most infamous of mankind onely for renouncing Calvinism By how many Forgeries and Calumnies have they endeavour'd to ruine the repute of all such Catholiques as have the most vigorously oppos'd their Heresie History will furnish us with abundant proofs and we have but too many in the Fragments which Monsieur Le Laboreur has given us of their insolent Satyrs where they spare not the most inviolable and Sacred things on Earth not even their anointed Soveraigns For which Reason that Writer in a certain Chapter of his Book wherein he mentions but a small parcel of those Libels after he has said that the most venomous Satyrists and the greatest Libertines were those of the Huguenot party adds these memorable words I should have been asham'd to have read all those Libels for the Blasphemies and Impieties with which they are fill'd if that very consideration had not been ayding to confirm me in the belief that there was more wickedness than either errour or blindness in their Doctrine and that their Morals were even more corrupt than their opinions He assures us in another place that these new Evangelists have made entire Volumes of railing of which he has seen above forty Manuscripts and that there needed no other arguments to decide the difference betwixt the two Religions and to elude the fair pretences of these reforming Innovatours So that all they have scribbled with so much I will not say violence but madness against the Sieur Cayet immediately upon his Conversion cannot doe him the least manner of prejudice no more than their ridiculous prediction wherein they foretold that it wou'd not be long before he wou'd be neither Huguenot nor Catholique but that he wou'd set up a third party betwixt the two Religions For he ever continu'd to live so well amongst the Catholiques that after he had given on all occasions large proofs both of his Virtue and of his Faith he was thought worthy to receive the order of Priesthood and the Degree of Doctor in Divinity and was Reader and Professour Royal of the Oriental Tongues Now seeing in the year 1605 ten years after his Conversion he had publish'd his Septenary Chronology of the Peace which was made at Vervins in the year 1598. Some of the greatest Lords at Court who understood his Merit and had seen him with the King by whom he had the honour to be well known and much esteem'd oblig'd him to add to the History of the Peace that of the War which that great Prince made during Nine years after his coming to the Crown till the Peace of Vervins which he perform'd in the three Tomes of his Nine years Chronology Prinâ—ed at Paris in the year 1608 in which before he proceeds to the Reign of Henry the Fourth he makes an abridgment of the most considerable passages in the League to the death of Henry the third And 't is partly from this Authour and partly from such others as were Eye-witnesses of what they wrote whether in Printed Books or particular Memoires that I have drawn those things which are related by me in this History I am not therefore my self the witness nor as an Historian do I take upon me to decide the Merit of these actions whether they are blameable or praise-worthy I am onely the Relater of them and since in that quality I pretend not to be believ'd on my own bare word and that I quote my Authours who are my Warrantees as I have done in all my Histories I believe my self to stand exempted from any just reproaches which can be fasten'd on me for my writing On which Subject I think it may be truly said that if instead of examining matters of Fact and enquiring whether they are truly or falsely represented that consideration be laid aside and the question taken up whether such or such actions were good or bad and matter of right pleaded whether they deserv'd to be condemn'd or prais'd it wou'd be but loss of time in unprofitable discourses in which an Historian is no way concern'd For in conclusion he is onely answerable for such things as he reports on the credit of those from whom he had them taking from each of them some particulars of which the rest are silent and compiling out of all of them a new body of History which is of a quite different Mould and fashion from any of the Authours who have written before him And 't is this in which consists a great part of the delicacy and beauty of these kinds of Works and which produces this effect that keeping always in the most exact limits of truth yet an Authour may lawfully pretend to the glory of the invention having the satisfaction of setting forth a new History though Writing onely the passages of a former Age he can relate almost nothing but what has been written formerly either in printed Books or Manuscripts which though kept up in private and little known are notwithstanding not the Work of him who writes the History As to what remains none ought to wonder that I make but one single Volume on this Subject though the matter of it is of vast extent I take not upon me to tell all that has been done on occasion of the League