A Caueat for France vpon the present euils that it now suffereth Together with the remedies necessarie for the same Translated out of French into English by E. Aggas LONDON Jmprinted by Iohn Wolfe 1588. A warning vnto France concerning her present calamities together with the remedies necessarie for the same THese three yeares and more hath France ben tormented with this war The wiser sort did in their iudgements foresee the mishaps and the foolish by the feeling thereof are waxen wise As well the one as the other that do indure them doo complaine both of the tediousnesse of the mischiefe and of the slackenesse of the remedie yea and which is more weenning to haue succour at the Phisicians hande they finde him intangled in the same disease and so a patient himselfe It is expedient as we see in this extremitie that all good Frenchmen shoulde gather their wits together that the patient should helpe the Phisician yea and in some sort become a Phisitian himselfe That he should I say for the full atteyning to the cure enter into perfect notice not so much of the disease which he doth but too much feele as of the true cause that breedeth it But we can not iudge either better or more soundly than if we ascend to the originall of these troubles and thence as it were with a full view set before the eyes of our mindes all that haue sence happened as well on the one side as on the other Truely it is euident and all the world knoweth that in the yeare 1585. about the month of March when the league began to stirre this realme was in tollerable estate the king imagined onely how to establish peace more and more his subiectes gathered the fruites thereof vnder his obedience his Maiesties minde was busied not so much about the consolidating of the wounds of his realme which the peace had alreadie reduced into scarres as to restore it into the former dignitie force and strength The borderers began alreadie in part to respect her and in part to feare her and vndoubtedly a few such yeares would haue reduced our France into a state rather to be enueied than enuious of the former The league which had long bin practising against the state of this realme did suddenly and to no purpose break off the happie course that we had taken whereof the house of Guize procured themselues to be tearmed Captaines and leaders A forreine house neither was it meete for it had beene against nature that France should be molested or ouerthrowen by other then strangers yea it seemes almost fatall that these men should do it whose fathers and vnkles had stirred vp all the former mischieues in this Realme It may be that some bitter iniurie might heereafter haue brought the subiect out of his right byas and wrongfully armed him against his Prince or countrie or a mans desperate estate who willingly would amend himself with others losse But these are vehement passions which do not alwaies harken vnto reason howbeit in this case that was no such matter For those of this house helde and did possesse the greatest benefits and chiefe dignities of this realme and all this through the bountie of our kinges and as for fauour authoritie and credite about his maiestie they had more than the princes of his bloud how catholikes soeuer who neuerthelesse did in silence and patience beare therewith preferring as alwaies they haue done the least teare or griefe of the people before their owne iust sorrowes These men as all the world knowe did enioy their soules in libertie their honours in authoritie their liues in safetie and their goods in tranquillitie All causes that might breed discontentment were farre from them and all such as may make a subiect content they had yea they had them in such measure that they wanted no more but to reigne and indeede to say the truth that also rather in title than in power or effect Hereupon who so list well to consider what might mooue them to stirre vp our estate which was in quiet or not to be able to beare their owne which was as good as might be wished shall bee forced in these men to confesse an vnbrideled and infinite ambition which cannot be tamed by any apprehension of the ouerthrow of a state together with the extreme miserie and calamitie of so many millions whom it entangleth which likewise could neuer bee limited with so much authoritie greatnesse and honour sufficient as they were well diuided to content all France It was as it was very well noted euen at that time correspondent to the auncient purpose of their predecessors who made themselues Charlemagnes heires so to ground a pretence to this realme and perceiuing that they could find no hope to come to their purpose so long as it cōtinued whole endeuoured by the continuation of the troubles to scatter and destroy it And indeede these men a yeare or two before procured a booke to be printed purposely which though falsely prooued them to be discended from thence and so consequently true heires and our kinges vsurpers of the crowne for the which the auctor made amendes honorable in the kinges full counsaile But when they see