when I am in one be assaulted with tremblings and be fearful in despite of my self They counselled him to shun these ill Prophecies to depart on the morrow and leave the Instalment to be done without him but the Queen was extreamly offended and he good and obliging remained onely to content her The Instalment was made at St. Denis on the 13 of May and the Queen on the 16 of the same moneth was to make her entrance into Paris where there were erected Magnificent Preparations to honour this Feast Already had the forces of the King met at their Rendezvouz on the Frontiers of Champagne Already had the Nobility who were come from all parts sent their Equipages The Duke of Rohan was gone to gather together the six thousand Swisses and there were gone fifty piece of Cannon out of the Arsenal Already had the King sent to demand of the Arch-duke and the Infanta in what manner they would that he should pass their Country either as a Friend or an Enemy Every hour of delay seemed to him a year as if he had presaged some misfortune to himself and certainly both Heaven and Earth had given but too many Prognosticks of what arrived A very great Eclipse of the whole body of the Sun which happened in the year 1608 A terrible Comet which appeared the year preceding Earthquakes in several places Monsters born in divers Countries of France Rains of blood which fell in several places A great Plague which afflicted Paris in the year 1606 Apparitions of Fantosms and many other Prodigies kept men in fear of some horrible event His Enemies were at present in a profound silence which possibly was not caused onely by their Consternation and by the fear of the success of his Arms but out of the expectation they had to see succeed some great blow in which lay all their hopes It must needs be that there were many conspiracies against the Life of this good King since from twenty places advice was given of it since both in Spain and Milan a report was spread of his death by a printed Paper since there passed a 〈◊〉 eight days before he was assassinated through the City of Liege that said that he carried News to the Princes of Germany that he was killed since at Montargis there was found a Billet upon the Altar containing the prediction of his approaching death by a determinate blow since in fine the report ran through all Prance that he would not out-live that year and that he would die a tragick death in the fifty seventh year of his Age. Himself who was not over-credulous gave some faith to these Prognosticks and seemed as one condemned to death So sad and cast down he was though naturally he was neither melancholy nor fearful There had been at Paris for about two years a certain wicked Rogue named Francis Ravaillac a Native of the Country of Angoumois red haired down-looked and melancholy who had been a Monk but after having quitted the Frock he before professed was turned Sollicitor of businesses and come to Paris It was not known whether he was brought hither to give this blow or whether being come out of some other designe he had been induced to this execrable enterprize by those people who knowing that he had yet in his heart some leven of the League and that false perswasion that the King was about to overturn the Catholick Religion in Germany judged him proper for the blow If it be demanded who were the Devils and Furies who inspired him with so damnable a thâ—â—ght and who spurred him forward to effect his wicked disposition the History answers that it knows nothing and that in a thing so important it is not permitted to make pass suspitions and conjectures for assured truths The Judges themselves who examined him durst not open their mouths nor ever spoke but covertly But see here how he executed his wicked designe On the morrow after the Instalment being the 14 of May the King went forth of the Louvre about four a Clock in the Evening to go to the Arsenal to visit Sully who was indisposed and to see as he passed the preparations made at the Bridge of Nostre-dame and the Hostel de Ville for the reception of the Queen He was at the bottom of his Coach having the Duke of Espernon by his side the Duke of Montbazon the Marshal of Lavardin Roquelaure La force Mirebeau and Liancour chief Esquire were before and in the Boots His Coach entring out of the street of St. Honorio into that of the Ferronnerie or Ironmongers found on the right hand a Cart laden with Wine and on the left another laden with Hay which causing some trouble he was constrained to stop for the street is very narrow by reason of the shops builded against the wall of the Church-yard of St. Innocents King Henry the second had formerly commanded them to be beaten down to render that passage more free but it was not executed Alas that one half of Paris had not rather been beaten down then it have seen this great misfortune which hath been the cause of so many infinite other miseries The Foot-men being passed through the Church-yard of St. Innocents to avoid the trouble and no person being near the Coach this wicked person who for a long time had obstinately followed the King to give his blow observing the side on which he sate thrust himself between the shops and the Coach and setting one foot on one of the spokes of the wheel 〈◊〉 the other against a stall with an enraged resâ—â—â—tion gave him a stab with a knife between the second and third Rib a little beneath the heart At this blow the King cryed out I am wounded But the Villain without being affrighted redoubled it and struck him in the heart of which he died immediately without so much as casting forth a sigh The Murderer was so assured that he yet gave a third blow which light only in the sleeve of the Duke of Montbazon Afterwards he neither took care to flee nor to conceal his knife but stood still as if to make himself be seen and to glorifie or boast in so fair an exploit He was taken on the place examined by the Commissioners of Parliament judged by the Chamber of Assemblies and by sentence drawn by four horses in the Greve after having had the flesh of his breasts his arms and thighs drawn off with burning Pincers without his testifying the least emotion of fear or grief at so strange tortures Which strongly confirmed the suspition had that certain Emissaries under the mask of Piety and Religion had instructed and inchanted him with false assurances that he should die a Martyr if he killed him whom they made believe was the sworn enemy of the Church The Duke d'Espernon seeing the King speechless and dead caused the Coach to turn and carried his body to the Louvre where he caused
Spain the puissance of his Father-in-law had raised his Ambition and Courage and made him forget that constant affection which his Predecessors have almost continually had for France insomuch that they have held themselves much honoured to be Pensioners to our Kings But the Conduct and Valour of Lesdiguieres made him repent all his high designs especially by the battails of Esparon de Palieres and of Pont-Charra where that Duke received as much loss as confusion About this time our Henry conceived a passion for the Fair Gabriella d' Estrees who was of a very noble house and that passion by degrees grew so strong that whilst she lived she held the Principal place in his heart so that after having had by her three or four Children he had almost resolved to marry her though he knew not how to do it but by hazarding great troubles and very dangerous difficulties Having taken the City of Noyon he gave the Government to Count d' Estrees Father of this fair one and a little after gave him likewise the charge of Great Master of the Artillery which had formerly been held by John d' Estrees in the year 1550. Not long after the Siege of Noyon he understood the escape of the Duke of Guise who after many other attempts had got at high-noon out of the Castle of Tours where he had been in prison since his fathers death The News at first no less touched the King then it surprized him he feared this great Name of Guise which had given him so much trouble and he doubted lest this young Prince should re-ingross the love of the people which his father had possessed to so high a pitch he was troubled to have lost such a Gage which might serve him in many things However after he had a little meditated he diminished his apprehensions and told those who were about him That he had more reason to rejoyce then be troubled for of force it must happen that either the Duke of Guise must take his party and that if he did so he would treat him as his Parent and Kinsman or