of Religion and gave heart to the Catholick party which was not a little dejected But the Prince of Conde and the Admiral grieving at the depression of the Hugonots in whose number and force they had founded the strength of their Faction not able other ways to hinder the execution of the Edict which being imbraced with great affection by the Parliaments and the greater parts of the inferiour Magistrates they durst not oppose they advised to procure that the Calvinist Ministers should desire a conference in the Kings presence accompanied with his Prelates to propose and examine the Articles of their Doctrine hoping by indirect ways to bring it so about as again to introduce a liberty of Religion This demand of the Hugonots was opposed by many of the Catholick Prelates and in particular by the Cardinal of Tournon shewing that it was useless to dispute matters of Faith with men so extreamly obstinate and who persisted in opinions condemned by the Holy Church yet if they had a mind to have their reasons heard they might address themselves to the General Council at Trent where under safe conduct they should be permitted to propose and dispute their opinions But the Cardinal of Lorain was not against it either moved through hope by evident reasons to convince the Doctrine of the Hugonots and by that means disabuse the Consciences of simple people or set on as those that were emulous said with the vanity to shew his learning and eloquence and to render himself in such a publick Assembly so much the more eminent and renowned Howsoever his intentions were certain it is that he not contradicting the Ministers demand drew to his opinion the other Prelates and finally they all consented to the King of Navarre who being desirous to hear a solemn dispute for the setling of his own Conscience sollicited it with great earnestness in favour of the Hugonots Safe conducts then being sent to the Ministers that were retired to Geneva and Poissy a Town five leagues from Paris appointed the place for the conference besides the King and the Court there came thither on the Catholick party the Cardinals of Tournon Lorain Bourbon Armagnac and Guise and with the Bishops and Prelates of best esteem many Doctors of the Sorbon and other Divines sent for from the most famous Universities of the Kingdom There appeared for the Hugonots Theodore Beza head of all the rest Peter Martyr Vermeilo Francis de St. Paul Iohn Raimond and Iohn Virelle with many other Preachers which came some from Geneva some out of Germany and other neighbouring places There Theodore Beza with great flourishes of Rhetorick having first proposed his opinions and the Cardinal of Lorain with strength of Reason and authority of Scripture and of the Fathers of the holy Church strongly opposed him The Council of State thought it not fit that the King who being but young and not yet able to judge or discern of the truth should come any more to the Disputation lest he should be infected with some opinions less exact or less conformable to the Doctrines of the Catholick Church Wherefore the Dispute from being publick by degrees grew more private and finally after many meetings brake off without any conclusion or benefit at all The Catholick party got only this advantage that the King of Navarre himself remained little satisfied with the Hugonots having discovered that the Ministers agreed not amongst themselves about that Doctrine which they too unanimously preached but that some followed strictly Calvin's Opinions others inclined to the Doctrine of Ecolampadius and Luther some adhering to the Helvetian Confession others to the Augustan at which uncertainties being very much troubled from thence forward he began to leave them and incline to the Roman Religion But the Hugonots got much greater advantage by the Conference to which end only they desired it For being departed from the Diet they
entertain their Religion To confirm them in which opinion as much as she could with outward testimonies she would often hear their Preachers argue and discourse in her own Chamber confer with great confidence and professions of affection with the Prince of Conde and the Admiral and was often in discourse with the Dutchess of Montpensier whom making her believe whatsoever she pleased with her excellent dissimulation she used as a means to entertain with hopes many other the principal of them And to lead them on with open demonstrations to a belief of her private protestations and practices she wrote obscure letters of ambiguous sense to the Pope one while demanding a Council such in every point as the Calvinists desired then licence to call a National one sometimes desiring that the Communion might be administred under both Species otherwhile requiring a dispensation for Priests to marry now solliciting that Divine Service might be said in the vulgar tongue then proposing other such like things wished for and preached by the Hugonots in which she knew so well how to dissemble by the help of Monsieur de l' Isle Ambassador at Rome that putting the Pope in doubt and the Catholick party and so necessitating them to proceed warily lest they should finally alienate her wholly from the Roman Religion at the same time she won the Hugonots making them believe that she was altogether inclined to favour them that of bitter enemies they became her greatest friends and confidents Nor were the vulgar only deluded by these artificial dissimulations but the Admiral also who was by nature so wary and of such a subtile wit gave such credit to them that he was induced to give the Queen a full accompt of the number of the forces and designs of his Faction of the adherents they had both within and without the Kingdom and every other particular She seeming desirous to be informed at large before she declared her self and promising openly to take that party when they were once so established and provided with force as she should not need to fear the power of the Catholicks or the Triumvirat Thus with a sudden and in apparence incredible change the King of Navarre went over to the Catholick party and Queen Catherine though dissemblingly took upon her the protection of the Hugonots Which change to them that knew not the true secret reasons of it appeared strange and extravagant and therefore many did then attribute it to lightness in the one and womanish inconstancy in the other and many that have written since ascribe the fault also to the same causes not penetrating into the hidden foundations upon which the engines of this counsel were moved The End of the Second BOOK THE HISTORY OF THE Civil Wars of France By HENRICO CATERINO DAVILA. The THIRD BOOK The ARGUMENT THe Third Book relates the Deliberation of the King of Navarre to drive the Prince of Conde already become formidable out of Paris for this purpose he sends for the other Catholick Lords to Court The Duke of Guise makes a Iourney thither and passing by Vassy lights upon an Assembly of Hugonots at their devotions thereupon follows accidentally a bloody conflict to revenge themselves of which the Hugonots rise in all parts of the Kingdom The Prince of Conde leaves Paris The Queen together with the King because she would not be constrained to declare her self for either party retires to Fountain-bleau On the other side the Princes of each Faction endeavour to possess themselves of the persons of the King and Queen The Catholicks prevent the Hugonots and lead them both to Paris The Prince of Conde having lost his opportunity takes other resolutions possesses himself of Orleans and prepares for the War The Catholick Lords under the Kings Name likewise raise an Army Many Writings are published on each side Both Armies go into the Field The Queen-Mother avoids the War and labours for a Peace To this end she comes to a parley with the Prince but without success notwithstanding she continues to treat of an Agreement which at length is concluded The Prince by the perswasion of the rest repents himself thereof and again takes arms purposeth to assail the Kings Camp by night but fails of his design Forces come to the King out of Germany and many thousands of Swisses thereupon the Prince is forced to retire unto the Walls of Orleans where not being able to keep the Army together he divides it He sends for succours into Germany and England consents to give Havre de Grace to the English and to receive their Garisons in Deipe and Rouen to obtain aids of them The Queen is offended and grievously afflicted therewith and for that cause joyning with the Catholick party causeth the Hugonots to be declar'd Rebels The Kings Army takes Blois Tours Poictiers and Bourges besiegeth Rouen and takes it The King of Navarre is kill'd there Succours come to the Prince out of Germany with which being reinforced he makes haste to assault Paris The King and the Queen arrive there with the Army wherefore after many attempts he is necessitated to depart Both Armies go into Normandy and there follows the Battel of Dreux in which the Prince of Conde is taken prisoner on the one side and the Constable on the other The Duke of Guise being victorious layeth siege to Orleans and is ready to take it but is treacherously slain by Poltrot After his death follows the general Peace and the Kings Army recovers Havre de Grace from the English The King cometh out of his minority The Queen useth divers arts to work the discontented Princes to her will and to compass her ends together with the King makes a general visitation of the Kingdom cometh to a parley at Avignon with the Popes Ministers and at Bayonne with the Queen of Spain It is agreed between the most Christian and Catholick King to aid each other in the suppression of seditions The Queen of Navarre cometh to the Court The King maketh a reconciliation between the Families of Chastillon and Guise but within few days after they return to their former enmities The Queen of Navarre in distaste leaves the Court and plots new mischiefs Divers Marriages are celebrated but the civil dissentions nevertheless continue AFfairs of the State being thus on the sudden put into another posture there were none so short-sighted who did not clearly perceive that the animosity of the Factions would finally shew it self in a War and that there wanted nothing to make this cloud break into a storm but the conjuncture of some fit occasion Which as if all things had concurred to hasten the calamity of France did forthwith arise from a marvellous opportunity The King of Navarre after he had declared himself of the Catholick party stayed as by chance in Paris which City as it is placed in the middle of France so in frequency of people riches dignity and power far surpasseth all others in the Kingdom Wherefore believing
certain number of men and to bear Arms against all his Enemies From Bearne the King continuing his Visitations came to the City of Lyons in which the Hugonots had so great a party that in the last War it was one of the first that rebelled and the last that returned into obedience Wherefore considering the importance thereof the neighbourhood of Geneva and Germany with other conditions of the place it was resolved in the Council to build a Cittadel between the Rhofne and the Saone two great Rivers that run through the Town whereby to bridle the people and secure the City from the treachery of its neighbours The foundation of which Fortification being laid then in the presence of the King it was afterwards brought to perfection by the diligence of Monsieur de Losse newly put into that Government by the discharge of the Count de Saut who had rendred himself suspected by favouring the Hugonot party From Lyons the King being come to Valence in Dolphine he caused the City to be dismantled and built there a new Fortress that Town having ever been a great place of receipt for those that were in rebellion But being arrived at the Castle of Roussilion Filibert Emanuel Duke of Savoy came thither post to meet him with whom having treated of such things as concerned both States this Prince was sufficiently informed of the Kings intentions and of the way designed to free himself without noise or danger from the molestation of the Calvinists So that being fully perswaded and satisfied he promised such aids as could be sent from those parts From Roussilion the King went to Avignion immediately under the Jurisdiction of the Pope where Fahritio Serbelloni the Governour and the Bishop of Fermo Vice-Legate received him with very great solemnity and Lodovico Antinori one of the Popes trusty Ministers a Florentine being according to the Queens desire come thither they began to confer about businesses of common interests There the King and the Queen gave an Answer to the Popes Embassie which they would not trust to the Embassadors shewing that they were ready to extirpate Calvinism and to cause the Council to be observed in their Dominions but to avoid the Introductions of the English with the Incursions of the Lutherans of Germany and to effect their purpose without the danger or tumult of new Wars in which so many thousands of Souls perished and the Christian Countries were miserably destroyed they had deliberated to proceed warily with secret stratagems to remove the principal Heads and chief Supports of that party to reduce the Prince of Conde and the Brothers of Chastillon to a right understanding to fortifâe such Cities as were suspected re-establish the Kings Revenues gather Moneys and make many other provisions which could not be had but by the progress and benefit of time that they might be able afterward to work their ends with more security without those dangers and prejudices which a too precipitate haste would plunge them into with little hope of good success By the apparence of which reasons the Pope being perswaded who was by nature averse from cruel counsels and the effusion of Christian Blood in civil dissentions he consented that the publication of the Council should be deferred till such time as they had brought their designs to maturity It was now the beginning of the Year 1565. when the King continuing his Voyage through the Province of Languedock and celebrating the Carnival with youthful pastimes arrived at Bayonne situated in the Bay of Biscay and upon the confines of Spain just in that place where ancient Writers describe the Aquae Augusti The Queen of Spain being come to this place accompanied with the Duke of Alva and the Count de Beneventa whilst they made shew with triumphs turnaments and several kinds of pastimes to regard only their pleasures and feastings there was a secret conference held for a mutual intelligence between the two Crowns Wherefore their common interest being weighed and considered they agreed in this That it was expedient for one King to assist and aid the other in quieting their States and purging them from the diversity of Religions But they were not of the same opinion concerning the way that was to be taken with more expedition and security to arrive at this end for the Duke of Alva a man of a violent resolute nature said That to destroy those Innovations in Religion and Insurrections in the Commonwealth it was necessary to cut off the Heads of those Poppies to fish for the great Fish and not care to take Frogs by these conceptions he expressed himself for the winds being once allayed the billows of the common people would be easily quieted and calmed of themselves He added That a Prince could not do a thing more unworthy or prejudicial to himself than to permit a Liberty of Conscience to the people bringing as many varieties of Religion into a State as there are capritious fancies in the restless minds of men and opening a door to let in discord and confusion mortal accidents for the ruine of a State and shewed by many memorable examples that diversity of Religion never failed to put Subjects in Arms to raise grievous treacheries and sad rebellions against Superiours Whence he concluded at the last That as the Controversies of Religion had always served as argument and pretence for the Insurrections of Male-contents so it was necessary at the first dash to remove this cover and afterwards by severe remedies no matter whether by sword or fire to cut away the roots of that evil which by mildness and sufferance perniciously springing up still spread it self and increased On the other side the Queen fitting her deliberations to the customs and disposition of the French desired to avoid as much as was possible the imbruing of her hands in the Blood of the Princes of the Royal Family or the great Lords of the Kingdom and reserving this for the last resolution would first try all manner of means to reduce into obedience and the bosom of the Church the Heads of the Hugonots who being withdrawn from that party they should likewise take away though not by the same means the fuel that nourished the fire of civil dissentions She said that she well knew the inconveniences that were derived from a Liberty of Conscience and that it would have been indeed expedient to have provided against it by severity at the beginning when it was newly planted but not now that it had taken root and was grown up that the motives of Religion are so universal and efficacious that where they once take footing it is requisite to tolerate many things which without that necessity would not be indured and to make a long various navigation to that Port where they could not arrive by steering a direct course shewing withal that in the Government they were to do what they could not all that they would and in matters of Conscience it
France might not encourage his Subjects to rebel but at the same time declared That the King her Son intended not to violate the League with the Spaniards nor to resolve upon a War unless he were necessitated and provoked first by them Which uncertain kind of discourse rather increased the doubts than any way satisfied concerning the truth The Pope was not alone deceived with these dissimulations but the Prince of Conde of a disposition apt enough to receive any new impressions counselled the King to take this occasion to make War with the Spaniards offering to bring him a great number of men of the Hugonot Faction which served only to exasperate the King who could not be well pleased that any body should presume to have a greater credit or authority in his own Kingdom and with the Subjects thereof than himself and though the Queen perpetually desired him to dissemble his passâon and the other Catholick Lords did âhe same yet he could not forbear to express his displeasure with the Prince and to reprove him for what he had said though afterwards he excused himself to the Queen that he treated him so on purpose to take him off from the hopes of being Constable for which the Prince at length moving the King himself the Duke of Anjou being first throughly instructed by his Mother without expecting the Kings Answer replyed in a disdainful manner That his Majesty having promised to make him his Lieutenant-General he was not of such a temper to suffer that any body else should pretend to command the Army but himself which repulse displeasing the Prince he shortly after left the Court the same did the Admiral and Andelot with much greater reason of discontent for the Colonels Brissaâ and Strozzi having refused to obey the command of Andelot General of the French Infantry the Council through hate of him determined it contrary to custom in their favour Nevertheless the Queen continuing her wonted aâts endeavoured by many demonstrations of kindness still to entertain the Hugonot paâty with hopes often discoursing of her diffidence in Spain of the jealousies of the Duke of Alva of the troubles in Scotland where there were commotions of great consequence for which she seemed to take exceeding thought by reason of the reciprocal intelligence ever held ãâã that Crown and of the little correspondence with England for having refused upon the instance of that Queen to restore Callais with many more things of the like nature which all tended to lull the restless curiosity of the Hugonots But it is a hard matter to deceive those who are full of jealousies and careful to observe every little accident The Prince of Conde and the Admiral who knowing the guilt of their own Conscience put no trust in the flatteries of the Court calling to mind all the past occurrences and considering them throughly resolved not to be prevented but to gain the advantage of being first in Arms. Wherefore at the beginning of the Summer in the year 1567. six thousand Swisses arriving in the Isle of France under the conduct of Colonel Fifer a man of great esteem amongst his own Nation the Heads of the Hugonots being come to Valeri shewed their adherents certain secret advertisements which they said they had from a principal person at Court in which they were advised to stand upon their guard for the intention of those that governed was to seize upon the persons of the Prince and the Admiral with a resolution to keep the first in perpetual imprisonment and presently to put the other to death then making use of the Swisses and other Souldiers on a sudden to clap Garisons into those Cities which they thought inclined to the Reformed Religion and revoking the Act of Pacification to forbid the exercise thereof in all parts of the Kingdom At the beginning there were many different opinions amongst them for divers gave no credit to this advertisement others were diffident of their own strength and a great part abhorred the necessity of a War insomuch that they left Valeri with a resolution not to proceed any further till they were better assured of the truth of their intelligence but the Swisses being already come into the Isle of France who at first it was said should stay upon the Confines and the Cardinal de S. Croix from his Bishoprick of Arles arrived at Court who the Hugonots suspected came as Legate from the Pope to authorize with the Kings consent the observation of the Council of Trent the chief Leaders of the Faction re-assemble themselves at Chastillon where the Prince the Admiral and Andelot perswaded them without further delay to take Arms which opinion though with some difficulty at length prevailing they presently entered into a consultation what course they should take in the administration of the War Some thought it best to get possession of as many Towns and places as they could in all parts of the Kingdom to the end to separate and divide the Kings Forces Others by the example of the late War thought this advice both unprofitable and dangerous and perswaded having made themselves Masters of two or three strong places at a reasonable distance one from the other where the Forces of the Faction might assemble as soon as was possible to put it to a Battel seeing without some notable Victory they could never hope to bring their business to a prosperous end But the Admiral who with long premeditation had throughly weighed these opinions placing all his hope in expedition and prevention proposed a more desperate indeed but far more expedite way and advised that before they were thought of they should make an attempt on a suddain to seize upon the persons of the King and Queen-Mother who imagining they had with their arts brought the Hugonots into a stupid security or else believing they could not so soon or so easily bring their Forces together passed their time without any apprehensions for the present at Monceaux a House of the Queens and at some other places of pleasure in Brye where they might with much facility be surprised and carried away He made appear to them that by this suddain alteration they should gain that power that appearance of reason and those Forces which in the late War their adversaries had and through which the Victory at length inclined wholly to their side and concluded that though the King and the Queen for their security kept the Swisses in the same Province in a place not far from the Court yet if they came upon them on a suddain they would not have time to expect their aid so the King being taken they might presently set upon the Swisses who being divided in their quarters would be easily suppressed and they once defeated there remained in no part of the Kingdom a body of men together that could make resistance or hinder the progress of their Arms. This stratagem wonderfully pleased them all and without further dispute they appointed to
meet armed with as many Horse as they could get the 27 day of September and assigned Rosay a Town in the Province of Brye very near Monceaux where the Court remained for their general Rendezvous Many have reported and some who in several occasions were taken in Gascony by Monsieur de Monluâ and put to their trial confessed upon the torture that the chief scope of this enterprize was to murther the King and the Queen with all her other Children that the Crown might come to the Prince of Conde but so great a cruelty was not generally believed of all men Now whilst the Hugonots made their preparations in divers places and whilst their Confederates and Dependents assembled themselves together the enterprize was carried with marvellous secrecy but when they began to move from several parts to the place appointed the Queen though late and when it was even ready to be put in execution had advertisement thereof who never imagining that the Hugonots could so soon or with such secrecy unite themselves or make any insurrection that she should not have notice of it long before and thinking her self secure through the strength of her Swisses who lay so near was at this time surprized with danger when she least dreamt of any molestation having perhaps too much relied upon those dissimulations and arts which she used to appease the restless minds of the Hugonots yet not being at all daunted with the greatness of the danger believing her preservation depended wholly upon quickness as soon as ever she received the news she presently with her Son and some few near about them took Horse and leaving all their carriage and train behind went in great diligence to Meaux which was the nearest Town not having time to save themselves in any place that was stronger or better defended There they sent one Messenger after another for the Swisses who quartered in the same Province but a few Leagues off and the Mareshal de Momorancy was dispatched away to the Hugonots to demand of them in the KINGS Name the cause of their taking Arms. Momorancy as is said before in his heart favoured the Princes and the Admirals Factions but his natural averseness to action the respect he bore his Father his modesty of mind and the little satisfaction he received from the Prince of Conde made him nevertheless hold with the Catholick party and therefore he was thought a fit person to serve the Queens design which was to amuse the Hugonots Forces till the Swisses were come to Court And it fell out according to their desire for meeting the Prince and the Admiral upon the way whilst he informed himself of their reasons for this commotion whilst he disputed with them the unjustice of the open violence they intended to the Kings person and whilst they were consulting and debating with contrariety of opinions amongst themselves what answer the should return to the Queen the Swisses not losing any minute of the time but beginning presently to march with wonderful speed as if it had been to run a race arrived where the King was and the Hugonots lost the opportunity of effecting so great a design But the Swisses being already come and knowing the Hugonots would be there also within a few hours after the Kings Council entred into a debate whether it were better to stay in the Town and abide a Siege or else endeavour to make a retreat to Paris which was ten leagues off and hazard fighting with the Enemy upon the way The Constable believing for certain the Hugonots would set upon them in their march and thinking it very dangerous having no considerable company of Horse to fight in such an open champion Country perswaded all he could that it was not fit to expose the persons of the King and Queen to such an evident certain hazard The Duke of Nemours on the other side thought it not only dishonourable but much more dangerous likewise to expect a Siege in a little Town that had no Defence but an old broken Wall without any provision or method of War between which opinions they remained long in suspence and the Constables advice had at length prevailed if Colonel Fifer having desired to be admitted to the Kings presence whilst he was in Council had not with great effectual speeches humbly requested his Majesty not to suffer himself to be besieged in such a poor place by a company of insolent rebellious Subjects but that he would be pleased to commit himself and the Queen his Mother to the fidelity and courage of the Swisses who being six thousand strong would with the heads of their Pikes make a way for him through any Army whatsoever of his Enemies To this speech the Swisse Captains who staid at the Council-Chamber-Door adding their earnesâ desires the Queen standing up and with gracious speeches commending their fidelity and vertue gave order they should refresh themselves those few hours of the night that remained for in the morning she would freely commit to the protection of their valour the Majesty and welfare of the Crown of France At which resolution the Air redounding with the shouts of all those of that Nation they went to prepare themselves for the next day and the Lords of the Court were very diligent to put the Archers of the Kings Guard and their own servants in order Presently after midnight the Swisses with great chearfulness beating up their Drums went a mile out of the Town to put themselves in order and the King with the Court taking the shortest way just at day break was ready upon the place where the the Swisses having received him and the Queen with the Ambassadors of Foreign Princes and all the Ladies of the Court into the midst of their Battalion began to march with such a fierceness and bravery that in many years France had not seen so remarkable a spectacle They had not marched thus above two miles the Duke of Nemours with the Horse of the Kings Guard going before and the Constable with the Gentlemen of the Court following after the Battalion when they saw some Troops appear of the Hugonots Horse which advanced a good pace to charge them The Swisses closed their ranks and charging their Pikes shewed such an undaunted courage to receive the assault of the Enemy that the Prince of Conde and the Admiral being come up to the Rear with a party of six hundred Horse making caracols and wheeling about the field durst not charge their Battalion who standing in a very close order and fiercely shaking their Pikes shewed little fear of the fury of their Horse But the Count de la Roche-fou-cault with a Troop of three hundred Horse and Andelot with another of two hundred being joined with them they returned furiously to charge them again in the Rear At the same instant the Swisses with admirable nimbleness faced about to fight and the King with great ardour spurred on his Horse to the front of the Battail being
man of very great esteem and a faithful Instrument of the Queen-Mothers in whose place was substituted Nicholas de Neuf-ville Seigneur de Ville-ray his Son-in-law he who with great reputation of wisdom following the steps of his Predecessor continued in that place to an extream old age The same night after the Battel Andelot joined with the Hugonots at St. Denis who having passed the River with great difficulty by reason the Catholicks had sunk or carried away all the Boats could not come soon enough to the fight but by his counsel the next morning being the Eleventh of November judging as indeed it fell out that by reason they had lost their General the Catholicks would not appear again in the Field the Hugonots shewed themselves in a body without the Trenches ready again to give Battel maintaining with this bravado the reputation rather of Conquerors than otherwise They stood still in that manner a quarter of an hour and in their retreat carried off some of their dead bodies but having lost the greatest part of their Foot and most of the principal Gentlemen amongst them being either killed or grievously wounded they resolved not to stay any longer lest the Kings Army being provided again with a General should resent their former loss but having sent advice to their friends that were already advanced to succour them the fourteenth they began to march in great haste towards Champagne with an intent to pass that way into the Confines of Lorain The Prince and the Admiral at the beginning when the Swisses raised by the Kings Order entered the Kingdom sent Messieurs de Francfurt and Chastelliere into Germany and perswaded Prince Casimir Son to the Count Palatine of the Rhine to raise an Army in their favour to which purpose they had already furnished some small sum of money with a promise when he was arrived upon the Borders that they would give him 100000 Crowns of the Sum for the payment of his men which promise with the hope of booty and prey stirring up Prince Casimir and divers other Captains used to live in Armies and by the benefit of War they got together not long after they were in Arms seven thousand Horse and four thousand Foot and the Hugonots had advertisement that they were ready with these Forces to enter upon the Confines of Lorain For this reason they took a resolution to march that way that they might as soon as was possible join with the Germans and be inabled with this addition of Force to pursue the War with such counsels as the times and occasions would administer The Army kept very close together being all the way to pass through the Enemies Country nor did any one man disband from the principal divisions necessity having taught them discipline Andelot only with Harquebushiers scoured the Country on all sides cleared the passages discovered the situations of places and brought in provisions nevertheless they made all the haste they could to arrive upon the Confines though being straitned of victuals to nourish their men they were forced likewise to assault divers little weak Towns upon the way with the pillage and prey thereof to supply the wants of the Souldiers notwithstanding they proceeded with such celerity and address that they lost not much time nor suffered any of their men to disband or straggle from their company In this manner without using their Cannon they scaled and took Bre-Conte-Robert Nogent upon the Seine and Pont-gone populous great Bourgs in which and in the Villages about they found such store of Horses that having mounted all their Foot they marched with less difficulty and more expedition In the mean while the Queen being by the death of Momorancy freed from the power and reputation of the great ones and left sole Moderatrix and Arbitress of the Catholick party not meaning by the Election of a Constable or General of the Army again to subject her self to the danger of being over-awed but desiring to preserve an absolute Authority in her self and her Son perswaded him with many arguments to confer the command of the Army upon his Brother Henry Duke of Anjou a Youth of singular wit and wonderful expectation but scarce sixteen years of age and so much the rather because the Council thought it not honourable for the King to go himself in person to command the Army or to take Arms against his Subjects because it would give them too great a reputation Wherefore in this manner hindering all emulations or pretentions of the great ones and not advancing any body to so supream a power Henry was in the Kings Council declared Lieutenant-General of the Army but because he was so young there were appointed for his assistance Francis Siegneur de Carnavalet under whose discipline he was brought up from the beginning and Arthur de Cosse Mareshal de Gonor a man for the opinion was had of his wisdom and courage ever held in great esteem Besides these there were in the Army the Dukes of Monpensier Nemours and Longeville Sebastian de Luxembourg Signeur de Martiguies made Colonel General of the French Infantry Iasper Viscount of Tavanes Timoleon Count of Brissac and Armand de Byron then Master or as they call it Mareshal of the Field who for his valiant exploits will be often mentioned by us in the ensuing story Neither the Mareshal de Momorancy nor d' Anville followed the Camp for the Duke of Monpensier being appointed as Prince of the Blood to lead the Van they pretended that Dignity belonged to Momorancy as first Mareshal of France who after the General is to have the chief place in the Army But the King not being willing to recal what was already done as well not to disoblige the Duke as because he was not confident of Momorancy and thought it dangerous to commit that part of the Army which was first to front the Enemy to his trust the two Brothers in discontent chose rather to remain near the Kings person than to prejudice their right The Duke of Aumale likewise left the Army having the same pretentions with the Mareshals as he was the antientest Captain in France yet he did not declare himself because he would not break with the Duke of Monpensier but under pretence of going to assist with his advice the young Duke of Guise his Nephew in whose Government when the Germans who were expected came the chief weight of the business would fall went with the King and Queens approbation to imploy himself where there was most need of his assistance In this conjuncture arrived the Count of Aremberg sent out of Flanders by the Duke of Alva according to the former agreement at Bayonne with one thousand two hundred Lances and three hundred Harquebushiers a supply very considerable in it self but wrought a far greater effect through the Union that was seen to the same end between those two Crowns With these Commanders with eighteen pieces of Cannon and the whole Army the Duke of
