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
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
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
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
fulfilled Hee confirmed also that peace with Ferdinand which Lewis the XII had made a little before he died 2. His next work was the Conquest of the Dutchy of Milan He passeth into Italie and wins the battail of Marignan in Piemont against the Switzers who had undertaken to maintain Maximilian Sforza in his new possession of Milan which they had got for him He gets Milan Maximilian Sforza yields himself to him for a Pension of threescore thousand Crowns and retires himself into France This was the third time that the French had got Milan of the Sforzas 3. Francis and Charles being both young and ambitious it could not be expected that they should long live in peace because Charles being born a subject to France kept Navarra which the house of Albret had lost for adhering to France Then Ferdinand had expelled the French out of Naples wrongfully say they This Ferdinand died an 1516. and Charles inherited all these great States exalted to the height of greatnesse wanting nothing but the Empire and Austria which his Grandfather Maximilian left him by his death three years after In the birth of these two eminent powers which have cost so much blood and tears to the Christian world before they had conceived that great hatred which was between them after the Deputies of both sides met at Noyon and this was called the Treaty of Noyon an 1516 where it was concluded that Francis should yield all his rights in the Kingdom of Naples for a yearly pension of a hundred thousand Crowns 2. That Charls then called the Archiduke should marry Lovise the eldest daughter of Francis instead of Renee sister to the Queen Claude 3. That the Archduke should restore the Kingdome of Navarra to Henry Son to John d' Albret or in defect of it that he should otherwise content him within six months The King and the Archduke swore that Treaty and give the one to the other the order of Knighthood The King that of St. Michael the Archduke that of the Golden Fleece made an alliance for ever and to confirme it promist to have an interview at Cambray But Ferdinand being dead soon after Charles made hast to passe into Spain to take possession of his Estates and neglected the Articles of Noyon especially the restitution of Navarra 4. Yet for three years after nothing was stirred on either side because Martin Luther having alarmed all Europe with his Doctrine the Pope Leo the X procured a generall truce for five years among all Princes But Maximilian the Emperonr being dead an 1519. and Charles being increased with the inheritance of Austria and the Title of Emperour Francis the I. conceived a great indignation that a vassall of his should have been preferred before him to the Empire which he had been a suitour for with great earnestnesse which jealousie would never suffer these two Princes to agree 5. Each of them had a great Minister of State by their persons Francis had Artus Gouffier Sieur de Boissi Great Master of France Charles had been bred by Guillaume de Crovy Sieur de Ceures whom Lewis the XII had recommended to him These two foreseeing the misfortune which the ambition of these two Princes was drawing upon Christendom resolved to meet to make a peace and alliance for ever Montpelier was the place chosen for that meeting But as soon as Boissi was come and began to treat with Ceures he fell into a fever and died leaving that great work imperfect which no body since was able to finish Paragraphe III. From the death of Maximilian an 1519. to the Treaty of Madrid an 1525. By the death of the Emperour Maximilian Charles was made possessour of Austria and the Empire being possest before of the Inheritances of Burgundy Arragon and Castilia A greatnesse which swelled his mind and made him loose his respect to Francis Hee complained that Francis had taken Claude from him the eldest daughter of Lewis the XII which was promist to him Francis redemanded Navarra Naples and the homages for the Counties of Flanders and Artois which Charles took to be too low for the quality of an Emperour Charles also complained that the Dutchy of Burgundy the Patrimony of his Grandmother Mary was kept from him and the Dutchy of Milan belonging to the Sforzas and to the Empire The great fire of War which lasted forty years between these two houses brake out upon a very slender occasion Robert de la March Duke of Bovillon adjudgd by the Peers of his Dutchy which pretend themselves to be Soveraigns the Town of Hierges in Ardennes to the Prince of Chimay of the house of Crovi against the Lord d' Esmeries to whom the Emperour gave a writ of relief although Robert pretended the judgement of his Peeres to be Soveraign Robert incensed against the Emperonr made his addresse to Francis the I and offered him his service The King received him courteously yet forbad his subjects to assist him not willing to break with the Emperour But Robert proud to have the protection of France denounceth Warre to the Emperour who was then at Wormes to pacifie the troubles rising in Germany about Luther and attempts to surprise some places in Luxemburg But the Emperour presently seizeth upon the Estate of that little Prince and constrains him to ask him pardon reproaching Francis in an odious manner for receiving his rebellious subject About the