Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	king_n	prince_n	son_n	10,029	5	5.2752	4	true

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10586	A legendarie, conteining an ample discourse of the life and behauiour of Charles Cardinal of Lorraine, and of his brethren, of the house of Guise. Written in French by Francis de L'isle; Legende de Charles, cardinal de Lorraine et de ses frères, de la maison de Guise. English	La Planche, Louis Régnier de, ca. 1530-ca. 1580.	1577 (1577)	STC 20855; ESTC S115805	138,427	198

of the crowne he should set forth an edict the contents whereof were that no man should from thence forth retaine in his hands two offices by meanes of the which they promised vnto them selues the spoyle of the noble men aforesaide besides that vnder colour therof they might haue free accesse vnto the handling of the whole estate and so in time atteine vnto their aspiring drifts purposes and that the rather because they perceiued none of the Princes of the blood ouer hastie to intrude them selues thereinto Howbeit now before we go any further we haue to coÌ„sider two other notable chaÌ„ces which happened presently at the death of King Francis afore named This King lying on his death bed called for his sonne the Dauphine to the end familiarly to talke with him In which communication like as the soule approching vnto his departure is for the most part more free and deuoyde of worldly cares earthly burdens and al other transitorie affaires and so consequently lesse tied vnto the bodie also that in maner al men in that extremitie time and place do entreat vpon more mystical and heauenly matter then before time they are wont yea diuers through a certaine prescience of things to come which surpasseth mans natural vnderstanding and reason do prognosticate of that that is most likely to happen euen so now among diuers other aduertisements and notable instructions which this King gaue vnto his sonne one was that he desired yea and charged him not to deale with the Children of Guise neither to permit them to haue any rule in the affayres of the estate For saith he I haue manifestly perceiued and am wel assured that the whole stock of theÌ„ is naught also that in case you transgresse this my precept they are to strip you into your doublet your subiectes into their shirtes This admonition deserued both to be marked put in excution but the simplicitie of the Dauphine being bewitched by this Seneschal together with Gods heauy displeasure against FraÌ„ce would not permit the childe to followe his fathers counsaile which in this case proued but ouer true for his affirming the whole race of them to be naught did shortlye after proue it selfe certaine The same day that this great King Francis let his life at Rambouillet whereas the Dauphine for very sorowe and griefe seeing his father lie in such extremitie and therewithal being in a maner ouercome was layed downe vpon his wiues bed who the whiles sat vpon the floore shewing great tokens of anguish and heauines the great Seneschal the Duke of Guise who yet was but Earle of Aumale walked there also although contraryly affected for she was very pleasant and ioyful seeing the time of her triumph drawe on and he stil from time to time walked to the doore to hearken after newes vsing alwayes at his returne this phrase Now the yonker goeth his waies but had not that yonker seing it pleased him so to tearme him bene both he and the rest of his whole familie had bene but simple vnderlings in Lorraine still But now to our former matter let vs marke the execution of the forenamed edict concerning retaining of sundrie offices The same being concluded vpon King FraÌ„cis dead was put in practise before it was eyther sene or published For preseÌ„tly the Lord of Reims displaced the Cardinal of Tournon of his office of Chanceler of the order who in displeasure resigned to theÌ„ his mastership of the chappel also The Admiral d' Annebaut loste his office of Marshalship likewise nowe therfore I wil procede to the Great Mastership for the obteining whereof the Guisians were importunate mouing King Henry to write vnto the Constable that before his coÌ„ming to the court he should by proxy resigne one of his offices either the CoÌ„stableship or els the great mastership for they supposed that he would stil kepe the Constableship as being of greate auctority credite But were it that the King was at that time determined to exempt his gossippe from their ambition or els that he sought through the others voluntarie resignation to coÌ„ferre the said office vnto the Marshal of S. Andrewes to whome he had already broken his minde to the end by such ordinary meanes to suppresse some part of the furious attemptes of the Earle of Aumale and his brother or what other occasion soeuer there were yet certain it is that he wrote to the said CoÌ„stable with al speed to repaire to him but not to resigne any of his estates referring that vnto their owne priuate communication at their next meeting After his coÌ„ming the King who before euen burned with earnest zeale desire to see the said Constable who so long had bene absent out of his sight was now so farre froÌ„ taking from him any of his estates that contrariwise at their first embrasings he professed him self to be ashamed that he had in his hands no office worthy his person therefore in respect of such default the more to honour his welcoÌ„ming he yelded and presented vnto his said gossip his owne person Now the Lord of Reims had gotten the great seale and the Earle of Aumale had seased vpon the keies of the castle as a seasine fallen to him euen by succession But hearing the King call to the one to render the keyes and command the other to carry the seale vnto the great master whereby they should be driuen necessarily to slepe vnder the locke of the said great Master walke at the coÌ„mandement of the Constable not in any wise to deale in matters of estate without the said gossips permission it may be easy for eche man to comprehende into what part the affections of these brethren were bent Seeing also at the same instant an other estate of Marshal of France erected to the behoofe of Iames of Albon lorde of S. Andrews which was euen the last office that remained in the Kinges hands vpon the which as vpon his last refuge the Earle of Aumale had fixed his whole hope and truste This therfore hath bene one of the fouÌ„dations rootes of their quarell against the Constable and his progenie wherein besides their manifest iniurie offered vnto their owne persons in this respecte they haue also shewed them selues verye vnthankful toward the said Constable For it is not vnknowen vnto all those who duringe the reigne of the great King Francis had anie dealings in matters of estate that as wel the father as also the vncles of the said Lords of Guise had neuer any more assured or faithful friend in France then the said Constable who long before their comming into that country was alreadie in great creditte and estimation with his Prince and afterward with incredible fauour did succeede two great masters of France the one the Lord of Boisy his cousin germaine the other the Duke of Sauoy his Father in Law and finally atteined vnto the hiest degree next vnder the Princes of the kings blood that

of the renewing of the offices of the whole realme which summe if all at once it should be disboursed would surpasse the prodigalitie of al Princes that euer were hoping after her to enioye the same them selues During these matters the Lord of Reims gaping after more promotions whereby he might the better order his intents through the meanes of the aforesaid Seneschall obteyned fauourable letters from King Henry to Pope Paul the thirde who in that time curryed fauour with all Christian princes to the end through their ayde to be reuenged of the Emperour Charles the fifth for the death of his abominable sonne Peter Lewes whereby also the Lord of Reims whome the Seneschal called but master Charles filled his own bagges with the sale of his masters fauour By meanes therefore of these letters about the end of Iulie in the yeare 1547 he was created Cardinal vpon occasion whereof vnder pretence as wel of the Council of Boulogne as also of many other affaires which him selfe deuised he vndertooke a voiage into Italie through other two principal motions The first was for the concluding of the mariage aforesaid of his brother vnto the Duke of Ferara his daughter The other to the end to shew his persoÌ„ and so be knowen in Rome whereby he might in time to come the better order his driftes and deuises Being there he tooke vpon him the title of Cardinal of Anjou but into what peril through that presumptuous folly he brought him selfe most men do knowe For had not the great Seneschal stood his friend he neuer durst haue shewed his face in France any more albeit howsoeuer it came to passe he was compelled to leaue his title of Anjou beyond the Alpes and at his returne to accept the surname of his ancestours and country whereupon we shal hereafter cal him as him selfe hath especially after his vncles deceasse done the Cardinal of Lorraine At his coÌ„ming home to the court he so laboured king Henry that the Earledome of Aumale was erected into a Duchie therby to hasten the marriage of his brother Francis vnto the aforenamed Duke of Ferraras daughter which shortly after was consummate After this time began they to procure their owne aduancements and to lay the foundation of their tyrannie ouer al men both riche and poore in France We wil therefore begin with their vncle Cardinal Iohn who was the instrument to translate master Charles from the College of Nauarre vnto the Courte Not forbearing vntil that through his decease he might enriche them with his benefices they neuer left especially master Charles to pluck froÌ„ vnder his elbow al that possibly they could through a kinde of importunatenes not farre different froÌ„ meere violence This good nephue found meanes to make his vncle desirous to forsake the courte procuring vnto him such seruants as pleased him and frustrating him of those which were the most faithful vnder whatsoeuer colour he thought best and delt with him in such maner as that to his power he stripped him euen into his shirt in so much that shortly a soden death for he liued ouer long for his nephues commoditie caried him away at his returne from the election of Pope Iulius the third in the yere 1550. At that time did his nephue become famous in Rome procuring a Cardinals hat for his brother the Cardinal of Guise the ouerliuer of al the six brethren at which time also was ended consummate the aforesaid marriage of the eldest brother vnto the daughter of Ferrara Hauing thus vnclothed their vncle before he were ready to goe to bed let vs consider how they handled him after his death This man dyed indetted vnto many marchants but especially of Paris leauing such welth in moueable goods as was great yea and more then sufficient to haue discharged al. After his deceasse his creditors drew toward his nephue the Cardinal of Lorrain who together with the Cardinal of Guise had raked vp al his liuings but himselfe alone had seased vpon al the moueables to whom he answered that he was not his heire For such men doe neuer accompt him heire who seaseth vpon the goods as the practitioners do tearme it do medle with the inheritance but him onely who saith I am he But now no man spake that word for the Cardinal of Lorraine ment to haue the goods of free cost and as for his brethren they would not pay because they had not the goods Againe it is not vnknowen that benefices by a certain rigour of Law are not chargeable with the dettes If therefore the said Cardinal of Lorraine had at the first willed most of them to looke for nothing yet in losing of their dettes they should haue bene good gainers for then should they haue saued both their time and cost which they wasted in wayting almost two whole yeres to know the end of this fetch which he caused one of his men to playe to whome he gaue coÌ„mission to peruse the dettes of the party deceased and the same to verifie and set in order as he tearmed it with other such like tearmes of practise which stil were in this commissioners mouth In the meane time they do make an inuentory saith one a description saith an other a remembrance sayth another but whatsoeuer it were among al the dead mans mouables was to be found in the end nothing by the report and conscience of his nephue saue a few olde stooles and settles with a litle rotten tapestrye good to make sport with al which to be briefe was the whole inueÌ„tory of al that that the Cardinal would not haue But the sport was to heare his talke hereupon Whensoeuer the merchants of Paris came in his presence Me thinketh would he say these fleas do bite me an other time Tush they be Englishmen Saluters or giuers of good morowes Againe comming to the particulars To one he is an vserer of Paris to an other he hath not yet deliuered his wares to an other he sould it for six times more then it was worth to another he hath receiued some money in part of payment to another Nothing is dewe signifying you get nothing which title comprehended the greatest nomber But vnto those to whome he shewed greatest fauour he vsed to say Help to paye your selues not meaning Hold forth your hands and take but giue and acquite For when a man had forgiuen halfe or two third partes yea three quarters and more yet looking vpon his booke he should finde no more receiued then that which he had acquitted and forgiuen And for the rest Aske would he say some composition some right or priuiledge or some other thing of the King and I wil healpe you vnto it which was as good as if he should haue sayd to the merchaÌ„ts Go euery one of you kil one or two and I wil procure your pardons for the sale of the settels stooles and tapestry was put of vntil the day after domes day Wherevpon two notable

