French by that door making their entry into this Province out of which at last they thrust the English Anno 1450. So desperate a thing is a frighted Coward This Country had once before been in possession of the English and that by a firmer title than the Sword William the Conqueror had conveyed it once over the Seas into England it continued an appendix of that Crown from the year 1067. unto that of 1204. At that time John called Sáns terre third Son unto King Henry the second having usurped the States of England and the English possessions in France upon Arthur heir of Britain and Son unto Geofrey his elder brother was warred on by Phillip Augustus King of France who sided with the said Arthur In the end Arthur was taken and not long after found dead in the ditches of the Castle of Roven Whether this violent death happened unto him by the practises of his Uncle as the French say or that the young Prince came to that unfortunate end in an attempt to escape as the English report is not yet determined For my part considering the other carriages and virulencies of that King I dare be of that opinion that the death of Arthur was not without his contrivement Certainly he that rebelled against his Father and practised the eternal imprisonment and ruine of his Brother would not much stick this being so speedy a way to settle his affairs at the murther of a Nephew Upon the first bruit of this murther Constance Mother to the young Prince complained unto the King and Parliament of France not the Court which now is in force consisting of men only of the long Robe but the Court of Pairrie or twelve Peers whereof himself was one as Duke of Normandy I see not how in justice Philip could do less than summon him an Homager being â—lain and an Homager accused To this summons John refused to yeild himself A counsel rather magnanimous than wise and such as had more in it of an English King than a French Subject Edward the third a prince of a finer mettal than this John obeyed the like warrant and performed a personal homage to Philip of Valoys and it is not reckoned among his disparagements He committed yet a further error or solaecisme in State not so much as sending any of his people to supply his place or plead his cause Upon this none appearance the Peers proceed to sentence Il fur par Arrest la dire Cour saith Du' Chesne condemne pour attaint et convainuc du crime de parricide de felonnie Parricide for the killing of his own Nephew and felony for committing an act so execrable on the person of a French vassal and in France Jhon de Sienes addeth a third cause which was contempt in disobeying the Kings commandement Upon this verdict the Court awarded Que toutes les terres qu' il avoit par deca de mourerient acquises confisques a la corronne c. A proceeding so fair and orderly that I should sooner accuse King John of indiscretion than the French of injustice when my estate or life is in danger I wish it may have no more sinister a trial The English thus outed of Normandy by the weakness of John recovered it again by the puissance of Henry But being held onely by the sword it was after thirty years recovered again as I have told you And now being passed over the Oyse I have at once freed the English and my self of Normandy here ending this Book but not that dayes journey The Second Book or FRANCE CHAP. I. France in what sense so called the bounds of it All old Gallia not possessed by the French Countries follow the name of the most predominant Nation The condition of the present French not different from that of the old Gaules That the Heavens have a constant power upon the same Climate though the Inhabitants be changed The quality of the French in private at the Church and at the Table Their Language Complements Discourse c. IVly the third which was the day we set out of St. Claire having passed through Pontoise and crossed the River we were entred into France France as it is understood in his limitted sense and as a part onely of the whole For when Meroveus the Grandchild of Pharamond first King of the Francones had taken an opportunity to pass the Rhene having also during the warres between the Romans and the Gothes taken Paris he resolved there to set up his rest and to make that the head City of his Empire The Country round about it which was of no large extent he commanded to be called Francia or Terra Francorum after the name of his Francks whom he governed In this bounded and restrained sense we now take it being confined with Normandy on the North Campagne on the East and on the West and South with the little Province of la Beausse It is also called and that more properly to distinguish it from the whole continent the Isle of France and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Isle I know not any thing more like it then the Isle of Elie the Eure on the West the Velle on the East the Oyse on the Northward and a vein riveret of the Seine towards the South are the Rivers which encircle it But the principall environings are made by the Seine and the Marne a river of Champagne which within the main Island make divers Ilets the waters winding up and down as desirous to recreate the earth with the pleasures of its lovely and delicious embraces This Isle this portion of Gaule properly and limitedly stiled France was the seate of the Franks at their first coming hither and hath still continued so The rest of Gallia is in effect rather subdued by the French than inhabited their valour in time having taken in those Countries which they never planted So that if we look apprehensively into Gaule we shall find the other Nations of it to have just cause to take up the complaint of the King of Portugal against Ferdinand of Castile for assuming to himself the title of Catholique King of Spain eius tam non exiguâ parte penes reges alios as Mariana relateth it Certain it is that the least part of old Gallia is in the hands of the French the Normans Britons Biscaines or Gascoynes the Gothes of Languedoc and Provence Burgundians and the ancient Gaules of Poictou retaining in it such fair and ample Provinces But it is the custome shall I say or fate of lesser and weaker Nations to loose their names unto the stronger as Wives do to their Husbands and the smaller Rivers to the greater Thus we see the little Province of Poland to have mastered and given name to the Pruteni Marovy and other Nations of Sarmatia Europaea as that of Moseo hath unto all the Provinces of Asiatica Thus hath Sweden conquered and denominated almost all the great Peninsula of Scandia where it is but