that he must cast himself into the League and then it would be impossible that the Duke of Mayenne and he could continue any long time without contending and becoming enemies This Prognostick was very true The Duke of Mayenne having seen those Rejoycings which all the League testified at this News the Bonefires made in the great Cities those Actions of thanks which the Pope caused publickly to be rendred to God and the hopes which the Sixteen conceived to see revived in this Prince the Protection and Qualities of his Father which they had idolatrized the Duke of Mayenne I say seeing all this was struck with a very strong Jealousie and though he sent him monies with entreaties that they might have an Interview yet notwithstanding he looked not upon him as a new renforce but as a new subject of inquietude and trouble to him In effect this young Prince immediately knit himself in firm bond with the Sixteen and promised to take their protection By this means and by the help of the Spaniards they emboldened themselves in such manner that they resolved to loose the Duke of Mayenne not ceasing to cry down his Conduct among the people I have been assured that there was some amongst them who writ a Letter to the King of Spain by which they cast themselves into his Arms and intreated him if he would not reign over them to give them a King of his Race or to chuse a Son-in-law for his Daughter whom they would receive with all Obedience and Fidelity They advised themselves besides this to make a new form of Oath for the League which excluded the Princes of the Blood to the end they might oblige all suspected persons who would not swear a thing so contrary to their thoughts to depart out of the City and to abandon their Goods to them By this artifice they drave away many persons among others the Cardinal of Gonde Bishop of Paris whom they had begun to hate because that with some Clerks of the City he honestly endeavoured to dispose the people in favoâ—r of the King There remained nothing now but to dissolve the Parliament who watched them day and night and stopt their Enterprizes They had pursued the Condemnation of one named Brigard because he had Correspondence with the Royalists and the Parliament having pardoned him they were so incensed that the most passionate by conspiracy amongst them and by their private Authority having caused those of their faction to take arms went to seize on the persons of the President de Brisson and of de Larcher and de Tardiff Counsellours whom they carried prisoners to the Castelet and after some formalities one of them pronounced against them the sentence of death in execution of which they caused them all three to be hanged at the window of the Chamber and on the morrow to be carried to the Greve to the end they might move the people in their favour but the greatest part abhorred so damnable an attempt and even the most zealous of the party remained mute not knowing whether they ought to approve or blame it Yet there were some of these Sixteen found so determinate as to pass farther they said They must finish the Tragedy and rid themselves of the Duke of Mayenne if he came to Paris he being at present at Laon That after that they might assure to themselves the City elect a Chief who should depend of them re-establish the Council of Forty which that Duke had abolished and demand the Union of the great Cities And certainly there was some appearance that having the Bastille of which Bussy was Governour the common people and the Garison of Spaniards for them that they might render themselves Masters of Paris and afterwards treat at their pleasure either with the King or with the Duke of Guise or with the Spaniards but they wanted Resolution In the mean time the Duke of Mayenne having been in two days doubt whether he should come to Paris because he feared they would shut the Gates against him at length comes with a warlike attendance and seeing that the Parliament durst not attempt to make process against these people he resolved whatever might arrive to chastise them himself and thereupon without form of Process in his Cabinet condemns nine to death They could catch but four whom he caused to be hanged in the Louvre the other five saved themselves in Flanders The most remarkable of these five was Bussy le Clerke who had been constrained to yeild the Bastille to the Dukes people He was seen to lead a miserable life in the City of Bruxels yet still to conserve his hatred against the French even to the last gasp which he breathed forth a little before the last Declaration of War between the two Crowns This terrible blow having quite quelled the
retires to Pont de l' Arche The Duke of Parma takes Caudebec and is wounded and the Duke of Mayenne falls sick The Army of the King increases and the pursues the two Dukes Byron beats up one quarter but will not quite defeat them He would continue the War * A French Proverb aâ— if he should say Wouldst thou have me ruine my own Fortune Wonderful retreat of the Duke of Parma which the King cannot hinder The King admires the action A noble and dangerous action of the King at Aumale where he saved his Rereguard Grave answer of the Duke of Parma's concerning the Kings action Byron killed at Espernay Conferences renewed The Duke of Mayenne calls the Estates to Paris to elect a King The election of a King would have been the ruine of Henry 4. and France Expedient which the King finds to hinder this election Confeence of Surene 1593. Estates of the League assemble at Paris Mansfield comes with a Spanish Army takes Noyon afterwards his Army dissipates Byron raises the siege of Selles to relieve Noyon but dares not aâ—tempt it which puffs up the Kings enemies Conspiracy to surpâ—ize his person The Duke of Feria brings a Letter to the States-General from the King of Spain It was time for the King to convert In fine God touches him and he is converted The Spaniards and Legat press the Estates to chuse a King Grand arrest of the Parliament at Paris for the Salique Law Advantagious testimony of Villeroy in favour of the Parliament The King takes Dreux The Spaniards propose to the Estates to elect the Duke of Guise and their Infanta The Duke of Mayenne enraged his Wife more He makes truce with the King His subtile Argument against the Minister He abjures his Errour and becomes a Catholick The Duke of Mayenne dismisses the Estates The King sends the Duke of Nevers to Rome to have absolution of the Pope The Pope shews him self very difficult 1594. The League fals in less then a year Meaux Aix Lyons Orleans Bourges surrender to the King Reduction of Paris The King anointed at Chartres It was almost a wonder how he became master of Paris He sees the Spanish Garison depart and what he saies to them Parliament at Tours recalled to Paris The City rejoyce and are peaceable Two worthy actions of the King The one of Justice The other of Policy Reduction of Rouen Abbeville Troyes Sens c. La Capelle taken by Mansfield and Laon by the King Balagny turns to the Kings party with his City of Cambray Reduction of Amiens Beauvais Peronne The Duke of Guise compounds with the King And likewise the Duke of Lorrain The Duke of Mayenne remains alone and retires into Bourgongne 1595. The King declares war against the Spaniards Two artempts on his person Of Peter Barriere and of John Castel Jesuites exiled the kingdom Reduct on of Beaune Auxerre and Dijon c. The King goes into Bourgongne against the Spanish Army Battail of Fountain-Franzoise where the King shews his valour but is in danger of his life The Spanish Army retire The Duke of Mayenne despairing would retire into Savoy The King hath pity of him and offers him an accommodation and place of retreat He grants him a truce La Fere Ham delivered to the Spaniards who are cut in pieces at Ham. Humieres killed Many Leaguers despairing cast themselves into the Spaniards arms Amongst others Rosny who causeth the taking of Dourlens Battel of Dourlens Villars slain Cambray taken by the Spaniards The Pope absolves the King The Duke of Mayenne in the end makes his Treaty with King Hath advantagious Conditions He comes to Monceaux to salute the King The Duke of Nemours reconciled likewise His elder Brother died of a strange disease 1596. The Duke of Joyeuse makes his Treaty with the King And the Lord of Boisdaufia Reduction of Marseilles The King grants a truce to the Duke of Merceur Arch-duke Albert takes Calais Taking of la Fere by the King The Archduke takes likewise Guines and Ardres The King to have mony calls an assembly of the Chiefs to Rouen