the house of Guise which some did openly maintain to be derived in a right line from Charlemagne But whether these designs were indeed plotted from the beginning or whether they took birth from the emergent occasions which happened after it is not so evident for as they were divulged and amplified by the Hugonots so were they closely concealed and firmly denied by the Guises But they themselves could not deny two great and powerful occasions one a discontent because they could not sway and govern the present King as they had done Charles and Francis his last Predecessors the other a desire to rule the Catholick party founded long before by their Ancestors and increased and confirmed by themselves and to these was added as a third the necessity of opposing the Kings designs which they now saw tended openly to their ruine thereby to free his neck from the yoak of Factions These interests which could not be wholly concealed from the Pope for that Court most wise in judging of all things did easily penetrate into them made him so much the more reserved and wary what to resolve by how much the apparent respect of preserving the Catholick Religion spurred him on to consent unto it But whilst the approbation of this League is treated on at Rome the Pope inclining but ambiguously unto it the business was very easily determined on the other side in the Court of Spain the propositions being such that the Catholick King ought rather to have desired that the League should put it self under his protection than make himself be long entreated to comply with those requests which for that purpose were effectually made unto him for indeed it was a gate which did not only open unto him a passage to the security of his own States but also to very great hopes of acquiring more and at least if no better to keep the King of France his Forces divided and imployed with which the Crown of Spain had so long and so obstinate contentions These practices especially those which were managed in France were not unknown to the King for they were represented unto him by the Queen-Mother and other his intimate Confidents nay the Count de Retz had particularly advertised him that Monsieur de Vins negotiated that Confederacy in Provence and the Prince of Conde by the means of the Sieur de Montaut had made him acquainted with the Union of those in Poictou besides that at the same time one Nicholas David an Advocate of the Parliament of Paris was stayed and taken in his journey which he confessed he was imployed in by the Guises to negotiate that business at Rome The Hugonots dispersed certain Writings which under title of a Commission given to him contained the designs of the Catholick League and their end and intention to possess themselves of the Crown but for the most part full of exorbitant fabulous incredible things so that they were generally believed to have been maliciously forged and spred abroad to discredit the Lords of Guise and to render them odious and suspected who did not only absolutely deny the tenure of those Commissions and account David a fool and no better than a mad-man if he had any such Writings about him but they also caused them to be answered by some of their party proving many things in them to be absurd and without any appearance of truth But those divulged Papers generally believed to be false wrought not so great a suspicion in the King as the Letters of Monsieur de St. Goart his Lieger Ambassador in the Court of Spain who gave him notice how he had discovered that some French Catholick Confederates did earnestly treat of secret businesses in that Court But whether so many discords and confusions springing up daily they could not all be provided against at the same time and therefore they neglected those which at first seemed less material to remedy others which were more urgent and weighty or whether the King taken up with his secret designs of opening a way to future matters did slight the present danger being confident he should cut off all those plots and conspiracies at one time whichsoever of these causes it were it is most certain that though the King knew all these practices he was so far from opposing or hindring them that he seemed not displeased to have one Faction struggle with the other thinking that by those jarrs which would arise between them he should remain absolute Arbitrator and enjoy the fruits of that weakness which they would bring upon themselves by falling upon one another Besides he thought this so high and so general resentment of the Catholicks gave him a very lucky occasion to break the conditions of peace granted to the Hugonots and to make appear to the World that he did it not of his own resolution because he had so intended from the beginning but because of the general discontent of his Subjects of whose good and of whose desires he was obliged as a Father to be much more careful than of complying with the will of those that were rebellious and disobedient for which cause he did not only tolerate the continuation of those practices about the League but by ambiguous actions obscure words and dark answers that admitted several interpretations he almost made it be believed that all was managed by his order and permission But if the King resolved to make use of that opportunity to break the Articles of Agreement the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde were no less disposed to do the same who having thrust the Duke of Alancon out of their faction sought to lay hold of any occasion that might kindle the War again by which they hoped to establish their own greatness wherefore the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde having often complained to the King and Queen the King of Navarre that his interests were utterly forgotten in the conditions of the Peace and the Prince of Conde that neither the Government of Picardy nor the City of Peronne were assigned unto him and the King having still interposed delays and impediments had at last remitted all to be determined by the States now upon this new occasion of the League they redoubled their complaints the more earnestly urging that they could not continue in that uncertainty of their present condition whilst their adversaries united their forces in a League to suppress and destroy them with which importunities the King being troubled and having rather to hold him in hand than with an intent to perform it offered the Prince in stead of Peronne and Picardy to give him St. Iean d' Angely and Cognac in those parts where the strength of the Hugonots lay he not staying for the assignment suddenly made himself Master of them and following the success of that beginning sent for Monsieur de Mirabeau under colour of treating with him concerning other businesses and forced him to deliver up Bravage into his hand a Fort
THE HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WARS OF FRANCE Written in ITALIAN By H. C. D'AVILA Translated out of the ORIGINAL The Second Impression whereunto is Added a TABLE In the SAVOY Printed by T. N. for Henry Herringman at the Blew Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange M.DC.LXXVIII TO THE READER THIS AUTHOR is so Generally Esteemed in all Countries that those who understand not the Italian are glad to Converse with him by an Interpreter and even in France after so many Histories as be there of the same Times several Impressions of this in their Language have been bought off whereby we may judge they think Him to be Impartial and as worthy of Credit as the best of their own Nor hath He wanted a due value here for our late King of ever Glorious Memory by whose Command at Oxford this Translation was Continued and Finished though not begun read it there with such eagerness that no Diligence could Write it out faire so fast as he daily called for it wishing he had had it some years sooner out of a Beliefe that being forewarned thereby He might have prevented many of those Mischiefs we then groaned under and which the Grand Contrivers of them had drawn from this Original as Spiders do Poison from the most wholsome Plants The Truth is their Swords had already Transcribed it in English Blood before this Pen had done it in English Inke and it were not hard to name the very Persons by whom many of the same Parts were Acted over again in the Civil Wars of England the Faction of our Presbyterians in that Long-Parliament outvying those of the Hugonots and of the Holy League put together Yet when they had followed the steps of them both as exactly as they could they were out-vied themselves by the Independents who far transcended them all in an unexampled Conclusion by the Horrid Murther of our Royal Martyr and by enslaving the Kingdom under several Tyranies till His Son 's Miraculous Restauration to His Iust Rights Restored His Subjects also to their Much-wish'd-for Liberties But I am not to Write a Preface and therefore all I shall add is That finding this BOOK still much sought for since the former Impression hath been Sold off I obtain'd the Right of the Copy from Sir Charles Cottrell whose WORK it was all but some Pieces here and there in the First Four Books with his Leave to Reprint it as I have now done so carefully that I think it hath not many gross Faults and for those less considerable I doubt not but the observation of the Ingenious Reader will easily find his care Correct and I hope his Candor pardon them LICENSED Nov. 24. 