of France In the end seeing himself ill used by the English he grew weary of their alliance and ashamed of the harm which he had done to his Country Being then contented to agree with the King he met with him at Arras An. 1435. This was called the Treatie of Arras a fundamentall piece of the History of that age and the following By that Treaty after that King Charles the VII in as little dishonorable termes as might be had asked pardon for the killing of Duke John when he was Dolphin they agreed about many other Articles and the King gave many pieces belonging to the Crown The chief were these 1. He transported to the Duke and to his Heirs lawfully begotten the Towns and jurisdictions of Peronne Roye Mondidier to hold them by homage from the Crown and in Title of Peerdom to depend of the Court of Parliament of Paris 2. The County of Artois was restored unto him on the same Title with all the impositions amounting to fourteeen thousand Livers per an But of the rights of France upon the County of Artois we shall speak hereafter 3. He transported to the said Duke the Towns of Saint Quintin Corbi Amiens Abbeville Dourlans Saint Riquier Crevecoeur and all the other Towns Castles and Lordships seated upon the River of Somme on both sides together with the County of Ponthien and other Lands adjacent to the County of Flanders and Lands of the Empire All these Towns Castles and Lordships redeemable with the sum of 400000 Crowns Upon that Treaty all these Towns were delivered to the Duke of Burgundy and all the time of Charles the VII nothing was altered in this agreement Lewis the XI came to the Crown An. 1461. who being unthankfull and malicious although he had great obligations to the house of Burgundy yet as soon as he came to the Crown he conceived a great aversion against Charles Count of Charolois Son and Heir to Philip le Bon and would recover all those pawned Lordships arguing the Treaty of Arras of nullity and invalidity maintaining that his Father could not alienate so many pieces belonging to the State against the fundamentall Laws To disingage these Lands he laid great impositions upon the people till he had raised the four hundred thousand Crownes which he caused to be brought to Abbeville and delivered unto the Duke who soon after delivered all those places unto him Charles Count of Coarolois took that so heavily that he almost died for sorrow and conceived a mortall hatred against the Lord of Crovi whom he accused to have advised his Father to it And it was one of the causes of the War of the publique good which having been carried with various successe till the Treaty of Conflans near Paris 1465 the fourth Article whereof was that the King should give again to the Count of Charolois all the Townes seated upon the River of Somme lately redeemed with 400000. Crowns to enjoy them all his life time and besides that should give him the County of Guines for himself and his Heirs for ever This Charles who was since Duke of Burgundy enjoyed these Lands though not without Wars and Divisions against Lewis the XI Finally Charles being dead before Nancy An. 1477. Lewis the XI did suddenly invade the Dutchy of Burgundy as a masculin apanage returning to the Crown and all the Townes upon the River of Somme which the French have kept ever since Neither can the house of Austria pretend any just right to them as Heir of the house of Burgundy both because Charles the VII had not power to alienate these parts of his State as his Son Lewis the XI alledged and because all these Townes had been alienated upon condition of redemption with a certain sum which was paid by Lewis the XI unto the Duke Philip. And if they were restored to the Count of Charolois it was for his life onely Wherefore Lewis did not seize upon them but after the death of Charles At which time also he took Arras of which we will speak hereafter Paragraphe VI. Of the Dutchy of Britain The right of the house of Austria to the Dutchy of Britain hath more ground then any of the former and gave matter to many disputes especially in the time of the League the King of Spain Philip the II. representing the rights of his Daughter Isabella both to the Kingdom and especially to that Dutchy And when the Duke of Mercoeur who had cantonned himselfe in it finding himself too weak to maintain his own pretence to it which was upon another ground threatned to give entrance to the Spaniards into the Dutchy La Guesle the Kings Atturney Generall made a long speech to defend the Kings right of which the summary is this 1. That Francis the II. the last Duke of Britain dying An. 1488. left two daughters Anna and Isabella The second died young The eldest Anne had the whole succession and was married first to Charles the VIII of France by whom though she had many children none outlived the Father Who being dead she was married with his successour Lewis the XII by whom she had two Daughters Claude married to Francis the I. who by her had Henry the II who was Father to three Kings Francis the II. Charles the IX Henry the III. and to Francis Duke of Alanson all which left no issue He was Father also of Elizabeth the Third Wife of Philip the II. King of Spain who by her had the Infanta Isabella Wife to Archiduke Albert and Princess of the Low-Countries died An. 1633 and Catherine Dutchesse of Savoy 2. By the death of Henry the III all the masculine Race of Valois was extinct and the next Heir of that house was Infanta Isabella daughter to Elizabeth the eldest Sister of Henry the III. So if there was any Estate in that house inheritable by women it belonged to Isabella without question Philip the II dealing for his daughter after he was once satisfied that his pretence to the Crown of France in her behalfe was ridiculous asked that at least the Dutchy of Britain should be restored to her as the Estate which her great Grandmother Anne of Britain had brought to Lewis the XII an Estate which often had past to Females saying as it was true that she was the next in blood To these allegations these answers are given 1. That the Dutchy of Britain had been inserapably united w th the Crown by the coming of Henry the II. to the Crown for it is a fundamentall rule among the French that a King coming to the Crown uniteth unto the same all his Estate both Paternall and Maternall 2. Besides that tacit and municipall right to which all contrary pretence must yield there was an expresse union made An. 1532. at the request of the States Generall of Britain by Francis the I. upon condition that the Dolphin should take the Title of Dolphin of Viennois Duke of Britain which was then practised in the person of the
Dolphin Francis but was since neglected That au thenticall union of Britain with the Crown cannot be disputed since the consent of the whole Province did intervene and that in all publique businesses all private rights must bow and yield to the publique good Salus populi suprema lexesto 3. Besides ever since John of Montford by the battell of Auray An. 1364. remained Master of the Dutchy and excluded Jane his Cosen-German Wife to Charles de Blois objecting that she was a woman and that women vvere not capable Heirs of Estates of that nature Since that time I say it may be affirmed that Females were excluded from the succession of Britain And that if Anne Wife to the two Kings Charles the VII and Lewis the XII was admitted to it it was by toleration For by right after the death of Francis the last Duke the Dutchy was devolved to the Crown And truly Francis the last Duke by his great revolts had given sufficient cause to the Kings of France his Soveraigns to deprive him of his Estate 4. The French also may here set up the right of Aubeine which excludeth strangers admitted none but regnicolae inhabitants of the Kingdom to successions Which must especially be observed in great Estates and most of all in those that owe a liedge homage For whereas the Duke of Britain did owe personal service to the King how can a woman born in Spain tyed with blood and interesse unto a house alwaies jealous and often declared Enemy of the State of France perform that part of her duty to the Crown a duty absolutely necessary for the preservation of the body of the State unto which the establishing of all Fees must have regard 6. The French may deale besides with the house of Austria by right of represals For since that house withholds so many Dutchies and Counties from the Crown of France without any recompence or satisfaction they think not themselves bound to give ear to their pretences upon so little ground Second Point Of the third Chapter The pretences of the house of France upon that of Austria A Book was publisht An. 1634. intituled Inquisition of the rights of the King and Crown of France upon the Kingdoms Dutchies Countries Towns and Countries usurped by forraign Princes upon the most Christian Kings composed by Cassan the Kings Advocate in the Fresidial of Beziers wherein all that we have to say of this matter is fully and curiously set down Which though we will but summarily relate yet we hope to adde somthing to it both for order and matter Wee will stand here only upon those rights which are disputed against the house of Austria and the Empire both because it is our present businesse and because all other claims are stale and of small importance All the pretences of the French upon the possessions of the house of Austria are either antient and almost worn out as the pretences upon Castilia Portugal Arragon Catalonia or later and important upon Dominions to which they maintaine their rights and claim them from time to time to hinder a prescription joyning to their claim active prosecution by armes Though I might omit those first pretences as too stale yet I will here set them down among the rest for the information of curious Readers All the pretences either new or old of the French upon the Spaniard are either within or without Spain In that Peninsula called Spain inclosed within the great Ocean the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees since the invasion of the Saracens an 713. there hath been a great number of petty States under the Title of Kingdomes Dutchies Counties c. into which that great Province was divided either by the Moores when they conquered the Land or by the Christians when they reconquered it and it is but a hundred and fifty yeares since there was yet five remarkable distinct soveraignties in Spain Castilia Arragon Navarra Portugal and Granada four of which Castilia Arragon Navarra and Granada were united by Ferdinand the Catholique Portugal came to the House of Austria an 1580. under Philip the II. for here I speake not yet of the revolt of the Portugais and Catalans which hath cut off two considerable limbs of that great body of which we will say more before we have done This is not a fit place to examine how these severall States were founded and how united as they are now We consider onely that there be six pieces within Spain upon which the French have pretences Castilia Portugal Navarra Arragon Catalonia and the County of Roussillon And out of Spain they claim a right to the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily the Dutchie of Milan the Common-wealth of Genoa and the Counties of Flanders and Artois Paragraphe I. Of the Kingdome of Castilia The Saracens Moores having invaded Spain an 713 were manfully opposed by two Catholique Princes Inigo Imenes surnamed Arista Count of Bigorre who conquered upon them part of the Pyrenees and founded the little Kingdom of Suprarba called afterward Navarra The other Prince was Don Pelagus Uncle or Cousin to King Rodriguez dispossest before by the Saracens This Prince founded a Kingdom towards Asturia called Gallicia or Leon or the Kingdom of Oviedo He and his Descendants and people stretching themselves towards the plains recovered the Country as farre as the Strait of Gibralter and built many Castles upon their Frontier to keepe out the Saracens Whence the Country was called Castilia which remained under the subjection of the Kings of Oviedo till the year 896. when the Castilians incensed against their King Frocla who had usurped the State of his Nephews cantonned themselves and chose two soveraign Judges The two first were Nugno Rasuro and Flavio Galvo But about 40 years after an 939. Sanchez King of Oviedo and Leon made himselfe Master of Castilia and reunited it unto the Kingdom of Oviedo where it remained till Dom Sanchez surnamed the Great King of Navarra who had Castilia by his Wife made that famous partage between his three Sons giving Navarra to Garcias his eldest Son to Ferdinando Castilia and Leon and to Ramires his bastard Arragon That partage was about the yeare 1036. which is the date of the birth and distinction of those three States in Spain From that Ferdinand King of Castilia descended long after Alphonsus the IX the Father of three Children one Son called Henry and two Daughters Blanch and Berengera Henry reigned after his Father and dyed without issue Blanch was married to Lewis the VIII King of France and was mother of St Lewis Berengera was married to Alphonsus the IX King of Leon After the death of Henry Blanch as the eldest was the undoubted Heir of Castilia and Beringera had no right to it being the yongest Yet because Beringera was within the Country and Blanch lived in France very farre she seized upon the state and with it invested her Son Ferdinand although many of the Grandees opposed it standing for the right