but what they lusted because the Cardinal had so enured him to his signes that at the least motion of his countenance the King spake walked or helde his peace c. In so much that he was also termed the Kings life or soule for to say the truth he caused the King to moue or stand still yea to counterfaite what couÌ„tenance so euer he thought good Hauing scatered the princes and lordes whom they suspected let vs behold how they dealt with the rest As touching the priuy council after they had once assured them selues of the Chanceler Oliuer whom they reuoked who also so farre forgot God and him selfe that he gaue them his conscience they brought thereinto whomsoeuer them selues reposed any confidence in After the time of Henry the Parliaments consisted of such men as had brought in most money and the chiefest fauour of mighty men The Guisians considering that they stood in need of such men had brought in by litle and litle the children of the greatest vsurers and extortioners with such other maner of people who haue corrupted all diuine humane equitie and retailed such offices as they bought by great or had in recoÌ„pence of some bribes reueiled contrary to their othe the secretes of the Courte and finally violated iustice in all sortes so that it was an easie matter for the Guisians to order these courtes at their owne deuotions brideling some and replenishing other some with vaine hope That which touching these matters they had practised in the time of Henry they did now vnder Francis the seconde more hotely proceede in in so much that since they haue had great supporte on that side They began also to order the estates of the Kings houshold vsurping therein the office of the Constable as then great Master still To the ende to bring in their owne seruantes and men of their owne conditions they displaced parte of the late Kings officers who before had still continued from the father to the sonne whom they least vnder pretence of good husbandrie others they dismissed giuing them halfe paye in the name of pensions notwithstanding the new estate of houshold officers did farre surmount the other The prouinces of the Realme and frontier townes were furnished with their supposts and such as liked them not were sente home to their dwelling places All gouernours heades and captaines of warres and townes were commaunded to obey the Duke of Guise as the Kinges owne person The reuenues were put into the handes of such as the Cardinal most fauoured and all the courtes of Parliament were admonished that he had the superintendence ouer all matters of estate To the ende them selues only may remaine armed they forbid the wearing of all armes especially of dagges and fyer woods also of long clokes and great hosen For the Cardinal being of a cowardly nature was warned by a Necromantian at Rome that he should be slaine with some fyer staffe through the enuy of such enemies as he should procure in France when he were at his highest degree of honour Their first tyrannous practise was in persecuting the Protestantes in the persons of certaine counsaylers of the Parliament of Paris especially Anna du Bourg whose proces is amply described in sundry treatises and discourses especially in the history of Francis the second lately set forth which reueileth sundry villainous iniustices and wickednesse committed by certain iudges whom the Cardinal had apposed and suborned An other practise was in raising the commons against the Nobility in maner following For to suppresse such as might contrary them also to obteine the goodwill of the commons and to make their gouernement agreable vnto them they published letters of reuocation of all alienations as wel for life as yeres whether they were in recompence for seruice or otherwise except sales the coyne whereof had bene bestowed vpon the Kinges great and weighty affaires without any collusion togither with the appanage of the daughters of France and the dowry of the late Queene Eleonor which the infante of Portugal did possesse all the rest were thereby reunited vnto the Kings demaines and ordinary receyts This was the way to bring the mighty into their handes and procure them selues more seruants then before by obteining for them such declaratory letters as them selues listed The third practise was by driuing away the King of Nauarre the first prince of the blood through the most vnworthy meanes that might be which also shall be mentioned in the treatise of their dealings against the princes of the bloud By the fourth they wrested from the CoÌ„stable the office of great Master for the Duke of Guise bought the Marshall Brissac with the gouernment of Picardie which they plucked out of the handes of the Admiral of Chastillon In the fifth to the ende to fortifie them selues against the preparatiues framed for the repressing of their tyranny they made eighteene knights of the order at one clap making of a marke of knighthood throughly tryed and vnblameable a collar vnto all kinde of beastes For the sixt coÌ„sidering that al this was not sufficient but that with the time it was to be feared lest the estats would chaleÌ„ge their auncieÌ„t priuiledges liberty by meanes wherof their licentiousnes would lye on long first they caused the King woÌ„derfully to mislike of the voice that wente that the people was determined in the Kings minority to demande the estates this brought they very subtilly to passe through diuers sleights the principall wherof was to bring the mightiest into feare through some notable meanes so to winne the Queene mother that she might be the instrument to strike this stroke They therfore propounded vnto this woman who otherwise was sufficiently pinched with the burning yrons of her owne ambition that if the estates should take place as the enemies of her auctority wished she shold be sent to dresse trimme her gardeÌ„s or els coÌ„ueyed ouer the mountes therefore that as her faithfull seruaÌ„ts they counsayled her to loke to it Now they regarded not her so much for in case King Francis had ouerliued the King of Nauarre Prince of Conde whom they were determined to put to death a litle before that the estates were houlden at Orleans they would sone haue made her to haue scudded for they marueilously suspected her minde nature it was therfore their owne commodity wherat they leueled But this woman feining not to perceiue their subtilties told them that she beleued their words stil the more more to establish her self play them some fine praÌ„cke she writ to her sonne in law the King of Spayne complaining vpon the King of Nauarre the princes as if they had sought by meanes of the estates to reduce her vnto the estate of a handmayd Sone after returned the pacquet out of Spaine wherein King Philippe writ how he was certified that certaine seditious persons rebels endeuored to moue some troubles seeking to alter the regiment of the kingdome

place hereafter Howbeit if so be that such of the race of Guise as do remaine might obteine so much fauour of God as that it would please him to turne their hearts so that they would suffer our realme to be in quiet and that contenting them selues with that which is past and so through courteous and faithful behauiours would blot out the remembrance of their former mischiefes I would be glad to breake promise and would endeuour to be the first that should cast the remembrance thereof into the pit of obliuion but in continuing the race which hitherto they haue runne they shal find both braines hands enough to resist theÌ„ And although that through crafts and treason they and their semblables haue hitherto rather then by force of armes so highly aduaÌ„ced them selues yet wil the trueth in the end ouercome and haue his course so that they shal get nothing by following the steppes of their auncesters saue onely they shal become so much the more odious both vnto God men Yea they shal builde their pinacle so high that finally it shal fall vpon their owne heads and ensnare them selues If therefore they wil preuent this danger and assubiect them selues vnto their duetie it is the thing whereof I should be verie glad neither can I denie but that the house of Guise conteining them selues within their limites might haue done good seruice to the crowne of France but of seruants seeking to become masters they haue marred all and ouerthrowne both themselues and others Thus loth to be in this matter ouer tedious I beseech you friendly readers to shew a good countenance vnto this first booke vntill the comming forth of the rest which shortly shal be presented vnto your view This do I assuredly trust that you wil do in case you be natural French men that is to say affectionate vnto the seruice of God the commoditie of your countrie and the conseruation of your auncient and noble libertie Fare wel THE LEGENDE of Charles Cardinal of Lorraine and of his brethren of the house of Guise IN the yere of our Lord 1362 after the deceasse of Iohn Duke of Lorraine succeeded his eldest sonne Charles the firste who by Margaret daughter vnto Robert of Bauieres Countye Palatine had issue three sonnes as many daughters The sonnes named Charles Robert and Federic dyed without issue But of the daughters the eldest named Marie was maryed vnto Enguerand Earle of Coucy who also died without heyres The seconde called Katherine was giuen to Iames Marquise of Baden with the dowrye of three preuostshipps namely S. Dier Arches and Bruettes besides a good summe of money in consideration whereof the said Marquise renounced his whole title vnto the succession in the Duchye of Lorraine The third daughter Isabell was maried vnto Rene of Anjou the sonne of Lewes of Anjou the seconde sonne to Iohn King of France This Rene the first succeeded his father in lawe Charles in the Duchye of Lorraine seeking also the possession of the Duchye of Bar in the right of his mother Yoland of Arragon wherein Anthony Earle of Vaudemont sonne of Ferry Duke Charles brother withstood him and chalenged the sayd Duchye whereunto he was assisted by Philippe Duke of Burgundye who was offended with the mariage of the said Rene of Anjou vnto Isabell of Lorraine Hereupon in a conflicte neere vnto Bulainuille the said Rene was taken prisoner and thence conueyed vnto Dijon vnder the custodie of the Duke of Burgundye aforesaid where he was deteined fifteene yeres at the petition of the Englishmen and Burgundions vnder whom at the same time Ferry of Vaudemont sonne to this Earle Anthony did serue howbeit finally it was agreed that Duke Rene the prisoner should giue his eldest daughter Yoland in mariage vnto this Ferry of Vaudemont with the summe of two hundred thousande crownes in the name of a ransome In the meane time Lewes of Anjou Duke Rene his eldest brother intending the conquest of Naples whereof Pope Clemente had crowned him Kinge dyed without issue whereof so soone as Duke Rene was aduertised he purposed the possession of the same Realme but notwithstanding the ayde of most states of Italie as Genes Milan and other Potentates he was by the Spanierdes finally expelled Naples and forced to retire into France vnto his brother in lawe King Charles the seuenth whereas after some warre against the citie of Metz hauing knowledge of the death of his wife Isabell he resigned the whole gouernement of Lorraine vnto his eldest sonne Iohn in full intente to liue the reste of his time quietly and peaceably within his dominions of Prouence and Anjou Iohn surnamed of Calabre after he had gouerned Lorraine eighteene yeres dyed leauing a sonne named Iohn of Anjou who in the time of his grandfather Rene aforesaid fianced Anne the daughter of King Lewes the eleuenth albeit afterwarde breaking of with his said father in law through the persuasions of the Duke of Burgundye and entending by repudiating the daughter of France to conclude a mariage with Marie the said Duke of Burgundyes daughter being euen at the very point so to doe he dyed By meanes whereof Rene the seconde of that name sonne of Ferrye of Vaudemont brother vnto Duke Rene of Anjou and of Yoland sister vnto Duke Iohn succeeded in the said Duchyes of Lorraine and Bar in the yere 1473. for want of other heyres during the life of his grandfather on the mothers side Rene of Anjou of his mother Yoland whome the inhabitantes of the countrie would not accept for gouernour This Duke waged continuall warre against the Duke of Burgundye whome finally he ouerthrewe before Nancy in whose time liued his great grandfather Rene of Anjou termed King of Sicill who rested his old bones within his Duchyes of Prouence and Anjou him did Kinge Lewes the eleuenth greatly cherish and quietly entertaine fearing his association with the Duke of Burgundye and the English men who greatly thereunto sollicited him This King Rene sent worde to his nephew Rene that in case he intended to be his heyre he should wholy take vpon him the full armes of Anjou which proffer he refused well was he content to quarter togither the armes of Anjou Sicill Prouence and Lorraine howbeit vpon his other refusall his grandfather King Rene instituted Charles Earle of Maine his nephew by his brother Charles also Earle of Maine for his inheritor whereof Rene being certifyed he hasted toward his grandfather but all being done and past he returned backe againe in a great heat and King Rene died in the yere 1482. Shortly after also dyed Charles of Maine his competitor whereby Lewes the eleuenth King of France remained lord of the countries of Prouence Anjou and Maine by the gifte of the last will of the said Charles who also left vnto him the Duchye of Bar. After the death of King Lewes the eleuenth Rene of Lorraine who through the persuasion of Pope Sixtus was gone into Italie to seeke the

