for the Militia as to do Justice which the Kings could bestow or take away So there was a Duke for Lorrain which was Bruno Arch-Bishop of Colen King Otho's Brother One for France one for Aquitain and one for Burgundy and Hugh was such in all those three Kingdoms by consequence he was as the Kings Lieutenant General and in that quality might be set aside if his great alliance and the Cities in his possession had not rendred him indestituable Year of our Lord 953 France was quiet enough three years together only Hugh An. 955 led the King into Poitou to make William Earl of that Country and Duke of Aquitain become obedient and laid Siege to Poitiers Scarcity of provisions and the terror of a Thunder-clap which tore his Tent in two forced him to raise it and yet the Count presuming to pursue the French upon their retreat they turned head and put him to the rout with great slaughter of his Nobility The following year Hugh who without a Scepter had Reigned more then 20 years being the Son of a King Father of a King Uncle to a King and Brother in Law to three Kings died in his City of Paris full of years glory and riches He was surnamed the White * from his skin the Great from his power or perhaps his bulk and the Abbot because he held the Abbeys of St. Denis St. Germain des Prez and St. Martin's of Tours At his death he intreated Richard Duke of Normandy his Son in Law to be the Protector of his Children and Vassals He had three wives Rotilda Sister of Lewis the Stammerer Ethild Daughter of Edward King of England whose two Sisters were married to Charles the Simple and Otho and Avida or Avoye Sister of the same Otho and Queen Gerberge There came no Children by the first two but by the third he had Hugues or Hugh surnamed Capet who was Earl of Paris and Orleance then also Duke of France Otho who was Duke of Burgundy after the Death of Gilbert his Father in Law Eudes or Odon who succeeded him and Henry who likewise enjoyed it after them Year of our Lord 956. 57. and 58. These four Sons not being yet in a capacity to make any noise the eldest not above 16 years of Age Gerberge governed peaceably enough excepting some petty quarrels about the Castles belonging to the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims and some private contests The worst of it was that it seemed most of the affairs were managed according to the pleasure and will of King Otho and Bruno his Brother Arch-Bishop of Colen and Duke or Governor of Lorrain so that they became as it were the Moderators and Arbitrators of France Year of our Lord 959 The Queen being at difference with the Children of Hugh and the Widdow Avoye her Sister for some Castles which King Lotaire had taken from them in Burgundy Bruno came into France and brought them to an agreement in a Parliament held at Compiegne After which the Queen and her Son Lataire went to keep Easter at Colen with Bruno who entertained them splendidly and sent them back furnished with very brave Presents A while after being called to their assistance against Robert Earl of Troyes and Count of Chaalons by his wife who had surprized Dijon he returned into France with his Lorrainers and regained that place At the same time he sent some Saxon Forces to Troyes to restore the Bishop whom that Robert had thrust out thence But Renard Earl of Sens and Rimbauld Arch-Bishop of the same City friends to Robert gave them Battel and defeated them The same year died Alain surnamed Barbe-torte Duke of Bretagne and Son of Earl Matueda who left two Bastards Hoel and Guerec and one Legitimate Child named Drogon then in his Cradle whom he declared Heir Thibauld Earl of Chartres Grand-Father by the Mother to this Child had the Tuition and the Mother the care of his person Now marrying again with Fulk Earl of Anjou this Year of our Lord 959 wicked woman unhappily killed him by causing scalding water to be thrown down upon the Infants head The Succession begot a bloody debate in Bretagne which lasted 34 years The two Bastards of Alain disputed it with one Conan who was descended by a Daughter from King Salomon he made them both perish Hoel by the hands of a Souldier who assassinated him and Guerec by a poysoned Lancet wherewith a Chyrurgeon let him Blood But himself perished at length in a Battel he lost An. 992. against Fulk Earl of Anjou a Capital Enemy of the Bretons Geofrey the eldest of the four Sons he left succeeded him The Children of the Defunct Hugh the White thorough the persuasion of Arch-Bishop Bruno tendred hommage for their Lands to King Lotaire who in retribution declared the Eldest Duke of France as his Father had been and bestowed Poitou upon him you must understand if he could conquer it for it was possessed by another very potent Earl This is a conjecture that the Kings had not yet given entirely away their power of bestowing Dutchy's and Earldoms and that if they were Hereditary it was only by Usurpation not as yet by Concession All the new Principalities and Seigniories or Lordships which were started up in the Kingdom did not trouble the King so much as that of the Normans who being strangers and the Issue of those Fathers that had plagued and plundred France 80 years together should yet enjoy so rich a Province Wherefore Bruno who governed the affairs of the Kingdom being excited by the persuasions of Arnold Earl of Flanders Baldwin his Son Thibauld Earl of Chartres and Geofrey Earl of Anjou combined to ruine Duke Richard For this purpose he sent for him to come to the Royal Parliament or General Assembly of Estates at Amiens putting him in hopes if he came thither they would give him the Administration of the Kingdom But it was with design to Sieze and send him Prisoner into Germany Richard who was on his journey being informed of this Combination by two unknown Cavaliers returned whence he came and stood more upon his Guard Year of our Lord 959 He avoided likewise another Snare the King had laid for him near the River of Epte to which place sending for him to come and do him hommage he meant to lay hold on him The Duke had already passed the Epte when the Scouts he had sent forth to discover what the King was doing brought him word that all his Enemies were about the King and were making ready to set upon him By this he understood the meaning of the French and withdrew in time Year of our Lord 957 Since Berenger and Adelbert had been restored to the Kingdom of Italy by Otho they never ceased to conspire against him and withal cruelly vexing their Subjects so that he had sent his Son Luitolf to chastise them This young Prince had almost hunted them quite out of the Kingdom when he was surprised by Death An.
trampled under foot the People Merchants Clergy Widows and Orphans were exposed to Rapine and Plunder The Lords and Gentlemen had all of them Castles from whence they fallied out to Rob upon the High-ways upon Rivers and the defenceless Countries As soon as he could ride on Horseback he buckled on his Armour running wherever the Oppressed cried out to him for help and sighting Personally as a private Soldier so that having brought many of these Tyrannets to Reason he began to settle things again in order and security He had by his Wife Alix Daughter of Humbert Earl of Savoy Seven Children yet living Six Sons and one Daughter The Sons were Lewis who Reigned Henry who was a Monk at Clerveaux then Bishop of Beauvais Hugh of whom we know nothing but his Name Robert who for his share had the Earldom of Dreux from whom sprung the Branch of the Earls of that name Peter who Married Isabella Daughter and Heiress of Renaud Lord of Courtenay whence came the Branch of Courtenay whereof there are yet some younger Brothers or Cadets Philip who was Archdeacon of Paris and being elected Bishop had so much modesty that he yielded it to Peter Lombard called the Master of Sentences whose Book hath served as a foundation of School-Divinity The Daughter was called Constance she was Married first to Eustace Earl of Boulogne by whom she had no Children her second Marriage was with Raymond V. Earl of Toulouze As for Scholastick Learning it is fit we observe that towards the end of the Reign of Lewis the Gross a Philosopher named John Rousselin and after him the famous Peter Abelard his Disciple both Bretons introduced in the Schools certain Notions and certain Expressions with a Sophistical manner of Arguing drawn from Philosophy and applied to Theology which hath intangled it with Questions subtil and dangerous and which savour more of the Metaphisicks then of the Holy Scripture The great Wits of those times having nothing better to apply themselves to there being none that taught the true Sciences nor good Literature fell all into these Ergotries Lewis called the Young King XL. POPES INNOCENT II. S. Six years under this Reign CELESTINE II. Elected in Sept. 1143. S. Five Months and an half LUCIUS II. Elected in March 1144. S. Eleven Months and an half ANASTASIUS IV. Elected in July 1153. S. One year and five Months ADRIAN IV. Elected in Dec. 1154. S. Four years and near eight Months ALEX. III. Elected in Sept. 1159. S. almost Twenty two years LEWIS called the Young during his Fathers Life time and the Pious King XL. Aged Nineteen or Twenty years Year of our Lord 1137 AFter Lewis the Young had taken possession of Guyenne he brought his new Spouse to Paris where he laboured with his Council to establish the publick Safety and that Justice which some petty Tyrants began to disturb afresh Ranfomming the Common People and Merchants The Cities to defend themselves from these Oppressions had framed Communities that is to say created Popular Magistrates with power to Assemble the Citizens and Arm them For this end they must have the Kings Letters Patents which he granted willingly with many fair Priviledges thereby to oppose them against the overgrown power of the Lords Some Citizens of Orleans making use of this power to the prejudice of the Regal Authority and running into Mutinies he repress'd them as he past that way and brought them to their Duty again Year of our Lord 1138 As he was Soveraign Lord of Normandy he was obliged to concern himself in the Dispute between Gefroy Plantagenet Husband to Matilda and Stephen Earl of Blois and Boulogne who disputed it between them At first he took part with Gefroy invested him in the Dutchy and received Hommage from him and in Recompence Gefroy gave him the Normand Vexin but when Stephen who was come over from England had got some advantage upon Gefroy Lewis changing his Party puts his Son Eustace into possession aged not above Fourteen or Fifteen years and gave his Sister Constance in Marriage to him The Schism in the Roman Church was extinguished by the Death of Anacletus and after by the Cession of Victor whom the Cardinals of Anacletus had elected Pope The Emperor Lotaire II. deceased in a thatched Cabbin the Third of December Anno 1138. After four Months Interregnum Conra d III. of that name was elected Year of our Lord 1139 Roger having made himself Master of the Dutchy of Puglia by the Death of Duke Reynold Feudatary to the Holy See bad taken Pope Innocent Prisoner who made War upon him without Mercy ever since he got into the Papacy Now having him in his own hands be obliged him partly by force partly by his good Vsage and Respect to confirm the Title of King of Sicily to him which Anacletus the Anti-Pope had already bestowed upon him Thus began the Kingdom of Sicily which besides the Island likewise comprehended Puglia and Calabria that is to say what we now call the Kingdom of Naples Thierry of Alsatia goes into the Holy Land with great numbers of the Nobility to the relief of Fulk King of Jerusalem his Wives Father and leaves the Administration of his Earldom of Flanders in the hands of Sibylla his Wife Stephen returned into England is vanquish'd and taken by Robert Earl of Gloucester Bastard Brother to Matilda William of Ipres a brave Soldier who had taken Sanctuary in that Country found a way to make this Robert Prisoner the sole Counsellor and Support of Matilda so that to get him again she releases Stephen but during the time he was under Restraint Gefroy recover'd a great part of Normandy Year of our Lord 1139 This year Alfonso I. Duke of Portugal having obtained a most famous Victory over five petty Moorish Kings or Generals was saluted and proclaimed King by his Army Five Year of our Lord 1139 years after he renders his Estates Tributary to the Holy Chair to pay down four Ounces of Gold annually Anno 1078. he puts it wholly under the protection of the Pope and encreases the Tribute unto two Marks of Gold upon which Condition Alexander II. confirmed the Title of King to him This Alfonso was the Son of one Henry who going into Spain about the year 1089. to seek his Fortunes Married Tresa Daughter of Alfonso VI. King of Castile and had for Dowry the Earldom of Portugal formerly gained by him from the Moors The most exact Genealogists assure us that this King Henry was of the French Blood being Son say they of another Henry who was Son of Robert Duke of Burgundy Son of King Robert Year of our Lord 1140 We do not find during these years any Stirs or Troubles in the King of Frances Territories unless it were some Contentions amongst the Divines Peter Abelard disputing with too much subtilty concerning the Trinity and other Misteries of Faith had given occasion to accuse him of Novelty and Error for which he was condemned by the
last by a Decree of the Twenty eighth of December maintained them in their possession protesting it was his hearty desire to augment the Rights and Priviledges of the Church rather then any way dimish or infringe them for which reason they gave him the Surname of the Good Catholick Notwithstanding after this shock the Authority of that Body hath been so much weakned especially by Appeals in all Cases that now they really believe they have more just cause of Complaints against the Secular Judges then the Seculars had in those times against them Year of our Lord 1330 France being in Peace King Philip following the foot-steps of his Predecessors had conceived a desire of undertaking an Expedition into the Holy-Land To this purpose upon his return from a Pilgrimage he made to Marseilles with a very small Attendance in performance of a Vow he had made to St. Lewis Bishop of Toulouze he visited the Pope in Avignon and discoursed in particular with him about his design Towards the end of the year he summon'd the Estates of his Kingdom and laid before them the passion he had for the Holy War By their advice he sent to demand permission of the Pope to levy the Tenths of all the Clergy in Christendom and many other things but so extraordinary that he could obtain no favourable Answer Year of our Lord 1331 The English could not well digest that Edward had so easily renounced to the Crown of France They ceased not from spurring him on opportunity seeming to present it self favourably because Scotland which France was wont to make a counterpoise to England was extreamly embroil'd For Edward the Son of John Baliol who for a long time led a private Life at his House in Normandy with a small Force had recover'd that Crown and driven out King David who was retired to the Court of France together with his Wife and Children After the death of Mahaut the Earldom of Artois sell Jane of Burgundy Wife of Philip the Long and according to the Articles of Marriage was given to Blancb her Daughter the Wife of Eudes Duke of Burgundy Robert d'Artois who could not yet forbear his pretentions to that Earldom renewed the Process and produced certain Grants under the great Seal which he said he had found by Miracle He believed the King being his Brother-in-Law and owing him so great obligation would not search too deep after the truth of it But the King because it concerned the interest of his Daughter who was much nearer to him then his Sister caused these Letters Patents to be examin'd so exactly that they were found to be false and a Gentlewoman of Artois that had counterfeited them was burnt alive for it they having accused her as being a Sorceress Robert enraged for the loss of his Process and of his Honour slew to reproaches against the King so much the more injurious as they were true and so exasperated his anger that he was pushed on to the utmost extremity against him They seized upon his Confessor whom they obliged by force or promises to bear Witness against him his Wiâ—e was laid hold on though she were the Kings own Sister and after some delay for want of appearing he was Banished by sound of Trumpet and Proclamation through all the Suburbs of Paris and his Estate was declared to be Confiscate He then knew there was no more quarter for him and would have taken Sanctuary at the Earl of Hainaults but the Kings wrath did not suffer him to be so near he excited the Duke of Brabant to make War upon the Hanuyer Robert not to be a Cause of the ruine of his Friend went out of those Countries and resolved to all the extremities whereunto dispair does usually hurry Men of courage he goes to the King of England and by force of blowing the Coals kindled the Flame that set all France on Fire Year of our Lord 1332 In the mean time the King of England strenghned himself with Alliances Moneys and all sorts of Ammunitions for some great Enterprize He had in his Party the Earl of Haynault the Emperor Lewis his brother-in-Brother-in-Law several German Princes with the Cities of Flanders and to have the greater power in the Low-Countries and over the Princes along the Rhine he purchased at a dear rate the Quality of Vicar of the Empire The King was secure of the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Lorrain the Earl of Bar the Kings of Castille of Scotland and of Bohemia but especially of this last whom he had made fast by many several ties For besides that he had Married a Sister of his and his Son Charles born of that Wedlock had been bred in the Court of France he also Married his Daughter Bonne to John Duke of Normandy The Nuptials were compleated at Melun The Designs of the English being not yet formed gave Philip no apprehension so Year of our Lord 1332 that he was taking up the Cross for the Holy Land and with him three other Kings Charles of Bohemia Philip of Navarre and Peter of Arragon with a great number of Dukes Earls and Knights The Clergy took but small joy in it so mightily were they oppressed with extraordinary Exactions as if they had a design to ruine the Churches of France to go and restore those in Palestine Year of our Lord 1333 Upon the design of this War Philip endeavour'd to make Peace between all his Neighbour Princes he brought the Duke of Brabant to an agreement with the Earl of Flanders and the Earl of Savoy with the Dauphin de Viennois The difference betwixt the first was for the City of Malines It belonged to the Bishop of Liege and to the Earl of Guelders the Bishop had sold his part to the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Brabant claimed it saying he was the Lord of the Fief It was concluded it should remain to the Flemming unless the Duke would rather chuse to reimburse him 85000 Crowns With that was agreed the Marriage of three Daughters of the Brabanders with Lewis eldest Son of the Flemming William Earl of Holland and Renauld Earl of Guelders Year of our Lord 1333 Pope John XXII had publickly preached at Avignon That the Vision or Joyes of the Blessed Souls and the Pains or Torments of the Damned were imperfect till the final day of Judgment and endeavour'd to make this opinion pass current for the Doctrine of the Church The Faculty of Theology of Paris courageously opposed it He tried to get them to own it by two Nuncios whom he sent to them the one was the General of the Cordeliers the other a famous Jacobin Doctor The most Christian King did not judge the Pope to be infallible but order'd the question to be discuss'd by Thirty Doctors or the Faculty of Theology who confounded the Cordelier Nuncio whereupon a Decree was made and Sealed with their Thirty Seals which he sent to the Holy Father exhorting him to believe those who
with incredible Artifice tended to no more but to make him possessor of the Dutchy of Milan To bring this to pass he had Married his Sister to Maximilian King of the Romans and had secretly taken the investiture of that Dutchy as vacant by default of Hommage and other Duties not tendred but this he must wrest from John Galeas Son of his eldest Brother who held it by a just Title This was a young Man of little Courage whom he already kept as his Captive having chaced away his Mother Bonne de Savoy Sister to the Kings mother who had forfeited her Reputation by her Gallantries in her Widdow-hood but he had married a Wife as Couragious as Beautiful who being Daughter of Alphonso Duke of Calabria Son of Ferdinand King of Naples was able with the assistance of her Brother to retard the Execution of his malitious designs This was the motive which obliged Ludovic to stir up the King to the Conquest of Naples to ruin or at least to Embarrass that House which was alone able to prevent him He had the City of Genoa under his subjection which nevertheless held of the Crown of France the Kings Favourites having obtained the investiture for him for eight Thousand Crowns in his Alliance Hercules d'Est Duke of Ferrara his Father in Law Bentivoglio Lord of Bologna and some other Lords In those Days there were five great Governments or Powers in Italy two Republicks Venice and Florence this holding more of a Democracy or Popular State the other an Aristocracy or Government by Nobles the Church or Pope the King of Naples and the Duke of Milan Venice was Governed by their Senate none of her Citizens daring to raise themselves above the rest At Florence the Medici had usurped all the Authority after they had extirpated the Passi Peter the Head of the Family behaved himself with unsufferable haughtiness Lewis Sforza as we have told ye Governed the Milanois a Man that was perfidious sanguinary crafty and very aptly Surnamed the Moor not only because his Skin was tawny but likewise because he exceeded the Africans in Treacheries and Disloyalty In the Holy See was then sitting or rather intruded Alexander VI. who disposed of all things at his pleasure and to say truth he had paid for the tripple Crown It will suffice to give you his just Character to say in a word that never any Mahometan Prince was more Impious more Vicious or more Faithless than he and if any one did ever surpass him in his abominations it was Caesar Borgia his Bastard Son At Naples Reigned Ferdinand Bastard of Alphonso King of Arragon He had two Sons Alphonso and Frederic And Alphonso had a Son named Ferdinand as was his Grandfather Aged twenty or two and twenty years This last seemed to be of a good disposition and gained the Love of the Nobility and People but his Father and Grandfather were held in execration amongst all their Subjects for their Taxes Monopolies and bloody Cruelties the son exceeding the Father as much in wickedness as the Father exceeded all other Princes Besides all these Potentates had no Religion but by their Actions and in their Discourse professed a most Villainous and Brutish Atheism but withal pretended to great Wisdom and the finest Politicks Year of our Lord 1492. 93. 94. There were two men that wholly Governed the Kings mind Stephen de Vers his Chamberlain and Seneschal of Beaucare and William Briconnet his Treasurer General and Bishop of St. Malo By their means this War was undertaken but Briconnet having afterwards more thorowly considered and weighed it be-became of a quite contrary opinion Two years was it absolutely resolved upon then laid aside then again under consideration and debate There was not Wisdom enough in the Kings Council no money in his Coffers no assurance of his Allies for in Italy he had none for him but the Traitor and perfidious Ludovic in whom no prudent man would put any confidence but under-hand there were against him the wise Venctians and openly or barefac'd Pope Alexander and Peter de Medicis Upon the rumour of this War Ferdinand King of Naples sent to the King to Year of our Lord 1494 offer him Hommage and pay him an Annual Tritute of fifty Thousand Crowns These proffers having been rejected such grief and fear Seized upon him that his last day was the five and twentieth of January in the year 1494. being aged Seventy two His Son Alphonso more wicked then himself and more unfortunate took the Scepter After many delays the King pressed by the continual Sollicitations of Ludovic to which were likewise joyned those of the Cardinal of Saint Peters c. an irreconciliable Enemy to Pope Alexander left Paris in the Month of July having given the Regency to Peter Duke of Bourbon during the time he should be out of France He remained a while at Lyons in great uncertainty what he should do then again at Vienne from thence he passed to the City of Ast where he sojourned near a Month whilst they drew his Cannon over the Mountains with much difficulty In that place he was like to die of the Smal-Pox For two Years past had the Princes of Italy those great Men in War and Politicks so much vaunted by their Historians taken notice how this Design was forming which could not but prove fatal hereafter to the liberty of their Country and for the present invade their Peace and Power and yet they had not Skill or Prudence enough to divert a Prince who was but young and guided by a Council without Brains nor Courage enough to meet and fight his Forces which were but inconsiderable So that there is reason to believe that God had sealed their Eyes tied their Hands behind them and raised up this young King to chastize them Indeed Hierosme Savanarola a Dominican had a long time before filled all Italy with predictions of his coming and affirmed that he had a Commission from Heaven to Dethrone the Tyrants For this great Enterprize he had belonging to himself but sixteen hundred Gents-Darmes each with his two Archers on Horse-back his two hundred Gentlemen three or four hundred Horse lightly arm'd twelve thousand Foot half Swisse and half French but withal a great number of young Lords and Nobility who went Volunteers all very fit and useful for a Day of Battle but not any wise proper in Affairs that required length of time as not able to undergo Hardship nor be under Command Alphonso was resolved to carry the War into Ludovic's Country to this effect he had sent an Army into Romagnia commanded by young Frederic his Son and another by his Brother Frederic towards the Coasts of Genoa Frederic goes on Shoar at Rapalo thinking thereby to make the Genoese rise by the intelligence of those that were Banished but the Duke of Orleans who commanded the French Fleet beat the others in the Post which they had fortified and Daubigny having with some Forces outmarched
the one and then with the other In the midst of all these a young King as weak in mind as in body exposed to the first occupier and the prize contended for the Government of the Kingdom As for the Guises they were Five Brothers the Duke the Cardinal de Lorraine the Duke d'Aumale the Cardinal de Guise and the Marquess d'Elbeuf we are not to make any reck'ning of the three last because they acted nothing but by the inspiration and motion of the other two The Duke drew his Party to him by the Reputation of his Valour his Liberality and his Affability the Cardinal de Lorraine by his Eloquence and his Learning They were notwithstanding of very different humors the Duke moderate just undaunted in dangers the Cardinal hot undertaking and vain puffed up with good success but trembling and faint-hearted at the least frowns of Fortune Amongst the Princes of the Blood there was Anthony King of Navarre Lewis Prince of Condé the Duke of Montpensier and the Prince de la Roche-sur-yon Anthony was a voluptuous and fearful Prince and more considerable for his Quality then his Power Lewis was Valiant Hardy and one the greatness of whose Courage and meanness of whose slender Fortune made him fit to undertake every thing Anthony did not stand firm but abandoned his younger Brother to his Year of our Lord 1559 very death he fluctuated in doubts of Religion and was neither a good Catholick nor right Lutheran His Brother followed the Opinions of Calvin The Guises seized upon the Kings Person because he had Married their Niece Mary Steward Queen of Scotland and upon the favourable pretence of the Catholick Religion The others made sure of the Male-contents the disbanded Souldiers and the protection of the Religionaries whose dispair was yet much greater and stronger then their numbers The Mareschal de Saint André a Lord as brave as witty and polite but very Luxurious and over-head and ears in debt devoted himself wholly to them and promised the Duke to bestow his Daughter upon which of his Sons he pleased with all the Estate belonging both to him and his Wife reserving only the clear revenue during their term of Life This he did fearing to be devoured by his Creditors should he ever happen to be expell'd the Court. The Constable a great temporiser and who had wont to be prime Minister of State could not stoop now to be Inferior He admitted the flatteries and caresses of both Parties but at length adhered to the Guisians in hatred to the novel opinions being perswaded by his Wife and second Son that the Title he bare of the first Christian Baron would not allow him to linck himself with those who did impugne the Catholick Religion The Duke of Montpensier and the Prince de la Roche Sur-Yon though both of the House of Bourbon were led by the same motives and did not so much respect the proximity of Blood as the name of the Ancient Church and the King from whom they would not start aside for any other Consideration whatsoever A motive directly contrary to the Constables cast the Admiral de Coligny and his Brother Dandelot Colonel of the French Infantry on the side of those Princes who favour'd the new Religion of which they were thoroughly convinced and perswaded besides that they had the Honour to be Allied to the Prince of Condé For he had Married Elenora de Roye Daughter of one Magdelain de Mailly who was their Sister by the Mothers side she and they being Born of Louisa de Montmorency who was first Married to Frederic du Mailly Then to the Mareschal de Chastillon Father of these two Lords When King Henry II. received his hurt the Queen Mother was in suspence a day or two whether to joyn with the Constable or the Guises She looked upon both the one and the other as her Enemies being all Allied to the Dutchess of Valentinois whom she hated mortally though in her Husbands Life-time she feigned to love her even to the height of confidence But she thought her self much more affronted by the Constable then the Guises because it was he that had last adventur'd to contract an Alliance with that Woman Besides the Guises utterly abandoned her notwithstanding the repugnance of the Duke d'Aumale who was her Son in Law and withal they promised this Queen so much Service and so great Submission that she resolved to stand by them To which me may add that being Uncles to the young King as they were it might perhaps have been out of the reach of her power or interest to have set them aside When the Constable perceived his Game was near lost he sent in all post hast to the King of Navarre to press him to come and take that Place and Authority his Birth justly claimed under the young King but that Prince who was slow and irresolute and who withal did not much confide in him because he had once advised the deceased King to seize upon the remainder of his petit Kingdom did not make much hast This signal fault and after this his strange irresolutions and the weakness of his Conduct during all this and the following Reign may be accounted indirectly amongst the principal and main causes of all the Troubles and Misfortunes that befel the Kingdom of France Wherefore the Guises having gained the Mastery at Court the King declared to the Parliaments Deputies when they came to wait on him That he had committed the direction of his Affairs to them that is to say the Intendance or Over-sight of all the Affairs of War to the Duke and that of the Finances or Treasury to the Cardinal Being thus establish'd they consider'd of removing out of the way all those that might be obnoxious They left the Constable and Mareschals of France no more Commission but to Bury the late King and sent the Princes of Condé and de la Roche Sur-Yon into Spain the first to carry the Coller of the Order to King Philip the other to get the Treaty of Peace confirmed They likewise banished the Dutchess of Valentinois from the Court but first obliged her to restore and deliver up the Jewels and the rich Furniture and Year of our Lord 1559 Goods the late King had bestowed upon her and took away her fair House of Chenonceaux to accommodate the Queen-Mother in exchange for the Castle of Chaumont upon the Banks of the River Loire Desiring by embellishing the face of their new Government with a shew of Goodness and Justice towards the publick to condemn the Government past they took the Seals from Bertrandi Cardinal and Archbishop of Sens whose reputation was not of the best and restored them to the Chancellor Ol vier a person really of a much more then ordinary merit and of great probity but who soon perceived they had recalled him to servitude rather then to a freedom of function in the highest Office of the Kingdom The Queen-Mother in the mean time
Paris in which time Fredegonda knew so well how to sooth him that he took her and her Son into his Protection and ordered the Lords of Chilperic's Kingdom to repair to Vitry and acknowledge that Son for their King and to name him Clotaire however he appropriated most of the Kingdom of Paris to himself only the City of Paris excepted which he left to the young Child He afterwards employed himself in doing Justice to those that made complaints of the several violences of the deceased Chilperic and of all the Grandees belonging to that Kings Court who being unjust and griping to the utmost extremity had suffered all manner of Robberies and Spoil in them In fine believing himself Master of all France during the Minority of his Nephews he took possession of their Lands in Neustria as he pleased but in Austrasia his Power was not owned The hatred they had against Fredegonda did not diminish she durst not come out of her Asylum of Nostre-Dame wherefore he sent her to Van de Rueil near Rouen Being there in more security she began afresh to make use of Poyson and Poyniard they did several times apprehend and discover some Assassines which she was sending to Murther King Childebert and Brunehaud That Queen having detected one especially amongst the rest it was a Clerk after he had been put to many Tortures sent him back again to her in derision and she for shame and madness caused the Feet and Hands of this miserable Wretch to be cut off Two years after the beforementioned Gondebaud who was come from Constantinople Year of our Lord 535 had kept himself close and concealed in an Island at the mouth of the Rhosne Gontran-Boson the Patrician Mummole Didier Duke of Thoulouse Bladaste who had been beaten by the Gascons and some other Factious Heads sworn Enemies to King Gontran had persuaded him to take the Title of King listing him up upon the Target at Brine la Gaillarde The Lords of Childebert's Court several Bishops of Aquitain Brunehaud her self who desired him for her Husband favoured him openly enough and all the Country beyond the Garonne obeyed him The thing did particularly concern King Gontran he seared his Nephew Childebert might assist this Conspiracy which aimed at no less than to strip him it was by this Motive that he desired he would come to him and that he confirmed the Adoption before made putting his Javelin into his Hand At the same time he caused an Army to march into Aquitain under the Conduct of Leudegisile and the Patrician Egila Gondebaud knowing they approached shuts himself up with good store of Ammunitions in the strong City of Lyons de Cominges he was there besieged a while after The Fifteenth day of the Siege Mummole ever perfidious and the other Lords delivers him to the Besiegers thinking to purchase their Lives with the price of his In effect he was kill'd upon the place but they fared never the better for that Mummole was treated in the same manner as well as Bishop Sagittary as soon as they had orders from the King The City was sacked and destroy'd and remained buried in its Ruines till about the year 1005. when Bishop St. Bertrand whose name it bears Rebuilt it in the very same place but of a far less Circumference than before Year of our Lord 585 That War ended Gontran came to Paris to hold the little Clotair at the Font which was not performed this time Fredegonda keeping the Child at a distance and fearing that he desired to see it only to seize upon it and to shave it for he could not believe it was his Brothers Son so that to cure him of this doubt she sent him three Bishops and three hundred Notables who affirmed upon Oath that this little Prince was Legitimate Year of our Lord 584 and 85. The Prince Hermenigilda second Son of King Leuvigilda had Married Ingonde Daughter to King Sigebert The young Princess having Converted him to the Catholick Religion Goisuinte her Mother in Law used her outrageously Hermenigild her Husband had taken Arms against King Leuvigild his Father and being Leagued with the Sueves and the Greeks had trusted his Wife in the hands of these last Now not being able to resist his Father he had surrendred to his Mercy and the Father kept him miserably confined in close Imprisonment The Greeks seeing him detained retained his Wife also and Embarqued her to transport her to Constantinople Her Brother Childebert that he might obtain her Release of the Emperor sent a puissant Army to make War upon the Lombards but it being made up half of French and half Almains the Discord betwixt those two Nations made them trudge back again as they went without so much as seeing the Enemy Year of our Lord 585 Immediately after this it was known that Ingonde was dead in Affriâ—k and that Leuvigildus had caused her Husband to be Strangled King Gontran animated with a just Resentment against those Arrian Barbarians undertook to drive them out of Languedoc His Forces of the Kingdom of Burgundy besieged Nismes and those of Aquitain Carcassonne but there was so little Order and so much Licentiousness in both these Armies that they reaped nothing but shame nor did they make any feel the effects of War but their own fellow Subjects plundering and killing all the poor Peasants and indeed at their return the lower Countries being utterly destroy'd and the Bridges broken down some of them perished for Hunger others in passing over the Rivers nay above five thousand by their own Swords in the Contests one Company had against another almost every hour Year of our Lord 586 Leuvigildns broken with Age spared not either Prayers or Presents to obtain a Peace with Gontran but that King would never hearken to it he could not so soon forget the ill Treatment they had shewed to his Nephew nor the Affront he had received the year before from Recarede who had made Inroads and taken some Places in Provence Year of our Lord 587 Some while after this Leuvigildus dies but had before renounced Arrianism and his Recared or Richard professed the Catholick Religion and Established it amongst his People Year of our Lord 587 Before his Death he had practised some Intelligence with Fredegonde to rid themselves of their common Enemies he meant Childebert and Gontran who at that time were firmly united For Gontran having again declared Childebert his only Heir without making any rockoning of Clotair whom he counted a Bastard or one foisted in Fredegonda mortally hated them both and sought to thrust them out of the World Two Clerks were apprehended whom she had sent to assassinate Childebert with Poysoned Knives they were put to death by Torments their Noses Hands and Ears being cut off Year of our Lord 586 Every hour were such like Plots found out contrived by that wicked Woman Pretextat had been restored to his Bishoprick of Roüen by King Gontran she could not behold him without
rage in so much that having one day had some words with him for she was come from Val de Rüel to Rouen she hired a wicked Slave who upon Easter-day wounded him to death whilst he was at the Altar in his Cathedral Year of our Lord 587 Church The Murtherer for she was compell'd to deliver him up to a Nephew of that Bishop to do what he thought good with him confessed that she and Melantius with the Archdeacon of Rouen had given him Money to commit the Parricide and that none might doubt of this truth she put Melantius into that Episcopal See King Gontean by good fortune avoided three or four Attempts she made against his Person and notwithstanding either out of faint-heartedness or because the Neustrian Lords jealous of their Authority would not have suffered him to undertake any thing against the Mother of their King he did not do so much as he ought to secure his Life by the Chastisement of this Megera Year of our Lord 587 When Childebert had attained to the age of Fifteen years he began to make himself to be feared by some examples of severity having caused Duke Magnoald to be killed whom he had invited to his Palace to see a Combat of Wild Beasts and Arrested Gontran-Boson to Punish him according to what Judgment King Gontran should pronounce who very well knew the Treachery of this Villain and indeed did not pardon him The other Grandees of Austrasia particularly Ranchin Vrsion and Bertefroy took the allarm at it Fredegonda by her secret Correspondence encreased their Apprehensions so that in Consort with her they conspited to kill their King and make his two Sons to Reign the eldest of which was but two years old Childebert having had notice hereof from Gontran his Uncle sent for Ranchin and caused him to be knocked on the Head going out of his Chamber Vrsion and Bertefroy who had sheltred themselves in a Church were handled after the same manner Year of our Lord 588 The Emperor Mauritius had for some time sollicited King Childebert upon very advantageous Conditions to make a Descent into Italy for the driving out the Lombards at length Childebert to acquit himself of his Promise and the Sums he had received went thither with a powerful Army Autaris knowing by experience that Money drew the French thither but would not drive them back again did not profer them any but resolved in himself either to Conquer or else to dye with Honour The Fates were favourable to him in a great Engagement at the entrance to the Alpes Childebert having been soundly beaten retired Year of our Lord 589 What ever Intreaties Rccared could make to King Gontran he could not obtain a Peace on the contrary he was obstinately bent to continue the War against him but he only encreased his Shame and Losses Duke Boson whom he had sent into Septimania despising the Enemy and minding nothing but to Debauch suffered himself to be drawn into an Ambuscade where most part of his Army was defeated by a very small number of Visigoths Year of our Lord 589 90. The stirs and troubles between the Nuns of the Abby of St. Croix of Poitiers did puzzle King Gontran as much as if it had been a business of greater moment amongst them there were two Princesses Crodield Daughter of King Cherebert and Basine Daughter of King Chilperic Crodield having a fancy in her own Head to Command accused Lubovere her Abbess of many Irregularities to make her be put out After that she went away with forty Nuns of her Cabal to make complaint to King Gontran then being returned to Poitiers she seized upon St. Hilary's Church with a Troop of Pick-pokets who committed a world of Villanies and lewd Actions there They were fain to make use of the Regal Authority and Power to punish those Rascals and call an Assembly of the Bishops to judge of the Accusation against the Abbess She was declared Innocent and Crodield and Basina Excommunicated which was again confirmed by another Assembly of Bishops of the Kingdom of Gontran but at the Intreaty of the King 's the Council of Mâ—ts gave them Absolution Basina went again into the Monastery Crodeild stubborn in her Disobedience had leave to dwell in a Country-House which King Childebert had ordained for her Year of our Lord 590 A second Army which Childebert sent into Italy against the Lombards did most of it perish there by Famine and Sickness but withall struck King Autaris into so much dread that he promised the French if they would leave him in Peace that he would every year send them some Presents Childebert discovered again another of those Assassins whom Fredegonda sent to Murther him This new Attempt giving him occasion to examine and inquire into the old Conspiracies they apprehended Sonnegisile who had been concerned in that of Ranchin This Person accused Giles Bishop of Rheims and the King gave order to lay hold on him but upon complaints made by the Bishops that they should treat a Prelate thus without hearing him he released him to bring it to a formal Trial. For this end he calls a Councel at Mets the Fifteenth of November and there this unhappy Wretch convicted by Witnesses and his own Confession of Treason and Lasae Majesâ—atis and of his having been the Firebrand of the Civil Wars he was deposed from his Bishoprick and banished to Strasburgh the King having given him his Life upon the Petition of the other Bishops The Count Waroc and other Princes of Bretagne notwithstanding the Oath they had given two or three times ransacked the Bishopricks of Rennes and Nants which belonged to King Gontran he would once for all punish their audacious Attempts and commanded his Forces in the Kingdom of Burgundy to march that way They had two chief Commanders Ebracaire and Boubelene who could not accord together The first of these left his Companion with the best part of the Army upon the point of the business however Boubelene defended himself valiantly for two days together but on the third he was overwhelmed and perished with almost all his Men. Ebracair being returned to Court was devested of all his Estate and Goods to the King who awarded them to the Heirs of Boubelene Year of our Lord 590 or 591. King Gontran Hunting one day in the Vosga perceived that some body had killed a Buffalo The Keeper accused the Chamberlain to the King and the Chamberlain denying the Fact Gontran compels him to justifie himself in Combat as the custom then was in doubtful cases His Champion and the Keeper kill each other and he as being Convicted by the death of his Champion was tied to a Stake and Stoned Year of our Lord 592 From the same Principle of levity of mind which caused these violent Fits in Gontran proceeded his Inconstancy and Apprehensions which turned him sometimes on one side sometimes on another He could not but mortally hate Fredegonda and yet nevertheless upon her
concerning Degrees prohibited were different according to the different Countries In the beginning in some Churches they hardly prohibited the Marrying with two Sisters or two Brothers But the Council of Agde the third of Orleance and other following Councils extended it to a Niece to the Aunt to the Brothers Widdow and the Uncles to the Wives Sister to Cousins and Cousin-Germans There were Sanctuaries in the most famous Churches which the Bishops made good to the utmost of their power Their intercession often times obtained Pardon for the greatest Criminals and whatever failings themselves did fall into they most commonly came off only with Degradation or Banishment their Brethren most times persuading the Kings to spare their Lives St. Augustin had began to persuade the Faithful to give the Tithe of their Goods for the relief and support of the Poor grounded upon this Principle That Christians were obliged to a greater Perfection then the Jews who had allowed it to the Levites The Prelates of the second Council of Tours exhorted the People to pay them to God according to the example of the Patriarch Abraham The second of Mascon ordained it as being a Right and Duty Established in the Old Testament and which they affirmed had been of a very long time observed by the Christians The Temporal Lords to whom they primarily belonged bestowed much upon the Monasteries little on the Bishops and Curats to whom notwithstanding in case they were of Divine Right they ought to belong There were â—ew Festivals observed as Holy in all Churches except Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide The noblest of the Diocess were obliged to keep them in the Episcopal City the Country Curates the same as likewise to meet as the Synod which was yearly held at a time certain The King solemnised these Holy-days in what City he pleased and the Bishops ambitiously courted and strove who should have that honour in his own Church Since that Method being altered and the Charms of the World being stronger to allure the Bishops to Court then the Duties of Christianity were to draw the Court to the Church the Kings celebrated those Festivals in their Palaces and the Bishops forsaking their Flocks went thither in greater Crowds then was desired New Cells or Hermitages were not suffered to be made nor new Congregations of Monks without the Bishops allowance An Abbot durst not run forth nor absent himself from his Monastery when he fell into any fault the Bishop might displace him and give him a Successor and if he were rebellious he was not admitted to the Communion Shame alone could not confine and keep those in their Monasteries who had Vowed and Dedicated themselves to God but the Church compell'd them to continue by all the Penalties that were in her power No Tribute or Tax was raised upon any thing belonging to the Church neither upon their Foundations their Goods nor their Persons and neither the Judges nor the Kings Receivers could exercise any Power or Jurisdiction on their Lands But those Bishops and Abbots who desired to obtain the King's or the Grandees favour and protection having begun to make them Euloges or Presents this Custom grew into a necessary Right and Duty which was afterwards exacted from them when they failed to do it voluntarily Dagobert I. King XI POPE HONORIUS I. Who S. nine years and an half during this Reign DAGOBERT I. Aged Twenty six years in Neustria Austrasia and Burgundy ARIBERT Aged Thirteen or fourteen years in part of Aquitain Year of our Lord 629 PRince Aribert being with King Clotaire when he died it might be thought that in the absence of his Brother Dagobert who was in Austrasia he might with his Fathers Treasure have raised Men and Friends enough to have seized on the Kingdom but as he was young and perhaps his Father had bequeathed him no part in the Kingdom by his last Testament it was in vain that Brunolph his Mothers Brother endeavoured to stir up the Neustrians in his behalf Dagobert used such diligence that he made himself secure of the Kingdoms of Neustria and Burgundy so that Aribert with his Uncle were constrained to go and meet him and to submit It was in the beginning of the Seventh year of his Reign in Austrasia Year of our Lord 629 Nevertheless as it were out of pity and according to the counsel of the French Lords he gave him Saintonge Perigord Agenois Thoulousam and all the third Aquitain Aribert setled his Royal Throne at Thoulouse As soon as he was acknowledged in Neustria he went to visit Burgundy which in many years had not beheld a King but was governed by Mayers neither had they had any Mayer since the death of Varnaquier Being at St. John de Laone he heard the complaints of his People rendred Justice to all his Subjects took a care to compose all their Disputes but it seems all these fair appearances were but to cover a Villanous Murther for which purpose perhaps he had undertaken this Journey For one Morning going into a Bath he commanded three Lords of the Court to kill Brunolph who had followed him though he were guilty of nothing unless being affectionate to the Interest of his Nephew Aribert they might apprehend he would be again stirring and acting something for him It seems the Neustrian and the Austrasian Lords did each of them struggle who should possess the King The first carried it from the others by taking him on the blind side and flattering him in his Passions The Queen Gomatrude was an Austrasian of Kin to Cunibert and Pepin who were present at her Wedding the Neustrians who knew the amorous inclination of their Prince persuaded him to repudiate her upon the pretence of Barrenness to Marry Nantilda one that served him By this means Ega Mayer of the Neustrian Palace got the highest place in the young Kings favour who presently dismissed Cumbert but retained Pepin still at Court not to make use any more of his Counsel but for fear he might cause the Kingdom of Austrasia to revolt his Office of Mayer of the Palace and his Vertues giving him too great a power Nantilda was soon deprived of the Affection of her Husband by another Woman Being gone into Austrasia and delighting to shew himself in his Royal Habit to those Provinces with great Pomp and a splendid Court he in her room took a very beautiful Virgin named Ragnetrude Sometime after he Married two more Women Wlfegunde and Bertechilde for Kings thought they had this Priviledge of having several and took as many Mistresses as the desire and gust of change could wish for which is infinite After he had thrown off his two prudent Governours who kept him within compass he let himself loose to all the heats of his Youth and the violence of his Soveraign Authority The first cast him into all sorts of Pleasures The second made him heap up Money and lay his griping Hand upon his Subjects Treasure as if all had been his own It
Queen Batilda's and more able then any other to make head against him and to bring many more to joyn with him Year of our Lord 668 King Clotaire having been about three years in the hands of this wicked Minister dyed the 14th of his Reign An. 668. He had no Children but was capable of having some being 17 or 18 years old Some say he was buried at Chelles others at St. Denis Childeric II. King XIV POPES VITALIANUS some Months in this Reign ADEODAT Elected in April 669. S. Seven years eight Months and an half of which Four in this Reign Ebroin Mayre THIERRY King of Neustria and Burgundy aged 16 or 17 years and CHILDERIC of Austrasia aged 18 years Wlfoade Mayre AFter such an insolent Deportment Ebroin could not hope that the Grandees of Neustria and Burgundy whatever King they should Elect would confirm his Office of Mayre and therefore upon his own Head and without waiting for their Assembling or Consent which was necessary in this case he takes Thierry and sets him upon the Royal Throne according to custom Year of our Lord 668 that this young Prince might have no obligation but to himself alone Year of our Lord 669 This attempt gave them together both apprehension and indignation Fear might have had the upper hand and made them acquiese if he would at least but have suffer'd them to come and congratulate their new King and make their Court to him but having sent them a Command not to stir forth of their Houses their indignation prevail'd they communicated their Grievances and Discontents the Bishop of Autun got and kept them together and they sent a dispatch to Childeric to proffer him the Kingdom of Neustria Year of our Lord 669 Childeric comes greatly accompanied Ebroin is forsaken of all the World and found no Sanctuary but the Horns of the Altar The French touched with an imprudent Mercy content themselves with Shaving and Confining him to the Monastery de Luxeu to do Pennance His King Thierry is likewise Shaved and sent to the Monastery of St. Denis not to play the Monk but to be prisoner there He had Reigned almost a year in Neustria CHILDERIC alone WLFOADE Mayre Year of our Lord 670 FOr the Fifth time the whole Monarchy of France was re-united under one single King Wlfoad was Mayre of Austrasia and Leger if he did not bear the Title did at least bear the Office in Neustria and in Burgundy They had very much changed the Laws which the best Kings and the wisest Magistrates had made to deal Justice impartially honest people desired they might be restored or revived their Demand was granted and it was ordained amongst other things that the Judges Counts and Dukes should observe the antient Customs of the Countrey and that those Employments should not be perpetual lest they should become Tyrannical But some wicked persons having gotten the ascendent over the young King and plunging him into the Debauches of Wine and Women soon brought him to a breach of all these Ordinances and to do many unjust actions without the knowledge Year of our Lord 671 or against the opinion of Leger The Prelates enemies imputing all these faults to him he was obliged that he might justifie himself to speak somewhat freely to him even to the threatning him with the wrath of God The young Prince was at first touched with his Remonstrances or seemed to be Year of our Lord 671 so but when he was confirmed in his Vice he conceived a Mortal hatred against him and those Courtiers that had pretended to be Leger's best friends whilst he was in greatest Favour were those that threw most Oyl upon this Fire Childeric was gone to celebrate the Festival of Easter at Autun where one certain Hector Patrician of Marseille being arrived some days before they perswaded the King that those two Lords were met only to plot against him so that upon the Easter-Eve being troubled and having his Head full of the fumes of Choler and Wine he ran into the Baptistary to kill him The Holy Prelate and Hector perceiving his wrath endeavoured the following night to avoid it by flight but they were pursued Hector was killed on the way and the Bishop brought back to the King who with much ado gave him his Life and confined him to Luxeu There he found Ebroin who reconciled himself to him The Wolf and the Lamb dwelling together under the same roof for fear of a more terrible power and because they had nothing there to decide betwixt them In those days Flavius-Vamba was King of the Visigoths Three Lords of Septimania Year of our Lord 672 a Count a Bishop and an Abbot having revolted against him he sent the Duke Paul with an Army to chastise them But that General proving unfaithful to his Prince joyned with them taking advantage of their Rebellion and the assistance of the French and Gascons to get himself to be Elected and proclaimed King in Narbona His Ambition had a shameful end Vamba having retaken all the Cities he had seized upon besieged him in the Sands of Nismes and the unfortunate wretch surrendred to the Kings Mercy who led him in triumph thorough the Cities of Spain and caused his Eyes to be put out But he durst not break with France on the contrary he loaded all those French whom he had taken prisoners with Gyves though they had sided with that Rebel Childeric's Debauches and Excess easily led his ill nature to the highest Cruelties Year of our Lord 673 he sent two Dukes to Luxeu to drag out the good Bishop Leger and hurry him to Court to be sacrificed to his revenge and about the same time it hapned that he caused a Lord named Bodillon to be tied to a Post and whipped The Great ones of the Kingdom resented this Outrage as if themselves had felt the blows and wickedly conspired to Treat him as a Tyrant who Treated them like Slaves The business being agreed upon they wait for him at his return from Hunting in the Forest of Lochonia which is perhaps that of Lyhons Bodillon the most furious of all revenging himself with his own hand Massacres him and with him the Queen Bilechild who was great with Child and also a Son of theirs but very young The Mayre Wlfoad made his escape it is not known how from amidst the swords of these Furies and retired into Austrasia Bilechild is by some Authors said to be Sister of her Husbands Uncle but which they say nothing nor whether he left any Children unless we will believe a Chart or Manuscript wherein that Daniel Chilperic whom we shall mention hereafter is called his Son The time of his Reign is not agreed upon The most probable opinion is that it was Fifteen years in Austrasia and Three in Neustria and Burgundy which is about Eighteen years in all Some years since as they were repairing the Church of St. Germain des Prez they found two Stone Tombs side by side in
the one lay the Body of a Man and in the other a Womans with a little Child The Inscription bearing the Name of Childeric and some Regal Ornaments which were therein discovered that they were the Tombs of this King and his Queen An Inter-regnum of some Months THis Tragical Death was followed with an Inter-regnum and universal Confusion Year of our Lord 673 and 74. in all three Kingdoms The Dukes that had haled St. Leger out oâ— Luxeu asked him pardon and conducted him to his City of Autun where the Burghers and the Lords of Burgundy made a League to defend him in case they should attempt upon his Life during this Inter-regnum It is credible that amidst these Divisions all the Austrasians or at least part of them by the perswasion of Queen Imnichilda Widow of King Sigebert II. and who had had credit in the Court of King Childeric desiring to have a King that they might not fall under the power of the Neustrians recalled her Son Dagobert whom Grimoald had shaven and banished into Ireland and acknowledged him for King of Austrasia where he Reigned many years Year of our Lord 674 The Lords of Neustria and Burgundy that they might not fall into an Anarchy went and drew forth Thierry from the Monastery of St. Denis where he had time to let his Royal Locks grow again and set him on the Throne giving him for Mayre of the Palace Leudesia or Liuteria the Son of that Erchinoald who had that Office under Clovis II. Thierry I. King XV. POPES ADEODAT S. three years and an half in this Reign DONUS Elected in No. 676. S. one year three months AGATHON Elected in 678. S. three years eight months and half LEO II. Elected in August 683. S. eleven months BENEDICTUS II. Elected in 684. S. eighteen months and half JOHN V. Elected in 685. S. one year CONON Elected in 685. S. one year SERGIUS Elected in Decemb. 687. S. thirteen years eight months and half whereof three years and an half under this Reign LEUDESIA then Ebroin Mayres THIERRY in Neustria and Burgundy Aged 22 or 23 years and DAGOBERT in Austrasia Aged about 15 years EBroin having quitted the Monastery of Luxeu after he had wandred a while with a small Band of Men grew so Confident as to throw off his Clerical Habit which was in those times esteemed a most horrid thing though a Man had even been compelled to put it on His design was to seize upon the Government again to this end he got together all such as were banished and such as were Enemies to Leger whose opposition he most feared and made a League with Wlfoad Mayer of Austrasia who mortally hated the Holy Bishop With this Crew of Rascally Villains and Austrasians he takes the Field and in Year of our Lord 674 an instant falls into Neustria to surprize Thierry and Leudesia his Mayre The first was passing his time at Nogent in the Country of Laonnois and the other was in a Palace on this side the Oise His Enterprize having failed him because they got away with all speed he applies himself to fraud and having under colour of an Accommodation engaged Leudesia to come to a Conference he laid an Ambuscade for him by the way where he was Assassinated All this notwithstanding did not restore him to the Office of Mayre King Thierry Year of our Lord 675 and 76. hating him the more it was not likely he would admit him He bethinks himself therefore when he was returned to Austrasia as he was advised by two evil Bishops who had been Deposed Didon-Desiree of Chaalons and Robon of Valence to spread the Report abroad that Thierry was dead and to impose a false or pretended Clovis whom he said was Son to Clotaire III. This Statue being set up he forces the People to take an Oath of Fidelity to him and ruines all those Countries that refused so to do But principally he Assaults Leger in Autun by Vaimer Duke of Champagne who Year of our Lord 676 was accompanied by the two wicked Bishops He believed with much reason that this was the most stout Opposer of his Tyranny and that having vanquish'd him he should easily overcome all the others The City being besieged and in danger to be forced this good Prelat could not be persuaded to betray that Faith he owed the King and on the other side would not expose his Flock for whom a good Shepherd ought to expose his Life He therefore went voluntarily out of Autun after he had broken all his Silver Plate to give to the Poor and delivers himself to Vaimer That wicked Man caused his Eyes to be plucked out and shut him up in a Monastery In Recompence for so good a piece of Service Ebroin instals him in the Bishoprick of Troyes by fraud and violence and Didon invaded that of Autun but both the one and the other perished soon after by the same Tyranny of which they were the Ministers Immediately after this the Grandees of Neustria and Burgundy as if they had left their hearts by the imprisonment of Leger who indeed was the greatest Genius of that Court accepted Ebroin for Mayre of Thierry 's Palace and then he having no more need of his false Clovis took off his Vizard and returned him to a private Condition Being in this high Power his Tyranny had no bounds he sacrificed all that had opposed him to his Revenge and to his Covetousness those that possessed fair Estates or great Employments but all under the pretence of some imputed Crime which deprived them of their Honour before he robb'd them of their Lives The most wary saved themselves in time some in Aquitain others in the utmost skirts of Austrasia Year of our Lord 678 That he might have a specious Pretence to extend his Cruelty as far as he pleased he set himself upon a discovery of all those that had any hand in the Death of Childeric for which it was well known he rejoyced more than the Actors themselves He failed not to bring in and involve Leger and the Count Guerin his Brother These two Lords being brought before him he caused the latter to be Stoned to death at a Stake and the other to have the Soles of his Feet torn out and his Lips cut off then put him into the Custody of one of his Sattelites who kept him near two years in the Monastery of Fescamp The most part of the Bishops flattered him in his Injustice because they either dreaded him or had some interest in it Dadon himself otherwise Ouin Bishop of Rouen and one that has a Place in the Kalender of Saints was his Friend and one of his principal Counsellors This Man clapt St. Filibert Abbot of Jemieges in Prison for having made some Remonstrances to the Tyrant And afterwards perceiving that such Violence was too odious in the Eyes of honest People he banished him to Aquitain under colour of building a Monastery in the Isle of Herio Indeed he
did Erect one there whence it took the name of Noir-moustier The Exemplary Vertue and Christian Liberty of a few Prelats made the Tyrants Process he undertook to make theirs and dishonour them to justifie his own Conduct which they had condemned This could not be without the Sentence of their Brethren To this purpose he therefore calls an Assembly of some that were most devoted to him in one of the Kings Palaces in the Country They began thereby to gain a good opinion of their Justice and Impartiality with two Bishops who deserv'd it very well These were Didon and Vaimer who had offended the Tyrant it is not said wherein Both these were Degraded and afterwards delivered over to be put to Death Didon perished by the Sword and Vaimer by the Cord. That done they proceeded against Amat de Sens Lambert de Tougres and Leger d'Autun the two first retired into Monasteries but as for the other the Fathers of the Council or rather the Slaves to that Tyrant tore his Garment from top to bottom that was the manner of Degradation then he was put into the hands of Crodebert Count of the Palace who having with grief carried him into the Forest Year of our Lord 679 d'Iveline caused his Head to be cut off Year of our Lord 680 About this time died Dagobert King of one part of Austrasia I know there are some Authors that make him live many years longer and bestow a Son and many Daughters upon him but in my mind it is upon very doubtful proof and if he had any Son we cannot say that he outlived his Father unless some Modern Genealogist have need of it to make up his Account A little before or a little after him Wlfoad his Mayre ended his days having enjoy'd that Office near twenty five years The Austrasians having no Prince of the Blood and refusing to obey Thierry out of hatred to Ebroin put the whole Government of the Kingdom into the hands of Martin and Pepin They were Cousin-Germans issued from two Sons of St. Arnolds the first from Clodulph the second from Anchisa and Begga the Daughter to Pepin de Landen To distinguish these some of our Historians call this Pepin the Gross others Pepin de Herstal which is a Village upon the Meuse between Jupil and Liege where he had been brought up THIERRY in Neustria MARTIN and PEPIN Princes in Austrasia THe two Cousins foreseeing Ebroin would come upon them went out to attaque Year of our Lord 681 him first and gave him Battle near the Forest of Locafao at the entrance into Neustria The Tyrant gained the Victory and they escaped by flight Martin to the City of Laon and Pepin a great way in the Kingdom of Austrasia Ebroin with his Army approaches Laon and finding the place impregnable by force gives out Propositions of Accommodation Two Bishops Engilbert of Paris and Rieul of Rheims would needs be Instruments of the fraud They persuaded Martin to go and meet him in his Camp and for security gave him their Oaths upon the Shrines of some Saints which they carried about them but out of which they had taken the Relicks Martin having forgotten the Example of Leudesia relies on the Faith of these Prelates When he was come into the Camp Ebroins Soldiers surrounded and cut him off with all his Men. Thus all the Government of Austrasia remained in Pepin who made advantage of his Enemies Crime and the defeat of his Cousin Year of our Lord 682 This great success pushed the insolence of Ebroin to the highest degree But Treating the French more tyrannical then ever a Lord named Hermenfroy whom he had stripp'd of all his Estate and whom he threatned with Death delivered France from that Monster He watched him one Morning before break of day at his going from home to the Church and cleft his Head with a Sword afterwards he made his escape into Austrasia Year of our Lord 683 In his place the French made choice of Varaton a wise old Man who immediately Treated with Pepin and gave him Hostages He had joyned with him in that Administration a Son of his named Willimer able crafty and undertaking but rough cholerick and one that had nothing more in view then the honour of Commanding This unnatural Child grew weary of being his Fathers Companion he would be his Master and dispossess'd him of his Employment Presently after he breaks the Treaty with Pepin and having raised a great Army marched as far as Namur where he catches some of his Enemies with the lure of an Hipocritical Faith and caused them to be slain At his return from thence he was seized with a Distemper whereof he died not without Divine Punishment being Year of our Lord 684 but entred upon the second year of his Office The old Man was restored to the Place and Death dispossessed him again a year after Berthier who had Married a Daughter of his Wives succeeded him by Election This was a little fellow Ill-shaped Hair-brain'd Unjust Proud Covetous and in fine much the same as Willimer only he had neither Wit nor Judgment The greater part of the Neustrians finding themselves despised and controuled by so contemptible a Creature conceived so much scorn and hatred for him that they forsook Year of our Lord 685. 686. 687. 687. him the very next year to Ally themselves with Pepin This Lord both Generous and Politick took in hand the Cause of those that had been banished by Ebroin and whom Thierry treated still as Criminals that he might have some colour to detain their Estates He advised them to send to that King to implore an Amnesty and Pardon for what was past in the most submissive manner and after their Supplications had been rejected he brought them back into their own Country with an Army and spared not to assault Thierry and his Mayre He fought them at Tertry which is between St. Quentin and Peronne Heavens having favoured him with a compleat Victory he seized on the Royal Treasure then on the City of Paris and Thierry 's own Person who had sheltred himself there After which Berthier whose evil Counsels had occasioned all these mischiefs was knocked on the Head by Combination of almost all the Neustrians and the instigation even of his Wives own Mother Some not without reason do here put an end to the Reign of the Merovignians because in truth and in effect they never had after this but only the vain and empty Title of Kings their whole Kingdom and even their Persons being in the Power of Pepin and his Children He was owned Mayre of the Palace through all France and he took the Title of Duke or Commander of the French according to the ancient usage of the Germans that is to say they gave him all Authority in the Armies without dependance upon the King but under whose name notwithstanding all Acts were passed and that was the sole honour that remained still in him
ready to march in he was obliged to recall it because of the Death of Childebert The last of this Kings days was the 15th of April Anno 711. He was Aged about Year of our Lord 711 Twenty eight years and had enjoyed the Title of King Sixteen or seventeen years He was buried at the Church of St. Stephens at Coucy Though he had not the opportunity of doing any Act himself being as it were Tethered by the Authority of Pepin nevertheless they gave him the name of Just rather to distinguish him from the other Childebert then because he deserved it Some give him two Sons Dagobert and Childeric The first Reigned the other was bred up to Learning or clerkship and surnamed Daniel There are those that will make him to be the Son of Thierry the First The Piety of Gontran the Mildness and Justice of Clotaire and the Tranquillity of his Reign after the death of Brunehaud turned the genious of the French already very Devout to be highly Religious and inclined them more generally to Reverence holy things and such as they believed to have a more frequent Communication with Heaven The Kings and Grandees outvied each other who should bestow most Gifts upon the Churches They deposited in those sacred Treasuries even to their very Girdles their Belts their Precious Vessels their Apparel when they were rich and set with precious Stones or Embroidered their Houshold Furniture and any other Rarities which were more for Ornament then use It was then who should build most Churches and Hospitals and who should found the noblest Monasteries The Kings strove to exempt such as they founded from all Temporal Jurisdiction and Charges and to ascertain the full and free Possession of all what they bestowed And therefore because of the assumed power the Bishops had to lay hands on all those Goods and that they disposed of the Donations and Offerings which were made to any of the Churches within their Diocess and for that besides they took some certain Duties for Blessing the Chrisome for the Consecration of Altars for their Visiting and sometimes for Ordinations they obliged them to free them from all such Impositions and even not to meddle with any Monastery but to leave the Correction and Government of the Monks to the Abbot excepting in case he had not power enough to compel Obedience and withall to confer the Sacred Orders to such Monks as should be presented without exacting any thing The Princes on their part did likewise freely bestow many the like Immanities which exempted them as well from Contribution for their Lands and from all Imposts on their Goods as from New-years-Gifts Lodging and Expence of Judges which they claimed from all other People wherever they went to hold their Courts Now these Exemptions were agreed to by the Diocesan but with the consent of his Brethren of the Clergy That of St. Denis the oldest now remaining was conceded by Landry of Paris upon the intreaty of King Clovis II. Anno 659. in the Assembly of Clichy it containeth many more things then the Protocole or Deed of Marculfe That of Corbie was given by Bertefoy of Amiens Anno 664. at the request of Queen Batilda It makes mention that there had been the like heretofore granted to the Monasteries of Agaune and Lerins and Leuxeu Pope Adeodat in the year 672. confirmed that which had been granted to St. Martins at Tours saying That divers others in France had obtained the like without which he would not have given his consent it being contrary to the Canons There was the like granted to Fontenels by Ansbert of Rouen in a Council which he called for that purpose in that City 682. In fine there were few great Abbies that did not obtain the like and ever the last gained something more and enlarged themselves as I may say to the prejudice and cost of the Hierarchy who lent them her Authority to destroy her self and them likewise since the Perfection of a good and holy Monk consists in Obedience and Humility I hardly find any Age wherein the heat for a Monastick Life reigned so greatly as in this Such as were prompted with that Spirit went from one Country to another wandring in every corner to seek out Forests and Mountains which were the more and sooner peopled by how much they were the more solitary and melancholly Ireland Scotland and England sent great numbers of these good Monks into France Colombanus the most renowned of all Irish by Birth having been very well received by King Gontran then by Childebert built the famous Monastery of Luxeu in the Mountain of Vosge His Reputation spreading over the three Nations drew thither a vast number of People and the Sentence of the Council of Mascon in the year 627. who undertook the defence of this Institute against the Monk Agrestin who would oppose him gave him such a Vogue that it spread all over France going an equal pace with St. Bennets and producing most eminent Servants to God as Emery Deile Eustasius and Gal Disciples of Colombanus Eustasius was Abbot of Luxeu and Gal who was likewise an Irishman went and built a Monastery in the Country of the Swissers about which was afterwards raised the City of St. Gall. St. Vandrille built one in the Diocess of Rouen at that place called Fontenelle St. Riquier one in Vimieu St. Vallery and St. Josse two others in the Diocess of Amiens upon the Sea-coast This St. Josse was younger Brother of Judicael King of Bretagne and had for Brother Vinok and two more who all chose to lead the same Life St. Ghislain one in Haynault Romaric one for Nuns in the Vosge in the place where stood his Castle of Romberg St. Tron one in the Country of Liege St. Bavon one at Ghent St. Goar one on the River Woker near the Rhine All these Monasteries to this very day bear the names of these Saints The Princes or Grandees gave them Ground whereon to build them together with the assistance of devout People and sometimes some of them did build at their own Charge and Expence Sigebert King of Austrasia erected twelve A Lord named Bobelen four in the neighbourhood of Bourges Clovis II. or rather an Archdeacon of Paris St. Maur des Fossez The Queen Batilda two very famous ones viz. Corbie for Men and Chelles for Women King Thierry St. Vaast of Arras as an Expiation for having consented to the death of St Leger St. Ouin or Owen filled his Diocess with a great number the most illustrious of them are Fontenelle Fescamp and Gemieges This last as likewise that of Noir-moustier in an Island of Poitou was the work or production of the care of that Philebert whom we have mentioned St. Eloy amongst many others built one at Solongnac in Limousin and one for Virgins at Paris of which St. Aura was the Abbess At this time it is the Church of St. Eloy before the Palace inhabited
deal with the Saxons the Huns the Lombards and the Saracens The Saxons a most Warlike and as yet Idolatrous Nation compounded of several People and such as had been invincible had they acted by a mutual agreement and consent gave him work and exercise enough for above Thirty Years during which time he made divers Expeditions against them always with advantage He never denyed them Peace and they broke again as soon as he was out of their sight But his Piety constant as their Malice was never wearied in forgiving them not so much out of a desire to allure them to his obedience as to bring them under the Yoak of Christ Jesus The highest part of his Care having no other end but the propagation of Religion He entred into Saxony therefore this Year and would try to terrify those Rebels by Fire and Sword but they were not afraid to bid him Battle somewhat neer Osnabrug Their Confidence was punished by a huge Slaughter of their men those that remained made their escape beyond the Veser He pursuing his Victory took in the Castle of Eresburgh demolished the Famous Temple of the false God Irmensul and broke his Idol It is supposed to have been the God Mars whence Mers-purg took it's name He afterwards pass'd the Veser compelled the Saxons to give him some Hostages and having rebuilt Fresburgh put a French Garrison into it Year of our Lord From the Year 767 to 771. King Didier not able or willing to give over the Design his Predecessors had formed to abate the Power of the Popes to make himself thereby Master of all Italy sowed a Schisme in the Church of Rome whereby to discompose and weaken them Pope Paul being dead Anno 767. Toton Duke of Nepet at his instigation enters into Rome and forced the Clergy to Elect his Brother Constantine who was not in Orders The following Year another Cabal Enemies to this Violence of Constantine's sets a Priest in the holy Chair named Philip But Crestofle Primicera this was the highest Dignity in the City next to the Prefect constrained both the one and the other to renounce the Popeship and caused Stephanus to be duly elected a Priest of St. Cecil's who was the fourth of that name Didier bethinks him of another method in the Year 770. he goes to Rome upon pretence of Devotion and by force of Presents gained Paul Afiarte Duke or Soveraign Judge in Rome to cause this Crestofle to be put to death and to banish or imprison for colourable reasons all such Roman Citizens as he knew to be most able and disposed to thwart his attempts Afiarte did according to his desire but Adrian who was chosen after Stephen stopt those unjust proceedings and not only eluded all the vain essays of the Lombard but was likewise the cause of his utter destruction After all other Experiments Didier employs Force seizes on several Cities of the Exarchat ravaged the Neighbourhood of Rome and the Year after to turmoil the Pope advances towards him upon pretence of Visiting the Sepulchre of the holy Apostles carrying along with him the Sons of the late King Carloman to oblige him to Crown them The Holy Father flatly refuses him and failed not to make use of this Motive to exasperate Charlemaine the more against the Lombards Year of our Lord 773 Betwixt these two Kings there were already some other causes of Enmity For in the Year 771. Charles had repudiated Hildegard the Sister of Didier saying she was infirm A pretence that did not please a great many good people particularly Adelard the King's Cousin who for this reason retired from the Court into a Monastery And Didier on his side had given a reception to Carloman's Widow and promised her his assistance and support to restore her Sons to the Inheritance or Kingdom of their Father These offences having inclined Charles's Mind to hearken to the Pope's Intreaties he was the more easily induced to pass over the Mountains but with so great and numerous Forces that it was evident it was not meant so much to assist him as to conquer Lombardy Having therefore Rendevouz'd his Army at Geneva he divided it in two Bodies his Uncle Bernard with one took his way by the Mount Jou and himself led the other by Mount Cenis Didier had fortified the Passages and in case they should be worsted himself was advanced with all his Forces neer Turin and in Year of our Lord 773 the Valley of Aost to observe and oppose the French even to the hazard of a Battle but some of their Army having stollen by him very silently and charging them in the Rear he was so much afraid of being hemm'd in that he cast himself into Pavia and Adalgise his Son whom he had made Partner of his Crown into Verona Those of Spoletta and Rietta had already forsaken him to joyn with the Pope When his Retreat was known all the Marca Anconitana and many other Cities followed their Example Charles with a part of his Army encamped before Pavia and sent the remainder before Verona And to demonstrate he did not intend to go thence till he had them in his power he ordered his new Wife Hildegard Daughter of Childebrand Duke of Suevia to come to his Camp and passed the Winter there even till Christmass at which time he goes to Verona to press that Siege forwards Adalgise apprehending to fall into his hands abandoned that City and fled to the Emperour of Greece The Veronese soon after yielded Year of our Lord 774 and gave up Carloman's Children and Widow they were carried into France what afterwards became of them is not mentioned that I know of Nothing remained but Pavia The Siege spinning out in length Charles had a desire to go and pay his Devotions at Rome at the good time of Easter The Pope made him a magnificent Entrance such as was accustomed to be made for the Exarchs He in return confirms all the Grants made by his Father and besides say some added that of Soveraign Justice and absolute Power in all those Countries So that to speak properly the Popes before this time held what they had from the French Kings from whom it must be owned they derive the best portion of their temporal Grandeur In length of time Pavia became so straightned not by any Attaques but by Famine and the people so ill disposed Hunoud the Fire-brand of this War having been knock'd on the head by the Women that Didier surrenders himself with his Wife and Children to Charles He was conveyed into France Cloister'd and Shaved and died soon after Thus was the Kingdom of Lombardy in Italy Extinguished after it had lasted some 204 Years Before his return into France Charles made a second Voyage to Rome where the Pope with 150 Bishops whom he had summoned to honour his Reception and likewise the Roman People conferred upon him the Title of Patrician which was the Degree the nearest to the Empire It belonged to the Emperours only
one for Repairs The practice of publick Pennance and Absolutions was almost the same as in the Former Ages I mean the third and fourth as well as that of Baptisme which was performed by dipping or plunging not by throwing on or sprinkling of the Bishop or the Priest and this was only done at Easter and Whitsuntide unless upon urgent occasions The prayers for the dead were very frequent Singing made up a great part of their Study and Employment not only amongst the Clergy but the Nobility also that were very devout The French had brought this Passion towards Musick from Rome Bells grew also mighty common but they did not make any very great ones The Churches as well as most of their other Buildings were almost all of Wood. It was ordained that the Altars should be made of Stone The Bishops and Abbesses had their Vidames the Abbots their Advoyers or Advocates some Cities likewise had the same They were as their Proctors or Administrators in whose names all things were transacted and who Treated and Pleaded every where for them Every Bishop Abbot and Count had his Notary Excommunications were so frequent as they even became an abuse The person Excommunicated was Treated with great rigour no body would keep any Commerce or Conversation with them The Gallican Church had not extended the degrees prohibited in Marriage but to the Fourth in which Case it self they did not separate them being satisfied with imposing a Pennance on both the Parties but the Popes extended it to the Seventh and Gregory the II desired it might reach as far as any thing of parentage or kindred could be made out between the parties But if so it being notorious to Christians that all Mankind are of Kin in Adam to whom should they marry They likewise established the degrees of Spiritual Affinity between the Godfather and Godmother and between the Godson and his Godmother as well in Baptism as at Confirmation Notwithstanding the Corruptions we have noted the Church was not without her great Lights and Ornaments I mean a good number of Holy Men and some that were not Ignorant Amongst the Bishops Sylvin de Toulouze Wlfrain de Sens who renounced the Miter to go and Preach the Faith in Frisiae where he Converted Ratbod the II Son of that King of the same name who was so obstinate a defender of Idolatry Rigobert de Reims who was driven from his Seat by Martel Gregory of Vtrecht who was the Apostle of the Turingians and the Countries adjacent to Dorestat Corbinien Native of Chastres under Montlehery near Paris who was the first Bishop of Frisinghen in Bavaria as Suidbert the first of Verden Immeran of Ratisbon who was a Poitevin by birth Eucher d'Orleans who was banished by Martel and lived a good while after him as appears by the revelation he had how it fared with Martel after his death as hath been observed in the life of Martel if that were true Gombert held the Bishoprick of Sens and then retired to the solitude of the Vosge Lohier that of Sees and after him Godegrand doubly remarkable both for his own Vertue and for his Sisters Saint Opportune who took upon her the Vows of Virginity and listed many more into her Muster-Roll of whom she had the Gonduct But above all Boniface of Ments was eminent whom we have mentioned he suffered Martyrdom An. 754. amongst the Frisons He was Founder of the Great Abbey of Fulda in the Forrest of Buken the most Noble of all that are in Germany In the monasterial retirements we observe two Fulrads or Volrads the one Abbot of Saint Denis however a little too much taken up with Court Affairs and Negociations for one that is dedicated entirely to God the other Cousin to King Charlemain and Abbot of Saint Quentin Adelard of the same degree of parentage to the same King who withdrew from Court for the reasons we have before noted and was Abbot of Corbie and from thence recalled into the Kings Council Angilbert who exchanged the favour of Charlemain one of whose natural Daughters he had married for the austerity of the Monastery and was Abbot of Centule Pirmin who is said to have quitted the Bishoprick of Meaux and who having retired himself into a solitary place in Germany built there that Celebrated Abbey of Riche-Nowe Augia Dives and Nine or Ten other Monasteries in those parts and in Alsatia and the learned Alcuin to whom Charlemain gave the Abbey of Tours in recompence of those inestimable Treasures of Learning and Science he brought into France with Claud and John the Scotsman A great part of the Manners and Customes we described under the First Race were preserved under the Second All the great Offices of the Kings House were still the same unless the Maire of the Palace in whose place it seems the grand Seneschal or Dapifer succeeded but with much less authority and different Functions Hincmar sets down an Apocrisiaire a Count of the Palace a great Camerier or Chamberlain three Ministerial Officers to wit the Seneschal the Butler and the Count of the Stable one Mansionary that is grand Mareschal of the House Four Huntsmen and one Faulc'ner The King had ever a Council of State in his Train consisting of men chosen out of the Clergy and Nobility The Apocrisiary assisted in it when he pleased the other great Officers never went but as they were sent for Those of the Clergy had a place apart to meet in where they treated of Ecclesiastical Affairs as the Nobility treated of matters purely Temporal and when there was any thing of a mixt nature they joyned all together to determine it In the Militia and Courts of Justice we hardly meet now with any Dukes but only Earls some of whom were called Marquesses when the Care and Guarding of the Marches was committed to them which ordinarily was in the new Conquered Countries others were called Abbots either because they possessed the Revenue of the Abbeys or because they commanded some certain Company 's near the King and taught them their Discipline and Exercise the Grandees were called Princes and we have light enough even in those dark times to see that it was not in the power of the King to disseize them nor put them to death but by certain Forms and Rules and the Judgment of their Peers and Equals where he presided or in their general Assemblies I find three sorts of great Assemblies the general Pleas of the Provinces the May-Assembly whither came the Seniores Majores natu of the French people there they chiefly consulted about Warlike Affairs and the Conventus Colloquia Parliaments where met together the Bishops Abbots Counts and other Grandees consider of Laws and Rules for their Policy Justice and the Treasury as well as the Discipline of the Militia both sacred and prophane The two last kinds of Assembles were after confounded in one The Kings had ever made use of Envoyez or Intendan
of Justice But Charlenain made them ordinary and I observe that there were Intendances fixed and prpetual but no Intendants that were so Neither do I find that they hadany iâ— Aquitain nor in Lombardy He most commonly joyned in such Commissions 〈◊〉 Count and a Bishop Seldom do we find two of either of these qualities joynd in the same Commission they were called Missi Dominici and their Jurisdicton Missaticum The People found them Lodging and a certain quantity of Proision They took care chiefly to publish the Kings Orders and put them in Excution to hear the Peoples Complaints and do them right to punish the Cont or Bishop if they were faulty to reform and reverse unjust Judgments and coâ—pel the refractory to obey And if they wanted strength or power to effect it hey gave notice to the King They likewise drew up into Writings and Dâ—ds such Grants of Lands as the King and the Church bestowed in Benefice They roe their Circuits Four times a Year in January April July and October They coâ—d not keep Courts but in those Months and in Four different places if they thâ—ght fit They summoned the Counts and were forced to let them hold alâ—the rest They Elected Sheriffs with the consent of the people as also Aâ—oyers and Notary's The Sheriffs were if I mistake not the Assessours of the Câ—nts â—hose that were Free-men were only obliged to be at Four Assizes or Pleadings a â—ar This was a most Christian Method that the cause of the Poor was the firâ—of all determined the Kings business next then what belonged to the Church and last of all that which concerned the People in general The Centenier had not power of Condemning to death The King gave Audience one day in every Week before whom were brought only such Causes as concerned the Grandees who had no other Judge but himself or such whom the Commissioners or Counts had refused to do Justice to or had adjudged contrary to Law The licentiousness in times of War had made most part of the Frenchmen turn Thieves and Robbers and some of them false Coyners The greatest difficulties the Judges met withal were to suppress these disorders Those that made counterfeit Money had their hand cut off the other accomplices escap'd only with a Whipping They were forced to reduce all their Money to one sort of species and to punish such as harboured a Thief with the same severity as the Thief himself and that was the loss of an Eye for the first fault the loss of the Nose for the second and the third cost them their life Even in those days drunkenness was very frequent particularly in the Armies since they were fain to punish such as forced another to drink and he that made himself drunk was Excommunicated and Condemned to the Pennance of drinking Water only for a certain time The Law permitting every one to take his own satisfaction or revenge for an affront or injury unless he chose rather to accept of a certain Sum of Money Taxed by Law Murthers were very frequent Charlemain Commanded the Judges to be very careful in agreeing such as had any thing of a quarrel and if any appeared too obstinate to bring them before him There was three sorts of restraint the one was imprisonment another was a Guard set upon them the third was bail or caution who obliged themselves to answer for the Parties Homicide committed on a Clergy-man cost them much dearer then upon any other of equal condition for they were to pay 800 Sols of Gold for killing a Bishop 600 for murthering a Priest 400 for a Deacon and as much for a Monk Year of our Lord 814 The Method of making War and arming themselves was much changed since the Reign of Clovis They had as much Cavalry as Infantry almost and they used great Launces which they darted or retained in their hands after they had struck their blow They were Armed Cap a Pie their very Horse were barded so that a Squadron seemed to be all of Iron The Infantry had no Cuirasses on Armour but cover'd themselves admirably well with their Bucklers They also began to learn the use of Engins in some Sieges Whoever deserted the Army without leave incurred Capital Punishment Every one was obliged to carry Three Months Provision and Arms and Cloatâ—s for Six to be reckoned from the time they went beyond the Marches or Limâ—ts of their own Country This when they came from Aquitain hitherward wa the Loire to those that went thence into Spain it was the Pyrrenean to thoâ—e of Neustria when they made War on Germany it was the Rhine and to thoâ—e in the Provinces beyond that River when they were to march far into Germany it was the Elbe which were thus set as their Limits or Frontiers The Solders were allowed to take nothing but in an Enemies Countrey Those Lords tat led them were responsable for their pilfering and they were disbanded presenly in the Field if they did not justly punish them When the Captains cameo Court they were presented with some Gifts or Regalia and it was the Queenâ—d the care and charge of such distributions or in her absence the grand Chambriar â— Chamberlain Though the Demeasnes of the King and those of the Church were inalierble they had been necessitated either to reward such as had served them or to â—tain such as could do them mischief to bestow upon several but it was â—ly for life and by title of gratification wherefore they were called Benefiâ— which term remains only in the Church Which had of two sorts the onef such Goods as are effected to such as deserve which at the present we call a Beâ—fice and the other certain Lands which they gave to Seculars to hold of 〈◊〉 during Life There were even in those times Arts and crafty ways to confound the demeasnes of the Crown with the Lands of particular People and this substraction was accounted for a Crime since it was punished with Banishment and Confiscation of Goods There were besides another sort of Lands which were called Dominicates appropriated to Dominus which was the King but which were Rented by particular Men at about the Ninth of the Profits These were ordinarily only some little Farmes or petty Portions of Lands perhaps lopp'd off from the greater ones belonging to the Crown which could not all be set to the most advantage The Levying of Moneys was of three sorts either by Poll or upon the fruits and growth of the Earth or Merchandize and Goods for Traffique But of the last kind the Carlovinian Princes took none but of the Trading Merchants For every one besides sent his Goods up and down in Carts or any other ways for his own Families use without paying the least Toll no more then those that supplyed the Kings Household or even those that went to the Wars We may again in some other place according as occasion requires take a summary Notice of certain Laws and
excommunicate and wrote very harsh Letters Year of our Lord 856 to young Lotaire threatning to deprive him of his Kingdom There is no craft nor submissions which this Prince did not put in practice to elude that Sentence But the Pope not valuing all those Arts sent a Legat into France named Arsenius who addressing himself to the German Louis called a Synod Year of our Lord 866 and taking upon him a Supream Authority declared to Lotaire that he must take his Wife again or remain excommunicated with all his Adherents The Kings his Uncles maintained this Sentence in such sort that for the time he was forced to obey But so soon as the Legat was departed France he began afresh to mis-use his Wife to threaten to make process against her for Adultery and prove that crime by combat The accused retires to the protection of Charles the Pope takes her business much to heart and excommunicates Valdrade and Duke Huebert Brother Year of our Lord 867 of this Queen rebelling against Lotaire plunders his Country kills his people and exercised all manner of cruelty till he was slain himself by Count Conrard Father of that Rodolph who was the First King of Burgundy beyond the Jour or Transjurain Salomon had fancied that the Kingdom of Bretagne though Neomene had obtained it rather by conquest then succession belonged to him because he was the Son Year of our Lord 867 of Rivalon eldest Brother to that King Thus having forgotten he was carefully and tenderly bred under his tuition he contrives a conspiracy against Herispoux his Son assaults him in the Fields then kills him in the Church to which he fled for safety and so puts the Crown all bloody upon his own head Neomene and he intitled themselves Kings of Bretagne and a great part of Gaule because in effect they possessed the Countries of Mayne and with that the lower Anjou which they had wrested from the French For this cause was Anjou divided in two Counties the one containing what is beyond the River Maine and held by these Breton Kings the other what lies on this side and remained to the French At the same time the Normans entring into Neustria by the Loire spread themselves all over Nantois Poitou Anjou and Tourraine Ranulfe Duke of Aquitain and Duke Robert the strong who was so called because he guarded those Marches against these Barbarians and the Bretons having attaqued them in a Post which they had fortified near the River were by misfortune both slain in the combat So that their Army wanting a Head though they got the advantage let those robbers get away from them Robert had two Sons very young Eudes and Robert whom we shall find to have reigned hereafter The Saracens tormented Italy no less Lotaire went thither with his Forces not only to assist the Emperor Louis his Brother but moreover by this means to deserve and gain the Favour of the Pope which was Adrian successor to Nicholas hoping in time to obtain the dissolution of his Marriage with Thietberge The Holy-Father received him very well because he assured him he had punctually obey'd to all that was enjoyned him but when both he and his came to receive the Holy Communion from his hands he obliged them all to swear it was true that he had quitted Valdrade Now it hapned shortly after that the most part of these Lords died of sickness or otherwise in such numbers and so suddenly as if they had been cut down by the Sword of an exterminating Angel and Lotaire himself was Seized with a Feaver at Luca which he drag'd along to Piacenza where he gave up the Ghost the 6 th of August Which some interpreted a divine Vengeance for the false and Sacrilegious Oath he and his Courtiers had made The Body of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament being a destroying Sword to the wicked and unworthy Communicant Year of our Lord 868 His youngest Brother Charles King of Provence endeavoured to reap his succession and was Crowned at Mets by the Bishop Adventius But he survived not long after and died without Issue He was Interred in the Church of St. Peter's at Lyons LOUIS in Bavaria and Germany CHARLES in West-France Burgundy and Lorrain LOUIS II Emperour in Italy Year of our Lord 868. And 69. Charles who then held a Parliament at Poissy informed of the death of Lotaire went and Seized on the Kingdom of Lorraine neither minding the Emperor Louis Brother of the two last Kings to whom it should have belonged nor the Mediation of the Pope who desired him by an express Legation to do his Nephew Justice The Bishops of that Kingdom being Assembled at Mets gave him the Crown And Hincmar the Arch-Bishop chief promoter of that Decree put it on his Head with the usual Ceremonies Lotaire had one Son and two Daughters by Valdrade The two Daughters were Berte and Gisele Berte was first wife to Count Thibauld Father of Hugh Count and Marquess of Provence and by her second Marriage to Adelbert Marquess of Tuscany Father of Guy and Lambert Gisele was Wedded to Godfrey the Dane who Reigned in Friseland the Son was named Hugh who when he came to Age contended for the Kingdom of Lorrain Hermentrude Wife to Charles the Bald dying at St. Denis the 16 th of October Year of our Lord 869 he married for the second time Richende or Richilda his Mistriss Daughter of Earl Buvin or Boves and the Sister to Thietberge Widdow of King Lotaire III. It was with some justice but without legal power that the Pope should take Year of our Lord 870 any cognisance of the difference about Lotaire He dispatched a second Embassy to Charles the Bald to exhort him to surrender it to the Emperor Louis otherwise he would Excommunicate him And he wrote to the Bishops that they should forbear all Communion with that King unless they would be cut off from the Church of Rome Charles reply'd modestly enough to the Legats but the French Bishops went a higher Note and the Arch-Bishop Hincmar wrote very smart Letters to Adrian His Nephew of the same name Bishop of Laon was of an other opinion and with much heat maintained all those Orders brought from the Pope He had Excommunicated a Norman Lord because he detained some Lands belonging to his Church whereof the King had given him the Benefice His proceedings were blamed and condemned by the Bishops at the Synod of Verberie he appealed to the Pope for which cause his Uncle having cited him before the Council of Attigny which consisted of the Bishops of twelve Provinces he caused his Equipage to be Plundred by the way and when he came to the Assembly forced him to renounce Year of our Lord 870 his Appeal The Pope made grievous complaint of it and would have brought the Process and the two Hincmars to Rome but the Arch-Bishop reply'd with force and hindred him This dispute went so far that the Bishop of Laon was deposed and clapt in Prison
