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
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
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
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
See He received Pope Stephen the first into France and put down Adolphus King of the Lombards who persecuted the Pope But his Son Charlemagne raised the State of France more then any For he conquered great part of Italie upon the Lombards and quite destroyed them An. 774. overcame the Saxons and other Nations of Germany conquered part of Spain upon the Saracens and made himselfe master of most part of the old Empire of the West and so was crowned Emperour of the West An. 800. And three years after limits were set in Italy between the two Empires of East and West Nicephorus being then Emperour of the East And the bounds were the Rivers of Lyris now Garigliano and Aufidus now Lofanto both in the Kingdome of Naples So that excepting the farthest part of Italy part of Spain and the Brittanique Ilands divided between many petty Kings he was possest of the whole Empire of the West 6. These first Kings were very liberall to the See of Rome Pepin and Charlemagne gave them the Exarchat of Ravenna and other Lands which the Popes pretended to have been taken away from them by the Lombards Lewis the Meek who succeeded his Father Charlemagne confirmed and amplified that gift An. 817. the Charter whereof Baromus hath published taken from the Vatican as he affirmeth Lewis the Meek dying An. 840. left the State of France in a great height possest of the Gaules Germany Italy and part of Spain All other Princes compared to the French Kings were mean fellowes 7. Lewis the Meek left three Sons Lothaire and Lewis by his first wife and Charles the Bald from Judith his second wife These three Brothers for three years contended about their partage the law of the eldest being not then in use among them till that cruel battel of Fontenay near Auxerre was fought where above a hundred thousand men were slaine and especially much Nobility and Gentry whereby the State was weakned and the Brothers were forced to come to an arbitrement That Lothary the eldest should have all the Lands beyond the Rivers of Scaldis and Mosa as far as the Rhine namely the Provinces of the Low Countries Liege Treues Juliers Luxemburg Lorrain Alsatia and others Also that which lyeth beyond Saone and Rhosne namely Franch County Savoy Daulphine Provence Also as much of Italy as was left to the Emperour of the West by the partage with the Emperour of the East This was the share of Lothary the eldest who took with it the Title of Emperour Lewis the second Brother had all that their Father held in Germany and there was called Germanicus To the third Charles the Bald France was left much about as it is at this day inclosed within the narrow Seas of England Scaldis Mosa Saone Rhosne the coasts of Languedoc and the Pyrenees That partage of the three Sons of Lewis the Meek An. 843. is the most remarkable date of the French History Then was that great Monarchy cut in shreds and the greatness of France humbled the name of which remained onely to the proportion of a third part And from that time the French State thus clipt hath remained with little alteration Onely we have lost Flanders and Artois and many times the borders of the Kingdome have been changed towards Mosa and Scaldis But in recompence we have got Daulphine and Provence beyond the ancient bounds 8. As by this partage the State of France remained very much diminisht so the French Kings lost the name of Emperours which neverthelesse Charles the Bald took since But his Descent being fallen to idlenesse as the first Race the State of France thus shortned lingered among many civill broyles and misfortunes till the year 987. when that race ended having subsisted about 235 yeares 9 Hugh Capet head of the third Race was descended as it is thought from an ancient House of Saxony planted in France by Wittikind the Saxon of the race of that other Wittikind a Saxon Prince who so long made head against Charlemagne This third race began to raigne in the year 987. It is that which this day subsisteth and besides her ancient Nobility before she was Soveraign hath now held the soveraignty above 660 yeares and besides innumerable victories obtained over her neighbours made great Wars against the Infidels in the East and in Spain and against Heretiques in all the Provinces of Europe keeping still a great respect to the See of Rome All these wayes she hath maintained her selfe in the prerogative of precedence and glory above all others And although he that beares now the quality of Emperour go before the French Kings because he retaines the name and place of those great Monarchs of all the West yet he hath neither right nor pretence over the Kings of France yea Mr. de Breves in the Appendix of the Negotiation of the East added to the History of his voyage saith That in Henry the 4ths time he had the precedence before the Ambassadors of the Emperour Rudolphus at the Porta of the great Turk who judged that the precedences of Christian Princes in relation to the Church of Rome and the Popes were of no consideration at his Porta where the strongest and the most couragious finds most favour Also whereas the King of France was then in War with the House of Austria he would not give his enemy any advantage over him Neither do the Turks acknowledge the Emperour but as King of Vienna but have a great