The manner of their sitting His Speech The Assembly grant money for the War King of Spain desires the peace Surprizal of Amiens by the Spaniards retards the peace 1597. The King resolves to besiege Amiens Many conspiracies discovered The people contribute willingly and the Leaguers serve him well The Arch-Duke comes to relieve Amiens His arrival assaults put the Kings Army in disorder The King re-assures them Words worthy a good and Christian King The Arch-Duke retires to Flanders The King retakes Amiens The King marches to the gates of Arras and dares the Spaniards The Duke of Merceur daily delays concluding his Treaty The King goes into Brittany resolved to chastise him He gives his daughter to the Kings natural son and by this means makes his agreement By reason of this marriage the King gives his son the Dukedom of Vendosme 1598. He goes to Nantes and Rennes He puts good order in the Province Endeavours for a general peace and the two Kings wish it The Deputies met at Vervin Substance of the Treaty of Vervin The peace published 1598. The third part of the Life of Henry the great more calm and more peaceable then the others He was a Souldier by constraint but a Polititian by inclinaon It is necessary a King should know War but besides that there are other functions of Royalty What those functions are The Peace sworn by the King and Arch-Duke Albertus Byron made Duke and Peer goes to swear the peace in the Netherlands The Spaniards possess him with pride and presumption VVhat the French and what the Spaniards said of the peace VVhy the King desired peace Excellent words Strange sickness death of Philip 2. of Spain Before his death he takes care to marry his son and daughter His sickness hinders his swearing to the peace His son Philip the 2. doth it after his death The King forbids the carrying of arms He dismisses his Troops He remits the arrears of Taxes He commands the false Nobles to be sought out and taxes re-imposed on them He retrenches theluxury of the Nobility and sends them all to their houses in the Country He shews them by his example the modesty of his habits He falls dangerously sick Words of a good King He gives the Estates an account of his expences Cuts off the superfluous expences of his Tables Who were his Counsellours Ministers Chiverny Bellievre Sillery Sancy Janin Villeroy The King confers often with his Counsellours how Rosny after Duke of Sully After the death of Francis d' O he commits his Revenues to five or six who acquit themselves ill Seeing that he makes Sancy alone Superintendent And very little time after Rosny who knows perfectly the Revenues Which the King knows also so well that he could not be cheated He desires Rosny to take no Presents without advertising him He begins to establish a constant
both of the one and the other party into the Low-Countries made himself Mediator of the peace and obtained it by an Edict which was concluded after the Conference of Fleix This peace was the cause of almost as many evils to the Estate as all the former Wars had been The two Courts of the two Kings and the two Kings themselves plunged themselves in their pleasures with this difference however that our Henry was not so absolutely lull'd asleep with his delights but he thought sometimes of his affairs being awakened and lively reminded by the Remonstrances of the Ministers of his Religion and by the reproaches of the old Captains of the Hugonots who spoke to him with great liberty But Henry the third was wholly overwhelmed with softness and feebleness he seemed to have neither heart nor motion and his subjects could scarce know that he was in the world but because he dayly charged them with new Imposts all the money of which was disposed to the benefit of his Favorites He had always three or four at a time and at present he began to cast his graces on Joyeuse and the two Nogarets to wit Bernard and Jean-Lewis of whom the eldest died five or six years after and the youngest was Duke d' Espernon one of the most memorable and most wonderful Subjects that the Court had ever seen elevated in its favour and who certainly had qualities as eminent as his fortune In the mean time the excessive gifts which the King gave to all his favorites excited the cries of the people because they were trampled on and their monstrous greatness displeased the Princes because they believed themselves despised in such manner that they rendred themselves odious to all the world and the hate carried to them fell likewise upon the King whilst that violence which they obliged him to use towards his Parliaments to confirm his Edicts of Creation and Imposts augmented it yet more for if his Authority made his Wills pass as absolute he drew the peoples curses and if the vigour of the Soveraign companies as often happened stopt them he attracted their disdain The people who easily licentiate themselves to Rebellion against their Prince when they have lost for him all sentiments of esteem and veneration spoke strange things of him and his favorites The Guises whom the Minions for so the favorites were called opposed in all occasions endeavouring to deprive them of their Charges and Governments to re-invest themselves were not wanting to blow the fire and to increase the animosities of the people particularly of the great Cities whom favorites have always feared and who have always hated favorites These were the principal Dispositions to the aggrandizing the League and to the loss of Henry the third It is not to our purpose to recount here all the intrigues of the Court during five or six years nor the War of the Low-Countries from which Monsieur brought nothing but disgrace It is onely necessary to tell that in the year 1684. Monsieur died at Castle-Thierry without having been married that Henry the third had likewise no Children and that it was but too well known he was uncapable of ever having any by reason of an uncurable disease which he contracted at Venice in his return from Poland See here the reason why as soon as Monsieur was judged to death by the Physitians the Guises and Queen-Mother began to labour each on their side to assure themselves of the Crown as if the succession had been open to them for neither the one nor the other accounted for any thing our Henry so much the rather because he was beyond the seventh degree beyond which in ordinary successions is accounted no kindred and because he was not of that Religion of which all the Kings of France have been since Clouis and by consequence incapable to wear the Crown or bear the Title of Thrice-Christian Adde to this that he was two hundred Leagues distant from Paris and as it were shut up in a corner of Guyenne where it seem'd to them easie to ensuare him or oppress him The Queen-Mother had a design to give the Crown to the Children of her Daughter married to the Duke of Lorrain whom she would have treated as Princes of the bloud as if the Crown of France could fall under the command of the Spindle Nor was she carried to this onely out of the love she had for them but out of a secret hatred she had conceived against our Henry because she saw that contrary to all her wishes heaven opened him a way to come to the Throne Besides she was too much deceived for so able a woman to believe that the Duke of Guise would favour her in her design there was much appearance and after affaires sufficiently testified it that seeing himself persecuted by the Favorites and ill treated by the King himself for their sakes he had thoughts to assure the Crown for his own head For ill treatments work at least no other effect then to cast into extreme despaire Souls so Noble and Elevated as that of this Prince But he knowing well that of himself he could not arrive at so high a pitch and that specially because it would be difficult to divert the affection which the people of France naturally have for the Princes of the Bloud he advised himself to gain the old Cardinal de Bourbon who was Uncle of our Henry he promised him therefore that the death of Henry the third Arriving he would employ all his power and that of his Friends to make him King and that good man doting with age permitting himself to be flattered with these vain hopes made himself the Bauble of the Dukes Ambition who by this means drew to his party a great number of Catholiques who considered the house of Bourbon The Question was if the Uncle ought to precede the Son of the Elder Brother in the Succession and to speak truth the business was not without some difficulty because according to the Custome of Paris the Capital of the Realm and many other Customes collateral representation hath no place This point of right was diversly agitated by the Reverend Judges and many treats were had some in favour of the Uncle and others of the Nephew but these were but Combats of words the sword was to decide the difference It seemed to many great Polititians that the Duke of Guise acted contrary to his own interests and design by acknowledgeing that the Cardinal of Bourbon ought to Succeed to the Crown this being to avow that after his death which could suffer no long delay it would appertain to our Henry his Nephew Henry 3. knew well his design or rather was advertised of it by his Favorites who saw in it their certain ruine and therefore so much desired to bring back the King of Navarre to the Catholique Church to the end he might deprive the Leaguers of that specious Pretext they