the kindred was also gone from Court as likewise the Prince of Daulphine his Son But about that time the Kings designs which with so much care and diligence had been kept secret were like unexpectedly to have been discovered The Duke of Anjou did much favour and was very familiar with Monsieur de Ligneroles a young Gentleman of very acute wit and high spirit who often discoursing intimately with the Duke of the present state of affairs induced him at last to impart the Kings most secret designs to him partly because he was most confident of his fidelity partly to hear his opinion upon so important a business and to receive his advice and counsel in that as he was wont in many other things Ligneroles by means of his favour being grown into such esteem that the Queen-Mother the Duke of Guise and even the King himself made great account of his wit and courage He being one day in the Chamber with the King who much displeased at the high insolent demands of some of the Hugonot Lords after he had dismissed them with shew of favour letting loose his anger and laying aside dissimulation shewed some tokens of being extreamly offended either moved with ambition to appear not ignorant of the nearest secrets or with the lightness incident to youth which often over-shoots discretion told the King in his ear that his Majesty ought to quiet his mind with patience and laugh at their insolence and temerity for within a few days by that meeting which was almost ripe he would have brought them all into the net and punished them at his own pleasure with which words the Kings mind being struck in the most tender sensible part he made shew not to understand his meaning and retired into his private lodgings where full of anger grief and trouble he sent to call the Count de Retz thinking that he who was likewise familiar with Ligneroles had revealed this secret to him and with sharp injurious words reproached him with the honours and benefits he had conferred upon him threatning to take vengeance on that perfidiousness wherewith forgetful of so great favours he had betrayed him and discovered his most secret intentions but the Count constantly denying it and offering to be shut up in prison till the truth were known he called the Queen-Mother and complained grievously to her that she had made known those thoughts which he with such patience and constraint of his own mind forcing his nature had so long dissembled to which words the Queen smiling answered That she needed not to learn the art of secresie from him and that he should look whether by his own impatience he had not discovered something of that which he thought to be revealed by others the King as he was exceeding cholerick fretting and storming very impatiently sent at last for the Duke of Anjou who without further urging confessed freely that he had imparted the business to Ligneroles but withal assured them they needed not fear that he would ever open his lips to discover so weighty a secret No more he shall not answered the King for I will take order that he shall be dispatched before he have time to publish it The Duke of Anjou either not daring to oppose that so sudden resolute determination or else angry at the lightness of Ligneroles and for fear of the worst not caring to divert it the King sent to call George de Villequier Viscount of Guerchy who as Masters are seldom ignorant how their Servants stand affected he knew bear a secret emulous hatred to Ligneroles and commanded him by all means to endeavour the taking away of his life that very day with which resolution the King presently taking horse with the Duke of Anjou as he often used to do without staying for any attendants went to hunt in the fields and woods not far off which the Courtiers no sooner heard but as fast as their horses could be brought they followed severally stragling after the cry of the Hounds and Ligneroles by their example instantly did the same but the Viscount de la Guerchy and Count Charles of Mansfield who was privy to his purpose mounted upon fiery unquiet horses hunted in the same company with Ligneroles and drew near under colour of talking and discoursing with him which while he endeavoured to avoid not being able to keep his horse in order among theirs that was so quarrelsom and unruly and while they persisted still following him as it were in sport they presently came to high language and then to challenges whereupon the Viscount suddenly drawing his sword and Count Charles at the same instant they fell so furiously upon him that before he could be rescued by those that came to help him they left him dead upon the place which being come to the Kings knowledge with great shew of anger and trouble he caused them both to be taken and imprisoned in the Palace from whence in process of time by the intercession of Monsieur d' Angoulesme the Kings Bastard-brother and by particular grace and favour they were after set at liberty This business being passed over which for a while had troubled the whole Court the next was to overcome the obstinacy of the Lady Marguerite who more fix'd than ever to her former thoughts denyed now absolutely to marry at all since she was forbidden to take the Duke of Guise to which the Popes continued denyal of a dispensation being added the conclusion of that marriage remained still uncertain The Queen-Mother by the means of the Bishop of Salviati the Popes Nuncio to whom she was near allied endeavoured to perswade them at Rome that the effecting of that match would conclude to the good of the Catholick Religion for to draw the Prince of Navarre into so near a relation and confidence with the King would be an occasion that not only he being young and easie to be won to better opinions would come into the bosom of the Church but also infinite others part moved by his example and part out of fear to lose so considerable a prop as the first Prince of the Blood would do the like that they often had tryed in vain to overcome the Hugonots with sharpness and violence therefore it was now fit to try some gentle remedies But when they saw the Popes mind could not be changed by perswasions they began to try if they could alter it by neglect the King and the Queen saying openly That being necessitated to make a match with one of another Religion they would do it howsoever without caring for any dispensation nor would they suffer the peace and quietness of their Kingdom to be disturbed and by the Popes obstinacy involved in the former wars dangers and inconveniencies Which things confirming the assurance and boldness of the Hugonots the Admiral in the end perswaded by Count Lodowick of Nassau and the counsels of Teligny his Son-in-law and of Cavagnes a man great in his esteem but much
sudden expedition of the Germans and to relate to him the state of their affairs and their common resolutions At this very time the Hugonots using all possible means to help themselves printed an infinite number of little Pamphlets under divers Titles but all with biting stings and fabulous Narrations against the Actions and Government of the Queen Regent to whom many of them being brought and the Council purposing to decree severe punishments against the Authors and Printers of those defamatory Pamphlets and seditious Libels she opposed that opinion alledging that to prohibite them was a certain means to make them authentick and that there was no greater proof nor trial of the good than when they were hated and abused by malicious people and persevering in her resolution not to regard outward appearances she dissembled all those injuries with admirable patience but when she saw the preparations for the coming of the Germans being most resolute to oppose them with force if policy were not sufficient she went from Paris accompanied with the Duke of Alancon and the King of Navarre who not yet set at liberty followed her but without constraint and being come into Burgongne she her self mustered the Swisses and Germans confirming the affections of the Commanders with liberal gifts and many favours and then marching with them towards the Provinces that were up in Arms which were the same where the Kings coming was expected and through which the Army of the Protestants intended to enter the Kingdom she resolved to stay in Lions as a convenient place to move which way soever need required In the mean time the King having had notice of the death of Charles brought to him by Monsieur de Chemeraut within thirteen days though the Nobility of the Kingdom of Poland infinitely satisfied with his valour and comportment did use all possible means to stay him there yet he not willing to forego his hereditary right to France for the elective Kingdom of Poland there being so great a difference between them and sollicited by those urgent affairs which called him away to remedy such violent dangers departed secretly by night with a small retinue and passing through Austria with all possible speed went forward toward his own Kingdom by the way of Italy He was continually hastened by Letters and Messages from the Queen Regent who with much ado smothering the sparks of that fire which was ready to break into a flame infinitely desired her Sons presence that she might without further delay apply such remedies as were proper for the malignity of the disease wherefore the King suspending no longer time than just what necessity required in the entertainments of the Princes of Italy and particularly in the delights of Venice where he was received with wonderful pomp and honour about the end of August arrived at Thurin where it was expected he would begin to prepare and lay the ground-work of his designs The Mareshal d' Anville upon security of the Duke of Savoy's word came thither to him as also Philippe Huraut Viscount of Chiverny his old Chancellor Gaspar Count of Schombergh Bernard de Fizes and Nicholas de Neuville Sieur de Villeroy both Secretaries of State who all were sent from the Queen Regent to give him an account of the affairs of his Kingdom But the King having heard their relation with the secret designs of his Mother and on the other side the pretences and excuses of the Mareshal though not only Roger Sieur de Bellegarde and Guy de Pibrac his favoured Counsellors but also the Duke of Savoy and the Lady Margaret laboured all they could to bring him to some determination that might be favourable to d' Anville yet nourishing high thoughts in the depth of his mind and making his excuse that he would resolve nothing without the assistance and approbation of his Mother to whose vigilance and prudence he was so much obliged he dismissed d' Anville with ambiguous answers and hastned his journey so much the more lest he should be put upon a necessity of referring that to the determinations of others which he purposed to reserve to the execution of his own premeditated designs for the better compassing whereof seeing he had so many businesses to settle in his own Kingdom that for many decads of years it would be in vain to think of any enterprise on that side of the Mountains and desiring absolutely to gain the Duke of Savoy and the Lady Margaret that he might make use of them afterward in the effecting of his purposes he resolved to restore unto them Pignerol Savillan and la Vallee de Perouse which for security of the intentions of those Princes had been held by the Kings his Predecessors thinking it superfluous to keep places with a vast expence out of his own Kingdom which were of no other use but in consideration of those hopes which as affairs then stood were very far off and unlikely Yet many condemned that his precipitate restitution of them and Lodovico Gonzaga Duke of Nevers Governour of those places and a man of equal wisdom and loyalty after having used all possible endeavours that they might not be restored laid open his opinion finally in writing which he desired might be kept for his discharge among the Records and Charters of the Crown whereat the King was offended though he wisely dissembled it thinking them vain and ambitious who would seem to know more of his own secrets than he himself The fifth day of September he came into the confines of his own Kingdom at Pont-Beau-voysin where the Duke of Alancon and the King of Navarre expected him who having till then though with much gentleness been kept as prisoners were with demonstrations of much honour and affection fully set at liberty by him at the first meeting and to give the greater testimony of his good will toward them he placed himself in the midst between them both to receive his subjects which were come thither to the confines to shew their dutiful respects unto him The next day he met the Queen his Mother who was purposely come to a little Castle near Lyons and being entered together into the City they began without further delay to treat of businesses concerning the Peace or War which they were to make with their armed subjects The King knew very well not only the wavering troublesom estate of his Kingdom but also the miserable condition to which he himself at that time was reduced for the whole Kingdom being divided into two different factions the one of the Catholicks the other of the Hugonots both which had their chief heads appointed and established long before hand and through the long reiterated distractions not only the Cities and Provinces but also all particular persons divided between them he found that he was left as we use to say dry between two Rivers and that his power being shared and dismembred between those two great parties he retaining nothing but the name of a King was
set down the causes why the Duke of Guise and his adherents endeavour to renew the Catholick League which before was almost laid aside The Reasons they alledge for themselves The quality of those persons that consented to and concurred with the League The design of drawing in the Cardinal of Bourbon and his resolution to embrace it Philip King of Spain takes the protection of it The Conditions agreed to with his Agents at Jain-ville The Popes doubtfulness in ratifying and approving the League and his determination to delay the time The King of France consults what is to be done for the opposing of that Vnion and the opinions differ He sends the Duke of Espernon to confer with the King of Navarre to perswade him to embrace the Catholick Faith and return to Court The King of Navarre at that Proposition resolves to stand firm to his Party The League takes occasion by that Treaty and makes grievous complaints They of the Low-Countries alienated from the King of Spain offer to put themselves under the Crown of France The King is uncertain what to do in it but at last remits them to another time King Philip entring into suspition of that business sollicites the Duke of Guise and the League to take up Arms To that end Forces are raised both within and without the Kingdom The King tries to oppose them but finds himself too weak The Cardinal of Bourbon leaves the Court retires to Peronne and with the other Confederates publishes a Declaration They draw an Army together in Champagne seize upon Thoul and Verdun The City of Marseilles riseth in favour of the League but the Conspirators are suppressed by the rest of the Citizens the same happens at Bourdeaux Lyons Bourges and many other places in the Kingdom side with the League The King answers the Declaration of the League he endeavours to disunite it by drawing many particular men from that Party as also the City of Lyons but seeing his design succeedeth not to his mind he resolves to treat an Agreement with the Confederates The Queen-Mother goes into Champagne to confer about it with the Duke of Guise and Cardinal of Bourbon After many Negotiations the Peace is concluded The King of Navarre publisheth a Declaration against the League and challengeth the Duke of Guise to a Duel He passeth it over and makes the Declaration be answered by others The Duke of Bouillon and Monsieur de Chastillon go into Germany to stir up the Protestant Princes in favour of the Hugonots The King consults of the manner of effecting what he had promised in the Agreement with the League The opinions differ and there ariseth great discord about it among his Councellors He resolves to make War against the Hugonots and coming to the Parliament forbids all other except the Roman Catholick Religion He sends for the Heads of the Clergy and the Magistrates of the City of Paris and with words full of resentment demands money of them for the War He prepares divers Armies against the Hugonots Pope Gregory the Thirteenth dies Sixtus Quintus succeeds him who at the instigation of the League declares the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde to be Excommunicate and incapable to succeed in the Crown This Excommunication is diversly spoken of in France Many write against it and many in favour of it FRom the ashes of the Duke of Alancon the half-extinguisht sparks of the League began again to be kindled and burn afresh for the King by his policy in the Assembly at Blois and after by the delight and benefit every one received in Peace and by keeping down the Heads of the Hugonots and holding them at a distance having taken away the opportunities and specious pretences of the Lords of Guise it was of it self grown old and in very great part decayed and dissolved And though those Lords being stung to the quick by the excessive greatness of the Kings Minions and continually stirred up by the jealousie of his proceedings had failed of no occasion that might conveniently blemish his actions and bring themselves into reputation yet matters had till then been rather in unsetled debates than certainly concluded and had consisted more in words than in actions But now by reason of the Duke of Alancons death and that the King after having been ten years married had no probable hope of issue affairs began to be very much altered For as the King of Navarre's being first Prince of the Blood and so nearest the Succession of the Crown did spur forward the readiness of the Guises his old corrivals and natural enemies so likewise it afforded them a fair occasion to renew the League that they might take a course betimes to hinder the Kingdom from falling into the hands of the Hugonot Prince to the universal ruine of the Catholicks and the total overthrow of Religion Wherefore the disgusts they received at Court and the suspicion which for many years they had conceived concurring to sollicite them and this emergent occasion offering a fit opportunity they began again not only to repair the old structure but also to contrive and build up new designs The disasters which the Lords of Guise received at Court were many For besides seeing themselves excluded from the Kings favour and from the administration of State-affairs wherein they were wont to hold the first place and whereof they now did not at all participate as likewise being so little able to do any thing for their dependents and adherents because the King reserved unto himself alone the disposing of all Gifts and Honours they were also highly offended at the greatness of these new men who not favoured by the lustre of ancient Families nor raised by the merits of their own actions but only by the liberality of their Prince were advanced so high that with a sudden splendour they eclipsed all those Honours which they with infinite pains and dangers had attained to in the course of so many years And though the Duke of Ioyeuse by his Marriage with the Queens Sister was allied unto the House of Lorain and seemed in many things to be interessed with them yet they disdained to lie under the shadow of anothers protection where they were wont to see an infinite number of persons shelter themselves under the favourable wing of their Power and Authority To this was added that the Duke of Espernon either through his own natural instinct or the hopes of raising himself upon the ruines of the Great Ones or through the friendship which he had held from his youth with the King of Navarre who was most averse from any familiarly with them seemed to despise and undervalue the merits and power of so great a family and failed not upon all occasions to sting and persecute them on the other side obstinately favouring and in all opportunities maintaining and assisting the Princes of Bourbon Whereupon it was commonly believed that he to abase the credit and lessen the reputation of the
Duke of Guise had perswaded the King to determine a matter never clearly decided by his Predecessors That in the Ceremonies of the Kings Coronation and other occurrences the Peers should not have precedency according to their Age and Seniority but that those Peers which were Princes of the Blood should absolutely take place of all the rest by Prerogative of the Royal Family which much incensed the Princes of Lorain But it toucht them a great deal more nearly to see that the King was wholly intent to deprive them of their Offices and Governments to bestow and heap them upon his Minions For Charles Duke of Mayenne having been first declared Admiral a place held by his Father-in-law the Marquess de Villars after the death of the Admiral Chastillon was after forced by the Kings violent perswasions to take eighty thousand Crowns in recompence and to resign his Office which presently was setled upon the Duke of Ioyeuse And because the Duke of Espernon complained that his place was not so eminent the King desirous to satisfie him or at least feigning to be so for the compassing of his designs had often moved the Duke of Guise to give up his Office of Grand Maistre and when he saw that being displeased with the overture he resolved not to part with it by little and little he took away all the Authority and Priviledges which were wont to belong unto that Office leaving him only the empty name and in stead of it conferred upon the Duke of Espernon the charge of Colonel General of the Infantry which having been formerly promised to Timoleon de Cosse for his exceeding great deserts and he being by death prevented the enjoyment seemed in reason most due to his Son Charles Count of Brissac who was a fast friend to the Lords of Guise as his Father and Grandfather had been before him The Duke of Aumale complained likewise that he being elected to the Government of Picardy for which he had been in competition with the Prince of Conde to keep him as it were in an uncertainty of the possession the entry of many chief places was denied him among which Bologne Calais and la Fere kept by persons depending upon the King in the name of the Duke d' Espernon And finally all that bore the character of dependents of the House of Guise were either by money or other means devested of their Offices and Governments or at least deprived of the Authority and execution of them which by oblique ways were reserved for and transferred upon the Kings favourites and confidents These were then all or part of the discontents that troubled the Lords of Guise wherein being well versed in affairs of State and mindful of what had happened five and twenty years before they admired the revolutions of this world and the effects of Divine Justice seeing themselves handled in the same manner by the Dukes of Ioyeuse and Espernon as they governing in the Reign of Henry the Second had used the Houses of Momorancy and Bourbon concluding that though God for the most part reserves his punishment and vengeance till the everlasting pains of the world to come yet is he sometimes pleased by those glances of his power to shew us a glimpse of that Justice wherewith he governs the course of mortal things But besides the disgusts which these Princes pretended to receive they were much more sharply pricked with the sting of that jealousie which by many conjectures and by things daily put in practice they had conceived for seeing that the King balanced the Forces very carefully with those of the Hugonot Lords and that he would not suppress that party which as they believed he easily might have done that under several pretences he devested all the dependents of both Factions of their Places and Honours to bestow them upon such as should acknowledge them meerly from himself and that where other pretences failed he bought those Offices which they possessed with great sums of money to ingross them all into his own disposing that he admitted no intercession for any body thereby to take away the bait that drew so many followers and dependents to the Princes of both parties that he spent great store of money to bring those things about and also gathered great store together in Mets Bologne and Angoulesme though in the name of the Duke d' Espernon they judged that all these things tended to their ruine and destruction Nor could it satisfie them to see the King taken up with religious thoughts and addicted to a quiet unactive life for they knowing his nature wherewith they had been conversant from his very childhood interpreted that course of life to subtil deep dissimulation Wherefore the Duke of Guise a man of a wonderful quick insight discerning judgment and high thoughts laying all these things together determined with himself to prevent and not stay to be prevented in which resolution he was boldly seconded by his Brother Louys the Cardinal a man of a high spirit and an understanding no less ingenious than his as also by Henry of Savoy Duke of Nemours and Charles Marquess of San-Sorlin both Sons of Anna d' Este and therefore his Brothers by the Mother Charles of Lorain Duke of Aumale and Claude his Brother a Knight of Ierusalem Charles of Lorain Duke d' Elbeuf Emanuel Duke de Mercure and his Brothers who though allied unto the King yet in respect of the common Family were nearly united unto him both in opinion and interests Only Charles Duke of Mayenne concurred more slowly than the rest who with more setled thoughts considering the course of worldly affairs thought it as difficult and dangerous for the League to pull down the King protected by the Majesty of a Royal Name and the natural obligations of his Subjects as he believed it impossible for the King himself to destroy and ruine their Family protected by the favour of the Catholicks and by the merit and innocence of their persons Wherefore thinking it superfluous to put themselves into that fear and for that cause to hazard their safety by rash uncertain resolutions he counselled them to proceed with more patience and more respect toward the lawful Possessor of the Crown But the Duke of Guise resolute in his thoughts and by the authority of his Person the vivacity of his Courage the eloquence of his Language and the excellency of his Wit able to perswade and draw all the rest to his opinion excluding his Brothers advice had setled all his thoughts upon the machinations of the League for the enlargement and establishment whereof dissembling his discontents no less than his jealousies and private interests he made shew of stirring only for the respects of Religion and the general good making an ill interpretation of all the Kings actions and with many arts and circumstances aggravating that danger which he pretended hung over the Catholick Religion in that Kingdom He grounded his fears upon the death of the Duke
boldness of the Guises and of so many others their Abettors and Followers he could not bring his mind to increase their Authority and augment their Power again and on the other side to deprive himself of the use of those he had bred up for his purpose and of the assistance of his greatest Confidents with evident danger to be exposed to their discretion since they might easily find out other occasions to prosecute the course of their designs already begun Wherefore after some uncertainty he leaned to the opinion of the Duke d' Espernon the Mareshal de Retz and the Abbot del Bene who being a Florentine by extraction and Son to the Nurse of Charles the Ninth was by the quickness of his wit risen to very great trust and favour resolved in appearance to satisfie the Capitulations made with the League but cunningly to interrupt and hinder the execution of them for though he had formerly endeavoured to suppress the Hugonots nor could their preservation please him yet now he would not seem to make War against them at the request of others and constrained by his own Vassals nor suffer the honour and glory thereof to redound wholly to the Lords of Guise This Counsel had not only an unfortunate event as for the most part those actions use to have which go in the new deceitful paths of subtil inventions out of the beaten road but it had also a difficult and unlucky beginning for from it there presently arose a difference and distrust even amongst the Kings Counsellours themselves the Duke of Espernon jealous of his Masters favours and desirous to hold fast his own greatness beginning to hate and persecute Monsieur de Villeroy by whom he had his first beginnings and instructions in the Court and with whom he had till then lived in very great friendship taxing him to have been corrupted with money and promises by the Duke of Guise and that he held secret intelligence with him and therefore was author of that advice which perswaded the King to extirpate the Hugonots to reduce matters of Government to their ancient form and to re-unite himself sincerely with the Catholicks of the League which signified nothing else but the abasing of the Greatness and Authority of the Favourites And that distaste indeed took birth from the time that the Duke had hindred the marriage of Alincourt Villeroy's Son to Madamoiselle de Maure a very rich Heir of that Family to match her with a Kinsman of his own called Monsieur de Bellegarde Son to Monsieur de Termes for which cause Alincourt being offended sided with the Duke de Ioyeuse and by him was made Cornet of his Company of Gens d' Arms and afterwards that discontent was continued in the Duke of Espernon by having seen the King approve of the demolishing of the Citadel at Lions at the perswasions of Villeroy as he said though indeed it was to draw the Sieur de Mandelot to his Party Yet these reciprocal distastes had been but secret and some hope there was they might wear away till upon occasion of this advice they began to discover themselves and it passed so far that the Duke of Espernon not only began to hate the High Chancellour Chyverny and the Sieur de Ville-quier the Kings old Favourites and well-deserving Servants but he began also to sow suspicions of the Queen-Mother as though by ancient inclination she were affectionate to the Lords of the House of Guise and sought by fomenting the Commotions of Civil War to keep the liberty of her Son in a perpetual Wardship that being forced by such streights and diâficulties he might make use of her for the Government and maintenance of his Kingdom These jealousies and that discord breaking forth in that conjuncture which required union and concord in process of time made the King lose a great part of his best and wisest Servants and necessitated a great many others to incline to favour the Duke of Guise by reason of their hatred to Espernon and their desire to see him abased and which imported most of all they were the cause that the King gave not so much credit as he was wont to the Counsels of his Mother and that made her often to hold her peace and often to comply against her own opinion lest she should alienate her Son utterly from her But the King spinning on the thred of his design appeared solemnly on the nineteenth of Iuly in the Parliament and caused a decree to be published wherein revoking all other Edicts made at several times in favour of the Hugonots he prohibited any other Religion except the Roman Catholick in all Towns and places of his Kingdom he banished all the Preachers and Ministers of the pretended reformed Religion out of his confines within a moneth after the publication and commanded that all his Vassals should within the term of six moneths conform themselves to live according to the Rites of the holy Church and to make publick profession of the Catholick Faith or if they would not do so they should depart the Kingdom and be effectually gone out of his Confines within the said term which six moneths being expired the Hugonots should be proceeded against with capital punishments and confiscation of their Estates as Hereticks and Enemies of the publick Peace and those of the aforesaid Religion should be declared incapable to attain to or hold any Degree Office or Dignity in the Kingdom that all Chambres mi-parties and tri-parties should be taken away which had been established by the Edicts of Peace in their favour and that they should restore all places granted to them for their security and give them up without dispute or delay into the Kings obedience that all Princes Peers Officers of the Crown Parliaments Governors and other Ministers should be obliged to swear to the performance of this Decree which should be irrevocable and perpetually to be observed At the Kings coming out from the Parliament he was received by the People with joyful cries to shew their satisfaction and contentment at the Edict which had been published but he with a troubled countenance seemed to take small delight in those Acclamations which were made to flatter him out of season and it was observed by many that contrary to his ordinary affability he neither daigned to return any salutation to the Provost des Merchands nor to the other Heads and Officers of the People of Paris which he doing to shew he cared little for their volubility and inconstancy and because he would do nothing to comply with others gave matter to the Guisards to exclaim that inwardly he favoured the Hugonots and that by meer force he was drawn against his own Genius by the zeal and industry of the Lords of the House of Lorrain to denounce War against them The King of Navarre the Prince of Conde and the Marescal d' Anville being met together at St. Paul answered the King's Edict with a new protestation
fighting nor would at all yield to the violence of his Enemies notwithstanding the tenderness of his own Forces In this condition were the affairs of War when the Mareschal de Byron arrived in Xaintonge with another Army who desiring to do some exploit not so much to damnifie the Hugonots as out of an emulation to the Duke of Mayenne resolved to lay siege to Maran a place very convenient to block up Rochel by Land and to cut off the Traffick and Commerce of the Inhabitants with the Isles and Cities adjacent for which the Rochellers and all the Hugonot party were very much perplexed wherefore the King of Navarre seeing the Forces of the Duke of Mayenne's Army weakned and the sharpness of their first fury abated left the Viscount of Turenne in Guienne to follow the War in the same manner as he had done and went suddenly with three hundred Horse to Rochel doubting that the Princes too much boldness might run into some great errour in those parts for being a prudent Judge of his own strength he resolved with himself and had given absolute Order to his Commanders that managing their affairs with wisdom and celerity and possessing themselves always of secure advantageous places they should spin the War out in length and not give their Enemies any new occasion of prosperity which not suting well with the Princes nature who since the death of Monsieur de Rohan remained sole Head in Xaintonge the King of Navarre intended by his presence to establish that resolution and to order the Government and managery of the War himself But being come to Rochel and finding the Citizens there in great confusion by reason of the Mareschal de Byron's design of besieging Maran he stayed no longer than while he was informed of the present state of things but knowing his arrival to be very opportune because the Rochellers durst not lessen their Garison to strengthen that of Maran he went personally thither and the same day having considered the situation of it on every side he began without delay to make Trenches and to raise Redoubts and Batteries for the defence of it and that with so much diligence that assisting in the work unweariedly his own self not in the space of many days but hours he brought it to perfection Maran is a great Town and of great importance seated by the Ocean Sea in a low fenny place as it were in a Peninsula and so encompassed on every side with Moorish watry grounds that there is no access to the works thereof but by very few and those narrow passages These the King of Navarre made to be shut up with Trenches raising a Fort at the end of every Avenue which full of small Artillery and defended by a competent number of Musketiers might hinder the Enemies approaches having in the rest of the Fenn that was not very deep caused many planks to be sunk which stuck full of great nails and other instruments proper to do mischief might do harm to those that should have the boldness to enter and pass over to the Dry Land On the other side the Mareschal de Byron having drawn his Forces together and made a review of them at Niort about the midst of Iune marched towards Maran where having by their Sallies proved the courage of the Defenders who trusting to the advantage of their Situation issued out boldly to skirmish and fell so hotly upon his first Squadrons that he himself was ingaged in the action whence he came off lightly wounded in the left hand he took a resolution to proceed warily in the business and raising certain Forts against those of the Defendents as the quality of the ground required all his hopes of gaining that place were reduced only to the length of the Siege In the mean time the Court was busied in setting forth new Armies and making new warlike preparations for the King not willing to suffer that the increase of strength reputation and adherents should redound unto the Lords of the House of Lorain and the followers of the League was resolved to put other Armies into the hands of his trusty Favourites and to keep up their reputation with new Expeditions and new Governments of Provinces which he knew would succeed to his own greatness and advantage against the power of the Lords of Guise By this advice he obtained also another end which was to tire out the Catholick party by the maintenance of so many several Armies and bring them all again to intercede for Peace which was so necessary for the effecting of his designs Wherefore besides a million and two hundred thousand Crowns which he had gotten by Tenths from the Clergy he urged at Rome for licence to alienate one hundred thousand Crowns per annum of Church Revenues and the people oppressed in so many places and almost in every Province by the insolence of Souldiers though they were far from the places possessed by the Hugonots felt nevertheless the calamities and miseries of War Two several Armies were making ready one under the Duke of Ioyeuse to go into Auvergne and thence into Languedoc to recover places which the Hugonots held in those parts the other under the Duke of Espernon to go into Provence and take possession of that Country which the King since the death of the Grand Prior had conferred upon him The preparations of these Armies to the disadvantage and open displeasure of the Guises kept all the Nobility and Martial men of the Kingdom in imployment for every one desiring to gain the favour and protection of the Kings Minions who in the disposing of gifts and honours carried all things at their own pleasure ran all voluntarily to to their Colours and with great trains and costly preparations of Warlike Ornaments endeavoured to win the affections some of the one some of the other of these Lords who through the Kings secret instigations were intent to draw all men by their liberality and ostentation of rewards to follow the course of their fortunes so that not only such as were Neuters came from all parts to serve them but also such as had been resolved to follow the Duke of Mayenne and the other Heads in the War of Guienne leaving their first intentions determined to follow the fortune of those that had most power To this was added that the King to moderate by his presence and with his own counsels the Wars managed by his Favourites and to augment their reputation was resolved to go to Lyons both Armies being to march the same way so that by the moving of his own person he drew after him great numbers of men of eminent quality and the expences were still encreased without end Whereby with new Impositions with erecting new Magistrates with inventions of new Taxes and with the disposing of new Offices the people was every where wonderfully burthened and oppressed the King being still constant to his own opinion that by how much the greater were the miseries
alighted at the Palace of the Queen-Mother who half astonished at his unexpected arrival for Monsieur de Bellieure being returned three hours before had made a doubt of his coming received him with a pale countenance and contrary to the ordinary custom of her nature trembling and almost dismayed The Dukes carriage was full of respective humility and profound submission the words of the Queen ambiguous telling him that she was glad to see him but would have been much more glad to have seen him at another time to which he answered with modest behaviour but high words that he was a faithful Servant to the King and that having understood the calumnies that were cast upon his innocence and the things that were in agitation against Religion and against the honest well-affected men of that City he was come thither to divert that mischief and clear himself or else to lay down his life at the service of the Church and the general safety Their discourse being interrupted while he as the custom is saluted the other Ladies of the Court the Queen called Luigi Davila her Gentleman-Usher and commanded him to let the King know the Duke of Guise was come and that within a little while she would bring him personally to the Louvre The King who was in his private Closet with Monsieur de Villequier Bellieure and the Abbot del Bene was so wonderfully moved that he was fain to rest himself upon his arm hanging his head down almost to the table and having examined Davila of every particular commanded him to desire the Queen secretly to defer his coming as long as possibly she could The Abbot del Bene and Colonel Alfonso Corso a most trusty Servant of the Kings and one that had deserved wonderfully well of the Crown coming at that instant into the Closet counselled him to receive the Duke of Guise in the same Closet and cause him to be killed in that very place the Abbot saying these words Percutiam Pastgrem dispergentur oves But Villequier Bellieure and the High Chancellour who came in were of another opinion alledging that the commotion of the people was so great that in such a case contemning the Royal Majesty and breaking all bounds of Law and Duty they would run to a precipitate revenge and that things not being yet ready to defend themselves and bridle the fury of the City the Forces of the Parisians were too powerful to be provoked Whilst the King stood doubtful what to resolve the Queen-Mother came and brought the Duke of Guise she was brought her self in a Sedan the Duke going by her all the way on foot but with so great a train and such a confluence of people that the whole City seemed to be crowded into the Court of the Louvre and the Streets thereabouts They passed thorow a Lane of Souldiers Monsieur de Grillon Colonel of the Guards was there present who being a free Souldierly Man and no very good Friend to the Duke of Guise whilst he bowed courteously to every private Souldier made very small shew of respect unto the Duke who observed it very well with some alteration of countenance which increased to a great paleness when he saw the Swisses who standing to their Arms made a Lane at the bottom of the Stairs the Archers in the Hall and in the Rooms above all the Gentlemen gathered together to expect him They entered into the Kings Chamber who while the Duke of Guise bowed himself with a low reverence said to him with an angry look I sent you word that you should not come To these words the Duke with the same submission he had used to the Queen but with more moderate words answered That he was come to put himself into the Arms of his Majesties Iustice to clear himself of those calumnies that were cast upon him by his Enemies and that nevertheless he would not have come if he had been plainly told that his Majesty had commanded him to stay The King turning to Bellieure asked him angerly if it were not true that he had given him Commission to tell the Duke of Guise that he should not come unless he would be accounted the Author of the tumults and insurrections of the Parisians Monsieur de Bellieure stepped forward and would have given an account of his Message but as he began to speak the King interrupted him saying it was enough and turning to the Duke of Guise said That he knew not that he was calumniated by any body but that his innocence would have clearly appeared if his coming had produced no novelty nor interrupted the quiet of the Government as it was like to do The Queen well acquainted with the Kings nature and seeing in his face that he was inclined to some bold resolution drew him aside and told him in substance what she had seen of the concourse of people and that it was no time to think of any precipitate determination The Dutchess of Vzez who was close by him confirmed the same and the Duke of Guise attentively observing every little particular as soon as he saw they were in an uncertainty that he might not give the King time to deliberate feigned himself weary with his journey and taking his leave returned with the same confluence of people but not accompanied with any of the Court unto his own house in the Rue St. Anthoyne Many condemned the King because he did not then resolve to cut him off at that opportunity and many knowing the strength and courage of the Parisians and that he had many Adherents even in the Court it self thought it a prudent and moderate determination to let him go But the Duke of Guise having before his eyes the danger he had run and condemning himself for his late venture began presently to draw unto himself all his friends and dependents which were spread in the several quarters of the City so that he who at noon entered but with seven horses had in his house at night above four hundred Gentlemen and Commanders At the same time he sent for the Council of Sixteen and all the Eschevins and after a long consultation wherein he was fully informed of all particulars gave order that Guards should be kept in every Ward that all men should be warned and prepared and that upon any stir they should according to the order already given and under the Officers already appointed all run to the principal places of the City and chiefly to his house Many Arms Musquets Drums and other instruments of War were carried the same night into his house as well to arm great store of people as to defend his own person about which they kept Watches and Sentinels no less than they use to do in Armies when they are near an Enemy The same diligence was used at the Louvre and at the Queens Palace whither she returned when it was very late at night her Gentlemen kept Guard very carefully and the
