Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	france_n	king_n	swear_v	2,584	5	8.7846	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34943	The history of the house of Esté, from the time of Forrestus until the death of Alphonsus the last Duke of Ferrara with an account of the pretended devolution of that dutchy unjustly usurped by Clement VIII : wherein likewise the most considerable revolutions of Italy from the year 452 to the year 1598 are briefly touched.	Craufurd, James, 17th cent.; Craufurd, David, 1665-1726.	1681 (1681)	Wing C6853; ESTC R5167	108,756	324

took their Husbands upon their backs declaring as they past through the Camp that these were the only Jewels they desired to secure from Conrard and his Army this generous act of the Princess and her Ladies did so surprize and please the Emperour that he would see his word made good and thereupon not only pardon'd but was reconciled to Gwelfo giving him back some part of his Brothers inheritance Gwelfo afterwards accompanied Conrard in his expedition to the Holy Land which the treachery of the Greeks rendered insuccessfull at his return he made ready an Army to go into Italy to receive the Imperial Crown and designed to carry Gwelfo with him of whose company he seem'd to be very fond because he durst not leave him behind but his journey being put off by his sickness he lived not to receive that honour and though he left a Son yet his Nephew Frederick Barbarossa succeeded him Frederick's first work was to cement all the breaches of Germany which he did with so much equity and discretion that he gave satisfaction to all parties His Mother was of the House of Bavaria and this made him willing to restore that Dutchy to the Son of Henry and to his Uncle Gwelfo he gave all that the Emperours had recovered of Matildis Estate which I confess was a doing right in some measure to the house of Esté but not to that part of it that had suffered most by her This brings us back to Italy which we shall now find the chief Scene of Affairs and Rinaldus of Esté of age to be the chief Actor for whose sake we must give a more particular account of things as they then stood when Frederick came thither The long absence of an Emperour had brought Affairs into great disorder especially in Lombardy where every City form'd it self into a sort of Republick and dissensions naturally arising betwixt them there was no person that had either Authority to determine their differences or power to see his determinations received The City of Milan affected the Dominion over all the rest had already made some submit and was every day encroaching upon others with an insupportable insolence Many complaints were brought to the Emperour from most of the neighbour Cities declaring that they must submit to the Queen of Lombardy for so Milan stiled her self unless they had his protection The Emperour promised to make what hast he could towards them and to put an end to all their quarrels When he came to the Lago di Garda near Verona he received the complements of the Italian Princes amongst others were Boniface Fulco Opizo and Albertus of Esté his Kinsmen by his Mother who had all conferred on them special marks of his favour But we find nothing of Rinaldus the Chief of the Family who it is thought absented himself being highly disgusted that Matildis Estate should be setled by Frederick upon the German Line The Emperour having rebuked those of Milan and Tortona for their late carriage and required them to make reparation for the injuries done their neighbours went towards Rome and being Anno Christi 1155 Crowned Emperour by Adrian the fourth he returned into Germany Fresh troubles in Italy called him soon back but as his presence converted all their Rebellion into Humility and Duty so his being reconciled upon too easie terms to Milan and Brescia the authors of discord encouraged them to renew their practices when he was gone and for Adrian if we honour him for his Countrey as being of our neighbour-nation of England we must condemn him for his malice against this great Emperour in fomenting their Rebellion When Frederick came to Italy the third time Milan and Brescia had several other Towns joyn'd to them and stood out a long siege yet before he left them they were made to accept of what conditions he pleased to impose which yet were much more gentle than they especially Milan did deserve after having twice abused his clemency About this time Adrian the fourth dying the Election of two Popes Alexander the third and Victor the fourth occasioned a new Schism more dangerous than any of the former both writ to the Emperour then besieging Crema to confirm their Election but he out of pure zeal for the peace of the Church refusing to declare for either called a Council at Pavia where they were summoned to appear to have their Cause heard and determined by their Brethren the Bishops Victor came thither at the day appointed but Alexander continued at Rome whereupon the Council offended at his contempt and judging his not appearance to flow from a diffidence in his Cause gave it in favour of Victor whom the Emperour did then confirm and sent Letters to the Kings of France England and Spain to give an account of what was there concluded Alexander was excommunicated by Victor at Pavia Frederick and Victor by Alexander at Rome and the parties being now irreconcilable Alexander sent a Legat to those of Milan to declare them absolved from the Oaths they had lately sworn and not obliged to make good the Articles which necessity had extorted from them Milan and the Confederate Cities took Arms immediately and resolving to carry on a formed War against the Emperour invited Rinaldus Marquess of Esté to be their General who thinking himself injured and neglected by Frederick did too readily undertake the Patronage of so unjust a Cause The Emperour judging his Army too weak to deal with so many gave order for New Levies in Germany which were finished and sent with great expedition to Italy the Kings likewise of Bohemia Denmark and Norway came in person to his assistance with their choicest troops so that when all his forces were united he had no less than seventy thousand Foot and forty thousand Horse the Confederates likewise had made great preparations Rinaldus of Esté their General brought six thousand Foot and four thousand Horse Brescia Bergamo Piacenza Verona Vicenza Padoua and Bologna sent the numbers agreed on the general review was made at Milan where according to most of the Italian Writers they were fifty thousand men well armed the very first night the Emperour sate down before Milan Rinaldus ordered a sally at four several gates which put the Imperial Army into such confusion that the enemy was like to have dispossest them of their Camp Rinaldus perceiving the Confederate Army to dwindle away insensibly partly by Famine and partly by Sickness occasion'd by their being shut up so close in the hottest season of the year called a Council of War where it was resolved That all should be in readiness next morning to bring the business to an issue the whole Army being accordingly assembled in the great Market place Rinaldus led them out into the Imperial Camp a little before noon where falling in upon the Danes and Norvegians that were secure and unfit for action by reason of the great heat he did so great execution that no perswasion could make them continue