obtained his absolution of Urban the IV. and the confirmation of that second marriage of which he had Children One of them and his successour was Denis Alphonsus being dead an 1279. From that Denis are descended all the Kings of Portugal to this day Some of the French Historians affirme that Mahaut had two Sons by Alphonsus in France the one that dyed young the other Robert from whom the whole House of the Counts of Bullen is descended which fell to Magdalen de la Cour wife to Laurens of Medicis by whom came Katherine de Medicis mother of the three late French King Francis the II. Charles the IX and Henry the III after whose death by the substitution set downe before in the contract betweene her and Henry the II the inheritance of Katherine came to her Daughter Queen Margaret first Wife to Henry the IV. That Queen made the Dolphin of France her Heir who since was Lewis the XIII When the dispute for the succession of Portugal was open after the death of Henry the Cardinal King an 1530 Katherine Queen of France among other pretenders to that Crown set forth her claim by Belloy Advocate Generall in the Parliament of Toulouse who pleaded that from the marriage of Alphonsus and Mahaut a Son was born called Robert and had succeeded in all his rights that Beatrix was the Concubine not the wife of Alphonsus and that the Pope could not legitimate Denis born of adultery to the prejudice of Robert the true Heir of Alphonsus Also that all the Kings that had reigned since Denis for three hundred years made no prescription because there can be no prescription for the right of Kingdoms That right being propounded to the Estates of Portugal was found too old and stale and injurious to all their Kings neither did they make any account of it Besides the Spanish Historians affirm that Alphonsus had no issue by Mahaut and that among the protestations which Mahaut made in Portugal against Alphonsus there is not one word of the injury which he did to her children which she would not have forgot if she had had any Yet that right may be defended by the testimony of the French Historians and by this true allegation that neither a bastard nor his Descent can prescribe against the lawfull Heirs Paragraphe III. Of the Kingdom of Navarra An. 713. when the Saracens in vaded Spain Inigo Ximenes Arista Count of Bigorre gave a beginning to the little Kingdome of Suprarba within the Pyrenees which a while after having spread into the vales tooke the name of Navarra or Navierras which in old Spanish signifieth plain grounds It is certain that two generous Princes and great Catholiques resisted the Saracens in the very beginning of their invasion Pelagius towards the Astures which are Leon and Gallicia and this Ximenes Arista towards the Pyrenees though the date of the Conquests of this Ximenes be not so certain some Historians make him latter Upon which one may read the History of Navarra written by Favin 2. These Kings of Navarra in their beginings made many Conquests over the Saracens and that Family continued to Sanchez the great who about the year 1035. shared all his Estates among his three Sons of whom the eldest Garcias had Navarra to whom many Kings succeeded till that State fell to the house of France by the marriage of Philip le Bel with Jane Inheritrix of Navarra Countesse of Campagn and Brie to whom Lewis Hutin King of France and Navarra succeeded in her Estates But he having no child but a daughter called Jane which could not be Queen of France he left her Navarra and so that State was soon separated from that of France That Jane married Philip of the Royall branch of Eureux 3. By that marriage the house of Navarra became a Royall French house but the nature of that Crown being to fall to women as the other States of Spain it passed not long after into the Family of Arragon by marriage and so again into the Family of Castilia and again into the Family of Foix after this manner 4. Charles the III. King of Navarre Grandchild to that Jane daughter to Lewis Hutin had one onely daughter called Blanch married to John Prince and afterwards King of Arragon From that marriage came Charles Prince of Viana who got a great but an ill renown in the Histories of Spain for making War to his Father and maintaining himself against him in his State after his mothers death That Prince of great learning and courage died a batchelour The two other children of John of Arragon and Blanch of Navarra were two daughters The eldest Blanch of Arragon who having been married with Henry the IV. King of Castilia surnamed the Impotent was separated from him by reason of his impotency and died without issue The other was Eleanor wife to Gaston the IV. Count of Foix who after the death of her Father Mother Brother and Sister succeeded to the Kingdom of Navarra and united it to the house of Foix. She enjoyed it but two months and a half and died An. 1469. Her eldest Son Gaston Prince of Viana being already dead and having left by his wife Magdalen daughter to Charles the VII of France two children Francis Phoebus who succeeded his Grandfather in the Kingdome of Navarra but enjoyed it but four years and died unmarried and Catherine de Foix who succeded him and married John d' Albret Son to Alen d' Abret a man of great note in Gascony but not of a soveraign house yet descended from that Amani d' Albret who in the time of Charles the V. of France married Magaret of Bourbon Sister to Jane Queen of France and raised his house to a great splendour by that royal alliance advanced much the party of the French against the English 5. John of Albret and Catherine de Foix had a Son called Henry who was King of Navarra and married Margaret Sister to Francis the first of France by whom he had Jane Inheritrix of Navarra Jane being married to Antony of Bourbon was by him Motherof Henry the IV. of France Father to Lewis the XIII and Grandfather to Lewis the XIV Thus that house of Navarra was united with two great houses in France yet not Royal that of Foix and that of Albret and after to the Royal house of Bourbon and became so powerfull in France that her possessions from these three houses much exceeded the Kingdome of Navarra Hence it is manifest how the last Kings of Navarra by the interesse of their Alliance and Estate were obliged to follow the party of France Now it hapned An. 1510. after that Lewis the XII had humbled the Venetians by the victory of Aignadel and brought terrour among all the Princes of Italy that Pope Julius the II. fell out with Lewis and prosecuted the quarrell with such animosity Lewis on the other side being as fierce as he that the contention grew almost into a Schism Julius
Moore out of Barcellona and put a French Garrison in it not long after he gave it to Bernard who was the first Count of Catalonia and was a powerfull and considerable man in the Court of Lewis the Meek and the Counts of that Province who then were but Goverours were a long time ordinary Courtiers and Attendants of the French Kings But by the idlenesse of the last descent of Charlemagne the Governours of Provinces and of this among the rest made themselves Masters About the beginning of the third Race of the French Kings the Family that ruled in Catalonia was that of the Beringers And that County was alwayes separate from the Kingdom of Arragon till the yeare 1131 when Don Alphonso King of Arragon surnamed the Bellador because he fought twenty two battels being dead without issue the people of Arragon tooke Ramires out of the Cloister of St. Pontius of Tomieres where he had lived forty yeares a Monk because he was of the Royal blood and Son to Sanchez Ramires King of Arragon He was married by a dispensation of Anaclet the II Pope or rather Anti-pope and had a Daughter named Petronilla married to Raymond Berenger Count of Catalonia So Arragon and Catalonia were united and never separated since James King of Arragon an 1320. by the advice of the State of the Land made the Law of union of the three Provinces Arragon Valentia and Catalonia not to be possest separately any more Together with that Law Catalonia agreed with the King of Arragon that she should have her forces and priviledges apart and that the Kings of Arragon who took only the title of Counts of Catalonia should oblige themselves by oath to observe that condition This precaution of the Catalans hath justified their laterevolt which the most conscionable among them have yeelded unto acknowledging that their King had violated that Treaty It is a constant truth that all that time from the conquest of Charlemagne Catalonia was a Fee depending from France Charlemagne made the first Counts of it who were his Courtiers The first upon whom it was settled as a French Fee was Geffery le Velu invested by Charles le Gros an 885. And Bera Count of Catalonia being accused of felony before Lewis le Begue offered to purge himselfe by a Duell after the manner of the time in which being overcome he was deprived of his Fee and another invested with it All that time also all the publique Acts of Notaries in Catalonia were done in the name of the Kings of France which is an undoubted mark of Supremacy and all the Kings of Arragon Counts of Catalonia did homage for it to the Kings of France till the yeare 1181. and in the beginning of Philip the Conquerour when Alphonsus King of Arragon called a Councill at Tarracona a Town of Catalonia where under colour of conscience and respect to Religion he caused an Order to be made that from thenceforth the yeares of the French Kings should no more be put in the Deeds and Contracts of Catalonia but the yeares of Christ And the same King having neglected that homage to the Kings of France that right was lost under Philip Auguste Lewis the VIII and St Lewis the claim onely remaining In which consideration likely the Princes of Arragon were educated in the Court of France one of them was James who lived in the time of St. Lewis and had been educated with Philip le Hardy who being come to visit that King and having given him his sister Isabella to wife the Spaniards say that by reason of that match and the cession which James made to Philip of the Town of Monpellier and of some other Lands which he possest in Languedoc the said King Philip quitted all his right of supremacy over Arragon and Catalonia That Treaty was an 1270 by which the Spaniards conceive that they have shaken the yoak of French Soveraignty But whether that Treaty be valid or no either for the fact or the right that cession being above 380 years old it seems authenticall and the French have given over that claim But they have another of latter date For by reason of the massacre made in the Siclian Vespers an 1281. Peter King of Arragon Count of Catalonia was excommunicated his Lands put in interdict and given to Philip le Hardy by Martin the IV Pope or to his Son Count of Valois but that right being the same as the right which the French claime or did claim upon Arragon of which we spake lately we will not here repeat So the French rights over Catalonia are reduced to these two heads The first is taken from the conquest of Charlemagne the estabishing of Counts and Governours in the same the homage done to the Kings of France the years of their reign ascribed in their deeds both private and publique The other is the same as is pretended upon Arragon Of both the French make no great account Onely because of late years Catalonia hath shaken the yoke of the Kings of Arragon and Castilia and have given themselves to the French it may be disputed whether the French King may use any of these old stale Titles or whether he must ground the justice of his possession upon the donation which the Catalans have made to him holding themselves free from the obedience of the Spaniard by reason of the infraction of their priviledges Certainly in all particular Treaties the unobservation of the conditions freeth the parties from the obligations of the contract But as for Soveraignties and the mutual obligations of Kings and Subjects many will reason otherwise saying that although the obligation be mutual as for the conscience yet as for the retrocession and the penalty attending the breach of the obligation it doth not reach to Kings whose actions are not censurable by the people not by the nature of the contract which is mutuall and reciprocall but for the danger of the consequence which might authorize revolts Others also will say that a Country giving her selfe to a Prince what priviledges soever the people reserve to themselves by contract they are all lost when they enter into subjection which by its nature makes a man subject to another man without any exception when the publique good is concerned that those priviledges by that subjection passe into the nature of meer liberties and concessions of Princes which they may stretch diminish and over-throw according to their discretion Certainly in all these contentions between the people and the Soveraign passion and interests bear a great sway make conscience plead on both sides But any reason will passe when there is strength to back it Paragraphe VI. Of the County of Roussillon and Sardinia That little Country at the foot of the Pyrenees and near the golph of Leon was antiently part of Languedoc and for a long time past through the same fortunes and changes It was for a great while part of the County of Beziers and Dutchy of Narbon Then