his iudgements whereof the Guisians toke occasion the more to trouble the estate For King Henry dyed sodenly being one of the chalengers at the tilt with the Duke of Guise who followed him at the stripe wherof he receiued his deathes wound We haue already plainely perceiued how by the warres of Picardie and Italie the Guisians emfeblished the estate of King Henry Now let vs therefore marke their dealings toward this princes person as wel in his life time as also at his death This Prince naturally was milde courteous as al men do knowe but in briefe they marueilously altered his nature so that had he liued any longer the peace with the King of Spaine would haue hatched terrible tragedies in this kingdom Before his comming to the crowne he was committed to the gouernmeÌ„t of the Cardinal who sought only to corrupt and spoyle him becomming his baude and minister of amorous behauiours The very stones cabbins and hangings of the house of Reims wherein infinite whooredomes haue bene committed doe yet speake of the same yea not content to entertaine about his person the Duchesse of Valentinois to the Queenes great griefe and spite they did through other inferiour seruants entise other ladies gentlewomeÌ„ on al sides to the end through such accursed meanes to winne the fauour of this prince through the losse of his soule We wil not here speake of the filthie and foule adultery which they procured him to commit at his returne out of Piedmont while he was yet Dauphine neither of that that they haue brought vnto him such as belonged very neere vnto them selues to the end he might take his pleasure with them that is pollute him selfe in sundry and strange wise How oft hath the Cardinal fretting at his brother the Duke of Guise said vnto him that neuer uckold sung faire song Let others weye with them selues whom he touched Peraduenture Henry had companions but he was the first lost in these filthinesses through the dealing of these men Hereof it came that for the destruction both of his body and soule soone after his comming to the crowne they inuented a thousand meanes to entertaine him in wantonnes and turning his minde from God in succession of time to set al in trouble whereby themselues might fish the better We must therefore view some particularities Queene Katherine de Medicis remained barrein sundry yeres wherof King Henry being yet Dauphine was very sorowful These our lords hereupon hauing brought in the Seneschal endeuoured to procure Henry to send home his wife into Italie Yea once at Rossillon vpon Rosne they helde a great parliament in ful determination to send home this Queene who afterward was wel assisted by the Cardinal of Chastillon in the same matter Then seemed she an earnest Christian on the one side the Bible was stil vpon the table wherein sometime her selfe read sometime she caused others to reade On the other side it chanced that vpon the commandement of the great King Francis Clement Marot had translated thirtie psalmes into French which were set in musicke by sundry good musitions for both the King and the Emperour Charles the fifth had allowed of this translation as appeared both in their wordes and rewards But whosoeuer loued or feruently embraced them ordinarily either singing or causing them to be soung this yong Prince Henry then Dauphine was nothing behind wherupon the Godly praised God and his minions yea the Seneschal her selfe counterfeited a loue of them would say to him My lord Shal not I haue this you shal giue me that if it please you Wherby sometimes he had enough to do to satisfie both his own fancy and theirs also Howbeit he especially kept for him selfe the hundred eight and twentieth Psalme beginning thus Blessed art thou that fearest God c. Whereto himselfe set a tune both verie pleasant and correspondent vnto the wordes The same did he so often sing and cause to be sung that euery man might thereby perceiue howe desirous he was to be blessed in stocke as that psalme doeth importe Shortly hereafter the Dauphine multiplied in children but her husband Henrie in steade of acknowledging such a benefite began to followe the abominations of this villanous Seneschal doing worse then before so that I may as I suppose say this blessing was turned into a curse wherevnto the Cardinal of Lorraine was a fit instrument For he perceiuing that Henrie delited in these holie songs which are the bulworkes of chastitie and capital enemies vnto al filthines fearing lest thereby with the time he might be wonne the better to loue his wife and to send away his harlot and so consequently the credite of my Lords of Guise being builded vpon so filthie a foundation shoulde fall downe began first to reproue the translation and then the Psalmes them selues substituting in their steades the lasciuious verses of Horace together with other foolishe songs and abominable loue matters of our French Poets whome he brought into credit Then began Ronsarde Iodelle Baife and other vile Poets to come into estimation And God no longer permitted his Name to be so prophaned but plucked away his praises to the end to commit them to the mouthes of infants and babes The Psalmes and Marot him selfe were together banished Al kinde of vile songs and lasciuious musike tooke place through the especial fauour of the Cardinal the Mecenas to al these villanous inuenters And the better to end al their labour they through the Seneschal tooke from the King al godly musike and depriued the Queene of her chaplaine Boteyler who in those daies preached the word syncerely giuing vnto King Henrie a Sorbonical doctor of their owne a man both ignorant and wicked euen to the end and so plucked out of his heart that litle sparke of godlines which peraduenture was entred therinto Afterward they became King Henries companions especially after he was King yea in more wise then honestie could endure Here therefore to rehearse and stirre vp such villanies it were but to much to trouble the readers Let such therefore as can call to minde all the time passed since the yere 1550. euen vnto death with me reduce before their eies the wicked practises which the Guisians haue practised vpon this poore Prince First in the destructioÌ„ of his soule maintaining a harlot in his bosome and behauing them selues so vnworthilie in his seruice as that willingly I wold to God I had neuer heard speaking thereof The verie tablets made and presented vnto the Cardinal him selfe together with his countenances and maners of behauiour haue sufficiently shewed it Againe what goodnes haue they done to the Queene Nay what euil haue they not committed against her Henrie left foure sonnes aliue First how they dealt with Francis we shal presently perceiue What confusions haue we through their meanes bene tossed withal during the raigne of Charles Or if the Cardinal liued how would he handle Henry the third through the meanes of Queene Louyse

