the publick hangman The year before they inflicted the same punishment upon a vain and blasphemous discourse penned by Gasper Scioppius a fellow of a most desperate brain and a very incendiary Neither hath Bellarmine himself that great Atlas of the Roman Church escaped much better for writing a book concerning the temporall power of his Holinesse it had the ill luck to come into Paris where the Parliament finding it to thwart the liberty and royalty of the King and Countrey gave it over to the Hangman and he to the fire Thus it is evident that the titles which the French writers give it as the true Temple of French Justice the buâ—tresse of equity and the gardian of the rights of France and the like are abundantly deserved of it The next Chamber in esteem is the Tournelle which handleth all matters criminall It is so called from tourner which signifieth to change or alter because the Judges of the other severall chambers give sentence in this according to their severall turns the reason of which institution is said to be lest a continuall custome of condemning should make the Judges lesse mercifull and more prodigall of bloud an order full of health and providence It was instituted by the above named Philip de bel at the same time when he made the Parliament sedentarie at Paris and besides its peculiar and originall imployments it receiveth appeals from and redresseth the errors of the Provost of Paris The other five Chambers are called Des Enquestes or Camerae inquisitionum the first and antientest of them was erected also by Philip le bel and afterwards divided into two by Charles VII Afterwards the multitude of Processes being greater then could be dispatched in these Courts there was added a third Francis the first established the fourth for the better raising of a sum of money which then he wanted every one of the new Counsellors paying right deerly for his place The fifth and last was founded in the year 1568. In each of these severall Chambers there are two Presidents and 20 Counsellors besides Advocates and Proctours ad placitum In the Tournelle which is an aggregation of all the other Courts there are supposed to be no sewer then 200 officers of all sorts which is no great number considering the many causes there handled In the Tournelle the Judges fit on life and death in the Chamber of Enquests they examine only civill affaires of estate title debts or the like The pleaders in these Courts are called Advocates and must be at the least Licentiates in the study of the Law At the Parliaments of Theloza and Bourdeaux they admit of none but Doctors Now the forme of admitting them is this In an open and frequent Court one of the aged'st of the Long roab presenteth the party which defireth admission to the Kings Attorney generall saying with a loud voice Paise a cour recevoir N. N. licencie or Docteur en droict civil a la office d' Advocate This said the Kings Attorney biddeth him hold up his hand and saith to him in Latine Tu jurabis observare omnes regias consuetudines he answereth Juro and departeth At the Chamber door of the Court whereof he is now sworn an Advocate he payeth two crowns which is forth with put into the common treasury appointed for the relief of the distressed widows of ruined Advocates and Proctoms Hanc veniam perimusque damusque it may be their own cases and therefore it is paid willingly The highest preferment of which these Advocates are capable is that of Chancellor an office of great power and profit the present Chancellor is named Mr. d' Allegre by birth of Chartres He hath no settled Court wherein to exercise his authority but hath in all the Courts of France the Supream place whensoever he will vouchsafe to visite them He is also President of the Councell of Estate by his place and on him dependeth the making of good and sacred laws the administration of Justice the reformation of superstuous and abrogation of unprofitable Edicts c. He hath the keeping of the Kings great seal and by virtue of that either passeth or putteth back such Letters patents and Writs as are exhibited to him He hath under him immediately for the better dispatch of his affaires four Masters of the Requests and their Courts Their office and manner of proceeding is the same which they also use in England in the persons there is thus much difference for that in France two of them must be perpetually of the Clergy One of their Courts is very antient and hath in it two Presidents which are two of the Masters and 14 Counsellors The other is of a later erection as being founded anno 1580. and in that the two other of the Masters and eight Counsellors give sentence Thus have I taken a view of the severall Chambers of the Parliament of Paris and of their particular jurisdictions as far as my information could conduct me One thing I noted further and in my mind the fairest ornament of the Palace which is the neatnesse and decency of the Lawyers in their apparell for besides the fashion of their habit which is I allure you exceeding pleasing and comely themselves by their own care and love to handsomenesse add great lustre to their garments and more to their persons Richly drest they are and well may be so as being the ablest and most powerfull men under the Princes and la Noblesse in all the Countrey an happinesse as I conjecture rather of the calling then the men It hath been the fate and destinie of the Law to strengthen and inable its professors beyond any other Art or Science the pleaders in all Common-wealths both for sway amongst the people and vogue amongst the military men having alwayes had the preheminence Of this rank were Pericles Phocion Alcibiades and Demosthenes amongst the Athenians Antonius Cato Caesar and Tully at Rome men equally famous for Oratory and the Sword yet this I can confidently say that the severall states above mentioned were more indebted to Tully and Demosthenes being both meer gown-men then to the best of their Captains the one freeing Athens from the armies of Macedon tâ—h other delivering Rome from the conspiracy of Catiline O fortunatam natam te Consule Romam It is not then the fate of France only nor of England to see so much power in the hands of the Lawyers and the case being generall me thinks the envie should be the lesse and lesse it is indeed with them then with us The English Clergy though otherwise the most accomplisht in the world in this folly deserveth no Apologie being so strongly ill affected to the pleaders of their Nation that I fear it may be said of some of them Quod invidiam non ad causam sed personam ad voluntatem dirigunt a weaknesse not more unworthy of them then prejudiciall to them For by fostering between both gowns such an unnecessary emulation they
homager being slain and a homager being accused To this summons John refused to yeeld himself a Counsell rather magnanimous then wise and such as had more in it of a English King then a French Subject Edward III a Prince of finer metall then this John obeyed the like warrant and performed a personall homage to Philip of Valoys and it is not reckoned amongst his disparagements He committed yet a further errour or solecisme in State not so much as sending any of his people to supply his place or plead his cause Upon this non-appearance the Peers proceed to sentence Ilfut par Arrestdela dite cour saith Du Chesne condamnè pour atteint convaincu da crime de parricide de felonie Parric de for killing his own Nephew and Felony for committing an act so execrable on the person of a French Vassall and in France John du Serres addeth a third cause which was contempt in disobeying the Kings commandment Upon this â—â—rdict the Court awarded Que toutes les terres qu' il aveit parde la demoureroient aquâ—ses confisquces a la Couronne c. A proceeding so fair and orderly that I should sooner accuse King John of indiscretion then the French of injustice When my life or estate is in danger let me have no more finister a tryall The Erglish thus outed of Normandy by the weaknesse of John recovered it again by the puissance of Henry but being held only by the swoÌ„rd it was after 30 years recovered again as I have told you And now being passed over the Oyse I have at once freed the English and my self of Normandy here ending this Book but not that dayes journey The End of the First Book A SURVEY OF THE STATE of FRANCE FRANCE specially so called OR THE SECOND BOOK CHAP. I. France in what sense so called The bounds of it All old Gallia not possessed by the French Countries follow the name of the most predominant Nation The condition of the present French not different from that of the old Gaules That the heavens have a constant power upon the same Climate though the Inhabitants are changed The quality of the French in private at the Church and at the table Their language complements discourse c. July the third which was the day we set out of St. Claire having passed through Pontoyse and crossed the river we were entred into France France as it is understood in its limited sense and as a part only of the whole for when Meroveus the Grandchild of Pharamond first King of the Franci or Frenchmen had taken an opportunity to passe the Rhine having also during the wars between the Romans and the Gothes taken Paris he resolved there to set up his rest and to make that the head City of his Empire The Country round about it which was of no large extent he commanded to be called Francia or Terra Francorum after the name of his Frankes whom he governed In this bounded and restrained sense we now take it being confined with Normandy on the North Champagne on the East and on the West and South with the Province of La Beausse It is incircled in a manner with the Oyse on the Northwards the Eure on the West the Velle on the East and a veine riveret of the Seine towards the South but the principall environings are made by the Seine and the Marne a river of Campagne which constitute that part hereof which commonly and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is called by the name of the Isle of France and within the main Island makes divers little petty Isles the waters winding up and down as desirous to recreate the earth with the pleasures of its lovely and delicious embraces This Isle this portion of Gaul properly and limitedly sty led France was the seat of the Francs at their first coming hither and hath still continued so The rest of Gallia is in effect rather subdued by the French then inhabited their valour in time having taken in those Countries which they never planted so that if we look apprehensively into Gaule we shall finde the other Nations of it to have just cause to take up that complaint of the King of Portugall against Ferdinand of Castile for assuming to himself the title of Catholick King of Spain Ejus tam non exigua parte penes reges alios as Mariana relateth it Certain it it that the least part of all Gallia is in the hands of the French the Normans Britons Biscaines or Gascons the Gothes of Languedoc and Provence Burgundians and the ancient Gaules of Poictou retaining in it such fair and ample Provinces But it is the custome shall I say or fate of lesser and weaker Nations to lose their names unto the stronger as wives do to their husbands and the smaller rivers to the greater Thus we see the little Province of Poland to have mastered and given name to the Pruteni Mazovii and other Nations of Sarmatia Europaea as that of Mosco hath unto all the Provinces of Asiatica Thus hath Sweden conquered and denominated almost all the great Peninsula of Scandia whereof it is but a little parcell and thus did the English Saxons being the most prevailing of the rest impose the name of English on all the people of the Heptarchie Et dedit imposito nomina prisca jugo And good reason the vanquished should submit themselves as well unto the appellation as the laws of the victor The French then are possessors of some parts of old Gallia and masters of the rest possessors not of their Cities only but their conditions A double victory it seemeth they enjoyed over that people and took from them at once both their qualities and their Countries Certainly whosoever will please to peruse the Commentaries of Julius Caesar de bello Gallico he will equally guesse him an Historian and a Prophet yea he will rather make himself believe that he hath prophecied the character of the present French then delivered one of the antient Gaule And indeed it is a matter worthy both of wonder and observation that the old Gaules being in a manner all worne out should yet have most of their conditions surviving in those men which now inhabit that region being of so many severall Countries and originals If we dive into naturall causes we have a speedy recourse unto the powerfull influence of the heavens for as those celestiall bodies considered in the generall do work upon all sublunary bodies in the generall by light influence and motion so have they a particular operation on particulars An operation there is wrought by them in a man as borne at such and such a minute and again as borne under such and such a Climate The one derived from the setting of the Houses and the Lord of the Horoscope at the time of his Nativity the other from that constellation which governeth as it were the Province of his birth and is the genius or deus tutelaris loci Hinc illa