same time Francis upon the inexecution of the Treaty of Noyon Charles refusing to make restitution of Navarra to Henry d' Albret took the quarrell of that dispossessed Prince and sent Andrew de Foix Lord de Esparre brother to Monsieur de Lautre into Navarra where the French did some exploit at the first but were soon repelled by the Spaniards Charles taketh that enterprise for an infraction of the peace between the two houses though it was but a succour given to a confederate of France to prosecute his rights He makes great preparatives of war makes Leo the X break w th France joyn with him promising that after the Conquest of Milan he would give to the Church the Townes of Parma and Placentia members of that Dutchy to which the Popes had some old pretence Such was the origine of the first War between Francis and Charles an 1521. The first three or four yeares there were great exploits in Champagne in Navarra in Provence and in the Dutchy of Milan In Tierasche the Emperour took Mouzon and besieged Mezieres which Anne de Mommorency who since was Constable of France and Chevalier Bayard defended bravely And Francis took Bapaume and Landrecy from the Emperour and gave him the Chase In Navarra the French had advanced but little in the years 1519. and 1520. But in the year 1521. the Admirall of Bonnivet besieged Fontarabie and took it and made Monsteur du Lude Governour of the same who being besieged a whole year by the Spaniards defended it with great valour till la Palisse since Marshall of France
Princesse was to be delivered to Philip upon the frontiers of Spain the Duke de l' Infantasqua and the Cardinall of Burgos came to receive her in the Abbey of Roncevaux which was in Navarra There King Antony protested that the Queen was not delivered upon the frontires of Spain but in the heart of his own Kingdom that none should believe hereafter that Roncevaux did belong to the King of Spain Under Charles the IX All this reign past among civill confusions about Religion and scarce any dispute was between the two Crowns Yea Philip furnisht Charles many times with Forces to subdue his Protestant subjects Only these things are to be remembred for our purpose 1. After the first peace with the Protestants an 1564 Charles made a progress about his Kingdom and saw his sister Elizabeth Queen of Spain at Bayonne There the Queen-mother had an earnest and secret conference with the Duke of Alba. It is thought they agreed about a mutuall assistance between the two Crowns against the Protestants of France and Netherlands for in that year 1565. they began to stir in those Dominions of the Spaniard Philip assisted Charles with some Troops which kindness Charles could not return the fire being kindled in all the parts of his Kingdom 2. An. 1566. two things were near to have made a breach between the two States Bertrand de Montlue whom his Father in his Commentaries calleth Captaine Peyrot seeing peace in France undertakes to make some conquest upon the Sea comes to the Isle of Madera subject to Portugal and desiring to take water is repulsed with Canon-shot upon which he makes a descent into the Iland with strong hand besiegeth the Town takes it but is slain in that exploit A complaint is made of this to Philip as Uncle to the King of Portugal as an infraction of the Treaty in which Portugal was comprehended Philip incenseth Charles against his own subjects about this but the Admiral appeaseth Charles shewing that it was but a mis-understanding among private persons Another businesse of that nature was that of Gourgues Dominique de Gourgues was a Captain of Gascony who in the Wars of Italy had been taken by the Spaniards and ill used in prison To be avenged of them he went to Florida in the West-Indies besieged the Fort which the Spaniards kept there takes it by force kills or hangs all the Souldiers then returnes into France Of this Philip makes high complaint unto Charles and Gourgues was in great danger of his life but he was protected by the Admirall of Chastillon a Protestant and an enemy to the Spaniards He represented unto the King that it was an Act of private revenge Also that a little before Melander a Spanish Captaine had expelled out of the same Fort in Florida John Rebaut of Diepe with five hundred French-men whom he had killed or hanged every man with this inscription Not as to French-men but as to Lutherans The wisest French Historians affirm and so did Gourgues himselfe That not any private revenge but the desire to punish that horrible treachery and murther upon his Country-men made him undertake and atchieve that high enterprise An. 1570. Charles married Elizabeth daughter to the Emperour Maximilian a vertuous Princess much beloved of her Husband Shortly after Philip married another daughter of the same Emperour This double affinity did confirm the friendship betwixt the two Crowns Under Henry the III. Henry the III. returning out of Poland an 1574. passeth through Vienna where he is wel received by the Emperour Maximilian although one of his Sons had been Henries competitor for the Crown of Poland Yea the Emperour gave him wholsome counsels for settling peace in his State An. 1577. The Protestants of Netherlands being opprest by the Spaniard and little helped by Matthias brother to the Emperour Rodolphus whom both Papists and Protestants had chosen for the expulsion of the Spaniard the States of those Provinces called Francis Duke of Alanson the French Kings brother who