of Blanch which caused great troubles till St. Lewis to whom Castilia belonged after his Mother thus composed the difference Ferdinand the usurper of Castilia over Blanch and St Lewis was Father of Alphonsus the X. King of Castilia and Leon against whom St Lewis having an Action for Castilia one of the two Kingdoms married his Daughter Blanch Grand-daughter of Blanch the inheritrice of Castilia an 1267. with Ferdinand surnamed De la Cerda eldest Son to that Alphonsus the X. By the contract of marriage it was agreed that S. Lewis yielded all his rights over Castilia to his Daughter Blanch and her Children after her upon which conditions performed France lost her claime upon that Kingdome but that Ferdinand de la Cerda dyed before his Father Alphonsus and his younger Brother Sanchez usurped the Crown depriving his Nephews Sons to Ferdinand and Blanch of their right From that usurper Sanchez all the Kings of Spain to this day are descended From the dispossest Children of Ferdinand and Blanch of France is descended the House of the Dukes of Medina Coeli who retaining still the memory of that degradation and of their birth-right over the family of Sanchez make their protestations at every change of State that if the family now reigning should fail they might enter upon their right Out of that discourse four things doe result for our purpose 1. That after the death of Henry King of Castilia all the right of the Kingdome belonged to his sister Blanch and after her to her Son St Lewis and that Berengera the younger sister of Blanch and her Son Ferdinand were usurpers 2. That St Lewis indeed yeelded his rights by the contract of marriage between Ferdinand de la Cerda and his Daughter Blanch. One might say that it was more then he could doe for the rights of the Crown cannot be alienated But they had not then such absolute maxims and were not so jealous as now of preserving the union of States which in those dayes were often divided exchanged bought and sold And St Lewis sufficiently perceived the impossibility of governing the French and the Castilians together 3. But that Cession was conditionall requiring that the Children of Ferdinand and Blanch should inherit the Crown That condition having been violated by the usurpation of Sanchez younger Brother to Ferdinand and the poor Princes Children to Ferdinand and Blanch being disinherited and proscribed that cession of St Lewis becomes void by right and the claim of the French might be good if it was not somewhat too old 4. At least all that Right of St Lewis remaines with the descendants of Ferdinand and Blanch the Dukes of Medina Coeli for they have double right the one from Ferdinand as elder Brother to Sanchez the other from Blanch to whom her Father St Lewis had conferred his right And if the House of Medina Coeli would prosecute it they should be well grounded and the French Kings might defend their claim very justly as their successors and fetching their right from them Paragraphe II. Of the Kingdome of Portugal Portugal a part of the old Lusitania is one of the Provinces of Spain near the great Ocean under Gallicia between the Rivers of Duerno Minio and Tajo To which also belongs a little State called the Kingdom of Algarba which is the point of the Cap St Vincent next to the Isle of Cadiz and the Strait of Gibraltar That Country was wasted and conquered by the Saracens as the rest of Spain by that great inundation of those barbarous Nations an 713. All the Christian Princes and all the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdomes of the West even after the time of Charlemagne and Lewis the Meek who were there in person very willingly went to make Warre in Spain against these Saracen Moores Especially an 1090. a little before the enterprise of the holy Warre Philip the I. reigning in France Alphonsus the VIII in Spain many Princes and Noblemen confederated themselves and went into Spain against them The most eminent was Henry of the first Royal House of Burgundy for although there hath been much dispute about his Origine now all Historians acknowledge that he was Grandchild to Robert Brother to King Henry the I who had Burgundy given him for his apanage This Henry of Burgundy having done great exploits against the Moores married Teresa naturall Daughter of Alphonsus who gave her for her portion the Townes of Coimbra Braga and others in Portugal with forces to conquer the rest of which he quitted himself so well that he expelled the Infidels from great part of Portugal of which he was called Comes or Count and no other title did he bear all his life time He dyed an 1112. and left a Son named Alphonsus who took Lisbone and much Country besides and was called the first King of Portugal an 1139. From that Alphonsus is descended the whole House of Portugal till the death of Henry the Cardinall King an 1580. at which time Portugal was united with Spain The great difficulty about the succession of that Kingdom whether it belong to the house of Spain or to that of Braganza or to that of Parma is nothing to this purpose It hath wearied the reasoning of the greatest Polititians for threescore yeares and finally hath ended in a generall revolt of Portugal and a bloody War Certainly although such as are most jealous of the growth of Spaine will vote for the House of Braganza and that of Parma the question is not without difficulty But France hath a further pretence to the Kindom of Portugal for which we must remount higher Alphonsus the II King of Portugal had two Sons Sanchez the II surnamed Capel and Alphonsus Sanchez raigned after his Father but with small vigour and was despised by his subjects Alphonsus living then in the Court of St Lewis where he received much honour as being his kinsman by Blanch of Castilia the Kings Mother By his meanes he married Mahaut of Dampmartin Widow to a Prince of the blood an 1235. and by her had Children The people of Portugal weary of their King Sanchez desired Alphonsus to come home and take the tuition of the State which he did leaving his wife Mahaut in France And his Brother being degraded and himselfe made King he forgot his wife and children in France and married Beatrix naturall Daughter of Alphonsus the IX King of Castilia who gave her for her portion the Kingdom of Algarba Because his first wife was living that 2d marriage was accounted unlawful yea Alphonsus was excommunicated for it by Pope Alexander the IV. and hated by all the Princes and Mahaut coming into Spain made a heavy complaint against him Who was so hardened in that sin that he protested that if a hundred wives would have him he would marry them all Yet being a great Warriour and a wise and prosperous King he maintained himself by the love of his subjects insomuch that Mahaut being dead the Bishops of Portugal
St. Lewis Finally after many great changes that Crown fell to Lewis the last King of Hungary and Bohemia slain by the Turks in the battel of Mohats An. 1526. He dying without Children the Crowne fell to his sister Anne whom Charles the V. her brother in law presently caused to be married to his brother Ferdinand So the two Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary entred into the House of Austria To Bohemia were annext also Moravia Silesia and the two Lusatia's Under the name of Hungary was contained also Transylvania with part of Bulgaris Croatia Slavonia Dalmatia But the greatest part of these is now in the hand of the Turks 6. The State of Portugal began about the year 1090. in the person of Henry a French Prince of the House of Burgundy and continued among many changes to the death of King Sebastian An. 1579. after whom in the raign of his great Uncle Cardinal Henry there was a dispute between many contenders for the succession But Philip the II. King of Spain got it by Arms An. 1580. claiming right to it by his Mother Isabella Daughter to King Emanuel for the reasons which we shal speak of in the next Chapter From that Kingdom depends that of Algarba the Towns of Ceuta Tanger and Marsagan in Africa An infinite number of Ilands and Caps from the Cap of good Hope the Kingdoms of Congo Angola Bresia And beyond the Cap of good Hope an infinite number of Towns Isles Countries and Forts as far as China and the extremity of the East All that is comprehended under the name of East-Indies discovered at severall times since Vasco Gamma a Gentleman of Portugal past the Cap of good Hope An. 1497. under Emanuel King of Portugal It is then by the right of Isabella wife to the Emperour Charles the V. that the great Estate of Portugal was devolved to the House of Austria To which Estate they have since added several pieces by conquest or otherwise Charles the V. got the Lordship of Utrecht from the Bishop as we said before The soveraignty of Flanders and Artois was appropriated to them as they pretend by the Treaties of Madrid An. 1525. Of Cambray An. 1529. Of Crespy An. 1544. The same Charles got the Town of Mastricht An. 1530. although the Bishop of Liege pretended the halfe of it to belong to his jurisdiction In the year 1530. he invested Ludovic Sforza with the Dutchy of Milan upon condition that if he dyed childlesse Philip the II. King of Spain should succeed him which happened five years after An. 1536. he got the Dutchy of Guelders the County of Zutfen and the Lordship of Groning by a Treaty with Charles the Duk of Guelders who dyed an 1538. An. 1543. he made himselfe Master of the Town of Cambra as Protector of that Imperiall Town which being since got by the French and lost again was confirmed to the Spaniards by the Treaty of Vervins An. 1538. the same Charles having got the Town of Siena gave it to Cosmo Duke of Florence to be an homage for it to the King of Spain paying six thousand Ducats of entry at every change of Duke Philip the II. King of Spain took from the Turks an 1554. the Fort of Fignon Veles and Gomera in Africa An. 1571. he wrested the Marquisat of Final from the House of Carreto Philip the III. took from the Moores in Africa the Townes of Arrach and Mamora These are the principal pieces of that great State of vast extent And I think one may truly say that the House of Austria holds more ground then ever any Prince did But these pieces being scattered that State is not strong glorious and form dable according to its extent That House of Austria was divided into two branches the Spanish and the German between Charles and Ferdinand brothers and successively Emperours Sons to Archiduke Philip and Jane of Spain Charles was the head of the Spanish branch which holds in Europa and out of it all that we said before Ferdinand brother of Charles was the head of the German branch which now holds the Empire To him Charles yeelded the ancient patrimonial Estate of the House of Austria within the limits of Germany The same Ferdinand by his marriage with Anne inheritrix of Hungary and Bohemia united those two Crowns to his States These two Branches at this present hold these Estates saving that which Gustavus the King of Sweden hath taken from them and what the French have got in these Warres from the Spaniard In the Low Countries Hesdin Arras Bapaume Landrecy Thionville Quesnoy c. Towards Spain the County of Roussillon and Perpignan Then the Catalonians have revolted and given themselves to the French Portugal also hath shaken the yoak and chosen a King of the House of Braganza Of elder date part of the Low-Countries have cantonned themselves and are now Soveraigns The Turk hath got the most part of Hungary and Transylvania acknowledgeth no more the House Austria CHAP. III. A discussing of the Rights now in dispute betweene the Houses of France and Austria THe contentions between these two Families these 150 yeares and of the Nations subject unto them especially the French and the Spaniards comes not onely out of naturall antipathy and contrary inclinations but chiefly out of the pretences that the one house hath upon the other For as between private persons so among Princes the neighbourhood of grounds breeds quarrells And these severall pretences yet undecided ought to be examined to know the ground of all the late and present Wars Of these large volumes of Histories and Polemical writings might be and have been written but here I undertake no more but faithfully to set down the grounds of pretences on both sides Which though I will do briefly and summarily yet will I omit nothing essential and fit to decide the differences To do this orderly we will divide this Chapter into two points The first of the pretences of the house of Austria upon France The second of the pretences of France upon the house of Austria First Point The pretences of the house of Austria upon that of France ALthough the house of Austria both the Spanish and the German have pretences different from that of the Empire which they hold only by Election and upon Condition of yielding and depositing it again in the hands of the Electours after the death of each Emperour Yet their interesses are now so united that the Imperial rights and those of the house of Austria can hardly be separated Wherefore we will examine them together All the pretences of that Family are either upon the Soveraignty of the Kingdom of France or part thereof especially upon the propriety of Province the Dutchy of Burgundy the Towns of Mets Thoul and Verdun the Towns upon the River of Somme and the Dutchy of Britain These must be examined Paragraphe I. The pretended Rights of the Empire upon the Soveraignty of France Concerning that Right now stale and indeed ridiculous