the Purple Robe the Sponge a peice of his Shrowd the Napkin wherewith he was girt when he washed his Disciples feet the Rod of Moses the head of St. Blase St. Clement and St. Simeon and part of the head of John Baptist Immediately under this recital of these Reliques and venerable ones I durst say they were could I be perswaded there were no imposture in them there are set down a Prayer and an Antheme both in the same Table as followeth ORATIO Quaesumus Omnipotens Deus ut qui sacra sanctissimae redemptionis nostrae insignia temporaliter veneramur per haec indesinenter munite aeternitatis gloriam consequamur dominum nostrum c. De sacrosanctis Reliquiis Antiphonae Christo plebs debita tot Christi donis praedita Jucunderis hodie Tota sis devota Erumpens in Jubilum depone mentes nubilum Tempus est Laetitiae Cura sit summota Ecce Crux Lancea Ferrum Corona spine◠Arma Regis gloriae tibi offerantur Omnes terrae populi laudent actorem seculi Per quem tantis gratiae signis offererantur Amen Pretty divinity if one had time to examine it These Reliques as the Table enformeth us were given unto St. Lewis Anno 1247. By Baldwin the second the last King of the Latines in Constantinople to which place the Christians of Palaestine had brought them during the time that those parts were harrowed by the Turks and Saracens Certainly were they the same which they are said to be I see no harm in it if we should honour them The very reverence due to antiquity and a silver head could not but extort some acknowledgement of respect even from a heathen It was therefore commendably done by Pope Leo having received a parcel of the Cross from the Bishop of Hierusalem that he entertained it with respect Particulam Dominicae Crucis saith he in his 72. Epislte cum eulogiis dilectionis tuae Veneranter accepi To adore and worship that or any other Relique whatsoever with prayers and Anthems as the Papists you see do never came within the minds of the Ancients and therefore St. Ambrose calleth it Gentilis error vanitas impiorum This was also Hierom's religion as himself testifieth in his Epistle to Ruparius Nos faith he non dico martyrum reliquias sed ne Solem quidem Lunam non Angelos c. colimus adoramus Thus were those two Fathers minded towards such Reliques as were known to be no others than what they seemed Before too many Centuries of years had consumed the true ones and the imposture of the Priests had brought in the false Had they lived in our times and seen the supposed Reliques of the Saints not honoured onely but adored and worshipped by the blind and infatuated people what would they have said or rather what would they not have said Questionless the least they could do were to take up the complaint of Vigilantius the Papists reckon him for an Heretick saying Quid necesse est tanto honore non solum honorare sed etiam ador are illud nescio quid quod in vasculo transferendo colis Presently without the Chappel is the Burse la Gallerie des Merchands a rank of shops in shew but not in substance like to those in the Exchange at London It reacheth from the Chappel unto the great Hall of Parliament and is the common through-fare between them On the bottom of the stairs and round about the several houses consecrated to the execution of justice are sundry shops of the same nature meanly furnished if compared with ours yet I perswade my self the richest of this kind in Paris I should now go and take a view of the Parliament House but I will step a little out of the way to see the place Daulphin and the little Chastelet This last serveth now onely as the Gaole or common prison belonging to the Court of the Provost of the Merchants and it deserveth no other employment It is seated at the end of the bridge called Petit pont and was built by Hugh Aubriot once Provost of the Town to repress the fury and insolencies of the Scholars whose rudeness and misdemeanours can no way be better bridled Omnes eos qui nomen ipsum Academiae vel serio vel ioco nominassent haereticos pronunciavit saith Platina of Pope Paul the second I will say it of this wilderness that whosoever will account it as an Academy is an Heretick to Learning and Civility The place Daulphin is a beautiful heap of building scituate nigh unto the new bridge It was built at the encouragement of Henry the fourth and entituled according to the title of his Son The houses are all of brick high built uniform and indeed such as deserve and would exact a longer description were not the Parliament now ready to sit and my self summoned to make my appearance CHAP. VIII The Parliament of France when began Of whom it consisted The Dignity and esteem of it abroad made sedentary at Paris appropriated to the long Robe The Palais by whom built and converted to seats of Justice The seven Chambers of Parliament the great Chamber the number and dignity of the Presidents The Duke of Biron afraid of them The Kings seat in it The sitting of the Grandsigneur in the Divano The authority of the Court in causes of all kinds and over the affairs of the King This Court the main pillar of the liberty of France La Tournelle and the Judges of it The five Chambers of Enquests severally instituted and by whom In what causes it is decisive The form of admitting Advocates into the Court of Parliament The Chancellor of France and his authority The two Courts of Requests and Masters of them The vain envy of the English Clergy against the Lawyers THe Court of Parliament was at the first instituted by Charles Marcell Grandfather to Charlemaine at such time as he was Maior of the Palace unto the lazy and retchless Kings of France In the beginning of the French Empire their King did justice to the people in person Afterwards banishing themselves from all the affairs of State that burden was cast upon the shoulders of their Maires An Office much of the nature with the Praefesti Praetorio in the Roman Empire When this Office was bestowed upon the said Charles Marcell he partly weary of the trouble partly intent about a business of a higher nature which was the estating of the Crown in his own Posterity but principally to indear himself to the Common people ordained the Court of Parliament Anno 720. It consisted in the beginning of twelve Peers the Prelates and Noblemen of the best fashion together with some of the principallest of the Kings Houshold Other Courts are called the Parliament with the addition of place as of Paris at Roven c. This onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Parliament It handled as well causes of State as those of private persons For hither did the Embassadours of mighty Princes