eÌ„terprise being broken of by the death of king HeÌ„ry was reuiued in the beginning of the reigne of Francis and then slacked againe through the enterprise of Amboyse But now the Guisians hauing two of their principall enemies in their power determined mocking the king of Spayne in making him beleeue that they were earnest defenders of the Catholicke Church so to roote out the Protestantes that thereby they might make their way to the throne the playner They therefore sent the Spaniard worde who for his parte lay also in waite determining if fit opportunitie might serue to giue them the slippe also that the King of Nauarre and the Prince of Conde vnder colour of quareling at the gouernment sought to put the King and his brethren to death and through the ayde of the Queene of England of the Protestant princes and of the gospelling Switzers to bring in their Religion into France and after the same also to prescribe a rule vnto all Christiandome They vsed other slanders enowe in the end wherof they added that if it pleased the king of Spaine to maintein fauour them in their gouernment they would stoppe all the harme that was ment to him would set to their haÌ„ds that King HeÌ„rys promises might be accoÌ„plished Hereunto they had such answer as they requested through the helpe of the Cardinal of Arras who then thought to haue found a good breach wherby to bring his master into France but had the Guisians become Kings he should haue had lesse entrie then before and peraduenture haue bene in greater care then before for ambition neither wil neither can abide a companion At the same instant they also sent to the Pope to the Duke of Sauoye also through the practises of the Colonnel Freulich who was at their deuotions they wonne the catholicke Switzers determining the same winter to destroy all their enemies in France and the next spring to goe and assayle Geneua and thence against the Germains Switzers of the Religion Also to the end the Spaniard might not on that side be letted by the Turke who might haue set vpon his countries whiles his chiefest forces were entred into the King of Nauarres dominions they sent expressely to Constantinople to him to accuse the Princes of the blood of trecherie and treason of hauing with certaine men of a new Religion which acknowledged no Magistrates or superiorities conspired to put the King and his brethren to death beseching him whiles they were busied in repressing those mens presumption not to innouate or enterprise any thing on the coste of Italie or Spayne and that in consideration of the auncient alliance amitye and confederacie which had bene betwene him and the Kings of France Of him they had so good an answere that the Duke of Guise so farre exceeded his boundes as diuers times to say that whatsoeuer happened he had rather that the Realme should fall into the Turkes power and remaine vnder his dominions then to see the Lutherans and heretikes doctrine for so he called them there receiued Here you see wonderful preparatiues for the establishment of their greatnesse for within the Realme they were armed at all assayes and had their enemies in maner at their feete They had the townes gouernours treasury and people in maner at their commaundement The aforesaid foreine Princes fauoured them and peraduenture should haue had some share in the cake as the Spanierd chiefly looked for it hauing so easely obteyned truce of his great enemie the Turke to the ende to set vpon France therfore we may here see whereunto the cruell ambition of these men had brought all thinges in case God at the same instant had not appeared smiting them sundrie blowes on the eares before they coulde bende their gauntlets They had graunted the assemblie of the Estates the more easely to discouer their enemies and called the Kings letters patents the mousetrappes to catch fooles but that letted not but in the particular estates of the prouinces many things were propounded coÌ„cerning reestablishment of the Realme as well in matters concerning Religion as policie as at Bloys at Angiers and especially at Paris for notwithstanding all the greatnesse wherewith the Guisians made them selues euery where to be feared yet was it published openly in the ful Towne house when the Prince of Condies imprisonment was knowen that they would not permit the blood of France to be troden downe by straungers These reportes hastened the prince of Condies proces whom they purposed to put to death about the tenth of December As for the King of Nauarre they also sought his death endeuouring to doe the King their nephue so much iniurie as to make him the hangman of his owne blood And euen as there remayned no more to doe but to execute this blowe to the ende afterwarde to strike infinite others God strooke Francis the seconde with an impostume in the eare which finally stifled him and so he dyed the fifth day of December in the yeere 1560. This death ouerthrewe all their enterprises and did so quayle them at the first that when they knew there was no more hope they went closed vp theÌ„ selues in their lodgings replenished with mistrust and incredible feare from whence they departed not of a day or twayne vntyll they were assured by the Queene mother and the King of Nauarre that they shoulde haue nothing done to theÌ„ But they were not so farre ouerseene but that they caused presently at their comming forth to carie into their lodging three or foure score thousande frankes which were left in the coffers insomuch that all the Kings treasures were wasted but no man withstoode them which was thought strange whereby men might plainely perceyue that these things were not done without the Queene Mothers consent who sought through their authoritie to mainteine hers and to say the trueth if she had not supported them their noses had then kissed the ground but the sleightes and practises on that parte do deserue an other discourse I had here in maner forgotten an other draught of the wickednesse of the Guisians against their nephew For seeking to washe their own handes of all that was paste and the same to cast vpon the Kings power and absolute will notwithstanding he were but a childe wanting both witte and discretion to be able to examine or to enterprise such and so waightie matters yet did they easely obteine of him that he shoulde speake courteously and louingly vnto the King of Nauarre which he dyd fulfill three dayes before he fell sicke declaring that the Guisians had neuer enterprised any thing against him or his but that of his owne mere motion and contrarie to their opinion he had imprisoned his brother the Prince of Conde and this he desired him to beleeue and for the loue of him and of the Queene his mother to blot out whatsoeuer euill opinion he might haue conceiued against them This practise stoode them in great steade afterwarde for

he confessed that Gods wrath ouer France proceded of the corruption of maners in al estates and the vtter despising of all Churche discipline About the middest speaking of the King of Frances request this good orator said He requireth vs so much as we may to auoid al new quarels to omit al new and vnfruiteful questions to our power to procure all Princes countryes to absteyne from warres that we eschue al desire of mouing debate for doubt least such as haue strayed from vs should accompt this council to be holden rather to the end to stirre vp princes to take weapon also to make complots alliances of warres notwithstanding it were holy then to prouide for the vniuersal reconciliation of mindes Afterward he maketh mention of the reformation of the church and doth conclude with his own submission to the Romish Church Now let the reader consider the purpose of this speach And from that time forward he stil practised against the estate of the realme from whence he dayly receiued letters neither was there any thing in France done without him as hereafter we shal perceiue But being now in hand with the council we wil also touch some leagues Immediatly after he heard of the death of his brother the Duke of Guise vpon whose auctority his whole hope was grounded he sodenly thought neuer to returne into France but with his vsual inconstancie turned his minde towarde the affaires of Italie gratifying so farre forth as he could the Pope and al forreyn princes especially the Catholike King of Spaine Before the newes of this death he had with the Spanish Bishops stoode stifly in defence of residences vpon benefices against the Popes dispensations alleaging them to proceede of the Lawe of God but then he sone changed his copie mainteining with his adherents that they belonged to the positiue Lawe and so through the pluralitie of voyces bare it away in so much that the Archbishop of Granado cryed out that the Cardinal of Lorraine had betrayed them Also when the County de Luna the Kinge of Spaines embassador slacked his coÌ„ming to the Council because he disdained to sit vnder the FreÌ„ch embassador the Cardinal procured him to come to the end to curry fauour with the King of Spaine caused his ambassadour to inioye the more honorable place thereby causing the King of France to lose the preeminence which neuer before was called into question Now let vs marke whether his brethren whom he had left in France were anie truer seruants to the crowne The Duke of Guise kept the King and Queene mother in his hands making them to trot vp and downe also to be present in the taking of townes and so hiding him selfe vnder their authoritie stroke his blowes For the King of Nauarre he did strangely scorne and floute Wel in August he besieged Bourges and in September they yelded then did he cause the King and Queene to enter and vsed marueilous threates and outragious wordes against them that were yeelded Al the Protestants in those quarters did he worse entreat then either Turkes or Iewes The Duke of Aumale and Marquise d'Ellebeufe lay in Normandie the one before Rouen and the other before Caen and yet notwithstanding they wanted neither greace nor growing yet could they not greatly profit that way The Lord of Moruilliers was at Rouen and in S. Katherines fort was so good a garnison that the Duke of Aumale al sommer time did nought but lose men and munitions Yea the parties besieged the more to laugh at him erected certaine rampiers and bulworkes against the which he wastfully spent his pouder and pellets as if he woulde haue scared sparrowes To be briefe euerie man was a master in his campe insomuch as when a certaine boye was gotten out of Rouen to beholde and espie the demeanours of him his seeing euerie royster intrude him selfe to counsel him and to commande in his presence at his returne said that there were verie manie captaines but fewe souldiers wherefore said he you are in no danger except when the Lord of Aumale sleepeth In the meane time the Duke of Guise called in al strangers as Italians Spanierds and other the more to trouble al things But hearing that the Queene of England prepared to aide the Protestants and knowing her landing to be in Normandie he led thither his armie drawing with him the King and Queene mother together with the King of Nauarre who at the siege of Rouen receiued a wound whereof he shortly after died being therin rewarded for ioyning with the enemies both of the crowne and of his familie Rouen was taken and al extremitie therein exercised That done the Duke of Guise returned to Paris in great perplexitie for that the Prince hauing receiued succour out of Germanie was coÌ„ming to seeke him Howbeit in the meane time he receiued new supplies of Gascoynes and Spanierds and therewith intended to keepe the Englishmen from ioyning with the Prince Hereof followed the battayle of Dreux fought in December the effect whereof al men do knowe But as the Duke of Guises refusing to giue the onset when the Constable sent him word which caused the said Constables taking procured men to iudge that willingly he sought this chance so did others who supposed better to knowe his nature attribute it to his cowardlines and thereof did men take their argument to assure them selues of al that which since that battayle this braue warrier hath compassed For al men wil confesse that after this battaile of Dreux al the Protestants power consisted in the band which the Admiral kept in the fieldes and not in the citie of Orleans which was impregnable for the said Admiral remained safe And therefore it had bene reason that the Duke of Guise had assailed him who beeing ouercome Orleans would haue stretched forth her hands and not in such wise to haue wasted his men money munition forces about the taking of a towne which being wonne razed should but haue made the Admiral more strong warie and diligent about new and dangerous enterprises Thereof did men conclude that the Duke of Guise wanted both wit and courage in that he neither coulde ne durst followe the Admiral at his retire out of Normandie but did suffer him so to fortifie him self with townes holds fortresses men money and al other munitions Yea the most valiant expert captaines of France do thinke certainly that in case the warre had a litle while loÌ„ger coÌ„tinued the Admiral had giuen the Duke of Guise an immortal reproch who at Dreux durst not looke in his face neither at his comming out of Orleans to go into Normandie followe at his backe notwithstanding the said Admiral was but slenderly accompanied at his comming out of the said besieged citie and yet passed part of France and euen before the said Duke of Guises face forced certaine townes as Touque Caen Falaize Argenten Vire and other places in Normandie tooke sundrie fortresses and castles

