another about Montferrat the Kings of France and Spain intervened to make them friends And this was done without prejudice to the peace betweene the two States Valteline is a vally seated between Germany the Venetians the Dutchy of Milan the Grisons It was in old time a part of the Dutchy of Milan or at least an appurtenance of the same And was engaged to the Grisons by Lewis the XII for foure hundred thousand pounds arrear due to them for their service in the conquest of Milan since which time it was subject to the Grisons But the differences of Religion intervening and the Grisons being turned Protestants for the most part Valtolina kept for the most part the Religion of Milan Which made them desire to shake the yoke of the Grisons and returne under the subjection of Milan invited to it by the Spaniards So that an 1619. the great revolt began and the Valtolins expell the Grisons their Masters Who had recourse to the protection of France by whom they held that Countrey King Lewis the XIII sends Monsieur de Bassompierre into Spaine to Philip the IV. for Philip the III. was lately dead who granted according to the Treaty of Madrid that all garrisons of strangers should depart out of Valtolina and that order should be taken for the maintaining of the Catholique Religion The Duke of Feria having refused to execute that command and the Valtolins unwilling to returne to the obedience of the Grisons King Lewis exhorted the Switzers and Grisons to maintaine their rights and sent them an Embassadour the Marquis de Coenures whom he made afterwards General of their army and Marshall of France known by the name of Marshall d'Estree Then did the French and the Spaniards fight yet without breaking the Treaty of Vervins because both acted for their confederates Pope Vrban the VIII having made himselfe Depositary of the principal places of Val olina sent his nephew Cardinal Barbarini into France an 1625. who not being able to make an accommodation as pretending to deliver Valtolina from the obedience of the Grisons war began in Italie by the aliance made betweene the French and the Duke of Savoy against Genoa which was assisted by the Spaniard Thus these quarrels upon the by came very neer to an absolute rupture betweene the two Nations For at the same time some Spanish ships passing from Barcetona to Genoa and driven upon the coasts of Marseille were arrested by the Duke of Guise Of which the Genoese complained to the King of Spaine whose Councel irritated with these wars and with the taking of many places about Genoa gave order that all French ships in the havens of Spaine should be arrested and all the goods of the French trafficquing in Spaine seized upon The Councell of France to bee even with them made two Edicts the one to forbid all traffick with Spaine the other to seize upon all ships of Spain Portugal Naples and other places of the Spanish dominions yet onely by right of represalls and for restitution of the goods taken from the French War continued in Piemont all that while till the winter of that yeare 1625 when the armies retired into garrisons That winter Du Fargis the French Emassadour in Spain began a Treaty which was called the Treaty of Monson in Arragon whereby without any Commission from his Master or his principall Minister of State the Cardinal de Richelieu as it was pretended he did greatly derogate to the right of the Grisons over Valtolina making the Valtolins well nigh Soveraines taking from the Grisons all power to refuse the Iudges and that forme of Government which the Valtolins would set up among themselves That Treaty was disavowed by King Lewis and the Cardinal who commanded the Embassadour to reforme it Wherein so much tedious protraction was used that Lewis was in the end constrained to take upon him the protection of the Valtolins and sent them the Duke of Rohan who there continued the war even after the rupture between the two Crownes In the yeare 1628 Vincent the II. Duke of Mantua being dead Charles Duke of Nevers the next heire male succeeded but the Emperour made some difficulty about it because he was borne in France and because he did not come personally to him to render his homage But besides his right of lapse for want of homage he set up the right of Duke Guastullo of the same house of Mantua which yet appeared at the first to be weake and of no force At the same time the Duke of Savoy renewed his rights to Montferrat So the new Duke of Mantua saw himselfe almost swallowed up by the Emperour the Spaniard and the Duke of Savoy Yea Don Gonzales de Cordova besieged Cazal the old apple of discord between the houses of Mantua and Savoy King Lewis resolved to maintaine his subject and confederate sends Bevron and Guron to defend Cazal Himselfe passeth into Italie forceth Le pas de Suze driveth the Spaniard from the siege of Cazal and compelleth the Duke of Savoy to let the Mantuan be in peace The Protestants in France being in armes Rochel besieged and their party brought low some say that the Duke of Rohan sent Clausel from Montpellier to Madrid to put the Protestant party under the protection of the King of Spain The History of Dupleix sets downe the whole Treaty betweene the King of Spain and the Duke of Rohan whereby the Spaniard promiseth to assist Rohan with men and money But Lewis returning victorious out of Italie suddenly overcame the Protestant party and forced them to receive peace The Spaniard thought he might as lawfully assist the Protestants of France as the French assisted those of Holland Whilst Lewis was busy about the pacification of his owne State the Duke of Savoy reneweth his pretence to Montferrat the Emperour sends Colalto against the Duke of Mantua and the Marquesse of Spinola besiegeth Cazal but in vaine being well defended by Toiras since Marshal of France Lewis repasseth into Italie makes himselfe Master of Savoy and Piemont The Imperial Army takes Mantua but all is pacified by the Treaty of Queyras an 1631. and the Duke of Mantua is setled in his Estate In that yeare 1631. Mary the Queene Mother of France retireth into Flanders The next yeare 1632. the Duke of Orleans her sonne doth the like Where getting some Dutch and German troopes he makes an inrode into France and in the yeare 1633. he makes a Treaty with the Spaniard to enter into France with an Army All this without absolute rupture betwixt the two Crownes Onely the Spaniard fomented the divisions of the Royal house of France Gustavus Adolphus King of Sueden after a long war against Poland comes into Germany an 1631. for the restitution of the Dukes of Meckelburg his kinsmen into their Estates out of which the Emperour had expelled them and to restore liberty to the Cities of Germanie Lewis jealous of the greatness of the house of Austria and having causes
