retourne to the line of Francis the Elder who maried Lady Mary of Luxembourg daughter to Sir Lewes Constable of France who brought great goods to that Famely in Picardy Artoys Flanders and other places Of these two issued diuers children namely Charles Frances Lewes Antoinet Loyse of Bourbon Charles the Eldest succeded in the Countie of Vendosme and procured it to be erected into a Dutchy and Pairry Francis had the Countie of Saint Paule and maried Lady Adriane of Touteuille daughter and heire of a great famely They had issue a daughter Lewes was a Cardinall Anthoinet was maried to the Lord of Guyze of whoÌ„ is discended the house of Guise now liuing Loise was abbesse of Fronteuault Now the said Charlâ—s the eldest maried Lady Francis of Alencon sister to the deceased sir Charles Duke of Alencon last deceased without children in the yere 1524. of this mariage issued Antonie Francis Charles Lewes Iohn Antony the Eldest and Heire of this family maried Iane of Albret Queene of Nauarre of whom came Henry of Bourbon now king of Nauarre who hath married Margaret of France Sister to the most Christian King Francis was named Lord of Anguien who gat the victory at the iorney of Serizoles died without issue Charles the third is Cardinal of Baurbon and Archbishop of Rouen Lewes was Lord Prince Conde who when he died left fower sonnes Henry Prince of Conde Francis Prince of Contie Charles Cardinall of Vendosme and Charles Countie of Soissons Iohn who after the decease of Francis was entituled Lord of Anguyen died also without Issue There were also some daughters of whom here we haue nothing to say as hauing in this argument to treate onely of the Succession of the house of FraÌ„ce which can not discend but to y â— Males of this famely The onely controuersie therefore and different that might through the Counsaile of the mischiuous be mooued resteth betweene Henry of Bourbon King of Nauarre sonne of Anthony the eldest of that famely and Charles Cardinall of Bourbon and Archbishop of Rouen his vncle by the father The end of the first part ⧠THE CONTENTS OF THE SEcond part of this Booke 1. Obiections moued against the King of Nauarre 2. The mariage betweene Lady Iane of Albret Princesse of Nauarre with the Duke of Cleue dissolued by the Ecclesiastical sentence the Popes dispensation auctorized in Parliament Also the marriage of the sayd Lady with Anthony Duke of Vendosme the eldest of the house of Bourbon from whom is discended the King of Nauarre 3. Marriage is by the Ciuill lawe voyde being contracted before age 4. The holy decrees haue inhibited the blessing of mariage of maidens before twelue yeeres of age of men before foretene the East Church haue proroged the Matrimonie of the man to fifteene and of the woman to thirteene 5. The honestie of Ciuill pollice forbiddeth mariage before age 6. Examples of mariages disanulled by reason of the noneage of the contracted 7 The explication of humaine pollicie wherefore hereticks are vncapable of successions 8. The right of Realmes is houlden immediatly of God by the continuation of the successiue lawes of the same Neither can the Estates depose a King vncapable or otherwise disabled Or the people transferre the right of their Lord vnto the person of any other to whom it ought not to be giuen 9. The office and duetie of the Clergie towarde Kings and Princes King Henry the second protested against the Counsell of Trent 10. Why those of the League would not take the Catholicke Princes of the blood therinto Those of the league haue sought to suborne those of the pretended reformed Religion 11. Kings are Stewardes of the Church goods The Church is in the Commonwealth not repugnant thereto Pollicie Iurisdiction and collation of Ecclesiasticall functions apperteineth to soueraigne Princes The Kings of Fraunce haue euermore preserued the state of the persons and goodes of the Clergie in their Crowne The Clergie were in olde tyme not capable to distribute Church goodes 12. The King neuer dyeth in France because of the successiue law thereof To what ende the Coronation of Kings was instituted The auncient maner of the Coronations of heathen Kings How long it is since anoynting was instituted and wherfore It is not necessary to annoynt or crowne Kings in one only place 13. Antiquitie is no necessary argument to auctorize common custome 14. The Church neuer disturbed the succession of Kings no not for heresie 15. Whether it be likely the K. of Na. wil force the conscience of his subiect 16. The estate of Bearne and Nauarre 17. The cause of the protestatioÌ„ that the King of Nauarre made the last yere at Montauban 18. The King cannot infringe the successiue law of the Realme The successor commeth not to the Crowne in the qualitie of heire to the deceased 19. The Popes reasons whereby he pretendeth aucthoritie to transferre Kingdomes The Popes haue euer exempted France out of their wonderfull power Gods lawe without polliticke confirmation is no sanction vpon earth Priestes haue no imperiall Iurisdiction Bishops and Popes haue acknowledged Kings and Emperors for their Lords The punishment of heretickes is executed by the seculer Magistrate 20. The opening of sundry places of Scripture concerning Ecclesiastical iurisdictioÌ„ Wicked Emperors were neuer deposed The Pope cannot excommunicate any body politick or Towne subiect to the King of France Appeales in cause of abuse from the Pope and other Clergie men obserued in France 21. The Church cannot excommunicate a Prince that is an euill liuer Subiects after the excommunication of their Lorde are not discharged of their dueties toward him 22. The sentence of the excommunication of a Prince cannot conteine any clause of depriuation from his Lordly rights 23. A Prince may lawfully arme himselfe against the Popes wrongful excommunication and appeale therefore as in abuse 24. The K. of Nauarres reason to proue him no Hereticke 25. The vsurpations of the Counsell of Trent ouer the Crowne of France 26. Most dauÌ„gerous drifts of y â— Leagued in the reformation of the Realme 27. The wicked entent of the Leagued Also what enuy they beare to the Duke of Espernon and others 28. The remembrances of Aduocate Dauid now put in execution by the Leagued The Kings duetie in matter of Religion 29. Forraine rule and gouernement is wretched FINIS THE SECOND PART OF the Cath. Apologie 1 SVch as mislike the king of Nauarres cause doe obiect against hym in this libell fonre principall points wherof three doe perticularly touche the qualitie of his owne personâ— the fourth concerneth the auncient controuersie betweene the Vncle and the sonne of the elder brother But we will endeâ—our to shewe that in all and throughout all they haue but a weake foundation Concerning the first they aleadge that the said Lorde King of Nauarre is not borne in lawfull matrimony of Anthony of Bourbon eldest sonne of the house of Bourbon because Ladie Iane of Albret mother to
an example to all other to the ende no straunger doe presume to violate and taint the Maiestie of the Realme of France 12 To all the premisses to the discourse of the duetie and respect that subiects owe in our cace to their Kings and Princes the disturbers of the peace lawes of this Realme doe aunswer perticulerly against the King of Nauarre y ◠he shal neuer be King of France before he bee after the auncient maner obserued as they weene euer since Clouis the first Christian King consecrated annoynted and crowned and that nature onely cannot make him King without the ordinary Ceremonies obserued at the comming in of a new Prince And so cōsequently they dare inferre that notwithstanding al our former discourse be true yet can it not bee applyed to the sayd Lord King of Nauarre to whom the French men cannot be boūd without his annointing and coronation which the Catholickes will neuer permit vnlesse he abiure the pretended reformed Religion Also that in cace they shoulde withstande him yet should they not thereby withstand their King but a pretender to the Realm But in trueth herein lyeth the difficultie of the matter wherwith they seeke to deceiue the ignoraunt For this they must know that in Realmes successiue as is ours the King liueth perpetually and leaueth the Realme to his neerest by vertue of the law successiue By reason whereof he is true and perfect Lord before he bee crowned neither doth his coronation serue but for a declaratiō and publication of the honor of the marke of his calling which was obteyned to him before both by nature and by the lawe of succession which needeth no further declaration of the successor in that it is not simply hereditarie to the deceased but custumary and legitimate at the very instant of the former Kings decease which seazeth not the natural successor of the Lordship and royall power onely but also of the possession and effectuall enioying of the same Wherevpon all our Interpretors doe maintaine that in feudall causes and matters the successor is in a maner seazed in his predecessors life tyme vnder whom he is halfe possessioner without any further inuestiture especially in our France where it is obserued without contradiction For that concerning the Realme the coronation ensuing is but the habite and royall ensigne and therefore al good men will graunt that the King is annoynted and crowned because he is King but contrariwise that he is not king because he is crowned for so theeues and Tyrants beeing the stronger might become lawfull Kings and with ouer much facilitie alter the cause of their possession through that ceremonie So was the Emperour of the Romaines lawfull after he had beene elected and saluted in testimonie and for a proofe of which election only he set a Crowne vpon his head a Scepter of Iuorie in his hand and beeing apparelled in a Purple robe did alwaies walke forth with fower and twentie Huissiers euery one bearing a Torch and an Axe It was was moreouer a custome to carie fire before the Emperour after the auncient maner of the Kings of Persia who went to Pasargades that the Priestes might there consecrate them in a Temple dedicated to one of the Goddesses of warres where the Prince putting of his own Robes did put on the same that the auncient Cirus vsed to weare before he was King he also did eate of a Cake made with Figges and Turpentine and drancke a potion made of Vineger and Milke The auncient Kings of Greece in liewe of a Diadem were wont to cary a Speare or a Staffe which the Grecians termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Romaines sent to him to whom they gaue the royal dignitie a Crowne of Golde a Cuppe and an Iuorie staffe and afterward added the seate or chaire fashioned like a Chariot Afterwarde when Christianitie was planted in the hearts of the people hauing proceeded to the election of the Emperour and being agreed of his person the maner was to cause him to sweare yea sometymes by his handwriting to subscribe that he would stay himselfe vpon the doctrine confirmed by the Catholick Church and the oecumenical Counsailes of the same and that he should not raise any trouble in the Church of God after which protestation the Patriarke of Constantinople in the peoples sight set a Crowne vpō his head girt a sword about him presented him a Scepter and put a gold Ring vpon his finger The tokens of the Germaine Emperours are by the decree of Charles the Great a Scepter a Sword a Speare a Cloake a Chaine a Crowne a Crosse like a Spheare a Buckler an Eagle with 2. heads a purple Ensigne all which are deliuered to him by the Archbishoppes of Cologne Mentz and Treues Like as the Archbishop of Toledo doth the office at the coronation of the King of Spayne the Archbishop of Canterbury at the King of Englands the Archbishop of Mentz at the Bohemians the Archbishop of Strigon at the Hūgarians the Archbishop of Guesne at the Polonians the Archbishop of Vpsale at the Danes the Archbishop of Tours at the auncient Kings of Armorica which we cal Brittaine the Bishop of Pampelune at the King of Nauarres euen as in our France it is the Archbishop of Rheimes that crowneth and annoynteth our King although sometymes it is done in other places As we reade of S. Lewes who was sacred at Soissons others at Orleance whom before the tyme of Christianitie they vsed to proclaime by lifting thē vp and shewing them vpon a buckler But it hath since beene thought more expedient to minister these ceremonies in the assembly of the Church there to call God to witnesse of that faith which the subiects vowed to their Prince and of that duetie wherein the King bound himselfe to his Estate to the ende also that afterward the people might knowe that from a priuat and perticuler man that he was wont to be he was now promoted to the Empire to the end to commaund Thus did Atatolius first deale with the Emperor Leo the first in the yere of Iesus Christ 461. and Euphemius with the Emperour Anastaze in the yeere 494. of whom hee exacted a perticuler promesse in writing because both before and at the tyme that he was proclaimed Emperour he had bene and still was an Eutichean hereticke whose errors had bene condemned by the decrees of the Counsaile of Chalcedō holden in the presence of the Emperor Martian in the yeere of Iesus Christ 455. Of later daies immediatly vpon the decease of Iustinian the first they added that the Patriark of Constantinople should after the example and imitation of the Kings of Iuda consecrate annoynt and crowne the Emperours with a Crowne of Golde in the assembly of the Church which was first obserued in the Emperour Iustin the second and afterward by Pope Leo the 3. translated into the West to the behalfe of Charles the Great before whom or