Baldwin the Bald Earl of Flanders His Eldest Son Arnold the Fatt Inherited his Earldom Adolph the Second Son the Cities of Teroüenne Boulogne and Saint Omers but some few years after he died without Children Fulk le Roux Earl of Anjou Son of Ingelger quickly followed Baldwin Fulk the Good his Son Succeeded him Year of our Lord 918 Conrad King of Germany went off likewise the same year by a Wound he received in the Bavarian War Dying he commanded with a more then Royal generosity Everard his Brother to carry the Regal Ornaments to Henry Duke of Saxony though he had always made war against him Thus he returned the kindness that Otho his Father had shewed in giving him the Crown and laid down all thoughts of revenge to promote the happiness and safety of his Country which stood in need of a Prince able to defend it against the Incursions of the Hungarians This Henry was called the Bird-Catcher because he was found catching of Birds when they brought him the news of his Election Charles the Simple in France Henry the Bird Catcher in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Transjurane LOUIS in Provence Berenger in Italy Before Henry was well settled Charles falls into Lorrain conquer'd it all as far as Wormes and compel's him to become his Subject for the remainder of that Kingdom Year of our Lord 919 But the French Lords who apprehended that if Charles grew too potent and too peaceable he might take away their Estates which they intended to make Hereditary stirred up new troubles Amongst others in Lorraine Gisalbert and Otho Son of Duke Regnier the first of these had wedded a Daughter of King Henry's and in France Robert Brother of King Eudes who held Intelligence with the Son of Regnier Year of our Lord 920. 21. These Male-contents being joyned with divers others during the time the two Kings Henry and Charles were thrusting each other out of Lorraine did in the end make their Cabal so strong that all Charles's Subjects abandoned him as had done otherwhile those of Charles the Fatt The pretence for this general revolt was that he had a Favorite by name Aganon who disposed of every thing wasted the Royal Treasure and treated the Grandees of the Kingdom insolently Year of our Lord 921 However Herve Arch-Bishop of Rheims getting him into his house found a means to make up the Breach between him and his Subjects so that they restored his Crown to him but not his Authority Year of our Lord 922 For a new broil being started up because Charles refused the Abbey of Chesles to Hugh called the Blanc Son of Robert who pretended to it for that his Aunt and Mother in Law had enjoy'd it to bestow it upon Aganon his Favourite the troubles not only began again but which was worse Robert at the Instigation of Gisalbert having gained a great Party amongst the French Lords got to be Elected and Crowned King at Rheims by the Arch-Bishop Herve the 20 th of June in the year 922. Charles the Simple in France Robert his rival Henry the Bird-Catcher in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Transjurane LOVIS in Provence Berenger Emperor in Italy Year of our Lord 922 Upon this news Charles raises his Siege from before the Castle of Capremont where he held Gisalbert one of his greatest Enemies cooped up This Gisalbert had once before been stripp'd of all his Estate by this King and being restored again by Henry his Father in Law had revolted this second time Then Charles who had had the advantage over Henry changed condition and became a supplicant to him Both he and his rival strove to get him first and by that means confirmed him in the possession of the Kingdom of Lorraine However these two competitors had each of them still some share Charles having raised considerable Forces in that part which he held came resolutely to find out Robert encamped with his men near Soissons on this side of the River Aisne and having passed over unawares charged him furiously whilst his men were feeding and refreshing themselves Robert fighting at the head of his Army was slain with the stroke of a Lance which honourable deed some Authors bestow upon Charles Nevertheless Hugh his Son Earl Hebert of Vermandois and the others Chief Officers of his Party not only made head against Charles but gained so upon him that they had utterly defeated him had they but followed their pursuit This combat hapned the 15 th of June so that Robert Reigned not one whole year He had married Beatrix daughter of Hebert II. Earl of Vermandois by whom he had a Son Hugh whom they surnamed the Blanc the Grand and the Abbot and one Daughter Emma wedded to Rodolph Duke of Burgundy Son of Duke Richard who died the year preceding Year of our Lord 923 The string or knot of Roberts Party was not broken thorough the loss of their Head but held the firmer united because their danger appeared the greater Therefore the Lords by the persuasions of Hugh his Son who found himself not potent enough to be a King but to make one Elected Rodolph Duke of Burgundy his Brother in Law a Noble-man of a brave presence and a much better judgment and Crowned him at Saint Medard in Soissons the 13 th Day of July The French Historians place this Rodolph and Eudes before mentioned in the rank of their Kings and yet they do not put in Robert Brother of Eudes for which there can be no reason assigned but the shortness of his Reign RODOLPH King XXXI Charles Rodolph the Simple his rival in West-France Henry the Bird-catcher in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Trans-jurane LOVIS in Provence Berenger Emperor AFter the Election of Rodolph all the world forsook Charles the Norman assistance which should have come to him not being able to pass because his enemies lay betwixt them rendred him more odious Having therefore no other refuge he wrote in a doleful manner to Henry King of Germany and gave him up Lorrain upon condition he would help him against these Rebels The reward was great and the Act of restoring a King very glorious Henry did therefore promise he would undertake it with all the power of Germany Robert's Party was greatly astonished at this News they did not know how to ward so dangerous a blow Hebert Earl of Vermandois draws them out of this difficulty King Charles believed he had quite taken him off from their interest But this Traytor whose Sister Robert had married having decoyed his King into the Castle of Peronne whither he was so simple as to let them lead him detained him Prisoner and confined him to Chasteau-Thierry where he was strongly guarded Queen Ogina having heard of this detention of her Husband fled to England her own Country and carried with her the only Son she had by him named Louis to wait a better opportunity out of the reach of those who could no way secure their Royalty but by
to Boson An. 879. There was one at Fimes in Champagne in 881. amongst whose Acts we find an exhortation and advice to King Louis Son of Louis the Stammerer to Govern well King Arnold had one held at Mets An. 888. That of Valence in Daulphine An. 890. gave the Kingdom of Burgundy Cis-jurane or Arles to Louis the Son of Boson In the same Kingdom there was one at Vienne two years after of which some Canons are remaining The same year that of Reims where Foulks Successor to Hincmar presided which ordered comminatory Letters to Baudouin or Baidwin Earl of Flanders who Invaded the Propriety belonging to the Churches The question about the Worshipping of Images and that touching Predestination had like to have divided the Gallican Church For the first it is certain there were no Bishops in all France that would have broken them or rejected the Intercession of Saints unless Claude de Turin who was so pelted on all hands that he could not stand his ground But many and those of the most Learned amongst others Jonas of Orleans and Agobard of Lyons could not consent or yeild that Images should be adored In so much that the Emperors Theophilus and Michael having sent Ambassadors into France An. 825. to consult with the Debonnaire about the means to take away that Schism which divided the Greek Church from the Roman the Bishops who were Assembled at Paris to confer about it examined the Sayings of the Fathers with their reasons and opinions on that Subject whence they did infer that the Worshipping of Images was not to be permitted They also wrote Letters conformable thereunto to be sent unto the Pope on this occasion as well in their own as in the Emperors name and others likewise for his Holyness to send to the Eastern Emperors But we do not find that these resolutions had any effect the Gallican Church hath allowed and received the Worshipping of Images and hold those of a contrary opinion to be Heretiques For the question of Predestination that made more noise yâ—t It was Godeschale the Monk a Native of Germany but who had taken his Frock in the Abbey of Orbais in the Diocess of Soissons who gave occasion for these Disputes On his return from a Pilgrimage to Rome passing by Ments he made out some propositions upon this Subject which seemed to be hard and Scandalous he was accused for Teaching that God destined or Predestinated unchangeably the reprobated to be damned as the Elect to be glorified and therefore as he was the Author of good Actions so he was likewise the Author of Sin Those on the other side for him maintained that he held no other then the Doctrine of St. Augustine St. Gregory St. Fulgentius and in fine the whole Church which is that God prepares Eternal punishments for those whom he foresees will dye in Sin without Predestinating or Inclining them to Sin However it were Rabanus Maurus Arch-Bishop of Ments adjudged him guilty of the Error whereof he was accused but because in condemning him he seemed to contradict that Proposition in General that God Predestinates to Death not knowing it was the opinion of St. Fulgentius and authorised by many of the Fathers Godeschale reproached him that his was contrary to their Sentiments There is some likely-hood this Monk did not express himself with all that respect and submission he ought to so great a Prelat and indeed being cited before the Council of Ments he presented a Petition containing an accusation against him The Arch-Bishop call'd him Make-bate and Insolent and sent him back to Hincmar his Arch-Bishop to give judgment against him Hincmar who of himself had but little mercy and was besides'something evilly disposed against the Monk because of his too confident proceedings used great severity towards him For in the Council of Crecy he caused him to be condemned for his Incorrigible obstinacy and for his having been the cause of trouble to be deposed from the Order of Priesthood whipped till he should throw his Writings into a Fire which was kindled near him then shut up in close imprisonment where he died at ten or twelve years end He persisted however in his opinions to the last and Hincmar treating him like one excommunicated deny'd him the Sacraments even at the time of his dissolution and Christian Burial after his death Now as in the Council of Crecy that the Arch-Bishop had composed four Chapters wherein he seemed to refute that Proposition of St. Fulgentius and examine and oppose some others of St. Augustin's the greatest men of those Times withstood the enterprise Amongst others St. Prudence Bishop of Troyes Servais Loup a Priest of Ments Loup Abbot of Ferrieres Ratramne a Monk of Corbie Nay even the Church of Lyons to whose judgments Hincmar referr'd himselftogether with all those of the Kingdom of Arles and his Pastor St. Remy who for his Doctrine and Ecclesiastical capacity was to be compared with the ancient Fathers Divers Councils were held and many things written on either side especially by John Scot for Hincmar and by Florus for the Church of Lyons By which say the Learned it appears they were all for St. Augustine but did not well understand themselves or explain their own meaning clearly so that the Errors they charged each other withal lay only in the different Interpretations and Sence of either Party And indeed the Councils before whom these Controversies were brought wisely suppressed them declaring that they were to be considered in a more ample manner and sober discussion Which certainly they would never have done if there had appeared any positive or notorious errors in either Party All the mischief of this Storm fell upon two Priests Godeschale and John Scotus who suffer'd because they had reflected on the Bishops The first was handled as is above-mentioned the other having been mightily baffled and despised was compelled in the end to forsake the Court and Kingdom And even after his death was condemned as the Precursor of Berenger and the Sacramentarians Rabanus and Amalarius Deacon of Treves were likewise censured or blamed in their life time for holding that villainous or filthy opinion of the Stercoranists which is not to be explained without trespassing on that respect which is due to the most Sacred of all Mysteries The Authority especially was excessively encreased ever since Pepin made use of their interest to obtain the Crown and Charlemain after the Pattern of the Visi-Goth Kings would have affairs both Civil and Ecclesiastical debated in the same Assemblies where those Bishops being the Principals often times carried things so as best pleased and served themselves But the Rebellion of Louis the Debonnair's Children against their Father and afterwards the Civil Dissentions ensuing raised their power to a higher pitch yet and put them into such a Capacity that they seemed to pretend a Right of Electing Kings like the Pope who disposed of the Empire as if it had been a Benefice depending on him It is
Italy and at her second to the Emperor Otho I. LOUIS in France Conrad in Burgundy Arles Otho in Germany Lorrain HUGH and Lotaire his Son in Italy Year of our Lord 937. 938. The second year of his Reign Lewis Transmarine took the Government in hand and sent for the Queen his Mother to come to Laon to have the Benefit of her Counsel To settle his Authority the better he first began with some petty Rebels by little and little then falls upon Hebert himself whom he thought the more easily to overcome because he was grown odious for his Treachery against Charles the Simple And indeed he gained some places very quickly But Hugh fearing they would set upon him likewise joyned with Hebert who was besides his Uncle by the Mother And because he judged there would be little security in a person that had broke his Faith he armed himself likewise with the Alliance of King Otho by Wedding his Daughter named Havida The King on his side fortified himself in a more strict Union with Arnold Earl Year of our Lord 938 of Flanders a Mortal Enemy to Hugh Artold Arch-Bishop of Reims Hugh le Noir Brother of the Defunct King Rodolph and some others but this year Giselbert Duke of Lorraine being come to the assistance of Hugh the Great his Brother in Law Arnold and the Noir negociated a Truce till the first day of January of the following year between the King and that Duke As soon as that was expired the War began afresh Whilst the King was in Burgundy to divide it with the Noir Hugh le Blanc Hebert William Duke of Normandy over-ran and Burnt the Territory's of Arnold The Bishops censures had not power enough to stop them but the Kings Return gave them more cause of dread and made them renew the Truce to the Month of June Henry the younger Brother of Otho fancied to himself that the Kingdom of Germany belonged to him he being Born when his Father was a King whereas Otho came into the World before he was so Giselbert very powerful in Lorraine and who had married Gerberge Sister to these two Princes instead of behaving himself as a Mediator between them takes part with the Younger These two Brothers in Law thus Leagued sent to King Louis to put themselves under his obedience After which Otho having beaten and forced them at a passage over the Rhine the dispair they were under made Giselbert and some other Lorrain Lords come even to Laon to do him Hommage Louis wanted but very little of having the whole Kingdom of Lorraine surrender to him he got into Alsace and was well received every where But when he came to treat those as a conquered people who had voluntarily submitted to him it soon alienated their affections Year of our Lord 939 Mean time Hugh the Great Hebert William Duke of Normandy and even Arnold of Flanders not thinking it expedient for themselves that King Lewis should make himself so potent re-allied themselves with Otho who having quitted thâ— Siege of Capremont which was Giselbert's impregnable Fortress and joyned with them easily drove Louis out of Alsatia then laid Siege before Brisac a place very considerable in those days and where they shewed notable Feats of Arms. Whilst Otho was at this Siege a party of his especially the Clergy abandoned him But Giselbert and Everard were defeated by his men at their passage over the Rhine near Andernac where the last remained dead on the spot and the other that had been the Fire-brand of all these Wars was drowned This unhoped for advantage having ruined Henry's Party he grew wise and timely yielded Year of our Lord 934 himself up to the discretion of his Brother who sent him away Prisoner for some time In the interim Brisac surrendred and all Lorrain was his the Government whereof he bestowed upon Henry himself and soon after upon Count Otho The year following King Lewis thinking to strengthen himself on that hand or perhaps gain Vassals and Friends amongst the Lorrainers married that Kings Sister Gerberge the Widdow of Giselbert by whomshe had two Children Regnier Lambert Year of our Lord 940 Count Hebert of Vermandois had by craft and force got his Son but ten years of Age to be nominated Arch-Bishop of Reims which being contrary to the Rules of the Church the Clergy placed one Artold in that Episcopal See who by consequence was an Enemy to Hebert and a great friend to the King The contest about this Arch-Bishoprick begot a War which lasted 18 or 20 years and greatly molested all Champagne Year of our Lord 940 This year after some other inconsiderable actions Hebert with Earl Hugh and Wlliam Duke of Normandy besieged Reims The Inhabitants being terrified forsook Artold and opened their Gates to them Artold thorough the like fear suffers himself to be persuaded to renounce the Arch-Bishoprick and accept of an Abbey whereof repenting again the King embraces his defence and the quarrel revived again From thence the Confederates went and planted the Siege before Laon but upon the noise of the Kings March who was returning from Burgundy they retired towards Otho and having led him as it were in Triumph to the Palace of Atigny they put themselves into his protection King Louis having refreshed Laon retires into Burgundy His strength lay that way because of Hugh le Noir who together with William Count of Poitiers accompanied him King Otho having a potent Army pursued him thither and struck Hugh le Noir with so much terror that he made Oath never to employ his Forces more against Hugh le Blanc nor against Hebert who were his new Vassals Year of our Lord 941 The next year Louis notwithstanding besieges Laon wherein was Count Hebert but it was to his own great dammage for being surprised in his Legements by his base Subjects he beheld above one half of his men slain with his own Eyes and could not save himself but by a shameful flight After which forsaken of all his Neustrian Subjects he took shelter under Charles Constantine Earl of Vienne his Cousin German being the Son of Louis the Year of our Lord 941 Blind King of Italy and Arles and a Sister of Queen Ogina's Thence he had recourse to the Pope the Lords of Aquitain and to William Duke of Normandy The Pope sent a Legat to exhort the Lords of Neustria to be faithful to him those of Aquitain came and tendred him Hommage at Vienne and profer'd their assistance And William quitting the Associates treated him magnificently in his City of Rouen and served him with his Forces as did likewise the Bretons With these Forces he sought all opportunities to fight his Enemies but they were retreated on this side the Oise and having broken down all the Bridges would not come to any Engagement Therefore a Truce was made between them Year of our Lord 942 and by the mediation of King Otho a Peace was concluded by
which Hugh and Hebert submitted to their King Year of our Lord 942 There was a mortal hatred betwixt William Duke of Normandy and Arnold Earl of Flanders because this Last would constrain Herluin Earl of Monstreuil to become his Vassal and had taken his Castle whilst William on the contrary had espoused Herluin's quarrel and powerfully assisted him Arnold not being able to have his will of Herluin betook himself to base and treacherous means to compass it For having upon pretence of reconciliation procured an enter-view with William in an Island on the Somme right against Pequigny he caused him unhappily to be assassinated the 18 th of December An. 942. That good and vertuous Prince had just designed before he was murthered to take upon him the Habit of St. Bennet in the Monastery of Jumieges which he had begun to rebuild He left but one Son named Richard Born of Sporta his wife who was Daughter of Hebert Count of Senlis he Succeeded him in his Dukedom A great part of the Normans were yet Idolaters and there came every day new flocks of them from the North who encouraged them in their Superstitions After the Death of William they rebelled against his Son and would force him to Year of our Lord 943 renounce his Baptism Hugh the Grand allied to his Father assisted him against those impious revolters beat them in several rencounters and help'd him to destroy their Leaders their names were Setric and Rodard The King knowing that while the Normans were divided their little Duke Richard might easily be stript and that it would be a Noble act to recover so great and good a Country went to Rouen about Autumn and Siezed upon Richard's person under pretence of breeding him in his own Court The Burgher's at first took the Alarm and stood in his defence so that he was fain to shew him to the people and confirm the Dutchy to him but their first heat being spent he so managed the business that persuading them he would have a great care of his Education they suffer'd him to be carry'd away to Laon. When he had gotten him absolutely in his power Arnold Earl of Flanders whose interest it was to exterminate all the Normans by his Presents and Counsel easily inclined him to the resolution of incapacitating him for ever and resuming Year of our Lord 943 the Dukedom Before they came to the Execution of this Richard's wise Governor by name Osmond craftily drew him out of the Danger He stole him out of Court trussed up in a Faggot of Herbs and conveyed him into Senlis That City one of the strongest in those days was then held by Count Bernard Uncle to Richard by his Mother who kept that Pupil and would not surrender him either to the King nor to the Normans till he could see a little more clearly what was like to be the event of that War then threatned Year of our Lord 943 During these stirrs Hebert of Vermandois died at Peronne tormented with the gnawing remorse of his treacheries crying perpetually in his Agonies We were twelve of us that betrayed King Charles He had three Sons Hebert and Robert who shared his Lands and Hugues or Hugh pretended Arch-Bishop of Reims King Lewis who had that fault that he could not dissemble adventures rashly Year of our Lord 944 too early to ruine them His precipitate revenge drew great troubles upon him the other Grandees apprehending the like usage joyned all to defend them Even Hugh agreed with the Normans and King Otho made one and openly declared against Louis who for that reason reconciled himself to Hugh At first this Duke had embraced the cause of little Richard but the King promising he should share the Dutchy of Normandy with him and likewise have the Territory's belonging to the Bishopricks of Evreux Lysieux and Bayeux he not only abandoned the Pupil but also joyned with the King to ruine him They entred the Country therefore at the same time the King by the way of Rouen and Hugh towards Evreux Bernard Count of Senlis who had saved his Nephew did likewise preserve his Country by his wonderful Sagacity He advised the Normans to pretend a submission to the King to avoid the desolations of a War and afterwards easily persuaded him to reserve all that rich Province to himself and take away from Hugh those places which he had conquer'd so that by this Method he caused a new rupture between those Princes Year of our Lord 944 He afterwards omitted not to make those advantages he had designed for he engaged the discontented Hugh to undertake once more the protection of Richard and to promise him his Daughter Emine who was not however married till Sixteen years after And more-over this little Prince being still dispossessed he so craftily contrived his affairs that he restored him And thus it was There was a Chieftaine or Norman King named Aigrold who being come some years before from Denmark had taken his Habitation in Constentin This Prince having consulted with Bernard revolts against Lewis and sends to summon him to set the little Richard at Liberty Upon this news Bernard counterfeiting great zeal assures the King that all Normandy was united for his service and by these plausible pretences obliges the King to go thither in person to suppress that Pâ—rat His Army and Aigrold's being near each other Aigrold seems to be afraid and demands a Confâ—rence the King agrees to it and to that end goes to the Village of Crescenville in the mid-way between Caen and Lisieux The train was so well laid that the Norman finding himself the stronger cuts off all that came with him Seizes upon his person and sends him Prisoner to Rouen Year of our Lord 944 In this rencounter Herluin Earl of Monstreuil the principal subject of the quarrel between the deceased William and Arnold was slain by Aigrold in revenge for that although he had always been protected by William nevertheless he had ingratefully sided with Arnold to oppress Normandy and it's little Duke Year of our Lord 945 In vain did Queen Gerberge implore the assistance of King Otho her Brother for the deliverance of her Husband He refused to apply any other means but only his mediation By vertue of a plenarie power Signed by the Bishops at his desire and by all the French Lords he decreed with them at a Conference held at St. Clair sur Epte That Louis should restore Richard to his Dutchy and receive hommage and from that time he should be set at Liberty and give his second Son and two Bishops for security But Louis getting out of the hands of the Normans remained still under the power of Hugh who upon I know not what pretences detained him at least a year under the guard of Thibault Earl of Blois his Cousin German and would not let him go till he had gotten the City of Laon of him In the mean time King Otho who had conquer'd the County of Burgundy whether he
feared an absolute re-union between the King and his Subjects or whether the Tears of his Daughter Gerberge and compassion to behold a King so ill treated by his means moved his heart he roughly refused Hugh who sought his amity and Year of our Lord 946 profer'd Louis his assistance to revenge himself Year of our Lord 946 Lewis accepted it and soon after he was out of his imprisonment went to Otho at Cambresis where Arnold Earl of Flanders had joyned Forces with him So that they had together above thirty Legions And which is remarkable all these combatants except the Abbot of Corbie in Saxony had all Straw-hats without doubt to defend their heads from blows or from the cold Year of our Lord 946 One would imagine such a prodigious Army must overwhelm Hugh and all his Allies but after they had tried Laon driven away Arch-Bishop Hugh from Reims and restored Artold to his See having shewed themselves before the Gates of Senlis and the Suburbs of Paris they ran themselves on ground and Shipwrackt against Rouen The death of Otho's Nephew and a great number of Saxons who were slain there the autumnal Rains the approaching Winter Arnolds desertion who withdrew in the night time with his Forces apprehending to be delivered up to the Normans constrained Otho to raise his Siege and retire Year of our Lord 947 Afterwards Hugh besieged Reims and King Lewis Monstreuil held by Rotgar Son of Count Herluin but both without success In August the two Kings Louis and Otho conferred together on the Kar or the Cher concerning their affairs This River which coming from the Country of Luxemburgh falls into the Meuse between Sedan and Mouson hath ever since made the bounds or separation of the Kingdoms of France and Lorrain as it did heretofore of Neustria and Austrasia Year of our Lord 947 Anno 947. Italy suffer'd a New change Auscare and Berenger one Brother and the other Son of Adelbert Marquiss of Ivrea having ingratefully conspired against King Hugh that Prince put Auscaire to Death and Berenger escaped to Herman Duke of Suabia Now this man having good information that Hugh had rendred himself very odious to the Italians having sounded their affections repassed the Alpes He was received in Verona and in Milan and seemed welcom to most part of the Nobility Nevertheless the People moved with pity towards Lotaire the Son of Hugh a handsom young Prince not above 14 or 15 years old would have the Title of King to be preserved for him And Berenger consented for that time the more willingly because all the Authority was in him The agreement made Hugh returned into Provence with his Treasure where he died the same year Lewis in France Conrad in Transjurane and Arles Otho in Germany Lorraine LOTAIRE and Berenger in Italy The dispute for the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims between Hugh of Vermandois and Artold was a mighty business It was first treated of at Douzy by some Prelats Year of our Lord 948 who having not power to determine it referr'd it to a Synodical Assembly of Gallican and German Bishops which was held at Verdun in the middle of November Robert Arch-Bishop of Triers presided there Hugh appeared not but having sent thither certain Surreptitious Letters from the Pope which they little valued the enjoyment of the Arch-Bishoprick was awarded to Artold and Hugh was excluded for his contumacy till he should appear before the General Council in the Month of August following and had purged himself of the crimes imputed to him Hugh makes complaint to the Pope who sent a Legat to Otho to injoyn him to Year of our Lord 948 call a general Council of the Gallicans and Germans to determine this difference as also to decide the quarrel between King Lewis and Hugh le Blanc He convocated them at his Royal Palace of Ingelheim he and King Lewis assisting there and sitting on the same Bench. The Council heard the Kings complaint and then Artold's Petition The King declared all the mischiefs Hugh had done him even ☞ to the detaining him a Prisoner a whole year and offered if any one could reproach him that the troubles and calamities of the Kingdom were by any fault of his to justify himself in such manner as the Council should advise even by personal proof in the Field of Battel Upon these complaints they wrote Letters to Hugh le Blanc and his adherents to admonish them to return to their duty under pain of an Anathema and doing justice upon the Petition of Artold they confirmed the Arch-Bishoprick to him and excommunicated Hugh his competitor till he duly repented With this Otho assisted Lewis with good Forces the Lorrain Bishops his Vassals took Mouson and razed it excommunicated Thibault who maintained the City of Laon for Hugh and caused Hugh himself by vertue of the Legats letters to be cited to appear before the Council of Triers to give satisfaction for the damage he had done the King and the Church Who not appearing was excommunicated Year of our Lord 949 The War was not abated by this and divers Castles were taken by the two rivals for the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims as well as by the Kings Forces and those that belonged to Hugh This year hapned the death of Fulk the Good Earl of Anjou a mighty Religious Prince and a lover of Learning who being one day informed that the King scoffed at his going so often to Sing in the Quire wrote only these words to him Know Sir that a Prince without Learning is a Crowned Ass Year of our Lord 949 The Hungarians being fallen An. 949. upon Lombardy Berenger compounded with them for eight Bushels of Silver and upon pretence of raising that money committed violent extortions About that time Lotaire either out of grief to find himself despised or by some poyson fell into a Phrensie and died without Children towards the end of the same year Berenger immediately caused himself to be proclaimed King and was Crowned together with his eldest Son Adelbert Year of our Lord 950 Otho very glad of the disturbances in France gave slight assistance to Louis who in the necessity of his affairs relied much upon him and often went to him or sent his wife Gerberge He also made cessations from time to time In one of which he and Hugh meeting by consent at the Marne the River between them Year of our Lord 950 they patched up I know not what Peace upon which Hugh was to surrender up to him a great Tower which he held in the City of Laon. Peace being made on this side Lewis takes his progress towards Aquitain to secure himself of the Fidelity of the Lords of that Country For during these revolutions the Subjects faith was grown so wavering that often in less then a years time they swore obedience and fealty to three or four several Kings Which was indeed because they would have had none had it been in their power This year 951. Ogina Mother to
King Lewis Aged above 45 years went Year of our Lord 951 from Loan where her Son kept her as a Prisoner and married Hebert of Vermandois Count de Troyes Son of that Traytor Hebert who made her Husband die in Prison She thus satisfied her revenge to the prejudice of her honour or perhaps made that only a cover for her incontinence LOUIS Transmarine in France Otho in Germany Lorrain Conrad in Burgundy Arles Berenger II. and Adelbert his Son in Italy Year of our Lord 950 Adeleida the Widdow of Lotaire was Beautiful and Charming she had the City of Pavia in Dowre and besides great riches and possessions much credit and many Friends as well in that Country as on this side the Mountains being the Daughter of Rodolph II. and Sister to Conrad Kings of Burgundy For these reasons Berenger sought to gain her for his Son but she couragiously rejected the proposition Upon her obstinate refusal he besieges her in Pavia took her and sent her Prisoner to the strong Castle of Garda whence the Lake hath borrowed its name She notwithstanding made her escape by the help of a Priest reduced after she was got out to live upon such Alms as the Priest begg'd for her Then retired to the Marquiss Athon her Kinsman who undertook to protect her in his Fortress of Canossa Year of our Lord 950 Presently Berenger besieges it with all his Forces The second year of the siege and the end of their provisions drew near when that Queen sent to implore the aid of King Otho and to offer him with her self the Kingdom of Italy The Love of Honour more then Love to that Lady drew this Prince thither He Year of our Lord 951 delivered her Married her because he could not otherwise enjoy her and carried her into Germany leaving his Army with Conrad Duke of Lorrain to finish that War Year of our Lord 952 This Conrad prosecuted the War so briskly against Berenger and his Son that both of them laying down their Arms came to a Conference with him and thorough his persuasions went both of them into Germany to King Otho who having treated them magnificently and taken their Oaths and made them do hommage restored to them all that Kingdom excepting only Veronnois and Friuli which he bestow'd upon his Brother Henry Duke of Bavaria The contest about the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims and some other particular Lordships had brought King Lewis and Hugh le Blanc again to Daggers-drawing But Hugh in fine whatever motive prompted him desired to confer with Queen Gerberge his wives Sister who came to meet him And afterwards treating with the King personally in Soissons he made Peace about the end of March in this year 953. Year of our Lord 953 This re-union perhaps pleased King Otho but little but he found himself not in a condition to disturb it He was too much troubled with the Civil-War made against him by his own Son Luitolf incited by Conrad Duke of Lorrain who made him jealous of a Son as yet in the Cradle which his Father had by Adeleida his second wife Otho thrust Conrad out of his Dutchy and at length brought his Son to his duty not without much hazard fighting and labour Year of our Lord 954 But Conrad obstinately rebellious turned every stone to be revenged He made a League with Berenger King of Italy as ingrateful as perfidious against Otho and drew the Hungarians in twice first into Lorrain An. 954. whence they over-run even to Champagne and Burgundy and having done a world of mischief were beaten back into Italy the second into Bavaria where a most dreadful multitude got in Year of our Lord 955 together Yet Otho fought them and cut them all off after Conrad had been killed in the scuffle This was in Anno 595. Year of our Lord 954 During these troubles in the year 954. King Lewis died by a strange accident As he was going from Laon to Reims spurring to ride after a Wolfe which he met in his way his Horse stumbled and threw him so rudely on the ground that he was bruised all over These bruises turned into a kind of Leprosy which caused his death the 15 th of October in the City of Reims whither he would be carried and where he lies buried in the Church of St. Remy His Reignwas 18 years three Months and his Age 38 or 39 years Of five Sons which he had by Gerberge there were but two remaining Lotaire and Charles whereof Lotaire the eldest was about 14 or 15 years old and Charles but 15 or 16 Months The small Age of this last the poverty of the Kings who had scarce any other Towns in propriety but Reims and Laon and perhaps the interest of Hugh le Blanc were the reasons why he did not share the Kingdom with his elder as had been ever almost the Custom in the first and second Race or Line Since this time it was never equally divided amongst the Brothers the eldest alone hath had the Title of King and the cadets or younger have only had some Lands in appennage and under an entire Subjection And even of these the Kingly power being increased hath taken the Reversion for want of Heirs-males which hath not a little contributed to restore the Grandeur of the Monarchy LOTAIRE King XXXIII POPES AGAPET II. above a year in this Reign JOHN XII who was the first that changed his name introduced An. 955. S. 9 years within some Months is deposed BENEDICT V. put in by the Romans An. 964. S. some Months JOHN XIII nominated by the Empp. Otho in 964. S. almost 7 years DOMNUS Elect in 972. S. 3 Months BENEDICT VI. in 972. S. one year 3 Months BENEDICTUS VII in 974. S. 9 years and some Months JOHN XIV Elect. in July 849. S. one year one Month. Lotaire in France Otho in Germany Lorrain Conrad in Burgundy Arles Berenger and Adelbert his Son in Italy THE greatest part of the power being in the hands of Hugh he might have taken the Crown had he not feared the Forces of King Otho maternal Uncle to the Sons of the deceased King and the jealousy of the other French Lords For these reasons Queen Gerberge his wives Sister being come to him to take his Counsel he chose rather to preserve his Authority by protecting a Widdow and a Minor then by oppressing them Having therefore carried Lotaire to Reims he caused him to be Crowned the 12 th of November by the Arch-Bishop Artold Upon this occasion the young King gave the Dukedoms of Burgundy and Aquitain to Hugh le Blanc and to Hugh Capet his eldest Son who being satisfied and the Duke of Normandy likewise for their sakes it was not difficult to calm the other Lords who were less considerable These Dukes in my opinion were of two sorts in those times the one held the Cities and Lands and were become Hereditary the other were general commands over a whole Kingdom as well
they held as what they produced how situated or some particularities of their Castles or such Office they bore Some there were that chose such things as preserved the memory of their brave Feats of Arms or some singular Adventure which had hapued to them or theirs and others in fine would have such as betokened their inclination not to mention those that would needs have their Coats out of a meer fantastical Humour and without any design These glorious Marks and Badges belonged otherwhile only to the Nobility and was not the least illustrious part of the Succession of their Noble Families Now at this time every one hath them the meanest villains are the most curious herein they have not only brought the ✚ Rebus's of the little Citizens Merchants Cyphers Shop-keepers Signs and Artists tools and implements into their Coats under the shadow of Crowns Helmets and Supporters but likewise by a confidence not to be endured they have made choice of the most illustrious things and given occasion to observe that there are no better Coats then the Arms of a Villain or Plebeian Year of our Lord 1096 97 98 and 99. From the first Croisade William Rufus King of England taking the opportunity of his Brothey Roberts absenc had seized on the Dutchy of Normandy Swoln with this increase of Power he promised himself to invade France because he saw the Excommunicated King languishing in the Arms of his Concubine who besides had but one lawful Son of 15 or 16 years of age and was destitute both of Money and Friends Nevertheless this young Prince surpassing his age did by his Courage and Virtue defend himself so well three years together that Rufus was forced to leave him in Peace and retired again into England In that Countrey letting himself loose to all sorts of infamous pleasures tiranny Year of our Lord 1100 and execrable wickedness both towards God and Man he perished in a tragical manner being as he was Hunting shot with an Arrow either designedly aimed at ☞ him or by chance which pierced his very Heart Henry his younger Brother got into the Throne during the absence of Duke Robert who was still in the Holy-Land Notwithstanding the Popes Excommunications the King had renewed society with Bertrade by the consent even of Foulk her Husband being so infinitely enchanted with that Woman that he was often seen at her Feet there to receive all her Year of our Lord 1098 99 and 1100. Commands as if he had been a Slave Some of the Belgick Bishops honour'd the Kings Adultery with the name of Marriage and on their great Feasts according to ancient custom placed the Crown upon her Head to shew or signifie they did not hold her to be Excommunicated but the Popes Legats denied to communicate with him and conven'd a Council at Poitiers in July where he was Excommunicated once more William Duke of Aquitain who feared the like Treatment having committed the like fault for he entertained a Concubine and had forsaken his lawful Wife affronted and abused the Prelats greatly and perhaps his Sorrow and Repentance for it afterwards prompted him to go to the Holy Land as we have observed The King constant in his Affections solicited the Popes Favour so earnestly that he sent some Legats to re-view the Cause Year of our Lord 1101 They assembled a Council at Baugency The King and Bertrade promised to abstain from each other till the Popes Dispensation and thus the Council broke up Year of our Lord 1102 without giving any Judgment The King continued with the recommendation of the Bishops to endeavour the obtaining a Dispensation in the Court of Rome in the end he had it he was Absolved in the City of Paris and his Marriage confirmed so officacious is constancy even in things not commendable The opposition of the Bishops served only to authorize the use of Dispensations from Rome which since have been very common in all matters and occasions Young Lewis whom they named the Prince of the Kingdom and was designed King by his Father it is not specified in what year took the Government of Affairs Year of our Lord 1102 3. and the following PHILIP LEWIS Surnamed the Gross designed King aged 19 or 20 years In those times the Rights of the French were such that they could not legally arrest the Lords nor punish them with death unless it were for Treason but only deprive them of their Lands I mean those they held of the King they called them Honours This was it that gave them Licence to arme to oppress the weaker to rob and plunder and above all usurp the Goods of the Church Year of our Lord 1100 Lewis had to do first with Bouchard Lord of Montmorency against whom he embraced the Cause of the Monks of St. Denis whose Lands that Lord had pillaged and having appeared according to an assignation in the Kings Court of Justice refused to obey the Sentence or Judgment given against him therein He forced him by destroying and burning all his Villages and his Castle it self to submit to Reason In like manner he chastifed Droco or Dreux de Mouchy and Lionnet de Meun who tyrannized this over the Churches of Orleans the other over those of Beauvais Also he humbled Matthew Count of Beaumont upon Oise Son-in-law to Hugh Earl of Clermont in Beauvoisis who having half of the Lands of Luzarches in Dowry had seized upon all and had devested the good Man his Father-in-law Year of our Lord 1103 He durst or would not intermeddle with the quarrel between the two Norman Brothers Robert and Henry The First upon his return from the Holy Land demanded the Kingdom of England of his younger Brother who had usurped it after the death of William Rufus The business after three years Negotiation and War was determined in this manner Robert An. 1107. having lost a Battle at Tinchâ—bray in Normandy was made prisoner by his cruel Brother who deprived him of Sight by placing a burning Bason of Brass before his Eyes whereof he dyed in Prison Thus the whole Succession of William the Conquerer remained in Henry the youngest of his three Sons Year of our Lord 1103 In the year 1103. Lewis passed into England to King Henry I cannot tell upon what design Bertrade his Mother-in-law who could willingly have sent him out of the World sollicited Henry to make him away and this Artifice failing she caused poison to be given him at his return into France which put him in great hazard of his Life Year of our Lord 1104 The King to rid himself of the trouble brought upon him by the Family of Montlehery agreed upon a Marriage with Guy Troussel betwixt Philip his Son and bertrade to whom he gave the Earldom of Mantes on condition that Guy should deliver him the Castle of Montlehery which he did Year of our Lord 1104 At the same time or a little after Guy Lord of Rochefort Uncle of Troussel entirely possessing the Kings
it governed almost all Europe both in Spirituals and Temporals We must not omit how Robert Native of the Village d'Arbresel in the Diocess of Rennes founded the Order of Fontevralt whose Monasteries are double of Men and Women living according to the Rule and wearing the Habit of St. Bennet This Robert was at first Archdeacon of Rennes then had a particular Mission from Pope Vrban II. to Preach to the People Finding he was every where followed by an infinite multitude of either Sex he built Cells for them in the Woods of Fontevrault three Leagues from Saumur on the Confines of Poitou and then shutting up the Women apart this was perhaps after the good Advice of Gefroy de Vendosme he made a large Monastery which produced many others in each of them the Abbess Commands and she of Fontevrault is the General of the whole Order About the year 1048. began a famous Dispute between the Benedictine Monks of St. Denis in France and those of St. Himmeran of Ratisbonne these having given out a report that they had the Body of St. Denis the Areopagite and that it was bestow'd upon them by King Arnold They held a famous Assembly at St. Denis upon it where the Contenders of either side having fasted and pray'd the Shrine of this Saint was opened and there his Corps was found intire excepting one Arm which Pope Stephanus III. had carried to Rome Those of Ratisbonne would not yield for all this but always maintained their Supposition The great Zeal People then had for Reliques prompted such as hold nothing so Sacred as Money to go for some to Jerusalem and the East to steal Reliques where-ever they could come at them and oftentimes likewise to suppose and bring Counterfeit ones to make Merchandize and the great Lords gave dear Prices for them not only out of Devotion but also to enrich their Towns and Castles by the affluence of those People that came to behold them Lewis the Gross King XXXIX POPES PASCAL II. Nine years six Months during this Reign GELASIUS II. Elected in January 1118. S. One year CALISTUS II. Elected in Feb. 1119. S. Ten years ten Months HONORIUS II. Elected in Decem. 1124. S. Five years one Month and an half INNOCENT II. Elected in Feb. 1130. S. Thirteen years seven Months whereof Seven years seven Months during this Reign LEWIS the GROSS King XXXIX Aged about Twenty seven years Year of our Lord 1108 THis Prince no less Massive of Body then his Father but brave active vigilant exposing himself boldly to all Labours and all Dangers had undertaken to suppress the Pilferings and Licentiousness of the Lords They had made several Leagues against him and at that time there was one whereof Guy Earl of Rochefort was the chief Promoter and this perhaps had hindred him from being Crowned in his Fathers life time The fear of this League obliged him to hasten his Coronation so that five days after the Death of Philip he was Anointed and Crowned at Orleans by Giselbert Archbishop of Sens assisted by all his Suffragants He would not have it performed at Reims because Rodolph who was chosen Archbishop by the Clergy and confirmed by the Pope had not his approbation for which reason he disturbed him in the enjoyment and Rodolph thereupon had put the City under an Interdiction Year of our Lord 1109 The War raised by Guy de Rochefort and his Friends lasted still The new King besieged Chevreuse and other little Castles which the other party defended well Mean time Guy died and Hugh surnamed de Crescy his second Son succeeded to the Animosity of his Father Hugh Lord Puiset in Beauce mighty famous for his Robberies was of the League Eudes Ea. I of Corbeil Grandson to Earl Bouchard having refused to joyn with the Male-contents Crescy though his Brother by the Mother made him Prisoner and shut him up in the Castle of la Ferte-Baudouin The King set him free soon after taking the place partly by Intelligence Year of our Lord 1109. 1110 c. At the same time the King had War with Henry King of England and Duke of Normandy The Subject was that that Prince did not keep the Promise he made upon his doing Hommage for Normandy to pull down the Castle of Gisors built on this side the Epte a River which served as a Boundary between the Territories of the French and the Normans The Difference put to Discussion between the Deputies of the one and other side and the Parties not able to agree the Fact King Lewis offer'd to prove it by Combat Body to Body Some idle Jesters said the two Kings had best fight upon the Bridge which shook and was ready to fall Henry having refused this Challenge they came to a Battle the English lost it and their broken Remains sled to Meulan Robert Earl of Flanders pursuing them too rashly was wounded to Death His Son Baldwin surnamed a la Hache succeeded him Under the favour of this War the Male-contents drew Philip the Kings Brother to their Party The power and greatness of Amaury de Montfort his Uncle by the Mother the credit of his Mother Queen Bertrade and of Foulk Earl of Anjou afterwards King of Jerusalem his Brother heightned his courage He had two strong Holds Mantes and Montlebery the King besieged Mantes and forced it to surrender For that of Montlehery the better to keep it they would have given it to Hugh de Crescy with a Daughter of Amaury's in Marriage but the King prevented it and restored it to Milon Vicount de Troyes who had some right to it He after this attaqu'd le Puiset in favour of Thibauld Earl of Chartres who was mightily molested by Hugh Lord of that Castle and took the place together with the Lord whom he kept under a good strong Guard in Castle-Landon This War begot another Thibauld would build a Fort on the limits of the Country of Puiset the King obstructing him he maintain'd he had promised him leave to do it and therefore did him wrong which he offer'd to prove by Combat proposing his Chamberlain for Champion in his own stead he being yet too young The King on his part appointed his Grand Seneschal Anseau de Garlande but the Champions could find no Court or Judge in the Kingdom who would secure them the field of Battle Perhaps the King might underhand obstruct it The Earl therefore declares War against the King with the Assistance of Henry King of England his Mothers Brother and the Duke of Bretagne for according to the Customs of those times the Lords thought they might do it when they apprehended there was a denial of Justice With him joyned the Lords Hugh de Crescy Guy de Rochefort returned from the Holy Land Lancelin de Dammartin Payen de Mont-Jeay Rodolph de Beaugency Milon Vicount de Troyes and Eudes Earl of Corbeil To tell it in gross the King received a great deal of trouble and made them suffer so much too that
nomination of Benefices nor lay his hand upon their Revenues He turned some out of their Sees and seized their Lands Stephen Bishop of Paris and Henry Archbishop of Sens adventur'd to Excommunicate him but the Pope Honorius annulled their Censures Year of our Lord 1130 Pope Innocent II. Successor to Honorius was no sooner elected but makes himself General of an Army to compel Roger Duke of Puglia to resign that Country to him which he pretended I know not wherefore to belong to the Holy See In the beginning he overcomes Roger and blocks him up in the Castle of Galeozzo but his Son William hastning thither disingages his Father cuts the Popes Army in pieces and takes him Prisoner Now although he set him immediately at liberty again nevertheless the report of his Captivity being carried to Rome caused them to elect another Pope who took the name of Anacletus Innocent not daring therefore return to Rome held a Council at Pisa where he Excommunicated Anacletus From thence he came into France where he called another at Clermont in Auvergne His Cause had some difficulties the King assembled the Prelats of his Kingdom at Estampes to know which Party they must take St. Bernard Abbot de Cleruaux strongly maintained Innocents after his example every one embraced it Nevertheless Girard Bishop of Angoulesmes advice to whom Anacletus had restored the Legation of Aquitain that had been taken from him had so much influence upon William Duke of Aquitain that he declared himself for this Anti-Pope and persisted a year and an half in that Schism vexing those Church-men extreamly who would needs side with Innocent Year of our Lord 1131 One day being the Fifth of October as the young King Philip was riding thorough some Street of the Suburbs of Paris a Hog thrusts himself betwixt his Horses Legs who flownced and curveted in such a manner as threw him on the Ground and then ran over his Body wherewith being much bruised he died the same night To Comfort the King for this loss and the great and sensible grief it was to him and in some measure repair it he was Counsell'd to let his other Son named as himself Lewis be Crowned He carried him to Reims where the Twenty fifth of the same Month he was Anointed and Crowned by Pope Innocent who then held a Council there against the Anti-Pope Peter Laon. It seems it was at this Coronation that they reduced the Pairs or Peers who were hereafter to be assistant at those Ceremonies to the number of Twelve Six Ecclesiasticks and Six of the Laity who were chosen from amongst all the Lords and Prelats of that Quality They did not however take away from the other Pairs their Prerogative of not being Judged by any but their Pairs in matters Feodal as well Civil as Criminal Of these Twelve Pairries are remaining only the six Ecclesiasticks five of the Lay ones having been re-united to the Crown by Confiscation Marriage or otherwise and the sixth which is that of Flanders torn from them by the Emperor Charles V. LEWIS the Gross the Father LEWIS the Young his Son called the Pious or Debonnair Aged about 20 years Year of our Lord 1132 THierry of Alsatia remaining Master and Possessor of the Earldom of Flanders was admitted to render Hommage to the King who received him because it would not have been in his power to drive him out and besides he was his Kinsman Geofrey Plantagenet was come to be Earl of Anjou Fulk his Father being returned to the Holy Land to take possession of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to which he was called by King Baldwin his Father-in-Law He pressed King Henry his Wives Father very earnestly to give him Places and Money for advancement of Succession which begot such a divorce between them that Gefroy besieged and burnt Beaumont and Henry had carried his Daughter back into England had she not been in Child-bed When she was up again she fell into Dispute with her Father and parted very much discontented from him which gave him so much jealousie and anguish that being taken ill of a slow Fever and a Loosness he died the First day of December having Reigned Thirty five years Year of our Lord 1136 c. His Succession no more then his Life was without great Troubles That Stephen Earl of Boulogne of whom we have spoken his Sister Adela's Son being in England seized on that Kingdom and maintain'd himself in it as long as he lived Not content with that he likewise disputed for Normandy and almost totally dispossessed Matilda and Gefroy her Husband The unhappy Province dividing it self in favour of both Parties was ravaged by both and the King of France favouring sometimes the one sometimes the other kept it still in a Flame William IX Duke of Guyenne touched with Compunction resolved to go in Pilgrimage to St. James's in Galicia Before he went he made his Will and Testament wherein he ordained that his eldest Daughter named Alianor should Marry the young King Lewis and should bring him all his Lordships in Dowry For his only Son was dead but he had yet another Daughter called Alix-Pernelle In his Journey he fell sick and died having confirmed his Will His Corps was conveyed to St. James's in Galicia and interred in the Church and yet the Legend-makers do not stick to say That he feigned only that he was dead and stealing away so privately that his own Secretary knew not of it he went and turned Hermit in a Grotto or Cave near Florence where he macerated his Body by terrible Pennance and that it was he who instituted the Order of the Guillermins Of the same Fabrick is the Tale they make of the Emperor Henry V. saying That to do the greater Pennance for his Faults he caused it to be reported that he was dead and retired to Anger 's where he ended his days serving the Hospital but before he died discovered himself to his Confessor and was known by Matilda his Wife who was again Married to Gefroy Earl of Anjou King Lewis was likewise fallen Sick of a Diarrhea which took him upon his return from his last Warlike Expedition in which he had razed the Castle of St. Bricson on the Loire the Lord thereof using to rob the Merchants William's last Will and Testament being brought to him he accepted of the Match bestowed a gallant Equipage upon his Son and ordered a Train of many Lords and above Five hundred Gentlemen with whom he went to Bourdeaux where Elienor Resided and there Espoused her in presence of the Lords of Gascongny Saintonge and Poitou then brought her to Poitiers towards the middle of July Year of our Lord 1137 In that City he heard of the Death of the King his Father which hapned at Paris the First day of August the Thirtieth of his Reign and the Fifty eighth of his Age. His Body was carried to the Church of St. Denis Before this Prince Violence reigned Majesty and Justice were
Popes Legat. Afterwards the Archbishop of Sens gave him leave to explain and make good his Propositions against St. Bernard But being come for that purpose to the Council of Sens he would or durst not dispute there but appeal'd to the Pope Being on his way towards Rome to pursue his Appeal he stopt at the Abby of Clugny and there led a holy Life in the Habit of St. Bennes which he had long before taken upon him These Prosecutions were carried on by the Zeal of St. Bernard Abbot of Clervaux a Burgundian Gentleman who had raised himself to so high an Esteem for several years before amongst the Clergy the Nobility and Common People that there hapned no Cause in Matters Ecclesiastical no considerable Contest no important Enterprize wherein his Judgment was not required together with his Counsel and Mediation To shew us that the Wise and Virtuous have a more natural ☞ Empire then that which proceeds from Power or the Institution of Man Year of our Lord 1141 The Clergy of Bourges had elected for their Archbishop one Peter de la Chastre a Person of singular Learning and Piety The King whether he did not like him or desired that Benefice for another refused to give his consent Peter would therefore have desisted but Pope Innocent enjoyned him to perform his Duty which the King obstructing it bred a great deal of trouble and grew to that height that the Pope Excommunicated the King and put the King under an Interdiction Thibauld Earl of Champagne a Lord of great Authority as well for his Power as his Vertues having intermedled somewhat too much about this business offended the King whose anger was yet more inflamed upon another occasion which was this Rodolph de Vermandois who was in effect the first Prince of the Blood but in those days that Title was not known those Princes being considered only according to the Year of our Lord 1141 42. dignity of their Lands caused his Marriage with Gerbete Cousin German to Thibauld to be dissolved upon pretence of Parentage that he might have Alix-Pernelle the Sister of Queen Alienor for his Wife The Pope at the instigation of Thibauld Excommunicated Rodolph and interdicted the Bishops that had pronounced the Divorce Lewis lays all upon Thibauld and enters his Lands in Hostile manner Thibauld has recourse to the Pope who to deliver him from that War which oppress'd him takes off the Excommunication but as soon as that was over he thunders it a second time and then the King more exasperated then before turns his Army into Champagne They take Vitry by force putting all to the Sword and setting Fire on the Church wherein three hundred poor innocent People were burnt who were got in to secure themselves Year of our Lord 1143 and 1144. At the recital of this Cruelty the Kings Bowels yearned and his Conscience was mightily troubled He mourned and dispairs St. Bernard had much ado to persuade him that he might obtain Mercy from God upon his Repentance In this Condition it was easie to persuade him to restore the Archbishop of Bourges to his See and procure a Peace for the Earl Year of our Lord 1143 and 1144. Fulk King of Jerusalem being dead Anno 1142. the Government being in the hands of Melisenda his Widow his youngest Son Baldwin and the Christians of that Country worse then the Turks their Affairs ran all into confusion so that Sangnin Sultan of Assyria tore the Principality of Edessa from them one of the four Members of the Kingdom of Jerusalem The King had before Vow'd a Voyage to the Holy-Land these sad Tidings moved both him and the other French Princes to carry them Relief St. Bernard the Oracle of those times being consulted with herein refers the business to the Pope who sent him orders to Preach the Croisade over all Christendom Year of our Lord 1146 Beginning with France he Conven'd a National Council at Chartres by whom he was chosen for Generalissimo of that Expedition but he refused the Sword and was content to be the Trumpet only He proclaim'd it every where with so much fervour so great assurance of good success and as they believed with so many Miracles that the Cities and Villages became Deserts every one listing themselves for this Service Year of our Lord 1147 The Emperor Conrad and the King were the first that took the Badge of the Cross with an infinite number of Nobility Each of these Princes had a Legat from the Pope in his Army Conrad led threescore thousand Horse he went away first and arrived at Constantinople about the end of March in the year 1147. Year of our Lord 1147 The King staid some while in France after him to receive Pope Engenius who by the Revolted Romans was forced to quit that Country He set forwards a fortnight after Whitsontide in the same year and having marched thorough Hungary and Thrace passed the Bosphorus so that the following Lent in Anno 1148. he got into Syria whilst on the other hand his Naval Force was put to Sea to meet him there Year of our Lord 1147 By Advice of his Parliament held at Estampes he left the Regency of the Kingdom to Rodolph Earl of Vermandois and Suger Abbot of St. Denis who was in great Credit at Court even from the time of Lewis the Fat. Before his departure he went according to the usual Custom into St. Denis Church to receive his Staff and Scrip the Badges of Pilgrimage and the Standard de L'Oriflamme on the Altar of the Holy Martyrs It is fit we should tell you the Kings of France of the Second Race display'd at the head of their Armies St. Martins Cope or Mantle But Capet and his Line after their great Devotion to St. Denis made use of the Banner belonging to his Church which they called Oriflamme It had wont to be carried or born by the Count de Vexin-Francois who was Hommager to the Church of St. Denis After the Kings had possession of this County they appointed some Person of great Merit and Illustrious Birth to carry it There is not that wicked or mean Artisice and Treachery but the perfidious Manuel Emperor of Greece put in practise to destroy both the Emperors and the Kings Armies Against the first he had his will by Poysoning their Meal he was to furnish them withall with Lime and Plaster and appointing such Guides as having led them a long way about which made them waste all their Provisions at last delivered them half dead and languishing into the hands of the Turks who cut them all in pieces so that there was not a tenth part of them escaped Year of our Lord 1148 The King being likewise gotten into Asia found the Emperor Conrad at Nicea where he comforted him in the best manner he could Then he marched along by the Sea-side and ran the same hazard as the other had done however he saved himself more by good fortune then
People pretended they had the better Title and had most commonly maintain'd themselves in possession of it alledging the Popes could not deprive them of a Right born with the Church its self and practised in the times of the Apostles Year of our Lord 1160 King Lewis relying upon the Judgment of the Gallican Church whom he Assembled for this purpose at Estampes adhered to Alexander All the West followed his Example excepting the Emperor Frederick who with his Almans and what Partisans he had in Italy fiercely rejected him because he was Install'd without his Approbation King Henry besides the Kingdom of England held the Dutchy of Normandy which had then a part of Bretagne holding of it the Country of Maine Anjou Touraine and the Province of Aquitain His Ambition upheld by this great increase Year of our Lord 1160 of Power made him revive afresh the Right his Wife had to the County of Toulouze For this end having made Alliance with Raimond Prince of Arragon and Earl of Barcelonna he raised a great Army of Aquitains and Routiers amongst whom was Malcolme King of Scotland enter'd upon Languedoc took Mâ—issac Cahors and some other places The jealousie Lewis had of his growing Greatness moving him at least as much as Year of our Lord 1160 61. the Prayers and Intreaties of Earl Raimond his Brother-in-Law caused him to march that way and cast himself into Toulouze but he had so few with him that it was in the power of Henry to have forced that City had not the scruple of falling upon his Soveraign deterr'd him from it After which they were reconcil'd but Henry would not let fall his claim and hold of the Earldom of Toulouze till he bestow'd his Daughter Jane Widow of William II. King of Sicily on Earl Raimond In these days the cursed Crew of Routiers and Cottereaux began to make themselves known by their Cruelties and Robberies we cannot tell certainly why they were so called but they were a kind of Soldiers and Adventurers coming from divers parts as from Arragon Navarre Biscay and Brabant who wandred over all Countries and would be hired by any one that offer'd to take them provided they might be allow'd all manner of Licence The Cottereaux were most of them Foot-Soldiers the Routiers served on Horseback In the mean while Pope Alexander fearing the Emperor after he had pull'd down the Pride of the Milannois might come to Rome did not judge himself a fit match and so retired into France where he remained above three years Year of our Lord 1161 This year he held a Council at Clermont in which he did not forbear to thunder against Victor Frederick and all their Adherents Year of our Lord 1161 The most Potent and most Factious Family in all France was the House of Champagne Lewis to divide them from the English and gain them to himself takes Alix for his third Wife who was youngest Sister to the four Brothers Champenois for Constance his second Wife was dead Anno 1159. and for the two Daughters of his first Bed he gave one to Henry the eldest of the four Brothers Earl of Troyes and the other to Thibauld the second Earl of Blois Year of our Lord 1162 Pope Alexander came to Torcy on the River Loire where the two Kings Lewis and Henry received him with extream submission Both of them alighted and each taking one of the Reins of his Horses Bridle conducted him to the House prepared for him Year of our Lord 1162 A second time the Emperor came into the County of Burgundy bringing his Victor with him and a second time some endeavoured to procure a Conference betwixt him and the King to determine that Difference which made the Schism by the Judgment of a Council They agreed upon the place of Interview to be at Avignon as being the Frontier of either Prince whither the King by Oath obliged himself to bring Alexander But that Pope refusing to go there saying he could be judged by none it broke off the Conference and put the King in very great danger For the Almans having reproached him that he kept not his word plotted to way-lay him and had taken him Prisoner had not the King of England caused his Army to advance to disengage him Thence follow'd a cruel War between the Emperor and Alexander which horribly tormented Italy and out of which the Emperor could not withdraw himself but by the means of a shameful submission craving Pardon of the Pope and suffering him to set his Foot upon his Throat Which hapned in Anno 1177. in the City of Venice Year of our Lord 1163 Anno 1163. Alexander assisted at the Council of Tours Assembled by his order and there he thunders once more against Victor and Frederick He caused some Decrees likewise to be made against the Hereticks who had spread themselves over all the Province of Languedoc There were especially of two sorts The one Ignorant and withall addicted to Lewdness and Villanies their Errors gross and filthy and these were a kind of Manicheans The others more Learned less irregular and very far from such filthiness held almost the same Doctrines as the Calvinists and were properly Henricians and Vaudois The People who could not distinâ—uish them gave them alike names that is to say called them Cathares Patarins Boulgres or Bulgares Adamites Cataphrygians Publicans Gazarens Lollards Turlupins and other such like Nick-names Year of our Lord 1163 Death of Odo III. Duke of Burgundy to whom succeeded Hugh III. his Son There being Peace between the two Kings Lewis employs himself in doing Justice and suppressing Disorders The Inhabitants of Vezelay having made a Corporation would have shaken off the Abbot who was their Lord protected by the Earl of Nevers He compell'd them and their Earl to ask Pardon and break their Corporation The same year he went in Person to â—ight the Earl of Clermont the Earl du Puy and the Vicount de Polignac Lords of Auvergne who denied to forbear plundering of Churches overthrew them and brought them Prisoners to Paris where having detained them a long while he releas'd them upon giving their Oaths and Hostages In like manner he punished the Earl of Chaalons with the loss of his County because he had pillag'd the Abby of Clugny and kill'd above five hundred some Monks some Servants However the Daughter of this Man re-entred upon her Patrimony Year of our Lord 1163 Thomas Becket Chancellor of England elected Archbishop of Canterbury Anno 1163. soon lost the good favour of King Henry for divers causes and particularly Year of our Lord 1164 for stickling too fiercely in maintaining the Priviledges of the Clergy Being banished the Kingdom he retired himself in France in the Abby of Pontigny of the Diocess of Sens whence he gave much trouble to his King and suffer'd not a little himself during six years Year of our Lord 1164 Death of Victor the Anti-Pope in whose stead the Cardinals of his Party elected Guy
two causes One was that Richard refused to do Hommage to Year of our Lord 1186 the King for his County of Poitou grounded perhaps on this that it held immediately of the Dutchy of Aquitain The other Henry deferr'd to surrender Gisors and other places of the Vexin which Louis VII had given in Dowre to Margaret who had no Year of our Lord 1187 Children by young Henry Philip sets upon him towards Berry took Issoudun and besieged the Castle-Ruouel The King of England and his Son came to its Relief and sent to bid Battle but the two Armies being ranged Henry's heart failed him he talks of an Agreement promises Satisfaction to Philip and leaves him Issoudun for his Expences in that War Year of our Lord 1187 The Fifth of September Lewis the first born Son of Philip came into the World for which the City of Paris expressed so much Joy that they made the whole week but one Holy-day keeping all darkness at a distance by the infinite numbers of Flambeaux every where Saladin King of Syria and Egypt who from a low Birth was raised to that high power not without great desert after his having obtained many Victories over the Christians at last tears the Holy City of Jerusalem from them whereof Guy de Luzignan was then King it was taken the Second day of October and all the Holy-Land excepting only Tyre Tripoly Antioch and some strong Holds Thus at the end of Eigthy eight years Ended the Kingdom of Jerusalem which Title after it had ambitiously passed through the Houses of divers Princes does at this day make us part of the Catholick Kings At this dreadful news which arrived towards the end of the year 1187. all the Faithful made a great moan never was any sorrow so great or so universal The Kings Philip and Henry being sensibly touched Conferr'd together at Gisors and Trie and resolved to take up the Cross with great numbers of Princes Lords and Prelats to recover those Holy Places out of the hands of the Infidels In remembrance whereof they erected a Cross in the Field where they had resolved upon this Croisade and mutually promised to leave all Disputes in the same posture they then were till after their return from this holy Expedition Year of our Lord 1188 The Month of March following Philip Assembles a Parliament at Paris where it was resolv'd by Advice of the Bishops and Barons to take the Tenths of all Goods Movables and Immovables of all Persons as well Ecclesiasticks as of the Laity excepting only the Monks de Cisteaux the Chartreux de Fontevrault and the Spittles belonging to the poor Leprous People This Impost was called the Saladine Tith Year of our Lord 1188 Whilst they were preparing with great chearfulness and courage for this Expedition Richard for I not what little Injury received of Alfonso Earl of Thoulouze renew'd the old Pretention of his Mother Alienor to that County and endeavoured to recover it by the Sword Philip to disengage his Brother-in-Law and make a Diversion falls into Berry takes all the places the English were possessed of drove out old Henry who was got thither with an Army and pursued him as far as Normandy Year of our Lord 1189 Winter brought them to a Truce In the mean time Richard falls out with his Father and threw himself into the Arms of Philip. His discontent proceeded from his Fathers delay in giving him Alix of France betroathed to him Some believe the old Man cast other looks upon her then he ought towards his Sons Wife and besides by compleating this Marriage he had been obliged according to the Contract to let his be Crowned and give him the Title of King The Physitian Rigord in the History of Philip relates That being at Argenteuil when the Moon was at Full and the Night very clear a little before day-break the Prior of that Monastery and several of the Monks saw that Planet descend in a Moment to the Earth where having rested some time it went slowly up again and took its former place Year of our Lord 1189 The following Spring Philip takes the Field Conquers all the Countrey of Mayne and the City of Mans Touraine and the City of Tours himself having as by Miracle found a Foard in the Loire which he discover'd to his Army At the same time John surnamed Without-Land the Third Son of Henry likewise takes up Arms against his Father who not knowing which way to turn himself leaves Chinon and advances towards King Philip humbly to desire a Peace Philip grants it and reconciles him to Richard upon condition that one of them should accompany him to the Holy-Land Year of our Lord 1189 But Henry as unfortunate in War as he was unfortunate in his Children overcome with shame and sorrow dies three days after he was returned to Chinon Richard succeeds him and then Philip his Brother-in-Law generously restores to him all he had Conquer'd of his excepting Issoudun and the Fiefs he held in Auvergne settling Gisors and all the Vexin for his Wives Portion The two Princes thus united in a Friendship which appeared to be very cordial and so firm that one would imagine nothing could untie or shake it fitted themselves for their Expedition to the Holy-Land appointed the Rendezvous for their Armies at Vezelay and took Shipping Richard at Marseilles and Philip at Genoa Both of them landed in Sicily but Philip not so happily as Richard a furious Tempest having forced him to throw over-board part of his Horses and his Equipage Year of our Lord 1190 Before their departure Philip with the leave and by the agreement of all his Barons left the Guardianship of his Son and the Government of the Kingdom to the Queen his Mother Alix de Champagne and to William Cardinal-Archbishop of Reims Brother to that Queen But fearing they might abuse it he left an Authentick Order in Writing Signed by the Great Officers belonging to the Crown which limited their Power and prescribed their Lesson in many cases Amongst others he would have them bestow vacant Benefices of the Regalia by the Advice of Brother Bernard who was a devout Hermit living in the Bois de Vincennes and that during his absence no Tailles should be levied by any Lords upon their Lands nor in case he should happen to dye by the Regents during the Minority of his Son Year of our Lord 1190 He likewise ordered the Sheriffs of Paris that they should take care to enclose it with Walls and Towers There were no Ditches made the Enclosure on the left hand of the River upwards hath been often enlarged and altred The Burghers of other Cities by their example were ambitious to Wall their Towns and make Ramparts for defence William the Good King of Sicily Son of William the Wicked or Bad being dead without Children Anno 1189. He had an Aunt the Daughter of King Roger named Constance who being almost Thirty years of Age not a Nun as some have
falsely maintained who had Married Anno 1186. Henry Son of the Emperor Frederic This young Prince was raised to the Empire this year 1190. The Emperor his Father having drowned himself while he was bathing in the little River of Serre between Antioch and Nicea as he was leading great succours into the Holy Land Now Constance pretended to succeed his Nephew but Tancred his Bastard Brother had excluded him and seized on the Kingdom It was he that received the two Kings at Messina where they landed in the Month of Year of our Lord 1190 March and sojourn'd there above six Months During their stay Richard had great Contests with Tancred concerning the Articles of his Sister Jane's Dowry Widow of King William He was often like to come to blows about it and had thoughts of forcing the Town of Messina In sine Philips Mediation procur'd him 60000 Ounces of Gold from Tancred whereof he had a third for his pains Year of our Lord 1190 Now Tancred whether it were true or whether by a Diabolical Artisice shew'd Richard some Letters which he affirmed to have been written to him by Philip wherein that King profer'd him all his Forces to attaque Richard and seize upon him in the night if he would at the same time fall upon him likewise Richard believed the Letters to be real and made a great stir about it Thus the two Kings were mightily exasperated against each other Richard for the design contrived against his Life Philip for the reproach against his Honour Year of our Lord 1191 Towards the end of the Winten Richard makes known to Philip that he cannot Wed his Sister for certain Reasons which he will not discover perhaps it was because old Henry his Father had kept her too long and declares to him he had betrothed Berengaria Daughter of Garcias King of Navar and that his Mother Alienor was bringing her thither to Consummate the Marriage Philip was not Transported but wisely suppressing his Anger left him to his liberty of quitting his Sister provided he would surrender those Lands he had given him for her Dowry and would at the first conveniency go along with him to the Holy-Land Also he consented to a Truce for those Countries during all the time they should remain abroad Richard accepted of the Truce willingly but refused to go so soon These were the chief causes that changed the mutual affectionof these young Kings into a cruel hatred Year of our Lord 1191 James d'Avesnes with some Flemish Forces and the remainders of the Emperor Frederic's had already besieged the City of Acre it was otherwhile called Ptolemais very considerable for its Port and its strong Walls King Philip parted from Messina in the beginning of March and landed near this place took his Quarters about the Town raised his Batteries and made a wide breach Year of our Lord 1191 In the mean time Richard putting to Sea was driven by Tempest on the Coasts of the Island of Cyprus It was then in the possession of one Isaac a Grecian Prince who having abused and pillag'd his weather-beaten Soldiers whereas he ought to have relieved them provoked his just wrath in so much that he seizes on that Kingdom and carried away an immense quantity of rich Plunder together with the said Isaac and his Wife both of them bound in Chains of Gold Year of our Lord 1191 He got not to Acre till two Months after Philip and far from promoting the taking thereof he retarded it by the continual disagreement between them The Siege lasted five Months in all and caused a great many Princes and brave Men to perish there In the end the City surrendred upon Composition importing that the Besieged should obtain of Saladine the release of all the Christian Prisoners in his hands and the true Cross which he had taken in Jerusalem for which their Lims and Lives were to be Security till performed at the Mercy and discretion of the Conquerors They were therefore together with all the Spoil equally shared betwixt the two Kings and as Saladine would not perform the first of these two Conditions and the second was not in his power because the true Cross was not to be found Richard too passionate and cholerick put seven thousand of them to the edge of the Sword who were his Prisoners and reserved not above two or three hundred of the Principal In this Siege were slain a great number of People of quality Rotrou Earl of Perche Thibauld Earl of Blois Great Seneschal and Uncle to the King and Alberic Clement Lord du Mez his Mareschal Son of another Clement who had executed the same Office Our Kings of France in those times had but one and these Clements were the first who raised or improved this Office by their favour and extended it to the Soldiery whereas before them it had nothing to do but with such as belonged to the Kings Stables Year of our Lord 1191 The contagious distempers destroy'd yet more of their Men then the Sword Philip d'Alsace Earl of Flanders ended his days in the Month of June He had no Children but only one Sister whom he had Married to Baldwin Earl of Haynault from whom were sprung two Elizabeth who was Married to King Philip and a Son of the same Name as the Father Year of our Lord 1191 King Philip being likewise seized with a long fit of Sickness which was suspected to proceed from some ill morsel because his Nails and Hair fell off resolved to return into France but to remove the jealousie Richard might conceive at his departure he made Oath he would not in the least meddle with his Lands till forty days after he were certain of his being returned into France He likewise left with him near Six hundred Horse and Ten thousand Foot with their m inainance for their three years under the Conduct of Hugh III. Duke of Burgundy After that having taken leave of his Lords he puts to Sea and being Convoy'd by three Gallies only which the Genoese furnished him withal landed in Puglia When he had somewhat recover'd his Health he sets forward on his journey with a small number of followers visited the Sepulchre of the Apostles at Rome and Year of our Lord 1191 having received the Popes Blessing parted from thence and arrived in France in the Month of December He pass'd his Christmass Holy-days at Fontaine Eblaud and from thence came to his dear City of Paris After his departure all the Forces put themselves under the Command of Richard who did so many prodigious acts of valour that they surpass the belief as well as the ordinary strength of Mankind In a word he had regained the Holy-City if Year of our Lord 1191. and 92. the jealousie of Hugh Duke of Burgundy had not obstructed his progress And indeed he had a design in his Head of forming a great Kingdom in those Countries and that none might dispute the Title with him of King of
to which he replied that Soldiers could not be kept without Money They soon understood what he desired and the mischief pressing hard upon them they were constrain'd to give and immediately the Lords desisted from plundering Year of our Lord 1191. and the following In the interim John King of England summon'd for three several times to answer the accusation in King Philips Court endeavour'd to gain time and made all delays But Philip finding himself strong in Men and provided with Money having no counter-poise in his Kingdom because he held in his own hands the Garde-noble of the potent House of Champagne and the Earl of Flanders was gone into the Levant had resolved to push on against him He therefore gave some Forces to Prince Arthur to pursue his Right having before betrothed his Daughter Mary to him At the same time he entred upon Normandy where he forced five or six places and received the most considerable Lords of the Countrey into favour amongst the rest Hugh de Gournay and the Earl of Alenson who assured him of their Service and their Towns Arthur on his side attaques Poitou the Earls de la Marche and d'Eu Gefroy de Luzignan and their friends being joyned with him His Grand-Mother Alienor had Year of our Lord 1201 put her self into Mirebeau he besieges her there King John hastens thither with so much diligence that he surprizes him one fair Morning napping in his Bed takes him prisoner and sends him to the Castle of Falaize Normandy and Poitou being shaken in this manner comes a Legat from the Pope who ordains the two Kings to assemble the Bishops and Lords of their Countreys Year of our Lord 1202 and by their Consultations put an end to these Disputes John would readily have consented to this Order but Philip who was not willing to give over so fair a Game obliged his who were assembled at Mantes to throw in an Appeal from the Sentence of the Legat to the Pope himself which was to gain time and continue his progress Year of our Lord 1202 The respect for Queen Alienor had still with-held King John from staining his hands in the Blood of the unfortunate Arthur Soon after her death he caused him to be brought to the Castle of Rouen he kept his Court in that City and in a very obscure night he drew him forth thence and led him to such a place that afterwards he was never seen It being justly presum'd that he had murther'd him Constance the Mother of that young Prince demanded Justice of King Philip for that parricide committed in his Territory and upon the person of one of his Vassals He caused John therefore to be summoned before his Peers or Pairs where not appearing nor sending any to excuse him he was by judgment of that Court Condemned as attainted and convicted of Parricide and Felony to lose all the Lands he had in France which should be consiscated and forfeit to the Crown and all such as should defend them reputed Guilty de Laesae-Majestatis Year of our Lord 1203 In prosecution or rather execution of this Decree Philip partly by force partly by intelligence took from him this year almost all the higher or upper Normandy whilst this unworthy lazy Man pass'd away the time with his Wife at Caen as if all had been in a profound Peace We may imagine that if he would have taken some care of his Affairs Philip could not so easily have conquer'd so many places since the single Castle de Gaillard neer Andeley situate on a Rock both very high and steep on all sides endured a Five months Siege but both Heaven and Earth had declar'd against him his friends betray'd him his Subjects became unfaithful and he meanly abandonn'd himself Year of our Lord 1204 The following year Philip made himself Master of all the Cities of the Lower Normandy almost without a blow Rouen it self which was the Capital of the whole Province environ'd with a double Wall and very affectionate to her natural Dukes After a Siege of forty days being informed by the Deputies sent to King John that no Relief or assistance could be had from him surrendred to the Conquerour upon condition he should maintain the Citizens in their Franchises and Priviledges which he agreed to and they obtained Letters or a Charter to secure it a procaution as feeble against an absolute Power as Paper is against Steel Year of our Lord 1204 Two or three other places which yet defended themselves followd the example of Rouen and so it was that in less then three years he gained all Normandy which had had Twelve Dukes of that Nation whereof John was the last who had Govern'd them about Three hundred and sixteen years At the same time William des Roches who had quitted John's party to joyn with Philip secured the Counties of Anjou du Maine and de Touraine and Henry Clement Mareschal of France conquer'd all Poitou for him excepting only Niort Touars and Rochel Year of our Lord 1205 The next year the King himself having gotten a great Train of Artillery forced the Castle des Loches and some places that remained in the hands of the English in Touraine Year of our Lord 1203 The French and the Venetians sailing to Constantinople with only 28000 Men forced the Harbour and afterwards the City though there were above Threescore thousand Fighting Men there deliver'd Isaac out of prison and caused the young Alexis his Son to be Crowned The Tyrant Alexis and his Brother-in-law Theodorus Luscaris having made their escape over the Walls retir'd to Adrianople Year of our Lord 1204 Whilst this Army of the Cross wintered about Constantinople and Isaac and his Son endeavour'd to make good what they had promis'd them for their reward the people upon whom they Levied very great sums of Money mutined One certain Alexis Ducas surnamed Murzufle Great Master of the Wardrobe to young Alexis headed the sedition seized on that Prince whilst Isaac was in his last Agonie and strangled him with his own hands Then caused himself to be Declared Emperour and went forth with the City Militia against the aforesaid Army but they were presently beaten back Constantinople besieg'd and within Sixty days taken by Storm swimming in Blood and a great part consumed by Fire The Conquerours gave power to Twelve of the chief amongst themselves to elect an Emperour upon condition That if he were a French man the Patriarch should be a Venetian and so on the contrary The intrigues of the Venetians for whose interest Boniface Marquis of Montferrat was not so convenient though he seemed most worthy of the Empire manag'd it so that the Electors conferr'd it upon Baldwin Earl of Flanders and the Patriarchat upon Thomas Morosini a Venetian After they had setled things in order within the City they easily conquer'd all what the Grecian Empire possess'd in Europe and formed several Principalities there of which the Marquis de Montferrat who married Isaac's
that he left all his Warlike Engines behind and part of his Men who were kill'd or drowned upon the Retreat Never after durst he shew his head in any place where he knew Lewis could come and abandoned all Anjou to him and his new Fortifications of Anger 's which were presently demolish'd Year of our Lord 1214 Before the Month was expir'd after Lewis's Victory King Philip his Father gained a much more signal one nigh the Village of Bouvines which is between L'Isle and Tournay against the Emperor Otho and his Confederates They had an Army of 150000 fighting Men his was weaker by one half but strengthned with the flower of the Nobility and many Princes of the Blood viz. Eudes Duke of Burgundy Robert de Courtenay Robert Earl of Dreux and his Brother Philip Bishop of Beauvais The Battle was fought the 25th of July and lasted from Noon till Night Guerin Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and a little before elected Bishop of Senlis to whom the King left all things drew up the Army in Battalia Matthew Baron of Montmorency William des Barres Seneschal to the King Henry Earl of Bar Bartholomy de Roye Gaucher Count de Saint Pol and Adam Vicount de Melun had the greatest shares in the Danger and in the Victory Guerin fought not with his hands because of his Quality of Bishop nor did Philip Bishop of Beauvais smite with the Sword but a Wooden Club believing that to beat out Peoples Brains was not shedding of Blood The King ran a great hazard in his own Person having been beaten down trod under the Horses Feet and wounded in the Throat but in fine his Enemies were worsted every where Otho put to flight his great Standard being a Dragon with an Imperial Eagle over it and the Chariot which bore it broken all to pieces and five Earls amongst whom were Ferrand and Renauld with two and twenty Lords that carried Banners taken Prisoners The Fortune-tellers had assured the old Countess of Flanders Ferrands Aunt that there should happen a great Battle that the King should be overthrown Horses tread over him and that Ferrand should enter in Triumph into Paris The first part of this Prediction held good without Equivocation the second was likewise true but after another manner then they imagined for indeed they carried him into Paris in Triumph but in quality of a Captive loaden with Chains and linked fast in a Chariot drawn by Ferrand Horses that is according to the Language then used of an Iron-grey-Colour The Parisians made the King a most pompous Entrance and Celebrated his Victory with Solemn Joy for eight days together Ferrand was shut up in the Tower of the Louvre without the City Walls and Renauld in the new Tower of Peronne with Shackles on his Legs and a Chain that fastned him to a great piece of Timber Philip had made a Vow in the midst of his Joy for this most happy success to build an Abby in honour of God and of the Blesled Virgin his Son Lewis performed it by founding that of Nostre-Dame de la Victoire near Sanlis The Lords of Poitou that had favour'd the English finding that Lewis was Victorious sent to tender him all manner of Submission He would not trust to their words but went into the Country with his Army to bring things to a full period The Vicount de Touars the most considerable of them all obtained the Kings Pardon without much ado by the intercession of Peter Duke of Bretagne the rest were utterly lost and King John who was then in Partenay could not have avoided being taken if he had not bethought himself of interposing the Popes Legat to demand a Truce That power was so formidable that the King durst not deny him and agreed to it for five years Year of our Lord 1215 When that was done Prince Louis or Lewis whether out of devotion or jealousie of the Power of Count de Montfort took up the Cross on him against the Albigeois and made a Voyage to Languedoc Montfort came to Vienne to meet him and the Legat to Valence Montfort who accompanied him received Bulls from the Pope Year of our Lord 1215 which in Consequence of the Decree of the Council of Montpellier held some Months before gave him the Tolosian Territories in guard or keeping and all those other that had been Conquer'd by the Adventurers of the Cross upon Condition to receive Investiture of the King and render him Feodal Duty So that we may say ☜ the Pope named and the King Confer'd upon his Nomination From thence Lewis was at Montpellier then at Beziers where he gave order the Walls of Narbonne and Tolose should be demolish'd Mean while the Lateran Council notwithstanding the pitiful Remonstrances of the Count de Tolose who was there in Person with his Son adjudged the propriety of his Lands to Montfort reserving only those he had in Provence for his Son and four hundred Marks of Silver yearly for his Subsistance to be understood if they shew'd themselves obedient to the Holy See From that time Montfort took on him the Quality of Earl of Toulouze and came to receive Investiture from the King in the City of Melun While Lewis was yet in those Countries the English Lords sent to offer him the Crown of England and demand Assistance against the Tyrannies of John who was Excommunicated by the Pope and who had robb'd them of their Liberties and Priviledges for which cause they had taken up Arms to Dethrone him They had the City of London and some other places for them nevertheless their design did not go on well and their dispair forc'd them to seek their safety by some Foreign Assistance Year of our Lord 1215 16. The Tyrant seeing his loss infallible stuck not to abase the Dignity of his Crown to gain the Popes Protection He satisfies him therefore and becomes his Vassal and Tributary of a thousand Mark of Silver but this abasement added scorn to the execration his Subjects had for him Now the Holy Father resolv'd highly to protect his new Vassal Excommunicated the English and sent a Legat into France to divert Lewis from that Enterprize and desired King Philip to put a stop to it Philip makes protestation of all Respect and Obedience to the Holy See but said he could not impose upon his Son that necessity not to pursue the Rights of his Wife who was Neece to King John So that Lewis accepted the Crown of England and landed with a great Equipage in the Isle of Thanet thence went to London where he was solemnly Crowned John being excluded from his Capital City retired to Winchester and by his flight gave him full leisure to receive the Hommage of all the Nobility and secure all about London The Legat not being able to put a stop to Lewis by any Arguments or Persuasions Excommunicated him and all his Adherents but he appeal'd to the Pope they had not yet found out the
A prodigious Comet appeared in the Heavens shortly after and whether it were the Sign or were the Cause or perhaps neither the one nor the other a Quartain Ague seized King Philip which continuing and wasting him near a years time did in the end bring him to his Grave Amaulry de Montfort had profer'd to give up all his Conquests in Languedoc to Prince Lewis But Philip knowing the Constitution of his Son was too delicate and tender could not give consent he should undertake so toylsom a War notwithstanding the Pope and the Clergy press'd mightily to have them make an utter destruction of those Hereticks who without any respect still aimed at their Persons Year of our Lord 1223 and Estates principally They had therefore at Paris called a grand Assembly of Prelats and Lords to compleat this business John King of Jerusalem and the Popes Legat were Assistants Philip sick as he was would needs be amongst them and went expressly from Chasteau de Pacy on the Epte where he had diverted himself When he arriv'd at Mantes the Distemper so encreased upon him that he was forc'd to stop there and some days after gave up the Ghost the Twenty fifth of July in the year 1223. The length of his days was Fifty eight years that of his Reign from his Coronation Forty four His Monument is at St. Denis whither his Corps was convey'd with great Ceremony By his Will made the year before he ordained and appointed that 50000 Livers or 25000 Mark of Silver at 40 Solz to the Mark should be put into the hands of his Executors to be restor'd and paid to those from whom it should appear he had detained or unjustly taken any thing He bequeathed likewise Ten thousand Franks to Queen Isemburge ..... to Lewis his Son to employ for the defence of the Kingdom and no other use 53500 Mark of Silver to the King of Jerusalem 2000 to the Templars and as much to the Hospitallers of St. Johns towards the Recovery of the Holy Land 21000 Livers Parisis to the Poor to Orphans to Widows and Leprous People and 20000 to Amaulry de Montfort to redeem his Wife and Children out of the hands of the Albigois He Married three Wives Isabella Daughter of Baldwin IV. Ears of Haynault Isemburge Daughter of Waldemar the Great King of Denmark and Agnes Daughter of Bertold Duke of Merania Of the first he had no Child remaining but Prince Lewis who Reign'd by the second he had none but he had two by Agnes these were Philip who had the Earldom of Boulogne by Marrying the Heiress which was Mahauld or Matilda Daughter of the unfortunate Regnauld de Dammartin and Mary who was first joyned in Marriage Anno 1206. with Philip Earl of Namur and afterwards Anno 1212. with Henry IV. Earl of Louvain and Duke of Brabant He had also a Natural Son named Peter Charlot who was Treasurer of Tours and afterwards Bishop of Noyon Of all the Kings of the Third Race he annexed most Lands to the Crown and most Power to those that succeeded him wresting Normandy the Counties of Anjou and Maine Touraine Berry and Poitou from John Without-Land he did not a little contribute on his part towards the lessening or pulling down the Earl of Toulouze and by ruining those two Princes took away the Counterpoise that balanced his own Power in the Kingdom After which he brought the Grandees more easily both to respect and fear him and the People to bear greater Burthens and Taxes then they had done under his Predecessors The French gave him the name of Conqueror which Paulus Emilius has rendred in Latin Augustus and this seemed so proper and sounded so well to all that have written since that they have follow'd and continued it and have almost forgotten the other He was well shap'd and without any Corporal defect excepting that one of his Eyes was half obscured by an Amblyopia for which some Italian Authors have called him One ey'd He was a brave Cavalier and excellent Captain laborious and active happy in his Enterprizes because he undertook with Deliberation and Counsel and executed with celerity and heat sometimes a little Cholerick and oversway'd with Passion but bating that a great Politician who knew where it was fit to use Caresses where to employ Threats whom to Reward and whom to Punish somewhat more enclined to Severity then Mercy Splendid and Magnificent highly Charitable to the Poor zealous in doing Justice to his Subjects and no less zealous in Religion taking as much care to preserve the purity of Faith by rooting out all Heresie and defend the Goods and Liberties of the Church against Usurpers as to maintain the Rights and Honour of the Kingdom and therefore he was respected by the Clergy and People as the Defender of the Church and Father of his Country It is to be observ'd that in his Reign and in his Fathers and Grandfathers there were five great Officers of the Crown that is the Grand-Seneschal in Latine Dapifer great Chamberer Butler Constable and Chancellor I believe they were in the Kings Gift who might both place and displace I do not know what the Formalities were he used or whether the Grandees and Parliament or General Assembly of Prelats and Lords had any part in the nomination but I know they were not perpetual and did in some measure resemble rather Commissions then Offices that nevertheless their Function was so necessary that whoever held those Places signed all Acts and Writings of importance so that if any one of these were vacant it was ever noted down at the bottom of such Writing or Act. The Author of the Lives of the Ministers of State hath very curiously observed that the Office of Constable was a Member taken from the Grand-Seneschal and that of Great Chamberlain from the Grand Chamberer That the Constable had no Power or Command in the Armies till about the year 1218. after Philip Augustus had long left the Office of Grand-Seneschal vacant on purpose to destroy it as I suppose because it had too great Power He likewise proves very plainly that the High-Chamberlain had the management of the Kings Treasury and that the Office of Chancellor was the lowest of the five great ones we have specified till Guerin Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and afterwards Bishop of Senlis having that Place conferr'd on him by Lewis VIII after he had held the Seal Five and twenty years together raised it to a higher pitch of Honour and Degree then ever Towards the end of this Reign Families began to have fixed certain and hereditary Surnames The Lords and Gentlemen took them most commonly from the names of their Lands and Estates they had in possession Men of Learning from the places of their Nativity and Jews when they were Converted as likewise the Wealthy Merchants from the place of their abode As for what has given Surnames to the Plebeians some had it