obtained his absolution of Urban the IV. and the confirmation of that second marriage of which he had Children One of them and his successour was Denis Alphonsus being dead an 1279. From that Denis are descended all the Kings of Portugal to this day Some of the French Historians affirme that Mahaut had two Sons by Alphonsus in France the one that dyed young the other Robert from whom the whole House of the Counts of Bullen is descended which fell to Magdalen de la Cour wife to Laurens of Medicis by whom came Katherine de Medicis mother of the three late French King Francis the II. Charles the IX and Henry the III after whose death by the substitution set downe before in the contract betweene her and Henry the II the inheritance of Katherine came to her Daughter Queen Margaret first Wife to Henry the IV. That Queen made the Dolphin of France her Heir who since was Lewis the XIII When the dispute for the succession of Portugal was open after the death of Henry the Cardinal King an 1530 Katherine Queen of France among other pretenders to that Crown set forth her claim by Belloy Advocate Generall in the Parliament of Toulouse who pleaded that from the marriage of Alphonsus and Mahaut a Son was born called Robert and had succeeded in all his rights that Beatrix was the Concubine not the wife of Alphonsus and that the Pope could not legitimate Denis born of adultery to the prejudice of Robert the true Heir of Alphonsus Also that all the Kings that had reigned since Denis for three hundred years made no prescription because there can be no prescription for the right of Kingdoms That right being propounded to the Estates of Portugal was found too old and stale and injurious to all their Kings neither did they make any account of it Besides the Spanish Historians affirm that Alphonsus had no issue by Mahaut and that among the protestations which Mahaut made in Portugal against Alphonsus there is not one word of the injury which he did to her children which she would not have forgot if she had had any Yet that right may be defended by the testimony of the French Historians and by this true allegation that neither a bastard nor his Descent can prescribe against the lawfull Heirs Paragraphe III. Of the Kingdom of Navarra An. 713. when the Saracens in vaded Spain Inigo Ximenes Arista Count of Bigorre gave a beginning to the little Kingdome of Suprarba within the Pyrenees which a while after having spread into the vales tooke the name of Navarra or Navierras which in old Spanish signifieth plain grounds It is certain that two generous Princes and great Catholiques resisted the Saracens in the very beginning of their invasion Pelagius towards the Astures which are Leon and Gallicia and this Ximenes Arista towards the Pyrenees though the date of the Conquests of this Ximenes be not so certain some Historians make him latter Upon which one may read the History of Navarra written by Favin 2. These Kings of Navarra in their beginings made many Conquests over the Saracens and that Family continued to Sanchez the great who about the year 1035. shared all his Estates among his three Sons of whom the eldest Garcias had Navarra to whom many Kings succeeded till that State fell to the house of France by the marriage of Philip le Bel with Jane Inheritrix of Navarra Countesse of Campagn and Brie to whom Lewis Hutin King of France and Navarra succeeded in her Estates But he having no child but a daughter called Jane which could not be Queen of France he left her Navarra and so that State was soon separated from that of France That Jane married Philip of the Royall branch of Eureux 3. By that marriage the house of Navarra became a Royall French house but the nature of that Crown being to fall to women as the other States of Spain it passed not long after into the Family of Arragon by marriage and so again into the Family of Castilia and again into the Family of Foix after this manner 4. Charles the III. King of Navarre Grandchild to that Jane daughter to Lewis Hutin had one onely daughter called Blanch married to John Prince and afterwards King of Arragon From that marriage came Charles Prince of Viana who got a great but an ill renown in the Histories of Spain for making War to his Father and maintaining himself against him in his State after his mothers death That Prince of great learning and courage died a batchelour The two other children of John of Arragon and Blanch of Navarra were two daughters The eldest Blanch of Arragon who having been married with Henry the IV. King of Castilia surnamed the Impotent was separated from him by reason of his impotency and died without issue The other was Eleanor wife to Gaston the IV. Count of Foix who after the death of her Father Mother Brother and Sister succeeded to the Kingdom of Navarra and united it to the house of Foix. She enjoyed it but two months and a half and died An. 1469. Her eldest Son Gaston Prince of Viana being already dead and having left by his wife Magdalen daughter to Charles the VII of France two children Francis Phoebus who succeeded his Grandfather in the Kingdome of Navarra but enjoyed it but four years and died unmarried and Catherine de Foix who succeded him and married John d' Albret Son to Alen d' Abret a man of great note in Gascony but not of a soveraign house yet descended from that Amani d' Albret who in the time of Charles the V. of France married Magaret of Bourbon Sister to Jane Queen of France and raised his house to a great splendour by that royal alliance advanced much the party of the French against the English 5. John of Albret and Catherine de Foix had a Son called Henry who was King of Navarra and married Margaret Sister to Francis the first of France by whom he had Jane Inheritrix of Navarra Jane being married to Antony of Bourbon was by him Motherof Henry the IV. of France Father to Lewis the XIII and Grandfather to Lewis the XIV Thus that house of Navarra was united with two great houses in France yet not Royal that of Foix and that of Albret and after to the Royal house of Bourbon and became so powerfull in France that her possessions from these three houses much exceeded the Kingdome of Navarra Hence it is manifest how the last Kings of Navarra by the interesse of their Alliance and Estate were obliged to follow the party of France Now it hapned An. 1510. after that Lewis the XII had humbled the Venetians by the victory of Aignadel and brought terrour among all the Princes of Italy that Pope Julius the II. fell out with Lewis and prosecuted the quarrell with such animosity Lewis on the other side being as fierce as he that the contention grew almost into a Schism Julius
excommunicated all that took part with Lewis and put an interdict as they call it upon their Estates Lewis maintained himself against his fulminations both by an Assembly of his Prelates at Tours who cleared the obligations of the Kings conscience as his History speaks and especially by armes whereby he represt all the invaders of his State and put them to the defence of their own But John d' Albret and Catherine of Navarra were expelled from their State by Ferdinand the Catholique who making a shew to passe into Guienne to join with the English and seize upon the Kingdom of France by vertue of the Papall interdict suddenly turned upon Navarra and took it An. 1512. both because John d' Albret was united with the French King who was a rebell against the Church and an Enemy to the English with whom Ferdinand had alliance also because the Spaniards hold that there was a tacit agreement between the Kings of Spain not to suffer that any of the Spanish Crowns should fall into forrain hands or into houses not soveraign as those of Foix and Albret As the reason and pretence of that invasion was leight and groundlesse the French stand to their right to this day against that manifest invasion and hinder the prescription by arms Treaties and Protestations Paragraphe IV. Of the Kingdome of Arragon Cassan in his Book of the rights of the Crown of France with more zeal than judgement will ground those rights upon conquests 800. years old and antient expeditions of the French Kings into Spain where they took some Towns of Navarra Arragon and Catalonia not considering the many changes of successions in so many years The Conquests of Catalonia and Arragon by Charlemagne give to the French no more right there in these times than those of Caesar in France to the now Emperours The rights of the French over Arragon Catalonia Roussillon which have some ground may be reduced to two heads The first is how Charles Count of Anjou Brother to Saint Lewis was invested with the Kingdome of the two Sicilies against the children of the Emperour Friderick the II. Peter King of Arragon who had married Constance daughter to Manfred bastard of Frederick claiming that Kingdome from his wife made those bloody Sicilian Vespers An. 1281. An action which did incense the whole Christendome against that Peter well surnamed the cruell Pope Martin the IV. especially a Frenchman by Birth and affection who excommunicated Peter and put his Kingdome in interdict Not only by the general maxime of the Popes that in certain cases they have power over the temporals of Kings but because Arragon hath been of great antiquity a Fee of the Church of Rome So the Pope dealt with that perfidious King as Soveraign of Arragon To that purpose he sent a Legat into France which offered the Kingdome of Arragon to King Philip le Hardy for his Son Charles Count of Valois Whereupon Philip assembled the States Generall at Paris accepted the Popes gift and undertook the War against Peter took Arragon Gatalonia Valentia and invested his Son Charles with these Kingdomes paying five hundred Livers yearly to the See of Rome It is true that after these Conquests King Philip as he returned into France dyed at Perpignan and the French soon after lost all that Country Yet their right if they had any by the donation of the Pope remained as good as before But the Spaniards contradict that right