unto it self following no Rule written in their Sentences but judging according to equity and conscience In matters criminal of greater consequence the process is here immediately examined without any preparation of it from the inferiour Courts as at the araignment of the Duke of Biron and divers times also in matter personall But their power is most eminent in disposing the affaires of State and of the Kingdome for such prerogatives have the French Kings given hereunto that they can neither denounce Warre nor conclude Peace without the consent a formall one at the least of this Chamber An Alieniation of the least of the Lands of the Crown is not any whit valued unless confirmed by this Court neither are his Edicts in force till they are here verified nor his Letters Pattents for the creating of a Peere till they are here allowed of Most of these I confess are little more than matters of form the Kings power and pleasure being become boundless yet sufficient to shew the body of Authority which they once had and the shaddow of it which they still keep yet of late they have got into their disposing one priviledge belonging formerly to the Conventus Ordinum or the Assembly of the three Estates which is the conferring of the Regency or protection of their Kings during their minority That the Assembly of the three Estates formerly had this priviledge is evident by their stories Thus we find them to have made Queene Blanche Regent of the Realm during the non-age of her Son St. Lewiis Anno 1227. that they declared Phillip le Valois successor to the Crowne in case that the widdow of Charles de belle was not delivered of a Son Anno 1328. That they made Charles the Daulphin Regent of France during the imprisonment of King John his Father Anno 1357. As also Phillip of Burgony during the Lunary Charles the sixth Anno 1394 with divers others On the other side we have a late example of the power of the Parliament of Paris in this very case for the same day that Henry the fourth was slain by Raviliae the Parliament met and after a short consultation declared Mary de Medices Mother to the King Regent in France for the Government of the State during the minority of her Son with all power and authority such are the words of the Instrument dated the 14. of May 1610. It cannot be said but this Court deserveth not onely this but any other indulgence whereof any one member of the Common-wealth is capable So watchful are they over the health of the State and so tenderly do they take the least danger threatned to the liberties of that Kingdome that they may not unjustly be called Patres Patriae In the year 1614. they seazed upon a discourse written by Suarez a Jesuite entitled Adversus Anglicanae sectae errores wherein the Popes temporal power over Kings and Princes is averred which they sentenced to be burnt in the Pallace yard by the publick Hangman The yeare before they inflicted the same punishment upon a vain and blasplemous discourse penned by Gasper Niopins a fellow of a most desperate brain and a very incendiary Neither hath Bellarmine himself that great Atlas of the Roman Church escaped much better for writing a Book concerning the temporal power of his Holiness it had the ill luck to come into Paris where the Parliament finding it to thwart the Liberty and Royalty of the King and Country gave it over to the Hangman and he to the Fire Thus it is evident that the titles which the French writers gave it as the true Temple of the French justice the Buttresse of Equity the Guardian of the Rights of France and the like are abundantly deserved of it The next Chamber in esteem is the Tournelle which handleth all matters Criminal It is so called from Tourner which signifieth to change or alter because the Judges of the other several Chambers give sentence in this according to their several turnes The reason of which Institution is said to be least a continual custome of condemning should make the Judges less merciful and more prodigall of blood An order full of health and providence it was instituted by the above named Phillip le Belle at the same time when he made the Parliament sedentary at Paris and besides its particular and original employment it receiveth Appeals from and redresseth the errours of the Provost of Paris The other five Chambers are called des Enquests or Camerae Inquasitionum the first and ancientest of them was erected also by Phillip le Belle and afterwards divided into two by Charles the seventh Afterwards of Processes being greater than could be dispatched in these Courts there was added a third Francis the first established the fourth for the better raising of a sum of money which then he wanted every one of the new Counsellers paying right dearly for his place The fifth and last was founded in the year 1568. In each of these severall Chambers there be two Presidents and twenty Counsellers beside Advocates and Proctors ad placitum In the Tournelle which is the aggregation of all the other Courts there are supposed to be no fewer than two hundred Officers of all sorts which is no great number considering the many Causes there handled In the Tournelle the Iudges sit on matters of life and death in the Chambers of Enquests they examine onely civil Affairs of estate title debts and the like The Pleaders in these Courts are called Advocates and must be at the least Licentiats in the study of the Law At the Parliaments of Tholoza and Burdeaux they admit of none but Doctors now the form of admitting them is this In an open and frequent Court one of the agedest of the Long Robe presenteth the party which desireth admission to the Kings Atturney General saying with a loud voice Paisse a Cour recevoir N. N. Licencie or Docteur en droict civil a l'office d' Advocate This said the Kings Atturney biddeth him hold up his hand and saith to him in Latine Tu jurabis observare omnes Reges Consuetudines he answereth Iuro and departeth At the Chamber door of the Court whereof he is now sworne an Advocate he payeth two Crownes which is forthwith put into the common Treasury appointed for the relief of the distressed-Widdows of ruined Advocates and Proctors Hanc veniam petimusque damusque It may be their own cases and therefore it is paid willingly The highest preferment of which these Advocates are capable is that of Chauncellor an Office of great power and profit The present Chauncellor is named Mr. d' Allegre by birth of Chartres he hath no settled Court wherein to exercise his authority but hath in all the Courts of France the supream place whensoever he will vouchsafe to visit them He is also President of the Councill of Estate by his place and on him dependeth the making of good and sacred Lawes the administration of Justice the reformation of