from the colour or cut and fashion of their Hair the habit or defects of their Bodies from their Dress or Age Profession Office or Trade some from their good or ill Qualities others from the Province they dwelt in or the Town or Village where they were born But for the most part they were called by some proper name which was current in the Family or even some Nick-name which descended to their Generations Whoever shall take the pains to examine these Heads throughly and distinctly will find that there are few others can be made out Through all this Age there were two great and cruel Evils predominant in France but which were not new the Leprosie and Usury the one infecting the Bodies the other consuming the Estates of most Families Those that were tainted with the first were secluded from all Society and shut up in places far distant from the Habitations of other People but yet upon or near the greatest Roads The number increased so fast that there was not one City or Burrough that was not forced to build some Hospital for their Retreat They were called Lazar-houses and the Leprous Lazars from St. Lazarus the Patron of the Poor and the Sick whom the Vulgar by corruption called St. Ladre Now the publick Foundations the Gifts of the Relations and Kindred of the Infected the Alms of particular People and with these the Immunities and Priviledges granted by the King and the Clergy to these miserable Wretches made them live so much at their ease that in length of time they became rather Objects of envy than of pity at least in respect of the meaner sort of People They were taxed of leading Lives guilty of great Disorders and sometimes of Crimes But when they were convicted of any they were burnt alive that so the Fire might at the same time purifie and purge the infection both of their Bodies and Souls I have read that there were some Men so apprehensive of this villanous loathsom and shameful Disease that they guelt themselves to avoid it and be preserved from it Usury was very common and yet more excessive the Jews practis'd it with so much cruelty that they did not seize upon Peoples Goods only for satisfaction but likewise upon their Persons and reduced them to slavery The Popes oftentimes endeavour'd to suppress them but it was in vain for the Princes and especially King Philip upheld them receiving Tribute from them for suffering their Exactions and withal they had it in their power to squeese these Blood-suckers whenever their occasions required it Since the first Birth of the Church there had not been any Age wherein she was so much shatter'd and rent with Schisms as she was in this same I speak not of the Schism caused by the Emperor Henry IV. for that was more in the preceding Age then this though it did never end but with the Life of that Emperor who died at Liege Anno 1106. after he was unfortunately deprived of his Empire by his own Son I must note however that his Tyrannical and Scandalous Deportment gave a fair opportunity to Gregory VII whose Life was irreprovable and exemplary to constitute himself his Judge to summon him before his Tribunal upon the universal complaints of his Subjects to Excommunicate him and depose him from his Empire and after all this to wrest from him the disposition of great Benefices Which seemed the more favourable because that Prince made a most infamous and shameful Traffick of it giving them to the worst and investing them with the Ring c. before they were Consecrated But after this Schism there were three more two occasioned by the Quarrels that the Emperor Henry V. Son of the abovenamed Henry and then Frederic II. surnamed Barberossa had with the Popes and a third which hapned between these two through the ambition of Cardinal Peter Leonis That of Henry V. began in the year 1118. the Emperor having caused one Maurice Burdin Archbishop of Braga in Portugal to be elected and ended Anno 1122. the Anti-Pope named Gregory VIII falling into the hands of Calistus and Henry afterwards obtaining Absolution of that Pope The Schism that Frederic caused lasted from the year 1159. under three Anti-Popes Octavian Guy de Crema and John Abbot de Strume who assumed the names of Victor IV. Paschal III. and Calistus III. and did not cease till the year 1183. For although Frederic were absolv'd at Venice Anno 1177. he was not fully reconciled with these Popes till six years afterwards The Schism of Peter Leonis began in 1139. for in that year he got to be Elected to the Papacy concurrently with Alexander III. taking the name of Anaclet and was extinguished Anno 11 After his death the Peace of the Church lasted but Seven years and then was disturbed by the Rebellion of the City of Rome Arnauld Clerk of the City of Bresse stirred it up in the year 1145. The people of Rome by his instigation would needs shake off the Priestly yoke and restore the ancient Republick These disturbances ceased An. 1155. for that incendiary being expell'd the City went to the Emperour Frederick who sacrific'd him to his Interests delivering him up to Adrian who caused him to be hang'd and burnt During the troubles of these Schismes and the combustions Arnauld promoted in Rome there were Five Popes that sheltred themselves in France Paschal II. An. 1106. Gelasius IV. An. 1118. Innocent II. An. 1130. Eugenius An. 1147. and Alexander III. An. 1161. without reckoning Calistus II. who sojourn'd there some time after his Election which was made at Clugny An. 1119. The Son of the unfortunate Henry IV. of his Fathers Name and who had compell'd him to resign the Empire made it plainly appear he did not rebell against him out of any zeal to Religion since so soon as he thought himself well setled in the Throne he began to tread in the same steps and the very next year following 1107. he made it known to Pope Paschal and the Council of Troyes that he intended to enjoy the Apostolique priviledge of instituting Bishops which he pretended had been given to Charlemain This question was referr'd to a general Council to be held at Rome in the year 1110. Paschal therefore returns but Henry coming thither with an Army seizes on his person and forces him to Sign an agreement wherein he allows him the investitures obliging both him and his Cardinals by the most Sacred Oaths to observe it All the Prelats in Europe cried out against this agreement which by leaving such Elections in the power of Temporal Princes caused great disorders in the Church They held many Councils in several Provinces to damne it Excommunicated the Emperour and gave out it was an Heresie to say that Investitures could be made by the Laity not considering that this proposition made the Pope himself an Heretique since he had newly granted it to the Emperour The same question of Investitures had
assign a Council in a place of safety where every one might come Friend or Foe as well those of the Clergy as the Laity to judge whether he or the Emperor had broke the Peace and to consider of some means to restore it again Gelasius II. said the same thing and that he would acquiesce in the Judgment of his Brothers the Bishops whom God had Constituted Judges in his Church and without whom a Cause of that Nature could not be determined Innocent III. wrote word That he durst not decide any thing concerning the Marriage of King Philip II. without the determination of a General Council and that if he should do it he might run the hazard of his Order and of his Office very remarkable words for that they seem to insinuate that a Pope may be deposed not only for Heresie but likewise for abusing his Power In those times they were likewise obliged to govern the Church by Advice of the Cardinals whose Power was raised to such a height since the year One thousand that they were the Collaterals and Coadjutors of the Pope saith St. Bernard that their Priviledges or Rights were greater then those of the Patriarchs and the Primates and that they had the Power of giving Authentick Censures against the Popes themselves The assistance and ability of so many great Men chosen out of all the Western Churches as fill'd this sacred Colledge did not a little help the Popes in bearing the great burthen of Affairs and maintaining and encreasing their Authority in the remotest Countries But when they were once become great enough by their assistance they freed themselves from their dependance and now they only ask them their opinions and do not think themselves at all obliged to follow what they Advise or Councel As for the disposing of Benefices they had gotten the greatest into their own power as the Archbishopricks Bishopricks and Abbies by making themselves Masters of the Elections under pretence of judging those Differences that hapned betwixt opposite Parties and the lesser as the Dignitaries and Canons of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches by their recommendations to the Chapters in favour of those Clergy-Men that follow'd their Court. When having often obtained the thing desired they at length turned such Recommendation into an absolute Command by the instigation of Flatterers and interessed People and then that was follow'd with Reservations and after with Expectatives the abuse whereof went on increasing still notwithstanding the Pragmatick of St. Louis and the Remedies Philip le Bel or the Faire would have applied and lasted till the time of the great Schism when King Charles VI. and after him Charles VII set roundly upon it and brought back all Elections Collations and Presentations to the same method and order as had been Decreed by General Councils without any regard or respect to those pretences and claims the Court of Rome had taken up and exercised In the Fifth Age not only the Bishops but almost all the Church-men on this side the Mountains had taken up that pious Custom of going to Rome to visit the Sepulchres of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul as it were to pay their Hommage and testifie they held the same Faith which those Apostles had preached At the same time they paid their Respects to their Holy Fathers who in length of time converted this Voluntary Devotion into an indispensable Obligation in so much as they highly reproached such as omitted it Dispensations were utterly unknown in the first Ages and when they did begin to give them it was not to allow them to infringe the Canons but rather to absolve those that had infringed them After the Eleventh Age the use grew very frequent I observe four or five causes The continual Wars between private Persons as well as between Princes The multiplicity of Decrees which were so numerous it was difficult to avoid breaking some or other of them The corruption of Manners and the little regard they had for Ecclesiastical Orders or Rules insomuch as they obliged to obviate that scorn by granting Dispensations and they thought to hide or conceal the Transgression by permitting it The Popes however did not dispense in things against our Faith nor against good Manners but in those that were only forbidden or permitted by positive Law As for the Divine Law they did not directly dispense with that but by Interpretation and by Declaration As for the Exemptions of Monasteries we have observed in the Sixth Age how they began by the concessions of the Bishops and how all the Grandees affected to obtain them for such as they founded The first we find that were allowed them was only to free the Monks from Temporal Payments and Duties Afterwards they obtained some kind of Priviledges to be added amongst others That they should chuse their own Abbots That they should be Masters of their own Discipline and that the Bishops should Ordain Priests for them at their Request In fine they found out means to extend them to the Spiritual Jurisdiction and free themselves from any dependance upon Bishops to which three things were required the Bishops Consent the Authority of the Holy Chair and the Pragmatick Sanction of the King The number of these Exemptions encreasing day by day the Pope arrogates to himself the power of giving them and of submitting the Monasteries to the Holy See maugre the Bishops Diocesans He did the very same in relation to some Bishops and some Chapters substracting these from their Bishops and the Bishops from their Metropolitans Vertuous Men could not held their Tongues upon these Disorders their Writings mention it yet St. Bâ—ruard though a Monk and very ✚ zealous for the Holy Chair highly condemned them For to exempt the Abbots from the Jurisdiction of the Bishops what was it else said that great Saint but to command them to Felony and Rebellion and was it not as monstrous a deformity in the Body of the Church to unite an Abby or a Chapter immediately to the Holy Chair as in a Human Body to joyn and fasten a Finger to the Head These favours were not bestow'd gratis at Rome the Abbots and Monks stript their Monasteries to purchase this independance and made them oft-times Tributary to the Holy See of many Silver Marks which they paid yearly The Abbots notwithstanding these Exemptions were still obliged after their Election to render Obedience to their Bishops and by a Writing but the most part refused it so that the Council of Rheims was forc'd to make a Decree to compel them and yet they did over-much care to submit to it which Disobedience was so far carried into a common Right that Henry II. King of England made bitter complaints to Pope Innocent II. for that Hugh Archbishop of Rouen exacted this said Duty of the Abbots of Normandy The Pope perceiving with what heat the King wrote to him sent to the Archbishop that he should for a time forbear to ask that Right too
Archipelago and reduced Constantinople Year of our Lord 1262 to such streight that Manuel was upon the point to abandon it But the Genoese in hatred to the Venetians made a League with him and relieved him notwithstanding the intreaties of all the Christian Princes and the Popes Excommunications The Emperour Baldwin yet held for some time after the Island of Eubaea or Negropont The bastard Mainfroy not content to have usurp'd the Kingdom of Sicily without consent of the Holy See domineer'd over the Pope and the Countreys belonging to the Church most strangely Insomuch that Alexander IV. had offer'd that Kingdom to the King of Englands Son Edmund who had accepted it and to this end his Father had laid so many Imposts and Taxes upon the People that most of them made a League against him and were revolted Vrban IV. Successor to Alexander having caused the Crusado against Mainfroy to be Preached stirred up some French Lords to go into Italy who at the very first forced the passages of Lombardy and beat the Saracen Soldiers whom Mainfroy entertained in his Service but soon after their Pay falling short they came back into Year of our Lord 1262 France leaving the Pope more in the Briers then ever Year of our Lord 1262 The better to fortifie himself against his implacable wrath Mainfroy contracted Alliance with James III. King of Arragon giving his Daughter in Marriage to Peter his eldest Son who disdained not the Match because it gave him approaching hopes of having the Kingdom of Sicily Mainfroy having no Male-Children In effect it is by this means the Kings of Arragon have attained it and they must needs own they hold their Right from a Bastard an Usurper and Excommunicated person Year of our Lord 1263 The pious King Lewis did not understand this false policy which has quite other Maximes then are practised taught or allowed by Christianity and natural Justice And for this reason it was that he endeavour'd with all his power to decide the quarrels between his neighbours and not to foment them with this spirit of Charity he labour'd so happily to compose the business between the Barons of England of whom Simon Montford Earl of Leicester was Head with their King that they submitted to what he should ordain He calls his Parliament for this purpose at Amiens and pronounced the Sentence in presence of King Henry However the Barons found some difficulties and exceptions and would not abide by it Insomuch that the troubles continuing the Pope sent to revoke the gift of the Kingdom of Sicily which he had made to Edmund the King of Englands Brother since he could not pursue it and invested Charles Earl of Anjou Brother of St. Lewis His Wives vanity which made her greedily long to have the Title of Queen as well as her other Sisters inclined and perswaded him to accept of it Year of our Lord 1264 It hapned this year 1264. in a Village near Orviete that the Sacred Host cast forth Blood upon the Corporal or fine Linnen wherein the Sacrament is put to convince the incredulity of the Priest that celebrated the Mass Pope Vrban satisfied of the truth of this Miracle instituted the Feast and Procession of the Holy Sacrament to be solemnized the Thursay after the Octave of Whitsunday St. Thomas Aquinas who was then Professor in Theology at Orvieta composed the Office for it Vrban IV. being dead at Perusia the third of October the Cardinals after a vacancy of Four Months elected the Cardinal Guy the Gross a native of the Province of Languedoc who had been Married before he entred into Holy Orders He took the name of Clement IV. amongst his Virtues he is admir'd for his rare Modesty though very little imitated by his Successors He made a protestation at his first coming to the See that he would advance none of his kindred and so exactly did he keep his word that of three Prebendaries which his Brother had in possession he obliged him to quit two and far from Marrying his Daughters to great Lords ✚ as he might well have done he gave them such small portions that they chose rather to make themselves Nuns Towards the end of the Month of July about the beginning of the night a Comet was observed towards the West and some while after a little before break of day it appeared in the East pointing its tail Westward It was visible till the end of September lasting two Months and a half Year of our Lord 1405 Clement IV. upon his advancement to the Holy See ratified the Election his predecessor had made of Charles of France for the Kingdom of Sicily obtained of St. Lewis a Tenth of all the Clergy of his Kingdom for him and lent him all the Money he could scrape together having for that purpose engaged the Revenue of the Churches in Rome Year of our Lord 1265 Charles with this assistance with the Kings help and his Wives great care who sold all her Jewels to raise Soldiers which she cull'd and chose for the bravest got a good Army on foot to go into Italy by Land and in the mean time put to Sea with Thirty great Vessels and sailed to the Port of Ostia He was received at Rome with great Honour by the People declared Senator of that City which was as it were Governour and Sovereign Judge And the year following upon the 28th of June Crowned King of Sicily by the Pope in St. Peters Church upon condition to pay the Pope Eight thousand ounces of Gold and a white Palfrey every year never to be elected Emperour nor to unite that Kingdom to ☞ the Empire For the Popes would have no power left in Italy that was not lesser then their own Year of our Lord 1266 His Land-Army arrived not till about the years end which he compleated in Rome The following he marched to Naples the Guelphes flocking from all parts to List themselves under his Banner The Earl de Caserta quitted the passage du Gariglian most basely to him he afterwards gained the Post of St. Germain guarded by Six thousand Men and in fine the Twenty sixth day of February in the Campagne of Benevent he gained an entire but bloody victory against Mainfroys Army who was slain upon the place All submitted to the Conquerour both beyond and on this side the Fare except the City of Nocera where Frederic II. had placed a strong Garrison of Saracens which yet held out a long time It then appeared that Charles knew not how to Govern his good fortune with Humanity for he let Mainfroy's Wife and Children dye in prison with many Lords of that party and his Army committed horrid cruelties upon the taking of the City of Beneventum Year of our Lord 1267 Nevertheless as he shewed himself very obedient to the Popes Orders he declared him Vicar of the Empire in Italy with the Title of Keeper of the Peace and in this quality he by one of his Lieutenants subdued all the
for that Adolphus had given them no share of his it hapned that in an Assembly they had at Prague for the Coronation of King Venceslaus they easily suffer'd themselves to be persuaded that the Pope was consenting to the Deposition of Adolphus as being useless to the Empire And in effect the Cabal was so strong that they did Depose him and elected Albert Duke of Austria The two Competitors came to blows about it near Spire the Second of July Adolph fighting valiantly but betray'd or at least forsaken by his Men lost his Life there Year of our Lord 1298 The Election of Albert was illegal to rectifie it he was fain to lay it down at least seemingly in the hands of the Electors who elected him the second time with all the Formalities the Seven and twentieth of the same Month. But the Pope still refused to approve it and designed that Crown for Charles de Valois for whom he had a particular Esteem He seemed now as if he would have sweetned the sharp Humours of Philip for the year preceding he Canonized St. Lewis his Grandfather and he interpreted the Bull by which he had forbidden the Clergy to pay any Tenths or Contributions to Princes very favourably Philip believing he had done it expressly to choque him was offended several Letters had been written on that Subject to each other and things were like to have proceeded to the greatest Extremity However Boniface upon the intreaty of some French Prelats yielded to reason declaring that he intended not to forbid voluntary Contributions provided they were made without Exaction He added that they might be levied without permission from the Pope in times of the Kingdoms necessity and that even upon urgent necessities they might be constrained by the Authority Apostolick Spiritually and Temporally But as their Spirits were already exasperated on either side the Wound burst open afresh in a short while afterwards Boniface had been chosen Arbitrator of the Differences between the King with the English and the Flemming After the hearing of their Deputies he gave his Sentence of Arbitration which ordained That the Year of our Lord 1299 Flemmings Daughter should be set at liberty and his Towns restored and as if he had been the Soveraign Judge he caused it to be publickly pronounced in his Consistory Which so touched the King and his Council that it being brought to Paris by the English Deputy the Earl of Artois snatched it out of his hands rent it and threw it into the Fire The Queen on her part made use of the means within her power to highten the King her Husbands Wroth against the Flemming for whom she had a mortal hatred So that the Truce being expir'd the Earl of Valois had order to enter into Flanders and carry things on to the last push Year of our Lord 1299 He pursues him so smartly that having taken Dam and Dixmude from him he besieged him in Ghent with all his Family That unfortunate Prince destitute of all succour and forsaken even by his own Subjects was advised to render both himself and his two Sons into his hands The Earl of Valois promised he would carry him to Paris to Treat with the King himself and assured him that if within a Twelve-month he could not procure a Peace he should be set again at liberty and brought back to the same place where they had taken him But the King would have no regard to what his Uncle had sworn detains the Flemming and his two Sons and disposes them into several Prisons asunder from each other Year of our Lord 1300 The Earl of Valois being picqued for that they violated the Faith he had given the Flemming or by some other motive of Ambition went out of the Kingdom and passes into Italy whither the Pope had earnestly invited him for at least Three years He there Married Catharine the Daughter and Heiress of Baldwin the last Emperor of Constantinople and the Pope gave him that Empire and made him his Vicar or Lieutenant over all the Lands belonging to the Church hoping by his means to carry on that great design of the Holy War which was ever rumbling in his Head Year of our Lord 1299 For the third time the Truce was prolonged betwixt the two Kings by vertue whereof the Prisoners on both sides were set at liberty and particularly John Baliol King of Scotland who was brought into Normandy and left in the keeping of some Bishops who were willing to take that Charge upon them Year of our Lord 1299 The Emperor Albert could not obtain his Confirmation of Boniface and Philip was apprehensive of the audacious Undertakings of this Pope for this reason both the one and the other to prevent him from taking advantage of their Divisions to ruine them Conferred together at Vaucouleurs In that Interview they renewed the ancient Confederations of the Empire with France and to unite themselves more closely Treated the Marriage between Rodolph the Son of Albert and Blanch the Daughter of Philip. It was not compleated till the following year Year of our Lord 1300 At the end of the Thirteenth Age of the Christian Aera the Pope publish'd a general Indulgence or Relaxation of Canonical Pains due for Sins for all those who being Confessed and Penitent should visit the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul for a certain number of days Since that Clement VI. reduc'd it to Fifty years and called it the Jubile Boniface hath been reproached that on this Ceremony he appeared sometimes in Pontifical Habit sometimes in Habits Imperial causing two Swords to be carried before him to signifie his double power Spiritual and Temporal He had so in effect but the last only in his own Territory However he did not understand it thus as his Actions and the Sixth Book of the Decretals wherein he boldly affirms that there is but one Power which is the Ecclesiastical does but too plainly shew This Institution of the Jubile seems to have its Original from Secular Pass-times The Ancient Romans Celebrated them once in every Hundred years Paganism being abolished the People did not lay aside their Custom of coming from all parts to Rome the first year of every Age but sanctifying that profane Solemnity they paid their Devotions on the Tombs of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul Several do in this year place the beginning of that dreadful Family or House of the Othomans and tell us that the Turks having conquer'd much of the Countreys belonging to the Greeks in Asia divided those Lands into seven Principalities of which the Province of Bithynia fell by Lot to Osman or Othoman Son of Ortogules who was in great reputation of probity and valour amongst his Countrey-men His Successors have devoured not only the other six Principalities but the Grecian Empire the Kingdom of Egypt and so many Countreys of the Christian Princes that it is to be feared they may swallow up the Western Empire likewise Year of our
he was upon the Birth-day of our Lady to publish a Bull by which he Excommunicated the King dispenced his Subjects of their Obedience to him and gave his Kingdom to the first occupier He had already offer'd it to the Emperour Albert and to engage him to it had confirmed his Election But the Eve before Nogaret who was in a Castle near at hand assisted by Sciarra Colonna whom Boniface had kept in the Galleys with some other Gentlemen of the Countrey enemies to Boniface and Two hundred Horse of those Troops as Charles de Valois had left in Tuscany enters into Anagnia gained the People and having forced his Palace seized on his Person which was not done without some sort of Outrage worthy an Italian revenge and by plundring his Treasures which were immense together with the Houses of three or four Cardinals Year of our Lord 1303 The fourth day the People of Anagnia repenting of their baseness drove the French and their Soldiers out of the Town The Pope being thus at liberty withdrew to Rome and there that haughty spirit was assaulted by a burning Fever of which he died upon the Twelfth day of October Nicholas Cardinal of Ostia of the Order of the Preaching Friers elected by the Cardinals the Two and twentieth of November he was called Benedict XI carried things with more sweetness received the Ambassadours sent by the King very honourably not admitting Nogaret however at their Audience who was one and sent three other Bulls which annull'd all those of Boniface and restored all things to the Year of our Lord 1303 same condition they were in formerly He also revok'd the Condemnations of the Colonna's excepting only that he did not restore those two again to the dignity of Cardinals who had been degraded but he proceeded severely against Nogaret and all such as had assisted at the Capture of Boniface and the robbery of the Churches Treasure He died the Eighth Month after his Election being the Seventh of July in the Year of our Lord 1304 year 1304. The two Factions of Cardinals whereof the one were French the other Italians and friends to the Pope were almost eleven Months in the Conclave at Perugia before they could come to an agreement in the end the Italians named a French man which was Bertrand Got Arch-Bishop of Bourdeaux whom they knew to be a great enemy to the King and besides a Subject to the English The French before they would consent to it gave speedy notice to the King who having sent privately for him and conferr'd with him near St. John d'Angely declared to him it was in his power to make him Pope provided he agreed to Six things which he required of him whereof he named five of them to him but reserved the sixth to time and place The Arch-Bishop a Gascon and Vain cast himself at his Feet and promised him all by this means he was elected being absent the fifth day of Year of our Lord 1305 the year 1305. Year of our Lord 1305 Instead of going into Italy as the Cardinals be ought him he sends for them to Lyons to assist at his Coronation which was performed the Fourteenth of November The King his Brother Charles a great number of Princes and Lords and infinite multitudes of People came to be present at this Ceremony The King having for some space held the Reins of the Popes Mule left that Office to be done by his Brother Charles and John Duke of Bretagne whilst he mounted on Horseback to march along beside the Holy Father As they were in their march an old Wall over-charged with People tumbled down and by its fall overwhelm'd the Duke of Bretagne and a Brother of the Popes hurt Charles most grievously the King somewhat lightly and beat the Tiara off from the Head of the Pope A presage of the misfortunes the translation of the Holy See into France was to bring to the Kingdom and to all Christendom nay to the Papacy it self which by this means did submit to the discretion of the secular Power Year of our Lord 1306. 1307. Departing from Lyons the Pope returned to Bourdeaux where he sojourn'd all the year 1306. went the following year to Poitiers then in Anno 1308. to exempt himself from the importunities of the Court of France removed his See to the City of Avignon which belonged to Charles King of Sicilia his Vassal The Residence of the Court of Rome in France hath introduced three grand disorders Simony the off-spring of Luxury and Impiety Litigious Law-suits the exercise of Scratch-papers and idle fellows such as were the swarms of puny-Clerks who follow'd that Court and another execrable irregularity to which nature cannot give any name Year of our Lord 1306 To make good his promises Clement continued the Absolution which Benedict had given the King restored the Colonna's to their Dignities of Cardinals made a promotion of Ten Cardinals more Nine of them being French and explicated or revoked all the Bulls which Boniface had made that prejudiced the Kings Authority Year of our Lord 1307 Nogaret and the other persons of the Kings Council by the dispair they were in of obtaining their Absolution persisted still in their accusation against Boniface and the King pressed Clement to condemn his Memory and cause his Body to be burnt not believing he could otherwise wash himself clean of those censures and reproaches he had bespatter'd him withal but Clement to elude that pursuit referr'd it to a general Council which was assigned to be three years after that at Vienne in Dauphine and in the mean time there were divers proceedings and instructions towards carrying on that business Year of our Lord 1308 The Jews were still the execration of Christians and especially of the common people because they grated and even flayed them by their cruel Usury and by the exactions of new Imposts of which they were the Farmers And truly in revenge or retaliation they were liable to all sorts of affronts in any sedition in their Crusado's they ever fall upon them and they were every day accused either of having committed some insolence against the Sacred Host or the having crucified some Children upon Good-Friday or for having affronted the Image of our Saviour and if they did get out of the Judges Hands they could hardly save themselves from the fury of the Populace The Princes after they had made use of those cursed Instruments made them disgorge again and often drove them out that they might have Money to recall them back This year they were seized upon thorough out all France the Two and twentieth day of July banished the Kingdom and their Goods confiscated Was this Zeal or Avarice Year of our Lord 1307 The King had Ministers obdurate pityless and resolved to squeeze to the last penny The chiefest and most in power was Enguerrand le Portier Lord of Marigny who in scraping and levying great sums of Money to bring to his Master did not forget to
fill his own Coffers and to enrich his Family with more Lands Employments and Benefices then a faithful and disinteressed Servant ought to do So the People had extream troubles and vexations to undergo one of the greatest was the changing of Moneys they had made it light and weak of too base allay and put too high a value then they would set them at a lower rate the loss was great the people of Paris mutined pillag'd and ruined the House of Stephen Barbet Treasurer from thence ran to the Temple where the King lay and committed a hundred insolences there but the sedition over a great many were hanged in several places The Templers were observed to have contributed to this mutiny it was believed they had done it because having a great deal of Money they lost much by this abating the value of the Coine It is likely that the King who never forgot an injury kept the remembrance of this in his mind and it was one motive that induced him to revenge himself upon the whole Order In compleating the peace with the Flemmings several Articles were changed or added amongst others it was allowed that the King might banish Three thousand of the most factious that the Cities of Ghent Bruges Ipre l'Isle and Douay should be dismantled and that if the Countrey in general or any particular person offended the King or his Officers they should immediately be liable to the thunderings of Ecclesiastical censures Year of our Lord 1307 Lewis Hutin the Kings eldest Son visits his Kingdom of Navarre fallen to him by the death of his Mother and is Crowned at Pampelona the Fifth of June Before his return he took off the two Heads of the Factions that had much troubled Navarre these were Fortunio Almoravid and Martin Ximenes de Aybar The effect of that secret promise the Pope had made to the King began to appear in his revenge upon the Templers The too great riches of those Knights their unsufferable pride their covetous and disobliging behaviour towards such Princes and Noblemen as went into the Holy-Land the little esteem they made either of Temporal or Spiritual Power their dissolute and libertine Humours and rendred them obnoxious and very odious and furnished those with a specious pretence who were resolved to exterminate them Year of our Lord 1307 This year therefore upon the discovery and confession of some villains amongst themselves the greatness of whose crimes or the desire of the Kings mercy and reward had prompted to it the King by consent of the Pope whom he had newly held conference with at Poitiers caused them all to be laid hold on in the same day the Twelfth of October thoroughout the whole Kingdom seized their Goods and took possession of tho Temple at Paris and of all their Treasures and Writings The Great Master whose name was James de Molay a Burgundian being sent for by Letters from the Pope to come from Cyprus where he valiantly made War upon the Turks presented himself at Paris with Sixty Knights of his Order amongst whom was Guy Brother to the Dauphin de Viennois Hugh de Peralde and another of the principal Officers They were all arrested at the same time and their Process was immediately made excepting the three I have mentioned whom the Pope would reserve to his own judgment Fifty of them were burned alive in a slow Fire but who denied at their deaths what they had confess'd upon the wrack Without doubt they were guilty of many enormous crimes but not perhaps of all the things I cannot tell whether I should say horrible or ridiculous that were imposed upon them and laid to their charge in general In the mean time upon King Philips importunity the Templers were likewise seized on in all the other States of Christendom and severely punished yet not with death in many places This prosecution lasted to the year 1314. Year of our Lord 1307 As Edward I. was going to make War upon Robert Bruce who disputed for the Crown of Slotland he died upon the borders of that Kingdom His eldest Son Edward II. succeeded him but was neither like his own Father nor his own Son but only in Name This Prince suffered himself to be Governed first by his Favourite Peter Gaveston then by the two Spencers caused great troubles and commotions in his Kingdom Year of our Lord 1307 This year the first lineaments of the Helvetian Alliance were rough-drawn in a generous conspiracy of the Three Cantons of Swits Vren and Vndervald against the oppressions of the Lieutenants for the House of Austria who possessed the Duchy of Scawben But it was not till the year 1315. that they drew up conditions in writing and got them confirmed by the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria Year of our Lord 1308 In Anno 1308. the Emperour Albert was slain near Rhinfeldt under the antient Castle of Habsbourgh by the conspiracy of John the Son of Rodolph Duke of Scawben whose Countreys he kept from him King Philip importun'd the Pope extreamly to make the Empire fall into the hands of Charles Earl of Valois but the Pope dreading the too great power of the House of France sent to the Electors to make haste so that they named Henry Earl of Luxemburg who was the Eighth of that Name Year of our Lord 1308 The Sixth of May Charles the Lame King of Sicilia on this side the Fare a Prince unfortunate in War but very illustrious in Peace and highly beloved of his Subjects ended his Life and Reign in his City of Naples He had nine Sons the Eldest was named Charles Martel the Second Lewis and the Third Robert The First was King of Hungary by Mary his Mother Daughter of King Stephen IV. but he was dead before his Father having left a Son whom they named Carobert Successor in his Kingdom The Second was Bishop of Toulouze For the Third which was Robert a great question was started between him and Carobert to wit which is preferable to the Succession either the eldest Son or the Uncle and whether the Son represented the Father to succeed his Grandfather The Lawyers of those times and the Pope himself as well upon motives for the publique good as Reasons and Grounds of Right and Title were for the Nephew the Pope admitted him to Homage Invested him and Crowned him in Avignon the first Sunday of the Month of August Observe that Carobert had two Sons Lewis and Andrew that Lewis was King of Hungary after his Father and of Poland by his Wife Elizabeth Daughter of Ladislas and that Andrew Married to his great misfortune Jane I. Queen of Sicilia Daughter of Charles Duke of Calabria who was Son of King Robert As likewise that Lewis had two Daughters Mary Queen of Hungary who Married Sigismond of Luxemburgh afterwards elected Emperour and Heduige Queen of Poland who was Married to Jageston Grand Duke of Lithuania in which Family that Kingdom remained till the year 1572. Year of our Lord 1310 The
and confirmed by Pope Alexander IV. Anno 1257. The people because of their Habit called them White Mantles and the Convent given to them at Paris retains that name still it was bestowed on them in 1268. the Benedictins have the House at present All these Orders particularly the Mendicants applied themselves much for the stirring up peoples Devotion towards the Sacrament and the Virgin Mary Saint Dominique instituted the Rosary which is composed of a certain number of Ave Maria's and Pater-nosters which are repeated and whereof as one may say they make a Hatband or Coronet of Flowers to put upon the Head of that Queen of Angels The Carmelites not to come behind them in their Zeal to the Holy Mother of God established the Devotion of the Scapular to which they attribute great Virtue particularly to redeem them from the pains of Purgatory and not to die without Confession They affirm that Saint Simon Stoe their General instituted it upon a Vision he had of the Holy Virgin The peoples Devotion towards the Reliques of Saints was still very warm and zealous Charles the Lame King of Sicilia and Earl of Provence at his coming out of his imprisonment being perswaded by the Revelation of two Friers whereof one was his Confessor caused a certain place named Ville-late in the Diocess of Aix to be digged where they found a Corps believed to be St. Mary Magdelins said to be buried by Saint Maximin and afterwards removed and hid in another place not far from the first in the time of the Saracens incursions Charles caused it to be taken out with great ceremony and built a fair Convent in the same place for the Preaching Friers the resort of people by succession of time hath added a Town to it which bears the name of St. Maximin The Benedictine Monks of Vezelay in Burgundy were notwithstanding able to aver they had the full possession of this Holy Corps which had been brought to them from Aix or as others say from Jerusalem by the care of Gerard de Rousillon Founder of that Abbey about the year 882. The universal concourse of the whole Nation the Bulls of divers Popes even after this invention of Ville-late the Authority of two Kings Lewis VII and Lewis IX who had paid their Devotions in this place made this believed to be a Truth above contradiction amongst the French But that of the Greeks destroy'd equally both the pretences of the Monks of Vezelay and of the Jacobins For we find in some of their Writers of the Seventh age that the Body of Magdeline was at Ephesus and their Historians relate how the Emperour Leo the Philosopher who began not to Reign till the year 886. transferr'd it from that City to Constantinople as also the Corps of Lazarus from the Island of Cyprus However it were after this new discovery at Ville-late they told how this Holy Woman flying from the persecution of the Jews had made her escape by Sea into Provence with Lazarus her Brother her Sister Martha Marcella servant to Martha and Saint Maximin one of Seventy two Disciples of our Lord. That Maximin was the first Bishop of Aix and Lazarus of Marseilles That Martha preached the Faith in the Diocess of Aix and that she vanquished the Dragon whom they called the Tarasque which hath given name to the City of Tarascon where the Den of that Monster was That Magdeline retired into a Baulme or Grotto where after Twenty years solitude and mortification the Angels carried her Soul up to the Region of the Blessed and many other things unknown in the former ages The Sciences flourish'd with great luster in the University of Paris Theology the study of the Civil and Canon Law Physick and Philosophy with the Arts but not being accompanied or joyned with humane and polite Learning and Eloquence which came not into play or use till a long while after they expressed themselves but in barbarous terms and learned more Sophistry and shuffling then solid Truths All the substitutes of the University being Ecclesiastiques the skill and knowledge of the Law and Physick was in their hands and the Pope was owned for Head of that Body and of all the Men of Learning As for Physick they taught little more then the Theory under the name of Physick leaving the practical part of Medicines to the Laity For the Law the Popes would willingly have reduced it all to the Canons and their own Decretals from which we must ackowledge that France hath taken most of her Forms and judicial Orders that so all Christendom making use of the same Laws both in Temporals and Spirituals might accustom themselves to own but one Head to wit him who hath all the Laws both Divine and Humane in his own Breast It was for this in my opinion that Honorius III. by his Bull of the year 1219. did forbid upon pain of Excommunication to Teach the Civil Law at Paris and all other Citis in France and Gregory IX renewed it as to Paris Some are apt to believe those two Popes did it upon the request of the two Kings Philip Augustus and St. Lewis In effect the Letters of King Philip the Fair for the Institution of the University of Orleans speak the same but some doubt of the truth of their exposition and believe the prohibitions of Honorius and of Gregory was only intended to have respect to the Ecclesiastiques whom they would fain have weaned from that too great affection they had to the study of a thing which being very gainful made them lay aside and desert their Divinity Now whether one or other of these Opinions be the Truth it is certain that since they forbore not to Teach the Civil Law in the University of Paris till in the year 1579. that advantage was taken away from them by virtue of an Article found in the Ordonnance of Blois but truly it did not slourish there so much as in those of Toulouze and of Orleance The University of Toulouze was instituted in Anno 1230. by Saint Lewis that of Orleance was not till the year 1312. by King Philip the Fair. It is true that above One hundred years before there was in this last City as also in Toulouze Anger 's and divers others a famous School but which had no Seal nor the power of making Graduats and other marks of a Company formed and approved by the Prince Clement V. in acknowledgment of his having studied there gave several Bulls all in the year 1303. to make it an University The Scholars thinking to have the benefit in the year 1309. before they were approved of by the King the Burghers opposed them with Sword in hand and those troubles were not quieted till the King in 1312. had given a Being to that Body by his lawful Authority That of Montpellier otherwhile very famous for the Art of Physick because of the commerce and correspondence they had with the Arabian Physitians that were in Africa
stickled for her but the Grandees of the Kingdom and the Pairs assembled in Parliament towards the Feast of the Purification confirmed the Right of the Males and gave Judgment in favour of Philip. Who well attended went to be Crowned at Reims the Ninth day of January the Gates of the City being shut fearing some might have come to make opposition The Bishop of Beauvais though only a Count-Pair carried the Precedency from him of Langres who hath the Title of Duke The Estates being Assembled at Paris where were present most part of the Lords the Deputies of Corporations and Cities and above all the Burghers and the University of Paris gave their Oaths to the Chancellor Peter d'Arablay afterwards Cardinal not to acknowledge any other King but Philip and his Heirs Male to the Exclusion of Females Robert II. Earl of Artois had had a Sister named Mahaut and a Son named Philip. Mahaut was Married with Othelin Earl of Burgundy and from that Marriage were issued two Daughters whom the Fair gave unto two of his Sons Now Philip died in the War of Flanders before his Father but he left a Son who was named Robert as his Grandfathers name The Earldom of Artois ought to have belonged to this same however the Fair had adjudged it to Mahaut upon this pretence that it was not a Fief Masculine and that according to the Custom of those Countries Representation did not take place Robert Armed himself during the Regency of the Long and got himself into the possession by force but the business being examined the Lands were sequestred into the hands of the King and at last adjudged to Mahaut whose Daughter Philip the Long had Married This partial or interested Judgment caused a world of mischief Year of our Lord 1318 c. For three several times in less then Eighteen Months they began a War against the Flemmings and three several times it ended in a Truce Eudes Duke of Burgundy could not forbear mentioning the wrong they did to young Jane by detaining the Kingdom of Navarre and the Earldoms of Brie and Champagne from her The Long desiring to appease him gave him his Daughter also named Jane in Marriage with the Earldom of Burgundy Year of our Lord 1318 Notwithstanding this tie Eudes insisted so highly for his Neece that the King was obliged to Marry her to Philip the Son of Lewis Earl d'Euvreux this Lewis was Paternal Uncle to the King with the Rights she could have to the Kingdom of Navarre and the Earldoms of Brie and Champagne The great Peril France was in after the death of Hutin about the doubt of Succession and the cruel War that had afflicted Scotland for a business almost of the same nature after the decease of Alexander IV. was cause that upon the renewing the Alliance which was made between the two Crowns they added this Condition That if ever there hapned any difference for the Succession of one of those two Kingdoms he of those two Kings that should survive should not suffer any other to step into the Throne but him that should have the Judgment of the Estates for him that he should come in Person to defent it and should oppose whomsoever would contend for the Crown against him Year of our Lord 1319 The Countess Mahaut was so obstinately bent to change the Customs of the Country of Artois that the Lords and Commonalties revolted against her and nevertheless they got nothing by it being subdued by the Assistance the King and the French Princes lent her Year of our Lord 1319 The Citizens of Verdun molested by Thomas de Blamont their Bishop put themselves under protection of the King A fourth time Robert de Bethune Earl of Flanders broke the Truce but Ghent and the other Cities in his Country who in all these Wars had gotten a Power that counterbalanced his being risen up in Arms against him he was fain to consent that the Popes Legat who was a Cardinal and had been chosen Arbitrator should come to Paris the following Spring Year of our Lord 1320 The Peace was then concluded the Twentieth of May. The Cities of Douay L'Isle and Orchies remained to the King The Flemmings obliged themselves to pay Thirty thousand Florins of Gold and gave Oath not to assist their Earl in case he contraven'd to this Agreement The King promised his Daughter Margares to Lewis Earl of Nevers and Retel Son of another Lewis eldest Son of Earl Robert upon condition he should succeed his Grandfather in the Earldom of Flanders though his Father should die before his Grandfather Year of our Lord 1319 20. The Gibbelins growing powerful in Italy Pope John XXII solicited the King so earnestly that he sent thither his Son Philip Earl of Valois who was afterwards King to relieve Vercel whom the Sons of Matthew Viscount Lord of Milan held besieged He had but Fifteen hundred Horse but the Pope Robert King of Sicilia the Florentines and other Guelphs were to send him Forces to make up a great Army while he was at Mortara Matthews eldest Son had so wrought upon his Lieutenant by Money and upon himself by submission and fair words that he persuaded him to return into France without once drawing his Sword after he had made I know not what kind of Treaty which plaistered up a reconciliation between the two Factions in Lombardy Year of our Lord 1320 A like Frenzy to that we have already seen in the time of St. Lewis seized the Peasants and Pastorels for the recovery of the Holy Land upon the instigation of a renounced Monk and a Priest put out from his Cure They made their Muster in the Pre an Clerks at Paris marched into Aquitain from thence to Languedoc Massacring the Jews every where and Plundering their Magazines The Earl de Foix gave them Chase so smartly that he dispersed them all Robert de Cassel second Son of the Earl of Flanders having accused Lewis his elder Brother that he would have poysoned his Father Lewis was made Prisoner his Servants and Confesser put to Torture but not being able to make out any proof he was set at liberty but upon condition however that he should never enter into the Country of Flanders By this means Robert would chalk out his way to the Succession to the prejudice of his elder Brother History has not thought it unworthy its Remarks that in this year 1320. the Prevost of Paris named Henry Capperel for having caused an innocent but poor Fellow to be Hanged in the stead of a Rich Man condemned for great Crimes was by a Sentence of Parliament tied up to the same Gibbet We every day see his parallels save the rich Man that is guilty and punish his innocent Purse The Lepers did not give only a horror to all the World but envy likewise because they enjoy'd great Wealth and that loathsom Distemper did not render them uncapable of enjoying their pleasures add that they paid no Subsidies wherewith
the King in case he would surrender them which being denied they acknowledged Edward to be King of France and gave him their Oaths of Fidelity then did he begin to take that Title upon him in all publick Acts and to put the Flowers-de-Lys in his Coat of Arms and in his Seals However I find that the year before he had by a Declaration forbid any to call Philip by the name of King of France but only Earl of Valois Year of our Lord 1339 Having shortly after passed over into England to recruit himself with Money there was nothing done in all this year but sacking or plundering and some skirmishes that were not decisive In the mean time the King by his Craft and Money together had found means to take the Emperour off from the English Interest Insomuch as he repeated his Title of Vicar of the Empire which he had sold at so dear a rate to him Year of our Lord 1340 But whatever skill they did make trial of in tampering with the Flemmings they could not be brought over again and their Earl not daring to return into that Countrey nor put any trust in Artevelle kept himself within l'Isle The Pope upon the Kings request had put their Countrey under Interdict and all their Priests obey'd very exactly which did at first cause a great consternation but the King of England sent some that were less scrupulous amongst them who opened the Churches and officiated boldly Year of our Lord 1340 The Duke of Normandy this was John the eldest Son of Philip after he had made strange havock in Hainault laid Siege to the Castle of Thin-l'Evesque on the Sambre because it did much incommode the City of Cambray The French and Flemmish Armies were there once more near each other but the Flemmish now withdrew themselves without blows the besieged observing their retreat set fire to the place and made their escape As soon as the King of England had recruited himself with Money and Men he came and landed a Second time at Scluse and overthrew the French Fleet that lay Year of our Lord 1340 upon that coast in wait thinking to hinder his attempt The discord between their Admirals there were two of them was the main cause of their defeat Year of our Lord 1340 This advantage having abated the edge of their courage King Philip retired and distributed his Army in the several Garrisons The King of England sent to defie him in single combat one to one or else a hundred on either side or both Armies in a pitch'd battle He was answer'd That a Lord accepts of no challenge from his Vassal Some days after he besieges Tournay which was reduc'd to great distress but the long and vigorous defence of the besieged saved the place by the Truce that was then made Year of our Lord 1340 Mean time the Flemmings were cut in pieces before St. Omers Robert d'Artois who Commanded them was not only in danger of losing his Life there but afterwards being pursued by the Populace who cry'd out he had betray'd them was forced much wounded as he was to make his escape to the King of England Year of our Lord 1340 The French Garrisons were drawn together in a Body to relieve Tournay Philip had made divers attempts for that purpose had lost all hopes of succeeding in it when on the suddain Edward condescends to a Truce whether by the mediation of the Widdow Jane Countess of Hainault who was his Sister and Mother of the Queen of England at that time retired to the Convent of Fontenelles or as Villain tells it because of the desertion of the Duke of Brabant whom the King had gained by his Money and besides being unwilling that City should fall into the English hands went away from them with all his Forces It was to last from the Twentieth of September to the Five and twentieth of June following and was again prolonged at an Assembly which shortly after was held at Arras upon the earnest desires of the Popes Legats Year of our Lord 1341 John II. Duke of Bretagne dying this year 1341. upon his return from Flanders whither he had attended the King that War which he so much apprehended broke out in his Countrey and kept it in a flame for two and twenty years space For John Earl of Montfort being very liberal of those Treasures he had in Limoges secur'd himself of the best Soldiers and of the Cities of Brest Nantes Rennes Hennebond and Avray Then foreseeing his Antagonist would have recourse to the King of France his Uncle he goes over into England where he contracted a secret Alliance with Edward and also did homage to him Year of our Lord 1341 During this progress Charles de Blois comes unto the King as to his Sovereign Lord. The Dutchy was a Fief of the Crown of France ever since the Dukes Peter de Mauclere and John le Roux his Son had acknowledged it to be held of the Crown and moreover it was a Pairrie Philip the Fair having grac'd it with that Title in Anno 1277. in recompence for that John II. had brought him Ten thousand Men to the Siege of Courâ—ray Besides both of the contenders had presented their Petitions to the King to be admitted to do homage which no doubt but either of them would have performed in any manner required and for this reason the King Year of our Lord 1341 referr'd it to the judgment of the Pairs who caused both parties to be summon'd to make out their Right and Titles The Duke of Bretagne appeared but finding by the very first words the King spake to him that not only his Cause but likewise his Person was in danger he makes his escape one fair night into Bretagne with three more himself disguised like a Merchant â—aving left all his Officers at Paris who put a good face upon it as if their Master were not sled but kept his Bed for some indisposition The better to cover his evasion he left a procuration with one of his people to act and carry on this Cause before the King and Pairs and produce what Deeds and Papers were necessary to maintain his Right His adversary had done the same but either of them notwithstanding without power of concluding on any thing but only for debating and putting their Arguments and Titles into a method to instruct the Judges Year of our Lord 1341 Upon these imperfect proceedings the Pairs received Charles de Blois to homage and threw out Montfords Petition Immediately Charles and his friends were putting themselves into a posture to execute the Decree the Duke of Normandy entred into Bretagne with an Army and having forced Chantoceaux besieged Nantes where Montford had shut up himself The Nantois terrified at the misfortune of Two hundred of their Burghers taken in a Salley obliged Montford to surrender himself to the Duke who sent him to Paris where he was confined to the great Tower of the Lovre Thus one
same day which was the Six and twentieth of August His too hasty March and three long Leagues of way had made the French lose both their breath and strength before they engaged the enemy On the contrary the English were fresh and recruited and dispair re-doubled their courage The Genoese the chief strength of Philips Infantry who were commanded by Antony d'Oria and Charles Grimaldi did nothing to the purpose their Cross-bow strings being made useless by a deluge of Rain that fell just upon the first beginning of their Service they retreating from before a showre of the English Arrows the Count d'Alenson who suspected it to be Treachery rides quite over them with his Cavalry and so began the rout We must also take notice that in this famous Battle the English had four or five pieces of Canon which gave much terror for that was the first time they ever saw those thundering in our Wars To all this add that some amongst the Grandees very glad to see Philip engaged upon this occasion made more shew then they did service These causes chiefly gave the victory to the English The Battle lasted from four in the Afternoon till Two the next Morning A great flight of Ravens which a little hefore the Fight were observed to hover over the French Army were esteemed as a presage of their defeat Of the French side there remained dead upon the place Thirty thousand Foot Twelve hundred Knights and Fourscore Banners taken John King of Bohemia Charles Earl of Alenson Brother to the King Lewis Earl of Flanders and Twelve or Fifteen of the most illustrious Counts lost their Lives King John stark blind as he was fought very valiantly having caused his Horses Bridle to be sastned to the Bridles of two of his bravest Knights horses His Son Charles King of the Romans was hurt with three wounds but it is not true that the Kings of Majorca Scotland and Navarre were in this Engagement the two first were in their own Countreys busie enough about their own concerns and the other not above the age of Thirteen or Fourteen years under the tuition of his Mother The King this time Vnfortunate retired out of the Battle under the favour of the night and saved his Person in the Castle of Broye from thence got to Amiens and so to Paris to raise another Army The next day another slaughter twice greater then the former was made by Five hundred Lances and two thousand Archers amongst the common People who being ignorant of what had hapned were marching to the French Camp The English having ravaged all Boulonois at their pleasure went and laid Siege to Calais about the Eighth of September and stuck close to it with the more security upon the news that David King of Scotland was vanquish'd and made prisoner by the Queen of England upon his falling on the Frontiers Year of our Lord 1346 Before the Battle of Cressy the Emperour Lewis was Excommunicated by the Pope and degraded by Five Electors who in his stead placed Charles the Son of John King of Bohemia This Prince after the death of Lewis which hapned in October the following year got his Election confirmed and bought the Claims of two or three others who disputed their Title to the Empire with him because they had been named by some of the Electors Year of our Lord 1347 After the Duke of Normandy had raised the Siege of Aiguillon the Earl of Derby remained Master of the Field regained all that part of Guyenne which lies beyond the Dordogne and having passed the Rivers ravaged and burnt Saintonge and Poitou took St. John d'Angely and kept it sacaged the great City of Poitiers and quitted it after he had refreshed himself there for Twelve days together Year of our Lord 1346. and 47. The Flemmings having lost their Earl at the Battle of Cressy sent a Deputation to the King to re-demand his Son who was their natural Prince Whilst he was in their power they had assianced him to King Edwards Daughter but that Alliance being contrary to his inclination he escaped from them and returned to the Court of France After he had staid there a year he made a particular peace with the English by the consent of Philip his Sovereign It was agreed that he should permit the Flemmings to give them assistance but as for himself he should not intermeddle with the Affairs either of the one or other of the two Princes Year of our Lord 1347 The Flemmings being at Edwards Devotion made great inroads upon Artois and on the other side John de Montforts party got the upper hand in Bretagne by the help of the English For Charles de Blois going to besiege la Roche de Rien Montfort gave him Battle the Twentieth of June vanquish'd him and took him prisoner with his two Sons John and Guy and most of the Lords of his party His Wife whom ambition and the Royal Blood she came of inspired but with too much courage gathered up the fragments and maintained the business so well that he recover'd once more Year of our Lord 1347 It was but in vain that Philip advanced between Wissant and Calais with an Army of One hundred and fifty thousand Men to relieve the City the English had enclosed his Camp with such good Trenches that he could find no way to attaque him The besieged driven to the severest extremity of Famine were forced to surrender the last day of August Fame shall never forget the name of Eustace de St. Pierre the most noted Citizen of Calais and his heroick generosity to save his fellow Citizens Edward mortally enraged at their long resistance would not receive them on composition unless they would deliver up to him six of their principal Burghers to do what he pleased with them The Council not knowing what to resolve and the whole City remaining Year of our Lord 1347 exposed to the revenge of a cruel Conquerour Eustace freely proffer'd to be one of those Six By his example there soon follow'd enough to make up the number who went out in their Shirts with Ropes about their Necks to deliver the Keys to Edward He was so obstinately bent to put them to death that the Queen his Wife had all the trouble imaginable to obtain his pardon for their Lives He drove out all the Inhabitants of the place even the Ecclesiastiques and repeopled it with natural English Robert King of Sicilia having no Heirs of his own Body but Jane the Daughter of his Son Charles Duke of Calabria had Married her Anno 1333. to Andrew Second Son of Carobert King of Hungary the eldest of these two being then but seven years of age It hapned Twelve years afterwards Andrew not being enough to Jane's liking and having been Crowned King by the Pope pretending that the Kingdom did delong to him certain Conspirators made him rise one night out of the Bed where he was lying with her and hanged him at a
Besieged on the other hand reduced to Famine Betrand de Guesclin found an expedient to save the Dukes Oath which was That he should enter the Town with nine more and his Colours should be set up on the Gate for some hours To conclude this Treaty they made a Truce between the two parties which was to last till the year 1360. Year of our Lord 1357 The bands of Soldiers being neither cashier'd nor paid the Robbers flock'd together with all sorts of other rasâ—ally people and scowred all the Countreys about without any fear or punishment all the open Countrey lying exposed to their merciless mercy There were five or six several Gangs but the most dreadful crew of them was Year of our Lord 1357 that of one Arnold de Ceruoles who called himself the Arch-Priest he entred into the County of Avignon forced the Pope to redeem the plunder of his Lands at the price of Forty thousand Crowns and afterwards to give him Absolution and Treat him at his own Table with as much Honour as if he had been a Sovereign Prince Year of our Lord 1357 The persons Commissioned by the Estates for the administration of the Treasury made it soon apparent that they had not taken it in hand to dispossess Knaves but to have a share in that prize and pillage themselves so that their corrupt dealing no less criminal then that of the former Officers so much cried out upon did much blemish their choice and by consequence the authority of the Estates The Dauphin being therefore better fortified by the arrival of the Earls of Foix Year of our Lord 1357 and Armagnac and a great number of the Nobility did at length shake off their Tutelage and making le Coq return to his own Bishoprick his party became the strongest in Paris But immediately afterwards the Navarrois was set free from his imprisonment by the intrigues of his people who escalado'd the Castle wherein he was detained which was not done without connivance of the Lord de Pequigny to whom King John had committed the keeping of this Prince Then le Coq returns and the Council resumed greater power then formerly The Dauphin apprehended nothing so much as the malignity of that Prince exasperated by a long imprisonment nevertheless the importunities of the Council establisht by the Estates and the intercession of the two Queens Dowagers Jean and Blanch obliged him to give him a safe Conduct with which he came and lodged in the Abbey of St. Germain des Prez accompanied with a huge number of his friends Some while after having caused it to be proclaimed about the City That he would entertain the People upon St. Andrews day there came above Ten thousand Men to the Tilting-place which was between the Abbey of St. Germains and the Pré aux Clercs He mounted the Scaffold from whence the King was wont to behold Combats or Duels and there with a most pathetical Eloquence declared the injustice of nis tedious Confinement the tyrannical execution of his friends the zeal he had for the good of the Nation and above all express'd his mighty affection for the defence of Paris which was the capital City His flattering harangue tickled the People the more by reason that for some time they had met with nothing but severities The next day he was received into the City the Dauphin and he had an enterview in an indifferent place Le Coq Head of the Council the Prevost des Merchands nay even the University pressed the Dauphin so home to give him satisfaction that he was sain to agree to all he pleased However when he would have gone into his Towns thinking to take possession those that commanded there for the King refused to deliver them up to him or his Commissaries Year of our Lord 1358 Upon this refusal he begins the War anew Had the English assisted him considerably he would have over-turned the whole Kingdom but having dropt an expression in his speech to the People That he had more right to the Crown of France then those that disputed for it they lent him no more assistance then to enable him to draw the War to a great length that so each party weakning and tiring the other might both of them be forced to submit to that yoak the English designed to lay upon them Year of our Lord 1358 That zeal the Prevost des Marchands had for the publique liberty meeting with too great oppositions degenerated perhaps in despite of him into a manifest and most pernicious faction The mark or distinction was a kind of a Hood party-colour'd Red and Blue which he bestow'd for New-years-Gifts upon the People of Paris Who being divided and wavering in their Affections applauded sometimes the Dauphin who made Speeches in publique to them then straightway wheel'd about to their Magistrate whom they judged to be honest in his designs and anon they became indifferent to either Year of our Lord 1358 For the third time the Estates were called together at Paris the Dauphin designing to make himself Master of them drew some Forces about the Town the Navarrois had some likewise who kept the Field This troublesome neighbourhood did greatly incommode the City of Paris and all that lay neer it Marcel cast the fault upon the Dauphin and he discharged himself and laid it on the Navarrois Upon this brangle a Partisan of Marcels named Perrin Macé a Changer belonging to the Treasury Massacred John Baillet Treasurer of France and the Deed being done retired into the Church St. James de la Boucherie The Dauphin commanded the Mareschal de Clermont John de Chaalons Seneschal of Champagne and the Prevost of Paris to drag him thence by force and put him into the hands of Justice They haled him out and the Prevost of Paris caused his Hand to be cut off and sent him to the Gibbet The Churches were then inviolable Sanctuaries the Clergy and People grew into heats because they had pluck'd a Criminal from the feet of the Altar and the Bishop of Paris Excommunicated those that had committed this attempt After this Marcel having armed Three thousand Trades-men who all wore those party-colour'd Hoods entred into the Palace where the Dauphin Lodged and caused those three Lords to be murther'd in his presence This was not all he compell'd him to own the Fact in an Assembly of the Estates which was held at the Augustins and in Parliament to suffer the Navarrois to return to the City and to give him Lands and great satisfaction for damages notwithstanding the other Cities refused to joyn with Paris in any thing otherwise then for the Kings service Year of our Lord 1358 After the Navarrois had remained for some time in Paris and thought he had well secur'd himself of them going forth again to give some Order touching his Affairs he was no sooner out of Town when the Dauphin to lose no time caused himself to be declared Regent by the Parliament After that
other Captains As for him having fought very valiantly and not giving over till the very last extremity he then escaped into Arragon then came to France where he was received by Lewis Duke of Anjou Governor for the King in Languedoc Year of our Lord 1367 and 68. The Prince of Wales gained mighty reputation amongst the Sons of Mars for having Re-conquer'd Spain in one single Battle but little Honour amongst the better sort for having restor'd a Tyrant and yet much less satisfaction or profit For after the Tyrant had held him some Months in Castille upon the promise of quickly sending him wherewith to pay his Men a Sickness got into his Army and he was forc'd to return again very ill satissied and withall very much indisposed in his Body Year of our Lord 1368 After his departure the Tyrants rage redoubled by all sorts of terrible revenge The Castillians finding they were treated more inhumanely then ever recalled Henry The Duke of Anjou and the Earl of Foix did frankly give him all the assistance they could and du Gueselin and Bernard de Bearn newly set free upon Ransom raised Men for him In few words Henry besieged Toledo the Tyrant attended with Three thousand Horse came to relieve it When he was gotten near Montiel a Village situate upon the Hills which parts the Kingdom of Valentia from New Castille Henry meets him the Battle was fought the Fourteenth of March 1369. the Tyrants Forces ran away Year of our Lord 1369 and he saved himself in the Castle of Montiel There finding himself cooped up without any hopes of escaping he adventures to come to Guesclin in his Tent imagining by force of Presents to persuade him to let him slip away Henry comes just at the same time thither either by chance or otherwise they fell to words then laid hold upon each other and tumbled on the ground The Tyrant in the end was brought undermost and kill'd The manner is not well agreed upon nor whether it were done fairly this hapned the Three and twentieth of March 1369. Thus the Kingdom of Castille remained to Henry and those descended from him who hold it to this day The Widow of the Duke of Burgundy Daughter of the Earl of Flanders and the richest Heiress in Christendom was earnestly Courted both by France and England The Father designed her â—or Edmond one of the King of Englands Sons but the Grandmother Margaret French both by Birth and Inclination opposed that Match with all her power and had a design to fortifie the House of France She therefore pressed her Son with exceeding heat even to the threatning to cut off her Breasts which had given him suck This touched him to the heart he bestowed his Daughter upon Philip the Hardy Duke of Burgundy but the Nuptials were not compleated till a year afterwards The Prince of Wales had brought nothing out of Spain but great Melancholy a Mortal Indisposition and no Money to pay off his Army He therefore lays an unusual but very small Impost upon Guyenne The Lords his Vassals discontented with him particularly the Lord d'Albret advises the Tenants to make Complaint to them Having received their Complaint they carry it to the Prince and made him some Remonstrances thereon He rejects them in a very offensive manner Whereupon they had recourse to the King of France lately their lawful Soveraign The King entertains them five or six Months in the same disposition and humour waiting a proper juncture to declare his mind He was in the mean time putting every thing in order to that purpose making sure of the Gascon Lords and German Princes with his Money whereof either of them were very greedy drew the Soldiery to his service with the same Bait by the help of Guesclin in whom they reposed great Confidence and made up a Stock of Money by the imposition of Subsidies which the Estates assembled at Paris did freely grant him and which they raised with so much order and evenness that the People were not at all oppress'd Year of our Lord 1369 When he had warily taken all his Measures and knew withal that the Prince of Wales grew daily more Hydropick he granted his Letters of Appeal to the Gascons the five principal of them being the Sire d'Albert and the Earls of Armagnac Perigard Cominges and Carmaing This was signified to the Prince personally by a Knight and a Clerk but far from consenting to this Appeal he haughtily reply'd That he would make his appearance in the same manner as he had done at the Battle of Poitiers and caused them to be taken upon their way back and kept Prisoners charging them with the having rob'd their Host Year of our Lord 1369 At the same time Charles amused King Edward with some Complaints which he sent to him as if he would have brought things to a Negotiation The King of England returned words for words not thinking the effects were so near or that the French durst undertake any thing whilst the Duke of Berry and the other Hostages were in England He thought himself absolute Soveraign in Guyenne by the Treaty of Bretigny but as on his side he had not disbanded the Soldiers and moreover had committed divers Hostilities the King pretended that Treaty was nul and dissolved and that therefore that Prince remained still a Vassal to the Crown Upon this foot it was that he sent to declare a War against him and afterwards his Parliament being assembled upon the Ascension-Eve he sitting in his Seat of Justice made a Decree by which for Rebellion Contempt and Disobedience they declared forfeit and confiscated all those Lands the King of England held in France If Edwards astonishment were great to sind a Prince who was not a Man of his hands thus dare denounce War against him who had won so many Battles his displeasure was no less when he saw this Defiance brought him not by a Person of Quality as the custom was but by a simple Valet or Servant When he understood that the Lord de Chastillon and the Count de Saint Pol had seized upon Abbeville and the rest of the places in the County of Pontieu which were unprovided That the Barons of Gascongue even before the declaration of War had defeated his Seneschal of Rovergne That the Dukes of Berry and Anjou had attaqued Guyenne one towards Auvergne the other towards Toulouze That his Son the Prince of Wales being swoln every day more and more could not act but by his Council and that several Captains and Companies took Service under the French In the interim till he could raise greater Forces he sent him Five hundred Lances and One thousand Cross-bow-men under the Command of Edmond Earl of Cambridge afterwards Duke of York his fourth Son and the Earl of Pembrook his Son-in-Law who went on shoar at St. Malo's and cross'd over Bretagne on the other hand Hue de Caurelee brought him Two thousand Men of those he had in Spain and then
came about twice as many from such as held places in Normandy and Mayne which they sold to go and joyn with him The four bravest Captains he had about him were the above-named Caurelee Eustace d'Auberticour a Hennuyer John Chandois Seneschal of Poitou Thomas Piercy Seneschal of Rochel and Robert Knolles all English To the last of these four he gave the Command of his Forces To the force of Arms the Wise King joyned the power of Religion and Eloquence which can do all things on the hearts of the People He ordered Fasts and Processions to be made over all his Kingdom and sometimes he went himself bare-footed with the rest When at the same time the Preachers made out his Right and Title with the justice of his Cause and the injustice of the English Which had two ends the one to bring back again those French Provinces which had been yielded by the Treaty of Bretigny the other to make those that were under him willing to suffer the Contributions and all other inconveniencies of War The Archbishop of Toulouze alone by his Persuasions and Intrigues regained above fifty Cities or Castles in Guyenne amongst others that of Cabors The King of England would have practised the same methods on his part and sent an Amnesty or general Pardon to the Gascons with an Oath upon the Sacred Body of Jesus Christ to raise no more new Imposts but all this could not reclaim those minds that had bent themselves another way Divers incursions were made by the French into Guyenne and Poitou and by the English into the Neighbouring Countries and in one of them these last took Isabella de Valois the Widow Dutchess of Bourbon and Mother to the Queen of France at her Castle of Bellepeche in Bourbonnois She was afterwards exchanged for the Prince of Wales his Knight The Earls of Cambridge and Pembrook marched even to Anjou and there took the strong Castle de la Roche-sur-Yon from whence they scowred all the Country as they likewise did that of Berry having gained the City of St. Severe which is situate in Limosin upon that Frontier But on their side they suffer'd more loss by far then all this came to the most considerable being that of Chandois who was unfortunately slain in a Rencounter near the Bridge of Lensac in Poitou Besides the ordinary Troops which they called Companies the Lords and Gentlemen often came together and of their own accord drew themselves into a Body for some great Enterprize or else to make Incursion then after such a Riding so they then called it they returned back to their own homes again King Charles had undertaken to raise an Army that should land some Forces in England his Brother Philip was to Command it and they were to take Shipping at Harsleur When he was ready to go on board the Vessels the news was brought him that John Duke of Lancaster King Edwards third Son was landed at Calais and made inroads upon the French Country He was advised to quit his design and turn his force that way Lancaster seeing him in the Field posted himself upon the Hill de Tournehan between Ardres and Guisnes Philip encamps right against him as either to attaque or surround him but before he had been long there grew weary and disbanded his Men. Thus Lancaster had leisure and opportunity to over-run the Country of Caux even to Harfleur and at his return the Country of Pontieu where he took Prisoner Hugh de Chastillon Master of the Cross-bow-men who had seized upon that Country in the name of the King At the same time the Dukes of Guelders and Juliers moved by the Charms of English Sterling Coyn sent to defie the King who soon set up the Duke of Brabant and the Count de Saint Pol to coap with them as taking fire upon some particular Interest There hapned a furious Battle between both Parties at Baeswilder betwixt the Rhine and the Meuse which brought those Princes very low On the one side the Duke of Juliers was slain on the other the Duke of Brabant was taken Prisoner The Emperor his Brother released him and made up the Quarrel Year of our Lord 1369 The Estates being Assembled the Seventh of December granted to the King an Imposition of a Sol or Penny per Liver upon Salt of four Livers upon every Chimney in the Cities and thirty Sols in the Country as likewise upon the sale of Wine in the Country the 13th in Gross and the 4th upon Retail and upon entry at Paris fifteen Sols for every Pipe of French Wine and twenty four per Pipe for Burgundy Wine To which the Cities joyfully consented as knowing these Levies would be well managed and cease again with the War Year of our Lord 1369 The same year 1369. Hugh Aubriot Prevost des Merchands caused the Towers of the Bastille to be built near the Gate St. Antoine the same as we find them at this day Year of our Lord 1370 The first years War had not produced any very considerable event the two Kings prepared themselves with all their might to perform greater matters the second All the four Brothers of France having held Counsel together resolved that the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Berry should attaque Guyenne that the former should enter about Toulouze in that part that lieth betwixt the two Seas the other about Berry in Limosin and that they should both joyn at Limeges to besiege the Prince of Wales there Year of our Lord 1370 To this effect they thought fit to recal du Guesclin out of Spain where King Henry had bestow'd upon him the Earldom of Molines and the Lands of Soria He came upon the Kings first commands and having joyned the Duke of Anjou took as he was upon his march the Towns of Moissac Tonneins Aiguillon and other Castles less considerable along the Garonne On his part the Duke of Berry made himself Master of Limoges more by his Intelligence with the Citizens and the Bishop who betrayed the Prince of Wales though his Gossip and very good Friend then by his Sword After this the two Brothers knowing that the Prince too Politick to suffer himself to be cooped up had taken the Field discharged their Soldiers Year of our Lord 1370 The King of England on his part had sent the Duke of Lancaster with some Companies of Men at Arms and Archers into Guyenne and given the Command of all his Army about Picardy to Robert Knolls It consisted of above Thirty thousand Men. His march struck a terror through all France even to the Loire for they sacaged Vermandois Champagne and la Brie burnt all round about Paris made the sound of their Trumpets eccho in the very Gates of the Louvre while neither the smoak of those Incendiaries nor the noise of their Martial Musick could move the wise King to hazard any thing nor let one Soldier go out to the Enemy Year of our Lord 1370 Du Guesclin
was almost the only Man who was capable of revenging him for all these Affronts to this end the second day of October he puts the Sword of High Year of our Lord 1370 Constable into his hands which Moreau de Fiennes too much broken with age and toil could bear no longer but gave him few Soldiers that he might only observe the Enemy and not fight them Du Guesclin who had another aim encreased the numbers at his own expence having sold all his Jewels and rich Household Furniture he had gotten in Spain to buy up more Soldiers After he had followed and annoyed the Enemy for some time he had an opportunity to be t up one of their Quarters near the Pont Valain in the Country of Mayne By this means having broke the ice he put them to a rout then defeated them piece after piece till even Knolles himself had much ado to escape Year of our Lord 1371 From thence he turned up into Berry and drove out the English who fled into Poitou cleared Touraine and Anjou and did the like in Limosin and in Rovergne Year of our Lord 1371 He also rendred a most important piece of Service to France having brought the King of Navarre to an Enterview with King Charles In the present posture of Affairs that Prince might have done a great deal of mischief by introducing the English into Constentin where he held Cherbourgh with some other places and into the County of Evreux which was all his own But he being as irresolute as malicious he neither knew how to keep his Faith nor break it to his own advantage Though he had made a Truce the preceding year he still deferr'd the concluding of the Peace by his Artifice In fine he suffers himself to be led to it when he had least need and was contented with the City of Mâ—ntpellier which was put into his possession Upon which Consideration he renounced the English Interest at that time when it would have been more advantage not to do it Year of our Lord 1371 In the year 1367. Pope Vrban V. had made a Voyage to Rome in appearance to give some Orders for the Affairs of Italy but indeed out of anger for that the Army going into Spain had oppressed and extorted a great deal from him After he had staid there two years and an half he returned to Avignon where in short time he died the 19th of December The Cardinals placed in the Holy Chair Peter Roger who was Son to William Earl of Beaufort in Valee and Jane Sister of Pope Clement VI. In the Month of May of this same year David King of Scotland Son of Robert Bruce died without Children Thus that Crown passed into the House of the Stewarts by one Robert who was his Sisters Son He ratifi'd the Truce with the English and prolonged it for thirteen years The Maritine Cities of Flanders being all filled with Merchants had no other Interest to mind but Trade Wherefore neither considering that of their Earl nor Year of our Lord 1371 the Kings they made a League with the English thereby to secure their Commerce which appeared more advantageous from that side then from the French Within a while after the new Constable had re-conquer'd Perigord and Limosin from the English the Prince of Wales though he could not stir but in a Litter draws his Men together at Cognac and went to besiege Limoges His Hurons or Miners of which he had great numbers having thrown down a great part of the Wall into the Ditches the Town was taken by Storm He was so enraged against the Inhabitants that he took cruel Vengeance even upon the very Women and Children above four thousand of them dying by the edge of the Sword This was his last exploit in War afterwards he retired very much indisposed into England where yet he languished three years When he was gone the Affairs of the English ran every day into decay the greatest part of the Lords and Commanders in Guyenne whom his Valour and Bounty tied to his Court going over to the French Year of our Lord 1372 He had left the care of his Affairs to the Duke of Lancaster who stay'd no long time in Guyenne but went over into England to be present in a great Council which was held about the concerns on this side the Water At his departure he Married the Daughter of Peter the Cruel and stiled himself King of Castille his Brother the Earl of Cambridge likewise took the youngest Sister to his Bed Year of our Lord 1372 This was to declare a Mortal War against King Henry who besides being engaged to the Crown of France resolved as well for his own security as out of gratitude to Year of our Lord 1372 serve it with all his power He knew the English were sending an Army into Poitou Commanded by the Earl of Pembrooke he put out a Fleet of forty great Ships to Sea well stored with Canon and Fire-Arms who lay in wait for the Earl of Pembrooke at the chops of the Rochel Channel The Fight lasted two days the Eves-eve and the Eve of St. Johns Feast the Rochellâ—rs looking on in cold blood not to be persuaded by their Governor to go out to the aid of the English who in the end were overcome and all either taken or sunk The Victors carried away the Earl of Pembrooke with the rest of the Prisoners into Spain all laden with Chains This was the Custom both of the Spaniards and Germans towards their Enemies the French and English treated theirs with more generosity and civility ☜ This disaster was the utter ruine of the English Party The Constable besieged Year of our Lord 1372 and took all places with ease After he had help'd the Duke of Berry in reducing St. Severe which was believed to be impregnable he came to take possession of the great City of Poitiers that opened her Arms to him The Commanders that kept the Field were all amazed at it but much more astonished upon the defeat of the Captal de Buch who marching to relieve the City of Soubise situate at the mouth of the Charente sound himself surrounded and taken by the Spaniards whose Fleet hover'd about that Coast No Ransom nor Exchange could persuade the King to set him at liberty a second time he was shut up in a Tower belonging to the Temple at Paris where he died four years after Year of our Lord 1372 The Rochellers could never agree with the English humour scarce compatible with any Nation whatsoever they studied how to withdraw themselves from their Government and for this purpose it was that the Spaniards kept so nigh to favour their design The Castle only hindred them the Mayor bethought himself of a Wyle Having given the Captain a Dinner he presented him certain Letters Sealed with King Edwards Signet out of which he read That they were ordered to make a Muster of the Garison in the Castle and the City Militia There
into Africk with the Count de Harcour the Lord de la Tremonille and other Lords and Gentlemen to the number of Eight hundred and a much greater number of Adventurers of divers Countries with whom he signaliz'd his Courage and Conduct against the Moors of Barbary The King of Armenia Minor sprung from the Blood of Luzignan flying from the cruelty of the Turks who had conquer'd his Kingdom and kept his Wife and Children in Captivity came for relief and assistance to the French Court where the King gave him Honourable Entertainment during all the rest of his days He enjoy'd it to the year 1404. then died at Paris and was interred at the Celestines Year of our Lord 1383. and 84. As to the Affairs of Naples Charles de Duras and his Captains behaved themselves so well that cutting off all Provisions from Lewis of Anjou and either following or flanking him so as to prevent his Fighting them they reduced him to the extreamest want of all necessaries even of Cloaths insomuch as this Prince who had carried away all the Kings Treasure had no more left him then a Coat of painted Cloth to wear and one Silver Bowl to drink in He had sent Peter de Craon an Angevin Lord into France to bring him Money and Succours this faithless Friend made no haste to return amusing himself at Venice with the divertisement of some Courtisans After the unfortunate Prince had waited a long time without any tidings of him he sunk under his grief and died the Tenth day of October in this year 1384. or Year of our Lord 1384 as some others will have it the One and twentieth day of September the year following The Earl of Savoy died in the month of March either of the Plague or by drinking Water out of a Fountain that had been poyson'd His Son Ame VII Surnamed Le Rouge succeeded him We must observe that this Amè VI. was the Institutor of the Order of the Collar which was composed of Love-knots together with the Symbolical Letters of the House of Savoy and had at the end a kind of a Ring or wreathed Coronet Duke Charles III. being at Chamberry Anno 1518. changed the name of this Order to that of the Annunciado to honour the Holy Virgin in that mystery which is the most agreeable to her adding Fifteen White Roses to the Fifteen Love-knots in remembrance of her Fifteen Joyes and filled the Pendant with Figures of the Annunciation Year of our Lord 1385 The unhappy remnants of the Duke of Anjou's Army perish'd by Famine and Want excepting such as dispersing by small parties retired into France begging their lively-hood and receiving more injuries and opprobrious words in their Travels then they got bits of Bread The Angevin party was not for all this quite extinct in that Kingdom it subsisted yet in the hearts of some Lords of that Countrey whereof Thomas de St. Severin was the Chief and who afterwards served very well upon occasion For this time the Kingdom rested quietly under Charles de Duraz. The Truce with the English being expired the King who began to take cognizance of his Affairs held a grand Council to deliberate whether they ought to continue it It was the interest of the Duke of Burgundy because of his Low-Countreys to have a Peace with the English but to counterpoise his Power and to flatter Year of our Lord 1385 the young Kings heat they resolved on a War and even to carry it into their own Countrey To this purpose they fitted up a great Fleet at Sluce and they sent to the Scots to oblige them to a rupture of the Truce on their side Year of our Lord 1385 By the methods the Kings Uncles Governed it appeared plainly they had a mind to suck the Peoples Blood to the very last drop The Clergy that they might secure something for their subsistance held an Assembly where they decreed that their Revenues should be divided into three parts the one to be for the maintenance of the Churches the other for Ecclesiastical Persons and the Third for the King without any mention of the Poor Pursuant to the recommendation of the late King Charles the Wise the young Kings Uncles sought a Wife for him in Germany the opinions in Council were different and divided the Duke of Burgundy carried it for Isabella Daughter of Stephen Duke of Bavaria Count Palatine of the Rhine The King Married her at Amiens the .... of July In the preceding month of April the Nuptials between John the Duke of Burgundy's Son and Marguerite Daughter of Albert Duke of Bavaria Earl of Hainault Holland and Zealand were consummate Year of our Lord 1385. and 86. The great design upon England being laid aside after a vast expence that something might come of it John de Vienne Admiral went with Threescore Sail to Scotland and there landed to attaque the English on that side He made an irruption into their Countrey and took some Castles but the savage humour of the Scots could not comply with the free liberty of the French Besides Love had invaded the Admirals Heart and Head which made him courta Lady of the Kings Parentage whereat that wh ole Court not being acquainted with those Gallantreys took such offence that he found it the best way to make his escape with all diligence Year of our Lord 1385 The obstinate Ghentois would not yet bend they had two new Leaders Francion and Atreman who hardned them against all apprehensions of punishment This obliged the King to make a third step into Flanders They had no Port could receive any English Succours but Damm the king having taken that by force and afterwards burning all the Houses round about their City the Rebels in the end began to hearken to Propositions for an accommodation being inclined by the more pacifique humour of Atreman one of their new Chiefs in despite of all the practises of John du Bois and returned to the obedience of the King and the Duke of Burgundy their Lord. This Prince quite wearied with this tedious War which ruined all his Countrey gave them a general Amnesty for all things that were past and the confirmation of all their priviledges upon condition they would renounce all Leagues and that the first that should violate the Peace might forfeit his Life and all his Goods The Treaty was Signed the Eighteenth of December A Truce was renewed likewise between France and England for some Months Charles de Duraz not being satisfied with having invaded the Kingdom of Naples went also into Hungary and usurped that upon Mary one of the Daughters of Lewis the Great his Benefactor who died Anno 1381. and Wife to Sigismund Brother of the â—mperour Wenceslaus whom he detamed in captivity with the Widow Queen his Mother After so many Treacheries and cruel Ingratitudes Heaven suffer'd him to be murther'd himself by the order of Nicholas Gato one of the Palatines of that Kingdom who was very
affectionate to the Princesses which hapned the Sixth day of January in the year 1386. Year of our Lord 1386 The same year the Widow-Queen and her Daughter going into the Countrey fell into the hands of Horvat Governour of Croatia one of King Charles's Partisans or Confederates who to revenge the death of his Master caused the Widow and the Murtherer Gato to be massacred He kept the Princess some time then sent her to Sigismund having first obliged her by all sorts of Oaths to pardon him Sigismund did not think himself bound by her promises and therefore having surprized him made him dye amidst a thousand torments Year of our Lord 1386 The news of Charles's Murther being brought into Italy Thomas de Sanseverin caused Lewis II. eldest Son of the deceased Duke of Anjou to be proclaimed King and Clement VII to be owned Pope Afterwards Marguerite the Widow of Charles being retired to Cajeta with Ladislaus or Lancelot her Son aged about Ten years he reduced almost the whole Kingdom and Naples it self Thus all things went on smoothly for Lewis till Mary de Blois his Mother and Governess having sent Clement de Montjoye Nephew to Pope Clement with the Title and Authority of Vice-Roy the Sanseverins thinking themselves under-valued were alienated from her Service and turned to Ladislaus Year of our Lord 1386 In the mean while Lewis was put into possession of Provence and invested with the Kingdom of Naples by Clement but it was not without great trouble before the Provensaux would acknowledge him the Kings Counsel themselves inciting them underhand to a Rebellion upon divers motives because they would have disposed them to give themselves up to France After Five or Six years Truces and petty Wars the Council resolved to attacque the English not in Guyenne only but even in their own Island For this end they made the most formidable preparations of Men Engines and Ships that ever yet were seen They bought up or hired all the Vessels they could light on from the Ports of Sweden to those in Flanders they built a City of Wood which was to be taken in pieces to shelter themselves upon their Landing The King went to Sluyce to take a view of his Army and Navy consisting in Nine hundred Vessels The Duke of Berry's envy and jealousie retarded the progress he would needs break the design because he was not the contriver In order to which he made them wait for him till the Fourteenth of September when the Seas began to appear un-navigable So the Forces drew off into Quarters part of this numerous Fleet were scattered by Tempests the English pickt up many that were wrack'd or stragled Year of our Lord 1386 There was no reason to trust the Duke of Bretagne too much because of his too many Obligations to the English and the consideration that their suppression must he his ruine wherefore they warily minded his actions but he to justify himself laid Siege to Brest which they yet held as a bridle to Bretagne The Constable assisted him in the undertaking the place was mightily streightned but when they were at the last gaspe the Duke of Lancaster who was going into Spain with great Forces made them raise the Siege The occasion of his voyage was this Ferdinand last King of Portugal had no Child but a Daughter born of a Lady whom he had taken from her Husband He caused this Girl to be owned as his presumptive Heyress as likewise the Mother had been owned Queen and married her to John King of Castille who was a Widower and had two Sons but when he died the principal Cities of Portugal apprehending the Castillan bondage had more mind to have a bastard Brother of Ferdinands for their King his Name was John Froissard names him Denis thorow a mistake instead of saying he was Grand Master of the Order D'Avis The fortune of the War was favourable to the Bastard he gained a Battle at Juberot against his adversaries the Castillans having out of an ugly jealousie suffer'd the Gascons and French to be defeated who took their part with above Eight thousand Men and then were afterwards themselves defeated Notwithstanding this advantage it was to be feared the Castillan would be able yet to crush them and therefore the Bastard sent to the Duke of Lancaster inviting him to come and pursue the right he had to the Kingdom of Castille as on the other hand the Castillian had recourse to France Year of our Lord 1386 The Duke of Lancaster passed therefore into those Countreys with a huge force conquer'd a part of Castille and struck such a terror into all the rest that King John made some overtures of Peace but he spun out the Treaty awhile expecting the French succours when he sound those did not come the Duke of Bourbon their Conductor marching very slowly he concluded the Treaty the Duke of Lancaster Sealed it by the Marriage of two of his Daughters one with the King of Portugal and the other with the Castillans eldest Son This little piece of Honour cost the English very dear the losses they suffer'd by contagious Sicknesses in Spain and afterwards by Storms in their return were so great that the Duke of Lancaster hardly carried home the sixth part of his Men and not one but in a languishing condition half dead with malady and pain At last by a just punishment from Heaven Charles the Wicked who had blown up so many flames and burnt so many entrails with his violent poysons was most cruelly burnt himself He had caused his Body to be wrapp'd all over with Sheets drenched in Spirit of Wine and Sulpher to corroborate the natural heat decay'd by his debauches this took fire I know not by what accident and broiled him to the very bones whereof he died three days after being the First of January in the year 1387. Charles called the Noble his Son succeeded him Year of our Lord 1387 The Constable Clisson and the Admiral John de Vienne had so fill'd the King's Head with the expedition for England that he makes another preparation to execute it this year The state of Affairs was very favourable all England was in combustion against King Richard because he had put mean and vile People into places of the highest Trust who bear all the sway which his Uncles could not endure nor indeed would they have the Power lodged in any other hands but their own Now when France was on the point of making advantage of these troubles the Duke of Bretagne either of intelligence with the English or without thinking of them was cause of interrupting the Enterprize this time as it had been formerly Clisson was then in Bretagne to dispatch the Forces that were at Treguier that they might go and joyn with those at Sluyce but at the same time he was Treating of the Marriage of one of his Daughters with John the Son of Charles de Blois whom he had purposely got out of the hands