she hoped when the truth was once known every one would be setled in quietness After this discourse in publick they went together into the Garden where the Duke of Guise making his pretence that he knew the Kings designs and intentions were to destroy the Great Ones and suppress those that opposed his Favourites and that therefore it was necessary for him to look well to himself to secure both his own and the common safety began to make infinite high and exorbitant demands and such as were truly proper for an absolute Conquerour That the King should declare him his Lieutenant General in all Provinces and places under his Dominions with the same authority his Father had in the time of Francis the Second That the States-General should be called at Paris in which Assembly that power granted to him should be confirmed That to secure the people from their fears of a Hugonot Prince the King of Navarre and the other Princes of Bourbon his adherents should be declared to have forfeited their inheritance to the Crown That the Taxes and Impositions upon the people might be limited That to take away all hated and suspected Novelties all Forms of Government should be reduced to a certain Rule which it should not be lawful for the King to alter That the Duke of Espernon Monsieur de la Valette his Brother the Mareschals of Retz and Byron Monsieur d' O and Colonel Alfonso Corso suspected all to hold intelligence with the Hereticks and every day to find out inventions of new grievances should be deprived of all their Offices and Governments and banished for ever from the Court That to take away all suspicion which every one had with reason that the Hereticks were not proceeded against really and in good earnest the absolute charge of the War should be given to him which should be prosecuted with two Armies one in Poictou the other in Dauphine That to remove jealousies and fears of tyrannical proceedings the King should dismiss his Guard of the five and forty Gentlement and forbid them to return to Court reserving only the Guards which his Predecessors were wont to have That he should take away the Regiment of Guards from Monsieur de Grillon and give it to such a person as the Catholick Princes might confide in That all the Fortresses of Picardy might be delivered up to the Duke of Aumale as Governour of that Province That the Duke of Nemours might have the Government of Lyons and the Duke of Elbeuf that of Normandy That the King should put into the hands of the Lords of the League six such Towns as they should name in which they might keep Garisons under such Governours as they should like That a convenient assignment might be given to the Parisians for the payment of the Rents of the Town-house And that the Government of the City might be given to the Count de Brissac upon whom also should be conferred the Office of Colonel General of the French Infantry held at that time by the Duke of Espernon That the charge of Admiral should be restored to the Duke of Mayenne and Monsieur de la Chastre made Mareschal in the place of Monsieur de Byron Which Demands being carefully examined by the Queen one by one and the injustice and exorbitancy of them being shewn she at last asked the Duke of Guise what he believed the people of France would say and what the Princes of Europe would think if with the Kings consent a Subject should accept much less demand such conditions and whether he meant not to put shackles upon the King and take the Crown from his head To which words the Duke answered freely That he demanded no Place nor Office for any that was not very worthy of it and that to drive away Incendiaries Enemies of the publick good Favourers of Hereticks and Persecutors of the Catholick Religion was to purge the Body of the State of a most dangerous poison to the end that the King might afterwards enjoy that tranquillity and obedience that belonged to him and that the Medicine indeed was bitter at first but would be fruitful and healthful in the end In sum after many debates and prolix contentious arguments this was the Duke of Guise's conclusion That since the King himself had at last laid open his secret intentions and brought matters to that pass he was resolved either to lose his Life or to secure Religion and the Estate of his own Family The Queen returned at night with this Answer to the Louvre where they continued still in Arms private persons discoursing and consulting no less than the Kings Counsellors in his Closet among whom the variety of opinions was very great private passions and particular interests contending no less than respect of the publick and the universal good For the High Chancellour Secretary Villeroy and Monsieur de Villequier who desired the abasement of the Duke of Espernon and the ruine of the Hugonots and hoping that they should not fall from their credit and authority though the League should prevail consented to the greatest part of the Duke of Guise's demands to the secret dislike of the King who could by no means endure them On the other side Monsieur d' O Monsieur de Rambouillet the Abbot del Bene and Colonel Alfonso Corso argued that the greatest adversities in the world were to be suffered rather than to yield unto them Monsieur d' O nevertheless offering to lay down his Offices and the Colonel his charge of Lieutenant in Dauphine if that were the only means to appease the tumults The Queen and Secretary Pinart kept the middle way and hoped that the Duke of Guise would fall from a great part of his demands The siege pressed very much on the one side there being no provision of victuals in the Louvre and it was feared that the people going out of the City would likewise besiege it on the other side and shutting up the passage towards the fields reduce the King and the whole Court presently into their power but then again the Propositions were such as the King could in no wise hearken unto The night was spent in this manner full of terrour and uncertainty the Duke of Guise being diligent in visiting the Guards of the City every hour lest their carelesness and negligence should give the Kings Souldiers opportunity to recover those places they had lost before and lest the darkness should give occasion to some disorder or stir up some tumult In the morning after Mass the King and Queen-Mother being shut up privately together resolved that she should return to the Duke of Guise and making some shew of consenting to the Agreement should draw the Treaty out in length whilst the King should secretly get out of the new Gate on the back-side of the Gardens of the Louvre which was in his power and escaping from Paris before the Enemies had time to block it up should go to the City of Chartres the
till that time he had had very little or nothing to do Martin Ruzay Sieur de Beaulieu and Lowis de Rouel were made Secretaries of State both men of unblemished reputation faithful dis-interessed and bred up in his service from their youth but not esteemed to have too great a reach in affairs of Government and matters of State On this manner he thought he had taken away from about him as he said the prying Foxes eyes and that he had assured himself he should receive faithful and sufficient service so that his Ministers should not search deeper into his designes then he of his own voluntary accord was pleased to impart unto them By this novelty the whole Court was transformed not onely in shew but also in the form and manner of Government for the Duke of Guise whoformerly was wont to have but small share in the Councel seâmed now to moderate all the resolutions of it and together with him the Arch-bishop of Lyons and the Sieur de la Chastre his near Dependents were held in very great esteem and in the Cabinet-Councel where the Queen-Mother was wont to bear all the sway now by reason of the King's suspitions her part was not very much and all the old Confidents being excluded onely the Marescal d' Aumont Colonel Alfonso Corso and the Sieur de Rambouillet had the King's ear and were the onely partakers of his most intimate determinations The Duke of Nevers also who in former times had been suspected and hated by him had now great power with the King who was now become different from himself Nor was he so much moved to it by the fame of his wisdom and experience which was generally known as because he was an emulator and a secret enemy of the Duke of Guise's greatness in so much that though they were Brothers-in-law their Wives being Sisters yet could not the one brook the others advancement and now the Duke of Nevers his inward animosity was so much the more increased by seeing that the Duke of Guise having obtained the power of Lieutenant-General ruled all and commanded every one which being known unto the King and he desiring reciprocally to blow the fire of their hatred had declared the Duke of Nevers General of the Army that was to go into Poictou and Guienne to set them so much the more against one another and to the end that their emulation might grow from thoughts to deeds because on the one side he knew Nevers would never endure to obey Guise and on the other that Guise to tread down Nevers and because he was jealous of him would not fail to go unto the Army Whereupon their secret heart-burnings would break forth into open discord and dissention To avoid which though the Duke of Nevers foreseeing the same tryed by all excuses of his age indisposition and other occasions to decline that charge yet the King would never consent to confer it upon any other thinking also that was no convenient time to trust the Command of an Army in the hands of a person whom he suspected By these Arts the mindes of both parties being more kindled against each other the King was still secretly informed by the Duke of Nevers concerning all particulars that might make to the Duke of Guise's disadvantage whereby it came to pass that he who before was suspected became now his absolute Confident With these practices the Court arrived at Blois the seven and twentieth day of September where the Deputies of the Provinces were already met together in whose election though both parties had taken much pains yet the dependents of the League did much exceed for the Order of the Clergy drawn by the interests of Religion did in a manner wholly incline to that side and the Order of Commons exasperated by the heaviness of impositions and whose end it was to cause them to be removed did willingly joyn with the King's Enemies who promised nay professed they would ease the people of the excessive weight of Contributions and among the Nobility were many neerly interessed with the House of Lorain and the League whereby the King perceived plainly at the very first that in this Congregation the Duke of Guise would captivate all mens opinions and obtain all his own desires But being disposed to go another way and desiring to satisfie all humours having received the Deputies indifferently with great signes of apparent good will to all he composed his mind to make shew that he had setled all the hope of his own quiet and of the safety of the Kingdom in those remedies which were to be applyed by the States Wherefore intending to begin a business which he fained to esteem of so great consequence with wonderful great state and preparation upon Sunday the second of October he caused a solemn procession to be made in which he himself being present with all the Princes all the Court and all the Deputies of every order in their places the Sacrament was carried with exceeding pomp through the Streets which for that purpose were all hung with Tapistry high Mass was sung with show of profound and sincere devotion in every one and the Sunday after being the ninth day of the Moneth the King himself and the Duke of Guise with all the Deputies received the Communion publickly in the Church of St. Francis confirming by that holy pious action the correspondence and reciprocal intelligence which they shewed to perfect the happiness of the Kingdom for which end they professed that the States-General were come together The Assembly began upon the third Sunday being the sixteenth day of the moneth when presently after dinner all those being met in the Great Hall of the Castle who ought to be present at so solemn a Convention the King sate down in a Throne raised by many steps from the earth and covered with a very rich Cloth of State the Queens Princes Cardinals Peers and Officers of the Crown sate upon seats fitted for that purpose in two long rowes on the right hand and on the left and between them in the inner part of the Theater sate the Deputies according to the antient preeminence of their degrees and the Duke of Guise as Grand Maistre with his Staff of Office in his hand sate down upon a stool at the foot of the State on the right hand and on the left sate the Sieur de Monthelon who represented the person of the High-Chancellor of the Kingdom When every one was setled in his place and order the King accompanied with a Royal Majesty and singular eloquence gave beginning to the assembly of the States with a long elegant Oration wherein attesting his most earnest desires of the good and welfare of his People and shewing the dangerous troublesome condition wherein intestine discords and private interests had involved the Crown he exhorted every one of them effectually to lay aside their passions to forget their enmities to avoid the animosity of Factions and providing by
wherefore though the King at first had made some difficulty of admitting Giovanni Mocenigo chosen Ambassador to him from the Senate in the place of Giovanni Delfino because he was not of the Colledge of the Sauii de Terra Firma out of which number the Ambassadors to Kings are wonted to be elected yet having in the end admitted him he was so pleased with his discreet silence and prudent behaviour that he contracted a great intimacy with him and with him and the Senate passed business of very great trust and confidence But with Ferdinandi de Medici Grand Duke of Thuscany he proceeded further for he having newly succeeded his Brother Francesco in that State and having renounced the title of Cardinal to take a Wife it was at that time concluded to give him Chrestienne the Duke of Lorain's Daughter and Neece to the King who had been bred up with the Queen-Mother and hastening the Ceremonies of the Marriage Charles the Bastard Grand Prior of France contracted her in the name of Ferdinando and the Bride made her self ready to take her journey Things being ordered in this manner the next business the King had to think on was to contrive which way to catch the Duke of Guise surrounded with so many Guards and with so great a number of adherents for though he had cunningly drawn the States to Blois a City depending upon him and far from the assistance of the Parisians yet was the Duke come thither so strong and so many of the Deputies depended upon his will that it was no easie matter to set upon him The Queen-Mother was so ill of the Gout that she kept her bed and the King troubled with his wonted suspicions had not nor did not intend to impart that design to her and therefore having taken occasion upon Sunday the eighteenth of December while they were feasting in her lodgings for the Marriage of the Great Dutchess and the whole Court was busied there he called into his own Closet the Mareschal d' Aumont and Nicholas d' Angenay Sieur de Rambouillet whom he accounted most trusty one for the profession of Arms the other for the Gown and discovering his whole design desired their counsel in that particular Their opinions were not very different and all agreed that things were brought to that pass that now necessity forced a resolution to bridle the attempts of the Duke of Guise but about the means which were to be used they were not so well resolved for the Mareschal d' Aumont consented to have him resolutely killed and Rambouillet alledging the breach of Faith and the Law of Nations counselled to take him prisoner and then to proceed against him in a legal way Whereupon not knowing how to resolve among themselves they called the same night unto them Colonel Alfonso Corso and Lewis the Brother of Rambouillet to have their opinions they all thinking it a very hard matter to be effected After many hours consultation it was at last determined that he should be slain and that the business should be ordered in this manner following Upon the top of the stairs in the Kings Palace there was a great Hall in which commonly the Council was wont to be held and which except upon such occasions stood open and free for the ordinary passage of the Courtiers at the upper end of the Hall was the door of the Kings Ante-chamber upon the right hand whereof was his Bed-chamber and on the left the Wardrobe and just over against the door of the Ante-chamber was the door of the Closet from whence there was a way out into a fair room and thence a back-stairs that went down into the Queen-Mothers lodging When the Council was held the Gentlemen and Courtiers were wont to accompany the Lords that went in to the Hall-door at the top of the stairs and there they stayed because the door was locked and guarded by the Keepers of the Council-chamber then they used to return back into the Court which being spacious was commonly called The Bretons Porche because they coming often to Court about their frequent Law-suits were wont for the most part to walk and entertain themselves in that place The King and his Counsellors resolved that the deed should be done upon a Council-day for the Duke being then left alone without his train with the other Lords and Counsellors in the Hall he might be called by the King into his lodgings which at such times were wont to be shut and without company and being there apart and deprived of any help might be dispatched out of the world for he being once dead they feared not those dangers and tumults at Blois which they should have done if they had been at Paris Then treating of the persons that should execute the business the King chose to trust Grillon the Colonel of his Guards a fierce bold man and for many occasions an Enemy to the Duke of Guise Having therefore sent for him he unfolded his design unto him with fitting words and gave him to understand that he had appointed him to be the man that should perform the enterprise wherein consisted all his safety Grillon answered with short and significant words Sir I am really your Majesties most faithful and devoted Servant but I make profession to be a Souldier and a Cavalier if you please to command me to challenge the Duke of Guise and fight with him hand to hand I am ready at this instant to lay down my life for your service but that I should serve for an Executioner while your Majesties Justice condemns him to die is a thing sutes not with one of my condition nor will I ever do it whilst I live The King did not much wonder at the liberty of Grillon whom he and the whole Court knew to be a plain honest man and one that spoke his thoughts freely without fear of any body and therefore replyed that it was enough provided he kept the matter secret for he had not communicated it to any body else and if it should be divulged he would accuse him for the revealing it To this Grillon answered That he was a Servant of honour and fidelity and one that would never discover the secret interests of his Master and so going away left the King very doubtful what he should do in which perplexity he continued till the one and twentieth day when having trusted the business to Lognac one of the Gentlemen of his Chamber who had been brought first into the Court by the Duke of Ioyeuse and by his graceful fashion discreet carriage and gentle behaviour began to rise into the place of the Minions he without much difficulty promised with some of the five and forty who depended nearly upon him to do the deed most readily The King having setled his mind resolved to put it in execution upon the morning of the three and twentieth day being Christmas Eve's Eve and being come personally into the Council the
having power to do or determine any thing without the Council of Sixteen and because every one cried out tumultuously that the City ought to be kept from the machinations and violences of the Hugonots and Politicks who upon occasion of the slaughter of Blois might plot against the general peace and safety the Duke having taken the name and authority of Governor put the people in Arms and under their Commanders distributed them to the keeping of the principal places taking care that the goods and houses of the Citizens might not be pillaged by the Seditious Rabble The same evening and the next day the Preachers thundered from their Pulpits the praises of the Duke of Guise's Martyrdom and detestations of that slaughter most cruelly committed by the King in such manner that not onely the mindes of the baser people but also of the most noted Citizens were won by their perswasions and kindled with an infinite desire to take revenge Which boldness both in the Preachers and People was doubled when they heard the news of the Cardinals death also which brought them to the highest pitch of rage and madness so that upon the Eight and twentieth of December being Innocents day the Council of Sixteen caused a Writing to be presented to the Colledge of Divines called the Sorbonne in the name of the Provost and Eschevins of the City wherein relating how much the Lords of Guise deserved of the Catholick Church and their being murdered by the King as Protectors of the faith they demanded whether he might not lawfully be said to have forfeited his Crown and whether it were not lawful for his Subjects notwithstanding their Oath of Allegiance to withdraw their obedience from him as an Hypocrite Prince an open favourer of Heresie and a persecutor of the holy Church who had bloodied his hands in the sacred Order and eminent Person of a Cardinal The Colledge of Sorbonne being assembled there was no great debate about the matter For though Iehan Fabray Dean of the Colledge a man of profound Learning followed by Robert Vauvarrin and Dennis Sorbin two of the Senior Doctors argued that though it were true that the business had passed as the Writing related which was doubtful yet neither for all that could the King be said to have forfeited the Kingdom nor was it lawful for his People to withdraw their obedience from him so great nevertheless was the ardour of the younger men excited by the Preachings of Guilliaume Roze Bishop of Senlis of the Curats of St. Paul and St. Eustache of Iehan Vincestre Iohn Hamilton Father Iaques Commolet a Jesuit Father Bernard a Fuillant and of Father Francois de Feu-ardant a Franciscan that they unanimously concurred to determine both the points and with concurring votes declared That the King had forfeited his right to the Crown and that his subjects not onely might but ought to cast off their obedience and that providing for the Government they justly had power to make confederacies to impose Subsidies raise Soldiers dispose of the Revenues of the Crown and to do all other things which were opportune or convenient for the defence of Religion and their own security They added with the same universal consent that the Decree of this Declaration should be sent to the Pope that he might confirm it and make it so authentick that the validity of it might not at all be called in question for the time to come after which Declaration the people as it were loosened from the bonds of obedience and having broken the rein of Modesty ran violently to the breaking down of the King's Armes and Statues wheresoever they found them and began furiously to seek out all those which could be accounted dependents of his party by them called Narvarrists and Politicks which insolent tumultuous search forced many quiet men and such as were averse from those turbulent wayes to leave their houses to save their lives many others were fain to compound with money and some notwithstanding the Duke of Aumale took great pains to prevent it lost their lives unfortunately in the business while which things were done with infinite disorder all the streets were full of Arms noises and confusions and the meanest people raging against the marks of Royalty committed scandalous and intolerable insolencies all Churches eccho'd with voices of the Preachers who aggravated the Parricide committed by Henry of Valois no longer called King of France but the Heretick Tyrant and persecutor of the holy Church and all places were full of Libels both in Verse and Prose which contained and amplified the same things several wayes But the Council of Sixteen desiring to reduce the City totally into their power and seeing the Parliament divided part being inclined to follow the popular commotions part disposed to persevere in their obedience to the King determined that the Presidents and Counsellors which held the King's party should as enemies to the publick good and adherents to the Tyrant be not onely removed from their Offices but also shut up close prisoners in the Bastille foreseeing well that if they continued at liberty and had power to manage their affairs it would infinitely cross their designs and with very great danger interrupt the union and concord of the other Citizens Wherefore having resolved among themselves what was to be done and brought all the Heads of the people to their opinion upon the Sixteenth of Ianuary they with a great number of armed men beset the Palace-Hall where according to the custom the Counsellors of Parliament were met together and having made good all the passages and set guards at every door they called forth Achille de Harlay first President of the Parliament and all the rest by name whom they had determined to lay hold on who being come readily forth to know what they would have with them already presaging very well what would come to pass the Sieur de Bussy deputed to execute that business gave them order to follow him which command grounded rather upon force than reason being by them obeyed without resistance they were led thorough the cries and injurious usage of the people to the Bastille onely Pierre Segiver and Iaques Auguste de Thou by the help of fortune secretly saved themselves who depending upon the King's party had laboured stoutly to keep the Parliament from medling in the Insurrection The favourers of the League being encouraged and the opposers of it terrified by this vehement resolution the remaining Presidents and Counsellors chose Barnabe Brisson first President and Head of the Parliament a man of deep learning and singular eloquence but of a violent various inclination and therefore very subject to alter his opinions easily and afterward the Parliament being solemnly assembled to the number of 160 they with a publick Declaration assented to the deposing of the King and to the freeing of the City and substituted new men in the places of those whom they had put out and imprisoned Nor
party The Monitory was posted up in Rome upon the Three and twentieth of May and within a very few dayes after published at Meaux ten Leagues distant from Paris the Bishop of which place was made High-Chancellor by the Duke of Mayenne in the Council of the Vnion The King was so grieved for this determination of the Pope that it produced an universal sadness and the progress of the Army was very much slackened by it Wherefore the Archbishop of Bourges began publickly to comfort him saying That as the Pope ill-informed by the suggestion of the Confederates believing what they did was out of zeal to Religion had pronounced that Sentence so when he should be better informed and assured that they fought for Passion and Ambition and not for the Apostolick See nor for the Faith he certainly as a common Father would change his opinion But the King after a deep sigh replied That he thought it very hard that he who had ever fought and laboured for Religion should be rashly excommunicated because he would not suffer his own throat to be cut by the Armes of his Rebel-Subjects and that those who had sacked Rome and kept the Pope himself prisoner had never been Excommunicated to which the King of Navarre who was present answered But they were victorious Sir Let your Majesty endeavour to conquer and be assured the Censures shall be revoked but if we be overcome we shall all die condemned Hereticks The King assented and all the by-standers did the like and upon that hope order was given the Army should march and having laid siege to Estampes and that Town being taken by assault the King very much exasperated and moved by his natural melancholly now outwardly stirred up by so many provocations caused all the Magistrates to be hanged and gave the pillage of the Town freely to the soldiers From Estampes the King being desirous to shut up all the passages of those Rivers that were fit to streighten the City of Paris marched on with the body of his Army to besiege Poissy and the Duke of Espernon enlarging himself with the Reer took and with the same violence sacked Montereau upon the River Yonne Poissy made very little resistance and the Town yielding it self the King was Master of that brave spacious Bridge which there gives passage over the Seine by the help whereof he was able to enlarge himself on both sides the River In this place the D. of Montpensier who had followed the track of the D. of Mayenne out of Normandy without receiving any opposition joined with the King's Army who intended to make that Town his Magazine gave the Government of it to the Sieur de Villiers and leaving his Baggage Ammunion and part of his Artillery there put in a Garrison of 2000 Foot Poissy being taken and manned the King of Navarre with his Van-guard went without delay to besiege Pontoise in which Monsieur d'Alincourt was Governor and with him the Sieur de Hautfort put in also by the Duke of Mayenne to supply what should be defective these having fortifi'd a Church which stood in a corner of the Town and reduced it to the form of a Raveline stood constantly upon their defence The first force was imployed against the Church which battered and assaulted and no less resolutely defended maintained it self for the space of nine dayes at the end of which Hautfort being killed with a Cannon-shot the Church was also taken and utterly demolished and the defendents retired to make good the Walls But the Sieur d'Alincourt being wounded in the shoulder and the most valiant of the Defendents being slain by the violence of the Artillery and in the fury of a bloody assault the rest were necessarily forced to yield who marched out of the Town upon the four and twentieth of Iuly with this condition that they should not bear arms again in service of the League till after three months The next day after the taking of Pontoise the forreign Army arrived at Poissy-bridge for Monsieur de Sancy being first met by the Count de Tavannes with Five hundred Horse in the Confines of Bourgongne and then in Champagne by the Duke de Longueville and the Sieur de la Noue with Twelve hundred Horse and Two thousand French Muskettiers had advanced with great diligence nor durst the Duke of Mayenne who had made shew that he would oppose his passage meet him with so much weaker Forces so that upon Saint Iames's day they passed the Bridge at Poissy being received with great joy and provided for with great plenty to refresh themselves by Monsieur de Villiers who had caused many carts full of Wine and provisions to be brought beyond the Bridge to welcome the Swisses and the Germans The next morning which was Saint Annes day the King desired to see them and view them in their Divisions largely spread over the fields and being accompanied by the King of Navarre and the Duke of Montpensier he welcomed and cherished the Commanders with great familiarity honouring them with such warlike presents as the state of things in the fury of Arms would permit There were 10000 Swisses 2000 German Foot 2000 Reiters to which the Forces of the King the Duke of Longueville the Duke of Montpensier the Baron de Giury the King of Navarre being added the Army amounted to the number of Two and forty thousand fighting men The terror of this Army made all the places thereabout to yield and the Bridge of St. Cloud a place within a League of Paris having had the boldness to shut their Gates upon the nine and twentieth day was victoriously forced open and the relief which the Sieurs de Bourdaisiere and Tremblecourt had attempted to put into it with two Regiments of Foot and Four hundred Horse was likewise furiously driven back by the Cavalry The affairs of Paris were already reduced into an exceeding ill condition for all the Bridges being lost all the neighbouring Towns surrendred all the passages of the River stopped and the City streightned on all sides there was no other hope left than what the presence of the Duke of Mayenne and of the Army afforded which was all shut up within the circuit of the Suburbs of Paris The Army was 8000 French Foot and 1800 Horse but so great was the scarcity of victual and the terror that had seized every one by reason of the Kings's prosperous successes and severe resolution that within two dayes the French Foot were reduced to Five thousand and the Germans demanding meat and money began to threaten that they would go over to the Enemies Camp Nor were the inhabitants more resolute or more unanimous than the soldiers for the common people following the ordinary course as they had been precipitate to rebel so hoping by their meanness and obscurity to lie hid and escape unpunished were easily induced to submit themselves to the King and those who from the beginning had been inclined to his devotion
send an Ambassador to the Pope to inform him of the reasons why they had acknowledged him and sworn fidelity unto him and to sue for and obtain those things of the Apostolick See which they should think convenient for the universal good of the Kingdom Upon the fourth day August this Writing was singed by the King on the one part and on the other by most of those that were present in the Camp and was afterward authorized and registred in the Parliament of Tours according to the form which was wont to be observed by those Courts in the times of former Kings Thus the necessity of present affairs and the fresh passion for the Kings death setled this accommodation which at another time would certainly not have been composed Yet was not this Agreement able to retain every body for the Duke of Espernon who under colour of contending for precedency with the Mareschals of Biron and Aumont had not signed the Writing because they as Mareschals being in the Camp pretended to sign first and he as Duke and Peer of France pretended the same doubting he should be ill used by the King and that in his present wants he would either by intreaties or force wring some money from him whereof he was known to have very great store alledging that he had obtained leave from the late King to return to his Governments departing the next day from the Army with his Troops and with many who following the example took that occasion to return to their own houses and having made his journey thorow Tourain he passed by Loches and came at last to Angoulesme Iehan Sieur de Villiers who had the Government of Poissy a man very zealous in the Catholick Religion and who in his younger years had been exalted by the Lords of Guise those obligations ceasing which he had to the late King gave up his Government with the Artillery and Ammunition of the Army to Filbert Sieur de la Guiche who by order from the King received it and with two hundred Horse and many Gentlemen that followed him retired into his own Country and the same did many others severally Monsieur de Vitry with a bolder resolution which nevertheless was also followed by many went over to the League without any demur alledging that he saw no certainty at all in the Kings promises and that he would not bear Arms against the Catholick Religion in favour of the Hugonots and the common Souldiers some out of impatiency some for want of money some for fear of future sufferings began of themselves to disband scatteringly in such a manner that by the seventh of August the Army was diminished above half in number and decreased still daily The same was feared of the Swisses but the Mareschal de Biron who now followed his old inclination more than ever did by reasons and intreaties induce them to promise that they would follow the King for the space of two months till they should receive new Commissions from their Cantons towards which reasons and intreaties prevailed not so much as a good sum of money which the King borrowed of his Friends and divided secretly among their Commanders so that without demanding further pay but living upon free-quarter they followed the Kings Name and Colours very quietly Nor were the Hugonots more firm or better satisfied than the rest for having conceived hopes that the King who had been bred up nourished defended and maintained by them would now he had attained the Crown exalt their Religion put Offices and Dignities into the hands of his ancient Confidents and trust more in those Forces which had made him victorious among a thousand dangers than in the doubtful conditional promises of the Catholicks now they saw the contrary accused him of ingratitude and had it not been that they hoped he did but temporize till he were setled in his Kingdom and that then he would do quite contrary to what he had promised which belief was by him cunningly fomented in his conferences with them they would without doubt have utterly forsaken him and yet for all that opinion very few followed him and those unwillingly enough for many because they thought not themselves secure others out of anger and discontent disbanded and returned in great abundance to the Cities of their party But the King having accommodated his mind and fitted it to the present necessity having assumed the Name and Arms of King of Franâe and not being able to make new expences made use of the late Kings houshold-stuff the same Purple serving to mourn for his Predecessor which he till then had used for the death of his Mother and knowing that mens minds were not yet well setled under his obedience and that his own weakness was despised of many he by the vivacity of his wit by the readiness of his answers and by the familiarity of his conversation behaving himself rather as a Companion than as a Prince and with large promises making up the wants of his present condition endeavoured to satisfie all and to win the love of every one seeming to acknowledge the Kingdom and the reputation of his actions sometimes to this man sometimes to that man severally and professing to be ready earnestly to embrace those occasions of requital which should represent themselves To the Hugonots he seemed to lay open and trust his most intimate thoughts and to acknowledge the foundation of his hopes to be in them To the Catholicks he did very great honours speaking with much reverence of the Pope and the Apostolick See alwayes honouring the Ecclesiastical Order and shewing himself inclined to the Roman Religion gave signs of a sudden undoubted conversion To the common-people he shewed himself compassionate of their burthens and of the calamities of War and to the meanest of them excused the necessity of taking free-quarter upon them for his Army laying all the fault upon his Enemies To the Gentry with words and gestures full of respect he gave the glory of true French-men of preservers of their Country and restorers of the Royal Family alluring every one by these arts to follow him eating in publick setting open his most private lodgings to every one not concealing the necessity of his private condition and proposing those things in a jesting way which could not so well be discovered in serious Counsels But the Army being already reduced to so small a number that not onely the siege of Paris could not be continued but that it was needful to provide speedily against the imminent danger which was so near for the League since the King's death increased every moment in strength and reputation He being in private with the Mareschals of Biron and Aumont the Sieur de la Noue and the Duke of Montpensier who having quieted his conscience by the King's promise had for the interests of their common Family firmly resolved to follow him consulted a long time what course would be least prejudicial to take in that