more graceful and would be pleasing at the entrance were the Gaurd Chamber reformed Some Hugonot Architect which were not in love with the errours of Antiquity might make a pretty room of it a Catholick Carpenter would never get credit by it for whereas the provident thrift of our fore fathers intended it for the House would else be too narrow for the Kings retinue both for a room of safety and of pleasure both for Bellmen and Dancers and for that cause made up some six ranks of seats on each side That sparingness in the more curious eyes of this time is little King like Country wenches might with an indifferent stomack abuse a Galliard in it or it might perhaps serve with a Stage at one end to entertain the Parisiens at a Play or with a partition in the middle it might be divided into pretty plausible Cockpits But to be employed in the nature it is now either to solace the King and Lords in a dance or to give any forraign Ambassadour his welcome in a Masque is little sutable with the majesty of a King of France The Chambers of it are well built but ill furnished the hangings of them being somewhat below a meanness and yet of these here is no small scarcity for as it is said of the Gymnosophists of India that Vnadomus et mansioni sufficit et sepulturae so may we of this Prince The same Chamber serveth for to Iodge him feed him also to confer discourse with his Nobility But like enough it is that this want may proceed from the several Courts of the King the Monsieur the Queene Mother and the Queene Regnant being all kept within it Proceed we now to the two Galleries whereof the first is that of the Queene Mother as being beautified and adorned exceedingly by Catherine de Medices Mother to Henry the third and Charles the ninth It containeth the Pictures of all the Kings of France and the most loved of their Queens since the time of St. Lewis They stand each King opposite to his Queen she being that of his Wives which either brought him most estate or his Successor The tables are all of a just length very fair and according to my little acquaintance with the Painter of a most excellent workmanship And which addeth more grace to it they are in a manner a perfect history of the State and Court of France in their several times For under each of the Kings pictures they have drawn the potraitures of most of their Lords whom valour and true courage in the field ennobled beyond their births Under each of the Queens the lively shapes of the most principal Ladies whose beauty and vertue had honoured the Court. A dainty invention and happily expressed At the further end of it stand the last King and the present Queen Mother who fill up the whole room The succeeding Princes if they mean to live in their pictures must either build new places for them or else make use of the Long Gallery built by Henry the fourth and which openeth in to that of the Queen Mother A Gallery it is of an incredible length as being above 500. yards long and of a breadth and height not unproportionable A room built rather for oftentation than use and such as hath more in it of the Majesty of ist Founder than the Grace It is said to have been erected purposely to joyn the Louure unto the house and garden of the Tuilleries an unlikely matter that such a stupendious building should be designed onely for a cleanly conveyance into a Summer-house Others are of opinion that he had a resolution to have the House quadrangular every side being correspondent to this which should have been the common Gallery to the rest which design had it taken effect this Palace would at once have been the wonder of the world and the envy of it For my part I dare be of the last mind as well because the second is in part begun as also considering how infinitely this King was affected to building The place Daulphin and the place Royal two of the finest piles of Paris were erected partly by his purse but principally by his encouragement The new Bridge in Paris was meerly his work so was also the new Palace and the most admirable Water-Works of St. Germanenlay this long Gallery and the Pesthouse owe themselves wholly unto him and the house of Fountain bleau which is the fairest in France is beholding to him for most of its beauty Adde to this his fortifications bestowed on the Bastile and his purpose to have strengthened Paris according to the modern art of Towns and you will find the attribute of Parietaria or Wall-floure which Constantine scoffingly gave unto Trajane for his great humour of building to be due unto this King but seriously and with reverence Besides the general love he had to building hâ— had also an ambition to go beyond ensample which also induceth me further to beleive his intent of making that large and admirable quadrangle above spoken of to have been serious and real For to omit others certain it is that he had a project of great spirit and difficulty which was to joyn the Mediterranean Sea and the Ocean together and to make the navigation from the one to the other through France and not to pass by the straight of Gibraltare It came into counsel Anno 1604. and was resolved to be done by this meanes The River of Garond is navigable from the Ocean almost to Tholoza and the Mediterranean openeth it self into the land by a little River whose name I know not as high as Narbonne Betwixt these two places was there a navigable channel to have been digged and it proceeded so far towards being actuated that a workman had undertaken it and the price was agreed upon But there arising some discontents between the Kings of France and Spain about the building of the Fort Fuentis in the Countrey of the Grisons the King not knowing what use he might have of treasure in that quarrel commanded the work not to go forward However it is to be commended in the attempt which was indeed Kingly and worthy his spirit and praise him in his heroick purpose and design Quem si non tenuit magnis tamen excidit ausis But the principal beauty if I may judge of this so much admired Palace of the Louure is a low plain room paved under foot with brick and without any hangings or tapestry on the sides yet being the best set out and furnished to my content of any in France It is called La salle des Antiques and hath in it five of the ancientest and venerablest pieces of all the Kingdom For the Nation generally is regardless of antiquity both in the monuments and in the study of it so that you shall hardly find any ancient inscription or any famous ruine snatched from the hand of time in the best of their Cities and Churches In the Church
