obtained his absolution of Urban the IV. and the confirmation of that second marriage of which he had Children One of them and his successour was Denis Alphonsus being dead an 1279. From that Denis are descended all the Kings of Portugal to this day Some of the French Historians affirme that Mahaut had two Sons by Alphonsus in France the one that dyed young the other Robert from whom the whole House of the Counts of Bullen is descended which fell to Magdalen de la Cour wife to Laurens of Medicis by whom came Katherine de Medicis mother of the three late French King Francis the II. Charles the IX and Henry the III after whose death by the substitution set downe before in the contract betweene her and Henry the II the inheritance of Katherine came to her Daughter Queen Margaret first Wife to Henry the IV. That Queen made the Dolphin of France her Heir who since was Lewis the XIII When the dispute for the succession of Portugal was open after the death of Henry the Cardinal King an 1530 Katherine Queen of France among other pretenders to that Crown set forth her claim by Belloy Advocate Generall in the Parliament of Toulouse who pleaded that from the marriage of Alphonsus and Mahaut a Son was born called Robert and had succeeded in all his rights that Beatrix was the Concubine not the wife of Alphonsus and that the Pope could not legitimate Denis born of adultery to the prejudice of Robert the true Heir of Alphonsus Also that all the Kings that had reigned since Denis for three hundred years made no prescription because there can be no prescription for the right of Kingdoms That right being propounded to the Estates of Portugal was found too old and stale and injurious to all their Kings neither did they make any account of it Besides the Spanish Historians affirm that Alphonsus had no issue by Mahaut and that among the protestations which Mahaut made in Portugal against Alphonsus there is not one word of the injury which he did to her children which she would not have forgot if she had had any Yet that right may be defended by the testimony of the French Historians and by this true allegation that neither a bastard nor his Descent can prescribe against the lawfull Heirs Paragraphe III. Of the Kingdom of Navarra An. 713. when the Saracens in vaded Spain Inigo Ximenes Arista Count of Bigorre gave a beginning to the little Kingdome of Suprarba within the Pyrenees which a while after having spread into the vales tooke the name of Navarra or Navierras which in old Spanish signifieth plain grounds It is certain that two generous Princes and great Catholiques resisted the Saracens in the very beginning of their invasion Pelagius towards the Astures which are Leon and Gallicia and this Ximenes Arista towards the Pyrenees though the date of the Conquests of this Ximenes be not so certain some Historians make him latter Upon which one may read the History of Navarra written by Favin 2. These Kings of Navarra in their beginings made many Conquests over the Saracens and that Family continued to Sanchez the great who about the year 1035. shared all his Estates among his three Sons of whom the eldest Garcias had Navarra to whom many Kings succeeded till that State fell to the house of France by the marriage of Philip le Bel with Jane Inheritrix of Navarra Countesse of Campagn and Brie to whom Lewis Hutin King of France and Navarra succeeded in her Estates But he having no child but a daughter called Jane which could not be Queen of France he left her Navarra and so that State was soon separated from that of France That Jane married Philip of the Royall branch of Eureux 3. By that marriage the house of Navarra became a Royall French house but the nature of that Crown being to fall to women as the other States of Spain it passed not long after into the Family of Arragon by marriage and so again into the Family of Castilia and again into the Family of Foix after this manner 4. Charles the III. King of Navarre Grandchild to that Jane daughter to Lewis Hutin had one onely daughter called Blanch married to John Prince and afterwards King of Arragon From that marriage came Charles Prince of Viana who got a great but an ill renown in the Histories of Spain for making War to his Father and maintaining himself against him in his State after his mothers death That Prince of great learning and courage died a batchelour The two other children of John of Arragon and Blanch of Navarra were two daughters The eldest Blanch of Arragon who having been married with Henry the IV. King of Castilia surnamed the Impotent was separated from him by reason of his impotency and died without issue The other was Eleanor wife to Gaston the IV. Count of Foix who after the death of her Father Mother Brother and Sister succeeded to the Kingdom of Navarra and united it to the house of Foix. She enjoyed it but two months and a half and died An. 1469. Her eldest Son Gaston Prince of Viana being already dead and having left by his wife Magdalen daughter to Charles the VII of France two children Francis Phoebus who succeeded his Grandfather in the Kingdome of Navarra but enjoyed it but four years and died unmarried and Catherine de Foix who succeded him and married John d' Albret Son to Alen d' Abret a man of great note in Gascony but not of a soveraign house yet descended from that Amani d' Albret who in the time of Charles the V. of France married Magaret of Bourbon Sister to Jane Queen of France and raised his house to a great splendour by that royal alliance advanced much the party of the French against the English 5. John of Albret and Catherine de Foix had a Son called Henry who was King of Navarra and married Margaret Sister to Francis the first of France by whom he had Jane Inheritrix of Navarra Jane being married to Antony of Bourbon was by him Motherof Henry the IV. of France Father to Lewis the XIII and Grandfather to Lewis the XIV Thus that house of Navarra was united with two great houses in France yet not Royal that of Foix and that of Albret and after to the Royal house of Bourbon and became so powerfull in France that her possessions from these three houses much exceeded the Kingdome of Navarra Hence it is manifest how the last Kings of Navarra by the interesse of their Alliance and Estate were obliged to follow the party of France Now it hapned An. 1510. after that Lewis the XII had humbled the Venetians by the victory of Aignadel and brought terrour among all the Princes of Italy that Pope Julius the II. fell out with Lewis and prosecuted the quarrell with such animosity Lewis on the other side being as fierce as he that the contention grew almost into a Schism Julius