of in the middest of his course Sometimes he woulde thrust his finger into the wounde as if he were extremely chafed against the surgeons and Physitions who coulde not prolonge Francis the second his life also as if he coulde not giue them one good looke because he sawe himselfe ensnared Finally after he had forgiuen his wife and lefte his children to the Cardinals tuition not without straight charge to reuendge his death and bring his driftes to their perfection which so often had bene frustrated he was as ye would say by death tyed to the suburbes and gate of Orleans This was the end of the fiercest of all the Guisians who fretted said manye in that he shoulde die in the towne where a King had dyed either that nowe aliue he shoulde come into the Citie which he and his partakers had destined for the death of a Prince of the blood and many good officers of the crowne The Catholikes especially of Paris who neuerthelesse had smal cause as afterward appeared did greatly bewayl his death WheÌ„ the King of Nauarre was slaine at Rouen the Duke of Neuers and the Marshal of S. Andrews at Dreux and diuers others in other places there was no token of sorow But for the Duke of Guise who had abandoned his captain who fought because he would not be accomptable to the estates of France who had violated the Kings edictes and sought to suppresse the house of Valois did they make hearses and vsed al other funeral solemnities as if he had bene a king Now therefore like as after the decease of Francis the second al the whole courte which enuironed the Guisians vanished away and al their multitudes at the same instant conuerted into solitarinesse yea that manye who before had followed them were now ready not onlye to hold the basen to whoÌ„soeuer would cut their throats but eueÌ„ theÌ„selues to paunch theÌ„ so after the death of their eldest brother they remained as a body without members being forsaken of most men and through the vnreasonable authority which they had vsurped become odious vnto such as to them were most vprignt The Cardinal now being at Trente sought new meanes how to begin at an other end and first dealt with the Spaniard as himselfe did since disclose to one of the chiefe counselers of a certaine noble french Lorde for hauing declaimed against and reproued the estate of matters of France he toulde him that the Spaynishe gouernement was excellent and goode where the Great Lords of the country doe so bridle their King that they permit him scarsely to sport him self handling him after the maner of counters of which a man maketh that which somtime is worth but one somtime worth tenne sometimes worth a hundred sometimes worth ten thousand and immediatly reducing it againe to nothing at his pleasure neither were it said he a very harde matter to reduce France to the same poincte In the meane time he counterfaited the mourner writing such consolatory letters vnto his mother as a man would hardly reade without laughiÌ„g especially where he writeth these words Madame I say vnto you that God neuer so greatly honoured any mother neither at any time did so much for any his creature excepting alwayes his owne glorious mother then he hath done for you But this good childe of the most blessed mother in the world next to the virgine Marie inuented other new practises against the estate of his King and country as we now shal perceiue The Duke of Guise his mouthe beyng stopped peace presently ensued but in such maner as did easelie shewe that such remembraunces as the Cardinal lefte at his goynge to the Councille were of greate force For the edicte made in the moneth of Ianuarye was in maner extinguished the Prince of Condye displaced from the rowme which to him apperteined as to the first Prince of the blood the Admiral and other great Lordes expulsed the Courte but principally the sayde Admirall who was charged with procuring the shotte at the Duke of Guise which neuerthelesse was but a policie which the Cardinal and his fautours practised to the ende still to keepe the water troubled and them selues out of accomptes in whiche poincte the Queene mother somewhat fauoured the Guisians in that she was glad to put from her sonne al honourable persons to the ende to bring him vp and frame him according to her own humors the effects wherof haue since manifestly appeared Many things chanced in France betwene the first and second troubles wherein the Guisians sleightes diuersly appeared to the destruction of the realme wherof we wil touch some the most notable particularities not staying ouermuch vpon the circumstance of Dayes in that that entreating of their iniuries offred to the Princes of the blood to the nobilitie to the estates and to other priuate parties in the Realme we may beholde such matters as nowe we wil passe ouer First the Cardinal laboured the Queene mother to grant the estate of great master vnto his nephue Henrie sonne to the late Duke of Guise So that notwithstanding this childe was not capable thereof yet to the great dishonour of the King and the Realme and in despite of the Constable and the Protestants whome the Queene began to hate he was chosen great Master standing in deede in greater neede of a Scholemaster and roddes After the King of Nauarre was dead the Queen mother became a Catholike for she douted lest the Prince of Conde then first Prince of the blood would holde his estate knowing her humours through the assistaÌ„ce of the ChastilloÌ„s the CoÌ„stable himself whose heate began now to coole reduce her to order take the gouernemeÌ„t from her The Cardinal foreseing also that if this were brought to passe both he and al his should be plucked away determined to take some order At the assemblie at Orleans the estates with one common consent had made great complaintes of the vnreasonable giftes which both King Henrie and King Francis the second had giuen to sundrie persons of whome some were vnworthie others had had too much seeking to cal to accounts those who had the charge and gouernement of the treasure The first part of these complaintes touching the vnworthinesse of persons concerned especially and from the bottome of their hearts the Duchesse of Valentinois and al her abomination The second of excesse did pinche to the quicke the Guisians the Marshal of S. Andrewes and some others An other point of this complaint tended wholy against the Guisians as hauing relation only to the time of Francis the second whom they had ordered at their pleasures in whose time much money was spent and consumed On the other side the reformation of the ecclesiastical estate wherupon the nobilitie and third estate did earnestly call killed the Cardinals heart outright Wherefore to the end to procure this pursuite to vanish away he and his brethren could inuent no better shift then by kindeling the ciuil warre aforesaide

of Lorraine neuer found surer or more stedfast foundations then the same which their cousins of Guise had laid in intent to ouerthrowe them For King Henrie tooke charge of the childe and afterward made him his sonne in lawe committing his Duchie into the hands of his vncle the Earle of Vaudemont Hereunto adding their practises against the towne of Metz what farther testimonie shal we neede For what mischief is there which this poore towne hath not suffred within these fewe yeres both within and without being vnder colour of protection bereaued of her libertie dismembred from the Empire for the most part destroyed and as a fulnesse of al miseries reduced into the bondage of the Cardinal who vnder a borowed name hath yerely wrested therout at the least a hundred thousand francks leauing vnto our King nothing but the dishonour of surprising the same vnder pretence of defence the charge of keeping of it with inestimable expenses the losse of great numbers of Frenchmen and the hatred of the Empire which yerely reneweth the decree of the recouerie of the townes of Metz Thoul and Verdun expressing therein their desire at the first opportunitie to restore the same to their former liberties For soone after ensued the siege of Metz aforesaid whereas the Cardinal fearing his brothers skinne and seeking to exalte him aboue al men procured to be sent vnto him most part of the Princes and great Lords of France for his more assurance and at the price of their bloods to raise him as it were vnto the shoulders of Victorie it selfe But what neede we to purchase the triumphe with the offence both of God and man or at the charge of the Kings honour and treasure Also how sweetely haue we paied for this so valiant defence of a forreine towne which neuer offended vs vnlesse it be an offence to giue ouer hastie credence vnto the wordes of a Cardinal therein brought vp whome she accompteth as her bishop and pastor yea to speake truely the Frenchmen haue dearely bought the exchange thereof through the burning and spoyle of Picardie euen vnto Noyon when as vnder the conduct of the third brother of this race and sonne in lawe vnto the great Seneschal Duchesse of Valentinois the French nobilitie receiued the sorest wound that euer it had since the battaile of Pauie because that without anie reasonable cause they were trained thereunto as to a butcherie rather then a battaile For in the same conflict wherein the said harebrained Duke of Aumale the third brother was through his owne default taken prisoner there were slaine about two hundred French gentlemen among whome were sundrie great Lords as the Lords of Rohan S. Forgeu Nancay la Motte Dusseau the Baron of Couches of Castres beside diuers other Lords of name Had our whole realme susteined that only losse through the conduct of these men yet were this sufficient to procure al men to detest them Shortly after this ouerthrowe ensued the siege of Metz aforesaid from whence the Emperour being forced to depart the Duke of Guise attributed to him selfe the whole glorie which the Princes and great Lords of France whome the Cardinal had procured the King to send thither had dearely paide for whervpon it is wonderful to see how the Guisians triumphed Wel to proceede what did the next yeres following bring with them other then two double irrecuperable losses namely the vtter sacke and spoyle of Tirwin and Hesdin the two keies of Picardie by reason whereof the Cardinal sang out his triumphes scoffing at the French nobilitie who said he through default of his brothers assistance were ouerthrowen by the enemie persuading the King that he had no man but of that race who was sufficient to guide the affaires both of peace and warre Howbeit the imprisonment of the third brother whome the Marquise of Brandebourge held did somewhat restraine the course of his brags wherefore they sought with speede to withdrawe him home to the end the one might heaue forward the other and yet were them selues vnwilling to disbourse anie penie of al their briberies and theftes either to take anie compassion of the French nation which was deuoured to the hard bones They inuented therfore an other reasonable honest shift as they supposed which was to borowe the Kings name and authoritie whereby they might vnder pretence of heresie vexe and torment whome so euer they thought best to the end to meete with some confiscations For it seemed not sufficient for him through his temeritie and rashnes to be the cause of the death of so manie great Lords and gallant French gentlemen at his owne taking but now his ransome must be gathered out of the liues of such as remained not forbearing the wiues of such good and vertuous Captaines as in the meane season ventured their liues and goods in the Kings seruice Whereof the Lord of Teligny might haue bene a sufficient witnes had he not shortly after lost his life in King Henries seruice For during the imprisonment of the Duke of Aumale the vertuous Ladie of Teligny was vniustly accused of heresie at the instance of a Sorbonist one of the Cardinals stalions as are the rest of our masters his companions who be men ignorant of all goodnes and honour as fierce cruel and seditious as any aliue vsing religion as a cloke to couer their peruersitie in this respect altogether like vnto the Cardinal of Lorraine the setter of them on worke at the cost of the Kings honour who for that cause incurred the euil wil of many In this fetch they disclosed an other of their sleightes for what with their spunge which was laid close to King Henries ribbes namely the Duchesse of Valentinois this prisoners mother in lawe who by al meanes robbed him on the one side them selues who ruled the common purse they wholy spoyled the King both of the loue and of the goods of his subiectes araying them selues in the same persuading him that nothing was wel done but what them selues did Yea they waxed so impudent as to affirme that their brother had verie wel discharged his duetie also that they whom he had led to the slaughter had in maner betraied him insomuch that the whole fault was imputed vnto the dead and he the suruiuer who had disobeyed the Kings commandement who sent him word not to hazard any thing after his deliuerie returned to the court where by the meanes of his mother in law he was as much or rather more cherished and made of then any of the lustiest lieutenants that the King had Thus did they on the one side laugh King Henry to scorne whome in the meane time they had so artificially bewitched that he accompted him selfe to haue none more assured or faithful seruants then the said lords of Guise except the Constable whom therefore they hated to the death as they afterward declared in diuers wise These warres of Metz were nothing in respect of those of Picardie wherof the house of Guise