in all the Provinces nor to describe all the Sieges the taking and surprising of so many places which were sometimes for the King and at other times for the League or all those petty Skirmishes which have drawn if I may have liberty so to express my self such deluges of Bloud from the veins of France All these particulars ought to be the ingredients of the General History of this Nation under the Reigns of the two last Henries which may be read in many famous Historians and principally in the last Tome of the late Monsieur de Mezeray who has surpass'd himself in that part of his great work I confine my undertaking within the compass of what is most essential in the particular History of the League and have onely appli'd my self to the discovery of its true Origine to unriddle its intrigues and artifices and find out the most secret motives by which the Heads of that Conspiracy have acted to which the magnificent Title of the Holy Vnion has been given with so much injustice and in consequence of this to make an exact description of the principal actions and the greatest and most signal events which decided the fortune of the League and this in short is the Model of my Work As for the end which I propos'd to my self in conceiving it I may boldly say that it was to give a plain understanding to all such as shall read this History that all sorts of Associations which are form'd against lawfull Soveraigns particularly when the Conspiratours endeavour to disguise them under the specious pretence of Religion and Piety as did the Huguenots and Leaguers are at all times most criminal in the sight of God and most commonly of unhappy and fatal Consequence to
where he carried all things in opposition to the King But by relying too much on the power he had there and not using Arms when he had them in his hand I mean by not prosecuting his Victory to the uttermost when he had the King inclos'd in the Louvre he miss'd his opportunity and Fortune never gave it him again The late Earl of Shaftsbury who was the undoubted Head and Soul of that Party went upon the same maximes being as we may reasonably conclude fearful of hazarding his Fortunes and observing that the late Rebellion under the former King though successful in War yet ended in the Restauration of His Present Majesty his aim was to have excluded His Royal Highness by an Act of Parliament and to have forc'd such concessions from the King by pressing the chymerical dangers of a Popish Plot as wouâ—d not only have destroy'd the Succession but have subverted the Monarchy For he presum'd he ventur'd nothing if he cou'd have executed his design by form of Law and in a Parliamentary way In the mean time he made notorious mistakes First in imagining that his pretensions wou'd have pass'd in the House of Peers and afterwards by the King When the death of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey had fermented the people when the City had taken the alarm of a Popish Plot and the Government of it was in Fanatique hands when a Body of white Boys was already appearing in the West and many other Counties waited but the word to rise then was the time to have push'd his business But Almighty God who had otherwise dispos'd of the Event infatuated his Counsels and made him slip his opportunity which he himself observ'd too late and would have redress'd by an Insurrection which was to have begun at Wapping after the King had been murder'd at the Rye And now it will be but Justice before I conclude to say a word or two of my Author He was formerly a Jesuit He has amongst others of his works written the History of Arianism of Lutheranism of Calvinism the Holy War and the Fall of the Western Empire In all his Writings he has supported the Temporal Power of Soveraigns and especially of his Master the French King against the usurpations and incroachments of the Papacy For which reason being in disgrace at Rome he was in a manner forc'd to quit his Order and from Father Maimbourg is now become Monsieur Maimbourg The Great King his Patron has provided plentifully for him by a large Salary and indeed he has deserv'd it from him As for his style 't is rather Ciceronian copious florid and figurative than succinct He is esteemed in the French Court â—qual to their best Writers which has procur'd him the Envy of some who set up for Criticks Being a profess'd Enemy of the Calvinists he is particularly hated by them so that their testimonies against him stand suspected of prejudice This History of the League is generally allow'd to be one of his best pieces He has quoted every where his Authors in the Margin to show his Impartiality in which if I have not follow'd him 't is because the chiefest of them are unknown to us as not being hitherto translated into English His particular Commendations of Men and Families is all which I think superfluous in his Book but that too is pardonable in a man who having created himself many Enemies has need of the support of Friends This particular work was written