esteem for the French Kings But without insisting upon the History of their third Race now reigning or making Panegyricks of their glory we will say that next to the precedence which they give to the Emperour lawfully elected they have it over all the Soveraigns of Christendom Paragraphe II. Now to understand the Origine progresses and rising of the house of Austria we must observe 1. That the Empire which was left as we said unto Lothary the eldest Son of Lewis the Meeke subsisted though weakly in the house of Charlemagne till about the year 912. when Lewis the last of that race being dead there was a great contention betweene the German and Italian Princes whereby the Empire was in confusion above fifty years untill Otho the Great Duke of Saxony invested himselfe of that quality made himselfe Master of Germany and Italy the onely remaining pieces of the Empire in the year 963. and ruined all his competitors This Otho I. was Father of Otho II. and he of Otho III. after whose death the Germans assisted by Pope Gregory the V. who himselfe was a German took upon themselves the right of creating Emperours And from that time all that have peaceably reigned have been Germans because the Popes having made themselves Masters of a great part of Italy have done their utmost to expell the Emperours out of it and confine them to Germany 2. As in France by the idlenesse of the last Kings of the 2d Race the Governours of Provinces made themselves Masters of them
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
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
Dolphin Francis but was since neglected That au thenticall union of Britain with the Crown cannot be disputed since the consent of the whole Province did intervene and that in all publique businesses all private rights must bow and yield to the publique good Salus populi suprema lexesto 3. Besides ever since John of Montford by the battell of Auray An. 1364. remained Master of the Dutchy and excluded Jane his Cosen-German Wife to Charles de Blois objecting that she was a woman and that women vvere not capable Heirs of Estates of that nature Since that time I say it may be affirmed that Females were excluded from the succession of Britain And that if Anne Wife to the two Kings Charles the VII and Lewis the XII was admitted to it it was by toleration For by right after the death of Francis the last Duke the Dutchy was devolved to the Crown And truly Francis the last Duke by his great revolts had given sufficient cause to the Kings of France his Soveraigns to deprive him of his Estate 4. The French also may here set up the right of Aubeine which excludeth strangers admitted none but regnicolae inhabitants of the Kingdom to successions Which must especially be observed in great Estates and most of all in those that owe a liedge homage For whereas the Duke of Britain did owe personal service to the King how can a woman born in Spain tyed with blood and interesse unto a house alwaies jealous and often declared Enemy of the State of France perform that part of her duty to the Crown a duty absolutely necessary for the preservation of the body of the State unto which the establishing of all Fees must have regard 6. The French may deale besides with the house of Austria by right of represals For since that house withholds so many Dutchies and Counties from the Crown of France without any recompence or satisfaction they think not themselves bound to give ear to their pretences upon so little ground Second Point Of the third Chapter The pretences of the house of France upon that of Austria A Book was publisht An. 1634. intituled Inquisition of the rights of the King and Crown of France upon the Kingdoms Dutchies Countries Towns and Countries usurped by forraign Princes upon the most Christian Kings composed by Cassan the Kings Advocate in the Fresidial of Beziers wherein all that we have to say of this matter is fully and curiously set down Which though we will but summarily relate yet we hope to adde somthing to it both for order and matter Wee will stand here only upon those rights which are disputed against the house of Austria and the Empire both because it is our present businesse and because all other claims are stale and of small importance All the pretences of the French upon the possessions of the house of Austria are either antient and almost worn out as the pretences upon Castilia Portugal Arragon Catalonia or later and important upon Dominions to which they maintaine their rights and claim them from time to time to hinder a prescription joyning to their claim active prosecution by armes Though I might omit those first pretences as too stale yet I will here set them down among the rest for the information of curious Readers All the pretences either new or old of the French upon the Spaniard are either within or without Spain In that Peninsula called Spain inclosed within the great Ocean the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees since the invasion of the Saracens an 713. there hath been a great number of petty States under the Title of Kingdomes Dutchies Counties c. into which that great Province was divided either by the Moores when they conquered the Land or by the Christians when they reconquered it and it is but a hundred and fifty yeares since there was yet five remarkable distinct soveraignties in Spain Castilia Arragon Navarra Portugal and Granada four of which Castilia Arragon Navarra and Granada were united by