saying that in the time of the greatest confusions about that quarrel a marriage was made between that Charles de Valois pretended King of Arragon and Margaret daughter to Charles the II King of Naples To which Margaret the Counties of Anjou and Maine were given for her portion which had been in the possession of Charles brother to St Lewis and by him united to the Kingdome of Naples with this proviso That though Margaret should die without issue Charles should possess these Counties yeelding all his right and claim to the Kingdome of Arragon which Charles did and so that great difference was ended The second head whence the claim of the French upon Arragon doth arise regards the second House of Anjou The second Son of King John of France was Lewis who was invested with the Dutchy of Anjou A Prince well known in Histories as he that was made regent of France in the Minority of Charles the VI. and after invested with the Kingdome of Naples by Queen Jane the first a right which he prosecuted and perisht in the prosecution But he left the title to his Children His Son Lewis the II married Yoland daughter to John the I. King of Arragon and of Yoland of Bar his wife The eldest sister of that Yoland wife to Lewis the II of Anjou which was Jane Countess of Foix being dead without issue and no childe remaining of John of Arragon but that Yoland Dutchess of Anjou she was the undoubted Heir of that State but her Uncle Martin Duke of Montblanc seized upon it Lewis sent the Bishop of Couserans to represent his right And when after the death of Martin he would dispute his right by the sword he was perswaded to put the businesse to an arbitrement for the Peers and people of the Kingdome of Arragon had chosen arbitrators to umpire the businesse between Lewis and Martin and examine the claimes of other pretenders And though the Umpires were almost all Arragones they would not pronounce any thing so that quarrel remained undecided And after the death of two Martins Father and Son the Arbitration being renewed nine Arbitrators deferred the Kingdome to Ferdinand Brother to Henry the III. King of Castilia That sentence was confirmed by the Anti-pope Benedict the XIII who being forsaken almost by all the world had taken sanctuary in Arragon Against the nullity of that sentence the Children of Yoland Lewis the III of Anjou and René did protest Yea the Children of René make War in Arragon to recover it in the time of Lewis the XI of France but they were constrained to forsake all and Arragon remained with the usurpers unto this day Yet I see not that the French urge much that claim being somewhat too old to be now revived Paragraphe V. Of Catalonia The like may be said of Catalonia which is a great Province of Spain bounded on the East and South with the Mediterranean Sea and on the other sides with Valentia Arragon and Roussillon It was both before the Romans and under them part of Hispania Tarraconensis as Arragon and other Countries near the River of Ebro Since which time being conquered by the Gotths and Alans together it was called by them Gottalania which name was since corrupted to Catalaunia It was under the Kings of the Gotths till the invasion of the Saracens an 713. who made themselves Masters of it as of most part of Spain But Charlemagne took it from them and all the Country near the River of Ebro about the year 800. expelling Zaron the
possession of Provence Neither did Charles de Duras nor his Children nor Alphonsus possess any thing in it 6. René dying an 1480. although his Daughter Yoland Dutchesse of Lorraine had left children he left the inheritance of the County of Provence and of his Rights upon Naples Charles Count du Maine Son to his brother of the same name and title And Charles dying likewise without issue left Lewis the XI his Heir in all his states and the Kings of France successours to Lewis Lewis neglecting to go to Naples held by Ferdinand bastard of that Alphonsus and by his Children contented himselfe to hold Provence But his Sonne Charles the VIII undertook the conquest of Naples an 1493. and after him Lewis the XII and Francis the I. In the next Chapter we shall see the severall Wars Partages and Treaties between these two Houses for that Kingdom So all the Rights of the House of France to the Kingdome of Naples are reduced to these heads 1. The investiture by Urban the IV. in favour of Charles brother to St Lewis A weak Right if it were alone the French Kings having not succeeded to that family by kindred for all that belongs to any branch of the House of France doth not therefore belong to France 2. The Adoption of Lewis the first of the second house of Anjou by Queen Jane the I. by the counsell and leave of Clement the VII who was acknowledged by France for a true Pope By that adoption the right of Naples fel to the house of Anjou of which the French Kings have inherited 3. The two adoptions made by Queen Jane the II. first of Lewis the III. Duke of Anjou and after him of his Brother René 4. The will of Charles Count du Maine who named Lewis the XI his heir both of Provence and of his right to the Kingdome of Naples and his successors Kings of France after him Paragraphe VIII Of the Dutchy of Milan After the wrack of the Roman Empire an 400. all the Countries about the River of Po towards the Alpes were taken by Theodorick Goth and kept by his children till about the year 550. that they were recovered by Belifarius and Narses two Captaines of the Emperour Justinian But soon after the same Countries were won by the Ostrogoths Kings of Italy and again by the Lombards who setled a great State there and maintained it till the time of Charlemagne who destroyed it an 774. After which time all the Towns of those parts were Imperial belonging to whosoever had the Empire of the West The house of Charlemagne being degenerated and having lost the Empire after the yeare 900. the Empire was disputed between the Italian and the German Princes for 50 yeares In the end the Germans having prevailed in the person of Otho the I the Emperors his successours having chosen the seat of their Empire in Germany and being at odds many times with the Popes their power sensibly decayed in Italy and great part of the Towns of Lombardy slipt out of their Dominion and chose to themselves Italian Lords the Emperours retaining the shadow only of Soveraignty Many also chose liberty a Popular State as Siena Pisa Florence Genoa and others In these confusions the City of Milan was usurped by the Viscounts of Angleria a small place in the Dutchy of Milan who maintained themselvs about six hundred years under that name and quality of Vicounts untill the year 1497. that the Emperour Wenceslaus not Friderick as Gassan saith erected Milan into a Dutchy The first Duke was Galeas the III. who had married Isabella daughter to John King of France That Galeas had three Sons John Maria that succeeded him and died without issue Philip Maria that succeeded his brother who likewise died without issue leaving a bastard daughter named Bona married to Francis Sforza a Souldier of Fortune but a gallant man That first Duke Galeas besides these two Sons had a daughter called Valentina married to Lewis Duke of Orleans Son to Charles the V. King of France an 1398. Her Father gave her the County of Ast for her portion with a Million of Livers wherewith the County of Blois was bought Chasteauduro Soissons and other Lordships And by the contract of Matrimony it was declared that if the masculine line of Galeas should fail Valentina and her children should succeed in the Dutchy It is true that this clause had this great defect that the Dutchy beeing establisht a masculine Fee Galeas could not make it feminine without the Emperours leave which was not demanded because the Empire was then vacant by the degradation of Wencestaus whom the Electors deposed for his idlenesse But it is pretended that the Pope Benedict the XIII who then had his See at Avignon approved that contract for that right the Popes challenge in the vacancy of the Empire Howsoever John Maria and Philip Maria being dead without lawfull issue none had more right to that succession then the children of Valentina But that succession fel in the heat of the confusions of France under Charles the VII when the two Sons of Valentina Charls Duke of Orleans John Count of Angoulesme were Prisoners in England where the eldest remained five and twenty years and the second well nigh thirty In that long time it was easie for Francis Sforza who had married Bona the bastard daughter of Duke Philip Maria to make himself Master of Milan of which he procured and obtained the investiture from the Emperour Friderick the IV. This Francis Sforza had two Sons whom he left to the tuition of his brother Ludovick Sforza so famous in the History of Milan who having made away his pupills seized upon the State of Milan and was expelled out of it by Lewis the XII King of France and since was taken carried to Loches where he died in Prison He left two Sons Maximilian who was restored by the Switzers and since taken by Francis the I. and died in France His other Son was Francis Sforza the second who died without issue 1534. So that house of Sforza's maintained the usurpation of Milan well nigh a hundred years among many wars and divisions the lawfull right remaining still in the house of Orleans with the possession of the County of Ast which is part of that Dutchy But that right could not be prosecuted 1. In the desolation of the house of Orleans and the great divisions between that house and the house of Burgundy 2. In the long inprisonment of the two Princes of Orleans 3. In the great troubles of the State of France almost all the reign of Charles the VII 4. Besides Lewis the XI had many other businesses all his time Neither did he love the house of Orleans and the Princes of his blood And of all things he hated the Wars of Italie whither he would never go neither for the conquest of Naples nor for the receiving the City of Genoa that gave her self to him 5. All the