excommunicated all that took part with Lewis and put an interdict as they call it upon their Estates Lewis maintained himself against his fulminations both by an Assembly of his Prelates at Tours who cleared the obligations of the Kings conscience as his History speaks and especially by armes whereby he represt all the invaders of his State and put them to the defence of their own But John d' Albret and Catherine of Navarra were expelled from their State by Ferdinand the Catholique who making a shew to passe into Guienne to join with the English and seize upon the Kingdom of France by vertue of the Papall interdict suddenly turned upon Navarra and took it An. 1512. both because John d' Albret was united with the French King who was a rebell against the Church and an Enemy to the English with whom Ferdinand had alliance also because the Spaniards hold that there was a tacit agreement between the Kings of Spain not to suffer that any of the Spanish Crowns should fall into forrain hands or into houses not soveraign as those of Foix and Albret As the reason and pretence of that invasion was leight and groundlesse the French stand to their right to this day against that manifest invasion and hinder the prescription by arms Treaties and Protestations Paragraphe IV. Of the Kingdome of Arragon Cassan in his Book of the rights of the Crown of France with more zeal than judgement will ground those rights upon conquests 800. years old and antient expeditions of the French Kings into Spain where they took some Towns of Navarra Arragon and Catalonia not considering the many changes of successions in so many years The Conquests of Catalonia and Arragon by Charlemagne give to the French no more right there in these times than those of Caesar in France to the now Emperours The rights of the French over Arragon Catalonia Roussillon which have some ground may be reduced to two heads The first is how Charles Count of Anjou Brother to Saint Lewis was invested with the Kingdome of the two Sicilies against the children of the Emperour Friderick the II. Peter King of Arragon who had married Constance daughter to Manfred bastard of Frederick claiming that Kingdome from his wife made those bloody Sicilian Vespers An. 1281. An action which did incense the whole Christendome against that Peter well surnamed the cruell Pope Martin the IV. especially a Frenchman by Birth and affection who excommunicated Peter and put his Kingdome in interdict Not only by the general maxime of the Popes that in certain cases they have power over the temporals of Kings but because Arragon hath been of great antiquity a Fee of the Church of Rome So the Pope dealt with that perfidious King as Soveraign of Arragon To that purpose he sent a Legat into France which offered the Kingdome of Arragon to King Philip le Hardy for his Son Charles Count of Valois Whereupon Philip assembled the States Generall at Paris accepted the Popes gift and undertook the War against Peter took Arragon Gatalonia Valentia and invested his Son Charles with these Kingdomes paying five hundred Livers yearly to the See of Rome It is true that after these Conquests King Philip as he returned into France dyed at Perpignan and the French soon after lost all that Country Yet their right if they had any by the donation of the Pope remained as good as before But the Spaniards contradict that right saying that in the time of the greatest confusions about that quarrel a marriage was made between that Charles de Valois pretended King of Arragon and Margaret daughter to Charles the II King of Naples To which Margaret the Counties of Anjou and Maine were given for her portion which had been in the possession of Charles brother to St Lewis and by him united to the Kingdome of Naples with this proviso That though Margaret should die without issue Charles should possess these Counties yeelding all his right and claim to the Kingdome of Arragon which Charles did and so that great difference was ended The second head whence the claim of the French upon Arragon doth arise regards the second House of Anjou The second Son of King John of France was Lewis who was invested with the Dutchy of Anjou A Prince well known in Histories as he that was made regent of France in the Minority of Charles the VI. and after invested with the Kingdome of Naples by Queen Jane the first a right which he prosecuted and perisht in the prosecution But he left the title to his Children His Son Lewis the II married Yoland daughter to John the I. King of Arragon and of Yoland of Bar his wife The eldest sister of that Yoland wife to Lewis the II of Anjou which was Jane Countess of Foix being dead without issue and no childe remaining of John of Arragon but that Yoland Dutchess of Anjou she was the undoubted Heir of that State but her Uncle Martin Duke of Montblanc seized upon it Lewis sent the Bishop of Couserans to represent his right And when after the death of Martin he would dispute his right by the sword he was perswaded to put the businesse to an arbitrement for the Peers and