also their place of honour and at the Mass That honour was seen by the place where they sate by the Censer and by the Pax which was given them in the time of the Mass Now whereas this Councill was held at three severall times under there several Popes Paul the III Jule the III and Pius the IV. In the time of Paul and Jule Charles the V was Emperour whose Embassadors without contradiction sat above the French Embassadors who in the sixteen first Seffions appeared very little and no place was held there under the title of Spain Yet some things hapned then which shewed the eminency of the French Kings above all others next to the Emperour In the Bull of the Indiction of the Councill Paul the III dated an 1542. the King of France is named after the Emperour in express terms and all the other Princes comprehended in one generall term and that twice Thus Charissimos in Christo filios nostros Carolum Romanorum Imperatorem Christianissimum Regem Franciscum duo praecipua Christiani nomins firmamenta atque fulcra orare atque obsecrare institimus A little lower Supra autem dictos Imperatorem Regemque Christianissimum nec non caeteros Reges Duces Principes quorum praesentia si aliàs unquam hoc quidem tempore maximè sanctissimae Christi fidei Christianorum futur a est salutaris rogantes atque obsecrantes per viscera misericordiae Dei c. In the beginning of the Council an 1545. Francis the I had appointed for his Embassadors Claude D'Urfé Seneschal of Forests Jacques de Liguieres President in the third Chamber of Enquests in the Parliament of Paris and the Deane Peter Danes since Bishop de la Vaur But being informed by some French Bishops that were at Trent that there was little hope that the Councell should do any good he called back his Embassadors who did not appear in the Councel Antony Filioly of Ganat Archbishop of Aix in Provence was there for the King who in the first Session when publike prayers were made for the Princes having required that the King of France should be named in expresse termes as he had been named in the Bull of the Indiction the Legats eluded that demand and said that the Fathers ought to be consulted about it and none was prayed for in expresse termes but the Pope and the Emperour all other Princes were comprehended in one generall term In the year 1546. Francis the I sent his Embassadour Peter Danes Bishop de la Vaur to the Councill At his reception he made a fine speech wherein he represented the State of Christendom and the great disorders crept into the Church even into the Court of Rome At which when a certaine Bishop did laugh saying Gallus Cantat Danes replyed readily Utinam isto gallicinio Petrus ad resipiscentiam fletum excitetur An Apophthegm which afterwards was rife in the mouth of the Fathers of the Councill An. 1547. when Paul the III to a void the plague the war of Germany would remove the Councill from Trent to Bolonia the Legates consulting the Fathers about it said that his Holinesse approved of it Communicato etiam consilio cum Imperatore Christianissimo Rege aliis Regibus ac principibus Christianis which is another expression of the honour which the Council did to the Kings of France But in the third Indiction of the Councill under Pius the IV. an 1561 in the Bull of the Indiction Pius the IV useth other words then Paulus the III and Julius the III had used before Thus Charissimos verò in Christo filios nostros Romanorum Imperatorem electum caeterosque Reges Principes quos optandum sanè esset Concilio interesse posse hortamur rogamus without any mention of the most Christian King Philibert de la Bourdesiere Bishop of Angoulesm Embassadour of France in the Popes Court expostulated with him by the Kings order for that neglect with protestation that notwithstanding that neglect he would not hinder the progress of the Councill yea that he had commanded his Bishops to go to the Councill The Pope answered that he had charged some Cardinals to form the Bull and that they had not heeded that Pointillo and that after they had named the Emperour they had not judged it necessary to name all the Kings but had comprehended them under one generall name The Embassador replyed that it was a Prerogative of the Kings of France not to be comprehended under a generall name The Pope answered that he could not foresee all things and that another time order should be given that the like errour should not be committed In the year 1562 the 18. of May Lewis de Saint Gelais Lord de Lansac came to Trent and three dayes after Arnault Ferrier President of the Enquests of Paris and Guy du Faur de Pibrac chiefe Judge of Tolosa sent by the King of France who were received with great honour by the Council yea great part of the Prelats subjects of the King of Spain went to meet them But Ferdinand de Avalo Marquess of Pesquera Embassadour to King Philip went out of Trent three dayes before and retired to Milan of which he was Governour pretending a feare from the Protestants of Daulphiné and the Switzers but in effect to avoid meeting with the French Embassadors who took their place in the general Congregation after the Imperiall Embassadors Pibrac made a fine Oration wherein he spake very freely against the disorders of the Church the small progress of the Councill in such a long time and for the liberty of voting in the Councill which was not to be expected from Rome He was seconded by the two other Embassadors Lansac and Ferrier The Pope complained of it and said that the King of France had sent not Embassadors but Advocates of the Hugenots And indeed the ill opinion which the Fathers of the Councill had of the beliefe of these three men was a cause why the Councill and the Pope dealt with them with more rigor In the meane while the French Bishops came to the Councill conducted by the Cardinall of Lorraine who was most honourably received by the Cardinall of Mantua and the other Legates Soon after the coming of the Cardinall of Lorrain Philip the II having called back the Marquesse of Pesquera sent to Trent another Embassador Ferdinand Quigones Count de Luna who being gone to Germany before to be present at the Coronation of Maximilian Son to the Emperour Ferdinand would know of the Fathers of the Councill what place they would give him Upon which the Cardinall of Mantua the first Legate having consulted with the Embassadours of France and the Cardinall of Lorraine he propounded unto them this accommodation that as for them they should keep their place next to the Embassadors of the Emperour and that some other place might be found for the Count of Luna over against the Legates on the other side or after the Ecclesiastical Embassadors or
