Haillan himselfe confesseth that before the time of Philip le Long 1321. Iamais auparauant on n'en auoit oâ—y parler la faisant en ce temps la approuuer partous les Seigneurs du royaume les â—ns par promesser les autres par force et par menaces The Law Salique was neuer heard tell of before this Kings time who caused it to bee ratified by all the Nobles of his Kingdome some by faire promises and others by force and threates Hereupon they haue their prouerbe Le royaume de France ne peut tomber de Lance en quenouille The Kingdome of France cannot fall from the Lance to the Distaffe Some say it is called Salique of the Saliens a people anciently inhabiting about the Ryuer of Rhein but the likelyest is that it comes of the two words wherwith iâ— begins Sâ— aliqua and which are often repeated therein as in many of our processes vpon some word therein vsed they take their names as a Scire facias a Nisi prius a Latitat Touching that of Appennages which is also a Law of great consequent for the Crowne for by this thâ— Domayne cannot bee aliened and by the other thâ— Crowne cannot fall into the hands of strangers You must note that this Law imports that the yoÌ„ger sonnes of the King cannot haue partage with the Elder which till the time of Charelemagne when this was made they might they must onely haue Appennage sans propriâ—te By which Charter of Appennage is giuen all profits arising of the said Apannes as Domaine the hundreth rents rights of Seigneurie parties casuelles lots sales hommages right of vassallage Forrests ponds ryuers iurisdictions patronages of Churches prouisions and nomination of Chappels goods of Main-mort fifts of Lands sold and all other profites and commodities whatsoeuer to returne to the Crowne for want of heire male But the leuying of taxes and aydes the minting of money and all other things of regality reserued Some are so curious to deriue this word from the Greekes of Apan totum and Agnon sanctum Because forsooth the French returning from the holy Land by Greece saw there the like course vsed which they brought home with them Others say it comes of Pain bread because it was for their sustenance much like the Lawe of the olde Romanes for the maintenance of their daughters to whome they allowed a yeerely pension out of their lands But others say it is deriued from the Almaigne word Abannage which signifies a portion excluded from the rest that because they haue this particular allowance they can make no claime to any other of the Princes states This Appennage hath often beene so great as it hath bred many inconueniences as that of the Duchie of Burgondie by Charles the fift to his brother Philip which did often after much preiudice the Crowne of France And that of the Duchie of Normandie by Lewes the eleuenth to his brother which was after changed for Guyenne and that againe for Champagne and againe at last for Berry whereabout were great troubles for many yeeres in France as by the Historie appeares Oftentimes also the yonger brothers are content to take yeerely pensions and quite their said Duchies or Counties holden in Appennage Concerning the other sort of Lawes in this Realme they are infinite which argueth a consequente that they be ill kept for gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas and ab Antecedente that the people of this Countrey haue beene ill enclined for euill maners cause good lawes These French lawes are too full of preambles processes interims and prouisoes as by all their ordinances edicts appeareth Nihil mihi frigidius videtur quam lex cum prologo iubeat lex non suadeat There is nothing me thinks colder then a Law with a Prologue Let a Lawe commaund and not perswade Of all these Lawes I will onely name you this one Que la minorite du Roy soit assisteé d' vn Conceit esleu par les Estats de France auquel les Princes du sang doiuent tenir le premier lieu et les estrangers esolus That the minoritie of the King shal be assisted with a Councel chosen by the States of France wherein the Princes of the blood ought to holde the first place and strangers to be excluded which was enacted at Toures by Charles 8. anno 1484. I tell you of this as of the true source and spring of all these late ciuil warres because the Cadets of Lorraine by insinuation with the young Kings Frances the second and Charles the ninth vnder the fauour of the Q. Mother tooke vpon them to manage all publike matters at their owne pleasure and thrust out the first Princes of the bloud of the house of Burbon Whereupon Nauarre and Condie the Princes of this family assisted by many of the FreÌ„ch Noblesse embarqued themselues in the action of reforming such an abuse and displacing the Guysard out of this authoritie tooke it vpon themselues to whome it rightly belonged Of these ciuill broyles I meane by way of digression somewhat to speake to giue you better taste thereof as also to see in what miserable tearmes this present King found the State of whome by order of this relation I am next to remember La France a souffert sâ—pt guerres et a veusix edicts de pacification en leursguerres ciuiles France in these ciuill broyles hath suffred seuen warres and seene sixe Edicts of Pacification The