frankness of courage and resolution it being necessary to hazard the lesser to obtain the greater and because all other hopes were weak necessity perswaded to set the sum of affairs upon the edge of the Sword nor could it seem other than faint-heartedness and cowardize not to second that prosperous beginning which fortune had favorably shewed him To all these reasons was added the opinion of the Mareschal de Byron whose counsels by reason of his wisdom and experience were by the King observed as Oracles who thought it not only difficult but in a manner altogether impossible to avoid the putting of it to a Battel and to retire without receiving some notable loss in passing the Rivers if the Duke of Mayenne should follow them in the Reer And he judged it better advice to fight resolutely with the vigour and forwardness of the Army than to be destroyed piece-meal without the least hope of any good Wherefore the King being determined to fight designed the form of the Battel and having asked the counsel of the oldest Souldiers about it all of them approved his opinion without contradiction The King knew the Enemies Army abounded with a great number of Lanciers who being spread at large along the field there was no doubt but they would break in and by consequence endanger the putting of his Cavalry in disorder composed all of Gentlemen-Voluntiers who serving upon their own expence without pay or obligation had in the revolution of the Civil Wars given over the use of Lances for their conveniency and as more ready had taken Pistols in their steads in imitation of the Reiters Wherefore desiring by industry to remedy this disadvantage which he and the most experienced Commanders were wont to deplore he divided his Cavalry into many Squadrons to render the encounter of the Lances less effectual in whose passage two or three lesser Bodies might charge them on all sides and not receive the shock of their front with a firm encounter and continued order To every Body of Horse he joined Squadrons of Foot to the end that the hail of small shot might not only favour his own men in the encounter but that falling among the Enemies and doing execution upon them it might make them weaker and their violence the less united a remedy which for the need thereof in the difference of Arms having often been consulted and approved of did that day give proof how considerable it was in effect The King having invented the Form wherein the Army was to be drawn up and imbattelled gave the design thereof into the hand of the Baron de Byron Camp-Master-General and chose Monsieur de Vicy an old Colonel of the French Infantry and a man of great valour and experience Serjeant-Major-General an Office for the high importance of it not wont to be conferred but upon such persons as by their approved knowledge and long practice in remarkable occasions had gotten the credit and reputation of Command and consequently both knew and were known of all The remainder of the night was spent in rest till the Drums and Trumpets at the first peep of light gave notice of the approaching day in the beginning whereof Mass was celebrated in all the quarters of the Catholicks and the Hugonots made their Prayers apart after which the whole Army being come forth into the field the Carriages of provision passed without tumult or confusion thorow all the files the Mareschal de Byron having care thereof whose orderly Government to the admiration of all shewed his great experience in the discipline of War The Army being refreshed and fed they began with less haste than they had done the evening before to march toward the field of Yvry appointed by the King for the place of Battel as well because it was large and spacious on all sides as by reason of many places of advantage which he preventing the Enemy had designed to make himself Master of This field takes the compass of many miles in a circular form it is bounded on the left side on which the Kings Army came by two great commodious Villages one called Fourcanville the other St. André and on the other side where the Army of the League marched a thick Wood shuts up the Plain commonly called by the Country-people Le clos de la prairie on the West-side towards which both Armies marched it ends in a deep Valley in which runs the River Eure of a reasonable breadth upon whose banks are two great Bourgs Anet towards the South and Yvry situated on the other side towards the North. The River under Anet is wont to be easily forded without danger but a large Bridge of planks upon great pieces of timber leads from the further side into Yvry The field flat and open on all sides not encumbred with hedges nor uneven with banks and ditches hath only a little natural hollowness which extends it self a little way almost in the midst of the plain right over against the above-named Village of Fourcanville The Sieur de Vicy and the Baron de Byron together with the Sieur de Surene and Captain Favas who that day executed the Office of Adjutants being all rode before into this place drew up the Army as it came and disposed it in such manner that the Village of St. André flanked it on the right side and Fourcanville on the left wherein the ill weather continuing they might quarter upon all occasions conveniently under cover and the hollow of the Plain happened to be in the Front of the Army where the Forlorn-hope which they call Les Eâfans perdus was to be placed The Duke of Montpensier led the Van the King commanded the Battel and the Mareschal de Byron the Reer The Cavalry of the Army was drawn into five Bodies whereof the first led by the Mareschal d' Aumont with two Regiments of Firelocks by it stood upon the left hand in the uttermost part of the field Next it was the second commanded by the Duke of Montpensier flanked on the right hand by a Squadron of Swisse Infantry and on the left by another of the Germans The third bigger than all the rest in which was the Kings Person the Prince of Conty the Count of St. Paul and the choicest number of Lords and Gentlemen was flanked by the Swisses of the Guard on the right hand and by those of Colonel Balthazar on the left The fourth led by Mareschal de Byron followed on the right hand of this and ââd neer it two Regiments of French Firelocks The fifth and last of German Horse âed by Count Theodorick of Schombergh reached down to the houses of the Village of St. Andre Two other Squadrons of Horse besides these were in the front of the Battel some fifty paces before all the rest one commanded by the Grand Prior and the Baron de Giury wherein were four hundred Light-horse and the other by the Baron de Byron in which were three hundred Cuirasses And
reason that he fell into this thought for the strictness of the siege being over many of the Citizens not well assured of the event had taken refuge in the Country and those that remained in the City surfeiting in their great weakness with excess of meat which their hunger made them greedily devour were so faint and sickly that for the most part they lay unfit for service besides many of the Souldiers were gone forth to convoy the Victuals which were brought from Chartres and other places and to guard them from the King's Garrisons which were near on every side and which imported most of all it was credible that the Neighbourhood of so great an Army of Friends which they knew waited close upon the King 's would make men already tired out and spent with hard duty and suffering more negligent in their wonted Guards and fitting Watches to keep and make good so great a circuit of ground Now the King being resolved to attempt that enterprise gave order that all should meet as at a general Rendezvous in the Plain of Bondy not far from the City and having put the Scaling-ladders together which for that use were carried with the Army he took his way toward Paris between eight and nine of the Clock at night The Mareschal d' Aumont led a fleeing squadron with its Ladders the Baron de Biron led such another and a third in the same order was brought up by the Sieur de Lavardin The King followed with all the Princes and Commanders and with the Cavalry drawn up ready to fight and having passed the Seine went toward that part of the City which as being furthest from danger they thought would be least guarded The Scaling-ladders were presented to the gates and walls of St. Germain by the Mareschal d' Aumont at St. Michel by Biron and by Lavadin between St. Iaques and St. Marceau But they found the defendants ready and vigilant every where for the Duke of Nemours who caused the wayes to be diligently scowred had had an inckling of their drawing together at Bondy and of their marching toward Paris and therefore had carefully disposed and visited the Guards in every place whereupon the foundation of the surprise failing which was negligence and the small Guards of the Citizens the Commanders without much obstinacy brought off their Ladders and returned to the place where the King with the Cavalry âarried for them who facing about with an easie pace drew off the same way he came but not being able to withhold himself from trying to effect something and thinking that the Defendants having beaten off his men would perchance after that nights watch be more negligent and secure in the morning having caused his Cavalry to make an halt he turned about again to lead up the three fleeing Squadrons into the Trenches of the Gate and Curtine of St. Merceau being resolved there to make his last attempt nor was his opinion altogether deceitful for the Towns-men already wearied with long watching were retired to sleep by which means two Ladders were set up with great silence so that none either heard the noise or stirred to hinder them but a Jesuite who stood sentinel without the Corps de Garde which was kept by those Fathers and Nicholas Nivelle a Book-seller who was likewise upon the Gate though farther off hearing the noise gave the Alarm and running presently to that place with the Halberds they had in their hands overturned one of the Ladders which being too long reached above the Wall and made so good resistance at the head of the other that the Sieur de Cremonville and Parabiere's Lieutenant being killed who were neer getting upon the Brest-work gave time for the coming of help for at the noise of Arm arm and the cry of the Sentinels the Guards who were asleep drew forth armed and a great number of Citizens running from all parts before whom the Duke of Nemours was come who with singular diligence had rode round the Walls all that night wherefore the second attempt proving also vain the King retiring with all his Forces when it was broad day marched off to the Walls of Sâ Denis Many were of opinion that in this occasion the King failed much in point of art and Military discipline for if leaving the principal post near Paris well guarded with part of his Army he had advanced with the rest as far as Claye a much more fenny and a much more defensible place than âhelleâ and had there foâtified and intrenched himself keeping that place diligently he might perchance have held the Duke of Parma's Army so long in play which could pass no other way to Paris that the City being reduced to extreme necessity would have been forced to yield since the D. of Parma would not have been able to have forced that passage kept by such a strength if it had been fitly intrenched and fortified Nor could he have had passage to have got to Lagny if the King had been encamped on that way Many others considered that the King being resolved to fight and being risen from Paris with that intent he ought in the first encounter to have fallen boldly upon the Duke of Parma before he had time to intrench himself for though the time from night to morning was but short yet the Duke's soldiers accustomed to labour wrought with so much order and industry that in less than Twenty four hours they finished their Trenches wherein the Gommanders and Gentlemen working no less than the common soldiers the Duke himself assisted likewise making the Engineers draw forth and divide the work in his presence Some others taxed the impatiency of the King's Army which had seen so great constancy in the common Trades-men and the very women that were shut up in Paris that after so many moneths of desperate hunger they held out stoutly nevertheless to the uttermost and yet that so many Lords Knights and Gentlemen whereof that Army was composed had not had the courage to endure no not so much as the suspition of hungeâ but after a short stay and in a manner no opposition except only the shew of a desire to fight left the field free and the honour of the Victory to the enemy whereupon on the one side the D. of Parma's art and discipline was praised to admiration and on the other the French humours and impatiency was much blamed having lightly believed that a Soldier of so great fame would rashly put that into the hand of Fortune which might securely be obtained by solid counsel and upon this belief had neglected those things which the commodiousness of their ground afforded Others excused the King and said perhaps with as good reason that the leaving of weak Guards about Paris would have been but a giving of them up to be cut in pieces by the Citizens and Soldiers who would have sallied desperately out of the City in great abundance and that to assault the Duke's Army
Belin to take care of the City some sign being already discovered of the first Presidents inclinations and of the machinations of many others who went about stirring up the common people The Marquiss excited by the earnest perswasion of those Ladies began to apply his mind to the things that were told him and falling into the same suspition upon the eighteenth day he published a most severe Proclamation That any commotions or tumult happening in the City every one at the ringing of the Palace-Bell and the others of every Parish should take Arms and come forth of their houses into the street but that no man should stir out of that Quarter wherein he ordinarily dwelt upon pain of death without mercy and he gave order to the Masters of the several Quarters strictly to observe the motion of every one from whence it came to pass that the Politicks being fewer were kept and watcht by the much greater number and that being dispersed in their several Quarters they could not meet together in a Body to molest or to make themselves Masters of any part of the City all which also by this command were equally guarded But the signs and suspitions still increasing by the discovery of certain Souldiers belonging to St. Denis who were taken by the Sieur de Tremont as they were scowring the Country from whom they understood that there were Scaling-ladders and other instruments proper to assault places withal providing in that Town The Princesses anxious and sollicitous sent for the Governour unto them in the house of Madam de Montpensier and desired him to make the Porte St. Honoré presently to be shut up and lined with earth as being weaker and more exposed to danger than the rest which was diligently performed upon the nineteenth day and the Sieur de Tremblecourt was put there to guard it with his Regiment of Lorainers The Marquiss de Menelay's Regiment went to keep the Ports of St. Denis and Montmartre and Collalto's Germans stayed to guard the Fauxbourgs beyond the River Upon the twentieth day in the afternoon the King not being advertised of the orders given in the City because extraordinary care had been taken that none should stir out of the Gates took his way towards Paris Monsieur de Viq Governour of St. Denis led the fourscore that were disguised in the habit of Country-men and the other hundred were commanded by the Sieur de Lavardin After these followed the Baron de Byron with one thousand and two hundred Fire-locks which were to march up to possess themselves of the gate and behind them were four Squadrons of four hundred men apiece who armed brest and head were to advance to the Wall on the side toward Montmartre and St. Denis there to set the Scaling-ladders and these were led by the Sieurs de Guiry de Dunes d' Humiers and de la Noue after these marched the Swisses with three small pieces of Artillery two Petards to be made use of if occasion were and all other instruments serviceable for this assault The King himself was in the Rereguard with the Dukes of Espernon and Longueville and eight hundred Gentlemen who being alighted from their Horses and very well armed had their Swords and Pistols with which they were to fall on where need should require and last of all the Duke of Nevers with the rest of the Cavalry stood in Arms to maintain the field Assoon as the first were arrived with their loads of Corn and Meal demanding to be let in they spoke with Tremblecourt who being made wary by suspition talked a long while with them and assoon as he knew them he to hold them in hand gave order they should go down to the entry of the River and that there they should be received by the boats that waited for that purpose and presently by ringing of a Bell he gave the Alarm to the City and the Souldiers in Arms went readily up to the Works The fourscore retired a little back and making shew that they would obey and go down toward the River gave the King intelligence of the noise that was in the City whereof he was already advertised by the sound of the Bells and desired to know what was to be done D' Humiers and the Baron de Byron were of opinion that the Scaling-ladders should be set up and a Petard fastened to the Gate but all the other Commanders thought it was not a thing to be attempted and that the Plot not having succeeded to use force was too full of danger and altogether hopeless wherefore after they had made a stand for a while to see if their party within did make any Commotion and this thought not succeeding neither they faced about and leaving the Cavalry to make good their Retreat returned in the same order to their former Quarters This attempt wrought an effect very different from the Kings intention for the Parisians unsatisfied with the Duke of Mayenne for that upon all occasions he left them with a weak Garison exposed to these dangers and seeing the King continually bent to do them mischief they were contented being perswaded by the Catholick Kings Ministers to receive into the City the Spanish Tertia of Idiaques and another of Neapolitans which was Pietro Gaetano's commanded by Don Alessandro de Monti which did not only confirm and strengthen the Kings Enemies and suppress his Friends and Adherents but did also put the City in danger of remaining at last at the devotion of the Spaniards Yet did there presently follow another consequent to the advantage of his affairs for the Duke of Mayenne who had consented to the resolution of the Parisians not to lose them utterly though it displeased him much that as not confiding in him they should fall off to the protection of foreigners being confirmed in his suspition that the Spaniards had particular designs of their own and that they fought to disturb his authority and to make their profit of the instability of the Parisians quickened the Treaty of Agreement which by the means of Monsieur de Villeroy had never been intermitted with the High Chancellor and the Mareschal de Byron and not having been able upon any terms to obtain a Truce and free Commerce between the two parties he was contented the King should give so many Safe-conducts that the Deputies might meet together from all the Provinces to consult in common of the means to conclude a Peace with the safety of Religion and the acknowledgment of the King which passed so far that for many days the Peace was held to be absolutely concluded But as the opinions of men are unsetled and the most important determinations are altered by petty accidents the Duke of Mayenne in the mean time while the safe-conducts were dispatching in the grant whereof the King was for some days backward having found the firmness of the Parliament in favour of him and the weakness of the Garison that was
none might make a sinister interpretation of that resolution but should know that all was done for the advantage of the Catholick Religion not to suffer himself to be reduced to a necessity of giving them greater liberty than what had been granted and established in the times of his Predecessors That every one should weigh the state of present Affairs the Forces which the Pope and the Catholick King sent against him necessitating him to make use of the Supplies of the Protestants to whom he could not with reason deny some just satisfaction if he would be upheld by their blood by their moneys by their endeavors and by their assistance That this should not retard his Promises nor in the least manner prejudice the Catholick Religion which he would constantly favour protect and maintain The major part of voices assented to the Kings proposal some others were scandalized at it and particularly Charles Cardinal of Vendosâe who his Uncle being dead made himself be called Cardinal of Bourbon who saying that he could not with a safe conscience be present at that determination made shew as if he would have gone away but being not followed by the other Prelates and sharply recalled by the King he came back though not much to his reputation and sate down again The Archbishop of Bourges and the Bishop of Nantes President de Thou the High-Chancellor and many other Catholicks demanded that the Edict for liberty of Conscience might not be absolute but that a clause might be added to it to shew it was intended to be in force until such time as Peace being obtained the differences of Religion might be accommodated to reunite all the Subjects in one and the same belief which being willingly consented to by the King the Edict was made and some dayes after published and Registred in the Parliaments of his Party Those of the Council did not much resist this Declaration as well because they saw the urgent need the King had to make use of the Protestants as because they perceived the opposing of it would have produced no good besides the Hugonots already enjoyed that indeed which was now granted to them in writing But those Soldiers that were affected to the Catholick Religion and that had not heard the reasons of it took marvellous great offence at it and began almost openly to be disgusted and so much the more because the Cardinal of Bourbon and other great ones fomented that discontent and with words not onely in private but publickly oftentimes stirred up mens minds to a resentment The Cardinal of Bourbon had already long before entertained a thought of framing a Party of Catholicks different both from the League and from those that followed the King This thought was sprung up in him from the consideration that the Kings obstinacy in not turning his Religion did not onely make his own possession of the Crown more difficult but also deprived the whole Royal Family of the just pretensions it had to the inheritance of the Crown since that all of them as followers of an Heretick were excluded from it together and they of the League began already to discourse of breaking the Salique Law and of calling other Princes to the Crown who had nothing to do with the Royal Consanguinity and this thought perplext and troubled him much more than the rest because his Cousen the Prince of Conde being then as it were yet in swadling-clothes and of the Hugonot Religion and his elder brother the Prince of Conty both by reason of a great imperfection in his speech being not very fit to govern and because he had been cut for the Stone in his childhood accounted unable to get children he thought the nearest hopes of the Crown belonged to himself because the Count de Soissons the third brother was younger than he and the Duke of Montpensier was much farther from the Succession than they From this meditation and the disdain it wrought in him he began by little and little to nourish a desire of withstanding that prejudice and to make himself a Faction that might bring him to the election of the Kingdom since neither the Pope could oppose the person of a Cardinal nor the Catholick King refuse him as an Heretick nor could they of the League in the end deny him due obedience He had imparted this thought to Iehan Touchard Abbot of Bellozanne who from his Infancy had been his Tutour a man not at all of Pedantique breeding nor of a mean dull understanding but full of lively active spirits and well versed in the discipline of the Court This man looking after the advancement of his own greatness in being his Masters instrument fomented the Cardinal's designs and regulated his pretensions with good instructions counselled him to proceed secretly and very dexterously till he had gotten followers and adherents and teaching him to make use of the conjunctures of times which would offer him fit and profitable opportunities And that he might have assistance in the raising of so eminent a design having discovered the business to Iaques Davy Sieur du Perron a young man of mean birth but of most profound learning and therefore from the first received and well looked upon in the Cardinals Family and Scipio Balbani a Lucchese one who having spent many years unfortunately in Traffique was of a Merchant become a manager of affairs in Court they applied themselves with all their utmost endeavours to the framing of that third party To this end Perron under shew of complement went to the Duke of Longueville and the Count de St Paul brothers who being descended from the Royal Family but by Progenitors that were not legitimate calling themselves of the House of Orleans were zealous Catholicks and kept themselves united with the Princes of the blood for the maintenance of the Crown and having represented unto them the considerations of that prejudice which from the obstinacy of the present King did fall upon their common interests drew them cunningly to the same opinion and to hold secret intelligence and correspondence with the Cardinal On the other side Balbani under colour of his own private affairs went to Rome to make excuses to the Pope for the Cardinals abode in those places that were of the King's party which was to no other end but onely to exhort and perswade him to his conversion which being now protracted contrary to the common expectations and to so many promises he had made the Cardinal not willing to offend his own Conscience sent him to excuse it to his Holiness and to pray him to protect the Royal Family which ought not to forfeit its rights for the obstinacy of one man and that when the Cardinal should once be made certain of his hope that the Apostolick See would suffer no other to be King but a Catholick of the legitimate stock of St. Lewis he would declare himself with the Catholick Nobility and Commons and deprive the King of the greatest strength of
of each party That afterwards time and occasions would of themselves minister remedies proportionable to the disease and the means of getting one day out of those Labyrinths The King best liked this advice which was also confirmed by the Mareschal de Biron to whose opinion all serious matters were at last referred Whereupon he presently dispatched Letters to the Cardinal of Bourbon and the other Lords of the Council that they should come to him to the Camp he having need of their help and assistance and removing the Count de Soissons from the Government of those parts he sent to Govern Poictou and Tourain the Prince of Conty a man not engaged in the plot and already excluded by his own Brothers For the Count de Soissons also angry because the King having often promised him his own Sister the Lady Catherine to Wife did now refuse to give her him assented to the Cardinals designs with hopes also that though he were the younger Brother yet being a Lay-man the Election which the Catholick Princes of the Blood should make might fall upon him Whereupon the Cardinal being come to the Camp before Chartres and continuing to come to the Council hapned to be present at the Edict which was made in favour of the Hugonots which he opposed both by his gestures and words and after it was passed ceased not to talk sinisterly of it to perswade the Catholicks to comply with him Nor could the King so easily have dis-entangled himself from that tumult if an engine framed by the League to do him hurt had not proved of admirable advantage to him Landriano the Nuncio was come to Rhems being sent by the Pope with Monitory Letters directed to the Prelates that followed the Kings party and to the Nobility Cities and people of the same party wherein after the wonted Prefaces and having copiously exaggerated and detested the Error which the Catholicks especially the Clergy committed in following and fomenting a King that was a relapsed and excommunicated Heretick and in voluntarily putting upon their own necks the miserable yoak of the servitude of Heresie he did at last with pregnant words ordain and expresly command the Clergy under pain of Excommunication of being deprived of their Dignities and Benefices and of being used as Sectaries and Hereticks that within a certain time they should withdraw themselves from those places that yielded obedience to Henry of Bourbon and from the union and fellowship of his Faction and admonished and exhorted but in the end also commanded the Nobility and People that forsaking all and leaving those places that acknowledged the Hereticks they should retire among the Catholicks and such as obeyed the Apostolick See in the true unity of the Faith The whole Monitory was full of grave and exquisit words high and threatning expressions sharp and rigorous commands and in sum such as seemed not to sute much with the present time wherein the Kings Forces went on prosperously and the affairs of the League were diminished both in strength and reputation wherefore being taken into consideration by the D. of Mayenne and the principal heads of his party many were of opinion and particularly Monsieur de Villeroy that it was good to defer the publication thereof till another time when the Arms of the Confederates being in greater credit and reputation they might hope to reap some fruit by it But the Nuncio little versed in the affairs of France and accustomed to measure things by the opinions of the Court of Rome the Bish. of Piacenza also though he was better experienced in the present businesses yet wholly intent to please the Pope and win his favor and the Spanish Ministers being perswaded by hatred and inticed with a desire to see things every day more disturbed were resolved that the Monitory should be published The French Lords considered that it was not only a thing very difficult but also not by any means to be hoped for that the Prelates and the Nobility who had their wealth dignities and Prelacies in the Kings hands should resolve to forsake them to satisfie the Pope their number being but small now adayes who for their souls sake are content to fârgo their estates that moreover they had already from the beginning expected these commands and menaces from the Pope and had prepared their minds to bear them That the more they were forc'd the more obdurate they would be and losing all hope of ever being received into the Popes favor would become more obstinate in following their party and labouring to get the Victory That it was needful to allure them and draw them cunningly not to terrifie them and drive them into utter despair Thaâ such-like threats would be proper after a Victory to give them colour and occasion upon that pretence to fall from the King when his affairs were languishing but not now when being powerful and flourishing it was not to be believed that any body would forsake him That prudent resolutions were not to be grounded upon probabilities but truths nor ought things to be regulated according to the opinion of those that judged afar off but by the judgment of men who besides their long experience in affairs were present upon the place it self The Popish and Spanish Ministers thought these things were spoken out of a common charity to the Nation not because they were true and the Duke of Mayenne who had set all his hopes upon the coming of the Forces out of Italy and Flanders and would not distaste those Princes referred himself to them and therefore without delaying the Monitory was presently published which produced the same effect the French Lords had foretold for the King having called his Council wherein he would have all the Prelates that were in Mante and the most conspicuous persons of his Army to be present complained grievously of the course which the Pope took with him at that present praised and commended the moderation of Sixtus who being made sensible that the discords grew from the ambition and covetousness of dividing the Kingdom and not from zeal and affection towards Religion had forborn to give assistance to the League and tacitely granted him time to think of turning opportunely to the Catholick Faith cherishing and graciously hearkning to those who followed him for a good end and for the service of God of Justice and of their Country as the Duke of Luxembourg could give full testimony He declared his intention to observe what he had sincerely promised to the Catholick Nobility in the beginning of his Reign he excused himself that he had been hindered by the heat of War from using those means which he thought fitting both for the importance of the business and the quality of his Person and at last exhorted all the Clergy Nobility and Commons to use all their uttermost endeavors to conserve the immunities and priviledges of the Gallique Church not to suffer that Kingdom to be divided and dismembred which they had
in the opinion of discreet men that Giovanni Mocenigo the Venetian Ambassador shewed it was a great temerity to stay for another of the Dukes attempts in that weak place so poorly manned and perswaded the Council and the other Lords that were there to retire to Chartres where besides the greatness and commodiousness of the City they might stay with more decency and also be much more secure in regard of the strength of the place and quality of the Garrison that kept it The King approved of this determination which as all things are not remembred by all men he had not thought of before and being come to Compeigne began to make ready his Army that he might advance to receive his foreign Forces But because he had not yet had intelligence of their setting forward he resolved in the mean time that he might not spend it unprofitably to lay siege to Noyon a Town upon the Confines of Champagne and Picardy which because it was much better provided of Horse than Foot molested all the wayes round about and did incommodate those places that held for him in those parts The reason that perswaded him to ease himself of it did also render it less difficult to be taken being full of Horse whereby the siege became more easie and ill-provided of Foot and those other things that were requisit for the defence of it and particularly of Ammunition Wherefore having drawn all his Army together upon the Five and twentieth of Iuly he caused the Mareschal de Biron to take up his quarter within a mile oâ the Fauxbourgs of the Town and the same day the Sieur de Rieux perceiving the Kings intention departed from Pierrefont with Threescore Horse and as many Foot mounted behind them each having a bag of Powder at his Saddle-bow and passing secretly thorough the Woods got into the City and gave great relief to the Defendants Noyon is seated between a Mountain and a Fenn having on the South-side the Fen caused by the overflows of the River Oyse in that place and on the North the Mountain steep and not very accessible behind it thick spacious Woods distend themselves for many miles and no other way lies open save onely before thorow a little Plain that comes to the Gate of St. Eloy and to the rich Abby situate near the Fauxbourg The Town was encompassed with old Walls and great Towers from place to place but both the Towers and the Curtine were well lined with Earth The Mareschal de Biron having viewed the situation encamped before the City at a little distance from the River with a thought to assault the Fauxbourg and Abby that were in the Plain and out of the Fen and by that means to make himself a way to the Moat which of a great breadth encompasseth the Town on that side Monsieur de Ville Governor of the Town on the other side knowing the weakness of the Garison and the want of many things had not ceased some few dayes before the siege nor did yet cease after the Army appeared to sollicite relief redoubling Letters and Messages both to the Viscount de Tavannes and the Duke of Aumale Governor of the Province who no less sollicitous than he dispatched first the Sieur de Griboval with an hundred Foot and about twenty Horse and then the Sieur de Tremblecourt with his Regiment though reduced to a small number of men to try if through the Woods they could get by stealth into the Town but both of themcharged by the Garrisons of Chauny Corby and Catelet were defeated by the way so that Griboval scarce entred with sixteen of his Foot and Tremblecourt could not come no not within many miles of Noyon The loss of these necessitated the Viscount de Tavannes to put himself in hazard by attempting to get in and therefore being departed from Roye upon the first of August in the evening with Five hundred Firelocks and Three hundred Horse to convoy them under favor of the night he drew near the Guards of the Army an hour before day with great hope to pass between Guard and Guard before the Camp should have put themselves in order to oppose them but the Sieur d' Arges who by order from Biron had been out the same night with a party of Sixty Light-horse scouring the wayes chanced suddenly to meet him and not losing courage though he had so few men with him but valiantly making ready their arms and beginning the skirmish with hot vollies of shot was the cause that all the other parties which were abroad made haste to the same place Wherefore they of the League seeing themselves discovered and not knowing well in the dark by what number of enemies they were so bravely charged as the errors of the night are commonly pernicious without blood they both routed themselves without opposition and in a very great fear took flight several ways only the Viscount de Tavannes whilst with his Sword in his hand he endeavoured to stop his Soldiers being wounded in the Arm and in the thigh was at last taken prisoner by the Sieur d' Arges himself The Duke of Aumale upon whose Government the affairs of that Province did depend was much troubled at the ill fortune of his Officers and resolved to attempt the relief himself being most certain that if Foot and Ammunition were not put into the Town it must of necessity be lost within a few dayes wherefore marching from Han upon the seventh of August in the evening with Six hundred Horse and Nine hundred Foot to the end that his men might be ready and not lose courage in the dark as the others had done he determined to beat up one of the King's Quarters by break a day and whilst they sounded the Alarm there and were fighting endeavour to put in relief openly by day rather than put himself in danger of being disordered by night With this intention coming up to the Plain along the great high-way which leads directly to the gate he suddenly fell upon one of the quarters of the King's Light-horse that lay without the Trenches under cover of some scattered houses upon the same way The assault was fierce and the defence no less with which the same Sieur d' Arges a young Gentleman of high courage and his other companions sustained it But the Duke of Aumale still redoubling his fury with fresh Horse and Colonel Beranglise being come up with the Foot that followed the Light-horse though they fought valiantly would have lost their quarter and left the way free to the relief if Biron had not come in to help them with Three hundred Cuirassiers and Two hundred Reiters at whose arrival the Duke being furiously charged in the flank and even the Light-horse recovering vigour who before gave back the enemies advance was stopped until such time as new supplies coming up one after another and the Infantry of the Camp already all in Arms being fallen into their ranks