for it but being but conjectures only and prosecuted for the carrying on of so great a project they were not thought to be convincing or of any considerable weight or moment amongst sober and impartiall men They therefore argued it First From the Kings care of his education assigning him for his Tutor Nicholas de Febure whom he also designed for his Son King Lewis Secondly From his care to work the Prince then young Mollis et apâ—us agi to become a Catholick Thirdly The infirmity of Henry of Conde and the privacy of this King with his Lady being then King of Navâ—â—e in the prime of his strength and in discontent with the Lady Marguerite of Valoys his first wife add to this that Kings love to fair Ladies in the generall and then conclude this probability to be no miracle For besides the Dutchesse of Beauforte the Marchionesse of Verneville and the Countesse of Morrel already mentioned he is believed to have been the Father of Mr. Luynes the great favourite of King Lewis And certain it is that the very year before his death when he was even in the winter of his days he took such an amorous liking to the Prince of Condes wife a very beautifull Lady and daughter to the Constable Duke of Montmorencie that the Prince to save his honour was compelled to flie together with his Princesse into the Arch-Dukes Countrey whence he returned not till long after the death of King Henry If Mary de Medices in her husbands life time had found her self agrieved it I cannot blame her she only made good that of Quinâ—ilian Et uxor mariti exemplo incitata aut imitari se putat aut vindicore And yet perhaps a consciousnesse of some injuries not only mooved her to back the Count of Soissons and his faction against the Prince and his but also to resolve upon him for the husband of her daughter From the Princes of the bloud descend we to the Princes of the Court and there in the first place we meet with Mr. Barradas the Kings present favourite a young Gentleman of a fresh and lively hew little bearded and one whom as yet the people cannot accuse for any oppression or misgovernment Honours the King hath conserred none upon him but only pensions and offices he is the Governour of the Kings children of honour Pages we call them in England a place of more trouble then wealth or credite He is also the Master of the horse or Le grand Escuire the esteem of which place recompenseth the emptinesse of the other for by vertue of this office he carryeth the Kings sword sheathed before him at his entrances into Paris The cloth of estate carryed over the King by the Provost and Eschevins is his â—ee No man can be the Kings spurmaker his Smith or have any place in the Kings Stables but from him and the like This place to note so much by the way was taken out of the Constables office Comes stabuli is the true name to whom it properly belonged in the time of Charles VII Besides this he hath a Pension of 500000 Crowns yearly and had an office given him which he sold for 100000 Crowns in ready money A good fortune for one who the other day was but the Kings Page And to say truth he is as yet but a little better being only removed from his servant to be his play-fellow With the affairs of State he intermedleth not if he should he might expect the Queen mother should say to him what Apollo in Ovid did to Cupid Tibi quid cum fortibus armis Mipuer ista decent humeros gestamina nostros For indeed first during her Sons minority and after since her reintegration with him she hath made her self so absolute a mistresse of his mind that he hath intrusted to her the entire conduct of all his most weighty affaires For her assistant in the managing of her greatest business she hath peeced her self to the strongest side of the State the Church having principally since the death of the Marshal D'Ancre I mean assumed to her counsels the Cardinall of Richileiu a man of no great birth were Nobility the greatest parentage but otherwise to be ranked amongst the noblest Of a sound reach he is and a close brain one exceedingly well mixt of a lay understanding and a Church habit one that is compleatly skilled in the art of men and a perfect master of his own mind and affections him the Queen useth as her Counsellour to keep out frailty and the Kings name as her countenance to keep off envie She is of a Florentine wit and hath in her all the virtues of Katharine de Medices her Ancestor in her Regency and some also of her vices only her designes tend not to the ruine of the Kingdome and her children Joan de Seirres telleth us in his Inventaire of France how the Queen Katharine suffered her son Henry III. a devout and a supple Prince to spend his most dangerous times even uncontrouled upon his beads whilest in the mean time she usurped the Government of the Realm Like it is that Queen Mary hath learned so much of her Kinswoman as to permit this son of hers to spend his time also amongst his play-fellowes and the birds that she may the more securely manage the State at her discretion And to say nothing of her untrue or misbecoming her vertue she hath notably well discharged her ambition the Realm of France being never more quietly and evenly governed then first during her Regencie and now during the time of her favour with the King For during his minority she carryed her self so fairly between the factions of the Court that she was of all sides honoured the time of this Marquesse D' Ancre only excepted and for the differences in Religion her most earnest desire was not â—o oppresse the Protestants insomuch that the war raised against them during the command of Mr. Luynes was presently after his death and her restoring into grace ended An heroicall Lady and worthy the report of posterity the frailties and weaknesse of her as a woman not being accounted hers but her sexes CHAP. II. Two Religions strugling in France like the two twins in the womb of Rebecca The comparison between them two and those in the generall A more particular survey of the Papists Church in France in Policie Priviledge and Revenue The complaint of the Clergy to the King The acknowledgment of the French Church to the Pope meerly titular The pragmatick sanction Maxima tua fatuitas and Conventui Tridentino severally written to the Pope and Trent Councell The tedious quarrell about Investitures Four things propounded by the Parliament to the Jesuites The French Bishops not to medle with Fryers their lives and land The ignorance of the French Priests The Chanoins Latine in Orleans The French not hard to be converted if plausibly bumoured c. FRom the Court of the King of France I cannot better provide for
ease of the Countrey though now it prove one of the greatest burdens unto it In former times the Kings Souldiers lay all upon the charge of the Villages the poor people being â—ain to finde them diet lodging and all necessaries for themselves their horses and the harlots which they brought with them If they were not well pleased with their entertainment they used commonly to beat their Host abuse his family and rob him of that small provision which he had laid up for his children and all this Cum privilegio Thus did they move from one Village to another and at the last again returned to them from whence they came Ita ut non sit ibi villula una expers calamitatis istius quae non semel aut bis in anno hac nefanda pressura depiletur as Sir John â—ortescue observed in his time To redresse this mischief King Henry II. anno 1549. raised this imposition called the Taillon The Pancarte comprehendeth in it divers particular Imposts but especially the Sol upon the Livre that is the twentieth penny of all things bought or sold Corne Sallets and the like only excepted Upon wine besides the Sol upon the Livre he hath his severall Customes of the entrance of it into any of his Cities passages by Land Sea or Rivers To these Charles the IX anno 1461. added a Tax of five Sols upon every Muye which is the third part of a Tun and yet when all this is done the poor Vintner payeth unto the King the eight penny he takes for that Wine which he selleth In this Pancarâ—e is also contained the Haut passage which are the Tolles paid unto the King for passage of Men and Cattell over his bridges and his City gates as also for all such commodities as they bring with them a good round sum considering the largenesse of the Kingdome the through-fare of Lyons being farmed yearly of the King for 100000 Crowns Hereunto belong also the Aides which are a Tax of the Sol also in the Livre upon all sorts of Fruits Provision Wares and Merchandise granted first unto Charles Duke of Normandy when John his father was Prisoner in England and since made perpetuall For such is the lamentable fate of this Countrey that their kindnesses are made duty and those moneys which they once grant out of love are always after exacted of them and payed out of necessity The Bedroll of all these impositions and Taxes is called the Pancarte because it was hanged in a frame like as the Officers fees are in our Diocesan Courts the word Pan signifying a frame or a pane of Wainscot These Impositions time and custome hath now made tolerable though at first they seemed very burdensome and moved many Cities to murmuring some to rebellion amongst others the City of Paris proud of her antient liberties and immunities refused to admit of it This indignity so incensed Charles the VI. their King then young and in hot bloud that he seized into his hands all their priviledges took from them their Provost des Merchands and the Esâ—bâ—vins as also the Keyes of their gates and the Chaines of their streets and making through the whole Town such a face of mourning that one might justly have said Haec facies Trojae cum caperetur erat This hapned in the year 1383. and was for five years together continued which time being expired and other Cities warned by that example the Imposition was established and the priviledges