after the Huguenot fashion nor to accept of an Edict of Abolition and Amnesty in that all Edicts of that nature do presuppose Crimes whereas they intended to presuppose as a Foundation to their Treaties that their Arms were just They scorned an Edict as from a King to his Subjects but a Treaty by which they would acknowledge him but upon certain Conditions they presupposing they had no reason to acknowledge him during the old Cardinal of Bourbon's Life or all the time that he was not a Catholick Du Plessis was far from hearkning unto any such Conditions and pretended before all other things that the King's Authority and Dignity should be acknowledged and presupposed Therefore the Negotiation cou'd not take effect in his Hands notwithstanding it went on very far towards the King's Instruction which the Leaguers resolved to be sure of before mention was made of any thing else The two Negotiators easily agreed upon a Conference between the Doctors of both Religions tho' each of them upon this Subject had particular Prospects Therefore all the difficulty betwixt them consisted in the manner of the thing Villeroy would have the King to be instructed with a Promise of making himself a Catholick For he took the Words to get himself instructed in the sence that the Romish Church has always given them to wit for an irrevocable Ingagement to enter into their Communion after a Conference in shew which in his Language is called Instruction Du Plessis on the contrary would have them to be satisfied that the King shou'd testifie a desire to embrace the Romish Religion if he cou'd do it without wronging his Conscience They agreed at last on an expedient which was that the King should get himself instructed at a limited time with a Desire and Intention to be joined to the Romish Church provided a Method for his instructing was found-out that shou'd answer his Dignity and be able to satisfie his Conscience Du Plessis thought that this Instruction might turn to the advantage of the Reformed Religion in observing two things The first was to hold a serious Conference where the controverted points should be throughly discussed and wherein he made no doubt but the Ministers and the Truth would carry a compleat Victory His design was to assemble the most learned Protestants at Saumur there to study the controverted Matters and to give to each a part a question to be examined with all possible care to discover the beginning the progress the changes of every particular thing and with the Historicall understanding of these Matters desired each one to seek such for Arguments in Law as were proper for the explanation of the Turth The King himself seemed to approve of this expedient and commanded him to prepare that Conference to which he invited du Jon a famous Divine at Newstadt and afterwards at Leyden But the Catholicks wou'd admit of a Formal Conference only and by little and little brought the King over to their Opinion The second thing that du Plessis had an eye upon was that before the stated time of the Conference should fall out the Catholicks shou'd have assurances given them of having nothing innovated in Matters of Religion there would then be two things to be regulated the one in supposing the Kings Conversion happened the other in expecting till it came to pass and he hoped that on the latter point such advantages should be granted to the Catholick Religion for its Honour and Safety that after this the Catholicks would give over the Conversion it self Whence it would follow that the King being less urged to change his Religion could continue in the Reformed In effect he had easily remained in it âf it had not hindred him to reign in Peace But he loved Rest ând Pleasure from which he met in the War and the confusion of his Affairs with too tedious Interruptions and the unseasonable seeking whereof made him sometimes lose favourable occasions of carrying great advantages over his Enemy The Negotiation therefore went on so fast that Villeroy beginning to abate of the high Pretentions of the League it seemed that Peace would be concluded and that the King having heard the Report of du Plessis Revol and he were charged to draw up ân Edict conformable to the Articles agreed upon in the Confeâence But this Secret was smell'd out it not being known well ây whom the matter was revealed the Reformed imputing it to the subtilty of Villeroy and the Leaguers who had feigned to âearken to the Treaty but for to draw more Succours and better âonditions from the Spaniards and Villeroy on the other hand ââcusing du Plessis of Perfidiousness The Royal Catholicks took ââre to encourage the Leaguers to stand more stedfast to the Reliââon foreseeing well that it was intended by the Peace to free the âing from the necessity of changing which could never be imâosed upon him but by the Tediousness of the War and the Fears of ill Successes Moreover they imagin'd they could never have sufficient Securities given them if they consented that a Reformed King shou'd be establish'd on the Throne seeing he wou'd leave the Crown to an Heir of the same Religion Chiefly in the manner that the Succession then stood they saw nothing that cou'd ease them of their Scruples The Prince of Conde who was the next Heir to Henry IV. was then at St John de Angeli in the Hands of the Reformed and under the Tutoring of his Uncle Trimouille a Lord whose Zeal and Valour caused already Jealousies at Court and acquired him the Confidence of those of his Religion There was a likelyhood that this Prince after such an Education should tread in the Footsteps of his Father and Grandfather and that so the Catholick Religion being no more the ruling one it should fall of it self Besides the Catholicks finding out that they themselves did not design to grant any Favours to the Reformed but because they could do no otherwise under a King that was their Favourer but that they would cause them if it were possible one day to be recall'd when they should have a King more depending on their Counsels they feared the same thing should happen if the King did not change Religion to the Securities that necessity should give the Roman Religion The Catholicks nevertheless obtained in these Conferences the freeing the King of the fear of offending the Reformed by taking the Measures for his Instruction forasmuch as he of all the Reformed who was the least suspected in matter of Religion was very willing of this Instruction to make an Article of a Treaty of Peace The Hope of the approaching Fall of Popery dazled this Sage Politician as well as others and he did reckon a little too fast as did most of the Ministers upon the assured Victories of Truth so soon as it would be brought to light by serious Disputes At the same time the Catholicks shewed their Aversion for the Reformed in what they
excused himself upon the Parliaments being of a contrary Advice which he had consulted about it and upon that he desired the Affair should be debated in a full and solemn Company Mean while he sent the Bishops into their Diocesses The Clergy passionately desired to send to Rome to engage the King by that means into a Negotiation with the Pope the Success of which would oblige him to change his Religion or else would deprive him of the Service of the Catholicks if he refused to turn They would also have him sometimes for the same reason to write himself to the Pope for to tye the Party the more strictly The Reformed opposed both because they dispaired of their own Safety if the King should engage in any Commerce with Rome Their Reasons for to hinder him were drawn from Considerations of State and from the Kings Reputation which would be in hazard thereby what-ever Success it should meet with because that in that Juncture of Affairs he could make no Offers to the Pope but what wou'd be a prejudice to his Dignity So that for that time they had the Advantage over the Passion of the Catholicks This was the year that the Viscount of Turene being supported by the Recommendations of the Queen of England rais'd for the King a gallant Army with the Protestant Princes of Germany with whom from that time forward his Merit got him such Ties as he kept all his Life-time This Service added to so many others that he had rendred the King a long time was the Cause that he was pick'd out to be the Man to espouse the Heiress of Sedan whom it was of the King's Interest to marry to a Man of Trust by reason of the important Places she held And it was by this Marriage that this Principality entred into the House of the Tower of Auvergne in as much as the Princess who died without Issue a little while after left it by her last Will to her Husband The King for to bind more and more to his Service this Lord made him a Marshal of France tho' the Catholicks were mad to see a Reformed rais'd to so high a Dignity This new Grandeur augmented much the Credit he had already amongst Protestants and which sometimes had appeared so great as to give some Jealousie to his Master But this Army set the Catholicks very much upon thinking they fearing least the King with these new Forces should easily conquer his Enemies and afterwards forget the Promise of getting himself instructed They therefore did their utmost to hinder it's entring into France or to disperse it after it should enter there So as that they us'd all their Endeavours to divert the Fund which was kept for the payment of these Troops But du Plessis who was the Master of this Fund because it proceeded from the Alienation of the Dominion of Navarre managed the business so well that he kept the best part on 't notwithstanding the hard and severe Letters the King sent him upon that Subject There was that same year a kind of a Pragmatick drawn by form of an Interim for the distributing and administring Benefices The Reformed were satisfied with it as with a Preparative for a general Reformation The Parliaments upheld it as profitable for the good of the State The Archbishop of Bourges did accept it because he hoped to be made a Patriarch And if all the Clergy had been ruled by this new Discipline they had easily induc'd the Pope who thereby would see that he could be dispens'd with to make the King the Offers which they would fain oblige the King to make him But the Clergy chose rather not to serve the King than to disoblige the Pope and never would consent not to depend upon Rome The following Year pass'd as the former in Military Expeditions and in Negotiations that availed nothing if we except the Reformed who always lost somewhat thereby thro' the Instances of the Catholicks for what they called the King's Conversion For that they spared neither Cabals nor Artifices They attributed all the ill Successes to his Religion whereof for the most part they were themselves the Cause because they were not willing to see things ended before the King had accomplished the Catholicks Desires They ever-more represented unto him that his Religion alone was the Pretence of the League and the third Party's Obstinacy Tho' in truth it had been better for the Ring-leaders of the League to treat with Henry IV. a Hugonot than when a Catholick for to have better Conditions from him It appear'd even in time that it was not his Religion that held them seeing after that Pretence was remov'd by his turning they grew more difficult than ever and held out the War for Four years longer The Queen of England had unthinkingly said and to some Catholicks too That the King had not done well to give the Edict of Nantes in favour of the Reformed and that that was out of season This Princess's Intention was not to blame the King for doing something for those ancient Servants of his but because she did not doubt of the King's Constancy in matter of Religion she thought he could take a more convenient time for to content them than that wherein his Favours to them were neither sufficient for to reward them nor pleasing to the Catholicks who mortally hated them But the Queens Words were wrested as if they had intimated that she did not stick at Religion and that she blamed the King for preserring it to Policy Whence it was concluded that tho' the King should change his Religion he wou'd not be a whit the less in her Favour This Craft was dangerous because it took from the King one of his chiefest Reasons to persevere in his Religion next to those of his Conscience to wit the fear of offending Foreign Protestants whose Succours were so necessary for him He fear'd likewise the alienating the Hearts of his Reformed Subjects who with the rest of the same Religion made at least the two Thirds of his Army But for to cure him of his Fears they did represent what the Character of the Reformed was Men easily satisfied provided they had Liberty of Conscience given them and such as never had blotted the Names of Kings out of their Prayers at the very time that they were persecuted by them D' O. made the best he cou'd of these only Considerations and made use of them from the very first Speech that he made to the King after the Death of King Henry III. But that which most annoyed the Reformed was a joint Discourse between du Plessis and Villeroy which indeed ended without concluding any thing by reason of the Insolent Propositions of the Heads of the League yet notwithstanding it prepared things for the changing the Kings Religion which happened the following year The Heads of the League whereof Janin was the Interpreter did not intend said he to be treated
Importance Powerful upon the Frontiers esteem`d among the Protestants respected by all Men would have been too Formidable had he been united with the Duke of Rohan by so strict an Alliance Nor were the Reformed in France become despicable as yet and therefore they were unwilling they should have a Leader of that Fame and Authority as the Duke of Weimar The Hungarians on the other side were grown so strong that their Enemies were constrain'd to grant 'em the Priviledge of being a Fourth Estate in the Kingdom And it was to be fear'd lest the Duke of Rohan who made it his Business to advance the Reformed Party in France should have a design to procure 'em at least the same Priviledges and that under the Pretence of the Marriage of his Daughter he would engage the Duke of Weimar and other German Princes in such an Enterprize These Considerations made it very much to be suspected that the Cardinal who knew very well how to start a great many others was desirous to fend off the Blow by sending the Duke of Rohan into another World as knowing him capable to go through with whatever he undertook 'T is true that Great Men are seldom thought to dy a Natural Death and it is a rare thing to see any one depart this Life without searching for the Causes of his Death in the Politicks of his Enemy However it were the Duke of Rohan dy'd in the sixty eighth year of his Age and his Death was a great Affliction to all the Reformed who had a great Considence in him tho' such Persons among 'em who had been gain'd by the Court would needs perswade 'em that he had sacrific'd the Publick Good of the Churches to his own Interests But above twenty years after his Death they who had seen the Warrs which he had manag'd never mention'd him without tears in their Eyes The 28th of the same Month of April Miron and du Pââ Intendants of Languedoc set forth an Ordinance at Momââââr which was the Rule and Model of all those which were afterwards issued out against those whom they thought good to call Relapsers They took for their Pretence what happens but too frequently in Truth that both Men and Women who found it for their advantage to marry Catholicks openly profess'd the Catholick Religion when the Catholicks would not so much as hear of the Match upon any other Condition but almost as soon as ever the Marriage was Consummated the Reformed would return to their first Religion and then submitted themselves by a Publick Confession to attone for the Crime of Abjuration which they had committed They made 'em also undergo the same Punishment tho' they had not abjur'd but had onely comply'd so far as to suffer themselves to be married by a Catholick Priest The Clergy were doubly affronted by this in the first Place beholding the Mysteries of their Religion proâââ'd by such a Piece of Inconstancy and next to see the uncertainty and vanity of their Conquests Thereupon they made thâ⦠Complaints to the Intendants aggravating in a most inveterate manner that Profanation of their Catholick Sacraments That Bitterness as well as their Ignorance in Ecclesiastical Antiquity chiefly appear'd by the Comparison which they made between the Reformed and the Jews who were accustom'd said they in the Primitive Times to seign themselves Catholicks and under that Colour went to Communions on purpose to break the Images and profane the sacred Host They pretended that this Prophanation was contrary to all the Edicts which never pardon'd such sort of Crimes Upon these Complaints the Intendants order'd the guilty to be prosecuted But the Custom was too deeply rooted and the Mischief was grown too common to be cur'd by such a Remedy nor do I find that the ordinance wrought any Effect In the Year 1629. the King had erected a Presidial Court at Nerac a City in the Province of Albret where the Reformed were the most Numerous The end of which establishment was to strengthen the Catholick Party by conferring upon 'em the greatest part of the Offices and Employments in that new Court But neither in the City nor in the Province were there Catholicks enow to be found who were capable to supply those Offices So that they were forc'd to send for Graduates to officiate for the present time in expectation of able Persons that were fitly qualifi'd for their Places Nor could they meet with a sufficient Number of Catholick Graduates But at length the Project was brought to perfection this Year by sending for men of Ability from other Places and admitting some of the Reformed into Employments which the rest could not supply At this time also the Sick were continually tormented by the Monks who made an ill use of their infirmities to exâort from 'em some Declaration that might pass for a profession of the Catholick Religion I meet with one remarkable Example during the sickness of Anne Violette a Maid of three or four and twenty Years who liv'd at Poitiers This poor Maid falling sick lost her senses through the Violence of her Distemper Which is confessed by the Monks themselves who wrote the Relation of it in the true style of a Legend An Austin Friar went to Visit this Maid of his own Head and caus'd her to pronounce certain Words from whence he concluded her willing to die a Catholick In the mean time Cottiby Minister of the Place came thither and his Meeting with the Monk having occasion`d a loud Dispute between 'em drew together a great Concourse of People always listning after Novelties and among the rest âame the Maior pretending to prevent Disorders But instead of having any Regard to the condition of the sick Person he put all the People out of the Chamber and being Master of the Room caus'd a verbal Answer of the Questions propounded to the poor Creature in a Delirium to be drawn âp as before himself being a Magistrate to the end report âight afterwards be made of it for a certain Truth However the Ravings of that unfortunate Creature ceas'd not âhe had till then most dreadful Dreams and she lay Crying without Intermission that she was damn'd And upon that it was that the Fryar had grounded his Conceit that ââ¦e would be willing to quit her Religion to rid her self âf her Fears But after they had made her talk as long and what the Monk pleas'd her Visions and Outcries still continu'd and her Fears of Damnation were still the same Nevertheless the Catholicks would not lose this fair Opportunity to signalize their Zeal and cri'd up the Deliriâms and Ravings of this poor Creature in a high Feaver for a Miraculous Conversion This happen'd toward the end of July The last of the next Month the Duke of Bouillon publish'd an Edict in Favour of the Reformed within his Principality of Sedan and tho' it contain'd no more then eighteen Articles it was as much to their Advantage as could be desir'd
Benefit of a Monk's place assign'd a Soldier grown impotent and maim'd in the King's Service Attempts upon Paternal Authority A Declaration establishing a Commissioner in Colloquies and Synods National Synod He is admitted in Obedience to the King They send Commissioners to the King Who return laden with Orders The Court inclin'd to favour the Arminians Writing of la Milletiere Answer of Tilenus Imposture advanc'd against the Synod of Dort The Obedience of the Synod of Charenton Assignations ill paid Proposals made to the Synod by Galand A new Deputation to the King Oath of Union A Citadel at Mompelier Maniald opposes it in the name of the Reformed Presages of a new War Death of Du Plessis The Commissioners make the condition of the Reformed worse at Gergeau At Remorentin At Tours Commissioners in Poitou and Saintonge He raines the Câârches under appearanceâ of Honesty Paper of the Clergy of Saintes The Malice of several Articles Chalas's Complaisance Enterprises of the Catholics at Rochel 1624. Cardinal Richlieu's Maxims Proposals for marrying the Prince of Wales to the Infanta Fruitles Marriage concluded upon Conditions advantageous for the Catholics Process of the City of Pamiers against the Bishop Cavils upon the Right of pursuing the Payment of Legacies and Donations Troubles renew'd Enterprise of the Dukes of Rohan and Soubise Discover'd Soubise gets possession of the King's âââpâ ãâ¦ã thought lost and disown'd by every body 1625. The King's Declaration upon this occasion Soubise disingages himself Which changes the Face of Affairs Politic Devotions of the Duke of Rohan Seconded by his wife Manifesto of the Duke of Soubise Dispute about the Privileges of Rochelle Peace discours'd of Cruelties of the Royal Army in Foix. Soubise prospers A Paper of the Reformed presented to the King Answers to their Paper The Reformed not satisfi'd The Court recovers her Affairs An Assembly of the Clergy They give money with an ill will The King excepts Rochel out of the Peace Which retards the conclusion of it Particular Laws which the King would impose upon that City A powerful League against Spain The Cardinal's Designs Of which he is forc'd to defer the execution The English Embassadors importunate for the Peace of the Religion Rochelle accepts the Conditions somewhat mollify'd Why the Court exacted such Writings All Pass'd by the Embassaders of England In ãâ¦ã England was â⦠A new Edict confirming all the rest France plays foul with the Confederates Jealousie between the Cardinal and Buckingham The Cardinal's blind-side Enterprises of the Catholics of the Queen of England's menial Servants Conspiracies against the Cardinal The Cardition of Rochel A National Synod The Commissioners Instructions Answers of Chauve the Moderator Masuyer'â faâse dealing The Catholics trâââââ They would have involv'd the Ministers in the Duke of Rohan's Treaty with Spain Article of the Synod of Realmont for the discovery of such as had a hand in the Treaty Which offends all the Charââes And is disown'd iy the National Synod Leave to nominate General Deputies From which the Synod desires to be exempted And send Deputies to the King Remonstrances of the Deputies Maniald dyes Hardi put in his room The Deputies return with the King's Answers The Synod names General Deputies The Synod names General Deputies Divers Resolutions of the Synod Castres refuses to receive the Duke of Rohan's Deputies A Memoir of Grievances Burial of Gentlemen who were the Founders of Churches Legacies given to the Poor adjudg'd to Hospitals A Marriage of a Knight of Maltha vacated The Assembly of Notables 1627. Forc'd Conversions in Bearn And at Audenas At St. Amand Extraordinary Acts of Injustice Innovations at Mompelier The Foundation of Mompelier Declaration against Foreign Ministers Rochel still blockt up England declares war The United Provinces send succonr to France The English land in the Isle of Ré The Irresolution of the Rochelois Court Letters intercepted A nice Question Whether Huguenots were to be suffer'd in the King's Army Rochel Resolves Rochel publishes a Manifesto The Duke of Rohan does the same thing Intrigue of Galand against the Duke 1628. Defeat of the English A second English Fleet of no use to Rochel A third Fleet more useless A Treaty of Peace with England and the surrender of Rochel This City refuses to submit to the English ââe Fleet of Spain at the Siege of Rochel Rejoycing among the Catholics Cruelties Insulting and Executions Personal Enmity between the Prince of Condé and the Duke of Rohan A new Sedition at Lion against the Reformed The pretended Conversion of a Sick Person that fell into a Phrensie Decrees and Declarations against the Duke of Rohan The King and the Cardinal take a Journey into Italy 1629. The Siege of Privas the Inhabitants of which were betray'd Cruelties exercis'd upon the City The pretences of the Catholics Conversions of soldiers tak'n Pris'ners A Declaration upon the taking of Privas A Treaty of the Duke of Rohan with Spain An Assembly permitted at Anduse and translated to Nimes Peace ãâã ãâã The Edict of Grace Contents of the Edict The King's Letter to Queen Mother about the Peace The Duke of Rohan retires Montauban reduc'd Assembly of the Clergy Particuâââ Acts of Injustice 1630. Mlssiionaries The Duke of Rohan accus'd of the Ruin of the Churches Cavils about the Right of Exercises The Bishop of Valence persecutes the Foreign Ministers The Original of the Injustice done upon occasion of the Annexes New Seeds of a Civil War 1631. The Queen withdraws into Flanders Alliance with Gustavus King of Sueden Projects of Reunion With which the Cardinal closes Intreagues of Joseph the Capuchin caught he Pro. How the Synods were to speak Inclinations of the Ministers And the People Difficulties Petit's Projects And Melitiere Difference in their intentions Issue of the Project in general The truth of this Project A National Synod The Commissioners Speech Ministers suspected by the King excluded from the Synod The Answer to the Commissioner's Speech The Commissioner in vain opposes the Union of the Churches of Bearn with the rest Several Proposals of the Commissioner The Synod sânds Deputies to the King Papers The favourable Reception of the Deputies The Nomination of General Deputies The Reformed fear'd at Court âmportant Resolutions of the Synod Annexes Exercise forbid Consulships The Puâ⦠Liberty opprâ⦠1632. Civil War of the Duke of Orleans The Bishops of Languedoc side with him The Reformed faithful The Duke of Rohan serves the King in Italy Affairs of the Annexes in the Dauphinate referr'd to four Commissioners Consulship of Alets Exercise forbid A shameful Cavil An inconsiderate Curiosity of two Scholars The Death of Gustavus 1633. Great Troubles in the Kingdom Advice of the Commissioners of the Dauphinate upon the Annexes Re-establishment of Privas Treatise intitl'd The Eucharist of the Ancient Church Exercises forbid Partiâ-Colledges 1634. The Continuance of the Public Oppression Pretensions of France to all Europe Answer'd The Duke of Sulli made a Marshal of France Decrees upon several occasions Preâââââ adjudg'd
impute it to me for a Crime to have forgotten something that might have laid more open the Evidence of their Injustice and Cruelty 3. If any one shall undertake to refute this work of mine he must furnish himself out of those Manuscripts with Arms to fight me Which if he do not do sincerely his answer will put me to little trouble But if he acquit himself like a person of Faith and Credit he must produce entire the Foundations of his Reflections and by consequence publish many secrets which may perhaps prove confirmations of our own Collections In the main these Considerations ought to be as equally beneficial to me in the cause which I defend as proofs in the claims of particular persons or strong presumptions of a Robbery or House-firing or of any other accident not to be remedy'd whereby they demonstrate the loss of their Evidences that should have justifi'd their claims or the answers which they make to their Adversaries I prove that the Evidences that might be requir'd of me are detain'd or taken away from me be a greater force and which is of more weight I demonstrate that the Authors of that Violence or that Robbery are the same persons that require me to produce the same proofs which they have forcibly rifled from me That there is knavery in their exceptions against my proofs because they have by force despoilâd me of my Evidences which were my legal defence That they had need of great and positive proofs to convince me because their Prosecution is suspected to be fraudulent and for that slight presumptions are not sufficient against me because they have unjustly torn from me those monumental Deeds from whence I could have drawn stronger proofs But I am not altogether reduced to presumptions only for that maugre all the Artifices of a malignant Prudence an infinite number of authentick Monuments of the miseries which the Reformed have suffer'd have escap'd the Gripes of Plunder and Destruction After these reflections in general it remains for me to give a particular account of the method which I have follow'd in compiling this History And first of all it behoves me to answer those who may take it amiss that I adhere to a side shew too openly of what Religion I am and declare my self concern'd in the things which I recite All people would have an Historian observe an exact neutrality that he should never suffer his particular sentiments to be seen through that he should not anticipate his Readers with his manner of writing and that in stopping at a description altogether of bare matter of Fact and Circumstances he should never incur the character either of Party Advocate or Judge However I have dispens'd with these severe Laws I have argu'd the case I have deliver'd my opinion I have prov'd I have refuted sometimes as I thought the Subject requir'd But I could bring several reasons to justifie my conduct were I not willing to be as short as is possible The example of almost all those who have undertaken to write is sufficient to make my Apology We do not meet with any that have confin'd themselves within these narrow limits and indeed it is a thing so impossible for a man to reduce himself to that âtrictness that if they who prescribe these Laws to others were to give an account of any Transaction themselves they could never forbear violating the precepts of this painful exactness I shall therefore only speak two things in my defence The first is that my Opinion and Raâiocinations are to be consider'd as the Opinion and Reasonings of the persons in whose behalf ãâ¦ã speak either because they are the extracts of Discourses and Speeches made in favour of 'em or proceed from the same things and for that they represent that the Reformed would have said for themselves had they been judicially interrogated in Court The ââcond is That there was a necessity for me to give ââ¦y History the character of a Defence because I wrote it on purpose to serve for a Reply to the violent Declamations of those who have persecuted us Therefore the mingling my Reflections sometimes with the Rehearsal of matter of Fact was a thing not to be avoided to the end I might the better prove the Fraud and Injustice of those whom I accuse and more clearly make out the Innocency of those whom I justifie Nevertheless you may be assur'd that upon several occasions where it seems to be my self that speaks I have so narrowly watch'd my expressions that there are few among the Reformed that will presume to disown what I say In the main this liberty of delivering a mans own opinion is not incompatible with impartiality in an Historian All that sincerity exacts from him is that he neither disguise nor dissemble things and as to that I have impos'd such severe Laws upon my self as I hope will satisfie the most rigid Censurers But in regard the Readers are no way bound to submit to the private Opinion of an Historian which is rather as much subject to the Reader 's judgment as the recital it self of the matters of Fact therefore they ought to think themselves rather oblig'd to the Historian for the trouble which he has taken to prepare the Process upon which they are to give their Verdict fit for Hearing than to complain of his Anticipating their Judgments by the liberty he has taken to declare his Sentiments They find the matter ready to their hands and without toyling themselves to reason upon the several matters they have no more to do than to pronounce whether the Author had a true notion of the things and hath reflected as one that rightly understood ' em I have taken the liberty sometimes to alter the expressions of the Acts which I have cited But no body ought to be troubl'd at that in regard it is impossible to do otherwise when there is a design to Abbreviate Moreover in regard I am forc'd to transmit several of these Acts to publick view People have the less reason to blame me for not reciting word for word in the Body of the Book what I have plac'd âll along in the Order of the Proofs Besides that when there were any expressions in the Acts that were remarkable and important I always exactly retain'd âhe Sense and Substance of the matter This is sufficient to satisfie unbyass'd People Words are not so much the business as Deeds and the alteration of words is of little Importance when the matters of Fact are represented with a faithful exactness I have set down almost all the Edicts and Declarations under the Date of the Day wherein they pass'd âhe Seal rather than of their verification in Parliament tho the said Acts begin to be in force as Laws from the day of their being register'd But I took that to be the better way in regard the jurisdiction of France being divided under several Parliaments it âarely happens that the said Acts are register'd in
and only to revive those Reproaches against 'em with which the most prudent Catholicks have loaded their Society from the very Infancy of their Institution THE PREFACE TO THE First Part. ALtho in the first Book I only comprehend in short what was transacted in France in reference to Religion from the beginning of Luther's Disputes till the death of Hen. III. nevertheless that Part has so small a share in my Work âhat I may safely say that it begins exactly from that Accident which brought Hen. the IV. to the Crown So that my design takes in the Reign of three Kings The first of which whose Reign was the shortest granted the Reformed an Edict and Securities the Second took from 'em their âecurities and the Third cancell'd the Edict Being therefore to give an Account of three such various Events which enforces me to relate whatever happen'd most memorable under every Reign ây Subject therefore naturally dvides it self into three Parts The first contains all that preceded the Edict of Nantes or that since it was granted regards the Execution of it during the Life of him that was the Author of it The Second recites the means that were us'd under the Name and Authority of Lewis the XIII to wrest out of the Hands of the Reformed the Cities and Assemblies that were their Security and from whence ensu'd the declination and ruin of their Affairs The Third relates what pass'd under the Reign of that Prince who wears the Crown at present till the Revocation of the Edict to which I have added the Events of some ensuing Years which are natural consequences of the former Transactions as the flight of so many persecuted Families their settling in foreign Countries and several other things of the same nature Now in regard our main business was to shew that the Conduct and Behaviour of the Reformed has been always far different from the Portraicture which their Enemies made of it I thought it requisite in every part but chiefly in the First and Second where they appear with their Arms in their hands to give an accompt of those things which afford the clearest light for the display of their Intentions to the end it may be the better discern'd whether they were not reduc'd to make use of those extraordinary Remedies by a necessity that admitted of no Dispensation I shall discourse in another place of wââ they did after the death of Hen. IV. But I have here a design to speak one word of what was liable to be blam'd in their Actions during the Life of that Prince Not that I intend to repeat what I have said in their Justification quite through the whole Book but only to observe in few words the principal Circumstances of Affairs which you will find more amply laid down in the History it self The Reformed then are to be consider'd in three conditions under the Reign of this Prince In the First they had a King of their own Religion but who finding it would cost him a world of trouble to surmount the opposition of the League that under the pretence of Religion had arm'd the one half of the Kingdom against him resolv'd to change his Opinion so soon as he could do it with some appearance of Advantage In the Second they appear'd in the Service of a Prince who after he had abandoned their Religion seem'd to have alter'd his affection for them too and to mind nothing but his own Repose without much troubling himself what became of his most faithful Subjects who had done him such eminent Services In the Third condition you might see 'em living under the Authority and Protection of an Edict which they obtained at length after long solicitations in the prosecution of which they had spent four years and much longer time in the Execution of it There could be nothing laid to their charge so long as they remain'd in their first condition in regard they were fix'd to the King's Service and bore Arms in his Defence as long as he had any Enemies either at Home or Abroad If it be objected that they did not serve him then with the same Zeal and Affection as they were wont to make appear that their performances were not such as they us'd to be that they let fall some Murmurs and Reproaches I answer that if they had carried it higher it no way became the Catholicks to find fault You will perceive then by the History that the Catholicks were afraid of nothing so much as to see an end of the War before they had constrain'd the King to change his Religion that they also held Intelligence with the Leaguers who might well be lookt upon as Criminals if the Reformed were Trespassers Besides that the Reformed were oblig'd to stand upon their Guards as well against the Catholicks of the Royal Army as against the others and that by Consequence it was not just that they should expose all their Forces to the discretion of those who might have ruin'd 'em all in one Night the more easily to have ingratiated themselves with the League and have dispos'd of the Kingdom and the King's Person as they had thought proper themselves 'T was Prudence to reserve one part of their Forces against a pinch to the end the remainder might serve to revive and support their own and the Affairs of the Kingdom if the other should happen to receive a foil You shall find moreover from his coming to the Crown to his Conversion that the King discover'd to 'em every day more and more sufficient marks of his lukewarmness and indifference for them That consequently they had reason to believe that the more they enabl'd him not to want their Assistance the more he would neglect their Establishment and Security Whence it would follow That if they made use of all their Forces they should help to do their Enemies the Catholicks business and be not only ne're the better âut much the worse themselves But in the mean ââme it will be found that they acknowledg'd âhe King without condition and that they did not make bargains with him as the Catholicks âid to serve him They would have put him doubtless to a strange plunge had they been as nice ând as scrupulous as others were This severity âould have been the Ruin both of Him and of all ââe Officers of the Old Court much more odious ãâã the League than the pretended Hereticks and â there were among the other Royal Catholicks ââme persons of Honour they must have had their âare in the vexation It was urg'd against the Reformed as an expression highly Criminal that they had sometimes given it out that they accepted of the Edict at a time when they might if they pleas'd have divided the Kingdom with the Catholicks I know not whether or no it be at if Crime to speak Truth but I know very well that the Reformed had been but closely united together by their own Interests without medling with those of the
after the fact perfidiously committed fearing the scandal of it would fall upon his Shoulders had withdrawn himself yet afterwards he was condemn'd by Theognistus Nor was it without great reluctancy and by constraint of pressing necessity that St. Martin could be perswaded to hold Communion with the Itaâian Party In like manner St. Ambrose who was sent at the same time to Maximus by Valentinian the Brother of Gratian who was put to Death testifies in his relation that when he was at Treves he refrain'd the company of those Bishops that sided with Itacius who demanded that they who deviated from the Faith might be punished with Death Afterwards when those hair-brain'd Prelates had prevail'd with Maximus to send certain Tribunes into Spain with Plenipotentiary Power to enquire after Hereticks and being apprehended to punish 'em with loss of Life and Confiscation of Estates the same St. Martin never left the Emperor till he had obtain'd a revocation of that inhumane Decree For it was the care of that pious Bishop to set free not only the Christians who were to be molested under that pretence but even the Hereticks themselves Foreseeing in his mind that that same Tempest were it not diverted would cause a great depopulation of the Faithful there being then but little difference made between the sorts of Men when only the Eye was judge of the distinction and Hereticks were mark'd out rather by the paleness of their Looks or by their Habit than by their Faith and Doctrine However after Priscillian was put to death the Heresie propagated by himself was so far from being er adicated by the severity of his punishment that it gathered strength and spread it self more and more and his Followers who before had honour'd him as a Holy Person began to adore him as a Martyr remov'd the bodies of those that suffer'd into Spain and solemniz'd their Obsequies with extraordinary Pomp. Nay they carry'd on their Superstition to that degree that it was accounted a most sacred Oath to swear by Priscillian which occasion'd so cruel and so long continu'd a Division between the Bishops of the Gallican Church that fifteen years Bloody contention could hardly put an end to while the people of God and all good men were in the mean time expos'd to Affront and Obloquy Which words as often as I read in Sulpitius Severus who wrote the History of that Age with equal Eloquence and Fidelity I call to mind the years of my childhood when at the beginning of the Commotions about Religion men were mark'd out by the Eye for Slaughter not upon any suspicion of their manners or of the corruption of their past Lives but only out of a particular malice to their looks or the fashion of their Clâathes and what with their heats of Contention and Animosities what with favours ill bestow'd the pusillanimous Fear Inconstancy Drowsiness Sloth and Arrogancy of those that sat at the Helm of Affairs the Kingdom was rent into Factions and Religion it self pushe almost to the brink of the Precipice by the Troubles and Agitations of the State After St. Marcin's time more moderation was us'd in the Church toward those that deviated from the Faith whom they only either Banish'd or Fin'd but always spar'd their Lives So that in the year 1060 when certain of the followers of Berengarius Archdeacon of Angiers went about sowing his Doctrine in the Territories of Liege Juliers and other parts of the Low Countries Bruno Archbishop of Treves thought it sufficient to expel 'em out of his Diocess never thirsting after their Blood Nor were they after this more severely handl'd by the Church till the time of the Vaudois against whom when the most exquisite of Torments little prevail'd but that the mischief was rather exasperated by the remedy unseasonably appli'd while their number encreas'd compleat Armies were set on foot and a War of no less bulk was decreed against 'em than that which our Ancestors wag'd against the Saracens the event of which was that Murdred Massacred Chas'd from their habitations Plunder'd of their Goods and despoyl'd of their Estates and Signiories their Persecutors gain'd a depopulated Country but not a Convert that was thereby convinc'd of his error Some there were who had defended themselves at first by force of Armes who being vanquish'd by superior power fled into Provence and the Alps adjoyning to the jurisdiction of France where they met with a sort of skulking holes wherein to shelter their Lives and Doctrine others retir'd into Calabria where for a long time they settl'd themselves even till the Pontificate of Pius IV. Some wander'd into Germany and fix'd their Habitations in Bohemia Poland and Livonia while another Remnant turning Westward sought for sanctuary in England And from some one of that number 't is thought that John Wickliffe descended who for a long time taught Theology at Oxford where after various Contentions and hot Disputes about Religion he died a natural Death above 300 years ago Natural indeed and yet more fatal to him then his common mortality for that several years after his decease the Magistrate order'd him to be taken up again arraign'd him and caus'd his Bones to be publickly burnt After that time started up several other Sects that have continu'd till our Age wherein after the severity of Torments in Vain experienc'd the contest flam'd out from private Disputes into open Wars and Rebellions of numerous multitudes both in Germany England and France uncertain whether âo the greater detriment of the publick âranquillity or Religion it self such a âchism being form'd and corroborated ând too long neglected by those in whose power it was and whom it behov'd to have apply'd proper Remedies in time These Things of so great consequence I have not so largely insisted upon with a design to revive that so often harrass'd Question Whether Hereticks ought to be punish'd with death which neither my Time nor my Profession will admit of My aim is only to shew that those Princes have acted most prudently and most conformably to the Institutions and Maxims of the Primitive Church who have rather chosen to extinguish the conflagrations of War about Religion with disadvantageous conditions of an amicable composure then to continue the desolations of an obstinate contest not to be determin'd but by the uncertain chance of absolute Conquest This Ferdinand a most prudent Prince foresaw who having learnt by experience in the furious and dangerous Wars of Germany under his Brother Charles the Fifth the ill success of the Emperors Armes against the Protestants no sooner attain'd the Imperial Diadem himself but he re-establish'd the Peace of Religion by a solemn Decree which he afterwards ratisi'd several times And father observing that greater progresses were made in matters of Religion by friendly Conferences as he himself had experienc'd in the Dyets held at Ratisbonne and Wormes he resolv'd a little before his death and immediately after the breaking up of the Council of Trent to follow
the advice of his Son Maximilian a Prince of great wisdom and to satisfie the Protestants who were not at that Assembly design'd to have granted 'em another Conference In order to which the Emperour made choice of George Casâander a person no less moderate than learned in a friendly Conjunction with the Protestant Doctors to examin the Articles of the Confession of Auspurgh that were in Dispute But the Crazie Constitution of that worthy man and the soon ensuing Death both of the one and the other eâââ'd Germany the Fruit of so Noble a Determination After the Example of the Germans the Nobility of Poland cook the same Course in their Republick ãâã Immanuel Philibert Duke of ãâã after he was restor'd to the ancient Possession of his lost Territories by vertue of the Peâce concluded with us having rashly engag'd himself to his great Dammage in a War with the Vaudois of Piemont whether it were to raise his Reputation in Italy or to gratifie others at the Expence of his own Jeopardy it matters not made amends for his mistake by a Timely Repentance granting the free Exercise of their Religion to his otherwise Innocent People and afterwards no less religiously observing the Articles which he had concluded with ' em I now come to what concerns our selves and am going about to handle a sore which I am very much afraid will draw no small inconvenience upon me for only laying my Finger upon it But since I have enter'd into the discourse that I may dispatch in a word I shall take the Liberty allow'd under your Reign frankly and ingenuously to declare That War is by no means a Lawful way to extirpate Heresie out of the Church For the Protestants of this Kingdom whose Number and Credit daily lessen'd in time of Peace have always gather'd strength in times of War and Division and whether out of a preposterous Zeal or through Ambition and a Desire of Innovation it has been the pernicious Errour of our States-men to renew their Designs of extirpating the Protestants by Wars often inauspiciously begun and as frequently unluckily compos'd to the great hazard of our Religion What need of Words The thing it self speaks loud enough For after various Troubles and Commotions and during those innumerable Cities in every Corner of the Kingdom wrested from the Public no sooner was Peace restor'd by the Restitution of those Places in 1563. but 't was a wonder to see what a suddain Serenity once more overspread the Nation How joyful was that Four Years Interval to all Good Men While our Religion sate safely protected and most Excellent Laws of which France will never have cause to repent were made by a most upright Moderator of Justice and Equity But then the Faââ of France again declining we began ãâã grow weary of the Publick Security establish'd by those wholesom Constitutions and spurning from us Peaceful Counsels threw our selves into a War ãâã only Fatal to the whole Realm but ãâã the Advisers of it also They who were present at the Vnfortunate Conference at Baionne are sufficiently sensible what persons I mean For from that ãâã forward while we were still deluded and cajol'd by foreign Fraud all things weââ carried on by Artifice and Force of Armâ Then it was that the Duke of Alva being sent with a Potent Army into Flanders after Margaret of Parma who had govern'd those Provinces with Extraordinary Moderation had by tacit compulsion laid down the Regency then it was that Alva mingled all things with Fire and Sword erected Fortresses in every Corner sapp'd the Public Liberty with unheard of Impositions for the support of the War and breaking in upon their Immunities reduc'd opulent Cities to meagre Poverty like strong Bodies emaciated by depriving 'em of Nourishment But these harsh and unadvised Counsels the fruits of Precipitation were attended with the despair of the People and lastly with Revolts Which however for a time appeas'd ended in this at length that the larger and more abounding Part and most commodious for Navigation wherein the Wealth of those Provinces chiefly consists being as it were mangl'd and dismember'd from the rest of the Body acknowledges now no Soveraign Authority but that of the States General and wages auspicious War with all the Force of Spain Which misfortune of the Spaniards Francis Balduin one of the most famous Lawyers of this Century fearing long before adâiz'd the Peers of the Low Countries to petition Philip that he would vouchsafe their former Liberty of Conscience to the Protestants every where turmoil'd and harass'd and surâease the Rigour of Torments and Inâisitions after suspected Persons And ãâã this purpose he wrote a Treatise in French whorein he prov'd by dint of ââenuous Arguments that the Affairs of Religion disquieted and tormented by restless Controversies would sooner be compos'd by Conferences and an equilibrium observ'd among the Dissenters than by violence and force of Arms. Wherein if they persever'd he foresaw that the strength of the Protestants then but inconsiderable and here and there dispers'd would be united by Factions and that from verbal Contests they would betake themselves to Arms and Revolt I have the more willingly recited this Prophecy of a Low Country-man concerning the Low Countries more especially to your Majesty for that he having at first embrac'd the Protestant Faith yet afterwards upon diligent perusal of the Fathers having alter'd his Opinion nevertheless preserv'd the same Moderation of mind so as not to be transported with an Implacable Hatred as many are against those whose Doctrine he had relinquish'd but by a rare Example of Christian Charity foreign to this Age admonish'd by his own Errour to compassionate the failings of others and to make it his whole Business that what had been done amiss out of precipitancy and desire of innovation might be redress'd by reviving the Practice of better Antiquity With these sentiments and resolutions returning out of Germany into France he found his Counsel no less prudent than pious readily embrac'd by your most serene Father in whose Court he held an honourable Employment sometimes admitted into Council and made choice of to take care of your Natural Brother's Education Away then with those Ostentatious Vaunts to the Dishonour of the Gallick Name so frequent in the mouths of many aspiring to a higher strain of Zeal then other Men and boasting that they never subscrib'd to any Treatise of Peace with Hereticks Let 'em consider what became at length of all their egregious Counsels and lament at leisure the loss of so many Flourishing Provinces and the Ruââous Dissipation of their own Estates consum'd by Tumult and Sedition oâ seâuâster'd by Conquest How glad ãâã ãâã be now to learn from our Example what with so much Affectation they before detested What would they ãâã to redeem the Loss of so many Years which had they profitably employ'd against the Common Enemies of Christendom they had expell'd those Infidels long e're this out of Hungary
declared Regent and suspended the War with the Protestants by a Truce of 2 months by which she gave them leisure to make an Assembly at Millau where they chose the Prince of Conde for their Chief but this also served their Enemies to recruit their Army and make their advantages The New King Henry III. receiv'd good advice at Vienna Venice and Turin where he was exhorted to give peace to his people but the Queen-Mother and her Favourites quickly effaced all the impressions of those good Counsels The Council was divided into 2 Factions one follow'd the Maxims of the Chancellour of the Hospital and were for peace the other follow'd those of Morvillier Bishop of Orleans who was Keeper of the Seals some time and these were for destroying the Protestants at any rate soever This last party was animated by the particular hatred of the Queen-Mother against the reformed by the ambition of the Guises and by the Intrigues of Spain who had a great influence in the Council Morvillier added the Charm of some Bigottry which he had in his Head and which was enough to dazle the ignorant people The Protestants provoked the Cabal yet more by a Memorial which they presented in which they demanded satisfaction in 92 Articles which touched the disorders of the Court too much to the quick to be heard favourably there and they principally insisted on the calling the General Estates to remedy the miseries of the Kingdom In the mean time the Princes were set at liberty by the King when the Queen-Mother presented them to him at his arrival in France tho there wanted not some to watch them so narrowly that they were little better than Prisoners But at last the Duke of Alenzon retired from Court and a little while after the King of Navar did the same It is observed of this latter that passing by Alenzon he there went to the preaching The Psalm which the Minister sung before the Sermon was the 21st which begins with these words Seigneur leRoy s'ejouira D'avoir eu delivrancee par ta grande puissance c. The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy Salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce v. 1. He enquir'd if this was sung because of him and when he understood that it was according to the Order that the Psalms were sung for that day he took it for a good presage of Success in his Enterprises Howsoever it was a good while before he fixed intirely to the reformed Religion His Life at that time had more of the Libertine in it than of Devotion But the year after his Servants who saw that this indifference in Religion did not accommodate his Affairs obliged him publickly at Rochel to repair the fault which he had been forc'd to at Paris by the terror of death These Conjunctures extorted from the Court a Truce of six months and in the end a Peace which they needed to break the Vnion of the Confederates and to separate the Duke of Alenzon from their party They granted an Edict to the Protestants such an one as they were used to make when they were not willing to keep it this is that which introduced the name of the Religion pretendedly Reform'd They gave them 8 places of Security and at the same time concluded upon their ruin with the Legate and with Don John of Austria and in the very same year it was openly talked that the Edict should be revoked and that they had granted it only by force They put it under Consultation whether Faith should be kept with Hereticks and it was publickly Preached that according to the Council of Constance they were not obliged to it After this then the Peace was broken and the Estates General which the Protestants had demanded with so much earnestness concluded to destroy them and to oblige Henry III. to make himself chief of the League because he was afraid that some other should This League so famous was form'd of the Vnion of many particular Leagues all which had Religion for their pretence but the principal end of this general League was to set the Duke of Guise upon the Throne and that the King could not doubt of There was a Writing which a certain Advocate of Paris brought from Rome which contain'd the Reasons and Methods for Deposing the Descendents of Hugh Capet and restoring the Crown to the Posterity of Charlemagne which fell into the hands of the Protestants who Published it Viâonne Ambassadour in Spain sent another Copy of the same Writing and reveal'd the whole Mystery of the League The King being of a timorous and unsetled temper followed the advice of Morvillier who was as timorous as himself and believed he should more easily destroy this Cabal by making himself the Head of it than by Methods more firm and agreeable to his Dignity He passed further and declared That as he had promised by Oath at his Coronation upon the most holy Sacrament of the Altar to suffer no Religion in his Estates but the Catholick he warned his Subjects not to believe any thing he should either say or do to the contrary and that if he was reduced to make peace he would not keep it but till such time as he could get an occasion to break it But all these Protestations hindred not but in a little time after he made a Peace with the King of Navar. Mompensier who went to see that Prince to sound his intentions advising him thereto at his return and the third Estate likewise helped the King out of his perplexity declaring that they were of advice to bring back the stray'd sheep to the Roman Church by all convenient methods but that they had not counselled the War The Honourable manner with which the King of Navar received the Deputies and the Letters of the Estates facilitated the Treaty He answered in Writing That he was ready to quit his Religion if by any better instructions they could shew that his own was not good This clause was taken as an ill augury by the Ministers of his Court who therefore razed it out but he interlined it again with his own hand The Prince of Conde shew'd a greater Spirit for he would neither acknowledg the Estates nor receive their Letters nor give them an Answer Thus Peace was made and confirmed by an Edict given at Poictiers which they themselves who excus'd it with the Pope acknowledged to be less favourable than any that had been granted to them before But the Bigots were angry at it nevertheless because of the Article which declares the Protestants capable of Offices and Honours In short it struck at the Designs of the Guises and it was easy to extend it to the Princes That their Religion ought not to render them incapable of the Crown since it did not render other Protestants incapable of Employs suitable to their Birth This Calm gave opportunity to Hold some Synods That of St. Foy
held a little after the Edict of Poictiers was remarkable for a Cause that was judged between the Prince of Conde and the Consistory of Rochel which had suspended him from the holy Supper because he had not well received the Remonstrances of the Company upon the Subject of a Prize taken at Sea during the 40 days prescribed by the Edict for the laying down of Arms. It was found that the Judgment of the Consistory was too rash and that the Prince on the other side had too little Respect for the Authority of the Consistory and Deputies were named to reconcile them This Peace as to other things did not cease all Jealousies And therefore to take away all pretences for them there was a Conference held at Nerac where the Protestants had some new favours granted them and some new places of security The King of Navar was then permitted to raise a certain Sum upon the reformed Protestants and all Churches which the Edict of 1577. had either maintained or re-established were rated to it and accordingly every one paid his part and took an Acquittance And this was pretended some few years ago to prove that the Churches which could produce them had their Right established from the year 1577. But neither the Intendants nor the Council would regard any Titles of this nature The young Gent. of the K. of Navar 's Court began a 6th War which was called the War of the Amorous because it was undertaken only to please the Ladies The greatest part of the Protestants did not enter into it So that this fire was not very hard to be extinguished ââs course was stopp'd by the Conference of Fleix after this 5 years passed in peace such as it was the Edicts were observed in some places in others not regarded The King was he that kept them least of all for he gave no Offices to the Protestants of his own accord And when any of them asked any from him he had always some pretence ready to refuse the ââ nay he took them from those that possest them already and stirred them up Troubles and Law-suits and always caused them to come by the worst to oblige them to lay them down reserving expresly to himself the cognizance of these sorts of processes to be assured of the condemnation of the pretended Hereticks He would not receive into his Houshold any Gentlemen of the Reformed Religion and his Courtiers knowing his mind took care to tell them that complained of those Refusals that their Religion was the cause In one word the King kept his promise to the Estates and he did more mischief to the Protestants by those Arâs in 5 years causing more Revolts among them than have been seen to happen in 30 years War and Massacres Nay you might have seen some others who being ashamed themselves to quit a Religion which they had embrac'd with great affection yet had the weakness to bring up their Children in the Catholick Communion because they would not bring them up in a Doctrine which the King would not suffer and some again that used a quite contrary Policy in turning Catholicks for fear of losing their Offices but for the discharge of their Consciences brought up their Children in the Reform'd Religion because they believ'd it to be the safer way to salvation During this false peace all Europe was engag'd in great conspiracies against them whom they believ'd to be the Chiefâ or Favorites of the Protestants The Duke of Alenzon who had took the Name of the Duke of Anjou and the Prince of Orange fell in them They had a way in France to penetrate into the secret of those dark Actions but they were not willing to sound them to the bottom In the mean time the security into which the King fell made the Leaguers take Courage Their Preachers exposed him in their Sermons They entertained the Catholicks with nothing but the mischiefs which would happen if a Reformed King should mount the Throne and they frighted the Bigots with horrid Histories and Pictures of the pretended Cruelties which Queen Elizabeth exercised in England At last the Guises began openly to persecute this unhappy Prince and drove him to incredible Extremities He was forc't to undergo the Violences of the Duke who had begun the War against him under pretence to secure the Crown for a Catholick Prince He durst not murmur tho they disputed the right of Succession during his Life nor at the assembling of the States to debate that question nor at their debauching his Officers and Servants from him Villeroi who was one of his Secretaries of State was supposed to be Pensioner to the Duke of Guise and the King not being otherwise able to guard himself from him oblig'd him to a distance from the Court and shewed him always after that great marks of his displeasure From whence it came to pass that his Father and himself threw themselves into the League after the Death of the Guises The War against the Protestants was then renewed against the K's mind who had made peace with the Leaguers upon that condition Great Sums were exacted upon the Clergy under this pretence which they paid but grudgingly as may be seen by the Remonstrances of their Deputies They protested they had never counselled the War tho it was notoriously known they had endeavour'd with all their power the Revocation of the Edicts The K of Navar made His Majesty great Reproaches upon that Subject by his Letters he sent him during the Sessions of the Estates and there renews the Offer of standing to the Decisions of a Free Council He wrote to others of the Nobles and the 3d Estate where he makes great complaints That they forced the King to make War against him But the Courage and good Fortune which he had to affix at Rome an Appeal against the Bull of Sixtus Quintus by which he declared both him and the Prince to be Hereticks relapsed Favourers of Hereticks excommunicated deprived of all their Lordships and incapable to succeed to any Principality and particularly to the Crown of France did him greater Honour than all the rest of his Actions and procured him Esteem even with the Pope himself He appealed by his Remonstrance to the Peers of France in Temporals and in Spirituals to the next Council to which he cited the Pope declaring him Antichrist if he refus'd to appear In the Height of the War Claudius Trimouille the Son of a most zealous Leaguer embrac'd the Interests and Religion of the P. of Conde and took his Sister Charlotte Katharine in Marriage This Alliance extreamly fortify'd the Reformed Party in Poictou because that House is there very powerful The Conference of St. Bris between the Queen-Mother and the P. of Conde towards the end of the year allayed not their Spirits and the next year France saw her self overrun with Strangers which both Parties had called in for Succours The K. of Navar gain'd the