first was in sixty three at Paris the second in sixty seuen at Longemeau the third in seuenty at Paris the fourth in seuenty sixe at Ienuile when first began the League at Peronne the fift at Poicters in seuenty seuen the sixt in eighty one Not one of these Proclamations which was not brokeÌ„ new flames of warre kindled the imputation whereof the French Writers lay most vpon the Q. Mother by whom she is compared to Fredegunde Brunhalt two damnable Queenes of France and the Firebrands of their time She came from the Family of the Medices in Florence in which City ye may note that in three seuerall yeres but not much distant were borne three seuerall Monsters Alexander Medices that spoyled Florence of her liberty the fairest City in Italy This woman that ruined France the fairest Kingdome of Europe And Machiauell that poysoned Europe the fayrest part of the world She bare too great loue to her old friends of Lorraine and too little to her young sonnes of Valois her hate was too hote to the reformed ReligioÌ„ and her care too cold to reforme the State She had too much wit for a woman and too little honesty for a Queene for where one is without the other a little is too much Next her are charged the Cadets of Lorraine in three ages the Grandfather the father child and al of their houses for he that will rightly compare the times shall find that the drift of the Count S. Paul in Lewes
ready to giue the enemy he should haue great care of his own person for that the Sacrifices had foreshewd some danger Sparte dit il ne depend pas d' vn homme seul Sparta depends not vpon one man alone This Plutarch reproued in Pelopidas And Homer in his descriptions makes alwayes Achilles Aiax and the best and chiefest Commaunders best armed Stetit sub Aiacis clipeo septemplice tectus The shield of Aiax seuen-fold Did shrowd him safe and make him bold And the lawes of Greece punished that Souldier that threw away his buckler But I will end this discourse with the answere of Timotheus to Chares a Generall talking of his many woundes of the body and hackes in his shield and I quoth he quite contrary am ashamed of this that when I besieged Samos I came so neere the walles that an arrowe from the Towne lighted hard by me For that Ie m' estois trop aduance en ieune homme hazarde plus temerairement qu'il ne conuenoit à Chef d'vne si grosse armée I went too farre like a forward yong fellow and hazzarded my selfe more rashly then became the Generall of so great an Army For the chiefe Commaunder is the moity of the whole force When one told Antigonus that the enemy had more shipping then he at the I le of Andros Et moy dit-â—l ponz combien de vaisseux conte tu I pray you for how many ships count you me If then one Generall be in stead of many ships at sea and many troopes at land it behoueth he be carefull to keepe those forces well that is him selfe if he will doe his Countrey good seruice You must note therefore that there is no man so great by birth or Noble whom it well becommeth not to be as valiant and forward as the best euen though hee were a King and indeed the greater hee is the more his honour is engaged to be valiant prouided alwayes that hee bee not the chiefe Commaunder of the Army As the King of Boheme dyed in the field on the French Kings side fighting against the English in France with more honour then the French King Francis the first at Pauie in Italy where by his too great forwardnesse hee was taken Prisoner Therefore it is that one saith Vn bon saye General doit mourir de vieilesse A good and discreet Generall should dye of age But to returne to the King Hee is naturally very affable and familiar and more we strangers thinke then fits the Maiesty of a great King of France But it is the fashion of this Countrey of France as Bodin sayth though he seeme much to misse-like it and preferreth the fashion of England Suedon and Poland where the Princes haue more Maiesty and reuerence among their subiects For as Plutarch sayth C'est bien difficile de maintenir vne seuere grauité pour garder sa reputation en se laissanâ— familierement hauter à tout le monde T is a hard matter for a man to keepe a seuere grauity for the vpholding of his reputation if he familiarize himselfe with euery body Wherevpon he there sheweth how retyredly Pericles liued from the common view of the vulgar sort So we likewise reade of the Kings of Borny Aethiope Tartary the grand Signor himselfe and the great Duke of Moscouy that they seldome come abroad in publike to be seene of the people We may therefore say of the Frenches liberty as Artabanus Lieutenant General to Xerxes said to Themistocles Quant à vouâ— autres Grecs on dit que vous estimez la liberte et l'egalite sur toutes autres choses mais quant à nous entre plusieurs autres belles constumes et ordonnances que nous â—uous celle-la nous semble la plus belle de reuerer et adorre nostre Roy comme limage de Dieu de nature qui mantient toutes choses en leur estre leur entier T is sayd that you Greeks aboue all things esteeme liberty equality but among many other our excellent customes ordinances wee iudge this to be the best to reuerence and adore our King as the Image of the God of nature that maintaynes