with the Town of Monstrevelle and the lower wherein are the goodly Cities of Amiens Abeville and many other places of principal note The higher which is the lesser and more Northern part is bounded North and West with the English Ocean and on the East with Flanders and Artoys The later which is the larger the richer and the more Southern hath on the East the little County of Veromandoys on the West Normandy and on the South the County of Campaigne In length it comprehendeth all the fifty one degree of Latitude and three parts of the fiftieth extending from Cales in the North to Clermont in the South In breadth it is of a great inequality For the higher Picardy is like Linea amongst the Logicians which they define to be Longitudo sine Latitudine it being indeed nothing in a manner but a meer border The lower is of a larger breadth and containeth in it the wole twenty fourth degree of Longitude and a fourth part of the twenty three So that by the proportion of degrees this province is an hundred and five miles long and seventy five broad Concerning the name of Picardy it is a difficulty beyond my reading and my conjecture All that I can do is to overthrow the less probable opinions of other Writers and make my self subject to the scoffe which Lactantius bestoweth on Aristotle Recte hic sustulit aliorum disciplinas sed non recte fundavit suam Some then derive it from Pignan one sorsooth of Alexander the greats Captains who they fain to have built Amiens and Pigmingin an absurdity not to be honoured with a confutation Some from the Town of Pigmingin it self of which mind is Mercator but that Town never was of such note as to name a Province Others derive it from Picardus a fanatical heretick of these parts about the year 1300. and after but the appellation is farre older than the man Others fetch it from the Picts of Brittanie whom they would have to fly hither after the discomfiture of their Empire and Nation by the Scots A transmigration of which all Histories are silent this being the verdict of the best Antiquary ever nursed up in Brittain Picti itaque praelio funestissimo debellati aut penitus fuerunt extincti aut paulatim in Scotorum nomen nationem concesserint Lastly some others derive the name from Pigs which signifyeth a Lance or Pike the inventors of which warlike Weapon the fathers of this device would fain make them In like manner some of Germany have laboured to prove that the Saxons had that name given them from the short Swords which they used to wear called in their language Seaxen but neither truly For my part I have consulted Ptolomie for all the Nations and the Itinerarium of Antonius for all the Towns in this Tract but can find none of which I may fasten any probable Etymologie All therefore that I can say is that which Mr. Robert Bishop of Auranches in Normandy hath said before me and that onely in the general Quos itaque aetas nostra Picardos appellat Vere Belgae dicendi sunt qui post modum in Picardorum nomen transmigrarunt This Country is very plentiful of corn and other grain with which it abundantly furnisheth Paris and hath in it more store of pasture and meadow ground than I else saw in any part of France In Vines onely it is defective and that as it is thought more by the want of industry in the people than any inability ih the soyl for indeed they are a people that will not labour more than they needs must standing much upon their state and distance in the carriage of their bodies savouring a little of the Spaniard when Picardiser to play the Picard is usually said of those who are lofty in their looks or gluttonous at their tables this last being also one of their simptomes of a Picard The Governour of this Province is the Duke les Deguiers into which Office he succeeded Mr. Luynes as he also did in that of the Constable two preferments which he purchased at a deer rate having sold or abandoned that Religion to compass them which he had professed for more than sixty years together An Apostasie most unworthy of the man who having for so many years supported the cause of Religion hath now forsaken it and thereby made himself guilty of the cowardice of M. Antonius qui cumin desertores saeviri debuer at desertor sui exercitus factus est But I fear an heavier sentence waiteth upon him the Crown of immortality not being promised to all those which run but to those onely which hold out to the end For the present indeed he hath augmented his honours By this Office which is the principal of all France he hath place and command before and over all the Peers and Princes of the bloud and at the coronation of the French Kings ministreth the Oath When the King entereth a City in state or upon the rendition of that he goeth before with the Sword naked and when the King sitteth in an Assembly of the three Estates he is placed at the Kings right hand he hath command over all his Majesties Forces and he that killeth him is guilty of high treason he sitteth also as cheif Judge at the Table of Marble upon all suits actions persons and complaints whatsoever concerning the warrs This Table de Marble was wont to be continually in the great Hall of the Palace of Paris from whence at the burning of that Hall it was removed to the Louure At this Table doth the Admiral of France hold his Sessions to judge of traffiick prizes Letters of Marts piracies and business of the like nature At this Table judgeth all Le grand Maistre des eaures et Forrests we may call him the Justice in Eire all his Majesties Forrests and Waters The actions there handled are thefts and abuses committed in the Kings Forrests Rivers Parks Fish-ponds and the like In the absence of the Grand Maistre the power of sentence resteth in the Les grands Maistres enquesteures et generaux reformateurs who have under their command no fewer than 300. subordinate Officers Here also sit the Marshals of France who are ten in number sometimes in their own power sometimes as Assistants to the Constable under whose direction they are with us in England the authority of the Marshalship is more entire as that which besides its own jurisdiction hath now incorporated in it self most of the matters anciently belonging to the Constables which Office ended in the death of Edward Lord Duke of Buckingham the last hereditary and proprietary Constable of England This Office of Constable to note unto you so much by the way was first instituted by Lewis the Gross who began his reign Anno 1110. and conferred on Mr. Les Deguiers on the 24th of July Anno 1622. in the Cathedral Church of Grenoble where he first heard Mass and where he was installed Knight of both Orders And