his Wife inflamed his covetoufness as his birth and quality inspired him with pomp and magnificence So that being possessed with two contrary passions of getting and spending he succeeded his Uncle the Duke of Anjou and even exceeded him in the unjust desire of pillaging the Kingdom and snatching away the Goods of other People Year of our Lord 1389 Upon the Popes intreaty the King made a journey to Avignon where he was present at the Coronation of Lewis of Anjou by the Popes hands From thence he went into Languedoc where he took information of the Duke of Berry's exactions of which he heard daily complaints They punished this Prince in his Ministers by casting out several of the worst Officers and making the Process of John Betisac principal Counsellor and Minister of his violence He was burnt alive for a crime against nature and this was a Bon-fire to the People whom he had most horribly vexed and abused From Toulouze the King went into the Countrey of Foix. Gaston Phebus received him magnificently and having rendred him homage for his Countrey intreated him that he would be his Heir which was to deprive Matthew Vicount de Castelbon his Cousin-german by the Father of his Succession and get some share of it to fall upon his natural Son At his return he took away the Government of Languedoc from the Duke of Berry and bestow'd it upon the Lord de Chevreuse but five years after he restored it again to him as he was going to make War upon the Duke of Bretagne A Second time the Duke of Bourbon upon a request the Genoese made to the King for his assistance against the Barbarians of Tunis who by their continual Piracies interrupted all manner of Trade fitted out a Fleet wherein were Five hundred Men at Arms all Knights or Esquires and a great number of Cross-bow Men. Philip de Artois Earl of Eu the Count de Harcour the Admiral John de Vienne Charles Sire d'Abret were Voluntiers the Earl of Derby Son to the Duke of Lancaster would needs be amongst them with some Forces made up of his own Countrey-men Being joyned with the Genoese they laid Siege to the City of Carthage at that time the Bulwark of the Kingdom of Tunis The enterprize was greater then their Forces at six weeks end they found themselves so disordered through the heats of the Climate Labour and Wounds that although they had gained a great Battle yet they lost either their hopes or courage and re-embarqu'd again the Genoese only had the craft to take advantage of the King of Tunis by a private Treaty for liberty to Traffique Year of our Lord 1390 To continue the abatement of Imposts they ought to have retrench'd their expences at Court and the cupidity of the Ministers but both of these rather increasing then diminishing their exactions were renewed An honest Hermit the preceding year came to the King commanding him in the name of God not to oppress his Subjects The words and admonitions of this poor Man contemptible in the eyes of the Court having wrought no effect Heaven it self would make use of a more powerful voice and express'd it self in wrath About the midst of July while the Council were assembled at St. Germansen Laye to settle some new Impositions the King and Queen being the same instant at Mass on a suddain there arose such a dreadful strom of Wind Hail and Thunder as almost beat the Castle about the ears of those evil Counsellors and so terrify'd them they durst not go forward with their projects The Turks made mighty progress in Europe Sultan Amurat gained a bloody Battle in the Plains of Cosow against the Kings of Servia Bosina and Bulgaria but he perished there Bajazet his Son Surnamed the Thunder-bolt succeeded him About the same time Themir-lanc King of the Tartars raised himself to great power Year of our Lord 1391 Lewis the Kings Brother buys the County of Blois and that of Dunois or Chasteaudun with some other Lands of Earl Guy who had no Children He likewise got of the King the Dutchy of Orleans notwithstanding all the Remonstrances the Burghers of that City made by the mouth of their Bishop The chief ground of the mortal feud between the Houses of Orleans and Burgundy was their disputes for the Government Having been raked up now for a while this year it began to break forth anew The Duke of Orleans pretended to the administration as being nearest related and arrived at the age of Twenty years but the Estates being assembled at Paris gave their opinion for the Duke of Burgundy Gaston Phebus Earl of Foix who bare the name and devise of the Sun and who was so renowned for his Victories his Generosity his Buildings his Magnificence and his Train and Equipage equal to that of a King died suddenly as they were filling Water for him to wash his Hands before Supper after his return from Hunting He had made a Gift of his County to the King who not desiring to be beneath him in generosity returned it to his Bastard-Son From whence soe're it came or whose fault soe're it was the Treaty between the Duke of Bretagne and Clisson was broken The Duke was infinitely troubled that France should support his Subject against him and make a private Gentleman equal with him The King sent for both of them to Court the Duke far from coming thither renewed his antient Alliances with England Upon this day they dispatch Year of our Lord 1391 the Duke of Berry Peter de Navarre and divers other Lords to him to complain of the correspondence he held with strangers his Coyning of Moneys and making his Subjects give their Oaths to him and against all others He imagined this stately Embassy was only to stir up his People and was upon the point to seize on all of them as a pawn for his better security His Wife having some hint of it though she were great with Child and at that time half undress'd took up her Children in her Arms found him out and by the powerful influence and rhetorique of her Prayers and Tears made him change his mind and resolution She farther prevailed with him to go to Tours where the King was but he came with Six hundred Gentlemen and under the protection of the Duke of Burgundy his good Cousin The King Treated him very civilly and desired nothing more of him but only that he would pay the remainder of the hundred thousand Franc's to the Constable and give up some places to the Earl of Pontieure John Galeazo Viscount had usurped the Seigneury of Milan upon Bernard his Uncle whom he put to death in prison and had deprived his Son Charles and a Daughter married to Bernard Brother to the Earl of Armagnac of his Succession This Earl for his Brothers sake and upon the intreaty of the Florentines and Bolognians whom Galeaze oppressed marched into Lombardy to make War upon him Being more courageous then he he
kept the Field some time but being less crafty he fell into an Ambuscade near Alexandria and was wounded to death after which his whole Army was dispersed and dwindled to nothing Year of our Lord 1392 The great desire the two Kings Charles and Richard had to joyn their Forces against the Turks brought the Duke of Lancaster to a Conference with King Charles at Amiens but the Propositions were so high on the English side that the result at last was only a Truce for a year The more the authority of the Constable and his three dependants was confirmed the more grievous was their power to the People The King's Uncles fretted and grew enrag'd the Clergy betraid by some of the Chief of their own Body were on the brink of losing their immunities had not the University from whom they were also taking away all their Priviledges bestirr'd themselves and put a stop to all School-Exercises and Preaching When they observed that all Foreigners went away from Paris and that such an Interdiction made a great noise all over Europe even those that had undertaken the ruine of that Body would needs have the honour of procuring them an Audience of the King who did them justice upon their Complaints The Support and Priviledges the Kings ever since the time of Lewis the Gross had granted to this famous University the Mother of all the rest that are in Europe the infinite numbers of Students that came thither from the remotest Countreys the strict adherence of the whole Clergy to them to whom they were a Nursery and Seminary and the Authority their Faculty of Divinty had acquired to judge of Doctrine and Matters thereto relating had rendred them so considerable that in times of confusion they were called to consult in all Affairs of Importance if not they took upon them to make Remonstrances and knew how to oblige others to follow them Year of our Lord 1392 Peter de Craon was notoriously guilty of the loss of Lewis Duke of Anjou his Lord the Duke of Berry had threatned to have him hang'd for it yet he was no less regarded at Court where the splendor of Birth and Riches easily covers baseness and crimes It hapned that he fell into disgrace with the Duke of Orleans he fancied the Constable had done him that ill Office he resolved upon revenge and one Evening the Thirteenth of June as he was coming from the King Assassinates him in St. Catherines street being assisted by Twenty Russians whom he had gotten together in his House He alterwards easily escaped out of Paris the Gates having been always left open ever since the Constable had caused them to be taken down upon his return from Flanders These wounds did not prove the death of the Constable but they were the ruine of Craon Three of the Murtherers being discover'd and taken were beheaded his Goods confiscated and given to the Duke of Orleans his House turned into a Churchyard for St. John's in Greve and his stately Seats in the Countrey demolished He could save nothing but his Person by flying to the Duke of Bretagne who kept him carefully conceal'd Some years after the King granted his Pardon upon the request of the Duke of Orleans When the Constable began to recover of his wounds both those that were his friends and such as were no way concerned called earnestly upon the King to punish this attempt There was upon this Command sent to the Duke to deliver up the Assassin he denies him to be in that Countrey the Ministers exasperate the King and perswade him to march towards Bretagne to destroy the Duke In vain did his Unclâ—s urge that this was but a private quarrel which ought to be legally determined by the ordinary ways and methods of Justice and that it was against the common Rights of Mankind to fall upon the Duke of Bretagne before he was proved Guilty or Condemned they could not alter that Resolution Year of our Lord 1392 Marching in the Sun-shine and great heats of weather in August his Brain already much weakned with the debauchery of his youth was discomposed with black and noxious vapours Two unexpected but frightful objects heightned and hastned his phrensy One day as he was going out of Manse passing thorough a Wood there came forth a tall black fellow all weather-beaten and ragged who laid hold of his Horses Bridle bawling out Stop King Whither goest thou thou art betray'd then vanish'd Soon after a Page who carried a Lance sleeping on horseback let it fall upon a Helmet which another carried before him At this shrill noise and the sight of the posture of the Lance the Apparition or Fantasme and its threatnings came fresh into his mind his Fancy was disturbed he imagines they were going to deliver him up to his enemy and believed all those that were about him to be Traitors This puts him into a violent fit of Fury he runs strikes kills without Rime or Reason till he fell into a Swoon They carry him bound in a Chariot back to Manse Witchcrafts and Poysonings were so frequent in those days that it was believed his malady proceeded from some such Cause The third day he recover'd his Sences and by little and little his Strength which was attributed to the publick Prayers made for him but not the full vigor of his understanding In this disorder his Uncle resumed the Government conducted him back to Paris seized upon the three Citizen Favourites who having undergone three Months imprisonment with the continual fear of being led to execution as was threatned were set at liberty by the Kings Command who ordered the greatest part of their Goods to be restored but declared them for ever incapable of holding any Office-Royal The Constable was so fortunate as to make his escape to his own Countrey in Bretagne where he most bravely defended himself against the Duke by the assistance of the Duke of Orleans and the rest of his friends The Princes gave his Office to Philip of Artois Earl of Eu. All Offices being as then but Commissions which were revocable Year of our Lord 1390 Vrban the Pope of Rome died in the Month of October Anno 1389. Boniface IX succeeded him this Pope shewed himself to be very much inclined to re-unite the Church dispatched a Frier to Clement to consult of some method to bring it about Clement puts him in prison but the University exclaimed so that he released him Clament was therefore compell'd to feign that he had a desire to put an end to that Schism But when the University had declared it was impossible to be effected without the renunciation of both Competitors he and the Duke of Berry who took his part highly broke off the Proposition But they could never stop the mouth of that Mother of all Learning and Piety from crying out against that scandal which so afflicted the whole Church Year of our Lord 1393 The 29th of January at the Nuptials of a Lady
drift being to keep them from agreeing all together upon one method or expedient Year of our Lord 1396 The Gallican Church did not allow of Confessors to such as were condemned to suffer death by the Law in this particular she followed the usage of the antient Canons which did not admit to the Communion those that were branded with enormous crimes The Monk of St. Denis observes in this year that Charles the VI. was the first that granted them this favour and says the honour of obtaining it was attributed to Peter de Craon because he set up a Cross of Stone nigh Montfaucon where those poor wretches use to make a stop to be confessed In those times they did not hang any criminal within their Cities they would have been thought too much polluted ✚ by that infamous execution but they cut off their Heads In many places they led the condemned persons on foot to the Gallows and that before break of day Year of our Lord 1396 The Seigneury of Genoa rather then submit to the command of John Galeazo Viscount of Milan put themselves under obedience of the King and transferr'd all the right of propriety they had to him The Kings Commissioners left the Government to the Doge or Duke after he had first resigned his Power and Dignity into their hands but in a little time they gave that Command to Boucicaut The Factions in that Seigneury had very near destroyed and brought it to nought The City was filled only with Robbers and Murtherers the Noblest were banished thence Merchants durst not open their Bank those most in power made War upon each other from street to street and had raised Towers at each corner of their Palaces to defend themselves The Mareschal desiring to settle some Order and his own Authority amongst them commanded they should bring all their Arms into his Palace forbad all Assemblies cut off the Head of Boccanegra and a dozen or fifteen more of the most Factious made strict inquiry after such as had committed notorious crimes raised and entertained several Companies that kept Guards in all the Markets and publique places and built two Castles which had communication with each other the one named the Darse at the mouth of the Port the other in the City called the Chastelet Year of our Lord 1396 The Twenty seventh of October was appointed for the stately and magnificent enterview of the two Kings upon the confines of their Territories between Ardres and Calais where they confirmed the Truce The King of England espoused the Daughter of France and rendred up Brest to the Duke of Bretagne and Cherbourgh to the King of Navarre who three years afterwards sold it to the King France having granted succors to the King of Hungary against Bajazeth the Duke of Burgundy gave them John Earl of Nevers his Son to be their Leader He had in his Army Two thousand Gentlemen of quality besides the Earl of Eu Constable Admiral John de Nienne John le Maingre-Boucicaut Mareschal of France Henry and Philip Sons of the Duke of Bar Guy de la Trimouille his Fathers Favourite and other Lords Year of our Lord 1396 At first they performed such valiant acts as are almost incredible but their follies and dissolute lives did after render them ridiculous to the very Turks Besides their presumption swoln by success engaged them with the Hungarians in the Siege of Nicopolis and then in a Battle the Twenty eighth of September where the Hungarians not caring to second them as they ought they were all cut off or taken prisoners Bajazeth caused above Six hundred to be hewed in pieces in presence of the Earl of Nevers and having made him dye almost as often with his threats and terrors he reserved him with Fifteen more of the great Lords for whose Ransom he obliged himself to pay Two hundred thousand Ducats That sum being made good to them five Months afterwards they were all set at liberty The Earl of Nevers arrived in France about the end of March following It is said that Bajazeth was so far from taking any Oath that he should never make War again upon the Turks that he exhorted him to take his revenge and promised he should ever find him in the Field ready to give him any satisfaction Year of our Lord 1397 The King was seized with the Fourth Fit of his Malady more severely then all the former had been He recover'd it again but was ever after troubled with it at least three or four times each year The Earl of Eu dying in his imprisonment amongst the Turks the Earl de Sancerre who was a Marescal of France was honoured with the Office of Constable Year of our Lord 1397 We must observe the better to understand what we shall relate hereafter that this year King Richard for some conspiracy whether real or pretended put his Uncle the Duke of Gloucester to death as also the Earl of Arundel and divers other Lords and banished the Earl of Derby Son to the Duke of Lancaster who sheltred himself in France and began to Reign very tyrannically The Emperour Wenceslaus King of Bohemia took a fancy for what reason I know not to visit the Court of France the King went to meet him as far as the City of Rheims this was in the Month of March and received him with as much magnificence as affection That Prince shewed his brutality the very second day the King had invited him to Dinner and when the Dukes of Berry and Bourbon went to fetch him from his own Lodgings they found he was already drunk and taking his Nap to refresh himself and digest his load of Wine Next day the King Treated him the Entertainment and Mirth had lasted longer if the King had not found a Fit coming upon him which brought him back to Paris He left the Duke of Orleance with him to keep him company and confer with him about the means of putting an end to the Schism Year of our Lord 1398 The Kings Council being weary of Bennets playing fast and loose and daily disappointments did decree according as they were advised by a great Assembly of Bishops Abbots and Deputies of the Universities that the whole Kingdom should be subtracted from his Obedience till he would condescend to the Session propounded and that in the mean while the Gallican Church conformable to her antient liberty should be governed by her Ordinaries according to the Holy Canons Bennets Cardinals approved of this substraction and forsook him retiring themselves to the new Town of Avignon but he stood it out and having gotten some Arragonian Soldiers to serve him for a Guard shut himself in the Palace of Avignon The Mareschal Boucicaut had order from the King to besiege him there he acquitted himself faithfully and pent him up so close that in a few days he would have been reduced to want of Provisions when order came to him from Court to change the Siege into a Blockade and suffer refreshments
relished that he should upon any occasion assume the Authority to bestow the Order of Knighthood upon a Gentleman He resolved to erect the Earldom of Savoy to a Dutchy for Ame VIII and divers Authors tell us he had made choice of the City of Lyons for that purpose Year of our Lord 1416 but the Kings Officers let him know it would not be suffered wherefore he performed the Ceremony at the Castle of Montluel in Bresse out of the Territories of the Kingdom However the Letters Patents for the said Erection are dated from Chamberry the Nineteenth of February It is fit we observe that ever since the time of the Carlian Race the Title of Count or Earl was as eminent as that of Duke and it seems the Grandees liked it better since we find some who having Dutchies yet took the names only of Counts Such in France was the Count of Toulouze who held the Dutchies of Septimania and Narbonne and the Earl of Savoy did the same though he had the Dutchies of Chablais and Aouste which he did not omit amongst his Titles But as Men who in length of time change their humours and fancies had an imagination that there was something greater in the Title of Duke Ame VIII Earl of Savoy was willing to have that Title given to the Earldom he bore the name of Year of our Lord 1416 France met with nothing but misfortune upon misfortune the defeat of the Constable before Harfleur which he besieged then of the Naval Forces upon that Coast the continual Incursions of the Burgundian Troops the death of the Duke of Berry who was the only Person that could have allayed these Disorders the King of Englands second landing this was at Tonques with the loss of divers places in Normandy taken by his Forces Besides all this the earnest endeavours of both Parties to make an Alliance with him but the Burgundian with most industry and forwardness enraged that they had thrust him out of the Government and the Earl of Hainault his Cousin to get a support for the Dauphin John his Son in Law whom the Orleans Faction would deprive of his Birthright to prefer and advance Charles Earl of Pontieu his younger Brother Year of our Lord 1416 The new Governor rendred himself daily more odious by Exactions without measure equality or justice laid upon the Clergy as well as the Laity for which reason the Parisians heartily desired the Burgundians return and indeed there was a Plot discovered to have let in his Forces The chief Conspirators paid down their Heads for it the rest were imprisoned all who were suspected banished even Members of the Parliament and University the Burghers Arms seized upon their Chains taken away and the Butchers Company abolished Year of our Lord 1417 The passion for Government did so far transport the Burgundian that he Conferr'd with the King of England at Calais and renewed the Truce for his Countries only which was in some manner an obligation not to assist the King at all From thence retiring to Valenciennes he had confidence with Duke William Earl of Hainault and the new Dauphin his Son in Law They sware mutual assistance against all their Enemies So the Dauphin declared himself against the Armagnacs and promised the Duke he would never return to Court till he carried him along with him It was therefore resolv'd that the Earl of Hainault should go thither to treat of those Affairs but should leave the Dauphin at Compeigne Not being able to obtain the recalling of the Burgundian he threatned to carry back the Dauphin home with him whereupon they intended to detain him till he had given up the Dauphin but having private notice he craftily made his escape But they secur'd themselves of the Dauphin another but a more wicked way by giving him Poyson of which he died the eighteenth of April Charles his Brother a sworn Enemy to the House of Burgundy succeeded to the Title of Dauphin and of Duke de Touraine and which is more to a right of inheriting the Crown to the great satisfaction and joy of the Duke of Anjou his Father in Law who was mightily suspected to have had some hand in the removal of the two eldest out of the World that his Son in Law might Reign Year of our Lord 1417 But his joy was not long lived dying in the following Month of August He left three Sons Lewis Rene and Charles the two first had successively the Titles of King of Sicilia Charles was Earl of Maine The Kings Person the Dauphin and the City of Paris were in the hands of the Constable d'Armagnac the Queen only was some kind of counterpoise to his Power They living with much freedom and licence in her Family it was easie for the Constable Year of our Lord 1417 to fill the Kings head with jealousies against this Princess so that he commanded one named Bouredon to be taken thence and thrown into the River as a Party concerned in those Intrigues and afterwards sent away the Queen his Wife as it were a Prisoner to Tours She could never be brought to forgive him this injury nor even the Dauphin her own Son it being by his consent although he were not then above the age of Sixteen years The Queens confinement the lamentable death of the two Dauphins the displacing of a great many Officers the plundering of all the open Country by the unpaid Soldiers the depredations of the Armagnac's who robbed the very Shrines in the Churches furnished the Burgundian with specious Pretences to publish his Manifesto's and to send to all the chief Cities to desire they would be assisting towards the restoring the King to his liberty The most part of those in Champagne and Picardy with the Isle of France received him with open Arms because he put down all Subsidies However all was nothing unless he could get into Paris he marched round about it approaching or going farther off for two Months together according to the Advice he had from his Friends that were in the place Whilst he was besieging Corbeil he goes away in haste to Tours with some Troops of Horse and having had a Conference with the Queen at Marmoustier whither she was come purposely under a pretence of taking the Air he brought her with him to Troyes From that time she claimed the Regency Year of our Lord 1417 In so favourable a juncture the King of England failed not to push on his Affairs Caen Bayeux Coutance Carenian Lisieux Falaise Argentan Alenson and in fine the greatest part of Normandy surrendred themselves up to him without scarce a blow given excepting Cherbourgh which defended it self three Months and yet the Constable chose rather to see the Kingdom lost then his Authority and the Burgundian consented rather to have it dismembred by the English then governed by his Enemy In Germany there were several Companies of Vagabonds began to strowle about having no Riligon no Law no Country or Habitation their Faces
tawny speaking in a particular Canting Language of their own and using a Slight of Hand in Picking Pockets while they pretended to tell Fortunes They were called Tartars and Zigens These were the same in my own opinion as those the French at present call Bohemians and the English Gypsy's Year of our Lord 1417 We find in the Acts of the Council of Constance how the memory of Wicklef was Anathematiz'd and John Huss who treading his steps had sowed new Doctrines in Bohemia was burnt alive Anno 1415. notwithstanding he had a safe Conduct of the Emperor and how Jerome of Pragne his Associate but more cautious then he chose rather to be condemned absent then present In the same Council Bennet having been declared Contumacious and intruded into the Papacy the Cardinals of all Parties joyning together elected Otho Colomna who took the name of Martin as being promoted on the Eve of that Saints day Year of our Lord 1418 He immediately employs his Care and Paternal Authority to endeavour the making a Peace in France To this end he sent two Cardinal Legats upon whose sollicitation an Assembly was held at Montereau Faut-yonne where the Deputies on either side agreed upon the Seventeenth of May that all hatred being laid aside the Dauphin and Duke of Burgundy should have the Government of the State during the Kings Life But the Constable the Chancellor and those that had the greatest share in the management of Affairs fearing they should be pack'd away or apprehending the Burgundian's Resentment formally opposed it and the Chancellor did absolutely refuse to Seal the Treaty he who was said to have Sealed so many Instruments to the Peoples ruine and for his own private Interest Paris being sick of the War this was an excellent Theme to be preached to the People and stir up their hatred against them and also to rowze the Burgundian Faction who had still remained quiet had not the Populace been drawn to side with them upon this ill management In fine those of his Party holding themselves assured of his Affection introduced into their City Philip de Villiers L'Isle Adauâ— Governor of Pontoise by St. Germains Gate He entred by night upon the Twenty eight of May with Eight hundred Horse crying out Peace and Burgundy The People did not stir till they were come into Year of our Lord 1418 the Streets of St. Denis and St. Honore then they came out on all hands and joyned with them Tanneguy du Chastel Provost of Paris hearing the noise ran and took the Dauphin out of his Bed and wrapping him up in his Night-Gown convey'd him to the Bastille and from thence to Melun The King who was in his Hostel remained in the power of the Burgundians From thence spreading themselves over the whole Town they fell upon the Houses of the Armagnac's and searched from the very tops of the Garrets to the bottoms of the Cellers Some plundered the Household Stuff and carried away the Money but were most eager to seize upon their Persons and those were least unhappy that were coop'd up in private places till they had paid their Ransoms Most of them were haled to Prisons whither a great many fled voluntarily to avoid other mischiefs The Chancellor was taken the very same day and imprisoned in the Palace The next day the Constable was dragged to the same place He had concealed himself in a Masons House but Proclamation being made to discover all the Armagnac's upon pain of death his Hoste produced him Year of our Lord 1418 The Banished being return'd from divers parts with indignation and revenge in their Hearts made the most cruel Mutiny that ever was heard of this was upon the Two and twentieth of June They began with the Palace whence they drew forth the Constable and Chancellor Murther'd them and exposed their Bodies upon the Table de Marbre From thence they went to the Prisons Massacred the Bishops of Senlis and de Coutances in the Petit Chastelet and made the rest leap from the tops of the Towers receiving them below upon the points of their Swords and Javelines There was no part of the City which was not stained with the Blood they spilt Near two thousand Men were killed whose Carcasses were drawn into the Fields with deep Incisions made upon their Backs in form of a Bend or Scarfe which was the Signal that Party had marked themselves withal for distinction Such as were found with them were held to be worse then Hereticks the Priests denied them Burial and Baptism to their Children Whether it were Policy or not the Duke of Burgundy would not come to Paris till a month after L'Isle Adam had made himself Master of it The Queen and he made their entrance the fourteenth day of July as Triumphantly as if they were returned Year of our Lord 1418 from the Conquest of some new Empire There was nothing heard in the Streets but the soft Musick of Voices and Instrumens and yet their presence did not stop the bloody hands of Murtherers Whoever had Money or an Enemy an Office or a Benefice was an Armagnac The vilest and the most wicked had made themselves the Chiefs of that Blood-thirsty Militia The very Hangman was one of them and he had so much impudence as to shake the Duke by the Hand who knew not what he was The One and twentieth of August they made another great Commotion that infamous Villain being their Captain in which they killed above two hundred Persons and amongst others even some of those that dwelt in the Dukes Hostel and perhaps they would have carried it home to himself had he not been provided against that Scum of the Rabble He bethought himself of a wyle which was to send six thousand of that common Herd to besiege Montleberry and when they were gone he ordered the Hangmans Head to be chopt off and several of the most deserving to be Hanged or cast into the River Year of our Lord 1418 It seemed that Heaven would revenge those horrible Murthers with its severest Rod About the Month of June Paris began to be infected with the Plague which raged extreamly to the end of October carried off above forty thousand most of them being the meanest of the People and such as had dipt their Hands in Blood After the Dauphin was gone from Paris his Partisans made War in his Name Those Frenchmen that were disinteressed and impartial found themselves much perplexed between the Kings Commands whom the Burgundian made to speak as pleased himself and the Commands of the Presumptive Heir to the Crown which side soever they could take they were sure to be treated as Rebels and Traitors Year of our Lord 1418 The Duke of Bretagne labour'd so much that he made up the breach a second time All the Articles were agreed upon at St. Maurdes Fossez but those that had influence over the Dauphin kept him from Ratifying them so that there was only a Truce for three weeks After he
come to his majority Year of our Lord 1422 The one and twentieth of October following King Charles VI. the weakness of whose Brain stupified with so many relapses made him a prey to every one that could but come to deal with him ended his Life and his unhappy Reign in his Hostel of St. Pol at Paris attended only by his first Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber his Confessor and his Almoner His Funeral was at St. Denis no Prince of the Blood went to it not even the Duke of Burgundy who was ashamed to give place to the Duke of Bedford This last as soon as the Ceremony was over caused young Henry his Nephew to be proclaimed King of France Charles VI. Reigned two and forty years and five and thirty days and lived fifty two He had by Isabella of Bavaria six Sons the three first of them died in their infancy the other three Lewis John and Charles appeared on the Theater and the last survived him and Reigned He had the same number of Daughters Isabella Jane Mary a second Jane Michel and Catharine The first was Married to Richard II. King of England then to Charles Duke of Orleans the second died in her Cradle the third devoted her self to God in the Convent at Poissy the fourth Married John VI. Duke of Bretagne the fifth Philip who was Duke of Burgundy and the last Henry V. King of England Before him the Kings of France were wont at all Ceremonies to appear with all their Regal Ornaments and wear some marks about them every day as their Robes lined with Ermines and a Crown upon their Hoods or their Hats In the Army a Coat of Armour Sem'd with Flower-de-Luces and a Hoop with Flowers pretty high upon their Helmets This King neglected all these Ornaments and did not distinguish himself at all from other People so that he seemed to have degraded himself of all Royalty That Quarrel which Pope Boniface had with King Philip the Fair was the Rock whereon the Papal Power both Spiritual and Temporal was split and shipwrack'd which till then had Master'd had Lorded it over the Emperors and other Western Princes The translation of the Holy See to Avignon brought them lower yet by removing them out of their natural place and laying open their defects which exposed the Court of Rome to the great contempt and scorn of all that did but make the least observation on their ill Conduct But to say the truth France that thought to aggrandise it self by this Spiritual Power of the Popes Court gained nothing but their Vices with the plague of Litigious Disputes and the Maletost or extraordinary Taxes But if the multitude of Cardinals were an advantage to the State France might have vaunted that she alone had as great a number as all the other parts of Christendom besides We have seen how Clement V. promoted to the Papacy by a method not strictly Canonical extinguished the Order of the Templers who were found to be all guilty in France but innocent in divers other Countries John XXII was the first who made it a fixt and permanent right to reserve the Fruits of vacant Benefices for the Holy See He bestowed the same Honour on the Bishoprick of Toulouze but thinking it too rich and of too great extent he divided it into five whereof Toulouze is one Montauban Lavaur Rieux and Lombers are the other four which he would have to be its Suffragants as also Mirepoix and Lavaur created new by him Moreover he restored the Bishoprick of Pamiez to that of Toulouze which had been taken away and brought under Narbonne by Boniface VIII when he erected it To recompence Narbonne in some manner he made two more in the same Territory these were Alet whose See was first at Limoux and St. Pont de Tomieres He likewise made four for that of Bourges Castres of a portion of that of Alby St. Flour of part of Clermont Vabres of part of Rodez and Tulles of part of Limoges He likewise erected four for the Archbishoprick of Bourdeaux which had been dismembred Condon from the Territory of Agen Sarlat from that of Perigueux Maillezais and Lucon from that of Poitiers Most of these sixteen Churches were Abbies changed into Bishopricks and their Abbots converted to Bishops The Popes return to Rome was attended with a Schism of forty years which troubled all Christendom but afflicted France particularly overthrew the Discipline of Elections and of Collations filled all the Churches with Mercinary Pastors nay hungry Wolves and absorded all her Revenues not only by ordinary Taxes upon each of them by Annats and Rights of Provision but by extraordinary Taxes and Tenths The Princes first the Duke of Anjou then the Duke of Berry and after him the Duke of Orleans favoured the cupidity of the Popes of Avignon that they might share in the prey the Cardinals gorged themselves the Prelats either for want of courage or in hopes of getting into fatter Benefices gave their consent the lesser ones were so much under the pawes of the Wolf they durst not so much as open their mouths The University of Paris alone opposed these disorders and notwithstanding the Princes menaces the corruptions of the Court of Avignon the tricks and artifices of the Popes that were Competitors they saved the Temporals of the Gallican Church and restored the Universal Churches Peace by extinguishing the Schism And truly this great work is in the first place due to their zeal and labour and in the second place to the care and perseverance of the Emperor Sigismund who called and maintained the Council of Constance and who made divers Voyages into Italy France and Arragon to establish Unity and Peace There was not in all the Kingdom so powerful a Body as the University as well for the multitude of her Scholers which sometimes exceeded the number of thirty thousand as because she was the Nursing Mother of all the Clergy of France The remonstrances she took the liberty to make to the Princes the care she had to procure the reformation of the State during the troubles and that which hapned to Savoisy are very strong proofs of it But we will add two more The one that in the year 1304. the Prevost of Paris having caused a Scholer that was a Clerk to be hanged they carried their complaints to the King and left off their Exercises till they had satisfaction He was fain to go to the Pope for his absolution The other was thus in the year 1408. William de Tignonville who was at that time in the same Office having likewise sent a couple of Scholers to the Gallows who well deserved it but were Clarks was forced together with his Lieutenant to go and unhang them to kiss their Feet and cause them to be brought with great ceremony to the Matburins where yet their Epitaph is to be seen We find by the Letters of Pope John XXII that the Oriental Languages the Greek the Arabian the
Salisbury having brought new Forces out of England began it upon the Twelfth of October of the year 1428. and made several Bastilles or Forts as well on the side towards la Beausse as that towards Soulogne having before cleared all the places in la Beauasse and all others for twelve or fifteen Leagues both above and beneath the Town along the River of Loire Year of our Lord 1428 All the year 1428. the Duke of Burgundy was busied in the Low-Countries in pursute of Jacqueline of Bavaria He followed her so close that having besieged her in the City of Ghent he compell'd her to declare him Heir to all her Lands so that to Flanders and Artois he joyned Hainault Holland Zealand and Frise and again the same year the Earldoms of Namur and Zutphen after the death of Count Theodoric who sold them to him only reserving the possession to himself during his life time Two years after in Anno 1430. there likewise fell to him the Dutchies of Lothier Brabant and Linbourgh the Marquissate of the Holy Empire and the Lordship of Antwerp by the decease of his Cousin Philip of Burgundy the second Son of Anthony who had succeeded to Duke John his elder Brother Husband of Jaqueline who died in the year 1426. In the beginning of this year he went to Paris to the Duke of Bedford whither came also some Ambassadors from King Charles and Deputies from Orleans to intreat him that he would suffer the said City to be sequestred into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy They remonstrated that the Princes of the House of Orleans who were Prisoners in England could have acted nothing for which they ought to be dispoiled of their Towns and that it would he sufficient to put them under Sequestration as a security for what they should do when they were set at liberty The English believing this important City was now as good as their own scoffed at the request they would not lose the time and Money they had expended in the Siege Besides Bedford granted but very little of those things which the Burgundian demanded However that he might not be exposed between two Enemies without any Party to support him he put on the masque of an apparent satisfaction upon the face of his discontent Their attaques at Orleans were very brave and the defence of the Besieged much braver yet the Earl of Salisbury lost his life by a Cannon shot but the French having been beaten near Rouvroy at their falling upon a Convoy of Herrings which was going to the Camp it was in Lent and the Constable being retired Malecontent into Bretagne the place was just going to fall and the courage of all the French with it The King was already diposing himself to retire into Dauphine When a most extraordinary thing pulled down the English pride and raised up the hopes of France About the end of February the Lord de Baudricourt Governor of Vaucouleurs in Champagne sent a Maiden to the King about the age of Eighteen or twenty years who affirmed that she had an express Commission from God to relieve Orleans and cause him to be Crowned at Reims being sollicited thereto by the frequent apparitions of Angels and Saints She was named Joan or Jane was Native of the Village of Damremy upon the Meuse Daughter of James of Ave and Isabella Gautier and bred to keep Sheep in the Country Her Vocation was confirmed by miraculous proofs for she knew the King though meanly habited amidst the throng from all his Courtiers The Doctors of Divinity and those that were of the Parliament who examined her declared that there was somewhat of Supernatural in her behaviour She sent for a Sword that lay in the Tomb of a Knight behind the high Altar in the Church of St. Catharine de Fierbois upon the Blade whereof were several Crosses and Flower-de-Luces graved and the King openly affirmed that she had devined a very great secret not known to any but himself They gave her therefore a suitable Equipage and some Forces yet did they not trust the conduct of this relief to her management but gave it to the Mareschal de Rieux and the Bastard of Orleans followed by many other brave Knights who understood the Trade When she had display'd her Banner whereon there were two Images one a Crucifix the other the Annunciation with the Sacred Names of Jesus-Maria she wrote to the English in the name of God That they should leave the Kingdom to the Lawful Heir if not then she would make them go perforce But they kept her Herauld Prisoner He was found in Fetters when the City was relieved and it was discover'd that they intended to have burnt him as a Confederate of hers whom they called a Witch Year of our Lord 1429 The success made good her threatnings From that very day all their Affairs declined When she had thrown Provisions into Orleans and soon after entred the City in Person the Besieged believing her to be sent from Heaven resumed courage made divers Salleys where she fought valiantly and in two or three days took their chief Bastilles and constrained them to decamp for good and all the Twelfth day of May. The French ran up and down every where with this Heroine as to a certain Victory the English fled before her as from a Thunder-Bolt and durst not stand her approach They were chaced from Jargeau from Beaugency beaten at Patay in Beausse upon a retreat and in fine dislodged from all the places in those Countries Year of our Lord 1429 Touching the second point of her Commission she over-ruled it in the Council that the King should go to Reims to be Crowned though that City and all Champagne were yet in the Enemies power In their passage Auxerre Troyes and Chaalons surrendred to the King then the City of Reims it self as soon as ever those Lords that held it for the Duke of Burgundy were gone forth to fetch some assistance from Burgundy he was Crowned upon a Sunday being the Seventh day of July by Renauld de Chartres Archbishop of that City and their Chancellor Year of our Lord 1429 In recompence of these so important Services the King Ennobled the Pucelle her Father and her three Brothers and all their Descendants even by the Females changed the name of their Race which was of Arc into that of de-Luce or Lily and for their Coat of Arms gave them a Field Azure with a Sword placed in Pal the Cross and Pumel Or accosted with two Flowers-de-Luce and sustaining a Crown of the same upon its point Year of our Lord 1429 Upon his return they gave him up Laon Soissons Beauvais Compiegne Crespy and all the Cities even to Paris The Duke of Bedford came and presented him Battle in the Plain of Montepilloy the Armies were in sight but parted after some Skirmishes From thence he went to assault St. Denis and made an attempt upon Paris his Men were repulsed with loss and
attempted at his Crown he sound a more dangerous Enemy in his House that attempted on his Life He might have been called Happy had he had another Father and another Son He was affable debonnaire liberal just He tenderly loved his People and spared them as much as it was possible rewarded those that served him very largely took particular care of the Justice and Policy of his Kingdom laboured greatly for the reformation of the Church and was so religious he would not charge it with any Tenths But being of somewhat too soft a temper he was governed and led away by his Favourites and Mistresses too much and in his latter days became apprehensive jealous and suspicious to the extreamest degree He had three Bastards by his Mistresses and eleven Legitimate Children by his Wife Mary Daughter of Lewis II. Duke of Anjou four Sons and seven Daughters Of his Sons two only survived him which were Lewis and Charles As for Daughters Radegonde died betroathed to Sigismond eldest Son of Frederic V. Arch-Duke of Austria Yoland was Wife of Ame VIII Duke of Savoy Catharine of Charles Duke of Burgundy Jean or Joan of John II. Duke of Bourbon and Magdelain of Gaston Prince of Viana and Earl of Foix another Jeane and Mary Twin-Sisters did not outlive the age of Infancy LEWIS XI King LIV. Aged XXXVIII Years POPES PIUS II. 3 years under this Reign PAUL II. Elected the 29th of August 1464. S. 7. years wanting one Month. SIXTUS IV. Elected the 9th of August 1471. S. 13 years whereof 12 under this Reign Year of our Lord 1461 THe conduct which the Prince had made appear in all his actions particularly towards his Father and towards his People of Daulphine made it plainly enough known what his Friends and Subjects were to expect from him He ever Governed without Counsel most commonly without Justice and without Reason He thought it the finest Policy to go out of the great and beaten Road of his Predecessors to change every thing were it from better to worse that he might be feared His judgment which was very clear but too subtil and refined was the greatest enemy to his own and his Kingdoms quiet having as it seems taken pleasure in putting things into disorder and throwing the most obedient into Rebellion He rather loved to follow the bent of his own irregular fancies then the wise Laws of the Land and made his Grandeur consist in the oppression of his People in the pulling down of the great ones and the raising up of others from the very dust and nothing This is what another calls putting their Kings hors de page i.e. out of their Minority he should have said putting them out of their Sence and their Reason The Creatures of the late King formed a Party in favour of Charles his second Son they named him the young Lord which perhaps tended to exclude the Eldest He therefore stood in need of diligence and power to prevent it The information given him by the Count du Mayne not so much out of affection as of hatred to the Count de Dammartin who had been his Rival in the favour of Charles caused him to mount on Horse-back the soonest he could And the Duke of Burgundy and his Son accompany'd him with four thousand Horse chosen out of ten Thousand He went directly to Reims where he was Crowned the 15 th of August by John Juvenal of the Vrsins Before he received the Sacred Unction he would be made a Knight by the Duke then distributed that honour to 117. Lords At the end of the Feast the Duke kneeling down beseeched him to forget the injuries which had been done to him upon occsion of the discontents that had been betwixt his Father and himself He granted him that request but he excepted against seven and under pretence of that number pardoned not any one He made his entrance into Paris the last day of August followed by thirteen or fourteen thousand Horse The feastings being ended the Duke returned into Flanders the Count went on Pilgrimage to St. Claude's in the Franche-Comte and the King to Amboise to see his Mother She died in a short time after to the great regret of the wisest who could have wished that the respect he had for her might for a longer time have been as a Bridle to the voilence of her Son He was much delighted at Plessis les Tours the Count found him there at his return to whom he gave the Government of Normandy and 12000 Crowns by Establishment But it was only a Paper-security and seeming marks of Friendship which were accepted for no other then they were given These two Princes resembled each other too little and knew one another too well to love on either side and indeed from that time the Count treated secretly with Romille Vice-Chancellor of Brittany and gave him his Commission Sealed Year of our Lord 1461. and 62. As soon as Lewis was entred into his Kingdom he Governed himself as in a conquered Country He destituted all the Officers of the Royal Family of War of Judicature and of the Treasury treated all the Creatures belonging to the King his Father very ill took delight in destroying all he had set up gave nothing but Berry to his Brother for his whole Apenage or Portion set the Duke of Alenson at liberty and put the Count de Dammartin into the Bastile restored the Count of Armagnac to his Lands loaded the people with Taxes strip'd the great ones and offended all the Clergy Year of our Lord 1461 Never had any private person laboured more to reduce the power of the Pope within the terms of the Canons then Aeneas Sylvins and never Pope did struggle more to enlarge it bounds of right and reason then the same when he was Pius II. The Pragmatique was a Curb very troublesome to his undertakings He made so many applications to the King that he allowed of a Declaration in November 1641. to abolish it The Court of Rome transported with an insolent joy did immediately cause that Constitution to be dragged along the Streets But it was not yet time for the oppositions of the University hindred the effect of the Declaration and the King never troubled himself to have it put in Execution because the Pope had failed of his word in many things John Gefrey Bishop of Arras had the Cardinals Cap as a recompence for having negociated this affair with the King Year of our Lord 1462 In the mean time the Pope maintained the Bastard Ferdinand in the Kingdom of Naples so that John de Calbria the Son of Rene of Anjou after various revolutions was utterly driven thence The Kings intreaties could obtain nothing from the Holy Father in favour of those Princes of his own Blood But Pius thinking to slatter him confirmed the Title of Most Christian to him which had been already derived to him with more honour from his Ancestors and exhorted him to a Croysade against the Turks presenting him
night and go towards Burgundy Fear is an evil Counsellor all were of that opinion the Lord of Contay only hindred that retreat which would have turned to a rout The next day they had certain intelligence that the King was decamped and gone to Corbeil and a few hours after they were assured the Breton was arrived at Estampes Thus the Field was left to the Charolois which filled his head with so much pride that it may well be said that day was the cause of all his misfortunes The next day the King fearing to be hemm'd in descended directly to Paris along the Seine The same night he supped in the company of the principal Ladies of that City to gain their hearts by the power of that insinuating Sex and to have a Party amongst the Beauties to oppose the intrigues of those that were for the interests of the Princes He also highly commended the Fidelity of the Citizens and to allure the People he caused to be proclaimed in all the Suburbs an abatement upon Wines from a fourth part to an eighth part and a general revocation of all Imposts the five great Farmes only excepted These favours being against his will did not last long no more then the establishment he made of a Council of eighteen persons six of the Parliament six of the Body of the University and six of the chiefest Citizens by whose Counsel and advice he promised to be governed according to the remonstrances of the Clergy the Parliament and the University The danger past he kept nothing of all this but a mortal hatred against those that had made the proposition and particularly against the Bishop who first mentioned it in the name of the rest This was William Brother of Allen Chartier a man of great vertue and hugely zealous of the publick good ✚ Being in want of money he made great borrowings amongst his Officers Which was the first occasion of making employments vendible for he set aside those that had refused to lend him what he demanded About fifteen days after having well provided for the security of the City he went into Normandy to raise men and Money In the mean time the Count de Charolois marching to meet the Breton took the House d'Estampes to refresh his Soldiers and dress the wounded which were to the number of almost two Thoúsand At the end of three days the Breton arrived having with him the Counts of Dunois and Dammartin the Mareschal de Loheack the Lords de Bevil de Gaucour and d'Amboise 800 Men at Armes and six Thousand Light-horse It hapned one day that Monsieur a young Prince who had but a faint heart seeing the wounded men who were carried thorough the Streets of Estampes and the sick that crawled up and down let fall some expressions which signified his repentance for that enterprize The Count de Charolois heard it and perhaps he heard likewise that the Bretons upon the rumour that had been spread how the King was slain in the Battel of Montlehery had consulted of a means to rid themselves of him that they might govern the new King alone upon which he imagined that he might be left betwixt the Hammer and the Anvil and in this apprehension he sent to Edward King of England to treat of an Alliance with him and desire to have his Sister Margret His design was but to entertain him with hopes that he might make no League with the King for he mortally hated the House of York and was for the interest of Lancaster nevertheless by over-acting the dissembler he engaged himself so far as to compleat the marriage and took the Order of the Garter Year of our Lord 1465 When the Princes had staid two Weeks at Estampes they resolved to return before Paris to try a second time whether they could move them to declare themselves for the publick good Having therefore foraged the Country of Gastinois they passed the Seine over a Bridge of Boats between Melun and Montereau At this passage John of Anjou Duke of Calabria and Lorrain the Son of good King Rene and a great Captain joyned them with the Forces of both Burgundy's He had but eight hundred Horse but of the very best and amongst his Foot which were but few five Hundred Swisse the first that were seen in France When all the other Lords were come with their Forces there were near a Hundred Thousand Horse in that Army The Burgundian had his Quarters at Charenton and was lodged in his Castle of Conflans the Dukes of Berry and Calabria at St. Maur and the rest at St. Denis and the places thereabouts In this multitude of principal Officers there was no Head considerable enough to command this vast Body they staid three days before Paris without doing any thing Perhaps they might have forced it by assaults had they undertaken it for there were but five hundred Lances and some Bands of Archers however they rather furnished themselves then starved the City to a Compliance It is true they narrowly missed the gaining of it by Treaties and Intreagues For some out of a desire to see the Blockade at an end and the rest for fear of some sad event gave Ear to certain Letters brought them by the Heralds from the Brother of their King They sent Deputies to him from the Chiefest of the Clergy the Parliament the University and the Citizens The Bishop was Speaker At their return notwithstanding the contrary orders of the Count d'Eu who was Governor it was concluded at their Town-Hall that they should desire the King to Assemble the Estates that the Princes might come into Paris in small companies and that they should be furnished with Provisions for their money The King being informed thereof returned to Paris the 28 th of August and broke off this project Had he staid two days longer he might perhaps have found the Princes in Paris and the Gates shut against him Had that hapned he had resolved to have retired to Lewis Sforza Duke of Milan his good Friend who had sent him a relief of seven or eight Thousand Men that mightily harrassed the Duke of Bourbons Country Year of our Lord 1465 After his Arrival no day passed without Skermishings unless upon some Truces which were renewed divers times for four and twenty hours only There had been a Conference agreed upon by Deputies the third of September which was held at Mercers Grange From that hour there was nothing but bargaining to debauch people the Confederates grew jealous of each other that Party disunited and the Kings grew strong and better fortified and Confirmed It was resolved the Council of Sforza Duke of Milan should be followed which was to dissolve the League at what price soever and for that purpose to grant to every one in particular almost whatever he demanded The King had very near made an agreement which each of them excepting only about the Appenage for his Brother they being obstinately bent to have Normandy allowed him
for that purpose He could not consent to the dismembring that fair Province but in the mean time having information that the Duke of Bourbon who made War in that Country having been by some intelligence introduced into the Castle of Rouen had made himself Master of that City and that all the Province inclined to the same resolution allured with the desire of having a Duke as Bretagne had who found themselves very well under him he was induced to grant them what they held already Year of our Lord 1465 The Treaty was concluded the 29 th of October The Count de Charolois had the Cities of the Somme redeemable only after his Decease for two hundred thousand Crowns and moreover the Counties of Guisnes of Boulogne and of Pontieu The Count de St. Pol who Governed him had the Constables Sword To the Count of Armagnac and to all the rest they restored their Lands and those Offices they were dispossessed of and withal they gave them Pensions and employments but in such a manner as sowed the Seeds of discord amongst them The Duke of Bretagne made them pay the charges of his Army and his Journey The Publick which served for a Stalking-Horse to this War and who had born all the expences gained no advantage save only that it was promised That there should be named Six and Thirty Notables or prime Men twelve of the Nobility twelve of the Clergy and twelve of the long Robe to consult of Methods to ease the People and redress the disorders of the State Year of our Lord 1465 The next day the King and the Confederate Princes met at the Castle de Vincennes which he had put into the hands of the Count and there Monsieur rendred Hommage for his Dukedom of Normandy Two days after the Count took his journey towards Flanders the King conducting him as far as Villers le Bel and at the same time the Duke of Bretagne went with Monsieur into Normandy to see him take the possession of it The good success of Francis Sforza's Counsel did soon appear the King gained the most valiant of their Commanders to be for him put some of them into jealousies and divisions sought occasions to strip others and in time lighted on fit opportunities which entangled them in great troubles and perplexities The Count de Charolois was gotten into one that was bad enough to wit a War with those of Liege he needed but to encourage them by blowing up the Flame and assisting those inveterate people in their furious hatred Year of our Lord 1465 Their Bishop was Brother to the Duke of Bourbon Nephew by his Mother to Duke Philip of Burgundy they had expelled him the Country because he did not live like a Prelate and the Burgundian had undertaken to restore him Those of Leige and those of Dinant sent to declare a War against the Charolois when he was on his March towards Paris For that time the Duke his Father with the assistance of the Dukes of Cleves and Guelders compelled them in a few days to buy a Peace But a while after upon the flying report that the Count was kill'd at Montlehery they reassumed their Arms with more fury relying upon the promise the King had made to give them assistance and that he would make no Peace without them Those of Diant a City Famous and enriched by their works in Copper burst out into a Thousand outrages against the Charolois even to the calling him Bastard and hanging him in Effigie Year of our Lord 1466 Their chastisement followed their outragious Insolence very close The Duke laid Siege to the Town his Son commanded the Army The place was taken by Storm and burnt eight Hundred of the Inhabitants drowned in the Meuse and the rest abandoned to extream misery The Liegois who came to their relief terrified with the smoak of this Fire desired a Truce for a year till the month of January the year following and gave up three hundred Hostages Year of our Lord 1465 The Duke of Bretagne would monopolize Monsieur to himself alone and enjoy all the favours he could confer in Normandy John Duke of Calabria and the old Servants of Charles the VII had their pretences too divisions grew amongst them one may guess whether Engines were then wanting to blow up the Sparks They made John Duke of Calabria believe that the Breton had plotted to convey away Monsieur into Bretagne Duke John gives notice hereof to the Normands the noise is spread all over the City the Foolish people take it for a truth run to the Mount St. Catharine where Monsieur was waiting till they had made all ready for his reception sets him upon a Horse and forces him to make his entrance Tumultously without Ceremony The Breton durst not appear and was constrained for his own safety and to avoid that fury to retire into the lower Normandy whose Cities were in his hands Year of our Lord 1465 Soon as the King knew this he took opportunity by the foretop He marched directly to him frighted him brought him to a Conference at Caen where the Duke consented that those places which he held should be put as in Sequestration into the hands of Oder Daydic-lescun since Count of Cominges Whilst the King was in this Country the same Duke of Bourbon who had put Normandy into the power of Monsieur laboured to get him out again and put it into the Kings possession In all his life the Duke of Burgundy felt not a more sensible displeasure then to find that Prince whom he had loved above all the Men in the World turn his back upon him so soon and ruine his own designs Year of our Lord 1466 Louviers and the Pont de Larche being surrendred to the King those of Rouen demanded composition the 10 th of January and their miserable Duke denuded of Friends Money Heart and Counsel escaped in pittiful equipage and thought himself happy in finding a shelter at the Bretons Thus Normandy kept her Duke but two Months The King could not pardon the passion they had shewn to have one It cost the lives of a great number of the most considerable in that Country The War with the Liegois detained Count de Charolois so that he could not prevent this revolution and old Age hindred Duke Philip his Father from stirring in it so early as he would have desired He held only a Correspondence with the Breton and strove to Animate King Edward whose Daughter he had demanded in marriage to make a descent in France During the noise which was spread every where of this irruption and the murmurings of infinite numbers of discontented persons the King amused the people with the hopes of easing them having Summoned an Assembly des Notables at Paris out of which were chosen 21 Commissaries who began to set themselves about it in the Palace the 16 th of July The Count de Dunois presided It was he alone who amongst so many Princes had followed it
would leave it to them two He failed not to take his advantage of these inconsiderate words He would not have his Brother be so near a Neighbour to the Burgundian his Interest was to place him at the other end of the Kingdom to break off their Communication That young Prince Weak Year of our Lord 1468. and 69. and Inconstant of mind was Governed by Oder-Daydie Lord of Lescun a Gascon and vain who would needs be a Prophet in his own Country by his means he was persuaded to renounce Champagne and accept of Guienne with the City of Rochel This change was the loss of that young Prince The Cardinal de la Ballue in whose hands the Treaty of Peronne had been Sworn with much regret suffered it to be altered whether out of love to Monsieur or that he would have had the King still in some perplexity This good Prelat and William de Hoeraucoux holding Intelligence with the Burgundian wrote to Monsieur to dissuade him and represented many things to him for his advantage but contrary to the Kings intentions Their Letters having been intercepted and they Seized they ingenuously confessed their practices The King sent the information to his Brother who suffering to be overcome by his Carasses accepted of Guyenne and came to meet him at Tours The Bishop was shut up in an Iron Cage a punishment he well deserved since he was the first inventor of it The Cardinal was convey'd to the Bastille where he remained twelve years the Pope demanding him as liable only to his Justice and the King pressing the Pope to let him have Judges assigned him within the Kingdom to hear his cause Year of our Lord 1469 The good correspondence between the two Brothers seemed to be perfected and the King to gain or wean Monsieurs Heart from the Countries on this side allured him with a great Match in Spain Henry King of Castille had a Daughter named Jeane but whom the Castillians held for a Bastard because he was esteemed impotent in so much as they had constrained him to declare the Infanta Isabella who was his Sister his Heiress The King sent the Cardinal of Arras to demand this Isabella for Monsieur But the Lords of the Country having stollen her away and married her to Ferdinand Infant of Arragon he seeks to have Jane which Henry agreed to A Matter for a long War if Charles had lived The first day of August the King being at his Castle of Amboise instituted an Order of Knighthood in honour of St. Michael and limited the number of Knights to 36 yet was it never filled up in all his Reign The French particularly Honoured St. Michael as the Tutelary Angel of that Monarchy And a better could not be pitched upon to tread down the Pride of the English who carr'd Dragons in their Ensigns then that Prince of they Celestial Militia who is painted with a Dragon under his feet And indeed it had been reported that he was seen at the head of our Army 's sighting against them for the French He imagined by means or vertue of this Collar that he should have drawn all the Grandees of the Kingdom within his clutclies when he held this Chapter And therefore the Duke of Bretagne refused it and the Duke of Burgundy doing yet worse received the Order of the Garter and wore it to his Death The Breton had in his service one Peter Landays his Treasurer a man of Low Birth but very knowing and able to countermine all the Artisices of Lewis XI It was he that led him to all these evasions and emboldned his Master to withstand all his devices and his threats Thus what ever endeavours he could use though he were on his Frontiers with an Army he could never disunite him from the Burgundian but only obliged him by a Treaty made at Saumur to renounce all offensive Leagues against the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1470 In the year 1470. John the Natural Son of Lewis Duke of Orleance left this world aged 70 years having divers years before left the Court because of his almost continual pain of the Gout which the hardships in the Wars had brought upon him This Prince valued in all things says Comines having made himself as able a Counsellor as he was a Captain was one of the principal instruments God made use of to drive the English out of France Therefore the Princes of his Family gave him the County of Dunois King Charles that of Longue-ville the Office of Great Chamberlain and the Lieutenancy General of his Army's and strong Forts A power of so great extent that it hath been communicated to none but himself in the third Race Year of our Lord 1470 The renunciation which the King caused the Breton to make had most respect to Edward of York King of England and Brother in Law to the Burgundian of whom it was hourly reported that he was coming to Land at Calais He was wholly prevented by the Earl of Warwick who in revenge of some injuries received from him set himself to carry on the interests of the House of Lancaster and had even Debauched the Duke of Clarence his Brother He had the foregoing year defeated his Army and afterwards took him Prisoner Then Edward having escaped beat him in his turn So that he was forced to save himself in France about the end of the Month of May this year From thence returning into England with the Succours the King leâ—t him he changed the Scene a second time For all slocked to him according to the Genius of that Country which loves change and Year of our Lord 1471 Edward wholly forfaken fled into Flanders to the Duke of Burgundy his Brother in Law Then King Henry who was in the Tower of London was set at Liberty and Warwick and Clarence took upon them the Government of the Kingdom Though the King still resented in his Heart the affront received at Peronne nevertheless being of a fearful Spirit and the length of any enterprize putting him out of patience if the success were not as swift as his desires he would have lived in peace if the Constable and those that were about him had not excited his resentment to draw him to a rupture They feared and the Constable most of all that a Peace making them appear useless the King might think of retrenching their great allowances and his stirring mind if it were not employ'd abroad might put him upon great alterations at home in his Court. Besides these motives there was also an Intrigue of the Bretons and the Constables in favour of Monsieur As they desired to strengthen him against the King they had inspired him with a desire of marrying the only Daughter of the Burgundian And because they knew the Father would not easily consent to it they believed they should sooner bring it about by force then by friendship and therefore they resolved to engage the King to make a War upon him The Bias they took
together from the Month of December It 's Head was in the Sign of the Ballance and it had a long Tail turning a little towards the North. In Spring the King drew near towards Guyenne the Monk had perhaps reiterated his Dose However it was Monsieur died the 12 th of May. In the mean time the Burgundian passionately desiring to recover St. Quintin and Amiens was entred into a Treaty with the King who promised to restore it and to leave the Counts of Nevers and St. Pol to his Mercy and the Duke reciprocally did oblige himself to abandon Monsicur and the Breton to him Neither of these Dreamt of keeping their Word of Faith The Duke Signed the first the King deferr'd from day to day expecting what would become of his Brother when he had certain news of his Death he scoffed at the Duke and Seized Guyenne again into his own hands Although in many actions he had not too much of the Fear of God before his Eyes nevertheless he had great Devotion towards the Saints enriched their Churches went several Pilgrimages every year particularly to places Consecrated to our Lady He Ordained on the first of May that at the sound of the great Bell at Noon every one should kneel down and say the Ave Maria. The same day after the procession William Chartier Bishop of Paris Died suddenly not without suspicion that some had contributed towards his Death Year of our Lord 1472 It was in this year that Philip de Comines quitted the Duke of Burgundy whose Domestick and Subject he was to go into the Service of the King his Soveraign Lord. If the Motive thereto had been Honest no doubt but it would have been explained by him who hath reasoned so well on every thing else Who could express the rage the Duke of Burgundy was in when he Learn'd the Death of the Duke of Guyenne He entred into Picardy with a Torch in one hand and his Sword in the other Hitherto burnings had not been practised by either Party nevertheless he made a Bon-fire of all the open Country and Sacrificed all that fell under his power to his Friends Ghost Nesle taken by assault endured all sorts of cruelties because the Inhabitants had killed a Herald at Arms who went to Summon them and two men besides during a Surcease which had been allowed them to Treat in The reverence to the Altar could not save those innocent people who fled to the Church for refuge and such as escaped the Sword were all hanged or had their hands cut off His blind fury ran aground at the Siege of Beauvais The want of attacking it roundly at first made him lose six Weeks time and two Thousand Men. It is Memorable that upon a General Assault which was given the Thursday 9 th of July the Men within being ready to give ground the Women conducted by one Jane Hatchete did wonders repelling the Enemy with showers of Stones Wild-fire and Lead melted with scalding Rozen The Effigies of that Woman is yet to be seen in their Town-Hall grasping a Sword in her hand and there is a procession the 10 th of July which is the Day on which the Siege was raised where the Women march first the Men following after Year of our Lord 1472 Going thence the Burgundian Ravaged all the Country of Caux took Eu and St. Valery but was repulsed before Diepe then before Rouen and having threatned Noyon he retired to Abbeville From Guyenne the King passed into Bretagne to force the Duke to renounce the League and surrender the Monk to him who had Poyson'd Monsieur For Odet-Daydie had Seized him and transfer'd him to Nantes The Monk was found dead in Prison the Devil as was said having broken his Neck the Night before that day wherein they were to pronounce his Sentence This was what the King desired that so the Proof of the Crime might perish with the Poysoner and it was more easie now for the Breton to avoid the heavy strokes of his power by the ordinary craft of his Landays He granted him a Truce the 10 th of September and remained still in Poitou till it was converted into a final peace Which was brought about by the Mediation of Odet-Daydie whom he allured to his Service by great rewards He knew better then any Prince in the World how to gain Men discover his Enemies secrets distract them with jealousies divide the most united but in his mirth he could not hide his secrets every thing came to light and he was likewise more subject to commit faults then able to repair them which he strove to do by Methods more frequently bad then good Year of our Lord 1472. 73. In the beginning of Winter the Burgundian accepted a Truce In the Month of February the Duke of Alenson who had a troubled and unquiet mind for having contrived I know not what League with him was made Prisoner and conveyed to the Castle of Loches and from thence to the Lowre The following year the Parliament by a Sentence of the 18 th of July Condemned him to loose his Head The King his Godson gave him his Life and Seventeen Months after took him out of Prison and put him into a Citizens House at Paris under a good Guard Year of our Lord 1474 where he soon Died. John V. Count of Armagnac who had been once more driven from his Country after the Death of Monsieur had again Siezed upon his City of Leytoure by certain correspondence and had there surprised Peter de Bourbon Beaujeu Governor of Guyenne He was straightly besieged in that place by the Kings Army commanded by the Cardinal of Arras 'T is said that having capitulated with him that good Prelate broke his Faith so that the City was invaded during the Suspension and the Count miserably Murth'red in his House His Brother Charles was brought Prisoner to Paris During the Truce the Burgundian wont to conquer the Dutchy of Guelders Duke Arnold had either sold or given it to him disinheriting his wicked Son Adolph who had a long time held his Father Prisoner and was himself so now by the Burgundian at Ghent This new Acquisition gave him the Appetite to encrease on the German side He flatter'd the Emperor Frederick with the marriage of his Daughter to his Son Maximilian and was even willing she should give him her promise and a Diamond With this Lure he brings Frederick to Mets thinking by his Authority to make himself Lord of that Town which did not Succeed and got his promise that he would raise his Dukedom to a Kingdom With these hopes he went awhile after to him at Treves carrying along the Regal Ornaments and made him a Feast with more then Royal Profusion But the Emperor meant the Marriage should be first accomplished and the Duke would sign the Contract in Quality of King They could not agree thereon And the Emperor left him there without taking his leave Year of our Lord 1473 The King let
d'Imbercourt They likewise called in the Bishop of Liege the Duke of Cleves and the Son of the Count de St. Pol. They were all divided about the marriage of the Princess Ravastein desired to have her married to his Nephew the Son of the Duke of Cleve The Chancellor Hugonet and the Lord d'Imbrecourt to the Dauphin and the Gauntois to some German Prince The Deputies from these were gone to the King of France in behalf of the States of Flanders and said they had full power to negociate a Peace The King shewed them maliciously some Letters from the Princesses Council which mentioned the quite contrary Their brutish Pride believed the Council plaid upon them and prompted them immediately to revenge As soon as they were return'd to Gaunt they laid hold on Hugonet and Imbercourt made Process against them under pretence of some concussions and cut off their heads not being moved with the humble Prayers and Intreaties or the abundant Tears of their Princess who with dishevel'd Hair came to the place of Execution to Implore the Lives of her two faithful Servants With the same fury they took away Ravastein and the Dutchess Dower from her gave her a Council of their own chusing and drew Adolph of Guelder out of Prison to command their Forces Ever since the War for the Publick Good the King had always had a Mortal desire for revenge against James de Armagnac Duke of Nemours This Lord after the Death of the Count d'Armagnac had retired himself into the strong Castle of Carlat in Auvergne in the year 1476. Peter de Bourbon-Beajeu had order to take him He could not have compassed it by force he makes use of fraud giving his Faith he should have no hurt yet nevertheless he brings him to the Bastille About seven or eight Months after the Parliament had orders to proceed against him Those men of honesty could not find any thing charged upon him sufficient to make him Guilty the King sends them to Noyon the 20 th of June to teach them their Lesson and put out of their places such Counsellors as refused to conclude he deserv'd Death The rest returning to Paris Chancellor Peter Doriole presiding they condemned him the 4 th of August to lose his Head and the same day the Sentence was put in Execution The King would have his two Sons who were yet but Children stand under the Scaffold that their Fathers Blood might run down upon their Heads Year of our Lord 1477 The Flemmings and the Duke of Bretagne earnestly Sollicited the King of England not to suffer the Heiress of Burgundy to perish without assisting her but the King amuzed him still with the Marriage of the Dauphin to his Daughter and spared neither Presents nor Pensions to all that were about the King who besides was over-burthned with Fat too much addicted to his pleasures and who feared dangers greatly because he had greatly suffer'd His Brother George Duke of Clarence having medled too much in his affairs or for some other cause which was never known fared but very ill he caused him to be drowned in a But of Malmesey In these times Oliver le Daim the Kings Barber who made himself a man of great importance had taken a Commission to reduce the City of Gaunt thinking he had much Credit amongst them because he was a Country mans Son of those parts The Gauntois baffled him as he deserved Retreating thence he by surprize got the Kings Forces into Tournay that from thence he might molest the Flemmings The Gauntois having taken Arms went Head-long to attack this place But they were ill handled and Adolph de Gueldres killed in their retreat This was about the beginning of July Year of our Lord 1477 It had been their design that he should Marry the Princess who very glad to be so deliver'd from him resolved in fine to determine which to take of the many that aimed to get her She therefore chose Maximillian Son to the Emperor Frederic to whom she had plighted her Faith in her Fathers Life time The Marriage was Consummated at Gaunt about the end of July He was so poor that his Wife was forced to be at the charges for the wedding for his Equipage and the maintenance of his Servants At first she got no advantage by a Husband who had no assistance from his Father very covetous nor his Uncle Sigismond rich enough in money but of a very poor Spirit Nevertheless upon the consideration of his Father who was Emperor the King being entred into some Conferences with him found it fit to grant him Truce for a year and to restore to him Quesnoy Bouchain and Cambray which were in the Territories belonging to the Empire Others say they drove out the French Garrisons and rendred themselves to Maximillian The Lord de Craon this was George de la Trimoville who commanded the Kings Army in Burgundy treated the Prince of Orange ill and did not restore him to his Lands as the King had promised notwithstanding he had express orders This was the cause that the Prince joyned himself again with Claude de Vaudrey and some other Noble-men of the Country and led away almost all the Province from him It is true that the Battel he afterwards lost nigh Montguyon brought back the Dutchy but the War did not end there as to the County Amongst other events the Lord de Craon shamefully raised the Siege before Dole The King was so angry that for this and his plundrings he set him aside and put Charles d'Amboise Chaumont in his place This man laid the foundation of the first League which the Kings of France have had with the Swisse He stipulated that the King should give a Pension of 20000 Livers yearly to the Cantons and as much to some particular people for which they should furnish him with six Thousand men to be paid by him and should give him the first Rank amongst all their Allies at which they made some difficulty because the Duke of Savoy had ever held it The Truce being expired Maximillian caused some Forces to enter Burgundy who more by the Factions of the People that regretted their ancient Princes then by their own proper strength took Beaune Chastillon Bar Semur and divers other places with so great facility that if the Emperor Frederick had assisted his Son never so little he had at that time re-conquered all the Dutchy The Lord d'Amboise who had money and men in abundauce chased them almost as easily out again as they gotten in and thereupon the Truces were renewed for some Months The Kings of France had for a long time had a good number of Gentlemen Pensioners to attend and to Guard them King Lewis encreased the number and gave them a Captain ✚ His impatience to know speedily all that passed in every part of his Kingdom was the occasion of setling the Posts and Couriers who for a long time were only for the Kings Service Italy had divided it self in
the accustomed Ceremonies and Magnificence Being returned to Paris the Duke of Bretagne sent a complaint to him for having supported the Rebellion of his Subjects The Dame according to her Father's wonted Method in stead of returning him an answer Debauched his Ambassadors from his Service These were the Lord D'Vrfe whom she made Grand Escuyer and Poncet de la Riviere on whom she bestowed the Mayoralty of Bourdeaux Year of our Lord 1484 The Cardinal de Balue after his being set at Liberty went to Rome and as that Court is a Region of perpetual Intrigues he Succeeded so happily therein that in short time be got great Credit and some good Benefices He moreover prevailed with the Pope so far that after the Death of Lewis XI he sent him into France as Legat à Latere He made his entrance with so much arrogance that he made use of his faculties before ever he had the Kings consent or had presented them in Parliament to be examined whether they contained nothing contrary to the Rights of the Crown and the Liberties of the Gallican Church The Parliament offended at this bold undertaking forbid him to take upon him the Characters of his Legation or to exercise the power Notwithstanding the Kings Council after he had shewed his reasons and made his necessary Submissions gave order he should be received in that Quality with the usual Respect and Honour and that he should exercise his Functions Which he did for some days when hearing news of the Death of Sixtus he returned on his way to Rome with a Present only of a Thousand Crowns in Gold which the King gave him towards defraying the Expences of his Journey Year of our Lord 1484 The Council Establish'd by the Estates had neither Power nor Vertue the Dame de Beaujeu usurped all the Authority She turned out all those from the Kings Service as were not at her Dvotion and brought in d'Vrfe Riviere and Graville prime Chamberlain who watched and as it were beleaguer'd the young King These Folk wanting some brave daring Heroe to oppose the Duke of Orleans did likewise keep Rene the Duke of Lorrain at Court to whom they restored the Dutchy of Bar till such time as the King should be of Age to do him right for the County of Provence assigned him a Pension of 36 Thousand Livers per Annum and a company of an Hundred Lances During these disorders in France the Scene was wholly changed in England Henry Earl of Richmond after the Battel in the year 1471 where Henry VI. Lost his Crown and Liberty endeavouring to make his escape into France was by Tempest thrown upon the Coasts of Bretagne where the Duke Seized on him and detained him Prisoner in favour of Edward or rather to engage that King to protect him always against Lewis XI And indeed Edward never forsook him whatever advantage Lewis could propound to him and which was more paid him fifty Thousand Crowns yearly for his Pension When Edward Died he gave him his full Liberty and withal assisted him with Money and six Thousand Men wherewith he put to Sea having a Strong Faction in England whereof the Earl of Buckingham was Head Now it happened that a Storm having scattered his Ships the Confederacy was discover'd and Buckingham Beheaded with most of the great men who were concerned in it So that he returned and Landed in Normandy and from thence got back into Bretagne waiting for a better opportunity King Richard desiring to have him at what price soever profer'd Landays so much Money and such considerable assistance in time of need against the Breton Lords that this Perfidious and Mercinary Soul promised to deliver him up to his People The Earls Friends in England got a hint of this bargain and gave him Notice at the very nick of time when it was to be put in execution He immediately departs from Vannes under pretence of going to wait upon the Duke who was at Renes then striking into another Road made his escape with four more to Anger 's He was so closely pursued by Landays Men that he slipt thorough the passage but one hour before they came to the place The King was then at Langeais who received him very kindly And a great number of English Landing every Day in the Ports of France to joyn with him he gave him some broken Companies that were in Normandy with which he adventured over into England In fine having gained the Victory over Richard who was slain in the Field be ascended the Throne which he pretended did belong of Right to him as being the Eldest of the House of Lancaster He was indeed of that Family but at a remote distance as being but the Son of a Daughter of the Duke of Somerset's and of Edmond who was Son of Owen Tudor a Gentleman of Wales and Catherine of France who after the Death of King Henry V. her Husband was clandestinely Married to him Year of our Lord 1485 The Duke of Orleans the Duke of Bourbon likewise to whom the Constables Sword without any power was more an injury or burthen then an Honour made a new party against the Government The Duke of Bretagne Charles Earl of Angoulesme the Duke of Alenson and John de Chaalon Prince of Orenge who was Son of a Sister of the Duke of Bretagne entred into it Charles Earl of Dunois was the primum mobile The Duke of Orleans was the first that spoke and being retired to Beaugency demanded an Assembly of the Estates They immediately carried the King thither He besieged him in the place and forced him to an accomodation wherein it was agreed that the Earl of Dunois should retire to Ast in Piedmont After that they got the King to March against the Duke of Bourbon who finding him on a sudden in the midst of his Country accepted of such conditions as they would impose Year of our Lord 1485 The Soldiers they had Levied for these ends fell most of them into Bretagne The Duke of Orleans having sent all his thither for the Dukes Service the Dame sent the Kings thither also in behalf of the Lords Landays prompted as we may believe by his wicked Genius pursued the utter Destruction of the Lords with all his might and would not recede in the least from the Sentence he had obtained that they should lose both their Castles and their Heads He had raised a great Army for this purpose who had Ordersto Besiege Ancenis a place belonging to the Mareschal de Riux The Lords had taken the Field to prevent it The Armies being in sight of each other some good minded People made the Chief Commanders of the Dukes Army so Sensible how heighnous it would be in them to spill the Heart Blood of their own Friends and Kindred for the sake of the most profligate wretch in the whole World that they embraced each other mutually and agreed to joyn their Supplications to the Duke that he would be pleased
to Establish a Council made up of the Princes of his own House together with the Lords of the Country for the Administration of his Affairs Landays having intelligence of this was possessed with such fury that he caused a Patent to be drawn in the Dukes name which declared all the Commanders of his Army which had entred into that capitulation with the Rebels Criminals de Lesae Majestatis and their Estates consiscate The Chancellor his name was Francis Christian refused to Seal it notwithstanding the Dukes reiterated order But on the contrary being Summoned by the Lords to bring Landays to Justice he took several informations upon which a Decree was made to take the Body of Landays Year of our Lord 1485 The Lords of the Dukes Council held private correspondence to ruin this Fellow One day therefore the People of Nantes excited by some Emissary's and their own hatred towards him got in throngs into the Castle crying out for Jusstice upon Landays and at the same time the Chancellor was compell'd by the Lords to wait upon the Duke and beseech him to give leave that he might be arrested and brought to his Trial. The Duke to avoid greater danger took the miserable wretch by the Hand who had secur'd himself in his Chamber and delivered him up to the Chancellor expresly commanding him they should not touch his Life for he granted him pardon for whatever Crime they might convict him of But as that Prince was weak they had no regard to his injunction They made quick dispatch with Landays the Gibbet was the last step his Ambitious Pride raised him to Being found guilty of Concussions Depredations Murthers and other Crimes he was Hanged at Nantes the 18 th Day of July Year of our Lord 1486 The following year Maximilian was Elected King of the Romans at Francfort the one and Twentieth of February and Crowned at Aix la Chapelle with Charlemains Crown the 12 th of April He had surprized the City of Terouenne for which cause the Mareschal D'Esquerdes made a rude War upon him He pressed him so hard that he was forced to write to all those Cities in the Kingdom as had obliged themselves for Guaranty of the Treaty he had made with the King complaining of this injustice done him by that Lord and the Dame de Beaujeu in the name of the King The Letter was brought by one of his Heralds whom the King being then at Beauvais caused to be Guarded in his Journey It was Read in the Town-Hall of Paris but he received no other answer then what it pleased those about the King to dictate He was as little successful in the Cavalcade he made thinking to surprize Guise which Garrison did infinitely molest the Country of Hainault Having furnished Terouenne with provisions he came into Cambresis But the Mareschals Desquerdes and Guy still pursuing him and Poverty pinching him yet more then his Enemies he durst not undertake any thing Every thing failing him his Germans Disbanded and he retired to Melines where he caused his Son to be kept and Educated Year of our Lord 1486 One cannot conceive a greater grief then what the Duke of Bretagne felt for the loss of his Landays nevertheless he was forced to contain himself and grant an Abolition or Indemnity to all the Lords for fear of intailing a Cruel and Bloody War upon his Country but all that precaution would not serve turn The time was come to put a Period to that Estate and I know not what fatallity hurried them to it by unavoidable accidents The Dame de Beaujeu being informed that the Duke of Orleans was forging some design against her made him to be commanded to come to Court he came upon the second Summons he received but the next Day being the 5 th of January he went into the Country upon pretence of Hawking and took his flight into Bretagne The good reception he met with from the Duke the power he gave him there and the strict knot of Friendship he tied with Guibe one of the Nephews of the Deceased Landays who commanded the greater part of the Dukes Gendarmerie gave both suspition and fear to the Breton Lords The Kings Council knowing their apprehensions offer'd them all assistance imaginable to help them drive out both the Duke of Orleans and the rest of the French from their Country of Bretagne The wisest amongst them were not for Engaging so great a power in their quarrel as would sooner or later swallow up all if called in But the rest imagining they could easily Limit and Curb them by Articles of Agreement This opinion carried it they made a League with the King upon these conditions That he should bring into the Country no more then four hundred Lances and four thousand Year of our Lord 1486 Foot That he should recall them as soon as ever the Duke of Orleans and his partisans should quit the Country That he should neither take nor Besiege any place without the consent of the Mareschal de Rieux nor should lay any claim or pretence to the Dutchy Whatever was in the Treaty expressed yet the Kings Council were persuaded that Bretagne appertained to him by vertue of a Cession which the Heirs of Pontieure had made to Lewis XI Nay even some Bretons who loved to swim in deep and large Waters and hoped to find fairer fortunes in the Court of France confirmed them in this opinion And it was for this design they led the King to the Borders of that Country Year of our Lord 1486 Whilst he was at Amboise he had private notice that the Count de Dunois was returned from Ast notwithstanding his commands to the contrary had got to Partenay in Poiton which he Fortified that being there he was making a League for the Duke of Orleans and that he had drawn in the Earl of Angoulesme the Duke of Lorrain the Lords de Ponts and de Albret He cajoled these two last with the hopes that they should marry the Duke of Bretagne's eldest Daughter and the Duke of Lorrain was tyred with the put off's they had so long used towards him concerning the Succession of the House of Anjou Year of our Lord 1487. in January Those friends the Duke of Orleans had left at Court plotted together to carry away the King who would have warranted them and as they said had intreated them to do it being quite wearied and distasted with the imperious Government of his Sister This would have ended the Quarrel to the Dukes advantage but the contrivance having taken Air by a Valet the Bishops of Periguex and Montauban these were Gefroy de Pampadour and George d'Amboise Comines and some others who had the management of it were Arrested Comines having been a Prisoner near three years of which time he was shut up eight whole Months in an Iron Cage was condemned by Sentence of the Court of Parliament to lose the fourth part of his Estate and to remain a Prisoner for ten years
Ferdinand and stept in before him prevented his getting into Romagnia These successful beginnings engaged Charles the more He parted from Ast the sixth day of October At Turin he borrowed the Dutchess of Savoyes Rings and at Casal the Marchioness of Montferrats and pawned them for twenty four thousand Ducats Ludovic with his Wife came to receive him at Vigeue and accompanied him as far as Piacenza He arrived at Pavia the thirteenth of October There he found Duke Galeazo very ill of some Morsel his good Uncle Ludovic had caused to be given him Being at Piacenza he heard of his Death and then Ludovic who had accompanied him thither took his leave of him to go and reap the Fruit of his Crime and make sure of the Dutchy without any regard to Galeazo's Son as yet but five years old The French trembled with rage that this wicked Wretch should bring the King to be witness of a Parricide upon the Person of his Cousin-German They thought it much more just and safe to revenge this Death upon that Tyrant and to conquer the Dutchy of Milan and the City of Genoa then to run to the farther end of Italy crossing above an hundred Leagues thorow the Enemies Country in the midst of Winter without Money and without Provisions to seek out a Kingdom which would be impossible to keep unless they could first be Masters of Genoa and the Milanois Such was the sentiment of Desquerdes a great Soldier and had he lived had so much Credit with the King as would no doubt have perswaded him to take that Course but he died at Lyons Ludovic's Intrigues who had gained Stephen de Vers overthrew all that good Counsel and the King went forward taking his march by Tuscany The taking a small Castle by storm on the Confines of the State of Florence and afterwards the Fort of Serezanella which capitulated and then the defeat of some Succors which Paul Vrsinus was bringing did so astonish Peter de Medecis that he consigned four Places into the King's Hands which were even the very Keys of that Country to hold them for some certain Time and consented that he should borrow Two hundred thousand gold Crowns of that City Ludovic had fancied to himself that the King would put those places into his hands pretending that two of them belonged to the City of Genoa And for this purpose lent him twenty Thousand Ducats The Council having fairly denied him he retired but left some of his Emissaries about the King to watch their opportunities and dispose things for his advantage His fingers itched to get Pisa One day while the King was in that City his men had persuaded the Pisans to fall on their Knees as he went along to Mass and cry out for Liberty The young King was moved with Pity and the Master of Requests who went along before assured him that what they craved was Just Thus without considering that City was none of his he granted them their desires The Florentines at all times French by inclination taking their opportunity of the Kings approach banished Peter de Medecis from their City by a Sentence of the Senate and recovered their Liberty He retired to Bologna and from thence to Venice with so little Credit that one of his own Factors refused to let him have a Piece of Cloth he sent for The 17 th of November the King entred into Florence his Army in Battallia and himself Armed at all points his Lance upon his Thigh The Florentines partly by force partly out of good will treated upon and agreed a Confederation with him which was proclaimed in all the Cities of Italy with a Manifesto declaring that the King was come thither only to chace away the Tyrants and from thence to carry his Arms against the Turks the capital Enemies to Christendom Picus Mirandolus that marvellous Prodigy of all sorts of Sciences Died in Florence the same Day the King made his entrance The very same hour he went forth the City of Pisa threw off the yoak of the Florentines the People pull'd down their Arms and erected the Kings Statue in the room of them This prodigious success of the French their great train of Artillery which was drawn by Horses and so well managed that in a few hours they could shatter and beat down the strongest Walls as likewise their Combats which was no Childrens play like the Italian fighting bred a Terror over all Young Ferdinand soon retreated from before Aubigny even to Rome and his Uncle Frederic getting out of the Port at Legorne retured to Naples All cried out Vive France the places about Rome strove which should first surrender and the Vrsini made their Peace with the King Then his Holyness to his great regret intreated Frederic to withdraw his Forces and himself was constrained to let the King make his entrance into Rome he being retired to the Castle St. Angelo Year of our Lord 1494 The King entred there Armed as into an Enemies Town upon the 28 th of December and disposed of his Soldiers and Artillery in all the publick places So that Alexander fearing to be taken by force and deposed as he well deserved capitulated with him and condescended to what ever he desired Amongst other things he let him have five or six of his best places for a certain time the investiture of the Kingdom of Naples Caesar Borgia his Bastard Son who was called the Cardinal of Valentia for Hostage and Zemes or Zizim the Brother of Bajazeth to make use of him against the Turks Year of our Lord 1495 The Treaty being finished the Pope came down from his Castle He and the King saw each other often with more appearance of Friendship then any real confidence And the King shewed great respect to his Dignity even to the kissing of his Feet giving him water to wash at Mass and taking his Seat in the Chappel below the Dean and Cardinals Which did not so well please such as expected he would have made use of his power in reforming the Roman Church and purging the Holy See of a Tyrant who defiled with all the abominations imaginable the House of God The eight and Twentieth of January the King went from Rome continuing his march towards the Kingdom of Naples Being at Velitri the Cardinal Bastard Son of the Pope who was an Hostage slunk away from him and returned back to Rome At the same place Antony de Fonseca Ambassador from Ferdinand King of Arragon seeking some pretence for a Rupture made sharp complaints for that the French invaded the Empire of all Italy and urged that when his Master treating with King Charles had promised not to oppose him in his Progress meant it only in relation to the Kingdom of Naples whereas the King had taken divers places from the Florentines and from the Holy See The French replied smartly And the dispute growing hot the Ambassador tore the Treaty in pieces in the Kings presence which so inceased