possession of Provence Neither did Charles de Duras nor his Children nor Alphonsus possess any thing in it 6. René dying an 1480. although his Daughter Yoland Dutchesse of Lorraine had left children he left the inheritance of the County of Provence and of his Rights upon Naples Charles Count du Maine Son to his brother of the same name and title And Charles dying likewise without issue left Lewis the XI his Heir in all his states and the Kings of France successours to Lewis Lewis neglecting to go to Naples held by Ferdinand bastard of that Alphonsus and by his Children contented himselfe to hold Provence But his Sonne Charles the VIII undertook the conquest of Naples an 1493. and after him Lewis the XII and Francis the I. In the next Chapter we shall see the severall Wars Partages and Treaties between these two Houses for that Kingdom So all the Rights of the House of France to the Kingdome of Naples are reduced to these heads 1. The investiture by Urban the IV. in favour of Charles brother to St Lewis A weak Right if it were alone the French Kings having not succeeded to that family by kindred for all that belongs to any branch of the House of France doth not therefore belong to France 2. The Adoption of Lewis the first of the second house of Anjou by Queen Jane the I. by the counsell and leave of Clement the VII who was acknowledged by France for a true Pope By that adoption the right of Naples fel to the house of Anjou of which the French Kings have inherited 3. The two adoptions made by Queen Jane the II. first of Lewis the III. Duke of Anjou and after him of his Brother René 4. The will of Charles Count du Maine who named Lewis the XI his heir both of Provence and of his right to the Kingdome of Naples and his successors Kings of France after him Paragraphe VIII Of the Dutchy of Milan After the wrack of the Roman Empire an 400. all the Countries about the River of Po towards the Alpes were taken by Theodorick Goth and kept by his children till about the year 550. that they were recovered by Belifarius and Narses two Captaines of the Emperour Justinian But soon after the same Countries were won by the Ostrogoths Kings of Italy and again by the Lombards who setled a great State there and maintained it till the time of Charlemagne who destroyed it an 774. After which time all the Towns of those parts were Imperial belonging to whosoever had the Empire of the West The house of Charlemagne being degenerated and having lost the Empire after the yeare 900. the Empire was disputed between the Italian and the German Princes for 50 yeares In the end the Germans having prevailed in the person of Otho the I the Emperors his successours having chosen the seat of their Empire in Germany and being at odds many times with the Popes their power sensibly decayed in Italy and great part of the Towns of Lombardy slipt out of their Dominion and chose to themselves Italian Lords the Emperours retaining the shadow only of Soveraignty Many also chose liberty a Popular State as Siena Pisa Florence Genoa and others In these confusions the City of Milan was usurped by the Viscounts of Angleria a small place in the Dutchy of Milan who maintained themselvs about six hundred years under that name and quality of Vicounts untill the year 1497. that the Emperour Wenceslaus not Friderick as Gassan saith erected Milan into a Dutchy The first Duke was Galeas the III. who had married Isabella daughter to John King of France That Galeas had three Sons John Maria that succeeded him and died without issue Philip Maria that succeeded his brother who likewise died without issue leaving a bastard daughter named Bona married to Francis Sforza a Souldier of Fortune but a gallant man That first Duke Galeas besides these two Sons had a daughter called Valentina married to Lewis Duke of Orleans Son to Charles the V. King of France an 1398. Her Father gave her the County of Ast for her portion with a Million of Livers wherewith the County of Blois was bought Chasteauduro Soissons and other Lordships And by the contract of Matrimony it was declared that if the masculine line of Galeas should fail Valentina and her children should succeed in the Dutchy It is true that this clause had this great defect that the Dutchy beeing establisht a masculine Fee Galeas could not make it feminine without the Emperours leave which was not demanded because the Empire was then vacant by the degradation of Wencestaus whom the Electors deposed for his idlenesse But it is pretended that the Pope Benedict the XIII who then had his See at Avignon approved that contract for that right the Popes challenge in the vacancy of the Empire Howsoever John Maria and Philip Maria being dead without lawfull issue none had more right to that succession then the children of Valentina But that succession fel in the heat of the confusions of France under Charles the VII when the two Sons of Valentina Charls Duke of Orleans John Count of Angoulesme were Prisoners in England where the eldest remained five and twenty years and the second well nigh thirty In that long time it was easie for Francis Sforza who had married Bona the bastard daughter of Duke Philip Maria to make himself Master of Milan of which he procured and obtained the investiture from the Emperour Friderick the IV. This Francis Sforza had two Sons whom he left to the tuition of his brother Ludovick Sforza so famous in the History of Milan who having made away his pupills seized upon the State of Milan and was expelled out of it by Lewis the XII King of France and since was taken carried to Loches where he died in Prison He left two Sons Maximilian who was restored by the Switzers and since taken by Francis the I. and died in France His other Son was Francis Sforza the second who died without issue 1534. So that house of Sforza's maintained the usurpation of Milan well nigh a hundred years among many wars and divisions the lawfull right remaining still in the house of Orleans with the possession of the County of Ast which is part of that Dutchy But that right could not be prosecuted 1. In the desolation of the house of Orleans and the great divisions between that house and the house of Burgundy 2. In the long inprisonment of the two Princes of Orleans 3. In the great troubles of the State of France almost all the reign of Charles the VII 4. Besides Lewis the XI had many other businesses all his time Neither did he love the house of Orleans and the Princes of his blood And of all things he hated the Wars of Italie whither he would never go neither for the conquest of Naples nor for the receiving the City of Genoa that gave her self to him 5. All the
and became Dukes and Earles Likewise the idlenesse of the successors of Charlemagne in the Empire and the confusions risen in Germany after the extinction of that Race gave a beginning to so many Fees both Secular and Ecclesiasticall which are now in Germany the Governours having made themselves Lords and laid the foundation of the great Houses now in being Which neverthelesse have gone through many changes some families being extinct and some Fees sold transported or confiscated Among these families one of the chiefe and indeed the most remarkable at this time is that of Austria 3. The French Kings of the first Race possessing a Kingdom of vast extent which they divided into Ostrick and Westrick Ostrick which by corruption and French termination was called Austrasie was the Eastern part and comprehended the Countries towards the River Msa and beyond the Rhine and as far as Hungarie Westrick which by corruption was called Neustria comprehended the Western part from Mosa towards Britain These names were long preserved even to the age of Charlemagne and being lost by the new partage between the Children of Lewis the meek yet the name of Neustria stuck long to the Western part which is now called Normandie for Brittain was a State by it selfe The name of Ostrick being lost by the same partage remain'd nevertheless to the most Eastern part and the next to Hungary and is that which we call Austria a word corrupted from Ostrick and Ostenrick and is that Province seated upon Danubius where the Capitall City of Vienna stands 4. In that Country Otho the III. about the year 1000 establisht Leopold a Marquis that is a keeper of those Marches against the ordinary excursions of the Hungarians That Leopold is the head of the first House of Marquisses since Dukes of Austria which continued till a certain Friderick who went to the War of Naples against Charles brother of St. Lewis and being taken with Conradin a competitor of that Kingdom was beheaded with him By his death without Children Austria returned to the Empire But Wenceslaus King of Bohemia sought to joyne it to his State and sent thither his Sonne Ottocarus who having conspired against the Empire with the Hungarians was degraded and put to death by the Emperour Rudolphus of whom we are now to speak 5. By the death of the Emperour Friderick the Second the great enemy of Popes which was about the year 1231. the factions were so great about a new election that there was an Anarchy of twenty years and above under these titular Emperours William Earl of Holland Richard of England and Alphonsus of Spain In the end after many assemblies and contentions the Electors gave their Votes to Rudolphus Earl of Habsburg who was acknowledged by the whole Empire That Election was in the year 1255. five years after the death of St. Lewis Philip le Hardy then raigning in France 6. Between Basel and Soleurre Cantons of Switzerland there is Triestein Castle the Lords whereof had the Title of Counts and by the women inherited the County of Habsburg and took the Title of the same Of that House was this Rodolphus before whom there is no certainty of the History of their House who by his virtue was elected Emperour An. 1275. and dyed in the 1291. The Dutchy of Austria being then vacant and Ottocarus the Bohemian having invaded it and made a league with the Hungarians against the Empire Rodolphus divested him of it and slew him and An. 1282. invested his Son Albert in the same In that Albert we must take the birth of the house of Austria And although that Albert was also Emperour from the year 1298. till 1308 yet his descent returned not to that quality but 130. years after and went for Princes of the Empire as other Imperial Families Onely in the time of Pope John 22. there was a great contention for the Empire between Friderick of Austria and Lewis of Bavieres The whole Pedegree of that house is to be seen in the Tables of Bertius from the Creation of Rudolphus of Habsburg An. 1275. to the year 1438. when the Empire entred so into that hause that it did not come out since Paragraphe III. So much is known then that the house of Austria by the death of Albert the first lost the Empire and fell back into the State of a private principality and that lesse considerable