Ferdinand the Catholique Portugal came to the House of Austria an 1580. under Philip the II. for here I speake not yet of the revolt of the Portugais and Catalans which hath cut off two considerable limbs of that great body of which we will say more before we have done This is not a fit place to examine how these severall States were founded and how united as they are now We consider onely that there be six pieces within Spain upon which the French have pretences Castilia Portugal Navarra Arragon Catalonia and the County of Roussillon And out of Spain they claim a right to the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily the Dutchie of Milan the Common-wealth of Genoa and the Counties of Flanders and Artois Paragraphe I. Of the Kingdome of Castilia The Saracens Moores having invaded Spain an 713 were manfully opposed by two Catholique Princes Inigo Imenes surnamed Arista Count of Bigorre who conquered upon them part of the Pyrenees and founded the little Kingdom of Suprarba called afterward Navarra The other Prince was Don Pelagus Uncle or Cousin to King Rodriguez dispossest before by the Saracens This Prince founded a Kingdom towards Asturia called Gallicia or Leon or the Kingdom of Oviedo He and his Descendants and people stretching themselves towards the plains recovered the Country as farre as the Strait of Gibralter and built many Castles upon their Frontier to keepe out the Saracens Whence the Country was called Castilia which remained under the subjection of the Kings of Oviedo till the year 896. when the Castilians incensed against their King Frocla who had usurped the State of his Nephews cantonned themselves and chose two soveraign Judges The two first were Nugno Rasuro and Flavio Galvo But about 40 years after an 939. Sanchez King of Oviedo and Leon made himselfe Master of Castilia and reunited it unto the Kingdom of Oviedo where it remained till Dom Sanchez surnamed the Great King of Navarra who had Castilia by his Wife made that famous partage between his three Sons giving Navarra to Garcias his eldest Son to Ferdinando Castilia and Leon and to Ramires his bastard Arragon That partage was about the yeare 1036. which is the date of the birth and distinction of those three States in Spain From that Ferdinand King of Castilia descended long after Alphonsus the IX the Father of three Children one Son called Henry and two Daughters Blanch and Berengera Henry reigned after his Father and dyed without issue Blanch was married to Lewis the VIII King of France and was mother of St Lewis Berengera was married to Alphonsus the IX King of Leon After the death of Henry Blanch as the eldest was the undoubted Heir of Castilia and Beringera had no right to it being the yongest Yet because Beringera was within the Country and Blanch lived in France very farre she seized upon the state and with it invested her Son Ferdinand although many of the Grandees opposed it standing for the right
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
Monarches were grieved to see a Count of Flanders and an Heir of the house of Austria a small Province of Germany advance himself so far as to offer to step before them and as many think to affect the Empire of all Europe To understand all these Wars Truces and Treaties the History must begin at the Treaty of Arras an 1435. For although these six houses Austria Burgundy Hungary Arragon Castilia and Portugal the limbes of that great Colossus of the now house of Austria were then severall houses yet that Treaty will serve to see how the house of Burgundy is fallen into the house of Austria and how their greatnesse began Here then let us say in brief what Wars and Treaties have been between these two houses since the Treaty of Arras an 1435. to that of Vervins 1598. We will divide this into many Articles according to the most remarquable dates touching only the most principall points leaving the rest to the generall History 1. From the Treaty of Arras Ann. 1435. to the marriage of Maximilian of Austria with Mary of Burgundy 1477. 2. Thence to the death of the Emperour Maximilian 1519. 3. Thence to the Treaty of Madrid 1525. 4. Thence to the Treaty of Cambray 1529. 5. Thence to the Treaty of Crespy or Saint John des Vignes an 1544. 6. Thence to the Treaty of Chasteau in Cambresis 7. Thence to the death of the Duke of Alencon and the beginning of the League 1584. 8. Thence to the Treaty of Vervins an 1598. Paragraphe I. From the Treaty of Arras an 1435. to the marriage of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy In all that time which was not yet the time of the greatnesse of Austria the French Kings had nothing to do with that Family which in that period of years enjoyed the Empire in the persons of Albert and Friderick the III. They had also little to do with the Kings of Castilia and Arragon which were then two severall States But much they had to do with the Dukes of Burgundy founders of that greatnesse of Austria Of which this is the summary 1. Philip le Bon after he had brought the State of France into great distresse and given it for a prey to the English to avenge the death of his Father John slain at Montereau Fautyonne an 1419 Finally being ill satisfyed with the English was forced to agree with Charls the VII who had killed his Father which he did by the Treaty of Arras an 1435. whereby Charles gave to Philip what we said before Peronne Montdidier and Roye the County of Artois the enjoying of the County of Bullen for his life