namely Godfrey of Buillon so called for y t he was nursed in the Castle of BuilloÌ„ which now y â— Bishop of Liege holdeth his brother Balduin But these remayning in the holy lande the kingdome whereof fell to them by the election made of the said Godfrey the Emperour Henry the fowerth in the yeere 1101. gaue the Dutchy of Lorrain to Henry Earle of Lembourg whome after hee had rebelled against him he had taken againe into fauour And in troth this Henry of Lembourg was a very bad man for besides infinit other his misdeedes we find that at the prouocation of the Pope theÌ„ being he moued warre betweene Henrie the fowerth and the fifth the father and the sonne The father gaue him the Dutchy yet he tooke the sonnes part and then retourned to the fathers side after whose death hee went and fell at the sonnes fâ—â—te who committed him to prison and in the yere 1106. inuested Godfrey by some named William Earle of Louaine in the Dutchy of Lorraine whose seruice while hee was at Liedge hee vsed in taking Mountfaucon a hould the Lorde whereof was very insolent Of this Earle of Louain sprunge that house of Lorraine which yet continueth for vnto him succeeded Thierry to Thierry Thibault after Thibault a certaine Matthewe was Duke and so successiuely vnto the sayde Lady Isabell wife to Rene of Aniew as is aforesayd So as it is an abuse and manifest deceit to search the race of Charlemaigne in the house of Lorraine sith it is 580. yeeres since it vanished and was quite lost euen after that fower sundry Famelies haue succeeded one after another in the sayd Dutchy of Lorrain One of the yongest of which house who was Graundfather to the Dukes of Guise and Maine now being drawing into France with very smal wealth receiued as also after him his Children so many benefites at the hands of the Kings Francis the first Henry the second and his posteritie that they haue through the liberalitie of their Maiesties encreased their Patrimonie to a Million of Frankes of Rent that they houlde in this Realme whereas their grandfather Claude when he maried Lady Antoynet Bourbon daughter to the Duke of Vendosme had not aboue 14. or 1500. besides they haue bene honored with the greatest offices of y e Crowne as the office of great Master which was woÌ„t to be in the house of Montmorencie and other of the most honorable So as it might be hard to thinke that nowe they would imitate the Moyle whose nature is to kicke and spurne at his Mother when hee hath sucked enough of her Milke either that they had so vnthaÌ„ckfull a minde as to take weapon against the Royall Famely whereunto they are indebted in whatsoeuer they are yea and that vnder a false perswasion that they should be disceÌ„ded from Charlemagne which is contrarie to all trueth 4 To verefie therefore that the Princes of Lorraine neuer came out of the house of Fraunce it will be sufficient to shewe that in the succession of the Dutchy of Lorraine they obserue not the Salicke lawe as it was iudged by the Fathers assembled at the Counsaile of Basill on the behalfe of Isabell of Lorrain wife to Rene of Anieow and daughter of Charles of Lorraine against her Cousen Antony of Lorraine the sonne of Ferry the yonger sonne of Charles Hereby it manifestly appeareth that thus they declare the Princes of Lorraine to bee no Frenchmen neither euer to haue bene of the bloud royall of Fraunce or capable of the Crowne for the which and in the soueraigne succession wherof the Salicke lawe hath of olde time euen since Pharamond bene religiously obserued and thereby not onely the daughters but the males of them proceeding haue bene excluded from the Realme of Fraunce according as the decree of the sayde lawe importeth in these words Of the Salicke landes the woman shall chalenge no portioÌ„ but the succession therof shall appertaine to the males The reason of this constitution is because our fathers did horribly detest the gouernment of strauÌ„gers which vndoubtedly must needes haue often happened if the males of daughters that were wiues to forraine Princes might haue bene capable as some would perswade y â— childreÌ„ of Lorraine y t they may pretende as wrongfully as did Edward of England whose cause was solembly ended by the whole states of FraÌ„ce for Philip of Vallois afterward King against the sayd Edward the sonne of Lady Isabell daughter of Phillip y e faire after that Prince Robert of Arthois had openly made an Oration to the Estates for the sayd Phillip and had among other alleadged the reason aforesayd the originall whereof he drewe from before the Emperour Iustinian and Paule Emilie speaking of the ioye and contentation that the French conceiued after this senteÌ„ce writeth thus King Phillip making his entrey into the chiefe Towne of his Realme was receiued with as great pleasure ioye and triumph of people as euer was King of Fraunce where was a world of people crying God saue the King The streates were paued with Flowers according to the seazon and adorned with the most triumphant Furniture that could at that tyme be found To bee briefe saith the Historie the people forgat no kinde of demonstration of their contentation for the comming of this King to the Crowne He saith moreouer y t the Towne feasted his Maiestie y e Princes of his bloud and Officers of his Crowne praysing publickly extolling him as the preseruer and defence of the French Maiestie and the libertie and dignitie of the Salicke law whereby the FrenchmeÌ„ who were accustomed to prescribe lawes to Straungers were neuer ruled by them Then he endeth his speech saying that the most part of the night was put away with the light of Bonfyers throughout y e Realme and the howers of sleepe consumed in daunsing singing and all sortes of honest and delectable mirth especially at Paris y â— townes men marched in great troupes to congratulate each other for the welcomming of this King whom they termed the Bulwarke and preseruer of the best of their lawes These good fathers were no basterdly French as are those of our cursed world and would haue kept themselues farre from informing much lesse from begging those meanes that might bee imagined for the breach of this goodly Salicke lawe which is the onely Oracle of France and true rampier of the French dignitie which also sith it is euident that the Princes of Lorrain haue not vsed it is an vndoubted demonstration that they are not discended of the race of our Princes who haue so highly commended it in their Empier and soueraigne gouernement 5 In deed our deceiuers since considering that this foundation was too rashly propounded and might breede hatred in the King against the Princes of Lorraine whome they would bring into this bad action because his Maiestie beeing iustly agrieued hath power enough and ready to chastize the Authors of
Greece Also among other the Ecclesiastical aunswers of the Patâ—iarkes of Constantinople is to bee seene this of Germanus to the Bishop of Ara who enquired how he was to proceed against a maiden that had bene blessed and corrupted before her ripe age also against the Priest that had ministred these ceremonies Whereto aunswer was made that the maid should be seperate and the Priest put from his charge 5 As in trueth in all well ordered Commonwealthes there haue euermore bene established a certaine age for the conioyning and mariage of the Citizens of the same because as saith Fulâ—entius the lawe of mariage is by the will of God ordeined fâ—r hauing of issue it is meete that it be contracted at lawfull age So as by the pollicie of some Citties it was considered that the tyme of generation doth for the most part by nature ende in the man at the 70. and in the woman at the fiftie yeere Aristotle is of opinioÌ„ that after that age mariage is not to be permitted Whereto seemeth to agree that which is found in the establishment of the Romaines Among whom those Citizens were not iudged to haue satisfied the lawe Iulia which was made for mariages who to the ende not to be subiect to the penalties limitted in detestation of vowed chastitie did contract matrimonie the man after sixtie yeres or the woman after fiftie For Iustinian also writeth that some accompted it almost a wonder in nature to see a woman with childe after she were fiftie yeres of age And it seemed such marriages were contracted not so much in hope of begetting children into the CommoÌ„-wealth as in respect of some wealth or other perticuler commoditie that the one hoped for of the other by which reazon wee reade that Antigonus perswaded his sonne Demetrius to marrie an old woman named Philla vsing the authoritie of Euripides which he altered to his purpose and in liew that the verse said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he sayd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the ende the sence might importe that for some benefite hee should not differ the mariage of a wife though of a contrary age As on the other side also ouermuch youth was neuer accoumpted meete for the coniunction of mariage because therein generation cannot bee but lame and vtterly vnperfect the mother in greater daunger at her childbirth the father more vndiscreete in the coniunction and so the more hindered from atteining to that perfection and force which Nature reserueth to their bodies wherevpon the auncients imagined that the Idoll of Apollo gaue the Trezenians warning when he had them beware of casting their seede ouer hastely vpon the fieldes of their countrey 6 Finally concerning this present argument although the sayd Lady Iane of Albret had offended in marying with the late Antonie of Bourbon Duke of Vendosme because she had beene afore married to the Duke of Cleue yet were that no let why the King of Nauarre now raigning should not bee borne of the lawfull mariage of the sayd Antony of Bourbon his father who doing amisse that vpon simplicitie vnder the authoritie and in the face of the Church with publicke credite did solemnize the said mariage in which cace there is no doubt but the ChildreÌ„ of a putatiue mariage as say the Canonistes are legitimate because in a doubtfull cace senteÌ„ce must passe in fauour of the marriage and of the children borne in the same the question depeÌ„ding vpoÌ„ the simple meaning conscience of him that meaneth to marrie a wife for by the lawes and decrees of the Church opinion hath the vpperhand of trueth so as by the common resolution it is enough for the legitimation of children that either the one or the other of the coÌ„tracters ment good faith in that coniunction beleeuing it to be a thing lawful for him Thus doe you briefly see how children borne of such mariages are legitimate In our cace wee haue moreouer aduowed that the pretended marriage of Lady Iane of Albret mother to the now raigning King of Nauarre was voyd and of no effect and for such by all reason iustly broken and disanulled by the iudgement of the Church with whose authoritie the sayd Lady Iane was permitted to marie where she pleased which was not done without president For wee reade in the auncient Chronickles that for the like cause the Emperour Ottho the fourth was diuorsed from Margaret Daughter to the Duke of Brabant Lewes Daulphin of Viennois sonne to King Charles y e sixt a litle before he dyed vsed as some say the like pretence to returne Catherin daughter to y e Duke of Bourgondy home again In later tyme King Charles the eight of Fraunce in the yeere 1480. was by his father Lewes the eleuenth before hee was foreteene yeeres old affianced by words present and so by indissoluble marriage vnto Margaret of Austrich daughter to the Emperour Maximilian who being then but two yeeres olde was conueyed into Fraunce and there brought vp for the space of ten whole yeeres after the which they were neuerthelesse diuorced by a dispensation from Pope Innocent the eight who also for the like reason dispensed with Lady Anne of Brittaine and gaue her leaue to marrie where she pleased notwithstaÌ„ding during her minoritie her father Francis Duke of Brittaine had matched her with the Emperour Maximilian by proxye had celebrated the sayd mariage Nicholas Duke of Lorrain while his father Duke Iohn liued did in the yeere 1460. by present words affiance Lady Iane of France daughter to King Lewes the eleuenth and yet comming to the age of foreteene yeeres he did through the Popes dispensatioÌ„ betroth Lady Mary of Bourgondy Daughter to Charles the last Duke of Bourgondy whom he was going to marrie when death euen during the preparatiues of the solemnitie of the mariage preuented him So the manifolde decrees and iudgements passed in like matters doe manifest vnto vs the exceeding malice of the enemies of the sayd Lord King of Nauarre 7 Their seconde obiection importeth that the sayd Lorde King of Nauarre is an Hereticke and therefore vnworthy to succeede in the Realme of Fraunce whose Kings are intituled most Christian in respect of the oath that they take at their sacring in the hands of the Archbishop of Rheimes which is that to their powers they shall defende the Catholicke Religion and faith which the sayd Lord King of Nauarre cannot doe as professing an opinion already condemned by the Church and so consequently can not pretend aught in the sayd Crowne neither may the subiects thereof obeye him according to the decree of the generall Counsaile holden at Roome vnder Innocent the third about the yeere 1215. repeated out of the auncient constitutions of Theodosius the yonger Valentinian the 3. and Martian all most Catholicke Princes vpon the confirmation of the general Counsailes of Ephesus and Chalcedon and afterward recited by Iustinian the first in the fifth Counsaile of