1678. ROGER L'ESTRANGE THE HISTORY OF THE Civil Wars of France By HENRICO CATERINO DAVILA. The FIRST BOOK The ARGUMENT IN this First Book is set down the Original of the French Nation The Election of their first King Pharamond The Institution of the Salique Law The Rights and Prerogatives of the Princes of the Blood The Succession of their Kings to Lewis the IX surnamed The Saint The Division of the Royal Family into two distinct branches one called Valois the other Bourbon The Iealousies between them and in time the suppression of the House of Bourbon The original and raising to greatness of place in the rooms of the Princes of the Blood the Families of Guise and Momorancy The Emulations and Occurrences between them in which the Guises prevail King Henry the Second is killed by accident in a Tournament Francis his Son a Youth of weak Constitution succeeds to the Crown He gives the Government to his Mother Queen Caterine and the Guises The Princes of Bourbon are offended thereat The King of Navarre chief of the Family upon that occasion goes to Court prevails little goes from thence and retires into Bearn The Prince of Conde his Brother resolves to remove from the Government of the Queen-Mother and the Guises He is counselled to make use of the Hugonots Their Beginnings and Doctrine La Renaudie makes himself chief of a Conspiracy and the Hugonots resolve to follow him The Conspiracy is discovered The King chuseth the Duke of Guise for his Lieutenant-General who without much difficulty doth break take and chastise the Conspirators THe Civil Wars in which for the space of forty years together the Kingdom of France was miserably involved though on the one side they contain great Actions and famous Enterprizes that may serve for excellent Lessons to those that maturely consider them yet on the other side they are so confused and intangled in their own revolutions that the reasons of many businesses do not appear the counsels of many determinations are not rightly comprehended and an infinite number of things not at all understood through the partiality of private Interests which under divers pretences hath obscured the truth of them True it is that many excellent Wits have endeavoured to make of these a perfect Story by bringing to light such things as they have gathered together with great diligence and commendable industry Notwithstanding the difficulties are so many and the impediments prove to be of such consequence that in a multitude of accidents all great and considerable but hidden and buried in the vast ruines of civil dissentions his pains will not be less profitable to posterity who labours to digest them into an orderly method than the endeavours of others formerly have been Wherefore being in my infancy by Fate that destined me to a restless life transported into the inmost Provinces of that Kingdom where during a long space of time which I lived there I had the opportunity to observe and be an eye-witness of the most secret and notable circumstances of so remarkable passages I could not chuse a more worthy matter nor a more useful Study wherein to imploy my present Age now come to maturity than to write from the very beginning all the progress and order of those troubles And although the first taking up of Arms which hapned in the year 1560. was indeed before my time so that I could not be present at the beginning of those Civil Wars nevertheless I have diligently informed my self by those very persons who then governed the affairs of State so that with the perfect and particular knowledge of all the following events it hath not been hard for me to penetrate to the first root of the most ancient and remote causes of them This Story will contain the whole course of the Civil Wars which brake forth upon a sudden after the death of King Henry the Second and varying in their progress by strange and unthought-of accidents ended finally after the death of three Kings in the Reign of King Henry the Fourth But to form the Body of this Narration perfectly it will be convenient for me to look back some few periods into the Original of the French Monarchy for the seeds of those matters which are now to be related taking their beginnings from times
wherefore among other marks of Nobility those of that family give this device Deus primum Christianum servet as an undoubted testimony of the antiquity and piety of their Predecessors From this stock came Anne of Momorancy a man of great quickness of wit but a moderate disposition who besides his natural dexterity and gravity being accompanied with a singular industry and exceeding patience in the various changes of the Court he knew so well in what manner to gain King Francis his affection that having passed thorow other great charges he was first by him promoted to the Office of Grand Master and a little after the death of Bourbon to the dignity of High-Constable and had then the Government of the War and Superintendency of the Affairs wholly in his own hands But the House of Lorain from which are descended the Lords of Guise deriving their original from great antiquity reckon in the male-line of their Predecessors Godfrey of Bullen He who being General of the Christians at the recovery of the holy Sepulchre attained in Asia by his Piety and Arms the Kingdom of Ierusalem and by the Mothers side shews a long continued pedigree from a daughter of the Emperour Charles the Great In this Family flourishing in wealth and powerful in possessions Anthony Duke of Lorain obtaining the Soveraignty over his own people Claudian the younger brother a Prince of excellent vertue and no less fortunate going some little time after into France to take possession of the Dutchy of Guise gave such clear testimony of his conduct and valour in the Wars that after the Battel of Marignan wherein he commanded the Almans being found most grievously wounded among thickest of the dead bodies and almost miraculously recovered he ever after held the first place of reputation among the French Commanders But though both these Families had deserved so well as it was not easie to judge which should have the pre-eminence yet as Guise was superiour in birth and large possessions so the Constable had the advantage of the Kings favour and chief management of the affairs The truth is as the condition of the Court is ever various and unconstant so both of them towards the end of Francis his Reign passed thorow many accidents of great hazard and difficulty For the Consâ—able who was a chief instrument in perswading the King to credit the promises of the Emperour Charles the Fifth and to give him a safe conduct when he was forced in haste to pass quite thorow the Kingdom unarmed to suppress the Rebellion at Gaunâ— afteâ—wards the Emperours deeds not any way corresponding with his words fell into such disgrace with the King and Court that being noted by every one for a light faithless man he was forced to absent himself and retiâ—e to a private life to be secure from the persecutions of his adversaries And the Duke of Guise having without Commission carried some Companies of souldiers within the Kingdom to aid his Brother the Duke of Lorain in the War against the Anabaptists so incensed the King that he was likewise forced by withdrawing himself to give place to the adversity of fortune The Constable and the Duke of Guise thus gone from Court there came in their places to the Government of the affairs Claud d'Annibaut Admiral and Francis Cardinal of Tournon men that by long experience and industry had acquired a great reputation of wisdom but of such private condition for their birth and fortune that they could never ascend to that suspected greatness which the King as dangerous abhorr'd in any subject Some are of opinion that the King a Prince of exquisite sagacity in timely discovering the natures and inclinations of men at such time when through passed adversities he was grown to be of a difficult and jealous nature made it his study to suppress and banish from Court the Constable and the Duke of Guise whom before he so much loved and so constantly favoured supposing he could never reign absolutely nor rule as he listed whilst he had men about him of such power and reputation who were in a manneâ— able to balance his will And as in the Constable that which most offended him was his great experience and too much knowledge through which he believed he could not conceal from him his most secret and hidden designs so in the Duke of Guise he was displeased not only with the eminency of his birth but also the restlesness of his thoughts perceiving in those of that Family a disposition and inclination ready to embrace any seasonable opportunity and withal an ability not unfit to manage any whatsoever weighty or dangerous design They add also that towards his end he gave secretly this advice to his Son Henry the Second That he should beware of the excessive greatness of his Subjects but particularly of the House of Guise who if they were suffered to grow too high would without doubt molest the quiet of the Kingdom Which though I dare not affirm having no other testimony than publick Fame which often proceeds from malice yet it is certain the things which since hapned have added great credit to that report But howsoever it were Francis the First being dead the new King Henry the Second inclined rather to follow the appetite of his own will than the advertisements and so late example of his father removed at first dash from Court and from their places all those that before had any part in the Government and substituted into their rooms the same men whom the deceased King had taken occasion to discharge of their trust Presently were dismissed from all employment the Admiral and the Cardinal of Tournon both of them privy to those secrets which for many years were negotiated by this Prince and his Predecessors in whose room were called to the principal charges of State Anne de Momorancy High-Constable and Francis of Lorain Son to Claud Duke of Guise These being made as it were Moderators of the Kings youth and Arbitrators in the Court of all businesses of consequence though they had several thoughts several ends and inclinations yet in power and authority were in a manner the same For the Constable a man ripe in years a friend to peaceful counsels and of a long practical experience in the Art of Governing grew to an exceeding opinion of wisdom and held the first place in the management of the affairs of State But the Duke of Guise being in the flower of his age strong of body of a noble presence full of vivacity of courage and of a ready wit for any generous notable action had the air and favour of the Court was admitted by the King to a familiarity of conversation and as it were a companion in all his pleasures and youthful exercises so that his affection to the Constable was rather respect and his inclination to the Duke of Guise might rather be called acquaintance Their ways also were very different for the