to defend their posts the Duke of Aumale was constrained though still fighting to retire in which Retreat with the loss of sixty of his men and the death of Sieur de Longchamp a Soldier of great experience and of Francisco Guevarra a Captain of Spanish Light-horse he was followed to the very Walls of Han not having been able to give any relief at all to the besieged But the Duke of Mayenne being advertised of the siege of Noyon had diligently sent for the Sieur de Rosne with the Forces that were in Champagne and for the Prince of Ascoli sent by the Duke of Parma with Eight hundred Horse and Three thousand Foot and being joyned with them at la Fere came up to Han upon the tenth of August and having quartered his Army upon the way towards Noyon but with the River between he thought his presence would give sufficient courage to the defendents But the King having setled his quarters in the most convenient places and having made his approaches so far had begun already to batter the Abbey that stood without the Fauxbourg which was obstinately defended by the besieged to keep the Enemy as far as possible they could from the wall The King having caused five Pieces of Cannon to be planted against this Abby had so beaten it down that being assaulted by the Foot upon the eighth day they took it killing thirty of the Defendents and taking above fifty others of them which did so much the more weaken the Garrison that of it self was too weak to defend the circuit of the Town But it was necessary to suspând the progress of the siege by reason of the Duke of Mayennes coming for his strength being 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse lit was thought that not being able to relieve the place any other way rather than lose it he would joyn battel with the King Yet the opinions in his Camp were very different for the Prince of Ascoli thought not the loss of that place of so great concernment that to divert it it was fit to incurr the uncertainty of a Battel with the hazard of those onely Forces that were in being to resist the Enemy and considered that the Popes and Catholick King 's supplies which had already passed the Mountains being expected it would be a very strange rashness to put that now in the power of Fortune which within a few dayes might be made more certain and more secure The Duke of Aumale on the other side thoroughly vext at his late misfortune and longing to piece it up again argued that the loss of that place was of great moment to the affairs of the Province for that in those quarters there remained no other important Town of their party but that their reputation was of much greater importance which would be much diminished if being come up to the very face of the Enemy with Forces in number not inferior to theirs they should let that place be taken from them without stirring or disputing it with the Sword The Duke of Mayenne assented to the more secure advice partly because he was of a nature not much inclined to dangerous resolutions partly because with the Prince of Ascoli and the Spaniards he did more by intreaty than command and he saw them very resolute in not consenting by any means to the hazard of a Battel But the King desirous to find out what the enemy intended having no quicker way to make himself certain of it caused the Mareschal de Biron to pass the River with the greater part of his Horse to see if the Duke would move to fight or keep fast in his quarters But assoon as the Mareschal was advanced within sight of Han and of the Army of the League which was encamped in the midst of the great high way he found the Country clear and free nor did any stir out of their quarters to skirmish in the plain field which having come to pass not one day alone but three together successively the King apprehending that the Duke thought to defend Noyon with nothing but the reputation of his being near it took heart and caused the Courtine of St Eloy to be battered upon the fifteenth day and having beaten down the Works on each side on the sixteenth day in the morning being resolved to give the assault he made his Cavalry pass over the River as he was wont to do that they might be in readiness if the enemy should stir and having drawn his Foot into their divisions gave the Baron de Biron order to advance and assault the Town Monsieur de Ville having as long as possibly he could expected relief in vain and seeing himself now in such a condition that he was not able to resist that fierce assault which was preparing against him caused a sign to be given that he would parley and in a few hours concluded to surrender if within two dayes the Duke of Mayenne did not either fight or put at least Five hundred men into the Town which being agreed upon and Hostages given on both sides he dispatched a Gentleman to the D. of Mayenne to let him know the Agreement who having consulted again with his Commanders and concluded as they before had determined drew off to the Walls of Han the same evening and the Sieur de Ville sincerely performing the Agreement delivered up Noyon upon the Eighteenth day into the hands of Monsieur d' Esâree for the King After the taking of Noyon mens minds on both sides were âaken up with the expectation of the Forraign Forces which with equal fortune delayed to appear for the Germans who to the number of 8000 Foot and 4000 Horse had been raised by the Viscount de Turenne by the help of the Protestant Princes moved with great difficulty for want of money and expected that for the drawing together and maintenance of them a great sum should be furnished from England which the Queen being to raise upon her people who had promised to pay it upon certain conditions matters were not so soon ordered nor did the conditions prove of mutual satisfaction for the English continuing desirous to recover footing in France and particularly in Normandy a Province in former times long possessed by them had promised the Queen Three hundred thousand Ducats to be spent in the affairs of France provided she got some convenient Sea-port to be given her not onely for security of their Money but also for a landing-place of Commerce and that they might have more commodiously traffick in the Kingdom of France which being at first demanded and now again under pretence of the earnest importunity of her Subjects effectually urged by the Queen no less than liberty of Conscience for the Hugonots kept the King in a great deal of trouble not being willing to deprive himself of Diepe the place where he had tried and sustained the first encounters of his fortune much less of Calais upon which the English had too strong
of the fight ran to assist their fellows the heat of the assault was first sustained and then other Squadrons of the Army coming one after another they of the City were at last forced to give over the enterprise and retreat though with much gallantry and reputation Nor did the fight end because they were retired for with their Artillery Harquebuzes a Croc throwing Fire-works and a thousand other wayes they ceased not to molest and hinder the progress of the Battery At the other Trench which was cast up against the Porte de St. Hilaire and finished the third day of Ianuary there was a battery raised of four pieces of Cannon and two Culverins which having found the Gate damm'd up with earth and making no progress that was considerable it was propounded to leave that place and go to work against the Porte de Beauvais that stood lower which proposition was favoured by the French Colonels because the place was more convenient for them and near the quarters where they were lodged But in the mean time while the Commanders are deliberating and that the consultation by reason of the contrary opinions proves long the Chevalier d' Oyse sallying at the Porte Cauchoise assaults that very Trench and in the mouth of it makes a great slaughter of the Soldiers of St. Denis not being upheld by his wonted conduct and courage because it being then in debate whether or no the Post should be quitted he was gone to the Consultation and to receive the Mareschal de Biron's Orders The next day the Work was removed from thence something lower and the French out of emulation to the English Foot whom they saw upon the Counterscarp of St. Catherines with infinite diligence in a few dayes brought the Trench to perfection which after it was ended and the Gate battered with seven pieces of Cannon Colonel St. Denis without staying till the breach were made very large presented himself valiantly to assault it and at the same time Colonel Piles with his Regiment falling out of the same Trench set up many scaling ladders against the Curtain which joyned to the same Gate The assault was fierce and no less fierce the defence But the breach in the Wall being high and narrow and a thick cloud of fire works stones and scalding water pouring from the Curtain the assailants were constrained to retire leaving above seventy of their Soldiers dead upon the place This business happened upon the fourteenth of Ianuary Whilst their Arms are couragiously imployed on this side they that were on the other side of the River at the Fauxbourg St Severe having no other Commission but to hinder the entrance of Men or Victual into the Town made weaker and less bloody skirmishes in which the besiegers having taken one Landon a Lieutenant of Commendatory Grillon's Regiment they laboured to corrupt him and bring him to give them a promise that assoon as he should have the Guard he would let them into the Fort of the Bridge which was upon the Seine Landon dissembling a consent unto it because he had formerly served under Captain Raulet and had received some courtesies from him was set at liberty and faining to keep his promise upon the Eighteenth of Ianuary at night he having the Guard gave the sign that was agreed upon which being understood by those without Captain Raulet on foot compleatly arm'd with twenty Gentlemen and thirty fireâlocks drew near to the Fort to be received in the Count de Soissons standing in Arms with the rest of his Forces intent to follow him upon all occasions But Landon having discovered all to the Governor at the first appearance of the Kings Soldiers sallied out of the Fort with sixty good men and fell so fiercely on the Enemy that the rest running away frighted at that unexpected encounter Captain Raulet who stood to it was taken prisoner by him and the Count de Soissens advancing to disingage him could not come time enough to effect it But about this time there was another intelligence which was not fained held with the Sieur la Fountaine which being discovered and revealed by one Mauclere an Advocate who was conversant in the same place all the accomplices were taken and condemned to the Gallows They wrought now more diligently in many places than they were wont for the soldiers had already for their own honour taken an affection to the enterprise and the emulation between the Nations made the Work go forward with greater speed To increase the which the King having taken a new Post between St. Catherines and Martinville quartered 3000 German Foot there who laboured no less than the rest to make their approach with the Trench to the Counterscarp of the Moat On the other side the besieged encouraged by the prosperous success of their Sallies agreeing among themselves in all things belonging to the defence moved by the Governors example who putting his hand to all imployments was present at all things and sollicited by la Londe who with unwearied vigilancy went about and provided against all wants in all places laboured continually sometimes to make up their Works which the Artillery had beaten down sometimes in raising new Forts and making new Casamats sometimes to put in order warlick instruments and fire-works but above all things they were diligent and forward upon Sallies to which not onely the Soldiers ran with infinite readiness but many times even the Companies of the Townsmen also So that upon the one and twentieth day sallying out of the Porte Cauchoise on the one side and out at the Porte de Martinville on the other they made an hot and furious conflict But the King having caused some Field-pieces to be secretly planted on the flank of his Post they were driven back by the violence of them with great loss leaving slain the Lieutenant of the Governors Guards two of the City Captains and above 30 soldiers Much more dangerous was the encounter that happened on the three and twentieth day when 300 Horse and 1000 Foot sallying out at the same Gate divided themselves into several places for the Cavalry went toward the field which leads straight to Darnetal to attacque the Regiments of Guards in their Quarter and the Foot to march more covertly entered into the dry channel of the Robec and came to the Wood of Turinge to the English The fight began about noon weak at the first because Grillon Colonel of the Guards was scarce able to get an hundred of his men together and the English shooting coldly at a distance did not close up resolutely with the Enemy but afterwards by the coming up of the Commanders the action rose to such a height that at last it proved to be like a Battel For the Baron de Biron and Francois de Montmorancy Sieur du Hallot with two Squadrons of valiant Gentlemen assisted in both places and the Baron de Giury and la Chappelle with the Light-horse ran to reinforce their
should be suppressed by it and seeing that he could no longer delay to assist the Duke of Mayenne he resolved to do it but still persevering in his determination not to shew any interessed end but simply a desire to succor and sustain Religion that he might not put things in disorder and begât an unseasonable jealousie in the French Diego d' Ivarra was of another mind who by his own opinion and that of the other Ministers who were in France perswaded that upon occasion of the present necessity which was most urgent the Duke of Mayenne and the other French Lords should be constrained to assemble the States and cause the Infanta Isabella to be declared Queen who should afterward with the consent of the Confederate Princes take such an Husband as should be resolved on which coming to pass he thought best to spend with a free hand and with all their Forces to assault the King and never to draw off their Army from him till he was absolutely suppressed and overcome But the Duke though he knew this to be the last intention of the Catholick King and of the Spanish Council did not judge the present time seasonable for that business as well because the French Lords holding themselves deceived and that upon occasion of their present exigency they meant to bring their necks into a noose would in despair cast themselves into the Kings mercy who with many inticements sought to make them his friends as also because there was not time to manage that design with that patience and dexterity it required while Rouen was already besieged and the necessity of relieving it admitted no delay The Spaniards and particularly Diego d' Ivarra a man of a most fiery wit and naturally of a stinging tongue added that the Duke of Parma being an Italian for his own interest and that of the other Italian Princes did not desire the so great growth of the Spanish Monarchy and that therefore he went interposing doubts and delays no less than the French Lords did But the effects of after-times have clearly shown how prudent and profitable the Duke of Parma's opinion was who being resolved to help in the so great need of the Confederates was come to Guise where he met with the Dukes of Mayenne and Montemarciano and having left Count Mansfelt in the Government of the Low-Countries gave order to his Son Prince Raunuccio and the other Commanders to draw together and lead the Army toward the Confines The Duke could do no less than give the Duke of Mayenne and the rest a touch of what King Philip had with his own mouth spoken to President Ieannin That it was thenceforth necessary not to do things by chance and without a determinate end but to assemble the States who having understood the Catholick Kings intentions which he would cause to be made known unto them by new Ambassadors should resolve upon future things which could not alwayes go on in the present uncertainty And when he saw that the Duke of Mayenne answered him very coldly to that particular he caused it afterward to be spoken of to him by President Riceardotto one of his Counsellors but the Duke not refusing the Convocation of the States said it was necessary to refer it till another time and that first it should be treated on with the Dukes of Lorain Nemours and Mercoeur and that the ends to which they should unanimously tend should be agreed upon lest they should proceed indeed by chance and cause some division among the Confederates Which reasons being very conformable to the sense and opinion of the Duke of Parma and having observed that at this proposition all the French Lords were put in suspence and no less than they Madam de Guise who was then present he seemed to remain satisfied and imposed silence to thââ point but fell onely to demand la Fere for his retreat whither he might bring all the Artillery Ammunition and Baggage of his Army it not being fit that they should remain open to the Enemies incursions and that he advancing into the boweâ of an enemies Country should not have one place whither he might retire at his pleasure There was enough to do to obtain this point for the Duke of Mayenne refused to alienate any place from the Crown But having discovered that the Vice-Seââschaâ de Montelimar Governor of that Fortress held intelligence with the Spaniard doubting that they howsoever would get it against his will he was at last contented that the Duke should bring in his Arms and Artillery thither and that he should leave â Garrison there of Five hundred Walloons paid by the Catholick King but still under the same protection of the Crown the same French Magistrates residing to administer Justice and not satisfied with that he would also have a bill of the Duke of Parma's hand to leave it free to him again whensoever he should draw forth his Artillery The D. of Parma about that time gave great satisfaction to the Confederates by a very prudent and generous action for certain Deputies being come to him from the City of Orleans to let him know That their Citizens not having wherewithal to pay the soldiers of the Garrison who were many months behind and seeing that the D. of Mayenne had no great care of their interests were desirous to put themselves under the Catholick King 's protection being ready to receive what Garrison he should think fit he reprehending them for seeking to swerve from the obedience of the Lieutenant of the Crown refused to accept of them though Iuan Baptista Tassis and Diego d' Ivarra were of a contrary opinion to whom he answered that if they thought to get possession of the Crown of France by reducing the Cities one by one the World would be at an end before they had absolutely gain'd it and that it was necessary to strike at the root and not busie themselves in pruning off the boughs Matters being set right with the French Lords it was necessary to set them right also with the Ministers of Rome for after the death of Gregory the XIV th Giovanni Antonio Fachinetto Cardinal of Santi Quattro being chosen Pope who took the name of Innocent the IX th the affairs of the League seemed not to be hearkened to by him with the same inclination wherewith his Predecessors had imbraced them for he told both the French Agents and Spanish Ministers freely that he would not stir to give any relief to France till a free Catholick King but such a one as was generally liked of were chosen whereby he seemed to point at a Prince of the Blood-Royal for Scipio Balbani had communicated the Cardinal of Bourbon's design to many and their mindes were much entangled with it nor was the Pope himself much averse from this new thought whereupon being earnestly sollicited to assist the so urgent necessities of the League and not to forsake the cause of Religion he answered that he could not
he would take the same resolution because it was dictated by reason having till then believed that he had had to do with a Captain-General of an Army and not with a Captain of Light-horse which he now knew the King of Navarre to be but this business bred a discontent among the Commanders of the League for the Spaniards and Italians commended the Duke of Parma's wariness and his secure way of managing the War and the French praised the forward humour of their Nation and would have had him proceed in the same manner which they saw the King hold in the promptness of his resolutions but the condition of the one was very different from that of the other for the King being General of a voluntary Army and having no other hope nor any other security but himself was necessitated to venture his own person upon all occasions making way with his danger for those that followed him but the Duke of Parma coming only to succour the Confederates would not hazard at once the hopes of France and the possession of Flanders without expectation of some fruit by his Victory that might countervail so great a loss and therefore with art and prudence as he had done at Paris he pretended not to conquer but not to be conquered However it were it is most certain that from hence there began to rise differences and discontents between him and the Duke of Mayenne which afterwards encreased every day The Army of the League advancing with commodious marches laid siege to Neuf-Chastel which by reason of its weakness they believed would have made no resistance but the Duke of Parma incensed at the boldness of the defendants and at the impediment which he received thereby caused his Artillery to be planted with as much speed as was possible and with wonderful fury to batter that part of the wall which stood toward his Camp which being old and not lined with earth within a short space afforded a breach very convenient to be assaulted which Monsieur de Giury seeing began to capitulate and though the Duke were at first highly incensed at his resistance yet being appeased by the intercession of Monsieur de la Chastre Giury's Father-in-law and admiring the valour of that Cavalier who to give his party time to recover breath had thrust himself into so great a danger granted him honourable conditions about the performance whereof there arose some dispute for Monsieur de Rebours a Colonel of French Infantry who had shut himself up in the Town with Giury not having been particularly mentioned in the Capitulations the Duke of Parma pretended that he not having been named ought not to enjoy the benefit of the Articles but to remain a prisoner and Monsieur de Giury argued that having made composition for himself and all his soldiers though Rebours was not named with the other Officers because he had not his men there was yet comprehended and ought to go free with all the rest which after it had been a while disputed the Duke of Parma generously remitted the difference to the Kings own decision who knew whether he had left Rebours with command or without command for the defence of the place But the King having called a Council of War and having heard every ones opinion gave judgement that Rebours was to be understood as comprehended in the Capitulation But the obstacle of Neuf-Castel though it was but for four days gave great help to the King's affairs for that time was not onely very considerable but in that interim part of the victual being spent which was brought along with the Army of the League it was necessary to stay to make new provisions for the Country destroyed in a siege of so many months in the sterility of the Winter did not afford any thing and the victuals that were to be brought from Picardy were of necessity to be accompanied with strong Convoys and backed by the Cavalry of the Army because the King and the Baron de Biron from Diepe and Arques where they lay caused all the wayes to be obstructed with their Horse This stay was of ten days to the great murmuring of the French for the Duke would not engage himself in an Enemies Country all ruin'd and not well known to him without such abundant provisions of victual as were necessary to feed the Camp not being accustomed to remit the event of his Counsels unto fortune In these dayes there happened many valiant encounters for the King being cured of his wound suffered not the Enemy to repose without suspition nor without danger but matters proceeded almost alike the encounters being between the Cavalry wherein the number of the Gentry on each side equalled the proceeding with bold attempts prompt resistance and gallant resolutions It fell out that the King being advanced upon a hill that lay on the right side of the great high-way by which all the Enemies Army marched caused the Sieur de Montigny with a Squadron of Light-horse and the Sieur de Praslin with another of Cuirassiers to fall suddenly into the Quarters of the Duke of Aumale who brought up the Rere just at the time when he newly entered into them but after a short skirmish rather than fight being in their retreat charged by the Count de Chaligny and the Sieur de Rosne there followed in the adjoyning Plain a great encounter to which the Sieur de Ferâaques and the Count de Torigny son to the Mareschal de Matignen coming up with the Troops of Normandy they fought above two hours with singular bravery but when they of the League would have retired they found themselves engaged by the Baron de Biron who with another Troop fell in upon their Flank so that to sâve themselves they were fain to turn their backs and run full speed which the Count de Chaligny scorning to do and gallantly fighting in the midst of his enemies was taken prisoner by Chicot the King's Jester but a notable sturdy lad who in the taking of him received a wound from him in the head whereof he died not many dayes after The Count being brought into the King's presence and being much afflicted to have been taken by a Fellow of so base a profession the King comforted him assuring him that Chicot was a valiant Fellow and that he ought rather to complain against himself for having engaged himself so far to which the Count answering that the desire of seeing and learning had made him so forward the King replyed that those of his party knew not how to teach him and that if he would learn the art of War he ought to fight under his Colours and near his person These were the ordinary sayings of the King who gave the Counts ransome to the Dutchess of Longueville and her daughters who having been taken at Corbie after many months imprisonment were fain to buy their liberty with 30000 Ducaâs The next day just as the Army of the League came out
shot in the thigh yet the other Squadrons of the Germans coming up and the English and French Infantry rallying themselves together on all sides they of the Town were beaten back though with much ado and driven to their very gates But the Ammunition being blown up the Artillery taken and all things put into confusion the loss was inestimable and irreparable for a long time There were slain on the Kings side above eight hundred Souldiers in the Trenches and amongst them two French Colonels and fourteen Captains of several Nations and of the Assailants not above fifty The Governour presently dispatched the Sieur de Franqueville thorow the Woods to the Duke of Mayenne to give him notice of what had passed and to let him know that it was not necessary to precipitate any thing to relieve the City for the Enemy was left in such a condition that they would be able to hurt them but little for many days This intelligence being received on the twenty sixth in the evening while the Army was marching their appointed way they made an halt and the Commanders were called to consult The Duke of Parma was of opinion to prosecute the design for that the Infantry being astonished by the misfortune of the day before it would be much more easie to dissipate them and make themselves Masters of their Quarters freeing the City utterly from the siege and effecting that for which they were advanced so far but the Duke of Mayenne considered that the business they intended to do was already done the Mines and Trenches destroyed the Artillery taken and Ammunition blown up that there remained nothing to do save to beat the Infantry out of their Quarters at Dernetal whither they were all reduced which being excellently well fortified was not an enterprise that could be so easily effected without dispute so that it being necessary to spend many hours time about it the King in the interim would be come up most powerful in Horse with whom they must of necessity fight with their Souldiers tired with marching and wearied with the first encounter and that the City not having need that things should be precipitated it was better to proceed with that circumspection wherewith they had governed themselves till they His opinion was followed though many of the Spaniards believed he gave that counsel because the Duke of Parma should not get the glory of having relieved Rouen and so in the same order the Army faced about and returned to the quarters from whence they came There they consulted what was to be done The Duke of Mayenne's opinion in which the other French Lords concurred was that the siege of Rouen could not be raised without coming to a Battel which by reason of the great abundance of Gentry that followed the King at that present he judged very dangerous whereupon his advice was Rouen being in such a condition that there was no danger it should be much straitned in many days no noâ in many weeks that only seven or eight hundred Foot should be sent into the City for a reinforcement and to make up the number of the dead and that the rest of the Army should bend another way shewing that they were no longer in fear nor care about the siege but that they should busie themselves about other enterprises for the Gentry that followed the King tired with the sufferings and expences of all that Winter seeing there was not like to be any occasion of fighting for a long while and that the Army of the League was far off would with their wonted haste retire to their own houses and that many others would leave the Kings Camp in the same manner which as soon as they should see come to pass they should speedily march back and without losing time advance to Rouen for that the King would certainly be forced to draw off or if he sought the Victory would be secure The Spaniards and Italians fearing lest others should enjoy the fruits and honours of their labours inclined to go forward firmly believing that the King would rise from the siege rather than be catched between the City and their Army and since so much was already done they desired to perfect the enterprise and this opinion was favoured by Prince Raunucâio more desirous of glory than any other But the Duke of Parma chose to follow the advice of the French and having sent to Rouen eight hundred Walloons of the Regiment of the Count de Bossu and de la Bourlotte who arriving by night entered without opposition departed with the rest of his Army and having passed the River Somme he marched away as fast as he could and went to besiege St. Esprit de Rüe a wonderful strong place standing toward the Confines When the Army of the League was retired the King though the cause of the resolution of the Confederates was obscure to him determined nevertheless to straiten the siege of Rouen more diligently than he had done before and the Men of War being arrived which the States of Holland sent to his assistance commanded by Philip one of the Counts of Nassaw aboard which were many Pieces of Cannon great store of Ammunition and above three thousand Foot he caused the Cannon and Ammunition to be landed whereof he had exceeding great need by reason of the spoil made in the sally and gave order that the Holland-Ships should not only scowr the River to hinder the coming of Victual and other necessaries that were brought from Havre de-Grace to Rouen but also that they should come up close to the City and battering the old Palace and other places near the River increase the dangers and labours of the besieged He also caused certain Barks to be manned in the upper parts of the River towards Pont de l' Arche which under the command of Monsieur de l' Hospital High Chancellor of Navarre scowred it also on that side and blocked it up so much the more which Barks the first day they set forth meeting with Monsieur d' Anqueâil made a very sharp fight the end whereof was that one of the Town-Ships being fired and another sunk though the King 's did also receive much harm yet those of the League retired under the protection of the Walls The Holland-Ships drew near also on the lower side and shot an infinite number of Cannon-shot into the Town which nevertheless did but little hurt but the Governour having caused three Culverines to be planted upon a Cavalier which had formerly been raised by the River side after that one of their Ships was boared thorow and thorow with them and the Main-mast of another shot down they drew off to look to the blocking up of the River and landed Two thousand Foot more to re-inforce the Army The King in the mean time set himself again to cast up Trenches and make Redoubts on all sides and hastening the Works with his own presence the Princes and Lords assisting likewise in
both it might hinder their commerce and the navigation of the River whereby without loss of time in besieging Meaux he might reap the same or perhaps greater fruit This was the thought of the Duke of Nevers who having had the care of executing it applied himself to it so diligently that within a few days the work began to rise apace the Fortification being made in the likeness of a Star with five acute Angles and an high Platform raised in the midst The King with his whole Army was quartered upon the Bank of the River where forcing the Peasants of all that Country round about and making his Foot Souldiers work by Companies in their turns he endeavoured to have the Fort made defensible On the other side the Parisians anxious because of that impediment which would bring them into a worse condition for matter of victual and increase that dearth to extremity wherewith the City was already much afflicted ceased not to stir up the Duke of Mayenne to oppose the raising of that Fort so prejudicial to the common interests nor did the Duke desire less than they to be able to oppose it but the small Forces he had with him constrained him to proceed slowly For it was necessary first to stay till the neighbouring Garisons were drawn together and after they were met the Count de Colalto's Germans who were many Pays behind mutinied against him and without them he could not move with any hope of good success The Germans at last were quieted a certain sum of money being paid them but in the mean time many days were past whereby the Duke of Nevers had so much the more leisure to bring the Fort into a posture of defence and so much the more difficult became the attempt of hindering it and yet the Duke advanced on the other side of the River intending to fight and to possess an Abby which standing over the River he might afterward batter the Fort from thence as from a Cavalier but the Sieur de Praslin and the Count de Brienne being in it with a very great number both of Horse and Foot they skirmished hotly for the space of two whole days together before the Duke could seat himself in a convenient place to oppugn it and as soon as the Artillery was brought and planted the King appeared who had been indisposed some days at St. Denis at whose coming a Bridge of Boats being put over the Garison in the Abby was so re-inforced that those that defended it were not content to sally fiercely every hour to skirmish with the Army of the League but had also lodged themselves with many trenches in the field and with them had brought themselves even under the Dukes Redoubts and to the same Post where the Artillery were placed wherefore it appearing not only difficult but in a manner altogether impossible to gain the Abby defended by so numerous a Garison and relieved and sustained from the Kings Camp by the conveniency of the Bridge of Boats the Duke not persisting obstinately retired to quarter in the Village of Conde there to expect the Sieur de Rosne and Colonel St. Paul whom he had sent for with the Foreign Forces and with those of the Province of Champagne judging it impossible to oppose the Kings Army if his own were not much encreased by the arrival of those Supplies but having expected them in vain from the 16. till the 22 of September he retired at last to Meaux without being able to hinder the perfecting of the Fort from whence that he might not lose his time unprofitably and that he might give some ease to the afflicted Parisians he went after not many days to besiege Crespy a place of the County of Valois and having taken it without more dispute he made the passage more easie and more secure for some quantity of victual which might be carried into Paris from that fertil Country round about While the Heads of the Parties entertain themselves with these petty actions one to straiten the City the other to enlarge it from want of provisions the Treaties of each side went on with more heat than matters of War The Kings mind was intent upon the affairs of Rome having from the Popes Equity and Prudence conceived great hopeâ that he might reconcile himself to the Church but he wished rather that the business should pass by way of Composition and Agreement than by means of Humiliation and Pardon and therefore desired That the Venetian Senate and the great Duke of Thuscany should interpose as Mediators to negotiate that Reconciliation with the Apostolick See The treaty whereof standing thus in suspence withheld the minds of the Catholicks till the end were seen and did not alienate the Hugonots who were not yet sure that the agreement would be effected but were rather full of a reasonable hope that that manner of treating at Rome would not bring forth any fruit at all Cardinal Gondi having conferred with the King in his passage and having with his pasport taken his voyage thorow the places that were of his party had made some stay at Florence desiring that some of the Cardinals might first be gained by the Great Duke The Marquiss de Pisany took his journey at the same time and having passed the Alps was come to Desenzano upon the lake of Garda a place belonging to the Republick of Venice to procure that the Senate by means of their Ambassador might first break the yâe in introducing the Treaty with the Pope But these attempts were yet very unseasonable for the things that were still acted in France by the Kings Council and the Parliaments of Tours and Chalons where they had damned the Popes Bulls and the Commission given concerning the Legation of the Cardinal of Piacenza and many other Declarations of such-like nature gave small sign of the Kings Repentance and Conversion and had put the Pope as it were in a necessity of protecting the League and of resenting those injurious demonstrations which had been attempted against him with so little respect as well for the security of Religion as for the reputation of his own person nor could he yet secure himself that the King who for the time past had been so obstinate in his belief could so all of a sudden sincerely turn Catholick but he doubted that it was a meer fiction to establish himself in the Kingdom and therefore he judged it to be his office by length of time and by many Arguments and Conjectures to make himself certain of his inward Conversion that he might not compleat the destruction of Religion by a precipitate determination and such a one as was little seemly for the dignity of his Person and that opinion the World had conceived of him To this was added the power of the Spaniard who possessed the greater part of the Cardinals the obligation the Pope himself had to that party which had brought him to the Papacy whereupon he was necessitated