Constantinople about the the tyme whereof he thereupon declared his will as is to bee gathered by the dates of the sayde Counsaile and the Emperours decree inserted into his last Code and afterwarde confirmed by sundry the nouell constitutions of the sayd Prince whereby hereticks are debarred all right of â—uccession Assuredly this obiection at the first blush beareth a great shewe but we must therein of necessitie resolue two poyntes the one of the lawe the other of the deede In the first wee are to dispute whether an heretick may be depriued of that Realme that falleth to him by succession as this doth to the King of Nauarre In the other whether in this present action the King of Nauarre may bee termed an Hereticke and as such a one bee depriued of his succession 8 For the first I saye and maintaine that those Ordenances of Emperors and Canonicall decrees which doe depriue hereticks of successions are written and speake onely of particuler Christians whose goodes and successions are subiect to the politicke lawes of the Magistrates of the land but it is otherwise in cace of Empires and Realmes which may not bee wrested out of their handes that are the true Lordes of the same either for heresie or other cause whatsoeuer because they be holden immediatly of the hand of almightie God and not of meÌ„ as it was argued and concluded in the Counsaile of Paris holden vnder Lewes the meeke Lothair his sonne Kings of France and Emperours about the yeere 829. which was ratefied vpon the saying of the Wise man Counsaile equitie wisedome knowledge are myne by me do Kings raigne and Counsailors publish their decrees in righteousnesse of me are Empires holden The like is to be read in the prophesie of Daniell The sentence is according to the decree of the watch men and according to the worde of the holy one to the ende the liuing may knowe that the most high hath power ouer the kingdome of men and giueth it to whomsoeuer he will and appointeth ouer it the most abiect among men The same Prophet soone after saith as much to Balthazar King of Babylon in representing to him the force of Nabuchodonozer the Monarke of Assiria The Prophet Ieremie in his speech of the King of Kings teacheth vs also I haue made the earth and man and beast vppon the face of the earth through my force and with my outstretched arme haue giuen it to whom it hath pleased me So that â—ubiects are not to search into their Kings neither are borne but to obey and serue whatsoeuer their Princes be without any further enquirie of their righteousnesse Feare the King and knowe that his election is of God saith the Apostle And when any of them doe commaunde or wield the Scepter royall it commeth of the fauour goodnesse and grace that God purposeth to extende to his people in graunting them a good King endued with pietie iustice and Christian Religion the others also are the scourges and roddes of his wrath and iustice whereof the Prophet Ozee saith In my wrath wil I giue thee a King And Iob Who maketh the hypocrite to raigne for the sinnes of the people for Gods wrath being kindled against vs he will sende vs a King such a one as our offences shall deserue because as it is written in the same booke of Iob If wee haue a wicked King wee are yet worse then he The place of Isidore is very fit to this purpose It is saith he a hard matter to make the Prince amend if he be giuen to vice for the people stand in awe of the Magistrate but Kings if they be not withholden by the onely feare of God and dred of the torments of hell doe abandon themselues to all libertie and runne headlong into the bottomlesse pit of sinne I say therefore that it is not for the people otherwise then with humilitie and obedience to controule the actions and qualities of their King but their duetie is onely to cast vp their eyes to heauen and to consider with themselues that by the wil of God the Scepter is fallen into his handes and power that beareth the Crowne whether he bee good or bad especially being there to called by lawful succession such as is in our France wherein by the Monarchiall lawe the people haue not onely referred al their power into the Kings hand and might but which is more haue also tyed their owne hands so as they can haue no redresse so long as any male of the bloud royall doe remaine according to the lawe of the Realme being the neerest male in agnation to the deceased after the generall custome of France yea notwithstanding he bee vnable vncapable and do want discretion to gouerne the Estate in all which causes they may only appoynt him a tutor and administrator of the publicke affayres the order wherof haue bene practized in our Fraunce vpon Charles the Simple and Charles the sixt For notwithstanding the Realme especially ours be not properly hereditary patrimoniall or fâ—udall yet it is successiue and falleth to the neerest not in qualitie of heire to the deceased but as to the next in bloud in masculin ligne so that consequeÌ„tly what euer he be he is called and whatsoeuer default be in his person either of age iudgement or what els soeuer yet may the Estates and Peeres of the Crowne do no more but appoint a tutor to gouerne him and by counsaile to supply whatsoeuer his imperfections because he was elected in heauen so soone as he came into the world All such also as shal resist him who by succession is lawfull King shall encurre the wrath and displeasure of almightie God because we are not to staÌ„d in argument or murmure against the deuine wisedome who for the afflicting of his chosen people and the house of SioÌ„ did many times suffer them to be gouerned by yong wicked franticke and vnfaithfull Kings yea meere Tyrants such as in Iuda were Roboam Ioram Ochozias Amasias Achas Ozias and others who were either Idolaters or misbeleeuers in the true God of Abraham Likewise in Israell Nadab Baaza Achab with his wife Iezabell Manasses and the most part of the rest of their Kings who raigned with more Idolatrie and tyrannie against the fauoured of God then in mans opinion was requisite With the like scourges also God hath visited his Church since y â— time of grace wherin it pleased him to send his deare sonne into the world with his most precious bloud to redeeme vs from our sinnes permitting to sit therein not onely many vnfaithful Emperours and Kings conspired enemies to our faith and heretickes but also particuler Pastors ordeyned for the feeding of the soules of Christians euill liuers and of pernicious example Constantine sonne to great Constantine Valens brother to Valentinian the first and Zeno sonne in lawe to Leo the first Emperours were Arriens Anastase and Iustinian the first of that name were
infected with the error of Eutiches Heraclius was a Monothelite The stories are ful of many Popes of Rome heretickes adulterers Magicians Scismatickes and men confect in a filthie quagmire of vice who all neuerthelesse did peaceably by Gods will sit in Moses chaire to the ende to punish and afflict his flock as he hath thought good by such Tirants whom with his owne hand he chose to be the executioners of his iustice and against whom the people neither ought nor might conspire for saith Panormitan sith they are not free but subiect they haue no power to transferre the iurisdiction or conferre the title neither is he accoumpted to haue giuen that hath no right to giue In an other place the same Canon Doctor writeth that the vassall cannot consent in the person of any other then his Lorde no not by prorogation of power to that purpose alleadging many other skilfull persons opinions Howbeit all good Catholickes doe to their great griefe knowe that most of the Ecclesiasticall persons and Clergie of Fraunce doe seeme to bee parties in the Conspiracie that long since haue bene deuised against the state of this Crowne which neuerthelesse I can hardly beleeue notwithstanding I heare our ordinary Preachers openly in the chaire of trueth and humilitie preach warre bloud weapons rebellion and contempt of y e King and the Princes of his bloud a matter detestable and abhominable before God 9 My Maisters ye Bishops Priestes and Doctors what weene ye to doe Is this the commaundemeÌ„t of God Is this the doctrine that ye are bounde to plant in the Christian Church Is this the light that you shewe to the flocke which God hath committed vnto you Is this y â— peace that you ought to teach and for the which the Church poureth foorth her daylie supplications What correction may the people look for at your haÌ„ds whiles your selues are the authors of euill Wil you doe or say as Lucifer I wil ascend into heauen and become like vnto the most high God Will you iustly haue the name to be the very enemies of God who commaundeth obedience onely to the Kings and powers that he hath established and who taketh no delight in any thing more then in peace hating all shedding of bloud Doth the way to cure the rage of poore mortall creatures consist in vnclothing them of all humanitie in thrusting into their fist the sword wherewith to make away them selues by the authorising of their furie with your decrees nay which is more by stirring them thereto through your Sermons May wee not reproach vnto you that which Ieremie prophesied in his tyme The Prophetes haue prophesied lyes the Priests haue approued theÌ„ and the people haue embraced them Must we needes say of you as Ezechiel writeth of your like I will stretch foorth my arme ouer their Prophetes that see lyes and those that tell fables or do not serue for discipline to my people whom they haue seduced saying The peace of God bee with you and yet it is not peace that they seeke My Maisters this is not the fruit of the spirituall doctrine that you haue in custodie beware it be not sayd of you that an euill tree cannot bring foorth good fruite you preach warre rebellion disobedieÌ„ce you contribute to Conspirators against your King and the Princes of his bloud you deliuer the Townes to them and doe put your flockes into their hands you seeke out straungers to rule ouer you and doe set them against your King where will you become Is this the Catholicke and Apostolick doctrine that you doe sowe Knowe you not that Iesus Christ is the foundation of the Church so that whosoeuer will lay any other shall destroye himselfe and whatsoeuer he dare vndertake Is not the doctrine of Iesus Christ peace humilitie obedience and clemeÌ„cie Is it not written of you Bee yee wise as Serpents and simple as Doues Are not you termed the sault of the earth which beeing shed abroade where may wee gather it againe I wote what you will say There be say you a number of heretickes which must bee rooted out with the sword because their life is repugnaÌ„t to Gods honor No no my Maisters you are yet deceiued for you must first shewe how they bee heretickes and for such cause then to be lawfully condemned which as yet you haue not done because in â—rueth your pretended CouÌ„saile of Trent whereby you haue condemned them was not lawful as the King of France confessed euen while it was assembled and therefore did not onely forbid the Bishops of his Realme your predecessors to go thereto but also by his Embassadour did protest that he could not accept it for a lawfull and generall Counsaile but onely for a particuler assembly gathered together for the profite and authoritie of the Pope and King of Spayne vnto whom they went about to giue the presedence aboue the most Christian Maiestie furthermore declaring that he ment not that he or his subiects should any way be bound to the decrees thereof but that contrariwise he was determined if neede were to employ all remedies necessarie which his predecessors had in like cace vsed to procure the disanulling of the same Besides I saye vnto you that weapoÌ„s are not the meanes to cure this mischiefe Know you not that the doctrine of Religion either the error thereof is a disease of the Soule and minde seeke therefore for your partes the spirituall Medicines wherewith to heale the same as admonitions prayer fasting amendment of your liues which are the true and onely Weapons of Gods Church But what are you not content with the extreeme diligence and care of our most Christian and Catholike Kings for the revnion of their people into one only Apostolick Romish Religion what haue wee gotten by so many fyers so much blood such battailes and destructions within this Realme for the same Those that nowe would rule you are they not the same persons that led the armies and practized y â— occasions of the passed wars haue they not sufficiently proued that neither ster nor sword are meete remedies for this euill that in one day of such troubles Gods Church is more hurt and offended through the disorder of one lewde Souldier then in a whole yeere of pacient tolleration whereby God may be deuoutly serued the King honored the Clergie assured the Lawe feared the gentry cherished and the people eased to bee briefe euery one by little and litle reduced into the waye of good life which to bee briefe are the effectes and glorie of the militant Church and of the good Shepherdes of the the same Wee haue burned them quick they haue quenched the fiers with their blood wee haue drowned them they haue Spawned in the concauities of the water we haue murdered them al in their sleepes within few daies they haue reuiued againe We haue fought with them and beaten them but haue not cast them downe To be brief if we consider how we haue