people of the Kingdome of Arragon had chosen arbitrators to umpire the businesse between Lewis and Martin and examine the claimes of other pretenders And though the Umpires were almost all Arragones they would not pronounce any thing so that quarrel remained undecided And after the death of two Martins Father and Son the Arbitration being renewed nine Arbitrators deferred the Kingdome to Ferdinand Brother to Henry the III. King of Castilia That sentence was confirmed by the Anti-pope Benedict the XIII who being forsaken almost by all the world had taken sanctuary in Arragon Against the nullity of that sentence the Children of Yoland Lewis the III of Anjou and René did protest Yea the Children of René make War in Arragon to recover it in the time of Lewis the XI of France but they were constrained to forsake all and Arragon remained with the usurpers unto this day Yet I see not that the French urge much that claim being somewhat too old to be now revived Paragraphe V. Of Catalonia The like may be said of Catalonia which is a great Province of Spain bounded on the East and South with the Mediterranean Sea and on the other sides with Valentia Arragon and Roussillon It was both before the Romans and under them part of Hispania Tarraconensis as Arragon and other Countries near the River of Ebro Since which time being conquered by the Gotths and Alans together it was called by them Gottalania which name was since corrupted to Catalaunia It was under the Kings of the Gotths till the invasion of the Saracens an 713. who made themselves Masters of it as of most part of Spain But Charlemagne took it from them and all the Country near the River of Ebro about the year 800. expelling Zaron the
it came into the hands of particular Counts which failing the Country fell to the Counts of Catalonia How and in what time precisely I find not Onely I find that in the time of St Lewis Alphonsus his Brother Count of Toulouse and the King of Arragon being in suit about the County of Roussillon St Lewis was chosen Umpire as bearing himselfe for Soveraign of both who therefore ought to be their Judge and he did adjudge it on the King of Arragon against his own Brother It seems that holy King acknowledged the justice of their possession For as that County was united with that of Barcelonia it was held also by the same right Since the union of these with the Crown of Arragon it ran the same fortune with Arragon and was conquered by Philip le Hardy by vertue of the Interdict of Pope Martin the IV. Philip died at Perpignan and soon after all was lost and quited by Charles de Valois his second Son But of that right all the pretences of the house of Anjou upon Roussillon as upon Arragon and Catalonia the French themselves make no great account But upon Roussillon the French have a Title altogether singular John King of Arragon that lived in the time of Lewis the XI of France being in War with his subjects of Arragon and Catalonia as maintainers of his Son Charles Prince of Vienna and the true Heir of Navarra against him and finding his Subjects too hard for him as assisted by Henry King of Castilia desired Lewis the XI to assist him which he did with great might having sent him a good Army under the conduct of Charles d' Armagnac Duke of Nemours who confirmed the Crown to John and composed the difference between him and his Subjects At which time John engaged the County of Roussillon and the Town of Perpignan unto Lewis the XI for three hundred thousand Crownes which he borrowed of him Lewis notwithstanding many treacheries and attempts of the Arrogenese maintained himself in that Country and Charles the VIII his Son after him untill the design of the Conquest of Naples It was in the year 1492. that Charles the VIII began the enterprise of Naples And fearing least Ferdinand King of Arragon Son to that John would assist the house of Naples which was a branch of that of Arragon or should enter into France in his absence he returned unto him that County of Roussillon gratis not quitting but not demanding the three hundred thousand Crowns the King of Arragon having promist and sworn upon the holy Crosse and upon the Gospels that hee would serve the King against all his Enemies in that expedition of Italy The Governour of Perpignan did not yield but after many iterated commands seeing the importance of that restitution and fearing the infidelity of Arragon The French Historians blame James Maillert a Franciscan Frier Confessour to Charles the VIII saying he was won by Ferdinand to perswade the King to that restitution But Ferdinand instead of helping Charles in his expedition of Italy helped his Enemies in Italy and disturbed his enterprise of Naples Since which time the French have often redemanded that County as not redeemed with the three hundred thousand Crownes and represented that they were circumvented by Ferdinand but in vain till finally the sword hath done what reason and justice could not Perpignan being besieged and taken by Lewis the XIII of late years Thus of those six rights which the French pretend within the limits of Spain Those of Castilia Portugal and Arragon are old and stale That of Navarra is in its full force by their ordinary protestations That of Catalonia and Roussillon are no more pretended rights the French having the real possession of them Paragraphe VII Of the Kingdom of Naples Out of the limits of Spain the French have three great pretences upon the house of Austria 1. Upon the Kingdom of Naples 2. Upon the Dutchy of Milan and the Common-wealth of Genoa 3. Upon the Counties of Flanders Artois Because they pretend that these rights are in their full force they must be exactly examined Wee will begin at Naples 1. That part of Italie which is beyond Capagna de Roma and comprehends these antient Provinces Samnium Appulia Hydruntum Magna Graecia Campania Calabria