the Register of Surveys of the year 1602 it is mentioned to be part of the Provostship of Polvache and being a Member thereof the Title of his Majesty of Spain is further cleared to Spontin by what is before said of his right to that Provostship Gerpinnes Faultrier sent to Gerpinnes situate between the Sambre and the Meuse an Order Dated the 4th of November 1681 Prohibiting the Inhabitants to receive any Orders from his Catholick Majesty or pay any Toll Taxes or Duties to any Person whatever but such as should be Commissioned by him the said Faultrier with further Order to all Gentlemen and others having right to sit in the Assembly of the States of this Province and all other Lords and Inhabitants in the Lands and Villages in the possession of France that for the future they forbear Sitting in the said States on pain of being proceeded against as Disobenient The Title of Spain to Gerpinnes It appears by Register abovementioned of the year 1265 that the Men of Gerpinnes are not only obliged to follow the said Count of Namur into the Wars and to provide Horses and Carriages for his Progresses and Journeys but he hath also right of Mortmain Escheat High Justice and other Rights there specified over them Besides Gerpinnes is one of the Seventeen Villages heretofore in Controversie between the Bishop and Chapter of Liege and the Earl of Namur touching which it was agteed between the Parties in the year 1360 that the Earl and four of his Knights there named and chosen on the part of Bishop and Chapter should swear that the said Villages did belong to the said Earl that they descended to him from his Predecessors who had enjoyed them time out of mind And that the said Bishop and Chapter had not possessed or enjoyed them And that they did not any way belong to them that in case of such Oath made the said Bishop and Chapter would restore to the said Earl the possession of the said Seventeen Villages The Earl accepted the Condition and he and his four Knights one after another took solemn Oaths upon the Holy Evangelists to the effectaforesaid the Form of the Oath being entred at the bottom of a Parchment Roll wherein the Rights and Dependences of every of the 17 Villages were set forth at large All this being done in presence of the said Chapter and four Commissioners appointed by them who administred received and accepted the said Oath notwithstanding all this the said Bishop and Chapter refused to restore the Count to his possession of the 17 Villages according to the agreement whereupon the Count obtained in the Court of Rome four Decrees for possession by which the Bishop and Chapter were Condemned to restore to the Count the possession of the Villages and to account to him for the mean Profits they had received Pursuant to these Decrees Execution was awarded by the Cardinals deputed by the Pope and a Commission given by the Bishop of Liege for restoring to the Count the possession of the 17 Villages which was accordingly done Moreover By the Paper List of the Fiefes of the Bayliage of Bovignes holding of the Castle of Namur it appears that John le Rouleux was a Liegeman and Homager to the Earl of Namur for the Vi-county of Gerpinnes and all its Appurtenances and John de Graux did Homage for it in 1426. In the Accounts of the Aids of the years 1493 1559 1560 1562 Gerpinnes is Assessed as a Member of the Province of Namur and is accordingly returned in the Survey of 1602. Sorinnes sur Dinant Ayseaux Viley la Poterie and Wepion The Intendant Faultrier caused an Order to be delivered to the Mayor Sheriffs and Inhabitants of Sorinnes to oblige them to swear Aliegiance to France which they accordingly did as appears by Certificat from J. de Vâ—â—â—nsaigne Lord of that place to the Attorney General Cuvelier In October 1681 the French Ministers sold to him who bid most the Woods of Marlaigne Biert and other places The Officers of his Catholick Majesty having thought fit to demolish the Hermitage of St. George situate upon a Hill over against the Fortifications of Sorinnes and within Musket-shot of them the Governour of Chilipville made great Complaints of it to the Prince of Barbanson Governour of this Province and threatned by a Letter on that Subject to proceed by way of reprisal for the Demolishing the Hermitage pretending that the Hermitage being between the Sambre and the Meuse it was a Dependent of the Villages and Places France was in Possession of and subject to the Pretensions France hath upon that Country The Mayoralty of Anhee Faultrier sent an Order Dated the 4th of November 1681 to the Inhabitants of this Mayoralty expresly commanding all Gentlemen and others having right to Sit in the States of this Province or being Lords or Inhabitants of any Villages within the French Conquests that they forbear Sitting in the said States for the future on pain of being punished as Disobedient And that the Mayor Sheriffs and Officers at Law of the Lands owing Fealty to France and summoned to do it should not receive any Order or pay any Tolls Taxes or Duties to any but such as should produce Commission from Faultrier The like Order was