and became Dukes and Earles Likewise the idlenesse of the successors of Charlemagne in the Empire and the confusions risen in Germany after the extinction of that Race gave a beginning to so many Fees both Secular and Ecclesiasticall which are now in Germany the Governours having made themselves Lords and laid the foundation of the great Houses now in being Which neverthelesse have gone through many changes some families being extinct and some Fees sold transported or confiscated Among these families one of the chiefe and indeed the most remarkable at this time is that of Austria 3. The French Kings of the first Race possessing a Kingdom of vast extent which they divided into Ostrick and Westrick Ostrick which by corruption and French termination was called Austrasie was the Eastern part and comprehended the Countries towards the River Msa and beyond the Rhine and as far as Hungarie Westrick which by corruption was called Neustria comprehended the Western part from Mosa towards Britain These names were long preserved even to the age of Charlemagne and being lost by the new partage between the Children of Lewis the meek yet the name of Neustria stuck long to the Western part which is now called Normandie for Brittain was a State by it selfe The name of Ostrick being lost by the same partage remain'd nevertheless to the most Eastern part and the next to Hungary and is that which we call Austria a word corrupted from Ostrick and Ostenrick and is that Province seated upon Danubius where the Capitall City of Vienna stands 4. In that Country Otho the III. about the year 1000 establisht Leopold a Marquis that is a keeper of those Marches against the ordinary excursions of the Hungarians That Leopold is the head of the first House of Marquisses since Dukes of Austria which continued till a certain Friderick who went to the War of Naples against Charles brother of St. Lewis and being taken with Conradin a competitor of that Kingdom was beheaded with him By his death without Children Austria returned to the Empire But Wenceslaus King of Bohemia sought to joyne it to his State and sent thither his Sonne Ottocarus who having conspired against the Empire with the Hungarians was degraded and put to death by the Emperour Rudolphus of whom we are now to speak 5. By the death of the Emperour Friderick the Second the great enemy of Popes which was about the year 1231. the factions were so great about a new election that there was an Anarchy of twenty years and above under these titular Emperours William Earl of Holland Richard of England and Alphonsus of Spain In the end after many assemblies and contentions the Electors gave their Votes to Rudolphus Earl of Habsburg who was acknowledged by the whole Empire That Election was in the year 1255. five years after the death of St. Lewis Philip le Hardy then raigning in France 6. Between Basel and Soleurre Cantons of Switzerland there is Triestein Castle the Lords whereof had the Title of Counts and by the women inherited the County of Habsburg and took the Title of the same Of that House was this Rodolphus before whom there is no certainty of the History of their House who by his virtue was elected Emperour An. 1275. and dyed in the 1291. The Dutchy of Austria being then vacant and Ottocarus the Bohemian having invaded it and made a league with the Hungarians against the Empire Rodolphus divested him of it and slew him and An. 1282. invested his Son Albert in the same In that Albert we must take the birth of the house of Austria And although that Albert was also Emperour from the year 1298. till 1308 yet his descent returned not to that quality but 130. years after and went for Princes of the Empire as other Imperial Families Onely in the time of Pope John 22. there was a great contention for the Empire between Friderick of Austria and Lewis of Bavieres The whole Pedegree of that house is to be seen in the Tables of Bertius from the Creation of Rudolphus of Habsburg An. 1275. to the year 1438. when the Empire entred so into that hause that it did not come out since Paragraphe III. So much is known then that the house of Austria by the death of Albert the first lost the Empire and fell back into the State of a private principality and that lesse considerable then the houses of Saxonie Bavieres and Luxemburg which furnished many Emperours and so it continued till the Emperour Albert the II. Sigismond the Emperour of the house of Luxemburg was Son to Charles the IV. Emperour and Grand-child to John King of Bohemia And that Charles the IV. was he that made the golden Bull and establisht a certain form of Imperial elections This Charles was Grand-child to the Emperour Henry the VII head of the house of Luxemburg Sigismond had no male issue and gave his onely Daughter Elizabeth to Albert of Austria who after the death of his Father in law was elected Emperour An. 1438. and this house hath ever since kept the Empire From that year these Emperours reigned Albert the II. who reigned two years Friderick the III. his Cozin who reigned 53 years Maximilian Son of Friderick who reigned 26 years Charles the V. who reigned 36 years Ferdinand I. brother to Charles who reigned 9 years Maximilian Son of Ferdinand who reigned 12 years Rodolphus II. Son of Maximilian who reigned 36 years Matthias brother to Adolphus who reigned 7 years Ferdinand II. Cozin to the two precedent Emperours who reigned 19 years To him succeeded his Son Ferdinand III. who is the tenth of that house from the year 1438. To which if you adde the Three of antient date there have been thirteen Emperours of the house and name of Austria That house may be considered either in her Patrimonial estate which she held in Germany before her greatnesse Or in her great rising which sprung out of three heads 1. The mariage of Maximilian with Mary the Inheritrix of the seventeen Provinces of Netherlands Franche County and the goods not masculine of the house of Burgundy 2. The mariage of Philip Son of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy with Jane the Inheritrix of Spain and by consequent of Sicily Naples and the West Indies and soon after of Portugal and the East Indies 3. The mariage of Ferdinand brother to Charles the V. with Anne the Inheritrix of the Kingdomes of Bohemia and Hungaria The great estate of that house being accrewed to them by these waies We will speak here of the Patrimonial Dominions of the house of Austria reserving the rest for the following Paragraphes The Patrimony of the house of Austria wholly seated in Germany and upon the River Danubius hath on the South the Mountains of Tirolis and towards the Rhine Alsatia Bounded Eastward with Hungary and Poland Southward by the Venetians Westward by the Switzers and Northward by many Princes of Germany That Estate is composed with many pieces which were
united in one body as it followeth 1. The Emperour Rodolphus of Habsburg having overcome and slain Ottocarus Son of Wenceslaus King of Bohemia gave to his Son Albert the Dutchie of Austria where Vienna stands the Dutchie of Stiria where the Town of Gratz stands the Lordships of Carniola and Windismark otherwise the March of Slavonia and Portenan in the Country of Friuli wherein the house of Austria is a neighbour to the Venetians This is the first Patrimony of the house of Austria of which Albert was invested by his Father at Ausburg by the consent of the Generall States of Germany 2. In the year 1283. Henry Marquesse of Burgan in Suevia between Vlm and Ausburg being dead without Children the same Emperour Rudolphus gave that Marquisat to his Son 3. Albert the III. Duke of Austria Grandchild to the first Albert was made Heir with his brothers of the Dutchy of Carinthia and the Dutchy of Tirol within the Alpes neare Italy by Margaret Daughter to Duke Henry as her nearest kinsman by their Grandmother Elizabeth Sister to the said Henry and Wife to Albert the first and because the house of Bavieres laid a claim to the County of Tirol the said house renounced it by agreement Ann. 1362. 4. The County of Ferretta is a little Country above the French County near Basel and on this side of the Rhine It came to the house Austria by Jane Wife to Albert the II. Duke of Austria Daughter and Heir of Ulrich Earl of Ferretta about the year 1358. 5. Leopold Duke of Austria bought of Agon Count of Friburg in Brifgau towards Alsatia the Signory of that Town and some other towards the Grisons 6. Friderick the third in the year 1458. after the death of Ulrich Count of Cibey dead without Children seized upon that County and united it with the Dutchie of Stiria 7. Maximilian the First in the year 1501. seized upon the County of Goricia vacant by the death of Count Leonard So all these pieces make up the antient Patrimony of Austria which hath many times been distracted and divided for to make Portions to the youngest And yet at this time the County of Burgau is in the hands of a Branch of that house which bears the Title of Marquesses of Burgau And the County of Tirol belongs to the children of the late Archduke Leopold brother to the Emperour Eerdinand the II. Paragraphe IV. To make up the greatnesse of Austria six of the grâ—â—test houses of Europe have met in one Ausâ—â—ia Burgundy Castilia Arragon Hungary and Portugal 1. Of that of Austria we have spoken before 2. The house of Burgundy was founded in the person of Philip fourth Son to King John of France who dying in the year 1363. left to his Son Philip the Dutchy of Burgundy He and his three Successours John Philip the Good and Charles slain before Nancy gathered many Provinces by Marriages Purchases Gifts and Usurpations whence that great Estate of the house of Burgundy was framed four main pieces whereof depended from the Soveraignty of France Namely the Dutchy of Burgundy the County of Flanders with the Towns of Lilo Doway and Orches the County of Artois and that of Charalois The rest he held from the Empire Franch County the four Dutchies of Netherlands Luxemburg Limburg Brabant and Gueldres The Counties of Hainault Namur Holland Zealand Zutfen Mechlen West-Fresland Over-Issel and Groninghen And in the year 1528. the Bp. of Utrecht yielded to the Emperour Charles the V. the Lordship of Utrecht and his claim in Over-Issel because he was not strong enough to maintain it against the Duke of Guelders his Enemy After the death of Charles killed before Nancy Mary his onely Daughter pâ—etended to his whole succession But Lewis the XI King of France seized upon the Dutchy of Burgundy pretending that it was a masculin fee given by King John to his Son Philip le Hardy for him and his Heirs Male for the reasons which we shall represent in the following Chapter All the rest by right remained with Mary of Burgundy even the County of Charolois almost inclosed within the Dutchy of Burgundy although the French would have it to be a fee of the same Nature as the Dutchy Yet because it was found that it had been purchased from the house of Armagnae by the Dukes of Burgundy it was left to Mary And since that time during the civill confusions and the Wars with Spain the French having seized upon it yet they restored it to the house of Austria by the Treaty of Vervins Ann. 1598. saving onely the resort and dependance upon the Parlament of Dijon 3. The house of Castilia is an offspring of that of Navarra For Sanchez King of Navarra divided all that he held in Spain to his three children Garcias the eldest had Navarra Sanchez King of Navarra divided all that he held in Spain to his three Children Garcias the eldest had Navarra Ferdinand Castilia and Ramires Arragon Of these Kings the lives and actions must be seen in the History of Spain In the year 1472. that House fell to Isabella sister to Henry the IV. called the Impotent Isabella was married to Ferdinand King of Arragon From that marriage issued Joane the second Daughter and Heir which brought all these Estates to the House of Austria by her marriage with Archiduke Philip. These Estates contained the two Castilia's Gallicia Leon Asturia Biscay Mursia Cordova Andalusia Estremadura Since that time an 1492. under the conduct of Christophorus Columbus the Castilians discovered many Ilands of West-Indies Hispaniola Cuba Jaimaica and others Americus Vespucius discovered the Western continent an 1500. Fernando Cortez subdued the great State of Mexico an 1518. and Francis Pizarro the Perou an 1525. All that is comprehendedunder the name of Castilia and is fallen to the House of Austria by that marriage 4. As for Arragon many Kings reigned in it of the line of the foresaid Ramires and that family past through many changes In the end that estate fell into the hands of Ferdinand the Catholique at the same time that the Kingdom of Castilia fell to Isabella whom he married So his estate came to consist of four parts 1. Of the patrimoniall inheritance of his House Arragon Catalonia Roussillon Valentia Marjorca Minorea Ivica Fromentera Sardinia and Sicily 2. The Kingdom of Naples which he tooke from the French An. 1503. as we shall say afterwards 3. The Kingdom of Granada which he and his wife Isabella got from the Saracens Anno 1494. 4. The Kingdome of Navarra out of which he dispossest John of Albret An. 1512. All these Estates fell to his Daughter married with Philip Arch-duke of Austria 5. Hungary had her Kings well known in the Histories especially since the year 1000. the time of King St. Steven That family fell to that of the Kings of Naples descended from the Royall House of France by the marriage of the inheritrice of Hungary with Charles the Lame Son to Charles brother to