The Emperours second offer was to fight a Duell with the King either upon the Land or in a Boat That he left to the King the choice of the Armes That the vanquished should give all his forces to secure the sitting of a Council and to make War against the Heretiques and Infidells That the King should deposite the Dutchy of Burgundy and himself that of Milan to be the price of the Victory The third offer was that if the King refused these two conditions he declared mortall War unto him till one of the two was made the poorest gentleman of his Kingdom The King purged himself to the Pope by letters of all the Emperours accusations The War grows hot in Piemont an 1536. Many exploits are done Fossan is besieged by Antonio de Leva for the Emperour and taken The Marquis of Saluees leaves the Kings service and turns to the Emperour who enters into Provence and besiegeth Marseille but in vain being defended by the Kings presence and by the generosity of Ann de Montmorency who since was Constable of France The Emperour is beaten out of Provence At the same time the Count of Nassan makes some exploits in Picardy for the Emperour takes Guise besiegeth Peronne but is repulsed 4. Jean Capell the Kings Atturney General moveth the Parliament that a proces be made against Charles as Felon and Traitor against his Soveraign of whom he held the Counties of Flanders Artois and Charolois in fee. The Court of Peers hereupon assembled decree that Charles should be cited with sound of Trumpet upon the frontier of his States to appear before them And he not appearing he was condemned and his Dominions depending from the Crown were confiscated Presently after the King tooke many places in Artois An. 1538. the Pope Paul the III. comes to Nice where both the Emperour and the King met also the Pope communing separately with each of them for hee could not obtaine of them that they should see one another Yet they concluded a truce for ten years That meeting being ended the King returnes into France the Emperour into Spain but seeth the King by the way at Acquesmortes They confirme the truce and are civill one to another Shortly after the City of Ghent being revolted and having killed their Magistrates Charles desireth Francis to give him passage through his Lands which the King granted him In that passage the Emperour received all the royall honours The King went to meet him at Chastellerant In that enterview the Emperour gave the King some hope to give him satisfaction about the Dutchy of Milan 6. An. 1641. the King sent Antony Rincot a Spaniard that had taken sanctuary in France to the Turk and Caesar Fregosa to the Venetians Both were slain upon the River of Po going to Venice by Boat This murder was done by the order of the Marquess du Guast Governour of Milan who hoped thereby to get their Papers and Instructions but they had been sent to Venice another way The Marquess was accused and convicted of the fact by those that executed it who were taken at Venice Upon this the King breaks the truce of tens years The Dolphin who was since Henry the II falls upon the Roussillon besieged Perpignan but is repulsed with losse Charles Duke of Orleans seizeth upon Lutzenburg The Emperour on the other side makes a league with the King of England enters Picardie besiegeth Landrecy but Francis relieveth it and driveth the Emperour from the siege Barbarossa the Turk comes by Sea to the Kings help takes the Town of Nice wasteth those coasts of the Mediterranean sea goeth away having done little good to the French and ill satisfied of them having given a great matter of obloquy against Francis to the Christian Princes In Piemont after many exploits on both sides the famous battel of Cerisoles was fought an 1544. and won by the French the French Generall being the Duke of Anguien the Spaniard the Marquess du Guast At this time Ferdinand King of the Romans brother to Charles the Emperour being sore prest by the Turk in Hungary sends a Dominican Fryer his Confessor to Charles to exhort him to peace Charles is perswaded to it and Francis also Their Deputies meet at St. John des Vignes in the Suburbs of Soissons and begin a Treaty which soon after was concluded at Crespy in Valois of which these were the chiefe conditions That Charles Duke of Orleans the Kings second Son should marry the Emperours Daughter or that of Ferdinand King of the Romans at the Emperours choice within six yeares and for her portion that the Emperour should invest the said Duke with the Dutchy of Milan or the County of Flanders or Charolois or Franch County at the Emperours choyce likewise And that upon his investiture with one of these the King should renounce all his claim to all the rest and to the Kingdom of Naples That till there were Children born by that marriage if the Emperour had before assigned the Dutchy of Milan for the Ladies portion he should retain in his power the Castles of Milan and Cremona That the King should restore to Charles Duke of Savoy all that he had taken from him on both sides of the Alpes yet that he might retain the Citadels as long as the Emperours kept the Castles of Milan and Cremona That both the Emperour and the King should restore all that they had taken the one from the other since the truce made at Nice by the Popes mediation This Treaty beares date of Octob. 18. 1544. and was executed but the King restored many more places then the Emperour Paragraphe VI. From the Treaty of Crespy 1544 to that of Chasteau en Cambresis an 1559. Francis out-lived three years the Treaty of Crespy all which time he had no War with Charles who had retired himself to Bruxelles Francis being dead his Son Henry the II. succeeded him who also had no War with the Emperour till the year 1550. Two accidents made the old jealousie to break into open War 1. The Pope Paul the III. had invested his Bastard Peter Lewis Farnesio with the Towns of Parma and Placentia which the Emperour had yieled to the Church upon the claime of Leo the X. without much examining the Popes right onely because it had been so covenanted when the Pope and the Emperour united themselves to expell the French out of Italy an 1521. That investiture troubled Charles afterwards who pretended either that these Towns should remaine united to the patrimony of the Church or that in case of alienation they should return to the Dutchy of Milan Now this Peter Lewis Farnesio having made himselfe odious to his subjects by his cruelty and impudicity was slain by the people of Placentia who put themselves under the Emperours protection At the same time Paul the III being dead Jules the III that succeeded him maintained at the first Octavio Son to Peter Lewis in the investiture of Parma and Placentia But soon