by express order of the French King and is now translated by our Kings Command I hope the effect of it in this Nation will be to make the well-meaning men of the other Party sensible of their past errors the worst of them asham'd and prevent Posterity from the like unlawful and impious designs FINIS THE TABLE A. ABsolution given by the Archbishop of Bourges to Henry the Fourth held good and why Page 924 Acarie Master of Accounts a grand Leaguer 96 Francis Duke of Alanson puts himself at the Head of the Protestant Army against the King his Brother 10. Is Crown'd Duke of Brabant 79. His Death 85 George de Clermont d' Amboises 147. joyns the Prince of Conde in Anjou with 1500 Men that he had levied 150. Is Grand Master of the Ordnance for the King of Navarre at the Battel of Courtras 209 Arques its situation and the great Battel that was fought there 742 c. John d' Aumont Marshal of France 114. His Elogy 195. The good Counsel be gave the King but unprofitably 114. He Commands the Army Royal under the King against the Reyters 260. A grand Confident of Henry the Third's 383. Commands a Party of Henry the Fourth's Army in Campagne and at the attacquing of the Suburbs of Paris 752. At the Battel at Ivry 774 The Duke d' Aumale at the Battel of Vimory 270. Is made Governor of Paris by the Leagers 428. Besieges Senâ—is 483. Loses the Battel there 486 Auneau a little City of La Beauce its scituation 279. How the Reyters were there defeated by the Duke of Guise 280 c. Don John of Austria treats secretly with the Duke of Guise at Joinville 20 Aubry Curate of St. Andrews a grand Leager his extravagance in his Sermon 825 B. THe Sieur Balagny sends Troops to the Duke of Guise 235. Besieges Senlis with the the Duke d' Aumale 484. His defeat at that Battel 486 c. The Iournal of the Barricades 357 c. Colonel Christopher de Bassom-Pierre 103 250 777 Baston a furious Leaguer that Signs the Covenant with his Blood 449 The Battel of Courtras 200 c. The Battel at Senlis 485 The Battel or Combats at Arques 742 The Battel at Ivry 770 Claude de Baufremont Baron of Senâ—cey enters into the League 106. is President of the Nobles at the Estates at Paris Pag. 875 John de Beaumanoir Marquis de Laverdin Marshal de Camp to the Duke de Joyeuse 196. is beaten by the King of Navarre 197. Draws up the Duke's Army into Battalia at the Battel of Courtras 209. breaks the Light Horse 215. his honourable Retreat and his Elogy his Services recompens'd with a Marshal of France's Staff 226 Renaud de Beaune Archbishop of Bourges chief of the Deputation of the Royallists at the Conference at Suresne 879. The sum of his Harangue and of his Proofs 880 c. gives the King Absolution 928 Bellarmine a Iesuit and a Divine of Legat Cajetan's preaches at Paris during the Siege 806 President de Bellievre sent to the Duke of Guise 335. is not of advice that the King should cause the Duke to be kill'd in the Louvre 341. his Contest with the Duke of Guise about the Orders he brought him on behalf of the King 343. his banishment from Court 384 Rene Benoist Curate of St. Eustach acts and writes for the King 836 923 The Mareschal de Biron commands an Army in Poictou 144. he artfully breaks the designs of the Duke of Mayenne ib. his Valor at the Combat of
him he takes up his Quarters at St. Clou. The execrable Paricide â—ommitted on his Person his most Christian and most holy death The Contents of the Fourth Book HEnry the Fourth is acknowledg'd King of France by the Catholiques of his Army and on what Conditions The Duke of Espernon forsakes him and the Sieur de Vitry goes over to the League the King divides his Army into three Bodies and leads one of them into Normandy The Duke of Mayenne causes the Counsell of the Vnion to declare the old Cardinal of Bourbon King under the name of Charles the 10th Books Written for the right of the Vncle against the Nephew and for the Nephew against the Vncle. The Duke of Mayenne takes the Field with a powerfull Army and follows the King into Normandy The Battel or great Skirmishes at Arques the King's Victory and the Retreat of the Duke of Mayenne the Assault and taking of the Suburbs of Paris by the King The Intelligence held by the President De Blanc-Mesnil with the King The praise of that President The Exploits of the King in the Provinces The Propositions of the Legat Cajetan and of the Spaniards at the Coâ—nsell of the Vnion The Sieur de Villeroy discovers the intrigue of it to the Duke of Mayenne who resolves to oppose them The Commendation of that Great Minister of State A new Decree of the Sorbonne against Henry the 4th The new Oath which the Legat orders to be taken by the Leaguers The King Besiegeth Dreux The Duke of Mayenne Marches to the releif of the Besieged which occasions the battel of Yvry The description of that Battel the order of the two Armies The absolute Victory of the King His Exploits after his Victory His repulse from before Sens by the Sieur de Chanvallon he goes to besiege Paris The condition of that Town at that time The