shewe you the welth of the Church bringeth you into suspition among both rich poore Theeues and Slaunderers that seeke your spoyle besides that you are therby filled with cares lyings in waight braules strifes hatered feare couetousnesse and perpetuall sorrowe such as the miserie of our worlde can teach vs wherein it is true that the most part of the Clergie haue no other minde neither doe moue warre for any other cause but onely for feare of losing so great rents and reuenues which wrongfully they deuour out of the goodes of the poore Whereby wee may perceiue that in such men we haue no more left but the shadow remembrance and be wailing of the Christian Church springing and florishing in pietie for whose sake the Apostles would neuer possesse any thing and before Gods people nourished the Leuites widowes and Orphans For when the Church thought it good to haue reteine any thing for the reliefe of the poore and of the Pastors thereof it committed the distribution and ordering thereof to such among them as by the Church were thereto elected because the people but especially the Princes were either sworne enemies to the faith and persecutors of the Spouse of Iesus Christ either at the least weake of small zeale or but meanly grounded therein wherevpon the treasure and common Storehouse was vsually committed to the custody of the Bishop as vnto hym that was accompted most glorious in pietie and duetie in the holy distribution that he made whereof he reserued onely sufficient for the necessitie of his owne liuing Like as Socrates writeth that Chrisantus daily reserued onely two Loues for his owne sustenance Of this common store committed to the handes of the Bishop is it come to passe that when hee began to serue him selfe and badly to employ to his priuat commoditie like a thiefe that thing which to hym in the qualitie of a steward onely subiect to render accompt was committed he found him selfe farre richer more mightie and better at ease then the rest of the Clergie and therevpon by the sligtes of the Deuill who had thrust into his hands so much wealth to corrupt the holines example and eminencie of the Church of the sonne of GOD through the euill housbandry of the heads thereof began to bragge aboue all other But so soone as Princes began to taste of and auctorize Catholick Religion they sought also to become Stewards and housbanders of Church goods as making a part of their common wealthes because as Oâ—tatus Mileuitanus did verie wisely say It is certaine that the common wealth is not in the Church but contrariwise the Church is in the common wealth vnder the aucthritie whereof she displaieth the Sunne Beames of her fayre face Herevpon doe wee reade that the Emperour Constantine the great was the kéeper and disposer of the treasure and goods of the Church after the example of the auncient kings of Iuda of whome among other it is found of Ioas the he by the counsaile Ioiadas the Priest fearing lest the Priestes should bestow that money which the people had contributed towarde the reparations of the Temple amisse commaunded it to be put in a Cofer and distributed in the presence of one of his men And in deede at the beginning the Church was vnder the authoritie of Christian Princes not only in respect of the temporall goods thereof but also as concerning the institution of the charge Iurisdiction gouernment and correction of the maners of the Cleargie by the sayd reason of the aforenamed Bishop of Africke whereof I will seeke no better Testimony then that which saint Augustine writeth who teacheth vs that the notice of Ecclesiasticall causes was coÌ„mitted to the Emperour Constantin saint Hierom also aleadgeth very good reasons in his Commentary vppon Hieremy whose opinion is confirmed by Gratian in his Decrees For in troth kings by this care and diligence doe testifie their zeale and pietie to Religion In consideration whereof Gregory reporteth that the first Emperours and Christian Kinges did giue and conferre the Churches in which power the Cannon Doctors Bald. Archid. Panorm and some others are forced to graunt that by reason of their Crowne they are grounded vpon common Lawe And before them Saint Ambrose in his Discourse De tradendis Basilicis did maintaine the same Neuerthelesse such asdoe reade Histories are not ignorant what Tragedies the Popes within these sixe hundreth yeres haue for this article raised against the Emperours of Germany whome in the end they haue driuen to giue ouer the game so as there remaineth but little of that former aucehoritie Royall in Christendome sauing in the Maiestie of the Flowerdeluce which God bee praysed hath hitherto kept it selfe hole and a Virgin and so wil stil keepe it selfe if the good and naturall Frenchmen would put to their helping hand as by y â— oath of Nature that they owe to the Dignitie of this Crowne they are bound For they must vnderstand that it is one of y e greatest points wherevpon the Pope is so importunate to publish his pretended Counsaile of Trent in Fraunce through the assistance of the Spaniard by the ministerie of his Proctors the vnthankfull Nourse children of this Realme for the abasing and deminishing of the dignitie of our Crowne which euermore thankes be to God hath had soueraigne power institution iurisdiction and police ouer the Clergie and the Officers and Magistrates vnder the Kings aucthoritie in his Parliaments greate Counsaile euen since the planting thereof haue power and aucthoritie by appeale of abuse fallen before them by his Maiesties Subiecs to breake disanulle and cut of whatsoeuer shall bee found to haue bene made pronounced decreed adiudged established and ordeined by the Pope the Bishops or other Delegates of the Ecclesiasticall de audience against the holy Decrees Lawes Edicts and Ordenaunces of his sayd Maiestie or arestes of y â— sayd soueraigne Courts because in trueth the Prince is the guardian reuenger and reformer of Ecclesiasticall discipline as the auncient Bishops and Popes more honest and not so ambicious as the most parte of ours haue often openly confessed Yea it so appeareth in the Epistle of Pope Iohn the eleuenth which beginneth Inter claras C. de Tri. written to the Emperour Iustinian at such tyme as no doubt the Church was vnder the dominion of the Emperour as all men may perceiue by the first booke of IustiniaÌ„s Code by his nouell constitutions 3. 5. 6. 16. 37. 56. 57. 58. 59. 67. 83. 117. 123. 133. 146. Also since by the edict of Tiberius the seconde Basil Leo the Philosopher Alexis and sundry other Emperours of the East In our France the Pope and Clergie cannot deny the ordinary collations euermore made by our Kings as testefieth Gregorie of Tours Aimonius with the rest of the auncient Historographers of our NatioÌ„ neither the goodly orders reformatioÌ„s of y e Church made by Clouis in the Synode that he called at Orleans
by Dagobert if we wil beleeue Floart by Childebert Pepin Charlemaigne Lewes y e Meeke Lothaire as witnesseth their goodly Chapters also by Phillip giuen of God Saint Lewes in his Pragmaticall sanction of the yeere a thousand two hundred sixtie eight Phillip the Faire in his Edict in the yere a thousand three hundred and thirtie Charles the seauenth in the yeere 1453. Charles the nineth in the Estates of Orleans and Henry the 3. now raigning Which also was most learnedly declared to Lewes the eleuenth by two Presidents of Inquestes of the Court of Parliament in a treaty that vnto him they exhibited in the name of all the cōpany Yea wee doe perticulerly finde that the generall Estates of France assembled in the Towne of Tours in y ◠yere 1483. did desire Charles the eight to reforme the Clergie as beeing of his charge authoritie because the Pope had no Iurisdiction ouer the Bishoppes of Fraunce as by an Edict generall it was published in the Parliament vnder Charles the seuenth in the yeere 1407. and is to bee seene in the Registers of the sayd Court Yea that Court hath so farre proceeded as sometimes to decree that the Popes Buls and rescripts giuen out against the libertie of the French Church and Maiestie of our King should be cancelled broken and torne Neither was it lawfull for his holinesse to send any Legate into France except with his Maiesties good will and without preiudice to the rightes of his Crowne as by an Arest of Parliament it was declared in the yeere 1484. After by the same Court haue oftentimes the power of the said Legates sent with the Kings consent bene restrained from al authoritie to enteprize against the rightes of the Crowne of France which limitations and liberties the Popes neuer controuled Sith therefore it is the King that giueth you the Bishoprickes Abbayes and Ecclesiasticall functions that your maners orders and correction depēdeth vpon the royall Maiestie and rightes of his Crowne why wil you not suffer me with S. Ambrose to auowe that he may sell dispose and employe the temporalties of the Church vpon the necessities of his Estate without procuring the lisence of the Pope of Roome alwaies prouided that his Maiestie leaue sufficient for the sustenance of the Priestes and others that haue charge of the deuiue Seruice For you also doe know that whatsoeuer you take more then for the necessitie of your life onely is theft or meere robberie and so termed by the holy decrees founded vpon the expresse commaundement of the Apostle that you should be content with your food and sustenāce and by the Canons you are straightly forbidden not to giue any portion to either kinsman allie or friend whosoeuer And in deede so soone as the Church perceiued that your Predecessors did abuze that too much confidence which the first Christian Emperours had reposed in their pietie touching the distribution of Church goodes which by litle and litle through the conniuence of very zealous Princes who did too much assure them selues of the honestie of Bishops they had recouered she did againe take it from them Also in the fourth Counsaile of Charthage they were forbidden to meddle therewith In the generall Counsaile of Chalcedon holden vnder the Emperour Martian were Stewards established to such purposes who were neither Priestes neither Cleargie men In the seuenth generall Counsaile holdē vnder Iustinian the first the same were renewed and it was decreed that the Archbishops onely should be called to their election whereof Iustinian maketh mention Saint Iohn Chrisostome cryeth out and greatly complaineth that in his tyme the Bishops and Cleargie would needes be the distributers stewardes and husbanders of Church goodes and therfore saith this good father in his 86. Homely vpon Mathew They endeuour as much to rule the Temporall as the Spirituall The Apostles would not distribute that money which they had common among them Our great Law-giuer King Charlemaigne doth expressely forbid them to conuert any to their perticuler profite or otherwise to employe it then vpon the necessitie of the poore It is well enough knowne in what order and to what vse the Church hath decreed the dispensation of the Reuenues thereof Sainct Gregorie reporteth that oftentymes they were wont to deuide it into fower partes whereof one to the Bishop and his small famelie an other to the poore Priests and officers of the Church the third to the rest of the poore and the last was appointed to the reparatiō of the Churches But our Bishops and Abbots doe well enough keepe themselues from proceeding in any such maner for amōg themselues they retaine the assotiation of the Lyon whereof our lawes doe make mention and easily permit the poore Priests and others to part with as much as they list so that themselues be not admitted in the exaction thereof but contrariwise if any Prince for his necessitie would employ any part of their superfluous aboundance they straight spread rumours among the people that the deuill hath carried away one that an other hath bene sene in hell that an others body haue not bene to bee found in his Tombe with a number of such fables wherewith our Christian Histories for these seuen or eight hundred yeeres are poysoned in liewe of quietly obeying the will of their Kings and soueraigne Lordes in whose Cōmonwealths and vnder whose discipline they are bound to liue simply and poorely casting downe their high lookes in all Christian humilitie and obedience taking their parts and portions of the reuenues and Church goods and of that Aulter which they serue at the handes of their Kings yea and onely so much as may suffice for their sustenāce and in liew of yeelding parte to the necessities of their Princes to complaine murmure and arme themselues against them because they would employe it to such vses as their affayres doe require I beseech you therfore my Masters ye Bishops and Prelats of Fraunce whome many good men doe accuse of countenancing the wicked deliberations of Spaniards Italians and Lorraines that seeke to seaze vpon the Crowne against the King and the Princes of his bloud remēber the exāple of Magnulph Bishop of Tholauze repeated by Gregorie of Tours when one Godoald terming himselfe sonne of Clotaire the first and vpholden by Disier and some others the perturbers of the peace of the Realme such as our pretended Mascontents required pertition with Gontran and Childebert the children of the sayd Clotaire For the historie importeth that the sayd Disier and most of his partakers were letted by the exhortation of this good Bishop who vsed this oratiō to the people Wee knowe Gontran and his neuewe to bee the children of our Kings but for Godoald we wot not what he is nor from whence Prepare ye therfore ye Frenchmen and if Disier would force you to doe this iniurie to your Kings defend your selues let him perish as Sigulphus that he may bee