concluded between the two Crowns And the Treaty of Chasteau in Cambresis an 1559. was confirmed with the restitution of places on both sides And the frontiers between the two States setled as they have been kept till the rupture of the year 1635. There upon the dispute for precedence of Embassadours the Legat devised this expedient Hee sitting under a Canopy at the boards end set the Popes Nuntio at his right hand and after him the Embassadours of Spain John Richardot President of the Councell of State in Flanders John Baptista Taxis a Knight of the Order of Saint Jago and Lewis Verriken first Secretary of State in Flanders At his left hand were the French Embassadours Monsieur de Belliure and Monsieur de Sillery of whom the first was over against the Nuntio and so preceded by one degree the first of the Spaniards CHAP. V. The Affaires between the two Crownes from the Treaty of Vervins till now THat space of time wee will subdivide into three 1. From the Treaty of Vervins to the death of Henry the IV. 2. From that death to the rupture between the two States 3. From that rupture till now Paragraphe I. From the Treaty of Vervins to the death of Henry the IV. After the Treaty of Vervins the two States kept reasonable good intelligence Philip the II. died in the time of the Treaty The first difference between Henry and Philip the III King of Spain was about the Marquesat of Saluces which Henry redemanded of the Duke of Savoy who did nothing but by the order of the Councell of Spain And the Spaniard would not suffer the French to possesse any thing in Italy An exchange then was made of Bresse for the Marquesat Herein Philip did nothing against the alliance For the Duke having broken his word with Henry Philip refused to assist him and to be a favourer of his perfidiousnesse although the Count of Fuentes raised great forces to assist him In the year 1602. was the conspiracy of the Duke of Biron It was believed that the King of Spain had a share in his designes But the depositions of the witnesses against him speak only of Treaties and Intelligences with the Duke of Savoy and of the sharing of the State of France among the conspiratours Yet they said that Biron should have had the Dutchy of Burgundy Franch County and Bresse under the protection of the King of Spain Fontanelles a Gentleman of Britain who was convicted to have been one of the conspiratours for which he was put to death was accused to have treated with the Spaniard to deliver the I le of Tristan in Britain into his hands But Henry who had no mind to break with Spaniard would take no notice of that treachery The Spaniards pretence for these secret plots against France was that Henry assisted the Rebells of Holland with men and money Which the Spanish Embassadour having complained of he answered that the money which he sent to the Hollanders was to pay his debts for monies lent to him during the civil Wars As for the French Souldiers that served the Hollanders he could not hinder his subjects to take party where they listed and that some of them also served the Archiduke Howsoever that assistance was so resented by the Spaniards that they lost no occasion to stir disorders in France Many things hapned in the yeares 1605. and 1606. which shewed the enmity of the Spaniard against France As the Treason of Loste Secretary to Mr. De Villeroy who had intelligence with the Ministers of Spain and let them know all the secrets of the Cabinet Councell He was discovered by one Rassis a Frenchman that had taken Sanctuary in Spain Loste ran away and in his flight was drowned in the River of Marne so no more could be known of that Treason Then the Lady Marquesse of Vernuiel ill satisfied of King Henry whom she accused to have broken his promise to her treates with the Spaniard and inveigleth into her treason her Father d' Antragues and her brother the Count of Auvergne since Duke of Angoulesm Their design was to retire to the Spaniard and to make one day that Ladies Son a stone of scandall unto France Being discovered all three were convicted and condemned to death But the King gave them their grace In the year 1605. the reliques of Birons conspiracy appeared in the Provinces of Perigort Limousin and Quercy All was done under the name of the Duke of Bovillon Whether the Spaniard had a hand in it or no it was not known At the same time Mairargues a Gentleman of Provence treated with the Spaniard to yeild Marseille unto him He was discovered and taken conferring with the Secretary of the Spanish Embassadour and put to death This passage was near to have caused a breach between the two Crowns for the Embassadour of Spain expostulated with the French King because against the Law of Nations his Secretary had been taken and committed to prison The King justified the fact saying that he was found monopolizing againsthis State Nevertheless all was suddenly appeased Although at the same time another Treason was discovered a plot upon Laucate by two brothers Luquisses who had been won by the Governour of Perpignan In the year 1608. Henry the IV. mediated a truce between the King of Spain and the Hollanders At the same time the Morisco's of Spain secretly implored his aide against the oppression of the Spaniards But he sent them back saying that he would not be the first that should break peace but that if he was compelled to make War he might make use of their proffers Paragraphe II. From the death of Henry the IV. to the rupture betweene the two Crownes an 1635. A yeere before the Kings death an 