provision made by the Duke of Nemours to sustain the Siege The attacque of the Suburb of St. Martin by Lanoue who was repuls'd from it Why the King wou'd not use force An horrible Famine in Paris The reasons which made the Parisians resolve to endure all extremities rather than Surrender The Fantastick Muster that was made by the Ecclesiasticks and the Monks to encourage the people the Legat Cajetan as he was looking on it in danger to be kill'd The Arrival of the Duke of Parma who relieves Paris Two attempts upon Paris to surprise it the one by Scalade and the other by a Strategem neither of which succeed The Retreat of the Duke of Parma The Siege and the taking of Chartres by the management of Chastillon The death of that Count and his Commendation The Duke of Parma renders the Duke of Mayenne suspected to the King of Spain who supports the Sixteen against him Pope Sixtus is disabus'd in favour of the King Gregory the 14th declares for the League against the King whom he Excommunicates His Bull is condemned and produces no manner of effect The conference of the Lorrain Princes at Rheims The President Jannin goes for them into Spain His praise and his artfull Negotiation King Philip unwarily declares his design to cause the Infanta his Daughter to be Elected Queen of France Monsieur de Mayenne breaks with the Spaniard The Division amongst the Lorrain Princes The Young Duke of Guise is receiv'd by the Leaguers who set him up against his Vncle. The horrible violence of the Sixteen who cause the President Brisson and two Counsellours to be hanged The just Revenge which the Duke of Mayenne takes for that action Their Faction totally pull'd down by that Duke and by the Honest Citizens The Siege of Roven The Duke of Parma comes to its releif the Skirmish of Aumale The brave Sally of Villiers Governour of Roven the King raises his Siege and some few days after Besieges the Army of the Duke of Parma the wonderfull Retreat of that Duke The conference of du Plessis Mornay and Villeroy for the Peace what it conduc'd towards the conversion of the King The Popes Innocent the 9th and Clement the 8th for the League The death of the Duke of Parma Monsieur de Mayenne at length assembles the General Estates of the League at Paris The History of those pretended Estates Monsieur de Mayenne causes the conference of Suresne to be therein accepted in spight of the Legat. The Speeches of the Archbishop of Bourges and of Lyons and the History of that Conference The Duke of Mayenne in the Estates artfully hinders the Election of a King The History of the conversion of Henry the 4th The absolution which he demands and which at length is given him at Rome The reduction of many Lords and Towns of the League to the King's Service His Entry into Paris the Skirmish at Fontain Francoise The treaty of the Duke of Mayenne and the Edict which the King makes in his favour The treaty of the Duke of Joyeuse and his second entry into the order of Capuchins the treaty of the Duke of Merceaeur and the end of the League THE HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE LIB I. THough this work which I have undertaken is the natural sequel of the History of Calvinism 't is yet most certain that the Subject which I treat has no relation to that Heresie For it was not the desire of preserving the Catholique faith in France nor any true motive of Religion which gave birth to the League as the common people who have not been able to penetrate into the secret of that accursed Cabal have always been persuaded It was derived from two passions which in all ages have produc'd most tragical Effects I mean Ambition and Hatred 'T is true the multitude and above all the Church-men who believ'd they had occasion to be alarm'd in matters of Religion if he who was call'd to the Crown by the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom shou'd obtain it these I say were seduc'd by that specious appearance of true Zeal which seem'd to be the very Soul and Foundation of the League But it will not be difficult to discover in the process of this History that the Authours of that Conspiracy made use of those pretences of Religion to abuse the credulity and even the Piety of the People and to make them impious without their perceiving it by animating and arming them against their Kings to root out if they had been able the last remaining Stem of the Royal Stock and to plant on its Foundations the dominion of a Foreigner And as none are able to execute an unjust Enterprise but by means as pernicious and execrable as the end it self which they propose so will there be manifest in the sequel and progress of the League even yet more disorders and mischiefs than ever Calvinism it self produc'd against which alone it seem'd to have been arm'd Yet in this particular most resembling that Formidable party which was rais'd against the Catholique Church that being blasted as the Heresie had been by the Lord of