after all he detained him and sent him into Spain to Ferdinand who indeed treated him with much more humanity then he could expect after so much Treachery Year of our Lord 1501 This War ended Rauestein went with the Fleet against the Turks King Ferdinand though he were entred into the League refused to send his Ships The want of good intelligence between the French and the Venetians turned this expedition to their great shame The French having Attaqu'd Metelin's Capital City in the Island of the same name lost a great number of their Brave Men there at their return a Tempest horribly shatter'd them and such as were forced into the Islands belonging to the Venetians found them a more faithless and ruder Enemy than the Turks Year of our Lord 1501 Above all things the King desired the Alliance of Maximilian that he might have from him the Investiture of the Dutchy of Milan About the end of September the Cardinal George d'Amboise who was called the Legate the Pope having given him that Commission in France went upon that Errand to wait upon him in the City of Trent with a stately Equipage his Train consisting at least of Eighteen Hundred Horse The Emperor demanded with great instance the freedome and release of the Sforza's he agreed to that of the Cardinal Ascagnia and had his word reciprocally for a prolongation of the Truce and the Investiture but which should be only for the Kings Daughters not for the Sons Year of our Lord 1501 He made this exception because he ardently desired to have the Kings Eldest Daughter and that Dutchy in Dowry for Charles his Grand Son The Arch-Dukes Ambassadors being come to the King at Lyons that Marriage was agreed upon the Tenth of August it was again confirmed by the Arch-Duke and Jane of Castille his Wife in the Month of November in their passage thorough France into Spain They were magnificently received at Paris the Arch-Duke took his Seat in Parliament in quality of Pair of France The King and Queen entertained them at Blois Fifteen days together and caused them to be conducted to the Frontiers with all imaginable honour even with the power of granting Pardon in every City they passed thorough Year of our Lord 1502 The limits for the division of the Kingdom of Naples had not been well express'd there soon arose a Debate for the Country called Capitanata of very great importance because of the Toll for Cattle which were brought thither to Graze in Winter the French would have it to be a part of Abbruzo the Spaniards of Puglia From words they proceeded to blows the Spaniards more haughty although the weaker began the brawl in several places The two Generals the Duke of Nemours and Gongales conferring together concluded a Cessation to bring the controversie to an amicable composure but the Spaniards soon broke it again by divers Acts of Hostility In so much as the King who was then at Ast sent to the Duke of Nemours a command to make down-right War upon them since they had already violated the Peace two several times He was gotten into Italy to endeavour and take care for the preservation of his Dutchy of Milan and the Florentins his Allies and suppress the horrible Tyrannies of Coesar Borgia called the Duke of Valentinois For as to the former Maximilian had broke the Truce the Swiss threatned him with an irruption into the Milanois unless they might have Bellinzzone setled upon them which was already in their hands and the Venetians did openly enough show their hatred against him And for the latter there was a League made betwixt the Vitellozzi the Vrsini John Paul Baillon and Pandolphus Petrucci to restore Peter de Medicis to the Signory of Florence as for Coesar Borgia he brought all the Petty Princes of Italy into dispair not sparing the King of France's Allies Year of our Lord 1502 From all parts there came complaints to the King of the violent proceeding and enormous Treacheries of that Man nevertheless being as politique as wicked he knew how to appease his anger by constraining Vitellozzi with grievous Menaces to Surrender up the Towns to the Florentins and by this means gained so great Credit and Interest at Court that the King believing him a very necessary instrument for his Affairs renewed the Alliance with Alexander VI. which drew the hatred of all Italy upon him and perhaps the Curse of God with ✚ whom it is impossible to be well whilst we joyn in Society with the wicked Whilst he was in Lombardy the Genoese invited him to honour their City with his Presence He made his entrance in great Pomp the Six and Twentieth of August and after he had tarried there Ten days returned into France The War in Naples and settlement of that Conquest which seemed almost perfected required him not to have left Italy so soon but he relied on the Truce which he thought was certainly consented to by Maximilian though indeed it was not concluded In a short time the Spaniards were driven almost out of all the places of Capitanata Puglia and Calabria and Goncales found himself shut up in Barletta without Provisions or Ammunition The War had been at an end if the Venetians had not speedily furnished him or if d'Aubigny had been believed he would have brought the whole Army to have forced him there but the Duke of Nemours divided them most unluckily into several bodies to besiege the other Towns and in the mean while Gonsales wisely timing his Affairs recovered himself Year of our Lord 1503 The Arch Duke with his Wife repassed thorow France conferred with the King at Lyons and treated an accommodation touching the business of Naples by which it was agreed that Charles the Son of Philip but one year old should be Married to Claude the Kings eldest Daughter which Queen Anne very passionately desired that for her Dowry she should have the Kingdom of Naples that in the mean time the Kings should enjoy their Divisions and that the Country which was in Debate should be Sequestred in the hands of the Arch-Duke The Ambassadors from Ferdinand his Father in Law whom he brought with him and Year of our Lord 1503 who were fully impowred Signed this Treaty and swore to it submitting themselves to Excommunication in case it were violated the Heraulds proclaimed it and the two Princes sent notice of it to their Generals The Duke of Nemours obey'd but Gonsales refused to submit to it unless he had an express Order from Ferdinand A reinforcement of two Thousand Germans which he had newly received from Maximilian the assurance he had that the Pope and the Venetians declined the Kings interest and the Information given him that four thousand French which were set on Shore at Genoa had disbanded by the failure of the Treasurers who believing the Peace was concluded had kept back their Pay raised his courage and he assured himself of being owned provided his success deserved it Till then the
French had the advantage but fortune turned her back upon them on a suddain the King neglecting to make the necessary provision relying upon the Arch-Dukes faith and the Spaniards recruiting his Forces during this mock-Peace Besides all this the rashness of the French Generals who imprudently engaged the Enemy and fought with more of fury then conduct lost all d'Aubigny who ought to have drawn things out in length and waited the French Supplies made hast to fight the body of their Army Commanded by Hugh de Cardonna Emanuel de Benavide and Antonio de Leva This was on the one and twentieth Year of our Lord 1503 of April near Seminara in Calabria and in the same place where a few years before he gained a memorable Victory he now met a contrary fate His defeat did in some manner oblige the Duke of Nemours to try his fortune and endeavour to vanquish Gonsalvo before this General should be joyned with the victorious Army He fought him near Cerignoles in Puglia the eight and twentieth of the same Month and had yet more misfortune then d'Aubigny for he was slain upon the place and d'Aubigny had made his escape to Angitola 'T is true he was immediately besieged there and in few days forc'd to capitulate and agree that all his Men should quit that Kingdom himself remaining a hostage till that were fully performed After this Gonsales had nothing that could hinder him from going whither he would Naples open'd her Gates to him the thirteenth of May and received him with acclamations of Joy the French Soldiers that were there retiring into the Castles The Cities of Capoua and Aversa followed the example of Naples Amidst this grand revolution the constant fidelity of Peter Caracciole Duke of Malfy deserved singular commendation he refused all the advantageous conditions which Gonsales proffer'd him and chose rather to lose all his Lands and go out of that Kingdom with his Wife and Children then to be wanting in his Faith to the French The Chasteau Neuf or New-Castle did not hold out long Peter de Navarre having made a breach by springing of a Mine the Garison was so astonished at this unknown new-thunder which burst out of the Earth that they surrendred Year of our Lord 1503 upon composition a Day before the Arrival of the Kings Navy which brought two Thousand men and a great quantity of all sorts of provisions The Castle del'Ovo held three Weeks longer and was likewise taken by the same invention You may therefore observe that in this War Peter de Navarre a Soldier of Fortune bearing the name of his own Country taught them the way of filling a Mine with Gun-Powder to blow up their Walls whether of his own invention or rather he bringing it to greater perfection For it was said that he had seen it practised by the Genoese at Serazenella when they besieged it upon the Florentins in the year 1487. where the Mine having only crackt the Wall because it was not deep enough nor enough charged they had laid aside this invention as of little use or effect But that he having observed their mistakes and the cause why it miscarried corrected them and had found the way to make them very useful There yet remained several places in possession of the French as Aquilea and the Rock of Evander some others in Abruzzo and Venouza in Puglia where the brave Lewis d'Ars and the Duke of Malfy had put themselves in after the Battel of Cerignoles Also Rossana Matelona Sanseverina and two or three other Cities belonging to the Lords of the Angevin Faction still held for the Party And as the Battel of Cerignoles was rather a rout then a defeat Yves d'Alegre had carried off four thousand Foot and four hundred Men at Arms whom he had quartered about Cajeta to refresh themselves This place being strong and withal a Sea-Port to receive Succours from France Gonsales went and laid Siege before it to shut up that back door d'Alegre immediately put in all the men he had left him and defended himself well enough till the Arrival of the French Army The Arch-Duke at his parting from Lyons was gone to visit the Duke of Savoy his Brother in Law He was not afraid upon the receipt of all this news to return to the King at Blois This was a great Testimony of his good conscience and integrity or a very bold and confident dissimulation He omitted nothing that might seem to justify him sent away immediately to Gonsales and wrote earnestly to his Father in Law In fine he demeaned himself so fairly that the King believed he acted with sincerity and prayed him not to apprehend that he would tax him with it For if his Father in Law had committed a piece of Treachery he would in no wise act like him but would rather a Kingdom should be lost which he was able to regain then to lose his honour which can never be retrieved Year of our Lord 1503 In the mean time Ferdinand would not yet clearly discover his intentions to his Son in Law he designed to hold him in suspence that he might hold the King so too lest he should make hast to relieve the Castles of Naples and Cajeta which still held out But when Philip had made known to him by a Courier that he should not leave the Court of France till he had fully satisfied the King in this matter he sent ambassadors thither who diowned his proceedings as having exceeded his Commission which however was not true And after this thinking to gain time by new Forberies they made a new proposition which was to surrender the Kingdom to Frederic but the King would hear nothing from a Prince in whom there was no Faith and commanded them to depart the Kingdom As for the Arch-Duke he treated him still civilly and suffered him to return into Flanders Year of our Lord 1503 That this affront might not rest upon France the King had resolved to shock Ferdinand with all his might and power And to this purpose he set four Armies on Foot three at Land and one for the Sea The greatest of the Land Armies commanded by la Trimoville and composed of eighteen thousand Foot and near two thousand Men at Arms were to recover the Kingdom of Naples and the other three to attack Spain The first commanded by the Lord d'Abret and the Mareschal de Gie were to make an irruption towards Fontarabia this consisted of five thousand Foot Swiss and French and about one thousand Men at Arms. The second conducted by the Mareschal de Rieux almost twice that number had order to enter by Roussillon The third was a Naval Army who at the same time were to scower the Coasts of Catalongne and of the Kingdom of Valentia and take care that nothing should be convey'd from Spain to the Kingdom of Naples Year of our Lord 1503 La Trimoville who was upon the march with his Forces moved slowly for most part of the Italian Lords
such as lay aside a great many Wares but can never find Money to pay or fetch them away The following Month he sent to Summon the King to perform what he had promised by the Treaty which was to restore the banished Milanese the fifty thousand Florins for the Investiture the five hundred Lances to attend him into Italy whither he desired to go to take the Imperial Crown The King satisfied him in all things excepting the Payment which was not yet due but underhand he supported the Duke of Guelders against the Arch-Duke and put some jealousy into the Heads of the Pope and the Venetians insomuch as they prayed the Emperor not to enter into Italy with an Army The Pope having discover'd the Genius and the Conduct of these Princes being Proud and Presumptuous believed himself to be above them all in Understanding as well as in Dignity that therefore he could awe them with a Nod lead them as he pleased and in the end destroying them by one another drive them both out of Italy and govern alone himself And they on their Parts were weak enough to believe they could do nothing without him and so by their fears encreased his Power He made the King set a great Value upon the Power he gave him to dispose of the Benefices in Milanois and the two Cardinals Caps the one for the Nephew of the Cardinal d'Amboise the other for la Trimovilles and therefore for this he in return obtained that the King should employ his Forces to recover Bologna for him out of the Hands of John Bentivoglio This Lord finding himself assaulted by him who had ever been his Protector intreated him at least to interceed with his Holyness that he might have the liberty to go out of the Town Year of our Lord 1506 and carry his Goods along with him Julius did not seem to be a jot the better pleased with the French but on the contrary he despised the King and the Nation though he had very great obligations to them besides For in the time of Pope Alexander his Capital Enemy he found his Refuge in France and a great deal of kindness from Lewis six years together but far from bearing in mind so many Favors this good Prelate when his Brain was pretty well warmed with Wine it evaporated in Discourses injurious both to the King and Kingdom of France The King and Courtiers were not wanting in their returns by reparties so much the more picquant as they were Ingenious and which left their tormenting Stings in his haughty and implacable Soul Year of our Lord 1507 The first important Occasion wherein they perceived his hatred was about the Affairs of Genoa where his Emissaries by their contrivance turned a Commotion which hapned betwixt the Nobility and the People into a down-right revolt against the King The mutinous Rabble being at perpetual Discord with the very insolent Nobless chose eight Tribunes under whose Authority they took those Places which Lewis de Fiesque held along the River and far from restoring them as the King commanded besieged Monaco so that Ravestein not thinking himself secure at Genoa went thence and then they Elected a Duke who was only a simple Dyer named Paul de Nova The Pope had omitted no under-hand Devices to excite this Rebellion The Emperor on his Part had blown up this Flame as much as it was possible and yet both the one and the other left these Wretches in the Perils they had drawn them to They had raised a Fort to defend the Passage into the Mountains which surrounds their City and had posted themselves near it with all their Militia The King presenting himself with twenty thousand fighting Men Master'd it at the first Assault and put their Army to a Rout which astonished them so much that they brought him the Keys of their Town without any Composition Year of our Lord 1507 Two days after which was the twenty ninth of April he made his Entrance in Arms having his Back and Breast-piece on his Sword drawn in his Hand all the People crying out for Pardon and Mercy and the Women and Children cloathed in White casting themselves down at his Feet Their Crime was expiated only by the Blood of Demetrius Justinian of Paul de Nova and a fine of three hundred thousand Ducats which was laid out in building of Castles to bridle them The King's Clemency pardoned all the rest and made them experiment the truth of that Devise which he had on his Coat of Armour the Day he made his Entrance It was a King of the Bees surrounded with his Swarm with these apt Words Non utitur aculeo Rex cui paremus Year of our Lord 1507 It would have been facile for him with a Victorious Army and in the astonishment it gave to all Italy to have made a mighty Progress which way soever he would have turned his Sword but he was so fearful of displeasing the Pope and of drawing the Innundation of all Germany upon Milanois very much exasperated against him by some Speeches of Maximilians in their Diet that to avoid all jealousy both in the one and other that he designed any Enterprize he disbanded his Forces He had likewise returned immediately into France had he not waited for King Ferdinand who desired to confer with him The Arch-Duke Philip died in the five and twentieth of September in the foregoing Year being eight and twenty years old By his Testament he left Charles his eldest Son under the Protection of King Lewis and desired him to take the Guardianship which he generously did and had so great and particular a care of his Education assigning him Philip de Crovi-Chevres a most ingenious Lord for his Governor that he made him much more able and knowing then consisted with the benefit of France Jane de Castille his Wife who before had her Mind a little discomposed was so concerned at his Death that she lost all her Wits and Reason she being therefore uncapable to Govern Ferdinand parted from Naples where he had been to take Possession to come and administer the Kingdoms of his Grand-Son In his Passage he conferr'd with the King at Savonna each of them treated the other with all imaginable Honour and Token of reciprocal Affection King Lewis went first to visit Ferdinand in his Galley Ferdinand came to see him in his House putting themselves thus into one anothers Power without any precaution They Swear upon the most Holy Sacrament to keep the Peace but the Event made it apparent that on Ferdinand's Side it was but feigned he stood no longer in need of the Friendship of Lewis the jealousy of the Arch-Duke which had before troubled him was now vanisht with his Life The German Princes were much heated in the Diet of Constance against the King they were made to believe that he dispised them and that the Army he had Marched over the Mountains to Chastize the Genoese were to invade all Italy In this beliefe they
time For his Army having twice approached Genoa could not make them stir a re-inforcement having been timely put in and Chaumont shut up the Passages to Milan so carefully against the Swisse that having in vain attempted to get thorough in several Places they returned again Year of our Lord 1510 The King perceiving that whether he would or not there must be a War with Julius appointed an Assembly of the Gallican Church at Tours about the end of September to know how far in Conscience he might proceed upon such an Occasion The Assembly having considered eight Questions which he caused to be propounded answered as to the substance of them that this was a just War Year of our Lord 1510 and that he might make it offensive to defend himself After this Advice he made inhibition his Subjects should not apply themselves to the Court of Rome for Provisions of Benefices or carry any Money out of the Kingdom Of all the Potentates in Italy there were none but the Duke of Ferrara the Florentins and the Bentivogli dispossessed of Bologna that took his Part The Venetians were openly in League with the Pope who for above a Twelve-Month past had renounced the League of Cambray King Ferdinand likewise having received from him the investiture of the Kingdom of Naples for a white Palefroy without payment of the forty thousand Ducats as his Predecessors were wont to do He did not however declare himself so soon but acting the Mediator between the one and the other he pretended to appease the Pope to animate him the more dived into the Kings and the Emperors Secrets and amused them with divers propositions The only considerable Ally that stood for the King was the Emperor who being always indigent by his continual Expences and delaying his Affairs from Diet to Diet where the Pope by his Intrigues easily blasted all his Designs especially in the matter of getting Monies was not at all advanced in his business against the Venetians yet however he being obstinately bent to bring them to reason notwithstanding all the Intercessions of the Pope was obliged to hold himself strictly united with the King Who for his own part flatt'ring his Ambition proffer'd to assist him with all his Forces to reduce the City of Rome and all Italy to his Obedience excepting Milan the Dutchy of Ferrara the Seigneuries of Genoe Florence and the Kingdom of Naples Thus both the one and the other to pull down the Pride of Julius concluded between themselves to assemble a General Council for the reformation of the Church as well in it's Head as in it's Members Year of our Lord 1510 This Year an Epidemical Disease spread it self over all France which they named Coqueluche because it clowded the whole Head with a drowsy yet painful heaviness It caused likewise great Pains in the Stomach the Reines and the Calves of the Leggs with a burning Feaver attended with dangerous Deliriums and a Disgust of all sorts of Food Few People were exempt from it and a great many Died of it Year of our Lord 1510. 11. The mischief to the King's Designs was that weakness of his to spare Julius and not utterly ruine him as it was in his Power for above two Years He had forbid Chaumont from attacking the Lands belonging to the Church this did not keep him from excommunicating that General and the Duke of Ferrara likewise A few days after Chaumont had a fair opportunity to take him in Bologna where he had rashly engaged himself but in stead of besieging the Town smartly he suffered himself to be amused with Propositions for an accommodation several days together in which time the Venetians and Turks came with some Forces and freed him from that Peril Year of our Lord 1511 When those Forces were joyned Julius commanded his Generals to besiege Ferrara and to facilitate the taking of it first to attack the little City of Miranda belonging to the Children of John Picus who had in no manner offended him This Siege not going on with speed enough to his Mind he goes thither himself notwithstanding the Frost and Snow having no regard neither to his Age of seventy Years nor to the Dignity of his Sacred Tiara He hastned on the Works ordered the Batteries encourag'd and pusht on the Soldiers sometimes by Caresses otherwhile by Threats And the Town being taken on composition the nineteenth of March he was carried into it thorough the breach The King's Reputation being much declined in Italy by the taking of Miranda he sent fresh Troops thither and Orders to Chaumont not to spare Julius any longer Chaumont followed him so close at the Heels that he constrained him to retire to Bologna and from thence to Ravenna but thereupon this honest General happens to die at Corregio and amidst the weakness caused by his Sickness was so touched with Scruples of Conscience that he sent to beg Absolution of the Pope The Command of the Army fell to Trivulcio because of his Office of Mareschal and the King confirmed it till he could send Gastande Foix his Nephew who was as yet but twenty Years of Age. King Ferdinand was press'd by both Parties to declare himself he was unwilling to Arm against the Emperor being Grand-Father to the young Prince the insolence of Julius shock'd him the Kings Power was ever formidable to him and whatever the event of this War might be he almost equally feared both the one and the other So that he thought it fitter to endeavor an accommodation and engaged those three Potentates to send Ambassadors to Montoua that they might find out some expedients Year of our Lord 1511 Stephen Poncher Bishop of Paris a Prelate of rare Prudence and great Learning went thither in behalf of the King Matthew Lang Bishop of Curs for the Emperor Many things were propounded the French Ambassador yielded and complied in several Points but the more he gave ground the more the others flew off Year of our Lord 1511 In the mean time the Pope desired the Bishop of Curs to come to him at Ravenna He thought to gain him by force of Promises and the splendor of a Cardinals Cap which he had newly communicated to eight other Prelates very considerable for their Learning or Credit of which number was Matthew Schiner to fortifie and support himself by their Suffrages against the Council with which he was threatned But the Bishop who more valued the Dignity of his Character then the Roman Purple did not mind his Proffers but treated him with unheard of haughtiness For he obliged him to come and meet him as far as Bologna sat on a like Chair as his and would confer with none but himself leaving it to his Gentlemen to treat with those Cardinals the Pope had sent to him Withal he kept firm to the Interests of the Emperor and the King and returned without concluding ought Year of our Lord 1511 Trivulcio therefore began the War anew and took Concorda Approaching Bologna
make a Peace with the King Ferdinand and the Venetians having brought him a little to heart again he fell to practise his wonted Artifice which was to amuse the King with Propositions of an Accommodation and to engage the Queen to act who by Motives of Conscience Caresses Intrigues and Importunities often disarm'd him and made him relent With this his trouble in Mind occasioned by the death of his Nephew the misunderstanding which arose between the Cardinal Sanseverin who was Legate and la Palice who had the Title of General the little obedience the other French Captains yielded to this last and the ill-timed good Husbandry or sparingness of the Treasurer Pay-Master to the Army did not only render that Victory fruitless but occasioned the loss of the Dutchy of Milan For the Treasurer disbanded a considerable part of the Forces and la Palice left Sanseverin but six thousand Foot and a thousand Horse and led the rest into Milan There being encamped at Pontevica a Place proper to relieve Milan Cremona Bress and Bergamo four thousand Lansquenets which made up two thirds of his Infantry and had been raised in the Territories of the House of Austria were recalled by the Emperor Maximilian at that instant when the Swiss were entring into that Country In few Words the French reduced to two or three thousand Men did wholly abandon all Milanois Maximilian Sforza was restored to that Dutchy by the Year of our Lord 1512 Swiss who declared themselves Protectors of it The City of Genoa revolted and created a Duke which was Janus Fregosa Almost at the same time the King of England sent a Herauld to declare a War against the King and the Emperor who had so often protested never to seperate from him forsook him and knit a new Alliance with Julius Amidst this rout amongst the French the Council of Pisa who were retired to Milan made their escape to Lyons During the time they had been at Milan they held four or five Sessions in which the Fathers had Summond Julius to name some free Place for the Council and to meet there in Person to justifie himself had declared him suspended of the Papal Administration and forbid to pay him Obedience The Council of Latran much more numerous and better authorized thundred with more force especially after the Emperor had owned them In their third Session which was upon a Friday the sixteenth of November a Bull was read which condemned the Council of Pisa their Abettors and Adherents and confirmed the Excommunications and Degradations which Julius had fulminated against the Cardinals and Bishops who composed it As also their Letters Monitorie of the fourteenth of August whereby he put the Kingdom of France under interdiction excepting the Dutchy of Burgundy and tranferr'd the Faires from Lyons to Geneva In the Fourth which was the eleventh of December there was read a Decree which adjourned the King and the Prelates Chapters and Parliaments to appear before him within sixty Days and to shew their Reasons why Year of our Lord 1512 they would not have the Pragmatick Sanction abrogated The Lure which King Ferdinand had made use of to engage the Young King of England his Son-in-Law in a War against France was the Promise he had made him to assist him with all his Forces to conquer Guyenne Upon this assurance the English by the end of May landed a great Army near Fontarabia but Ferdinand had of a long time formed the design of conquering Navarre so that in stead of joyning with him he falls upon that unhappy Kingdom nothing concerned in the Quarrel and took occasion upon the apprehensions of their Army to invade it the more securely and easily Year of our Lord 1512 King John d'Albret had not dar'd to arm himself for fear of giving him that Pretence he desired to oppress him So that as soon as he appeared on the Frontiers he coward-like retired into Bearn and abandon'd the whole Kingdom to him excepting only some Fortresses When Ferdinand had usurped Navarre he sought out some Title to it that he might still hold it He could find no other but the right of War and a Bull of the Popes which left it as a Prey to the first Occupier because John said he Year of our Lord 1512 was an Abettor of the Council of Pisa and an Ally of the King of France Enemy to the Holy See But as to the right of War unless they mean the Force ✚ or Power of the Sword which gives no right but amongst the Barbarians Ferdinand had none at all since John had no way wronged him and was so far from taking Arms against him that on the contrary he proffer'd him free Passage thorow his Kingdom And as to the other Point that Bull so much alledged is no where to be found but could it be produced it could give no right to a Crown which is held only from God and if it could give any it was published say the Spaniards in the Month of July and the Invasion was made in June Which is to chop off a Man's Head and then pronounce his Sentence The Succors which the King sent to John his Ally being ill conducted did him no Service The Duke of Longueville Governor of Guyenne and Charles Duke of Bourbon who commanded them could not agree The King sent Francis Duke of Valois thither His Authority stifled their Discord he entred into Navarre in dispite of the Duke of Alva who was encamped at Saint John's de Pied de Port and laid Siege to Pampelonna but the want of Provisions and Inconveniences of the Season constrained him to De-Camp at the end of six Weeks Ferdinand having reaped what Fruit he could hope for by this War did willingly make a Truce with the King About these Times began the Reign of the Cherifs in Affrica by one Mahomet Benhemet who saying he was descended of the Blood of his Great Prophet and having Sanctified himself in the Opinion of the People by a tedious and long Solitude animated them with a furious Zeal to Make War upon the Christians and those Moors that had made Alliance with them and by the help and means of his two Sons conquer'd the Kingdoms of Fez of Morocco and of â—remissen Year of our Lord 1513 The wrath of Julius had no bounds he had framed a Decree in the Name of the Council to transfer the Kingdom of France and the Title of Most Christian to the King of England When he was just on the Point of publishing it the Heavens taking pitty of him and of all Christendom called him cut of the World the three and twentieth of February He died of a lingring slow Feaver contracted as they said thorow Grief for that he could not persuade or incline the Venetians to make an Agreement with the Emperor So violent were his Passions much fitter for a Turkish Sultan then the common Father of all Christians Year of our Lord 1513 The Cabal of Young Cardinals having observed
forth with Bag and Baggage and all their Galleys and Vessels that were in Port. He made his entrance upon Christmass-Day Year of our Lord 1523 The Grand Master Peter de Villiers-l'Isle-Adam to whose conduct and Heroick Vertue the greatest Honour of this Generous defence was due setting Sail with his Knights and four thousand of the Inhabitants as well of that as of the Islands depending on it retired to Candia where he Winter'd From thence he went to Sicilia and three months after to Rome the Pope giving those Knights his City of Viterbo for their Retreat Six Years after in Anno 1530. they placed themselves in the Island of Malta The Emperor bestowed it upon them to cover his Kingdom of Silicia and they accepted it with the consent of all other Christian Princes in whose Territories their Order had any Lands or Possessions Year of our Lord 1523 The loss of Rhodes being partly occasioned by Pope Adrian's Fault it concerned him in Honour to repair it Therefore upon that consideration and to make his name glorious he employ'd all his cares to procure a Peace or at least a Truce betwixt all Christian Princes that so they might make War upon the Insidels with their united Force Francis would yield to nothing but a Truce and that a very short one this did not sute with the Popes designs So that not being able to overcome him by his Exhortations nor by the threats of the English nor upon the consideration that he made himself odious to all Christendom he would needs bring him to it by Force and thus of a Common Father he became a Partial and open Enemy Prompted with this Spirit he acted so powerfully with the Venetians that he broke them off from his Alliance and made a League with them the Emperor and the King of England to thrust him out of Italy The King had therefore all the great powers of Christendom against him nevertheless his passion to recover Milan did so over-rule his mind that he was resolved to go thither in Person at the Head of his best Men had not the Conspiracy of the Duke of Bourbon which he happended to discover kept him back And though this did strangely embarass him yet he sent Bonnivet thither with an Army For divers years past Madame had sought all opportunities of doing some displeasure to Charles de Bourbon and the Chancellor and Admiral employed themselves most willingly to gratifie both her passion and their own For Bonnivet Year of our Lord 1523 imagin'd if he could ruin him he should have the Connestables Sword and the other had a secret grudge against him for having denied his Family some Favour in Auvergne It did not satisfie Madame that she had deprived him of the Chief Functions of his Office and hindred his Marriage with Renee the Kings Sister she had process against him likewise in Parliament to strip him of the Dutchy of Bourbon and the other great Estate of Susanna his Wife who Died without Children in the year 1521. The Succession whereof as she pretended did belong to her as the next Heiress Indeed she was Daughter of Margaret and Philip who was Lord of Bresse and afterwards Duke of Savoy and that Margaret who was Daughter of Charles I. Duke of Bourbon and Sister to Peter who had the same Dutchy after John II. his Brother and was Father of this Susanna above mentioned As for Charles de Bourbon he was Son of Gilbert Earl of Montpensier who was Son of Lewis Uncle of Duke Peter and by consequence he was farther removed than she But besides that he made it appear by very ancient Titles by Solemn Judgments and Decrees and by many Examples that the Lordship of Bourbon was a Feif Masculin he shewed likewise how in his Contract of Marriage with Susanna he was acknowledged the right Heir of that House and as for the other Estate there was a mutual donation between him and his Wife by vertue whereof he enjoy'd it 'T is true that Susanna was then in minority and not authorized by the Judge but she was authorized sufficiently by the presence of King Lewis XII the Cardinal d'Amboise and four or five and twenty Princes Bishops and Eminent Lords He believed his cause would have been very good in any other times and against any other Party But as soon as they Commenced this process he imagin'd it was before resolved and concluded and that he must Infallibly be cast before Judges who were all Creatures of Madame's or of the Chancellor And this last Affront which reduced him to extream inconveniences blinded him so with rage and revenge that without any consideration of what he was and what he might come to be he casts himself into the Emperor's Arms having Treated with him by the assistance of the Lord de Beaurien Son of Adrian de Crovy Count de Rieux The King of England came into this Treaty It imported That all three were to share France betwixt them That Bourbon should have the Ancient Kingdom of Arles with the Title of King and as a Seal to this Alliance the Emperor should give him his Sister Eleonor who was the Widdow of Emanuel King of Portugal Bourbon had a particular pretension of his own Head to Provence because Year of our Lord 1523 Rene Duke of Lorrain had yielded up the right he had to Anne of France the Mother of Susanna and Anne by her Will and Testament had given it to him Now while the King was at St. Peter le Monstier on the Confines of Nivernois and Bourbonnois two Normand Gentlemen Matignon and d'Argouges Houshold-Servants belonging to the Connestable discovered all their Masters correspondence to him He would needs be satisfied from his own Mouth saw him in the City of Moulins and told him his whole mind The Connestable owned that he had been Sollicited by the Count de Rieux but stiffly denied that he had given any ear to it They would perhaps have laid hands on him if they durst But indeed the attempt would have been dangerous in the midst of his own Country for he was mightily beloved by the People and the Nobility and the King had but four thousand Foot with him and five hundred Horse so he only commanded him to follow the Court. The Connestable taking his Litter under pretence of some indisposition went easy Journeys At la Palice he had news that a Decree was made the of August which put his Estate under Sequestration thereupon he dispatches Huraut Bishop of Autun his Confident to the King to beseech him to stopt he execution of it and to assure him that this favour would bind him for ever to his Service but he was informed they had stopp'd the Bishop six Leagues from that place Then flying from the King's indignation he retired to his Castle of Chantelle where all his richest Goods were And there having intelligence that four thousand men were coming to besiege him he went forth by Torch-light When he had Rode a
think it an ill Omen to this undertaking that he was clad in Mourning for his Wife who died the twenty eighth of July But he stop't all their mouths by saying openly that they did not please him by speaking against it and knowing that his Mother was hastning from Avignon to disswade him he avoided meeting her but left her the Regency of the Kingdom The advantage both of the one and the other Army consisted in their diligence it was who should be the nimbler The King arrived at Vercel at the same time the Enemies got to Alba whence they got in two days to Parma having marched six and thirty miles in one day They had resolved to keep Milan and were Encamped at Binasque But upon the approach of his Van-Guard they abandoned that City to retire towards Loda His old Commanders were of opinion he should not leave off pursuing them for they were put to their last Shifts and shewed themselves half conquered throwing away their Arms as they marched and if these were but dispers'd there had not one place been left them but Pavia and Cremona with the Castle of Milan which wanting Provisions would have Surrendred in a short time Bonnivets advice was contrary and carried it The King left La Trimouille with six thousand men in Milan to Besiege the Castle and went to lay Siege before Pavia the 27 th day of October The Revolution of these Affairs in Milan appeared much greater then they were at Rome Pope Clement began to treat a new Confederation with the King in Secret and in the mean time propounded a Truce to both the Princes The Emperor who was then in Spain having heard his Envoy to whom the Regent had given passage through Provence and Languedoc did not reject it for he saw the King of England instead of lending him money demanded that again which he had advanced and the Venetians fearing the encrease of his Power or the Kings Forces denyed to renew their Alliance with him But the King flatly refused it as if it must have robb'd him of an assured Conquest He thought himself already so certain of Milan that he made a Detachment of ten thousand Foot and six hundred men at Arms with some Horse of his own Army under the Conduct of John Stuard Duke of Albany to go and Conquer the Kingdom of Naples and soon after he sent again four thousand more to Savonna commanded by the Marquiss de Salusses to make War upon those of Genoa Year of our Lord 1524 There is great likely-hood though the Italians deny it that it was upon the Sollicitation of Pope Clement not that he would have had Francis hold that Kingdom and the Milanois together for that were to have placed the Holy See between two Barrs but because he hoped to procure some great matters for himself by the help of the French Forces Perhaps the King fancied that Lanoy who was the Vice-Roy would quit all other Interests to preserve that and that he would draw all his men out of Milan to follow the Duke of Albany but he not only did not fear that so small an Army could take a Kingdom where there were so many strong places but he ceased from all apprehensions concerning Pavia and refused to hear any more of a Truce At two months end the Siege was found to be no more advanc'd then the first day The Garrison was strong the attaques feeble and languishing there was often want of Powder and always want of Order In the mean time Charles de Bourbon returned from Germany with a Supply of ten thousand Foot and a thousand Horse from the Frenche-Compte and joyned Lanoy's Army neer Loda These made up together seventeen thousand Foot seven hundred men at Arms and as many light Horse besides the Francontois With these they resolved to try all manner of ways to put some relief into Pavia which however was in no danger yet unless it were from their own Garrison who were ready to Mutiny for want of Pay Year of our Lord 1525 There was between Pavia and Milan almost in the mid-way a little place called Castle Saint Angelo which would have cut off their Provision had they left it behind them Bonnivet having confided so Important a place to an Italian he wanting either courage or sidelity quitted the Town as soon as they began to Batter it and retreated into the Castle which he Surrendred the same night After the taking of so Important a Post the wisest Captains were of opinion the King should raise the Siege and retire to Birasque They remonstrated to him that the Army of the Enemy being not paid would disperse within fifteen days that his own was a third part weaker then they made him believe that two thousand men who were coming to him by Savona were cut off by the way that the three thousand Italians of John de Medicis Disbanded themselves since their Commander in Chief being wounded upon an Assault was carried out of the Camp that six thousand Grisons had left him upon pretence of going back to defend their own Country where James de Medequin a Milanese Captain of the Castle de Muz had purposely and perhaps by their own Agreement surprized Chiavenna which is as it were the Key All these Arguments and Reasons were too weak to draw him from thence Bonnivets obstinacy and the shame he fancied it would be to quit his design after he had with so many Magnificent Speeches proclaimed that he would take the place or die before it obliged him to stay there and as we may say bound him Hands and Feet to deliver him up to his ill fortune There was not above two hundred paces distance betwixt the two Armies The Enemies could keep theirs together no longer for want of pay and withal they observed there was nothing but confusion in the Kings and that the flatteries of the Favorites sway'd more then the Councils of the oldest Captains this made them take the resolution to go and present the King Battle who was lodged in the Castle of Mirabel in the midst of Pavia Park and if he refused it to enter into the Town draw forth the Garrison that could hold out no longer and leave a new one in their room The night of the 23 d. or 24 th of February they drew near the Park Wall and having thrown down about threescore fadom of it marched directly to Mirabel this being a little before the break of day Although the Kings Guns were planted in a place of advantage yet could they do but little Execution during the obscurity but when it grew light they began to thunder upon their Rear insomch as it broke their Ranks and made them run into a Hollow way The King observing this disorder from his Camp which lay high was transported with joy at the same instant word was brought him that the Squadrons of the Duke of Alenson and Philip de Chabot-Brion had defeated a great body of Spaniards and
taken four Pieces of Canon Then believing they were half routed he imprudently went out of his Camp where they durst never have set upon him and goes on to charge them Year of our Lord 1525 He fell upon them with so much Impetuosity that at the very first he broke in amongst their Horse and with his own hand slew Fernand Castriot Marquess of Saint Angelo but the Arquebusiers they had mixed with their Horse put his to a Stop Then comes Bourbon and Lanoy who rallied their own and gave a furious charge The Duke of Alenson who cover'd the Swisse with four hundred men at Arms betook himself to flight and retired to Lyons where some days after he died with grief and shame The Swisse lying open made but a poor Fight and then withdrew the Lansquenets or German Foot who were but three or four thousand Fought to the last moment and were all cut in pieces All the Storm fell then upon the King His Horse being kill'd under him he defended himself on Foot some time without being known But meeting and knowing Pomperan he surrendred himself to him The Baggage and Cannon were taken eight thousand of his men killed upon the place amongst others Lewis de la Trimouille the Mareschal de la Palice Francis Earl of Lambesc Brother to the Duke of Lorrain Aubigny Sanseverin and Bonnivet this last too late as it was said for the good of France and divers other Lords of Note Together with the King were taken the Mareschal de Lescun René Bastard of Savoy these two died of their Wounds Henry d'Albret King of Navarre Francis de Bourbon Earl of Saint Pol the Mareschal de Montmorency Florenges Brion Lorges Rochepot Montejam Montpesat Langey Curton and a great number besides Upon the noise of this event the Garrison that was in Milan forsook it immediately and all the Dutchy fell to the Imperialists The next day after the battle Lanoy fearing the Souldiers might Seize upon the Kings Person to secure their Pay conveyed him to the Castle of Pisqueton and Committed the Guard of him to Captain Alarcon One cannot well conceive the divers effects the news of this great event produced all over Europe It caused infinite joy in the Court of Spain jealousie in that of England an universal affliction to France together with a marvellous consternation which was not much less amongst the Italians who with all their great wisdom and politiques saw themselves exposed as a prey to the Conquerour The French besides the particular sorrow every one resented for the loss of some Kindred or dear Friend did likewise participate in the common Calamity and apprehended lest France having none to defend her now they had lost their King the Flower of their Nobility and best Souldiers should be Invaded by the Emperours Forces Bourbons and the King of Englands The Venetians very wise in Adversity did endeavour their utmost with the Pope to form a League against this Torrent They were of opinion to raise ten thousand Swisse immediately to joyn a good body of Horse with them to exhort the King of England for his own interest to come into a League with them and to inform and instruct Madame in all these points who would not fail to contribute her utmost Cares The Pope consented to all and had given order for a Courier to go into England but the Spaniards having gotten the wind of it gave him such great assurance he should have whatever conditions he desired of the Emperour that as he was very irresolute and besides feared to be put to expences and never knew how to time his business he recalled his Courier changed his mind and made a League with the Emperour The Treaty made he obliged the Duke of Albany whom till then he had amused in Tuscany to Disband all the Italian Troops he had and Ship all the French at Cornet Port to send them back to their own Country lending him some Galleys for that very purpose those the Regent had sent not being sufficient to Transport them The Emperor having received the News of Pavia with great Moderation in so much as he would not suffer them to make Bonfires saying there was greater reason to Mourn for such Victories over Christian Princes then rejoyce it gave some reason to hope that he would make the same use of the advantage he had over his Prisoner in moderation towards him And indeed when he propounded to his Council after what manner he should Treate him His Confessor pleaded that he ought to release him generously and without conditions because it would be a most Christian-like Act worthy of a great Emperour famous to all Posterity which would make the King really his inferior and become ever obliged to him and would tye him more Strictly then any Treaty they could make with him But Fredric Duke d'Alva and after him all the rest of the Council being of opinion Year of our Lord 1525 he was not to be set free till they had so weakned him that he should be hereafter unable to give them any further trouble and that the abatement of his Power would be the re-establishment of the ancient Empire over Europe the Emperour declared that he was of their mind He therefore sent the Lord de Beaurien into Italy to propose to the King who was yet in the Castle of Pisqueton the conditions he desired for his release That he should renounce to the Kingdom of Naples and the Dutchy of Milan That he should surrender up to him the Dutchy of Burgundy which was the Patrimony of his Ancestors That he should give Provence Dauâ—iné and Lyounois to the Duke of Bourbon to be joyned with his other Lands and make them an independant Kingdom That he should Satisfie the King of Englands demands To which Francis replyed That a perpetual Imprisonment would be less severe to him then those conditions That they were not in his Power because they shock'd the Fundamental Laws of France to which he was Subjected but that he offer'd to take in Marriage Eleonora the Emperours Sister to hold Burgundy in Dower and Hereditary for the Children that should be Born of that Marriage to restore the Duke of Burbon to all his Lands and to give him his Sister Margaret Widow of the Duke of Alenson to satisfie the English in Money to pay a Ransom such as King John had paid and to lend him a Land Army and a Fleet whenever he would go into Italy to receive the Imperial Crown If the Regent mother to the King was troubled with grief she was much more so with Fear She apprehended to lose the Regency which Paris and the Parliament very ill satisfied with her conduct would have put into the hands of Charles de Bourbon Duke of Vendosme But that Prince either out of discretion or fear which in this circumstance made it vertue and merit seeing his Family already too hateful in the Kings Eyes refused to take it upon him He went
Italian Princes because he had oppressed the City of Florence which was the place of his Nativity could not be induced to grant it but replyed in general terms he must Communicate the thing first to the other Princes of Christendom As to the second he gave his consent and made a League for some Year of our Lord 1533 Months For the third he excused himself because he had hopes of Marrying his Niece with the Kings second Son a party much more Advantageous then Sforza could be The Cardinal de Tournon and de Gramont were then upon the Negociation with him about this Alliance The Emperor could not believe the King would so much Debase and Vilifie the Noblest Bloud in the World He was much amazed when the two Cardinals shewed him the Powers they had for it Then went he away very ill satisfied with his Holiness though to appease him he promised to give him content in what he demanded against the King of England and Embarquing at Genoa about the end of February he passed into Spain Henry made most Vehement instances to Francis that he would Impetrate of the Pope he might have Judges appointed on the Place The two Cardinals whom we have mentioned being arrived at Bologna the fourth of January in the year 1533 obtained of his Holiness that he would defer the Judgement of that business till the King and he should had seen one another at the place appointed for that Meeting They had agreed upon the City of Nice but the Duke of Savoy making too many Difficulties the Pope consented not without much Repugnance that it should be at Marseilles and that they should come there in the Month of October The Amorous Impatience of Henry could not attend till then he caused his Marriage with Catherine to be Dissolved by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Espoused Anne Bullen in the presence of four or five Witnesses only He was Emboldned thereto by the three Thomases who governed him these were Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Cromwel Lord Chamberlain and Privy-Seal and Audley Lord High Chancellour The thing being done he gave notice of it to King Francis intreating his assistance for what he demanded of the Pope and to keep the business Secret It could not be kept so Private but that in one Months time both the Pope and the Emperor were made acquainted with it Both of them were Netled and Incensed to the greatest Extremity in-so-much as the Pope Pronounced the Sentence of Excommunication against Henry and nevertheless he refrained from Publishing it upon the Kings request who on the one hand being obliged to Henry and on the other desiring to be firmly united to the Pope sought out some way for an Accommodation However he promised nothing to King Henry saving that he would do him all the good Offices he could without prejudice either to his Religion or his Conscience And indeed the Pope desired that he would not press him in that concern beyond his Duty and the rules of Justice Year of our Lord 1533 In the mean time Anne Bullen was deliver'd of a Daughter who was named Elizabeth This was in the Month of September of this year 1533. The tenth of October the Pope arrived at Marseilles in the Kings Galleys who took him in at the Port of Pisa Some days before John Stuard Duke of Albany had brought thither Catherine de Medicis whose Maternal Aunt he had Married John de Bellay Bishop of Paris and afterwards Cardinal Harangued his Holiness in most Elegant Latin The next day after he had made his Entrance into the City the King made his with his Queen The Nuptials between Henry and Catherine were Celebrated the seven and twentieth of the Month with as great Joy as Magnificence The Pope and the King spent several days together being Lodged in two Houses just opposit the Street betwixt them but joyned by a Timber Gallery so that they went to each other unseen and could treat of their Affairs with the greatest Privacy Upon this occasion the King did not forget his usual Magnificence but rather Surpassed it very much He Loaded with exquisite Presents and great Pensions all those Cardinals that were with his Holiness But he made the Beauty of his mind and Eloquence out-shine the luster of his Gifts and that whole Court was satisfied that if there were a richer Prince in the World yet there could not be any one that made a more generous use of his Riches nor that accompanied his favours with so much wit and so much kindness as he The two and twentieth of November the Pope and he parted very well pleased with all their Negociations excepting that the King had extorted from the Pope four Cardinals Hats for four Relations of his Favorites these were John le Veneur Bishop of Lisieux Grand Almoner of France Claude de Giury Paternal Uncle to the Wife of de Brion Odet de Coligny but thirteen years of Age Son of Montmorency's Sister and Philip de la Chambre Brother by the Mother to John Duke of Albany This last took the name of Cardinal of Boulogne he being descended from that House by his Mother As to the rest there was no new League made between the Pope and the King contrary to the expectation of the whole World The Pope promised only to do all he could in favour of Prince Henry his second Son to obtain the Dutchy of Milan of the Emperor for him And as to the business of the King of England the King could not prevail with the Pope to revoke the Excommunication but only that he would not Publish it till he had first tryed by all manner of perswasions to bring that Prince again to reason To this intent he forthwith dispatched John du Bellay Bishop of Paris into England to exhort him not to depart from the Communion of the Roman Church This wise and able Prelate having obliged King Henry to promise him that point provided the Pope on his part would forbear publishing the Excommunication went Post to Rome to carry this good News and demand time to reclaim and fix that inconstant and stubborn Spirit The Imperialists could not prevent him from procuring it but they caused it to be limited to a much shorter space then was requisite Du Bellay therefore sent back a Courier into England with order to return by such a certain time Now the day being come but not the Courier the Imperialists pressed the business so hotly that although he represented that the Frosts and Snows and other Inconveniencies of the Season and Way might hinder and retard him and desired another respite only for six days Yet the Pope refused it and doing in one Meeting what he ought not to have done but in three he Pronounced the Sentence and caused it to be affixed in the usual places Two days after the Courier arrived bringing very ample Powers by which King Henry Submitted himself to the Judgement of the Holy See provided certain Cardinals whom
from the good of the Subjects and who Establisht this Maxime so false and so contrary to Natural Liberty Qu'il nest point de terre Sans Seigneur i. e. That there is no Land without its Lord. The Office of Chancellour was given to Antony du Bourg who was likewise a Native of Auvergne and President in Parliament As to the Emperor he having foreseen that Clouds and Storms were gathering together from all Quarters against him by the King the King of England the Princes of Italy and those of Germany that he might have some pretence to Arm himself Powerfully he gave out that he was going to make War upon the Famous Year of our Lord 1535 Chairadin Surnamed Barbarossa who Infested all the Coasts of his Kingdoms of Naples and Sicilia That Pyrate was a Native of Metelin he had a Brother named Horue their Father a Christian Renegade and Poor From their Youth these two Bothers had used Piracy having but one Brigantine between them both then Increasing in Vessels in Men and Money they passed into Mauritania where engaging themselves in a War that was made betwixt two Brothers for the Kingdom of Algiers under pretence of Assisting the one they made themselves Masters of both the City and Country Horue being the Eldest bore the Title of King and Conquered Circella and Bugia likewise and Dispossessed the King of Tremisen but in the conclusion he was Vanquished and Slain in the Rout by the People of that Country joyned with the Spaniards with whom that King was allied Chairadin Barbarossa his Brother Succeeded him and became very formidable in the Levant Seas in-so-much that Sultan Solyman gave him the Command of his Naval Forces There were two Brothers at Tunis Sons of King Mahomet who disputed for the Crown Araxide and Muley-Assan this last although the younger had taken the Scepter by his Fathers appointment the other to avoid his Cruelty fled to Constantinople and Implored the Protection of the Grand Seignor Barbarossa taking advantage of this occasion appears before Tunis pretending he had brought him back to restore him though indeed he left him in Prison at Constantinople By this wile he so deceived the People that he was received into the City and drove Muley-Assan thence This man had recourse to the protection of Charles V. who undertook to re-establish him Charles landed therefore in Africk with an Army of above Fifty Thousand Men took the Fort of Goletta which he kept for himself setled Muley-Assan in Tunis beat Barbarossa at Land gave him chace by Sea and delivered Twenty Thousand Christian Slaves then upon the fourteenth of August he Weighed Anchor and set Sail for Sicily where in few days he Arrived Having so journed there neer three Months he passed to Naples about the end of November Year of our Lord 1536 From thence he wrote to his Brother-in-Law the Duke of Savoy to comfort him for the losses he had sustained by the French and of his eldest Son Lewis who died in Spain These words were but a weak support against those evils which encreased upon him every day For the Bernois having declared War in January 1536. drove out the Bishop of Lausanne Seized upon that City the Country of Vund Gex Genevois and Chablais as far as the Drance the Valesans on their side Invaded the rest of Chablais from that River all above Those of Friburgh got Possession of the County of Romont and the French Army Marched at the same time to enter into Piedmont John de Medequin Captain of the Castle of Muz afterwards Marquess of Marignan and some other of the Emperors Commanders whom the Duke had sent to Guard the Pass of Suze came there too late Antonio de Leva having visited Turin and found it was not yet Tenable was not of opinion that the Duke should venture to wait for the French there He went out therefore on the twenty seventh of March with his Wife and his Son and having Embarqued his richest Goods and Artillery â—n the Po retired to Vercel Turin Surrendred the third of April Whilst the Emperor was yet in Sicily he had News of the death of Duke Francis Sforza which hap'ned in the Month of October not leaving any Children by his Wife who was the Daughter of Elizabeth his Sister and Christierne II. King of Denmark Now the Dutchy of Milan being under the Power of the Emperor knowing the great Passion the King had for so excellent a Dutchy he made use of it as a Lure to amuse and lead him in a Slip if we may so express it all the rest of his Life Gravelle his Chancellour had told Vely the Kings Ambassadour that his Master would not dispose of that Dutchy till he had received Information from him how he intended to demean himself in these three particulars the first was in the War against the Turk the second the reduction of all the Christian Princes to the Catholick Religion and the third the setling of a Firm Peace throughout all Christendom He added that the Emperors desire was rather to bestow that Dutchy upon the Kings third then upon his second Son and demanded that the second might accompany him to the Siege of Algiers These two last Conditions did not please the King Upon the other three Heads he made such Replies as ought to have Satisfied the Emperor He demanded the Dutchy for Henry Duke of Orleans his second Son and offer'd to give four hundred thousand Crowns of Gold for the Investiture On this Foot he Year of our Lord 1536 sent to Vely that he should press the Emperors Resolution But that Prince gave only general Words and in the mean time put his Affairs in good Order for he made the Marriage between his Bastard and Alexander de Medicis who was one likewise and Confirmed him in the Government of Florence He made a new Confederation with the Venetians induced thereto by the Fame of his Victories in Africa and by the perswasions of the Duke of Vrbin General of their Armies He sent to his Sister Mary Widow Queen of Hungary to whom he had given the Government of the Low-Countries after the death of Margaret Widow of Savoy his Aunt as likewise to those with whom he had left that of Spain to make the greatest Levys of Men and Moneys they possibly could and himself on his part labour'd to get store of Money in Sicily and Naples and to encrease those Forces he brought out of Africa Now with promising hopes he led on Vely and the Kings Envoys even to Rome In the Month of April he made his Triumphant entrance and Sojourned there thirteen days There it was they Discovered his ill intentions and inclinations towards the King for after the Pope and he had conferred together about their Affairs he prayed him to Assemble his Cardinals and before them with Hat in hand he made a long harangue full of Invectives Complaints and Menaces against King Francis and would needs give them an account of all
for the like time This was Proclaimed at Carmagnoles he present the Eight and Twentieth of November Both Princes got by it to the loss of the unfortunate Duke of Savoy because either of them remained in Possession of what they were seized on The King made Montejan his Lieutenant-General in that Country and William du Bellay Governor at Turin Year of our Lord 1538 When he was come back into France he honoured Montmorency who was a Mareschal and Grand-Maistre with the Constables Sword the Tenth of February He also raised Annebaut and Montejan to the Offices of Mareschals of France which were vacant the one by the promotion of Montmorency to that of Constable the other by the death of the Mareschal de Florenges who ended his days soon after the Siege of Saint Quentin These Offices were limited to the number of four only which the Kingdom encreasing have likewise been encreased to three or four times as many The same year the Chancellor Anne du Bourg lost his life by a strange accident Being with the King who made his Entrance into Laon there was so great a croud of Horses that he was thrust off from his Mule and trod under foot whereof he died His Office was given to Charles Poyet Son of an Advocate of Angiers and then a President in Parliament There was a second Conference at Locate to Treat of a final Peace The Deputies could agree to nothing but a prolongation of the Truce for six Months but the Pope who ardently desired to reconcile the two Princes fearing left their Division should hinder the effects of a great League which he the Emperor and the Venetians had concluded at the beginning of the Year against the Turks dispatched two Legates to them and sollicited them so earnestly that both of them resolved to meet at Nice and to accept of those Offices of Mediation which he proferr'd He came the first thither about the end of May the Emperor almost at the same time to the Port of Villa-Franca and Francis with the Queen his Wife to Villa-Nuova some days after The Duke found himself mightily perplex'd the Pope desired to Lodge in the Castle and that the Garrison might be drawn out the Emperor would have had it so but the King advised the Duke underhand to beware of it for that he would else disoblige him He followed the Kings Counsel and went to visit him the third day of the Month the Emperor took some jealousie upon it and yet for fear of loosing him Treated him the better in all appearance The Pope therefore Lodged in the Town the Emperor held Conference with him in a Tent under the Castle the King saluted him apart but the Princes saw not each other Was it that the Pope desiring to treat under Hatches the Year of our Lord 1538 Marriage of his Nephew Octavian Farnese with Margaret the Emperors Bastard and that of his Niece Victoria with Anthony Eldest Son of Charles Duke of Vendosme kept them thus assunder fearing lest the one should discover what he was negotiating with the other or else perhaps it was that the Emperor apprehending if he saw the King he must be obliged to promise him in express words the Dutchy of Milan and the Pope knowing it might possibly let the King understand it was only to amuse him What ever it were this Conference produced nothing but a prolongation of the Truce for Nine years but the Emperor promised the King to see him at Aigues-Mortes in Languedoc before he returned to Spain It was Queen Eleonora who procured this Enter-view The Emperor came and Dined in the Kings-House the next day the King went to Visit the Emperor in his Galley where he was entertained in like manner The subject of their entertainment was not known but they were observed to embrace so closely and shew such Signes of Amity for two dayes they were together that the most sharp-sighted were deceived and imagined it was in good earnest Three Months after the King was grievously Tormented with a troublesome Ulcer which hapned in that part the Physicians name the Sutura or Seame between the Testicles This they said was the effect of some ill adventure he had with the beautiful Ferronniere one of his Mistresses This Womans Husband enrag'd at that abuse which the Courtiers reckon only a piece of Gallantry contrives to go to some leud place and Infect himself that he might spoil her and Convey his revenge thus to his Rival The unhappy Woman died the Husband recover'd by timely Remedies the King had all the bad Symptomes and his Physicians treating him rather according to his Quality then his Distemper he had some Relicks remaining upon him all his Life the Malignity whereof did much discompose the sweetness of his disposition and made him Melancholy suspicious and hard to be pleased but to say truth more exact sparing and sticking closer to his business Year of our Lord 1539 The remainder of this Year he made several excellent Edicts amongst others That the Curates should keep a Register of all Christnings and that hereafter all Decrees and other Acts of Justice should be no more drawn up in Latine but in French If the Emperor continued to heap his marks of Affection on the King it was but to hinder him from embracing the Protection of the Ghentois They were revolted because of some new Imposts which Queen Mary Governess of the Low-Countries had laid upon them particularly upon Wines and had Massacred some of her Officers after which expecting no pardon they went on to that Degree that this Year they sent Deputies to the King to Intreat he would receive them as their Soveraign Lord and they promised provided only that he would own them to hazard Fifty Thousand Men in Battle against the Emperor But this same King that had with so great formality newly confiscated Flanders and Artois not only accepted not of their submission for fear of violating the Truce but also by an excess of generosity gave the Emperor notice of it The Rebellion growing in strength day by day it was to be apprehended that all Flanders would follow the example of Ghent and that the King of England might accept what the French had refused Nothing but the presence of the Emperor was capable of allaying this furious heat but the danger was too eminent to pass thorough Germany where it would have been in the power of the Protestant Princes to have stopp'd him and it was no less to have gone by Sea He intreated the King therefore to allow him passage thorow France and to obtain it he began to Lure him with the Dutchy of Milan In the Council every one was for granting him passage but not without having a writing under his hand and good Securities The Constable de Montmorency by what motive it is not known was not of that opinion and argued that he ought not to be setter'd by any Conditions This Sentiment appearing full of generosity highly pleased the
comply with his Commands and that going to wait upon him by vertue of his faith given in writing under his own hand and his Parolle given to Maurice his Son in Law he caused him to be held Prisoner His Ministers to colour his Treachery put by mistake a W. instead of an N. in a certain word so that it signified without perpetual imprisonment instead of without any imprisonment These mighty advantages and success gave the King some Jealousie and put his Holiness in great fear This last was besides much irritated against the Emperor for what hapned at Piacenza He had first given to Peter Lewis Farneze his Bastard Son the Dutchy of Camerino which was taken from Guidobaldo Duke of Urbin Son of Frances Mary de la Rovere This establishment did not seem good enough he soon after exchanged with him for the Cities of Parma and Piacenza which he adorned with the Title of a Dutchy Now this Peter Lewis using his principality as if it were a soveraign right to violate all manner of right it happened that three of the principal Citizens of Piacenza and of the Gibeline Faction whom he had taxed in great Sums conspired against him entred into the Old Citadel upon pretence of coming to Petition him to take it off and discharge them when they had notice by the firing of a Pistol their Signal that their Confederates had seized on the Gates slew him and his Steward about Eleven of the Clock after he had Dined The Blow being given they called Twelve of their friends Year of our Lord 1547 into the Citadel hung the Duke up by the heels upon the battlements of the Walls where they left him till night then dragg'd him to the publick Market place where he lay two hours exposed to all the outrage of the populace The Gibelines in the mean while took up Arms drove out the Garrison and gave notice of it to Ferdinand de Gonzague whom the Emperor had made Governor of Milan in the room of Du Guast who dyed in disgrace Ferdinand presenting himself with a Hundred Men armed Cap-a-pee was received into the City took an Oath of Fidelity in the Emperors name and put in Ten or Twelve Hundred Men and shortly after he likewise endeavoured to surprize Parma Now as the Emperor was not well pleased that the Pope had given these two Cities to his Son because they were said he of the Dutchy of Milan and withal knowing that Prince sided with the French Party underhand and that he had a finger in the Conspiracy of Lewis de Fiesque who perished in trying to surprize Genoa it was believed with great reason that Gonzague had contrived or at least encouraged and favour'd that Tragical Conspiracy The Seigneory of Venice took the Allarm so hot that they created a Proveditor on Land to take charge and care of the Frontiers which they had never wont to do but in a time of extream peril The Pope was struck to the very heart and resolved to embrace all wayes and means to revenge his blood they had so cruelly shed Peter Lewis had left three Sons Alexander who was a Cardinal Octavia who had Married a Bastard of the Emperors and Horatio Duke of Castro who sought to Marry the Kings The first and the third followed the resentments of their Grandfather but Octavio diverted and hindred them employing his Wife to that end who possessed that old man and kept him so fast bound that he could not get out of her Snares and Fetters Thus having seized on Parma he made no difficulty of accepting a Truce for six Months with Gonzague upon Condition however that he should have a Months time either to refuse or confirm it Before this a Treaty was in hand between the King and the Pope for a Defensive League both of them apprehended lest the power of the Emperor encreased by the defeat of the Protestants should fall upon their heads The King did with much eagerness seek to preserve the Alliance of the Turk besides his Ambassador in Ordinary which was d'Aramon he sent thither the Baron de Fumeil and then also the Sieur d'Huyson to endeavour to break the Truce between Charles V. and Solyman and to get him to draw his Sword against Hungary They assured him that the King in that Case would not sail to do him the Office of a Friend having an excellent Militia and better paid then ever Fifteen Thousand Lansquenets and Seventeen Thousand Swiss ready to March besides his Legions and other bands of Gascons and Italians and forty Gallies he had built a Supply worthy to be offered to so great a Prince A very fair opportunity presented it self at the same time but which could last only two Months a Tumult in the City and Kingdom of Naples who were risen to hinder the settling of the Inquisition a dreadful Monster to all such as have been born and bred up in Liberty even to the wisest and the most Christian The Banished proffer'd to seize upon Naples Capoua Aversa Nola and to enter the Country with Twelve Thousand Men. The Pope list'ned to those Propositions and the Cardinal Farneze propounded to the King that those Banished should be seconded with an Army of Twenty Thousand more provided he would but pay them four Months and pressed him instantly to have recourse to the Turk and desire Forty of his Galleys to fall upon the Coasts of Naples Now his Holiness being in this disposition against the Emperor and knowing withal that his Partisans who were the stronger in the Council of Trent had conspired to diminish the Pontifical Power to raise and augment the Imperial and to satisfie the Germans who cried out that all the abuses of the Church proceeded from the Court of Rome took a resolution under a pretence the Plague was at Trent to transfer the Council to Bologna The King sent the Bishops of France thither but the Emperors were resolved to stay at Trent and the others as obstinate not to return to that place which occasioned a mighty confusion Upon this the Kings Agents would needs have the Pope to consider that he disobliged all the Germans as well Protestants as Catholiques by transferring the Year of our Lord 1547. and 48. Year of our Lord 1548 Council to Italy and gave up the Game to the Emperor that Prince winning their affections by insisting on what they desired that it should be held at Trent And therefore they were of opinion that he should consent to what they demanded but upon conditions which would be impossible which was that be should engage all the Protestants to pass their words they would subscribe to what should be there decided His Holiness did not follow this advice but chose rather to suspend it till the Year 1550. The Emperor thinking to appease the troubles about Religion in Germany published an Edict which ordained all persons to follow a certain Form of Doctrine and Cerimonies until a general Council had determined all those
with their Nails and bear him each having a Flambâ—au in his hand to St. Andrews Church About Five Thousand Burghers assisted at this Funeral Pomp carrying all Wax-Candles and making a stop before the Connestables door cryed out for mercy and confessed they had deserved a more heavy punishment Besides all this he put above an hundred to death most part being of the principal Citizens and Officers belonging to the place This great severity â—lienated the affection of the people from him as the tender humanity of the Duke of Aumale gained it so as from this very time that Lorrain Branch began to reign in their hearts Some while after the King who was benign and easie following the counsel of that Prince did in many particulars moderate the rigour of the Sentence preserved the Town-House gave Pardon to many that were Condemned and restored the Bells and Priviledges again to the Bourdelois Charles IX his Son gave them more ample ones After Bourdeaux had been humbled in this manner the Provost belonging to the Connestables going thorough all the Provinces laid hold on several of the most Seditious amongst others Three of their Chiefs viz. a Gentleman who had his Head cut off and two Chiefs of the Commons who were broken upon the Wheel with a Crown of red hot Iron clap'd upon their Heads Year of our Lord 1549 After all these Tragical Executions the Year 1549 was spent for the most part in rejoycings and in Carousels The Birth of the Kings Second Son of whom the Queen was deliver'd at Saint Germains was one occasion of these Feastings He was named Lewis The Figure-Flingers foretold wonders of him and yet he lived but two years The divertisements of the Carneval succeeded that of his Christ'ning then in the Month of July the King and Queen made their Magnificent Entrance into Paris after her being Crowned aâ— Saint Denis To this Ceremony they added Tiltings running at the Ring Balls great Entertainments and all the vain past-times that an ingenious and opulent idleness could invent to delight and glut the Eyes of the Women and multitudes of People When the Court was weary of these Sports the Scene of it was changed and a fit of Piety succeeded their Gallantry They made a general Procession to Nostre-Dame whereat the King was present This was to testifie by a publick Act the Zeal he had to maintain the Religion of his Ancestors and to punish all those that would disturb it Which he confirmed by the horrible Executions of great numbers of those miserable Protestants who were burned in the Greve They were haled up by a Pully and an Iron Chain then suffered to fall down in the midst of a great Fire which was repeated several times He would needs feed his own Eyes with this Tragical and Melancholly Spectacle and it is said that the horrible and mournful Shricks of one of those poor wretches left so lively an impression in his imagination that all his life long he had from time to time a very frightful and terrifying remembrance of those dreadful groans However that were it is certain the smell of those Carkasses thus roasted got into the Brains of a great many People who on the one hand beholding their false constancy and on the other the scandalous dissolute living at Court named this Justice a Persecution and their punishment a Martyrdom The 12 th of June the Alliance was renewed with the Swiss but not without much opposition of the Protestant Cantons exasperated for the burning those of their Religion Year of our Lord 1549 When the English were contriving better measures to invade Scotland there hap'ned some division between the Duke of Sommerset and the Earl of Warwick and between the Nobility and the People This Juncture being favourable to France the King would lay hold of it to recover Boulogne He armed powerfully by Sea and Land went before the place in person and gained four or five Forts the English had built round about it Then Autumn coming he Block'd up the Tower d'Ordre meaning to return in the following Spring Pope Paul having lost all hopes of recovering Piacenza from the hands of the Emperor or even to preserve Parma in his Family resolved to re-unite this to the Demeasnes of the Church and to give the Dutchy of Camerino to his Grand-Son Octavio Octavio positively denied to accept of this exchange and wrote to the Cardinal Farneze his Brother that rather then consent to it he would Surrender up Parma to Frederic de Gonsague The Cardinal shewed the Letter to the Pope who was so moved with wrath that his whole Body fell into a strange fit of trembling and afterwards into a violent Feavour whereof he died within three days The Cardinals after three Months practices and juggling Elected John Maria de Monte who assumed the name of Julius III. Year of our Lord 1550 The English not having Forces sufficient would not stand off too long but came to a Treaty of Peace which was concluded between the City of Boulogne and the Fort d'Outreau the 24 th of March They promised to resign Boulogne upon the payment of four hundred thousand Crowns of Gold to wit the one half when the French entered the Town the other moiety six Months after Scotland was comprized in this Treaty and those places the English had Invaded were to be restored to the Queen-Regent The House of Guise obtained great augmentations Duke Claude and John Cardinal of Lorrain his Brother being dead Francis Duke of Aumale took his Fathers Title and Charles who was called the Cardinal de Guise that of his Uncle and his Benefices This same raised his power mightily and that of his whole House not so much by his merit though he had a great deal as by his complaisance to the Kings Mistress He had so much power that he caused Peter Lizet the first President of the Parliament of Paris to be displaced He had dared to affront him by refusing to Treat him as a Prince but was forced Year of our Lord 1550 humbly to have recourse to his intercession to obtain some Benefice for his subsistance they gave him the Abbey of Saint Victor lez Paris John Bertrand second President was put in his place Soon after Diana caused the Seals to be taken from the Chancellor Olivier whose probity did not sute with her conduct and because he stood upon it not to lay down his Title of Chancellor which by the Laws of the Land cannot be taken away but with his Life She obliged the King to grant the Commission and Office of Keeper of the Seals and to give it to Bertrandi who by this means left that of first President to Giles le Maistre who had before succeeded him as second Though Faggots were lighted every where against the Protestants yet the Inhabitants of Merindol and Cabrieres presented their Petition to the King demanding Justice for the Violence done against them under pretence of a Decree of
send a great Army into Germany in the Spring That he should pay certain Sums of Money to maintain that Army under Maurice and the other Confederates and that to re-imburse himself of these Charges he should as soon as possible seize upon Cambray or else Mets Toul and Verdun which he should keep in Quality of Vicar to the Empire Before the Year expired the Holy Father growing weary of the War was considering of an accommodation with the King and sent one Legate to him and another to the Emperor to conjure them to hearken to a Peace The Legate that came into France made several propositions They all tended to the resigning Parma into the hands of his Holiness who proffer'd to restore the Dutchy of Camerino to Octavio they were not favourably received because they were no ways advantageous to the interests of the King for he did not so much regard the satisfaction of Octavio as the having the City of Parma at his own devotion and by that means having footing again in Italy traverse all the Emperors projects About the end of this Year having no Money to defray the expenses of his War he made divers Edicts in order to engage part of his Demeasnes to create those Courts or Seats of Justice named Presidiaux to erect the Chambre des Monnoyes to a Soveraign Court He also got Silver Plate of all such as would lend him any to convert it into Testons which were Coyned in a certain new invented Mill made upon the Seine and he levied an Impost of twenty Livers upon every Steeple upon Jewels and Church Fabricks not excepting even the Mendicants The Dutchess of Valentinois as it was reported had a good share of this Collection However it were some of the Cordelier and Jacobin Preachers could not hold their Tongues and had made much more noise about it if they had not been chastised Year of our Lord 1552 At the same time the King and the Leagued Princes made both their Manifesto's and their Armes appear together Maurice using much Craft and entertaining the Emperor with propositions of Peace Marched with so much celerity that he wanted but little of surprizing him at Inspurk He was fain to escape by night very shamefully and much affrighted flying to Carinthia even as far as the Frontiers of the Venetians with so much dread that for several days he knew not what he did The King on his side likewise took the Field Before he went out of the Kingdom he went into his Parliament where by an excellent discourse he recommended to them to have a great care of the Kingdom in his absence and declared that he left the Regency to the Queen his Wife but She would not let them verisie the Commission because he had too much limited her Power and had made the Chancellor Bertrandi almost equal in authority a creature of the Dutchess of Valentinois The first thing he did was to seize upon Lorrain and the young Duke Charles Son of the Deceased Duke Francis and Christierne Sister to the Emperor He brought him into France to be bred with the Dausin and gave the Government of the Country to the Count de Vaudemont then he took the Cities of Mets Toul and Verdun who little suspected such a surprize It was noised that the Year of our Lord 1552 Emperor had the same Design and that the King had only prevented him Ever since this time those Cities have been under the French and they owe that obligation to the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal his Brother who did all that lay in their power to facilitate these Conquests not regarding the inconvenience it would be to the head of their House for the raising and setling their fortunes in this Kingdom made them have an interest quite different from his The Kings design was to have seized also upon Alsatia his Army entred upon it and refreshed themselves there but the Citizens of Strasburg more jealous then those of Mets stood upon their Guards and sent him Provisions to take away all pretence for his coming into their Town Haguenau and Visburg opened their Gates to him In the mean time Maurice who had restored almost all the Cities and Princes of Germany to their Liberties fearing for his Father in Laws Head which the Emperor threatned to send to him if he accepted not of the conditions offer'd him was obliged to hearken to a Peace It was concluded by the Treaty of Pashaw where besides the releasing of the Landgrave many other things were allowed and agreed in favour of the Protestants They may very justly call that Treaty the true Foundation of their Evangelick Liberty which they have fully enjoy'd ever since that time but shewed so little acknowledgment to the King that there was not the least mention made of him at which Albert of Brandenburg shewed himself very much concern'd and angry for some time that he might have the better pretence to plunder and pillage At first the King could not believe that Maurice had any thoughts of treating without him but he was soon confirmed by an Envoy from that Prince himself who came to make his excuses The Electors of Ments and Triers and some other Princes of Germany finding him penetrate so far sent to entreat him since he had no other design but to be the Protector of the German Liberty and that they had recover'd it not to undertake any thing against the Empire nor to advance any further He was a little surprized at this Compliment and yet dissembled his displeasure he answer'd them that he was very well content since they were so and that his Arms had the effect they desired Wherefore at the same instant that he might not distast them and also having information that Mary Queen of Hungary Governess of the Low-Countries ransack'd and burnt the Frontiers of Champagne he took his way towards France but first to have his revenge for the mischiefs that Queen had caused he Marched into Luxemburg where he took Rochemars Danvilliers Yvoy and Montmedy and the Mareschal de la Mark the Castle of Bouillon which the Emperor had taken from his Grandfather one and thirty years before After these exploits and towards the end of July he lodged his Men in Garrison on the Frontiers of Picardy to refresh them and put them in a condition to withstand the great Effort for which the Emperor prepar'd himself Whilst he was yet in Germany he had intelligence that his Agents had made a Truce for two years with the Pope which assured the possession of Parma to the House of Farneze The greatest affront the Emperor could receive was that in his time and when he appeared to be most potent the three Cities of Mets Toul and Verdun should be dismembred from the Empire It concerned his reputation to regain them within the very same year and to that end he went about to raise the greatest Forces that ever he yet had in all his life without considering so
much his passion hurried and transported him that the Season was very far spent and that neither his Men nor his own health which was very much impaired would be able to endure the Rains the Frosts and Snows After he had therefore secretly agreed with Albert he came and laid Siege to Mets the Eighteenth of October with an Army of an Hundred Thousand Men and at the same time the Count de Raeux entring Picardy after having burnt Noyon Roye Nesle Chauny and the Royal House of Folembray assaulted Hesdin and took it by Storm but the same year the Duke of Vendosme recover'd it The terror the Parisians were in lest the Count de Raeux should come and sack their City destitute of Defence or Forces caused the King to free them from the like apprehensions in time to come to command it should be fortified on that side towards Picardy but at the Charge of the Citizens Year of our Lord 1552 The City of Mets was large but weak and ill fortify'd the Duke of Guise notwithstanding undertook to defend it against all the Emperors Forces He was accompanied with a great number of Princes and Lords and had with him all the Flower of the Nobility and Five Thousand chosen Men. He was forced to his great grief to beat down all the Suburbs and many fair Churches that were in them amongst others Saint Arnolds to which was joyned an Abbey Royal and wherein were to be seen the Monuments of seven or eight Princes of the Corolovinian House As to the rest the good order and Method he took concerning the Provisions the Ammunitions and the Guarding of the Place his indefatigable care his industry and his courage gave the Emperor much more trouble then he imagined and by making him limit there his Ne plus ultra acquir'd that Duke a never dying Fame The faithless and artificious Albert after he had some time entertain'd the French with intention to have surpriz'd Mets declar'd himself openly for the Emperor after his having surpriz'd the Duke of Aumale but the Siege advanced not the more for that It lasted two Months with great damage and breaches made by their Canon yet durst not the Besiegers give an assault In the mean time the severities of the Winter and the tedious fatigues joyned with the Valour of the French did so ruine the Emperors Army that having lost Thirty Thousand Men he raised the Siege upon the first day of January and retired to Thionville It was the most melancholly object in the World to see his Souldiers so benum'd with Cold they had not so much as the strength to run away but yielded themselves up to any that would take them The French instead of beating out their Brains took care to warm them and save their lives by all manner of comfortable Remedies The Duke of Guise made his generosity appear no less on this occasion then his Valour had before appeared in the Siege he Vanquisht his Enemies in a manner by so much the more Noble and Glorious as it made even those to Celebrate his Victory who were overcome by it Towards Italy Ferdinand de Sanseverina Prince of Salerno having been ill treated by Peter de Tolledo Vice-Roy of Naples had put the King upon thoughts of a Design against that Kingdom assuring him that as soon as the French Army appeared near Naples the City would rise To do this the King caused the Famous Corsair Dragut to go upon those Coasts and chase away the Galleys of Andreas Doria from that Port which he performed having pursued him and taken seven of his Vessels If the Prince of Salerno to whom the King had lent his own hed been there at this time of their consternation he might certainly have entred into Naples but not arriving till three weeks after Dragut returned discontented to Barbary and the Design mis-carried So long as this War lasted Solyman failed not every year to send a Naval Force to assist the King in his Attempts Those always did great mischief upon the Coasts of Sicilia and Naples but brought little advantage to the French only the hindring of Doria from molesting of Provence and giving them trouble at Siena and in the Island of Corsica As to the Affairs of Piedmont though Ferdinand de Gonzague after the Truce made between the King and the Pope had withdrawn and joyned to his Army all the Forces he had in the Dutchy of Parma nevertheless he did nothing all that Spring besides the taking three or four petty places for which Brissac had his revenge by the surprizing of Alba a place very important and by the Conquest of Verrue and some other places The King wanted some Post or Place in the midst of Italy and on the Sea-Coast to keep the Pope in awe and fear to make it his rendezvous from whence he might attaque the Kingdom of Naples and to receive the Turkish Navies They chose Sienna for this purpose situate in Tuscany and possessed of a Territory of fifteen or sixteen Miles about it wherein there were twelve or fifteen small Towns They had hitherto governed themselves as a Republick under protection of the Emperor but were divided into four Factions mortal Enemies to each other During their Division Hurtado de Mendoza whom the Emperor had setled there for Governor perswaded the silly people to build a Citadel to defend and preserve their liberty from all invasions of the Gentry and Ambushes of the Duke of Florence who was indeed ready to fall every hour upon them had he not feared to offend the Emperor When he had thus curbed them he began to exercise an insupportable Tyranny Year of our Lord 1552 as well upon the one as the other They durst not openly kick at him but made their Addresses to the King and put themselves under his Protection by means of the Cardinal de Tournon who was at that time retired to Venice The King sent Three Thousand Men to Eneas Picolomini Martin Bandin and two more Sienois to deliver their Country or rather to bring it under his own power Nicholas de Vrsini Count de Petigliani having set open his Castle to them which was almost the only passage into the Country they drove the Spaniards out of Sienne razed the Citadel and seized upon all the places of that Seigneory excepting Orbitello whither the Spaniards made their Escape Soon after the King sent the Cardinal of Ferrara thither in Quality of his Lieutenant-General and then Paul de Termes to Command his Army under the Authority of that Cardinal Termes in a short time drew Twelve Thousand Foot together for the defence of that Seigneory and carefully stored all the places Year of our Lord 1553 No sooner was the Spring come when the Emperor desiring to revenge the affront he had received at Mets caused Terouane to be assaulted All the people of the Low Countries out-vied each other and contributed their utmost to ridd themselves said they of a Wolf which lay
the last Will of King Edward and the Opinion of the Great Officers who are ever of the same mind as their Soveraign Jane was designed and appointed to be Queen and after the Death of Edward proclaimed and received in the Tower of London and Mary being the weaker retired into the County of Norsolk But as the people of Ranks and Degrees in the Kingdom were displeased at the great wrong done hereby to the Lawful Heirs and the Spanish Gold and Catholique Party stirred them mightily against it a world of the Nobility and Soldiery flocked from all quarters to Mary So that when the Duke of Northumberland Year of our Lord 1553 Marched with some Forces to go and take her and disperse those Assemblies it hap'ned that the same Officers and Counsellors of State who had allotted the Crown to Jane took and held her Prisoner after which most of those that were with the Duke forsook him and some that staid seized upon his person and carried him to London Year of our Lord 1553 and 1554. Some time after Mary came thither and made her entrance into the Tower the possession whereof was then necessary to such as were to be owned Kings of England When She was once absolute Mistress She cemented her Throne with the Blood of Jane her Husbands her Fathers and almost all her Kindred and after that She spilt much more to restore the Catholick Religion which brought the Estate into such Convulsions as had like to prove mortal and all for an advantage of a short duration The more She establisht and fixed her Authority the more Philip Prince of Spain pressed the consummation of his Marriage with her Though She had very great imperfections both of Body and Mind being infirm ugly and old nevertheless he had conceived some love not for her Person but for her Kingdom On the contrary the King turned every Stone in private and laid every rub in his way to prevent him from attaining his ends but Philips Party acting more bare-fac'd and with the charming Power of Money proved stronger then all those private obstacles the King could contrive against it So that he was betrothed by Proxie the Ninth of June and himself passing over into that Country with Six Thousand Souldiers Married her the Five and Twentieth of July a day he expresly designed as being the Feast of Saint James the Patron of Spain He staid in England till the Month of April of the following year and was Spectator of the Tragick Actions of his Wife to revenge her self for the Conspiracies were hatched hourly against her some upon the score of her Religion others in hatred of her Marriage All this year till the Month of June there had been as it were a tacite suspension of Arms between the King and the Emperor during which Cardinal Pool near of kindred to Mary whom the Pope was sending to England as his Legate to re-establish the Catholique Religion had undertaken to Treat the Peace He had got both their words that they would reciprocally lay aside many of their pretensions but when the Bell was to be sounded each of them stood up stiffer and at a greater distance then ever before The Emperor would willingly have accepted of a Truce and it would have been very advantageous to him by giving the Low-Countries time to settle and if we may so say to soulder themselves with England but for the same reasons it was not so to the King and moreover his Honour nor Interest would allow him to suffer the Siennois to be excluded as the Emperor did absolutely require Besides he had Information that the Emperor was very much indisposed both in Body and Mind that the Gout had deprived him of the use of one Arm and contracted the Sinews of one Leg that the same cause that made him impotent in his Members joyned to the bad success of his Affairs and perhaps complicated with some relicts of his Mothers Frenzy had so invaded his Brain that he could seldom sleep and did nothing else almost by day and night but take Clocks and Watches asunder and put them together again his Chamber being full of them Upon these reports which were for the most part true the King thought he should have an easie bargain of it and took a resolution of carrying the War into his Country He therefore set on Foot an Army of Fifty Thousand Men and divided them into three Bodies Commanded one by the Constable another by the Duke of Vendosme and the third by the Mareschal de Saint André the two last having taken some Forts of little concern joyned with the Constable before Marienburgh which had surrendred to him Some years before Marienburgh was but a little Village where Queen Mary made her Rendezvous for hunting The Situation seemed so pleasant and so convenient to her that She built a new Town there The King having it in his hands went on to fortifie it and to make the Road more secure from thence to the little City of Maubert-Fontaine which is the nearest towards France he likewise fortified the Villa ge of Rocroy Year of our Lord 1554 After he had well provided for Marienburgh he went and joyned the Duke of Nevers who had pierced through all the Ardennes he met him near Givets these are two Burroughs so named just opposite to each other upon the Banks of the Meuse From thence he went to Besiege Bovines whilst the Duke Besieged Dinan Bovines was sacked for having dared to withstand an assault of an Army Royal Dinan capitulated and they put Two Thousand Men in there to preserve it from the violence of the skulking Souldiers but in the night the Germans angry they were robb'd of their Pillage scaled the Walls broke open the Gates and put both the Garrison and Inhabitants to the edge of the Sword Perhaps they were not overmuch concerned at it because they had returned a brutish and most insolent Answer when they were Summoned on behalf of the King Then the Emperor finding himself much better in health takes the Field the King desiring to engage him in Battel assaults forces and razes a great number of Towns and Castles Maubege Bavay famous for its Antiquity Mariemont a Castle of pleasure of Queen Maries and the little City of Bins with the magnificent Castle which She had built He caused these two last places to be burnt to be reveng'd for their having set fire to his Royal House of Folembray There was a personal hatred betwixt these two for certain slighting and spiteful words and I know not what kind of Songs which had been made on either side After he had thus over-run and ravaged Brabant Hainault Cambresis and the Country of Namur he entred upon Artois and Besieged the Castle of Renty which did great injury to the Country of Boulonnois The Emperor came to relieve it and to put some into the place with the more ease would have seized upon a Wood the situation whereof must have been