1609. John William Duke of Cleves and Juilliers being dead without issue left his succession disputable betweene the Emperour Rodolphus who said it was devolved to the Empire and the children of foure sisters of that Duke married in the houses of Brandenburg Newburg Deuxponts and Burgan It was thought that the great Army which Henry had prepared a little before his death was intended to assist these Princes against the Emperour It seemes the Queene Regent knew so much for when the Archiduke Leopold had seized upon Juilliers after the Kings death She sent Marshall de la Castre to assist these Princes to whom he caused luilliers to be surrendred There the French had to doe with the house of Austria of the German branch In the year 1612. the two Crownes were allied by the marriages of Lewis the XIII with Anne daughter to Philip the III and of Philip Prince of Spaine who is now Philip the IV with Elizabeth eldest daughter of Henry the IV. And in the yeare 1615. these marriages were accomplisht at Bourdeaux The world was full of hope that this double alliance would strengthen the peace betweene the two Crownes An. 1616 the Dukes of Savoy and Mantua being in War one against
enow to ressent the wrongs offered to him by the Emperour made a Covenant with the King of Sueden for the defence of their common friends opprest the safety of the commerce upon the Sea the liberty of the States of the Empire The King of Sueden promist the assistance of his armes and his person and the King of France a million of livers per annum Hence followed the great victories of Gustavus till he was slaine at the battell of Lutzen in Novemb 1632. An. 1634. the Duke of Orleans leaveth Flanders and returnes to the King his brother III. Paragraphe From the Rupture of the peace till now These mutuall offences being accumulated in the end brake into open war It was declared by the French by a Herald in Flanders in May 1635. That declaration was grounded upon that old complaint that the Spaniard aspires to the universal Monarchy of Europe and to devoure all the Princes thereof and because the Spaniard vexed the confederates of France with wars but more particularly by reason of the imprisonment of the Archbishop of Treves who had put himselfe under the protection of King Lewis To all the complaints of the French the Spaniards have their answers and have enough on their part to complaine Howsoever this war hath produced many great exploits on both sides in Germany in Italy in Flanders in Spaine And though the fortune of war have alternative successes yet France had hitherto the advantage of that bloody game having stretcht her dominions beyond the Rhine united Lorraine to the French Crowne got many townes in Flanders and Artois Perpignan and the County of Roussillon and got a good footing in the Dutchy of Milan Besides Catalonia which hath submitted her self to the Soveraignty of France The greatest losse of the Spaniard is that of Portugal by the practices of France whereby the King of Spain hath lost Brasill and the East-Indies AN APPENDIX To the foregoing DISCOURSE Shewing the Dispute about the precedence at the Councell of Trent betweene the Embassadors of France and Spaine IT is certaine that before the formation of that great Colossus of the House of Austria about the year 1520. the Kings of France were acknowledged the first of Christendom next to the Emperours The pieces wherewith the greatnesse of Spain is made up are Provinces most of them feudatary of the Empire or of France or of the Pope all these lately gathered up But France is of an ancient entire and independent greatnesse The Embassadours of Charles the V. had the precedence every where before those of France because he was Emperour But in the year 1555. when he resigned that quality of Emperour to his Brother and his other qualities and states to his Son perceiving that his Son wanting the quality of Emperour could not keep that preheminence he used this artifice A little before his retirement from the world he recalled from Venice his Embassador Francisco de Vargas who being an Embassador of the Empire had a precedence before the French Embassador Then after the resignation of his States he sent the same Vargas to Venice again as Embassadour for himselfe and his Son joyntly although in effect Charles being devested of his dignities Vargas was Embassadour of his Son onely hoping thereby to deceive the Venetians and others by sending the same man Vargas demanded of the Senate of Venice the same precedence which he had before To which Dominique Bishop of Lodeva Embassadour of Henry the II of France made opposition representing to the Senate that Charles was no more considerable in the world that when the Embassadours of the Emperour Ferdinand should appear he would yield to them but that he would not yield to the Embassadour of Philip but in all occasions of audience ceremony visits and the like he would take the first place till the coming of the Imperiall Embassadors The Senate fearing some ill issue of this dispute gave order that the two Embassadours should not present themselves at the ceremonies of the Feast of St Mark and so the matter remained undecided all the year 1557 by the irresolution of that Common-wealth and the simplicity of the French Embassadour But in the year 1558. Francis de Novailles Bishop of Acs having succeeded that of Lodeva renewed the dispute and the Embassadours of the Emperour Ferdinand being come he demanded to be maintained in his Rights and to have the first place after the Emperours Embassadour and couragiously took it before Vargas who seeing that the policy of Charles who dyed at the same time took no effect and that he was confidered onely as Embassadour of Philip began to extoll his Masters greatness and number his States and Soveraignties which he possessed in farre greater number then the King of France Saying that these customs of honour and precedence must alter according to the time That his Master was the greatest King of the world farre more able to assist the Common-wealth with Arms Men and Money then the King of France The Bishop of Acs stoutly resisted him and obtained of the Senate an Order whereby the precedence was adjudged unto him above the Embassadour of Spain About which when the Spaniard expostulated very earnestly it was answered him that the Common-wealth would not undertake to examine the greatnesse of their Majesties but that