Mundi tam in temporalibus quam in spiritualibus the King returned him an answer with an Epithite sutable to his arrogancy Sciat maxima tua fatuitas nos intemporalibus alicui non subesse c. The like answer though in modester termes was sent to another of the Popes by St. Lewis a man of a most mild and sweet disposition yet unwilling to forgoe his Royalties His spiritual power is almost as little in substance though more in shew for whereas the Councill of Trent hath been an especiall authorizer of the Popes spiritual supremacy the French Church never would receive it by this means the Bishops keep in their hands their own full authority whereof an obedience to the decrees of that Councill would deprive them It was truly said by St. Gregory and they well knew it Lib. 7. Epist 70. Si unus universalis est restat ut vos Episcopinon Sitis Further the Vniversity of Paris in their Declaration Anno 1610. above mentioned plainly affirme that it is directly opposite to the doctrine of the Church which the Vniversity of Paris hath alwaies maintained that the Pope hath power of a Monarch in the spiritual Government of the Church To look upon higher times when the Councill of Constance had submitted the authority of the Pope unto that of a Councill John Gerson Theologus Parisiensis magni nominis defended that deeree and entitleth them Perniciosos esse ad modum adulatores qui tyranidem istam in Ecclesia invexere quasi nullis Regum teneatur vinculis quasi neque parere debeat Concilio Pontifex nec ab eo judicare queat The Kings themselves also befreind their Clergy in this Cause and therefore not onely protested against the Council of Trent wherein the spiritual tyranny was generally consented to by the Catholike faction but Henry the second also would not acknowledge them to be a Council calling them in his Letters by no other name than Conventus Tridentinus An indignity which the Fathers took very offensively Put the principal thing in which it behooveth them not to acknowledge his spiritual supremacy is the Collation of Benefices and Bishopricks and the Annates and first fruits thence arising The first and greatest controversie between the Pope and Princes of Christendom was about the bestowing the Livings of the Church and giving the investiture unto Bishops The Popes had long thirsted after that authority as being a great meanes to advance their followers and establish their own greatness for which cause in divers petty Councels the receiving of any Ecclesiastical preferment of a Lay-man was decreed to be Simony But this did little edifie with such patrons as had good Livings As soon as ever Hiâ—el brand in the Catalogue of the Popes called Gregory the seventh came to the throne of Rome he set himself entirely to effect the business as well in Germany now he was Pope as he had done in France whilst he was Legate He commandeth therefore Henry the third Emperour Ne deinceps Episcopatus Beneficia they are Platina's own words per cupiditatem Simoniacam committat aliter se usurum in ipsum censuris Ecclesiasticis To this injustice when the Emperour would not yeild he called a solemn Council at the Lateran where the Emperour was pronounced to be Simoniacal and afterwards excommunicated Neither would this Tyrant ever leave persecuting of him till he had laid him in his grave After this followed great strugling between the Popes and the Emperours for this very matter but in the end the Popes got the victory In England here he that first bickered about it was William Rufus the controversie being whether he or Pope Vrban should invest Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury Anselme would receive his investiture of none but the Pope whereupon the King banished him the Realm into which he was not admitted till the raign of Henry the second He to endear himself with his Clergy relinquished his right to the Pope but afterwards repenting himself of it he revoked his grant Neither did the English Kings wholly loose it till the raign of that unfortunate Prince King John Edward the first again recovered it and his Successors kept it The Popes having with much violence and opposition wrested into their hands this Priviledge of nominating Priests and investing Bishops they spared not to lay on what taxes they pleased as on the Benefices First fruits Pensions Subsidies Fifteenths Tenths and on the Bishopricks for Palls Mitres Crosiers Rings and I know not what bables By these means the Churches were so impoverished that upon complaint made unto the Council of Basel all these cheating tricks these aucupia eapilandi rationes were abolished This Decree was called Pragmatica sanctio and was confirmed in France by Charles the seventh Anno 1438. An act of singular improvement to the Church and Kingdom of France which yearly before as the Court of Parliament manifested to Lewis the eleventh had drained the State of a million of Crowns Since which time the Kings of France have sometimes omitted the vigour of the Sanction and sometimes also exacted it according as their affairs with the Pope stood for which cause it was called fraenum pontificum At the last King Francis the first having conquered Millain fell unto this composition with his Holiness namely that upon the falling of any Abbacie or Bishoprick the King should have six moneths time to present a fit man unto him whom the Pope legally might invest If the King neglected his time limited the Pope might take the benefit of the relapse and institute whom he pleased So is it also with the inferior benifices between the Pope and the Patrons insomuch that any or every Lay-patron and Bishop together in England hath for ought I see at the least in this particular as great a spiritual supremacy as the Pope in France Nay to proceed further and to shew how meerly titular both his supremacies are as well the spiritual as the temporal you may plainly see in the case of the Jesuites which was thus In the year 1609. the Jesuites had obtained of King Henry the fourth license to read again in their Colledge of Paris but when their Letters Patents came to be verified in the Court of Parliament the Rector and Vniversity opposed them On the seventeenth of December Anno 1611. both parties came to have an hearing and the Vniversity got the day unless the Jesuits would subscribe unto these four points Viz. First that the Council was above the Pope Secondly that the Pope had not temporal power over Kings and could not by Excommunication deprive them of their Realms and Estates Thirdly that Clergy men having heard of any attempt or conspiracy against the King or his Realm or any matter of treason in Confession they were bound to reveal it And fourthly that Clergy men were subject to the Secular Prince or Politick Magistrate It appeared by our former discourse what title or no power they had left the Pope over the estates