the Duke of Aniou deceased the king to haue no children and the king of Nauarre chiefe Prince of the bloud through his religion as they thought estranged from the peoples fauour they imagined the way to be then open to their extreeme ambition and the season to growe fitte for the hatching of their driftes Then beganne they afresh to kindle their practises and conuenticles to search out all malcontentes whether iustly or wrongfully to treat with the king of Spaine and such other potentates as enuied our realme wherof in short space sprong vp this curssed warre of the League which since hath kindled and consumed our poore estate Then by their publike protestation they required the king to name his heire and the same a catholike prince namely the Cardinall of Bourbon so to exclude the king of Nauarre This did they because that they knew that they could not climbe so high but by degrees and they would either gouerne or rule in France vnder the wings of the said Cardinall and now imagine you what a presupposition this was had there beene no deceit that the said lord Cardinall a prince alreadie verie old should suruiue our king being in the flower of his age The king of Nauarre whither by his right or by his vertue stopped their passage hereupon they declare him to be an heretike and so do pretend him to bee depriued of all the rights belonging to the blood of France but note that the king of Nauarre alwaies protested that he submitted himselfe to a free counsell offering thereby to be instructed and protesting that vntill then he could not be deemed an heretike They do so feare least hee shoulde returne into the Romish church and thereby their practises be ouerthrowen that whereas were they moued by charitie
or religion they should open him the way they do now shut the gate against him denouncing him to be a relaps fallen againe into heresie and so consequently incapeable to holde any dignitie much lesse to reigne in the Church Also whereas he had pertinently answered that whosoeuer is not first denounced an heretike can not be declared a relaps that hauing submitted himselfe to a counsaile he can not but by the same be condemned moreouer that whatsoeuer hee did being forced by extremitie can not bee so imputed vnto him as to make him a relaps Contarie to all these so peremptorie reasons contrary to all the doctors and contrarie to all the Cannons of the Church they doo stirre vp Pope Sixtus bull the Popes I say whome they haue circumuented as himselfe hath confessed who without anie formalitie and contrarie to all forme dooth at once declare the saide lorde king and the late lorde Prince vncondemned vnheard yea vncalled to be heretikes relapsed and excommunicate and so fallen from all rightes both present and to come A bull whereby they pretende to haue a free iudgement to exclude these princes who stopped them in the midde way but indeede such a one as contrariwise is alreadie preiudged both by the kings and parliaments of this realme who haue condemned and openly reiected it as erring both in matter and forme Thus are they ridde as they thinke of these two the neerest princes but nowe there rest the Catholike princes of Bourbon against whome these exceptions cannot be opposed for as for the Cardinall of Bourbon it is enough for them that hee liue so long as for the nourishing of their authoritie they shall stande in neede of him as being past age and danger thus thinke they to get them children Then against the Catholike princes descended of the late lorde prince of Conde they arme themselues with another exception brought into consequence out of the bull That is that the saide lorde prince their father died an heretike denounced whereby hee had forfaited all his rights and actions both for himselfe and his neither let the duke of Montpensier or his posteritie weene to escape though being engendred of a father as deuout a Catholike prince as euer was for hauing likewise followed their vagaries in this point For they of the league doo thinke by their principles to haue well enough prouided for them in that they write that the crowne is theirs before either Merouee Charlemaine or Capet This is then long before Saint Lewes from whome they are descended when by their bookes they pretende that beyonde the tenth degree there is no longer succession neither in heritage fees nor kingdomes and so consequentlie wee must haue recourse to a newe election for all the rest of the house of Bourbon are farre beyond that When to the ende to raise vp the foundations of this estate they do by expresse bookes call into doubt the Salike law whereby it hath so manie ages defended it selfe from strangers to the ende that after this no alteration may seeme strange These were the discourses which they published in their writings scattered among the people at the beginning of this warre whereby their drifts did euidently appeare to all wise men The king had no children neither was there any great hope thought they that euer he should get any The Cardinall of Bourbon was vnmarried and vnder his