then the houses of Saxonie Bavieres and Luxemburg which furnished many Emperours and so it continued till the Emperour Albert the II. Sigismond the Emperour of the house of Luxemburg was Son to Charles the IV. Emperour and Grand-child to John King of Bohemia And that Charles the IV. was he that made the golden Bull and establisht a certain form of Imperial elections This Charles was Grand-child to the Emperour Henry the VII head of the house of Luxemburg Sigismond had no male issue and gave his onely Daughter Elizabeth to Albert of Austria who after the death of his Father in law was elected Emperour An. 1438. and this house hath ever since kept the Empire From that year these Emperours reigned Albert the II. who reigned two years Friderick the III. his Cozin who reigned 53 years Maximilian Son of Friderick who reigned 26 years Charles the V. who reigned 36 years Ferdinand I. brother to Charles who reigned 9 years Maximilian Son of Ferdinand who reigned 12 years Rodolphus II. Son of Maximilian who reigned 36 years Matthias brother to Adolphus who reigned 7 years Ferdinand II. Cozin to the two precedent Emperours who reigned 19 years To him succeeded his Son Ferdinand III. who is the tenth of that house from the year 1438. To which if you adde the Three of antient date there have been thirteen Emperours of the house and name of Austria That house may be considered either in her Patrimonial estate which she held in Germany before her greatnesse Or in her great rising which sprung out of three heads 1. The mariage of Maximilian with Mary the Inheritrix of the seventeen Provinces of Netherlands Franche County and the goods not masculine of the house of Burgundy 2. The mariage of Philip Son of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy with Jane the Inheritrix of Spain and by consequent of Sicily Naples and the West Indies and soon after of Portugal and the East Indies 3. The mariage of Ferdinand brother to Charles the V. with Anne the Inheritrix of the Kingdomes of Bohemia and Hungaria The great estate of that house being accrewed to them by these waies We will speak here of the Patrimonial Dominions of the house of Austria reserving the rest for the following Paragraphes The Patrimony of the house of Austria wholly seated in Germany and upon the River Danubius hath on the South the Mountains of Tirolis and towards the Rhine Alsatia Bounded Eastward with Hungary and Poland Southward by the Venetians Westward by the Switzers and Northward by many Princes of Germany That Estate is composed with many pieces which were
united in one body as it followeth 1. The Emperour Rodolphus of Habsburg having overcome and slain Ottocarus Son of Wenceslaus King of Bohemia gave to his Son Albert the Dutchie of Austria where Vienna stands the Dutchie of Stiria where the Town of Gratz stands the Lordships of Carniola and Windismark otherwise the March of Slavonia and Portenan in the Country of Friuli wherein the house of Austria is a neighbour to the Venetians This is the first Patrimony of the house of Austria of which Albert was invested by his Father at Ausburg by the consent of the Generall States of Germany 2. In the year 1283. Henry Marquesse of Burgan in Suevia between Vlm and Ausburg being dead without Children the same Emperour Rudolphus gave that Marquisat to his Son 3. Albert the III. Duke of Austria Grandchild to the first Albert was made Heir with his brothers of the Dutchy of Carinthia and the Dutchy of Tirol within the Alpes neare Italy by Margaret Daughter to Duke Henry as her nearest kinsman by their Grandmother Elizabeth Sister to the said Henry and Wife to Albert the first and because the house of Bavieres laid a claim to the County of Tirol the said house renounced it by agreement Ann. 1362. 4. The County of Ferretta is a little Country above the French County near Basel and on this side of the Rhine It came to the house Austria by Jane Wife to Albert the II. Duke of Austria Daughter and Heir of Ulrich Earl of Ferretta about the year 1358. 5. Leopold Duke of Austria bought of Agon Count of Friburg in Brifgau towards Alsatia the Signory of that Town and some other towards the Grisons 6. Friderick the third in the year 1458. after the death of Ulrich Count of Cibey dead without Children seized upon that County and united it with the Dutchie of Stiria 7. Maximilian the First in the year 1501. seized upon the County of Goricia vacant by the death of Count Leonard So all these pieces make up the antient Patrimony of Austria which hath many times been distracted and divided for to make Portions to the youngest And yet at this time the County of Burgau is in the hands of a Branch of that house which bears the Title of Marquesses of Burgau And the County of Tirol belongs to the children of the late Archduke Leopold brother to the Emperour Eerdinand the II. Paragraphe IV. To make up the greatnesse of Austria six of the grâ—â—test houses of Europe have met in one Ausâ—â—ia Burgundy Castilia Arragon Hungary and Portugal 1. Of that of Austria we have spoken before 2. The house of Burgundy was founded in the person of Philip fourth Son to King John of France who dying in the year 1363. left to his Son Philip the Dutchy of Burgundy He and his three Successours John Philip the Good and Charles slain before Nancy gathered many Provinces by Marriages Purchases Gifts and Usurpations whence that great Estate of the house of Burgundy was framed four main pieces whereof depended from the Soveraignty of France Namely the Dutchy of Burgundy the County of Flanders with the Towns of Lilo Doway and Orches the County of Artois and that of Charalois The rest he held from the Empire Franch County the four Dutchies of Netherlands Luxemburg Limburg Brabant and Gueldres The Counties of Hainault Namur Holland Zealand Zutfen Mechlen West-Fresland Over-Issel and Groninghen And in the year 1528. the Bp. of Utrecht yielded to the Emperour Charles the V. the Lordship of Utrecht and his claim in Over-Issel because he was not strong enough to maintain it against the Duke of Guelders his Enemy After the death of Charles killed before Nancy Mary his onely Daughter pâ—etended to his whole succession But Lewis the XI King of France seized upon the Dutchy of Burgundy pretending that it was a masculin fee given by King John to his Son Philip le Hardy for him and his Heirs Male for the reasons which we shall represent in the following Chapter All the rest by right remained with Mary of Burgundy even the County of Charolois almost inclosed within the Dutchy of Burgundy although the French would have it to be a fee of the same Nature as the Dutchy Yet because it was found that it had been purchased from the house of Armagnae by the Dukes of Burgundy it was left to Mary And since that time during the civill confusions and the Wars with Spain the French having seized upon it yet they restored it to the house of Austria by the Treaty of Vervins Ann. 1598. saving onely the resort and dependance upon the Parlament of Dijon 3. The house of Castilia is an offspring of that of Navarra For Sanchez King of Navarra divided all that he held in Spain to his three children Garcias the eldest had Navarra Sanchez King of Navarra divided all that he held in Spain to his three Children Garcias the eldest had Navarra Ferdinand Castilia and Ramires Arragon Of these Kings the lives and actions must be seen in the History of Spain In the year 1472. that House fell to Isabella sister to Henry the IV. called the Impotent Isabella was married to Ferdinand King of Arragon From that marriage issued Joane the second Daughter and Heir which brought all these Estates to the House of Austria by her marriage with Archiduke Philip. These Estates contained the two Castilia's Gallicia Leon Asturia Biscay Mursia Cordova Andalusia Estremadura Since that time an 1492. under the conduct of Christophorus Columbus the Castilians discovered many Ilands of West-Indies Hispaniola Cuba Jaimaica and others Americus Vespucius discovered the Western continent an 1500. Fernando Cortez subdued the great State of Mexico an 1518. and Francis Pizarro the Perou an 1525. All that is comprehendedunder the name of Castilia and is fallen to the House of Austria by that marriage 4. As for Arragon many Kings reigned in it of the line of the foresaid Ramires and that family past through many changes In the end that estate fell into the hands of Ferdinand the Catholique at the same time that the Kingdom of Castilia fell to Isabella whom he married So his estate came to consist of four parts 1. Of the patrimoniall inheritance of his House Arragon Catalonia Roussillon Valentia Marjorca Minorea Ivica Fromentera Sardinia and Sicily 2. The Kingdom of Naples which he tooke from the French An. 1503. as we shall say afterwards 3. The Kingdom of Granada which he and his wife Isabella got from the Saracens Anno 1494. 4. The Kingdome of Navarra out of which he dispossest John of Albret An. 1512. All these Estates fell to his Daughter married with Philip Arch-duke of Austria 5. Hungary had her Kings well known in the Histories especially since the year 1000. the time of King St. Steven That family fell to that of the Kings of Naples descended from the Royall House of France by the marriage of the inheritrice of Hungary with Charles the Lame Son to Charles brother to
four things are to be considered 1. The Roman Empire which began in Julius Caesar or Augustus comprehended indeed all the West and herein the Gaules That Empire was made up of the ruine of many Nations by right or wrong Howsoever long prescription and the consent of Nations with the extinction of the royall Families made up a reasonable right which continued in the Roman Emperours till the year of Christ 400 when by the inundation of many Northern Nations Goths Vandales Franks and others the whole Empire was dismembred and the severall Conquerors of each part made themselves Soveraign So did the Franks in Gaules A beginning not to be excused of violence and usurpation But the ruine of the Romans prescription and the consent of the conquered people did since authorize their dominion and towards the end of the first age of these invasions they were all justified and the Conquerours remained just possessours especially when the Roman Empire ended in Augustulus An. 475. And when Charlemagne restored the Western Empire an 800. that promotion did not alter the former Title he had to the Kingdome of France It was but a Title of honour which he and after him his Sonne Lewis the Meek possest with that of King of France Afterwards by the partage made An. 843. between the Sons of Lewis the Meek each of the three brothers had his portion independent from the others and Lothary the Eldest who had the Title of Emperour pretended no right over Charles the Bald who had France for his Portion much as it is now Since which time all that would ascribe any Superiority to the Emperours over the Princes of Christendom that are acknowledged Soveraign have with good reason bin hissed out as ridiculous Only the precedence was left to the Emperour as the eldest among the brethren But the subjection which he yields to the Pope and the small right which he retains over the Lands and Princes of the Empire weaken his authority very much and make it unworthy of that precedence over all the Princes of Christendom Wherefore he doth not stir those antient pretences over all the Kingdomes of the West 2. Some Germane Historians as Trithemius Lazius Munster Fiesdorpius make the house of Habsburg which is that of Austria to descend from the first race of the French Kings a fable invented since 120. years and newly taken up again by the flatterers of that house Especially by Fiesdorpius a name either true or forged by the Spaniards To understand this we must know that the Kingdom of France was often divided into Tetrarchies under the first race Kings of Paris of Orleans of Soissons and Mets. In the last of these Brunehault reigned with great power that abominable woman so much renowned in our Histories which confounded and destroyed that house by her ordinary murthers That State of Mets being fallen into the hands of two brothers Thierry and Theodebert who contended for it Therry joyning with his Grandmother Brunehault overcame Theodebert in battell and put him cruelly to death And by Brunehaults order the two Sons of Theodebert were slain in her presence This Tragedy was acted An. 617. But these Historians to flatter the house of Austria say that of these two Sons of Theodebert the one called Sigebert escaped the hands of his great Grandmother