granted to Sir Giles Mompesson was just one of the French Offices As for Monopolies they are here so common that the Subject taketh no notice of it not a scurvy petty book being printed but it hath its priviledge affixed ad imprimendum solum These being granted by the King are carried to the Parliament by them formally perused and finally verified after which they are in force and vertue against all opposition It is said in France that Mr. Luines had obtained a Patent of the King for a quart d' Escu to be paid unto him for the Christning of every Child throughout the Kingdom A very unjust and unconscionable extortion Had he lived to have presented it to the Court I much doubt of their denial though the onely cause of bringing before them such Patents is onely intended that they should discuss the justice and convenience of them As the Parliament hath a formality of power left in them of verifying the Kings Edicts his grants of Offices and Monopolies so hath the Chamber of Accompts a superficial survey of his gifts and expences For his expences they are thought to be as great now as ever by reason of the several retinues of Himself his Mother his Queen and the Monsieur Neither are his gifts lessened The late warrs which he mannaged against the Protestants cost him dear he being fain to bind unto him most of his Princes by money and Pensions As the expences of the King are brought unto this Court to be examined so are also the gifts and pensions by him granted to be ratified The titulary power given to this Chamber is to cut off all those of the Kings grants which have no good ground and foundation the Officers being solemnly at the least formally sworn not to suffer any thing to pass them to the detriment of the Kingdom whatsoever Letters of Command they have to the contrary But with this Oath they do oftentimes dispense To this Court also belongeth the Enfranchisement or Naturalization of Aliens Anciently certain Lords Officers of the Crown and of the Privie Council were appointed to look into the Accompts now it is made an ordinary and soveraign Court consisting of two Presidents and divers Auditors and after under Officers The Chamber wherein it is kept is called La Chambre des Comptes it is the beautifullest piece of the whole Palace the great Chamber it self not being worthy to be named in the same day with it It was built by Charles the eighth Anno 1485. afterwards adorned and beautified by Lewis the twelfth whose Statua is there standing in his Royal Robes and the Scepter in his hand he is accompanied by the four Cardinal-Virtues expressed by way of Hieroglychick very properly and cunning each of them have in them its particular Motto to declare its being The Kings Portraicture also as if he were the fifth Virtue had its word under-written and contained in a couple of verses which let all that love the Muses skip them in the reading are these Quatuor has comites fowro caelestia dona Innocuae pacis prospera sceptra gerens From the King descend we to the Subjects ab equis quod aiunt ad asinos and the phrase is not much improper the French Commonalty being called the Kings Asses These are divided into three ranks or Classes the Clergy the Nobless the Paisants out of which certain Delegates or Committees chosen upon an occasion and sent to the King did anciently concurre to the making of the supreme Court for justice in France it was called the Assembly of the three Estates or Conventus Ordinum and was just like the Parliament of England but these meetings are now forgotten or out of use neither indeed as this time goeth can they any way advantage the State For whereas there are three principal if not sole causes of these Conventions which are the disposing of the Regency during the non-age or sickness of a King the granting aids or subsidies and the redressing of grievances there is now another course taken in them The Parliament of Paris which speaketh as it is prompted by power and greatness appointeth the Regent the Kings themselves with their Officers determine of the taxes and as concerning their grievances the Kings ear is open to private Petitions Thus is that title of a Common-wealth which went to the making up of this Monarchy escheated or rather devoured by the King that name alone containing in it both Clergy Princes and People so that some of the French Counsellors may say with Tully in his Oration for Marcellus unto Caesar Doleoque cum Respublica immortalis esse debeat eam unius mortalis anima consistere yet I cannot but withal affirm that the Princes and Nobles of France do for as much as concerneth themselves upon all advantages fly off from the Kings obedience but all this while the poor Paisant is ruined Let the poor Tennant starve or eat the bread of carefulness it matters not so they may have their pleasure and be accompted firm Zealots of the Common liberty and certainly this is the issue of it the Farmer liveth the life of a slave to maintain his Lord in pride and laziness the Lord leadeth the life of a King to oppress his Tennant by fines and exactions An equality little answerable to the old platforms of Republicks Aristotle genius ille naturae as a learned man calleth him in his fourth book of Politicks hath an excellent discourse concerning this disproportion In that chapter his project is to have a correspondency so far between Subjects under the King or people of the same City that neither the one might be over rich nor the other too miserably poor They saith he which are too happy strong or rich or greatly favoured and the like cannot nor will not obey with which evil they are infected from their infancy The other through want of these things are too abjectly minded and base for that the one cannot but command and the other but serve and this he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City inhabited onely by slaves and tyrants That questionless is the most perfect and compleat form of Government Vbi veneratur potentem humilis non timet antecedit non contemnit humiliorem potens as Velleius But this is an happiness whereof France is not capable their Lords being Kings and their Commons Villains And to say no less of them than in truth they are the Princes of this Country are little inferior in matters of Royalty to any King abroad and by consequence little respective in matter of obedience to their own King at home Upon the least discontent they will draw themselves from the Court or put themselves into Arms and of all other comforts are ever sure of this that they shall never want partizans neither do they use to stand off from him fearfully and at distance but justifie their revolt by publike declaration and think the King much indebted to them if upon fair terms and an