Prelates of the Kingdom that he shou'd restore the Exercise of the Catholique Religion in all places from whence it had been banish'd and remit the Ecclesiastiques into the full and entire Possession of all their Goods that he shou'd bestow no Governments on Hugonots and that this Assembly might have leave to depute some persons to the Pope to render him an account of their Proceedings This Accommodation was sign'd by all the Lords excepting only the Duke of Espernon and the Sieur de Vitry who absolutely refus'd their Consent to it Vitry went immediately into Paris and there put himself into the Service of the League which he believ'd at that time to be the cause of Religion As for the Duke of Espernon he had no inclination to go over to the League which had so often solicited his Banishment from Court But whether it were that being no longer supported since his Masters Death he fear'd the Hatred and Resentment of the greatest Persons about the King and even of the King himself whom he had very much offended during the time of his Favour in which it was his only business to enrich himself or were it that he was afraid he shou'd be requir'd to lend some part of that great Wealth which he had scrap'd together he very unseasonably and more unhandsomly began to raise Scruples and seem'd to be troubled with Pangs of Conscience which never had been thought any great grievance to him formerly so that he took his leave of the King and retir'd to his Government with 2 or 3000 Foot and 500 Horse which he had brought to the Service of his late Master This pernicious Example was follow'd by many others who under pretence of ordering their Domestick Affairs ask'd leave to be gone which the King dar'd not to refuse them or suffer'd themselves to be seduc'd by the Proffers and Solicitations of the League so that the King not being in a condition any longer to besiege Paris was forc'd to divide his remaining Troops comprehending in that number those which Sancy still preserv'd for his Use and Service Of the whole he form'd three little Bodies one for Picardy under the Command of the Duke of Longuevillâ— another for Champaigne under the Marshal d' Aumont and himself led the third into Normandy where he was to receive Supplies from England and where with that small Remainder of his Forces he gave the first Shock to the Army of the League which at that time was become more powerful than ever it had been formerly or than ever it was afterwards In effect those who after the Barricades had their eyes so far open'd as to discover that the League in which they were ingag'd was no other than a manifest Rebellion against their King seeing him now dead believ'd there was no other Interest remaining on their side but that of Religion and therefore reunited themselves with the rest to keep out a Heretick Prince from the Possession of the Crown And truly this pretence became at that time so very plausible that an infinite number of Catholiques of all Ranks and Qualities dazled with so specious an appearance made no doubt but that it was better for them to perish than to endure that he whom they believ'd obstinate in his Heresie shou'd ascend the Throne of St. Lewis and were desirous that some other King might be elected Nay farther there were some of them who took this occasion once more to press the Duke of Mayenne that he wou'd assume that Regal Office which it wou'd be easie for him to maintain with all the Forces of the united Catholiques of which he already was the Head but that Prince who was a prudent man fearing the dangerous consequences of so bold an Undertaking lik'd better at the first to retain for himself all the Essentials of Kingship and to leave the Title of it to the old Cardinal of Bourbon who was a Prisoner and whom he declar'd King under the Name of Charles the Tenth by the Council of the Union At this time it was that there were scatter'd through all the Kingdom a vast number of scandalous Pamphlets and other Writings in which the Authors of them pretended to prove that Henry of Bourbon stood lawfully excluded from the Crown those who were the most eminent of them were the two Advocates general for the League in the Parliament of Paris Lewis d'Orlâ—ans and Anthony Hotman The first was Author of that very seditious Libel call'd The English Catholique And the second wrote a Treatise call'd The Right of the Vncle against the Nephew in the Succession of the Crown But there happen'd a pleasant Accident concerning this Francis Hotman a Civilian and Brother to the Advocate seeing this Book which pass'd from hand to hand in Germany where he then was maintain'd with solid Arguments and great Learning The Right of the Nephew against the Vncle and made manifest in an excellent Book which he publish'd on this Subject the Weakness and false Reasoning of his Adversaries Treatise without knowing that it was written by his Brother who had not put his Name to it The League having a King to whom the Crown of right belong'd after Henry the Fourth his Nephew in case he had surviv'd him by this Pretence increas'd in