in his way thither made himselfe Master of the City of Cambray but being ill used by the Dutch he returned home without doing any thing But in the yeare 1583. he came againe with the title of Duke of Brabant and Count of Flanders but he made no long stay there having made a malicious attempt upon Antwerp and other Towns and returning full of shame he dyed at Chasteau Thierry an 1584. These enterprises of the Duke of Alanson bred great jealousies between the two Crowns and were taken for a breach of the peace Wherfore also Philip assisted the League of France against the Royal house with great eagernesse An. 1579. Sebastian King of Portugal being dead in Africa Philip King of Spain got the Kingdom an 1580. Among his Competitors was Antony bastard of Lewis Prince Constable of Portugal but pretending himselfe a lawfull Son as legitimated by the Pope Antony expelled by Philip retired into England where finding no countenance he passeth into France agreeth with Katherine the Queen-mother who as I shewed in the third Chapter had great pretences to the Crown of Portugal and for some Lands in Portugal which he promiseth her she gives him helpe and raiseth an Army of French-men under Peter Strozzi They go to the Terceras where some Hands held for Antony where they had very ill success That enterprise exasperated Philip very much so that he was one of the first that signed the League Some think it began at the death of the Duke of Alanson when none remained of all the house of Valois but Henry the III who had no Children and was not like to have any and the house of Bourbon saving onely the old Cardinall of Bourbon was Protestant or favourer of Protestants This encouraged the Spaniard to trouble the State of France and the house of Guise to set up for themselves under pretence of zeal of Religion Paragraphe VIII From the death of the Duke d'Alanson 1584. to the Treaty of Vervins 1598. This date comprehends the end of Henry the III. and the beginning of Henry the IV. Under Henry the III. Without examining the severall designes of the League this onely we must know that after the death of the Duke of Alanson the Duke of Guise having formed the League made a Treaty with Philip the II of Spain at Joinville whereby Philip promist him a monthly pension of fifty thousand Crowns to foment the League which being not openly against the King but after the killing of the Guises at Blois and the King himselfe having entred into the League under the title of Holy league against the Heretiques the animosities and designes of the King of Spain against the State of France were not plainly detected under this raigne Under Henry the IV. Here the League did rage and civill War was in all parts of France In these troubles Philip had a great hand and Henry being once acknowledged King was eeven with him and powerfully VVarred against him But these things must be
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
Neeces was Father to Hugh the V. who dyed without issue and of Eudes the IV. both successively Dukes of Burgundy This last was Grandfather to Philip the last Duke who ended the masuline line But that Robert the II. had three Daughters besides Margaret wife to King Lewis Hutin whence came the house of Navarra Jane wife to King Philip de Valois and mother to King John and Mary wife to Edward Count of Bar. They say then that after the death of Philip the last Duke King John took that Dutchy by the right of his mother Jane which right he transported to his Son Philip le Hardy without any mention of masculine apanage wherby they will have it evident that femals may inherit it 8. Against that pretended right which was very much disputed in the Treaty of Madrid the French have strong exceptions The first is That from the time of Philip de Valois within which that gift was made no Son of France had any great Apanage but with that restriction against which whatsoever King John may have said or done and he was a very imprudent and rash man he could do no valuable deed to the detriment of the State or against the fundamental Lawes The second Reason is That since we see by the example of Hugh the IV. that females are excluded from that succession we must acknowledge that John did not succeed by right of his mother but as King receiving an apanage devolved unto him The third Reason is That King John was not the next Heir in blood for by proximity of blood the children of the eldest Daughter which was Margaret wife to King Lewis Hutin should have succeeded not King John who was Son to the second Now that succession fell when that wicked man Charles King of Navarra Grandchild to that Margaret was in his strength who if there had beene any life in that title would not have failed to have set it up for Burgundy was better then all his Navarra and the rest of his estate And yet that stirring man did not stirre that point or it was so slightly that he left off presently but hotly pursued a recompence for the Counties of Champagne and Brie which by right belonged to his mother Jane Daughter to Lewis Hutin Sonne to Jane Countess of Champagne and Brie Queen of Navarra wife to Philip le Bel. By all this it is evident that the Dutchy of Burgundy was setled upon Phillip le Hardy his Son in the nature of a true masculine apanage Paragraphe IV. Of the Towns of Metz Thoul and Verdun By the partage so famous among the Sons of Lewis the Meek an 843. it is certaine that all that was beyond the River Mosa towards Germany