all things in their being and perfection And we may wel inferre as Haillan doth Familiaritas parit contemptum and contemptus coniurationem le mesprise est la cause de coniurations contre le Prince Familiarity breeds contempt and contempt treason You saw here in Orleans when the Italian Commedians were to play before him how himselfe came whifling with a small wand to scowre the coast and make place for the rascall Players for indeed these were the worst company and such as in their owne Countrey are out of request you haue not seene in the Innes of Court a Hall better made a thing me thought most derogatory to the Maiesty of a King of France And lately at Paris as they tell vs when the Spanish Hostages were to be entertayned he did Vsher it in the great Chamber as he had done here before and espying the Chayre not to stand well vnder the State mended it handsomly himselfe and then set him downe to giue them audience It followeth I speake of his descent and Pedigree wherein you shall see hee is lineally descended of the house of Burbon from Robert Earle of Clermont yonger sonne to Lewes surnamed the Saint from whome for default of heires males in the house of Valois descending of Philip le hardi the elder brother hee is now rightly entituled to the Crowne of France The lineall descent of this house of Burbon whose word is Esperance Hope is this Saint Lewes had two sonnes namely Philip le Hardy King of France Robert Earle of Cleremont married to Beatrice daughter to Archibald of Burbon Lewes Count of Cleremont first Duke of Burbon married to Mary Countesse of Heynalt Iaques Duke of Burbon maried to Iane de S. Paul Iohn Duke of Burbon Count of March maried to Katherin Countesse of Vandosme Lewes of Burbon Count of Vendosme maried to Iane of Lauall Iohn of Burbon Count of Vendosme and Isabel his wife Francis of Bur. Count of Vendosme to Mary of Luxembroughe Countesse of S. Paul Charles of Burbon to Francis of Alencon Anthony of Burb. King of Nauarre Henry 4. K. of France Nauarre 3. base children Caesar D. de Vandosme Henryette a daughter Alexander Count de Foix. Katherine Princesse of Nauarre now presently to be married to the Prince of Lorraine Francis Du. of AnguieÌ„ Charles Card of Burbon Iohn Du. of Ang. Marguerite maried to the D. of Nener Lewes of Bur. Prince of Conde Henry P. of Conde Henry Prince of Conde heire apparent to the Crowne of France Francis P. of Conty Charles Count of Soissons NOw yee see from what Ancestors he is come yee must also obserue what issue is come of him In the vnfortunate and inhumane massacre at Paris wherein the olde
so little as scarse any at all They say that the chamber of Accounts is to examine the Kings gifts and if they find any vnmeasurable to shorten them to which purpose there is written in great letters in the same court Trop donnè soit repeté Let gifts too great be reuoked It should seeme hee saues them this labour Such a parsimonious sparer was Lewes 11. of whom in the said chamber of Accounts as Bodin saith it is recorded that he wore a greazy hatte and clothes of the coursest stuffe and there likewise yee shall find a reckoning of 20. sols that is ii s. sterling for a new payre of sleeues to his olde dublet an another of 15. deniers that is three halfe-pence for grease to liquor his bootes This was he that made his Taylor his Herald of Armes his Barber his Ambassador and his Surgeon his Chancellor of whome Commines reporteth many vertues as many faults and yet it should seeme that Commines his seruant would not tell all for so sayth another of the French Historians discoursing impartially of this Lewes Nous auous librement dit ce que Commines n' a osc et volu dire et ce que les autres n' ont sceu We haue freely spoken what Commines durst not nor would not speake and what others knew not Though he himselfe protesteth that he left none of his trumperies and double dealings vnreuealed Non pour en vser mais pour en gardez Not to practise but to preuent theÌ„ As we desire to know the poyson in the Apothecaries shop from his other good drugges not to vse to the hurt of others but to shunne for the safety of our selues And howsoeuer Haillan taxe him of impartialitie true it is that the Q. Mother did not like him of all others For said she hee hath made as many Heretikes in Policy as euer Luther made in Religion by discouering the secrets of State Which should be kept as secret as the Caball of the Iewes or verses of the Druides But neither the sparing of this Prince that now raigneth of whose vertues I will presently speake nor the faults of Lewes the 11. make them the onely two Kings of this Realme taxable aboue the rest For one of their writers sayth in general that France hath fatally beene subiect to this malheur desaster to haue Kings imbecilles et estroppiez de l' entendement weake and lame in iudgement He reckoneth vp many as Charles the great a paillard a wencher Pepin a vsurper Lewes the first lasche et mol faint-harted and effeminate and after these three other Charleses the baldâ— the grosse the simple which no doubt if they had deserued better Epithites should haue had them Insomuch as one concludeth of the good Kings of France as Suetonius did of