many sufferings in the preceding reign least they might now take an occasion to revenge themselves For these reasons they thought themselves upon the Point of losing both their Offices and their Credit to which it appeared as if the Protestants would quickly succeed since by this Change the K. would avenge them of their antient Enemies whom he could not assure himself of and recompence his antient Servants whose fidelity was known The Catholick Nobles prepossess'd with the zeal of Religion made it appear clearly enough that they inclined towards the League and that a Protestant K. would not be agreeable to them They consulted whether they should acknowledg him for K. or no and after divers deliberations they did not resolve upon it but upon very hard conditions The D. of Longueville was order'd to tell him That the quality of Thrice-Christian being Essential to a K. of France they prayed him to receive the Crown upon that condition that is to say upon condition to make himself a Catholick according to the Opinion of the Romish Church that believes there is no true Christianity out of her Communion The Duke at first accepted the charge of making this Declaration to the K. but all of a suddain changed his mind when he was upon the point to execute it The Marquis D'O who had managed the Finances of the Treasury under the last K. refus'd the Commission of carrying this Message He was the only Man in the World that knew least of Religion being drown'd in Luxury and debauchery a great blasphemer bold even to Insolence and an implacable enemy of the Protestants whom he Persecuted even to Death thwarting upon all occasions the King's designs when he was willing to do any thing in order to their repose The K. saw no body but them in all the Army that did not raise him some trouble and that did not form a Party to draw from him some advantagious Capitulation But they acknowledged him without any conditions and served him as long as he had need of them I know that to lessen the Glory of their Obedience and the usefulness of their Services it is objected that they had no other thoughts but of getting a King of their own Religion and that it was for this Interest that they hazarded all things But supposing this to be their Imagination however this advantage cannot be taken from them that their interest and the Kings was so mingled that what they did to establish their Religion served at the same time to assure the Crown to him in which they were extremely different from the Catholicks who separated the interest of their Religion from that of the K. and appeared almost all ready to leave him alone to his Affairs ãâã if their Religion did not find an advantage in their Obedience Time quickly shewed that the K's change who forsook the Protestant Religion did not abate their zeal and that they did not fail to serve him when he had bereav'd them of all hopes of seeing a Protestant Prince come to the Crown The Catholick Historians themselves confess That from the beginning there was great jealousy about his stedfastness In short the Death of Henry III. happening too soon they easily foresaw that the State would fall into great disorders and that the new K. might easily quit their Religion when he should need only that step to rid himself of so many Encumbrances The Offer which he always made in a manner Offensive to the Ministers and Zealous persons of receiving better instruction when ever he could be convinced his Religion was not good gave reason enough for their Jealousy Those who had been brought up with him in his youth knew very well that Patience was none of his Favourite Vertues and that he was not of proof against long enterprises and by consequence would be quickly weary of the difficulties of Conquering so many places as held out for the League and that if he could shorten them by changing his Religion that would be no balk in his way 'T is true indeed that he had some appearances of Piety which might give a good opinion of his Constancy he knew many passages of the Psalms and other Books of Scripture which he would apply very well chiefly when he would comfort himself after any cross chance or recur to God Almighty in the uncertainties of future events and he behaved himself very well in his ordinary Devotions in his Prayers before a Fight or in his Thanksgivings after a Victory But there is nothing which a Man treats in so contradictory a manner as Religion for he makes it the greatest of his Interests and yet sacrifices it to the least Affairs it is the most invincible of his opinions and at the same time he playeth with it as the most variable of his Thoughts No Passion is Mistriss of his Heart with greater violence and yet nevertheless nothing that he more easily puts in competition here nothing that he maketh a greater shew of on some occasions and nothing with which he troubleth himself less on others There was then a great deal of reason to be jealous of the King's Constancy when his mind upon this Subject was like another mans and their Suspitions of him encreased as soon as they saw him King by the Death of Henry III. and were changed almost into certainty after some steps that he made to gain the confidence of the Catholicks But these Jealousies which were but too well verified by the Consequence of Affairs did not oblige the Protestants to take Security of him nor make him buy their services by advantagious conditions It happened as it is said that some Ministers in their Entertainments and Sermoâs Predicted the ruin of Anti-Christ in terms a little too harsh and promised their Party a speedy triumph over the Church a hope upon which men often frame very agreeable illusions because every one makes an Application of the promises upon which he believes them founded to the age he lives in Some Historians have alledged these over bold Discourses for an excuse of the irresolution of the Catholicks But there was more particular Interest in the matter than true Zeal for the good of Religion as appears by the Articles which they oblig'd the K to promise before they would acknowledg him He deliberated a great while with his antient Friends to know what to determine during which the Catholicks laboured to take their precautions But after a long wavering the resolution he took was not absolutely to refuse changing his Religion but only in the present conjuncture come what would that is to say he would have Religion for an up-stroak and see in the mean time what he could do by his prudence and by the fidelity of his servants At last they present Conditions to him upon which the Catholicks of the Army would acknowledg him The first That he should cause himself to be instructed in six Months as much as to say
before wherein he protested he desired nothing more than to be better instructed and was ready to submit to the Decisions of a General Council or at least of such an Assembly of Church men as might be able to terminate the depending Controversies and in the mean while promised to alter nothing in the State of the Catholick Religion and he gave them soon after very convincing proofs of the sincerity of his Intentions in that ãâã by granting the Town of Chartres upon its surrender to him after a long Siege the power to suppress the exercise of the Reformed Religion both in that City and within the whole extent of its Jurisdiction In which he stretcht his complaisance for the Catholicks to as âign a pitâh as it would bear since to pleasure them he was content ãâã exclude the exercise of his own Religion out of the precincts of a âonquer'd pâace The other Declaration was in favour of the Protestants to whom it granted the Revocation of the Edicts that were contrary to that of 1577 which was thereby restored to its full force and vigour by way of Provision till the Differences in Religion should be agreed by the consent of all the Orders of the Kingdom when they should be reduced to the Kings obedience It was thought an Edict so very reasonable as that could not but pass without contradiction since it made no new concessions to the Protestants restor'd to the Catholicks the exercise of their Religion in a good number of places out of which it had been banisht during the last War that it was in effect nothing but an Interim or Temporary Provision in expectation of a Definitive Peace and since lastly it reserved to the Leaguers a power to make new demands in behalf of their Religion the whole matter not being to be concluded without their consent when they should be reduced Yet the Cardinal of Vendome who had taken the name of the Cardinal of Bourbon could not forbear making some feeble opposition against it in full Council But after he had shewn his malicious intentions to that degree as to make an offer to go out of the Council rather than consent to an Edict of that Nature he was glad for all his huffing to sit down again tamely at a small disdainful nod the K. made to him But the Parliaments were more surly and difficult to be won for those of Reunes and Bourdeaux absolutely rejected the Edict and tho that of Tours accepted it yet it was with a Modification by which Protestants were excluded from all publick Offices and Employments and out of all Assemblies of States in most part of the Kingdom The pretence abused by some to that purpose was taken from a Clause in the Edict of Mantes which ordered That the last Edicts of Pacification should be restor'd and observ'd as they were in the life time of the late K. now they knew well enough that Hen. III. never gave any places to Protestants and that he found out tricks to exclude them in spite of the Article in his Edict that declared them capable to hold them and therefore by virtue of those words which were either unwarily used or foisted by the Artifice of the Catholicks into the Edict of Mantes they would still have them remain Excluded from all Employments because they had been so treated by the deceased K. and they thought it favour enough to let them enjoy Offices in Rochelle and some other places where the artifices of Hen. III could never prevail to exclude them And the Cardinal of Bourbon maintain'd that Banter and openly declared that the Protestants did but deceive themselves in pretending to be admitted to Offices and they were fain to spend many years in patience and continual solicitations before they could surmount that obstacle tho there was nothing more unjust than that pretence For Hen. III. had violated his own Law in excluding them by diverse Tricks from those Employments to which they were rightfully admittable according to the express terms of his own Edict so that they could not take any advantage against them from the deceitful conduct of that P. without wranglings not very suitable to Royal Majesty to the prejudice of the Publick Faith The Reformed made no great complaints of the Edict tho' the provisional Clause which differed the Decision of their Affairs till after the Reduction of those of the League ought to have seemed intollerable unto them because it did leave them in an uncertain condition which could alter as Time and Interests should serve But they could not endure to be deprived of the Benefit of their Birthrights or the Rewards of their desert upon the sole consideration of their Religion whether because this Injustice bespattered their Religion and their Persons or because it did treat them as the Canon Law orders Heretics to be who are by this Law excluded from Dignities and Charges whence it followed very evidently that they were put into the number of such as the same Canons give over to the secular Judge and whom the Catholick Kings oblige themselves to destroy by their Coronation-Oath They further considered as a particular reason of maintaining themselves in the right of partaking publick Employs that the King had suppressed the Courts of St. John d' Angeli of Bergerac and of Montauban wherein Justice had been rendered till towards the end of the foregoing Year by Judges of their own Religion for which they pretended that the King ought to give them some Recompence and for which they only desired to be admitted to the same Employments that they being of the Companies of Judicature might have some of their own Religion to take care to see Justice done to their Brethren Therefore they made heavy complaints of the wrangling that I have just now specified and omitted not to set forth that the Injustice done them reflected on the King himself since those could not be deprived of Employments for the sake of Religion that followed the same Doctrine with him without silently declaring him uncapable of the Crown But they did not require the King to give an express Declaration for the solving of this Equivocation for fear the scrupulous Catholicks should look upon it as a new Grace and should take occasion to grumble at it They only insisted that the King should verbally express his Intentions to the heads of the Soveraign Courts but so as to cause them to be executed The King to satisfie them sent Commissioners for the executing of his Edict in the Parliaments that acknowledged his Authority but this remedy was not sufficient to hinder new occasions of Complaints to be given every-where Meanwhile the Clergy being assembled at Chartres to the small number that I have mentioned were drawing up Articles which lay open their unfaithful and ambitious Mind As the Ecclesiasticks have always been for making the Preservation and Safety of the Kings to depend on themselves this small Assembly undertook to
take from the Parliaments the right of watching over it and in this design required that they should be prohibited taking any Cognizance of what should pass betwixt the King and the Pope They presented to the King some other Articles upon all which Du Plessis sent a vigorous Memoir to the Parliament of Tours which that Senate approved and it was upon these grounds that he advised the King by delays to frustrate the Pretentions of the Clergy Besides the honour of the Parliament that was concerned to maintain its Possession to preserve the authority and Dignity of the Kings against the Bulls of Rome there was moreover a reason of Interest that obliged it to withstand the demands of the Bishops There had been since the death of the Cardinal of Bourbon seen to grow a new Cabal amongst the Royal Catholicks which was termed the Third Party The pretence of those that formed it was to put the Catholick Religion in safety whose ruine they thought could not be hindered if Henry IV. came to reign peaceably without changing his Religion This Prince was growing suspected to them because he seemed to them too long to put off the Instruction that he had promised them and that they feared by reason of the Prosperity of his Affairs that he would soon be in a condition to make his own Religion to reign in spight of the Rebels The new Cardinal of Bourbon's Tutor and David du Perrón who had been of the Reformed Religion and who was even as they say a Ministers Son were the Authors of this Faction and they pretended to make it a way to the advancement of their Master who was the Idol of that Party They casted for a Foundation that it was necessary to have a King who had always been a Catholick and that consequently would not be suspected but that he must be taken out of the Royal Family that the fundamental Law of the Crown might not be violated So that they could cast their Eyes on none else but the Cardinal of Bourbon This Party grew easily because two sorts of Catholicks joyned in it to wit those that mistrusted Henry IV. and who above all things were for the safety of their Religion and those who tho' they would not leave him yet were willing to make him afraid of losing his Adherents if he did not speedily embrace the Catholick Religion Villeroy and Janin who gave him both advice and the example of it tho' they both were deeply for the interests of the League joyned or at least made a shew of joyning to this Cabal to weaken the King by dividing his Party or for to force him to change his Religion thro' the fear of seeing himself abandoned for another This Faction became so potent as that mention of it was made to the Pope they desiring to have his Authority for a Prop So that the King was wonderfully troubled at it and held him for a long time in grievous Alarms Therefore the most passionate Historians and who seem to have writ for no other end but for to perswade that the Catholicks had reason on their side in every thing have not dared to justifie this Conspiracy and do confess that the Royal Catholicks designed to put the Royalty at a Compromize Du Perron the most ambitious and unfaithful Man of his time revealed unto the King the secrecy of that Party altho' he had been the Promoter of it himself and 't was by that means he gained that Prince's Confidence whose Favour some years after made him a Cardinal The Assembly of Chartres did favour this Cabal and it was resolved there to present the King with a Petition in their Names to exhort him to become a Catholick with all speed because otherwise several who had been faithful to him as the Lawful Heir would take other Measures and should be forced to abandon him This Petition was Printed at Angiers without the Printer's name âut not presented Notwithstanding the Cardinal of Bourbon made or according to others caused to be made to the King a Speech in the same sense and with the same threatnings It was ândeavoured for the authorizing this Party to establish under the âame of Chamber a kind of Parliament at Moulins or at Clermont ând it was so publick that they sought to compose it of such as were affected to that Cabal and that it was called publickly the third Parties Chamber The Parliament sitting at Tours was very much concerned at the erecting this Chamber because it could not be done without dismembering from that Court the Countries that should be made to hold of this new Jurisdiction But as it was profitable for the third Party to ruine the Parliament whose constancy when the rights of the Crown and Succession were to be treated of concurred not with these new Pretentions those that entered into this Faction and the Clergy as well as the rest did favour the setling of this Chamber that they might have at their devotion a Soveraign Court of Justice Therefore the Parliament and the Reformed to whom the Creation of this Chamber gave an umbrage for different reasons mutually opposed the Enterprizes of the Clergy It was only the business of Employments that the Parliament and the Clergy did agree in The Clergy complained that there were twenty six Hereticks in the Parliament of Tours and the Parliament stuck fast to the excluding the Reformed from lesser Offices Wherein they all manifested their aversion for Protestants and the same repugnancy to their being in profitable or honourable Imployments The King being urg'd by the Cardinal de Bourbon on behalf of the Assembly of Chartres to give him an answer to three Articles followed the advice of his Parliament and got clear of this Instance by general Answers The first of these Articles was concerning his coming over to the Romish Church He defended himself from it by the ordinary Protestation of being ready to receive Instruction and to procure the end of the differences that divided the Church adding that he found it less honourable to turn into it alone than to bring back the rest with him and excusing himself for not being able to hearken to the Instruction which he had promised by reason of his Military Distractions during which the Voice of the Canons of the Church was stifled by the Noise of the Canons of the Arsenal The second was touching the Peace which the Clergy desired might be concluded by his Intermission Upon which the King was content in general to testifie that he desired a Peace The third was for obtaining permission to send to the Pope as the Assembly of Chartres had resolved directly against an Act of Parliament of Tours which prohibited all communication with the Court of Rome The King answered it was a matter of State complain'd of by the deceased Pope and the Pope regent declared That he thought it contrary to his Reputation to court him whilst he did what he could against him
from Time and Political Prudence These reasons had a great empire over the mind of a Prince that was weary of the toilsome trade he had followed near twenty years and who saw that his labours were not as yet like to come to an end The Misery of the People that could hold out no longer was represented in order to move his Compassion By setting forth the heads of the Protestants as restless and ambitious and he was made to fear them He had cause to complain of several Catholicks that treated him after an insolent manner of whom he desired to be in a condition of making fair riddance Conspiracies were carried on against his Person that caused him to fear nay he complain'd to du Plessis that the Catholicks of his Party had plotted with the Duke of Mayenne to seâze on him at Mantes He was under apprehensions least the States of the League then assembled at Paris should chuse the Cardinal of Bourbon and that the Spaniards should uphold him Most of the Courtiers were weary of this laborious Life where there was nothing but pains to be taken and as little to be gained The fair Gabrielle d' Estree the Kings Mistress shared in these Intreagues She hated not the Reformed whom she judg'd to be faithful and honest Men and even had many of them in her Service But the Protestant Lords had no great complyance for her and they never wou'd have favour'd her ambitious Designs On the contrary she was put in hopes that if the King changed Religion she shou'd have more reason to pretend to Marry him because he could get the Pope to make void his Marriage with Margaret of Valois and be at liberty to contract another whereas the Reformed Religion debarr'd him from such easie means of making that rupture And to assure the Crown to the Children that should come of this new Marriage she therefore added her reasons to those of the rest and the King who appeared more than half resolv'd upon this unworthy Marriage suffered himself thus to be overcome partly by the Prevarications of his Confidents and Ministers partly by the advices of Policy and partly by the Illusions of Love Nevertheless he dared not as yet to declare his Intention whether he was asham'd of this timorous Conduct or that he feared that the Reformed whereof some spoke of cantoning themselves and of abandoning the King if the King forsook them shou'd strike some desperate Blow This was not the language of all those that professed the Reformed Religion the greatest part of whom and even some of the most authorized preach'd Patience and Loyalty to the rest It appear'd in process of time that those who were of this Sentiment were the strongest seeing that after the Kings turning there was none that formed a Party against him and that all of them remained four years more not only in Obedience but in his Service there were therefore but a few men that used these Menaces They did not do it so much through a formal Inclination of cantoning themselves but thro' a knack of Policy for to oppose a kind of a Counterpoise to the threatnings of the Catholicks and thus to put in some measure the Kings Mind in an equal Ballance The Catholicks often renewed to the King their Threats of quitting him for another if he did not change his Religion It was therefore requisite that the Reformed should do the like fearing least that the King having nothing to fear but on one side and finding on the other complyance and gentleness should with more ease suffer himself to be conquered by the threatning Party The Mind is govern'd as the Body and when either the one or the other sinks under an effort that makes it lean on one side there must strength be put on the other for to raise it up and to restore it to its natural Scituation So that for to put a stop to the King who was dragged on the Catholicks side thro' the fear of being abandoned by them it was necessary to oppose him with the like fear from the Reformed if he quitted their Religion but there was a vast difference betwixt the conduct of the one and the other The Catholicks Threatnings were followed with sad Effects Intelligences with the Leaguers Cabals amongst themselves and voluntary Obstacles to the Kings Prosperity There was also the third Party whose Head was known and whom most of the Catholicks threatned to acknowledge for their Soveraign But the Threats of the Reformed consisted only in bare words dictated rather by Prudence than thro' an Intention of doing ill and which hindered them not from remaining Loyal Yet the King concealed his Thoughts from them upon that matter with a deep dissimulation tho' his designs was so well known to the Catholicks that the very Spaniards mistrusted it therefore they insinuated to him that they would treat with him without touching his Religion This they did for to benefit themselves with the Leaguers by the Kings steadfastness if he suffered himself to be dazled with this deceiving Proposition But in order to dissipate the Suspicions of the Reformed the King already resolved to quit their Religion testified that he was desirous to provide for their Safety Therefore he came to Tours as they desired him for to cause the Restrictions to be taken off wherewith the Edict of Nantes had been Registred He went thro' Saumur in his way thither and the Ministers having the honour to salute him upon his departure he assur'd them that he would dye in the Reformed Religion and declar'd unto them that if they heard that he was fallen into some Debauch they might believe it because he had many such like Frailties but that if the noise should spread that he was to forsake his Religion they should give no credit thereunto But when he arrived at Tours there fell out things that made it visible he had other Intentions He dared not to keep his Bed of Justice as 't was thought he would because the procuring an advantage to the Reformed being in agitation he might have given cause to the Catholicks to murmur for as much as at his first sitting in the Parliament he should have constrained that Senate to receive into the Charges those that were called Hereticks He for that reason Assembled only the Heads to whom he declared his will and ordered them to consult thereupon But this weak means advanced not Affairs and the result of this debate made it evident that the King had promised to turn Catholick He made a shew of being irritated at the Parliaments resistance and spake very angry terms to the Attorney General But it was all the satisfaction the Reformed had The Restrictions remained as they were and it appeared that the King had ingaged to do nothing for them before he had embraced the Roman Religion It seemed that if the Catholicks had consented to what the King demanded they would have drawn him out of a great perplexity and would
have put him in a way of quitting the Reformed Religion with more decency because he should have prevented their Complaints by making their condition sure But the Catholicks passion was so great that they did consider nothing and that they would have perhaps desired no better than to drive the Reformed to some Mutiny for to agree with the League at their cost and upon condition of turning against them their united Forces But the Reformed lost not patience for all these Injustices The King was forced to take other measures for to enduce them to see his change by fair means and without making a stir In order whereunto they made use of the Pretence of Conferences Ten or twelve Conferences had been already held with the Leaguers without doing any good a new one was renewed amongst the Royal Catholicks and them and that they might not be thwarted by du Plessis they agreed for a Preliminary that no Heritick should be admitted thereto The pretence of it was to concur with the States of Paris to put a Catholick King on the Throne and to reunite the Suffrages in the Person of Henry IV. in case of his Conversion Therefore from the very opening of the Conference he published a Declaration that he had prepared for to assure the Catholicks of his desire to receive Instruction At the same time the Reformed of the Court were sollicited not to hinder the Kings Conversion and the Duke of Boüillon was chiefly intreated because his opposition would give the greatest difficulty De Thou wrote to him upon âhis Subject to perswade him that it would be advantagious for he Reformed to have a Catholick King of whose good Intentions they might have full assurances The Duke was deeply oâliged to the King and his Mouth was stopt with such a heap of promises that it would have been very difficult for him not to âave been overcome The King himself promised by a Writing that was signed by the Princes and the chief Lords of the Council that the profession which he was about to make of the Romish Religion would cause no change in the Edicts which the Reformed had obtained and that no resolution would be taken in the Conference to their Prejudice In the mean time for to baffle the Reformed of the Provinces another sort of Conference was proposed under pretence of instructing the King but as his change was resolved upon that seââous and grave Conference so much spoken of was no more to be expected It was only a Conference in shew to which the King invited those that he pleased by express Letters assigning their Convention at Mantes on the 20th of July 'T is true Plessisââtered ââtered the Superscription of the Letters and that instead of senâing them to some private Persons as the King had ordered he ââtained of him that they should be sent to the Churches that ââey might appoint fit persons for that matter No outward ââction of the King could as yet discover his design of changing and he continued in his Court the Exercises of the Reformed Religion as he had accustomed Nay he desired that all the Reformed throughout the Kingdom should betake themselves to Fasting and Praying for to implore of God a happy Issue of this pretended Conference as if he had been still dubious which Party to cleave to But at last the Masque was taken off and it was evident that the whole Instruction would be reduced to the hearing of the Bishops without admitting any Ministers in order to answer them The Clergy had desired that the business might thus go on because they never set Victory at a compromize and that they were not so sure of the King's Conversion as that an orderly Dispute where these Pastors should be admitted might not make him have quite contrary Thoughts Notwithstanding the King thought to make use of his Compliance to the Clergy for to perswade the Reformed that he yielded but to Necessity that he abjured his Religion but in Words that he would hear but Catholicks because that he being forc'd to turn it was more to the advantage of the Reformed that he should do it without hearing them than otherwise that they might have it to say they were not vanquished whereas if the King should turn after a Dispute of both Parties this Change of his had been a real Triumph for the Catholicks But the Mystery was revealed by a Letter from the Chancellor to the Bishop of Chartres which was seen by the Reformed wherein he advertis'd that Prelat That he might come with a full assurance without troubling himself with Divinity Hereby it was seen that a set Conference was not agreeing to the Bishops Palat and they chose rather to overcome without fighting But tho' this kind of Instruction seem'd very strange to the Reformed and that they judg'd it a very singular thing that the King should be as 't were the Judge of so great a Cause after having only heard one of the Parties They notwithstanding thought they should not omit to send their Deputies to Mantes either to obtain by their Presence something in favour of their Religion or to take from the Bishops the Pretence of Boasting that the Ministers had shunn'd the Conference Time has declar'd how necessary this Precaution was seeing that not only in our days but almost at that same time and in the Presence of those who knew how things had been carried on they published that the Ministers had fled before them and had not the Courage to come to the Dispute It is true that the Ministers of the Court entred not into Conference But that we may not repeat over that the King's Instruction was agreed upon to be without them I shall at least say that none should admire That either those who were gained to favour the King's Design had seigned to give way or that the rest seeing the Snares that were laid for them and knowing the King 's secret Intentions had requir'd that all the Deputies of the Churches might be expected before the broaching of a business of so great consequence However they took another Precaution more formal against the vain Reproach of the Prelats and they engaged by a Publick and Authentick Writing to maintain in the Presence of what Persons soever in a set Conference the Doctrine that the King had learned in the Reformed Religion It was Plessis's desire that the Ambassadors of the Protestant Princes and some learned Ministers should be at Mantes that the Presence of these Ministers might delay if it were possible the King's Change or at least that it might more forcibly oblige him to give the Reformed tolerable Conditions But the precipitation of the Clergy gave not time for all these Measures They waited neither the coming of the Deputies of the Churches nor of the Strangers And after an Instruction of half a day where only such were present as were not willing to hinder it the King appeared to be satisfied with the
Roman Doctrine and the very next day abjured at St. Denis the Reformed Religion It 's true he never would promise to ruine the Hereticks of his Kingdom which the Clergy would have him Swear to Whether he acted thus only through a sincere Affection for the Peace of his Subjects or that it was a premeditated Denial to take away the Fears his Change might give the Reformed Neither would he by any means sign a Formular which had been prepared for him by which he was to Swear one after another to all the Articles of the Romish Faith and in like manner to abjure all the pretended Heresies of the Reformed They were forc'd to draw up one on purpose where Roni interven'd and where without an express Profession or Abjuration of any Article he in sum submitted himself to the whole Doctrine of the Catholicks But as there was a necessity of satisfying the Pope the first Formular was sent him in the King's Name which was counterfeited by Lomenie Secretary of State who had us'd to Sign for him and who imitated his Writing pretty well The King agreed to this Writing which could neither set his Conscience at rest nor please the Court of Rome where the Craft could not be long kept hidden nor make the Reformed believe that he kept their Religion in his Heart tho' he had these different Prospects in this Artifice The End of the Second Book THE HISTORY OF THE Edict of Nantes BOOK III. The CONTENTS of the Third Book Mistrusts produced by this Change Boldness of the Leaguers Renewing of the Vnion-Oath Conspiracy of Barriere Pretence of the Rebels that the King's Conversion is not sincere That he must have the Popes Blessing Deputies from the Reformed on their March The King's Precautions against their Reproaches A Letter upon the King's Change The Insults of the Catholicks Artifices to keep the Deputies from seeing him and to hinder him from giving them satisfaction Project of an Edict A Precaution against the Order of the Holy Ghost and Coronation The Reformed not very well contented with the Project neither accept nor refuse it Assemblies permitted Vnion renew'd with the King's Approbation Artifices for to corrupt the Ministers A Design of a Re-union The Duke of Nevers obtains nothing at Rome The Fears that the King 's and Pope's Reconciliation give the Reformed A Truce prejudicial to the King The Reducing Meaux and other Towns Clauses in the Treaties that are to the prejudice of the Reformed The Coronation Oath The power of the Jesuits Injustices done to the Reformed The Characters of the Chief of the Reformed A Synod at Montaubon Orders Prayers for the King's Prosperity and for his returning to his Religion Disclaims the Province of the Isle of France in several points Assembly at St. Foy Propositions and Regulations for the General Council and for those of the Provinces Secret Articles Sedition of the Croquans Deputies amused at Court Pretensions of the Duke of Mercoeur Overtures of Reconciliation with the Pope The King wounded by Chatel Jesuits banished Pyramid Testimony that d' Ossat renders the Reformed The Courts Thoughts upon the Vnion of the Reformed The King's Thoughts upon this Subject Causes for which it is resolv'd to declare the Reformed capable of Employs The Prince of Conde drawn from under their hands Methods for to succeed in it The Article of the enabling the Reformed to be in Places passes with much ado The Attorney General 's ill-grounded Wrangling and the reason of new Mistrusts Assembly at Saumur at first displeases the King who at at last authorizes it Reasons for the permitting it Necessity of importuning the King The Assembly demands a new Edict and Securities The King 's desired Absolution His Reasons for yielding the first Commissaries chosen for to treat about it Du Perron and d' Ossat The Popes high Pretensions Precise Instructions to the Attorneys for the contrary Testimony rendred to the present and past Services of the Reformed Prevarications of the Attorneys in the Words and thing it self Articles of Penitence Complaints of the Reformed The Excuses of the Attorneys Punishment of two Protestants at Rome Secret Articles believed to be promised to the Pope THis Conduct of the King changed once more the Countenance of Affairs The Reformed Religion which the Death of Henry III. had put upon the Throne was on a suddain removed far from it and the Heads of that Party began to fear That seeing it had been possible to make the King by so many Artifices quit his Religion he should by little and little be dispos'd to destroy them Which was so much the more probable that it being impossible for the King to be ignorant of the mortal Grief they had for his Change he was likewise to consider them as Men who perhaps for the future would consult only Despair and who at least would live with him in continual Diffidence Thence he on the other hand must take occasions of Suspicions and Jealousies and perhaps according to the natural Inclination of Man who never fails to hate those of whom âe no more deserves to be belov'd to pass from the fear of their Resentments to the resolution of ruining them Men look upon the Presence of those that have rendred them too good Services ând whom they for a Recompense have manifestly injur'd as a perpetual upbraiding of whom they think to rid themselves by âestroying these troublesom Accusers And the Reformed seemed to be in a case of excepting no other Usage seeing the sight of them could not but trouble the King's Conscience by continually upbraiding him with their Services their Misery and his Change They saw moreover that a Negotiation with Spain was on foot which ought to make them fear that the Alliance should be made âut at their Cost La Varenne a Man of Fortune who notwithâtanding had a share in the King's Confidence because he was one of the Ministers of his Love-tricks took a Journey into Spain ânder certain Pretences but in effect to propose a Peace and the Marriage of Henry IV. with the Infanta for to see that Princess in the King's Name for to bring him her Picture and to promise to send a Lord of Note if the King of Spain would âearken to it It is not known whether the King's Intention âas really so or if he endeavour'd by the Overture of that Proposition to make Spain abandon the Interests of the League But âis Voyage alarm'd the Protestants both at home and abroad âo ' England and the Vnited Provinces had been included in the âroject of this Peace because they feared lest at one time or anoââer their Ruine to be the fruit of that Alliance But in Franceââe ââe Reformed changed not their Conduct They were content to âârug their Shoulders through Astonishment to exhale their Grief â bitter Complaints and to expect the Issue of their Deputation whose Members were on their way to wait on the King who had given them fine Promises for
their Comfort As to the Catholicks those that follow'd the King's Party lost the Pretence of their Broils when they could no more reproach him with his Religion But his Affairs with the Leaguers fared in nothing the better for it From the very beginning of the Conference that was again taken up with them they pretended to treat not as Subjects but as Equals and even as Superiours that gave Laws unto the rest They would not treat with the King but with the Catholicks that were of his side They disputed with them whatever can be disputed amongst those that are equal Precedency the Wind the Fire and the Right Hand and would have the Houses to be drawn by Lot and after all they made still such Demands as were impossible to be granted Amongst other Propositions they made that of granting to the Reformed an Edict of Toleration for a time Thus they were forced to part without coming to any Conclusion the King refusing to consent to such hard Conditions and not very suitable to the Condition of his Affairs and the Catholicks themselves that were of his Party being asham'd to desire it of him Some days after the King's Abjuration the League renewed the Union-Oath to rouse the Spirits of those that this Action had shaken A Copy of this new Oath which the Cardinal of Plaisance had Signed and which he was sending to Rome fell into the King's Hands who clearly saw that his Change had not freed him of his Troubles Even Villeroy and Janin who had most assured him that his Religion alone kept these Catholicks from rendring him Obedience temporized as well as the rest The reason of this was that every one was resolved to sell his Reduction and that private Interest was more valued than that of Religion which they had given out to be their sole one There were but very few Examples of an uninterested yielding few Towns oâ Governors surrendred without bargaining all the rest got themselves to be bought at the dearest rate they could Therefore whilst the Reformed bewailed the change of their King and groaned under the Oppression of their Enemies the Catholicks sold him his own Goods and obtained from him great Sums or great Places as a Price at which they set their Obedience And whilst his ancient and most faithful Servants enjoy'd neither their Consciences nor their Lives in Safety the Rebels who had so often conspir'd against his Service receiv'd all the Favours and Rewards Notwithstanding all this about a Month after he had embrac'd the Romish Religion a Plot against his Life was discover'd Peter Barriere a Disciple to the Jesuits had undertaken to kill him He was apprehended and punish'd as his Crime deserv'd The Pretence of these new Difficulties was that his Conversion was not sincere and that before he could be acknowledg'd a true Catholick he must be reconcil'd to the Pope and receive his Benediction Mean while the Deputies from the Churches were on their way to Mantes The King was not willing to see them because âe expected nothing but Reproaches from them And Q. Elizabeth upbraided him more bitterly then he expected They of Geneva wrote to him after the same manner and he question'd not âut his own Subjects would talk to him in the same Language Therefore he took all Precautions possible to secure himself against the free and bold Discourses that he expected from them Whereupon he commanded du Plessis to let him know what the âeformed did say of his Change as if he had a mind to accustom himself to such Remonstrances This du Plessis did in a pretty ââng Letter but yet more sharp and smart wherein heplainly set âârth their Thoughts upon all the Circumstances of this Affair âe told the King that the Reformed had hopes that he would have ââken care for them without putting them to Trouble about it âât that instead of giving them an assured Settlement he had not ââ much as taken the Rope from their Necks seeing the Edicts of âe League were still in force in several Parliaments That notwithstanding the Reformed did not desire as the League that the âaw of the Realm should be alter'd for their Profit or that of a ââreign Prince nor as the Royal Catholicks that the King according to their Pleasure should change his Religion and much ââs that the Kingdom should be torn into pieces to satisfie a âall number of Men That they desir'd Peace only for their consciences and the Security of their Lives every one according this Quality and Birth which is a common Right and not a âââvate Priviledge they being resolv'd to obey their Prince without excepting against his Religion That they complain'd that their Petitions granted by so many Edicts of his Predecessors and maintain'd by himself could not be hearkned to under his Reign which had they not expected and had it not been for the Affection they bare him they might justly and profitably have used the Methods they had been forc'd to make use of under the former Reigns That after a long Patience they saw him quit his Religion without providing for them in any manner whatever That the Vulgar thence concluded that whether he had turn'd of his own free accord or thro' necessity there was no good to be expected from him any more That the wiser sort were in hopes he would never have forgot the Favours God had showr'd down upon him nor the Services of the Reformed but that they feared at the same time that he having forgot them in the midst of his Prosperities and not having set them at liberty when so many Victories gave him Authority to do it would for the future want resolution to do them good and that those who had been able to shake his Conscience would likewise force him to make an ill use of his Power To which they added the Examples of the past and the present Discourses of several Catholicks That they doubted of his Constancy of protecting them having seen what he had done more especially finding that there was a greater distance betwixt pure Religion and Idolatry then betwixt Idolatry and Persecution because a Man must meet with Difficulty to pass from Good to Evil But ââ grow worse and worse is so easie that it is scarce perceptible ââ Plessis moreover observ'd that the King had been impos'd upoâ their Insinuations to bring him to Mass which having fully discover'd he told him that it was evident the Catholicks intended to carry him on further that he would be oblig'd to send ââ Rome where no Absolution would be obtain'd without Penance that Popes had sometimes enjoin'd that of making War against the Infidels that after the same manner the Consecrated Sword would soon be sent him to fight against the Hereticks meaning the Reformed the Loyalest of his French-men and the sincerest Subjects and that he should be brought thereto by little and little ââder divers Pretences to overcome his good Disposition Then
lest they should pay âhe Expences of the Reconciliation betwixt these two Potentates The Duke of Nevers being sent to Rome seem'd fit for the speeây concluding of this business because that as a zealous Catholick ând originally an Italian he would be acceptable to the Pope ând as affectionate to the King he would mind his Interest In âffect he was very intent upon the matter and ply'd the Pope in a âost submissive and earnest manner But he got nothing by his Importunity The Pope believ'd the League to be still strong enough to hold out a long time against the King's Power and according to the Maxims of Rome he continu'd inflexible as long as he thought things could not be done without him The Duke of Nevers has thought fit in his Memoirs to make a particular Observation of the little knowledge that Court has of the Gospel where nevertheless the Name of Religion serves for a Cloak for all things He relates that as he was one day remonstrating to the Cardinal of Toledo how just it was that the Pope should kindly accept the Offers of the King that courted him seeing his Duty oblig'd him like the good Shepherd that seeks for the stray'd Sheep to have courted himself that Prince were he still stray'd from his Flock This Cardinal one of the most learned and famous of the Colledge answer'd him That it did not stand with the Dignity of Jesus Christ to run after the stray'd And continuing the same Discourse he nam'd the Apostle St. Andrew in a thing that the Evangelist St. John attributes to St. Philip wherein the Duke who knew more then he made no Scruple to shew him his Error These Rigours of the Pope and the bad Success of the Embassie of the Duke of Nevers who was not a little griev'd to see that they did but laugh at the Miseries of France in Rome and in whose Presence this same Cardinal had presum'd to say smiling at the Description he made of 'em That he did not know how to help 'em All this I say made some of the Reformed take heart in hopes to see a Schism that might happen to their Advantage But those who understood better the Roman Policy judg'd otherwise and believ'd that all these Scruples were rais'd only for to enhance the price of the King's Reconciliation and to draw more advantageous Conditions from him amongst which they highly fear'd least destroying the Hereticks as one of the chiefest should be inserted It is true the King had charg'd the Duke of Nevers to let the Pope know if he were capable of hearkning to Reason that considering the present posture of Affairs he ought not be oblig'd either to destroy the Reformed nor to promise the compassing of it one day because they were strong enough to stand in their own Defence and had well fortify'd Holds to retire to In consideration of which he besought the Pope not to take it ill that some other more moderate Course might be taken for the good of the Catholick Religion without mentioning the Destruction of the Reformed Pisani who had made a Voyage to Italy before the Duke had also been charg'd with the like Instructions But the Reformed were not ignorant of the Artifices of the Court of Rome that takes her Measures afar off to bring about her Designs whereof she never loses sight The Pope also explain'd himself clearly enough upon this Subject and tho' he had resolv'd to give no positive Answer to the Duke of Nevers when he ask'd him what he would have the King do in order to obtain his Absolution âet told him to be rid of his Importunities that the King should do the contrary of all that he had done till that time The Reformed understood well the meaning of those Words They were not obscure to those that knew with what earnestness the Court of Rome had and still did endeavour throughout all Europe to destroy the Protestants They saw well that the Popes meaning was that the King who to that time had been the Protector of the Reformed must for the future persecute and destroy ' em They were moreover well informed that divers Advices were given the King to divert him from favouring them and that it was ever-more represented to him that that was the only ââans to bring back all the Catholicks into his Service and bind âhe Pope to his Interests Mean while the Truce which the King had made with the Heads of the League immediately after his Conversion under pretence âf re-uniting their Minds and to wean them from the War enâed with the Year It was at first made for Three Months and ââen was continued The Reformed of the Council oppos'd it âith all their might and endeavour'd to make the King sensiââe that this Truce would prove the Ruine of his Affairs beââuse it would delay the good Intentions of those that were inââ¦inable to return to their Obedience and give the Heads of the ââ¦eague time to re-encourage their Party that began to shake and ââ Opportunity of treating more advantagiously with the Spaniââds But this Advice was rejected by them who foresaw that ââ¦e design of a Peace would throw the Reformed into despair who ââund more safety for themselves in the Continuation of the War Yet ââ¦me convinc'd the World that their Counsel was both wholsom and unbyassed The particular Heads of the League stuck close one to another whilst the Truce lasted hoping that All together should obtain better Conditions then separate and divided and the Heads made a bad use of it to draw more Succours from the Spaniards who were desirous to continue the Troubles in the Kingdom The King therefore publish'd a Declaration setting forth his Reasons for discontinuing a Truce so hurtful to his Interests But the face of things chang'd as soon as ever the Truce was expir'd and most of the Cities treated Meaux was the first that submitted following the Example of Vitri the Governor She drew great advantages from her submitting and the Edict that was given her serv'd for a Model to the rest under the same Circumstances All these Surrendrings gave new Jealousies to the Reformed against whose Liberties there were always some Clauses inserted in the Treaties of the Governors and Cities The very Articles that were agreed upon at Mantes were almost all violated by these new Edicts and the Reformed after all these Infringements found themselves in as bad a posture as at the beginning All the Towns did not shew an equal Aversion for them but they all agreed that no other Religion then the Catholick should be exercis'd within their Walls Meaux was content to exclude out of her Cities and Suburbs the Exercise of the Reformed Religion Others banish'd it their Banlieve Several reduc'd it to the Limits of the Edict of 1577. fearing least the Service of the Reformed should get 'em a more extended Liberty Several desir'd that the Exercise of the Reformed might be
removâ from the Jurisdiction of their Bailiwick Some added pain of Death to those that should break the Conditions Paris remov'd the Liberty desir'd by the Reformed Ten Leagues round Villars banish'd it Roan and all the Towns and Places that he caus'd to submit to the King's Obedience and added That there should be neither Judge nor Officer that was not a Catholick employ'd therein and did not live according to the Constitutions of the Romish Church But to temperate this rigorous Clause it was subjoined that this should only last till the King had otherwise order'd it Poitieres besides the removal of the Exercise of the Reformed from the Town and Suburbs and from all the places that the Edict of 1577. did not permit demanded that the Catholick Religion might be restor'd in divers places of Poitou Agen limited her Bonlieve to half a league round where the Reformed Religion should not be exercis'd Amiens prohibited it in the City and whole Bailywick without having respect to the Edict of 1577. Beauvois obtain'd that it should be no nearer then three Leagues about nor in any places of the Bailywick but where it had been in the late King's time S. Malo treated after the same manner The Towns and Lords that return'd latest to their duty follow'd the example of the rest and got what they cou'd from the King against the Reformed Religion Some of the Edicts were publish'd before the Reformed had formed the Assembly they were permitted to hold at St. Foy âo that they had time to see what they were to expect from the Reconciliation of their old Enemies with the King and to be âonfirm'd in their fears of seeing the Kingdom pacifi'd at their âost They saw even some of those Cities which having held âor the King revive their zeal after the example of the Towns of âhe League and pretended that their fidelity shou'd not deprive 'em âf the Advantages granted to Rebels whence they drew this âonsequence that they ought not to be forc'd to suffer the exerâise of the Reformed Religion seeing such were free'd from it as âad for a long time stood out against the King But their allarums âill encreas'd by the Ceremony of the King's Coronation which âas celebrated at Chartres because Rheims was as yet in the âands of the League The Clergy that never forgot their ââterest in Ceremonies of this kind which they have introduc'd ââther thro' Ambition then Necessity inserted a Clause in the Oath that was then taken by the King whereby he was bound ãâ¦ã express words to root out Heresie He is made to swear âfter some other things that concern Justice and publick Tranquity I shall to the utmost of my power sincerely endeavour to drive ââom my Jurisdiction and Lands of my Subjection all Hereticks deâar'd by the Church The Reformed knew well what share they had ãâ¦ã this Article of the Oath they to whom what Catholicks call the Church had so often declar'd their meaning they against whom the âopes had rais'd such cruel Persecutions and they to whom the ârench and even those of the King's Party gave every day the odiâus name of Hereticks But part of the Suspicion which this Clause might give was remov'd by granting the Reformed a Brief wherein the King assur'd 'em that he did not mean Them in that Oath And they had in fome measure provided a Remedy against this fear by one of the Articles that were agree'd on at Mantes Another cause of jealousie was the Favour into which the Jesuits had crept a little after the King had chang'd his Religion and chiefly after the Reduction of Paris The Cardinal de Bourbon had undertaken to establish 'em in spight of the oppositions of the University The Duke of Nevers upheld 'em with his whole Credit and many Lords openly protected them Part of the Parliament was for 'em the King himself who was brought to any thing in hopes to soften the Pope favour'd ' em Their cause was pleaded pro and con the Rights of the University were maintain'd with utmost vehemency Arnauld ther Advocate enlarg'd much upon the Inclination altogether Spanish of that Society whose Founder had made a vow of mortal hatred against France and shew'd how formidable their power was They had encreas'd in fifty years to the number of ten Thousand men they had already two Hunder'd twenty eight Houses two Millions of Gold Revenue great Lordships Cardinals in their order all which cleerly shew'd that they ow'd this propagation to their unquiet covetous and ambitious Disposition But it appear'd at that very time that they had a great credit in France seeing their Cause was pleaded privately to avoid Scandal That is to say these Refin'd Politicians by means of their Friends prevented their being told their own in a publick Audience Whence the wise might perceive that it was not safe to offend ' em The Reformed beheld the Settlement of the Jesuits as an ill omen for them because they were their sworn Enemies born on purpose to oppose the Reformation and the ordinary Instruments of all their Persecutions Moreover the Society was altogether Spanishly affected and consequently engag'd to persecute the Reformed whose ruine Spain sought with all the strength of her Policy But this terror did not go far the matter was not decided and e're the year was ended there fell out things that found the Jesuits other Intrigues to disintangle The Reformed were still deny'd any places of trust and there were Catholicks so unjust upon that matter that they chose rather to see the King lose a place then to suffer a Reformed to have the Government of it D' O. publickly said that it were better Catelet a Frontire place of Picardy shou'd be taken by the Spaniards then that a Protestant should have the keeping of it because it wouâd be easier to retake it from the King of Spain then to drive a Reformed Captain out of it But what made the Reformed more sensible of the injury of this denial was that whilst they were depriv'd of lesser Offices the chiefest places of the State were given to the Leaguers that demanded them for returning to their Obedience As if Rebellion had given more right to the highest Dignities then long Service and tryed Loyalty to the lesser ones Nay at Tours itself wou'd they make Recorders and Notaries take an Oath of living and dying in the Catholick Religion which if it were not done the place was declar'd vacant and free for the purchase of another This so unequal a distribution of Recompenses mortally offended the Protestants who not without a just Resentment found that the Parliament made no Scruple to Register the Patents for Admiral or Marshal of France granted to the Heads of the Rebels yet would not admit an Usher or a Procter of the Reformed Religion without obliging him to swear that he wou'd live a good Catholick Nor was this all the Governments and Places were taken from the Reformed and
another place And his vivacious and couragious manner of supporting the Hereticks afterwards render'd him still more suspected The King hated him because he thought himself despis'd by him tho' he had done him great Services And if he let fall any Word at any time that carried with it the least Aire of a Threat it was always taken in ill part because they thought him capable of doing more then threaten These two Lords communicated their Mistrusts one to another and laid before each other the King's Easiness the Tricks and Artifices of Rome the Hatred of the Reconciled Leaguers who sufficiently shewed by the Articles of their Treaties their eager desires to reduce all France to one Religion There were also a great number of Lords Governours of Places Captains and Persons in Authority who lay under the same Terrors among whom there were some who having seen the times wherein Massacre and Treachery were so rise made no question but there was a design to destroy the Reformation as soon as they could meet with a favourable opportunity The Catholicks did those who were thus Character'd the Honour to call 'em Brouillons Troublesom Restless Disturbers of the Publick Peace As if People with whom they had so often broke their Words were to blame in distrusting those whose Violation of Faith they had so often experienc'd and securing themselves against their wicked Intentions Du Plessis who made a Conscience of Religion was one of the most zealous for the Establishment of it and a great part of the Affairs that tended that way were manag'd by his Counsels But in regard he was a Person of known Probity the King still put a Confidence in him and follow'd his Advice in many things because his Enemies themselves acknowledg'd 'em to be both prudent and sincere tho' they were often utter'd with great Boldness and Liberty He it was that reunited those who were like to be divided by their own Jealousies who appeas'd those who were over-hot and furious who put a stop to those that ran too fast and found out all Expedients proper to procure the Good of the Churches yet never fail'd in his Obedience There was no body that labour'd so much as he to keep the Reformed within the Bounds of due Patience during Negotiations for Four years together at what time their Fidelity was put upon cruel Trials through the Severity Delays and Artifices of the Court before they could obtain but tolerable Conditions These various Inclinations appear'd in all the National Assemblies both Temporal and Ecclesiastical which were held for naming of Deputies and to draw up Memoirs that were to be sent to the General Assembly which was to meet at St. Foy There were some of those particular Assemblies wherein it was debated whether a Protector should be chosen within or without the Kingdom or whether there should be a Form of Government erected to stand upon their own Legs without Protection But the whole was referr'd to the General Assembly to be there consulted Those Proposals came from the Duke of Bouillon who was for conferring the Title of Protector upon the Palatine Elector or some other Prince of his House and naming under him Four or Five Lieutenants within the Kingdom setting aside the Princes of the Blood whose Interests were such that the Common Cause would suffer too much prejudice by ' em He was in hopes by this means that the Chief Authority would rest in his hands that others would permit him to exercise it with less Jealousie under a Superiour then if he enjoy'd it in his own Name But the Reformed more especially they who were call'd Consistorials were weary of Personal Protection and the Authority pretended by Protectors had caus'd 'em to murmur a long time ago against that which they called Protectoral Tyranny There could be no National Synods assembl'd since the Year 1583. But that which was held in the Month of June at Montauban a City far remote from the Court and passionately zealous for Religion and the Common Cause made amends for that long Interval of lost Time and handl'd Affairs of great Importance The first of all their Cares was to order Publick Prayers for the King's Prosperity to the end it might appear that his changing his Religion had not disingag'd 'em either from obeying or serving him And this tended yet farther to make the Passion of certain Orders of Monks more evidently strange who refus'd to pray for the King tho' he were a Catholick and Crown'd with the usual Ceremonies This Diametrical Opposition of Duty in the one and Contumaciousness in the other plainly made it apparent on which side the Law and Spirit of Peace was to be found And prudent Men might easily know where the good Subjects were when they heard those whose Religion the Prince had relinquish'd pray to God according to the usual Custom for the Success of his Arms while they whose Doctrine he had embrac'd refus'd to name him in their Supplications to Heaven But least this Mark of the Synod's Affection to the King's Prosperity should be taken for a tacit Approbation or Dissimulation of the change of his Religion the same Assembly order'd that Prayers should be said at the same time that God would vouchsafe to bring him back to the Religion which he had quitted that the Ministers who were sent to the Court should lay before him his Duty in that Particular to God and that Letters should be written to those that were usually about his Person to make him some Remonstrances After this the Synod fell for a short time upon Political Affairs the occasion being given by the Province of the Island of France The Neighbourhood of the Court had wasted a good part of that Province and either by kindness or by Favours done 'em the Reformed in those Quarters had been oblig'd to be content with the Edict of 1577. the Verification of which they afterwards most importunately su'd for This Proceeding was disown'd by the Synod as being contrary to the Resolutions taken at Mantes where they had obtain'd a Promise of a new Regulation which should enlarge that Edict and the Society gave in charge that their Complaints should be carry'd to the General Assembly at St. Foy which was conven'd the Month following The Reasons why they were not contented with that Edict were because the Force of it was eluded by so many Frauds that they could no longer be assur'd of having any Advantage by it that something was ââ¦ar'd off every day by the Treaties granted to the Cities of the League That the Reformed since that time having perform'd many faithful and important Services it was but just that in stead of cutting off any thing from their Priviledges they should grant ââ¦em new ones in recompence for their loss of Blood and Hardship ândergone That in short that Edict was granted at a time when they had for their Leader and Chieftane the first Prince of the Blood who was