sent by him to the Inhabitants of Ayseaux and its Dependents and other Villages of this Province And by Order of the 14th of November 1681 sent to Vilers la Poterie between the Sambre and the Meuse and a Dependent of the County of Namur he Commanded the Inhabitants there to deliver at Philipville a quantity of Forage several Measures of Oats and Trusses of Straw The like Order was sent to Wepion for the Inhabitants there to furnish Dinant with three thousand Trusses of Hay 4 Measures of Oats and a hundred Trusses of Straw with Threats in case of Disobedience to send thither Horse-men and Dragoons to fetch away that Forage The 17th of November 1681 the Inhabitants of the same place had Order to go to Philipville to swear Allegiance to France and because they obeyed not those Orders some French Soldiers carried away to Di nant two of the Inhabitants of Wepion whom Faultrier threatned with Plunder and Fire unless the Inhabitants of Wepion would swear Allegiance to France before the end of November The Titlh of Spain to the places last ementioned Sorinnes is one of the Villages mentioned before and belongs to Spain by the same right that Gerpinnes doth besides which it appears by a Grant of the Provostship of Poilvache made by an Earl of Luxemburgh to an Earl of Namur and by the Accounts of Aids granted in the years 1493 1560 and 1562 and by the Register of Surveys in 1602 that Sorinnes is a Member of this Province His Catholick Majesties Right to the Mayoralty of Anhee Ayseaux and Wepion hath been made out before And as for Villers la Poterie it appears by the Register of 1562 that the Earl of Namur is Lord of Villers and that the
concluded and ratified committed great spoil and excessively wasted the Province of Namur by Marches and Counter-Marches of purpose wherein they were Guilty of disorders in abundance using the Spanish Subjects at discretion Robbing their Houses and forceing them to ransom their Persons as in the heat of the War The Chevalier de Sourdis who pursuant to the Treaty concluded with the Elector of Brandenbourgh brought back the French Forces from the Dutchy of Cleves through the Provinces of Gueldres and Luxemburgh abstained not from the like disorders haveing forc'd his Catholick Majesties Subjects of Welst and Breehdorf to Build a Bridge over the Roer for carrying over his Ammunition the Officers of his Dragoons haveing compelled the same Subjects to furnish them with Victuals and Forrage unpaid for This was certainly against the Laws of Nations and of Hospitality For though this passage had been granted them on the account of the Elector of Brandenbourhg and the States of the United Provinces to rid the Country of the former of these Forces and the States of so dangerous Neighbours they ought to have been content with the liberty of passage and not have forc'd the Subjects of his Catholick Majesty to bear their Charges Breaches by invading and taking Towns and Places of his Catholick Majesties These Contraventions usher'd in an inundation of others that quickly followed in several parts of the Provinces subject to his Catholick Majesty wherein the French took several Towns and open places many whereof they had quitted and restored into the possession of his Catholick Majesty in pursuance of the Treaty In Hainault The Town of Chevre in Hainault holds immediately of his Catholick Majesty and the Soveraign Court of Mons The most Christian Kings Attorney at the Conferences held in execution of the Treaty of Aix la Chappelle which granted to France the Town and Castlewick of Aeth had inserted the Town of Chevre in his List of the Dependences of that Castlewick and pretended it belonged to the most Christian King as a Member of the Castle of Aeth His Catholick Majesties Attorney maintain'd the contrary The Commissioners of the two Crowns were divided in Opinion those of his Catholick Majesty insisting it ought to continue his as holding immediately of him and the Court of Mons The French urg'd it belonged to their King as a dependent of Aeth pass'd to him by the Treaty of Aix la Chappelle And thought the matter was put out of question by the Retrocession of the said Castlewick of Aeth to his most Catholick Majesty by the last Treaty so that it must of right belong to him whether you allow the opinion of the French or Spanish Commissioners and Attorneyes of the Crowns Yet in December 1679. Count Monbron Lieutenant General of the Armies of France was sent with considerable Forces of Horse and Foot with Engineers to make himself Master of that Castlewick by force of Arms in a time of full Peace and when the Commissioners of the two Crowns were actually met for Execution of the Treaty They possess'd themselves the same time of about twenty Villages lying within the Castlewick of Aeth intermixt with the Members of it and called Free Lands for that they are not dependents of the Castle but are holden immediately of his Catholick Majesty as Earl of Hainault Notwithstanding this the French pretended to them since the Treaty of Aix la Chappelle and took possession of them as dependdents of the Castle of Aeth though his