it The Emperor remanded him to give him the Government of Milan which he took from Ferdinand de Gonzague The Duke had much ado to get lieve to keep this General with him till the Siege were over The Emperor therefore substituted Gomez de Figueroa in the stead of Gonzague who being Year of our Lord 1554 fitter for a States-Man then a Soldier suffer'd the Affairs of Piedmont to decline very much The first three Months the Duke of Florence had the disadvantage Ascanius de la Corne one of his Commanders thinking to surprize Clusio lost Twelve Hundred Men and was made Prisoner by a double dealing intelligence Strozzi defeated Medequin in a Ren-contre near Petia where he slew him Two Thousand Men Then having received a great re-inforcement brought him by Octavia Farnese and the Count de Miranda he regained one of the Bastions of Sienna which Malatesta had surprized by treachery and ransacked over all the Dukes Country to the very Gates of Florence But this fortune changed immediately Leo his Brother who was just Arrived with Twelve Galleys with which he lay at Port-Hercole expecting a re-inforcement that was to come from Provence was slain by a shot from behind a Hedge as he was viewing the ill favour'd Castle of Scarlin Then himself coming to releive Marcian besieged by Medequin lost a Battel near that City The sault was laid upon his presuming to make a retreat in the open day-light before an Enemy stronger then himself the cowardize of the Count de la Miranda who sled at the beginning with all the Cavalry whom he commanded as Collonel and the treachery of some Italian Companies of his Van-Guard who proved to be Turn-Coats He escaped to Montalien where he rallied up what he could of those shatter'd Forces and did yet give the Florentines a great deal of trouble He had intreated the King to let him have some good Officer to be his Second particularly to Govern the City of Sienna He sent him Blaise de Montlue whether of his own Choice or named by the Guises which was the ruine of that Republique for the Constable considering him as the Creature of his adversaries did not care he should Succeed and so sent no relief that way He came into that Country much about the time when Leo was slain before Scarlin During all this Reign there were divers changes made amongst the Officers of the Finance and Judicature and great number of Creations all to get Money the thirsty Ministers inclining the King to draw the purest Blood of the Nation to satisfie their greedy appetite The Parliament of Paris seemed to have too much power and sometimes opposed their injustice they made it Semestre that is one half to sit and attend Six Months and then the other alternately and almost doubled the number of the Judges who till then were not above one Hundred taking in the Six Masters of Requests and the Twelve Dukes and Pairs The Edict for this was not verified and yet it took place but within three years after when they had sold all those new Offices they suffer'd the two parts to be joyned again in one By another Edict they augmented the number of the Kings Secretaries who were Sixscore already that is to say more by half than was necessary and added Fourscore so that in all there were Two Hundred By another yet they set up a Parliament in Bretagne composed of four Presidents two and thirty Counsellors two Registers two Advocates and an Attorney for the King They divided it into two Semestres in one of which the Officers were necessarily to be Natives of that Province Necessity extorted from the Ministers for those of Guyenne what compassion towards those people had never been able to obtain Observing there was a great deal of danger and yet a much greater expence in settling the Gabelle in that Province they took it off but constrained the people to pay Twelve Hundred Thousand Crowns to redeem themselves from that vexation Year of our Lord 1554 After the rebuke received by Strozzi at Marcian the Marquiss de Marignan being Master of the Field took most of the places belonging to that little State and laid a formal Siege to Vienna which he had before invested Blaise de Montluc kept up the Spirits of the Siennois and withstood the Attaques of the Enemies near Eight Months as he particularly relates in his Memoires and Commentaries At length his provisions failing extreme Famine forced him to capitulate This was upon the One and Twentieth of April Year of our Lord 1555 The Treaty contained that they should enjoy their Goods Liberty and Republique in all security but the Emperor failed them in his promise and faith he soon subjugated and fetter'd that unfortunate City and gave it to his Year of our Lord 1555 Son Philip who in Anno 1558. yielded it to the Duke of Florence retaining only the maritime places And indeed the chief Citizens foreseeing or guessing the Imperialists would not make good the Treaty went out with the French Garrison to the number of Eight or Nine Hundred and retired to Montalcino In that City they chose them Magistrates and preserved the Form of their Republick till the time of the Peace betwixt France and Spain in the year 1559. Brissac Besieged Valfenieres in Piedmont and the Spaniards were in the Field to relieve it when the Battel of Marcian was fought The news thereof heightned the courage of the Enemies very much and it was to be fearâ—d it might cast a great damp upon the spirits of the French so that he found fit by the advice of his Councel of War to raise the Siege Some time afterwards having given the Enemy a repulse and thinking he had put all Piedmont in a condition of safety at least for some Months he formed a great design It was to have gone straight forward resolutely to Sienna with a Body of Eight Thousand Foot he had Fifteen or Sixteen Thousand of the best in the World to fall immediately upon the Besiegers and force one of their Quarters to put Provisions into the City But the jealousie his great reputation gave to those that Govern'd the Kings Mind would not permit him to execute so brave an exploit The Constable though related to him did not wish him well he having obtained the Government of Piedmont by the Craft of the Dutchess of Valentinois and without his knowledge nay even in despite of him who was then upon the point of endeavouring to have it for his Nephew Gaspard de Coligny Chastillon The Duke of Guise highly esteemed him and yet as the brave cannot well endure one another he very often took occasion to quarrel and thwart him Thus to ruine his reputation and fame they ruin'd the Kings Affairs in Piedmont And yet all these obstructions could not hinder him from taking this year Vercel and Ivree nor when he had fortified Saint la from compleating a design he had contrived upon Casal by the
Nephews which is to create quarrels with every one that hath but any Lands that lie conveniently for them that they may dispossess them and get into their Seats they attaqu'd the one and the other It then hap'ned that the Count de Sancta-Fiore Chief of the House of the Sforza's seeing Sienna was surrendred and the power of the French much enfeebled on that side the Hills drew two of his Brothers out of the French Service Charles one of the two by a notorious piece of Treachery had caused three of the Kings Galleys to be brought to Civita-Vecchia and his Brother Alexander pretending he had bought them of him seized them and convey'd them to Naples having gotten them out from thence by the invention of the Cardinal Sforza his Brother who surprized a Letter from the Count de Montorio to the Governour of the City containing an order that they should suffer them to go forth His Holiness thought himself extremely offended at this Violence committed in one of his own Ports and at the same time the Cardinal Caraffa shew'd him undeniable Evidence whether such as he had really discovered or whether he had contrived them himself to engage them to a quarrel of a horrible Conspiracy framed by the Spaniards against his Holiness which much encreased the old Gentlemans choller The Cardinal Caraffa having buzzed this in his Brain caused Camilla Colonna to be put in Prison accused for having tamper'd in this damnable Design open'd the Pacquets of the Duke d'Alva where he attested he had found good proofs of it stopt an Envoy of Philip King of Spain's raised Soldiers and by fore seized upon Palliana and Neptuna places which belonged to the Colonnas In this juncture a favourable opportunity presented for the recovery of Siena the scarcity of Provision was such that the people were raving mad for hunger and whatever care the Duke of Florence could take to send Wheat thither they could hardly get enough for fifteen days So that if the Pope had but lent his Forces to the French and those had joyned with such as they had in Garrisons and that Octavio Farnese who Commanded some Forces for the King in Tuscany would but have gone heartily about it they might infallibly have regained that City by only carrying of bread to those unfortunate inhabitants But Mendoza who at that time acted a Vice-Roy of Naples expecting the Arrival of the Duke of Alva approaching the Frontiers of the Church with Ten Thousand Men the Pope was so much frighted that he chose some Cardinals to endeavour to make a Peace between the two Crowns and in the mean time commanded Octavio to dismiss the Forces he had at Castro and Petigliana which caused Octavio who was retired to Parma to quit the service of the French make a Treaty with the Emperor by the mediation of the Duke of Alva and send the Collar of the Order back to the King The Holy Father would perhaps have rested there if the Cardinal Nephew by force of Arguments representing those outrages the Spaniards had offer'd and perswading him that both his own person and all his House were in danger to be destroy'd by the cruel Treacheries of those Renegado Apostates had not made him take a resolution of Excommunicating and declaring War against them though he had neither Soldiers nor Friends nor Money and at most but two or three years of life without either Strength or Vigour And thus it is the Popes are sometimes the Victimes of their Nephews and for their sakes sacrifice their quiet the Treasures of the Church and the Peace of Italy nay sometimes even of all Christendom France was his only refuge the Potentates of Italy are wont to flatter the French to get their help for the Executing their Vengeance or to make their own advantages then turn their backs upon them when they have gained their ends or if they find themselves in the least danger they slip aside with the earliest ✚ and leave the French behind plung'd in the Bogg and expos'd alone to all the peril When the Pope therefore sent to the King to demand his assistance and in requital promised his towards the Conquering the Kingdom of Naples the wisest were not of opinion that he should give ear to those Propositions They consider'd besides that France was drained of Money that they had work enough to defend themselves against the powers of Spain Germany and the Low-Countries with whom they should speedily find England joyned that it would be a hard task to preserve Piedmont and therefore not fit to undertake a Forraign Year of our Lord 1555 War upon the faith of people unfaithful variable and deceitful and the assurance of an old Man who had one foot in the Grave and no other weapons but the spiritual Sword of very little use or effect in a temporal War They consider'd these things very well but there were none so bold as to remonstrate them to the King They would not oppose the Cardinal de Lorrain who embraced this business that the Duke of Guise might have the Command of the Army in Italy The Constable himself was content not to approve of it without opposing it He was well enough pleased that those Princes who stood in his way should go and embarass themselves in an enterprize which would carry them out of the King's sight and which could not but succeed ill and turn to their own shame but he did not foresee that it should prove more unfortunate yet to him then to them Thus was it that all the King's Ministers some by a cursed Court-craft or Policy others out of an irregular ambition engaged this Prince to that doleful Alliance It was rough-drawn at Paris and finished at Rome by the Cardinal de Lorrain The King sent him thither expresly and he desired the Cardinal de Tournon might be joyned with him whom he took along as he passed thorough Lyons though he were of a quite contrary opinion and publickly protested that it was against his will they made use of him in so ruinous a business These Cardinals being arrived at Rome in the Month of October Signed the League Defensive and Offensive between the King the Pope and the Holy See in all the Estates of Italy excepting Piedmont It was therein agreed that towards the expences of the War the two Princes should deposite Five Hundred Thousand Crowns at Venice the King Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand and the Pope one Hundred and Fifty Thousand That they should begin it either in the Kingdom of Naples or in Tuscany as should be judged most convenient That the King should send Twelve Thousand Foot into Italy Five Hundred Men at Arms and as many Light-horse which should be Commanded by a Prince That the Pope should furnish Ten Thousand Foot and a Thousand Horse that he should bestow the investiture of Naples upon a Son of France provided it were not the Daufin but he retained a good Portion for himself and much Lands
and Pensions for his Nephews and Friends That the Duke of Ferrara and in his absence a Prince whom the King should name should have the General Command of the Armies This League was held secret for some time the Cardinal de Lorrain at his going to Rome had by his fair words drawn in Hercules de Ferrara to be an Allie but his eloquence had not the same power over the Venetians The Cardinal Nephew did likewise employ motives of interest and those of fear He propounded to give them Ravenna in pawn and Puglia when it was conquer'd threatning in case they did not make a League with him to call in the Turks which they dreaded above all things but all this could not move them On the other hand King Philip foreseeing the Pope would by his Sentence endeavour to deprive him of the Kingdom of Naples and Excommunicate him prepared to assemble all the Cardinals together at Pisa to declare the promotion of the Pope not Canonical and by that means invalidate all that he should do to his prejudice He had thirteen or fourteen very sure on his side without reckoning such others as he might gain besides In the mean time the Duke of Alva informed of those Treaties after he had taken order for the Affairs of Milanois and Piedmont passed by Sea into Tuscany where he conferr'd with the Duke of Florence and from thence went to the Kingdom of Naples At the same time the King who had resolved upon the rupture wrote to his Ambassador at Constantinople his name was la Vigne that he should speak of it to Solyman as if he did it for his sake and by that means endeavour to procure a considerable assistance Solyman much pleased to find that a new flame was breaking forth in Christendom promised wonders and made his Fleet put out to Sea But it served the French only to clear themselves in some sort For an Agent of the Kings named Codignac who was discontented going over to the Spaniards had given the Turks some jealousie upon the Kings designing to make himself Master of Italy as if he from thence intended to pass into Greece as Charles VIII would have done and to encrease their apprehensions he discover'd to them I know not what kind of ancient Prophesies which threaten that the Franc's shall overthrow the Empire of the Crescent Year of our Lord 1555 Though this League were concluded before the end of the year 1555. it did not hinder but by the mediation of Mary Queen of England and Cardinal Pool the King and the Emperor were inclined and at last brought to agree upon a general and trading Truce for five years It was treated at Vaucelles near Cambray the fifth of February in Anno 1556. The Emperor contributed much to it Year of our Lord 1556 very well satisfied that this calm consolidated the new begun Reign of his Son When the Cardinal Caraffa heard of this Truce he made a great complaint to the King that they had abandoned the interests of his House that they left it exposed to the vengeance of the Spaniards and the Florentines He demanded that for security the King would at least be pleased to put those places into the hands of the Pope which were yet left him in Sienna He imagined that by this means he should be sought to by those Princes and that they would be glad to buy his amity and when the King had refused them he importun'd his Uncle so much that he condescended he should go Legate into France to dispose the King to break the said Truce He came in a proud Equipage but concealing his Design and giving out it was to labour for a Peace between the two Crowns He saluted the King at Fontainbleau made him a Present of a Sword and an Hat which had been blessed by the Pope and entertain'd him in private with his grand Designs The King was very irresolute but in the end the Legates vast promises and the opinion he possess'd him with that nothing was able to resist his power and withal the artificial address of Valentinois who had already made Alliance with the Guises by giving one of her Daughters to the Duke of Aumale with the intrigues of the Queen who desired a War in Italy to employ her Kinsman the Mareschal de Strozzi there thrust him into the Precipice and made him resolve to declare a War against the Spaniard But before this the Council thought expedient to send to the Emperor and to King Philip to admonish them to recall the Duke of Alva and his Forces out of the Territories of the Holy-See They had already taken divers places there and even the City of Ostia which the Nephews had neglected to provide The Legate made his entrance into Paris with the Magnificence usual on such Ceremonies At Court and in the City he shewed himself a Cavalier to the Nobility a Gallant in the Ladies Company of a merry humour amongst the gay people made Courtship to the Dutchess of Valentinois and gave her extraordinary fine Presents both from his Holyness and from himself The Queen being brought to Bed of Twin-Girls he had the honour to be Godfather to one of them and gave her the name of Victoria as expressive of the great advantages the League between the Pope and the King would acquire in Italy but soon after this presage vanished with the life of that Princess In the mean time whilst the Army they were to send into Italy was making ready they gave Strozzi orders to assist the Pope to whom they sent Three Thousand Men under the Conduct of Montluc who made the Duke of Alva retire from the Neighbourhood of the City of Rome Then when they had fathom'd Philip's intentions by his haughty reply they judged it was high time the Duke of Guise should pass the Alpes At the beginning of March a Comet with a flaming Train was visible in the Eight Degree of Libra and lasted but twelve days only The Emperor fancied this Phaenomena called him to the other World so that not being able to gain his Brother to a consent of yielding the Empire to his Son he Commissioned some Ambassadors to carry his Renunciation to the Electoral Colledge However they went not till two years after because of the War new breaking out between the two Crowns and Three of the Electors were dead That done he Embarqu'd at Sudburg in Zealand about the beginning of September and went into Spain where he retired into the Covent of Saint Just of the Order of the Hieronymites which is in the midst of a delicious Valley surrounded with high Rocks in the Province of Estramadura eight Miles from Placentia near the Burrough of Scarandilla It is believed this was otherwhile the place of Sertorious his retirement He reserved no more to himself of all his great Train and his large-possessions but twelve Men a little Horse to ride out for Pleasure and Air and one Hundred Thousand
persuaded the King to discharge the Constable and on her own score reproach'd him for having said That of all the Children which King Henry had there was none resembled him but a natural Daughter of his She desired also that the Cardinal de Tournon night be recalled because She would make use of his Counsel which she thought would be the more sincere he being engaged to neither party The Guises agreed to it and indeed it would have been difficult for them to hinder it besides they believed they might be confident of him he being a capital enemy to the Constable The King of Navarre crawled along by easie journeys and made a halt at Vendosme The Princes of Condé and de la Roche Sur-Yon went even to that place to sollicite him to come to Court He came at length but too late the Guises had taken care he should be ill received they did not assign him Lodgings suitable to his Quality he must have laid on the Floor had not the Mareschal de Saint André lent him his and as soon as ever the King saw him he told him he had given the administration to his Uncles de Guise Notwithstanding all this unworthy treatment his friends exhorted him to stand his Ground the Guises bethought them of a Stratagem to make him quit the Spot They read before him in full Council some Letters from the King of Spain of whom the Queen had demanded assistance against the Factious wherewith she was threatned The Letters imported that in case there should be any found so audacious as to controll the Government the King had established he offer'd his whole power to chastise them The Navarrois easily apprehended that this might be a plausible colour and pretence for him to invade his Country of Navarre and was councell'd to go back with all possible speed to put things in good order but that he might leave the Court with some kind of reputation he got the Commission to conduct the new Queen of Spain to the Frontiers He went not however till after the Kings Coronation This Ceremony was performed the one and twentieth of September with great Pomp in the City of Reims by the Ministery of the Cardinal de Lorrain who was Archbishop thereof At their departure from thence he conducted the Queen to Navarre being accompanied by the Cardinal de Bourbon and the Prince de la Roche Sur-Yon He delivered her up to King Philips Deputies those were the Cardinal de Burgos and his Brother the Duke de l'Infantado and because it was said she should be conducted into the Territories of Spain and yet the delivery of her was at Roncevaux which is within the limits of Navarre he drew up a Protestation that it might be no prejudice to him and that from thence they might not make it a consequence that the Kingdom of Navarre was a Province dependant on Spain After this the Spaniards in recompence for his pains and care gave him fair but empty hopes to do him right concerning his Kingdom He nibled at this Bait and the Queen-Mother amused and tempted him with it as long as he lived In the preceding Month of August King Philip had left the Low-Countries and was gone into Spain by Sea where he chose his residence for all the rest of his life His Father had tenderly cherished the Flemmings and had most happily made use both of their Councils and Arms but he being bred in the imperious Air of Spain could not agree with a people that were free and such as could prodigally expose both their lives and fortunes for their Princes service but yet would not suffer themselves to be robbed of them He left as Governess over them Margaret his natural Sister Wife of Octavian Duke of Parma with whom was joyned as chief Counsellor Anthony Perenot de Year of our Lord 1559 Granvelle a Cardinal originally a Franc-Comtois but haughty and arrogant as a Spaniard At his Arrival in Spain he caused a great many to be burnt in his own presence at Seville and Valladolid of those they call Lutherans both Men and Women Gentlemen and Ecclesiastiques as likewise the Effigies or Fantosme of Constance Ponce Confessor to Charles V. who attended that Emperor till his death We must not wonder that he scrupled no more the defaming of his Fathers Memory since if we will believe some he would have made his process too and have burnt his bones for the Crime of Heresie nothing hindring him from it but this consideration that if his Father were an Heretick he had forfeited * his Estates and by consequence had no right to resign them to his Son Some weeks before the departure of the Navarrois there were two Edicts made one of them to forbid the wearing of any Fire-Arms or even long Cloaks or large Breeches that might conceal them The second revoked all alienations of the Demeasnes Both the one and the other were made at the desire of the Guises the first for the security of their Persons the second that they might prejudice or gratisie whom they pleas'd And indeed they gained many of the great ones by this means as they likewise made themselves many creatures by the creation of Eighteen Knights of the Order of Saint Michael Which so debased and vllified that Order formerly preserved with great care by the Kings of France that it was in raillery called the Coller for every Beast With the same design and that they might have Governments and Offices enough for themselves and for their friends they obliged the King to declare that he would suffer none hereafter to hold two at one time The Admiral had the Government of the Isle of France and that of Picardy he resigned the latter very chearfully believing they would bestow it on the Prince of Condé but the Guises disposed of it in favour of Brissac whom they intended to bind to their own Party The Constable endured a pulling by the Ears before he would lay down his Office of Grand Maistre of the Kings Houshold when he perceived that after fair warning they were going to use force he surrendred it to the King who conferr'd it upon the Duke of Guise All he could do was to obtain an Office of Mareschal of France which was created extraordinary for Francis his eldest Son After the Coronation they carried the King to Bar. The Duke of Lorrain his Brother in Law being come to salute him there he by Letters Patents renounced the Soveraignty he had of Barrois in favour of that Prince The Novelty and pretence of a Reformation in an Age that so much wanted it opened the hearts of the French to the new Religion and on the other hand the necessity there was to pluck up this Darnel and the like Weeds furnish'd those that governed with a fair occasion and opportunity to make themselves formidable even to the most innocent who in such junctures fear lest they should be look'd upon as Hereticks how little soever tainted The
affected delayes did continue to defeat their hopes of the General one so often promised Moreover the Governors were enjoyned to watch there might be no factious Meetings and to su spend their pursuits for matters of Religion if no other Crime were complicated with it This was to begin a Toleration Things being thus regulated every one had order to retire home Great was the Alarm at Rome when they heard mention made of holding a National Council in France Pius IV. omitted nothing to disswade the King from it He represented to him as a great grievance that the Gallican Church would re-establish the Pragmatique and by consequence the Elections whereby the Royal dignity and prerogative would be much eclipsed and diminished He intreated the King of Spain to interpose his Interest and Credit with him to prevent a mischief he reckoned so prejudicial to his Pontifical Authority And all these Engines proving too weak to obtain a revocation of those resolutions taken in Council he could find no other expedient to avoid it but by a General Council He was a while in suspence whether to call one wholly new or whether he should continue the same his Predecessors Paul III. and Julius III. had Prorogued All considered the advice for continuation seemed best And he caused publication to be made that the Council should re-commence on Easter-day the following year Year of our Lord 1560 The two Brothers Anthony and Lewis de Bourbon did not appear at the Assembly of Melun for two Months before Anthony was retired to Gascogne and his Brother was gone to visit him Being there in much greater security they settled their Affairs and projected the means and methods to make themselves the stronger and set aside the Guises These having many faithful and trusty Servants Spies well paid and all rewards and punishments in their own hands quickly discover'd their Stratagems and blasted them before they could be ripe for Execution The Princes made use of one named la Sague an Imprudent man who Communicated his Secrets to a Camerade of his with whom he had born Arms in Piedmont This Fellow whispers it to the Mareschal de Brissac who tells it to the Duke of Guise So that as la Sague was returning into Gascogne he was Seized with a great many Letters Fear of the Rack or hopes of reward unty'd his Tongue Himself put them in the way how to read some of them by wetting the Paper where before there was no Footsteps of any Writing appear'd The most Criminal were those from Francis de Vendosme Vidame of Chartres an Enemy to the Duke of Guise so he was laid hold on and shut up in the Bastille Some time after he was transfer'd from thence but under a strong Guard to his own House where he Died of grief if not by the Debauchery of his Youth Bouchard who was Chancellor to Anthony without any other instigation but his own faint-heartedness did likewise reveal all the practises of the Prince of Condé and the means he made use of to engage his Brother He thought hereby to secure himself but they Seized upon him and put him in Prison at Saint John d'Angely where he was kept very close that they might have his Evidence when time Served There appeared in the mean time divers Commotions in the Provinces which shewed that the whole Body of the Religionaries were on the point of making a general rising for in Normandy whither the Admiral had been dispatched they met and Preached Publickly The two Brothers Anthony and Paul Richend Mouvans endeavoured to make themselves Masters of Valence of Montelimard of Romans in Dauphiné and of the Cities of Aix and Arles in Provence but the Lord de Maugeron made them fail in their enterprize Anthony was slain in a tumult at Draguignan Paul made his escape into Swisserland In like manner Charles du Puy Montbrun making use of the Religionaries in his dispute for the Government of Dauphiné at la Mothe Gondrin was routed by his Adversary and ran away stark naked yet got safe to the Swiss Country Maligny of the House de Ferriere who belonged to the King of Navarre attempted also to Seize upon Lyons causing his Soldiers to Ship in man by man and he had compleated his work if N. Dapchon Abbot de Savigny who was Governor in the absence of the Mareschal de Saint André his maternal Uncle had not discover'd his Plot and put the Bourgeois in Arms. Maligny was glad to make his escape and the Abbot apprehending some worse Event set open the Gates that he might be gone quietly The Mareschal de Saint André going thither to search into the bottom of the design caused above fifty of those rash undertakers to be executed The Princes promised themselves a much stronger Cabal in the Assembly of Estates then the Guises nevertheless their Friends were of Opinion they ought not to rely upon that but come so well Armed to Court as to be in a Condition either to drive them thence or make them perish there To this purpose they had given orders on all hands but their Letters and practises having taken Air the Guises made use of the Kings Name to fortify themselves sent for all the Established Company 's and put forth a Declaration to all Governors of Provinces commanding them to punish the disturbers of the publick Peace according to the utmost severity of the Edict with power to Suspend and displace such Officers as had conniv'd or shew'd any indulgence towards the Factious Besides all this they sent to command the Princes to come to Court only attended with their Houshold Servants to justify themselves of such matters wherewith they were charged so that to speak truly they left them but a very ill-boding passage to enter much more like a Prison Door then a Gate of the Louvre They resolved however to come The Cardinal de Bourbon their Brother being deceived first was an Instrument to deceive them withal the Dignity of their Birth seemed an inviolable safe-conduct to them So that the King of Navarre refused seven hundred Gentlemen of Poitou who offer'd to attend him and above Year of our Lord 1560 fifteen hundred Soldiers who were in a readiness in several Provinces telling them his innocency was his sufficient security and he would give them no cause to suspect he came with any design to offer violence to the King or to the Estates In his Journey he received notice from several hands that the Guises having scared the King and the Queen Mother with the pretended Conspiracy revealed by la Sague were more Masters at Court then ever and had put them upon the extreamest resolutions However he went forward not duely weighing the wise Councils of Marillac Archbishop of Vienne who having endeavour'd all that was possible to diswade him died with Grief and the fear he justly had conceived lest the Guises whom he had already highly offended should revenge themselves upon him The Sixteenth of October the King
Funeral Of so many Lords and so many Bishops as were then at Orleans there were none but Sansac and la Brosse who had been his Governors and Lewis Guillard Bishop of Senlis who was blind that conducted his Corps to Saint Denis His Heart was left to the Church named Saincte Croix at Orleans The Guises excused their not attending it upon the necessity there was for them to stay with their Niece to comfort her But they were not exempted from reproach such as had more sence of Honour then Ambition much blamed them for not paying that little devoir to him from whom they had received so much honour And indeed some body tack'd a Paper upon the Pall that cover'd his Coffin wherein were these words Taneguy du Chastel where art thou This Taneguy as was well known tho banished from Court during the Reign of Charles VII his Master came generously back again thither to make a Funeral for that King at his own charges shewing his gratitude thereby and making it appear to all the World that his thankfulness for the favours he had received were above his fear of the resentments of Lewis XI a mortal Enemy to the memory and Servants of his own Father The Constable who had been sent for several times but crept along slowly by little Journeys having heard the tydings of the Kings death doubled his pace and Arrived the Eight of the Month of December at Orleans Entring into Year of our Lord 1560 the City he made use of the power belonging to his Office and commanded away the Guards that were at the Gates threatning to send them to the Gallows if he found them any more besieging or investing the King in that manner in a time of Peace and in the very heart of his Kingdom As for the Prince though he had free liberty as soon as ever the King expir'd nevertheless he refused to go out of Prison till he knew who were the prosecutors against him and who his accusers There were none durst undertake to play so desperate a Game and the Guises replied that all had been done by express Command of the King but did not produce any Order by vertue whereof he had been so prosecuted So that Thirteen dayes afterwards he came forth and went to Ham in Picardy attended with Honour and respect by those very men that had served as Guards upon him in his Confinement CHARLES IX King LX. POPES PIUS IV. Five Years under this Reign PIUS V. Elected the 7 January 1566. S. 6 Years 3 Months and 24 dayes GREGORY XIII Elected the 13. of May 1572. S. 13. Years wanting one Month whereof two years under this Reign Year of our Lord 1560. in December THose hopes many had conceived that King Francis II. being near the time of his compleat Majority might possibly extinguish all the Factions were now by his death changed into a just fear of finding them rather more enflamed and heightned from a Sedition to a Bloody War wherefore the Tumults increasing every day they made hast to Assemble the Estates from whom the silly vulgar expect a redress of all their grievances and troubles The first Session was held the Thirteenth of December in a great Timber Hall expresly built in the place called l'Estape The Chancellor begun it with a Speech becoming his gravity He blamed the violent proceedings in matters of Religion told them the only means to reclaim such as went astray was a good exemplary Life and sound Doctrine exhorted them earnestly to lay aside the injurious names of Lutherans Huguenots Papists and desired every one to forbear all hatred and own no passion but for the publick good in which consists the benefit of all particular Persons There was nothing else done at this first meeting only the three Orders were sent to confer together about their Papers and Instructions Some who were inspired with a bolder zeal had a mind to confer the Regency upon the King of Navarre but withal to leave the Education of the young King to his Mother to set bounds to the Government and make choice of a good Council for the management of all Affairs of State The Queen Mother took the Allarm caused the Kings Council to make a Decree which forbad the Deputies to intermeddle with the Government and made use of so many intrigues that the Navarrois a Prince very inconstant and irresolute was perswaded to confirm what he had promised her during the Imprisonment of his Brother Year of our Lord 1561 The second of January was the second Sessions of the Estates The three Orders made their Harangues John de Lange Advocate of Bourdeaux spake for the Third Estate James de Silly Earl of Rochefort for the Nobility and John Quintin a Canon of Autun and Doctor en Decret for the Clergy The two first laid great stress and weight upon the Vices of the Ecclesiasticks the cause of all the disorders The last endeavour'd to defend them retorted all upon the new Sectaries and reflected particularly upon the Admiral who demanded reparation Year of our Lord 1561 Quintin was obliged to do it in a set Speech at the closing up of the Estates Whatever accord there could be between the Navarrois and the Regent yet there was danger that the Estates if they consider'd their power might put some Fetters upon this Woman who was a stranger and besides they began to perceive that the Princes were forming parties and tryed to foist in certain propositions for their own interests or concerning their private quarrels Amongst others the King of Navarre put them upon calling for an account of the Finances and a particular of all the Gifts bestowed in the Reign of Henry II. himself proffering to surrender all that were given him This touched the Constable and the Mareschal de Saint André more then the Guises as having expended more in the Kings Service then they had gained The Regent soon perceived where it pinched and joyning them to her self upon this consideration easily adjourned the Estates to the Month of May and the City of Pontoise and ordained that she might be at less Charge and trouble to bribe them that there should come but two Deputies from each Government In the Month of February the King being come to Fountainbleau the Prince of Condé appeared there with a slender attendance that he might give them no jealousie The next day being admitted to the Privy-Council and having spoken of his innocency he asked the Chancellor whether there were any proofs against him the Chancellor answered No and all the Princes and Lords having testified that they were satisfied of his innocency the King commanded him to take his Seat The Council did after make a Decree which declared him wholly innocent and sent him back to the Parliament of Paris to get a more Authentique one as he did in a few days afterwards The courage of the Guises did not sink upon the rise of their enemies they were supported by the Catholick Party and
the Catholicks by them It is most certain but for them the old Religion must have given place to the new Sect. The Regent favour'd them in show that they might not fly out to extremes In the mean time the Navarrois desiring to enlarge his power began a quarrel by demanding to have the Keys of the Kings House brought to him not to the Duke of Guise that honour being his due in respect of his Office of Grand-Maistre The pretence was but slight but the King of Navarre carried it on so high that he was upon leaving the Court with all the Princes of the Blood and the Constable to come to Paris and deliberate concerning the Government of the State What did the Queen She regains the Constable and that he might have a plausible excuse to break their intended project prevailed with the King to command him in presence of the Four Secretaries of State not to forsake or leave him So that the Navarrois apprehending they might perhaps do well enough now without him was advised to stay and came to an agreement with the Queen who augmented his power of Lieutenancy From that time the Constable began to fall off from the Princes of the Blood The same proposition concerning the repetition of gifts being renew'd in the particular Estates of Paris he was made believe it was chiefly aimed at him because he had in truth received an Hundred Thousand Crowns under Henry II. whereof he had given no account To the apprehension he was under of being obliged to repay this Sum were joyned the several exhortations of his Wife the Dutchess of Valentinois Honorat de Savoy Count de Villars his Brother in Law his Son Henry Lord of Danville all which under the specious pretence of preserving the Catholick Religion persuaded him to enter into a League with the Duke of Guise and the Mareschal de Saint André the remonstrances of the Prince the Coligny's his Nephews and his Son the Mareschal esteemed one of the wisest Lords in the Kingdom were not so prevalent as to hinder it The Huguenots named this Union the Triumvirat These Brouilleries had hitherto retarded the Kings Coronation When these three Lords were thus united they carried him to Reims where he received the Crown the fifteenth day of May from the hands of the Cardinal de Lorrain Arch-Bishop of that See The Duke of Guise pursuant to the ancient Order of the Kingdom which gives place according to the dignity of their Lands or antiquity of Peerage not according to their birth did there precede the Duke of Montpensier a Prince of the Blood the Queen-Regent having so adjudged it though on the other hand she would have Alexander Monsieur her second Son Year of our Lord 1561 precede the King of Navarre who had a more eminent Title which was not so practised at the Coronation of Francis II. It had been agreed by the Treaty of the general Peace that within three years the right of the Kings pretensions to the Territories of the Duke of Savoy should be Examined and settled by Commissioners on either part King Francis II. and the Duke had named Deputies for that end in the year 1560. Anthony Seguier President in Parliament and Anthony de Chandon Master of Requests who were for the King made Six Demands 1. The County of Nice which they said was a Member of the County of Provence 2. The Cities of Turin Cony Montdevis Albe Querasque and Savillan 3. The County of Ast which had been given in Dower to Valentine de Milan Wife of the Duke of Orleans 4. The Dependancies of the Marquiss de Salusses specified in an Arrest or Decree of Parliament in the year 1390. 5. Homage of that Duke for what he held in Daufiné on this side Guyer le Vif and elsewhere in Focygny and in Genevois and the inheritance of Louisa Mother of Francis I. They produced their Titles and their Pleas the Deputies for the Duke their exceptions and their answers but seeing on either side they acted rather as Advocates then Judges they could not agree upon any thing and made their reports severally and diversly The Duke could not therefore obtain any thing till the year following when he was so earnest with the King that by Letters Patents of the eight of August he commanded that they should restore to him Turin Chivas Quiers and Villa-Nuova d'Ast excepting only the Ammunitions and Artillery in exchange for Pignerol Savillan and Perouse with all the Lands within their Limits Imbert de la Platiere Bourdillon the Kings Lieutenant beyond the Alpes started many difficulties sent warm Remonstrances to the Council to prevent the Execution of that Order and would not obey till after three express Commands and upon the most solemn and authentick discharges that could be imagined Which yet would have availed but little if the Dukes had not paid all the Arrears that were due to the French Garrisons in the said places and had not moreover lent a Hundred Thousand Crowns to the King The Ambiguous conduct of the Regent fomented the Troubles On the one side she feigned to give a favourable ear to the Huguenots for she permitted John de Montluc Bishop of Valence and Peter du Vall Bishop of Sées to Preach even in the Kings Family such Doctrine as was very much like theirs She wrote a long Epistle to the Pope wherein she said that till there were a General Council they might safely be admitted to the Communion of the Roman Church since they held or taught nothing contrary to Holy Scripture or the seven first Oecumenical Councils She set forth an Edict which commanded all men to leave them in peace and released from Prison and call'd home from Banishment all such as had been prosecuted upon that single account This was the first they ever had in their favour and on the other side she incited the Constable to complain aloud and openly of these things thus done to the prejudice of the Roman Church Honour would not allow the Constable to joyn himself openly with the Duke of Guise whilst the Prince of Condé continued to be his Enemy wherefore he begg'd the Queen to make an accommodation between them Both of them being therefore commanded to come into the presence of the King the Princes Cardinals and great Officers the Duke of Guise Addressing his Speech to the Prince assured him he had no way contributed to his imprisonment the Prince replied he held him for a Rascal and a Traitor whoever were the Author of it the Duke answer'd he believed so to and that this did no way concern him This past the King Commanded them to embrace and promise each other a sincere and cordial amity An instrument hereof was drawn up in writing which was signed by the two Secretaries of State The Parliament was in such a heat against the Edict the Queen had obtained in favour of the Huguenots because they had sent it only to the Presidials and not to
them that they made a Decree quite contrary Whereupon the King made another in July referring the Cognizance of all Crimes of Sedition and unlawful Assemblies to the Presidial Courts and those of Heresie to the Judges Ecclesiastical by whom the Parties convict should be delivered up to the Secular Power who should not however condemn them to any thing above banishment Year of our Lord 1561 They had often discoursed of a National Council till that could be called it was thought convenient to have a Colloquy or Conference between the Catholick Priests and the Huguenot Ministers The Cardinal de Lorrain was one of the chief Promoters whether to hinder the National Council which did not at all please the Court of Rome or to make ostentation of his learning and eloquence The Ministers did likewise promise much advantage to themselves for by this means they were made equal with Bishops whereas in a Council they could have had no place Besides they thought themselves able enough to throw Dust in the Catholicks Eyes and they reckon'd they must needs have the better of it seeing the two Bishops of Sées and of Valence who were of the most knowing Prelates leaned towards them Year of our Lord 1561. in May. In the interim the Assembly of the States which had been adjourned to Pontoise in May began to fall to work Whatever the Regents Emissaries had been able to do there was yet so much of the ancient French spirit left in the heads of the Deputies as would not suffer them to let a Woman have the Regency the King of Navarre was forced to go thither himself to let them know he had yielded up his right and together with the Mareschal de Montmorency Governor of the Isle of France intreat them they would speak no more of it This was not sufficient but for fear they should bring it again upon the Stage it was judged necessary to dismiss the Assembly till the Month of August and to appoint it might be held at Saint Germain en Laye where they did meet The King was present there sitting on his Throne the Queen-Mother at his left hand with her Daughter Margaret and somewhat lower the King of Navarre the Cardinal de Bourbon and the Prince of Condé before these on the right hand were the Constable on the left the Chancellor the Duke of Guise as grand Chamberlain lay at the Kings Feet The Cardinals pretended to take place before the Princes of the Blood and had often had it in other Assemblies but it was now judged otherwise in favour of those Princes The Cardinals de Chastillon and d'Armagnac did acquiesce and the old Cardinal de Bourbon remained there also who having the right of birth before the Prince of Condé had likewise the precedence but the Cardinals de Tournon de Lorrain and de Guise would not submit to it and so withdrew The Admiral being the person that had persuaded the King of Navarre and the Deputies of the Estates to confirm the Regency to the Queen-Mother She would in recompence whilst She stood in need of him favour the Huguenot party and according to that Air wherewith She had inspired the Court or to intimidate the Clergy and incline them to give Money it was observed that in this Assembly every thing was turned against the whole Body of them Those that spoke in the name of the third Estate and the Nobility mentioned no other thing but their irregularities and disorder and concluded as the Hereticks ever do and all such as have more Policy then Religion not so much to reform them as to retrench their vast Riches and take away their Temporal Jurisdiction and adjudg the possessions of Religious Rents to the King They added that a National Council ought to be called and in the mean time did tolerate the Religionaries to Preach with all freedom in such Temples where the King should appoint and give leave After these Harangues they considered and debated the propositions contained in the Deputies papers and instructions wherein some Reglements were made by way of satisfaction But the Regent did not forget to take those advantages which the Council of Kings is ever wont to draw from such Assemblies that is to say great Sums of Money For the Clergy having a hot Allarm gave consent they should raise four Tenths in Six years and the third Estate five Solz upon every Tierce of Wine that was carried into any Walled Town An impost that hath encreased ever since that time to this very day The day for the Colloquy being come there met six Cardinals and four Bishops at Poisy with a good number of the Most Learned Theologues amongst others Claude d'Espences and Claude de Saintes that which made the number of these Prelates there so great was their being sent for to advise about the place and time for a Council and to deliberate concerning the publick Affairs of the State Now before the Ministers were come they had propounded several things amongst themselves in order to restore the Discipline supposing as it was true that the corruptions thereof had given rise and birth to the present heresies but they came to no result of any importance Year of our Lord 1561 Some days afterwards ten or twelve Ministers arrived there the most famous of them were Theodore de Beze Augustin Marlorat Francis Morel who compiled the first Articles of their Religion Peter Martyr and John Viret The King and the Regent were present with the Royal Family the Princes of the Blood the Bishops Cardinals Council of State and the Grandees of the Kingdom both of the one and the other Religion all seated according to their Qualities and Degrees within a place enclosed with rails the Doctors were behind the Bishops upon low Forms The Ministers would have gone within the Enclosure but they were excluded and remained without and standing Though the Colloquy was appointed upon the Tenth of August it did not however commence till the Fourth of September After the Chancellor had open'd it the Cardinal de Tournon desired since the thing was new and without a President he might deliberate or consult of it with the Clergy The Queen-Mother would not allow it and commanded de Beze to speak for they had resolved to treat of and handle the questions by discourses and harangues not by argumentations month September and syllogismes which suited very well with the desire the Cardinal de Lorrain and Beze had to shew their Eloquence We may say of de Beze on this occasion to say no worse that he had neither the prudence nor the moderation he ought to have shown For upon the point touching the Holy Sacrament his zeal transported him to such expressions and discourses as horribly grated the Catholick Ears saying that the Body of Jesus Christ was as far distant from the Eucharist as Earth is from Heaven The Prelates trembled with horror of the expression the Cardinal de Tournon made a great deal of noise and
in peace telling him That he had not lâ—v'd four score years without learning to die a quarter of an hour At his Funeral Pomp Year of our Lord 1567 they carried his Effigies which is an honour done to none but to Kings and to the Sons of France The Queen very glad to be ridd of him who alone did in a manner limit her power within bounds of reason would not fill up that Office of Constable but that she might retain the general Command of the Armies in her own hands gave it to her Son the Duke of Anjou who was not yet fourteen years of age and placed trusty people about him to dispose both of his person and that great Command as she directed The fifth day after the Battel the Huguenots fearing they might be overwhelmed by those of Paris took their March towards Montereau to meet John Casimir Son of Lewis Elector and Count Palatine who brought them an Army from Germany The Royal Army did not pursue them but kept within Paris there being since the death of the Constable no General as yet appointed The Queen Mother had by Lansac and Bochetel Bishop of Rennes her Ambassadors declared to the Protestant Princes of that Country that in this War Religion was not at all concerned since the Huguenots were allowed all manner of liberty but the Regal Authority which they directly opposed so that the Electors William Duke of Saxony and Charles Marquiss of Brandenburg had denyed the Prince to make any Levies in their Territories but had allowed it to the King The Palatine being also prepossest had for a while kept back those Forces his Son was to command but being afterwards otherwise informed by an Envoyé who accompanied Lansac to the Court of France and who upon his return saw the Prince of Condé he exhorted his Son to go on with his March Year of our Lord 1567. September and October They sojourned at Montereau fifteen days to wait for the Troops which their Chiefs were raising in several Provinces as the King had likewise ordered his part to encrease his Army Those that were raised for them in Poitou Angoumois and Saintonge had for Commanders Francis de la Rochefoucant Claude de Vaudré-Mouy Giron de Luzignan Bessey and Francis de la Nouë whose wisdom and probity was held in admiration amongst the very Catholicks In their favour the City of Rochel by means of Truchard their new Maire and perhaps by the connivance of Guy Chabot Jarnac who was Governor for the King entred into their party whereof it hath been as it were the strongest Tower and Asylum for sixty years together In their March la Nouë being detached to get Orleans for them managed the Business so well that with the help of the Inhabitants who were of the Religion he made himself Master of it the eight and twentieth of September and forced out the Governor who had cantoned himself at the Porte-Baniere From Orleans they Marched towards Montereau and forced Ponts Sur-Yonne The Admiral having joyned them there with a gross of Cavalry would try the City of Sens but he there found the young Duke of Guise who having season'd his courage in the War of Hungary endeavour'd to let him see that he should find in him an Enemy as brave and more dangerous then his Father Those of Languedoc were employ'd by James Crussol d'Acier in taking the Castles of Nismes and Montpellier they having the Towns already by means of the Inhabitants Those of the Countries of Foix Albigeois and Lauraguais conducted by the Vicount those were seven Gentlemen bearing that Title having joyned him assisted him in the taking some places about Avignon and in Daufiné From thence they went to Orleans where by their Arrival they freed the Princess of Condé and the Wives of the other Chief Commanders from the great fear and trouble they were in who having but few Soldiers were every hour under some apprehension of being taken with the Town it self As for the Forces of Auvergne Forez and Beaujolois led by Poncenas and Verbelay they received a check in the Country of Forez from Terride la Valette and Monsalez who were bringing some Levies out of Guyenne to the King but however they made a shift to get clear Poncenas upon another occasion in the night was kill'd by his own Men. The Duke of Newers who had an Army of twelve or thirteen thousand Men six thousand being Swiss and the rest made up in Piedmont and Italy took as he was on his way the City of Mascon whereof la Loüe was Governor but as he was passing thorough his own Dutchy of Nivernois he met with some Huguenot Horse of the Garrison of the little Town of Antrain he charged them and pursuing them in their retreat was wounded in the knee with a Pistol-shot which made him lame all his life after and much exasperated against the Huguenots Year of our Lord 1568 The Huguenot Army at their departure from Montereau took their March thorough Champagne by Chaalons passed the Meuse and went into Lorrain They were five or six dayes in great pain that Prince Casimir appeared not and no less afterwards when upon his first Arrival he demand d an Hundred Thousand Crowns the Prince had promised to pay him when he could joyn him At this time hapned what had never till then been known the Princes Soldiers even to the very Snap-sack boys freely disbursed to make up part of the said Sum and thus one Army paid the other which consisted of six Thousand five Hundred Horse and about three Thousand Foot Year of our Lord 1580 With this considerable Re-inforcement the Confederates returned into France They took the Garrisons of Joinville and Chaumont passed the Marne and crossing the Bishoprick of Autun came to the head of the Seine the Forces under the month January Duke of Nevers not being able to hinder their passage over it From thence they steer'd their Course by Auxerre Chastillon and Montargis whence they extended into la Beausse The Prince having been at Orleans to receive those Troops were brought him from Guyenne marched Twenty Leagues in one day to lay Siege to Chartres He thought when he should have taken this Town he might promise to himself it being one of the Granaries of Paris that he might return to Block up that City its self so deep the Imagination was imprinted in him that he should never attain the ends he designed but by mating that great City by Famine and other inconveniences attending War The enterprize proved more difficult than he expected Antony de Lignieres was got into Chartres with a Strong Garrison and had put all things in good Order If nevertheless he had at first which he did not till the latter end turned the River another way which wrought their Mills the Besieged would soon have wanted bread During this Siege the Conferences for a Peace were again set on foot the Cardinal de Chastillon going to Longjumeau treated a
Party And the King spared the Lives of some who were so only out of Interest The Montmorencies Cossé and Biron were in the black List but Montmorency's absence he being at Chantilly secured the Lives of his Three Brothers the Prayers and Tears of the beautiful Chasteau-neuf Monsieurs Mistriss saved Cossé his Allie and Biron Great Master of the Ordnance having loaded and levell'd or appointed some Culverins at the Gate of the Arsenal stopt the impetuous Torrent of the Massacrers and let in some of his distressed Friends amongst others James second Son of the Lord de la Force who being then but Ten or Twelve years old had craftily hid himself between his Fathers and his Eldest Brothers Corps Murther'd in bed where they all three lay together When the Admiral was kill'd they threw his Body down into the Court the Duke of Guise who stood below wiped the Blood off which cover'd his Face to know if it were he After that an Italian cut off his Head and carried it to the Queen Mother who causing it to be Embalm'd sent it to the Pope as the Huguenots say The Populace fell upon the unhappy trunck of his Body They first cut off the Hands and Privities then left it on a Dunghil in the afternoon they return to it again dragg'd it three dayes about the Streets then to the River side yet did not throw it in and at last to Montfaucon where they hung it up by the Feet with an Iron Chain and made a Fire underneath which half consumed it This miserable Relick hung there till the Mareschal de Montmorency got some to steal it away in a very dark Night and laid it to rest in his Chappel at Chantilly About Noon on the Sunday the Massacre first began a white-thorn growing in the Church-Yard called Sainct Innocents half wither'd and stript of all its Leaves put forth great store of Blossomes This wonder much heightned the phrensie of the People the Fraternities Marched along with Drums beating and strove who should Massacre most Huguenots in a day the King himself would needs see that Prodigy Most People would have it to be a Miracle and those of either Religions interpreted it to their own advantage The less creduloâ—s attributed it to the nature of the Tree which does many times Blossom when ready to die We might say that the same cause which heated the Peoples Brains and excited them to so much violence and fury was that which heated this Tree likewise whether proceeding from Vapours out of the Earth or the Influence of the Stars and Planets from above It had been resolved in the King and Queens most private Council to charge the Guises with all the Malice and Odium of these Massacres and report that the Admirals Friends intending to revenge the hurt he had received it begot so furious a Sedition that the King could not allay or hinder it and to this effect they had agreed and appointed that they should retire to their own homes as soon as ever the Chiefs of the Huguenots were dispatched Upon this Foot the King had written to all the Governours of Provinces commanding them to assure the People he would not break thâ— Edict of Pacification and in one Letter he said expresly That he was joyned with the King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé to revenge the death of the Admiral his Cousin But the Guises apprehending as they had reason lest the Queen Mother should some time or other lay this Crime to their charge to ruine them insisted so resolutely upon it having the power in their own hands the Catholick Nobility the Duke of Montpensier and the Parisians to back them that they obliged him to change his Note and to send word every where That what had been done was by his Order to prevent the effects Year of our Lord 1572 of that detestable Conspiracy the Admiral and his Friends had plotted to destroy him and all the Royal Family as also the King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé Wherefore upon Tuesday the Third day of the Massacre after hearing of Mass to return solemn thanks to God for the precious Victory obtained over Heresie and commanded Medals should be Coyned to preserve the Memory thereof he went and sat on his Royal Seat of Justice in Parliament where he owned the whole Action Some dayes after he sent orders to that Assembly to employ all the Authority of the Law to justifie it and to that end to proceed immediately without delay to make Process against the Admiral and his accomplices month September and October For this a Chamber or Court was purposely set up during the Vacation by whose Sentence the Admiral was declared Attainted and Convict of the Crime de Lesae Majestatis Chief Head and principal Author of a Conspiracy against the King and his Kingdom ordained that his Body if it could be found if not his Effigies should be drawn upon a Hurdle and hanged upon a Gaâ—lows at the Greve from thence carried to the Gibbet at Mont-faucon all Pictures of him to be mangled and trampled under Foot by the Hang-man his Armes dragged at a Horses Tail about the Streets of Paris his Estate Confiscated his Children declared Plebean and Ignoble Intestable and unworthy to hold any Office Dignity or Estate in the Realm his House of Chastillon razed and an Inscription set up there graved on a Copper Plate containing this whole Sentence and Decree against him It was added that from thence forward upon the Four and Twentieth day of August should be yearly observed a general Procession to render thanks to God for the discovery of that Conspiracy Briquemaut an old Gentleman and Arnaud de Cavagnes a Master of Requests and Chancellour of the Cause being taken after the Butchery in a House where they a while concealed themselves were declared his accomplices and Condemned to the same punishment They were drawn upon a Sledge to the Greve and Executed together with his Fantosme made of Straw in the Mouth of which they did not forget to stick a Tooth-picker The King and Queen Mother stood at a Window in the Town-Hall and beheld the Execution through a Tiffany Vail Two dayes after the King had been in Parliament he put forth an Edict whereby he assured the Huguenots that what had been done was not in hatred to their Religion but to prevent the wicked designes of the Admiral and therefore that every one of them should keep quietly in his own abode and not make any publick Assemblies but at the same time he wrote to the Governors of the Provinces and Cities that they should take the very same Course and Treat them as they had been at Paris During two Months this horrible Tempest run over all France more or less Bloody according to the disposition of the Countries and their Governours It was not so violent in Burgundy and Bretagne because there were few Huguenots nor in Languedoc and Gascongne because they were strong
enough to defend themselves but it was very rough and cruel at Meaux Troyes Orleans Nevers Lyons Toulouze Bourdeaux and at Rouen causing above Five and Twenty Thousand Men to Perish in the Red Sea of their own Blood At Thoulouze they hanged Five Councellors of Parliament in Scarlet Robes upon an Elm in the Palace Yard Matignon and the Vicount d'Ortez did generously refuse to stain their Hands with the Blood of their own Country-men the first preserved those of Alencon the other those of Bayonne The horrour of the Massacre brought back a great many to the Roman Church but the danger once over most of them fell off again These and some others who timely fore-saw the threatning Storm saved themselves in divers places Sancâ—rre Rochel Montauban and the Sevenes proved places of refuge to a great number The very Morning of Saint Bartholomews day the King had with his own Mouth told the King of Navarre and Prince of Condé that he pardon'd them provided they changed their Conduct and Religion Afterwards the whole Court labour'd for their Conversion the Example and Conferences of Rosiere a Minister of Orleans afforded a very specious colour and pretence for the King of Navarre month October to be Converted His Sister Catherine the Dowager of Condé and the Princess Year of our Lord 1572 did likewise abjure it The Prince would by no means hear of it the King being tyred with his over-long resistance sent for him and being quite transported with passion told him in three words Death Mass or the Bastile This Thunder-clap beat down his haughty Spirit and compell'd him to follow the Examples of the rest They were all absolved of the Crime of Heresie by the Cardinal de Bourbon and that they might not be able to Retract they were obliged to write themselves to his Holiness The Court of Rome and the Council of Spain were filled with unexpressible Joy upon the Tydings of the Saint Bartholomew the Pope went in Procession to Saint Lewis Church to render thanks to God for that so happy Success and a Panegyrical act thereof was represented before King Philip under the Title of The Triumphs of the Church Militant Both the one and the other of them believed this bloody Butchery would have brought the Protestant Party very low and that their fall would make their own power rise to the desired pitch Indeed if the King had but had an Army in readiness he might with ease have made an end of the Huguenots but he believed these Massacres had so quell'd them that it was to no purpose to maintain one for that Besides he must have been obliged to give the Command of it to his Brother the Duke of Anjou and his growing too great was the only thing he had to fear Whilst the Queen Mother by the Advice of Birague and de Rais her Confidents who apprehended a War as being â—itter to mannage Intrigues then draw a Sword amuses her self by Wyles and Artifices to subdue the remainders of the Huguenots those that had escaped the Blood-Hounds resumed their Courage Rochel labours to Fortiâ—ie it self Montauban encouraged by the fortunate Success of the Vesins who with Five and Twenty Horse defeated two Hundred and took Montluc's great Standard shut up their Gates against the Kings Soldiers their Chiefs seized upon several little Places in Quercy and Fifteen or Twenty Castles in Roüergne Lauraguez Albigeois and Foix Millaud and Nismes in Languedoc took the bit in their Teeths some small Towns in the Mountains of Vivarets and the Sevenes Barricado themselves and Anthony de Pleix Gremian Seizes upon the City of Sousmieres Against so many Heads as sprung up afresh on every side the Kings Council took the Sword again in hand and raised three Armies With one of them la Chastre had order to besiege Sancerre with the second Danville undertook to reduce the Rebel Cities in Languedoc and the third Commanded by the Marquiss de Villars Admiral of France to subdue those in Guyenne As for Rochel they thought fit before they made use of Force to make use of Mildness and Craft as fearing lest their dispair should cast them into the Arms of the English They sent first therefore Biron to be their Governour whom they guessed would be acceptable to them then when they had refused him they forced Francis de la Noüe with Arguments of Knives and Daggers to go thither and reduce them They did not receive him in quality of the Kings Servant but as General to Command their Army which the King was content with upon condition that if he could not incline them to make a Peace he should forsake them upon his first Summons Thus began the Fourth Civil War again The Huguenots escaped from the Butchery had scatter'd their fears amongst all the other Protestants The City of Strasbourg doubled their Guards the Swiss made great Levies and secured all their Avenues the German Princes and the Queen of England formed new Leagues together the Council therefore found it necessary to allay their Suspicions and palliate the Cruelty and Heynousness of the Fact To this end they dispatched Ambassadors to them with relations well contrived and forged and artificial propositions they renew'd the Treaty for Conquest of the Low-Countries with the Prince of Orange they endeavour'd to soothe and sweeten Queen Elizabeth desiring her to be God-mother to the Kings Daughter which she accepted and they began a third time to propound a Match between her and the Duke of Alanson which many attributed to the Queens vain Imaginations who being informed by certain Fortune-tellers that all her Sons should Reign by consequence if it were in France they must all die after one another struggled to alter the course of Fate by seeking other Kingdoms for them in Forraign Parts and proceeded so far therein as to desire the Kingdom of Tunis of the Turk for this last Year of our Lord 1572 The Eight day of November a new Phenomena began to be observed in the Heavens which seemed to be a Star because it was very Bright was fixed to one certain place like the real Stars appeared at the same height and held the same motion It made the Figure of a Lozenge with those of the Thigh aâ—d Breast of the Constellation named Cassiopea At first it equal'd in magnitude the Planet Jupiter but diminished by little and little and at Eighteen Months end quite disappeared The Huguenots interpreted this wonder to their advantage and one of their Poets dared to say it was the Asterism of the Apotheose of the Admiral As soon as it began to appear in France a new Disease broke forth indeed a very strange and odd kind of Malady for at every Tenth Year it still doubled its violence causing most horrible Contorsions and Dislocating every Joynt till the year 1606. that it began to be less frequent and less cruel and tormenting then before It was called the Billious Evil or Colick of Poitou because it reigned
King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé from joyning with him whilst they were at Court but they came on with more boldness when they were in the Camp Henry de la Tour Vicount de Turenne at that time a Catholick and already very knowing and subtle though but young was the contriver of their Association Being all hot headed rash young Men many Designs were propounded as strange as bold The King having had some hint gave order to Pinard Secretary of State to enjoyn the Duke not to leave the Camp upon pain of Incurring his Indignation The Duke sending him back without any answer because he would not produce his Order the Kings Council took such an Alarm that the King apprehending some dangerous surprize wrote to the Duke of Anjou to hasten the taking of Rochel because he had need of his Forces about his Person This was the cause he made so many Assaults unseasonably and lost so many Men. Now as both the one and the other were in an extream Perplexity Arrives the News from Poland which open'd them a way to go off with Honour The Bishop of Valence had gained the Affections of the Polanders by means of Balagny his naâ—ural Son before the death of King Sigismond the last Prince of the House of Jagellons When he was dead which hapned the Seventh of July in the year 1572. he parted from Paris the Seventeenth day of August following and went thither himself The Queen Mother and the Duke of Anjou apprehended nothing Year of our Lord 1573 more then the success of this Election wherefore at the same time they pretended to employ all the Kings power for it they obstructed it underhand by private Methods Nevertheless the Bishop having more regard to the Kings Command and his own Honor then to a Womans fancies managed the business so well that it succeeded The Duke of Anjou was Elected King but as the Heads of two of those four Factions that were amongst them were Calvinists they obliged the French Ambassadors to promise them several Conditions in favour of that Religion particularly that they should leave all those Cities at Liberty which were Besieged Upon the News of this Election and the Arrival of the Polish Ambassadours who came to fetch their new King the Duke of Anjou made them give some fresh Assaults and then renewed the propositions for accommodation The Rochellers refused to hearken to any thing unless all the other Cities of their Party were comprehended and they were fain to yeild to them in this point unless for month June Sancerre whose Surrender was hourly expected The Articles were all resolved upon the Five and Twentieth of June the Ratification was brought back some dayes after with an Edict of Pacification which was more restrictive by much then the preceeding ones for it allowed only Liberty of Conscience but no publick exercise excepting in the Cities of Rochel Nismes and Montauban It was not in their Power to obtain the same advantage for Sancerre the King under colour it belonged to a particular Lord whose right he could not infringe refused to grant them any more but the Liberty of Marriages and Christnings So that although for four Months past the scarcity of Provisions grew daily to a most-horrible Extremity yet they resolved to perish rather then not enjoy the same Conditions which the rest had They fed upon the most unclean Creatures and upon such Herbs as Beasts themselves refuse to tast as also Parchment and Leather and to say all in a word they surprized a Father and a Mother feeding upon their own Daughter that had been starved to death Whilst they were in this most lamentable State and yet would not think of a Surrender the Ambassadours from Poland who Arrived in the beginning of August got composition for them but they had no other advantages for their Religion then what was general So that the Cruel and Voluntary death of Two Thousand of those unhappy Wretches served only to Signalize to all future Ages their too long and fatal obstinacy In the Treaty of Rochel it was Stipulated that the Rochellers should intreat the Duke of Anjou to come into their City but that he should not enter So that after the most eminent had been with him to request it he dismissed his Army and went on Board his Galleys visited the adjacent Islands thence Sailed to Nantes and so returned to Court being every where received in quality of a King Thus ended that Famous Siege where the King lost Twelve Thousand Men and a great many Persons of Note the most remarkable being Claude Duke of Aumale who was Slain with a Cannon Shot The Polish Ambassadours who were Twelve in number and for their Chief had the Bishop of Posna Arrived at Mets the Five and Twentieth of July made their Solemn entrance into Paris on the Third day of September and the Tenth month July c. read the Decree of Election in the Palace-Hall The King was there upon a Scaffold Array'd in his Royal Robes and accompanied by all the Princes and Grandees of his Court The Decree being taken out of a Silver Box Sealed with an Hundred and Ten Seals of the Prelates Palatines and Castellans of the Kingdom was open'd and read aloud by one of the Ambassadors The King having given them very many civil thanks rose from his Seat and went to embrace the King of Poland his Brother the other Princes and Noblemen then present went afterwards to Congratulate him and pay their Respects He kissed the Duke of Alâ—ncon and the King of Navarre and treated the others with more or less Ceremony according to their quality I shall say nothing of the Feastings and Balets wherewith the Queen Mother entertained them those are the Abortives of Luxury and Prodigality the remembrance of which ought to last no longer then the smell of the meat and noise ☜ of the Violins The King of Poland made his entrance into Paris by the Gate Sainct Amoine with a Suitable Magnificence It was looked upon as an ill Omen that his Heraulds mistook in their blasoning the Arms of his New Kingdom Year of our Lord 1573 These Ceremonies ended King Charles who had taken up a strong Resolution he would Reign himself and withdraw that Authority he had imprudently committed to his Mother hastned his departure with great impatience every hour seeming a tedious year but the more he pressed the more delays the other still sought out It was not the delights only of the Court his Mothers tenderness the almost Royal Authority his Command had placed him in as Generalissimo of the Army's and the hope of succeeding to the Crown which ever seemed near at hand because the King had no Child that detained him in France the violent Love he had for the Princess of Condé was a stronger tye then all these The Duke of Guise who had Married the Sister soothed and served him though to no purpose in his passion and by that means had
he clearly answered that it was his intention that he had so promised to God on the Holy Sacrament of the Altar That he would have his Subjects forwarn'd to give no Faith to whatever he might do or say to the contrary and that if he were reduced to that condition he would not keep his Oath but till such time as he could recover strength sufficient and the opportunity to break it The Deputies for the Huguenots much astonished at these words and the resolution of the Estates made their protestations against them and the greatest part of them retired Year of our Lord 1577 from Blois and went to give a hot alarm to Rochel and in Languedoc Whatever resolution the King shewed nevertheless he so much feared the losing of his Rest and angmenting the power of the Guises that he would needs have the Estates send to the two Princes and to Damville to invite them to come to the Assembly and in the mean time that he might have some Warranty from the publique for the War which was now to begin he desired to have the Advice and Opinion of the chief Lords and of his Principal Counsellors in Writing They all concluded that it was just and necessary not perhaps that they really believed so but they thought it was his desire to make it or at least to pretend such desire to get some round sums of Money from the Estates He demanded two Millions of Gold for the said Expences and the Favourites made use of all the Engines and Tricks imaginable to get this grand Elizir The Third Estate who knew too well that they must pay for all could never be perswaded to consent thereto no more then to the alienation of the demeasne concerning which Bodin having proved with a freedom Confidence and Liberty truly Gallican that the funds of the Demeasne appertained to the Provinces and that the King was but the simple Usager he so fully perswaded the Assembly to be of this Sentiment that they answered Bellievre whom the King sent to them about it That ☜ the common Right and the Fundamental Law of the Nation rendred the thing absolutely impossible Year of our Lord 1577 With these dispositions was held the Second Sessions the Seventeenth of January at the same place and in the same order as the First The Archbishoy of Lyons Orator of the Clergy and the Baron de Senescey of the Nobility began their harangues month January on their knees their Deputies standing up and being uncover'd But at the Second period they were bid to rise and their Deputies sate down and were cover'd The Orator of the Third Estate had been Treated in the very same manner at the Assembly of the Estates at Orleance but here they let him kneel almost half an hour their Deputies standing all the while and bare-headed They had commanded this last it was Versoris to beseech the King to make all his Subjects conform to one Religion by fair and gentle methods and without War to desire he would grant the Election for Benefices absolutely without any reference to the Kings Will to touch home and roundly upon the Male-Administration of the Finances and to make great instance for the punishment of those that had risled and squandred the Treasure as also to insist upon the expulsion of Strangers from the Government and touching the dispensation of Year of our Lord 1577 the publique Moneys After this Session and when the Estates had taken some pains about their Papers the League brought it to this resolution That the King should be desired to forbid the exercise of any other but the Catholique Religion The thing passed by plurality of the Governments not by the Votes of the Deputies neither was it carried by more then two Suffrages and soon after those of Paris fearing the first Pence would be levied upon the City Rents would have retracted The Huguenots having notice of what passed set up a counter-League whereof the Prince declared himself Lieutenant under the Authority of the King of Navarre and published a manifesto much more bloody then any yet had appeared and which plainly shewed his vehement humour his frank and daring courage and the zeal he had for his Religion Whilst he armed in Poitou the King of Navarre armed himself also in Guyenne but either of them so slenderly that it was rather to make Incursions then Expeditions of any consequence The enterprises they had formed upon several places failed John Favas a Native of Bazas to secure himself after a horrible assassinate he had committed there deliver'd up that City to the King of Navarre and made himself of that party and also to give him a more sincere proof of his affection took Reole some few days after but Marmanda derided that King who rashly besieged it with a handful of Men. The Edict of Pacification being revoked and all their threatnings and intrigues proving ineffectual as to the Princes they set two Armies on foot to make quick dispatch of them The Command of one was given to the Duke of Anjou extremely incensed against the Huguenots because some had made him believe that whilst he was amongst them they had an intention of delivering him up to the Reistres nay even to attempt his Person and that the Prince of Condé made sport with him and acted him in his posture when running at the Ring The Duke of Guise demanded the Conduct of the other but the Duke of Anjou's enmity and that jealousie the King had of him denied him that Honour and placed it upon the Duke of Mayenne his Brother This Duke was first in the Field made the Prince quit his ground and drove his Men even to the Gates of Rochel Then proud for having thus beaten them into their strongest Sanctuary he went into Guyenne His Forces being much tired and weather-beaten month February by the Winter-season he readily made a Fifteen days Truce with the King of Navarre which being expired about mid April he took the Field a Second time but yet without any great progress till the Two and twentieth of May when he month April Year of our Lord 1577 returned to Poitou to re-inforce his Troops and wait for fresh Orders from the King who but unwillingly made this War month April In the beginning of April the Duke of Anjou besieged la Charité with Twelve thousand Foot and Three thousand Horse the Dukes of Guise Aumale and Nevers were his Lieutenants la Châtre his Mareschal de Camp and to say the truth his Director The place was invested so suddainly that James de Morogues who was Governour of it could not possibly get in any Soldiers so that having but One hundred and fifty Men to defend three breaches he capitulated after he had sustained two Assaults month April and May c. La Charité rendred up the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Guise rode post to Blois to tell Stories of their brave exploits to the Ladies who had bestow'd Scarfes upon
some noble inclinations for great things he easily addicted himself to shew his State Year of our Lord 1577 and Grandeur in those pomps and vanities which carry some outward appearance of Greatness His Favourites had possess'd him with the opinion that all his Subjects wealth was his own and that France being an unexhaustible Fountain of Riches the greatest prodigality could never incommode him It is almost incredible what excessive Sums he lavishly squander'd away and in what magnificent wantonness he wasted them He plaid and lost one night Fourscore thousand Crowns he went often in Masquerade he was seen to run at the Ring in a Ladies Dress with all the trinkets and gew-gaws of a proud gossip he made one Feast amongst many others where the Women waited and served at Table in the habits of Men clad in Green all the Guests wearing the same Livery and the Queen his Mother requited him with another in the same kind where the fairest Ladies about the Court acted the like parts with their white Bosoms open and their Hair dishevel'd The poor People paid for all these follies and mourned many years for a divertisement that lasted perhaps but some few hours The Kings Coffers were empty and they must have recourse to the worst methods for the filling them again particularly the creation of new Offices which the Italian furnished with Titles and perswaded him that such a multiplication was an excellent means to get Money without violence to any man and to render the Kings power more absolute by filling every City with Creatures of his own and such as would be tied fast to his interests thorow fear of losing their employments and so aid him in suppressing his Subjects and force them to lie quiet and submissively under the feet of Power ☜ This luxurious humour which travelled into every Countrey for divertisements brought from the furthest parts of Italy a band of Comedians whose Plays consisting of amorous intrigues and agreeable inventions to stir up and soothe the softest passions proved most pernicious corrupters of Modesty and Virtue and Schools of impudence They obtained Letters Patents for their establishment as they had been some excellent Society The Parliament rejected them as vagabonds or such Cattle whom good Morality the Holy Canons the antient Fathers and even our own Kings had ever esteemed infamous and forbid them to act or endeavour any more hereafter the obtaining of such License or Patent and notwithstanding no sooner was the Court returned from Poitiers but the King would have their Theatre open'd again month October This year appeared the greatest Comet that had been ever seen it took up Thirty degrees in length embracing the Signs Sagitarius and Scorpio the Tail turned towards the West it was observed from the Eighteenth of October till about the end of November An Astronomer found it to be of the same height as the Planet Venus Year of our Lord 1577 In the preceding Month of March John de Morvilliers Bishop of Orleans a great Statesman died at Blois and in the Month of July the Mareschal de Montluc at his House of Estillac in Agenois Armand Gontaud had the Mareschals staff vacant by the death of Montlue and quitted his Office of Great Master of the Ordnance which was given to Philibert de la Guiche one of the Kings Favorites There was open enmity between the King the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Guise The great courage of this last and weakness of the other two made him almost their equal Their hatred broke into quarrels between their Favorites Quelus who was one of the Kings Darlings challenged Entroguet who was the Duke of Guises and took for his Seconds Livarrot and Maugiron who was likewise in favour ✚ His adversary chose Rybeyrac and Schombert Till this time Seconds had only served for witnesses of a combat but an itch of fighting came upon these and this one bad example has lasted to this very day Maugiron was killed upon the spot Quelus was brought back wounded in Sixteen places whereof he died in a Months time The King loved both these so infinitely that he kissed them when dead caused their flax-Locks to be cut off and treasured them up carefully assisted Quelus to his very death serving him with his own hands and erected a stately Mausoleum for them both in St. Pauls Church Some time after he likewise caused the Body of St. Maigrin to be interred there and Statues of all the three to be set upon their Tombs the rabble broke them down and dragg'd them to the River on the day of the barricades This St. Maigrin was also one of his Minions whom the Duke of Mayenne caused to be pistoll'd at his coming out of the Louvre for having vaunted he was in favour with the Dutchess of Guise For this reason the other Minions who apprehended the like Treatment if they plaid with such rough Gamesters never ceased exasperating the King by their stories and reports concerning these Princes and seeking by all manner of ways to ruine them Being thus pusht at they consider'd how to defend themselves and when they had examin'd and found their own strength and the Kings softness they did not stop at the defensive but carried things to a far greater height then their most daring thoughts durst ever make them hope to attain Whilst the Queen-Mother was in Guyenne whither she went to confer with the King of Navarre under pretence of carrying his Wife to him whom he little valued and by whom he was not esteemed much more the Duke of Anjou Treated with Year of our Lord 1577 the States-General of the Vnited-Provinces this was on the Tenth day of August and was assured moreover that Charles de Ganre Inchi Governour of Cambresis would deliver up to him the Citadel of Cambray for the Queen of Navarre his Sister had gained that Lord the year before in a journey she made to the Spaa Year of our Lord From Anno 1568. to the year 1578. We must now relate what had been transacted in those Provinces for some years past The Duke of 〈…〉 them near Five years during which time he exercised most unexpressible cruelties insomuch that he bragg'd that the very Confiscations of the Estates of those he had butcher'd amounted to Eight Millions of Gold yearly and the number of People who had suffer'd by the hands of the Hangman was Eighteen thousand He was recalled in the year 1513. by King Philip and Lewis dé Requesens Grand Commander of Castille put in his place This last gained a Battle at Mouker-Heyde near Nimeghen wherein Ludovic de Nassau was slain this was in Anno 1574. He afterwards assembled the Estates-General to raise some Moneys but far from granting any they firmly united together to desend their liberty and they took so much hearty grace upon his death which hapned some Months afterwards as to seize upon the Government which was then left in the hands of the Council of State till the
chosen a Council of Forty Persons They afterwards obliged them to receive the Petition of Catharine de Cleves Widow of the Duke of Guise who desired leave to take information concerning the death of her Husband and Commissioners to make Process against such as should be Convicted The Parliaments the Chambers Assembled having heard the Sollicitor General 's motion admitted and granted her Petition and named two Counsellors to manage and carry on the said Process The King against all these attempts opposed nothing but a little Parchment and Wax multitudes of Letters which he sent every way and several Declarations at first very soft and gentle then somewhat more vigorous One amongst others which commanded the Duke of Aumale to go out of Paris interdicted the Parliament and all other the Kings Judges to exercise any Jurisdiction then another which declared the Dukes of Mayenne and Aumale and all the revolted Cities guilty of the Crime de Lesae Majestatis in the highest degree and deprived them of all Offices Honours and Priviledges In pursuance whereof he made an Edict which transferr'd the Parliament and the Chambre des Comptes to Tours as he afterwards did that of Rouen to Caen and the University and the Presidial of Orleans to Beaugency It was thought that if he had but mounted on Horseback and appeared at the Gates of Orleans or Paris who lead the dance to all other Tumults he had stifled them with ease but he was grown so effeminate thorough idleness that he could neither perform any thing with vigor nor keep himself any competent time steady to the same resolution He stirred not from Blois but continued the Estates there whom he persuaded himself would suddenly find out some remedy for all the grievances and troubles in the Kingdom In the mean while the Leaguers and Friends of the deceased Duke drew after them almost all the People of the whole Nation already too much prepossessed with ill-favour'd sentiments against him Even those very Persons who ever had abhorr'd Faction and Rebellion finding he had caused a Cardinal to be Massacred imagined he struck at the Catholick Religion it self the manner and circumstances of those Murthers gave a horror to all the World even the King of Navarre though Year of our Lord 1589 it were realy very advantageous to him could not find in his heart to rejoyce and month January le Plessis Mornay hindred the Rochellers from any publick Expressions of it for fear they might be reproached for approving that ambiguous act by any solemnity It could never be certainly known whether the Queen Mother had any hand in it there being only conjectures both for and against it but it is certain the King did never afterwards communicate any affairs to her So that thinking Life a burthen without any Authority or Power being overwhelmed with Age for she was Seventy and two years old but much more with trouble and sorrow to see that fate maugre all the obstructions she had contrived brought her greatest Enemy so near the Crown and withal being pierced to the heart that the Cardinal de Bourbon when she would needs visit him upon his Bed of Sickness and languishment cast that bloody reproach in her teeth Ah Madam is it thus you have brought us all to the Butchery she fell sick and died of it the Fifth of January Her death was esteemed a thing very indifferent causing neither joy nor sorrow and her memory would have vanisht with her breath after all the noise and stirs she had made for thirty years together had she not brought down too many curses upon France to be so soon forgotten A second time the King made the Estates swear to the Edict of Union to shew he was a Zealous Catholick After this they presented their Papers to him which he began to examine for some days The Fifteenth and Sixteenth of the Month he heard their Harangues which were full of fine words sound Reasons wise Expedients but their Tongues and Hearts were very far asunder so that it was nothing but a Scene where each one acted a part quite different from what he was indeed Now they sending him notice from all parts of new Commotions and finding most of the Deputies retired without taking leave he dismiss'd them all upon the Twentieth day of the Month and that they might carry with them into the Provinces some Marks of his Bounty to the Nobility he gave Brissac and Bois-Daufin their liberty and to the Third Estate that of three or four Deputies whom Richelieu had seized on But all of them made him an ill requital reserving only the injury in memory but not the favour and pardon Moreover he granted and caused several Articles of their Instructions or Memorials to be proclaimed amongst others an abatement of the fourth part of their Tailles of which in truth there was above a third part of non-value and never could be raised From Blois he caused all his Prisoners to be transfer'd to the Castle of Amboise but the Duke of Nemours of a bold and active Spirit found the invention to escape disguised like a Kitchin Scullion and got to Paris without stop or stay The last day of the Month he had news that the Citadel of Orleans had surrendred to the Bourgeois He had hoped that the Duke of Nevers whom he recalled from Poitou would have relieved it but after the taking of la Ganache his Forces being all Year of our Lord 1589 Leaguers either dispersed or went over to his Enemies month Januaay He heard almost at the same time that Paris had drawn in all the Towns and Passages round about them excepting Melun That Dreux Crespy in Valois Senlis Clermont in Beauvoisis Pont Saincte Maixence Amiens Abbeville Rouen and all those of Normandy excepting the Pont de L'Arche Diepe and Caen had set up the Colours of the League That Bois-Daufin had stirred up all the Country of Mans That the Duke of Mayenne was Master of all Burgundy excepting Semur and Flavigny That Lyons had cast their Rider and chose for Governor the Duke of Genevois so they called the Duke of Nemours As to Bretagne the Duke of Mercoeur did not make them move as yet because the King his Brother in Law amused him with the hopes of giving him that Dutchy after his death Stephen Duranti First President of Toulouze and James Dafis Attorney General contained that City near a Month but at last Vrban de Sainct Gelais Lansac Bishop of Cominges a Man equally ambitious and violent made it revolt and put the Populace into such a fury that they inhumanely massacred those two Magistrates dragg'd their dead Bodies thorough the Streets with the Kings Effigies and hanged them on the Gallows The Parisians and the Dutchess of Montpensier who could not well agree with the Duke of Aumale invited the Duke of Mayenne to Paris as soon as he had setled Burgundy in good order he begins his Journey thither to satisfie them All Champagne was of his
Bouchard and even Chastelleraud it self open'd their Gates to him From thence he advanced as far as Argenton in Berry to aid the City which held for the King against the Castle that stood for the League Which gave so much jealousie to la Chastre that he declared for the League and made the City of Bourges declare with him The happy progress of this Prince and his Proximity gave the King some reason Year of our Lord 1589 to court his assistance in his extream necessity the Duke of Nevers who apprehended month April this medley of Huguenots and Catholicks might bring Religion into danger dissuaded him with all his might and there were withal great obstructions on either hand On the Kings part the fear of farther offending the Court of Rome and scandalizing the Catholicks the Conscience of so soon violating an Oath twice reiterated before the Estates and the shame of being forced to call into his assistance him whom he had so roughly persecuted On the King of Navarres part the just suspicion lest they should sacrifice him to appease the fury of the League for this King that invited him was himself one of the principal Authors of the bloody St. Bartholomew and the constraint of stooping to the Favourites who sported with the lives of those that did not bow the knee before them Notwithstanding Du Plessis Mornay and some others by their prudent management removed all these Obstacles and accommodated every thing between these two Kings upon condition the Treaty should not be divulged till the King should think it fit It contained an agreement of a Truce for a year during which time the King of Navarre should aid him with all his Forces and should give him up all such places as he should take from the common Enemy Reciprocally the King should give him the Pont de Ce upon the Loire and one place in every Bailiwick as a retreat for his sick Men. When the Legat had discover'd this new Confederation he employ'd all his power and interest to incline the Duke of Mayenne to an Accommodation even so far as to offer him Conditions much beyond the power of his Commission The King finding he did but only lose time that in the Dukes Army they gave him no better Title then the Tyrant the Massacrer and dethroned Henry and that the Duke was at Chasteaudun within three days Journey of Tours he caused the Truce to be proclaimed though with a great deal of repugnance There were at Rome some Envoys on his behalf to sollicite for his Absolution and others in behalf of the League to oppose it The thing was found to be much more difficult to obtain of the Pope then he had imagined In that Court the Blood of a Cardinal is not so lightly valued and Pope Sixtus who gloried in trampling upon Crowned Heads would be sure not to let slip this opportunity of magnifying his own power He demanded before any further proceedings that they should set the Cardinal de Bourbon and the Archbishop of Lyons at liberty Charles d'Angennes Bishop of Mans had made him believe the King would grant him this but when in stead of a compliance that Prelat entertain'd him with excuses and ragione di stato and at the same time they were informed by Letters from the Legat of the Kings Confederation with the Head of the Huguenots the Pope le ts fly a Monitory the Fifth of May by which he demanded and commanded to set the Cardinal and the Arch-Bishop Year of our Lord 1589 at liberty within ten days after publication and to give certain notice month May and June thereof within thirty by an authentick Act In default whereof he declared he had incurr'd the Censures Ecclesiastical especially those which are contained in the Bull in Coena Domini of which he could not be absolv'd but by the Pope himself unless at the point of death and upon giving security to make satisfaction cited him to appear personally at Rome within sixty days allowing him twenty days for each Admonition and disanulling all Indulgences Faculties and Priviledges to the contrary granted by the Holy See either to him or to any of his Predecessors This Monitory was published in Rome and affixed upon the Church doors of St. Peters and St. John de Latran the Three and twentieth of May and the Month of June following in the Cathedral of Chartres in that of Meaux and some other Churches in France but the King still pretended cause of ignorance He notwithstanding had well enough foreseen this thing and the apprehension he had of it hastned him to satisfie the King of Navarre by giving him a passage upon the Loire Du Plessis Mornay by his Address brought it so about as in lieu of Pont de Ce a very ill-favoured place he gave him the City of Saumur whereof his Master gave him the Government This security being granted the two Kings met about the Thirtieth of April about the hour of One in the Afternoon at Plessis Les Tours in the Park he of Navarre was come to the Bridge de la Motte which is a Rivolet a quarter of a league beyond Tours and had brought part of his Forces which were quarter'd about two leagues beyond that but would venture no farther Nevertheless d'Aumont and Chastillon having informed him that such mistrust displeased the King pressed him so home that they prevailed with him to pass the River of Cher and come into the Park His old Captains trembled both for anger and for fear lest the King said they in a season wherein treachery may be so advantageous to free himself out of that Labyrinth whereinto another had drawn him should have agreed for his Absolution at the price of this Princes Life and destined his Head a present to the Pope to accompany the Admirals The same day to dispel their fears he returned to his lodgment but the next day by six in the morning and without giving them notice he repasses the River with only one Page and came to the King as he was rising The two Princes spent all that morning and the next in consulting of their Affairs Their resolution in gross was to attaque Paris the principal head of the League and that which gave motion to all the rest They reckon they should for this purpose have the Forces of the Huguenot Party and great numbers of the Nobility a powerful assistance which the King expected from England and a levy of twelve thousand Swiss whom Sancy was gone to raise in the Protestant Cantons After they had remained together two days Year of our Lord 1589 the King of Navarre went to Chinon to bring forward the rest of those Troops he month April had left there In the Provinces the two Parties had had divers Rencounters Sautour a Royalist besieging Mere upon Seine Hautefort who qualified himself Lieutenant General for the Union in Brie and Champagne charged him kill'd or caused most of his Men to drown themselves