its advantage and profit and much more for its honour and reputation that so famous an Assembly should be made in their City they intervening and assisting in it The Cardinal Legat assented also to this opinion as well not to incommodate himself with the expence of new journeys as because he thought by the heat of the Parisians to bring the Assembly to make election of that King who should be of greatest satisfaction to the Apostolick See and to the intentions of the King of Spain Wherefore the Duke of Mayenne having left the Government of the Army to the Sieur de Rosne by him created Mareschal and Governour of the Isle of France went to Paris with a small retinue and there with his presence and with his words laboured to comfort the afflicted people for the dearth of victual and the interruption of commerce and trading in the City shewing them that within a few days there would be some course taken in the Assembly of the States and convenient order setled totally to free the City and ease it of its present necessities striving with liberal promises and by honouring and cherishing every one especially the Magistrates of the City and the Preachers to gain the good will of the people which by his late severity he feared he had wholly lost It was not without great reason that the Duke of Mayenne hoped at last to transfer the Crown upon himself and his Posterity for considering the present estate with due regard it was clear that neither the Union of the Crowns nor the Election of Infanta Isabella things laboured for by the Spaniards would ever be endured by the French who by no kind of interest by no kind of practice could ever be brought to submit themselves to the Empire of their natural Enemies and though some particular men corrupted with money or by the expectation of places and honours had accommodated their gust unto it yet the general which was more powerful would never have been perswaded by any means Wherefore these pretensions failing and being excluded he thought and reason told him so that the Catholick King could not concur more willingly to the election of any other than his own person since if either the Duke of Lorain or the Duke of Savoy should be elected as the report went by the party that they should make new States and power would be added to the Crown of France with the augmentation whereof it was likely the Catholick King would not be well pleased but rather that it should decrease in strength and greatness he did not see that the Catholick King could expect to draw greater fruit from his past labours and expences than in chusing him who by reason of the need he should have of him to establish himself in the Kingdom would be constrained by necessity to content him and to condescend to many things which the rest peâhaps would not so easily consent to The same he judged of the Pope who as far from interests and full of that moderation which he made shew of would more willingly yield to him than any other not to deprive him of the fruit of his so great labours considering that he alone had sustained the Catholick party and the Cause of Religion which no other either by authority or prudence could have been able to sustain He saw the French generally inclined and disposed in favour of him by reason of his authority in the party whereof he had so long been the Chief and that between the Dignity and Office he now possessed and the full power of King there was no other difference but the title he already holding the administration of affairs as Lieutenant of the Crown He knew that not one of the rest of his Family could equal himself to him either for valour merit experience or authority and that the sole shadow of his will would confound and terrifie them all To this was added the diligence wherewith the Deputies had been elected to his advantage the inclination of the Parliament newly by the punishment of the Sixteen by him restored to its being the dependence of the Council of State and the art of managing this design in which Conditions all the rest were incomparably inferiour to him The sâme conceit had the Duke of Parma who after that his counsel of overcoming things with patience and drawing matters out in length was no longer hearkned to in Spain thought the election of the Duke of Mayenne more profitable for the Catholick Kings affairs than that of any other man because he might be established with more facility less charge and more advantageous Conditions wherefore he writ into Spain about it and it appeared that in the course of the business he would have favoured his affairs either because he so judged it profitable for King Philip as he demonstrated or as the other Ministers said because he desired not that the Spanish Monarchy should increase to such a height and come to the only one in Christendom without counterpoise or opposition But his death which happened upon the second day of December in the City of Arras after a long painful sickness did something vary the state of things as the Spaniards then said to the advantage of the Catholick Kings affairs but as it appeared afterwards by the effects to their notable damage for the reputation of his name being removed which had already brought the humour of the French as it were into obedience they neither much esteemed the other Spanish Commanders and Ministers nor were the Ministers themselves equal to him either in knowledge or authority and having conceits and opinions different from those which he prudently nourished in his mind and wherewith he had managed the business till then they went on afterwards with such a precipice that the Catholick Kings affairs took an impression very different from what they held at that present But the Duke of Mayenne with the loss of him lost also much of his hopes and seeing the other Ministers particularly Diego d' Ivarra utterly averse from him he began to doubt he should be forced to take another resolution and thought to guide his businesses with more art and caution than he had formerly done Nevertheless the Convocation of the States was advanced so far that it could no longer be deferred and it was necessary to assemble it as well not to break absolutely with the Spaniards as to satisfie the Popes importunities but most of all because the Deputies were already elected and many of them upon their way to Paris These things happened Anno 1592 in which year various fortune had with divers accidents troubled the other Provinces of the Kingdom Monsieur de la Valette Governour of Provence had in the beginning of the year laid siege to Rochebrune a place held in that Province by the Duke of Savoy and after he had in vain battered it many days being resolved to remove his Artillery and plant them in another
acknowledge the King of Navar for Superior though he should turn his Religion and make show to live as a Catholick to which the Duke of Mayenne not consenting as a thing very different from his practices and intentions the other Deputies that were present spake against it with divers reasons But the Legat urging with wonderful vehemence at last the Archbishop of Lyons said that the States were Catholicks obedient to the holy Church under the superiority of the Apostolick See in such cases and met together in obedience to the Pope and that therefore they would not be so impudent as to go about to bind his hands and presumptuously to declare that which he had not declared preventing his Judgments and declaring the King of Navar irreconcilable to the Church by a vain determination which was out of the Secular Power and wholly proper to the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and that therefore they were resolved not to proceed to that Oath lest they should offend their own consciences and the Majesty and Jurisdiction of the Pope and the Apostolick See Which reason with the decency thereof stopt the Legat's mouth and the Duke of Mayenne's intention not to proceed to that Declaration prevailed But upon the Twenty eighth day there came one of the King's Trumpets to the Gate of the City desiring to be brought in that he might deliver a Packet of Letters directed to the Count de Belin Governor of it and being ask'd what his business was he answered freely and publickly That he brought a Declaration of the Catholicks of the King's party addressed to the Assembly of the States and being come before the Governor he gave the Letters into his hand and made the contents of them more fully known among the People The Governor carried the Packet to the Duke of Mayenne who lay troubled in his Bed and not being willing to open it but in the presence of all the Confederates he sent for the Legate the Cardinal of Pelle-vé Diego d Ivarra the Sieur de Bassompiere Ambassador from the Duke of Lorain the Arch-bishop of Lyons Monsieur de Rosne the Count de Belin the Viscount de Tavannes the Sieur de Villars by him newly declared Admiral Monsieur de Villeroy President Ieannin and two of the ordinary Secretaries which they called Secretaries of State in the presence of whom the cover being taken off there was a Writing found with this Title The Proposition of the Princes Prelates Officers of the Crown and chief Catholick Lords as well Counsellors of the King as others now present with his Majesty tending to the end of obtaining Peace so necessary to this Kingdom for the conservation of the Catholick Religion and of the State made to the Duke of Mayenne and the Princes of his Family the Lords and other persons sent by some Cities and Corporations at this present assembled in the City of Paris Having seen the Title and every one being desirous to hear the contents the Writing was read by one of the Secretaries being of this Tenor following THe Princes Prelates Officers of the Crown and Chief Catholick Lords as well of the Council as attendance of His Majesty having seen a Declaration Printed at Paris in the name of the Duke of Mayenne dated in the month of December published with the sound of the Trumpet in the said City upon the Fifth day of this present Month of Ianuary as is found at the bottom of it and which came into their hands aâ Chartres do acknowledge and are of opinion with the said Duke of Mayenne that the continuance of this War bringing the ruine and destruction of the State doth also by necessary consequence draw along with it the ruine of the Catholick Religion as experience hath but too well shewed us to the great grief of the said Princes Lords and Catholick States who do acknowledge the King whom God hath given them and serve him as they are naturally obliged having with this duty ever made the Conservation of the Catholick Religion their principal aim and have then always been most animated with their Arms and Forces to defend the Crown under the obedience of his Majesty when they have seen strangers enemies to the greatness of this Monarchy and to the honor and glory of the French name enter into this Kingdom for it is too evident that they tend to nothing else but to dissipate it and from its dissipation would follow an Immortal War which in time could produce no other effects save the total ruine of the Clergy Nobility Gentry Cities and Countries an event which would also infallibly happen to the Catholick Religion in this Kingdom Thence it is that all good Frenchmen and all those that are truly zealous thereof ought to strive with all their Forces to hinder the first inconvenience from which the second is inseparable and both inevitable by the continuation of the War The true means to prevent them would be a good Peace and a reconciliation between those whom the misfortune hereof keeps so divided and armed to the destruction of one another for upon this foundation Religion would be restored Churches preserved the Clergy maintained in their estates and reputation and Justice setled again the Nobility would recover their ancient force and vigour for the defence and quiet of the Kingdom the Cities would recover their losses and ruines by the re-establishment of Commerce Trades and employments maintainers of the people which are in a manner utterly extinct the Universities would again betake themselves to the study of Sciences which in times past have caused this Kingdom to flourish and given splendour and ornament unto it which at this present languish and are by little and little wasting to nothing the fields would again be tilled which in so many places are left fallow and barren and in stead of the fruits they were wont to bring forth for man's nourishment are now covered with thorns and thistles in summ by Peace every one might do his duty God might be served and the people enjoying a secure Peace would bless those who had procured them that happiness whereas on the contrary they will have just cause to complain and curse those that shall hinder iâ To this effect upon the Declaration which the said Duke of Mayenne makes by his writing as well in his own name as in the names of the rest of his party assembled in Paris where he alledgeth that he hath called the States to take some course and Counsel for the good of the Catholick Religion and the repose of this Kingdom it being clear that if for no other reason yet because of the place alone where it is neither lawful nor reasonable that any other but they of their own party should interview no resolution can proceed from it that can be valid or profitable for the effect which he hath published and it being rather most certain that this can nothing but inflame the War so much the more and take away
Regiment should move from Noyon with abundance of Victual and Ammunition to put it into Laon for the relief of the place but the Duke of Longueville who scoured the ways on that side having notice of it laid an ambush for them not far from the Town which though it was discovered by the Scouts that went before yet the Convoy being either affrighted at that unexpected encounter or thinking all the Kings Cavalry was there took a resolution to retire which not being able to do without time and much confusion by reason of their carriages the Sieur d' Escluseaux who was in the last Ranks as soon as his men were routed remained prisoner the Powder was divided among the Souldiers and the carriages of victual burnt but Nicolo Basti got back safe to Noyon The greatest difficulty of the Spanish Camp was want of victual without which they could not lie long in that place where while they staid they did so incommode the King that he could not prosecute the besieging of the Town wherefore the Duke of Mayenne had caused great store of provisions to be made at la Fere having determined to have them brought to the Camp the straight way which was in a manner behind them for this purpose Six hundred Spanish Foot a thousand Italians and an hundred Light-horse were gone thither the Commanders thinking that guard sufficient because they believed not the King would dare to pass by their Camp and leave it behind him to go to a place so far off and so dangerous to fall upon them but the thing proved otherwise for the Mareschal de Byron taking with him the Sieur de Montigny eight hundred Switzers and as many French Foot of the Regiments of Navarre and St. Ange two Companies of English the Baron de Giury with the Light-horse and four hundred Horse of the Count de Torignyes and the Sieur de la Curées departed by night from the Camp before Laon and being come with wonderful silence within a League of la Fere caused the Horse to lie hid in two little Woods which were on each side the way and he with his Foot hid himself in the Fields which being full of Corn almost ripe gave them conveniency to lie unseen The Spanish Camp was not above two Leagues from that place and people going continually from thence to la Fere they were often like to have discovered the ambush if the Mareschal very patient beyond his own nature had not with marvellous silence withheld his men who many hours being already passed began to be hungry and were with much ado kept in by him yet they persevered so long that towards evening certain Carriages began to appear having intended to have gone under favour of the night Much more difficult was it then to withhold the English from falling upon the enemy before the time but in the end part of the Carriages being past they rose up furiously and assaulted the Guards on all sides The Van which was of Italian foot made resistance valiantly and the same did the Battel which was of Spaniards but the Rear finding themselves nearer la Fere faced about precipitately to retire but with so ill fortune that falling among the Horse which was already come out of the Wood it was in a moment cut in pieces The defeat of them was a wonderful disadvantage to the rest of their companions who drawn into a Body bravely withstood the fury of the Kings Infantry for being left unguarded in the Rear they were assaulted also on that side by the Harquebusiers on Horse-back and yet facing every way and sheltring themselves with their Carriages they made it good a great while and that with no small loss to those of the King's party among which Colonel St. Ange and Monsieur Faveroles Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment of Navar were wounded and still marching on fought valiantly with their Pikes and Swords being partly defended and covered by their Carriages till the Mareschal de Biron fearing least the noise of it being heard the whole Spanish Army should fall upon their backs and therefore making haste to put the business to an end caused the Gentry to alight and advancing at the head of the Switzers charged with so great violence that the less number not being able longer to resist the greater the Italians and Spaniards stoutly defending themselves were all slain upon the place The Horse that fled were pursued by the Baron de Giuri even to the Gates of la Fere and of all those that were about the Carriages very few were taken prisoners On the Kings side were killed above Two hundred and few less wounded among which in the last brush the Sieur de Canisy Son-in-law to the Mareschal de Matignon and the Sieur de la Curee In this place also Henrico Davila who was one of those that alighted from their horses with the Count de Torigni put his Ankle out of joynt with getting over one of the Carriages and was in very great danger of being lamed for his whole life The Mareschal de Biron considering that by reason of the enemies nearness he might be assaulted every moment set fire on the Carriages to the number of Four hundred and having spoiled some and bringing away others of the Teams that drew them retired with infinite celerity the same night But the Spanish Army failing of this hope the Commanders were no longer able to subsist and therefore determined to take some resolution before they were further straightned by the necessity of hunger but they disagreed among themselves about the manner of their retreat for Count Mansfelt for the greater security would have raised the Camp by night and the Duke of Mayenne fearing both confusion and dishonor would needs have the retreat made by day And because Mansfelt persevered in his opinion he was content that the Vanguard led by the Sieur de la Motte and the Battel commanded by the Count himself should march away with the greater Artillery before it was light and he with the Rere undertook to make the retreat by day In this occasion both the discipline and valour of the Duke of Mayenne qualities for the most part obscured by ill fortune in his military enterprises appeared clearly for being to retire four Leagues through an open Country in sight of the Enemy who had so much a greater number of gallant horse he did it with so great order and resolution that he received no damage at all in his retreat He placed eight Corps de Garde part Italians and part Spaniards commanded by Ceecho de Sangro and Don Alonzo Mendozza and behind these he put the flying Squadron in the Rere of which he himself with his Pike in his hand and with him the Prince of Avellino the Marquiss of Trevico Agostino Messia Don Antonio de Toledo Don Iuan de Bracamonte and above 100 Reformadoes and a little before la Berlotte retired with his Tertia of Walloons who had six Field-pieces
points they repeated and alleadged those reasons for which it was just and convenient to receive and satisfie him The Pope being between two contrary respects one not to alienate nor offend the Catholick King the other not to lose the obedience of the Kingdom of France went very warily and endeavoured that time the course of things patience and dexterity might unloose that so difficult and so dangerous knot He knew that those that took part with the King of France had reason on their side that at length there was enough said and enough done to assure the sincerity of his Conversion and that by standing firm against so many repulses he had merited the pardon and reconciliation of the Church but on the other side he doubted the Spaniards might upbraid him that they had been more constant and more jealous Defenders of the Majesty of Religion than he and he thought it very hard to alienate King Philip an ancient and confirmed Defender of the Church for a Prince which till then had ever been an Enemy and a Persecutor of it to this was added that the merits of the King of Spain towards the Apostolick See and the many enterprizes he had done for the service of Christendom and of Religion had gotten him so great authority in the Roman Church that it seemed not fit for the Pope to determine a matter of so great consequence without his liking and consent But whilst the Pope dexterously protracts this determination the Kings Forces gaining every day greater power and greater fame constrained him to come to a conclusion and the words of Monsignor Serafino wrought much upon him who discoursing often with him and according to his wonted liberty mingling jests with serious matters being asked by the Pope what the Court said about that business answered That it was now a common saying that Clement the Seventh hath lost England and Clement the Eighth would lose France which conceit having pierced deeply into the Popes mind spurred on by the evidence of reason and the effectual sollicitations of the Venetian and Florentine Ambassadors he determided to take his resolution upon his Nephews relation who assured him that in Spain mens minds were no longer so ardent as they were wont to be in the affairs of France and that being exceedingly exhausted of money and weary of the War they would make no great stir at the determination of Rome though they yet shewed perseverance desiring that the resolutions of his Holiness might be protracted for some few days more out of a desire to better their own conditions than out of any hope they had that the King of France at last should not obtain absolution wherefore the Pope taking courage after he had oftentimes felt the pulse of the Duke of Sassa the Spanish Ambassadour upon that point he at last could not but tell him that the taking a course about the affairs of France could no longer be deferred and that therefore he was resolved to hear the opinions of the Cardinals about it to the end that with their advice he might determine what should be thought most convenient The Duke of Sessa believed that the Pope would hear and gather the Votes of the Cardinals in the wonted Consistory and in the wonted manner and knowing that many of them depended upon the will of the Catholick King and that many others of themselves dissented from the King of France his Absolution did not argue much upon that particular because upon a diligent scrutiny of the Votes he was of opinion that the Absolution would not pass in the Consistory and he was certain the Pope would not do contrary to what the plurality of Votes should determine But Clement who would not refer a thing of so great weight managed till then with infinite dexterity to multiplicity of opinions which if they should be laid open would appear to be guided with particular interests and respects after he had brought the Catholick Kings Ambassadors not to refuse that the business should be put in consultation went not the ordinary way but having called the Consistory after he had read the Kings Letters and Supplications declared that he would hear the counsel of the Cardinals about them yet not briefly and confusedly at one only time but that they should one by one come into his Chamber where no other body being present he would hear them privately and gave them charge that they should come four every day severally to private audience and to discourse with him concerning the present business The Pope shwing by this prudent manner that he would exclude all private respects and give the Cardinals confidence to tell their opinions freely without fear that they should be discovered reserved unto himself the arbitrement of the determination being able when all had spoken to declare what pleased him best and to say in which opinion the major part of Votes concurred so that none might be able to oppose or contradict and just so it came to pass for having first caused solemn prayers to be made in every Church of the City and having in himself shewed signs of profound and singular devotion he for the space of many days heard the Cardinals one by one and finally being all met in the Consistory he said he had heard the opinions of all the Cardinals and that two thirds of them voted that the King of France should be absolved from Censures and received into the bosom of the Church and that therefore he would treat with the Kings Procurators and in his Name impose upon them those penances and those conditions which he should think most profitable and advantageous for the service of God and the exaltation of the Church Cardinal Marc Antonio Colonna would have contradicted and standing up began already to speak but the Pope imposed him silence saying It had been sufficiently consulted of already and determined with the plurality of Votes and therefore he did not mean that should be any more put into disputation which had once been ordered and decided In this manner having dismist the Consistory the Pope betook himself to treat with the Kings Procurators concerning the Conditions which already had been debated many days by the means of Cardinal Toledo who though a Spaniard by birth and a Jesuite by Profession yet either because his Conscience did so perswade him or for some other reason was favourably inclined to the Kings affairs and though he laboured much because the Pope would needs declare that absolution Null that had been given him by the French Prelates at St. Denis and the King stood to have it approved and confirmed by his accomplishment and because many things opposed the publication of the Council of Trent which the Pope by all means urged to have and most of all because the Pope pressed to have the Decree made in favour of the Hugonots to be broken and disanulled which could not be done without stirring up new Wars yet such was the
of Ammunition and at the same time to make the 400 Gentlemen that were in Dourlans retire into the Army wherein besides the Infantry there were Twelve hundred Curassiers and Six hundred Harquebusiers on Horse-back and because the circuit and the entries into the Town were unequal and some on this side some on that side of the River which nevertheless by reason of its shallowness might be forded in many places without difficulty they determined to divide themselves into three Squadrons and appear three several wayes to keep the enemy divided and imployed in divers places they consulted among themselves the evening of the twenty third of Iuly what was best to be done the Count de S. Paul was of opinion to which the Marquiss of Belin and the Sieur de Sessavalle assented that they should stay for the Duke of Nevers who being appointed by the King to the superintendence of the affairs of that Province was already near at hand it seeming to them a very great rashness to attempt that then with exceeding great danger which they might undertake within two days with more force and more hope of good success But the Duke of Bouillon an old emulator of the Duke of Nevers not onely by reason of their difference in Religion but also of the fame of wisdom to the first place whereof they mutually aspired could not endure to hear of staying for his coming and that the glory should be reserved for him which he pretended should result unto himself by raising the siege or relieving the Town and having drawn the Admiral to his opinion he caused it to be determined in a manner by force that the next morning they should try their fortune On the other side the Count de Fuentes knowing that all the hope of the French could consist in nothing but keeping him distracted in several places resolved to advance three miles to meet them that he might oppose their attempt with all his Forces united and having left Harnando Telles Portocarrero to guard the Battery with Twelve hundred Foot and Gasparo Zappogna with a Thousand more to defend their quarters and works he with all the rest of the Army advanced upon the same way the enemy was coming The Prince of Avellino led the Van wherein were two Squadeons of Horse one Walloons and Flemings and the other Italians and on the Flanks of them two Wings of Spanish Musquettiers the Duke of Aumale and Monsieur du Rosne followed with two Squadrons of Infantry which had each of them four field-pieces in the Front and in the last was placed the rest of the Cavalry with the Count himself and by his side a Battalion of Germans On the other side the Admiral and the Duke of Bouillon led the Van the Count St. Paul was in the Battel and had by him Monsieur de Sessavalle with the Foot that were to go into Dourlans and the Marquiss of Belin commanded the Rear It was the four and twentieth of Iuly the Eve of St. Iames the Apostle and it was near noon when the Armies marching mutually to meet came within sight of one another without delay the French Vanguard with very great violence charged the two Squadrons of the enemies Cavalry whereof that of Walloons which was upon the left hand being broken and disordered by the Admiral manifestly ran away but that of Italians where the Prince of Avellino was did long sustain the fury of the Duke of Bouillon till the Admiral who had routed and driven away the Enemy drawing near upon the Flank it likewise was constrained to retire though without falling into disorder but the Wings of Spanish Musquettiers coming up the service was hot and furious and so much the more because the Walloon Horse rallying again had likewise faced about and fought with no less courage than the rest In the mean time Sessavalle advancing out of hand to march to Dourlans fell into one of the Squadrons of Foot that followed being led by the Duke of Aumale and there begân between them a no less fierce encounter than there was among the Horse But as soon as du Rosne saw those Squadrons charge one another so courageously he with that which he led turning a good pace upon the right hand possessed himself of a higher ground which was upon the Flank of Sessavalle and first raking through them with his field-pieces from thence and then falling in with two Wings of Muskettiers that were in the Front of his men did so great execution upon them that the Sieur de Sessavalle and Colonel St. Denis being slain and all their Colours lost the French Foot were so dispersed that they could no more be rallied and the Carriages of Ammunition remained in the power of the Enemy In the mean time the Conde de Fuentes getting up to an high place from whence he discovered the various fortune of his men sent out two Squadrons of Horse to assist the Prince of Avellino and Monsieur du Rosne with the Duke of Aumale having put their Squadrons again in order advanced on each side to the place of fight Wherefore the Duke of Bouillon knowing how to yield to fortune without being willing to adventure any farther retired with small loss towards the Battel with which the Count de St. Paul reserving himself untouched had not at all engaged in the encounter but the Admiral who much more fiercely had from the beginning rushed upon the greater number of the Enemy having seen the Sieur d' Arginvilliers Governor of Abbeville and the Sieur de Hacqueville Governor of Ponteau de Mer Captain Perdriel and above Two hundred Gentlemen of Normandy fall dead before him though later and with more difficulty would likewise have taken a resolution to retire if pity and gallantry had not called him afresh into the midst of the Battel for seeing his Nephew the young Sieur de Montigny with fifteen or twenty of his followers totally engaged and sharply prosecuted by the Spanish Infantry of Antonio Mendozza he calleâ back his men that were retiring and furiously turned about his Horse to fetch him off but being surrounded by the Spanish Muskettiers and his passage cut off by the Italian and Walloon Cavalry fighting valiantly and wounded in many places he fell at last from his Horse and though telling his name he offered Fifty thousand Crowns in ransome he was killed in cold blood by a Spanish soldier and another to get a very rich Diamond Ring he wore without any regard cut off his finger for which crimes they wâre by the severity of the Count de Fuentes both put to death All those that followed him were killed upon the place close by him though fighting desperately they made the Victory very bloody to the Enemy The Duke of Bouillon either judging it a greater service to the King to save the rest of the Army or else moved by his ill will towards the Admiral who was a very zealous Catholick perswaded the Count
de St. Paul who being a young man referred himself to the opinion of those that were elder that without making further tryal to recover the day they should get the Battel into security But the Marquiss de Belin detesting that advice fell on with the Rere to relieve the danger of the Admiral and yet being encountred by four Squadrons of Lanciers whom the Count de Fuentes sent out against him he had not strength to resist their fury and being routed and dispersed in a moment the rest saved themselves by flight but he and the Sieur de Longchamp remained the enemies prisoners And this was one of those encounters which gave clear proof that Cuirassiers in the field are very much inferior to the violence of Lances The loss the French received in this Battel was greater in regard of the quality than number of the slain for they were not in all above 600 but most part of them Gentlemen and persons of note whereof the whole Army was composed which made the D. of Bouillons excuse the better in that he had saved the remainder though it was a most constant opinion that if all the Squadrons had charged at once or if he obstinately fighting had called up the Count de St. Paul with the fresh Forces to his assistance he might either have put relief into Dourlans or at least might have retired without receiving so great a loss On the side of the Spaniards there were killed but few and all obscure persons and among the wounded none was reckoned on but Sancho de Luna While the Armies fought thus the besieged in Dourlans were not idle for having heard the noise of the fight hard by they made a gallant sally to assail the Trenches in which finding the Posts well fortified and all the Guards in Arms they were no less valiantly repulsed though in that action they received not much loss The Conde de Fuentes returning victorious to the Leaguer and freed from the fear of being any more infested by the French applyed himself with all his study to hasten the end of the siege which though the defendents answered with very remarkable courage and valor yet was not their conduct and experience correspondent so that it manifestly appeared the Town though with much slaughter would fall into the power of the Spaniards Upon the 28th day the besieged made a great sally in the heat of the noon-day and because they found the Foot ready and prepared for their defence after a long fight they were at last constrained to retire and while they did so very softly and without any sign of flight being assaulted by the Cavalry and charged very furiously on the flank they lost many of their men and were fain to run back full speed to the very Counterscarp The next day the Artillery having battered not onely the Walls of the Town but made a breach also in a corner of the Castle the Count caused the assault to be given and to divide the strength and courage of the defendents he sent Foot to fall on in both places The Spaniards stormed the Castle the Walloons the Town and a while after the Italians entering into both Trenches reinforced the Assault In this occasion the valor of Hernando Telles Portocarrero appeared most remarkable who being the first that got up into the breach of the Castle fought there with so much courage that the Count de Dinan being slain who on that side had the charge of the defence and the Squadron of those within being beaten back and broken the Castle was taken with a wonderful great slaughter from whence the Assailants going down without having found any obstacle or impediment of Trenches or Casamats for the unskilfulness or discord of the defendents had been such that there was no Works cast up they impetuously also possessed themselves of the Town where in revenge of the slaughter of Han the name of which sounded aloud in the mouth of every one all that were in it were without any regard put to the Sword in the violence of the fight so that of so great a number of Gentlemen and Soldiers scarce the Sieur de Haraucourt and the Sieur de Griboâal with forty soldiers remained prisoners there being slain upon the place Monsieur de Ronsoy Governor of the Castle the Sieurs de Francourt and Prouilles who had principal commands above Three hundred Gentlemen and above Six hundred Soldiers The Town was sacked in the heat of the action and continued at the disâretion of the Soldiers till the evening and then those had quarter given them who were retired to the security of the Churches The Conde de Fuentes having obtained so full a Victory betook himself to repair the ruines of the wall and to throw down the Works without and having given the Government of the place to Portocarrero who had behaved himself so gallantly in the taking of it applyed himself with very great diligence to make preparation to besiege Cambray not being willing unprofiâably to lose that prosperity which the countenance of fortune shewâd him In the mean time the Duke of Nevers was arrived at the half-defeated and quite affrighted Army and though he strove to dissemble those errors that had been committed yet talking with the Count de St. Paul and the Duke of Bouillon at Pâquigny he could not foâbear telling them that in their consultations they had been too courageous and in their reâreat too prudent By which words and their old emulation the Duke of Bouillon being disgusted departed from the Army and likewise the Count de St. Paul not very well satisfied retired to Bologne the whole weight and care of the defence remaining upon one man alone The Duke of Nevers having taken the charge of the Army though brought to a very weak estate drew into Amiens upon the second day of August to secure that City which by the near slaughter of Dourlans was struck with very great terror and because the Citizens running popularly to him shewed him in how great fear they were lest Corbie a Town not far from the place where the Enemy was should fall into their hands he promised to go into it the next day himself in person and so having left his son the young Duke of Rhetelois at Amiens he went without delay to Corbie in which Town though weak he began to set himself in order to receive the Spanish Army in case it should march that way but the next day the Conde de Fuentes who was not above seven Leagues from thence having raised his Camp from Dourlans advanced in one dayes maâch near to Peronne wherefore the Duke with all his Forces leaving Corbie went to quarter at Arboniers that he might go the same night into Peronne The Spaniards upon the fifth day passed near the Walls of the Town marching towards S. Quintin wherefore the Duke being sent to by the Viscount d' Auchy who was in it went thither upon the sixth in