restored For the better regulating of the Profits arising from these Imposts the French King erected a Court called Le Cour des Aides it consisted at the first of the Generals of the Aides and of any four of the Lords of the Councell whom they would call to their assistance Afterwards Charles the V. anno 1380 or thereabouts setled it in Paris and caused it to be numbred as one of the Soveraign Courts Lewis the XI dissolved it and committed the managing of his Aids to his houshold servants as loath to have any publick officers take notice how he fleeced his people Anno 1464. it was restored again And finally Henry II. anno 1551. added to it a second Chamber composed of two Presidents and eight Counsellours one of which Presidents named Mr. Chevalier is said to be the best monied man of all France There are also others of these Courts in the Countrey as one at Roven one at Montferrant in Avergne one at Burdeaux and another at Montpelier established by Charles VII anno 1437 For the levying and gathering up of these Taxes you must know that the whole Countrey of France is divided into 21 Generalities or Counties as it were and those again into divers Eslectiones which are much like our Hundreds In every of the Generalities there are 10 or 12 Treasurers 9 Receivers for the generalty and as many Comptollers and in the particular Eslectiones eight Receivers and as many Comptrollers besides all under-officers which are thought to amount in all to 30000 men When then the King levyeth his Taxes he sendeth his Letters Patents to the principall Officers of every Generalty whom they call Les Genereaux des Aides and they dispatch their Warrant to the Esleus or Commissioners These taxing every one of the Parishes and Villages within their severall divisions at a certain rate send their receivers to collect it who give account for it to their Comptrollers By them it ascendeth to the Esleus from him to the Receiver generall of that Generalty next to the Comptroller then to the Treasurer afterwards to the Generall des Aides and so Per varios casus tot discrimina rerum Tendimus ad Latium By all these hands it is at last conveyed into the Kings purse in which severall passages Necesse est ut aliquid haereat it cannot be but that it must have many a shrewd snatch In so much that I was told by a Gentleman of good credence in France that there could not be gathered by the severall exactions above specified and other devises of prowling which I have omitted lesse then 85 millions a year whereof the King receiveth 15 only A report not altogether to be slighted considering the President of the Court of Accomptes made it evident to the Assembly at Bloys in the time of King Henry IV. that by the time that every one of the Officers had his share of it there came not to the Kings Coffers one teston which is 1 s. 2 d. of a Crown so that by reckoning 5 testons to a Crown or Escu as it is but 2 d. over these Officers must collect five times the money which they pay the King which amounteth to 75 millions and is not much short of that proportion which before I spake of The Kings Revenues then notwithstanding this infinite oppression of his people amounteth to 15 millions some would have it 18. which is a good improvement in respect of what they were in times asore Lewis the XI as good a husband of
napkins were fit companions for the clothes Unum si noveris omnes nosti By my description of this Inne you may guesse at the rest of France not altogether so wretched yet is the alteration almost insensible Let us now walke into the Kitching and observe their provision And here we found a most terrible execution committed on the person of a pullet my Hostesse cruell woman had cut the throat of it and without plucking off the feathers tore it into pieces with her hands and after took away skin and feathers together just as we strip Rabbets in England this done it was clapped into a pan and fryed into a supper In other places where we could get meat for the Spitte it useth to be presently broached and laid perpendicularly over the fire three turns at the most dispatcheth it and bringeth it to the Table rather scorched then roasted I say where we could get it for in these rascally Innes you cannot have what you would but what you may and that also not of the cheapest At Pontoyse we met with a Rabbet and we thought we had found a great purchase larded it was as all meat is in the Countrey otherwise it is so lean it would never endure roasting In the eating it proved so tough that I could not be perswaded that it was any more then three removes from that Rabbet which was in the Ark. The price half a Crown English My companions thought it over deer to me it seemed very reasonable for certainly the grasse which fed it was worth more then thrice the money But to return to Tostes And it it time you might perchance else have loft the sight of mine Hostesse and her daughters You would have sworne at the first blush they had been of a bloud and it had been great pity had it been otherwise The salutation of Horace Omatre pulchra filia pulchrior was never so unseasonable as here Not to honour them with a further character let it suffice that their persons kept so excellent a decorum with the house and furniture that one could not possible make use of Tullies Quà m dispari dominaris domina But this is not their luck only The women not of Normandy alone but generally of all France are forced to be contented with a little beauty and she which with us is reckoned with the vulgar would amongst them be taken for a Princesse But of the French women more when we have taken a view of the Dames of Paris now only somewhat of their habit and condition Their habit in which they differ from the rest of France is the attire of the head which hangeth down their backs in the fashion of a Vail In Roven and the greater Cities it is made of linen pure and decent here and in the Villages it cannot possible be any thing else then an old dish-clout turned out of service or the corner of a tablecloth reserved from washing Their best condition is not alwayes visible They shew it only in the mornings or when you are ready to depart and that is their begging you shall have about you such a throng of those illfaces and every one whining out this dity Pour les servants that one might with greater ease distribute a dole at a rich mans Funerall then give them a penny Had you a purpose to give them unasked their importunity will prevent your speediest bounty After all this impudent begging their ambition reacheth no higher then a Sol he that giveth more out-biddeth their expectation and shall be counted a spend-thrift But the principall ornaments of these Innes are the men-servants the raggedest regiment that ever I yet looked upon Such a thing as a Chamberlaine was never heard of amongst them and good clothes are as little known as he By the habit of his attendants a man would think himself in a Gaol their clothes either full of patches or open to the skin Bid one of them wipe your boots he presently hath recourse to the curtains with those he will perhaps rub over one side and leave the other to be made clean by the guest It is enough for him that he hath written the coppy They wait alwayes with their hats on their heads and so also do servants before their masters attending bare-headed is as much out of fashion there as in Turkey of all French fashions in my opinion the most unfitting and unseeming Time and much use reconciled me to many other things which at the first were offensive to this unreverent custome I returned an enemy Neither can I see how it can choose but stomach the most patient to see the worthyest signe of liberty usurped and profaned by the basest of slaves For seeing that the French paisantrie are such infinite slaves unto their Lords and Princes it cannot be but that those which are their servants must be one degree at the least below the lowest condition Certainly among the antients this promiseuous covering of the head was never heard of It was with them the chief sign of freedome as is well known to those which are conversant with Antiquity The Lacones a people of Peloponnesus after they had obtained to be made free denizens of Lacedemon in signe of their new-gotten liberty would never go into the battail nisi pileati but with their hats on Amongst the Africans as it is written in Alexander ab Alexandro the placing of a hat on the top of a spear was used as a token to incite the people to their liberty which had been oppressed by Tyrants Per pileum in hasta propositum ad libertatem proclamari But amongst the Romans we have more variety The taking off of the hat of Tarquinius Priscus by an Eagle and the putting of it on again occasioned the Augur to prophesic unto him the Kingdom which fell out accordingly In their sword playes when one of the Gladiators had with credit slain his adversary they would sometimes honour him with a Palm sometimes with the Hat Of these the last was the worthyer the Palm only honouring the Victor this also enfranchizing the receivers therefore conferred commonly on him which had killed most men in the Theatres Hence the complaints of Tertullian lib. de Spectaculis cap. 21. Qui insigniori cuiquam homicidae leonem poscit idem gladiatori atroci rudem petat rudis was an other token of enfranchisement pileum praemium conferat In their common Forum or Guildhall when they purposed to manumit any of their servants their custome also was after the Lictor or Sergeant had registred the name of the party manumitted to shave his head and give him a cap whence according to Rosinus ad pileum vocare is to set one at liberty Erasmus in his Chiliades maketh the Hat to be the signe of some eminent worth in him that weareth it Pileus saith he iâ—signe spectatae virtutis On this he conjectureth that the putting on of caps on the heads of such as are created Doctors or Masters had