and attended onely by one Page passing the Bridge went to give a visit to the King They entertained one another a long time in two or three Conferences in which our Henry gave great marks of his Capacity and Judgement Their Resolution in sum was to raise a puissant Army to assault Paris which was the principal head of the Hydra and gave motion to all the rest a thing easie for them to do because the King expected great Levies from towards the Switzers whither he had sent Sancy for that purpose adding that the designe of the siege being published it would infallibly draw a great number of Souldiers and Adventurers out of hopes of so rich a pillage The two Kings having passed two days together he of Navarre went to Chinon to cause the rest of his Troops to advance who hitherto had refused to mingle themselves among the Catholicks During his absence the Duke of Mayenne who had taken the Field fell upon the Suburbs of Tours thinking to surprize the City and the King within it by means of some intelligence The Combat was very bloody and the Dukes designe wanted little of taking effect but after the first endeavours having lost the hopes to compass it he easily retired Afterwards the Kings Troops being wonderfully increased they marched conjoyntly he and the King of Navarre towards Orleans took all the little places thereabouts and from thence descended into Beauce and drew together all of a suddain towards Paris All the Posts round about it as Poissy Estampes and Meulan were either forced or obtained Capitulation in which they desired no other security then the word of the King of Navarre to which they trusted more then to all the Writings of Hen. 3. So great a profession made he of keeping his word even to the prejudice of his interests Let us consider a little the different Estate to which these two Kings were reduced by their different conduct The One for having often broken his Faith was abandoned by his Subjects and his greatest Oaths found no belief amongst them and the Other for having always exactly kept it was followed even by his greatest Enemies in all occasions he gave marks of his Valour and Experience in point of War but above all of his Prudence and of those Noble Inclinations he had to good and to oblige all the world He was always seen in the most dangerous places to accelerate Labours animate his Souldiers sustain them in Sallies comfort the wounded and cause Money to be distributed amongst them He observed all inquired into all and would himself with the Marshal of the Camp order the Lodgings of his Souldiers He observed strictly what was done in the Army of Henry 3. where though he often found faults he concealed them out of fear to offend those who had committed them by discovering their ignorance and when he believed himself oblito take notice of them he did it with so much Circumspection that they could not finde any reason to take it in ill part He was never niggardly of giving praises due to Noble Actions nor of Caresses and generous Deport to those came near him he entertained himself with them when he had time to do it or at least so obliged them with some good word that they still went away satisfied He feared not at all to make himself familiar because he was assured that the more men knew him the more they would esteem him In fine the conduct of this Prince was such that there was no heart he gained not nor no friend he had who would not willingly have become his Martyr Paris was already besieged the King lodged at St. Clou and our Henry at Meudon keeping with his Troops all that is between Vanvres to the Bridge of Charenton Sancy was already arrived with his Levies of Suisses and they laboured with Orders to give a general Assault to the end they might gain the Suburbs beneath the River The Duke of Mayenne who was in the City with his Troops expecting those Supplies the Duke of Nemours was to bring was in great apprehensions that he should not be able to sustain the furious shock was preparing when a young Jacobin of the Convent of Paris named James Clement spurred on by a Resolution as devilish and detestable as it was determinate smote King Henry the third with a blow of a knife in the Belly of which he died the morrow after If the frantick Monk had not been slain upon the place by the Kings Guards many things might have been known which are now concealed Our Henry being advertized late in the Evening of this mournful Accident and of the danger in which the King was came to his Lodging accompanied onely by five and twenty or thirty Gentlemen and being arrived a little before he expired he fell on his knees to kiss his hands and received his last Embraces The King named him many times his Good Brother and Legitimate Successour recommended the Kingdome to him exhorted the Lords there present to acknowledge him and not to disunite In fine after having conjured him to embrace the Catholick Religion he gave up the Ghost leaving all his Army in an astonishment and confusion which cannot be expressed and all the Chiefs and Captains in Irresolutions and different Agitations according to their Humours Fancies or Interests The Second PART OF THE LIFE OF Henry the Great Containing what he did from the day he came to the Crown of France until the Peace which was made in the year 1598. by the Treaty at Vervin THE Death of Henry the third caused an entire change in the face of affairs Paris the League and the Duke of Mayenne were transported from a profound Sadness to a furious Joy and the Servants of the Defunct King from a Pregnant Hope to see him Revenged to an extreme Desolation This Prince who had been the object of the peoples hatred being now no more it seemed that that hatred should cease and by consequence the heat of the League relent but on the contrary not only all those who composed that faction but likewise many others who had held it for a Crime to League themselves against Henry the third their Catholick and Legitimate King believed themselves in Conscience Obliged to oppose themselves against our Henry at least till such time as he should return into the bosome of the true Church a qualification they believed absolutely necessary for that him should succeed Charlemagne of S. Lewis So that if the League lost that heat which hatred gave it it gained one much more specious from a zeal to Religion and had likewise a most plausible pretext not to lay down Arms till Henry should Profess the Religion of his Ancestors It was very difficult to judge whether the point of time wherein this unhappy Parricide arrived were good or ill for him for on one side it seemed that Providence had not drawn him from the