Power because the King of Spain and the Duke of Lorrain and Savoy who during the Life of the late King their Ally durst not declare openly against him for his Rebellious Subjects now after his Death acknowledging this Charles the Tenth for King made no difficulty to send Supplies to the Duke of Mayenne insomuch that he after having publish'd through all France a Declaration made in August by which he exhorts all French Catholicks to reunite themselves with those who would not suffer an Heretique to be King had rais'd at the beginning of September an Army of 25000 Foot and 8000 Horse With these Forces he pass'd the Seine at Vernon marching directly towards the King who after he had been receiv'd into Pont del ' Arch and Diepe which Captain Rolâ—t and the Commander de Chates had surrendred to him made a show of besieging Rouen not having about him above 7 or 8000 Men. This so potent an Army of the Leaguers compos'd of French and Gâ—rmans Lorrainers and Walloons which he had not imagin'd cou'd have been so soon assembled and which was now coming on to overwhelm him constrain'd him to retire speedily towards Diepe where he was in danger to have been incompass'd round without any possibility of Escape but only by Sea into England if the Duke of Mayenne had taken up the resolution as he ought to have done from the first moment when he took the Field to pursue him eagerly and without the least delay But while he proceeding with his natural slowness which was his way of being wise trifled out his time in long deliberations when he shou'd have come to Action he gave leisure to the King to fortifie his Camp at Arques a League
the Spaniards the Princes the Officers of the Crown the principal Members of the Parliaments the Lords of the Court the Bishops and many Doctors not only of the Royal Party but also of the League went thither and amongst others three famous Curats of Paris Rene Benoist of St. Eustache Charignac of St. Sulpice and Morennes of St. Merry who far from being tainted with the seditious principles of their fellows the Curats of St. Severin St. Cosme St. Iaques St. Gervais St. Nicholas in the Fields and St. André who had ran riot in their scandalous Satyrs as I may call them more properly than Sermons against the Person of the King had the honour of bearing their parts in the Conversion of so Great a Prince Being therefore arriv'd at St. Denis from Mante on the twenty second of Iuly the next morning he entred into Conference and held close at it from six in the Morning to one in the Afternoon with the Archbishop of Bourges and seven or eight Bishops amongst whom was Monsieur du Perron nominated to the Bishoprick of Evreux Many Doctors of great reputation were present in that Assembly with the three Curats of Paris and Father Oliver Beranger a Learned Iacobin Chaplain in Ordinary to the late King The Instruction was made particularly touching three points concerning which the King propos'd some scruples The first was on the Invocation of Saints to know if it were absolutely necessary for us to pray to them On which point they easily satisfied him by giving him to understand the Doctrine of the Church concerning it viz. That as it is profitable for us to recommend our selves to the prayers of our living Brethren without derogating thereby from the Office of Jesus Christ our Mediator in like manner it is very advantageous for us to have recourse to Saints and pray them to intercede for us to the end we may obtain benefits and favour from God by Jesus Christ God imparting to them the knowledge of our necessities and of our prayers by some way best pleasing to himself as he makes known to the Angels according to the Scripture what is done here below and foretels to the Prophets future things though they are more particularly reserv'd to his own knowledge The second was concerning Auricular Confession And it was clearly prov'd to him That Jesus Christ having given commission to his Ministers in general terms of binding and of loosing sins that power cou'd not be restrain'd only to publick sins and by consequence it was necessary that Penitents shou'd give the Priests full knowledge of all the sins they had committed to the end they may make a just distinction betwixt those offences which they ought to remit and those they ought not The third Particular in which he desir'd to be throughly instructed was concerning the Authority of the Pope To which he submitted without difficulty after it was made out to him that according to the Gospels the Councils and the Holy Fathers it extended no farther than to things that were purely spiritual and nothing relating to temporals not at all interfering with the Rights and Prerogatives of Kings or the Liberties of Kingdoms When they wou'd have proceeded from this to the Point of the real Presence of Christ's Body in the Holy Sacrament which of all other Articles is the most contested betwixt Catholicks and Huguenots and in which they never come to an agreement he stopp'd the Bishops by