upon as Enemies by the Catholicks far from being treated as Members of one and the same Kingdom and Legitimate Children of the same Family In this Conjuncture of Affairs the King was wounded in the Mouth by John Chastel a Disciple of the Jesuits and the Reformed had that slight Consolation in the midst of their Afflictions and Fears to see that Society condemn'd to Banishment by the most August Senate of France A Pyramid was also order'd to be set up in that part of the House where the Parricide was hatch'd upon one of the Faces of which was engrav'd the Decree that banish'd the Jesuits out of the Kingdom and contain'd the Reasons for inflicting that Punishment upon ' em But the Parliaments of Tholouse and Bourdeaux would not follow the Example of that of Paris so that the Society kept their footing till they were again restor'd in the Provinces under their Jurisdiction In the mean while this audacious Attempt made a great Noise at Rome where d' Ossat highly aggravated the consequence of such an Enterprize at a time when they were treating so seriously about a Reconciliation between the Pope and the King But that which this Accident produc'd of most remarkable was this That it drew from the Lips of that Agent for France altho' a zealous Catholick and bred up in the Maxims of the Court of Rome an Authentick Testimony how highly the Reformed abominate all Crimes of this nature and of the profound Respect which they bear to the Persons of their Sovereigns This Prelat giving an account of the Fact to the Pope's Cardinal Nephew and aggravating the Horror of it contriv'd and encourag'd by them that call'd themselves the Support of the Catholick Religion told him in express Terms That if ever any body had a seeming just occasion to make use of such Assassinates the Hereticks had most cause to purchase 'em and set 'em at work against the King who has quitted and abandon'd 'em and of whom they had reason to be afraid nevertheless they never attempted any such thing either against Him nor any of the five Kings his Predecessors whatever Slaughters and Massacres their Majesties had made of the Huguenots This Misfortune did the Reformed no unkindness for it put the King in remembrance that he had never ran the like Risco while he was in their Hands Whence it came to pass that he sometimes declar'd to his Confidents that as to what concern'd the Safety of his Person he had a far greater Assurance in them then in the Catholicks On the other side the Result of the Consultations of the Assembly at St. Foy gave the Council no small occasion to make particular Reflections who beheld with Astonishment that numerous Body without a Chieftain to reunite the various Members of it to close and confederate together in their own Defence and take such proper courses to become formidable to their Enemies Therefore they would have had it look'd upon as a form'd Rebellion and an insolent sort of proceeding what was done by the Reformed at that time in order to their Preservation They call'd the Union a Design to set up a State with separate Interests and a distinct Government And because this was spread abroad at that time by passionate and violent Persons all the Historians that have since put Pen to Paper have not fail'd to exclaim against that way of proceeding and to black'n it with furious Declamations as if it were a Crime to be careful of Self-preservation when People have Enemies to deal with void of Equity Faith Humanity such as the Catholicks had more then once appear'd in reference to the Reformed The King had no reason to be offended at these Precautions since they were made use of neither against his Person nor against his Authority but against a sort of Zealots who might abuse his Power to oppress the most faithful part of his Subjects and against the Court of Rome with whose cruel Intentions and bloody Maxims all Europe was too well acquainted Nevertheless the King forbore not to disturb these Assemblies and to look upon 'em at least as du Plessis had sometimes represented 'em that is to say such as might degenerate and give occasion to Factious Spirits to raise Commotions and Tumults not easily to be appeas'd Which was the reason that sometimes he complain'd of their being conven'd and sometimes he gave express Orders for their Dissolution But then the King follow'd rather what his Councils peal'd in his Ears then his own Inclinations for as soon as others laid before him how dangerous it was to reduce the Reformed to the Provocations of Despair by depriving 'em the Comfort of those Assemblies he revok'd his former Orders by others more expresly forbidding their being dissolv'd In a word it was more advantageous for the King to permit that Union of his Subjects which oblig'd 'em to request his Leave for the time and place of their Assembling then to reduce 'em to throw themselves under a Foreign Protection by refusing 'em the means of securing both their Religion and their Lives under the Good Will and Authority of their Lawful Prince It was also better to see them united among themselves by that form of Correspondency then under a Protector whose Courage might be elevated by his Power by Foreign Adherences and Domestick Discontents and give him fair Opportunities and Advantages to enlarge his Reputation But for the present 't was thought that the most assured means to disperse those Assemblies or prevent the Mischief they might do was to afford the Reformed some occasion of Content to the end the first Assembly that was call'd together might have no more to do then to accept the King's Concessions and to return him Thanks For this Reason the Verification of the Edicts which had been formerly granted was press'd for at a more then usual Rate and the Confirmation of 'em by a new Edict as had been agreed with their Deputies at Mantes The greatest Difficulty consisted in their declaring the Reformed capable of all manner of Employments and this was that which the zealous Catholicks were extreamly unwilling to do who could not by any means brook the Violation of their Canons by which the Hereticks are excluded from all sorts of Offices and Preferments This Difficulty could not be remov'd by Four Years Sollicitations nor by the express Orders of the King nor by a new Delcaration given at St. Germans in November of the year preceding The Council consented to it as also to several other Provisional Regulations because they were then bethinking themselves of getting the Prince of Conde out of the Hands of the Reformed either because the King was desirous to have him bred up in the Catholick Religion to prevent the Pretences of a Civil War which might be taken one day from his being Educated in the Reformed or because the Count of Soissons a turbulent ambitious Prince and who look'd upon himself as
they might well think that he would might and main obstruct what ever should be done to lift the Prince of Conde to the Throne in prejudice of his Claim There was also another Reason besides the general Interest of his Party why the King sâpected Trimouille His Ambition and his Courage made him fear that the Duke would never consent to the Delivery of the Prince under whose Name he might one day be Head of the Reformed among whom he was in great Reputation He had taken a Journey to St. John d' Angeli where the Prince was bred up which had made the Court very uneasie believing he went to make sure of the Person of his Nephew and to order it so that they who had him in their Custody should never deliver him to the Catholicks But afterwards 't was known by the Information of du Plessis from whom the Reformed never conceal'd any thing that his Journey was only to get the Suspension from the Communion taken off which the Princess his Sister had been under ever since the Death of her Husband with whom she was thought to have been an Accomplice This perhaps might have been a Stop in order to the going farther in time but then it prov'd of no effect to prejudice the Designs of the Court. In the main it would not have been an easie thing to support the Claims of that Prince whose Mother was suspected even by the Reformed themselves of being guilty of a strange piece of ill Conduct if the Catholicks seeing him bred up in the Reformed Religion should have once bethought themselves of fost'ring against him the same Suspicions to exclude him from the Crown So that a Head-strong Resolution to keep him in their Power would have signify'd nothing to any other purpose then to have put the Reformed and his Uncle to a great deal of Trouble 'T was thought they might provide against these Inconveniencies by the Care which was taken to justifie the Princess of ãâã Trimouille was perswaded to come in himself for the Honour of his Sister as being in some measure branded by the Sentence which the Judges of St. John d' Angeli had given against her Therefore 't was so order'd while the King was in Burgundy where Trimouille perform'd great Services both in his Person and by his Courage that the Kindred should present a Petition to the King wherein the Judges who had condemn'd her should be expeâ'd as incompetent and a Demand made that the Information should be cancell'd and the whole business be referr'd to the Parliament of Paris where it was proper for the Causes of the Princes of the Blood to be determin'd The King receiv'd the Petition and granted by his Letters Patents that the Process should be sent back This done he sent the Marquess of Pisani to St. John d' Angeli to be near the Person of the Prince and to find out a way to get him from thence together with his Mother under the pretence of carrying him to the Court where he might be present at the Prosecution of a Process wherein he was so visibly concern'd But the Marquess met with many Difficulties There were several who by no means relish'd the Reasons that were alledg'd and thought it very imprudent to dispossess themselves of so assur'd a Pledge for the Observation of the Edicts Rochel would not consent but oppos'd it might and main but the Intreagues surmounted all those Obstacles and the greater number was over-rul'd by the Considerations which I have set down so that the Prince and his Mother were deliver'd up to the King's Disposal One of the greatest Difficulties proceeded from the Consciences of zealous Persons who foresaw that if once the Catholicks got him into their Clutches they would mould him in such a manner as soon to make him forget the Religion of his Father and Grandfather Therefore they were desirous to take some Cautions to secure him the Liberty of his Conscience And the Court who were unwilling to break off the Negotiation by engaging in new Difficulties promis'd to do whatever the Reformed desir'd But they never remember'd their Promises after they had once got the Prince into their power For a while they suffer'd him to have his Reformed Domestick Servants about him but they took 'em from him notwithstanding his Cries and his Tears when they âerceiv'd that he withdrew into private places along with 'em to be catechiz'd to sing Psalms and say his usual Prayers After which they plac'd about him persons who being of the same Religion which they were desirous to infuse into him âoon choak'd the Seeds of that Doctrine which he had learn'd among the Reformed So that in the progress of his Life after he had been a declar'd Persecutor he became a great Casuist and a Converter of others In the mean time his Mother was fully justify'd no body appear'd against her and tho the Prince of Conti and the Count of Soissons were Summon'd as Persons interested in the Affair they never made their Appearance so that the Princess gain'd her Cause with little or no Trouble 'T is true that many People were very lavish of their Tongues against her and that the Reformed spar'd her no more then others But after she had got the Day the Princess embrac'd the Catholick Religion at what time the King lay at Rouen and renounc'd the Reformed Faith while the Legat who was arriv'd in France but a little before held her by the hands This same Change was deferr'd till then that it might not be said she had purchas'd her Justification at the Expence of her Conscience as might have been spread abroad had she quitted her Religion before she had been clear'd by the Law But in regard 't was well known at what time that Reselution was taken People stuck not to ask the Question to what Interest a Princess in whose behalf so many Reasons and Princes sollicited was oblig'd to Sacrifice her Religion had she been innocent I must confess that some part of this Relation belongs to the next Year but I thought it more convenient to recite it entire in this place then to break off and return to it again In the mean time the Assembly at Saumur having taken their last Resolutions sent away to the King la Nove and lâ Primaudaye who waited on him at Lyon and there presented to him their Petitions and their Papers with new Proposals which they were enjoyn'd to make by way of Addition to their preceding Demands They accompany'd 'em with a short Remembrance of their Services which was taken for a kind of Reproach However the King receiv'd 'em with outward Civilities which concluded in nothing and of which the Court is never niggardly They only obtain'd general Promises from Him He assur'd 'em he would never forget their Services and that in a little time he would satisfie their Demands but he declar'd he could not do it then by reason of the great
to advance the King's Power Their Aim was to hinder him from obliging himself by any Edict before they had taken all their measures for the Destruction of the Reformed for fear lest after that they might not be able to perswade him to violate the publick Faith of the Observance of which no Prince in the World was more jealous then himself They labour'd therefore with great Application to put off the Effects of his good Intentions of which they were not ignorant and they made use of all the Considerations to this purpose that might Incense the King whose Courage active to excess and vigorous easily took Fire They fought to incense him by laying before him the Importunities of the Reformed for recompense of their Services as an injurious Reproach as if they had fail'd in their respect to his Majesty in upbraiding him with a Fidelity confirm'd by long Experience And Kings are apt to show their Weakness in that particular They love to be serv'd without Interest and that after great Services done they may be permitted to forgive ' em The more they are pleas'd with the Affection of their Subjects the more they dread the Reproach They take it for an Affront that a Subject who has done no more then his Duty should think he has any way oblig'd 'em and many times also when they acknowledge the Services of any one they would have their Returns of Gratitude rather look'd upon as Favours then Rewards So that it was no difficult thing to perswade the King that the Reformed were in the wrong to boast their Services as they did and that the more deserved the Recompense was the more injurious the Demand seem'd to be The Catholicks were the first themselves that were provok'd at these Reproaches of good Services because they almost all knew that it was against them that the Reformed had perform'd it so that the one could not vaunt their Fidelity but the other were put in remembrance of their having been either Enemies or Rebels Moreover the Catholicks represented the Reformed to the King as a kind of Cabal that was form'd against his Authority under the Pretence of Religion and who having Oaths of Union Assemblies Councils Cheiftaines Strong Holds and Finances or Exchequers were a kind of another State set up within his own and which would prove a Source of Trouble and Confusion a Sanctuary for Male-Contents and Rebels and a Party always engag'd in Domestick Conspiracies and Foreign Correspondencies The Pretence for these Accusations was that among the vast number of stout and brave Persons of which the Party consisted there were some that were turbulent and talk'd high and some perhaps who had Interests of their own apart by themselves under the Vail of the Common Cause But it was a most malicious piece of Injustice to accuse of Faction so many Thousands of peaceable People that desir'd no more then the Repose and Liberty of their Consciences Nevertheless because the King's Vivacity render'd him susceptible of suddain Impressions from thence it came to pass that he gave the Reformed either Cold or harsh Answers while his Mind was prepossess'd with a present prejudice against 'em tho' in the main he had always a Design to grant 'em part of their Demands The Pope on the other side well knew how to improve his Advantages and in regard he saw there were many things of Importance wherein the King stood in need of him he granted him nothing for which he did not make him dearly pay That Pontiff diligently heighten'd all the Suspicions that were infus'd into him that the King's Conversion was not sincere and all the Discourses upon which those Jealousies might be grounded 'T was easie to pick out several Pretences in the King's Conduct which oblig'd him to speak and act quite contrary according to the Character of those with whom he had to deal To ãâ¦ã the Catholicks it became him to shew a great Disgust against the Religion of the Reformed On the other side to satisfie the Reformed there was a necessity of telling 'em sometimes by way of secret Confidence that he had always a kindness for their Religion His principal Allies were Protestants and it behov'd him that his Ministers Resident among 'em should let 'em know as much to refix that Assurance in their Minds which his Reconciliation to the Roman Church and the Pope had almost quite eradicated They were afraid that another Religion had caus'd him to espouse other Interests Therefore he order'd his Agents to excuse to his Consederates his outward manner of Proceeding and to assure 'em that only the necessity of Affairs oblig'd him to dissemble and that he had alter'd his Conduct but not his Sentiments The Pope who was inform'd of every thing by his Spies believ'd or else seign'd to believe that this was true And therefore he extorted from the King many things under that Pretence as Dimonstrations of a sincere Conversion And fain he would have drawn him by these study'd Distrusts into a League against the Protestants But the King who could not confide so well in any but the Protestants refus'd to hearken to those Propositions And when he call'd to his remembrace that he had been bred among 'em and faithfully defended by the Protestants or that he had been so well assisted and serv'd both by Them and Foreigners in so many Dangers he could not without Horror hearken to the Council that was given him for their Extirpation Of all the Ten Things which he had made the Objects of his Wishes in his Life-time one of the most ardent was That he might be in a Capacity to establish the Reformed Religion which he then professed Therefore when he saw himself the Umpire of his Wiâe the Success of which depended upon his Will he could not resolve to destroy a Religion the Advancement of which he had so much desir'd and favour'd However there must be something done to pay the Pope For which reason the King enhanc'd the value of the Changes which had happen'd at Court as so many Effects of his Sollicitations his Acts of Kindnesses or his Example Sometimes he acted the Converter and disputed against such as presented themselves before him to the end he might boast at Rome the Benefit and Sincerity of his Cares for the reducing of all his Subjects to one and the same Religion He assum'd to himself also the Honour of the Decay and Ruine into which some Reformed Families fell and of the Advancement of some Catholick Houses as if it had fallen out through his preferring the one above the other whenas for the most part neither the one nor the other proceeded from any other Cause then the Ingratitude and Capricio of the Court among whom there is as little Justice in the Refusal as in the Distribution of Favours Certain it is however this way of proceeding drew upon him sometimes most cruel Reproaches and if we may judge of his Inclinations by the Satyrs of
the Time no body will believe that Gratitude and Liberality were his over-ruling Vertues in regard they always represent the most ancient and most faithful Servants of this Prince as buried in Oblivion and Miserable while on the one side the Ministers of his Pleasures and on the other his Enemies and they who had the Courage to render themselves formidable were loaded and became wealthy with his Favours and Rewards But the most effectual of all the ways he took to content the Pope was the Harshmess of his Answers to the Reformed while his Mind was prepossess'd with the Jealousies infus'd into it and Rome never fail'd of having Advice of it as of a Proof that the Reformed were no longer Sharers of his Good Will In a Word they had taught him from that time forward to make a Distinction between the Religion and the Cabal on purpose that they might accustom him to hear their Distruction discours'd of without Offence since they only talk'd to him of ruining the Cabal that wounded his Authority without medling with Religion in the Exercise of which he was resolved never to make use of Force He look'd upon the Dukes of Bouillon and de la Trimouille as the Heads of that Party And he would sometimes say to his Confidents that one of his Wishes was That he might have 'em at his Mercy to the end he might more generously pardon ' em But la Trimouille stood too well upon his Guard to expose himself and de Bouillon would never trust to his Generosity as it fell out in an Affair wherein he was engag'd some few Years after Neither did Rochel stand fair in the King 's good Opinion and it is reported that when he was at the Siege of la Fere that when he beheld the Oyse overflowing the Streets of that City he whispered one of those that stood next him in the Ear That if he could bring as much to pass in Marseilles and Rochel he should think himself absolute in his Kingdom This Resentment against Rochel proceeded from an old Affront which he received there during his Protectorship and which he always retain'd in his Memory 'T was only to perswade Rome that he had absolutely abandon'd the Reformed that toward the end of the next Year a Report was spread abroad that he was highly incens'd at a Petition which they had presented to him wherein it was said That the Catholicks had only his Body but that they possess'd his Soul and his Affection that he had return'd 'em a threatning Answer telling 'em that he would join with the King of Spain to their Destruction and that if they did not keep themselves close to the Terms of his Edicts they should not have 'em so cheap from Him as from his Predecessors 'T is said that he receiv'd this Petition at la Fere and return'd 'em this harsh Answer But if we may believe Monsieur D' Aubigney he had too deep a sense of Religion to treat those severely who perswaded him to maintain it This Historian tells us that at that time the King was afflicted with a Distemper which he believed mortal and that he then underwent great Conflicts of Mind because he was afraid that his return to the Roman Church was the Sin against the Holy Ghost which is never pardon'd The like Discourses also were spread by the Duke de Mercoeur who had a design it shou'd be thought that the Wars of Religion were about to revive in the Kingdom and that he was in a condition to make his interest thereby as the last of all the Patronizers of the Catholic Religion Yet at the bottom the King was not so displeased with the Reformed but that he sometimes gave the Romish Clergy cause of complaint against him It was then an authorized Custom to give Priories Abbies and even Bishopricks to the Laity whereby they pleased themselves with the Name of an Ecclesiastic Confident and the Reformed under this Reign shared the Benefits of this nature with the Roman Catholicks It happen'd every day that Affairs of this kind were promoted in all the Jurisdictions of the Kingdom where they were generally carried according to the Contracts of Confidence until there was offer'd to the Privy-Council an Act which gave a Bishoprick to a Woman in pursuance of some act pass'd with her Husband according to this confidenciary possession This was an abuse that the Ecclesiasticks had a great deal of difficulty to reform In the beginning of the Year their Deputies were permitted to assemble together And on their part there was an Harangue made to the King at Folembray He that undertook it cou'd not forbear speaking something of Religion but he behaved himself very moderately on the Subject and only proposed to advance the Catholick Religion by Doctrine and Example whereas War or Punishments had been the only Expedient preach'd up formerly He exhorted the King to issue out an Edict to invite his Subjects to return to the Catholic Religion which said he wou'd be to imitate Constantine who invited the Subjects of his Empire to embrace the Christian Religion by his Example and also of Recarede King of the Goths who being converted from Arianism obliged all his Subjects to turn with him But continued he I desire not this Conversion to be procur'd either by Arms or Violence He acknowledg'd likewise that the King might not perhaps be so well assured of many Towns and Persons which were return'd to his obedience that therefore such Measures were requisite to be taken as might prevent any new Troubles arising in the Kingdom In a second Harangue the Deputies of this Assembly press'd these Matters a little farther and to take away all suspicion which any persons might have that the Edict of Invitation tended to a renewing of the War they declared that they had need of Peace themselves and would only have this Edict to dispose the Reformed to receive their Instructions more easily Nevertheless they had made an Address upon which they obtain'd an Edict at Travercy that was very favourable to them The Reformed who suspected this Assembly of their Enemies did all that in them lay to hinder any ill consequences and the Clergy also complain'd after they had consented to this Edict that the King had not provided for the most important Articles of his Demands There were nevertheless some in this Edict which had respect to Religion The First ordain'd the re-establishment of the Mass throughout all the Kingdom the Ninth forbad Burial in Church-yards and other Sacred Places to such who did not die Catholicks altho' they had the right of Patronage or any other title of pretence The Tenth permitted the selling of Relicks or Church Ornaments out of the hands of the Trustees and other Detainers and to inform against the Spoilers of Holy Places at least upon a Civil Account for the recovery of things that were taken This Clause of Civil Account had a reference to the reform'd who look'd
not upon the Catholic Relicks or Ornaments of their Churches as holy things and it wou'd have made a great noise if they had been prosecuted as criminal for Pillages of this nature whereas the Catholicks very far from being treated civilly upon such accounts might in pursuance of the Canons be prosecuted as guilty of Sacrilege The Thirteenth commanded the restitution of all Ecclesiastical Goods of what nature soever and forbad the detaining of them even under the pretence of Reparations Amendments or any thing of the like nature and gave a Grant of Possession of the Livings belonging to the Bishops of Dags Bayonne Tarbes and Aize which had been seized of in Bearn This Article might interest many of the Reform'd who were very probably entred upon the possession of these Goods on the credit of the Attachment But this was the main Design of all the Attempts the Clergy had made In their Harangues nothing was so much press'd as the restitution of their Livings and Charity was not the Motive that induced them to desire Peace but a Fear that instead of regaining what they had already lost they might yet lose more in a new War These Intrigues of the Clergy continued near half a Year but in the beginning of them the Traty with the Duke of Mayenne was concluded which had been put off for so long a time in which the Duke had proposed an Article of being exempted out of the Enquiry that might be made into the Murder of Henry the Third whether it was that he knew himself too nearly concern'd in it which made him willing to secure himself from the Prosecution of the Queen Dowager or that he look'd upon it as a reparation of the Death of his Brothers whom the late King had caused to be slain at Blois to leave those unpunished that had revenged him even upon the Person of the King The Parliament had much ado to pass this Article and perhaps it was the only one amongst all that was agreed between the Leaguers upon which there was so great a contestation They wou'd have oblig'd the Duke to have clear'd himself by an Oath that he had no hand in the Parricide or upon his refusal to have ratified the Article with this Modification That it was agreed to because of the urgent necessity of Affairs The Attorny-General who had innocently introduced into Henry the Third's Chamber the Monk that assassinated him thought himself obliged to bring the guilty to punishment and form'd great difficulties which the zeal of the Parliament seconded very briskly But in the end it was pass'd and the Orders of the King were so strong that they confirm'd the Edict without restriction The King was obliged by many Reasons to prosecute the Revenge of Henry the Third besides the common interest of Kings who ought to their utmost to preserve the glorious Priviledges of their Persons he ow'd this Revenge to his own Glory to the end that he might not appear to have advanced himself at the expence of his Predecessor's life and he had also engaged himself to do it by formal Promises to the Queen and to the Officers of the former Court But the present Affairs made him forget both his Duty and his Promises and the Death of Henry the Third was not reveng'd Upon which one thing may be observ'd worthy the Reader 's attention Henry the Fourth was also basely assassinated as his Predecessor had been but there was so little care taken to revenge his death that even those were punished that endeavoured to discover the Authors of it And in these two cases only the Executors of both these Parricides were put to death for they did not what they ought or what they might have done either to punish or to discover the accomplices So that Henry the Fourth had the like respect shew'd him after his death as he had shew'd to him that reign'd before him This Remark is in the History of the Reform'd for there was none in the Kingdom which complain'd lowder than they did that revenge was not taken on the Murderers of their preserver But to return to the Duke of Mayenne who only demanded the exclusion of the Exercise of the Reformed Religion for six Years in those Towns which he gave up to the King and he was indeed after his reconciliation one of the most equitable of the Court when it was in dispute whether such an Edict shou'd be granted as might comprehend the Reform'd Nevertheless they saw nothing which cured their distrusts not only the remembrance of what had passed gave them just fears of what was to come as Impartial Historians acknowledge but they gave them every day new occasions which made a Secretary of State ingeniously confess to du Plessis in a Letter which he wrote to him that they continually gave them too much subject of complaint But still Prudence wou'd not let them push their Patience to the extremity in a time wherein it might have been the cause of strange disorders Throughout the Kingdom there was almost none less powerful than the King the Governours look'd upon their Places and Provinces almost as a Possession that belonged to them by propriety they were only made obedient by the power of Caresses and Benefits So that the State seem'd remiss in the same point it had formerly been when the House of Cartienna began to decay upon which some unquiet and ambitious Spirits built a like Project to that which brought Hugo Capet to the Crown This Prince bestowed part of his Kingdom upon those which had assisted him in the gaining it and gave the Dukes and Earls a Propriety to such Countries as they were Governors of keeping to himself with that Country which belong'd to him by Inheritance only the Sovereignty and Homage of all these Lords with the Condition of Reversion to the Crown in certain Cases This same Method was proposed to the King as a good Expedient to pacifie the Kingdom The young Duke of Mompensier was ingaged in this Project and was to tell the King of it but the King's Answer so cast down this young Prince as made him sensible it was a slender experience had engaged him in this undertaking but this did not put an end to the design for it yet continued in the minds of several persons and if the Reform'd had but stirr'd then many without doubt wou'd have taken an advantage of the occasion There were strange Intrigues carried on in France The Duke of Mercoeur had already retired into Bretagny and Du Plessis had stopt a Courier of the Arch Duke's who was carrying Letters to this Prince which discovered very strange things to them the greatest part of the Catholic Lords were interested therein Even Biron who afterwards suffered himself quite to be corrupted was ingaged in this Conspiracy and it was plain enough that whatsoever fomented the Troubles at home proceeded from a strange inspiration If the Authors of these Intrigues cou'd but have
Neighbours to her help caused the Child to be christened in a Catholick Church That at Bourdeaux a Lady had been forced to abjure her Religion to keep the guardianship of her Children and having a little while after reunited herself to the communion of the reformed Church the Attorney-General sued her at Law and got her bound to remain a Catholick that a Child being deposited in the hands of his Grandfather at Orleans when that Town was in the power of the League and his Father demanding him back again after the reduction of the place the Judge refused to deliver him up to his Father that a Man was debarred from all his Rights by the Court of Angiers until he had got his younger Brothers out of the reformed School at Loudun to put them in the Catholick Colledge of Angiers contrary to the last Will of their deceased Father who had crdered them to be brought up in the reformed Religion that the same Judges had appointed a Catholick Guardian over a Maid who refused to go to Mass Then followed sad and grievous Complaints of the unjust way of dealing with the Prince of Conde whom the Reformed had surrendred to the King even beyond the hopes of the Catholicks they said that this young Prince had bitterly wept and strugled long with those who brought him away from St. John d'Angeli that since being kept at Court he was used to withdraw into his Closet there to sing Psalms to Pray and Catechise his Pages but that at last they were taken away from him notwithstanding all the marks of his anger for it They complained afterwards that to all these so great and so publick Grievances the Court had hitherto applied no other remedy but Reasons of State as if the Interest of the State ought to have been opposed to their Consciences or that the Reformed had not been part of the State or that the State could not stand but by their fall Then returning again to the particulars of the Injustice that were done them they complained of their being forced to keep Lent that at Rennes the Parliament caused the Houses to be searched to see if their Orders in this point were obey'd that the Bishop of Agde did the same by his own authority in the Towns of his Diocess that keeping of Holidays was also forced upon them that even at Saumur one of their Towns of security a Man had been sent to Prison for being surprised at work within his House on such days that their School masters had been expelled out of several places even without any form of Justice that divers Parliaments had refused to verifie the Patents obtained by the Reformed from the King for the establishment of some Schools even after reitera ted Orders from Court but that nothing was comparable in this particular to the boldness of the Parliament of Grenoble who did not so much as vouchsafe to answer a second Order sent them from the King for setting up a reformed School at Montelimar that even so in several places they refused to admit in or turned out such of the Reformed as were appointed to teach and instruct the Youth which Article was concluded with these remarkable words Are they then willing to beat us into Ignorance and Barbarity so did Julian Next they complained of their Poors ill usage That the Laws of Equity were so little regarded in this point that in those very places where the Reformed contributed most to the publick Alms the Poor of their Religion had no share therein that in many places the Reformed were deprived of their Birth-right and not suffered to live there though they promised to be quiet and make no publick Exercise of their Religion that the Judges of Lyon had banished out of their Town those who having formerly left the Kingdom on account of Religion were returned thither after the change of affairs and that it had been confirmed by the Edict of Reduction upon occasion whereof they complained here that the Reformed were called Suspected People by the King himself whom they had served with so much Fidelity and Courage letting this gentle Reproach slip withal that for one and the same cause the King had been declared unable to inherit the Crown and the Reformed banished from their Houses but that since he had been restored to his Throne by the assistance of the Reformed he had not yet restored them to their Houses Here the Parson of Saint Stephen of Furant was brought again upon the Stage he did not suffer the Catholicks to let out their Houses to the Reformed and constrained them to turn out before the term such as had already taken any he hindred Tradesmen by grievous Fines from admitting any Reformed into the freedom of their Trades This mad Fellow of a Priest had caned a Man born in that place but setled elsewhere who was come to the Town upon some business his pretext for abusing him was that he had forbid him to come thither as if he had authority to banish whom he pleased But that Man seeing himself abused with so much injustice and that no body took his part kill'd the Priest in a passion and so rid the Country of this furious Beast The King granted him his Pardon but the Catholicks hindred it from being allow'd by the Judges They remonstrated besides that the Reformed were excluded from Trades and to colour their exclusion the Companies made new By-laws by vertue whereof none but Catholicks were to be admitted to them That in several places Violences against the Reformed were countenanced by impunity that a Man seventy five Years old having complained that some Children had hurried him in the Streets with injurious Clamours was sent to a Goal instead of having satisfaction from whence afterwards being released he was pursued anew and pelted with Stones in the very sight of the Judges who did but laugh at it that a Fraternity of Penitents called The Beaten Brothers walking barefoot in order of Procession their Feet happened to be cut by some broken Glass spread in the Streets which they did immediately lay upon the Reformed because the Glass was found before the House of a Goldsmith of their Religion that thereupon a Sedition was stirred up against them but that at last the whole was proved to be a trick of the Priests Then they began to give particular Instances of the crying Injustice done them about Offices That in several places they were kept from those of the Town-house and that it was publickly said at Lyon that none ought to be admitted to them who either was now of the Reformed or ever had been so nay not even any Son of one that had been so that the States of Perigord had declared void the Election of a Sheriff made by the Town of Bergerac according to the custom of that Province meerly because the party elected was one of the Reformed that even those who were appointed by
we may enjoy what is common to all your Subjects that is much less than what you have granted to your furious Enemies your rebel Leaguers An Edict which may not constrain you to dispose of your Dominions but as you please which may not force you to exhaust your Treasure or to burthen your People with Taxes It is neither Ambition nor Avarice moves us but the Glory of God the Liberty of our Consciences the Tranquility of the State the Security of our Lives and Fortunes these are the heighth of our Desires and the only aim of all our Petitions Altho' the reformed Courtiers in a manner disowned these Complaints as I observed before yet it is certain that they could not deny the truth of the several Facts contained therein nor that there was a necessity to put a stop to so many Injustices and Violences but they imbraced the Opinion of the Court which was much offended at the Form of those Complaints and would fain have had the Reformed to wait for another time to publish them but upon the whole the generality of the Reformed spoke their Minds in that Book and it cannot be doubted but it had been viewed by the ablest Men of the Party nay it may be easily perceived by the Style that the greatest amongst them had notice of it and even given to the Subject a great part of its Form What most vexed the Court in the printing of it was their being now and then upbraided in it with bitter Reproaches of past Services which were so much the more insupportable because they were just and well-grounded that the warm Strain of this little Piece made them sensible they had to do with Men who took the thing to Heart and whose Courage was not yet lost and that in fine such a long Series of Injustices Outrages and Violences made them ashamed of their so long delaying to satisfie those who deserved at their hands a more favourable usage insomuch that the Court's dissatisfaction served only to make them resolve to handle this Affair more seriously and put an end to such an important Negotiation But before we proceed any farther it behoves us to make at least slightly some Reflections upon this Abridgment of their Complaints First They make it appear That this Business of the Reformed was no trifling Matter and that their Fears and Jealousies were but too well grounded which is the more observable that in complaints of this nature as every body knows commonly no other Facts are related but such as are most notorious and important and that a great deal more are buried in oblivion either because the Complaints thereof have not been made by the Parties concerned or that they appeared less clear or of a less moment in their circumstances Secondly These Complaints do well answer the Reproaches made to the Reformed That they followed the King too close when he was in his greatest Perplexities But this must not be wondred at since 't was at that very time they were used worst and that the Facts here mentioned except perhaps thirty were all recent and had happened either in this or the foregoing Year giving therefore just causes of Fears and Jealousies to the Reformed who were from day to day by so much the greater sufferers as the Peace and Re-union of the Catholicks was more forwarded by the reduction of the Leaguers In fine Those Complaints may serve to shew the Injustice of those Tricks used to elude the Edict in these last Years since that the Edict having been granted upon Complaints made by the Reformed of such-like Vexations it was impossible to renew them without acting directly against the intention of that irrevocable Law In the mean while the Year was spun out with tedious Delays as I observed before and though the Reformed had with a wonderful patience overcome their grief occasioned by them the minds on both sides were nevertheless grown sour and much exasperated the King himself expressed sometimes his resentment nay he would now and then let out some menacing words very pat to the purpose and he had once written to his Commissioners that it would grieve him to the very heart to come to Extremities with the Reformed whom he loved more than they loved themselves This new Language the King had been taught of late since the retaking of Amiens had a much worse effect than it was thought at Court and the Reformed who found it so different from that which was used with them when the King stood in need of their assistance and when he invited them to shed the rest of their Blood at the Siege of that place they drew I say very sad Consequences from that change which seemed to them to imply as much as if they were told that their Tranquility could never agree with the Prosperity of the State since they were cajoled only when the King's Affairs were embroiled but that when the same began to clear up they were told they must surrender at discretion that when the success of the King's Enterprises was dubious fair Promises Prayers tender and pathetick Intreaties were used to them but that when the Court was puffed up with some advantagious Success then their most just Petitions were answered with Shiftings and Menaces from whence they concluded that since new Causes of Mistrust were given them they ought also to take new Precautions against the ill Designs of their Enemies The Dukes of Bouillon and La Trimouille were the most exasperated of all because they were sensible that the Court's Threatnings chiefly aimed at them being looked upon there as the Authors of those Motions made in the Assembly contrary to what the Catholicks called the Publick Good and the King's Service but what the Reformed called the Artifices of the Council and the Oppression of their Consciences Therefore the Assembly was no less importunate than before They had sent new Deputies to Court with full Instructions which were altered as new Difficulties arose besides they seriously examined the Answers sent them by the King's Commissioners and as they had sent some Gentlemen to England and to the Vnited Provinces in order to beg the Intercession of those faithful Allies of the Crown they also expresly charged their Deputies to wait upon the Protestant Embassadors now at the Court of France and represent to them how necessary it was to satisfie the Reformed that the King might be able to give the Spaniards or the Duke of Mercoeur some considerable Blow to make them sensible that the Affairs of Religion instead of being forwarded were delay'd at Court insomuch that they knew not when the end of such a tedious Negotiation might be hoped for and to engage them by the general Interest of the Protestants to see it brought to a happy conclusion The Points left still undecided were not so little important but that they well deserved this warm pursuit The Council started new Difficulties about the Right of Exercise in respect to
the latter Civil Members of the State as well as they and equal Sharers in the Distribution of Favours and Rewards Yet in this important Matter the Reformed were highly Mistaken when they contented themselves with a wide and general Declaration of their capableness of Offices without solidly engaging the King that they should be really conferr'd upon them In effect to appease the Pope who made as if he had been offended at it they represented to him That there was a vast difference between declaring one capable of a Place and bestowing it upon him which perfidious Maxim the Event has shewn to be too true since the Reformed have been so far from being admitted to high Places or preferr'd to the greatest Dignities according to their Merits that they have been shifted with even about the meanest Places and the most inconsiderable Trades of the Kingdom There were some among them who foreseeing that some Time or other this general Declaration would be ministerpreted mov'd in the Assembly for fixing in each kind of Employments a certain number of Places that should be conferr'd upon the Reformed and du Plessis as I have said elswhere treating some Years before with Villeroy had obtain'd the fourth part of all Places and was even in hopes to obtain a third But besides that such a general Declaration had something more plausible and flattering than the limitation of a certain Number of Places because thereby the Reformed were more fully equall'd to the Catholicks it was more suitable to their different Circumstances in the Provinces of the Kingdom for in some their Number was so great that if they had been reduced to a fourth or a third part of the Offices they had been very unjustly dealt with and the Court had been under a necessity of calling Catholicks from the other Provinces to bestow the remainder upon them But in others they were so much inferior in number to the Catholicks that there had not been enough among them to fill the third or the fourth part of the Places Moreover a special Regulation had been necessary almost for every Balliwick insomuch that a general Clause was in a manner unavoidable Add to this That the Provinces where the Reformed were the strongest and most numerous they did so little question their being able to engross all the Offices to themselves for want of qualified Catholicks that it was no difficult Matter for the Court to satisfie them with that indefinite Declaration And indeed it was very advantagious had it been observ'd bona fide but as the same had been formerly eluded by Henry III's Artifices so his Example has been follow'd since for above 40 Years and this equitable Rule of Equality has been turn'd into a Sham by the Treachery of his Successors True it is that at the Time of the Edict the Reformed gain'd by it no small Credit since the best part of all inferior Offices fell immediately upon them and even the Catholick Lords were so well perswaded that they had a better Stock either of Ability or Honesty than others that they stuck not to prefer them before the Catholicks to such Places as were in their Gift moreover Offices being venal in France the Reformed bought them dearer than others and with the Help of that strong Machine overcame all sorts of Oppositions which happen'd especially for Places of a new creation when he that bids most is sure to be the Buyer But this happy State of the Reformed lasted only till after the taking of Rochel The seventh Demand was concerning the Securities the principal whereof was in their Judgment the keeping of those Places which they had now in their Hands and were numerous and strong enough to resist their Enemies in case of an Attack But 't was this very thing made the Difficulty for the Court was very unwilling to leave so many Fortresses in the Hands of brave and bold Men amongst whom there was a great number of warlike and couragious Nobility who had been permitted to unite together for their mutual Defence but the Reformed were inflexible upon this Point and would by no means hear of parting with what they had for first the Experience of past Times made them afraid that the Edict might be us'd as a Pretence to disarm them and that the Catholicks might break their Oath as soon as their Places of Refuge should be taken from them Besides they could not but know that according to the Policy suggested by the Court of Rome to all Princes who submit to the Pope they keep Faith with none but such as they fear and that therefore it might be kept to the Reformed no longer than the Danger of breaking it should last 'T is a Maxim no less general than true Since Conscience and Honesty have not been a sufficient Warrant for the Security of Treaties that such as are concerned in the Observation of them must make themselves formidable to such as would break the same and make them sensible that they could not do it with impunity Therefore it was necessary for the Reformed to keep still some strong Garrisons to stifle in the Catholicks Hearts the Desire of attempting their Ruin by shewing them the frightful Prospect of an equal Danger on both sides moreover all the rest of the Kingdom was in Arms All such as during the War had commanded either under the King or under the League had some Place or other at their Devotion and as there was no great likelihood of so soon disarming so many Men who acted like petty Princes in their Government so the Reformed had good reason to fear that if they should lay down their Arms alone they might soon be at the Discretion of their irreconcilable Persecutors This same Article comprehended also many private Interests besides the general because there was neither Lord nor Captain which had not some Place in the Guard and no one was so disinterested to give up his own to preserve that of his Companion There was also as engaging an Interest which concern'd the common Cause diverse Places had Catholick Governours that were not bigotted enough to their Religion to neglect their own Fortune tho' it were advanc'd to the Prejudice of the Popish Cause nor yet so well affected to the Reformed to embrace their Party without an evident Advantage They plainly saw that when a Peace should be establish'd in the Kingdom their Places would become unuseful their Garrisons broke and their Profits cease but concluded that if the Reformed obtain'd the keeping of their Places they needed only to change their Religion to preserve their own as being the same Reason whereby others should possess them The Memoirs of those Times give an account That there were Men of this Character who had promised to profess the Reformed Religion but declar'd they would first see the State settl'd 'T was to favour these Conversions which might increase and Strengthen their Party as made them demand That if any Governour of
any Place embraced the Reformed Religion his Place should be continued to him without any Innovation And Examples may be seen in the Reign of Lewis XIII of the Protection that the Reformed gave to those under such Circumstances But the Council desirous to hinder the multiplication of the Places of the Reformed limited the Time in which they were to be at the disposal of the Reformed to the end that they might be able to reckon up their strong Places This Article was very difficult to be resolv'd because there were Disputes about the Number and Quality of these Places the Strength of the Garrisons the Nomination and Oath of the Governours upon the Changing in case of Death about the placing of under Officers the time of the Guard and many other things which respected the Circumstances of this Affair The Reformed chiefly declar'd They desir'd that those Places that belonged to them might not exclude them from other Governments whereto they might be chose according to their Merits The Council employed all their Art to evade these Pretensions of the Reformed and above all to bring the Nomination of the Governours under the King's Power to the end that such as were admitted might be greater Friends to the Court than to the contrary Party But to prevail with the Reformed to consent to this Proposition it was requisite to oblige those that should be chosen by the King to take an Attestation from the Provincial Assembly to the end that the Assembly might object against them if they were suspicious Persons The King likewise promised the Reformed to take their Advice when any Government should be vacant that he might not chuse such Persons into those Places as would be disagreeable to them In which Proceeding there was something very different from what happened on other occasions where the People have any part in the disposing of Offices Generally the Subjects nominate to the King such as they think fit and he accepts or refuses them But here the King names and the Subjects have a Liberty to refuse wherefore the King sends back all those whom he chuses for the Attestation of the Assembly obliged the Assembly in case they refuse them their Testimony to give their Reasons to the Council to the end that by this necessity of giving an account of their Refusal the Respect due to the Royal Nomination may be observed and that the King might always appear Master and Arbitrator in the Affair And upon the whole the Reformed obtained a great part of what they desired and had it not been for the Divisions among themselves they might have gain'd much more It was very happy for them that there was not in every Province a Governour as indifferent to Religion and as powerful as Lesdiguieres was in Dauphine They would have disunited them in treating with each separately as they did with him who would never have his Garrisons comprehended with the rest under the same Conditions He made Religion a pretext to keep his Places but he would have no dependance on the Assembly liking better to be sole Master in his own Province The Court would have gained by it if every Governour had been able to have done the same because by that means they would have ruined the Authority of General Councils But none of them besides Lesdigueres being in a condition of maintaining himself all were obliged to unite for their mutual Security But to return these strong Places being held by the Reformed was not so contrary to the Interests and Intentions of the King as some would make us believe and as he himself was even sometimes obliged to pretend This Prince was not yet free from the perplexity wherein the uncertainty of the Succession the Authority of the Nobility and the Power of his own Officers had put him The Seeds of those Conspiracies which had been raised against him and against the State were rather hidden than quite stifled And there was too much reason to fear that so many Men being corrupted by the Practices and Gold of the Spaniards might form such a Party as would give him a great deal of Trouble to destroy upon which he often complained That there was none about him that prudence would permit him to confide in On the other side when he thought of the Affection that the Reformed had so seasonably shew'd towards him for so many Years together he was satisfied there was amongst them such as were proved Friends and from whom in the greatest extremity he might promise himself all Assistance It is true at that time they were dissatisfied with his indifference towards them and his delaying their Affairs but he was certain he should always find them ready to lay down the last drop of their Blood for his Service as soon as ever he should give them any Testimony of his former Confidence and Trust in them And therefore he thought it a very important business to preserve them and spoke to his Confidents of the Peace he had granted them as a thing he had the most ardently wish'd for and which might be very serviceable to him in his greatest Undertakings He lookt upon the Reformed as his Party and their strong Places as his own He knew very well that whatsoever Intrigues the Spaniards might carry on with the turbulent Spirits of the Court yet that part of the State which was held by the Reformed could not be taken from him and they might be serviceable even in keeping others in their Duty Indeed there were some persons in this Party that were suspected by him and that he would have been very glad to have had at his discretion that he might have been able to have unhinged those Cabals whereof he thought these Persons the Ring-leaders But he had seen by the Negotiation of the Edict that this pretended Faction was not always the strongest and that those that were the most difficultly pleased had nevertheless sometimes yielded upon the Necessity of his Affairs And upon the whole matter he was not ignorant that he had the infallible means of re uniting them to himself whenever he would and that he might depend as much upon them as on the rest of the Reformed as soon as by the state of Affairs his Interest would permit him to rejoyn himself to their Party He had only a Desire of having a Power of naming the Governours of their Towns to the end that he might place such in them who were as much engag'd to his Fortune as to their Religion and who by consequence should depend more upon him than on the Councils or political Assemblies But to procure their Consent to this Article he must find out an Expedient which might in some sort content them because they were afraid that by this means their Places might fall into the Hands of some treacherous Persons This same Reflection may be seen in the Reasons why the King suffer'd so many Places to be held by the Reformed in the Memoirs
who was the Man of his time that had the most Learning and Solidity and wrote the best thô his Style savour'd too much of the Latin Phrase and the Dignity of the Subject caus'd the Work to be soon perus'd by the Curious The Noise of it reach'd Rome and the Pope complain'd more especially because of the Title of Counsellor of State which the Author had taken upon him for that it seem'd as if the Affront had Issu'd from the Bosom of the Counsel it self since it was given by one of the Members of it and as if the King had had a share in giving the Injury since it came from one of his intimate Confidents The King himself was Offended at it fearing least the Pope being exasperated by the Affront should delay the Dissolution of his Marriage which was then seriously in Agitation For that Reason he testify'd his Resentment and it was the beginning of Duplessis's Disgrace which was attended with Consequences of greater Importance One would have thought that this dissatisfaction of the King and the Pope would have Authoriz'd whatever the Zeal of the Catholics should undertake against the Book or the Author Nevertheless the Jesuits that were settled at Bourdeaux having a great desire to have the Book Condemn'd to the Fire Dases the first President Oppos'd and only bid 'em refute it if they thought it convenient Boulanger one of the King's Almoners having made a critical Censure upon the Preface and Accus'd the passages to be falsiy'd the Arch bishop of Bourges took him up and reply'd upon him very smartly Nor did the Legat himself require any Vigorous proceedings against the Book only desir'd six Copies to carry along with him at his departure out of France and engag'd that Bellarmine should Answer him But they bethought themselves of another way to Mortifie du Plessis the Catholics finding it more easie to disgrace the Author then destroy the Book That which happen'd that year and the Lent following was this that the Predicants let loose their Fury against the Book and Reveng'd the Pope and the Roman Religion with all manner of Calumnies and Invectives upon du Plessis 'T was thought also that the Gentleman durst not appear in publick without hazard of his Life during the first Violence of their Rage He therefore kept his House for some days till the Tempest was over And in regard 't was believ'd that the people were sufficiently Incens'd to have gone and Assaulted him in his own House Madam offer'd to receive him into hers for his better security It may be thought That slight Moderation was Affected to shew that the Liberty of the Reformed was great in pursuance of the Edict since they had the Freedom to publish such Affronts against the Roman Religion and yet that the Catholics should be permitted no other means of Revenging themselves than by the Ordinary way of Refutation or else of mitigating the discontents of those who did not find the Edict conformable to their Hopes and who were vex'd to see the Verification so long delay'd and to prevent 'em from augmenting upon the severity which they might have us'd to the first Book of the Reformed Religion that appear'd after the Edict was Decreed In a Word there being no way wholly to quell the Bigots they caus'd Plessis's Book to be Condemn'd to the Fire by some Inferiour Court of Justice and the Sentence was put in Execution The Assembly still sitting at Chatelleraud was very much offended at it and considering the thing was done at the very time that the first steps were made toward the Execution of the Edict they judg'd it to be of too great Consequence to pass it by without complaining But thô they were fully determin'd to Testifie their Resentment they were willing first of all to write to du Plessis as being the principal person concern'd to know his Opinion what was to be done upon this Occasion This shews that they did well to prevent the Soveraign Courts from making Decrees of the same Nature against this Work For as the Affront would have been more Heinous most certain it is that the Reformed would have made a Louder Noise But du Plessis who did not think his Book dishonour'd by these Transports of his Adversaries was not the person that troubled himself most about it However he declar'd by his Answer that the thing seem'd to him to be of Great Importance in regard that the Doctrine of the Reformed being acquitted by the Edict from the Name of Heresie the Books that taught the Reformed Doctrine were not to be Burnt since only Heretical Books were to be Condemn'd to that Mark of Infamy Therefore 't was his Opinion that they should Appeal from the Sentence to the Chamber of the Edict rather than to the Privy-Council where the business would be assuredly Stifl'd Nevertheless that it was a hard matter to apply a Remedy to a past Mischief since they had Executed the Sentence and what was already done amiss could not be amended But this Book was attended with Consequences much more Remarkable which will not permit us to stop at these less weighty Observations During these Passages which I have hitherto related there were three things in Negotiation between the Court of France and that of Rome and which were of Importance sufficient to put the Reformed in Fear that althô they had obtain'd an Edict the King would not purchase the prosperous Conclusion of his Affairs at the Expence of his Favours toward them The first Affair was the Dissolution of the King's Marriage which he ardently desir'd And for the obtaining of which 't was thought he would humble him to any manner of Complyance with the Pope This Affair was of great Consequence to the State as also to the Kingdom in regard the Mischiefs of a dubious Succession might bring extremity of Consusion upon the Kingdom after the King's Death The Reformed also were very urgent for it not a little fearful that a great part of the New troubles which might Attend the King's Death would fall upon themselves But the King 's obstinate Fondness for his Miss had a long time retarded that Negotiation For the Pope was unwilling to favour a Marriage so unsuitable and Queen Margaret would by no means give place to a Woman that was so much beneath her and whose Virtue it was thought had surrender'd it self to other Suits besides that of the King That Mistress being Dead after such a manner as might Raise a suspicion that Roni and some others well understood that there was a kind of necessity she should dye the King embroyl'd himself in New Intrigues and made a promise of Marriage to the Daughter of the Marquiss d'Entragues to obtain what he desir'd of her He had also been so weak as to shew this promise to Roni to ask his Advice about the Form and Roni was so bold as to tear it before his Face But the King who was not Master of his passion