steal a victory that ambuscadoes were not honest but onely during War and that it was necessary for his honour to take heeâ— that he did not in any manner contribute to that rupture the enemies had a design to make In fine the Spaniards having found that this wise Argus had too many eyes and too much vigilance to be surprized on any side resolved to employ their Arms in pious and honorable enterprizes A part of their Land-Army passed into Hungary which was at that present assaulted by the Turks The Duke of Merceur being gone to seek in that Country a juster glory then in the Civil-wars of France commanded the Emperours forces He made known to the Infidels by many gallant exploits particularly by the memorable retreat of Canise that the French valour was chosen by God to sustain the Christian Religion Nor was there any doubt made but that he would have quite chased them out of that Kingdom of which they had invaded more then one half if he had not died the year following of a burning Feavour which seized him at Nurembourg as he was about to go pay his devotions at the Shrine of the Lady of Loretto There arrived some time after an accident by which the King took occasion to let the Spaniards know that he could not suffer any thing against his honour nor against the dignity of his estate Rochepot was his Embassador in Spain Some Gentlemen of his train of which one was his Nephew washing in the River chanced to have a quarrel with some Spaniards and killing two saved themselves in the Ambassadors house The friends of the slain so much excited the people that they besieged the house and were ready to put fire to it The Magistrate to prevent the Tragick effects of this fury was constrained to do an injustice and to violate the freedom of the Ambassadors house for he seized by force and led the accused to prison The King of Spain being troubled that he had violated the right of Nations sent him to demand pardon of the Ambassador yet the French men still remained prisoners There were made many discourses and writings concerning the rights and priviledges of Ambassadors It is true said they that an Ambassador hath alone right of Soveraign Justice in his Palace but the people of his train are subject to the Justice of the estate in which they are for those faults they commit out of his Palace and so if they be taken out of it their Process may be made and though it be known that this rigour is not generally observed and that the respect born to the Ambassadors person extends to all those that follow him yet however this is a courtesie and not a right But notwithstanding it is not permitted to go seek the Criminal in the Palace of the Ambassador which is a sacred place and a certain Sanctuary for his people yet ought it not however to be abused or made a retreat for wicked persons nor give Sanctuary to the Subjects of a Prince against the Laws and Justice of his Realm for in such cases on complaint to his Master he is obliged to do reason Now the King being offended as he ought to be at the injury done to France in the person of his Ambassador and not judging the satisfaction the Magistrate had given him sufficient commands him immediately to return which he did without taking leave of the King of Spain He forbade likewise at the same time all Commerce with Spaniards and foreseeing that in these beginnings of the rupture they might enterprize somewhat on the Towns of Picardy he with great diligence departed from Paris to visit that Frontier and came to Calais The people who began to taste the sweetness of repose and to Till their lands with patience trembled for fear lest a new War should expose them once more to the License of the Souldiers But God had pity of these poor people The Pope becoming mediatour to remedy those mischiefs which threatned Christendom happily accommodated the difference The Spaniard remitted the Process and the Prisoners whom his Holiness consigned some days after into the hands of the Count of Bethune Ambassador for France at Rome and the King afterwards sent an Ambassador into Spain which was the Count of Barraut Whilst the King was at Calais whither as we have said he went the Arch-Duke who was before Ostend where he continued that Siege the most famous that ever was since that of Troy feared with some reason lest the Kings approach should retard the progress of his enterprize in which he had already lost so many men so much time spent so many Cannot shot so much money and such stores of Ammunition he sent therefore to complement him promising him on the part of Spain satisfaction for the violence done to the Lodgings of his Ambassador but intreating him that the besieged might not prevail themselves of this Conjuncture The King who never let himself be overcome by Courtesie no more then by Arms sent the Duke of Aiguillon eldest Son of the Duke of Mayenne to assure him that he desired to maintain the peace that he was not advanced on the Frontiers but to dissipate some designs which were contriving and that he hoped in the equity of the King of Spain which he doubted not would do him reason VVhilst he was at Calais Queen Elizabeth sent likewise to visit him by my Lord Edmonds her principal Confident For answer to which obliging civility he caused the Marshal of Byron to pass into England accompanied by the Count d' Auvergne and the choice of all the Nobility of the Court to represent to her the displeasure the King had finding himself so near her that he could not enjoy the sight of her This Queen endeavoured by all means possible to make known to the French her greatness and power One day holding Byron by the hand she shewed him a great number of heads planted on the Tower of London telling him that in that manner they punished Rebels in England and recounting to him the reasons she had to put to death the Earl of Essex whom she had once so tenderly loved Those who heard the discourse remembred it afterwards when they saw the Marshal Byron fallen into the same misfortune and lose his head after having lost the favour of his King VVe must not forget how that before the King made his voyage to Calais he had led the Queen with him to enjoy the Jubilee in the City of Orleans where the holy Father had ordained the Stations for France to begin His piety which was sincere and unfeigned gave a fair Example to his people who see him go to Processions with great devotion and pray to God with no less attention his heart agreeing with his lips He laid the first stone to the foundation of the Church of the holy Cross at Orleans which the Hugonots had miserably
pleasure it causes a thousand troubles and a thousand mischiefs even in this world it self The King being now but just fifty years of age began this year to have some small feelings of the Gout which possibly were the doleful effects of his excessive voluptuousness as well as of his labours To return to the Marchioness it happened one day that the Queen being very much offended at her discourse threatned her that she should know how to bridle her wicked tongue The Marchioness upon this seemed sad and grieved shunn'd the King and let him understand that she desired that he would no more demand any thing of her because she feared that the continuation of his favours would be too prejudicial both to her and her children Her design was to inflame more his passion by shewing her self more difficult But when she saw that her cunning had not all the effect she hoped and that the Queens anger was encreased to such a point that indeed there was some danger for her and hers she advised her self of another thing D' Entragues her Father demanded permission of the King to carry her out of the Kingdom to avoid the vengeance of the Queen The King granted her demand easier then she thought he would wherewith being excessively enraged her Father and the Count d' Auvergne her Brother by the Mothers side began to Treat secretly with the Ambassador of Spain to have some retreat in the Territories of his King casting themselves absolutely they and their children into his Arms. The Ambassador believed that this business would be very advantagious to his Master and that in time and place he might serve himself of that promise of marriage which the King had given to the Marchioness he therefore easily granted them all that they demanded and added all the fair promises with which weak and feeble spirits might be entoxicated The King had granted them permission to retire themselves out of France but yet without the Children out of a belief he had that they would go into England to the Duke of Lenox and the Earl of Aubigny of the house of the Stuarts who were their near kinsmen but when he understood that they consulted of a retreat into Spain he resolved to hinder them but to employ fair means to do it He sends therefore for the Count d' Auvergne who was then at Clermont so much beloved in the Province that he believed he might securely stay there He refused to come before he had his Pardon Sealed in good form for all that he might have done This was a kind of new crime to capitulate with his King however he sends it him but with this Clause That he should make his immediate appearance His distrust permitted him not to obey on this condition he stayed still in the Province where he kept himself on his Guard with all precautions imaginable Nevertheless he was not so cunning but the King could entrap him and by an Artifice very gross He being Colonel of the French Cavalry was desired to go see a Muster made of a Company of the Duke of Vendosmes He went well mounted keeping himself at a good distance that he might