four things are to be considered 1. The Roman Empire which began in Julius Caesar or Augustus comprehended indeed all the West and herein the Gaules That Empire was made up of the ruine of many Nations by right or wrong Howsoever long prescription and the consent of Nations with the extinction of the royall Families made up a reasonable right which continued in the Roman Emperours till the year of Christ 400 when by the inundation of many Northern Nations Goths Vandales Franks and others the whole Empire was dismembred and the severall Conquerors of each part made themselves Soveraign So did the Franks in Gaules A beginning not to be excused of violence and usurpation But the ruine of the Romans prescription and the consent of the conquered people did since authorize their dominion and towards the end of the first age of these invasions they were all justified and the Conquerours remained just possessours especially when the Roman Empire ended in Augustulus An. 475. And when Charlemagne restored the Western Empire an 800. that promotion did not alter the former Title he had to the Kingdome of France It was but a Title of honour which he and after him his Sonne Lewis the Meek possest with that of King of France Afterwards by the partage made An. 843. between the Sons of Lewis the Meek each of the three brothers had his portion independent from the others and Lothary the Eldest who had the Title of Emperour pretended no right over Charles the Bald who had France for his Portion much as it is now Since which time all that would ascribe any Superiority to the Emperours over the Princes of Christendom that are acknowledged Soveraign have with good reason bin hissed out as ridiculous Only the precedence was left to the Emperour as the eldest among the brethren But the subjection which he yields to the Pope and the small right which he retains over the Lands and Princes of the Empire weaken his authority very much and make it unworthy of that precedence over all the Princes of Christendom Wherefore he doth not stir those antient pretences over all the Kingdomes of the West 2. Some Germane Historians as Trithemius Lazius Munster Fiesdorpius make the house of Habsburg which is that of Austria to descend from the first race of the French Kings a fable invented since 120. years and newly taken up again by the flatterers of that house Especially by Fiesdorpius a name either true or forged by the Spaniards To understand this we must know that the Kingdom of France was often divided into Tetrarchies under the first race Kings of Paris of Orleans of Soissons and Mets. In the last of these Brunehault reigned with great power that abominable woman so much renowned in our Histories which confounded and destroyed that house by her ordinary murthers That State of Mets being fallen into the hands of two brothers Thierry and Theodebert who contended for it Therry joyning with his Grandmother Brunehault overcame Theodebert in battell and put him cruelly to death And by Brunehaults order the two Sons of Theodebert were slain in her presence This Tragedy was acted An. 617. But these Historians to flatter the house of Austria say that of these two Sons of Theodebert the one called Sigebert escaped the hands of his great Grandmother and fled into Germany to Godfrey and Genebald Dukes of Franconie his Uncles by the Mother by whose intercession he obtained of Lothary King of France his Cosin some lands in Switzerland upon condition that he should renounce all his rights to the Crown of France That he or his Son or one of his more remote descent built the Castle of Habsburg and founded that family And upon that account the house of Austria descends from that of France That relation is a blind tale for all antient Historians affirm that both the Sons of Theodebert and he had no more were slain by Brunehault And the first that mentions that escape of Sigebert is Trithemius who lived about six score yeares ago And as it is false it is ridiculous in the ordinary vicissitude of the affairs of the world and the continuall changes of Possessions to set up Titles after an interruption of a thousand years For upon that account there is no Prince in Europe but may be degraded and no mean man but may be intitled to some principality It is with great reason that the Title of prescription is every where preferred before all Titles And though the tale were a true story that Rodolphus of Habsburg the head of the house of Austria was descended from the Family of Habsburg by the women his masculine extraction was from the house of Tiestein So this pretence is so ridiculous that it is not worth speaking 3. The branch of the house of Valois hath continued from male to male from Philip de Valois who came to the Crown An. 1328 to the death of Henry the Third An. 1589. males failing in that branch the Crown by the fundamental laws of the Land was to pass to the next branch of the Males which was that of Bourbon and so did in the end A Title so known to all the French that even in the heat of the War of the League against the honse of Bourbon as professing a contrary Religion yet they crowned the Cardinal of Bourbon and called him Charles the Tenth In these confusions Philip the Second King of Spain seeing the party of the League inclined to the Election of a King claimed the Kingdom for his Daughter Clara Eugenia Isabella as Daughter of Elizabeth of France his third wife sister and Heir of the three last Kings Francis II. Charles IX and Henry III. and of Francis Duke of Alenson the eldest of three Sisters of which the Second was Claude married to Charles Duke of Lorrain and the third was Queen Margaret wife to Henry the Fourth then only titular King of Navarra He alleadged then that representation being a good Title by the Laws of France his Daughter entred into all the rights of her Mother Elizabeth which should have inherited of her brothers and that her right extended even to the Crown as the Patrimony of her Family That the pretended Salique Law of the French was imaginary yea and against Nature against Humanity and the right of Political successions which require that all Inheritances may go to the next Heirs And though that Law had force among the French that his Daughter being not a subject nor borne in France could not be tied by these municipall Laws That between Soveraigns the Law of Nature not the particular Laws of Nations should be the rule That all Laws of Nature reject this principle that the successions should be for males only as though females were unreasonable creatures or the excrements and sweepings of mankind and no part of human society When the States of the League were assembled in Paris An. 1593. some unadvised and rash heads moved the Election of a King and the
excluding of the house of Bourbon which stirred the Parliament to make that famous Arrest for the maintaining of the Salique Law to which the wisest of the League yielded Philip the II. of Spain in that Assembly of the States set up his Daughters Title and presented her to be Queen But presently perceiving the weaknesse of that Title and the aversion of the French from the Government of a woman he offered to marry her either with a Prince of the house of Austria or with one of the House of Lorraine Whose imaginary rights were at the same time pleaded And to strengthen all these rights he said that the Election by the States would supply all defects in the Right of succession It appeared that Philip acknowledged the weaknesse of his Daughters right since he presented her to be elected The Salique Law is fundamentall in France wisely instituted and observed twelve hundred years together As for Philips allegation that Princes are not to be tied by municipall Laws but by the Laws of Nature it is utterly false For in the discussion of the rights of all Soveraigns the municipall Lawes are alwaies examined and none can have right to an Estate from which he is excluded by the Law of the Land The decision of all suits for Estate is taken out of the customes of the Land where the Estate lyeth but where those customes written or unwritten are wanting the case is to be decided by reason onely The French think they have both Law and Reason on their side Howsoever that Isabella in whose favour that Right was set up dyed childlesse an 1633. Whose right if she had any should be devolved since to the Children of her second sister Katherine wife to Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy from whom all the House of Savoy that now is is descended 4. Besides these imaginary Rights to the whole Kingdom the Empire hath a weake pretended right to some parts of it Whereupon we must observe That by the partage between the Sons of Lewis the Meek 843. all the Countries that lye between the Rivers of Rhosne and Saone and the Alpes viz. Provence Daulphine Savoy and Franch County remained Imperial Lands And the French Kings in the second Race yea and very far in the third Race pretended nothing to them till Daulphine came to them in the time of Philip de Valois and Provence in the time of Lewis the XI And that part of the Empire being held by Lothary the eldest Son of Lewis the Meek and after him by his Son Lewis the Young who dyed without Heirs Male a State was erected in favour of his Daughter Hermengard between these two Rivers and the Alpes which was called the Kingdom of Arles or the second Kingdome of Burgundy which continued under its proper Kings whose pedegree was fully described by the Historian Du Chesne unto the death of Rodolphus the last King who dying without issue an 1036. left his Estate to the Emperour Conrad the II surnamed the Salique who had married his sister Grisel or as some say was his Nephew by her By that gift besides the antient pretence of the Empire upon that Kingdome at least for the soveraignty the Emperours became Masters of the same both by soveraignty and propriety and annext it to the Empire At which time the Arch bishop of Treves tooke the name of Cnancellor per regnum Arelatense But the Authority of the Emperours coming to a great decay out of Germany especially during the Warres betweene the Emperour Henry the IV. and the Popes four Principalities were framed in that Kingdom of Arles of the Counts of Provence the Dolphins of Viennois the Counts of Moriurre called since Dukes of Savoy and the Counts of Rurgundy which without question depended from the Empire as long as there was any vigour in it But time hath worne out that title and prescription is past uponit not to be broken and the old title revived unless the Emperour will together question most part of the Principalities of Italy and the East and North Gaules Of these four Principalities that of Savoy subsisteth to this day Franch County is fallen to the House of Flanders and so to the house of Austria Daulphiné was given to Philip de Valois by Imbert Dolphin about the yeare 1343. And Provence to Lewis the XI an 1482. by Charles Count of Maine Heir to René King of Naples and Duke of Anjou All these changes and gifts as for the propriety only the Soveraignty being still pretended by the Emperours which they may well be accounted to have lost by weaknesse desertion and by prescription as many other Principalities at this side of the Rhine Besides the French Histories relate that in the year 1377. the Emperour Charles the IV being come into France to visit King Charles the V gave to his God-son Charles who since was Charles the VI the right which the Emperours pretended in Daulphiné which was no great gift And Theodorick à Niem an Historian of that age saith That the same Emperour being come to Avignon to visit the Pope gave to Lewis Duke of Anjou brother to Charles the V. of France the whole Kingdome of Arles which had been under the jurisdiction of the Empire in recompence of the magnificent entertainment which the said Lewis gave him at Villeneufue near Avignon So all these Rights of the Empire are lost either by prescription or donation These are all the rights that can be imagined to be pretended by the Emperours and the House of Austria upon the Soveraignty of France Paragraphe II. Of the Rights pretended upon Provence Let us now examine some pretences of the House of Austria upon some Dutchies and other Dominions in France beginning at Provence 1. I shewed before how Provence before the partage betweene the Sons of Lewis the Meek a fundamental and famous Date in our History was part of the Kingdome of France And when it was divided into Tetrarchies it was a member of the Kingdom of Mets Austrasia or Burgundy But when before that famous division all France was reunited in the second Race under these two great Princes Pepin and Charlemagne Provence was a part of it 2. By the partage betweene the Sonnes of Lewis the Meek Provence with all that was beyond the Rivers of Rhosne and Saone was cut off from the portion given to Charles the Bald and was since called the Kingdome of Arles All these pieces given to Lothary the eldest brother were called the Empire and Imperial grounds and to this day the Lands beyond the Rhone towards Italy are called Terres d' Empire Lands of the Empire and the Lands at this side Terres de France French Lands Since that partage the Emperours have alwayes pretended a Soveraignty to those Countries a right strengthened by the donation made of the propriety of it to the Emperour Conrad the Salique by his Uncle or Brother in law Rodolphus the last King of Burgundy 3. Lewis the II. Emperour Son to