besides it conduced not a little to their ends that he was entered into a suspicion that the Admiral with his too much knowledge sought to arrogate to himself such an Authority as to make the World believe he swayed and ruled his actions But above all the way was facilitated to perswade him in that he saw the whole Faction made their addresses to the Prince of Conde admiring and exalting the boldness generosity and promptness which he shewed and on the contrary despised his facility and too much mildness He was moved with one Consideration more of exceeding great consequence seeing the King of France and his Brothers were in an age unable to have Children by nature of a weak complexion of little heat and subject to dangerous indispositions he was not altogether without hope but that in a short time he might attain to the Crown which as first of the Blood belonged to him In which case he knew that to be a favourer and Head of the Hugonots would be a great obstacle unto him and almost an invincible impediment Wherefore desiring to remove all such contrarieties as might hinder him in that pretence he inclined to join himself with the Catholick party and to gain the Popes favour and the King of Spains together with the forces of the best united and most powerful Faction To all these respects being added the effectual promises and lively perswasions of the Legate and the Ambassador Manriquez and growing suspicious of his Wives counsels as given without measure to Calvins opinions and naturally an enemy to thoughts of peace he resolved finally to enter into a league with the Constable and the Duke of Guise professing by their speeches and declaring in writing that they were confederated for the defence of the Catholick Religion But the truth was in effect besides those Considerations the King of Navarre left that party in which he knew he was inferiour to his Brother to join himself with this which fed him with many great hopes Likewise the Guises were moved with desire of rising again to their former reputation and greatness This was the Union which taught the French Subjects without their Kings consent to enter into any combinations and which with so many execrations and maledictions was by the Hugonots in respect of the three chief Confederates called the Triumvirat Queen Iane was incredibly displeased at this so unexpected deliberation of her Husband and not able to indure to see him a principal Persecutor of that Religion which she constantly professed and into which she conceived she had not only perswaded but absolutely confirmed him through disdain thereof she resolved to leave the Court and thereupon carrying with her Prince Henry and the Princess Catherine her children whom she brought up in the Calvinists Religion she retired into Bearne being determined to separate her self from the counsels and conversation of her Husband But if Queen Iane were greatly afflicted at so sudden and almost incredible a change the Queen Regent was no less terrified who seeing with this union her designs destroyed of balancing the Factions and that equality so unequally broken in which consisted with such jealousie and discontent of the Princes the security of the State began greatly to fear the ruine both of her Sons Kingdom and her own greatness conceiving that these reciprocal changes and this uniting of interests so wholly different could not be without some hidden design of great attempts and a foundation of high hopes She knew the Guises had already discovered her arts and that full of desire and pretensions they sought by all manner of ways possible to attain to the Government It appeared to her that the King of Navarre would not have been induced to leave the friendship of his Brother and his other adherents to unite himself with those who had been his bitter enemies without great reward for such a lightness She well knew what power Ambition and the thirst of Rule had over the minds of men though never so just and looking round about her she discovered her own weakness and the crasie uncertain condition of her young Sons In which Consideration neither believing nor relying any longer upon the sincerity of the King of Navarre nor the professions the Catholicks made that they would not innovate any thing in the State being full of fears and jealousies she saw not where securely to rest her thoughts Insomuch as in the long watchings and frequent consultations which she held with her Confidents amongst whom the principal were the Bishop of Valence and the Chancellor de l' Hospital at length she concluded being advised by them and what more imported being forced by necessity to make a league with the Prince of Conde and the Admiral and fomenting their designs make her self a Buckler of their Forces by this means equalling and counterpoising as much as was possible the power of the Factions this reason prevailing among many other that even God in the Government of the World oftentimes draws good from evil and since the Hugonots had till then been the cause of so much care and trouble it was but reasonable to make use of them for the present as an antidote to cure those evils which with their venom were like to infect the most noble and most essential parts of the Kingdom The Hugonots by the publication of the Edict of Ianuary being free from the fear of punishment had already begun to take strength and vigour and assembling themselves publickly upon all occasions it appeared that their number was great and considerable not only for the quantity but also for the quality of the persons insomuch as their force was not contemptible The Prince of Conde took upon him openly to be the Head of them who though in apparence reconciled by the Kings command with the Guises persevered firmly in his former designs and burnt impatiently with desire to revenge his past affronts upon those that were his chief persecutors His power and boldness was moderated by the wise counsel of the Admiral of Chastillon who through desire of Rule was together with his Brothers more straightly united with the Hugonot party Their Authority led after them being of the same Faith the Prince of Porcien the Count de la Roch-fou-caut Messieurs de Genlis de Grammont and Duras the Count of Montgommery the Baron des Adrets Messieurs de Bouchavane and Soubize and many other the principal in the Kingdom in such manner that upon every little heat that they received from those who governed they presently put themselves into a posture of defence and boldly opposed the contrary Faction Wherefore the Queen being forced to take hold of the opportunity of this conjuncture for her own defence and her Sons and being reduced into necessity to imbrace for the present any whatsoever dangerous party leaving the issue thereof to future occurrences began to feign that she was moved with the Doctrine and reasons of the Hugonots and inclined to
they within had so little apprehension of the Catholick forces and despised them in such a manner that they used every day for recreation and to provide themselves of necessaries to go in great companies to the Town and that through custom and for convenience they made choice of that time of the day By which words Villers apprehending an opportunity to surprize the Fort acquainted the Duke of Guise and the Constable with his design who not being wanting to so good an occasion secretly causing ladders to be provided commanded that at the hour appointed when they saw least stirring they should on a suddain assault St. Catherines Fort and at the same instant the Half-moon also so much the more to divide the enemies forces Martigues whose place it was to have a care of the business chose the same Villers to make the assault upon St. Catherines and St. Coulombe a Colonel of Foot likewise for the Half-moon and having without noise put all things in a readiness at the time prefixed with a Cannon shot gave the Signal to fall on Whereupon Villers with his men instantly running up the steep of the Hill fastened his ladders to the Walls before the enemy could possibly have time to make use of their Cannon or small shot to keep them off But yet those within though few in number couragiously presenting themselves at the assault there became a hot bloody conflict with short weapons in which as the manner is the valiantest falling at the first encounter the defendants were so weakened that they could scarce longer resist On the contrary Villers being supplied with fresh men and aided by Martigues began to get the better of the enemy and though grievously wounded with a Pike in the face and a Musquet shot in the left thigh yet continuing the fight he at last planted the Kings Flag upon the Keep of the Castle Whereupon two great Squadrons of Foot that were appointed for a reserve running to his assistance in a short time they made themselves Masters of the Fort before the Defendants could be succoured either by the Town or their Companions The same success had the assault made upon the Half-moon and in as short a time but the Catholicks gained the Bastion with loss of much blood and the Defendants not having means to retreat died all valiantly fighting to the last man St. Catherines Mount being taken there remained still without the Walls the Faux-Bourg of St. Hilary well fortified and a good Garison placed in it by the Hugonots Against which having planted their Cannon by reason the works were of earth it wrought little effect notwithstanding the Catholick Commanders caused a fierce assault to be made upon it which proving likewise vain by reason of the strength of the Ramparts and valour of the Defendants at length changing resolution they planted twelve great pieces in the middle of St. Catherines Hill from the advantage of which place they began with great noise and slaughter to batter the houses and rampiers which the enemies had raised by the fury whereof the whole Faux-Bourg being in a manner beaten down and the Catholicks ready to renew the assault those within having fired