of the Marquiss de Menelay killed by Lieutenrnt Magny at la Fere and finally all things done till the end of the War which he with honourable expressions declared and certified to have been undertaken and continued for the sole respect and defence of Religion He granted him the Government of the Isle of France and the Superintendence of the Finances and to his Son the Government of Chalon separated and divided from the superiority of the Governour of Bourgongne He comprehended in the Capitulation all those that together with him should reunite themselves under his obedience and particularly the Duke of Ioyeuse the Marquiss of Villars and the Sieur de Montpezat the Duke of Mayenne's Sons-in-law Monsieur de l' Estrange Governour of Puyts Monsieur de S. Offange Governour of Rocheforte the Sieur du Plessis Governour of Craon and the Sieur de la Severie Governour of Ganache He suspended the Sentences and Judgments past against the Duke of Mercoeur and against the Duke of Aumale till it were known whether they would be comprehended in the Accommodation granting to every one besides the oblivion of what was past and the full enjoying of their Estates Offices and Dignities leave within six weeks time to come into the Capitulation and adhere unto the peace Within these principal Conditions and many other lesser ones the Duke of Mayenne concluded the Agreement but there was enough to do to get this Decree accepted in the Parliament of Paris for though the King with his own mouth forbad the Queen-Dowagers Ministers to oppose the publication of it yet was there notwithstanding as great an obstacle and opposition for Diana de Valois Dutchess of Angoulesme and Bastard-Sister to the late King appearing personally in the Parliament presented a Petition written and subscribed with her own hand whereby contradicting the confirmation of the Decree she urged to have them proceed in the Inquest about the Kings death whereupon most of the Counsellors being stirred up because the major part of their Fathers had either been created by that King or highly offended by the League the acceptation of the Decree could not be obtained and yet the King with very vehement Letters reprehended the Parliament and declared that the publick peace and safety requiring that the Decree should be registred his will and command was that it should be accepted Yet neither by this were the Counsellors of the Parliament quieted but they came to this resolution That the Decree should be published but with two conditions one That it should be no prejudice to the right of the Duke of Mayenne's Creditors the other That he should be obliged to come into the Parliament and with his own mouth swear that he had not been any way accessary to the fact that he detested the murther committed upon the Kings person and promised not to save protect or favour any one that in time to come should be questioned for it At which stubbornness the King more than moderately incensed with grave resenting words replied That they should take heed how they put him to the trouble of leaving the War to come personally into the Parliament That he was their King and that he would be obeyed by them But neither did this protestation suffice for they determined to accept the Decree but with such words as should shew that it was done by force of the Kings express command which neither pleasing him nor the Duke of Mayenne it was necessary for the High Chancellour to go to Paris and after a long effectual demonstration of the interests of the general quiet cause the Decree at last to be approved without clauses or conditions The Duke of Meyenne's example was followed not only by those that were named in the Capitulation but also by the Marquiss of St. Soââân the City and Parliament of Tholouse and all the rest which formerly held the party of the League except the Duke of Aumale who having accorded with the Spaniards and being exasperated by the Sentence published this year by the Parliament wherein he had been declared Rebel would not consent to submit himself unto the Kings obedience The Duke of Mercoeur though by means of his Sister the Queen-Dowager he kept the Treaty of Agreement alive yet being still full of hopes by the help of the Spaniards to retain the Dutchy of Bretagne he deferred it and put off his determination till another time But in the interim while the conditions of these Accommodations were treated of and discussed in the Council the King exceedingly afflicted for his late misfortune and sollicitous by some means to repair the losseâ he had received wherein he seemed to bear a great part of the blame as well by reason of his too long stay at Lyons as of the ill-satisfaction he had given the Citizens of Cambray in their requests was still contriving in himself and continually consulting with his Commanders to what enterprise he should apply himself The Duke of Nevers had formerly an intention to assault one of the places of the County of Artois belonging to the King of Spain not only to do the same mischief unto his Country which he had done to the Jurisdiction of the King of France but also because he believed that long peace had abased the courage of that people and made many of their provisions for defence useless Whereupon he had exhorted the King that increasing his Army to the greatest number he could he should unexpectedly fall upon Arras or some other great City in those quarters judging that the Condé de Fuentes troubled with the many mutinies of several Nations and reduced to extream want of money would very hardly be able to reunite his Army time enough to relieve the place that should be assaulted But after that he being spent with a tedious indisposition departed this life at Nesle this intention which was set on foot by the reputation of the Author came to nothing for the other Commanders thought it too dangerous an attempt to invade the Bowels of an Enemies Country where all the Towns are populous and powerful while by the loss of so many places they were so much troubled at home and while the Spanish Garisons over-running all parts kept the whole Country in fear and terrour True it is that of all the places that were lost their opinions concurred not so well in the choice of that which they should assault as they did in refusing to invade the Enemies Country for some held it best in the same heat of affairs to besiege Cambray to try to recover it before the Spaniards had setled themselves by mending the breaches that were lately made but the smallness of the Kings Army excluded this opinion it not being sufficient to begird a City of so great circuit exceedingly well fortified with a very strong Garison Many others counselled to fall upon Dourlans to take the same way to streighten Cambray which the Spaniards had done but the oppositions against
a loss very inconsiderable for the taking of a place accounted impregnable and one of the principal ones of all France in so few days but it had always been alike ill-defended by the carelesness of those within the effects being no way correspondent to the same of the place But the so easie and so sudden loss of Calais did not only much perplex the King but also put him in a necessity of agreeing with the Queen of England and the States of Holland for la Fere being not yet given up he thought it very hard to rise from that siege and lose the expences and labours of so many months to the no small decrease of his reputation and on the other side if he did not speedily receive Supplies from both places he was not able to draw another body of an Army together wherewith he might resist the victorious force of the Enemy so that all other places in the Province would be given over with little hope that they should defend themselves more constantly than Calais had done a place excellently fortified by art and nature Being moved with this consideration and judging that the authority of the Duke of Bouillon would be very prevalent to work upon the Queen whose determination he was certain would be followed by the Hollanders he dispatched him into England with resolute orders to the end that concluding a reciprocal Confederacy the Fleet might set sail with all speed to land men in the Port of Boulogne But the difficulties were great and the Queen had no inclination to it partly because she intended to make use of the Kings necessity to get a Port in his Kingdom for which end before Calais was lost she had been backward to relieve it that she might constrain the French to put it into her hand partly because seeing the King reconciled to the Catholick Religion she thought it was in the King of Spain's power to conclude a Peace whensoever he would resolve no longer to molest the Kingdom of France and therefore she difficultly inclined to put her self to new expences which it was in the will of her Enemies to frustrate and make ineffectual wherefore having stifly denied for many days to hearken to any Treaty of new Obligations she only profferred to give those assistânces for the time to come which she could without such great inconvenience to her self as she had done in times past and because the French pressed very earnestly to have the Earl of Essex come to Picardy with the Fleet the English answered That it was for the most part composed of ships and men that were Voluntiers who had put themselves together under the conduct of the Earl to make prize upon the Coasts of Spain from which design the Queen had not power to take them off having granted them licence for that purpose and that nevertheless they would be of great advantage to the King of France his affairs for the damage the Kingdom of Spain would receive thereby would divert the Catholick Kings Forces from the War of Picardy But these hopes and remedies were very far off and the Duke of Bouillon offering to consideration the interests of their common Religion if the prosperity of the Spaniards should still increase excited both the principal Ministârs and the Queen her self to imploy her uâmost Forces in so urgent and so near an occurrence and he moved much with his authority eloquence and reasons but most of all by being of the same Religion for he seemed to be principally zealous for the common interests and for the conservation of the Hugonot party in France to the end the King might not be constrained to come to such an Agreement with the Spaniards as might be prejudicial to the States of Holland to the quiet of England and to the Liberty of Conscience in his own Kingdom and yet the business went on so slowly and with such weighty difficulties that though the Confederacy with England was at last concluded differing little from the other contracted with King Charles the Ninth and without obligation to consign any Place for shame made the English to desist from that demand and though the Duke of Bouillon went with an Ambassador from the Queen into Holland where the same Confederacy was established yet the time was so far spent that the affairs of Picardy were no way relieved by it and the Eââl of Essex his Fleet having scowâed the Coasts of Spain was dissolved without having done any thing considerable While this League was treated of in England the Cardinal Archduke not depending upon any body but himself after he had spent ten days in making up the breaches at Calais Guines and Han having surrendred at the bare summons of a Trumpet he determined to set upon Arâres a place of a good circuit excellently fortified and standing but three leagues from Calais by the taking whereof he thought he should absolutely secure what he had gotten and though the situation of it seemed very difficult because standing on the top of an Hill it as a Cavalier commands all the Plain below it which extends it self a little more than Cannon-shot and from the Plain there are Mountains and Woods as unfit to encamp in as opportune for the Ambushes of an Enemy yet the Cardinal encouraged by his prosperous successes sided with the opinion of Monsieur du Rosne who hoped to carry it before the King could be disintangled from la Fere and able to relieve it There were in Ardres the Marquiss de Belin Lieutenant of the Province Monsieur d' Annebourg Governour of the Town and the Sieur de Monluc who was come in to re-inforce it and they had with them little less than Two thousand Foot an Hundred and fifty Horse and convenient provisions of Artillery Ammunition and other things necessary for defence And because the Siege had been foreseen by the Commanders they had laboured with all possible diligence not only to better the Fortification of the Town but also to repair those of the Suburbs that stands towards Boulogne for that being the side on which Batteries might most easily be raised they determined by defending the Suburb to keep the Enemy as far as was possible from the Wall The Author of this counsel was the Governour of the Town a Souldier not only of much valour but also of great experience whose design was to defend the ground span by span to give the King so much time that la Fere falling he might come to succour that place before the last extremities but the Marquiss de Belin was of another mind and thought it a pernicious counsel to lose men in defending useless places and such as were not tenable wherefore he would have had them only engage themselves in maintaing those Posts which for their quality might be long made good and yet all the other Commanders being of opinion that the holding of the Suburb would be a benefit of great importance the Governours advice carried it
and there was a convenient guard put in there to keep it Another difference of opinion there was among the Commanders for the Marquiss would have had the Enemy molested and their works hindred by smart Counterbatteries without sparing Ammunition and on the other side the Governour judging their store but small in respect of so great waste desired it might be husbanded to prolong the defence that they might not want a thing so necessary in their greatest exigency and because the Marquisses Authority was above his he kept part of the Ammunition hid to the end they might make use of it opportunely when the other was spent With these discords which to the great prejudice of mens own affairs do commonly reign where more than one commands they in the Town prepared themselves for the defence but the Cardinal Archduke having left Iuan de Rivas in the Government of Calais upon the sixth of May moved with the whole Army and made his first quarters at Guines the next day he marched to the Walls of Ardres so early that in that day and the next their quarters were perfected and fortified which being made as far as they could possibly out of reach of the Cannon of the Town were not yet very near to the Hills and Woods but between the Hills and their Works there remained so much space that the Squadrons as well of Foot as Horse might commodiously spread themselves in Battalia and upon all the ways that through the Woods come down the Hills strong Corps de Guards were placed with double Trenches and double Works before them or to say better behind them in those places that stood toward Boulogne Montrueil and the other of the King of France his Towns The Army being encamped and secured with wondrous diligence upon Thursday the ninth of May Agostino Messia's Spanish Foot and Colonel la Berlotte's Walloons advanced to make their approaches that they might get under the Works of the Suburb but the Sieur de Monluc whose fierceness passed by no occasion of troubling the Enemy sallied out so briskly to skirmish that their Works were foreslowed for a long time and after that another Tertia of Infantry under Iago Tesseda and Colonel Coquels Walloons came to re-inforce the besiegers and that Monluc was constrained to retire the Marquiss began such a furious Counterbattery that they were necessitated to intermit their work and stay till night but it being very clear and light the Artillery ceased not to play with great damage to the besiegers who nevertheless constantly overcoming all obstacles got to the Counterscarp of the Suburb and the next morning planted some pieces of Cannon to facilitate their entry but because Monluc ceased not to sally every hour and to keep those that wrought in great perplexity they made no greater progress till he being taken with a Cannon-shot was miserably torn in pieces for after his death there being no Commanders so valiant or so diligent the besiegers began to batter the Works of the Suburb which by reason of their weakness being easily beaten down they made an assault with so much violence that the Defendents were constrained to quit it with the loss of above forty men but while the Spaniards and Walloons enter pel-mel Monsieur de Montaut a Colonel of French Infantry fell upon them so sharply that after a bloody conflict of two hours he recovered the Suburb having impetuously driven out the Enemy with the loss of three hundred of the stoutest Souldiers of the Army and yet the next day the Cannon having plaid from morning till noon the Foot stormed it in four several places in each of which fighting gallantly Colonel la Berlotte was sore wounded Agostino Messâa struck upon the head with a stone and the Suburb was defended till the evening but the assault being renewed on all sides the next morning the Marquiss considering the weakness of the place gave the Defendents order to retire that he might not lose so great a number of valiant Souldiers And yet the Enemies pursuing closely and they that were at the Town-Gate fearing lest they should get in pel-mel with their own men let the Portcullis fall so soon that above two hundred of them were shut out and cut in pieces The Foot covered themselves diligently in the Suburb and Monsieur du Rosne having determined to play upon that side caused two batteries to be raised one of which was plyed by the Spaniards with nineteen pieces of Cannon and the other by the Walloons with seventeen pieces of several sizes the works of which being not yet finished the Counter-battery of the Town did a great deal of mischief on all sides but after the Batteries were sufficiently covered and that the Artillery began to thunder against the Flanks of the Bastions the Marquiss either out of meanness of courage as the general opinion of men would have it or because he thought it impossible to defend that place and had a desire to save himself and so many other valiant Defendents for a better occasion called the principal Officers to Council and strove to perswade them to surrender But the Governour opposing and likewise Charles Sieur de Rambours a man of great note in that Province the Officers answered that they would defend themselves to the utmost and the Marquiss replying that all the Ammunition was already spent and that he had no longer wherewithal to defend themselves the Governour made known that he had hid and preserved so much as being discreeâly disposed of would be sufficient for many days and that in the mean time they might be relieved by the King to whom he believed la Fere would yield at last To which words the Marquiss replied angerly That he deserved to be punished for having concealed the true quantity of Ammunition from his superiour Officer and that two days more or two days less imported little for he knew that the King would not take la Fere so easily and going incensed from the Council though many protested against it he presently sent out a Captain and articled to march forth with their Arms and Baggage their Colours flying and Drums beating and that the Townsmen might be free to stay or go as they pleased but those that staid were to acknowledge the King of Spain to be their Supream Lord. Thus to the wonder of all men and the great murmuring of his Souldiers the Marquiss marched forth with all his men in Arms upon the twenty third of May towards la Fere but Captain Mainferme one of the Captains of the Garison having the guard of a Bastion towards the Spanish quarters would by no means consent to the Agreement and though the Enemies were Masters of all the rest of the Town he intrenched himself within the circuit of his Bastion and defended himself undauntedly till the Artillery being planted and all his defences beaten down he thought he might honourably march away The day before this the besieged in la Fere
being reduced to extream necessity and knowing by the effects the Cardinals intention that being intent to divert and take new places he had no hope to relieve them any other way at last yielded to the Kings power having by their constancy afforded time and conveniency to make so great and so important successes the King desirous to disengage himself that he might think of relieving Ardres granted them the conditions they demanded for it was agreed without contradiction that the Seneschal de Montelimar avouched Count of la Fere and Alvaro Osorio Governour of the Garison should march forth with all their Souldiers Foot and Horse with their Arms offensive and defensive all their Baggage Cornets and Colours flying Trumpets sounding Drums beating lighted Match and Bullet in mouth and should be convoyed safely as far as Castelet that they might take along with them one piece of Cannon which had not the Arms of France upon it and Ammunition for ten shots that the Seneschal should be acquitted of all the Payments Rents and Contributions received and that there might be no Inquest made for any past action or crime either against him or any others of the Garison nor any of them molested for the debts they had contracted that the Inhabitants taking an Oath of Allegiance should be used as good Subjects and pardoned all past offences and whosoever would go forth with the Garison might have liberty to depart With those Articles la Fere yielded it self unto the King upon the two and twentieth day and the next morning he impatient of delay moved with all his Cavalry towards Ardres leaving the Constable to follow him with all the rest of the Army intending to draw near by the way of the Woods and by all means to try his fortune but he had not marched above two miles when the news came of the Marquisses composition which seemed so much the more bitter to him by how much the more lively the hopes were he had entertained of relieving that place Being struck with a most piercing grief and no less kindled with a most just disdain seeing the course of all his designs cut off by the pusillanimity of one man he would not suffer the Marquiss to come into his presence either judging him unworthy of his sight or doubting he should not be able to contain his indignation But having caused his process to be made by the Mareschal la Chastre he was often times minded to take away his life ignominiously yet Madam Gabriele interposing effectually and begging for him the sentence published after many days delay contained nothing but that he should be deprived of all his Offices and confined perpetually to his own lands Ardres being taken on the one side and la Fere on the other the common opinion was that the Armies would meet and that the King desirous to make up his losses and being grown strong by the concourse of all the Nobility of his Kingdom was resolved not to pass by any occasion which might opportunely invite him to a Battel But the Cardinal Archduke more intent to keep what he had gotten than forward to adventure his Army to new dangers and being re-called by the urgency of the affairs of Flanders left Villeverde a Spanish Commander with a good Garison in Ardres and in three days march retired into the Territory of St. Omer and from thence having had notice that the Cavalry left behind to guard the Provinces of Flanders had had been routed by the Garisons of Bergen and Breda which freely over-ran all that Country he marched further to oppose their incursions and to turn the violence of his Arms against the States who during the War in France got daily greater footing The King stood long doubtful whether he should apply himself that year to the recovery of some of those places that were lost but finding his Infantry the principal instrument for the taking in of strong Towns much out of case by their long lying before la Fere for besides the continual watchings and toils of so many months the illness of the Air in low moorish places had bred many diseases among his men who having spent the Winter in much hardship began now to feel the effects of their sufferings Besides this he wanted the most important sinew of War for many Provinces being newly returned to his obedience and the rest that had been for him before being undone by the War the whole revenue of the Kingdom was by long troubles and infinite disorders quite out of frame insomuch that being utterly without money he was not able to maintain his Army in Picardy which Province by the last two years Wars was in great part destroyed and desolate To these two weighty difficulties was added the ill success the King had had in managing the War by his Commanders wherefore being constrained to return to Paris to receive the Pope's Legat who was come to confirm and make those things be performed which had been promised by his Intercessors in the act of the Benediction he thought he should reap but small fruit by his Army in which he could not be present in person For all these reasons after long doubtfulness in the Council he determined to dismiss the Nobility that he might have them again more fresh for future occurrences and to distribute the rest of his Forces into the Garisons of the most important places so that he might not fear the Enemies unexpected return and to go himself assoon as he had received and satisfied the Legat into some convenient City in the centre of his Kingdom where having made an Assembly of the principal Magistrates from all the several Provinces he might apply himself with diligence to set his revenues in order and regulate the domestick affairs of his Court and to make fitting provisions that upon a solid foundation he might set himself the next year to recover the places he had lost in Picardy In the mean time he hoped the League with the Queen of England and the States would be concluded so that uniting all his Forces he intended to march so strong into the field that the Enemy should not be able to forbid him the recovery of his own Having taken this resolution he left the Mareschal de Byron with Three thousand Foot and Six hundred Horse upon the Banks of the Somme to the end that coasting along the River side he might be ready upon any occasion that should happen in the Country He left Peronne Bologn Montrueil Abbeville and St. Quentin well guarded and the Count de St. Paul in Amiens though that City great and populous alledging its ancient Priviledges refused to receive a Garison being confident it should defend it self as it had formerly done in the revolutions of so many Wars In this interim Alessandro de Medici Cardinal of Florence and Legat from the Pope was come into France with mutual satisfaction as well of the King who desired wholly to gain
prisoner with Montecucoli still fighting valiantly Belgiojoso advanced with the Reer and for some time gallantly withstood the fury of the Conquerours but the other Bodies being routed and he himself wounded with two Pistol-shots in the Arm was at last constrained to save himself by flight leaving the Field free to the Mareschal de Byron and free power to go where he would so that he would have done more harm to the Country and perchance have made greater progress if the Rains of Autumn which that year fell much before the usual time had not put a hindrance to his incursions About this time there happened an accident at Court which as it gave private men an example of that moderation wherewith they ought to curb their passions so did it advertise Princes how far they ought to bear those terms of necessity in their Subjects to which Honour constrains them for a Controversie in words arising in the Kings Ante-chamber between the Sieur de Coqueinvillier one of his Gentlemen-Waiters but a man of approved Valour and Monsieur de Bonivet a Cavalier of ancient Nobility and great note Coqueinvillier forgetting the place where he was struck Bonivet a Box on the Ear who restraining his own fury in respect of the place they went both out of the Court and being separated by their Friends into several places Bonivet sent to challenge his Enemy that he might be revenged of the affront he had received but he acknowledging his errour in having wronged him in a place where it was not lawful for him to draw his Sword to right himself refused to meet him in the field and offered to ask him pardon which all men knew was not for want of courage whereof he had given proofs in other Duels but out of remorse of Conscience yet Bonivet notwithstanding the common opinion reiterated his challenge oftentimes which not only was answered with the same moderation but Coqueinvillier kept within doors for some time to avoid the occasion of fighting and yet the other urging him with injurious Letters and Messages and not accepting the offer he made to refer himself to his discretion he was at last constrained to meet him in a private place hand to hand where having made his former proffers and protested that he acknowledged himself much to blame he was constrained by Bonivet's fierceness to draw his Sword wherewith having wounded him with a thrust in the first bout retiring back he would have ended the business at the first blood but Bonivet furiously insulting and making many thrusts at him he being so hard pressed ran him thorow the body and laid him dead upon the ground The news being come to the Kings ear who knew all that had passed very well and bearing not only with the necessity that had forced Coqueinvillier to fight but for his Valours sake forgiving also the offence he had committed in striking in the Court said publickly That since one of them was lost it was not good to lose the other too and granting him his pardon he commanded the Magistrates not to proceed against him In the mean time the Deputies were met together at Rouen whither the King came upon the eighteenth of October accompanied with the Cardinal-Legat the Duke of Montpensier Governour of that Province the High Constable Montmorancy the Dukes of Nemours and Espernon the Prince of Iainville the Mareschals of Retz and Matignon the Admiral d' Anville the Cardinals of Giury and Gondy and a select number of the principal Lords of the Kingdom and being received with a very solemn pomp he spoke to the Assembly the fourth day of November showing them how much need the affairs of the Kingdom had of a Reformation and the urgency of Supplies to maintain the War upon the Confines Which things after they were more at large unfolded by the High Chancellor every one set himself with great desire to think upon those remedies which they judged might prove convenient But the infirmities of that Body afflicted with so long distempers were such as could not be so easily cured and every one perceived how necessary a general Peace was to introduce and establish a wholsom permanent Reformation since that amidst the necessities of War new disorders still spring up nor can the strictness of Reformation be observed where Military exigencies continually extort licentious dispensations Nor was there any body who thought not that the proper means to obtain peace was to have a great strength for the War to the end that recovering their reputation and the places that were lost the two Crowns might agree in peace with equal honour But as the remedy was known so was the means of attaining it very difficult for the whole Kingdom was so exhausted and weakned that the people could confer but little to the Kings assistance who to maintain the Armies in Dauphine and Bretagne and to raise a greater one in Picardy was forced to think of great preparations of Men Money and Ammunition which was gotten out of England and Holland at a very great charge and though it was hoped that some Provinces which had not been so much divided might with good order taken afford some considerable supply yet that required length of time which the Exigency and the War would not allow But nevertheless not being able to forbear doing all that was possible every one applied himself heartily as well to reform as to make preparations With the consultation of these affairs ended the year 1596. And though the Assembly continued in the beginning of the year following yet the Reformation was but very weak for the matter was not disposed to receive it and the times were unseasonable for the rigours of a resolute course only the expence of the Kings Houshold was lessened some supernumerary Offices were taken away and the Pensions of particular men were restrained but not in such manner that the Treasury was much eased by it The provisions made for the King were something more considerable for the payment of the debtâ of the Crown were suspended for the two next years but without prejudice to the Creditors an increase was granted in the peoples name upon the Gabelle of Salt one of the chief Revenues of the Crown all Usurpers of Confiscations were by a severe Edict constrained not only to restore the Land but the profits so usurped from which business there resulted no small benefit And finally many of the Treasurers and of the Clergy voluntarily obliged themselves to contribute a certain sum of money though no very great one But the King having ended the Assembly at Rouen and being come into the quarters about Paris to take Physick for some private indisposition to the end that being freed from it he might more freely apply himself with the first season to the toil of Arms a new important accident gave beginning to Actions of War before the time Hernando Telles Portocarrero a man who in a very small stature of body contained
under pretence of defending him sets strict Guards upon his House 181. his words to the Prince of Condé 186. deprives the Marshal d'Anville Son of Anna de Momorancy of his Dignity by a Decree 198. dyeth May 30 1574. 201 King Chilperic of an Effeminate Nature put into a Monastery by Charles Martel and Pepin Masters of the Palace 360 King Clodian second King of France made himself Master of Belgia and this was first conquered 4 King Francis I. advances Charles of Bourbon and afterwards suppresseth him whereupon he rebelleth 5. taken with an Apoplexy under the Barbers hands 38 King Henry III. succeeds Charles IX 205. returning out of Poland at Thurin restores certain places to the Duke of Savoy kept by the Kings of France for security 207. is ill affected to the King of Navarre and Prince of Condé Heads of the Hugonots and Duke of Guise Head of the Catholicks 209. demands the King of Sueden's Sister to Wife 211. Consecrated at Rheims by the Cardinal of Lorrain Brother to the Duke of Guise and next day marries Louyse de Vaudemont Neece to the Duke of Lorrain 212. takes Mombrum who had taken his Carriages and executes him ibid. frames a new model of Government 213. his Speech at the beginning of the Assembly at Blois 227. declares himself Head of the Catholick League 231. sends two Armies against the Hugonots and makes Duke of Alanzon Lieutenant-General 233. his manner of Life 236. Institutes the Order of the Holy Ghost 238. sends forth three Armies 242. Takes upon him the protection of Geneva 250. answers the Spanish Ambassador sharply makes an Edict against raising Soldiers 260. his Answer to the Catholick Leagues Declaration 267. esteems Luigi Davila the Authors Brother and makes use of him in managing Affairs and War 274. makes a specious Proposition of Peace 275. his Edict against the Hugonots 281. calls the Heads of Paris together and demands money for the Wars of the Catholicks against the Hugonots 282. a Saying of his 283. confers the Government of Provence on the Duke d'Espernon ibid. despairing of Issue resolves to further the King of Navarre's right to the Crown and unite himself with him for the destruction of the Guises 297. his solemn Oath 308. Another Saying of his sends an Army against the King of Navarre and gives secret Order to Savardin to oppose but not suppress him 311. Honours the Wedding of the Duke of Espernon and Countess de Candale with great Presents 312. Goes in person to keep the German Army from joining with the King of Navarre 320. declares Duke d'Espernon Admiral of the Kingdom and Governor of Normandy 333. commands the Duke of Guise not to come to Paris 337. shews himself angry with the Duke of Guise coming to visit him 338. is strongly guarded for fear of him 339. commands Fifteen thousand to be driven out of Paris 341. leaves it and retires to Chartres 346. orders the Duke d'Espernon to quit his Government of Normandy 351. receives the Duke of Guise at Chartres with great demonstrations of kindness in appearance 354 dismisseth many old Servants for their too much wisdom after the example of his Grandfather 357. begins the Assembly at Blois with a fine Speech which stings the Duke of Guise and his Adherents 359. swears with the States to perform a former Edict 360. after much opposition consents coldly to declare the King of Navarre and all others suspected of Heresie uncapable of the Crown 362. He the States and Duke of Guise send to the Duke of Savoy to demand restitution of Saluzzo and upon refusal to denounce War 365. goes Armed to a factious quarrel ibid. admits Pio Mocinego Ambassador from Venice though he were not one of the Savii de terra firma 367. resolves to free himself of the Duke of Guise 368. orders him to be killed 369. admits every one into his presence speaking very resentingly 371. A Saying of his upon the Duke of Guises being killed ibid. discourses a long while with Cardinal Moresini about the Dukes death ib. highly offended at the Popes sharp Answer to his Ambassadors sent to excuse the Cardinal of Guises death 382. promises the Duke of Mayenne very great things by Letter 384. sends the Bishop of Mons on purpose to demand absolution for the Cardinals death 385. puts himself in the Fight and orders his Soldiers at Tours 398. takes Gergeau and Piviers 402. Troubled at the Popes Censure and Monitory and fasts 48 hours 402. his words upon being Excommunicated ibid. taking Estamps hangs the Magistrates and gives the Pillage to the Soldiers ib. layes Siege to Paris 403. A Saying of his when looking upon it 404. called Henry of Valois the Tyrant and Persecutor of the Faith ibid. is thrust into the Belly with a Knife by Fryer Jaques Clement strikes the same Knife into his forehead dyes August 10. 1589. having lived Thirty six years and Reigned fifteen and two months Page 406 King Meâove the third King of France continues the Conquests of Belgia by Clodian as far as Paris and unites it to France 4 King of Navarre sollicits in the name of the Princes of the Blood that they might share in the Government 16. kept a Prisoner 36. excommunicated by the Pope applies himself to the Opinions of Beza and Peter Martyr 42. dyes 76 King of Nâvarre afterwards Henry IV. his Answer to Henry IIIs words at the Excommunication against him 48. is in great perplexity 407. his Answer about changing his Religion 408 swears to maintain the Catholick Religion 410. raises the Siege before Paris and divides his Forces to convenient places 412. desires to speak with Villeroy but the Duke of Mayenne will not consent ib. He and the Duke treat by a third person but nothing done ib. appoints the Assembly of States at Tours 416. marches successfully to Diepe and fortifies the places about it 417 c. is in great danger in the midst of his Enemies a Speech of his 421. a Saying of his 422. refuses in modesty to go under the Canopy of State at Amiens 423. marches towards Paris assaults the Suburbs gives the Pillà ge to his Soldiers 423. dismantles Estamps ibid. takes Vendosme gives the Pillage to his Soldiers condemns the Governor to death for his infidelity and Father Robert a Franciscan for commending the killing Henry III. 426. acknowledged King of France by Publick Solemnity at Tours and by the Republick of Venice 427. makes himself Master of all Towns and Fortresses in Normandy 428. besieges Dreux 440. raises the Siege 442. designs his form of Battel and draws it with his own hand 443. All armed on Horseback visits and exhorts his Soldiers with great efficacy and at the head of his Army lifting up his eyes to Heaven prayes heartily 446. his Clemency towards the French gives the Suisses quarter puts the Germans that revolted to the Sword 448. takes Two hundred and four Ensigns and Cârnets with all the Cannon and Baggage on his side but Five hundred slain 449.