for above 70 years been troubled with a blindnesse in the eyes of his soul Thou fool said our Saviour almost in the like case first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye The next morning July 3 I left my pilgrims to try their fortunes and went on in our journey to Paris which that day we were to visite My eyes not permitting me to read and my eares altogether strangers to the French chat drave my thoughts back to Roven and there nothing so much possessed me as the small honour done to Bedford in his monument I had leasure enough to provide him a longer Epitaph and a shorter apologie against the envie of that Courtier which perswaded Charles the VIII to deface the ruines of his Sepulchre Thus. Sa did the Fox the coward'st of the heard Kick the dead Lyon and profane his beard So did the Greeks about their vanquisht host Drag Hectors reliques and torment his ghost So did the Parthian slaves deride the head Of the great Crassus now betrayed and dead To whose victorious sword not lâ—ng before They would have sacrific'd their lives or more So do the French assault dead Bedfords spright And trample on his ashes in despight But foolish Curio cease and do not blame So small an honor done unto his name Why grievest thou him a Sepulchre to have Who when he liv'd could make all France a grave His sword triumph'd through all those Towns which lie In th' Isle Maine Anjoy Guyen Normandie Thy father 's felt it Oh! thou worst of men If man thou art do not endevour then This Conquerour from his last hold to thrust Whom all brave minds should honour in his dust But be not troubled Bedford thou shalt stand Above the reach of malice though the hand Of a French basenesse may deface thy name And tear it from thy marble yet shall fame Speak loudly of thee and thy acts Thy praise A Pyramis unto it self shall raise Thy brave atchievements in the times to come Shall be a monument above a Tombe Thy name shall be thy Epitaph and he Which once reads Bedford shall imagin thee Beyond the power of Verses and shall say None could expresse thy worthes a fuller way Rest thou then quiet in the shades of night Nor vex thy self with Curio's weaker spite Whilest France remains and Histories are writ Bedford shall live and France shall Chronicl ' it Having offered this unworthy yet gratefull sacrifice to the Manes of that brave Heros I had the more leasure to behold Mante and the Vines about it being the first that ever I saw They are planted like our Hop-gardens and grow up by the helpe of poles but not so high They are kept with little câ—st and yeeld profit to an husbandman sufficient to make him rich had he neither King nor Landlord The Wine which is pressed out of them is harsh and not pleasing as much differing in sweetnesse from the Wines of Paris or Orleans as their language doth in elegancy The rest of the Norman wines which are not very frequent as growing only on the frontiers towards France are of the same quality As for the Town of Maâ—â—e it seemeth to have been of good strength before the use of great Ordinances having a wall a competent ditch and at every gate a draw-bridge They are still sufficient to guard their Pullen from the Fox and in the night times to secure their houses from any forain burglary Once indeed they were able to make resistance to a King of France but the English were then within it At last on honorable termes it yeelded and was entred by Charles VII the second of August anno 1449. The Town is for building and bignesse somewhat above the better sort of Market Towns here in England The last Town of Normandy toward Paris is Pontoyse a Town well fortifyed as being a borderer and one of the strongest bulwarks against France It hath in it two fair Abbies of Maubuissen and St. Martin and six Churches Parochiall whereof that of Nostre dame in the Suburbs is the most beautifull The name it derives from a bridge built over the river of Oyse on which it is situate and by which on that side it is well defended the bridge being strengthned with a strong gate and two draw-bridges It is commodiously situate on the rising of an hill and is famous for the siege laid before it bâ— Charles VII anno 1442. but more fortunate unto him in the taking of it For having raised his Army upon the Duke of Yorks coming to give him battail with 6000 only the French Army consisting of double the number he retired or fled rather unto St. Denis but there hearing how scandalous his retreat was to the Parisians even ready to mutiny and that the Duke of Orleans and others of the Princes stirred with the ignominiousnesse of his flight began to practise against him he speedily returned to Pontoyse and maketh himself master of it by assault Certainly to that fright he owed the getting of this Town and all Normandy the French by that door making their entrie unto this Province out of which at last they thrust the English anno 1450. So desperate a thing is a frighted coward This Countrey had once before been in pâ—ssession of the English and that by a firmer title then the sword William the Conqueror had conveiâ—d it over the Sâ—â—s into England and it continued an Appendix of that Crown from the year 1067 unto that of 1204. At that time John called Sans terre third son unto King Henry II. having usurped the estates of England and the English possessions in France upâ—n Aâ—thur heir of Bretagne and son unto Geofry his elder brother was warred on by Philip Augustus King of France who sided with the said Arthur In the end Arthur was taken and not long after was found dead in the ditches of the Castle of Roven Whether this violent death happened unto him by the practise of his Uncle as the French say or that the young Prince came to that unfortunate end in an attempt to escape as the English report is not yet determined For my part considering the other carriages and virulencies of that King I dare be of that opinion that the death of Arthur was not without his contrivement Certainly he that rebelled against his Father and practised the eternall imprisonment and ruine of his Brother would not much stick this being so speedy a way to settle his affaires at the murder of a Nephew Upon the first bruit of this murder Constance mother to the young Prince complaineth unto the King and Parliament of France not the Court which now is in force consisting of men only of the long robe but the Court of the Pâ—iâ—rie or 12 Peeres whereof King John himself was one as Duke of Normandy I see not how in justice Philip could do lesse then summon him an
of Robin Goodfellow do never after hear any noise in the night but they straight imagine that it is he which maketh it or like the women of the villages neer Oxford who having heard the tragicall story of a duck or an hen killed and carried to the University no sooner misse one of their chickens but instantly they cry out upon the Scholars On the same false ground also hearing that the English whilest they had possessions in this Countrey were great builders they bestow on them without any more adoe the foundation and perfecting of most of the Churches and Castles in the Countrey Thus are our Ancestors said to have built the Churches of Roven Amiens Bayon c. as also the Castles of Bois St. Vincennes the Bastile the two little forts on the river side by the Louure that of St. Germans and amongst many others this of Mont l'Hierrie where we now are and all alike as for this Castle it was built during the reign of K. Robert anno 1015. by one of his servants named Thibald long before the English had any possessions in this Continent It was razed by Lewis the Grosse as being a harbourer of rebels in former times and by that means as a strong bridle in the mouth of Paris nothing now standing of it save an high Tower which is seen a great distance round about and serveth for a land mark Two leagues from Mont l'Hierrie is the Town of Castres seated in the farthest angle of France where it confineth to La Beause A Town of an ordinary size somewhat bigger then for a Market and lesse then would beseem a City a wall it hath and a ditch but neither serviceable further then to resist the enemy at one gate whilest the people run away by the other nothing else remarkable in it but the habit of the Church which was mourning for such is the fashion of France that when any of the Nobles are buried the Church which enâ—ombeth them is painted black within and without for the breadth of a yard or thereabouts and their Coats of Armes drawn on it To go to the charges of hanging it round with cloth is not for their profits besides this counterfeit sorrow feareth no theef and dareth out-brave a tempest he for whom the Church of Castres was thus apparelled had been Lord of the Town by name as I remember Mr. St. Benoist his Armes were Argent three Cressants Or a Mullet of the same but whether this Mullet were part of the Coat or a mark only of difference I could not learn The like Funeral Churches I saw also at Tostes in Normandie and in a village of Picardie whose name I minde not Nec operae pretium And now we are passed the confines of France a poor river which for the narrowness of it you would think to be a ditch parting it from the Province of La Beause La Beause hath on the North Normandie on the East the Isle of France on the South Nivernois and Berry and on the West the Countreys of Toureine and Lemaine It lyeth in the 22 and 23 degree of Longitude and 48 and 49 of Latitude taking wholly up the breadth of the two former and but parts only of each of the later if you measure it with the best advantage for length you will finde it to extend from la ferte Bernard in the North-west corner of it to Gyan in the South east which according to the proportion of degrees amounteth to 60 miles English and somewhat better for breadth it is much after the same reckoning The antient inhabitants of this Province and the reason of the name I could not learn amongst the people neither can I finde any certainty of it in my books with whom I have consulted If I may be bold to go by conjecture I should think this Countrey to have been the seat of the Bellocasst a people of Gaule Celtick mentioned by Caesar in his Commentaries Certain it is that in or neer this tract they were seated and in likelihood in this Province the names ancient and modern being not much different in sense though in sound for the Francks called that which in Latine is Pulcher or Bellus by the name of Bel in the Masâ—uculine Gender Ben they pronounce it and Beau if it were Feminine so that the name of Bello cassi is but varied into that of Beause besides that Province which the Roman writers stile Bellovaci the French now call Beauvais wher 's Bello isalso turned into Beau. Add to this that the Latine writers do term this Countrey Belsia where the antient Bello is still preserv'd and my conjecture may be pardoned if not approved As for those which have removed this people into Normandie and found them in the City of Baieux I appeal to any understanding man whether their peremptory sentence or my submisse opinion be the more allowable Haec si tibi vera videntur Dede manus â—ausi falsa est accingere contra The same night we came to Estampes a Town situate in a very plentiful and fruitful soyl and watred with a river of the same name stored with the best crevices It seemeth to have been a town of principall importance there being five wals and gates in a length one before another so that it appeareth to be rather a continuation of many towns together then simply one The streets are of a large breadth the building for substance are stone and for fashion as the rest of France It containeth in it five Churches whereof the principal which is a Colledge of Chanoins is that of Nostre dame built by King Robert who is said also to have founded the Castle which now can scarsely be visited in its ruines Without the town they have a fine green medow daintily seated within the circlings of the water into which they use to follow their recreations At my being there the sport was dancing an exercise much used by the French who do naturally affect it And it seemeth this natural inclination is so strong and deep rooted that neither age nor the absence of a smiling fortune can prevail against it For on this dancing green there assembled not only youth and Gentry but age also and beggery Old wives which could not put foot to ground without a Crutch in the streets had here taught their feet to hoble you would have thought by the cleanly conveyance of their bodies that they had been troubled with the Sciatica and yet so eager in the sport as if their dancing daies should never be done Some there were so ragged that a swift Galliard would almost have shaked them into nakedness and they also most violent to have their carkasses directed in a measure To have attempted the staying of them at home or the perswading of them to work when they had heard the Fiddle had been a task too unwieldy for Hercules In this mixture of age and condition did we observe them at their pastime the rags being so