can haue no cause to loue the same A man hauing two wiues the one loued the other hated that thei haue both brought him sonnes aswel the loued as the hated the sonne of the hated bee the first borne when the tyme commeth that he will deuide his inheritance he shall not make the sonne of the beloued his eldest to the preiudice of the sonne of the hated who is the first borne but hee shall acknowledge the sonne of the hated for his eldest and he shall giue him two partes of whatsoeuer he hath for the same was the beginning of his strength vnto whom the right of promogeniture belongeth saith the text so that the nerest of the bloud is creditor yea he is moreouer I say factus dominus by the decease of his predecessor by the decease of his predecessor holdeth nothing of him but whatsoeuer hee hath hee holdeth by the vertue and authoritie of the lawe of France Thus doe Ih. Andrew Balde Panorme Iason Wil. Benedict and all other Writers expressely speake of our Realme so as who so would take any other course and maiore vi corrupt nature it would be a blemish to his consciēce and soule and thereof he should aunswere before God besides that whatsoeuer hee should take in hand should be voyde and of no effect but subiect to restitution by publicke iustice to the preiudice of his reputation All men doe knowe what small loue was betweene Charles the eight and Lewes Duke of Orleance when hee was called to the Crowne and bare the name of Lewes the 12. also the stoute minde of Charles to haue put his will in executiō against the other if he could haue found any argument or pretence to put him backe which notwithstanding matters were then ordered according to the rule of the law of France Now the King sheweth sufficient demonstration by that good will and care whereby he hath honored y e King of Nauarre so farre as to accompt him for his Brother in lawe that he both loueth and cherisheth him and also will take him into his protection so farre is this good Prince from going about to blemish his memorie with such a deede as the perturbers of the Peace af this Realme doe perswade themselues 19 Sith therefore the people and subiects to this Crowne may not put to their handes neither dispence vppon whatsoeuer occasion with the oath that they owe to their naturall Princes moreouer that the King can take no other order then the foundation and lawe of the Realme will beare let vs see whether it apperteyneth to the Pope of Roome as head of the Church to meddle therein I knowe that the Pope worshippers beeing more passionate then the true Catholicks do so thinck and beleeue Augustin of Ancona a Doctor of Sorbonne hath not forgotten it in his booke that he sent to Pope Iohn the 22. wherein he excepteth not so much as y e Realm of Frāce as also doe not Iames of Terrano Chamberlaine to Vrban the sixt in his treatize of the Papall Monarchie wherin they do maintaine that vnto him belongeth all power both Spirituall and Temporall as being head of the Church euen aboue the generall Counsailes which saith Pope Pascall are not to commaund him And in the explication of the decretall of the sayd Pascal the Canon Doctors doe vphold that it lyeth in the Popes power to reuoke y e decree of a Counsaile ouer the which he hath all authoritie according to the conclusion of all the adherents to the holy Sea of Rome which opinion was neuerthelesse as hereticall condemned in the general Counsailes of Constance and Basil in the presence of Iohn the 23. and Eugenius the 4 then Popes according to which Counsailes the auncient Bishoppes of Rome did protest to denounce vnto the Church whatsoeuer them selues could not remedie And as for Temporall iurisdiction ouer al Emperours Kings and Monarcks of the earth they haue made lesse difficultie yea they haue dared to saye that the Emperour who is Lord of the world both did and ought to yeeld his oath of fidelitte vnto them And faine would they make vs beleeue that they tooke this principle of Sainct Clement the third Bishop of Rome who protesteth say they that he learned it of Sainct Peter They also perswade them selues that Pope Zachary deposed the King of France the last of the Merouingian race although in trueeh it was but his aduice or counsaile giuen to the Nobilitie of y e land as W. Occham very wel saith in his treatize of the power of the Church About a hundred and fiftie yeeres after Boniface the seauenth endeuoured by Sacriledge and other bad hehauiours publickly to vsurpe this Tyrannie which Pope Gregorie the seuenth otherwise named Hildebrand durst openly maintaine and withall put it in practise against the Emperour Henry the fourth to whom he opposed Rodolph Duke of Sweue groūding his proposition not vpon y e fable of Constantines donation neither vpon the liberalities of Pepin Carlemaign or Lewes the Méek Kings of France but vpon God himself and Sainct Peeter saying that of them he had receiued the two swords the Spirituall and the Temporall In an other place vsing these wordes Pasce oues meas for the deposing of the Emperour He said also that he bare Claues regni Coelorum to vsurpe authoritie and enterprize against all the Kings in the world by which his great cunning hee became King of most part of Italie notwithstanding the Emperour Henry gaue him 62. Battailes therein excéeding the great Marcellus that was termed the sword of the Romaines and the inuincible Cesar of whom the one fought two and thirtie pitcht fieldes the other two and fiftie The like did Pascall the second and Calixt the second against Henry the fifth Sonne to the aforenamed vpon the same reasons as did also Adrian the fourth and Alexander the third who set his feete vpon the necke of the Emperour Frederick Barberousse Neither was Innocent the third more modest in the behalf of Philip sonne to the said Frederick against whom hee stirred vp Ottho sonne to the Duke of Saxony who after was Emperour by the name of Ottho the fourth after that with most arrogant proud and commandatory speeches grounded vpon these words Tues Petrus super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam adding thereto the saying of almightie God to Ieremy Ecce constituit◠super gentes regna so comparing himselfe to the Sunne and the Emperors and Kings to the Moone he had pronounced sentence of excommunicatiō and depriuation of his Empire against him So great also was the mallice of the sayd Innocent against the Emperour Phillip that to spite him he disanulled the election of Luipoldus to y t Archbishoprik of Mentz wherein sayth the Abbot of Vspergue he did most vniustly Gregorie the 9. as saith Sabellicus and the sayde Abbot depriued Fredericke the second of his Landes and Realmes for
friuolous causes and of no importaÌ„ce whose sentence neuerthelesse was confirmed and againe published by Innocent the fourth successor to the sayd Gregorie and after by Boniface the eight inserted into his sixt booke of Decretals in which place he vseth these wordes of the Scripture Quodcúnque ligaueris c. as an authoritie wherein to ground the execution of his will Bald also and Iohn Andrew very Catholicke Glozers doe confesse that in deede he seemed rather a partie then a Iudge Niâ—holas the 3. who followed soone after seeking to take the whole gouernement of the Towne from all but the Pope forbad y t neither King Duke Earle or Marquize should be established or accept the authoritie of Senator or Gouernour therein declaring that the Iurisdiction thereof belonged priuatly to the holy Sea before all other not in respect of Constantines donation but through these wordes In omnem terram exiuit sonus eorum and such other which hee interpreteth as hee thincketh good Which in effect are the very reasons whereupon Boniface the eight excommunicated King Phillip the Faire of France and gaue his Realme for a praye to the first that could seaze vpon it as we reade in his constitution in deede extrauagant in the which he exempteth neither Emperour nor King from his subiection euen in Temporall causes as he saith Also by vertue of that great power Clement the fifth disanulled the sentence giuen by the Emperour Henry the seauenth of LuxeÌ„bourg against Robert King of Sicille after hee had procured the proysoning of the same Emperour by a Muncke in ministring to him the Eucharist Which Balde confesseth to haue bene a presumpteous and wrongfull deede Finally by those Tragedies that Iohn the 22. Benedict the 12. and Clement the 6. stirred vp throughout Christiandome against the Emperour Lewes of Bauiere as also in our daies Alexander the sixt and Iulius the second did no lesse neither had any other ground We may see the causes whereby the Popes do pretend authoritie to depose Kings subuert Realmes and giue them in pray to whomsoeuer they thinke good True it is that such of them as haue most dissembled haue euer exeÌ„pted the Realm of FraÌ„ce Innocent the third writing to the Prelates and French Nobilitie for Iohn without land King of England declareth that he will enterprize nothing against the Maiestie of the French King But Hostiensis who knewe the Storie doth in this place write that the Protestation was contrary to the effect because the sayd Innocent went about to hinder King Phillip Auguste from vsing his feudall right ouer the Dutches of Normandie Guyenne and other the Lands holden by the English and falleÌ„ into the lapse through the murder committed vpon Arthur his elder brothers sonne In an other decretal Epistle the same Pope confesseth that the French King in Temporall causes and gouernment of his Realme acknowledgeth no superiour Clement the fifth in his extrauagant for appeasing King Phillip the Faire who was stirred vp by the insolencie of Boniface the eight disanulled reuoked his declarations against the Realme of France and aduowed the same not to be subiect to his Sea by vertue of the sayd constitution The same Pope also protested that the power which his Officers vsed against the said Kings subiects during his being in the Realm was by the permission of the sayd Lord King as appeareth by the protestation the same time enrouled in the Court of ParliameÌ„t for in trueth it hath euer more bene resolued and is a cace most certaine that the King of France doth vpon earth acknowledge no superiour in whatsoeuer coÌ„cerneth the pollicie gouernement of his Crowne neither was euer subiect to the Romain Empire from the which he wrested the Gaules with the point of the sworde And although the French Kings were sometimes Emperours them selues yet did they neuer submit this Crowne to the Diadem Imperiall whereupon the Kings Atorney general would not suffer the Emperour Charles the fourth beeing in the Parliament there to make a Knight without king Charles the 5. his expresse permission As also the Emperor Charles the fifth passing through Fraunce obteyned the good will of King Frances the first to pardon sundry offenders because no other then his Maiestie hath power or authoritie ouer the temporall causes of his Realm among which is vndoubtedly the punishing of transgressions yea euen of heresie of the which wee now speake the notice and Iurisdiction whereof haue euer more bene left and with good reason belongeth to the seculer Magistrate because we ought to consider the lawe of God first in this world whereto the politicke and temporall Magistrate preseruer of the societie of men and earthly policie for the auoyding of confusion and trouble forceth euery one to obeye Secondly in the worlde to come wherein God onely iudgeth and punisheth not leauing in this worlde in respect of himselfe any Magistrate to be the auenger of the iniurie to him done in y â— transgression of his ordinances For the Priestes who are the guardians and Schoolemasters of Gods lawe are not coÌ„stituted Iudges but easie Phisitions to the soule and Gods commaundements are no such Sanctions as importe punishment but most louing doctrine and admonitious otherwise if by the sworde we should be forced to the obseruing of Gods lawe the desert were small Vppon which poynt the Apostle sayd Not that wee rulee ouer your faith but are helpers to your ioye And in an other place All Scripture is inspired froÌ„ aboue and is profitable to teach to conuince to correct and to instruct to righteousnesse Hee saith not to force or to punish Chrisostome very carefully deuideth the royall power from the ministerie of the Gospell saying that the ministerie is a function committed by God to the ende to teach without weapons also that it is no power to giue or take awaye Realmes neither to make lawes for politick gouernment Our French Bishop S. Hilarie writeth as much to the Emperour Constantius also against Auxentius Bishop of Millan And this the good Fathers learned at the mouth of the Sonne of God our Lord Iesus Christ when he sayd to his Apostles The Kings of the nations haue dominion ouer them but it shall not be so with you In an other place hee promiseth them that they shall sit with the Sonne of God wheÌ„ he shal come in Maiestie to iudge mankinde but that contrariwise so long as they remaine in y e world exercizing their Ministerie they shall bee brought before Kings and politicke Magistrates for his sake so farre shall they be from being Kings and Iudges themselues The head of the Church euen Iesus Christ fled when they sought to make him King declaring y â— his Kingdome was not of this worlde wherfore he would not be iudge among those that were at controuersie yea he submitted himself to the Kings of the earth paying vnto them the tribute which was vnto