also all the Towns of the River of Somme redeemable with four hundred thousand Crownes and promist to join to the Dutchy of Burgundy the Counties of Mascon Chalons Langres Bar sur Siene and Auxerre for ever reserving the resort of these jurisdictions to the Parliament of Paris This Treaty raised very much the house of Burgundy After which Philip was a loyall friend and servant unto Charles and helped him to expell the English out of France Neither did he meddle with the first falling out of Charles with his Son Lewis the Dolphin who was since Lewis the XI which division was called La Ligue de la Praguerie And all the reigne of Charles nothing confiderable hapned between these two houses but that towards the end of Charles Lewis the Dolphin having withdrawn himself discontented from the Court and lived a while in Daulphiné When the King his Father would have apprehended him by the Count of Dampmartin he fled into Flanders where he was received with great honour by Duke Philip who assigned him the Town of Guenep in Brabant to keep his Court where he lived six or seaven years till the death of his Father an 1461. 2. Now comes the reign of Lewis the XI who had so much to do with the house of Burgundy but nothing with that of Austria and little with that of Arragon and Castilia Historians observe that Philip Duke of Burgundy and his Son Charles Count of Charrolois accompanied Lewis into France and were present at his coronation And that Lewis at the first was very great with the Count of Charrolois but that soon after that friendship was separated by reason of the great antipathy of their humours and because while Lewis was retired into Flanders they had been too much acquainted with one anothers conditions which brought them to a mutuall contempt Also because Charles had a suspicion that Lewis had plotted against his life and because Lewis would have brought the Gabell or impost of salt into Burgundy which the Duke did oppose Then the suddain redeeming of the Towns of the River of Somme for which Lewis payed the four hundred thousand Crowns incens'd the Count of Charolois very much These were the causes of the great hatred between these two houses which the house of Austria inherited together with the Estate Hardly indeed could these two Princes agree for Lewis the XI was malicious disobliging and dissembled and Charles Count of Charolois was peevish and arrogant and followed no Law but his own will That hatred brought forth the War of the publick good as they called it in which Charles had the better That War ended in the Treaty of Conflans whereby it was covenanted that the King should restore to Charles all the Towns of the River of Somme redeemed not long before to enjoy them all his life and that he should have the County of Guines for himself and his Heirs for ever 3. John King of Arragon was assisted by Lewis the XI and the said John sold or pawned unto him the County of Roussillon for three hundred thousand Crownes This is the ground of the claime of the French to that County 4. Henry the IV King of Castilia and John King of Arragon being in War because Henry maintained the people of Arragon against their King and about some Towns Lewis the XI was chosen Umpire and went to Bayonne where he saw the Castilian on this side of the River of Vodazo and upon the Lands of France That enterview made them despise one another for Henry was an ill favoured and ill behaved man of little wit and was altogether governed by the Count of Lodesme Lewis used a short and coorse habit and wore a little leaden Our Lady at his hat The vanity of the Count of Lodesme seemed ridiculous to the French He crost the River in a boat with a sail of golden cloath and wore pomps garnisht with precious stones Ever since that enter view the two Nations have despised one another 5. After the peace of Conflans the divisions were renewed between Lewis and the Count of Charolois because Lewis cozened his brother Charles gave him Normandy and presently took it from him banisht him into Guienne far from the other Princes with whom he was in League and gave him a little Country under the specious Title of Duke of Guienne This
angred the Count of Charrolois and increased his jealousies Philip Duke of Burgundy dieth an 1467. Charles succeeds him 6. This new Duke of Burgundy is much considered in France by reason of his great Lands and turbulent spirit All his time hee was in Wars with the King and brought the English into France The King also did raise him Enemies which his own rashnesse did multiply He was defeated by the Switzers at Granson and Morat and killed before Nancy an 1477. 7. After his death Lewis took the Dutchy of Burgundy and Provinces annext to it given by Charles the VII to Philip le Bon as a masculin apanage with the Towns upon the River of Somme which Charles was to hold all his life not leave it to his heirs He seized also upon the Town of Arras upon which he pretended a right He did his utmost to catch Mary the inheritrix of Charles and desired the people of Gant to deliver her into his hand or make her marry Charles the Dolphin but they protected her and soon after Maximilian of Austria married her 8. In Spain after the enterview of the two King Lewis of France and Henry of Castilia and the sale or pawning of the County of Roussillon King John of Arragon seeing that Lewis had arbitrated in favour of the Castilian and had sent John Duke of Calabria for the conquest of Arragon took his time when the leagues