of Lorraine Loued he the Duke of Alenson Nay but contrariwise at the Kings departure into Poland he defrauded the said Duke of the lieutenantshippe conferring the same to his nephue the Duke of Lorraine and vnder colour thereof gouerned more malepartly then euer before But al these iniuries do require a more exact discourse which hereafter we will looke vpon Thus therefore hauing scorned Henrie and al his they haue replenished his house with abominations and his realme with troubles they haue destroyed the mightie entrapped the meane sort and brought al things into such confusion that in mans iudgement the kingdome is past al hope of restauration or being reduced to anie smal forme of the pristinate and auncient glorie In this Prince Henrie the seconds life time also they began to note out such of his seruants as displeased them dispersing some of them abroad bringing others into displeasure remouing froÌ„ the King his faithful counsailers bringing in their own minions bondmeÌ„ through whose meanes this Prince was persuaded that the Lords of Guise were his most trustie and faithful seruants who sowed dissension among the other Princes and great Lords to the end that drawing the one partie vnto their side they might with the lesse labour destroy the other All these particularities shal better be seene hereafter in their order whereby these iniuries shal plainely be perceiued At this present thus much we wil say which also al true Frenchmen wil stand vnto that considering the breuitie of King Henries life he did them in so short time more good then anie King his predecessor did euer vnto al his whole houshold together he suffred more he bare more with them indured more sorowe grief vnduetiful behauiours losses and hinderances by them then euer master friend or father susteined at the hands of their seruants companions or children For besides that while he liued they infinit waies and times turned away from him seking the destruction of both his bodie and soule to their powers they haue also contaminated his house marred his children and consumed his people euen at his death they haue shewed what regard in his life time they had vnto him We heard before how the eldest brother perceiuing the death of the great King Francis at hand scorned him calling him yoncker They al now haue bene nothing behind but haue vttered many more signes of disobedience and of their trecherous hearts toward King Henrie at his death who was their especial friend natural Lord and mightie benefactor What a sight was it to the French nation bewayling the so vntimely and vnlooked for death of their Prince to beholde at the same instant of his deceasse the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine with ioyful countenances taking their yong King and nephue and transporting him from the Tournelles vnto the Louure Yea there was one who semed to name that day and that not impertinently the Euen of the feast of three Kings For there was no man so ignorant but that viewing these Lordes on horsebacke might wel iudge that France should now haue the King inheritour King in name only and the two Lords of Lorraine Kings in effect or at the least two craftie and cruel tyrants a since they haue manifested them selues Moreouer it is the duetie of the great chamberlaine to take the charge ouer the dead Kings corpes vntil it be buried Now the Duke of Guise was great chamberlaine for he had euen in maner forcibly taken the same office from the house of Longueuille Who then letted the Duke of Guise and Cardinal of Lorraine hauing a King at their deuotion yea if we may so say at their commandement from doing their dueties but that needes they must presently forsake the corpes as some filthie carrion What may be said of them that so shamefully abandoned the corpes of their King and Lord nothing caring or thinking vpon the garde and burial of the same for the which cause both the Constable and al other the Kings trustie faithful seruants remained stil behind Yea if they had but stayed vntil the bodie had bene colde and assuredly dead or at the least if they had but shewed some countenance of sorow Howbeit peraduenture this inhumanitie proceded of that they had gotten some inckling that King Henrie was minded to driue them away presently after the triumphes and feastes were ended or rather their owne ambition permitted them not long to deferre the discouerie of that which their hearts conspired which was vnder the name of their nephue Francis to raigne ouer vs waiting better occasion to proceede Well peraduenture they dealt better with Francis the second and so behaued them selues that now they deserued to haue their former offences concealed Let vs therefore see whether it be so or not This yong Prince being sixteene yeres old at the most reigned scarce seuenteene moneths fully but we may say and lye not that neuer Realme in seuenteene moneths space was so shaken as our poore France all through these mens ambition yea I dare affirme that in case God for the iust punishment of our sinnes had prolonged the said Francis reigne other seuenteene moneths the house of Valois had vtterly lost the crowne and the whole nobilitie might well haue prepared them selues vnto death or other strange bondage and violences The people the officers of iustice and euen the Clergie them selues could haue assured them selues of no other then most horrible tyrannie To the end therefore that all this may the more euidently be perceiued let vs marcke the ordering of the Realme in the said seuenteene moneths space First they rauished the King out of the handes of the Estates of the Realme and officers of the crowne conueying him euen at the houre of his fathers death into the Louure with his brethren mother and wife There they so warely watched him and diligently kept him that no man might come neere him vnlesse some of the GuisiaÌ„s were at haÌ„d At the same time also began they to be called the Kings kepers They driue away the Constable and others they send away the Princes of the blood one to carie the order into Spayne an other to conduct the lady Elizabeth another to confirme the peace in Flanders and finally vsed them as we shal see comming to speake of their dealings toward sundry Princes of the blood They take or rather wreste from them the dealings in the affaires of estate for when the Parliaments had sent their deputes to the King he gaue them to vnderstand that his two vncles the Cardinall of Lorraine and the Duke of Guise had the whole dealinges commanding that thence forth all men should resorte vnto them in all matters touching the estate of him and his Realmes and dominions charging all men to obey them as him selfe Here you see them by their owne instrument declared Kings for this yong Prince being of no experience and miserable in that he was lincked in to such companie said and did nothing

so wisely already established by so many counselers by the late King Henry his good brother father in law as if the King his brother in law were not of him self capable to administer it or to coÌ„mit it vnto such as he thought good without the intermedling of any other consent or receiuing any lawe at his subiects hands which he ought not to permit wherefore for his part he woulde willingly employ his whole power in the maintenance of the authoritie of him and his ministers although it should cost both the life of him selfe and of fourty thousand men whome he had in a readinesse if any man should attempt the contrary for said he he bare him so great good wil that he woulde declare him selfe the tutor and protectour both of him and his kingdome and also of his affaires the which were to him in no lesse recommendation then his owne Thus may you see how the heredital enemie of the crowne of FraÌ„ce was called to the defence of their tirannye Many accounted these letters ful of wonderful presumptioÌ„ that a forein prince durst thus openly in the presence of the whole priuie counsel for these letters were read among them al euen before the King of Nauarres face abolish the french liberty and ouerthrowe the auctoritie of the estates But the Guisians had already aduertised him in what estate all thinges stood and in case matters had so fallen out as they began to doe he had had his share among them So at the same instant these the spaniardes letters were as effectual as they desired for presently the King of Nauarre began to cappe them and of his owne accorde to seke al occasioÌ„s wherby to returne to the defence custodie of his couÌ„try howbeit the better to walk him he together with the Cardinal of BourboÌ„ the Prince of la Roch Suryon who were ioined in his commission were appointed to coÌ„duct the Lady Elizabeth the kings sister who was maried to the spaniard her at the frontiers both of FraÌ„ce Spaine to deliuer vp Now therefore peceiuing that the more they sought the hastening of the ouerthrowe of France the more they opened the mouthes of al true Frenchmen they determined to fortifie them selues by alluring the Parliaments the Clergie and the men of warre to their partes The Cardinal supposed the aduancement of religion and multiplication of the professors thereof to be to him a goodly pretence wherewith to intice the Clergie As for the Parliaments in as much as manie of the counsaylers and presidents placed in the same came in at the windowes and were men but of smal consciences they needed no great labour to hasten them forward to the assubiecting of them selues to the house of Guise for such good men as remained being terrified with the examgles of Anna du Bourg and others laid their handes vpon their mouthes Also the men of warre seing the Princes holde their peaces and perceiuing the Duke of Guise in his armour whilest others both high and lowe were in their shirtes wayting euerie houre for to be slaine toke part with the mightiest And notwithstanding al men one and other were assured by sufficient coniectures that the drift whereunto the house of Guise aspired was farre other then they represented yet they being watered with a certaine vaine hope also to the end to maintaine theÌ„ selues in their imagined prosperitie as men vtterly deuoid of vnderstaÌ„ding did wholy cast them selues headlong into this goulfe The Guisians being thus in fauour and hauing expulsed al such as were not of their bande did determine better to looke to their matters vpon this occasion As King Francis grew so did he more and more reueile an assured iudgement of his euil health Now had they married him to their niece the Queene of Scots and had betimes procured him to taste all worldly delites and bewrapped in his wifes swathing cloutes to the end to yealde him the more supple and delicate to their handling But this Prince being sickely who also in his youth had foreshewed a most dangerous euil disposition by reason he could neither hoake nor spit forth caused that certaine his physitions of the creation of the Guisians secretely warned them to prouide for their owne estates for as much as the King was no man of long continuance Vpon this report the Cardinal hauing alreadie most men bound to his hand to the end to finde out their affections towarde the King woulde sometime bewayle the miserie of the present time also the Kinges vnweldines who shoulde not peraduenture haue leysure said he to punish the heritikes so that al thinges might after his death happilie be turned otherwise Hauing then strooke this stroke and finding that manie did euen halfe wishe that he would inuent some stedfast meanes proceeded on inferring vpon the Kings sicknesse whome malitiously he after a maner taxed of leprosie and that in double consideration First to bring the Frenchmen out of taste in their natural loue which they beare to their Kings because the King was as they made men to beleeue infected with such a contagious disease and so to prepare them against a new change and next to bring the protestants into such hatred whome he pretended to make authours of this bruite with the King that through his commandement they might be vtterly extermined to the end that they being thus made away the Guisians might finde no man to withstand them Following this determination they bruited abroade through their partakers that the King went to Bloys to take physicke for the spottes in his face and when anie man asked the meaning of such speach these spies woulde closely whisper them in the eares saying that assuredly King Francis was infected with leprosie and that to the end to procure his health he must necessarilie be bathed in the blood of manie yong children also that there was alreadie a commission giuen forth for the taking vp of the most beautiful and healthfull from foure yeres olde vnto sixe To be briefe these ruffians which followed the Court being hired by the Cardinal went abroade into the boroughes townes and villages along the riuer of Loyre enquiring of the number of children being presently followed by an other number who inquired whether anie had bene there to take a register of their said children willing them to take heede how they did deliuer them because it was to the end to bathe the King in their blood These voices mightily terrified al the countrey about Loyre and the King after his comming to Bloys heard therof also whereat both he and his mother were greatly moued But the Cardinal cast al the fault vpon the Protestants so persuading the King that he kindeled in him such a hatred as remained printed in his heart vnto his liues end Howbeit one of these villaines who had spred these newes and vnder colour of warning the parents had gathered great store of money being taken nere vnto Loches and found guiltie and so finally