theÌ„ due together with that which was assessed vpon the heads of euery of his Apostles euermore referring the reward of his grace reuenge of trespasses against him committed vnto the kingdome of heauen enioining his Apostles to doe the like and to imitate his example as they haue done The Apostle Sainct Paule sayd Let no man that fighteth in the Lordes warfare trouble himselfe with the matters of this life Againe The minister of the Lorde ought to be louing to all men meet to teach paciently bearing with the wicked with modestie reprouing such as withstaÌ„d the trueth Briefly in one word to say all there be two kinds of Iurisdictions the one earthly coÌ„mitted into the hands of Kings and Princes to whome euery one of whatsoeuer degree or calling Spirituall or Temporall Priestes Bishops or high Priestes ought to obey as it is written Let euery soule bee subiect to the superiour powers vpon which place Chrisostome sayth the Apostle vsed this word euery to shew that there is no creature that may be exempt whether he be saith he Apostle Prophete Euangelist Priest Monk or other whosoeuer We also finde that in the Primetiue Church before pride Ambition tooke roote in the Bisshops hartes that the Popes of Rome neuer made any question thereof Wee haue also amoug vs a request exhibited by Boniface the first to Honorius Emperour of the West wherein hee beseecheth him to decree that afterwarde the Bishops and Popes of Rome might not bee chosen by fauour or any other vnlawfull meane whereto the same most Catholike Prince maketh an aunswere worthie such a request In the time of Odoacer King of the Herules who began to raigne at Rome in the yeere 471. and ruled full 14. yeres after hee had put to death Orestes and his Sonne Augustulus the last Emperour of the West vntill Charlemagne there were goodly decrees published and receiued in the Church by the Clergie vntill such tyme as Theodoricke the Wisigot whome Zeno the Emperour of the Eeast sent into Italy had ouerthrowen hym Pelagius the first made confession of his faith and sware in the hands of Ruffin the Embassadour of of Childebert King of France Pope Leo the fourth sware and protested that he would and did intend to obserue the Lawes which the Emperour Lothair the first sonne to Lewes the Meek and Neuew to Charlemagne made at Rome in the presence of Pope Eugenius the second whereof some are inserted into the Booke of Digestes the inscription whereof do import that the Emperour made them ante ianuas beati petri ad limina in atrio which was the place where the Christian Emperours were wont to make and publish their Edicts if we maye beleeue Cassiodore and others The said Emperour also created certaine Magistrates in the Towne to exercize the imperiall Iurisdiction The same Leo doth sufficiently declare what respect the high Priests of Rome did in those daies beare to the Emperours when he sued to the same Lothaire and his sonne Lewes the second to conferre the Church of Rheatine or Tusculum to one Colonus a Deacon assuring their Maiesties of his sufficiency and promising in the name of the sayde Colonus that he should praye to God for them This was the same Leo that pleaded his cause and purged himselfe of the treazon whereof hee was accused before the Emperour Lewes the seconde sonne to the sayd Lothaire as appeareth in the decree of Gratian. The like declaration did Pope Iohn the eight make to the same Emperour Lewes the second sonne to Lothaire By the decretall Epistle of Honorius the third who liued about the yeere 1216. it appeareth that as yet the remembraunce of the Emperours lawes was not vtterly abolished out of the Catholick Church and that the Priestes and high Priestes had not as yet wholy shaken of the yoke of y â— same no not in those that they terme Spirituall causes as if any question were moued of an oath in law for the decision of proces in which cace he reneweth the auncient edict of Martian and IustiniaÌ„ the first To coÌ„clude for the stopping of the mouthes of those that doe maintaine that the Pope Bishops or other of the Cleargie may establish any earthly Kingdome apart which shal not bee subiect to the Emperours and Kings of this world but rather such a one as may at pleasure commaunde and supplant the same let them dilligently search throughout the whole Scripture what authoritie the Kings and Princes of Israel had ouâ—r the Priestes and Cleargie in Gods lawe which since the tyme of grace is not deminished and there shall they euidently finde their great authoritie ouer them notwithstanding it was neuer lawfull for the Kings to execute the office of the Priestes for vndoubtedly the ministerie is one thing and the orders discipline of the Cleargie is an other and meerely temporall The other head of Iurisdiction is in heaueÌ„ which we are to looke for at the iudgement of GOD and yet not to perswade our selues that the lawe of Iesus Christ is lame or vnperfect because in it it conteineth not any punishment or earthly reuenge of trespasses against euill liuers considering that the same beeing heauenly and spirituall it will yeeld reward or punishment in the euerlasting world so that as sayd Alexander Seuerus of periury Whosoeuer offendeth against God hath God a sufficient reuenger our good God hath referred to himselfe all the punishment to the end the sinner may haue meanes to acknowledge his offence and repent the same in this world True it is that if y e earthly Magistrate hath in his pollicie taken any order for such causes then is it his office to reuenge the iniurie done to his edicts and decrees for so as saith Isidore The Kingdome of God encreaseth through the meanes of earthly Realmes to the ende such as be of the body of the Church if they offende or blaspheme may be punished by the rigor of Princes and so that discipline whereto the Church can not binde them may neuerthelesse bee preserued through the authoritie of Monarchies The like wherof haue bene vsed against heretickes by all Christian Princes especially in our France by an infinite number of lawes both olde and newe of our most Christian Kings And in troth if the Bishops or Priestes should take notice of the punishmeÌ„t of hereticks it would breede confusion of Iurisdictions and offices aswell might the Goldsmith be iudge of the golde that himselfe had wrought The Phisition of his owne cure to bee briefe euery one should pleade and decide his owne cause contrary to al reasonable order The example also of the Apostle Sainct Paule whome the Iewes accused of heresie doth sufficiently teach vs when by himself it appeareth that he was brought before Festus the Emperours Lieutenant vnto whom the accused did confesse that y â— notice of his cause did apperteine and therefore required
assignation for his accusers before the Imperiall Maiestie The Emperour Honorius appointed the Prouost Marcellus for Iudge Arbitrator betwene the Catholickes and Donatistes Dulcius also was Prouost of the Empire who at the pursuit of the Catholickes was enioyned to make vp the processe of the said Donatistes in Affricke as Sainct Augustin doth report and they required to haue them condemmed by his ordenaunces as testifieth Gratian in his decree wherein in an other place is written the opiniō of Pope Pelagius importing that it were meete that hereticks were punished by the seculer power according to which reason Sainct Austen also doth testifie that the Emperour Valentinian sent the Prouost Dalmatius vnto him to assigne him in his priuie Counsaile So as we are not to doubt but that the punishment of heretickes apperteyneth to the Princes temporall Iurisdiction who by his decrees hath limited the punishments which they may deserue 20 In deede it is the duetie of the Priestes and Bishops to know and withall to declare by the holy Scriptures together with the iudgement of the vniuersal Church who it is that hath transgressed the will of God and being a Christian hath departed or disunited himselfe from the body of the Church Those bee the true kayes of heauen which God hath put into their handes and the two Swordes that they beare whereby the Priest sheweth and poynteth out such as are soluti vel legati ab Ecclesia wherein onely consisteth his power to bind or lose in heauen as S. Hierome doth very well note in his opening of y ◠place of Sainct Mathewe which concerneth this authoritie as also the Maister of Sentences is of the same opinion neither is this power so small that the faithfull Christians should contemne it For without doubt sinne proceedeth of offence and so immediatly is brought in the bond that thereby we make to Gods enemie which vnlesse we doe reuoke we must of necessitie be driuen out of the Church and as rotten members of the same be giuen ouer to Satan Neuerthelesse he who by contrition for his sinnes and confession of the same will reclayme himselfe doth immediatly recouer three benefites repugnant to the other which are forgiuenesse of sinnes the cancelling and discharge of the Obligation made vnto the deuill and reconsiliation to the Catholicke Church wherein consisteth the true penance that the Priest or Bishop doth minister and enioine vs by vertue of his authoritie to binde or lose in heauen or in earth So as it is euident that the order of Priesthood and Ecclesiastical power hath euermore bene necessary in the Church of God to keepe teach and maintaine our soules in the knowledge of his holy will to the ende thereby to obteine his grace and fauour in the life to come For notwithstanding man was created to the Image of God and of his euerlasting Kingdome whereby he was perfect and needed no other instruction or Schoolemaister yet after his fall and the corruption of our first father he stood in great neede to bee restored to his former knowledge and the fauour of his Creator for the obteyning whereof hee was enioyned to keepe sundry precepts and very straight lawes vnder paine of deadly and euerlasting dānation vntill the tyme of grace wherein it pleased God to breake and take away the vayle and rigor of the auncient law and to forgiue our offences through the passion of his deare Sonne Iesus Christ for the enioying of the fruites whereof he hath left vs in pledge his holy Sacraments for the administrations and discipline of the which he hath cōmitted and sent his Apostles Priestes and Doctors the administrators and guardians of the same In such wise that as the ende and purpose of the Architect is the perfection and finishing of his building house so the onely end and office of the Cleargie is sufficiently to teach vs those things that appertayne to our faith and beliefe reforming our actions by admonitions and gentle perswasions that thereby together with Gods grace wee may atteyne to euerlasting saluation neither hath God giuen them any other dominion ouer vs but onely admonition and instruction in his knowledge setting before vs the reward of well doing and the reuenge of wickednesse in the vniuersall doome of the heauenly Maiestie 21 But in asmuch as the people haue not to deale therewith also that the Bishoppe of Roome in that qualitie which he pretendeth hath no such power his authoritie beeing meerely and simply Spirituall and in no poynt concerning the Realmes of the world what shal we then say if Emperours or other soueraigne Kings were as they are men and subiect to corruption hereticks or otherwise euill liuers were it not a marueilous offence to see them raigne with all power and be as scourges and persecutors of Gods Church In this question I am to desire the French to weigh the aunswer of that wise and great personage Sainct Augustin If Emperours sayth he be in error and according to their error do prescribe lawes against the trueth wherby the righteous may be tryed and crowned he aunswereth not that they must be expelled or deposed of their Empire but onely wee must not doe those things that wickedly they commaund Neither doth Sainct Ambrose finde fault with the obedience that the Christian Souldiers yeelded to the Emperour Iulian the Apostata onely he warneth them to doe nothing repugnant to the honor of God S. Peeter perswaded not the Church to depose Nero the conspired enemie of Iesus Christ but contrariwise admonished all Christians to honor and pray for him The holy Legion Fulminatory made no difficultie to go to the Warres and to venture their liues vnder the Emperour M. Antonius the Philosopher a Prince that was but a bad Christian and such a one as contrary to the pietie of Religion made a seuere Decree the markes whereof are yet to be seene in our Pandects and Eusebius Capitolinus Dion Xiphilinus and others doe make mention of the same Tertullian in his Apologeticall treatize sufficiently setteth downe the mallice of the Emperour Seuerus against the Church of the Christians and yet let vs mark what he writeth of their affection to the Prince Wee are saith he discryed vnto the Emperours Maiestie and yet were the Christians neuer proued to bee Albinians Nigrians or Cassians who were the conspirators against the Emperors M. Antonius the Philosopher Commodus Pertinax and Seuerus each after other but contrariwise those that lately tooke the oath condemned the Christians haue bene found to be the Emperours enemies neuer a Christian was there in that faction as knowing that the Imperiall Maiestie ordeyned of God must bee loued reuerenced and honored whose prosperitie as also the welfare of the whole Romaine Empire they are to desire so long as the world standeth for so long shall the same continue We doe therfore worship the Prince according as is lawfull and requisite his Maiestie