telling them that he was intirely perswaded of that Truth that he had no manner of scruple concerning it and that he always had believ'd it 'T is also said that having appointed a Conference betwixt the Doctors and the Ministers when one of the Huguenot Preachers had yielded that Salvation might be had in the Church of Rome for at that time they granted it he said with great reason There is then no longer deliberation to be us'd I must of necessity be a Catholique and take the surest side as every prudent man wou'd do in a business of so great importance as that of Salvation Since according to the joynt opinion of both Parties I may be sav'd being a Catholique and if I still continue a Huguenot I shall be damn'd according to the opinion of the Catholiques But whether this be true indeed or only a report 't is certain that being perfectly instructed and well assur'd of all points of belief which are held by the Roman Church they drew up a form of the Profession of Faith which was sign'd by him After which there remain'd no more but only to make his profession solemnly according to the custom of the Church and to receive Absolution from his Heresie and from the sentence of Excommunication which had been given against him But it was first to be examin'd anew in a regular Conference which wou'd make the Decision more authentick whether the Bishops had power to absolve him in France of the Excommunication which he had incurr'd in a Case reserv'd by the Popes to the Holy See For not only the Legat and those Doctors who were devoted to the League and above all others the Archbishop of Lyons as he had made appear at the Conference of Surenne but also the Cardinal of Bourbon who had much ado to part with his imaginary Headship of a third Party maintain'd openly and boldly that the Pope alone had power to absolve him and that all other Absolution wou'd be null because the Pope had solely and positively made a reservation of that Power to the Holy See Notwithstanding which in a great Assembly of Bishops and learned Doctors which was held for the resolving of this Case the contrary opinion pass'd nemine contradicente in spight of the Remonstrances of that Cardinal who was indeed no very able man The Curat of St. Eustache himself René Benoist who was afterwards Bishop of Troyes Monsieur de Morennes Curat of St. Merry who dy'd Bishop of Seâ—z those I say who had been of the League till that very time and some other knowing Doctors gave an account to the Publick in their printed Writings of the Reasons on which they grounded their opinion and they are reducible to this ensuing Argumentation which the Reader will not be unwilling to understand as I have extracted it from their Books without interposing my own Judgement in the Matter because I write not as a Divine who declares and maintains a Doctrine but as an Historian who makes a faithful Relation of Actions done as he finds them in the best Accounts 'T is indubitable say these Doctors according to the most knowing Canonists that he who is excommunicated for a Case reserv'd to the Holy See if he have any Canonical hindrance that is to say express'd and approv'd by the Canons which permits him not to go and present himself before the Pope may be absolv'd by some other without being bound to send to Rome for his Absolution provided nevertheless that when the hindrance if it endures not always
with a League and ended with a Conspiracy In this they have copied even to the word Association which you may observe was us'd by Humieres in the first wary League which was form'd in Picardy and we see to what it tended in the Event For when Henry the Third by the assistance of the King of Navarre had in a manner vanquish'd his Rebels and was just upon the point of mastring Paris a Iacobin set on by the Preachers of the League most barbarously murther'd him and by the way take notice that he pretended Enthusiasm or Inspiration of God's holy Spirit for the commission of his Parricide I leave my Superiours to conclude from thence the danger of tolerating Non-conformists who be it said with Reverence under pretence of a Whisper from the holy Ghost think themselves oblig'd to perpetrate the most enormous Crimes against the Person of their Soveraign when they have first voted him a Tyrant and an Enemy to God's People This indeed was not so impudent a Method as what was us'd in the formal process of a pretended high-Court of Justice in the Murther of King Charles the First and therefore I do not compare those Actions but 't is much resembling the intended Murther of our gracious King at the Rye and other Places and that the Head of a Colledge might not be wanting to urge the perforâ—mance of this horrible Attempt instead of Father Edm. Bourgoing let Father Ferguson appear who was not wanting in his spiritual Exhortations to our Conspirators and to make them believe that to assassinate the King was only to take away another Holophernes 'T is true the Iacobin was but one and there were many joyn'd in our