forgot not however to suffer himself to be entreated before he would perform the Ceremony And the want of a Dispensation stuck so close to his Heart that if Roni had not found the way to droll him into a Compliance all the Authority of the King would never have been able to have brought him to Reason This Expedient put an End to the Difficulties of the Marriage But the Pope was as inflexible after Consummation as before and shew'd himself as obstinate in denying the Dispensation as the Princess had appear'd Resolute in refusing to demand it He also complain'd of the Kings Precipitancy for being so hasty in an Affair of such Importance He fill'd the Dukes Conscience with Scruples and Terrors so that the Prince liv'd a long time with the Duchess his Wife as if they had never been Marry'd Which was the reason that the Duchess was sollicited more then ever to change her Religion and that not only Instructions Promises and Flatteries were made use of to overcome her but Artifices and Lies There could be nothing more Impudent then that same Cozenage of Commelet the Jesuit of which she her self gave du Plessis an Account some Months after she was Marry'd This Jesuit was so bold as to tell her that du Plessis being accus'd for having inserted several false Quotations in his Book of the Eucharist had promis'd to go to Mass if they could but shew him one that was such as they said that he had been convinc'd before the King upon which the King loading him with Reproaches he went out of the way no body knowing what was become of him Never was Lye told with more probable Circumstances nevertheless there was not a Tittle in it but what was found to be meerly Forg'd The Duchess knew it very well and Commelet gain'd so little upon her that in a Letter which she wrote to du Plessis upon this Subject she assur'd him That her Converse with the Jesuit had but the more confirm'd her in her Religion Seeing therefore they could do no good upon the Princess the King was very Importunate at Rome to incline the Pope to Sentiments more Moderate D'Ossat found out Presidents of a Dispensation granted in the like case to Persons of Inferiour Quality The Duke also went himself to Rome under pretence of the Jubilee to desire Absolution but the Pontiff would by no means yield to any thing Nevertheless 't was believ'd that the Prince had obtain'd a private Absolution in regard the Pope gave him leave to gain the Jubilee and to visit the Churches where Indulgences were given out and for that upon his return Home he liv'd with the Duchess after a more Conjugal manner then he had done before But the Report being every where spread abroad that she was with Child the Pope grew much more mild foreseeing that if he did not confirm the Marriage the King would be oblig'd to seek without him for some other way to secure the Title of Legitimate to the Infant that should be Born Nevertheless this Attonement of the Popes Wrath signify'd little or nothing for the Report of the Princess's being with Child prov'd altogether groundless and the Princess dy'd at the very time that the Pope consented to the Marriage I have related this Affair in a continu'd Series to the end I might have no more occasion to return to it again tho the business was spun out in a Negotiation of three or four Years The Reformed look'd upon the Perseverance of the Princess in their Religion to be a great Victory in regard it secur'd 'em several Advantages which could not be refus'd to her Person and which made greatly for the Honour of the whole Party Their Ministers Preach'd at Court while she was there and that was often done in the same place where Mass had been said but some hours before When the Princess went or return'd from France into Lorrain or from Lorrain into France her Minister who attended her always Lodg'd in the same Abbies where she lay and in the same Episcopal Palaces upon the Roads and there she likewise caus'd him to Preach The Catholics receiv'd this Mortification and the Reformed this Satisfaction at least once a Year for that she never fail'd every Year to Visit the King her Brother She had also Sermons Preach'd in her own Apartiment in Lorrain and it was a kind of Triumph for the Reformed to see their Religion introduc'd by this means into the same House from whence their most violent Persecutors were gone but just before Du Moulin who was known to the Princess by reason of the Conferences held upon her account wherein he had often deliver'd himself was highly in her favour The Ministers of the Church of Paris were bound to Quarterly Attendance upon her and generally it fell out so that the time when she took her Journies happen'd to be in Moulin's waiting so that in a little time he acquir'd a great Reputation which drew upon him the Hatred and Persecution of the Catholics But at Paris they were busie about an Affair of Importance quite different from those already related The Catholics had taken all Advantages of the Delay of the Verification of the Edict It was attack'd by all the Orders of the Kingdom both before and after the Legate's departure That Prelate however not caring either to have any Reproach put upon him or to have the Lye given him never desir'd that the greatest Oppositions should be made against it in his Presence and there was a great deal of noise upon this occasion after his departure The Clergy the Parliaments the University the Sorbonne started all the Difficulties imaginable The Sorbonne refus'd their Consent till the Reformed took their degrees among ' em The University was for shutting the Gates of the Colledges against 'em nor would they admit 'em either to be Masters of Arts or Professors or to the Regency The Faculty of Physic was most difficult to be overcome as if it had been the Grand Concern of the Physicians to Quarrel with Heresie and they always continu'd their Aversion ever since that time But the Clergy made the most weighty Opposition They Assembl'd at Paris in May nor did they fail to send their Deputations and Remonstrances to the King according to their usual Custom But their Deputies in all their Harangues were much less violent then their Predecessors had been they talk'd no longer of Destruction and Extermination Their Discourses breath'd nothing but Peace the sweetness of which Flatter'd all the World and you should hardly hear 'em so much as mention the word Heresie All their Discourse ran solely upon the Disorders in Ecclesiastical Discipline and upon the Alienations of the Spiritual Demesnes the Augmentation of which the Clergy never fail'd to demand under the Name of Restitution For which reason they were importunately urgent for the Release of Pensions assign'd to the Laity upon Benefices and to the Payment of which the Incumbents
Honour or Profit banish'd their Country depriv'd of all the Priviledges of Conscience and Nature and notwithstanding their Merits or Abilities bereav'd of all Equality with others no better Subjects then themselves so far from obtaining distinguishing Rewards Certainly there cannot be imagin'd the least Idea of Justice in such a prodigious disproportion in such a violent separation of Merit and Recompence that they who might justly reck'n upon their Deserts instead of obtaining favours equal to those which are granted to others under the same Circumstances can hardly find Subsistance and Security for all their Pains and Labour How is it possible that Justice should brook that that part of the Kingdom which to say no more so strenuously contributed with the other to preserve it should be Oppress'd Destroy'd and Prosecuted with Fire and Sword by the other that could not have been preserv'd without it 'T is the same thing as if a Prince that had won great Conquests by the Assistance and Valour of his Souldiers should order the one half of his Army to cut the other in pieces to Reward 'em for their good Service I confess that after all these Reflections one difficulty would still remain behind were it so that others were to be depriv'd of those Favours before they could be bestow'd upon the Reformed Justice does not require that one should be dispoil'd to enrich another seeing that the Principal Duty of it is to secure to every Body his own Right but the Peace Granted to the Reformed took nothing from the Catholics The Rights of Nature and of Birth are Blessings which every individual Man possesses in the Enjoyment of which the Advantages of the one part never injure the other The Liberty of one Man let it be never so far extended never confines the Liberty of his Equal within ere a jot the narrower Bounds While one is allur'd by the Right of aspiring to Rewards and Dignities by Merit and Services there is a Door left open for others to ascend by the same Steps A Father loses nothing of his Lawful Authority over his Children and his Family tho all other Fathers enjoy the same Power The Conscience of a Catholic is ne'r the less free tho the Conscience of a Reformed Person be not put upon the Rack In a word all these Advantages are such that the one may gain by 'em and the other never lose as the Priviledge of Burgessship is no Dismembring of his Freedom from another In like manner the Liberty which Nature gives to every Man to breath the same Air and enjoy the same Sun-shine is no hindrance but that every Man has the same share both of the Air and the Light Moreover the Catholics have taken all the Caution imaginable not to be losers themselves They have restor'd their Religion to every thing which the War had taken from it Time has made it out that they have been great Gainers by the Edict Their Religion wanted much of that Splendor and Pomp which afterwards it attain'd to which is no small matter since Worldly Lustre is one of the Principal Objects of the Politicks of that Religion Besides it is by the Edicts that she preserves her Superiority her Churches her Houses her Revenues her Church-yards and her Ceremonies and far from seeing her Priviledges lessen'd she has acquir'd new ones So that the Concessions of the Edict being grounded upon the Nature of the Things and the Civil Rights that every Man is Born to and moreover depriving no body of that which they secur'd to so many Lawful Members of the Kingdom it was an apparent Act of Justice that the Reformed should enjoy it There was no room here for the Exception of another Mans Right which the Kings of France formerly excepted in all their Letters and which ought to be Naturally understood in all Acts intending Sincerity and publish'd by Authority wherein it is not express'd And as the Favours done the Reformed are things which Create no Loss or Dammage to others there is no body that can or ought in Justice to find fault with or oppose'em From these two good Qualities of the Edict thus join'd together arises a third of Perpetual and Irrevocable which agrees with nothing more Naturally then with Laws and Treaties the Justice and Benefit of which ought never to be disputed 'T is not my design to insist upon these two Words in regard they are made use of in the Edict it self I know very well it would be a thing that would produce extraordinary Consequences were it sufficient to give 'em the Name of such to render Laws Eternal and Unalterable Altho that Vows and Oaths are the strongest Obligations with which a Man can burthen his Conscience yet there are some that carry in themselves a Character of Nullity that breaks the Bond of their Assurance Such are those by which a Man is oblig'd to things Unjust or Impossible The Epithites of Rash and Inconsiderate will always cleave to 'em but they cannot be thought Irrevocable tho it were so express'd in the Draught with all the Words that imported such a meaning There are also Laws that carry in themselves the Marks of their being fit to be revok'd tho he that made 'em obliges himself in never so express Words never to revoke ' em Such are those Laws that oblige to Injustice or Cruelty Such are those Treaties also that oblige the Ratifiers to violate Humanity and Honesty Such is the Edict by which Lewis XIV revok'd the Edict of Nantes which is nothing in the Main but a Solemn Promise never to do Justice to a great Number of his Subjects Let 'em call these Acts Irrevocable as long as they please they cease not however to be liable to Revocation because they are void in themselves and for that the Maxim touching Oaths may be justly apply'd to 'em that they ought not to be observ'd in things that are Dishonest and Ignominious Nevertheless it is not to be imagin'd that these Terms are Illusory like certain Clauses that are never inserted into Contracts but meerly for Formalities sake but which neither add to their perfection nor their firmness 'T is not to be thought that those words the meaning of which is so well known lose it as soon as they are put into an Edict as if they only would infer that the thing shall remain in force no longer then the good pleasure of the strongest side This would be to break all the Bonds of Civil Society and to ranverse all the Foundations of Honesty and Sincere Dealing should Men go about to change the most express Words into Delusions which are made use of to deceive those that take 'em according to their Natural Idea's It must be confess'd at least that in Things which include nothing of Unjust nothing Inhuman nor Dishonest whatever is promis'd as Irrevocable ought unalterably to be observ'd These Terms then are of great weight and give a great force to those
it shou'd be manag'd with Justice to shew that nothing was wanting which was Necessary to Authorize the Decision of it A Treaty maturely deliberated where the Sovereign himself is a Party Parties that agree in many things by the Negotiation and between whom a Soveraign Born their Arbitrator decides those Matters which were still in dispute A Reformation of several Articles upon the Oppositions of Parties Intervening A General Compliance on one side divers marks of Consent on the other All this makes a certain degree of Surety which ought to render these Decisions Eternal and Unalterable by how much the more it was impossible to revoke 'em without a downright Abuse of Justice it self and the same Duty which caus'd 'em to be made But 't is now time to return to the Series of the History All necessary Preparations were made throughout the whole Kingdom for the Execution of the Edict and the Commissioners who were appointed to procure it began to set it afoot this year and made many Decrees upon the Contests that arose But before they cou'd almost make one step in their Business we began to be sensible of the principal Advantage of the Edict namely A Vniversal Tranquillity the sweetness of which gave us good hopes of the rest However there happen'd one thing very Remarkable which made the Catholics Triumph as if they had procur'd an utter Extirpation of the Reformed Religion tho in effect they had gain'd no-nothing but the Honour of knowing how to lay a Snare better then the Wisest of the Reformed knew how to escape it The Book of Du Plessis concerning the Eucharist of which I have already spoken was the occasion of this matter I have observ'd already that the Catholics made a great noise about it I know not how many Writers indeavoââ'd to ââfute it Fronton du Due a Famous Jesuit undertook it after Dafis sent away such as propos'd to him the burning of the Book and bid 'em rather to write a formal Answer to it But there were many Authors of less Note who engag'd themselves in this Dispute and who pester'd the Public with whole Loads of little foolish Pamphlets which were rather Invectives against the Author than Answers to his Work The Doctors of the Faculty at Paris Condemn'd it by Public Censure Several particular Persons publish'd Inventories of falsify'd Passages Catalogues of Omissions of necessary Words and many other little Trifles of the same Nature The Reason of this great Fermentation amongst 'em besides the Importance of the Matter the Merit of the Author the slender respect he had observ'd in his Book for the Mysteries of the Romish Religion and the manner of bringing it to light was also his Method of handling the Subject Du Plessis did not confine himself as others till then had done within the bounds of Scripture he Sallied forth out into the vast Field of Tradition and had Quoted in his Book above Four Thousand passages of the School-Men or of those who were call'd Fathers This was as it were a bringing the War into the very Bowels of the Church of Rome Attacking her in her strongest Entrenchments and violently wresting her very last Weapons out or her hands There had been nothing left for her Defence if after having taken away the Scripture from her which the Reformed accus'd her for having in a manner forsaken she shou'd suffer the Fathers to be ravish'd from her too and the Fountains of Tradition wherein she places her last Refuge But all the noise both of the Preachers and Writers serv'd only to make the Book sell and to advance the Glory of its Author They Attack'd it so weakly that most certainly it had been better for the Romish Church to have let it alone l'th' mean while the Refutations promis'd from Rome came not at all and the Pope was vex'd at the heart to see himself Treated in so sharp a manner and that too-by a Person so considerable and great as Du plssis It caus'd the Pope to suspect the Sincerity of the Kings Conversion and that he was not hearty in the Profession of the Catholic Religion There was then at Rome a certain German who boasted that he had learnt this secret from a Protestant of Aâsbourg who said That Bonâars the Kings Envoy to the Protestants in Germany assur'd 'em he had not chang'd his Religion in his heart And D'Ossat who thought it convenient for the Kings Reputation to stop the course of such Reports wou'd fain have search'd to the bottom to see if he cou'd find out from whence these Rumors arose Wherefore toward the latter end of this year he acquinted the King with what he had Learnt of their Original for these Rumors were not new and since the Kings Conversion they were daily reviv'd Insomuch that the Pope had opportunity enough to make his best advantage of it whether this Germans Discourse came to his Ears long before the Cardinal writ to him of it or whether he had receiv'd any Intelligence of it from the Spies which he has in every Princes Court The King was concern'd in Interest that these Reports shou'd not make any Impression on the Minds of the Catholics however they were advantagious to him serving to gain him Credit with the Protestanis whose Alliance his Politics oblig'd him to preserve at any Rate whatsoever But as the good will of Rome was necessary for him in his present Affairs so he was desirous to satisfie the Pope and to mortifie du Plessis and the Reformed by some Signal Action which might make Rome believe that they had lost his favour Plessis's look furnish'd him with a colourable Pretence And he offer'd such an Indignity to this Gentleman by little Artisices beneath the Grandeur of a King that one may safely say That that Action was none of the best of all his Life Observe now how the matter went Almost all those who wrote against du Plessis how different otherwise soever they were in the Style and Method of their Writings yet agreed in this To charge him with false Quotations And as such Accusations are hard to be Explain'd to those who are not capable of throughly Examining Matters and Authors they were made use of as the only proper Argument to seduce those whom they wou'd pervert to their Religion Thus people are apt to be misled in such Affairs as are beyond the reach of their Capacity Difficulties are rais'd of which they are not competent Judges and they are told sometimes that 't is impossible to solve 'em because they are not capable enough to do it themselves This Cheat has been used in France among the Controvertists all along from first to last As often as any Book of worth has come forth the Missionaries to be sure have found out a Trick to accuse the Author of some fault or other with which they have broke the Peoples Brains as if every thing that they were not able to understand or refute was a
the places where it was necessary for the Establishment of their Rights There were Bailliages where they had forgotten to demand the deliverance of a convenient place wherein to hold their Publick Exercises Others where the demand having been made it was not pursu'd Others where the demand appear'd made for one place and the Order given for another Somewhere the Rights were confounded and that of the Bailliage for Example annexed to a Gentleman's Demesnes Others that were taken in places where there were so few of the Reformed that they never did 'em any good Others so inconvenient that they were oblig'd to forsake 'em These little inadvertencies have given great Opportunities to the Injustice of our time where the Treachery of the Bigoted Cabal has given us to understand how necessary it was that our Fathers should have taken more exact Precautions to have prevented ' em During this the Commissioners behav'd themselves on their part with as much Application as was expected from ' em To Preserve or Establish a Right of Exercise they made Inquiries and took Informations they took the Depositions of Catholic or Reformed Witnesses impartially they Examin'd all the Titles and Acts that could be produc'd either they or their Delegates came down to the places when their presence themselves was requir'd by any one of the Parties they summon'd the Officers of the places they heard the Clergy themselves in their Pretensions and Defences Of whom they had as many things to demand at least in many Places as of the Reformed and these Judges frequently receiv'd from one and â'other part large Papers Upon which they were oblig'd to give several different Judgments The General Rules they follow'd was to Examin the reciprocal demands upon the Grand Maxim of the Edict and which might well be call'd the Soul of all these Concessions to Wit to Confirm or Establish As and altogether as they were in the Terms specify'd in the Articles of the Edict They kept themselves so exactly within the bounds of this Rule that they gave the Reformed a great deal of trouble upon the Exercises whose Right was founded on the Edict of 1577. The Expression of which being a little Equivocal seem'd to bound that Concession to places where the Exercises had actually been made the 17th of September a day that happen'd on a Tuesday on which were found but few Examples of Assemblies for Acts of Piety The Commissioners took no notice of the Proofs of the Exercises made the Sunday before they inquir'd precisely of this day without minding the other Tho to judge of Terms by the Ordinary Style of Edicts 't was only meant that the Exercise was Granted to the Reformed in the places where they had not begun it since that day but which they had in some sort Peaceably enjoy'd before and till that day There was the same strictness in the Regulations which were made for the Places the Buildings the Bells the acquists of Places and all the Dependances of the right of Exercise There were therefore places where they Establish'd limited Exercises as well for the Number of persons as for the Quality of the Acts of Devotion that might there be exercis'd In some they suffer'd none but the Inhabitants of the Town and Jurisdiction to go to the Assemblies In other places the Number of Strangers was limited who were permitted to be present In others they were only allow'd to meet to pray and to sing Psalms without calling the Minister thither In some 't was permitted that a Minister should come and give the Lord's Supper four times a year But setting aside these little Diversities which did not extend it self to many places their Orders agreed in General Liberties conformable to the Articles which spoke of the Nature of the Ezercise which was in hand to be Establish'd These differences then were but an effect of the exactness of the Commissioners who would not extend the Rights beyond that which the Possession had gain'd nor abolish 'em under pretence that the possession did not give 'em extent enough Nevertheless they have serv'd for opportunities in these latter years to condemn these imperfect Exercises as if they had been ill grounded So that it had been happier for those of the Reformed Religion if the Commissioners had sometimes been pleas'd to transgress the Limits of their Power One of the most remarkable parts of their Commission was the delivery of places call'd Places of Bailliage 'T was necessary they should be taken in those where another Right could not be presum'd for the multiplying the places of Exercise as much as was possible Besides it was convenient to have 'em in the most considerable places of the Bailliage where there was some concourse of people for the common benefit To Mortify the Clergy a little they demanded of 'em when they could the nearest to the Episcopal Cities since they could not have 'em in those very Cities They of Nimes demanded the next place to Pont St. Esprit or at Vâlle Nâuve d'Avignon that was no farther distant from Avignon then the breadth of the Rhone thereby to give the same Cause of discontent to see the Religion of his Enemies exercis'd at the very Gate of a City of which he is the Sovereign and where some of his Predecessors have held their Sees These different prospects were the Cause why they did not obtain throughout the whole the most important places in as ample a manner as might have been desir'd The Dispute of Burying places occasion'd more trouble then the settlement of the places of exercise The Clergy oppos'd almost through the whole the Liberty of burying in the Catholics Church-yards And when the Reformed took it of their own accord they complain'd against 'em to the Kings Justices or to the Parlaments where they were always favour'd A Gentleman of the Reformation having caus'd one of his Children to be Bury'd in a Parish-Church of the Bailliage of Chartres the Parlament of Paris made a Decree which Order'd that those should be inform'd against who were Nam'd in the Complaint which had been deliver'd that prohibited Burying in the Churches and Church-yards of the Catholics But the Decree did not Order the Bodies of such as were already bury'd to be taken up The severity of the Canons perplex'd the Curates because it would not permit that Service should be Celebrated in the Churches where the Bodies of Heretics were interr'd unless they had first been reconcil'd But the difficulty had not been hard to remove if the Spirit of contradiction would have given way to the Spirit of Peace Since that the Reformed accord to the Edict being no more to be Treated as Heretics they ought to have been as well dispens'd with as to the Rigour of the Canons which depriv'd 'em of Sepulture in the Ordinary places as those which declar'd 'em incapable of all Employments or which condemn'd 'em to the loss of Goods and Life By these means a
a few Hours after Rasis to arrive in times and Caution the Inn-keeper to have a care of himself So this miserable Wretch escap'd and he was found Drowned 20 or 30 Leagues from Paris upon the Bank of the Marne which he would have foarded in his way to Flanders His Death seem'd no less suspicious then his escape and many believ'd that Villeroy conniv'd at the one and procur'd the other I was not rational to think that a Man who had been above five and thirty years in the Ministry of State should not know that the first thing he ought to have done was to have seiz'd on the Officer And the Neglect of so necessary a Precaution gave occasion to suspect that the Master had some Reason to desire that the Servant should escape But the King was willing to take the sorrow that Villeroy express'd for a Proof of his Innocency And he accepted of the bad Excuses of this Minister as if they had been better Insomuch that he continu'd in the Ministry as before and if perhaps he lost something of the King's Esteem and Condence at least he lost nothing of his Dignity The End of the Eight Book THE HISTORY OF THE Edict of NANTS BOOK IX The Argument of the 9th Book THE Reformed are afraid that the King gives way too much to the Jesuits He Answers their Papers favourably Gex The Genius of La Trimouille and his Death The Process of the Cardinal de Chatillon's Widow The Pyramid pull'd down New Factions An Assembly at Chatelleraud Matters which were there to be treated on St. Germains Letter to Marshal de Bouillon Roni Commissioner for the King at the Assembly His Instructions What Reception he had His Speech Provincial Councils Deputies General General Assemblies The Vnion renew'd Lesdiguieres comes into it Roni Excuses this New Oath Breviats for the Guard of Towns of Hostage The Assembly suffers the places of Marshal Bouillon to be taken Other advantages that Roni gain'd of the Assembly with which the Pope is well contented The Deputies of the Assembly caress'd at the Court An Assembly of the Clergy The Artifice to hinder the Ecclesiastics from changing their Religion An Edict in favour of the Clergy Roni Duke and Peer of France The Marshal de Bouillon makes his Peace The Treaty with those of Rochel in favour of the Catholics Priests that did not Pray to God for the King Gun-Powder Treason The Oath exacted of the Catholics of England The Exercise permitted at Charenton for the Reformed of Paris which the Lord of the place opposes in vain Papers favourably Answer'd The Attempt of Seguiran the Jesuit to Preach at Rochel A Mortification of the Jesuits The Synod at Rochel General Deputies The Question about Antichrist renew'd Deputies gain'd at the Court The Quick-sighted of the Church and Fools of the Synod The Question is deferr'd and Vignier order'd to Treat largely on it The Synod Names only two Deputies General Affairs Treated on at the Synod Forreign Ministers Malwin call'd to Rochel The King refuses the Nomination of the Deputies He permits a General Assembly at Gergeau Sulli suspected by the Reformed Affairs of the Assembly Places lost by the Reformed Conferences and Changes of Religion The Assembly Complies with the Kings desire An Assembly of the Clergy The Resolute Answer of the King and his disowning a promise made in his Name by his Attorneys in the Matter of Absolution Cotton the Jesuit the Dauphins Master A Fund for the Ministers that shâll change their Religion The Treaty with the Morisco's Persecuted in Spain is âroke off by the Bigots Lesdiguieres Marshal of France The Kings Domestic Vexations Divers Sentiments on the Alliance of Spain Frauds to renew the Civil Wars The Power of the Jesuits Establish'd at Bearn Papers Answer'd The Synod at St. Maixant The Theatre of Antichrist A Blow given to Seignioral Rights The Jurisdiction of the Chambers A Book found at La Fleche The Discourse of Jeannin upon Liberty of Conscience The Edict in favour of the Morisco's The Escape of the Prince of Condé War declar'd against the Arch-Duke The Formidable Power of the King His Dâsigns His unexpected Death THE Reformed had a great share in these particular Accidents because they look'd upon all those who held Intelligence with Spain as their Sworn Enemies and they believ'd that all the Projects of that Court design'd their Ruin at the bottom insomuch that they were always listening to discover the designs of that Cabal and to hinder that it did not grow too powerful in France where they had if it may be so said no Friend but the King Besides they were not so assur'd of him as not to have some distrust of his Constancy and the little Resolution they had observ'd in him upon the Account of Religion made 'em fear that he had besides as little in Point of Acknowledgment and Friendship They saw that he suffer'd himself to be too much possess'd by the Jesuits and they complain'd sometimes alluding to the Name of his Confessor that he heard his old Friends no more since he had his Ears stopp'd with Cotton They saw likewise in him amidst his great Qualities great Weaknesses And that to have Peace at home he was so far Patient and Compliant that the meanest Citizen wou'd have hardly done so much There was besides great Reason to fear that to Content the Queen whose Intentions were no way favorable to 'em he wou'd break with 'em and suffer himself to be led to an Alliance with Spain of which they did not doubt but their Destruction was a necessary consequence These apprehensions which were but too reasonable as it appear'd under another Reign oblig'd 'em to Arm themselves every day with new precautions The King who believ'd that these Alarms might serve for a pretext to those who were not well affected to his Government was very willing to dissipate 'em by the Testimonies of the constant Will that he had to maintain the Edicts and whatsoever discontent he had of particulars he favour'd the General Cause as much as 't was possible for him And this about the time that I speak of he made appear by his manner of answering the Papers which the Deputies General presented him They complain'd among other things of certain Monuments of the late Wars which the Catholics preserv'd as it were to render the Memory of those Troubles eternal Thus in the Cathedral Church of Bazas was to be seen an Inscription which call'd the Reformed Heretic Hugenots and which imputes to 'em Profanations and Ruins The King had often commanded the Bishop to erase those violent Terms but the Bishop wae not willing to obey him They complain'd again of the affronts which were done in some places to the Ministers and their Children of the delay of Establishing the Exercise of the Reformed Religion in many places where it shou'd be according to the Edict of 1577 of the trouble that they found when the places design'd
mild ways to gain Consciences In which this Lord who was no more a Pretender to Divinity than Religion reason'd as if in deciding whether the Pope was Antichrist the Synod should have consider'd the then Pope's Personal Qualifications more than the Tyrannical Power the Roman See usurps But the Reform'd were not ignorant that the Spirit of Popery is always the same That the Roman Church always thinks it self bound to persecute That there was a general Conspiration in Europe against the Protestants That it was no longer conceal'd That it appear'd in divers places by a thousand Injustices That even the French Nation was excited against them That the Spaniards had Agents who endeavour'd to gain Priests by their means to inspire Animosities and Hatred in the Catholicks against the Reform'd which the Jesuits especially did almost barefac'd Therefore they did not think they wrong'd the Pope whatever his particular Maxims were to give him a Name which suited to the Character of his Dignity and which is much more inherent to the See itself than to the Qualifications of the Person who fills it Therefore the Synod did not desist from their Enterprize They receiv'd their Deputies very well at their return from Court but they were not mov'd by the Reasons they urg'd to perswade them perhaps because the Gratifications which were Sully's best Arguments were not communicated to the whole Synod There were also some Persons at Court full of Political Considerations which they imploy'd to make the Reform'd fearful of offending the King and their foresight ever extended it self to inconveniences the others did not see Therefore the Synod call'd them Ironically the Clear-sighted of the Church Sulli had the best Authority of any of them yet neither his Letters nor those of some others could prevail any more than the Reasons of the Deputies To be even with them the Court call'd some of the Members of the Synod the Fools of the Synod because they found them thick-skull'd and that they thought too much on their safety Those pretended Fools prov'd the strongest and tho Montmartin us'd his utmost endeavours to strengthen the Court Party in the Assembly his Cabal was not powerful enough to get the upper hand there Nevertheless he obtain'd part of what he desir'd concerning the Question about Antichrist He had such positive Orders from the King upon that subject and he did so well represent to them that they would offend him in persisting in their Resolution of Printing the Article of Gap in all the Confessions that the Synod durst proceed no further in it and so under pretence of adjourning that Affair they laid it quite aside They contented themselves with promising the protection of the Churches to such as should be troubled for having preach'd confess'd or said or written any thing about that Matter That is in a word the Doctrine was stop'd and the Question held as decided But Interests of State hindered it from being incerted as an Article of Faith among the rest This is partly what the Synod writ about it to the Duke of Rohan from whom they had receiv'd Letters upon that Subject desiring them to pleasure the King and not to carry that matter too far An Impression of the Confession of Faith in which that Article was incerted having been sold off already the Synod made Applications to the King to beg that no body might be prosecuted either for having shar'd in the Impressions or for keeping any Copies of that precipitated Edition The King freely granted it his Design being only to hinder it from ever being talk'd of In the mean time the Synod being desirous to show more clearly that they did not disown the decided Doctrine though they had so much complaisance for the King as not to make it an express Article of their Faith desir'd Vignier to write at large about that matter which he did in a manner that made a great noise in its time The Affair of the Deputy's General did not end thus La Noue and du Cros who had received that Quality in the Assembly at Châtelleraud brought a Brief to the King dated in December which authoris'd the Synod to nominate six persons out of which the King was to chuse two but at the same time that Business only excepted forbad them to meddle with any thing but their Discipline The Council had thought that they should get something in acquiescing so far tho by that permission granted to the Synod they seem'd to consent that the Deputies General should officiate but one Year since La Noue and du Cros had not exercis'd their Deputation much longer But they were in hopes that by granting this they would deliver themselves for three years of the fear of these General Assemblies because the King might refuse to allow one under pretence that the Synod had provided for that time for the only thing that could render it necessary The Synod had not the power to make that Nomination because it exceeded the bounds of their Discipline for which Reason the King had given them that Brief to authorise them The Synod having examined it did not find it sufficient because it neither impower'd them to give a discharge to the Deputies that were to lay down upon a new Nomination or to give Instructions to those that were to succeed them without which the Nomination was of no manner of use They writ most humble Remonstrances to the Court about it The King received them very graciously and the bearers of them returned with very obliging Letters from him and almost an entire satisfaction upon the Subject of their Message tho Sully by private Letters advis'd them not to make use of them It is very probable that the Deputies had reveal'd the Secret of the Synod which was not well dispos'd to satisfie the Court about the nomination of Six Persons Therefore the new Brief renewing that Article they would have been better pleas'd to have the Synod put off the Affair of the Deputies to another time than to see it determin'd in a way that should not please them Therefore the King allow'd them to work about it for fear of vexing them by a refusal but at the same time his Favourite writ to them to dissuade them from it if he could The Synod neither believ'd him nor those who were of his Opinion nor yet the Deputies Sully had corrupted They discharg'd La Noue and du Cros with a world of thanks and praises after which they nominated only two persons although the Brief oblig'd them expresly to nominate six The Reason or Pretence of it was That the Powers the Deputies had brought from their Provinces did not allow them to exceed that number But that to show that they did not design to offend his Majesty in refusing to answer his Intentions in that Point they begg'd of him to allow a General Assembly to consider whether the nomination of six should be made for the future according
so much as the choice of the Place free and Sully was given them as a Spy Gergeau was pitch'd upon for the convenience of that Lord that City being his and the House he borrow'd his Name from in the Neighbourhood thereof He was receiv'd there not like a man who interes'd himself for the Reform'd Religion but like one who came to negotiate from the King Moreover it was greatly suspected that he design'd to change his Religion which he had given reason to believe by a very extraordinary conduct The King had offer'd him one of his Natural Daughters for his Son provided they would both turn Catholicks and he had oblig'd him to have some conferences with Cotton the Jesuit who since his being at Court had shar'd the Quality of Convertor with Cardinal Du Perron Those Conferences commonly produc'd the Effect they desir'd being commonly accepted by such as desir'd only a pretence to change Nevertheless whether it were a Blind contriv'd between the King and Sully or whether it were real Sully refus'd to change but gave his Son leave to do it if he pleas'd The King pressing him to oblige his Son to do it he refus'd to command it him but declar'd that he left it to his own free choice which the King seem'd not to be very well satisfied with I would not affirm that this were any thing but a Juggle to re-establish Sully's Reputation among the Reform'd who look'd no longer upon him as a Member of their Party Indeed it was not very likely that Sully should refuse in earnest what the King propos'd to him to obtain an Alliance which several Princes of Europe would not have disdain'd It was also as easy for him according to the Notions he had inspir'd into the King to make a Religion to himself reduc'd to certain General Articles as to perswade another to do it or to believe that he might innocently authorize his Son to turn Roman Catholick However it were that Refusal is mention'd to his praise in his Memoirs in which it is reported that the King upbraided him with loving the Huguenots better than him by reason that while he refus'd his alliance he was treating about a Match between his Son and the Countess of Saâx's Daughter Grand-Daughter to Lesdiguieres But that Reproach looks very like a Jest It was very well known at Court that neither Lesdiguieres nor his Children were of the number of those who were zealous for Religion Cotton the Jesuit knew it better than any body And that Intriegue only serv'd to perswade that Sully was not over religious He was us'd in the Assembly of Gergeau like a Catholick Du Plessis had sent them good Memoirs upon that Subject which were follow'd Sulli notwithstanding prov'd very useful to the King in the Assembly tho he refus'd to take the Title of Envoy or Commissary there Seven or eight considerable Articles were treated of there which prov'd difficult and might have occasion'd the sitting of the Assembly a long while which was a thing the King fear'd The Chief related to the Places of Surety Some of them belong'd to Catholick Lords or were fallen into their hands by succession or otherwise Those Lords put Catholick Governors in them The Reform'd had already lost Caumont in that manner and were upon the point of losing Montandre and Tartas in the like manner Besides they were afraid of losing many of their Places thus by degrees especially because Conversions were then in fashion and that several Lords express'd but little Zeal for their Religion They had lately had the experience of some who after having long sought a pretence to change had at last taken that of an accidental Conference which Cotton the Jesuit had fasten'd upon Gigord a Minister of some Reputation He found him at Court in presence of some people that were ill dispos'd and ingag'd him into a Dispute which the Jesuit and his Adherents did not fail to report to the disadvantage of the Minister and because it was interrupted without being renew'd the Minister not caring to engage in those tumultuous Disputes in which those that talk most and loudest seem always to be in the right which those that were wavering among the Reform'd took the advantage of to colour their Change they pretended that he was sensible of his weakness and confess'd himself vanquish'd This was sufficient to give Castelnau and some others a pretence to do what they had long resolv'd and to embrace the Roman Religion Gigord did not remain mute upon the Subject of that Conference which the Jesuit's Friends publish'd But those who had a mind to believe that he had not maintain'd his Cause well little matter'd his Justification The same Game was so often plaid at Court that the Reform'd had some reason to distrust all the Lords of their Religion and especially such as had Places whom they chiefly endeavour'd to corrupt Therefore Sulli seeing that that Affair and the others which were of consequence might occasion long debate writ to the King that it would be convenient to put Reform'd Governors in Places of that kind being Friends or Relations to the Lords to whom they belong'd which would be a proper Expedient to remove all Jealousies on both sides As to the other Articles he advis'd him either to grant part of them or to give them leave to incert them in the Instructions of their Deputies The King pitch'd upon the last Expedient because he was resolv'd not to treat about any thing with the Assembly and that having only allow'd it for the nomination of the Deputies General he would not suffer them to treat of any thing else in it He order'd them to break up immediately after the said Nomination However his Answer to Sulli was very obliging for the Reform'd He assur'd them of his Protection and acknowledg'd that they had deserv'd it by their perseverance in his Service The Assembly submitted to the King's Will and nominated Six Persons of which Villarnoul and Mirande were Two and sent the said Nomination to the King with very respectful Letters The King express'd that he did not like their writing so well as if they had sent the Nomination the Assembly had made by Deputies However he was plaes'd to excuse it and to say That he would not declare his Choice until the Assembly was dissolv'd As soon as they had obey'd him he chose Villarnoul and Mirande who had been presented to him by the Synod of Rochel thereby showing that his refusal of them the preceding year did not proceed from Aversion to their Persons only but because he dislik'd the manner of their Election The same year the Clergy also Assembled at Paris and their Deputies renew'd their usual Complaints to the King against the * Concordat and the Laick Pensions That which was most remarkable in it was that Fremiot Archbishop of Bourges who was Speaker represented the Church to be under a Misery capable to move Compassion
tho at the same time the Splendor in which he appear'd before the King did not suit with his Description of the said Desolation Besides a numerous Train of Bishops he was attended by whose Air express'd no Misery he had Five Cardinals in his Company and this pompous Deputation resembled much more an excess of worldly Prosperity than an afflicted Church over-whelm'd with great Adversities The earnestness the Clergy express'd again that time for the Publication of the Council of Trent was not well receiv'd The King answer'd with more Resolution than ever he had done and upon their alledging the Promises his Attornies had made in his Name about it he made no difficulty to disown them He complain'd of their having promised it without his knowledge and said That that Publication would be a step for others afterwards to desire the Introduction of the Inquisition He made them sensible that if Francis I. Henry II. and Charles IX who had no such Solemn Ingagements with the Reform'd as he had and had not receiv'd such Services from them had not approv'd that Counsel he had much less reason to do it for fear of renewing the Troubles of his Kingdom This comforted the Reform'd in some measure for the grief they receiv'd that year in seeing the Dauphin's Education committed to the Care of Cotton the Jesuit since they could oppose the assurances of the King 's good Will to the fear of his being succeeded one day by a Prince who being fallen in such ill hands was not likely to prove favourable to them The King put the Change agreeably upon the Clergy in another Affair That rich Body had often sollicited him to establish a Fund out of which Pensions might be taken for the Ministers that should change their Religion and whereas they had but inconsiderale Sallaries at that time the Clergy whose over-ruling Passion is Interest did not question but that in bettering the Condition of those that should change they would invite several to immitate them But the King being desirous That the said Fund should be taken out of the Pockets of the Clergy and not out of his Exchequer caus'd the Pope to write a Brief to the Clergy to desire them to raise that Fund themselves The Brief was presented to the Assembly by the Cardinal of Joyeuse They agreed to make a Fund of 30000 Livers a year out of which they should take Pensions for Ministers only and made a Rule excluding all such as had not been Ministers or Professors from those Recompences and all those who having embrac'd the Reform'd Religion since the 6th of August should return to the Catholick Church By the said Rule those who were to injoy the benefit of those Pensions were oblig'd to bring in yearly Attestations of their good Behaviour to the Agents of the Clergy the manner also of paying them the Sums that were alloted them was prescrib'd in the same This Sum was inconsiderable and yet the Clergy has never made a sufficient number of Conquests to exhaust it And some years after it they took out of the said Fund the best part of which was not us'd Sallaries for certain Laick Missionaries who troubled the Reform'd in a thousand manners and recompences for People whose Trade was to sollicit the Common People to change their Religion During those Transactions the Council of Spain persecuted the Moors whether it proceeded from the Councils own movement or from the advice Taxis had given Those Wretches offer'd to submit to the King of France if the King would take them under his Protection But that Prince not confiding in those People that are naturally false and inconstant thought fit first to send a Person among them to see what might be expected from that Overture He made choice of Panissaut for his Envoy a Gentlman of Gascony and one of the Reform'd He repair'd thither in the Habit of a Franciscan with an Obedience that was given him by the Guardian of some House of that Order He did negotiate with so much success that some considerable Advantage might have been expected by it had he been suffer'd to go on But the Bigots told the King That he inspir'd them with the Doctrine of the Reform'd which might be true and would certainly have been of great use that Doctrine removing from the Mahometans the pretences of the Aversion which the Worship of the Roman Church has inspir'd in them against Christianity Insomuch that Panissaut might have made them Christians and good Frenchmen but the Catholick Zeal thought it more reasonable that they should remain Mahometans than turn Huguenots Therefore Panissaut was recall'd and Claverie a Gentleman of the Roman Persuasion and of the same Country sent in his room but whereas he proceeded upon other Principles which the Moors did not relish his Negotiation met with no success Lesdiguieres obtain'd that year the Staff of Marshal of France His Services had sufficiently deserv'd it but it was not granted so much in regard to his Merit as to make him forget the Discontents he had receiv'd from the Court. In the mean time the Spanish Faction was not a sleep and lost no opportunities to sow Divisions in all parts to excite some Troubles in France The Royal Family was very much imbroil'd The King and Queen did not agree That Princess cross'd him continually and that which was most unaccountable she adher'd with the Spaniards whose Interests were espous'd by Five or Six Italians who serv'd her The Marriage of the Dauphin with the Infanta of Spain and that of one of the Daughters of France with the Infant had been propos'd to her as a means that would for ever secure the Succession to her Off-spring In order to draw her the sooner into that Project they exasperated her mind by black Calumnies against the King they perswaded her that he design'd to be rid of her after which the Charms of the Marchioness of Verneuiel and the Promises of Marriage the King had made her afforded reason to fear that he would raise her Children to the Throne to the prejudice of hers Those Jealousies proceeded so far that Conchini and his Wife dress'd themselves in their own Chamber what that Princess was to eat as if she had been in danger of being poyson'd Sully sometimes advis'd the King to send back those pernicious Spirits into Italy to stop the torrent of those Disorders and to send the Marchioness and her Brother into England to the end that the Queens Jealousies and her Evil Counsellors being remov'd she might be the sooner reduc'd to live peaceably with the King But that Prince neither being able to remove his Mistress nor willing to exasperate the Queen by taking her Confidents from her while her Rival still remain'd before her eyes encreas'd the Evil by his irresolution and daily gave the Queen new Causes of Quarrel On the other hand he did not relish the Marriage propos'd the Project whereof did not
another had lately been concluded at Hall in Suabia notwithstanding all the Emperor's opposition with about 15 Protestant Princes These Preparations made Rome tremble for its Religion and Spain for its Greatness And their Interests appear'd so much interwoven that they seem'd to run the same hazards and to stand in need of the same success The truth is that the King's Design was not positively known And whereas he had not time enough to pursue the Project of it long nothing happen'd whereby one might penetrate into the secret of his Intentions Such different Projects were proposed to him that it was impossible to divine his justly Moreover it is very well known that tho Princes begin War upon a certain Plan they soon forsake it according as Occurrences more or less favourable inspire them with new thoughts But there were two things that might be look'd upon as certain or at least very probable The one is that Sully being his Confident the Project that has been incerted in his Memoirs which he had imparted to several people was not altogether Chimerical that according to that it was to be fear'd that the King had a design to found the Equilibrium of the Powers of Europe upon the Equilibrium of the Religious That consequently he would never consent to the exterminating of the Protestants therefore he was not look'd upon at Rome as a good Catholick and they did not doubt but he had retain'd from his first Religion the design of humbling that haughty See A remainder of Heresy which is more odious in that Countrey than the most detestable Errors Moreover this fear was all grounded upon his having made almost all his Alliances with Protestants From whence it follow'd naturally that in case he should succeed in his Enterprizes none but Protestants would enjoy the benefit of his Victories The Damages whereof would consequently fall upon the Catholick Religion It is true that the Pope was offer'd the reunion of the Kingdom of Naples to the demean of the Church But the Religion got nothing by it since all the Inhabitants of that Kingdom were Catholicks whereas it would lose whatever should fall under the Power of the Protestants The other was That the King design'd to humble the House of Austria and that he only ingag'd divers Powers into his Interests by promising to enrich them with the Spoils of Spain Which was look'd upon in the Council of that Court as a Crime less to be forgiven than Heresy But while all Europe was attentive on the Revolutions that were preparing and that all People were in suspence between curiosity hope and terror the Scene was chang'd by a fatal Catastrophe The King had had the Complaisance to have the Queen crown'd before his departure He omitted nothing to live peaceably with her And whereas the War he was entring upon broke all the Queens Measures for the double Marriage of the Dauphin with the Infanta and of the eldest Daughter of France with the Infant he was willing to remove that Vexation by a Ceremony which seem'd material to that jealous mind in order to secure the Crown to her Children Some Persons of known wisdom had endeavour'd to disuade the King from that Pomp which engag'd him to Expenses no wise suitable to the beginnings of a War the event of which was doubtful Moreover Roni had prevail'd to break the Project of that Ceremony which ruin'd him quite in the Queens mind who was already animated against him for other Reasons But finally the King resolv'd to give his Wife that satisfaction at any rate whatever The Ceremony of the Coronation was perform'd at St. Denis with great magnificence But while a sumptuous Entry was preparing for the Queen after which the King was to repair to the head of his Army which drew near the Frontiers and execrable Assassinate killed him in his Coach on the 10th of May as he was going to the Arsenal there to give some orders relating to his Enterprize The Historys of the Time relate the Circumstances of his Death at large several Relations being order'd to be written about it to dissipate the Suspicions people had throughout the Kingdom that some people at Court were privy to the Secret of that Parricide But no other Victims were offer'd to the Shrine of that great Prince but the Monster who had struck the blow And those who were most oblig'd to discover and prosecute the Authors of that Crime took no more care to revenge him than he had done to revenge the Death of Henry the III. his Predecessor That which prov'd most honourable for his memory was that all his good Subjects lamented him as their Father foreseeing that it would be long before any King should ascend the Throne deserving to be compar'd to him It is a very surprizing thing that those who labour'd to destroy the Reform'd should have pitcht upon the time of that great Kings death for the Epact of a ridiculous Enterprize which they have imputed to the City of Rochel Not being certain at what time they invented that Calumny I think I cannot chuse a more proper place to relate the Story of it than the moment in which they pretend the thing happen'd That Potent City is accus'd of a design to extend their Power farther in making themselves Masters of Brouage The design they say was to convey two Ships fill'd with Soldiers disguis'd like Merchants into the Port at break of day who under pretence of unlading their Merchandize were to possess themselves of the Port-gate It was usual for the convenience of Trade to open it sooner than any of the rest and those People were to make use of that advantage to enter the City without hinderance They were to kill all such as should make any resistance and Rochel had promis'd to send them as soon as they were Masters of the Place a sufficient Reinforcement to maintain themselves there Those Ships they say arriv'd at that appointed hour but the little Gate was not open'd all that Morning by reason that the Governor had receiv'd the news of the King 's fatal Death in the Night by an Express Insomuch that the Ships were oblig'd to retire Never was Calumny so ill invented and I am at a loss which to wonder at most the Impudence of the Inventor or the Credulity of Deagean who has reported it I appeal to all Persons of sense whether it be not improbable that during the King's greatest Prosperity at a time when he was Potent enough to prescribe Laws to all Europe such a City as Rochel without Intestine Leagues without Foreign Intelligence should have been capable to declare a War to him and to undertake Conquests upon him I say without Intelligence at home or abroad because that if there had been any such thing it were impossible but that some Tracts of it would have been found at least sufficient to ground Suspicion upon or that some mention of such a Treaty would have been made in some
effectual means to appease the Troubles and Seditions in point of Religion of the Month of January 1561. Published in the Parliament of Paris on the 6th of March of the said Year CHarles by the Grace of God King of France to all those who these Presents shall see Greeting It is sufficiently known what Troubles and Seditions have been and are daily kindled multiplied and augmented in this Kingdom by the Malice of the Times and the diversity of Opinions which reign in Religion and that whatever Remedies our Predecessors have try'd to put a stop thereunto either by the Rigor and severity of Punishments or by Mildness according to their usual and natural Benignity and Clemency the thing has penetrated so far into our said Kingdom and in the minds of our Subjects of all Sexes Estates Qualities and Conditions that we have found our selves in a great perplexity at our new coming to this Crown to advise and resolve what means we should use to apply good and wholsome Remedies thereunto After long and mature consultation about the same with the Queen our most honour'd and most beloved Lady and Mother our most dear and most beloved Unkle the King of Navar our Lieutenant General representing our Person throughout all our Kingdoms and Territories and other Princes of our Blood together with our Privy-Council We caus'd our said Uncle to assemble in our Court of Parliament together with the Princes of our Blood the Peers of France and other Princes and Lords of our said Privy-Council All which with the Members of our said Court after several Conferences and deliberations did resolve on the Edict of the Month of July last past whereby we did forbid among other things on pain of confiscation of Body and Goods all Publick Conventicles and Assemblies with Arms As well as all Private ones in which any body should preach or administer the Sacrament in any form contrary to the Practice observ'd in the Catholick Church from the first begining and ever since the propagation of the Christian Faith receiv'd by the Kings of France our Predecessors by the Bishops and Prelates Curates their Vicars and Deputies Being persuaded at that time that the prohibition of the said Assemblies was the best way until we could have the determination of a General Council to put a stop to the diversity of the said Opinions And by keeping our Subjects by that means in union and concord to put an end to the Troubles and Seditions The which on the contrary through the disobedience obstinacy and evil Intentions of the People the execution of the said Edict proving difficult and dangerous have been much more increas'd and Cruelly practic'd to our great grief and trouble than they had been before Therefore in order to remedy the same and in consideration that our said Edict was only provisional We have been advis'd to summon another Assembly in this Place compos'd of our said Uncle the Princes of our Blood and the Members of our Privy-Council there to advise with a considerable number of our Presidents and chief Counsellors of our Sovereign Courts by Us summon'd to that end who are able to give us a faithful account of the State and Necessities of their Provinces in relation to the said Religion Tumults and Seditions about such means as may be most proper useful and convenient to appease and put an end to the said Seditions Which has been done And all things having been duly and maturely digested and deliberated in our Presence and in that of our said Lady and Mother by so great and so notable an Assembly We have by their advice and mature deliberation said and ordain'd do say and ordain what followeth I. That all those of the New Religion or others that have taken possession of Temples shall be oblig'd after the Publication of these Presents to quit and depart from the same as well as from all Houses Estates and Revenues belonging to Ecclesiasticks where ever they are cituated or seated leaving them the full and entire possession and enjoyment of the same to enjoy them with the same liberty and safety they did before their being dispossess'd thereof That they shall return and restore what they have taken of the Shrines and Ornaments of the said Temples and Churches and that it shall not be lawful for those of the said New Religion to take or build any other Temples either within or without the Cities Towns c. nor to occasion the least Trouble Let or Molestation to the said Ecclesiasticks in the enjoyment or gathering of their Tythes and Revenues and other Rights and Estates whatever at present or for the future Which we have inhibited and forbidden them to do and do by these Presents inhibit and forbid as also to beat down and demolish Crosses Images or the committing other seandalous and seditious acts On pain of death and without the least hope of pardon or remission II. Likewise not to assemble in the said Cities there to preach either publickly or privately either by Day or Night III. However in order to keep our Subjects in peace and quietness until it be God Almighty's pleasure to enable us to reunite them and put them all into the same Fold again which is our earnest desire and chief intention We have by Provision until the Determination of the said General Council or New Orders from us Surceas'd suspended and superceded do surcease suspend and supercede the Inhibitions and Punishments appointed both in the Edict of July and others that have preceded it in relation to the Assemblys that shall be made in the day-time without the said Cities in order to their Preaching Praying and performing other Exercises of their Religion IV. Forbidding on the same Penalties and Punishments all Judges Magistrates and other persons however qualifi'd or distinguish'd to hinder disturb molest or fall upon those of the said New Religion in any wise whenever they shall go come and assemble without the said Cities to exercise their said Religion But on the contrary in case any persons should attempt to abuse them We do command our said Magistrates and Officers in order to prevent all Troubles and Seditions to hinder the same and summarily and severely to punish all the Seditious whatever Religion profess'd by them according to the Contents of our said precedent Edicts and Ordinances even in that which is made against the said seditious Persons and for the bearing of Arms which we will and expect to have fulfill'd in all Points and to remain in full force and vertue V. Enjoyning a new according to the same all our said Subjects of what Religion Estate Quality and Condition soever not to make any Assemblies whatever in Arms or to abuse reproach or provoke each other upon the account of Religion or to make stir procure or favour the least Sedition but on the contrary to live and behave themselves one towards another gently and quietly without making use of Pistols great or small or other Fire-Arms either