and others all these I say which is well nigh one half of Italie make up the Kingdome of Naples Compania now Terra di Lavoro the River of Aufidus now Ofanto in Puglia and the River of Liris now Cantigliano near Capua were made the limits between the Empires of the East and West An. 803. Nicephorus then being the Emperour of the East and Charlemagne of the West So that part of the Kingdom of Naples and all that is on this side of the two Rivers remained with the Empire of the West The part beyond them with the Iland of Sicily remained with the Emperour of the East Not long after the Saracens invaded Italie The height of their fury was about the year 850. and in the parts about Sicily and Sicily it self where they setled themselves And for many Ages those Countries were the sad stage where the Latins on the one side and the Greekes on the other and the Saracens enemies to both acted a bloody Tragedy 2. About the year 1000 forty Norman Gentlemen returning from the Pilgrimage of the Holy Land gave a powerfull assistance to the Christians of the Kingdome of Naples against the Saracens and being returned home undertook not long after an expedition to Naples with more might under the conduct of Tristan Cistel a Norman These gave the beginning to the State of Naples partly by conquest partly by marriage under the names of the Counts of the Crosse of Puglia and Dukes of Calabria and in time advancing their conquests as far as Sicily they were crowned Kings of the same To that Family of Normans succeeded that of the Germans in the persons of Henry the VI. and Friderick the II Emperours and Kings of Naples That Friderick being fallen into the hatred of the See of Rome which is Soveraign of that Fee he was deprived of that State After his death his Son Conrard and his bastard Manfred and Conradin Son of Conrard having laboured to maintain himself in it finally the house of France was called to it after this manner about the year 1262. 3. By the falling out of all these Princes with the Popes great confusions happened in Italie The Pope Innocent the IV weary of the German race presented the Kingdome to Saint Lewis for his brother Charles Count of Anjou and Provence who was reputed a great Warriour And two years after Vrban the IV invested them with it An. 1264. That Country which he held from the Church contained the Kingdom of Naples and the great I le of Sicily and was called Sicilia ultra extra Farum because of the Far or Streight of Messina which separates the I le from the Continent But that Country was so
given him by the Pope that he was first to conquer it before he could enjoy the gift Great Wars he had against Manfred bastard of Friderick the II. Emperour and against Conradin the Emperours Grandchild whom he took in battel and beheaded him A bloody execution which caused much animosity and Wars between that house of France and the reliques of the house of Suaben which was Constantia daughter to Manfred wife to Peter King of Arragon who to avenge the death of that King Conradin his wives Cosin to repress the insolence of the French was the Author of the bloody Sicilian Vespers whereby the French were utterly expelled from Sicily An. 1261. and Sicily remained in the power of the house of Arragon and since although many Wars and Treaties have intervened to reunite these two States they have alwaies been separated till the house of Arragon hath got the Dominion of Naples Wherefore we will speak no more of Sicily which the French lost in effect in that massacre and since quitted their right to it by severall Treaties 4. But as for the Kingdom of Naples that French Family of Charles d' Anjou was setled in it from the year 1264. untill the death of Jane the II An. 1435. in all 171. yeares We intend not to relate that History but only to observe these things which concern our present purpose First that Charles the Lame the second King and Son to that first Charles married Mary inheritrice of Hungary and so these two Kingdomes were united Of their Children the eldest Charles surnamed Martel had Hungary for his portion and from him some Princes of Hungary are descended The second Son was Lewis who would be a Franciscan Fryer and was Bishop of Toulouse The third Sonne Robert inherited the Kingdome of Naples There were more brothers who had severall apanages But it was not this Robert that continued the line of the Kings of Naples He was Father to Prince Charles who dying before his Father left a Daughter that famous or rather infamous Queen Jane the First that ruled that State almost forty years Next it must be known that this wicked Jane lascivious and cruel so farre as to strangle her Husband Andrew a young Prince of that other Branch of Hungary filled her Kingdome with great troubles by her wickednesse Towards the end of her reigne an 1378. hapned the great Schisme of the Church when Urban the VI being made Pope by violence many Cardinals elected in his stead Robert Cardinall of Geneva who took the name of Clement the VII Queen Jane being an enemy to Urban who was born her subject declared her self for Clement Her crim whereby she had put her Husband to death had been long covered by an accomodation made by Clement the VI who appeased Lewis the great King of Hungary Brother to Andrew whom Jane had strangled But Pope Urban the VI to be avenged of Jane stirred again the House of Hungary against her and a Prince of that House named Charles de Duras came and besieged her in Castello del Ovo at Naples took her and strangled her an 1382. in the same place as some say where she had strangled her first husband 3. But the same Princess seeing that Urban invited the house of Hungary to the conquest of Naples called to her help King Charles the VI of France an 1380. by the advice of Pope Clement And by his leave for he bore himselfe for her Soveraign she adopted Lewis