the Princes of his time Se pouuoyend bien touts grauez en vn anneau they might al be grauen in one ring But I had rather conclude with Bodin There is no Prince without his fault Howbeit those few that are in this Prince are recompenced with many very heroicall and princely vertues both of body mind For those of the mind let me only coÌ„mend the excellency of wit and suddennesse of answere whereof wee may take acknowledgemeÌ„t in these three which I wil here recount answerable in my opinioÌ„ to any of those Apophthegms of the olde Kings or Philosophers which history hath commeÌ„ded to vs. At his being here at Orleans this Iune last past the Maior and Burgeses of the Towne came to his Maiestie to desire they might bee eased of certayne extraordinary taxes and impositions wherewith in the time of the league they had been burdened by Mons. de la Chastre their Gouernour Saith he M. de la Chastre vous a liguez qu'il vous desligue M. de la Chastre hath tide you let him vntye you At his being at the siege of Amiens amongst others of the Noblesse which he summoned to that seruice he sent also for the Count Soissons a Prince of the bloud one of the rarest Gentlemen of France to whom the King giues as is said 5000. Crowns pensioÌ„ The Count at that time discontented returned the King answere that he was a poore Gent. wanted meanes to come to that seruice as became one of his birth place being a Prince of the bloud Peere of France he therfore most humbly craued pardon and that hee would pray for his Maiesties prosperous successe which was all he could doe Well saith the King Dautaut que les prieres ne seruent point sans ieusne il faut qu' il ieusne de la pension de ses 5000. escus Seeing prayer is not acceptable without fasting my couzin shall hereafter fast from his pension of fiue thousand Crownes After the death of the Duke of Guise when almost all France had reuolted from the late King like a poore Roy d' Iuidot as the French prouerbe is he was chased of them of the League from all places of France to Toures and was there as it were besieged of Charles Duke of Mayenne After that this King present came thither with his small forces to the distressed Kings succour the King of France whose name was also Henry would needes perswade Henry King of Nauarre with those small forces which they both had to march out of the Towne and encounter the Dukes forces who were double the number Sirs saith hee ne hazardons point vn double Henry contre vn Carolus Let vs not play a double Henry against a Carolus that is a peece of gold of 14 shillings and this a peece of brasse onely of 10. deniers For his valour and princelike courage it is such to say truly as neuer any of his Predecessors Kings of France were matchable to him who for the space of almost thirty yeeres hath as one would say neuer beene vnarmed without his foote in the stirrop and his lance in the rest hath beene himselfe in person the formost in all perils and last out of the field A Prince not long in the resoluing but once resolued quicke to performe and himselfe alwayes one in the executioÌ„ though perhaps some wil taxe this hazarding of his owne person as a matter of imputation and better befitting a young Prince of Nauarre then a great King of France For as I read Epaminâ—ndas was fined for hauing beene too forward seruing without good armour after a great victory which he had vpon the Lacedemonians This forwardnesse indeed is most honourable and prayse worthy in all Nobilitie and Commaunders whatsoeuer excepting onely the chiefe Iphicrates an Athenian Captayne sayd the Vantâ—urrers resembled the hands the Gensdarmes the feet the Batallion on foot the brest and the Generall the head which saith hee must best be armed and carefullest bee garded And therefore the answere of Callicratidas is disliked who when it was tolde him that in the battell hee was
as to get that from another which is not our owne For as it is truely said of the Spanish King that hee hath not got vpon the French money by victories but victories by money And as Plutarch saith of Philip of Macedon It was not Philip but his golde and siluer that tooke the townes of Greece So may we say of his Treaties which hee hath had with France whereunto hee hath of force beene driuen euen as Ennius saith of Fabius Our State which witlesse force made wayne His wise delayes made waxe agayne For that this nation will rather yeeld the enemie what he demandeth then bee troubled with long deliberation a thing so contrarie to his nature as nothing more You may obserue by the course of later Histories that the Spaniards purpose was to deale with France as Alcibiades said the Athenians would deale by them of Patrae They will eate you out by litle and little To which purpose in all these late ciuill Warres King Philip played the Fire-brand like the Priests of Mars who when two Armies were met threw fire betweene them for a signall of battell to set them together and then retired themselues from the danger He set the Popes on also to kindle this fire who were but Barkers and could not bite their leaden Buls did but butt they could not hurt abler to curse then to kill whose force is like that of a Whet-stone Which though