and fled into Germany to Godfrey and Genebald Dukes of Franconie his Uncles by the Mother by whose intercession he obtained of Lothary King of France his Cosin some lands in Switzerland upon condition that he should renounce all his rights to the Crown of France That he or his Son or one of his more remote descent built the Castle of Habsburg and founded that family And upon that account the house of Austria descends from that of France That relation is a blind tale for all antient Historians affirm that both the Sons of Theodebert and he had no more were slain by Brunehault And the first that mentions that escape of Sigebert is Trithemius who lived about six score yeares ago And as it is false it is ridiculous in the ordinary vicissitude of the affairs of the world and the continuall changes of Possessions to set up Titles after an interruption of a thousand years For upon that account there is no Prince in Europe but may be degraded and no mean man but may be intitled to some principality It is with great reason that the Title of prescription is every where preferred before all Titles And though the tale were a true story that Rodolphus of Habsburg the head of the house of Austria was descended from the Family of Habsburg by the women his masculine extraction was from the house of Tiestein So this pretence is so ridiculous that it is not worth speaking 3. The branch of the house of Valois hath continued from male to male from Philip de Valois who came to the Crown An. 1328 to the death of Henry the Third An. 1589. males failing in that branch the Crown by the fundamental laws of the Land was to pass to the next branch of the Males which was that of Bourbon and so did in the end A Title so known to all the French that even in the heat of the War of the League against the honse of Bourbon as professing a contrary Religion yet they crowned the Cardinal of Bourbon and called him Charles the Tenth In these confusions Philip the Second King of Spain seeing the party of the League inclined to the Election of a King claimed the Kingdom for his Daughter Clara Eugenia Isabella as Daughter of Elizabeth of France his third wife sister and Heir of the three last Kings Francis II. Charles IX and Henry III. and of Francis Duke of Alenson the eldest of three Sisters of which the Second was Claude married to Charles Duke of Lorrain and the third was Queen Margaret wife to Henry the Fourth then only titular King of Navarra He alleadged then that representation being a good Title by the Laws of France his Daughter entred into all the rights of her Mother Elizabeth which should have inherited of her brothers and that her right extended even to the Crown as the Patrimony of her Family That the pretended Salique Law of the French was imaginary yea and against Nature against Humanity and the right of Political successions which require that all Inheritances may go to the next Heirs And though that Law had force among the French that his Daughter being not a subject nor borne in France could not be tied by these municipall Laws That between Soveraigns the Law of Nature not the particular Laws of Nations should be the rule That all Laws of Nature reject this principle that the successions should be for males only as though females were unreasonable creatures or the excrements and sweepings of mankind and no part of human society When the States of the League were assembled in Paris An. 1593. some unadvised and rash heads moved the Election of a King and the
that Lothary left but one Daughter called Hermengarda which being incapable of the Title of Emperour had instead of it that Country between the Rivers of Saone and the Rhone the Alpes and the Sea which Dominon was erected to the Title of a Kingdom by Charles the Bald King of France and Emperour in favour of that Hermengarda whom Bozon one of the Court of Charles and his wives kinsman took away These two Bozon and Hermengarda gave a beginning to that second Kingdom of Burgundy or the Kingdom of Arles about the year 875. which continued under these Kings among many alterations to that last Rodolphus an 1036. All that time Provence was part of that Kingdome of Arles 4. Which Kingdom being extinct in that Rodolphus and united to the Empire by Conrad the Salique shortly after by the weakness of the Emperours and the disorders risen in the Empire four Principalities were framed out of it as we said before That of Provence under the title of a County was the most considerable as being full of good Towns and of great commerce by reason of the Sea It was possest by the family of Berengers with the title of Counts whose History was written by Nostradamus 5. That House of Berengers kept the County of Provence till the time of St Lewis when Raymond Berenger the last Count left four Daughters the eldest whereof Margaret was married to St Lewis The three others were also married to Soveraign Princes Eleonor to Henry the III. King of England Fancie to Richard his brother who was since created King of the Romans and the fourth Daughter Beatrix to Charles Count of Anjou brother to St Lewis Raymond dying an 1231. left that Beatrix Heir of all his Estate leaving Legacies onely to the three others to each three thousand marks Another Raymond Count of Thoulouse would have taken away that Beatrix to marry her But St Lewis prevented him sending an Army into Provence and taking her gave her to his brother Charles to wife to whom he gave the County of Anjou And thirty yeares after the same Charles was invested by the Pope with the Kingdome of the two Sicilies as we shall see hereafter The County of Anjou returned to the Crown of France being given as a portion to Margaret Grand-child to that Charles who was married to Charles Count of Valois Father to King Philip de Valois And many yeares after that first Branch of the Kings of Naples and Counts of Anjou pretended no right to that County it was given to Lewis brother to King Charles the V. who founded the second House of Anjou now erected to a Dukedome But the two other pieces of that Estate which Charles brother to St. Lewis enjoyed with his wife Beatrix which was Provence and the Kingdom of the two Sicilies remained alwayes united and the Kings of Naples and Sicily whether of the first House of Anjou or of the second or of the family of Arragon have alwayes claimed a right to the County of Provence so that Naples and Provence go under one right as we shall more fully expound when we shall speak of the claim of France upon Naples 6. Jane Queen of Naples of the first house of Anjou went out of Italie An. 1379. with Pope Clement VII and retired to Avignon when that great Schism began which contitinued forty years Since which time although there have been many disputes for the succession of Naples between the Families of Charles de Duras the Dukes of Anjou and the house of Arragon and that portion of Italie past through many changes yet Province into which that Jane retired was soon after put in the hands of Lewis first Duke of Anjou brother to Charles the V. and both he and his descent enjoyed it peaceably without any disturbance from the houses of Hungary and Arragon who were fighting for the Kingdom of Naples although both pretended that Province belonged to them by the same right But the conveniency of the place as lying under the wings of France which might assist it at any time kept the possession thereof to the house of Anjou And finally from the house of Anjou it past to that of France being left to Lewis the XI by Charles Count du Main Heir and Nephew to Rene titular King of Naples and reall Possessor of Province Lewis the XI though he knew the right of the French in Naples which his Son Charles the VIII and his other successours have pursued yet he neglected it and contented himself to take Provence By this discourse it appears that who so hath the lawfull Possession of the Kingdom of Naples which we shall examine afterwards hath also a lawfull right to Province 7. Besides that claim of the Possessors of Naples upon Province disputable between that house first of Anjou and that of Arragon Austria there is a more particular claim of the Dukes of Lorraine against the French Kings Heirs to that Charles du Main The Lorriners pretend that René having a Daughter named Yoland from which the house of Lorrain is descended could not lawfully dis-inherit his Grandchild to give his Estate to Charles du Maine his Nephew To which the French answer two things 1. That Province was a purchase of René who could dispose of it 2. And that Province useth the Civil or Roman Law by which testaments are free But the discussion of that point is for another place Howsoever this remains That the Dukes of Anjou and the French Kings after them have peaceably enjoyed the County of Province above 270. years and the invaders of Naples never had any thing in it Which indeed hinders not but that they may have a right to it But the reason whereby we shall exclude them hereafter from any right to the Kingdome of Naples will serve also to invalid their claim upon Province Paragraphe III. Of the Dutchy of Burgundy 1. The Burgundians came out of Germany or some other Nation of the North in that great inundation of Northern people over the Roman Empire about the year 400. founded a State under the name of the first Kingdom of Burgundy about the Rivers of Saone and Rhone and near the Alpes And that State having begun An. 407. was ruined by the children of the great Clovis about the year 527. and lasted about six score years 2. Since which time under the first race of the French Kings Burgundy was part of the Kingdom of Orleans some part of it also belonging to the Kingdom of Mets and Austrasia And in the end the Kingdom of Mets and that of Burgundy became all one till by the partage between the children of Lewis the Meek that part of Burgundy which is beyond the River of Saone remained with the Empire and in the portion of Lothary the eldest Son The other on this side of the River of Saone was allotted to France and was a considerable member of the same Before the institution of Fees made in the beginning of the
third race Burgundy was governed by Dukes and three Brothers of Hugh Capet the first of that race held it But the last of them Robert was divested of them by his Nephew King Robert Son to Hugh Capet and it was re-united to the Crown All that was before the two Families of Burgundy of which we are to speak to discusse the right which the Spaniards pretend upon that piece of the French State 3. So then from the beginning of the first Race two Royall Families have possest the Dutchy of Burgundy The first began by Robert younger brother to King Henry the First and Son to King Robert To him his brother Henry gave that Dutchy in the year 1032. That Family continued from Male to Male without any interruption of Female succession untill the death of the last Duke Philip dead without issue An. 1362. Then King John at that time reigning in France seizd-upon that piece as an apanage so the French call the Portions of the Sons of France which are to return to the Crown when Heirs Male fail That apanage then being returned to the Crown King John bestowed it in the same nature upon his fourth Son Philip. This was the head of the second house of Burgundy which had four Dukes only successively This Philip called le Hardy invested by his Father then Iohn the third Philip le Bon the last Charles killed before Nancy An. 1477. who left his Daughter Mary his universall Heir She was married to Maximilian of Austria since Emperour and so carried all her estate into the house of Austria From that marriage came Philip Archduke married with Jane Inheritrix of all Spain and by her had two Sons Charles the V. and Ferdinand Emperours founders of the two Families of Austria that now reign 4. After the death of Charles killed before Nancy Lewis the XI seized upon the Dutchy of Burgundy as an apanage of France returning to the Crown Although Mary and her Husband Maximilian alleaged that the Dutchy had been given to Philip the Hardy by his Father King John as an absolute gift without any restriction of masculine descent That question though agitated on both sides will alwaies remain undecided The French Kings maintaining themselves in that possession Charle the V. Grandchild to that Mary grounding himself upon that right which we will declare afterwards required by the Treaty of Madrid that the Dutchy of Burgundy should be restored to him as his by his Grandmothers right and taken from her by Lewis the XI But after the return of Francis the I that Treaty was