Aristotle and Plato and not countenanced by any of them but on the common theatres to satisfie the rude manners and desires of the vulgar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to give them also content in their recreations yet is this musick altogether in use in this Countrey no lesson amongst their protest Musitians that I could hear which had any gravity or solid art shewed in the composition They are pretty fellowes I confess for the setting of a Maske or a Caranto but beyong this nothing which maketh the mufick in their Churches so base and unpleasing So that the glory of perfect musick at this time lyeth between the English and Italian that of France being as trivial as their behaviour of which indeed it is concomitant Mutata musica mutantur mores saith Tully and therefore he giveth us this lesson Curandum itaque est ut musica quam gravissima sedatissima retineatur a good Item for the French CHAP. II. The Country and site of Orleans like that of Worcester The Wine of Orleans Praesidial Towns in France what they are The sale of Offices in France The fine walk and pastime of the Palle Malle The Church of St. Croix founded by Superstition and a miracle Defaced by the Hugonots Some things hated only for their name The Bishop of Orleans and his priviledge The Chappel and Pilgrims of St. Jacques The form of Masse in St. Croix Censing an Heathenish custome The great siege of Orleans raised by Joane the Virgin The valour of that woman that she was no witch An Elogie on her WEE are now come into the Countrey of Orleans which though within the limits of La Beause will not yet be an entire County of it self It is a dainty and pleasing Region very even and large in the fields of it insomuch that we could not see an hill or swelling of the ground within eye-sight It consisteth in an indifferent measure of Corn but most plentifully of Vines and hath of all other fruits a very liberall portion neither is it meanly beholding to the Loyre for the benefits it receiveth by that river on which the City of Orleans it self is sweetly seated Of all places in England Worcestershire in mine opinion cometh most nigh it as well in respect of the Countrey as the situation of the Town For certainly that Countrey may be called the Epitome of England as this of France To the richest of the corn-fields of Orleanoys we may compare the Vale of Evesham neither will it yeeld for the choile and variety of fruits the Vine only excepted The hedges in that Countrey are prodigall and lavish of those trees which would become the fairest Orchards of the rest and in a manner recompenseth the want of Wine by its plâ—nty of Perry and Sider In a word what a good writer hath said of one we may say of both Coelum solum adeo propitium habent ut salubritate ubertate vicinis non concedant But the resemblance betwixt the Towns is more happy Both seated on the second river of note in their several Countreys and which are not much unlike in their several courses Severne washing the wals of Glocester and passing nigh unto Bristol seated on a little riveret and its homager divideth the Antients Britains from the rest of the English The Loyre gliding by the City of Tours and passing nigh to Augeire seated also up the land on a little river and one of its tributories separateth the modern Bretagnes from the rest of the French Posita est in loco modico acclivi ad flumen quod turrigero ponte conjungitur muro satis firmo munita saith Mr. Camden of Worcester Orleans is seated on the like declivity of an hill hath its bridge well fortified with turrets and its wals of an equall ability of resistance Sed docuâ—est ab incolis qui sunt numerosi humani ab aedificiorum nitore a templorum numero maxime a sede episcopali saith he of ours in general we shall see it fitly applyed to this in each particular The people of this town are not of the fewest no Town in France the capacity of it considered being more populous for standing in so delicate an air and on so commodious a river it inviteth the Gentry or Nobles of the Countrey about it to inhabit there and they accept it Concerning their behaviour and humanity certainly they much exceed the Parisians I was about to say all the French men and indeed I need not grudge them that Elogie which Caesar giveth unto those of Kent and verifie that they are omnium incolarum longe bumanissimi my self here observing more courtefie and affability in one day then I could meet withall in Paris during all my abode The buildings of it are very suitable to themselves and the rest of France the streets large and well kept not yeelding the least offence to the most curious nosethrill Parish Churches it hath in it 26 of different and unequall being as it useth to be in other places Besides these it contains the Episcopal Church of St. Croix and divers other houses of religious persons amongst which Sr. Jacques of both which I shall speak in their due order Thus much for the resemblance of the Towns the difference betwixt them is this That Orleans is the bigger and Worcester the richer Orleans consisteth much of the Nobles and of sojourners Worcester of Citizens only and home dwellers And for the manner of life in them so it is that Worcester hath the handsomer women in it Orleans the finer and in mine opinion the loveliest of all France Worcester thriveth much on Clothing Orleans on their Vine-presses And questionless the Vine of Orleans is the greatest riches not of the Town only but of the Countrey also about it For this cause Andre du Chesne calleth it the prime cellar of Paris Fst une pais saith he si heureuse si secunde sur tout en vine qui on la dire l' un de premiers celiers de Paris These Vines wherein he maketh it to be so happy deserve no less a commendation then he hath given them as yeelding the best wines in all the Kingdome Such as it much griev'd me to mingle with water they being so delicious to the palat and the epicurism of the taste I have heard of a Dutch Gentleman who being in Italy was brought acquainted with a kinde of Wine which they there call Lachrymae Christi No sooner had he tasted it but he fell into a deep melancholy and after some seven sighs besides the addition of two grones he brake out into this pathetical ejaculation Dii boni quare non Christus lachrymatus esset in nostris regionibus This Dutch man and I were for a time of one minde insomuch that I could almost have picked a quarrell with nature for giving us none of this liquor in England at last we grew friends again when I had perceived how offensive it was to the
importance to both parties France having been totally won unto King Henry if this Town had yeelded and once so nigh it was to submit it self that the people proffer'd to yeeld themselves to Philip Duke of Burgundie then a great consederate of our Nation who had not been present in the Camp But this the English Generall would not consent to and it was the resolution of Antigonus iâ— long time before us Negavit Antigonus saith Justine se in ejus belli praedam socios admittere in cujus periculum solus descenderat On this determinate sentence of the General he was Montacute Earl of Salisbury the Town purposed to hold out a little longer and was at the last relieved by Joane D' Arc a maid of Vaucoleur in Lorrein whom they called La Pusille how that excellent souldier the Generall was slain and the siege raised I need not relate It is extant in all our Chronicles This only now that ever since that time the people of Orleans keep a solemn procession on every eighth day of May on which day anno 1427. their City was delivered from its enemies But the atchievements of this brave Virago stayed not here she thinks it not enough to repulse her enemies unlesse she also vanquish them arm'd therefore Cap a pe she went to seek occasion of battail and was alwaies formost and in the head of her troops Ducit Amazonidum lunatis agmina bellis Penthiselea furens mediisque in millibus ardet For her first service she taketh Jargeau discomfiteth the English which were within it and maketh the Earl of Suffolk prisoner Soon after followed the battail of Patay in which the English were driven out of the field and the great Talbot taken This done she accompanieth Charles the 7. whose Angel Guardian she was through all Campague unto Rhemes where she saw him solemnly crowned all the Towns of those Countreys yeelding upon the approach of her and the Kings Army Finally after many acts performed above the nature of her sexe which I will not stand here to particulate she was taken prisoner at the siege of Campoigne delivered over unto the Duke of Bedford by him sent unto Roven and there burnt for a Witch on the 6. of July anno 1431. There was also another crime objected against her as namely that she had abused the nature of her sexe marching up and down in the habit of a man Et nihil muliebre praeter corpus gerens Of all accusations the most impotent for in what other habit could she dresse her self undertaking the actions of a Generall and besides to have worn her womans weeds in time of battail had been to have betrayed her safety and to have made her self the mark of every arrow It was therefore requisite that she should array her self in compleat harnesse and in that habit of complete armour have those of Orleans erected her Statua all in brasse upon the middle of their bridge As for that other imputation of being a Witch saving the credit of those which condemn'd her and theirs also who in their writings have so reported her I dare be of the contrary opinion for dividing her actions into two parts those which preceded her coming unto Orleans and those which followed it I finde much in it of cunning somewhat perhaps of valour but nothing that is devillish Her relieving of Orleans and courage shewn at the battails of Patay and Gergeau with her conducting of the King unto Rhemes are not such prodigies that they need to be ascribed unto witchcraft She was not the first woman whom the world knew famed in armes there being no Nation almost of the earth who have not had a Champion of this sexe to defend their Liberties to omit the whole Nation of Amazons To the Jewes in the time of their afflictions the Lord raised up salvation by means of two women Deborah and Judith and God is not the God of the Jewes only but also of the Gentiles amongst the Syrians Zenobia Queen of Pabnira is very famous the Romans whom she often foyled never mentioning her without honour The like commendable testimony they give of Velleda a Queen amongst the Germans a woman that much hindred their affairs in that Countrey Thus had the Gothes their Amalasunta the Assyrians their Semiramis the Scythians their Tomyris the Romans their Fulvia all brave Captains and such as posterity hath admired without envie To come home unto our selves the writers of the Romans mention the revolt of Britain and the slaughter of 70000 Raman Confederates under the conduct of Voaditia and she in the beginning of her incouragements to the action telleth the people this Solitum quidem Britannis foeminarum ductu bellare Of all these heroical Ladies I read no accusation of witchcraft invasive courage and a sense of injury being the armes they fought withall neither can I see why the Romans should exceed us in modesty or that we need envie unto the French this one female warriour when it is a fortune which hath befaln most Nations As for her atchievements they are not so much beyond a common being but that they may be imputed to natural means for had she been a Witch it is likely she would have prevented the disgrace which her valour suffered in the ditches of Paris though she could not avoid those of Compeigne who took her prisoner the Devill at such an exigent only being accustomed to forsake those which he hath entangled So that she enjoyed not such a perpetuity of felicity as to entitle her to the Devils assistance she being sometimes conqueror sometimes overthrown and at last imprisoned Communia fortunae ludibria the ordinary sports of fortune Her actions before her march to Orleans have somewhat in them of cunning and perhaps of imposture as the vision which she reported to have incited her to these attempts her finding out of the King disguised in the habit of a countrey man and her appointing to her self an old Sword hanging in St. Katharines Church in Tours The French were at this time meerly crest faln not to be raised but by miracle This therefore is invented and so that which of all the rest must prove her a sorceresse will only prove her an impostor Gerrard Seigneur du Hailan one of the best writers of France is of opinion that all that plot of her coming to the King was contriv'd by three Lords of the Court to hearten the people as if God now miraculously intended the restauration of the Kingdome Add to this that she never commanded in any battail without the assistance of the best Captains of the French Nation and amongst whom was the Bastard of Orleans who is thought to have put this device into her head The Lord of Bellay in his discourse of arte militarie proceedeth further and maketh her a man only thus habited pour faire revenir le courage aux Francois which had it been so would have been discovered at the time of her burning Others of