not be encompassed Nevertheless d' Eâ—â—â—re Lieutenant of that Company Nerestan approaching him to salute him mounted on little Hobbies for fear of giving him suspition but with three Souldiers disguised like Lacquies cast him from his horse and made him prisoner They led him presently to the Bastille where he was seized with a great fear when he saw himself lodged in the same Chamber where the Marshal of Byron his great friend had been Immediately after the King caused d' Entragues to be Arrested who was carried to the Conciergerie and the Marchioness who was left in her lodgings under the Guard of the Cavalier de Guet After desiring to make known by publick proofs the ill intention of the Spaniards who seduced his subjects and excited and fomented conspiracies in his Estate he remitted the prisoners into the hands of the Parliament who having convicted them of having complotted with the Spaniard declared by a sentence of the first of February the Count of Auvergne d' Entragues and an English man named Morgan who had been the Agent of this fair Negotiation guilty of Treason and as such condemned them to have their heads cut off The Marchioness to be conducted with a good Guard into the Abby of Nuns at Beaumont near to Tours to be there shut up and that in the mean time there should be more ample information made against her at the request of the Attorny-General The Queen spared no sollicitations for the giving of this sentence believing that the Execution would satisfie her resentment but the goodness of the King surpassed her passion The love which he had for the Marchioness was not so far extinct that he could resolve to Sacrifice what he had adored he would not permit them to pronounce the Sentence and two months and a half afterward to wit on the fifteenth of April he by Letters under his Great Seal changed the penalty of Death on the Count of Auvergne and the Lord d' Entragues into perpetual Imprisonment Some time after he had likewise changed the prison of Entragues into a Confinement to his house of Malles-herbes in Beausse He likewise permitted the Marchioness to retire to Verneuil and seven months being passed without the Attorney-Generals procuring any proof against her he caused her to be declared absolutely innocent of the crime whereof she was accused There rested onely the Count of Auvergne who being the most to be feared was the worst treated for the King not onely kept him prisoner at the Bastille where he lay for twelve whole years but likewise deprived him of his propriety in the County of Auvergne He had bore the title and enjoyed it by vertue of the Donation of King Henry the third Queen Margaret newly come to the Court sustained that this Donation could not be valuable because the contract of the Marriage of Katherine de Medicis her Mother to whom that County appertained allowing Substitution of her goods and that Substitution said she extending to Daughters in default of Males that County was to come to her after the death of Henry the third nor could he give it to her prejudice The Parliament having hearkned to her reasons and seen her proofs annulled the Donation made by Henry the third and adjudged her this County In recompence of which obligation and many others she had received from the King she made a Donation of all her Estates after death to the Daulphin reserving to her self onely the fruits of them during life The Count of Auvergne thus despoiled remained in the Bastille untill the year one thousand six hundred and sixteen when Queen Mary de Medicis having need of him during the troubles delivered him from thence and caused him to be justified She
Assaults to wit Hungary and Poland against those of the Turks and Swedeland and Poland against the Muscovites and Tartars After when all these fifteen Dominions had been well established with their rights their Governours and Limits which he hoped might be done in less then three years they should together of their own accord have chosen three general Captains two by Land and one by Sea who should all at once have assaulted the Ottoman-house to which each Dominion should have contributed a certain quantity of Men Ships Artillery and Money according to the Tax imposed The sum in gross which they should furnish out should amount to two hundred sixty five thousand foot-men fifty thousand horse a train of two hundred and seventeen pieces of Cannon with Waggons Officers and Ammunition proportionable and one hundred and seventeen great Ships without counting Vessels of less force Fire-ships or Ships of burden This establishment would have been advantagious to all the Princes and Estates of Europe There was onely the house of Austria which would suffer any loss and which was to be despoiled to accommodate others But the project was laid to make them either willingly or by force consent in this manner First it is to be supposed that on the part of Italy the Pope the Venetians and the Duke of Savoy were well informed of the Kings designes and that they ought to assist with all their forces especially the Savoyard who was moreover extreamly animated because the King gave his Daughter in marriage to his son Victor Amadeo In Germany four Electors to wit the Palatine Brandebourg Colen and Ments were likewise to know it and favour it and the Duke of Bavaria had their word and that of the King to raise him to the Empire and many Imperial Cities had already addressed themselves to the King to beseech him to honour them with his protection and to maintain them in their Priviledges which had been abolished by the house of Austria In Bohemia and Hungaria there was intelligence held with the Lords and Nobility and that the people desperate with the weight of that yoak were ready to shake it off and to relieve themselves on the first proffered occasion All these dispositions being so favourable to him the business of Cleves happened of which we at present shall speak which furnished him with a fair occasion to begin the execution of his projects which he was to do in this manner Having raised an Army of forty thousand men as he did he was in his march to dispatch towards all the Princes of Christendome to give them the knowledge of his just and holy intentions After under the pretext of going to Cleves he was to seize all the passages of la Mense and all at once assault Charlemont Mastrich and Namur which were but ill fortified At the same time the Cities of the Low-Countries had cryed out for liberty and the Lords put themselves in the Field for the same purpose and had blazoned the Belgique Lyon with the Flowers de Lis. The Hollanders had infested the Coasts with their Ships in very great number to hinder the Traffick of the Flemins by Sea as it was shut up by the French by Land which should have been done of purpose to hasten the people to shake off the Spanish Rule and to address themselves to the King and to the Princes his Associates to pray the King of Spain to put them in liberty and out of his goodness to restore peace to them which they could never hope so long as they were under his Dominion In all probable appearance at the approach of so great an Army by reason of the intelligences of the principal Lords by the insurrection of the great Cities and of the love which these people have still had for liberty Flanders would all have risen especially when they had seen the wonderful order and exact discipline of his souldiers who should have lived like good Guests paying for all and not doing the least outrage upon pain of death and when it should be known that he laboured for the safety of the people not reserving any thing of all his Conquests but the glory and the satisfaction of having restored those Provinces to themselves without keeping so much as a Castle or Village to himself At the same time that he had put Flanders into a free state and accommodated the difference of the succession of Cleves all the Princes interested in this business the Electors we have named and the Deputies of many great Cities were to come and thank him and intreat him that he would joyn his Prayers and his Authority to the supplications they had to make to the Emperour to dispose him to restore the Estates and Cities of the Empire to their ancient Rights and Immunities above all in the free Election of a King of the Romans without using any practices constraints promises and threats And that for this effect it should be from that moment resolved that they should elect one of another house then that of Austria They had agreed among themselves that it should be the