condemned to be beheaded confessed maintained and affirmed euen vntil his last gaspe that the Cardinal had caused to giue this commission both to him and manie others Al which notwithstanding they bent against the Protestants and although that a moneth or fiue weekes before they had published a sufficient rigorous Edict against the said Protestants yet did the Cardinal now set on a fresh onset of three Edictes in Nouember 1559. In one of the which these wordes were expressed That in the assemblies both by day and night of the Protestants not only the vse of the Romish church was villanously prophaned but also that ther were sundrie vile wordes both infamous and reprochful against the King and such as in deede tended only to the encouraging of the commons to sedition were there also dispersed and spred abroade But al this serued onely to prouoke sundrie persons yea such as were indeede enemies to the religion and to moue them to suspect that there was other matter then religion which in this point as also in manie others serued but for a shadow In the meane time the Guisians raised such a blotte vpon their nephue that although he were no leper yet after those reportes he lost most part of his reputation Hereupon also arose two new accidents which brought the Cardinal againe out of temper the one was because the president Minard one of his slaues of the Parliament of Paris was slaine with a dagge by vnknowen persons another was that one of his good seruants named Iulian Ferme was also killed neere vnto Chambourg where the King was This Ferme was departed to carie manie remembrances to Paris concerning the making of the processes of diuers of the greatest Princes and Lords of the realme togither with manie notable persons fauourers of the religion The Cardinal therefore taking his aduantage of these occasions gaue a new onset with this slaunder aforesaid vpon the Protestants and by letters patents forbiddeth the bearing of armes more straightly then before through such reportes bringing the King into the hatred of the people which neuer was wonte so to be suspected During these affaires namely the three and twentieth day of December the Counsailer du Bourg was put to death togither with sundrie other Protestants in diuers places to the great displeasure and griefe not onlie of sundrie Frenchmen but also of manie forraine Princes Howbeit al this is nothing in respect of such confusions and mishappes as the Guisians did afterward entangle the King and his dominions in For their dealings openly importing tyrannie their vsual threates against the mightiest in the realme their setting backe of the Princes and great Lords their despising of the estates of the realme their corrupting of the chiefest of the iustices who were reduced to the deuotion of these new gouernours the reuenues of the kingdome at their commandement deuided and giuen where they pleased as likewise were al offices and benefices and to be briefe their violent regiment being of it selfe vnlawful had altogether prouoked moued such hatred against theÌ„ both of great and smal that thereof proceeded the enterprise wherof la Renaudier was captain in the name vnder the aduow of the second Prince of the blood the handling breaking whereof we wil more largely declare in the title of their behauiours to the nobilitie At this present let vs marke how at that time they mocked the king and his estate A certaine aduocate of Paris named des Auenelles had warned them that there were certaine practises in hand against them wherevpon they vsed the helpe of the Queene mother in calling the lords of Chastillon to the court where by their aduice they framed a new edict in the Kings name in the which they qualified the rigours of such as before stoode in force against the protestants This did they only to the end to breake of the said enterprise minding incontinently after to reuoke the same as by particular letters they certified their bond slaues of tne Parliament of Paris whereas this edict was immediatly published and the qualifications inregistred in the secret register in such wise neuertheles that some counselers so farre forgat themselues as to say that it was but a false trap to catch the protestants in This was their dalying with the Kings faith bringing vpon our Kinges an infamous blot blemish namely to be periurers and vnfaithful In the meane time hauing fresh aduertisements instead of thinking vpon their regimeÌ„t or effectually declaring that they ment not to be such meÌ„ as hitherto they had bene reported either that they sought to treade downe the Kings authority they now gathered power on al sides gaue money out of the Kings coffers to Auenelles and other spies sent men of warre euery way and kept the king in the middest of them selues procuring during these broyles certaine letters whereby the Duke of Guise was made lieutenant general for the King with al absolute authoritie then was there no talke but of putting al to fire and sworde and slaying of infinite noble men and gentlemen and so blemishing the name honour sight reigne of this yong King with the most horrible cruelties that euer were knoweÌ„ for the firmament earth sea shal be witnesses of the barbarousnes of these monsters who haue replenished al France with blood the heaueÌ„s with witnesses and iudges and the earth with complaintes Their trechery appeared in that they would neuer permit the King to heare as he ought to haue done the iust complaints of his subiects whom they so villanously entreated before his eies He oft demanded euen with teares what he had done against his people why they should be so moued against him for these Lords stil blew in his eares that they sought to slaye him and vnder pretence thereof had enuironed him with troupes of armed men gathered from among the worste members of the whole realme whome since they haue continewed to the end to keepe themselues about our Kings whose dignitie they haue thereby conuerted in to I wot not what kinde of Persian pompe or Turkish terrour and said that he would gladly here their complaintes reasons yea sometimes he would say to his good vncles I wot not what these commotions meane I heare say that you be they whoÌ„ the people is offended withal I would to God you would for a while depart to the end we might be the better certified whether this people be grieued at you or me But as the murderer that helde his enemies father in his armes did by that meanes saue his owne life so the Guisians ioyning them selues as the yuie about the pyramide close to the yong Kings sides did conningly warde these blowes wherewith vndoubtedly they should haue bene pearced through They did therefore reiect al these the Kings wordes assuring him that neither he nor my Lords his brethren should remaine one houre after their departure because say they the house of Burbon through the support of the heretikes

hauing wrested this confession out of the Kings mouth whom herein they caused villanously to lye they did afterwarde stiffe and stoutly denie whatsoeuer might be obiected against them laying all vpon the dead mans backe offering the combate to any that woulde saye that euer they of their owne heades had enterprised any thing at all Besides all the aforesayde practises with straungers at the ende of the Estates in the Kinges name all the power of France shoulde haue bene deuided into foure partes and led by the Marshalles of Saint Andrewes of Brissac and of Thermes and by the Lorde of Aumale to make such hauocke as all the worlde may well thinke For beside the vtter subuersion of all Estates and destruction of al the mightiest and most auncient houses which should haue bene assaulted were it for their religion eyther for hauing taken the Princes parte either for hauing spoken amisse of the King with infinite suche other meanes France should haue bene reduced to the Turkes order of liuing to the ende afterwarde no man might haue had power to resist or withstande the tyrannie of the Guisians Also if through importunitie they chaunced to forgiue any it should haue bene with the condition of perpetuall ignominie Moreouer the Cardinall had vsed such diligence that there was no corner in all the Realme where he had not the names and surnames of all the inhabitants who eyther were Protestantes or of any dealing or enterprise to be able to hurt him or that had not ranged them selues after his deuotion and this had he gotten by the meanes of certayne Apostataes and secret seruantes who ordinarily went ploding about here and there to the end to sounde the heartes and willes of men insomuch that such truandes were made iudges and ordered the sentences of lyfe and death vnto all the worlde Now were they determined so to haue prouoked the people agaynst the Protestantes especially that they shoulde neede no other hangman herein it was to no purpose to say I am none for the Monkes other preachers hyred to the same purpose in going about should pronouÌ„ce the condemnations The graunting of this libertie to the common people was commonly called as a watch word The letting loose of the great Greyhound and there was no part of France which coulde haue bene exempt from this calamitie Also the King of Spaine was on his parte so forwarde according to his tyme and promise made to the Guisians that sixe thousand Spanierdes had already taken the way toward Bearn entending sodeinly to surprise the Queene of Nauarre and both her and her childreÌ„ to put to death committing like murther of her subiects as of the King of FraÌ„ces and in so doing to stay and breake the forces which were in Guyen But so soone as the Spanierd had aduertisement of the Kings death also that the Queene of Nauarre had discouered him and so fortified her selfe in her strong holdes that he should hardly without long siedge come by her not knowing what fould the affaires woulde take doubting also to haue those on his backe who had caused his troupes to come into the couÌ„trey among whoÌ„ Monluc was one of the first vpon promise of the Countie of Arminack wherefore he retired without dooing any thing coÌ„sidering also that such of the Kings letters wherby he had graunted theÌ„ passage through Bayonne which is one of the principall forteresses keyes of the realme whether they were many or few and his commandement to ayde them with as much victuals artillery and munition as they would require would not nowe be of any force or vertue after the said Lordes death how plaine full of threates so euer the same were If the Guisians during the yong King their nephues life behaued them selues outrageously they did not assuredly at his death recouer their honour In his lyfe time they kept him so diligently that no man without their fauour might come at him I will not here speake how they ordered him priuatly For besides that they glutted him with all fleshly pleasures before he was of age they did also replenish his houshold with corruptions and infamous dealings Also through their earnest desire that their Niece might haue issue and yet knowing King Frauncis but simply disposed thereunto in that his generatiue partes were altogither dulled and hindred they permitted many courtiers to haue her companie who did their endeuours to make her very fruitfull yet am I ashamed to know that in a certayne table which an Italian of Laques found meanes to get conueyed into the Cardinall of Lorraines chamber with certeyne letters from the Pope in steade of our Ladie of Grace wherein were the sayde Cardinall of Lorraine the Queene his Niece the Queene mother and the Duchesse of Guise most liuely set out their bodyes naked their armes one about an others necke and all their legges enterlaced togither Willingly would I haue forgotten the execrable filthinesse which I haue hearde reported of him and his brethren by such as in Francis the seconds time followed the Courte and were witnesses of such things as appeared almost manifestly in all mens eyes Francis had despised all the world to the end to honour them he had displeased all his Realme to satisfie them and to set them alofte he prepared to thrust the knife into his owne blood a man may saye into his owne bodie thereby to saue them to be briefe he had hated him selfe to loue them and abased his owne person for their exaltation and yet was there euer person dead of the pestilence whose bodie men did more abandon then them selues did this Thus it was The Custome at all tymes in France obserued after the deceasse of the Kings is such as that they whom in their liues they haue most fauoured and who especially haue had the ordering and dealing in their affayres ought to accompanie them to their graues and during the fourtie dayes that they be kept and solemnely serued wayte vpon their funeralles This ceremonie did the Guisians cause to be most straightly obserued after the death of Henrie and hereunto the Duke of Guise was in double maner holden and bounde for enioying togither with the soueraigne authoritie the great Mastership of France which doe namely binde those that doe enioye such a dignitie yet all this notwithstanding so it was that none of the house of Guise did this honour to their King and Master the husbande of their Niece who in his life time was so deare to them but by their counsaile and aduice he was both by day and night sent to be throwen into his Fathers tombe without any kinde of pompe or funerall soleÌ„nitie whereof arose a prety quippe namely that the King who was mortall enemie to the Huguenots could him selfe neuerthelesse not choose but be buried after the Huguenots maner That which brought the Guisians and their partakers to this point was the assembly of the estates where they would nedes assist for feare lest any thing should