Eastward to the West of Sussex an object of so rich contentment and so full of ravishing contemplations that I was almost of his mind who said Bonum est nobis esse hic and certainly I had dwelt there longer if the boy had not put me in mind that the flood was coming back amain as indeed it was and that if we made not speed to recover the Town before it was got near the foot of the Rocks we must of necessity be fain to abide there the greatest part of the night till the ebb ensuing On this advertisement there was no need to bid me hasten but then a new humor seized upon me when I beheld those dreadfull precipices which I was to descend together with the infinite distance of the Beach from the top of the Rocks the danger of being shut up by the sea if we made not hast and of tumbling into it if we did But as curiosity had carryed me up so necessity brought me down again with greater safety I confesse then I had deserved This adventure being like some of those actions of Alexander the great whereof Curtius telleth us that they were magis ad temeritatis quam ad gloriae famam This Town of Boulogne and the Countrey about it was taken by Henry VIII of England anno 1545. himself being in person at the siege a very costly and chargeable victory The whole list of his Forces did amount to 44000 Foot and 3000 Horse Field pieces he drew after him above 100 besides those of smaller making and for the conveyance of their Ordinance Baggage and other provision there were transported into the Continent above 25000 horses True it is that his designes had a further aime had not Charles the Emperor with whm he was to joyne left the field and made peace without him So that judging only by the successe of the expedition we cannot but say that the winning of Boulonnois was a deer purchase And indeed in this one particular Sir Walter Raleigh in the Preface to his most excellent History saith not amisse of him namely That in his vain and fruitlesse expeditions abroad he consumed more treasure then all the rest of our Victorious Kings before him did in their severall Conquests The other part of his censure concerning that Prince I know not well what to think of as meerly composed of gall and bitternesse Onely I cannot but much marvell that a man of his wisdome being raised from almost nothing by the daughter could be so severely invective against the Father certainly a most charitable Judge cannot but condemne him of want of true affection and duty to his Queen seeing that it is as his late Majesty hath excellently noted in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A thing monstrous to see a man love the childe and bate the Parents and therefore he earnestly enjoyneth his son Henry To represse the insolence of such as under pretence to taxe a vice in the person seek craftily to stain the race Presently after this taking of Boulogne the French again endevoured their gaining of it even during the life of the Conquerour but he was strong enough to keep his gettings After his death the English being engaged in a war against the Scots and Ket having raised a rebellion in Norfolke they began to hope a Conquest of it and that more violently then ever Upon news of their preparations an Embassador was dispatched to Charles the fifth to desire succor of him and to lay before him the infancy and severall necessities of the young King who was then about the age of ten years This desire when the Emperour had refused to hearken to they besought him that he would at the least be pleased to take into his hands and keeping the Town of Boulogne and that for no longer time then untill King Edward could make an end of the troubles of his Subjects at home An easie request Yet did he not only deny to satisfie the King in this except he would restore the Catholick religion but he also expresly commanded that neither his men or munition should go to the assistance of the English An ingratitude for which I cannot finde a fitting epithite confidering what fast friends the Kings of England had alwayes been to the united houses of Burgundie and Austria what moneys they have helped them with and what sundry Warres they have made for them both in Belgium to maintain their Authority and in France to augment their potencie From the marriage of Maximilian of the family of Austria with the Lady Mary of Burgundy which happened in the yeere 1478. unto the death of Henry the eighth which fell in the yeere 1548. are just 70 yeeres In which time only it is thought by men of knowledge and experience that it cost the Kings of England at the least six millions of pounds in the meer quarrels and defence of the Princes of those houses An expence which might seem to have earned a greater requitall then that now demanded Upon this deniall of the unmindfull Emperour a Treaty followed betwixt England and France The effect of it was that Boulogne and all the Countrey of it should be restored to the French they paying unto the English at two dayes of payment 800000 Crownes Other Articles there were but this the principall And so the fortune of young Edward in his beginning was like that of Julius Caesar towards his end Dum clementiam quam praestiterat expectat incaâ—tus ab ingratis occupatus est I am now at the point of leaving Boulogne but must first reckon with mine Host to whom we were growne into arrears since our first coming thither Our stock was grown so low when we came from Paris that had not a French Gentleman whom we met at Amiens disbursed for us it would not have brought us to this Town so that our Host was fain to furnish us with some monies to make even with him After which staying there from Sunday noon to Wednesday morning and being then fain to make use of his credit also to provide of a Boat for England which alone stood us in three pound our engagements grew greater then he had any just reason to adventure on us But being an ingenuous man and seeing that we fared well spent freely and for the most part entertained him and his family at our table he was the lesse diffident of payment as he told me afterwards Having stayed three dayes for Company and none appearing we were fain to hire a boat expresse for my companion and my self to passe over in In order whereunto I told him of our present condition assured him that we had friends in Dover who would supply us with all things necessary as indeed we had that having summed up what we owed him and what he had contracted for our passage over he should have a note under our hands for the payment of it and that one of us should remain prisoner in the Boat till the other raised money
millions of Arpens a measure somewhat bigger then our Acre they have allotted to the Church for its temporall revenue 47 of them In particular of the Archbishops Bishops Abbots and Parish Priests they of Aux Alby Cluniac and St. Estiennes in Paris are said to be the wealthyest the Archbishoprick of Aux in Gascoine is valued at 400000 Livres or 40000 l. English yearly The Bishop of Alby in Lanquedoc is prized at 10000 Florens which is a fourth part of it a great part of this revenue rising out of Saffron The Abbot of Cluniac in the Dutchie of Burgundy is said to be worth 50000 Crowns yearly the present Abbot being Henry of Lorreine Archbishop of Rheimes and Abbot of St. Dennis The Parish Priest of St. Estiennes is judged to receive yearly no sewer then 8000 Crowns a good Intrado As for the vulgar Clergy they have little Titâ—e and lesse Glebe most part of the revenue being appropriated unto Abbeys and other Religious houses the greatest part of their means is the Baisse-maine which is the Church-offerings of the people at Christnings Marriages Burials Dirges Indulgences and the like which is thought to amount to almost as much as the temporall estate of the Church an income able to maintain them in good abundance were it not for the greatnesse of their number for reckoning that there are as we have said in France 130000 Perish Priests and that there are only 27400 Parishes it must of necessity be that every Parishone with another must have more then four Priests too many to be rich But this were one of the least injuries offered to the French thrift and would little hinder them from rising if it were not that the goodliest of their preferments were before their faces given unto boyes and children An affront which not only despoileth them of the honors due unto their calling but disheartneth them in their studies and by consequence draweth them unto debauched and sâ—anderous courses Quis enim virtutem exquireret ips 〈…〉 Premiâ— si tâ—llas The Clergy therefore 〈◊〉 1617. being assembled at the house of Austin Fryers in Paris as every two years they use to do being to take their leaves of the King elected the Bishop of Aire to be their spokesman and to certifie his Majesty of their grievances In performing which businesse the principall thing of which he spake was to this purpose That whereas his Majesty was bound to give them fathers he gave them children that the name of Abbot signifieth a Father and the function of a Bishop is full of fatherly authority that France notwithstanding was now filled with Bishops and Abbots which are yet in their Nurses armes or else under their Regents in Colledges nay more that the abuse goeth before their being Children being commonly designed to Bishopricks and Abbaâ—ies before they were born He made also another complaint that the Soveraign Courts by their decrees had attempted upon the authority which was committed to the Clergy even in that which meerly concerned Ecclesiasticall discipline and government of the Church To these complaints he gave them indeed a very gracious hearing but it was no further then an hearing being never followed by redresse The Court of Parliament knew too well the strength of their own authority and the King was loath to take from himself those excellent advantages of binding to himself his Nobility by the speedy preferring of their children and so the clergie departed with a great deal of envy and a little satisfaction Like enough it were that the Pope would in part redresse this injury especially in the point of jurisdiction if he were able But his wings are shrewdly clipped in this Countrey neither can be fly at all but as far as they please to suffer him For his temporall power they never could be induced to