the houses that were left retired safe into the Town which was now naked of all defence but the Walls only But the Defendants by their frequent sallies and divers assaults made upon them losing many of their men the Count of Montgomery having recourse to the last remedy sent to desire succours of the English at Havre de Grace though he saw plainly it was a thing of exceeding great difficulty for them to effect For the Kings forces having taken possession of Quilbeuf and Harfleur two places in the mid-way between Rouen and Havre de Grace upon the River they placed there divers pieces of Cannon to hinder the passage of Ships or other little Barks which holpen by the Flood that enters there with great force mount the stream to Rouen Notwithstanding the English desirous by any means to help their friends resolved to expose themselves to the worst of danger and stealing up the River in the night in great part avoided the violence of the Cannon which being shot at random in the dark did them but little hurt Wherefore by the advice of Bartolomeo Campi and Italian Engineer the Catholicks caused divers Vessels laden with stones and gravel and fastned together with chains to be sunk in the River which so stopped and pestred it that neither the enemies Ships nor Gallies could pass only some small Bark drawing but little water with much ado got safe into the Town But this supply being insensible and Rouen still in necessity there appearing no other way possible to succour it the English resolved to make their last attempt and being come in the night with a good number of Vessels to the bar though through the fury of the Cannon and fire-works part of them perished and others returned back yet in one place the chain being broken three Gallies and one other Vessel got through which carried seven hundred men munition and money for their present relief In the mean while the rains of Autumn still increasing by reason whereof the Catholick Army that lay in a low dirty place suffered very much yet the Commanders not disheartned by the little supplies that were conveyed into the Town pressing the siege began to batter from St. Hillaries Gate to the Gate Martinville between which advancing with their Trenches they had pierced the counterscarp The second day so much of the Wall was thrown down in the middle of the Curtain that the Squadrons might easily march on to the assault and already Sarlabous Villers and Sancte Coulumbe's Regiments that were to keep the first front prepared themselves for the onset when the King of Navarre being gone into the Trenches to discover how things stood received a Musquet shot in the left shoulder which breaking the bone and tearing the nerves he presently fell down upon the place as dead This accident put off the assault for that day for being carried to his own quarter before they looked to his hurt all the other chief Commanders went thither and being afterwards dressed with great care in presence of the King and Queen his wound by reason of the great orifice the Bullet had made was judged by the Physicians to be mortal So as between that time and the Council which was called thereupon the day was so far spent that the assailants without any farther attempt were sent for back to guard the Trenches Yet this slackned not the siege For besides the care of the Duke of Guise and the Constable who from the beginning had in effect the charge of the Army the Queen also assisted her self in person who by her presence and speeches adding courage to the Souldiers caused the battery still to be continued in the same manner till with two thousand shot there was such a large breach made that they went on in very
France might not encourage his Subjects to rebel but at the same time declared That the King her Son intended not to violate the League with the Spaniards nor to resolve upon a War unless he were necessitated and provoked first by them Which uncertain kind of discourse rather increased the doubts than any way satisfied concerning the truth The Pope was not alone deceived with these dissimulations but the Prince of Conde of a disposition apt enough to receive any new impressions counselled the King to take this occasion to make War with the Spaniards offering to bring him a great number of men of the Hugonot Faction which served only to exasperate the King who could not be well pleased that any body should presume to have a greater credit or authority in his own Kingdom and with the Subjects thereof than himself and though the Queen perpetually desired him to dissemble his passâ—on and the other Catholick Lords did â—he same yet he could not forbear to express his displeasure with the Prince and to reprove him for what he had said though afterwards he excused himself to the Queen that he treated him so on purpose to take him off from the hopes of being Constable for which the Prince at length moving the King himself the Duke of Anjou being first throughly instructed by his Mother without expecting the Kings Answer replyed in a disdainful manner That his Majesty having promised to make him his Lieutenant-General he was not of such a temper to suffer that any body else should pretend to command the Army but himself which repulse displeasing the Prince he shortly after left the Court the same did the Admiral and Andelot with much greater reason of discontent for the Colonels Brissaâ— and Strozzi having refused to obey the command of Andelot General of the French Infantry the Council through hate of him determined it contrary to custom in their favour Nevertheless the Queen continuing her wonted aâ—ts endeavoured by many demonstrations of kindness still to entertain the Hugonot paâ—ty with hopes often discoursing of her diffidence in Spain of the jealousies of the Duke of Alva of the troubles in Scotland where there were commotions of great consequence for which she seemed to take exceeding thought by reason of the reciprocal intelligence ever held 〈◊〉 that Crown and of the little correspondence with England for having refused upon the instance of that Queen to restore Callais with many more things of the like nature which all tended to lull the restless curiosity of the Hugonots But it is a hard matter to deceive those who are full of jealousies and careful to observe every little accident The Prince of Conde and the Admiral who knowing the guilt of their own Conscience put no trust in the flatteries of the Court calling to mind all the past occurrences and considering them throughly resolved not to be prevented but to gain the advantage of being first in Arms. Wherefore at the beginning of the Summer in the year 1567. six thousand Swisses arriving in the Isle of France under the conduct of Colonel Fifer a man of great esteem amongst his own Nation the Heads of the Hugonots being come to Valeri shewed their adherents certain secret advertisements which they said they had from a principal person at Court in which they were advised to stand upon their guard for the intention of those that governed was to seize upon the persons of the Prince and the Admiral with a resolution to keep the first in perpetual imprisonment and presently to put the other to death then making use of the Swisses and other Souldiers on a sudden to clap Garisons into those Cities which they thought inclined to the Reformed Religion and revoking the Act of Pacification to forbid the exercise thereof in all parts of the Kingdom At the beginning there were many different opinions amongst them for divers gave no credit to this advertisement others were diffident of their own strength and a great part abhorred the necessity of a War insomuch that they left Valeri with a resolution not to proceed any further till they were better assured of the truth of their intelligence but the Swisses being already come into the Isle of France who at first it was said should stay upon the Confines and the Cardinal de S. Croix from his Bishoprick of Arles arrived at Court who the Hugonots suspected came as Legate from the Pope to authorize with the Kings consent the observation of the Council of Trent the chief Leaders of the Faction re-assemble themselves at Chastillon where the Prince the Admiral and Andelot perswaded them without further delay to take Arms which opinion though with some difficulty at length prevailing they presently entered into a consultation what course they should take in the administration of the War Some thought it best to get possession of as many Towns and places as they could in all parts of the Kingdom to the end to separate and divide the Kings Forces Others by the example of the late War thought this advice both unprofitable and dangerous and perswaded having made themselves Masters of two or three strong places at a reasonable distance one from the other where the Forces of the Faction might assemble as soon as was possible to put it to a Battel seeing without some notable Victory they could never hope to bring their business to a prosperous end But the Admiral who with long premeditation had throughly weighed these opinions placing all his hope in expedition and prevention proposed a more desperate indeed but far more expedite way and advised that before they were thought of they should make an attempt on a suddain to seize upon the persons of the King and Queen-Mother who imagining they had with their arts brought the Hugonots into a stupid security or else believing they could not so soon or so easily bring their Forces together passed their time without any apprehensions for the present at Monceaux a House of the Queens and at some other places of pleasure in Brye where they might with much facility be surprised and carried away He made appear to them that by this suddain alteration they should gain that power that appearance of reason and those Forces which in the late War their adversaries had and through which the Victory at length inclined wholly to their side and concluded that though the King and the Queen for their security kept the Swisses in the same Province in a place not far from the Court yet if they came upon them on a suddain they would not have time to expect their aid so the King being taken they might presently set upon the Swisses who being divided in their quarters would be easily suppressed and they once defeated there remained in no part of the Kingdom a body of men together that could make resistance or hinder the progress of their Arms. This stratagem wonderfully pleased them all and without further dispute they appointed to