Catholick Majesty had also the perception of the Rights and Profits belonging to him When their pretended Title by the Treaty of Aix la Chappelle ceas'd by that of Nimmighen wherein they agreed to restore Aeth and its Castlewick to his Catholick Majesty the same time that they drew out of Aeth and its Castlewick they did without difficulty evacuate those Villages leaving them in the full and free possession of his Catholick Majesty as agree'd by the Treaty But after about a years time they enter'd again upon the Castlewick of Aeth and took actual possession of it and for want of other reason pretended they had right to it for that they had in the last War taken and possess'd it by force of Arms and that the most Christian King in his Proposals for Peace had not only demanded the Cession of the places there mentioned but added this Clause In a word the Places and Countries he was in Possession of except only those he should think fit to restore And though this general Clause was rejected by the Act of acceptation and the Treaty thereupon and that by the mediation of the States-General it was agreed That all places to remain in the possession of France should be particularly exprest and named in the Treaty of Peace and a general Clause inserted That all that had been or should be possess'd till the Publication of the Peace except the places to remain by the Treaty in the Possession of France should be restored And that besides this agreement the Castlewick of Aeth and its Dependents were expresly named among the places to be restored to his Catholick Majesty whereby all the right and pretence of the French was absolutely annull'd Notwithstanding all this and that they had not any colour to claim again their pretended possession having devested themselves of it and of the Title they had made use of as the sole ground of their possession Yet within twelve Months after evacuation of those places pursuant to this Treaty the French without right and contrary to the Treaty possess'd themselves of the same places by force of Arms They possess'd themselves also of the Town of Fountain L'Evesque which holds of his Catholick Majesty as Earl of Hainault And in December 1679. they seiz'd the Towns of Fumay and Revin situate on the Meuse and belonging to his Catholick Majesty as Dependences of the County of Beaumont for which seizure they had not nor pretended any right other than that they had found that about nine hundred years ago those Towns had been reputed part of France At the same time they made themselves Masters of Bourg D'Estrun the Villages of Feron and Roully and afterwards that of Rock and other Hamlettes pretending them to be Dependences of Maubenge though in truth they are part of the Principality of Chimay belonging to his Catholick Majesty under the immediate Jurisdiction of his Soveraign Court of Mons. An Order dated the sixth of February 1680. was sent to those of Cerfontain Tirimon Bersilly Le Val and Audrelu to force them to swear Fealty to the most Christian King Under pretence they had found some old Registers wherein those Villages were mentioned as Dependences of Maubenge Though in truth they neither were nor are so but the four first of those Villages have ever since the year 1518 been United to the Provostship of Beaumont and Andrelu to that of Binch Breaches in the Province of Flanders The Violences done by the French in the Province of Flanders are no
to Courtray to put an amicable end to all differences that should arise about Execution of the Treaty Their refusing to treat of any business at the Conference But they have made it evidently appear they intended no such matter nor sent their Deputies to Courtray for any other end than meerly to make a show and amuse the Neighbouring Princes and States without any the least effectual satisfaction Difficulty rais'd about the Title of Duke of Burgundy For the Commissioners of the two Crowns having met in December 1679 the French rais'd a Preliminary difficulty about the Title of Duke of Burgundy inserted in the Commission from his Catholick Majesty pretending that Dukedome had been granted to the most Christian King by the Treaty of Crepy And though there be not any ground for the Objection but on the contrary the said Treaty mentions not any otherwise than Conditionally and Alternatively That the Netherlands should be granted with a Renunciation of the Dutchy of Burgundy to Prince Charles younger Son of Francis the First in case he should Marry the Daughter of Charles the Fifth Or that the Dutchy of Milan should be granted to that Prince if he Married the Daughter of Ferdinand King of the Romans at the Election of the Emperour That the Emperour determined his Election by the Marriage of his Daughter with Ferdinand that the intended Marriage of the said younger Son of France was prevented by his sudden Death and consequently the condition of the Grant was not fiulfill'd in which case the Title and pretension to the Dutchy of Burgundy was expresly reserv'd in that as in all following Treaties that relate to it Besides it was made appear the discussion of this point