holden at Poictiers especially to tend vnto the processe of those who should be fouÌ„d culpable in the said pretended misbehauiours and them to declare guiltie of treason and inasmuch as those presidentes and counselours of the court of Parliament of Paris as were appointed to goe thither seemed insufficient partial and factious in the Cardinals sight he caused to cut of seuen from the liste which was first made and in their steades did surrogate others of his owne creation and conditions For the country of Normandy he sent the master of requestes named S. Martin to whom he procured a coÌ„mission to the same end with letters directed to the court of Parliament of Rouen tending that with the said de S. Martin they should tend to the performance of his commission and not breake vp the courte notwithstanding it were almost vacation time On an other side the Cardinal endeuoured through the Constables meanes to bring the Admiral and his brethreÌ„ on sleepe who had already written certaine letters which detected the traines layed for them The sixe thousande Switzers who were leuied for the execution hereof about this time came to the King to Meaux who was enuironed with the Guisians so that the Prince and the Admiral plainely perceiuing that it was against them and the Protestants that these preparatiues were made determined before things were at a worse poynct to come to the King and for that he was in both his and their enemies hands they thought it best to take into their company certaine gentlemen of name of their kinsfolkes and friends to the number of a hundred or six score also to take some weapons for their assurance which the Cardinal and his adherents failed not to cause the King to take in very euill parte and the more to prouoke him against the Protestants they perswaded him that his death was at hand vnlesse with al speed he got to Paris seeing that the Prince of Condye and the Admiral came with fifteene hundred or two thousand horses entending to force his maiesty the Queene his mother and my Lordes his brethren and to enterprise somewhat against the estate and therefore the 28 of September about four of clocke in the morning they caused the King to departe and put him among the Switzers supposing that if the Prince were so wel accompanied as they reported which was false for when he came to speake to the King betwene Meaux and Paris he had not at the most aboue thre hundred horse things might grow to such passe that stil some of their enemies of one side or other might go to wrack The Duke d' Aumale certaine others followed the King who about foure of clocke after noone arriued at Paris where the Guisians did exhort him neuer more to trust the Huguenots as himselfe made ample Protestation The Cardinal according to his custome would not follow the King but fained to take the way to Reyms howbeit being met by certaine of his enemies fled vpon a iennet of Spaine to Chasteauthierry Thus was the second warre kindled in France and notwithstanding any the Prince of Condye or his adherents requestes for the reducing of al things into quiet yet the Guisians and the Queene mother to the end to be dispatched of one or other caused a battel to be fought betwene Paris and S. Dionice wherein the Constable was wounded to death This day brought the Cardinal and his a great contentation in that they sawe themselues ridde of the Constable and thereby the way open vnto the accomplishment of their desires For on the one side they endeuoured to make the King a sworn enemie vnto the Protestants who so much had stopped the course of the Guisian preferrement and so through him to ouerthrow their aduersaries It was also requisite to haue some other mightie man more at commandement then the King vnder whose authoritie they might shield themselues in the execution of their passions So sone therfore as the CoÌ„stable was dead the Guisians counseled the Queene mother to make the Duke of Anjou the King his brothers lieutenant general and she perceiuing what commoditie thereby she might reape did soone follow this counsel Whereupon the army marched the Guisians wholy gouerned the Duke of Aniou vnder his shadow both then euer since procured diuers fetches for the ouerthrow of the Protestants chiefly But hereafter we wil shew what iniuries they haue done to the said Duke in vsing him as an instrument to subuert al France Now forasmuch as the Protestants had presently succours out of Germanie the Cardinal perceiued that by going backward he might iumpe the farther and therfore when the Prince of Condes campe was before Chartres in the yere 1568 he procured the King to send some men to the Prince to conclude a peace that is to say to vnarme the Protestants whereby the more readily afterward to murder them For he could not denie but that the Protestants were at that time the strongest and yet not being compelled through want either of strength or good successe did separate and vnarme them selues opening their townes to such as the Queene and the Cardinal sent in the Kings name vnder whose onely faith and worde they put away from them al assurance of liues and goods yelding their naked brestes vnto their aduersaries swords and kniues Al the Protestant Lords gentlemen departed to their owne houses whither when some could not find any sure accesse and others were so euil intreated as that diuers were most cruelly slaine murdered manie of them were constrained to assemble themselues together which was it that the Cardinal and his fautors desired as wel to finde occasion to slaunder them as infringers of the Edictes as also to the end the more easily by ouerrunning of them to destroy them and not knowing what to do or whither to go to take the way into Flanders verie vndiscretely in that the King had forbidden them the same although they were through meere necessitie which as the prouerbe is hath no lawe compelled thereunto Howbeit the punishment was so readie and extreeme that the Cardinal and his partakers ought to haue bene content They vsed in the execution thereof the Marshal de Cosse his aide to the end to charge their rage vpon as wel one as other Then sent they a gentleman vnto the Prince of Conde to know whether he allowed of the said leuie of men wherein is to be seene a right Cardinals fetch for the maintaining of the King in his rage expelling the Prince out of the Court causing to ouerrunne him or his troupes if he aduowed them and so by litle and litle consume his enemies As for the strangers come to the Protestants aide they were presently sent home and the Prince and other Protestants compelled to borowe great summes of money wherewith to pay them and yet through the Guisians commandements the garrison of Auxerre stole part of that money slaying some of the guydes and ransomming

that it was euil done of those who had thus armed their Prince against his subiects and said plainely that in case the Kings officers feared to be displeased they should take away the occasions also that the displeasure was not against the King as to what purpose should it so be seing he was but a childe who stirred not neither did anie thing without the couÌ„saile or prompting of his vncles but against those who had the dealings in the affaires of the kingdome whereto it was easie to prouide so that al might be coÌ„passed orderly and according to the lawes of the realme The rest of his oration tended to the same end as did Marillac He spake some thing also of Religion Then did the brethren of Guise shew that they were Kings for besides that al the Knights of the order there present durst not define but said only that they were of the Cardinals opinion they bent them selues chiefly against the Admiral insisting vpoÌ„ the new gard and briefly shewing that their nephue Francis serued but as a maske cloke to their fellonie Which also the letters sent immediatly after this assembly vnto al Bayliefes and Seneschals did euidently declare For the Cardinal had framed them who promised a mightie reformation in the Church but thinke with your selues how the harlots do vse to reforme the stues togither with the estates which were summoned to the tenth day of DeceÌ„ber in the towne of Meaux and that in the meane time that al gouernours and lieutenants of the Prouinces for the most part seruants and slaues of the house of Guise should deliberately visite their townes to the end particularly to vnderstand to make report vnto him of the coÌ„plaints of the people that is to say on al sides practise the establishment of their tyrannie Thus did they scoffe at the Kings authoritie making void frustrate this so notable assemblie as by the effects did incontinently appeare They added hereunto an other practise of wonderful presumption against the King which was by raysing in armes all the companies of Ordinances vnder colour that the enterprise of Amboyse was yet not fully quenched although in deede to destroy the princes of the blood to depriue the estates of libertie and to make an ende of marring all Also for their better fortification vnderstanding the returne of the French troupes come out of Scotland by reason of a treaty of peace wherin the King had bene constrayned to agree to certaine both dishonorable and hurtfull articles through the foolish ambition of his vncles they ioyned them vnto the old bandes of Piedmont Metz and Picardie for their owne garde besides twelue hundred others whom they had reserued ouer and besides the departing of the companies placed and sent into all gouernments Hauing then thus the sword in their handes and being on cocke horse they made a dispatche from the King their nephue vnto the King of Nauarre whereby the prince of Conde was charged with treason therefore for his heartes ease the said King desired the King of Nauarre to send him his brother in sure and safe custodie if not him selfe should be driuen to fetch him and that with such companie as the force shal remaine to him The King of Nauarre and his brother answered so wisely and with such constancie as the Guisians did well perceiue that withall their power they could hardly come to an ende and therefore they determined to vse the Kinges faith and promise whereby to deceiue these Princes and to get them into their trappe and did incontinently frame another packet wherein the King sent worde to the King of Nauarre and the Prince of Conde that they might safely come to him and returne againe when they listed assuring them in the worde of a King that nothing should in any wise be attempted against their persons that peaceably he would heare their declarations and iustifications that they should not come into any prison neither that any man should make their proces only he desired an answere of the Princes owne mouth vnto such points as he was charged with all and which he could hardly beleue to be briefe that they should be receiued according to their estates and dignities yea they should enioye the ranck which vnto them appertained in the dealing in the affayres to the ende to haue their aduice and counsayle whereby to bring all things into good policie and order Also as for the Religion whereof the said lord Prince had made open declaration and protestatioÌ„ he would not neither meÌ„te that by reason thereof they should susteine any trouble or disquietnesse These poore princes as true Frenchmen leaning vpon so solemne a promise although they were not so blinde but that they saw the lyons pats of the Guisians which waited to deuoure them neither so deuoyde of meanes but that they coulde by force of armes haue raunged these vsurpers and well enough come to an ende yet trusting in their innocencies and in the meane time led as in an other place we will more particularly shew they tooke their iourney and by litle and litle dismissed their companie to the ende with a smal traine to fall into their enemies nets Now let vs behold how they caused their nephue to performe his faith so solemnly promised The same day of the Pinces arriuall who were very vnworthily receiued litle or nothing at all regarded the King causing them to follow him into the Queene his mothers chamber addressing him selfe to the Prince of Conde said vnto him that he had bene certified out of diuers places that the said Prince both did make and had made sundry practises against him and the estate of his Kingdome by reason whereof he had sent for him hy his owne mouth to know the trueth The Prince hauing pertinently answered and shewed his innocencie also hauing discouered the malice of the Guisians who fearing the touchstone were absente was neuerthelesse presently committed to the handes of Chauigny the Captaine of the garde and bondeslaue to the Guisians and by them sent expressely to conueye the said Prince to prison for they would not suffer him to remaine in his brother the King of Nauares custodie who vpon his life answered for him for he had enough to doe to saue him selfe Now as a wicked conscience doeth neuer cease seeking like meanes to leane vnto so the Guisians seing that they had vndertaken a worke which they should hardly bring to an ende vnlesse they were supported by others then Frenchmen notwithstanding that many had alreadye renouÌ„ced their liberties they determined to practise draw vnto them forein Princes through whose helpe at their neede to preuayle A man may well gesse whether the King payed the players of these tragedies also whether his auctoritie were manifestly vsurped in this case The peace before concluded with the King of Spayne coÌ„teined among other this coÌ„dition that both the Kings should with al force persecute the LutheraÌ„s with al extremity This

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