without paying any Ransom And all Acts of Hostility and other Transgressions of the Edict in general shall cease according to the Commissions that have been issu'd out to that end which shall be sent every where in the Governments of Guyenne Languedoc and other Provinces when it shall be necessary XVII It has also been agreed by the said Lady Queen Mother to his Majesty the King of Navar and all the above-mentiond that all the Cities and Places kept by those of the said Religion shall be restor'd in the Governments of Guyenne and Languedoc at the time declar'd by the preceding Article And the Edict of pacification shall be put entirely in execution in the same as also and by the same means in the other Cities where the Catholicks are more numerous neither Parties being allow'd to put Garisons into them And thus the Inhabitants of the same of both Religions shall remain under the special safeguard of the King our Sovereign Lord it being forbidden on pain of Death to wrong them or to undertake any thing against the Liberty and Safety of the said Cities Nevertheless for surety of what is above written and for an assurance of the execution of the said Edict the King leaves and gives in keeping to the said King of Navar the following Cities In the Government of Guyenne Bazas Puymerol and Figeac until the last Day of August next ensuing and no longer And in the Government of Languedoc Ravel Briateste Aleth Santei Agreve Baiz sur Baiz Baignols Alletz Lunel Sommieres Aymargues and Gignac until the first Day of October also next ensuing and no longer On condition and no otherwise that they shall make no Fortifications there nor demolish Churches and other places nor act any thing else contrary to the Edict XVIII That the Ecclesiasticks and other Catholick Inhabitants shall be receiv'd again into the said Cities without any difficulty and shall fully injoy all their Estates and the Fruits or the Revenues of the same That they shall perform Divine Service in the same according to the use of the Catholick Church That Justice shall also be freely administred there That the King's Money as well ordinary as extraordinary shall be rais'd and receiv'd there And that the Edict shall be intirely kept and observ'd there And the same shall be done according to the said Edict in relation to those of the said pretended Reform'd Religion in the other Cities where the Catholicks are more in number It is also resolv'd That the Magistrates and Officers of the Cities shall take care to see it perform'd on pain of being suspended of their Officers for the first times and on forfeit of them for the second XIX That the said Cities during the time heretofore declar'd shall be govern'd by Persons of Integrity Lovers of the Peace and Publick Good who shall be nominated by the King of Navar and approv'd by the said Lady Queen Mother to the King who shall engage and be bound with Six in the chief and Four in the other of the said Towns the same well to preserve in their Obedience to the King and to cause the Edict to be well maintain'd and what has been now resolv'd between the said Lady Queen Mother to the King and the said King of Navar to maintain all the Inhabitants thereof in Safety according to the said Edict and namely to restore the said Cities viz. those of the Government of Guyenne on the First day of September next coming and those of the Government of Languedoc on the First day of October also next coming into the Hands of the Person the King shall be pleas'd to Depute to go to the said Cities to see them forthwith-restor'd in the Condition set down in the said Edict of Pacification without putting any Governor or Garison into the same and without removing the Ammunitions and Artillery that is in the said Cities belonging either to the King or to the Communalties of the said Cities XX. The said King of Navar has also remitted the Mur de Barais to the said Lady Queen who upon his Nomination has agreed to Trust the keeping thereof to Monsieur d'Arpajon to have it in Charge until the said First day of August next At which time the said Monsieur d'Arpagon shall be oblig'd to Surrender it into the hands of the Commissary who shall repair to the other Cities to leave them in the Condition mention'd by the Edict as the other Fourteen Cities aforemention'd XXI And to avoid all manner of Burthening and Oppressing of the Inhabitants of the said Cities and Adjacent Parts the said Lady has and does promise to the said King of Navar and to the said of the pretended Reform'd Religion to furnish Thirty six thousand Livers Tournois which shall be deliver'd into the hands of those the sail King of Navar shall nominate at the beginning of every one of the said Months pro Rata and by equal Portions according to the Division they shall make of it XXII And therefore it has been expresly resolv'd That the said of the pretended Reform'd Religion those who shall Command in the said Cities and those who shall be committed for the Guard thereof shall not be allow'd to Quarter in the Houses of Catholicks as least as few as possible can be neither shall they raise or exact any thing from the Inhabitants thereof or others nor from the Adjacent Places under any colour and pretence whatsoever without the Kings leave The Consuls of the said Cities shall be oblig'd during the said Term of Six Months to furnish the Candles for the Guard and the Wood for Corps de Guard which cannot amount to much considering the Summer season Allowing them however âat the first Sessions to impose and raise upon the Diocesses and Seneschalships the Sums to which the said Candles and Wood shall amount without consequence And as for the Garisons lying at present in the Cities of the said Country of Languedoc held by those of the said Religion they are allow'd to raise if it has not been done already what is barely necessary for their Maintenance until the last day of March next and no more In order to which they shall give the Commissaries who are now going to put an end to all Acts of Hostility the true estimate of what the Payment of the said Garisons will amount to And the said Estimate shall be drawn without Fraud upon the old Roles In which shall not be included in the upper Country of Languedoc Dornhe S. Germa Pechaudie Pierreficte Carlus Frigerolles Myeules and Postrims which shall be speedily dismantled and quitted And to that end those who detain them shall forthwith deliver them into the hands of those who are sent to cause the Acts of Hostility to cease if they design to injoy the benefit of the General Pardon granted to those who have been Infractors of the Edict of Pacification since the Publication thereof And in case they do not obey what is abovesaid they shall be
of before their building upon them or the true estimation of them by the judgment of experienc'd men always reserving to the said Owners and Possessors a remedy against whomsoever it shall concern XVII We forbid all Preachers and Lecturers and others who speak in publick to use any Words Speeches or Discourse that may tend to excite the People to Sedition but on the contrary we have and do injoin them to contain and behave themselves modestly and to utter nothing but what may tend to the instruction and edification of the Auditors and to maintain the Peace and Tranquility by us establish'd in our said Kingdom on the Penalties specify'd in the precedent Edicts Injoining most expresly our Attornies General and their Substitutes to inform out of their Office against such as shall transgress the same on pain of answering for it in their proper and peculiar Persons and Forfeitures of their Offices XVIII We also forbid all our Subjects of what Quality and Condition soever to take away by force or induction against the Will of their Parents the Children of those of the said Religion to Baptise or confirm them in the Catholick Apostolick Roman Church The same Prohibitions are made to those of the said pretended Reform'd Religion the whole on pain of exemplary Punishment XIX Those of the said pretended Reform'd Religion shall be no wise constrain'd nor remain bound by reason of the Abjurations Promises and Oaths they have heretofore made or Cautions by them given upon the account of the said Religion neither shall they be any-wise troubl'd or molested for the same XX. They shall also be bound to observe all Festivals ordain'd in the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church neither shall they work or sell in open Shops on the said days neither shall Handicrafts men work out of their Shops or in close Houses or Chambers on the said Festival days and other prohibited days in any Profession the noise whereof may be heard without by Neighbours or persons passing along which nevertheless shall only be sought after by Officers of Justice XXI The Books touching the said pretended Reform'd Religion shall neither be printed nor sold publickly unless in such Cities and Places in which the Publick Exercise of the said Religion is allow'd And as for other Books which shall be printed in other places they shall be seen and examin'd both by our Officers and Divines as it is specefy'd by our Ordinances We forbid most expresly the Impression publication and sale of all Defamatory Books Libels and Pamphlets under the Penalties contain'd in our Ordinances Injoining all our Judges and Officers to keep a strict hand over it XXII We ordain that no difference or distinction shall be made on the account of the said Religion for the receiving of Scholars to be instructed in Universities Colledges and Schools and the Sick and Poor in Hospitals and Publick Alms. XXIII Those of the said pretended Reform'd Religion shall be oblig'd to keep the Laws of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church receiv'd in this our Kingdom in respect to Marriages contracted or to be contracted as to the degrees of Consanguinity and Affinity XXIV Those of the said Religion shall also pay the Fees of Entrance as is customary for the Places and Offices they shall be provided with without being oblig'd to assist at any Ceremonies contrary to their said Religion And being call'd to their Oath they shall only be oblig'd to hold up their hand swear and promise to God that they will speak the truth Neither shall they be oblig'd to take a dispensation for the Oath by them taken at the passing of the Contracts and Obligations XXV It is our Will and Pleasure that all those of the said pretended Reform'd Religion and others who have been ingag'd in their Party of what State Quality or Condition soever shall be oblig'd and constrain'd by fair and reasonable means and under the Penalties contain'd in the Edicts upon that subject to pay and acquit the Tythes of Curates and other Ecclesiasticks and to all other to whom they shall belong according to the use and custom of the places XXVI The Disinheritations or Privations either by disposing among the Living or by way of Testament made only out of hatred or upon the account of Religion shall neither be valable for the time past or time to come among our Subjects XXVII In order the better to reunite the Wills of our Subjects according to our Intention and to remove all Complaints for the future We do declare all those who do or shall profess the said pretended Reform'd Religion capable of holding or performing all Estates Dignities Offices and publick Places whatever either Royal Signorial or of the Cities of our Kingdom Countries Territories and Lordships under our Obedience all Oaths to the contrary notwithstanding and to be indifferently received into the same and our Courts of Parliament and other Judges shall only make inquiry and inform themselves about the Life and Conversation Religion and honest Conversation of those who are or shall be provided with Offices as well of the one as of the other Religion without exacting any other Oath from them but well and faithfully to serve the King in the discharge of their Offices and to observe the Ordinances as it has been observ'd at all times And in case any Vacancy shall happen of the said Estates Places and Offices as for those that shall be in our gift they shall be dispos'd of indifferently and without distinction to capable Persons as things that concern the union of our subjects We intend also that those of the said pretended Reform'd Religion shall be admitted and receiv'd into all Councils Deliberations Assemblies and Functions depending on the abovesaid Matters and that they shall not be ejected or hinder'd from enjoying them upon the account of the said Religion XXVIII We order for interring of the Dead of those of the said Religion within all the Cities and parts of our Kingdom that in each place a convenient place shall be provided for them forthwith by our Officers and Magistrates and by the Commissioners who shall be by us deputed for the putting of this present Edict in execution And such Church-yards as they had heretofore which they have been depriv'd of by reason of the Troubles shall be restor'd to them except they be at present built upon in which case others shall be provided for them at free cost XXIX We most expresly enjoin our Officers to take care that no Scandal be committed at the said Interments and they shall be bound within a Fortnight after request made to provide commodious places for the said Burials of those of the said Religion without the least protraction or delays under penalty of 500 Crowns to be sess'd on their proper Names and Persons The said Officers and others are also forbidden to exact any thing for the conveyance of the said Dead Bodies on pain of Extortion XXX To the end that Justice may be
t'other or Miâââââ 281. at Guien 329. Articles concerning 'em 438 Chambers of the Edict 327. at Roven 328 Chamier a famous Minister 229 456 Chancellor de l' Hospital 44 Charenton the Reformed of Paris obtain the exercise of their Religion there 420 Charles I. of England his Character 452 Charges or Employments 283. Articles concerning 'em 440 Charles IX 28. his profound dissimulation 44. his death 44. Charpenter his character 42 Chartres Bishop of 118 Chartreux See Conspiracy Chastillon See Amiral Death of his Grand-child 430 Cardinal Chastillions Widow her Suite 478 Chauvel a famous Minister 456 Children 131 254 Churchyards see Sepultures Clear-sighted and fools of that Synod 428 Clement VIII Pope his false Moderaration 460 Clergy their proposuions to the King 104 Clergy their great Credit 14. their Propositions 104. their Intreagues 203. oppose the Verification of the Edict 323. their obstinacy 327. their Maxim about the Question of the Regale 393. they raise difficulties about the Conference between du Plessis and Perron 397. the Clergy make their Remonstrances 390. they obtain several favourable Regulations 415. their demands reduc'd to six Articles in the business of the Rochellois 417. sollicit a Fund for payment of Pensions to Ministers changing their Religion 437. refuse a Conference about the Kings Conversion 118. a kind Article granted 'em 415. Clerk John burnt at Metz 8 Coligni's their Power 19. 20 Colledges of the Protestants their Estalishment obstructed 255. not permited to admit Regents and Schollars 437 Colledges Protestant Immunities demanded for 'em 435 Colloquie or Classis 306 Colloquie of Poyssie 30 Commissioners appointed to draw up an Edict 109 The Kings at the Assembly of Laudun 217. 218 221 For execution of the Edict 345. 417. their Exactness 419 For the Conference at Fontain Bleau appointed by the King 401. alter'd by the King 403 Commelet the Jesuit his Impudence 319 Conde Prince of Conde Imprison'd 28. acquited 29. prest by the Queen to take Arms in her defence 32. makes new complaints 38. he betakes himself again to Arms 39. an attempt to surprize him which he escapes 40. kill'd at Bassac near Jarnac ibid. Prince of Conde Son runs a great Risco 42. he escapes into Germany 44. refuses to acknowledge the States 47. his death 50. and his Wife accus'd for the Fact ibid. Prince of Conde Son born 50. in the hands of Trimanille 110. out of the hands of the Reformed 159 c. his flight into Flanders 447 Conde Princess 174. c. Condemn'd and sick the Reformed forbid to comfort 'em 252 Conference at Nerac 47. 131 111. at Poissy 30. at Flex 48. ibid. at St. Bris 50 Between Villeroy and de Plessis fruitless 107. between du Plessis and Perron granted 397. almost broke off 403. quite broken of 409. the sequel of it 410 Conference formal 109 Conference in shew 117 Conferences set 118 With Cotton the Jesuit 434. 445 Conference engag'd to maintain the Doctrine of the Reformed Religion 119 Conferences in reference to the Kings Sister 316 Conferences of the Reformed forc'd Conspiracies of Barriere against the Life of the King 135. of Chastell and the Jesuites vid. H. IV. Capuchins and Chartreux 314. of M. Biron 444. Powder-Plot 448. General against the Reformed 41. of the Spaniards against the Queen of Navarr 37. against the Chiefs of the Protestants 48 Conversion of the King 119 Conversions Alamode 435 Cotton Jesuite order'd to come to Paris 454. 455 463. wounded 464. he propounds questions to the Divil ibid. made the Kings Confessor 464. his Question about the Preservation of Geneva from the D. of Savoy 465. he blames the D. of Sully 425. made Tutour to the Dauphine 437. Confessor to the King 464. Council General created 150 Croakers dissipated 154 Croisade design'd against the Reformed 432 Cruelties in France against the Protestants 15. 16 20. Cruelty of the Court 24. of Monluc and des Adrets 33. committed at Rome 171. D. DAnet Bishop of Lavaur present at the Council of Trent 12 Dauphin his Birth 431. la Riviere s Prediction upon it 431 Declaration project of a Declaration for procuring the Peace of the Protestants 75. rejected 77. given at Germans 159. infavour of the Protestants 100 two Declaratious put forth 99 Demoniac pretended 346. the Issue of it 374. c. Deputies of the Church on their way to Nantes c. 125. of the Assembly Saumur attended the King 180. their discontents 182. order'd to meet the King at Chartres 128. Deputies general 425. amus'd at Court 154. difficulties in their Institution 426. frequent Deputies permitted at Court and frequent changes in the manner of naming 'em 427. present Papers and Complaints to the King 476. the augmentation of their Number not lik'd 409. Deputies from Chastelleraud caress'd at Court 413. demanded of the King by the Syof Rochel 427. gain'd at Court 428 E. EDict of Chasteaubriant 12. 19 Edict of Amboise 34 Of Toleration Of January 32. confirm'd 33. restor'd without restriction 39 Edict of Peace 35. Another for revocation of the former Another which deprives the Reformed of their Emploments 40 In favour of those that desir'd to live at Peace 39. pretended only ibid. Of 1577. or of Poitiers 47. 76 77. verifi'd in the Parliament of Rouen 219. the difficulties upon it favourably taken off 420 Edict of Vnion against the Rformed 50. Of Nantes 80. cavils about the verification of it ibid. At Traverci 202 Of Nantes concluded 269. the difficulties that arose upon every Article 270. the several demands that occasioned the delays of it 271. c. secret and particular Heads added to it 292. collateral promises by private Patents to strengthen it 293. c. sentiments of the Reformed upon it 303. why the Reformed were contented with the Edict 307. difficulties about the verification of it 321 verifi'd and Registr'd 329. Questions upon the Nature of the new Edict 363. the Benefit of it ib. the Justice of it 369. Grants nothing to the Reformed c. 372. what is granted by it does no body harm 374. it ought to be irrevocable 375. the Edict of Nantes a Treaty 381. objections against the Edict answer'd 396. the execution of it 417 In favour of the D. of Manenne 203. Edict for Bearne touching Religion 337. Obtain'd by the Clergy 415 In favour of the Moors 446 Edicts severe against Lutherans 12 Confirming the Treaty of Amboise 36 For reducing the Leaguers intended but goes not forward 130. c. Elizabeth Queen of England desires an Article in favour of the Reformed 181. Her death 450. Enterprize of Monceaux 39 Epernon Duke of quits the Army 60 Etampes Dutchess of favours the Reformation and Embraces it 9 Etrees Gabriele 166 Evocations eluded 259 Exercises of Religion hindred 250. the Limits of 'em 420. publick exercise of Religion obstructed 247 Places for free exercise of Religion 305 F. FActions the two great Factions of France their Original 18. France divided into three Factions 43. Council of France divided into two Factions 45.
Noble and worthy of a true Hero He lov'd his Subjects and Domestick quiet His love of quiet made him angry when ever he was possess'd with the thoughts that any body design'd to disturb it But his love to his Sujects extinguish'd that Fire as soon as he reflected on the necessity that oblig'd the Reformd to provide for their safety Those that have collected the words which his anger inspir'd him with while his Mind was possess'd with some suspicion ought at the same time to have observ'd that those little flashes were the effect of his Temper the heat of which often dictated words to him which he should have been very sorry any body should have drawn Consequences from His Menial Servants were never surpriz'd at them because they daily found that he was easily appeas'd again without being courted to it and that he often made the first steps of reconciliation towards those that had given him a pretence of anger particularly when they were Friends he had a good opinion of His temper was very different towards the Enemies of the State Without exclaiming against them in words tho he was sometimes guilty of it even when Prudence requir'd the contrary he persisted in the desire and design of bringing them to Reason This shows that he was not naturally inclin'd to refuse the Reform'd such lawful means as were necessary for their safety Only he did not design to leave the Cities of surety perpetually in their Power Neither had they any thoughts of keeping them for ever Perhaps some Lords might have particular designs upon that Subject but the Reform'd in general only insisted upon the keeping of them upon the account that the King being mortal as well as other men he might chance to Dye at a time when the Minority of his Successor might create great Troubles to them So that if they could have kept them untill the Danger of a Minority had been past they would more easily have been inclin'd to restore them to the King since they would have been no longer necessary to them But the very Word of Minority was sufficient to frighten them and their fear was not so ill grounded as to be esteem'd unworthy of Persons of Wit and Courage The weakness of Francis the II. and the Minority of Charles the IX had been so fatal to them by the Authority Catherin de Medicis had thereby Vsurp'd to the prejudice of the Princes of the Blood which she exercis'd in a very odious manner That they had a great deal of Reason to dread falling again into the same misfortunes under the Regency of a Princes of the same Name and during the Minority or Weakness of a New King whose Capacity was not known Thus it is apparent that the Reform'd that fear being excepted saw themselves in a state of Peace and Prosperity the perfect settlement of which was the only thing they could desire in order to be happy and had the King liv'd but twelve years longer That time would have been sufficient to remove part of their scruples They would have seen a Dauphin of twenty years of Age capable to Reign himself bred up to all the Maxims and Designs of the King his Father accustom'd to see two Religions among the French Thy would have seen the Edict confirm'd by Possession civil and intestin Peace foster'd by custom between those of different Religions the Catholicks dispos'd by degrees to see them injoy certain liberties in a word the prejudices that had excited so many animosities and Wars against the Reform'd dissipated by habit and repose which would have allay'd the Passions and heart-burnings on all sides But all was alter'd of a sudden by the Kings unexpected Death and that fatal Catastrophe hapning at a a time when the ancient Difidencies and Jealousies were not absolutely stifled added new ones So that we shall now behold the Reform'd entering under that new Reign in a doubtful condition which having held them long in Cruel agitations and incertainties threw them at last into a deplorable Ruin Partly as when a Ship toss'd by the Winds and Billows which drive it against the Rocks having nothing but the courage and skill of her Mariners to defend her against that violence finally sinks on a sudden notwithstanding their resistance and industry by the redoubling of the Storm Therefore we may consider them in this part of the History as well as in the first in three different conditions The first was a preparative to their approaching ruin which all the circumstances of Affairs gave them presages of The History relates the reasons they had to be afraid the divisions of the State and Court and the secret machinations by which their Oppression was contriving by degrees The second was an open declaration of a design to destroy them which proceeded already from the project to the Execution by the speediest tho the most odious means Fraud and Violence The History shews us in this point their Disunion Weakness and Decay The third was a state of Constraint and Seruiâude in which the Oppress'd durst not complain and found themselves reduc'd by their Weakness to look upon it as a favour That they were only cavill'd with instead of being totally ex irpated by Fire and Sword The History also acquaints us how that from the time of their being disarm'd and reduc'd to the mercy of their Enemies if any stop was put to their final destruction it was only in regard that the then state of Affairs both at home and abroad did not permit them to reduce so many thousands of People to the utmost extremity who were able to defend their Lives Thus the Reform'd return'd by degrees into the same condition in which their Fathers had been formerly when they were expos'd to Racks and other Outrages In the first Part of this Work we behold them passing from Oppression to War and from War to Quiet and Prosperity In the second Part we find the Scene alter'd again they fall a new from Prosperity into the Miseries of War and finally from War into an Oppression which Policy only hinder'd their Enemies from pushing to extremity Their Enemies have not been wanting to accuse them of having abus'd that degree of Happiness and Power in which they were at the King's Death and of having occasion'd their own Ruin by Factions and continual Enterprises But nothing can be grosser or more unjust than that Imposture It is true that they endeavour'd to secure themselves when they beheld their good Prince in the Grave The jealousies they had entertain'd before that fatal accident which had been combated by the kindness he often express'd to them reviv'd a new when the reason they had to lay them aside was remov d by his Death and they found themselves reduc'd at that time to that doubtful floating condition which they had endeavour'd to prevent while they could rely on the favour of an equitable Prince Those things seem'd to them more considerable and pressing when they
better of the necessity of making a defence than those who see and feel the progress of the slavery that is impos'd upon them 8. If any body exclaims against these and the preceeding Maxims as being attended with pernicious Consequences as favouring Rebellion as containing pretences and excuses which the Factious and Disturbers of the Publick Peace may make an ill use of I answer first that it is a misfortune annex'd to several Truths that they are lyable to great inconveniencies but yet that they are not thereby deprived of the Right of Truth by reason that those inconveniencies do not proceed from the Nature of those Truths but from the Corruption of the Heart of Man which extracts a Poyson out of the most profitable things Thus the very Weapons of the Law are made use of to create disputes tho made to suppress them which abuse does not hinder those Laws from being Just and Necessary Thus Casuists daily discover things in Theory which tho very True are neverteless attended with ill Consequences in the Practice which I mean of the most rigid as well as of those that are accus'd of slackness The most indispensible Duties of Religion and Morality are so many Arguments of Dispair to Weak Souls when represented to them in their whole extent with the absolute necessity thereof attended with all their Circumstances and Consequences Yet those inconveniencies do not deprive those Duties of their natural Justice and do not discharge Men of the obligation they lay under of submitting to them To love our Neighbour is an indispensible Duty The command of loving him as our selves receives no exceptions It is the Epitomy of Natural Justice It is the Summary of one half of the Divine Law It is the Center from which all the Precepts of Charity proceed as so many Lines which is the greatest of all Virtues Yet by the state to which sin has reduc'd the heart of Men it happens very often that he who applies himself to that important Duty exposes himself to a thousand dangers Charity is only a Law to himself and while he observes it scrupulously the Wicked take the advantage of it to be the better able to annoy him There is no greater inconvenient than to give way to the Oppression of the Innocent That inconvenient is met with in the fundamental precept of Charity but yet the truth thereof is not therefore the less evident nor the Duty less necessary This shows that the inconveniencies that attend a Doctrine do not always hinder it from being True Secondly I answer that the opposite Maxim which abandons the Liberty of the Subject to the discretion of Soveraigns and allows nothing to the People but Submission and Patience is attended with as many inconevniencies as the other I confess that it would be liable to none if we could be certain of two things the one always to have a good vertuous Prince a True Father of his Country The other that having such a one he would harken to and employ none but true Patriots Persons without Interest Ambition or Disguise by whom he might be well serv'd and council'd We may indeed and often do see the first but the second is very rare or to say better impossible It is easie to determine the Fate of those People whose Fortune Life and Liberty pass through the hands of those who cannot be great without oppressing them or Inrich themselves without their Ruin I say in the third place that both sides being attended with inconveniencies those are evidently less considerable which attend the maxim which allows people when they are oppress'd to resist oppresion than those that attend that which makes it a Crime for them to oppose their own destruction The reason of it is that the People are commonly very ill serv'd very easily divided tyr'd and blinded whereas Princes have all the advantage on their side That the people never perceive the evil untill it is committed when it is too late to remedy it whereas Princes aim at a great distance and take their measures before their Subjects are aware of them That the People often betray each other and sacrifice Publick Interest to particular advantages Whereas Princes raise Soldiers among those very People to attack them and money to corrupt them So that it often comes to pass that the Maxim which authorisââ them to defend their Lives and Liberties becomes for them a truth in speculation only It also happens often that finding the Prince ready in all points and provided beforehand with all things necessary for his Enterprize the People forfeit the remainder of their Liberty when they bethink themselves of taking Arms to defend it In those cases their Resistance is called Rebellion and the Yoke that is impos'd upon them is still'd a Just punishment for their Revolt Moreover the Resistance of Subjects ought never to extend to the Life of the Soveraign No Circumstances nor Authority tho from the Pope can justifie an attempt of that Nature It is the Prerogative of Supreme Power to fix something that is Sacred in those in whom it resides which ought to secure their Lives against all enterprises Whatever Power People reserve to themselves to hinder the person they acknowledge for their Soveraign from incroaching upon their Priviledges they can preserve no Right of Life and Death over him They are so many Tribuns of the People whose person is inviolable and even their faults when they commit any do not deface that character of Majesty which sets them above all others and exempts them from Corporal Punishment Resistance therefore can go no farther on the People's side than to reduce them to those Bounds to which their Authority is limited by the Laws or at most to deprive them of a Power which they apply to awrong and unlawful use when instead of imploying it for the Protection of their Subjects they imploy it to their ruin Finally the maxim which Authorises the Resistance of Subjects against the unjust violences of their Soveraign being only allowable in this one case the Consequences thereof are not so dangerous as they seem to be by reason that Subjects very seldom form designs against the Authority of Princes unless Princes abuse it to the utmost extremity We commonly find that whatever precautions have been us'd at the founding of a Monarchy yet he who is invested with the Regal Authority will by degrees usurp some part of the Liberty the People have reserv'd to themselves but there are few examples of Peoples incroaching upon the Prerogatives of their Soveraigns The Prince and People may be compar'd to the man and the Horse of the Fable which was invented to explain this matter in a popular manner As the Horse can never pretend to free himself of the Bitt and Saddle having once submitted to it the people are oblig'd forever to wear the Yoak they have freely impos'd upon themselves But whereas man by degrees extends the power he has receiv'd from the Horse beyond
expressing their Obedience and in Actions and Deportments which might testifie their Fidelity This praise perhaps was a little too great for an Obedience of a Fortnight's standing but the Commonality is often taken that way They are ingag'd to give what is requir'd of them by supposing it to be given already People are ingag'd in honour and are dispos'd to render themselves worthy of the Praise which flatters them by giving it to them before they have deserv'd it The second was that experience had taught Lewis the 13th's Predecessors that Fury and the Violence of Arms had not only been inefectual to bring those back to the Roman Church that had quitted it but that it had rather prov'd disadvantageous to them which had oblig'd them to apply themselves to mildness by granting the free exercise of the P. R. Religion The third was that the Edict of Nantes had establish'd a firm Peace among the Subjects of both Religions which had never been interrupted since The fourth was that the Edict of Nantes being Perpetual and Irrevocable had no need of being confirm'd by any Declaration It was natural to judge by this Clause that this last Edict was only given to explain the sence and force of the words Perpetual and Irrevocable and that iâ determin'd the signification of it in the most natural and plainest sence that could be given in the Common dialect We easily believe what we wish besides it is natural to believe that others look upon those things as truths which appear to us certain and undeniable Therefore as the Reform'd look'd upon those four Points as evident truths and did passionately desire that every body might look upon them as such they easily believ'd that the Court had the same thoughts The major part of them suffer'd themselves to be blinded by it and imagin'd that a King who did declare so plainly that his hands were tyed by the Edict of which he became Garantee and Executor in the King his Father's room would never do any thing against those irrevocable and perpetual dispositions Moreover the Court in order the better to heighten the sincerity which they design'd to make a show of publish'd a Brief that same day which confirm'd the favour the Reform'd had receiv'd four years before from the late King by permitting them to perform the exercise of their Religion in the Town of Charenton And to omit nothing that might contribute to deceive the simple Persons were appointed to insinuate among the People that nothing waâ so proper and so necessary in order to revenge the King's Death which the publick Voice imputed plainly to foreign Intreagues as a good understanding and Peace between the Catholicks and the Reform'd Persons of that Character were not wanting to intrude among the Curious and Idle sort of People who met together to discourse about publick Affairs and they never fail'd to say that it were better to perish than to leave that cruel death unpunish'd Those words mov'd the Reform'd to the very bottom of their Hearts because they imagin'd that all those that were oblig'd to revenge it were induc'd to it by the Principles of Affection which mov'd them By those Artifices those People were brought back again who fled at first out of fear and all the rest were deluded into an assurance of safety and never perceived their Error till it was too late to remedy it The Clergy harrangu'd the King and Queen that year but they only mention'd their own affairs At least it did not appear that they ask'd any thing against the Reform'd whose jealousies they were unwilling to renew Nevertheless they perceiv'd through all those affectations that evil designs were hatching against them and that it behov'd them to seek out better Sureties than the bare promises of the Court They were soon inform'd that a private Council was held there in which none but Italians or Jesuits or old Leaguers or Biggots were admitted that nothing was talk'd of there but the Marriage of the King and of his eldest Sister with the Infanta and Infant of Spain The breaking of ancient Alliances the removing of the Reform'd from all affairs of State The Annihilation of Edicts all which things were suppos'd to be link'd together the one leading of necessity to the other Notice was taken of the abusive answer of Villeroy to Sully in a Council at which the Queen was present and in which they were treating about Expedients for the safety of the State The last oppos'd the putting of a Garrison in Lyons where it was no longer necessary by reason that by the Conquest of Bresse the said City was no longer a Frontier to which Villeroy reply'd that it was nevertheless necessary to keep Forces there because it was in the Neighbourhood of Lesdiguieres and of the Huguenots who were as much to be fear'd as the Spaniards The Reform'd also observed with grief that all the Kings designs were buried with him and that the Council hardly minded the affairs of Cleve and of Juliers for Honour and for form sake The whole project of that War was alter'd and the third part of the Forces the King had design'd for it were not sent thither The Command of the said Army was given to the Marshal de la Chatre tho it had been promis'd to the Marshal de Bouillon which alteration was made at the solicitation of the Pope's Nuncio who was affraid the said War might prove advantagious to the Protestants and that the Reform'd being Commanded by a General of their own Religion would be too severe towards the Catholicks For the same Reason most of the Forces that were rais'd by Lesdiguieres in Dauphine in order to be joyn'd with the Duke of Savoy were disbanded All the hopes that had been conceiv'd of seeing the Kings Death reveng'd vanished in a short time Since that far from going about it with that Vigour that was expected it was observ'd that even those who were oblig'd in duty to prosecute it took care to stifle what ever might be capable to discover the mistery of that Parricide There were so many Instances of the coldness the Court had express'd to revenge the Death of that Prince that it almost form'd a demonstration of a desire to the contrary There seem'd to be a great deal of constraint and study in their Mourning and whereas they affected the contrary of all the Maxims of the late King people presum'd that they were not much concern'd at the Death of a Prince who had put so long a constraint upon their inclinations It was daily observ'd by some words that fell from those who should have been most concern'd at that loss that they did not look upon that accident as a great misfortune and the remembrance of the domestick vexations the King had been so much troubled with in his latter years gave great cause to suspect that those who had occasion'd them had but little regret at his Death The speculative added to
this that after the fatal Blow so little care was taken to secure the Murtherer that he might have made his escape during the Tumult had he but dropt his Knife but they were in some measure forc'd to seize him because he held the fatal Instrument of his Crime in his hand Some Persons a Horseback appearing at that moment only to cry out that the villain ought to be kill'd they were suffer'd to escape without examining whether they went from whence they came tho it was easie to Judge that their advice only tended by his Death to remove the means to penetrate into the secret of the Enterprise as it happen'd by the Imprudence of those that slew the Murtherer of Henry the 3d upon the Spot After the Murtherer was seiz'd he was so ill guarded that it look'd as if they desir'd to favour his Escape All people were allow'd to speak to him and notwithstanding the Horror his Crime ought to have inspir'd in every body he was discours'd with by Persons who express'd no great Astonishment Even in Prison he was allow'd to speak with suspected People neither was any care taken to oblige a Fryar to explain himself who after a long and free conversation with him had the boldness to exhort him at his going not to accuse persons of Worth The Jesuit Aubigni being nam'd by the Criminal as a Person to whom he had confess'd himself came of with barely saying to Servin Advocate General that God had given him the Grace to forget whatever was reveal'd to him in confession Those of his Order have had the Impudence to say after the Death of that great Man that Aubigni had never made that Answer and that it was invented by Servin who was a declar'd Enemy to their Society to cast a suspition upon them of having contributed to the Death of the King And indeed they could not avoid that just suspition which wânt farther yet in the minds of those who had a little penetration And more credit was given to the Testimony of a Magistrate of known probity than to the Apology of that Cabal of Villuins wose darling vertue is Imposture Moreover what Servin reported against Aubigni was confirm'd by the Common Doctrine of the Society upon the subject of Confession and by the usual excuse of the Confessors who follow their Maxims Cotton the Jesuit and several others bragg'd of the same Gift to forget what was reveal'd to them in Confession by their Penitents and the same Jesuit had had the confidence to make very remarkable answers to the late King upon that subject The King had been warn'd of that horrible Maxim of the Jesuits that tho it were about the Kings Death yet the Person to whom it were reveal'd in Confession ought to conceal it with an inviolable secresie Cotton being question'd by the King himself about this Doctrine maintain'd it to be good and truly Christian and after having refused the objections that were made upon the Consequences of those Maxims by divers illusive Precautions he made a shift to evade the most Terrible by a wretched excuse The King ask'd him how he would behave himself in case any body should reveal to him a Conspiracy against his Life finding no possibility to diâwade the Wretch from doing it by his Exhortations or advice he answer'd that he would interpose his Body between the King and the blow to save him at the expence of his own Life But such strokes depending on certain moments which offer themselves without being foreseen and in which it may happen that the Confessor neither ought or can be near his Prince It is easie to judge that this ridiculous good will of the Jesuit could never secure the Kings Life against the enterprizes of a Murtherer However the King was forc'd to receive this false appearance of Fidelity because there was none more solid to be hop'd for besides that the King not daring to offend that perfidious Society for fear of proving the experience of those dangerous Maxims on himself was reduc'd to seem satisfi'd with those vain excuses They added to all the Reflections I have already alledg'd that during the course of the Information the Commissioners refus'd to receive such Evidences as might have serv'd to discover the bottom of that Mistery of Iniquity A certain Woman who had serv'd the Marchioness de Verneuil and who reveal'd strange things was silenc'd altho' Queen Marguerite who did not want Judgment look'd upon her deposition as not being despicable Even afterwards when the said business was brought into question again the Testimony of the said Woman was rejected anew by charging her with a thousand reproaches and lest a time might come in which she would be more favourably hearken'd unto she was Condemn'd as a Calumniator to end her days between four Walls The whole care of those before whom the Paricide was examind was to make him pass for an Hipocondriack and to make him tell such motives of his enterprize as might persuade the World that he had undertaken it of his own accord For Instance that it was because the King had not reduc'd the Reform'd to Embrace the Catholick Religion as he might have done Secondly because he was persuaded that the Reform'd had design'd a Masacre against all the Catholicks the preceeding year on Christmas-Day Thirdly that he had done it on the account of the great Crimes his Conscience was burthen'd with for which he could hope no Pardon unless it were by some great Action that might prove advantageous to the Catholick Religion Altho he pretended that these thoughts were altogether his own it was not hard to see that they were more likely to proceed from the Inspiration of others and the very proofs of the weakness of his mind his Visions his disquiets seemd to many a strong argument that he had only lent his hand to the Designs of Persons who had better heads than he These thoughts enter'd chiefly into the minds of those who had heard of that horrid Chamber of Meditation of which strange things were reported and in which 't is said that the Jesuits instructed their Penitents in a very extraordinary manner but yet very fit to make strong Impressions upon weak minds From whence it was concluded that such a Man as this Paricide had been a fit subject to suffer himself to be guided by such Illusions The Country of the Criminal was another Source of conjectures and all the others were corroborated by the Reflections that might be made upon the releasing of several Persons who were Prisoners at the time of the Kings Death and who had been taken up upon the appearances of a Conspiracy that was on foot after the finding at La Fleche the Book I have mention'd else where None but two or three unfortunate Poitevins were Executed and perhaps not so much upon the account of their being the most Guilty or that their Enterprize was the most Important as because it was necessary
alââ¦ed to be the Defenders of it Therefore they obtain'd ãâ¦ã Condemnation of the said Book to involve it in the ââ¦e Censure with those of their Doctors But the Book which made most noise upon that Subject ââ¦s that which du Plessis publish'd during the Session of the ââ¦embly in which he did preside and which he had intitulâd ââ¦e Mistery of Iniquity It was not so much the dignity of ãâ¦ã Subject and the reputation of the Author which made the ââ¦k to be taken notice of as a Cut which was fix'd at the head ãâ¦ã the Work which did revenge du Plessis highly for the afââ¦nt he had receiv'd at Fontainbleau The Pride of Paul ãâ¦ã 5th who fill'd the Holy See of Rome at that time and ãâ¦ã Flatteries of his Creatures did afford him a large Field ââ¦stile him Antichrist The first Leaf of the Book repreââ¦ted a Tower of Babeâ of a prodigious Architecture ââ¦ch appear'd to the Spectators a subject of Admiration ãâ¦ã it was only sustain'd by some pieces of Timber which ââ¦re set on fire Two Latin Verses advis'd the Spectators ãâ¦ã to admire that vast Building which would tumble ââ¦wn as soon as ever the fire had consum'd those feeble ââ¦porters In the next place you saw the Effigies of Paul ãâ¦ã 5th accompani'd with Inscriptions so haughty and ãâ¦ã Impious That it would have been imposââ¦e to give the Reform'd a better hold tho it had been ââ¦he disignedly Whatever Flateries can be attributed to Temporal Prince whatever Holy Writ has spoken with ââ¦st Emphasis of Jesus Christ himself was apply'd to that ââ¦pe and underneath the Figure there was a Motto ââ¦ich gave him the Title of Vice-God This was copy'd ââ¦m a Picture made in Italy to adorn a Triumphal Arch ââ¦s'd in honour of that new Pope But that which was ââ¦ost remarkable was that the name of Paul the 5th joyn'd that of Vice-God in Latin in the case which belongs to ââ¦e Inscriptions fill'd up very justly the famous number ãâ¦ã 666 which all the Christians according to the testimony of St. John in the Apocalipse look upon to be the number of Antichrist Joyning the value of the Numeral Letter of that name according to the use of the Latins made ãâ¦ã that mistical number Du Plessis triumph'd upon that important discovery ' Tâ⦠said that he had been inform'd that the Queen design'd ãâ¦ã recall him to Court and to imploy him again and thaâ his Friends had advis'd him either to defer or to suppreâ⦠the Edition of this Book which would not fail to involâ⦠him into new Troubles But he preferr'd the advantage of ãâ¦ã Religion to that of his Fortune at Court The Reform'â who were great admirers of those kind of observationâ did not fail to draw certain presages from thence of thâ decay of the Roman See which manifested its Antichristanity by such evident Characters To say the trâ⦠that number was made out there so naturally that it neither required learning nor stretching to find it oâ⦠There was no need to invent a new Ortography or barâ⦠rous Names nor ambiguous Words and the Title of Viâ⦠God which made the greatest part of that number wâ⦠so well adapted to the Authority which Antechrist wasâ⦠pretend according to the predictions of Scripture That seem'd to require no other information upon that Subjeâ⦠Those who had treated about it before had never imagined any thing so just and those who have spoken ãâ¦ã it since have invented nothing farther There was no ãâ¦ã cessity to look for that fatal number either in the Greekâ Hebrew nor to make use of a Calculation unknown to tâ⦠Vulgar and not in use in the Language in which the application of it was made All this was found in the Language and in the manner of Calculating of the Latin which the Catholicks call that of the Church which seeâ to be necessary in this Question which relates accordingâ the Catholicks themselves to a man who is to possess ãâ¦ã Roman See So that it is no wonder that du Plessis should value himself upon that happy Discovery and that tâ⦠Reform'd look'd upon it as a real Triumph of their Doctrine The Catholicks was strangly mov'd at the said Book the Poâ⦠made great complaints about it The Sorbonne censur'd it and some private persons undertook to refute it Among the rest one de Brai St. Germain endeavour'd to excuse the Pope and lay'd the blame of the excess of the Elogys and the Impiety of the Applications upon the sordid flatteries of the Courtiers But he made himself ridiculous ây endeavouring to apply the same number to du Plessis which he did by turning his name as many ways as he could imagin The Catholicks have followed that method untill our Days from the time of the Reformation âs if that Number were the less applicable to their Church when by a thousand violent efforts they find the way to apply it to another Subject Antichrist himself according âo the very notion of their own Doctors might make use of that secret to prove that he is not the person meant by the Apocalypse because that name has been applyed for example to Paul the 5th with justness enough That method has nevertheless prov'd useful to them In turning by those forc'd applications the mistery of that Number into a railliry they have evaded the serious applications that might be made of it to the See of Rome Before I resume the sequel of what the return of the Deputies in the Provinces did produce it will not be aââiss to speak a word or two of a Sedition which the Catholicks excited at Paris against the Reform'd Part of the Church-yard call'd Trinity was allow'd them A person of âhe Reform'd Religion caus'd his Childs Corps to be carri'd ââ¦hither in open day Two Marshals men accompany'd it to secure it But their presence did not hinder an Apprentice from abusing and flinging of Stones at the Reform'd who follow'd the Corps and his Master in imitation of it did the same The Marshals men endeavouring to suppress the said Violence encreas'd the evil instead of appeasing it The Mob fell upon them as well as upon the Reform'd Several of them were wounded and among the rest one of the Officers As the Court was yet uncertain of the success of the Affairs of Saumur they thought fit not to leave the said Sedition unpunish'd Those who had begun it were seiz'd The Apprentice was condemn'd to the Whipping Post and his Master to stand by They appeal'd to the Parliament which confirm'd the said Sentence and it was executed The Deputies of the Provinces being come home Provincial Assemblies were call'd to hear their Proceedings This report of new Assemblies made the Court fear that the discontents given to that of Saumur might be attended with worse consequences than was expected New expedients were sought after and they follow'd the advice of the Marshal de Bouillon which was to send away the Commissioners the
surrender'd to the King by the Duke of Savoy It is the Natural Obligation of Princes to leave all things in the condition in which they find them when they fall into their hands at least as to what relates to those Rights which subjection cannot deprive Men of such as are those of Conscience and of Priviledges acquir'd by a long Possession in favour of Liberty For which reason Henry the IV. had made no alterations there contenting himself with restoring the free exercise of the Catholick Religion there until means could be found to reconcile the two Parties about the possession of Estates and Buildings But Lewis the XIII his Successor would no longer keep the same measures The Commissioners which he had sent into Burgundy of which that Bayliwick was a dependency took at once from the Reform'd both the Ecclesiastical Revenues and the Houses which had formerly been imploy'd for the Roman Church In order to make them some amends for that loss the King allow'd them 1200 Crowns for the Salery of their Ministers and took the said Sum out of the 15000 which he allow'd the Reform'd more than the late King had granted them in recompence of their Tithes To this he added leave to build Temples but he gave no fund towards it He only order'd two very illusive things the one was that they should take materials from the demolish'd Convents to imploy them towards these new Buildings the other that the Catholicks should pay the reparations and amendments of their Churches and that the said Money should be apply'd towards the Constructions of the said Temples This was the way to Involve the Reform'd into continual Law Suits to recompence them for the Estates that were taken from them besides it reduc'd the Salary of the Ministers to a very inconsiderable thing since they were only allow'd 1200 Crowns tho there were 12 Ministers at that time in the said Bayliwick Insomuch that taking out of the said grant the indispensible Charges which every Church was oblig'd to be at yearly there did not remain enough to allow each Minister a Pension of a 100 Crowns But that which was most remarkable was that the King indemnisied the Churches of Gex at the cost of the other Churches of his Kingdom taking out of what he had promised to some wherewith to make the others subsist The National Synod having part of these things before their eyes and foreseeing the rest endeavour'd to remedy the same Therefore they charg'd the Deputies General on the one hand humbly to beseech his Majesty to leave the receit and distribution of the said Sum to the Reform'd as the King his Father had allow'd them the Care and Management of that which he had granted them and on the other they order'd them to oppose the endeavours of those who should make their applications to the Court in order to obtain some Pension out of the said Sum to the prejudice of the right of the Synods and of the common good The Town of Bergerac was highly censur'd for having taken that way to obtain the Sum that was granted them and the Synod injoyn'd them to desist from that pretention and not to pretend any thing out of that Sum unless by the approbation and Will of the Assembly It proved somewhat difficult at first to make them obey but finally the Synod having sent express Deputies thither to remonstrate the consequences of the thing to them they submitted to the discretion of the Synod and 1200 Livers were granted them soon after it for their College The same Synod renewed all the demands the Assembly of Saumur had already made and declaring that they were not satisfied with the Answers to the Cahiers of the said Assembly they form'd others just like them and charg'd the Deputies General to endeavour to obtain more favourable answers than the preeceeding But no Article was so earnestly recommended to them as that which desir'd that the Reform'd might not be oblig'd to call their Religion themselves Pretended Reform'd The Synod charged them to desire in the name of all the Reform'd that they would sooner undergo a thousand Racks than to give their Religion that âious Title As many Persons may be surpris'd without doubt to see the same Article press'd so often with so much âânestness and perhaps may not at first perceive the conââuence of it I will give you a short account of the Reasons which oblig'd the Reform'd to insist so much upon that latter Therefore I will observe once for all that the word Petended is equivocal It often signifies the undecided and doubtful state of a thing in contestation upon which nothing âs been determin'd as yet to bind the Parties The Judges like use of it as of an indifferent term when before the deâion they speak of the things which are pretended by one of the Parties and disputed by the other and sometimes also the Instruments that are common to both the parties like use of it in speaking of their Rights without being aâid of doing themselves any prejudice In a word Pretended is relative to Pretention and in that sence implys ââ thing suspicious or offensive But it is yet more usually âen in a signification almost equivalent to the Terms of âse and Unlawful and whereas the first sence is in some âasâre reserv'd for the Barr the second is of a common use âery where else So that there are words to which the word pretended cannot be joyn'd without giving it an inâious sence You cannot apply a pretended Merit or pretended Vertue to any body without offence and in that âe a pretended Schollar signifies an ignorant Person âis use of it draws another after it viz. That the word petended becomes Ironical in several occasions and gives offensive air of reproach and railery to discourse Therefore the Reform'd being sencible what was meant when âey were call'd Pretended Reform'd took it for an affront ââ be oblig'd to give themselves that equivocal Name as if they had approv'd the opinion which the Catholicks had of their Religion and of their Doctrine The Deputies General were also minded to complain of thâ Illusive Journey of the Commissioners It was apparent that the Court had not sent them to better the condition of the Reform'd Their main Function had only been to disolve the particular Assemblies and to hinder the establishment of the Provincial Councils Besides which they had hardly give any decisive Ordinances and they had left all the affairs undecided either by divisions or removals to the Council Their chief expeditions were only to give some Church-yards and far from doing the Reform'd Justice upon their Complaints they had made their condition worse in some places than ââ was before They gave the Deputies General Instructionâ and Memoirs to second those Remonstrances The affairâ oâ the Churches of the Bayliwick of Gex were comprehended in them and the Deputies General were chargâ to desire that the Sum which the King