she hoped when the truth was once known every one would be setled in quietness After this discourse in publick they went together into the Garden where the Duke of Guise making his pretence that he knew the Kings designs and intentions were to destroy the Great Ones and suppress those that opposed his Favourites and that therefore it was necessary for him to look well to himself to secure both his own and the common safety began to make infinite high and exorbitant demands and such as were truly proper for an absolute Conquerour That the King should declare him his Lieutenant General in all Provinces and places under his Dominions with the same authority his Father had in the time of Francis the Second That the States-General should be called at Paris in which Assembly that power granted to him should be confirmed That to secure the people from their fears of a Hugonot Prince the King of Navarre and the other Princes of Bourbon his adherents should be declared to have forfeited their inheritance to the Crown That the Taxes and Impositions upon the people might be limited That to take away all hated and suspected Novelties all Forms of Government should be reduced to a certain Rule which it should not be lawful for the King to alter That the Duke of Espernon Monsieur de la Valette his Brother the Mareschals of Retz and Byron Monsieur d' O and Colonel Alfonso Corso suspected all to hold intelligence with the Hereticks and every day to find out inventions of new grievances should be deprived of all their Offices and Governments and banished for ever from the Court That to take away all suspicion which every one had with reason that the Hereticks were not proceeded against really and in good earnest the absolute charge of the War should be given to him which should be prosecuted with two Armies one in Poictou the other in Dauphine That to remove jealousies and fears of tyrannical proceedings the King should dismiss his Guard of the five and forty Gentlement and forbid them to return to Court reserving only the Guards which his Predecessors were wont to have That he should take away the Regiment of Guards from Monsieur de Grillon and give it to such a person as the Catholick Princes might confide in That all the Fortresses of Picardy might be delivered up to the Duke of Aumale as Governour of that Province That the Duke of Nemours might have the Government of Lyons and the Duke of Elbeuf that of Normandy That the King should put into the hands of the Lords of the League six such Towns as they should name in which they might keep Garisons under such Governours as they should like That a convenient assignment might be given to the Parisians for the payment of the Rents of the Town-house And that the Government of the City might be given to the Count de Brissac upon whom also should be conferred the Office of Colonel General of the French Infantry held at that time by the Duke of Espernon That the charge of Admiral should be restored to the Duke of Mayenne and Monsieur de la Chastre made Mareschal in the place of Monsieur de Byron Which Demands being carefully examined by the Queen one by one and the injustice and exorbitancy of them being shewn she at last asked the Duke of Guise what he believed the people of France would say and what the Princes of Europe would think if with the Kings consent a Subject should accept much less demand such conditions and whether he meant not to put shackles upon the King and take the Crown from his head To which words the Duke answered freely That he demanded no Place nor Office for any that was not very worthy of it and that to drive away Incendiaries Enemies of the publick good Favourers of Hereticks and Persecutors of the Catholick Religion was to purge the Body of the State of a most dangerous poison to the end that the King might afterwards enjoy that tranquillity and obedience that belonged to him and that the Medicine indeed was bitter at first but would be fruitful and healthful in the end In sum after many debates and prolix contentious arguments this was the Duke of Guise's conclusion That since the King himself had at last laid open his secret intentions and brought matters to that pass he was resolved either to lose his Life or to secure Religion and the Estate of his own Family The Queen returned at night with this Answer to the Louvre where they continued still in Arms private persons discoursing and consulting no less than the Kings Counsellors in his Closet among whom the variety of opinions was very great private passions and particular interests contending no less than respect of the publick and the universal good For the High Chancellour Secretary Villeroy and Monsieur de Villequier who desired the abasement of the Duke of Espernon and the ruine of the Hugonots and hoping that they should not fall from their credit and authority though the League should prevail consented to the greatest part of the Duke of Guise's demands to the secret dislike of the King who could by no means endure them On the other side Monsieur d' O Monsieur de Rambouillet the Abbot del Bene and Colonel Alfonso Corso argued that the greatest adversities in the world were to be suffered rather than to yield unto them Monsieur d' O nevertheless offering to lay down his Offices and the Colonel his charge of Lieutenant in Dauphine if that were the only means to appease the tumults The Queen and Secretary Pinart kept the middle way and hoped that the Duke of Guise would fall from a great part of his demands The siege pressed very much on the one side there being no provision of victuals in the Louvre and it was feared that the people going out of the City would likewise besiege it on the other side and shutting up the passage towards the fields reduce the King and the whole Court presently into their power but then again the Propositions were such as the King could in no wise hearken unto The night was spent in this manner full of terrour and uncertainty the Duke of Guise being diligent in visiting the Guards of the City every hour lest their carelesness and negligence should give the Kings Souldiers opportunity to recover those places they had lost before and lest the darkness should give occasion to some disorder or stir up some tumult In the morning after Mass the King and Queen-Mother being shut up privately together resolved that she should return to the Duke of Guise and making some shew of consenting to the Agreement should draw the Treaty out in length whilst the King should secretly get out of the new Gate on the back-side of the Gardens of the Louvre which was in his power and escaping from Paris before the Enemies had time to block it up should go to the City of Chartres the
infinite importance and which should redound to his very great contentment The Count not knowing the Frier but hearing how the City stood affected and that many plotted to bring in the King believing the business to be true which he professed to deal in made no difficulty of granting him the Letter with which departing upon the last day of Iuly in the Evening he went from the City into the King's Camp where he was presently taken by the Guards but he saying he had business and Letters to communicate to the King and having shewed the superscription was brought to Iaques de la Guesle the King's Attorney-General who executed the Office of Auditor of the Camp The Sieur de la Guesle having heard the Frier and knowing that the King had returned when it was dark from discovering the Enemies Works told him It was too late for that night but the next morning he would bring him to him without fail and that in the mean time he might stay for his security in his Lodgings The Frier accepted the invitation supped at Table with la Guesle cut his meat with a new Knife with a black Haft which he had about him Eat drank and slept without care And because a Prophesie ran not onely thorough the Army but thorough the whole Kingdom That the King should be killed by a Frier he was asked by many if perchance he came for that end To whom he answered without disturbance That those were not things to be jested withal in that manner In the morning upon the first day of August Monsieur de la Guesle went to the King's Lodgings very early and having told him the Friers desire to speak with him was commanded presently to bring him in though he was not yet quite ready but still without his Buff-coat which by reason of his Arms he was wont to wear and having on onely a thin Taffaty Doublet all untrussed The Frier being brought in while they both withdrew to a Window on one side of the room he delivered the Letter from the Count de Brienne which the King read and having bid him proceed to tell his business he feigned to feel for another Paper to present it and while the King stood intentively expecting it he having drawn his wonted Knife out of his sleeve struck him on the left side of the Navel and left all the blade buried in the wound The King feeling the blow drew forth the Knife and in drawing of it made the wound wider and presently struck it himself up to the Haft in the Friers Forehead who at the same time la Guesle running him thorough with his Sword fell instantly dead and was no sooner faln but Momperat Lognac and the Marquess de Mirepoix Gentlemen of the Kings Chamber who were present at the fact threw him out of the Window where by the common Soldiers he was torn in pieces burnt and his ashes scattered in the River The King was carried to his Bed and the wound was not thought mortal by the Chirurgions Wherefore having called his Secretaries he caused an account of the business to be given to all parts of the Kingdom exhorting all the Governors not to be dismaid for that he hoped he should be cured within a few dayes and be