other discontented Lords The King of Navarre goeth to the Court solliciting the King in the name of the Princes of the blood that they might participate in the Government Queen Blanch Mother to St. Lewis having taken upon her the Government of the Kingdom in the minority of her Son the Barons took arâs to maintain the right in those to whom it belonged So did Lewis Duke of Orleans in the time of Charles the eighth The Admiral maketh a proposition to the Male-contents to protect the followers of those opinions in Religion introduced by Calvin and it is embraced Iohn Calvin a Picard preacheth and publisheth in print 128 Principles differing from the Roman Catholick Religion which at first are hearkned to only in curiosity but at last make great impressions in the minds of men and produce great mischief Calvins opinions had their first foundation in Geneva The Reformed Religion began to spread in France in the time of Francis the First Henry the Second was very severe against the Calvinists 1560. The Calvinists use to boast much of the death of Henry the Second The name of Hugonot derived from certain places under ground near Hugo's gate in the City of Toârs whâre thosâ opinions âirst took growth The manner of the Hugonots proceedings Renaudie a man of a desperate fortune is made Head of the Hugonots Conspiracy 1560. The fifteenth of Maâch was a day more than once appointed for the execution of great designs in France and this day Anno 1560. the Hugonots determined to meet at Blois where the King then was The Conspirators arrive near Ambois where the Court was and are all defeated 1560. After the suppression of the Conspirators in a secret Council held in the Kings Chamber it is resolved to punish the favourers of the Hugonots To get the favourers of the Hugonots into their power it is resolved to call an Assembly of the States at which amongst others the Princes of the blood are to assist The Prince of Conde who was as a prisoner is set at liberty By the death of Olivier Michel de l' Hospital is made High Chancellor Anne of Mâmorancy with all his adherents goes to the Assembly at Fountain-bleau The King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde go not thither The Assembly at Fountain-bleau The Admiral pâesents a Petition from the Hugonots in which they demand erection of Temples and Liberty of Conscience A National Council proposed A general Assembly of the States is resolved upon and the present Assembly dismissed Saga a servanâ to the King of Navarre is taken prisoner at Estampes with divers Letters about him and being tortured confesseth certain practices against the Crown The Prince of Cânde practiseth to possess himself of Lions but without success The three Estates of the Kingdom The Prince of Conde committed to prison The King of Navarre kept ãâã a prisoner The Assembly of the States begins The Prince of Conde excepts against his trial and appeals to the King but the appeal is not accepted Sentence pronounced against the Prince of Conde The King under the Barbers hands taken with an Apoplexy Charles the IX All the Nobility and the Militia is divided between two Factions Pope Iulio the second excommunicates the Kingdom of France and the Adherents thereof in which the King of Navarre being included he applieth himself to follow the opinions of Beza and Peter Martyr The Constable Anne of Momorancy restored to his Command The Prince of Cânde set at liberty and the Sentence pronounced against him declared void 1561 The ãâã of the States d smissed A kind of toleration permitted to the Hugonots The Kâys of the Kings Palace taken frâm the Duke of Guise and delivered to the King of Navaâre The private interests and enmities are covered with the vail of Religion and the two Factions take the name of Hugonot and Cââholâck At Rhââms a vial is kept with the oyl whereof the first Christian King âlouis was consecrated The Dâke of Guise as first Peer of France is declared to precede all the rest The Peers are twelve six Ecclesiastical and six Secular An âdict th t no âoây shoulâ be mâlâsted for matters of Religâân with the reââitution âf confiscated goodâ The Hugonots grow insolent towards the Catholicks The Cardinal of Lorain in the Kings Council inveighs against the Hugonots The Edict of Iuly The Parliament of Paris expels the Hugonots out of the Kingdom The juâgment of heresie committed to the Bishops The conferenâe of Poissy The divers opinions of the Hereticks There are Eight Parliaments in France 1562. The Edict of Ianuary The Cardinal Hippolito d' Est Legat in France Propositions to exchange Navaâre for Sardinia The union of the King of Navarre with the Duke of Guise and the Constable which the Hugonots called the Triumvirat Queen Câtheâine in opposition to the Triumvirat joins with the Prince of Conde and the Admiral The Queen feigning an inclination to the Hugonots Religion In a conflict between the Duke of Guise his servants and the Hugonots the Duke is hurt wiââ a stone A saying of the Duke of âuisâ which made him thought the author of the ensuing War Persons of desparate âortunes the incendiaries of Civil Wars The Queen is forced to declare her self fâr the Catholicks and at the same time maintains hoâes in the Hugonots Charles the IX wept at his restraint Orleans made the seat of the Hugonot Faction The Prince of Conde's Manifest The Parliament of Paris Answer to the Princes Manifest The Answer of the King and Queen The Prince of Cânde coynâ the Plate belonging to Churches An Edict published at the instance of the Parisians to forbid the Hugonot Assemblies in their City or neââ the Court. The Kings Army movâs towards Oâleans * Brigues a French word signifying factions or contentions The Cardinal of âhatâllin changing his Religion calleâh himself Count of Fâââvais The Parley between the Queen-Mother and the Prince of Cânde The Prince of Conde's demands in favour of himself and the Hugonots The Kings Edict slighted by the Hugonots The Queen perswadeth the Duke of Guise and the Constable and the Mareshal de S. Andââ to leave the Court which they promise The Queen having it under the Princes hand that he woulâ retire himself the Catholick Lords leave the Camp The Prince of Conde returneth to his Army ROYALISTS and HUGONOTS The Hugonots through the faults of their guides march all night without advancing The Armies face one another and retreat wiâhout fighting The Protestants of Germany are Lutherans Conditions offered by Queen Elizabeâh of England to the Hugonots That Montgomery who killed Hânââ the Second Blois taken and pillaged by the Kings Army and Tours the first Assault Poictiers taken and saâkt Bourges reâdred upon condition The Heads of the Hugonot Faction are declared Rebels * Toquesaint an allarum Bell used as the ringing of the bells backwards with us The English received by the Hugonots to Havre de Grace Diepe and Rââen * The
Quintus writes congratulatory Letters to the D. of Guisâ full of high praises The Pope thought he saw not cleerly into the affairs of the League The Pope chuseth Giovaâ Francesco Moresini Bishop of Bergamo Legat to the Congregation of the States he being much desired by the King to whom he was Nuncio At the same time he is made Cardinal The Duke of Espernon is conspired against at Angoulesme Secretary Villeroy fomenting the business upon a secret order from the King The King according to the example of his Grand-father dismisseâh many old servants for their too much wisdom In the place of the High-Chancellour Chiverny Francois Sieur de Mântâelon is chosen Garde de Seaux * Lord Keeper The Assembly of States-General called at Blois upon the agreement between the King and the League begins with extraordinary preparations The King begins the Assembly with a fine Speech which sâings the Duke of Guise and his adherents Monthelon the Garde des Seaux prosecutes and amplifies the King's Speech * Rânaud de Beaune * Michel Marâeaâ The King and the States swear in solemn manner to perform the Edict made before or persevâring in the Catholick Religion The common opinion that the Duke of Guise aspired to the authority which the Masters of the Palace were wont to have * Les Maires du Palais Câipâric King of France of an effeminate nature put into a Monastery by Charles Martel and Pâpin Masters of the Palace The Proposition of receiving the Council of Trent made in the Assembly of the States-General is rejected with great contradiction The King is râquested to declare the King of Navarre incapable of the Crown and all others suspected of heresie after much opposition he consents coldly unto it The King seeing the râsolution of the States against the King of Nâvarre procures an abâoluâion at Rome for the Prince of Cânây and Count Soissons of the House of Bourbââ which much troubles the Duke of Guisââ Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy possesseth himself of the Marquesate of Saluzzo Causes alledged by the Duke of Savoy in excuse for his surprisal of the Marquesate of Saluzzo They send to the Duke of Savoy to demand the restitution of Saluzzo and upon his refusal to denounce War A fray happens among the Lords Pages one of the Duke of Guises is slainâ the uproar riseth to that height that the whole factioââ are divided under the names of Royalists and Guisaâds the King himself being armed goes to the quarrel The King admits Giâ Mocenigo Ambassador from Venice though he were not one of the Sauii dâ Tââra Firma * Magistrates so called at Venice because they have the principal adminâstration of affairs by land and the care of matters belonging to Peace and War Chrestienne de Lorain which should have been given to the King of Navarre is married to Ferdinandâ de Medici Grand Duke of Thuscany The King desiring âo free himself of the Duke of Guâse proposeâ his design to four of his most trusty Confidents who after long consultation resolve to have him killed * Le porche aux Bretons The answer of Grillon Captain of the Guards Lognâc promiseth the King that the Duke of Guise should be slâin The King's resolution against the Duke of Guise comes to the ear of the Duke of Guise himself A consultation between the Duke of Guise the Cardinal his Brother the Archbishop of Lyons and the Duke d' Elbeuf The order taken by the King for the killing of the Duke of Guise The Captains invention to double the Guards and not be suspected by the Duke of Guise * The French Translation says Grand Mastre de la Garde robbe Pelicart the Dukes Secretary sends him a Note in a Handkerchief to bid him save himself but it comes not to his hands The Duke of Guise swoonin theCouncil-Chamber An ill omen of his approaching death The Duke of Guise is slain as he lifts up the hanging of the Closet-door The Cardinal of Guise and Archbishop of Lyââs are made prisoners as also all the Lords and other chief adherents of the Duke of Guise * The ordinary Iudge of the Kings houshold his command extends to all places within six leagues of the Court. It was reported that the Duke of Guise had received from Spain the sum of two millions of Crowns The King admitting every one into his presence speaks very resentingly The King says to his Mother Now I am King of France for I have put to death the King of Paris The King discourseth a long while with the Cardinal of Moresini about the Duke of Guises death The King seeing that the Legat shewed no trouble at the imprisonment of the Cardinals commands that Lewis of Lorain Cardinal of Guise be also put to death Du Gast a Captain of the Kings Guard causes the Cardinal of Guise to be slain by four Souldiers The bodies of the two Brothers were burned in quick Lime and their bones buried in an unknown place The Duke of Guise's Virtues and Endowments both in body and mind The Archbishops of Lyons being often examined would never answer alledging that as Primate of all France he had no other Superiour but the Catholick Church The Cardinal of Bourbon the Prince of Iainville now called Duke of Guise the Archbishop of Lyons and the Duke d'Elbeuf are all put into the Castle of Amboyse Charles Duke of Mayânne third Brother to the Guises being advertised of his Brothers death flees from Lyons 1589. Katherine de Medicâs Wife to Henry the Second died on Twelfth-Eve in the 70 year of her age thirty whereof she spent in the Regency and in the management of the greatest affairs and troubles of the Kingdom of Franceâ 1588. 1589. The Insurrection of the Parisians at the news of the Duke of Guise's death Charles of Lorain Duke of Aumale being made Governor of Paris by the City armes the people and orders them regularly under Commanders The Preachers detracting from the King celebrate the Duke of Guise his Martyrdom with exceeding high praises The Colledge of Sorbonne declares Henry the Third to have forfeited his Right to the Crown and his Subjects free from their Oath of Allegiance The King's Arms and Statues are thrown down the Navarrists and Politicks persecuted and slain All the Counsellors of Parliament and Officers who adhered to the King are imprisoned in the Bastille A Decree is made to combine themselves for the defence of Religion and it is called the Holy Vnion The Dutchess of Guise comes to the Parliament and demands justice they determine to do it her and chuse those that should form the Process Places and Cities which rise and unite themselves with the Parisians * Rather in Languedââ A description of the miserable condition that France fell into by the means of the Duke of Guise his death The Names which the Factions gave one another * Bandes Blanckes Sixtus 5. being told of the Cardinal of Guise's death is highly offended and answers
in him he divideth all his forces to defend the Cities belonging to his party The Duke of Anjou pursueth the Victory and layeth siege to Cognac but finding it strongly defended raiseth the Camp and takes divers other Towns A new Army of Germans cometh into France in favour of the Hugonots under the Command of the Duke of Deux-ponts he marcheth towards the Loire taketh the la Charite and there passeth the River The Duke of Deux-ponts General of the Germans dieth of a Feaver and Count Mansfield succeeds him in his Command The Prince and the Admiral go to meet the Germans The Duke of Anjou that he may not be encompassed by them retires into Limosin the Hugonot Forces join follow the Kings Army skirmish hotly at Rochabeille through the barrenness of the Country the Hugonots are forced to retire The Queen-Mother cometh to the Camp it is resolved to separate the Kings Army to let the Enemies Forces consume with time the Army disbands and the Duke of Anjou retires to Loches in Touraine WHilst these things were in agitation at the Court all other parts of the Kingdom groaned under several afflictions and frequent Insurrections For the Hugonots arrogating to themselves a much greater liberty than was granted them by the Edict of Pacification endeavoured in many places without any regard of the Magistrates by tumults and violence to extend it to the uttermost and on the other side the Catholicks desiring to have that power which was permitted them restrained sought by often complaints and sometimes by force of Arms to molest them whereby in the midst of Peace the War was in a manner kindled again in all parts These distractions in the Provinces not only troubled the Parliaments which were wholly imployed how to remedy the disorders that proceeded from matters of Religion but also the Kings Council together with the whole Court where all the weight of the business falling at last there arise many obstinate disputes between the Protectors and Favourers of both Factions the Mareshal of Momorancy and the Admirals Adherents labouring to obtain an inlargement or at least a confirmation of the liberty granted to the Hugonots and the Cardinal of Bourbon but much more the Cardinal of Lorain pressing that the Catholicks might be satisfied in their desires and the liberty of the other suppressed Wherefore the contestations so increased when any thing of this subject came to be handled and the minds of men were so sway'd by passion that it was thought necessary to appoint the Duke of Anjou the Kings second Brother though yet a Youth President of the Council and to make an order that no business concerning Religion should be debated if the King or the Queen were not present nor was this sufficient for the persons engaged on both sides accustomed now to a liberty of speech as well as of action all reverence due to the Royal Majesty being laid aside appeared exceeding violent in their disputes shewing clearly that they were more inclined to the interests of the Factions than either to the publick peace or preservation of the Commonwealth Notwithstanding the Queen still remained constant to her own rules and the King persisted in the resolution already taken to dissemble with all possible patience and sufferance the insolencies that were committed and to endeavour that policy rather than force might at length put an end to these evils And therefore by plausible Declarations sometimes in favour of one party and sometimes of the other they sought so to appease both that things might not come to a manifest rupture but that by prolongation of time those wounds might be healed which were yet open and fresh bleeding for this reason the King bestowed many favours upon the Admiral and his dependants and followers got more than the Courtiers themselves for this cause the Prince of Conde was suffered to enjoy such an absolute power in his Government of Picardy that shewing a dislike to have the Mareshals of France in their ordinary Visitations of the Frontiers to visit that Province the King gave the Mareshal d' Anville particular order not to go thither and in this consideration the complaints brought in continually against the Hugonots were passed over as also the resentments of the Catholicks put up with silence that so these discords might be buried in oblivion and the troubles cease of themselves At the same time the Constable who through age and indisposition of body desired to retire himself made suit to the King that he might surrender his Office to his Son Memorancy which the Queen by reason of his humour and inclinations absolutely disliking the King was perswaded by her to return answer That having already designed whensoever the Constable left off or could no longer exercise his charge to make the Duke of Anjou his Brother Lieutenant General it was not at all necessary to think of any body to supply that place nevertheless not wholly to distaste the Constable nor by this refusal absolutely to lose his Son they were content to admit Memoranây into the Council of the Affairs a thing which he had sought after before but could never compass and besides gave him 30000 Francks to pay his debts though it were in a time when Money was exceeding scarce And though the Constable very much troubled to receive a repulse was not altogether satisfied with these other demonstrations yet at last he gave over his suit but such was the inconsiderateness of the Prince of Conde being governed rather by violence than reason that as soon as he heard mention of surrendring the Constables Office he openly pretended to it for himself without any consideration of the Memorancy's Allies which not only rendered the Kings denial excusable who being sollicited by two such powerful pretenders made choice of his Brother as a mean between both but also made an absolute breach between him and the Constable and in some measure took off Memorancy who was before so much inclined to favour his proceedings To this good success the Queen indeavoured to add the reconciliation of the Cardinal of Chastilâon who being openly a Hugonot and the Pope solliciting by the Bishop of Ceâeda his Nuncio in the Court of France that he might be commanded to lay by his Cardinals Hat and quit the Ecclesiastical preferments that he held the Queen with divers excuses always putting off that business by offering the Cardinal a liberal recompence in temporal revenues and preferments sought by fair means to effect that which could not be done by force But these delays which as the instances were greater from Râmâ still increased together with the favour that was shown at Court to the Bishops of Vsez and Valence whom the Pope as Hereticks had degraded from their Bishopricks and many other such like things made Pius Quintus newly succeeded to Pius Qâââtus in the Apostolick Sea conceive a very hard opinion of the Queen which was yet more increased by a rumour spread abroad by her ill-willers
that she had sent a Gentleman expresly to Constantinople to perswade the great Turk to send an Army against the Christians that so being busied in their own preservation they might not persist to think of or interpose in the affairs of the Kingdom of France which opinion though it were not grounded upon any reason yet it being generally believed for a truth that there was a Gentleman sent to Porta the Pope little satisfied in other matters was not alone moved therewith but also the Republick of Venice the Senate there thinking it not only a thing pernicious to all Christian Princes but very contrary to what they expected from the Queen in gratitude whom they had so readily assisted in her greatest extremities with their counsel and much more with supplies Insomuch that the Nuncio made many complaints of it at the Court and the Venetian Ambassador by order from the Senate demanded and had an Audience to the same purpose both of the King and Queen at which he modestly desired repayment of the 100000 Duckets which in courtesie were lent by the State for the service of the Crown alleadging this reason That the Turk as report went coming so near them they were necessitated to make use of what they had and to arm themselves for their own security The Queen being troubled at these rumours and the ill opinion that was conceived of her and desiring above all things to preserve the friendship of the Princes in confederacy with France but especially the Pope and State of Venice because upon them she had grounded many hopes thought it necessary to send the Chevalier de Seurre expresly to Rome to clear her of those jealousies which business he knew so well how to manage laying before the Pope all those reasons that Ludovica Antenori had represented to his Predecessor that his Holiness though he were of a difficult scrupulous nature remained fully content and satisfied She omitted not to perform the like Ceremony with the Venetian State the âmity and wisdom of which she always made great account of having for that purpose dispatched away one of her Gentlemen who with the Leiger Ambassador at Venice was to negotiate that business but he falling sick upon the way and dying afterwards at Milan the Ambassador took the whole care of it upon himself and at an Audience he had of the Prince in the presence of the Seignory which they call the Colledge he said That the King his Master had sent a Gentleman on purpose to treat of certain business with the Republick which he was now forced to do alone for the said Gentleman being arrived at Milan fell sick there and died That his Majesty commanded him to say That the amity and affection King Francis his Grandfather and King Henry his Father always bore to the Republick were very great but his alone surpassed them all by reason of the great benefits he had received from it and especially the supplies of money it sent him in his greatest necessity that he would not only satisfie the debt but return the like or a greater courtesie that his Father by reason of the long War he had left him many debts which he might well enough have paid and gotten before-hand with money if it had not been for the Civil dissentions of his Kingdom that if they were ceased yet the expence would not be taken away for the jealousies that continued would necessitate him still to keep an Army on Foot that the suspition of War is worse than War it self for there is one certain fence against this but that requireth a vigilance on all sides that to this was to be added the great scarcity which equally afflicted all parts of his Kingdom and the tumults in Flanders which being so near obliged him according to the Maxims of State to make preparations with great expence for his own security Wherefore he desired to be excused if he did not immediately satisfie the whole debt that he would presently lay down a third part and in some time after the rest and that if the Republick had occasion he would not only pay what was due but furnish as much more if it were required wherefore they might make account of that money as if they had it in their own Treasury that the more his Majesty grew in years the more he grew to the knowledge of the love and friendship of the Republick and the obligations he had to it both for his own particular and his own Kingdom To this the Duke made answer That in repayment of the money the King might take his own conveniency for it was lent to serve his occasions Then the Ambassador continuing his discourse said That the second thing he had in charge was concerning a bruit spread abroad that his Majesty had sollicited the Great Turk to send his Army against the Christians which it seemed proceeded from a Letter written by one of Raguze which was afterwards divulged with additions by the Emperours Ministers and the Spaniards who were in that City it being interpreted by them that the Gentleman the King sent the May before to Constantinople was to this effect though the truth were the occasion of sending that Gentleman was to sollicite the release of certain Provincial Slaves that the King being desired to call home the Gentleman that was resident there had granted his request and established this other in his place who seemed to like of the imployment that his Majesty would continue his ancient correspondence with the Turks just upon the same terms that his Father and Grandfather had done before without innovating any thing therein that if he had any business to treat with the Turk or a new capitulation to make with any Prince on Earth he would never do it without the privity advice and consent of the Republick for he so well knew the amity and affection which that State bare unto him and the prudence and wisdom thereof to be such that it would never approve of any thing that should not be beneficial to France and all Christendom that if the Republick would continue as it had done hitherto with the Turk he would do the same and if it changed resolution he would follow the like steps for the King would never separate himself from it but ever go along in all things that concerned their common interest The Senate was very well content with so ample a Declaration and desired the Leiger Ambassador to testifie both to the King and the Queen their satisfaction therein by which means all the distastes at Rome and Venice being removed and the ancient intelligence with both those States confirmed the whole care was directed to the particular affairs of the Kingdom But all the pains and industry used to appease the Prince and to secure the Chastillons was in vain He knew not how to leave his natural disposition nor would these by any means trust to the Arts of the Court and the Hugonots aiming at such an