prouoked vnder pretence of the sayd interdiction did him some displeasure Howbeit so soone as hee seemed willing to mend his maners toward the English natioÌ„ they fell at his feete and expulsed Lewes of Fraunce whom they had subrogated in his place so soone as the sayd Iohn was dead admitted his sonne Henry King Henry the eight of the same Ile was very faithfully obeyed by his subiects after that Pope Paule the third had excommunicated interdicted aggrauated and reaggrauated the curse against him wherby some were somewhat shaken froÌ„ his obedieÌ„ce Suâ—noo King of Denmarke about the yeere of our Lord 850. was iustly excoÌ„municated by y â— Bishop of Roscholech for becomming an Apostata and procuring to slay sundry of the Princes of his blood in the Church founded in the name of the holy Trinitie in the same Towne of Rhoscholech the entry into which Church this Bishop forbad him together with the communioÌ„ of the faithfull but he did not neuerthelesse depriue him of his Crowne neither did his subiects refuse him their faithfull seruice although Canutus and Wademarus two of his chiefest fauorites and priuy Counsailors who sought to share the Realme with Suercherus King of Sueden did thereto suborne them Brigerus King of Sueden who raigned about the yere 1300. was one of the most wicked and cruell Kings that could be especially against the Church and Churchmen but chiefly against Nicholas Archbishop of Vpsale whom together with the rest of his Bishops he committed to prison wherevpon they excommunicated him and Turgillus Canutus his Lieutenant general and author of his behauiours neuerthelesse the people though therby stirred vp against their King and hauing greater opportunitie to rebel and shake of the yoke of his obedience vnder the conduct of Wademarus and Henry his brothers who sought no better occasion to put out their brother would neuer hearken to theÌ„ neither hinder or become cruell to their naturall Lord so as the two brothers were forced to employe their other friendes for the executing of their inteÌ„ts against Brigerus whom when they had taken prisoner they were neuerthelesse compelled to force al the townes neither found they any one that would yeeld to them so greatly did the Subiectes of the Realme accoumpt themselues bound to the seruice of their King whom they knew to be wicked excommunicate and an euill liuer besides a prisoner and captiue in the power of his brethren whom in the ende they forced to set him at libertie to submit themselues to his obedience Of such force is the bond of good people to their King whatsoeuer he be In Poland Bolesâ—aus a Prince of most wicked life a commoÌ„ adulterer an enemie to the Church and Cleargie after Stanisâ—aus Bishop of Cracouy had often admonished him to amend was by him at length excommunicated whereat the King being offended did put the sayd Bishop to death for which cause Pope Gregory the seuenth did confirme and aggrauate the sayd excommunication with a generall interdiction against the Realme about the yeere 1079. yet did he still raigne by the consent and with the obedience of the Polonians ouer whom he ruled a whole yere and more vntill in his iourney to Ladislaus King of Hungary hee flewe himselfe peraduenture through the iust iudgement of God The Emperour Sigismund and his faction could neuer winne the Bohemians from the due affection that they ought to his brother Winceslaus their naturall King though vicious wicked filthy for the which offences through the practises of the said Sigismund he was often emprisoned and excommunicated by the Bishops of that couÌ„trey yea by the Electors deposed from the Empire so as in the ende he dyed in Boheme still taking the place order and qualitie Royall through the goodwill of his Subiects who deemed that the same could not perticulerly conteyne any dispensation to discharge the subiects therof of the oath and faith that to him they ought as also they may not be discharged froÌ„ his bondage but onely by death or his owne liberall cession which he would make to an other as did Albert King of Sueden about the yeere 1388. beeing prisoner to Margaret Queene of Denmark and Norway to whom he yeelded whatsoeuer his right to the Crowne of Gothland and Sueden whereby the States of the countrey sware their faith and homage to the sayde Margaret and after they had secretly enquired of their King sundry times solemnly desired him to shew them his mind or els to discharge them of the duetie wherein they stood bound to him although vndoubtedly the Suedens had great cause to seeke his mishap for all Histories doe agree that neuer Prince committed so many outrages and wrought so many iniuries to his subiects as had this Albert. It therefore remaineth that by the lawe of Nations the inuiolable keeping of the obligation that the subiectes doe owe to their naturall Prince and not to depart therefro at the appetite or sentence of others haue euen among the most barbarous people bene euermore obserued so as wee ought in respect of the bonde that wee owe him say of the King and his bloud as of Matrimonie whom God hath ioyned together let no man put a sunder 22 But let vs more perticulerly learne whether the sentence of excommunication were lawfully vppon reasonable cause and exemplary occasion pronounced against a King and done by the iudgements of many Popes of Roome within these fiue hundred yeeres against such Kings and Emperours to whoÌ„ they haue borne bad minds Although I thinke it not meete to ground any lawe vpon the examples of these men in troth full fraught with ambition more then humaine affection but it is requisite to examine this question by the rules of Gods lawe and politicke reason established for the preseruation of the societie of mankinde Herein therefore I say y t the sentence of excoÌ„municatioÌ„ denouÌ„ced against a King how iust soeuer the cause bee and conteyneth dispensation for the oath and duetie that the subiects do owe vnto him this licence and tolleration vnto the people graunted is repugnant to the lawe of God and all mans reason For sith the subiects are by Gods commandement bound to obeye their Princes whatsoeuer without any further enquirie of their consciences and behauiours they cannot by any tradition or permission of man either generall or perticuler be dispensed with because no man can enterprize vpon Gods ordenances and euery dispensation so graunted is voyde as beeing repugnant to the deuine prouidence As Pope Leo and Vrban haue very wisely confessed Especially sith this dispensation cannot bee put in execution without great sclaunder and shedding of bloud by reason of such warres and quarels as will be raysed through the rebellion of the Subiects against their Prince their Kings resistance not onely in respect of his conscience but also for his Estate and the defence of his Crowne In such necessities therefore Pope Gelasius teacheth vs that we are especially
to beware of those things that cannot be receiued without great inconueniences Besides that the Iurisdiction and power of the Church extendeth not to temporall goodes or causes but as all men knowe Caesar shareth Empire with Iupiter neither is the Ecclesiasticall power other then Spirituall concerning the Kingdome of heauen and therefore vnprofitably and wrongfully they should thrust their Sythe into other mens haruest and without authoritie or IurisdictioÌ„ should meddle with the gouernment of maÌ„s policie and the gouernments of Realmes or earthly Empires considering the kingdome of God whereof they are Stewards and doe weare the keyes is not of this world As also of such dispensation would ensue to great iniustice because that sith the holy Church giueth remission for whatsoeuer sinne and receiueth the excommunicated after he hath made sufficient satisfaction and done penance worthy his misdeede it should come to passe that such a King or Prince notwithstanding he were reunited to the Church and had satisfied the commaundement thereof must neuerthelesse remaine banished from his estate already possessed by the first of his neighbors that shall haue receiued this rebellious people and of this trouble taken occasion to become maister thereof at whatsoeuer price from whence it would be vnpossible to auoyd him without warres and generall trouble arising of such dispensation and so should the domage done to the excommunicate King through the sentence of excommunication which was layd vpon him only for correction and admonition to coÌ„fesse his fault to aske pardon openly of GOD and his Church remaine irreparable To be briefe of extreme lawe would arise extreme iniurie whereof this poore miserable excommunicate and desperate Prince finding himselfe agrieued with the permission to his subiects to rebel would growe more obstinate in his vice for feare of losing his Crowne so in liew of vrging him to penance and satisfaction to the Church for the offence arising of his sinne he shall waxe worse and the Ecclesiasticall discipline bring forth no fruite and thereby growe into contempt And vndoubtedly therein consisteth the discretion of a Lawyer and Iudge so to make his lawes so well to order his iudgements that immediatly without difficultie how notable soeuer they be they may bee put in execution 23 Consequently a question may be propounded whether it be lawfull for a King or Prince to appeale therefro as of abuse but also by weapons to resist and withstande the execution of such a sentence because it permitteth the subiectes to shake of the yoke of his obedience refuse him the duetie of their obligation which is the same question which Lewes the 12. of Fraunce moued to the Bishops assembled in Tours in the yeere 1510. concerning the peeuish and rash excommunications layd vpon him and his confederates by Iulius the second whereto the said Bishops made aunswere that by all lawes the sayde King was permitted by whatsoeuer meanes yea euen by armes to withstand such the Popes friuolous and wrongfull declarations Which aunswere in my opinion is founded vpon all reason aswell naturall as ciuill because it is certaine and euident that the clause of the sentence of excommunicatioÌ„ of the King which conteyneth permission to the subiects to râ—bel against him is a publick force and violence that the Pope wrongfully employeth contrary to his function and authoritie and against the which the King may oppose himselfe and withstande him with the like or a greater power Secondly it ought not to be lawful for the Pope vnder pretence of a Shepheard and the care that hee should haue of the Christians to enterprize or atteÌ„pt any vnreasonable thing to the iniurie of his flocke For if the Magistrate doth any thing iniuriously either as a perticuler person either vpon confideÌ„ce of his authoritie he may be sued of iniurie Besides that wee haue before proued that the ordering Iurisdiction and notice of worldly causes and Kingdomes belongeth not to the Cleargie to whom is committed onely the publication of the spiritual and heauenly sâ—orde and so consequently sentence pronouÌ„ced by an incompetent Iudge is voyd in this head neither is any man bounde to obeye that Magistrate that hath iudged aboue his authoritie To this purpose Pope Gelasius writing to the Bishops of the East doth confesse that if the iudgement be vniust the lesse neede the condemned to care for that such a sentence cannot make the coÌ„demned guiltie before God and his Church And therfore he concludeth that he should neuer sue for absolution beeause it hurteth him not In an other place Pope Gregorie confesseth that he cannot incurre canonicall paines that is not canonically condemned In the interpretation of which place Iohn Andrew the gloser doth teach vs that it is lawfull to withstande the execution of a iudgemeÌ„t knowne to be none and giuen by such a one as hath no authoritie The same doth Celestin graunt wheÌ„ he speaketh of the election of a Bishop against the minds of the Cleargie of that Dioces where he should sit and the Glose expressely saith that the superiour abusing his power willing preteÌ„ding by force to bee obeyed it is not forbidden to withstande him especially in cace the hurt be irreparable as in this now in question because euery one naturally is permitted to withstand violence yea euen against his superiour In an other place wee learne that it is for euery one in default of the Magistrate to doe himselfe right or to bend himselfe against the wrongful oppression of an other Infinite are the examples of Emperours and Catholicke Kings who authorized by the Church haue made no difficultie to take Armes against the bishop of Rome and his adherents whensoeuer he so farre forgat his duetie as by force to enterprize that which Princes could not with reason graunt hym When Pope Iohn the eleuenth writ to the Hungarians and perswaded them to rebel against the Emperour Ottho the first and the sayd Emperor being in Italy this Pope togither with Albert Marquize of Spolete raysing warre against him the Bishops and Prelates assembled at Rome deposed the sayd Pope and hauing surrogated Leo the fifth into his roume permitted the Emperour by Warres to pursue him When Henry the blacke vnderstood that Benedict the ninth Siluester the third and Gregory the sixt Antipopes sought each to thrust other out of Italie and to establish him self by armes he went speedely to Rome with a great power to decide the coÌ„trouersie with the aduice of a CouÌ„saile assembled by his imperiall authoritie these three Popes were all deposed and disgraded and in their roume the Emperour established Suidiger Bishop of Bambergue who named him selfe Clement the second When the Emperour Henrie the fourth vnderstood that Pope Gregory the seauenth had forbidden the Bishops to require inuesâ—iture of the Emperour also that he found that y â— wicked man stirred him vp enemies yea procéeded so farre as to cause the sonne to rebell against the father against whom he opposed