they found in their Records that in all Acts both publique and private Ceremonies Visits and Audiences the Embassadours of France had preceded those of Spain and to that received custome they would keep This answer offended Philip who upon that called back his Embassadour But Micael Surriano the Venetian Embassadour in his Court defended the decree of the Senate of Venice and in some sort mitigated the displeasure of Philip who yet in all occasions renued that dispute His greatest effort was four years after in the Councill of Trent To understand the right of precedences of Ambassadours we must know that in the Councill there was three sorts of Assemblies particular Congregations generall Congregations and Sessions In the private Congregations the Doctors assisted with some Bishops examined the questions of Faith and Reformation and there no Ceremony of precedence was heeded In the general Congregation all the Prelates assembled the Legats were Presidents every one kept his place of honour It was a publique action where questions were resolved the Legates propounded that which was to be examined in the particular Congregations every Prelate had right to speak and to vote Embassadors of Princes had audience after their Commission was examined and that which was to be promulgated in the following Session was there concluded Embassadors kept their place there according to their rank The Session was the solemne day upon which after a Mass of the Holy Ghost and a Sermon of a Prelate or some eminent man upon the matter in question the Prelate officiating pronounced with a loud voyce the Decrees resolved which the Father 's approved with a Placet In these Sessions Embassadors had
in some other place out of the bench of the Embassadors To which the French answered that they were sent by their King not to judge causes or to decide of the Rights of King Philip who was a good friend brother in law to their King Charles the IX but if any would take their place they were resolved to stand for it against all sorts of persons which if the Councill denyed them they had order to withdraw with all the French Prelates and to protest of the nullity of the resolutions which should be taken in their absence To which the Legate answered nothing That declaration of the French though generous gave occasion to the affront which soon after was offered to them in the Councill for they are censured by posterity for not requiring absolutely that the Spaniards should sit under them An. 1563. The Legates fearing some division between the French and Spanish Doctors about their order in speaking gave order that without distinction of Nations every one should speak according to his seniority of Doctorship But because some among the French Divines had the seniority over the Spanish these made great complaints to the Legate pretending that this preference of the French would be a prejudice against the dispute which the Count de Luna was forming against the French Embassadours The Legats rebuked them shewing that the Doctors though sent by the Princes did not represent their persons as the Embassadors did and that the question was onely of the seniority of the degree not of the preference of the Nations Notwithstanding these satisfactory Reasons the Spaniards were angry and threatned the Councill of their Kings displeasure who should take off his protection from them The French seeing that the Spaniard stood upon points in such a clear business and that of Doctors they would make Embassadours did obstinate themselves also to have the preference even in the disputes of the Divines And because the Popes delegates spake first without contradiction the French asked to be admitted to speak next after them which the Legates were constrained to grant and it was decreed that after the Jesuite Salmeron the Popes Divine Nicolas Maillart Dean of the faculty of Paris should speak and that after that all should speak according to the seniority of their degree which was followed Yet to content the Spaniards it was enacted in the Register of the Councill that the French Doctor had spoken the first by the right of his seniority in the degree of Doctor not by the preference of his Nation The same year 1563. upon Easter-day the Count of Luna was received at Trent and in his entry mached between the Embassadors of the Emperour and of France This Ceremony past with much honour and civility between the two Nations And at the same time the Cardinal of Lorrain writ to the Emperour perour Ferdinand who was at Insprugh in the County of Tirol three dayes journey from Trent upon divers affaires of the Councill and in the end of the Letter desired him to find some temper to lay down the dispute about the preference between the two Crowns so that it might not appear in the Councill But his Country-men blamed him for it saying that he ought not to have taken notice of a dispute so ill grounded Or if he had spoken of it it should not have been to have desired a temper but to maintaine his Kings right The Emperour answered him that it belonged not to him to decide the disputes between the Kings of France and Spain but since he had desired him to speak his sense about it if your Embassadours said he maintaine their rank after mine and that none take that place from them what does it import you what place be assigned unto the Spaniards A verdict ill taken by the French who held it to be of a dangerous consequence For in an order of sitting who so leaveth his place say they is thought to despise it and to ask a higher which cannot be done without moving a dispute against those that sit in a higher seat The Count of Luna after that solemn entry was hidden forty dayes and appeared not in any ceremony of publique action being in great perplexity how to behave himself sometimes he had a mind to enter into the assembly in the midst of the two Embassadors of the Emperor who were injoyned to bear him company and after they had taken their place stand by them till his Commission had been verified by the Councill and then retire to his house But considering that this would not be a generous maintaining of his Masters honour he made means that the French Embassadors should be desired not to appeare in the Assemby that day which being denyed him he sent some Spanish Bishops to the Legates to propound unto them that the secular Embassadors of Princes should not enter into the generall Congregations