able to ride The same he did to the chief Commanders and Principal Officers of his Army and having presently sent for the King of Navarre committed to him the care of his Army and the diligent prosecution of the enterprise But at night he felt wonderful great pain in his wound and fell into a Fever Wherefore having called his Chirurgions and search being made they found his Intrails were pierced so that they all agreed his life could not last many hours The King who desired to know the truth being told his danger caused Estienne Boulogne his Chaplain to be called and with very great devotion made Confession of his sins But before Absolution his Confessor having told him that he had heard the Pope had published a Monitory against him and therefore he should satisfie his Conscience in the present extremity He replied That it was true but the Monitory it self contained that in case of death he might be absolved that he would satisfie the Popes request and promised faithfully to release the prisoners though he should believe it would cost him his Life and Crown With which satisfaction the Confessor absolved him and gave him the Sacraments the same night The King feeling his strength decay caused his Chamber-doors to be set open and the Nobility to be brought in who with abundance of tears and bitter sighs shewed publick sins of their grief And turning toward them the Duke of Espernon and the Count d' Auvergne his Nephew standing by his Bed-side he said with an audible voice That it troubled him not to die but he was grieved to leave the Kingdom in so great disorder and all good men afflicted and persecuted That he desired no revenge for his death for from his first years he had learned in the School of Christ to forgive injuries as he had done so many in times past But turning to the King of Navarre he told him That if that custom of killing Kings should grow in use neither should he by consequence be long secure He exhorted the Nobility to acknowledge the King of Navarre to whom the Kingdom of right belonged and that they should not stick at the difference in Religion for both the King of Navarre a man of a sincere noble nature would in the end return into the bosome of the Church and the Pope being better informed would receive him into his favour to prevent the ruine of the whole Kingdom At last he embraced the King of Navarre and said repeating it twice over Brother I assure you you will never be King of France if you turn not Catholick and if you humble not your self unto the Church after which words having called his Chaplain he in the presence of them all rehearsed the Creed after the use of the Roman Church and having Crossed himself began the Misâ—râ—re but his speech failing him in these words Redde mihi laetitiam salutis tui he yielded up the Ghost contentedly having lived Thirty six years and reigned Fifteen and just two months In his death ended the line of Kings of the House of Valois and the posterity of Philip the Third surnamed the Hardy and by vertue of the Salique Law the Crown devolved to the Family of Bourbon nearest of the Blood and descended from Robert Count of Clermont the second son of St. Louis The whole Army being wonderfully grieved at so sad so fatal an accident and especially the Nobility who accompanied the death of their Prince with tears which came from the bottom of their hearts but on the other side the Parisians shewed profuse signs of joy and some among the Great Ones who had till then worn mourning for the death of the Lords of Guise did
again put on their Gallantry and their feathers and leaving off black clothed themselves in Green though the Duke of Mayenne with the wonted moderation of his prudence far from such like demonstrations minded onely how to excuse himself and divulge with all diligence that he had no hand in the business and that it was directly and immediately the Hand of Heaven which nevertheless was believed by few for the opinion which was conceived was not to be rooted out of mens minds it being unlikely that the chief men of the Vnion and particularly the Prior a trusty Counsellor of the Grand-Council of it should not have conferred about the fact with the Princes and with their privity exhorted and with effectual motives spurred on the simplicity of the Frier but as the factious occurrences of Civil Wars are full of Lyes and fabulous inventions others added many fictions to the truth which a certain Writer perhaps through ignorance or heedlesness or else through hatred hath not shunned to publish in his Writings But howsoever it were it is indeed a thing worthy of very great consideration to think how the singular vertues and eminent qualities of so brave a Prince should come to so cruel so unfortunate an end from thence to learn this excellent Lesson That the skilfulness of the Pilot avails but little if the wind of divine favour which with eternal Providence governs mortal affairs help not to bring our actions into their desired port For in Henry the Third were all amiable qualities which in the beginning of his years were exceedingly reverenced and admired singular prudence royal magnanimity inexhausted magnificence most profound piety most ardent zeal in Religion perpetual love to the good implacable hatred to the bad infinite desire of doing good to all popular eloquence pleasantness becoming a Prince generous courage valour and wonderful dexterity in Arms for which vertues during the reign of his Brother he was more admired and esteemed than the K. himself He was a General before he was a Souldier and a great States-man before he came to years of maturity he made War with power deluded the experience of the most famous Commanders won bloody Battels took in Fortresses that were held impregnable gained the hearts of people far remote and was renowned and glorious in the mouths of all men yet when being come to the Crown he sought out subtil inventions to free himself from the yoke and servitude of the Factions both parties conceived such a hatred against him that his Religion was counted hypocrisie his Prudence a wicked craftiness his Policy meanness of spirit his Liberality licentious and unbridled prodigality his Affability was contemned his Gravity hated his Name detested his private Conversations imputed to enormous vices and his Death being extreamly rejoyced at by factious men and the common people was rashly judged to be the stroke of Divine Justice After the Kings death the Army remained that day as it were astonished and stupified nor were the Parisians in less wonder and amazement when by an unexpected accident they saw themselves left quiet that day wherein with terrour they looked for nothing but their utter desolation But the King of Navarre being gone presently to his lodging at St. Cloud though he had determined in his mind to assume the Arms and Title of France was doubtful sollicitous and very uncertain what might come of it for the Hugonots that depended on him were few and weak and if he should seem to acknowledge the Scepter from them he should without question alienate the stronger and more numerous party In the Catholicks he could have but little confidence differing from them in Religion not having gained them by the merit of former benefits having ever been far from them nay their Enemy and not so much as known by sight unto most part of them until that time As for the Foreign Forces he knew not what they would resolve to do with themselves being under Commanders of small credit and authority without Commissions from their Princes and for want of money rather in a condition to mutiny and disband than to yield obedience to him that had not means to satisfie them for the King of Navarre newly come out of that narrow corner where he had been shut up so many years was so far from being able to pay them that he had not wherewithal to maintain himself and in the dead Kings Treasury was found very small store of money the gulf of War having swallowed up both the Revenues which were gotten in and those sums which his Friends had lent him in times of great need To this was added the disgusts which many chief men had against him the Duke of Montpensier though of the same Family yet in respect of Religion whereof he was most observant had very little correspondence with him not being able to endure and counting it a shame to the whole Family to see him encompassed with Hugonot Ministers and Preachers The Count d' Auvergne Bastard of France a young man of fierce nature for slight occasions as quartering of Souldiers and dividing of spoil was scarce wont to salute him Monsieur de Vitry Monsieur de Villiers and many others who in times past had received benefits from the House of Guise and had lately served the deceased King because their courage would not suffer them to be called and accounted Rebels now that respect and the bond of obedience being loosened by his death could in no wise bend their minds to follow an Enemy to the House of Lorain and which imported most of all the Duke of Espernon who as the custom is hated and persecuted all those who he thought might remove him from the degree he held or get before him in his Masters favour had broken almost openly with him in the Kings life time for the King of Navarre having taken notice that the Duke of Espernon bore him ill will and aimed to put him in disgrace with the King as a man of an open courage and free speech had complained manifestly of him saying That if he thought to use him as he had done the Lords of Guise he would not endure it and Espernon on the other side had said more than once That the King of Navarre was wont to make War not in Royal Camps and with Military Discipline but like a Free-booter or a Plunderer and that all outrages and insolencies were committed by the Hugonots and at the taking Estampes having found a Souldier of the King of Navarre's own Troop of Dragoons who to steal the Pix out of a Church had thrown the Sacrament upon the ground he killed him presently with his own hand so that between them there was no very good intelligence For all these reasons the King of Navarre was surrounded with straits and difficulties not being assured what might succeed upon his Declaration and so much the rather because he knew many were secretly come from Paris into the Camp to work