the same spoken of To conclude therefore I will now coÌ„tent my self with warning euery one to mark and consider the meanes which such alwaies as haue gotten the vpper hand of a Lordship whereto they had no other right but habilitie haue houlden and then I hope they will thincke that the gouernment of a naturall Prince is gracious louing and fauourable in respect of y e mistrustfull suspicious and tyrannous straunger vnto whom not onely the deedes and wordes but also the gesture behauiour yea the goodes and welth of his Citizens are suspected because he feareth his owne shadowe Remember the auncient Fable of the Pigeons who when they had elected the Ringdoue to rule them were soone wearie of her courteous and gentle gouernment which they termed soft and delicate and in her roume chose the Kite who in liew of wel entreating of theÌ„ did eate beate and dayly teare some one among them in sunder with her beake and wings whereat these miserable fooles being offended could haue bene coÌ„tent to haue returned vnder the yoke of their first election but the Kites tyrannie could neuer brooke it whose successors do yet to this day practize their roine vpon them Once it fell out that the Frenchmen through wicked counsaile in liew and place of their naturall Prince whom they bare somewhat heauy were suborned to elect one Giles a Romaine of whom they were soone wearie after they had casted what it was to liue vnder one whose humour and birth did not agree with his subiects and it fell our well for them that their King was of power sufficient to resume them againe into his protection The ende of the third part ⧠THE CONTENTS OF THE FOVRTH part of this Booke 1 The authorities of Doctors for the preferment of the Neuewe before the Vnckle 2 Examples of the preferment of the Neuewe before the Vnckle 3 Reasons in law for the Neuew against the Vnkle The Neuewe succeedeth in the eldership of his father in proper person as being substituted to his late father 4 The right of eldership is transmissible perfect wanting but execution 5 The right of eldership is legall or custumary 6 The Lord Cardinall of Bourbons acknowledgemeÌ„t in the fauour of his neuew the K. of Nauarres mariage 7 Answere to the examples of the Vnckle alleadged against the neuewe 8 Answer to the Vnkles reasons against the neuewe Substitutions and continuatioÌ„ froÌ„ the father to the sonne in collaterall ligne by Iustinian 9 Successiou once roored in a ligne neuer departeth the same vntill it be finished or worne out 10 The order of Tutorship and the succession of free borne Libertines is vnlike 11 The Kings youth neuer debarreth theÌ„ from the Crowne The opening of the saying that personall right is not transmissible 12 Successions made by ciuill lawe and custome confessing the right of eldership are farre vnlike THE FOVRTH PART OF the Cath. Apologie IN the fourth Obiection the King of Nauarres aduersaries doe oppose against him the Lord Cardinall of Bourbon his Vncle as neerer by one degrée and nowe by the decease of the late Anthonie of Bourbon Father to the sayd Lorde King of Nauarre the eldest of the house of Bourbon 1 This question is one of the most tossed of all others and can not be decided by the arrestes of the Salicke Lawe that wee haue in these words De terra verò Salica in mulierem nulla portio haereditatis transit sed hoc virilis sexus acquirit hoc est filij in ipsa haereditate succedunt sed vbi inter nepotes pronepotes post longum tempus de Allode terrae contentio suscitatur non per stirpes sed per capita diuidantur But the decision hereof we must séeke in the Commentaries of our Doctors which Accurtius Odofrede Pope Innocent the fourth Durand Ric. de Malumbris Iohn Andrew Alberick de Rosatis Barth Balde Paule de Casiro Angel Aret. Martin de Lande Iohn Faber Pet. de Ancar Barbat Felin Ausrerius Wil. Benedict Cassanee Lewes Bolognine Matth. de Afflictis Andreas Sicul. Abbas Panormitanus Bartholomeus Sosinus Iason Alciatus Tiraquel Lewes Charond Choppinus and many other haue concluded in fauour of the Neuewe against the Vncle who termeth himselfe eldest by his brothers decease either indirect or collaterall lyne in successions indeuided as Realmes Empires Duchies CouÌ„ties and Marquisates Yea Decius imitating Socinus doth write that amoÌ„g the Interpreters of Ciuill Canon law hi qui pondere numero mensura praeualent haue alwayes consulted and determined against the Vnkle so that by the authoritie of so many skilfull persons the sayd Lorde King of Nauarre hath the better cause of the Cardinall his Vnkle Secondly the foreiudgements must be alledged for the decision of this controuersie Balde hoâ—ldeth that euermore it hath so bene obserued and decided in all contradictorie iudgements of France and England And Paul maketh mention of the Spanish law in this respect solemnly sworne vnto by the states of the same lande in deede we reade goodly examples both of these and many others 2 First in France for the same house of Bourbon in the time of Lewes the Fat king of France about the yeere 1110. Hanno had expulsed his Neuewe Arcembault a young child sonne to his elder brother pretending that the Lordship perteined to him as being entred into the Lawe of the eldership by the decease of his elder brother But the French Nobility forced the vnkle to giue place to the Neuew whom they substituted in the roume and place of his brother reseruing to Hanno onely some portion of the goods as to one of the Children of the same house An other example we haue in the posteritie of Henry the second K. of England who had three sonnes Richard Cordelion Secondly Geffrey who had maried Constance the Heyre of Brittaine and dyed in his Fathers time leauing his Wife great of Arthure afterward Duke of Britaine and Iohn surnamed without land Soone after the fathers death dyed Richard also without issue whereupon Phil. Augustus King of Fraunce who raigned about the yere 1141. adiudged the Dutchy of Normandy with other the Landes that the said Richard held in Fraunce vnto Arthure sonne to Gâ—ffrey his elder brother but afterward the sayde Iohn made peace with Augustus through the mariage of his sonne Lewes vnto Blanch. Neece to the sayd Iohn by his Sister wife to the King of Castile togither with some Lands that the saide Iohn habandoned to the sayd Phillip So that Arthure still prosecuting his right was slaine by his vnkle Iohn wherevpon the King of Fraunce tooke occasion for that fellony to confiscate all those landes as hauing alwayes fauoured and aucthorised the cause of the sayd Arthur The third iudgement passed in the tyme of Charles the Fayre King of Fraunce about the yeere 1331. for the Earle of Flaunders for Lewes of Neuers was by the Peeres of the Realme declared Earle of Flaunders and preferred before his
the Tyrants tormentors of their consciences and abusers of the honors that they haue receiued of our Kings and the Princes of the bloud of the house of France Let them marke the miserable ende of Absalon and Achitophel his counsaylor against the Maiestie of Dauid of Adonias Athalia and infinite others who with their conspiraties haue dyed in confusioÌ„ and miserie Oh noble Frenchmen will you abide in the world I will not say to looke vppon but which is more to hasten and aduance the cursed drift of the translation of the scepter of the Flowerdeluce out of the hands of your King and the Princes of his house to whom only you doe owe your condition your welth and your very life not in courtesie and honestie onely but by Gods expresse coÌ„mandement who hath therewith burdened your consciences Wil you more then villanously forgoe that great commendation which all nations in the world haue so greatly commeÌ„ded and honored in you for being more faithfull and ielous of the hononr and seruice of your Kings and Princes of their bloud then any nation that euer was vpon the face of the earth Will you stand as instruments and offer the ladder to those y â— wrongfully would make them selues Kinges and cause you to commit the most abhominable fellonie that euer was conspired Doe you not plainly see that those who doe sollicite you are not able to vphoulde you as hauing no other meanes then such as your enemies minister vnto theÌ„ to whom both you and they shall serue for pasture the next day after Is it not most certaine that they cannot pretend sith God hath giuen vs a King I will speake without sâ—atterie as wanting the honor to bee knowne of his Maiestie of whom the least of them can not saye the pertinent occasion of his discontentment but yet when GOD shall haue wrought his wil vpon him are ye not certain who ought to be his successor Liue you not vnder a Christian Monarchy that hath lawes established for that purpose Would you liue to be called corrupters and perturbers of the foundations of the Crowne vnder the which and by the succession whereof your fathers haue obteyned and left vnto you the name honor and title of Nobilitie which ye beare What weene you the curious posteritie may thinke of you when they finde it written that the French Nobilitie tooke Armes against their King to name vnto him a successor and vnder the pretence thereof to depriue him of all authoritie respect honor vnto him due euen by him that should succeede him according to the Salick law who with this declaration should stil be assisted by these firebraÌ„ds of this tyme to the ende to make him withstand and ecclipse the bright sunne of his Maiestie What opinion would you wish Christian Princes to conceiue of your fidelitie when they shall knowe that without regarde of your bond to this Crowne you shall haue assisted the enemies therof against your King and the Lawes of the Realme Would you your King should haue occasion of ielouzy against him whom they pretend to cause to be nominated who also by such as shall haue aduaunced him might bee perswaded to lift his hornes ouer high and so to become a censor ouer his Lorde To be briefe I tell you the world could neuer beare two SuÌ„nes What greater recoÌ„pence may ye hope for of straungers that you knowe not then of your naturall Princes whoÌ„ God by his holy wil hath established ouer you Is it not felicitie enough for you to bee borne men to bee made Christians to haue bene brought vp Frenchmen See ye not well enough that the Lord Cardinall of Bourbon is but the vizard and pretence to runne into armes for the glutting of their ambition there is great zeale and likelihood in their deedes wheÌ„ they would name a successor aboue 60. yeeres olde broken and crooked to succeede a young King healthie lustie moderate in his exercizes and maner of dyet yea and all this contrary to Iustice and the lawes not onely of this Realme but also of all other the best ordered Estates that euer were whereby together with infinite reasons I haue shewed you that it is the King of Nauarre to whom the same should apperteyne Shall I with Cicero speaking of Cesar and Pompey tell you all They here offer vnto vs y e Image of the Lord Cardinall of Bourbon but would set vp their owne They will with that good man arme them selues and become more Kings then he whoÌ„ they make shew to loue more then any other and yet doe they loue themselues better euen to the preiudice of your honor life memorie and reputation if ye take not heede so that God will vndoubtedly suffer them to be swallowed vp when they haue bene the occasions of infinite murders robberies and spoyles For the letting whereof as also of all other mishap or destruction that wee attende of such ciuill warres as vnder this contention are brewed let vs withdrawe our selues to God and most humbly beseech him to order our hearts in one consent according to his holy will to the ende according thereunto wee may acknowledge and embrace our King who is the same to whom next after God we owe al and after the diuine power ought to bee vnto vs aboue all Let vs also weete that next vnto him we are bound to haue respect vnto him whom it hath pleased God to cause to be borne into the world to gouerne vs in the Royall dignitie whensoeuer it should please him to call away our king without issue capable of y e Crowne and together with him whom for vs he hath elected and blessed in his mothers wombe let vs with one heart and minde crye peace peace bee among vs glory to the Lorde on high and peace and good will vnto men Amen FINIS Sigisbert in his Chron. Sigisb fol. 233. Idem fol. 595. Idem fol. 596. Idem fol. 597. Idem fol. 599. Idem fol. 601. Sigis. in his Chron. Heman in his contraction of Chron. Idem Sigis. fol. 611. Idem fol. 612. Idem fol. eodem Munster Cosmog Sanso in his Chron. Vign in the orig of the French leg Salic lib. p. ca. 26 Paul Aem. in Philip. Vales Concil vol. 2. cap. 4. fol. 739. I. vel agnatis ff de relig l. ius sepulchri C. cod Ign. in disput an rex Franc. recog snper Mol. in coÌ„s paris tit p. ff 8. Bald. in ff vnic de feud March Ioh. de Teran in lib. coÌ„t reb reg Tract p art p. coÌ„cil 9. 10. 11. 12. Guil. de Month. in tract de suc reg Franc. l. 9. ff desp l. 32. parag si quis spon sam ff de don int vir l. 66. ff de iur dot l. 65. ff de don int vir l. 30. ff quand die leg ccd â— 10. ff de cond de monst l. 13. parag si minor ff ad leg iul de adult l. 4. ff de rit nupt l. 17. 18 ff de