it sharpnesse lacke Yet yron sharpe can make But when hee saw that little England which is to Spaine as Alcibiades said the I le Aegina was to Athens Vne paille en l'ail a mote in his eye did trump in his way and crosse his dessignes and when as hee considered that as Henry the second of France was the only cause of hindering his father Charles the fift from vsurping vpon all Germanie for which cause hee is called in their publike writings The Protector of the Empire and deliuerer of the Princes So her Maiestie by defending the oppressed and withstanding his Forces deserueth the Title of Protectrix of France and deliuerer of the Estates Hee was then content to motion a Peace and like a false friend when he could doe no more hurt to shake hands Herevpon he did capitulate to render Calâ—is Durlens Ardres Blauet and other places conquered or surprised vpon the French A course no question wisely taken by the Spaniard considering the termes wherein hee stoode the want of money hee had the credit hee had lost in all Bankes the decrepit age wherein he was and lastly the sudden and incredible good fortunes of the French King and State after so many yeres of miserie and losse As for the French what could he haue done more dishonourable to himselfe or profitable to his enemies or preiudiciall to his late Allies what lesse agreeing with the time with his cause with his oath then to yeeld to this peace But it hath bene an old tricke of the French to obserue neither promise nor oath as Clouis the first saith Haill lib. 1. Wee may say of their purpose as Plutarch of Lisanders Children are deceiued with chance bones and mâ—n with oathes In this schoole of Fraude Pope Iulius 2. was well read who professed to his priuate friends that all the Treaties which he made with the Princes of France Germanie and Spaine was but to deceiue the one of them by the other But let the French take heede there come not a day of payment for this who are so hastie to abandon their friends and make peace with their foes onely vpon a foolish naturel of theirs to desire change and to enioy their present ease and pleasure not foreseeing future daungers like Schoole-boyes who care not so they may play to day though they be britcht to morrow When the Dukes of Burgondie Berrie and Bretaine were combined against Lewes the 11. of France as were lately England France and States against Spaine the counsell of Francis Zforce to the King was for the present to agree to all things they desired and after saith hee in short time ye shall haue occasion when they are disleagued to deale with them one by one And we may well say of this King present as the Count Charollois feared of the Duke of Berrie the French Kings brother That he was a likely man to be soone drawen to agree leaue vs in the mire forgetting the olde sentence It is the true signe of the approching ruine of a Countrey when those that should holde together diuide themselues and abandon one another And howsoeuer for the present the French bragge to be gayners by the bargayn I am sure their Allies haue no part of the Gasteau Cake It is true therefore that Commines saith There was neuer so plentifull a mariage feast but some went without their dinners Wherein me thinks we haue great wrong to beare a burden with them in their Warres and not to partake with them in the benefit of their Peace Maximilian the first Emperour said hee made Peace for no other end with Lewes the twelfth but to be reuenged of seuenteene wrongs he had done him The King present by the policie of this age and law Talionis might say and doe the like to the Spaniard not for seuenteene wrongs but for seuenteene yeeres wrongs hee hath receiued which when hee shall haue done it is but quittance and the other shall be but iustly serued for saith Bodin He which is falsly dealt with hauing himselfe first played false hath no cause to complaine And surely the French must againe shortly bee doing with him or some other or at least one with another at home he will soone be as wearie of Peace as he is now of warre La nation Françoise est insolent en pain impatiente de demurer long temps en la maison The French nation is insolent in Peace impatient of tarrying long at home ¶ Thus haue you a superficiall suruey of this Country and People of France of whom we may conclude with La Nouë Plus de la moitié de la Noblesse est perié le peuple diminué les finances espuisées les debts accreuës la discipline renuersée la pieté languisant les moeurs desbordées la iustice corrumpuë les hommes diuises More then halfe the Noblesse is perished the people diminished the Treasure exhausted the debts increased good Order ouerthrowen Religion languished maners debaucked Iustice corrupted and the men diuided I make no doubt but to these slender obseruations you wil after adde better of your own Collection vsing this onely as the patterne of a method how to discourse of the Cosmography Policie and Oeconomy of such other Countries wherein you shall trauaile FINIS Caesar Com. lib. 1. P. Commines Limits P. Commines Cabinet du Roy Bodin lib. 6. La Noüe Prouinces La Guide CoÌ„modities La Noüe Bod. li. 6. Bod. contra Malatest Bod. contra Mal. Iustin. Poggio Cabinet