de Bourbon and the Archbishop at liberty While he was entring the second time upon his Confession he fell into a swoon then utterly losing his speech he expir'd about four in the morning the Second day of August which was the next after his being wounded The preceding Evening the King of Navarre informed of the danger he was in came to visit him the frequent sits of fainting he fell into every moment would not allow him to make long discourses but when dead the several Factions made many different ones for him according to their Interests The Catholicks reported he exhorted him to abjure his Heresie and to profess the true Faith the Huguenots on the contrary that he desired them to refer those Disputes to the Convocation of the Estates General some others that he conjured them to remain united and pursue the Revenge for his Death but it is most certain that he embraced him several times and that he called him his good Brother and his lawful Successor They carried his Corps to St. Cornille de Compeigne where it reposed till the year 1610. when it was brought to St. Deuis with that of the Queen his Mother which was at Blois to accompany the Funeral Pomp of Henry the Great Both of them were placed in the Mausoleum of the Valois Benoise Secretary of the Closet a faithful Servant caused his Heart and Bowels to be buried in a private place of the Church of St. Cloud then when Henry IV. had restored France to its perfect Peace he placed an Epitaph there which is yet to be seen and founded an Anniversary for him Henry III. ceased to live in the Eleventh Month of the Nine and thirtieth year of his Age and the second of the sixteenth of his Reign He had no Children by Queen Louisa his Wife she survived him till the year 1601. and the Forty seventh of her Age. She made choice for her retirement of the Castle of Moulins which was part of her Dower where she passed the remainder of her days in the continual exercise of Piety and Christian Vertues With this King ended the Branch of the Valois who had Reigned One hundred and sixty one years accounting from Philip IV. and furnished France with thirteen Kings most of them Magnificent Liberal Valiant Religious and Lovers of Polite Learning bâ—t to say the truth not over-fortunate in War who notwithstanding have acquired to this Kingdom by good Conduct rather then by force Daufine Year of our Lord 1589 Burgundy Provence and Bretagne and chaced the English wholly out of France after a War of an hundred and thirty years together with various success and fortune But who began to burthen the People with Tails and Impositions little known in the Reigns of their Predecessors unless in cases of urgent necessity by grant of the Estates and only for a time who have alienated the Sacred Demesns of the Crown permitted Plebeians to possess Fiefs taken away Canonical Elections of Benefices introduced the Venality of Offices and even of Nobility multiplied Officers of Justice and of Finance composed great numbers of Reiglements and Ordonnances changed the ancient Militia of the Kingdom to entertain Soldiers upon pay level'd the power of the great Lords called Women into the Court and in fine made many other changes whereof we must refer the Judgment to the Sages whether they be more profitable or prejudicial to the State Henry IV. King LXII POPES SIXTUS V. near thirteen years under this Reign URBAN VII Elected the 15th of September 1590. S. only twelve days GREGORY XIV Elected the fifth of December 1590. S. ten Months ten days INNOCENT IX Elected the 29th of October 1591. S. two Months CLEMENT VIII Elected the 30th of January 1592. S. thirteen years and one Month. LEO XI Elected the first of April 1605. S. twenty seven days PAUL V. Elected the 16th of May 1605. S. fifteen years and near nine Months whereof five years under this Reign HENRY IV. King LXII Aged Thirty five years and eight Months Year of our Lord 1589. August ALthough there had been hitherto no example in France of a Prince that came to the Crown from a degree so remote as was Henry King of Navarre in respect of King Henry III. to whom he was of Kin but in the tenth or eleventh nevertheless it was the Sentiment both of the People and the Lawyers that this succession in a Masculine Line extended to infinity And indeed those that would have excluded him did not make this distance beyond the seventh degree any part of their pretence but the defect of his Religion and they believed they had so shut up all the Avenues by the Edict of Re-union which the Estates General and the deceased King had twice sworn and by Pope Sixtus his Bull that they imagined he could never attain it even though he were converted During the night between the Second and third of August whilst his Predecessor was in his greatest agony he held several Councils tumultuarily in the same House with his most cordial Servants then when he saw he was giving up the ghost he retired to his quarters at Meudon followed at first by a good number of the Nobility who accompanied him out of curiosity rather then affection And there being lock'd up in his Chamber he consulted sometimes with one sometimes with others shewing great confidence to all but generally suspecting every one Some though but a very few swore fealty to him without any Condition Biron the most considerable and the most imperious of all those that were there believing the Kingdom was going to be dismembred as it had been at the end of the Carlien Race made known he desired to have the County of Perigord for his share The King commanded Sancy to offer it to him but Sancy who could not claim the like advantage for himself did so picque him with generosity as he renounced that demand and went along with him to the Swiss Soldiers to persuade them to remain in the Service of the new King The fear they had of losing their pay was a strong charm to hold them by however some of them disbanded This was a great advantage for the new King but as to the rest he was without Money and without Credit the Princes of the Blood had neither the power nor will to serve him the old Cardinal de Bourbon was his Concurrent the Cardinal de Vendosms ambition gave him jealousie the humour of the Count de Soissons agreed but ill with his the Prince of Conty Brother to those two Princes was of little effect by reason of his deafness and his other natural defects Montpensier their Cousin the richest and most powerful of them all was well enough content he should be King and never would have endured any other but he desired he would abjure his Religion Year of our Lord 1589. August As to the Lords who were in the deceased Kings Army they were not very well inclined towards him Those that had
and a half of Diepe between the two little Hillocks that shut up the Valley where runs the River of Betune of whose Mouth the Sea makes the Port of that City The Duke Lodged on the Hill at the right hand and attaqued the Suburb du Polet whence being repulsed he lay still three days together without attempting any thing The fourth he made a great effort to gain the Kings Retrenchment but having lost five hundred Men he retired and rested quiet two days more after which having decamped and taken a march of seven or eight Leagues he returns of a sudden to Polet and began to batter it but it was at Year of our Lord 1589. September a distance only and very coldly The tenth day he raised the Siege for good and all and retreated a great way into Picardy Besides his slowness and uncertainty there were other clogs no less heavy that hindred him from moving with that force and promptitude requisite in such great Enterprises his Germans and Swiss refused to fight unless he would first pay their Musters and they were hourly ready to fall together by the Ears with the French upon such picques as are ordinary betwixt different Nations Besides all the Commanders of his Army taking the Kings surrender or flight to be unavoidable â—ell already into disputes about the sharing of the Kingdom The Marquiss du Pont believed the Crown was his due the Duke of Nemours the Duke and the Chevalier d'Aumale scoffed at his Pretensions and being possessed against each other with the like jealousies as against him did narrowly watch each others motions This was ☜ it that upon this very first occasion betray'd the weakness of the Duke of Mayenne and the League and gave the Royal Party so mean an opinion of them and so good a one of themselves that after this very day they made no difficulty not only of standing their ground in any place but of following and seeking them with unequal Forces Before we enter any further into this confusion of Troubles it will be sit to note the disposition of France both within and without in respect of the two Parties Pope Sixtus had declared for the League because the first news he had after the death of Henry III. reported they were absolute Masters of the whole Kingdom and he believed that depending upon him they would let him make such a King as should entirely submit the Crown to the Crosier The King of Spain would not determine this grand Quarrel which he might very easily have done had he at first commanded the Duke of Parma to enter France and to joyn with the Duke of Mayenne but his interest was to ruine the Kingdom by their own Contentions and then snatch up some fragments for himself Upon this prospect he never sent but slender assistance to the Duke but with sair promises joyned to a great deal of ostentation And indeed the Duke never had any sincere amity for or strict tie with him but knowing as he thoroughly did his intentions the Forces they lent did often give him more fear and embarass then they did him service The Seigneury of Venice and the Duke of Florence had an interest that there should be a King in France to balance the overgrown power of the Spaniard who too much Year of our Lord 1589. September over-topp'd them Wherefore the Seigneury owned Henry IV. at first dash notwithstanding the oppositions of the Popes Nuncio and the Spanish Ambassador and the Florentine profer'd to lend him three hundred thousand Crowns provided he would make a Match for Mary de Medicis with one of the Princes of his Blood The Duke of Lorrain pretended to the Crown for his Son the Marquiss du Pont but in an Assembly of some Deputies of the Cities in Champagne at Chaumont in Bassigny where he made his demand of it not one gave him their Vote and his Son whom he sent into France with some Forces acquired so little reputation and had moreover such ill fortune amongst the Women that he carried back nothing as 't is said but the Crown of Venus The Duke of Savoy had no less pretensions then the said Marquiss he derived his Title from his Mother Daughter of the great King Francis and that supported with the Alliance of Spain However knowing himself too weak to carry the whole Kingdom he would only have laid his hands upon Provence and Daufine and to that effect sent to the Parliament of Grenoble whom he thought pretty well disposed to favour him by the care of Charles de Simiane d'Albigny to make out his right to them and incline them to own him But he met with no great satisfaction the Parliament replying that his demand concerned the whole Kingdom that therefore he ought to make it to the Estates General in whose determination they would absolutely acquiesce As for the Provinces the Duke of Mercoeur was Master of the better part of Bretagne Normandy Picardy and Champagne were almost all Leaguers Burgundy was kept quiet under the commands of the Duke of Mayenne excepting that in the following year the Count de Tavanes a Royalist took some Castles there from whence he made War upon the Vicount his Brother a passionate friend to the Duke of Mayenne The greater part of Guyenne obey'd the Kings commands there being none but the Cities of Agen Villeneure and Marmande as also some Castles in Agenois and in Quercy who were of the opposite Party The Duke of Mayenne had no doubt drawn all that Province after him had he bestowed the Government upon Biron and not on the Marquiss de Villars his Wives Son who by her importunities made him commit that gross mistake As to the rest the Mareschal de Matignon had retained Bourdeaux Anne de Levis Count de la Voute Limoges some others Perigord and Quercy and the Duke of Espernon Angoulmoâ—s Poitiers on the contrary remained scot-free The Country along the Loire was much embroil'd Berry and Orleannois as also Year of our Lord 1589. September Mayne Perche and Beausse held for the League Touraine and Blesois for the King Montmorency had secured for him that part of Languedoc whereof he was Master having sent him a promise of the Constables Sword but he would not break that Truce he had made with Joyeuse who held the Cities of Narbonne Carcassonne d'Alby Rodes and even that of Toulonze which is capital of the Province with some other lesser places In Provence the Parliament and la Valete made War against each other more out of private animosities then affection to either Party The Duke of Savoy concern'd himself for his own Interest but this year he was employ'd against the Swiss and in the pursute of a design he had conceived of taking the City of Geneva The Duke of Nemours held Lyons and Vienne and d'Albigny Grenoble and some petty Towns for the League Lesdiguieres Head of the Huguenots and Alfonso Dornano Head of the Catholick Royalists being allied
great Guns they lowred their Pikes and surrendred their Colours which were immediately restored to them again by the generosity of the King who desiring to oblige the whole Nation wrote a very civil Letter to the Cantons The Duke of Mayenne after he had performed all the Duties of a great Commander and brave Cavalier drew part of his Men over the Bridge then caused it to be broken down and with that remnant escaped to Mantes The Inhabitants were willing to receive his Person but not quarter his Troops but made them go thorough ten by ten Nemours Aumale and some other Chiefs with what they could rally retired to Chartres over the Plain The Duke attributed the loss of this Battle to his Flemish Men at Arms who were heavy and unskilful as well the Men as their Horses to the temerity of Count Egmont who commanded them to the mistake of the Vicount de Tavanes who being short-sighted ranged the Squadrons so near each other that there was not space enough in the intervals for the Reisters to wheel about and draw up again in the rear of the rest and above all to the cowardize of those very Reisters who having at first given ground fell into the Dukes Squadron and continuing still to wheel off during the whole fight fell upon the others likewise and so put them into disorder For fear of being pursued he had broken down the Bridge of Yvry and there hapned the greatest slaughter of the run-aways the Reisters defended themselves a while in the Burrough but were all knock'd on the Heads The King having past the River at the Ford of Anet was come to Lodge at Rosny which is a League beyond Mantes His approaches startled the Inhabitants of that Town the Duke perceived by their looks there would be little security for him there and for that reason retired speedily to St. Denis The Plain of Yvry was not the only place wherein destiny to speak like the Vulgar declared for the King the same day it gave him in Auvergne another advantage of great importance and such as wholly confirmed his Affairs in that Province The Count de Randan had surprized the Town of Issoire and built a Citadel the Gentlemen Royalists and the Citizens of Clermont who in hatred to those of Rion Year of our Lord 1590. March had a great deal of Zeal for the Kings Party surprized the City by their intelligence with a Consul and besieged the Citadel Florat Seneschal of Auvergne Commanded on this occasion Randan comes to relieve the Citadel and invested both him and his Party in the Town The Lords of that Country amongst others Rostignac the Kings Lieutenant the Vicount de Lavedan the Baron de Chaseron the Marquiss de Curton who commanded the little Army and d'Effiat came to disengage their Friends This could not be without a Battle it was very obstinate but in fine the Leagners were overthrown It cost them five hundred Men whereof there were an hundred Gentlemen and amongst the rest the generous Count de Randan who being taken Prisoner died of his Wounds in Issoire Those of the Citadel having heard of this defeat capitulated and the Victors returned in great triumph to Clermont The Duke of Mayenne was no sooner parted from Mantes but that City and that of Vernon turned their backs upon him It was said that if he could but have left a good Garison there he had stopt the King upon the Banks of the Seine and made his Victory vanish In effect he had neither Implements nor Ammunitions to make a Siege nor could he keep the Nobility with him any longer who upon the rumour of a Battle came in all haste to him without any Equipage The Wise la Noue was of opinion he should go directly to Paris where the Victory of Yvry had wonderfully raised the courage of his Friends and depressed that of the Seize the Mareschal de Biron most prevalent in the Council of War and d'O Surintendant of the Finances hindred it The first as it was said because he feared lest the King whom he treated as his Scholer should free himself if we may so say from the power of his Ferula and have the less regard of him if his business came to be dispatched so soon The second because he desired rather to reduce Paris by violent means For he judged that in case it were so the King would have just cause not only to take away the Cities Revenue but likewise extort great Ransoms from them and lay such Imposts as he pleased Now whatever motive he had he rested fifteen days at Mantes in which space the League did a little recover out of their astonishment calmed the Peoples fears and repaired their leaks Their Chiefs that they might gain more time made some Proposals for an Accommodation Villeroy first entred into Conference with Plessis Mornay in the Castle of Suindre near Mantes the Legat procured another at Noisy le Sec between the Cardinal de Gondy and the Marâ—schal Biron and was also present himself All very ineffectually for them because the King without any delay prepared himself to besiege Paris Year of our Lord 1590. March and April He had already taken Lagny Provins Monstereau Bray on the Seine and Melun Some false intelligence put him upon attempting the City of Sens but he was repulsed by Chanvallon with the loss of three hundred Men. From thence he came and seized on the Castle and Bridge of Sainct Maur des Fossez the Five and twentieth day of April having fifteen thousand Foot and little less then four thousand Horse Then Paris found they were block'd up That innumerable and confused multitude of People without Heads at least not absolute without foresight without Discipline who apprehended no danger because they understood it not and who relied upon their great numbers and strength had made no provisions for the Belly nor for War neither had the Chiefs taken any care to provide against either publick or private necessities When it came into their thoughts it was too late the Countries about them had no Corn nor Forrage all the Bridges beneath the City were in the Kings power and the Marne could furnish them with little because the Harvest that year had been very ill in Champagne They had scarce any other Stores but three thousand Muids of Corn and ten thousand Muids of Wine which Givry suffer'd to pass the Bridge of Chamoy for a present bestow'd upon him of ten thousand Crowns and out of a secret Complaisance he had for Mademoiselle de Guise with whom he was mightily smitten month May. The Duke of Mayennes Orders and their Necessity confer'd the Government of the City on the Duke of Nemours his Brother by the Mother a young Prince of an active boldness and great vigour He had then no Men of note about him but the Chevalier d'Aumale brave but wild and untractable and of Soldiers only twelve hundred Lansquenets as many French and a thousand Swiss
upon the Besiegers the first charge was but with little success but at the second when they had gotten some Cannon and a Reinforcement of a thousand Men sent them by Rochepot Governor of Anger 's they broke thorough their Barricado's pierced even into the Bass-court of the Castle and followed them so close as they betook themselves to their Heels but not breaking down the Bridge the greatest part were kill'd or taken Prisoners In Languedoc Montmorency armed slowly thinking by such coldness to make them send him the Constables Sword which other considerations with-held Albigny and Lesdiguieres made War in Daufine by taking and re-taking several Forts from each other The latter being the stronger marched sometimes towards Lyons to assist Maugiron who held one of the Castles of Vienne for the King and had St. Chaumont for Antagonist He likewise went frequently towards Provence to help la Valete Montmorency also passed the Rhosne divers times but that was to endeavour to lay hands on some places to enlarge his Dominion Provence was miserably rent and distracted by three or four Factions not reckoning the Royalists The Duke of Savoy had his the Countess de Sault and the Count de Carees each theirs That of the Duke seem'd to be the most predominant and to draw the two others to his Interests but the the Countess it was Christierne d'Aguâ—rre Widow of Lewis d'Agout Count de Sault a Woman of great courage and of a high spirit would not introduce him into the Province but to make her Year of our Lord 1590 self the stronger and the Count de Carces likewise not being able to stand upon his own Legs gave that Duke footing only that he might be enabled to make head against la Valete For he imagined that being prime Lord of the Country and Lieutenant of the Forces by Authority of Parliament all the Authority there ought to devolve on him The Parliament was also mightily divided between these three Factions and moreover some of the Officers belonging to them had left them to follow the Kings Party and that of la Valete his Governor These had withdrawn themselves to Manosque where they affirm'd they were the true Parliament During the first heat of these Commotions the Dukes Money and Practises gave month January c. him the advantage the Magistrates of the chief Cities amongst others Marseilles and Aix being all for him A great Assembly of the Clergy and Nobility which was held at Aix in the Month of January resolved to put the Province under his Protection and deputed a Bishop and the eldest Consul of the City to him and after that the Parliament Ordained likewise that he should be called in to defend it To which they added that the Estates of the Bigarrats so they named the Royalists should be confiscate As to the rest it were folly to engage in a Relation of all the several Intrigues and Exploits of so many Parties who changing every moment both their Designs and the management of them did not well know themselves what they would have or do I shall therefore not mention them no more then those of several other Provinces Only of Bretagne let me say that the Prince de Dombes rudely repulsed the Duke de Mercoeur took Hennebon Montcontour and Lambale but could not engage him to a Battle I shall likewise take notice of the great change at St. Malo's because it was a place of great importance Honorat de Bueil des Fontaines Governor of the Town lodged in the Castle which month March lies upon the Harbour and had there stowed all the Riches he had scraped together in the time of his being in favour with King Charles IX The Malouins being persuaded that he had plotted to introduce a strong Garison into their City and set the wealthiest Merchants at Ransom conspired to rid their hands of him Having therefore corrupted a Valet de Chambre of his they scaled the Castle on the Fourteenth of March in the night and it so hapned that he was kill'd with a Carbine Shot at a Window whether by chance or designedly I know not After which they plundred his Goods then got the Duke of Mercoeur to justifie them and fell in with the League yet they warily refused to admit of any Soldiers but kept the Castle themselves The Affections of considering Men as well as fortune and success began to dispose their minds by little and little to favour the King Pope Sixtus better informed Year of our Lord 1590. July of the condition of both Parties and comparing the qualities and the manner of that Princes acting with the Duke of Mayennes did well foresee that he would have the better and indeed he received into Rome then to his Audience the Duke de Piney deputed from the Catholick Nobility notwithstanding the threats and protestarions of the Spanish Ambassador and had sent Order to his Legat in France that he should make no use of Excommunication but try all ways of prudence and gentleness to bring back the King The People began likewise to be made sensible of the real goodness of this Prince as he had already taught them to dread his courage And the Duke of Nevers who had hitherto remained as it were Neuter in his own Town after his having consider'd of all the methods likely to convert him judged none could be either more certain or more Conscious then wisely to thrust himself between the Huguenots and him to divide him from them and so draw him mildly towards the Catholick Church With this design he came about the beginning of July and brought in great numbers of the Gentry by his Interest and Example It was about the same time the King recalled the Chancellor de Chiverny and restored the Seals to him Montholon had discharg'd himself of them after the death of Henry III. fearing he might be engaged to Seal some thing in favour of the Huguenots though he still remained of the Kings Party in which he this year died honoured by good Men with the Surname of the French Aristides After his demission the Seals had been managed by the Cardinal de Vendosme then put into the custody of Ruse Secretary of State but without any power of using them save by Order of the Mareschal Biron who had a hand in every thing About the time of his return the City of St. Denis surrendred and a design the Leaguers had contrived upon Senlis miscarried St. Denis having consumed all their Stores wherewith it was as little provided for as Paris made their Composition which was advantageous enough because the King desired to lodge there As to Senlis Bouteville who was Lieutenant to his Cousin Tore there walking one night upon the Rampart overheard some People beneath in the Fosse who spake very low and perceived they planted a Ladder against the Wall he rouls down a huge Stone from the Parapet which beat the Ladder in pieces and broke the Thigh-bone of one of them this
War A Peace would have blasted all their ambitious pretensions and they could no longer carry on the War without a King nor maintain and support a King without the assistance of Spain To this effect they deputed the President Janin to that Prince who gave him favourable Audience twice and afterwards sent him to confer with one of his Ministers By whose discourse the President discover'd the intentions of Philip which were to Assemble the Estates General that they might bestow the Crown of France upon him that should Marry his Daughter Isabella as the nearest Princess of the Blood Royal upon which condition he promised to send such numerous Forces into France as should drive out the the King of Navarre and withal offer'd ten thousand Crowns per Month to maintain the Duke of Mayenne He founded his hopes upon the charms of his Gold the affections of the Seize and the Cabals of the Friers Mendicants and other Religious Orders very powerful and at that time devoted to Spain by whose means he hoped to gain the greater Cities The Pope aimed at the same thing and treated the Seize as Men of great importance He fancied the time was now come to suppress all Heresies and that his Popeship might not lose the glory of it he resolved to joyn his Spiritual with the Temporal Power to destroy them He put forth two Monitories the one month March directed to the Prelats and Ecclesiasticks the other to the Nobility Magistrates and People By the first he Excommunicated them if within fifteen days they did not withdraw from the Obedience Territories and their Attendance on Henry de Bourbon and within fifteen more deprived them of their Benefices By the second he exhorted them to do the same if not he would turn his Paternal goodness and love into the severity of a Judge In both of them he declared Henry of Bourbon Excommunicate Relapsed and as such fallen from all right to his Kingdoms and Seigneuries Marcellin Landriano the Popes Referendary was the Bearer of them and contrary to the sentiments of the Duke of Mayenne published them in all the Cities of the League about the end of the Month of April month April To the same end the Pope raised Eight thousand Foot and a thousand Horse of whom he made his Nephew Hercules Sfondrata General and to make him the more Year of our Lord 1591. May. worthy that Command he invested him with the Dutchy of Montemarcian with most solemn Ceremony in the Church of Sancta Maria Major About this time the Marquiss de Maignelay who had promised the King to return to his Obedience with la Fere upon Oyse whereof he was Governor was assassinated in the midst of the City by the Vice-Seneschal of Montelimar named Colas and the Lieutenant of the Duke of Mayennes Guards who left the Government of it to Colas The King going to Compeigne to favour this Reduction very angry it was prevented came back to Mantes From thence he put in execution an Enterprise he had upon the City of Louviers It was taken at noon day by the Mareschal Biron Raulet having greatly contributed to this Exploit had the Government of it Fontaine-Martel Governor of the place and Claude de Saintes Bishop of Evreux were taken Prisoners Martel redeem'd himself by paying a Ransom the Bishop for being too hot was detained in Prison and there died The Popes Bull had scarce any other effect but to excite the Huguenots to demand an Edict give an opportunity to those of the third Party to advance and strengthen their Cabal and provoke the Parliaments of the one and the other Party to make bloody Decrees The Chamber of Chaalons a Member of that which was sitting at Tours by a Decree of the Sixth of June cancell'd and revoked them as null abusive scandalous seditious full of Impostures contrary to the Holy Decrees Canons Councils and the Rights of the Gallican Church ordained they should month June be torn and burnt by the hands of the Hangman that Landriano should be apprehended ten thousand Livers Reward to whomsoever should deliver him to Justice forbidding all the Kings Subjects to lodge or harbour him as likewise to carry either Silver or Gold to Rome or to sollicite the Provisions or Expeditions of Benefices And an Act to be given to the Sollicitor General for the appeal he was to bring to the next Council legally Assembled The Kings Council were divided into two parts the one sat at Tours where the Cardinal de Vendosme presided the other at Chartres with the Chancellor de Chiverny the King assembles them together at Mantes to deliberate on so important an Affair After he had heard their opinions he puts forth a Declaration in the Month of July month July wherein he gives notice to his Parliaments that all other things laid aside they should proceed against Landriano as they should in justice see cause and exhorted the Prelats to meet and advise together according to Holy Decrees that the Ecclesiastical Discipline might not be lost nor the People destitute of their Pastors Year of our Lord 1591 On the other hand he thought convenient notwithstanding the vehement oppositions of the Cardinal de Bourbon to grant a Declaration in favour of the Huguenots which revoked all Edicts that had been put forth against them with the Judgments that had ensued thereupon and restored revived and confirmed all the Edicts of Pacification but then added these words by provision only and until such time as he should be able to re-unite all his Subjects by a happy Peace This clause served as a Vehicle to make it pass in the Parliament of Tours As to the business of the Bulls this Company thundred lowder yet then the Chamber at Chaalons and out-vying them declared Gregory an Enemy of the Churches Peace and Union Enemy to the King and State adhering to the Conspiracy of Spain favourer of Rebels and guilty of the Parricide of King Henry III. On the contrary that of Paris pronounced That this Decree was null and of no force made by People without power Schismaticks and Hereticks Enemies to God and destroyers of his Church ordered it should be torn in full Audience and the Fragments burnt on the Marble Table by the Executioner of the Haute Justice The Clergy also assembled at Mantes pursuant to the Kings Declaration They were to examine the Popes Bulls and to settle some Orders for the Provisions of Benesices As to the first point the Assembly made a Decree which declared the said Bulls to be null unjust suggested by the Enemies of the Kingdom protesting notwithstanding that they would not depart from their obedience to the Holy See month August To the second they propounded many Expedients The Archbishop of Bourges this was Renauld de Bealne made a motion of creating a Patriarch in France and he believed his Quality of Primat in the absence of the Archbishop of Lyons who was for the League would acquire him that Dignity
by Escalado But while thinking himself to be already absolute Master he treated the Provencial Subjects with haughtiness and the Conquer'd without mercy while he built Citadels in Briguoles and in Sainct Tropez whose Inhabitants were great Royalists the jealous and impatient Spirits of those Countries were extreamly alarmed the Kings Agents by their secret practises put more fuel to their fire and the Dukes revenge begot in their hearts the most cruel and furious hatred that has been heard of in these latter Ages The Spaniards incessantly demanded the Convocation of the Estates General the Pope had delegated in France by Commission in form of a Bull Philip de Sega Cardinal Bishop of Piacenza to be assisting at the Election of a Catholick King and such a one as they should judge to be most capable of opposing the Undertakings of the Navarrois King Philip had resolved to send an Army into France of Thirty thousand Foot and six thousand Horse to support him who should be elected as designing him to be a Husband for his Daughter Year of our Lord 1592 Amidst these Transactions the Third of December died in Arras the Duke of Parma as he was drawing his Forces together and the King had advanced as far as month December Corbie to hinder his entrance into the Kingdom This great Soldier had languished a whole year of Poison said the more suspicious given him by the Ministers of Spain either by order of King Philip or out of some private hatred We do not well know whether it affected the Duke of Mayenne with joy or grief but it is certain that after the being acquainted with this news he took as much care to assemble the Estates as he had formerly used to retard it and presently made four Mareschals of France who were la Chastre Rhosne Bois-Daufin and Sainct Pol and gave the Command of Admiral to the Marquiss de Villars Was it to add more Dignity to that Assembly or to impose the necessity on them to elect him King For these great Officers would not have suffer'd they should confer the Crown on any other but their Creator The Duke of Guise and the Duke of Nemours â—ormed each their Cabal in Paris and expected to have the like in the Estates The Politicks having found their own strength conâ—idently held their Assemblies where they made Propositions for an Accommodation with the King of Navarre and it had passed in an Assembly of their Town-Hall to send to him for a free Commerce if the Duke of Mayenne had not hastned thither to prevent it This was by advice of the Seize but he shewed never the more kindness to them for it on the contrary he rejected all the Petitions they presented to him for which reason they spit their Venom in divers biting and horribly defaming Libels which did in truth extreamly decry him but rendred the Authors yet more odious month November and December In the Kings Party his Parliament his Council and even his House it self were likewise much embroil'd The Indifferent and the Leaguers who were returned to the Parliament brought Sentiments very opposite to the Spirits of the former In the Council every one strove to be highest and possess that place the Mareschal de Biron had held and the King was equally afraid of disobliging all the Pretenders for the first that had forsaken him would have dissolved the whole knot His Domestick inquietudes did no less discompose him The Count de Soissons not able to suffer any longer those delays of his Marriage with the Princess Cathâ—rine went to Pau to compleat it but the Parliament of Bearn shut their Gates upon him and placed Guards about the Princess She took her self to be highly affronted by these proceedings and complained bitterly to her Brother of the insolence of those Men of the Gown so she express'd it The King desiring to compose her disordered mind wrote back to her in very affectionate terms and order'd her to come to him at Saumur where he was to be in the Month of February Year of our Lord 1593 We are now arrived at the year 1593. one of the most memorable of this Reign month January in which Affairs by being so very much confused began to assume some order The Fifth day of January was published a Declaration of the Duke of Mayenne verified in the Parliament of Paris which after an ingenious and eloquent Apology for all he had done invited the Princes Pairs Prelats Officers of the Crown Lords and Deputies to joyn with the Party for the Holy Vnion and to meet in the Assembly of the Estates on the Seventeenth of February there without passion or interest joyntly to make choice of some good Remedy to preserve both Church and State About ten days after appeared an Exhortation of the Legats to the same end which spake much plainer then the Dukes saying They must elect a King both by profession and in reality most Christian and most Catholick and who had the power to maintain both Church and State This pointed to the King of Spain clearly enough This Paper of the Dukes having been perused by those Lords who were about the King some amongst others the Duke of Nevers thought convenient since he invited them to come to Paris to return him some Answer which might engage him to a Conference This Expedient was seconded by all with so much eagerness that it would not have been in the power of the King if he had so desired to hinder it The Proposition was therefore drawn up the Seven and twentieth of the Month and deliver'd to a Herauld to carry it to the Duke The Deputies went to their Devotions the One and twentieth at Nâ—stre-Dame then heard a Sermon preached by Gilbert Genebrand Archbishop of Aix who shewed That the Salique Law was either positive or changeable at the pleasure of the Legislator which is the Body of the French People The Assembly was open'd the Six and twentieth in the Hall of the Louvre the Duke began it by a Harangue which the Archbishop of Lyons had composed for him the Cardinal de Pelleve spake for the Clergy Senescay for the Nobility and Honore du Laurent the Kings Advocat in the Parliament of Provence for the Third Estate The Clergy had a pretty good number of Prelats of note with them amongst the Nobility there were few Gentlemen considerable and the Third Estate was a compounded Rabble of all sorts of People hired by the Duke of Mayenne or by the Spaniards Of these three Bodies there being none but that of the Nobility for the Duke he assay'd to add two new ones contrary to the ancient Order of the Kingdom i. e. one of Lords and the other of Members of Parliament and Gown Men but the three Orders fiercely rejected this Novelty The second day of their sitting a Trumpeter brought the Proposition from the Catholick Lords attending the King which imported That if those of the Party for the Vnion would depute honest
return of the Duke of Mayenne who seemed loath to enter upon this matter let slip some Sessions without any proceedings then adjourned the Conference for eight days notwithstanding a Truce or Suspension was agreed for ten days At first a difficulty arose which had like to break off all those of the League would not suffer that Rambouillet should be present because the Dutchess of Guise accused him of having a hand in the death of her Husband Rambouillet on the contrary insisted upon his staying since he was come fearing lest his exclusion should imply a tacit owning of what they charged him with and the Blood of that Prince be required of him and his Posterity He therefore positively denied the Fact and offer'd to purge himself by Oath upon which the Deputies of his Party stood up so resolutely for him that he was not excluded It is very remarkable that the King having heard how some did even charge him with that death took the pains to write a Discourse which was perused by the chiefest ☞ of that Assembly wherein he shewed he never was the Author of so tragical and so cursed a Council He instanced amongst other things that the late King telling him how a great Man who pushed him on to do that action had in a Letter written to him on that Subject put in these four Latine words MORS CONRADINI VITA CAROLI He the King of Navarre replied in the presence of many Persons of Honour still living Yes but Sir this Party has not told you all the History for the death of Conradin was the ruine of Charles For the particulars of what passed in the Conference at Surene they are to be seen in the Records that are published The Archbishop of Lyons and he of Bourges made very Eloquent Discourses on either side to shew the one that they could not acknowledge an Heretical prince the other that they ought to obey him and this last summoned the Leagued Catholicks to joyn with them for instructing and converting the King but these stood stiff not to receive nor have any communication with him till he were truly converted and the Pope had received him into the bosom of the Church This Resolution express'd with great freedom and assurance brought over that Prince who wavered before in so much as he gave his positive word he would become a Convert to those Princes and Lords that were about him and demanded a Conference for his instruction to which he invited all the most learned of his own Party and of those for the League to meet the Fifteenth of July Not that he pretended the performance of his promise should depend upon that but only as a ceremony and form becoming such an Act. Year of our Lord 1593 It was time he should speak plain for the Estates some days before having made a month June solemn Procession were preparing for the election of a King and if the Spaniards had then made the Proposition which they did a Month after in behalf of the Duke of Guise it is most certain that all had gone that way even in despite of the Duke of Mayenne for he had not yet made his Faction strong enough as having been too long employ'd at Rheims He was newly come from thence very melancholy and dissatisfied with the Princes of his own House who were more vex'd with him so that they had parted as irresolv'd and as much dis-united as ever each of them with vast and confused thoughts and very little abilities to put them in execution Nevertheless there was enough to console him for his misfortunes had he known how to improve the opportunity for the King apprehending the Estates might nominate one before himself were Converted offer'd to give him then the same advantages the Spaniards promis'd him only for the future He had no other aim when he consented to the Conferences but only to amuse the Royalists but the event was quite contrary it gave the King great advantage The Seize on the one hand and the Huguenots on the other did in vain endeavour to interrupt them they were too much engaged from Surene they were transfer'd to la Raquete then to la Villette They ended and broke up in this latter place because the Leaguers would conclude on nothing more but that they referred the judgment of the Reduction of the King to the Authority of his Holiness who only said they had the power of opening the Gates of the Church to him and the other rejected this Proposition because that would be to submit the Crown of France to the disposal of the Pope During the time these Conferences held the suspension of Arms was continued and brought the People to an absolute longing after Peace The King having observed this effect would allow it no farther but for three days but in exchange offer'd a Truce of six Months The Legat and Spaniards expressing great aversion to it the Duke of Mayenne durst not accept of it The Spaniards on their side having already suffer'd the Spirits of their Party to grow cool in the Estates disgusted them wholly by their odious Propositions for Mendozze labour'd to prove the right of the Infanta and to demonstrate that the Crown appertained to her His discourse was very unacceptable Feria afterwards imagining that they had rejected it because the French abhorred the Government of a Woman caused Tassis to propound that the Catholick King would Marry the Infanta to the Arch-Duke Ernest who should Reign joyntly with her as if it would not have been more eligible to admit of one Stranger to sit in the Throne of France then to crowd two in at the same time Year of our Lord 1593 The Nobility having referr'd it to the Duke of Mayenne to make him such answer month June as he should think fit the Duke gave him to understand that the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom could not allow of a Stranger That nevertheless the Estates to testifie their acknowledgments to the Catholick King desired he would take it well they should elect some French Prince and that he would be pleased to honour them with his Alliance by the Marriage of the Infanta to him Now after the Spaniards had spent some days in deliberating on this Proposition Feria replied by the Mouth of Tassis that the King his Master would furnish them with all the assistance they should desire provided the Infanta were declared Queen upon this condition she should Marry one of the French Princes whom that King should chuse the House of Lorrain therein comprehended This Overture dazled most of the Deputies and if at that time the Ministers of Spain without so many Ceremonies had but named one the Assembly would have agreed to it but whilst they were standing upon their gravity and expected to be courted to what did n◠in any wise belong to them this opportunity slipt thorough their Fingers Three Princes aspired to this nomination the Duke of Nemours and the Duke of Guise
St. Denis came to Montmartre The only difficulty remaining with Brissac was to shake off those Spaniards the Duke of Feria had allotted to accompany him in going the Rounds with Order to kill him upon the first noise they should hear from without but they were not so crafty in contriving pretences not to leave him as he was in forging excuses to send them off When he had rid himself of them in less then half an hour the Kings Forces entred one part by the Porte-Neuve and the Port St. Denis another Party descended along the River and made themselves Masters of the Ramparts on that side as also of the Arsenal the Grand Chastellet the Palais and the Avenues to the Bridges Year of our Lord 1594 without meeting any opposition excepting one Court of Guard of Lansquenets who month March were cut in pieces upon the School-Key for not crying Vive le Roy. The Bourgeois likewise secured their Quarters and Pad-lock'd up the Doors of the most Zealous Leaguers lest they should come forth to disturb them placed Courts of Guards at the Quarrefours or Corners of meeting Streets and marched thorough all the Town with Vive le Roy in their Mouths and Bills of general Pardon in their Hands which they distributed to all they met The Populace followed the Soldiery and mixed familiarly with them the Spanish and Walloon Garisons did not stir out of Doors The King being within two hundred paces of the City Brissac brought and deliver'd up the Keys to him and in Recompence received the Mareschals Staff and a promise of being made an Honorary Counsellor in Parliament of considerable advantage in those days About Ten in the Morning being informed all was very quiet and that his Forces were in Battalia in all the Markets and spacious Streets he entred into the City by the New-Gate accompanied by great numbers of the Nobless and his Companies d'Ordonnance and went directly to Nostre-Dame to hear Mass and sing the Te Deum commanding Five hundred Men to march before him with their Pikes trailing as signifying this Victory was voluntary Some Mutineers having made a shew of resistance fled and hid themselvs at home Before it was Noon all the City was in admiration to find they were in as much quiet as ever they had been in the profoundest Peace and by that were fully confirmed in the esteem they had of the more then ordinary goodness and wise Conduct of their King He found his Dinner compleatly ready at the Louvre and his whole House in as good order as if he had resided there a long time He sent to offer Safe-conduct to the Duke of Feria and the Spaniards and Order'd a Party of Horse to Convoy them to the Arbre de Guise About three in the Afternoon they marched forth by the Gate St. Denis the King looking out of a Window to see them Their Colours were furl'd and their Drums cover'd carrying along with them some off-cast Prostitutes and about thirty passionate Leaguers The most Zealous was Boucher Curate of St. Benoist who died Dean of Tournay above Fifty years after but much changed in humour being as great a French Zealot amongst Strangers as he had been furiously Spanuolized in France When the King entred into Paris he sent St. Luc to assure the Cardinals de Piacenza and de Pelleve and the Dutchesses of Nemours and Montpensier that they should receive no injury in testimony whereof he allowed them some of his Guards but the Cardinal de Pelleve had no need of it for he resigned his Soul in the Hostel of Sens while they were singing the To Deum The King did not refuse the Cardinal de Piacenza a Safe-conduct though he had acted with so much passion against him he even suffer'd him to take along the Jesuit Verade and Aubry Curate of St. Andre dez Ars though guilty of the detestable attempt of Barriere Year of our Lord 1594 The third day after Captain du Bourg surrendred the Bastille and Beau-lieu the month March Castle of Bois de Vincennes and at the end of the eighth the King ordered a general Procession where he assisted in Person with his whole Court to render Thanks to God for his having restored to him the Capital City of his Kingdom It was not thought necessary to wait the return of the Parliament at Tours to verifie the Declaration which re-establish'd those who were remaining in Paris as also another granted in favour of Brissac and the City of Paris The Direction or Address was after an extraordinary manner To the Chancellor and other Officers of the Crown Dukes and Pairs Counsellors of State and Masters of Requests to Read Publish and Register them in the Registry of the Parliament and other the Soveraign Courts Those who had served the King in this important Reduction were not left without Rewards The Parliament being re-established the King made a new Presidentship for le Maistre he also created one in the Chambre des Comptes for l'Huillier and two of Masters of Requests for du Vair and l'Anglois Honest and dis-interessed People said that if their intentions were purely to serve the King and the Publick they had shewed themselves more generous in being contented with the glory of their Action then by desiring a Recompence which could not but be a charge upon the ☞ Purses both of the King and his People To obliterate as much as it was possible the sorrowful remembrances of what was past Peter Pithou Counsellor in Parliament had order to raze out of the Registers in Court all such Acts as had been forged during the Troubles against the Kings Authority John Seguier de Autry Lieutenant Civil caused all Libels to be burnt with severe Prohibition either to Print any more or keep any by them And the Parliament having changed their Style made a Decree the Thirtieth of this Month Which vacated and disannull'd all Decrees Judgments and Oaths made since the Ninth day of December 1588. which should be found any ways prejudicial to the Kings Authority and the Laws of the Kingdom as having been extorted by force Declared null all that had been done against the Honour of King Henry III. and Ordained Information should be made of the detestable Parricide committed on his Person Abolished all Feasts and Solemnities the League had instituted upon occasion of the late Troubles Revoked the Power and Authority given to the Duke of Mayenne Enjoyned him and all others to acknowledge the King And commanded a yearly general Procession to be made upon the Two and twentieth of March in remembrance of the Reduction of Paris whereat that Court to be present in their Scarlet Robes To the Authority of Parliament they joyned that of the University thoroughly month April to satisfie the Scruples of divers Ecclesiasticks as well Seculars as Religious who yet doubted whether they might obey the King before he were absolved by his Holiness To this purpose Renauld de Beaulne newly promoted to the
Archbishoprick Year of our Lord 1594 of Sens called first an Assembly of the Curates of Paris who unanimously month April acknowledge they were convinced by his Reasons Then another Body of the University in the Royal Colledge of Navarre the Two and twentieth of April where the Rector all his Deputies and a great number of Scholers and Religious Votaries of all Orders Sware to be faithful to the King even to the shedding of their Blood renounced all Leagues and retrenched the Refractory from their Bodies as spurious and rotten Members The same week returned the Members of Parliament and other Companies who were at Tours The Governor of Paris this was Francis d'O whom the King had restored to that Command a great number of the Nobility and the most noted Citizens went to meet them as far as Bourg-la-Reyne Thus all were re-united without trouble to any Man unless it were about some fifty Persons to whom the King sent Tickets to quit the Town These were most notorious People nevertheless many others took so hot an alarm upon it that it was like to have produced very ill effects Paris thus reduc'd the other Cities came in with so much haste as if striving to precede each other The Six and twentieth of April Villars brought in Rouen Havre Montivilliers and Pont-Audemer but of all the Chiefs of the League he set the highest price upon what he did and would abate nothing of Twelve hundred thousand Livers in Money sixty thousand Livers Pension the Government of all those Cities without owning for three years time the Duke of Montpensier who had that of the Province and the Office of Admiral Biron having this it could not be taken from him without wounding his very Heart and that the more deeply for that Villars was his Concurrent both in Valour and Reputation month April and May At the same time or soon after May-David returned to his Duty with the City of Verneuil As also the Magistrates and Bourgeois brought in Monstreuil and Abbeville in Picardy Troyes in Champagne after they had forced out the Prince of Joinville the Governonor Sens in Burgundy and Rion in Auvergne Montluc Governor for the League in Agenois brought in Agen Villeneuve and Marmanda During this Torrent of Prosperities the King had information that Count Mansfeld after a Conference which the Duke of Mayenne held with him had besieged la Capelle and going to relieve it found it at the last gasp He had his revenge upon the City of Laon. The Duke had left his second Son in it with the President Jeannin as his chief Council and Adviser The King besieged it about the end of May the Enterprize was hazardous for him he wanted Ammunitions and the discontent of the Mareschal de Biron who was the Soul of his Enterprizes were a Year of our Lord 1594 dangerous Remora Mansfeld approached to relieve it his Army was posted upon month May and June a rising ground not far from the Kings for seven or eight days Then wanting Provisions and having seen two Convoys of his bravest Men went to fetch some from la Fere defeated he retired into Artois where Sickness compleated the ruine of his Forces The Place defended it self yet a long time and very obstinately not capitulating till the Two and twentieth of July to surrender upon the First of August if they were not relieved by that day In the Attacks Givry was slain the most accomplish'd Cavalier of the whole Court both for his Heroick Valour his skill in all Polite Learning his ready wit and ingenious gallantry An Amorous despair occasioned month July and Aug. by the infidelity of a Princess made him so often court and seek a kinder fate in death that in the end he met his wishes During this Siege the Baron de Pesche Treated with the King for the Town of Chasteau-Thierry and the Inhabitants of Poitiers for theirs the Government of it and of the Provinces were left to the Duke d'Elboeuf After the Capitulation of Laon the Magistrates of Amiens Beaâ—vais and Peronne alarmed for that the Spanish Cabal would have engaged them to take a new Oath returned to their Duty those of Amiens having forced the Dukes of Mayenne and Aumale to quit their City Dourlens which in the Reign of Henry III. had been given as a place of security to the Duke of Aumale would needs be comprehended in the Edict of the Reduction of Amiens month September In the Month of September the King laid Siege to Noyon Descluseaux who commanded within gave it up the Eighteenth of October Thus he recover'd all Picardy excepting three places Soissons Ham and la Fere which were in the power the first of the Duke of Mayenne the second the Duke of Aumale and the third of the Spaniards For Colas Vice-seneschal of Montelimar who was Master of this last had given himself up entirely to them and in Recompence they gave him the Demaine with the Title of a County month June and July There were yet certain Contrivances hatching in Paris to re-imbroil the Kingdom The greatest part of the Royalist Lords were angry that the Leaguers carried away most of the Money and the best Rewards they repented likewise the having dispatched and advanced the Kings Affairs so soon that he was now almost in a Condition not to want their further help The Parisians were more alarmed at the fifty Persons he had banished the City then they could be assured by all his Declarations The Cardinal de Bourbon could not put the ambitious-pleasing imagination of a Crown out of his thoughts The Count de Soissons his Brother was wounded to the very Soul because the King refused to let him have his Sister after he had most solemnly promised it and Biron afflicted and discontented they had deprived him of Year of our Lord 1594 month June and July the Admiralty was come to divert his melancholy thoughts at Paris where he met with so kind a Reception that the King conceived some jealousie and ran thither from the Siege of Laon that by his presence he might dissipate those practises which possibly they would have carried on against his Interest As for the Cardinal of Bourbon death put an end to his aspiring hopes and the Kings fears soon after about the end of July He believed he was poyson'd by month October a Lady whom he had tenderly loved In the Month of October following Francis d'O Sur-Intendant des Finances ended his life in his Hostel at Paris his Soul and Body being equally corrupted by all sorts of Villany The King was easily consoled for his loss because he made prodigious devastations and yet held him as it were under Tutelage After this he for a time ordered his revenue to be managed by four or five in Commission but finding no satisfaction in a multitude still disagreeing and self-interessed he restored the Sur-Intendance and gave it to Sancy and Rosny While the Chiefs and the Cities of the League were pressing their
his forward heat and brought him back to the Siege The Arch-Duke being returned into Artois employ'd his Forces for the taking Monthuliâ— which incommoded Ardres then dismissed them and retired to Arras He there fell sick of Grief as it was said for having no better succeeded in his Enterprize of Amiens and for the loss during his absence of seven or eight places taken by Prince Maurice along the River Rhine and in the Country of Over-Issel The same day he went off the Besieged being Summoned which was upon the Nineteenth of September did not think convenient to stand so obstinately on a defence which might have held long indeed but had been to no purpose and only dangerous to themselves They Capitulated therefore upon the best Conditions usually granted on the like occasions and promised to surrender in six days unless they were relieved within that time They were allowed to send notice of it to the Arch-Duke and gave Hostages for performance of the Agreement The said Term expired they rendred the Town in the Morning of the Five and twentieth of the Month The Constable received it in the Name of the King they going forth about Ten of the Clock the same day carrying off together with their Bagage three hundred wounded Men and a thousand Women whereof four hundred belonged to that City The King being on Horseback at the Head of his Army with great kindness permitted Montenegre and the other Captains to salute him by embracing his Knees At Evening he made his entrance into the City and gave the Government to Dominick de Vic who finding but Eight hundred Inhabitants there in all re-peopled it Year of our Lord 1597 with four thousand within two years after and obtain'd the re-establishment of all month September their Priviledges but could not prevent the raising a Citadel over their Heads which makes their Posterity sigh to this very day for the neglect of their great Grandfathers The King himself carried the news of the surrender of Amiens to the Arch-Duke month October and November who was in Arras went to visit him there with his whole Army and to salute him with some Volees of Cannon Then finding no body mov'd he returned to Dourlens and invested it But the Rains the Myre the scarcity of Provisions the too great Fatigues and the Maladies proceeding from all those inconveniencies constrained them to decamp before the end of the Month of October with great damage and some shame Towards the end of this year the Dutchy of Ferrara for want of Heirs Males reverted to the Holy See by the Death of Duke Alphonso II. the last Legitimate Prince of the House of Est and Son of Hercules II. and of Madam Renee of France Ferrara was of the number of those Territories which the Countess month October c. Matilda Daughter and Heiress to the eldest of the House of Est gave to the Holy See for the sake of Pope Gregory VII about the year 1077. Since that time the Male-off-spring of the other Brothers bearing the Title of Marquiss d'Est had ever enjoy'd it not as Proprietors but only Vicars of the Holy See till the year 1471. that Pope Paul erected it to a Dutchy and invested Borso therewith to whom the Emperor had also given Modena and Regio with the like Titles Now the Duke Alphonso II. seeing himself without Male Children had made divers Applications to the Pope and the Emperor to obtain the transport of his Dutchies to Cesar d'Est who was his Kinsman The Court of Rome did not think him fit to succeed because his Father who was an Alphonso was reputed but the Natural Son of Duke Alphonso I. of that name Thus on that side he could get no ground but he gave such vast Sums to the Emperor Rodolphus that he granted him the transport of the Dutchy Modena and Regio of the Principality of Carpy and some other Territories holding of the Empire He made account that with all these together with the great Wealth and the good Friends he should leave him he might be able to maintain himself by force in the Dutchy of Ferrara In effect when he died which hapned the Twenty seventh of October Cesar believing he should be supported by the Venetians and even the Spaniards too got into possession and at first stood firm against the Excommunications of Pope Clement and against his Army which was commanded by the Cardinal Aldobrandino Legat and Nephew of his Holiness but when he understood that the King of Year of our Lord 1597 France which he never did imagine took the affirmative for the Pope and found the dread of this great Power had cooled his Allies and affrighted the Ferrareses he threw down his Sword and made his Accommodation about the end of December By the Treaty he restored the Dutchy of Ferrara to the Pope Who left him all the free Lands or Estate which the House of Est had possessed there and granted that he and the Dukes his Descendants should have in Rome the same Rank and the same Prerogatives as the Dukes of Ferrara had there enjoy'd month November and December The City of Paris honour'd the Kings Victory with a Triumphant Entrance they made for him He pass'd the whole Winter in his Louvre hearkning to Propositions of Peace but making however preparations for War employing his Intelligences to disunite the Huguenots and above all to regulate and meliorate his Finances As to the Peace while he was yet before Dourlens Villeroy on his behalf and John Richardot on the Arch-Dukes conferr'd together upon the Frontiers of Picardy and Artois and had agreed together that both Kings should send their Deputies to Vervins where the Popes Legat was to be present in quality of Mediator Year of our Lord 1598 Both were equally inclined to it upon different Considerations Henry IV. after so many satigues and pains earnestly desired to enjoy his repose and apprehended lest month January by the continuation of a War Fortune should shew him such another slippery trick as the surpisal of Amiens that some new Faction should start up within his Kingdom amongst the Grandees or the Huguenots or even in his own House because he had no Children As for King Philip he found himself even dying and saw his Son both weak and unexperienc'd so that they were both resolved to proceed with more sincerity then is wont to be practised on such occasions The King for this purpose named Pompone de Bellievre and Bruslard de Sillery both Counsellors of State and the latter also a President in Parliament The Arch-Duke having powers from the King of Spain who had contrived it thus that so if his Deputies must give place the shame would be the less to him made choice of John Richardot President of the Catholick Kings Council in the Low-Countries John Baptist Tassis Knight of the Order of St. James and Louis Verreiken Audiencier Prime Secretary and Treasurer of the Council of State Year of our Lord 1598
during which time might bring forth some favourable occasion to change the Scene or turn the Tide another way But this Dame as crafty as themselves made no great haste to serve them but on the contrary would let them know her intercession only could save them When therefore the Dutchess of Mercoeur presented her self one Morning at the Gates of Anger 's she was rudely turned back and forced to retire to Pont de Ce but when her Pride thus humbled had taught her to refer her self wholly to the will of the fair Dame she was the very same day sent for and the King soon moved with the Tears of that obliging Sex and very ready to grant what his Mistress requested allowed the Duke an Edict almost as honourable as he could have expected when his power was greatest For having taken care in the Preface of it to excuse him though after his Reconciliation with the Pope nay even after the coming of the Legat into France he had not submitted to him supposing he acted in that manner for some reasons that respected the preservation of Bretagne which must have run the hazard of being invaded by Strangers whilst the Forces of France were employ'd upon the Frontiers of Picardy He declared That he held him and all those that had follow'd his Party for good and faithful Subjects restored them to their Estates and Commands Revoked all Judgments given against them Confirmed all such as had been made by the Members of Parliament and Presidial Courts of that Party Year of our Lord 1598 Moreover he gave the Duke Two hundred thirty six thousand Crowns Reparations month April for his Warlike Expences and Seventeen thousand Crowns Pension Besides this a permission to sell of the Corn that was in store to the value of Fifty thousand Crowns The keeping of the Castles of Guingamp Montemort and Lamballe Pass-ports for the Spaniards who lay in the River of Nantes to retire and power to keep the Places and Forces he then had till a Month after the Verification of this Edict Not to mention several other the like Conditions as those granted in the Edict for the Duke of Mayenne The Price of so honourable a Treaty was his Daughter whom the King in few days betrothed to his Son Caesar He had legitimated and enriched him with the Dutchy of Vendosine to be by him held with the same Rights and Advantages as the preceding Dukes had enjoy'd and with a promise to give him within four years wherewith to redeem all its Lands that had been alienated Which the Parliament verified without drawing any consequence for such other Lands as were of the Kings Patrimony which by the Laws of the Kingdom were re-united to the Crown from the moment he attained it The Treaty made the Duke of Mercoeur came to Anger 's to salute the King who received him as his Sons Father in Law The Contract for this future Marriage was sealed in the Castle belonging to the said Town and the Fiancailles or Betrothings were celebrated in the same place with as much Pomp as if he had been a Son of France The Cardinal de Joyeuse not disdaining to perform the Ceremony From Anger 's the King descended to Nantes and from thence went to Renes where the Estates of Bretagne were held He fojourned about two Months in those two Cities employing that time in putting every thing in good order for the quiet and security of the Province and collecting Twelve hundred thousand Crowns the greatest part whereof was given him by the Estates of that Country Whilst he was at Nantes he finished the business of the Huguenots Their Deputies being come to him at Blois he made them follow him thither and had put them off till after his Treaty with the Duke of Mercoeur That Treaty being perfected he would yet have made some further delay but they press'd it so home that he could scarce find any reasonable Excuse And besides he apprehended lest their despair should in the end put them upon some undertaking that might retard the Peace with Spain and give the Leaguers a plausible pretence to re-unite and take up Arms again This Consideration above any thing else obliged him to grant them the Edict which from the name of that Town is called the Edict of Nantes Year of our Lord 1598 It contains Ninety two Articles which are almost the same as those in the foregoing Edicts granted to them but it is more advantageous in that it opens them a Door to Offices of Judicature and Finance There were added fifty six other Articles which are called Secret the most important being that which left them several Places of Security besides all those they already held This Edict is that Safe-guard under which they have lived to this very hour in security and quiet and freely enjoy'd the Exercise of their Religion The King durst not send it to the Parliament to be verified till the Legat were out of the Kingdom so that it came not thither till the following year They labour'd incessantly at Vervins about the Peace the French did not insist so much now on Cambray although they had not yet passed by that Article The Arch-Duke impatient to consummate his Marriage with the Infanta Clara-Eugenia hastned as much as possible he could the grave pace of the Spaniard and obliged his Deputies to step over many trivial things Had it not been for the Allies of France the Treaty had been finished in less then three weeks The King demanded a two Months Cessation of Arms for them that they might send their Ambassadors the Spaniards refused it absolutely and upon this Contest the violent Spirits belonging to eithers Court the chief Commanders of their Armies and those that desired troubled Waters did not fail to press for a Rupture with all their might and interest but it availed nothing the two Princes were of a contrary disposition In the mean time the English Ambassadors arrived at Court which as then was at Nantes they did not shew themselves much averse to the Peace for the difficulties did not concern them but the States from whom they had Orders not to separate Now those would have none at all knowing too well the Peace could not be made without some prejudice to their liberty for which they had fought almost thirty years and without which they neither valued their Estates nor Lives chusing rather therefore to hazard all then to lose the Recompence of so much Labour Blood and Treasure One thing besides confirmed them yet more in this generous Resolution which was a Dispatch they intercepted coming from the King of Spain which gave his Deputies Order not to comprise them unless upon Condition to restore the Roman Religion over all their Country to reduce it to an absolute Obedience and fill up all Offices with Catholick Magistrates Year of our Lord 1598 Whereupon there were no Efforts no Offers but they made to the King to persuade month April him to continue
born in lawful Wedlock would have disputed it with the former However the King importun'd him extreamly by his Agents and it was to be doubted lest to go a shorter way he should make Process against Queen Margaret for Adultery and do by her as Philip the Fair had done by his eldest Sons Wife month April Thereupon I cannot say what hand but certainly a very wicked one although the Consequence were beneficial to the whole Nation did not untie but cut the knot of all these difficulties The Dutchess of Beaufort did never leave the King and was gone with him to Fontainebleau being big with Child The Easter Holidays approaching he desired she would to avoid scandal go and pass them at Paris and lodge at Sebastian Zamets that rich Partisan who owned himself Master of Seventeen hundred thousand Crowns Now one Maundy-Thursday this Fellow having taken a most particular care to treat her with such Viands as he knew were most agreeable to her Palate it hapned that going to the Tenebrae at the Little Sainct Antoines she fell into a Swoon Immediately they bring her back to Zamets but her illness increasing she had no patience till they had removed her out of that cursed House They convey'd her therefore to her Sister Sourdis and there was Year of our Lord 1599 she taken with such violent and strange Convulsions that she died the next day month April The King who was coming from Fontainebleau upon the news of this accident being informed of her death at Ville-Juif turned short back again with what grief we may imagine but which was soon dislodged by a fresh Engagement After her death she appeared so hideous and her Visage so disfigur'd none could behold her without horror Her Enemies from thence took an occasion to make the People believe it was the Devil had put her into that sad and dismal plight assirming she had sold her self to him upon condition she should alone engross all the Kings favour They made the like Story of Louysa de Budos Wife of the Constable de Montmorency who died this year with the same Symptomes and true it is there was in either of their deaths not really the operation but the instigation of him who hath been a Murtherer from the beginning The Pope believed it was a favour granted by Heaven in answer to his Prayers so soon as he heard the news he became very inclinable to dissolve the Marriage of Queen Margaret This Princess keeping her self still shut up in the Castle of Vsson in Auvergne having been parted from her Husband almost fourteen years had hitherto denied to give her consent but after she was acquainted with the news of this Ladies death she sent her Petition to the King desiring she might be permitted to Address her self to the Pope to demand He would pronounce the Nullity of her Marriage since there having never been any mutual consent but a manifest compulsion besides the diversity in Religion and Parentage in the third degree and for that the dispensation which was necessary upon those two Heads having never been demanded by the two Parties nor notified in due time and form as they ought to have been it was Null The King allowed her Applications to the Pope who having read her Petition which contained these Reasons and likewise one from the King which tended to the same purpose named the Cardinal de Joyeuse Horace de Monte a Neapolitan Archbishop of Arles and Gaspard Bishop of Modena Nuncio for his Holiness to Judge of this Affair upon the place telling them that if the Allegations were true they were to part the Married couple These Judges having therefore examined the proofs which were produced on either side Declared the Marriage nul and not valuably Year of our Lord 1599 contracted and permitted the Parties to re-Marry elsewhere The Proceedings month April carried to Rome the Pope confirmed the Sentence the more willingly as having been put in hopes the King would chuse a Wife amongst his Relations As soon as the Legat was gone forth of the Kingdom the Assembly of the Huguenots which still held good at Chastelleraud pressed more instantly the Verification of the Edict of Nantes Besides that the thing in it self had many difficulties the Clergy made their opposition in Parliament and in that numerous Company there were many more for rejecting then for receiving it It was observed that such who had been formerly most zealous for the League pleaded now most earnestly for the Verification which was because they had found by experience that in matters of Religion any violent methods destroy much more then it can edifie A long time were they Haranguing pro and con upon this so important a Subject but the King having sent for them did in his turn Harangue them so effectually adding the force of Authority to the power of Persuasion that they in fine obey'd and Verified the Edict Many being herewith discontented a favourable opportunity presented to stir up the People One named James Brossier who was a Weaver of Râ—morantin had a Daughter named Martha aged Twenty years who tormented with Vapours from the Spleen was put into most extraordinary Motions and Postures as Saltations Contortions of all sorts Cries that imitated the Voices of several Animals foaming and lolling out her Tongue and sometimes speaking inwardly like the Engastromites or Ventriloqui in so much as it was very easie for him to make the Populace believe she was possessed With this Get-penny leaving his own home he strowled about the Country under pretence of carrying her on Pilgrimage or to find out some Exorcists that might deliver her The Bishop of Orleans and the Canons of Clergy had hunted her out of their Territories and Miron Bishop of Anger 's had sent her packing from his Diocess guessing by many particulars he had observed that it was only some Natural Distemper with an addition of Studied and long practised Impostures Year of our Lord 1599 month April the Father however must needs bring her to Paris where there are always so many various minded People that nothing can be so extravagant but some will be infatuated or for their profit will endeavour to infatuate others The honest Capucins seized first on this possession and began to Exorcise her in the Church called Saincte Geneviefve The Cardinal de Gondy Bishop of Paris was not light of belief but by Advice of a great Assembly of Ecclesiasticks whom he called together in that Abby chose five famous Physicians to examine what it might be After several Scrutinies three of the five made their Report to him that there was very little of the Devil in the Wench but a great deal of Artifice and indeed somewhat of a Distemper for her Tongue was mighty red and swoln and they did hear some kind of a ratling noise in her left Hypocondrium A fourth by name Hautin would declare nothing positively but said according to the Sentiment of Fernelius they must wait the
trial at least three Months Duret was the only Man who maintain'd she was possess'd His great Reputation gave them the confidence to call in other Physicians These were of his opinion and thereupon they once more open the Scene The People ran thither in Multitudes and with Emotion great heats there were for and against it and it was to be feared lest this Oracle should give some Seditious Answers unless they made good haste to stop her Mouth The Parliament therefore put the Possessed into the hands and guard of Lugoli Lieutenant Criminel and the Kings Attorney in the Chastelet for twenty days together and in the mean time appointed eleven Physicians of the most famous of that Faculty to visit her These made their Report they could discover nothing which was above the power of Nature The Preachers notwithstanding cry'd aloud they undertook upon the Jurisdiction of the Church and stifled a miraculous Voice which God had sent amongst them to convince the Hereticks The Parliament was fain to use their Authority and impose Silence upon them and as for Martha they gave Order to Rapin Prevost de Robe Course to convey her back to Râ—morantin and there leave her in the custody of her Father with command she should not stir out of that Town without express leave from the Judge of the place upon pain of Corporal Punishment to either of them The Comedy did not end for all this Alexander de la Rochefoâ—caud Abbot de Sainct Martin and Brother of that Count de Randan who was slain at the Battle Year of our Lord 1599 of Issoire and of Francis Bishop of Clermont afterward a Cardinal stole away this month April wretched Creature by advice of the Bishop as was guessed and carried her to Avignon then to Rome fancying she would act better on that grand Theatre and that he should find more credulity in that place which is the Spring head of Belief But the Agents of France having already pre-possessed the Pope and all that Court with the fear of offending the King those Friends by whom he thought to be there supported failed him and he could meet with none that would believe a thing so contrary to their interest Therefore finding himself mistaken he was forced by Letters humbly to beg pardon of the King and soon after fell sick and died of Grief as it was said for having gone so far to be despised Martha and her Father forsaken of all the World had now no other refuge but an Hospital The Reader will not be displeased if I mention three very great Rarities which were observed in three several Persons this year The one was in Gaspard de Schomberg who had served the King very successfully in his Armies and in some Negociations He was from time to time troubled with sudden and great difficulty of breathing coming one day from Conflans to Paris being near St. Anthonies Gate he was in a moment seized with this difficulty and lost both his Respiration and Life The Chyrurgeon that open'd him to search the Cause found the left side of that Membrane called the Pericardium which encompasseth the Heart and serves as a Bellows to refresh it was turned into a Bony Substance so that it hindred Respiration The second was that in the Country of Mayne was seen a Peasant named Francis Trouillu aged Thirty five years who had a Horn growing upon his Head which began to appear when he was but Seven years old It was shaped almost like that of a Ram only the Wreathings were not spiral but strait and the end bowed inwards toward the Cranium The fore-part of his Head was bald his Beard red and in Tufts such as Painters bestow upon Satyrs He retired to the Woods to hide this monstrous deformity and wrought in the Cole-pits The Mareschal de Laverdin going one day a Hunting his Servants spying this Fellow who fled ran after him and he not uncovering himself to salute their Master they tore off his Cap and so discover'd his Horn. The Mareschal sent him to the King who bestow'd him upon some body that made Money by shewing him to the People This poor Fellow took it so much to Heart to be thus Bear-led about and his shame exposed to the Laughter and Censures of all the World that he soon after died The third Curiosity is the Daughter of a Country Smith of Conflants a Burrough upon the limits of Poitou and Limosin who was three whole years without eating or drinking which proceeded from a Relaxation of the Aesophage after a Year of our Lord 1599 great fit of Sickness in so much as this Maid could not swallow any thing but had a month April horrible aversion for all sorts of Meats and Drinks Neither did she void any Excrements her Belly was quite flat there was nothing but a kind of Parchment Skin covering her Sides she was very cold to the touch in every part of her Body excepting near her Heart but otherwise her Arms and Legs were pretty fleshy her Breast plumpish her Visage passable Hair long and thick walked to and fro without trouble and did all manner of work in the Family as well as any other Now after she had remained three years in this condition some Physicians going thither with Orders from the King to bring her to Paris and her Friends advising her that she might thereby avoid such trouble to endeavour to swallow something she forced down some Broath which having with difficulty for the two or three first times assayed she found good in it and by this means open'd the Conduits of Nourishment and by little and little brought her self to the eating of solid Viands The like had formerly hapned Anno 825. to a Girle under the Empire of Lotaire after she had been three years without swallowing any Food In these years a new and very odd kind of Distemper over-spread Potukia a Province of Poland bordering upon Hungary whence it extended thorough all those Countries It hath its seat in the Hair which it twists together in one or two Locks and at first causes no inconvenience but in some space suppurates and breeds an infinite of Vermine and if they cut them off that acid and fuliginous humour which so entangleth them flows back upon all the parts of the Body and begets cruel Pains Contortions Dislocations Ulcers Exostosae and all the strangest Accidents imaginable Physicians have given it the name of Plica because it hath such effect upon the Hair and that of Cirragra as being a kind of Gout which begins by that odd kind of weaving A Peace being made the Grandees of the Kingdom were but little consider'd in the Administration of Affairs the Council composed all of Men of the Quil desired to bring them lower that they might stand on equal ground Those that had been of the League were so well treated as to have no just cause of complaint but rather gave a jealousie to the others As for the Duke of Mayenne
his Honour and Credit upon the Faith of his Collectors such People being ordinarily but little exact not caring whether their materials be good provided they can but furnish store enough And likewise his acquaintance knowing his Quil much more fluent then his Tongue desiring he would rather have continued to write then adventure to discourse dissuaded him from entring the Lists with an Adversary whose Eloquence was a Torrent and his Memory a Prodigy Now whether it were presumption or want of fore-sight he either would or could not get out of this snare In the beginning the Popes Nuncio was much alarmed at this Conference however the King making him understand it did not concern the truth of the Doctrine but only that of his Quotations he assented to it The day appointed upon the fourth of May the Bishop of Evreux consigned into the hands of the Chancellor the five hundred Passages of which they were to take a certain number every day into examination and the very evening before the dispute he sent nineteen to Du-Plessis Year of our Lord 1600 which he would impugne This was perhaps a Stratagem to stupifie him and take month May. off the edge of his wit by engaging him to study the whole night The King was present at this Combat with the Chancellor some Bishops the Secretaries of State and six or seven Princes They could examine but nine passages that day Du Perron having the truth the King and the favour of the Assembly for him had the advantage in all he did not only overcome but overwhelm his Adversary who much weaker amazed and disfavour'd defended himself so poorly it made the Catholicks pity and his own despise him The Judges pronounced that in the two first passages he had taken the objection for the solution as for the sixth and seventh they were not to be met with in those Authors whence he quoted them upon the ninth that he had mis-translated Images for Idols and in the rest had either omitted some words that were material and necessary or had recited them but by halves The night put an end to the dispute Du Perron pursuing his advantage demanded it might be continued the next day but his Antagonist disordred with his over-watching the night before and to say truth with the shame of his ill success fell sick and retired to Paris and from thence to Saumur without so much as taking his farewell of the King leaving the Field to his Enemy and a fair Subject for triumph to the Catholicks and confusion to those of his own Party which was soon after forsaken by Fresne-Canaye Du Perron had for Crown of this Victory a Cardinals Hat The University eldest Daughter of our Monarchs being like the rest of the Kingdom extreamly disfigur'd by the War wanted to be reformed The King at his return to Paris gave charge thereof to Renaud de Beaune Archbishop of Bourges his great Almoner who having advised with the Deans of the four Faculties the most able Professors Proctors of the Nations Principals of Colledges and the Rector and viwed the Statutes and Reglements made 150 years before upon the like occasion by the Cardinal d'Estouteville changed added and retrenched as was thought most month June c. expedient The Parliament allowed of those Articles and deputed a President and three Counsellors who caused them to be openly read in an Assembly expressly convocated at the Mathurins The Arch-Duke Albertus going to attaque the Prince of Orange who besieged Nieuport had at the first a notable advantage over him regaining the Fort Albert taken by Maurice and cutting off near a thousand Hollanders in the place After which had he but fortified himself in the passage between Ostend and Nieuport he would have forced them to surrender at discretion or to have taken Shipping in Year of our Lord 1600 such disorder as must have given him opportunity to have charged and defeated month July them His Men were almost quite spent with lassitude and hunger for the preceding day he had marched them from Maestric at one Stage and the greatest part had scarce eaten a bit of Bread in four and twenty hours but the heat of this good success led him out of his Post to fall upon the Hollanders The Fight was very bloody being very old Soldiers on either hand and animated by the brave example of their Chiefs The day began to decline when the Victory inclined towards Maurice not but that his purchase was dear enough for it cost him twelve hundred Men but the Arch-Duke left near four thousand upon the place all his Cannon and a great number of brave Captains Amongst others Colas formerly Vice-seneschal of Montelimar and pretended Count de la Fere. It is observed to the honour of Maurice that he gained this Battle over an Albertus of Austria upon the same day viz. the second of July as another Albertus of the same House had three hundred years before gained a Victory over an Adolphus of Nassaw in a Plain near Spire where he deprived him both of his Empire and Life It was said the generous Blood of Nassaw had brought forth this Prince three Ages after to be the Avenger of the most illustrious of his Ancestors Year of our Lord 1600 The intention of the Duke of Savoy was not to stand to his Treaty at Paris he pretended to have been compell'd by a just fear of being detained and he flatter'd month March himself either that the King durst not attaque him by force for fear of being look'd upon as a Violator of the Treaty at Verwins or if he were assaulted he should be supported by the Spaniard whose interest it was to employ all their Power to bar up the French-mens entrance into Italy or that in fine if he should leave Paris those Seeds of Conspiracy he had sown in France would disclose themselves In effect the King of Spain had commanded the Count de Fuentes to furnish Monies towards it this Count had informed himself of it's Truth by the Spanish Ambassador in Swisserland and Roncas who had discoursed with Biron disguised like Porters yet nevertheless he refused to advance any thing unless the Duke of Savoy would give him Montmelian and two other Places for Security of the Money The Duke could never be brought to do that and so the Count let slip a fair Occasion for his Master's advantage As soon as he was arrived at Bourg the Fourteenth of March he dispatch'd a Courier to the King to give him thanks for the Honour he had received in France Being at Chambery the Four and twentieth of May Bruslard Brother of Sillery and the Patriarch of Constantinople went to Summon him either to agree to the Restitution or the Exchange since the time drew near He refer'd them till he month May. should be at Turin and from thence sent Roncas to demand a new delay this was to give Bely his Chancellor time to compleat his Negociation in Spain King Philip's Council to
miraculously escaped from the hands of the Moors after the Battle in Africa did for some years exercise the worlds Curiosity and begot a diversity of Judgments according as mens Minds were variously disposed The Portugueze did easily believe it was their King the Italians doubted it the Spaniards treated him as a Fourbe and Magician He told his Fable or his History so well and brought so many Proofs and Tokens for the truth of what he said that they could not detect him of one Mistake The Senate of Venice to whom he first addressed himself in the year 1598. found all his Answers very pertinent to such questions as they put to him but the Spanish Ambassador to that Seigneury made so much noise that he was laid hold on and after he had been Prisoner there two years condemned him to quit their Territories within Eight days The Portuguese Merchants who were then in Venice travested him as a Jacobin to carry him to Rome about the end of the year 1600. As he passed by Florence the Grand Duke apprehended him and fearing to offend the King of Spain who had a Fleet upon those Coasts put him into the hands of the Vice-Roy of Naples The Vice-Roy having detained him a while caused him to be shaved and sent to the Galleys who carried him into Spain where he was shut up close Prisoner in the Castle at Sainct Lucar and there died soon after A horrible Injustice if he were Don Sebastian and too slight a Punishment if he were an Impostor Some years before another who came from the Terceres into Portugal acted the same Part having gotten together Six or Seven thousand Men created Grandees and bestowed upon them all the Offices belonging to the Crown The Cardinal of Austria Vice-Roy of Portugal dispersed this confused Herd of Wild Beasts and put their Counterfeit King with his principal Associates to Death Year of our Lord 1602 The year 1602. found the whole Court very jocund there was nothing but Feastings Balls Hunting-Matches and great Gaming Besides the gay Courtiers month January Year of our Lord 1602 promis'd themselves a Golden Age upon the discovery of some Mines of month January Gold Silver Copper and Tin In so much as by an Edict which however was not verified till June Bellegard Grand Escuyer or Master of the Horse got to be made the Grand Maistre or Superintendant of them Beaulieu Rusé Secretary of State that of Lieutenant Beringhen first Valet de Chambre Comptroller General and Villemareuil Councellor in Parliament the Office of President to take Cognisance of all Matters and Causes relating to Workmen that should be therein employ'd The Parasites did not stick to say Heaven had reserved this Happiness for the Reign of Henry the Great and that the Earth enamour'd with his incomparable Vertues open'd her breast to let him behold all what she had of Rich and Beautiful but when they came to work in their Mines the expence did much exceed the profit so that all these metallick Treasures vanish'd in fume and vapour like Quick-silver The Alliance between France and the Swiss and Grisons being expired after the Death of Henry III. the Agents for Spain had omitted no endeavours to break those People wholly off from us and engage with them particularly the Five petty Catholick Cantons so that for some time past these had made one with them and with the Duke of Savoy Now the King desiring earnestly to renew with them upon the same Conditions as his Predecessors Francis Hotman Morfontaine his Ambassador in those Countries had begun to lay some foundation for a Treaty and would have carried it on much further if Death had not laid his cold hands on him at Soleurre Afterwards Emeric de Vic placed in his stead pursued his work and about the end of the foregoing year Sillery had been sent thither expresly to put the finishing hand to it The greatest difficulty was to make the Treaty of the Five little Cantons accord with what the King demanded upon the foot of the old ones Sillery thought he had overcome it by the Promise he made of Paying them a Million of Gold for what was due upon the former account But the delay of Payment the most sensible of all Injuries to them had given opportunity to the Emissaries of Spain and Savoy to cast the Seeds of Anger and Discontent into the Minds of those suspicious People in so much that all was breaking in pieces when the Mareschal de Biron arrived at Soleurre in the Month of January of this year 1602. with a month January and February numerous Train and a pompous Equipage His magnificent Expence his Discourse wholly Martial and the lustre of his brave Acts whereof themselves had often been Eye-witness had indeed a great influence upon those War-like Spirits but it was the Arrival of the Waggons loaden with Silver that wholly won their hearts The Alliance was then renew'd to last not only during the life of the King but during the life also of the Daufin The Mareschal crowned this Festival with the Magnificence of a sumptuous Banquet where he did wonders in describing the Grandeur of the King and the Power and Strength of France This was not the least of his Services but it was the last day of his Glory and good Fortune At his return finding that Laffin was sent for to Court he staid in Burgundy and would not stir thence till the Month of June There had been granted by the Estates at Roüen a Tax of a Sol per Liuer upon such Wares as should be brought into any City but for Three years only the term expired this Impost was continued with great severity and the Partisans had hung up Papers containing the Prizes of all sorts of Goods near the Gates of month April and May. the Towns at their Toll-booths Those of Guyenne and Languedoc could not endure so odious an Imposition and which was no way due Limoges and Rochell opposed it by main strength the rest were ready to follow the same Dance some Emissaries running about those Countries blew up the flame and there was danger it might put those whole Provinces into a Combustion unless timely care were taken to prevent it To this purpose the King went to Blois and thence to Poitiers and sent the President Jambeville into Limosin This Magistrate was very vigorous he took the Hoods away from the Consuls of Limoges who were in Office and caused two or three of the most Factious to suffer by the severest hand of Justice By these means he appeased the Tumult in Limosin as on the other side the Voyage of Rosny to Rochell disposed the People of that haughty City to admit of the Impost The Order and Paper of Prizes therefore was set up again in all the Cities But some Months after the King being satisfied of the Obedience of his Subjects and moreover finding the said Impost did stand him in almost as much to Collect it as it brought
Lord then into a Strangers and an Hereticks The Day come they held a Council in the Town-Hall how to dispose of their Prisoners the wisest were of opinion to keep them as Hostages in case the Duke should have a mind to Besiege their City but the common Rabble and the Widows month Decemb. of those Citizens that had been Slain in the Attaque made such Out-cries that they resolved to treat them as Robbers They therefore Strangled those that were alive then cut off the Heads of them and Threescore more that were dead planted them upon the Walls and cast their Bodies into the Rhosne They make mention of a Damoisselle Wife of Sonnas one of the said Thirteen Officers that had Seven Children by him and was great with the Eighth who having resolved neither to eat nor drink till she had once more kissed her dear Husband and the Magistrates having refused to let her have his Head she sat her self just opposite to the place where they had planted it and kept her Eyes ever fixt upon that dismal Object of her Love and her Dispair till Death deprived her both of her Sight and Life It hapned after some good distance of time that Blondel Syndic of the Guards was accused by certain Persons of having had intelligence with Albigny but they being of the Scum of the People his Authority was enough alone to invalidate their Testimony so that the Business had rested there if himself to his Misfortune had not push'd it on too far by contending to have them punished as Calumniators The necessity of a Self defence drove them to search out for Proofs They alledged that he had sent Letters to d'Albigny by a Savoyard Peasant The difficulty was to meet with this Fellow three years were spent before they could get a sight of him so soon as he appeared Blondel made him Prisoner and had put him down into a Dungeon He thought by his very rough handling to force him to be willing to â—leer him But finding he persisted in the Truth he suborn'd the Goaler who strangled him in the Dungeon and left the Rope about his Neck as if the poor wretch had exercised that Cruelty upon himself The truth of the Fact being discover'd by Inspection of the Place and Circumstances Blondel and the Goaler were broke upon the Wheel The first before he died owning his Correspondence with the Savoyards Year of our Lord 1603 The News of this Enterprize being carried into Swisserland and France the month January February c. Canton of Bearn immediately concern'd themselves for the defence of Geneva the King assured them of his Protection and a Thousand or Twelve hundred Huguenots put themselves into the Place to defend it in case it were attaqued This People turbulent and proud of the Support of the Protestants and that of France gave themselves up to their resentments and began a War against the Duke of Savoy but with much more Fury than either Force or Success Now the King Year of our Lord 1603 whatever kindness he bare to Geneva had an interest to make up an Accommodation For if it went farther he knew himself obliged to assist the Huguenots and joyn all the Protestant Party together which would mightily have shock'd the Pope whom he more dreaded than all the Powers upon Earth For this reason he gave Order to Emery de Vic his Ambassador with the Swiss to come to Geneva and dispose them to Peace and at the same time declared to the Duke of Savoy who armed to Besiege that City that if he proceeded any further he must concern himself The consideration and weight of so great a Power put a full stop to their Motions on either hand and brought them to a Peace The Cantons of Glaris Soleure Scaffhaussâ—n Basil and Appenzel the least interessed of the Thirteen undertook to manage it It was first begun at Remilly and finished at Saint Julian's near Geneva the One and twentieth of July and ratified by the Duke the Five and twentieth The Treaty contained That they should mutually restore the Places which had been taken That the Immunities and Exemptions which those of Geneva enjoy'd for what they Possessed in the Territories of the Duke should be Confirmed That the Duke should not draw any Forces together raise any Fortifications nor keep any Garrisons within four Leagues of their City and that it was declared to be comprized in the Treaty of Vervins The Court passed the Winter after their wonted manner Dancing Gaming Feasts Balls and Comedies especially those of the Italians were their daily Divertisements In the beginning of March the King took a journey to Mets month January and February carrying the Queen along with him who on the two and twentieth of the preceding November was delivered of her first Daughter The chief Motive of this Voyage was to discover what practices the Duke of Bouillon might possibly have contrived with the Protestants of Germany and secure the City of Mets which being at that time in great combustion might have sided with some other month March Party The Duke of Espernon having been settled in that important Government by King Henry III. had left the Lieutenancy both of that City and Country in the hands of a Gentleman named Mont-Cassin his Kinsman and that of the Citadel to Sobole of the House of Cominges who had been bred as his Page Soon after having recalled Mont-Cassin near his person he bestowed both those employments on the second he invited a younger Brother to come into that Country a man violent and covetous and who soon gained the full sway over him Now the Elder Sobole having brought some assistance to the King at the Siege of Laon got of him as the reward for his Services the promise of these Lieutenancies his Master being then in Provence and in disfavour at Court with this new power playing Rex he begins to treat the Inhabitants scurvily and enraged that the Duke seemed to justifie their complaints and foment their discontents he by the advice of his younger Brother Accused the principal Citizens and Officers of Justice of having intelligence with Mansfeld Governor of Luxembourg upon this Information several were imprison'd and had been put to the Rack But in fine the business being brought before the Parliament their innocency and the calumny of Soboles were cleerly made known Then the Duke makes no difficulty of espousing the quarrel of the oppressed so that they barricade themselves to besiege Soboles in the Citadel This Mutiny proved the loss of the two ingrateful Brothers but the Duke got nothing but the pleasure of a revenge For the King making hast to treat with them pressed it so home that before his Arrival they Surrendred the place into his hands without making the least advantage to themselves He settled Francis de Montigny la Grange Lieutenant for the King over that Country and that City and Arquien his Elder Brother in the Citadel under the Government