in France were strongest against the King to make Perpignan revolt against the French The Garrison retired into the Citadel and made it good till the Town was besieged by Lewis and constrained to return to his obedience Paragraphe II. From the marriage of Maximilian with Mary unto his death This period of forty yeares comprehends four reigns of the French Kings the end of Lewis the XI Charles the VIII Lewis the XII and the beginning of Francis the I in which space the greatnesse of the House of Austria was founded by her union with that of Burgundy and then with Castilia and Arragon Vnder Lewis the XI Since the death of Duke Charles three remarkable things hapned under Lewis the XI Mary inheritrix of Burgundy whom her Father had promist to many Princes in the end was married to Maximilian of Austria an 1478. Lewis would have her for Charles the Delphin but he was but six years old and she above fifteen yeares elder then he That preferring of Maximilian before Charles was the cause of many evils to France 1. The loss of all that Mary possest which might have been united with France 2. The increase of the house of Austria which began then to be jealous of France which she was very far from before that alliance 3. Great Wars and endlesse envy by the neighborhood of these two great Houses That marriage lasted but four yeares Mary dying of a fall from her Horse as she was hunting She left two children Philip Archduke of Austria Father to Charles the V. and Margaret 2. By the jealousie risen between France and Austria by that marriage and incensed by the revolt of the Prince of Orenge a great Lord of Franch County they broke into open War and the battel of Guinegast was fought of which the event was so uncertain that both parties ascribed to themselves the victory 3. Mary of Burgundy being dead the Flemmings especially the Gantois alwayes mutinous would expell Maximilian and dispose of Mary's Children They married Margaret to Charles the Dolphin and appointed for her portion the County of Artois Franch County and other Lands Margaret was then but two yeares old and Charles twelve But Charles being married since with Anne Dutchesse of Britain Margaret was sent back to her Father Maximilian which was a new cause of jealousie betweene these two families This Margaret being seperated from Charles was married to John Son of Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castilia whom she never saw Then she was for the third time married with Philibert the II Duke of Savoy They say of her that she was three times married and dyed a Virgin Under Charles the VIII 1. Charles the VIII had civil Wars against Lewis Duke of Orleans the Duke of Britain and others which ended by the battel of St. Aubin after which Charles married Anne the inheritrix of Brittain whereby he offered two affronts unto Maximilian the one that he sent him back his Daughter Margaret withwhom he had bin married seven or eight yeares the other that he married her with whom Maximilian was married by Proxie for in Britaine all the Proclamations were then made in the name of the Dutchess and of the Arch-duke of Austria Upon which Maximilian made War against Charles and took the Towns of Arras St Omer and other places which the French held as yet in Artois But a Peace was made an 1493. by which Charles was within four years to restore the Franch County and some Towns which he held in Artois unto Philip the Heir of Netherlands Son to Maximilian An. 1494. Charles restored to Ferdinand King of Arragon Perpignan and the County of Roussillon though he received not the three hundred thousand Crowns which it was pawnned for The reason why Charles did so we have declared before 3. The same year was the expedition of Charles the VIII into Naples against the house of Arragon To that which we have said of that quarrel this must be added Alphonsus who was adopted by Queen Jane the II. and in the end expelled the house of Anjou out of Italy left Naples to Ferdinand his bastard saying that he could lawfully doe it because it was his own conquest The house of that bastard enjoyed it after him and had four Princes Ferdinand the Bastard Alphonsus his Son Ferdinand his Grandchild and after him Friderick uncle to this last Ferdinand and brother of Alphonsus Although that House of Bastards enjoyed Naples the Kings of Arragon would say that it was by their toleration becaus Alphonsus King of Arragon who had been adopted by Jane the II. had conquered Naples with the Arms the Blood and the money of Arragon that he ought not to have left it to any but hisbrother John King after him of Arragon Wherefore Ch. VIII fearing lest Ferdinand King of Arragon Son to John should disturb his conquest of Naples either to assist that Bastard House or to make it his own conquest restored unto him the County of Roussillon gratis upon Ferdinands promise not to disturbe him yea to help him but Ferdinand broke his word with him What was the right of Charles was shewed before Charles with great expedition past through Piemont Milan Pisa Florence Rome got the Kingdom of Naples without difficulty and governed it without prudence and instantly lost it by the ill behaviour of his Ministers which got him the hatred of the Neapolitans A league was made by the Pope the Venetians the King of Naples and the Duke of Milan not onely to stay his conquests but to stop his return
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
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