with Provisions nor did the Country longer afford any conveniency to feed it that Corn being spent which was found at the taking of Caudebec all the Country eaten up and all that wasted which industry had been able to supply and not only of other things but even of water there was very great want for that of the River being spoiled by the flowing of the Sea was not only very ill â—asted but also wonderfully unwholesome To this was added the sufferings of their Horses which besides the scarcity of forrage being harrassed in the fields with continual Rains died every hour in great abundance and the Foot being many dayes behind and without money to relieve themselves in their present necessity was afflicted and consumed with the many tedious sufferings On the other side the King having Diepe and St. Valery near him and behind the way open into the most fertill Provinces of Normandy and Picardy though no better stored with Money than the Enemy was did yet abound in Provisions and his Soldiers spreading themselves far abroad to forrage supplyed the want of their pay with plundring the Country Wherefore the Duke of Parma seeing himself reduced to so strait and so necessitous a condition thought there was no other remedy for it but to pass over to the other side of the River Seine and getting out of the Peninsula to remove into the spacious Plain of lower Normandy and so dis-intangle himself from the King's designs who already believed that he had him sure in the nâ—t But as this was the only wholsom resolution for the safety of his Army so was it most difficult to be effected for it was not to be doubted but if the King were aware of it he might easily destroy him in crossing the River and they were so near Neighbors that it could not in reason be hoped that passage could be concealed He communicated his thought to the Duke of Mayenne and the Sieur de la Motte but it seemed to them not only dangerous but impossible knowing how hard it is to pass a little Ditch when the opposition of the Enemy is near much less was a good event to be hoped for in passing a mighty broad River swelled in that place by the Salt-waters with an entire Army full of Baggage hindred with Ammunition and great store of Cannon a fierce and powerful Enemy being at their back yet necessity urged and the safety of that Army could no other way be provided for Wherefore the Duke being straitned within himself resolved to try if by dexterity he could bring that thought to pass To which purpose having made Eight Ensigns of Berlotte's Regiment by little and little to cross the River in certain small Boats he caused a Fort to be raised upon the other Bank which in the form of a Star had three spurs toward the River to command and secure it and made another to be raised over against that upon the Bank where the Army was but with the Redout toward the River and the Front opposite to the place from whence the Enemy might appear and in it besides the Count de Bossu with a Thousand Foot whereof most were Muskettiers he planted four pieces of Cannon that might command a great way off and keep the passage of the field open At the same time many great Boats were making ready at Rouen with wonderful secrecy whereof in that place there were a great number which were wont to carry Merchandize upon the River and they fastned pieces of Timber and Planks together after the manner those Bridges are made whereby great Rivers are commonly wont to be passed Other little Boats likewise were prepared with six Oars in each to help and tow the greater with more facility and some great floating-Bridges like Rafts were made of exceeding thick Beams sufficient to sustain and carry the Artillery These Boats which with the benefit of the stream of the River and the ebbing of the Sea were come from Rouen in a few hours being arrived the evening before the One and twentieth of May without losing a moment of time the same night the weather being clear the French Cavalry and Infantry passed over with the Duke of Aumale then the Artillery and all the Baggage of the Army after them the Swiss-Infantry and about peep of day the Walloon Spanish and Itallian Foot Prince Ranuccio remaining on this side the River with Appio Conti who the Duke of Montemarâ—iano being gone for Italy commanded the Forces of the Church and with them a Thousand Italian Foot of Capizucchies and Two hundred Horse with which turning in Arms towards the Enemy they made as if they would skirmish in the field The King seeing a small number of men upon the Hills and that they stirred not though his Light-horse ran up and down the Plain began to suspect that as the time before the Enemies were changing their quarters but not at all that they were passing the River which enlarged by the flowing of the tide is in that place more like a Sea than a River To assure himself of the truth he sent forth the Baron de Biron to discover what they were doing who having got up to the top of a Hill upon whi ch no body appeared returned galloping with great speed and related how the Ene mies were passing the River at which news the King without further thought hasted that way with all the Cavalry and left the Foot to follow him But the Cavalry could not hinder the Enemies passage unless first the Count de Bossu's Fort were taken which with Cannon and Musket-shot scoured the whole Plain on every side and was a shelter to protect those that passed the River which the King having at last taken notice of and thinking that enterprise too difficult and of too great delay possessed himself of another Hill that commanded the river and gave order that with all possible speed the Artillery should be brought thither to play upon and sink the Boats that were passing But while they were making ready and drawing thither in a confused haste the whole Army was already past over whereupon the King almost transported with despair not being able to do any thing else ran to charge Prince Ranuccio who last of all retiring by little and little was gotten under the protection of the Fort. The King advanced precipitately within reach of the Cannon and Musket further than was fitting but he was quickly forced to retreat with some loss but with no effect so that the Count de Bossu's Regiment and Capizucchi's Thousand Foot did also pass the river one after another and the Cannon that were in the Fort being drawn off piece by piece were put upon one of the great Floating-bridges and last of all Prince Ranuccio imbarked with his Horse at which time the Kings Artillery were come up to the Hill and began to fire upon the Boats that passed over and likewise upon the Fort de la
expect the event of the deliberation at Rome and that on the other side the King should not any way molest him nor any of his followers nor should attempt any thing upon Chalons and that in the mean time while the Advertisements came from Italy concerning the absolution of the King the difficulties should be smoothed and the conditions agreed upon wherewith the Duke should turn unto the Kings obedience This truce or suspension of Arms being established the Duke making as if he had a minde to relieve the Castles of Dijon departed from the Constables Camp with the French troops and went straight to Chalons where presently the Kings Deputies arrived to conclude the agreement and he gave order to the Viscount de Tavanes and the Governor of the Castle of Dijon to surrender both the Castles without delay But the King having dispatched that enterprise resolved to go into the Franche Compte to attempt something against the Constables Army and with Seven thousand Foot and Two thousand Horse marched towards the River Saone The Constable lay still at Gray thinking it a very convenient place to hinder the passing of the River and to turn which way soever the French Army should move which being quartered at S. Seine fought all the banks for many dayes without finding an opportunity to pass but it being already the month of Iuly and the waters of the Saone very much fallen by reason of the time of the year the Sieurs de Tremblecourt and d' Ossonville who attempted all manner of means to pass found that the River was fordable in a certain place about three miles from Gray which was guarded onelâ— by One hundred Spanish firelocks wherefore upon the eleventh of Iuly in the morning they appeared upon that Pass with Two hundred Curassiers and Five hundred Harquebusiers on Hors-back and began to try the Ford where the River was shallowest The Spanish firelocks opposed them and bravely resisting hindred the Enemies passage with their utmost power but having no more Ammunition then what they carried in their Flasks after they had fought for the space of half an hour they were necessitated to retire at which the French taking courage passed resolutely to the other Bank of the River and after them the Count d' Auvergne and the Mareschal de Biron with Five hundred Horse more The news of the Enemies passing was already come to the Spanish Camp and the Foot that had fought there murmuring at the unskilfulness of their Commanders who had left them without Ammunition retired towards their Quarters when Hercole Gonsaga advanced with the first Squadrons of Horse to beat back the French and make them repass the River being not believed to be many in number but having found the truth to be different from what they thought after the first volley he could not withhold his men from yielding to the greater number though he fighting valiantly and sharply rebuking those that turned their backs did the Office of a very gallant Commander Cavalliere Lodovico Melzi followed with another Troop of Horse and having avoided the incounter of the first who precipitately ran away fell in couragiously to oppose the enemy but the French were so much stronger there coming up new Troops of Horse every minute to reinforce them that it was not possible for him to stop their fury but being routed and dispersed fell foul upon the last squadron of