posterity hath admired without envie To come home unto our selves the writers of the Romans mention the revolt of Britaines and the slaughter of 70000 Confederates to the Romans under the conduct of Vocudia and she in the beginning of her encouragements to the action telleth the people thus Solitum quidem Britannis foeminarum ductu bellare Of all these Heroicall Ladyes I read no accusation of witchcraft innative courage and a sense of injury being the armes they fought withall Neither can I see why the Romans should exceed us in modesty or that we need envie unto the French this one female Warriour when it is a fortune which hath befallen most nations As for her atchievements they are not so much beyond a common being but that they may be imputed to naturall meanes For had she been a Witch it is likely she would have prevented the disgrace which her valour suffered in the ditches of Paris though she could not avoid those of Champeigne who took her prisoner The Divell at such an exigent only being accustomed to forsake those which he hath intangled so that she enjoyed not such a perpetuity of faelicity as to entitle her to the Divells assistance she being sometimes conquerour sometimes overthrowne and at last imprisoned Communia fortune ludibria the ordinary sports of Fortune her actions before her March to Orleans having somewhat in them of cunning and perhaps of imposture as the Vision which she reported to have incited her to these attempts her finding out of the King disguised in the habit of a Countrey-man and her appointing to her selfe an old sword hanging in Saint Katharines Church in Tours The French were at this time meerly crâ—â—t-fallen not to be raised but by a miracle This therefore is invented and so that which of all the rest must prove her a sorceresse will onely prove her an impostor Gerrard seigneur de Haillan one of the best writers of France is of opinion that all that plot of her coming to the King was contrived by three Lords of the Court to hearten the people as if God now miraculously intended the restauration of the Kingdome Add to this that she never commanded in any battaile without the assistance of the best Captaines of the French Nation and amongst whom was the Bastard of Orleans who is thought to have put this device into her head The Lord Bellay in his discourse of Art Military proceedeth further and maketh her a man onely thus habited Pour fair revenir le courage aux Francois which had it been so would have been discovered at the time of her burning Other of the later French Writers for those of the former age savour too much of the Legend make her to be a lusty lasse of Lorreine trained up by the Bastard of Orleans and the Seigneur of Brandicourt only for this service that she might carry with her the reputation of a Prophetesse and an Ambassadresse from Heaven Admit this and farewell Witchcraft As for the sentence of her Condemnation and the confirmation of it by the Divines and Vniversity of Paris it is with me of no moment being composed onely to humour the Victor If this could sway me I had more reason to encline to the other party for when Charles had setled his estate the same man who had condemned her of Sorcery absolved her and there was also added in defence of her innocency a Decree from the Court of Rome Joane then with me shall inherit the title of La puelle d' Orleans with me she shall be ranked amongst the famous Captaines of her time and be placed in the same throne equall with the valiant'st of all her Sex in times before her Let those whom partiality hath wrested aside from the path of truth proclaime her for a Sorceress for my part I will not flatter the best Fortunes of my Countrey to the prejudice of a truth neither will I ever be induced to think of this female Warriour otherwise than as of a noble Captaine Audetque viris concurrere Virgo Penthesilea did it why not she Without the stain of Spells and Sorcery Why should those Arts in her be counted sin Which in the other have commended been Nor is it fit that France should be deny'd This Female Soldier since all Realms beside Have had the honour of one and relate How much that Sex hath ev'n forc'd the state Of their decaying strength let Scytha spare To speak of Tomyris the Assyrians care Shall be no more to have their deeds recited Of Ninus's wife nor are the Dutch delighted To have the name of their Velleda extoll'd the name Of this French Warriour hath eclips'd their fame And silenc'd their atchievements let the praise That 's due to Vertue wait upon her raise An Obelisk unto her you of Gaule And let her Acts live in the mouths of all Speak boldly of her and of her alone That never Lady was as good as Joane She dy'd a Virgin 't was because the earth Held not a man whose Vertues or whose Birth Might merit such a Blessing but above The Gods provided her a fitting Love And gave her to St. Denis she with him Protects the Lillies and their Diadem You then about whose Armies she doth watch Give her the honour due unto her Match And when in Field your Standard you advance Cry ' loud St. Denis and St. Joan for France CHAP. III. The study of the Civil Law received in Europe The dead time of Learning The Schoole of Law in Orleans The Oeconomie of them The Chancelour of Oxford anciently appointed by the Diocaesan there Method here and Prodigality in bestowing Degrees Orleans a great Conflux of Strangers The Language there The Corporation of Germaines there Their House and Privilege Dutch Latine The difference between an Academy and an University I Have now done with the Town and City of Orleans and am come to the Vniversity or Schooles of Law which are in it this being one of the first places in which the Study of the Civil Law was received in Europe for immediately after the death of Justinian who out of no lesse than two thousand volumes of Law-Writers had collected that body of the Imperiall Laws which we now call the Digest or the Pandects the study of them grew neglected in these Westerne parts nor did any for a long time professe or read them The reason was bâ—cause Italy France Spaine England and Germany having received new Lords over them as the Franks Lombards Saxons Sarcens and others were faine to submit themselves to their Lawes It happened afterwards that Lotharius Saxo the Emperour who began his Raigne Anno 1126 being 560 yeares after the death of Justinian having taken the City of Melphy in Naples found there an old Copy of the Pandects This he gave to the Pisans his Confederates as a most reverend relique of Learning and Antiquity whence it is called Litera pisana Moreover he founded the Vniversity of Bologne or Bononia ordaining the Civill