declared void as being contrary to all right of Nations which disannull Treaties made in Prison and extorted by violence contrary to the Municilpal Laws of the State of France which constitute the Kings to be alwaies Minors that is uncapable of absolute disposition as for the alienation of their Dominions So the Article of that Treatise concerning the restitution of Burgundy remained null though signed by the King Besides the States Generall of the Kingdom protested to the King that it was never in his power to alienate any Province of his State without their consent Which last opposition was of such force that since neither in the Treaty of Cambray nor in that of Crespy in Valois in which severall pieces were yielded unto the house of Austria any mention was made of Burgundy Yet the Kings of Spain take still the Title of Dukes of Burgundy So much for the Fact We will now examine the right 5. It must be acknowledged that the severity of Apanages for the Males onely to the exclusion of Females is not in use among the French but since the time of Philip de Valois who began to reign An. 1328 for remounting higher to Hugh Capet we find not that exclusion of Females from successions saving the ordinary preference of the Males before them And the Females were admitted Heirs in all kinds of estates whether given by the King or by others Yea many times the houses of the Sons of France have ended in Females that have transported their Estates to other Families as it appears in that of Dreux of Vermandeis of Courtenay and of others But since the time of Philip de Valois no Son of France had any apanage but upon that condition Which is evident in that all the apanages are returned to the Crown by the extinction of Males to the exclusion of Females as those of Anjou Berry Alanson and others Yea although that first house of Burgundy be much antienter and hath begun almost with the third race yet as it was the first and most important apanage we have in the History thereof an example of the exclusion of Females and setling the inheritance in the Males Hugh the IV. of that name Duke of Burgundy had three Sons Eudes his eldest John Lord of Charrolois and Robert the II. Duke of Burgundy Eudes was married in his Fathers life time died before him and left three Daughters Joland Margaret and Alice or Alix John the second Son was married and died likewise before his Father leaving a Daughter Beatrix of Burgundy Lady of Bourbon This was the Lady who being married with Robert Son to Saint Lewis gave a beginning to the house of Bourbon When Eudes the IV. died it seemed that the Daughters of the First or Second of his Sons should have inherited by the right of representation of their Father but they were excluded from it by their Uncle Robert who enjoyed it and his Heirs Male peaceably though these four Daughters had been married in great and potent houses 6. Philip the last Duke of that Race being dead King John took the Dutchy in his Possession yet did not reunite it to the Crown but presently gave it to his fourth Son Philip le Hardy whom he especially loved because he had saved his life in the battell of Poitiers though he was then very young He gave it him by a long Charter which indeed contains not in expresse termes the exception of Female Heirs but conferrs it upon him with the same rights by which himself came by it and by which he possesseth it Termes which have caused difficulty because John could be said to succeed to it by two rights the one as King the other as the next Heir-male of the last Duke If he succeeded to it as King the Dutchy being an apanage returning to the Crown in defect of Heir-Male then without doubt it was setled upon his Son Philip as a masculine apanage both because his Father gave it him with the same right by wh ch himself had got it And because the severe Law of Apanages was already in use from Philip de Valois Father to John and never was interrupted since 7. But King John say the Spaniards inherited of the last Duke as the next of blood and his Heir ab intestato because it appeareth in the Genealogy of that first Race of Burgundy that Robert the II he that had excluded his four
excluding of the house of Bourbon which stirred the Parliament to make that famous Arrest for the maintaining of the Salique Law to which the wisest of the League yielded Philip the II. of Spain in that Assembly of the States set up his Daughters Title and presented her to be Queen But presently perceiving the weaknesse of that Title and the aversion of the French from the Government of a woman he offered to marry her either with a Prince of the house of Austria or with one of the House of Lorraine Whose imaginary rights were at the same time pleaded And to strengthen all these rights he said that the Election by the States would supply all defects in the Right of succession It appeared that Philip acknowledged the weaknesse of his Daughters right since he presented her to be elected The Salique Law is fundamentall in France wisely instituted and observed twelve hundred years together As for Philips allegation that Princes are not to be tied by municipall Laws but by the Laws of Nature it is utterly false For in the discussion of the rights of all Soveraigns the municipall Lawes are alwaies examined and none can have right to an Estate from which he is excluded by the Law of the Land The decision of all suits for Estate is taken out of the customes of the Land where the Estate lyeth but where those customes written or unwritten are wanting the case is to be decided by reason onely The French think they have both Law and Reason on their side Howsoever that Isabella in whose favour that Right was set up dyed childlesse an 1633. Whose right if she had any should be devolved since to the Children of her second sister Katherine wife to Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy from whom all the House of Savoy that now is is descended 4. Besides these imaginary Rights to the whole Kingdom the Empire hath a weake pretended right to some parts of it Whereupon we must observe That by the partage between the Sons of Lewis the Meek 843. all the Countries that lye between the Rivers of Rhosne and Saone and the Alpes viz. Provence Daulphine Savoy and Franch County remained Imperial Lands And the French Kings in the second Race yea and very far in the third Race pretended nothing to them till Daulphine came to them in the time of Philip de Valois and Provence in the time of Lewis the XI And that part of the Empire being held by Lothary the eldest Son of Lewis the Meek and after him by his Son Lewis the Young who dyed without Heirs Male a State was erected in favour of his Daughter Hermengard between these two Rivers and the Alpes which was called the Kingdom of Arles or the second Kingdome of Burgundy which continued under its proper Kings whose pedegree was fully described by the Historian Du Chesne unto the death of Rodolphus the last King who dying without issue an 1036. left his Estate to the Emperour Conrad the II surnamed the Salique who had married his sister Grisel or as some say was his Nephew by her By that gift besides the antient pretence of the Empire upon that Kingdome at least for the soveraignty the Emperours became Masters of the same both by soveraignty and propriety and annext it to the Empire At which time the Arch bishop of Treves tooke the name of Cnancellor per regnum Arelatense But the Authority of the Emperours coming to a great decay out of Germany especially during the Warres betweene the Emperour Henry the IV. and the Popes four Principalities were framed in that Kingdom of Arles of the Counts of Provence the Dolphins of Viennois the Counts of Moriurre called since Dukes of Savoy and the Counts of Rurgundy which without question depended from the Empire as long as there was any vigour in it But time hath worne out that title and prescription is past uponit not to be broken and the old title revived unless the Emperour will together question most part of the Principalities of Italy and the East and North Gaules Of these four Principalities that of Savoy subsisteth to this day Franch County is fallen to the House of Flanders and so to the house of Austria Daulphiné was given to Philip de Valois by Imbert Dolphin about the yeare 1343. And Provence to Lewis the XI an 1482. by Charles Count of Maine Heir to René King of Naples and Duke of Anjou All these changes and gifts as for the propriety only the Soveraignty being still pretended by the Emperours which they may well be accounted to have lost by weaknesse desertion and by prescription as many other Principalities at this side of the Rhine Besides the French Histories relate that in the year 1377. the Emperour Charles the IV being come into France to visit King Charles the V gave to his God-son Charles who since was Charles the VI the right which the Emperours pretended in Daulphiné which was no great gift And Theodorick à Niem an Historian of that age saith That the same Emperour being come to Avignon to visit the Pope gave to Lewis Duke of Anjou brother to Charles the V. of France the whole Kingdome of Arles which had been under the jurisdiction of the Empire in recompence of the magnificent entertainment which the said Lewis gave him at Villeneufue near Avignon So all these Rights of the Empire are lost either by prescription or donation These are all the rights that can be imagined to be pretended by the Emperours and the House of Austria upon the Soveraignty of France Paragraphe II. Of the Rights pretended upon Provence Let us now examine some pretences of the House of Austria upon some Dutchies and other Dominions in France beginning at Provence 1. I shewed before how Provence before the partage betweene the Sons of Lewis the Meek a fundamental and famous Date in our History was part of the Kingdome of France And when it was divided into Tetrarchies it was a member of the Kingdom of Mets Austrasia or Burgundy But when before that famous division all France was reunited in the second Race under these two great Princes Pepin and Charlemagne Provence was a part of it 2. By the partage betweene the Sonnes of Lewis the Meek Provence with all that was beyond the Rivers of Rhosne and Saone was cut off from the portion given to Charles the Bald and was since called the Kingdome of Arles All these pieces given to Lothary the eldest brother were called the Empire and Imperial grounds and to this day the Lands beyond the Rhone towards Italy are called Terres d' Empire Lands of the Empire and the Lands at this side Terres de France French Lands Since that partage the Emperours have alwayes pretended a Soveraignty to those Countries a right strengthened by the donation made of the propriety of it to the Emperour Conrad the Salique by his Uncle or Brother in law Rodolphus the last King of Burgundy 3. Lewis the II. Emperour Son to