Duke of Anjou brother to Charles the V of France and head of the second house of Anjou He was at that time Regent of France in the minority of King Charles the VI. From that adoption the French fetch their right in the Kingdome of Naples for from the off-spring of that Lewis the French Kings have inherited 4. Charles de Duras after he had strangled Queen Jane seized upon the Kingdome and reigned in her stead and after him his two Children first Ladislaus whom the French Historians call Lancelot and Jane the Second They three held the State 53. yeares from the yeare 1382. till the yeare 1436. But because Jane the first a little afore her death had adopted Lewis Duke of Anjou that house of Duras had continuall War with the house of Anjou Lewis the I. came to Naples and there dyed Lewis the II his Son had great Wars with Ladislaus and for a time was Master of the Kingdome That Ladislaus being dead without issue an 1414. his sister Queen Jane the Second succeeded him as bad a woman as the first Jane for impudicity and extravagancy She being degraded by the Pope Martin the V and Lewis the III Grandchild of the first Lewis of Anjou named by him to reign in her place she adopted Alphonsus King of Arragon and Sicily for her Son with whom that Lewis the III had great Warres and had sometimes the better sometimes the worst But Jane being of an inconstant spirit despised Alphonsus being altogether governed by her favorite John Carraciolo which Alphonsus not able to beare made himselfe Master of the City of Naples Upon which she cancelled her will made in favour of Alphonsus and instead of him adopted Lewis the IV. of Anjou who before was her enemy That adoption made an 1422. is the second ground of the claime of the French to Naples and the seed of so many Wars and Calamities and of the greatest divisions between the Houses of France and Spain The Spaniards maintaining the first adoption as valid because Alphonsus though accused by Jane of ungratefulnesse upon which she grounded the disanulling of his adoption did nothing as they say against the respect due to his adoptive Mother but onely went about to represse the extravagancies of that light-brained woman to have that part in her affaires which by right belonged to him and especially curb the insolency of Carraciolo who kept a scandalous familiarity with that woman The French say that the second adoption is of more validity That the cause of ungratefulnesse is sufficient to break an adoption That Alphonsus misused his adoptive Mother seized upon the City of Naples besieged her and kept her shut up and did all acts of Soveraign to her contempt and disgrace 5. This Lewis the IV. Duke of Anjou having recovered Naples enjoyed it with some peace together with Jane but dyed before her an 1434. Because he left no issue she adopted his Brother René Duke of Anjou and her selfe soon after dyed But René being then kept prisoner by the Duke of Burgundy he could not go to receive his inheritance His wife Elizabeth went but too late though at the first she got some advantage In the end Alphonsus remained Master and the party of Anjou was quite expelled out of the Land Onely René kept the possession of Provence which was an appurtenance of that State for since the first adoption of Lewis the I Duke of Anjou by Queen Jane the I. that second house of Anjou had kept the
Monarches were grieved to see a Count of Flanders and an Heir of the house of Austria a small Province of Germany advance himself so far as to offer to step before them and as many think to affect the Empire of all Europe To understand all these Wars Truces and Treaties the History must begin at the Treaty of Arras an 1435. For although these six houses Austria Burgundy Hungary Arragon Castilia and Portugal the limbes of that great Colossus of the now house of Austria were then severall houses yet that Treaty will serve to see how the house of Burgundy is fallen into the house of Austria and how their greatnesse began Here then let us say in brief what Wars and Treaties have been between these two houses since the Treaty of Arras an 1435. to that of Vervins 1598. We will divide this into many Articles according to the most remarquable dates touching only the most principall points leaving the rest to the generall History 1. From the Treaty of Arras Ann. 1435. to the marriage of Maximilian of Austria with Mary of Burgundy 1477. 2. Thence to the death of the Emperour Maximilian 1519. 3. Thence to the Treaty of Madrid 1525. 4. Thence to the Treaty of Cambray 1529. 5. Thence to the Treaty of Crespy or Saint John des Vignes an 1544. 6. Thence to the Treaty of Chasteau in Cambresis 7. Thence to the death of the Duke of Alencon and the beginning of the League 1584. 8. Thence to the Treaty of Vervins an 1598. Paragraphe I. From the Treaty of Arras an 1435. to the marriage of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy In all that time which was not yet the time of the greatnesse of Austria the French Kings had nothing to do with that Family which in that period of years enjoyed the Empire in the persons of Albert and Friderick the III. They had also little to do with the Kings of Castilia and Arragon which were then two severall States But much they had to do with the Dukes of Burgundy founders of that greatnesse of Austria Of which this is the summary 1. Philip le Bon after he had brought the State of France into great distresse and given it for a prey to the English to avenge the death of his Father John slain at Montereau Fautyonne an 1419 Finally being ill satisfyed with the English was forced to agree with Charls the VII who had killed his Father which he did by the Treaty of Arras an 1435. whereby Charles gave to Philip what we said before Peronne Montdidier and Roye the County of Artois the enjoying of the County of Bullen for his life also all