Conspiracy and more perhaps than Rumsey or West have ever nam'd but this though it takes from the justness of the Comparison adds incomparably more to the Guilt of it and makes it fouler on our side of the Water My Author makes mention of another Conspiracy against Henry the Fourth for the seizing of his Person at Mante by the young Cardinal of Bourbon who was Head of the third Party call'd at that time the Politicks that is to say in modern English Trimmers This too was a Limb of our Conspiracy and the more moderate Party of our Traitors were engag'd in it But had it taken effect the least it cou'd have produc'd was to have overthrown the Succession and no reasonable man wou'd believe but they who cou'd forget their Duty so much as to have seiz'd the King might afterwards have been induc'd to have him made away especially when so fair a provision was made by the House of Commons that the Papists were to suffer for it But they have not only rummag'd the French Histories of the League for Conspiracies and Parricides of Kings I shall make it apparent that they have studied those execrable Times for Precedents of undermining the lawful Authority of their Soveraigns Our English are not generally commended for Invention but these were Merchants of small Wares very Pedlers in Policy they must like our Taylors have all their Fashions from the French and study the French League for every Alteration as our Snippers go over once a year into France to bring back the newest Mode and to learn to cut and shape it For example The first Estates conven'd at Blois by Henry the Third the League being then on foot and most of the three Orders dipt in it demanded of that King that the Articles which shou'd be approv'd by the three Orders shou'd pass for inviolable Laws without leaving to the King the power of changing any thing in them That the same was design'd here by the Leading men of their Faction is obvious to every one for they had it commonly in their mouths in ordinary Discourse and it was offer'd in Print by Plato Redivivus as a good Expedient for the Nation in case his Majesty wou'd have consented to it Both in the first and last Estates at Blois the Bill of Exclusion against the King of Navarre was press'd and in the last carried by all the three Orders though the King wou'd never pass it The end of that Bill was very evident it was to have introduc'd the Duke of Guise into the Throne after the King's decease to which he had no manner of Title or at least a very crack'd one of which his own Party were asham'd Our Bill of Exclusion was copied from hence but thrown out by the House of Peers before it came to the King's turn to have wholly quash'd it After the Duke of Guise had forc'd the King to fly from Paris by the Barricades the Queen-Mother being then in the Traitors Interests when he had outwitted her so far as to perswade her to joyn in the Banishment of the Duke of Espernon his Enemy and to make her believe that if the King of Navarre whom she hated were excluded he wou'd assist her in bringing her beloved Grandchild of Lorrain to the possession of the Crown it was propos'd by him for the Parisians that the Lieutenancy of the City might be wholly put into their hands that the new Provost of Merchants and present Sheriffs of the Faction might be confirm'd by the King and for the future they shou'd not only elect their Sheriffs but the Colonels and Captains of the several Wards How nearly this was copied in the tumultuous meetings of the City for their Sheriffs both we and they have cause to remember and Mr. Hunt's Book concerning their Rights in the City Charter mingled with infamous aspersions of the Government confirms the Notions to have been the same And I could produce some very probable instances out of another Libel considering the time at which it was written which was just before the detection of the Conspiracy that the Author of it as well as the Supervisor was engag'd in it or at least privy to it but let Villany and Ingratitude be safe and flourish By the way an Observation of Philip de Comines comes into my mind That when the Dukes of Burgundy who were Lords of Ghent had the choice of the Sheriffs of that City in that year all was quiet and well govern'd but when they were elected by the people nothing but tumults and seditions follow'd I might carry this resemblance a little farther For in the heat of the Plot when the Spanish Pilgrims were coming over nay more were reported to be landed when the Representatives of the Commons were either mortally afraid or pretended to be so of this airy Invasion a Request was actually made to the King that he wou'd put the Militia into their hands which how prudently he refus'd the example of his Father has inform'd the Nation To show how the Heads of their Party had conn'd over their Lesson of the Barricades of Paris in the midst of Oates his Popish Plot when they had fermented the City with the leaven of their Sedition and they were all prepar'd for a rising against the Government