acknowledge it as we see in their stories anno 1610. the Divines of Paris in a Declaration of theiâ—s tendred to the Queen Mother affirmed the supremacie of the Pope to be an Erroneous Doctrine and the ground of that hellish position of deposing and killing of Kings Anno 1517. when the Councell of Lateran had determined the Pope to be the head of the Church in causes also temporall the University of Paris testifieth against it in an Apology of theirs Dated the 12 of March the same year Les decimus saith the Apology in quodame 〈…〉 non tamen in Spiritu Domini congregato contra fide 〈…〉 Catholicam c. Sacrum Bisiliense cotholicam da 〈…〉 vit In which councell of Basil the Supremacy of the Pope was condemned Neither did the Kings of France forget to maintain their own authority And therefore when as Pope Boniface VIII had in a peremptory Letter written to Philip le Bell King of France styled himself Dominus totius mundi tam in temporalibus quam in spiritualibus the King returned him an answer with an Epithite sutable to his arrogancy Sciat maxima tua fatuitas nos in temporalibus alicui non subesse c. The like answer though in modester termes was sent to another of the Popes by St. Lewis a man of a most milde and sweet disposition yet unwilling to forgoe his royalties His spirituall power is alwayes as little in substance though more in shew for whereas the Councell of Trent hath been an especiall authorizer of the Popes spirituall supremacy the French Church would never receive it By this means the Bishops keep in their hands their own full authority whereof an obedience to the decrees of that Councell would deprive them It was truely said by St. Gregory and they well knew it Lib. 7. Epist 70. Si unus universalis est restat ut vos Episcopi non sitis Further the University of Paris in their Declaration anno 1610 above mentioned plainly affirme that it is directly opposite to the Doctrine of the Church which the University of Paris alwayes maintained that the Pope hath the power of a Monarch in the spirituall government of the Church To look upon higher times when the Councell of Constance had submitted the authority of the Pope unto that of a Councell John Gerson Theologus Parisiensis magni nominis as one calleth him defended that decree and intituleth them â—erniciosos admodum esse adulatores qui tyrannidem istam in Ecclesiam invexere quasi nullis legum teneatur vinculis quasi neque parere debeat concilio Pontifex nec ab eo judicari queat The Kings themselves also befriend their Clergy in this cause and therefore not only protested against the Councell of Trent wherein this spirituall tyranny was generally consented to by the Catholick faction But Henry II also would not acknowledge them to be a Councell calling them by another name then Conventus Tridentinus An indignity which the Fathers took very offensively But the principall thing in which it behoveth them not to acknowledge his spirituall Supremacy is the collation of Benefices and Bishopricks and the Annats and first fruits thence arising
are afflicted withal were almost as wretched as the payment of them I wiil therefore speak only of the principall And here I meet in the first place with the Gabell or Imposition on Salt This Gabelle de sel this Impost on Salt was first begun by Philip the Long who took for it a double which is half a Sol upon the pound After whom Philip of Valoys anno 1328. doubled that Charles the VII raised it unto three doubles and Lewis the XI unto six Since that time it hath been altered from so much upon the pound to a certain rate on the Mine which containeth some 30 bushels English the rates rising and falling at the Kings pleasure This one commodity were very advantagious to the Exchequer were it all in the Kings hands but at this time a great part of it is morgaged It is thought to be worth unto the King three millions of Crowns yearly that only of Paris and the Provosts seven Daughters being farmed at 1700000 Crowns the year The late Kings since anno 15â—1 being intangled in wars have been constrained to let it out others in so much that about anno 1599. the King lost above 800000 Crowns yearly and no longer agone then anno 1621. the King taking up 600000 pounds of the Provost of Merchands and the Eschevines gave unto them a rent charge of 40000 l. yearly to be issuing out of his Customes of Salt till their money were repaid them This Gabell is indeed a Monopoly and that one of the unjustest and unreasonablest in the World For no man in the Kingdom those Countries hereafter mentioned excepted can eat any Salt but he must buy of the King and at his price which is most unconscionable that being sold at Paris and elsewhere for five Livres which in the exempted places is sold for one Therefore that the Kings profits might not be diminished there is diligent watch and ward that no forain Salt be brought into the Land upon pain of forfeiture and imprisoment A search which is made so strictly that we had much ado at Dieppe to be pardoned the searching of our trunks and port-mantles and that not but upon solemn protestation that we had none of that commodity This Salt is of a brown colour being only such as we in England call Bay salt and imposed on the Subjects by the Kings Officers with great rigour for though they have some of their last provision in the house or perchance would be content through poverty to eat meat without it yet will these cruell villaines enforce them to take such a quantity of them or howsoever they will have of them so much money But this Tyranny is not generall the Normans and Picards enduring most of it and the other Paisant the rest Much like unto which was the Licence which the Popes and Bishops of old granted in matter of keeping Concubines For when such as had the charge of gathering the Popes Rents happened upon a Priest which had no Concubine and for that cause made deniall of the Tributes the Collectours would return them this answer that notwithstanding this they should pay the money because they might have the keeping of a wench if they would This Gabell as it sitteth hard on some so are there some also which are never troubled with it Of this sort are the Princes in the generall released and many of the Nobless in particular in so much that it was proved unto King Lewis anno 1614. that for every Gentleman which took of his Majesties Salt there were 2000 of the Commons There are also some intire Provinces which refuse to eat of this Salt as Bretagne Gascoine Poictou Querâ—u Xaintogne and the County of Boulâ—nnois Of these the County of Boulonnois pretendeth a peculiar exemption as belonging immediately to the patrimony of our Lady Nostre Dame of which we shall learn more when we are in Bovillon The Bretagnes came united to the Crown by a fair marriage and had strength enough to make their own capitulations when they first entred into the French subjection Besides here are yet divers of the Ducall family living in that Countrey who would much trouble the peace of the Kingdome should the people be oppressed with this bondage and they take the protection of them Poictou and Quercu have compounded for it with the former Kings and pay a certain rent yearly which is called the Equivalent Xaintâ—gne is under the command of Rochell of whom it receiveth sufficient at a better rate And as for the Gascoynes the King dareth not impose it upon them for fear of Rebellion They are a stuborne and churlish people very impatient of a rigorous yoak and such which inherit a full measure of the Biscanes liberty and spirits from whom they are descended Le droict de fouage the priviledge of levying a certain piece of money upon every chimney in an house that smoketh was in times not long since one of the jura regalia of the French Lords and the people paid it without grumbling yet when Edward the black Prince returned from his unhappy journey into Spain for the paying of his Souldiers to whom he was indebted laid this Fouage upon this people being then English they all presently revolted to the French and brought great prejudice to our affairs in those quarters Next to the Gabell of Salt we may place the Taille or Taillon which are much of a nature with the Subsidies in England as being levied both on Goods and Lands In this again they differ the Subsidies of England being granted by the people and the sum of it certain but this of France being at the pleasure of the King and in what manner he shall please to impose them Antiently the Tailles were only levyed by way of extraordinary Subsidie and that but upon four occasions which were the Knighting of the King Son the marriage of his Daughters a Voyage of the Kings beyond sea and his Ransome in case he were taken Prisoner Les Tailles ne sont point devis de voir ordinaire saith Ragneau ains ant este accordeès durant la necessite des affaires seulement Afterwards they were continually levyed in times of war and at length Chales the VII made them ordinary Were it extended equally on all it would amount to a very fair Revenue For supposing this that the Kingdome of France containeth 200 millions of Acres as it doth and that from every acre there were raised to the King two Sols yearly which is little in respect of what the Taxes impose upon them That income alone besides that which is levyed on Goods personall would amount to two millions of pounds in a year But this payment also lyeth on the Paisant the greater Towns the officers of the Kings house the Officers of War the President Counsellors and Officers of the Courts of Parliament the Nobility the Clergy and the Scholars of the University being freed from it That which they call the Taillon was intended for the
once called Augusta Romanduorum and after took the name of Constance from Constantine the great who repaired and beautified it Others make it to be built in the place of an old standing campe and that this is it which is called Constantia castra in Ammian Marcellinus Meantesque protinus prope â—astra Constantia funduntur in Mare lib. 15. To leave this controversie to the French certain it is that it hath been and yet is a City of good repute the County of Constantine one of the seven Bailiwicks of Normandy being beholding to it for a name As for the Town it self 〈◊〉 at this day accounted for a Vâ—cutè but more famous for the Bishoprick the first Bishop of it as the Roman Martyrologie and on the 23 if my memory fail not of September doth instruct us being one Paternus Du Chesne in his book of French Antiquities attributes this honour to St. Ereptiolus the man as he conjectures that first converted it into the saith his next successors being St. Exuperance St. Leonard and St. Lo which last is said to have lived in the year 473. By this account it is a City of good age yet not so old but that it still continues beautifull The Cathedrall here one of the fairest and well built pieces in all Normandy and yeelding a fair prospect even as far as to â—hese Islands The Church it may be raised to that magnificent height that so the Bishop might with greater ease survey his Diocese A Diocese containing antiently a good part of Countrey Constantine and these Islands where now we are For the better executing of his Episcopall jurisdiction in these places divided by the Sea from the main body of his charge he had a Surrogat or Substitute whom they called a Dean in each Island one His office consisting as I guesse at it by the jurisdiction of that of a Chancellour and an Archdeacon mixt it being in his faculty to give institution and induction to give sentence in cases appertaining to Ecclesiasticall cognisance to approve of Wils and withall