the Towns of the River of Somme redeemable with four hundred thousand Crownes and promist to join to the Dutchy of Burgundy the Counties of Mascon Chalons Langres Bar sur Siene and Auxerre for ever reserving the resort of these jurisdictions to the Parliament of Paris This Treaty raised very much the house of Burgundy After which Philip was a loyall friend and servant unto Charles and helped him to expell the English out of France Neither did he meddle with the first falling out of Charles with his Son Lewis the Dolphin who was since Lewis the XI which division was called La Ligue de la Praguerie And all the reigne of Charles nothing confiderable hapned between these two houses but that towards the end of Charles Lewis the Dolphin having withdrawn himself discontented from the Court and lived a while in Daulphiné When the King his Father would have apprehended him by the Count of Dampmartin he fled into Flanders where he was received with great honour by Duke Philip who assigned him the Town of Guenep in Brabant to keep his Court where he lived six or seaven years till the death of his Father an 1461. 2. Now comes the reign of Lewis the XI who had so much to do with the house of Burgundy but nothing with that of Austria and little with that of Arragon and Castilia Historians observe that Philip Duke of Burgundy and his Son Charles Count of Charrolois accompanied Lewis into France and were present at his coronation And that Lewis at the first was very great with the Count of Charrolois but that soon after that friendship was separated by reason of the great antipathy of their humours and because while Lewis was retired into Flanders they had been too much acquainted with one anothers conditions which brought them to a mutuall contempt Also because Charles had a suspicion that Lewis had plotted against his life and because Lewis would have brought the Gabell or impost of salt into Burgundy which the Duke did oppose Then the suddain redeeming of the Towns of the River of Somme for which Lewis payed the four hundred thousand Crowns incens'd the Count of Charolois very much These were the causes of the great hatred between these two houses which the house of Austria inherited together with the Estate Hardly indeed could these two Princes agree for Lewis the XI was malicious disobliging and dissembled and Charles Count of Charolois was peevish and arrogant and followed no Law but his own will That hatred brought forth the War of the publick good as they called it in which Charles had the better That War ended in the Treaty of Conflans whereby it was covenanted that the King should restore to Charles all the Towns of the River of Somme redeemed not long before to enjoy them all his life and that he should have the County of Guines for himself and his Heirs for ever 3. John King of Arragon was assisted by Lewis the XI and the said John sold or pawned unto him the County of Roussillon for three hundred thousand Crownes This is the ground of the claime of the French to that County 4. Henry the IV King of Castilia and John King of Arragon being in War because Henry maintained the people of Arragon against their King and about some Towns Lewis the XI was chosen Umpire and went to Bayonne where he saw the Castilian on this side of the River of Vodazo and upon the Lands of France That enterview made them despise one another for Henry was an ill favoured and ill behaved man of little wit and was altogether governed by the Count of Lodesme Lewis used a short and coorse habit and wore a little leaden Our Lady at his hat The vanity of the Count of Lodesme seemed ridiculous to the French He crost the River in a boat with a sail of golden cloath and wore pomps garnisht with precious stones Ever since that enter view the two Nations have despised one another 5. After the peace of Conflans the divisions were renewed between Lewis and the Count of Charolois because Lewis cozened his brother Charles gave him Normandy and presently took it from him banisht him into Guienne far from the other Princes with whom he was in League and gave him a little Country under the specious Title of Duke of Guienne This
enclosed within the Ocean the Med terranean Sea and the Pyrenean hills under several names of Kingdomes as we shall say in the following Chapter And these distinguisht into three general Jurisdictions of Castilia Arragon and Portugal It is true that since the late Wars the revolts of Portugal and Catalonia have clipt so much of his Domtnions and the French have taken from him the County of Roussillon 2. Upon the coasts of Spain he possesseth the two Baleares Mallorca and Minorca and the two Ilands in old time called Ophiusae now Ivica and Fromentera 3. In Italy he hath all the Kingdom of Naples which is almost the half of it and the most Easterly part from Cajeta or Fondi to the golph of Tarento and the Strait of Messina 4. In the same Italy he hath the Dutchy of Milan with the territories of Pavia Tortona Cremona c. 5. Upon the coasts of the Tuscan Sea he hath Final Piombino Porto Hercule and Orbitello Of late the Prince of Monaco hath shaken off his yoak In Toscana the great Duke of Florence doth him homage for the Common-wealth of Siena and oweth him service 6. In that Sea about Italy he hath the Isles of Sardima and Sicily and is soveraign of the Isle of Malta which the old Geographers reckon among the African Ilands The great Master of that Iland oweth him some homage for it 7. In the Celtique Gaule he hath the Franche County or the County of Burgundy and in the Dutchy of Burgundy he hath the County of Charrolois 8. In the Belgique Gaule he hath possest till the end of the last age all that was comprehended under the name of the seventeen Provinces He keeps to this day the Dutchies of Luxemburg Limburg the Dutchy of Brabant but pared about by the losse of Maestritcht the