cause but as our differences are such as can never admit of a Learned Confutation so there is no encouragement for any man to go about it who knows our present temper For it is plain that an obstinate resolution to continue the breach scorns to yield to the strongest conviction of reason yet this unaccountable Schism has raised so violent heats and brought our Clergy under such contempt that we cannot reasonably expect great things from them and which is indeed more deplorable men of better Genius's seeing the difficulties with which they struggle do follow other employments so that if our condition be bad on this account in the present Age it is like to be worse in the next Besides though great care has been taken in the Constitution of our Church to preserve the inferiour Clergy from poverty yet there are not those advantages of Books and privacy for encouraging extraordinary persons in their studies with which other Nations abound But that which beyond all other things has set us so far back in learning is our having no more the great incitements which a Courts residing among us would afford We do indeed rejoyce with our King that his Empire is so considerably enlarged by the accession of a double Crown we acknowledge also with all gratefull Duty that our Princes indulgent tenderness for their Ancient and Native Kingdom ever since their departure has made them carefull to continue to us our former happiness in every thing save in their Royal presence They have left their Revenue to circulate among us for the support of the Government they have never given us up to the uneasie domination of Strangers under which we sufficiently smarted in the short time of our Union with France we have been admitted to a share in the best Offices of England and Ireland and made no small part of our Princes Court and if of late for want of paying our attendance there we are not so frequently advanced to high Stations yet we are sensible that all the trusts honours and advantages of our own Countrey remain entire in our hands so that no additional Kingdom no not Arragon it self with all its high priviledges has less reason to complain But after all this and much more that might be added of the Justice and Goodness of our three last Kings which well deserve the enlargements of a Nobler Pen we are still unhappy because deprived by our Princes absence of all the advantages that accrew to Learning from the nearness of a Court We have no foreign Ministers among us nor send we any beyond Sea by which we might keep correspondence with the world abroad strangers now have no occasion to come within our borders and we seem to be in all respects cut off from the Society of Mankind We complain not of Nature for casting us into a corner of the world into a lean soil and a Climate remote from the Sun it is our Kings distance from us we more heartily lament than the Suns His Ancestors benign influence made us easie under all the inconveniencies Nature exposed us to and his person is a happiness which we envy our Neighbours much more than their southern situation The chief reason then why we languish in Virtue and the Muses grow barren among us is because of late we neither feel the dew nor the warmth of Royal Patronage for certainly nothing can give so effectual a check to great and aspiring minds or keep them from that generous Contest who shall deserve best of the Government by any Learned undertaking as to see themselves almost without the reach both of the Princes eye and of his hand Of all this the following History gives us a signal instance While Ferrara was happy in its Dukes and their Court it was one of the Noblest places of Italy Learning had such encouragement there that not only the Natives saw their Interest in studying but strangers from all places were attracted by the bounty of those Princes When Rome did most shamefully neglect the Greek Professors Ferrara and Florence cherished them and to the glorious protection of the most Serene House of Esté and that of Medici Italy chiefly owed its encrease of knowledge But since by the Popes unjust usurpation Ferrara is turn'd an accessary principality to that which is called S t Peter's Patrimony the world hears no more news from thence that University which was formerly so Famous is seldom now mentioned and the spirits of the Inhabitants are sunk with their City almost into rubbish Having thus pointed at what a better Writer could more fully describe concerning the true causes of the decay of Learning amongst us I now come to give an account of the Reasons and Design of my present undertaking I observed that the English had taken care to furnish us by way of Translation with the general Histories of Countries but lesser Principalities lay still neglected tho' in such we often meet with curious and great transactions that are not commonly known After I had therefore resolved to make some attempt of this kind my acquaintance with Italian Authors enclined me most to Italy which has always been the Theatre of the most memorable Actions and there the Princes of Este presented themselves as best deserving my pains in regard of the great influence they have had upon the Affairs of that Countrey for many Ages but that which fully determined my choice was a hearty desire of making some small acknowledgement of the Honour which her Royal Highness the Dutchess of Albany now does our Nation and I had reason to believe that nothing could be more gratefull to my Countrey-men or more sutable to the Veneration they have for her Highness than an account of that Illustrious Race of Princes of whom she is descended I have affected the simplicity of an Historical style which next to fidelity and exactness I look on as the chief Ornament of such a Work After perusing carefully all the Historians of the Family I chiefly consulted Sigonius Jovius and Guicciardin and found some trouble in digesting my matter into so short a compass If I am approved of by judicious or discerning persons so that this Essay is favourably received it will encourage me to go on with the second part where together with what immediately relates to the Dukes of Modena I shall take occasion to treat more largely than hitherto I have done of what has past of late in those parts but if I have the luck to be little read or much censured as this is my first Essay so it is like to be my last THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. THe Rise of the House of Esté and the share it bore in the great Occurrences of Italy during the Invasion of the Huns Vandals Alains Herules and Ostrogoths Pag. 1 CHAP. II. The progress of the Family under the Reign of the Lombards p. 12 CHAP. III. The advancement of the Family under Charles the Great and his Successors until the