but the day of their reception but should content themselves to be present at the Ceremony the day of the Session maintaining that it had been so observed in the Councells before But all the Embassadors of Princes having opposed that motion he could obtain nothing Again he caused some Bishops to propound some point to the Congregation at the discussion whereof the French ought not to be present as interessed parties for example to represent what damage would result to the whole Church by a peace of the King of France with the Hugonots or some such thing But all that being rejected and the Congregation being put off from day to day by his obstinacy in the end that the businesses of the Councell might not be retarded the Cardinall of Lorraine and the French Embassadors declared to the Legates that if they might keep their place immediately after the Emperours Embassadors they did not care what place the Embassador of Spain should take The French to this day exclaim against that action of the Cardinal and the French Embassadors saying that it was a great weaknesse and that they had betrayed their Masters honour Yea the Fathers of the Councell disliked it And when the Cardinal de la Bourdestere Resident for the King of France by the Pope complained to him of that Spanish ambition and novelty introduced against all ancient orders the Pope it was Pius the IV. answered that he should complaine to the French Embassadors whose weakness he condemned saying that although he had been solicited before and after the entry of Count de Luna into Trent to favour that designe he had remained constant and inflexible and that he wondred how the French had so easily yea so freely yielded The day of the Congregation being come and each Embassador having taken his place the Count of Luna enters stands over against the Legates some what far from the Embassadors seat presents his Orders and declares his Masters will Then he protested that although the first seat was due to him next to the imperiall Embassadors as representing the greatest Prince of Christendome
the greatest Prop of the Courch c. yet that he should bring no confusion to the affaires of the Councell he desisted from that right upon condition that this his protestation should be inserted into the Acts of the Councell so that they could not be printed nor otherwise publisht without it and that a Copy signed by the Legates should be given him by the Secretary of the Councill Having said these words he went to take his place appointed for him near the Table of the Secretary of the Councell The French Ambassadors sitting by the Imperial answered that if it was thought that the place where they sat was not the most honourable next to that of the Emperour as it had been acknowledged in all the Councell before the last of which were that of Constance and that of Lateran under Leo the X Or if the place assigned to Count de Luna might be a prejudice against them they desired the Councell to prevent it speedily by orders commands excommunications or other wayes practised in such a case without acception of persons But because none answered any thing and the Imperial Embassadors connived to that novelty although their interesse was to hinder it least their place should be once disputed they added That without injury to the honour of King Philip and the alliance betweene the two Crowns they protested against that proceeding as unjust requiring that their protestation should be inserted in the Acts of the Council and that a Copy of the same should be delivered unto them None of the Fathers spake one word upon these disputes And the silence was broken by a Spanish Doctor called Frontidon who made a Latin Oration in the name of Count de Luna whereby he exalted the greatnesse of the King of Spain his zeal towards the Church and Religion with such impertinent words so much contempt of other Princes that the Embassadors of the Emperour made great complaints about it to Count de Luna who had no other shift to excuse it than saying that the Oration had displeased him more then any The Promoter of the Councell having answered the Oration suddenly the Embassador of Spain went out of the Assembly not expecting the rising of the Legates to avoid a dispute with the French and the same he observed in the following Congregations sitting by himself and going out alone But that Order could not be kept in the Church the day of the Session because the manner of sitting there was not alike and some more precise ceremonies were used about the preference as that of the pax and the censer at the Masse Wherefore the Legats consulted the Pope before the Session and he being won by the Spaniards thinking that the French would again run into another weaknesse writ to the Legate that in the Session they should assign a place apart to the Spaniard and that the pax and the censer should be given to both the Ambassadours at the same time but that the businesse should be kept secret till the point of the action that the French might not storm at it The day of the Session being come which was Saint Peters day the 29. of June after the Bishop of Valdaosta in Savoy had begun the Masse of the Holy Ghost presently a Chair of black Velvet was brought out of the Vestry which was placed between the last Cardinall and the first Patriarck where Count de Luna sate The Cardinall of Lorrain with the French Ambassadours made a great noise about it and rose to withdraw when at the same time they heard the order given about it and for the Censer the Pax. But for fear of troubling the action they contented themselves to protest against it and to declare that their Masters right did not consist in the equality but in the precedence The Gospell being read whilst a Divine went up into the Pulpit to make a speech the Legats with the Cardinal of Lorrain and the other Cardinalls the Ambassadour of the Emperour and Ferrier one of the French Ambassadours went into the Vestry into which they called the Archbishop of Granada a Spaniard and two French Bishops to find some accommodation After many disputes and many goings and commings and messages to Luna it was concluded that the Masse should be ended without receiving the Censer and the pax After which Luna came out of the Church with his Spaniards triumphing for that first step so advantagious to his Master This action was very scandalous to the French and the Legats not able to bear