Bose Breda and Bergupzom part of the Dutchy of Guelders the Counties of Namur Hainant Artois and Flanders all maimed with the losse of some limbs by our late Wars Also the Marquisat of the holy Empire which is Antwerp and the Principality of Mechlen The remnant of these seventeen Provinces is in the hand of the States of the united Provinces besides that which the King of France hath taken In all that large extent of Lands the Spaniard suffereth the exercise of no Religion but the Roman Though he go for a great soveraign yet many of his Lands depend from oother Princes The See of Rome hath great pretences upon the soveraignty of Arragon Heacknowledgerh without contradiction the soveraignty of the Church over his Kingdom of Naples Yet it is pretended that he oweth the same homage for Sicily For the Dutchy of Milan and other Lands which he holds in Italy he must acknowledge the Empire from which he hath received the investiture of the same Franche County is an imperiall fee as also the Provinces of Netherland not depending of France did owe homage to the Empire And in the year 1608. when the truce was made between Spain and Holland these two States disputing of their soveraignty in the first Article the Emperour Rodolphus framed an opposition against that Article and claimed the soveraignty as belonging to the Empire but the Treaty past without any reflection to that claim Finally although the Spaniard acknowledge our Kings no more neither for Flanders nor for Artois it is not well resolved yet by what right he hath shaken off the yoak and the French pretend that the Treaties of Madrid Cambray and Crespy in Valois which contain that cession have not been authorized by the generall States of France The King of Spain being possessor of such a great extent of Lands is a neighbor to most of the Christian Princes as will be shewed more at large in the second Chapter and hath alwaies some difference with them The now King of Spain is Phillip the IV. of the Roman Religion Paragraphe III. Here we will look upon the King of France whose state is comprehended in the old Gally Narbonensis Aquitanica Celtica and Belgica yet doth he not possess them all the whole Narbonensis belongs to him excepting Avignon Nice Savoy Geneva and Orenge The whole Aquitanica is his since the small principality of Bearn which with small reason hath been pretended to be soveraign in her Rights and Customs hath been united to the Crown and began to have the same Prince by the coming of Henry the fourth to the Crown The whole Celtica belongs likewise to the King of France excepting onely the Franch County and the imperial Town of Besancon Of the Belgica the King of France hath the least part The I le of France Pays de Caux Boulonnois Picardi Beau-voisis Champagne Brie And by good or bad title the Towns of Mets Thoul and Verdun of which in the first invasion he declared himselfe Protector onely By the late Wars he hath made himself Master of most part of Lorrain of the Town of Brisach and of other Towns of Alsatia beyond the Rhine The subjects of the King of France are commonly Roman Catholiques yet Protestants are tolerated in the State The King of France is neighbouring upon Spain by the Pyrenean hills On that side the French and the Spaniards have not much troubled one another but of late yeares in which the French have unfortunately attempted Spain about Fontarabie but fortunately about Roussillon and Catalonia But about the Low Countries and Franche County which lie open to both the Nations there hath been much stir and action On the side of Provence and Daulphine the Duke of Savoy is neighbour to France for Savoy and Piemont joyn to the foresaid Provinces The County of Avignon belonging to the Pope is inclosed within Provence By Daulphine the French touch the Common-wealth of Geneva By the Country of Bresse and the Bailliages of Gez and Verromey they enter within Switzerland into the Canton of Berne By Champagne they have the Duke of Lorraine for their neighbour but now they are possest of his Country So all their neighbours are weak the King of Spain excepted The present King of France is Lewis the XIV of the Roman profession Paragraphe IV. In this Paragraphewe will set downe all the Princes contained within the ancient Gaules besides the King of France 1. In Gallia Narbonensis the Duke of Savoy holds the Dutchie of Savoy the Countries of Chablais and Tarantaise and the Towne of Chambery and upon the Sea coast neare the River of Var the Town and County of Nice which was sometimes a member of Provence and being upon the River of Var it is partly in France partly in Italy 2. The Pope holds the County of Venaissyn or Avignon an ancient member of Provence with the four Bishopricks belonging to it Avignon Carpentras Cavaillon and Vezon There also is Orenge belonging to the House of Nassau 3. The City of Geneva with her Territory made her selfe a soveraign Common-wealth about the year 1535. when the Duke of Savoy the Bishop of Geneva and the City being in