there was no heed to be given to what the Jesuits said since they did not Govern the State which was no satisfactory answer to Persons who were sufficiently Inform'd of the Power the Jesuits had over the Consciences of Soveraigns and their Ministers The Assembly was also very much troubl'd to find that though the Cahiers were Answer'd yet the Deputys were not dismiss'd their Journey being daily put off under some pretence or other which gave them reason to believe that the Court design'd to amuse them to prevent their forming any Resolutions before the King's Departure from Poitiers where the Princess his Sister remain'd long and variously Sick Finally to get rid of their Importunity upon their earnest desire that the Answers to their Cahiers which they were assur'd were favourable might be deliver'd to them they were told that the King would send them to the Assembly by Frere Master of Requests This Frere had been sent to Grenoble to observe the Motions of the Assembly and to be directed in all things by Lesdiguieres But when the Deputies departed from the Assembly to go to the King to present their Cahiers to him Frere left Grenoble at the same time to give the Court an account of the State in which he had left Affairs there He pretended that the design of his Journey was to dispose the Council to give the Assembly satisfaction about their Demands But the Deputies soon discover'd that his Intentions were very different from it and that he inspir'd the Court with the Delays and fair words they were amus'd with The Truth is that Lesdiguieres had order'd him to assure the Queen of his good Intentions and to let her know that she might safely continue her Progress without troubling her self about the Resolutions of the Assembly This Answer convinc'd the Deputies that the Court design'd to pay them with Illusions as they us'd to do and the precaution that was us'd to send the Answers to the Cahiers they had brought by a Man who had his dependence on the Court to be deliver'd by him to the Assembly it self made them sensible that they design'd to use the Reform'd at Grenoble as they had done at Saumur and that Frere would be order'd not to deliver the said Answers till after the Nomination of the Deputys General to Command the Assembly expresly to break up and to Authorise the Inferior Number against the Plurality of Voices in case they should refuse to Obey However the Court being inform'd that this way of proceeding might be attended with ill consequences finally comply'd with the earnest Sollicitations of the Deputys and deliver'd the said Answers into their Hands But that did not cure the evil since they found that nothing was granted them that could be looked upon as a favour and that only such things were left to the Reform'd as could not be taken from them The keeping of the Places of Surety indeed was allow'd them for six Years longer but it was visible that the Court did it more by Compulsion than out of good Will because they could not help it besides they were of opinion that their Demands were but reasonable in desiring it for Ten Years at a time when so many just reasons of fear render'd the renewing of their Sureties so necessary The Assembly being inform'd of the Proceedings of the Court by their Deputies remain'd under the same Apprehensions And lest Lesaiguieres should second the Commission of Frere by his Authority they resolv'd to remove from a place in which that Lord had an absolute Power and kept an Awe upon them which look'd very like Slavery They soon discover'd that it was in vain to expect any Protection or favour from him and that his Engagements with the Court upon the Account of his Grandeur surpass'd his Affection for the publick good and that which in Justice and Conscience he ought to have had for the Reform'd Religion All his Councils all his Prudence all his Intrigues only tended to divide the Members of the Assembly and all the Demonstrations of his Good Will were reduc'd to this Conclusion That they ought to Obey and to leave the Management of Publick Affairs to the King's Council But the Reform'd seeing the Conclusion of an Alliance of which they were persuaded that the secret Articles oblig'd the Court to oppress them look'd upon such an advice to be Just like that of suffering their Throats to be cut without defence Thus the Assembly which for some time had had a mind to come out of Captivity resolv'd absolutely upon it when they were inform'd that Frere was to come back from the Court along with the Deputies And having sounded the Intentions of the City of Nimes by St. Privat who reported to them that they would be very well receiv'd there they resolved to remove thither Lesdiguieres being inform'd of their Design endeavour'd to break it by Remonstrances in which he imploy'd all his Cunning But he obtain'd nothing but Thanks for his good Will and the very next Day the Deputies prepar'd themselves for their Departure He was extremely nettl'd at their expressing so little regard for his Reasons and perhaps the more yet because it would show that he had been too lavish of his Promises to the Court and that he had not so much Credit among the Reform'd as he pretended So that in the first heat of his Anger he resolv'd to stop the Deputies and caus'd the Gates of the City to be shut and Chaâfepié a Minister one of the Deputies of the Province of Poitou was stopt at one of the Gates as he was going out only with an intention to take the Air. But after he was cool'd a little and had reflected on the Consequences of that Violence he consider'd that his best way was to allow what he could not hinder and to cause the Gates which he had order'd to be shut inconsiderately to be open'd again He only forbid the Deputies of Dauphiné to follow the others and acquainted the Court with the Departure of the Assembly On the other hand as soon as the Deputies came to Nimes being desirous to Justifie their Conduct they acquainted the Gourt that they had been forc'd to remove from Gre noble upon the Account of a Contagious Distemper which began to Reign there of which even some Members of the Assembly were Dead The Deputies that were sent with these Excuses were receiv'd and us'd as favourably as if the Court had not been in the least concern'd at their Escape out of the constraint into which such a Man as Lesdiguieres might have kept them They seem'd to approve the Reasons of the Assembly and acquainted Lesdiguieres that he would do well to suffer the Deputies of his Province to follow âhem This seem'd to be done on purpose to express a perfect consent to the Removal of the Assembly But the real Motive of it was to have People there who not daring to disoblige Lesdiguieres
his Motions He declar'd that he would look upon those to be Enemies to the State who should refuse to sign the Peace Moreover he was accus'd of having ingag'd himself to the King's Commissioners by writing to March against the Assembly and to make War against them in case they should disown what their Deputies had done or should continue their Session beyond the Term granted to them The Duke de la Trimouille his Nephew who was Young and Easie and who did not tread long in his Father's Steps did the same in Imitation of his Uncle But the Marshal de Bouillon design'd thereby to show that he was the Moving Spirit of the Party that his Advice was sufficient to incline them to War and his Threatnings to make them accept a Peace The Assembly gave him no cause to proceed to Extreams against them They submitted to the Treaty they did Nominate Deputies General And Berteville to whom the Marshal had given hopes of obtaining that Deputation was Elected according to his Promise Maniald was joyn'd with him After which the Assembly Dissolv'd it self without staying until the time that was granted them This Treaty was thus publish'd and Intitl'd An Edict given at Blois in the Month of May. It contain'd 54 Articles among which those that had a relation to the Publick Good were soon Converted into Illusions by the turn of Affairs that follow'd soon after Most of them only contain'd such things as are commonly imploy'd in general Pardons The Third Article was in favour of the Roman Catholick Religion which was to be restor'd in all Places where their Worship had been Interrupted during the Troubles Their Ministers were maintain'd in the Liberty of their Functions in the Injoyment of their Estates and in the Possession of their Houses of which the Restitution was order'd The Fourth was a weak Injunction to make Inquities into the Death of the late King under pretence that the King was inform'd that his Officers had been remiss in it notwithstanding their having receiv'd express Orders about it from the Queen both by word of Mouth and in Writing and the King promis'd to Write to all the Bishops of the Kingdom to cause the Decree of the Council of Constantia to be publish'd in their respective Diocesses which speaks of the Life of Kings and Soveraign Princes The Fifth revers'd a Decree of Suspension of those which the Parliament of Paris had given in favour of the Independency of Kings provided that such things as were Imported by those Decrees should remain unperform'd which had not been put in execution yet which related to the Assembly of the Princes and Officers of the Crown with the Parliament in order to the Reformation of the State That is the King revers'd those Decrees in Terms which seem'd only to reverse the Suspension of them The Sixth presupposing that the Court had gone a great way in answering of the Cahiers of the Estates General promis'd that they would proceed in it without any Discontinuation The King ingag'd himself by the Seventh to Examine the Article of the Third Estate But he did not oblige himself to pass it into a Law The next Imported that the King would give no more considerable Places to Foreigners But he destroy'd the said Promise at the same time reserving to himself the Power of bestowing them on such under the pretence of singular Merit or of great Services Some others follow'd these in Course which seem'd to be useful to the State but were couch'd in Terms as Illusory as the preceeding The Fourteenth confirm'd the Edicts and all that related to them The next Created a new Office of Councellor in the Parliament of Paris to be given to one of the Reform'd in the room of that of Berger who had only chang'd his Religion on condition that he should not be dispossessed of the said Office The Sixteenth restor'd the free Exercise of the Reform'd Religion in all places where it had been Interrupted upon the account of the Troubles The Seventeenth allow'd the Proceedings of the Prince of Conde and of his Adherents both Catholicks and Reform'd Even of those who compos'd the Assembly of Nimes which was at Rochel at the time of this Edict The Twentyfourth only related to Rochel The Forty seventh ordain'd the Restitution of the Places which had been seiz'd by the Adherents of the Prince And whereas Tartas had been taken by Surprize from the Reform'd the King order'd the present Restitution of the same before they should proceed to the Restitution of the others But in order to punish the People as it is common for the folly of the Great ones the King re-establish'd some old Impositions which he had occasion for to pay the Peace he was oblig'd to buy There were also private Articles which were no less important than the General ones The last promis'd 1500000 Livres to the Prince of Conde and the Lords of his Party The Court had no mind they should be seen by the Parliament for fear of Contradictions Therefore they were sent to them Seal'd up and the 53 of the General Articles was very positive in ordering them to be put in Execution The First maintain'd the Gallick Church in its Liberties The Second disown'd the pursuit of the Clergy for the publication of the Council of Trent and promis'd that it should have no Effect The Third excepted Leitoure from the Article about the Restitution of Places because there was a Dispute between Fontrailes and Angalin about the Captainship of the Castle The Dispute was begun before the War which was the reason that Fontrailles favour'd the surprising of the said place by the Duke of Rohan who turn'd out his Competitor He made a shift to maintain himself in it until the year 1620 and then only quitted it upon good Terms In the mean while the Article Imported that until the decision of the Dispute the King would deposit it into the Hands of an Exempt of his Guards or some other Reform'd Officer The Fourth regulated a very particular Affair Villemereau Councellor in the Parliament of Paris and le Maitre one of the Masters of Accounts of the said Court had embrac'd the Reform'd Religion The Courts which they belong'd to had hinder'd them from Exercising their said Imployments upon that Account The Reform'd took it very much to heart and seeing that Berger did not lose his place tho' he was turn'd Catholick they pretended that the others ought not to be us'd worse for embracing the Reform'd Religion The Catholicks urg'd that the Number of Reform'd Counsellors was Limited to Six by the Edict and that therefore Villemereau's place ought to be taken from them or at most that they could only pretend to keep it in compensation of that of Berger The Reform'd on the other Hand pretended that the Edict only Limited the Offices they were to have of necessity but that it did not baâ their Access to all others which they were declar'd
the Roman Religion ââ¦ere according to the Edict in the same Splendor in which ãâ¦ã was thereby Establish'd elsewhere So that the Reform'd ãâ¦ã Bearn seeing Religion and Liberty were equally concern'd ãâ¦ã that Affair omitted nothing to Ward a blow which would ââ¦casion the ruine of both Whereupon their Enemies upââ¦aided them as being guilty of a very shameful or very Criâinal Inconstancy in having formerly desir'd their Churches ãâ¦ã be United to those of France in order to make but one ââ¦dy in the National Synods and in the General Assemblies âhereas they now express'd so much Repugnancy to become âembers of the same Body Politick with the rest of the Kingââm But that Reproach did not move them by reason that the ââ¦id diversity of Sentiments had been produc'd by the ââ¦versity of Conjunctures They had desir'd to be United with ââ¦ose Churches in order the more to engage themselves in the âommunion of their Doctrine And they oppos'd the Union ãâ¦ã their Country to the Crown as a thing which would serve ãâ¦ã introduce the General Oppression of their Consciences and ãâ¦ã their Persons Therefore they answer'd the Dissertation I have already ââ¦ention'd applying themselves more to destroy the Concluââ¦n than to refute the Arguments one after another which were compos'd of those kind of Probabilities which become demonstrations in the Cause of the strongest but yet which âo not hinder People in point of Politicks to be ready to mainââ¦in the contrary when their interest requires it This Pamphlet under the Name of a Gentleman of Navar maintain'd âhat the greatest Princes had ever been pleas'd to preserve the ââ¦itles of their Ancient Possessions as Monuments of the Grandeur of their Predecessors That some of them still reâain'd the Titles of Kings of Jerusalem and Princes of Antioch That Henry III. himself after having lost the Crown of Poland âad kept the Title of it That the Republick of Venice tho' depriv'd of the Kingdom of Cyprus would not suffer the Arms of that Soveraignty Carv'd upon a Column before the Church of St. Mark to be ras'd out That those who were least favour'd by Fortune took as many Titles as they had Castle That those who propos'd the Re-union of Navar and of Bearâ to the Crown seem'd on the contrary only to be desirous to extinguish the Title of King of Navar as if it were inconsistent with that of King of France that though it were true that according to the General Acceptation of the World the greatest draws in the least yet that it did not follow that the Glorious Name of France should Abolish that of Navar and reduce the State of it into a Province by destroying thââ Rights and Privileges That it lessen'd the Authority of Kings to change their Kingdoms into Provinces That the Treâââ Grown of the Popes and the Thiara of the Kings of Perâââ show'd sufficiently that it is an honour to wear several Crownâ That the King of Spain did not confound his Kingdoms That the Emperor though elevated above other Princes was âââ asham'd of the Titles of King of Bohemia and of Hungary That it was true that the King of France bearing the Name of those two Crowns preserv'd the Right of Lawful Soveraign over both but that in case all the Laws of the Kingdom were violated it signify'd nothing to retain the bare Title of it That God having made the Fundamental Laws of Monarchies they cannot be Trampled upon without Sacrilege That they were like the fix'd Star which cannot change their Place unless when the Firmament turns These were partly the Reasons of those who were afraid that the Court design'd to submit as it came to pass those remains of a free State in which Oppression was still unknown to the Laws of a Kingdom in which the King's Authority began to grow excessive But yet neither these nor the others could prevent the publishing of the Edict of Re-union in the same Month in which those Writings appear'd The Eâ⦠of Bearn oppos'd the said Edict and nominated Deputies ãâ¦ã the Syndicks of the Country to draw their said Opposition in form They positively maintain'd that Bearn was ãâ¦ã Lordship distiâct from all other Soveraignty That the Bearnois being Govern'd by Laws and Customs had only Eââcted Soveraigns in order to maintain those Customs without ââlowing them the Power to Alter Correct or to reform them âithout the Estates of the Country and by their Consent âhat this was their Contractual Fundamental Law which the ârince was oblig'd to swear to keep at his Inauguration That ââcording to that the King could not alter it That Henryââ ââ himself had rejected the Proposition of it being unwilââng to wrong a Country in which he was Born Those Conââderations made them hope that provided they could be heard ãâ¦ã the Council they might obtain something favourable from â⦠But instead of receiving any satisfaction from them they ââve them fresh Causes of Complaint and the Assembly of ââe Clergy obtain'd a Decree of Restauration of the Church âânds after having so long sollicited for it Maniald one ãâã the Deputies General who staid at Paris while his Colââague went to Vitre to assist at the National Synod there beââg inform'd that the Council was preparing to give the said âecree remonstrated on the 21st of June that it was fit to ââlow Lescun time according as it was promis'd to him to ââpair to the Court again to give in his Reasons and to deliââr those Papers into the King's Hands which were return'd to ââm the preceeding Year But the Clergy prevail'd notwithââanding this just Remonstrance Du Vair who was made âeeper of the Great Seal and who did not think himself unâorthy of a Cardinal's Cap bely'd in this occasion as in ââveral others the Reputation of Probity he had acquir'd ââfore his being rais'd to that Dignity And in order that all ââe Clergy might share the favour of one of the Members of ââeir Body he push'd on that Affair with all his Credit So ââat on the 23d of the said Month in the presence of La Force âho us'd his utmost endeavours to hinder it a Decree was ââven in the Council by which the King order'd the said ârocess to be brought before him And two Days after it a âefinite Decree was given to the satisfaction of the âlergy This Decree declar'd positively that the Deputies had been heard and that the Council had seen the Writings and Answers and ordain'd three things First The Restitution of Church Lands and the Restauration of the Catholick Religion throughout the Principality of Bearn Secondly The preservation of the Reform'd in all their Privileges and the Reimplacement of the Sums that were taken from them by the said Decree of Restauration upon the Ancient Demesne of Bearn and in case that were not sufficient upon the Demesnes of the Adjacent Places according to which it was said that the Sums should be stated upon the Expence of the Houshold as
his Subjects If there have been things on which the Roform'd have Insisted though they have been deny'd to them at the first Proposal they have done no more in that than what all manner of Communities had been us'd to do in things which they were in hopes of obtaining at some time or other viz. to renew their Demands from time to time for fear of giving cause to tell them whenever they found a favourable occasion to speak a new about them that having once given over the pursuit of them they had no right to resume it Among several Examples of this Practice that of the Clergy admits no contradiction That Body fond of their Liberties thought them violated by the Concordat between Francis I. and Leon X. and not despairing to find a favourable occasion at some time or other to break it they resolv'd to Petition the Court for the Restauration of the Liberty of Elections whenever they should have an occasion to make Harangues to the Kings by their Deputies They not only form'd the design of it they oblig'd themselves to it by Oath and for above the space of a hundred Years their Deputies have never fail'd to make this Liberty of Elections one of the Articles of their Harrangâies Nothing but an absolute command could oblige them to desist from that useless pursuit If they were not troublesome to Kings by Petitions so often renew'd and which did attack one of the Privileges they have most reason to be jealous of there is no reason to alledge as a Crime against the Reform'd that they did not always acquiess to the first refusal in things in which no body was concern'd which did no wise Incroach upon the Regal Authority and which they thought necessary for their safety La Moussaye who together with four other Deputies carried that first Cahier of the Assembly of Lâudun could not prevail with the Court to accept it though several Persons endeavour'd to satisfie the Court that by redressing some of the main Grievances the King would receive full Satisfaction from the Assembly Lesdiguieres himself had sent the President âu Crose to the King to Petition him to prevent the Demands the Assembly might make to him and to give the Churches satisfaction upon some considerable Points even before the Expiâation of the Term of the Convocation But he was said with the common Answer of good Intentions and of General Promises So that according to the old Stile of the Court the Complaints of the Assembly were refer'd to the General Cahier and they did not fail to exhort the Deputies to dispatch their Affairs speedily to Nominate six Persons to the King out of which he should chuse two for the General Deputation and to break up The Assembly took at first pretty Vigorous Resolutions They oblig'd their Members to take divers Oaths to serve the Churches to be secret to obey their Resolutions to speak their mind freely and without fear to preserve their Union not to break up before their having seen what answer the Court would make to their Cahiers They drew it with speed And they did not want matter The Edict was Violated so many ways and in so many places that there was sufficient reason to complain Besides the concerns of Leitââre of Tartas and of Bouâg in Bresse the Catholicks endeavour'd in all places to obstruct the Liberty of the Exercise of the Reform'd Religion They had suspended it at Clermont dâ Lodeve which the Reform'd held as a place of Surety and when they endeavour'd to re-establish it there the Catholicks took up Arms to oppose it The Temples of Moulins and of Laval where the Reform'd of Guise went to Church had been Demolish'd The Reform'd had been turn'd out by force of Arms of Baux in Provence A great Sedition had been kindled against them at Banjenci and the Allarum Bell rung out upon them Two of them were flung out of a Garret Window and one of them not being sufficiently hurt in the Opinion of the Mutineers was run through with Swords The Lieutenant General of Orleans in prosecuting the Fact receiv'd the Depositions of those very Persons who had committed the Violence as if they had been Lawful Witnesses And when the said Case was brought before the Parliament of Paris the Attorney General who by his place was oblig'd to cause the Edicts to be put in Execution abandon'd the prosecution of it The Ministers of Bourges and of Chataigneraye were turn'd out of the said Cities and the Reform'd had receiv'd the same Usage at Chalons upon Saone and in the Bearnois though according to the Edict they ought to be suffer'd in all Places whatever The Exercise of their Religion was obstructed about Lions Dijon and Langres The Officers Royal the Consuls and Seneschals oppos'd the said Exercise of the Reform'd Religion in Nineteen or Twenty Places in the Provinces of Guyenne of Languedoc of Provence of Vivarais of Forests of Poitou of Saintonge of Perigora and of Normandy some by Prohibitions others by Fines although the said Exercise was Lawful in all those Places according to the Edict The Catholicks took away the Children of the Reform'd without Redress At Paris they had taken those of Le Maitre who had a place of Master of the Accompts and who had embrac'd the Reform'd Religion a little before his Death The same thing had been done at Royan at Ambrun at Milhau and lately at Leitoure Regourâ the Jesuit for whose good behaviour the King had pass'd his Word had stole away a young Child about 10 Years of Age. They had Violated the Sepulchres or hinder'd Burials in the accustom'd places at Aix at Girdes at Mirebeau at Ongles at Saintes at St. George d' Oleron and in divers places of Gayenne They had turn'd out the Sick of the Reform'd Religion out of the Hospitals and such as were allow'd there were tormented in their Consciences to oblige them to change their Religion Especially at Paris those that had been receiv'd in the Hospital of St. Lewis during the Plague had been depriv'd of the Consolation of seeing Ministers which were not allow'd to visit them The Parliaments incroach'd upon the Jurisdiction of the Chambers of the Edict A Messenger who was Try'd at Thoulouse was Condemn'd there notwithstanding his appealing to the Chamber of Castres and the said Parliament refus'd to submit to the Decrees of the Council which order'd the said removal Some of the Inhabitants of Mas d' Agenois being prosecuted at Bourdeaux upon suspition of their having design'd to deliver the said place up to the Duke of Rohan being joyn'd in a Plot with Calonges their Governor as I have related it in another place the accus'd having desir'd a removal to the Chamber of Nerac the Parââ¦ament had no regard to it insomuch that during the Disputes of Jurisdiction several of them Dyed in Prison And upon the Information made about the surprise of Tartas the Reform'd who had been abus'd there were us'd
Castle by reason that they could obtain no Redress for the Injuries they receiv'd from them St. Palais who Commanded in it fired his Artillery upon the Town to put a Stop to the Work He refus'd to hearken to the Remonstrances the Citizens made to him about it and the Duke de Ventadour the King's Lieutenant to whom they apply'd themselves after that Refusal instead of giving them an Audience us'd them like Rebels and threatned to hang them They were us'd in the same manner throughout the Kingdom and the poor Wretches did not know which was best for them to Obey or to Resist A thousand Indignities were put upon them when they arm'd themselves with Patience and they were threatned with the Punishment of Criminals as soon as they seem'd to have a Mind to defend themselves They had no Choice left but to suffer their Throats to be cut without Speaking or to be Condemn'd as Rebels This is forcing of People to act by Despair I will not treat this Question methodically in this place viz. Whether in those Extremities it be a sin against the Gospel to defend ones self but I dare say that in such Cases Nature inclines People to defend themselves having no prospect of Safety any other way And no equitable Person can deny but that Acts of Despair ought less to be imputed to those that commit them than to those who reduce them to the indispensible Necessity of committing them The Duke of Mommorency not daring to besiege Privas a second time during the Assembly of the Circle with whom Chatillon seem'd to agree feign'd to be willing at the Request of that Lord who came to him at Mompellier with the Consuls of Names and of Vsez and some Deputies of the Assembly to hearken to some Accommodation and promised not to come to Privas unless it were with a Spirit of Peace But it was only to gain time to assemble his Forces and to find out a way to disband those of Chatillon who only wanted a pretence for it An Expedient was founâ for it in an Interview of Lesdiguieres of the Duke de Ventadour and of a Gentleman from the Duke de Mommoreâââ who either could not or would not come in Person They resolved to get an Order from the Court for both Parties to disarm and to leave things in suspence in the mean time The Order was brought by Des Ruaux and Chatillon obeyed but he had had the Complaisance before the Order came to suffer Villeneuve de Berg to be taken by the Duke at Mommorency without opposing it although the said Town was necessary to incommode an Army that should besiege Privas in the Neighbourhood of which it was seated and to put a Relief in it which might come through the Sevenes of which it was the Passage The Duke de Mommorency caused Mass to be said in it immediately which had not been celebrated there for upwards of Sixty Years The Order was to refer the Cognizance of the Affair of Privas to the King and that the two Chiefs should Disarm but Mommorency did not disarm under pretence that Chatillon who agreed under hand with him had not properly laid down his Arms since he had only dispersed his Forces without disbanding them But he had only kept them on foot to amuse the Simple since their Retreat favour'd Mommorency to take Walons out of which the Garison which had been put into it by Chatillon withdrew by his Order The Duke also attempted Wals by a down right piece of Treachery That little Town pretty strong by its Sâituation did belong to Collonel Ornano who was afterwards Mareschal of France Montmajour his Brother desir'd to have the Command of Wals under pretence that he would take more care than another to make his Soldiers behave themselves civilly there by reason that it was his Interest so to do Mommorency had two ends in so doing the one was to imitate Chatillon in dispersing his Forces instead of Disbanding them but in Dispersing them he gave them convenient Quarters to assemble again in a short time and to hinder those of the Reform'd from rejoyning in case they should have a mind to Succor Privas The other was to put a Catholick Garison under the Name of a Catholick Lââd in a Place where there ought to be a Reform'd one according to the Briefs That is that in order to show the Refârmed what they were to trust to about the Restitution of Privas the Court design'd to dispossess those of Wals who were under the same Circumstances of the Guard of their Town The Inhabitants easily discovered the Snare and refus'd to quarter the Duke's Forces They were forthwith besieged within âight of Chatillon and being disheartned at the first Discharge of the Cannon they surrenderd upon shameful Conditions The Consuls begg'd Pardon upon their Knees and the Duke put a Catholick Garison into the Castle They valu'd themselves extreamly upon the taking of that little Place because it was commonly called Little Geneva all the Inhabitants being Reform'd and the Maiden by reason that it had never been taken by Arms. The Catholick Religion was restor'd there and the Example of the Duke together with the Endeavors of the Jesuits soon made such Conversions there as we have seen in our days Chatillon who still kept some measures durst not suffer Wals to be taken without seeming to prevent it But whither he did not use so much diligence as was necessary or that the Consuls surrender'd the Town too soon d'Autiege who commanded the Succors was acquainted with the Surrender of the Town by the Way In Order to imploy his Forces he retook Walons and forc'd an Exemt out of it whom des Ruaux had left there The Duke Besieg'd it again immediately And as if d'Autiege had only put himself into it to receive an Affront he Surrender'd it within three days upon very hard Conditions He March'd out of it with his Men without any thing but their Arms and he promis'd that neither himself nor they should bear them in the Province for six Months time and he did not so much as obtain a Capitulation for the Inhabitants who were left at the discretion of the Souldiers During these Transactions the Assembly which was Summon'd at Rochel repair'd thither and all the Endeavours us'd by the Court to prevent it prov'd ineffectual to prevail with them or to frighten them Altho they had chang'd the Place they still retain'd the Name of Assembly of Loudun for some time because they pretended it to be a bare continuation of that which was held in that City which had only been suspended to please the King in expectation of the performance of his promises having the Power to Assemble again by Virtue of a Verbal promise they had receiv'd of the King for it in case the things agreed upon were not perform'd at the appointed time They writ to Lesdiguieres and to Chatillon to inspire
pleas'd Therefore the said Minister doing him such good Services he would have been a Loser by his changing of his Religion publickly by reason that being then no longer able to penetrate into his Master's secrets he would no longer be able to betray him But Deagean provided against it by a Notorious Cheat. He obtain'd a Brief for that Minister from the Pope who allow'd him to perform the Function of his Ministry for three years longer on condition that he should neither Preach against the Doctrine of the Roman Church nor Administer the Sacrament according to the Reform'd manner I do not know which ought to appear most singular in this to Men of sense the Niceness of that Villains Conscience who would not be guilty of Hypocrisie without Leave or the Popes complaisance who under the pretence of his being useful allow'd him to make a sport of Religion for three years together and to abuse God and the World with impunity They did not do so much for Lesdiguieres They only excus'd him for a while from keeping his Word The Truth is that he had made a promise in Writing to imbrace the Roman Religion But since they did not perform their promise to him in recompence of it they did not press him to put his in Execution Moreover when they found that he press'd the conclusion too fast himself they desir'd him not to make so much haste to reduce his Ambition to less Imployments and to keep his Religion in lieu of the Dignity which he was persuaded to yield to another As if a Man who was ever ready to Sacrifice his Conscience for Temporal Advantages would be so far in Love with Piety as to think himself rewarded for the refusal of such Advantages by the Liberty of professing his own Religion There happen'd three very singular Incidents in that Negotiation That the only Man who could be thought capable of the first Dignity of the Kingdom should consent to fool himself to get it for another That the King should be so weak as to be persuaded that a Man who was not able to Exercise a Regiment without the help of a better Souldier deserv'd to be Constable That all the Court should Adore that Master-piece of Fortune and that the Princes should submit to an Authority so ill plac'd A Brother of his was also soon after made Marshal of France who was hardly a better Souldier than himself and who show'd at the Siege of Montauban at the cost of many brave Men that he did not understand how to charge a Mine The Truth is that the King soon repented the complaisance he had had for his Favourite The Crowd of Courtiers that attended that new Constable displeas'd the King who finding himself almost forsaken whereas his Favourite was follow'd by all the Court call'd him sometimes with a spightful Air King Lunes And let fall some Expressions of the desire he had to humble him That was his Forble he could not indure the greatness he had rais'd himself Tho incapable to keep his lawful Authority he was Jealous to see it in the hands of those to whom he had given it But whatever Lesdiguieres could do did not prevent his being in danger of being secur'd at Court He had been warn'd of it by the way and he fail'd but little of Experiencing that the said Advice was well grounded Nevertheless the Court obtain'd so many things of him that they thought him secure and whereas he was always to remain with the King they look'd upon his presence as a sufficient Pledge of his Fidelity By that means Dauphine in which there was a great deal of Reform'd Nobility was retrench'd from the Union of the Churches 12 or 13 Places were secur'd in which he promis'd to put Catholick Governors and Garrisons and he was set up for an Example to many of the Reform'd whom the Court would oblige not to meddle with the Assembly and even to bear Arms against their Brethren But tho he assur'd every Body both by Word of Mouth and in Writing that he did not design to change his Religion yet he Writ to Cardinal Ludovisiâ who had lately succeeded Paul the V. and who had taken the Name of Gregory the XV. after his Election to the Pontificat to congratulate his Exaltation He had formerly promis'd that Cardinal out of a Compliment that when ever he came to be Pope he would turn Catholick And that Jest was imploy'd as an Argument to persuade him to do it as if he had been oblig'd in Honour to do it after so positive a promise During these Transactions the Assembly of Rochel remain'd steady and the Court was not without disquiets on their side by reason that they were sensible that there were many Male-contents in the Kingdom besides the Reform'd So that they were glad to find that some of the Reform'd Lords were willing still to offer their Mediation in order to an Accommodation The Dukes of Rohan and de la Trimouille undertook it after having taken measures with Du Plessis about it and Writ to the King upon that Subject But Favas finding himself fool'd at Court and that the Government of Leitoure had been given to Blainville in spight of him destroy'd the Project of that Mediation He tarry'd at home in Guyenne after the King's departure from Bourdeaux and he seem'd to be unwilling to meddle any farther with the General Deputation But he was unhappily oblig'd to come back to Court in order to have the management of the Negotiation of that Agreement He spoil'd it by his uneven Temper and the Court which knew him made use of him to deceive the Reform'd and to reconcile some Princes with the Constable who built great designs upon the War of Religion which they saw at hand Those Male-contents were the Count de Soissons a young Prince who had partly the Genius of his Father and the Dukes de Nevers and de Mayenne Villarnoul Son-in Law to Du Plessis suffer'd himself to be perswaded to tell the Count that the Accommodation of the Assembly with the King was concluded And Favas himself had the Complaisance to Write to the two Dukes that he was going from the Court with a perfect satisfaction for the Assembly Nevertheless he repair'd to Rochel with a greater mind to exasperate matters than to Reconcile them The heats of that Man whose mind ran still upon Letoure broke the Course of the Mediation those two Lords were willing to take upon them So that they were reduc'd to endeavour only by their Letters and by their Deputations to persuade the Assembly to keep within the bounds of their Allegiance Du Plessis particularly behav'd himself so that he was suspected of having lost part of the Vigour of his mind with Age and to be mov'd by Interest as Lesdiguieres Du Moulin also joyn'd with them He had been at Sedan ever since the Synod of Alets He did design to call at Rochel in returning from the Synod
justifi'd themselves had the Court design'd to have us'd 'em favourably For they repli'd That there was nothing of Novelty in the Union that till then the King had never disapprov'd it that they had bin always join'd together in their Deputations in their Submissions in their Petitions in their Papers which they had always presented to the King in Union one with another That by the Answer to Article VIII of the last Papers it was promis'd there should be no Innovation in the Cities held by the Protestants which would be no more then a delusion if Rochel were excluded That the Edicts of Peace had bin general hitherto and accepted in common without any resenting the Union of Interests That the acceptance of the Peace without Rochel would be an express condemnation of that City which would be an Action highly scandalous among People of the same Religion so much the rather because Rochel was resolv'd to submit That if the rest of the Reformed abandon'd Rochel to the King's Indignation People would be afraid that their general destruction was to be begun with the particular ruine of that City seeing that the Clergy the Parlaments and the principal Persons of the Kingdom discours'd openly of extirpating Heresy and of beginning with Rochel which was confirm'd by the printed Pamphlets that were publicly sold in Paris But the same Reasons which made the Reformed judge that their Union with Rochel was just and necessary were the very Reasons that oblig'd the Court to endeavour the dissolution of it For the ruine of that formidable City was sworn and the Cardinal who was desirous to signalize himself by great things thought it an Enterprize worthy himself So that âhere was nothing listen'd to of what was spoken in favour of âhat City whose Destiny was vow'd Nevertheless she was ãâ¦ã much astonish'd as the rest at Soubises's Defeat and falling ãâ¦ã a suddain from a Resolution a little too haughty into ââ¦ost profound Submissions she resolv'd to beg with humility âhat Peace which she had refus'd with disdain Her Deputies âame and threw themselves at the King's Feet and besought âis Pardon in most submissive terms But the King answer'd 'em ââ¦ke a Master that resolv'd to make his Pardon his Punishment ând reduce 'em by the Peace into a worse Condition then the Calamities of an Unfortunate War could e're have brought ' em The Chancellor therefore to whom the King referr'd 'em impos'd these Conditions upon ' em That the Council and Government of the City should be in the same Condition as it was ãâ¦ã 1610. That they should admit an Intendant of Justice That the Fortifications should be demolish'd That the King should be admitted with respect whenever he pleas'd to enter That they should have no Men of War and that Merchants Ships should take their Passes from the Admiral of France That they should restore to the Ecclesiastics their Goods and Estates And âhat certain Wagons and Merchandise which belong'd to the ânhabitants of Orleance and which the Rochelois had seiz'd should be restor'd Upon these Conditions they were promis'd to be comprehended in all the Priviledges of the Edict 'T was a sowre piece of Condescention to submit to such severe and rigorous Laws nor could they tell how to mollify the Victor into more easie moderation In vain the General Deputies interceded for Rochelle in the name of all the Churches However Maniald took upon him to spake and made a most moving and passionate Speech to the King wherein he made a lively description of the Misery of the Rochellois he excus'd their taking Arms as done out of necessity Which nevertheless he condemn'd with Expressions full of execration whatever the Pretence were with which it was cover'd He said that the Rochelois were come to accuse themselves and sue for mercy He besought the King to grant 'em Peace not as Enemies subdu'd by the Sword but as Subjects with the moderation of his Sceptre He added that without Liberty they would not be Subjects but Slaves Concluding he implor'd pardon with promise of submission and of servitude also if the King's satisfaction and the good of his service depended upon it But all this was to no purpose The King was resolv'd that Rochelle should be excepted out of the General Peace and that she should submit to particular Laws In the mean time there was a League concluded between the King of England the Republic of Venice the Duke of Sââââ and the States of the Vnited Provinces in Conjunction with France against Spain which kept almost all Italy under the Yoke and was fairly preparing to deprive her of the remainder of her Liberty These Confederates were very urgent with Cardinal Richlieu to hasten Peace with the Reformed to the end they might act unanimously against the Common Enemy 'T is true that Minister had it deep laid in his thoughts to humble Spain but he thought that the first step which he was to take to that end was to enslave France and by that means to bereave Foreigners of Opportunities to renew the Civil Wars To that end he judg'd it necessary first to ruin the Reformed who were still strong enough by their Union to support a Party of Malecontents And therefore he resolv'd to begin with Rochelle after the reducing of which he did not expect to meet with much more Resistance in the Kingdom Nor did France want Persons who were sharp sighted enough to penetrate the Cardinal's Design But their foresight did not hinder 'em for all that from contributing to their own Servitude They well perceiv'd that in oppressing the Reformed they made Fetters for themselves but every one was in hopes to make his Fortune by the Public Misery This was that which made the Cardinal so obstinate to except Rochel out of the general Peace to the end he might separate it from the rest of the Reformed and destroy it with more ease But two things constrain'd him to surcease this Great Design The one was That the Spaniards waited the Success of these Confusions that they might take their own Methods that they treated with the Duke of Rohan to accept of their Service that the Duke had sent Campredon into Spain to make himself âe more considerable by their Succour that the Conjuncture ãâ¦ã Affairs render'd the Spaniards more stiff and authoriz'd the âinning out a Treaty begun with 'em about those things which âd kindl'd the War in Italy The other was That Powerful âabals were forming against him to remove him from the Miâstry He saw the chiefest part of all that was great at Court ãâ¦ã Combination against him and rightly judg'd that he should âve too many Factions to employ his Wits without taking ââon himself the management of two Wars at once the one âomestic the other Civil He resolv'd therefore to put an end ââth to the one and the other with a resolution to set a-foot âe Civil War agen so soon as the Conspiracies against his
doing all others ev'n in Trifles he could not endure that another man ââouid out do him in the most pitiful things To make Verses or to speak better than he did was not the way to win his Favour or to shew that he understood Humanity Philosophy the Mathematics Divinity or Antiquity better then he That he might enjoy the Reputation of being the most expert man of his time in all things he stretcht his weakness to that degree as âo attribute to himself the Works of other men and to own under his own Name those Writings wherein perhaps he was no more concern'd then to have bin the first that conceiv'd the âude and indigested Idea of the Subject He had the same Sentiments as to Magnificence and Courting of Ladies and for a man to presume to transcend him in either of those two things was a certain way to lose his favour However it were he always us'd the Queen but very scurvily after he observ'd the little value she had for him insomuch that while he liv'd she had not all the World at will There was also brewing at the same time another occasion of a Rupture through the ill conduct of the Queens Houshold Servants Their Zeal for the Catholic Religion soon made 'em exceed the Bounds to which they were confin'd by the Treaties of Marriage They introduc'd the Jesuits into the Houshold of that Princess where those turbulent and ambitious People made themselves such absolute Masters of her Wit and Reason that they soon set her at variance with the King her Husband They so intoxicated her Understanding with their Superstitions that they forc'd her to commit a thousand mean things beneath her Grandeur and unworthy of her Dignity They persuaded her to adore as Martyrs those of their Order that had bin executed under the preceding Reign as Contrivers or Accomplices in the Powder-Plot And the occasion of a Jubilee presenting itself they made choice of the place where the common Male factors are executed whither the Queen was to walk bare-fooâ to say her Prayers The English to whom the very Name of Jesuit is abominable were justly offended at this piece of Insolence and the King himself though he were extremely soâ and easy was highly exasperated So that being otherwise disgusted at the Misdemeanors of the Queens Domestics he resolv'd to send 'em back into France Upon which the Cardinal sent Bassompierre to him to complain of such a violence offer'd to the Treaty and to endeavour to reconcile the differences between him and his Wife wherein the Ambassador had the good luck to succeed within a little of his Wishes But in regard the Ministers of both Courts made it their business mutually to verâ and thwart one another the Cardinal caus'd Bassompierre's Treaty to be disown'd and Buckingham oblig'd his King to revoke his Word After which upon some Affairs of Commerce intervening Buckingham who burn'd with a desire of returning into France and brave the Cardinal would needs be sent thither once more with the Character of Ambassador But the Cardinal found a way to let him understand that he should not be welcome Upon which the English Favourite enrag'd at such an Affront oblig'd his Master to declare War against France And the pretence was that the Court of France had not observ'd the Articles of the last Peace But his Measures were so false and his Conduct so fool-hardy that he compleated the Ruine of the Reformed and Rochel while he sought his own and their Revenge While this Tempest was gathering together the Cardinal abour'd to disperse another Storm that threaten'd him nearer at and. Spain who well foresaw what Obstacles he would throw in the way of her Grandeur if he were not entangl'd in Domestic Divisions found him work on every side and she erceiv'd the chiefest part of the Princes and great Lords inclin'd â second her The Reigning Queen hated the Cardinal and Monsieur's Softness made him comply with all the Sentiments of those who had the ascendant over him They put him out of conceit with a Match with the Heirest of Mompensier which had been projected in the time of the deceas'd King and they d'd his Head with a thousand Chimera's But the Principal visions with which they amus'd his Brains were the deposing of the King to the unmarrying him and giving to his Brother ââth his Crown and Wife Upon which Subject several Libels ââd appear'd abroad of which one that was entitl'd an Advertisement to the King made it a Crime in him to oppose the prosperity of the House of Austria and to confederate against âr with Protestant Princes and promise the giving him an assistant or Associate in the Government Which Libel occasion'ed the Quarrel between the Bishop of Chartres and the Clerâââ The Cardinal also was dilacerated and mangl'd by a hundred Writings of the same nature and perhaps never any man as known to be loaden with such a heap of Invectives and âyrs But he luckily disintangl'd himself out of all these Incumbrances He faign'd therefore to retire from the Court ââd away he went to the end he might give the King an occasion to recall him But the Queen Mother who could not ââen be without him infus'd it so strongly into the King's Head ât if he consented to the distant absence of that Minister the conspirators would make themselves Masters of his Authority âât of his Person that the Suspicious and Irresolute Prince âân sent for him back agen This return of his having adân'd his Credit to a higher degree he began to put in praâse those severe and Bloody Politicks that ruin'd so many Lords which fill'd the Prisons with so many Persons suspected of no âer Crime then Love of Liberty and render'd him so absolute and formidable that the King himself began to have an aversion for him and became jealous of his high Authority The Count de Chalais was the first Victim offer'd to his Arbtrary Power The Duke of Vendosm and the Grand Prior his Brother together with several other persons lost either their Liberty or their Government or their Pensions and the whole Conspiracy was perfectly dissipated In the mean time Rochel was toss'd and vex'd with various Troubles by reason that they who were interested in the new form of Government would not suffer things to be resettl'd upon the Old Foundation The People favour'd these Mutineers and the Sedition increas'd to that degree that the Mayor who was suspected was carri'd away by force and very ill us'd as the Author of these Changes Nevertheless these Disorderâ were appeas'd by the necessity of obeying and the fear of a greater Mischief should they furnish the Court with any Pretence which was the thing she waited for to make war upon Rochel alone and disunited from the rest of the Reformed Cities Mass was there said upon Ascension-day in St. Margaret Church and the City re-call'd her Deputies that had bin sent to Foreigners But whether they
gaping Chasma's ãâã ãâã pretended Concord and provided they met with any ââ¦kelihood and facility never gave themselves the trouble of taââ¦ing securities and measures in favour of the Truth 'T is said the Cardinal was desirous to make use of these two ãâã of People to endeavour this Re union because he might procure the same service from the simplicity of the one as from the little sincerity of the other And though the Author of his Life dares not positively assert that he had this Project in his ãâã because he meets with nothing of it in his Memoirs nevertheless 't is not improbable that he had it in his thoughts whether it were that he was desirous effectually to accomplish that Enterprise or that he would have it so believ'd for a secret Reason of his own Policy However the Method which has bin publish'd remains intirely in the limits of the Project of which I shall suddenly have an occasion to speak Moreover the Cardinal affected all things that appear'd to be great ââ¦nd in regard he had a great desire that all his Actions should be the Subjects of so many Panegyrics an Enterprize so extraordinary as the Re-union of Religions could not chuse but be most proper to flatter his Vanity In a word there happen'd some things during the first years that elaps'd after the taking of Roâ⦠that seem so naturally to depend upon this Design that it may from thence with great probability be concluded that he had laid the ground work of the Project in good earnest On the other side in regard that at the same time he had lost his Reputation at Rome where his Alliances with Gustavus and other Protestant Princes were very much disgusted because iâ seem'd that the Catholic Religion was as great a loser by their Victories as the House of Austria it may be said that he only made use of his Projects of Re-union out of a design to regain the Pope's favour by putting him in hopes that he would bring back all Europe under obedience to the Holy See However it were Projects were spread abroad upon this Subject which seem'd to come from the Cardinal because the first Overtures were carri'd about by a Capuchin who had a great share in his Confidence This was the famous Father Joseph to whom the Austerity of his Order was no obstruction from being the Minister of the most Secret Intreagues of that Prelat nor from doing him more important Services by his Negotiations then all his Favourite Generals at the head of their Armies The design was to bind a Conference between the Reformed Ministers and some Catholic Doctors but to preserve the Advantage on the Roman Religion's side two things were resolv'd upon The first was That the Roman Religion should not yield an inch of ground either as to her Doctrine oâ Worship not so much as in things of small Importance of such as had bin the first occasions of Schism as the Matter of Indulgences But to take away this Pretence which this Obstinacy of the Romish Church in her Opinions and Practices might give the Reformed to persevere in their Separation there were two Expedients set a foot The first was To agree on both sides upon the Expressions that were to mollify and sweeten the Articles which would be most harsh and uneasie The other was To shew by Writings well compos'd and laid together that the Catholic Religion was not so different from the Reformed as vulgarly it was believ'd and that the difference was so slight that it could be no lawful cause of Disunion The second thing that was to save the Honour of the Romish Religion was that they were to bring it so about that the Reformed should be the Sollicitors to the end that in the Reunion they might appear as Penitent Children that made the first steps towards their Mother to regain her Favour and that the Catholic Church might look like a Mother that held forth her Arms âembrace her Children returning to their duty To bring this to pass they were desirous to make use of the âod themselves and they were to endeavour to make the Proposals of it in the Provincial Synods to the end the Deputation to the National Synod might be so order'd as to fall upon âsons proper to manage this Design and furnish'd with power âembrace the Expedients that should be agreed upon in the ââe of their Provinces The first step as the Plot was laid âs to send a Deputation to the King with a Remonstrance ât certain ill affected Persons went about to persuade him ât the Reformed Religion infus'd into the Professors of it Senâents contrary to the good of his Service but that they inâded to shew the contrary by a faithful Explanation of theirs âat to that purpose they besought his Majesty to permit 'em âenter into a Free Conference with such Doctors as he should âase to nominate and that if they could but be convinc'd that âere was a possibility of Salvation in the Catholic Religion âây would be glad to come to a Reconciliation Upon this Proposal they were to be taken at their words and because they âmanded no more then to bind the Conference it was to be âw'd 'em as long and as free as they could desire But for the accomplishment of this Design there was a neâsity of securing a sufficient quantity of the Ministers They ââd âounded all that resided round about Paris but found 'em âây variously enclin'd There were some who either through ââruption or simplicity lent an ear to the Proposals and who âo drew up draughts of a Reunion which were communicated the Cardinal to the end he might be judge whether they ââre proper or no And there are Memoirs that shew the number of the Ministers thus gain'd to be about fourscore There âre others who by no means approv'd these Projects but who ââght be allur'd by various Interests that hinder'd their opposition whether they were already engag'd in Troubles or fear'd âe being brought into Vexations or whether they were not sensâble of the Delusions of vain Hopes But there were others so that were stiff and inexorable that came quick to the point ââ declar'd that the nature of the Differences between the two Religions would not endure an Accommodation These Inâ⦠nations of the setl'd Ministers about the Court encourag'd tâ⦠Projectors to sound those in the Remoter Provinces that thâ might consider with which of these three different Inclination it was most proper to close As for the Reformed Laics thâ found 'em all in the opinion of the Obstinate Ministers and ãâ¦ã greatest part of 'em not content to reject the Proposal as iâ possible lookt upon it as fraudulent and serving only as a ââ¦ver for some wicked Designs In short they were thinking make use of violence and after the Success of the Conference where the King was to be in Person the more easily to âuântâ Scales which way he desir'd they
were to enfore all the rest the Kingdom to stand to the Treaty which the Deputy-Minister should conclude Edicts Banishment of the Obstinate aâ⦠Military Executions were to make good the Resolutiors takâ in the Conference but such as would not accept of the Reunioâ were to be allow'd the liberty to dispose of their Estates aâ to withdraw within a certain time It was also thought convenient to hasten the summoning oâ National Synod for the execution of this Design because thâ thought that things being well order'd in the Provinces thâ Assembly would serve to forward it But they met with oâ unlucky Obstruction which retarded the Grand Affair For tâ⦠Pestilence rag'd in several Provinces of the Kingdom so thâ 't was impossible at that conjuncture of time to assemble Proâicial Synods And in the Assembly it self that was held at Charenton there were great complaints of the Obstructions occasion'd by that Distemper which hinder'd the Deputies froâ coming to the Assembly In the mean time there were twâ men found out of the two different Characters above-mention who seem'd to agree with the Cardinal in his Projects Tâ one was Petit a Minister and Professor of Theology at Niâe The other was Milletiere who had written so much upon the Affairs of Rochel and who had a great desire to signalize himself by a large Book upon the Subject of the Reunion Petit haâ the reputation of being an Honest man but he was one of thââ that suffer'd themselves to be bewitch'd with the charming namâ of Concord and who because they are honest and mean weâ themselves believe all the World to be like ' em Moreover âe had rather in view the Reunion of the Protestants among themselves and particularly of those that follow'd the Doctrine âf Arminius condemn'd by the Synod of Dort then of the Protestants and Catholics But in regard he only propounded general means they were not so easily appli'd to the Cardinal's Designs with whom all honest men were afraid of dealing upon this matter Because it was a scurvy thing to deal with a ârafty and Potent Minister who with ease might abuse the âeanest Overtures that were made him This caus'd the more ââudent sort of the Reformed to fear whatever bore the name ââ Reunion more especially the Synods rejected all the Proposals relating to it with scorn For which Reason Petit's Protect being by no means relishd he never put it to the Press but âid aside all his idle Fancies and persever'd in the Reformed religion Milletiere was a man all fume and vapour full of himself and persuaded that nothing came near his Merit and capacity Moreover either out of fear lest the Court remembring what had past should sit upon his Skirts or in ââpes to acquire great Honour and to raise some great Forââne by the success of this Enterprize or tickl'd with the Apâauses which the Jesuits gave him that they might draw him â their Party they quite debauch'd him so that he sided together with the Cardinal in his Project and drew up a âaught of an Accommodation just as the Cardinal desir'd it âe allow'd the Romish Church to be in the right almost in all ââings and in those which he would not give himself the trouââe to justify he made use of soft and qualifi'd Expressions under pretence of explaining 'em and made 'em pass for questions that were not to hinder the Reunion of the Reformed The different Projects of these two Men clearly display'd ââe difference of their Intentions The one laid down Principles to which the Church of Rome was far from agreeing âât against which she could not defend her self if there were âay thing of reality and sincerity in her Treaty of Reunion ând in that sense it was that the Affair was almost always taken by such as through simplicity clos'd with their Designs The other granted for a Tacit Principle that the Romish Church was in the right and that there was nothing else but misunderstanding on the part of the Reformed and this was the usual way of those who had this Concord in their eye that they had more of worldly Compliance then honesty or zeal for the Truth But these attempts toward a Reunion came to nothing because Petit did not carry his Overtures far enough and for that Miletiere appeared too evidently partial Besides he had the misfortune not to be approv'd by the Catholics so that when after the Synod of Alenson in 1637. he publish'd his Means to obtain Christian Peace by the Reunion of the Catholics and Evangelics upon the Differences of Religion he was terribly vex'd to see that the Sorbonne so ill receiv'd it and censur'd it so briskly as if they had held a correspondence with the Ministers of Charenton Yet this was no hindrance but that he was a long time a charge to the Churches in whose Communion he affected to continue to give the more credit to his Visions But John Daille who began about that time to make himself known by his Writings refuted him so briskly from the very original of these Projects that poor unfortunate Miletiere became at last the abomination of the Reformed and the scorn of all Honest men So that after several Admonitions and Warnings to no purpose the Synods declar'd him no longer a Member of the Reformed Churches noâ was there so much as one that would receive him into her Communion So that he was forced to turn Catholic through necessity to the end he might be of some Religion After which he became a Missionary and went rambling about in search of Conferences where he was still so badly handl'd as would have put him quite out of courage but that his Obstinacy was such as nothing was able to vanquish But at length Charles Drelincourt one of Daille's Colleagues and a true Scourge of Humourists such as Militiere was totally routed him in a Conference the Acts of which were publish'd However this did not happen till several years after the time that I speak of To return then to my Subject I say that this Project of Re-union was spun out a long while and past through more then one hand because there are some Memoires still extant about the Time of the Cardinal's Death The Jesuit Cludebert succeeded the Capuchin who dy'd in 1638. and greatly boasted of his having gain'd many Ministers But a Thing of that nature remains very doubtful when it is only attested by men of that Habit and what they report upon that Subject may well be thought no more then a Romance made at Random But the Cardinal had so much Business by reason of the Conspiracy of St. Mars and was laden with so many corporal Infirmities that there is but little likelihood he should perplex his Brains with Designs of so great Importance Wee 'l grant in the first place that he was assur'd of Peace with Spain and that he had an Intention to keep a-foot the Forces that serv'd at