the envy of it were constrained to produce the command which they had from Rome about it The injury was more resented because it was done to a King in his minority it was Charles the IX and one that was afflicted with Hugonots and entangled in a civill War The Cardinal of Lorrain writ very smart letters to the Pope about it yet without violating the respect due to him But Ferrier a violent and stout man cryed out every where that unlesse at the next publique Mass the preference of the Censer and the Pax was given to his Master he would protest aloud not against the Legats who had obeyed the Popes Orders nor against the Councel whose hands were manifestly bound nor against King Philip who took his advantage where he might nor against the Roman Church toward which he should never lose the due respect but against the very person of the Pope whom he would prove to have bought the pontificat and would appeal from him to a lawfull Pope and to a true and free Councel And that his Master would celebrate a Nationall Councel as numerous and as Generall at that of Trent It is certain that Ferrier Pibrac for Lansac was returned into France had prepared a most bloody speech against the Pope and against that innovation Ferrier was to pronounce it and at the same time command all the French Bishops and Doctors to leave the Councell with a promise to return whensoever God had given a lawfull Pope to his Church and restored to the Councels their antient and full liberty The speech was printed but not pronounced Ferrier spread it among the Fathers because Count de Luna boasted that the Legats had promist him that at the first Mass hee should be admitted to the equality of the Pax and Censer The Legates fearing lest this quarrell should come to some sad issue because the Ambassadour of Poland declared that if the King of France should depart from the obedience of the Councel the King of Poland would soon do the like and many other Princes The Legates I say and the wisest of the Council especially Madruvio Cardinal of Trent of the Imperial party thought it expedient that thereafter publique Masses should be said without the Pax and the Censer and made Count de Luna approve of it And the King of Spain hearing all this proceeding thought he had got a great advantage But the Pope lost by it for the affront done to
the French in that Councel hindred the publication of it in France Shortly after the Cardinal of Lorrain retired to Rome and Ferrier declaimed in a general Congregation against abuses and disorders crept into the Church and spared no body The Pope was much displeased at it and to allay that heat sent the Cardinal of Lorrain to Rome with full authority to regulate all with the Legats He was present at the 24th Session held November 11. 1563. which is of the Sacrament of marriage And having received order from France to return without delay with all the French Bishops the Legates hasted to make an end of the Councel and held the 25th Session which was the last upon the 3d. and 4th of December in which Session as in the precedent the Ambassadours kept their place Luna sate by the Secretary of the Councel In the publique Masses neither Pax nor Censer was used So the Council of Trent ended the 4th of Decem. 15 63. the Cardinal Moron at that time the first President giving his blessing to the Fathers told them Post gratias Deo actas Reverendissimi Patres Ite in pace And all answered Amen But because it was the custom at the end of the Council to make acclamations to bless the Popes that had assembled it the Fathers that had held it and the Princes that had assisted it and protected the Church the Cardinall of Lorrain took himself the care to make them and to pronounce them also Which he was blamed for as taking upon him that care which less becoming his Eminency and more fitting for Deacons Promotors Secretaries and Masters of Ceremonies Especially he was blamed because in the acclamation made for the secular Princes he forgot to name expresly the King of France which had been observed in the Bull of the Indiction as we said before and the omission whereof in the calling again of the Council by Pius the IV had caused so much discontent and expostulation Of this the Cardinal could not be ignorant nor pretend forgetfullnesse since those acclamations were meditated and written down There was two acclamations the first for the memory of the dead in which the Cardinal forgot to expresse the names of Francis the I. and Henry the II who had contributed their care and their zeal for the good of the Council The second was for the Princes living where he forgat Charles the IX who had sent his Ambassadours his Bishops to Trent So he forgot both the dead and the living That omission was objected to the Cardinal in the Kings Councel He excused himself upon the fear he had to make a division between the two Crowns King Charles being yet in minority in danger of a civil War and of the disorder which Germany was fallen into upon the quarrell of Religion Whereby the King might have need of Philip whom therefore he would not provoke or incense against France Thus that weakness which the Cardinal and the French Ambassadours shewed in the Congregations Sessions and Acclamations having not with vigour enough defended the right of their Masters was defended by them with plausible reasons but in effect they opened the gate to the pretences which the Spaniards form at every meeting of publique Assemblies Processions and Ceremonies against the French Ambassadours who hitherto have stoutly defended their right At least they have kept the two essential points of precedence which are first never to have left their place either second when the Ambassadours of the Pope and the Emperour were present or first when they were absent The other never to have suffered or done any action which may be interpreted to give an equality to the Spaniard with them As for the order of sitting which should oblige the Spaniard to sit under the French one can not take him by the hand to bring him to an Assembly when he pretends sicknesse or businesse But if he appear in a publique meeting the French suffers him not to use any action either of preference or equality Since the Councell of Trent the most famous meeting of the two Kings in the persons of their Ambassadours or rather the only was that of Vervins an 1598. where the French had the precedence as we shewed before FINIS