shadow their power might serue against the rest of the princes The king of Nauarre and late prince of Conde were denounced heretikes the Lords princes of Contie Cardinal of Vendosme and Earle of Soissons descended of a prince that fancied heresie so by vertue of the bull entangled in the like degradation The duke of Montpensier and princes of Ombes verie farre off yea beyond the tenth degree which said they stopped vp their gate to the succession and opened another to the election of a newe prince Thus you see they haue ridde and swept the way to come to the crowne neither is there anie other question but to imploy labour and force whereby to bring the state violently into their facultie The enterprise was high difficult for the Frenchmans nature still draweth to the right It was a harde matter thus to exclude a prince in respect of some diuersitie in religion yea such a one as craueth to bee instructed in a counsell also the house of Bourbon hath so well these many ages deserued of the state and that is so well imprinted in their minds as it were incorporate into all good Frenchmen that they were in great doubt lest the wrong that shoulde bee done thereto would bee verie sensible to all the degrees in France It was therefore necessarie for them to be assisted by some forreine rich mighty prince whō to that end they were to cal into part Wherupō before the blow they practised with the king of Spaine they got great sums of mony from him which they distributed among their partakers they promised as a pledge of their faith to commit into his hands the best townes that they could take namely Bourdeux and Marseilles which they made sure account of farther alluring him with some hope to procure the crowne to fal into his daughters hands by abolishing the Salique law and to begin withall they should bring him into Brittain Matters discouered by their owne letters and remembrances matters which the king and his especiall seruants know well enough yea they had gone so farre that the said king of Spaine a while had his armie readie and vnder saile to fall thereupon had he not in time beene preuented yea hee had his reasons readie composed by the Spanish doctor whereby he pretended to iustifie his discent in Britaine as by right vnto him appertaining euen as hee had made his vsurpation in Portugall Their discourse was for they supposed thēselues to be craftie enough to cause all the ambition in the world to bow vnder theirs that this prince was old and decrepit and could not liue manie yeares that at his decease hee shoulde leaue his estates scattered and in danger of troubles which woulde keepe his heires from looking any farther and that in the meane time they should get helpe and succour in their present necessitie and that it rested onelie hereafter to looke to that might happen But this prince who is but too skilfull in his owne affaires was wise enough to take his time for the obteining from them as an earnest pennie a great piece of seruice yea such as peraduenture will boile for euer in this realme For perceiuing that his states of the low countries had sent their deputies to the king to yeeld themselues into his armes and to giue him their persons For a first seruice that he demandeth of our masters of the League he willeth them to take armes at the verie instant that his maiestie was to resolue vpon the propositiō of the said estates otherwise he protesteth against them meaneth not in time
was but in vaine to speak of any for they had taken so good order in Germany that there could be no leauie made for the king of Nauarre and if there should yet did they promise to fight with it yea euen to go to seeke it to the verie borders of the Rhine The foolisher sort such as with their passions were drunken beleeued these things and felt euen to the bottomes of their purses to see these miracles so stoutly affirmed by these triaclers If wise men experienced captains purposed to declare all these things to be vaine If they alleaged that our kings had employed 25. yeres in vaine that there was neuer a sinew in this realme but had bin strained or neuer a veine but had bin launced drawen dry then they said that these enterprisers were of a far other sort that they knew other secrets thē they found So greatly doth the worlde delight to be deceiued at her own cost yea so far doth this age enimie of her felicity delight to abandon her selfe to the first potticary Now let vs see what this mountaine will bring forth The kinges armies are deliuered to the authors of the league the king abandoneth all his force and authoritie into their hands they also without sparing do put thereto as much as their credite wil reach They haue Lancknights Switzers and Reisters the Clergie do endeuour themselues to pay these armies euē with the sale of their temporalties though not without repentance the king and his people do spende foure yeares profit in one the king of Spaine employeth one part of his Indies to be briefe in this realm we haue now that which was neuer seene before viz. eight armies