Horse wherewith Don Alfonso Idiaques came to second him in such manner that the Squadrons mingling confusedly with one another being justled and disordered by the violence of those that fled they that came up to charge began likewise to run away without stop in which flight it being necessary to pass a great Ditch full of water and dirt to come to the quarters of the Army the disorder proved so great that many precipitated themselves into the Ditch and many not to incur the danger of being thrown down and trampled under foot fell into the power of the French among which Don Alonso Idiaques his horse having fallen under him was unfortunately taken prisoner by the Sieur de Chauliot and was fain afterwards to compound for a ransome of Twenty thousand duckets The French seeing the Constable's Infantry drawn up on the other side of the ditch stopped their pursuit and stayed for the King who having past with all his Army lodged in the nearest Villages two miles from the Enemies Camp By these two great disorders the Spaniards gave the King of France liberty to pass for there was no doubt but if the Foot that guarded the Pass had been more in number and better provided with Ammunition they would have hindred the first that came over in respect of the difficulty of the passage and the height of the banks of the River and after they were past if all the Cavalry had advanced in order to beat them back it is most certain they would either have totally defeated them or made them repass to the other side of the River but coming up disorderly and in a manner scatteringly they gave the French opportunity to conquer and put themselves in danger of being utterly cut off and therefore knowing Soldiers cannot endure those rash runnings out of the trenches of Camps without order or consideration at every littâ—e call of a Trumpet and that which the inexpert count boldness and resolution they with very good reason call rashness and ignorance But the King of France his passage made with so much fortune or valour produced little effect for the Constable keeping himself in his wonted quarter excellently fortified and placed between Gray and the current of the Saone the King not having power to force it and not being in a condition to assault it went on the other side to make incursions and spoil the Country and spent the time without receiving any fruit save that Besancon a Town no way strong nor tenable against his Army to free it-self from danger compounded for many thousands of Duckets In the mean time the King's Camp was full of many dangerous diseases whereof being in an enemies Country and in the exercise of Arms there died very many among which was the Count de Torigny who had the Office of Field-Mareschal For which reason and because there came every day ill news from Picardie the Cantons of the Switzers interposing as common friends and particular Protectors of the Franche Compte the wonted neutrality was established in that Province which the King going out of went to Dijon and the Constable Velasco having left part of his Army returned with the rest to his Government of Milan At Dijon the business of the Hugonots still troubling the King and he desiring for his own security and for the Pope's satisfaction to get the Prince of Conde out of their hands caused a Petition to be presented by the kinsmen of the Princess his Mother wherein relating in her name the imputation that had been laid upon her of
very divers Some thought it most expedient first of all to make an attempt upon Orleans and to cut off at one blow the head of the Hugonot Faction For the chief of that party being suppressed who were in the Town and the Magazine destroyed all the rest would be overcome with ease and facility But the King of Navarre and the Queen more intent to cast out the English than any thing else thought that Rouen once taken and the aids of England cut off from the Hugonots Orleans would be more easily reduced which for the present they thought very difficult and a work of much time by which the English would have the commodity to confirm their possession and perhaps make themselves Masters of all the Province of Normandy where the Duke of Aumale had so inconsiderable a force that he was not able to make head against them This opinion at last through the Queens inclination prevailed and it was resolved without any delay to go upon that design The situation and commodities of Rouen are admirable For the River Seine upon which it stands rising out of the Mountains in Burgundy and distending it self through the plains of the Isle of France after it joyns with the Matrona commonly called Marne and by the confluence of many other little streams is made deep and Navigable passeth through the midst of the City of Paris and then running with an impetuous torrent quite through Normandy falls with an exceeding wide channel into the Ocean which ebbing and flowing and continually filling and feeding the River with salt water affords spacious room for Vessels of any burthen to ride On the right hand of the mouth where the River at last falls into the Sea over against England stands Havre de Grace a secure large Port which with modern Fortifications being reduced into the form of a Town by King Francis the First serves for a defence against the incursions of the English But in the mid-way between Havre de Grace and Paris near to the place whither the salt waters flow mingled with the fresh about twenty two leagues from the Sea stands the City of Rouen upon the River grown noble rich abundant and populous by the commerce of all Northern Nations From one side of the fortress of Havre de Grace upon the right hand a tongue of land advancing many miles into the Sea makes as it were a spacious Peninsula which the common people call the Country of Caux and in the extreamest point and promontory thereof is Diepe placed directly opposite to the mouth of the Thames a most famous River in England These places which lie so fitly to damage France and to be supplyed by their Fleets the English had made themselves Masters of For though at Diepe and at Rouen French Governours were chosen by the Council of the Confederates yet the Garisons kept there by Queen Elizabeth being very strong they could so curb them that all the rest was absolutely at their dispose The Resolution being taken to besiege Rouen the King and the Queen marching together with the Army in fourteen days arrived at Darnetel at which place less than two leagues distant from the City the whole Camp lodged the 25 day of September The chief Commanders of the Army considering that the body of the City is defended on the one side by the River beyond which there is nothing but the Fauxburg S. Sever and on the other side by S. Catherines Mount upon the top of which is placed an ancient Monastery reduced into the form of a Modern Fortress they thought it best to make themselves Masters of the Mount it appearing very difficult to make any attempt or assault upon the Town it self if they did not first gain the Fort without which flanked and commanded the entrances on all parts Upon this deliberation Sebastien de Luxemburg Signeur de Martigues made Colonel General of the Foot in the place of Randan advanced the night of the 27 of September and sate down under St. Catherines Mount in the great High-way that goes towards Paris which being hollow almost like a Trench covered them in great part from the shot of the Fort. The Count of Montgomery who commanded in the Town in chief with 2000 English and 1200 French Foot four Troops of Horse and more than 100 Gentlemen of quality besides the Citizens having foreseen that the enemy must of necessity first take the out-works besides the old fortifications on the top of the Mount had raised half way up the Hill a Half-moon of earth which having the Fort behind and fronting upon the campaigne might not only hinder the ascent but also flank the walls of the Town and force the Catholick Army to spend much time and lose many men in the taking of it Nor was the effect contrary to what he intended For though Monsieur de Martigues leaving the direct way and ascending in a crooked line advanced by help of the spade between the Fort and the Half-moon to gain the top of the Hill yet the work proceeded with much difficulty and great slaughter of the Souldiers who the more the Foot advanced with their gabions and trenches were so much the more exposed to the Cannon planted upon the Fort to the annoyance of the Musquet shot to the fury of the fireworks and other inventions with which they within very resolutely defended themselves To these main difficulties was added the quality of the weather which being in the beginning of Autumn as it always falls out in those parts was very rainy so as the waters continually falling from the top of the Hill into that low place where the Army lay it was no small inconvenience unto them Likewise the great Sallies the Hugonots made night and day were not of little moment For though they were valiantly sustained so that the success thereof was not very doubtful yet they kept the whole Army in motion and in work Nor were their Horse less diligent than the Foot in their Trenches insomuch as many times the Siege was interrupted and hindered Considering these so great impediments it would have proved a tedious painful business if the negligence or arrogance of the defendants had not rendered it very short and easie For Iean de Hemery Signeur de Villers who afterwards married a Sister of Henry Davila's that wrote this History being upon the guard in the Trenches with his Regiment observed that about noon there was very little stirring in the Fort and that they appeared not in such numbers upon the Ravelins as at other times of the day Wherefore having sent for a Norman Souldier called Captain Lewis who two days before was taken prisoner in a Sally they made out of the Fort he asked him as by way of discourse What was the reason that at certain hours so few of the Hugonots were to be seen upon the Rampart The Souldier not concealing the truth without looking farther what the consequence thereof would be told him that