Duke of Bavaria The Pope had joyned with them in this request which had been made with such instance that it had been difficult for the Emperor being unarmed as he was to have refused it The like request had been made to the King and his Associates by the people of Bohemia Hungary Austria Stiria and Carinthia above all for the right they had themselves to make choice of their Prince and to put themselves under that form of Government they should think best by the advice of their friends and allies To which the King condescending had used all sorts of fair means prayers and supplications even below his dignity that it might be seen he intended not so much to serve himself of power as of equity and reason After this the Duke of Savoy by the same way had demanded of the King of Spain with all sorts of civility and in the name of his children that he would be pleased to give them a Dower for their Mother as good and advantagious as he had to their Aunt Isabella and in case of refusal the King was to permit Lesdiguieres to assist him with fifteen thousand Footmen and two thousand Horse for the Conquest of Milan or the Country of Lombardy in which he would have been favoured by the greatest part of the Princes of Italy This done he with his Associates were to beseech the Pope and the Venetians to become Arbitrators between him and the King of Spain to terminate friendly these differences which were ready to break forth between them by reason of Naples Sicily Navarre and Roussillon And then to shew that he had no thought to aggrandize himself nor other ambition then to settle the repose of Christendom he had shewed himself ready to yeild to the Spaniard Navarre and Roussillon so that
not that they should call him Monsieur or Sir a name which seemed to render Children strangers to their Fathers and which denoted servitude and subjection but that they should call him Papa a name of tenderness and love And certainly in the Old Testament God took the names of Lord the Mighty God the God of Hosts and others to set forth his greatness and power but in the Christian Law which is a Law of Grace and Charity he commanded us to make our Prayers as his Children by those sweet words Our Father which art in Heaven There remains at present that we put here a Summary recapitulation of the Life of this great King and after erâ—ct an Eternal Monument to his glory in the name of all France which can never sufficiently acknowledge its Immortal obligations to his Heroick vertue He began the first motions of his life in the Camp at the Sound of Trumpets his Mother brought him into the world with a wonderful courage his Grand-father inspired strength into him the first day he saw him and he was brought up to labor from his tenderest infancy The first knowledge that age gave him was to resent the death of his Father killed at the siege of Rouen and to see himself encompassed with dangers on all sides distant from Court his friends dis-favoured his servants persecuted and his ruine conjured by his enemies His Mother a generous and able woman gave him excellent instructions for Morality and Policy but very ill ones for Religion so that he was a Hugonot by Engagement and not by Election And he often professed that he was not prepossessed that he should be ready to clear and â—ay himself open and that if they could make him see a better way then that he followed he willingly and faithfully would walk in it but that till then he was to be tolerated and not persecuted At the age of fifteen years he became chief of the Hugonot party and gave such sensible advices that the greatest Captains had cause to admire him and to repent that they had not followed him He passed the first flowers of his youth part in Arms and a part in his Lands of Gascoin where he remained till the age of nineteen years He was then enticed to come to Court by a Marriage as illegitimate as cruel for we may say that the present Nuptial was the suddain death of his Mother the Feast the general Massacre of his friends and the Morrow of his Marriage his Captivity which endured almost four years at the mercy of his most cruel enemies and in a Court the most wicked and most corrupted that ever was known His courage was not at all weakned by this servitude nor could his soul be infected among so many corruptions But the Charms of the Ladies which Queen Katherine made use of to retain him begat in him that weakness and vice which indured all his life not to refuse any of those desires their beauty inspired To withdraw himself from the servitude of the Court he cast himself into the snare of his ancient party and of the Hugonot Religion He received all those troubles and all those perplexities which the Chiefs of a Civil War make proof of his dignity of General not dispensing with the pains and dangers of a simple Souldier Thrice did he oblige the Court to grant him Peace and Priviledges to his party but thrice they violated them and he several times beheld seven or eight Royal Armies make head against him His valour which had already appeared in many occasions signalized it self with great Renowne at the Battail of Coutras This was the first important blow that he struck on the head of the League A little after it having assembled the Estates at Blois to Arm the whole Kingdom against him and exclude him from the Crown of France the Guises who were believed the Authors of this Tragedy were themselves made the terrible Catastrophe but which filled all with flame blood and confusion The Duke of Mayenne Armed himself to Revenge the Death of his Brothers and the King almost quite abandoned and shut up in Tours was enforced to call him to his aid Our Hero passed by all distrusts and all fears some would have infused into him to take the part of his Soveraign They marched to Paris and besieged it but upon the point to enter Henry the third is Assassinated by a Monk The right of Succession calling our Henry to the Throne he found the way crossed with a thousand terrible difficulties the League in head against him the servants of the defunct King little affected to him the Grandees every one for his particular ends The whole Catholick Religion Leagued against him without the Spaniard the Pope the Savoyard the Lorrainer within on one side the people and the great Cities on the other the Hugonots who tormented him with their continual distrusts He could not advance one pace without finding some obstacle so many days so many battails His subjects endeavoured to overthrow him as a publick enemy and he endeavoured to regain them like a good Father In his Closet and in his Council there were only displeasures and bitternesses caused by an infinity of discontents treasons and pernicious designs which were from moment to moment discovered against his Person and against his Estate Every day a double Combat a double Victory the one against his enemies the other against his followers using Prudence and Cunning where Generosity would not serve At Arques he made it appear he could not be overcome and at Yvry that he knew how to vanquish Every where where he appeared all yeilded to his Arms The League dayly lost places and Provinces It was beaten by his Lieutenants in other places as by himself in the heart of his Kingdom He had forced Paris if he could have resolved to loose it but by sparing it he absolutely gained not onely its walls but its hearts The Duke of Parma stopt a little the progress of his successes but he could not change their course Vertne and Fortune or rather Divine Providence seemed linked together to crown him with Glory God visibly assisted him in all his designes and preserved him from an infinite number of treasons and horrid attempts which were dayly formed against his Life In fine he overthrew the intentions of the Thirdlings and prevented the resolutions of the Estates of the League by causing himself to be instructed in the Catholick Religion and re-entring into the bosome of the holy Church When that pretext of Religion was wanting to his enemies all the party of the League mouldred away Paris and all the great Cities acknowledged him the Duke of Mayenne though very late was constrained to become his subject and return to his duty and all the Chiefs of the League treated separately This shew'd a great deal of prudence and cunning in the King to receive them thus disjoyntly for if they had all together made a treaty of common