King These Commissioners enlarg'd some Ministers and sent 'em to the King for the interpretation of the Decrees of his Council so that they were forc'd to tarry some years before the business was decided The Consulships also gave some occasion for Innovation Machaut the Intendant order'd that the Consulship of Alets should be alternative under the good pleasure of the King and till he should otherwise ordain But the Reformed who found this Sentence extreamly opposite to their Ancient Customs appeal'd to the Council where the Question hung for twenty years undecided Upon a Process commenc'd against the Reformed of Mountaign touching the right of Exercise and building a Church Bignon Advocate General procur'd a Decree which depriv'd the Reformed both of the one and the other He laid down those things for a foundation of his Conclusions which if he could have got 'em to have pass'd currant the Reformed must have lost the three fourth parts of their Churches First He affirm'd that the Reformed had no right to any Church but in places of Bailliage setl'd by the Commissioners and he supported this Assertion by the Decrees set forth in 1562. and 1577. which by consequence had bin revok'd by the Edict of Nantes Moreover he would needs have it that the permission of the Lord which was produc'd by the Inhabitants should be lookt upon as extorted because it was not to be presum'd that a Catholic Lord would permit the establishment of a Religious Exercise that was contrary to his own This was well found out to destroy all those Places where the Reformed Exercise was perform'd in Catholic Proprieties Had the Church produc'd the most solid Proofs in the world of their Possession and fail'd of the Lord's permission it would have bin urg'd that that very defect had disannull'd all the rest and if they produc'd the Lord's leave then they cri'd it must have bin extorted But at last he pretended that the Place belong'd to an Ecclesiastic Lord and so the Reformed who produc'd Evidences since 1558. could not reap the benefit of a Possession near fourscore years This was no more then positively to say That whatever Title the Reformed could produce 't was impossible for 'em to have any Justice done ' em There happen'd at the beginning of this year an Accident altogether singular the Circumstances of which were so remarkable as not to be omitted in this History Two Scholars of the Academy of Saumur took a fancy to be present at the Mass which the Catholics call Midnight-Mass because it is said upon Christmas-day in the Morning presently after Midnight Bell has rung Many times a silly Curiosity carries young People to be Spectators of these fine Shows because a prodigious Concourse of all sorts generally crouds to gape upon this Solemnity as expecting something extraordinary But what was more these young Hair-brains presented themselves before the Altar as if they intended to receive the Communion but upon their taking the Symbols into their hands not with that reverence as they ought to have done they were known for what they were apprehended and indicted but for fear of depriving the City of the benefit which they reap'd by the Academy condemn'd to very easy Penalties There was an Appeal from this Sentence But the Chamber of the Edict of Paris surcharging the Sentence of the former Condemnation order'd by a Decree of the 17th of February That the Scholars should declare and acknowledge at Saumur within the ordinary Jurisdiction of the Seneschalship in a full Court upon their Knees and bareheaded That they had rashly gone upon Christmas-day in the Morning to Midnight-Mass and that they had indiscreetly received the Sacrament of the Altar That they should beg pardon of God the King and Justice that they should be banish'd out of the City and Provostship of Paris for three years and out of the Seneschalship of Namur for ever that they should be fin'd twelve hundred Livres to the King of which two hundred should be laid out in Bread for the Prisoners in the Palace Jaile two hundred for the purchase of a Silver Lamp to be hung before the place where the Sacrament of that Church was deposited and the remainder for the setting up a Copper-plate whereon the Decree should be engrav'd and for setling ãâ¦ã Fund for the furnishing that Lamp with Oil to perpetuity The Decree also enjoin'd the Scholars to obey their Proscription exactly and forbid 'em relapsing into the same Transgressions again upon pain of death sent 'em to the Judges of Saumur who were to see the Sentence duly executed and to detain 'em in Prison till payment of the Fine Which last Clause was without question added to oblige the Parents or Relations of those Young men to pay the said Fine as a Ransom for their Release However they refrain'd in the Decree from the words Amende and Amende Honourable so that had it not bin for the Fine a man might have said that it had bin a Consistory which condemn'd those young Fops to a public Reparation for an Offence that deserv'd it according to the Discipline of the Reformed They had not then well studi'd the Privileges of the Roman Religion In these latter years they would have adjudg'd it that those Scholars by that Act had embrac'd the Roman Religion and the Church and the Academy both would have bin interdicted But the death of Gustavus this year deliver'd the See of Rome from the fear of his Arms. But in regard the Generals that succeeded him preserv'd the Advantages they had won it no way cur'd the Wounds which the House of Austria had receiv'd and France who found the convenience of an Alliance with Sueden made a new Treaty with Gustavus's Heiress Moreover the Cardinal had much business both at home and abroad and so much ado to guard himself from Conspiracies against his life that he had not time to think of the Protestants Never were known within the compass of one year so many Changes of Officers at Court in the Armies in the Governments of Towns and Provinces then were seen this year The Reformed made no figure but for all that the whole Kingdom was full of Factions and Cabals So that these Commotions which could not be imputed to Heresy sufficiently justifi'd the Religion upon whose Shoulders they would have thrown the Occasions and Causes of all the last Wars and no less truly theâ apparently fix'd the Accusation upon the Wickedness and Infidelity of the Government It seem'd but reasonable that the Reformed should be excus'd who had only taken Arms for their Liberty when the Catholic Lords Princes and People had recourse to the same means for the preservation of their Privileges and their Dignities In the mean time the Presidents Frere and Perissol and the Counsellors Basset and Calignon appointed Commissioners by the King in the Parlament of the Dauphinate to examin the Affair of the Annexes pliâd the Commission close and drew
without taking the Oath of Allegiance that they who had officiated in Foreign Countries should not reassume their Functions in France without the King's Permission and taking a new Oath and that no Foreigner should officiate in the Ministry or in any other Religious Office without express leave But the Innovation of swearing Allegiance was that which most perplex'd the Reformed For they held it much for their Ministers Honour that the State was wont to be assur'd of their Fidelity without exacting a solemn Promise but that the Bishops were oblig'd to take the Oath before they could be admitted Besides they took this Oath for a forerunner of great Misfortunes as being a Custom borrow'd from the Reign of Charles the IX And lastly they were afraid that it would prove the occasion of a thousand Cavils to engage 'em to swear things either contrary to their Consciences or prejudicial to their Liberties But luckily for 'em this Decree came to nothing as being never put in execution As for Cacherat he abjur'd his Religion and having obtain'd a Pension from the Clergy enough to live upon without working for a Livelihood he never any more disturb'd the Peace of the Churches Some Memoirs there are that mention an Edict to the same purpose with the Decree but I never saw it and believe it to be an Error of him that compil'd ' em But the 18th of the same Month the King set forth a Declaration that gave Precedency to the Counsellors of the Parlament of Tholouse that serv'd in the Chamber at Castres in the absence of the Presidents before the Reformed Counsellors tho never so much their Seniors so that that same Chamber was reduc'd to the same condition with that of Guyenne Toward the end of this Month also the Catholics would needs make the Reformed of Loudun pay the Costs and Charges they had bin at in exorcising the Vrsulins for as yet they had not ââone with that Farce The Reformed had erected a Colledge ââ that City where they were very numerous The Catholics therefore meditating which way to deprive 'em of it presented a Petition to Laubardemont deputed Commissioner to take the Informations concerning that same Diabolical Possession and much at the devotion of the Ecclesiastics They set forth That âhe Vrsulins house was too little to contain 'em and for the performance of those Exorcisms that were requisite that all the Churches of the City were taken up excepting one Chappel which the Guardian of the Franciscans offer'd to lend 'em that the Colledge of the Reformed ought to be taken from âem as being erected without the King's leave and upon these Suppositions they desir'd that the Colledge might be given to the Catholics that so the Vrsulins or a part of 'em might be remov'd thither for the better convenience of exorcising ' em Upon which the Commissioner gave 'em a Grant of it with a Proviso till the King should otherwise ordain And thus the Reformed were made to pay the Expences of a Comedy wherein they were no otherwise concern'd then to make themselves sport with it and laugh at it in private The 9th of March the Council put forth a Decree which forbid the Public Exercise of the Reformed Religion at Paroi in Chârolâis a small Village of which the Abbot and Monks of ãâã were the Lords Cardinal Richlieu was chosen Abbot of it and by Consequence he had an Interest in that little City so that the Decree could not fail of a solemn execution But besides the Interdiction of Public Exercise it contain'd also a Prohibition to keep Schools therein to sell Flesh upon prohibited days to work with their Shops open on Holydays to meet in Houses to perform the Duties of Catechizing Preaching or Prayer to hinder the Ecclesiastics from visiting and comforting the Sick to sing Psalms in the Streets or so loud in their Houses as to be heard to bury in the Church-yard belonging to the Hospital or at any other hours then those that were prescrib'd by the Edict It order'd also the Reformed to keep and spread Carpets before their doors upon Procession days It gave leave that the Reformed might send their Children to the Colledge which the Cardinal had founded with promise that they should not be seduc'd to change their Religion and that they might be Sheriffs if elected without any obligation of being forc'd to hold At the same time the Reformed of Chaume a Borough depending upon the Jurisdiction of Olon which belong'd to the Marquis of Royan lost their Right of Exercise Nor was there any notice taken of their Possession well prov'd or that they had not only the consent of the Lord but an agreement in writing made in the year 16ââ with him the Curate and the Catholic Inhabitants wherein the Lord expresly covenanted to desist from all opposition against their Right for the future All the Favour they could have shewn 'em was that they had the liberty left 'em to make their Addresses to the King that they might have some other place allow'd 'em without the Jurisdiction of Olonne Now in regard the Declaration of the preceding year in reference to the Annexes had render'd the Law general tho it were only set forth for the Province of Languedoc the Ministers oâ Saintonge and other places were put to a great deal of trouble upon this occasion Rivet of Champvernon was deputed to the Court by the Synod assembl'd at Mauzé to crave some relief against these Vexations who brought back a Reference of the 16th of April to Villemontée Intendant of Justice in those Provinces This new Judge was given to understand that the Prohibition mention'd in the Declaration and by the Decrees depriv'd the Reformed of all manner of Exercise of their Discipline and expos'd all Ministers that preach'd in any other place then where they resided or by vertue of an Order or Loane authoriz'd by the Synods or Colloquies to a thousand Prosecutions tho those Accidents many times could not be avoided by reason of the death sickness absence suspension or degrading of the Incumbent Ministers or upon some other urgent Business which requir'd the Synod to depute Commissioners They gave him to understand that there were Ministers settl'd by the Synods to preach alternatively in several places where they had a Right of Exercise and ââ consequence they could not be accus'd of preaching out of the places where they were setl'd The Commissioner was apprehensive of these Reasons and by an Order of the 22d of June gave the Ministers leave to preach out of their Residence when they should be sent upon any of the foremention'd Occasions However the Reformed of Metz were not so favourably us'd at the Council For they had a desire to erect a Colledge in their City but the Bishop of Madaure Suffragan to Metz oppos'd it and the three Catholic Bodies of the City join'd with him This Business was remov'd to the Council where the Opposers obtain'd a
undecently of the Romish Preachers and that they made the Children of the Catholics that were sent to their Schools to read the Books of the Reformed Upon which immediately came forth a Decree of the Privy-Council dated May 16th by which these Petty Exercises and supposed Misdemeanours were severely forbid Corhiâni was a little City where the Reformed had a Place of Exercise by vertue of as clear a Possession as could be in tâe World so that the Commissioners had continu'd 'em in ãâ¦ã solemn Ordinance made in the Year 1600. That Ordinance remov'd 'em to the farther end of one of the Suburbs of the City within the Jurisdiction of Corbigni with a Proviso till the Opposition which the Abbot made to the settlement of the Exercise in the City should be determin'd This Business hung in suspence near Seven Years after which there was a Decree of Council of the 13th of March 16â7 which allow'd the Exercise not within the City but in one of the Suburbs and within the Jurisdiction of the City and appointed that Place for the first Place of the Bailiage Bââ in regard there happen'd since that an Alteration in the Proceedings of that Court and because the City depended upon the Abby of St. Leonard's the Abbot obtain'd this Year a Decree upon a Petition which forbid the Reformed their Exercise in that Place or upon any Lands or within any Jurisdiction of the Abby Nor did they when they took away this appoint any other Place for the Reformed but constrain'd 'em to sell the Inheritances which they had Purchasâ in the Suburbs before they would provide 'em another Place 'T was only told 'em that the King's Officers should give 'em notice whither or no there had bin a Place of Bailiage deliver'd according to the Edict that if there were there might be one allow'd ' em By which it appear'd that the Decree had bin issued forth without any knowledge of the Cause because this Place had bin granted in Right of Bailiage by a Definitive Decree But for all that this Decree was put in Execution without any regard at all had to the Opposition which the Reformed made They also took the Opportunity to serve this Decree when Monsanglard the Minister of the Place was in his Pulpit to the end the Thing might make so much the Greater Noise and more effectually redound to the Reproach and Affront of the Reformed This Monsanglard had bin accus'd in Court for having said That at Rome they sold Remission of Sins for which the Judge of the Place Condemn'd him to the Amende Honourable and all the Consequences of that Punishment But upon his Appeal the Minister being remov'd to the Prison of Paris call'd La Conciergerie and pleading in his own justification That he took what he had said out âut of a Book of the Rates of the Apostolic Chamber Printed at Rome it self they were asham'd to Confirm the Sentence and Dismiss'd both him and the Process out of Court There is also another Decree to be seen of an uncertain Date set forth by the Chamber of the Edict of Rouen which forbid the Reformed to continue their Exercise in the Borough of St. Sâlvin because it depended upon the Abby of Almeneche Another Decree of Council ordain'd That the Church of ââ¦r should be pull'd down as being too near the Catholic Church after they had built another which should be neither within the Jurisdiction Signiories or Precincts of the Eccleâ⦠The 20th of June came forth another Edict of the Privy Council against the Lord of Claye and Biche which forbid the Exercise within the Signiories where the Lord did not actually reside the presence of his Domestic Servants not being sufficient to Authorize it The same Decree forbid Preaching without the Place of their Residence upon pain of Corporal Punishment and Imprisonment I also find Two Decrees Cited by such as have Collected those Sorts of Acts against the Reformed the First of which was Dated the 15th of July the Other the 12th of December They Imported that the Exercises should not be perform'd in the Lord's Houses when the Minister should be absent or sick The Parlament of Bourdeaux also Signaliz'd themselves by a Decree set forth the 4th of July against the Authority of Parents For one La ââ¦ee dwelling in the Borough of Castres had marri'd a Catholic Wife by whom he had six or seven Children which the Wife making an ill use of her Husband's Indulgence brought up in the Catholic Religion This Woman happen'd to die before the Children had attain'd the Age of Discretion and the Father was accus'd for constraining the Children to go to the Reformed Church Upon which the Parlament interpos'd and gave the Advocate-General leave to bring in an Information and in the mean time General Prohibitions were sent abroad forbidding Parents to force their Children to go to Protestant Sermons The Bailiage of Gex was us'd after the same manner as the rest of the Kingdom where the Prince of Condé as Governor of Burgundy upon which the Bailiage depended put in execution the Prohibitions forbidding the Admission of Foreign Ministers comprehending under that Name the Inhabitants of Geneva He also equally divided the use of the Common Pastures of the Country between the Reformed and the Catholics though the Reformed were Ten for One. The greatest part of the Decrees which I have enumerated were revived again the next year But there were several to which they added other Articles very grievous and troublesome The Parlament of Rouen by a Decree of the 18th of March forbid the keeping of any Schools at St. Lo. For the Consistory had set up some according to the Exhortation of the National Synods and had also put in Regents such as those Synods approv'd The Promoter Coutances undertook this Business and upon an Appeal from the Sentence of the Ordinary Judge he procur'd a Decree which annull'd the Power of the Consistory forbid 'em for the future to give Approbation of the like nature permitted Masters only to teach to write and read in private Houses but not to instruct or Catechize not to say Public Prayers or read Lectures contrary to the Doctrine of the Romish Church Upon the 21st of April the Privy Council set forth a Decree which forbid the Exercise in the absence of the Ministers as also in any other Places then those wherein it was lawful for 'em to reside by the Edicts The same Decree forbid the hindring of Fathers Mothers Tutors Kindred Masters c. to send their Children Relations Friends Servants c. to Masters of Catholic Schools approv'd by the Ordinaries So that what with taking away from the Reformed the liberty of having Colledges what with obliging the Consistories to suffer the sending of Children to suspected Masters they who had Children to bring up were reduc'd either to let 'em grow up in ignorance or expose 'em to the Snares and Inveagling Persuasions and
to be bred up in the Catholic Religioâ⦠Thereupon the Council made a Decree which plainly shew'd that they were not convinc'd of the truth of the Relation For it only decreed that the Baily should deliver the Verbaâ⦠Process to Thiersaut Master of the Requests to the end that upon farther Examination such order might be taken aâ should be thought expedient However the King summon'd before himself and his Council all Causes concerning that House and the New Converts and forbid the Baily to take cognizance of 'em for the future As much as to say that they thought it not just to condemn a Judge who had done no more then his duty however they would not leave the Reformed under the Protection of those that made a conscience of doing 'em Justice The Doctors also of the Sorbonne would needs be stickling this year to display some marks of their Zeal against the Reformed For it so fell out that Francis Cupif a Doctor of that Faculty and Curate of Contigni in the Dioââ¦s of Anger 's embrac'd the Reformed Religion and set ââ¦th a Declaration of the Motives that had oblig'd him to â Which Declaration he address'd to the Bishop of the ââ¦ocess believing it most proper to give him an account â his Conduct But the Bishop either disdaining a Cuââ¦e of a Village as beneath him or else as many times ââ¦als the Prelates not having Learning sufficient to answer â⦠left the care of being reveng'd upon him to the Sorââ¦e Whereupon that Colledge upon the 14th of Julyââ¦w ââ¦w up a Sharp and Violent Order by which they deââ¦ded Cupif from all his Dignities and bestow'd a thouââ¦d Maledictions and Curses upon him But he avoided ãâ¦ã being far more severely handl'd by retiring into Holââ¦d where he wax'd old in the Functions of the Miniââ¦y wherein he acquitted himself in a more edifying manâ⦠then the greatest part of those that abandon the Church â Rome are wont to do The Reformed were very numerous at Pons in Saintonge ââ¦or could their Adversaries contrive any other way to vex â⦠then by bestowing upon 'em a Regulation dated at Bourââ¦x December the 5th upon the Motion of the Advocateââ¦neral which forbid 'em to work upon Holidays with ââ¦eir Shops open nor to sell Flesh upon days prohibited â the Romish Church nor to throw their Dirt about the ââ¦oss which the Recollects had erected nor at the end of ãâ¦ã Streets that adjoin'd to their Church Here it is to be ââ¦serv'd that those Monks had erected a Cross on purpose â that very place which time out of mind had bin the ââ¦mmon Dunghil for all the Neighbourhood But the Conââ¦nt being annoy'd by it bethought themselves of this Exââ¦dient to remove the Nuisance and the more easily to obââ¦n their Desires they demanded the Prohibitions only against the Reformed to deprive the whole City of a Conââ¦nience and a Fine of 80 Livres was laid upon all that ââ¦us'd to obey the Decree In the midst of these Vexations and Injuries done thâ⦠Reformed throughout all the Provinces they assembl'd â National Synod at Alanson Which Assemblies serv'd to ãâ¦ã other purpose then to give 'em an opportunity to bewaâ⦠together the bad condition of their Affairs and to âeâ⦠what Remedy was most proper to be appli'd to their Calamities They were extreamly tormented with the presence of the Commissioners For when they had drawn up â Paper of their Complaints 't was thought a great matteâ⦠well accomplisht to receive it back from the hands of theâ⦠Deputies nor could they many times obtain the favour ãâ¦ã an Answer Nevertheless the Court was still jealous oâ⦠these Assemblies and they were so accustom'd to fear thâ⦠Reformed in a Body that they were always alarum'd aâ⦠that which was no more then the shadow of their Unioâ⦠And indeed the Reformed were as yet considerable âoâ⦠their number Their Churches in the Country were foâ⦠the most part compos'd of Nobility and Gentry There were several wherein there were reck'nd fourscore or â hunder'd Families of Gentlemen which did so much honour to their Religion that you might frequently see threeâ score or fourscore Coaches waiting before the Place of their Exercises They were not therefore yet so low but that they were in a condition to put their Adversaries to troubleâ had their Intentions bin evil So that the Court whââ knew too well what was in their power to do were afraid lest the Synods should take up Resolutions which the Gentry were to put in execution For which reason they were unwilling that any Synods should be held for the future in any other Place then at Charenton to the end they might have a near eye upon those formidable Assemblies However there was no danger on that side For the Reformed well understood that they were at the mercy of their Enemies and that they had nothing left to preserve and support 'em but the good will of the Kings pleasure The Knowledge of this oblig'd 'em to extend their Obedience as far as it would reach for fear of being Exterminated upon the Least pretence as Rebels and the Synods Labour'd by good Discipline to remedy the Mischiefs that might arise from the Persecution The Court gave leave for their Synod to be held at Alenson âe Small City where there was little Probability that the Reformed should attempt any great Matters nor is it so far remote from Paris but that upon Occasion the King might send his Orders thither in four and twenty Hours Nevertheless there was a high Value put upon this Favour as if it had been a thing of Great Importance The Brief by which permission was given and the Commission was Couch'd in the ordinary Terms and breath'd nothing but good Will and Kindness The Commissioner was St. Mark a Councellor of State a Person as much at the Devotion of the Court as Galand had been The Synod also sat down the 27th of May and after the Usual preliminary Ceremonies St. Mark having presented his Commission made an Ingenious Speech before he propos'd the Articles with which he was entrusted by his Commission First of all he shew'd that the Greatest Part preac'h the Doctrine of Obedience and to Confirm 'em in their so doing he declar'd that the King had promis'd Constantly to observe the Edicts so long as the Reformed perform'd the Duties of Faithful Subjects He Extoll'd in a flattering manner the Kings Power which the Hand of God that assisted him all along render'd formidable both abroad and at home He spoke of the Misfortunes which the Reformed had suffer'd while they had Places of Strength in their Hands and of the repose which they enjoy'd since they depended Soleây upon the Kings Favour He compar'd their Condition grounded upon the Kings word and upheld against the Passions of People agitated by too various Commotions to the Earth that hangs pois'd in the Air by the Word of God He heighten'd the Confidence which the King had in 'em
as well to the Synod as to the Commissioner certain Letters which contain'd the same in Substance that he had said by word of Mouth to the Deputies The Chiefest Favour they obtain'd was Money to defray the Expences of the Synod but the Answer to their Papers was put off till the breaking up of the Assembly The Commissioner was very Importunate with the Synod to break up and by his Earnest insisting upon their Separation it was evident that when the Court beheld the Reformed met together in their Assemblies she was sensible of those Fears which their ancient Union had infus'd into her And indeed there were but few Reasons that could oblige the Assembly to sit any long time for they had finish'd their Business and had appointed General Deputies Which Nomination was done with Little Ceremony The Marquiss of Clermont was continu'd and they joyn'd Marbaud with him for his Associate They had also written to the King upon this Subject and he had promis'd according to Custom to consent to the Nomination after the Synod was broke up Nevertheless the Marquiss of Clermont remain'd alone in the discharge of that Employment and neither Galand who had been appointed by the Preceding Synod nor Marbaud who was nam'd by this were any way concern'd with him But the Synod no way satisfi'd that the Court refus'd to answer their Paper and foreseeing also that so soon as they were once separated their Complaints would be forgot were desirous to take some Course that they might not lose the Benefit of all their Cares To that purpose they thought it proper to joyn Particular with the General Deputies who might solicit the Answer which was promis'd to their Papers and chiefly take care of three Articles which they jud'gd to be of Greatest Importance The Commissioner was desirous to thwart this Resolution and pretended that a Deputaion of that Nature was a Politick Affair with which an Ecclesiastical Assembly had nothing to do to meddle without Express leave But the Synod stood their Ground and having given him to understand that there was nothing of Debate and consultation that their business only was to appoint certain Deputies to carry on an Innocent Solicitation a Liberty which the Laws allow to all men whatever and that it could not be displeasing to the King who had frequently suffer'd the same freedom they then went on with their Design and Deputed Angle and Gigord two Ministers of Great Credit and Authority in their Provinces La Militiere who had already render'd himself very troublesome by his Projects of Re-union address'd his writings to this Synod where they were condemn'd And as for the Behaviour and Writings of Daille who had refuted this Visionary they were approv'd And they wrote moreover to that same Reconciler that if within six Months he did not manifest his Repentance by an Authentick Declaration to the Consistory at Paris they would no longer look upon him as a Member of the Reformed Churches But the Greatest Good this Synod did the Reformed was their appeasing the Dispute which had made a great noise for some years upon the Subject of Vniversal Grace Nothing was ever known more Hot and Violent then the Fury that appear'd in the pro ' and con of this New Controversie And it had certainly Compleated the Ruin of the Churches had not the Synod found out a way to calm the Tempest by obliging the contending Parties to a Mutual Toleration The next Year was not remarkable for any Great Events that concern'd Religion However the Reformed were not a little griev'd to see a Declaration set forth by the King upon the 10th of February by which he put his own Person and his Kingdom under the Protection of the Blessed Virgin The Memory of which was to be perpetuated by a Picture set up on purpose in the Cathedral Church of Paris commonly call'd Nostre Dame This Declaration contain'd in Substance those Expressions which the Reformed persisting in their Sentiments touching the Object of Religious Worship could not choose but look upon as Impious And that alone was enough to blast all their Hopes of expecting any thing Favourable from a Prince whose Zeal for his own Religion transported him to that excess of New Devotion For to put his Kingdom under the Portection of a Creature tho' never so Holy never so Divinely Priviledg'd was evidently to vow the Extermination of those whose Principles enjoyn'd 'em to believe that in seeking such a Protection the King renounc'd the Protection of God The Duke of Rohan dy'd this Year of the Wounds which he receiv'd at the Battel of Rhinseldt Which at first were not lookt upon to be Considerable or at least there was no body that ever beleiv'd they had been Mortal Which was the reason that some People believ'd 'em to have been poyson'd and that the Jealousies the Court had of him had given an occasion to lay hold of this Opportunity to send him out of the World without any Noise And the Chyrurgeons that were sent him under pretence of being serviceable to him were thought to be the Instruments of this black Piece of Politicks 'T is said that the Dukes Journey into Germany to serve the King in the Duke of Weimar's Army whither he went against the Good liking of the Court and where he would not accept of any Command was the Effect of some secret Projects the Consequences of which some People were much afraid of Some believ`d that he held a Strict Corespondence with the Deceas`d King Gustavus that they had joyntly labour`d the Re union of the Lutherans and Reformed that their Intreagues in Order to it had produc`d the Act of the Synod of Charenton That in pursuance of that Act the Reformed in Gustavus`s Army had receiv`d the Communion after the Lutheran Manner and the German Lutherans who serv`d under the the Duke of Rohan in the Country of the Grisons had receiv`d after the manner of the Reformed That those two Aspiring Genius`s built Great designs upon this Re-union that the Death of Gustavus procur`d by those who were desirous to stop the Torrent of his Victories disappointed all the Duke's designs Therefore it was giv`n out that he was about to revive the same Corespondencies with the Duke of Weimar a Prince of vast Courage great Experience and accompted one of the Bravest Captains of his Time Nor had the Duke of Rohan any more then one Daughter who was a transcendent Match and therefore `twas verily thought that he had a design to the end he might procure a stricter Union with the Duke to give him his Daughter in Marriage But that Prince was by no means belov`d in France because he had nothing that was Low or Base in him and for that he knew how to render himself redoubted Besides he had settl`d himself in Germany by his Conquests and this Year he took Brisac more upon his own account then upon the Kings A Person of such
that it was through the Fraud of her Son-in-law and the rest of her Reformed Kindred that she was depriv'd of their Prayers and of a Catholick Burial However there was no other Proof then Presumption inferr'd from her Receiving the Communion in her Parish before she fell sick Nevertheless the Son-in-Law was condemn'd to dig her up again and carry her into the Catholick Church-yard at his own Charges And because the Body did not seem to be putrifi'd tho' it had lain about two months in the Ground they would needs make a Miracle of it and to hinder the Miracle from being contested some of the Kindred were brought before the Judge to confess that they smelt no ill Smell that came from the Corps Which was enough for Catholick Credulity So that for Fear the Memory of this wonder should perish the Forfeitures adjudg'd against those who had buri'd the Woman in the Church-yard belonging to the Reformed was apply'd toward the making a Cross which was erected over her Grave with an Inscription containing the whole Story However 't is certain they never bethought themselves of informing the world of this Miracle till May which was a long time after the thing happen'd But that which is most observable is this that in the Relation of this Accident they alledge for a most convincing proof of the wonder that the two Months during which time the Body lay in the earth were the sharpest and most bitter cold Months in all the Winter As if it were such a wonder that Frost and Cold should prevent Corruption not to speak any thing now of certain cold Grounds where Bodies will not begin to putrify till after they have lain twenty years together Tonnaiboutonne is a place within the Colloquy of St. John â ' Angeli where Mass had not bin sung for Fourscore and five years before But this year the Parlament of Bourdeaux resettl'd it in that Place by a Decree of the last of March The Lords of that Mannor had built up a Chappel or as the Parlament call it in their Decree a Sepulcher for themselves and their Family upon the place where formerly had stood the principal Altar of the Catholick Church That decree therefore commanded the pulling of it down and took from the Lords whatever had belong'd to the Ecclesiasticks Nor did it forget to condemn 'em to dig up all the Bodies that had bin buri'd in the Sepulcher to the Restitution of the Church yard the Bells the Curates house and the Alms-house and to rebuild the Church obliging the Inhabitants to contribute two thirds of the Charge and those that had a share in the Tithes the other Third For this was the way to involve the Reformed in the Penalty of the Condemnation in regard that almost all the Inhabitants were of that Number Besides that the Edicts had forbid the reviving the Memory of any Acts of this Nature and discharg'd the Reformed from all the Penalties upon demolishing of Churches before the Edict of Nantes But the Parlament never looking upon that Edict as a Law to bind their Sentences made it openly the May game of their Passion and their Cavils The Reformed also who had got into small Employments were prosecuted this year as in the Preceding so that upon the 29th of April the privy Council fet forth a Decree like the rest against Serjeants Notaries Proctors and Commissioners of the Registry In like manner the same Council set forth another decree upon the Eleventh of March which confirm'd all that had bin enjoyn'd by the Bishop of Poitiers about the distinction of Schools for Boys and Girls and the particular Order of the Judge of the Place which enforc'd the Reformed to get a Licence from the Bishop and to shew it the Kings Advocate before they began to teach Pretended Blasphemies and Irreverences were the Occasion of a world of unjust Acts. Four young Men were accus'd of stealing the Pix upon New years-day and of throwing the Consecrated Wafers about the Church-yard For which they were committed to the Custody of the Provost but they being desirous to decline his Jurisdiction demanded a Removal of their Enditement to some Chamber of the Edict Couchè was the Place where the accident happen'd which falling within the Jurisdiction of the Parlament of Dijon it was there to be determin'd as being the most proper Judicature Thereupon the the Parlament sent back the Enditement to the Provosts who gave Sentence of death upon all four But in regard they were only condemn'd to be hang'd t is much to be question'd whether the Court had any good Proofs of the Crime Othewise had the same Sacriledge bin committed by the Catholicks themselves they had bin broken upon the Wheel or burnt alive And indeed there is one Relation of the Death of those poor Creatures which might give us some reason to believe that the Punishment was mitigated because they chang'd their Religion But the style of that Relation is so monkish and it is interwoven with so many Characters of Falshood that the very reading of it is enough to perswade a man that the whole business was otherwise carry'd For the Monk that made it represents those poor Creatures invoking the Virgin Mary before they had embrac'd the Roman Faith and recounts a Miracle wrote in Favour of one of 'em who seem'd insensible during a very painful Torture of the Rack which he attributes to some motions of Devotion which the young man had for that Blessed Saint But there is a contrary Relation which attests that those poor Creatures were Innocent that the Curate had forg'd the Crime by the foul motives of his impious Malice that it was sworn how they got into the Church through a hole which it was impossible for a mans body to pass through that the Curate âade the hole himself that he might have some ground for his Accusation that he took away the Pix himself and scatter'd the Wafers whether consecrated or not about the Church-yard Of all which things there would have âin sufficient proofs would the Provost have admitted âem that the Parties accus'd never confest any thing or else what they did confess was extorted from 'em by the Violence of the Torment That there was no Proof of the change of their Religion but the Testimony of the Monks who beset 'em till their Execution Or if any of 'em were so weak as to promise it 't was only out of hope to save his Life that they were not seen at their death to do any thing that savour'd of Catholick Devotion nor to take any notice of their Crosses and Beads which they continually âeld to their Lips But the Monks are made up of such Calumnies and it was their usual Course to brand the Reformed with suspition of Sacriledge on purpose to render 'em odious to the People as will afterward appear by more then one Example The Lord of Chaurai and his Wife were accus'd of setting
of the Particular Articles granted together with their Edict of Nantes as they were drawn up and dispatched in the Year 98. restoring the Retrenchments that were made at the Verification  III. To cause the said Edict and Private Articles to be verifi'd and register'd according to the Form above mention'd in all the Parliaments Courts of Aid Chambers of Accompts and other Soveraign Courts of the Kingdom to the end they may be afterwards register'd in all Bailiwicks and Seneschalships As to what shall be found not to have been executed tho' set down in the Edict of Nantes verifi'd in the Soveraign Courts Commissioners shall be Named by his Majesty to see that the said Execution be better perform'd the one a Catholick the other of the said Religion and in Case the said Execution be left to the Bailiffs and Seneschals or their Lieutenants they shall take an Associate of the same Religion according to the Answer given to the Writing answer'd in August 1602. IV. That for the Execution thereof when it shall be necessary and requir'd by the said Religion that two Commissioners be appointed by his Majesty out of every Province the one a Catholick the other to be nominated by those of the Province if those of the Religion think it not more Convenient to leave the Execution of it to the Bailiffs and Seneschals or their Deputies Who according to the Answer return'd to the second Article of the Writing answer'd in August 1602. shall be bound to take an Associate of the same Religion who shall be nominated by those of the said Religion within the said Bailiwicks and Seneschalships Nothing may be alter'd in the VIIth Article of the Edict of Nantes which it is his Majesties Meaning and Pleasure shall be observ'd V. That according to the VIIth Article of the Edict which permits all Lords of High Jurisdiction to settle the Exercise of the said Religion within the extent of their High Jurisdictions it shall be lawful for the Communities of the said Churches to establish the said exercise within the Fiefs and High Jurisdictions that belong to 'em or which they may hereafter purchase The IX and X. Article of the Edict shall be upheld and observ'd VI. That the said Exercise may be continu'd according to the IX and X. Articles of the Edict in all Places where it was in the Years 77. and 97. in such Manner as it was then observ'd even by the Authority inherent in the Jurisdiction tho' the Lord of the Mannor may have afterwards chang'd his Religion or that the Lordship may be fallen into the Possession of a Catholick thô an Ecclesiastick and that it may be restor'd where it has been taken away for those Reasons The Commissioners who shall be sent into the Provinces shall have Instructions to inform themselves whether the Exercises of the said Religion had been settl'd in the said Places for so many Years and why they were not restor'd that such course may be taken as shall be according to Reason VII And for as much as by Vertue of the X. Article the said Service ought to be restor'd in Reols Port Sainte Marie Lauserte Sainte Basville and others of the same Nature where it was settl'd in September 1577. and for that because of the long Discontinuance and other Inconveniences it would be a difficult thing to restore it without some danger of a Sedition therefore that his Majesty would be pleas'd instead of those Places to grant 'em others to be appointed by the Synods and Colloquies of the Province for the removal of their exercise thither The King cannot allow the Petitioners to take any other Title upon 'em then that which was giv'n 'em by the Edicts Therefore his Majesty Orders that in all Publick Acts they shall use the Terms exprest in the Edict of Nantes as is set down in the Answer given to the II. Article of the Writing answer'd April 8. 1609. VIII That they of the said Religion may not be constrain'd in any Acts either Publick or Private by Writing or otherwise to stile themselves of the pretended Reformed Religion The Deceased King having declar'd by his Letters Patents dated July 5. 1604. that the said Ministers should not be comprehended in Taxes or other Impositions upon their moveable Goods their Pensions and Salaries but only for their proper Estates 'T is his Majesties Pleasure that they enjoy the Contents of the said Letters Patents and strictly forbids all Assessors of Parishes to rate 'em upon those Accompts and in respect of their proper Goods not to surcharge 'em as they will answer for it in their own proper Persons of which the Elu's shall take Care under the same Penalties IX That the Ministers of the said Religion may enjoy as to the Imposition of Taxes Loans Aids Duties upon Salt and all other Subsidies as well ordinary as extraordinary the same Exemption which the Ecclesiasticks of the Kingdom enjoy The XVI Article shall be observ'd and Orders are given to that Purpose to the Commissioners deputed to see that they of the said Religion enjoy the Benefit of it by certifying the Loss of the Deeds and Possessions which they held in those Places X. That by the XV. Article of the Edict all the Towns and Places belonging to the Communities of those of the said Religion as also those for the Interrment of their Dead may be restor'd ' em And where they cannot by Authentick Titles justifie their Propriety to 'em that the only Proof of having formerly enjoy'd 'em may suffice for their being restor'd to the Possession of 'em in regard the said Deeds were lost during and by Reason of the Troubles The XVII Article of the said Edict shall be exactly observ'd and in pursuance of it all Preachers Readers and others who speak in publick are injoyn'd not to use any Words or Discourses tending to excite the People to Sedition and Animosities one against the other but to Curb and Behave themselves modestly and to say nothing but what tends to the Instruction and Edification of their Hearers and to preserve the publick Repose and Tranquility under the Penalties mentioned in the Edict XI That his Majesty would be pleased according to the XVII Article of the Edict to inflict exemplary Punishment upon Preachers Confessors and other Ecclesiasticks who move the People to Sedition Blaming and Forbidding all Society Acquaintance and Communication with those of the said Religion forbidding people to employ assist serve 'em or nurse their little Children by teaching that all who frequent their Company are damn'd And where such Preachers and Confessors shall absent themselves before they can be impleaded that the Bishops Curates and others their Superiours by whom they were introduc'd may be responsable for 'em Enjoyning the Advocates General and their Substitutes to be assisting upon pain of being answerable for it in their own Names and Persons and upon Penalty of being depriv'd of their Offices The XX. Article of the Edct shall it observ'd And
cannot be alter'd nevertheless the Ecdesiasticks who have chang'd their Religion presenting their Petition to his Majesty care shall be taken as Reason requires XXXI And because that instead of making a New Regulation between the Courts of Parliament and the Chambers according to the LXIII Article of the Edict the said Chambers for the most part have observ'd several Regulations made in the Years 78. and 79. which allow not the Priviledge of Appealing to the Chambers but to those who six Months before made Profession of the Religion that the said Limitation may be taken off from those Chambers where it is observ'd and in causing all the Suits of those of the said Religion to be indifferently heard in the said Chambers when they shall require it more especially which shall embrace the said Religion de novo ' Tiâ a Favour to grant it to the Heirs after the Cause has been contested with the Decedsed to whom they have sacceeded But 't is his Majesty's Pleasure and Command that such an Alteration of the Judges may not be made fraudulently and in respect of such as make over their Estates in Trust who have no Right but by a particular Title their Renouncers having voluntarily Contested the Point otherwhere they shall not be admitted any more to avoid Abuses and Frauds which may be committed by those who have a Mind to trouble and vex their Plantiffs unjustly XXXII In like manner that they of the said Religion who are Heirs or having a right or cause of Suit with others who would willingly have had it Contested in Parliament may if they think it convenient referr their Controverted Points and differences to the said Chambers of the Edict notwithstanding the said Contest made by their Authors as has been adjudg'd in several particular Cases by his Majesties Council Forreigners who desire to enjoy this Priviledge shall be bound to Address themselves to the King who will take Care as well of the Interest of his Subjects as for the Gratification of Forreigners XXXIII That Forreigners Trading and Trafficking within the Kingdom and Professing the said Religion may enjoy the same Priviledges and cause their differences to be remov'd to the said Chambers every one within their proper Jurisdiction This Article is granted at to the Instruction but not to allow a Definitive Voice to the Associates what they are to Judge XXXIV That in all Informations and Instructions for criminal Processes and Inditements brought against those of the Religion the Judge as well Royal as Inferiour if he be a Catholick may be bound to take an Associate of the said Religion who has taken his Degrees or at least a Pleader to be present at all the Proceedings and who shall have a Definitive Voice in the Judgment of the Process upon Pain of Nullity and this throughout all Bailiwicks and Seneschalships in the Kingdom and not particularly in those that are specifi'd in the 66. Article of the Edict Nothing can be alter'd from the Method establish'd by the Edict of Names to avoid great delays trouâââ and expences to which the Parties could be constrain'd were they to have recourse to the Chambers which are ââân very remote one from another Besides that the same Equality ought to be show'd to the Catholicks as to chose of the Religion in that particular Vnless in respect of those Proâânces where the contrary has been allow'd by special Priviledge XXXV That what is granted by the LXVII Article of the Edict to the Provinces of Guienne Languedoc Provence and Dauphinate upon the Judgment of Competitions in the Chambers of the Edict may for the same Reason be extended to all those of the other Provinces of the Kingdom When Fathers and Mothers have provided their Will and Judgment shal be observ'd Otherwise the Law ââd general Custom of the Kingdom Nevertheless without acting any thing prejudicial or contrary to the Edict made in Favour of those of the Religion XXXVI That Children whose Fathers and Mothers dy'd in the said Religion without having provided Tutors and Guardians according to the LVIII Article of Particulars may be put into the Hands of Tutors to be bred up and instructed in the said Religion His Majesty will not refuse this Favour to those of the said Religion for Offices in Cases wherein he permits we some to his Catholick Officers reserving always to himself only the Choice and Nomination of the Persons XXXVII That it may please his Majesty not to admit the Resignations of Presidents and Counsellours upon whom Employments have been conferr'd Gratis at the Nomination of the Churches to serve in the said Chambers but in Favour of those who shall be nam'd to 'em by the said Churches 'T is for the King alone to grant Letters of Reprisal nor is it lawful for any of his Officers to give ' em The Judges and Officers may draw up Verbal Reports to show the Justice of the Cause for his Majesty afterwards to do as he shall think reasonable XXXVIII That the Agreements made between those of the Religion and the Catholicks of the County of Venisse may be fulfill'd according to their Form and Tenour and that according to those after the requisite Solemnities the Officers of the Places may be permitted to give Right of Reprisal to those of the Religion to whom Justice has been deny'd more especially to the Lady of Drelandre not withstanding the Derogatorie affix'd to the Ll. Article of Particulars which they beseech his Majesty may be taken away and Cancell'd The Brevets of which the Confirmation is requir'd shall be presented and being seen his Majesty will do what is reasonable XXXIX And for as much as there are several Brevets granted to the Churches as well in the Year 98. as afterwards which his Majesty confirm'd at his coming to the Crown they humbly beseech him that they may enjoy the Contents of the said Brevets by putting in Execution what has not yet been done and causing amends to be made for what has been done prejudicial to the said Brevets Vacancy happening by Death shall be provided for according and in Conformity to the said Brevet XL. To these ends may it please his Majesty according to the Brevet of the last of April 1598. to conferr Gratis upon two Persons of the said Religion two Offices of Masters of Requests of his Houshold upon the Nomination of the Churches and to this purpose to erect two Offices of a new Creation upon the two first Vacancies happening by Death His Majesty is not bound to encrease the said Summ. Nevertheless he will consider which way to gratifie 'em as far as the conveniency of his Affairs will permit XLI And for as much as the Summ of sevenscore and five thousand Livres which the Deceased King granted for the payment of the Ministers is nothing near sufficient for the payment of all the Ministers that are settl'd in the Churches of this Kingdom may it please his Majesty to provide for the easing of the Churches
by Ordering a sufficient Fund for the Salaries of the said Ministers But as to the Arrears for defect of value there is no Reason for demanding 'em seeing that all the Assigns in those Years for what cause soever it were have suffer'd the same Inconveniance without having since received any Reimbursement upon that occasion XLII And for as much as the said sevenscore and five thousand Livres were promis'd without any defect of value which has been so ill observ'd that there have been great abatements in the Assignations of every Year may it please his Majesty that the said Churches may be reassign'd the summs which those defects amount to according to the allowances of the accompts receiv'd by the Receivers and before the Commissioners deputed by his Majesty The Places which have been put into their Hands for their Security are Nam'd and Comprehended in a Catalogue dated May 14. 1598. Sign'd by the Deceased King and underneath Neufville with which his Majesty is Contented And as a Testimony of his good Will toward 'em has granted 'em the keeping of 'em for five Years longer to Commence from the day of the Date of the Brevet which shall be given ' em And as for those that are comprehended under the Name of Marriage the Deceased King having never left 'em to be held under the Title and Quality of places of Security His Majesty will not neither is it his meaning that they should be comprehended among the Places of Securtiy but grants after the Example of his Deceased Majesty that the same Grace and Favour shall be shew'd 'em as formerly has been without any Innovation and all those other Places which they demand the King cannot grant ' em XLIII They also beseech his Majesty to leave all those Places which they hold at present in the custody of those of the Religion and this for the time and space of ten Years to commence from the day that the five Years formerly granted shall expire and to cause a new Brief to be given 'em ordaining that all the said Places may remain in their hands as well those that are specifi'd in the Roll of the Year 98. and those that were comprehended in others by form of Marriage as those which belong to the Particulars wherein Garrisons were kept by the Particular Rolls drawn up by his Majesty What was promis'd by the Deceased King shall be effectually made good nor shall any thing be innovated or alter'd Or if it were done Order shall be taken by the Commissioners upon the Places according to the Instructions which shall be given 'em for that purpose XLIV That it may be express'd in the said Writ that in all other Places which they hold and where there have been no Garrisons settl'd by the said Rolls there shall be nothing innovated or alter'd to the Prejudice of those of the said Religion and that where any Innovation or Alteration has been made since the Year 1568. that there may be full satisfaction given for it The Deceased King declar'd his Will several times to those of the said Religion in reference to Caumont and Montandrè from which his Majesty cannot depart and as for Tartas and Mont de Marsan they shall be provided with Persons of the said Religion according to the Deceased Kings Brevet XLV That the Towns of Caumont Tartas Mont de Marsan Montandré and others which have been taken from 'em since 98. and which they shall specifie more particularly may be restor'd to ' em The Summ contain'd in the Roll of the Deceased King for the payment of the said Garrisons with which those of the Religion have been hitherto contented shall be pai'd for the Future and assign'd upon the clearest Mony in the Receipts to the end they may receive it without Abatements But his Majesty cannot augment it the Summ of 54000. Livers having been abated ever since the Decensed King lessen'd the Garrisons which were in the Places held by the Catholicks His Majesty thinking it necessary so to do to stop the just complaints that might have been made when all the Garrisons in the Catholicks Cities were lessen'd by Reason of the Peace which the Kingdom happily enjoy'd there should have been left in the Cities held by those of the Religion as numerous as they were in the time of War and that the Subjects liv'd in distrust one of another nor there being no Reason to demand the Arrears for what was past seeing that the Cities and Places for the Preservation of which that Money was given have been so well guarded that nothing has fallen out amiss add to this that the Deceased King for the same Reason had always rejected ââââ Demand And as to the Pensioââ his Majesty will Order it as alââââ has been done to gratifie those of the said Religion who shall deserve iâ by their Services and Fidelity inââding also to augment 'em to shew his Afection and good Will as he shall give 'em to understand XLVI That from hence forward they may have their Assignations every Year upon the first and least incumber'd Money of the Receipts of every Province where the said Garrisons are settl'd or from neighbouring Town to neighbouring Town according to the Brevet of the last of April 98. for the entire summ of 540. thousand Livers which was promis'd 'em by the said Brevet and to this purpose that the Money substracted from the said summ to be laid out in Pensions may be remitted in the entire summ and distribution made of it according to the Rolls Decreed by his Majesty as they shall be presented to him by the Churches and this without any abatement or being employ'd to any other use XLVII And for as much as there have not been any entire Assignments of the said summ of 540. thousand Livres a Year and for that at the same time that they were assign'd they still fell very short to the prejudice of the said Brevet may it please his Majesty to cause the abatements and what fell short of the entire summ from the Year 98. till this day be assign'd in full The Answer to the two preceding Articles may suffice for this XLVIII In like manner to cause an Assignation for the Garrisons of the Dauphinate of the entire summ which was assign'd by the Roll drawn up in the said Year 1589. in pursuance of the said Brevet and to cause a Reassignation of the Retrenchments and of what fell short since the Year 1589. The City and Castle of Orange have been restor'd to the Prince of Orange ââ whom they belong by Vertue of the Peace of Vervins True it is that the Majesty oblig'd him upon the surââââing back of those Places to declare in Favour of those of the said Religion as he has done with which they of the said Religion in the said City were well content XLIX That according to the Assurances which were given by his Majesty at the Assembly of Charellerand in the Year 1605. that the Castle of
left us then by imitating his Example who had rais'd it from extream Desolation to the Highest Pitch of Splendour Wherein we have so happily succeeded that no occasion of complaint has presented it self to us for which we have not provided as well to the Content of our Subjects as it was possible for us to do and particularly those of the pretended Reformed Religion as well by the Answers which we have order'd to be given to their Remonstrances which they have presented to us as by sending Persons of Quality into all the Provinces of this Kingdom with Commission and Power to see executed the Edict of Nantes the Private Articles Regulations and other Conâessions granted during the Reign of our Deceased Lord and Father âs to whatever yet remain'd farther to be executed And by this means to remove all Apprehensions under pretence of which any of our said Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion were Licenc'd to hold extraordinary Assemblies without our Permission which would have rais'd Fears and Jealousies in others against which we are willing to provide for the maintaining of Peace Union and a right Understanding happily settl'd among 'em and preserv'd by the said Edict and the exact Observation thereof with the Advice and in the Presence of the Queen Regent our thrice honoured Lady and Mother the Princes of the Blood other Princes and Officers of the Crown being fully inform'd and assur'd of the good in general of our said Subjects their Zeal and Fidelity in their Obedience towards us and desiring also that they should be favourably us'd have of our special Grace and Favour full Power and Royal Authority remitted and abolish'd and by these Presents do remit and abolish the Offence by them committed who call'd and were present at the same Assemblies held without our Permission in any of the Provinces of this our Kingom as also whatever past before and since We will that they be wholly and fully discharg'd of the same and we expresly forbid our Advocate General or his Substitutes to make any Inquisition or Prosecution after the same Nevertheless to the end we may take care that no Assemblies for the Future be so licentiously call'd as being expresly prohibited by our Edicts and the Regulations upon these Matters by the Deceased King our thrice Honoured Lord and Father to which it is ouâ Pleasure that all our said Subjects should conform themselves according to the 82d Article of the Edict of Nantes and the ordinary Article of the 16. of March 1606. together with the Answer made the 19 of August ensuing to the Paper presented by the General Deputies of those of the said Religion the extracts of which are hereunto annex'd under the Seal of our Chancery have made and do make Inhibitions and Prohibitions to all our Subjects of the said Religion for the Future to summon any Congregations or Assemblies to Consult or Treat therein of any Politick Affairs without express leave first from us obtain'd upon Pain of being punish'd as breakers of the Edicts and disturbers of the Publick Peace Granting 'em nevertheless full Liberty to call and hold Provincial and National Colloquies and Synods according to what has been formerly granted 'em yet so as not to admit into 'em any other Persons then the Ministers and Elders there to Treat of their Doctrine and Ecclesiastical Discipline only upon Pain of Forfeiting the Priviledges of holding those Assemblies and answering for it by their Moderators in their proper Persons and Names So we send to you that you cause these Presents to be Read and Register'd and that all our said Subjects may enjoy the Benefit of what is contain'd therein and farther that you cause these our said Present Letters to be exactly perform'd and observ'd through the full extent of your Jurisdictions without permitting or suffering any Breach or Infringement thereof Farther we command and enjoyn the Governours and our Lieutenant Generals particular Governours and Lieutenants in the Government of the Provinces and Cities within the extent of your Jurisdiction their Mayors Jurats Sheriffs and Consuls to take special care of the same And to the first of our faithful and beloved Counsellours the Master of the ordinary Requests of our Houshold Counsellours of our said Court of Parliament residing upon the Places and others our Justices and Officers with the soonest to inform and give us notice of all the said Breaches and in the mean time to proceed against the Offenders by the usual Ways and according to the Tenour of the Edicts and Ordinances For such is our Will and Pleasure Given at Paris April 24. 1612. and in the second Year of our Reigns LOVIS And lower by the King being in Council De Lomenie Seal'd with the Great Seal of Yellow Wax upon a single Label Register'd Heard and the Kings Advocate moving for it without the Approbation of the Cognisance attributed to the Masters of the Requests of the Houshold that are not within the Terms of the Ordinances At Paris in Parlament May 25. 1612. Sign'd Voisin A Declaration of the King in Favour of those of the Pretended Reformed Religion confirming the Preceding Declaration of April 24. Given at Paris July 11. 1612. and veriâia August 8. LEWIS by the Grace of God King of France and Navarr to all our Beloved and Faithful Counsellours holding our Court of Parlament at Paris Greeting Thoô we have sufficiently made known by our Letters Patents of the 13th of April last past what our Intention was toward the generality of our Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion of whose Affection and Fidelity we have always had an entire Assurance And thô the Pardon and Amnesty contain'd in our said Letters Patents were not sent but at the Instance and Supplication of some particular Persons of the said Religion who fear'd to be prosecuted for that contrary to the Edicts and Ordinances they met in Assemblies held contrary to our Permission and other Acts since committed and among others the Listing of Souldiers without our Authority to free 'em from Suspition and the Trouble they were in upon that occasion there being some amongst 'em against whom Informations have been exhibited in some Chambers of the Edict nevertheless we are given to understand that this Favour has been taken by some of the Religion for a desire to lay some blemish upon the Generality of 'em and not for a Gracious Remedy ordain'd for particular Persons who prudently Judg'd how much they stood in need of it For these Reasons with the Advice of the Queen Regent our thrice Honoured Lady and Mother the Princes of our Blood other Peers and Officers of the Crown and Principal Members of our Council being desirous to take away all pretence from all Persons whatever who may have any evil Intention and to satisfie our good Subjects of the Reformed Religion who adding to their Zeal for their Religion that Obedience which is due to us have no other aim or design then to enjoy in âeare