and desired that his Edict might be verified without any modification The Officers belonging to the King did notwithstanding delay the dispatch of it and essay'd to put some stop to the verification but the King having sent for them treated them with rough Language and enjoyned them to set about it that very day they were therefore forced to obey Year of our Lord 1604 Thus the ignominy of the Jesuits banishment served to heighten the glory of their return and to procure them a more noble establishment For in lieu of month January ten or twelve Colledges which they had before in a short time they got eight or nine additional ones in the best Cities of the Kingdom as invited with great civility by divers and admitted into others by force of Orders and Interest of Friends they now saw themselves installed in a Royal Palace which they made their most sumptuous Colledge And that condition in the Edict which obliged them to have always attending upon the King one of their Society a Frenchman and sufficiently authorized amongst them to serve him as a Preacher or Chaplain and to be responsible for the actions of the Company instead of blemishing as those imagin'd who had thrust it in proved to them the greatest honour they possibly could desire for it impowred them to give Confessors to the King Father Cotton was the first of theirs that held that place all honest people did mightily rejoyce imagining he could shew no connivence for the Year of our Lord 1604 Kings amours but that he would make use together with his mildness and prudence of the power of his Ministery which certainly was most necessary to cure him of an infirmity that was become habitual He did not want for qualities proper to make him successful either within the sphear of the Court or of the wider World his circumspection his complaisance and dexterity to lay hold of time and opportunities did soon insinuate into the Kings favour and oft-times into his very bosom and most retired thoughts Year of our Lord 1605 I shall say once for all the Credit of these Jesuits was so great at Court that the following year they prevailed to have that Pyramid demolished upon one face whereof was engraved the Sentence of Chastels Condemnation and their Banishment and on the other three divers Inscriptions in Verse and Prose very byting and very injurious to them To take away the Brand-mark from the forehead of the Society they must pull down that Monument which taught men to curse that hellish Parricide It was desired it might have been done by a Decree of Parliament but when they found the Sentiments of that great Company were quite contrary they did it without further application to them tho not without giving the World a just occasion to speak variously concerning it In the place of that Pyramid they made a Conduit or Fountain all whose streams of Water though cleer and plentiful shall never be able to wash away the memory of so horrid a Crime Year of our Lord 1604 At the beginning of the year the death of Madam Catherine Dutchess of month February Bar interrupted the divertisements of the Court and cloathed it in Mourning A tumor in her Womb which her Physicians Flatterers and Ignorants affirmed to be a true conception and treated her accordingly made her lose her life the thirteenth day of February in the City of Nancy To be reconciled with her Husband she had divers times suffer'd disputes of Religion between some of the Catholick Doctors and her Ministers but with no other success then what the like Conferences are wont to produce viz. to make the truth more obscure She had also given some hopes that she should be instructed not withstanding she obstinately persisted in her first belief to her very death month March and April The secret consultations and resolutions of the Council of France were known to the Council of Spain almost as soon as they were taken the King was mightily troubled at it and knew not at whose door to lay the blame the discovery of the Treachery of Nicholas l'Hoste brought it to light This was a young Clerk of Villeroy's whom his Master employ'd in deciphering Letters and dispatches He was Son of one his Domesticks and his own Godson he bred him up in his own house and for his first employment placed him with Rochepot whilst he was Ambassador in Spain In that Country a Frenchman named Rasis a Native of Bourdeaux who for his having been too hot a Leaguer could not attain the Kings permission to remain in France and therefore was retired to Madrid corrupted and prevail'd with him to accept a Pension of twelve hundred Crowns to betray the secrets of his Master and after his return into France he continued to earn it by the same infidelity Now Rasis at length finding they neglected to pay him his own allowance discover'd this intrigue to Barraut the French Ambassador Barraut assured him of a good reward and to get a pardon for him In effect they sent him one immediately but when he found it was Signed by Villeroy he judged it would not be safe for him to stay any longer in Spain and desired to be gone at soonest The Ambassador therefore lent him Money and his Secretary to conduct him into France His fears were just for so soon as the Council of Spain knew of their departure they gave notice of it to their Ambassador in France by an express Courrier who got thither two dayes before them They did not find Villeroy at Paris but at a house of his own name on his way to Fontainbleau where the Court was He did not think fit to send presently to apprehend l'Hoste who was yet at Paris till he had first spoken to the King the next day l'Hoste came to Fontainebleau but as soon as he spied Rasis he immediately slunk away the Spanish Ambassador having appointed a Flemming to conduct him to the Low-Countries by Champagne The Provost des Mareschaux hastens to overtake them and pursues him so month May. Close that the unfortunate fellow had not time to get into the Ferry-boat hard by la Ferté but hearing the noise of Horses it was in the night ventures to wade cross the Marne and was drowned It is not known whether by chance or dispair or whether his Guide played him that fly trick to prevent the discovery of his Accomplices His Body was brought to Paris the Parliament made Year of our Lord 1604 his Process and Condemned him to be drawn by four Horses in Gréve which was Executed the nineteenth of May. Such as were Enemies to Villeroy rejoyced at this misfortune they would willingly have charged his Servants fault on him but not daring to Accuse him of infidelity they taxed him with negligence The King was for some days a little reserved towards him however considering his great and real grief and the necessity of his Services instead of adding to his affliction he
Parliament were Assembled and so blow up the King with all his Lords and Commons there attending One of the Conspirators could not forbear writing a Letter to a Gentleman his Friend but in a Counterfeit hand and without any Name conjuring him not to meet there in Parliament for some days This Gentleman Communicates his notice to a couple of the Lords belonging to the Privy Council who made their Report of it to the King thereby to discharge their Duty They took it to be a piece of Raillery on purpose to affright and scoff at them but the King was not of their Opinion and judged by the terms of the Letter which said That it should be a terrible Blow and the Danger past as soon as you can burn this Letter that this must be some Execution by Fire It was therefore thought necessary to search into all the Cellars and the neighbouring Houses the first time nothing was discover'd but the great quantity of Woods and Coals giving some suspition they returned agen the second time this was the Night preceding the Day the Parliament was to Assemble viz. the Fifth day of November They then perceived one of Percy 's Men at the Door named Faukes he had been observed there before and his Countenance was now Agast they seized him therefore and finding him provided with Match to give fire to the Train he boldly owned the Design The Conspirators who were retired into the Country till the Fougade had taken Effect hearing it was discover'd dispersed several ways to draw their Friends together and make the People rise but they were so roughly handled that some were slain others taken and the rest in great Numbers forced to quit the Kingdom Most of these last got over to Calais where the King had Year of our Lord 1606 commanded the Governor to give them shelter those that governed his Conscience month January having first persuaded him it was a meer Persecution contrived by the Ministers of State against those of the Catholick Religion The last day of January Eight of the Chief Conspirators suffer'd in London the Punishment inflicted on such as are found Guilty of High-Treason Not one of them accused the Priests or Friers being bound not to discover them by terrible Oaths yet King James caused diligent Search to be made for them especially the Jesuits Two of those Fathers had made their Escape viz. month January February c. Garnet and Hall with a Boy that served them to the Castle called Abington belonging to a Gentleman the People hid them in the Tunnel of a Chimney and fed them with Broath convey'd to them by a long Pipe But the Searchers having turned out all the Domesticks of the Family and left a strong Guard Year of our Lord 1606 there the poor wretches were fain to produce themselves They were brought to London the Boy whether in dispair or for fear he should by force oftortures discover his Masters Secrets ript open his own Belly with a Knife whereof he died before he could be examined King James was persuaded that Garnet knew every particular of the Plot as being an intimate Confident of Catesby's but would not put him to the month February c. Rack for he had rather his Confession should be free and voluntary than have the reproach of being extorted for Compulsion would have rendred it suspected He therefore made use of Moderation and Craft instead of Severities and the Rack They allowed him much liberty in Prison and suborn'd a Fellow who feigning himself a Catholick spake so much till he made him both speak and write They permitted him to converse even with his Compagnon Hall and from their Discourse which was over-heard by two Witnesses who lay conceal'd they got full proof for his Condemnation He died as a Martyr notwithstanding and passed for such in the opinion of the English Catholicks His Apologist writing also four years after affirm'd that a Gentleman who was present at his Death desiring to have of his Reliques having month May. gather'd up some few Straws which he saw stained with his Gore found Garnet's Picture traced in lines of Blood upon one of them which was at that time kept by a Lady as a most precious and wonderful Relique The Pope fully justified himself from the reproach of this horrible attempt and shewed by good literal Proofs that he had forbid the English to maâ—â— use of any such Bloody ways The Jesuits labour'd also on their part to make Father Garnet's innocency appear And King Henry IV. whose honor was much concerned in their Conduct since he had recalled them sent Father Coton to the English Ambassadour to assure him the Society had no hand in that Conspiracy and that if some particular Members of theirs were concerned they disowned and detested them There was however another Jesuit in England named Oldcorne who maintain'd that the said Enterprize was good and laudable and for so doing was Condemned and Executed as Garnet had been Year of our Lord 1605 In France about the end of the fore-going year was discover'd the Treason month December of John d'Alagon de Merargues a Gentleman of Provence but originally by his Ancestors of the Kingdom of Naples whence King René had brought his great great great Grandfather The resemblance of his Surname had infected him with the vanity to believe he was of the House of Arragon and upon that score it came into his head to make himself a Fortune by the Spaniards to deserve which by some Signal action he had undertaken to bring the Spaniards into Marseilles The Office of Procureur Syndic of that Country and his great Alliances by Marriage his Wife being related to the Duke of Montpensier and the House of Joyeuse rendred him very considerable the Command of two Galleys maintained for the King's Service seemed to facilitate the means to make him Master of the Harbour or Port and the Office of Viguier which he was assured of for the next year now at hand gave him great Power over the City He had notwithstanding so few Instruments for so great a Design that he communicated it to a Slave belonging to one of his Galleys whom he would needs employ in it the Slave discover'd it to the Duke of Guise and the Duke of Guise sent notice of it to the Court. Merargues going thither soon after about some Affairs of the Province la Varenne had order to observe him and acquitted himself so well that one evening slipping into his House with a Prevost he surprized him while he was entertaining Bâ—uneau Secretary to the Spanish Ambassadour with his Design They seized upon both and searching them found a Writing tied under Bruneau's Garter which decypher'd the whole Mystery Bruneau was Imprisoned in the Bastille Merargues in the Chastelet and from thence transfer'd to the Conciergerie The Spanish Ambassadour made great noise at the detention of his Secretary he spake of it as a high injury to the Dignity of his Master
likewise somewhat to clear before him concerning the great Affair of the point of Grace with the Dominicans wherein they ran no less hazard should they miscarry then to be charged with temerity and errour month June July c. Whilst both parties were thinking to arm the one to attaque and the other to defend themselves their men of Learning began the War by divers writings which they sent picqueering abroad The most Signal that appeared on the Theatre for the Republick were Pol Soave of the Order of the Servites vulgarly called Fra Paolo John Marsile a Neapolitan Doctor in Theology and Fulgentius of the same fraternity with Pol Soave on the opposite Cardinal Bellarmine and the Cardinal Baronius appeared the most zealous defenders of his Holiness After these had dealt the heaviest blows a confused multitude of meaner Authors tilted at one another the meanest Lawyers and Canonists presuming according to the party they espoused either to restrain or extend the Authority of the Pope beneath or above the Council and Canons and to discourse of the power of Princes and the boundaries of their Dominion It was to be feared lest a more dangerous shock should follow the Pope drew his Forces together in the Dutchy of Spoleta and had given the general Command of them to Rainutio Farnese Duke of Parma He had promis'd himself to make his Censures Year of our Lord 1606 more biting with the sharp edge of his Sword and at first breath'd nothing but Battels and Sieges but these were old mens flashes which grew cold and drooping as soon as he began to feel the burtâ—â—â— of the expence the cares attending so great an enterprize and the perpleâ—ity he had run himself into The two most potent Princes of Christendom the Kings of France and Spain outvied each other in offering their Assistance but he perceived plainly that they at the same time treated with the Venetians and designed only to make an accommodation and gain the honour and credit to themselves The Spaniard had sent him a very obliging Letter and dispatched Francis de Castro Ambassador extraordinary to Venice The King of France also dealt with his Holiness by Alincour his Ambassador in Ordinary and towards the end of the year ordered the Cardinal de Joyeuse to go to the Venetians to Negociate the Treaty which was already much advanced by Fresne Canaye his Ambassador in Ordinary Year of our Lord 1607 The Cardinal found nothing so difficult as the re-establishment of the Jesuits the Senate perswaded they had not only animated the Pope to lay the interdiction but also month January stirred every stone and tried all possible means to debauch the people and the other religious Orders had caused information against them touching other Criminal matters and as if they had been Convicted banished them from all their Territories by a solemn Decree Wherefore they stood stifly upon it not to open the Door again for their re-admittance at least till such time as by a deportment wholly contrary to the former they had taken away all just cause of suspicion and jealousie month February As to the rest of the conditions they soon agreed upon them The Senate made a Vote to resign the Prisoners and not execute their Decrees till both Parties were satisfied therein to revoke all their Edicts made against the Interdiction and recall all the Religious Orders that had retired themselves excepting the Jesuits Reciprocally the Pope passed his word to take off the Censures and receive the Seigneury into his paternal affection Joyeuse and d'Alincourt Procurators for the King in this mediation promised to subscribe to these conditions and to become security to his Holiness for performance and his Holiness upon the receipt of this writing from their hands was to give Joyeuse power to take off the Censures month March The Cardinal de Joyeuse went post to Rome with these Articles The day after his Arrival which was the Eighteenth of March the Pope having admitted him to Audience did again make great Efforts at least in appearance for the restoration of the Jesuits for it concern'd him in honour not to forsake them visibly since they had been expell'd for his quarrel The Cardinal did as good as undertake to obtain this point if they would leave the business absolutely to his management but the Pope did not think that convenient The Cardinal du Perron who was then at that Court upon some other account employ'd his Eloquence to perswade him he ought not to break off the agreement for the Jesuits sakes since their return was not positively denied but only deferred The Pope pretended to yield to his ponderous reasons but it appeared at last that Du Perron's was a needless debate on that point since the Spaniards as was after known bad secretly obtained of his Holiness that he would make no further instance but for fashion-sake only whereof they failed not to give the Senate Notice They had had all the share they could desire in the secret inward managing of this Affair but they endeavour'd likewise to have the outward publick transacting The French would never suffer et which proved none of the least difficulties in the compleating it For these Urafty Politicians resolving to have a hand in 't or to break it sometimes demanded that the taking off the Censures should be done at Rome otherwhile essay'd to have some new Clause added to the Popes Brief Then again they endeavour'd to perswade they ought to oblige those Bishops that had not obey'd to come to Rome and defire absolution of his Holiness None of these succeeding they try'd to allarme him by spreading a report the Senate would protest against the surrender of the Prisoners but the Cardinal de Joyeuse secur'd him from that apprehension Having made all these attempts in vain they demanded that the Cardinal Sapate who had zealously stickled for the interests of his Holiness might be associated with the Cardinal de Joyeuse for the executing of the Brief But Joyeuse told them plainly he would sooner leave all as it was then suffer any other whoever he were to partake this honour with him month April Wherefore thus was their Affair determined After the Cardinal was returned to Venice and had consulted with the Seigneory they appointed the one and twentieth of April for the Action In the morning of that day before any other thing was done the two Pâ—â—soners were brought to the Dukes House and theredeliver'd into the Year of our Lord 1607 hands of a Doctor Commissioned by his Holiness for that purpose in the presence of several Witnesses That done the Cardinal entred alone into the Senate when he had been there some time they called in two Witnesses before whom he caused the Brief of interdiction and Excommunication to be read by a Herauld After which he gave absolution in due form with the sign of the Cross to the Senate and to all those that had incurr'd the said Censures An Act thereof
the like occasion and Year of our Lord 1608 that the Holy Father caused a Jubilé to be published which commenced at Rome month Novemb. the Sixth of September and Six Weeks afterwards at Paris I think I may in this year place the Invention of Perspective Glasses because the use of them began now to grow common in Holland and France A Spectacle-maker of Midleburg presented one which he had made to Prince Maurice which seemed to bring any Object though two Leagues distant within Two hundred paces of the Eye for from the Hague they could easily discern the Dial at Delf and the Windows of the Church at Leyden the year following many were to be had in the Shops at Paris but which could not descry a third part so far as those Some have named them Galileo's Glasses as if that famous Mathematician had invented them but it is most certain this happy Discovery was made long before his time We find manifest footsteps of them in the Works of Baptista Porta and we must acknowledge that the Ancients made use of them if that be true which Roger Bacon saith That Julius Caesar being on the Belgic Shoar opposite to great Britain did with certain great Burning-Glasses discover the Posture and Disposition of the Brittish Army and all the Coast along that Country However it were they have labour'd so happily to bring them to their full Perfection that it will be difficult to make any further Addition or Improvement The marvellous Observations which have been made and are daily taken of the Heaven by the help of them are a most illustrious proof of their Success As to the Subject of the Fougade at Westminster the King of Great Britain who believed that all these Conspiracies proceeded from that Power which the Pope pretended over Soveraigns made an Oath of Fidelity or Allegiance after a new form wherein he obliged all his Subjects to acknowledge that he was their true and lawful Soveraign and that the Pope had neither of himself nor from any other the Power to depose Kings or to warrant any Stranger Prince to invade their Country or to dispense their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance therefore should Swear to him that notwithstanding any Sentence whatsoever of the Popes they would faithfully obey him and serve him and his Successors and should discover whatever Conspiracies they did know either against his Person or against his State The Pope having notice hereof sent a Brief to the Catholicks to forbid them the taking this Oath George Blackwell Arch-Priest of England being imprisoned upon the refusal he made of it suffered himself at last to be perswaded that this Brief had been extorted and that there was nothing contained in the Formulary of the Oath contrary to the Articles of Faith so that he took it and caused it to be taken by the rest of the Catholicks in England But the Pope by a second Brief confirmed the first and Cardinal Bellarmin wrote a Letter to Blackwel to shew him that the said Oath wounded the Vnity of the Church and the Authority of the Holy-See He published an Apology for this Oath the Cardinal made an Answer the King a reply which he addressed to the Christian Princes Some Authors concerned themselves in the quarrel and it being a contest wherein the power of the Popes was debated as likewise that of temporal Princes it became the exercise and entertainment of the most learned men in Europe for some Months together The States of the United-Provinces had reason to make the Spaniards believe and see that in case the Treaty of Peace were broken off they should be assisted both by France and England wherefore they had several times made instance to the Ambassadors of those Kings that they would enter into a good Defensive League for their preservation The King of France did first agree and Signed it the second day of January notwithstanding the contrary advice of those of month January his Council whom a zeal for the Catholick Religion inclined indirectly to favour the Spaniard the Ambassadors of the King of England having some points to settle with the States touching the liquidation of Arrears of Moneys did not conclude it till four or five Months after Those of Spain deputed for the Peace to wit the Marquiss de Spinola General of King Philips Armies in the Low-Countries John Crusel Richardot President of the Privy-Council to the Arch-Dukes John de Mancicidor Secretary of War to King Philip Frier John Neyen or Ney Commissary-General of the Order of Saint Francis and Lewis Verreiken prime Secretary of State to the Arch-Duke Arrived at the Hague in the Month of January The States deputed Year of our Lord 1608 for the Generality William of Nassau and the Lord de Brederode and the seven Provinces named for each of them one of the most able and best qualify'd they had amongst them The Compliments made on either part they began to assemble the Sixth day month February of February In the first Ten Sessions they produced their Procurations and treated of an Amnesty of Reprisals and some other such Points which passed without much difficulty but when they came to mention the Commerce of the East-Indies there began the main of the Negociation the States insisting to have the full liberty of that Trade the Spaniards to exclude them thinking there were only a few Merchants interested in that Trade and that the rest would not concern themselves much for their preservation but the Company which of late years was set up for the Indies had forty Ships belonging to them the least of five hundred Tun burthen well provided for War and each of the value of five and twenty thousand Crowns Besides fourscore more of six or seven hundred Tun which traded to the West-Indies not reck'ning a great number of smaller bulk for Guiney and the Islands Saint Dominique Being therefore animated by their profit and withal upheld and countenanc'd by Prince Maurice they made so much noise and roused the publick by so many Manifesto's and discourses in Print that their Deputies were obliged to stand to it Seeing therefore they could not agree upon that point they quitted it to pass on to those concerning the reciprocal Trade in the Low-Countries the renunciation of reprisals the declaration of their limits the demolition and exchange of places the Cassation of Sentences of Proscription and Confiscation the restitution of Goods the Priviledges of Cities the disbanding of Soldiers on each side and many other points In the Memoirs of the President Janin are to be seen the difficulties that were created on either part upon different Articles particularly about the restitution of places How the Truce was prolonged two several times the one to the end of May the other till July How Father Ney going into Spain for more ample powers was detained there a long time by the slow motions either natural or artificial of that Council How the President Janin sent for by
the King took a turn into France and how Don Pedro de Toledo who was then going to Germany came at the same time with design as was believed to found month Septemb. the Kings intentions and to take him off from espousing the interests of the States We there find likewise the great jealousies the States conceived upon the Conferences he had with the King the Intrigues and Artifices of Prince Maurice to break this Treaty the different Factions that were formed in that Country for and against it Then the rupture of the said Treaty by the States upon the Spaniards persisting to have the free exercise of the Catholick Religion re-established in all their Territories and that they should lay down the whole Trade and Navigation to the Indies and in fine upon this rupture the retreat of the Ambassadors of Spain who took their leaves of the States the last day of September and returned to Bruxels Those of France and Great Britain particularly the first did not for all this leave off their Mediation but propounded to both parties to make a long Truce at least since they could not agree upon the Articles for a perpetual Peace Prince Maurice opposed it openly because his employment must be at an end with the War He had subject enough to declaim against the artifice of the Spaniard and to entertain the peoples fears and jealousies and talked the more confident and high as having all the Sons of War on his side and the Province of Zealand besides four or five good places in his disposition and the desires of the Protestant Princes who apprehended lest during such a Truce the power of the Austrian House should fall upon their Backs But the Kings honour was too much concerned after he had taken so much pains and his interest likewise to disarm Flanders which he designed to seize upon not to bring this business to a conclusion He pursued it therefore so Year of our Lord 1609 warmly by intreaties and menaces to the States that their Deputies met again month January February March and April at Antwerp on the five and twentieth of March with those of Spain and made a Truce for twelve years which was proclaimed in that City the fourteenth day of April Year of our Lord 1069 It imported amongst other things That the Arch-Dukes treated with them in quality and as holding them for free Provinces upon whom they had no manner of pretence That there should be a Cessation from all Acts of Hostility but that in Forraign Countries it should not commence till a year after That Traffick should be free both by Sea and Land which however the King of Spain limited to the Countries he held in Europe not meaning the States should Trade into those others without his express Licence That either should hold such places as were then in their possession That such whose Estates had been seized or confiscate by reason of the War or their Heirs should have the enjoyment of them during the Truce and should re-enter upon them without any other form of Justice That the Subjects belonging to the States should have in the Kings and Arch-Dukes Countries the same liberty in Religion as had been granted to the Subjects of the King of Great Britain by the last Treaty of Peace Reciprocally the States promised that there should be no alteration made in those Villages of Brabant which depended upon them where hitherto there had been no other exercise of Religion but the Catholick for which the Ambassadors gave their Guaranty in writing The President Janin being returned to the Hague after the Publication exhorted the States in behalf of the King to grant to their Catholick Subjects the free exercise of their Religion but all that he could obtain was that they should be no more prosecuted nor troubled if they did it in their own houses and for their private Families only If the power of Spain received a great shock by this Treaty that which they procured themselves by the expulsion of the Moors was no less After the eversion of the Kingdom of Granada great numbers of Mahometans and Jews were remaining in those Countries who had settled and spread themselves in the Kingdoms of Valencia Chastille and Andalouzia they were baptized and professed Christianity for which reason they were called new Christians but yet did secretly exercise the impieties of their fore-Fathers They were reck'ned to be above twelve hundred thousand of both sexes King Philip informed that for divers years they had sought for and courted the protection of the King of France the Vnited-Provinces the King of England nay even the Turks and the King of Morocco and suffering himself to be perswaded that upon a certain Good-Friday they intended to cut the Throats of all the old Christians in those Countries where they inhabited resolved to thrust them out of his Territories not permitting them to carry away any thing excepting some Merchandize of the Country seizing and detaining their Gold and Silver their Jewels and moveables only he allowed the fourth part to the Nobility in recompence of the damage they sustained by such their banishment for they improved and made the Lands yield more by one third to the Gentry then the Spanish Tenants could do Year of our Lord 1609 and 1610 till March. This Edict was Executed with the utmost severity even against those that were Priests Friers Officers of the Kings and Allied to the most ancient Christian Families they haled and tore them from the very Altars Cloysters Tribunals of Justice the Husbands from the Arms of their dearest Wives the Wives from the Bosoms of their Husbands the Fathers or Mothers from their tenderest Children These wretches part of them transported into Africa part getting into France and Italy did most of them perish after divers manners some were drowned by those very Marriners who pretended to transport them others Massacred by the Arabes many being first stript and then turned away by those from whom they expected shelter died of hunger being in execration to the Christians as Infidels and to the Infidels as Christians so that of this huge Multitude hardly could the fourth part make shift to save themselves Spain will for a long time feel the smart of this more then barbarous inhumanity for the cruel expulsion of so many Myriads of Men together with the continual recruits they are ever sending to the Indies and their natural lazy temper has made of that Country otherwhile the most peopled and the most cultivated in Europe a vast and barren solitude Some Christian Pirates were retired to Tunis and Algier and had there gotten so many of their own stamp together that they held the Streight of Gibraltar as it were shut up and dar'd even attaque whole Fleets The Maloüins not able to endure these Robberies fitted out some Vessels to set upon them Captain Beaulieu their Commander having consider'd of the means to destroy the Year of our Lord 1608 whole force
continued during the whole year 1551. and the following also Whilst they were thus going on the terror of the Arms of Maurice Duke of Saxony who was advanced as far as Inspruc where he thought to surprize the Emperor and the rumour of the Kings who entred into Germany did so much scare the Prelates that most of them ran quite away The Legates therefore suspended the Council for two years only but by the divers accidents and mutations of Affairs it was interrupted till the year 1561. when Pope Pius IV re-assembled them His Bull of Indiction met with great difficulties both from the Emperor and from the King their Councils desired it might be a Convocation of a Council wholly new not a continuation of the old and that they might re-examine those Decrees had been already made for they had hopes thereby to allure and bring in the Protestants Year of our Lord 1561 Withal the true French-men found fault that the Address was made only to the Emperor and that the name of King Charles was not express'd as those of Francis I. and of Henry II. had been in the foregoing ones In effect they had not comprised him but under the general terms of Kings and Christian Princes They did the same injustice in their acclamations upon the closing up of the Year of our Lord 1562 Council The Ambassadors of France who were Lewis de Saint Gelais Lansac Arnold de Ferrier President des Enquestes in the Parliament of Paris and Guy Faure Pibrac Chief Justice of Tolosa Arrived there the eighteenth of May. Queen Catherine and her Council had given them a Charge to press vigorously for the Reformation of Abuses and to behave themselves in such sort as the Protestants might have reason to believe they intended them all manner of reasonable satisfaction upon their complaints Pibrac harangued them to that purpose and Lansac did second him to this effect he demanded they should declare it to be a new Council and that they would stay for those Bishops who were coming thither from France as likewise the Ambassadors and Divines from the Queen of England and from the Protestant Princes Notwithstanding these instances the Legates declared it was a continuation and would have them proceed immediately without waiting for the Prelates of France Lansac and his Collegues joyned themselves also with the Emperors Ambassadors in the demand they made for the use of the Cup for the Laity of Bohemia to whom the Church had otherwhile most benignly allowed it On the other hand the French Bishops seconded the Spaniards with all their might and main to have them declare that Residence was of Divine Right but neither the Ambassadors nor they had any satisfaction upon either point and were divers times in deliberation to be gone Pibrac being recalled to the Court of France by Queen Catherine Ferrier was the manager who harangued upon all occasions with extreme vehemence During these transactions the Cardinal de Lorrain Arrived at Trent accompanied with a great number of Bishops and took such authority upon him that the Pope having conceived some jealousie called him amongst his familiars the Petty Pope on the other side the Mountains He knew that he was come to Act in concert with the Imperialists to engage them to give some satisfaction to the Lutherans whom he desired to unlink from the Huguentos having to that effect both he and his Brother conferred with the Duke of Wirtemberg and other Princes of that belief at Saverne and therefore he had taken care and provided to be fortify'd against him a great number of Italian Bishops whom from all parts he sent to the Council of Trent before the Cardinal should Arrive there Some Months after his coming they received two Messages of great News at the Council the one of the death of the King of Navarre the other some Year of our Lord 1562 and 1563. Months after that of the gaining of the Battle of Dreux Both of them gave the Cardinal great reason to believe his Brother might soon make himself Master of all France and that consideration encreased his credit and power very much in the Council and by consequence that of the Ambassadors with whom he was very well united in the beginning They propounded therefore according to the instructions they had four and thirty Articles of Reformation whereof the most Remarkable were That none should be ordained Priests unless they were ancient as the very word imported That they should restore the Functions separately to all the sacred Orders without allowing one Order to do what belonged to another That they should not confer them all at once but observe the interstitium That none should be admitted to the dignity of an Abbot or of a Prior conventual who had not read or taught Theology in some Famous Colledge That an Ecclesiastick should be capable to hold but one single Benefice That they should say the Prayers in French after the holy Sacrifice of the Mass That they should gives the Communion to the People under the two species or both kinds That they should render to the Bishops their entire Jurisdiction without allowing exemption to any Monasteries unless to the Heads of Orders That the Pastors should be capable and obliged to Preach and to Catechise That Simony and the sale of Benefices should be punished and that those abuses might be removed and taken away which had been introduced amongst the vulgar in the worship of Images The Cardinal de Lorrain would no doubt have assisted them to his utmost if the death of the Duke of Guise had not interven'd but as the good Fortune and Prosperity of that Brother had much elevated him so his loss depressed him most infinitely he now thought of nothing but an accommodation with the Pope and letting fall his grand designes obliged likewise all the Bishops of his Party to do the same So that the Legates and other Persons dependants of the Court of Rome remaining Masters in the Council procured many things to be passed there according to their own desires and intentions About this time began the contest for Precedency between the Ambassadors Year of our Lord 1563 of France and of Spain wherein it may be truely said the Pope did not preserve the right of France in its entire If we believe some he was willing to foment this dispute that he might have some colour to break up the Council which he had thoughts to do several times before because he could not govern them as he desired It had like to have fallen out now the Ambassadors of France pickqued ☞ at the Injustice done to their King were on the point to leave them and protest not against the Legates who depended on the will of the Pope nor against the Council which was not free nor against the King of Spain and his Ambassador who maintained their Pretension but against a particular man that acted as Pope and had intruded into Saint Peters Chair by
our Lord 1591 bloody decrees they made to draw the People from their obedience to Henry III. and Henry IV. but when the latter of these two Kings was converted and withal become Master of Paris they made one quite contrary in favour of him not waiting till he had received his absolution from Rome Gregory XIV not well informed of the State of the League engaged himself yet farther then his Predecessor he promised fifteen Thousand Crowns Year of our Lord 1591 of Gold per Month to maintain and defend the City of Paris and sent an Army into France but it perished almost before it's entrance and brought much more Scandal by the Vices of their Country then assistance to the Party The Prelates to preserve their Revenues which indeed was the main thing studied by most of them and their greatest obligation followed the Party that Year of our Lord 1591 was most prevalent in those Countries where they had their Benefices but in such parts as were Subject to the Incursions of both they did not know what measures to take for if they declared for the one the other immediately gave away their Benefices Gregory by a Bull of the year 1591. commanded all those that then followed the King to forsake him upon pain of Excommunication but the present evil touching them more sensibly then his remoter Menaces they would not obey his Commands This Pope held the See but six Months Innocent his Successor but two Clement VIII who was Elected afterwards did at first follow the Steps of Gregory and sent to Philip de Sega Bishop of Piacenza who was made Cardinal by the said Gregory to procure the Election of a Catholick King This was in the year Year of our Lord 1592 1592. The Prelates on their part finding that all Communication was broke off with Rome made a Proposition for the creating a Patriarch for France and such as were the most powerful at Court either upon the Score of favour or merit did second it with all their might out of the hopes they had to obtain the said high dignity But the Cardinal de Bourbon who had other thoughts for his own grandeur opposed it vigorously under pretence that it would be a means to Confirm the King in his Schism and exasperate his Holiness the more So it was ordained that the Kings nomination to Benefices should be Confirmed by the Bishops and that each of them should have the power of his Dispensation in his Diocess as the Pope If we should judge of the intent of the Heads of the League by the effect produced we might affirm it was good for the Traverse and Troubles they gave Henry IV. put him to such a plunge that fearing worse might follow he resumed and embraced the Religion of his Ancestors to secure himself of the Crown Clement did for some time after keep the Doors of the Church shut against him but at length finding the weakness of the League and the Ambition of the King of Spain open'd them wide to him with great demonstration of kindness But not however without making all his efforts for augmenting the Authority of the Year of our Lord 1595 Holy See upon so eminent and favourable an occasion From that time France was troubled no move with those violent fits occasioned by heats of Religion although some relicks still remained within her bowels of the inflamations of the Holy League as on the other side the Cabals and Contrivances of the Huguenots gave continual Alarms and Apprehensions to King Henry IV. We have told you he allowed them the exercise of their Religion and many other advantages by the Edict of Nantes Of the corruption of the two Parties a third was generated named The Politicks a People who seeming to profess the Religion of that Party they were engaged in yet having indeed none since they placed and made it wholly subservient in all things to Temporal Interests of State were for that reason more pernicious then all the Hereticks During the greatest Heats of War for Religion under the Reign of Charles IX and the beginning of that of Henry III. the Clergy had not the leasure to assemble any Provincial Councils although the Church stood in much need of them but after the year 1580. there were held five or six by the Arch-Bishops assisted by their Suffragants The Cardinal Charles de Bourbon Assembled one at Rouen Anno 1581. Anthony Prevost Sansac held one at Bourdeaux the following year Simon de Maillé one at Tours in 1583. Reinold de Beaune one at Bourges in 1584. Alexander Canigiani one at Aix Anno 1585. And Francis de Joyeuse Cardinal one at Toulouze Anno 1590. I do not reckon amongst these Assemblies neither the diverse Conferences between the Catholick Doctors and the Protestants of which the most Famous as also the most pernicious was the Colloquy of Poissy nor even what they call Assemblies of the Clergy of France because the Form and Methods of Proceedings and the reasons of their Convocation differ very much from those of Councils though upon occasion they do sometimes treat of Discipline and other Matters Ecclesiastical It is true that in all times the Prelates have held such Assemblies either by Order of the King or by his leave when it was requisite for them so to do but they were not held regularly as they began to be since that Sacred Order was obliged in a Contract of twelve Hundred Thousand Livers of Rent to the Hostel de Ville of Paris and upon that Score to pay their Tenths punctually We may in my Opinion put that of Melun Year of our Lord 1579 which was held in the year 1597. for the first of this kind The Remonstrances they made to the King by the Mouth first of Arnaud de Pontac Bishop of Basas then of Nicholas l'Anglier Bishop of Saint Brieuc's were very pressing for the discharging and taking of those Rents for reception of the Council of Trent and the re-establishment of Elections They could obtain nothing as to the first for the second they were promis'd it should be considered in due time and place but to the Third the King replied very roughly that he would do nothing in it and asked whether they did not hold their Bishopricks from him To which some answered generously enough that they were ready to surrender them into his hands again provided he would be pleased to surrender that right to the Church according to the Holy Canons As to the remainder we may know by their Remonstrances what the disorders of the Gallican Church then were we find how the Bishopricks the Abbeys and Collegiate Churches were in the hands of Captains That these words were often heard in their Mouthes my Bishoprick my Abbey my Priest my Chanons my Monks That by an Act the Grand Council Order'd the Moneys upon the Sale of a Bishoprick should be employ'd to pay the Debts of the Vendor that in the Kings Council an Abbey
to be Earl of Flanders his unfortunate end 296 Baldwin King of Constantinople comes into France to demand assistance 300 Baviere the Dutchy extinct by the death of Tassillon 103 Bearn Vicounty 315 Beatrix of Savoy 300 Belisarius conquers the Kingdom of the Vandals 24 Benefices the great ones at the disposition of the Popes That the same Ecclesiastick cannot in Conscience hold more then one 301 Perpetuated in their Houses 291 Benevent Dutchy made Tributary to the Emperor Lewis the Debonair 121 Bennet Archdeacon is elected Pope 186 His degradation and his death Bennet XI Pope does things with more mildness then Boniface his Predecessor 332 His death ibid. Benenger Roman Earl of Provence Rebellion of his Subjects 300 Berenger Duke of Spoleta 156 Berenger I. King of Italy 162 Crowned Emperor of the East 162 Forsaken of the Italians and dispossest Calls the Hungarians into Italy His death ibid. Berenger King of Italy with his Son Adelbert is abandoned of his Subjects 188 Banished into Germany ibid. Berenger Archdeacon of Anger 's an Heresiark and Head of the Heretical Sacramentaries his several Retractions and Death 229 Berenger Raimond Earl of Provence his death 303 Bernard King of Italy makes Oath of fidelity to the Emperor Lewis the Debonair 121 Appeases the Tumult of the Romans 121 Conspires against the Emperor his Uncle and is taken Prisoner 122 His death 123 Bernard Earl of Barcelona the Favourite of the Empress Judith 126 St. Bernard opposes Henry the Monk disciple of Peter Bruys in Languedoc 245 Abbot of Clervais in high esteem amongst the Prelats the Grandees and the People 243 Preaches the Croisado by command of the Pope 244 Acquires great Reputation to his Order 271 Causes Innocent II. to be owned 303 Bernard Saisset Bishop of Pamiez made Prisoner 326 Berthier Maire of the Neustrian Palace his unhappy end 69 Bertoald Maire of the Palace 42 Bertradi Daughter of Simon de Montfort Marries Foulques le Rechin who was Aged 222 She leaves her Husband to Marry King Philip though nigh of Kindred 222 Robert de Bethune Earl of Flanders his death 350 Bilicbild Queen of France 65 Blanch Wife of Lewis the Lazy 198 Blanch of Castille Widow of Lewis VIII and Regent of the Kingdom causes Lewis her eldest Son to be Crowned 295 Her death and burial 306 Blanch of France Queen of Castille 313 Blanch of Artois Queen of Navarre 316 Blanch of France betroathed twice and Married in fine to Rodolphus Duke of Austria 321 Blanch of Burgundy 324 Blasphemy Edict against Blasphemers 252 Beomond Prince of the Normands in Apulia 222 Boniface Bishop of Ments takes great care for the re-establishment of Ecclesiastical Discipline by the Convocation of divers Councils 112 113 Boniface Marquiss of Montferat joyns with the French in the Expedition to the Holy Land 256 Is made King of Thessaly ibid. Boniface VIII elected Pope 325 Endeavours to make Peace in Christendom ibid. Makes himself an Enemy to the King of France Philip the Fair divers causes of enmity 326 Arbitrator of the differences between the King of France the English and Flemings 328 Publishes a general Indulgence afterwards called a Jubile 328 Attributes the Temporal Power to himself as well as the Ecclesiastical 329 Disaffected to the French 329 Excommunicates Philip the Fair. 329 Is accused of Heresie and divers other Crimes 329 Ill treated at Anagnia by the French his death 332 Boson Brother of Queen Richilda 143 Is Crowned King of Burgundy defeated and vanquished in Battle 151 Bourges Archbishop takes the Title of Primat and that of Patriarch over the Archbishops of Narbona Bourdeaux and of Ausch 337 Bourgogue or Burgundy united to France and loses the Title of a Kingdom 22 Bourgogne or Burgundy Dutchy yielded by King Henry to Robert his Brother 214 Bourgogne Transjurane and the Kingdom of Arles pass into the hands of the Emperor Conrad and the Princes of Germany 215 Bourgogne or Burgundy County the Subject of a great Quarrel 238 Difference and a hot War between Reinauld Earl of Burgundy and Bertold Duke of Zeringben for the County ibid. Given to Philip the Fair. 324 The Bourgundians make themselves Masters of a part of Gall. Their Conversion to the Christian Faith 8 Of the Mariners Compass and its first invention 330 Brabant Chief of the Dukes of Brabant 210 Brittain Great subdued by the English Saxons 8 Bretagne casts off the yoak of the French 135 Loses the name of Kingdom and takes that of County then of Dutchy 144 In great trouble 184 Subjected to the Duke of Normandy 215 In great trouble 245 Bretons make great Incursions upon the Territories of the French and are brought to reason 56 Subjected to the Crown of France vanquished 123 Obstinate for their liberty 124 Brosse Peter de la a Barber advanced to a Supream Fortune endeavours in vain to ruine the Queen of France 318 Is Hanged ibid. Brunebaud banished to Rouen is set at liberty 35 Gets away the Huns by force of Money 42 Chaced by the Austrasians 42 Leads a Vicious Lewd Life 43 Her unhappy end 45 Bruno Archbishop of Colen 184 Bulgarians have a quarrel with the Avari and are totally vanquished 121 Ransack Panonia Superiora 124 Ransack Lumbardy 162 Burdin favourite of Henry V. Emperor confined to a perpetual imprisonment 274 C. Calistus II. Pope under the protection of France against the Emperor 236 Calistus III. Antipope 272 Canal begun for the Communication between the Rivers of Rhine and the Danube remains imperfect 104 Candia falls under the Dominion of the Venetians 263 Cardinals in great splendour 292 The Cardinals their growth and their authority 282 Fall from their so great power ibid. Carloman Son of Pepin King of Austrasia 95 His death 97 Carloman eldest Son of Charles the Bald revolts against his Father is punished 144 Carloman King of West France Aquitain and Burgundy 148 His death 156 Carloman Son of Charles Martel Duke and Prince of the French in Austrasia 86 He and Pepin shut up their Brother Griffin in a Castle 84 Bring the Duke of Aquitain and the Duke of Bavaria to reason who were revolted 86 Marches afterwards against the Saxons 86 Quits the World and takes on him the Habit of St. Bennet at Mount Soracie 87 Caroloman comes into France on behalf of Astolphus King of the Lombards and is shut up in a Monastery at Vienne and his Sons shaved Anno 754. 92 Caroloman Son of Lewis the German King of Bavaria 148 Great preparation for Italy without effect 146 His death 149 Carmelites their institution and establishment 339 Carobert King of Hungary 334 Castille in trouble and divisions about the Crown 316 Catares Hereticks 278 Celestine Pope lays down the Triple Crown or Thiara 325 Celibate of the Priests 288 Disorder falling thereon ibid. Cenobites 4 Chape or Mantle of St. Martin born at the head of their Armies 244 Thomas de Champeaux Doctor in Theology takes the Habit of a Frier at St. Victors 276 Chanons Regulars in esteem
the French and the Venetians joyned together 262 Returns from the hands of the Latins into that of the Greeks 309 Constantius Count and Patrician in Gall. 3 Crimes how punished amongst the ancient French Divers means to purge themselves thereof 49 Crimes they justified themselves by Combat Croisades and beyond-Sea Expeditions advantageous to Popes and Kings but disadvantageous to the great Lords and the People 224 First Croisade and their happy Exploits 224 25 Croisade preached over all Christendom 223 Croisade for the recovery of the Holy Land 260 Croisade against the Albigeois 264 Croisades affirming the Popes Authority 262 Croisade new of French Lords for the Holy Land 301 Croisade new by St. Lewis for succouring the Christians in the Levant 312 Croisades during the Thirteenth Age. 336 Cunibert Bishop of Colen 56 D. Dagobert Son of Clotaire the miraculous protection of his Person 45 Builds the Abby of St. Denis ib. His Father gives him the Kingdom of Austrasia 46 His Marriage quarrel between the Father and the Son ib. Dagobert I. of that name King of Neustria Austrasia and Burgundy 54 He gives part of Aquitain to his Brother Aribert 54 Too much licence in his Marriage ib. Remains sole King after the death of his Brother Aribert 55 Establishes his Son Sigebert King of Austrasia 56 Disposes of Neustria and Burgundy in favour of his Son Clovis ib. Subdues the Gascons and brings them to reason 57 His death ib. Dagobert Son of Sigebert King of Austrasia shaved and banish'd 60 Is recalled and acknowledged King of Austrasia 66 His death 68 Dagobert II. King of France 77 The Danes and Normands infest the Coasts of France 106 Continue their Piracies 211 St. Denis Areopagite his Corps found intire in the Monastery of St. Denis in France 233 Devotion and Piety admirable in our ancient Kings of France 73 St. Didier Bishop of Lyons suffers Martyrdom 43 Didier King of the Lombards conceives the design of abating the power of the Popes and making himself Master of Italy excites Troubles and Schisms in the Church of Rome 98 Causes of particular enmity between him and Charlemain 98 Is dispossest of his Estate 99 His death ib. Didier is elected King of the Romans after the death of Astolphus Anno 755. Differences between Hugh de Vermandois and Artold for the Archbishoprick of Reims 180 Difference between King Lotair and the Children of Hugh the Great 184 Dispensations their beginning 182 Dissentry horrible in France 34 Divorce of a Marriage the cause of great Troubles 243 Dol in Bretagne made a Metropolitan 134 Brought again under that of Tours 274 Dominion Example of an enraged passion for Dominion 296 Dominicans their Institution and Establishment 339 Dreux Bishop of Mets. 127 Drogo or Dreux Son of Pepin 72 Drogon Duke of Bretagne his death 184 Dutchy of Lorrain given to Godfrey Earl of Verdin Bouillon and Verdun 209 Dutchies of two sorts in France 183 Duel proposed to the King by his Subjects 235 E. Ebles Count of Auvergne and Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine 170 Ebles Baron de Roucy a famous Warrier humbled and brought to reason 227 Ebon Bishop of Reims deposed and degraded 128 Ebroin Maire of the Palace perfidious and wicked 62 69 Is shaved and confined to the Monastery of Luxieu 64 Quits the Monastery to take up Arms. 67 His retreat into Austrasia he there supposes a false Clovis in the place of King Thierry whom he feigns to be dead 67 Causes St. Leger to attaqu'd in his City of Autun puts his Eyes out and shuts him up in a Monastery ib. Is received Maire of Thierries Palace 68 Great Tyranny his death 69 Eclipse of the Sun 213 Ecclesiasticks go to Rome to visit the Holy Places 269 Edmund Brother of Edward King of England his death 326 Edward eldest Son of the King of England goes to make War in the Holy Land 312 Edward Son and Successor of Henry King of England 315 At his return from the Holy Land passes thorough France ib. Passes by Sea and comes to the City of Amiens 319 His Voyage to Burdeaux by France 322 Employs himself to accommodate the differences betwixt the Kingdoms of Arragon and Sicilia 323 A Riot between some particular People makes him break the Peace with France 324 325 Makes a powerful League against France 326 Attaques the Scots and brings them under his Laws 327 Marries with Margaret of France 330 Makes Peace with the King of France 331 His death 334 Edward Son of King Edward Marries Isabella of France 327 Edward II. King of England 332 His Contest with Charles the Fair King of France 351 Odious to his People by reason of his Favourites his unfortunate end 352 Ega Maire of the Palace of Neustria his death 58 Election and the Investiture of the Popes in the power of the Emperor Otho 186 Election of Popes 3â—6 Elections to Benefices 285 Emma Queen of France 168 Emma or Emina Wife of King Lothaire 198 Empire Rome when it ended 13 Empire troubled about the Election of an Emperor after the death of Henry VI. 259 Empire of Greece difference between Michael and Baldwin determined 318 Empire ruined by its dis-union Engelberge Wife of the Emperor Lew's of Italy 156 Enguerrand de Marigny his unhappy end 336 Enterprise of the Pope upon the Bishops of France 203 Enterview of the three Kings of France of Germany and of Burgundy 170 Enterview between Lewis Transmarine and Otho of Lorraine 180 Enterview of the Emperor Henry and King Robert 211 Enterview and Enterparlance of the Emperor Henry III. and Henry King of France 217 Enterview of the King of France Lewis the Young and the Emperor Federic 247 Enterview of the Kings of France and Arragon 308 Enterview of the two Kings of France and England in the City of Amiens 319 Enterview of the Kings of France and Castille at Bayonne 323 Enterview of the King of France and the Emperor at Vaucouleurs 328 Eon de L'Estoille His ignorance passes for a great Prophet is apprehended his death 291 Erchinoald Maire of the Palace 61 Era or manner of accompting of the times by the Mahometans 47 Estate of the Gallican Church after the Conversion of Lewis or Clovis the Great 50 The Fourth Age. 4 During the Fifth and Sixth Ages 17 The Seventh 73 The Eighth 112 The Ninth 170 The Tenth 205 The Eleventh Age or Century 228 Eudes Duke of Aquitaine 80 Makes a League with the Sarecens of Spain and draws them into France 81 c. His death 82 Eudes Count of Paris and Duke of France succeeds in the Estates of Hugh the Great his Brother 155 Is raised to his Dignity and declared King of West France 156 Defeats and cuts the Normans in pieces 157 Quarrel betwixt him and Charles the Simple 159 His death 160 Eudes first Earl of Champagne 203 Eudes Count de Pontieure 211 Eudes Son of King Robert Earl of Champagne disputes the Crown with Henry his Brother 214 Reduced to reason 215 Undertakes
upon the Kingdom of Burgundy and upon the Loire to his own confusion his death 217 Eudes or Otho Duke of Aquitain and Gascongne 221 Rebellion of his Subjects his death Eudes Earl of Corbeil 234 Eudes Duke of Burgundy 347 Eudon Earl of Pontieure seizes the Dutchy of Bretagne to the prejudice of Hoel 245 Eugenius II. elected Pope 124 Comes into France 127 Exarchat of Ravenna and its dependances 92 King Pepin makes a donation of it to the Apostle St. Peter and St. Paul not to the Emperor Constantine ib. Excommunications rendred despisable 270 Their force 290 Exemptions and Immunitles granted to Monasteries 271 Exemptions of Bishops were granted by the Diocesan but with the Consent of his Brethren ib. Exemptions of Monasteries by whom granted and the reasons 268 Expeditions beyond Seas 244 F. Faction strange 150 c. Famine great 〈◊〉 France 59 Famine horrible and cruel 213 Faramond or Pharamond first King of France 6 His death 7 Fastrade Queen of France her Marriage her death 105 c. Favourites of Princes cause of great troubles and uproars 333 Federic II. King of Sicilia is elected Emperor and repasses into Germany 265 Renews the Alliance between France and Germany 266 Federic II. cause of a Schism 272 Federic I. of the name called the Barbarossa Emperor 246 Federic I. Emperor his ambition put a stop by Pope Adrian uphold Victor against Alexander III. Pope 289 Upholds Calistus III. ib. Is unfortunate ib. Asks pardon of his Holines at Venice ib. Goes to the Holy Land 303 Shares his Empire amongst his Children his death 306 Federic Grandson of the Emperor of that name Duke of Austrasia 306 Federic Duke of Austria joyns with Couradin in the War of Sicily his unhappy end 311 Federic of Arragon takes the name of King of Sicily 325 Ferdinand of Castille called la Cerde his death 317 Ferrand of Portugal Earl of Flanders 266 Feast of Fools 293 Feasts or Festivals and of their Celebration 52 53 Feasts of Christmas and Easter Celebrated by the Kings of France with great solemnity 93 Fiefs and their Original 35 St. Filibert imprisoned 68 Financiers prosecuted 344 Financiers and Maloistiers call'd in question and punished 350 Flagellants 309 Flanders made a County 104 Given to William Duke of Normandy Son of Robert 238 Subject of a great feud ib. Divided 330 Revolts and is lost as to France ib. In trouble 351 Flochat Quarrel betwixt him and the Duke of Transjurains 59 Florence Republick in Troubles by reason of the Factions which torment it 330 Flota Peter a Man violent and covetous 329 Formosa Pope cause of a horrible scandal to the Roman Church 161 Forces Difference there was otherwhile betwixt those belonging to the King and those of the Kingdoâ—â— 238 Fulk Archbishop of Reims is assassinated and the Murtherer eaten up of Lice 162 Fulk le Roux or the Red Earl of Anjou his death 164 Fulk le Bon or the Good Earl of Anjou 164 His death 180 Fulk Earl of Anjou a Capital Enemy of the Bretons his death 184 Fulk le Rechin takes Beltrade for his third Wife 223 Fulk King of Jerusalem his death 243 Fulk Archbishop of Reims menaces his King to withdraw his Subjects 266 France and its first establishment in Gall. 20 Divided into Oosterich or Eastern part and Westrich or Western part 20 France the Western part without a Chief 155 Dismember'd in divers parts ib. France united preserves it self against the Authority of the Popes 287 Franciscans and Dominicans of their jealousies against each others and their Enterprises on the Functions of Ordinary Pastors 303 Their Quarrel with St. Amour Vide Quarrel Franciscans Religious their Institution and Establishment 339 French and their Original 2 Their incursions into Gall. ib. The French Nation divided into diverse People 3 Occupy a part of Germania Secunda 6 Their first Kings and of their inauguration ib. Chaced byond the Rhine by the Romans 7 French their Conversion to the Christian Religion 15 They snare the Lands of Gall amongst them to the Loire 17 Their Manners and Customs ib. Cross themselves and make an Expedition for the recovery of the Holy Land Their Conquests 260 c. Fredegonda causes Sigebert to be assassinated and her Husband Chilperic 32 c. She likewise causes Pretextat Archbishop of Rouen to be assassinated 38 Her death 41 Friers Minors or Cordeliers their institution 264 Friers Preachers or Jacobins their institution ib. Friers Preachers and Frier Minors and of their Enterprizes upon the Rights of the Ordinaries 339 Frisons and Neustrians attaque the Austrasians 79 G. Gaifre Duke of Aquitain his obstinacy not to acknowledge King Pepin chastized 93 c. His death 94 Ganelon and his fable 140 Gascogne divided into Dutchy and County its extent 121 Gascogne and Aquitania Secunda ransack'd and desolated by the Normands 142 Gascogne The House of Gascogne resolved into that of Poitiers or Aquitaine 209 Gascons make irruptions upon the French 35 Make themselves Masters of a part of the Novempopulania or Aquitania Tertia 42 Subdued by the French 56 Punish'd for their insolence 121 Reduced under a Duke of their own Nation 143 Brought to reason 209 Gaveston Favourite of the King of England 334 Gaul its situation 1 Conquer'd by Caesar ib. Divided by the Romans into divers Provinces and Governments ib. Its Towns and Cities 1 2 Of their Revolts 2 Part of it conquer'd by the Visigoths another part by the Burgundians and the remainder by the French 3 4 c. Gautier de Bevierre crosses himself for the Holy Land 260 Gauzzelin Abbot of St. Germain des Prez 145 Gedoin Abbot of St. Victor 276 Geffroy Plantagenest Earl of Anjou Marries the King of Englands Daughter 239 Quarrels with his Father in Law 240 Dispossessed in part of his Dutchy of Normandy ib. Geffroy Martel Earl of Anjou 216 Besieges and takes the City of Tours An Act of Piety ib. Geoffrey Martel quits the World and shuts himself up in a Monastery 217 Geoffrey the Bearded 217 Geoffrey Martel ib. Gefrey Brother of Henry King of England is made Earl of Nantes His death 247 Geffrey of Bretagne takes up Arms against the King of England his Father 250 Geffroy Duke of Normandy and Bretagne 249 His death 254 Gelasius is elected Pope 236 Is driven from Rome by the Emperor Henry V. and comes into France ib. Gelasius II. acknowledges the power of Councils 289 General of an Army The divisions betwixt Generals of Armies of a pernicious Consequence 40 Generosity admirable 165 Genseric King of the Vandals sacks the City of Rome 11 Gerfroy Grise-gonnelle Earl of Anjou his death 188 Gerfroy Duke or Earl of Bretagne his death 211 St. Gerard. 205 Gerard Bishop of Angoulesme acknowledges Anaclet for Pope 274 Subject of that acknowledgment ib. His death 275 Gerberge Queen of France endeavours to release her Husband of his Imprisonment 179 Governs the State under the King of Lotaire her Son 184 Gerbert elected Archbishop of Rheims very skilful in
of France Wife of Lewis XII 554 Takes the Duke of Suffolk for her second Husband 568 Mary Queen Widdow of Hungary Governess of the Low-Countries 601 Mary Princess of Scotland 613 Mary Queen of Scots great Troubles in Scotland for her concern 618 Brought into France 624 Mary Queen of England declares War against France 646 William de la Mark called the Wildboard of Ardenne Beheaded 504 Marseilles Besieged by the Imperialists without Success 577 Martin V. Pope transfers the Council of Siena to Basil 448 Prince Maurice 631 Maximilian Emperour Besieges Terouene 502 Maximilian is Elected and Crowned King of the Romans 510 His Death 563 Maximilian King of Bohemia in contest with Charles V. his Uncle 638 Meaux Besieged and taken by the English 440 Medicis Peter chaced and banished from Florence 520 Medicis Laurence invested in the Dutchy of Vrbin 561 The Medicis restablished in Florence 591 Laurence de Medicis Assassinates and kills the Duke of Florence his unhappy end 606 Cosmo de Medicis Duke of Florence ib. Declares himself against the French and against Siena 640 Melfe the Prince of Melfe or Malsy 616 Mercier Sieur de Novain Favorite of King Charles VI. 411 Milan conquer'd by King Lewis XII and by the Venetians 534 The investiture granted to Lewis XII by the Emperour 542 Abandoned by the French 550 c. Regained by the French and as soon lost for them 552 Falls under the Dominion of the Emperour 578 Mines the way to fill them with Powder to blow up a Wall 539 Pic Mirandulus his Death 520 Moncado Vice-roy of Sicilia slain in Fight 589 Moncins Governor of Guyenne Massacred by the Bourdelois 627 John de Montaigu Favorite of Charles VI. 411 Montargis surprized by the English 453 Montecuculi drawn by four Horses for Poisoning the Daufin 603 John de Montfort remains sole Duke of Bretagne by the death of Charles de Blois 385 Defeats in Battle Charles de Blois abandons Bretagne and retires to England 367 Returns into Bretagne 393 Montmorency a Town not inconsiderable burnt 379 Montpelliers Mutinies of the People because of the Imposts 397 John de Montaigue Surintendant punished with Death 425 Montpensier the Duke made a Prisoner of War 647 Moscovy 502 Muley-Assan King of Tunis dispoiled of his Kingdom by his Son who puts out his Eyes 456 Mutinies and Popular Commotions because of the Imposts and excessive Subsidies 402 403 c. N NAples Kingdom conquer'd by the French and soon after retaken from them 521 Strange Revolution against the French who are driven out of that Kingdom 538 C. of Nassau Prisoner of War 512 The C. of Nassau Ambassador in France 557 Enters into Champagne and Besieges Mouson 567 Makes an irruption upon Picardy Louis of Navarre 603 Navarre Usurped by Ferdinand of Arragon 551 Reconquer'd by the French but soon lost again 565 The D. of Nemours General of the Army for the King in the Kingdom of Naples 537 Slain in the Battle of Cerignoles 538 I. Earl of Nevers goes to the Assistance of the King of Hungary against the Turks 417 Nice Besieged in vain by Barbarossa 615 Nicholas I. Antipope 359 Nicholas the Pope is owned in France 461 The Duke of Normandy Commands a very Potent Army with small Success 365 Normandy over-run and ravaged by the English 374 United inseparably to the Crown 381 Falls under the Power of the English 437 Is wholly regained from the English 463 Is put under the Power of a new Duke 487 Brought to the Obedience of the King 488 O OBservance strickt of the Order of Saint Francis 443 Officers maintain'd in their Offices 489 The mutation of Officers a Cause of great trouble ib. Oliver de Blois attempts upon the Person of the Duke of Bretagne 436 He and his Brothers Condemned to Death 437 Oliver Francis Chancellour of France 623 Orange Prince 510 Orange Prince Prisoner of War 513 Is made Lieutenant for the King in Bretagne ib. General of an Army without Power 586 Order of the Star Instituted or rather renewed abandoned to the Chevalier du Guet 372 Order of the Garter Instituted 371 Order of the Collar its Institution 408 Order of Saint Maurice Instituted 526 Orleans Besieged by the English succour'd and deliver'd by the Pucelle Joane 450 Orleans Charles Duke set at Liberty 458 Orleans John Bastard Earl of Dunois and great Chamberlain his Death 492 Orleans Charles Duke his death 483 Orleans Louis Duke Espouses the Princess Jane of France 503 Orleans Louis Duke Chief of the Council 508 Makes a League and a new Party against the State with the Duke of Bourbon and others 510 Absents far from Court retires into Bretagne forms a new Party against the Government and raises Forces ib. Is made Prisoner of War 513 Commands the French Ships in Italy 519 c. Duke of Orleans second Son of France Commands an Army in Luxemburg his Exploits 612 c. His Death 619 Regal Ornaments 441 Ottranto taken by Assault by the Turks 503 Retaken by the Christians ib. P PAlavicini Manf. 569 De la Palisse Mareschal of France 567 His Death 579 Ambrose Paré Chyrurgeon 619 Paris enlarged and fortified 375 Is oppressed and suffers strangely during the Contest and War between the Houses of Orleans and of Burgundy 426 c. Reduced to obedience of King Charles VII 464 Blocked up by the Princes 486 In great Astonishment 604 Parisians Enterprize upon the City of Meaux to their Confusion 378 Stick to the King of Navarre ib. Divided into Factions Insolence insupportable 377 c. Mutiny because of Imposts take up Arms Arm themselves with Iron Mallets for that reason named Mallotins 403. c. Chastized severely 406 Arm and range themselves under Colonels and Captains 488 Parliaments of Bourdeaux and Burgundy their Institution 506 Parliament of Paris made Semestre 640 Parliament of Bretagne Established ib. Parma Subject of a War between the Pope and the King of France 629 630 c. Pavia Besieged by the King of France 577 c. Taken by Assault and Sacked by the French 585 Paul III. Pope 597 Mediator of a Peace between the Emperour and the King and confers with them 607 608 His Death 628 Paul IV. Pope 642 Makes a League offensive and defensive with the King against the Spaniard 644 Strips the Caraffes his Nephews of all their Offices and chaces them out of Rome 653 Paulin a brave Captain 618 Pembrook E. Lands in Bretagne over-runs Anjou and Poitou 388 Vanquish'd in a Naval Fight by the Spaniards and taken Prisoner 391 The C. de Perigord Archambauld Talegrand Condemned to Death 418 Perpignan surprized by the Spaniard or King of Arragon Philip de Valois King of France 357 Sends to the Navarrins their lawful King and Queen 358 The English declare War against him 361 His advantage over his Enemy 362 Makes a Truce with Edward ib. Becomes hated of the Nobility 365 Is Defeated 366 His Death 370 Philip King of Navarre his Death 365 Philip of Navarre calls the
763 Send Deputies to King Henry III. to proffer him the Government of the Country 769 d'Estree beloved of Henry IV. goes to the Siege of Amiens the murmurings of the whole Army obliges her to quit the Camp 859 Sollicites the King to marry her 869 Her death 871 Europe began to be more enlightned in the 16th Age. Chu 16 th Age. F FAbian Son of Blaise de Montluc assists his Brother Bertrand in his Design for the East-Indies 701 Famagusta the Capital City of Cyprus gainedby the Turks 713 Federick Marquiss of Baden assists the King against the Huguenots 710 Ferdinand Emperour Brother of Charles V. 692 His death ib. Flemmings cannot endure the Inquisition 695 Final taken by the Spaniards 893 Florida whence the Name 700 Florence Duke assists the Duke of Nevers to seize upon Marseilles 769 la Force Massacred at the Saint Bartholomews 720 His Son Escapes ib. Fort Charles in Florida built by the Spaniards and taken by Dowinique de Gourgues 701 Fra Paolo otherwise Pol Soaue writes for the Republique of Venice against the Pope 926 Is like to be Murthered 928 France in Civil War for Religion 679 Hath always the preference before Spain 685 Afflicted with two most cruel Maladies 757 Their King essentially most Christian 798 Francis I. settles the Art of making Silk in Poitou 904 Was not severe against the Huguenots Church 16 th Age. Recalls his Legats from the Councel of Trent ib. Francis II. King of France 657 Falls Sick 670 His Death and Burial 671 Franche-Comte attaqued by the French 842 Promised to Biron with a Daughter of Spain 884 Given to Isabella Clara Eugenia Infanta of Spain 869 Conditions of that Donation ib. Frisia gives all Power to the Prince of Orange 751 Fuentes Governor of the Low-Countries 843 Besieges Cambray 847 Gains a Victory upon the French 847 Obliges Prince Maurice to raise the Siege of Grol 848 Takes Cambray and does not make an ill use of his Victory over the French ibid. Personal Enemy of Henry IV. 878 Fulgentius writes for the Venetians against the Pope 926 G GAbriella d'Estreé beloved of Henry IV. assists at the Ceremony of his Conversion 832 Gantois hate the French and the Roman Religion 762 Gascons in Dispute with the Provenceaux 825 Gaspard Bishop of Modena Nuncio in France 871 Delegated to take cognisance of the Nullity of Marriage of Henry IV. and Margaret of Valois 871 Geneva the Duke of Savoy endeavours to seize it 802 Withdraw from their Obedience to the Bishop Church 16 th Age. Call in Calvin and Farel to be their Pastors ib. Is as it were the Pontifical seat of Calvinisme ib. Gerard Balthazar a Franc-Comtois Emissary of the Spaniards Kills the Prince of Orange with a Pistol 767 Gondi the Cardinal confers with Biron 806 Golf of Venice the Ceremonies used there at the Reception of Henry III. 733 Gregory XIII Pope regulates the Calender 761 Gregory XIV declared an Enemy of the Peace and Union of the Church Enemy of the King and of the State 815 His death 818 Grisons renew the Alliance with Henry IV. 892 Quit the Roman Religion Chur. 16 th Age. Guiche the Countess beloved by the King of Navarre 773 Angry at the King 's forsaking her she endeavours to debauch his Sister 814 Guienne acknowledges Henry IV. 824 Guises make themselves Masters at Court under Francis II. 657 c. Duke of Guise possesses the whole favour of Francis II. 660 The Huguenots would ceaze him to make his Process 665 Fortifies himself with the Name of the King 669 Causes the Prince to be apprehended and prosecuted 670 Gains the Battle of Dreux 686 And makes the Prince Prisoner ib. His Courtesie and Gallantry ib. Lays Siege to Orleans 887 Is assassinated by Paltrot ib. Justifies himself of the Murther at Vassy 887 His Praises ib. Guise Duke returns into France with his Uncle the Cardinal of Lorrain 692 Defends Poitiers bravely and acquires much reputation 706 Is the Principal Author of the Saint Bartholomew 717 Is made the Chief to execute that Massacre 718 Declares for the League and seizes on the Cardinal of Bourbon 768 The Pope compares him to the Machabees 784 Has several Advertisements given him of his Danger 786 Is assassinated by the Order of Henry III. at the Estates of Blois ib. His Body is burnt by Richelieu 787 Guise the Cardinal bears the Cross in a Procession 764 Would make himself Master of Normandy 781 Is hindred by the Duke of Espernon ib. Guise Duke before Prince of Joinville made Prisoner at the Death of his Father 787 Escapes out of Prison 817 Is attaqu'd near Abbeville by King Henry IV. 821 Aspires to the Crown 832 Kills Saint Pol Governor of Reims and makes his accommodation with Henry IV. 841 Reduces Marseilles to obedience of the King 852 Gustavus Ericson introduces the Confession of Ausburgh in Sweden 913 H. HAinaut suffers scarcity 760 Hampton-Court the place in England where the Treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the Huguenots was concluded 683 Havre de Grace deliver'd to the English ibid. Besieged by the French Surrendred 689 Henry d'Angoulesme Bastard Brother to Charles IX has Order from the King to kill the Duke of Guise 712 Henry of Navarre Espouses Margaret of Valois 717 Generosity of that Prince who refuses to kill the Sole Heir of the Kingdom 740 Hates his Wife who hath as little Love for him 750 Henry III. is kill'd on the same day and at the same place where he advised the Massacre of St. Bartholomew 795 Henry Cardinal Archbishop of Evora King of Portugal after the death of Sebastian 752 Henry grand Prior of France Bastard Brother to the King 753 Henry III. King of France and of Poland 737 Leaves Poland 732 Makes his Entrance into Paris 739 Hates the House of Guise 745 Loves the Princess of Condé 757 Forms the design of putting the Duke of Guise to death 780 Besieges Paris reduces it to extremity and is kill'd at Sainct Cloud 795 Heemskerk Admiral for the States of the United Provinces attaques the Spanish Flota is slain his death glorious 790 Henry IV. his coming to the Crown 797 Gains the Battle of Ivry 705 Besieges Rouen 821 820 Beats up the Duke of Guise's Quarters at Abbeville 821 Opposes at Fontaine-Francoise and bears the brunt of the whole Spanish Army and gives proofs of his Heroick Courage 845 Receives his absolution from Rome 849 His consternation upon the loss of Amiens 858 Regains that Town in Sight of the Arch-Duke 862 Demands of the Duke of Savoy the Restitution of the Marquisate of Salusses 876 His Marriage with Mary de Medicis 885 Does what he can possibly to save Biron and in fine leaves him to the Law 895 Loves the Princess of Condé and is ready almost to declare War against the Arch-Duke upon her occasion 936 c. Forms the Design to pull down the House of Austria 938 His Wife Mary de Medicis Crowned 941 Is Murthered 942 Predictions of his death 941
them was discomfited and laid dead upon the spot with the best part of his Men. But the end was not answerable to the beginning Radulfe being retreated with his Forces resolved to undergo all extremities in a Castle built of Wood which he had furnished with all sorts of Provisions upon a HIll nigh the River Onestrud and Sigebert having Besieged him a difference hapned amongst his Commanders some would immediately assault it others would give the Soldiers time to refresh and recruit themselves The First persisted obstinately and went up to make their Attaque the rest foreseeing what the event would be found fit to remain in their Camp and keep about the King's Person Radulfe comes forth to meet those that were climbing up to assail him beats them back and tumbled them down the steep Hill head-long with great slaughter the young King who was on Horseback could do nothing more then weep to behold them cutting the Throats of his Men in his sight Those who were about him grew so much afraid that they sent to demand permission of Radulfe that they might retire and had leave from him as a singular favour Year of our Lord 641 Ega Mayre of Neustria being dead this year of a Fever at the Palace of Cliâ—hy Erchinoald who was of Kinn to King Dagobert by his Mothers side a person who had all the Virtues that could be desired for that great Office was substituted in his place It was in the Lords of the Kingdom to elect the Mayre and in the King or his Guardian to confirm him Since the death of Varnaquier who ended his life An 607. there had been none in Burgundy Queen Nantilda having held an Assembly of the most Principal at Orleans which was become the Capital of that Kingdom recommended Floachat her neer kinsman to them who was chosen for the place Year of our Lord 642 This good Queen ended her life soon after having Governed in Neustria four years and a half without any trouble Year of our Lord 642 Year of our Lord 642 While she was alive there arose some jealousie in the Governors of Austrasia against those of Neustria and Burgundy because those would fain have joyned these two Kingdoms to their own and have put all France under the Empire of Sigebert as it had been under that of Clotaire Erchinoald and Floachat understanding their design united themselves more closely together and promised each other mutual assistance Floachat made use of this Union to ruine Villebald or Guillebaud Duke of the Transjurains his Enemy They had reconciled themselves and sworn and given mutual Faith to each other on the Tombs of Saints and divers Holy Relicks Nevertheless Floachat did not forbear having caused Guillebaud to come to an Assembly which was held at Autun to fall upon him in his Lodgings Guillebaud defended himself very bravely at length he was over-powred and slain with a great number of his friends and his Equipage rifled by Erchinoalds followers But the Murtherer as by Divine Judgment was seized with a burning Fever going down the Soan of which he dyed Year of our Lord 644 c The Sarrazins a People of Arabia who were known even in the days of Pompey the Great and who had since served the Romans in their Armies were retired into their own Countreys and had frequently made incursions upon the Empire As they were addicted to Robberies and had neither Law nor Religion they easily embraced the Mahumetan which was propagated by the Sword That Impostor lived but Ten years after he had declared himself Legislator and made no great progress having only small numbers of Soldiers rather like a Captain of Thieves or High-way Men then a Prince But in a very short time his Successors raised themselves prodigiously Abubecre the next after him broke into Syria Ann. 635. his Successor Omar took Damas with all that fair Province Ann. 636. and in a few years afterwards Phoenicia Palestine Egypt and Persia it self the last King whereof was Isdigerd infecting all those Countreys with the Superstitions of Mahomet Their Sovereign Communders were Heads of their Religion as well as of the State and they were called Caliphs an Arabian word which signifies Lieutenant that is to say of God whom they pretended to represent both in Spirituals and Temporals Year of our Lord 645 A great Famine which afflicted Neustria obliged Clovis to take the great Plates of Silver which cover'd the Tabernacle or Chappel of St. Dennis his Shrine to buy Provisions for the feeding of the Poor a pious and just Act for which nevertheless the Monks say that God did severely punish him having weakned and stupify'd his Spirits It is true he had a weak Brain and all those that descended from him were tainted with that Defect but at that time he was not above 14 or 15 years of age at most The indigency of Authors of those times is so great and the stile of such as are yet left of them so confused that we can hardly tell any thing of certainty neither Year of our Lord 650 as to their actions nor to the time Some Chronologists place in Ann. 650. the First day of February the death of Sigebert King of Austrasia who lived but little above 21 years His Merciful Humour his Devotion and Ten or Twelve Abbeys which he built in his Kingdom have acquired him a room in the Roll of Saints His Body was buried in the Abby-Church of St. Martins which he had erected in the Suburbs of Mets from whence it was transferr'd to Nancy when the French demolished it to maintain the Siege against the Emperour Charles V. in the year 1552. He had but one Son named Dagobert aged at most but two years Grimoald his Mayre of the Palace published that before he had that Child he had adopted his Son named Childebert It is not credible that he could despair of having any at the age of 19 years unless that he had made a vow of Continence and afterwards had broken that Vowagain But perhaps Grimoald proclaimed this to have some Title to usurp the Kingdom as he did when he thought he had disposed things so as he might undertake it CLOVIS in Neustria and Burgundy DAGOBERT an Infant in Austrasia Year of our Lord 651 In the mean time Dagobert the Son of Sigebert bore the name of a King a year and an half or two years in which time I meet with nothing considerable or memorable Year of our Lord 653 Towards the year 653 Grimoald imagining as it is probable that he had duly taken all his measures caused him to be shaven by Didon Bishop of Poitiers and banished and transported him into Ireland under the Guard of some people whom we may believe had all the care imaginable to keep him concealed and confined in some remote Monastery It was a long time before any news could be heard of him the Queen Imnechild his Mother sheltred her self under the protection of King Clovis with
whom as afterwards with Childeric II. his Son she had great Interest and Power This done Grimoald confidently sets up his Son upon the Throne there are proofs of some Royal Acts he did but this attempt lost him all the veneration the Austrasians had for the memory of Pepin and gave them such horror for their Mayre and his Son that having taken them in some Ambuscades laid for them they led Grimoald to Paris to King Clovis who caused him to be put to death or as others will have it confined him to perpetual imprisonment however there was Year of our Lord 652 no more heard of him It is not said what became of his Son nor whether the Austrasians elected another Mayre Perhaps Erchinoald executed that Office in all the three Kingdoms for since the Decease of Floacat the Burgundians had created none CLOVIS II. Solus Year of our Lord 653. c. In these Minorities there being no Authority great enough to curb the Grandees they audaciously undertook to do any thing what pleased them best and most commonly deciding their quarrels by the Sword they put all the Kingdom into a combustion The Authors of those times accuse Clovis with giving himself up to the Debauchery or pleasures of the Mouth and Women and make a mighty noise for his having plucked off an Arm from the Body of St. Denis to place it in his Oratory They say he immediately fell into a fit of Madness as if he had been smote from Heaven Year of our Lord 655 and attribute to this attempt which at the worst was but an indiscreet Zeal all the mischiefs that afflicted the Kingdom of Franee during the Reigns of his Successors The same year this King aged only 21 or 22 years but having his Brain much shaken Year of our Lord 655 with frequent Convulsions dries up at the Root and dies in the spring of his age He did not Reign Seventeen years if we leave out that whole year wherein Dagobert dyed as the Authors of these times usually do but if we account from the very day he succeeded him he was entring into the Eighteenth he was interred at St. Denis His Mayre Erchinoald had amongst his Domestiques a young English Maid named Batilda of a rare Beauty but whom he had bought out of the hands of Pyrats who had stollen her away amongst some other Captives for in those days they brought great numbers from those parts he bestowed her upon this young Prince for a Wife about the year 548 or 49. and of his Slave made her the Wife of his Year of our Lord 548 King It was given out that she was of the Blood of the Saxon Princes who Reigned in England By this Batilda Clovis had three Sons Clotaire Childeric and Thierry Clotaire was saluted King of Neustria and Burgundy under the Government of his Mother and Erchinoald and Childeric made King of Austrasia whither he was Conducted and left he and his Kingdom under the management of Vlfoad Mayre of that Kingdom Thierry had no share perhaps because he was but yet in his Cradle Clotaire III. King XIII POPES VITALIANUS Elected in August 655. S. Thirteen years three Months EBROIN Mayre CLOTAIRE III. King in Neustria and Burgundy aged at most but Five years CHILDERIC King of Australia aged Three or Four years Year of our Lord 655 THe Government of the Mayre Erchinoald ended with his Life which hapned in a few Months after the death of Clovis the II or as others say a short time before Some with probability enough make him the prime stock of the House of Alsatia whence is issued that of Lorrain of these days which for Nobility yields to none in Chistendom unless that of France The French bestowed that Office upon Ebroin a man active valiant and who being greatly in friendship with the most Holy Men of those times and Founder of some Churches was held a good Man and he lived in that Reputation many years Year of our Lord 655 c. Queen Batilda Governed with as much Goodness Prudence and Justice as any wiâ—e King could have done And indeed for Ten years together there hapned no Trouble in her Sons Reign Before her time the Gauls as well those Infants that lay in their Cradles as their Fathers paid a great Tribute by Poll which restrained many from Marrying or obliged them to expose their Children the good Queen discharged them from it and forbid those Jews that used to buy such poor innocent Children and send them into Forreign Countreys to deal any longer in so inhumane a Trade Nay she bought several that those Infidels had already purchased and likewise such as had been stollen away by Thieves and sold for that purpose but she exhorted them to put themselves into Monasteries which she very greatly desired might be well Peopled She had a very particular care for all that concerned the Church For some time past the Princes had taken Money for Spiritual Promotions and the Bishops sold by Retail what they bought in the Lump She forbad that Sacrilegious Traffick Year of our Lord 656. 57 c. Besides she enriched divers Monasteries with Possessions and precious Ornaments obtained immunities for them and exemptions from Tribute built two famous Monasteries one for Women at Chelles the other for Men at Corbie on the Somme and invited many Holy persons to Court but to tell truth she gave too much access to the Bishops either for the good of the Church or her own Reputation Year of our Lord 664 or 65. Amongst the rest there were two in very great credit and esteem Leger whom she had made Bishop of Autun and Sigebrand we cannot tell of what place This last extreamly proud of the Queens Favour which gave occasion of much jealousie and ill report amongst the envious did so highly distaste the great ones that they put him to death without any form of Process or Trial. After this attempt whether they apprehended the Resentments of that Princess or had slandered and bespattered her on purpose to make her uncapable to Govern they besought her so importunately to retire that she was obliged to condescend Even those whom she had most gratified with her Goodness were of the party Some of the Grandees conducted her to her Monastery of Chelles where of a Queen she became only a simple Nun and yet was more Illustrious in her Humility then she had been in her exalted Greatness She lived till the year 686. Year of our Lord 665. c. It is to be believed that Ebroin the Mayre had managed all this contrivance that he might be left sole Governour for when the Reyns were off his Pride his Avarice his Cruelty and Treachery began to appear bare-faced He seized the Goods he took away the Offices he hunted away the Greatest that were about the Court and forbid any others to come in there without his leave Above all he hated Leger the Bishop of Autun because he was a Creature of
been in favour apprehended lest he should take revenge for the ill impressions they had given their Master of him and besides they would willingly have preserved the same power they had in the late Court for which reason they made their Cabals apart four or five years together The rest feared he would bestow their Commands upon his Huguenots and the Huguenots themselves apprehended he might change his Religion A suspicion which they had long before conceived and which they began to look upon as an approaching truth when they saw him ready to step into the Throne Thus did he not know whom to advise with every resolution seemed perillous he found it as greatly inconvenient to declare himself immediately a Catholick as to persist in his Huguenotism and the medium between those two Extreams was attended with the inconveniencies of both Whilst these different thoughts were rowling in his Head there met an Assembly of Nobility right against his Lodging where it was resolved it should be declared to him that the Quality of Most Christian being essential to a King of France they did beseech him to take up the Crown with that Condition The Duke of Longeville undertook to carry him this Message being come to the Door he fell upon some Considerations and gave ground but Francis d'O supplied his place and deliver'd it boldly The following night the King held Council with five or six of his most intimate Friends to give an Answer to the Nobless who at the same time were all Assembled in the House of Francis de Luxembourg Duke of Piney It was resolved in the Kings Council that happen what would he should yet persevere in his Belief In the Assembly it was Decreed they might acknowledge him upon these Conditions That he should instruct himself within six Months That in the mean time be should forbid the Exercise of the new Religion That he should admit none to Commands or Offices that did profess it and should suffer the Nobility to send their Deputies to the Pope to make him understand and allow of the Reasons which obliged them to remain firm to his Service He readily condescended to all these points excepting the second in compensation whereof he promised to restore the Exercise of the Catholick Religion over all and the Clergy to their Livings There were divers that Signed this Accommodation with regret and some who did absolutely refuse it amongst others Espernon and Vitry This last threw himself into Paris and for a while gave himself to the League the other having protested he would never be either Leaguer or Spaniard ask'd leave to be gone yet allowed some days for the new King to raise the Siege of Paris with honour Was it that he feared lest this Prince to whom he had very lately done ill Offices near Henry III. would shew him some foul play or rather borrow some great Sums of Money never to be repay'd Whatever Motive it were his example was cause that the greatest part of the Army disbanded for which the King had such a Resentment against him all his whole life as was the occasion of great mischiefs On the Leagues side the Parisians when they knew of the death of the King considering rather the greatness of that peril had been so near them then the enormity of this detestable Parricide made pâ—blick Rejoycings lighted Bonfires set up Tables in the Streets threw aside their black Sâ—arves and put on green ones running dessperately from the Town to the Trenches and from the Trenches into the Town again Mean while in the Morning about Ten of the Clock was fought that famous Duel between John de l'Isle Marivaut and Claudâ— de Maroles both very brave Sword Men. The latter much more skilful though a great deal younger had generously accepted the others Challenge They chose for their Field of Battle the Plain behind the Chartreux Maroles directed so well that he ran Marivaut into the Eye with his Lance and kill'd him He gave his Corps to his Friends being satisfied with his Sword and Horse as Trophies of his Victory When the Parisians were a little recover'd of their first Transports they were all of this mind that they ought not to admit of an Heretical Prince to the Throne of St. Lewis This Resolution appeared so plausible and so Christian-like that it was embraced even by those that had always detested the League as a Faction And indeed this drew great numbers of People that were truly pious and considerable throughout the Kingdom to their Party with whom they joyned till the Kings Conversion had satisfied their Consciencies and secured the Catholick Religion which certainly must have run a great hazard had they not obliged him to change But on the other hand Henry III. against whom the fury of the People was bent to revenge the death of the Guises being now out of the World their heat was abated of a sudden and those angry Spirits having that Object no longer in view did not act with the same passion and violence The Duke of Mayenne considering all these things perhaps with more slowness then is requisite in such great and such pressing occasions knew not what to resolve upon His Friends advis'd to have him be declared King so to collect and unite the scatter'd Members of his Party and although this Advice did not please the Sixteen nor Mendoza the Spanish Ambassador yet had the thing been done they must then have consented Others would have him agree with the King who offer'd him Conditions very advantageous and did almost promise to share the Kingdom with him Another sort press'd him to declare to the Catholicks of the Royal Army that all his Resentments being extinguished by the death of Henry III. to which he did not in the least contribute he had now no other Interest in that Cause but for Religion and that therefore he should intreat they would all joyn with him and oblige the King of Navarre to return into the bosom of the true Church or if he would not come in to elect another of the Blood Royal whom they should think fit He embraced neither of these three ways but following that of the Quarante and Year of our Lord 1589. August the most notable of the Bourgeois he resolved to Proclaim Charles Cardinal of Bourbon King which however was not done till four or five Months after In vain therefore did the King essay by divers ways to make him submit he could get no other Answer but that he would hearken to no Conditions till he had set the Cardinal at liberty and did himself return unto the Church In the mean time observing the Duke debauched many of his Captains from him as well by the temptations and caresses of the Parisian Gossips as by his secret Bribes he resolved to decamp and march into Normandy to secure himself of those Cities whose Governors had not hitherto declared for the League This was in truth to go and gather those Sums
notwithstanding of the Duke D'Espernon who feigned to be very well satisfied though he fore-saw he should have no power in those parts so long as the King lived Ever since the Kings absolution at the Court of Rome the Jesuits had missed no opportunity of employing the Popes intercession with all their art and industry to sollicite their re-establishment pretending it was one of the secret conditions which had been opposed at his absolution But the imprudent conduct of some of their Society in England at Venice and in the lesser Cantons of Swizzerland having brought complaints against them to Rome the Pope grew somewhat cold in the pursuâ—e of it Now as the King was passing by Verdun the Year of our Lord 1603 Rector and Fathers of the Colledge in that City incouraged by la Varenne presented themselves to request of him that the Decree of the Parliament of Paris which forbid the French to send any of their Children to study in the Jesuits Colledges might not extend to theirs The King having returned them a very Gracious Answer they thought it a fit time to try a little further Their Provincial named Armand and three or four of his came to Mets and chusing the week of the Passion of our Lord most proper to stir up mercy and compassion in a Christian Soul got into the Kings Closset upon Holy-Thursday after noon and fell down at his feet The good Prince soon raized them agen and gave them a full Audience The Provincial who was Spokes-man insinuates himself by extolling of his Victories and his Clemency then endeavour'd to justifie his Society from the common reproaches of their Enemies and afterwards concluded by conjuring and imploring his Royal Clemency by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ to shew mercy towards them and to do it in such sort that this favour might depend on nothing but his own goodness that it might be wholly from him alone and that they might have no obligation but to himself They had put down their harangue in writing after he had heard it with all possible humanity he took it out of their hands as if to read it with more attention The Monday following having called them a second time into his Closet he gave them his positive word for their being restored commanded the Provincial to come to him at Paris and to bring Father Cotton then embraced him and all his Compagnons in token he freely forgave them for the time past and would make use of them for the time to come While he was at Mets he received some Letters the Prince Palatine had written in favour of the Duke of Bouillon his Brother in Law In the same place some German Princes came to Compliment him particularly Maurice Landgrave of Hesse N. de Bavaria Duke of Newburg the Duke of Deux-Ponts of the same House and John George of Brandenburg who disputed the Bishoprick of Strasburg with Charles Cardinal of Lorrain ever since the year 1592. the first having been Elected by the Protestants at Strasburgh and the second by the Catholicks at Saverne The Emperor had often endeavour'd to bring them to an agreement but could never effect it The King rather suspended then decided the controversy by sharing the Revenue between the two Contenders but the following year it was absolutely and finally determined by the mediation of Frederick Duke of Wirtemberg upon these conditions amongst many others That John George of Brandenburg should entirely yield up the Bishoprick to the Cardinal de Lorrain for an hundred and thirty thousand Crowns of Gold ready Money and that the City and Baillywike of Oberâ—agh should remain in the hands of Frederic redeemable at the end of thirty years by the Cardinal or his Successors for the sum of four hundred thousand Crowns From Mets the King went to Nancy to visit the Dutchess of Bar his Sister and to give her the satisfaction of seeing a Balet danced which was of her own invention for such things are not to be counted the least important Affairs of the Court It was likewise as some would have it further to convince the Duke of Bar of his scruples concerning that Marriage and to let him know that the devoir of Man towards his Wife being founded both on a natural and a divine right ought to be more regarded then humane prohibitions However it was within some few Months after the Dutchess believed she was with Child The King had designed a longer stay upon those Frontiers that he might draw the German Princes to him by making himself a friendly Mediator of their differences reconciling as much as possible the Protestants with the Catholicks re-uniting in one common League those that apprehended they might be oppressed month April by the grandeur of the House of Austria and scattering Money amongst the Captains and Officers But the News he received that Elizabeth Queen of England was at the Agony made him suddenly leave that place to return to Paris This Princess so much exalted by the Protestants and made so black by the zealous Catholicks was in truth worthy of immortal praise for the grandeur of her courage her marvellous prudence the rare qualities of her mind and above all that tender love ☞ wherewith she cherished her people a vertue which may well cover all the other Vices in a Soveraign but her reputation will be for ever stained with the Blood of a Queen her Cousin which she spilt upon a Scaffold and with that of a great number of Catholicks her Subjects whom she exposed to cruel deaths This severity notwithstanding proceeded Year of our Lord 1603 not so much from her own temper as the Instances of her Counsellors Who by reason of the frequent Conspiracies hatched by an indiscreet and unwarrantable zeal month April against her person had specious opportunities to involve the innocent with the guilty and to encrease her hatred to that Religion by the hainousness of those attempts She died the fourth of April about four in the morning Aged sixty nine years and six months of which She had Reigned forty five and more On her Death-Bed she gave Letters written with her own hands and sealed with her own Seal to Robert Cecil High Treasurer and Secretary with Command he should open them so soon as she expir'd Now whether by these writings she had declared James Steward King of Scotland her Successor or had left the liberty of Election to her Subjects as the last mark of her affection the Lords the Bishops those of the Privy-Council to the late Queen with a great number of the Nobility and the Major and Sheriffs of London being on the same day assembled early in the Morning at the Guild-Hall Elected that Prince for their King and so speedily that they Proclaimed him by eight of the Clock whereof sending him notice to Edinburg he came to London the seventeenth day of May. It concerned France to take care in time to secure the Alliance with this new King for that hitherto