was out of the Power of the Commissioners which was limited to the Execution of the Treaty of Nimmighen which mentions it not And that there was so much the less reason to raise this Objection in a place where they were obliged to disallow and oppose it for that this Title belongs to his Catholick Majesty by Birth right That since the Union of the House of Austria with that of Burgundy all the Princes of both Branches as well that of Spain as Germany have us'd it and use it to this day That with the full privity and without any contradiction of France it hath been constantly inserted in all the Treaties made since that of Crepy for an Age and a half that it is found in the Powers granted for the present Treaty of Peace the Execution whereof is the sole matter in question as also in the Ratification of the Articles and the Proxy for the Espousals given by his Catholick Majesty to the most Christian King who accepted it without scruple and by vertue of it substituted the Prince of Conty in that Affair Notwithstanding all this they persisted in their Demand and the third of May 1680. caus'd it to be declar'd to the Spanish Commissioners that if they did not procure themselves another Commission to the satisfaction of the French within the Term limited for that purpose the most Christian King would order his Commissioners to retire from the Conference and possess himself of all the places he should judge ought to belong to him by vertue of the Treaty And though this difficulty ceas'd since September 1680. and that the Commissioners of France the fifteenth of that Month dclar'd they were satisfied with the Powers Communicated to them that day and that they were content to enter upon the business yet they sought out several pretences to delay the Affair for several Months And when they could not find any more but expressed themselves satisfied with the Reasons of the Spaniards 't was but in appearance and meerly to amuse them for they continued to decide all by the way of Arms eluding all instances made to the contrary And when the Commissioners of his Catholick Majesty desired to Treat at Courtray of the Affairs of Luxemburgh the Commissioners of France declared openly they had not any Commission or power to Treat of them there and that they concerned the Execution of the Treaty of Munster and not that of Nimmighen though they very well knew neither his Catholick Majesty nor any on his behalf intervened in the Treaty of Munster nor in that of Nimmighen as relating to that of Munster the one and the other having been made seperately between the Plenipotentiaries of the Emperour and the most Christian King And as to the restoring his Catholick Majesty to the Possession of the Places and Countries Usurp'd from him by Force since the Publishing of the Peace the French have been so far from doing his Majesty Right that they have incessantly acted new Violences and Injuries and formed other pretensions at the Conference not only destitute of Ground but any appearance of Reason Insomuch that they insisted the most Christian King had Right over the Towns and Countries of Alost Niuoue Gramont and abundance of other Places to the very Lands of the States of the United Provinces And demanded an Equivalent for them from his Catholick Majesty pretending that by the taking of Ghent their Arms had given them Right of Entry into those Countries and that they had had some kind of Possession of them Whereas in truth they are open places and have so continued during the War So that France could not on that account gain any right to them nor hinder his Catholick Majesty from accesse to them and consequently from preserving his Right and Possession as he hath done And that the most Christian King after the taking of Ghent pretended not to them but as Dependences of that City which he is particularly and expresly obliged to restore to his Catholick Majesty Besides after the Publication of the Peace the French were Quartered in those Countries as Places belonging to his Catholick Majesty to Force Spain to pay the Residue of the Contributions as pretended to by France And when they were paid as is mentioned before the most Christian King drew his Forces out of those Places at the time he Evacuated Ghent that his Catholick Majesty might be left in the peaceable Possession of them Add hereto that these Places are essential Parts of the Barriere for which the most Christian King hath obliged himself to rest satisfied with the Cession of certain Places agreed to be given him in exchange And that in the List of Places named in the Treaty to be given in exchange of the Barriere the Places we speak of are not compriz'd And that after the Enumeration of Places to remain in the Possession of either Crown or to be restor'd to them an Article was added by way of enlargement that all Towns Place Postes c. should be restored that had been or should be possess'd by either Party till the Publication of the Peace as appears by the seventh Article of the Treaty More Contraventions and Violences in Namur and Haynault After all this they gave us to understand they were not