Neeces was Father to Hugh the V. who dyed without issue and of Eudes the IV. both successively Dukes of Burgundy This last was Grandfather to Philip the last Duke who ended the masuline line But that Robert the II. had three Daughters besides Margaret wife to King Lewis Hutin whence came the house of Navarra Jane wife to King Philip de Valois and mother to King John and Mary wife to Edward Count of Bar. They say then that after the death of Philip the last Duke King John took that Dutchy by the right of his mother Jane which right he transported to his Son Philip le Hardy without any mention of masculine apanage wherby they will have it evident that femals may inherit it 8. Against that pretended right which was very much disputed in the Treaty of Madrid the French have strong exceptions The first is That from the time of Philip de Valois within which that gift was made no Son of France had any great Apanage but with that restriction against which whatsoever King John may have said or done and he was a very imprudent and rash man he could do no valuable deed to the detriment of the State or against the fundamental Lawes The second Reason is That since we see by the example of Hugh the IV. that females are excluded from that succession we must acknowledge that John did not succeed by right of his mother but as King receiving an apanage devolved unto him The third Reason is That King John was not the next Heir in blood for by proximity of blood the children of the eldest Daughter which was Margaret wife to King Lewis Hutin should have succeeded not King John who was Son to the second Now that succession fell when that wicked man Charles King of Navarra Grandchild to that Margaret was in his strength who if there had beene any life in that title would not have failed to have set it up for Burgundy was better then all his Navarra and the rest of his estate And yet that stirring man did not stirre that point or it was so slightly that he left off presently but hotly pursued a recompence for the Counties of Champagne and Brie which by right belonged to his mother Jane Daughter to Lewis Hutin Sonne to Jane Countess of Champagne and Brie Queen of Navarra wife to Philip le Bel. By all this it is evident that the Dutchy of Burgundy was setled upon Phillip le Hardy his Son in the nature of a true masculine apanage Paragraphe IV. Of the Towns of Metz Thoul and Verdun By the partage so famous among the Sons of Lewis the Meek an 843. it is certaine that all that was beyond the River Mosa towards Germany was cut off from that which retained the name of Kingdome of France and that these three Towns remained Imperiall But Mosa being the bound of these two States the Empire and the Kingdome yet by an infinity of Warres Usurpations and Treaties that bound and other limits between the two States were often changed In the time of the weakness and declination of the House of Charlemagne most part of the Cities and Lordships of the Empire did canton themselves and made themselves particular Dominions under the protection of the Empire and some remained free others were subjected to especial Lords some Lay some Ecclesiastical All these make up now the great body of the Empire Of that nature were these three Towns Metz Thoul and Verdun upon which the French Kings pretended no right till the time of Henry the II. An. 1550. the Protestants of Germany called Henry the II. to their help against the Emperour Charles the V. Henry sent them great Auxiliary forces by Ann de Montmorency Constable of France who in his way seized upon Thoul and Verdun put Garrisons into them to assure the passage of the French Forces into Germany The Government of Thoul was given to Monsieur d'Esclavoles Lieutenant of the company of the Duke of Guise And Charles Cardinall of Lorrain was restored to his Lordship annext to the Bishoprick of Verdun the King retaining the soveraignty for himselfe which he thought he could lawfully doe because the Lord of it was his subject and had an estate in France and because the Emperour was his declared enemy whose Estate he might invade In the same expedition the Constable seized on the City of Metz which the Emperour Charles the V. besieged towards the end of the yeare 1551. but in vain since which time the French have enjoyed these three Cities yet finding their right some what weak they used it at the first with great moderation calling themselves only Guardians and Protectors of the same till Lewis the XIII caused them to be altogether incorporated with France and in them hath establisht a soveraign Court of Parliament Indeed these three Townes have of long continuance been Imperial and being got by subtilty upon pretence of the surety of the passage the right of the French Kings in them should be much more disputable then in many other places as themselves have confest in many of their instructions for the generall Treaties Yet it may be said for the French that Henry the II. took them as his enemies estate when he made War against the Emperour That the Emperour never made since any stipulation for the restitution of them in any Treaty That the rights of the Empire on this side of Rhine are so vanisht and lost that the Countries seem now to be primum occupanti That Holland also Lorraine Switzerland Savoy Franch County Daulphiné Provence were Imperiall Lands and yet all these are slipt from the Empire by a prescription grounded upon the weakness and neglect of the old Soveraigne Also that the French Kings at the first declared themselves onely Protectors and Guardians of these Towns which if afterwards they have incorporated to their State it was by the consent of the people seeing themselves deserted and neglected by the Empire Finally in that point the French think they may use the right of Represals And that if the Emperour and the House of Austria should do them right about all their pretences there would be some reason why the Emperour should be contented about these Towns Paragraphe V. Of the Towns on the River of Somme and other contained in the Treaty of Arras The four Dukes of the last House of Burgundy were Philip le Hardy John Philip le Bon and Charles John after the death of his Father Philip le Hardy an 1404. caused great troubles in the State of France and caused his Cousin German Lewis Duke of Orleans to be slain an 1407. whence sprung those great Divisions and Wars between those two Houses of which the Histories are full That John was slain at Montereau foult-Ronne by the command of Charles the Dolphin an 1419. His Son Philip de Bon pursued with great power and eagernesse the vengeance of that death made league with the English and distressed very much the Kingdom
angred the Count of Charrolois and increased his jealousies Philip Duke of Burgundy dieth an 1467. Charles succeeds him 6. This new Duke of Burgundy is much considered in France by reason of his great Lands and turbulent spirit All his time hee was in Wars with the King and brought the English into France The King also did raise him Enemies which his own rashnesse did multiply He was defeated by the Switzers at Granson and Morat and killed before Nancy an 1477. 7. After his death Lewis took the Dutchy of Burgundy and Provinces annext to it given by Charles the VII to Philip le Bon as a masculin apanage with the Towns upon the River of Somme which Charles was to hold all his life not leave it to his heirs He seized also upon the Town of Arras upon which he pretended a right He did his utmost to catch Mary the inheritrix of Charles and desired the people of Gant to deliver her into his hand or make her marry Charles the Dolphin but they protected her and soon after Maximilian of Austria married her 8. In Spain after the enterview of the two King Lewis of France and Henry of Castilia and the sale or pawning of the County of Roussillon King John of Arragon seeing that Lewis had arbitrated in favour of the Castilian and had sent John Duke of Calabria for the conquest of Arragon took his time when the leagues in France were strongest against the King to make Perpignan revolt against the French The Garrison retired into the Citadel and made it good till the Town was besieged by Lewis and constrained to return to his obedience Paragraphe II. From the marriage of Maximilian with Mary unto his death This period of forty yeares comprehends four reigns of the French Kings the end of Lewis the XI Charles the VIII Lewis the XII and the beginning of Francis the I in which space the greatnesse of the House of Austria was founded by her union with that of Burgundy and then with Castilia and Arragon Vnder Lewis the XI Since the death of Duke Charles three remarkable things hapned under Lewis the XI Mary inheritrix of Burgundy whom her Father had promist to many Princes in the end was married to Maximilian of Austria an 1478. Lewis would have her for Charles the Delphin but he was but six years old and she above fifteen yeares elder then he That preferring of Maximilian before Charles was the cause of many evils to France 1. The loss of all that Mary possest which might have been united with France 2. The increase of the house of Austria which began then to be jealous of France which she was very far from before that alliance 3. Great Wars and endlesse envy by the neighborhood of these two great Houses That marriage lasted but four yeares Mary dying of a fall from her Horse as she was hunting She left two children Philip Archduke of Austria Father to Charles the V. and Margaret 2. By the jealousie risen between France and Austria by that marriage and incensed by the revolt of the Prince of Orenge a great Lord of Franch County they broke into open War and the battel of Guinegast was fought of which the event was so uncertain that both parties ascribed to themselves the victory 3. Mary of Burgundy being dead the Flemmings especially the Gantois alwayes mutinous would expell Maximilian and dispose of Mary's Children They married Margaret to Charles the Dolphin and appointed for her portion the County of Artois Franch County and other Lands Margaret was then but two yeares old and Charles twelve But Charles being married since with Anne Dutchesse of Britain Margaret was sent back to her Father Maximilian which was a new cause of jealousie betweene these two families This Margaret being seperated from Charles was married to John Son of Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castilia whom she never saw Then she was for the third time married with Philibert the II Duke of Savoy They say of her that she was three times married and dyed a Virgin Under Charles the VIII 1. Charles the VIII had civil Wars against Lewis Duke of Orleans the Duke of Britain and others which ended by the battel of St. Aubin after which Charles married Anne the inheritrix of Brittain whereby he offered two affronts unto Maximilian the one that he sent him back his Daughter Margaret withwhom he had bin married seven or eight yeares the other that he married her with whom Maximilian was married by Proxie for in Britaine all the Proclamations were then made in the name of the Dutchess and of the Arch-duke of Austria Upon which Maximilian made War against Charles and took the Towns of Arras St Omer and other places which the French held as yet in Artois But a Peace was made an 1493. by which Charles was within four years to restore the Franch County and some Towns which he held in Artois unto Philip the Heir of Netherlands Son to Maximilian An. 1494. Charles restored to Ferdinand King of Arragon Perpignan and the County of Roussillon though he received not the three hundred thousand Crowns which it was pawnned for The reason why Charles did so we have declared before 3. The same year was the expedition of Charles the VIII into Naples against the house of Arragon To that which we have said of that quarrel this must be added Alphonsus who was adopted by Queen Jane the II. and in the end expelled the house of Anjou out of Italy left Naples to Ferdinand his bastard saying that he could lawfully doe it because it was his own conquest The house of that bastard enjoyed it after him and had four Princes Ferdinand the Bastard Alphonsus his Son Ferdinand his Grandchild and after him Friderick uncle to this last Ferdinand and brother of Alphonsus Although that House of Bastards enjoyed Naples the Kings of Arragon would say that it was by their toleration becaus Alphonsus King of Arragon who had been adopted by Jane the II. had conquered Naples with the Arms the Blood and the money of Arragon that he ought not to have left it to any but hisbrother John King after him of Arragon Wherefore Ch. VIII fearing lest Ferdinand King of Arragon Son to John should disturb his conquest of Naples either to assist that Bastard House or to make it his own conquest restored unto him the County of Roussillon gratis upon Ferdinands promise not to disturbe him yea to help him but Ferdinand broke his word with him What was the right of Charles was shewed before Charles with great expedition past through Piemont Milan Pisa Florence Rome got the Kingdom of Naples without difficulty and governed it without prudence and instantly lost it by the ill behaviour of his Ministers which got him the hatred of the Neapolitans A league was made by the Pope the Venetians the King of Naples and the Duke of Milan not onely to stay his conquests but to stop his return