third race Burgundy was governed by Dukes and three Brothers of Hugh Capet the first of that race held it But the last of them Robert was divested of them by his Nephew King Robert Son to Hugh Capet and it was re-united to the Crown All that was before the two Families of Burgundy of which we are to speak to discusse the right which the Spaniards pretend upon that piece of the French State 3. So then from the beginning of the first Race two Royall Families have possest the Dutchy of Burgundy The first began by Robert younger brother to King Henry the First and Son to King Robert To him his brother Henry gave that Dutchy in the year 1032. That Family continued from Male to Male without any interruption of Female succession untill the death of the last Duke Philip dead without issue An. 1362. Then King John at that time reigning in France seizd-upon that piece as an apanage so the French call the Portions of the Sons of France which are to return to the Crown when Heirs Male fail That apanage then being returned to the Crown King John bestowed it in the same nature upon his fourth Son Philip. This was the head of the second house of Burgundy which had four Dukes only successively This Philip called le Hardy invested by his Father then Iohn the third Philip le Bon the last Charles killed before Nancy An. 1477. who left his Daughter Mary his universall Heir She was married to Maximilian of Austria since Emperour and so carried all her estate into the house of Austria From that marriage came Philip Archduke married with Jane Inheritrix of all Spain and by her had two Sons Charles the V. and Ferdinand Emperours founders of the two Families of Austria that now reign 4. After the death of Charles killed before Nancy Lewis the XI seized upon the Dutchy of Burgundy as an apanage of France returning to the Crown Although Mary and her Husband Maximilian alleaged that the Dutchy had been given to Philip the Hardy by his Father King John as an absolute gift without any restriction of masculine descent That question though agitated on both sides will alwaies remain undecided The French Kings maintaining themselves in that possession Charle the V. Grandchild to that Mary grounding himself upon that right which we will declare afterwards required by the Treaty of Madrid that the Dutchy of Burgundy should be restored to him as his by his Grandmothers right and taken from her by Lewis the XI But after the return of Francis the I that Treaty was declared void as being contrary to all right of Nations which disannull Treaties made in Prison and extorted by violence contrary to the Municilpal Laws of the State of France which constitute the Kings to be alwaies Minors that is uncapable of absolute disposition as for the alienation of their Dominions So the Article of that Treatise concerning the restitution of Burgundy remained null though signed by the King Besides the States Generall of the Kingdom protested to the King that it was never in his power to alienate any Province of his State without their consent Which last opposition was of such force that since neither in the Treaty of Cambray nor in that of Crespy in Valois in which severall pieces were yielded unto the house of Austria any mention was made of Burgundy Yet the Kings of Spain take still the Title of Dukes of Burgundy So much for the Fact We will now examine the right 5. It must be acknowledged that the severity of Apanages for the Males onely to the exclusion of Females is not in use among the French but since the time of Philip de Valois who began to reign An. 1328 for remounting higher to Hugh Capet we find not that exclusion of Females from successions saving the ordinary preference of the Males before them And the Females were admitted Heirs in all kinds of estates whether given by the King or by others Yea many times the houses of the Sons of France have ended in Females that have transported their Estates to other Families as it appears in that of Dreux of Vermandeis of Courtenay and of others But since the time of Philip de Valois no Son of France had any apanage but upon that condition Which is evident in that all the apanages are returned to the Crown by the extinction of Males to the exclusion of Females as those of Anjou Berry Alanson and others Yea although that first house of Burgundy be much antienter and hath begun almost with the third race yet as it was the first and most important apanage we have in the History thereof an example of the exclusion of Females and setling the inheritance in the Males Hugh the IV. of that name Duke of Burgundy had three Sons Eudes his eldest John Lord of Charrolois and Robert the II. Duke of Burgundy Eudes was married in his Fathers life time died before him and left three Daughters Joland Margaret and Alice or Alix John the second Son was married and died likewise before his Father leaving a Daughter Beatrix of Burgundy Lady of Bourbon This was the Lady who being married with Robert Son to Saint Lewis gave a beginning to the house of Bourbon When Eudes the IV. died it seemed that the Daughters of the First or Second of his Sons should have inherited by the right of representation of their Father but they were excluded from it by their Uncle Robert who enjoyed it and his Heirs Male peaceably though these four Daughters had been married in great and potent houses 6. Philip the last Duke of that Race being dead King John took the Dutchy in his Possession yet did not reunite it to the Crown but presently gave it to his fourth Son Philip le Hardy whom he especially loved because he had saved his life in the battell of Poitiers though he was then very young He gave it him by a long Charter which indeed contains not in expresse termes the exception of Female Heirs but conferrs it upon him with the same rights by which himself came by it and by which he possesseth it Termes which have caused difficulty because John could be said to succeed to it by two rights the one as King the other as the next Heir-male of the last Duke If he succeeded to it as King the Dutchy being an apanage returning to the Crown in defect of Heir-Male then without doubt it was setled upon his Son Philip as a masculine apanage both because his Father gave it him with the same right by wh ch himself had got it And because the severe Law of Apanages was already in use from Philip de Valois Father to John and never was interrupted since 7. But King John say the Spaniards inherited of the last Duke as the next of blood and his Heir ab intestato because it appeareth in the Genealogy of that first Race of Burgundy that Robert the II he that had excluded his four
given him by the Pope that he was first to conquer it before he could enjoy the gift Great Wars he had against Manfred bastard of Friderick the II. Emperour and against Conradin the Emperours Grandchild whom he took in battel and beheaded him A bloody execution which caused much animosity and Wars between that house of France and the reliques of the house of Suaben which was Constantia daughter to Manfred wife to Peter King of Arragon who to avenge the death of that King Conradin his wives Cosin to repress the insolence of the French was the Author of the bloody Sicilian Vespers whereby the French were utterly expelled from Sicily An. 1261. and Sicily remained in the power of the house of Arragon and since although many Wars and Treaties have intervened to reunite these two States they have alwaies been separated till the house of Arragon hath got the Dominion of Naples Wherefore we will speak no more of Sicily which the French lost in effect in that massacre and since quitted their right to it by severall Treaties 4. But as for the Kingdom of Naples that French Family of Charles d' Anjou was setled in it from the year 1264. untill the death of Jane the II An. 1435. in all 171. yeares We intend not to relate that History but only to observe these things which concern our present purpose First that Charles the Lame the second King and Son to that first Charles married Mary inheritrice of Hungary and so these two Kingdomes were united Of their Children the eldest Charles surnamed Martel had Hungary for his portion and from him some Princes of Hungary are descended The second Son was Lewis who would be a Franciscan Fryer and was Bishop of Toulouse The third Sonne Robert inherited the Kingdome of Naples There were more brothers who had severall apanages But it was not this Robert that continued the line of the Kings of Naples He was Father to Prince Charles who dying before his Father left a Daughter that famous or rather infamous Queen Jane the First that ruled that State almost forty years Next it must be known that this wicked Jane lascivious and cruel so farre as to strangle her Husband Andrew a young Prince of that other Branch of Hungary filled her Kingdome with great troubles by her wickednesse Towards the end of her reigne an 1378. hapned the great Schisme of the Church when Urban the VI being made Pope by violence many Cardinals elected in his stead Robert Cardinall of Geneva who took the name of Clement the VII Queen Jane being an enemy to Urban who was born her subject declared her self for Clement Her crim whereby she had put her Husband to death had been long covered by an accomodation made by Clement the VI who appeased Lewis the great King of Hungary Brother to Andrew whom Jane had strangled But Pope Urban the VI to be avenged of Jane stirred again the House of Hungary against her and a Prince of that House named Charles de Duras came and besieged her in Castello del Ovo at Naples took her and strangled her an 1382. in the same place as some say where she had strangled her first husband 3. But the same Princess seeing that Urban invited the house of Hungary to the conquest of Naples called to her help King Charles the VI of France an 1380. by the advice of Pope Clement And by his leave for he bore himselfe for her Soveraign she adopted Lewis Duke of Anjou brother to Charles the V of France and head of the second house of Anjou He was at that