angred the Count of Charrolois and increased his jealousies Philip Duke of Burgundy dieth an 1467. Charles succeeds him 6. This new Duke of Burgundy is much considered in France by reason of his great Lands and turbulent spirit All his time hee was in Wars with the King and brought the English into France The King also did raise him Enemies which his own rashnesse did multiply He was defeated by the Switzers at Granson and Morat and killed before Nancy an 1477. 7. After his death Lewis took the Dutchy of Burgundy and Provinces annext to it given by Charles the VII to Philip le Bon as a masculin apanage with the Towns upon the River of Somme which Charles was to hold all his life not leave it to his heirs He seized also upon the Town of Arras upon which he pretended a right He did his utmost to catch Mary the inheritrix of Charles and desired the people of Gant to deliver her into his hand or make her marry Charles the Dolphin but they protected her and soon after Maximilian of Austria married her 8. In Spain after the enterview of the two King Lewis of France and Henry of Castilia and the sale or pawning of the County of Roussillon King John of Arragon seeing that Lewis had arbitrated in favour of the Castilian and had sent John Duke of Calabria for the conquest of Arragon took his time when the leagues in France were strongest against the King to make Perpignan revolt against the French The Garrison retired into the Citadel and made it good till the Town was besieged by Lewis and constrained to return to his obedience Paragraphe II. From the marriage of Maximilian with Mary unto his death This period of forty yeares comprehends four reigns of the French Kings the end of Lewis the XI Charles the VIII Lewis the XII and the beginning of Francis the I in which space the greatnesse of the House of Austria was founded by her union with that of Burgundy and then with Castilia and Arragon Vnder Lewis the XI Since the death of Duke Charles three remarkable things hapned under Lewis the XI Mary inheritrix of Burgundy whom her Father had promist to many Princes in the end was married to Maximilian of Austria an 1478. Lewis would have her for Charles the Delphin but he was but six years old and she above fifteen yeares elder then he That preferring of Maximilian before Charles was the cause of many evils to France 1. The loss of all that Mary possest which might have been united with France 2. The increase of the house of Austria which began then to be jealous of France which she was very far from before that alliance 3. Great Wars and endlesse envy by the neighborhood of these two great Houses That marriage lasted but four yeares Mary dying of a fall from her Horse as she was hunting She left two children Philip Archduke of Austria Father to Charles the V. and Margaret 2. By the jealousie risen between France and Austria by that marriage and incensed by the revolt of the Prince of Orenge a great Lord of Franch County they broke into open War and the battel of Guinegast was fought of which the event was so uncertain that both parties ascribed to themselves the victory 3. Mary of Burgundy being dead the Flemmings especially the Gantois alwayes mutinous would expell Maximilian and dispose of Mary's Children They married Margaret to Charles the Dolphin and appointed for her portion the County of Artois Franch County and other Lands Margaret was then but two yeares old and Charles twelve But Charles being married since with Anne Dutchesse of Britain Margaret was sent back to her Father Maximilian which was a new cause of jealousie betweene these two families This Margaret being seperated from Charles was married to John Son of Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castilia whom she never saw Then she was for the third time married with Philibert the II Duke of Savoy They say of her that she was three times married and dyed a Virgin Under Charles the VIII 1. Charles the VIII had civil Wars against Lewis Duke of Orleans the Duke of Britain and others which ended by the battel of St. Aubin after which Charles married Anne the inheritrix of Brittain whereby he offered two affronts unto Maximilian the one that he sent him back his Daughter Margaret withwhom he had bin married seven or eight yeares the other that he married her with whom Maximilian was married by Proxie for in Britaine all the Proclamations were then made in the name of the Dutchess and of the Arch-duke of Austria Upon which Maximilian made War against Charles and took the Towns of Arras St Omer and other places which the French held as yet in Artois But a Peace was made an 1493. by which Charles was within four years to restore the Franch County and some Towns which he held in Artois unto Philip the Heir of Netherlands Son to Maximilian An. 1494. Charles restored to Ferdinand King of Arragon Perpignan and the County of Roussillon though he received not the three hundred thousand Crowns which it was pawnned for The reason why Charles did so we have declared before 3. The same year was the expedition of Charles the VIII into Naples against the house of Arragon To that which we have said of that quarrel this must be added Alphonsus who was adopted by Queen Jane the II. and in the end expelled the house of Anjou out of Italy left Naples to Ferdinand his bastard saying that he could lawfully doe it because it was his own conquest The house of that bastard enjoyed it after him and had four Princes Ferdinand the Bastard Alphonsus his Son Ferdinand his Grandchild and after him Friderick uncle to this last Ferdinand and brother of Alphonsus Although that House of Bastards enjoyed Naples the Kings of Arragon would say that it was by their toleration becaus Alphonsus King of Arragon who had been adopted by Jane the II. had conquered Naples with the Arms the Blood and the money of Arragon that he ought not to have left it to any but hisbrother John King after him of Arragon Wherefore Ch. VIII fearing lest Ferdinand King of Arragon Son to John should disturb his conquest of Naples either to assist that Bastard House or to make it his own conquest restored unto him the County of Roussillon gratis upon Ferdinands promise not to disturbe him yea to help him but Ferdinand broke his word with him What was the right of Charles was shewed before Charles with great expedition past through Piemont Milan Pisa Florence Rome got the Kingdom of Naples without difficulty and governed it without prudence and instantly lost it by the ill behaviour of his Ministers which got him the hatred of the Neapolitans A league was made by the Pope the Venetians the King of Naples and the Duke of Milan not onely to stay his conquests but to stop his return