to hold his visitations The revenue fit to entertain a man of that condition viz. the best benefice in each Island the profits ariseing from the Court and a proportion of tithes allotted out of many of the Parishes He of the Isle of Guernzey over and above this the little Islet of Leâ—u of which in the last Chapter and when the houses of Religion as they called them were suppressed an allowance of an hundred quarters of Wheat Guernzey measure paid him by the Kings receiver for his Tithes I say Guernzey measure because it is a measure different from ours their quarter being no more then five of our bushels or thereabouts The Ministery at that time not answerable in number to the Parishes and those few very wealthy the Religious houses having all the Prediall tithes appropriated unto them and they serving many of the Cures by some one of their own body licenced for that purpose Now those Churches or Tithes rather were called Appropriated to digâ—esse a little by the way by which the Patrons Papali authoritate intercedente c. the Popes authority intervening and the consent of the King and Diocesan first obtained were for ever annexed and as it were incorporated into such Colledges Monasteries and other foundations as were but sparingly endowed At this day being irremediably and ever aliened from the Church we call them by as fit a name Impropriations For the rating of these Benefices in the payment of their first fruits and tenths or Annâ—ts there was a note or taxe in the Bishops Register which they called the Black book of Constance like as we in England the Black book of the Exchequer A Taxe which continued constantly upon Record till their disjoyning from that Diocese as the rule of their payments and the Bishops dues And as your Lordship well knowee not much unlike that course there is alwayes a Proviso in the grant of Subsidies by the English Clergie That the rate taxation valuation and estimation now remaining on Record in his Majesties Court of Exchequer for the payment of a perpetuall Disine or Tenth granted unto King Henry the VIII of worthy memory in the 26 year of his Reign concerning such promotions as now be in the hands of the Clergie shall onely be followed and observed A course learnt by our great Prelates in the taxing of their Clergie from the example of Augustus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his taxing of the World For it is reported of him by Ca. Tacitus that he had written a book with his owne hand in quo opes publicae continebantur wherein he had a particular estimate of all the Provinces in that large Empire what Tributes and Imposts they brought in what Armies they maintained c. and what went also in Largesse and Pensions out of the publick finances This Providence also exactly imitated by our Norman Conquerour who had taken such a speciall survey of his new purchase that there was not one hide of Land in all the Realme but he knew the yearly Rent and owner of it how many plow-lands what Pastures Fennes and Marishes what Woods Parkes Farmes and Tenements were in every shire and what every one was worth This Censuall Roll the English generally call Doomes-day book and that as some suppose because the judgement and sentence of it was as impossible to be declined as that in the day of doome Sic cum orta fuerit contentio de his rebus quae illic continentur cum ventum fuerit ad librum ejus sententia infatuari non potest vel impune declinari so mine Authour Others conceive it to be corruptly called the Book of Doomes-day for the Book of Domus dei or the Domus-dei book as being by the Conquerour laid up in the Maison dieu or Gods-house in Winchester A book carefully preserved and that under three Keyes in his Majesties Exchequer not to be looked into under the price of a Noble nor any line of it to be transcribed without the payment of a groat Tanta est authorit as vetustatis So great respect do we yeeld unto antiquity But to return again to my Churches whom I left in bondage under their severall Priories and other the Religious houses I will first free them from that yoak which the superstition of their Patrons had put upon them So it was that those Houses of Religion in these Islands were not absolute foundations of themselves but dependent on and as it were the appurtenances of some greater Abby or Monastery in France In this condition they continued till the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the V. who purposing a war against the French thought fit to cut of all helpes and succours as they had from England at that time full of Priors Aliens and strangers possessed of Benefices To this end it was enacted viz. Whereas there were divers French men beneficed and preferred
abilities as a person answerable to the Governors commendations he was established in that office by Letters Patents from his Majesty dated the 8. of March anno 1619. and was invested with all such rights as formerly had been inherent in that dignity and that both in point of profit and also in point of jurisdiction For whereas formerly the Dean was setled in the best benefice in the Island that viz. of St Martins and had divers portions of tithes out of every of the Parishes the said St. Martins was allotted to him upon the next avoidance and the whole tithes of St. Saviours allowed him in consideration of his several parcels And whereas also at the suppression of the Deanry the Governor had taken into his hands the probate of Testaments and appointed unto civil Courts the cognizance of Matrimoniall causes and of tithes all these again were restored unto him and forever united to this office For the executing of this place there were some certain Articles or rather Canons drawn and ratified to be in force till a perfect draught of Ecclesiastical constitutions could be agreed on which it pleased his Majesty to call the Interim And this he did in imitation of Charles the 5. which Prince desirous to establish peace and quietnesse in the Church of Germany and little hoping that any Councel would be summoned soon enough to determine of the differences then on foot composed a certain mixture of opinions in favour of each party which he endevoured to obtrude upon that people the compilers of it Julius Pflugiâ—â— Michael Sidoâ—â—us and Islebius the time when anno 1594 the name of it the Interim a name given unto it by the Emperor eo quod praescriberet formulam doctrinae ceremoniarum in religione in terra tenendam quoad de universa re religionis concilio publico definitum esset so the historian of the Councell In like manner did it please his Majesty as himself tels us in the next chapter in the interim untill he mought be fully informed what Lawes c. were meet and fit to be established for the good government of the said Island in causes Ecclesiastical c. to grant commission c. to exercise the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction there according to cerâ—aid instructions signed with our royal hand to continue only untill we might establish c. as it followeth in the Original By this Interim there was a clause in force whereby it was permitted to the Ministers not to bid holydaies or use the Crosse in Baptism or wear the Surplice or to exact it of the people that they kneel at the Communion In other matters it little differed from the Canons afterwards established and now in being in that Island Thus fortified with power and furnished with instructions home cometh the new Dean into his Countrey and in a frequent assembly of the three Estates takes full possession of his place and office Nor found he any opposition till he began to exercise his Jurisdiction At what time Sir John Herault then Bayliffe of the Island and to whom his Majesty had given the title of St. Saviour not pleased to see so many causes drawn from his Tribunal made head against him But this disgust was quickly over-blown and the Bailiffe for four years suspended by his Majesty from the executing of his office This done his fellow Ministers were called together and he imparted unto them his instructions All of them seeming well contented with the Jurisdiction De la place excepted who much impatient as commonly the miscarrying of our hopes as much torments us as the losse of a possession to see himself deluded forsook the Countrey But to the Liturgie they thought they had no cause to give admission nay that they had good cause unto the contrary viz. as not being desired by them in their addresse and having been for fifty years at least a stranger in the Islands a thing also much stomacked and opposed by many learned men in England and not imposed as yet upon the Scots which people in so many other particulars had been brought unto conformity with the English In the end having fix moneths allowed them to deliberate frangi pertinaciam suam passi sunt they were content to bend and yeeld unto it upon such qualifications of it as in the instructions were permitted A duty carelesly discharged and as it were by halfs by many of them those viz of the ancient breed which have so been wedded to a voluntary frame and fabrick of devotion but punctually observed by those of the lesser standing as having good acquaintance with it here in England and not possessed with any contrary opinion whereby it might be prejudiced And now there wanted nothing to perfect the intentions of â—his Majesty and to restore unto the Island the ancient face and being of a Church but only that the Policy thereof was something temporary and not yet established in the rule and Canon But long it was not ere this also was effected and a fixt Law prescribed of Government Ecclesiastical Which what it is by what means it was agreed on how crossed and how established his Majesties own Letters Patents can best instruct us and to them wholly I referre the honour of the relation CHAP. VII The Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiasticall for the Church Discipline of Jarsey together with the Kings Letters Patents for the authorising of the same JAMES by the grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland defender of the faith c. To our right trusty and well beloved Counseller the reverend father in God Lancelot Bishop of Winton and to our trusty and well beloved Sir John Peyton Knight Governour of the Isle of Jarsey and to the Governour of the said Isle for the time being and to the Bailiffe and Jurates of the said Isle for the time being to whom it shall or may appertain Greeting Whereas we held it fitting heretofore upon the admission of the now Dean of that Island unto his place in the interim untill we might be fully informed what Lawes Canons or Constitutions were meet and fit to be made and established for the good government of the Island in causes Ecclesiasticall appertaining to Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction to command the said Bishop of Winton Ordinary of the said Island to grant his Commission unto David Bandinell now Dean of the same Island to exercise the Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction there according to certain instructions signed with our royall hand to continue only till we might establish such Constitutions Rules Canons and Ordinances as we intended to settle for the regular government of that our Island in all Ecclesiasticall causes conformed to the Ecclesiasticall government established in our Realm of England as near as conveniently might be And whereas also to that our purpose and pleasure was that the said Dean with what convenient speed he might after such authority given unto him as aforesaid and after his arrivall into that Island and the publick notice given of