time Regent of France in the minority of King Charles the VI. From that adoption the French fetch their right in the Kingdome of Naples for from the off-spring of that Lewis the French Kings have inherited 4. Charles de Duras after he had strangled Queen Jane seized upon the Kingdome and reigned in her stead and after him his two Children first Ladislaus whom the French Historians call Lancelot and Jane the Second They three held the State 53. yeares from the yeare 1382. till the yeare 1436. But because Jane the first a little afore her death had adopted Lewis Duke of Anjou that house of Duras had continuall War with the house of Anjou Lewis the I. came to Naples and there dyed Lewis the II his Son had great Wars with Ladislaus and for a time was Master of the Kingdome That Ladislaus being dead without issue an 1414. his sister Queen Jane the Second succeeded him as bad a woman as the first Jane for impudicity and extravagancy She being degraded by the Pope Martin the V and Lewis the III Grandchild of the first Lewis of Anjou named by him to reign in her place she adopted Alphonsus King of Arragon and Sicily for her Son with whom that Lewis the III had great Warres and had sometimes the better sometimes the worst But Jane being of an inconstant spirit despised Alphonsus being altogether governed by her favorite John Carraciolo which Alphonsus not able to beare made himselfe Master of the City of Naples Upon which she cancelled her will made in favour of Alphonsus and instead of him adopted Lewis the IV. of Anjou who before was her enemy That adoption made an 1422. is the second ground of the claime of the French to Naples and the seed of so many Wars and Calamities and of the greatest divisions between the Houses of France and Spain The Spaniards maintaining the first adoption as valid because Alphonsus though accused by Jane of ungratefulnesse upon which she grounded the disanulling of his adoption did nothing as they say against the respect due to his adoptive Mother but onely went about to represse the extravagancies of that light-brained woman to have that part in her affaires which by right belonged to him and especially curb the insolency of Carraciolo who kept a scandalous familiarity with that woman The French say that the second adoption is of more validity That the cause of ungratefulnesse is sufficient to break an adoption That Alphonsus misused his adoptive Mother seized upon the City of Naples besieged her and kept her shut up and did all acts of Soveraign to her contempt and disgrace 5. This Lewis the IV. Duke of Anjou having recovered Naples enjoyed it with some peace together with Jane but dyed before her an 1434. Because he left no issue she adopted his Brother René Duke of Anjou and her selfe soon after dyed But René being then kept prisoner by the Duke of Burgundy he could not go to receive his inheritance His wife Elizabeth went but too late though at the first she got some advantage In the end Alphonsus remained Master and the party of Anjou was quite expelled out of the Land Onely René kept the possession of Provence which was an appurtenance of that State for since the first adoption of Lewis the I Duke of Anjou by Queen Jane the I. that second house of Anjou had kept the
after repenting of that donation which he saw to be displeasing to the Colledge of Cardinals joyned with the Emperour for the dispossessing of Octavio who put himself in Henry the II his protection and that King powerfully assisted him both against the Pope and the Emperour and was at such odds with the Pope as to prohibit the bringing of any money out of France to Rome At which the Pope amazed desired peace of the King and desisted to oppose Octavio yea and caused the Emperour to restore Placentia to Octavio since which time Octavio and his successours have enjoyed Parma and Placentia At the same time the King protected also the Prince of Mirandola whom the Pope would oppresse Before that time an 1545. the Emperour got a great victory over the Protestant Princes of Germany Their two chiefe men Friderick Elector of Saxony and Philip Lantgrave of Hâ—sse were taken prisoners Whereby the Protestant party was so humbled that in the year 1550. they implored the help of Henry the II of France who past into Germany to relieve them The Constable of Montmorency in his way seized upon the Townes of Metz Toul and Verdun upon the Rights which we have set down in the third Chapter That enterpize of Henry in favour of the Protestants made the Emperour conclude a peace with them in haste So that the King being come to Strasburg was desired by them to return because they were agreed with the Emperour Returning from Germany he took many Towns in Lutzenburg Rochemars Danvilliers Ivoy Bovillon And the Emperour towards the end of the year 1551. besiegeth Metz so well defended by Francis Duke of Guise that the siege was raised the first day of the year 1552 Terrovenne is taken and razed by the Emperour The people of Siena fearing lest that Cosmo de Medicis Duke of Florence should make himself Master of their Commonwealth had put themselves into the Emperours hands hoping that he would bring them in their liberty But seeing that he would bring them under the subjection of Cosmo they called Henry the II to their help who gave them Blaise de Montlue for their Governour who since was Marshal of France in his Commentaries he hath described how that City was besieged But in the end they were forced to submit to the Florentine In the year 1555. the Emperour Charles resigned the Imperial Crown to his brother Ferdinand and all his other Estates to his Son Philip the II. A Treaty of Peace betweene Henry and Philip was moved near Ardres and perfected near Cambray an 1556. for ten yeares and sworne by the two Kings Feb. 6. But presently after the death of Jule the III. and the Pontificat of Marcel the II. which lasted but two and twenty dayes the peace was broken upon the Election of Paul the IV. a Neapolitan of the house of Caraffa allied to that of Melpha which had alwayes been of the French faction and was odious to the Spaniards who used all their power to hinder his election And when in spite of them he was elected they raised two powerfull Families of Rome against him the Columna's and the Vitelli's who revolted against the Pope being assisted by Philip. The King sends help to the Pope so the Truce is broken Many exploits of Arms were done about Rome But Octob. 14. 1557 the Pope and the Spaniard agreed and Henry called his Army back But at the same time Philip having married Queen Mary of England made his wife declare War to Henry by a Heralt of Arms who spoke to the King himself at Reims whence followed many various effects of war in Picardie and Champagne till the memorable battell of Saint Guintin lost by the French an 1557. where the Constable was taken But Francis Duke of Guise newly returned from Italy revived the sad condition of France by the taking of Calais Guines the Land of Oye and the Town of Thionville The two Armies of these two Princes being both in sight one of another in Picardy near the River of Somme the Constable of France and the Marshall Saint Andrew both Prisoners of the Spaniard the Popes Nuntio and Christina Dowagar of Lorrain Cosen-german to Philip manage a peace which was concluded at Chasteau in Cambresis in February 1559. By the first Article of that Treaty the French King was to execute religiously all the Treaties made between Charles the V and Francis the I. whereby they understood the cessions made of Naples Milan Flanders and Artois unlesse the present Treaty did contradict it but that Treaty mentioned onely the restitutions of the Towns taken on both sides and the rendition of the States of Savoy and Piemont to Philibert Emanuel Duke of Savoy Also by that Treaty a marriage was agreed on between Philip then newly a Widower by the death of Queen Mary of England and Elizabeth daughter to Henry the II. which for that reason was called the Queen of Peace In the celebration of that marriage Henry the II was slain Paragraphe V. From the peace of Chasteau in Cambresis 1559. to the death of the Duke of Alenson 1584. There was no open war between the two Crownes all that time which comprehends the reign of Francis the II Charles the IX and great part of that of Henry the III. But by the vertue of that Queen of peace the Union was so great that the troubles of Religion being risen in France Philip assisted the French Kings with his Armes Under Francis the II. In this reign of ninteen months the History observeth two notable things which are much for our purpose 1. The State of France being in trouble at the entry of this reign by the great favour of the Guises Unkles to Queen Mary of Scotland wife to Francis the II and by the Queen-mother Catherine de Medicis who took the Regency of the Kingdome to the prejudice of Antony of Bourbon King of Navarra and first Prince of the blood of France after the Kings brothers who being kept low and all the house of Bourbon with him seemed to threaten France of a Civil War Philip the II considering that State of France sent to Francis the II a letter which was read in the Councell whereby he said that he had heard how some great men of France being ill satisfied of the Government establisht by him his brother in law Francis threatned his State of a Civill War That he Philip was ready to imploy all his Forces and his life to make him obeyed as his good confederate and neighbour remembring the good instructions and the holy education which his Father Charles the V had received from Lewis the XII his Guardian 2. The house of Bourbon being degraded from the rank it ought to have had in the Court Antony King of Navarra retired into Bearn and when the Cardinal of Bourbon and the Prince de la Roche sur Yon conducted the Queen of Spain to her husband he bore them company Now because by the Treaty of marriage that
concluded between the two Crowns And the Treaty of Chasteau in Cambresis an 1559. was confirmed with the restitution of places on both sides And the frontiers between the two States setled as they have been kept till the rupture of the year 1635. There upon the dispute for precedence of Embassadours the Legat devised this expedient Hee sitting under a Canopy at the boards end set the Popes Nuntio at his right hand and after him the Embassadours of Spain John Richardot President of the Councell of State in Flanders John Baptista Taxis a Knight of the Order of Saint Jago and Lewis Verriken first Secretary of State in Flanders At his left hand were the French Embassadours Monsieur de Belliure and Monsieur de Sillery of whom the first was over against the Nuntio and so preceded by one degree the first of the Spaniards CHAP. V. The Affaires between the two Crownes from the Treaty of Vervins till now THat space of time wee will subdivide into three 1. From the Treaty of Vervins to the death of Henry the IV. 2. From that death to the rupture between the two States 3. From that rupture till now Paragraphe I. From the Treaty of Vervins to the death of Henry the IV. After the Treaty of Vervins the two States kept reasonable good intelligence Philip the II. died in the time of the Treaty The first difference between Henry and Philip the III King of Spain was about the Marquesat of Saluces which Henry redemanded of the Duke of Savoy who did nothing but by the order of the Councell of Spain And the Spaniard would not suffer the French to possesse any thing in Italy An exchange then was made of Bresse for the Marquesat Herein Philip did nothing against the alliance For the Duke having broken his word with Henry Philip refused to assist him and to be a favourer of his perfidiousnesse although the Count of Fuentes raised great forces to assist him In the year 