was cut off from that which retained the name of Kingdome of France and that these three Towns remained Imperiall But Mosa being the bound of these two States the Empire and the Kingdome yet by an infinity of Warres Usurpations and Treaties that bound and other limits between the two States were often changed In the time of the weakness and declination of the House of Charlemagne most part of the Cities and Lordships of the Empire did canton themselves and made themselves particular Dominions under the protection of the Empire and some remained free others were subjected to especial Lords some Lay some Ecclesiastical All these make up now the great body of the Empire Of that nature were these three Towns Metz Thoul and Verdun upon which the French Kings pretended no right till the time of Henry the II. An. 1550. the Protestants of Germany called Henry the II. to their help against the Emperour Charles the V. Henry sent them great Auxiliary forces by Ann de Montmorency Constable of France who in his way seized upon Thoul and Verdun put Garrisons into them to assure the passage of the French Forces into Germany The Government of Thoul was given to Monsieur d'Esclavoles Lieutenant of the company of the Duke of Guise And Charles Cardinall of Lorrain was restored to his Lordship annext to the Bishoprick of Verdun the King retaining the soveraignty for himselfe which he thought he could lawfully doe because the Lord of it was his subject and had an estate in France and because the Emperour was his declared enemy whose Estate he might invade In the same expedition the Constable seized on the City of Metz which the Emperour Charles the V. besieged towards the end of the yeare 1551. but in vain since which time the French have enjoyed these three Cities yet finding their right some what weak they used it at the first with great moderation calling themselves only Guardians and Protectors of the same till Lewis the XIII caused them to be altogether incorporated with France and in them hath establisht a soveraign Court of Parliament Indeed these three Townes have of long continuance been Imperial and being got by subtilty upon pretence of the surety of the passage the right of the French Kings in them should be much more disputable then in many other places as themselves have confest in many of their instructions for the generall Treaties Yet it may be said for the French that Henry the II. took them as his enemies estate when he made War against the Emperour That the Emperour never made since any stipulation for the restitution of them in any Treaty That the rights of the Empire on this side of Rhine are so vanisht and lost that the Countries seem now to be primum occupanti That Holland also Lorraine Switzerland Savoy Franch County Daulphiné Provence were Imperiall Lands and yet all these are slipt from the Empire by a prescription grounded upon the weakness and neglect of the old Soveraigne Also that the French Kings at the first declared themselves onely Protectors and Guardians of these Towns which if afterwards they have incorporated to their State it was by the consent of the people seeing themselves deserted and neglected by the Empire Finally in that point the French think they may use the right of Represals And that if the Emperour and the House of Austria should do them right about all their pretences there would be some reason why the Emperour should be contented about these Towns Paragraphe V. Of the Towns on the River of Somme and other contained in the Treaty of Arras The four Dukes of the last House of Burgundy were Philip le Hardy John Philip le Bon and Charles John after the death of his Father Philip le Hardy an 1404. caused great troubles in the State of France and caused his Cousin German Lewis Duke of Orleans to be slain an 1407. whence sprung those great Divisions and Wars between those two Houses of which the Histories are full That John was slain at Montereau foult-Ronne by the command of Charles the Dolphin an 1419. His Son Philip de Bon pursued with great power and eagernesse the vengeance of that death made league with the English and distressed very much the Kingdom
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
The Emperours second offer was to fight a Duell with the King either upon the Land or in a Boat That he left to the King the choice of the Armes That the vanquished should give all his forces to secure the sitting of a Council and to make War against the Heretiques and Infidells That the King should deposite the Dutchy of Burgundy and himself that of Milan to be the price of the Victory The third offer was that if the King refused these two conditions he declared mortall War unto him till one of the two was made the poorest gentleman of his Kingdom The King purged himself to the Pope by letters of all the Emperours accusations The War grows hot in Piemont an 1536. Many exploits are done Fossan is besieged by Antonio de Leva for the Emperour and taken The Marquis of Saluees leaves the Kings service and turns to the Emperour who enters into Provence and besiegeth Marseille but in vain being defended by the Kings presence and by the generosity of Ann de Montmorency who since was Constable of France The Emperour is beaten out of Provence At the same time the Count of Nassan makes some exploits in Picardy for the Emperour takes Guise besiegeth Peronne but is repulsed 4. Jean Capell the Kings Atturney General moveth the Parliament that a