and destroy him in Italy The Generall of the Army of the league was Francesco Gonzaga Marquess of Mantua who gave battel to the King at Fornova which the King won with great glory Being returned into France he prepared to return into Italy but dyed in that preparation Whilst Charles was about the conquest of Naples Lewis Duke of Orleans who soon after was King of France stayed in his County of Ast and renewed his claim to the Dutchy of Milan possest by the usurper Ludovick Sforza the murtherer of his two nephews As long as Ludovick kept good intelligence with the King Lewis Duke of Orleans durst not attempt any thing against him But after that Ludovick had made himself one of the league against the King Lewis possest himselfe of Novara a Town of the Dutchy which presently was besieged by Ludovick and recovered excepting the Castle Under Lewis the XII In sixteen yeares that Lewis reigned he had Wars with Philip of Austria Ferdinand King of Arragon Ludovick Duke of Milan and the Kings of Naples of the Bastard branch of Arragon 1. An. 1499. Philip Arch-duke of Austria did homage at Arras in the hands of Guy de Rochford Chancellor of France for the Counties of Flanders Artois and Charolois a solemn action done with great pomp and many formalities 2. In the years 1499. and 1500. Lewis conquereth the Dutchy of Milan from Ludovick loseth it by the returne of Ludovick out of Germany regaines it by taking and imprisoning Ludovick and by the chase which he gave to his Sons Maximilian and Francis 3. From thence he goeth to Naples conquers it from Friderick the last King of the Bastard branch of Arragon who puts himselfe into the Kings hands The King recompenceth him with the Dutchy of Anjou a pension of thirty thousand Crowns and the first place in the Councell Ferdinand King of Arragon seeing that bastard branch failed reneweth his pretences to Naples Lewis compounds with him and they share the Kingdom The King of Arragon hath for his part Calabria Puglia the rest remains to the French But soone after upon some differences which arose between the French and the Spaniards for the confines of the Country of Abruzzo and some Salt-pits the grand Capitan Gonsalvo de Cordova takes arms and expells the French an 1503. 4. The Emperour Maximilian after the yeare 1593. seeing the house of Sforzas degraded from Milan but two Sons remaining threatneth Lewis of the Imperial Ban. Lewis appeaseth him and obtaines the investiture of the yeare 1505. and promiseth his daughter Claud to Charles Duke of Luxemburg who since was Emperour But soon after Lewis who loved dearly Francis d'Angoulesme his Cosin and first Prince of his blood made him marry Claud by the counsel of the great men of his Kingdom notwithstanding the promise made to Maximilian This angred very much Philip Father to Charles who would have taken a revenge of that wrong had he not been prevented with death an 1506. He had married Jane the great inheritrix of Spain by whom he had many children 5. Yet Philip before he dyed reconciled himselfe with Lewis yea and recommended to him the tuition of his Son Charles which Lewis accepted and gave him Antony de Ceures Lord of Crovy for his Governour a wise Knight who formed that young spirit to great businesses in which Charles excelled afterwards 6. An. 1507. the City of Genoa which had been conquered with the Dutchy of Milan and where Lewis had made a glorious entry revolted from him Lewis passeth into Italy and brings her to subjection It was at that time that Ferdinand of Arragon returning from his new conquest of Naples saw Lewis the XII at Savone a Town of the Territory of Genoa In that enterview Ferdinand who was then King of two little Kingdoms onely both depending from the See of Rome refused alwayes the honour and the precedence which Lewis would give him as it is usuall to do to strangers when one is at home even to inferiours He would salute Lewis at his rising and attended him going to Mass Lewis whensoever he gave to Ferdinand the precedence made him understand that he did it out of civility not out of duty Go before said he to him for if I were at your house and in your Country I would in the like case doe what you would desire of me but because you are in my Country you shall do so for it is my will and I beseech you so to doe That might be done then without prejudice when the House of Arragon was farre under the splendor of that of France and was not so arrogant as now How such another encounter should be ordered in these dayes in point of civility it is more then I can determine An. 1508. the league of Cambray was made of Pope Jule the II. the Emperour Maximilian Lewis King of France and Ferdinand King of Arragon and Naples to beat down the arrogancy of the Venetians who during the confusions of Italy had incroacht upon all their Estates the patrimony of the Church the Empire Milan and Naples Whence followed the battel of Aignadel which Lewis won of the Venetians which made him so glorious that the Popes and the Princes of Italy grew jealous of him Ferdinand leaveth the alliance of Lewis who had restored unto him all the Towns which the Venetians held in the Kingdom of Naples and made war againsT him Lewis wins the battel of Ravenna against the Pope and the Spaniards an 1512. 8. Pope Jule the II being declared enemy to Lewis and all his adherents among whom was John d'Albret King of Navarra Ferdinand invaded Navarra an 1512. The Switzers set on by the Pope expell the French from the Dutchy of Milan and set up Maximilian Sforza Son to Ludovic The English and Maximilian being confederate come into France and besiege Terovenne Lewis comes to helpe and gives the battel which was called of the Spurres because though the French at the first resisted manfully yet they were put to the worst and forced to make more use of their Spurres then Swords Finally although Lewis had won the battel of Ravenna an 1512. he saw himselfe expelled out of all Italy and the House of the Sforzas restored at Milan before he dyed which was an 1515. Vnder Francis the I. In the beginning of his reign he found the House of Austria in the hands of Charles then of the age of fifteen years who possest all the Low Countries by his Father Philip of Austria and the Kingdom of Castilia from his Mother Jane of Arragon Maximilian was yet living enjoying the Arch-dutchy of Austria His other Grand-father Ferdinand was King of Arragon and Naples both very old and broken Charles was their Heir apparent 1. Francis the I. comming to the Crown received the homage of the Count of Nassau in the name of Charles Count of Flanders and Artois to whom he promist Renee second daughter to Lewis the XII But that marriage was not
Princesse was to be delivered to Philip upon the frontiers of Spain the Duke de l' Infantasqua and the Cardinall of Burgos came to receive her in the Abbey of Roncevaux which was in Navarra There King Antony protested that the Queen was not delivered upon the frontires of Spain but in the heart of his own Kingdom that none should believe hereafter that Roncevaux did belong to the King of Spain Under Charles the IX All this reign past among civill confusions about Religion and scarce any dispute was between the two Crowns Yea Philip furnisht Charles many times with Forces to subdue his Protestant subjects Only these things are to be remembred for our purpose 1. After the first peace with the Protestants an 1564 Charles made a progress about his Kingdom and saw his sister Elizabeth Queen of Spain at Bayonne There the Queen-mother had an earnest and secret conference with the Duke of Alba. It is thought they agreed about a mutuall assistance between the two Crowns against the Protestants of France and Netherlands for in that year 1565. they began to stir in those Dominions of the Spaniard Philip assisted Charles with some Troops which kindness Charles could not return the fire being kindled in all the parts of his Kingdom 2. An. 1566. two things were near to have made a breach between the two States Bertrand de Montlue whom his Father in his Commentaries calleth Captaine Peyrot seeing peace in France undertakes to make some conquest upon the Sea comes to the Isle of Madera subject to Portugal and desiring to take water is repulsed with Canon-shot upon which he makes a descent into the Iland with strong hand besiegeth the Town takes it but is slain in that exploit A complaint is made of this to Philip as Uncle to the King of Portugal as an infraction of the Treaty in which Portugal was comprehended Philip incenseth Charles against his own subjects about this but the Admiral appeaseth Charles shewing that it was but a mis-understanding among private persons Another businesse of that nature was that of Gourgues Dominique de Gourgues was a Captain of Gascony who in the Wars of Italy had been taken by the Spaniards and ill used in prison To be avenged of them he went to Florida in the West-Indies besieged the Fort which the Spaniards kept there takes it by force kills or hangs all the Souldiers then returnes into France Of this Philip makes high complaint unto Charles and Gourgues was in great danger of his life but he was protected by the Admirall of Chastillon a Protestant and an enemy to the Spaniards He represented unto the King that it was an Act of private revenge Also that a little before Melander a Spanish Captaine had expelled out of the same Fort in Florida John Rebaut of Diepe with five hundred French-men whom he had killed or hanged every man with this inscription Not as to French-men but as to Lutherans The wisest French Historians affirm and so did Gourgues himselfe That not any private revenge but the desire to punish that horrible treachery and murther upon his Country-men made him undertake and atchieve that high enterprise An. 1570. Charles married Elizabeth daughter to the Emperour Maximilian a vertuous Princess much beloved of her Husband Shortly after Philip married another daughter of the same Emperour This double affinity did confirm the friendship betwixt the two Crowns Under Henry the III. Henry the III. returning out of Poland an 1574. passeth through Vienna where he is wel received by the Emperour Maximilian although one of his Sons had been Henries competitor for the Crown of Poland Yea the Emperour gave him wholsome counsels for settling peace in his State An. 1577. The Protestants of Netherlands being opprest by the Spaniard and little helped by Matthias brother to the Emperour Rodolphus whom both Papists and Protestants had chosen for the expulsion of the Spaniard the States of those Provinces called Francis Duke of Alanson the French Kings brother who in his way thither made himselfe Master of the City of Cambray but being ill used by the Dutch he returned home without doing any thing But in the yeare 1583. he came againe with the title of Duke of Brabant and Count of Flanders but he made no long stay there having made a malicious attempt upon Antwerp and other Towns and returning full of shame he dyed at Chasteau Thierry an 1584. These enterprises of the Duke of Alanson bred great jealousies between the two Crowns and were taken for a breach of the peace Wherfore also Philip assisted the League of France against the Royal house with great eagernesse An. 1579. Sebastian King of Portugal being dead in Africa Philip King of Spain got the Kingdom an 1580. Among his Competitors was Antony bastard of Lewis Prince Constable of Portugal but pretending himselfe a lawfull Son as legitimated by the Pope Antony expelled by Philip retired into England where finding no countenance he passeth into France agreeth with Katherine the Queen-mother who as I shewed in the third Chapter had great pretences to the Crown of Portugal and for some Lands in Portugal which he promiseth her she gives him helpe and raiseth an Army of French-men under Peter Strozzi They go to the Terceras where some Hands held for Antony where they had very ill success That enterprise exasperated Philip very much so that he was one of the first that signed the League Some think it began at the death of the Duke of Alanson when none remained of all the house of Valois but Henry the III who had no Children and was not like to have any and the house of Bourbon saving onely the old Cardinall of Bourbon was Protestant or favourer of Protestants This encouraged the Spaniard to trouble the State of France and the house of Guise to set up for themselves under pretence of zeal of Religion Paragraphe VIII From the death of the Duke d'Alanson 1584. to the Treaty of Vervins 1598. This date comprehends the end of Henry the III. and the beginning of Henry the IV. Under Henry the III. Without examining the severall designes of the League this onely we must know that after the death of the Duke of Alanson the Duke of Guise having formed the League made a Treaty with Philip the II of Spain at Joinville whereby Philip promist him a monthly pension of fifty thousand Crowns to foment the League which being not openly against the King but after the killing of the Guises at Blois and the King himselfe having entred into the League under the title of Holy league against the Heretiques the animosities and designes of the King of Spain against the State of France were not plainly detected under this raigne Under Henry the IV. Here the League did rage and civill War was in all parts of France In these troubles Philip had a great hand and Henry being once acknowledged King was eeven with him and powerfully VVarred against him But these things must be