at once in the field and euerie of them able to besiege euerie of them painfully employed each in his quarter In the meane time the king of Nauarre hath all this while neither succour nor assistance from any place all his enimies haue condemned him to the death and al that loued him do dispaire of him What may a iust cause do in the assurance of a courage against all endeuors this Prince was neuer seene stoupe lesse that doth euery one know or set himself more stiftely against aduersity but indeed what is not the almighty able to warrant those that walke vprightly He breathed vpon all these armies and they scattered of thēselues before they had doone any thing sauing there was some sconce or village takē which cost vs millions neither doth it appeare that euer they were vnlesse by the destructiō of the countrey or desolatiō of the people For in the weakening of the king of Nauarre or of his partakers nothing can be knowen Now let vs I pray you grow to account leaue robbing of our owne purse In the gouernment of Guyen they haue both employed and displayed all their miracles and powers who then would not rather haue Taillebourg Royan Talmont and Fontenay then Monsegur S. Bazeile Castillon And Castillon I say the labor triumphes of the L. of Mayne the sepulchre of so many mē the bottomles gulph of so much coin recouered againe by the L. of Turenne in one houre with ten shillings worth of ladders In Languedocke who wold change S. Pons Lodeue Capestan for Marueiolz or in Dauphine wherwith shall wee counterpeize Montlimar Ambrun and Dic And all this gotten in one night with ten pound of powder whereas a small castle must cost vs both monethes store houses and armies neither can we say that in recompence hereof they haue lost more men For it is well enough knowen that the assailant alwaies looseth a hundred for tenne The ouerthrow of the L. of Vius the recouery of Montlimar the battaile at Coutraz would say somewhat hereof where we lost so much nobility without any reciprocall losse on their side where also so much good French bloud was prodigally spilled which might haue beene better employed else where whereof also wee imagine our selues well comforted poore wretches that we are when in the pallace they rore out vnto vs the ouerthrowe of the Switzers And all this afore mentioned did he without any forreine succour albeit both England and Germanie did in the beginning make sufficient shew there of their gooodwils to this prince and his affaires Whome God thus guided through his wonderfull prouidence to the end euery man might well perceiue that the king of Nauarre and his alone without any support might be able to maintaine themselues against the league that the people likewise might note their fraude and boasting when they made this enterprise so easie and so became wiser and lesse passionate hereafter but especially that such as feare God and do assure themselues to march vnder the conduct of his prouidence might the more euidently perceiue his blessing ouer the iustice and innocencie of this prince more euidently I say in his weakenesse then in his force and contrariwise his wrath and curse ouer the violence iniuries of those of the league in the greatnes of their power and vanitie of their effects But marke now I pray you Now that they be recreant able to do no more the king of Nauarre whom they should haue chosen to the end of the world doth in our view keepe the field forceth out townes with the Canon gathereth new strength and before our noses in the middest of France dare giue vs battaile and neuer vouchsafe to attende the succour that he is farre of Beholde also on the other side the strangers came in with a mightie and terrible armie which these our masters should haue through their diligence choaked in Germanie or at the least haue defeated vppon the border of Rhine and yet euen in their presence it passeth the heart of Lorraine goeth through all their gouernments without anie one alaram and is felt euen in our bowels and when these good marriners haue cast vs into the storme or brought vs vpon the rocke not knowing to what saint to vow thēselues they leaue vs to the oare and without any speech steale them selues into the skiffe accounting themselues sufficiently discharged with a saue who saue can Truelie it is nowe therefore time for vs to thinke vpon our affaires for we haue let our selues runne too farre after their wrongfull passions Too late doo wee perceiue their malice and our rashnesse for long since haue they purposed to take to themselues spoile of our owne wrecke It is high time for vs all with like endeuours to set hande vnto that holy anker which is able to warrant our vessell from shipwracke and which onely in this perill may stand vs in steede of a hauen To what purpose will yee say is all this large discourse Truelie to the end wee may rather late then neuer perceiue that we prosecute a wrongfull and vnprofitable warre and therefore that by some end we shorten the course of our follies Wrongfull I say and therefore we are assured of Gods cursse