proces be made against Charles as Felon and Traitor against his Soveraign of whom he held the Counties of Flanders Artois and Charolois in fee. The Court of Peers hereupon assembled decree that Charles should be cited with sound of Trumpet upon the frontier of his States to appear before them And he not appearing he was condemned and his Dominions depending from the Crown were confiscated Presently after the King tooke many places in Artois An. 1538. the Pope Paul the III. comes to Nice where both the Emperour and the King met also the Pope communing separately with each of them for hee could not obtaine of them that they should see one another Yet they concluded a truce for ten years That meeting being ended the King returnes into France the Emperour into Spain but seeth the King by the way at Acquesmortes They confirme the truce and are civill one to another Shortly after the City of Ghent being revolted and having killed their Magistrates Charles desireth Francis to give him passage through his Lands which the King granted him In that passage the Emperour received all the royall honours The King went to meet him at Chastellerant In that enterview the Emperour gave the King some hope to give him satisfaction about the Dutchy of Milan 6. An. 1641. the King sent Antony Rincot a Spaniard that had taken sanctuary in France to the Turk and Caesar Fregosa to the Venetians Both were slain upon the River of Po going to Venice by Boat This murder was done by the order of the Marquess du Guast Governour of Milan who hoped thereby to get their Papers and Instructions but they had been sent to Venice another way The Marquess was accused and convicted of the fact by those that executed it who were taken at Venice Upon this the King breaks the truce of tens years The Dolphin who was since Henry the II falls upon the Roussillon besieged Perpignan but is repulsed with losse Charles Duke of Orleans seizeth upon Lutzenburg The Emperour on the other side makes a league with the King of England enters Picardie besiegeth Landrecy but Francis relieveth it and driveth the Emperour from the siege Barbarossa the Turk comes by Sea to the Kings help takes the Town of Nice wasteth those coasts of the Mediterranean sea goeth away having done little good to the French and ill satisfied of them having given a great matter of obloquy against Francis to the Christian Princes In Piemont after many exploits on both sides the famous battel of Cerisoles was fought an 1544. and won by the French the French Generall being the Duke of Anguien the Spaniard the Marquess du Guast At this time Ferdinand King of the Romans brother to Charles the Emperour being sore prest by the Turk in Hungary sends a Dominican Fryer his Confessor to Charles to exhort him to peace Charles is perswaded to it and Francis also Their Deputies meet at St. John des Vignes in the Suburbs of Soissons and begin a Treaty which soon after was concluded at Crespy in Valois of which these were the chiefe conditions That Charles Duke of Orleans the Kings second Son should marry the Emperours Daughter or that of Ferdinand King of the Romans at the Emperours choice within six yeares and for her portion that the Emperour should invest the said Duke with the Dutchy of Milan or the County of Flanders or Charolois or Franch County at the Emperours choyce likewise And that upon his investiture with one of these the King should renounce all his claim to all the rest and to the Kingdom of Naples That till there were Children born by that marriage if the Emperour had before assigned the Dutchy of Milan for the Ladies portion he should retain in his power the Castles of Milan and Cremona That the King should restore to Charles Duke of Savoy all that he had taken from him on both sides of the Alpes yet that he might retain the Citadels as long as the Emperours kept the Castles of Milan and Cremona That both the Emperour and the King should restore all that they had taken the one from the other since the truce made at Nice by the Popes mediation This Treaty beares date of Octob. 18. 1544. and was executed but the King restored many more places then the Emperour Paragraphe VI. From the Treaty of Crespy 1544 to that of Chasteau en Cambresis an 1559. Francis out-lived three years the Treaty of Crespy all which time he had no War with Charles who had retired himself to Bruxelles Francis being dead his Son Henry the II. succeeded him who also had no War with the Emperour till the year 1550. Two accidents made the old jealousie to break into open War 1. The Pope Paul the III. had invested his Bastard Peter Lewis Farnesio with the Towns of Parma and Placentia which the Emperour had yieled to the Church upon the claime of Leo the X. without much examining the Popes right onely because it had been so covenanted when the Pope and the Emperour united themselves to expell the French out of Italy an 1521. That investiture troubled Charles afterwards who pretended either that these Towns should remaine united to the patrimony of the Church or that in case of alienation they should return to the Dutchy of Milan Now this Peter Lewis Farnesio having made himselfe odious to his subjects by his cruelty and impudicity was slain by the people of Placentia who put themselves under the Emperours protection At the same time Paul the III being dead Jules the III that succeeded him maintained at the first Octavio Son to Peter Lewis in the investiture of Parma and Placentia But soon