Secretary His punishment The Ambassadours Secretary arrested Several discourses concerning Ambassadours priviledges The King forbids any process against the Secretary The Ambassadour makes a great noise and threatens his Kings resentment Treason of the Luquisses A fool makes an attempt on the Kings person Those who desire war whet the Kings spirit upon these Conspiracies Character of Philip 3. of Spair A good profitable reflection In what the courage of a Soveraign principally consists The goodness of Henry the Great But the King hastens not the War He makes himself Arbitrator of the differences of Christendom 1606. After the death of Clement 8. he causes to be chosen Leo xi who soon dies and Paul 5. succeeds A great difference between Paul 5. and the Venetians The Venetians had made a law to bound the Acquisitions of the Clergy They make other Decrees Paul 5. offended at these Decrees He sends Briefs to revoke them He Excommunicates the Senate They declare his sentence of Excommunication null and abusive 1607. Henry the great undertakes to accommodate the difference He sends to this purpose Cardinal Joyeuse who concludes an accommodation The Pope absolves the Signory There was nothing but the reestablishment of the Jesuites not obtained 1608. The King endeavours an accommodation between the Hollander and Spaniard He underhand assists the Hollander with men and money Janin sent for this accommodation They come presently to an eight months truce The King makes an offensive and defensive League with the Hollander The Spaniards Alarm'd at this League Don Pedro de Toledo makes great complaints to the King Things very curious which passed betwixt the King and Don Pedro. Their entertainments Lively and quick replies Don Pedro kisses the Kings Sword Two obstacles in the Treaty of the Hollanders surmounted by the King The Treaty ends in a twelve years Truce Great praise given by the republick of Venice to our Henry All desire his friendship and protection He will not protect Subjects against their Soveraign What the Maurisques were The Spaniards treat them ill * An avanie is when by a false accusation money is forced from any person They demand assistance of Henry the Great He refuses it The King of Spain banisheth them all They are horribly ill Treated by the Spaniards and by the French They are carried into Affrica but some stay in France The great designe of Henry 4. for the extent of the Christian Religion in the Levant He sends some to spy the Country He seeks means to raise mony without burthening his people He would disengage his demain * The Greffes is a due to the King of 63 â— 9 d. Tours upon the sale of wood in several places and take off the Impost by buying the Salt-Marishes He is constrained to acquit himself of old scores to make some new imposts creations He makes not always use of innocent means Inquisition of the rents of the City-house cause disturbance * Hostel de Ville is the same at Paris as Guild-hall at London Miron Provost of the Merchants sustains the interest of the people Some would incense the King against him The people rise to defend him The King counselled to take him by force The Kings wise answer worthy a great Polititian He will not pursue this business of the Rents Establishment of the Paulete Justice formerly administred in France by Gentlemen How it fell into the hands of the Plebeians who made profit of it The Parliament of France meddle with particular affairs and is made sedentary at Paris They make all other Judges subalternate to them The number of the Officers of Parliament small How Offices became vendible under Francis 1. * He had often said that fat Boy would spoile all and Henry 2. How this might be remedied But on the contrary is made incurable by the Paulete Which causes great abuses 1609. Marriage of the Prince of Conde And of the Duke of Vendosme What were the Kings divertisements He loved Play too much He was extremely given to women This passion made him do shameful things Three or four of his Mistresses This causes often contentions with his wife And hinders his great design What that was The means with which he served himself to put it in Execution To this purpose he grants an Edict to the Hugonots and pays his debts Which regains the reputation and credit of France He joyns to him all Christian Princes by promising his conquests He reunites them by accommodating their differences The Princes he made his friends How he would have accommodated the Protestant Princes with the Pope He treats with the Electors With the Lords of Bohemia Hungary Poland With the Pope Model of the designe of Hen. 4. He would part Christendome into fifteen equal Dominions To wit eleven Kingdoms and four Republicks What the Pope had had The Signory of Venice The Italian Common-wealth Duke of Savoy Republick of the Swisses The Low-Countries Kingdome of Hungary The Empire with free election Bohemia Hungary elective A general Council of sixty persons Three others of each twenty Order to hinder tyranny and rebellion and to assist the Provinces adjoyning to Infidels Three general Captains two by Land and one by Sea to war against the Turks What forces what train None but the house of Austria had suffered by this establishment In Italy the Pope Venetians and Savoyard would consent In Germany many Electors and had chosen the Duke of Bavaria Emperour In Bohemia and Hungary the Lords and Nobility The business of Cleves happens to give a beginning to the great designe The Cities of Flanders should revolt The Kingâ— Army should have lived in great order The King would have reserved nothing of his Conquests He had with other Princes prayed the Emperour to rerestore the Cities of the Empire to liberty Bohemia Hungary Austria had made the same request The Duke of Savoy had demanded the Dower of his wife from the Spaniard The Pope and Venetians to become mediators of the difference of Navarre Naples Savoy c. And the King had yeilded his right They had perswaded the King of Spain or else forced him The great Prudence and moderation intended by the King in the pursuit of his design The preparations he made The forces he had The Prince of Oranges Army That of the Electors German Princes That of the Venetians and Savoyard His Exchequer for defraying this great designe He would make the War powerfully that it might be short Great appearance it might have succeeded having no Princes to oppose it but the Dukes of Saxony and Florence What was the business of Cleves and Juliers Death of John Duke of Juliers without issue His succession disputed by many particularly by Brandenbourg and Newbourg The Emperour said it was devolved to the Empire He invests Leopold of Austria who whilst Brandenbourg and Newbourg dispute seizes Juliers They implore the Kings assistance who promises to march in person But tells him he intended to conserve the Catholick Religion in that Country Answer made to the Ambassador of the Empire He establishes good order in the Kingdom before his departure Leaves the Regency to the Queen but gives her a good Council He establishes little Councils in the Provinces who refer to the great one 1610. Some put it into the spirit of the Queen that she should be installed before the Kings departure He though unwillingly consents The instalment of the Queen Many Prognosticks which seemed to presage the death of Henry 4. Advice from several places that his life should be attempted He seems to believe them and fear Who Ravaillac was He is induced to kill the King but it is not known by whom The King departs the Louvre to go to the Arsenal What persons were with him His Coach stopt in the street of the Ferronnerie Ravaillac killeth him He is torn with burning pincers and drawn in pieces by four horses The Kings body opened and found that he might yet live 30 years He is buried at St. Denis The Queen made Regent The great desolation in Paris when they knew of the Kings death His age and the time of of his reign His two wives Margaret and Mary He had three Sons by Mary and three Daughters He had eight Natural children of divers Mistresses Two Sons and a Daughter of Gabriella A Son and a Daughter of the Marchioness of Verneuil Of the Countess of Moret one Son Of Madam d' Essards two daughters He loved all his children and would have them call him Papa Summary recital of the Life of Henry the Great Parallel of his adversities and prosperities * There are more then fifty conspiracies against his person His adversities whet his spirit and courage Why Princes who come young to the Crown seldome learn to govern well Those who come to a Crown at greater distance and a more ripe age are more capable and better The reasons of it A mystick Crown to the glory of Henry the Great