and Quiet the Benefit of the Edicts made in their behalf In which number far the greater are comprehended those who have more Power and Authority to be assisting in upholding the Publick Tranquillity We have said and declar'd and once more do say and declaâe by these Presents by way of Explanation of what is contain'd in our said Letters Patents of April last that we are very well satisfi'd and contented with our Subjects of the pretended Reformed Religion in General And upon that Consideration we have altogether buried in Oblivion the Offences which the said particular Persons might have committed contrary and to the prejudice of our Edicts Nor will we that any thing be imputed to 'em nor that upon this occasion any Blame or Blemish be fasten'd upon 'em for the Future provided they continue hence forward within the Bounds of their Duty Obedience and Fidelity toward us and prove as exact observers of the Laws Edicts and Ordinances made to the end that all our Subjects may live in Peace Repose and Amity one with another So we Will and Command that you cause these Presents to be Read Publish'd and Register'd in your Registers that our said Subjects of the said Religion may fully peaceably and without any Molestation or Impeachment enjoy the Benefit of the Contents For such is our Will and Pleasure Given at Paris July 11. 1612. and the third of our Reign Sign'd Lewis By the King the Queen Regent his Mother being present De Lomenie And Seal'd with Yellow Wax upon a single Label Register'd after being heard and upon the Motion of the Kings Advocate General At Paris in Parlament August 8. 1612. A Declaration of the King and Confirmation of the Edict of Nantes given at Paris December 15. 1612. and verifi'd January 2. 16â3 LEwis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarr To all c. The extream desire we have had ever since our coming to the Crown for which we continually implore the Blessing of God and for which the Queen Regent our thrice Honour'd Lady and Mother has always most sedulously labour'd has been to take care to maintain and preserve all our Subjects in Peace Tranquillity and Repose and in good Friendship Union and Concord one with another as being the Principal Foundation of the welfare of this Kingdom To this purpose from the Time that it pleas'd God to visit us with the fatal Accident that befel us through the Death of the Deceased King our thrice Honour'd Lord and Father of glorious Memory we resolv'd to imitate and follow the same Methods which he took to attain the same ends and having observ'd that after he had by his Valour restor'd this Kingdom to its Ancient Splendour he with a great deal of care Labour and Prudence and for a Foundation of an assur'd Repose and an entire Reconciliation between all his Subjects as also to remove from those who profess'd the pretended Reformed Religion all occasion of Fear and Distrust for the Liberty of their Persons Consciences Honour and Families made and ordain'd what is compriz'd in his Edict giv'n at Nantes in April 1598. by the Observation of which and of the Secret Articles he had happily rul'd and govern'd his People in Peace till his Decease therefore one of our first Actions which we were willing to do in this Kingdom has been to set forth our Letters of Declaration of the 22. of May 1610. containing a Confirmation of the said Edict and of the Secret Articles Regulations and Decrees set forth by way of Explanation and for the putting the same in Execution which we sent at the same instant to all our Parlaments to be there verifi'd and sometime after we resolv'd to send into all the Provinces of our Kingdom some of the Principal Members of our Council and other Persons well qualifi'd chosen by our selves as well Catholicks as of the pretended Reformed Religion to cement and corroborate the Establishment and Execution of the said Edict and favours granted in pursuance of it having ever since continu'd to give that Assistance toward it that could be expected from our Care and Authority But it has so fallen out that our good Intentions have not had that successful Effect that we could have desir'd among all our Subjects Some of whom and of those of the pretended Reformed Religion through Suspitions too lightly conceiv'd of adverse Occurrences are enter'd into Jealousies and Mistrusts one of another Whence it has follow'd that they have begun to double their Guards make Provision of Arms Levy Souldiers hold Assemblies and Councils and to do other things quite contrary to the Tenour and Observation of the said Edict To which however we are willing to believe 'em to have been induc'd by some âears which they have conceiv'd of themselves and upon ââlâe Suspitions and Pretences thô rot out of any ill Will or bad Intentions Having always found the Generality of those of the Reformed Religion extreamly well affected to the good of our Service and firm and constant in that reverence Fidelity and Respect which they owe to us But in regard this Mischief may draw after it dangerous Consequences we thought it necessary to provide against it to re-establish the good Friendship Correspondence and Society which ought to be alike among all our said Subjects for the maintaining of their common Repose which cannot be done more assuredly then by an exact Observation of the said Edict Secret Articles Briefs and other Acts made in pursuance of it As also by giving new Assurances to all our said Subjects of the said pretended Reformed Religion of our good Intentions in their behalf and of our Intentions to preserve maintain protect 'em and cause 'em to enjoy all the Favours and Concessions which have been decreed 'em as well by the Edict as since that time as they did in the Life-time of the Deceased King till his Death For these Reasons and others Us moving after we had caus'd this Matter to be debated in Council where was the Queen Regent with the Princes of our Blood and other Princes several Officers of the Crown and Principal Counsellours of our Council with the Advice of them we have said and declar'd and we say and declare and it is our Will and Pleasure that the abovesaid Edict of Names together with our Declaration of the 22. of May 1610. with the Private Articles Regulations Decrees and other Letters set forth in pursuance of them either by way of Explanation or for the better Execution of the same may be read de novo and publish'd in all our Courts of Parlament and Seats of Judicature under their Jurisdiction having to that end and as much as need requires confirm'd 'em as we do again Confirm 'em by these presents Sign'd with our hand We Will and Ordain that the whole may be fulfill'd and inviolably observ'd without any Breach oâ Infringement whatsoever in any manner whatever Also for as much as the Breaches which have been
great a Mischief it is our Pleasure and we ordain that all the said Edicts Ordinances and Declarations made by the Deceased King and by our selves upon occasion of the said Duels Combats and Encounters shall be inviolably observ'd for the Future and fulfill'd and observ'd according to their Form and Tenour nor shall they who shall presume to infringe our Commands hereafter so much as hope or expect from us any Favour or Pardon upon any excuse pretence occasion or consideration whatever And we enjoin all our Officers to proceed against the Offenders with the utmost Rigour of our Laws without any Exception of Persons And our Advocate Generals and their Substitutes to make all necessary Prosecutions against such Malefactours Considering also that the Divine Majesty is greatly offended with Oaths and execrable Blasphemies which are utter'd daily by several Persons against the Edicts and Ordinances made by the Kings our Predecessours We have ordain'd and do ordain that the said Edicts and Ordinances shall be Publish'd de novo that no Body may pretend Ignorance And we enjoin all our Judges and Officers within their several Jurisdictions upon pain of losing their Offices to proceed against the Offenders with the utmost Rigour contain'd in the same with which thy shall not dispense upon any Cause whatever upon Pain of being responsible to us in their own Names and Persons Farther we Command our Advocates General and their Substitutes to use all requisite Diligence in the Execution of these Presents Given at Paris October 1. 1614. and the Fifth of our Reign Sign'd Lewis By the King in Council De Lomenie The King with all his Court repairing to his Palace sitting in his Throne of Justice all the Court of Parlament assembl'd in their Scarlet Robes the Speeches made the Chancellor pronounc'd the Decree of Verification which was transcrib'd afterwards upon the folding of the Letters Read Publish'd and Register'd upon the Hearing and Motion of the Kings Advocate General At Paris in Parlament the King there sitting October 2. 1614. A Declaration of the King purporting the renewing all the Edicts of Pacification Articles granted Regulations and Decrees depending upon ' em Publish'd in Parlament the last of April 1615. LEWIS by the Grace of God King of France and Navarr To all c. Immediately after our coming to the Crown the Queen our Thrice Honour'd Lady and Mother then Regent of the Kingdom during our Minority prudently judg'd that there was nothing which ought to be more dear to her then the Preservation of the Publick Peace and that for the Enjoyment of this Happiness and to cause our Subjects to live in Amity one with another it was necessary to confirm the Edicts Declarations and all other Writings and Dispatches granted by the King Deceas'd our thrice Honour'd Lord and Father whom God Absolve to our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion on purpose to let 'em know that she was desirous to follow the Example and Conduct of a Prince who had so happily rul'd and govern'd his Kingdom and advanc'd so high the Grandeur and Reputation of it by his Wisdom and Matchless Valour that she knew not how to take a better course or more wholsome Counsel then that which he made use of Which she did by a Declaration Publish'd in all the Parlaments and in other Places where it was necessary taking the same care also to see it Publish'd And when she receiv'd any complaint of Breaches that were pretended to be made to the Prejudice of the same did all that lay within the Verge of her Power and Authority to cause amends to be made This Conduct which she us'd in all her Actions and Deportment in the Government of the Kingdom having been the true Cause next to Gods Assistance to keep all our Subjects united in Affection Fidelity and Obedience toward us and in Friendship one among another Which has also mov'd us after the Declaration of our Majority to beseech her that she would be pleas'd to continue with the same Affection and Vigilance to assist us with Her good Counsels in the same manner and with the same Authority as if the Administration of the Government were still in Her hands In pursuance whereof by Her Advice as soon as we enter'd into our Majority we set forth a Declaration in favour of our Subjects of the Religion the same in Substance with the former to let 'em always see that our Intention and Desire was to promote Friendship and Peace among our Subjects and inviolably to observe our Edicts And being very sorry for the Contention and Dispute that happen'd between the Catholick Deputies of the Chamber of the Nobility and some others of the said Religion assembl'd in the General States held in our good City of Paris upon this occasion that the said Catholick Deputies had put the Question and came to a Resolution that we should be Petition'd to preserve the Catholick Apostolick Roman Religion according to the Oath which we took at our Coronation a needless Proposal or rather altogether unprofitable considering that we our selves profess it with an unshaken Constancy and Resolution to live and dye in it So that we must believe that the Proposal was not made by them but only to testifie their Zeal and Affection for the Catholick Religion and not to give offence to any Body as first they separately declar'd to us and afterwards all together protesting that they desir'd the Observation of the Peace as Establish'd by the Edicts And that we would be pleas'd to await and expect from Divine Goodness the Reunion of all our Subjects to the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion by the means most usual and customary in the Church Being fully perswaded by experience of what is past that violent Remedies have only serv'd to encrease the number of those that are departed from the Church instead of teaching 'em the way to return to it Therefore to take away all evil Impressions out of the Minds of our good Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion who profess it with a Zeal no less Pure and Innocent then remote from all Faction and Evil Design As also all Pretences from whosoever seeks 'em to disturb the Repose of the Kingdom we thought it our Duty upon this to declare what is our Will and Pleasure For these Reasons we make known that having consider'd of this matter in our Council where were present the Queen our thrice Honour'd Lady and Mother the Princes of our Blood c. We have with their Advice said declar'd and ordain'd say declare and ordain and it is our Will and Pleasure by these Presents that all the Edicts Declarations and Private Articles ordain'd in Favour of tââse of the Pretended Reformed Religion as well by our Deceased Lord and Father as by our selves together with the Regulations and other Letters or Decrees given in their Favour by way of Explanation and for the Execution of the Edict of Nantes and in pursuance of iâ shall
be inviolably kept and observ'd and the Offenders punish'd with the utmost Rigour of the Laws as Disturbers of the Publick Peace To this purpose we enjoin all our Officers to be carefully assisting upon Pain of being answerable and punish'd for their Negligence or Connivance with the same Severity as the Offenders The same Injunctions and Commands we lay upon our Beloved and Faithful Counsellors c. to see that these presents be Read and Publish'd c. For such is our Will and Pleasure In Testimony whereof we have caus'd our Seal to be affix'd Given at Paris March 5. 1615. and fifth of our Reign Sign'd Lewis By the King De Lomenie Seal'd with the Great Seal of Yellow Wax upon a double Label Read Publish'd and Register'd upon the Motion of the Kings Advocate General and Order'd to be sent to the Bayliwicks and Seneschal ships to be there Publish'd and Register'd and carefully observ'd by the Advocate Generals Substitutes who shall certifie the Court of their Sedulity within a Month upon Pain of answering in their own Names At Paris in the Parlament April the last 1615. Sign'd Voisin A Declaration of the King upon Arms being taken by some of his Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion containing a new Confirmation of the Edicts and Declarations formerly made in Favour of those of the Religion Given at Bourdeaux November 10. 1615. and Publish'd at Paris in Parlament December 7. the same Year LEwis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarr To all c. The Declarations set forth and reiterated by us since our coming to the Crown in Confirmation of the Edicts Declarations Brevets Decrees and Regulations made in favour of our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion during the Reign of the Deceased King Henry the Great our thrice Honour'd Lord and Father whom God Absolve have been sufficient to make it known that it has been always our Intention and Desire to cause them to be inviolably observ'd as being Laws requisite to preserve our Subjects in Peace and Friendship one with another and in their Obedience and Duty toward ourselves Which being well and prudently consider'd by the Queen our thrice Honour'd Lady and Mother she during her Regency took great care to see 'em observ'd and that the Breaches and Infringements thereof should be repair'd so soon as she receiv'd the Complaints We have also since our Majority follow'd the same Counsels and in Imitation of Her have accumulated New Gratifications and Favours many times also conniv'd at Extravagancies and Violences committed by some of 'em thô they deserv'd very great and severe Punishment out of an Intention always to assure 'em of our good Will and favour and by that means to render 'em more inclinable and more studious to keep themselves within the bounds of their Duty To which would they but have added the remembrance of the kind and favourable Usage which they receiv'd at the hands of the Deceased King our thrice Honour'd Lord and Father to whose Memory they owe the Confirmation of their Liberty and the Exercise of their Religion which they enjoy with all Security they would out of a praise-worthy Gratitude and the Duty of an entire Obedience and Fidelity have acknowledg'd to our selves all those Obligations at a time especially when the Innocence and weakness of our Infant Years ought to have excited the Vertue Courage and Fidelity of all our good Subjects to defend and preserve the Authority which God has put into our Hands upon which alone depends the Publick Security and the particular Safety of every Private Person Nevertheless this Conduct thô full of Goodness and Mildness has prov'd no way beneficial to us several having betaken themselves to Arms against us to favour the Commotion began by our Cousin the Prince of Condè Among whom there are some who make use of Religion as a specious Pretence to cover and Cloak their Ambition and furious desire of advancing themselves upon the Disorders and Ruins of the Kingdom others have been misled and deceiv'd by false Impressions and vain Fears which the former have infus'd into 'em that they were in danger of Persecution if they did not speedily join Arms with 'em for their own Preservation making them believe the better to surprize their simplicity that upon the Marriages with Spain secret Articles were made and a Conspiracy enter'd into to expell 'em out of the Kingdom To which they too easily giving Credit have precipitated themselves into this enterprize believing themselves to be constrain'd thereto for their just and necessary defence which renders their fault ââe more excusable and rather meriting Compassion then Punishment But they had not run themselves into this inconvenience had they better consider'd that this âame Impudent and Malicious Lye was without any appearance of Truth there being no Body so void of Sence and Judgment that believe since the Alliances were sought by honourable ways on both sides as has been accustom'd among great Princes that Conditions should have been requested or desir'd by us which could not be fulfill'd without plunging the Kingdom into Fire and Sword and laying it waste with Depopulation As questionless it would have fallen out by breaking the Edicts of Pacification and so severe and unjust a usage of our Subjects of the Religion as they give out by a lye Artificially invented and with a very wicked design For nothing has been done privately in the pursuit and resolving upon those Alliances but every thing has been Publick seen imparted concluded and decreed with our Deceased Cousin the Count of Soissons a wise Prince and of solid Years and great Experience with our Cousin the Prince of Condè and other Princes Lords Officers of the Crown and most eminent Persons of our Council then about us Among whom our Cousin the Marshal de Bouillon was always present having altogether unanimously approv'd these Alliances without the least Opposition of any one every one being free to think and speak what he thought in his Conscience most profitable for the good of the Kingdom without fear of offending us or incurring our displeasure forasmuch as neither the Queen then Regent nor we our selves had the least prejudice in our Minds but only a desire to be satisfi'd what was most expedient to be done in a debate of that Importance All Soveraigns who think it their Interest to preserve the Ancient Reputation and Grandeur of this Kingdom having likewise acknowledg'd thâse Alliances never to have been made with any evil design have had no suspition or distrust of 'em after they were inform'd that our Intention was to make 'em serviceable as much as in us lay toward the securing of the peace of Christendom not for any enterprise or Invasion of the Countreys or Kingdoms of any Princes or Soveraigns whatever much less to interrupt the Peace and Repose which all our Subjects happily enjoy'd before this Commotion began Nevertheless they of the Pretended Reformed Religion who have taken Arms
Catholicks as well Ecclesiasticks as others may make their abodes there and securely continue Divine Worship the King protecting 'em from those of the Pretended Reformed Religion who shall be responsible VIII The Lady Dandoux and the Sieur de St. Foy together with those who assisted 'em shall be wholly discharg'd from all that may be lay'd to their charge by reason of what was done at Belestat in 1615. Which shall be extinguish'd cancell'd and abolish'd nor shall they be bound to put themselves into a Condition for the allowance of the Favour or discharge which has been or shall be expedited for 'em from which they shall be totally acquitted and Exonerated at the Charge also of the civil Interest if it so fall out And that the Inhabitants who profess the Pretended Reformed Religion may abide there with all saftly and freedom and enjoy the Exercise of their Religion as is permitted 'em by the Edicts which shall remain in the Custody of the Catholicks IX The Sieur d' Ardon shall be restor'd to the Government of the City of Vennes which Re-establishment shall be made good by the Governour and Lieutenant General of the Province X. The Declaration which has been set forth in favour of the Sieur de Borne to the prejudice of the Employment of the Grand Master of the Artillery shall be revok'd and the said Employment restor'd back with the same Authority and Functions as the Grand Masters enjoy'd who Exercis'd it formerly XI The Sieurs Marquiss of Bonuiver and Friaise shall be releas'd and set at Liberty and all Informations and Proceedings against 'em by reason of the present Troubles shall be made Null and of no Effect XII M. Nicolas Cugnois Provincial Receiver of the Tithes of Burgundy in Burgundy shall be discharg'd together with his Bail and his Ensurers of the Summ of 21000 Livers which he was constrain'd to pay to the Duke of Mayenne being as well the Mony of the said Receipt of Tithes as of the Consignation which he was forc'd to pay to the Chatelet of Paris for the purchase of the said Office or the Remainder of the Years during which it was to be enjoy'd Nor shall the said Cugnois be bound to report any Verbal Process of the said Constraint with which he is dispens'd according to the Declaration which the Duke of Maine set forth acknowledging the Receipt of the said 21000 Livers from the said Cugnois and its being laid out in the Affairs of the War and of which the said Cugnois shall be absolutely acquitted and clear'd as to the Receiver General of the Clergy of France as also of the Consignations of the said Chatelet and all other Summs by vertue of the said Duke of Mayennes Acquittance for the Summ of 21000 Livers which shall serve for a Discharge to the said Receivers XIII The Commission for the razing the Castle of Tigny in Anjou shall be revok'd if it be not done already XIV The Duke of Vendosm with all his Domestick Servants those of his Troop of Gensdarms and of the Troop of light Horse call'd the Duke of Mercoeur his Sons Troop commanded by the Sieur de la Vacre Chivray together with the Sieurs Duission d' Arabon Baron de Quernevan Baron de Vieux Chasteau and the Widows and Children of the Sieurs d' Oervaux and the Sieur de Cammores shall have an Appeal for all Processes and suits as well Criminal as Civil which they may have as defendants in the Court of Parlament of Rennes and the said Processes shall be remov'd to the Grand Council and that for a Year to which purpose requisite Letters of Appeal shall be expedited Under the Counter Seal of which shall be affix'd the Cases both of the said Domesticks and Companies XV. The King grants to M. the Prince of Condè as well for himself as for all other Princes and Lords as well Catholick as of the Pretended Reformed Religion who joyn'd and united with him the summ of 1500 Thousand Livers as well for the Payment of the Levies keeping afoot and disbanding the Souldiers as for the Charges and Expences of the said War Done and Decreed by the King in his Council the Queen Mother Present May 16. 1616. Sign'd LEWIS And lower under the Counter-Seal of the Edict Pothier A Declaration of the King upon the Edicts of Pacification given at Paris July 20. 1616. and verify'd August 4. the same Year LEwis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarr To all c. Tho' that since our coming to this Crown we have clearly enough made known our continual care to preserve all our Subjects in Amity Union and Concord one with another as also those who profess the Pretended Reformed Religion with all the safety and freedom that they can desire as well for their Consciences as for their Persons Estates Offices and Dignities under the Observance of the Edicts of Pacification secret Articles Declarations Brevets and other Favours and Concessions granted 'em by the Deceas'd King our thrice Honour'd Lord and Father whom God absolve and since by our selves confirm'd To which purpose we caus'd to be expedited in their favour several Declarations in express terms as well at our coming to the Crown and our entrance into our Majority as upon several other Occasions upon which we judg'd that they might desire to be satisfi'd of our good and sincere Intentions in that particular Nevertheless considering what has been represented to us that some among 'em remain under some suspition and jealousie for that since the General Estates of our Kingdom were last convok'd and assembl'd in our good City of Paris it was set afoot and resolv'd that we should be petition'd to that we would be pleas'd to preserve the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion according to the Oath which we took at our Coronation tho' they that were there as Deputies have since sufficiently given us to understand that what was done proceded rather out of the abundance of their Affection for the said Catholick Religions then out of any ill Will which they bear to those of the Pretended Reformed Religion We acknowledge at the same time how necessary a thing it is to observe the Edicts of Pacification made in their Favour and how requisite it is for the Welfare and Tranquillity of the Kingdom desiring therefore a fresh to satisfie our said Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion of our good will in that Particular and to the end we may not leave any Scruple unremov'd upon the said proposals in the Assembly of States General For these Reasons and other Considerations us thereunto moving with the advice of the Queen Mother our thrice honour'd Lady and Mother the Princes Officers of the Crown and principal Members of our Council about our person we have said and declar'd say and declare That we never had any thoughts by the Oath which we took at our Coronation to comprehend therein our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion living in
command in Provinces and Cities seize upon the Money of our Chequer and Receipts Levy Men raise Money buy Arms cast great Guns send to Forreign Provinces and Kingdoms with other high Misdemeanours of the same Nature the evident Marks of an absolute Rebellion and open Insurrection against our Authority of which having had some Knowledge in April last and knowing that they took for the Pretence that hurri'd 'em to these disorders the little Security they had for their Persons and the Liberty of their Consciences We were willing by our Declaration of the twenty fourth of the said Month of April to give them all Assurance of our good Intentions in respect of those that continu'd in their Duty and by taking them into our particular Safeguard and Protection to let 'em know that our March into those Parts for which we were preparing was rather by our approach near those Places where those Disorders were committed to shew and strengthen our Authority to the Confusion of those that were guilty then to make use of any other more violent Rigour or of the Power which God has put into our Hands for the Punishment of such Insolencies But so far was this from opening their Eyes in Order to the bringing of 'em back to their Duty that the greatest part of 'em continuing in their Duty are openly broke out into Rebellion and commit all manner of Hostilities against those that will not take their part giving out that they acknowledge no other Chieftain then the Assembly at Rochel which has now sent for several Souldiers to St. John de Angeli rais'd under their Commissions who make as if they intended to oppose our Passage into the said City and hinder our Entrance by force of Arms which obliges us seeing the same Disorders are crept into several other Cities of our Kingdom to put our selves into a Condition to chastize the Authors according to their Demerits and to make use of for that purpose together with the Ordinary ways of Justice the means which God has put into our Hands for the Maintenance of our Authority And to the end that all our Subjects especially those of the Pretended Reformed Religion may not be deceiv'd by the false pretences of that Assembly to draw off from their Duty and that both the One and the Other may be inform'd of our Pleasure and Intentions upon this occasion We with the Advice c. have said and declar'd and do say and declare That in Confirmation of our said Letters Patents of the 24th of April last we have taken and put and do take and put under our special Protection and Safeguard all our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion of what Quality or Condition soever that shall abide and contain themselves in our Obedience and under the observance of our Edicts But seeing the Manifest Acts of Rebellion committed in our said City of Rochel as well by the Assembly which is still sitting contrary to our express Prohibitions as by the Body of the City both Burgesses and Inhabitants as also what is done in our City of St. John d' Angeli and the Acts of Hostility which they daily commit against our proper Person We have declar'd and declare all the Inhabitants and other Persons of what Quality soever who are now Residing within it Refugees or withdrawn into Rochel and St. John d' Angeli and all others who directly or indirectly adhere to 'em or hold Intelligence Association or Correspondence with 'em or who in any manner whatever own the said Assembly of Rochel or any other Assemblies Circles or Councils of Provinces or other Congregations which hold Correspondence with that of Rochel and which are held without our Permission Relaps'd Refractory and guilty of High Treason in the highest Degree and as such their Estates to be Forfeit and Confiscate to us It is our Pleasure also that they be proceeded against with the utmost Rigour of the Law by seizure of their Persons taking Inventories of their Goods and by other accustom'd and usual ways in such Cases Declaring also our said Cities of St. John d' Angeli Rochel and all others that adhere to 'em depriv'd of and to have forfeited their Rights Priviledges Franchises and other Favours granted 'em by the Kings our Predecessours or by our selves And to the end we may discern and distinguish the Good from the Bad It is our Pleasure that our said Subjects professing the said Pretended Reformed Religion as well Gentlemen as others as also the Cities and Corporations of the said Religion shall openly make a Declaration in the Presidial Courts Bailiwicks and Seneschalships within their Jurisdiction of their good Intentions to our Service and renounce disavow and protest against any Adherence to the said Assembly of Rochel or any other Councils of Provinces Circles or other Places which are held and sit without our Permission and that they will oppose themselves in our behalf and jointly with Us against all the Resolutions that shall be there taken for which they shall have Acts necessary for their Discharge We also expresly forbid all Gentlemen and others to permit their Children Servants or any others depending upon 'em to go to the said Cities or to give 'em any Aid or Assistance whatever nor to afford Lodging or shelter in their Houses to those that shall go and converse there in any manner whatever under pain of being held guilty of the same Crime Expresly commanding all Bailiffs c. to proceed exactly and carefully against the Persons and Estates of those who shall have incurr'd the said Penalties As also all our Advocate Generals c. to do their Duties without any regard to Passports which might be obtain'd from Us by false Misinformation unless under the Great Seal So we give Command to our well Beloved and faithful Counsellours c. Given at Noyon May 27. 1621. and of our Reign the twelfth Sign'd Lewis By the King De Lomenie Seal'd c. Read Publish'd and Register'd upon the Motion of the Kings Advocate General and compar'd Copies c. At Paris in Parlament June 7. 1621. A Declaration of the King containing Prohibitions to all his Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion remaining in Obedience to stir from their Houses either in City or Countrey under the Penalties express'd Given at Beziers July 25. 1622. LEwis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarr To all c. Upon Advice that those of our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion who persist in their Rebellion against the Commands of God and their natural Duty toward Us have so far forgot themselves as to solicit and treat with Forreigners to invade our Kingdom With whom they are not only desirous to join themselves but also by threats and menaces to force other our good Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion who have all along preserved themselves in their Duty under our Obedience and the Benefit of our Edicts and Declarations to take up Arms and join
and that the Souldiers live under such Discipline that they may do no wrong XXI Your Cities of S ââ Foy and Bergerac most humbly Beseech ye Sir that you would be pleas'd out of your singular Goodness to discharge 'em of the Oppressions which they have suffer'd so long and so excessive letting your said City of Bergerac fully enjoy your inviolable Promises by hindring so many Innovations and the building of the Cittadel intended notwithstanding that your Subjects of the Religion have kept themselves within the Bounds of a most humble Subjection and Obedience to your Majesty out of a desire to Merit in some measure the Effect of your said Royal Promises their Liberty and the Peaceable Exercise of their Religion The King will take such Order as shall be most proper for his Service XXII And by your Mildness and Gentleness to ease your People of the Religion to bring 'em back to a firm Confidence and to Corroborate as much as may be the Peace which you vouchsafe 'em may it please your Majesty to obliterate all Marks that are contrary to it And to these ends to disband the Souldiers that are quarter'd in Lower Languedoc Cevennes and other Provinces by this Means kept in continual Fears and Apprehensions of your Displeasure and beseech your Majesty to hasten the said Disbanding to the end that the Effects of their Obedience which they desire and ought to pay you as well in demolishing the Fortifications of the Places as in all other things which you shall be pleas'd to command 'em may not be delay'd Sign'd Montmartin Deputy General Maniald Deputy General Done and Answer'd by the King in his Council at Paris March 4. 1623. Sign'd Lewis And lower Phelipeaux Compar'd with the Original by Me Notary Counsellour and Kings Secretary Du Candal A Circulatory Letter of the General Deputies of the Reformed Churches GEntlemen We doubt not but you have expected our Letters with Impatience and that you did not take it amiss that we did not send you what pass'd concerning the Duke of Rohan You ought to believe that nothing has so much hinder'd us from that as our fear of putting you to no purpose in uncertain Hopes or Apprehensions Now that it may be thought that we ought to see a little more clearly after the Release of the said Duke we shall tell you that altho' the Report of a War and particularly of the Siege of Rochel be very hot in this Place and that from hence it spreads over all the Rest of France nevertheless we see no Preparation for open and present War On the contrary we have nothing from the Kings Mouth and his Principal Ministers of State but Words of Peace and Promises of putting in Execution what has been agreed As to the Affairs which we have manag'd hitherto you must know that having presented to the King a Paper containing the Principal Complaints of our Churches and other things of which we have the Cognizance and Memoirs in our Hands we have obtain'd Answers such as you will see by the Printed Paper which we send you enclos'd which thô they be dated the fourth of this Month nevertheless were not deliver'd us till the twenty second At present we solicit the Performance of the Answers which are favourable continuing to demand satisfaction upon those which are otherwise Nor shall we fail to give you Advice of the Success as also of all that we shall judge proper to come to your Knowledge As for News of the Particular Affairs of the Provinces and Churches of whose Deputies we have a great number here we have given satisfaction by particular Letters to all Occurrences It remains that you second our Labours with your Prayers to God as we earnestly desire you considering the need we have in such a difficult time as this And for our parts we shall also beseech him to accumulate his most Sacred Benedictions upon your selves We are Your most humble and Affectionate Servants the General Deputies of the Reformed Churches of France near his Majesty Paris March 30. 1623. Montmartin Maniald The King's Declaration by which it is provided that in the Assemblies which shall be beld by the Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion concerning the Regulations of the Discipline of their said Religion no other Affairs be propounded or treated of then such as are permitted by the Edicts Given at Fontain-Bleau April 17th 1623. And verifi'd in Parlament May 22. LEwis by the Grace of God King of France and Navarr To all c. Altho' by our Edicts of Pacification and the Private Articles granted to our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion in the Year 1598. they were allow'd to hold Assemblies concerning the Regulations of the Discipline of the said Religion pretendedly Reformed and Places where the Exercise was settl'd with our Permission first obtain'd and that by several answers made to their Papers they have been always forbid to admit into the said Assemblies other then the Ministers and Elders and to treat of other Affairs then those which concern the Regulations of their said Religion upon Pain of Forfeiting this Favour Nevertheless we have found that for some time since and particularly of late Years under the Toleration of the said Assemblies our said Subjects have taken the Liberty to introduce Persons of all Conditions as also to treat of Politick Affairs from whence have ensu'd several Resolutions contrary to the Sentiments and Intentions of the Generality and most considerable of our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion and to the Publick Tranquility To which there being a necessity of providing a Remedy and to prevent for the future the consequences of such abuses prejudicial to our Authority and the Peace of our Subjects We declare that for these Causes and other Considerations Us thereunto moving with the Advice of the Princes of our Blood c. We have said and declar'd and do say and declare by these Presents and it is our Will and Pleasure that in all Assemblies that shall be held by our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion concerning the Regulations of the Discipline of the said Religion there shall be by us or by our Lieutenant Generals of our Provinces a certain Person commission'd and appointed one of our Officers of the said Pretended Reformed Relgion to be present in the said Assemblies to see and consider whether any other Affairs are propos'd and handl'd then are permitted by our Edicts and to give a faithful accompt thereof to Us. And to the end that our Intention may be exactly follow'd We ordain that for the time to come no Assemblies shall meet or be held unless the said Officer be before appointed who shall be admitted into 'em without any or Lett or Scruple So we command our Beloved and Faithful c. we also command our Governours c. In Testimony c. Given at Fountain-Bleau April 17. 1623. and 13th of our Reign Sign'd LEWIS And below By the King De Lomenie Read
without our leave or the Orders of our Admiral in contempt of our Laws and the secret Practises and Correspondencies held with Forreigners To all which we have been much troubl'd to give Credit considering the good and favourable usage our said Subjects of the Pretended Reformed receiv'd And when we understood that the Sieur de Soubise we the Head of his Faction he who has tri'd the Force of our Authority and the softness of our Clemency upon several occasions this was the reason that we were willing to wink at his first Practises and Proceedings in hopes that by our Patience we might reduce him to his Duty But our goodness and forbearance having augmented the Audaciousness of the said Soubise we understand that within these few days he has put to Sea with some Vessels having Souldiers aboard that he has robb'd our Merchants Ships made attempts upon some of our Islands and principal Places and upon the Vessels that were in the Roads and Harbours belonging to 'em and in these Actions committed several Enormities Violences and Acts of Hostility against our Subjects Now in regard that all these Enterprizes and Attempts of the said Soubise discover to our great sorrow an evident and manifest Rebellion against our Authority and a design lay'd betwixt him and some particular Adherents to disturb the general Peace and Tranquility of the Kingdom without any lawful reason or cause on the other side we are extreamly well satisfy'd to understand from our dear and well beloved Cousin the Duke of Tremouille and the Sieurs de la Force and Chatillon and other Persons of Quality as also from the General Deputies of our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion refiding near our Person as also by the Deputies of the Pretended Relion at Charenton and those of our Cities of Rockele Nimes Vsez as also to see by an Act in writing which the said general Deputies have presented us with express injuctions from our dear and well-beloved Inhabitants of our City of Moniaban how much they renounce and disown his Actions as unworthy of that Fidelity and Affection which true French-men owe their Soveraign considering they can tend to nothing else but the subversion of this State and their own Ruin Whereupon being desirous to make known what our good Intentions are the Protection which we are willing to grant to the Faithful and Obedient and the Rigor which we intend to use toward Rebels if they persevere in their Contumacy We make known that for these Causes and other weighty Considerations us thereunto moving with the Advice of the Queen c. and of our certain knowledge full Power and Royal Authority we have said and declar'd and say and declare by these Presents Sign'd with our hand and it is our Will and Pleasure that all our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion who shall continue in that Fidelity and Obedience which they owe us without adhering to any Factions and Conspiracies against the Kingdom shall fully and Peaceably enjoy in freedom and safety the Exercise of their Religion together with all the Favours to them granted by the Edicts and Declarations made in their Favour as well by the Deceased King c. as by our selves which we resolve to have inviolably kept and observ'd according to their Form and Tenour putting all our said Subjects together with their Goods and Families under our special Protection and Favour And as for the said Soubise and others who are enter'd into open Rebellion against us having attempted to disturb the Tranqaility of our Kingdom we have hereby declar'd and declare all those that shall adhere to and Favour him directly or indirectly of what Quality or condition soever they be and who shall hold Intelligence Association or Corespondence with 'em both disobedient and Guilty of High Treason As also we declare the Inhabitants of our Cities that shall Countenance or adhere to the Rebellion and Disobedience of the above nam'd or shall give 'em any Harbour Retreat or Quarter among 'em or shall suffer 'em or assist 'em in any sort or manner whatever guilty of the same Crimes and to have forfeited all their Rights Franchises Immunities and Priviledges granted either by the King our Predecessors or by our selves And for that our Intention is always to prefer Clemency before the Rigour of Justice and to afford 'em the Means and Leisure to acknowledge their Faults before they althogether plunge themselves in Faction and revolt we say and declare that if within one Month from the day of the publication of these presents in Parlament the said Soubise or any others who have been guilty of the Actions above express'd shall return to their Duty lay down their Arms disband their Souldiers which they have muster'd together and submit themseves entirely to the Obedience which they owe us we have and shall from this present Time and for the Future forgiven pardon'd and obliterated forgive pardon and obliterate by these Presents all Acts and attempts which they may have made or design'd in this last Insurrection and taking of Arms contrary to our Authority and Service without any enquiries or prosecutions either now or hereafter in any sort or manner whatever as having pardon'd and restor'd 'em to their former Condition and to all Honours Priviledges and Immunities which were granted 'em by Us or our Predecessors under the Exact Observation of our Edicts But if after that time expir'd they persist in their Rebellion and Disobedience our Pleasure is that they be proceeded against with all the Rigour of our Laws by Imprisonment of their Persons Seizure of their Estates demolishing their Houses and other usual Courses in such Cases and that they lose the Benefit of our Edicts and Appeals to the Chambers So we command c. In Testimony c Given at Paris January 25. 1625 and fifteenth of our Reign Sign'd LEWIS And Below by the King De Lomenie Read Publish'd and Register'd c. At Paris in Parlament February 18. 1625. Du Tillet A Writing giv'n by the English Embassadours to the Deputies of the Churches to make the King of Great Britain Guarranty of the Peace in 1626. WE Henry Rich Baron of Kensington Earl of Holland Captain of the King of Great Brittan's Guards Knight of the Order of the Garter and one of his Majesties Privy Council And Dudley Charlton Knight one of his Majesties Privy Council and Vice Chamberlain of the Houshold To all c. Whereas the Sieurs de-Mommartin and de Maniald General Deputies of the Reformed Churches of France and other Particular Deputies from the Dukes of Soubise and Rohan as also others from several Cities and Provinces which joyn'd in Arms with the said Lords have made a Peace with the most Christian King by our Advice and Intercessions agreed and consented to by the King their Soveraign and for that the said Deputies have releas'd many things which they thought of great Moment for their security and altogether Conformable to their Edicts and
Briefs which they were expresly charg'd to get by the Treaty of Peace and upon which they would have insisted more earnestly but in deference and respect to the express Requests and desires of the most Serene King of Great Britain our Master in whose name we advis'd and exhorted 'em to condescend to the Conditions offer'd by the abov-nam'd Peace for the good of this Kingdom and the Satisfaction and succour of all Christendom For these Causes we declare and certifie That in the words which were agreed upon between us in order to the accomplishment of the said Treaty and which were utter'd in the presence of his most Christian Majesty by the Chancellour upon the Acceptance of the Peace to this purpose that by long services and continu'd Obedience they might expect from the Kings Goodness what they could never obtain by any other Treaty in things which they esteem'd most necessary as to which in time convenient their Supplications might be heard supposing 'em to be presented with respect and humility there was a clearer Interpretation on his Majesties and his Ministers Part of which the sence and meaning was That they were meant of Fort Lewis before Rochel and to give assurance of the Demolishing of that Place in time convenient and in the mean time of ease and relief in other things which by the said Treaty of Peace continue prejudicial to the said City of Rochel Without which assurance of the demolishing the Fort and withdrawing the Garrison the said Deputies protested to us that they would never have consented to the letting that Fort stand being enjoyn'd and resolv'd to have maintain'd their Right to demolish it as they do by the present Declaration with assurance that the King of Great Britain will labour by his Intercessions in Conjunction with their humble Supplication to shorten the time appointed for demolishing the said Fort for which we have given 'em all the Royal words and Promises they can desire having assur'd 'em that they ought and might rest satisfi'd and contented For the Faithful performance of which and of what is abovmention'd we have Sign'd and Seal'd these Presents and caus'd it to be under-sign'd by one of our Secretaries Given at Paris the 11th day of February 1626. Sign'd Holland D. Carlton And below Augier An Edict of the King upon the Peace which his Majesty pleas'd to give his Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion Given at Paris March 1626. and Publish'd in Parlament April 16. LEWIS by the Grace of God King of France and Navar To all c. In regard that Soveraign Authority is no less Illustrious in Acts of Grace and Clemency then in of those Justice and Arms and for that to know how to vanquish and pardon are the highest Marks of Grandeur for the same reason we ought to esteem that Prince most worthy of Honour and Glory who having letn loose the fury of his Arms against those that drew his Provocations upon 'em and subdu'd 'em to their duty is contented to exercise his Clemency toward 'em and to let 'em reap the publick Fruits of it by restoring 'em to Peace whence it comes to pass that God is call'd upon and serv'd in all Places that the Royal Authority is reverenc'd and acknowledg'd by all that the Laws are religiously observ'd the People eas'd from their Oppressions and that the Body of the State uniting Forces together becomes more puissant for their own Preservation and for the Succour and Protection of their Confederates These considerations which we have always had before our Eyes have been the reason that we have us'd so much Moderation to lay asleep and extinguish the Commotions that have so many times like so many Convulsions shak'n this Kingdom making use of Favour toward those who had over inconsiderately engag'd themselves as we have exerted our Vigour resolution and diligence in suppressing and chastizing when we have been thereto constrain'd As to the present Affairs our Conduct has been such as having employ'd both Threats and Punishment in Places that openly stood out in their Disobedience and Mildness Patience and Remonstrances toward others that continu'd in their Duty so that we have restrain'd the bursting forth of that Trouble with which this Kingdom was menac'd by reason of a Civil War and preserv'd the best and greatest part of the Religion in that Fidelity and Obedience which they owe us Who have no less clearly seen and understood that our Intentions have always been as still they are to maintain 'em in Peace Concord and Tranquility and to cause 'em inviolably to enjoy the Favours bestow'd upon 'em by our Edicts and Declarations All which they who ' have taken Arms and the Cities which sided with 'em having lately well consider'd and having understood the Nature of their Crime the Publick Indignation the Ruin and just Punishment which they drew upon themselves by continuing to Trouble the repose of the Kingdom they had recourse to our Goodness as their only safety and Refuge and by their Deputies have several times besought us with all the submission that Subjects could pay to their Soveragn to pardon 'em to bury things past in Oblivion and to afford 'em Peace Upon which We enclining rather to Mildness and Clemency then to the Ruin and Desolation of our own Subjects having also a regard to their most humble Supplications in the Name of those of the Pretended Reformed Religion who have remain'd within the Bounds of their Duty since we had accepted the submissions of the rest to pardon them for their sakes and to reunite 'em all in Peace and Concord under that Obedience which they owe us protesting and assuring us that they will never swerve again from the same upon any pretence occasion or cause whatever We make known that for these Causes and for other great and weighty Considerations Us thereunto moving with the Advice of the Queen our thrice Honour'd Lady and Mother the Princes c. We have said and declar'd and do say and declare by these Presents Sign'd with our Hand and it is our Will and Pleasure I. That the Edict of Nantes the Declarations and secret Articles Publish'd and Register'd in our Courts of Parlament shall be inviolably kept and observ'd to be enjoy'd by our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion as they were well and duly observ'd in the Time of the Deceased King our thrice Honour'd Lord and Father whom God Absolve and since our coming to the Crown before these last Commotions II. That the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion shall be restor'd and re-establish'd in all Parts and Places of our Kingdom and Countries under our Obedience where it has been interrupted during these last Commotions to be fully peaceably and freely exercis'd And we expresly forbid all Persons of whatever Quality or Condition soever upon Pain of being punish'd as Disturbers of the Publick Peace not to trouble molest or disquiet the Ecclesiasticks in the Celebration of Divine Service and other Functions
more force to the thing it self as because a Catholick Secretary of State was not so fit to K's sense upon that subject as a Protestant He there complain'd of the proposition made at the Conference which I have already mention'd and of the motives upon which it was grounded and accused some male-contents whom he would not seem to know of endeavouring to advance their own private interest under that pretence he reminded them of some slie practices at the last Assembly at Rochell which had been as 't were the seeds of this new attempt He likewise recited at large what had past between him and the Officers of the Old Court in order to remove the scruples of Religion that hindred them from declaring for his service in which he protested he had done nothing of which the principal Protestants that were present as Chartillon la Noue Beauvais la Nocle Guitri c. had not been both Witnesses and Counsellors He assur'd them that he had with his own hand blotted out of the Original of the Act he had sign'd to the Catholicks the words whom God Absolves which were inserted again into the Copies either by the Zeal of the Copiers or of the Printer He attributed the complaints of the Protestants to the suggestions of some Mutineers and complained likewise on his side that they who boasted so much that had exposed their lives their labours and their whole fortunes for him were now the very men that endeavour'd to divest him of that quality they themselves had confer'd upon him After which he madegreat protestations of his constancy in the Reform'd Religion excusing what he had done that might give them any suspicion to the contrary by the Broils that hapn'd upon his accession to the Crown which he confessed had obliged him to do many things to gain upon the Spirits of the Catholicks who were jealous of him as being persuaded he wheedled with them only at present till being setled in the Throne he might afterwards at pleasure destroy their Religion He further remarked that he had the Swissers to retain who had engaged themselves only to the deceased K. that he had the Peoples affections to gain which had been debauched from their Loyalty by their preachers and that he was most of all perplex'd to find out expedients to keep the Nobility and Gentry from Deserting him who inclin'd to the Leaguers He likewise modestly complain'd that he had been deserted by some of the Protestants He excused all things that gave them any jealousie by the necessity he lay under in that difficult juncture He gave them an account of his constant attendance on the exercise of his Religion which he had ordered to be continued in his Army with that diligence that his Chaplain D'Amours had sometimes preached seventimes a week at Dâep And lastly He complain'd a little roughly of those who by their unconsiderate Impatience went about to rob him of his Protestant Subjects who ought to be his by a double acquisition whom he tendred with a paternal Love and whose preservation could not possibly be so dear to any other person as to himself That Letter so temper'd with complaints excuses protestations and expressions of a tender affection much helped the wiser sort to repress the Impetuosity of the rest and the Protestants became thereby so case-harden'd to endure the tedious delays of the Court that 7 or 8 long years of excuses and demurs could not afterward tire their patience The rest of the years past in this perplexity betwen hopes and fears But however before we meddle with the events of another it will be necessary to represent in a few words the state of the two parties that thus rent the Kingdom The Leaguers were extreamly strong as having on their side the greatest Cities and all the Parliaments except that of Rennes which remain'd under the K's obedience and that of Bourdeaux which Mabignon made a shift to keep in a kind of Neutrality the better to preserve there his own Authority and which he brought not fully over to the service of Henry IV. till a year after nor then neither without some cost to the Protestants by the suppression of the Court of Justice they had within the limits of that Parliaments Jurisdiction in which it made a great breach Besides those the whole Ecclesiastical Order was still of the Leaguers party which was further supported by the Authority of the Pope the whole Force of Spain and of all the Catholick Powers except that of Venice which was the first that acknowledged the K's Title and the great D of Tuscany who was so well inclin'd as to offer him Mony upon condition to procure his Niece to be Married to some Prince of the Blood and effectually obtain'd more that he demanded since the K. was pleas'd to Marry her himself The K's party was compos'd of the major part of the Nobility and Gentry of almost all the Lords of the old Court and of all the Protestants who were ready to hazard their All for his service it was likewise considerably Fortified by the Allyance with England and other foraign Protestants which Du Plessis who studied all means imaginable to fix him fast to the Protestant Religion had propos'd to him and prevail'd with him to solicit in spite of the opposition of the Catholicks who fear'd it might divert him from that Instruction he had promised to receive But tho' the League was very powerful in Respect of the parties that composed it yet it was otherwise weakned by the Division that Reigned among its Chiestains who had every one their particular aims and Interests Neither was the Kings party without the same Defect For the Catholicks and Protestants could not agree the former not being able to master the prejudicate conceit they had of their own Religion which cannot brook the toleration of any other and the latter still Retaining strong Jealousies of the Catholick sincerity as being by so long and cruel Experiences convinced they were but too well grounded The one had for the protestants hatred which nothing could appease and the other a patience so much spent that it was ready each moment to turn into Desperate sury There were among the Catholick Royalists very few or perhaps none at all that were Reasonable enough to suffer the protestants to live in any equality with the others as Children of the same family and as having the same Right as others to the Liberties and priviledges of their common Country no They studied nothing else but how to put them by all offices and posts of publick business for fear if they were once received into such places their Religion would make such a considerable progress that the Catholicks would by little and little be debarr'd of all employments The protestants likewise on their side had the same thoughts and hoped that if things were once setled upon an equal foot between the two Religions in respect of the established priviledges and
tranquillity of a Civil life they should soân see their party strengthened by a numerous accession of Catholicks whose conversion was obstructed only by this consideration that the condition of the protestants was yet uncertain and that it would not quit their cost to embrace their Religion There were some then among the Catholicks who for all their high pretences to Equity and Moderation would have thought they had done a wonderful favour to the protestants in exempting them only from Capital punishment and suffering them to live privately among them after their own way without indulging them any publick exercise of their Religion or admitting them to any share in honourable or gainful offices Some others again more superstitious or more hotly prejudiced would willingly have sacrificed them to the League had there wanted nothing but that advance to have broken it and were afraid of nothing more than of Granting them any favour And Montholon himself who was called the Aristides of his time and to whom Henry the 14th had Given the seals yet was so far from a Reasonable temper in matter of Religion that he fairly return'd them again to the new King for fear he should be obliged to seal any thing under that Reign in favour of the Protestants By which example we may Judge how strongly besotted those devout men were with their mistaken Zeal But there were another sort who tho' they harboured no better intentions towards the Protestants than the others yet were willing to comply a little with the exigences of the times that they might thereby gain advantage to make use of the same artifices that Henry the 3d had before practis'd for 5 years together and with this design they Readily inclin'd to grant the Protestants peace the better to disarm them to make them effeminate and to seduce and divide them and were against proceeding to the extremity of war or to any violences by which the Romish Religion was more likely to lose than get But yet they would have had a peace of so little advantage to the Protestants that there was small appearance they would be contented with such low proffers or be persuaded to place any security in them The Catholicks of this last party made the gaining of time and putting off as long as possible the peace so much desired by the Protestants to be the main spring and moving principle of their whole design Because they saw that in the present Juncture it was impossible to grant them any but what must needs be too advantagious to them And there were three things they desired first to obtain viz. First the Reduction of the King to the Romish Religion Secondly a peace with the Leaguers and Thirdly a firm Alliance with Spain for then they thought their Credit would be strong enough to oblige the King to close with their advices and that all the force of the Kingdom being by that means united the fear of being totally oppress'd would force the Protestants to be content with such an Edict as they should please to give them This party was the strongest in the Council where it began to insinuate it self even in the last Reign and all the wearisome delays used to spin out that business for 8 or 9 years together proceeded from that politick principle Thence came all those Reasons of state with which the protestants were amused every time they importun'd the King to do any thing for them viz. The fear of hardning the Leaguers in their obstinacy of offending the Pope and of Scandalizing the people with which specious pretences they likewise amused the King himself From thence came that Maxim which past almost for a Law at Court viz. That no Edict ought to be Granted in favour of the Protestants till all the Catholicks were first Reduced and satisfied by Treaties It being but Reasonable said they the Children of the Church should be fully provided for before the least favour were done for those which were Excommunicated and declared Hereticks by the same Church Lastly from thence proceeded all those Cavils which were started to elude all their demands and to defraud them of the benefit of those Favourable Declarations which the fear of making them Desperate obliged the Court sometimes to grant them From thence also partly proceeded the infidelity of several Catholick Royalists that thwarted as much as they could the course of his Majesties prosperities and made him lose the fruit of his most advantagious succesles for they were afraid If the Leaguers were once subdued or a peace made with their chief Leaders before the King were turned Catholick there would be no way left after that to oblige him to change his Religion and therefore they made it their whole business to drill on the war till they had brought the King to Mass And letters were several times intercepted especially during the siege of Roan and the negotiation of Duplessis with Villeroy that unfolded that whole mystery and sufficiently evidenced that some of the greatest Lords of the Kings party writ to the principal of the Leaguers to advise them not to make a peace for fear they should thereby loose the opportunity of obliging the King to Quit the Reformed Religion These artifices were not without some mixture of private Interest For there were several Catholicks who tho' they warmly prest the Kings conversion yet in their hearts desired it not because they lookt upon it as a thing that would hasten a peace after which they should be discarded as of no further use and therefore would not have been sorry if the K. had made a little more resistance against the importunities of those that pressed him to change so that both Religion and the State serv'd those Zealous Catholicks but as Play-tools to manage the game of their own private fortunes with the better Advantage Neither was the Protestants party without its faults Some of them dissuaded the K. from changing because they heartily lov'd their Religion and these urged him with motives of Conscience remonstrating to him how exceedingly he was oblig'd to God's goodness for so many signal favours and so many glorious Victories And what a fearful vengeance he must expect would attend him if he should Quit his Service under pretence of facilitating a peace to which it would be much more honourable for him to force his enemies And they which acted by this principle were considerable in number and as constant to the service of the King as to the interest of their Churches But they were not the most pleasing Courtiers and accordingly had but small share in the gifts and Recompenses of the Court as appeared sufficiently by the little that was done for Duplessis De La Noue and some others Lesdiguieres and Roni were none of the number of those Zealous opposers and we shall have occasion else where to speak of the Character of their piety Roni especially was not at all nice upon the matter of Religion and tho' he at