1602. was the conspiracy of the Duke of Biron It was believed that the King of Spain had a share in his designes But the depositions of the witnesses against him speak only of Treaties and Intelligences with the Duke of Savoy and of the sharing of the State of France among the conspiratours Yet they said that Biron should have had the Dutchy of Burgundy Franch County and Bresse under the protection of the King of Spain Fontanelles a Gentleman of Britain who was convicted to have been one of the conspiratours for which he was put to death was accused to have treated with the Spaniard to deliver the I le of Tristan in Britain into his hands But Henry who had no mind to break with Spaniard would take no notice of that treachery The Spaniards pretence for these secret plots against France was that Henry assisted the Rebells of Holland with men and money Which the Spanish Embassadour having complained of he answered that the money which he sent to the Hollanders was to pay his debts for monies lent to him during the civil Wars As for the French Souldiers that served the Hollanders he could not hinder his subjects to take party where they listed and that some of them also served the Archiduke Howsoever that assistance was so resented by the Spaniards that they lost no occasion to stir disorders in France Many things hapned in the yeares 1605. and 1606. which shewed the enmity of the Spaniard against France As the Treason of Loste Secretary to Mr. De Villeroy who had intelligence with the Ministers of Spain and let them know all the secrets of the Cabinet Councell He was discovered by one Rassis a Frenchman that had taken Sanctuary in Spain Loste ran away and in his flight was drowned in the River of Marne so no more could be known of that Treason Then the Lady Marquesse of Vernuiel ill satisfied of King Henry whom she accused to have broken his promise to her treates with the Spaniard and inveigleth into her treason her Father d' Antragues and her brother the Count of Auvergne since Duke of Angoulesm Their design was to retire to the Spaniard and to make one day that Ladies Son a stone of scandall unto France Being discovered all three were convicted and condemned to death But the King gave them their grace In the year 1605. the reliques of Birons conspiracy appeared in the Provinces of Perigort Limousin and Quercy All was done under the name of the Duke of Bovillon Whether the Spaniard had a hand in it or no it was not known At the same time Mairargues a Gentleman of Provence treated with the Spaniard to yeild Marseille unto him He was discovered and taken conferring with the Secretary of the Spanish Embassadour and put to death This passage was near to have caused a breach between the two Crowns for the Embassadour of Spain expostulated with the French King because against the Law of Nations his Secretary had been taken and committed to prison The King justified the fact saying that he was found monopolizing againsthis State Nevertheless all was suddenly appeased Although at the same time another Treason was discovered a plot upon Laucate by two brothers Luquisses who had been won by the Governour of Perpignan In the year 1608. Henry the IV. mediated a truce between the King of Spain and the Hollanders At the same time the Morisco's of Spain secretly implored his aide against the oppression of the Spaniards But he sent them back saying that he would not be the first that should break peace but that if he was compelled to make War he might make use of their proffers Paragraphe II. From the death of Henry the IV. to the rupture betweene the two Crownes an 1635. A yeere before the Kings death an 1609. John William Duke of Cleves and Juilliers being dead without issue left his succession disputable betweene the Emperour Rodolphus who said it was devolved to the Empire and the children of foure sisters of that Duke married in the houses of Brandenburg Newburg Deuxponts and Burgan It was thought that the great Army which Henry had prepared a little before his death was intended to assist these Princes against the Emperour It seemes the Queene Regent knew so much for when the Archiduke Leopold had seized upon Juilliers after the Kings death She sent Marshall de la Castre to assist these Princes to whom he caused luilliers to be surrendred There the French had to doe with the house of Austria of the German branch In the year 1612. the two Crownes were allied by the marriages of Lewis the XIII with Anne daughter to Philip the III and of Philip Prince of Spaine who is now Philip the IV with Elizabeth eldest daughter of Henry the IV. And in the yeare 1615. these marriages were accomplisht at Bourdeaux The world was full of hope that this double alliance would strengthen the peace betweene the two Crownes An. 1616 the Dukes of Savoy and Mantua being in War one against
enow to ressent the wrongs offered to him by the Emperour made a Covenant with the King of Sueden for the defence of their common friends opprest the safety of the commerce upon the Sea the liberty of the States of the Empire The King of Sueden promist the assistance of his armes and his person and the King of France a million of livers per annum Hence followed the great victories of Gustavus till he was slaine at the battell of Lutzen in Novemb 1632. An. 1634. the Duke of Orleans leaveth Flanders and returnes to the King his brother III. Paragraphe From the Rupture of the peace till now These mutuall offences being accumulated in the end brake into open war It was declared by the French by a Herald in Flanders in May 1635. That declaration was grounded upon that old complaint that the Spaniard aspires to the universal Monarchy of Europe and to devoure all the Princes thereof and because the Spaniard vexed the confederates of France with wars but more particularly by reason of the imprisonment of the Archbishop of Treves who had put himselfe under the protection of King Lewis To all the complaints of the French the Spaniards have their answers and have enough on their part to complaine Howsoever this war hath produced many great exploits on both sides in Germany in Italy in Flanders in Spaine And though the fortune of war have alternative successes yet France had hitherto the advantage of that bloody game having stretcht her dominions beyond the Rhine united Lorraine to the French Crowne got many townes in Flanders and Artois Perpignan and the County of Roussillon and got a good footing in the Dutchy of Milan Besides Catalonia which hath submitted her self to the Soveraignty of France The greatest losse of the Spaniard is that of Portugal by the practices of France whereby the King of Spain hath lost Brasill and the East-Indies AN APPENDIX To the foregoing DISCOURSE Shewing the Dispute about the precedence at the Councell of Trent betweene the Embassadors of France and Spaine IT is certaine that before the formation of that great Colossus of the House of Austria about the year 1520. the Kings of France were acknowledged the first of Christendom next to the Emperours The pieces wherewith the greatnesse of Spain is made up are Provinces most of them feudatary of the Empire or of France or of the Pope all these lately gathered up But France is of an ancient entire and independent greatnesse The Embassadours of Charles the V. had the precedence every where before those of France because he was Emperour But in the year 1555. when he resigned that quality of Emperour to his Brother and his other qualities and states to his Son perceiving that his Son wanting the quality of Emperour could not keep that preheminence he used this artifice A little before his retirement from the world he recalled from Venice his Embassador Francisco de Vargas who being an Embassador of the Empire had a precedence before the French Embassador Then after the resignation of his States he sent the same Vargas to Venice again as Embassadour for himselfe and his Son joyntly although in effect Charles being devested of his dignities Vargas was Embassadour of his Son onely hoping thereby to deceive the Venetians and others by sending the same man Vargas demanded of the Senate of Venice the same precedence which he had before To which Dominique Bishop of Lodeva Embassadour of Henry the II of France made opposition representing to the Senate that Charles was no more considerable in the world that when the Embassadours of the Emperour Ferdinand should appear he would yield to them but that he would not yield to the Embassadour of Philip but in all occasions of audience ceremony visits and the like he would take the first place till the coming of the Imperiall Embassadors The Senate fearing some ill issue of this dispute gave order that the two Embassadours should not present themselves at the ceremonies of the Feast of St Mark and so the matter remained undecided all the year 1557 by the irresolution of that Common-wealth and the simplicity of the French Embassadour But in the year 1558. Francis de Novailles Bishop of Acs having succeeded that of Lodeva renewed the dispute and the Embassadours of the Emperour Ferdinand being come he demanded to be maintained in his Rights and to have the first place after the Emperours Embassadour and couragiously took it before Vargas who seeing that the policy of Charles who dyed at the same time took no effect and that he was confidered onely as Embassadour of Philip began to extoll his Masters greatness and number his States and Soveraignties which he possessed in farre greater number then the King of France Saying that these customs of honour and precedence must alter according to the time That his Master was the greatest King of the world farre more able to assist the Common-wealth with Arms Men and Money then the King of France The Bishop of Acs stoutly resisted him and obtained of the Senate an Order whereby the precedence was adjudged unto him above the Embassadour of Spain About which when the Spaniard expostulated very earnestly it was answered him that the Common-wealth would not undertake to examine the greatnesse of their Majesties but that they found in their Records that in all Acts both publique and private Ceremonies Visits and Audiences the Embassadours of France had preceded those of Spain and to that received custome they would keep This answer offended Philip who upon that called back his Embassadour But Micael Surriano the Venetian Embassadour in his Court defended the decree of the Senate of Venice and in some sort mitigated the displeasure of Philip who yet in all occasions renued that dispute His greatest effort was four years after in the Councill of Trent To understand the right of precedences of Ambassadours we must know that in the Councill there was three sorts of Assemblies particular Congregations generall Congregations and Sessions In the private Congregations the Doctors assisted with some Bishops examined the questions of Faith and Reformation and there no Ceremony of precedence was heeded In the general Congregation all the Prelates assembled the Legats were Presidents every one kept his place of honour It was a publique action where questions were resolved the Legates propounded that which was to be examined in the particular Congregations every Prelate had right to speak and to vote Embassadors of Princes had audience after their Commission was examined and that which was to be promulgated in the following Session was there concluded Embassadors kept their place there according to their rank The Session was the solemne day upon which after a Mass of the Holy Ghost and a Sermon of a Prelate or some eminent man upon the matter in question the Prelate officiating pronounced with a loud voyce the Decrees resolved which the Father 's approved with a Placet In these Sessions Embassadors had